Have you ever had the experience of seeing the same repeating numbers over and over, everywhere you go? It might be on the clock, a license plate in traffic, a phone number, or anywhere else numbers show up in your daily life. Everywhere you look you see it… 1111, 222, 444… 

Some people live in the same place most of their lives; others move frequently over the years. Wherever you choose to go, your soul remains with you, as does your identity. The soul travels lightly, no passport, no possessions. The identity or ego, however, usually has a lot of “baggage” to declare. That baggage can take the form of either physical objects or nonphysical opinions and beliefs. Both can weigh you down, but the latter actually constricts your future experience. What you plan on, what you think should happen, places a limit on possibilities. It also limits whom you allow into your experience. The soul, without the opinions of the ego, would live life open-endedly, open-heartedly, inclusive of many kinds of experiences and people. An expansive circle instead of a small box.

Each of us evolve and change; this is a delightful truth in our world. Thus, we are always offered new opportunities. Will this constant tide of evolution eventually bring us to the Age of Enlightenment? Will humanity discover a state of mind, where we no longer bomb our neighbors, or is the Age of Enlightenment reserved only for individuals to experience?

The world is a reflection of you because you are the universe.

Perhaps that seems like a bold statement.

I share it because I’m often asked, “How can I change the world?” The answer is for you to come home to the core and build circuits so that you perceive with clarity and a loving, compassionate, conscious presence everything happening in the world.

I know that you are going through life changes and I know that you are being called to redefine your lives according to your hearts. And while this can be scary, there is no better time in human history to get divorced, or to go through a medical issue or to look for a new job. There is no better time in history than now. 

As so many of us find ourselves praying more often, more fervently than ever as bombs drop on Ukraine, the world economy is in turmoil, the pandemic continues, experiencing inner peace can be a real struggle.

I’ve been on several global prayer webcasts, collectively praying and holding strong intentions for peace, for healings, for miracles, even though at times I couldn’t imagine what kind of miracle to pray for.

Regardless of the assertion of any fearful state that seeks to convince you otherwise, apply this one great truth:

That fear must break down if it doesn’t succeed in breaking down your willingness to test its reality. How do you conduct such a test? You learn to look at its presence within you with the quiet understanding that, in reality, nothing in life is fixed. All things change. Everything passes. This is truth. Knowing this to be true is power over fearful states that hold us captive.

We are all survivors of one kind or another. Whether encountering a diagnosis, a deep loss, or daily challenges, each of us passes through various life experiences that can serve as gateways to more expansive awareness. Surviving doesn’t have to mean perpetual struggle. Among breast cancer survivors (of which I am now one), survival has become a badge of honor combined with a positive outlook. Having just completed treatment, I feel both relief and a bit of uncertainty at being on the other side of all that I have experienced since my initial diagnosis last summer. Because I have friends who are long-time breast cancer survivors and because I trust my doctors, I have felt optimistic throughout. Yet the kernel of “what next?” inevitably arises at some point.

Do You Care?

The Practice:
Have compassion.

Why?

Compassion is essentially the wish that beings do not suffer – from subtle physical and emotional discomfort to agony and anguish – combined with feelings of sympathetic concern.

Have you ever experienced a time in your life where you felt deeply connected to Spirit? Where things seemed to just flow and you knew you were on the path of your highest good?

Throughout your life, your feeling of connectedness to Spirit and your spiritual journey may ebb and flow. For many of us, there are times when we feel a sense of Divine guidance and clarity about our spiritual path, and other times when we feel disconnected, or even lost. 

Belief, when experienced as a teacher without a name, enables us to enliven a kinship between the living part and the living Whole. Such sustained care begins to heal us. With humility, it is not our place to denounce what others believe in, but to use the sincerity of their example as an encouragement to find our own particular inlets into the Mystery of Life.

Every spiritual tradition, East or West, speaks about waking up as an essential part of progress on the path. Whether the goal is God, enlightenment, or the experience of bliss, it is blocked because almost everyone is asleep. But the injunction to wake up is vague and clearly not meant literally—we think we are awake unless we are asleep in bed. It’s very important, then, to clarify what it exactly means to wake up.

On the day of my first radiation treatment for breast cancer, I had a sudden thought during my morning meditation: “This is the fire that will burn away the imprints of all that came before.” Meaning, what we each carry around with us from our past, whether pain, suffering, loss, or uncried tears. Every human being faces challenges in life that because of their intensity imprint us deep inside and thus affect how we live day to day, with hesitancy or fear perhaps. When the imprints come to the surface and are released, freedom and peace arise. Mostly my life has been filled with love and happiness, but I have also had difficult experiences, including breast cancer and a lifelong fear of death/eternity. Ironically, this current cancer path has opened up a deeply soothing and expansive soul connection. Now I am at the last fiery gate. The phoenix stands before me.

Have you noticed yet that wherever you go, the thing that you don’t want the most seems to know where you are? Seriously. It doesn’t just know where you are. The Divine has created the conditions under which a reaction will be stirred and brought into your consciousness so that you can finally realize that running from it doesn’t change the reality of it. Only bringing it into the light of a new order of awareness can bring into its presence the fulfillment of itself. Why? Because you start to understand the reaction is just what you don’t know about yourself yet.

Your soul is a fundamental part of you and it’s constantly feeling and listening to everything that’s happening in and around your life. It’s almost like a best friend standing by your side. If your soul sees that something’s not right or you’re heading for a negative turn, it’s going to do something about it.

Human beings in general have been convinced that they are not capable in one area or more than one area. That programming and conditioning began when you were born. You were born into a family, a religion, a spirituality, a way of living, a community where the messaging, you are incapable, was continually reinforced.

The beginning of a new calendar year holds a sacred and potent energy.  January may be over, but that doesn’t mean you can’t continue to use this inspiring energy to continue navigating your spiritual journey with confidence throughout the whole year. 

February is the perfect time to reflect on your intentions, what you want your year to look like and how you want to feel about your life. In my Vision Board Challenge last month we focused on cultivating a feeling state in order to bring our visions to life. But beyond creating a vision board, how do we consciously work toward that desired feeling state in a way that feels abundant? 

In surprising ways, the notion of enlightenment is important in everyday life. In the West, the word “enlightenment” remains fuzzy, and most people would consider it exotic, foreign, difficult to reach, and reserved only for people with strong spiritual motivation and tremendous self-discipline.

If all of these assumptions are wrong, everything surrounding enlightenment would have to shift. In fact, each of these assumptions occupies a spectrum. There are yogic teachings that require strong motivation and enormous discipline, but there are also paths to enlightenment that are much easier, and these fit everyday lifestyles quite well.