Category: Spiritual Living

Got Tears?

Most recently I have been experiencing intense emotions. If you’re anything like me (and I’m sure you are) you already know these emotions have a direct effect on our bodies and mind. Daily, day to day emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, momentary anxiety etc.) generally  come and go throughout our day.

Did you know these emotions are created by our brain based on previous experiences? We all know how our body feels with these different emotions. I’m sure you have heard, how we react to the physical feeling we all experience, has a profound impact on our body & mind. But did you know our bodies naturally know how to heal these negative emotional feelings? Yep, it’s true. One way our body starts healing the feelings and releases pent-up emotions, is by crying. Crying is good for you! I cry a lot.

Research has proven that when we experience various intense emotions, the hormones in our body raise. Our bodies naturally create these extra hormones. Research has also found that in order for our body to return to its natural hormonal state, the extra created hormones are released through our tears. This is why we always feel better after a good cry. Women have more hormones than men, which is why women generally cry more than men.

Since my body already knows how to naturally heal itself, I wonder about my mind. How does that naturally heal itself? My guess is that you already know the answer to that. Science of Mind. I study, absorb, practice, and live the teachings of Science of Mind. One practice that has been most beneficial to me, is participating in our Daily Morning Zoom Meditation Group. I hold deep gratitude to this group for helping me to heal my mind. Our group is open and welcoming to all who want to join us. How about you?

–Madeline Pallanes

Falling into Place

In June I took a meditation retreat in Colorado Springs with Dr. Roger Teel, who led Mile Hi Church for 25 years. I have enjoyed watching his online talks and when he mentioned his mediation retreat, I knew I wanted to go. I looked online and when registra6on for the workshop opened, I immediately signed up.

The workshop was at the Franciscan Retreat Center in the foothills of Rockies. The setting was lovely, with big trees, old buildings, and lots of space to wander. There were deer roaming freely. One morning I went to get my journal out of my car and there was a deer five or six feet away from the driver’s side. I unlocked the doors with the remote and the deer lifted its head then returned to eating. I opened the passenger door and rooted around for my journal. When I looked out through the driver’s side windows there were three deer looking at me as if they were wondering what I was doing. What a treat!

The workshop consisted of lectures, stories and lots of time meditating using a variety of techniques, and free time to walk around the grounds and contemplate. It was liberating to have 3 days where I didn’t have to think about anything, as our days were scheduled, meals prepared.

Going to the retreat jump started my meditation practice. The app Insight Timer has kept track of my meditations and I have reached 60 days in a row. I have given myself the rules that I can’t have coffee or open my Fitbit app to see what my sleep score until I sit. Those boundaries are working for me. After sitting the rest of my day seems to fall into place and I’m more productive since I have been consistent with my practice. Taking the retreat, was a treat, an immersion I highly recommend. Here’s a little taste of the workshop: Affirmation Meditation for JOY – Dr. Roger Teel.

–Maria

A Personal Manifesto

In week one of our class, Your Authentic and Innate Goodness, we talked about having a personal credo or manifesto, a personal promise to live to our highest ideal of how we would like to show up in the world. In his book, Ordinary Goodness, Rev. Dr. Edward Viljoen writes that “The pledge describes such a high vision that it makes me wonder if I will ever be able to live that way. But that is precisely what a vision is supposed to do: take us beyond what we already know we can do, stretch us into an idea that we have faith exists despite there being no evidence of it, yet.”

Our homework week one was to write a personal declaration, or manifesto that would draw us into the next greater expression of ourselves. In week two of our class, each of the class members expressed a desire to continue working on the project, each of them embracing this challenge to express their values and ideals in a way that would take them beyond what they already know about themselves. This past weekend, I celebrated my 63rd birthday and thought this was a beautiful way to draw myself into this next year. Here is my pledge to myself:

I pledge to love myself unconditionally and to share that unconditional love with every being I meet.

I pledge to release all anxiety and fear about money; knowing I am one with the infinite abundance the Universe has to share. I know it is God’s good pleasure to give me the kingdom and it is my good pleasure to receive it.

I pledge to look for the good in every situation, especially when conditions are showing up as Truth.

I pledge to stop asking, “what is mine to do” and take action doing what is calling me, what is right in front of me to do so that I may better be in service to others, my community and the world.

I pledge to declutter my physical, mental, and spiritual space by releasing those things, ideas, and beliefs that no longer serve me so that I may move into a new experience of wholeness and freedom.

I pledge to honor my physical body by shifting by diet to better support my health, by incorporating movement and exercise that supports strength and flexibility, and by listening to and honoring the messages my body sends me.

I pledge to be awed by at least one thing every day; to notice something that is miraculous, inspiring, and amazing; something that reminds me of the infinite wonder of Life, of Spirit.

When I notice myself falling short of these ideals, I pledge to promptly congratulate myself for noticing and forgive myself for slipping and gently move back into alignment with my truth.

I pledge to embrace this year, to stand in my personal power and be in flow with transformation; to rise like the Phoenix from the ashes of my previous self, boundless and unlimited, flying to unimagined heights, being a light in the world.

I invite you to create your own personal manifesto as a guide for living up to your highest ideals. It can be short and simple, or long and eloquent like David Ault’s A New Pledge of Allegiance – however you create it, know that it is perfectly perfect for you.

Use this link to hear Rev. Ault’s Personal Pledge

–Sharon Whealy, RScP

The Freedom of Forgiveness

As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison. Nelson Mandela

We have thought that outside things controlled us, when all the time we have had that within that could have changed everything and given us freedom of bondage. Ernest Holmes

There are a lot of books and articles on the topic of forgiveness and plenty of advice. Some describe what forgiveness isn’t – it doesn’t mean you immediately allow the person back into your life or your heart; it is not condoning what the person did or pretending that you were not hurt; it is not trusting the offender or relieving that person of responsibility.

Forgiveness is not something we do for other people. We forgive others not because they deserve forgiveness but because we deserve peace. It’s something we do for ourselves so that we can move on and no longer experience an emotional charge when we think about what led to the resentment.

The practice of forgiveness is emotional and spiritual work, taking time and effort. It is a process, not an event. When Nelson Mandela first walked into prison, he was a very angry man. Desmond Tutu states that “it took the many years in jail, years he spent cultivating a daily practice of forgiveness, for him to become the luminous example of tolerance who was able to put our wounded country on the road to reconciliation and healing.” (The Book of Forgiving, page 218)

I have learned that I must choose to forgive. Waiting until we ‘feel like’ forgiving doesn’t usually work. Time alone does not heal all wounds, especially if we have stoked the fire of resentment. In the past I have hung on to an old resentment even though I knew I would have to release it eventually. The ego enjoys the feeling of ‘righteousness indignation’ and the manic energy of anger for a time. Yet psychologists ask us “would you rather be right? or would you rather be happy?”

Part of the ability to forgive is in recognizing that we are all human and flawed. One’s behavior is impacted by childhood experiences, culture, trauma, fear, and the like. The Prayer of St. Francis would have me seek to understand rather than to be understood. Had I been in that person’s shoes, would the words or behavior have been so unusual or unpredictable? Is my judgment impaired by self- centeredness? By a lack of compassion?

What matters is that I have a choice to change my thinking and achieve peace. “Nothing is more important than that we learn how to forgive both ourselves and others….it is impossible for us to feel relief and release from self-condemnation while we bear condemnation toward others.” (Ernest Holmes, Living the Science of Mind, page 402) Today I choose freedom by looking for any unforgiveness I am carrying. The most difficult forgiveness to achieve has been forgiving myself, influenced by a culture and religion that espoused sin, evil, hell and a punishing God. That’s a story for another day.

We must walk through the muddy shoals of hatred and anger and make our way through grief and loss to find the acceptance that is the hallmark of forgiveness. Desmond Tutu

–Linda Bullock

GOT PROMISES

CSLT is a “Spiritual Alternative…offering spiritual solutions to everyday challenges.” We offer principles and practices that aid in spiritual exploration and discovery. Some of our practices include meditation, classes, study groups and affirmative prayer practiced by our community eager to learn and to live a life more abundant in all ways.

There is a Power in the Universe greater than we are, and we can use it. Ernest Holmes

Along with CSLT, many of us are also involved in a variety of 12 step programs. For those of you who are not familiar with 12 step programs, they are international mutual aid anonymous programs, supporting recovery from substance addictions, behavioral addictions and compulsions. Participants in the 12 step programs study/work the steps and traditions, principles and promises of the program. Speaking from personal experience, working a 12 step program is like taking a stairway to heaven. I was simply delighted when one of our recent guest speakers shared the promises of the program in her talk, as these promises are also in alignment with our teachings at CSLT!

  • We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
  • We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
  • We will comprehend the word serenity.
  • We will know peace.
  • No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experiences     can benefit others.
  • The feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
  • We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
  • Self-seeking will slip away.
  • Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
  • Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.
  • We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
  • We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

In closing I’d like to share the OA Promise prayer as this too is in alignment with CSLT and one of my most favorite prayers.

I put my hand in yours, and together we can do what we could never do alone.
No longer is there a sense of hopelessness, no longer must we each depend upon our own unsteady willpower.
We are all together now, reaching out our hands for power and strength greater than ours, and as we join hands, we find love and understanding beyond our wildest dreams.

–Madeline

Let Go and Let God

When we do this, just trusting the Spirit and not laying down the particular details of its action – just telling It what we want without dictating how we are together – we shall find that things will open out more and more clearly, day by day, both on the inner and the outer plane.

–Thomas Troward, The Dore Lectures, page 190

Many times, I think I should have specific goals, obvious things I can manifest. I did want to be debt free and have a new car that was paid for when I retired, and that I did manifest (unknowingly). But mostly I have wanted a full and rich life. One aspect of full and rich has been the front yard with its hollyhocks and sunflowers. I did want those flowers, so I planted seeds, and they grew. And over the years the row of hollyhocks became a forest without my planting more seeds. The yard brings joy to my neighbors and double joy for me, first in the flowers and second in watching people stop and look or take pictures. My desk window faces the front yard and the other day I watched the post-person drive up to our mailbox, take out their camera lean out the window and take a photo. I get so much delight from these moments.

For years we have had one penstemon plant in the yard, this winter and early spring as I was weeding, I’d look at the plants and question, “Is that a penstemon?” The answer was yes, and there are over 50 plants in the yard. I didn’t plant any seeds, God, the master gardener did. And the yard this year was not only beautiful, but magical.

Birds, rabbits, squirrels, lizards, and a mouse also inhabit the yard. I’ll look out my window and see a rabbit or white winged dove hop up the stairs and walk up the sidewalk like a visitor. Or notice a mouse or lizard on the branches of the bush outside my window. The details of this joy I couldn’t dictate, yet the fullness and richness I desired has been manifested.

I recognize that my part in co-creation is to accept my unlimited good with wholehearted conviction and let the Law of Mind do the rest.

–Rev. Joanne McFadden, Guide for Spiritual Living May 2023, p 50.                           –Maria

Life As Surfing

I have only had the opportunity to try surfing once. However, I love the surfing analogy: swim out. In essence to trust or take a calculated amount of risk. Wait for the wave or the moment of action, gain speed, jump up and enjoy the ride or the fall.

Then “getting out the back”: surfer slang referring to successfully making it past the breaking waves and reaching the area behind them, where surfers position themselves to catch waves for another round. I only have dreamed of surfing at a proficient level. I do love the idea of how the surfing process takes place.

To me it represents being in the moment and enjoying the whole experience.

It seems to me that applying experiences real or imagined like the surfing example can help me find and extend satisfaction while experiencing and interpreting life.

What if we apply other experiences that have a seemingly limited relationship to “Real Life” and apply them like I just did with surfing.

I would like to suggest that many experiences that we seek out for pleasure can be applied to life navigation, giving the experiences of life a more positive perspective and allowing for more enjoyment of the experience.

It is all for our good.

–Chris Wheeler

High Hopes as Spiritual Practice

This month we study and explore self-care as a spiritual habit.

Re-reading Edwene Gaines’ Rules for Spiritual Prosperity. Trying once again to craft goals specific enough and scary enough to warrant intention and attention several times a day to manifest that which I want for me.

Problem is every time I sit down to write it out, my brain usually decides to go play elsewhere.

Something ingrained, trained or absorbed rejects the concept of it’s not only okay but that it’s time to ask for something for me. Ernest Holmes has this to say about that rejecting:

“We need to teach ourselves to think just as consistently, just as emphatically, about the things we do want. We must declare for ourselves, in no uncertain terms, the things of life we desire.

Followed immediately by

“And In between the times we set aside for this purpose there must be no backsliding, no letting down of the barriers we have raised against negative ideas. A ‘yes’ one moment and a ‘no’ the next will hold us in the very position we want to get out of.
–Ernest Holmes, A New Design for Living, page 210.2

Well, backsliding has always been easier than persistent consistence. But I’m learning. The actual process of writing down, with truly specific details, what it is I want to manifest, brings it to Life in full living color. The more specific I allow myself to be, the easier it becomes to know it as a Reality. And then attending to it repeatedly during the day, keeps it fresh and vivid. And most importantly to be very generous with myself in my defining.

Because the most important part is to know and remember that all Good flows from the One Infinite Source. And that Source is truly unlimited – knowing neither big nor little but always delivers to our individual knowing.

Limitation is not in Principle nor in Law, but only in the individual use we make of Principle. … We cannot demonstrate beyond our ability to provide a mental equivalent of our desire.
–Ernest Holmes Science of Mind page 118.2

Settle back and let yourself dream big and then bigger. Know that as you believe – so It is.

–In Peace, Mariann

Shadow Work Creates Growth

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The title page of the May issue of Science of Mind Magazine reads:

Light Within the Shadows — Embrace All Aspects of Your Sacred Being The Shadow: Healing Through Revealing

My favorite article is titled “Nobody Said Spiritual Growth is Easy” by Kelly Robbins. Our speakers in May have addressed the ‘shadow.’ Patrick Harbula said that embracing our humanness is part of the story of Oneness and reminded us that what we resist magnifies. Dr. Karmen Smith referenced David Hawkins’ Map of Consciousness Levels in her talk and stated that trauma from childhood must be dealt with; otherwise, we may stay stuck in lower frequencies, staying in victimization. The Map is a scale where the lowest level is 20 – Shame and the highest 700 – 1000 which is Enlightenment. At 200 is Courage where we reach a level of empowerment and shift from destructive energy to creative energy. Dr. Benjamin Hardy reports that the average person only grows about 5 points over their lifetime on this scale. He further states that all progress starts with telling the truth.

As the ancient sages all confirm, everything softens in time. If we want to soften while still alive, we have to bring our hurt places into the light. Mark Nepo

Jung first gave us the term “shadow’ to refer to those parts of our personality that have been rejected out of fear, ignorance, shame, or lack of love. He believed that integrating the shadow would have a profound impact, enabling us to rediscover a deeper source of our own spiritual life.

I am intrigued by this topic because I have encountered parts of my shadow at various times with the result being uncomfortable at best and embarrassing/humiliating at worst. I have found that at times I have ‘overreacted’ to situations and conversations. I wasn’t responding to current circumstances; previous hurt had been triggered, my mask of protection was pierced, and unhealed trauma came to the surface. Have you heard the phrase ‘if it’s hysterical, it’s historical’? It is clear that our hurts arise to be dealt with and healed if we have the courage.

Another area where our ‘shadow’ is displayed is in our critical judgment of others. We deny in ourselves what we react to in others. The truth is there is nothing we can see or perceive that we ourselves are not. Dr. Karmen talked about this projection also.

Shadow work is complex and uncomfortable but worthwhile. I found The Dark Side of the Light Chasers by Debbie Ford to be enormously helpful.

–Linda Bullock

WABI-SABI

After graduating college magna cum laude, a woman asked me in a job interview, “How do you handle being a perfectionist?” Was she implying that there was something wrong with that?

It got me thinking about the negatives I experienced by wanting to be perfect: I wouldn’t try something if I thought I might not be good at it; It took me longer to do tasks; I would throw out good projects because they had a minor flaw. While I still strove to be perfect, there were times Icould recognize this was holding me back and take steps to move forward.

Years later I discovered wabi-sabi. As Kiyoshi Matsuomoto describes it, “Wabi-sabi is Japanese acceptance of imperfections as both meaningful and in their own way, beautiful.” The philosophy embraces that nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.

Kintsugi is a process of mending broken bowls with gold epoxy, which highlights the imperfection rather than disguises it. It is the physical demonstration of the wabi-sabi. It became so popular in Japan at one time that potters would intentionally break a piece of pottery they had just made in order to gild it in this manner.

Discovering this concept, and admiring the beautiful pottery, I have been able to incorporate it into my own experience. A fellow cardmaker, blaming her left-handedness, often makes a mistake on her card such as getting ink where it wasn’t intended. Instead of getting upset, she laughs and says, “At least the person I give it to will know it’s handmade by me.” I look at such mistakes I make as opportunities to add an embellishment creating the card into more than I originally intended.

Rev. Dr. Michael Gott wrote in a recent SOM Magazine, “We are human and we are divine. Can we finally…recognize and honor that our humanity is divine?” and, as John Legend sings, “love all your perfect imperfections.”

The student of Truth will maintain that they live in a Perfect Universe and among people potentially perfect. They will regulate their thinking to meet this necessity and will refuse to believe its opposite. At first they may be influenced by conditions, and they may appear to be weak, but as time goes on they will prove to themself that their position is a correct one, for that which appears imperfect will begin to slip from their experience. SOM 185.1

–Janet Salese

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