May's News

Dear Friends and Family of Wisechoices and Mari Hall

After many months and e mails back and forth between the web designer, Katerina in Thessaloniki, Greece and myself in Houston, Texas our new Wisechoices web pages have been put up. We are still working out the the kinks that we find. I had been waiting to post a newsletter until I had the finished results to show you. My intention was there at least even though it took longer than I had imagined.

To see our new site follow this link. http://www.wisechoices.com

I have also moved into my new home, unpacked all the boxes from storage and have begun to reacquaint my self with treasured books and photos. I am also enjoying my garden complete with a meditation spot. It is heaven to sit outside and listen to the birds, the sound of the water running over the sides of the fountain and the wind chimes hanging in the craggy old tree. It has been 19 years since I have purchased my own place...My roots are growing deeper. I have been planting patio containers with flowers that spill out in multi colors. I am so blessed!

Our next 21 day virtual Usui Retreat will start on June 21st. I have a very special person to do the focus meditations this time. Stay tuned for further announcements. Here are some interesting articles that I am sharing with you. May your Spring be filled with sights, smells and sounds of newness and your heart be filled with joy.

Love and Blessings,

Mari

Each of us is a Vital Thread

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. "What food might this contain?" the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning:

There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse”, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The pig sympathized, but said, " I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral; the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them. The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

And so, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.

REMEMBER..... EACH OF US IS A VITAL THREAD IN ANOTHER PERSON'S TAPESTRY; OUR LIVES ARE WOVEN TOGETHER FOR A REASON.


Pausing To Drink

Beauty Day

Sometimes we go through whole days without really tuning in to the beauty of nature that surrounds us. We have a habit of seeing it without really taking it in, yet once we begin to notice it we treat ourselves to an exquisite realm of subtle, complex scents, miraculous forms, and ethereal light. The natural world enriches our entire being through the vehicles of our senses. When we are low, nature lifts our spirits. When we are tired, it rejuvenates us-if we pause long enough to drink from its beauty. If you have fallen out of the practice of taking time to observe the light as it filters through the leaves of a tree, or the concentric rings a raindrop makes as it plops into a puddle, you can re tune yourself by dedicating a day to noticing the beauty in nature.

On this day, one possibility is to rise early enough to see the sunrise. Watching the sky change colors and the world emerge from darkness is an experience that will influence the whole rest of your day in ways that words cannot describe. Or simply observe the quality of the morning light as it infuses the world with its particular pale golden beauty. You may let the light play on your own hand, remembering that you are also part of the natural world. Let your intuition guide you to the elements of nature that call to you throughout the day, such as the sound of the wind as it shakes and sways a tree or the feeling of snowflakes landing on your warm eyelids and cheeks.

After you devote one day to opening your eyes more fully to the beauty of nature, you may want to make this part of your daily routine. Each day drink from the beauty all around you, and allow it to rejuvenate your entire being. All you have to do is pause, for just one minute, and really take it in, remembering to thank Mother Nature for her beauty.

Hearing the One Voice

Taking Counsel in A Circle

When we sit in a circle together and share our thoughts and feelings, we participate in a powerful, unifying practice whose origins stem from the very beginning of human time. All early cultures practiced some form of this ritual, which gives each individual in the group a voice, and at the same time reveals the one voice, and the ultimate unity, of the group. This profound and simple way of talking and listening has experienced a modern rebirth in counseling, social work, and spirituality.

Most circles benefit from the presence of a leader who opens the circle by calling in angels, spirit guides, and ancestors-beings of light who will be present with those taking counsel. The leader may announce a theme for the circle, or one may simply evolve from the unstructured expressions of each participant. The circle continues for as long as feels right, at which point the leader may summarize what has been said, perhaps leading everyone in a moment of silence before the circle disbands. One of the most powerful components of this work is the talking stick, which can be any object-a crystal, a flower, or a candle-that is passed around the circle from person to person. The person holding the object speaks until he has fully expressed his feelings, and no one else interjects, interrupts, or even responds until they are holding the stick. This enables people who have a hard time speaking out to express long buried feelings and points of view. This is powerful because in a! Community it is often what is not said or acknowledged that causes the most pain and suffering.

The circle, which contains no hard edges or angles, is the ideal container for these difficult truths. As we hear the many perspectives the subject at hand inspires, we begin to see that our individual truth is just one of many. Our own hard edges begin to soften as the circle flows from one person to the next, and each wave of words cleanses us of one more layer of mental and emotional armor, freeing us to be closer to the people around us. Try using counsel during your next family meeting, school class, or any setting where you feel a centering communication method is needed.

Returning Home

Open Heart

Spiritual teachers have always pointed to the heart as the seat of consciousness, and recently Western science has found evidence to support this realization. It turns out that the heart has its own central nervous system and is not simply under the rule of the brain as formerly believed. Anyone who has taken the time to explore the heart knows this and, more important, has realized that the heart is the source of our connection to a consciousness greater than the ego. Approaching life with an open heart means that we have opened the door to this greater consciousness, taking up residence alongside it in the seat of our soul. Fortunately, at this time there is a lot of support for this shift energetically as well as practically. To some degree, approaching life with an open heart is as simple as shifting your attention onto your heart.

Eventually you will be able do this any time, any place, but at first it may help to try it in a quiet place where you won't be disturbed. Simply sit with your eyes closed and draw your breath into your heart. As your breath expands your chest cavity, your heart expands and opens. You may feel tenderness or sadness in your heart, and you may also feel relief. Any emotions that arise can be effectively witnessed and healed through the meditation process, which benefits both your physical heart and your energetic heart. The more you practice, the more you will find your heart opening to your own presence and to all the situations your life brings.

When we open our hearts, they may feel tender and vulnerable, which simply means that they need our loving attention as we cleanse and heal them of past hurts and blockages. This process asks us to practice some of the heart's greatest lessons-patience, compassion, and unconditional love. On the other hand, we may take up residence as effortlessly as a bird returns to its nest. Either way, approaching life with an open heart simply means returning to our true home.

As if it Were the First Time
Paulo Coelho

I would like to believe that I am going to look on this new year as if it were the first time that 365 days have unfolded before my eyes. To see the people around me with surprise and amazement, happy to discover that they are by my side and sharing something so often mentioned and so seldom understood, called love.

I shall climb on the first bus that comes along without asking where it is going to and I shall get off as soon as I see something that catches my attention. I shall pass by a beggar who asks me for some spare change. Maybe I’ll give him something, maybe I’ll think that he will spend it on drink and just walk past – hearing his insults and understanding that that is the way he has to communicate with me. I shall pass by someone who is trying to wreck a telephone booth. Maybe I’ll try to stop them, maybe I’ll understand that they are doing that because there is nobody to talk to on the other side of the line and that is their way of chasing off loneliness.

On each of these 365 days I shall look at everything and everybody as if it were the first time – especially the small things that I am not used to and whose magic I have forgotten. The keys of my computer, for example, that move with an energy that I fail to understand. The paper that appears on the screen and for a long time has not been revealed in a physical manner, although I believe that I am writing on a white sheet where it is easy to make corrections by pressing a key. At the side of the computer monitor are some papers that I do not have the patience to put in order, but if I feel that they are hiding something new, than all these letters, memoranda, newspaper cuttings and receipts will gain a life of their own and will have odd stories of the past and the future to tell me. So many things in the world, so many paths trodden, so many entrances and exits in my life.

I am going to put on a shirt that I wear a lot and for the first time I shall pay attention to the label and the way it was sewn, and I am going to imagine the hands that designed it and the machines that changed this design into something material and visible.

And even the things that I am used to – such as my bow and arrows, the breakfast coffee mug, the boots that have become an extension of my feet after wearing them so much – will be coated in the mystery of discovery. Let everything that my hand touches, my eyes see and my mouth taste be different now, although they been the same for many a year. In that way they will no longer be still-lifes and start to convey the secret of having been with me for such a long time, and they will show me the miracle of coming into touch again with emotions already worn down by routine.

I want to look at the sun for the first time, if the sun comes out tomorrow, or at cloudy weather, if tomorrow is overcast. Above my head there is a sky for which all of humanity - over thousands of years of observation - has given a series of reasonable explanations. Well, I shall forget everything I have ever learned about the stars, and they will once more turn into angels, or children, or anything else that I feel like believing in at the moment.

Time and life have changed everything into something perfectly understandable – and I need mystery, the thunder that is the voice of an angry god rather than just a simple electric discharge that sets off vibrations in the atmosphere. I want to fill my life again with fantasy, because an angry god is far more curious, frightening and interesting than a phenomenon of physics.

And finally, let me look at myself on each of these 365 days as if it were the first time that I was in contact with my body and my soul. Let me look at this person who walks, feels and talks like any other, let me feel surprised at his most simple gestures, like chatting to the mailman, opening his correspondence, contemplating his wife sleeping at his side, wondering what she is dreaming about.

And so I shall remain what I am and what I like to be, a constant surprise to myself. This I who was not created by my father or by my mother, nor by my school, but by all that I have lived so far - suddenly I forgot and am discovering it all over again.

Week Three of the Usui Retreat- January 4, 2007

Welcome to week three of the Usui Retreat. It is my wish that your journey always lead you to places unexpected; may you find wonder and awe at every turn. May your awareness be such that you see that the path you are on is one you have chosen and where new decisions must be made, your faith in your self and in the universe frees you to make the ones required.

May peace, happiness and blessing follow you all the days of your life and to wherever your path takes you and may you rediscover things lost and have new experiences of happiness, fulfillment and success.

Wishing that each new day in 2007 and beyond be better and better and better.

Happy New Year…

And now are you ready to begin?

I want you to do something different and unique. I want you to release all the positive memories you are holding on to from your past. Are you holding on to the best Christmas you remember? Or the best present you ever received? Could it be your first car or favorite home, your first great love or your proudest moment? Maybe it is happy, loving times with your family, best tasting food, beautiful sunsets, flowers…release it all.

How many of you are holding these positive past events and feelings and using them to judge every experience you create today? Are you comparing every kiss or embrace today to an experience you had in the past? Release every positive experience from your past that is keeping you from being in the present moment and experiencing things as if for the first time.

During the release, make an intention to keep the wisdom, joy, and love from these positive past events. All you're doing is releasing the energetic charges you are holding on to which are still causing you to have judgments and comparisons today.

Once you've released all the charged positive experiences from your past, shower or bathe with fresh water.

Positive experiences often have more of an energetic charge than your fears. Think about it. We do our best to heal the negative things from our past, but we do not realize we are also comparing positive experiences. Releasing all charged memories is a helpful technique to aid us in staying present in the moment.

By letting go of even the good memories and allowing us to be present in the moment of This Holiday season, just for it, we will have a choice we may have never had before. We will have the choice of LOVE, the space where miracles can occur.

We are motivated to see our efforts through to their natural end when we can envision the brighter future these endeavors are calculated to bring about. It is easy to become discouraged when we are not quite sure how the outcome of our labors will affect our lives because the potential for negativity is omnipresent. Visualizing precisely what we hope to achieve empowers us to focus on primarily positive probabilities throughout the whole of the goal-realization process. When we feel disheartened by circumstances that interfere with our forward momentum, we need only call our image of success to mind to feel once again enthusiastic about the path we have chosen to follow. Because you are focusing on the fulfillment of your ambitions today, challenges in the present will have no power to adversely affect your mood.

To finish I want to encourage you to journal your experiences…. Mapping The Inner Journey using Journaling As Meditation.

Of the countless forms of meditation we can use, journaling offers its own unique benefits. Most meditations help empty the mind of concerns and bring positive ideas from our mental landscape, but journaling helps us anchor that experience in the material world. Not every person is attracted to meditating in seated silence, and journal meditation is a nice alternative as an active meditation. It allows us to trace our journey and see where we have grown and what lessons we may be repeating. By employing a different part of the brain than creative or inspired thought, writing or typing a journal can create a greater sense of connection and union with our physical selves and the world around us.

In working through challenges, it can be helpful to first empty all worries from our heads onto the safe pages of our journal. Fears can be brought to light rather than allowing them to haunt the dark corners of our subconscious. We may even feel heaviness dissipate once our heads are free from clutter, leaving space for inspiration and the creation of positive images in their place. Often in the process of writing out all the details of an event that troubles us, something that had been forgotten will come to the surface, providing a missing piece of the puzzle. Then we can truly begin to come up with answers, and write them down beside the worries to map the way from concern to constructive thought.

For capturing guidance and flashes of inspiration, journaling is ideal. This is especially true in the case of dreams, which often fade as we awaken. While working toward goals, keeping track of progress as well as guidance from readings or divination tools can be encouraging. Though it can be difficult to keep all of our guidance in the front of our minds, if we write it down it can serve as a reminder whenever we need it. We can also use our journals to converse with our higher selves or even the universe. Journaling offers yet another way to unburden mind and spirit, while also creating a record of the present and preserving our hopes and dreams for the future.

From my heart to yours,
Blessings and Love,
Mari


I thought you may be interested in this experiement…please read on.

Hello Dear Friends,

I hope everyone had a great and prosperous year. I know I look
forward to seeing next year be even more prosperous. I've been very
busy these past couple years investigating Reiki's roots in Japan,
and have been very fortunate to meet and study with some of the top
Japanese Reiki Masters.

To close out an incredible year I want to invite each of you and
all your friends to join me in a Reiki Experiment.

On January 6, 2006 4:00PM Eastern Time all Reiki practitioners
are invited to send Distant Reiki to:

Empower your goals for the year
Empower everyone else who participates goals
Heal the Planet

We have some scientific equipment in place to measure the effects
from the experiment. You can read more about that on the website. All
the details and location of the goal box are there. Please forward
this email along to anyone you might feel would be interested in
joining us.

http://www.distantr eikiexperiment. org

Many Blessings,
Anthony Glenn Agee, TRM

Usui Retreat- Week Two, December 28, 2006

Welcome back to the 2nd week of the Usui Retreat.

A special note: The Life Training Program is now The More To Life Program

Since writing about The Life Training program last week I have been asked by several people just what it is. The name has been changed since I did the training in 1983 to the More to Life program. More To Life courses teach practical tools and skills that help you connect with your best self whenever you choose and grasp more of the creative possibilities in every life situation. I highly recommend this program to everyone…it certainly gave me the tools to have more to my life.


I am sharing a process that a gifted spiritual teacher named Ken Page and his wife teach. It is excellent and naturally follows on from our first week together.


This Holiday season, you are being given a GIFT. Each Holiday past holds a memory, good or sad. Some of you may even hold the memory of one holiday that was truly wonderful, often comparing each following holiday season. The holding on to that memory can bring about disappointment, resulting in the emotion of sadness. This holiday season, let go of ALL memories of holidays past by using the following simple 'Pattern Release Technique':

Old energy patterns can keep you out of the present moment. A good time to use this technique is while taking a bath, so plan for fifteen to thirty undisturbed minutes. Take off your jewelry, including your rings. Light a candle to represent a spiritual person you admire, such as Krishna, Sai Baba, Moses, Jesus, Mother Mary, or Buddha. Picture them with you. Feel the unconditional love this spiritual person reflects and recognize that place of love inside yourself.

Stare at the flame and release old feelings, thoughts, programs, issues, and fears. Allow them to flow through you. Say them either out loud or in silence. Your intention to clear yourself is most important.

Begin by releasing the things you are afraid of, such as losing your job, getting older, being poor, sick, or alone. Next release thoughts, feelings, and emotions you are holding, such as guilt, anger, hate, abandonment, separation, betrayal, grief, sorrow, or sadness. Release feelings of being helpless, hopeless, used, or trapped. Release feelings of pain and jealousy. Release all the feelings and projections of others that you have bought into. During the release, make an intention to keep the wisdom gained from these events and your feelings. Above all use your Reiki hands to respond to areas in your body that are cold, warm and/or dense (this is where reactive energy has been stored)

Once you've released all the charged negative and positive experiences from your past, shower or bathe with fresh water. Give thanks for the opportunity to let go and make more space in yourself. It may help to journal about your experience…once you are dried off and all bundled up after your bath that is.

Here is a wonderful site with a beautiful and meaningful song to hear. Follow this link;
http://www.ichooselove.org/ I choose Love!


I am looking forward to being with you next week. Have a wonderful entry into the New Year.

Love, Mari

Usui Retreat - December 21, 2006

Bird calls

Present with bird calls
We fly together
Beyond spaciousness
and words....,

(Songbird)

Rather than giving you three different meditations this retreat. I have decided to give you some areas to focus on and work through. I like to think of it as spiritual weeding the garden time in order to plant new flowers for next year. Perhaps your mind is saying that you do not have time to do this or that you want to wait until after the retreat that is fine. We live in exciting and fast times however, doing this is a great gift that you give yourself; and you are worth doing the work for.

Annual Life Review

At the end of every year I do a annual life review to see how much of my energy is devoted to what makes me feel alive and also on the things that drain my energy that do not support me.

For a long time I have felt that the winter months have been given to us so that we can take the time to go more inside of ourselves. Just as in the winter when the branches on the trees are bare, the life is deep inside the branch. By being inside ourselves and taking the time to review our lives we can then make internal and external changes, because we see that the old structure, beliefs or time spent that does not nourish us and is not what we want or need. We then can move forward in a new year which is filled with promises that we can keep.

In cultures through out the world people make a resolution for the New Year to bring about change. Often times this may be the resolution to lose the extra weight that we seem to put on with all the Christmas cookies and rich food we eat during the holiday time. We begin the year full of good intentions and ending up mentally beating ourselves up because we did not keep our promises. I went through that for many years until I started doing the annual life review. With this information I could see and feel the necessity for change and move into those changes out of a strong desire to live my life in a different way.

So I have decided to share the process of the annual life review with you. Perhaps you will want to take the time to answer these questions. It is worth regularly spending time on the exercise. Be careful to distinguish what YOU want from what your family, friends or partner think you should want. Bear in mind that we can keep changing our goals, but unless we have a destination in mind, we are unlikely to set off on the journey at all.

Make a list of any activities that make you feel really alive, activities that absorb you so that time seems to dissolve, or which give you a sense of inner peace and satisfaction. What do you really enjoy? What makes your heart glow and your spirit dance? IS it a walk in the forest, gardening, reading a novel, and writing poetry? Listening to music, chatting with friends, and painting, jogging, making love or traveling to new places? Perhaps it is doing charity work or playing with children? Could it be certain aspects of your job? Which PEOPLE make you feel good? Make sure the list is based upon how you feel now, not upon what you used to enjoy, or think you should enjoy, or what other people like to do.

Next make a second list of any activities (or People) which deaden or deplete you, which leave you feeling tired, board or under stress.

Now assess how much of your life is devoted to each list. Does this reflect how "alive" or "dead" you feel? How might you begin to change the balance so that you feel more and more energized?

2) Review your life, and where it is going:
* What are your secret ambitions (large and small)?
* What are your strengths, talents and abilities?
* What does, or would, give your life meaning and purpose?
* What personal qualities do you wish to develop?
* What is your ideal lifestyle?
* What do you wish to experience in life?
* What do you need- physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually?
* Is your work (whether paid or unpaid) just a way of paying the rent, or is it important to you as a person?
* Are you learning and growing in everyday life?
* Is your life challenging enough? Relaxing enough? Loving enough?
* If you knew you only had five years to live, what would you do?

Remind yourself that: this is not a dress rehearsal for life. This is IT! How do you want to create your life now?

What you can do, or dream you can, begin it: Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
(Goethe)

The other part of the annual review that I do at the end of the year is to undertake a process that I learned in the "Life Training" program. I write down a list of all the people I have had a judgment about, or not forgiven for something. In fact anyone I have had the least amount of ill will towards. Beside each name I write the result of this action (payoff) and how I have behaved, it could be one of the following or more: victim, superior, confused and what was the cost of holding on to this anger, resentment or pain in terms of my own energy, how has this situation affected me mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. I allow my self to feel the pain of separation, the cost of being so right in my judgments.

Then I write a letter to each person and tell them how I have reacted. I take full responsibility for my part in any and all of the situations and I ask for their forgiveness, while also forgiving them for what I think they have done to me. If it is possible I go and speak to them face to face and to be heart to heart. Wiping the slate clean, putting forgiveness where there was judgment, light where there was darkness.

Your mind may be saying that it is nearly impossible to do any of this, but it is not impossible. I had thoughts like that myself the first time I did this review, but soon realized how much better I felt and how much clearer my life seemed to be afterwards. It had been worth all the effort so that the past was truly past. The future is ahead and I am in this moment in the NOW.

The beauty and power and the joy in life is not in what happens, it is in the motion, in the movement, and in the constant process of change. Joy is the incredible dance of life. We always know what the next step of our lives should be; which area of our lives needs to be resolved, and where we need to find the courage and self love to start moving.

I encourage you to stop dragging your past along with you as you try to create a future. It is almost time to make those New Years Resolutions for 2007. Take the time to stop and review your life and make the changes necessary so that you can truly enjoy the dance of life and all the pleasure life brings.

Looking forward to being with you next week……I would love to hear what you discovered and how you were feeling.

Love, Mari

A December Message from Mari

Hello my Dear Friends and Family,

I want to remind you that the Usui Retreat will start on the 21st of December…just a few days away. I am doing something a bit different in the retreat space this year. I will be giving you a little spiritual gardening to do.

With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays also comes searching for that perfect gift. The following article is meaningful and will give you some great suggestions. Why not take some time to just chill out and read the newsletter and give yourself permission to recharge your batteries and touch back into your spiritual wellspring.

Expressions of the Heart
Creating Meaningful Homemade Gifts

The gifts we craft with our own hands are often the most significant because the love that drove us to create is infused in the products of our creation. And the recipients of these homemade offerings receive a token of our willingness to invest ourselves in their joy. Allow these ideas to inspire you:

1. When you craft a beautifully decorated prayer box (or jar) for loved ones, you give them the gift of spiritual awareness. As you share this gift, explain that it should serve as a receptacle for their hopes, dreams, and loves—as well as worries—and thus a reminder of who they were, are, and will someday be.

2. If you love journaling, share your writing joy with family and friends by giving each a unique, handmade personal journal. A simple spiral notebook dressed up with paper, fabric, photographs, or other embellishments will give your loved ones a special place to record their private thoughts.

3. Erase the distance between yourself and your far away loved ones by presenting each with a photo journal documenting how your life has changed in the past year. Or introduce them to your locale with a homemade guidebook that highlights everything you love about your town or city.

4. When you sew medicine bags for the people you care about, you can rest assured your gift will always be close to their hearts. A small pouch can be filled with many meditative or symbolic items, such as quartz crystals, sage, or magical objects.

5. A progressive photo album, wherein pictures tell the story of your relationships from the past up to the present, can be a simple yet poignant reminder of the many wonderful experiences you and your loved ones have shared over the years.

6. Give the gift of serenity with a guided meditation you create and record to CD or tape. Your loved ones will take pleasure in being led through tranquil landscapes by the soothing sound of your voice.

7. Hand-crafted ornaments that can be hung on trees, in windows, and on walls afford you an opportunity to surround the important people in your life with beauty. Whether you prefer to work with clay, crystals, fabric, baked dough, or natural objects, your gift can serve as a calming focal point in your loved ones’ homes. Whether you choose to give a gift or simply share your friendship and love, remember that it is the intention behind the thought that is most important.


Hidden Gems
Experiences We Don’t Understand

Sometimes we have an experience that we don’t understand, but if we look deeply, or wait long enough, a reason for that experience will usually reveal itself. All the events in our lives lead to other events, and all that we have manifested in this present moment is the result of past events and experiences. We cannot easily tease apart the many threads that have been woven together to create our current reality. Experiences that don’t make sense, as well as any that we regret, are just as responsible for the good things in our lives as the experiences we do understand or label as “good.”

This is especially important to remember at times when we feel directionless or unsure of what to do. It is often at times like these that we take a job or move to a place without really knowing if it’s the right thing to do. We may ultimately end up leaving the job or the place, but often during that time we will have met someone who becomes an important friend, or we may have an experience that changes us in a profound way. When all the pieces of our life don’t quite make sense, we can remember that there may be some hidden gem of a reason that we are where we are having the experiences we are having.

It’s fun to look back on past experiences with an eye to uncovering those gems—the dreadful temporary job in a bland office building that introduced you to the love of your life; the roommate you couldn’t tolerate who gave you a book that changed your life; the time spent living in a city you didn’t like that led you into a deeper relationship with yourself. Remembering these past experiences can restore our faith in the present. Life is full of buried treasures. Chances are, you’re sitting on some right now.

Let Go And Let Flow
Taking A Leap Of Faith

Many people, in heeding the guidance of their souls, find themselves contemplating goals that seem outrageous or unattainable. In the mind's eye, these individuals stand at the edge of a precipice and look out over the abyss at the fruit of their ambition. Some resist the urge to jump, paralyzed by the gap between their current circumstances and the life of their dreams. Others make a leap of faith into the unknown, unsure of what they will encounter but certain that they will gain more in their attempts than they would bowing to self-protective instincts. This leap can be exceedingly difficult for individuals with control issues because the act of embracing uncertainty requires them to trust that surrender will net them the rewards they seek. Yet when you make a leap of faith, believing without a doubt that you will land safely on the other side, you can accomplish almost anything you set out to do.

There have no doubt been times in your life when you chose to go where the universal flow took you. Yet you may encounter instances in which your objectives require you to step outside of the boundaries of your established comfort zone so that you may freely and actively jettison yourself into a new phase of your life. While you may fear what seems to be the inevitable fall, consider that in all likelihood you will find yourself flying. A successful leap of faith requires your attention, as it is the quiet and often indistinct voice of your inner self that will point you toward your ultimate destination. Understand that the leap across the chasm of ambiguity may challenge you in unforeseen ways but you will make it across if you trust yourself.

If your mind and heart resist, you can dampen this resistance by building a bridge of knowledge. The more you know about the leap you are poised to take, the smaller the gap between "here" and "there" will appear to be. Your courageous leap of faith can lead you into uncharted territory, enabling you to build a new, more adventurous life. Though you may anticipate that fear will be your guide on your journey across the abyss, you will likely discover that exhilaration is your constant companion.



Working From Center
In The Thick Of It

When we are "in the thick of it," overwhelmed by too many things that need our attention, it's important to remember that we are never given more than we can handle. When life's challenges make us question this, our best coping mechanism is to follow the reliable and well-known course to our calm center and anchor ourselves there. It is for these times that we have been practicing regularly, so that our mind, body, and spirit will know how to find the peace within. Even in the midst of seeming chaos, a deep breath can help us turn within to find the space to work from, the calm at the center of the storm.

Tapping into our inner resources we begin again, bringing our focus to the needs of the present moment. Asking "why?" shifts our energy away from the task at hand. We can seek answers to those questions once we get to the other side of the present challenge. For now, we accept what is. Once we have collected scattered energy and created space, inspiration will strike, help will arrive, and what seemed impossible will either become possible or we will find it has become unnecessary. The flow of the universe and its perfect order has room to move in our lives when we get ourselves and our extraneous thoughts out of the way.

After the thick has become thin again, we have the opportunity to learn from the situation with a better idea of our true capabilities. We can now ask ourselves the "why" questions with the goal of fine-tuning our lives. Perhaps we have taken on more than is ours to do or made commitments out of obligation rather than insight. It could just be the ebb and flow and life, or we may be receiving life lessons on a fast track in preparation for something wonderful to come. But when we have a chance to make new choices, we know the best ones are made when we work from center.


Life
Your Perfect Teacher

Many of us long to find a spiritual teacher or guru. We may feel unsure of how to practice our spirituality without one, or we may long for someone who has attained a higher level of insight to lead the way for us. Some of us have been looking for years to no avail and feel frustrated and even lost. The good news is that the greatest teacher you could ever want is always with you-that is your life.

The people and situations we encounter every day have much to teach us when we are open to receiving their wisdom. Often we don't recognize our teachers because they may not look or act like our idea of a guru, yet they may embody great wisdom. In addition, some people teach us by showing us what we don't want to do. All the situations in our lives, from the insignificant to the major, conspire to teach us exactly what we need to be learning at any given time. Patience, compassion, perseverance, honesty, letting go-all these are covered in the classroom of the teacher that is your life.

We can help ourselves to remember this perfect teacher each day with a few simple words. Each morning we might find a moment to say, "I acknowledge and honor the teacher that is my life. May I be wise enough to recognize the teachers and lessons that I encounter today, and may I be open to receiving their wisdom." We might also take some time each day to consider what our lives are trying to teach us at this time. A difficult phase in your relationship with your child may be teaching you to let go. The homeless person you see every day may be showing you the boundaries of your compassion and generosity. A spate of lost items may be asking you to be more present to physical reality. Trust your intuition on the nature of the lesson at hand, work at your own pace, and ask as many questions as you want. Your life has all the answers.


A beautiful site that explains a spiritual experience, take the time to be inspired.

http://www.support4change.com/spirit/explaining.html



Serving The Higher Self
The Ego

In most spiritual circles, the ego gets a pretty bad rap. The reason for this is that the ego, to some extent, is the principle in our psyches that separates us from one another, while spirit is the principle that shows us that no such separation exists. Sometimes the ego is depicted as an almost demonic figure that keeps us from realizing our true nature. But at its most basic, the ego is simply a tool that helps us organize the various aspects of our personality so that we can function in the world. In this sense, the ego is simply a way for us to understand and attend to ourselves at the same time as we understand and attend to the world around us. The ego is a tool that we use to navigate the world.

Perhaps the problem is that the ego sometimes gets out of control. This happens when the higher-self loses control of the psyche. The psyche then falls under the leadership of the ego, an entity that was never meant to lead. The ego is meant to be definitively in the service of the higher self. When this relationship is functioning, the ego is a useful intermediary representing the whole self but not thinking that it is the whole self. Then, it is almost as if the ego is the self playfully pretending to be the separate entity called “I.” Like an actor, the ego plays the roles that the world asks us to play in order to be part of the program. In this way, the ego can be a tool enabling us to be in the world but not of it.

As long as we are in touch with our higher selves, our egos are not a threat. They are simply useful tools in the service of spirit. We keep our egos in check when we continually nurture our awareness of who we really are. Then our egos are free to serve without trying ineffectually to rule. It is healthy to have ego, but like all things in life, ego functions best when it is in balance and harmony with your whole self. "Go back to those times in your life when you came to a crossroad. Your life changed abruptly. You lost someone you loved. You found and committed to a new partner. You had a new baby. You moved geographically. You ran into someone that completely changed your belief system with the fullness and richness and total unconditional-ness of their love for you.

Revisit each of those times in your past to uncover 'godwinks' that were sent to you even if you weren't paying attention; make a list of these 'coincidences' and answered (even if to unexpressed) prayers. This is what you'll discover: when there were multiple paths that your life could've followed, there were always signposts of reassurance - godwinks of personal communication - to you and to no one else on Earth.Here's more good news! The map of winks from God will continue to unfold long into your future if you just look for them. They are experienced to the extent you're open to and seeking them. And acknowledge, finally, that He is communicating directly with you."

-- Squire Rushnell, in When God Winks at You


Have a beautiful and meaningful Holiday Season,

Love, Mari

The Full and True Beauty

Dear Friends and Family,

They say fall is here, yet it is still warm in Texas so that it does not feel like it. I have been longing to see the brilliant colors of autumn leaves and find myself thinking of New England and Eastern Europe as both places have colorful falls and crisper air.

I was in Fredericksburg, Texas over last weekend and contented myself with the landscape and green, graceful Live Oak trees. I remember as a girl jumping in piles of brightly colored leaves. I would always gather as many different colors as I could find and press them in a book. It is still something that I do when I find myself in fall color. There is beauty everywhere when we choose to see it…looking in Fredericksburg last weekend I was graced with a silver rose bush in full bloom, a lovely fluffy cat asleep on the front porch step and the smell of newly mowed bailed hay. I enjoyed them all immensely. I will let you know when I have gathered my leaves!

Love and Blessings,
Mari

"People are a lot like stained glass windows -- the full and true beauty can only be seen when there is abundant light shining from within, and when the viewer is standing back enough to take in the whole view, the big picture, what the 'artist' actually had in mind. Up too close, with a critical eye, you see only the imperfections in the glass. Standing back, taking everything in, you see the stunning artistry of the Maker's intended message. Also, and not coincidentally, the darker the night on the outside (in the form of the world's chaos, conflicts, death, fear, and struggles), the brighter and more beautifully the windows show up."

--Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Our Inner Image

We can be so hard on ourselves regarding our self-image and surface appearance - are we beautiful enough, sexy enough, slender enough, smart enough, strong enough, successful enough? It can be exhausting, how harshly we measure ourselves, when underneath it all God made us equally precious (and yet unique) masterpieces.

This becomes most visible to others when we remember the truth of it, allowing our inner light to shine, and when the darkness of the world surrounds us, challenging us to "effulge." In the ordinary light of an ordinary day, where we often tend to go unconscious, we rarely truly see each other and often miss the point of life entirely. So, what does this naturally suggest?

Maybe it means that the key to life is "to shine forth most brightly, to radiate, or to beam" (the actual dictionary meaning of the word, "effulge"), consciously and proactively, from your depths, and to find the world's most bitter darkness that waits just for you in which to brighten and cheer things up with your own unique light and the very personal message that God gave you to share. He came here to teach us that - to let our light shine into the darkness of the world - but first we must find it, find Him, within ourselves, amidst our self-doubt and self-hate, and turn it on.
--Jim Spivey

Blessed With a Purpose

Your Life's Work

Many people are committed to professions and personal endeavors they never consciously planned to pursue. They attribute the shape of their lives to circumstance, taking on roles they feel are tolerable. Each of us, however, has been blessed with a purpose. Your life's work is the assemblage of activities that allows you to express your intelligence and creativity, lives in accordance with your values, and experience the profound joy of simply being yourself. Unlike traditional work, which may demand more of you than you are willing to give, life's work demands nothing but your intent and passion for that work.

Yet no one is born with an understanding of the scope of their purpose. If you have drifted through life, you may feel directionless. Striving to discover your life's work can help you realize your true potential and live a more authentic, driven life. To make this discovery, you must consider your interests in the present and the passions that moved you in the past. You may have felt attracted to a certain discipline or profession throughout your young life only to have steered away from your aspirations upon reaching adulthood.

Or you may be harboring an interest as of yet unexplored. Consider what calls to you and then narrow it down. If you want to work with your hands, ask yourself what work will allow you to do so. You may be able to refine your life's work within the context of your current occupations. If you want to change the world, consider whether your skills and talents lend themselves to philanthropic work. Taking stock of your strengths, passions, beliefs, and values can help you refine your search for purpose if you don't know where to begin.

Additionally, in your daily meditation, ask the universe to clarify your life's work by providing signs and be sure to pay attention. Since life's journey is one of evolution, you may need to redefine your direction on multiple occasions throughout your lifetime. For instance, being an amazing parent can be your life's work strongly for 18 years, and then perhaps you have different work to do.

Your life's work may not be something you are recognized or financially compensated for, such as parenting, a beloved hobby, or a variety of other activities typically deemed inconsequential. Your love for a pursuit, however, gives it meaning. You'll know you have discovered your life's work when you wake eager to face each day and you feel good about not only what you do but also who you are.

\

Learn and Let Flow

We Don't Need To Suffer

The idea that we have to suffer or live in poverty in order to be spiritual is an old one and can be found in the belief systems of many philosophies. Most of us carry this idea around subconsciously, and we may be holding ourselves back from financial or emotional well-being, believing that this is what we must do in order to be virtuous, spiritually awake, or feel less guilty for the suffering of others. While it's true that there can be a spiritual purpose to experiencing a lack of material well-being, it is rarely intended to be a permanent or lifelong experience.

What we are meant to find when material or emotional resources are in short supply is that there is more to our lives than the physical realm. Intense relationships and material abundance can distract us from the subtler realm of the spirit, so a time of deficiency can be spiritually awakening. However, once we recognize the realm of spirit, and remember to hold it at the center of our lives, there is no reason to dwell in poverty or emotional isolation. In fact, once our connection to spirit is fully intact, we feel so compelled to share our abundance that lack becomes a thing of the past.

If you find that you are experiencing suffering in some area of your physical life, perhaps your spirit is asking you to look deeper in your search for what you want. For example, if you want money so that you can experience the feeling of security but money keeps eluding you, your spirit may be asking you to understand that security is not to be found through money. Security comes from an unshakable connection to your soul. Once you make that connection, money will probably flow more easily into your life.

If relationships elude you, your spirit may be calling you to recognize that the love you seek is not to be found in another person. And yet, ironically, once you find the love, your true love may very well appear. If you feel stuck in suffering to live a spiritual life, try to spend some time writing about it. The root of the problem will appear and it may not be what you expected. Remember, the Universe wants you to be happy.

Following the Current

Going with the Flow

The expression going with the flow is a metaphor that applies to navigating a river. When we go with the flow, we follow the current of the river rather than push against it. People who go with the flow may be interpreted as lazy or passive, but to truly go with the flow requires awareness, presence, and the ability to blend one's own energy with the prevailing energy.

Going with the flow doesn't mean we toss our oars into the water and kick back in the boat, hoping for the best. Going with the flow means we let go of our individual agenda and notice the play of energy all around us. We tap into that energy and flow with it, which gets us going where we need to go a whole lot faster than resistance will. Going with the flow doesn't mean that we don't know where we're going; it means that we are open to multiple ways of getting there. We are also open to changing our destination, clinging more to the essence of our goal than to the particulars. We acknowledge that letting go and modifying our plans is part of the process. Going with the flow means that we are aware of an energy that is larger than our small selves and we are open to working with it, not against it.

Many of us are afraid of going with the flow because we don't trust that we will get where we want to go if we do. This causes us to cling to plans that aren't working, stick to routes that are obstructed, and obsess over relationships that aren't fulfilling. When you find yourself stuck in these kinds of patterns, do yourself a favor and open to the flow of what is rather than resisting it. Trust that the big river of your life has a plan for you and let it carry you onward. Throw overboard those things that are weighing you down. Be open to revising your maps. Take a deep breath and move into the current.

Managing the Power of Choice
Carolyn Myss, Ph. D., in Anatomy of the Spirit

"Managing the power of choice, with all its creative and spiritual implications, is the essence of the human experience. All spiritual teachings are directed toward inspiring us to recognize that the power to make choices is the dynamic that converts our spiritual intent into matter, our words into flesh.

Choice, and the intention and words that naturally follow, is the process of creation itself. The fact that our choices weave our spirits into events is the reason the major spiritual traditions are formed around one essential lesson: Make your choices wisely, because each choice you make is the genesis of a creative act of spiritual power for which you will be held responsible. Further, any choice made from faith has the full power of heaven behind it - that is why 'faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain.' And any choice made from fear is a violation of the energy of faith and will result in the experience of chaos, no matter what circumstances ensue.

We are both physical beings in a spiritual body and spiritual beings in a physical body, but since the physical world cannot be controlled, the task before us is to master our inner spiritual responses to the external world - those being our thoughts and emotions. Nevertheless, we all struggle in a seemingly never-ending cycle of disappointment in which we attempt to control our lives and the lives of others. We search endlessly for the one grand choice that will put everything in our lives into permanent order, halting the natural motion of change long enough to establish final control over everyone and everything. Is that the right career move? Is this the right marriage partner? Are we in the right location? In seeking this one right choice constantly, we give form to our fear of the changing rhythm that is life itself.

In looking for this single external circumstance, community, person or thing that that will forever bring us stability, peace, love, or health, we dismiss the more authentic power that lies 'behind our eyes and not in front of them.' The truth contained within the paradoxical nature of dualism is this: It is not what or who we choose that matters; our power to influence an outcome lies in our motivation or reasons for making the choices we make.

In learning about our motivations, we learn about the content of our spirits. Are you filled with fear, or are you filled with faith? Every choice we make contains the energy of either faith or fear, and the outcome of every decision reflects to some extent that faith or fear. This dynamic of choice guarantees that we cannot run away from ourselves or our decisions. And in order to learn about our motivations - to discover our own personal 'false gods' - we need relationships.

To form a relationship, we use some of our energy or personal power. Once the relationship is formed, we may ask, often unconsciously: Is this relationship drawing power from me, or am I drawing power from it? Where do I end, and where does the other person begin? What is my power, and what is the other person's power? Am I compromising myself, in exchange for status, safety, peace, or money? While these questions are essentially healthy, in most relationships we begin thinking in terms of psychologically divisive and conflict-inducing opposites: me or you, mine or yours, good or bad, winner or loser, right or wrong, legitimate or not, rich or poor.

Symbolically, these conflicts represent most people's relationship to God: my power or yours - are you really with me here on this earth, or must I try to control and manage things myself? And even if I do believe God is maneuvering behind the scenes, how do I know what choices to make? This primary conflict in and crisis of faith is present in every one of our relationships.

Paradoxically, our challenge in managing these conflicting energies is to maintain them in the consciousness of the inherent oneness of all that is. We begin this journey by exploring the conflict within our relationships: Relationships naturally generate conflict, conflict generates choice, choice generates movement, and movement generates more conflict. We break free of this vicious cycle only by making choices that transcend dualism and the perceived divisions between ourselves and others, and between ourselves and God.

So long as we focus on trying to control another person and forget that that person is a mirror reflecting back to us our own qualities, we keep conflict alive within ourselves. Seeing ourselves and others in symbolic union, however, help us to better first accommodate and then celebrate our perceived differences."

Exploring Divinity- the Reiki Way
V.N.Mittal

As a child I would sit through the ritual of Yagya (Hom) with my father for more than an hour as a passive participant The Vedic mantras chanted in the yagya, though, appeared musical to my innocent ears, yet were of little interest to me ,then, as I would understand neither their meaning nor their significance. What kept me waiting patiently as a silent witness was the Halwa (sweets) Prasad distributed after the observance. I failed to understand as to how could one conceive and meditate on something which was formless and not perceptible.

My visits to local temples further added to my dilemma rather than connect me to the Divine. Confusing images of God would conjure up in my adolescent mind, after noticing different deities installed on the altar. The Ram Leela enacted in my small town as an annual feature erected images and lasting imprints of Ram as God , the Mahabharata of Lord Krishna , Shiva’s lingam in a local temple that of Lord Shiva and so on. I was left completely mystified.

As I grew up, my quest became stronger and stronger. I sincerely looked for answers to end my confusion, whether to worship the deities or offer my prayers to a formless God. Just in that moment of my bewilderment, I invoked Reiki to guide my path, awaken in me the Divinity and ferry me to the realm of truth. With my self awareness thus provoked and stimulated by Reiki, I was on my way to experience the unfolding of the mystery.

In my usual prayers every morning, I would sit in my backyard doing my Gassho Meditation but this one proved fateful. While I sat there meditating on Mikao Usui’s Reiki precepts – the secret Mantra for achieving happiness, my eyes fell on a mango tree and its branches shooting out from its stem in all directions like the hands of a damsel dancing with joy. As I was appreciating the beauty of the form, my mind took me beyond the form through the vacant spaces between the branches. The sight of the passing clouds on the blue sky sent a thrill into me when I found surreal shapes rising out of the clouds and dismantling into formless again. And yet, the bizarre forms seemed to gather light in the dark dim centre of my mind to appear as real, full of life and blood, I could feel His presence emerging from formless to form and melting into formless again.


Shapes after shapes in all things that He has sculpted flashed upon my inward eye. Did God conceive and pre design them or they just emerged as gifts of His ingenuity to the mankind? The appearance of forms and then their melting into formless motivated me so much that I picked up my chisel and a flat piece of wood lying in my garden to carve out some unknown shape. Soon, I found myself sculpting the wood not knowing or conceiving in advance what would come out of my exercise. And lo, a meaningful form started emerging as I would dig deeper and deeper. Every stroke of the chisel seemed to bare the hidden beauty of the sculpture. A form was evolving from the formless converging into Nirakar [formless] again like the melting sculptures in the drifting clouds.

The two episodes obviously motivated by Reiki, made me realize that God is formless but assumes a form that a human mind conceives of. In fact God is beyond form and could be reached either through forms or without form. It is immaterial how one approaches Him, whether through form as a crutch or without form. What is important is to get started and sincerely explore Him with devotion, without reservation of any kind. Seek the blessings of Reiki to open the doors of your soul to the realm of bliss and to experience your true Divinity.


Check it out!
A web site dedicated for children in Reiki. It is so great to see little hands at work.

http://www.reikikids.com/


And finally take a few minutes click on this link and see this beautiful message.

4 Candles

I wish you Faith Hope Love and Peace today and everyday.

Blessings, Mari

Fall Synchronicity

My Dear Friends and Family,

In Texas I can’t say that fall is in the air with temperatures of 100 plus. The only thing fall like is that my grandchildren have gone back to school. Of course when I was their age we went back to school after Labor Day and the air was certainly crisper in the North East of our country. But of course that was way back when. So there is a peace that has descended on the house during the day as the cats and I fill the space until they come home again. Stretching ahead is autumn and then winter; cycles of life to enjoy in so many various forms.

I love how synchronicity plays with me. I had been upset for not being able to do more of “The Work” and wondering just what “Life” was calling me out to do when this came to me today. It is an excerpt but certainly timely…it is about partnership and enrolling others into this beautiful dance of life.

“…as you inspire others to participate in charitable action, you cease to be an individual striving for a massive cause and become a member of a network of humanity championing for a manageable cause. You’ll see the results of your efforts immediately and take pride in your ability to recruit aides. When you ask others to become a part of your efforts today, you’ll be able to accomplish more than you believed possible.”

I have been having conversations lately with several people about self-forgiveness and that the real job is allowing that forgiveness into us. It seems that it is easy for us to forgive others, but harder to take their forgiveness in or to forgive ourselves for what we “Know” we did in the past or how we “Know” we are. I also received this reminder this morning…

"Many promising reconciliations have broken down because, while both parties came prepared to forgive, neither party came prepared to be forgiven."
-- Charles Williams

All I can say is Yes I am listening and I will do my work. Come join me in BEing the love and peace we wish to see and experience in the world!



The Wisdom Of Sharing
Stone Soup

There are many variations on the story of stone soup, but they all involve a traveler coming into a town beset by famine.

The inhabitants try to discourage the traveler from staying, fearing he wants them to give him food. They tell him in no uncertain terms that there's no food anywhere to be found. The traveler explains that he doesn't need any food and that, in fact, he was planning to make a soup to share with all of them.

The villagers watched suspiciously as he builds a fire and fills a cauldron with water. With great ceremony, he pulls a stone from a bag, dropping the stone into the pot of water. He sniffs the brew extravagantly and exclaims how delicious stone soup is. As the villagers begin to show interest, he mentions how good the soup would be with just a little cabbage in it. A villager brings out a cabbage to share. This episode repeats itself until the soup has cabbage, carrots, onions, and beets-indeed, a substantial soup that feeds everyone in the village.

This story addresses the human tendency to hoard in times of deprivation. When resources are scarce, we pull back and put all of our energy into self-preservation. We isolate ourselves and shut out others.

As the story of stone soup reveals, in doing so, we often deprive ourselves and everyone else of a feast. This metaphor plays out beyond the realm of food. We hoard ideas, love, and energy, thinking we will be richer if we keep to them to ourselves, when in truth we make the world, and ourselves, poorer whenever we greedily stockpile our reserves.

The traveler was able to see that the villagers were holding back, and he had the genius to draw them out and inspire them to give, thus creating a spread that none of them could have created alone. Are you like one of the villagers, holding back? If you come forward and share your gifts, you will inspire others to do the same. The reward is a banquet that can nourish many.


The following piece has the ring of truth.


The Choice is Ours.

With momentum building toward the election in November, I have been reflecting on “freedom,” “power,” many of the “rights” of which our forefathers spoke.

First, perhaps we need a mature, social consensus on what “freedom” and “power” really mean, not one that has been shaped by separated egos intent on using them to achieve their personal goals. What does “freedom” and “power” mean in a society that is evolving, having learned the lessons of the past and moving toward a future that is open and invites us to create something new.

We cannot project the undesirable state of affairs today onto those “in power,” which are making decisions that affect the world. This power could be better described as “force” as David Hawkins discusses in Power vs. Force. We each have god-given power waiting to be used for the good of the whole. When we, as a people, agree on a vision that serves all humankind, and merge that energy with that of others who share the vision, we have the power to make it happen. We have the freedom to choose. Will we continue to “pass the buck” or will we stand up and “be the change we wish to see in the world?”

We are at a critical crossroads. We are witnessing the breakdown in all the systems we have taken for granted in our love affair with acquisition and extravagant consumption of the world’s goods, which belong to all inhabitants. That which served us in the past is no longer working – its time has passed. We are invited to confront our feelings of fear and impotence, to discover who we really are and to discover those others who are ready to write a new script for the human family. Claiming, or reclaiming, our own power can produce results beyond anything we might imagine. We are limited only by our imagination. All that we take for granted today was once only a figment of someone’s imagination.

The media has a responsible role in our re-education. We cannot continue to allow the old script and trying to “fix” it, to drain us of energy that is waiting to be freed to give birth to the new vision that is rising. Around the world some amazing shifts are taking place (see www.evolve.org), which are rarely reported by the media. We need more of the “good news” to encourage, inspire and validate what is rising within the hearts and minds of those who are awakening, an awakening that would move us from adolescence to adulthood as a species.

The time is now and we are the ones. If not us, who? “Because we have the means and the opportunity to achieve an evolutionary bounce [rather than an evolutionary crash] being alive at this time confers on us a unique opportunity…. We are the leaders we have been waiting for…. We can get there together…. There is promise ahead.” (Promise Ahead; A Vision of Hope and Action for Humanity’s Future, Duane Elgin)

We are both the cause and the cure for what is happening in our world today. We have the power and the potential to change things. The choice is ours.

From the SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE - 8.4.06
By Kelley Kelsey kelleykelsey@sbcglobal.net