I write this on a nasty, stormy day here in the East – blame storm “Saturn” for it. In Annapolis we were fortunate enough to get nothing but rain and a little wind, nothing too damaging. Oh, there was an overturned semi-tractor-trailer on the Bay Bridge which shut down both spans in both directions. This is a major headache for traffic in this area and it ties up roadways for miles and hours. I’m sure a few thorns came out for people today!
I felt a bit prickly myself. It is a very busy week for me working to get class material finalized and assembled for Rosemary, helping to set up presentations and making sure I am ready to video record the whole class, working on my own practices including preparation for Qigong Instructor Certification this Saturday, and keeping up with the normal routine.
And with the storm shutting down schools and work for the anticipated snow the house was full of people today with many pulls on attention and energy. The energy, in fact, swirled at times beyond the normal boundaries and out of control. My Qi was disturbed.
I am working hard to keep my calm, to smooth out my Qi, to remain in flow and let go of all the little things that can too often ruffle my feathers. And yet my thorns came out! In some sense these thorns were for protection, not necessarily of my beautiful inner rose, but of my time, my priorities, my space, my practice, my, my, my…
But is this why the rose has thorns, to hide her flower. I don’t think so. The rose displays her beauty for all to see. Her light shines on everyone. She opens her softness to reveal that light and inner beauty. All she asks in return is a small amount of space. Her thorns protect that space. Yes, they are sharp but they only stick in a little bit, only as a warning not to come any closer.
Too often my thorns stab too deep. I only need a little space and too often create cold distance. I need time to breathe but don’t want to breathe alone. I struggle with balance here between protection and open sharing of my light.
The advice I hear is to “be the Rose that you are and shed the thorns.” I am working on this, working on the openness. Is it always safe to do this?
Wednesday evening Rosemary and I were part of a Spiritual Exploration Group. It is a group that comes together by invitation to share deeply. It is a safe place; and many of us share very deeply about personal experiences. Everything shared stays in the room. It is easy to shed my thorns in this group. I have no fear of my space there. Can I take this feeling of safety into the outer world and share my light? Can I shed all my defenses and open my lamp-shade to let out the light?
It is time. We have moved beyond 2012 and well into the 21st Century. It is time for all of us to come into our true selves, to shine our light and to be open to the flow of the Universe. It begins inside, where the light originates. We first let go of the thorns that prick us from the inside; some call them our “demons.” Egos have thorns that keep us in line! These are good for survival, just as the rose uses her thorns to protect her space for survival. But maybe we need to move beyond basic survival needs and into the light.
We cannot transform the world with thorns. We can work toward a better world through open acceptance of our light and to shine that light through fulfilling our purpose, what Rosemary calls our “soul commitment.”
Maybe that commitment needs to be stronger than our need for protection!




EXPLORATION: Are You Expecting?
March 13, 2013 — RosemaryAre you ‘pregnant with possibilities’?
The Universe is filled with the potential of answering every dream you can dream for yourself. But what are you expecting?
The energies of attraction are not focused like a laser when they are generated from the emotion of fear. You can’t be worried and manifesting your dreams at the same time, for the laser that you send out like a beacon, attracting like energy into your field, is a laser tuned to that upon which you focus your worry energy, not the energy of your dream.
You do have the power to attract a nightmare but why would you?
When people start studying prosperity and the law of attraction they often do exercises to change their expectations. Recently our daughter started expecting the Universe to give her money. She found a dollar on a store parking lot and sat waiting for the person who had dropped it to return but no one did. She found several dollars in the dryer when she did the laundry. Magic? No. She EXPECTED the Universe to find a way to be generous with her and then she ALLOWED the Universe to choose how to do that.
I often teach that prosperity can come into your field in surprising ways when you are open to it. One way that the Universe gives me money is to have a sale on something that I have to buy. I was going to buy it anyway but I can save money that I would have spent. This just happened for the Color Class that I am teaching. We had selected the binder we wanted to give participants and had found one that came in lots of colors [this IS for a Color Class!]. We developed the prototype workbook with one binder then went back to purchase a larger quantity when we had the final numbers for the class. The binders were on sale and they had all the colors in stock!
This doesn’t represent a lot of money saved but it was going to have to be spent anyway. We expect the Universe to give to us in surprising ways.
What do you expect from your business? Your boss? Your significant other? Your children? Are you expecting challenges, threats, anger, disrespect? And are you getting that?
How adaptable are you to change? Are you willing to ‘go with the flow’?
Sometimes we get so stuck in our expectations that we forget to adapt to changing circumstances or energies. Have you ever thought about changing your expectations? Are you willing to change?
I knew someone who had a business and lost her business partner so was faced with only being able to pay half the rent. It was time to renegotiate the lease and she thought she might have to move. Instead, she focused on staying in the same space and paying half the rent. She focused and prayed and concentrated and expected this. She came out of the meeting with the landlord with a lease at half the rent for the next year! It CAN happen!
Are you, at this point, telling yourself that this only happens for other people, that it doesn’t work that way for you? As Henry Ford said, “Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.”
Trying being ‘pregnant with possibilities.’ Think that you CAN manifest your dreams. EXPECT the Universe to support you in that manifestation. Then go with the flow and allow the Universe to figure out the ‘how’ of making things happen.
Let this week be your ‘due date’ – expect great things!
PS: I did an interview with BlogTalkRadio program, Explore the Afterlife, the other day. You can listen to the recording here!