ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: The Light Quotient

Why am I making this choice? Taking this action? Making this decision? And what is the ‘Light Quotient’ of this choice?

You might never have thought about decisions and choices as a matter of assessing Light Quotient before but the time is here to bring more Light into the world. Thus, we must constantly focus on how much Light we are contributing to the energy field around us and around the Planet.

If you hear any news about what is happening around the globe then you know that there is much being reported that has a heavy energy about it. There is a lot of darkness in the world. BUT you do not have to be focused on that darkness!

You have choices to make in every moment. Choices about what you will do, what action you will take, how you will respond to challenge or to a challenging situation. At a deeper level, you also have choices about what you will think, which beliefs you will hold onto, what words you will speak. You can assess the Light Content of each thought, belief, word or action you embrace.

Do you watch the news and feel drawn down into heavy energy? Or do you avoid hearing anything about what is going on in the world so that you can avoid the dark energy? Remember, you are at choice about how you will respond to any given stimulus!

You can focus on good news, on what is going right in the world, on the Light. You can choose to speak words that uplift and support and give the gift of Light where there is darkness. In your own mind, you can choose to clear those beliefs that have you thinking dark thoughts, especially about yourself.

When you consider your current situation, in any area of your life – job/career/business, relationships, health, emotions, mental state, finances – do you dwell on what is not working the way you want it to or do you turn your thoughts to what IS working and what it is that you would like to have in your life? Do you shine the Light on the positive energies around you or do you allow yourself to be drawn down into the dark, heavy energy?

For example, the current excitement on Facebook is to watch videos of people pouring buckets of ice water over their heads as they are challenged to donate to a charitable cause. Some people are getting fancy about the way that they meet the challenge and are having fun with it. Some people are smiling and donating to the cause with or without the dunking. And others are posting comments on Facebook criticizing the activities or the people or the cause. Which energy do you think carries more Light? Which would you choose to have in your body, your energy field?

This is one example of where you can choose your response. Does it really affect you if someone dumps ice water on their head and posts a video to raise awareness about a disease? And what about other things that you see – war, crime, death, politics – do you resist and let yourself feel heavy or do you surround yourself with Light and move your thoughts into areas where you can make a difference and raise the Light Quotient?

Choose to bring more Light into the world! Let this be your ‘why.’

How’s That Planning Thing Going for You? – Richard’s Commentary

We are on the last leg of our journey to the south, visiting family and friends all the way from Maryland to the “main event” in Orlando, Florida and back again. Today we are leaving Raleigh, North Carolina where we have spent some time with second son’s family, to head home and plunge right back into our “normal” lives. In fact we arrive just in time to lead our Consciousness Exploration Group scheduled for the first Wednesday of every month.

It has been a “busy” trip with one-night stands in several places as we drove south. Planning and coordination was key to keep us relatively on track to get from place to place. The trip has gone really well. And I expect our last leg will go well.

We did get a little tangled up in navigating between Orlando and the Amrit Yoga Ashram, where we spent a delightful time with our nephew. Our Google Maps were not in complete agreement with our GPS guidance and we made some wrong turns on the toll roads. We spent a couple extra dollars backtracking, and, yes, my reaction was anger and frustration. I failed to take the advice Rosemary offered in her Exploration post:

Event happens.  Then you React.  And then you CHOOSE how you will respond.

Event (Plan seems to go awry).  What is your REACTION?  Anger?  Upset? Depression? Denial? So many different emotions can arise and they can stem from previous experiences, even from your childhood.  Reactions start at the unconscious level. But your RESPONSE is chosen consciously.

The key here is choice. The initial reaction is OK; we all react to missteps, to little, and big mistakes, to detours in life that annoy. It is the next step that matters. It is the conscious pause to move into our higher brain and consider an appropriate response, choose that response and act.

The second key is to work on shortening the time from reaction to chosen appropriate response. This seems to be the main work of my lifetime. My primary lesson is patience; and I get many opportunities to practice! Highway detours are just an example.

We will likely need to change our plans for visiting our new grandson in California. We had planned to go out for second son’s birthday, a few weeks after planned birth of Tristan. Son’s plans went into a sharp detour when Tristan decided to come into the world three and a half weeks early! Sometimes other people’s choices affect our plans!

Son Andrew seems to have handled this big change in his plans relatively well. He and Mom are home now and Tristan will follow soon when he is eating well and gaining a bit of weight (he was four and a half pounds at birth).

Of course we are easy with this change in plans; it means we get to see him that much sooner! We have to rearrange some scheduled events and reschedule the trip; fortunately we had not yet made flight reservations.

Some detours are good, even wonderful. This is what Rosemary means by “this or something better.” The best plans include this line!

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ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: How’s That Planning Thing Going for You?

We can plan.  We can organize.  We can expect.  And then Life Happens.

Have you ever had a plan, had everything organized down to the tiniest detail, and set your expectations on that plan working out exactly as you planned it?  And have you had the experience of having little or big glitches shift things out of Plan A?

We have all had this experience.  We THINK we are in charge of everything but the Universe sometimes (or often) has a different plan and guess who succeeds?

This isn’t about whether or not you should develop a plan of action to accomplish something.  It’s good to have a plan.  But do you become so invested in YOUR plan that you forget the ‘this or something better’ part of your request to the Universe?  There is a value in learning to go with the flow.

We saw this with the birth of our grandson.  His parents had Plan A, Plan B, Plan C and the baby decided to be born on HIS schedule, the way HE wanted to come into the world, with HIS CHOSEN astrological birth chart.  He was born the day that a surprise baby shower had been planned for his Mommy.  The surprise was his appearance in the world 3 ½ weeks early!

What plans have you developed that have seemed to go awry?  How do you react when that happens?

Remember that the formula is:

Event happens.  Then you React.  And then you CHOOSE how you will respond.

Event (Plan seems to go awry).  What is your REACTION?  Anger?  Upset? Depression? Denial? So many different emotions can arise and they can stem from previous experiences, even from your childhood.  Reactions start at the unconscious level. But your RESPONSE is chosen consciously.

Do you allow your reaction to dictate your response?  Or do you hit the pause button and give yourself a chance to consciously choose how you will respond?  This is how you live a conscious life.

Babies choose how and when they will come into the world.  Most of us accept that they have a plan of their own.  But what about other plans that don’t go the way you want them to, or planned them, or expected?  What if another person interferes with your plans?  What do you do then?

Remember that you CHOOSE how to respond.  You can choose to get upset and to stay upset but that isn’t a very resourceful place to be.  Even if you do get upset, you can decide to respond by figuring out a new plan, to go with the flow.

Do you plan differently in your work than at home?  Are you flexible in the workplace to get along with others but you are rigid at home because you want things to be just the way you intend for them to be?  Notice if you operate differently and then ask yourself, ‘Why?’  Sometimes it is easier to adjust plans in the workplace because you are not emotionally invested in them and you are resourceful when you are in ‘work mode.’ But when you are at home, with the family or in a social setting, you might have stronger expectations that you have control over your life.  Can you go with the flow?  Are you willing to work on Plan B or Plan C?

If you are the opposite – going with the flow outside of work but expecting everyone around you at work to line up with your plan – what could you gain by adding some flexibility to your methods?  What if Plan A was the goal but Plan B was also OK?

Think about this the next time you decide that your plans must go exactly as you arranged them.  Those creative babies might have a mind of their own!

This or something better.

ROSEMARY’S THROWBACK THURSDAY VIDEO: Today is Your Birthday!

OK, it is not quite our birthday month! But when I have to share my birthday with my husband (and my brother-in-law) I really have to get my time in! And the sun is in Leo after all! So, I am celebrating a day early starting July 31 this year!

I am extending my offer for a very special “Reading with Rosemary” through all of August. Go here to purchase.

And every day is your birthday; make your choices and celebrate!

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We Are Family – Richard’s Commentary

I want to begin my comments with Rosemary’s ending to her Exploration:

This is important 21st Century work for each human being. Love yourself. Be Who You REALLY Are. Be the Light. Write your own story.

…and create your family; “we are family”! This is a lesson I have learned and continue to learn from Rosemary. It started over 30 years ago (we celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary yesterday!). We came together with kids; Rosemary had a daughter and I had two sons. From the very beginning we made a conscious choice, and from then on a conscious and valiant effort, to blend and create a “nuclear” family of the five of us. And it worked. Today our 30-something kids could not be closer if they were blood-related. We are family!

And we each have our extended families. I met Rosemary’s at her sister’s wedding. The vibe is dominated by Italian ancestry; my Norwegian/Swiss (northern) ancestry was welcomed in with open arms and big hugs. My cold northern blood melted right in to this southern love. Meanwhile my family remains pretty much in tact in Wisconsin – that Norwegian blood just likes it cold! I love them, visit (in the summer/fall) now and then. We are family!

And then we have our ultra-extended family that spans the globe from here north into Canada, east to Europe, south to Australia, west to China. We have grandchildren here in Maryland, another on the way in California. And then there are our adopted grandchildren/god-children spread all over from England to Florida and far beyond. Our younger friends with children just seem to know: we are family! (Of course, the children know it immediatedly!)

We are about to begin a fun trip to Florida for a work-related conference in Orlando next week. On the way (we are driving) we will stop in Raleigh, NC to visit with our youngest child, catching up with that part of the nuclear family and his delightful girl friend. Then it is on to Brunswick, GA to visit long-term, but not seen in years, friends; and even though there is a serious back injury in the picture here, we are compelled to spend the night – “you are family.” Then it is on to Tampa to visit more friends and one of our adopted grand/god-children. After the Orlando conference it is on to Amrit Ashram to visit a nephew and Gurudev. We are family!

And my story goes on. It is still unfolding. We have more family members to meet; they are out there waiting for us. As Rosemary says:

…write a NEW story! You have permission. You are Lady or Lord Creator of Your Own Truth! Love yourself enough to be the creator of a fine life story. Be the ancestor of a legacy that makes you proud and smiling today.

Be the love. Be the light. Go meet your family; they are out there waiting for you! Be the ancestor of a legacy! And remember:

We are family!

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ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: We Are Family

The word ‘family’ can be a real emotional trigger for some people. I’ve worked with coaching clients who had beliefs about themselves that were limiting their success because they had heard stories or even made up stories about their families and they accepted those stories as unchangeable.

You can change the stories you hold in your head. You can change the stories about your family and its members. You can write your own story. You can create your own loving, accepting, supportive family – TODAY!!!

Whether you believe me about this or not, it is true. I can hear the alarms going off and trying to convince you that the story you believe is the absolute Truth, with a capital ‘T,’ and that you can’t change the Truth.

What if the story contains some FACTS but it no longer has to be your TRUTH, about you, about life, about anything?

I now dub you ‘Lady’ or ‘Lord’ ‘Creator of Your Own Truth’! From this day forward you are the creator of the beliefs that you hold, no matter what the ‘facts’ of your past might have led you to believe. You are the one who decides on the members of your ‘family.’ You create the stories that you want to live.

The facts of your childhood might seem to lead to certain conclusions but children rarely hold all the information available during those younger years. You might have formed opinions about situations you experienced or family members and somewhere in your unconscious mind you believe that you know ‘Truth’ when, just possibly, you don’t.

Guess what? That story belongs in the past. You can write your own story now, today, and it can be a different one. You are Lord or Lady Creator of Your Own Truth! You decide what you will believe. You choose which thoughts you will energize by your focusing on them. You can even choose the people that you will invite into your ‘family.’

Before you were born you chose the human DNA that you would need to get to the lessons for this lifetime. That means that you chose a mother and a father and some other family members whose job it was to help you to learn your lessons and to grow. For some, it was less painful than for others. For some, it is still painful to be associated with family members who are connected through the bloodlines.

Others have graduated from those birth families and have collected around them people whom they can trust, who love them, who support them and accept them, no matter what. This is the meaning of ‘family’ now.

If you are living far away from family that you love, you can create a group that gets together for holidays, does things together, shares experiences, helps out and supports, loves unconditionally. You can do this even if you live down the street from blood-relatives who are toxic to you. You can choose your family now.

When we feel obligations that are burdensome or that hurt our hearts and souls, we can choose to move away from that family. It might seem difficult, but it can be the most liberating choice you ever make. Feeling ‘stuck’ with a family is often the result of being ‘stuck in our story.’

What is the story that you find yourself telling over and over again? Have you allowed a story from the past to creep into the position of defining you? Are you ‘stuck in your story’?

Then write a NEW story! You have permission. You are Lady or Lord Creator of Your Own Truth! Love yourself enough to be the creator of a fine life story. Be the ancestor of a legacy that makes you proud and smiling today.

This is important 21st Century work for each human being. Love yourself. Be Who You REALLY Are. Be the Light. Write your own story.

I bow to you, Oh, Lord or Lady Creator of Your Own Truth! Huzzah!

ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Blocked?

Sometimes the hardest thing to recognize is a block or a pattern that is holding us back from manifesting our magnificence. We don’t know what we don’t know.

So often clients come to me for help with a certain issue or problem in their life or business or relationship and the REAL problem is a block somewhere else. When that block is cleared, the other issues improve.

We don’t know what we don’t know because it is the unconscious mind that has so much power and it operates, well, unconsciously.

Be grateful for your unconscious mind. It keeps your heart pumping and your brain functioning and your lungs breathing and a whole lot of other processes operating in your life without your having to consciously make things happen. However, that same unconscious mind is operating in ways that can cause patterns and blocks that you might not know consciously, and might not have chosen if you did know, and you struggle with understanding why you can’t get things done or why you seem to be blocked from your successes.

Understand that THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU! You are not broken and you do not need to be fixed.

But if you are feeling stuck or blocked or have patterns of behavior that you want to change but can’t seem to do this on your own, it’s a signal that you are ready to do some personal growth work. You are ready to leap forward and clear what is happening at the unconscious level so that you are free to move into your conscious choices, your conscious dreams.

Do you have a pattern that you have tried to change but willpower alone isn’t getting you to your goals? Are you stuck in ideas that maybe belong in someone else’s life or time but they are somehow cropping up in yours? Do you have trouble seeing possibilities because the problems block the view

These are signs that point to the way forward for you on your path of growth. Nobody moves forward without moving through obstacles. Some are small and others are huge. Sometimes the path is smooth and we lull ourselves into a sense of security about having ‘arrived.’ At other times, the path seems to us as if it is totally blocked, that there is no way to move forward. How easy it would be to turn around and go back to the comfort of the familiar, or to stay stuck and play the victim!

But, if you are reading these words, then you are called to continue forward on your path. Take a step in the direction of your dreams. If you feel blocked, if you stumble, rejoice that you are growing. There are ways to see beyond what is holding you back. There are tools to help you and people to support you in your growth.

Find the help that you need. But don’t go looking for the steps AROUND the blocks! They won’t get you far.

In these days of the 21st Century we don’t have time to delay. We are called to live our Purpose. Staying stuck or blocked doesn’t accomplish that.

Be who you REALLY are. Ask for help if you need it. Move through the blocks and grow.

Blocked? You can choose not to be!

ROSEMARY’S THROWBACK THURSDAY VIDEO: The Energy of Your Thoughts

Last evening was the monthly meeting of our Consciousness Exploration Group; the meaning, underpinnings and origins of consciousness was central to our discussion. We also examined the effect of our thoughts on this nebulous, mysterious “energy” we call consciousness and the impact our thoughts have on our lives.

Then I found this video from early 2013. I spoke about how our thoughts and our choices effect how we experience the year. This sense applies to 2014 as well. Our thoughts become our reality. Think your reality into existence every moment!

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ROSEMARY’S INSPIRATION: Why Do You Get Up in the Morning?

My “Two-Minute” Video for this Week: Why Do You Get Up in the Morning?

PS: Do you know your “big why”? Why you are on the planet? Why it’s important for you to get up in the morning? I am offering a very special “spring cleaning” opportunity to work with me. This offer is only available through May. Please use the following form to send me an email; let’s explore:  

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Conscious Relationships Start with Self-Love – Richard’s Commentary

Humans are social beings. It is all about relationships. Last week I wrote about our interdependence with others, what Thich Nhat Hahn calls “interbeing.” We are especially dependent on and interdependent with other humans. Here’s what Rosemary says about that:

Human beings are relationship experts. We are constantly adjusting relationships, in one direction or another. Relationships with significant others, with parents and with children, with co-workers, clients, neighbors, hairdressers, waitstaff at the local restaurant, checker at the grocery store. Every interaction with another human being is an element of a relationship.

And every relationship begins on the inside of ourselves. This is why it is so important to have that relationship in the first place! Do you have a good relationship with yourself?

In her post Rosemary writes about choices we have and we make moment to moment. The first choice is to have that inner relationship. How do you do that? It’s as easy as breathing! And we all need to do that!

The “conscious relationship with self” begins with conscious breathing. That’s right, bring your consciousness to your breathing pattern. Don’t try to change it or make an effort, just bring your attention to how your breath feels; think about the inhale; feel it as it comes in through your nose, down your throat, into your lungs. Where does it go there? Does it fill up your chest? Does it go down into your belly? Just notice. And on the exhale, how does that feel? What happens first? How much air do you exhale?

Shifting just our focus on our breath, with no change at all in rhythm or style, changes our body chemistry and our mental awareness! Imagine what might happen if you actually, consciously begin to control your breathing. Maybe your in-breath goes a bit deeper and is longer; maybe you hold it for just a moment as you sense it, notice the feeling of expansion. Then as you exhale maybe you do this more slowly, deliberately. And maybe you expel more air, even flattening your belly, back towards your spine as you push out more air – to make room for a bigger in-breath.

And you can continue in this manner, watching your breath, taking longer, deeper, slower breaths. This is the beginning of a relationship with yourself, your deeper self.

I’m not writing here to teach meditation. But I am echoing Rosemary’s intention that your best relationship is with yourself, inside. Here’s what she says about you:

Who you are, deep in your core, is a beautiful being of Light. Who you are, inside, is a spark of divine energy. Who you are, in the essence of you, is a person of access to great wisdom and love. THIS is the person that you really want to show up in every relationship, isn’t it?

I would like to have a relationship with this being of Light – you! Wouldn’t you?

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