Rising Above Fear

I used to be terrified of spiders. One day a Wolf Spider appeared in my bathroom. Because it was so big, I could see it lift its leg as I came near, see that it was afraid (as big as it was). I could see its life, that it meant me no harm. It just wanted to live.

Wolf Spider

I found a way with a glass and a paper to take it to the door. At that moment, it got free and I screamed and the spider screamed (I heard it with my spiritual hearing) — anyway, it ran outside, and I ran into another room.

The fear was still in my body, but I recognized it as being only a physical reaction, which I did not have to identify with. My body was shaking and it took a while for the fear feelings to pass, but those feelings were not my true self.

To live an entire life with hatred towards anything, with fear of a spider, with the idea that their lives are mine to take because of hatred or fear — is to live a life unexamined. 

Life takes on new meaning when we begin to rise above our fears and hatreds. 

I still don't like to see spiders, but do my best to set them free outside. 

"The unexamined life is not worth living" —Socrates

Practical things

Deearest & Nearest,

This morning I woke up with an email message that T-Mobile had a data breach—which means my data was compromised, since I use T-Mobile for my cell phone. That meant that I had to get busy freezing my credit reports. And take other actions to help protect my data.

Is it how I wanted to begin my morning? Nope. But...

I took a few immediate actions, then stopped for breakfast. Paused to be still before doing more.

The world is always bombarding us with "things to do" — because the world created by man is a world of ego. That's all it can do. But no matter what the world sends, we do not have to respond from that same level. 

And we never have to feel like a victim  — poor me. We don't have to complain. We can accept what IS. And deal with it to the best of our ability.

When we struggle to hold on and maintain control — well, we struggle. And struggling is no fun. 

When you find yourself struggling, trying to maintain control — use it as a spiritual exercise. Look deep into yourself. Find out what is there.

You do not have to let victim personality, fear, and anxiety control you. You really don't. You don't have to keep trying to build up the false self. You really don't. 

With lots of love now and always...

BE THE CROW YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD

• Collect shiny things
• Hop happily down the street for no apparent reason
• Scream loudly when you see your friends

Plans & Visions

  Dearest & Nearest,

Your plan for your life may have nothing to do with God’s plan. God’s plan is what happens. Your plan is what you think will happen. This does not mean that you should not make plans. Life must be lived; plans must be made.

You might plant an apple tree with a vision of mouth-watering red apples in your mind. Just when the apples are about ready to eat, you get a new job in a new country. You never eat those apples, but you eat new fruit in a new country and someone else enjoys the apples you left behind. Or maybe a storm destroys your tree and all of your apples. You cannot eat those apples, but you still benefit from having planted and loved a tree, and so does the earth! 

An old Chippewa Indian axiom advises, “If your eyes cry because of losing the sun, your tears will not allow you to see the stars.”

It can feel so sad to lose something or someone you cherish. No one can say that sadness is not real for you. Emotions are part of being human. To push away or deny feelings is to be less than alive. Feelings must be acknowledged if they are to be resolved and dissolved into love—not hidden away to become clouds that obscure the light from shining through. When we are free to experience a feeling completely, we are also free to move on from that experience. Emotions can be either a flowing river, cleansing and freeing, or a dam that stops the flow.

If you cannot linger to taste even one apple from the tree you have planted, feel your longing; cry your tears—but please do not take old tears with you to the new country to which you are traveling. Neither hold a grudge at the storm for destroying your tree. The angels might change that old Chippewa saying to, “If your eyes cry too long because of losing the sun, your tears will not allow you to see the stars,”—and add another, “If your eyes never cry, your unshed tears may become clouds that obscure the light of God from shining clearly through you.”

Maybe you thought you were planting the tree to eat apples. Maybe God put the vision in your mind, not to eat apples, but as part of a greater plan. Maybe it was as simple as planting and loving a tree for a while, reaping the benefits of sun and exercise, filling your mind with the beauty of nature, giving back to the earth, and leaving a lovely legacy.

YOU ARE MADE OF LIGHT

Although it has been said that you are the light, angels remind you that your true nature is more than the light. Your false nature, the nature of ego, exists in separation from Light. Your true nature is that which contains both light and dark. THAT is the true light: A light your eyes are incapable of seeing: A light your mind is unable to fathom: It is the heart that knows and recognizes this Light. This is the Light of compassion, wisdom, and the only true love.

ACTIVELY DOING SPIRITUAL WORK

Dearest & Nearest,

When you are actively doing spiritual work—which doesn't mean just sitting in meditation once a day—it means ACTIVELY DOING SPIRITUAL WORK—then your life truly becomes permeated with spirituality, like the scent of roses or lilacs permeate the air where they grow. Then spirituality can permeate even your dreams. Even in your dreams your spiritual work towards freedom can continue.

For example, I woke from a dream the other morning. In this dream there was pain—someone was in great emotional pain—and I could feel it. And I was telling him that it was because he was focusing upon these painful thoughts. And that over here, if he just shifts his focus, is a beautiful pure white shining flower.

I can still see that flower now. It was shimmering and radiant with light.

I told him—if you just shift your focus to this flower, the pain will go away. Nothing can touch this flower—which is the radiance of your true being—not all the pain and darkness of the world. You must only shift your focus.

Isn't this a wonderful spiritual teaching. And it all came in a dream.

with love and devotion, as always...

So sweetly pure and innocent this bunny sat quietly while I took it's picture, knowing I meant it no harm.

The Prologue to St. John's Gospel

Dearest & Nearest,

The Prologue to St. John's Gospel:

 1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. 2 All things came into being through God; without God was not anything made that was made. 4 In God was life, and the life was the light of humanity. 5 And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.

_______________

Darkness cannot understand Light! And darkness can NOT put out  the Light.  So fear not the darkness. It is simply your wrong understanding. It is not real except as you make it real by believing in it. 

The angels say: O Beautiful One. Why believe in that which is not real, which was never real, which is made real only through ignorance? When your wrong understanding dissolves, so does darkness.