•by Dawn King•Confusion is rife on our planet today. Realize that this too shall pass, and all human conflicts will end over time. Meanwhile, you are expanding your awareness of how to be part of the solution of rebuilding society and the planet…starting today.
Why me? Embrace the idea that “I chose to be here now, and chose my life experiences because they serve me. They help me grow stronger in spirit.” The law of attraction (your thought) is powerful; you will continue to attract what you need. Think positive and you will attract positive experiences.
1. Affirm: “Today is the first day of the rest of my life, and I’m making it a purposeful life.”
2. Feel safe in your own space, your own spirit. Yours is the power to create your life as you will it. Your spirit is in a place separate from fear. Your thoughts and actions can operate from that same centered place. If needed, physically move yourself into a place that feels safe, while asking for, receiving, and knowing spiritual help is guiding you. It will FEEL right.
3. Grounding is needed while we live in these physical bodies. Plant a garden. Create or take a job that serves humanity and the Earth. Be practical in your decisions to act. Idealism can lead us into rash actions we later regret.
4. Be a loving person. Our task today is to move our center of consciousness into our hearts. Be kind; love yourself for acting in a way that will make you a better person. Your spirit is perfect; it is the offspring of a loving Creator. Identify with your perfect spirit; it is eternal—going on after this physical life is past.
We are spiritual beings in physical bodies, trying to cope with the drama unfolding around us. Take the time to tune out the drama of the world, and tune into your spirit.
Learning to control our thinking is vital to living a productive and happy life. Meditation and self-reflection is helpful in this process. Use affirmations: “I am choosing to let all conflict go; I am choosing to be at peace.”
“I am grounded.” Visualize your roots of support and strength extending into Gaia, our Mother Earth. Your energy field naturally extends around you in all directions, including going into the Earth. Spend as much time as you can in Nature. Absorb its energy and teachings.
Like a little child, when you live from the heart you have no fear, and others cannot control you. Your effort to be your best is always good enough. And like a little child, you need not judge others. Embrace those who feel like your own, and let loose of those who do not. Wish everyone well, but keep your distance from those people and things which don’t uplift your spirit.
You are valued by the Earth and the Universe. You are loved by those beyond this dimension, and by your Mother-Father Creator. Keep yourself mindfully in that positive light. Open your heart and mind to all the light and love that is available to help and nurture you. You are never alone.
•by Patty Paulsen•Singing at Sunburst’s Sunday service, and listening to the music, quiets our thoughts, so we become very attentive to this very moment of being totally present, totally alive and awake. We experience the movement within our heart as it opens up, and we feel the devotion and love expressed in music. It brings forth within us a peace that is very nourishing.
We can cultivate that peace. It’s always here; it’s eternal. We can do many outward things to cultivate peace in our life. For one, associate with people that have a sense of peace, because it’s contagious. You feel comfortable around them. You feel peaceful too.
We can be mindful of what we nourish our body with. Does it agitate our system? And how does it affect our mind? Is it healing and nourishing?
The greatest work to do in cultivating peace starts within. We can take the most wonderful vacation and get away from it all, but still carry our restless mind and anxious thoughts with us. We’ll never find peace if we don’t start looking for it within ourselves.
That’s the wonderful gift and grace of using a proven tool of meditation. It can tap into that natural peace within. Meditation brings it forth so you can carry it with you in your daily practice of life.
Sit comfortably upright, and still. Sit so you are comfortable and attentive. Notice how much tension you’re carrying in your body. We are bombarded by so much—outer thoughts and activities, anxiety and worry. Sometimes without our even knowing, its piles up in our body.
Mentally scan your body; relax and release tension to create space. You may notice as you release gripping tension, you also release the breath. It moves freer in your body. At the very end of your exhaling breath it dissipates into a neutral background and the new breath comes in from the same place, the same neutral background, the silent witness of just being present.
You’ll notice this neutral background where the breath dissolves, and where it arises again. Breath has an effect on our mind, our thoughts. There is less of a grip in the mind; it too begins to relax, release, and feel more spacious. The inattentive mind can run frantic with thoughts, running to the future, going back in the past. Like watching a train pass in front of us, it’s going so fast with thoughts. But as we begin to watch the breath, the thoughts begin to slow down.
That same neutral witness, that same neutral back drop, that never changes, never jumps into the future, never goes back into the past. It’s totally present. The more we stay in that place, observing that silence witness, the less we get carried away by the train of thoughts. We can pause between our thoughts, by pausing between the inhaling and exhaling breath. In meditation, this pause begins to lengthen naturally on its own. This is the place of peace that surpasses all understanding. It’s a peace in which our ego surrenders, and the mental critic is gone.
The inner critic, that finds fault with everything dissolves. In it’s place, the neutral witness of just being present allows you to feel the peace and joy of being alive, fully alive, fully present in this place.
In this state, we can connect to the center of our soul, to the pure self, to who we truly are. And when we feel this connection, the heart opens up and allows us to stay here. We feel the Divine Presence; we have a center to be a part of, a center to give us the security that we need. We don’t feel empty or alone. Allowing thoughts and feelings to come up later, we don’t grasp and hold them as our own.
And when we find this peaceful, non-judgmental place within us, we see the perfection in other people, and everything around us. We can see what’s behind their personalities, their thoughts, and actions. Our little judging ego steps aside and we just see who we really are, and how connected we truly are to one another.
This peaceful center is where we hear intuition speak to us. We have that pause, that moment to help us make the right choices in life, if we listen. The more we cultivate this awareness, this Presence, the more we’ll be conscious of it throughout our day.
When you catch yourself wandering, just bring yourself back and be present in this space, this spirit; feel the peace of being at home in the present. Staying in this neutral place allows you to partake in life all the more. When you take a walk in nature, you are not thinking of tomorrow or what you did yesterday, but you are present, aware of the wind blowing through the trees, the feeling of the earth beneath your feet. You’re hearing the animals call for their young, noticing the vibrancy of colors, seeingthe sacred geometric patterns in nature.
Every morning in meditation, catch that moment of peace, and carry it with you throughout the day. As we calm our thoughts down, we see the light of consciousness, the pure self that we truly are. We feel our connection to all life, to all beings. We know we are loved, we are here for a reason, we are never alone, the Universe is supporting us every moment. Peace…Peace…Peace!
•Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder• NASA Photo “Hand of God” • What a fantastic thing it is, this Divine Consciousness which is within and around all of us. It is here within you right now, as much as it ever will be. Think of what life would be if everyone was fully aware of I Am That I Am within themselves.
Yes, then the gods would walk the Earth again. Everything human created would be of divine design: the arts, the sciences, structures. One can hardly imagine what our world would be like with all children of God in total possession of Christ consciousness.
Why do we meditate? Meditation leads us within, to discover our true relationship with our Creator, and all life forms. We learn to be caretakers of all the images that I Am That I Am has created.
Meditate to gain your own freedom, and to help the cause of freedom for everyone. Meditate to possess immortality and know it possess you. The answer to every question is within you. It is investigated in solitude, deep prayer and meditation, and with desire and love for God, our Divine Father and Mother.
The nature of the universe is love—unconditional, unending. We think we lose loved ones; that’s an illusion. We find them again the the future. This life was all wrought not that you suffer, but that you joyfully exist in it; to realize how wonderful, how thrilling it is to be in your body, this great atomic structure produced by light and consciousness.
Yes, who created us? Who sustains us? Who keeps all those electrons in obedient orbit? I Am That I Am does! It is dreaming, through our self-conscious minds, that it is you and me and everyone else—each of us unique. But when it wakes up into Christ consciousness, it knows who it really is.
This Divine Consciousness knows it created each of our bodies and everything we see. With each step you take upon the Earth, it feels the vibrational ring and connections with all the atoms therein. You put forth your hand to pick the fruit of a tree, to taste the nectar the sweetness—I Am That I Am is there within you.
Yes, the senses of taste, touch, sight, and hearing are raised to another level when you experience them with the Divine. Hear the wind moving through the trees; see the blue sky and feel the warm sun; realize the miracle of this world floating in infinity…with no end out there that you can behold at this moment.
Who created all of this? That which is inner-dimensionally right within you today! You need to and can know our Creator face to face! That is why we pray and meditate, to know, to speak with, and to enjoy the creation with our Creator every day.
•by Dawn King• photo by April Juels •Today, I found myself reflecting on the music gathering we had last Saturday at Sunburst. People came from near and far corners of California to play and listen to impromptu performances. Mostly the instruments were windblown—Native American style and other flutes, including a didgeridoo, with drums and hand-held percussion. Some years we have participants from out-of-state. This annual event is always well attended, and very enjoyable; some of the musicians are world-class professionals.
What I reflected on this morning was finding myself thinking, “I wish this moment would never end.” Right then, my husband was playing a Native American style flute while a friend was playing a Japanese bamboo flute (shakuhachi). It was such a beautiful moment of harmony, and breath. Every onlooker was rapt with enjoyment. The consciousness of the whole room was raised to a high vibration. It felt as though we were all beyond any thoughts, simply suspended in the exquisite beauty, peace, and perfect harmony. We were in a moment of Heaven on Earth—everything was perfect.
It is my good fortune to have had a number of these Heaven-on-Earth moments, times when I’ve wished the moment would never end. Today I realized that this euphoric feeling is the enjoyment of being in a state of illumination, or Christ consciousness. One’s higher senses, and deeper heart’s love are experienced so intensely, with so much joy. These are moments in which we may find ourself moved to tears—tears of joy.
My greater realization today is that this transcendent experience is available to us EVERY moment. We only need to see/hear/feel the perfection of every moment of life. Through the eyes of the Divine Creator, ALL is perfect. And no moment in time is ever lost from the memory of the Creator.
Our challenge today is to be fully here NOW. The NOW is all that exists, and in the NOW, as you read this, you are FINE. How many moments we have in which we are fine, secure, needing nothing more than to breathe! The more we consciously realize this, the more of these “perfect” moments we will have. We were not created to suffer, but created to enjoy living. We have to allow ourselves to hold that thought, and find the Good, the Beauty, the Love that is available to us. We need only embrace and nurture that which brings joy to our hearts.
The Earth is freeing itself from the negativity which has inadvertently polluted its aura. There may be increasing fires, floods, earthquakes, etc. as this cleansing takes place. Be assured that this is only increasing a pull to Spirit within humankind, like no other time.
Fear comes from thinking we are alone, or not good enough. We are never alone, and we are made in the perfect image of our Creator. All we need do is ask Divine Spirit for help, and it will come. Sometimes it comes from our own realization of the next steps we need to take. We are to empower ourselves by realizing our oneness with the Divine, and offering our gifts to others, to Nature, to the Earth. It starts with our own consciousness, NOW.
Postscript•Before posting this blog, I shared it with a friend who is a long time Zen Buddhist. He commented: I like what you said in your blog article. The only reality is the present moment. The Divine is always with us. In Buddhism, everything comes from the same source, yet everything is always arising and disappearing.
• by Sharon Ray • You will often find that people who care about their health have a strong spiritual life. Loving God and loving life go hand in hand with loving and caring for the body temple that one lives in. Building and maintaining good health is a way to honor the gift of life we have been given. When we are full of energy and vitality, it is easy to be joyful, and it is a sign that we have a strong nervous system.
Our bodies are like light bulbs and the nerves are the pathways upon which energy travels. To feel vital and alive we have to have pathways in good repair and lots of energy traveling along them.
One thing we can do to increase our energy and sense of wellbeing is to be sure we are oxygenating our blood through diaphragmatic breathing. This way of breathing is different from chest breathing in which the rib cage rises in response to our inhales. With diaphragmatic breathing, which is deeper, the abdomen rises and falls with each breath. The oxygen goes deep into our lower lungs, not just into the upper part.
Oxygen fuels all the processes in the body and makes them strong and vibrant. Oxygen helps keep the nervous system strong. Studies have shown that our breathing is directly connected to our emotions and sense of wellbeing.
Shallow breathing is associated with the sympathetic nervous system and can lead to feelings of stress and anxiety. Holding your breath may happen unconsciously when you are very focused, thinking deeply, or repeating negative thought cycles.
Deep breathing stimulates the vagus nerve, activating the parasympathetic nervous system; this promotes relaxation, reducing stress and anxiety. We can practice diaphragmatic breathing by lying on our backs, hands on our lower abdomens, consciously breathing in through the nostrils, sending the air into the lower abdomen.
Feel the abdomen rise. Exhale and feel the abdomen deflate. After a week, begin this practice sitting up. After another week, do it standing, then walking. It will soon become your natural way of breathing. When you catch yourself chest breathing start moving the breath into the abdomen.
Let’s visualize our body as comprised of sparkling, happy cells. In the name of Joy, and of Loving Life, let’s embrace deep breathing!
Paramahansa Yogananda offers this affirmation: “Every cell of my body is filled with light and life. I am radiating vibrant health, peace, and joy through every cell of my body”
