Be Easy on Yourself

SOUL SOOTHER:

Be easy on yourself.

We all say and do things that are not in alignment with who we truly are. We are human. We forget ourselves. We blindly react, instead of lovingly considering our actions. Being who we truly are takes practice. It takes awareness. It takes a willingness. It's a work in progress.

Be easy on yourself.

Forgive yourself. Love yourself. 

Give yourself a big hug and say, "I am forgivable and I am lovable."


www.soullightcoach.com

One

ONE

In this time space reality, we see other than what is. We believe what we see is many, but what is real is that we are only one. This is not something we at first understand because what we see is what we think is. However, in a moment of silence and in times when we are in a loving state, we experience the one. This is what you are to understand; there is nothing separate from you. One is the only truth.

With that said, take a moment to sit and recognize the importance of this--in all that you do and in all that you experience. When you know we are one, we make different choices. We are collective and unified, not torn apart or separate in our actions and in our hearts.

One mind. One heart. One universal truth. Making choices with this understanding will mean that you have considered the whole, and our decisions will be for the greater good of the one, the all, the whole you are, and have always been.

One idea is a million ideas. One heart is a million hearts. One love is a million loves. One is eternal, as you are.

Listen to the sound of the silence. In stillness, you will know that there is one song, a symphony of many souls into one pure frequency. Love represents this vibration but there are no words to describe what is our oneness.

One more thing, one plus one equals one.

Note: The above was written as a result of what came through me during an automatic writing exercise. 

Offered in love and light,

Maggie Kalas  

Seeing Truth With The Heart

When you are still, all that is right and best, all that is true of the heart, and all that is sacred will stare you right in the face. 

Are you stopping to see what is truly before you?

One Change, Changes Everything

---

ONE

CHANGE

thought

feeling

insight

action

moment

CHANGE

ONE

---

One change, changes everything.

When the show is over, only love remains

Life is like a Broadway show. What character do we play today? Villon or hero? Friend or foe? Victim or healer? Husband, wife, worker, parent, child, teacher, student? The casting call is endless.

We get up every morning and immediately the director in our head--our subconscious mind--yells,  "Action!" Without another thought, we obediently get into character.

Like in the movie, Ground Hog Day, our lives become a repeated drama.

Consumed as stars of our own show, we release all moment by moment decisions to the producer--the ego--and simply perform as the writers--society--has written in the script. Sure there are some standing ovations and elated encores, but often performances bomb and there are poor reviews. 

Nevertheless, the show must go on!

Actually, if you look real close, many are only stand-ins. Sure, it looks like them, it sounds like them, but if you look into their eyes you can see they are not there. Clueless to the perpetual retake, they blankly move through each scene of their life as if it were a new show.

People are either performing, crashing in between curtain calls or rehearsing the same scene over and over again. Co-actors may change, the scenery may change, but the lead actor remains the same.

"Bravo! Now can't you see it was only another performance?"

Yes, different performance, but essentially, it is the same production.

What I like about the message in the Ground Hog Day movie was that Bill Murry, the lead actor, recognized that he was reliving the same day over and over again. With that awareness, he made the best of each day by exploring new territories; new parts of himself. While everything else seemed to remain the same, he began to change, his choices within the seemingly repeated day. His asserted efforts changed his perspective. Creating new realities. In the end, the real next day came, but this time, he was a new man--realized in beyond the illusion. He was ready to embrace every day with a whole new outlook.

To be a successful actor, one must give it all from the heart. There must be passion...desire...joy...the love of every moment.

To be a successful human, one must give it all from the heart. There must be passion...desire...joy...the love of every moment. 

In the performance of our lives, when the show is over only love remains.

Considering life from a window of light,

Mags

Do you want to be right or be kind?

Misunderstandings are like flicking a lit match into a dampened forest. Sometimes they just smolder out and other times they catch like wildfire and before you know it, everyone and everything in its path is burnt to a crisp.

Your words, your actions, and your reactions can be a blessing to bring joy or a weapon to cause harm. We are all guilty of saying something we shouldn't have said or behaving in less than favorable ways to others. The important lesson here is to recognize where you went astray and to make a conscious effort to change how you respond to others going forward. 

 

 "To err is human, to forgive is Divine." ~Alexander Pope 

 

Everyday is an opportunity to rise above past grievances, to forgive others and yourself, and to make a shift toward the greater good for all. As the saying goes, "Do you want to be right or kind." The choice is yours. 

 

Magsjoy

 

P.S. Awareness is key. Even if you lose your cool and throw daggers as your reaction to a disagreement, just the ability to notice what you did is a step in the right direction. Be easy with yourself, apologize for your behavior and then make every effort to redeem your ways.

Raising Consciousness?

Back in the summer of 2005, I was a committee chair for a community endeavor called "Consciousness in the Courtyard." A group of local residents organized a forum as a platform to express fresh ideas, inspiring thoughts and creative solutions. We held this monthly gathering in a tiny, yet charming courtyard nestled between the main street's stores and some office buildings on the back street. There was a water fountain, a lovely maple tree and a bunch of enthusiastic individuals all ready to bring their personal voice to the program. Sadly, it lasted for only four months.

The first gathering started with an uplifting speaker (Jim Ryan) addressing the high points of choosing happiness in daily life. Although it was greatly received by the crowd of 25 or more residents and community neighbors, the visionary of the forum, a local lawyer, preferred agendas like racism in our community, Constitutional Rights, a counter-cultural revolution, Generation X/Y icon, and raising self-actualizing children. As the next couple of months moved on, a mixed view was stirring on what "raising consciousness" meant in what was to be a non-judgmental, apolitical forum.

The final gathering was hosted by its creator, which turned out to be an interesting close. The Cherokee Indian in him came through with sage smudging along with some retro tunes on the piano as a "Beat Generation" hold over from the sixties. Our meeting then concluded with him passing paper to the crowd and asking them to put down their nationality and the number one issue they thought needed attention not only in our community but in America.

The reason I am blogging this is because while filing recently, I came across the folder with the responses. It seemed to me important data that should be share with more than just a small handful of attendees at that meeting. So, here is what was anonymously posted on each paper as the heritage and number one issue:

• German - RELIGION (corruption was the initial response then crossed out)


• Irish American/Spanish - FEAR


• Greek - SEXUAL ABUSE


• Irish/Spanish/Scottish/Cherokee/English - COMPLACENCY


• Irish/German - LACK OF SPIRITUALITY/MATERIALISM


• Irish - LOSS OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH


• German/English - RAMPANT MATERIALISM


• Irish/German - ABSENCE OF COMPASSION


• French/Filipino - FREEDOM

I close my blog with a poem sent in by a local artist who never attended in person but still wanted to share her perspective.

Center
By Victoria Twomey

from the center of every flower, everywhere
something greater gazes out

it looks up at night
from the top of a rain forest canopy
and sees the crackling of its own reflection in the liquid pupil of heaven

it looks down
from the great height of a homeless dandelion
bent and battered, struggling to raise itself up from a sidewalk crack
and sees a million stories beginning and ending

looking out, from death adorned
it sees the faces of all who mourn through the flames of the funeral pyre
the iris of its vision closing as each blossom is consumed

no matter . . .

your garden has a thousand eyes

always waiting for the awakening -
that exquisite moment when eyes widen in surprise to see
in the shadowed heart of a simple flower
a round and minute window
behind which lies a sizzling galaxy
crisscrossed with shooting stars

We humans certainly are a mixed bag of nuts. Isn't the diversity delicious!

Keeping the light on,

Mags

AttitudeLIFT

MEDITATION: Awareness vs. Positive Thinking

The thinking mind is a precious, unique gift to us humans. It has power beyond our own comprehension. However, if unmonitored, it can also become disjointed; ramblings of thoughts tossed about in our heads. States of confusion, being overwhelmed and even repetitive fear-based thinking can easily become a pattern in an uncensored mind.

Thinking is not the same as awareness. Awareness is the observer of the thoughts. It is the guard on duty 24/7. Watching, monitoring yet not judging. Awareness understands the importance and power of thoughts. It is there to instantly flash the light on them so that they can be seen clearly. It is not concerned for the thought itself as a reality, but merely illuminates the illusion of the thought. Awareness transmutes the confusion. It sorts out the details for a calmer approach. It pushes the forward button when the drama is stuck on replay.

Meditation promotes awareness. It doesn't try to change your thinking. It offers a way of being mindful to your thoughts. To deliberately become the observer; a participant in the process. Awareness is like standing on an overpass watching hundreds of cars pass on a freeway. You see them pass at different speeds. You take notice of color and shape. You make no attachment to any particular car. You just look as they move swiftly by, being replaced by more and more cars. That is how our thoughts operate. Hundreds upon hundreds of thoughts move through our minds each day. When you meditate, you simply become aware of how many there are until it no longer matters. You realize you are not your thoughts, but the one who watches them... and even the one who eventually gets to choose them.

This is not to say that you should choose to "think positive." Because positive thinking is a thought in itself. Therefore, you might find yourself caught in the web of the mind, yet again. Positive thinking will automatically occur when you put into practice the art of awareness. Through the stillness of mediation, you will discover your natural state of mind, which is nothing short of positive.

Just a thought for you to meditate on!

Mags

MagsJOY Blog
AttitudeLIFT

THE MAYONNAISE JAR PHILOSOPHY

The following wise philosophy came to me from a pleasantly unexpected source...

THE MAYONNAISE JAR AND TWO CUPS OF COFFEE

When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things--your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff.

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

"One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked.It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

...who usually fills his jar with coffee first and then wonders why he has no room for everything else! But there is hope. After all, he took the time to ask a client for a copy who had it posted on their bulletin board.

The beautiful part about life is that every moment of every day is a new opportunity to fill your jar in the most expansive way. It may even take emptying out completely what is not serving your highest good. Then you can fill it with awareness and consideration to what is truly important in your life.

Mags

MagsJOY
AttitudeLIFT