Have you ever asked yourself this question, ‘Who am I?'

Many times, people will answer this question in the following ways: I am (insert name). I am a mother, I am a father, I am a wife, I am a salesperson, I am a daughter, I am a son, I am this, I am that.

Is that who you really are?

Those are labels that you have placed onto yourself, but is that who you really, truly are?

Go deeper with this question. They are three words that can you lead you on an exciting journey.

Who am I?

Eventually, if you continue to peel back the layers of who you identify yourself as, you will come to a place that you can't answer the question any longer. It is a place of nothingness. A place of serenity. A place of peace. Once you find yourself in this place, you will understand who it is you truly are.

Once you have taken all of the worldly identifiers, labels, and your ego out of the equation, you find your real essence.

This place of nothingness, this place of serenity, this place of peace...this is the eternal you. This you never ceases. This you exists even without the body. When you have reached the place where you can answer the question, ‘Who Am I?', you will realize you never even had to reach for it, you never even had to strive to find the answer, you never even had to seek to find it. It has always been.

But now, you have just remembered.

In the Light,
Leslie

(c)2008 Leslie D. Smith
http://soulsolutionshealing.com/lesliesmith.html

Row Row Row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream.

We used to sing that song as children, and children still sing it today.I've never really thought about the song much until a few months ago. I was driving home from work, and I just started singing it, absent mindedly. Then it dawned on me that I was singing it in my car, and loud too...and then I began to sing it with mindfulness, and paid attention to each and every word, singing very slowly.

What a very inspirational, and powerful message this little song holds within it.

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream: We need to move through life (our boat), gently.

If we force ourselves to do things in a hurried like motion, if we force ourselves to do things which cause stress, if we force ourselves to do things that we really dislike doing, then we are no longer moving through life gently. When we do let go a little bit, if we allow things to happen, and just move down the stream of life, gently, things begin to fall into place, effortlessly. We find that when we allow, and when we surrender, we realize that we never had to push so hard in the first place. This doesn't mean to just sit there and wait for things to happen. This means that we still use our oars, we just move more gently.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily: Happiness. Need I say more? We don't have to go out looking for happiness. Happiness is already there.

Life is but a dream: Ah yes, one of those things that one could write a book upon. We consciously and sometimes subconsciously create everything within our lives. Everything we see, touch, feel, hear, sense. We have created it all.

Keep rowing, gently, happily, life is but a dream.

In the Light,
Leslie 

copyright 2008 Leslie D Smith All Rights Reserved
http://soulsolutionshealing.com/lesliesmith.html

As we each continue to discover more truth on our path, we bounce around less among the unreal identities about who we believe (or believed) ourselves to be. We discover more of ourselves as we discover more truth. We recognize ourselves when we remember what is truthful, and not built upon illusion. So many of us - myself included - have a hard time distinguishing what's real and what's not, especially in ourselves. So many things we feel or have learned, we think we are, but this isn't necessarily true. When we practice "vigilance," as A Course in Miracles (ACIM) states, the picture becomes clearer. We don't need to go do the same things we once had done in order to get the same results we once had in how we feel of ourselves. God's truth is larger than our ego's vision. We think that doing the same thing is what gets that same result, but there's a layer beneath that draws out the spirit within. And it's not our doing or our identity that necessarily brings our spirit out in what we do.

When we are not feeling how we want to we are quick to determine what we need to go out and do to fix how we feel. While we're in this state of mind, we are then recognizing in the moment that we are in a state of untruth. We have a hard time recognizing ourselves in these states of lack because the lack we feel usually brings about the question, likely producing more lack. We tend to automatically address our feelings of lack by either affirming them and validating our victimhood, or whining that we are not where we are supposed to be in our growth. Either conditioned approach offers us no salvation and freedom from illusion.

Essentially, when we recognize that we are in a state of illusion, we deal with fear more effectively. At the early levels, we cope by comforting ourselves with ice cream and chocolate. (Heck, ice cream is for any time.) As we become more advanced, we recognize the thoughts of untruth/fear/negativity as quickly as they enter our minds as thoughts, and we become instantly aware that an untruthful thought of ourselves has entered our minds. So we awaken to our mastery by choosing differently. No matter what we are dealing with, there is truth in it. The layer beneath our awareness is what remains true in us, whether or not we are confused about our mastership. Our mastership means that our free will can not be violated because God gave us freedom. We are thereby able to entertain any thoughts we wish, even ones that are untrue and keep us in pain, and separated from ourselves, each other and Him.

We transition so often and we continually size up what we are experiencing with the truths we have come to know about ourselves - about what we are. The real fireworks happen when we encounter something more truthful than what we have come to know about us. It can be liberating and inspiring to uncover a truth about us that we hadn't before recognized. It can also be disconcerting for us when we discover an untrue idea about ourselves which we've thought prior as a truth and we had been professing innocently or insanely in an unconscious effort to preserve it.

All we know about ourselves is what we have experienced of ourselves. It's interesting to me how ‘resistance' and ‘acceptance' tend to be characteristics of our relationship with truth; meaning, what we will accept or not accept. Is it so presumptuous to say that we don't know the truth? We do know it - but do we choose it? We so often compare doctrines and details, defending or projecting even the doctrine-less ideas, that it can be easy to miss the simple and silent spiritualism of using the feelings we have to learn truth, instead of abusing the feelings within to project untruth - fooling others but mostly ourselves.

Let us be "vigilant" as ACIM states, to the awareness of what is true in our thoughts and what is not, and let us experience embracing who we truly are by choosing God's thoughts instead of defending our illusions and believing we know more about ourselves than He does. Our spiritual expansion is a simple result of which thoughts we use to decide who we are. We are God's thoughts. His thoughts are real, and all power is of God.

copyright 2007 T.Schaefer All Rights Reserved.
http://soulsolutionshealing.com/legal.html

"You enter into this lifetime in the leap of faith your soul takes into the being in your mother's womb. You take that one huge leap only to discover that such leaps never cease being demanded of you."- The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write

In recent weeks, several friends who are experiencing financial challenges have posed this question to me:

Why is that so many aspects of my life seem to be flowing, but when it comes to money, I feel so stuck? Or, Why is it that when I'm meditating, channeling, creating, writing or doing energy work, I feel alive and vibrant, as though I'm living at the highest of frequencies, but when it comes to finances, I come crashing back to earth?

These are important questions and the answers are both simple and complex.

They remind me of a time in my life of profound financial struggle, a time when both these questions were constantly on my mind.

We were living on Maui then, in the coastal community of Kihei. Here, in this amazing Pacific paradise, money was a constant challenge. And despite my two jobs and our weekends selling crystals at the island's flea market, there was never enough to cover all our bills.

Kihei was supposed to have been a landing place, we thought, our first stop on the climb to prosperity. Our desired destination was the tourist-free - and pricier - uplands of Kula.

Every couple of weeks we'd drive up the mountain, often to the lush hills of Olinda, where we'd gaze admiringly at the handsome homes and go walking in Olinda's serene experimental forest.

While strolling among the stately pines, anything seemed possible: infinite abundance, an Olinda mansion, work that impassioned us... It all felt within our grasp. Easily.

And then we'd drive back down the mountain to Kihei, down to our tiny condo with its overdue rent and overdue bills, back to the jobs I hated, back to a life that wasn't in flow.

By the time we reached sea level, the "Olinda Effect," as we'd dubbed it, had fully kicked in: We were anxious, fearful and no longer in that anything-is-possible Olinda resonance.

I've thought about that story a lot as I've reflected on my friends' questions and on my time both on Maui and now in Albuquerque.

It's said that if you do what you love, the money will follow. But money follows, when it does, not because we're doing what we love. It follows because in living our passion we are living at a vibration where lack cannot exist, where flow is infinite.

But - and it's a big "but" - unless we can hold that resonance when the bills come in, we crash back down into a consciousness of scarcity.

That's what happened on Maui. That's what's happening to one of my friends. Let's call her Julie, even though she's a composite of several people.

Julie loves her work. When she's in the midst of it - and in much of her life beyond it - she's one of the most powerful, conscious and aware people I know. Through most of her days, she breathes light and enlightenment.

Then rent day approaches. Or the car payment. Or some other bill that she doesn't, in the moment, know how she'll cover.

Fear and anxiety roll in like a heavy fog, casting a pall over the passions of moments earlier. Like I did on Maui, she comes down from the mountaintop of infinite possibility and finds herself in a swamp of doubt and apprehension.

For as long as she lives in that place of doubt and apprehension, it will be harder for the money to flow.

I'm speaking here about money. But I could be speaking about love or peace or health or any other aspect of our life that doesn't seem to be working.

Whatever it is, the more anxiety we attach to it, the more our fear keeps us from living in the fullness of our highest potential around it.

Our fear will always keep us from living that potential.

Some of you know that I left Sedona 39 months ago on what would ultimately become an open-ended road trip. I left with limited funds and no idea how I would be supported.

In those early months, I was very much like Julie, dropping into a state of panic whenever my car payment - then, my largest singly monthly outlay - was near due.

In those moments, that still, small voice we can all access would ask, Are all today's needs taken care of? Food? Gas? Accommodation? My answers were always "yes."

Then let tomorrow and tomorrow's bills take care of themselves, the voice would say.Somehow, through more miracles than I could possibly list, tomorrow and tomorrow's bills always did take care of themselves. Not always in my preferred timing. Not always in my preferred manner. But in holding myself to the present moment and in knowing that I would be taken care, I always was.

Today, my life is infinitely more complex - and expensive. Yet the basis for how I live it has not changed.

Even as I still don't know how I'll be supported from day to day, I live each moment (to the best of my limited human ability) knowing that by holding the resonance of my passion, I will always be in the resonance of flow.

Many of us maintain a meditation practice of some sort. We carve ten or twenty minutes from our day to spend in the higher realms.

But meditation can be like Olinda. Sure, it can carry us into a place where everything is possible because in that frequency everything is possible. Yet when our moments of altered beingness come to an end, we can find ourselves back in our wordly life of bills, traffic and conflict, and the Olinda Effect can kick in.

We're called to do more than meditate our way into higher modes of being. We're called to reside there. Full-time. Even in the midst of all that life would throw at us. (See Rule #6 in "Mark David's 10 Rules for Living, below.)

Today, I live in the Albuquerque equivalent of Olinda - in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, 1,000 feet above the city's lowest elevation. And in many ways, it feels as though I've achieved at least some of what I thought I was seeking as I gazed longingly toward the Kula uplands from Kihei.

What I've achieved, though, has nothing to do with money. What I've achieved, most days, is an ability to live in infinite possibility full-time and to know that by living my passion, living in the moment and not freaking out at the latest stack of bills, the Olinda resonance lives within me wherever I am.

Ironically, the Hawaiian word kihei means "shawl" or "cape." Even in the midst of that Kihei energy that felt so constricting and impoverishing, I was always embraced in a protective blanket of divine love.

Regardless of life's externals, that kihei is always and ever present for us. The more we acknowledge it, know it and live it, the more we will experience it in all aspects of our life, including the financial. And the more that the Olinda resonance will show up - and remain present and alive - in our lives.

(c)2008 Mark David Gerson
http://soulsolutionshealing.com/mdgerson.html

One of ego's favorite catchphrases is "I told you so."

"I told you it wouldn't work."

"I told you, you'd fail."

"I told you, you'd be sorry."

"I told you it was pointless."

The ego's sole reason for existence is to validate its existence and there is no better a way to do so than to make you invalidate your own power. How many of us feel guilty then feel guilty for feeling guilty? How many of us react negatively towards a person or event and then hate ourselves for our negativity?

One internal voice is telling us how we feel while another more subtle voice is telling us how wrong we are for our feelings. Which one is the voice of truth? Because they battle with each other in opposition, we assume that one must be right and the other wrong. On the one hand, we recognize our negative feeling as negativity and we know that pure spirit doesn't foster negativity. So we search our soul to weed out the seed of negativity. On the other hand, our feelings are the voice of our soul and it doesn't lie. So we dig ever deeper to try to understand the source of the negativity and we try to encourage its expression.

But, there remains the other voice quietly, or not so quietly, chiding us for feeling any negativity at all. So we listen to that voice because we know negativity doesn't foster spiritual growth. But, we question and doubt that subtle voice because it seeks to invalidate our feelings which we cannot deny.

We dig ever deeper and ever harder into our souls for the right voice, growing ever more confused and frustrated and desperate for an answer. And all the while, another voice, relentless in its persistence says, "I told you so...I told you that you'd never sort things out. I told you that you'd never understand spirituality. I told you that you'd fail because you're not good enough to catch on."

Could it be that none of these voices are the voices of truth? All these voices have one thing in common. They seek to invalidate who you are. They seek to rob you of your empowerment of Being. They seek to keep you from knowing the only thing that ego never wants you to know: the power of I AM.

I AM is the most powerful statement you can make about yourself. Nothing can invalidate it. Any attempt by yourself or anyone else to invalidate the I AM of Being must first recognize and accept that it exists in order to invalidate it. Those who say "I don't believe in [fill in the blank] are, in essence, recognizing the existence of it to not believe in.

So, you take a deep breath and say "I AM" and you begin to feel empowered until you ask yourself, "What am I?" Once again, ego raises its voice and insists that you label your Beingness as something. The list is long, but whatever label you give yourself, there is an antithesis to it. Labels do nothing but define and limit growth. Even if we label something as "good," we deny freedom to whatever we're labeling to express itself as anything greater or other than what we perceive as "good." The same is true for any label we apply. When ego insists that we label ourselves, it is demanding that we limit ourselves.

How do we stop the seemingly endless cycle of feeling "bad" then feeling "bad" about feeling "bad?" Why do we choose to feel badly in the first place? Why do we choose misery (in the forms of anger, jealousy, hatred, remorse, bitterness, despair, resentment, etc.)? Why do we choose misery when it feels so miserable? If we're so anxious to rid ourselves of it, why can't we let go of it?

Perhaps it isn't the misery (in any of its forms) that we're attached to. We're simply attached to feeling, regardless of what the feeling is. We're attached to the dramas of our lives more than to the scripts themselves. Without a low, how can we experience a high? Without displeasure, how can we identify pleasure? Sadly, for so many, the drama of the misery is the only thing that makes them feel alive. When you remove everything that makes you feel alive, what remains?

There remains Peace, Love, and Joy. They're not emotions. They are the freedom to accept yourself in whatever manner you choose to express yourself; and full acceptance can only be done through forgiveness. Forgiveness is not excusing or justifying or validating your feelings. Forgiveness is simply feeling with Love what you once felt with pain. When you love yourself, you remove your self-imposed labels of limitation. You detach from your dramas of misery. You silence the voices of condemnation. You discover your own I AM of Being. Overcoming ego doesn't have to mean getting rid of it.

Overcoming ego can be recognizing it as your servant rather than your master.

(c)March 29th, 2007 by Ronnie

http://soulsolutionshealing.com/ronniebio.html

Today, many see that we are on the verge of a great awakening for humanity. We are emerging from darkness; we are awakening from slumber. But, this awakening has not always been easy and many of us continue to struggle with pain and discomfort time and time again until we wonder, "What are these energies? If they are enlightenment and greater Peace, Love, and Joy, why do I hurt? What do I fear? Why can't I grasp them?"

These energies are the Acceptance of Acceptance.

This seems redundant. Acceptance is simply that - acceptance. What is there to not accept about acceptance? So, we grapple with doubt and confusion and the pain of it all over and over again, all the while wondering why we can't experience the new energies - energies that aren't new at all. They're as old as the cosmos itself.

Acceptance is its own energy, distinct from the energy of human love or anger or happiness or any other human emotion that one experiences. To accept something, one must embrace it wholly and without reservation or it isn't acceptance at all. It's an "all or nothing" deal.

We've all experienced acceptance before. We've all had that flash of pure understanding and allowance for the expression of another individual or circumstance. We've come to fully embrace it even if for only a moment, and in that moment, we've opened the door to Divine Love and have let the energies of it flow. But, how many of us have paused in the middle of that flow of energy and said, "Wait a minute! I have my rights to protect, my honor to defend, my point to make." Then, just as quickly and thoroughly, that energy of acceptance has seemed to disappear. It really hasn't gone anywhere; you've merely stepped out of its flow.

Acceptance is an energy in which there is no doubt, confusion, justification, validation, compromise, value judgment, or limitation of any kind. It doesn't require understanding it or pondering what's right about it or getting it to "fit" in any manner into the pigeonholes of identification of our lives in any way. Acceptance is entire, whole, and complete or not at all. So, the instant you step into the energies of doubt or defense or non-acceptance of any kind, you step out of the flow of the energies of acceptance.

That's when you react to perceptions of limitation. That's when you experience pain. That's when you experience any number of negative human emotions. But, always, regardless of what you experience, you have desire - desire to once again experience the core energy of Divine Love which powers the energy of Acceptance. So you waffle back and forth between, or in and out of pain/peace, anger/joy, doubt/surety, confusion/clarity, loss/gain, disorientation/centeredness. You struggle with grasping something that is well within your reach - that you once held, and then let go.

You grapple with the voice of ego that says, "How can I prove to someone else how 'right' the feeling of acceptance is when all that can be seen is injustice? How can I explain to someone else how I feel when I can't define it myself? How can I allow this situation to continue when I know it's wrong? Why does this feeling of acceptance feel so secure when I have nothing solid to stand on? How can I convey how "right" acceptance is in this world of 'zero tolerance'?" All that ego understands of acceptance is that it's a form of surrender or giving up or fear of conflict. It is ego that wants to change things based on what it perceives as true or right or just. It is ego that wants to "fix" things when, in the spiritual realm, nothing "wrong" exists. It is ego that labels, defines, and judges.

You step in and out of the energies of acceptance and expend tremendous amounts of energy trying to grasp and hold that which cannot be held, defined or limited in any way and you wonder why the energies of acceptance are so tough to experience. Acceptance isn't tough at all. It's one of the easiest and most gentle and comfortable ways of being. It is our natural way of Being. The difficulty lies in the release of ego and all its false gifts, false promises, and false perceptions.

In today's energies you are experiencing Acceptance. It is a flow of energy - not a stream unto itself, but more like a current of water through an ocean of other energies - warm, gently flowing, without "true" direction or purpose but meaningful nonetheless. You may be stepping in and out of this current and when you do, you can experience pain, confusion, doubt, a tendency to argue, disrupted sleep patterns, an indefinable sense of "dis"ease or discomfort. Take heart. You are learning to let go. You are learning to surrender.

This surrender is not rolling over and playing dead as in, "Surrender, Dorothy" (Wizard of Oz). Think of it as letting go as you'd redeem a ticket for admission to a show or a seat on an airline. Think of it as redeeming a coupon for a discount or to claim a prize. So, in simple terms, you can think of surrender as redemption...and the Grace of God is merciful.

And So It Is.

Ronnie

(c) 10/20/2007
http://soulsolutionshealing.com/ronniebio.html

The other night, as I lay down to sleep, I had this question running through my head. Had lots of thoughts running through my head, but this one was the loudest. If this body is the vehicle for my spirit, and what a precious vehicle it is, then where am I in this? I've touched on this briefly before, questioning myself, but it seemed that this particular night, something really wanted me to explore this. Where am I in this precious vehicle of expression?

I practice being aware, being centered. But when I'm practicing that, as I should always be...where am I? Is there a place inside that I am? Is there a place outside that I am?

Knowing that we are all part of the Whole, and experiencing it are two different things.

I have experienced in a few occasions, but in very quick spurts.

So, again, Where Am I, really?

And Spirit answers: "I AM in every breath. I AM in every cell of your being. I AM within and without. I AM internal and external. I AM everywhere, all at once."

In the Light,

Leslie

Copyright 2008 Leslie D. Smith All Rights Reserved

http://soulsolutionshealing.com/lesliesmith.html

 

It is quite possible, if you contemplate

that man and mouse can cohabitate.

The things that man has called his walls

are the things the mouse has made his halls.

The man is active in the light of day.

In the dark of night the mouse will play.

What man may eat, the mouse will too;

crumbs left behind will certainly do.

So nature finds a balance thus

between all the mice and all of us.

I take this image of mouse and man

and apply it in whatever I can.

Each human living has a different view

of what is false and what is true;

and in defense he builds his house

with walls dividing man from mouse;

each one thinking the mouse is the other

and neither seeing each as his brother;

leaving each other his crumbs of life

and always poised at the edge of strife.

There are some who see this duality

and try to change reality

for both to live equally well -

within the same walls, the two may dwell.

In doing this, they come to find

that the differences are in their mind.

What one leaves behind, the other uses

in a give-and-take where neither loses.

Each contributing what he can

to the unity of mouse and man.

Ronnie
(c) 4/19/2008

http://soulsolutionshealing.com/ronniebio.html

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner.

As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister watching!

Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, 'Sally, let's wash the dishes.' But Sally said, 'Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.' Then she whispered to him, 'Remember the duck?' So Johnny did the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, 'I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper.' Sally just smiled and said, 'Well, that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help.' She whispered again, 'Remember the duck?' So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's, he finally couldn't stand it any longer.

He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, 'Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.'

Thought for the day and every day thereafter?

Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done... and the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.)...whatever it is...You need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven.

He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you.

The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness, He not only forgives you, but He forgets. It is by God's grace and mercy that we are saved.

Go ahead and make a difference in someone's life today. Share this with a friend and always remember: God is at the window.

-Associated Syndicate

I have, over the past couple of years, been thinking quite extensively on the subject of peace.

When someone asks what my biggest wish would be, I really do respond with "World Peace." It sounds so flaky, and maybe a little crazy, but it's the truth.

How do we get to that point? One "peace" at a time. First, the peace from within. We cannot have peace in the external world, if we ourselves do not first see the peace within us. We must first change ourselves, on an inner level, if we hope to make a change elsewhere.

There are many that would say, there is no way to achieve World Peace. Well, maybe we can't achieve it in this lifetime we are currently living, but if we get the ball rolling, in our future lifetimes here on earth, it is a real possibility. I believe that all things are possible.

We can spread our Peace within to the outside world by our thoughts, by our actions. One little "peace" at a time, given from many different people, can really add up to a wondrous result!

Spread it with a smile, spread it with a laugh, spread it by listening to another, spread it by helping those less fortunate, spread it by giving, spread it by being of service to another~just for the mere joy of giving.

Peace,
Leslie

Copyright 2008 Leslie D Smith All Rights Reserved
http://soulsolutionshealing.com/lesliesmith.html

(a tale of fiction that could be true)

The entire city seemed to be sleeping at 5:00 a.m. and I took full advantage of humanity's scarcity at the early hour to run my shopping errands at the stores open 24/7. At this hour, the elevator served as my personal express service from the fifteenth floor of my apartment building to the first so I was surprised when it lurched to a stop at the seventh to admit another passenger. He kept his nose buried in a book and took no notice of me, leaving me with a feeling of seclusion in my anonymity. While he read, I studied him; somewhere in his early to mid forties, I guessed. A dog-eared leather hat sat comfortably atop long, wavy black hair pulled back in a pony tail. He wore a simple white t-shirt whose pocket bulged with the outline of a pack of cigarettes. Faded jeans covered long, slender legs and their frayed ends brushed the tops of battered sandals. The olive tone of his feet matched the skin of his arms and what little of his face I could see. He hadn't glanced up from his book.

He didn't pause to check out the panel of lights and buttons that directed the elevator through its dutiful rounds. The doors snicked shut and with another sudden lurch, we were on our way. But, the non-stop service ended abruptly soon. With an ominous bump, the elevator shuddered to a halt midway between floors. There was no sound of grinding gears or cables to indicate that the elevator was even trying to complete its rounds. Like a rising tide, the pitch darkness of the elevator shaft rose through the glass of the elevator doors until it met the floor of the well lit hallway whose tiles were at eye level.

"That's just great!" I groaned, knowing that my best attempts for an early start would be entirely wasted. I punched every button on the console and watched them light up one after another. No response. "Shit!"

My companion's only response was to slide down the back wall and lower himself to a cross-legged sit, keeping his nose buried in his book. The odd thing I noticed was that he'd never turned a page. As if reading my thoughts, he smiled briefly to himself and turned a page. Being stuck might have been amusing to him but I had things to do and I didn't want to waste a sunny Saturday standing in an elevator with a stranger. I checked my watch - 5:12. Besides, what would happen if we were still stuck and I had to go to the bathroom? I jabbed furiously at the buttons again and then scanned the ceiling for the service exit.

"You're putting the wrong R in acceptance," the man said softly, never breaking his gaze from his book.

"Excuse me?" I frowned. 'Acceptance' had no R's.

The man closed his book on his index finger to mark his place and, at last, glanced up at me. Deep brown eyes that seemed to perpetually smile gazed into mine. His lips parted and curved upward revealing one gold tooth surrounded by a full set of even, white teeth. "Resistance," he whispered. "Where there is resistance, there cannot be full acceptance."

"What if I don't want to 'accept' that the stupid elevator broke down?"

"That is your choice, but without acceptance of the moment, one cannot fully live in the moment. Since there is no other moment to live in, how would you define your existence?"

By habit, I crossed my arms over my chest so that I could do something with them while I pondered his question. I immediately uncrossed them. I didn't want to give the appearance that I was closed to his thoughts. He intrigued me and, I had to admit, he was right.

"Yeah," I finally said with a heavy sigh. "The elevator broke down and I can't fix it. Someone will eventually come along and pull us out of the jam."

"Resignation," he said. He placed his book face down on the floor, leaving it open at the page he'd been reading. I winced. Although it was a hardbound book, the treatment of it put a strain on the binding. I studied the book a moment and noticed that the plain leather cover and spine bore no print; no title, no author's name - nothing. "What kind of energies do you attract and dwell in when you align yourself with helplessness?" He continued. "Are you not becoming a victim of circumstance? Who's energy created the circumstance to begin with?" He paused to allow me a moment of thought. "Are you not then becoming a victim of your own set of choices?"

I understood the law of attraction well enough to know that I didn't cause the elevator to break down but that I was, in fact, responding to my own energetic creation by choosing to step onto the elevator at the time it would malfunction. I was responding to my own energies by choosing my emotional reaction to the circumstance. If neither resistance nor resignation allowed acceptance of the moment, what did?

"This is giving me the opportunity to think," I admitted with a smile. "I wouldn't have had this experience had the elevator not broken down. I can understand it now."

"Rationalization," he said, picking up his book to resume his reading.

I suddenly felt like scribbling all over the pages of his precious book. I held my silence, knowing that if I said anything, he'd find something wrong with my logic. I hated being backed into a corner, especially in an elevator where I had nowhere to run.

"All rationalization," he said, "is based on thought. No matter how logical it is or how good it makes us feel or how thoroughly it vindicates our actions - or lack of them, it is still dependent on external conditions. In order to rationalize, we have to label and judge things. Right. Wrong. Good. Bad. Those are only personal values based on perception. All values are dependent on all external things being as they are in relation to what's being judged."

"So, what R would you put in acceptance?" I challenged.

His answer was immediate. "Release." Without another word he resumed his reading.

I supposed I'd be just as nonchalant about the whole thing if I had a good book to read. "What are you reading?" I finally asked, not out of any real curiosity, but as a way to break the boredom and the stifling silence.

"I'm reading the greatest wisdom by the greatest spiritual master who has ever lived - or will ever live for that matter."

There had been hundreds throughout the ages and we each had our personal favorite. "Who?" I asked.

"See for yourself," he said, handing the book up to me.

The pages were blank. I thumbed through the book both forward and backward and discovered that all the pages were blank. "I don't understand," I said, returning the book. I could understand a book of blank pages in which someone kept a journal of their thoughts but there was absolutely nothing printed, typed, or written in the book anywhere.

"You've heard the saying many times that it's not what's written but what's between the lines that counts. This book contains everything that's between the lines. It holds whatever the reader wants to focus on. When you focus on something, regardless of what it is, you detach from the energies of whatever surrounds you and you draw into the energies of yourself, deep within. That's meditation and it serves you by helping you release or detach from the energies of whatever false reality you thought was so important. You release your desires of what you want, intend, or expect to do. You release your worries of the future - of a time that exists only in your imagination. You release your regrets of the past - of a time that exists only in your memory. You release your emotions and your attachment to the drama of them. This is acceptance.

"It's ironic though," he paused and smiled softly again. "We think of acceptance as taking or receiving something that's offered when acceptance is nothing more than letting go. Without fully letting go, we cannot receive. Through release we find acceptance."

"Does your book say anything about how to release anger so I can accept the moment?"

"Of course it does."

Yeah, right, I thought. The book's pages were blank.

"You read it yourself a moment ago," he added when he saw the disbelief in my eyes. He flipped to a page, apparently at random, used his finger to mark the imaginary words, and offered the book back up to me. He'd lost his mind, and my own was scampering away quickly enough because there I stood peering into the book as if it really did have something valid to say. "Let me ask you something," he said as he reclaimed his book and snapped it shut. "When you were focused on the page, searching for something to read, what did you feel?"

"I guess I was still angry because the elevator is stuck."

"Oh? Think again. For the moment, however brief it was, when you were looking at the book, did you feel angry?"

I shrugged a shoulder. "I guess not."

"It is impossible for the human brain to think more than one thought at a time. So while you were focused on the energies of the book, you had released the energies of anger - of resistance, and had accepted the moment and every condition of it."

He was right, I thought. I spent a moment reliving the energies of letting go and realized, even as I pondered the memory of the situation that I was accepting it. Just as I began to grasp the full essence of it, the elevator lunged into action again and resumed its glide to the first floor. I instinctively turned to face the doors, ready to step out as soon as they opened. I checked my watch to see how long we'd been stuck and then puzzled over the time as I watched the second hand tick around the face in uninterrupted perpetuum. My watch said 5:13.

"That's funny," I said. "I think my watch stopped for as long as we were stuck. Do you have the ti--?" I turned to face my companion but he was gone. He had disappeared.

I spun to my right and then my left and then turned a full 360 degrees just in case he was ducking and diving behind me to avoid detection. A cool tingle spread up my spine then down my back and legs. I was entirely alone. The elevator hadn't stopped for any length of time at all according to my watch.

I chalked up the experience to imagination; but what was the difference? It was my experience. As I turned again to face the doors, patiently waiting open, I glimpsed a piece of paper lying on the floor. It was blank and appeared to be a loose page that had fallen from a book of blank pages. With reverence, I picked it up and folded it to slip it into my purse. As I made the final crease, I thought I glimpsed in tiny print, the wisdom of the ages.

By Ronnie C.


Copyright 2008 Ronnie C All Rights Reserved
http://soulsolutionshealing.com/ronniec.html

Wednesday, March 19 ~ Albuquerque, New Mexico

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above,
Don't fence me in...
~ Cole Porter




My e-mail program pings and I glance at my inbox. It's a message from Samantha, a woman on this new social network I was invited to join:ShoutLife.com.

Always happy to meet new people and eager to find new promotional outlets for my work and my books, I had accepted the invitation after a cursory glance at the web site. Within minutes, I was deluged by welcoming notes.

This morning's note from Samantha, however, stands out. After telling me how intrigued she is by my books, she wonders: "Are you a Christian?"

ShoutLife, you see, is a largely Christian social network, a detail I hadn't noticed when signing on.

I have no problem with that. My books -- and the ways I live my life -- are profoundly spiritual, and there's nothing about either that should offend anyone with a spiritual bent, Christian or otherwise.

But Samantha's question gives me pause, and it takes 24 hours before I know how to reply. In the end, I tell her that I try to avoid attaching labels to myself and that, rather than answer her question with a simple "yes" or "no," I would prefer that she check out my web site andblog and decide for herself whether my words and life resonate with her.

And then I let it go.


A day passes. I'm playing Life with my eight-year-old daughter, who's visiting here for her March break. About 10 minutes into the game, I land on the big red stop sign that tells me to get married.

"Let's see," I say to Guinevere. "I could get a husband or a wife. Which should I get?" She looks at me funny, but doesn't answer.

When I land on the same square again soon after, I ask the question again. This time, in that matter-of-fact tone that only kids have, she asks, "Are you gay?"

"You know," I say after I regain my composure, "it doesn't have to be an either/or sort of thing." I then offer up the eight-year-old gay/straight version of my Christian/non-Christian note to Samantha.

"Anyone can love anyone," I say, "and it's okay. It's okay for a man to fall in love with a woman and for that same man to later fall in love with a man. The other way is fine, too."

Guinevere is more interested in her game of Life than my game of life, so I let the matter drop.

Yet I find it interesting that within 24 hours, two people have tried to categorize and classify my spirituality and my sexuality -- two of the cornerstones of many an awakened life.

Our human minds love to organize things -- and people.



We've all got a built-in version of the Hogwarts Sorting Hat, filing our experiences into recognizable folders that make it easier to know how to respond.

Our Sorting Hat is far more sophisticated than J.K. Rowling's, though, for it must take billions of stimuli and organize them into many more than four categories.

It's a powerful neural mechanism that has been a necessary survival tool throughout human history.

Yet it's a mechanism that now lags behind the demands of the lives we are evolving into. It's as though we're trying to import data into a computer program that was never set up to recognize, let alone organize that data.

It's as though we're trying to "catch a cloud and pin it down," as Oscar Hammerstein wrote of Maria in The Sound of Music, or capture a rainbow in a jar.

We are the Marias of the 21st century, the rainbows whose infinite qualities and potential can no longer be summed up by a single word, can no longer be stuffed into a convenient file folder.

I don't know about you, but I can no longer live within the restriction and constriction of easy labels. I can no longer slot myself into some file folder marked gay or straight, Christian or Jewish, black or white, Republican or Democrat.

For me, it's about being human and about being open to discovering the infinite breadth of all that that could potentially encompass.

As I've written here before (Free to Love, Free to Be), I spent the first 20 years of my adult life describing myself as a gay man.

As I evolved spiritually, though, I began to feel that I could no longer limit myself to what I thought I wanted but, rather, had to open myself up to a more expansive view of myself, my potential and my life.

Within five years of that realization, I was (to my surprise) married to an amazing woman and the was father of a radiant child.

Was I still gay? Not exactly. Was I straight? Not really. Was I bisexual? Not entirely.

Today, three and half years after my marriage ended, the same questions arise.

Am gay? Not exactly. Am I straight? Not really. Am I bisexual? Not entirely.

On MySpace, my profile is deliberately vague on the orientation question. Yet I have enough gay friends there that I'm inevitably asked the same question my daughter asked me: "Are you gay?"

In a world still defined by rigid categories, I never quite know how to answer. Yes, I'm physically attracted to men. And, yes, I know that that by itself means little. My next intimate relationship could as easily be with a woman as with a man. It doesn't and can't matter.

It's funny. I was a gay activist in the '70s and '80s, fighting hard for the right to be an unashamedly gay in a world that was still pretty iffy about homosexuality.

Today, though no longer fighting, I'm equally passionate -- this time about the right to be unashamedly infinite in a world that would limit me with labels.

Labels, categories and classifications keep us in tight boxes, bind us in rigid straitjackets, prevent us from stepping beyond what, in The MoonQuest, I call The End of the Known World -- that place of magic, miracles, wonder and discovery. That scary place filled with promise. That place where we begin to touch the infinite, the divine, the numinous. That place where everything is possible. That place where we touch the hand of God...and realize the hand we're touching is our own.



by Mark David Gerson
http://soulsolutionshealing.com/mdgerson.html

DIVANI TABRIZ

"What does it take to be a Master?"
I asked as I drew near;
and I approached him slowly, closer
to ensure that I would hear
his words soft spoken from his place
perched atop a stool.
I said, "Is there a formula to use
or some unchanging rule?
When does one attain that end?"
And I looked him in the eyes.
"Can a Master walk among the living
or must he wait until he dies?"

My teacher sat cross-legged
and he gazed with deep intent
then chose his words, at length with care
to convey just what he meant.
"There are Masters living now
And walking on the earth,
old or young, it matters not
in cycles of death and birth.
You seek not to discover
how to do the things we do,
but rather seek to verify
if what you know is true."
He clasped his hands upon his lap
and with the breath he drew,
prepared to tell me what he'd learned
and through the centuries knew.

"When you can taste desire
and not give in to need;
when you can have your every wish
and not be ruled by greed;
when you're awash in deep despair
and yet not drown in grief;
when emotions seize and pummel you
and still you find relief;
when you can face what's just and cruel
with equal strength and grace,
when you're challenged by the impossible
yet you never break your pace;
when pleasures beckon you to stray
from the path you strive to keep
but you won't be caught by ego's lures
or lost to what you seek.
When others destroy in fear and pain
the sacred and the true,
you'll be a Master if you give love
with all you say and do."

(c) Ronnie Carroll
8/21/2006

http://soulsolutionshealing.com/ronniec.html

Even as I sit down to write there is a part of me that isn't willing. The internal voice childishly says "I don't wanna, and you can't make me". Although, I feel really good when I write, I resist it. It's almost as though I know I'll be successful. I find every reason in the world why not to write. I say to myself, I really should be outside right now, I'll get to it later, my computer isn't set up, I have to give the dog a bath, wash the dishes, fold the clothes, I don't want to type I want to write it long hand, I really need a laptop, I'm not that good anyway, what's the point. Till everything spins around in my head and I finally sit on the couch watching another episode and Scrubs, eating Junior Mints.

There is however, an inner knowing inside of me that with its small still voice cries, "Don't die with your music still in you". So, I have now officially chosen to listen to that voice, to speak what is in my heart to speak and allow myself to make mistakes and learn from my own writing and the writings of others. I have devised a simple and strategic plan to get around the mind and trick myself into writing. This I say to myself "I know you don't wanna, and yes, I will make you!"

The Acceptance Strategy

I will listen to the arguments of the mind in an objective way, remaining detached from its need to control or have me, the true me, conform to its will.

I will allow my mind to wonder, explore and become relaxed.

I will stay in a state of gratitude for the ability to be a writer (not a good, bad, ok or excellent writer, just a writer)

I will not attached labels to the work I have done or will do, I will use that presence and in the moment awareness to allow the writing to flow through me.

When I sit to write, I will allow the egoic mind to have its own place in the work, giving it what it needs, to be apart of the process. Until I am completely able to let go of the ego, I must make these little predetermined jobs for it to do. Otherwise, it will harass me to pay attention to it, instead of to the creative process. By adding the ego to the creative process I will incorporate its own unique qualities into the work.

An example of how the ego mind can help be apart of the Creative Process:

• You can determine how long you would like to spend on each piece; the ego can keep track of that.
• You can determine if a character uses egoic qualities such as jealousy, anger, worry or fear, and ask the ego what would be the best way for that to be demonstrated.
• Since the ego is like a child wanting only to avoid pain and allow in pleasure, it speaks to the pain and joys of the human condition. When writing fiction this is a very important job to maintain.
• It can keep track of all the characters and their functions so that as I write and get wrapped up in the excitement of the plot, the ego can remind me about my characters and what their goals and motivations are.
  

I know it is very difficult for me to maintain a regime of writing. People have suggested that I write a little everyday. That has been difficult for me to do in the past. I have just been introduced to the blogger site and I am choosing to use it to write as needed. This helps to get around the mind that says that I have to sit down, take time out of the day and write for long periods.

I will allow myself to feel my feelings and experience my emotions, whether they are considered good or bad, right or wrong.

I will incorporate my life into my stories to further accept and allow those experiences to move through me.

I will be willing to let go of anything that doesn't serve me or the writing I was meant to create. This includes judgment, fear, fatigue, and blame.

I will search my heart and my feelings if I receive resistance from the ego or the mind when beginning my writing, in the middle or the end. I choose to see the truth in my creative process.

I will allow the creative process to take me over with rapture, allowing my heart to expand, my body to relax and my soul to open up.

When I don't want to write, I will get the creative juices flowing with painting.

When I don't want to paint, I will get the creative juices flowing with a walk.

When I don't want to walk, I will get the creative juices flowing with an uplifting movie, eating a delicious meal, kayaking, going to a museum, or listening to a book on tape.

This is my plan for a beautiful journey of self discovery and acceptance of the truth that is in me to be the truth that comes from me and ultimately, from that creative force which moves us all.


Copyright 2008 Ashley Clark AKA Kyra Clark. All Rights Reserved.

http://soulsolutionshealing.com/kyraclark.html

Todd and I went to a Wilderness Survival Class last night. Todd felt like it was a good idea to go, seeing as how I had gotten lost on a paved road trail that went around in a circle. We learned lots of really good and interesting things. The first thing I learned was that I am really the one in control of my mindset. If I choose to give up in a survival situation I will likely not make it. If I choose, however, to accept that it won't be comfortable, but believe that I can survive and I will make it, that will more likely happen for me.

Here are a couple Wilderness Survival Tips and Tricks:

The rule of 3 - You cant live more than 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter (depending on conditions), 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food.

Shelter

The most important thing to acquire is shelter, NOT food. There is a law that says when two things meet at two different temperatures the larger object will cause the smaller object to change temperature. So, when you have a 150 lb. person and an enormous Earth, the Earth's temperature will win out. We look at all our resources if we have been stranded with a car take the headliner out, the filler in the seats, the carpeting, use any bits for string or rope, use the hood, everything possible. You will want to pile up brush and get yourself as far from the ground as possible. Use a large stick and hit the Y of a tree branch and pull off large branches with some of the leaves and small branches still intact. Gather large sticks and form a little A-Frame or a lean-to. Then take your leafy branches to form the roof. You want as little air space as possible to keep warm.

Next you will want to make a fire. If you are stranded with your car you can use some of the gas from your hoses and your battery to start a fire. Using two wires, attach them to your battery when you touch the wires together sparks will start to fly. Have a little gas and some kindling ready to light. You can also take your tire off the rim using your tire iron and burn some of the rubber. This will burn a very long time and cause a black smoke, that could potentially cause someone to see you.

Once you have your fire started you want to direct the heat into your shelter. You can take some sticks and make a little half circle around the other side of the fire. So, it's the sticks, the fire and your shelter in that order. Then take some reflective surface, like the lining underneath your hood, and reflect it back towards the shelter. This will keep you very warm.

Water

If you are stranded with your car, jump on the roof and create an indentation. This will cause any rain water to be caught. If you have a little plastic bag you could tie it to some vegetation with a couple rocks in the bottom of it, with a little spittle, condensation will begin to build up, it will drop down towards the rocks and then you will have water. You can compact snow and add a little water; put it in a big black trash bag, or something off your engine and then very shortly you'll have water. If there is a water source around you, use that and bring the water to a rolling boil to cleanse it. You need one 8-10 oz cup of water to survive daily.

Food

"A grub" as Timon from The Lion King said. I learned last night that I would be okay with eating a grub. All you have to do is cut off the pink head and either eat them raw or cook them. They are 75 calories a piece. All you need to survive is 400 Calories a day. Eating about 5 of these guys will help to sustain your life. You can find these guys on a rotted tree trunk under the bark. Don't eat the hairy ones - they are poisonous.

If you are in the desert, snakes and other critters are available to eat, just cut off the head, split down the belly and clean, cook and eat. Fish are also good; to easily catch these guys you can make a little channel in the water for them to go through. Take some pointed sticks line them up in a curve toward the shore and block the exit. Hit them with a large stick and cut off the head, gut them, bury them in the hot coals with the skin on for a few hours and eat. Frogs, birds and other creatures are available also, cut off the head and clean out the organs. Then just cook them in their skin, feathers and all and after they are cooked the outside of the animal will peel off. This should sustain life, not comfortably, but well enough until you are rescued.


Snow

Snow is a really good insulator, if you are in the woods and there is a lot of snow set up your shelter near a tree. There is usually a ring around the base of the tree and you can pile up the snow with limbs etc, compacting as you go - this will really keep the heat in. Remember sleep off the ground.

You can also build a very easy dome igloo out of snow. Start by compacting very tightly a small dome. Take something like a ski to cut a block out of where the entrance will be. Crawl inside and scrape out the rest of the snow with your hands leaving a small one foot shelf towards the back of the igloo. This is where you will sleep, off the ground. Poke a hole through the ceiling of the roof with your ski and leave it there. This will ventilate the dome. Use a couple blocks of snow to cover the entrance of the dome. According to our instructor you can get really warm in these shelters.

These are just a couple suggestions to keep you safe. Our instructor suggests carrying an emergency pack with you in the car. Also, some things that travel with him at all times are:

A "Light My Fire" brand metal match
A portion of duct tape
Vaseline - use to keep a fire going almost like a candle
Dryer lint - use for starting a fire
Pocket Knife

I hope this helps, if you want to learn more go to your local outdoor store, they may be offering classes.

Copyright 2008 Ashley Clark AKA Kyra Clark. All Rights Reserved.

http://soulsolutionshealing.com/kyraclark.html

I have realized that when we begin to talk to ourselves, out loud, that we can have some really transforming moments. There was a time when I would be embarrassed to even SING in my car if I was alone, for fear that others would see me and think I was crazy. Oh, I've come a long way baby!

What makes us so different from those who we label as 'crazy' anyways? We see people talking to themselves on the street as they walk along, and say or think, 'man, they must be crazy!'. And then we walk or drive along with thousand of thoughts of our own running through our heads, a lot of them not so sane! What if we said all of them out loud? Would we not then be 'crazy' as well? There's just the matter of saying them out loud, or letting them roll through your mind!

Anyhow, I was driving home from work yesterday, and began talking, out loud, to myself. I was thinking about negativity. Everyone always says, be positive, push the negative thoughts out of your mind. So as I was talking to myself, I began to channel my higher self, and began speaking, to me. :)

In that conversation, I was told that negativity is not necessarily a bad thing, at least, in those who begin to realize that they don't want to live a negative life. When one is being negative, critical, or anything which is not in alignment with the essence of love, the essence of joy, one can know that their energy is not flowing in the way in which it should. One can know that something is stuck. Just by identifying that you are being in a false state of mind, you then begin to open yourself up, you begin to clear away that stuck energy. If one can identify and then choose to clear themselves, the liquid flow of light begins to stream through your body once again.

In the Light,
Leslie

Copyright 2008 Leslie Smith All Rights Reserved

http://soulsolutionshealing.com/lesliesmith.html

Funny thing I wanted to share with you.

When I went to write something for this blog, it asked me to choose a document made from a template or a blank document. I CHOSE blank document. It then gave me a choice to CREATE or CANCEL.

Right then and there, my blog entry started to form. What an inspiration! We CHOOSE to CREATE or to CANCEL everything, at every second. We are the creators of our lives, of every experience that we have, or rather, that we CHOOSE to have. We bring people in, we bring situations in. We'd like to believe that we don't, because we don't want to blame ourselves for THAT, we would rather blame it on someone else. Right? But the cold hard truth is, it's YOU. It's ME. WE create all of those things, every single one of them! This then leads us down the path of ‘Victimville'. We can no longer be victims of our past experiences, can we?

If you are really open, if you really just ‘allow' yourself to BE, without asking how, without asking why, without knowing what is going to happen, then you will begin to see transformations in your life. Divine Inspirations begin to come to you. Allow yourself to act on these Divine Inspirations, without questioning it and there will be ease.

Choose to Allow. Choose to not have to know the answer to why? or how? or when? or what? When you Allow, you put trust in the Divine. When you question, you have begun to block out the Divine Inspiration.

In the Light,
Leslie

Copyright 2008 Leslie Smith All Rights Reserved

http://soulsolutionshealing.com/lesliesmith.html

I recently read a review of a J.Z. Knight/Ramtha video in which the reviewer wrote that Ramtha's teachings are more common sense than true spirituality. I mentally asked, "What is spirituality if not common sense? Would it be uncommon sense or would it be common senselessness?

Why is there such an air of magic and mystery attached to spiritualism? Why is it that only swamis can time travel, or monks levitate? Why has Jesus been the only human known to have walked on water? For the past 2,000 years, why hasn't anyone else been confirmed as having done this?

I have my own theory that Jesus did none of these things but if he were alive today, with training and practice, he might be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat (given the right hat). The tales about Jesus were merely tales designed to "wow" the masses into perceiving him as a great man; into believing that one has to be specially endowed by a selective god to be spiritual. Again, from my perspective, Jesus needs no embellishments for me to see him as a great man. He was profoundly wise, Divinely guided, tremendously compassionate, loving and giving with a terrific sense of humor. But, this description fits many people I know today. What makes Jesus any more spiritual than any of the modern day spiritualists?

Nothing.

All of us can be like that. At the very least, we each have our moments. When I was a pre-teen, I was introduced to a Ouija Board. I played with it once or twice but quickly lost interest in it. I have a crystal that I've used for divination a few times. But, it has hung in my home in its special place for many months undisturbed. I have a set of Celtic Rune stones and an interpretation book for them. I used them once and put them away. I've dabbled with Tarot cards, drumming, Wicca ritual, healing power of stones, aura reading, color and music therapy and numerology. Nothing has ever captivated me and I've often asked myself throughout my life, "why?" What am I missing, or what is missing in me that doesn't allow me to attach to any of these forms of expression?

Again, the answer is "nothing."

I had known intuitively for many years, but hadn't wanted to believe, that spirituality isn't found in anything external. The source of all true power, all true peace, love, joy, and all true spirituality is within each of us. Ouija boards, drums, stones, cards, and crystals merely reflect who we are inside and can perhaps help us identify what we're experiencing on a subconscious level. But, these things are only tools of spirituality. They're not the spirituality themselves. I've often said that just because I know how to drive a nail, that doesn't make me a carpenter. Just because someone can foretell future events, or read tea leaves, or cast spells and charms doesn't make them any more spiritual than you or I. So, what's the harm in using these things for seeing spirituality? Nothing. What's the harm in using them as a substitute for turning within to our source?

Everything.

When we view spirituality as external to ourselves, we create our own separation from it. As long as we keep ourselves separate from it, we can never "have" it. In my growth, I've come to see that attaining spirituality isn't at all about learning how to do it or working on becoming a certain way. Quite the contrary, it's about un-learning our programming and how to simply BE who we truly are. I like to think of attaining spirituality as nothing more than stripping away my filters or layers of ego that keep me from seeing and experiencing my natural, true self. Every time I remind myself of that, I instantly get a feeling of being a bit more spiritual or closer to that core of truth than I was an instant before. We are only as spiritual as we feel we are.

We are spiritual beings having a human experience. We need only to turn within to tap into the all-knowing, all seeing, all creative magnificence of who we naturally are. Therein in lies our truth and therein lies the common sense of spirituality.

(c) 4/11/2008
Ronnie Carroll

http://soulsolutionshealing.com/ronniec.html

In the eyes of the foolish
a fool am I.
In the eyes of the wise
a sage.
In the eyes of the old and young alike
I'm forever without age.
In the eyes of the pure
I'm innocence.
In the eyes of evil I'm flawed.
In the eyes of those who seek their truth
they see in me their god.
You see what you know.
You don't know what you see.
You seek to remember, not learn.
And those who've seen the truth of me
for more of the truth they'll yearn.
If I'm without end
both forward and back
for all eternity,
then how can you say
with faith and belief
I ever started
to BE?

(c) 2/24/2005
Ronnie Carroll

http://soulsolutionshealing.com/ronniec.html

"Despise Fvorag and you despise a part of yourself. For we are all One in Prithi."
- The MoonQuest: A True Fantasy

"Death to the Ego!" I've heard that war cry, so common in personal-growth circles, several times in recent days. And each time, it left me profoundly saddened. You see, the oft-demonized ego doesn't deserve to die. No part of us deserves to die.

No part of us deserves to be dismissed...or dissed. All parts of us have value. All parts of us have worth. All parts of us are capable of growth and transformation. Of redemption. Many writers and therapists would have you believe that the ego is some inner evil that must be cut off, stamped out and killed before we can move forward.

"Ego," I read the other day, "is the biggest - and perhaps the only - obstacle to true enlightenment. If we want to be free, if we want to be enlightened, we have to pay the price: death of the ego."

Not only is that view wrong-headed, it is damaging.

Certainly, the ego or "small self" can stand in the way of our evolution. Yet whatever else it is or does, it is still a part of our greater self, of our oneness. Of God. God, however you define it, is made up of all the pieces of us - dark and light, evolved and not. God is not just the pieces we like or would prefer. When we use phrases like "death of the ego," we're advocating an act of self-hatred and self-destruction that is not at all godlike. How can we call for oneness in one breath and the destruction of a part of ourselves in the next? How can we preach love as the energy that creates and heals all when, in the same sentence, we preach hatred toward parts of ourselves? If your arm is broken, do you cut it off because it's now a useless appendage? Or do you allow it to heal, lavishing extra love and energy upon it because of its weakened condition?

The ego is no less deserving of care and no less capable of healing and transformation. I passionately believe that we are called to love, honor and respect all aspects of our beingness, not just the ones that behave in right/light ways. We live in a throwaway culture, tossing out anything that's broken, a culture where imperfection is punished and misbehavior condemned. What have we become we that we're now throwing away bits of ourselves?

The ego is nothing more than a terrified, lesser-developed aspect of ourselves, a child-aspect that feels threatened by change it does not understand and so resists, often disruptively. In many ways, it's like a fearful child. We don't kill our children when they don't act in a divine manner, when they're frightened and act out. We reassure them, we hold them, we love them. We make sure they know that they're safe. Through these compassionate, godlike acts, we gently correct their failings and contribute to their growth and evolution, and to our own. Our call is to do the same with the ego.

Speaking of killing, expelling, conquering or controlling it is the antithesis of the Christed energy we claim we are seeking to embody. Some might respond by saying that these are only words, that nothing is really being killed. Perhaps. But language is not random. We choose our words, and these words reveal more about what we think and feel than we often realize. If we use words like "death" and "killing," than that truly is the consciousness we are projecting. Oneness, too, is a consciousness, one that cannot thrive outside of us if it doesn't first thrive within. And it cannot thrive within if we reject even a single part of ourselves. Oneness is an act of integration. Preaching death to the ego is the opposite: dis-integration.

The only path to enlightenment is the path of love. And the only path of love that has any value is the path that begins with self-love, with the love of our entire self - the wounded as well as the healed, the frightened as well as the fearless, the dark as well as the light. Loving it doesn't free it to be in charge or hold us back. It does free it to have a voice, to express its fears, to cry for help in the only ways it knows how. That same love frees you to embrace every part of you, to welcome home the ugly, wounded, frightened prodigal-child/ego and to live the fullness of a divinity and godliness that includes all aspects of your beingness. I believe in you, in every part of you, and I love your darkness as well as your light. Won't you do the same for yourself?

by Mark David Gerson
http://soulsolutionshealing.com/mdgerson.html

Today, I heard a bird sing. That's nothing surprising. It's spring. There are lots of birds singing everywhere. But, today, I heard the song of a bird that pulled me back to the memories and feelings of something I had experienced years ago. My mind said, "That was years ago, not now." My heart said, "The energies are still real; it is still your experience."

At about 1:30 a.m. on the 9th of October 2004, my husband died (transitioned). It was a very quiet, gentle passage but one that left me in shock because he was my husband. I drove home from the hospital on autopilot, sat on the sofa, and waited for the night to pass; at times, afraid to move, afraid to breathe for fear it would shatter my suddenly fragile world and I'd get sucked into a void of nothingness. My only thought was, "What do you do when someone dies? You go home." I had no thoughts beyond the "going home" and of simply Being.

The night passed and the sun rose to a dreary day. Still, my world was fragile and silent. But, there was a softness to it too that held me in an embrace of gentility and comfort - there for me to fall into should I no longer be able to keep the transparency of life from shattering. It didn't shatter after all. I slowly came back to an awareness beyond my own self, drawn by the song of a bird - a single bird, heralding the dawn of light.

There was something deeply comforting in that stillness that I cannot name. But, I do know that from the stillness I began a journey into tremendous, awe-inspiring, profoundly beautiful and exciting spiritual growth and awareness. Through the passage of years since, I have experienced great love and joy and peace beyond anything I'd ever imagined in my life. So, today, when I heard the bird sing, I was reminded that no matter how dark our journey becomes or how fragile it feels, there is something that always supports us - through our darkest moments and our greatest isolation.

We are never alone. We are profoundly loved.

No matter how senseless existence may seem or how large the crisis is that's looming ahead of us, we'll get through it. By our survival of it, it becomes a turning point and a new perspective from which we approach all other things. To that bird I say, "Thank you. Thank you for reminding me of that silence and stillness and the gentility of being loved."

Stay soft.

With Light & Love,
Ronnie

visit my profile at: http://soulsolutionshealing.com/ronniec.html

Who are you? The answer is really just a breath away.

If you could, come and travel with me for a moment, into a Great Dream. In this dream, you can be whomever you want to be. In this dream, you can do whatever you want to do. In this dream, you can create whatever you want to create. In this dream, there are endless possibilities. In this dream, your thoughts can manifest into being. In this dream, you are in a state of joy and of peace. In this dream, you have no limits!

Now wouldn't that be completely mind-blowing? Wouldn't that be fabulous??

What if I told you that you are, right now, in this Great Dream? What if I told you that the words you are reading right now are part of your dream, that your family and friends are part of your dream, that your job is part of your dream, and so on and so forth?

Yes. This is your Great Dream. Really! You have created it. You will continue to create it, except for one thing. Sometimes you forget. You forget that it's a grand illusion! You forget that you don't have to fear anything. To be in fear, is the biggest thing that is holding you back from creating the life that you really want. The only reason you aren't creating what you want, is that you are afraid of something. What is it? What are you afraid of? I'm sure you have a list a mile long. What if you could just throw that list away? Would you feel freedom? Would you feel at peace if you could do that?

You have nothing to fear in this Great Dream. Nothing can harm you, take anything away from you, or destroy you, really, in this Great Dream. Now, while you are in this Great Dream, there will be many opportunities for you to fall into the trap of fear. While you are here, though, you can work on erasing it; you can work on feeling free. Free is what you are.

Realize that you are a wondrous beautiful being of pure Light. Realize that you are here to experience, to create. Realize that everything you do is experienced by God.

How is that? That is so because God is not some elusive character living up in the sky, separate from you. God is inside of you. God is inside of me. God is inside of your children. God is inside of your neighbor, and your dog, and your cat, and inside of everything. God is able to experience everything through you. You are completely Divine.

You, god, are experiencing The Great Dream!

In the Light, Leslie

Copyright 2008 Leslie Smith All Rights Reserved
http://soulsolutionshealing.com/lesliesmith.html

We go through many phases during our journeys of life. There is no set time, place or circumstance that defines them; when they occur or how long they last or what triggers them, but we know they happen. We feel them. Some of these phases overlap while others are separated by great lengths of time. Perhaps we recall a period of time in our childhood that seemed more magical than any other time, or we experienced a summer like none other. Maybe we lived in a house or neighborhood where our fondness of it went far beyond physical appearances or personal tastes. The time or place or friend we knew had that certain "something extra" - unnamed but far more real than anything else we had experienced.

Then, that magic seemed to fade. Years passed and we grew out of childhood. The summer ended. We moved away from the beloved home. We lost track of the friend. We might have experienced a change of fortune in our lives that pulled us from one phase to another. Sometimes we slip in and out of these phases so subtly that we're not entirely aware of the energies of them or the differences they make in our lives until we see them in retrospect and suddenly notice that they have changed or disappeared.

There may be other phases of our lives that we're not even aware of having forgotten until something triggers our memories; the re-appearance of an old friend, stumbling across an old photograph or resurrecting a long lost souvenir. Memories of these times will flood our minds. Emotions may overwhelm us. A resurgence of unnamed feelings may engulf us. Often, as we reflect on those times, we slip back into the energies of them and re-experience the ambiances that made them so special. These are the energies of Love.

Our souls never forget them, even after many lifetimes.

It is the energy of Love that allows you to recognize a friend whom you have never before met in a crowd of strangers. It is the energy of Love that makes you feel like you've at last come home to that place you are visiting for the first time. These energies of Love are the unbreakable threads of our spiritual lives that bond us to one another and to all things. Whenever we act upon this Love, whether or not we can explain or justify our actions, we have responded to the energies of Love and have integrated them into our consciousness. These memories of Love serve as our portals to recognition. We remember the feelings, we recognize them, and we come to understand that we can experience them again.

With each conscious recognition of what we remember, we more fully integrate it into ourselves and into our way of being. We are weavers, weaving the threads of the energies of Love throughout every fiber of our beings and we come to recognize that there are many threads. The feelings associated with that special summer are different than the ones associated with our dearest friends or favorite pieces of music, or most inspiring vistas of nature. Yet all resonate with the same core energy - the energy of Love.

When the darkness, the noise, or confusion of our lives seems to overwhelm us, we long for what we once had. We think of it as "the good old days;" the lost morality of society or the serenity of undisturbed nature or the innocence of childhood. We yearn for what we no longer experience. We seek the experience through meditation or volunteer work or through donating time, money, or belongings to charities. We host reunions. We attend celebrations. We attach our own special significance to holidays. We dedicate ourselves to our families. We tap into that Love; we revel in it. It becomes our own experience for it is our resonance with those threads that we are weaving throughout our beings. Our experience of Love wells up from within us, not from our external surroundings.

And we remember.

The energies of Love have never been lost. This recognition becomes our way of knowing as we pull those threads - those energies up through our beings and begin to express them. As we allow these energies to flow once again from the core of ourselves, we experience Peace, Love and Joy again in our lives and it becomes who we Are. As it flows, we express it with every person we meet and every moment we experience. This is our Divinity and our Birthright of Nobility. The source of who we are is infinite. The more we remember, recognize, experience, and give, the more we have.

So, Be this flow of Love. Allow your light to shine. As you do, you become a conduit of Love for all others to experience and remember. You are that which you know. You are Divine.

And So It Is.

(c) 3/17/2007

visit my profile at: http://soulsolutionshealing.com/ronniec.html

Dear Mom,

Today I cleaned my apartment
and I pulled from my bookshelves
an old diary covered with dust.
I took a break from my work
to spend a few minutes
re-reading some of the passages
I had written years ago.
But, the minutes
stretched into hours
as I poured over the cramped
and smeared handwriting
of my yesterdays.
Memories flooded my head
and my heart
as a passage here and there
caught my eye.
I only wrote about the events
of the day
and nothing special ever happened.
But, I was living and growing
and changing.
And only occasionally
I mentioned you.
"By the way -
Mom fixed a great supper tonight."
Then I'd say no more.
The passage would end
and I'd move on to another day -
another week.
"I forgot Mom's birthday yesterday.
I wonder if she noticed."
Now the years have passed
and they find me all grown up,
living on my own, and being
self-sufficient independent.
But, I'm sitting on the floor
softly crying -
crying for all those days
of frustrations, of angers,
of misunderstandings.
But I'm smiling too, because
Mom, you're beautiful
and I love you.
And I ache inside for
wanting to tell you -
for all those times
I may have forgotten
or failed to notice.
And, is it really fair to take
only one day of the year
to say Happy Mother's Day?
I know that a mother is thanked
many times over
when she sees her children
happy, healthy and productive.
But, these returns seem
so inadequate a thanks
for all those special gifts
a mother gives her children.
So, Mom, let me say again,
I love you.
And knowing that love
is God's most sacred gift
to humanity,
I give you all I have.

Happy Mother's Day
today,
and all your tomorrows.

(c) 1977
Ronnie

visit my profile at: http://soulsolutionshealing.com/ronniec.html

(Response to a post on a forum converted into an article.)

A profound spiritual connection can easily exist without sex. Nor is using sex required in finding that fullfilling connection. Many of my own spiritual friends have commented that they have had profound emotional intimacy develop between themselves and other people (or their partners) as they have continued to open up along their spiritual paths. In fact, the more emotional maturity we develop, the more we are able to be intimate and connect with others in non-sexual ways - not to mention, be able to sustain a mature relationship much more easily.

For me, a sexual connection is the result of sharing a spiritual connection - not the other way around. This learning has worked well for my own personal spiritual makeup. An attraction from the 'inside out' if you will, instead of the 'outside in.' Although, I have friends who swear by the spiritual connection that they derive from sex, and the resulting connection therein. Nevertheless, sex is just sex. A Course in Miracles says that we give meaning to everything. In other words, we determine the role that sex plays in our lives, and more emphatically, in our relationships.

My ideas on how sex has played a role in my life has changed over the years with more maturity, but I have always wanted it to be spiritual. I waited a long time, and then after those first experiences, I was celebate for 4 years. Mostly, I have "waited" until I was emotionally mature enough to handle it, not to mention the potential consequences of having sex.

I have before struggled with the continual balancing act of integrating the sexual vs the spiritual, because they seem to be diametrically opposed at first glance. In some regards, that may be true. But in others, it could be seen as untrue. What some of us have learned about sex (especially the baby boomer) has made us believe it to be unspiritual, enforcing ideas of guilt, and so on. Some people use sex to cover their own shame for countless reasons, or low-self esteem, or because it's the only way they feel they can connect emotionally. Being a powerful resource, sex can be a channel for healing - or dysfunction.

Again, sex in itself, has no shame. Sexual energy is something that is very challenging for many people to master, even spiritually speaking. Because sexual energy is so powerful, I would have to say that to introduce sex as a means of connection into any relationship would be healithiest when implemented by individuals who are very grounded and have a strong emotional intelligence developed within themselves, hence transcending why they might decide to use sex in their relationship. Of course, that's only one way to learn. But there are countless other ways, all with beneficial outcomes.

Now, that is just how I've perceived and grown and what I've learned. It's certainly not the only way to enjoy sex or use it in your life. Being too pragmatic about sex in our daily lives can make sex all but unappealing. Personally, I like intimacy, and feel it to be an important part of my own connection to my partner. Each of those small little things (which matter to women, by the way) are tidings of spiritual love. All of which make the actual sexual connection greater in the relationship.

In daily life, sex can result from our feelings, or our libido, or our ego. It can be very useful for bonding people together, whether spiritually, emotionally, or literally physically. Sex is designed to work for everyone. Yet because of its strong power, I would venture to say that to experience the real truthful benefits of sexual energy, one would have to evolve past the 1st and 2nd chakras in their bodies and awareness. Once beyond this stage of development, sexual energies (not necessarily sex) can be harnessed and used for higher spiritual connection with self and others and the Universe, instead of merely more sexual arousal. Probably the most important thing about sex in any long term spiritual relationship, in my opinion, is that one person's ideas about sex match their partner's ideas.

Everyone is looking for love underneath it all, no matter how open or closed they are. There are many people looking for something real and fulfilling. By practicing for yourself what you want to have in a relationship by allowing those intimate feelings to be felt, you'll likely attract the type of fullfillment you desire more quickly in your intimate connections, sexual or not. Simply put, it's about building on what we feel, not on what we don't feel.

Sexual energy (and sex) is something to be respected, above all. I'm no expert on it, by any means. But I can say that with reverence and consciensciousness, we can learn to gain the spiritual benefits of our growing experiences with sexual energy with every chapter in our lives that we open up to.

(c)2008 Todd Schaefer
http://www.soulsolutionshealing.com

This came to me all at once - more or less "in a flash" a few minutes ago, so I'll do the best I can at putting it all together.

Many years ago, I wrote a philosophical "tidbit" that says: "To deny the laws of physics is to deny the existence of God." I very briefly went on to say that God is why water is wet, fire is hot, and the wind is never still.

A few years before I wrote that, I used to hang glide in the mountains of North Carolina. After going through classes and beginning flight school, it got to the point where all one had to do was strap himself into a hang glider, stand on the edge of a cliff and step off.

I can remember standing on solid ground, holding my "kite" up, waiting for a favorable breeze while mentally checking, re-checking, and re-re-checking my pre-flight list: did I assemble the kite correctly, were all junctions secure, were all straps in place and securely buckled, etc.? Then, it came time for me to move forward; to step off the cliff and simply trust God.

What was I trusting other than the laws of physics?

My hang gliding school had its "founding father" - Leonardo daVinci and it was during my schooling when I came to so deeply appreciate and highly regard him. He introduced mankind to the freedom of flight. Yet there were many in his time who did not understand or at all comprehend the physics of aerodynamics. Just as in Galileo's time, mankind had no comprehension of the solar system. In Newton's time, no one understood the law of gravity. Is it any wonder that these people (and others like them) have been considered to be part of a "secret society" - The Priory of Scion and that Templar Knights protected this society?

It has been mankind's habit to ascribe Divine powers to that which he does not understand. Historically, anyone tampering with those powers (or understandings) was tampering with the Hand of God and was often executed for his tampering.

I like to play a game of imagining that I'm holding a cigarette lighter and am suddenly whisked back in time to thousands of years ago. If I show the people the lighter and how to work it, I could be hailed as either a demi-god with magical powers and highly revered, or as a sorcerer with evil powers and put to death.

Mankind fears or reveres that which he does not understand.

We (mankind) have gone through many Quantum Shifts. In my sudden understanding (enlightenment) a few minutes ago, I saw that Quantum Shifts are merely times when people were no longer damned for tampering with the Hand of God. Although people didn't understand the laws of physics that were being explored, they accepted that there was no "evil" associated with trying to understand them.

We've gone through several Quantum Leaps where people went beyond merely accepting the study of physics (accepting that God's Hand can be tampered with) to understanding how to apply - and actually applying the principles of physics (actually tampering with the Hand of God). The Wright Brothers were hailed and applauded for their efforts. Centuries earlier, they would have been put to death. Again I ask, is it any wonder that Icarus died when tempting the Hand of God?

We're going through the same thing today. There are still (and will always be) laws of physics that we don't understand. The more we see, the more we know we don't know. Today, as always, there is still fear of what we don't understand. However, now that we've passed through the Quantum Shift, people are being awakened to greater acceptance of studying these new physics even though we have yet to understand them. This Shift is allowing people to let go of some of their fear and simply allowing others to dabble and tamper and explore.

Stores are exploding with books and movies about "The Secret" and "What the Bleep Do We Know?" and ways of the wizard, and Reiki healing, labyrinth walking for health, genetic coding, and on, ad infinitum about the properties of physics - God - of what we don't understand but are allowing into our consciousness. Some day, these explorations will lead to developments that will become a way of life for everyone. No one will question or even think about the laws being applied. They'll simply accept them and integrate them into their lives and use them every day.

We use computers and the Internet every day. When I was a child, such technology was far beyond the capabilities of mankind and was only "dreamed" about.

So, in short, I came to understand that a Quantum Shift is merely recognition and acceptance. A Quantum Leap is practical application. But, practical application cannot occur until the principle is recognized and accepted. The Shift is "creative." The Leap is "dynamic." Yin-yang. Breathing in and breathing out. One must exist so that the other can occur.

I have mentioned to others that there will be those who won't survive this Shift or Leap. Apart from the inevitable laboratory accidents, there will be those who will damn the "New Thought." I was fortunate to experience precisely that way of thinking the other night. I listened to someone, in anger (fear) say that a particular church was nothing more than a "damn cult. " I know the church well. I am a member of it. From my perspective, the church is nothing more than a celebration of God and of one's own God light.

The individual who damned the church may very well "survive" (physically) through the Shift and Leap, but will most likely have to come back to a later life (or later lives) when certain approaches to technology or spirituality (inner transformations) are accepted and practiced by the masses in their every day lives. By growing up with certain technology or understandings of principles, one can much more readily accept them.

Lightworkers are blessed to have open minds and open hearts. This is why they are considered the pioneers of New Thought and New Age.

(c) May 2008
Ronnie Carroll

visit my profile at: http://soulsolutionshealing.com/ronniec.html

Nothing in our lives happens in a vacuum. Nothing stands alone. From any moment in your life, no matter where you are or what you're doing, you can follow the threads backwards that connect it to all other moments. At this moment realize that you wouldn't be here, doing what you're doing if all the prior moments' actions and circumstances hadn't occurred. You can play the "If/then" game to see this. "If that hadn't happened, then this wouldn't have resulted and I wouldn't have done what I did." If any moment in your life had been different than what it was, the resulting actions and reactions would have been different too. The circumstances would have changed and life would be very different from what it is right now. So, every moment - every instant that has passed in your life has resulted in your being who you are, and in your doing what you're doing at this precise moment.

But, your life hasn't stood alone. Nothing happens in a vacuum. Every person in your life and in the world has a fabric of moments and actions, events and circumstances woven behind him. Every instant that has passed in every other person's life has made him precisely who he is and has affected what he is doing at this very moment. The passage of their every moment led to the instant the weave of their fabric of life intersected yours. As threads are woven, they mesh with one another.

You can take any point - any moment in life and un-weave all the moments that led up to it; and you can branch out in countless directions from each moment in the life of each person to the countless moments of the countless lives of others. Nothing stands alone. How many generations of interwoven moments and lives and circumstances and choices have led precisely to this one? The weave is seamless. We're all connected in infinite ways so thoroughly that if one thread were pulled, the entire fabric would unravel. This has allowed me to see that my life has been affected, in some way, by a housewife who lived in Persia in 1300 B.C. or a blacksmith in Philadelphia in 1812 or an airline pilot who is right now landing his plane on a runway at an international airport.

But, the weave of life gets far more complex than every moment being connected to every other moment. We are more than just a collection or a result of all our passing moments. We experience each moment of our existence whether or not we're aware of experiencing anything at all. Each experience colors our perceptions and has an effect on not just what we think, but how we think. Our perceptions color the way we remember every prior moment, and the way we anticipate or prepare for every future moment. The way we think affects our every action and reaction. So, if any one person who has ever had any effect on your life had ever done or perceived any one thing any differently, then the way you perceive your life right now and the way you would create your future moments would be totally different.

In this manner, we create our lives. With every action, there's an altered perception. With every altered perception, there's another choice for our actions. Every action affects every other living being and every perception. And, every living being affects every other living being. This change is constant and is the "flow of life."

What is the speed of thought? How quickly do thoughts color our actions, and actions color our thoughts and perceptions? Thoughts are energies, unbound by size or distance or the pull of gravity or the appearance of light or the density of matter. How quickly are our thoughts created and manifested, observed and reacted to and passed on, in some manner, to another's perceptions and resulting experiences? As creators, we all create the flow of life. As infinite creators, we create its infinite flow - instantly ever changing.

So, Be who you truly Are. The light of your being will travel around the world in the blink of an eye and will affect for all time to come, all that will pass.

(c) 4/27/2008
Ronnie Carroll

visit my profile at: http://soulsolutionshealing.com/ronniec.html

Many individuals walk around with crystallized minds. To be in this particular state of mind, one has closed off all doors. These individuals walk around with their minds set for life. There is nothing that they question, because in truth, to question anything would mean the possibility of a change within themselves or those around them. Fear is what holds back the crystallized mind. Fear is the biggest obstacle one can face in this life. I would venture to say that Fear constitutes pretty much everything we encounter that holds us back. Fear of death, fear of poverty, fear of flying, fear of public speaking, fear of losing someone we love, and the list goes on and on.

So how does one go about releasing this crystallization? First, one must want to release it. From then on, the crystals begin to fall off, one by one.

If one dares to begin to ask themselves questions that they never wanted to ask themselves, such as: ‘Who am I really?', ‘Where did I really come from?', ‘What is Life, anyway?', then, loads of crystals will begin to be released.

Once just one crystal begins to fall away, therein lies a clear light, a light that begins to shine on something you never thought you would begin to see. Changes within yourself begin to take place. You notice that your mind becomes more open, you begin to feel and taste what freedom is and means to you. You begin to find your Truth.

However, many individuals feel safe in the environment of the crystallized mind. Nothing changes, nothing moves, and fear has become his or her comfort.

It is a choice one must make. Live in fear, or live in Truth. To each choice, is a lesson to be learned.

In the Light,

Leslie

Copyright 2008 Leslie Smith All Rights Reserved
http://soulsolutionshealing.com/lesliesmith.html

Tuesday, May 20 ~ Albuquerque, New Mexico



As I drive home from a lunch date with someone I haven't seen in a decade, a song from the musical Hello, Dolly!insinuates itself into my mind. The song, "It Only Takes a Moment," is a paean to love at first sight, but it reminds me how a single instant can precipitate an earth-quaking, life-shaking change in direction.

One of the most profound examples of that in my life occurred ten years ago, just before my last encounter with today's lunch partner. It was May 1, at a Beltane bonfire in Sedona, Arizona.

It was at that bonfire that I met my former wife, a meet-up whose sparks rivaled those that leapt up from the fire pit that night. A week later, we moved in together; six weeks after that we were married. The six-plus years that followed were filled with love, joy and a cornucopia of unexpected miracles, not the least of which was my daughter, who made her own spark-filled appearance at 9:11 a.m. on 9/11/99.

It only takes a moment...

The song and the accompanying memory take on particular significance for me today, during a period in my life filled with uncertainty and flux, a time when doubts about my path creep into any opening they can find, a period of fear, anger and confusion, a time when inner guidance is unclear and seems to shift from moment to moment.

There are energetic reasons for these experiences, experiences that I know are not unique to me at this time. But, for me, the reasons are less important than how I choose to respond to all that they have set in motion in my life in recent weeks.
When I woke up on that life-changing May morning ten years ago, I was angry and frustrated. Little that I had felt guided to expect had come to pass. Here I was in a new country, uncertain why I was here, unclear about how to proceed, unnerved by the seeming disconnect between inner knowingness and outer manifestation.

In a single instant 12 hours later, my life was thrust into a new direction and nothing was ever the same again. It was as though I had been reborn into a new world that bore only a passing resemblance to my old one.

It only takes a moment...

Today, I remember that instant and others like it and I know that one moment -- one breath -- is all it takes for the miracle that changes everything to appear unannounced.

I remember, too, that the key to receiving that miracle is to stay present in each moment, moment-by-moment. For unless I'm present in the moment, I may not notice the miracle that is its fruit. If I'm locked in worry and anxiety about the future -- and even the moment after this one is part of that future -- I may not be available to the angel who delivers the miracle.

Not every life-changing moment is a happy one. The human journey is filled with miracle-filled moments masquerading as bad news. The instant when my marriage ended was one of those, as was the moment I learned that my mother had cancer.

Yet even those moments brought with them wondrous gifts that I could never have predicted, like flowers blooming among the desert cactus.

And so as I move through the challenges of these times, I try to stay present in each moment, remembering that a moment is all it takes -- for worlds to topple, new life to birth and miracles to bloom.

It only takes a moment.

Photos by Mark David Gerson: Sandia cactus flower, Albuquerque, New Mexico by Mark David Gerson http://soulsolutionshealing.com/mdgerson.html

This is what I call a "circular" poem. Read it from beginning to end, then without pause, start at the beginning again. You'll get a new perspective of it.

Soul's Dance

So we dance on dreams
and we dance on graves
where forgotten dreams
we keep.
We dance in sin
and dance in love
and dance on through
our sleep.
We time our steps in rhythm to
the beatings of
our hearts.
With practiced moves
and charade of show
through all our stops and starts.
Until the day our spirits stir
and lead us on a chase
past the ritual of practiced steps,
footloose,
all o'er the place.
And on the day our spirits soar
and cause our feet
to fly,
we learn the truth
we're longing for -
we only dream we dream we die.

(c) 2/27/2007

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