I haven't made this recipe, but it sounds yummy. I have been eating a lot of watermelon here in western New York State. It's so cool and refreshing on these hot humid days. It reminds me of drinking watermelon juice at a restaurant in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) near the Taj Hotel, with fans whirling over head in the heat of the day. Lovely.
Ingredients
Makes 3 1-cup servings
3 cups seedless watermelon cubes
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion, rinsed
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint, or 1/2 teaspoon dried mint
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a salad bowl and toss to mix. If possible, chill before serving.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Morning in Amish Country
This morning there is time for quiet inner contemplation and peppermint tea with honey. I hope wherever you are that you are also taking time for inner contemplation. You can do this in so many ways. Walking. Writing. Meditation. Or just being absolutely aware as you go throughout your day. Being alone in the stillness is one of the best ways to discover more about yourself. I am always glad when I have the chance to be absolutely alone, especially when that aloneness is nature. Just as we must feed out physical body with nurturing food, so we must we feed out soul with beauty. I love being out here in Amish Country in Western New York State.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Angel Writing
As you know, my connection with the angels began during a near-death experience. Soon
after this incident, I sat down at my typewriter to do some writing. I didn't own a computer in those days. I have always written: poems, stories, letters, and some journaling, but I was shocked to find myself writing messages from angels! It wasn't my intention to connect with the angels through writing; it just happened.
That was in 1981. Since that time, I have written hundreds of pages of angel writing, in addition to poetry, stories, and even a murder mystery! You never do know what might happen if you show up and make yourself available to write. So give it a try! Give it lots of tries! One reason Your Open Classroom exists is to give you a place to show up and express yourself. I happen to love writing here--each time I show up here and write, I learn and grow in new ways. I feel connected to each of you. I feel connected to the angels. I feel uplifted and expanded. I know that many of you are silent observers here, and that's fine. This your classroom, to do what you will. I assure you that the more effort you out into your school, the more benefits you will reap.
That was in 1981. Since that time, I have written hundreds of pages of angel writing, in addition to poetry, stories, and even a murder mystery! You never do know what might happen if you show up and make yourself available to write. So give it a try! Give it lots of tries! One reason Your Open Classroom exists is to give you a place to show up and express yourself. I happen to love writing here--each time I show up here and write, I learn and grow in new ways. I feel connected to each of you. I feel connected to the angels. I feel uplifted and expanded. I know that many of you are silent observers here, and that's fine. This your classroom, to do what you will. I assure you that the more effort you out into your school, the more benefits you will reap.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
First day of Summer
Recently our daily email messages have been about writing. For those of you who make the effort to show up here in Your Open Classroom, I will be posting some of my personal experiences with writing. As you all know, writing is what I do. It is one of the avenues through which the angels express themselves. As I have said many times, angels speak with the voice of God. And so does Intuition. So does our own. heart. It's not that we have angels speaking one language, God another, and our own hearts and intuition yet another! No! Then we'd have the Tower of Babylon!
Angels speak the language of love. When you take the time to write, you open yourself to allow the loving voices of the angels to speak through you. This is what I do when I show up and write. I cannot begin to tell you the marvelous inner and outer transformations that have occurred in my life as a result of simply showing up and writing. Stay tuned for more, both here and in your daily messages.
Today is the first day of Summer, so enjoy!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
WORDS AS WEAPONS OR AS WORSHIP
Did you read today's message? I include it here, along with some affirmations you can use, if you like, to allow more peace to come into your life.
We may not even realize how many words come out of our mouth in a day that are hostile, threatening, defending, critical, hurtful, revengeful, accusatory, wrathful, and mostly, just unconscious. Practice being aware of the words that come out of your mouth. Notice when your words are warlike. And surrender -- as many times in a day as you have to. Lay down your weapons and surrender to a higher power. Let peace pervade your life.
We may not even realize how many words come out of our mouth in a day that are hostile, threatening, defending, critical, hurtful, revengeful, accusatory, wrathful, and mostly, just unconscious. Practice being aware of the words that come out of your mouth. Notice when your words are warlike. And surrender -- as many times in a day as you have to. Lay down your weapons and surrender to a higher power. Let peace pervade your life.
- HOSTILITY is a weapon of darkness. It has no right to exist in my life. Hostility only attracts more hostility. I choose peace.
- THREATENING words are terrifying not only to my own heart, but to the hearts of other people. I choose not to terrify or be terrified. Threatening words are the act of a coward. When I am in my strength, Truth takes care of me.
- DEFENDING words mean I have something to defend. Truth needs no defense. Truth IS. Now and always Truth IS. When I notice myself defending, I can stop and ask myself, what on earth am I defending?
- CRITICAL words are stupid words. I can utilize discrimination without being critical of myself or others.
- HURTFUL words are unkind and unnecessary to my life. They are weapons of pain and destruction. I choose not to harm life in any way by my words.
- REVENGEFUL words vibrate at a very dark, low level. Revengeful words increase darkness within me and the world. I choose to forgive, to let go, to realize that the things of this world are passing away. There is nothing to hold on to, nothing to be revengeful about. I choose to simply stay far away from people who deliberately hurt me. I choose to rise higher than hurtful people. I know that when I rise higher, a higher consciousness guides all my actions and I live in peace.
- ACCUSING words are stupid because they do not know the answer to anything. I choose to connect with Divine Intelligence and find all answers in my heart.
- WRATHFUL words always come back to me.
- UNCONSCIOUS words mean I am living unconsciously. I choose to become aware of my words. I choose to become aware of the little wars I perpetuate every day with my words. I choose peace.
Monday, June 11, 2012
TIME AND TIMELESSNESS
The ego lives in time and yet it believes it lives in timelessness, even though it is confronted each moment with the ticking of the clock. The ego thinks it has time to be angry, time to be insulted, time to be hurt, time to harshly criticize and condemn, time to waste. Think about it and you will see this is so. The ego lives in a time world and acts as if it has all the time in the world.
In REALITY time does not exist. But the ego (false self) does not live in REALITY. It lives in its own false nature. It lives in lies, denial, and deception. It deceives itself into believing. We could stop there. The ego deceives itself into believing. Then it believes that what it believes is reality.
But we were going to say...the ego deceives itself into believing that its nature is eternal. Think about it. On one hand, surely you think there is not enough time. You wonder where time has gone? Time goes by in a flash! Time is too slow! Waiting takes forever! That will never happen!
Those are thoughts associated with the concept of time. Time does not exist for the spirit that is eternal. But it does exist for the body that grows older, flowers that fade. Everything of this earth changes and decays when enough time passes. But please do not let this frighten you. Let it, instead, galvanize you to commit even more strongly to living in the present moment.
The present moment is all there is. It is all there is! When you are truly living in the present moment, life becomes so fine. You recognize the pure pristine quality of each moment. You realize that there is no time to be in the past or future because that means missing what IS here and now. It means you are half-asleep, or maybe completely asleep. It means you are living life unconsciously.
Your school of angels exists for one purpose only--to bring you into awareness where you can live in the here and now.
NOW! HERE! PRESENT! ALIVE! AWAKE! ALERT! CONSCIOUS!
Imagine living in the present moment. I mean, really imagine it, as the only moment there is. Imagine that everything is intensified because your mind is not wandering into the past or future. You can give your full attention to everything that is taking place NOW. You can give your full attention to NOW. You can see. Really SEE. Really BE. You begin to see that there are many levels to existence. Your later lessons (some of you are reaching this point) begin to discuss the different levels of existence that exist simultaneously.
Life is so fragile. It breaks apart in a moment. People die. People are born. Houses burn. Houses are built. Day turns to night. Night becomes morning. The face you see in the mirror changes into another. Your body changes. Everything changes. And so the angels remind you with gentle love, make good use of your time here. Do not waste time. Do not think you have one moment to waste. Let each moment be a moment that takes you closer to truth. Do not simply believe and act from the many thoughts that are in your head. Life is fragile. Life is a snowflake softly falling to earth. Do not believe you are only the snowflake. Enjoy its crystalline beauty. And know that you are the eternal witness of all that IS. You are LIFE itself.
In REALITY time does not exist. But the ego (false self) does not live in REALITY. It lives in its own false nature. It lives in lies, denial, and deception. It deceives itself into believing. We could stop there. The ego deceives itself into believing. Then it believes that what it believes is reality.
But we were going to say...the ego deceives itself into believing that its nature is eternal. Think about it. On one hand, surely you think there is not enough time. You wonder where time has gone? Time goes by in a flash! Time is too slow! Waiting takes forever! That will never happen!
Those are thoughts associated with the concept of time. Time does not exist for the spirit that is eternal. But it does exist for the body that grows older, flowers that fade. Everything of this earth changes and decays when enough time passes. But please do not let this frighten you. Let it, instead, galvanize you to commit even more strongly to living in the present moment.
The present moment is all there is. It is all there is! When you are truly living in the present moment, life becomes so fine. You recognize the pure pristine quality of each moment. You realize that there is no time to be in the past or future because that means missing what IS here and now. It means you are half-asleep, or maybe completely asleep. It means you are living life unconsciously.Your school of angels exists for one purpose only--to bring you into awareness where you can live in the here and now.
NOW! HERE! PRESENT! ALIVE! AWAKE! ALERT! CONSCIOUS!
Imagine living in the present moment. I mean, really imagine it, as the only moment there is. Imagine that everything is intensified because your mind is not wandering into the past or future. You can give your full attention to everything that is taking place NOW. You can give your full attention to NOW. You can see. Really SEE. Really BE. You begin to see that there are many levels to existence. Your later lessons (some of you are reaching this point) begin to discuss the different levels of existence that exist simultaneously.
Life is so fragile. It breaks apart in a moment. People die. People are born. Houses burn. Houses are built. Day turns to night. Night becomes morning. The face you see in the mirror changes into another. Your body changes. Everything changes. And so the angels remind you with gentle love, make good use of your time here. Do not waste time. Do not think you have one moment to waste. Let each moment be a moment that takes you closer to truth. Do not simply believe and act from the many thoughts that are in your head. Life is fragile. Life is a snowflake softly falling to earth. Do not believe you are only the snowflake. Enjoy its crystalline beauty. And know that you are the eternal witness of all that IS. You are LIFE itself.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
EVERY MOMENT IS A LESSON
The earth is truly a schoolroom when we are open and receptive to the teachings of the Universe. Every moment is a lesson. What are the moments of life for? To ENJOY! To be In Joy! To learn! To grow and evolve! Learning is fun. Yes, it is. It is fun for the soul that is here to evolve into the light.
The moments of life are not here for you to be down, depressed, gloomy, angry, hurt, despondent, fearful, condemning and blaming yourself or others. Blame is divisive. It divides you from other people. It divides you from yourself. It divides you from God. Blaming yourself makes you feel guilty.
An intelligent conscience is necessary, but constantly blaming and condemning yourself for the past leads to ongoing guilt that is harmful to your life. Give it up! Give it up now! Read your lessons. Fill your moments with Truth. The angels tell you here and now...let go of useless guilt about the past...and guilt is always about the past...it is about something that has already happened that you feel bad about.
If you can fix something that happened in the past, fix it. If not, let it go. Please remember that when you look at the past, you are not necessarily looking with eyes of Truth. You are looking with eyes of ego. The ego wears glasses of blame and judgment and so the ego cannot rightly see. The ego cannot see right!
The seeing of the ego leaves you feeling down, depressed, gloomy, angry, hurt, despondent, fearful, condemning and blaming yourself or others. Take off those glasses. Fix what you can. Sincerely apologize where you need to. Make what amends you can that will not harm anyone else. And then move on, into a new brightness, here in the Present Moment, open and receptive to the lessons you can learn when you have eyes to see and ears to hear.
The moments of life are not here for you to be down, depressed, gloomy, angry, hurt, despondent, fearful, condemning and blaming yourself or others. Blame is divisive. It divides you from other people. It divides you from yourself. It divides you from God. Blaming yourself makes you feel guilty.
An intelligent conscience is necessary, but constantly blaming and condemning yourself for the past leads to ongoing guilt that is harmful to your life. Give it up! Give it up now! Read your lessons. Fill your moments with Truth. The angels tell you here and now...let go of useless guilt about the past...and guilt is always about the past...it is about something that has already happened that you feel bad about.
If you can fix something that happened in the past, fix it. If not, let it go. Please remember that when you look at the past, you are not necessarily looking with eyes of Truth. You are looking with eyes of ego. The ego wears glasses of blame and judgment and so the ego cannot rightly see. The ego cannot see right!
The seeing of the ego leaves you feeling down, depressed, gloomy, angry, hurt, despondent, fearful, condemning and blaming yourself or others. Take off those glasses. Fix what you can. Sincerely apologize where you need to. Make what amends you can that will not harm anyone else. And then move on, into a new brightness, here in the Present Moment, open and receptive to the lessons you can learn when you have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
MOVING THROUGH THE RIVER OF GRIEF
When tragedy first strikes, we may feel consumed by a river of grief—a river that runs so fast and deep, it feels like we are drowning in it. As the river runs its course, however, we discover that it has its own intelligence. It knows the way, even when we do not. Eventually the river transforms into a small, bright diamond and finds a home in our heart.
It is not that the grief becomes less; in a sense it becomes sharper and brighter, but it no longer consumes us. It becomes a powerful force that guides, teaches, and transforms. Within the depths of that small diamond we find the spark of enthusiasm that is vital for a productive life. We realize that we are still here, no matter what tragedy has befallen us. As we accept what we cannot change, we are able to release the pain. The strength of God reveals itself to us and shows us that we are not alone. We find the courage to move through tragedy into peace. We begin to live life from an even greater depth and—like the sparkle that emanates from a pure bright diamond—we become a light in this world of darkness.
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