Ending the Struggle

Are you continually looking for one miracle to change your world, to bring peace into your life? Are you constantly looking for another writer or speaker who offers 30 days to wealth, wisdom, love, weight loss?

Are you tired of envisioning your dreams, only to have them dashed time and time again? Do the Laws of Attraction continue to evade you, even though you study them closely, and live according to their creed?

Can you look at your life, and know in your heart you are a good, generous, loving person who gives value to the world each day of your life? Perhaps it is value given through generosity, kindness, your friendly demeanor that sets people at ease. Maybe you provide health care, aesthetics, or other feel-good services. Are you the person who bakes for your co-workers on a regular basis? Do you keep your neighborhood clean and recycle on a regular basis, taking care of "Mother Earth"? Do you send prayers out for all who bless your space, or join in world healing circles? What is your contribution?

I know so many who for all intents and purposes live according to the laws, without even knowing what they are, yet the dream lays dormant in their heart. Why? When I ask, the answers are similar - they got tired of the struggle. After years of financing a dream that was going nowhere, they had to let it go. Others just got tired of feeling like a failure after several failed attempts. Others just felt Karma was getting in the way, even though they were unsure what they had done to receive such failure in their lives. Some release the dream to raise a family, help a loved one or to support a spouse in achieving their dream.

At some point many realize they are living the dream, though in a different way than anticipated. I invite you to revisit your dream - how close does your life resemble what you most desire? What choices have you made redirecting your path away from the goals you are struggling to achieve? Who or what has become more important than your original aspirations?

I would like to suggest perhaps life did not get in the way of your dream, but rather gave you opportunities to expand your experience of your deepest desire. Perhaps the Universe placed opposites in your path, in order to broaden your horizons, knowing there was something grander for your life. It may well be that where you were needed most, is where you are.

Again I ask, "Does your life reflect many of the qualities you included in your goals?"

While I do not support giving up on your dreams, I would like to encourage you to let them go, for just a while. Take time to examine where you are, what you are doing, how you would be feeling if you put your focus totally on the events of today? What small thing could you do today to give value to your life? What if you stop beating yourself up for the choices you made in the past, and lived totally in the now, without the grandiose plans of tomorrow?

What if you completely cleared the slate, and asked the Universe to simply guide you in the direction that most suits your skills, talents, and character, asking only to live today in the highest and best possibe scenario for the present moment? What if you used those talents and skills without conditions surrounding wealth, fame, love, or freedom? What if you started saying yes to invitations that seemingly take you in a different direction, yet offer in a simple, easy way, a small part of your desires? What if an opportunity presents itself, with no apparent reason, that seems totally off-track? What if you said yes without really knowing why?

What if you just decided to stop feeling the pressure, let it go and accepted the gifts being offered today? Would you recognize blessings in disguise? Can you open your heart and shut down your mind long enough, to feel the feelings, rather than listen to the ego, saying you are not enough? Can you feel the joy of today, releasing regret, releasing guilt, releasing anger for those who stood in the way of your dream?

Today is a new day - Ask for the best experience for your life today, and know it will be given to you. At the end of the day, it is your responsibility to see the blessing you have just received. End the struggle, giving thanks for the experience of each new moment, each new day....................

Love Cannot Abide In Fear/Trust Cannot Live Within A Lie

Now, if you have absorbed my previous blog, you will be facing your true feelings. Hopefully, you are expressing your truth, in appropriate ways, allowing yourself to feel anger, resentment, fear, grief just as they appear in your day to day experiences. When we are able to release the so-called negative emotions, we create room in our hearts for love, joy, compassion and peace with integrity rather than as a mask to meet socially acceptable behavior.

We are told that love and fear cannot live in the same space. That is not to say that a loving person does not occasionally become angry or defensive. Even the Universe gives off a jolt of lightening, erupts a volcano, creates a tsunami, or an earthquake once in awhile, to release toxic energy.

Have you ever paid attention to the new growth after a forest fire, or the way your garden takes a spurt of growth after a lightening storm? I am sure you have noticed the compassion and gratitude that come to play at the event of a major disaster. How many of you have reached out to communities rebuilding after a tornado, earthquake or flooding?

We are so afraid of speaking our truth, fearful that those we love will leave us or love us less, for showing our anger, or speaking beliefs contrary to theirs. This fear prevents us from being honest with others, until at some point we lose sight of who we are. The vibration of distrust begins to override the vibration of love until at some point we overreact to an event, shattering the mask of bliss we tried so hard to maintain.

Can you think of a time when you  argued with a loved one? Do you still feel guilty or can you look past the anger, and see a building of trust, thanks to the honesty of each of you in the moment? We feel the vibrations of conflict, even when the words aren't spoken. Though we prefer the vibration of love, it is easily overridden by words unspoken and feelings repressed to protect the cherished relationship.

I believe relationships become stale and mundane due to our lack of honesty. When we tuck our less than loving feelings away, to keep peace, we also tuck away a part of our soul, until one day we wake up and realize that our relationships have become a convenience rather than a partnership. Trust cannot live within a lie.

That trust cannot live within a lie, becomes even more important than the statement, love cannot abide in fear. Love can only be built on truth which leads to trust. Life is the totality of our expression. Reality lives beyond the illusion of love. If we are to find our wholeness, we must accept love as a reality only when it allows us full disclosure of our feelings and beliefs.

Begin today sorting out your true feelings, allowing the masks to slip away. Be honest in your conversations. Check in with your soul - are you trustworthy?

Illusion or Life

Secondary Title - God May Love the Sparrow - But he also loves it's predator

BIRDS FIGHT OVER ROAD KILL, DEER AND ANTELOPE RUN IN FEAR AT THE SOUND OF GUNSHOT, PLANTS SHRIVEL UP WITH LACK OF MOISTURE, AND DETERIORATE UNDER THE EFFECTS OF TOO MUCH RAIN. SNAKES LASH OUT WITH A VENOMOUS BITE AND BEARS ATTACK WHEN THEY OR THEIR SPACE IS THREATENED. SPIDERS WILL CURL UP IN A DEATH LIKE POSITION AS SHADOW OR LIGHT FALL OVER THEM.

It seems contradictory to me that our teachers will tell us that birds, insects and plants thrive in the love of their creator. Do they really feel completely in trust that they will be provided for? Do they give the impression that there is plenty for all? I think not.

In fact, if you spend the day in nature, you will find many defense mechanisms in place, you will notice adaptations of plants and animals trying to survive in less than perfect surroundings, you will be astounded by acts of territorialism. Study the behaviors of our animal friends. Many species battle until death to be the leader of their pack, and between species to control the lush green feeding areas. There does not appear to be guilt when killing to survive is a requirement.

Fox and coyote are well known for their trickster attitude, guiling their prey into peril. I wonder what they would do to the dove who tried to sit with them and explain that love is more important than the lunch they are plotting to have? What about the bear who stalks his prey to learn their patterns, in preparation for the kill? Isn't this premeditated murder? I wonder how our creator really feels about that?

Do you really believe the fresh new plants of spring just sigh and forgive when a blast of snow and frost freeze their newly forming blossoms? I know we do not see them kicking and screaming, nor can we read a post on facebook, expressing their disappointment, but do you really think they are expressing gratitude to their creator for this "lesson in life"?

Have you ever sat and watched as a Raven catches the wind and appears to soar as a hawk or an eagle? What happens then, if he swoops down to grab a mouse from the field? Could Raven survive as an eagle or a hawk?  We are constantly told by mentors and potential teachers that we can be anything and do anything we choose....  How can that be? If I do not have the talons and beak of an eagle, how can I live as an eagle? Without roots and branches, could I exist as a tree? There are many days I'd rather be my pet, but then again do I want to drink from a seldom washed plastic bowl on the floor?

Okay, I hear the voice of friends telling me to be realistic. I guess that is the point of the this writing - to get back to what is realistic. Within the realm of realism, there is a part of me that believes we can be and do anything. I am a believer that love is more important than dinner. I am often caught by fox and coyote, tricking me into buying another self-help program that will allow me to live the life of my dreams. Too often that has left me open to that blast of frost, killing my passion, my dreams and my finances. I wish I could be an eagle, in order to see the greater picture, but I accept the blessing of being able to watch the eagle soar above me..... Though I believe in the power of peace, I now have a better perception of the fight for survival and the need to be agressive from time to time, in order to preserve my identity and soul.

Several times a week I receive emails asking me to save animals or birds from extinction. I ask why there isn't more compassion for our own kind. We see our friends, neighbors and strangers losing their homes and jobs. We criticize them for not being prepared, not being financially savvy, and look down on them for their past mistakes. They are awarded poor credit ratings, and find it almost impossible to rebuild. The corporations who helped put them in this situation proudly sponsor a "Save the...." campaign, while sitting in judgement of a fellow human who is facing the loss of his habitat. Hmmmmm ..... Strange don't you think that we are willing to save a forest, the whales, seals and other wild life, but we have little time or finances to help our fellow man? Does survival of the fittest belong only to the human species?

I am glad that I was pushed to be more aware of nature - to study the birds, beasts and flora. Now I see that there should not be judgement of anger, fear, and survival mechanisms for they are as natural as the rising and setting of the sun. I may never condone the murder of another human, but there is less guilt when I trap a mouse who is invading my space, or kill the spider who refuses to stay in the garden killing bugs. It strikes me as how important it is for us to allow our lives to flow, rather than to force - for in doing so we too often try to become that which we were never meant to be. I can accept that I am human, and that there are limits to what I can do and be.  So now I wonder, "Am I a bookkeeper, pretending to be a healer, or a healer, pretending to be a bookkeeper or am I both?" Is this my balance - to see what is real, and believe in what I cannot see?

Can I believe that there is more than enough for all of us - that lack only exists in our minds? Once you have convinced the whales, seals, and polar bears, and rain forests, ask me again. Better yet, convince our governments that we are all created equal and deserve similar quality of life......

For now this is enough for me:  God sees the little sparrow fall, it meets his tender view. If God so loves the little birds, I know he loves me too...........