Seek And Ye Shall Find

"Christopher, do you love me?" 
"Define love." 
~ Under The Cherry Moon

Love is in the air this week; that of the hearts, flowers, and box of chocolates kind. Many consider this heady romantic experience ideal and feel less than whole without it. Truth be told, some who are "in love" seem to be testing the limits of their pain endurance.

Some champagne toast that they 'belong' to someone who in turn 'belongs' to them on Valentine's Day as the relationship crumbles around them. My grandmother once told me, "We have to decide if we are fools in love or we just love being fools." For many this is a difficult moment of truth. Hence, Christopher's insightful advice to Mary.

"If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love. You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

An individual's personal definition of what they believe love should be dictates their experience in relationships. How often we wage battle for love that is scant, fleeting and inconsistent only to reject God's perfect love which is certain, abundant and everlasting. 

Our Creator breathes His love into each of us. It is through His vine we are all interconnected and it begins with self love. It is a mystery that we cannot fall 'in love' with every part of ourselves the way God does, yet we demand unconditional forever love from another.

"God desires to reveal His heart to us and reveal His heart into us as we seek His face." 
~ Bill Mills

It is the parts of us we deem unlovable we expect another to fill. We must seek God's love to fill these parts of ourselves with His Healing. God's love is unconditional because He is unconditional love. His love is such that He does not force it upon us. He offers and patiently waits without conditions. We are free to choose or refuse. 

Define love, seek and embrace the truth of who you are through the heart of God. In His bosom you are never alone and will never be made the fool.

Seek to stay centered in His love and find peace.

What is your definition of love?
How does the truth revealed in your definition determine what you seek in love relationships?
Are you willing to submit to loving yourself as the Creator encourages?

"Love is the sister to Truth. You must go to Truth to find her." ~ Suzy Kassem

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We Are Our Intention

"What you mean is what you get." ~ Brenna Yovanoff

Vipassana or insight meditation embraces the Socratic dictum of "know thyself". It assists in looking deeply, in cutting through our created delusions by allowing present moment observation of body and mind. This practice aids in cultivating the inner wisdom needed to increase the present and mindful awareness of our words and actions each day.

"From the intention springs the deed, from the deed springs the habits, from the habits grow the character, from the character develops the destiny." ~ Chinese Buddhist text

Intention is defined as the purpose or attitude toward the effect of one's actions or conduct. Simply put, our intention creates our present reality. And unlike goal setting, this energy is not connected to outcomes. In contrast, it helps us stay connected with self, with the integrity of our inner being from moment to moment.

T. Harv Eker penned the saying, "where our attention goes our energy flows and results show." Our attention is born of our intention and our innate focus is what manifests the moments we experience in the present. Seeking to "know thyself" in a more meaningful way by examining the deeper truths hidden in your intention increases your understanding of every conscious action you are taking.

"Ye will know the truth and the truth will set you free." ~ John 8:32

My vipassana practice has revealed my deep desire for peace which includes becoming ever mindful in acceptance of self, releasing attachments, facing fears, forgiveness, non-judgement, and trusting the will and wisdom of God. My greatest wish is to learn to access that place in me that is peace filled with mindful consistency.

Exploring your intention at the deeper levels can provide insight into what is driving you toward the people, places, and things you believe to be necessary for your daily existence. Your present must dos and must haves are speaking volumes. Pause and listen to what this Divine inner wisdom wants to share.

What is the underlying intention steering your life's energetic direction?
Are you working from a place of mindful awareness of your intentions each day?
In what ways would your current circumstances improve with awareness of your intentions?

With New Eyes

"The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." 
~ Marcel Proust

There are constant callings in our lives. A calling is different though not separate from our purpose. I equate purpose with life's meaning. Callings exist within each experience along the journey and speak to our evolvement. Callings, when we are open to them, aid in the expansion of the heart and enable us to fulfill our purpose with authenticity. "Open your eyes, look within," as Bob Marley says.

"The truth hurts, but denial's what will kill you. 
~ August Burns Red

We are always in the process of awakening from a trance of safety. A trance that insulates us and keeps us snug in our zones of comfort even when we are hurting. We see what we choose to see in every circumstance as we seek to make coping easier, our lives more palatable. 

George Benson penned a moving piece entitled, "Everything Must Change". Together the lyric and melody spin a deep melancholy steeped in a healthy dose of reality. Embracing the message in this song can lead us into the space of our sacred heart. The space that calls to us each time we feel the sting of offense, sadness, loss, jealousy, abandonment, rejection, etc. 

The list is endless, but each pang of discomfort calls our attention to a place within us in need of God's healing oil of love. If we awaken to the revelations concerning self in each calling, we can increase our capacity to love and vibrate higher. If we do not turn away, we can evolve more fully in our life's purpose. 

"The truth is all around you, plain to behold." 
~ George R.R. Martin

True freedom lies beyond the realm of our manufactured reality. As renowned author and teacher Jack Kornfield shares, "Liberation comes in finding composure amid all of life's experiences." Choose to trust God as He removes the scales from your eyes. Soon you will awaken and come to see yourself in and through Him with increasing clarity. 

Are you weaving webs of unreality as shields from painful truths?
What trance is your heart calling you to awaken from?
Can you trust God to heal your life once the scales have been removed from your eyes?

Neo: "Why do my eyes hurt?"
Morpheus: "Because you've never used them before." 
~ The Matrix

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The Energy of Gratitude

"For everything there is a season and a time for every event under heaven." ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1

Spring is in the air. I know this because of my constant sneezing. 

As one season prepares its exit to make way for the next, I get somewhat left of my center and the daily grind becomes more challenging until things balance out. In the past few years, I have become hyper-intuitive to these changes. I am growing equally sensitive to the energetic shifts in my own life. The way I experienced this week is indicative of this revelation.

"If winter comes, can spring be far behind?" ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

When I begin to feel this way, focus on gratitude clears my chakra points enabling the out flow and in pouring of universal energy in a more even fashion. Instead of wrestling against the unsteadiness, opening to it allows the old season to clear out making room for the new. As the old soil is overturned, new seed is planted and I am empowered to bear more fruit in the purposes for which God has appointed.

Each season presents its unique challenges. I have chosen to be grateful for each, looking upon it as a time of pruning with an ever increasing opportunity for inner growing. By faith, I am certain of the Creator's presence in every circumstance.

Are you sensitive to the change of seasons in your life?
Is your inner soil currently being overturned?
Can you begin to look upon each challenge through the eyes of gratitude?

"That is one good thing about this world ... there is always sure to be more springs." 
~ L. M. Montgomery

The Answers in Our Resistance

"People don't resist change. They resist being changed." ~ Peter M. Senge

Most of the time when we think of resistance, we consider it in the traditional sense of challenging organizations, governments, and socio-economic systems that threaten individual, civil, and human rights.

I took my children to see the film, Selma this weekend and I was satisfied at their ability to draw parallels between the civil rights movement of the 60's and the protest movements of today. Each overcoming resistance to changes that seek to move us closer to a more universal experience of our humanity. 

On the drive home I considered the meaning of resistance as it plays out in our daily lives in the most personal of ways. I took this question into my evening prayer and meditation time and discovered that wisdom awaits in our resistance when we are courageous enough to listen.

"Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is. The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds." ~ Dan Millman

I recalled one morning griping on about the cold and how much I hated having to wear closed in shoes and so many layers of clothing. I laughed out loud when a friend remarked, "It's winter."

I was resisting winter. 

Winter which must come every year, some years in milder form than others; nevertheless it arrives. Just as there are seasons for Mother Earth, there are seasons in our human experience. Each rotation no matter how simplistic or trying is transformative and brings along with it renewed purpose. Yet we resist either by our refusal to let go, extending prematurely, or grasping for that which was never intended. 

The budding of Spring cannot last forever, nor can the carefree heat of summer. The leaves change and must be shaken from their comfortable branches to rest on the cold ground and be buried in the snow. 

Release the fear that prompts attempts to control the seasons and grow into the inevitability of the changes where promises of peace and freedom await. 

Do you resist the changing seasons in your life? 
What challenges are you currently grasping for or bracing against?
Are you blocking valuable new experiences by holding on to outdated ones?

"Clearly all fear has an element of resistance and a leaning away from the moment. Its dynamic is not unlike that of strong desire except that fear leans backward into the last safe moment while desire leans forward toward the next possibility of satisfaction. Each lacks presence." ~ Stephen Levine 

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How We Love

"Awake love is not an emotion it is a state of being. True love has no object. Many speak of their unconditional love for another. Unconditional love is the experience of being." ~ Steven Levine

I am becoming Love.

In our human existence, we love in different ways at different times under different circumstances. This often breeds what the Pali Canon calls stress, suffering or dukkha; which means "that which is hard to bear". Thai master, Ajaan Maha Boowa, translates it as, "whatever puts a squeeze on the heart".

Imagine the dismay of this dancer and serious academic mom, at a daughter's disinterest in ballet and a son's lackadaisical approach to his studies. When these disappointments "put a squeeze on my mommy heart" I believed my forced attempts at steering their pursuits was justified because I love them and I want what is best for them.

"When we say love, we usually mean some emotion or some deep feeling for an object or person that momentarily allows us to open to another, but in such emotional love self protection is never far away. Still there is "business" to the relationship." ~ Steven Levine

Clearly, my ego mind had "business" to tend to relating to my children. Translation, my dukkha was showing. Sitting in my dukkha during meditation permits quiet observation without judgement. Witnessing "that which is hard to bear" is always a challenge, but is the way toward freedom from the stress and suffering created by the ego's desire for control. 

With God's Hand of intention replacing mine, my daughter is growing into an accomplished scientist and violist and my son a developing writer and speaker.

"So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." ~ I John 4:16

As the Great "I Am" is Love, so are my children and I an extension of that Love. Embracing this Truth with an open heart helps redefine my experience in all my relationships. 

The goal is to be present and abide in Love. 

Becoming ever mindful of any agenda and releasing it to Love without seeking control by grasping, clinging, or manipulating. I know that all is evolving according to the perfect Will of God.

Finally I am becoming Love.

Can you identify the dukkha in your life?
Do you attempt to control others through clinging, grasping, or manipulation?
Are you willing to allow God's Hand to replace yours in every area of your life?

"You cannot unconditionally love another. You can only be unconditional love. It's not a dualistic emotion. It's a sense of openness with all that is. The experience of love arises when we surrender our separateness into the Universal. It is a feeling of unity. You don't love another you are another. There is no fear because there is no separation." ~ Steven Levine

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Empty Your Cup

"You are like this tea cup, so full that nothing more can be added. Come back to me when the cup is empty. Come back to me with an empty mind." ~ Zen Proverb

Approaching this first weekend of a new year, I along with so many others continue to focus on resetting my energies. Last year was like any other strewn with growth exercises tailor made for my inner transformation. 

By far, the most profound wisdom afforded me was the value of learning to merge each triumph and trial into my spirit as I journey. I bow in honor to the lessons of the past year and I am grateful to move forward with increasing clarity, allowing what is necessary and discarding what no longer serves a purpose in my travels. 

The Creator has new blessings in disguise for each of us that will continue to facilitate our soul healing. Some will be joyful, others will be pain filled, but we must not shrink in fear. 

Remember that no experience, pleasant or ill desired lasts forever, but the Creator is ever faithful that the cup of our spirit will be filled with every good and perfect gift He has to give and it is His will that we elevate ever closer to Him. Choose gratitude for last year's sojourn, and step boldly into a new year in faith rejuvenated. 

Empty your cup in order that it might be filled anew. 

What lessons from last year are you most grateful for?
What new truth(s) are you merging into your spirit?
Are you willing to face this year's growth challenges?

"Dear Lord, Show me the empty places in my heart and the ways I try to fill them. Then lead me back to You and show me how I can position my heart to be filled and fulfilled by your promises and the power of Your Love." ~ Renee Swope

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