Faith – 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!

Calming the Storm

It’s a challenge to find peace amidst the craziness of today’s world, have you noticed? This morning as I was doing my best to calm the storm roiling around in my head, I remembered a poem that I read a couple of years ago on the New Waves of Light website that brought blessed relief from the inner turmoil that threatens peace of mind. I share it with you with the hope that it might help do the same for you. These days, we all need as much peace as we can get, wherever we may find it. May your heart be filled with love and light.

RESTING IN STILLNESS

Come and rest your mind, Dear One.

Rest and be still awhile. Let Us refresh you.

Let Us cleanse the window of your soul that you may see clearly.

Allow all that troubles you to slip away and create a void in which you may bask in quiet peace and be renewed.

Know that the void within is being filled with Love and Light that cannot be contained.

Allow it to flow out from you into the world around you, lighting everything that surrounds you.

This is the purpose of sitting in quiet stillness Dear One. There is nothing to be done but to become an empty vessel into which the radiance of the Universe can pour its light through you and be made manifest in you.

There is nothing to DO. Just BE. Rest and be still awhile.

NOTE: This post is generously shared courtesy of https://nwol.us. Please feel to repost or share it with anyone you know who may be in need of a little added inner peace.

A Deep Breath and a Little Courage

Jump out of an airplane and free fall through my fear? Yikes! That’s exactly how it felt on that February day in 2018 when I took my heart in my hands and pushed the publish button on my very first blog.

First time anything’s can be terrifying—the first day of school, a new job, or meeting face to face with an online date. Brian Hannon’s blog, Birth of a Blogger, catapulted me back to the moment when I decided that it was about time to take the leap across the chasm of fear and face the unknown by starting a blog—then muster up the courage to push the publish button. Double yikes!

My launch into the blogging world was particularly frightening because my writing style is often personal and self-revealing. Occasional self-deprecation leads readers to wonder if I’m joking to make a point, or if I’m serious, or check all of the above. It opens the door for readers to view my ramblings through the lens of their own inner vision, which can lead to various interpretations of who they think I am. Sometimes they get it right—sometimes not. Sometimes I don’t get it right myself and that’s okay, because through it all, I have learned that no matter what others may think of me, it is only important what I think of myself.

I invite you to take a trip across the chasm of fear into faith, knowing that no matter what you do or how you do it, it’s all a part of a journey toward wholeness. I invite you to experience my first free fall into the unknown world of blogging. I hope you’ll tag along and enjoy the ride. Who knows—we may even meet somewhere in the open space of joy along the way.

Ready? Here we go!

It’s About Time.

Wheee!

Light is Winning

Greetings dear friends and fellow hope seekers! I could not resist blogging this powerful poem from an anonymous light worker because it lifts my heart and gives me hope. And let’s face it—who couldn’t use a healthy shot of hope during these dark and distressing times that we live in? I hope that you enjoy as much as I do.

LIGHT IS WINNING

You cannot see us, but we see you.

There are not weapons nor evil enough

To destroy the growing army of

lightworkers in the world.

We cannot be defeated by dark forces,

For in us there are no names, no faces.

We have no government to corrupt or destroy,

no one face that represents us.

There is no known target, for

we are everywhere.

We are unseen faces in a crowd,

quietly going about the business

of living our lives and fulfilling

our mission to shine light

into the corners and crevices of darkness

to expose corruption and injustice.

You cannot destroy us because you cannot find us.

We are your nemesis.

How can you annihilate what you cannot see?

We are invisible. We are invincible. We are inspired.

We are here, we are everywhere, we are strong.

We need no organization because

we are guided by the light and love

of Wise Ones who have gone before us.

You may destroy our form,

but not our spirit, for we shall live on.

When one leaves more will come.

Another and another.

We are fierce warriors of light

committed to the mission of destroying the dark.

We will die that others might live.

We see you, we know you.

You can hide no longer,

for our light will expose your misdeeds

and you will flee for your lives.

We are nameless and we are faceless;

we are young and we are old.

We hide in plain sight, everywhere present.

You cannot see us but we see you.

The earth is our home and we its custodians.

We will protect it and keep it safe in the name of love.

We are an army of lightworkers.

We cannot be defeated for we have already won.

If you are among the fortunate,

our light will transform you

and you will become one with us.

Written in the name of love by a faceless, nameless lightworker

The Waiting Room

Déjá-vu. If you’re curious about who you are, try waiting for a while.

There are nearly three hours to wile away at the dealership where my car is being serviced. I don’t mind. It’s what I do best—sitting, waiting . . .

There are six of us in the room: two are on computers, two are on phones, and one is punching keys on an iPad. My computer is on my lap as I decide what to do next. iPad guy is wagging his head back and forth in what I can only assume is a response to the bad news that he is reading. The computer people are plugged up with ear buds. Intermittently, they drag out their iPhones for a quick look and poke away at keys. The room is completely devoid of eye contact.

Good grief. Where have we all gone? Off into a world of cyberspace as far away as we can get from one another. The cyber scene in front of me prompted me to put away my toys and opt for reading a book instead, Finding My Father’s Faithby a favorite blogger, Wynne Leon. A real, live, honest-to-God book with a cover and paper pages to turn. Another talented author, artist and blogger friend, Nancy Wait, makes the most of her name as she wiles away time spent on the subway by sketching marvelous images of sleepers dozing peacefully as she whips through the dark underbelly of New York City.

I sit and cool my jets while hanging out in a room full of noncommunicative people quietly absorbed in their various versions of electronics. Years ago in my Honda waiting room before electronics hijacked the world’s attention, quite a different story played itself out. Folks hid away in their inner worlds reading newspapers or books or like me, sat quietly with eyes closed. My closed-eye peace was interrupted on one waiting-room day when a mom asked her small daughter if she’d like to watch TV. No matter that the kid was peacefully absorbed in reading her own book. Drat. So much for enjoying a moment of quiet stillness.

The TV didn’t work. Thank goodness. From nowhere, the quiet readers sprang forth to assist, while I experienced an instant sense of resentment over the soon-to-be interruption. I consoled myself with the idea that this sweet little girl would probably enjoy something quiet, soothing—but no. Instead, she opted for a loud, violent scenario in which a building suddenly morphed into a ginormous unbelievably noisy and threatening robot intent upon destroying anything in its path. So much for assumptions. So much for reverie. So much for my wishes and my desires. Did anyone ask how I felt about this sudden shift in the disturbance of my reality? No. Did they care? No. Did I? Definitely!

As I sit in today’s Hyundai waiting room and wonder why I am writing this blog the answer creeps into awareness. It reminds me that life is like a waiting room—full of people who are strangers to us, each lost within his/her own head, each separated from one another by virtue of what goes on in the world of personal thought. It is easy to feel helpless in the face of situations that we cannot control, and frustrated by the decisions made by others without our permission—decisions that have a personal impact upon us. So often we are at the mercy of those around us in a desired world just beyond our reach.

My personal waiting room is a wonderful place to see an infinite variety of souls and scenarios—some to my liking, some not. What a wonderful place to just sit and observe the contents of my world reflected back to me inside of my head. What a perfect opportunity to look into the crumpled fragments of my own inner workings and take care of the pieces that need a bit of smoothing out.

Thank goodness for the kindhearted souls among us who rush in to be helpful—even if their help is not necessarily needed, wanted or welcomed by all. They provide me with a rich opportunity to look at attitudes and feelings that spring forth as a result of their good intentions. I may not be able to control the acts of others, but I can control my attitude. I can decide whether I would prefer to react in anger or to respond with love and forgiveness. I can choose acceptance and peace of mind, or I can choose judgment and resentment.

Who am I? I am who I choose to be.

Déjá-vu indeed. I’ve been in this waiting room for a very long time, and I think that it might be a very long time before I get back into my car and drive off into the sunset. I choose to be ready. While I wait, I want to do everything I can to graduate to the place where waiting rooms are nonexistent, and nothing exists but the unspeakably beautiful glory of what awaits us on the other side of the veil. Now that’s something worth waiting for!

As a final note, I’m happy to proclaim that this blog was started in the waiting room yesterday, finished in the Lazygirl today, and escaped the risk of being lost in the dumpster tomorrow (here). There’s hope for me yet. There’s hope for everything, friends. Keep the faith—and add your light to the vision of a waiting room filled with love, peace, joy, truth, beauty. Don’t forget to factor in the eye contact that allows us to truly see and appreciate another—and behold the best in all.

Hopes, Dreams, and Expectations

Okay, I confess—I am a little disappointed—a rather uncharacteristic feeling in the face of my usual Pollyanna worldview. Life on my planet is bass-ackwards. I recognize, of course, that my mild disappointment is but a drop in the ocean compared to current world events, but still—it’s my drop, my ocean, my planet. So in the overall scheme of things, my mini-discouragement doesn’t really matter very much, does it? Or does it?

So I ask myself—what is the source of this momentary dismay?

Well, my follow-up appointment on the status of my shattered patella dashed any hope of being sprung from the cumbersome knee mobilizer that I’ve been sleeping with and dragging around behind my walker for the past six weeks. Instead, I was sentenced to another six weeks of same old-same old. Bummer. The good news is that healing is much better than expected, surgery is off the table, and physical therapy can begin next week. Focus on the donut, Julia—not the hole.

Then, the dream of soaring sales of my newly released book, Voices: Who’s in Charge of the Committee in My Head, is—for the moment at least —nothing more than a mere pipe dream, but hope springs eternal. Perhaps reality manifests only when it receives a little help from the dreamer.

At the onset of my first six-week sentence in the Lazygirl, I had high hopes for a miraculous transformation from flawed human persona to heavenly angel with ginormous wings. Apparently, I slept through the first opportunity, so I have been given a second chance. That’s the thing with us humans, I figure. We are given endless second chances and opportunities to move ahead on our way toward miraculous transformation until we figure out how to get it right.

Some of us are simply slow learners. Well, I hope I get it right this time around so that I can be sprung from my knee trap and released back into the wild abandon that lives behind the wheel of my car. Meanwhile, I’ll do my best to do my best. I’ll attend to business, write blogs, dream dreams of healed knees and soaring book sales, and cross stuff off of my list of things to do—all the stuff that I promised myself I’d do during the first six weeks, but didn’t. Man, is that ever a long list.

Well, at least these are the things that I say I will do. But will I? Ah—therein lies the question. Can I be trusted to keep the promises that I make to myself? Have I followed up on my hopes and dreams in the past? If I fail to live up to my own expectations, will I become my own judge and jury, or will I simply become an observer and say, “Huh. Well would you look at that? Maybe there’s a better way to do it in the the next round.”

So again, my inner voice (the noisy one) launches into overdrive with questions that seem to defy answers. Does my disappointment really matter in the overall scheme of things? Do my thoughts and feelings make a difference in the world? Do my hopes, dreams, and expectations have an impact on my life, or on the lives of others? Where is the quiet Voice of Reason that has answers to these mysterious questions when I need It?

Oh, We are here, patiently awaiting your realization that you have wandered away for a spell. We know that you are aware of your wanderings, and that you have allowed distractions to lure you away from your inner being; We know that you feel as if you have disappointed yourself yet again. Your discouragement comes not from outer circumstances, but from within the part of you that yearns to reunite with your True Self. Your salvation will come when you realize that the only way for you to be sprung (to use your word) back into freedom is to reaffirm your commitment to doing those things which you know are in your own best interests, and in the best interests of the world.

In your wanderings, you have temporarily lost sight of your mission and purpose. We encourage you to reignite the flame of expectancy. So dear one, hope your hopes, and dream your dreams, and know that the power and energy of your True Self will fuel their manifestation. Coupled with faith, you cannot fail.

Know that We love and support you; We stand behind you always; We are ever ready to be the wind beneath your wings as your soar toward the highest and best within yourself. You have as many opportunities as you will ever need to realize your True Self, and we joyfully await your arrival at the ultimate destination of the Soul.

Thank you, dear Friends, for helping me to reconnect with my Self. As I do so, it suddenly occurs to me that my one drop in the ocean does indeed affect the entire ocean. Meanwhile, should I become lost amidst the waves again, I trust that you will come and find me.

If the focus of my mind becomes the reality of my world, then what is it that I wish to manifest? Well for starters, how about an ocean of love?

That sounds like a mighty good place to start, right?

And by the way, I am happy to report that as I come to the end of a newly-written blog, yesterday’s disappointment has morphed into today’s gratitude for second chances. Six more weeks to manifest hopes and dreams. Hallelujah. Ground hog day lives on!

A final note from a reluctant author: self-promotion is the bane of this writer’s existence, but I’m going to do it anyway. After all, how else will hopes and dreams become reality if I’m afraid to give them a little push? So, here goes folks: Please check out my book on Amazon. Voices: Who’s in Charge of the Committee in My Head? For more information, see Something New is on the Way (October 31, 2021). I thank you so much!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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)

We Shall Overcome

I didn’t know that my bed had an eject button until 3:20 am this morning, when I was suddenly pushed out of it and urged to go sit down to record a vivid dream that woke me out of a sound sleep. Dreams sometimes have a way of confusing and clarifying things all at once. This one assured me beyond a shadow of a doubt that—though the world around us seems absurdly terrifying at the moment—this too shall pass and we will be safe and survive. But in the meantime, we may need to burn away a bit of the dross of the old in order to get from where we are now to the place we’d rather be. That would be the terrifying part.

I was inside the White House in a room filled with people, when we heard a warning that a bomb placed inside a fireplace in the room where we stood would soon detonate. I turned to look for the bomb, and saw it just a split second before it exploded. Its blast rocked the entire house but no one inside the room was harmed or injured in any way. Rather than allowing panic to prevail, others from throughout the house gathered together with those in the room and joined in chorus to sing a heartfelt song of protection, faith, safety, security, and solidarity. The response to this frightening occurrence struck me as odd; rather than running for our lives, we stood banded together as one in song, drawing strength from one another.

Outside, the fire raged and engulfed the entire exterior of the building, but the inner part of the house was left untouched. The view through the windows was completely obscured by the orange and yellow flames that completely engulfed the building. We could not see anything beyond the walls in which we stood. Inside, we were safe and protected from the effect of the intensity of the burning that threatened our lives.

We stood steady and strong, and eventually the fire burned itself out. From the white ash left behind, there arose an unimaginably glorious new world, shimmering with light and beauty, governed by benevolent leaders focused upon the common good and the welfare of all. In this glorious new world, we would live in harmony and cooperation with one another and with our leaders, working together to utilize our considerable resources for the benefit our new world and all those within it.

How clever are these dreams. How fitting that this scenario should take place within the house of the President of the United States, the symbolic home of a country that holds the hope of the future of the entire world in its hands. How perfect that it represents the inner sanctuary of security and protection that dwells within each one of us, if we will only choose to nestle gently within the warmth and safety of its embrace. Though that promise appears dim as fires burn around us, we are assured that beyond our awareness there awaits the new world for which we yearn.

It takes a very strong person to not be affected by these exceptionally difficult and challenging times. It is hard to avoid looking out the window of despair and watch as the world burns. That which threatens the hope within the heart of each one of us will one day pass away, leaving us safe and secure within the depths of our true selves.

Have faith, my friends. Never have the words echoed from the past by Martin Luther King been truer than there are right now, for we are protected by powerful forces greater than the appearance of the flames of destruction. We need only stay centered within the safety of the Soul, and focus on that which will emerge from the ashes of a past that no longer serves. We shall overcome.

The Star of the Show

Yay! I finally got it—I think.

This morning I was kicked out of bed at 4:00 a.m. by an intense need to write it down before I forgot what I got. Wait—write what down? I already forgot what I forgot! Rats—there I go again. I forget a lot. Not just the little things, like where I put the butter, but the big things too, like who the heck I think I am. I’m gonna have to blame it all on the weird cosmic energy that’s bombarding the planet at the moment.

Oh, right! This morning what I finally got is that who I am isn’t who I think I am. Right. I knew that. The message finally became clear as I was pondering the blogs that I’ve written, their general overall content, message, tone, and theme. It’s hard to see one’s self through the eyes of another, because others perceive in ways that may or may not match the truth of the one being perceived. So writing a blog as self-revealing and personal as this one can sometimes be—how do you say—scary because vulnerability begets vulnerability and heaven forbid, somebody should see me in a way that would be embarrassing if I were to be found out.

Does a playwright or novelist ever wonder how an audience might perceive the characters that she has written into a play or a book? How would I see myself if I were the audience watching myself act out the part of the main character in the story?

Oh but wait! I am the character and the script writer. I’m the one in the starring role of my own one-woman show, standing on stage front and center playing the part of Julia, the character of many faces: the strong, weak-willed, self-confident, insecure, disorganized, confident, befuddled, self-serving, generous, strong willed, stubborn, indecisive, character who is apt to be both lovable and fearsome all in the same breath.

This confusing role could drive an actor to the brink of insanity, lost in a head-spinning morass of confusion and self-criticism all the while trying to sort out what’s real and remember to walk the dog and pick up her socks all at the same time. Today she’s the confident, strong one. Tomorrow she’s sniveling and insecure. Today she’s spiritual and whoops—wait a minute—now she’s bordering on egomaniacal. It’s the role of a lifetime. Or two, or two hundred. Small wonder such a character might imagine herself unworthy or deserving of anything worthwhile in life, what with all of these unexplained and unexpected variables cluttering up the inside of her psyche.

But it’s all only a play, isn’t it? Well, isn’t it?

When I first started my writing adventure, self-deprecation crept into the scene and became incorporated into the theme of the plot. Along with that came the perception by others that I may have a little problem here and there that needed a bit of fixing. Some viewed my self-deprecating humor as a sad commentary about my sense of self worth, concluding that I was somehow lacking in something that they were not. I, on the other hand, saw self-deprecation sprinkled with a touch of humor as healing and relatable because under the skin we all share the same humanness and are therefore subject to the same self-tyranny that leads to self-sabotage. But beneath the fear of whatever others might think, I saw writing and acting my part as simply a role I agreed to play while I’m here on planet earth. My job is not to judge my part but to play it however best I can and let the chips fall where they may. They never said it would be easy.

What I got was that however I choose to define myself, whatever aspect of the character that I play at any given moment, I am none of these things and I am all of these things wrapped into one grand and glorious ball of humanness that looks like a body, but in truth is a spark of the divine. While separated by bodies, we are spirit beneath the flesh and bones.

As I roll toward an end of my little one-act play here, I wonder—did I say what I meant to say? Did I get my point across? Will I be misunderstood? Will someone perceive my willingness to be vulnerable as weakness? Or will they see it as strength? Will I be perceived as I wish to be perceived? Does it matter how I am seen by others, or what anyone thinks of me? Do I really care? I guess that would depend upon which character you are asking.

I’m not sure about the answer to that question, but it really doesn’t matter because it is what it is, and will be perceived however it is perceived. If somebody benefits, then I will rejoice because my work here is done, at least for the moment. Heaven only knows what the next assignment will be, but whatever it is, I am looking forward to it. We all appear on the stage of life with a script, a part to play, a character to embody while living our role, but a forgiving director allows for improvisation if we need a redo to get it right. But in the end, the secret to the mystery of the plot is that we just can’t get it wrong because we are students in an acting school directed by a teacher who refuses to flunk anyone out of the class. We get to repeat, improvise, repeat, ad lib, repeat until one day we wake up, see the light, and get it right.

Speaking of the light . . .

Tomorrow is December 21^st, and the curtain will rise on a new show that has been in the production stages for eons. From what I hear, it’s going to be quite a grand light show and all I can say about that is—keep your eye focused on the light, stand steady, stand strong, relax and enjoy the show. It’s all good.

Walking into a New World

Many years ago, I had a dream with an impact so profound that it gave me the courage, energy, and strength to make a major change in my life, to end a toxic marriage, uproot my life, and move from one coast to another in the sunrise of my senior years. At the time, it felt like walking a tightrope above a deep chasm in a hurricane without benefit of a net.

In those very dark years, I was stuck in a quagmire of unhappiness, despair, and hopelessness, paralyzed by fear that blinded me to the possibility of any form of escape into a better future. Things were looking very bleak indeed, and I seriously questioned my ability to survive in my current circumstances. It is reminiscent of the collective experience of humanity that we face today.

As we navigate through these deeply troubling times, I feel inspired to share this dream again, (Gateway) this time as a metaphor, in the hope that it may give others the hope that these chaotic times will come to a halt and be replaced by a new and better future.

Again I find myself standing at the dark end a bridge in a real-time remake of Groundhog Day, watching in horror as my world falls apart before my very eyes, wondering about my ability to survive. Then it was personal. Now it’s global.

Today you and I hold in our hands both individually and collectively, the gift of choice, for it is up to each one of us, to decide whether or not we wish to stay on the dark side of suffering and pain, or if we want to join forces with others determined to gather the will to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and move forward into a new and improved future. The decision rests in my hands, as it rests in yours.

I sometimes catch myself thinking about the current plight of humanity, and realize how very easy it is to become caught up in the fear that runs rampant throughout our society and indeed, the world. It is tempting to fall victim to the belief that all is lost and there is no hope, much as I experienced those many years ago in a dying marriage.

On the ego-driven human side of the bridge, we are ruled by materialism and greed and live at the mercy of those who seek power and wealth at our expense. On the Divine side, love rules, a new world awaits.

Our hope of survival depends upon our ability to shift our attention away from the evil that seeks control by fostering fear of the future to confuse us. Instead, our hope of survival lies in our ability to turn a blind eye to the dark side and develop an intention to rewrite our own future using the power of our collective imagination to create the vision of a new and better world. The future of the world is changed one mind at a time.

Wait! Time out! For some reason, this blog has wandered off track and can’t find it’s way back. It has been days of trying, and for some reason, I can’t find a satisfying conclusion. Why is that, I wonder? Am I trying to hard? Am I listening to the voice of ego rather than to the voice of Spirit? Is my ego trying to convince me that I’m doing it wrong? That I’ll never get it right? What’s the story?

Is that what we are all doing these days—listening to the voice that tells us that everything is wrong and nothing is right? Is it that conning little voice that feeds on the fake conspiracy theories that we read on social media telling us that evil rules and all hope is lost? Isn’t that just exactly what the evil-doing power mongers want us to believe to weaken us and keep us off balance?

Maybe so. Maybe it’s time for us to take our power back. Maybe it’s time for us to stand up for ourselves, shine our individual and collective light into the darkness and flush out those who seek everything for themselves by stealing everything from the rest of us.

Speaking of walking from one side to another, this wasn’t the path I had intended to take when I started this blog, but then I am always willing to admit that I never know what’s coming. It’s kind of life itself, isn’t it? We start out going in one direction and somehow find ourselves headed in another. Sometimes the path is good, sometimes it needs tweaking. We need some tweaking now friends, some serious tweaking. We need willing souls, disciples, do-gooders, kind-hearted, light-bearing, well-meaning, God loving souls to join forces to spread around the importance of turning away from the dark side and walk hand in hand toward the light. Most especially, we need to find a way to help folks who are captured by the darkness of fear to take a peek around and find a glimmer of light. If the rest of us will shine bright enough, we will help prisoners of the dark escape into the light.

That means you. That means me. That means every single solitary soul who is invested in the best interest of humanity, the planet, and every creature that dwells upon it. The world is changed one mind at a time. One light joined with many will light up the entire world and irradiate darkness, and when that happens, miracles happen. We hold the power.

This time as we walk across the bridge to the Divine, we have a safety net. We walk together toward a new and better future, we have each other, and we have the power of the Light enfolding and protecting us. Together we will stand strong, stand steady, and we will reach the other side in a blaze of triumphant glory.

The Sound of Guidance

I hopped into the car with my big bowl of fruit salad and headed off to into the countryside to enjoy a nice visit with family. I had been forewarned of road closures and was well armed with careful instructions and my trusty GPS which soon gave out, leaving me with an ominous feeling of lostness along with a sense of mounting panic.

At a red light I saw my granddaughter hanging out of the passenger’s window of my daughter’s car frantically waving to get my attention. Ahh. Saved. They’ll know where we are going. The light changed and off we go, but a white pickup truck wedged itself between the two of us, and while she raced ahead, he poked. I had a few expletives deleted going on in my head as I willed him to hurry up, get out of my way, or disappear himself off on the next turn. It didn’t happen. He just stuck like a turtle on molasses while my daughter disappeared off into the distance.

Finally, things seemed to improve until we came upon an unexpected road closure and had to turn around and detour around the detour without any detour signs. All of us had lost GPS as well as reliable phone communication. Meanwhile, I still haven’t lost that $#$@#$ pickup. By now it is obvious that we are all hopelessly lost on country roads and I have lost any hope that we will ever get where we’re going.

Then, miraculously, we come across another granddaughter who joins the caravan and leads us safely to our destination where we arrive over a half an hour late. Damned white pickup is still with us. We park, get out of our cars in various states of temperament ranging from anger to hysteria. Mine was hysteria when I discovered that white-truck guy is my former son-in-law. I’ve been mentally screaming at him, while he was mentally screaming at my daughter trying to tell her that she was going the wrong way. Another family adventure to laugh about for years to come.

In my morning-after armchair recap, it occurs to me that sometimes I have gone along in life blindly putting my faith in a leader who is clueless. Sometimes I turn my power over to another who I think might know more than I do, giving my authority away to someone who may not have the best interests of myself or others at heart. Sometimes I place my misdirected anger at some poor unsuspecting soul who is just trying to get to his own destination while I am prodding from behind urging him to hurry up, willing him to go somewhere, anywhere to get out of my way. Sometimes I make a lot of assumptions, make a lot of mistakes, and take a lot of wrong turns.

Too often in life I have placed my faith in external systems like GPS—a Global Positioning System—rather than in my own personal GPS—Guidance Protection Service. In searching for a destination, my external system failed, but my internal system guided me to “accidentally” find my family caravan and arrive safely at our destination.

Let this be a lesson to me to relax, trust, and remember that even though I may think otherwise, I am never lost. I am always guided and protected by loving Beings who do indeed have my best interests are heart and whose intention and purpose it is to guide me safely to my destination. However in the world does one have enough gratitude to say thank you for such a blessing?