What is Love?

Hey Friends, I recently did a video about what is love. And I change the last part of that sentence to say, What IS Love. Love IS. Through this video – you can experience love and understand and experience that it IS. You don’t have to earn love.

What will I learn about love in this video?

As you watch this video an experience of love emerges, not merely as a fleeting emotion, but as a living energy that permeates existence. You are invited to establish a relationship with this intrinsic love, recognizing that it resides within you, just awaiting recognition and connection.

The journey begins with a deliberate shift in focus, away from the distractions of daily life and towards the essence of love within yourself. Through the simple act of mindful breathing, you are encouraged to embrace the presence of love as a fundamental aspect of your being.

Love is recognized as more than just a word or a feeling; it is a force of creation, a frequency, and an energy that transcends time. This understanding challenges conventional notions of love, which often involve attachment, expectation, and validation from external sources.

Central to this exploration is the recognition of your inherent right to exist, independent of external validation or approval. This journey emphasizes the importance of resting in this awareness, free from the need to prove yourself or seek validation from others.

As you deepen your relationship with love, you experience and therefore come to understand that you are not separate from love, but rather extensions of its infinite essence. This realization within you, fosters a sense of interconnectedness with all of existence, leading to a profound appreciation for the inherent worth and autonomy of every being.

Love IS

Love is a guiding force, leading individuals towards a state of inner peace, acceptance, and authenticity. From this place of love, actions are no longer driven by expectation or desire for validation, but by a genuine desire to connect and express love towards yourself and others.

By embracing love as both a personal and universal truth, you can find solace, guidance, and profound fulfillment in your journey through life.

What Is Love – You Are!

Am I making the right decision?

I was out pruning some trees and saw a bird’s nest in the branches of one tree. To not disturb the nest, I decided to skip that tree. I continued working and my mind wandered to thoughts of the momma bird and how happy she would be that she made the right decision. Then, I started to step over the top of the limbs that were on the ground.

I felt a rush in my head!

It was like a pause in my body – midway across the branches! I wonder if I froze! As my foot came down on the other side of the branch pile, I took in what had just hit me. This wasn’t a voice in my head (like thoughts) but an awareness of a concept. Decision making isn’t about making a perfect or right decision. Turns out, decisions are simply supported by the universe and not about right or wrong.

Enjoy yourself and make decisions – Lead your life!

So many of us can get caught up in the question and in fear. Am I making the right decision? It can be paralyzing – because being wrong is such a taboo. Well, life isn’t to be lived that way. Make decisions from your heart and lead yourself and feel the support and protection of the universe.

Am I making the right decision?

That isn’t the question at all. It takes us away from center and it takes us away from the decision we are making. Instead of deciding about what you were thinking or wanting to do – you are trying to be right and not wrong. And that is a completely separate issue! At that moment – you are in conflict and survival (gotta be right, can’t be wrong). What you were considering is now far down the list and separate from what you choice making ability. You are trying to decide – how to be right versus deciding about what you were considering. Look at this question: Am I making the right decision? See it isn’t even what you were thinking about!

What do I do?

When you realize you are trying to be right, stop. Go back to the idea or thought that originated the decision process. Let go of if it is right or wrong. Move from the idea you had versus what others will think of it. Get wrong or right out of your way – and choose for what leads you forward.

To watch a video created in the moment of that awareness click below:

You can also view on tik tok:

@destinationonelove

Is it the right decision? It’s not about making a right decision. Make a decision and the universe supports you #motivation #fyp #lesbiansoftiktok

♬ original sound – Destination One Love

Dolly Parton – the country Dolly Lama

Dolly is real.  Her songs have basic words that say things to our hearts very simply and bluntly.  It works because her heart is singing and she writes from the truth of her own experience.  That truth is conveyed with her tone.  I believe that is why she resonates with everyone from drag queens to grandma.  Her one liners break you open and then somehow comfort you.   Her relatability enhanced with big hair, glitter and boobs – allows a great spiritual teacher to sing and dance in disguise.  America’s Dalai Lama – is our beloved Dolly Lama.

Dolly Lama swings a velvet covered brick!

Dolly shows us to not take ourselves so seriously, to create our own reality, and to love and laugh our way through life.  But Dolly can meet us snot nosed in the floor broken-hearted too.   She is a “have” now, but she still understands what it feels like to be a “have not.”   You can hear it in her voice and how she speaks and in what she does.  Of course, she noted this (asking for “change”) in her latest Christmas special, “Christmas on the Square.”  However, the one liner that got me, the one that sent me to the floor was in her song with the Regina Fuller character played by Christine Baranski.  In the movie, Regina’s father had taken her newborn baby away to be adopted.  Regina was reflecting on how her life had changed that day and the turmoil of emotions related to the event.  Dolly, as the Angel, sings a song (Rearview Mirror). This song is one of her velvet covered red bricks that she hits us in the head with.   I stopped the movie and rewound it – I had to hear that one liner again.  “What happened then is gone forever.”  

Oh no she didn’t!

Yes, that is what Dolly sang!  She actually put that line in the song!  My first thought was – you can’t say that to someone.  But, Dolly did, with her angelic glow and big hair.   I thought, what is Dolly thinking – to say that to someone’s intense pain – as if they are gonna get over it  – like snap.  But then it hit me – oh God Dolly – it’s the truth and you know it and I feel it in your tone.   There is literally no way to go back and it is gone forever.   Thank you for saying that.  For saying something the rest of us are afraid too, still fighting against, or haven’t fully realized yet.   It works when Dolly does it, you can swing the velvet brick when you been there and done that.   When you care enough to break someone wide open.  And they will break open – when they are ready.  They may just crack a little the first time…but that is why we have Dolly available for replay.    

Not accepting the past keeps us stuck reliving it – never grieving it – never letting go

So there I was – sitting on my couch.  The Dolly-Lama had visited and told me I couldn’t go back to the past – it was gone forever.  I felt anger, I felt frustration – I wanted to fix it.  If I couldn’t fix it – oh God – I had to grieve it…. So much grief was held back by not accepting the past.   But that was key to letting it go.   Once the situations were grieved, they moved.  Then there was some sadness to deal with, cause it was true – what happened was true and I couldn’t change it.   There was resentment, denial…. And then the velvet of acceptance.  I had carried so much for so long wanting to fix, adjust, change the past so it wasn’t true.  If I kept it partly there – my mind would play with it – trying to make it different somehow.  But thinking somehow unconsciously – that I could change it was the lie.  And guess what I was ok – and I was going to be ok.   And when I wasn’t reaching to the past, I could be more present and so the future could hold other things besides reliving the past. 

The Guru under the glitz!

We show up for the teachings of the Dolly-Lama.   Covered in rhinestones and glitter is a heart that tells us the truth – sings with knowing in plain ‘ol English – sending us the voice tones that heal with awareness. She hits us with a brick of truth and loves us back together.  

Related meditation; https://destinationonelove.com/the-beauty-of-nothing-lasting-forever/

Link to Dolly’s Christmas Special and website: https://dollyparton.com/life-and-career/dolly-partons-christmas-on-the-square-to-premiere-on-november-22/18086

Dolly’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/dollyparton

Dolly’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dollyparton/

There is only Self Love because there is no other

In a small outside gathering (socially distanced of course), I gathered with a few friends to celebrate the winter solstice. Self love became a topic there and the need for laughter in these times. Later, when having an outdoor lunch with a work colleague – self love came up again and we noted that you cannot love another until you love yourself. Then alone on my porch – I heard deeply in my heart, “There is only Self Love because there is no other.”

I decided to dive deeply into that awareness – or perhaps it absorbed me!

I breathed into the awareness – There is only Self Love because there is no other.” This is a concept that many spiritual folks speak to – but what is that really. This meditative conversation helped deepen my experience of this truth. We are all one – we do not look at the ocean as a collection of droplets, we see it as a whole. As are we, one whole. Enjoy this journey with me – there are several places where a concept is expressed and followed by a deepening into the energy….so expect some pauses and silence.

My next day was totally different and I released tension in my solar plexus

The next day after diving into this concept, I met a friend online just to practice being in presence together. In that time, I focused on loving myself. I recognized I was extending that same love to “the other.” Then, I looked at my image on zoom and their image – at that point I became the observer and lover of both as one. And as I held that space, the tension in my solar plexus released. My gut has been jiggling all day now!!! I hope you enjoy this meditative conversation: There is only Self Love because there is no other.

There is only Self Love as there is no other
There is only Self Love as there is no other

For more meditations visit: https://destinationonelove.com/access-a-meditation/

To practice presence together visit: https://destinationonelove.com/presence-practice-group/

Accepting yourself is the only validation needed

About 10 years ago, I was standing in a trailer in the Arizona desert.  I was interacting with Eugene Albright.  He was telling me that everyone had the right to exist – as they are.  My body felt that truth.  He was the most brilliant and humble man that I had ever met.  Gene was more than a mentor and was sharing with me what he learned after his near death experience.  He energetically took me into that awareness. I accepted as much of it as I could at the time.  Accepting yourself is the only validation needed and when you do that – you realize validation is not required or real.  Validation is a concept, but you exist and you are real and you are acceptable as you are.  

This awareness came to my body again!

I was listening to a podcast called ReRooted.  Francesca Maxime was interviewing Tada Hozumi about identity, trauma and privilege.  About 35 minutes into the podcast, Tada was talking about insecure cultural attachment.  As Tada explained this concept, they referenced an example of “not feeling deserving of being here,” (specifically on Turtle Island).   My body reacted to their statement.  I had been walking while listening to the podcast.  I stopped moving.  I became aware that there was the feeling of not having the right to exist.  I suddenly was back in the trailer and Eugene was looking in my eyes saying people had the right to exist as they are – the two energies were crashing inside me. 

I saw the trees around me existing without this question. I felt the universe waiting for humanity to self-recognize and recognize our connection with the universe. The absurdity of validation was collapsing as self-acceptance further ignited.   I could feel what Tada and Francesca were talking about in a visceral way – at a root level…it was a deep wound for humanity. 

Accepting yourself is the only validation needed

Since we exist, we have the right to be here and self-acceptance is most important. Tada and Francesca spoke of how the body knows the truth. And I could feel that waiting for a seat at the table provided by others is recognized by our bodies as an uncomfortable and lesser space. 

How does it feel to you? You are here – you exist – you are not waiting for someone to give you a seat at the table they designed and may welcome you too.   Welcome yourself to the right of your own existence.  Accept yourself and how does that feel to your own body.  Is there any higher validation?  My body resonated with my acceptance of my own power! Validation as a concept dissipates in the presence of our own existence. 

For a journey into the energy of self-acceptance, listen to this meditative conversation that came from my experience on the walk. (Audio file or embedded video):

Validation is a concept, Existence is Real – Accept Yourself
Accepting yourself is the only validation needed. Validation is a concept, Existence is real – Accept Yourself

Links to the ReRooted podcast with Francesca and Tada:

For part 1: Episode 15

https://beherenownetwork.com/francesca-maxime-rerooted-ep-15-tada-hozumi-pt-1/

For part 2: Episode 16

https://beherenownetwork.com/francesca-maxime-rerooted-ep-16-tada-hozumi-pt-2/

The Benefit of Seeing Each Other’s Pain

I was driving home and passed a small animal that had been hit and it was dead. My heart broke when I saw it and I felt myself look away and search for something to distract me from the feelings. I realized that I did not want to feel the hurt and sadness. I knew I couldn’t fix it and that made it unbearable. There must be a better way of dealing with these painful feelings. It was more than just feeling sad for the animal, it opened all the places where others are hurting. What was the benefit of seeing each other’s pain?

I wanted to go straight to the benefit!

Why – cause feeling this stuff sucks!

Some spiritual folks just jump to a quick fix – but I think it falls a little flat. They will speak about karma and life being a play. That when we die – we return to source and we are all one – so we were doing it to ourselves and it was for learning. And though the concept may be correct – do you feel better just hearing that? Does it resonate deep enough yet? What if we did not jump straight to the end and take the time to journey through this a bit more?

Have we received the benefit of seeing each other’s pain if we don’t look closely at it? To see from the top of the mountain, you have to climb it. To see the beauty of the valley, you have to spend some time in it. Understanding the beauty of both means that you have experienced both the valley and the mountain top.

What are the benefits of this journey?

First, the willingness to do it changes you. Then facing the denial, the fear and the guilt. Feeling the hopelessness and the helplessness – all allows the opportunity for the benefit of truth to come in. And that truth and compassion is what unites us. It is with us in the valley and fuels the ability to climb the mountain. Then the truth is not intellectual but a real part of our experience. This experience and willingness makes our hugs real, our speech ring true and is the supportive strength in our eyes as we look at one another. It is the benefit of seeing each other’s pain.

Listen to the meditative conversation or watch the YouTube video:

The Benefit of Seeing Each Other’s Pain
The Benefit of Seeing Each Other’s Pain

For more meditative conversations go to: https://destinationonelove.com/access-a-meditation/

Self Confidence isn’t something you build

We often seek to “build” self confidence. We believe we lack self confidence. But that is not the case. The problem is that we have an abundance of unworthiness. What if self confidence is a natural occurrence? What if all the confidence you need is immediately present when you stop judging yourself? You can feel it in this meditative conversation. Self confidence isn’t something you build. It is already present and comfortable inside you when you shift your focus from unworthiness.

We can stop trying to build self confidence the hard way and let it arise!

The conversation dives into how we have placed our value in unworthiness! Guiding to the awareness of ourselves and others as worthy. But when we are in the hole of what is wrong with us, how do we get out? The meditation helps us dig out of the hole we dug for ourselves! And once out of the hole, we shift into wholeness. We stop fixing what we are not and step into who we are! When we are authentic, confidence is!

The difference is amazing!

I encourage you to listen. It is honestly such a relief to know that self confidence isn’t something you build. And how many hours have we been banging away at it, trying to find the right design. All along, it was about knocking down what we built around unworthiness. Confidence is present and alive in each of us – no blueprints, construction or designs needed! You are worth a listen and the world needs what you can do!

You Are Worthy
We don’t suffer from a lack of self confidence, but from an abundance of unworthiness.

Two other related meditative conversations are available at the following links:

https://destinationonelove.com/you-dont-need-to-fit-in-fit-others-into-you/

https://destinationonelove.com/being-comfortable-and-present-in-our-bodies/

Do you spend time in nature or spend time as nature?

I am not sure how I came to see a tweet from Astrid Tontson but I am grateful.  My usual feed includes technology, AI, NASA, Ram Dass and cyber security.  And even though I have not asked for it – there are plenty of posts on Covid, unrest, and politics.   Then in the midst of all that is competing for my attention, was an amazing compelling (not competing but compelling) image from a photographer in the UK.  As I looked at her work I became even more aware of this question: Do I spend time in nature or spend time as nature?

What was it that was so compelling about these images?

We all have seen videos of nature scenes before, but there was something more in Astrid’s videos and pictures.  What was the additional element? Nature images are often relaxing and calming – but these were soulful and present.  It seemed the mist, the sunrise, the water, and the animals spoke through the lens.  Through her lens, you watch nature communicate to nature.  I watched the deer on the side of the water eating leaves and grass, aware of the ducks in the water for some time.  Then the ducks swam a bit out and the deer moved into the water.   It was obvious there was communication, pause, and spacing being related between species.   The deer had waited for the ducks to move. (Link below)

These scenes are rich in deep conversations that do not use words.

Astrid selects a single camera angle and perspective.  The camera does not move.  Her lens becomes my eyes and this single perspective takes me into stillness.  That simplicity and wisdom of angle establishes a perspective of centering stillness. But there is still something more. 

There was no separation!

When we observe anything – are we seeing it as separate from ourselves?  Whatever you are looking at notices you.  And it is aware of you.  If we march into nature and whip out a camera – animals scatter.  They just know.  But what if you went into the park as nature?  That is what is also unique about these images – because nature is looking at nature.   Awareness is looking at awareness.  Astrid is nature.  Her perspective, her lens, her approach is one with nature.  She is natural, aware, and allowing.  She is noticed and then accepted as she is not separate.  There is no separation!

She blends with nature and her lens is included in the communication that is happening from nature to nature.  As she is present and enjoying and appreciating what is – it opens to her and that is captured.  As I watch the video – I am included in that way.   Through her camera – I am not looking AT nature.  I am present to and in stillness with nature and as a part of nature I am being with that which I also am.  Separation disappears and I am a part of the scene and not just observing the scene.  This is because Astrid is in that state – blended with nature.  Being nature.   And nature communicates to us through her images. 

So now, when I sit on my porch – I am reminded that I am not looking out at nature.  It isn’t happening in front of me – I am not separate from the shared space.  I am BEING nature, still, aware and present.  

A thousand cameras can take a picture of a sunset – but on occasion we can see a photograph and we become the sunset.  Nature is inclusive – Astrid reminds me that I am not separate from nature and when in that space – soulful communication happens.  

Links to Astrid’s work and enjoy for yourself:

I smiled when I saw the title of her You Tube channel – check it out:  Soul Food! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkPvIUHVbWl6Sk6WyL_0YEA

The video of the deer and ducks is available in this tweet: https://twitter.com/Astrid_Tontson/status/1254332727010222080

You are nature

Just as nature includes you when you include it – you have that same ability to let go of trying to fit in – and fit others into you. Listen to this short meditative conversation to change the script on needing to fit in: https://destinationonelove.com/you-dont-need-to-fit-in-fit-others-into-you/

The Beauty of Nothing Lasting Forever

There is a beauty in nothing lasting forever. Another way of saying it is: the beauty of an ever changing universe. To discover that beauty we have to let go of control. To do so, we face the realization that control is an illusion. We really aren’t in control. So what do we do then?

This meditative conversation takes us on a journey – you have two versions to choose from. The short version takes you to the edge of the cliff and you can look over. In the extended version you take a leap right over. The beauty of nothing lasting forever can feel scary to the mind, but it is freedom for the soul. Take the leap – the illusion is the only thing at risk.

In this meditative conversation – move into letting go of control and the acceptance of not ever having been in control. In the extended version, we move into the struggle that mind can have and the games it can play to hang on to control and then finally relax into what is and the beauty of an ever changing universe.

The Beauty of Nothing Lasting Forever or an Ever Changing Universe – Short version
The Beauty of Nothing Lasting Forever or an Ever Changing Universe – Extended

These meditations are also available on YouTube using the links below:

The Beauty of Nothing Lasting Forever – short video version
The Beauty of Nothing Lasting Forever (extended version)

For more meditative conversations use the following link:

https://destinationonelove.com/access-a-meditation/

Being comfortable and present in our bodies

I was stretched up against the wall when my yoga teacher said, “The body is always present.” In that moment my mind opened and expanded. I understood more deeply how our thoughts stress the body and that the body is a tool to keep our minds present. That reminder lead to this meditative conversation on being comfortable and present in our bodies. It also helps you understand how thoughts of the past and future – stress the body.

I could walk into a room and be comfortable by simply changing one thing!

Instead of walking into a room and wondering where I might fit in, or what others were thinking of me, or listening to my thoughts about the others or myself. Instead, I could walk in the room in comfort and extend that comfort to all. The only thing that changed was feeling my body from the inside and being present to the body.

Listen to the following meditative conversation and enjoy the body you are inside!

You can also watch on Youtube using the following link:

A meditative conversation about being comfortable and present in our bodies

For more meditative conversations go to: https://destinationonelove.com/access-a-meditation/

Special thanks to Kathy (my yoga teacher) for saying so deeply and intuitively – the body is always present! Kathy @ https://ridethebreath.com

Judgment warps your energy flow

Recently I decided to work on judging again.   I had already learned that judgments were opinions and not truth. I understood from experience that it reinforced separation and interfered with my awareness of oneness. I had even had the direct learning of how you could either judge someone or love them. That realization was profound on its own…as I realized that is how source looks at us. Source is not judging all we do but is focused on loving us. A very beautiful awareness. Unwittingly, I had considered judgment as “just a thought” – but I was to learn it was much more. In fact, judgment warps your energy flow.

The everyday moment that shifted my experience

In looking at judgment again, I had another unique experience.   While having some construction work done, the man working on my flooring had brought his nephew along to learn.  His nephew was not enthusiastic but was helping.  I actually had space for his lack of enthusiasm – in fact, I understood he would rather be having a “good” time and could not see the benefit of learning a trade at this moment.   Been there myself!

They needed just one more 2×4 and I had one in the shed but it had some nails in it and it would need to be cut with that awareness.  The nephew got the task…I mentioned the nails to him…he dropped the 2×4 on the ground…rolled it with his foot toward the large saw…continued to use his foot to adjust it on the saw platform.  Nudging it, looking at his phone, using his other foot to kinda straighten it.  I became concerned. He wasn’t really being observant and his adjustments were not accurate and he was turning on the saw blade!   In that instant – I thought in my mind, “You idiot! You are going to get hurt or hurt someone else – you idiot” 

Everything stopped for a moment – time slowed down. I was suddenly aware of many things at once.

There was my judgmental thought (which many would agree with) and it felt so right!  It was dangerous what he was doing after all!   However, the judgment wasn’t dealing with the danger. It was framing him as an idiot.   I could see and feel an energy coming from my body and it was surrounding him with aggression/anger.  I felt it moving through me and thought – what do I really want here?   My answer was that I wanted him to be safe and not get hurt or hurt anyone.   The energy flow stopped as I noticed it.  

I shifted my thinking to: “I support your safety and wisdom as you work.” Suddenly, the flow of energy was so much more dynamic!

Instead of a warped and aggressive pushing from my own energy; the energy shifted to support and surged to 100% stronger! It came into my body and flowed through me. The energy felt good to my body, it was so much richer and flowed at a totally different rate and did not attack him though it did surround him. His shoulders softened and he adjusted the wood differently and was mindful of what he was doing.

The realization – Judgment warps your energy flow!

I realized how judgment is way more than just a commentary of thought.   It can also take a good intention and warp its energy flow.  It depletes me of my own energy and baths me and others in discordant energy.  Judging is such a waste of time and costs too much.   This new experience was an extension on how to love others and did even more to include loving me. And, quite efficient on the use of energy!  When you realize how judgment warps your energy flow and feel the difference- it is amazing! Being non-judgmental and continuing to pursue new levels of release is a gift to yourself.

Judging others reinforces our separateness from our own being and therefore reinforces our separateness from all beings. …

-Deana C
Jugment can block our path
Judgment warps your energy flow – arghhh – now we are stuck on the road! LOL!

You don’t need to fit in – Fit others into you!

Have you ever worried about fitting in? Have you felt anxious when around people you felt excluded you? Have you wished you had more self confidence? It is kinda like being a square peg trying to fit in a round hole. It ends up being two small objects bouncing off each other. And you know what – the square peg never needed to become smaller to fit in a hole! Experience this meditative conversation and let go of digging for self confidence and trying to fit in.

Take a moment to sit and relax and breathe into this meditative conversation on the spaciousness of you. It shifts the perspective of trying to fit in. In fact, it opens the spaciousness of you to graciously fit others into the vastness of who you are.

How Spacious are you – How Spacious YOU ARE!
You don’t need more self confidence or to keep trying to fit in – your spacious enough to fit others into you!

To access other meditations and conversations, click the following link: https://destinationonelove.com/access-a-meditation/

Oneness and the Ego’s Loneliness and Fear

So here I sit, in a state of oneness and noticing my ego’s loneliness.  Oneness seems lonely and horrible to it.  It is a ghastly feeling and I wanted to understand and sit in it.   It was so sad and disappointed – nauseous at the discovery that there was no one else out there…. It wished I had never pursued this concept of oneness.   Now, there was only me…and everything else was make believe…oh it was better when there had been the belief in others… it was bereft at the realization there was only a lonely one.

…. Now I would always know the real world was not real and there was no fixing this….

Then I focused again on the oneness and in that space….the fear relieved.  The mind had seen oneness as a single thing – still separate from all that is… but in the oneness…there was no separation – no desperate aloneness.   Everything was a part of oneness, you, me, sky, earth – all that is … as one…nothing was alone or separate.   It was beautiful to be the one…it was not lonely.  The concept of separation was the tripping point for the mind. 

The ego mind also did not trust the universe… well, there was a little trust, but only if everything was going nicely.   How do you trust when things are going wrong?   The mind new the pressure of making perfect decisions…trying to get everything right so things went as best as possible.  It also realized it wasn’t in control enough of all circumstances and knowledge to handle that job….so it was left with the feeling of pressure without the ability to always succeed.   This was a miserable space as well.   Its only hope was to trust the universe and it really did not trust the universe….since it did not have a guarantee of control and all things working out ok.  

Focusing again in the state of oneness… all was ok.  Trust was there as I was a part of the universe.  I was not separate from the universe, so trust was also trusting in what was the real me.   But the mind was quick to respond… but what about all the things we see happening… when people are hurt or attacked or the list goes on …about circumstances that people endure.  

I returned to focus on oneness…the answer this time was not as satisfying to the mind but still transformative for the mind.   Here the answer was to merge deeper into the trust and the oneness…. The answer was there but beyond the capacity of the mind to rationalize.   I sat in the answer… and even though the mind was not satisfied with a sentence it was transformed a bit more from the space of trust. 

The difference in the ego mind and oneness – is that oneness can function comfortably in a state of the unknown and with the presence of truth that cannot be verbalized.   The mind is not super happy with that aspect.  But I am not the mind, so I can continue to function. 

My day became more peaceful – the mind was not completely at ease – tossing up a few more what ifs based in fear of loss…It came up with a juicy one!  “What happens if you lose your attachment to yourself?!”  I stop for a moment.   It follows up…”Anything could happen to you then!”   I feel into the vastness of that possibility and the groundlessness of it.  Whoa! I smile and say… “Yes!”  The mind was not happy about that future.  Don’t worry mind, you’ll still have a function.  But you were never created to be my antagonist. It was how you were trained – how society and I helped form you from the concept of separateness.   However, you exist as a function and so we will work toward that renewed place together. 

The Acceptance of an Undemanding Universe

The experience:

I had just been centered for quite some time, listening and watching some of my thoughts.   I noticed that they had a theme of fear and worry.   And they were subtly demanding things.   Not in a harsh way, but still statements like – I need this or that by a certain time.  The thoughts were not angry, but worried or concerned.   I still recognized they were demands.   Then I realized – the demands came from a place where I needed something from the other (God, universe, people, or the economy).   I realized they were rooted in the idea of being separate.  I am over here and it is over there and I need it.   And I could logically say, “well, isn’t that true… It is outside of my hands – I can’t give it to me – the other has to do that”.   It was a solid belief that I was separate.  However, I am not separate so this belief (though it felt so true -provable- believable) was not real. 

This realization of not being separate was so deeply felt – that I instantly saw my whole life come up and a barrage of lifetime images rolled through my awareness of subtle and not so subtle times that I had demanded of others, God as I knew it, and myself.   I couldn’t sit still. I started to shake and let out a moan.   I jumped out of my chair and started running through the house.  I stopped to shake, then started running again. I came to a wall and gently bounced into it while moving and turning.   The sounds still came out of my body.  After a bit, this subsided.  More awareness came to mind of how I am not separate – how my requests and statements do not have to be a demand.   I can state what I believe I need.  Since I am not separate from all that is (source) – well – then of course I want the best and highest for me.  Then, I let it go and trust.   Yes, that is the hard part.  

The problem:

As soon as I do that my mind starts ranting what ifs! I am being real here.  Of course, my mind wants to solve it yesterday – financial needs, personal desires, health issues – there is a list of hopes, desires and needs that rise up from the mind – still insisting that I am separate.   All these years of looking at the world from the separate perspective doesn’t just vanish – but I do have the new deeply felt awareness that this is an old way of living.   Shifting this perspective is part of the journey too.  

It defies the mind – literally defies it.  I can’t minimize this aspect.   It was the opposite of what I knew according to my experience.   I believed the lie so deeply; it was all that I thought I knew.   And, I can be stuck in that for as long as I want. This awareness came with the next realization about the total acceptance of an undemanding universe.   The universe does not demand that I change my mind.   It fully supports my right to choose and create my world.   Crap! There was something so beautiful and comforting about things being out of my control – being separate – being at the mercy of whatever.   At least, I tried to achieve X and it was beyond my control if I couldn’t get it.  And this new way of thinking – of not being separate landed me back in the same place in a way – to let go of demands and control and trust.   It is the same place but with no one to blame – no circumstances to fault.   No deniability. 

The answer:

The acceptance of an undemanding universe is teaching us the way.   The universe allows me to roll in it – to stay in fear and worry.  It doesn’t demand that I give up separation.  But then I live the life of that belief.  If I choose to release it – then I accept a level of power I have always had but wasn’t using.   But that power is not structured as I have understood power.   The power of letting go of control is different than the power and safety of being controlled or controlling.   Acceptance is one of the keys that opens this power.  Accepting that you have it, accepting that your mind and ego doesn’t control it for its own uses.  Accepting that you are more than your ego and mind – and that is why it cannot control it – the ego is limited.   Accepting there is nothing to blame.   Accepting that things may not look as your mind wants it too.   Accepting that you are safe even when you don’t have all the answers. Accepting moving into a power flow that is working for you but that you do not always understand.   Accepting you are more powerful than your mind can understand when you don’t micromanage outcomes.  Accepting that you love yourself and as a part of source you are operating for your highest outcome.  Accepting that power is not control.  Accepting confusion.  Accepting the role of participating in your own power and letting go of the safety of demands.  And even as you do this – it is not then suddenly you are to blame! Can you accept that?   Even as you move into this space, there is not blame – just learning what works and what doesn’t.  That you are not powerless or separate and that being one is about accepting more and more and demanding less and less – not even someone or something to blame.  Oh, the amazing love, power and acceptance of an undemanding universe.  

The ego or mind has many questions for a love this big.  The questions feel so real and right – yet they come from an inability to accept and understand.   In those moments, we accept the question and love is the answer.   That doesn’t always satisfy the questioner, but it does answer the question. 

The universe completely accepts you and demands nothing of you.  What does it know to function in this manner?   And when we join the power of that flow, how does that change our function within it and with one another? 

As The Storm Passes By

It matters not the power of the storm facing you. The power is in how you face the storm

Fear is a storm

Let it pass you by

Notice its rage

Notice its raw elements

Notice its flashes of lightning

See how it builds

How does it strengthen, when you feed it your fear

In this time, many fears are feeding it

Across our neighborhood there is fear which builds it and calls to it

You have felt safe in storms before

But this storm feels stronger, it is not just a flash or two of lightning

It is more than loud thunder

There are so many attributes to it currently

This time as you look out the window

There are multiple tornadoes – calling for your fear

Your heart and mind have dealt with smaller storms

But this one feels overwhelming

Its breadth is overpowering

It appears more dangerous now

Where is the safety – the calm in the storm

Centered in you

It doesn’t matter the storm

It doesn’t matter the size, the rage or the fears

When centered in you

In this more intense storm

You are no less protected than you ever were

Centered in you

The lightning was just as dangerous as this bigger storm

You are no less protected now than you ever were

Centered in you

The storms lightning is like fireflies

The tornadoes like spiraling flocks of birds

Let it pass you by

Centered in you

It matters not the power of the storm that faces you

The power is in how you face the storm

In the center there is calm

Center in you

Watch the storm pass you by

Can COVID-19 help launch the ONE Great Generation?

Can COVID-19 launch the ONE Great Generation?

What good can come from this virus?  It is not a desire for positivity that drives me to write this.  COVID-19 is killing people, killing economies, and throwing our globe into a shared state of grief.   Some of us have to much time to cope and others have no time to feel. Instead, they must act and act bravely.  Even for those who have time available, bravery and patience is asked of them too.

We are birthing together a specific time in history.   This could be the birth of another “greatest generation”.   The generation that grew up through the great depression and then went on to face WW2 became known (through Tom Brokaw’s book) as the greatest generation.  

How might we, together, on this planet become the One great generation?   This virus has reminded us that we are not separate.  We are not physically, emotionally, mentally or humanly separate.   This wispy virus has settled across our entire planet and moved rapidly without regard of borders, class, gender, or race.  Like a ghost it moves through all barriers and brings us to the awareness – we are One.

There is no enemy to slay, no secret lair to find, no code to read.  The opposite is true – in this situation – transparency, openness, shared responsibility and the interdependence of everyone on the other is required to cease the progress of this killer. 

In this shared state of health – I need to be responsible and unselfish (whether I have symptoms or not).  We all need the poorest communities to have clean water and the opportunity for basic hygiene. In all countries there are people so desperate for food – that risks must be taken to survive.   None of us want to see our global or next-door neighbors left like sitting ducks with no chance of the basics to even try to be healthy.   Oh souls, my brothers and sisters – has this not long been the case but it did not grab our awareness as it does now. It was only when we shared the same fate – that some of us, for the first time are seeing this truth.   This truth that has been there all along.  We are One.

It is important to acknowledge these situations without losing energy in judgement or beating each other up.  There is only room for One combined energy to move forward.   Anything that distracts from the purpose of helping one another now – is a waste of precious time.  

As a global society we have benefited for some time at the expense of others.   There is no need to lay it all out in detail, sadly we know.   Our cheap goods were built with underpaid labor, child labor, slave labor, or in conditions that were not safe.  Not only did we ravage each other, we ravaged the earth.  Corporations became kings and we are all peasants.  We let that happen. Greed stole the greatness of capitalism, and we never addressed the balance of privilege and poverty.  We were not acting as stewards of the earth but have continuously focused on taking its resources. It is not that people are awful – we forgot our personal power.   Our native and individual abilities are stronger than any government, belief or judgement – when we operate as One.  Regret or revenge should not steal the power we could harness together.

If we take this balancing awareness of life and death and this global economic crash that is affecting each person, each household, each economy, each government – we could become the One great generation.  We can harness the shared experience.

How can we become this One great generation?  We must individually answer this call and as we do, we will move as One. 

What might a generation of people across the globe achieve if they used this current situation to:

  • Face our personal fears of mortality and understand ourselves more deeply.  Cherish every life as equal
  • Gathered the data on the benefits quickly gained around climate change and applied those learnings to our lives moving forward
  • Decided to work together to address clean water and hunger across the planet
  • Worked unselfishly to support one another’s health and wellness
  • Assessed our leader’s abilities, compassion and skills – instead of basing votes on ads and agendas
  • Brought depth to local business economies, farming, and manufacturing
  • Addressed corporate greed and offshore accounts that hide corporate or personal funds
  • Recognized the importance of every person and their essential work – no matter the type of job
  • Appreciated the bravery of our health care workers, grocery workers, field labor, food plant workers, delivery drivers, funeral parlors and so on – appreciated every worker for the job they do well
  • Understand our shared economy and shared joblessness – and face the fear of having no income and what that means very quickly to our survivals
  • Globally grieve the death and loss of life, not just related to COVID19 – but senseless war and hunger
  • Deal with the loss of identity around money and how it contributed to our thoughts of who we are or are not without it.  As well, our perceptions of others who have money or do not
  • Become aware of run-away thoughts which pursue fear and worry. Retraining our mental functions for creativity
  • Use every political influence and cut off every dollar that funds war
  • Accepted that we are ONE and all life is precious

There does not need to be a single leader to show us the way.  In fact, we have learned nothing if we waited on that idea.   The strength and power centers in each individual acting as One.  If we use our voting power, our purchasing power, our time, our intuition, our innovation, our conscious efforts to influence and take personal actions for a healthy society – we can all lead.   We may not all have purchasing power right now, but it was never our true worth or value.  We can still contribute to the change – in fact, those of us in this position are the most critical to it. Yes, we are the most critical mental, emotional, and conscious changing part of the equation. Those of us who are facing the loss of job and the fears associated with that combined with the fear of catching COVID, we are the closest to front line of this change. We are painfully recognizing we are more than our fear, than our paycheck, and we can see that all persons should not fear the cost of going to the doctor. We are the ones in the trenches – overcoming our fear and recognizing our value and who we are beyond these elements.  That will change how we see ourselves and the world. Our leaders are reflections of our own state of being.  Currently, leadership panders to the differences between us, our fears, and our sense of lack.   Leadership changes as we change.  If we operate with our shared sameness and step away from the fear of lack, then there will be enough.   We can have a nice car and a lovely home and still help our neighbor.  If you do not have funds – you can still be a friend and help society move its mental state away from money as the only source of happiness or freedom or value.  It is not about having less, it is about sharing more.   If you have funds to share – great – if you do not – then share the truth of who you are regardless of what you have.   That is worth more than money.  If we develop that perspective, we will have founded the launch of the One great generation.  We need every capable mind to do it and it starts with those who are uncomfortable right now. I am not talking about a resistance fueled by anger.  I am not even saying resistance.  Let the fear, frustration, and anger channel new discovery and challenge your ways of thinking about yourself and others.  Looking and choosing who we are in the face of overwhelming adversity. Which leads to awareness of your own value – outside of any label that used to differentiate you or make you special.  Then, from a clear understanding of who you are and the value of your neighbor regardless of their labels, we move to a deeper state of choice.  How am I personally as a human being on this planet, how do I want to treat myself and others. What ways of being are outdated or irrelevant?  What ways of leadership no longer qualify as useful? What are the thoughtful choices in how we each treat one another? What are the thoughtful choices in government for all label free, valuable human beings?   

 America was built on freedom for all, the opportunity to live freely – and those involved in this shift of culture were not separate – they were working people and came together as One.  They sacrificed, they shared, and they gave their life for a better way.   They also slaughtered another culture and enslaved others.   All of these aspects are true.   Our founding documents were written with the capacity to evolve.  As it was written that all men were created equal, though this was less extensive at first, we grew into a fuller expression of that truth.  And as our culture continues to recognize its limiting views – those documents continued to expand.  

There is enough and we are enough.  We do not have to have it all perfectly laid out and figured out to make progress.   Each individual decision and action plants the seeds, paves the road, establishes the structure and architecture of an abundant earth. The sun is abundant, the earth is naturally abundant and forgiving.  It is only our previous actions that promote lack.

We cannot fix the past, but we can create a better future. We all can afford to sacrifice something and that includes our anger, our hate, and our fear.  Is that really a sacrifice?  We are also called to sacrifice parts of our identity.  Who are we when we do not have a job?  Who are we when we do not have the funds to help others financially?  Who are we when we receive rather than give? Who are we when peel off the layers of who we thought we were?   Perhaps it is time to let go of those feelings of rightness, those comforts of identity and go for the opportunity of a lifetime.  The opportunity of lifetimes if we can see that it builds on our history and humanity.

History only repeats itself if we learn nothing.  There is enough and you are enough.  With or without dollars you can still support, love and act.  You are enough – you are real and alive and contribute regardless of what you make, your job title or what you own.   This is the hardest sacrifice – our identity.  But when we know this of ourselves, then we know this of our fellow humans, and we rise to a more humane – a more human perspective. 

Could there be a greater generation?  Can we do this?  What innovation could rapidly come if we open to the opportunity of the good that can come from the lessons of COVID19.  The good in each of us working together regardless of how we have hurt one another, regardless of our social status, regardless of how we used to see ourselves.   Can we drop our judgements, our shame, our retribution, our hate, our fear, our precious identities? COVID19 has reminded us that we are One.   We are inherently the same and rather than returning to as it was – let us learn, rise, and be who we really are – the One Great Generation.

How to love the world in one easy step! I know – RIGHT! But it turned out to be incredible…

I was sitting at the dining room table and feeling love. I imagined certain people in my life and was loving on them. I said to the universe… I would like to love the world… but would it blow my circuits? …I don’t know – Is it something you work up to – build your capacity to handle?…like I said… I don’t know….. so I started imagining the world in front of me and sending it love….So I asked God/Universe… how do you do this? God patted its knee – for me to sit in its lap… so I did… and God closed its eyes and emitted this sound – this pure, strong and even tone for a second or two… I opened my mouth and eyes in that surprised way a child does…God nodded yep…

I realized that God is loving us all – all the time. Making that tone continuously – all the time.

I wanted to try…. so I said… now, loving the world means not only just loving people that are “good” – that is easy… how do you love the ones that hurt others…do things beyond our human ability to understand or accept… how do you get past that?… what do you think or what space do you get into?…. God laughed… then gave me a soft shhhhh… and shook that great head and said…. JUST BE LOVE….

Ohhhhh … I said… then I closed my eyes and absorbed into the tone.

THE REAL SELF or THE OBJECTIVE SELF (MIND/EGO)

Now here.. I am thinking about how many times I hear a “spiritual teacher” say something like:

  • Be the real you
  • Be yourself
  • Be the subjective self not the objective self
  • You are not an object – you have to be you

I kinda got it, but not really.  However, recently – I got a little more of it.  And here it is.

When we are in our objective self and not in our real self – it is similar to watching a movie in your head.  For example, when you are sitting on the couch and a scene from the day comes up.  You remember a work interaction, or the drive home, or the grocery store incident.  At that point, your watching a movie in your head of what happened.  If you really get going, you might even have a second level with commentary on how you should have handled it or the comeback you never thought of till three hours and two beers later. In that moment, you are the object.  You are looking at you.  You might even be judging you.  You have split you. 

When we are in our self (some say subjective) we are actually experiencing things instead of watching a movie in our head of the past or created future views.  So, same person and same couch – but this time we are feeling the material under our hand, noticing how the beer tastes and its coolness.  We hear the sounds around us.  When a memory comes of the day’s events, we notice – ahh a memory.  If it is strong and wants our attention – we notice the underlying feeling of the memory and sit with that (not in judgement but present to the feelings of it).  How much attention do we want to give it.  Perhaps – none at all.  We return to experience and sensation. 

Now, at first this is different and interesting, and then our mind thinks… “How BORING!  And – I really need to re-look at what happened today and re-asses – so I can do better tomorrow”.   Ok, let’s choose re-assessing for tomorrow.  That would take a single review.   But it is usually obsessing versus re-assessing – cause we play it and play it and play it.   The mind plays it til we get just the right feeling to let it go, feel righteous, feel oppressed… what ever state our mind feels most comfortable in and familiar with for itself.  Not to you, but to the mind within you- to itself.  Cause you are not your mind. 

Sitting in stillness is scary to the mind/ego.   It needs distraction but you don’t.  The real you doesn’t.  

Presence is like any muscle… you have to build it.   Boring? Maybe?  But if you avoid discovering what it has for you… your in for the same old couch life.   Chasing the good feeling the mind wants. 

If you choose presence, you wont chase.  You’ll find the real you.   The real you is a big curiosity – it’s the unknown, its limitless in ways that defy reason… just on the other side of a mind that says its boring.  Cause it is way more than the where you start – but you start with noticing, sensing, feeling, anything but thinking about your mental image of you.   Everything waits on the other side of the boring door!

So my big take away was… any time I am thinking about me – I am no longer being me.  

So if I am:

  • Replaying a movie in my mind about the day – I am an object – I am looking at a version of me
  • Shopping and wondering what folks will think if they saw me in this outfit – I am an object – I am looking at a version of me
  • Asking a question and hope I look smart – or I am speaking to look smart – I am an object – I am portraying a version of me
  • Take the time to get through what my mind thinks is boring about presence and sit with the real me – I wont care about this stuff anymore!

Anytime you are thinking about you – you are no longer you.  That is an object – something you look at.  The subject is the one looking, close your eyes!

Humility and Respect

We think of these words and feel like they were things we used to have or a part of previous time. You know, back in the day when we had humility and respect.   But can you give an actual date or era? If you dig into any time frame, you’ll find an example or two (even now an example or two).  But mostly, you’ll find huge exceptions to those ideals were also happening in our world history.  Could we agree on a specific time frame in our history where there was real humility and respect happening?   If you think of the 20’s – well don’t ask women or most immigrants. If you think of the 50’s – well don’t ask women or African Americans.  And aren’t we back to that again now? At no point in American History or world history have we not been trampling the life out of a supposed lesser group and insisting on humility and respect. The only time for real humility and respect to ever be known or experienced in our culture is now and moving forward.  

The problem is we have consistently, through history, clouded humility and respect with aberrations of role, gender, color, class, political and religious power. Who should be humble and when? Who should be respected?  The words became traps of how society thought. How society viewed people. Even the meanings of the words – humility being expressed by or forced upon the lesser or unworthy and respect being given or demanded to the better or powerful.   How can we even have a relationship with other humans, true power, or what we see as God when we are ever caught in the dichotomy of these two words. 

We know in our core that there is something rich, beautiful and truthful in humility and respect.   So, we cling to these words like finding a diamond still trapped in the surrounding mountains and dirt.   Humility (defined as unworthiness and low self-regard) and respect (defined as worthy of high regard or esteem) are two ends of a stick that have long been used to beat us into an unequal society.   Up to now, in this unbalanced state – we are looking through the dark glass, living in false humility and lacking respect for others and hiding behind it as we weld power. Yet, all knowing somewhere in this clouded rock is a diamond.

Learning to walk as a child shows our need for balance. In some cultures, balance is considered another sense Just like hearing, sight, or taste. For example, the Anlo-Ewe Tribe in Africa. Referenced from the book “Radical Wholeness” by Philip Shepherd.   In our society’s misunderstanding of humility and respect, we struggle to walk (to be balanced) because we are spending so much time proving who is better than or less than.   We do this without saying it directly, but in how we behave, teach our children and conduct business. But it is our subtle truths behind our actions.   These ideals are distorted by society’s unsaid teaching.  For years we speak of equal rights while our actions discriminate on gender, race, social class and so on.   Humility is forced on the lesser to ensure power. Respect is often really fear of punishment from someone having more power than another. 

Buffeted by judgements or enforced right /wrong, good/ bad, black/white, male/female, rich/poor and powerful/weak – all these concepts enforce our separation from each other and our desire to be on the safer side of the stick.  We lose our balance and wonder, since there is self and others – well then – are others more important than the self-  or is the self – more important than others? We have lost perspective or balance of it all.  There is no center in separated halves.  What we are left with is false humility and rampant disrespect of ourselves and others.

When there is balance – you are naturally humble and naturally respectful. You are not seeking to be better than or lost in self depreciation.  You do not hurt yourself or the other. You are in balance and peace.   So how do we get to that equanimity. 

We thought we had to beat ourselves up to be humble – to look at our unworthiness, our sin. But that feeds anger and pitting the self against its own being (training a person to dislike themselves).  From that comes confusion and a lack of self- esteem or loss of self-respect – which feeds acting out and hate.

Respect is not self-pride or elevation. It is not finding a way you that makes you better than others.  It is not a defiant fighting back and nobody’s gonna step on me.  It is not being more financially, physically, or socially more powerful.  Respect is awareness of another’s right to exist as they are. And your own right to exist as you are too. 

Respect and humility are peace or love – centered – balanced.   No one more valuable or less valuable, but equally valuable as they are.  Equally loved by God and the self.  There is no struggle here, but perfect balance.

So how do we achieve this balance? How do we reach humility (without self-loathing) and respect (without attaching it to power)?   A well-known verse gives us a path in Mark 12:29-31.  The greatest commandment.  Jesus first says that, the Lord our God is one, then says to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  Then the second commandment is the same as the first – to love thy neighbor as thyself.  That there is no other commandment greater than these. 

The first command is the truth and the ideal – God is One and love the One.  But that is a vast concept. One is not separate, not us versus them, me or you.  One is inclusive of everything. Nothing is beyond God. We often fall on our faces as we strive to achieve something that is beyond the understandings of our personality and ego.   Love the One – love it all – without limitations.  But Jesus gave us a smaller step that we can work with and said that it was basically the same – love your neighbor as thyself.   So, before you try eating the whole elephant, try this first bite.  

We often want to skip right to loving God, without first learning to love our neighbor, and to do that, we must love ourselves.  

I decided to take this first bite, to love myself. Loving yourself will teach you humility and respect.   You cannot look at all the parts of your character and ways of being without becoming humble (if you really do it and see all the little places where you want something and how you go about getting it).   And we do that because we feel a lack of love somewhere.  And if you attempt this without love for yourself – it isn’t going to be pretty and you won’t last long. But if you realize that God wants you to love these areas of yourself and you accept that they are in there and you love you anyway – then – you can respect yourself and not see yourself as less than.  So, then I thought – I was ready to love my neighbor.  

I spent some time with this concept. You do what you understand to start.   I started with even though I am different than my neighbor, and they are different than me – I love them.    It wasn’t until I spent time trying to live that aspect that it became clear that was not loving my neighbor as myself.  It was a step in a valid direction, and necessary, to be able to see – I was loving my neighbor anyway, but not as myself.   And I realized too – that I was loving myself “anyway” – which was not loving myself as completely acceptable.   

To love myself – without a clause was next.  That it was ok to be me with all the faults. See it is easy to be ok with being perfect – but not with a fault.    However, if you really dig into a fault, you will find that it is created from some form of lack of love.  So – love it (it is part of the One being you are).   And then I could love me as I was. Then when I turned to love my neighbors that way, something amazing happened.  I saw them differently.  I was not blocked by judgments or “anyway” statements. I could instantly love them and care about their dreams and their hopes and their life.  And there was a new balance.  Their life and lives (with dreams and sorrows) was not more important than mine – not less or better than mine – but the same.  Their very existence and life the same as mine.  It is humbling to see another person’s life as equal to your own (no matter their age, or race, or gender, or economics, everyone at whatever stage – equal to your own value).   How humbling and yet – how respectful of one another.   Then I realized if I looked at them and judged them in any way – I was not able to love them – I would lose that special space.  I could either judge them or I could love them.   I chose to love them. And that blew my mind some more, as it was so lovely to sit in that love and look at people.   

I then spoke to God and I said, “It was nice to love people that way, but I realized I am not as amazing as God and did not love as God loves”.  I was humble and respectful of God’s greater abilities.   It was a good thing I was laying down when I spoke this to God as God responded.  This concept was given: If you can see others as equal to yourself, then you can see how I look at you as equal.   And you can only handle that statement if you see that it is not only spoken to just yourself but to all (everyONE). As everyone Is equal in God’s eyes.   How humbling and how respectful, as each of those concepts come into balance through love.  

Could I love myself enough to accept that, and then be able to love my neighbor that way?   It came first as a feeling and then as a statement.  I asked to see people as God sees them. I was overwhelmed with looking at people with only love, seeing them more as God sees them.   It was mind blowing, everyone I looked at brought me to tears.   When God is looking at you – when the presence of God is looking at you – it is only love.   And that love is so rich and deep and overpowering – that the statement than ran through my mind after this experience was, “Nothing is wrong in the presence of God.”   Now, we can jump up and say that there are bad things happening all the time, there are wrong things that have happened to me and to others. But this is something different – it is saying that the Presence of God and the Presence of love is so powerful – so rich – so deep – so vast – that its very presence wipes out everything.  There is only love and nothing but love exists in its presence.  The presence of the One wipes out everything else.   We don’t always get to feel this because of distortion around humility and respect as concepts.   Our devotion to being worthless, that we have been taught keeps us from feeling this complete presence of love.   Our less than and greater than unspoken standards disconnect us from feeling the presence of love that is the Lord our God which is ONE.  It blocks us from existing in that love with one another.  In it – we are in balance and outside of it we are unbalanced. We choke on this a bit, how can I be like Christ – Christ was perfect. I am not perfect.   And to continue in this manner, we must keep imbalanced humility and respect and ignore the following verse.  John 14:12 – He that believeth in me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.   We are so trained that we are unworthy and not like Christ that this verse is impossible.   Never mind Jesus said it – it is impossible.  But it is not about being good enough, and it is not being disrespectful to attempt it.   “Who do you think you are?” We can hear others saying. But this is actually a natural occurrence when humility and respect are in balance.   When we see others as equal to ourselves and understand that God or love sees us as equal; when we love ourselves and others in the richness of our human “faulty” expression;  when we center in the balancing concepts of humility (the awareness that we are all equal in every aspect) and we appreciate the value of one another even in the chaos of various presentations of humanity (respect) – in that moment we act as One.  And in that moment that we love each other equally, the actions that come from that place of being are Christ-like and have the power of love or God.   And those actions are the great works.   And when those actions are completed – it is done through the balance of humility and respect.   Cause no one was at any point greater than another or less than the other. In that moment, we were one and the action was of the One and no power is greater. And that power is not owned or clung too. As it was only possible by the merging of equals into One.   And when you are One, there is no ego before it, during it, or after it. There is nothing to be proud of. The ego of you did not do it.  Oneness operated through you, there was only mutual participation.  So, now is the era of humility and respect, do not look to the past for it is only possible this present moment and forward.   There is no ego or self-aggrandizing in realizing we are all the same and equal – that no one life is more precious than another. In fact, it is quite a blow to the ego. But this balances humility and respect and opens the presence of love and its actions.  This is the balance needed to walk in humility, respect and power.   The greater works that Christ said we would do, are not personal acts for personal gain, they are when we are aware of our equality – when we are aware we are One with each other, and One with the Father, and One with Christ, and in that moment the action or great work that occurs is not yours or mine, it is of oneness as were the acts of Christ.   The only impediment to seeing these great works every day is the seeing ourselves as separate from our neighbor or God.   When we accept that everyone is absolutely the same in the eyes of God and in our eyes too – That is both humility and respect in balance.   You would not harm yourself or others – instead in balanced humility and respect – there is only love and oneness.   And there is no other time in history than this present era, this present moment to live in this balance – in perfect balance as ONE.