Archive for November, 2018
Power of Choice
There is much in life over which we have little if any choice. However, there exists a plethora of areas where we have power to choose.
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” ~Maya Angelou
Not choosing is making a choice. To be empowering choice must be a conscious process. Not choosing is, more often than not, an unconscious process.
“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.” ~J.P. Morgan
“If I have the belief I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” ~Ghandi
Living an authentic life is making conscious choices, and accepting responsibility for them.
“If you don’t make time to work on creating the life you want, you’re eventually going to be forced to spend a LOT of time dealing with a life you DON’T want.” ~Kevin Ngo
The empowering action of conscious choice is a process not an event. Failure and disappointment are essential facets of the brilliantly shining diamond that is the living of an authentic life.
“Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.” ~Jamie Paolinetti
I invite you this week to explore the depth and breadth of your power to choose.
Blessings!
Thanksgiving 2018
…a time to come together to give thanks for our blessings. Like last year, I look forward to the joy of sharing this day with family and friends.
“I am grateful for what I am and have. My Thanksgiving is perpetual.” ~Henry David Thoreau
But my heart-self is heavy with thoughts of those who have lost so much in the Camp fire. And the heavy, unrelenting smoke that clouds the air is a surreal deja vu into last year’s Tubbs fire.
As you celebrate this special day take time to pray for all those who have no home, no belongings, and the many who have lost family and friends. Prayers and meditations that in this one moment of Thanksgiving they will find comfort, compassion, love and respite from shock and sorrow.
As Coffey Park, Larkfield, Mark West, Glen Ellen, Fountain Grove begin rising from the ashes, there is hope. But the scars on the landscape and psyches are indelible, as the struggle to find a new norm goes on.
“You may have heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There’s another day you might want to know about: Giving Tuesday. The idea is pretty straightforward. On the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, shoppers take a break from their gift-buying and donate what they can to charity.” ~Bill Gates
We donate what we can; the power of collective meditation and prayer is a gift that can be given everyday.
Blessings!
Zeitgeist
A zeitgeist is the spirit of the times as reflected in collective ideas, events and beliefs.
Wildfire rages again in the West, flood waters rush through the East; historically unprecedented hurricanes and typhoons ravage the Earth; the US National Debt reaches $400,000. per taxpayer; war, terrorism and mass shootings become norms; personal and political discourse is destructively divisive; racism, sexism and religious persecution are rapidly mutating societal cancers; glaciers and forests are disappearing at an alarming rate; air, water and food contamination reflect a toxic world; quality health care and education is available only to the wealthy; overt greed and dishonesty, big profit any cost mentality dominates economic structures…surely these realities point to the emergence of a very dark zeitgeist.
“On the right, a brigade of trolls. On the left, squabbling civil servants. Invasion of the zombies. Have I managed to summarize the zeitgeist now?” ~Martijn Benders
There is no fleeing to an uncharted earthly frontier for safety and new beginnings. Safety and sanity are to be found in strong faith. And strong faith can shift the zeitgeist.
“Even the juncture in history and the zeitgeist we live in is something we choose, setting the scene for the spiritual fodder we need to grow and achieve deeper elevation of our souls.” ~Raquel Cepeda
The beautiful little town of Paradise was completely destroyed by the Camp fire. I feel deeply the profound metaphor. My soul-self weeps, mourning the loss of of the zeitgeist of my youth, and the tragic consequences for humanity in overwhelming suffering.
“I had to make my history quick because there would be no future, merely a gossamer world blown about on the zeitgeist, till zeitgeist, the wind of the times, is blasted away by kamikaze, the wind of God.” ~Rene Ricard
I feel the bleakness this blog will bring to many of you as you read it, the sobering sadness of stark reality. I want to encourage, if not embolden you, to seek the infinite power of the spiritual alliance. You and God are a majority, capable of manifesting an unconditionally loving zeitgeist.
Blessings!
Vote
Tuesday is time for mid-term elections. It is an essential, if not the essential foundation of American Democracy.
“Voting is something that we all have a right to do. It’s not something that we have to do…it’s absolutely an honor and a great opportunity to be heard.” ~Grace Potter
Watching a recent interview with Otis Moss Jr., theologian, activist, author, speaker and son of Otis Moss Sr., who, dressed in his best suit and tie walked 18 miles to proudly exercise his right to vote for the first time, only to be denied. Pastor Otis Moss Jr. stated in that interview, that to not vote is a sin, to prevent people from voting is a crime and a sin.
“Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.” ~FDR
“The most significant civil rights problem is voting. Each citizen’s right to vote is fundamental to all other rights of citizenship and the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 make it the responsibility of the Department of Justice to protect that right.” ~Robert Kennedy
The 14th, 15th and 19th Constitutional Amendments were hard fought for and hard won. The 14th Amendment was ratified in July, 1868, the 15th was ratified in February 1870 and the 19th, granting American women the right to vote, was enacted in 1920 when the Republican Party regained control of Congress in 1919.
People of different ethnicity, color, religion and gender, fought for decades to secure the privilege of voting for all citizens of the United States. This honor has been seriously taken for granted as evidenced by our on-going plague of voter apathy.
“Not voting is not a protest, it is a surrender.” ~Keith Ellison
Expanding on the statement Pastor Otis Moss Jr. made last week, I would add that not voting is a sin and a crime against all those who made tremendous sacrifices to secure for future generations the right to vote.
Participate in our Democracy…VOTE!
Blessings!
