January 1, 2015, around 3am, I awoke mid-dream to the realization of an idea forming. In the safe, dark confines of night, I hatched a righteous plan. I would step out of the writer’s closet in which I had been cowering, publicly declare myself a novelist for all to read, and commit to publishing segments of my novel, which I entitled Life By Fire, online daily as I wrote it. For the first time in my life, I took action without hesitation. I arose that morning and created the website. I wrote and posted my first entries. I perfected it all, sent out a launch announcement via Facebook and awaited the applause, while basking in a sense of accomplishment.
Then what happened? It got harder. And I got scared. I questioned the concept and the process. I failed to post a segment daily. Then, I failed to post a segment weekly. I felt resistance. I encountered roadblocks. I questioned the integrity of the story and my right to write it. I lost momentum and withdrew back into my closet to persevere alone.
The novel Life By Fire begins:
“Death by fire. I dream of dying in a burst of flames. Searing heat traveling from my feet, up my legs, swirling around me. I throw my head back to see a black sky scattered with stars, extinguished by a cloud of white smoke…. Hot, dry, release. My soul purified by fire—a quick, dramatic death, nothing left but ash. The antithesis of my life. By day, I barely tread water, barely keep afloat. Perpetually behind, perpetually overwhelmed, stuck in a whirlpool going round, round, and around. Life by drowning.”
Today, I no longer live a “life by drowning”—continuing to write equipped me with a very vital lifeboat. Since my rather dismal start with the novel, Life By Fire, I have completed a middle-grade novel called Genevieve’s Worlds and written and published a short story called Anni Annihilation. In 2017, I was awarded 1st prize in the Adult Division in the 2016 Dorothy Shoemaker Literary Awards Contest for excerpts from the Life By Fire novel. Slowly but surely—my spirit animal is a turtle.
Throughout the process, I continued to feel a keen desire to communicate, not only about the process of writing, but about the process of self-discovery and living on purpose. The Life By Fire Book website evolved into the LifeByFire.com blog. In 2017, I also felt inspired to create and teach two courses, Ignite Your Creativity and the Seven Universal Laws; content creation for these courses flowed effortlessly though I found marketing them to the right audience very difficult.
The course content inspired me to begin a non-fiction book called The Thrive Guide for the Hungry Spirit. I began the guide with:
I’m a lucky person. I live in the top 10% of the global population. I live in a safe, prosperous country and community. I’ve been blessed with excellent physical health, intellect, and opportunity. I have two university degrees. I own a car and share a home with my kind, caring husband and two beautiful, vibrantly healthy, intelligent children. I have never sustained a serious accident, injury, or illness. By all accounts, I have and continue to live a blessed, easy life. And yet…
I have struggled most of my life. I have felt fearful, limited, and downright stuck for most of my fifty years. From my perspective, every one of my small successes has followed an internal battle. And my big successes? I can’t name any.
But, I embarked on a mission to figure out why I felt that way and how to change it. And now, I am determined to truly learn, internalize, and practice my insights through sharing them with you and everyone else who desires them. I want us to feel happy. I want us to experience life as fun. I want us to enjoy success and prosperity as free-flowing, easy, and natural.
Together, I want us to awaken to our own power, envision our dreams, and realize them confidently. And I want you to do it now while you’re young and vital, and have all the time in the world—not after you turn 50, like me, and feel time slipping away faster each day.
So, here is our guide. Not just a survival guide—a Thrive Guide for living our happiest life—on purpose and to the fullest. I invite you to join me on this great adventure of discovery.
…
What authority have I to write such a guide? A PhD from a prestigious university? A channel to enlightened spiritual beings from beyond? A personal relationship with Oprah? No. I have the authority to write this guide because I wrote it.
And yet…and yet, as I wrote those words, I felt a tightness in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t believe it myself. Does someone who has lived such an easy life, one so free from trauma or hardship, really have the right to attempt to ‘guide’ others who have quite possibly endured significant turmoil, trauma, and tragedy? No. Like the Life By Fire novel, the non-fiction book stalled.
Strangely enough, on June 8, 2016, our family had endured significant trauma when my husband sustained a serious concussion while mountain biking. At the time, we continued in survival mode, assuming that his recovery would be fast and full. It was not. Over 5 years later, notwithstanding the advice from numerous allopathic and alternative doctors, he continues to suffer ceaselessly from post-concussion symptoms. They have continued to prevent him from enjoying many activities that were a significant part of his life and his family has felt the effects of those limitations along with him. Whether we realised it at the time or not, it has shaped us.
And then, in May 2019, as my eldest daughter’s grade 8 graduation approached, everything fell apart. A call brought us into her school for an emergency meeting in which we were told that she had confided to a teacher that she was having suicidal thoughts. How could we have been so oblivious? All focus turned to organizing an endless stream of resources—doctors, social workers, psychologists—to attempt to identify the source of her depression and anxiety, which appeared to have come out of nowhere (but actually hadn’t). A very difficult year of ‘coping mechanisms’ followed as we attempted to support our eldest to explore their gender identity, sexual orientation, and the source of their deep sadness. In that time, their pronouns changed from she/her to they/them and they chose a new first name. Our Fynn found themselves and we thought we had stumbled our way back to comfort and ‘normalcy.’
Forward to April 2020 and the infamous beginning of the coronavirus, when Fynn matter-of-factly informed me that a close family member who also lived close-by had sexually molested them for a number of years and that sexual abuse had morphed into emotional abuse. I felt the walls of emotional security collapse around me. Then, when we confronted the family member, we experienced the shock and horror of gaslighting to a degree we had never imagined possible—not only from the abuser but also from other close family members. And that’s when I felt the emotional foundation of my life completely collapse in on me.
Like Gandalf battling the balrog on the bridge of Khazad-Dûm, I stood between my abusive family members and my children, and decreed, “you shall not pass,” with an intensity I had never experienced before. I felt the iron chains of lifetimes of negative family karma severing forever. Then, as the rest of the world was forced into another lockdown, I gratefully contracted inward, retreating from everyone and everything—happily dropping so many commitments that now felt meaningless. I needed solitude.
Adventure books and movies tend not to focus on the devastating destruction faced in the aftermath of the epic battle, all of which takes significantly longer to clean up and rebuild. But, like most people do, my family has steadfastly worked to dig ourselves out from under the emotional rubble, clear it away, and slowly but surely rebuild on a stronger foundation—our own solid-granite foundation—freed from the shackles of unhealthy, dysfunctional relationships and codependencies.
The process has led me to dig deeply into my own repressed trauma, bring it to the surface, and endeavour to release it once and for all. It continues to rise to the surface of my awareness in waves, over and over, to be felt and dissolved. Again and again, I am reborn. And, the Life By Fire blog has also been reborn as Thrivival.
After a lifetime of intensely disliking my given name, it has even led me to choose to write under a different one—yet another departure from expectation. I no longer identify with the person I was five years ago. I have embarked on a new path as a new me. This is true freedom. And it has been hard-won. This is my epic journey to finding Thrivival—a metaphysical place of my own imagining where comfort and freedom reside. I humbly invite you to cross through the mist, over the narrow bridge, and enter through the gate to sit with me at the centre, in the warmth of a communal fire, in the realm of Thrivival. Freedom lives here.
In 2020, the infamous year of covid (which I refuse to capitalize), I felt a fundamental shift—a positive, energetic change in frequency. In actuality, I started to experience it before the onset of the pandemic—I seemed to experience everything just a little bit sooner than those around me. In fact, the week leading up to government-imposed isolation, I came down with a very uncomfortable flu that laid me out in bed for several days. Did I actually contract the acute illness and recover from it before I became acutely aware that I even could contract it and possibly not recover from it? Who knows.
I do know that I had, only a few weeks before, openly asked the universe for a reprieve—I asked and wished for a break, a time in which my family could simply live together, without all of the usual commitments, responsibilities, and stresses—some down time, not just for a week, but for long enough for us to truly rest and relax into life. I only wished it for my family personally; I could never have imagined how it would play out for humanity collectively. Be careful what you wish for.
Six months into this new pandemic-enforced isolation, I felt deep, fundamental shifts in reality. But, on the surface, my family grew bored—we sought leisurely entertainment like TV shows and movies, anything to bring a little excitement to an otherwise tedious stretch of time. At first, I indulged in a variety of distractions—re-watching Downton Abbey for the sixth time; binge-watching eco-home, tiny home, and off-grid homesteading videos at twice the normal speed; attempting unsuccessfully to introduce my kids to Lord of the Rings; following my favourite YouTube channellers like a new religion; and signing up for more free or almost-free online courses than I could possibly complete—everything from unified physics, to Ho’oponopono, to horse communication.
But, I felt increasingly antsy—nothing satisfied me anymore—the books I’d revelled in repeatedly fell flat; videos from my favourite YouTubers lacked substance; movies and TV shows I had enjoyed in the past and attempted to revive now seemed downright dumb, or worse—violent and angry, overwhelmingly victim-based and dystopian to the point that they turned my stomach. Why did I respond so differently to them now?
And then I realized, they no longer matched the frequency of my new energy. I had shifted; they had not. I needed something new. I felt that all of humanity needed something new—something to both reflect and inspire a new reality, a new perspective. The time for dystopian stories had passed. We needed a utopian story, a story to focus us optimistically on what could be—Visionary Activism. After all, consciousness always comes first—you have to imagine it before you can manifest it. I sat in silence, searching to articulate what I yearned for.
I yearned for starlight under an open sky; for wood fires in open hearths. I yearned for graph paper, compasses, and sharp pencils; I yearned for circles. I retreated into my own imagination, conjuring and combining images of everything I had been contemplating, from off-grid homes, to mythical creatures, to sacred geometry, astronomy, astrology, and way beyond. And the place I architected within the depths of my inner vision resonated more clearly, more harmonically, more fluidly than anything I experienced outwardly, to the point that retreating into it felt like a trance. In short, it felt like coming home.
Thrivival is a metaphysical place of my own imagining where comfort and freedom reside; it has become my ‘safe place,’ where I retreat inward to find calm and solace. Here, on Thrivival.ca, I’ve represented Thrivival with a seven-petaled geometric symbol of my own creation. I spent significant time designing and evolving this symbol (with the help of my dear, talented, sweet soul sister, Celeste Alles—thank you, Celeste!).
Thrivival Symbol Elements
Here’s an overview of the elements of the Thrivival symbol and what they represent to me:
Seven Circles: Based on the sacred geometric symbol of the Seed of Life, 7 overlapping circles form the symbol’s shape; these represent the Seven Universal Laws we explore in the Thrivival course.
Seven Colours: 7 colours of the rainbow, overlapping.
Seven-Pointed Star: The centre forms a 7-pointed star or heptagram. Known as the Faery Star or Elven Star, it has been used in times past to ward off evil. In Christianity, the heptagram traditionally symbolizes the seven days of creation.
Dandelion Seed Pod: Incorporating the Fibonacci Spiral, nature’s archetypal pattern.
Big Top of a Circus Tent: A place for festivals, frivolity, fun, and reprieve from the stresses of everyday life.
Ferris Wheel: As Envisioned in my Ho’oponopono practice.
Torus: A deeply symbolic geometric shape representing the universe, the torus is also fundamental to harnessing zero-point energy.
The Sacred Number Seven & Septimal Law, as illustrated in:
The 7 ‘petals’ of the Thrivival symbol also represent the 7 categories into which I have divided the Thrivival blog posts. The Five Platonic Solids formed the basis of these categories, but I have added two more to form seven. So, though I have taken some liberties with interpretation and connections, these categories do align with archetypal patterns and symbols associated with the esoteric teachings of Hermes in the Emerald Tablet, the Egyptian mystery schools, and beyond.
Here’s an overview of the elements of the seven categories of Thrivival thoughts and what they represent to me:
AETHER: Enacting Consciousness Symbolized by the dodecahedron, aligned with the crown chakra, and governing the universal Law of the Perpetual Transmutation of Energy, Aether transcends physical reality.Perceived through the spirit as divine source, harmonious and whole, Aether arises from elemental reality in the eternal now—unity consciousness—I AM.
“The One is the All.”
AIR: Ascending Dimensions Symbolized by the octahedron, aligned with the third eye chakra, and governing the universal Law of Correspondence, Air integrates consciousness with physical reality.Perceived through the ego, Air is the emotional levity that empowers us to ascend dimensions—i am that I AM.
“The all are the One.”
WATER: Navigating Life Symbolized by the icosahedron, aligned with the throat chakra, and governing the universal Law of Vibration, Water pluralizes memory within the 3rd dimensional construct of time.Perceived through the personality, Water is the mental gravity that anchors us within this lifetime—I amthat.
ENERGY: Seeing Connections Symbolized by the torus or sphere, aligned with the heart chakra, and governing the universal Law of Rhythm, Energy rationalizes compassion on the Earthly plain.Perceived through the intellect, Energy is the empathy that encourages us to see connections—I am thatandthatandthat.
METAL: Rising Up Symbolized by the star tetrahedron, aligned with the solar plexus chakra, and governing the universal Law of Polarity, Metal incites courage.Perceived through the mind, Metal rallies us to rise up against tyranny and injustice, to break down old patterns that no longer serve us, and rebuild societal norms—spiritual alchemy—Iron sharpens iron.
FIRE: Igniting Creativity Symbolized by the tetrahedron, aligned with the sacral chakra, and governing the universal Law of Gender, Fire ignites our powers of creativity.Expressed through art and sexuality, Fire inspires us to engage our imaginations with passionate enthusiasm.
EARTH: Grounding Down Symbolized by the hexahedron, aligned with the root chakra, and governing the universal Law of Cause & Effect, Earth situates us within the physical body.Embodied through each individual breath, Earth beckons us to ground ourselves to terra firma, reconnecting with the natural world.
I’ve expressed my fascination with numbers and symbols through the main character in my middle-grade novel, Genevieve’s Worlds—in which 11-year-old Genevieve Harris loves math, geometry, and big words.
“Gennie,” my Granny calls from the little galley kitchen, “the ladies will be here to play cards at seven. You need to clear your art stuff off the table.”
“Okay,” I reply without taking my eyes off my notebook.
Today is my 8th month birthday. With my purple felt-tipped pen, I write out today’s date again:
08-21-2024 0+8+2+1+2+0+2+4=19 1+9=10 1+0=1
1 always represents new beginnings. And yet, it’s been same-old, same-old here all day today. Regardless, Happy 8-month birthday to me. Four more months ‘til I turn 12.
From the other side of the couch, I hear a knock at my Granny’s screen door and the squeak of it opening—somebody’s here early or I’ve lost track of time. I crawl quickly backward out of my tent, and climb up over the back of the couch to clean up my stuff.
“Hi Lenora,” I say, politely, if unenthusiastically. Of Granny’s four ‘cronies,’ as she calls them, I like Lenora the least. (The first time I heard it, I had to ‘Define: crony.’ Cro·ny. A close friend or companion, especially a long-standing one. From the Greek word khronios meaning ‘long-lasting’ and from khronos meaning ‘time.’)
Lenora unceremoniously slumps into one of the two bench seats around the built-in kitchen table and watches me as I gather up my scattered sheets of graph paper—each one covered with lines and circles, geometric shapes and patterns. I form them into a neat pile with my pencils, eraser, rulers, and compass on top. On the table, still sit six small three-dimensional shapes carved out of different shades of natural quartz rock.
“What are these?” asks Lenora, picking one up and running her fingers over its smooth edges.
“The Platonic Solids,” I reply flatly, automatically reciting the explanation I wrote in a school project in Grade Four and stood at the front of the class to present: “They’re special geometric shapes named after Plato. He was a Greek philosopher. Plato said they represented the earthly elements. Some people believe they are the building blocks of the universe. It’s called ‘sacred geometry’…”
“Really?” she interrupts with a sarcastic snort as she tosses my precious crystal back down onto the table with a thud.
Really mature, I think to myself. Unlike my smoothly polished Platonic solids, Lenora’s pretty rough around the edges. Ah, well, my Grade Four classmates didn’t ‘get’ them either.
I’ve also explored this metaphysical place I’ve called Thrivival in The Dragon Book—in which Hannah, a girl about the same age as Genevieve, runs away with her horse and finds her true home where she reunites with all her other aspects.
My park bench sits atop the ‘living roof’ of my humble home—humble by choice for I need little and spend even less-than-little time within it; I prefer to live outdoors with my companions. But, I enjoy spending time atop my home! From this rooftop vantage point, a storey-and-a-half up, I can see much of the community in which I live. The community that I founded—or, perhaps more accurately, the community that found and founded me.
Our little commune sits comfortably in the shape of a wagon wheel (or, from a three-dimensional perspective, you could say in the shape of a half-torus). I sit on the outer rim, looking inward across seven pie-shaped gardens, separated by ‘spokes’ in the form of gravel walkways. They all meet at a circular moat that surrounds a giant, ancient tree with seven broad limbs that curve out and up to form the shape of a shallow cup. Nestled within the chalice of the tree’s limbs, hovers an ornate globe, the shape of an interconnected double-torus, that rotates smoothly around itself. It looks like a sculpture; it acts like a perpetual motion machine; and it accomplishes much more than either of these. For, this sculpture is actually a free-energy apparatus that fuels our entire community—silently, cleanly, and completely independently—our own Tree of Life.
Our interconnected homes form the outer rim of the wagon-wheel circle. They have the beauty of a Frank Lloyd Wright design, the environmental ingenuity of the most eco-friendly earthship, and the comfort of every convenience one could desire in this newest of new millenniums—all encapsulated into the charm of a hobbit house, complete with plump round doors, domed ceilings, bevelled skylights, and pot-belly stoves. For, although each home looks inward toward the centre through expansive greenhouse windows, the outer edge of the circle has been covered over with earth to form the living roof on which I sit.
Over the last hundred years, the population of this community has grown and the architecture has expanded outward to match it. I don’t mean that we have constructed extension upon extension, addition upon addition—that would not create a pleasing plan. I mean that the circle, and the land itself, has expanded in size to not only accommodate but anticipate our needs, naturally and completely without mechanical intervention—as inconspicuously and fluidly as the earth spins on its axis around the sun. It is a master architecture, envisioned by a master architect, and executed equally masterfully—the epitome of ‘intelligent design’ (even if I do say so myself, having been the one to design it).
I hope that the symbols, thoughts, and ideas throughout this blog intrigue you as much as they fascinate me. Welcome to Thrivival—happy exploring!
This website, and the community that we hope it will bring together, is itself the fulfillment of a PACT. We humbly invite you to cross over the narrow bridge, through the mist, and enter through the gate to sit with us at the centre of the realm of Thrivival, in the warmth of a communal fire. Together, we gather to pledge enduring PACTS—Powerful Acts of Consciousness, Truth, and Sovereignty. Freedom lives here.
~ Mary Magdalene, in live channel with Lori Ladd, Jul 13, 2021
You are here to be the shining example of shifting or levitating out of fear. Your sovereignty is the greatest gift that you experience when you are in the human journey. Sovereignty is your freedom. Sovereignty is your ticket into that golden age we speak of, which is right here, right now, as you continue to trust that there is so much more available than the storm clouds of fear or control.
Stay strong in your sovereignty; do not perpetuate a divide.
Your truth, your voice, your knowingness is the most powerful gift you have…. Your absolute truth; the truth of who you are; the truth of how you want to be, how you want to live.
The voice as your expression; to no longer be silenced; to no longer pretend; to no longer do what others ask you to do when it no longer resonates with you.
The human collective needs you to stand up first, to stand in your sovereignty first; to speak your truth first.
This morning, I noted the word ‘Epiphany’ on my calendar—though I linked the word to my Christian upbringing, I needed a reminder. As I so often do, I looked up the definition of the word to gain greater clarity:
e·piph·a·ny
noun: epiphany
The festival commemorating the Epiphany on January 6.
The manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (Matthew 2:1–12).
A manifestation of a divine or supernatural being.
A moment of sudden revelation or insight.
Middle English: from Greek epiphainein ‘reveal’. The sense relating to the Christian festival is via Old French epiphanie and ecclesiastical Latin epiphania.
1. The Festival Commemorating the Epiphany
Ah yes, today commemorates the ‘nativity scene’ so deeply ingrained in my Christian upbringing, as told in the Biblical New Testament book of Matthew, which traditionally includes three Magi, or ‘wise men,’ bestowing upon the child Jesus three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh—the scene we sang about in one of my favourite Christmas carols, “We Three Kings.”
Marking the end of the Christmas season (note to self: take down Christmas tree), and also called ‘Three Kings Day,’ “Epiphany, also known as Theophany in the east, is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God incarnate as Jesus Christ. In Western Christianity, the feast commemorates principally the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child, and thus Jesus Christ’s physical manifestation to the Gentiles.” (Wikipedia)
So, to appropriately celebrate the occasion, I adorned myself with my favourite gold necklace, added some frankincense essential oil to my diffuser, anointed myself with myrrh, and planned to feast like royalty (by taking a package out of the freezer to thaw for dinner). I returned to my bright window seat with my laptop to contemplate epiphany and set the intention that this exultant pomp and ceremony would inspire me to exuberant revelation and insight!
7And then Herodus secretly called The Magi and learned from them at what time the star had appeared to them. 8And he sent them to Bethlehem and said to them, “Go inquire about The Boy very carefully and when you find him, come show me, so that I also may go worship him.” 9But when they heard from the King, they went, and behold, that star which they had seen in The East went before them, until it came and stood over where The Boy was. 10And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with a very great joy. 11And they entered the house and saw The Boy with Maryam his mother, and they fell and worshiped him and opened their treasures and offered him gifts: gold, myrrh, and frankincense. 12And it was seen by them in a dream that they should not return to Herodus, and they went to their country by another road.
2. The Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles
I wondered, which came first, the religious term or the general meaning of the word ‘epiphany’? According to Merriam-Webster, the word ‘epiphany’ was first used in the 14th century, in the meaning defined in sense 1 above. So, apparently, the word originated as a religious term and then evolved into more general use.
For me, I suppose, the religious meaning of the word epiphany also came first. I grew up within the Christian religion and all its traditions; my parents’ religious views evolved through my childhood from very evangelical to more inclusive. As a teenager, I recognized that I was on a spiritual journey—but one that quickly led me to seek knowledge beyond the Christian Bible, which I found tedious to read and difficult to comprehend.
At age 18, while on exchange in Brazil, my host family introduced me to the Spiritist religion; based on my curiosity, they sought out for me an English version of The Spirits’ Book and The Gospel According to Spiritism by Allan Kardec, who had founded the religious movement in the 1800s. The information in the books were channeled to him by spirits through various clairvoyant mediums.
I gratefully accepted the books and immediately read them with interest. The books, along with my host families and Brazilian friends, introduced me to the presence and influence of spirits; channeling through a medium (with various demonstrations); the concept of reincarnation, including discussing past-life memories and regression; the concept of karma and spiritual progress. One of my closest friends communicated regularly with her sister, who had died in a car accident years before; this friend also regularly received and passed on messages from other deceased friends and family members. Interestingly, this information and ability did not feel like an epiphany to me. Though these beliefs departed radically from my Christian indoctrination, they felt familiar to me, like I already knew them but they had simply slipped my mind—the books simply reminded me—and that was the epiphany!
My spiritual journey led me to continue to explore many spiritual pathways. The autobiography of Paramahansa Yogananda, entitled Autobiography of a Yogi, introduced me to a yogic spiritual perspective focusing on meditation. Over the years, I read many New Age spiritual books by authors like Marianne Williamson, Wayne Dyer, and Deepak Chopra. And, somehow, I wandered into the realms of more esoteric teachings from the ancient Egyptian mystery schools, and even further back in time.
More and more, I focused on reading ‘channeled’ works—meaning that they were directly communicated by non-physical beings to a physical person. Most works were channeled directly and privately through an ‘inner voice’ that the person heard inside their head—such as Neale Donald Walsch experienced and detailed in his book Conversations with God. Or, the epic work, A Course in Miracles, which is purported to be the voice of Christ. The preface of ACIM details how it came about:
A Course in Miracles began with the sudden decision of two people to join in a common goal. Their names were Helen Schucman and William Thetford, Professors of Medical Psychology at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. It does not matter who they were, except that the story shows that with God all things are possible. They were anything but spiritual. Their relationship with each other was difficult and often strained, and they were concerned with personal and professional acceptance and status. In general, they had considerable investment in the values of the world. Their lives were hardly in accord with anything that the Course advocates. Helen, the one who received the material, describes herself:
Psychologist, educator, conservative in theory and atheistic in belief, I was working in a prestigious and highly academic setting. And then something happened that triggered a chain of events I could never have predicted. The head of my department unexpectedly announced that he was tired of the angry and aggressive feelings our attitudes reflected, and concluded that “there must be another way.” As if on cue, I agreed to help him find it. Apparently this Course is the other way.
Although their intention was serious, they had great difficulty in starting out on their joint venture. But they had given the Holy Spirit the “little willingness” that, as the Course itself was to emphasize again and again, is sufficient to enable Him to use any situation for His purposes and provide it with His power.
To continue Helen’s first-person account:
Three startling months preceded the actual writing, during which time Bill suggested that I write down the highly symbolic dreams and descriptions of the strange images that were coming to me. Although I had grown more accustomed to the unexpected by that time, I was still very surprised when I wrote, “This is a course in miracles.” That was my introduction to the Voice. It made no sound, but seemed to be giving me a kind of rapid, inner dictation which I took down in a shorthand notebook. The writing was never automatic. It could be interrupted at any time and later picked up again. It made me very uncomfortable, but it never seriously occurred to me to stop. It seemed to be a special assignment I had somehow, somewhere agreed to complete. It represented a truly collaborative venture between Bill and myself, and much of its significance, I am sure, lies in that. I would take down what the Voice “said” and read it to him the next day, and he typed it from my dictation. I expect he had his special assignment, too. Without his encouragement and support I would never have been able to fulfill mine. The whole process took about seven years. The Text came first, then the Workbook for Students, and finally the Manual for Teachers. Only a few minor changes have been made. Chapter titles and subheadings have been inserted in the Text, and some of the more personal references that occurred at the beginning have been omitted. Otherwise the material is substantially unchanged.
I also enjoyed reading about past-life experiences gleaned through past-life regression, with such experts as Dolores Cannon. As noted on her website, her career “as a hypnotherapist specializing in past life regression spanned almost 50 years and had taken her on an incredible journey along countless fascinating destinations.” Dolores’ Convoluted Universe series is sheer mind candy! Some of her books, like Jesus and the Essenes, chronicle the experiences of people who lived close to Jesus.
3. A Manifestation of a Divine or Supernatural Being
Many times, I re-read Glenda Green’s books, Love Without End: Jesus Speaks and The Keys of Jeshua, which transcribed conversations she had with Jeshua (Jesus—’Jeshua’ was his true Aramaic name, pronounced ‘Yeshua’) when he embodied himself so she could paint his portrait—an experience that was certainly an epiphany for Glenda in the sense of an actual physical ‘manifestation of a divine or supernatural being.’ Yes, Glenda states that Jeshua actually appeared to her in physical form and he explained to her how he did it! Jeshua also explained and clarified many passages from the Bible that I had previously found incomprehensible—correcting lost translation and bringing them to light in a revelatory way that brought with them many epiphanies for me. (For example, see the post, Blessings and Happiness, The Eight Beatitudes.)
These kinds of ‘visitations’ were not novel to Glenda—I read a number of books that related similar experiences, including Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard. The insights within them led me back around to my Christian roots with a new appreciation for the true foundational teachings of Christ.
The Magi experienced an epiphany, in the sense of definition 3, when “it was seen by them in a dream that they should not return to Herodus, and they went to their country by another road.” And, apparently, Jesus’ father, Joseph, also experienced an epiphany (or several):
13And as they went, The Angel of THE LORD JEHOVAH appeared in a dream to Yoseph, and said to him, “Arise, take The Boy and his mother, and flee to Egypt and stay there, until I speak to you, for Herodus is going to seek The Boy to destroy him.”
In the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament, we read many references to these kinds of epiphanies—visits by divine or supernatural beings, sometimes in dreams and sometimes in awakened states. Yet, in my experience anyway, today’s Christian church appears to have lost sight of the ability to directly access guidance from divine or supernatural beings. In my upbringing, the focus lay upon asking—by praying to God—rather than on receiving direct guidance from angels or other supernatural beings, as Mary and Joseph did.
Yet, ‘channeled’ messages from non-physical, ‘higher beings’ have guided my spiritual journey from a young age, as noted above. Further, since the pivotal year 2012 (in astrological terms, the dawning of the Age of Aquarius and, based on Mayan prophecies, the beginning of a new 25,920-year cycle—the Precession of the Zodiac), the channels of communication appear to have opened significantly more and more people have begun to share messages from higher beings.
The entities communicating these messages include:
Beings who incarnated on Earth in the past.
Beings who incarnated on Earth in the future and have come back to assist us, including future aspects of the person channeling them.
Beings who have never incarnated on Earth and sometimes who have never incarnated into any physical body.
Extraterrestrial beings who have incarnated on other planets in other star systems.
Beings we have considered only as myth, like faeries or elementals.
Extra-dimensional beings who reside either physically or non-physically in other dimensions (we currently reside in the very densely physical 3rd dimension).
Individual souls or collective consciousnesses.
Enlightened Masters who have incarnated many times as humans but have ‘graduated’ from physical existence.
Etc.
You can find people channeling non-physical beings on many YouTube channels—and these channels have tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands, of subscribers so they have certainly become more mainstream.
My current favourite channeled beings include:
Adamus Saint-Germain, channeled by Geoffrey Hoppe on TheCrimsonCircle.
Lorie Ladd channels various beings, including the Galactic Federation of Light, etc. on Lorie Ladd.
Micheila Sheldan channels many beings, including Mary Magdalene, etc. on AAE tv.
4. A Moment of Sudden Revelation or Insight
Listening to higher beings through channeled works have brought me too many insights or epiphanies, in the sense of definition 4, than I could possibly relate here (though I relate many of them in other posts on this site). That said, access to the information these beings provide has brought me several overriding revelations:
Clarification & Deeper Insight
Although I believe that the Bible contains deep wisdom, I always distrusted the translations and deviations from the original works. Wading through the inaccuracies to uncover the true messages felt futile. If only there were a way to access the original information and to seek clarification, when needed…. What many Christians wouldn’t do to speak directly with Jesus—to sit at his feet, like a disciple! Channeling an ascended Master like Jeshua or Mary Magdalene offers that direct connection.
Broader Connections
To my surprise, these beings, including Jeshua, did not limit their information to spiritual topics; they also spoke on science and technology, as well as topics like astronomy, astrology, mathematics, and sacred geometry. In a complete departure from the traditional Christian view of Jesus as simple and uneducated—the son of a poor, lowly carpenter and a meek, ignorant girl—Jeshua has been revealed as a well-traveled (with his Uncle Joseph of Arimathea), widely educated (in the Egyptian mystery school, Indian yogic traditions, and with the British druids), and highly knowledgeable enlightened Master with a full understanding of universal and physical laws.
References to these broader topics led me to study the connection between ancient myths and symbols and leading-edge science like quantum physics. I’ve intensely enjoyed learning from visionary physicists like Nassim Haramein, who contends that God consciousness plays a key role in understanding the universe and his quest for a unified field theory for everything—a theory that will not only further our understanding of reality but also lead to revolutionary practical discoveries like free, zero-point energy, thereby helping us to make the leap from science fiction to science reality. Sci-fi movies typically depict ‘first contact’ in epically physical proportions, like giant spaceships bringing alien legions; conversely, the extraterrestrial beings I’ve listened to point out the gentle beauty of their non-confrontational form of non-physical ‘first contact’—through channeled messages.
Personal Empowerment
In addition to the insights available through information passed on by other people channeling these beings, the beings themselves state emphatically that anyone can speak with them directly—anyone can channel. All it takes is the ‘little willingness’ to sit in silence for long enough to hear them. Some people hear a clear voice inside their head; others practice ‘automatic writing’ in which the being writes through them; others receive ‘downloads’ of information; others allow a being to speak through their voice to an audience. Whatever form or process works best for us, we are all capable of opening these channels of communication—with our higher selves, angels, and guides, in addition to making contact with these many other enlightened beings. And, they have stated that they eagerly await our decision to initiate the conversation—our own ‘first contact.’ That realization is truly the epiphany.
The I AM Seriesexplores our true identity as spiritual beings. I believe…
I AM an eternal, multi-dimensional, spiritual being who has chosen to fragment into this temporary aspect to physically experience ascending in consciousness.
In my last I AM Series post, I Am the AND…, I explored how you are and i am the ‘and’—we are that and that and that in the mysterious Biblical phrase:
i am that I AM:
i am: my separated self—ego and personality—in this fragmented, temporary aspect of my whole, unified self.
that:my true multi-dimensional nature—many aspects, simultaneously experiencing reality from different perspectives, in many dimensions and timelines. I am that and that and that.
I AM:Unity consciousness—Source, God—in the infinite, eternal NOW….
King James 2000: Exodus 3:13-14
13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you.
We ended that post with what could be considered a rather startling revelation:
Who am I?
I am that and that and that….
Here is the big statement that requires some courage to say aloud—here is the grand finale…. Who am I really?
I AM GOD choosing to have an experience. Actually, I am God choosing to have every experience. I am God choosing to have every experience from every possible perspective. We are fragments of the whole—ALL of them connected—One Source, enacting consciousness.
And, on that grande note, in this final post in the seven-part series, we arrive at the concluding statement in the phrase: I AM….
The One is the All
Our journey to our I AM essence leads us to ascend into the ethereal realms, based on our expanding realization that we are all God enacting consciousness—“The One is the All.” Perceived by the soul as divine Source, harmonious and whole, aether transcends physical reality to arrive in the eternal now—unity consciousness—I AM.
ae·ther
noun: aether
According to ancient and medieval science, aether, also known as the fifth element or quintessence, is the material that fills the region of the universe beyond the terrestrial sphere.
Plato designated the dodecahedron to symbolize aether in what have become known as the ‘Platonic Solids.’
e·the·re·al
adjective: ethereal
extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world.
(Note that the word ‘ethereal’ contains the phrase ‘the real.’)
As Bashar states in his four laws of existence:
You exist.
The one is the One; the all are the One.
What you put out is what you get back.
Change is the only constant, except for the first three laws.
This ascension into the ethereal realms is the journey to enlightenment—the journey through the dense shadow of lower-dimensional realities to the light and lightness of being. It is to shed light on, or to en-lighten—to make lighter or to unweight—our karmic baggage, traumas, and fears by reintegrating all of the aspects of ourselves who experienced separation through them into the divine whole. We integrate all of our ‘i am’ aspects—that and that and that—into our ‘I AM,’ thereby dissolving or ‘alchemizing’ the density associated with them. In this great paradox, we simultaneously release and accept, disintegrate and reintegrate—in the divine whole, all paradoxes are reconciled. This is true self-acceptance.
* From the book, Act of Consciousness: To Be or Not To Be…Enlightened ~ Adamus Saint-Germain, as channeled by Geoffrey Hoppe
Rather than suddenly knowing or having everything, enlightenment is integration. You integrate all of your aspects, as well as your soul being and human being, into the I Am. The integration comes when you have compassionate acceptance of yourself. Integration occurs when you love yourself, without exception or reservation. With this love and acceptance, all the parts, pieces, aspects and ghosts of yourself find their way back home for integration. You feel fulfilled rather than fragmented. Instead of feeling like pieces of a puzzle, you feel whole. Enlightenment is freedom.
Enlightenment is the natural evolution for every souled being.
Consciousness is Elemental Reality
The I AM, found in the statement ‘I exist’—eternally, without beginning or end—is indeed singular, elemental reality in every sense of the word:
el·e·men·tal
adjective: elemental
primary or basic. “elemental features from which all other structures are compounded”. synonyms: basic, primary, principal, fundamental, essential, elementary, radical, root, underlying, rudimentary, primitive, primordial
related to or embodying the powers of nature.
noun: elemental
a supernatural entity or force thought to be physically manifested by occult means.
Within the word ‘elemental,’ we find the word ‘mental,’ relating to consciousness, which always comes first. After all, mustn’t we always become ‘aware’ of something before we can ‘do’ something about it? And mustn’t we always imagine an idea first, and architect it within our minds eye before we can build it in the physical? Why would the universe be any different? The ancient mystery schools, led by Hermes, taught The Law of Mentalism: The ALL is MIND—the universe is a mental construct.
* From the book, The Kybalion: A Study of The Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece ~ Three Initiates
THE ALL = substantial reality, the underlying cause of everything.
SPIRIT = unknowable and indefinable, universal, infinite, Living Mind.
All of the phenomenal world or universe is a Mental Creation of THE ALL, subject to the Laws of the Universe.
The universe is a mental construct.
For anything to exist, it must be formed as a thought first, a manifestation second.
Consciousness is Open-Ended
In a recent talk channeled by Geoffrey Hoppe, enlightened master, Adamus Saint-Germain defined consciousness versus thought. (Having incarnated as both William Shakespeare and Mark Twain, Adamus still revels in playing with language and punctuation!)
Always ends with a period followed by an ellipsis….
Undefined, open-ended….
i am that I AM…. (now go into the experience)
I exist…. (it is a consciousness, an awareness….)
It is…. (experience the feeling of it)
To be continued, to be experienced….
Who you really are….
“I love the taste of my meal….” (awareness, consciousness)
Thoughts.
Always ends with only a period.
Defined, structured, temporary, often judgemental.
“I am 50 years old.”
“It is nice out today.”
The ways of playing it out.
The mind is obedient—it forms a reality and stays within an identity. Thoughts are what build identities.
“This salad is so fresh.” (judgement, thought)
That’s how your soul is—it’s just there. It’s the I Am, the core consciousness, always there. It doesn’t differentiate between a good day or a bad day. It doesn’t even know it’s a day. it just is. Always shining.
Adamus Saint-Germain
Act of Consciousness: To Be or Not To Be…Enlightened
The Zero Point
Consciousness is elemental; thoughts are secondary. Thoughts manifest energy vibrating on different frequencies; physical reality is energy in motion. (Or, as Albert Einstein put it, E = mc2. Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Considering that the speed of light squared equals a very large number, it means that a tiny mass can equal a very large quantity of energy.)
Today, leading-edge physicists endeavour to express elemental reality in mathematical terms, as part of their quest for ‘the theory of everything.’ In his documentary, Black Whole, physicist Nassim Haramein discusses his ongoing work to discover a ‘unified field theory.’ “Central to the unified field theory of Nassim Haramein is the idea that all objects on all scales are centered by stillness: a singularity at the center of what he terms a ‘Black Whole’.” (Black holes are astonishingly heavy, meaning that they also contain an extraordinary amount of energy.) Physicists also refer to this point—this singularity at the centre—as the ‘zero point,’ from which we may someday harness zero-point energy.
Likewise, we could say that Spirit vibrates at such an infinite rate of intensity and rapidity that it is practically at rest—the stillness at the centre, within the eternal now—like the hub within the centre of a rapidly spinning wheel appears to be motionless. And, so, we can express elemental reality as the dot within the circle: “Yo soy el punto,” which means, “I am the point.”
Above and beyond all the personal realities you may create or believe in, there is one consistent basis for reality, and that is the very essence and presence of God manifested through all existence…. The salient characteristic of reality is that its integrated consistency permits verification from every perceptual approach.
But, we need not study quantum physics to rise into the ethereal realms to arrive at elemental reality. At any time, we may return our awareness to this zero point by stilling the body, quieting the mind, and focusing on the breath—in the space between breaths, we arrive back home to the eternal now, where we know, fully and completely, that the One is the ALL and our true nature.
I find myself lying on my back on the damp grass, my body still pulsing with heat. I am spent. My breathing eases; I lay in languid ease, my eyelids slowly dropping and then lifting open again to behold the heavens. A meteor radiates across the constellation Perseus. In my mind’s eye, I follow the path of its comet through the solar system and back. I watch the star, Sirius, appear and I remember the feel of its warmth on my skin when I lived in its binary solar system.
As dawn approaches, the waning crescent moon dances with the dazzling crescent of the planet Venus—two brilliant and beautiful celestial bodies, shining brightest in the predawn sky. The moon, the ambassador of primal emotions and earthly cycles; Venus, the planet of harmony, beauty, refinement, and affection, evoking and reflecting the desire to unite. I know all the celestial bodies; I love them all, intimately—as intimately as I now know and love all the incarnations of all the aspects of me now alchemized into precious crystal. I feel the pulse of Gaia against my back as we slowly spin together through the solar system.
The mist of the morning dawn surrounds me and I breathe it all in deeply. Then, ever so faintly, I hear the lullaby of the Great Mother, softly, from behind the final veil. My body rises up off the grass, through the cloud of cool vapour, refreshing my exposed skin with minuscule water droplets. With a swift intake of breath, I am lifted upon the wings of Isis—the Great Strength in softness—to greet she who is part of me, my lineage, my Star Mother.
The Divine Feminine surrounds me. Mother Mary draws me to her chest—her bosom, the template of infinite love. Grandmother Anna gently lifts my feet into her warm lap—her thighs, the template of infinite presence. Mary Magdalene adorns my heart with a garland of pink roses—her hands, the template of infinite compassion. Master Yeshua leans in and gently kisses my head and then rests his forehead against mine, anointing it with the fragrant oil that anointed him—his crown, the template of infinite wisdom. I am cradled in their arms, rocked by the gentle breeze, warmed by their united love.
And in their divine warmth, I am completely cured of all ills; I am made anew. That is what love does—that is what higher consciousness is like—it cures itself. The dead, dull skin of old energy sloughs away to reveal the shining, gleaming, glorious realization of you made in the image of your Creator. Beautiful. Radiant. Magnificent.
I feel the ground gently meet my back as Gaia embraces me once again. The last veil flutters down to earth, enveloping me in ethereal silk as I curl onto my side. My eyes become heavier. Dragon appears beside me and coils their gleaming white form around me. The weight of their golden wing covers me. And I slip into the void of sleep.
Who are you?
You are that and that and that….
Here is the big statement that requires some courage to say aloud—here is the grand finale…. Who are you really?
YOU ARE GOD choosing to have an experience.
Actually, YOU ARE GOD choosing to have every experience.
YOU ARE GOD choosing to have every experience from every possible perspective.
We are fragments of the One whole—ALL of them connected—One Source, enacting consciousness.
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, There is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, The world is too full, to talk about. ~ Rumi
For six months in 2020, my family boarded our quarter-horse gelding, Phoenix, on a private property down the street from us. To keep him company, we borrowed a Canadian breed gelding named Titan from a nearby ranch. In contrast to Phoenix’s large, sometimes clumsy and very definitively earthly ‘horsiness,’ Titan looked more like a mythical creature, with velvet, mottled ebony sides and long, flowing mane, tail, and hoof feathers. Whereas Phoenix trotted, cantered, and galloped, Titan pranced, danced, and frolicked. In fact, he looked so little like a ‘Titan’ and so much like a mythical creature, that we called him ‘Dragon’ and surmised that he was actually a dragon attempting unsuccessfully to disguise himself as a horse. And, as we cared for Phoenix and ‘Dragon’ daily in the beauty of their expansive, lush, green paddock overlooking the Grand River, the wheels of my imagination turned and out began to flow, almost as gracefully as Dragon moved, what I continue to refer to as simply ‘the dragon book.’
Interestingly, back in June, 2015, I reconnected with a former business colleague from my corporate days; she had also left the high-tech industry—to pursue a career as an energy healer and psychic. I booked an appointment with her; in it, she mentioned seeing beautiful books I had written with dragons in them. At the time, I attempted to make her prediction true by brainstorming ideas for children’s’ books with dragons in them, but I didn’t feel inspired enough to actually write any. Over five years later, and many thousand words into The Dragon Book, it suddenly dawned on me that perhaps, just perhaps, she was referring to this book.
For me, writing The Dragon Book is very much a form of visionary activism. I am envisioning the world I desire—and it feels beautiful, liberating, and expansive. It resonates with the frequency on which I desire to live; it feels like the new earth calling me. And so, I don’t write it because I believe there’s ‘a market for it,’ nor because I want to (finally) have finished writing a novel (although, obviously, both of these would be nice), I write it because, as I communicated in the Forward, “it resonates more clearly, more harmonically, more fluidly than anything I’ve experienced outwardly, to the point that retreating into it feels like a trance. In short, it feels like coming home.”
Things are worth doing even if you can’t measure any of the results.
Kyle Cease
Revealing Both Sides of the Veil
I share excerpts from The Dragon Book here and there on this blog; I hope that you enjoy reading them as much as I have enjoyed imagining them.
I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in a a world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith.
The I AM Seriesexplores our true identity as spiritual beings. I believe…
I AM an eternal, multi-dimensional, spiritual being who has chosen to fragment into this temporary aspect to physically experience ascending in consciousness.
At the beginning of their Grade 9 school year, my eldest, Fynn—who identifies as non-binary—texted me the following from their new class:
“My teacher keeps calling us ‘Ladies and Gentlemen.’ I guess I am the ‘and.’”
I laughed and grimaced simultaneously—their teacher clearly needed a lesson in inclusive language. But, the statement, ‘I am the and,’ also struck me from another perspective—a more multi-dimensional one.
In my last I AM Series post, I explored how you are and i am that I AM:
i am that I AM:
i am: my separated self—ego and personality—in this fragmented, temporary aspect of my whole, unified self.
that:my true multi-dimensional nature—many aspects, simultaneously experiencing reality from different perspectives, in many dimensions and timelines. I am that and that and that.
I AM:Unity consciousness—Source, God—in the infinite, eternal NOW….
The Biblical I AM THAT I AM
From King James 2000: Exodus 3:13-14
13. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them?
14. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you.
I considered the ‘and’ in the statement, ‘I am that and that and that‘. Imagine for a moment the possibilities in this statement—the ‘scope for imagination,’ as Anne of Green Gables would say. We are all on an eternal journey, to explore an infinity of possibilities—to have every experience that ever happened, is happening, and will happen, or never happened, is not happening, and never will happen. All at once. Countless timelines, in many lifetimes, in many dimensions, played out in an endless number of multiverses—every experience, from every possible perspective—all happening in the now.
* From the book: SUMMUM: Sealed Except to the Open Mind ~ Summum Bonum Amen Ra
Automatically, with no beginning and no end, do these Grand Opposites of NOTHING and POSSIBILITY come in and out of bond infinite times in a finite moment—therefore creating as series of infinite EVENTS. These infinite events held within the finite moment of singularity, manifest as infinite conceptualized energy that is then externalized through phenomenal, inconceivable projections, limitless in number. Among these countless projections, one produced our universe through an extreme rapid expansion, what has been called the BIG BANG—an EVENT. In essence, there are infinite big bangs creating infinite universes whose origin is an eternal, finite moment of infinite events, all produced by NOTHING and POSSIBILITY.…
Sound exciting? Or far-fetched? Not according to quantum physics; in the words of Stephen Hawking:
“There might be one history in which the moon is made of Roquefort cheese. But we have observed that the moon is not made of cheese, which is bad news for mice. Hence histories in which the moon is made of cheese do not contribute to the present state of our universe, though they might contribute to others. That might sound like science fiction, but it isn’t.” ~ Stephen Hawking, The Grand Design, A Brief History of Time
The ‘you’ reading this post—this conscious soul fragment, in this temporary body, in this singular timeline, vibrating in this specific frequency—observes your reality from one perspective. And, at the same time, you have other aspects of yourself vibrating energetically in other frequencies, experiencing other realities, in other incarnations, bodies, timelines, and dimensions. And, you have a higher self, and an oversoul, and extra-dimensional guides who are your future self returning to assist you, and….
* From the book: SUMMUM: Sealed Except to the Open Mind ~ Summum Bonum Amen Ra
The Grand Principle of Creation embodies your SUBJECTIVE OBSERVATION of Creation Itself, in which the process of observation between NOTHING and POSSIBILITY produces the EVENT of Creation.
In quantum physics, this ‘subjective observation’ is called the Observer Effect.
“The observer effect is the fact that observing a situation or phenomenon necessarily changes it. Observer effects are especially prominent in physics where observation and uncertainty are fundamental aspects of modern quantum mechanics.” ~ The Observer Effect, IEEE Xplore
Here’s my favourite video explaining the Observer Effect in quantum physics:
Consider the classic philosophical question, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?” Based on Newtonian mechanics, we would answer ‘yes.’ But, based on quantum physics, we would answer ‘no’—in fact, we could question whether or not the tree actually exists at all without an observer. Is the tree just waves of potential until an observer manifests it into particles of physical reality?
Have you ever asked, “what would have happened if I had made a different choice?” That question alone contains the energy to manifest an alternate timeline in which you have the opportunity to explore the answer. In the same talk I referred to in my last post, Matt Kahn refers to ‘meta-reincarnation,’ when we ask, “What did my last life look like?—Like this one, but with shittier choices.”
With each differing choice, each aspect of ourselves alters just a little—mentally, emotionally, and even physically—until they only resemble us a little, perhaps like our family members. Eventually, the variations increase so much, and those other aspects change so much, based on so many different choices, that they become completely unrecognizable as us—like strangers. These are the strangers whom we walk past on the street, or see in the news—the ones we really cannot relate to at all, from whom we believe we are completely separate, and with whom we think we have absolutely nothing in common. Except we do. We are them and they are us.
And here is another interesting concept to consider—if it all only appears to happen in time, but actually all happens in the eternal now, then changing your mind about it, or pondering a different choice now, can not only positively alter the present, and the course of the future, it can also alter the past. (I explore this possibility in my short story, Anni Annihilation.)
It is all possible and it is all happening—we’re just not consciously aware of it presently. Or are we?
Perhaps it was; perhaps it wasn’t. It matters not. It is the purpose that matters.
“To make me suffer?”
Never to make you suffer. To remove your attachment to suffering. You came not to suffer but to meet humanity—to meet yourself—with a new consciousness. But, first, one must release the trauma one carries. The trauma of years; of lifetimes; of eons. Embedded within your being—within your subconscious; your lineage, your ancestry; within your genes, your very cells.
In the past, humanity met that mission with resistance, burdened with the baggage of thousands, even millions, of years of density. You returned to the body in this incarnation, determined to release the resistance and move forward—to show the way for the rest of humanity—to lead by example. The soul becomes enlightened; the human simply releases the impediments to allowing the opening to awareness.
“Who am I? Am I still human? I don’t remember. Or, I remember too much. Were they all real? Did they all happen? Did I do all those things or only dream them? There were too many; I’ve lost myself in them.”
You lost yourself to remember your Self. You are all of them and none of them. In the past, they all happened. And now, none of them happened.
“But, the things I dreamt…the things I did…. I still remember them, like nightmares. I feel them. They haunt me; they were bad…horrible…humiliating.”
Everything exists on a circular scale. Humiliation is simply heroism becoming. We assist you to move along that scale.
“What scale?”
Judgement based on polarity—on the belief in ‘good’ and ‘evil.’ On the belief in separation that only exists in the third dimension. You are on a journey through the fourth dimension, on your way to the fifth dimension. You cannot rise up to that degree with all that heavy karmic baggage weighing you down. It’s too dense to come with you. Too heavy. It all has to disintegrate. A process that you have already begun.
“Begun?!”
Yes, breaking down always comes first—we must dissolve and reabsorb the old before we may give rise to the new.
“How do I do that? How do I finish it?”
By reconnecting, re-membering—reintegrating all the fragments of your reality. By re-embodying all your aspects. Recognizing, experiencing, feeling them fully. They deserve your recognition, your true understanding. You experienced what you deemed ‘bad’ but that only signifies one side of polarity. You must acknowledge both sides to cancel them out.
“But, I don’t know how.”
The dragon will help you for as long as you require help.
“Aren’t you the dragon? Whose voice is this?”
Hah, no, dragons do not philosophize, my dear one, they are far too pragmatic for that. We help you to rationalize it all mentally; we give you a sounding board. Dragons alchemize density.
“What does that mean?”
The breaking down. They help you to release what no longer serves you—trauma, guilt, shame, anger—any and all emotional baggage that you carry from experiences that have hurt or angered you. They take you into the shadow to purge the toxins that have made you sick. To purge anything that you have judged as ‘bad’ rather than ‘good.’ The dragon has a job to do and they will do it unflinchingly.
“How?”
They burn them. There is a reason they breathe fire. Heat alchemizes density. Your fever started the process.
“It was awful. Why does it have to be so awful? Does it have to hurt so much?”
Hah, well, that is up to you. You have free will up to a point. Then, the baggage has to go—that is where free will ends. Ascension is as natural for the spirit as growing up is for the physical body; these are the growing pains, so to speak—puberty sucks. But, you can choose how to do it. You can agonize your way through it slowly—sickness, torture, slow and excruciatingly painful deaths all work very well for that.
“Why would anyone choose those?”
Oh, my dear, most ascended masters chose the slow, agonizing approach; they believed they must suffer through the process. That’s how the concept of purgatory began. And, there’s nothing like a good burning at the stake to satisfy the ego’s need for martyrdom. Humans so love a good tragedy in the third dimension. And it makes for such an entertaining story after the fact. You know, ‘All the world’s a stage…yada yada.’ You can exit stage left with a bang, a scream, a moan, or a sigh—it’s your production.
“So, I can choose a less painful path?”
Oh yes, you can make it a romance, if you like. You can ask the dragon to light a fire for you and then you can toss each trauma onto it like a log and waltz gracefully around it as it burns—though that much tossing and waltzing can become dizzyingly exhausting.
“Or…?”
Or you can make it an epic drama—’to be or not to be’ the log and throw yourself onto the fire, feeling the searing heat as the fire burns through you. And then you rise like a Phoenix from the ashes. That approach is faster, and much grander a finale.
“It sounds terribly painful.”
Ah, well, it’s just heat.
“How do you know so much about this if you’re not the dragon? Who are you?”
We know about it because we’ve done it. It’s a done deal, my dear.
“But, who are you?”
We are you; your Higher Self. Your future self. You asked for help. We responded.
“So, are you only in my head?”
We are inside your head and outside your head. We are no place and all places that every iteration of you has ever been, are now, or ever will be. Hannah was a fractal of us. You are a larger piece. We are the whole.
“Do you have a name?”
I am that I AM.
“‘Iam.’ Okay.”
No. Well, okay, for now, ‘Iam’ will do.
Who am I?
I am that and that and that….
Here is the big statement that requires some courage to say aloud—here is the grand finale…. Who am I really?
I AM GOD choosing to have an experience. Actually, I am God choosing to have every experience. I am God choosing to have every experience from every possible perspective. We are fragments of the whole—ALL of them connected—One Source, enacting consciousness.
…perhaps you are not here to change all of the things your soul is observing that are going wrong, but you are here to reclaim the parts of you that have been forgotten.
We’re all an experience in progress, as is my definition of who I AM. Since the last post in my I AM Series, my definition has evolved:
From…
I AM an eternal spiritual being who has chosen to have this temporary physical experience for the purpose of growing in faith, awareness, and the ability to love unconditionally.
To…
I AM an eternal, multi-dimensional, spiritual being who has chosen to fragment into this temporary aspect to physically experience ascending in consciousness.
i am that I AM:
i am: my separated self—ego and personality—in this fragmented, temporary aspect of my whole, unified self.
that:my true multi-dimensional nature—many aspects, simultaneously experiencing reality from different perspectives, in many dimensions and timelines. I am that and that and that.
I AM:Unity consciousness—Source, God—in the infinite, eternal NOW….
King James 2000: Exodus 3:13-14
13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you.
As part of my exploration of I AM, I recently enjoyed listening to Matt Kahn’s deconstruction of the Biblical phrase “i am that I AM”. Here’s a summary of Matt’s interpretation; you may listen to his full talk in the video below:
i am that I AM
Transcribed from the recorded presentation: “I am that I AM” ~Matt Kahn, Aug 13, 2019
i am = the little ‘i’. The individualized self. The ego. Divinity in Potential.
THAT = a reference to anything—I am that, and that, and that. The journey of expansion from i am to I AM, through which we learn that: Everything is Source; Source is Everything.
I AM = the BIG I. GOD. Source. The One. Divinity in Reality. 1 (the Roman Numeral One) Awareness Manifested
T.H.A.T. stands for:
Truth: Everything is truth because truth is the inclusion of all experiences and viewpoints in our lives. It is that, and that, and that…. Truth means how authentically you present yourself in the presence of others. The question of truth is: Where in your life do you not find yourself acting authentically? And, if you don’t act authentically, it’s because there’s a part of you that doesn’t feel safe. And, if there’s a part of you that doesn’t feel safe, that’s where we love—because we’re training our nervous system to be able to hold the frequency of higher vibrations of consciousness.
Honour: The counterpart of truth, honour is the quality of choices that you embrace when no one is looking. When we do something privately that we know is not good for us, we are using it to hide from the lack of safety, the unworthiness, or the doubt that keeps us in the lower ‘i am’ perspective. This is why we love—we expose the hiding spot of our deepest vulnerabilities…bring it into the light so it can become the uppercase I AM of our highest potential.
Alignment: When we align Truth in the presence of people and Honour in the absence of people—those two qualities create Alignment.
Transcendence: We embody the ‘I AM’ within this ‘i am’ experience. I will love myself so deeply that I stop resonating with fantasy and I come into the reality that I AM so interconnected to all beings that people around me start popping open and waking up.
The totality of Oneness of the All cannot be ‘experienced’. Instead, it is known by virtue of being it. The ‘I’ of the Self is the Eye of God witnessing the unfolding of Creation as Now. Sequence is an illusion created by the perception of the ‘I’ of the ego, which is the point of observation of the processing of the nonlocal to the local, of the nonlinear to the linear, of Allness to ‘this-ness’. Perception is the eye of the ego that, as it translates the inexperienceable Infinite to the experienceable finite, produces the perception of time, place, duration, dimension, position, form, limitation, and singularity.
David R. Hawkins M.D. Ph.D
(1927 - 2012),The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing Is Hidden
Thank you, Matt, I hope this post adequately honours you and wisdom.
My soul is walking towards me. I read this line in a book recently—a very special book channelled by my dear friend and Mastermind partner Wolfgang Racher. I’ve been repeating it over and over. What does it mean?
To me, ‘My soul is walking towards me’ means that I am on my path to meeting my spiritual goals—my goals as an eternal spiritual being—in addition to my earthly ones. I AM becoming…more connected, more focused, more whole. I am growing in faith, awareness and the ability to love unconditionally. I am rising up to meet my perfect Self—the Self who never separated from God.
In my I AM Series, I discussed how I “self-identify”:
I AM an eternal spiritual being who has chosen to have this temporary physical experience for the purpose of growing in faith, awareness, and the ability to love unconditionally.
From: Acquittal for Mankind Chapter: It is possible!
By: Wolfgang Racher
This chapter tells us that IT IS POSSIBLE to:
Perceive your multi-dimensional character.
Change your states of consciousness.
Move through the channel more quickly that extends from human consciousness into all other planes of perception. The passage, the path between the forms of consciousness, is becoming more and more visible and easier to follow.
It is entirely possible for you to move effectively through the various denser or lighter planes of perception.
The longing to return home is very strong in most of you. Now, it is possible, in contrast to your memories of the Earth, to be “at home”, to find security, comfort, and Love HERE—you can create it and express it here, and bring peace to Earth!
It is now possible for you to achieve an awareness of your deepest origins, your nature, and your mission.
Challenging situations are there to raise you to the same size as the challenge appears to be to you. In such situations, there is also a part of you within it, which wants to lift you up to the same size.
I see my soul walking toward me. She looks young…radiant. Her outline glows in a golden light. She bounces gleefully, every step exuding confidence and certainty. Her bright eyes sparkle with excitement. She smiles widely, ending at dimpled cheeks like the dot on double exclamation points, genuine and full of enthusiasm. Her whole being shines in joyous expectancy.
“You came!” she exclaims, as she draws closer, lifting her arms wide, high into the air.
“I did,” I reply more quietly, slightly perplexed, more astounded, drinking in the profundity of the statement.
“When you believe everything you’ve said above, what is there to be afraid of?”
“Nothing.” I respond, truly realizing it for the first time.
She reaches me and I feel her warmth like sunlight.
I ask: “What do we do now?”
She smiles, then replies, “We dance.”
~ D.Lynn
There’s a future you—a you who already exists in the eternal present moment—who is actually calling himself or herself to the more familiar you who is reading this book. And that future you is more loving, more evolved, more conscious, more present, more kind, more exuberant, more mindful, more willful, more connected, more supernatural, and more whole. That is who is waiting for you to change your energy to match his or her energy on a daily basis so you can find that future you—who actually exists in the eternal now.
Joe Dispenza
Author,Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon
My eldest, Fynn, recently devoured The Hunger Games and then The Divergent novel series—both dystopian futuristic stories in which female heroines save the world from oppression. We watched the movies together.
Fynn asked me which faction I would most fit into—they took a quiz online that placed them in the Dauntless faction. I’ve felt challenged by fear much of my life so I certainly did not align with Dauntless. Their question prompted me to contemplate the concept of being Dauntless—fearless, determined, resolute, indomitable—and how it applies to ‘real’ life.
daunt·less
adjective
1. showing fearlessness and determination.
“dauntless bravery”
“only the most dauntless were selected for this dangerous expedition”
dictionary.com
The Divergent Factions
In Divergent… The society defines its citizens by their social and personality-related affiliation with five different factions, which removes the threat of anyone exercising independent will and threatening the population’s safety. Beatrice Prior, who later changes her name to Tris, an Abnegation-born and Dauntless transfer, must figure out her life as a Divergent, while concealing her true nature, and living with the danger of being killed if it is discovered by the Erudite and Dauntless leaders. Source: Wikipedia
The 5 factions are:
Dauntless (the brave who are cruel)
Amity (the peaceful who are passive)
Erudite (the intelligent who are power-hungry and vain)
The authors of these types of novels (Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings are no exception), tend to draw lines of light & dark, good & bad, very clearly:
We know what’s good. And what’s bad.
We know who’s good. And who’s bad.
We know who will win. And who will lose.
In ‘real’ life, we tend to experience far more ambiguity, open to interpretation:
The world is complex.
We must daily navigate uncertainty.
There is no obvious foe. People show us their depth of complexity.
The rules of the game are not often apparent enough to define how to win or lose.
I don’t fear my inability to save the world through Herculean tasks like conquering He Who Must Not Be Named; I fear my inability to conquer my own fear enough to complete my ‘To Do’ List and my ‘To Be’ List before I die.
For most of us, being dauntless is more about:
Undauntedly tackling cleaning out the basement.
Unflinchingly stepping on the bathroom scale.
Unreservedly giving up booze for Lent.
Unshrinkingly facing the same dirty dishes, after cooking the same meals, day after day after day, with minimal complaining.
Even Downton Abby, a favourite series we watched devotedly, but with a completely different scenario (historical fiction drama versus sci-fi action), plays out like one giant highlights real in which the tedium of life happens “off-stage” while we as viewers flit effortlessly from one relevant scene to the next, spanning entire epic eras, like WWI, in a few episodes.
In real life, Bravery lies in:
Fearlessly facing the tedious tasks and the monotonous moments, with patience and optimism.
Resolutely choosing happiness now, amongst the piles of laundry and the unmade beds.
Determinately winning the internal mental battles that no one sees.
Persevering through daily trials with minimal drama, perhaps even with grace.
Battling boredom by voluntarily choosing to stretch further, reach higher, even though watching TV would be more comfortable.
Privately setting personal goals and working to achieve them without anyone actually knowing or caring—and still feeling victorious.
Courageously continuing despite a complete lack of outward evidence that you should.
Forgiving yourself when you fail, no matter how privately or publicly, and trying again.
Loving yourself now, before you’ve won.
Many people settle for fumbling their way through life with minimal suffering and fail. Becoming dauntless lies in wanting more and choosing to pursue it—no matter how small the steps or how slow the progress—with faith, determination, perseverance, and forgiveness.
I AM…becoming…dauntless.
Nosce Te Ipsum
Latin for 'Know thyself'.
“...[this] Greek aphorism may have been adopted from Ancient Egypt: there are two parts of the ancient Luxor Temple, the External Temple, where the beginners were allowed to enter and the Internal Temple where a person was only allowed to enter after proven worthy and ready to acquire more knowledge and insights. One of the proverbs of the External Temple is "The body is the house of God." In the Internal Temple, one of the many proverbs is "Man, know thyself, and you are going to know the gods".”
In the first post in this I AM Series, entitled I AM, I discussed how I “self-identify”:
I AM an eternal spiritual being who has chosen to have this temporary physical experience for the purpose of growing in faith, awareness, and the ability to love unconditionally.
As an eternal spiritual being, I believe that I have experienced many incarnations on this planet (and likely other planets) in many different bodies, circumstances, and geographies. I also believe that we all consciously choose our experiences and challenges in advance of each life, based upon our ultimate free will in combination with the law of karma. We choose the pivotal experiences in our physical lives for the purpose of growing in faith, awareness, and the ability to love unconditionally. We are always changing, always growing, always ‘becoming’ greater.
So, when something bad happens to us that appears to come out of the blue, the question to ask is not “Why me?”, but rather “What did I intend to learn from this experience?”—knowing that, if we, in our spiritual form, consciously chose this experience for ourselves, we must be capable of overcoming it and finding the purpose in it.
Doesn’t that question, “What did I intend to learn from this experience?”, shift your perspective on difficult or even tragic experiences?
When we succeed, we grow in faith in ourselves.
When we fail, we grow in our ability to forgive ourselves and love ourselves unconditionally.
As our awareness grows, we feel gratitude for all experiences, even the ones that feel negative at the time.
We start to understand our existence from a spiritual perspective—as a soul, not a biological organism.
We walk the path to becoming self-actualized.
Nosce Te Ipsum
Latin for 'Know thyself'.
“...[this] Greek aphorism may have been adopted from Ancient Egypt: there are two parts of the ancient Luxor Temple, the External Temple, where the beginners were allowed to enter and the Internal Temple where a person was only allowed to enter after proven worthy and ready to acquire more knowledge and insights. One of the proverbs of the External Temple is "The body is the house of God." In the Internal Temple, one of the many proverbs is "Man, know thyself, and you are going to know the gods".”
Maybe there’s nothing to figure out here at all. Maybe there’s just some insight you might want to let in. Your subconscious mind will do the rest. The subconscious is a better organizer than your conscious mind ever will be. …
The universe can organize itself. The embryo doesn’t need to figure out how to become a baby. Buds don’t have to figure out how to become blossoms. Nature has its plan figured out. …
Think of a pile of iron shavings Now, what’s the best way to form the shavings into a pattern, using your fingers or introducing a magnet? Your internal self is like a magnet. Call it the Christ, or your Inner Light, or whatever; there’s a spirit within you that naturally attracts all the patterns and details that would form your most beautiful life.
A while back, I noticed several instances of the phrase “I self-identify as…” on social media—used by people to define themselves based on set categories associated with gender, race, profession, etc. I felt a sense of resistance to this “self-identification” because I personally see us as all the same—individualized spirits who are parts of One Source. I pondered how I “self-identify”. I define myself (and you) using this statement:
I AM an eternal spiritual being who has chosen to have this temporary physical experience for the purpose of growing in faith, awareness, and the ability to love unconditionally.
I AM:
An eternal spiritual being.
I AM a spirit, a soul, that will never die.
I will live forever.
Who has chosen to have this temporary physical experience I am currently inhabiting this physical body temporarily.
I chose to have this physical experience; above all, I have free will.
When I leave this body, I will likely choose to incarnate in another physical body, based on karma and my free will.
For the purpose of growing Everything changes, the universe continues to expand.
We came into this physical body for the purpose of experiencing life from a new perspective, to grow and expand in consciousness.
In faith, Faith in what? Faith in myself, my abilities, and power.
Awareness, and Awareness of what? Of my own power, of how the universe works, and how I can participate more fully in it.
The ability to love unconditionally
We came from Love and, ultimately, our purpose is to return to Love.
Every experience, every lesson, we have chosen to have in this life is ultimately intended to teach us to love unconditionally.
Including loving ourselves unconditionally.
Loving unconditionally incorporates Forgiving ourselves and others, and feeling Gratitude for everything.
Nosce Te Ipsum
Latin for 'Know thyself'.
“...[this] Greek aphorism may have been adopted from Ancient Egypt: there are two parts of the ancient Luxor Temple, the External Temple, where the beginners were allowed to enter and the Internal Temple where a person was only allowed to enter after proven worthy and ready to acquire more knowledge and insights. One of the proverbs of the External Temple is "The body is the house of God." In the Internal Temple, one of the many proverbs is "Man, know thyself, and you are going to know the gods".”
We learned Newton's Laws in School. But, what if there's more to reality than physics?
Based on the ancient esoteric teachings of Hermes, the Seven Universal Laws define how the universe works. Knowledge of the Universal Laws provides context; the wisdom in them provides insight; understanding them will change your perspective and open up new possibilities you had not dreamed of.
There's more to life than meets the eye….
In my new Seven Universal Laws course, we’ll explore ancient teachings, the latest quantum physics, sacred geometry, dream states, numerology, and more! Each week, we will learn and discuss one of the Seven Universal Laws and then apply the teaching through completing an easy, fun, sacred geometry art project.
Interested in learning more? Join me for a course introduction!
My eight-year-old daughter has a WonderWoman costume. Alas, it doesn’t fit me. But, I like to play dress-up in my mind. I imagine that I AM WonderWoman. I believe that I AM powerful. So powerful, that I can move physical things with my mind. I can manifest my reality. It’s fun to play….
The other day, I enjoyed remembering the experience of visiting a friend’s home and listening to music on their high-tech stereo with powerful speakers. The music created an intense impression. But, 25-years later, I could not remember the name of the album, the artist, nor recite a line from the lyrics. I felt frustrated. I wanted to listen to that music again—to see if it evoked the same intense impression.
In my frustration, I stated loudly (though inside my head): “Universe, I command that this artist and music come to me by 10am tomorrow morning.” I was actually a bit bossy and demanding about it! Then, I promptly forgot about it and continued actively working on other tasks.
The next morning, in the course of some spring cleaning and reorganizing, I attempted to re-install the door on a closet in our storage room, in which I had stored a large CD rack full of old CDs. Through the process (which involved some brute force), I accidentally sent a shelf of CDs flying. They scattered across the floor.
I picked the CDs up quickly—at this point, I was running late. I turned to my left to pick up the last CD and, there on the floor, all by itself, I saw it and instantly recognized it: the music that I had listened to so many years ago. I had completely forgotten about my request so it came as a complete surprise. Coincidence? I think not.
In reality, I am WonderWoman and you are SuperMan—disguised as Diana Prince and Clark Kent. But, we’ve forgotten who we truly are. Playing dress-up—allowing ourselves to experience life from a light-hearted sense of playfullness—takes off the pressure.
The very first principle stated in A Course in Miracles says:
“The first principle of miracles is that there is no order of difficulty among them. One is not ‘harder’ or ‘bigger’ than another. They are all the same.”
We know, theoretically, that “we have to believe it to see it”. Yet, in our current state, we could sometimes use a little reassurance—a little bit of “seeing it” to support our “believing it”. These small “games” build our confidence. Try it for yourself!
The WonderWoman Formula:
Clearly state the desire in words as a command.
Feel emotion associated with the request.
Include a deadline in the statement.
Release the expectation—it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t happen—think of it as simply a game.
Forget about it.
Actively engage in other pursuits.
Feel the sense of surprise and wonder when your desire manifests in the most unexpected way!
I’ve quoted As a Man Thinketh before on this blog in the post As a Woman Thinketh. And I’ve referred to this “secret” of success in other posts, like Let Me Tell You a Secret. This post explores the statement from the end of James Allen’s essay, entitled “As a Man Thinketh”: “Self-control is Strength.”
As a man thinketh, so is he… Our thoughts create our reality. We control our thoughts.
As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he… Our emotions create our reality. We control our emotions.
Self-control is strength… We must learn to exercise complete control over our thoughts and emotions. That strength of will is the key to serenity.
The Principle in Real Life—An Example
I have studied these principles for many years. Intellectually, I can teach them. But, like many people, I find successfully practicing them far more difficult. A while ago, I experienced a minor challenge to my mental serenity, which taught me that I definitely still have to work at controlling my thoughts and emotions.
Here’s What Happened
I had a negative encounter with a former colleague whom I felt demonstrated a lack of self-control, integrity, and emotional maturity that disturbed me greatly. I felt betrayed and undermined. The experience rattled me quite deeply.
Here’s How I Reacted
Over the course of days and, indeed, weeks, I fixated on the negative emotions, allowing them to play over in my mind obsessively. In fact, you could say I wanted to ‘paint it black’ for several weeks after—and to yell at the top of my lungs #TIMESUP.
But, what do negative emotions bring? Negative realities. I finally felt so miserable that I couldn’t focus or function effectively. Something had to give.
Here’s How I Finally Responded
I finally realized I needed to take control of my thoughts and the situation.
I choose to actively practice:
Self-Control. I quieted my ego. Despite recognizing that my ire was justified, I stopped allowing myself to indulge in the indignation. I forced my mind to stop ‘going there’—literally telling my ego to shut up when it attempted to stir up my anger yet again. I let go of the story.
Forgiveness. I endeavored to see the situation from his perspective and forgave him for his misjudgment. More importantly, I forgave myself for ‘not seeing it coming’. I let go of the guilt.
Action. I officially severed my business relationship with him permanently. I felt a great sense of relief once I gave myself permission to sacrifice the potential income I could have earned from him in favour of my own integrity and well-being. I reinforced my boundaries.
Gratitude. I appreciated how privileged I was to be in a position to simply sever my business relationship with him, knowing that many women encounter these situations in jobs that they cannot afford to quit. I realized that this minor negative encounter empowered me to better empathize with other women who experienced similar, often far more scarring encounters—perhaps even equipping me to help my own daughters some day to avoid such encounters entirely. Finally, I acknowledged and felt gratitude for my own integrity, grace, and strength of will. I reclaimed my power.
Perspective: I raised my awareness and saw the situation from a higher spiritual perspective. Working for him in exchange for a little money had wasted my time—time that I now dedicate to writing. What clearer message could I have received from the universe to stop misusing my time to help him accomplish his goals and move on to bigger, better endeavours—accomplishing my own goals. I saw the light.
James Allen’s As a Man Thinketh was published in Britain in 1903. The title of the essay refers to the verse from the Biblical book of Proverbs 23:7: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he“.
The essay offers the key to success and happiness: “A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.” (Or: “A woman is literally what she thinks, her character being the complete sum of all her thoughts.”)
The book ends with these words, which have formed the inspiration for this series of 4 posts:
Since my youth, I have sought spiritual knowledge—and to understand the BIG questions. Today, I study spiritual works daily. This week, I’ve returned to the book The Law of Divine Compensation: On Work, Money, and Miracles, by Marianne Williamson.
In the The Law of Divine Compensation, Marianne interprets the Cinderella fairytale from a spiritual perspective: Cinderella manifested beauty and love in her life because she thought loving thoughts—her heart and mind were pure (“as a woman thinketh in her heart, so is she”).
Happily Ever Now: Cinderella’s pure and loving thoughts in the present led to her…
Happily Ever After: The abundance that she manifested on the physical plane to experience in the future.
I like to envision the story based on levels of consciousness (see David Hawkins’ Map of Consciousness). Reality is multi-dimensional. We experience reality based on our frequency of vibration:
On the lower plane of vibration of fear and scarcity, Cinderella wore ugly rags. The wicked stepmother and stepsisters remained on the lower vibration—the realm of the ego.
On the higher plane of vibration of love and abundance, Cinderella wore a beautiful gown. Cinderella naturally resonated on the higher vibration of love—purity of heart—the Spirit. The Fairy Godmother helped Cinderella to receive the abundance that she deserved.
Cinderella = Soul: practicing free will—we choose what we think and feel.
Wicked Stepmother = Ego: the critic that obstructs our good.
Fairy Godmother = Holy Spirit: working miracles to fulfill our heart’s desire whenever we raise our vibrations enough to connect with it.
Here’s the wonderful excerpt from Chapter 15: Creating Wealth Through Purity of Heart:
Whatever Cinderella needed, the universe took care of it. Cinderella’s purity of heart called forth the Fairy Godmother—that is, the spirit within—and the Fairy Godmother called forth everything she needed.
The Fairy Godmother’s wand? True, loving thought.
The light her wand casts onto things? True understanding.
The magic she works? The miracles that result.
The Fairy Godmother didn’t have to order a dress or call out for a car because the universe miraculously transformed existing material. That’s how the universe operates: whatever already is, is the platform for what could be. Cinderella, despite her circumstances as a servant, had the mind-set of the miraculous. And so miracles came to her.
Our souls are Cinderella, the ego is the wicked stepmother, and the Holy Spirit is our Fairy Godmother. Each of us has a “wicked stepmother”, i.e., ego mind, seeing to obstruct our good. And each of us has a “Fairy Godmother,” i.e. Holy Spirit, working miracles to fulfill our heart’s desire whenever our attitudes are pure.
Wealth does not come from ‘somewhere else’. It doesn’t come from outside us, but rather manifests according to our thoughts….
When we realize the universe itself is the source of our good, we simply allow it to fill our needs in whatever way it chooses….
Purity of heart, then, is the miracle-worker’s greatest engine of wealth creation.
Marianne Williamson
The Law of Divine Compensation: On Work, Money, and Miracles
The Map of Consciousness
Dr. David Hawkins
1927 – 2012
Explained in his book: Power vs Force
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I’m so excited to invite you to my next Creativity Course for Winter 2018! If you’re interested in igniting your creativity, or know someone else who could use some creative inspiration, please join me or pass on this info—I still have spots available! I’m wishing you your BEST YEAR YET in 2018!
WHY: We are all naturally creative beings. We create careers, products, solutions, and businesses. We create homes, families, foods, and traditions. We create successes, problems, connections, and divisions. Humankind has created masterpieces of art, architecture, technology, and philosophy. But, on a daily basis, how aware are you of your powers of creation? Has your creativity flourished or stagnated? Would you like to explore new possibilities, change perspectives, recharge your spiritual batteries, and awaken your creative genius?
My 11-week Ignite Your Creativity course will rekindle your imagination, spiritual connection, and creative vision, through fun, inspiring artistic activities, in a relaxed, encouraging setting. What a great way to start the New Year—please join me!
WHAT: Each week, we’ll explore new ideas together and create a new artistic masterpiece as a metaphor for creating our best life:
Week 1: Mindfulness – Journaling with Monograms
Week 2: Focus – Colouring with Zen Patterns
Week 3: Image-Making – Acrostic Poetry
Week 4: Perspective – Drawing with a Grid
Week 5: Connecting – Meditation with Meditation Beads
Week 6: Visioning – Collage with Soul Cards
Week 7: Decision – Autobiography in Short
Week 8: Expectation – Goal Setting with Goal Cards
Today, my MasterMind group started our next course of study together—the classic success-thinking book Think and Grow Rich written by Napoleon Hill in 1937. In a way, this book brought me to this wonderful group of kindred spirits in the first place. In it, Napoleon Hill describes the concept of MasterMind groups.
For me, re-reading the Introduction of Think and Grow Rich felt like reuniting with an old friend—I have already studied the book closely. Although the title of the book appears to label it as a guide for accumulating money, it actually provides a formula for true prosperity—the “secret” to success—to creating a life of abundance in all things, including happiness, health, spiritual wealth and material comfort.
In the Introduction, Hill refers several times to “the secret”:
“The secret to which I refer has been mentioned no fewer than a hundred times, throughout this book. It has not been directly named, for it seems to work more successfully when it is merely uncovered and left in sight, where THOSE WHO ARE READY, and SEARCHING FOR IT, may pick it up.”
It’s the same “secret” made ever-more famous by Rhonda Byrne in the best-selling 2006 self-help book entitled The Secret. In fact, it’s a “secret” that has been passed down for thousands of years—it forms the foundation of many (perhaps all) esoteric teachings.
Napoleon Hill ends Chapter 1 of Think and Grow Rich with a reference to William Ernest Henley’s poem Invictus (which is Latin for Unconquered). Do you see the secret in it?
Hill indicates that the Secret to Success requires you to:
Be ready to receive.
Know what you want.
Have a deep desire to get it.
Practice determination.
Have the will to control your thoughts.
You are “The Master of Your Fate, the Captain of Your Soul,” Because…
When Henley wrote the prophetic lines, “I am the Master of my Fate, I am the Captain of my Soul,” he should have informed us that we are the Masters of our Fate, the Captains of our Souls, because we have the power to control our thoughts.
He should have told us that the ether in which this little earth floats, in which we move and have our being, is a form of energy moving at an inconceivably high rate of vibration, and that the ether is filled with a form of universal power which adapts itself to the nature of the thoughts we hold in our minds; and influences us, in natural ways, to transmute our thoughts into their physical equivalent.
If the poet had told us of this great truth, we would know why it is that we are the Masters of our Fate, the Captains of our Souls. He should have told us, with great emphasis, that this power makes no attempt to discriminate between destructive thoughts and constructive thoughts, that it will urge us to translate into physical reality thoughts of poverty, just as quickly as it will influence us to act upon thoughts of riches.
He should have told us, too, that our brains become magnetized with the dominating thoughts which we hold in our minds, and, by means with which no man is familiar, these “magnets” attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts.
About Think and Grow Rich
Think and Grow Rich was written in 1937 by Napoleon Hill, promoted as a personal development and self-improvement book. … First published during the Great Depression, at the time of Hill’s death in 1970, Think and Grow Rich had sold more than 20 million copies, and by 2015 over 100 million copies had been sold worldwide.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll, I AM the master of my fate:
I AM the captain of my soul.
About the Poem Invictus
“Invictus” is a short Victorian poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). It was written in 1875 and published in 1888—originally with no title—in his first volume of poems, Book of Verses, in the section Life and Death (Echoes).
What happens when you remove all impediments but your own fear?
That is my “BIG QUESTION”—the question my life endeavours to answer.
Everyone’s life has purpose—everyone’s birthplace, situation, those circumstances into which you were born and seemingly have had no say in and no control over in this life—have purpose.
What have I been born into? An easy life. Born in a first-world country. Into a family that struggled a little for the finer things in life but none for basic needs. Privileged enough to attend university and earn two degrees. Lucky enough to secure a good job directly out of school. Never having experienced a single injury, serious illness, nor accident. Having the privilege to stay home with my children past infancy into their childhood. Wanting only for the occasional vacation, but, otherwise wanting for nothing. How did I earn such a privileged life? And why?
Because this is my gift: to experience a life in which all physical impediments to my success—to fulfilling my purpose in this life—are removed and all that’s left is me. It’s all on me.
Eek.
As I’ve sarcastically commented too many times: “but, no pressure…”. No excuses. No hurdles to leap. No boundaries to cross. No external resistance to overcome. Nothing but my own self-created, internally constructed walls to climb or break down. My own mindfields and terror barriers built of fear and self-doubt and self-guilt.
So, what happens when you remove all impediments but your own fear? Apparently, in my case anyway, you still struggle. But, isn’t that the truth for all of us?
Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
32nd President of the United States,First Inauguration Speech, Saturday, March 4, 1933
Regardless of the circumstances into which we were born, or the circumstances into which we landed ourselves afterward, we all have to choose: to advance into unchartered territory or to stay in safety. How?
I’ve started to tell myself the most comforting and confidence-invoking words I’ve ever heard. I don’t believe anyone has ever said them to me, but that’s okay. I’ve started saying them to myself:
“You’ve got this.”
Stand in front of the mirror and look directly, unswervingly, into your own eyes—the windows into your own soul—and say to yourself: “You’ve got this.”
Because I do. You do. You’ve Got This.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Marianne Williamson
A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles",Ch. 7, Section 3 (1992), p. 190
I returned home from running errands to an unexpected but very welcome email:
“On behalf of Kitchener Public Library & the KW Community Foundation, I am pleased to inform you that Tasneem Jamal, prose judge has selected your entry Excerpts from the novel Life By Fire as a winner in the Dorothy Shoemaker Literary Awards Contest. You have won 1st prize in the Adult Division and publication in The Changing Image!”
I had submitted my work to the contest last November and then promptly forgot about it. So, I felt surprised and…humbled when I read and reread the message. I didn’t dance for joy. I cried a little: Someone who had never met me had read a small piece of my work and found it worthy—in fact, more worthy than many others submitted.
How do these contests add value?
They encourage writers, who may otherwise give up, to continue to write.
I admit, I’d lost faith in this work—the novel I’ve been calling “Life By Fire”. Although I definitely hadn’t given up on it completely, I had put it aside and started other projects. Writing is lonely work. Engulfing yourself in a fictitious world with fictitious characters, completely detached from the “real” world and people around you, can feel alienating. I write based on a deep desire to connect with people through words, yet the practice of it isolates me. Combine that with repeated reminders from practical, well-meaning people that “even best-selling authors don’t make any money” and “it’s almost impossible to get a publisher” and “everybody’s writing a book”…and one begins to see writing as a guilty pleasure, a “hobby” at best and, at worst, a complete waste of time—time that should be spent making a reliable, steady income like everybody else.
But, Tasneem Jamal, an experienced editor and published novelist (who did give up making a reliable, steady income to pursue her writing and publish it successfully), had read my small excerpt (only 1,500 words) and deemed it worthy of an award—1st prize, even.
I Googled Tasneem and enjoyed reading her blog, particularly the post entitled We Packed Up the Kids and Moved to Tanzania. Then Things Fell Apart, which appeared in Chatelaine magazine’s April 2015 issue. In a way, she and I are completely opposite—she writes about having taken too many risks and I lament having taken too few. But a common thread appears to connect our writing: like so many women, we have both expressed guilt associated with “not doing ‘it’ well enough”. ‘It’ being life in general, parenting specifically…and, for me anyway, pursuing my writing goals.
So, perhaps, above all, receiving this small award has reminded me that doing it badly is better than not doing it at all. I will continue to work on Life By Fire in addition to my other writing projects, I will publish them, and I will experience success.
Thank You
I feel a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation—and for that, I wish to say a very heart-felt thank-you…
Tasneem, thank you for reading my work and recognizing my efforts. Also, thank you also for your words and your honesty.
Ms. Shoemaker, thank you for establishing this literary award, ensuring its continuance, and, through it, connecting with me across time to encourage me to continue to write.
Kitchener Public Library & the KW Community Foundation, thank you for your ongoing dedication to administering the awards on Ms. Shoemaker’s behalf.
And thank YOU if you read down this far.
About the Dorothy Shoemaker Literary Awards
The Dorothy Shoemaker Literary Awards began in 1967 as a Centennial project, created by Dorothy Shoemaker, Kitchener Public Library’s Chief Librarian from 1944 to 1971.
In 1996, government funding for the Literary Awards was eliminated. To ensure the Awards could continue, Dorothy Shoemaker made a significant personal donation. In 2000, Dorothy Shoemaker died at the age of 94. However, her legacy of support for aspiring writers continues today through her ongoing endowment.
2016 Contest Winners
Youth Poetry
1st Place: Growth by Candice Rubie
2nd Place: Where I’m From by Ellia Bishop
3rd Place: The Lady of Badakhshan by Farzam Karimi
Honourable Mention: The Colour Brown by Devshi Perera
Adult Poetry
1st Place: Bearborne by Dylan Siebert
2nd Place: An Incomplete List of Animals, Extinct: 1985-2015 by Graeme Ruck
3rd Place: Ancestors by Leslie Bamford
Honourable Mention: Her Name is Nurse by Jenna Hazzard
Honourable Mention: The Diner: A Sestina by Jenna Hazzard
Youth Prose
1st Place: Vultures by Rachel Garritsen
2nd Place: How I Wish it Went by Cynthia Wekesa
3rd Place: Wolf Boy by Mackayla Werstine
Adult Prose
1st Place: Life By Fire by Deborah Jones
2nd Place: A Gentle Flutter of Feathers by Cheryl Rosbak
3rd Place: How Do You Do? by Ryan Boggs
Honourable Mention: Between, Amongst, On Top Of by Tiffany Irwin
Honourable Mention: No Man’s Land by Jennifer Sloan Walker
No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.
Albert Einstein
How do I create the life that I want?
If I am an eternal creative being, meant for expansion and fuller expression, then how do I create the life that I want? Christie Marie Sheldon tells us that, as an infinite being, we have only 2 things: 1. Awareness. 2. Choice. We have to become aware that we can create the life that we want. And, then, we have to choose what that life is. How?
In the video included at the bottom of this post, Michael Beckwith explains how to tune into a friendly universe to get what we want through life visioning. Enjoy!
Visualization vs. Visioning
Visualization
Visualization is about…
Choice
Instructing
Control
Visioning
Visioning is about…
Awareness
Asking
Surrender
The Visualization Process:
Picture what you want.
Feel the positive emotion associated with having it.
Repeat that process until the image is successfully planted in your sub-conscious mind.
Manifest that reality.
The Visioning Process:
Visioning begins with a question.
Limitations to Visualization:
You have to know what you want.
It only works within the framework of your paradigm.
Teaches us that we can control our circumstances.
Possibilities of Visioning:
Captures an idea outside of your current paradigm.
About becoming receptive to a spiritual idea that the universe wants to birth through you.
Begins with a spiritual idea planted within us, associated with our destiny.
Teaches us the power of surrender.
How do I practice visioning?
Visioning begins with a question.
Behind every problem, there is a question trying to ask itself.
Behind every question, there is an answer trying to reveal itself.
Behind every answer, there is an action trying to take place.
Behind every action, there is a way of life trying to be born.
Michael Beckwith
Questions like:
What is the nature of prosperity?
What is the universe’s vision for me?
What must I release to serve the vision?
The Oak Tree
If an acorn were to practice Life Visioning, it would:
Ask what it has the potential to become: What am I? What is my purpose in this life?
Become consciously aware of that potential: I AM an oak tree.
Envision itself as a full self-actualized splendid, strong, tall, perfectly unique oak tree: I AM strong. I AM splendid.
I’ve quoted As a Man Thinketh before on this blog in the post As a Woman Thinketh. And I’ve referred to this “secret” of success in other posts, like Let Me Tell You a Secret. Because it is so worth reading again and again, this post provides you with the entire last chapter of James Allen’s essay, entitled “As a Man Thinketh”:
The Last Chapter of As a Man Thinketh
CALMNESS of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.
A woman becomes calm in the measure that she understands herself as a thought-evolved being, for such knowledge necessitates the understanding of others as the result of thought, and as she develops a right understanding, and sees more and more clearly the internal relationships of things by the action of cause and effect, she ceases to fuss and fume and worry and grieve, and remains poised, steadfast, serene.
The calm woman, having learned how to govern herself, knows how to adapt herself to others; and they, in turn, reverence her spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn of her and rely upon her. The more tranquil a woman becomes, the greater is her success, her influence, her power for good. Even the ordinary trader will find her business prosperity increase as she develops a greater self-control and equanimity, for people will always prefer to deal with a woman whose demeanor is strongly equable.
The strong, calm woman is always loved and revered. She is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a sheltering rock in a storm. “Who does not love a tranquil heart, a sweet-tempered, balanced life? It does not matter whether it rains or shines, or what changes come to those possessing these blessings, for they are always sweet, serene, and calm. That exquisite poise of character, which we call serenity is the last lesson of culture, the fruitage of the soul. It is precious as wisdom, more to be desired than gold—yea, than even fine gold. How insignificant mere money-seeking looks in comparison with a serene life—a life that dwells in the ocean of Truth, beneath the waves, beyond the reach of tempests, in the Eternal Calm!
How few people we meet in life who are well balanced, who have that exquisite poise which is characteristic of the finished character! Only the wise woman, only she whose thoughts are controlled and purified, makes the winds and the storms of the soul obey her.
James Allen’s As a Man Thinketh was published in Britain in 1903. The title of the essay refers to the verse from the Biblical book of Proverbs 23:7: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he“.
The essay offers the key to success and happiness: “A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.” (Or: “A woman is literally what she thinks, her character being the complete sum of all her thoughts.”)
The book ends with these words, which have formed the inspiration for this series of 4 posts:
This beautiful video, by Alan Watts & David Lindberg, explains so eloquently Why Your Life Is Not A Journey:
Existence, the physical universe, is basically playful. It does not have some destination that it ought to arrive at. But it is best understood by analogy with music. Because music as an art form is essentially playful.
We thought of life as a journey, a pilgrimage, and the goal is to get to the end. But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical and you were supposed to sing and dance while the music was being played.
The blessings listed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:3–11).
In Biblical tradition, Beatitude means “blessings and great happiness”. The New Testament Book of Matthew relates: “Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,and he began to teach them.”
In what we now call the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:3–11), Jesus taught the Eight Beatitudes, or lessons for achieving blessings and great happiness. He spoke the Beatitudes in the peoples’ language of Aramaic. However, Aramaic has proven difficult to translate accurately because, as a predominantly oral language, it contained much slang and nuance. The King James translation (and more modern translations that have followed) have perplexed many diligent spiritual students.
In one of my favourite books, Love Without End, by Glenda Green, Jesus clarifies these lessons for us. Here is a summary of explanations directly from Chapter 9 of the book:
The Beatitudes
I. Simplicity
King James Version Translation: Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
More accurate translation from Aramaic: Blessed are those who live in simplicity,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Love is the simplicity of your power.
Avoid Unnecessary Complexities, Hierarchies and Structure
Refrain from introducing complexities and hierarchies into spiritual pursuits or life in general. Don’t empower belief systems that limit and control your approach to God.
Hierarchies are a part of worldly elitism. Structure belongs to the earth. As you ascend to a higher, more loving relationship with your fellow man and your Creator, the dominance of structure will fall away. In love and spirit there are neither hierarchies nor structure. Love is the source of your life.
Do not take anything from the spirit. Spirit is in all things, of all things, and with all things. Where spirit is concerned there are no prerequisites and no hierarchies. The spirit is one.
Accepting and honouring the one spirit from the simplicity of your own place in life is the key to heaven. Accept it where you are, as you are. Be yourself.
Avoid Unnecessary Mental Complexities and Hierarchies, Which Generate More Structure
Maintain simplicity in your thoughts as well. Thoughts generate performance. So, guard your thoughts and instruct them well. Mental activity invariably results in complexities, which must be implemented by structure. Within hierarchies of mental structure, ideas ascend in levels of sophistication. Such complicated standards will always establish some persons or situations as superior to others. Love, on the other hand, is simple and so is the spirit. Stay with simplicity and avoid the pitfalls of complicated living.
You must put love behind your thoughts to make them work. If your love is the archer, then your mind is the bow, and your thoughts are the arrows. Without careful direction of thoughts, you will not hit the target. Without love to pull the bow string, your motivation will be weak or misdirected. Love is the simplicity of your power.
II. Release
King James Version Translation: Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
More accurate translation from Aramaic: Blessed are they who release and purge grief,
for they shall be comforted.
Grieving is clinging to that which has been lost—mourning is the act of letting go.
There are two parts to love—attaching and letting go. Only through living and understanding both phases of love is a being complete.
When a person first recognizes and experiences grief, it comes as an affliction. As the process completes itself in the latter stages of surrender, there is mourning.
Mourning is the free flowing of tears as acceptance and releasing are experienced. In this state, the heart can perceive a continuity of life even though certain attachments have been lost. In letting go of that which cannot be retained, one heals. It is through releasing that one is blessed.
III. Moderation
King James Version Translation: Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.
More accurate translation from Aramaic: Blessed are those who live in moderation,
for they shall inherit the earth.
Moderation is balance. In balance, we find wholeness, fulfillment, and blessing.
Only the properties of your heart can bring fulfillment and nourishment to your life. In practicing moderation, you will know this.
Moderation is the economy of God, and the economy of blessing. When you live in moderation, you are in balance. When you live in balance, you are whole. When you are whole, you inherit the earth.
Moderation is not an invocation of limits or conformity, but rather moderation isan invocation of the rationality that a person is more complete when in balance. What a person requires is governed by what he or she can love! Through moderation, under the command of love, everything is provided.
Moderation is a relative concept what derives its power from equilibrium and balance. It cannot be enforced with identical value or limitation on all people. This must be learned through discernment.
Moderation is equilibrium, but it is not static inert balance, which has no inner life or variance. There is a certain progressive attainment that maintains itself by growth, fluctuation, conservation, and sharing. ‘Well being’ is the true feeling of moderation.
Pursue moderation in all things—not only in material accumulation or in our physical comforts, but also in the food you eat, and in mental pursuits, habits, and work. As heaven comes to earth, the standard of economy will be that of moderation. It will no longer be the norm for some to hoard while others starve. Sharing will become a joy as you learn that everything you share will be multiplied and then become the basis of your own receiving.
IV. Righteousness
King James Version Translation: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be filled.
Righteousness is you being the love that you are.
This blessing is directly linked to the Sacred Heart, for when a person hungers and thirsts for righteousness, the basic purity and innocence of his heart will be awakened.
Righteousness means that you are right with yourself, right with your fellow man, right with God, and right with the one spirit. Simply be the love that you are. That is discovered and developed through a right relationship with the heart.
The heart is a powerful magnetic center that generates life energy for the body and the soul and draws to you all the needs and requirements of your life. Within the Sacred Chamber of the heart you will feel the presence of your Creator and be anointed with His righteousness. From these holy communions, higher principles of intelligence (unity, love, life, respect, honesty, justice, and kindness) will be revealed to you, and through them rightness will come to your life.
V. Mercy
King James Version Translation: Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
Those who extend mercy, receive mercy. In forgiving, we are forgiven. Only the heart can understand forgiveness.
Practice forgiveness everyday. It liberates the soul from bondage, and beyond that, forgiveness is an action that your mind can never understand. Whenever you are merciful, you grow. As you grow you become more blessed, and the very things that might harm you or cause you resistance will be given no power. Mercy is the flower of growth. Those who are restrained in mercy will have limited influence in life.
VI. Purity of Heart
King James Version Translation: Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.
In the eyes of God, who knows nothing of sin, you are nothing less than perfect. Which is why the very act of sin separates you from your Source. In the purity of your heart you are one with your Creator.
Until you see yourself as pure, perfect and innocent, you will not enter the Sacred Chamber of the heart. As long as you try to carry all of your unworthiness and mistakes in with you, you will stay on the threshold of your heart and not enter.
In the sacred chamber you are one with the Father, and in that oneness your Source knows everything you need, and beholds no imperfection. When you enter the sacred heart, you are restored in your life and you are made whole again.
Through innocent perception, you may also perceive the presence of God in all of existence. This is purity of perception. Everything was created in innocence. Behold this, if you would see the face of God.
Most conflict is self-generated by rejections of life and denial of existence as it really is.
Although the mind strives to understand, it will invent what it cannot understand—or worse still, it will judge. The mind will invent realities that lead you away from who you are and the true purposes of your life. When you surrender to the fact that existence does not require invention—that it simply is—you will be on the threshold of actually looking into the face of God.
Judgment will separate you from this sacred space. Judgement is actually the only sin of which a pure and perfect child of God is capable. Judgment was the original sin, and continual pursuit of it will keep you from the presence of your Creator.
(The Hebrew word for judgement, which is ‘mishpat’ actually refers to redemption and vindication—not to accusation and condemnation. The ancient Hebrew meaning of judgement is protection of personal rights in the face of accusation.)
VII. Peace
King James Version Translation: Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.
Seek to perceive wholeness in all things.
There are many ways to make peace in life. Its power comes from the grace of ending duality. You will be blessed with wholeness as you end duality.
You are a peacemaker when you rise above the concept that life must be viewed as a conflict between polar opposites. A dualistic approach to living is no longer useful. Our oneness of spirit needs to be recognized and implemented through acceptance.
The conceptual model of duality is a simplistic frame of reference created by the mind to satisfy its dependency upon structure and symmetry. The mind seeks to explain rather than understand. Once the full scope of understanding is attained, duality fades away.
Higher intelligence is manifested through integrated perceptions of wholeness, which restore your recognition of the one spirit. The sons of God are those who do not explain life or manage it with dualistic concepts. The sons of God are those who seek to perceive wholeness in all things.
VIII. Transcendence of Suffering through Love
King James Version Translation: Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
More accurate translation from Aramaic: Blessed are they who transcend suffering through love,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Righteousness is you being the love that you are. Only when you love beyond all of the external conditions that logically tell you not to do so, can you discover the deeper wellspring of love that you are.
In English, persecution implies an intentional harassment or punishment. In Aramaic, persecution typically meant ‘suffering’.
The vanishing of illusion: Whenever you stand firmly in the midst of a hardship, holding and expressing the love that you are, you will witness illusions falling away. Through being the love that you are, you are empowered to transcend your sufferings.
Through love you have the power over any situation. Only, you will never truly know this until you have surmounted adversity. This last beatitude is the greatest of all blessings. For in learning it, you are free forever from the illusions that would attempt to conquer you and misdirect your life.
Our Creator never afflicts or badgers His children, although it is his greatest yearning to be known by them in the fullness of existence. It is through challenge and the survival of suffering that a person grows beyond his protective bubble to experience the love of God in a greater way.
One who has known God only in a state of well-being has just known the smallest portion of the Creator. One who must place conditions on how to receive God cannot receive God. One who can only know God in blissful and abundant experiences has no power in the rest of life. What is the Kingdom of Heaven except the wholeness of everything?
To learn that love is a power that comes from within, love your enemies.
The power of this blessing resides in the fact that the Creator of all things is present with all things and in all things. There is no place where God is not. There is no experience in which God is not. There is no dimension of understanding or awareness where God is not.
From: Love Without End, Chapter 9: The Blessed Life
Row, row, row, your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.
My dear friend and Mastermind partner, Donna Cox, recently wrote a blog post entitled Row your own boat that reminded me of the hidden wisdom in this little nursery rhyme.
I entitled this website and my novel in progress Life By Fire in juxtaposition to my past feelings that I was living a life in which “I barely tread water, barely keep afloat. Perpetually behind, perpetually overwhelmed, stuck in a whirlpool going round, round, and around. Life by drowning.” As a result, I find the wisdom in this little song particularly fitting! I wanted to share my contemplations on this rhyme with you—as Donna said, “Now who would have thought that this children’s song could be so filled with wisdom about how to live life?”
How to Live based on Row, Row, Row, Your Boat:
1 Get into the boat.
As intimated above, I spent too many years feeling that I was treading water, cold and wet, working wearily but getting no where. We often make life harder on ourselves than it needs to be. Why? Many reasons but, for me, the issue stemmed from some deep-set scarcity issues—believing that I never had enough energy, time, money, freedom—to do what I really wanted to do.
Some people spend their whole lives swimming, without ever realizing that there could be a boat. Some people spend their lives looking for the boat, but never swimming downstream to find it. Some people spend their lives swimming beside the boat without ever giving themselves permission to climb into it. The key to happiness is to get out of the water and into the boat.
What does the boat represent? The boat represents your rightful place in this life. Your boat is your purpose.
2 Get your own boat.
Don’t squat on or borrow someone else’s purpose—find your own. We’ve heard of the classic empty nest syndrome—mothers who devote their entire being to raising their children and then feel devastated and empty when their children grow up and leave. Other people give responsibility for “doing” to their spouse, and support their spouse’s purpose, rather than finding their own. Some people feel unworthy of their calling and therefore never answer it. Others believe that what they want to do and need to do conflict. We all have our own unique purpose to fulfill in this life and we are all worthy of accepting it. Get into your boat.
3 Choose the boat you really want.
Current science indicates that the natural state of the universe is constant expansion. Nature shows us countless examples of abundance. As eternal beings with infinity as our playground, we are made for expansion and fuller expression. Abundance is our natural state; scarcity is an artificial construct. So, don’t settle for a second-rate boat! Don’t stay in the job you hate because you think it’s the only way to make money. Don’t settle in the house you don’t like because you don’t believe you can afford a better one. Don’t ignore those good ideas that you really want to pursue because you fear taking a risk. Don’t get into the leaky little fishing boat, to spend your life bailing water, when you really want to sail! Think bigger—make your goal the luxury yacht!
4 Anchors aweigh.
The only constant in life is change. We can’t stop time. We can’t keep things perpetually the same no matter how desperately we want to cling to the past or the present for comfort. We need to embrace the journey and move forward.
If you want to go somewhere, you need to raise the anchor. The anchor represents spiritual blocks and judgments, terror barriers and paradigms—deep-rooted conditioning that keeps you stuck in a state of fearful paralysis. We need to raise our awareness and make the conscious choice to release these blocks and overcome fears in order to move forward.
5 Row.
Life requires work—mental work, physical work, emotional work, spiritual work—work. We can ignore it, deny it, lament it, procrastinate about it, and complain about it, or we can accept it and do it. So, we may as well get on with it.
Most people do not come into this world knowing their purpose. You have to work to find it and then work to fulfill it. There is no magic bullet. Most people go through a significant amount of dreaming, hoping, wishing, desiring, planning, struggling, and working before they attain their goals. So, get rowing.
6 Go gently.
Be gentle with yourself and others. Forgive, forgive, forgive yourself and others for mistakes you have made in the past so that you can move forward with a clean slate. Row gently—don’t wear yourself out with daily toil—balance efficient, productive work with rest and rejuvenation.
7 Point your boat and your focus down stream.
“Resist not…” If the universe is always for expansion and fuller expression, then so are you—go with it. Dissatisfaction is healthy if it leads you to positive change. Embrace change and opportunity. Take risks. Follow your instinct. Go with your flow and look ahead!
Some people spend their lives focusing on the past—lamenting it, regretting it, reminiscing about it. Don’t sit backward facing the wake and then worry over the tumultuous water! Forget the past, only now really exists. So, take your seat in the Captain’s chair, look ahead, and steer your boat! As you travel downstream, it widens into a river—the vast open ocean of possibilities awaits you!
8 Feel joy—sing along the way.
“Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily…” Life is an experience, not a journey to a determined destination—enjoy the ride downstream and sing along the way. I recently watched a beautiful video based on the words of British philosopher Alan Watts who likened life to music. (I wrote a Life is a Musical post about it.) He said:
“Existence, the physical universe is basically playful. There is no necessity for it whatsoever. It isn’t going anywhere. It doesn’t have a destination that it ought to arrive at. But, it is best understood by analogy with music. Because music, as an art form, is essentially playful. We say you play the piano, you don’t work the piano. Why? Music differs from, say, travel. When you travel, you’re trying to get somewhere. In music though, one doesn’t make the end of the composition. If so, the best conductors would be those who played the fastest. And there would be composers who wrote only finales. People would go to a concert just to hear one crashing chord because that’s the end! Same way with dancing. You don’t aim at a particular spot in the room, because that’s where you should arrive. The whole point of the dancing is the dance.”
So, sing and dance! Celebrate life. Live in the moment. Set milestones. Enjoy the process. Reward your progress. Practice gratitude. And have fun.
9 Understand that Life is but a dream.
From a scientific perspective, in my Manifesting Reality post, I discuss how “most scientists now believe that materialism is not a valid world view. Physicists now accept that particles do not exist as objects in the absence of observation. They exist only as waves, which transform into particles when observed.” The material world is not the static, permanent, “real” thing we thought it was—it is waves of potential, which sometimes transform temporarily into particles with lots and lots of space between them.
From a spiritual perspective, many traditions describe the universe as a mental construct within the Mind of God. From this perspective, we realise that we are eternal spiritual beings who have chosen to have a temporary physical experience. As A Course in Miracles states, “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.” (Your body can be threatened; your soul cannot. Therefore, your soul is real; your body is part of the dream.)
Created in the likeness of God, we are eternal beings with infinity as our playground. This physical life is but a page in our book of life—a book without an ending. And, we have the power to manifest our physical reality with much greater precision than we formerly ever imagined. Life is but a dream—so live it on purpose and make it a beautiful one!
It is with great pleasure, humility, and gratitude, that I invite you to get into the boat and embark on this beautiful journey with me. I invite you to live a Life By Fire.
Tempest-tossed souls, wherever ye may be, under whatsoever conditions ye may live, know this: In the ocean of life, the isles of Blessedness are smiling, and the sunny shore of your ideal awaits your coming.
Keep your hand firmly upon the helm of thought. In the bark of your soul reclines the commanding Mistress; She does but sleep; awaken her.
Self-control is Strength. Right-thought is Mastery. Calmness is Power.
I recently read an Interview with Linden MacIntyre. When asked about his most memorable teacher, he replied: “My high school English teacher Aggie MacNeil. She was a former nun who felt obliged to remain in a convent until her parents were dead, upon which she emerged and married in middle age. I suppose the life she’d led gave her a particular appreciation of freedom and especially the liberation from the bonds of time and space that we achieve in poetry and literary fiction—ideas explored and presented in essay form. Her teaching was energized by her passion and enthusiasm for the subjects that she taught, and her obvious believe that literature is a pathway into the realm of possibilities.”
WOW, what an observation; what a compliment.
What do you desire?
I desire to write literature that creates a pathway into the realm of possibilities. Do I have the ability? I believe I do. Why? Because I define Desire as possibility seeking expression. If you have the keen desire to do something, you also have the potential power and ability to do it. The two go together. The universe is programmed for continuous expansion: Creation + Evolution.
“We are all acquainted with the loathsome consequences of living for the body and denying both mind and soul; and we see that real life means the complete expression of all that man can give forth through body, mind, and soul. Whatever he can say, no man can be really happy or satisfied unless his body is living fully in every function, and unless the same is true of his mind and his soul. Wherever there is unexpressed possibility, or function not performed, there is unsatisfied desire. Desire is possibility seeking expression, or function seeking performance.” Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich [1910]
Possibility seeks expression: Whatever you keenly and passionately desire, you can accomplish.
Did you know, today is an auspicious day? It marks the 1st year anniversary of the historic gravitational wave detection! Never heard of it?
Here’s a Replay:
On September 14th, 2015, nearly 100 years after Einstein predicted their existence in his theory of general relativity, the first gravitational waves were observed from Earth. Gravitational waves are “ripples in the fabric of space-time caused by some of the most violent and energetic processes in the Universe”. The source of the waves was a collision between two black holes that took place 1.3 billion light years ago.
Why does it matter?
It matters to me personally for 2 reasons:
In addition to Life By Fire, I’m writing another book called Genevieve’s Worlds. Genevieve eventually grows up and earns a Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering a source of non-resistance energy (energy that does not require earth’s resources). From what I’ve read, such a source of energy may well exist in the 4th dimension—the dimension of time rather than space. The gravitational waves discovered and discussed in the article below are ripples in the fabric of space-time…is there a connection? I have no idea, but Genevieve would.
Einstein theorized the existence of these gravitational waves in 1916. But, this group of scientists worked for almost a DECADE to try to detect these waves with no results! How many people would give up after almost 10 years of work without success. But, they didn’t give up. And, as a result, they have finally succeeded in detecting something that could change the course of humanity’s future. Now that is PERSEVERANCE!!!
“There is little doubt that September 14, 2015 will go down in scientific history. It was the day that one of the most intriguing predictions of Einstein’s General Relativity morphed from theory into reality. It was the day on which an entirely new field of scientific inquiry, gravitational wave astronomy, was born. And it was the day that human beings acquired a new sense, a completely new way of observing and learning about the universe unlike anything that has existed before.”
Many “firsts” occurred on that day:
The first detection of gravitational waves.
The first direct observation of black holes.
The first confirmation that binary black holes exist in the universe.
For years, I felt completely creatively blocked. These days, ideas flow through me faster than I can harness them. Although I’ve continued to quietly work away on an adult novel, I’ve also ventured into other works. In August, I started to write a middle-grade chapter book for kids around age 11 called Genevieve’s Worlds. The book has several purposes:
To speak to kids my children’s age.
To give kids an appreciation of math and physics that I did not learn in school.
To teach kids how to dream big and set goals.
To provide me with a short-term project and experience publishing, before I venture into publishing an adult novel.
I expected the process of writing, editing, and publishing Genevieve’s Worlds to be quite short and straightforward. Yet again, my expectations have completely misaligned with what has actually transpired. I wrote the first draft in a matter of months but quickly realized it was far too long and dense for middle-grade readers. The second draft stripped out a significant portion of the content of the first book, splitting it into two separate books, to create a sequel. But, years later, the first book continues to require revision to create the ‘pace’ required to keep this age group engaged enough to read to the end. I’ve learned that writing a novel, whether for adults or children, requires a significant amount of GRIT (something that Genevieve herself develops through the course of the story).
But, in the meantime, here’s a preview of Genevieve’s Worlds:
Book Jacket
Eleven-year-old Genevieve Harris doesn’t fit in. She asks too many questions and she loves math and sophisticated words. Her own family calls her an oddity. But, she fears that she’s worse than that. Genevieve has a secret: she sees energy and abnormal things happen to her. Is she a freak of nature?
In 2024, the world has entered an energy crisis but most people are still too distracted to notice. Genevieve has just moved from a tiny northern satellite town to the big city of Toronto. As she approaches her 12th birthday, on December 21st, at 12:21am, her ability to handle life in this new, chaotic city reaches a breaking point. What happens next will change her life, and ours, forever.
Forward
December 10, 2037 Stockholm, Sweden
Imagine a world with free energy. Imagine a planet unblemished by mines or oil rigs, and even a horizon uninterrupted by windmills or solar panels. What if an abundant, ever-flowing source of free energy existed? Energy that did not use up the earth’s resources or the galaxy’s? How would that change the world? How would that change your life? Think about it for a moment. Or a few moments. Or maybe even for a few days. I’ve thought about it a lot.
The first step in accomplishing anything is to believe it is possible.
Do you know what a Nobel Prize is? I do. Do you know how I know? I just received a Nobel Prize in Physics, 11 days before my 25th birthday—the youngest person to ever receive a Nobel Prize in Physics.
I received the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering and harnessing a new form of energy—free energy. I know it will change the world for the better. Does that make me an amazing person? Maybe. Maybe everyone is an amazing person, in their own unique way.
Maybe YOU are an amazing person with the potential to do incredible things. Only you can figure out what those incredible things are and fulfill your unique Purpose in this life. I hope you write your story.
Here’s my story—the story of my worlds—Genevieve’s Worlds.
Last night, from our “big screen” in the comfort of our livingroom, we watched Gord Downie perform majestically with his Tragically Hip comrades in their hometown of Kingston, to an emotional crowd that included our Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The “Grand Finale” of their 2016 Summer Tour.
Like so many Canadians, I received the news back in May of Gord’s illness with sadness. But, as time passed and momentum built toward their final concert in Kingston, my emotions changed. Frustration has replaced my sadness. Let me tell you why….
Like so many Canadians, I nostalgically reflected on the Hip’s influence on my life. My dear friend, Andrea, attended university in Kingston. In our university days, The Hip provided the backdrop for many a party (not in person, unfortunately but they were there in spirit, articulating our lives as young Canadians—fully and completely). I want to hear Andrea relate her “stocking Gord” story for me again—about hanging out on the lawn of his family home in Kingston and her conversation with his wife “who was so nice when she didn’t have to be”. I read poetic posts on Facebook from friends reflecting their countless concert attendances. I only ever saw the Hip perform live once. Not because I appreciated them less—I just haven’t attended 20 concerts in my lifetime.
Here’s where my frustration comes in….
May 27, 2016, CBC News headline: “Gord Downie, Tragically Hip singer, has terminal cancer”, from within the article “Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie has been diagnosed with an incurable form of brain cancer, his neuro-oncologist confirmed Tuesday.” The news states that his cancer is “terminal”. His oncologist confirms that it is “incurable”. And the whole world accepts it as fact and begins mourning. Why?
Why do we choose such words?
Words have power.
Terminal?! First, life, not cancer, is terminal. We’re all leaving this body at some point—and IMHO nobody should have the right to decree for anyone else when, why or how.
Incurable?! After we’ve been bombarded ad nausea with media messages about “the war on cancer” and “together we’ll find a cure”, we still choose to use a word as profoundly definitive as “incurable”. Why not “historically difficult-to-cure cancer” or “not-yet-documented-as-cured cancer”? Too long?
Many alternative cures for cancer already exist—cures that work outside of the slash-and-burn methods touted as the only choices by pharmaceutical-based Western medicine. Never mind the miraculous spontaneous healings that have taken place typically unreported since the beginning of history. Yet the Powers-That-Be have decreed this cancer, in this person’s head, as “terminal” and “incurable”.
Why do we accept these pronouncements on our collective and individual fates so passively, so unquestioningly?
Why do we accept these prognoses without any healthy skepticism? Without any rebellion at all? Instead we sit, powerless, accepting his and our fates. And yet, the group described on their website: “What we in The Hip receive, each time we play together, is a connection; with each other; with music and it’s magic; and during the shows, a special connection with all of you, our incredible fans.” So, we as fans connect in a special way with the group through a flow of positive energy. If that’s true, rather than focusing on a tragic good-bye, couldn’t we focus on the power of this energy to heal? Couldn’t prayer and positive will come into it? Seems to me that Gord could use that now more than ever—now that the excitement of the tour has ended and everyone has gone home.
In movies, we love superheroes and the promise of new beginnings. In real life, why do we prefer heroic tragedy?
The iconic Canadian image of young Terry Fox limping down the highway in the rain has been too deeply engrained in our psyches. We’ve come to believe that dying the young martyr trumps living to a ripe old age. Have fans everywhere really assumed the curtain has already closed? Bucket List Item #30 See Gord Downie’s last concert: Checkmark. What’s the expectation now? That Gord should quietly fade away?
Well, I say NO. I reject that reality. I don’t believe it has to play out that way. Call me naïve, I don’t care. (I would like it to be one of the 41 things we share….) I’m sending Gord positive, healing vibes. And I’m looking forward to Gord’s 2017 concert with The Heroically Hip.
I defy reason. I rebel against negative pronouncements. And I’ll take my perspective over that of the news any day.
Do not go gentle into that good night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Reflections on the passing of my beloved Papa, Peter Loewen, November 14, 1925 – July 14, 2016
Last Thursday, I received some very unexpected and sad news: my beloved grandfather—my Papa—had collapsed and died. We had celebrated his 90th birthday the October before. Despite his advanced age, he was still enjoying excellent health, mobility and vitality. He still drove competently. He walked daily. His mind was still clear and sharp.
After my initial shock and anguish passed, I began to fully comprehend the blessing of his passing. He had spent a glorious day in the summer sun by the beach with my aunt and uncle and their family—surrounded by a number of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. After a beautiful day, and good dinner together, he announced that he was heading out. He left the house and collapsed in their driveway. A good, quick death.
Since then, I have been reflecting the lessons he has taught me about living well. In my experience, my Papa wasn’t one for spouting truisms—he was too humble a man for that. The few times I ever asked him for advice, his answers were intelligent and practical. But, example speaks louder than words. So, I thought I would share with you just some of the lessons I learned from Papa.
My Top Ten List of Things I Learned from My Papa:
1. Make People Feel Good
I watched Papa at restaurants or interacting with the nurses who cared for my Nana. He liked people. And they liked him. Because he made people feel good. He was considerate and cheerful and generous with his smile and praise. He left people feeling happier than before they met him—and appreciated—he made people feel appreciated.
2. Try New Things
My husband, my kids and I love international food. We’ve taken Papa out for Japanese food, including sushi several times and he ate enthusiastically with us each time. He never hesitated or commented that something was too different for him. He even commented that he would return to the restaurant on this own “for a change.” He sincerely enjoyed trying new things and he embraced them.
3. Mind over Matter: You can do anything with enough will power.
My Papa had a will of iron. He had used it to overcome many hardships in his life. And he understood moderation. If he knew he needed to change something, he made the decision and changed it. And he stuck to it.
4. Don’t Complain
Papa didn’t complain. In the last years with Nana, he occasionally discussed issues around Nana’s care. But, it was never with the intention to complain, or speak disparagingly—it was always with respect and the sincere intention of solving the problem. He didn’t vent and he didn’t find enjoyment in judging other peoples’ actions. He minded his own business.
5. Enjoy your Work: Do what you love and love what you do.
Some of my fondest memories with Papa date back to going on transport truck trips with him. Laying in the bunk of the cab. Eating pork rinds. Drinking creamers while we waited for our dinner in a good old-fashioned truck stop. Papa would let me drink the creamers and eat the butter patties straight! We ate a lot of butter together in our time. He loved to drive. He loved the road.
I also remember Papa’s barber shop—the candy-stripe pole—watching him talking cheerfully as he cut someone’s hair. When back issues meant he couldn’t stand on his feet anymore to cut hair, he returned to the driver’s seat trucking. He was practical—more so, he practiced contentment.
6. Troubleshooting Skills: You don’t have to know how it works to fix it.
Papa had a natural capacity for fixing things. He was a clever, capable, resourceful man. One time, our old dryer broke. And he fixed it. Just like that. He just figured it out. I don’t tinker with motors but, as a website designer, I think of him when I troubleshoot broken website code—I’m not a programmer, but I follow his lead and just figure it out.
7. Complete the Job
Whether it was washing dishes, cutting the lawn, or trucking across Canada, Papa finished what he started. Papa committed himself fully to any and all tasks. When he started something, he finished it. He worked hard. He did what needed to be done—willingly, with determination, and to completion.
8 and 9. Be Loyal and Love One Another
I watched Papa’s devotion to Nana in their last years together with awe. His patience, dedication, and love. Nana and Papa may have experienced challenges, disappointments and frustrations, and even some heartbreak. But, Papa always treated Nana and, after her passing, spoke of Nana with the utmost respect and tenderness. He chose to remember the best times. He chose to focus on love, and it brought him, and all of us, happiness.
And, finally, number 10—the last lesson I learned from Papa about living well:
10. Leave on Good Terms
Maybe some of us had disagreements with Papa at one point or another in the past. Maybe there was a hard feeling or harsh word. But, I can’t remember. Because he healed wounds. He let go of any grievances from the past and he lived his last years in the present, in joy and contentment. From Papa, I learned gratitude and forgiveness and grace.
I learned from Papa that when it’s time to go, pack light. Embrace the journey, and hit the road without a fuss—after a full day in the sun and a good meal with people you love—with your sandals still on, and still full of sand from the beach.
This novel conglomerates and focuses several fascinations of mine:
Multi-dimensionality: Our physical lives unfold linearly through time and space (like pages in a paper book to be read from front to back). Birth, life, death. Preface, chapters, epilogue. But, our minds think in multiple dimensions (like applications on a computer or posts on a website, to be accessed at random). Present experience, past memories, future aspirations. Reality, perception, imagination. The lines blur.
Truth in the eyes of the writer and reader: All writing is biased because it is written from one individual’s perspective and read from another’s. What experiences did the writer choose to include, to omit, to spin? How did the reader choose to interpret them, based on their own experiences? Autobiographical fiction; fictional autobiography. In life, as in a work of fiction, where does reality end and the story begin?
Intertextuality: Any written work reflects and culminates every story, every word, the writer has ever read. We cannot separate our own experiences from those we have experienced through the words and images of others. Subtle references to other works of literature or popular culture add layers of meaning.
The Internet as a new multimodal compositional medium: As a compositional medium, a website enables the addition of images, music and video to enhance the reader’s experience. It also allows for the inclusion of contextual details in an ever-expanding web of information.
The novel, and this website, explores these concepts.
Notes:
The sub-title of this post “To see the world…” references the poem “Auguries of Innocence” by William Blake, which speaks to multi-dimensionality. It begins:
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
In a previous series of posts, I discussed “manifesting” physical things. Perhaps you feel perfectly comfortable with the concept of “manifesting”; perhaps you thought “what on earth is she talking about?!” Do we have the power to manifest physical things? If so, how?
For thousands of years, philosophers have debated the nature of reality. Does matter give rise to mind or does mind give rise to matter? The rather cliché philosophical question “if a tree falls in the forest and no one sees it, did it really fall?” epitomizes this debate. Does reality require an observer? In recent decades, this philosophical debate has become a scientific one, explored through physics and cosmology. The documentary “The Simulation Hypothesis” explains scientific experiments executed to put this once philosophical question to rest:
Do we live in a biologically-based, mechanically functioning, physical universe?—Materialism. OR, do we live in a universe in which the observer actually participates in the manifestation of physical reality—the “Simulation Hypothesis”.
“Prior to observation, matter doesn’t seem to exist. Matter seems to be the result of an interaction between consciousness and waves of potential. This has been repeatedly demonstrated from the 1920s right to today through the double-slit experiment.
Most scientists now believe that materialism is not a valid worldview. Physicists now accept that particles do not exist as objects in the absence of observation. They exist only as waves, which transform into particles when observed. These waves are intangible and are a probabilistic description of where the waves might be if they were checked on. The waves that transform into a particle are only waves of potentiality. As Werner Heisenberg stated: “The atoms or elementary particles themselves are not real, they form a world of potentialities or possibilities rather than one of things or facts.”
Watch this fascinating documentary and see for yourself!
The Documentary: The Simulation Hypothesis
“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness.” Max Planck
“I must confess that I was unable to find an explanation for the atomistic character of nature. One must find a way to avoid the space-time continuum altogether, though I haven’t the slightest idea what kind of elementary concept could be used in such a theory.” Albert Einstein – October 1954
“…the distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion, however tenacious this illusion may be.” Albert Einstein – March 1955
Published in 1952, The Power of Awareness explains metaphysics in terms applicable to everyday living. It’s one of those profound books that will change you, and hence your life, for the better.
Neville Lancelot Goddard (1905-1972) was one of the most influential Metaphysics teachers and New Thought authors of the 20th century. Born to a merchant family in Barbados, West Indies, he set out at age 17 to the United States to study dramatic arts. On tour with a band in England, he was introduced to metaphysics and to devote his life to the study of spiritual and mystical problems.
What’s stopping you from doing what you want to do in 2016?
Time? Money? Energy? What about fear?
Mindfields and Terror Barriers—what are they and how to overcome them?
For too many years, I neglected to do what I really wanted to do out of fear…fear of failure, yes. But, also fear of not having enough…time, money, energy. Occasionally, in an atypical burst of enthusiasm, I would explore a new idea, only to get stuck as soon as I encountered any form of complication. My mind would invent all sorts of reasons why it would not work, could not work, or should not work. These are MINDFIELDS and they blow good intentions and great ideas to smithereens.
Here’s a good, relevant example: This online novel-writing project. On January 1, 2015, in launched this online writing project with the intention of publishing excerpts of the novel as I wrote them. But, then, a couple of good intentioned people cautioned me, “Oh, be careful, no publisher will publish a novel that’s already online.” Boom. The fear of doing it wrong stopped me in my tracks and I decided I needed to “step back” and “stay on the safe side”. No more novel posts—I returned to writing my novel in my closet and posting only “reflections” about it on the website.
Staying on the Safe Side of What?
Have you ever had a great idea but allowed yourself or someone else to talk you out of it based on fear…fear that it could fail? Have you ever actually embarked on making that great idea reality and then felt a sense of doubt, lack of confidence, realization that it is going to be hard, or been sidetracked by a million little distractions that your mind told you were more important or pressing? Those are all forms of the TERROR BARRIER and the Terror Barrier has been turning people’s dreams into nightmares since the dawn of time.
How do you overcome a terror barrier?
Call it out. Recognize it for what it is—fear. Of failure. Of getting it wrong. Of the unknown. Fear.
Know that it’s normal. The fear barrier is a deep-rooted, but misplaced, survival instinct intended to keep you safe. But, there’s a price to pay for safety.
Climb it. Like a mountain, you either have to blast your way through the terror barrier or climb over it, one step at a time.
You blast through it with unyielding determination. You climb over it with patient persistence.
So, here I am. January 3, 2016—exactly one year after I committed to publishing excerpts of my novel online regularly in 2015. I’m renewing my commitment to regularly post excerpts from my novel as I write them.
“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.”
CLIMB.
Have you ever experienced the Terror Barrier? Please, tell me about it here.
My husband is a martial artist. As part of that culture, he follows and watches the UFC (Mixed Martial Arts organization). Last night, a current fighter, named Conor McGregor of Ireland, won the UFC Featherweight World Championship belt 12 seconds into the first round of his fight with one punch. According to my husband, Connor has quickly become infamous for his very overt confidence. In fact, he has been likened to Muhammad Ali for his very confident, outspoken comments. But, every fight, he predicts what will happen and then he makes it happen!
How does Conor McGregor do it?
The answer lies in his post-fight interviews:
When Connor is asked how he feels after winning the fight so quickly:
“It feels beautiful. I dreamt this so much, so clearly, so precisely, and so frequently, that it has manifested itself into reality. It’s a dream come true…. I’m calm and tactical. I came in confident. I came in where many doubted me and I came in and said what I would do and I went and did it.”
In another interview, when asked how he feels:
“I feel clean. I feel like my work has paid off…. I just wanted to enjoy it, you know, a lot of people force their shots. I honestly believe power is an illusion. The perception of power is like, if it is tense and squeezed, I can see that a mile away. I just like to place and just let it go.”
How can you do it?
So, based on Connor’s statements, what is the key manifesting success?
Set a very clear goal.
Focus on your goal. Dream it. Imagine it. Envision it in your mind clearly, precisely, and frequently.
Fully expect your imagined outcome. Act as if it has already happened.
Proceed calmly and confidently.
Then, release your power over it. Relax and just let it go.
“All conceptions are limitations of the conceiver.” Neville Goddard
“Dare to believe in the reality of your assumption and watch the world play its part relative to its fulfillment.” Neville Goddard
On Thanksgiving Monday, our family enjoyed a glorious walk from our home, along the Grand River Trail system, following Cox Creek to the Grand River and then along the Grand River to Buggy Lane, close to West Montrose’s historic Covered Bridge. The route takes us through a hardwood forest, then across a meadow, then into a cedar forest—all beautiful in their own light. In the past, we hadn’t ventured as far as the cedar forest but our youngest daughter, Tessa, is now big enough for more strenuous hikes.
Within the cedar forest, we discovered a secret treasure trove in the form of an ice cream tub, perched in the branches of a tree. Out of curiosity, we retrieved it and opened it up. Inside, we found a note congratulating us for finding the treasure, a list of names of other people who had found it dating back to 2014, and a collection of little treasures with the instructions that we could take a treasure with us, if we left a different one behind. We desperately wanted to sign our names to the list but the tub did not contain a pencil or pen and we hadn’t brought one along. But, we did happen to have a treasure with us—a little rubber cat that was hanging from the zipper of our snack sack (Tessa doesn’t travel anywhere without a snack)—so we left the treasure to make ourselves known to the next group curious enough to retrieve the tub from the tree.
Sunday, October 18, 2015
The next weekend, the beautiful Fall weather and bright leaves beckoned us back the same way. As I quickly packed a snack (see previous reference regarding the importance of the snack on any family outing), I remembered the need to pack a pencil. But, alas, in the bustle to get onto the trail, I forgot again and, before I re-remembered, we had set out far enough to make turning back for one too inconvenient.
I made the mistake of voicing my disappointment about the pencil aloud, much to the chagrin of us all at witnessing Tessa’s dramatic reaction and insistence that we could not go on without one. After some persuading, with such assumedly empty promises as “perhaps we’ll find one there this time,” we continued on.
Despite my references to witnessing some creative manifesting in the past (see past posts), it never occurred to me to outright ask the universe for a pencil. But, I suppose, in a rather unforthright way, I actually had voiced a request for one by suggesting that we may “find one there this time”.
Our walk takes us past a delightful picnic spot at the edge of the Grand River, created by the owners of the farm by which the trail passes. Complete with a picnic table and chairs shaded by willow trees, a campfire pit, and a bridge across to a small island, this spot provides the perfect location to stop for our snack.
This time, we enjoyed our snack sitting on a fallen log on the little island, before continuing along the trail and into the cedar forest. On this final leg of our journey, we eagerly rediscovered the secret treasure tub and peered inside. The items in it had indeed changed, indicating we were not alone in our treasure-seeking. We deposited another treasure into it, and this time Tessa took one out to keep at home until we returned it on our next hike. But, alas, still no pencil to write our names.
We returned the same way we had come. And, again, we lingered awhile at the special picnic spot. This time, I meandered over to the edge of the water to take in the view of the Grand. A bright, shiny object half-buried in the grass at my feet caught my eye. I knelt down to identify it and realized it was a bright pink, new mechanical pencil…in Tessa’s favourite colour. I could have found the pencil on our way to the treasure tub…but I wasn’t looking for it.
Every thought we think consciously or unconsciously sends a request out into the universe. The key for us then, is to: first, become aware of our requests and ensure we only request good things based on positive thoughts, not bad things based on negative worries; second, once we consciously make a request, to proceed with the full expectation that it awaits us.
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:25
Several years ago, after watching a documentary about a child who believed he was a reincarnated monk and returned to monastic life, I wrote a short story called The Littlest Monk. Then I buried it with other neglected files.
Several months ago, I reincarnated the story and edited it fairly extensively with the intention to illustrate and publish it. In line with my experience as a website usability professional, I recognized the need to complete some informal usability testing to assess the success of my story with my intended user group—six-year-olds. So, I arranged with my daughter, Tessa’s, teacher to come into her classroom to read them the story and ask their feedback.
A Little Monk
Since I had not yet completed a worthy illustration, I showed the Grade 1 students a number of images I had “pinned” on Pinterest then proceeded to read them the story. Ahh, the joy of asking six-year-olds for constructive criticism…they have no hesitation giving it freely!
The story was too long. Their squirming toward the end of the story had already told me so. But, I confirmed it by asking them “was it too long or too short or just right” and receiving a chorus of enthusiastic “toooooo looonnnngggg”s in reply.
In reading the story aloud, I also noted a number of unnecessary expletives that needed to go. Upon return home, I immediately weeded the story further, including removing an entire section—a section that my gut had told me needed to go earlier, but which I hadn’t had the heart to chop until seeing it flop with the audience.
At this point, the story awaits worthy illustrations. I can see them perfectly in my mind’s eye. But, I experience acute frustration when I pick up a pencil and realize just how rusty my drawing skills have become. A few people have recommended I don’t even try to illustrate it myself but to find an experienced local illustrator to take on that task for me. But, they don’t know how stubborn I am—slow I may be, but persistent I am. I want to complete my vision myself.
So, I ask for divine assistance—to unleash my creativity…on little monks and other six-year-olds.
Taktsang Monastery (Tiger’s Nest) in Bhutan.
Creative Inspiration. A Maxfield Parrish painting.
How do you define Success? As personal comfort? Career advancement? Wealth? Power? Happiness?
Discovering my purpose and defining my goals has required patience and determination—and a much longer search than I would have liked. It started with writing a novel and has evolved into a broader vision, which includes writing the novel plus several other books and courses. The process has challenged my confidence and perseverance. The first step—starting the novel—came easily; telling the world about it took a leap of faith; actually exerting the consistent effort to continue to quietly work on it with no end in sight has proven most difficult. Have I succeeded?
In 1959, after seventeen years of intensive research, Earl Nightingale, one of the men credited with founding the self-help movement, arrived at the below definition of success. He continued to use it unchanged for forty years after that. He said:
“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.”
Earl Nightingale
This definition says so much in so few words:
Progressive:
Happening or developing gradually or in stages; proceeding step by step. Continuous progress! Success does not begin after you complete your goal. Success begins when you start the journey to completion and continue to progress toward it despite obstacles and detours.
Favouring or implementing new, liberal ideas. Forward thinking! Success involves stepping out of accepted norms, as well as your comfort zone, and embracing new ideas and opportunities.
Realization:
An act of becoming fully aware of something as a fact. Awareness! To succeed, we must become aware of a general desire to aspire to a worthy ideal. Then, we must imagine a specific worthy ideal unique to us and become aware of our desire to manifest it.
The fulfillment or achievement of something desired or anticipated. Fulfillment! Next, we must take action fulfill our worthy ideal—to make it a reality.
Worthy:
Deserving of a specified thing. Your goal must be worthy of your time! Your goal must be worth your time—after all, in pursuing it, you are effectively trading your life for it.
Suitable or fit for a specified thing. You must be worthy of your goal! Success requires perseverance and action. To be successful, you must work on your goal, persevering to overcome any obstacles that come your way.
Ideal:
Satisfying one’s conception of what is perfect; most suitable. Suited to you! Your goal must suit you and your unique desires and abilities perfectly.
Existing only in the imagination; desirable or perfect but not likely to become a reality. A magnificent obsession! You must desire it deeply and profoundly.
Are you successful? Are you pursuing the progressive realization of a worthy ideal? What is it?
“My mind is clear. I choose my path. All obstacles are illusions.
The Universe is conspiring with me in my Success.” The universe is conspiring with you for your success!
Notes:
About Earl Nightingale
Earl Nightingale (March 12, 1921 – March 28, 1989) was an American Radio personality, Writer, respected Speaker and Author, dealing mostly on the subjects of Human Character Development, Motivation, Excellence and Meaningful Existence; so named as the “Dean of Personal Development.” He was the voice in the early 1950s of Sky King, the hero of a radio adventure series, and was a WGN radio show host from 1950 to 1956. Nightingale was the author of The Strangest Secret, which economist Terry Savage has called “…One of the great motivational books of all time“.
Interested in reading or listening to “The Strangest Secret” by Earl Nightingale?
You will find many versions of this book available online, including free in PDF format and reading by Earl himself on YouTube. Google “the strangest secret earl nightingale” and choose the best format for you.
Plato designated the dodecahedron to symbolize aether in what have become known as the ‘Platonic Solids.’
Today, leading-edge physicists endeavour to express elemental reality in mathematical terms, as part of their quest for ‘the theory of everything.’ In his documentary, 
WHEN: 11 Wednesday evenings:
Neville Lancelot Goddard (1905-1972) was one of the most influential Metaphysics teachers and New Thought authors of the 20th century. Born to a merchant family in Barbados, West Indies, he set out at age 17 to the United States to study dramatic arts. On tour with a band in England, he was introduced to metaphysics and to devote his life to the study of spiritual and mystical problems.
This definition says so much in so few words: