Welcome to the Lake Tahoe Spiritual Living Center!

Life was not meant to be lived small.  My motto is sort of a mixed metaphor that goes something like this:  “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!  Go for the gusto!”  Yes, movie stuff, commercial lines….it’s amazing where we get our inspiration isn’t it?  That is one of the beautiful things about living a spiritual life, I think.  We can get inspiration from anywhere!  But I digress.

I found myself saying to someone the other day, “If I were in your situation I would be going for it.  I’d be enjoying every moment, living it to the fullest!  Damn the torpedoes, full *&^%$ speed ahead!”  And I realized that I said that not only for her situation, but for mine as well.  Because I have an area in my life in which I’ve been living small.  I’ve been allowing  “what if” and “yeah but” to limit me, to keep firmly shut any doors that might be presenting themselves, because of nonsense like societal pressure and fear.

But I know better.  I just forget sometimes.  I forget that fear is the Great Limitor and faith is the Great Liberator.  I forget that when I go deep within and do my spiritual practices there is no place there for fear.  I forget that I am That Which Is Everywhere.  I forget the deep levels of spirit that I have accessed and used and implemented in my life.  But when I remember, such as when I was in conversation with my friend, all fear dissolves and I realize that what is happening in my life is happening because somewhere along the line I was remembering who I truly was and made a decision to not live small.  What is happening in my life is allowing me to “boldly go where no man has gone before.”  There I go, back into the movie metaphors again, but I couldn’t resist.  I AM going where no one has gone before, and if you have made a decision to live large instead of small, then you are on that journey too.

And what I can tell you about taking such a journey is this:  don’t go without your Light.  That Light brings the comfort, the strength, the knowing and the being that will allow you to successfully navigate.  That Light allows faith to replace fear, it allows confidence to replace low self esteem, it allows knowing to replace doubt.  If you don’t know how to turn on The Light, then that is the first step for you on your journey.

You turn on The Light by many different things, which we at Centers for Spiritual Living call spiritual practices.  Take a class, get a mentor or a coach and implement their suggestions.  Meditation is probably the most valuable spiritual practice you can do, but there are others, like journaling or study.  The point is that if you have committed to a journey in which you don’t know the route, you will need The Light to guide  your way.

But with that Light, there is nowhere you can’t go, nothing you can’t do.  There is no living small when you have turned on The Light.  So, take a class!  Hire a coach!  Find a good book that resonates with where you are spiritually and study it, preferably with a guide.  If you don’t know how to meditate, learn, then do the practice consistently and regularly.  And pretty soon you will find yourself in that sweet delightful place of Knowing and Remembering, and your Light will be shining brightly all the time, and there will be no living small for you, just  full on enjoyment of all of what life has to offer.

I can’t resist it:   “Just Do It.”

Meditation.

Study.

Contemplation.

Journaling.

Visioning.

Those are all spiritual practices, listed in my own personal order of preference.  When I take the time (make the time) to do those on a consistent and persistent basis, I feel happy and content.

When I don’t, I don’t.  It’s that simple.

I must not be doing enough spiritual practices lately, because lately I’ve found myself wondering why on earth so many people absolutely refuse to do these simple things that work.   Lately I’ve seen death, despair, judgement, criticism, blame, anger and worry, and no small amount of fear,  in the lives of the people who have asked me to help them, and in the lives of others who aren’t clients, but are people for whom I care about.  I’ve seen absolute refusal to do any of the inner work that would allow a ray of sunshine to beam into the darkness, dissipating that darkness like a light illuminates a dark room.  I’ve seen absolute insistence on destructive behavior, fixation on outside fixes, immersion in the latest pseudo-scientific fad “guaranteed” to make one feel better.  I don’t think I will ever know why people insist on doing things that don’t work, and on not doing things that do work.  It makes me sad.  So I breathe, I meditate, I study and journal, and I feel better.  And I feel better able to help those around me, because for some reason I have been called to do so, and sometimes it still boggles my mind that I have received this calling.  And I continue to suggest the spiritual practices and inner work necessary to allow people to be happy and content.  Some listen and heed the advice, some don’t.  The ones that don’t experience serious disruptions to their lives, sometimes even death, and when that happens I grieve.  I grieve for all the loss, the waste, the void of a life when it didn’t have to be that way.

And I go to do my own grieving in private, and do my spiritual practices, and get in touch with that Isness that is All, that Essence of Peace and Power and Beauty, and I once again feel at peace, and then I return to the land of the living, refreshed and energized, to try and fulfill my calling once again.

So today I will be spending more time than usual in spiritual practice, and add gratitude to the list with which I began today’s blog, because I have a quiet place to go to commune with my higher self, and because I have the time in which to do it.  And while I am there I will also do some treatments for those whom I know are feeling pain right now.  As well as for myself.  In fact, I think I will close this blog post with a treatment:

I know.  I simply know without doubt that there is only One.  One Power, One Presence, One All, One most magnificent Energy, Light, Beingness.  One All that is the perfect embodiment of Love.  And I also know without doubt that this Love Essence is everywhere present.  In fact, I know that  myself and every other human and every other thing, the Earth itself as well as the galaxies, were created so that this All could experience the physical in all it’s wonder and glory.  I was created so that God could experience the physical, pure and simple.   God is in me, through me, as me.  I am the perfect embodiment of God.  And it is in this embodiment that I  know that Power and feel that Power and experience that Power and use that Power and say with complete conviction and knowingness that I am at peace.  I am happy and I am joyfully fulfilling my calling as a teacher and spiritual leader.  I feel compassion and empathy while at the same time knowing the Truth for those with whom I come into contact.  That Truth is that they are now at complete peace.  They are experiencing all the good that there is to experience.  They are open to the good that is but theirs to claim, and they have claimed it.  They are happy, contented, and joyous as they go about their day to day activities.  They now know beauty.  They now feel peace, joy, happiness, contentment, and are experiencing a lightness to their steps, a smile on their faces, and an enthusiasm in their lives.  It is with the Power that I am that I claim this for them, and for you reading this, and it is with that Power that I release this word, back into the ALL POWER THAT IS, where the work is already done.  And so it is with gratitude that I close this treatment with those wonderful words of completion:  AND SO IT IS!

“We believe that heaven is within us, and that we experience it to the degree that we become conscious of it.”

This is the fourth statement in the Philosophy of Centers for Spiritual Living.  If you are just tuning in, I’ve been doing a series of posts on this statement which is distributed as a sort of informational statement in Centers for Spiritual Living throughout the world.  This statement was originally written by founder Ernest Holmes and is called “What We Believe.”  Before I get any further with this post, please know that the statement is a guide, sort of an informatory handout for people who want to know what we are about.  The reality is that everyone I’ve ever met in any Center has their own beliefs, including me, and that sometimes we have the same beliefs and sometimes we don’t, and it’s OK.  This is what I like about CSL:  we are free to believe whatever we wish. The bottom line is that we are in alignment with our own truth, and all of our classes and teachings are designed to help you with finding and keeping that alignment.  In terms of this third statement, what we teach will allow you to find heaven, right here, right now.

So… heaven is within.  I’ve always felt this.  I’ve never identified with the “heaven as a separate place” philosophy, just as I’ve never identified with the “God as a separate entity” philosophy.

I like the more accurate description of  the kingdom of heaven which comes from Unity founder Charles Fillmore in his Metaphysical Bible Dictionary.  He says the kingdom of heaven is “a state of consciousness in which the soul and the body are in harmony with the Divine Mind.”

What does that look like?  What does it feel like when our souls and our bodies are in harmony with the Divine Mind?

For me, it looks like freedom and feels like peace.  It is when I am comfortable in my own skin, fully aware and accepting of who and what I am.  There are no doubts, no fears, no hesitations, and I am able to listen to that still small voice within and know….simply know.

Can I do this and be this all the time?  No.  And this is the beauty of what we teach in CSL, because I have tools to get back in alignment when I get out.   All the spiritual practices:  meditation, journaling, introspection and others are designed specifically to help us remain in alignment.  And when I can’t remain in alignment I go to a coach to help me.

If you don’t feel like you are experiencing heaven in your life, consider taking a class at your nearest Center, or take advantage of one of the online classes, or hire a coach to help you.  In Centers, we have Practitioners which are licensed to do just that.  You are worth experiencing the heaven within.

I read on a blog somewhere yesterday not to believe anything I read on the internet today.  I’ve seen some pretty cute stuff out there so far.  One minister I am acquainted with rearranged all the furniture in his sanctuary for this morning’s Sunday celebration.  I thought that was pretty funny.   Have you ever experienced something like that?  You walk into a place you know well and some….um…well….I’m trying to remove all negativity from my life, so let’s just say well meaning person has rearranged all the furniture. Actually, in my crowd, it’s the mischievous ones that tend to sneak in before everyone else arrives and rearrange the furniture.  Then they sit back and smile, entertained by all the reactions.  Just so you know, I’ve been know to be one of the furniture re-arrangers.  If I had a sanctuary, I would probably have rearranged the furniture today. Besides, it would have given me a good opportunity to get rid of the dust bunnies.  Oh well, the dust bunnies will live to talk about the April Fools Day they didn’t meet the garbage can.

But the metaphor of a surprise rearrangement of furniture reminded me of change, and how we sometimes don’t do well with that…at all.  What is up with that?  I can walk into a room and see the furniture rearranged and see the humor in it all, but spring a change of a bigger sort on me, say a relationship change or a career change or a living situation change, and I am experiencing all sorts of fear based stuff like self pity, intolerance, judgement, sadness, distrust.

You would think I didn’t have a Power in my life that allows me to know that all is well, all the time.

The fact is, I do have that Power, and that makes it even worse.  Because having that Power should mean I shouldn’t be feeling all those fear based things, right?  We’ll talk about “shoulding” on yourself in another post, lest I get off track into dust bunny land again.  Back to the topic:   Fear should not be on my list of things to do with Power, right?  Well, that’s a lot easier said than done.

Here’s the deal with change, and fear based reactions, and having a Power in one’s life to help with all of that:  it takes consistent and persistent spiritual practices to be able to respond (not react) with love instead of fear.  It takes introspection, paying attention to one’s self, to be able to know that all is well in the face of uncertainty.  It takes meditation to feel a calm and a peace, no matter what.  And it takes constant thinking about that Power in our lives to be able to live a love based life rather than a fear based one.

It’s like taking a shower:  you can’t expect yesterday’s shower to keep you from smelling bad today.  One needs to shower every day.  One needs to do spiritual practices every day too.  That’s just the way it is if you want to live a happier, more peaceful and freer life.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

Except……somehow, I wanted to tie in today’s post with the image of the month.  These images are from a calendar I produce every year.  The images are mine, the quotes come from lots of different sources. The quote for this month just happens to come from…me!….Gotta tell you, it was a weird feeling to get the calendars back from the printer and open up to the month of April and see my quote there.  I liked it.  Anyway, here’s the quote and the image:

“When one does not know one’s own truth, one is subjected to the truth of others.”  (see those spiritual practices I talked about above, that’s how you know your own truth).

If you like this image, it is available for purchase (as a stand alone image, not with the black background and quote, although if you want that it’s available too!) here:  https://vando.imagequix.com/gallery.html?id=49R7J9W&eventid=1046-8080-0087

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Weekly meditation discussion group, Monday’s from 5 to 6 pm at the Center for Spiritual Living Lake Tahoe.  Cost is $10, address is 3665 Tamarack, South Lake Tahoe, CA

Looking for some one on one help?  Perhaps some coaching in a specific area of  your life?  Or some lessons on how to deepen your spiritual practice?  Karen Linsley is a Licensed Spiritual Practitioner and offers sessions over the phone or in person. Contact her at 530-906-9336 for pricing and more information.

I was wrapping up my daily spiritual practice this morning, I had finished my meditation and was contemplating the beautiful newly formed icicles outside my window and thinking that perhaps I would get to photograph icicles this winter after all.  It had been one of my winter goals, but we haven’t had enough of a winter to form any icicles and I thought maybe I’d have to wait till next year.  But there are some beautiful icicles out there now!  Anyway, as I was contemplating that, letting my mind run loose instead of controlling it as I do during meditation, I realized that I had had a revelation.

What the revelation is is not important..well, it is to me, but it’s personal, and what I want to share for you is the process to get to the revelation, not the revelation itself.

You ever have a time in your life when something is bugging you?  Well, something’s been bugging me.  It’s a biggie.  All wrapped up with self esteem and limitations and all sorts of stuff.  Meanwhile, I’ve been reading “The Big Leap” by Gay Hendricks, in which he talks about the upper limits in our lives.  Those limitations we have in our lives that prevent us from being totally successful, or that create drama and havoc in our lives if do achieve success.  I call it my own personal glass ceiling.

I haven’t picked up the book in a few weeks, but Hendricks’ principles have been rolling around in my consciousness.  I love consciousness, it’s a wonderful thing.  You turn loose some thoughts in there and then go about your life and BINGO…..something happens.  Well, I’ve been thinking about Hendricks’ principles on an almost subconscious level as I’ve been going about my life.  And meanwhile, while thinking about my own personal glass ceiling, there’s been some stuff going on in my life that has been bugging me.  And I’m not sure why it’s bugging me, because it really doesn’t have a lot to do with me.  But I’m having to work to remain at peace with myself and with others.  I don’t like it when that happens.  It bugs me.  So I’m having a chat with one of my mentors yesterday and I’m venting and I know that she isn’t going to tell me to do anything, or give me any advice, because that is not her job, but she’s a good listener and all of a sudden I say something that stops me in my tracks.

It was the revelation.

The giant light bulb of awareness that made me realize just exactly where my self imposed glass ceiling is, just what my belief is that prevents me from achieving greater success.

I didn’t totally realize it at the time when I said it.  I knew I had said something profound and important to me, and as she was giving me support and reassurance, I was thinking.  “Hmmmm,” I said to myself, “there is something important about that.”  So we hung up the phone and I went about my business, and later on that night I allowed the statement to come back into my consciousness and thought about it some more, and this morning I wrote about it.

And I realized that I had, in my musings and in allowing the material in Hendricks’ book to rummage around in my consciousness, unearthed a deep seated belief that I had held my entire life.  And that now that I had unearthed and exposed it to the light of day, it could no longer exist.

See, here’s the deal, the bottom line:  whatever your beliefs are, whether you are aware of them or not, those beliefs create the reality in your life.  Those beliefs manifest into form.  Helping people unearth their beliefs and change them is a big part of what I do as a Practitioner and Coach.  So unearthing a belief is a big deal.  It’s a life changing revelation.

They say that awareness is over half the battle, and that has been my experience. I am aware now, and now it simply remains for me to replace that old belief with a new one.

So in a nutshell, here’s the process:

1.  Do spiritual practices, consistently and persistently.   Nothing, and I mean nothing, in your life with change until you change the inside, and that is done with spiritual practices.

2.  Read stuff.  I don’t much care what it is, but explore, seek, search, find.  Whatever calls to you, that’s what you need to be reading.  Don’t question it.  And if you aren’t a reader, take a workshop, or a class, or go to one of the book studies that are held at CSLCC or CSLLT.

3.  Explore where the limitations are in your life, without blame.  That means you don’t get to blame them and you don’t get to blame you.

4.  Talk about it.  I’m lucky, I’ve got a mentors and Practitioners and fellow students at my beck and call, all I have to do is pick up the phone.  They answer, we talk and I feel better.  There is something about talking about it that gets it out into the light of day, and sometimes in the conversation, as what happened to me yesterday, something will come out of your mouth that totally surprises you.

5.  Once you discover what the limitations are, and the beliefs behind them are, change the beliefs.  You can do this by replacing the old ones with new ones.  Affirmations are good for this.  You may need to get some help.  This is what Practitioners and Coaches are for.

6.  Do your spiritual practices, consistently and persistently.

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Private coaching is available over the phone or in person.  Call 530-906-9336 for more information.

Weekly meditation and discussion group is held every Monday night from 5 to 7 pm at Center for Spiritual Living Lake Tahoe.  Call 530-906-9336 for more information.

I just hung up the phone.  I got to listen in on a conference call set up to hear candidates for the Centers for Spiritual Living respond to a series of questions.  I am so jazzed about this movement that I am a part of!  We have a slate of completely well qualified candidates, any one of them is capable of doing a great job of ushering in our merger (United Centers for Spiritual Living with International Centers for Spiritual Living).  We are a world wide movement that is only going to get bigger and noisier as time goes along and I am proud to be a Practitioner, proud to be a ministerial student, and proud to be the founder and Spiritual Director of the Center for Spiritual Living Lake Tahoe.

Listening to  this call reminded me that I have a call to action right here at home.  We teach that in order to change the world, we must change ourselves first.  With the birth of CSLLT at the beginning of 2012, there is now a place where you can come to effect transformation in your own life.  My call to action is to provide the space for you, which I have done, and to let you know it is there, which I am doing, and to help facilitate your transformation, which I will do when you show up.

I think of all the people in South Lake Tahoe who would benefit from these teachings.

The religiously disenfranchised.  That’s my term for folks who don’t feel a connection with the religion of their childhood.  The truth is that what we teach does not conflict with any religion, and could provide a doorway to a reconciliation, or at least a peace, with the religion of one’s childhood.  Here in the West, our culture suggests that we need to go to church.  And there is a certain amount of shame that is dispensed, mostly from ourselves, when we don’t.  The churches would love it if their attendance was overflowing every Sunday.  But I think there’s a change in the world, and that church per se is not what works for a lot of folks.  I do think that spiritually we need that connection, we need that knowing that comes from the connection.  Church doesn’t necessarily do it.  But meditation does, and studying spiritual literature like “Living Deeply, the Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life” does.  We are currently studying that book on Monday nights, and each meeting begins with a different type of meditation.  I teach the meditation first, then we do it.  Then we discuss the book.  Not only can this be a doorway for transformation for you in your own life, but it will allow you to feel a part of something bigger than you are.

The seekers.  We are all seeking at some point in our lives.  We seek peace and  happiness and joy, and many times we seek it from places like relationships or jobs or possessions.  But the reality is that outside things like jobs, relationships and possessions will only provide a temporary sense of peace and happiness and joy.  Long lasting peace comes from a connection with that Force that is within each and every one of us.  All of the techniques, classes, workshops and sessions that I do are designed to facilitate that connection.  Wouldn’t it be nice to be content?  Wouldn’t it be nice to be at peace, no matter what happens on the outside?

Those who have a spiritual foundation but want to enlarge it.  Spiritual growth doesn’t just happen.  It takes consistent and persistent practice, plus regular reminders.  I don’t know that we are hard wired to forget what is really important in life, but I do think that sometimes the outside stuff makes it seem that way.  What is really important is the inside job, and what is really important is practice, and coming to a CSL regularly, attending classes and book studies and workshops, is part of what will provide you with a good foundation that will allow for spiritual growth.

Fellowship:  I’ve been facilitating a book study down in Carson City for about three years.  This group has bonded, big time.  The people in the group get together for celebrations and holidays, and help out when needed.  This group  has taken field trips and gone to dinners and talks in Reno and panels in Carson City and to hear me talk at the Center in Tahoe City.  Lately there has been some talk of going to a yoga retreat together.  This kind of fellowship is invaluable, and I have no doubt that this kind of fellowship will grow at CSLLT as well. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to share and mingle and learn and grow with folks who are like minded?  You are not alone in this world.  There are others who think just like you do.  Think about it:  you attend CSLLT regularly, along with a bunch of other people.  We get a great snowfall, and you want to go snowshoeing. Who better to do it with than your CSLLT group?  Or you want to be involved with helping others.  Did you know that the opportunities for service in any CSL abound?  How about hospice work?  Visiting sick people?  Helping with a fund raiser for the community?  Helping to set up an interfaith question and answer panel?  Service is huge, and the friendships and connections we develop while doing service is huge.  Won’t you join us on this incredible journey?

It takes a commitment to practice regularly and persistently.  Right now I’m doing a weekly group, on Monday nights, from 5 to 7 pm.  Last night I took a lady through a guided meditation and as I was doing that, I was mourning all the people who weren’t there benefiting from the service.   When the meditation was over, she said the same thing.  She was so grateful for the meditation, and so grateful for the time there.  And then we proceeded to discuss some of the material in the book called, “Living Deeply, the Art and Science of Transformation.”  This book is about transforming your life, and it draws from all the religions in the world, as well as from science.  It is filled with stories of personal transformations, and it is filled with good practical advice about how to achieve transformation in your own life.  But in order to show up and reap the benefit of this stuff, you need to make a commitment.  The commitment is to yourself.  Are you worthy of transformation?  Do you deserve to be happier, more peaceful?  Only you can answer that question, but if the answer is yes, then I suggest you do whatever you need to do to show at the Center for Spiritual Living Lake Tahoe on Monday night at 5 pm.

First of all, notice the logo?  You may have seen something similar, for there are Centers with this logo all over the world, except instead of saying Lake Tahoe underneath “Center for Spiritual Living” it says whatever city the Center is located in, so you might have Center for Spiritual Living Carson City, or Center for Spiritual Living Santa Rosa, for example.

What’s cool about this is that until last month I didn’t have the proper okee dokees to fly that particular logo, but now I am happy and proud to say that the Lake Tahoe Spiritual Living Center is now a formally approved Teaching Chapter with Centers for Spiritual Living!

This is exciting news for me, and for you it means more classes, plus now your donations are tax deductible!

As a Teaching Chapter with the Centers for Spiritual Living, we meet once weekly.  I’ve decided to hold our once weekly meeting on Monday Evenings.

You may  not be able to read the fine print, so here’s what we are doing:  Each Monday night, from now until we see fit to change it (which could be years), we will meet.  The first part of each meeting will have meditation instruction, a different type of meditation each week.  The second part of the meeting will be discussion, and currently the topic is based on the book, “Living Deeply, the Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life.”  This is an awesome book that will allow you to do just what it says:  transform your life.  This particular book has written exercises at the end of each chapter, so the last part of the meeting, at least for now, will be spent doing the written exercises.

So, gather you meditation cushion if you have one, bring your journal if you have one (I have journals for sale), and show up on Monday night at 5 pm (until 7 pm).

Cost is a tax deductible suggested Love Offering of $10.  I will also have books available for purchase.  Want more information?  Call 530-906-9336.

See you there!

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?

I’ve been thinking about freedom for a few days now.  Last week in our book study (currently studying The Four Agreements, we are almost done with that one and will be starting a new book soon!) we got to talking about freedom, and now here it is 4th of July weekend, and I’m seeing freedom posts and blogs all over Facebook and the Net.

Contrary to what we have been trained our entire lives to believe, freedom doesn’t come from having a different form of government, a certain type of religion, oodles of money, the perfect job or the ideal spouse.  Nor does happiness or any other feeling or emotion.  That stuff is nice to have, for sure, but to base our sense of freedom, happiness, or even who or what we are on any outside thing like that is a sure recipe for disappointment.  Why?  Because they don’t last.  Relationships end, jobs change, religion opens up a whole new can of worms, and even governments topple over.

Better instead to base our freedom on what comes from within. Quantum physics is proving what New Thought  has long said:  our thoughts are powerful and what we think will manifest in our lives.  Last time I checked, thinking was an inside job.  And yet, for most of us, our thoughts are prey to every outside fix that comes along:  we fall in love and we feel good, the relationship ends and we are filled with anger, remorse, shame, guilt and all sorts of other non productive thoughts.  I’m not saying not to fall in love, nor to strive to get a nice car, a good home, or any of that other outside stuff.  What I’m saying is that it is better to put the emphasis on our insides first, knowing that when we do that, the outside falls into place very nicely.  And not only that, but we are no longer victim to every outside change that occurs in our lives.  We are ok, no matter what.  We are ok even when experiencing loss or grieving.  We will no longer fear change, which I think is a huge deal.  Change is inevitable in our lives, it is the fearing of it that causes the pain.

I think it’s better to have a trained mind, so we can direct the course of our thoughts, no matter what is going on outside of us.  To me, that is the meaning of freedom.  Freedom means feeling ok, no matter what.  It means humility….in other words, it means being right sized.  Freedom means not fearing change.   Freedom means that while we can be fond of the belongings and relationships and stuff in our lives, we don’t have to base our happiness on whether or not we have enough of that stuff.

I’ve been studying Buddhism lately, for one of my classes.  I’m a beginner, but it seems to me the Buddhists might have a point with this non-attachment stuff.  They advocate meditation to reach a level of awareness that transcends attachment to any outside thing. Something good comes along, we don’t judge it.   Something bad comes along, we don’t judge it.  In fact, from what I can gather, it goes beyond non-judgment with the Buddhists.  It goes to a place where we change our very perception of outside things, so that they don’t effect us one way or the other.

It’s not the first time I’ve encountered a religious tradition saying that the way to happiness and freedom lies within.  The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil.  Notice it does not say that money is the root of all evil, it says the love of money is the root of all evil.  It’s the same thing, said in different words.  It is telling us, like the Buddhists, that if we pursue outside stuff to the exclusion of pursuing things like love and faith, that we will experience negative stuff in our lives.

I encounter people all the time who, even when exposed to the concept that freedom and happiness comes from within, still doggedly cling to outside stuff in their pursuit of happiness.  But if you are ready to perceive things in a different way, I have a few tips for you to experience freedom and happiness in your life, no matter what:

1.  Meditate.  There are lots of spiritual practices (journaling, contemplation, spiritual study to name a few) but I think meditation is the single most valuable spiritual practice you can incorporate into your life.  If you think you can’t meditate, think again.  Then contact me for lessons on meditation.

2.  Know that you are ok.  For some this might seem like a tall order.  But going within is a scary journey if we don’t think we are ok.  We will fight it with everything we’ve got if the inside of us is a dark place.  In order to begin the journey, you might need some support and help.  This can come from a spiritual mentor or coach, or therapy.

3.  Observe.  Observe the actions in your life.  Do you base all your actions on doing, rather than being?  Is it uncomfortable to simply sit and be you?  Do you instead run willy nilly from one task to another project to another thing to do?  If so, try stopping for a few minutes each day.  Just stop, and sit, and be.  If you find this impossible to do, you might want to take another look at #2 above.

4. Stop playing the blame game.  Whenever you blame any thing, including yourself, for conditions or situations, you are creating victimhood in  your life.  Blame is really another way of turning the focus from yourself.  If you wish freedom and happiness, yourself is the place to begin.  And if you find you can’t go there (again, see #2 above), it’s time to get help.  Turning from blame means turning towards responsibility and empowerment, and that is a very free place to be.

5.  Find a Force.  I put this last, although it could just as easily be the first step.  I’m not talking about an outside God here (although that seems to work for some).  I’m talking about being in touch, connecting with, being a part of and having it be a part of you Power or Spirit of the Universe.  It could be the energy that quantum physics has proved is there.  It need not be religious.  It just needs to be something, that intangible indescribable something that is bigger than you that you can connect with anytime, any place, a something that you can KNOW even without being able to describe it or name it.

I hope you have a fun 4th of July, and I hope  you are free!

I’ll just come right out and say it:  I don’t believe in prayer.  But I do believe in knowing, in faith and in the power of spiritual practices like treatment, meditation and the power that is manifested when a group of people gets together and all place their attention on one thing, the highest and best good for all concerned.

And just in case you are wondering about my opening statement, I define prayer as a beseeching to an outside, separate entity, and that is simply not in my belief system.

I also know that there is a temptation to do, instead of to be, especially if impending doom is sensed or real.  Fear makes us do, and it very often makes us do things that we would not normally do.   I am so grateful for a teaching that taught me, and then continues to remind me, that it is more important to be first, then any necessary doing will follow.  Especially in the face of some perceived impending doom.

It does not matter what the impending doom is, what matters is that we do not do destructive things behind the fear created by the impending doom.

So my story is that I’ve been in the hallway for a while.  Big deal things have been uncertain, and that could be a scary place to be.  I didn’t talk much about it, only told a few very close friends, who, with great well meaning, immediately suggested some things for me to do to get myself out of the situation I found myself in.  But spiritually, I knew it was more important to be rather than to do.  Spiritually, I knew that I needed to go deeper, to spend more time in meditation and introspection, and affirm the truth of who and what I am.

And when my mind starting nagging me to do something and the second guessing started, I knew that what was important was to do more spiritual stuff and use the tools I have been given, and utilize the support of my Master Mind group and Practitioners.  I’m not saying I didn’t do stuff.  I did not simply drop everything and go sit on a mountain top somewhere to meditate until I was told which door to open in the hallway.   I have continued to enjoy life, have fun, do the dishes, go to work, walk the dog, all the stuff that we do, and while I was doing all that, I maintained a consciousness of knowing and never reacted to the situation in front of me.  I never really lost faith, although sometimes, when the second guessing was loudest, I was sorely tempted to react.  Fortunately I have been able to resist that temptation, because reaction behind fear never works out well.

So now it looks as if I might be traveling out of the hallway,  and I am grateful.  I’m grateful for the power of thought and treatment.  I am grateful for the power of knowing and being.  I am grateful for the people in my life who continue to support me spiritually.  And my mind is second guessing me, again.  “Ok, now that we got out of THAT one we need to go DO stuff so it doesn’t happen again!”  GEEZ.

I don’t think it is just me that does this stuff.  I think everyone does it to a certain extent.  Which is why I’m again grateful for the teachings of New Thought, that tell me and continue to remind me that it is more important to know rather than to question, more important to be rather than do.

If you are in a hallway of sorts, a place of uncertainty and questions, resist the temptation to react and do.  Instead, move within and know that spiritual awesome truth of you.  Do the inner work, and the outside will manifest just as it should.