Expressions of Love
In This Issue
What's The Meaning of This? - Rev. Frank Arnold
What Do I Wan to
Come of This? - Rev. Sue Borg
How To Create Drama in your Life -
Scott Kalechstein
The Big Glow -
Brian
Piergrossi
By Rev. Frank Arnold
I do not know what you think of the state of things, but one thing I really think is true right now. “I have given everything I see in this room (on this street, from this window, in this place) all the meaning it has for me.” (Lesson 2 in the workbook of The Course). I think now is a good time to give a better meaning to what you and I see.
If the problems we see are stronger than God, we are in trouble. I think it’s possible that I cannot see the big picture and I do not know what anything is for so for right now, I am going to give it my best effort to see things in a peaceful light, getting lighter by the day.
Sometimes that seems almost impossible. However, I just remember God has a plan. This thought gives me an opportunity to believe what I’ve studied all these years - that I can stay at peace amidst the seeming chaos.
We hear a lot these days about 2012 being the year ??? that all things will come to an end (all things as we KNOW them. Looks like we are getting ready to have some changes in our lives - that’s for sure - and I’m sure we will all be able to handle them as they come. Remember you will give the changes all the meaning they hold as well. 2012 is just a number. Gregg Braden’s new book “Fractal Time - 2012 AND BEYOND” is about how all things recycle and we are in a recycle period of time. You can go to his website and read about his exciting new book www.greggbraden.com
My friend Wally (not Wall-E) used to say every so often major changes take place that merely repeat what’s happened in the past. (This is one of the lessons in The Course as well - “I only see the past.) These changes serve to propel us into a new and exciting place. I’m sure this is one of these times and 2012 is only significant as a time things change - not end. These are the times that we connect more with our Source (God) in a more meaningful way and let the “Stuff” of the world fall to the wayside. A Texas University study also states that during times of recession, the growth in the number of individuals attending church increases considerably. It’s during these times when we feel badgered and helpless (the meaning I give it here) that we look to the place where we feel loved and supported without question - and the highest place would be to God.
Gregg Braden told Suzi there is a Movie coming out this summer titled 2012 and its one of those “try to scare everyone to death” movies about the world ending. Just remember, it’s only a movie (but then isn’t the whole world?) Years ago, one of our friends said when the changes start coming faster and faster, just keep your arms and legs in and have a good ride. Truly this whole world is nothing more than a Fair and some rides are just a bit scarier than others.
I am totally encouraged by all the good things that are happening as well. Everyone seems to be much more concerned about who they are and about helping others - it’s its own religion - joining together to help each other and ourselves. Once again, you get to choose how you would see this world and how to choose Love in every situation. I’m trying as hard as I can. J
******************************
What Do I Want To Come of This?
By Rev. Sue Borg
It’s become clear to me that all the “stuff” we’ve all been doing over the last 25 years is now manifesting outwardly in so many ways we can easily see the changes we have been working towards. I’m sure Barack Obama will be one of the many “changers” that will go down in history as one who helped the USA turn back to Love, compassion and caring for one another.
Yes, indeed, there are many things that have to happen to make the significant changes that will occur, but I’m of the firm belief that they will happen in perfect order. I think the world is more optimistic than ever before and we can finally exhale a breath of relief that there is a better way. A Course in Miracles came through Helen Schucman when her partner, Bill Thetford, spoke the words, “There’s got to be a better way.” It’s not that The Course is “THE better way, but it surely shows us the truth that leads us to know we do not have to live our lives in fear, but rather we can live lives based on Love.
I’ve always kidded about being the President of the Optimists Club and I can barely hold back the excitement inside about the changes that are happening. There are some nay-sayers, but we can let them stew without supporting them and put our love and support towards being better individuals and helping others to do the same if they so choose.
Give up all the ways you torture yourself for all the ways you can nurture yourself. The way to Love is through loving - the way to joy is through being joyful - and the way to peace is through being peaceful. I am so happy about all my mighty companions on this path of truth and enlightenment. Every single person who wants peace of heart and peace of mind can have it with such little effort - it’s a guarantee from your creator.
So how do we set a goal for Peace? “In any situation in which you are uncertain, the first thing to consider, very simply, is "What do I want to come of this? What is it for?" The clarification of the goal belongs at the beginning, for it is this which will determine the outcome. The value of deciding in advance what you want to happen is simply that you will perceive the situation as a means to make it happen. You will, therefore, make every effort to overlook what interferes with the accomplishment of your objective, and concentrate on everything that helps you meet it.” T-17 VI.2
So what is your goal? My goal - from The Course - The peace of God is my one goal; the aim of all my living here, the end I seek, my purpose and my function and my life. W-Lesson 185
The goals you set should be to understand the lessons of Truth and when truth dawns upon you, all the worldly goals will come to you as easily as speaking them. I think what we all want is to know the truth of who we are and live the truth. This is why so many things are breaking down right now, because we are at a crossroads of changing the world from fear-based living to love-based living. Even those in government and on Wall Street will now have an opportunity to look at the world through the eyes of truth instead of having to hide behind their lies and untruths. Can you just imagine their relief? (Well, maybe they won’t call it that for awhile - ha ha).
I think knowing and living in truth has finally helped the world to turn the corner to be able to see love, be love and teach love in every moment. The only way to have peace is to teach peace. The only way to have love is to teach love. Keep on Lovin’!
*************************
How To Create Epic Drama In Your Life
By Scott Kalechstein
Are you getting your minimum daily requirements of chaos and worry?Do inner peace, gratitude, and contentment occasionally creep up on you and sabotage your ability to indulge in your anxiety?
Here’s a quick and handy two step process for making sure your world is full of epic drama.
1. Believe and act like your safety, security, success and happiness are dependent on other people and forces outside of you that you can’t control.
2. Try to control them.
For those of you who prefer to keep it complex and time-consuming, here are seven practical tips for making sure you always get your daily adrenalin fix. Let me be your drama director as we shout out the traditional opening words…
“Lights! Camera!! RE-ACTION!!!
The Seven Spiritual Steps To Successful Drama
1. Always Visualize The Worst Possible Outcome- Everybody accentuates the negative on occasion. What if I go broke? What if I lose my house? What if I get sick? What if I’m alone forever? What if I’m in this relationship forever? It’s perfectly human to use the power of negative thinking from time to time to conjure up worst-case scenarios about the future. But as your drama coach, I want to inspire you to focus all of your attention on the most negative possible outcomes all of the time. When this discipline has been achieved, you then relax into the certainty that you can always find something to freak out about in any situation, and that fear will never abandon you again.
2. Procrastinate & Downright Avoid Meditating - Being too busy and active to still your mind is essential on your path to drama-realization. Good drama requires us to be fully lost in our roles as actors on the stage, reading our reactive lines and getting engrossed in our stories. Meditation teaches us to become conscious of the part of us that is an audience member, witnessing and even enjoying our own performance. This detachment is the death of drama, and must be avoided at all costs. So keep busy, inside and out. Have you answered all your emails today? Is there something good on TV? Who needs a shoulder to lean on? Always make sure that your life and your mind are filled with clutter and free of those empty spaces between your thoughts that can threaten and disturb your absence of peace.
3. Get Good At Repressing and Exploding – Drama majors are often found swinging like a pendulum from one extreme to another, skillfully avoiding meddling with Mr. In Between, where the boredom can put you to sleep. All you need to do is to stuff your feelings till you can’t hold them in any longer and then explode without restraint or concern for anyone, especially the ones you care most about. As a practice, try being 100% nice and sweet in a relationship. Stretch yourself to accommodate as much and as long as you can, and then take the lid off and let the steam out, like Mt. Saint Helens does once in a while. Drama Queens (and Kings) know that there is nothing as satisfying as having a totally unpredictable volcanic eruption after being good, silent, and inactive for a spell.
4. Leave Your Inner Child Alone Inside You Without Parental Supervision - When our inner kids get scared, they create some really juicy drama, but only if we are committed to denying them our own re-assurance, empathy, guidance, and loving boundaries. When we have the will power to not succumb to such self-indulgent self-help nonsense, our inner kids will have no choice but to try to get those needs met solely from others, and usually through some pretty high drama antics. When two people in a relationship abandon their kids at the same time, oh boy, that’s when the fun kicks into high gear. The adults have left the vehicle, and you can guess who’s in the front seat, banging on the horn, flooding the accelerator, yelling out the window, and playing extreme bumper cars. Yippee!
5. Set Huge Goals, Maintain Unrealistic Expectations - There is nothing as beneficial to a dramatic lifestyle than developing the habit of reaching for the stars, falling short of your lofty goals, and punishing yourself for failing. Taking big leaps and falling flat on your face is paramount for maintaining low self-esteem, which is the foundation of all good drama. Reach for the mountain-top, and on the way don’t look down at your feet. Taking one step at a time is for people who lead uninteresting lives, filled with a lackluster sense of gentleness, peace, and other dismal downers that drama majors are skilled at sidestepping.
6. Judge Your Judgments– Every human being judges, but only the ones that have learned the art of judging their judgments excel in creating melodrama. Have you ever been known to shame and blame yourself for feeling afraid and stuck, telling yourself that there is something really wrong with you for not moving forward? Good! You are on the right track. Now, take your next step. Judge your judgments! Tell yourself that you should know better than to shame and blame yourself. Heap loads of guilt upon yourself for yet again stooping so low to the curb of self-criticism. This will make you quite an energetic downer that can’t help but suck energy from those around you. You’ll be the lifelessness of the party! Can a soap opera drenched in drama be far behind?
7. Get Grounded In The 3 B’s…. Blame, Blame, & Blame - Blaming yourself has already been covered. But don’t rest there. Blame everyone else too. Life’s not going the way you want? Blame! Blame first, ask questions and take responsibility later, if at all. Appropriate targets are Mom and Dad, friends (if you still have any), your mate (if they are still around), the Bush administration, the Clinton administration, big corporations, small minds, and , of course, God. Self-responsibility is highly overrated, and leads to issues losing their charge and actually getting resolved, which flushes good drama down the toilet. Instead, let it overflow, all over the tile of your life. Blame, Blame, Blame!
Affirmations For Good Drama
Every day in every way I am stressing out over everything, real or imagined.
Everything is working together to conspire to bring the worst possible outcome to my doorstep. Life is against me and I am doomed.
This, or something worse, is now manifesting for the highest cost of all concerned.
I no longer have to work to create drama. Drama happens effortlessly and naturally, all around me.
Whatever calamity I can conceive, I can achieve.
I am always in the right place at the right time, successfully, up to my ears in trouble.
I always have everything I need to manifest everything I don’t want.
All is hell in my world.
(Ed. Note) Or Not! Ha Ha Ha
Scott Kalechstein is a traveling minister, a counselor and coach, a modern day troubadour and inspirational speaker. He makes his home in Marin, California and loves presenting at conferences, giving talks, concerts and workshops. In his phone counseling practice, he is a relationship specialist, helping both individuals and couples heal, manifest, and awaken into conscious relationship. Call 415-721-2954 to schedule a session, or email him at scott@scottsongs.com. You can visit www.scottsongs.com to read more about his workshops, to hear his talks or to sample songs from his nine CD’s. Send him an email to receive writings like this one on a semi-occasional basis.
http://scottsongs.com/pages/spont_song.htm Click here to hear Scott
Refresh Yourself at- http://www.scottsongs.com -A Site For Soaring Eyes!
************
The Big Glow
by Brian Piergrossi.
On
the surface of the world right now there is war and violence and things
seem dark
But calmly and quietly, at the same time, something else is happening
underground
An inner revolution is taking place and certain individuals are being
called to a higher light
It is a silent revolution
From the inside out
From the ground up
You won't see us on the TV
You won't read about us in the newspaper
You won't hear about us on the radio
We don't seek any glory
We don't wear any uniform
We come in all shapes and sizes
Colors and styles
Most of us work anonymously
We are quietly working behind the scenes in every country and culture of
the world
Cities big and small, mountains and valleys, in farms and villages,
tribes and remote islands
You could pass by one of us on the street and not even notice
We go undercover
We remain behind the scenes
It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit
But simply that the work gets done
Occasionally we spot each other in the street
We give a quiet nod and continue on our way so no one will notice.
During the day many of us pretend we have normal jobs
But behind the false storefront, at night is where the real work takes
place
Some call us the 'Conscious Army'
We are slowly creating a new world with the power of our minds and
hearts
We follow, with passion and joy
Our orders from the Central Command
The Spiritual Intelligence Agency
We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no one is looking:
Poems
Hugs
Music
Photography
Movies
Kind words
Smiles
Meditation and prayer
Dance
Social activism
Websites
Blogs
Random acts of kindness
Our work is slow and meticulous
Like the formation of mountains
It is not even visible at first glance
And yet with it...entire tectonic plates shall be moved in the centuries
to come
Love is the new religion of the 21st century
You don't have to be a highly educated person
Or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it
It comes from the intelligence of the heart
Embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings
Be the change you want to see in the world
Nobody else can do it for you
We are now recruiting
Perhaps you will join us
Or already have....
The door is open
All are welcome...