Buttered Toast

"The butter won't kill you, but what you think about the butter, just might..."

I'm off today to take a friend to the medical center for consultation on the removal of a tumor on her liver. At my age, these sorts of stories abound.

Enjoy your day, your moments - your life ~

Fickle Mind And Christmas Trees

Fortunately all of the dogs decided to sleep in, so I was able to more fully indulge my morning stroll through the house. With slippered feet 'swiffering' across a wooden floor, I sift through my mind examining each thought. Secretly deciding if any are remotely deserving of my attention - anything that could possibly warrant missing this collection of moments.

Nope. Not now, I'm not gonna bite.

The light in the house is flat, as it very often is this time of year. A gray-white dimness encourages me to employ my favorite incandescent surrogates. Called to the task of lifting the energy around me, I find I decorate with light.

Light is a prayer. Light changes the mood of my interior castle. When I switch on a desk lamp in the corner, the room opens its eyes - eager to join me in whatever comes next. To me, a lamp's light imbues the same visual warmth as does the sun's.

Of course, the piece de resistance of light, this time of year, is the Christmas tree. My husband and I always go across town to a 'cut your own' tree farm to claim our evergreen trophy. This time, we didn't have the heart to cut a living tree, so we opted for one whose life had already been taken. Kindly, I hope. All of this an obvious ruse - a rationalization, I know - much the same process I engage to be able to eat meat.

Anyway, this year's fraser fir, as with most years prior, consumes much of the living room. She's a beauty! Sharing this space with her is like having invited the perfect guest to join us for the holidays. She's quiet, polite, doesn't require much tending, and this guest always smells terrific and is in a good humor.

So, today, as I do each day while her limbs grace our home with loveliness... even before the coffee is brewed and before my bones have been in motion long enough to be liberated from the aches that besiege them during the night... I crawl under this shimmering emblem... now dripping with glass ornaments, crystalline garland, and ribbons... and I plug her in! Voila! Magic...

I have no idea how I ended up here. This is not the direction I thought I was headed when my fingers hit the keyboard. C'est la vie... just goes to show you how fickle thoughts can be.

~

Come Into The Light

Light is my favorite artist and my favorite work of art.


Light is enchanting... light is mesmerizing.


Light knows no boundaries and does not discriminate... it is as interesting when strewn through a dewy bed of flowers as it is when cast upon a heap of trash.


Light is Grace.

"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." - Buddha

~

Surrender

Eventually the need to relieve the ache of not believing becomes greater than the stubborn desire to go it alone.

"It is always easier to believe than to deny. Our minds are naturally affirmative." - John Burroughs

Poetry Of Being

New header photo is of my backyard. That said, it doesn't have much to do with today's post, but I thought I'd mention it anyway... let it snow ~

Hummm... snow is winter's poem. There's a connection.

"If Life could be said to be the Poetry of Being, then we are the instruments through which that Poetry, that Divine Music, is communicated. Death not only provides the necessary stops, the pauses that refresh, but also permits the evolution of the instruments. Thus is the music enlivened and enriched. We don’t make the music, but without us it cannot be made. And though this music is immortal, its beauty is forged and evolves through an ongoing intimacy with mortality." - Robert Masters

Truly an immortal perspective.

~

What's It To You

The difference between you and me, could be... that you believe there is a right way and a wrong way. I believe there is only a different way.

(I removed the word 'still' from before the word 'believe'. Does that help to neutralize a (unintended) self-righteous tone?)

~

The Shadow Knows

We may not be aware that we seek the source of our desire, not that which we create on the surface to fill the void. Material possessions, worldly achievements, recognition, artistic expression... the list is as long as life itself.

Filling this space in our heart can be like chasing our shadow.  We can see it over our shoulder... it feels like it's stalking us... yet every time we turn to catch it, it moves... or it's gone.

Don't look back, don't look forward. In the moment there is no shadow to seize.

The moment holds the source of our desire.

~

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

"Some people give no time to their personal understanding, and hardly question the purpose of life. Regardless of that, it (their life) still runs to a plan, often decided by their Guides, and (they encounter) experiences arranged, intended to open their eyes. Eventually there is a stirring within and then the quest for knowledge begins. Often it is the realization that life is not some accidental happening, and that there is design and purpose in it. Possibly there is also a feeling that somewhere is a God who mysteriously controls all creation. Unfortunately in those initial stages God may be seen as an avenging God, and striking down those who do not obey his laws. That is of course far from the truth, as God is All Love and has granted you freedom of expression, and it is you and not God who decides the consequences of your actions." - Mike Quinsey

This is a carefully selected excerpt from an email message sent out by Mike Quinsey. Mr. Quinsey claims to channel messages from extraterrestrials who are working behind the scenes to help take the dark ones from power so the rest of us can 'rise up". Phew! There, I said it. Even writing it down takes a huge dose of courage. I recognize the (apparent) absurdity or at least the controversial nature of the idea of channelling. Add to that the notion of extraterrestrials, dark ones, and rising up, and I've just conjured up a heaping-helping of crazy. Crazy, as measured by the shrinking nature of conventional thinking, anyway. But then, I'm not a conventional thinker. Nor are the folks at the Vatican these days. Fascinating, eh?

Why share this crazy 'stuff'? Because, a large part of why I write here is to encourage people to open up to all possibilities and to come to recognize that personal truth can be found everywhere. Yes, even from an unlikely source such as Mike Quinsey. Let me explain...

From any text we read or from any experience, we need to look for something that speaks to us - not literally, but something that tugs at our heartstrings. We need to gobble up these morsels and then simply let go of what is 'not ours'. A, "Separating the wheat from the chaff"... a, "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater" kind of thing.

Mike Quinsey (insert any name here) shares some really beautiful words with bits of wisdom as a part of his channelling journey. When I read his work, I'm not deciding whether he is really channelling or not. I'm not hung up on whether or not he or anyone else is making, or ever has made, contact with aliens. I'm just open to experiencing anything that comes my way that feels like Truth, such as the little 'excerpt' from Mike's message, posted above.

In short, be open to all things and all people. Look with a loving heart to see if there is a message in it for you. Look for something that enriches your journey... something that nourishes your heart's craving for knowledge, in some way - without fear of being ridiculed by others for taking a closer look.

It's been said that if we could just 'see' properly, we would find 'soul-food bits' of wisdom in everything that's around us, at all times. But we don't see clearly because we're busy judging. Looking, assessing, categorizing, measuring, profiling what is good, what is bad...what is true, what is false, what is logical, what is ridiculous. We keep our distance from things that are foreign to common intellect.

This is a sure way to stay locked in a little world - closed off from the deepest secrets the universe holds - blind to those perceptions, those reckonings that have the power to heal us and set us free. And, in a more worldly way, this keeps us from our genius - the exceptional knowing that comes from within that could yield the next 'wheel' of invention.

The next time you hear yourself saying, 'That's ridiculous!' Or, "That's wrong!"Pause, and look again with a more loving, open mind - scanning the situation for some tasty tidbit of Truth or other redeeming quality. If you don't find it, don't return to judgment. Simply be thankful for experiencing a truly conscious moment and move on.

Wash (your thoughts), rinse, repeat.

~

p.s. What do you think about E.T. s, anyway?