• 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”
A person can fail many times, but they are not a failure until they begin to blame somebody else.
•Excerpt from Thich Nhat Hanh•When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce.
Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument.
That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change.
•More Notes on Blame and Success in Life•
When there is a problem, the best approach is to figure out the root cause. There can be a tendency to place blame, especially on others. Embracing accountability and responsibility helps us realize how we can do better as individuals, and as a group.
This requires an inner and outer environment in which it’s okay to accept responsibility; it’s okay to acknowledge you’ve made a mistake if you have. Then we need to move on in our thinking. Often the root cause of a problem is simply miscommunication, misunderstanding, or lack of information.
Introspection is vital for spiritual growth. It is helpful for group endeavors as well—periodical review of how well we’re doing.
Personal introspection and Self-affirmation helps us grow up as individuals—to assess our progress on meeting our goals in life, and on being who we want to be. Likewise a group with a common vision (be it a family or a company) with self-organizing teams and good infrastructure, makes forward progress and detects problems quickly. And this is a perfect environment for individuals to feel like they are contributing.
The blame game is not for us. Being motivated by a heart of love and kindness benefits us all.
February 3 saw a celebration of the birthday of Sunburst Founder, Norman Paulsen. Following is an excerpt from his book, Life Love God, which begins with a description of his birth.
We are descending. Beneath us lie the waters and the land. This sphere, a celestial garden floating in space, is unmatched in beauty. Where the winds and waters meet the rising of the land, a jagged point appears. Tall cliffs and rocks challenge the heaving, bright blue waters. Above us the radiant body of Father Sun watches in silence as Mother Earth performs her daily revolutions. My life and love flows outward and downward to mingle with visions of crashing waves and torrents of spray. Rainbow images dance in clouds of mist, slowly settling upon glistening monoliths of stone. I encompass all that I feel and observe, moving on toward the east.
Rolling hills and bright green meadows now confront me. Scrub oak, sycamore, and willow, with boughs long bent to the ever-present wind, struggle with their loads. Point Conception, long known to native peoples as the western gateway to the spirit world, contains an ancient necropolis. The western gateway, graveyard for earthbound ships, thrusts forth their stricken bows, caught in its awesome beauty. It’s the point where winds and currents meet and ancient spirits move, fog-shrouded at times; mysterious—and deadly to mariners.
Beyond the coast and over the hills, a fertile valley nestles. Open fields present rich, dark sod to Father Sun’s embrace. A river moves snake-like through the flat and furrowed fields to join the sea at Surf. Sycamore and willow along its banks reach up to gather light from the abundant heavens. This land, this fertile valley, was once the home and refuge of an ancient native people. New owners have now built up a town, thrusting up steeples proud against the sky. We have arrived!
There, up from the river, cradled against the faithful hills, lies the village. White houses with green and red roofs spread out a varicolored carpet. I move closer to see white picket fences covered with honeysuckle and rose. Horses pull wagons on dusty streets, wetted down each eventide. People with faces, each one different, are walking, riding, working. The heavy ring of hammer striking anvil fills the air; horses start in their traces. I stop to watch the spiral motion of coal smoke, its pungent odor heavy on the fresh sea breeze. Across the way, children run and play on a vacant lot.
Impelled by silent motion, I come upon a street running north and south. The house I am looking for faces the rising sun. A picket fence, an open gate, greet me. Green lawns spread out their velvet surface beneath two tall palm trees. Yes, this is indeed the dwelling place of the blind Buddha, my father-to-be.
The blind man walked with a white cane, feeling the earth beneath as he moved. He was stalwart and precise. Deprived of earthly vision, his hearing was acutely extended. He heard the message of the whispering wind and the babbling brook as he extended his life outward into all beings and images around him.
He found me standing there on the street in the midst of his life. My spirit-image flashed before his inner vision; I had startled him. He stopped walking to stand alert in a silent greeting. Time stood still for him. “You have finally come to help me, to be my eyes in this world. I am so very sad and lonely here. No one understands me, no one. My wife tries, but finds me too withdrawn in the Spirit.”
“Long have we been friends,” I replied, “and again we meet. My spirit is fixed upon rebirth here. Our lives must be joined together for a time.” We moved on down the street, floating in a cloud of joy.
• by Dawn King • A terrible beast called Nian lived under the Mountain, and sometimes was seen swimming in the nearby sea. Annually, it caused the villagers who lived in that area to be ill, their children to disappear, or fire to break out among the houses. When the villagers were particularly frightened one year, an old monk appeared and said he would help them while they lay hidden from the monster.
The wise monk found Nian and tricked the monster when it was about to eat him. “What would that prove?” the monk shouted. “I am not dangerous. But if you ate all the poisonous snakes, and dangerous beasts in the area, you would then be known to be Great.” While Nian was busy eating, the old monk put red papers on doors throughout the village and set off firecrackers during the night. The beast, who hated loud noise and the color red, was never seen again! This legend and tradition has endured. [Traditional red envelopes are shown in the starting photo].
Thus, each Spring Festival or Chinese New Year begins its 15-day celebration that ends with the full Moon. It starts on the new Moon that appears between January 21 and February 20th. 2025, Year of the Snake, embodies resourcefulness, self-reliance, and determination. In view of world events, we have to admit that we are living in extraordinary times.
For the past 40 years or so, it has been said that an old Chinese curse was: May you live in interesting times! Interesting times are times of turmoil, upsetting the ordinary pace of a peaceful life. When Dr. Ho Yong was asked about the origin of this phrase, he stated: I speculate that whoever it was who first coined it attempted to give the expression a mystique, and so decided to attribute it to the Chinese. …Confucius, endeavoring to give his opinions and teachings greater gravity and acceptance, once stated, “I do not create; I merely pass on the wisdom of those who have gone before.”
How do we best cope while interesting times pummeling our attention and thoughts? Paramahansa Yogananda shares: The habit of being inwardly in the calm presence of God must be developed, so that day and night that consciousness will remain steadfast. It is worth the effort; for to live in the consciousness of God is to be done with enslavement to disease, suffering, and fear. Just be with God, that is the be-all and end-all of life.… One who finds within themself that “secret place of the most High” becomes suffused with supreme happiness and divine security.”… When one is kicking and splashing about in the water, there is little consciousness of the ocean itself, but of the struggle. But when one lets go and relaxes, the body floats; it feels in its buoyancy the whole sea lapping around it. That is the way the calm devotee feels God, with the whole universe of Divine Happiness rocking gently beneath their consciousness.
• by Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder • To gaze upon the past is to look upon shadows. It matters not what you have done, or where you have come from. Those who have seen and merged with I Am That I Am, the Christ consciousness, all specify that NOW is the time. This very moment, this very life, this miraculous body that you have possession of, should be deemed extraordinary. It’s extraordinary to be alive; it‘s even more extraordinary to hear about eternal life, and the fact that it can be attained. Therefore, each one of us has one goal before us: its attainment.
To think you have other lifetimes for its attainment is to be deluded. With all your strength, all your mind, and all your love, seek I Am That I Am now, while you can. Who can say if after this lifetime you will hear of it again? Now is the time!
To attain that of which we speak demands obedience to the love and virtue it teaches us. I Am That I Am seeks to bring forth this divine rebirth within each of us. It is waiting for all who will receive, guard, nourish, shelter, preserve, and grow it. Every cell of the physical body will be encompassed by it, born into the kingdom of heaven. The orbits of the atoms begin to change in vibration. The son and daughter of God comes forth in joy indescribably, unimaginable!
This earthly life is so short in duration. All that you desire in this world, having gained it, will not fulfill you. Nothing can fill the great emptiness that can only be occupied by I Am That I Am. Cast aside all desires in hopes that you might gain this pearl of great price; that which cannot be bought, sold or controlled.
Like a tiny flame within you, shelter it from the winds of worldly thoughts and desires. Once receiving it, realize that this is your moment, and only you can bring it forth to its full height and know its full purpose, as a son or daughter of God. Pray, cry, pull, desire Mother-Father Divine.
If negative thoughts surround you and plague you, realize they are not yours unless you accept them. Daily, whether you’re working, eating, playing, or praying, constantly try to give all that you do and are, the good and the bad, to I Am That I Am. In our truthfulness and sacrifice, each of us is seen as we are, and will be rewarded openly. By being honest and forthright before God, we are forgiven; we are relieved and lifted up.
Mother-Father Divine takes a seat in the rear. She is not found in front, but behind; not above, but below. Divine Father walks with you wherever you go, unknown to you unless you seek him.
I said to God, “Speak to me of rebirth. Whisper to me of immortal life. It is for all of us; this I surely see.” I Am That I Am, the name of the most high, our Mother and Father Creator, conceives the true you, the true me, the pure Self. This is the rebirth! This is the immortal Christ Child.
Speak this name, chant it. Think of Him and Her all the livelong day. One drop of that Light will change your life forever. The great bliss and ecstasy is before you now. It alights upon your head as you meditate. It touches the secret places in each of us. I Am That I Am will create us anew while yet we live, if we will but allow, if we will remain steadfast, and seek. We’re afraid to die for fear of losing the body, but in seeing I Am, we become fearless, and in giving ourselves to the Divine, we become immortal. This gift is what we seek; and it is to be administered.
•by Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder•[Prayer at a Sunburst group meditation. Thank you to Tom Rae for sharing his aurora borealis photo.]
Almighty Spirit, our Divine Father, our Divine Mother, we feel you alighting on the crowns of our heads, swirling down in your vortexes of light, touching our hearts, breathing in our lungs. We see glimpses of your light before us, through the eye of soul. You are the light of consciousness inhabiting all. You have fashioned each one of us so uniquely.
I see your miracles everywhere in the beauty of this creation. What a wonder it is to be alive in this body, to be able to meditate, to pray, to sing.
What a wonderful energy is produced in a gathering of souls, when the little self in each one joins You, the Great Self that created all of us. Like a bouquet, we offer this to You, Oh God.
Heal our minds and our bodies. Bless us with your presence. Let us feel You descending through the crowns of our heads. Let us see the light of your Cosmic Sun shining in inner space.
Oh Lord, You are the Great Comforter. You mothered us when we were babes, and you have taught us as we’ve grown. We turn to you now, and seek you in those days of life we have before us. We wish to know and serve you.
Reveal your presence to us more and more each day. In our prayers and meditations, all through our days, and when we wake in the darkness of the night, remind us of your presence.
We know You created each one of us, and You are here now as much as You ever will be. We need to discover You, to meet You, to feel your love in our hearts, and see that great light, your Cosmic Sun seen only by the eye of soul.
Divine One, when we pray to You in our meditations, if we listen deeply we can hear our voices in inner space; we have a voice in heaven! You listen to our prayers and answer us with a voice we can hear. In the great hall of the upper chamber within us, we meet You.
You are the light of soul existing in and around each thought. You know we are searching for You. You know our desires. You know our restlessness. You know our love for You. As we sit to meditate, You acknowledge all of this.
Almighty Spirit, our beloved Father and Mother, You are watching and waiting for us to give You our love and attention. You are here, residing within us. We are your children. We love You, Almighty Spirit.
