Creating – Voices in My Head

We Created It, You know.

I stood propped in the corner of an elevator bemoaning my fate. The thought of having to haul myself out into the blazing heat for yet one more day of pavement pounding in search of sales was horrifying. Put me out of my misery. Just shoot me now.

The elevator stopped to pick up Mr. FedEx man. A breath of fresh air, he was. Bright, crisp and clean. How does he do that, I wonder? My reply to his cheery ‘good morning’ was a gloomy “Yes. Well it would be if I didn’t have to go out and walk around inside a furnace all day.

“Well we created it, you know.” Two floors later, the elevator door opened and he vanished as quickly as he appeared. When the door closed a light bulb went on.

Well of course! Late winter had dragged on through May into mid-June. People were yearning for the beautiful, balmy weather of spring. Everywhere I went, I heard the same mantra: “When is it gonna get hot?” The collective cry was heard, and the universe kindly obliged by zapping us from late winter into a brutal, searing heat wave. Zero to a 100 in 30 seconds. This terminal heat wave was sucking the life energy out of people, and creating a negative pall in the air. It was palpable. I felt it every day as I walked into office after office. We were all victims of Mother Nature.

I wondered—if so many were repeating the same “When is it gonna get hot” mantra, could we have created a heat wave with our thoughts? If we change our thoughts, can we change the weather?

I exited the elevator with new enthusiasm and purpose. Out into the blazing heat I went, determined to see what I could do to change the weather—or at the very least change the negative pall that was afflicting those I encountered throughout the day.

I made it a point to visit as many offices as possible that day. I told everyone I met about my elevator encounter and my experiment to see about changing the weather. I parroted Mr. FedEx’s words, quickly followed by the suggestion that if enough of us put our minds to it, perhaps we could create the perfect weather. The suggestion alone was enough to uplift spirits and brighten outlooks.

And guess what? The next morning the world awoke to a beautiful, perfect, clear, bright, glorious spring day. Imagine that.

Last night while trying to drift off to sleep, I thought about Mr. FedEx and my little experiment. I observed my mind as it catapulted from one meaningless thought to another and was reminded once again that I have dominion over my thoughts. It is up to me to decide what to think. What am I creating in my mind?

Imagine the power of thought. Imagine how the world would change if we were all on the same page and using our creative genius to envision a world of love instead of a world of fear. If we are powerful as individuals, imagine how unstoppable we are as a group.

Have you thought about your thoughts lately?

Can you think of a time when a belief or thought became a reality for you? I would love to hear about it in the comments section. Thank you for reading, and please share!

Teams and Dreams

This morning at 7:15 as I was peacefully settling into my meditation, I heard the sound of a very large engine idling noisily outside my window. I ignored it for a while, testing my ability to maintain focus on my own business. But when I could no longer stand the curiosity, I had to see if it was an ambulance or fire engine—if perhaps one of my friends or neighbors was soon to be carted off to the emergency room.

On one hand, I was relieved to see that it was only a large delivery truck; on the other, the rules police in me took over and I called a member of the board of directors to report the infraction. No deliveries are to be made through the building lobby. Ever. Period.

The person involved might be a new homeowner unfamiliar with the rules. Or, perhaps a current resident who doesn’t give a rat’s patootie about rules and chooses to ignore them. Or maybe it was all just a massive misunderstanding between homeowner and delivery person. Either way, it needed to be addressed lest it spiral out of control and/or serve as permission for others to go thou and do likewise.

Well phooey. So much for peaceful meditation.

My mind takes me off into the world of conflict, self-doubt, and self-judgment. Did I do the right thing? Should I have done that? Did I rat out a friend or create hard feelings between the parties involved? Was it any of my business in the first place? Do I need to apologize to someone, or ask for forgiveness? How many apple carts did I upset with my seemingly well-intended meddling? Certainly, some apples fell out of my own cart.

Oh but wait! What is wrong with this picture? What thoughts am I allowing to dominate my mind? What am I creating? Oops. I think I’ve got the emPHAsis on the wrong syLABle again. Is this the reality that I want to create? No. I prefer to make peace, not war.

Just prior to my self-inflicted curiosity disruption, my mind had taken me to the wonderful illusory world of the New Age that we are promised. (Some may call this woo-woo thinking, but I choose to think of it as something wonderful that’s waiting for us just around the bend). But alas, the interruption yanked my mind away from the wonder of New Age thinking, and the role that we, the people of the planet, might play in getting us there.

Curiosity satisfied, I am free to resume my dreaming. Ahh. Just imagine…we are part of a team that is building a bridge to span the chasm between humanity and unseen helpers in the spiritual realm. Hands reach out from behind the veil to help those with newly-blossoming soul awareness and open hearts to walk joyfully toward a better life. We walk together with wide-eyed wonder and childlike awe as unfathomable beauty unfolds before us, and we sense a magnetic vibration drawing us toward our destination.

I ask myself what thoughts I have harbored that stood in the way of my willingness to cross the bridge. What took so long? Why did I wait?”? My wondering is replaced with a sigh of relief, gratitude, and a sense of, “Oh, thank God—fear and darkness have been replaced by a world of light, love, harmony, peace, cooperation, balance, trust, and joy.

Each vision, each thought or imagining, no matter how great or small, will move us all one step closer to the dream. We are the designers, architects, and builders. We are fashioning a new world according to our own specifications, one mind at a time. The only building tools required are imagination, an unwavering belief in our ability as co-creators, and a desire to be a member of the team.

Sometimes, when I’m not exactly sure about what I want, it helps to figure out what I don’t. This morning provided a wonderful example along with a reminder that every experience contains a gift, no matter how painful at the time. I don’t want misunderstandings, self-doubt, hard feelings, unfriendly encounters or internal turmoil. I want peace, both inner and outer. As our world crumbles beneath us and serves up unfathomable pain and suffering, I imagine that many others feel the same way. The good news is: it’s within our purview and power to create anew.

Let us join forces and wait no longer. Let us don our creator hats and get busy in our minds creating the vision of a world we’d like to inhabit. Let us rejoice in the miracle that will happen when we realize that together we are a powerful force to be reckoned with. Join the Dream Team and together we will create miracles.

Happy 2023 everyone. May we raise our hearts and souls to a better year and a better world.

BEFORE YOU GO . . . If you’d like to explore more about helping to dream up a new reality, let’s talk! Meanwhile, you may enjoy a look at the websites below.

A Tree of Light offers the following programs: Meditations for the Soul and the Community Forum. http://atreeoflight.org/. The Coming One shares a powerful message to humanity from the Spiritual Hierarchy. http://thecomingone.org/

Dream of Things Unseen

In my last blog (What’s in a Name?) I was just excited. Today, I’m super excited! As the world holds its collective breath and hangs in the balance awaiting the results of the election, as each moment of anticipation passes and each fearful heart dips deeper into the pits of despair, I wallow around in a state of glee over the outcome. It doesn’t matter what it is. Whatever it is stands to wake us up to the realization that this is not the world that we deserve, and we have the power to change it into something better.

Today I am super excited because regardless of outcome, I hold the vision of the Phoenix rising from the ashes. If we view the problems of our country and the world through the eyes of fear, we will become more deeply enmeshed in the belief that there is no hope. Yet where there is destruction, there is rebirth.

But how do we rise from the ashes? How do we climb out of a hole so deep that we can barely see a faint glimmer of light to guide us out of the darkness?

We do it by reaching up the ladder of consciousness to embrace and create a vision of something better. We do it by harnessing the energy within and using it to draft the imagination into service on behalf of the creation of a new and improved version of our world.

When all else fails and I need to find an answer to a what-do-I-want question, I enlist the sure-fire, never-fail Ben Franklin approach to decision-making. By a simple process of drawing a line down the center of a piece of paper and listing on the left side all of the things that I don’t want and on the right side the things that I do want, by the time I reach the end of both columns on the page, my vision is crystal clear. Good old Ben. What a clever guy!

What do you want for yourself, for this world, for our country, for humanity, for the planet and all kingdoms that call it home? If you could write the script and paint a picture of a new future, how would it look? If you could eliminate all of the don’t wants and replace them with wants, what would be on your list? What kind of a world would you create?

Imagination is the beginning of vision, the birthplace of creation. Vision offers the glimmer of light that leads us out of the darkness. Vision is the switch that turns on the light of possibility along with the awareness that we are powerful, creative, wondrous beings capable of raising our individual and collective consciousness to a higher level. The thoughts born of imagination and seen through the eyes of vision help uplift the suffering, heal division, restore unity, and create a brand new world born of truth, beauty, and goodness. Such a world does not need guns, or a government that rules the people, or one that wrests control from citizens, or robs the population of freedom and joy.

We cannot control the outcome of an election. But we can control our thoughts. The ability and willingness to change how we see, to create a vision of something better than what seems to exist now, will change the outcome from despair to hope. But it is up to us, individually and collectively, to each one who harbors the faintest hope that something better is on the horizon to decide to join the consciousness revolution and raise our sights to a higher level.

I know that we have the power within us to do just that. I have faith and hope that humanity has awakened enough to join in an upward journey toward the return of unity and wholeness. I believe that our creative imagination and collective vision of restoration will bring us together into the light of a beautiful new world. And that’s why I’m super excited.

We are standing on the brink of possibility with a new book of history waiting to be written. We are the Soul of Humanity capable of creating a new story, a new reality, and we are powerful. We can imagine, we can envision, we can dream, we can achieve. Let’s join hands and hearts and just imagine!

On behalf of true seekers the world over, may we all channel and embrace the Don Quixote within ourselves and dream of turning the impossible into a dream of reality.

Note: The photo above is courtesy of New Waves of Light, a website designed by anonymous individuals around the world who share the intention of bringing light and love to a world of darkness and chaos. (newwavesoflight.org or NWOL.us)

Going Home to the Heart

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Today appears to be shaping up to be a headless-chicken kind of a day—the kind of hair-on-fire freak-out day that has me running around in a frenzy screaming for help. So much to do, so little time, so much to think about, where to begin?

My mind yanks me around by the burning hair and demands decisions—not my strong suit under the best of conditions—at least not on demand. I need time to think about things. I’ve noticed that if I think long enough, sometimes the problem disappears itself. I’m not sure if this is a result of procrastination, or if it wasn’t worth thinking about in the first place. Whatever. Today is just one of those days, and I wish it would go away.

It’s not an actual, serious crisis sort of day except to the extent that I have made it so in my head. A seed planted in my mind has suddenly grown out of control and threatens to strangle the life out of me. Jack and the Beanstalk are out to get me.

It makes me wonder about the world that lives in my head, an entire universe of my own making that cohabits with others on the planet just like me–family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, strangers—who live within the world of their own personal creation. Each one of us a universe unto ourselves, each the same, each so very different.

We decide what to think and believe, and we form opinions based upon those decisions, sometimes based on fact, sometimes on fantasy. We live our lives according to the choices we have made unless, or until something convinces us to change our minds. Free will is a wonderous thing until it clashes with the free will of others. Let the games begin.

Sometimes when I get a little tangled in the overgrowth of my mind, it gets confusing and my knee-jerk reaction is to get out of Dodge and head for the hills. Or go home to sit, suck my thumb, and stare into space for a spell until it dawns on me that there is a better way to deal with my creative mind imaginings than to invite chaos to reign. It’s called meditation. Ahh. Blessed relief.

Obviously, I cannot control what goes on in the universe created in the head of another, but I certainly have the power to choose the thoughts that I allow to roam around in my own head. I can stop long enough to evaluate the contents of my mind and decide if living life in hair-on-fire mode is to my liking, or if I am willing to allow overgrown beanstalks to take over my world.

In my personally designed universe, the pathway that leads from chaotic insanity to the oasis of the calming, peaceful presence of the Soul is my willingness to be willing to seek another way, a better way of living within the world of my mind.

There are Great Teachers, unseen Wise Ones who have traveled the path long before us, ever ready to guide and assist as we travel the rocky road that will lead us safely to the place where they dwell in peace. Though we may encounter countless universes along the way, we will discover that in the end, we are one world, one mind, one heart. May my universe join with all others in the love of the One.

Kumbaya

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The We Are the World blog Link was about a conflict between the Board of Directors and the residents, current front page news in the condo where I live. It gives me comfort to know that our problems pale in comparison to others. I’m told that in Florida there is barely a day that goes by without a news article outlining the ugly details of lawsuits between condo boards and residents. Heaven forbid we ever come close to such an extreme. Not on my watch.

A friend in our building who regularly reads Voices suggested that my kumbaya approach to problem solving is all very nice, but it doesn’t fix anything. Perhaps so. It is true that many blogs of the past few months end with kumbaya, the plea for unity, harmony, and peace in the world. There’s nothing wrong with a little kumbaya here and there. It’s good for the soul.

But she does have a point. How do we build a bridge from the idyllic dream of utopia across the broad expanse of disharmony and discontent to the safety on the other side? How do we move from kumbaya into practicality? I don’t have a clue what the experts might say—if in fact there are any—but in my world, it begins with an open mind, willingness, desire, and intention. Anything less and the bridge will be nothing more than a failed attempt ending in collapse. Everything begins in the mind first and becomes manifest through action taken out of imagination. The first step is to approach the problem with the intention of finding a solution, a sincere willingness to address it head on with an open mind, and a true desire to create an outcome that satisfies all parties involved. Kumbaya.

How many times have I chosen to launch into my ostrich act and stick my head in the sand rather than to a face a difficult problem? All too often. Where does it get me? Deeper in the sand. It takes great courage to muster up the inner gumption to look fear in the eye and take a risk. But courage is the foundation, and communication is the superstructure that will build the bridge that takes us safely across the chasm to the other side, where unity, harmony, and peace await in the idyllic land of utopia. Or Camelot. Your choice. You dream it, you intend it, you decide where you want to live. It’s all in the attitude.

So my friends, neighbors, and fellow travelers on the pathway of life, I bid you well. I pray you dream happy dreams of life as the way you would like it to be, I pray that when you are ready, you will effortlessly and easily manifest a life of your choosing. If we all work together, we can build the bridge and reach the safety of the other side. Kumbaya.

The Activist Hat – Again

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After a lengthy discussion with a 50-something friend who is mightily concerned about the state of the world, I see that it’s time to don my activist hat again. The depth of her fear about the future sent me into a depth of my own fear about the power of fear, and how much of it there in the world. It was an eye opener, a reminder that the best I can do for the world right now is to keep my head on straight, not allow darkness to take over my life, and urge one and all to wake up and see the light. On with the hat.

When I sit all smug and cozy with coffee in hand and feet up in my Lazygirl, it’s easy to believe that all is well in the world. But what about everyone else? What about the heartbreaking closed sign on the doors of my favorite Nordstrom where I worked when I was 50-something? What about the folks who wonder how they will feed their families, or if their kids will be shot in their beds, or if they’ll be done in by a virus?

In yesterday’s conversation, my friend expressed her deep concern about the future of our economy and about what would happen after the election. From her perspective, I could see that things indeed looked very dark, very depressing, and very bleak. Seeing the depth of her fear was what sparked my own. If her thinking is representative of a large majority of the population—and I think that it may be— we are in big trouble.

Our chat reminded me to remind myself and anyone else within reading distance or earshot that we must change our vision, we must change our minds, we must rearrange our thinking, we must change our focus, because if we don’t, the power of our own minds will indeed create the very thing that we fear the most.

To build a new and better world, we need to shift our thinking away from the horrific “what if” possibilities of decay and destruction and adopt a new belief system, one that embodies everything that we want, and nothing that we don’t. Yes, this is easier said than done, particularly when we face so much negativity on a daily basis, when we are forcefed nasty news by the media, and when it appears for all the world that there is no hope. It heightens the need for us to work harder.

There is hope. It lies within the heart and soul of each and every single one of us. We each bear the responsibility for snatching our world away from the clutches of the evil dark forces of the powerful and greedy, and put the power back where it belongs—into our own hands. But it requires all hands to do the job.

Yes, our world is in a miserable state of decay. But it is a necessary part of the evolutionary process that will make space for us to recreate something better, a hospitable, sustainable environment. It is all part of a Divinely orchestrated plan that is for our benefit. Together, we can do it—and we need all hands, all hearts, all minds, all souls on deck. A future built on fear is destined to collapse, but love will sustain us for eternity. Build on love, not fear.