Take Responsibility

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

It’s time we all took responsibility for our actions. It time to stop dodging behind the words and actions of others. Stop hiding behind the illusion that our lives are more important than anyone else’s. It’s not. 

The laws of nature apply to everyone equally. There aren’t special circumstances for someone because they seem to have everything fall into their laps or they’re better or worse off than you. Nature doesn’t have discretion, it can’t choose one thing over another, it is bound by scientific law. It doesn’t have volition. 

Nature is a producer, it gives to whatever it is asked to give. We can’t plant an oak tree and have a redwood sprout. That would be against all the laws of nature. We can’t plant a tomato plant and dictate to nature how many branches, leaves, or tomatoes it’s going to produce, that’s nature’s job. Our part was planting the tomato seed. 

When we plant a calla lily, the soil, water, and sun conspire with the laws of nature to help that calla lily grow to its full potential. The only thing it is subject to is its environment--other than that the calla lily is bound by its truth. 

Same for all living things, including human beings. We are bound by the laws of nature. We are subject to our environment, and we will produce exactly what the laws of nature dictate. And if our environment isn’t healthy, everything that is conspiring for our highest and best good will produce the best of what it can in our unhealthy environment. And when I speak of environment, it isn’t limited to the physical. Our environment also includes our minds. 

We are thinking, independent, viable, beings with the capacity to make decisions based beyond our intuition. We aren’t subject to instinct, (although there are times instinct will rule over volition). 

We were born to make manifest the magnificence of our lives. If we never choose to take responsibility for our actions, we will live our entire lives subject to our environment. This is where we can use the laws of nature to create our heaven or hell. 

When we make the decision to rise to the occasion instead of kneeling to the condition, we put into motion the law of cause and effect and the law of nature must obey. Nature can’t play favorites, it doesn’t look at a situation with a consciousness, that’s a human trait. Just think of nature as the, yes man, it can only produce what is asked of it. It can't decide to help one person and neglect another. Nature works for all in the same way.

Our actions dictate our experiences, and our thinking creates the perfect soil to plant our seeds of love or hate, compassion or contempt, prosperity or poverty, success or failure, and our happiness or sadness. Truthfully, the only thing we can control is our reaction to the outcome. Other than that, we can’t control how others react, we can’t stop the world from suffering, and we can’t continue blaming someone else for our life and expect it to change. We want our lives to change, we have to look within and see where we keep stumbling. What old belief or idea that keeps us bound to the same crappy experiences. 

We have to dive deep into the uncomfortable, find that old crappy belief and uproot it. Thrust our hands into the soil of our lives, let the dirt get under our fingernails while we discover if the soil in our consciousness is the right type. If it isn’t, we must go out and get the right soil. Nobody is going to bring it to us, we have to work for what we want. PERIOD. Everyone is subject to the same laws. 

Maybe you’ll find a book that leads you to you, catch a lecture that empowers you, surround yourself with positive people who lift you up. Let go of those ideas that don’t serve your highest and best good, anymore. 

Listen, nobody can save you, you have to be the one to decide to rise up. You must determine if you’re done or not. Nobody can fix you. They can show you, they can give you the tools, but it’s up to you to build a better life or not. It’s an inside job, a change of consciousness, a makeover of your thinking, and a lot of work. 

Life is never stagnant, you can’t learn something new then think that you’ll master it because you did it once. You have to keep working on it, honing your skills, practice it until it becomes automatic, and even then, you will have to keep doing it so you don’t get rusty. Same with your thinking, same with your life--you must keep changing your consciousness so you can create a better life for yourself. Even if your life appears perfect, you must continue to work at that appeared perfection. 

So how do we do it?

It’s individual for each of us, but one thing I know for sure is to start seeing the positive in the world, focus on the good, let the rest go. Stop embracing the negative in the world, stop feeding the beast of judgment, hate, anger, and indifference. Be honest, and embrace your grace. Take responsibility for your actions and life. 

If you messed up, stand up admit it, and move beyond it. You don’t have to become yesterday’s mistakes by admitting them, and sure, you might be uncomfortable for some time, but in the long run, you will strengthen your consciousness and by strengthening your consciousness you’ll begin to see your life change for the better. You’ll have deeper more quality relationships, and you’ll experience your inner truth. You’ll be reminded every day that you are God’s greatest gift to this world. Because you are! You are the miracle the universe produced. A million to one miracle. 

Take today into your heart, sit silently for a couple of minutes and see what comes to the surface, that will be the first thing to look at and decide if this idea is serving your highest and best good or enslaving you to a life of discontent and pain. If it isn’t serving your highest and best good, come up with the opposite and start thinking upon that. You’ll be surprised how fast your mind can replace a negative condition with a positive way of life. 

Soon you'll discover that beneath what appears isn't what is. You are you, and you are enough, it's time to start believing in yourself again! 

With LOVE and COMPASSION, 
Gretchen de la O

Today is the Day!!!

TODAY IS THE DAY!

If we keep putting off our good until tomorrow, nothing will ever be good enough.

We do this all the time. We save the good china for guests and special occasions. We hold onto that thingamajiggy for the day we feel worthy to use it. But all we end up with is lots of wishes for tomorrow. We push our good out to the future because we are afraid if we give it to ourselves today it might not be as special, or as good.

Isn't it time we all came to the realization that life is right now. That there aren't any tomorrows that are guaranteed. You are worth the fine china, even if it's only mac and cheese being served up! You are worth using that thingamajiggy today! Don't put off for tomorrow what you can have today. Is it living if we are always looking outside of where we are? What are we doing to ourselves when we look to yesterday for today's answers and how much power/time/energy are we giving away by pushing our good off until tomorrow?

You are living today. You're the miracle waiting to happen right now, not tomorrow, not the next day or the day after that. Give yourself this daily bread, carbs and all. Living in the moment is being present in your life. No more unconscious living. No more scarfing down the robust and plentiful dinner without tasting it. Take this moment now to feel the air brush across your skin, the smell of the rain as it dissolves into the sidewalks, listen to the sounds of your life with a new ear.

I'm not saying we won't have days where comfortably numb isn't welcomed. We all have those days. They are valid because your feelings are valid. But to live every moment comfortably numb isn't living, it's just existing until the next tomorrow. Take up thy bed and walk. If you're like me and have days where you look up and wonder what happened to the last week, month, or year, it's time to take a deep breath, be grateful you came to the realization that you deserve more. YOU DESERVE MORE!  Take a second in the day to find one small thing to be grateful for. Find a sliver of something beautiful in the heap of comfortably numb.

When you discover that there is beauty around you, that there are moments to celebrate even if they are the most ridiculous things, you'll begin to see that the outcome of your experience isn't in the hands of the world, it isn't perched in tomorrow's ideas, but in this moment now, right where you are. It's time to celebrate the fact that you are important in the scheme of your life. YOU hold the thoughts that power your experiences. HUGE. You are the creator of your day, the maker of moments, the only person who can decide how you're going to react and interact with people, places, events and things.

I understand it's not the easiest thing to do when you've spent your life looking at the glass half empty. You don't want to feel the pain of being let down, you'd rather rely upon the reality of the world around you. I get it, we all reside there sometimes. But, what's life if we don't give ourselves moments to experience the breath-hitching wonderful. What are we robbing from ourselves by numbing ourselves to the grandeur that is waiting for our arrival? You're created out of the same substance that created the stars. That's no joke, look it up. Every element they discovered in the creation of stars are all elements found here on earth. Therefore, you're soaked through and through to be a STAR! You knew it, there is that burst of brilliance at the center of who you are. Find it, make that your next adventure, discover that tomorrow is nothing more than more of today. You are a mighty moving force in your life, no matter how it may appear. YOU have the right to a do-over, a restart, a re-boot. Find your star and burn brightly my loves!

LOVE and PEACE be with YOU today!

#BeTheStarYouWereMeantToBe #BrandYourStand #FindYourSpark #YoureNotAlone #YouAreBeautifulJUSTtheWayYouAre #BeTheChangeYouWantToSeeInTheWorld #Love #Peace #BigO #O

Today is Mine.

Today is new! Yesterday is down and in the books. It's something you can't go back and change. No matter how wonderful or how pain-filled it was, the key word is ... WAS.

I can't fix, take back, change, or remove the feelings, experiences, memories, and reactions of yesterday. All I have any control over is what I do with them. I choose to learn from them, and then move forward with that knowledge obtained. It doesn't do anything to wallow in yesterday's mistakes, misfortunes, triumphs or tribulations. I'm not going to rub them across my bosom, or sleep with them under my pillow, and I DON'T WANT TO!

I choose to take the knowledge of yesterday and do what I can to be a better person from the lessons taught me. Today, is new. An opportunity to make better that which I may have failed at in my past. Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

I know it's hard to let go of burdens or pain from your past. We all know our past is what paints our future, however, it doesn't have to define it. What I was yesterday, a month ago, a year ago, a decade ago isn't who I am today. Because today I choose to be free from the need to make excuses for something I can't change. I own my past, take responsibility for it, and MOVE forward.

There are people who can't move out of it. They decide that their past, present and future is who they were and not what they have to potential to become. We've all felt this way, at some point in our lives. But, it doesn't serve you or your future to cling to your foibles of your past. The failures of yesterday are the stepping stones to the successes of tomorrow.

I choose to stop reaching outside of myself for who I am. I decide to look within and make the necessary changes within me. Because, truthfully, that's all I have any control over. People's reactions aren't mine to own. It isn't heartless, on the contrary, it's being heartfelt. Because when we come to the realization we can't control others, we begin to understand that the only thing we can control is our reaction to their actions. Somehow we begin to embody the compassion, love and understanding of where they may be coming from.

Take the time today to celebrate your breath, the thunderous heartbeat in your chest, the thoughts that swirl through your head when you really love someone. Embrace today as if you have no access to yesterday's files. When your feet hit the floor, know that everything from your past is forgiven. That you learned from what bones are buried in the soil of yesterdays battles.

YOU are magnificent! The miracle of another opportunity to grow, learn and expand your consciousness. Why not wake up with the expectation of something wonderful is about to happen. Even in the darkness, when the light appears, the darkness dissipates, EVERY TIME!

You are the light of this life, my friends. It's time someone told you that.No matter what. No matter the situation, emotion, reaction or interaction, you are the light of your life. Okay, I'm gonna get a little bible-bangin' on ya, but it's such a powerful metaphor, "When God said, "Let there be Light", there was light." God demanded the light, he didn't ask, beseech, question or guess there would somehow be light. With the conviction and authority of the Almighty, you have that same right to demand it from the Universe. LET THERE BE LIGHT. The Universe gives you only what you are capable of embodying. If you're only capable of a small flicker of a spark, then celebrate that you have a spark. If you're a raging fire, then you celebrate that. It's time to give yourself permission to just be who you need to be today. Because that which you focus on grows.

May LOVE and PEACE find you in everything you do today! #ILOVEU #TakeAMomentForGratitude #EvenIfImHeartBrokenIFindMySoulsSong #LoveAndLight #LightDissapatesTheDarkness #LetThereBeLightAndThereWasLight.

No Matter a Mountain or a Molehill, The Outcome is the Same

When you stand at the base of a mountain and look up, it can appear to be insurmountable. You can feel insignificant and too small to climb the face of something so massive.

Life can feel that same way at times. But if you lower your head and face forward, you will see the ledges, roots, rocks and crevices you can use to pull yourself up. When we give our attention to that which is right in front of us, the mountain that towers above us, doesn't seem so huge.

Every once in a while, you can look up and see the magnitude of work ahead of you, and in the same token you can look down and see how far you've come. But your resiliency isn't measured in where you came from or how much further you have to climb. Your resiliency and strength is measured by how you move forward from where you are.

You can't look up or down the face mountain and at the same time be successful in placing your hands and feet in the best positions to climb. You must focus, be aware of the moment and make the choices that will keep you clinging and climbing that mountain!

In other words, you must be consciously aware of what you're doing. It's a matter of life and death, success and failure, and eventually reaching the crest of that mountain.

If you are too busy worrying about what's to come or what you've already been through, the significance of the moment you have right now will be lost on your past and what hasn't happened yet. You have an opportunity right now, to either reach for that ledge and pull yourself to the next phase of your climb, or keep clinging to the edge until your hands and feet become tired. You know what to do and how to do it. It's time to start trusting your intuition and let go of the needling fear that's like weights around your ankles.

You have been given the best climbing equipment, ever, it's state of the art and it costs you nothing! You have been trained and equipped for climbing those proverbial mountains your whole life.

You've always possess the ability to think, reason, deduce, and understand. You've always have had the ability to choose, to love, to forgive and to forget! You have everything you need right where you are to reach up and pull yourself to the next section of your climb.

YES, sometimes you'll lose your footing, or grab a rock that's loose, you'll slide and have set backs, but guess what? That's part of being alive. Who doesn't have experiences that seem to kick you when you're down? But it's important to remember that you have a safety rope, a lead rope, and that rope is the one thing that's strong enough to keep you from falling to your death. That lead rope is called faith. It's that faith, in which you have for yourself and others. Faith allows you to start again, keep going and reach for your potential that resides within you. Faith's that still small voice inside of you, faint as a whisper which tells you, that you're worth it, that you can do it, and that love, compassion, peace and strength resides right where you are.

You're a child of God, a reason why life is happening. You are the most valuable person who's climbing the massive mountain called, Your Life! Don't you think it's time to start embracing your strengths and finding the strongest rocks and roots to grab?

Listen, it's not what you were, or what you can be that defines who you are in this moment, you are not yesterday's news and or tomorrows headlines; you are the decisions you make right now, at this moment of your life. Empower yourself and know that you are love, life, joy, peace, compassion, harmony, light and abundance. Know that you are the perfect expression of life, living life to the best of your ability, right where you are.

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings!

Love,

Gretchen

Even The Dalai Lama Gets the Hiccups!

As we wake up and brush shoulders with the morning and smile at the thought of a new day, or even as we breathe in the aroma of infinite possibilities while counting the tally marks of a life we've been so gloriously given, let us remember that even the Dalai Lama gets the hiccups.

Nothing is perfect all the time. Well, wait, I take that back, everything is perfectly imperfect. We all have moments where we come upon those type of people who rattle our cages. We watch them systematically create chaos in a peaceful moment, or stir the big vat of hate and anger when others have already decided to overcome it. We've all experienced those types of people that pummel the wasps nest with the biggest wooden stick they can find and walk away unscathed while the others get stung repeatedly. It is nothing new in a world where we praise the sarcastic and cuddle with the hardhearted. We celebrate the combative and get in bed with the wicked, and we do this so we can feel important; like we are part of the “team”. We will quietly stand on the sidelines while the asshole coach berates another player, because deep in our hearts we are relieved it isn't our face he’s yelling in. Hey, we all have done it, nobody is immune to life. If we were, we wouldn't be living it.

We are all born with instinct. When we come into this world we sleep when we are tired, we eat when we are hungry and we cry when we are in need. Blessed are the children, for they see with a pure heart. It isn't until the world lays at our infantile feet the life lessons learned by those who came before us. It is when the good-intentioned unconsciously impress upon us the limits we must believe we have. It is the beginning to where we see the world in a different light. We become the imprints of conditional thinking and shackled by what’s been done before. You see it in kids who don’t see color, race, sex or creed. They exist to experience life and that is it. They don’t worry about the future and they don’t live in the past. They wear their emotions on their sleeve and just as the river flows forward so does their ability to move on. It is at our most impressionable time of our lives and happens to be when we are taught what it means to limit ourselves and bend to what society expects from us. It is at that point we become conditional thinkers.

We live in a world ruled by the limited thinking of what has come before us. We live by man made laws designed to dictate what we must do to live systematically in a society with others. We all understand that most of these man made laws are in place to keep us safe. But we also live in a world dictated by something bigger than man made laws or the ticking of a clock or even the degrading judgment of others. There is a place within us that isn't affected by what we see or hear, but is ruled by what we innately know. There is a power greater than us, greater than any condition, experience, man made law or limited thought. It is our intuition, that power that swirls in your gut, that Infinite Source that we connected to and bonded with when we are born. Once we become conditioned by the world, we are taught to stifle that instinct, crush that power that surges within the deepest part of who we are.

But I am telling you, to let it out! It’s okay to feel love, peace, joy, happiness, harmony, light and abundance. You are beautiful, you are smart, you are free, you are peace and harmony. Just because someone, so long ago told you something, doesn't make it true! Did you read that? Let me write it again… JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE TOLD YOU SOMETHING, IT DOESN'T MAKE IT TRUE. We have got to stop looking outside of ourselves for validation, for peace, for love, for wholeness or joy. It is time to remove those shackles of our limited, impressions people so thoughtlessly pressed into our skin and start to reach deep within ourselves for the Truth of Who We Are. You are a light designed to dissipate the dark, you are a life, meant to live the most beautiful moments you can. You are life living consciously. Take today in your heart, and wear it there, that it is the best day ever. Today is your day and you are a miracle waiting for a place to show up. So, just show up! Show up today, live in the moment, let go of what you can’t control and embrace what you can. Be the best you, you know how to be right now, and I promise, as you do that every day, as you be the best you, you can be, each day will become new, each moment will be another opportunity to be the best you, you know how to be! Don’t forget, you only have to be stronger than your weakest thought, then eventually, your weakest thought will be replaced by your strongest intention.

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings!

Taken in Lafayette, CA. on my iPhone

Take the Beam From Your Eye First

How many bones must a dog bury before it has enough? How many songs must we listen to in order to understand suffering? How many tears must fall before we forgive?

When we look at life as if it is disposable, replaceable, or a rehearsal we short change ourselves the opportunity to live up to our true potential. When we are flung upon the sharp tongues of others, why are we disenchanted by the mouths that scar us? A life can be given in 15 seconds and destroyed in 3. A career that took a lifetime to build can crumble in a blink of an eye. Are we truly that blind? Isn’t it in this moment that we should remove the beam from our own eye before we can pluck the speck from our neighbor’s?

If our eyes were really the true window to the soul why are we so blind to the hypocrisy in the world? We see what we want to and ignore that which makes us uncomfortable. We are taught to attack the flaws of others, because compassion would make us look weak. And yet, even as we speak love from one side of our mouths, we whisper words of hate through the other. We exploit the misfortunes of others and become empowered by the spineless that stand behind us. We are fed by jealously and bound by insecurity.

We claim we are passive and yet we aggressively push for people’s sympathy. Are we truly the ones who need sympathy? Or could our misfortunes and successes be measured by the choices we make? Anyone can ask for sympathy, live in fear, and be ruled by judgment, but it takes strength, courage, and higher thinking to rise above the static that fills the empty space. 

We are constantly praised and coddled by the masses for embracing the fractured bones that weaken us. Have we fallen so deep that we grapple and cling to the bones of trail-blazers that came before us? At what cost will our egos be rewarded? At what point will the pain be enough to keep us motivated? When will the dried, splintered remains of teachers before us become the legacies of what was instead of what could be?


We will always be imprisoned by thoughts of yesterday if we don’t replace them with thoughts of what we want for tomorrow. Right now we are the most powerful thing in our lives. From the moment we open our eyes to the moment our heads sink into our pillows every word we utter, every thought we think and every action we take sets up the cause and effect of our lives. We can choose to flick the domino of life and embrace the outcome or we can stand on the sidelines afraid of what will happen. The choice has always been ours. 

Our life is meant to be lived, active, expanding, and fluidic. We are meant to shine, be brilliant, and yes, even falter sometimes. We are wired to live life the best way we can. Why would we long for Peace if we weren’t meant to have it? Why do we ache for love if we were never destined to experience it? Why would we be given freedom of choice if we were never fated to use it? We are created to experience the best life we know how to live, and in doing so we sometimes lose our way. We become caught up in the lives of others, we become defined by who we allow others to label us as. We give our power to those outside of our inner dwelling. Just because we are who we are today, doesn’t mean we can’t be who we decide we want to be tomorrow. 

Every second of everyday we are changing, growing, and expanding our life experiences. When we allow others to pipe in, we are giving our power away. We know who we are and what we need to do. When did we lose our way? When did the words of strangers or others become who or what we are? Perhaps it happened when we were down, scared, ruled by fear, maybe it occurred when we got lost in the world. Maybe we allowed others to run with our power when we stopped listening to our intuition. Either way, today is the day we take baby steps to reclaiming our power! Right now, at this moment, we will reclaim our inner spark that has always burned brightly in the core of our being. 

What once was will never empower what will be. We can’t take what we want and bottle it in the old used containers of yesterday. We must take a new, clear, beautiful bottle of today and fill it with what we want for tomorrow. 

I will not fill you with falsehood and tell you it is easy. It is not! But what I will say is this … when you decide to love instead of hate, celebrate instead of denigrate, embrace instead of push away, embody peace instead of dysfunction, pleasure instead of pain, you will begin to feel your world change, and then you will see it transform. You will stop embodying what is so wrong with the world and start personifying what is so right. You will give up the judgments, the pain and anger and you will begin to embrace the beauty around you, feel the pleasure life will bring you and start to love the world for what it is, because you and everyone around you deserve to live in LOVE, PEACE, HARMONY, ABUNDANCE, and JOY.

Start today by making a conscious choice to think better thoughts. That’s all it takes is a conscious act of changing your thinking. May today be the start of you following your bliss, taking the bull by the horns, and making the world a better place because you are in it!

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings!

Yosemite Trip taken by Jared de la O 2012. Power At Its Purest!

 

Happy New Year's **Revised**

What if we didn’t do a New Year’s Resolution in 2014?

Yeah…I said it! (I didn’t even cover my head for the proverbial lightning bolt to strike me down either!)

New Year’s has become just as commercially important in our world as Easter or Halloween. Diet industries make millions, gyms sucker you into signing that unbreakable three year contract, and churches brace for the influx of the spiritually lost, who hope to be found.

So often we are left feeling guilty because within days of the New Year we have already failed a fallible system. We think the click of a clock or a flip of a calendar is going to give us a renewed idea stuffed into an old consciousness. Isn’t it time we admit to ourselves…the whole system is set up for epic failure.

We run about believing if we just placate God, or we click off conditions, or change our appearance we will be able to peel back the habits of yesterday in a matter of a numeral change in the ones place of another calendar year. It doesn’t work that way…it never has. It’s about time we stop setting ourselves up for the pain, self-deprecation, hate, jealousy, and guilt for not instantly changing our lives that first couple of weeks spread through January.

We will never success without first creating a consciousness of success. We must begin by changing our idea about the world if we want to see the physical manifestation of our success in it. Einstein said, “You can’t change a problem using the same brain that created it!”

How can we make room for the success of our New Year’s resolutions if we haven’t changed our minds about how we feel, see, hear, taste, and smell success? What investment have we made in our spiritual bank? What thoughts have we been depositing in our experiences? Can we really have a consciousness of successful weight loss if all we do is see ourselves as fat and talk about how much weight we have to lose to be healthy or happy? How can we see an upward motion of success in business when all we have done is bitch and moan about our co-workers and our boss? How can we truly find inner peace, when the turmoil of discontent keeps raging within our souls? 

What if we scrapped the New Year’s resolution, and instead we did a New Year’s revision or reevaluation? What if we took the next couple of weeks and decided to vacation from guilt, fear, doubt, and self-judgment? How would it feel to take a deep breath, and really felt what freedom was, the freedom from self judgment, failure, pain, guilt, fear, and limited beliefs? What if we looked back at 2013 and patted ourselves on the back for making it through another year? 

Take it a step further…look back at 2013 and find one thing we did well. Look at that and celebrate that success. How about we look and find 5 things that we did perfectly. Why not work our way to 12 things…12 things we did right last year. One great moment for each month…I know you can do it. It is time to grow our consciousness of self-empowerment and begin to feel the unconditional love flooding our hearts.

Just think, instead of taking that dramatic step of trying to alter our lives in a matter of several days, we can find the blessings we have in every moment of our lives? We can look at the things that truly mattered in our lives before 2014 and REVISE some of our old beliefs and make them a little more in tune with who we are right now.

Let’s not make January a month filled with apocalyptic moments were we decide to drastically change our lives into something doomed to fail. Let’s take this time to create a clear picture of what we want…and begin to change our consciousness about it. Let’s look for the possibilities waiting on us to discover in 2014.

Thanks for hanging around and reading my ramblings…and Happy Revised New Year!

Yesterday Was A Super Sad, No Good, Very Bad Day

As is sit here and write this blog post I can honestly say, yesterday was one of the hardest days I’ve had in a long time. See, yesterday, Sunday November 10th, 2013 my spiritual center closed its doors. We made a decision, and yesterday…it was over. Rummaging through the sentimental and packing up an era wasn’t the easiest thing to do…

But you see, amidst the change, a new idea was born. I came to realize, the place I worship, the place I find the “church” in my life…isn’t a brick building or a space that is filled with the aroma of coffee or the comfort of a padded chair…my Spiritual Center is within me. My glorious moments of enlightenment aren’t founded or birthed in realities outside of myself; they are discovered one thought at a time, one action at a time in the creative power that lies in every fiber of my being. Sure, I will miss the routine of making Sunday morning more than a day to sleep in. I’ll miss the opportunity to feed my children their spiritual food prepared by someone other than me. But, I won’t stop visiting the spiritual center that resides within me. It won’t stop me from continuing to remind my children, friends and family the creative power that resides in their souls.

Spirituality is more to me than planting my ass in a chair on Sunday morning. It is more than finding comfort in the rituals I so amicably claimed as my own. Spirituality is beyond any form of religion or governmental definition. My spirituality is what governs my ability to understand and practice my religion. IT is what moves me to write this blog. IT is the Creative Process that is born and reborn, renewed and rejuvenated in every cell of my being every moment of every day. IT is what powers my thoughts and creates the miracles in my life daily. Today I will say, “It is done unto you as you believe” and truly mean it. I will wipe the sand of disappointment off my feet and walk forward with a renewed commitment to give unto others as I would give unto myself.

Today is the day I look into the eyes of the people around me and tell them they are loved. They are powerful beyond any limiting definition, and that Freedom, Love, Joy, Peace, and Abundance is theirs for the taking! Today, I look into my future with a new found excitement.

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings….

I truly appreciate you!

Gretchen