Welcome to the Lake Tahoe Spiritual Living Center!

Aspen trees are not singular trees, but part of a large community of trees all descended from the same root system.  However, each tree is unique, and changes colors at it’s own pace, in it’s own time, and may change to a different color than it’s neighbor.

We can learn much from the aspen tree:  We are all part of the same human family, yet free to express our own uniqueness in our own way and at our own pace.   The aspen trees don’t judge each other for being different, nor should we.

Today, take a lesson from the aspen trees:  know yourself and freely allow yourself to express in your own way and time, and do not judge others for doing the same.

Yesterday was Winter Solstice.  The shortest day of the year.  Commencing today, the light returns to our world in small increments, with each day a couple  of minutes longer than the previous day.

If you are like me and were unable to attend any of the solstice rituals that happened yesterday, don’t fret, you can still celebrate the return of the light.  Here are some tips:

1.  Acknowledge what is happening with Mother Nature right now.  Each day that passes grows a little longer, each day brings a bit more light to our lives.  Take that acknowledgement from that global perspective and bring it into the personal.  With each day that passes, starting today, acknowledge that more light is coming into your life.  Use the extra couple of minutes of light each day as a metaphor.  How can  you bring a couple more minutes each day of metaphorical light into your life?  Is there anything that needs to be released to allow for more light in your life?  What does light signify to you anyway?  Is it joy, or peace, or good health?

2.  Celebrate!   There is a reason for the lighting of candles, the decorating of trees and the parties at this time of year.  It stems from rituals practiced by our ancestors, who not only lit lots of candles, but also brought gifts and had parties.  All of it signified and celebrated the return of the light.  Today’s holiday parties and lights decorating the trees and homes are all descendants of those ancient celebrations.  So when you go to the endless round of parties and decorate your tree, do so with a feeling of jubilation and celebration.  Enjoy it!  And if you are of the more introverted type, light some candles in the quiet sacredness of your own home, and acknowledge the joy and beauty of this season.  Celebrations do not have to be of the noisy and crowded variety.

3.  You  may not be in the mood to celebrate right now.  Perhaps, like a good friend of mine recently said, you don’t appreciate the endless commercials, the crowds or even the Christmas music.   Try and take comfort in nature’s cycle.  Mother Nature is wise, very wise.   Here where I live in Lake Tahoe, I quite frequently will stand somewhere near the lake’s edge on the east shore and watch the storms approach.  They always come over the mountains from the west and you can literally see them coming.  I’ll be standing in sunshine, but when I look west, I will see these  magnificent clouds coming toward me on the wind.  I can look at those clouds and know that it is time to prepare.   When the storms come, we fare better if we are prepared, and if we are prepared, we can ride out the storm, emerging when the storm passes to appreciate the beauty of the freshly fallen snow, the glitter and shimmer when the sun hits that snow, the crystal clear blue  sky.  That kind of light can only come after a good snow storm.  What Mother Nature does, we can use as metaphors in our own lives.  When the storms come, be prepared, ride it out, and when it passes, emerge to see what new and beautiful has come as a result of the storm.  If you don’t like the commercials, turn off the tv and radio.  Instead of shopping, make cookies to give as gifts.  You can shop ahead of time for the goodies to make cookies, you don’t have to wade through the crowds.  Find something  to be grateful for in this season.

4.  This leads me to talk about losses.  Perhaps you’ve recently encountered a huge loss.   Perhaps this is not the time to celebrate the light because you feel as if there simply is no light in your life.  Perhaps it is time to grieve instead.  If that is the case, honor it.  Grieving our losses must happen.  I can tell you from personal experience that if a loss is not properly grieved you will suffer.  The grief will manifest in some way, usually a physical illness but sometimes in emotional illness as well.  Feelings of anger and sadness will come, it is part of the process.  If they are coming  now, at a time when the rest of the world is celebrating, do not put them on hold until later.  Doing so will only strengthen those feelings and make them worse.  And I can guarantee you that if you do not grieve the loss now, then you will repeat the cycle when the anniversary comes each year, in essence dooming yourself to a holiday season filled with sadness and grief instead of joy.  Give yourself the gift of grieving now, when it is needed, and then you will be able to experience all the joy of this season, and you will be able to once again know that the light is entering your life.

I was having a conversation with my Dean yesterday and amongst the many other things we talked about was the subject of what we call ourselves.

He made a point that made me think.  He said, “whatever I call myself, I am also calling God that.”

I happen to agree with him, but it did make me pause and do a review of how I speak to myself, and the names I call myself.

How about you?  How do you speak to yourself?  Would you let anyone else speak to you like that?  And what names do you call yourself?  What is the meaning behind those names?

And what about this God stuff?  How is it that  whatever I’m calling  myself I am also calling God that?  If you are new to the teachings of metaphysics (which is what we teach at Centers for Spiritual Living), this might come as a surprise to you.  See, we believe that God is everywhere present, including in you and in me.  We also believe that we are a part of God and God is a part of us, just like a drop of water in the ocean is part of the ocean.  This is why we can be the change we wish to see in the world.  One drop at a time.

Maybe it is time to sit back and do a review of how you speak to yourself.  Because I guarantee you, how you speak to yourself is how you show up in the world, and how you show up in the world is what you will manifest in your life.

Improve your self talk, and you will improve your life.  Guaranteed.

We all experience some sort of limitation in our lives, something that we think prevents us from doing what we want to do.

Here’s some examples of limitation:

I have a chronic illness.  I don’t drive in the dark.  I don’t make enough money.  I don’t drive in the snow.   I can’t do relationships.   I seem to spend more than I earn.  Bad things always happen to me.  I can’t do that.   They aren’t doing it right.  I can’t.  They won’t let me.

What is behind any limitation in our lives is a way of thinking that is manifesting  the limitation.  There is a direct relationship between our thoughts and what happens in our lives.  What has a tendency to complicate things at times is that there is also a direct relationship between our beliefs and what happens in our lives, and sometimes it is difficult to even know what our beliefs are.   But here’s a formula that might help you to figure it out:  thought plus feeling equals belief.  Put some feeling behind that thought and you have a powerhouse of….well…power, working to create what you just thought.  See, the Universe always says yes, and when it  hears a thought with emotion behind it, it gives you what you’ve asked for.  So put some feeling behind any of those limiting thoughts and BINGO!  You’ve got it.

Why not turn it around?  What have you got to lose by trying?  Here’s some steps to ridding yourself of limitation in your life.

1.  Change your thinking. Every time you have a limiting thought, change it.  Replace the limiting thought with one of no limits.  Affirmations are very good for this.  Put some feeling behind the affirmation and you get that bingo effect I was writing about earlier.

2.  Do spiritual practices…every day, consistently and persistently.  This should probably be first.  A bunch of really good stuff  happens when you do a regular spiritual practice.   Meditation is the most powerful of the spiritual  practices, but there is also quiet time, introspection, journaling, reading of spiritual  literature.

3.  Consider that changing a life long pattern of thinking might be difficult, and be willing to ask for help.  Spiritual coaching is great for this.

4.  Don’t sit around waiting for the new thoughts to manifest.  Do your spiritual practices and your affirmations, then release it and go do what is in front of you to do.

5.  Don’t judge.  Judgment only hurts the one doing the judging.  Consider that when you judge, it’s really more of that old way of thinking coming in to prevent you from freeing up your life.  Look underneath the judgment.  Chances are pretty good there is a fear there that needs addressing.

I would love to hear about a pattern of thought that you are changing in your life, or one that you have changed.  How did you do it?  What made  you willing to make the change?

We are halfway through the Money, Metaphysics and the Meaning of Life class.  Can you believe it?  It seems like just yesterday that I was writing all about beginning metaphysics in preparation for the class: things like affirmations and visualizations.  I even got a very nice letter from a Unity minister who was concerned that I was sending the wrong message about our belief system by talking only beginning metaphysics in my posts.  But there is a method to my madness!

In the class, the students have learned that the bottom line is that it all starts within.  This is where  the meaning of life part of the title comes in:  everything comes from within.  ALL outside conditions begin within, and it is within where we must make the changes if we wish to change our outside.  This is what our teaching is all about.  And the key to changing our insides is changing our beliefs and changing the way we feel about things.  We’ve discussed this a bit in class.

Now, we are moving on to another bottom line in the class, and this is where we move a bit beyond beginning metaphysics.  It’s about giving.  For it is in the giving that we receive, just like all the ancient wisdom and traditions tell us.    But just like everything else, it is the feeling behind our giving that gives meaning to the action.  If we just give because we are told to do so and our sole motive is to receive, then we are defeating the purpose of the Law.  We are simply activating more of “what’s in it for me?” syndrome.

Giving is a profound spiritual way of living that truly does allow us to receive all the good that there is.  I’m not talking about simply giving money, or tithing.  I’m talking about giving of ourselves.  And I’m talking about giving because it gives us joy to do so, not with an ulterior motive in mind.  I’m talking about giving at work:  instead of showing up late and leaving early and thinking in terms of pay and benefits and what you can get out of your job, try showing up early and leaving a bit late and being fully present for the job and giving totally to it and being grateful for the work and thinking in terms of what you can contribute, not only to the job but to the team with which you work and the organization you work for.  (I realize that’s a run-on sentence, but if Thomas Troward can do it, so can I!)

I’m talking about giving fully in  your relationships.  Do you hold back a bit?  Not give totally of yourself to your loved one, whether from fear or from something else?  You will truly get what you give in a situation like this.

I’m talking about giving fully in your spiritual community.  I’m not talking about tithing here, although that is an important part but subject to a whole ‘nuther post on it’s own.  I’m talking about being a part of your community.  Not just showing up on Sundays and getting what you can out of the message and then leaving.  If that’s all you do, then that is all you will recieve.  I’m talking about being a part of a spiritual community, just like an extended family, and helping out in much the same way as you would help around the house at home.  You DO help around the house at home don’t you?

I’m talking about coming from an attitude of gratitude and givingness in ALL of your affairs, all the time.  When you do this, you will receive the Stars and the Moon.  You will experience all of life’s joys and treasures and abundance and every wonderful thing that is possible.

This is the true meaning of life.  The meaning comes from within us, and we can give that meaning whatever we wish:  either taking and resentment, or giving and love.  I prefer the latter, what about you?

Anything is possible.  You are capable of doing anything, being anything.  No longer is it acceptable to live with anything less than what you desire.  There is nothing selfish about following your heart, nothing shameful about obeying the call of your soul, no matter what it is.  Just because society says it doesn’t mean it is right.  Do what is right for you, seek what is right for you, and it will come to pass.

Sometimes, like this morning, I get up and start to contemplate what I’m going to write about…..and nothing comes.  So I go trolling on Twitter for ideas, and didn’t get any.  Normally some of my friends  on Facebook will post cool quotes in the morning and I can grab hold of a topic there, or perhaps get one from one of the daily inspirational emails I recieve.  But nothing was jumping out at me..except..yesterday a lady I’ve known as an acquaintance asked me, “how is it that you are  so peaceful all the time, so spiritual?  I want that!”  Now, this is a lady who knows nothing about New Thought, nothing about the Centers for Spiritual Living, nothing about Practitioners, treatment work, or daily spiritual practices.  I had a newbie on my hands, and found myself tongue tied!  Here she was, asking for information, and I started stuttering.  What’s up with that?  I guess I was so excited to be able to bring this wonderful message to someone that I got all puppy like:  you know, when a puppy gets so excited they don’t know what to do with themself and so they widdle all over the floor?  Sort of like that.

But I finally calmed down and gathered my wits about me and pulled up What We Believe on the main Centers for Spiritual Living web site (http://www.unitedcentersforspiritualliving.org/Philosophy/phil_beliefs.php) and then we had a good discussion about the difference between prayer and treatment, daily spiritual practices, specifically meditation and journaling, shame based organized religions, guilt, immortality and reincarnation.  Whew!  It was fun!  The conversation ended with her making a treatment request, which was way  cool as well.  We will have more conversations, she and I, because she is hungry, and I am excited about that.

So I get up this morning, and all I can think of  is what a wonderful world this is.  What a wonderful world that we have choices as to what to believe, what to do that brings us peace, what we can say.  What a wonderful world this is that I have, um….about a zillion places to go on the web for inspiration, and about a half a zillion books to open for more inspiration.  What a wonderful world this is that I can go to my morning place with my pillows and my heater and my kitties and my cup of coffee and sit in the silence and go within to that special place that is always full of peace.  What a wonderful world this is that I can then grow that special place, enlarge it, so that the peace within shows up on the outside for people to notice.  And what a wonderful  world this is that I get to talk about it:  on this blog, with my clients, at my Center, and with a bunch of  like minded people that keep showing up in my life.

I hope  today that you are able to know what a wonderful world this is.  Make a gratitude list.  Go outside in the nice spring weather and enjoy all the bounty Mother Nature is stirring up at the moment.  Feel the abundance:  of air, of inspirational sources on the web and in print; of little spring things cropping up, of ideas, of fun things to do, of work, of play, of peace.  If you are reading this blog today, know that my treatment for you is that you too will know what a wonderful world this is!

And so it is!

“There is no great and no small, to the Soul that maketh all; and whence It cometh all thingds are, and It cometh everywhere.”  Emerson

This quote is awesome.  I like it because it calls that Great Oneness an “It” and because it also calls It Soul.  There are lots of names for what most people call God, and all of them are appropriate.  My favorite right now is probably The Force.

I quite frequently will suggest to my clients that they come up with their own definition of Spirit.  Even though, by Its very Nature, It is undefinable and we place our own human limitations on something that is Infinite, it helps to have a concept of It that is uniquely our own, the we can identify with.

But I’m getting off track  here! The point of today’s blog is that there is no big and no small to the Universe.  There is no request to great that Spirit cannot handle.  The Law sees 17 million dollars the same way it sees 17 dollars, there is no difference.  The limitations come from ourselves.

So when sitting down to affirm the good in  your life, be sure not to limit yourself.  Think outside the little box that we seem to place ourselves in.  Go big, aim high, set your intentions for the  grandest thing you can think of, and know that the Universe is conspiring for your good!

This morning I was perusing Facebook for ideas to write about and came across a video of Nick Vujicic.  I’ve seen this particular video before.  Nick is a guy with  no arms and no legs, he was born that way.  Yet he has found a way to be positive and happy, and to live his life’s purpose, which is to carry a message of being better instead of bitter.

We all have things that we could use as an excuse to be bitter about.  We could use those things to experience limitation in our lives.  We could keep the stories we wrote earlier, as children or perhaps a little later in life, and fulfill those particular prophecies.  You ever heard the phrase “self fulfilling prophecy?”  That’s when we have our stories, and we are sticking to them, no matter what.

Maybe it’s time to change the story.  Maybe it’s time to be grateful instead of into self pity.  Maybe it’s time to be better instead of bitter.  Maybe it’s time to live life with all the gusto and largeness and enthusiasm that each of us has inside of us!  On the edge!  FULL TILT BOOGEY!

Ok, I feel better now…how about you? 

You CAN change your story.  You CAN live a life of of action, instead of reaction.  You CAN live a life of limitless abundance and joy and laughter and good times.  That’s what we are here for you know.  We were created so that Spirit could experience the physical, and The Universe wants what we want.  So be very clear that it is joy that you want in your life, be very clear that it is abundance you want in your life, be very clear that it is all good that you want in your life, and So It Is.

In this world of acronyms, it occurred to me this morning that I could turn Daily Spiritual Practice into an acronym for ease in writing.  Plus, I figured it would get your attention.

DSP is what it’s all about.  I think it is the foundation upon which we build happy, productive and peaceful lives.  In fact, I don’t think we can have lasting peace and happiness without it.  This is the reason why I usually mention it in almost every post.  But I know there might be some new folks reading this who have no idea what I’m talking about, so I thought it would be time to go over DSP again.

DSP can be done any time of day.  For me, it works best in the morning.  I take the time to do it before the business of the day sets upon me, because if I wait, it doesn’t get done.  However, I know many people who do it at night, and there is something to be said for going to bed with positive thoughts from the DSP in your head.  I remember hearing a talk by Wayne Dyer I think, who was speaking about changing our thinking to change our life, and about how sometimes we go to bed with worries on our mind, giving our subconscious free reign to dance and play in the negative thoughts while we sleep, thus perpetuating the negativity.  I have to admit, since I heard that, I’ve incorporated a short  period of DSP into my routine just before I fall asleep.

Anyway, DSP can be any number of things. I find meditation to be the most valuable.  And, since it is the most valuable, people have very strong opinions about the right and wrong way to meditate.  I got lots of comments the last time I wrote about meditation, all of them telling me, albiet in a very gentle way, that I was doing it wrong.  Oh well….   I still say that to try and attach technique and rules to it makes it too difficult for most  beginniners to even attempt, so I’m sticking to my opinion:  meditation can be done anywhere, in any position.  It is not about emtyping your mind, although some like  to make this a goal, and that is fine.  It is about training your mind.  It’s about sitting quietly in the silence, and turning your thoughts to one thing: a mantra, a chant, an object or a thought, every time your thoughts stray.  Soon we find that we can sit in the silence  for longer and longer periods of time, and that intruding thoughts happen less and less frequently.

Reading of spiritual literature is also another DSP.  I like to read daily meditation books, and there are a zillion of them out there.  I also get emailed daily quotes that are very helpful.  In the next blog I’ll publish a list of web sites where  you can sign up to have quotes delivered.

Journaling is another very helpful DSP.  You can write what  is called stream of consciousness, where you may not have complete sentences or even legible writing, but instead you are just getting stuff out of your mind and onto the paper.  This can be very helpful.  Or, you can write about your thoughts, hopes, dreams and daily happenings, similar to a diary. Or  you can write about affirmations, or about a specific topic as introduced  by a daily reader.

Those are the three  basics.  There are other practices:  visioning, prayer, even exercise can be a DSP.  The point is to do it consistently.  DSP tends to have a cumulative effect, the more you do it, the more peaceful and happy you feel.  It’s a wonderful way to live!