Something truly human: choosing love

Esther by my chair

Last week I pulled a comfy, old, cat-scratched chair outside, and put it on my tiny porch. Having it there makes opening the door a challenge, but this isn’t the door that we use most of the time anyway. After I make coffee and feed the cats, I come out here with my cup of coffee and sit. I do something else too… I think about the people who have asked for prayer, and the people and animals that I love, and the ones I’m still struggling with, and I see each one as happy and fulfilled. This way, I have loving relationships with all.

I love this spot, but I know that it doesn’t matter if I am sitting on this little porch, or on a mountain top, in a church, a monastery, or a temple. The portal into the Divine realm, the place of Infinite Good, is in my own heart. It is such a uniquely human quality/gift to be able to do this; to choose to love,…and this is what I was born to do…this is my job while I’m here on this earth.

“Of all the fears that haunt us, from fear of the dark when we are young to fear of snakes and high places, there is nothing to compare to the fear that we may have wasted our lives…The challenge is not to rise above the level of everyday life by some superhuman effort. The challenge is to find something truly human to do everyday of our lives.“

Rabbi Harold Kushner (from the book, When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough)

Read Full Post »

The open door of intuition: The Spirit of Truth

Noah heading out into the garden this morning

Have you ever just known that something was right? Even when it didn’t make sense? Even when there was no way that it was possible? And have you ever held your belief anyway; persistently turning away from those voices of doubt and reason (the voices that were really in your own mind, but seemed to be coming out of the mouths of people around you…the ones who didn’t want you to be disappointed or deluded enough to believe in something that you couldn’t figure out the “hows” of?).

I love hearing stories of how others did just this: held their vision and came to see it become their reality. If you have a story that you would like to share; a story of hope (when things seemed hopeless), faith beyond your ability to understand, or healing, please tell it here. There are an awful lot of stories that we hear everyday of “senseless” violence, loss, and hatred…and I know that there are so many, many more stories of “senseless” (we can’t understand how this wonderful thing happened) blessings, recovery, and Love.”…..Grace, Goodness, and Love may not make sense to our small, limited selves, but they are who we really are at our centers.

“Faith does not depend on physical facts or on the evidence of the senses because it is born of intuition, or the Spirit of Truth, ever living at the center of our being. Its action is infinitely higher than that of reason. It is founded on Truth, while reasoning or intellectual argument is founded on evidence of the senses and is not reliable.

Intuition is the open end, within one’s own being, of the invisible channel ever connecting each individual with God. Faith is, as it were, a ray of light shot out from the central sun, God, one end of which ray comes into your being and mine through the open door of intuition.” from,  Lessons in Truth, by H. Emilie Cady (1848-1941)

Read Full Post »

need a smile?

A friend just sent me this video commercial for Evian water.  If you need a smile then I suggest you watch it. Have a wonderful day!

http://www.youtube.com/v/pfxB5ut-KTs

“The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions–the little, soon forgotten charities of a kiss or a smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge

 

Read Full Post »

Opening our hearts to receive….

I love this baby picture of my father (who will be 88 in a few weeks)…he looks so open, so sweet, so perfect

For a while, I’ve had the feeling that something was about to pop in my life; like I was on the edge of a new discovery. Over the past few days, I’ve seen so many straws (literally) on my morning runs, that I had to look up the origin and deeper meaning of the word. One definition said, “Straw in the wind: A slight hint of something to come.” But I found that this wasn’t satisfying enough, so I kept looking up more things on-line, in my books, picking affirmation cards, to give me more of a hint….I started to feel this voice prodding me with the words, “Come on, hurry up, I need to know now! Reveal to me this great mystical wisdom so I can write about it…” All of this urgency. So important. My thoughts….and then another voice, from a deeper place said, “quiet”.
I want to take the next week to give it (whatever it is) some room to breath. I won’t be writing the blog during this time because I sense that I need to give this space. …the image that comes to mind is one of standing with a tree. Not identifying it, inspecting it for disease, wondering how old it is….just standing with it without the urge to analyze. I need to be quiet inside and out, stand still, not at alert, tense attention, but relaxed, calm, open, like I had all the time in the world. I feel I need to wait without expectation of what the form will look like. Pascal is quoted as saying, “All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.” My mind tells me that I spend plenty of time alone, that I don’t need more solitude. It sends me little warnings to get busier, more involved, more action…and I hear it, and am saying back, “shhhh…

I look forward to reconnecting with you in a while, and wonder if this “something” is also calling to you?… wonder (since we are all connected at the level of the heart) if there is something wanting to be birthed inside of you as well?..something that is ready and is only asking you to quietly open your heart and receive it.

“Night, the beloved. Night, when words fade and things come alive. When the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again. When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree.”Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

 

Read Full Post »

Blessed clarity

Eleanor on the radiator (with her head resting on the rosemary plant)

A few months ago, someone told me that they found me difficult to be around, and I could feel that this was true. She always did seem to be tense when we got together, and even though we’d known each other for years, she hadn’t ever said this before. I also felt a sense of relief as I realized that for a long time, I thought I was doing her a favor (no ego here !?) by getting together. She’d always struggled with relationships, never had a close friend she could confide in, and I thought I was helping her to grow emotionally….and here she was telling me that she didn’t really enjoy it!

I loved this because now we were both free to spend our time with people that we didn’t feel we were in an endurance contest to connect with, and it helped me to get honest with myself about why I’d been getting together with her. Years ago, her comment would have sent me angrily scrambling to either defend myself, or try to change to be more the person she wanted me to be, or both. When she told me what she really thought, I just felt grateful for the clarity.

What someone else thinks about me is none of my business. My only business is my thoughts about them… and about myself.

“You could write a song about some kind of emotional problem you are having, but it would not be a good song, in my eyes, until it went through a period of sensitivity to a moment of clarity. Without that moment of clarity to contribute to the song, it’s just complaining.” Joni Mitchell

Read Full Post »

An end to sarcasm

I saw this spray-painted metal plaque on the sidewalk in Saratoga yesterday.

I had the interesting experience yesterday of hearing two people (one on T.V. and the other in person) use sarcasm to make a point. In both cases, it was clear that the person talking felt superior, or better than, the one they were talking about. They were trying to show that they knew more, and were more aware of the “real” situation, than the other. One was talking about spirituality, the other politics. It didn’t matter. Both of these people felt small and a little (or a lot) petty. It certainly didn’t inspire me to feel confident in them as leaders.

So, when anything like this happens twice in one day, I always pay attention: I know it is for me. I could hear myself in these two, even though it makes me cringe to admit it.

Sarcasm is a bad habit at best. It is a weapon that will ultimately be used on the very one wielding it, to bring them the disgrace, discredit, or unhappiness intended for another. We cannot intend to hurt someone without hurting ourselves.

I read a wonderful quote on Debra Saum’s* blog today, “When we tug at a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world.” ……… John Muir . I want my “tugs” to be ones of love and harmony, not hate and division.

I took a picture of the letter “G” plaque yesterday and thought about all of the wonderful words that begin with the letter G. I invite you to share uplifting words that begin with the letter G. Any language (but if not english, please tell us what language it is, and define it). I am so very Grateful today that this world constantly gives me opportunities to see myself clearer!

*http://www.debrasaum.com/we-are-all-attached/

Read Full Post »

Change your life in a moment

Eleanor was only a couple of days old when she was found. No one thought she’d live but we took her home, bottle fed her, burped her, purred to her, and loved her anyway. This picture was taken when she was 12 weeks old. I’d just returned from a trip and was so happy to be home, snuggled up on the couch with my little girl.

I wasn’t going to post a blog today. Sometimes I just like to slowly go back through the comments and take them in, thanking each person (sometimes in writing, always in my heart), but as I was outside playing with Luke just now, I found that I was feeling a little down. The thought, “You could step into a very different world, right now, if you would change your thinking”, came into my mind and drew me back to Fran’s comment yesterday. She reminded me of how I felt when I realized that Noah knew my voice….knew me.

I loved that moment in time. I remember how I felt that day. Nothing else mattered in that moment but that he knew me and I was going to take him home. One thing that so many of us here on the White Feather Farm blog share is our love of animals, and we all have stories that make us grateful, bringing us back to that snapshot in time when we let our hearts guide us. We didn’t always know how we were going to do it: integrate this new animal into our households or find a home for them, we just knew we would.

I invite you today to share your stories….especially if you are feeling a little (or a lot) down. I invite you to go into your mind and  shine a spotlight on that miraculous moment when your life became inseparably intertwined with another’s and you were both changed for the better by the power of Love. Notice how you feel when you do this.

Change your thoughts today. Dig back in memory, get the gold, and step into a new world right now!

“I have felt cats rubbing their faces against mine and touching my cheek with claws carefully sheathed. These things to me are expressions of love“. James Herriot

 

Read Full Post »

Keeping my 2 cents…and maybe a few more

Sometimes I help Jack sell things on-line, and usually the transactions go smoothly, but the other day he sold a big piece of equipment to a fellow in South Africa and it looked like the buyer had backed out (after much effort and some expense to crate-up and get the piece ready for shipping). It appeared that he lost a big sale, and had spent a lot of time on something that now needed to be undone.

After the initial negative feelings, Jack and I both visualized the transaction going through (and tried to keep turning away from what appeared to be a lost cause, anger at the callousness of the on-line auction company to our plight, and feelings of helplessness). The words, “Imagine what you want, not what you fear” kept coming into my head and that is when I noticed my not-so-enlightened tendency to want to express my displeasure at being “wronged” by saying things (even in my own mind) like, “Can you believe that they……! I will never do business with them again. They are a big, uncaring company….”. On and on the petty little mind wants to get in its 2 cents. It doesn’t care that this “venting” is not only unproductive of a happy outcome, and really ends up costing a lot more than 2 cents, it just wants to be heard.

It is extremely costly to play the victim; to let others know how helpless we are in the hope of getting them to side with us (or feel sorry for us) or commiserate in some way. This is not the same as facing a difficult situation and talking it over with another to shed some light on it, or see our dilemma in a new and better way. Looking for a solution is a very different conversation than grumbling about injustice.

What we did do, was to talk about how good that company was to work with, how honest and helpful people were, and how easily this would be resolved. We wrote to the buyer with a sense of love and caring instead of suspicion and anger. I’m happy to let you know that everything did come around perfectly, and we even got a beautiful note from the buyer saying that we had restored his faith in humanity.

“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain—-and most fools do.” Dale Carnegie

 

Read Full Post »

Broadcasting a new message

Fred napping in the afternoon sun

Most of us have had the experience of hearing something, either directly or indirectly, negative about ourselves and felt the anger, defensiveness or sadness well-up inside. It has taken me many years to discover that any words said by another about me paled in comparison to the words that I silently and secretly thought about myself (or others) and that the negative emotion that I felt was a sure sign that I myself had been the one with the negative, mean or unfriendly thoughts.

There is a lot of talk in the new-age community about protecting ourselves from other people’s negative energy. Some advocate surrounding ourselves with white light, other people wear amulets or burn certain herbs before and after unpleasant encounters. I am not making any commentary on these practices, because what we believe to be true, will be for us. If I think I’m unsafe going outside without a certain ring, charm, or prayer, then I had better put it on or “it will be done to me, as I believe”.  But a mind full of critical, judgemental thoughts (or holding a fear that we will be criticized) is the equivalent of sending out a messenger ahead of us, telling the world who we are and what we expect.

In Truth, we only need a mind that sends out thoughts of Love and Harmony; a mind that thinks thoughts (about ourselves first) of appreciation and acceptance, to be protected.  There is no enemy “out there”.

“…our subconscious mind is both a broadcasting station and a receiving set for the vibration of thought, ….The only safe plan for the advancement of one’s own welfare and the protection of others is that of keeping the mind so busy broadcasting positive thoughts that no time is left for sending out negative thoughts, for it is true that as night follows day, whatever thoughts one sends out will come back greatly multiplied, to bless or to curse. A great philosopher stated this profound truth very succinctly when he said, ‘Whatever you do to or for another, by the thoughts you send forth, you do to or for yourself.’” from, You Can Work Your Own Miracles by Napoleon HIll 1971

Read Full Post »

Expect the best

Fred napping with his four paws sticking out of his “sleeping cube”

Many years ago, when I believed that spiritual people should not care about (or want) wealth, I was invited by  some friends to a dinner before I left to work at a mission in West Virginia. As we were saying goodbye, a man whom I’d known for years (and who was always a crusty kind of guy with a soft heart) pulled me aside and said, “Is that piece of ____car out there yours?” I told him it was and then he replied, “I’d feel a lot better if you had a dependable car, and I’d like to buy you one.” I was surprised by his offer and didn’t miss a beat in saying “No, but thank you very much.”

I didn’t think that I needed a new car, even though mine was rusty and had over 150,ooo miles on it (and I had been wondering if it would even make it to West Virginia)… and even though my friend was extremely wealthy, and would have gotten a lot of pleasure out of buying me the car. I told myself that mine was good enough. I was, after all, dedicating my life to serving the poor and couldn’t very well do that with a new car.

I hadn’t consciously prayed for a new car, but I did have the need, it was “heard”, and a gift was offered to me. If I hadn’t been blinded by preconceived notions of right and wrong, I would have made everyone happy by accepting the car. Refusing his offer was nothing more than misguided spiritual pride.

I have come to believe that gifts are being offered and presented to us everyday. Sometimes they are tangible in nature, sometimes they are words of advice, sometimes they come in the form of a new and expansive thought, that could change our lives for the better. When I open my eyes and expect to be supported by Life, I am never disappointed.

It might be fun this weekend to open ourselves to seeing more of the gifts that this vast and loving Universal Spirit is offering to us….and to say Yes, thank you!

“Expect only the very best, and expect every need to be met, even the most seemingly impossible. Never at any time limit yourself or feel that you should not expect too much. See your needs very clearly, voice them, and then have complete faith and confidence that they will be met. How it will come about will have to be left in My (God’s) hands. I have to work though channels to bring it about, but all things are possible with Me. So let go and see My wonders and glories come about, give eternal thanks…. Expect miracles, and see them take place. Hold before you the thought of prosperity and abundance, and know that doing so sets into operation forces that will bring it into being.”  Eileen Caddy (co-founder of the Findhorn Foundation), Opening Doors Within

Read Full Post »