Thoughts for the Month

August 2010

Many of us are suffering from lack of love.  We think that we’re going to find love in what we have, what we do, our friendships, our relationships, food, sex, other addictive behavior, and outside of ourselves in the external world, period.  This simply isn’t true.   Love has nothing to prove, nowhere to get to, no judgments, no conditions, and no expectations.

There is a vast reservoir of love energy within you that’s waiting for you to tap into it.   Many of you just don’t know how.   Consider asking yourself this: What if every moment was an opportunity to exemplify, to give, and to bring more love into it? Often, in times of challenge, I ask myself: What would love do here?  When I make this internal inquiry, the priority is always to remain kind with myself.  Anything that is untrue for me or that is out of alignment with myself, my values, my divinity, my feelings, and the present moment, is unkind.  Setting myself up so that I am in an adversarial relationship with me, riddled with resentment, anger, and disappointment, is not what love would do here.  That is what the frightened mind would do here, and it is dripping in agenda.  Love stays true to itself at all times.

Regardless of the question, be it physical, emotional, mental, social, financial, or spiritual, there is only one answer:  Love.  You will never be who you really are unless you are in a state of love.  Loving is who you are.  It’s true, you are that special!

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July 2010

The world’s philosophy of love is that you live your life looking for one person to love.  When you find this one person, it becomes taboo to love anyone that you loved previously, and no one has the right to love you.  Does this make sense?  In addition, society agrees that it is normal and natural for you to be angry if another person loves what you love.  So according to society, when you love, you possess the love, and you are possessed by the love. 

How many of you have been in a loving relationship and loved someone else while you were in that relationship?  Maybe you kept it locked inside and never spoke of it.  Tell the truth.  I’m pretty sure that all of us have experienced this at one time or another.  Because so much of the world teaches us to feel guilty when we think of that love, we end up creating a vibration of hate, anger, guilt, shame, and fear through this love.  This is adulterating love.  Adultery is not necessarily going outside of your marriage.  It is diluting and contaminating the quality of love.  With most human beings practicing love in this way, the true energy of love becomes diminished.

Please understand that the love that you feel for your partner was not brought to you by your partner.  This person was brought to your life to open a dimension of the love frequency that already resides within you.  There are limitless dimensions of love, and we all experience a variety of them in our lives.  Love is love, like green is green.  Both can have varying shades.  Each love opens an aspect, a dimension, a frequency of that energy within you. 

In cases of separations please do not reduce the love in you, just because your partner might be leaving.  If you truly loved the person who is leaving, you could say: I am hurting, but allow me to dwell in truth.  I thank you for the love that you activated in me.  By the power of love that you opened up in me, I release that energy of love to bless you on your path. Let your path be peaceful.  Meet wonderful men; meet wonderful women; enjoy lasting, loving relationships; laugh; play; share; have greater bliss.  May you find the beauty in every day and get exactly what your heart desires.  This is love.  This is what love truly is.  Love is to free you and not to imprison you.  How can you think that you can possess another person, just because you love the person?  Do you truly believe that that is love, or is it fear?  When you don’t open and allow the love frequency inside of you, you are committing adultery by turning your back on the love that you are.

God’s will is for a greater expression of life and love, for infinite possibilities, and for opportunities to open up greater dimensions of heaven within you.  Love calls you to be more of you.

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June 2010

What if it wasn’t possible for something to be against you?  What if there was no such thing as an enemy?  This would include people, situations, beliefs, and even your frightened mind.  What if everything was just one big misunderstanding, one big misconception, where you perceived something or someone as an enemy because your frightened mind was too scared to lose its occupation?

No one can be my enemy until I perceive him as threatening what I believe to be true.  I know that when I defend something, it means that I’m still suffering, that I’m still holding myself hostage.  There’s nothing in the world that can oppose you.  I invite you to ponder this concept.  We attach a falsified story to what we perceive, and that story becomes our misery.

What if all that we needed to do was to accept what was before us and to be present with it?  What if all of our enemies are just love arising in a form that is completely foreign to us, one that we can’t conceptualize yet?

What you perceive to be your enemy is actually your teacher.  These teachers illuminate the areas of your life where you haven’t healed yet, they show you what you have yet to embrace and make peace with.  All of your enemies are your life’s professors.  They are just standing by, waiting for you to awaken and recognize them.  Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to have your enemies in your closest circle or invite them over for dinner.  I’m simply saying that they are your kind teachers, who are assisting you in your awakening.

The simple truth is that what is happening right now in this very moment is the best thing that can happen, whether you can wrap your mind around it or not.  Until you understand that, there will be limited peace. 

Our worlds are a direct reflection of our internal projectors.  So as our internal projectors refocus, the way we view the world and our experiences in the world refocuses, as well.  In this shift of perception, life becomes much more kind.  Try entering each new day, each new experience, with true grace.  This means recognizing and understanding that where you are in every moment is exactly where you’ve always wanted to be.  Watch as your world lines up beside you, and life unfolds in ways that were previously inconceivable.

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May 2010

We never really know what life has in store for us: the twists, turns, trials, tribulations, experiences, joys, and jubilation.  What I know for sure is that everything, and I mean everything, is happening for my greater good and for the expansion of my soul, for my well-being, health, and wholeness.

This being said, I invite you to challenge some of your fixed beliefs and limiting concepts by attempting to go beyond your fearful surface mind, into your soulful, conscious, divine mind.

What if all of your feelings were trying to love you: to guide you, support you, show you the way, and point you in the direction that your soul is inspired to move?  This would include feelings of guilt, shame, loathing, embarrassment, humiliation, and unworthiness.  Can you wrap your mind around this concept?  I’ve come to know that all of my feelings are bringing me back home to myself, to my luminous essence, for the evolution of my soul.  How freeing and emancipating is this realization?  If every cell in my body was created by God, then every feeling that I have is created by God as well – not to punish, torture, or torment me, but to teach me, to assist me, to guide and direct me. 

Accepting that control is an illusion has guided and shown me into surrender, peace, and tranquility.  Allowing myself to say “yes” to shame has brought me compassion, forgiveness, truth, and self-respect.  Opening myself up to embarrassment, I found trust, faith, and liberation on the other side.  Embracing humiliation allowed me emancipation, happiness, and freedom.  Welcoming the loathing inside of me pointed me in the direction of wholeness, understanding, kindness, and acceptance.  Giving myself the permission to feel the guilt that was cutting off my life force – especially the guilt that I felt every time I wanted to choose me, but felt too afraid to do so because of what I believed that others would think of me – carried me into authenticity, integrity, love, joy, and ease.  Finally, making peace with my feelings of unworthiness showed me into oneness, beauty, dignity, humanity, gratitude, and fulfillment.  All of these feelings have been my university and have brought me deeper levels of healing, consciousness, and greater awareness.  The gifts and treasures awaiting your discovery are endless.

Listen.  Pay Attention.  Check in with yourself.  You are always being guided.  It is vital that you stay true to yourself, your values, your divinity, your feelings, and the moment.

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April 2010

How many old, abandoned griefs are inside of you, waiting for your attention, because you’ve neglected, denied, and buried so much for such a long time?  It’s time to reclaim your life, put on your miner’s hat, and journey inside.

When you allow yourself the permission to venture inward, not only do you get to embrace and make peace with many uncomfortable and undesirable emotions, but you also get to discover your own wondrous luminosity while affirming your pure divinity.

In order to reach the landscape of the soul, we must journey through the landscape of death.  How do we do this when we’re so afraid of dying?  Well, we get opportunities in life to practice dying.  We go through little deaths all the time: when we don’t get what we want, when we lose someone we love, when we age, when we’re sick, when a job is terminated.  These are all little deaths.  Instead of distracting yourself away from them and blaming yourself or other people, open your arms, welcome, accept, and fully participate in these losses.  Grieve them by facing whatever stands before you, head on.  Accept and feel the grief of whatever it is that you’re losing.  By practicing dying every day, you begin to learn that that which you were so afraid of acknowledging and embracing, births new life within you.

In our acceptance of what is, we open.  We ascend into a deeper awareness and understanding and are released from any suffering and misery.  Grieving liberates and empowers our spirit.  We are now available for greater healing and for life’s treasures to come to us.

I believe that we grieve in proportion to the love lost, and that grief is like wearing a badge of how much you’ve loved.  Consider this: do you think that it’s possible that these feelings of sadness could actually be feelings of love?  I dare you to journey within and find out.

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March 2010

Tell the truth.  How are you feeling?  What are you thinking?  What’s happening inside of you at this very moment?  Give yourself the permission to be honest with yourself.  It’s not the truth, it’s just your truth in this moment.  Moreover, by giving your truth-in-the-moment a voice, it will begin to release you.

The truth is that we’re made in the very image and the very likeness of our creator, which renders us ALL perfect, beautiful, and whole just as we are.  We are all connected to that divine consciousness, that love, twenty-four-seven, because it is what we are.  End of story.  We are love, and that is that.

Please listen, without condemnation, to your own personal feelings and thoughts.  This will ensure supreme well-being, where you will grow in grace, expand in your own personal evolution, and allow your life force to remain open so that the universe can bring you all of the sacred treasures and bounty that it has to offer.

When we begin to listen to ourselves, to trust our instincts (that internal intuition and inner voice), we find ourselves valuing and appreciating us more.  Then, it’s just a matter of moments before this shift in perception enables us to begin valuing and appreciating others, as well.  With this act of compassion and self-love, the battle within our own minds – the opposition that we’ve created with our divinity – begins to dissipate and then dissolve.  Wars desist, unity amplifies, and oneness is realized.

There is a self-liberation when we see and know that our thoughts are just thoughts, and that our feelings are just feelings, that neither are the truth of things, and that they are certainly not accurate representations of who we are.  With the understanding and knowledge that comes with this awareness, we are liberated to ascend into the truth of who we really are, which is love.  You will soon witness the birth and the emergence of your own “light”.  Watch in wonderment as your luminosity permeates our planet.

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February 2010

Fear renders you blind and deaf.  Faith brings with it vision, access, openness, and limitless possibility.  The choice is yours.

Your state of consciousness creates your world.  A change must occur, on an inner level, or no amount of doing will ever fulfill you.  You will only re-create modified versions of the same world over and over again, because your world is always an external reflection of your internal projector.

There is a perfect order at work.  However, many of us lose sight of this when we subscribe to our reactive thoughts and disempowering beliefs as truths.  These concepts often become our sacred religions; we devote ourselves to them completely.  We often forget that those thoughts are spawned by our egos trying to protect us and keep us safe by attempting to separate us from ourselves, our divinity, and others.  Your devotion lies with the perception to which you attach yourself.  There’s no room for any higher power in the equation.  It is when we find ourselves doubting the truth of those thoughts and concepts that our frightened minds begin to unravel.  The knots relax and untie themselves.  This is where you will experience the birth of your light.

Joy does not come from what you do.  It flows into what you do, and thus into this world, from deep inside.

You will enjoy any endeavor in which you are fully present – any undertaking that is not just a means to an end.  Begin to tap into that eternal reservoir of joy that resides within you, this will connect you with the power behind all creation.

Remember, the education you crave is within you.  Trust that.  It cannot be taught; it can only be realized.

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January 2010

What if everything that was happening, was happening for you – for your greater good, for the evolution of your soul?  Wouldn’t that make problems and mistakes obsolete?  Wouldn’t that imply that life was just one adventurous learning experience?

If the paradigm of your life was allowed to shift from problems, challenges, and mistakes to learning experiences, what would be different?  For one, you’d never ever fall short again.  You’d never have the compulsion to create evidence, rooted in blame, fault, victim, and fear, whereby your heart becomes encapsulated in a vat of false self-preservation.  With opposition banished in your world, there would be no desire to foster self-imposed hostage situations and separation from others.  Resentments would vanish.  Without all of your incriminating evidence based in would have, could have, and should have, your license to act out in self-destructive behavior would be revoked.  And, if life was allowed to be a learning experience, you’d finally have the permission to just be.  Can you imagine that?

What would you create?  Who would you be?  How would that feel?  I invite you to find out.

What I have discovered in my journey is that often issues in my life have begun as “problems”.  Many of those problems have morphed into “challenges”, and very often, I’m really not up for the challenge.  However, in my ability to accept what is, to accept (with open arms) whatever is before me, these challenges have morphed into “learning”, carrying extraordinary lessons and serving as my greatest teachers.  I find learning to be invaluable.

In our learning, it is imperative that we celebrate our lives from wherever we may be standing along our paths.  Remember, the world is not here to make you happy; it’s here to make you conscious.  Ask yourself, “What can I celebrate today?”

December 2009

With the holidays upon us, it can be very easy to forget to exhale.  Please remember to check in with yourself, as it is a huge act of compassion and self-love.  Where are you at?  What are you feeling?  What’s true for you?  What best takes care of you?  Is this for you, or are you doing it for love, approval, or applause from others?

It is imperative that I acknowledge, listen to, nurture, and nourish myself.  I find that “dialing in” to myself is unconditionally loving and allows for my love for you to be unconditional, as well.  Isn’t that what life and the holidays are all about anyway – unconditional love?

In this clarity, this heightened consciousness, is it possible for you to be of service to something greater than you?  Ask yourself, “How can I be of the most service?”.  Feel this question with every fiber of your being.  In this alignment, you will welcome bliss and miracles beyond your comprehension. 

Now that makes for a truly joyous holiday season.  By serving you, you serve the world!

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November 2009

Please notice where it is that you are creating your life from.  Is it from a place of blame and fault or a state of worry and doubt where you’ve made fear your higher power?  Or are you consciously connected to a power greater than yourself, where you’re creating your life from a foundation of accountability and presence?  Notice.  Simply notice.

Your state of consciousness creates your world.  If you’re not taking responsibility for your state of consciousness, you’re not taking responsibility for your life.

Being present means living without control and always having all of your needs met.  Can you fathom that?  You already have everything that you need.  How do I know that?  Because, you do.  It couldn’t be any other way in this exact moment.  It is what it is.  In the acceptance of having what you have (having what is before you) you come to the understanding that you’ve always had everything that you’ve needed in any given moment.  Anything else in addition to that is just a gift from above.  It’s icing on the cake.

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October 2009

Do you want to be right, or would you rather be happy? Begin to pay attention to your reactive thoughts, disempowering beliefs, and the stories that you tell yourself that keep you feeling separate from you, from us, and from your higher power.  I know that you have all of the evidence that you need to prove your case, but what if it isn’t true?

Please examine your addiction to perfectionism – that symphony inside of your frightened mind that holds you hostage.  Are you certain that you’re always supposed to know what to say, what to do, how to act, and how to behave?  How much longer is this unrealistic expectation of bondage going to be the barometer for your lovability and worth?   Again, do you want to be right, or would you like your life back?

What if you weren’t meant to know everything?  What if you could be a student of yourself, where avoiding feeling embarrassment or humiliation didn’t deter you in your journey from joy and elation; where you lived in wonderment, awe, and discovery?

The luminosity that’s intrinsic to your being is always available.  Just like the sun, it’s shining all the time.  If you’d like to be right about something, why not be right about your divinity?  Now that’s living.

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September 2009

As we begin to have what we have and accept whatever is before us, we cannot be disappointed.  People will do what they do, and upon that you can depend.  Nothing is ever out of order.

When you begin to love whatever is before you, your perception shifts, and you get your life back.  It is no longer you against the world.   You live knowing that everything is happening for your greater good and for the evolution of your soul.

To love is to recognize yourself in another.  Dare to love beyond measure.  Live in that open space, within which everything comes to you.

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August 2009

It has been in times of my toughest tribulations that I've felt the closest to my Higher Power.

Life will give you the exact experience that you need for the evolvement of your consciousness at any given time.

How do you know that the experience you're having is meant to guide you in your spiritual evolution?   Because you are experiencing it.   Everything that is happening is always occuring in order to lead you to the next level of evolvement for yourself.

Life will always give us everything that we need to go deeper.   Trust.

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July 2009

No one else will ever understand you.  With this realization comes freedom.  No one else will ever understand you – not once, not ever.  Even at our most understanding, we can only understand our ideas of who you are.  The only true understanding of you is your own understanding of yourself.

Understanding you is your job.  As you understand yourself, please teach us how to love, respect, and support you.

You're the only one who can understand you.  You're the only one who needs to understand you.

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June 2009

Everyone is doing his job.  No one is more valuable than another.  The things in the world that we think are so terrible are actually great teachers.  No mistakes are being made, and nothing is lacking.

We will always get what we need, rather than what we think we need.  We will come to see that what we have is not only what we need, but also what we want.  We then come to want our lives exactly as they are happening, because we know that they are happening this way for us.  With this trust, no matter what happens, we always succeed.

What if success was measured by the amount of joy and fulfillment in the journey, and not by the outcome?  How would that alter or reshape your perception of the experience?  What will it feel like to get to live your life with this much freedom and creativity?

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May 2009

Self-realization is exemplified by a constant state of gratitude.

This gratitude is not something you can seek and locate. It comes from within, and it takes you over completely. It's so vast that it can't be glazed over or dimmed.

When you live your life from this place of gratitude, you've come home.

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April 2009

Love joins everything without condition.  Love says “yes”.

Pain begins when you believe the thought that someone should love you.  The only person who needs to love you is you.

Love is what you already are.  Love doesn’t seek anything.  It’s already complete.  It doesn’t want, doesn’t need, and has no shoulds.  It already has everything it wants; it already is everything it wants, just the way it wants it.

So when I hear people say that they love someone and want to be loved in return, I know they’re not talking about love.  They’re talking about something else.

Seeking love is how you lose the awareness of love.  You can lose the awareness of love, but not love itself, because love is what we all are.  That is immovable.

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March 2009

Honest communication begins with you communicating with yourself.  It means responding with what is true for you, regardless of how someone may react to your answer.  First, you must discover what is really true for you.  A dishonest "yes" is a "no" to yourself.

You will notice that it’s possible to love without condition, even when your answer is "no".

Clear, open, honest communication expands and rebuilds trust.

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February 2009

An open heart is only possible with an open mind.

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January 2009

When we realize that every stressful moment we experience is a gift that points us to our own freedom, life becomes very kind.  Come to recognize what’s true for you.

In the discovery of our truth, we cultivate our own personal integrity.  From this expansion, our self-esteem takes flight.

Willingness opens the doors to all of life’s possibilities.

December 2008

You always have every answer you need inside of you.
What a marvelous discovery it is that the one you've been waiting for is yourself!

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November 2008

The end of the war with myself and my thoughts is the end of the war with you. It's that simple.

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October 2008

The single greatest thing that you can do today to change your life is to start being grateful for what you have right now.  This puts you in the present moment.  Ask yourself, “What can I be grateful for in this moment?”

The more gratitude you possess, the more you receive for which to be grateful. Gratitude is its own energy field that attracts abundance.  When you acknowledge and are grateful for whatever you have, your vibrational frequency changes, literally, allowing more to be drawn to you.  The ability to be grateful for your current situation changes your reality; it changes the way you experience life; and it changes your world.

The language of gratitude has the ability to bypass the brain and plunge straight into the heart.  It nourishes the soul, eliminating decades of deprivation.  When you can accept what is, your level of gratitude can deepen and expand to encompass any situation that arises.

Gratitude keeps us connected to our higher power.  Gratitude allows us to grow in grace.  Gratitude is life-changing and transformative.

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September 2008

When you can laugh, without ridicule, at your own silliness; acceptance of your humanity can follow. In this acceptance, you grow and learn. When used properly, laughter fills every fiber of your being with light. It is what you are doing when you laugh – surrendering your being with multihued energy. Feel that around you more. Allow yourself to be filled with joy, and you will be closer to your source.

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August 2008

When you're having a hard time understanding a concept, trying to figure it out isn't always the best thing to do. Sometimes it's great to just relax into the mystery of being a human being.

I don't think that we're ever going to figure it all out, and using the mind to try to make sense of the mind just gets you into a mental cul-de-sac that is very difficult to escape. Listen. Sit still. All will reveal itself in its own divine time.

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July 2008

Focus on what's right in the world, as opposed to what's wrong in the world.

Focus on who you are, instead of who you are not.

Be kind to yourself and to others – live in a field of gratitude.

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June 2008

What do you believe that the world is withholding from you? Whatever your answer, it is actually you who is withholding that from the world.

Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world.

Be as warm to other people as you would like for them to be with you. Be giving. Be as generous to others as you would like for them to be with you. Listen, listen, listen. Listen to others. Listen to others as you would like to be heard. Love as strongly as you would like to be loved.

As you develop your giving muscle, be in a state of watchful gratitude. Serendipitous miracles are on the way.

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May 2008

Life is a gift. Live everyday as a thank you note.

Thank you Lord for all of the love and for the vast feeling of abundance that lives within my being.

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April 2008

I believe that Creation takes place on its own timetable, and that you and your life are unfolding in divine order. All that you require will be provided in an unhurried fashion. Allow your dreams to come to you in perfect order with unquestioned timing. Be in a state of watchful gratitude.

Visualize, visualize, visualize.

Feel, feel, feel.

I believe that there's a silent destiny always at work and that everything is on time under heaven's net. Let go and let God...and let life come to you. This takes a great amount of trust and faith, which is already incubating inside of you – right now – your levels, your depth of trust and faith are expanding immensely every day. God bless you. This takes a great amount of vulnerability, courage, and awareness. Get quiet. Get still. Listen to the silence. It will guide you to what best takes care of you; what brings you the most peace; what brings you the most joy; where you can be of the most service. It will guide you to what's next; it will show you where to go.

Keep breathing. Keep shining. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep being. Have faith.

You're a star.

All my heart,

Michael

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March 2008

Give yourself permission to be perfect, even with all of your seeming imperfections.

Recognize yourself first and foremost as a creation of God, which is your perfection.

Surround all of your seeming imperfections that you dislike or judge about yourself with love. Tranquility will arise organically.

Your seeming imperfections are absolutely your perfection.

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February 2008

I allow freedom to be my guide.

All I have to do is show up – God takes care of the rest.

I let go and let God.

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January 2008

Greatness is every person's heritage.

Laugh. Have fun. Dance with joy.

Trust in your own greatness.

December 2007

Love. When in doubt, give love.

Love as much as you possibly can – especially yourself.

Equally nourishing – allow yourself to receive love from others.

Stay as close to love as you can.

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November 2007

One of the things that I've learned and that I continue to learn in my life is that "life keeps life-ing." It always has, it always will. It's my reaction (or non-reaction) to whatever is happening that I'm constantly observing.

I have a grandmother who's been greatly ill for some time. We had to put her into a convalescent home last year. It breaks my heart. She is one of my top five favorite people on this planet, and it just breaks my heart. I can't imagine not having her here with me on this earth. She has been my rock for over 43 years. Again, "life keeps life-ing." I could go on and on with many examples of this in my life.

Usually my reaction brings me deep upset, anger, resentment, and a host of other feelings. All of these are important vital teachers for me to notice myself and what triggers the buttons that are inside of me that I'm not totally conscious of yet. I call this "God shining light on my blind spots," and he's always doing that for me. I'm grateful that he keeps shining light on my blind spots so that I can live having even higher levels of consciousness and more and more peace within myself.

It's about me being able to be with as many different feelings as I can from a non-judgmental, accepting, observational, neutral place within myself. The more that I can be with these feelings, the less power they will have over me. The less power they have over me, the less of a trigger or button they will be. The less of a trigger or button they are, the less of a reaction I will have. The less of a reaction I have, the more present I will be in each and every moment to create and have as much joy as possible in each and every moment. The more joy that I can live in and create in each and every moment, the more acceptance I can be and have for myself and the rest of the world – plain and simple – the more my vision of world peace comes to fruition. It all starts with me. It always has, and it always will. It is the same for each of you – it all starts with you.

Now, what are you going to learn from your reactions? You can keep running, doing, and moving a million miles a minute to stay one step ahead of these feelings. When you do that, I promise you – they'll just keep coming back, knocking on your door louder and louder and louder to be heard. Or you can begin to trust and be with these feelings more so that they can begin to dissipate and dissolve and not wreak as much havoc. You will be freer to create the life of your dreams, your vision.

Always know that whatever is happening within us is just great information for us to learn more about ourselves, to live with a higher level of consciousness, and to eventually and gradually have more and more peace within ourselves, within our being. God bless us all. We're all doing the best that we can with the tools that we have.

Also, there is no right way and wrong way in my book. There's only the perfect way, and whatever way you choose is perfect for this time and place in your journey. Please be as kind, gentle, loving, and compassionate with yourself as you can be – at all times.

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October 2007

God lives within you. Our relationship with God is our relationship with ourselves, and each relationship is unique because each of us is unique. Faith is, therefore, intensely personal. How you relate to God or the Universal Creative Force or to the big bearded guy that lives in the sky is truly up to you, and that relationship is the foundation of your authentic self and the chief variable that determines the quality of your life. Faith is a big deal.

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September 2007

Almost every time you learn something valuable, that learning is preceded by a time when you were stuck. Celebrate "stuckness." It means something extraordinary is coming.

However, it might not be what you think. Sometimes a trial or a period of adversity results in becoming stronger. Sometimes it doesn't – but who's to say that stronger is always better? In a powerful wind, the oak tree will break. The bamboo, weaker than the oak, will surrender to the wind, be blown about, and survive. We live in a culture of yang, of strength, of action, of progress; but there is value in yin, weakness, stillness, and silence.

Stuckness is the feeling of not learning a lesson. In reality, you are learning, just not at the conscious level. Stuckness is a state of preparation. Once we're ready to pursue a new path, the path reveals itself.

If we can agree that feeling stuck is an inevitable part of life, the question becomes how to be with it. I call this process "percolating."

That's what I do when I'm stuck, or rather I should say, when I feel stuck. I sit with the problem or issue and allow it to drench me over and over until the information and the experience absorb and re-absorb into different levels of my being, until I've got it deeply enough that I learn something. Sometimes, I have an insight. Sometimes, my perspective on a relationship or an issue changes completely. This is the gift of stuckness – the opportunity to learn something new.

In times of tribulation, I ask myself two questions:

• What is the lesson for me to learn in this opportunity that I've created for myself?
• What would love do here?

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August 2007

Everything I need comes to me. All opportunities present themselves at the perfect and appropriate time, and they are always perfect and in alignment with the ease and flow in my life. I attract just what I need in the moment.

Opportunities are everywhere and I graciously accept the ones that are appropriate for me.

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July 2007

Dream bigger. Dream larger. Dream grander.

Appreciation accelerates manifestation.

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June 2007

Acknowledgment for humans is like sunshine for a plant.

We can always give ourselves more self-acknowledgment!

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May 2007

I empower others by allowing them to take care of themselves.

By taking care of myself, I take care of others.

By serving myself, I serve the world.

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April 2007

Celebrate you, for you are the gift.

What best takes care of you? What brings you the most peace? What celebrates you most in this moment?

Listen to your heart, it always knows.

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March 2007

Comparing you to yourself in days gone by is mental masturbation that puts limits on who you can be now.

We compare ourselves to other people, because our eyes face out. So that's where we look. We look outside of who we are in the moment, we compare ourselves to this or that, we get jealous, we measure and re-measure, and it doesn't work because our true identity lies inside, not outside. We can only love, accept, and stand in our own uniqueness. There's no comparison to make.

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February 2007

Our lives are truly full of opportunities for pleasure. Treat yourself.

I discovered that by celebrating myself first, others around me felt permission to celebrate themselves as well. And by celebrating myself, I get to celebrate others with so much more unconditional love.

Can you find a job or create work for yourself that is a celebration of who you are? Can you be in a relationship where you each celebrate the truth of the other? What nurtures you? What fills your heart? What makes you sing?

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January 2007

Leap and the net will appear.
(Zen saying)

December 2006

I believe that feeling loved is so important. Loving and being loved is euphoric and satisfying. It's like eating a great meal when you're hungry or falling asleep after a hard day's work or being held when you're crying and afraid. Feeling loved is more important than being with people who are supposed to love you. For that reason my family includes close friends and certain clients and mentors as well as many of my biological relatives.

The people I keep close to me – my family – see me, love me, and appreciate me for who I am. Who have you chosen to be a part of your family?

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November 2006

I see everything as an opportunity — an opportunity to deepen our capacity of love, faith, compassion, understanding, acceptance and gratitude.

Everything that happens is happening for you, not to you. Trust.

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October 2006

In noticing ourselves, we must allow for the possibility that we will notice something new. We discover nuggets of valuable information, energy, and personal resources hidden deep within. As we practice observing ourselves without judgment, accepting any feeling or thought we have without reservation, we begin to know ourselves better. This is why making neutral, non-judgmental observations is so important — because novelty disappears in a context of judgment.

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September 2006

You are not normal. You are special. Your opportunities to contribute to this world are unlike any other. When you can learn to see yourself as the magnificent being you are, all the changes you desire will not only be possible, they will already be manifesting. Have faith to create the world behind your eyes; that is where the true gold lies.

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August 2006

An automatic life is about doing. When we compare ourselves to others in order to evaluate our own worth, when we value external achievement more than internal well-being, we are living from an automatic place. We are seeking what we have been taught to seek: love, approval, money, power, and beauty. Like so many other human doings, we are racing to get the right clothes and the right products and striving to think the right thoughts and feel the right feelings. In general, we are occupied with fulfilling the conscious and unconscious demands of the world.

An authentic life is about being. It's about each of us giving ourselves permission to be the totality of who we are with no apologies, reservations, or limits. You see, our opportunities to contribute to this world are unlike any other. When we can learn to see ourselves as the magnificent beings we are, all the changes we desire will not only be possible, they will already be manifesting.