Everyone has an opinion. It's true! I tend not to ask anyone their opinion because what is true for them is not necessarily true for me.
I grew up Catholic. We trusted the Pope's word as infallible. Then, I became a Mormon and it was all about believing that Joseph Smith was a prophet. If we held that as our truth, then everything out of his mouth would have to be God's Truth. You never had to doubt, even if it didn't make sense.
So, I can see by my background that I continually followed someone else's opinion for most of my life. I even had a husband to whom I entrusted my mind. Because I was programmed from such an early age, it is no wonder it has taken me until recently to break free of others' opinions.
As soon as I began to study the Science of Mind, I realized there was only one opinion I could trust. And, that opinion is God's opinion intuiting through my Mind when I allow myself to open and flow in the space of Divine Intuition.
Recently, I ran a marathon. I was certain I could do it. At times, people shouted and whispered their opinions at me, but I continued to allow Spirit to intuit through my body and cells guiding my journey.
Yesterday, my Minister James Mellon gave a talk where he asked people what they believed in beyond a shadow of a doubt. I asked myself the question. What do I believe that I am anchored in no matter what? My answer is that I am anchored in the Truth that Good is all there is. With this wisdom as my foundation, I am applying this to every situation in life no matter how grave it might appear in the world of conditions. My Divine Evolution is always moving and flowing forward and so is that of all my friends and loved ones.
The Universe has been whispering to me lately and I have been listening. I am letting go of all opinions that have previously been conditioned in me. I am learning anew from a place of unlimited awareness. What does this look like? I have to say, I don't know, but it makes my being tingle with joyous anticipation. I'm willing to stay in this place as it all unfolds. Why? Because, I trust in the Good of the Universe working through me and all my affairs. It whispers still. "Stay Close to me. I am here always."
Love,
Rita
Monday, March 22, 2010
Stay Close to Me. I am Here (written on March 11, 2010)
So…I have been listening and it is so LOUD!
First of all, it is louder in my workplace than it has ever been before. We are in the middle of a move to a new office and the supposed launch of our website finally. I sit trying to write, with 4 – 6 people walking in and out of my 10 x 6 office, standing butted up to my desk, discussing the difference between the color lime and light green and a multitude of other seemingly ridiculous things. They are not talking to me. I put my earplugs in and tune into my meditative music or I leave to get a cup of coffee.
Why does everything seem so different? I’m like an alien. I center, breathe and then I feel like running. Everything is unknown and as I’ve said it before, everything and everyone looks different.
I couldn’t wait to get out of work and get to the Center last night for service and class. It would be my solace. Then class was canceled. Same with tonight. Boot camp was canceled. The Universe is conspiring in my favor. Oh, yes!
I am very excited in a good way, but I can’t put the song to words. My birthday is Friday the 12th, I have no idea of how the day will unfold. This is new for me. Yet, I am trusting more than I ever had in my life. I am trusting this unknown place. I am listening. I am really listening. I know nothing. Now what can I know.
All I hear is, “Stay close to me. I am here.”
First of all, it is louder in my workplace than it has ever been before. We are in the middle of a move to a new office and the supposed launch of our website finally. I sit trying to write, with 4 – 6 people walking in and out of my 10 x 6 office, standing butted up to my desk, discussing the difference between the color lime and light green and a multitude of other seemingly ridiculous things. They are not talking to me. I put my earplugs in and tune into my meditative music or I leave to get a cup of coffee.
Why does everything seem so different? I’m like an alien. I center, breathe and then I feel like running. Everything is unknown and as I’ve said it before, everything and everyone looks different.
I couldn’t wait to get out of work and get to the Center last night for service and class. It would be my solace. Then class was canceled. Same with tonight. Boot camp was canceled. The Universe is conspiring in my favor. Oh, yes!
I am very excited in a good way, but I can’t put the song to words. My birthday is Friday the 12th, I have no idea of how the day will unfold. This is new for me. Yet, I am trusting more than I ever had in my life. I am trusting this unknown place. I am listening. I am really listening. I know nothing. Now what can I know.
All I hear is, “Stay close to me. I am here.”
Sunday, March 21, 2010
I Choose to be Strange
I awoke this morning with this very happy, excited anticipation. I am so grateful. I want to deal with everything and I mean everything from the Spiritual perspective. When I stay here, my Life is brand new in every moment and it is always Good. This quote was in my mailbox this morning.
"Today I am brand new. I have never been who I am today. Today I choose to be as strange as I really am!" (Daily Love)
I want to be strange, because being strange is really the most normal way to be. We are Spiritual, Eternal beings united in the One Consciousness. There are no challenges, only adventures and opportunities to practice knowing this and thus transcending the physical in every way. The great Master Teacher, Jesus said, I am not of this world... I am joining him.
Although Crucifixion was a necessary part of his journey, maybe to teach us this truth, and since he did it already, we don't need to go through the same challenge. The path is clear, if we believe. Anyone up for being strange today?
love and light,
Rita
"Today I am brand new. I have never been who I am today. Today I choose to be as strange as I really am!" (Daily Love)
I want to be strange, because being strange is really the most normal way to be. We are Spiritual, Eternal beings united in the One Consciousness. There are no challenges, only adventures and opportunities to practice knowing this and thus transcending the physical in every way. The great Master Teacher, Jesus said, I am not of this world... I am joining him.
Although Crucifixion was a necessary part of his journey, maybe to teach us this truth, and since he did it already, we don't need to go through the same challenge. The path is clear, if we believe. Anyone up for being strange today?
love and light,
Rita
Thursday, March 18, 2010
RISKING THE OCEAN!
"Load the ship and set out. No one knows for certain whether the vessel will sink or reach the harbor. Cautious people say, "I'll do nothing until I can be sure". Merchants know better. If you do nothing, you lose. Don't be one of those merchants who won't risk the ocean." - Rumi, was an amazing Sufi Poet & Mystic.
When I read the above quote this morning, I thought, this is just where I am. The sentence that jumped out at me was "No one knows for certain whether the vessel will sink or reach the harbor."
At first I thought it meant that we didn't know whether we would fail or succeed, but then I read again, and this is what I understood:
I am loading my ship with Spiritual Truth. Knowing this, I am setting sail out into the unknown...the mystery. I am letting go of everything that I knew before. Will I sink or reach the harbor? In other words will my vessel of Truth stay firm or sink at the first challenge. It's like deciding you believe you can defy gravity, and then after stepping off a ledge, realizing you really don't.
The Truth is there is no Harbor to reach. We carry the Harbor with us. The more I let go of the outside world, and the deeper I go within, trust becomes my way of being. And if I feel the tug under, or that sinking feeling, that's the time to let go again.
There's no turning back to shore once I am aware. I am willing to risk the ocean. I can never fail. There is no failure in the Mind of God, only Divine Evolution.
Once we've loaded up our ships with Truth and set sail, we die to the old and are birthed to the new. The earth isn't flat and there is no horizon so the sailing must be eternal.
When I read the above quote this morning, I thought, this is just where I am. The sentence that jumped out at me was "No one knows for certain whether the vessel will sink or reach the harbor."
At first I thought it meant that we didn't know whether we would fail or succeed, but then I read again, and this is what I understood:
I am loading my ship with Spiritual Truth. Knowing this, I am setting sail out into the unknown...the mystery. I am letting go of everything that I knew before. Will I sink or reach the harbor? In other words will my vessel of Truth stay firm or sink at the first challenge. It's like deciding you believe you can defy gravity, and then after stepping off a ledge, realizing you really don't.
The Truth is there is no Harbor to reach. We carry the Harbor with us. The more I let go of the outside world, and the deeper I go within, trust becomes my way of being. And if I feel the tug under, or that sinking feeling, that's the time to let go again.
There's no turning back to shore once I am aware. I am willing to risk the ocean. I can never fail. There is no failure in the Mind of God, only Divine Evolution.
Once we've loaded up our ships with Truth and set sail, we die to the old and are birthed to the new. The earth isn't flat and there is no horizon so the sailing must be eternal.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Earth Shaking News
Monday night we had a 4.4 Earthquake that woke us up at 4AM. A couple of hours before that I'd left the bed to go write because I couldn't sleep. I have felt such a shift of consciousness lately. I'm being asked to really let go. What does this look like? It looks like complete, uncensored trust in God and Good. While I was writing, I said, "...I feel the earth shaking around me." Well, less than two hours later, it shook all right. But, it is metaphorical, so very metaphorical.
I've been shook up lately in many ways and have had to have total faith. A part of me feels like I want to go running and screaming and I'm not exactly sure where I would run. And so, I keep going within.
It's Boundaries and Priorities week in Mental Muscle workshop. I write my priorities for today:
Today, I will live lighter. I will let go. Today, I'll see and live in Spirit everywhere I go. Today, I'll make my day better and thereby making everyone else's day better. Today, I'll keep my thoughts a little straighter. Today, I'll serve wherever I go. Today, I KNOW a little more and know a little less. Today, I'll have a little more patience and more understanding. Today, I'll not judge by appearance. Today, I'll allow, accept and receive. Today, I'll let go of all my boundaries.
So, I went out on my run. A little panic came through me. I don't know why...and then the words, "Stay close to me, I am here." I kept repeating it over and over. Then I wanted to text it to Patrick, my husband. I stopped and did it, but the message just went without me typing his number in. I have no idea where it went.
As I ran, I saw a homeless lady. She was sitting on a bench, and then getting up, pulling her pants up. It was wet on the ground beneath her. I realized she'd used the bench as a toilet. She looked at me and said hello. I said hello and smiled and we both went our way.
I don't know what to say, but after that I wept (not for sorrow, but for love) and then I said a prayer. I believe in that moment I used pretty much every priority I had set.
I've been shook up lately in many ways and have had to have total faith. A part of me feels like I want to go running and screaming and I'm not exactly sure where I would run. And so, I keep going within.
It's Boundaries and Priorities week in Mental Muscle workshop. I write my priorities for today:
Today, I will live lighter. I will let go. Today, I'll see and live in Spirit everywhere I go. Today, I'll make my day better and thereby making everyone else's day better. Today, I'll keep my thoughts a little straighter. Today, I'll serve wherever I go. Today, I KNOW a little more and know a little less. Today, I'll have a little more patience and more understanding. Today, I'll not judge by appearance. Today, I'll allow, accept and receive. Today, I'll let go of all my boundaries.
So, I went out on my run. A little panic came through me. I don't know why...and then the words, "Stay close to me, I am here." I kept repeating it over and over. Then I wanted to text it to Patrick, my husband. I stopped and did it, but the message just went without me typing his number in. I have no idea where it went.
As I ran, I saw a homeless lady. She was sitting on a bench, and then getting up, pulling her pants up. It was wet on the ground beneath her. I realized she'd used the bench as a toilet. She looked at me and said hello. I said hello and smiled and we both went our way.
I don't know what to say, but after that I wept (not for sorrow, but for love) and then I said a prayer. I believe in that moment I used pretty much every priority I had set.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
When the Student is Ready the Teacher Appears
It is a glorious warm day in California with a gentle breeze. I was out running, after getting home from the NoHo Arts Center and a full morning of Spiritual nourishment both by being in church service and by teaching in the Youth Center. It's "Listen Week" in Spiritual Boot Camp and as I was running,I was listening.
The trees swaying in the wind soothed and lulled me. Then quite suddenly, I heard these words: "When the student is ready, the teacher appears."
I have used the statement many times when great teachers appeared in my life. But today as I was running, this statement took on a whole new meaning. I am a student of the Universe, a sort of a Jedi Knight in training. I have spoken my word and said I'm ready to step up. I am ready to step into the Spiritual Universe and live fully in it. Then, a challenge comes up, and I've had some big ones during the last couple of months. But, "When the student is ready, the teacher appears." I believe it just might be that the seeming "challenge" is the teacher that has appeared. It is here to see what I am made of. Of course, it is all coming from within me.
Now I remember my spiritual mentor, Rev. Mellon once said and still says, we don't need challenges to grow. I believe that is true and I'm not looking for challenges. But, are challenges bad if all is good? I also believe something else he said, which is whatever is happening in the world of effects, we are equal to; and yet, there is a something within us that is so much more than it.
"When the student is ready, the teacher appears." No matter what it is that is showing up, money issues, ill health, relationship challenges, career stuff...what if we looked at it as the teacher we are more than ready for. As we are taught by it, instead of being threatened by it, we walk right through it to the other side. Leaning into the challenge from the powerful place of knowing who we are dissipates it into the nothingness from which it came. It's kind of like that scene in Star Wars, when Yoda sends Luke into the dark place and he meets his father
There really is no challenge, if we just know who we are.
The trees swaying in the wind soothed and lulled me. Then quite suddenly, I heard these words: "When the student is ready, the teacher appears."
I have used the statement many times when great teachers appeared in my life. But today as I was running, this statement took on a whole new meaning. I am a student of the Universe, a sort of a Jedi Knight in training. I have spoken my word and said I'm ready to step up. I am ready to step into the Spiritual Universe and live fully in it. Then, a challenge comes up, and I've had some big ones during the last couple of months. But, "When the student is ready, the teacher appears." I believe it just might be that the seeming "challenge" is the teacher that has appeared. It is here to see what I am made of. Of course, it is all coming from within me.
Now I remember my spiritual mentor, Rev. Mellon once said and still says, we don't need challenges to grow. I believe that is true and I'm not looking for challenges. But, are challenges bad if all is good? I also believe something else he said, which is whatever is happening in the world of effects, we are equal to; and yet, there is a something within us that is so much more than it.
"When the student is ready, the teacher appears." No matter what it is that is showing up, money issues, ill health, relationship challenges, career stuff...what if we looked at it as the teacher we are more than ready for. As we are taught by it, instead of being threatened by it, we walk right through it to the other side. Leaning into the challenge from the powerful place of knowing who we are dissipates it into the nothingness from which it came. It's kind of like that scene in Star Wars, when Yoda sends Luke into the dark place and he meets his father
There really is no challenge, if we just know who we are.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
You are the Angel I've Been Waiting For
I saw "Avatar" for the first time today. My initial reaction was I wish they'd gone further. The message was clear. Yet, it seemed that at the end they bought in the idea that conflict can only be resolved through violence. Even with all the Avatar culture knew of life's truth, it still came down to conquest and "this is my right/land." I probably need to see it again. There were a million metaphors.
Right now I am finding the need to totally step off the edge into the Spiritual Universe in all ways. Everything and everyone seems alien to me. Things that made so much sense now seem confusing. I can feel the material world slipping away and I am holding on like one of those characters hanging onto a ledge with one finger.
Like I told a friend of mine, someone has to get on the bus first. Be all we can be now! That is everything! We are everything. We come from a Power that is everything. Let's get on the bus! Let's let go of that one finger. Let go!
A friend of mine said a few weeks ago..."I'm up for this journey if you are willing to take it with me."
He had stepped into the mystery of life and bid us to join him. I am willing to take the journey into the Spiritual Universe,where everything, and I mean everything that we have claimed as real in the small sense, no longer is real. A space, where the only Real thing is perfection and love.
What does this look like in a practical sense? It is not practical at all. It means seeing only Good, no matter what is happening. It means seeing the highest in everyone and in every situation. It means seeing love in everyone we are looking at from what we consider an enemy to the person we love the most. It is no different.
The healing has begun. We only need to reveal our highest self now.
What do you see? I see you. You are beautiful, whole and complete. That is all you are. No matter what you have done or what has been onto you. Now matter what you say about yourself or what someone says about you. It is time now to know only this Truth. We are Divine Beings of Love meant to have joy, love, peace, abundance, exciting full lives, bringing light to this planet called Earth.
"We are the angels we have been waiting for."' Maryanne Williamson
You are the angel I have been waiting for.
Namaste! Rita
Right now I am finding the need to totally step off the edge into the Spiritual Universe in all ways. Everything and everyone seems alien to me. Things that made so much sense now seem confusing. I can feel the material world slipping away and I am holding on like one of those characters hanging onto a ledge with one finger.
Like I told a friend of mine, someone has to get on the bus first. Be all we can be now! That is everything! We are everything. We come from a Power that is everything. Let's get on the bus! Let's let go of that one finger. Let go!
A friend of mine said a few weeks ago..."I'm up for this journey if you are willing to take it with me."
He had stepped into the mystery of life and bid us to join him. I am willing to take the journey into the Spiritual Universe,where everything, and I mean everything that we have claimed as real in the small sense, no longer is real. A space, where the only Real thing is perfection and love.
What does this look like in a practical sense? It is not practical at all. It means seeing only Good, no matter what is happening. It means seeing the highest in everyone and in every situation. It means seeing love in everyone we are looking at from what we consider an enemy to the person we love the most. It is no different.
The healing has begun. We only need to reveal our highest self now.
What do you see? I see you. You are beautiful, whole and complete. That is all you are. No matter what you have done or what has been onto you. Now matter what you say about yourself or what someone says about you. It is time now to know only this Truth. We are Divine Beings of Love meant to have joy, love, peace, abundance, exciting full lives, bringing light to this planet called Earth.
"We are the angels we have been waiting for."' Maryanne Williamson
You are the angel I have been waiting for.
Namaste! Rita
Thursday, March 11, 2010
My Birthday Booty
Today is the last day of my 56th year. I have now spent 56 full years on Planet Earth. Show me what you got, Rita.
Well, I'm shaking my birthday booty, and I have to say it's quite filled with lots of treasures. I've had an amazing life. No gold coins to show right now, but my life is ever rich in experience, friends and love.
First of all, I have to give gratitude for my upbringing, although stormy at times, it is a big part of who I am and I bless it.
I've had the opportunity and wisdom to follow my spiritual trail where ever it takes me and it's always taken me home to mySELF safely. I am grateful.
I had the opportunity to give birth to the three most blessed children who have since grown up to be giving, loving human beings. How much richer can you get than that. I am grateful.
I have always had a loving partner in my life and a rich and fun and yes sexy relationship. Right now I am having more loving fun than ever with Patrick Feren. I am grateful.
I've had the opportunity to laugh, love, cry, and be part of the lives of amazing people...people who actually live their lives to make the world a better place. I cannot put a price on that, either. I am grateful.
I've had the opportunity to express my creativity in multiple ways from cooking to singing to acting to writing. That means that I have spent my life expressing my God gifts. I am grateful.
So, what do I want for my 57th birthday? How do I see my life? At one time, I would have said that I want one of my scripts to sell, I want a million dollars, or I want a new home. Yes, I want all those things. I cannot deny it. But, frankly, I'm tired of wanting things. I'm finally ready to let go.
I want to live in complete knowing that I am a unique expression of God and that God is the only source and substance of my supply. If I could live in that embodiment for more than a few minutes at a time, that would be the best birthday gift that I'd ever had. The thing is, I am the only one who can give that gift to myself.
In the Science of Mind reading today, Ernest Holmes said, "Just so far as we depend upon any condition, past, present or future, we are creating chaos, because we are then dealing with conditions (effects)and not causes."
This rings so true to me. I have most recently been depending on conditions or effects to know that I am all right...that I am rich. The reading goes onto say that "...there is a Power that makes things directly out of Itself-by simply becoming the thing it makes..."
I am willing to go the distance this year. I am willing to trust this Power as the only source of my supply. It is me and I am It. I am shaking my birthday booty and I don't know what it looks like, but it feels really good. It is GOOD!
love,
Rita
Well, I'm shaking my birthday booty, and I have to say it's quite filled with lots of treasures. I've had an amazing life. No gold coins to show right now, but my life is ever rich in experience, friends and love.
First of all, I have to give gratitude for my upbringing, although stormy at times, it is a big part of who I am and I bless it.
I've had the opportunity and wisdom to follow my spiritual trail where ever it takes me and it's always taken me home to mySELF safely. I am grateful.
I had the opportunity to give birth to the three most blessed children who have since grown up to be giving, loving human beings. How much richer can you get than that. I am grateful.
I have always had a loving partner in my life and a rich and fun and yes sexy relationship. Right now I am having more loving fun than ever with Patrick Feren. I am grateful.
I've had the opportunity to laugh, love, cry, and be part of the lives of amazing people...people who actually live their lives to make the world a better place. I cannot put a price on that, either. I am grateful.
I've had the opportunity to express my creativity in multiple ways from cooking to singing to acting to writing. That means that I have spent my life expressing my God gifts. I am grateful.
So, what do I want for my 57th birthday? How do I see my life? At one time, I would have said that I want one of my scripts to sell, I want a million dollars, or I want a new home. Yes, I want all those things. I cannot deny it. But, frankly, I'm tired of wanting things. I'm finally ready to let go.
I want to live in complete knowing that I am a unique expression of God and that God is the only source and substance of my supply. If I could live in that embodiment for more than a few minutes at a time, that would be the best birthday gift that I'd ever had. The thing is, I am the only one who can give that gift to myself.
In the Science of Mind reading today, Ernest Holmes said, "Just so far as we depend upon any condition, past, present or future, we are creating chaos, because we are then dealing with conditions (effects)and not causes."
This rings so true to me. I have most recently been depending on conditions or effects to know that I am all right...that I am rich. The reading goes onto say that "...there is a Power that makes things directly out of Itself-by simply becoming the thing it makes..."
I am willing to go the distance this year. I am willing to trust this Power as the only source of my supply. It is me and I am It. I am shaking my birthday booty and I don't know what it looks like, but it feels really good. It is GOOD!
love,
Rita
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
PATIENCE IS GENIUS!
It is Patience Week in James Mellon's Mental Muscle Boot Camp and I am honing my patience skills during a week of what seems like endless waiting for my blossoms to bloom. Unfortunately, I am not immune to pulling up the roots either. How many times have I checked my email today to see if "something" is there? I've lost count.
At the same time, I have claimed that I am a Spiritual Being Living in a Spiritual Universe. I am learning that I can walk through this world knowing I am in it but not of it.
So how does this all fit together? I must trust what seem like delays. Is it true, as Michael Beckwith says...that delays are just here so I can acquire additional skills needed for future adventures?
So, I ask "What do I need to know?" My spiritual mentor, James Mellon says those words are a directive not a question. I've been asking it a lot lately and perhaps not expecting an answer. Hush, Rita! Listen!
Breathe...Here it comes..."Enjoy life in the now!" (Oh, not that again, says my will power). However, resist as I might the Now, it is obvious it is the major important life skill I need to still embrace. The Now! Perhaps when I live that I won't need to be patient anymore because there will be nothing to be patient about.
While I watched my husband get ready for work today, I thought back on all the wonders of our life together. I thought of all the moments like this one that would be gone in an instant and how precious they are.
Life is to be relished moment-to-moment. Me, sitting here right now is a moment never to be lived again. James has said, "Patience is Knowing."
Knowing is aligning myself with Divine Will that only knows perfect time. It is time to enjoy the journey and get into the flow. Our success is always assured in the Present.
Eighteenth-century French naturalist, Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon (1707-1788), said, "The ability to accept delay. Or disappointment. To smile at setbacks and respond with a pleasant, understanding spirit. To remain calm while others around are uneasy. This is Godly patience. Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on; Hold fast; Hold out. Patience is genius."
I am a genius and so are you! Namaste!
love and light,
Rita
At the same time, I have claimed that I am a Spiritual Being Living in a Spiritual Universe. I am learning that I can walk through this world knowing I am in it but not of it.
So how does this all fit together? I must trust what seem like delays. Is it true, as Michael Beckwith says...that delays are just here so I can acquire additional skills needed for future adventures?
So, I ask "What do I need to know?" My spiritual mentor, James Mellon says those words are a directive not a question. I've been asking it a lot lately and perhaps not expecting an answer. Hush, Rita! Listen!
Breathe...Here it comes..."Enjoy life in the now!" (Oh, not that again, says my will power). However, resist as I might the Now, it is obvious it is the major important life skill I need to still embrace. The Now! Perhaps when I live that I won't need to be patient anymore because there will be nothing to be patient about.
While I watched my husband get ready for work today, I thought back on all the wonders of our life together. I thought of all the moments like this one that would be gone in an instant and how precious they are.
Life is to be relished moment-to-moment. Me, sitting here right now is a moment never to be lived again. James has said, "Patience is Knowing."
Knowing is aligning myself with Divine Will that only knows perfect time. It is time to enjoy the journey and get into the flow. Our success is always assured in the Present.
Eighteenth-century French naturalist, Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon (1707-1788), said, "The ability to accept delay. Or disappointment. To smile at setbacks and respond with a pleasant, understanding spirit. To remain calm while others around are uneasy. This is Godly patience. Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on; Hold fast; Hold out. Patience is genius."
I am a genius and so are you! Namaste!
love and light,
Rita
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