Bodies

With the holiday season arriving, we are beginning to hear complaints (though not too seriously) about the foods available. In Canada, Christmas baking is BIG – shortbread, cookies, fudge, fruit cake, butter tarts, mincemeat tarts, homemade truffles, lots of chocolates of all kinds …. Anyone besides me drooling yet? Oh – and eggnog – yumm! Some of us women joke that we might as well glue it to our hips since we feel that’s where it will show up anyway. Last year I heard myself saying “All I have to do is look at the holiday goodies and I gain weight.” And the Universe said “Yes, my darling,” and so I did.

Magazines are now coming out with articles about weight programs for the holidays. Indeed weight loss is one of the biggest money making ventures around. Open any magazine, or go to your local bookstore and see how many different ideas there are about weight loss for both women and men.

Yes, at the bottom of all of our concerns about our bodies are ideas – ideas we’ve accepted according to where we live and what’s in style. Ideas that are based in fear – fear that we won’t be pretty or handsome enough, fear that we won’t be acceptable in society - plain old fear of not being enough!

Nithya Shanti, a spiritual teacher in India, wrote as his status line on Facebook one day: “Our bodies are magnificent. They are condensed Divinity. There is nothing in them at all to despise or be embarrassed about. Any cultural or religious ideas to the contrary can safely be abandoned at once.”

The Ancient Hawaiians believed the bigger you were the more mana you had (mana = spiritual power). Our bodies are condensed Divinity – or we could say thick thought. How does this idea change the way you will see yourself the next time you look in the mirror?

Looking at my body from this perspective erases the guilt of holiday eating. I will be conscious about what I’m eating and I will allow myself the pleasure of experiencing this once-a-year feasting.

Together, let’s abandon the fears of not being enough because of what we look like. Let’s enjoy being in a body. It’s an amazing self-repairing earth suit, designed by us, with abilities to experience the world we’re creating through our senses! It is God coalesced into form for our adventure here called Life.

SPIRITUAL MIND TREATMENT

There is only One Life – God’s Life. I am an expression of this One Life, living in a body I have created with my thoughts to be here now.

How grateful I am for every cell of this body. I have eyes that see, ears that hear, a nose that smells, a tongue that tastes, and hands that touch—and these things that allow me to experience through my senses are only a tiny part of the wonderful organism that I am. I am grateful for my skeletal structure, my muscles, and tendons. I am grateful for all the organs that are within me and the work they do for me automatically. I am grateful for the blood that moves through my body, bringing oxygen and removing that which is no longer necessary. I am grateful for my brain and all the electrochemical activities that run the body.

I now let go of any negative thinking I have been doing about my body. I choose to see it as the condensed Divinity It is. I am grateful that I now realize that this body is truly the Temple of the Most High.

The I AM that I am loves and nourishes and uses this body with great respect. I see this reflected in the way I treat my body. It is God in form.

I release these words into the Law of Mind, knowing they are planted deep within my subjective mind, becoming a builder of my universe, and this is good, very good. And so it is.

Imagination

Halloween’s an interesting time of year. It’s a time when we give ourselves permission to be creative – it’s also a time when we give ourselves permission to be scared and make it fun. In the human experience we seem to fall easily into mental scary places. We fear illness, the world financial situation, or that our jobs or our love will end. We find ourselves imagining all sorts of scary stories but it’s not fun.

Years ago when I was living in Los Angeles, as I was driving home from a week long trip, I saw that the hills in which I lived were on fire. I started worrying about my cats and my home. Various scary scenarios flashed through my mind until I could hardly breathe, my heart was pounding and every muscle in my body was rigid. As I kept driving I realized the fire wasn’t anywhere close to where I lived. I was so grateful my home was safe yet it took me a little while to come back to normal physically. This experience made me realize how powerful my imagination was.

Our imaginations are one of the most awesome tools in our spiritual tool box. Yet our imagination cannot tell what is real or not real, so letting our imagination run wild from a fear base can cause effects that are not conducive to our highest good.

When the darker side of our dreams seems to bleed into our imaginations, it is the perfect opportunity to work through our fears. How do we do this? First we admit we are afraid. We face them head on and recognize them as dream blockers. We claim the Truth about them. They are not Real. We don’t beat ourselves up for being scared. We laugh at the costume that fear took!! Then we get busy and have fun imagining what we really want!

J. K Rowling, author of the delightful Harry Potter books, said in her 2008 commencement address to Harvard: “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”

SPIRITUAL MIND TREATMENT

One Power, one Presence – one Heart, one Mind. This is The Divine. The Source and substance of all there is, including me. I celebrate my conscious awareness of this One, as I speak my word into spiritual law:

No longer do I let fear immobilize me. No longer do I let fear take over my imagination to block my dreams. I declare I am fear-free. I use my imagination to visualize a world that is fear-free. And it feels good.

I also declare that anytime fear creeps into my imagination the Silent Witness gently and humourously reminds me that this is not my Truth.

I am so grateful for this wonderful tool. I build my Vision for my life with ease and grace. I experience what I imagine and it is good.

I release these words into the Law of Mind, knowing they are so, and so It is.

Thoughts

Bonnie, a wonderful artist friend of mine in Hawaii, posted a picture on Facebook of a living room that was totally black and white except for a few red flowers. I found it interesting to read people’s reactions to the picture. To Bonnie, who’s also an interior decorator, the picture reflected a room that was elegant, dramatic and sophisticated (tho she wouldn’t want to have to clean it) … someone else thought it was too sterile … I wanted more red.

I reflected on our thinking processes. Some like everything to be black and white. Some like lots of drama. Some like lots of colour, lots of details. Some like simplicity. No one is wrong. We are all right in our own way. My right might not agree with your right but that doesn’t make either of us wrong. Imagine how our world would be if we could accept this.

The Hawaiians have a forgiveness process that is popular right now. Ho’o pono pono. The word means “to be the cause of making the right right.” There is no wrong. There is only a revealing of a higher Truth.

The Truth is we are all unique individualized expressions of the One Mind. How grateful I am that we don’t all think the same! Whether your world is black and white or full of colour – I KNOW it is beautiful!!


SPIRITUAL MIND TREATMENT

I recognize the powerful presence of The Divine all around me. It is in everything, everywhere. It is the Source and substance of all that is. It is the Lifeforce within me. It is – and it is all there is.

Today I declare I am willing to let go of any judgments I have about how others think or live their lives. I now see them as another unique expression of God. I appreciate our differences.
I am also willing to let go of any judgments of how I think. I appreciate my uniqueness.

Because of my willingness, I see the blessings of Peace filling our world. I sense a calmness filling my atmosphere. Life is good, very good.

I release these words into the Law of Mind, knowing they are so. And so it is.

Willingness

Rev. Yvonne Davidson, a friend in Kelowna, sent me this story and I had to share it with you:

I had the opportunity of meeting a wonderful Chiropractor who has been working with David and I since March. He said he had come to Kelowna to heal the city.

He accepts a patient, X-rays them, sees them three times a week for three months, twice a week for three months, then once a week for three months. His theory is that we have to train the body to re-member how to hold the adjustments he gives it.

What amazed me is that he asks each patient how much they can pay per month and if they can't pay anything, they don't, and whatever they can afford is what they pay for their treatments! No balance piling up, no accounting each month.

He belongs to Trinity Baptist Church and is a very delightful, cheerful and positive Christian, who knows all about how the mind and body work together. Our philosophies differ very little.

He told me he used to go to church every Sunday and volunteer his time. One day he thought; "There are lots of people who volunteer here". So now every Sunday he goes down to the Mission where they do a breakfast for the homeless and he does around 30 Chiro adjustments for street people. Here is a man who really walks his talk.

Yes, here is a man who really walks his talk. I love his willingness to know his gifts so clearly and give them regardless of what our society would say. I can just hear his fellow chiropractors – “You mean you just give it away? You can’t do that!” Yes he can and yes he does.

My teacher, the late Rev. Helen Street, used to say that within 5 minutes of conversation she could tell what God the person had. As I read this e-mail, I see a man whose God is a loving, giving God. One that supports him in doing the work he knows he must do. One that he trusts.
I love this God.


SPIRITUAL MIND TREATMENT

I acknowledge the Divine Energy that is within us all. This Divine Energy is the Source, the sustainer and the substance of all. It is Love working through Law. It is, and It is all there is.

Knowing this I speak my word into this wonderful Energy and I declare “I am ready and willing to be all I can be. I am ready to give my gifts to the world and I am ready to trust that everything needed to do this work is already at hand.”

I celebrate my willingness, my courage and my ability to trust. I am so grateful for these Principles and the Universe’s constant reminder of them. I gratefully step forward in faith and do the work I am here to do. God in me, as me, is living a wonderful life!

I release these words to the Law of Mind, knowing they are done, and so it is.

Change

Someone said the other day that the world is changing and because of that, their life was changing. It’s true, our lives are changing and will never been the same, moment to moment. Change means the process of becoming different. Aren’t we always doing that? Don’t we desire to do that? We want to become more authentic, more loving, be more of service, and in order to do that something in us must change. Change is natural on the physical level – yet we are so afraid of it.
Holmes writes in the Science of Mind “All seeming change is merely the play of Life upon Itself.” Creation demands change as Life creates by a process of Divine Self-Imagination, and Life’s imagination flows through us at the level of our receptivity. The only thing that ever changes is form. The form might be our job, our home, even our relationships. Because of our fears, we often resist change when everything inside of us is urging us to move! I call that urge a sense of Divine Discontentment.
Holmes also writes: “Nature will not let us stay in any one place too long. She will let us stay just long enough to gather the experience necessary to the unfolding and advancement of the soul. This is a wise provision, for should we stay here too long, we would become too set, too rigid, too inflexible. Nature demands the change in order that we may advance. When the change comes, we should welcome it with a smile on the lips and a song in the heart.”
Yes, change is happening, and always will. Let’s move into our changes with a clear understanding that Who We Are in Truth never changes, just the forms. Let’s welcome change, knowing it is an advancement of our soul.


SPIRITUAL MIND TREATMENT

I acknowledge and celebrate the powerful Presence of the Divine right here and now. I know It is absolutely everywhere including within me. It serves me though Law according to my awareness of It, and I serve It with Love.

I now declare I am ready to accept that Who I Am in Spirit is changeless. I am Spirit in form, and it is the form that changes. I accept these changes as results of my consciousness. Every change in my live is about advancing my expression of Self, about growth in consciousness, and about having a deeper experience of the Divine. I declare that change is good!

With a grateful heart I let go and let God guide me to my highest good and greatest joy. I release these words into the Law of Mind, knowing they are done. And so it is.

Training

Several times a day I take Phoebe through her “training” routine. The normal “sit, stay, and heel,” etc. This morning was exhausting! She was being a wild child!! She wanted to do what she wanted to do and I had a really hard time being the pack leader. Part of me just wanted to let her run and play and be a dog, yet I know that if I let up on the training, it will be more difficult the next time.

On the walk home, I realized our minds are a lot like puppies. They need training. Consistent training. And even when we think we’ve got it, we need reinforcement training.

I know we sometimes get discouraged or overwhelmed by this work. Sometime it seems so hard! We do our Spiritual Mind Treatments, we journal, we meditate, we listen to great messages on Sundays, yet still, that thing our heart desires isn’t manifesting. We’re not happy. Why is this? We’ve let our minds go wild.

I don’t know how many times over the past 30 years that I’ve been in this teaching when I thought “Oh to be ignorant again – ignorance is bliss.” Yet when we’re ignorant, we fall into the collective unconscious way of thinking. What’s in the collective unconscious you ask? Turn on the radio or your television, and what ever the story is, it’s probably based in fear! Remember, we attract what we are predominantly thinking and feeling!

We’re like spiritual athletes, constantly assessing our performance, moving into more training. And as most athletes will tell you, training in a group is a great experience. Classes started this month – are you in one? That training brings awesome rewards!

SPIRITUAL MIND TREATMENT

Gratefully I honour The Divine Presence within us, among us and around us. It is the Sustainer of Life, Love and all things. It is all there is.

I know this Presence as both Love and Law, therefore I now speak my word into this Law, declaring:
“I am an excellent spiritual athlete. I have a trained mind, and the trained mind is the dominant mind. I know that as I declare a thing, it is done with ease.”

Because I have declared this, the whole Universe rushes forward to make this my reality. Doors open, opportunities abound. Life is good.

I celebrate my conscious awareness of Principle, and the knowledge of how to use it to create a world that works for everyone including me! I live my life in gratitude, and it is good, very good.

I release these words, knowing they are so, and so it is.

Celebrate!

I love following the multifaith calendar. There are so many celebrations, so many delightful rituals.

Tonight at sundown Rosh Hashanah begins. This is the Jewish New Year. There are many rituals and prayers involved in this holy time – and the one I resonate to is Tashlikh (Hebrew for “casting off”). During the afternoon, people go to a large, natural body of flowing water and “cast off” the previous years sins by throwing pieces of bread into the water. The word ‘sin’ in the biblical Hebrew, the generic word for sin is het. It means to err, to miss the mark.

Tomorrow, September 19 is Navratri (or nine nights), a Hindu holiday that honors Shakti or the Divine Feminine/Mother and looks to her for spiritual cleansing, guidance, and enlightenment.

Dr. Holmes writes in the glossary of the Science of Mind, under Feminine Principle: “The Universal Soul. In us, the subjective or subconscious intelligence. The Universal Medium or Soul has been called the “Womb of Nature,” and the “Holy Mother,” because It is receptive to the Spirit, and is impregnated with Divine Ideas. It gives birth to the Ideas of the Spirit, and is, therefore the Feminine Principle of Nature.

Even the holy days of this month are telling us to clear the clutter to make room for what we want to manifest in our lives!! There’s a brook running through our back yard – I am going to use the Jewish ritual to let go of all the things I might be holding against myself or others. My main error or the mark I might have missed would be to think that myself and others are not God.

Then I will use the Feminine Principle to consciously connect with my Hearts desires and let those take the place of the ‘sins’ I let go of. My Hearts desire is to be happy and of service to my world. To be loved and loving. To feel all my feelings. To see everything as Divine.

How would you use the energy of these holy days?


SPIRITUAL MIND TREATMENT

I celebrate the holiness, the wholeness, of the One Life that is the Source and Sustainer of all things. I know It is absolutely everywhere, including within me.

In this Oneness is both Love and Law – Love pointing the way, and Law making the way possible. I now speak with Love into the Law and declare: I am willing to let go and be more Real. I am willing to accept my Good with an open heart and mind and arms. I am willing to accept the Truth of my being, which is God.

As I declare and feel my willingness, Life fulfills the desires of my heart. Both the ones I am conscious of and the ones I am not. I see Life opening up for me as I open up for It. And this is good, very good.

Gratefully I release these words, celebrating their being embodied deeply in my subjective mind, and seeing them manifest. And so it is.