MUSE-INGS: Reach Inside and Remember Joy Today!

June 15, 2010 — Rosemary

The word ‘Joy’ brings up such wonderful thought-pictures, doesn’t it?  Think of a child and the Joy that child can find by delighting in such little things.  A small child doesn’t wake up feeling dread about the day to come.  That child is steeped in wonder as the day unfolds. Squatting down to watch some ants or a caterpillar on the sidewalk.  Blowing bubbles through a straw into a drink.  Running through a sprinkler in the summer or building a snowman in the winter. There is a certain Joy in being a carefree kid, isn’t there?

But then we lose that. We start school and worry about bullies and tests and book reports and best friends.  We’re afraid of the boogey man or the report card or the team coach. We start to live with disappointment and concern and fear and we forget how to be filled with Joy.

What happens to us? And who is there to teach us to go inside to find the Joy that puts all the outer circumstances into perspective?

I think we learn through the anxieties of adults around us that Joy is something that waits in the wings while we are living ‘life’ – standing by until there is a carefree moment again in which to experience Joy.  We’re allowed to feel that at our wedding, at the birth of a child, at a graduation.  But it’s reserved for big moments in our lives, not for everyday existence.  There is always something to do, something to get out of the way before we can relax and be Joy-full.

What if we decided to turn that all around and to seek Joy FIRST?  What if, right now, today, you decide that Joy comes first and then you’ll face everything else?  Do you think that you can do that?

If Joy is a decision, if Joy is something that you go inside to find, then why put off that search? What if, at this moment, you gave yourself permission to pause, to take a couple of deep breaths, to go inside no matter what is happening around you or what you have to face today, and you asked to connect to your inner Joy, even if only for a few minutes?  Why not try that right now?

It might be easier if you think of someone or something that brings you Joy and makes you smile, but it’s not difficult to find a moment of Joy inside.  And once you have touched it, bring that outside with you and look through the lens of Joy at what is going on, at what you must do today.

No matter what is happening, or how people are behaving around you, Joy is within you.  You ARE connected to Source, whether you are remembering that at the moment or not.  You can be busy and still have Joy inside you.  You can be happy and still have Joy inside you.  And you can be sad or upset and still have Joy inside you.

Too often we think that life must be a bowl of cherries all the time so that we can smile.  I’ve had people comment to me that we don’t understand because our lives are so great.  Yes, I have many blessings in my life but I’ve also had heartaches and problems. I just have chosen to define myself and my life by what is good about it.  I have chosen to meditate, to tap into something greater than myself so that my perspective comes from the ‘meta’ level, above the strife of everyday life. I see the patterns unfolding and I trust that the Universe has a Plan and that the Plan is unfolding as it must. And I remind myself that Joy comes from within.

You can reach that Joy no matter what your life looks like at the moment.  You are a timeless, spiritual being having a physical lifetime on Planet Earth so that you can learn lessons.  Some of those lessons are not as much fun to learn as others.  These lessons are a part of living a human life. But there is always Joy within you. There is always the spirit of the Inner You who remembers the connection to Source and to the Joy within.

Reach inside and remember Joy today!

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BOOK LIGHTS: from “The Seven Whispers: Listening to the Voice of Spirit”

June 3, 2010 — Rosemary

“In the coming years, I believe that we in the West will be challenged as never before to look at the question of what we really need and what we have the obligation to offer in order to re-establish balance in the global human family.  We cannot escape the system the world is living in at this time.  We cannot get pure, or self-righteous, or use our spirituality to remove ourselves from the mess we are in.  We can only consider our actions within the circle of reciprocity.”

by Christina Baldwin

‘The circle of reciprocity’ – what a nice way to describe Karma!  Our actions, and those of others, are always occurring within this circle.  Judging or having compassion – for ourselves and for others – those are the choices.  Let us commit to live a Conscious Life by planning to choose compassion!

Rosemary

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MUSE-INGS: Compassion and Karma

June 1, 2010 — Rosemary

“I don’t judge people!  Of course, I accept everyone just as they are!”

I know I used to believe that until I really sat myself down and examined the ways in which I really DID do the judging.  A lot of people who think of themselves as ‘spiritual’ find it very easy to decide that they know enough to judge others.  Maybe ‘judge’ seems like too harsh a word, but they do seem to strike the gavel and pronounce others to be good or bad, right or wrong.

I’ve written before about my mantra – Everyone is doing the best they can with the resources they have at any given moment.  I truly believe that now.  But the hardest person to apply that to – is me.  It was easier to adopt this concept when I was focused on everyone else.  I worked with the idea for years to make sure I was applying it in all cases.  I pondered those times when I really struggled with a particular situation or person to apply this, but it is true for everybody if you look at the grander scheme of things.

In life, there is always a big picture but we are so often focused on the microcosm of our own vision that we forget to step up above the situation and look from the eagle’s perspective.  What else can the eagle see from on high that we, with our limited scope, are missing?  This made it easier to see even those people who were doing heinous acts as the carriers of lessons for others.  And I had to separate the person from the acts.  It doesn’t mean that we ever approve of or even accept one individual hurting another.  But the person who chooses to hurt another is usually making that choice because they see no other choice before them.  We can be unhappy about that choice and do everything in our power to help someone who has been hurt, but are we right to judge other people?  Or is the extent of our purview to examine only the acts, the behaviors, and not the person?

I think this is where we get stuck because it feels so difficult to separate the two.  But if we look at the person as a baby, somehow we can understand that little babies are not born to commit heinous acts against another human being.  Every single infant is lovable because they are breathing the same air that we breathe.  They are embracing life on Planet Earth.  But a lot of things happen to that baby along the way and sometimes their thinking gets twisted.  Somewhere along the way they believe something or are taught something or they respond to some stimulus that sets them on a path that takes them where they might not want to go.  And then they get stuck and see no other way to go.

This is where the concept of compassion steps in.  It is easy to have compassion for a friend who is going through a serious illness or a breakup or a loss.  But how can we have compassion for someone who has chosen to do something we think is wrong?  That is where compassion is most needed, not to coddle someone or to excuse their act, but to look beyond the little scene in front of us and to take the eagle’s view of the situation.  When you begin to understand the Laws of Karma you can see that a person brings a judgment onto himself or herself when they make the decision to act a certain way.  Karma will take care of the consequences.  Karma is merely cause-effect in action.  When I hear people worrying because someone is getting away with something, I think about how no one can escape the Laws of Karma even if it appears that they have.  We might not see the consequence but we can be assured that there are consequences.

And so can we be compassionate about ourselves, too, when we slip up?  Everyone is doing the best they can with the resources they have at any given moment, even me.  When I learn to look around at my choices as stepping stones along the path of lessons we call ‘Life’ then I can be compassionate with myself as I hope others will be with me.  And I can look upon others with compassion, too!

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MUSE-INGS: Going ‘Home’!

May 25, 2010 — Rosemary

I know the feeling of being ‘home’ when I step onto the Big Island of Hawaii.  Every time, and I’ve been there often, it creates such a feeling of peace just to touch the Earth there.  I’ve had some amazing spiritual experiences in the Hawaiian Islands and have loved being there, even the week that was rainy from start to finish. I probably learned the most spiritual lessons that week! And every visit since then has held even greater learnings for me.

But lately I’ve been feeling drawn to the West Coast of America, and that’s a bit of a surprise to me.  Having spent most of my life in the DC area, I never thought I’d consider living near LA but that’s on the radar screen.  So why is this coming up at this time in my life?  Am I supposed to move there immediately?  What about this house in Colorado where we live now?

Have you ever felt drawn to move or to travel or to be somewhere other than where you are in a given moment?  I think Mother Earth is calling each of us to be in the spot where she can support us more fully as we go through the coming changes.  It might be near to where we currently live or it might be thousands of miles away.  We might even need to split our time between 2 homes to tap into different Earth energy depending on the time of year and our activities.  I once felt an overwhelming urge to visit Hawaii and a week later we were on a plane!  That was the trip where we met a Kahuna and had some wonderful experiences.

Where are you feeling that you should visit?  Or do you feel that you are nearing the time to make a move?  Is some external event or person causing you to change where you live?  This is all wonderful, even if the circumstances don’t FEEL wonderful at the moment!  You are receiving guidance from the Universe about your next move.  You are being led to the next home, the place where Mother Earth can cradle you in her arms and nurture you with her loving energy.  Whether the cause of the move is economic, emotional or expedient doesn’t matter.  Trust that you are being helped to the place where you need to be for the time being.

There are no accidents.  Whatever is happening to indicate that you need to be somewhere on Mother Earth other than exactly where you are now is a sign that you are on the spiritual path of personal growth.  And if you feel perfectly content in the exact spot where you now are, then you can relax and enjoy the connection and the nurturing/nourishing energy that comes from the Mother.  Where are you planning  to visit on your next trip?   Do you have a feeling that maybe you should go somewhere soon?  Maybe the time isn’t right yet but you feel that the time is coming.  In that case, you might want to get a picture of the place to which you feel drawn and post it on your vision board, or above your desk, so that you can send a message to Mother Earth letting her know that you hear her call and that you agree to follow that call when the time is right.

Get ready to pack your bags!  Whether moving your home or visiting somewhere else, Mother Earth will support you wherever you go!

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BOOK LIGHTS: from “The Power of Focus”

May 19, 2010 — Rosemary

“A friend in Arizona, George Addair, told us about a firefighter who attended one of his self-knowledge workshops.  He said, ‘Firefighters deal with fear every time they prepare to enter a burning building.  Just before they go into action they experience it – the uncertainty of not knowing if they’ll survive or not.  An incredible transformation takes place as soon as they go inside the building.  They literally step into the fear, and because they do, the fear disappears.  They are 100 percent in the present moment.  They are then able to concentrate on fighting the fire, evacuating people and doing all the things they were trained to do.  By confronting their fear, they can focus on the immediate situation and get the job done.'”

by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen

The answer is always ‘Be fully present in this moment NOW.’  That’s where all the resources are.  If you find yourself in fear, ask what is going on in this moment, what you can learn from it, and what the fear has to say to you.  When you are totally present to this moment, you will find the resources you need to move beyond the fear!

Rosemary

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MUSE-INGS: What’s the lesson in the fear?

May 18, 2010 — Rosemary

Fear.  That word seems to be popping up in all sorts of ways these days.  Be very afraid of illegal aliens, they say.  Be very afraid of the other political party [‘They’ are very scary!].  Be afraid of extraterrestrials.  Be afraid of the economy.  I could go on and on with the list, pulling stories just from today’s news.  [OK, I haven’t actually heard any extraterrestrial stories today!]

But it seems to me that there are so many ways to be fearful that it’s a chore to avoid fear.  I work very hard at it.  That’s not to say that I don’t sometimes experience fear, but I’m pretty certain there’s never been a saber-toothed tiger chasing me.  So why do we keep ourselves poised in ‘fight or flight’ mode, filled with adrenaline and cortisol, if there aren’t any tigers on our tail?

The stress of living in these days creates its own sense of a saber-toothed tiger chasing us through our lives.  We have constant sources of information being bombarded at us – radio, TV, conversations overheard in line at Starbucks, newspaper headlines on the street corners, internet headlines when we sign in to email.  Even if we choose not to listen to the news or to read the newspapers we can’t avoid hearing what’s happening and it’s always sensationalized, isn’t it?  So our primitive brains think this is the modern day tiger nipping at our heels. Stock market report? Tiger. Housing prices down?  Tiger. Job market tough? Tiger.

So what is a person to do who is trying to live a Conscious Life when they are constantly subjected to negativity?  The first thing to do is to figure out a way to de-stress your life and your body, starting with your thoughts.  How do you react to negativity?  If you take it in to yourself and embrace the negativity as the only possibility, then you have accepted that the field of all possibilities is very small.  What if you were, instead, to look at the negativity as the other side of a coin that has something positive for you to find?  What if the negativity could be observed without being taken in?  Pretend for a moment that you are surrounded by an air-permeable Plexiglas bubble through which you can see what is happening around you but where those happenings cannot penetrate your own private space.  This allows you to observe with detachment.  This also allows you to create the energy vibration of positivity within your own personal space so the negativity doesn’t lower your energy level.  When you’ve done this, you are free to look for the lesson to be learned in the experience.

Have you ever spent time with someone who is constantly focused on bad news or dire predictions or what’s wrong with their life?  Contrast that with how you feel when you are around someone who always sees the silver lining in the cloud above, or who likes people without criticizing them.  There is a huge difference in the energy of these conversations and you can feel that in your own body-mind.  We do tend to want to be with people who are uplifting, don’t we?

There’s a reason for this.  We are all striving in life to bring Light into our selves and our environment.  If you are reading these words, then you are someone who wants to be living a Conscious Life, not drifting through life without learning and growing.  In every moment there is something to learn, whether we are enjoying that moment or not.  There is always a lesson.  When we are feeling happy and joyful, we can look for the lesson to maintain that joy.  When we are feeling low or fearful, we can also look for the lesson so that we can find our way back to happiness and joy.  And as human beings we live in community so we are always hearing or seeing or being with others and their opinions and energy.

Think about the situations you experience in the coming days and notice how you feel.  What makes you feel good?  What makes you feel sad or low or angry?  What causes you fear?  When you can step out of your feelings enough to observe them then you can also see where solutions to problems lie.  When you are feeling happy and joyful look at the lessons that show you what you can replicate so that you can prolong that experience.  And look around you for ways to bring joy to others.  Sometimes thinking of others is all it takes to move one from fear to peace.

The most important thing is to be fully present to the moment that is NOW.   Are you being chased by a saber-toothed tiger or is there some other lesson to be learned?

And please let me know if there actually IS a saber-toothed tiger chasing you —  after you’re safe, of course!

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BOOK LIGHTS: from “The Mystic Path to Cosmic Power”

May 12, 2010 — Rosemary

“How to Wake Up to a World of Wonder:

“If a sleepwalker wants to stop bumping into things, what must he do?  Wake up.  That’s all.  Just wake up.  So must the man or woman in psychic sleep.  He or she must open the eyes of understanding.”

by Vernon Howard

So are you sleepwalking through history?  What would it take for you to wake up to the signals that are around you and ‘…open the eyes of understanding’?  Decide to notice.  That’s all it takes.

Rosemary

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MUSE-INGS: Pay Attention to the Signs

May 11, 2010 — Rosemary

Isn’t it easy to brush off the signals that the Universe is giving us?  How often do we ignore the signs or ask for guidance and then forget to notice the answers are right before our eyes?  I’ve been guilty, I admit!

There are so many sources of information around us that I think sometimes, when we get in information overload, we tune out the important channels of guidance available to us.  The news media outlets are too disturbing to watch.  Even the Weather Channel is getting to be more sensational about the weather, instead of educational about weather in general.  Every day the pile of mail we receive is filled with information for us to process.  How do we shut down the peripheral sources and focus in on the main event?

This is part of learning to live a Conscious Life.  Tune out the extraneous bombardment.  Focus on the important channels of information.  Decide what these are for YOU, for they might be different for each individual.  I have a friend who takes amazing pictures of cloud formations over Pikes Peak here in Colorado Springs.  She finds fantastic forms in these clouds that help her as she interprets their meaning in her life.  Others go for hikes in the beautiful mountains and see signs everywhere they look in Nature.  Another friend asks for guidance and then sees newspaper headlines or reports on television that speak directly to him.

What’s your source of guidance?  Have you ever paid attention to the signs that are around you?  What about the animals that you see in a day?  Have you asked yourself what you were thinking about just before you saw that animal?  Could there be a connection?

For me, a hawk seems to appear when I have just thought or spoken about something that needs confirmation.  The hawk means, ‘Yes!’  My sister used to pray to St. Theresa and she would receive a rose somehow, St. Theresa’s symbol.  What is your ‘confirmation sign’?  If you don’t have one yet, then spend the next several days paying attention.  Ask a question and see what happens around you.  Notice the animals that come into your life.  Look and listen for repeating patterns and see what they are showing you.

Meditation is a good way to open yourself to signals.  Try taking a few minutes to focus on your breath and then ask for your particular channel of guidance to be revealed to you, or that you be shown your ‘confirmation sign.’  Don’t worry if it’s not immediately apparent to you – it might be subtle and might take a few reinforcements for you to believe that the sign is real.  You might try drawing a card from an oracle deck or using a pendulum or some other dowsing tool.  Remember that dowsing is not just for finding water these days!

If you have a friend that you can talk to, share your exploration of the signs around you.  Maybe that special song from your youth will start playing on the radio.  Maybe a hawk, or coyote, or rabbit will cross your path.

And all you have to do is pay attention!

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MUSE-INGS: Pause and Make a Conscious Decision

May 4, 2010 — Rosemary

It seems we are constantly being given choices about with whom to spend time and how we wish to spend that time.  There are so many opportunities for activities that we could be busy all the time, if we wished.  Many object that they don’t have a partner or they don’t have the money to do things but there are many activities that do not require money or a partner.  We are always at the point of choice about how we are spending our time.

We might have a job where the people do not feel supportive, but we are choosing to work there for the paycheck or the prestige or whatever the reason is, including that there are not very many other jobs.  Or we might be out of work at the moment wishing that we had a job to complain about but perhaps this is the Universe’s way to protect us from being around a vibration that is toxic to us and to our spiritual and personal growth.  Maybe you are in a relationship with friends, a partner, a family member and that relationship seems to drag you down or keep you from moving forward as you like.  Perhaps the food you are eating makes you feel heavier instead of lighter, and we are not discussing weight here, but how you feel, what your vibration is.

Consider that the vibratory frequency of Love is a high vibration.  It becomes a conscious choice for awakened individuals to move their own vibration to this level.  It doesn’t happen by accident for adults who are dragging a lot of Life’s baggage around with them.  And this level of Love vibration starts with loving oneself.

Is all this talk of ‘Love vibration’ starting to sound like the Summer of ’69 talk to you?  Think about what was happening then, beyond Woodstock and drugs.  There was a feeling that we all need a way to feel peaceful.  We need to learn to love each other and ourselves.  People were trying out communal living as a way to band together with like-minded individuals and create community.  We were all searching for something, at least, those of us who were alive then were searching.

Maybe we have become more sophisticated since then or maybe we have become distracted, but now we have an understanding about how to gain that peaceful feeling.  And we can create community on the Internet or at spiritual centers or by gathering like-minded people together without having to live in a commune.

We can meditate, individually or in a group, and raise our own vibration.  We can teach our children to meditate so that they have a tool to overcome the denseness of the world.  We can talk with others about loftier topics than the weather or the latest reality TV show.  These are all choices.  We can watch movies that make us feel good, whether with Netflix or On Demand or in a theater, and we can share the experience with others.  Book clubs abound now with people wanting to have discussions, to gather around a topic and discuss ideas rather than other people.

Love yourself.  Start there to focus on raising your own vibration.  Love yourself enough to pay attention to the signals that you intuitively feel about people, places, entertainment, food.  Open your heart to those around you, not to allow yourself to be demeaned or abused but to genuinely start with Love in your heart for ALL around you.  And then make a determination about how you feel in the presence of others.  Decide consciously whether or not to spend time with them.  Decide how you feel about a proposed activity – are you going along with the crowd or does it really feel like something you wish to spend your precious time participating in?  And then think about the food and drink that you put in your body.  Take a moment before you eat to really assess how you feel about ingesting that food.  Get yourself relaxed and peaceful before you eat anything so that you can be conscious about eating.

Try all this and see how you feel a month from now!

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MUSE-INGS: Focus on the Joy!

April 27, 2010 — Rosemary

How easy it is to focus our attention on the things that need to be fixed or on the painful things that we wish were different!  We can get so caught up in wishing something would change that we forget how powerful we are to change how we think about a situation.

My wonderful Mom, Gloria Robertson, always saw silver linings.  One of her favorite sayings was, ‘Everything always works out for the best.’  And the other thing she said often was,

‘As a rule, Man’s a fool,
When it’s hot he wants it cool.
When it’s cool he wants it hot,
Always wishing what is not.’

My Mom was a very wise woman.  We spend so much time wishing things were different when really the only thing we need to change is how we think about things.  I remember my Mom, towards the end of her life, deciding that she would only worry about those things that it was in her power to make different.  She had an appointment with her doctor who asked her what had changed because her health had improved.  She said, ‘I’ve adopted a new attitude – NMP.’  When he asked what ‘NMP’ stood for, she answered, ‘Not My Problem.’

It is very freeing to look around and decide what is ours to work on and what is beyond our control or what belongs to someone else to handle.  And it is very empowering to take charge of those things that ARE our own to deal with.  Not everything around us requires that we take charge of it.  Not everything is ours to handle or to fix.  Sometimes another person needs to learn to help himself or herself.  Sometimes someone else needs to learn a lesson by handling something their own way.  Sometimes ‘good enough’ is okay – it doesn’t always have to be perfect.  Sometimes another person just wants to be left alone and it needs to be okay with us to allow that.  And sometimes another person needs company and we need to be beyond ourselves enough to see that and to offer the company without judgment.

Look around you today and see if there isn’t some joy to be found in every conscious moment.  What can you do to make yourself smile?  Is there someone you can help?  Is there some situation that you can laugh at?  Can you laugh at yourself or do you always take yourself terribly seriously?  Is there an animal to watch?  A flower to notice?  Music to enjoy?  What can you feel gratitude about in this moment now?

Adopting the attitude that there is always some joy to be found will bring happiness into your life.  And if you are truly struggling to find something about which to feel good, then get out your sense of humor and remember a time when you laughed and laughed at something you thought was hilariously funny.  All you need to do is remember and you will be smiling again.

Keep a stock of funny movies or joke books or funny emails that you’ve received and get them out when you truly cannot find anything to give you joy.  One joke, one laugh, is all it takes to shift your energy.  One look out the window and you will find something to delight in, no matter how small it might seem.  Remember, that if you spend all of your energy thinking about what you don’t want, the Universe won’t know what to bring you from the list of what you DO want.  Energize the aspects of this moment that you want to magnify in your life.  Experience delight and you will have more delight.  Focus on joy and you will have more joy in your life.  That’s how things work!

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Please feel free to re-post this article and share it with your readers. All I ask is that you include the following information when you do:

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