by Dawn King • It was early morning and I was about to crack an egg into the frying pan when my husband startled me, and I jumped. The egg flew from my hand onto the top edge of the dishwasher door, which was slightly ajar. Next it careened onto the laminate floor.
I’ve dropped eggs a few times over the years, each time resulting in an eggy, gooey mess. But this time a miracle—the egg was intact. Though the shell was cracked, it still clung to the egg. The membrane inside was unbroken, so nothing leaked out. “Whew!” I exhaled.
Instantly a Divine message entered my consciousness. “I AM taking care of you, just like this egg.”
“Wow!” a feeling of relief came over me. Like so many of us since Covid arrived, my whole life has been in tumult for a number of months. Various circumstances have compounded upon the situation, leaving us in a state of worry and uncertainty about the future.
Ideally, we would live in the present, unconcerned about tomorrow. But even the birds outside my window prepare for tomorrow.If they’re acorn woodpeckers, they gather acorns and stash them. And all birds make nests in preparation for the coming of a new brood.
Humans not only want to prepare for tomorrow, but want to feel that there’s safety in the future. This is hard when life throws you a sudden, unexpected challenge. It can be hard even when you see the challenge imminently bearing down on you. What to do?
Sunburst’s founder Norm Paulsen seemed to advise meditation as the solution for everything. The longer I live, the more I learn how effective regular meditation, and devotion to Spirit is. Through meditation we learn to realize and reflect on the many gifts of Spirit in our lives. This leads us to love the Divine, and want to be closer to, and more in harmony with our Creator.
Norm once said: “Each time that we meditate, the imprint of our heart’s love leaves an eternal picture in the mind of our Creator.…We are part of immortal life, here in this world for such a short time.…We were each created perfect in the beginning. Let us strive to regain our perfection.”
From the Divine Heart of Love, we have each come. Divine Love is the Seed within each of us. When we connect with that Seed and nourish it, in turn it nourishes our spirits. If the ability to meditate eludes us, we can still reflect on the blessings of each day, and develop love by loving those around us, realizing they too are divinely created and sustained, just like us.
Love inspires Faith in us that helps us hear and know the truth of its message: “All is well; I Am taking care of you. Seek me and listen.”
Light on Sunburst Sanctuary – Springing Forward • Despite very cool mornings, Nature is springing forward at Sunburst Sanctuary. An opening double-photo shows the King’s almond tree at the start of February with buds on bare branches (left side) and, at the end of the same month, fully opened almond blossoms (right side). Deer are enjoying fresh green shoots in the main field (below).
Farther up the canyon, a field Sean disked and sewed with hay seed (1st photo below), is now green with new growth (2nd photo below).
To prevent insects larvae from boring into dormant spring peach tree buds, Al sprayed mineral oil on them.
A Pueblo Blessing: Hold onto what is good, even if it is a handful of earth. Hold onto what you believe, even if it is a tree which stands by itself. Hold onto what you must do, even if it is a long way from here. Hold onto life, even when it is easier letting go. Hold onto my hand, even when I have gone away from you.
The Kriya Yoga meditation technique of pranayama, life-force control that transmutes breath into subtle lifetronic energy, brings positive realization that the composition of the body is pure cosmic energy. In the adept practice of Kriya, the body is oxygenated and its atoms etherealized until it becomes light as a feather.
Man has no idea how much power comes into the body when he has mastered the mystery of the breath. Kriya practice brings a regulated, continuous inflow of oxygen into the body, the atoms of which, by the process of pranayama, are transmuted into life force, reinforcing the subtle currents in the spine. In turn these currents awaken the astral cerebrospinal centers and spiritualize the entire body.
After years of successful practice, the body of the advanced Kriya Yogi becomes so spiritualized that in exalted states he can hardly feel it touch the ground. The suffusion of life force becomes so powerful that the whole body loses its delusive solidity and actually levitates. I can testify to that from my own experience. But the beginner should not expect to jump weightless tomorrow!
Modern man is accustomed to getting results quickly; his industry and technology manufactures products so rapidly that he thinks there should be a convenience package of concise spiritual progress as well. A presumption of instant spiritual achievement is perhaps more than a bit audacious considering the innumerable lifetimes already spent in making oneself an unspiritual being. Even a lifelong practice is little to be required. Nevertheless, the Kriya Yoga science and art of meditation are not drudgery, because gradual transforming results are felt from the very beginning.
•Consider yourself very humble. This means one should do service, prayers, and maintain a feeling of being a servant of all.
•Always do satsanga – associate with spiritually oriented people, inquire into the nature of yourself, and read spiritually uplifting writings.
•From time to time, congregate in a place and talk about God.
•Do not show disrespect for any name or form of God.
•At least once a year, leave worldly duties and go to a retreat for a month, or a week, or at least three days and enjoy the solitude.
Paramahansa Yogananda said this about Lahiri Mahasaya:
“The Kriya Yoga which I am giving to the world through you in this nineteenth century,” Babaji told Lahiri Mahasaya, “is a revival of the same science which Krishna gave millenniums ago to Arjuna, and which was later known to Patanjali, and to Christ Jesus, Saint John, Saint Paul, and other disciples.
“The science of Kriya Yoga … became widely known in modern India through the instrumentality of Lahiri Mahasaya, my guru’s guru.Lahiri Mahasaya received it from his guru, Babaji, who rediscovered and clarified the technique after it had been lost in the Dark Ages.”
Light on Sunburst Sanctuary – Amidst the Wild Things
Our trail camera captured this photo of a mountain lion walking at midday on a popular, though somewhat remote Sanctuary path. Yes, Sunburst Sanctuary is an intentional wildlife sanctuary, as well as a sanctuary for people. From the same camera, here’s a nighttime picture of a black bear.
Other animals that are common at the Sanctuary, but you may not see them, are skunks (stripped and spotted), opossums, raccoons, foxes, and coyotes. You may hear a coyote serenade the night, which is when all of these animals are most active.
Day or night, bobcats are hunting for gophers or mice in the open fields. Sometimes a large heron will land at the Sanctuary for the same purpose. And seasonally, wild turkeys strut around in plain sight amidst the numerous deer. We’ll cover more of our wild residents in another post. It’s a great blessing to coexist among the wild things.
by Dawn King • We’re always happy to have a sudden pleasant surprise, especially something that seems like a miracle. But every day offers us numerous mini-miracles, in which we can find just as much happiness and pleasure. Life is richer and more supportive when you start to realize the many miracles that allow us to exist, to experience, and to reflect.
When we want more happiness in our days, it’s worth taking the time to consciously acknowledge the blessings of each day. Often these “miracles” are the things we experience every day: good friends, family, a job we like, our health, our home, etc.
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on Earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” – Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfullness
Pausing in our day to be fully conscious of the moment, can bring us new realizations of the miracles all around us. Regular meditation times can help us develop this consciousness. But the more we can pause to take a deep breath and reflect, even if it’s in the midst of activity, the more we will come to fully experience and appreciate each moment.
When life is not going well, it’s an even more important time to reflect on the moment. If we can flip our mind to the positive side, and focus on what is going well in this difficult time, we will attract more miracles into our days. Life is always trying to give us a life preserver, a solution, or a new way to connect with it.
At the start of the Covid shutdown in California, I was embarking on a much anticipated trip to Mexico with a friend. It was the miracle of a vacation, which I sorely needed. After hours of travel and our failure to cross the border, exhausted, we retreated to her home at 2 a.m. She then invited me to stay and vacation at her house. It was another miracle that gave me a much needed rest from responsibilities at my home.
In reflecting, I’ve also realized that what I always thought was one of the worst years of my life was actually one of the best. When I was in the 4th grade, my teacher who was very stern, drilled us endlessly with multiplication tables and homework. We spent hours practicing our writing, and I got into trouble for acting too funny.
The gift in all this was: that same year I gained a pen pal in another country and won some writing contests, and then in 5th grade I got to trade math for art class. It took me many years to appreciate the positive side of what I’d always considered a dark year in my life. If you reflect long enough, you may also find that your darkest moments have some of the greatest gifts in them. Meanwhile, I hope you find the miracles and blessings of today.
P.S. My inspiring friend Shawn Anderson shared this: At the end of each day, I ask myself: “What was today’s highlight?” I reflect, write my answer on a small slip of paper, fold it, and put the day’s highlight in my Dream Box…an accountability tool to keep me connected to remembering that every day has something good about it, a highlight. The Dream Box also reminds me that dreams, goals, and wishes articulated on paper are the first step in making them happen. Life is as magical as we choose to make it! *Free newsletterShawnAnderson.com
