In the quiet of Spirit

Like silence after noise, or cool, clear water on a hot, stuffy day, Emptiness cleans out the messy mind and charges up the batteries of Spiritual Energy. Many people are afraid of Emptiness, however, because it reminds them of Loneliness

~ Benjamin Hoff

Photo by Grady

Seeking Solitude is a deliberate choice. Find a space or place to recharge your energy. Uplift your mind, body and spirit. Reawaken familiar yearnings. Find a place within where thoughts are free to stay. Or, go wherever one’s spirit desires. A flight of fancy, a soaring of the imagination. All this and more is possible when in quiet solitude. Look within to find your passion then paint your life in vibrant colors. Find your bliss; where heart dances to love’s sweet melody, where spirit gambols in delight.

Inner Self

It is when you lose sight of yourself, that you lose your way. To keep your truth in sight you must keep yourself in sight and the world to you should be a mirror to reflect to you your image; the world should be a mirror that you reflect upon ~ C. JoyBell C.

Photo by Grady

Until our Inner Self and Outer Self merges into one and becomes calm and centered, we will continue to pursue our seemingly elusive purpose in life. If there is to be any purpose to our life, we need to be able to make a connection with our Inner Self, our true Authentic Self. To know our Inner Self is to know our purpose, our values and beliefs and to be mindful of our thoughts and actions. We take our breathing for granted when in fact it is the means with which to reach our Inner Self. Through meditation and by practicing slow, deep, rhythmic breathing we are able to reconnect and be graced with an encounter with our Inner Self. That moment during meditation when our mind’s eye takes us to a place where we come face to face with our Inner Self is a most powerful and loving experience. To recognize and be recognized as one and the same and feel the embrace of our Inner Self, is pure Bliss.

As the Great Egret keeps sight of itself in the mirror-like swamp waters, it feels no fear or threat. The harmony between the bird and its reflection is where we need to be in mind, body and spirit. The Great Egret draws energy from its calm and in its stillness is embraced in a surround of golden Bliss.

Inner-Compass

In these dark and uncertain times, there can be great value in imagining a bit of star in each human soul. Not just that it gives some hope for humanity at a time when man’s inhumanity to man seems ever on the increase; but also because it points to an inner brightness that can light the way in dark times  ~ Michael Meade

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In order to achieve Inner Brightness we need to Self-Love and with that comes Self-Respect. Self Respect fills every facet of our lives. It is the foundation for all of life’s Virtues. We should never compromise our Self-Respect for anything or anyone. Virtues are the essence of our being, our very Spirit. The more we realize the impact that living our lives with virtuous intention has on ourselves and those around us, the more we will open our hearts to love and compassion.

Like this Gondolier guiding his Gondola through the canals, towards the Sunset, so do we journey throughout our lives towards our Inner Brightness guided by our Inner Compass. Trust, Love and Respect your Self.

Spiritual Truth

It is only when we silent the blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear the whispers of truth that life reveals to us, as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts ~ K.T. Jong

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The world around us has changed so dramatically in the past few months and for some, it will never be the same. There is one thing that never changes, though, and that is Truth.  We are all given the gift of Truth when Spirit enters our body and from that moment on we are then given the gift of Choice. To be able to make decisions when faced with two or more possibilities. For instance, Good or Evil, Love or Hate.

When Truth comes knocking, no matter how worn or weary, we may have become, or how many of Life’s storms we have weathered, we need to trust ourselves. We need to listen to our inner wisdom and open the door to our hearts and as we open our hearts so will we release the flow of Love that has always been there within us. Perhaps this current state of emergency happening around the world is an opportune moment for us to make yet another Choice.

Let us choose Love.

Lost on the Spiritual Path

You may tell the greatest lies and wear a brilliant disguise, but you can’t escape the eyes of the one who sees right through you ~ Tom Robbins

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Lying is as easy for some people as breathing. However, we will all lie at some point in our lives.  Just be aware of the enormous spiritual damage that occurs to us when we do.  Big, Tall, White or Small… they are all lies. The issue is not just the lying itself. We have to uncover the reason that forces us to lie to others and especially to ourselves.  This reason could be driven by angst or ego.  Another reason could be being someone else’s disappointment. That in itself is reason enough to try and recreate oneself! All this does is create dark and negative energy. If you want to progress spiritually, then you will need to work on your ego, fear, anger or perhaps even regret. Basically anything that is crippling your Spirit.

We should all be able to look into a mirror and be comfortable with the eyes of the one who sees right through us.  Like the seemingly perfect reflection of a Sunset on a Lake. The undercurrent has created a distortion in what would have been a perfect V formation of migratory birds.  Follow Your Truth. It is a hard journey, but your Energy will be stronger for it.

 

The Journey Inward

Many of us step foot on the path to spiritual enlightenment expecting it to lead us onward and upward, hoping to become something better than we are, and ready to gather all of the important things we need along the way.  What a surprise it is when we eventually realize that this path isn’t taking us onward but inward, that we’re not gathering things so much as letting them go, and that there was never anything more to aspire to than the truth of what we already are ~ Cristen Rodgers

Photo by Grady

In order to move inward we need to apply self-discipline as this will put us on our path of purpose and show us why and what we came to accomplish here on Earth.    We need to awaken our conscious being which in turn will enhance our spiritual potential.  A part of life is having attachments, but we need self-discipline to be able to detach ourselves. When we let go, we are releasing our need to control and releasing the conditional love that comes with an attachment so that we are able to love unconditionally. In order to bring Spiritual Balance to our lives, we must seek out our individual path and journey inward to find our True and Authentic Self.  We need to enhance our power of detachment, for there lies the answer and to release and let go, for there lies the path to Inner Grace.

Even a single bloom, seemingly detached from its surroundings, still manages to celebrate its existence in Beauty, Color and Energy.

Let your Inner Light Shine

If you live in this world with kindness, if you don’t add to other people’s burdens, but if you try to serve love, when the time comes for you to make the journey, you will receive a serenity, peace and a welcoming freedom that will enable you to go to the other world with great elegance, grace and acceptance ~ John O’Donohue

Photo by Grady

It seems that as we grow older, we become wiser in that we realize, finally,  that the simplicity of life is exactly that…  a state, a quality, an instance of consciously being that frees us from the complexities of life. Once we find our balance and free ourselves of the bonds that hold us hostage, we will find Love, Peace and Tranquility. The light within will grow brighter and guide us and those we touch, be it fellow humans or pets, who in turn will guide and teach us.

Animals, particularly domesticated dogs, live their lives with such dignity, loyalty and acceptance. They love unconditionally, trust unconditionally and their inner light shines through ever so brightly. Can we not learn from them? To serve Love unconditionally? What great Humans we could become, worthy of our place on this planet we call Earth.

This post is dedicated to Maggie Moo 10/26/2006 – 1/27/2020

A Window to the Spirit within

The eye is the window of the soul; even an animal looks for a man’s intentions right into his eyes  ~  Hiram Powers

photo by Grady

Trust the spirit within so that your good intentions reflect in your face and, especially, in your eyes. The key to successful relationships lies solely in our ability to take in the perspective of another. It is that skill of being able to look at things from a point of view other than our own that we begin to create an all encompassing life which embraces mindfulness and compassion. We all see things differently but differences in perception should not alienate us.

We are all one and the same when it comes to Love.

Unlock your Life Purpose

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Sometimes we feel more comfortable securing ourselves within our innermost thoughts. All our emotions, mostly negative, are locked away in the darkest recesses of our minds. We have a padlock for each hurt, grudge, failure; each personal inadequacy. Sadly, with each padlock we take away our sense of purpose, our strength of spirit, our personal power. Therefore, it is imperative that we find a way to free ourselves of these inhibitions. We need to focus on Spirit, on Passion. We need to focus on Purpose. The unlocking of Purpose is essential to our health, to our happiness, to our physical and spiritual growth.

We need to smash the locks that hold us hostage. We need to break out of our self-made prisons and walk free, with Purpose and Meaning.

 

 

 

Authentic Self

You’ve been kidding yourself about yourself for so long, you’re someone else. Your you is just a fragile fabrication. Every morning, you have to wake up, assemble this busy, dissembling monster, and get him or her on his or her feet again for another round of fantasy ― David Guterson

Photo by Grady

We are all storytellers. All invested in creating the fabric of our lives by weaving threads to suit our needs and enhance our life experiences. Our Quilt of Life is stitched together in a patchwork of stories. Some truths, but mostly myths. We each create our own personal myths and like myths, our stories contain both good and bad characters that help us or hold us back. People we can blame for our sadly lacking lives or those who motivate and inspire us. We also have the power to rewrite our own history. These fragments of life experiences are woven into our thoughts, desires, passions; our very life force. The social media effect makes it very easy to portray ourselves in a good light. To live our lives in a faux roseate glow. So it is imperative that we don’t lose sight of our Authentic Self.

A rose of iron is strong and everlasting and exquisitely beautiful in its monochromatic hue. It does not have the drama of color, sweet romance in its scent or the sensual allure of a real rose. Both are beautiful in their own way. Neither trying to be more or less of the other. It is how we connect our external reality to our internal reality.

With Balance and Truth.