Tag Archives: Spirituality

AWAKENING TO NONRESISTANCE

Posted on August 1, 2012 | 5 comments

“Nonresistance is the key to the greatest power in the universe.  Through it, consciousness (spirit) is freed from its imprisonment in form.”  Eckhart Tolle

When something happens that you don’t like, how do you respond?  Do you react?  Withdraw?  Consider multiple options for response?

Why Do We Choose Doing Rather Than Being?

The other day as I worked on my computer, the screen went black and a brief message appeared telling me there was a threat to the system, and it was shutting down to protect my data.  It happened so suddenly that my only response was stunned silence.  Then I thought, “What am I supposed to do?”  I had no idea.  This had never happened before.  I waited a few minutes and then brought up the computer in “safe mode,” and it was fine.  Then I shut it down and brought it up in “normal mode,” and it was fine.

In reflecting on this event, I found it interesting that I asked, “What am I supposed to do?” not “How am I supposed to be?”  Actually, the computer had taken care of the doing and all I could do was to be with it.  When something unexpected happens, why do I always think of what action to take first?

Transcending Limitations

In this physical life, one of our challenges is learning how to transcend our limitations and create a life that is rewarding and uplifting.  Tolle and many other spiritual teachers would tell us the secret is to be in the moment and not to resist what we experience.  Reading A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, changed my life.  Tolle covered this topic so completely that I was unable to ignore the power of what he suggested.

When we are able to be in the moment, feel what we are experiencing, and let go of what is negative, it opens an entirely new path for us.  We are able to see more clearly, we are able to go deeper, and we more easily find joy.  On pages 210-211 of A New Earth, Tolle says, “When you are present, when your attention is fully in the Now, that Presence will flow into and transform what you do.  There will be quality and power in it.  You are present when what you are doing is not primarily a means to an end (money, prestige, winning) but fulfilling in itself, when there is joy and aliveness in what you do.”

Releasing Resistance

Living a life where we try to stay in the moment, doesn’t mean we don’t take action.  It just means we become aware, then choose action. It may even mean we choose to do nothing.  In being present, there is no resistance; there is no fear because it is fear that creates the resistance to begin with.  We are so conditioned in this society to do, to produce, to accomplish, and to do it quickly that we are skipping the most important step.  If we make decisions about our lives from a place of being in the moment rather than from a place of fearing and resisting, we will make more beneficial choices.

Being Spiritually Present in the Moment

The learning curve in my life this year has been so overwhelming that I can’t imagine how I would have dealt with it had I not been exposed to the many nuances in Tolle’s teachings.  Knowing how to meditate helped, but it wasn’t enough.  Now I can sit in front of my extremely long “to do” list, prioritize it, and calmly begin working with the first item.  Working with a deadline is more challenging, but the more I focus in the moment and choose not to become attached to distractions, the more I accomplish.  When I encounter a difficulty and find myself resisting it, I stop to remember how nicely things go when I don’t resist. I sit quietly for a moment, giving my mind time to process what I need, and wait for the solution to show up.  Sometimes the answer shows up right away; other times it’s clear I need to go on and what I need shows up later.

Staying in the moment is empowering because it connects us with Spirit and that gives us access to deeper and richer places within.  New ideas spring forth because we do not allow conditioned ideas from our past to create resistance and stop us from experimenting.  What we do is filled with joy because it comes from our spiritual core.  The true expression of who we are fills our lives with satisfaction and excitement.  Ego calms down and our spirit leads the way.  Without resistance, life flows like a mountain stream.

©2012 Georganne Spruce                                                             ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Related Articles:  On finding Balance – Tolle, Being in the Moment – Tolle (video), 5 Ways to Let Go of Resistance

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AWAKENING TO WILDNESS, ONE WITH NATURE, Part 2

Posted on July 12, 2012 | 2 comments

“In wildness is the preservation of the world.”               Thoreau  – thoreau’s Birthday is today

What is your relationship to nature?  Are you a hiker, fisherman, gardener?  What part of you comes alive when you are in touch with nature?

The Soul Is Wild

“The soul is like a wild animal – tough, resilient, savvy, self-sufficient, and yet exceedingly shy.  If we want to see a wild animal, the last thing we should do is to go crashing through the woods, shouting for the creature to come out.  But if we are willing to walk quietly into the woods and sit silently for an hour or two at the base of a tree, the creature we are waiting for may well emerge, and out of the corner of an eye we will catch a glimpse of the precious wildness we seek.”  Parker Palmer

What is it about wildness that touches so many of us deeply?  For my friend Jerry, it is nature’s inability to be domesticated.  Even at four years of age, he was allowed to go into the forest where he created fantasy games, often related to the stories he was reading.  The woods were his playground.  As a young man, he ran a program similar to Outward Bound.  He was a woodsman first and later became a psychologist.

Wildness Is Central To Spirituality

Jerry often quotes William Blake or Thoreau, both writers who embody wildness.  When I asked him how wildness relates to his spirituality, he said, “It is central to it.  I’m part of the natural—part and parcel of the fauna—I’m not outside looking in.  I can’t think of spirituality without wildness.  I’m not sure I could be wild if I lived in the city all the time because that environment is so domesticated.”

The Space With No Name

During my twenties, I was enthralled with the Romanic writers, the transcendentalists like Emerson and Thoreau, who saw a deep, but wild connection between nature and spirituality.  So, when I was first invited to visit Jerry’s “Space With No Name,” I was truly awed by its natural beauty and felt as if I had stepped into another world.

After Jerry and his wife Jane moved to their cabin in the woods, he needed a space to put his parents who had passed away and been buried on someone else’s land.  After one plan fell through, he found a beautiful rhododendron area.  As he wandered through it, he thought, “This is not a graveyard, the old burial ground; this is a wilderness space that will sanctify my parents.”

Gathering wood off the ground, he created a little container and using the contours of the hill as paths, he created this special space.  He put creatures on the fence posts and before long, he says, “The space over ran itself.” Every day he walked the paths, very attentive to what was there, then the next day in the very space that had been empty, a creature would appear—branches with knarled ends or pine knots, stumps with interesting configurations, or rocks with faces.  Things began to show up on their own, and he swears they also moved around, sometimes falling off perches or appearing mysteriously in new places. He insists, “I swear, it became alive.”

I have no doubt this is a sacred space.  The last time I was there, I glanced toward a small metal sculpture of a dancing earth mother and was stunned by what I saw next to it.  In the same area was a knarled wooden creature that looked like a samurai warrior that had once appeared in a vision I had while meditating.  For a moment, all time and space was one, and my unconscious become conscious—which is what this space does to one.

In “The Space With No Name” there are around a thousand creatures, natural and ones created from several natural forms.  I asked Jerry, “Aren’t these composite creatures art?”

“I don’t want to claim it as art,” he said.  “It’s fine with me if people say, ‘You’re not a caretaker, you’re an artist.  It may be one and the same thing.  I was never a painter, poet, or composer.  I didn’t and don’t do Art, yet living so close to Art, I recognize and appreciate her presence, practice, and performance, and her Wildness, and She has surprised me with a gift of animistic sensibility in the “Space With No Name,” where I am in close communion with the living, breathing woods and hundreds of wild creatures, including rocks, roots, stumps, pine knots.  There are hawks, bugs and birds; trees, red fox, wild turkey, bob cat, bear, raccoons and possum; stealthy presence of coyotes.  Neither owner nor creator of this space, I am lucky to be its caretaker.

Being One With All That Is

His animism permeates Jerry’s whole life.  “This rock, in my space, that I sit on has an eternity I don’t have.  I wouldn’t take all this as seriously as I do if I weren’t animistic.  I’d say, ‘That’s just a tree stump.’  But it’s so much more.  One day, Jane was working on a sculpture, a mask.  I was walking around and saw something sticking out of a tree stump.  I was curious so I pulled it out—it looked like a mask.”  He pointed to the mask-like image sitting on the tree stump in front of us.  When we are in touch with our core of wildness and Oneness, these things often happen.

As I listened to Jerry, I realized his relationship to nature exemplifies Oneness.  We are all a part of Oneness—one with each other, nature, and the Universe, but we are not all conscious of it.  It is only when we become aware of it, that it enriches our lives. The wildness of Oneness is at the core of what Jerry experiences each day when he enters the “Space With No Name.”  He is truly blessed by that experience, and I am truly blessed to know him and his wife Jane who shares his sensibilities.

What part of yourself do you find in nature?

©2012 Georganne Spruce                                                           ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Related Articles:  Awakening to Wildness, Being Authentic, Part 1, John Muir, Zen Buddhism in John Muir

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AWAKENING TO DEEPER FRIENDSHIPS

Posted on April 4, 2012 | 7 comments

“Let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.”  Khalil Gibran

What is the most important thing you have to give others? Are your friends people who support the best or worst in you?  What do you share that makes a friendship meaningful?

There have been times in my life when I have had friends with whom I shared only superficial interests because they were not people who had an interest in anything deeper.  Any time I would start a conversation about the underlying meaning in a situation they would make a joke about it or ask me why I had to bring up that unpleasant stuff.  Not surprisingly, as time passed we drifted away from one another, looking for others who shared our values.

Connecting With Friends

However, for most of my life, I have often been blessed by having friends who share my values.  While we have fun and enjoy sharing superficial experiences, what makes our connection meaningful is that we have the need to go deeper, to understand the spiritual and psychological aspects of life.  We love to discuss books and movies and art.  We share the ups and downs of our lives.  We share a love of nature.  We listen deeply and speak from the heart.

Being a good friend requires the ability to give and receive.  What we need to give is often obvious.  A friend recovering from surgery needs us to run errands or cook food.  A friend going through a divorce needs us to listen and empathize with her feelings.  An elder needs help with yard work.  These are all tangible and important ways to help, but what is one of the greatest gifts we can give a friend?

Helping Others See the Good in Themselves

Disraeli once said, “The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own.”  As a teacher, my most joyous moments were when I could help a student see how talented he was, or accept that his ideas were insightful, or develop the confidence to tackle a difficult problem or assignment.  This kind of caring is a gift that lasts forever, for it changes the other person’s belief about their own capabilities.

Helping another person to see her own inner riches empowers that person.  This is a huge gift—to help another see they are more loving, beautiful, caring, strong, insightful, sensible than they realized.  Deep friendships are about opening doors as well as listening with love. Over the last few years as I wrote my spiritual memoir, the support of my friends has been invaluable.  When I doubted my ability to write, they would point out a passage that really moved them.  They inspired me with their own stories of overcoming fears and obstacles.  They cheered me when I found the courage to overcome my fears and move ahead.

The Gift of Being a Loving Mirror for Our Friends

But there is another side to friendship too.  In order to open a door or allow our friend to open that door to areas we may not find comfortable, requires trust.  When we share our deeper feelings through time and they are received with love and acceptance, not judgment, we learn to trust that friend wants what is best for us.  It is easier then to approach subjects that are not particularly comfortable.

At a point in my life when I was having many challenges in my work, I noticed that it seemed people were avoiding me.  Puzzled by this, I asked a close and trusted friend to please tell me what she thought was happening.  She began by reminding me that she loved me, then she gently explained that I was very reactive and defensive, and often snapped at people for what appeared to be no reason.  I could feel my face turn red with embarrassment.  Was that really true?

As I sat with this idea, I knew it was.  I was constantly being criticized at work, so I was primed to defend myself, and this had spilled over into my personal life.  I loved my friend even more for her courage in telling me the truth.  As a result, I returned to my meditation and monitored my behavior so that I stopped alienating people.

We all need mirrors in our lives—people who will reflect back to us our best qualities as well as those behaviors we prefer to ignore.  Most of the important changes we need to make are at deeper levels, and only friends with whom we share true relationships will be able to go there with us.  Going deeper with a friend is the greatest gift of friendship that we can give.

How have you gone deeper with a friend lately?

© 2012 Georganne Spruce

Related Articles: How To Deepen Your Friendships, How To Be a Good Friend – Six Friendship Tips, The Dirty Little Secret Most Women Won’t Talk About, How to Choose a True Friend

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AWAKENING TO THE DANCE OF TRUST

Posted on March 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

“…you can choose to become aware—to become truly conscious—and to see yourself as both the perpetrator and the target of your creation.  You are not a victim of your addictions, or your cravings, or your unbridled desires.  You are a fully responsible participant in your reaction to the choices presented.”  Oneness by Rasha, p. (319)

Do you trust yourself to make wise decisions? Do you trust those around you? What is it that allows you to be trustworthy or untrustworthy?

The Role of Trust in Our Lives

What is the real nature of trust?  Sometimes in my life I have trusted others too much, ignoring the obvious signs that this wasn’t wise; sometimes I’ve trusted too little.  Basically, I’ve lived my life based on the philosophy that I will trust other people until they prove to be untrustworthy.  That’s a very altruistic path and has often served me well, but not always.

When we expect the best from others, they often live up to our expectations.  When we expect the worse, they often meet those expectations too.  Our energy influences others more than we realize.  So what causes some people to go through life feeling paranoid and sure they may be the victim of another scam, while others expect life to treat them well most of the time?

Trusting Others is Based on Trusting Ourselves

I believe how much we trust life and others is based on how much we trust ourselves.  Do you think you make good choices most of the time?  If you do, I suspect that you have developed a way of making choices that is based on your connection to your spiritual core.  You have probably developed a decision-making process that produces positive results most of the time.

I’ve refined my process over the years, learning different strategies from experience and study.  I know that if I feel fearful, I need to clear my mind by releasing the fear so I can see what the issue really is.  Then I listen.  What is my intuition telling me?  I ask Spirit for guidance.  I look at my own value system.  Is this situation asking me to violate what I consider ethical?

Awakening to Higher Choices

Oneness says, “There are no definitive laws of right and wrong, beyond those you create and set for yourself.  There are higher choices or lesser choices, in terms of the predictable consequence of certain actions.” (Page 318) When I taught high school in New Mexico, I taught a drama class, and among my students was a young man who was a senior and failing.  His attendance had been poor, and he had completed only about half the required assignments.  His parents asked for a conference with me and the principal.  After I explained why he was failing, the principal said, “Now Ms. Spruce, what extra work can you give this young man so that he can pass?”

The parents of this student were members of the founding family of this small town, and I knew the principal felt pressured by this.  On the other hand, school had already ended for all the seniors.  Was it fair for me to create a means for this student to pass when I couldn’t make it available to other failing seniors?  Should I save a student who had repeatedly ignored opportunities to make up missing work and who had chosen, for no legitimate reason, not to attend many classes?  After thinking for a moment, I said, “No, there is nothing I can do.  He’s made his choice and he has to live with it.”  The principal’s face turned bright red.  He was furious.

I knew that, by saying “no,” I would not be invited back the next year.  Since it was my first year in that school district, I was on probation as are all teachers during their first year.  As a result, if a negative evaluation were sent to the state, I could lose my teaching license.  To cut my loses, I resigned, and fortunately found a position in another district.

Choosing the Spiritual Path

I have never, for a moment, regretted that decision.  I knew then and know now that I chose the higher path.  I could not offer this student a second chance unless I offered it to all my failing students.  Did I feel like a victim?  No, what I did was my choice.  Was I angry and upset about the situation? Of course, I thought it was outrageous.  But that’s life, isn’t it.  It can be difficult and feel unfair, but we always have the choice to do what we want to do with what it offers us.

That’s why this partnership with Spirit is so important.  Not every situation is something we can clearly accept or reject.  When it’s unclear what to do, can you trust yourself?  Can you trust your process?  Can you trust Spirit?  You feel you are a victim only when you don’t accept responsibility for your choices.  When you accept that responsibility, you are empowered and trustworthy and following a more conscious dance.

How have you trusted yourself lately in a difficult situation?  Please comment.

©2012 Georganne Spruce

Related Articles:  Trust and Acceptance of Yourself and Your Power, Trusting the Tao, How to Learn to Trust Yourself, Have Faith? Try Trust

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AWAKENING TO LOVE THE WORLD, PART 1

Posted on February 15, 2012 | Leave a comment

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”  Rumi

How did you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Did you do something special for a loved one?  Did you perform a service for someone less fortunate than you?  Or did you feel depressed because you had no one to celebrate with?

It’s difficult sometimes not to get caught up in the mystique of Valentine’s Day or to want to ignore it completely because it is such a commercialized celebration, but the way we experience any holiday is a choice.  No one has to buy into the commercial version.  After all, this one is about love and that may take many forms.

Love Expressed Through Sharing

My Valentine’s Day was not romantic, but I felt showered with love.  The Universe has been good to me recently.  I will probably have my book Awakening to the Dance: A Journey to Wholeness on Amazon as an eBook by the end of this week.  Yesterday, I spent the day working with Joseph D’Agnese who did my formatting and taught me how to use the Kindle Reader on my computer so I can proof the book.

This fellow writer loves to help other writers and overflows with enthusiasm and encouragement. Especially at times when I doubted that I could really complete this project, his positive attitude spurred me on.  He has answered my endless questions, even taken time from his own writing to format my book.  His generosity creates the kind of energy that makes competition obsolete and proves how powerful sharing can be.

Love Expressed Through Following Our Passion

This has been a long journey for me—almost ten years since I began the book.  But I always knew it was meant to be because every step of the way, what I needed showed up.  That hasn’t always been true for the rest of my life, so what was different about this venture?  Most of the time, when I think about the book, I feel excited, I feel love for it and for all those in the story who have been part of my journey.  This positive, uplifting energy expands out into the world and draws to me what I need.

Not only have I drawn the classes and assistance I need, I have drawn people into my life who support my success and share with loving and positive energy.  They have helped me to see my life and the world in a positive light and to learn to focus on what is good.  Wayne Dyer once said, “Loving people live in a loving world.  Hostile people live in a hostile world.  Same world.”  What we focus on can make all the difference.

Choosing Our Thoughts

My life is very different than it was many years ago before I learned this most basic truth:  our thoughts create our emotions.  At that time in my life, I often felt overwhelmed with sadness and negative emotions.  Although I had learned to meditate and that did help to calm me, it wasn’t enough.  Learning to control my own mind was the key.  I learned techniques to do that by attending a Unity church and later studying Science of Mind principles.  As a result, I felt better about myself and became a more loving person.

When we understand that we can control what we think and feel, it is very empowering.  This is significant in learning to love ourselves and therefore others.  When we feel empowered, we are less likely to let fear control us. We feel more peaceful. We are less afraid to step into new situations and learn new things.  We are less afraid to love and share.  Our very presence creates loving and positive energy all around us, uplifting and helping others and expanding our world.

Romantic love is a beautiful illusion, but the real deal is loving our humanity and that requires us to go much deeper.  Over the next couple of weeks, I will explore Rumi’s quote to further identify some of the barriers to loving and ways to open ourselves to love.

How do you express your love in the world?  Please comment.

© 2012 Georganne Spruce

Related Articles: Dr. Wayne Dyer–Emanating Love, What is Religious Science? 10 Core Concepts of Science of Mind

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AWAKENING TO DANCE IN THE RAIN

Posted on December 14, 2011 | 2 comments

“Some men (and women) have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.”  Martha Graham

Are you living the life you desire? What are your reasons for not doing that? Does every day flow peacefully as you easily move from one difficulty to another?  Or do you find your progress stymied by irritating and distracting events and issues?  What changes do you need to make?

Being Spiritually and Emotionally Stuck

Last week, I listened to a friend explain that she had not used the Emotional Freedom Technique I taught her to release negative mental blocks.  She was still thinking and processing the information.  We were in public so I listened politely, but I was surprised.  This was energy work not mental work.  I wanted to say, “It doesn’t matter what you think about it.  If you don’t try it, you’ll never know if it works.”  If thinking hasn’t caused her to become unstuck by this time, it isn’t the solution.

Only action can dig us out of our emotional ruts.  There is no perfect moment.  There is only the moment when we decide to act.  Thinking in a new way may bring us to this moment and help us see a new path, but until we act, we have not experienced the value of a new choice.  It is the experience that creates a new life for us.  Instant manifestation does occur, but most of the time what we want to manifest requires us to take at least one active step in the direction of what we want.

Only Thinking About Change Doesn’t Create It

Many years ago, I knew a man who wanted to get a job.  He was very spiritual and spent a great deal of time doing positive affirmations, but no job appeared.  When I asked him what jobs he had applied for, he answered that he hadn’t applied for any.  He just knew the right thing would come along if he kept affirming.  Finally, in desperation, he applied for one and got it.

It’s relatively easy to find reasons for not pursuing our dreams or making changes.  Our fear always gets in the way, and we camouflage it with practical excuses.  We can’t take the job we really want because it won’t pay enough or we’re sure we wouldn’t get it because we don’t have enough experience.  We create endless resistance.  We convince ourselves that making the change is impossible and come to a point where we feel good about not acting.  Accepting the status quo calms our fear, and it goes underground.

Taking the Risk to Dance in the Rain

But of course, the longing for something more does not go away and eats at us from time to time.  We find a good reason to change, but we convince ourselves it isn’t the right time.  Life is too complicated right now.  We don’t have enough money or support.  A wonderful unknown author once said, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to be over, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

Dancing in the rain, especially without an umbrella like Gene Kelley used, is a crazy fun thing to do.  We laugh, we sing, we let all that rain we were afraid would ruin our hairdo pour over us and we feel free like a child.  For one moment, we forget all the negatives and live life.  Without even realizing it, we have taken that blind leap of faith and are doing what we feared.

Taking the Blind Leap and Aligning with Godself

 So I wonder, what is my friend waiting for?  She has plenty of excuses not to act, but she needs only one reason to take that leap.  Oneness says that it is not courage we need to make this leap, but total detachment to outcome.  “That blind leap is one that is taken not within the confines of your mind, but is sourced within the depths of your heart of hearts.” (Page 76) By aligning with one’s Godself, one is able to know that “the outcome will reflect your highest possible good…” and “that there is nothing to fear.” (Page 77)

In the coming days, in the midst of the holiday bustle, let us be in touch with our heart of hearts, move lovingly through the storms, and take time to dance in the rain where we are open to all good things and cleansed of the fears that limit our joy.  Peace, Love, and Joy to you all!

©2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Articles:  How We Get Hooked and How We Get Unhooked – Pema Chodron; Letting Go

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ACCEPTING THE RHYTHMS OF LIFE

Posted on November 16, 2011 | Leave a comment

“Not everything that is faced can be changed.  But nothing can be changed until it is faced.”  James Baldwin

Accepting Divine Order

When I first heard the term divine order, I latched onto it as way of describing the fluctuations in life that I didn’t always understand.  If a wonderful synchronistic event occurred, I labeled it divine order.  If something thoroughly unpleasant or tragic occurred, I labeled it divine order.  Divine order became the way I described all the mysteries in life.  It explained the unexplainable and helped me to accept what I couldn’t understand.

Learning to accept what is, whether we like what is happening or not, helps us to find peace and erases the resistance that may prevent us from understanding what is occurring.  At times, it may not be clear if what is occurring is a good or bad thing, but by accepting that it is in divine order, we acknowledge it is part of our reality.

Denial Undermines Our Power

People have a tendency to deny the negative experiences of life.  By doing so, we prevent ourselves from growing.  We need to acknowledge all experiences so that, if we are able to improve a situation, we don’t let the opportunity pass by.  Some things can’t be changed, but ignoring the ones that can only makes us feel less empowered or victimized.

The recent events at Penn State are a perfect example.  Many who were aware of the child abuse there chose to do nothing.  They denied and hid what they knew.  They refused to face the horrific effect their lack of action had on many young children.  Being unwilling to face their responsibility to stop this abuse, in the end, led to their disgrace.  Denial only delays the day we have to face the thing we fear.

Accepting What We Cannot Change

Unlike the Penn State disaster, there are events that occur over which we have no control.  The only thing we can control is our response.  A loved one becomes addicted to drugs.  Time after time they make foolish and dangerous choices, and time after time, we talk to them, and love them.  We may pay for them to see a counselor or go through a drug rehab program, but nothing we do changes their behavior.  We have faced the situation and are unable to change it, so we must accept it as it is.

Is the self-destruction of our loved one in divine order?  It is very difficult to believe it is, yet it may be the very experience that will eventually transform this person in a truly positive way.  In the middle of it, we have no way to know.  We can only accept what is and have faith that there is a karmic or spiritual reason for our loved one’s behavior.

Our society has encouraged us not to express negative feelings.  We’re supposed to be positive all the time, and in one sense, our society has encouraged us to deny what we really feel.  There’s nothing healthy about this although it is best for us to be aware of expressing those feelings appropriately.  But denying that we feel what we feel makes it impossible for us to resolve those problems and the issues around them.  We have to face it, if we want to change it.

The Divine Gift of Acceptance

Every year in January, a spiritual group to which I belong has a gift exchange.  We each bring an item that has meant a great deal to us, but one that we are ready to release.  The items are placed on a table and each person gets to choose.  Then, that person explains why they have chosen the gift and the person to whom it belonged explains what it meant to them.  Several years ago, I chose a stone a friend had originally bought at a Deepak Chopra seminar.  Across the stone is written “Acceptance,” and it lies on a table in my family room where I see it often to remind me that I need to accept what I cannot change.  Every year, I think, “I’m ready to let go of this.  I’ve learned about acceptance,” but inevitably life presents me with another lesson to illustrate that I still have more to learn.  I guess I have to accept the fact that I need to keep the stone for at least one more year.  How do you find acceptance with the difficult areas of your life?

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Articles: Acceptance and Surrender, 12 Practical Steps for Learning to Go With the Flow, Dangers of Denial

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AWAKENING TO HAPPINESS

Posted on November 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

“Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them.”  Count Leo Tolstoy

It seems to me that the fall leaves are more brilliant than in past years.  Their colors vibrate with an intensity that feels like nature is joyfully expressing its aliveness.  Or is it just me?  Is the vibration of my energy higher than usual? Am I the one that is more alive?

Something significant has transformed my life.  Most of the time I am happy.  This was not the case in the past.  Today, many sources tell us that the vibration of the Universe is speeding up to lead us into a new age of peace, love, and community.  This change affects us all, and if we are in alignment with ourselves, we will flow with this new energy.  Not everything will be perfect and joyous, but our expanded awareness will allow us to make better choices and these choices will help us to be happier.

Thoughts Create Emotions

Despite the fact that this energy may be helping me to feel happier more often, I think there’s more to it than that.  Our thoughts create our emotions, and I choose to monitor my thoughts.  Reading certain books has reinforced the idea that how I think about a situation will determine how I experience it.  Any of the Abraham books by Esther and Jerry Hicks use this thinking as their basis as does Science of Mind.  At the bottom of the blog, I have recommended an Abraham video that does an excellent job of describing how to move from negative to positive emotions.

Balancing Our Energetic Alignment

We all need to pay attention to our thoughts.  The thought comes up, “I have so much to do today.  I’ll never get it done.”  If we accept this thought and attach to it, we set ourselves up to fail or feel stressed.  Instead, I think, “I have so much to do today.  It will be fun and satisfying to get it all done.  I look forward to today.” As I reconfigure the thought, I feel excited and know that all is well.  I start by making a list of what I want to do and set priorities.  That gives me a guide for the day that makes it easier to flow from one task to another.  I also love to check off each item as it is completed and this reinforces my sense of accomplishment.

Laughing at Your Face in the Mirror

Whenever possible I choose to spend my time with people who, for the most part, focus on the positive.  It is often difficult to maintain a positive point of view when we are around people who constantly irritate us.  However, the people who irritate us the most may be here to serve as triggers for us or we are here to serve as triggers for them.  Our conflicted interaction is an opportunity to learn major lessons.  At times, they are mirroring something in us that we need to see.

Recently, as listened to a speaker, I became very irritated, thinking, “She’s too dramatic.  What an ego.  She needs to tone it down.”  Then she announced that her topic that day was judgment.  I couldn’t help laughing at myself.  Not only have I been accused of being too emotional and dramatic, I immediately saw how she mirrored me.  Letting go of my judgment of her presentation allowed me to really hear what she said, and it was powerful.  Laughing at our foibles is an excellent way to raise our vibration.

Choice Empowers Us

When we consciously choose our responses to life’s challenges, we can begin to create the life we want.  If we see life as always happening to us, we have no power.  We can only empower ourselves by knowing that we can change our negative thoughts to more positive ones.  We can choose to find the best in each day, each person and each experience and this will lift our vibration.  Happiness is a choice.  Everything in our lives doesn’t have to be perfect in order for us to be happy.  Frankly, in this changing world, having at least one thing a day for which to be happy seems like a great gift to me.  What makes you happy today?  Please comment.

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Articles:  (Video) Abraham – Choose good feeling thoughts to get into the Vortex, Constantly Choosing a Positive Attitude

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TRANSFORMING THE FEAR OF CHANGE

Posted on September 14, 2011 | 8 comments

“People can’t live with change if there’s not a changeless core inside them.  The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about and what you value.”  Stephen R. Covey

Fearing Change

We always have more than one choice in life.  Will we give into our fears in a situation or will we find that core within us that will give us the strength and guidance to go beyond the negative choices that fear dictates?  Carlos Castaneda said about difficulties, “We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong.  The amount of work is the same.”

We live in a time of enormous change and fear.  The Universe, our lives, the structures of nature and government are changing and evolving.  Even Facebook has just made some changes.  Every time I go to the grocery store, I have to hunt for a product I have bought for years because its container has been redesigned.  Our DNA is changing.  Everything is evolving toward an experience of Oneness that will create a new and more cooperative world, but it sure is a pain sometimes.

At our best, we just give up and flow with what we can’t change.  At our worst, we fight the change every inch of the way building a wall of useless resistance.  We wonder if we will survive this.  We fear the consequences because the unknown is always a scary place, unless….

Finding the Spiritual Gift of Change

How often do you consider the possibility that the changes in your life may be good?  When I had to give up being a dancer, I thought, “Who am I, if not a dancer?  As the years passed and I looked at who I was more deeply, I realized what a narrow definition I had given myself.  I was much more than a dancer.  Now, if you ask me who, I will say, “I’m a creative and spiritual person.”  These aspects are part of my core.

When we choose to feel miserable about the changes in our lives, we choose to be less and see ourselves as the victim without any power.  Although this may seem like the easy way out, it isn’t.  Our most powerful strength is not the strength we use to fight against change; that will only defeat us.  What we resist, persists.  The strength that we need to develop in these changing times is unrelated to the exterior.

Awakening to the Strength of Our Spiritual Core

When we meditate or sit with Nature and escape from the external worries of our lives, we find that quiet, centered place where we connect with Spirit and our own soul, for they are One. When life is raging around us, being able to stand in a place that is peaceful allows us to make wise choices.  From this place, we can release our fears, separate ourselves from the outer discord, and look within our hearts and souls for the best answers.  When we choose to stand in our own inner power, we empower ourselves.

While I can’t say change never bothers me, I have learned not to fear most of it.  Many times I don’t know the answer to my most current challenge, but I know that if I stay in touch with who I really am, I will find the answer.  I know there are lessons in all experiences, and I know a significant experience may appear out of nowhere.  I have learned to see life as a wonderful mystery and I’m willing to take the ride, even when it gets bumpy.  I have had many challenging experiences in life, but whenever I have chosen to be strong rather than miserable, amazing opportunities and lessons have appeared.

What path do you choose today?  What do you think about Castaneda’s comment?

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Readings:  How Simple Thinking Leads to a Brilliant Mind, The Change Paradox:  Transforming Fear into Excitement and Opportunity

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PRACTICING THE SPIRITUAL DANCE – FLEXIBILITY

Posted on July 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

“We learn by practice.  Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same.  One becomes in some area an athlete of God.”  Martha Graham

Flexibility In The Dance Of Life

In life and dance, flexibility is an essential quality.  As we watch a modern or ballet dancer, we are amazed by the infinite variety of shapes through which she or he moves.  For dance, the body must be stretched beyond comfortable limits.  For life, our minds must be stretched as well.

Physical flexibility allows us to move with ease, letting the momentum of the movement carry us through space like a bird in flight riding the updrafts.  But spiritual and mental flexibility helps us to trust that what unfolds is good, even when it is challenging.

Flexibility Raises Conscious

An inflexible mind limits our lives as much as an inflexible body limits the dancer.  Oneness states, “There are no right and wrong choices.  There is simply action and reaction.  And both are intertwined in the eternal dance of life.” (p. 320)  Flexibility allows us to be more conscious, to be able to see what the possible consequences of certain actions may be and then to choose wisely the action we wish to take.

For example, I grew up with the notion that friends were forever.  At least that was the way it was supposed to be.  I still think this is a wonderful idea whenever it is possible to stay connected to the same friends for years.  But I came to realize that in our mobile society this is difficult.  If we are also growing and changing, it is inevitable that we will outgrow the value of some relationships and that they may become so diminished that we each need to move on.

Letting Go With Love

Is it wrong to walk away from people and circumstances that no longer support what is best for us?  If we are to be healthy, whatever and whoever is in our lives must be compatible with our spiritual path or else that energy will be depleting.  Learning to let go with love is just as valuable as being able to welcome what is new with love.  Sometimes letting go simply means thinking differently about a situation. We need the flexibility to make whatever choice is appropriate.

So in life, flexibility allows us to change our mind, see other points of view, and experiment in order to find healthy solutions to problems.  Life becomes an improvisation so that we are open to new possibilities.  It teaches the ego that it doesn’t always need to be right. This is why meditation is so helpful. In the silence, we are able to sense our oneness with all creation.  In this space we are in the flow and we surrender to life, just as the dancer surrenders to the dance, and we become “an athlete of God.”

When has changing your perspective helped you make a better choice? Please comment.

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Readings:  Practicing the Spiritual Dance – Strength

Practicing the Spiritual Dance – Balancing

How Simple Thinking Leads to a Brilliant Mind

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