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Courage from a little man in India
Last night, I made my boyfriend watch the Oscar winning film Gandhi. I use the word “made” because it isn’t really the kind of movie he would normally watch. He was reticent, of course; not much action, lots of talking, difficult accents, a lot of history on religion and colonialism…not exactly his cup of tea. But I was vigilent in my pursuit of helping him to understand why I love Gandhi, India and non-violence. So, he relented…and he enjoyed it. He asked questions and made comments about how courageous Gandhi was. And that got me thinking…
Gandhi knew his course of action in his life. He knew that he must give up all of the comforts of traveling first class so he could know, really know, the plight of the Indian people. He gave up all of his clothes (which were a symbol of English power over his people) and kept and wore only one piece of homespun. He preached a way of acting and reacting that many felt was insane; non-violent, non-cooperation. He walked everywhere, refused to be waited on, found joy in the smallest of tasks, kept to a schedule of prayer, walks, spinning and discussing business. And he did so with dignity, humility and courage…and he changed the world.
Gandhi did not fear what others thought of him, and while many did think him to be noble and wonderful, they also found him to be naive and foolish. In one scene, he is discussing the next step to take to force the British out of India and he says he doesn’t wish to force them out but to say goodbye to them as a friend (which shocks his contemporaries). Then he gets up and goes to the river to make a mud pack for a goat who is limping. His colleagues found this irritating and even expressed their disapproval at what they perceived to be his indulgences. But to Gandhi, having the British leave was just as important as helping a fellow creature out of pain. And this wasn’t the only time that people found him foolish. Throughout his life, many in the world questioned his methods, his religion, his lifestyle, even his beliefs (he saw no differences between the Muslims and the Hindus, as his preacher read from both the Holy Qur’an and the Gita, not exactly the norm for his time). He knew no fear, he was honest and he was direct. Regardless of what others thought of him, he knew his path, he knew his truth and he knew his heart. In other words, he knew his God and he trusted him and that was all of the peace he needed.
How many times do we make our minds up to do something and when we tell someone, they tell us all of the things to be afraid of? How many times have we resisted the chance to change things because we allowed fear of not belonging or fear of not being loved to enter our hearts? Gandhi was a courageous man who changed the entire world. Perhaps we could take a thimbles worth of his courage and go forth, fear be gone, and change our lives. When we change our lives, we change everything…and isn’t that what it is all about?
A few of my favorite Gandhi quotes:
“Be the change you wish to see.”
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”
“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.”
“Action expresses priorities.”
“Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.”
“Where there is love, there is life.”
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Letting Go of Fear, NOW
In my field, I often hear questions like, “When will I make more money?”, “When will things get better for me?”, or “When will I find the love of my life?” These are great questions, and valid questions. And I want to give them answers like, “Saturday night. Go buy a lottery ticket and have a great life!” or “He lives next door. Go over there and tell him that you want to bear his children. He will be open to the idea!” But the truth is, the messages I get are more like, “You have so much fear of change and until you do change your thoughts, your actions and your life, nothing will change. So let’s do some things to release your fear and make your life all you want it to be.”
I know this message well. Before I started doing this work I, too, was led by fear. Heck, some days, I still am. Here is my greatest one. I fear having a desirable physical body. My past experiences have told me that to have a physically fit body attracts unwanted attention from men and jealousy from women. So, each day, when I awaken, I think about going to the gym. Then my fear takes over. “It will be too full, you will never find the machine you want.” “It will take too long. You will be late for the rest of your day.” “You have too much to do to take the time to workout.” Those are not realistic thoughts! They are FEAR-BASED thoughts. Ridiculous thoughts that keep me from achieving health…and prosperity. Because the truth is, the better I feel, the better my life will be! So what is it I am really afraid of? I am afraid of my own power and really thriving in my life. Egads…now to address those fears so I can really LIVE my life!
The angels have 2 suggestions about helping release fear and if we can just follow them, we can create the abundant lives we so richly deserve AND want so much.
1. Tell the fear to shut up! It isn’t reality. Fear is not reality. Love is. Tell it to shut up and do it anyway.
2. Ask the angels to take away the fear and do it anyway.
That is it…do it anyway. Just do it. Nike was pretty wise. Perhaps their marketing director had angelic help with that one. The next time we are faced with something that will change our lives for the better, but we are afraid to do it, let’s all look at ourselves in the mirror and scream “JUST DO IT!” and go on and do it anyway. Archangel Michael assures us that things will be just fine if we do. And not only will our lives change, but the lives of all those that we affect. We will face fear in its wimpering, quivering-ness and inspire everyone around us to do the same!
Hmmm, I think I hear the gym calling me. What is calling you?
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Following Blind Faith
It has been a while, in calendar days, since I have posted anything. This doesn’t mean the angels haven’t been talking, trying to get me to post a blog. They have. This just means that like most everyone else at some time in their life, I haven’t been listening. I have found many other things to occupy my time, as of late. That changes today.
A week ago…no, let me back up a bit farther. 2 years ago this February, a dear friend invited me to something called a Deeksha. I had no idea what it was or why I should go, I only knew that I was compelled by an inner force to attend. I found out that it was an Oneness blessing that was created by a couple of Indian spiritual leaders by the name of Amma and Bhagavan. In my world, just about anything from India feels like home, so, without thinking, I went. I remember 2 things very clearly about that day: 1. 2 of the women who gave the blessing stood out as teachers I knew I wanted to learn from and 2. I wept when people placed their hands on my head, offering me unconditional love.
At the end of the day, I was given pictures of Amma and Bhagavan which I have held safely in my home. From time to time, I would look at them, wondering more about this Oneness Blessing they have taught so many others. I even bought a book on the Deeksha, read about 3 pages and put it down. It still sits on my bookshelf. The angels were trying to get me there, but I just wasn’t listening.
Now, fast forward to about a month ago, when I was sent an invitation to attend an Oneness Blessing Intensive. I was being offered the chance to become an Oneness Blessing Giver here in Kansas City and I was thrilled! Without thinking, again, I signed up and went forward with my training. Truly, if I were to tell you all about my experiences during my weekend, it would do it no justice. On paper, they are superficial and they are really my experiences. If you were to ask the other 14 initiates into the Oneness Blessing, you would get 14 completely different experiences. But, I will share with you the things I learned, my truths of my weekend.
1. Yoga really is the best way to start a day. To make it through a 15 hour day, I listened to the angels and attended a free yoga class before our sessions started and not once in the day was I tired or ungrounded, yet I had every reason to be.
2. Meditation is the key to happiness. Spending time each day quieting the “monkey mind” has started to add more bliss into my life.
3. To heal it, you have to feel it. In our society, we are taught that feelings are bad. “You shouldn’t feel that way”, “It is not appropriate for girls to be angry”, etc… No, the truth is, we are human and feelings are how we express our human-ness. And feelings are not scary, either. It isn’t scary to feel things, no matter what your ego says. It is human to do so. What is not healthy for us is to shove anger and fear and sadness down and pretend it away. Feel it, fully, in the moment (don’t act on it, FEEL it)…cry, scream, wail, sob, whatever…but feel it. (There will be more on this subject in later posts, I am sure!)
4. All feelings, no matter what they are, eventually turn to joy. I thought someone had smoked too much wacky weed when I first heard this. Then I experienced it myself. I felt my rage…and I felt my rage…and I felt my rage. Then, finally it turned to sobs; lots of wailing sobs. Eventually, I began to laugh. As I stayed in the moment, my rage actually turned to joy.
5. Often, things are not true for us until we experience them ourselves. See #3 and #4.
6. There are 7 billion people in the world…and there are 7 billion different ways to wake up.
7. I find that the things that I enter into with blind faith are the ones that truly make my heart sing. I will follow blind faith a lot more in the future.
8. We really can love every single person in the world…because we are them. We are all one, truly and wholly. We start by loving ourselves as God loves us. We are worthy of love, amazingly worthy of love.
9. 15 strangers in 1 room for 12 hours really can fall in love with each other.
10. When all is stripped away, the only thing that remains is love. Total blissful, joyous love.
Am I telling all of you to go out and become blessing givers? No. Am I telling all of you to check out Deeksha? No. I am lovingly suggesting that you find that thing, or those things that make you take leaps of faith without thinking, and you do it, no matter what anyone else says…no matter what fear-based things are posted on the internet. If it feels right for you, in your heart and in your soul, then it is right for you. If you want to experience a Deeksha blessing, I am thrilled. If you want to attend the church of your choice, I am thrilled. If you want to sit on a mountain in a diaper and chant mantras for 15 years, I am thrilled! I am thrilled because you are simply seeking your truth…that is all I wish for you. Well, that and world peace and a wonderful journey while you are here! A little chocolate along the way wouldn’t hurt either, huh?
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Do it and then ask why!
For the past couple of months, money has been a little restricted. It happens, from time to time and I always come out of it just fine. But I usually spend lots of time being frustrated and afraid that I won’t be able to make ends meet. This time, I approached it differently and I have gotten a different result.
A month ago, when I realized that things were a little tight, I turned to the angels and instead of saying, “Help me make a ton of money! Help me win the lottery!”, I said, “Show me how to fix this. I will do it if you show me how.” And they did. Within a few hours, I was directed to offer some package deals to a few of my regular clients. They took me up on it and I was able to take care of everything I needed to take care of.
This month, the pressure is on, once again. Instead of going into “hyper-freak out mode”, I have been thanking God for all of the abundance and prosperity he is providing me with. I don’t know how it will happen, but I do know that he will take care of me, will show me the way. So, after a long weekend of family events, I was wore out. All I wanted to do was take a hot bath and go to sleep. But, last night, I heard a voice tell me to pick up a book I recently acquired and begin to read. It is Fairies 101 by Doreen Virtue.
(Sidenote: Yes, I do believe in fairies. I always have. I have always thought that if most countries in the world had fairy tales for centuries, that was a little too coincidental. Fairies must be real. And then, there is the picture that hangs in my living room. A friend of mine painted it and gifted it to me. However, he did not paint it with a brush. He did it similar to silk screening, with a roller and paint. But instead of a pattern, he picked a flower. As clear as day, coming out of the flower, you can see a unicorn and a fairy. These were not visible to the naked eye when he created the painting but they sure are hanging on my wall.)
Something I had known for a while, but was reinforced with as I read last night, is that fairies help with money. I also read how fairies like chocolate and how by offering them chocolate, they will provide you with your wish. I had 2 pieces of organic chocolate I had been saving “for an emergency”. Without thinking, I grabbed my chocolate and went out into the cold, dark night. I stood on the patio and talked to the fairies. I said, “Here I am, imploring you for advice on how to create more prosperity for me. I have bills to pay and the holidays are coming up. I have always believed in your powers and I am now, humbly, asking for assistance. Here are my last 2 pieces of organic chocolate. Please show me what to do. Thank you.”
And then I went to bed. I had visions of swimming in hot and cool healing waters and had lots of fun talks with my spirit guides. And then, right before I woke, a fairy came to me. She said, “Clean your stove and oven.” So, without thinking or analyzing it, I got out of bed this morning, tore apart my stove and oven and I scrubbed and scrubbed, getting every last spot of dirt wiped up. Once I was done, I wondered, what is it about the stove and oven that made this a necessary chore?
I was led to a book on Feng Shui on my book shelf and opened it to kitchens. It states, “food symbolizes a bridge between health and wealth…keep your stove clean and use all the burners regularly, symbolizing the abundant circulation of wealth in your life.” Oh, now I get it! A clean oven symbolizes abundance.
The angels, ascended masters, fairies and all of the other workers from the divine kingdom send us messages all of the time. It is up to us to be open enough to hear the messages and to follow through. I admit, I haven’t always been open…but I am learning! And I implore you to open up today, too! Hear the messages, follow through AND THEN ask why!
