There's a Lie In Belief

“There’s a lie in believe.” That’s how my mother taught me to remember how to spell the word believe.

Do you believe that belief is a lie? Do you only believe in what you can see, hear, touch, smell, taste?

If you answered, “Yes!” then I invite you to take a little trip with me into the land of imagination, into the arena of possibility that there is more to the world than meets the eye.

What can the eye see? Here’s a graph of what the eye can see, and all the wavelengths that we can currently measure:


Source: NASA at http://missionscience.nasa.gov/ems/01_intro.html

A Little Slice of the Spectrum

The little rainbow in the tiny slice above the eyeball about 2/3 of the way across, is the area that we can see with our eyes. The colors we see are different wavelengths of light in that tiny band. Bees and butterflies can see in the visible and ultraviolet range, and many flowers have ultraviolet patterns to attract them that we cannot see in visible light. Cats and many other animals can see quite well in the dark while we cannot. Snakes use infrared sensors to help detect prey.

Invisible Light All Around Us

Infrared lightwaves are used in your TV remote control and in thermal imaging, and we can see some of this light with night vision goggles. Did it exist before we discovered it? Of course. Same with X-Rays; we discovered them, we didn’t invent them. They are moving through us and around us right now even though we cannot see or feel them.

So let’s look at some less obvious examples. Ask yourself… Think of someone or something that you love. Can you see love? Touch it, taste it, smell it, hear it?

Can I see my thoughts? Can I prove that they exist? Can they be measured, seen, heard or touched? So do your thoughts exist?

What about the Big Bang? We have scientific descriptions of what happened fractions of a second after it, but cannot measure far back enough to what happened at the moment of creation. If nothing was here, what made it happen?

What Makes Your Heart Beat?

What is it that makes your body breathe and your heart beat? You can say it’s a biological function, an electrical impulse. But what is underneath that? What makes that electrical impulse? How do the heart cells know how to do that? How does the heart know to beat a certain number of times per minute? And how does an intestinal cell know how to allow nutrients into the bloodstream, and keep out that which is not useful?

The other day, a friend studying to be a nurse said, “If you don’t believe in God, study microbiology!” Something astounding is orchestrating it all. Could any human create in a lab a system so complex as a human? Could any human create a tree? Could any human create a solar system? Take a look at the stars and realize that they are floating I a seemingly empty vastness. What keeps them in place? We can explain it scientifically, but what created the laws of gravity and other laws of physics? Why does the universe continuously function according to those laws? What exactly is life? 

I invite you to start asking deeper questions, and to allow a bit of discomfort in the fact that there are some things that we will not be able to explain within our lifetime.

How about you?
Do you believe in things beyond what you can see?

How My Fat Cat Became a Fit Feline

At 6 months old she was sleek and slim

I recently got my fat cat to lose more than 3 pounds and become a fit feline. That may not sound like much, but for a cat, it's quite a bit. And she did it in about 3 months.

Most of my articles are about spiritual growth, but so many friends asked me about this that I decided to write a special article about it for them. She's been a great spiritual teacher, and opened my heart more than I could have imagined.

How She Became a Fat Cat

My cat refuses to wear a collar, but she is obviously not starving. The shelter where I adopted her said she was rescued at 6 weeks old, starving and flea-infested. They nursed her to health, put her in foster care, spayed her, and when she was old enough, put her up for adoption. I was the lucky one she chose when I went to the shelter to find a cat.

She was up to 18.3 LB for 3 years

I had not notice that she was gaining weight. One day about five years ago, she wasn't feeling well, and I took her to the vet. She had a blood infection because her blood sugar was high. The next five years were a maze of figuring out a better food that she would eat, blood glucose curves, insulin shots, and a journal of what she ate and drank. I was spending upwards of $200 per month on her prescription kibble and canned food, insulin, sharps, and supplements, not to mention visits to the vet. And she just wasn't losing weight. I put her on a high protein, low carb food, but she remained my little gordita.

Bilingual Coat of Shame

That's when I discovered that a neighbor was feeding her. Probably some inexpensive, poor quality kibble. Meanwhile I was spending more and more on fancy prescription food, struggling to keep her healthy.That's when I made her a shirt that my friend Sherry dubbed the Coat of Shame. I live in a condo, and I still put it on her once in a while in case she tries conning any new unsuspecting neighbors into believing she's underfed. She's good at that.

And once in a while I'd wonder if there was a grain-free food, because cats aren't meant to eat grains.

The Turning Point

I went to a presentation by Dr Jona Sun Jordan on Pet Personalities. My cat is definitely the personality type run by food. I'd say she's obsessed with it. At the end of the talk, I briefly shared with Dr Jordan my struggle to get my cat to lose weight. Her advice made a huge difference in my cat's life and mine.

At her suggestion, I switched my cat cold turkey to the grain-free raw kibble she recommended. When I went to the local feed store to find the kibble, there was a woman outside who was giving away samples. My cat loved the new food! So I switched her with no turning back.

A Dramatic Drop in Blood Sugar

I checked her blood sugar 4 days later, and it had dropped more than 40 points! I was sold! She had been on Insulin for 4.5 years, and it's more dangerous for her blood sugar to be too low than too high, so now she'd need a new dose. But she was till begging me constantly for more food. So I did a glucose curve with insulin and without. Armed with the numbers, I made an appointment with Dr Jordan to learn more. And it just kept getting better.

Kitty's New Diet and a Brilliant Idea

She used to get 1/4 cup of kibble and 1/6 can of wet food twice per day. Her new diet was 1/8 cup of Nature's Variety grain-free kibble and one 1 oz medallion twice per day. Se also gets a snack of 1/2 a sardine at mid-day.

Dr Jordan made a brilliant suggestion. Instead of feeding her in a bowl, I make her hunt for her food. 
I divided her 1/8 cup of kibble into a half dozen little bowls. First these were placed in her usual spot, then I moved them further out. One day I hid them around the living room. She didn't really understand, so there I was on my hands and knees, looking under the sofa, behind he table, teaching her to hunt for her food in the living room. It worked. 

Not only does this provide mental stimulation for her, but she no longer views me as her only source of food. I might still have a few little dishes in my hand, but she's checking under the table, under the chairs, and next to the refrigerator, instead of coming to me for food. I love it!

The raw medallions are frozen raw meat. It's the same food for dogs and cats, and you can choose from duck, chicken, rabbit, venison, beef, and lamb. They pressure treat the meat to ensure that there are no harmful bacteria. It is ground meat, organs, even bone. Apparently all the problems with animals eating bones is only when the bones are cooked. dogs and cats are meant to eat raw bones and are able to digest them within 24 hours.If your vet ever gets x-rays from a vet that isn't familiar with this, they may be recommending emergency surgery because bones are supposedly quite dangerous. But not raw bone. Our critters were designed to digest raw bone. And they get nutrients from it, so she no longer needs the glucosamine supplement, which had sugar in it.

Transitioning to the Raw Wet Food

She didn't eat the raw medallion the first time I gave it to her. So I put her regular canned food in the dish with it, and she ate both. The next meal, I gave her just the raw, and she's been on that ever since. She loves it. If they had mouse and gopher varieties, I'd buy them, but I imagine that that's a quality control issue. Can't go catching gophers from people's yards when they may have been poisoned or eating who-knows-what.

November 2013 slimmed down to 15.1 LB

She's Lost 3 pounds 

After 4 months on this diet, she is a svelte 15.1 LB, and the vet said she's "a little on the chubby side", which is much better than obese! She is able to jump onto the coffee table again, and has more energy than she did before. Oh, and her dandruff cleared up within a few days of starting on a raw diet.

I did several spot-checks on her blood sugar in the next 2 weeks, and wrote up a report to take to my old vet so they would know about it too. Hopefully they will jump on the raw food grain-free pet wagon!

Lia was diabetic for long enough that she may need to go back on insulin, but at a lower dose and with an eating plan that works with her body instead of against it. I am so glad to have found out about this grain-free raw pet food, and I know that my cat is too!

Lia is now at 14.5 pounds! She is almost at her teenage weight! Guess I'm next!

Happy munching!

How About You?
Have you tried raw for your pet?
Did they like it?

Please comment below.
I'd love to hear your stories!

Not Feeling the Thanksgiving Vibe?

As you make your plans for Thanksgiving, what is on your mind? Food? Travel? Dealing with the In-Laws or that one cousin. you know the one I mean.

There were years when I only saw what I didn't have, what I wanted, and how unhappy I was. Lately I have been giving thanks every day. I have so much to appreciate in my life. And as I have been reminded in a few places lately, appreciate means to raise in value. So for those times when I forget to be grateful for what I have, here's my fallback list of the things I appreciate in my life. When I think of them, their value definitely increases.

Eyesight

For many years, I have been grateful that I can see. Such a big thing, and so easily taken for granted.

I can see with my physical eyes and with my inner knowing. I have good color perception. What must it be like to be color blind? Does the world seem more interesting or more rich to me because I can see all the amazing colors and the subtlety of shades? I know it would seem less so if I suddenly become color blind.

Working Parts

I have two arms and two legs that work. There were injuries in the past to feet, knees, shoulder, that made me appreciate that so much more. And every finger... You know when you have cut or injured a finger or thumb how much you need it. I have lungs that work quite well despite having asthma. I have a heart that beats and circulates my blood and a digestive tract that processes whatever I throw at it. All of these things could be taken for granted so easily. And I have taken them for granted quite a bit.

Modern Conveniences

I am grateful to have a safe place to live... a roof over my head with
neighbors I like. Then there's the miracle of indoor plumbing. Another thing that I take for granted, but something that I get to enjoy every day. It's something that more than half the world's population doesn't have. A hot shower, a flush toilet, electric lights, clean drinking water and clean water to wash my dishes. Some of them are miracles that my grandparents didn't have as children. Nor did they have a telephone, television, or even radio for much of their lives. Not to mention computers or even calculators, which became available in my lifetime. Not to mention the mobile devices we all love so much these days.

Freedom and Choices

I was a child when John F Kennedy, Dr Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. I am grateful that I lived when they did. I am grateful for what they did for our society and the changes since then. I am grateful to live in a country where I have freedom, especially as a woman. My mother was born 5 years after women got the right to vote. Hard to believe. Back then, women didn't usually have the choice to work outside the home unless they were a teacher or a nanny. Maybe a librarian.

I am very grateful that I had the ability to choose if and when I would conceive a child. My parents did not have that choice because they didn't have accurate information about fertility. I am forever grateful that I have access to volumes more information about my body than my parents' generation.

New Thought

I am grateful to have found the New Thought movement, and the Center for Spiritual Living. Attending services there and being exposed to the ideas and culture there have made all the difference in my life and my world.  By going there, I have learned to look at what I have, where I want to be, and to know that I am so much more than my story.

I have found lifelong friends there. I have changed the way I think about my life, my past, my present, and my future. I have replaced beliefs that no longer serve me with new habits that do. I am living more often from the One in me that knows that It knows.

You may have heard of the practice of keeping a Gratitude Journal. Every day for a month, write down at least 5 things that you are grateful for. It helps jump-start noticing the good in you life. And you will start noticing more things to be grateful for. Have you tried this? I'd love to hear how it went for you.

My Second Life

And I retired from a job with a good base income to build upon. Not enough to become complacent, but enough to cover the basics. I am so happy to be writing and singing, to be living life the way I wanted to, but didn't allow myself to when I thought I had to be practical to earn a living.

The world is changing, and my personal world in particular is changing.
I have so much to be grateful for!
And I can't wait to see what comes next!

How About You?

What are you grateful for?And what do you picture yourself being grateful for one year from now?

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What If It Were True?

What if it were true…
… that you are loved by the very Power that created you?
… you knew that were supported by that Power?


What if…
… you didn’t need to worry about anything? What if you could simply, calmly know what is needed, what is next, and then know it was taken care of?


What if…
… the secret dream you have for you life – the one you think is too big or too much to ask for – is the dream that Spirit has for you?

What if…
… you knew you are enough just the way you are?


What if…
… your willingness to say “yes” to that dream were all that is needed for Spirit to begin it in your life?

What if…
… you - or the thing you want to do - didn’t need to be perfect?

What if…
… you knew that you were still the magnificent being that you were born as? What if the fact that you can see the light in a baby’s eyes is Spirit speaking to you about your own essence? What if you could only recognize that light because it is in you? Still in you? Even under all the stuff you learned to believe that stands in the way?


And what if …
… your willingness to accept that as True was the crack in the façade that allowed that dream to start pouring forth?

What if…
… the thing you think you aren’t worthy of is the thing that Spirit has been gently asking you to do for It?

What if...
... I believe that I cannot connect to my inner knowing, but I already am connected?


What if…
… you have been waiting for something before that dream can begin, and Spirit has been waiting for you to say yes?


What if...
... the very thing that you are waiting for, is waiting for you?

What if...
... the very thing that you are searching for, is searching for you?

What if…
… it was all possible? What if it was all True? What if everything I thought limited me was in my mind? What if I could – for just one second – feel that I am more than that?


What if…
… Spirit was asking us to be that?

How About You?

Would your life change if you believed any of the above? Please share your thoughts.

What If I Just Can’t Connect To My Inner Knowing?

Recently I sat with someone to pray after service who deeply wants to feel a connection with Spirit, but cannot believe that it’s true. She couldn’t let it in. She couldn't let herself feel it. Since these are 5 minute meetings, I didn’t have time to ask how it got to be that way, but I knew exactly how it felt when I didn’t believe, when Faith was a fairy tale that couldn’t possibly be true.

So I listened. And felt for her. And then I let Spirit tell me what to say in the prayer.

Believe It Or Not, It’s Still True

The prayer invited her to pretend to believe that maybe possibly some day just a tiny bit, she could feel some connection to Spirit. Maybe, just maybe, even if she doubted, even it she thought it wasn’t true, even if she argued, even if she didn’t think it would ever happen, it was just possible that it could be just a tiny bit real. It let her know that arguing is OK. That not believing is OK. That having doubts and struggling are OK, and even interrupting the prayer with words of disbelief was OK. That Spirit doesn’t care if she argues. Spirit doesn’t mind if she doesn’t believe. Spirit just Is. Spirit is real whether she feels it or not, whether she believes it or not, whether she knows it or not, whether she accepts it or not. And it is right here right now holding her in the same way the chair is holding her. It is here under her just like the floor is here. It is here around her like the air is around her – invisibly present, sustaining her, filling her, giving her a space and place to move and live and be. It is here like the room is here, enclosing her in a safe place out of the weather. And it is here in the form of the two people speaking and hearing this prayer.

Whole Perfect and Complete

When I look at the sky, or a tree, or my cat, or a baby’s eyes, I see that there is something there that no person could create. They are what we call whole, perfect and complete. There is something in them that, when we look at them with soft gaze, opens the wonder and the stillness of mind called awe. I look and know the part of me that knows.

When I see a baby’s face, full of life and light and love and joy, I feel the Presence of that which created that precious life. And even though my body was capable of creating one of those, I could never design one myself. No one knows exactly what mystery gives life to when that sperm and egg get together. There is some part of me that knows that there is something beyond what I see. It knows that it knows.

No one knows what makes a tree grow, what makes a mind think. In fact, no one has ever seen mind. No one can see thoughts. We can see a brain, but we cannot see thought. We cannot see a mind.

What Is It In You That Knows That You Know?

And what is it that I am seeing when I watch my beautiful cat sleeping in her bed? What is that invisible thing that brings tears to my eyes with the love I feel for her? And what is it that knows when I see an animal on the road that has been hit that knows it is not alive? Not just that I see my cat breathing, and the possum laying still. What is That Thing that tells me it is alive or not? We cannot see it, but we know it. We recognize it. What is it inside you that knows that it sees this? What is it inside you that knows that you are reading right now? That hears your mental responses, opinions, and thoughts? It cannot be seen. It cannot be touched. And it cannot be denied.

How about you? 
 
What is it that puts you in that place that knows that it knows?