Envision Anew

Another Shift

2009-01-20T22:00:00.004-05:00

Hi - if you're visiting this blog from a link other than from our new blog, we should let you know, we've moved the blog!
we'll leave this here a while, since we had some great conversations around some of these posts - but we've shifted our attention to here:
http://envisionanew.wordpress.com/

You know, trying to consolidate and simplify ~ moved by the Spirit :)

Hope you'll come visit us in our new digs - it's kinda sparse right now, but with your help and interactions, it will grow.

See you there!

The Long Rant - unedited...

2009-01-10T02:36:00.008-05:00

Most of the books & articles I have read about changing social structures - you know, for "change" - actually describe more of what we've been doing for centuries, that we know does not work, proclaim to know is not working, and that it must change. But what many, if not most (trying to think of an example of why not All - "I'll have to get back to ya on that!") people are using the same thought process, just using a different language to describe it as if it were something new.

What's the supposed Einstein quote people like to use: you can't solve a problem from the same perspective that created the problem. OK, wildly paraphrased, perhaps. (I should go look it up & get it right - remind me later, ok?)

But it serves as my segue to this: NOTHING will elicit genuine change until we release our attachment to our old ideas about how things are/ must be.

A new process arises when we decide what we are choosing to experience, and then envision anew each individual choice we make to have that experience.

BUT EVEN THAT doesn't work, won't work, can't work - until we CHANGE HOW WE ARE BE-ing.

The authentic self flow is: BE -> DO -> HAVE.

Who we truly are is the basis of all we experience. Next is the layer of HOW we are be-ing - which is dependent upon who we think we Are.

What we think, what we believe, determines what our experience will be.

Too often, people holding themselves out to be thought-leaders (or, help us all, evangelists)are simply presenting yet another model, based on re-vamps of previous models, of how we have come to determine that things/ life/ business/ social structures occur / should/ must occur.

Ideas based on prior models and previous understandings, but presented differently enough to stand out, to cause people to notice, to create a stir, and some conversation around it.

And having these conversations is not a bad thing ~ it can invite further insights and even action. But when the framework is still just flirting with thinking about having these glorious thoughts - it doesn't get us where it is most beneficial and useful for us to be, in order to accomplish what we say we are choosing.

As long we are basing our thinking and assumptions in separation consciousness, NOTHING in our experience will change.

I'm so over being enamored of the conversation and gathering data and using scientific methods to try to prove or disprove blah-blah-blah. Scientific methods have been created to prove the (insane) separation-based way we have decided to view the world/ the universe/ existence.

I now choose be-ing in Oneness Consiousness. I AM.

And cut the cr*p of those flipping "in-tensions".

Nothing changes as long as we are mired in and determined to hang onto separation consciousness as our reference point.

It is only in coming from the Point of Oneness/ Oneness Consciousness that we can shift out of this crazy mess (our declaration!) we have created. Individually and collectively.

I'm exhausted by theorists and their "paradigm-shifting" perspectives that are no more than more noise in the cacophony of chaos.

And I am way over the idea that we *must* have chaos in order to shift. Have you noticed? Chaos has been soooo done. We don't need to keep doing it, or do it again, or perfect it (unless, of course, that's what you're here for... then go to it, I guess...)

Yeah, well this has been a rant. After I get some sleep, no doubt I'll come and edit the heck out of this post - but I'm posting it as is, for now -

And in the Now, I choose the transfiguration. Now let's accept our Oneness and create our experience Anew. In the Peace and Joy and Love and Delight we say we choose.

Contemplating Time

2009-01-04T10:56:00.000-05:00

We are taught to base our lives on the passage of time; ritualistically marking and mapping the cycle of life; chopping them into years, months, days, minutes, seconds - even nanoseconds!

Then we take the system of measurement that we have devised, and act as if it is the immutable force that drives life itself.

We have created a framework for our experiences. Have we built a trellis? or a box?

In every moment of the timeless now, we can choose how to interact with each aspect of creation.

What, then, of time?

Beginning Now

2009-01-03T08:45:00.002-05:00

Today I choose living a life of Joy in every moment of my Being; in every moment of Now.

I Choose Joy. ~

2009

2009-01-01T10:11:00.003-05:00

I keep being reminded that how I respond to Life depends upon how I am viewing what is occurring at the moment of now where I have placed my focus.

OK. Maybe it's saying stuff like that, that makes people think I'm kinda weird.
I get it.

But I keep wondering, and keep being reminded of what's important. To me. Things that seem so different from what's important to the folks who make the most noise about what's important.

I am looking forward to Change for the Better for the Collective, now. I know change can kick my butt if I feel like I have to hang on to anything - especially ideas about what "should be." So my focus on this New Year's Day One, is to Let Go and Let Love ~~ Be in the moment; find the joy - even (especially?!) in the seemingly most joy-less moments, and Be Peace-full with it All.

I Am-You Are-We Are One. Oneness Consciousness. How does *that* change the world of our experience?

Remembering Mom

2008-11-28T15:19:00.004-05:00

Well, it's been a wildly emotional rollercoaster ride for the past several months, as my Mom has been in & out of the hospital, with all sorts of health issues. She finally said, "I don't want to do this any more," and left her body and grieving family on her 53rd wedding anniversary, November 23, 2008.

We were so focused on the idea of her getting better, even though there were many things that we did get to say, there were so many more things we never got to... Why do we make it so hard to bring up the things that are most personal, most pertinent?

Why do we so often make it awkward to speak our hearts' truth?

My mom was an amazing, determined, loving (though she sometimes had a hard time showing it) person with a never-ending sense of humor about all that is life: remarkable (& necessary, I imagine) for someone growing up in the depression.

How do you sum up a person's life and relationships in a few column-inches?

Here was my attempt:

Alma Chalmers Barron, resident of Mashpee, MA, formerly of Alexandria, VA, passed away on Sunday, November 23, after a very full life, cherished by her family and friends.

Alma, a career Army Officer's wife, raised a family of four in military bases around the world, including Germany and the Philippines, and dedicated thousands of hours to community service in every community where she lived.

An artist and poet, Alma touched many lives with her writing, composing and editing newsletters for the various organizations she was involved with, for over thirty years.

Her affiliations include the American Red Cross, Army Engineer Officers Wives' Club, Army Community Service, Friends of the Mashpee Library and the Women's Club of New Seabury.

When you have to pay by the column inch, by the time we added family and funeral info, that was what we had the space to say.

Oddly lacking for 83 years of life, love, strife, joy and worry. I'll add more love. feels better. Love you, Mom <3

Finding Peace in "End of Life" Issues

2008-11-16T07:46:00.000-05:00

Guess I've been a bit "out of the loop" lately... Big shifts on many levels.

I've been spending quite a bit of time driving back and forth between my home and my parents' house (a close to 5 hr trip w/ brief stretch break built in). Mom (83) was in ICU for 2 weeks (broken hip and untold number of complications). Siblings & I, taking turns staying w/ Dad (90), realizing they are not as "fine!" as they have been telling us all along.

This event has been enough of a shocker for us all to have many discussions we have never before "gotten around to..." (Witness the several blank Health Care Proxy and Power of Attorney forms in the stacks of paper next to the mail...)

Wills, Living Wills, Advance Directives, Health Care Proxy, Power of Attorney, Organ Donation, Funeral Plans. These are not the exclusive domain of the elderly. End of life does not age discriminate. Have you had these conversations with the people you care about/ who care about you?

How can we bring more peace and love to these conversations; how can we bring more peace and love to the transition we call death, and the circumstances and events that surround it?

Getting Our Attention

2008-10-11T12:40:00.004-05:00

We are at the point of a tremendous opportunity -- all across the globe, we have created a far-reaching event to GET OUR ATTENTION!!

The most important question now is, How Do We Choose to Respond?

The world as we have created it is being shaken like an etch-a-sketch. The lines of what we've been thinking of as real, of what is important, are being blurred, faint, disappearing before our eyes.

We can try to stop it, and try to redraw exactly what just got shaken all apart.

Or. We. Can. Stop. and. ENVISION. LIFE. ANEW.

What would happen if we stopped trying to "fix" what, admittedly, didn't work well for the benefit of all, in the first place?

What would happen if we took this opportunity to stop.
And truly, deeply look into our hearts - our souls -
and ask:

What do we truly want our experience of life on earth to be?

What if we brought forth our collective vision of what we have been saying we wanted, but didn't know what to do about it?

What if we brought forth a WORLD VISION of Peace. Plenty. Justice. Caring. Equity. Freedom. For All.

How do we start?
It begins with each person making an individual choice.

I choose to change my mind. I choose to change my vision. I choose to change my words. I choose to change my actions.

And proceed, making choices that support the vision of Life - Peace - Plenty, for All.

Let us not try to "fix" the global economic crisis with the same approaches and ideas with which we created it.

Let us see this as an incredible opportunity to come together and Envision Our New Future, now.

Any body else with me??

Separation Consciousness?

2008-09-12T07:15:00.000-05:00

Separation consciousness is the way we function when we believe that we are separate and apart from the source of creation and all aspects of the creator, i.e. creation. Separation consciousness is the mindsets and beliefs that cause us to see the world as existing only in opposites and extremes, a state of constant battle: good/ bad; right/ wrong; positive/ negative. Choosing to view the world and life this way promotes internal and external wars.

We form judgments about things we label as those opposites, and decide that people who do not agree with our judgments are wrong, and label them opponents, whom we must fight against. (yeah, yeah, I know, Never end a sentence a preposition with. whatever!)

But, hey: if everything arises from the same One Magnificent Source of Light/ Love - then how is any aspect of that creation less than any other aspect of creation? Why would we treat life that way?

Humans (that's us, you and me, claim your responsibility!) have made choices (& keep making choices) which have created what we are now experiencing on this planet. If we don't like how it's going, if it's not bringing us joy, we have the power to make choice to create something that works more effectively, more joyfully, more peacefully, for the benefit of all of Life.

Would you be willing to make that choice?

What would happen if the judgments we have been holding, we just decided to release; and we opened to what works, most effectively for the benefit of all of Life, and let go of what does not work; let go of right v. wrong; let go of warring as a way of human interactions?

Could we come to the table, devoid of preconceived judgments and biases, in our peaceful discernment and share our ideas to create anew, what works most effectively for the benefit of Life.

A World of Our Own Creation

2008-09-07T07:04:00.005-05:00

What would happen if we motivated ourselves from a joy of/for life, rather than from fear/ resistance/ anger?

The energy we put into our efforts, our thoughts and emotions as we go about what we are doing, is the very same energy that emanates/ expands/ spreads from what we have created.

If we put the energy of frenzy and fear and anger into what we are creating - be it an event, a business, a work of art, dinner - anything - then those are the energies that emanate from that creation. Those are the energies people will respond to when they interact with that creation.

We can decide & choose to create from Love, Joy, Peace (since that's what most people say they want to experience).

What would happen, if each of us, as an individual, made that choice, and followed up and followed through with that choice, living our lives?

Am I out of my mind? You betchya! :)

Beyond the Mind

2008-09-04T19:56:00.005-05:00

For a very long time we have been hearing the invitation to go within; to process everything from within - and we say we get it, we get what it means.

But here is another invitation: going within and going beyond the mind.

It is from this place beyond the mind, beyond the limitations created by the mind, that we recognize that love has no opposite, therefore peace has no opposite, and we are JOYED by that realization!

Now that we have opened ourselves to the first wave of peace - the framework of this integrated first wave of peace - it affords us the environment to most effectively and efficiently affect our lives and all our environments in a most meaningful and lasting manner.

We are not looking to eliminate an enemy, rather we are looking to bring forward from within us the Love, Peace and Joy of our very being. Now, functionally, the practicalities of "brokering peace" become a personal and collective process - because we have shed the appetite for "being right."

Peace is NOT about making one right and the other wrong.

How does the appetite for being right drive us away from being in Peace?

Our Part

2008-09-04T04:23:00.003-05:00

So what's our part in "Peace"?

It sure isn't trying to force other people to behave as we see fit, using threats and violence.

It truly does start with one's self, one's thoughts, one's perspectives, one's decisions and one's actions.

For effective, far reaching, integral change in our experience, we begin "at home" - with ourselves.

We've decided to shift our perspective, to stop looking at things as opposites, and open ourselves to seeing all of life as a continuum - not placing labels or judgments about inherent worth on any aspect (even as we discern there are some things we prefer the experience of, and some things, not so much).

When we approach ourselves and our experiences that way, we begin to make integral changes in our lives, working from the premise that by making peace/ being peaceful with ourselves and simultaneously with others, we have taken the guilt and combative ("battle of right vs. wrong") approach out of the process.

We have eliminated making ourselves, or anyone else, "wrong." We now seek "what works," given the experience we are choosing (peace). Now we are more comfortably willing and desirous of taking responsibility for all our actions, and create new consequences from deliberate, meaningful, responsible actions, without fear.

How do you take responsibility for your experience of peace, today?

So What's All This Talk About Whirled Peas?

2008-09-03T04:15:00.003-05:00

Well, you know the "grown ups" always said, don't play with your food. Why would you want to whirl your peas?
What? World Peace? Not whirled peas? Oh. (join me here, ye elders who know it!) "Never-mind!"

Yeah, ok, the end of my junior senior moment/ jaunt down the "original!" SNL memory lane....

But really - what is all the talk about peace - or, more importantly, what are you THINKING about world peace??

Don’t let us confuse doing something “AGAINST WAR” or as any type of “warrior” (whether you call it warrior for peace or what ever): don’t confuse those things with PEACE: being peace, being love.

This is not semantics or a play of word games, it is about the thoughts/ feelings/ vibrations/ energies in which we go about doing things.

If we are about Peace and Love, let us BE Peace and Love.

If we say we are about “fighting war” - notice that that choice is NOT BASED in Love or Peace – it is a choice based in war, based in fear.

Peace supports the premise that there is no one and no-thing in opposition to any other thing.

"Say it again, another way?" (people ask me that, all the time!)

The premise of peace, is peace itself. And "Peace" is another term for Love - Only Love.

With that approach, when we come from the forum of our heart/ only love, no aspect of us has to be taken as the enemy, or in opposition to any other part of us. There isn't anything to push against, nothing to fight against, nothing to oppose.

Often we think of Peace in the framework of opposition because we mistakenly, at some point, bought into the idea that love has an opposite, that there is something opposed to love. Usually people will say that the opposite of love is fear, or hate.

(For the sake of a reminder & context: love, freedom, peace, oneness: are all One and the Same)

So, when we know and accept that love has no opposites -- and that would mean that we have freely made ourselves aware that love has no opposites -- then we are aware that peace has no opposite - nothing opposed to it - peace being in opposition to nothing. There is no opposition, in truth. If you currently think otherwise, are you willing to entertain the idea that it is your thoughts that is creating that experience??

If we are locked into the idea, mindsets & belief systems that everything that exists is in opposition to something else, how will we ever create a world of One Love, One Peace?

Leadership in Consciousness

2008-08-28T04:13:00.004-05:00

So what's our thought, as we go about our lives? That one, basic premise we structure the rest of our thoughts and actions on? And how does that manifest in the lives we live, the work that we do, and the businesses that we run?

Ha! Maybe I should call this the Question Anew blog, instead!

So, someone asked me what I mean by "Leadership in Consciousness."

For me, it's about being heartfully mindful of what is most beneficial for All involved, All affected, in and by the operations/ functioning/production/ outcomes/ inputs of our businesses, our community organizations, our schools and our governments. Actually, every aspect of our lives. Because it begins with how I am being, as an individual, and how I interact with the people around me, family and friends, neighbors and associates, and keeps growing from inward to outward.

Bringing it back to a business/ community context - the first thought, the enduring focus is using the most important reason for what we are doing, as the guiding beacon for every decision and choice that we make. Then it invites a first choice, not just of "How do I make the most money possible from this venture?" but, "How do I go about this for the greatest benefit of all, so that all profit?"

Honestly - take a look at the world and the history of civilizations.
What has worked/ is working, beneficially, causing no harm and bringing benefits to All. Ever?

We say we know that our thoughts are more powerful than we realize. Many acknowledge the role of their focus and their thoughts in the creation of their experiences, their successes and achievements.

Heck, there are all sorts of get-rich-quick schemes for sale based on "The Secret" of the power of our thoughts. Think Rich, Be Rich. So we know what we are capable of with our thoughts.

So why limit what we dare to dream of for ourselves to how much money we have, or attracting our "soul mate", or some other measure of "success" based on what we brought ourselves to?

Why would we not entertain the idea of being peaceful, whole and healthy within our selves, and expand that idea into our relationships, our businesses, our community organizations, our schools and our governments?

And from a basis of peace and wholeness and healthfulness, the focus can only be "for the greatest benefit, to the greatest profit, for All." For truly, if any are harmed or lessened deliberately in the doing of business, the building of community, in our education systems, or in the workings of governments, how then, could that in any way be considered being successful?

Look around this world. Is it a great place to be? Why would we not envision life anew? Not based in what we don't want, not to "fight" against what we say we don't want.

Envision life anew, based simply and solely (soul-ly) in what we DO want.

Imagine.

Re-Merging Into One-ness: Healing the male/female dichotomy

2008-08-23T05:39:00.001-05:00

It is in the merging of ALL aspects of our being
– highlighted and symbolized by the merging of the masculine & feminine –
it is in this UNION of ALL of our SELF
that

Our Light is the brightest
Our greatest Joy is found
We experience the Oneness
that is Love
Love without conditions

We become, we experience
MORE of Who We Truly Are

The pretense, the role-playing,
The mindsets of limitation
FALL AWAY

With this Alignment of Self, with Self,

Truly, the World Changes.

Be Peace and Teach Only Love.

Responding to "Love"

2008-08-21T05:45:00.004-05:00

How do we experience "Love" if we have grown up associating unloving, un-nurturing, hurtful behavior with those who said they "love" us?

If our earliest experiences of "love" were less than joyful - how do we now respond at the deepest level when we hear things like "God is Love"; when we say "Love is Everything"; when we say "I love you"; when we hear "I love you"; when we are told "Love yourself" (Do we even ever allow ourselves to say "I love me")?

How do we change our interactions with Love so that we are not perpetuating the association of pain and hurt and smallness with Love, so we don't hurt ourselves and others, and then say that it's ok to hurt that way, because we call it "Love" ?

What would happen if we healed all the hurt we have associated with Love, and discovered and then chose to live in the fullest light and joy of Love in its truest form - totally unlimited by any preconceived notions we have about what it is supposed to be?

Would we even be willing to open to the possibility of experiencing LOVE - without conditions?

How would we go about changing our mind, changing our heart, changing our experience about Love??

“Work/life balance”

2008-08-17T14:06:00.002-05:00

Are you basing your vision/ idea of balance on the notion of conflict, of what you do not want to experience?

For instance, if life is sailing along without a seeming disturbance, we’ll call it “everything in balance.” But if something arises that makes us feel conflicted, stressed, hurt or worse, we’ll call that “unbalanced.”

Even though we’re saying “balanced” it doesn’t (usually) mean we want a little of the “hot” and little of the “cold” for a totally luke-warm experience.

Aren’t we really talking more about bringing all of the aspects of our lives together in Oneness, so each aspect complements and supports ALL of the aspects of our lives?

This morning, Maha’al said, pointedly, “It is beneficial to have a centered understanding of balance that does not include opposing experiences.”

“Use balance so that you are now purposefully experiencing Oneness – in All areas of your life… Always integrating and expanding the experience, ever more.”

So many wonderful changes occur when we move beyond the idea of opposites or competition to envision our experience of balance; when we move to the realization that what we envision is not just a “maybe it could happen” – but that it IS as we CHOOSE!

What happens if we decide that “balancing” is finding the complementation of all of our experiences and using the complementation for our benefit, to the benefit of All?

How are we looking at it?

2008-08-17T08:57:00.002-05:00

I was at a state-wide "Hospice Education Day" earlier this week. I sat in on an amazing workshop entitled "Balancing Social Consciousness, Spirituality and Grief." Wow. What a topic for a one-hour break-out session!

One of the exercises we were given by the facilitators was to draw or write about the things in our lives that weigh us down, and the things in our lives that build or lift us up, and where we see ourselves in the "balancing" of it all.

My own response was a drawing of a vortex, spiraling inward, to a space in the center (turned out shaped like a heart), and a "shooting out" of a light from the center, arcing over the entire swirl.

The words to the drawing came:

"The ebb and flow of all around me, reminding me, remembering me to my center; and in centering, balancing, I remember who I Am ~ and SHINE ~

Do you see things external to you as weighing you down, or lifting you up?

August?

2008-08-15T06:14:00.003-05:00

How has it come to be August? If I know that time is an illusion we use for our convenience, then why do I so frequently feel blown away by time?? Why do I feel INCONVENIENCED by the passage of time? Too fast. Too slow. Not enough time to get it all done.

I invite myself to the present, now, here. The single moment of All that is. The "when" of perfection. Joy. Peace. Beyond the limitations established in my mind by the label of "time."

Anybody here?

The Gathering of One ~ Global Eden

2008-01-06T03:36:00.000-05:00

Do you believe in Peace?
Do you believe in Angels?
Are you willing to believe in, and experience, each?

Global Eden Event 2008
West Yellowstone, MT, USA
June 18 – 21, 2008
(Gatherings June 17)

Peace on Earth Already EXISTS.

It is time for us to remember
HOW TO BRING IT FORTH.

We are choosing PEACE.
Peace comes from within.

We are choosing that we shift to be functioning in the full experiencing of Peace,
in every moment of our lives.
Now the first step is Choosing and Allowing Peace as our very way of Be-ing, Thinking, Doing.

We each do this, individually.
And we can do this together - profoundly and sustainingly.
When we do this, we experience PEACE ON EARTH, NOW.

And we do not do this alone.
Participating in the Eden Event supports and accelerates the internal triggering and energetic/ consciousness activations to support bringing forth and sustaining Peace with and of and through Self.

In this, we are in support of each other, and we are supported in this by the Angels.

People are choosing Living Peace, with the support and guidance of the Angels.
Are you willing to join us?
Are you ready to support Peace on Earth, Now?

Peace from the Point of Oneness - The Premise

2007-10-21T11:57:00.000-05:00

There is One source of Consciousness from which ALL arises.

EVERYTHING that exists, IS That One Consciousness.

There is NOTHING that exists, that is NOT That One Consciousness.

ALL that we perceive of as existing, IS the ONE Consciousness, in a multitude of expressions, with a multitude of experiences.

Each and every and any experience, is simply what it is – it is not the truth of what is, it is not the thoughts or feelings that are attached to it – it is simply (and/or complexly) one experience of what truly is, which is the One Consciousness.

THEREFORE:

I AM everything, and everything is me.

Everything I am experiencing, I am creating.

My thoughts, my words, my actions, my feelings, are creating what I call “the world I live in.”

I am not calling things/ events/ experiences “to me” from somewhere else, I am bringing them forth of my self (I am everything, there is nothing “else” to attract anything “else” from).

It is my implicit responsibility, if I am not liking the experiences of “my life”, to change my mind, and create anew, that which I AM NOW choosing.

I am now choosing bringing forth of myself the Love, Joy, Peace of the One Consciousness, as my Being, as my experience, as my knowing, as my feeling.

The most effective way of experiencing peace, is bringing forth the Peace in the Premise of Oneness.

(Trying to bring forth Peace by being “anti war” or “anti hate” or any thing else in resistance or opposition to ANYTHING, is to continue in a premise of separation, which is the illusion created out of the One Consciousness to allow us to create the stories of the collective that we have told ourselves, for the experiences we have chosen; to choose in opposition of something, is to strengthen that which we say we are choosing against.)

What we continue to believe and continue to speak to, is what continues to exist in our experience.

We Can Have A New Thought, And Create a New Experience – we don’t have to keep holding on to our former thoughts of things, and try to make the changes we say we want, based in the former ways of thinking about things. (isn’t that what we have been doing, that doesn’t seem to be working??)

One question for us All, is, “Are we willing to entertain a new thought?”

And so the unfurling of my experience of Peace in the Point of Oneness is en-formed through this, foundational question: “How Am I Be-ing, Now?”

Peace on Earth?

2007-09-03T07:49:00.000-05:00

"Peace on Earth in Our Lifetime"

Do we notice what visuals we give ourselves when we think/say that?
Who are we seeing, being peaceful? Is it "everyone else"? What is our part in it?

Peace begins and ends with SELF.

I see that the "way to Peace" is bringing forth the Peace of the Source of my Being, as my Being, in every aspect of my Being, in every moment of Now.
The focus, based in the premise of One-ness, is "How am I Being, Now? "- Am I Peace? If I am Peace, if I am Peace-full, then I am doing my part. Am I other than Peace, other than peace-full? Then all the focus of "peace" at/ towards/ for anyone or anything else, is not going to accomplish what it is I am saying I am choosing, when I say I choose "Peace on Earth."

I notice that thinking about contributing to Peace by "fighting" or "being against" or "resisting," or basing thoughts of Peace in opposition to anything, or as a "Peaceful WARrior" -- ALL OF THOSE THOUGHTS are based in the premise of war and fighting ---- NOT in the Premise of the Oneness of Peace.

Peace comes from Peace, not from the suppression of war.

Until this is recognized, acknowledged and accepted for and with one's self, and until the distractions over "it's only words" and "that's just semantics" are let go & released, PEACE has been sidestepped, yet again.

What are you intending? What, then are you choosing? How, then, are you being, now?

Creation Comes From Being. How Am I Being, Now?

2007-01-08T06:26:00.000-05:00

(Focus & Experience, Part IV)

Previously I was looking at the resistance we may be inadvertently creating, even as we say we are choosing a new, loving approach to Love, Life, Self & God.

Another often unrecognized area of resistance/ sabotage is claiming new choices for one’s self, based in new premises, and yet, even as new experiences show up, still responding to them from the same old mindset, even though couching them in new language

Unless and until the issue of the sources of resistance is addressed, people will remain simply “flirting” with the new ideas.

What I see happening is that people will make their choices based on their beliefs, and then get angry, frustrated, despondent, and worse, when what they say they are choosing, doesn’t seem to show up in their lives. And/or, they get agitated because they say what IS showing up in their lives, is not what they say they are choosing.

Which brings me back to “focus.” What is your focus, now? Is your focus fully aligned with the premise you are now choosing? Check in with yourself: what is it that you are getting excited and passionate about? What thrills you into animation? Is it in alignment? Or is it, really, another distraction?

Are we noticing that, Being All One, what one is experiencing, we ALL experience, and so realize that that experience is fully available to and for us, in any degree of interaction, with any degree of awareness, that we choose? Do we recognize the next step to that: what, now, is our focus in interacting with the experiences? Is it in alignment with our new premise, or is it still rooted in our former mindsets? Are we paying attention to how we are relating our experiences to ourselves & others?

We can all grow in our awareness by sharing our experiences with each other. By sharing through words, music, art, etc. the experiences we have, we leave markers, pointers towards the experiencing of the original event, and the deeper awareness and knowing of Self that is available to us, should we so choose.

Ultimately, it seems to me not so much a question of “what am I doing?” or “what experiences am I having?” In more fully remembering & real-izing Who I Am - It seems more a question of: “How Am I Being, Now?” Along with, “Where is my focus?” & “ What, now, am I creating?”

Joyful Blessings to & for us All ~ thanks for exploring these ideas with me.

Change and Beliefs

2007-01-03T07:20:00.000-05:00

(Focus & Experience, Part III)

When people begin an examination of their beliefs – questioning how they have come to be informed – quite quickly many people come up to an experience some will see as an insurmountable obstacle. “If the beliefs I have been taught, no longer seem to me to make any sense, does that make the people I trusted as I grew up, who taught me this, does that make them wrong, does that make them liars?” “Have I been wrong, all my life, believing what I have believed?” “If I change my mind now, and follow through with myself, does that make me a liar?”

Can you hear the brakes squealing, smell the rubber burning, feel the spinning, heart-stopping jolt? Who wants to be “wrong?” “Wrong” has been made out to be such a “bad” thing. Startled by this thought that what one has come to believe growing up, is not effective, or serving the new ideas one is now beginning to entertain about Life, Love, Self & God – many people slam on the brakes. Stop the inquiries, stop entertaining the new ideas. Stop following through with themselves.

In addition to the emotions involved in thinking that one might be made out to have been “wrong,” comes another issue. Notice the feelings that surround “familiar” and “unfamiliar”. Notice how people feel when they are surrounded with what they call familiar – including familiar ideas and mindsets and beliefs – compared with the feelings people experience when they are surround by something which seems unfamiliar. People profess the comfort of the familiar, and the awkwardness and “oddness” of the new. New things are loudly proclaimed to be strange, weird, and, ultimately, often made out to be “wrong.” A person might easily use all of these habitual emotional responses for reason enough to be putting up a distinct resistance to new experiences that “show up” when new thoughts are being explored and new choices are being considered.

I invite us all to examine ways in which we might be creating resistance in our lives, right now, to the full and joyful experiencing of the new choices we are making. I invite us all to notice that changing our mind about what we once thought, felt, believed, does not make anyone wrong! It simply means we are changing our mind!! This is growth. This is expanding consciousness. Change is the nature of an expanding (or contracting!) universe. Change only feels the way it does, to us, because of the beliefs we sustain about it.

How are your beliefs and responses to change and new experiences impacting your growth?

{to be continued...}

Examining How We Have Been Informed

2006-12-30T20:42:00.000-05:00

(Focus & Experience, Part II)

How many of us have taken the time necessary – or even any time at all – to examine the basis of our beliefs, and how and why we are living our lives as we are? To examine if the beliefs we hold to be true, are serving us, are serving life? To explore if the mind sets we sustain about what we believe to be true, are effective or beneficial, in light of what we say we are choosing for our lives?

What were we told about being human, being men, being women, being fathers, being mothers, being daughters, being sons, being sisters, being brothers, being family; what were we told about being in relationships; what were we told about Love, Life, Self, God? How were we informed? What were we informed, about it? AND – what more is there for us to know, for us to be aware of, now?

I know, from my own experiences when I first began asking myself these questions, as well as from the responses I get from people with whom I have had this conversation, that there can be a huge initial resistance to following this line of questioning.

One of the biggest things that gets in the way is the notion of duality. I use this term here in reference to the idea that something is either one thing, or the opposite of that. I invited myself – as I invite all that I speak with – to entertain the notion that in this multidimensional experience we are calling life, there are limitless possibilities in the overall “scheme of things.” Each one of these possibilities is a valid option, a valid experience, and is of inherently neutral value. Meaning: it is. It simply is. And each possibility has unlimited contexts to support it.

One example of what I am pointing to, here, is the idea of “right or wrong”. Many people go through their lives judging things to be right or wrong, and act and make their choices accordingly. Something is either right, or, if it’s not right, it must be wrong. Right is good. Wrong is bad. And in this mindset, each person has his or her own individual map of these judgments, and habitual emotional responses to the particular labels as they’ve assigned them.

The reason I am pointing this out here, is that this tendency to judge and label things right versus wrong and good versus bad creates a mighty trap people can far too easily get caught up in, when they start making the inquiries and deeply exploring the possibilities of the questions I mentioned above.

Have you examined your own ideas of “right or wrong” and asked yourself if they are serving you? Can you see how shifting your questioning to be about finding what is beneficial and effective, could be more expedient? Can you see how you may be holding yourself back from the experiences you say you are choosing, being attached to a duality mindset?

{to be continued}

Re: choosing "not to struggle"

2006-12-29T07:22:00.000-05:00

Welcome ~ and thanks for responding with & for yourself!

Congratulations on the healing changes you are bringing forth in your life, for you. Getting clear with yourself and seeing and feeling yourself experiencing what you are choosing for yourself, now, will strengthen your focus.

One thing that might seem to slow things down for you, is focusing on "not struggling". Notice that even in choosing "not struggling", you are basing your choices on the premise of struggling. Do you see what I mean? What might happen with your thoughts and perceptions, if you decided to choose from a premise of "ease and grace"?

I PROMISE YOU THAT THE POINT I AM MAKING HERE, IS NOT JUST ME "GETTING CAUGHT UP IN SEMANTICS" ABOUT WORDS THAT MEAN THE SAME THING!!!! (Because I am not, and they do not!)

If you feel inclined, try this exercise: Sit for a minute and be still with your beautiful loving self. Take a deep breath and relax. Be aware of your centeredness with, in, of your Self. Now say quietly to yourself: "I don't want to struggle anymore!" As you say that, notice how you feel, what else you are thinking, any images you give to yourself. Take a minute or so to jot down what you experienced.

When you're done making your notes, set that experience aside, take a deep breath and relax. Be aware of your centeredness with, in, of your Self. Now say quietly to yourself: "I choose experiencing my life with joy, ease and grace." Again - upon saying this to yourself, notice how you interact with it: how you feel, what you are thinking, the images you give yourself. Write down your experiences.

What more are you aware of, now, about your focus, your premises, and your power?

Focus and Experience part I

2006-12-28T19:31:00.000-05:00

Notice that where your focus is, your power goes. If you are focused on what you think you are not experiencing, or focusing on how you feel about other people’s experiences, thinking those experiences are nothing like what you are experiencing – then that is what you are manifesting for your experience. That’s where you are flowing your power.

Is that really what you intend to be focused on?

Everything we do – every choice we make, every thought we sustain, flows from our basic premise in life. Most people have simply adopted the basic life premise of the people with whom/ by whom they were raised, with perhaps a few little adjustments here or there, growing up.

What do I mean by basic premise? I am speaking about the mindsets and beliefs we accept, often without question, to be true. It is these beliefs that then form the basis of how we interpret the experiences we call life.

“Life sucks and then you die.” “God wants us to suffer, so we can be rewarded in heaven.” “Life is about repaying karmic debts.” “Earth is a school for learning, and making mistakes.” “It is human nature to be cruel.” “It is better to give than to receive.” “Don’t show emotion, it is unseemly.” “No one likes change. Change is hard.” “Life is suffering.” “Anything worth having is worth suffering for.”

We could go on with this list forever and never record all the different premises people use to base their lives and life choices on. The point is this – WHAT YOU BELIEVE DETERMINES WHAT YOU PERCEIVE. What you perceive influences the meaning you decide to place upon your experiences, and the life choices you make, from there.

What do you believe about Life, Love, Self and God?
How is that shaping the choices you make in your life?
How is it working for you?

{to be continued}

Gathering in the Gate of Grace

2006-12-23T12:25:00.000-05:00

People have asked what “being gathered” is like, or what it was like for me. It is truly an individual experience, which, ultimately, defies definition by language. Either you are drawn to participate, or (at least for now), you are not. I was suddenly and deeply drawn to participate, and was gathered at an amazing and joyful event in Monmouth, Illinois over the weekend of 23- 24 September 2006. I am feeling prompted to share this part of my own experience:

In the Well of Souls

I felt drawn to move to the center of the Gate of Grace. The others of my Group positioned themselves around me, in the configuration given to us by the Angels. I closed by eyes, filled and overflowing with peace, joy, love, grace. The Ode “To Joy” (Beethoven’s 9th Symphony), which had been playing in the background of my awareness for the previous several days, burst forth in its rich orchestral brilliance – and the Choral began…

I felt myself lifting, growing, expanding, until I was standing in a clearing of gentle yet brilliant, sparkling light. I was watching as two Angels approached me, side by side. They were radiating love and compassion and joy and peace as they approached. I realized they were carefully carrying something between them.

My focus was drawn to what they were so carefully, lovingly carrying towards me. Directly in front of me now, they stopped, and held forward to me their precious package.

In the glowing light of their “hands” was the most exquisite, radiant, sparkling, multifaceted crystal – “a suncatcher!” I thought to myself. Even as I had the thought, I remembered years ago, a dear teacher and colleague giving me the name Suncatcher for myself. With that memory came the realization that the radiant crystal-being in the Angels’ care, which they were holding out to me, was me! As it was lifted up closer to me, I could see it was an infant – breathing, alive, moving, gazing at me, and cooing an amazingly stilling tone. This was the exquisite crystalline seed of perfection of my Being, being handed over to me.

Awed, in joy, I reached my arms to receive the perfection of my Self being presented to me by the Angels. Lovingly, gently, ecstatically, I accepted myself, bringing the Source perfection of my Being into myself in a full embrace into my heart.

As I accepted this aspect of my Being, ~ *W-H-O-O-S-H* ~ All was fully integrated with One.

The waves of energy were radiating from the center of my Being – I was expanding beyond the reaches of the Universe. In this expansion, the Angels and “I” were merged, and we were merged and One with All Creation.

I became aware of my Group around me in the well of souls. I opened my eyes and saw the Group’s Servant in front of me. I thought “I guess I’m done” and then heard “not yet!” I closed my eyes again, and the Angels approached me again. I noticed for the first time the numbers and numbers of Angels behind the two with whom I had been interacting. The two together presented me with three more gifts – actual packages, wrapped in sparkling light, and tied up with shimmering bows of specific color frequencies – and told me to open and explore these gifts more completely, “as events unfold.”

The entire chorus of Angels beamed their radiant, healing, joyful light & tones into the center of my Being~~

I became aware of tears rolling down my cheeks as I opened my eyes again, to the loving, smiling gazes of my Group.

“As a Child of God, I accept,” I thought, as I smiled & hugged each Church.

“Be at Peace and Teach Only Love,” I could hear Michael’s exhortation.

Bless Our Hearts.

This is one aspect of one person’s experience with what we are calling “being gathered.” My life, my very being, is transformed. (And the Ode to Joy is present, ever.)

Blessings to All, with deepest appreciation for ALL involved in inviting the awareness of the manifestations of Eden, here, now, present.

In love and joy,
~ Elizabeth, “Yellow,” Maine – USA ~

Choosing our experiences

2006-07-01T14:47:00.000-05:00

I've been looking a lot lately at what we have been creating, and my part in it all. Is it all working? Are we happy with what we have put together, and the way it is functioning? I'm feeling as if most of what I am seeing is not an accurate reflection of what I am choosing. So I know that is an invitation for me to more deeply examine my own intentions and choices and the clarity of my thoughts; examine the "place" in my being from which those thoughts are arising. What am I assuming to be true, that is affecting the choosing of my experiences? What needs shifting, to bring forward a more accurate experience of that which I am choosing, now?

Many people are coming forward in my life, now, bringing new ideas and encouragement and support. Thank us all for being here! *\*/*

Change

2006-04-08T09:30:00.000-05:00

I am currently taking a class (working towards my MBA) called "Change Management." The instructor made the statement, as a given: "People are resistant to change. " His follow-up question re-calibrated, ever-so-slightly: "Why is this almost always the case?"

For the most part, the class' consensus was that it is "just a part of being human. People don't like change."

I respectfully and emphatically see it another way!

Being resistant to change, being steadfastly attached to our thought patterns, mindsets, belief systems and decisions about what it "right" or "wrong" or "good" or "bad", or any other separation-based system of labeling, is NOT an inherent part of being Human!!

IF we keep telling ourselves that change is hard, and that we won't like it, we then come to deeply and firmly believe that to be true. That does not make it true. It supports our decision that it is true.

What would happen if one just decided for oneself that all there is to do is change your mind, and accept that change occurs.

What if we decided that it is possible to not be attached to trying to keep things "the same," and it is more enjoyable to not be attached to trying to keep things "the same."

Once we get over using all our energy trying to convince ourselves that we can keep things from changing, then we can start directing our energy into our most effective interactions with change. ("Change" being the label we have given to the fluid movements of our experience of the multidimensional universe.)

People can be rigidly, painfully and even brutally attached to their conditioning, mindsets and belief systems. Over and over in my life, I have watched as people (myself included!) are more accepting of a familiar place, that might be uncomfortable (or worse, even painful or life-threatening), than to step into a more comfortable place, that seems unfamiliar.

We have seen countless and endless wars fought over defending belief systems, each side defending their truth, each proclaiming that they are right, and that the other side is wrong.

Changing your mind, opening your mind to new thoughts and new experiences, does not make what you were thinking, previously, wrong. It does not make the people, the institutions or the cultures that taught you to think those thoughts, wrong. It is simply allowing yourself to experience another thought, another experience.

Perhaps if we move away from the thought that doing something new might make us "wrong," somehow, we will release ourselves from the mindset of fear that paralyzes us from experiencing our multi-dimensional selves, in all of our multi-dimensional magnificence!

Healing/Wholeness/Oneness Consciousness

2006-03-07T18:07:00.000-05:00

What people tend to choose as their usual level of awareness relegates much of their awareness to what they call "unconscious." By inviting one's self to, and sustaining one's self in, a fuller awareness, one is "conscious" of one's consciousness, consciously.

In this moment, whether it is a split second or the sustained moment of one's multidimensional life experiences - the joy of One, Love, Being, is real-ized.

This Oneness Consciousness - our recognition of wholeness - is the transcendent experience called healing. Healing is not a journey; not someplace we have to get to. Healing is a recognition, a knowing, an embracing, of where and of who we already are, and always, all ways have been.

2006-03-05T23:44:00.000-05:00

Great job. Magnificent invitations. Great vision.

Welcome

2006-03-05T14:21:00.000-05:00

~Welcome to the explorations of our Integral Potentials~
Where ALL is subject for exploration, ALL is subject for change, as we explore the integral expansions and shifts of our consciousness.
Where we nurture Integral Living, Integral Being, Integral Wellness, Integral Oneness.
Where our internal shifts and transformations become our life applications.
All are invited to join in these explorations...
The motivation? Love. Love without condition.

The website: www.integralpotentials.com