Survive or Thrive? – Richard’s Commentary

The Divine Feminine challenge us in Rosemary’s article to make the key choice in this life: we can either scrabble for survival in what many think is a “dog-eat-dog world”; or we can step up and out to live our True Purpose, the reason the Universe supported our birth in this time and space, and thrive!

It really is that simple. And it really is a choice. Here’s how They put it through Rosemary:

Many people on Earth in 21st Century Societies are greedy for what they don’t have – riches, power, control, freedom, pride. These people are distracted from what is really important.

When one seeks to live one’s purpose, one finds that collaboration with others supports thriving in life.

There are the choices: survive or thrive.

Interestingly They do bring up karma, more as a threat than a factor in our choice. They say: Don’t think that you can thrive by pushing someone else to the brink of survival. Those who believe that this is acceptable will learn exactly what the rules of karma are. But doesn’t karma affect our choice, our purpose? Are people merely in survival mode because they have past “debts” to work through?

I am in the middle of asking this very question of myself, working through the process of purging karma, some from my younger days and likely a whole lot from past lives. I am practicing an intense “yoga” in preparation for Kalachakra Initiation, known as Kalachakra Tantra Six Session Yoga composed by the First Panchen Lama. And things are coming up. Some days in the midst of practice I ask myself if I am making any progress, if all this is worth the effort. Can we really purge, burn up, karma? And, is this part of the choice we must make to turn mere survival into thriving?

When I ask the hard questions I am often blessed with answers. Today I received two “replies” to my deepest seeking. The first is from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. He quotes his guru, Sri Yuktesvar: “Forget the past. The vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames. Human conduct is ever unreliable until man is anchored in the Divine. Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now.”

My second answer came from my Goddess Cards, art by Susan Seddon Boulet and words by Michael Babcock. Today I drew Hathor, a Great Mother Goddess. And here is what Babcock says of her: “Hathor reminds us that we, too, must acknowledge all parts of ourselves, that what we call destructive is sometimes necessary to allow our creativity and compassion to flourish.”

Wow; thank you, Universe! Ask and you shall receive!

I have full permission to step into my purpose and thrive. I will most certainly continue the Six Session Yoga to see what comes up next.

And you, too, have the permission of the Universe, in fact the demand, that you step into your purpose and thrive! The choice is yours!

sig-pic

ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Survive or Thrive?

A message from The Divine Feminine:

“Dear Ones,

To merely survive is not the same as to thrive. The Universe is set up so that each individual can thrive unless that opportunity is taken away from them.

Every plant is poised to thrive unless it is deprived of soil, nutrients, sunlight, water. Every animal has the tools it needs when its natural habitat is allowed to thrive. Human beings have been able to thrive on Planet Earth until the population has reached billions.

Some might argue that earlier peoples did not thrive and were wiped out. While it is true that some populations are no longer on the Planet, all who have lived as a part of a tribe have had an opportunity.

Some groups are no longer on the Planet because others conquered and destroyed them. Some were deprived of light or sustenance because of natural disasters. In modern times, greed of one sort or another has resulted in huge numbers of deaths.

War comes about because of greed, for power or money or territory. Governments who suppress the power of the people are greedy for power and control and, often, riches. Those who can kill others easily do it out of a sense of superiority over others and are greedy for a position of pride.

Many people on Earth in 21st Century Societies are greedy for what they don’t have – riches, power, control, freedom, pride. These people are distracted from what is really important.

When one seeks to live one’s purpose, one finds that collaboration with others supports thriving in life.

For some people struggling with survival, they have been put into that position as a direct result of some other person or people and greed.

Homelessness is not the natural state. Even in Nature, orphaned babies of one species are often taken in and raised by a mother of another species. Humans are meant to be communal and to support each other but, when greed gets in the way, people can end up struggling to survive.

Don’t think that you can thrive by pushing someone else to the brink of survival. Those who believe that this is acceptable will learn exactly what the rules of karma are.

And if you are surviving then it is your work to live your purpose and thrive.

Make the choice to thrive and all other choices become clear.

And so it is.”

The Divine Feminine guide us into position so that we can take an honest look at the life we are leading, especially as it relates to living our purpose, the reason we incarnated on Planet Earth at this time. We were meant to thrive!

There are so many ways to merely survive – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. And, yet, we are conscious beings who have the ability to create our world with our thoughts.

What if we become ‘Conscious Creators’ and focus our intentions on thriving? What if we decide that it is important to help others not only to survive but to thrive? Can you imagine the energy that is generated when that becomes the focus of our thoughts and behaviors?

Thrive because you have found your purpose. Set your sights beyond mere survival and Live Your Richest Life.

Many of my clients are doing ‘okay’ in their life but they feel that there is something more, something calling to them. A book to write, a program to start, a foundation to create, a new product to develop. For some it is the search for peace within so that they are free to live the purpose they know they were born to manifest. Mere survival is not what drives them to thrive!

But it is important to clear the way, to get rid of those blocks that prevent the energy of ‘thrive’ and throw us into the energy of ‘survive.’

Reaching for the higher purpose brings a joy, a peace, an excitement that creates a beautiful energy in which to thrive! Accept that the Universe will help you to survive and jump on the bandwagon to thrive!

ROSEMARY’S INSPIRATION: Surviving or Thriving?

My “Two-Minute” Video for this Week: Surviving or Thriving?

ROSEMARY’S NEWS

M106Hang in there – Mercury is only retrograde for another week!!!

We are in the midst of a Mercury retrograde period, that legendary time when Planet Mercury looks as if it is traveling backwards when viewed from Earth. Since Mercury rules communication, we often see garbled messages, email and computer problems, and mistakes in documents. (This is not a good time to sign contracts so, if you must, look them over several times! Pay attention to details.) This happens about 3 times a year and each period lasts about 3 weeks. Mercury shifts directions (‘goes direct’ in astrology-speak) at 9:00 am Eastern Time on Friday, February 28. We’ve noticed (computer and email glitches here), have you?

We’ve shipped out the DVDs from the Possibilities Playshop to those of you who ordered them. It’s been great fun to use our Playbooks as journals tracking the Moon Cycle. And the synchronicity between pictures we pasted in our Playbooks and events/messages – Wow! There is still time if you’d like to create your own Playbook and enjoy the exercises from the Playshop. Check out the Playshop tab at www.TheScientificMystic.com

After all the snow we’re getting temperatures up to about 60 for a couple of days! The birds are enjoying the bird feeder, when the squirrels let them eat, and the sounds of Spring start calling to me. Ready to plant a garden but there’s still snow on it! Are you done with Winter where you live? And don’t you just love seeing your Australian friends posting pictures of themselves in their bathing suits at the beach? It will be our turn soon!

I’m carving time in my schedule to get the book done. Had a great coaching session with a mentor in Australia who gave me some tips on it and I’m fired up now. (Yes, every coach/mentor needs their own coach/mentor to keep them in ‘thrive mode.’) If you don’t see much of me in the next couple of months, it’s because I’m being an Author! What do YOU want to create? JUST DO IT! And I’m always happy to mentor you with guidance from many dimensions when you are ready to move forward! Thrive! Express your purpose. Clear away those blocks. Get energetically ready to Spring Forward soon! If you’re ready to THRIVE send me an email so we can get you moving forward! rosemary@thescietificmystic.com

Happy Birthday, George Washington! (On February 22, many Americans have cherry pie to celebrate the birthday of our first President, who is rumored to have chopped down a cherry tree and then admitted to the deed because he ‘cannot tell a lie.’)

Still in School? – Richard’s Commentary

I’ve been in school my whole life. How about you? As I think about this I am continuously upgrading my skills with blogs, WordPress, graphic design, HTML, etc. I began my technical career in computer programming in 1971 and have never stopped learning new skills as the technology advances and honing old skills as the basic approach continues to stay pretty much the same when it comes to instructing computers.

Then there is my spiritual study which has also come a long way from learning Transcendental Meditation from students of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1969 to my current work with Kalachakra Tantra Yoga, refining this practice and learning everything about it in preparation for the Kalachakra Initiation offered by His Holiness the Dalai Lama later this year. Along the way I was ordained as an Interfaith Minister in 2000 after an intense two-year seminary experience and I spent a couple of years in Martín Prechtel’s Bolad’s Kitchen.

But my real school is documented in my fingerprints; and they tell me I’m in the school of LOVE. The fact is I have so many loops in my fingerprints (10) that I’m not only in the school of Love but my lesson is Love and my Life Purpose is – yep – Love! And since our fingerprints don’t change through life I will always be in the school of Love.

And we are all always in the School of Life. This is what Rosemary’s post yesterday is really about; that school of life lessons that seems always in session! Here’s what she says about that:

We are always facing circumstances over which we have no control. We do, however, have control over how we respond to those circumstances. That is what we do when we accept what is going on around us and seek the lesson.

“Seek the lesson.” This can be the hardest test; when in the midst of a life crisis, the last thing I want to hear is “what is the lesson in this?”! “I don’t care what the lesson is; I just want to get through this!”

Sound familiar? Then you probably don’t want to hear Rosemary’s next advice:

No matter what your circumstances are there is something for you to learn from those circumstances. No matter what you feel you lack, you have everything you need right now, in this moment, to learn the lesson that is there in front of you. Still can’t see the lesson? Then go inside and seek the answer there.

Sometimes the answer is to learn how to wait for guidance. Sometimes the lesson is to learn patience. Sound familiar?

Ah, “patience.” I’ve mentioned here before that my word for 2014 is “patience.” Yes, I am finally going to embrace this lesson and, if not fully learn it, at least make some gains on it!

I have a difficult time learning my lessons in the moment. But I do find myself going inside later and examining the circumstances, asking the questions about lessons, examining reactions and how they could have been managed better. I use the “nightly review” for this: before going to sleep I review the day in reverse and consider the big events, how I handled them, what could have been handled better, what there was to learn. And this is working for me; it’s like doing my homework; honing skills in life.

sig-pic

ROSEMARY’S INSPIRATION: Learn Your Lessons!

My “Two-Minute” Video for this Week: Learn Your Lessons!

ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Still in School?

As I write this we are experiencing a huge snow storm on the East Coast of the US. Schools have been closed, businesses are closed, even the Government Offices are closed. No matter what plans had been made, what meetings were scheduled, what classes/tests/speakers were planned – they are not happening.

Life happens like this all the time. We create a PLAN, our very own statement about how things are to go, and the Universe arranges a different way for us to learn our lessons. For that is really what every incident in our lives is – an opportunity for us to learn a lesson.

We are always facing circumstances over which we have no control. We do, however, have control over how we respond to those circumstances. That is what we do when we accept what is going on around us and seek the lesson.

Of course, you can curse what is happening, or bemoan the lack of what you had wanted and planned, but neither of those choices advances your learning. What if, instead, you were to ask, ‘What is the lesson in this for me?’ and spend your energy seeking the chance to grow?

There is a popular saying that you must ‘Bloom Where You Are Planted.’ I would change that to, ‘Learn in the School in Which You Find Yourself.’

No matter what your circumstances are there is something for you to learn from those circumstances. No matter what you feel you lack, you have everything you need right now, in this moment, to learn the lesson that is there in front of you. Still can’t see the lesson? Then go inside and seek the answer there.

Sometimes the answer is to learn how to wait for guidance. Sometimes the lesson is to learn patience. Sound familiar?

And sometimes the lesson is to let go of fear and take a big step out into your Life Purpose! Maybe now is the time when you can’t hide from your Self and everything else becomes an excuse to avoid growing and moving forward.

It takes more energy to stay stuck than to let go and move forward! And, yet, for many, choosing to stay where you are seems less frightening that moving forward. Just because the familiar seems the comfortable place, doesn’t mean it is the best place for you to realize your highest good.

Look around your life and see what has stayed the same for a long time. Are you staying in your comfort zone because you are waiting for lightning to strike or the time to be perfect or for someone else to change? Or are you staying in a place where the lessons are becoming more difficult for you to learn but you are afraid to move out into an unknown classroom?

Seek out your lessons. Move out of a space where you cannot learn anymore. Leave behind a place, job, relationship, town where you are ready to graduate and learn new lessons. The school that you find yourself in will always present you with an opportunity to learn, but what if the lesson is that it is time to graduate and move on? Are you ready to complete that class?

Long-term relationships last because the people in them support each other in learning their lessons and continuing to grow. This is true of intimate relationships, friendships, jobs, associations. Are you feeling stagnant? Then ask yourself if you can find a new classroom, a new school, where you can learn and grow and expand.

Love yourself enough to learn the lessons! Step out of your comfort zone and learn the graduate level classes. You left kindergarten and grade school and high school behind you when you were ready. Maybe now it’s time to move into the Graduate Academy of Life and keep learning!

There are no ‘snow days’ in this Academy of Life!

Dream a Big Dream! – Richard’s Commentary

Rosemary begins her message with a question:

Do you know your Heart’s Desire? Do you have a Big Wish?

Well, do you? The very first step in moving forward with your life is to visualize it, see it, dream it! As humans we are good at making pictures. We are an extremely visual species. Consider the simplest of things we do; if we want to go out to the store, in the snow, to get that last loaf of bread, we first make a picture of the store, the way to get there, the car, the road conditions, and a thousand other images that pop into our minds just to accomplish this simplest of tasks. We create a “map” of the task to “see” us through to successful completion. No matter how simple the action we visualize it before acting.

And what if the task is bigger; what if we are talking about a “heart desire”? Then the visualization needs to scale to the level of the desire.

I’m using a visual perspective here because we are strongly visual. But if we engage all of our senses, our emotions, our intuitive senses and even our spirit in creating a dream-environment how much more powerful the “map” becomes to get us there. If we begin to hear the desire, smell how it might be, taste the flavors anticipated, feel the quality of the air and imagine being in the midst of that desired condition we can actualize the dream that much more powerfully.

Let me give you a personal example: my Big Wish for 2014 is to travel to India to participate in the Kalachakra Tantra Rite of Initiation being offered by His Holiness the Dalai Lama this year. He is offering it in Ladakh, in the north of India in the Himalayans. This dream touches on many of my wishes – travel back to India, travel to the Himalayan Mountains, visiting Buddhist Monasteries, participating in Buddhist rituals – the list is quite long. And as I begin to picture this dream it becomes very large, almost to the point of overwhelm. But I am taking my own advice:

The first thing I have done is to read more deeply about the Kalachakra Tantra Rite of Initiation. I have read Jeffrey Hopkins’ translation of His Holiness’ work by that title. And now I am practicing the Six Session Yoga as a prerequisite of the Initiation. I am visualizing the practice, visualizing Kalchakra and Vajradhara and beginning to get a deep, heart and soul understanding of this Tantra.

I am also reading about Ladakh. And I am remembering the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings and wonders of being in India. I have only visited three cities before, Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi. I have not been to the north or anywhere near the mountains. But I have been above 14,000 feet in Colorado and I have been above 19,000 feet in Africa; I can combine my various experiences to begin to form a picture of what it might be like in the highest mountains in the world.

I have also visited Buddhist monasteries, practiced Buddhism there, enjoyed the beautiful art, heard the bells, chanted the mantras, smelled the incense, tasted the simple fare, felt the cold hard floor of early morning meditations in the middle of winter and shivered not with the cold but with the moving spirit of the sangha.

I am putting lots of pictures, experiences of all the senses, and deep feelings of my past into as complete a picture as I can of my Big Wish, what it might be like. I am energizing this wish. I am empowering it and sending it into the cosmos as something already done. And I let go of the particulars of how; I leave that to the Universe. I am doing my part!

Rosemary asks another question in her message:

So what do you want? What is your Heart’s Desire?

Answer that question, and the rest is up to you to paint the picture of your Heart’s Desire. Go for it!

sig-pic

ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Dream a Big Dream!

Do you know your Heart’s Desire? Do you have a Big Wish?

Remember when you were a kid and grownups kept asking you what you wanted to be when you grew up? Most children have a ready answer for that question. It might change over time, but they know in the moment. Doctor. Firefighter. Teacher. Soldier. Dancer.

I have a friend whose little girl is saving up for her own plane. She knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to tell you.

So what do you want? What is your Heart’s Desire?

For most of us, past the age of 21, our Heart’s Desire isn’t some THING to own but something less tangible. World peace. An end to hunger/homelessness/poverty/cancer. A happy family. A grand romance. To be on TV with Oprah. To be healed of a disease. To have financial security. To have a child.

What is your Big Wish?

Reach into the depths of your Heart and ask yourself that question. Most of us can come up with the answer we think we’re supposed to say, like ‘an end to illiteracy’ or ‘world peace,’ but keep asking yourself, “What’s behind that wish?”

What we really want is the feeling we’ll have when our wish is realized.

Some of us have never really probed into our own desires. In today’s world, it can be especially difficult for women to access what their Heart’s Desire truly is. We’ve been taught to fulfill everyone else’s needs before we even address our own needs, much less our desires. Men, too, can struggle with this because they have been taught that it is their job to make things happen and they might be afraid to dream too big and be unable to realize that dream.

But I give you permission, right now, today, to take some time to explore what you truly desire, deep in your Heart of Hearts.

There is no judgment about your dream. No one will laugh or criticize or tell you that you can’t achieve that dream. What desire is it that, when you picture yourself having that desire manifest in your life, makes your heart sing? What is the deep desire that brings a smile to your face as you consider it?

It might also bring a quaking to the knees and a sense of fear and even the sound of ‘old tapes’ playing in your head that cause you to shut down and grow small again. If the dream doesn’t challenge your reality then it’s probably not the BIG ONE!

Dream BIG!!! Find out what your Heart’s Desire is.

And then energize it. Plan for it. Think about it. Figure out the first step to realizing it. Picture it as if it is already here and step into how it feels. Share your Big Dream with a carefully selected audience who will support you no matter what.

The first step to living your dream is to DISCOVER IT. There’s a song in the wonderful show, ‘South Pacific,’ that contains the line, ‘If you don’t have a dream, then how are you going to have a dream come true?’

The next step is to CLAIM IT. Be bold. Let yourself dream big. Find that Heart’s Desire that energizes you.

And, finally, stop hiding in your life and PURSUE THE DREAM! I’ll give you another song from a show as inspiration. In the Disney movie, ‘Frozen,’ there is a great song, ‘Let It Go,’ that is sung by Idina Menzel with such great enthusiasm. It’s about being YOU in all your BIGness. Claim YOU without hiding. Your dream is yours to realize.

Live YOUR Heart’s Desire!

ROSEMARY’S INSPIRATION: Find Your Heart’s Desire!

My “Two-Minute” Video for this Week: Find Your Heart’s Desire!