Sunday, December 12, 2010

The List of All Lists

Lately I have noticed the myriad of lists that I have to make in order to keep up with all the things that I need to get done. Sometimes I feel like I need a list that contains all of the names of the other lists, so I will know where to find what comes next.

This morning I found myself making out what I hope to be the list of all lists; my last minute shopping list that contains all of things that I have somehow forgotten to pick up over the last few days. When somewhere among the eggs, sugar, potatoes and nutmeg, I realized all of the time, energy and preparation that I pour into a holiday meals and gatherings. So for a few moments I managed to just still my thoughts, notice my breath and become more aware of my body; just long enough to meditate and hear the voice of my soul assuring me that everything is just as it should be - so let it be... I chose to let the holiday be for me a blessing filled with fun, joy, good food, good deeds and good times. What will you let it be?

My spiritual download for the day is: the perfection that we are striving for already exists right here, right now in each of us. The warmth that we want to create in our hearts and homes will arrive with the presence of each soul. The meals that we are preparing are being prepared on an even deeper level - a soul level. I believe that when we remember to feed the soul all other needs are met.

Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life". For us today, I know that this is still true and in the midst of all of our holiday preparations, know that the Bread has already been prepared by love and is available to nourish, celebrate, strengthen and renew each of us.

So, my list of all lists is more than just what I need to do, what I need to remember or where I need to go, it is:

A Holiday Vision List

I hold for each of you the blessings of:

A shortened to do list!

An extensive gratitude list!

Laugher that rocks the world!

The creation of memories that feed the soul...

The fullness of joy that turns friends into family

and family into loved ones...



Peace & Blessings,
Kathy



Wednesday, December 1, 2010

In A Different Light

I was working in my home office yesterday morning and I needed a little break from the pace of things. So, I got up and opened the blinds and raised the window to allow more sunlight in. On my way back to my desk, I noticed that the light was telling me something, directing me to a different area of my space. Being enveloped by the light was warm and it felt so special that I closed my eyes and breathed it in. When I returned to the moment, I noticed how the light was pouring through the window and falling gently upon the bookcase. So, I followed the path of the light and my attention was drawn towards a book that was reaching out from among the others. That book was Jon Kabat-Zinn's "Wherever You Go There You Are". I read this book some many years ago and again earlier this year. As I was remembering my time with this book, it fell open to one of the pages that I had folded down. I sometimes fold the pages to mark the things that really reach out and touch my soul. As I read the passage that was marked, I found it to be just what I needed.

I reflected on how we are all on a spiritual path whether we know it or not called life. In the moments that it feels like we have absolutely no direction at all, the truth is we do. We have all the direction that we need for that brief moment in time. That direction unfolds for each of us one breath, one moment and one heartbeat at a time. The true beauty of this thought is that everything is influenced by and connected to everything else. We are so intricately connected by divine design that we are one.

My prayer for you this week is that life will reveal something special to you in the path of the light. I hold for you the newness, the rediscovery and the joy of the light that calls out to you, flows through you and as you.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Today is Day 3 of 100 Things That Changed My Life

Today’s journey into that which has shaped, molded, influenced and guided me is another phrase from western pop culture, “All that and a bag of chips".

My experience of this has been as a compliment that describes the very fullness of something or someone. As I think of this phrase from a spiritual point of view, I see deeper into it’s meaning and today it emerges as the essence of who we were created to be. I believe that we are born originally blessed and that in this incarnation (life) we are meant to be whole, blessed, complete creations. The trick to this, I think is that I have to believe this, no; I have to be willing to know this about myself and everything that is around me. I have to shift my very awareness to know that I am all that I am created to be.

Being all that seems like hard work; what life has taught me is that is true when I choose to be all that others need, want and expect me to be. When this is the case, I find myself trying to accomplish things with my own steam, reaching beyond who I am to become something for another. Think into this with me; if just for a moment, a day, a week… we could experience the wherewithal to just be who we are in the present moment with no regard to whether we are doing it right or wrong or trying to balance the voice of our soul and society and landing somewhere in between. If we could be all that we are, the world would change and I would have to introduce myself to you all over again and vice versa because I think that we may not recognize each other.

So today my friends where ever you are, I choose to begin to see the “allness” (new word) of who you are before me. Today, I step with you into a new consciousness that allows us to see all that there is with new eyes, create a new world from the blessing of our very being. Today I see you as all that and a bag of chips – I see you as the light, love, hope, peace and grace that you were created to be. I see this world, myself and all that is around me as all that it was created to be. I invite you to speak your own words of new life and know that what you create is good…because you are all that and a bag of chips, you are everything that is needed right where you are – be that!

Peace and Infinite Possibilities,
Kathy

Day Two of 100 Days - The Story of Everything that has Influenced & Changed My Life...

Today, I left my home in Central Florida and drove over towards the west coast of Florida for a meeting. The morning was quite serene and the sunrise was delicate and inviting. I watched the fog lift as I approached and the birds floating on the distant horizon and in the middle of all of this beauty taking its place just before the raising of the curtain of this new day; I realized what direction we would take today.

Of the 100 things that have changed my life, today’s musing come from a western pop culture phrase, “Bring it!”

Sometimes I wonder aloud, if I am living my true purpose… I wonder if I am doing and being all that is needed of me or all that I need from me. I know that writing this thought today will help someone, find the” it” that they seek to do, be and live. I realize even in the typing of this thought that “it” is not elusive, “it” is not far from me and I do not live in pursuit of “it”. I live in the midst of “it” and on my very best days, as “it”.

What is IT? Well, I think that there is a little something or other, a running thread, a ray of light, a blessing that present in each of us. For some of us it is to do a particular thing, for others it may become this or that, for others it is to create something and the list goes on. My point is that we all have something that is ours to do. I believe that we all have a Divine purpose and that we are expressions of Divine ideas in the world. I know that there is a vision for each of our lives that is so much greater than anything we could ever imagine and that very vision that is held for us is ours to do, ours to live and this life is ours the journey to take. God, Buddha, Spirit, Jesus, The Oneness, Bahaullah, The Silence – has already done what we would think of as the hard part and imagined for us and now all that we have to do is to be, teach, speak, lift up, hold space, understand, listen and live.

“It” is the always present to us, through us and as us. Really, we are what we seek… It is easy to think that everything exists beyond our being and lately, I have been really resting in the thought and realization that God is not distant, doing things to me and hanging out in a place that I may never see. I see God everywhere present (here and now); in the movement of the air, in the current of the flowing river, in the grace of the rising sun and in the spirit of each person that I encounter. When I look at everything through this lens, it changes… everything becomes so much more. The sky is bluer, the grass is greener, sound of children laughing in the distance becomes more real and distinct, the sound of the falling rain is more rhythmic and if I stop what I am doing in the moment, I can even feel myself becoming much more. This more that I speak of is not quantitative, but qualitative. In short, “it” gets better and better.

So today my friends our task is to bring it, to bring the more that we already are into being in our lives and in the world. Bring the song in your soul, bring the writings and drawings that no one has ever seen, bring the stories that spin from your lips, bring the skill of your hearts and hands, bring the art that is alive within you, bring the laughter, bring the joy, bring the peace, bring the abundance that is YOU. What if we were willing to have a new thought about the scripture (Malachi 3:10) from the Bible that speaks of bringing the whole tithe into the storehouse… as being more than what we have or more than what we earn and consider who we are? What if we brought all of who we are (right here, right now) into the storehouse? What if…? I’m willing, are you?

My prayer today is that together we bring it and bring all of it! Make today your best day!

Namaste,
Kathy

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

New Posting Series - 100 Days, The Story of Everything that has Influenced My Life...

100 Days of things that have changed my life.

Lately I have had the opportunity to really delve into some deep spiritual work. The results of this work have been profound to say the least. I have really taken the time to step into and out of my life’s experiences and view them from all sides and vantage points. What I realize is that all the success, prosperity, abundance, education, opportunities, and faith that I have experienced in my life have truly been steps in consciousness and without each of these steps my life and I would be very different. For every step, I am grateful…

For the past few days, I have been coming to a place of clarity in working with 100 days of … (something or other). (You know how a thought just won’t leave you alone…) I sat with this idea wondering if this was mine to do, or was my task to just be ready to support this work for someone else. Last evening during my meditation time, the vision rushed in so clearly and Spirit spoke so lovingly – “This one’s for you and through you”. Since I trust the voice and move of Spirit, for the next 100 days, I will write about all the things that have influenced, guided, and shaped my life – my being. Of all the things that I have done in my life, I trust that this journey from people to places, from sayings to songs, from literature to laughter and beyond will take us all to places and moments that we remember and others that we will experience together for the first time. We travel without a map, umbrella, train fare or vision of the destination; this one is all about the journey! I hope that you are up for walking with me and somewhere along the way I know that you will find a path that takes you and your life into the newness that awaits.

With that being said – Here we go!!

Day 1 – From the music that has influenced my life…One of the things that I love about life itself is watching how music can take a room full of people from different places, who speak different languages and may even have different views and turn them from a crowd of many into the voice of one. I believe that music is one of the many threads in the fabric of our being that chisels away the threats of difference and brings into sharp focus our sameness. One of the songs that has really influenced my life and it just keeps on showing up in new and unexpected ways is from the R&B Disco genre (Yes, of the 70’s) – Sister Sledge’s 1979 Album and single – We Are Family.
I have watched this very song take a room full of people from ages 1-80 and bring them into a time a space of pure connectedness! This song spans generations, cultures, and genres as it allows us to know on a soul level that we are one and as I gaze out into their smiling faces, watching their heads bob to the funky rhythm of the groove, and their eyes light up when they get to the chorus and they begin to sing with a great sense of knowing that we are family and I’ve got everybody with me. In that moment of realization we are so very powerful because we let nothing separate from love and we see how together we can do, be and bring about anything. In that moment, the walls come down, the chasm between us closes, the battles we fight seem so unimportant and we see the truth in one another – we are family, (we are kinfolk) we are in this now moment together. I am because you are; and you are because I am.

Today is day 1 and we have miles to go before we rest and I invite you to examine your own life for songs that have influenced your being and to take the opportunity wherever you are right now reading this to look up and around and see the faces of your new family as they surround you. See them blessed and beloved, love them anyway, know them as God sees them and let each one do the same for you. If you can, lay down your weapons, your differences, your views and perspectives and do one of the simplest things ever - just be. Life is both long and short, and we really can live it, love it, and groove right in the midst of it together. We can do this only because we are family!

Because we are family, please know I love you, bless you, celebrate with you and most of all, I behold the Christ in you.
Peace & Infinite Possibilities,
Kathy

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Be Willing to Follow the Signs,,,

Recently, I was on my way to one of my favorite restaurants, when I realized that the street that I typically take was closed for construction. I followed the detour signs and eventually arrived at my destination. What I noticed is that journey was so very different for me. I saw things that I had never seen or noticed before. I realized that in life and even on our spiritual journeys, there is always a choice to make; be frustrated that the normal route is not available or be willing to take the new journey. Today I am willing to take the new journey… Every step and breath that I have taken in life has brought me to this present moment. So, taking a little detour every now and then is an opportunity to create a whole new experience.

I must say that by the time that I arrived for dinner, I was in a much different frame of mind. I was even more complete. Hey life, thanks for the little detours that show me the vivid sunrise or the gentle assent of a hot air balloon. You just never know what God has in store for you. Be willing… Be grateful…

Take the journey, take a chance and follow the signs and remember to just trust love. You will get to where you are going or you may even find a new way and place to be. Who knows? So, my friends I bid you good journey and I see your every step divinely ordered and your path full of infinite possibilities.
This is my truth… and so it is.