Mon Sep 06, 2010
In our book section, you can order Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"...Oprah's Book of the Month.
~ Lewis L. Dunningham
Dear Hearts,
Are we aware that we have a choice about what attitude we bring to this day? We’ve all heard people say, “I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning!” But that’s a choice we make! We also can choose to begin our day with the thought, “Today, I’m getting up on the right side of the bed and it’s going to be a great day”! We can start our day waiting for the other shoe to fall or start our day expecting a beautiful new pair of shoes. It’s all our choice!
We have the opportunity to bring a positive attitude to this day. We have the opportunity to trust that there is a Power for Good in this Universe that continually works for our good. However, if our attitude is a negative one…it’s very difficult for us to recognize or receive that good!
What if we committed to having a positive attitude today…no matter what! So often we go through our day labeling everything that happens good or bad. Good news, bad news, good cup of coffee, bad cup of coffee, etc, etc., and our moods swings right along with our labeling. Each of us will go through this day with many petty trials and tribulations, but none of them are worth taking us into a down hill spiral.
No one can put us in a “bad” mood without our consent (though we like to think they can!). We have twenty-four irreplaceable hours ahead of us. Will we grouse our way through this day? Or will we choose to live positively? Today, it’s all about our choice.
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
/b>
Fri Sep 03, 2010
You can order Oprah Winfrey's favorite book, Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" in our book section.
song by John Denver in his tribute to Buckminster Fuller
Dear Hearts,
This is the day that a call has been sent out to each of us to fully play our part and participate in this thing called Life. Today is the day that we are asked to step up to the plate and look for what we can do for positive change in our own unique individuals worlds. Perhaps we think "..but what can one person do?"
Whether it has been Socrates, Plato, Buddha, Jesus, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Jonas Salk, Buckminster Fuller, the Dali Lama, etc. each of these individuals have stepped forward in their time to show us exactly what one person can do. Each of these individuals saw a need and they did their best to fill it -- they saw a hurt and they did their best to heal it.
We have been called at this moment to move into action on the planetary level and on the individual level ~ will we respond to the call or will we sluff it off thinking another will do it for us? Where in our homes, churches, offices, relationships, neighborhoods, cities, is their a need and how might we go about filling it? Who in our world is hurting and how might we give a helping hand to heal it? It's not about someone else stepping up to the plate. This is about us, about us being as Ghandi said, "the change we wish to see."
John Denver continues with his beautiful tribute,
What one man can do is change the world
And make it young again
This is what one man can do."
What will we do....today?
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Thu Sep 02, 2010
In our book section, you can order Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"...Oprah's Book of the Month and sign up for the class on this book,
Oprah Winfrey
Dear Hearts,
Often in times of trouble or sadness we see ourselves through tunnel vision. Our lives seem very small. We feel alone, deserted and in need. It’s as if our life has simply shrunk to fit whatever problems we are facing
Our life situation may loom so large, that we feel there is no way of overcoming it. At time such as these, when our lives seem to have collapsed in on us, we forget to ask for help. We have gotten lost in our human life, forgetting that who we are and what we stand on is so much bigger, so much more.
That is why being connected spiritually is so important for us. When we have a spiritual practice, on a daily basis we are given the opportunity to remember that there is our human self, but there is our spiritual self that is always so much more. When our human self and spiritual self are united there is nothing that can daunt us.
However, we live in a world where without daily spiritual reminders, we forget, we go to sleep, and we fall prey to a belief that we are powerless.
If we are feeling alone and lonely today, let’s remember that at our beck and call, there is help. When we sincerely use the words, “God help me.”, we will be amazed at the chain of events that begin to occur in our lives.
When our human self is integrated with who we are on the spiritual level, there is nothing can vanquish us, nothing or no-one that can defeat us, because we understand that if God be for us, nothing can be against us.
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Wed Sep 01, 2010
In our book section, you can order Oprah Winfrey's favoriete booy by Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth".
~ Karen Armstrong…“The Spiral Staircase”
Dear Hearts,
It’s wonderful to have heroes. Jesus is a great and mighty hero, as is Moses, the Buddha, Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, etc. The mission of all great heroes isn’t just to inspire and uplift us, the mission of all great heroes is to show what’s possible for us.
The great saints and avatars throughout the ages have all issued us an invitation… not to worship them but to walk the path they have tread spreading our unique talents and gifts along the way.
Today, we have the opportunity to think about the lives of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mohandes K. Ghandi and Mother Teresa, etc. and we have the opportunity to re-commit ourselves to choosing the path of the great and mighty peacemakers. Each one of us are invited to bring peace to others and to our surroundings.
We have the opportunity to walk the path of the compassionate hearts and are invited to bring compassion into the lives of those we encounter. We are invited to walk the path of the great lovers of this earth and we are invited to anchor love in all that we say and do.
The hero is never out there ~ the hero resides within each of us. It is our journey to call forth that hero within us and go forward within our world doing heroic acts of love, compassion, forgiveness and kindness. We are here to leave our own heroic legacy… and we are invited to begin our very own hero’s journey today.
TODAY'S AFFIRMATION
I call forth the hero in me and know that I, too, am called to be a peacemaker and to anchor love and tolerance in all of my affairs.
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Tue Aug 31, 2010
In our book section, you can order Oprah Winfrey's favorite book ~ Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth".
Dr. Martin Luther King
Dear Hearts,
How often do we become overwhelmed when we think about the dreams or the projects we have? We ask ourselves the question, “how”? How could I ever accomplish that? How could I ever get from where I am now to where I want to be? HOW questions will discourage and overwhelm us faster than any other question we might ask…for in asking “how” we are basically seeing the enormity of our dream or project and it seems simply to much for us to tackle.
Instead of asking “how?” the question to ask ourselves is “what”? What is one thing I can do today or this hour or this moment to move toward my dream or to finish this project?
Many of my clients have had dreams of getting a college degree…yet when they asked themselves “how?” they got over whelmed, visualizing all the work they would have to do…therefore, they never began.
However, when my clients asked the question “what?” ~ what one step could they do toward that college degree, they told me that they immediately got focused and the answer came easily.
What do we do to earn or finish my college degree or to change careers or to improve my relationships? We do it one step at a time. This, then, becomes a doable goal. Those that asked themselves the “what” question rather than the “how” question always moved successfully toward completion.
So today, what is one step that we might take to move us toward the fulfillment of our dream? Dr. King had a dream. The dream didn’t manifest at once…it has taken many, many steps and the dream is now manifest.
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Mon Aug 30, 2010
In our book section, you can order, Oprah Winfrey's favorite book, Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth".
Albert Einstein
Dear Hearts,
Many times when we're in the middle of a difficult situation we focus so intently on the difficulty that we become lost in it, as though we’re lost in a maze with no way out. Einstein said, "We can never solve the problem at the level of thinking that created the problem". But how do we get out of problematic thinking when we're in the midst of difficulty?
We can start by taking our attention away from the problem - stop thinking about the problem - just for a moment if that's all we can manage. Stand back as if we’re observing the difficulty and ask ourselves the question, "What is the opportunity here?" At first the answer may come back to us, as "no how, no way is there an opportunity in this situation”.
If we stay with it, truly intent on finding the opportunity, we will eventually be able to see it. When we start to focus on “what’s the opportunity here?” a positive shift begins to occur within us.
All major religions believe that God is everywhere present. If God is everywhere present then it stands to reason that God is also within the problem, not as the problem, but as the opportunity within the problem and that opportunity offers us an invitation into greater insight, growth and compassion.
Today, instead of letting a difficulty consume us, let’s simply ask ourselves, “Where is my attention?” If our attention is still lost in the problem, let’s shift our attention and look for the opportunity.
When we start catching a glimpse of the opportunity, then we’re no longer at the level of thinking that created the difficulty. We are now thinking from a higher level, from a different purview and from that higher level of thought, we are able to move from the dark of the difficulty to the light of the opportunity that is being presented to us.
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Fri Aug 27, 2010
In our book section, you can order Oprah Winfrey's favorite book...Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth.
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dear Hearts,
Most of our highly self-critical thoughts are not our thoughts at all. They are old historical thought patterns that we continue to carry with us into today's thinking.
Of the 100,000+ thoughts that we'll think today, how many of those thoughts will be positive, life affirming and empowering thoughts about ourselves? The highly self-critical thoughts we carry with us are often so ingrained in our thinking that we never stop to examine them.
We forget to remember who we really are and what the spiritual truth of us really is. When a self-critical thought comes up, stop for a minute, become conscious of the thought, examine it and let’s ask ourselves "Is this thought really true of me today?".
Remember that God loves us and has called each of us into being and that our lives have meaning and purpose. Let’s remember that we are special and unique individuations of God.
We have a choice now to live our life in a different manner through carefully choosing the thoughts that will expand us and affirm the real truth about us.
Our thoughts define the quality of our life and it’s up to us to choose only those thoughts that expand our conscious awareness of who we are and what we’re about. Any highly self-critical thoughts we may have (beyond a wholesome discipline with ourselves) are false and extremely self-defeating.
Today, I put the Law of Attraction to work by making a conscious choice to think only those thoughts that empower and strengthen me. I will change my thinking and I will change my life. Thank you God and so it is!
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Thu Aug 26, 2010
In our book section, you can order Oprah Winfrey's favorite book ~ Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth".
St. John of the Cross
Dear Hearts,
Each one of us has a primary purpose -- and that purpose is to see how well can we love throughout each and every moment of the day! However, let's think of all the things that come up during our daily activities to pull us from that primary purpose. Perhaps we wake up each morning with the intention set that today, we will be loving, patient and kind individuals.
The next moment the phone rings and someone says something that thoroughly irritates us, the children are fighting, our boss is cranky, traffic is the worst its been in five years, that big deal we've been waiting for just fell through, malls and stores are jammed with shoppers and someone just pulled ahead of us into that parking space we'd been waiting for! Our patience is worn thin -- and love has just flown out of the window of our consciousness.
Let's take a deep breath and perhaps for a moment we can become the observers of our life. In many ways, our lives are the ultimate reality show. It's as though we are asked at the beginning of each day, "All right, can you be loving through this obstacle? You can?
Great, now let's up it a notch, let's see if you can be loving even through this obstacle" and so it goes throughout our days. Each incident that occurs is simply an invitation to see if we can be loving in spite of whatever is taking place around us or seemingly to us.
There are hundreds of thousands of documented near death experiences. An overwhelming majority of individuals report that as they cross to the other side for those few precious moments in time, only one question is ever asked. The question is simply, "How well did you love?"
At the end of this day, with all of its challenges and added busyness of the holiday season, let's assume that question is posed to us ~"How well did you love". What will our answer be?
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Wed Aug 25, 2010
In our book section, you can order Oprah Winfrey's favorite book ~ Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth".
Chalanda Sai Ma
Dear Hearts,
As we go through our days, we constantly define ourselves by saying and thinking, “I am___________” (we fill in the blank accordingly). If we reviewed our “I am___________” statements, would we find that they are reflective of the dignity, wonder, abundance and beauty that aptly describe a child of God?
Yet, how many times have we made “I am___________” statements and have filled in the blank with something very negative and degrading. Our “I am___________” statements define who we are. Our subconscious mind works to bring each and every “I am __________” statement into form in our lives.
That is why spiritual practice is so important. Through our spiritual practice we are continually reminded of the truth of who and what we are. We are reminded that God doesn’t create anything that is not whole, perfect and complete. We are reminded that God so loves us that God created us out of Itself, that our lives have meaning and purpose and that everything we need is within us.
So, as we state our “I am ___________” statements, let’s remember that we are defining ourselves in a most powerful way. Today, as we start to say “I am____________” let’s pause and think about what we want to be. If we want to be...powerful, successful, abundant, radiant, loved, joyful, harmonious, peaceful, etc., then, we can fill in the blank accordingly. We can change our lives through these very powerful “I am___________” statements.
So what will our first "I am __________" statement be today?
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Tue Aug 24, 2010
In our book section, you can order Oprah's Winfrey's favorite book ~ Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth".
a state of mind..."
Spinoza
Dear Hearts,
What would happen if today we were to invite our family and/or our friends to take an imaginary walk down the streets of our mind? What would they find?
Would our family/friends feel the deep and abiding peace we all long for? Would they see beautiful images that had been created by our thoughts? Would they feel love by the self-talk they heard? Would they be walking down clean, neat streets ....meaning no lingering resentment, no anger, no prejudice? Would they feel safe and secure because loving thoughts surrounded them?
Would they feel encouraged and uplifted by the life affirming message that continually resounded in the chambers of our minds? Would they hear the echo of thoughts of wisdom and clarity? Would they feel joy?
Let’s make a decision to tidy-up the streets of our minds. If our thoughts don't reflect the peace, the goodness and the wisdom of God then let’s simply make the decision to change our thinking and therefore change our lives.
Today, I insure that the street of my mind is a place of abiding peace, enduring love and joy. The street of my mind is a place of great beauty. Thank you, God and so it is!
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
| NEXT page |