Time Out … a Pause to Reflect

When nutrients are placed in a tissue culture dish, cells express growth behavior by moving to the stimulus and are open to assimilate the nutrition. In contrast, when toxins are placed in the culture dish, the cells engage in a protection response by moving away from the stimulus and closing themselves down to ward off the environmental threat. Growth behavior: Move to the stimulus and be “open.” Protection behavior: Move away from the stimulus and be “closed.” The insight offered by these cells is that organisms cannot move “to” and “away” from a stimulus, nor can they be “open” and “closed,” at the same time. The profound conclusion is that organisms can switch between either growth or protection, but they cannot engage in both behaviors simultaneously.

What position do you think an individual’s “survival” switch would be in response to each of the following two news bulletins: 1) “The annual flu season is back and as normal, there are certain populations whose lives are more threatened.” 2) “The COVID-19 virus is coming and millions may die.” In previous years, you may not have been overly concerned about the report offered in version 1. However, today’s corona flu pandemic, fraught with massive potential deaths, has almost the entire global civilization engaging in a protection response, hiding from one another and “locked down” in isolation. 

Most of you that are healers think that you need to use a modality until you remember that you are the magic. Once you understand that you are the magic, you’re free and you don’t need the wand anymore, or to twitch your nose, or blink your eyes. You don’t have to repeat any phrases or mantras, you just show up in your spectacular self and you bring your own magic to the party. 

Life becomes so much simpler when you know who you are. At some point you have to acknowledge the magic in you and you have to realize that that five year old inside of you is the magic.  When you resolve your inner conflict with your inner-child, and your inner-child feels safe, and you’re back to being child-like again, you’re free. 

Being child-like is returning to your pre-programmed, pre-conditioned self. It’s getting back to raw curiosity, pure joy, and enthusiasm. The more you realize that you are not defined by anything that is happening, the more you realize that you have the capacity to tap into your beautiful inner-child. When you connect from the beautiful being that you have in you, you’re free because that is where the magic is. 

I am so thankful that my life did not work out the way I wanted it to, the way I had envisioned it, the way I had prayed for it, the way I had intended. Thank God that my life didn’t bend to meet me in my limited lens of perception. 

Mark Twain said famously: 

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." 

The day I figured out why I was born, interestingly enough, was New Year’s Eve 2002/2003.  On that day, I had a direct experience with the Divine. I experienced God, The Divine, The Beloved, as an infinite ocean of love. No judgement, no criticism, no forgiveness - just love in its purest form.  Since that day, I have been no longer able to deny why I am here. I was shown very clearly that we are all connected to this love, every single one of us.  

Be Present with Feelings and Guidance

Unless there is actually something dangerous happening in this present moment, being fully in the moment brings a release of stress.

The wounded self is addicted to focusing on the past or future – ruminating about the past, perhaps with regret – and worrying about the future – trying to control it. If you notice your body while you are ruminating or worrying, you will notice that your body is tense. The tension is your inner guidance letting you know that your wounded self is in charge and you are abandoning yourself.

When you notice this, shift into being in this present moment and notice the peace and relaxation that floods your body.

The LAW OF UNITY is a foundational principle in my life.

I enjoy discovering the obvious. Personal experience has always had the most meaning for me.

Historically there is a belief it is possible to attain oneness or transcend material experience.

Awareness of the Unity of all creation is this same oneness.

Everything is Oneness. We cannot be out of oneness. We cannot journey to oneness if that is where we already are.

Distinctions can be made in basic dictionary definitions of Oneness and Unity.

ONENESS - the fact of being one single thing.

UNITY - a whole or totality as combining all its parts into one.

When one catches a glimpse of duality in the many forms of the manifest world as Unity in wholeness, duality reveals the beauty of Oneness in Everything.

The Law of Unity was originally called The Law of Alchemy.

EVERYTHING IS SACRED, NOTHING IS SPECIAL.

Are you wondering whether your path is the right one? Let me share a story that may help you. It’s about a time when I questioned whether mediumship was for me. I had a crazy day at my regular job and was heading home on the subway hoping for a second wind to do some readings that night.

As we lurched out of the station, the seat next to me remained empty. I shrugged and opened the book I was reading. When I looked up again, I saw an elderly nun.

“Hello, young man. You have a nice face. Is that seat taken?”

As she sat down, I noticed she had the kindest eyes I’d ever see. “My name is Sister Agnes, but most people call me Aggie." After I introduced myself, she asked if I could guess her occupation.

“You’re a schoolteacher,” I said with a smile.

There was a battle ship out in the waters, and the captain was out on the bridge and observed that he could see lights and there was another ship in the distance, so he said to the signalman “Please send the message that you need to change your course by 20 degrees.” And so they got a reply back immediately, “you change your course by 20 degrees”. So then the captain said to the signalman again, “You tell whoever that they are to move the course... It's a directive by 20 degrees.” And the message came back, “you move by 20 degrees.” Finally, the Captain said, “You tell them that we are a battleship and to move their course by 20 degrees.” And the message came back, “we are a Lighthouse.”

A lighthouse. Immovable. Unshakable. 

There is an absolute perfection and precision to your life. Your life has a purpose and you are loved. You are basically being moved by grace. And this is why there is nothing to resist or to worry about or to be afraid of because life and grace is moving you. There is an incredible destiny unfolding for each and everyone of you. 

The chance meeting you had with a human being, a moment of connection you shared with somebody, something that you read, something that you heard, something inspired you and that something was grace. There is a life waiting for you. If you are in the pause, just know that that pause is preparation. 

What’s fundamental?

The Practice:
Back to Basics.

Why?

In middle school, I thought it would be cool to play a musical instrument and picked the clarinet. My wise parents rented one rather than buying it, and I started practicing. (In the garage because it sounded pretty screechy.) After a week or two of doing scales, I got bored and picked my way through a couple easy songs. But after a few more weeks, I couldn’t go further because I hadn’t laid a foundation with scales and similar exercises – so I quit in frustration. To this day, I regret never learning to play a musical instrument.

I and others tend to skip over the fundamentals for a variety of reasons, including impatience, laziness, or a kind of arrogance that thinks we can sort of get away with not paying our dues. There’s also the subtle impact of our media, which showcases celebrities who seem to spring out of thin air – though actually it took years for them to become an overnight success.

But when we don’t take care of the fundamentals, the foundation is shaky for whatever we’ve built: a relationship, a career, personal well-being, spiritual practice – or playing the clarinet. Perhaps we can get away with this for awhile, but there’s usually a background cost in uneasiness, waiting for a day of reckoning, perhaps with the sense of being an imposter. And eventually, when a real challenge comes, the building shakes and maybe topples.

Many people still view difficult times as a spiritual challenge. The numbers are less than in the distant past, when catastrophes, tragedies, setbacks, and failures were seen in religious terms. An Old Testament plague was a sign of God’s wrath, but in modern secular society medical science gives a different explanation, based on research data and the rise of the scientific worldview.

And yet millions of people would find in the COVID-19 pandemic a test of faith and perhaps even a test for whether God is paying attention to human suffering. I’d like to offer a different viewpoint—difficult times can motivate you to place a higher value on your spiritual life. Out of confusion and conflict there is an inner journey to be made. This has been true for centuries, and modern times don’t erase the possibility.

For many, this is the Season of Light, a time of joy and celebration, a season for appreciation and giving.

For my family, Christmas can’t come soon enough and we’ve already begun sitting together in the evenings, taking turns choosing our favorite holiday songs to sing. I especially love “Silent Night.”

One of my teammates celebrated Diwali with her family the middle of last month, and another is beginning to prepare for the eight days of Chanukkah, her family’s traditional festival of lights.

Another member of our team is a student and teacher of A Course in Miracles which says, “Each of us is the light of the world, and by joining our minds in this light we proclaim the Kingdom of God together and as one.” (ACIM, T-6.II.13:5)

Looking at light more secularly, in just a few short weeks, the days here in my part of the world will grow longer, giving us more daylight to enjoy nature walks and other daytime activities.

If there was one thing that I could have shared with myself when I was 16 to 18 years old, I would have let myself know that it was okay to be peaceful. I feel like, in a world where individuals are constantly chasing things outside of themselves, bringing them moments of happiness, peace is actually where it’s at. And, it is fascinating because peace is actually our natural state of being. 

The majority of the world today is going through this pandemic, this unprecedented moment in human history, and lacking the awareness that peace is even an option for them.

How blessed are we that at least we have the awareness that we can be peaceful in our lives. And it’s not that things are necessarily going to change in our lives, or we’re all of a sudden going to become some other version of ourselves than we are at this moment, it’s just that we are going to fundamentally chill out. 

You came from infinite love. You are infinite love. You will return to infinite love. The only flaw is believing that you are flawed. If you came from infinite love, and you are infinite love and you are going to return to infinite love, then how can anything be wrong with you? What that means is that you have taken on the lenses of perception of other people. 

You are viewing yourself through the lens of your ex-husband and ex-wives. You’re viewing yourself through the lens of people who didn’t believe in themselves and didn’t love themselves. You are viewing yourself through the lens of your mother, your father, your family. You’re viewing yourself with a lens that has a prescription, aka programming, instead of seeing yourself through the lens that is love. 

Can you believe it’s Autumn already? The leaves are changing and the beautiful colors look like an artist canvas, the stores are selling holiday decorations already, the sunsets are getting earlier and we’re still going stir-crazy staying at home so much. I want to tell you about a remarkable resource to use when you need a lift. I call it: “The Soul Reservoir.” Each of us possesses this vital force. It can benefit your overall well-being and even help your psychic and intuitive development. And you don’t need to be a Jedi or Mark Hamill to wield it. All you have to do is simply—take your next breath!

You’ve heard me talk a lot about the soul lately. I can’t help it, I’m so excited about this limitless power we all possess. It’s sort of like having Harry Potter’s wand or Samantha Stevens’ twitchy nose. Whatever it is you want or need, your soul can make it happen!

Many of you have asked me how do you start connecting with your soul? Well, I always say the same thing, which is by remembering that you are a soul first. You’ve heard me say this again and again: "You're a soul that comes with a body—not a body that comes with a soul."

When you look in the mirror, think about it … Is it the real you? NO! The Soul is pure consciousness, and the true essence of who you really are. When you acknowledge that you’re a soul and not purely just a physical body, then believe me when I tell you, there’s no limit to what you can achieve!

Germs are microscopic cells that breakdown the structure of the life they enter. In the biology we inhabit, germs are the cause of disease. The spiritual equivalent, however, reaches us as unseeable agents of revelation that break down our structures so we can restore our direct sense of living. These spiritual germs cause us to feel and think in new ways. More simply put, these enzymes of pure life-force cause us to have the rug pulled out from under us. It’s how Saul was knocked off his horse, only to dust himself off as Saint Paul. It’s how Pissarro one day stopped painting realistically and devoted himself to the painting of light. It’s how we spend years building a dream that hardens into a cage until one day, for some unknown reason, we feel confined more than lifted, and have to break the dream in order to go on. No one likes this or seeks it out. But like gravity, it grips us nonetheless. So, as the germs of the coronavirus wreak havoc with our biology, what unseeable agents of revelation are being released, even as we speak, to break down the many structures we have built between us and life?

The crowning moment of any species, the culmination of its possibilities, can’t be just its ability to adapt and survive. Natural history demonstrates that entire populations peak and are then terminated whenever Mother Nature so decides. The great book of life simply closes out one chapter of creation after another once it no longer serves the need for which it was created. Nothing can resist these decisions, which are reached in a higher order of reality than the one they act upon.

To the casual eye, the extinction of a species, for whatever reason, seems like it takes a very long time. But a closer look at this process tells another story. Our scale of time is skewed by the short span of life we are each allotted on this earth. In truth, compared to the lifespan of our planet, an entire species—let alone an individual within it—can vanish virtually overnight.

When we view life through this kind of sweeping perspective, it may be hard to see how such a grand scale of life has anything to do with our individual lives. So let’s examine these ideas and make them very personal and specific to your life and mine.

One of my favorite board games when I was growing up was called Careers. It came with a small set of Opportunity cards, which you chose every time you landed on an “Opportunity Knocks” square on the board. Each card directed you to a different career adventure. For some reason, I remembered this game the other day and thought how we all could probably use Opportunity reminders in our lives. The deeper I dive into the wisdom of accepting all life events as part of my soul’s journey, the more I realize that each event is an opportunity to surrender.

How many of us spend our precious time and energy fuming over what others may have done to us?

Unseen in the steam of our heated emotions and churning thoughts is the one inescapable fact that we are the secret prisoner of anyone we wish to punish. And the more we would punish this person, the less freedom we have to be at peace with ourselves. 

Here's a beautiful lesson in invisible justice, followed by an explanation that will help you let go of any revenge-filled, self-tangling thought. We need never concern ourselves with whether or not some wrongdoer will get his just due. Here's why: any person who does wrong to another is already punished. More correctly stated, anyone who acts unjustly in life instantaneously ensures that he or she will be corrected by the celestial laws that govern all such trespasses. It doesn't matter one bit that you or I don't see this law enacted to our satisfaction. The fact remains: an invisible justice system already exists. This means we need never judge anyone, nor wish some sentence of suffering upon him or her. This understanding is a gift of great freedom known only by the true few. And we can count ourselves among these liberated ones if we are willing to learn what we must. Here are a few vital facts about this unseen system that ensures equality for all.