Welcome Home

Welcome home.

It is time to come home now.
You have been out all day.

You have been out for years.
It is time to come home.

Like the Prodigal Son.
Spirit has been waiting for you.
Calling you.
With the table set and a warm smile.

In the same joyful, warm way you would welcome
your pet or child home after they were out for the day,
welcome yourself home into your own heart.

Invite yourself to come in from the cold,
to have a seat by the fire.
Here kitty kitty.
Here self, self.

There is warmth and comfort here.
There is Peace and Joy here.
You are cared for and loved beyond your imagining.

When you come home to the God within,
you are fed.
You are cared for.
You are held.
You are safe.
You are well.
You are welcome.

You have waited long enough.
With glad tears in your eyes,
throw open the door to your own heart.
And make yourself at home there.

Giving Receiving Taking

With Thanksgiving coming, I started thinking... what's the difference between giving, receiving, taking, and waiting?

Taking

For me, if someone takes something from me, they have also taken my ability to give it freely.

Since it was not my choice. It was either taken without asking, or without permission. That doesn't feel good to the one taken from.

And for me, it doesn't feel good when I have taken something from someone. Even their time.

If I am feel that not able to say "no" in a situation, then it is impossible to say a clear "yes" to giving something I am asked for. This applies not just to physical things, but to our interactions as well.

Giving

To give freely, it must come from the heart. I must make the choice in my heart and mind that I want to give this time, talent or treasure to someone or some place. That feels great. It is my choice, my timing, my gift. I give from my overflow, and choose when, where and how I will give. When it comes from the heart, freely, without expectation, then, to me, it is true giving.

Receiving

Receiving also feels great when I receive with gratitude, and am free of any sense of obligation. If I feel obligated when receiving, I need to look closer at where that comes from. Is the expectation in me or coming from the giver? If I'm sure that it is coming from the giver, then it isn't a gift, but a trade or bargain. That doesn't feel good. Just accept it and say "thank you."

Waiting

Waiting, to me, is hoping to receive. It looks for my Good outside of myself. It believes in lack. It believes I will not receive freely.

I need to look closer here as well to make sure that I am not blocking my own ability to receive. Do I feel guilty? Unworthy? Do I think it means that someone else will not also receive? Am I still waiting my turn? Am I expecting it to look a certain way?

Have trouble receiving?

If you have trouble receiving, remember how good it feels to give to someone. If you refuse to accept, you are depriving someone else of having that great feeling by giving something to you.

Create a Thanktuary

So in getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday, start preparing your Thanktuary. A safe place in your heart and mind to feel grateful for all that you have received, all that you have given, and all the good that is yet to come.

How About You?

What's the difference for you? What feels best to you?

The Wow of the Bow

Wow. In Asian cultures, bowing is a form of acknowledging and showing reverence for someone or something. What would it be like to live every moment in that reverence?

I am taking another class with Rev Kim Kaiser, who, in addition to being a Science of Mind minister, is also an ordained Buddhist Priest. This one is on Buddhism. And that was our assignment for the 2 weeks between our first and second class meeting. Practice bowing, either physically or mentally, to everything. Try it for a minute, and hour, a day. Whatever you can.

What would it be like to remember that every moment?

Einstein said that that there are two ways of live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other as if everything is a miracle.

Like most people, my default way of living is so caught up in my responsibilities and endless to do list, that I can forget to pause and remember that it is a miracle that I exist at all. That this life is a gift, and I get to choose how to use my time here.

I appreciate my life so much more when I remember to take a moment every now and then, to
mentally bow to the present moment. To remember that it is amazing that I live in a culture where I can turn on the faucet and get clean water. That I have air to breathe and that my lungs and heart work all day every day to support all that I want to do.

Appreciating What I Have

This has been brought to my attention recently because I have several friends and acquaintances going through health challenges. One of them quite serious. When I visit someone in hospital or read a prayer request, I say a prayer for that person’s wholeness. And I also spend a moment gratitude that I enjoy health and vitality right now. I am bowing to that moment. That reality. That gift.

I think it was A Course In Miracles that Rev Kim quoted in class, saying “Your attention is God’s treasure.” The only power you have is attention.

So where will I put my attention today?

The holidays are upon us. Are you giving the gift of you? The gift of your attention?

Are you caught up in the planning, preparations, shopping, flight schedules, and so on?
Or are you pausing in awareness to give the gift of Presence to yourself and those around you?
Your attention is a gift to yourself, and it is a gift to everyone you are present with. 

Will I revere the simple fact that this moment is?

When I get in my car, do I take a moment to appreciate that I have a mode of transportation? That someone designed it and others built it? That someone engineered the roads and traffic lights and thought up yellow and white lines to keep us relatively safe while traveling? That someone thought of safety belts and air bags and crumple zones? That most people most of the time obey the traffic laws and drive safely?

Am I present and bowing to my meals?

When I eat a meal or a snack, do I notice whether I am hungry or eating for another reason? Do I watch TV or read while I am eating?

Do I notice the color, smell, texture of the food before I take a bite? Remembering that many someones planted it, grew it, tended it, harvested it, packaged it, transported it, stocked it on the shelves, and rang it up for me at the cash register? Or do I wolf it down without even really tasting it?

OK, So It's a Practice

Of course I cannot do this for every single thing even for a whole day. But I can take 1 minute right now to notice, appreciate and acknowledge someone or something. And I can choose to do that several times today. And I can notice if I am a little more patient, a little more grateful, a little more content, a little more peaceful, a little lighter inside. I like the way that feels. So I think I will take a moment to do that right now.

You May Also Like:

The Wow of the Tao
Don’t Believe Everything You Think

Will you join me?

When Did You Come From?

Just a little fun as we enter the cold months of the year.
When did you come from?

I'm an October baby. I have a lot of friends with birthdays in the first two weeks of October. So I counted 12 weeks ahead to see when we came from... when we were conceived.

Turns out it's right around New Year's Eve! I had to laugh at that.

I imagine there are lots more babies born in cold climates in Spring and Summer.

I've also read that babies born in the autumn tend to have more anxiety than those born in the summer. Something to do with the amount of sunlight out mothers were exposed to during their first trimester. I wonder if it holds true for families living near the equator.

So you might be a Thanksgiving conception if your birthday is in the first week of February.

If Valentine's Day was that first spark of your life, then your birthday is around May 9.

If your creation was at Christmas, your birthday is around March 20.

If your birthday is near the end of January, you might have been conceived at Halloween!

And Easter, well that changes so much you would have to look it up for the year you were born. Could be if your birthday is in or near July.

And if you were born in the last week of September, you just may have had your start on the 4th of July.

Someone recently told me that they always expect a mini-baby boom 9 months after a natural disaster like Super Storm Sandy. People are stuck indoors together, and 9 months later, babies!

Just another way to think of where - or when - you came from.