How are you doing with those New Year’s Resolutions? Did you make a few, a lot? If you are anyone like me you have given up on trying to change your life that way. No, I made no resolutions, but that doesn’t mean I have no big dreams!
The Divine Feminine are spot on when they address this issue of resolutions, dreams, transformation and how to manifest the changes you want to see:
Where are you looking for your resources? Are you waiting to win the lottery? If so, are you buying tickets? Are you using the word ‘someday’ in your vocabulary of dreams, always placing that dream in the far distant future? Do you know what you actually need to take a step in the direction of your dreams?
You need Clarity, Commitment and Consciousness.
For me, clarity means “clear intention.” If we are muddled in our thinking, unsure of what it is we want to change, hesitant about reaching for the big goal, then the Universe can’t support us. Clear intention lets the Universe know our direction and can then offer the resources to help us realize our goals. This is the first component of manifestation.
Over the past few months I have become very clear in the direction I want the rest of my life to take. And the Universe is responding! Just as a trivial example of this, I received a book as a gift from a dear friend; it is Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo. My friend had no idea when she picked this up for me that I have moved firmly back onto my Buddhist path. She had no idea that I am planning my own journey this year to return to my roots. Merullo’s novel and his characters have so much in common with my own life that it’s almost silly. My friend was moved by the Universe to place this book in my hands! (I’ll have more to say on Breakfast with Buddha in a future post.)
Now, I have studied, practiced, sat Zazen, read and explored in most ways possible this notion of Buddhism for many years. But I have never really committed to this path. This is the second component of manifestation. The Universe needs to know we are serious about our clear intentions. All of my past studies and practices, while I took them very seriously, were not true commitments to the path. They were exploratory, forays into the fascinating world, but with no real committed intention of remaining there.
This has changed. I am committed. My living habits are changing to support the commitment: diet, drink, sleep, dream-time, meditation are all much more focused, real, and supporting my commitment. Again, the Universe is responding to my commitment with the resources I need to continue.
And it’s really all about changing our mind, isn’t it? One of Rosemary’s expressions I’m fond of is: If you want to change your life, change your mind. Reality is after all nothing more than consciousness, the third component of transformation. We all encounter blocks along our way. Most of these stumbling blocks, scattered across our paths, are mental blocks, maybe old beliefs planted in us from childhood. Much like the main character in Merullo’s book, Otto Ringling, I was raised as a Lutheran in the Midwest. “Lutherans don’t become Buddhists!” We don’t even think about Buddhists, unless they are setting themselves on fire in Viet Nam when we are burning our draft cards at a safe distance at the University! I’ve been changing my mind about a lot of things over the past 60 years; it’s time for this once-upon-a-time Lutheran to admit his true colors. Through many cycles of birth, old age, sickness and death, I’ve traveled the road as a Buddhist! I think I’ll finish this one the same way!
The Divine Feminine conclude: Dream BIG!!! With Clarity, Commitment and Consciousness you can live that dream!
And I do have Big Dreams for 2014. I hope you do too!
Mystic Messages 
The Power of Connection – Richard’s Commentary
January 16, 2014 — Richard“Connection” is Rosemary’s word for 2014. It is not surprising that early in the year she would choose this to write about. This word, in all of its meanings, can be taken in many directions. Rosemary goes through a long list, connection to Higher Self, connection to guides and angels, connection to others (both positive and negative connections to the people in our lives), connection to our purpose. All of these are important connections to be aware of, to remember; as Rosemary writes:
Connection is an energetic that, at its highest level, we all seek. We want to feel connected to others, to our guidance, to Source. In seeking we sometimes forget that it is not to be found outside ourselves, but to be remembered as an inner truth.
For me her point here is if we are disconnected from ourselves, from that “inner truth”, then can we be connected to anything or anyone on the outside? And how easy it is to disconnect, to fall into isolation, to withdraw. I wonder sometimes if this isn’t at the root of the issues we face as a society, as a country, as a culture looking for something on the outside, some connection we are longing for but have no means to identify or find.
I don’t really want to get into politics here but somehow this word “connection” brings up social concerns. Humans are a connected species. We wouldn’t have survived and evolved over the millennia if we had been an isolated, individualistic being; in the wild we are not strong enough, don’t have all the necessary skills within ourselves to go-it-alone.
How many of the political battles we see raging in this country, whether it is over healthcare or foreign aid, political favoritism or retribution are about social issues, connections. It almost seems that people divide along the lines of: “we are all in this together” or “I’ve got mine; you need to be strong enough, work hard enough to get yours” – a survival of the fittest mentality!
Interestingly, since Darwin comes to mind here, much of the current research on the evolutionary process reveals that it is cooperation that is a primary mechanism for evolution, not competition! And we have to connect to cooperate, connect to survive and evolve!
Connection, beyond the necessary interdependence for survival, does begin within. When we are connected to ourselves, to Source, to Angels and Spirit Guides, we gain a certain level of confidence that can lead us outward to find healthy connections with others. When we are connected to our purpose our connections become productive and benefit society, the greater whole beyond ourselves. These vital inner connections are the ground for our being human, for lifting our spirits to join with others, in connection, in community to move and evolve consciously.
Are you connected?