SIMPLE - BUT NOT EASY

The Great Mystics say that we live in a physical world which is an extension of the non-physical that we call God, Creator, Allah, Divine Mystery etc. They also believe that we create our own reality. Years ago this sounded to me like mumbo-jumbo. Yes, it is a lot to swallow but something in me knew that this was true. Today, I do believe it and I often see it how what I think or do affects me in ways that I could never imagine.

A few months ago I looked around my home and saw what a great creator I really was. I couldn’t see the tops of the desk and the file cabinets in my office because of the papers scattered everywhere and piled high. My dining room table is perpetually covered with papers. As much as I try to rid myself of the clutter, more appears. The blessing in all of this chaos is that the living room is in good shape.

The bedroom is another thing. I can barely see the mirror on the dresser because the piles of books obscure it. Oh well, I say to myself…it’s clean clutter. Then I stop and feel the clutter, and I feel the tears welling in my eyes. “How did this happen” I ask? Better yet, “How can I change it?

I know from past experience that just cleaning it up is not enough. I don’t want to be held hostage by my clutter anymore. Although I have been trying to get rid of it, and have done so many times, it always returns. It will return quickly unless I change something in me that creates it.

I’ve also come to realize that I’m projecting the clutter in my mind and manifesting it in the physical. I clearly see that the cleanup starts with me. I must clean up the way I think, the way I see myself and how I see my life unfolding. I always feel so uplifted and free when I am outside of the house, walking in nature or watching the night sky. Could I re-create that feeling in my home?

Perhaps more meditation would help I say to myself. Yes it would, but I can meditate forever, and unless I really believe that I can live in an uncluttered home I never will. Until I believe that this is what I want, the clutter will return. Unless I take action and go within my heart to change it, nothing will change. I truly must believe that I can and I will. If I don’t believe it, I won’t. It’s simple, but not easy. And that’s the Truth.

And so it is…

Written for you with Love,

Barbara

Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.

Willliam James
1842-1910

A Mystical Moment

I had an experience yesterday that overshadowed all the sorrow I had been feeling for days. I had just awakened and although still drowsy I began a few easy stretches. I was not thinking about anything and was present to what I was doing. At one point I crossed my right leg over my bent left knee. My eyes fell on my bare foot and suddenly it was as if I was looking at something completely separate from me. My foot was a foreign object.

As I continued to view this scene I was captivated by my own sense of wonder. What I clearly saw was not me. Personal identification with my body seemed to be gone. Great Mystics describe this as an instant in which we recognize that we are not who or what we believe ourselves to be.

As difficult as this is to explain, I feel that I must share this exquisite Mystical Moment that revealed so clearly that my body is not who I am. These are the gifts we are shown when we truly desire to know Self…the one who is really who we are.

Although I have had many mystical experiences, I am always in awe when they happen. Albert Einstein once wrote: “The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the mystical.” I agree completely. I have been on this earth for many years and have been blessed with many mystical experiences. Nothing compares to the exquisite moment of recognition that we are not who we believe ourselves to be.

I’m writing this because tomorrow is July 4th and we Americans celebrate our freedoms given us by the United States Constitution. I want to acknowledge that I could write this blog because of those freedoms, especially the First Amendment.

Enjoy yourself on the fourth. Perhaps you might take a few minutes to give thanks that you are free to celebrate such a profound moment in history. If you read this after celebrating, perhaps you will take a few moments in gratitude and have a Mystical Moment.

Written for you with Love,

Barbara


“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

“No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”