Sun Feb 05, 2012
Get in That Game!
- J. Askenberg
Dear Hearts,
There are those that play the game of Life and those that sit quietly on the sidelines and watch others as they play life's game. We sit on the sidelines for a variety of reasons, we fear making a mistake and looking foolish, we fear being rejected, we fear not being good enough, etc., etc.
Each one of us is here to give our unique gifts. We are here to suit up every day to play life’s game by giving our unique and special gifts. However, if instead we opt to sit on the sidelines and simply watch the game ~ then our part never gets played, our gifts aren't given and life suffers a loss.
The Superbowl is coming up Sunday. We may be certain that each and every player that has shown show up for this Game will give the very best they've got.
So, today, let us play our own Superbowl. Let's suit up and play to the best of our ability. We'll win some points and we'll loose some, however, in the long run that really has little importance. What is important is that we have shown up to play, to give our gifts and to shine our light. For that reason, we are born.
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Thu Feb 02, 2012
The Purpose Driven Life
Rick Warren
Dear Hearts,
Do we let past events dictate our lives? There are so many excuses we can give ourselves for not reaching our full potential. "I don't have a *college degree", "I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks", "I am limited by my finances", "I married the wrong person", ad infinitum.
As we look at the lives of the great saints and avatars, each one overcame enormous difficulty. Two thousand years ago there was a carpenter who had little formal education, from a town few heard of, is to this day revered as the world's greatest teacher and foremost authority on love.
A poor nun, again with very little education and no money, walked the most dangerous streets of India and cared for the critically ill and dying. She won the Nobel Peace Prize and has become a world symbol for compassion. A small brown man, who at one time had a fierce temper and a huge inferiority complex, became the liberator of India from English rule and a world symbol for non-violence. How did they do it? They changed their thinking about their past and knew their past did not need to dictate their future. Their future was theirs alone to decide
Let's remember that God doesn't know our past or our perceived limitations. God only knows our perfection and our unlimited possibilities. We are always at choice of staying in our old thought patterns of why we can't, or move into new thought patterns of why we can.
Today, which will we choose?
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Wed Feb 01, 2012
Tread lightly...
Paulo Coelho
Dear Hearts,
How many times have we said (or written) something in a moment of anger and regretted it for days or months…sometimes even years? It’s so easy to react to something that upsets us, but often the price of an angry reaction is so high and can be so hurtful.
There are days when everything seems to be going along smoothly and then bam! Someone says something that doesn’t set well with us and we react angrily and often end up backtracking for months.
How can we avoid this kind of angry reaction? One woman shares that when she gets upset with her husband, instead of an angry retort, she takes a deep breath and tells him she needs a time out.
She then either quietly goes into another room or takes a walk…until she feels confident that she can return to him and give him a calm response. She says she loves her husband so much that she simply won’t take a chance of hurting him through angry words.
Each of us can find our own way to avoid angry/hurtful words. In the long run, an angry reaction is never worth it, even though in the short term that reaction might feel good.
Words can hurt every bit as much as any weapon and can be just as lethal. So let’s commit to avoid falling into the trap of angry reactions and give ourselves the time needed to respond in a kind and thoughtful way.
Today, I realize the one question to ask myself is..."How well can I love"?
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Tue Jan 31, 2012
It's Always the Answer!"
William James
Dear Hearts,
We're not at choice about whether we will have unfortunate events occur in our lives. We're living a human life…and human misfortune is part and parcel of that life. What we do have choice about is how we handle life’s misfortune.
There are a multitude of ways misfortune can strike, a hurricane, the loss of a loved one, a job loss, breakup of a relationship or diagnosis/prognoses, etc. What’s important is that we process misfortune is such a way that we finally get to a place of acceptance.
Getting to a place of acceptance isn’t always easy. Psychologist Elsabeth Kubler Ross described the five stages of grief.
(2) Anger (fury that this has happened)
(3) Bargaining (promising to do something if situation can only change)
(4) Depression (how can I go on?) and finally
(5) Acceptance (and so life goes on).
In order to really process a misfortune, we must go through all five stages of grief. These stages may take us an hour or may take us months. There are those who get stuck in misfortune…who waste the precious moments of their lives continually asking “why?” “Why” is never a valid question, as we’ll never know the answer to that question.
We can get through any misfortune if we choose to. We have a great and mighty God that has said, “For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, “Fear not, I will help you".*
Let's pray for the help we need, process our grief (with other's help, if necessary) and move on with our journey of acceptance in this beautiful thing called life.
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Isaiah 41:19*
Sat Jan 28, 2012
Where do we live??
Emily Dickenson
Dear Hearts,
Do we find ourselves being pushed along by worry, doubt and fear? Or do we find ourselves being pulled by a vision of possibilities? We don’t have to travel to some exotic place, find a new job or a new romance to dwell in possibilities. The possibilities exist within the life we lead right now.
Each of us has the opportunity to make this week a celebration of Life, therefore a celebration of God for God is Life. We might ask ourselves, ”What would our relationships look like if we thought about what’s possible for them, rather than what’s not possible”?
Instead of simply thinking about our careers as the means to an end for financial survival, what if we looked at our careers in terms of possibilities; in terms of a chance to create and utilize our God given abilities?
How would our families look if we thought about them from what is really possible for a family to be and to do, rather than staying stuck in, “this is the way it’s always been”? What would we see if we were to look at ourselves from possibility thinking of what we can do rather than what we can’t do..or seeing ourselves as we can be rather than as we were.
What if we saw ourselves as God’s possibilities… knowing that we have been made in God’s image and likeness and ordained to give our best to life?
Henry Ford said, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, your right”. Let’s believe today is a day that we are caoabke of a myriad of things by allowing possibility thinking to guide us along our way.
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Mon Jan 23, 2012
Where Do Your Thoughts Lead You??
Dr. Ernest Holmes
Dear Hearts,
As we go through this day, instead of thinking what we're opposed to...or against, what if we focus our thoughts on what we're for...what we support? It's easy to move into the mind set of "against" because we live in a general atmosphere of negativity. So, it's up to us to change .... "to be", as Ghandi challenged us, "the change we wish to see". What if we committed our entire day to simply focusing on what we really stand for and not "against".
Emerson said, "Stand guard the portals of your mind". Today, when we find our thoughts wandering to negativity, i.e., what we're against, what we don't like or what we don't want to see in our lives, let's gently bring our attention back to the positive side of life. What is it we're for? What do we like, what do we want to see and what is it we support?
As St. Paul said so long ago, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.on what is beautiful, what is true, think on these things. When we do, then we get to watch the difference it makes in our attitudes, relationships, health and in the quality of our lives in general.
Today I direct my thoughts to only those things that my heart desires. Thank you, God and so it is.
With love and blessings
Rev. Barbara
Sun Jan 22, 2012
Searh for it!!
George Washington Carver
Dear Hearts,
Today, let's think about the way we love. Do we give of our love generously, unconditionally? Or do we place conditions on our love? Does our love become a “contract” inasmuch as, “I’ll be loving to you as long as you take out the trash or clean the garage or fix dinner, etc. etc.”
In this world of ours, many of us forget completely that we are here to love as God loves…unconditionally. Love isn’t about a bargain, thus showing love when we get our way. Love is about loving…no matter what.
We are placed in this world to be lovers, to allow the love of God to flow through us thus touching the lives of others. This kind of love knows no conditions. Today, as we look at our loved ones…let’s not think of making a contract i.e. I’ll love you or be good to you if you do (fill in the blank)_______________for me. Let’s think to ourselves “Today I have the privilege of loving you no matter what you do or don’t do for me… for when I behold your face, I behold the face God.
Today, I know why I’m alive…to love kindly, generously, graciously with no strings attached. Today, I love others as God loves me. Thank you, God, and so it is!
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Sat Jan 21, 2012
Expand Your Life!
Dr. Edmund Cohen
Dear Hearts,
On a daily basis we are called to grow, to become, to step into a larger way of being. Every day the Universe issues us countless invitations to grow and expand our life.
Can we go the extra mile for another today?
GROW beyond our own need to be right ~
Can we use those magical words today --
"You may be right?"
GROW beyond the need to carry a grudge ~
Can we be more forgiving in our hearts today?
GROW beyond our need to judge ~
Can we be more compassionate today?
GROW beyond our self serving ~
Can we be of service to others today?
Grow beyond the desire to exclude another ~
Can we be more loving in our hearts to all we come in contact with today?
So the invitation to us today is to grow and expand and to experience how wonderfully good that feels because when we are growing and expanding spiritually we get to experience God at a whole different level.
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Fri Jan 20, 2012
Wonder Where You're Going?!
Eleanor Roosevelt
Dear Hearts,
Haven’t we all felt there were some things we just couldn’t do? This can take many different forms…asking for a raise, offering an apology, etc.
Whatever it is we feel we can’t do becomes a wall of our own self-imposed limitations. However, on the other side of the wall, a larger life is beckoning to us. The key to getting to that larger life is walking through our fear by doing the very thing we tell ourselves we can’t do.
When we feel we can’t do something…many times its because we fear rejection. But the important thing to remember is that it isn’t about the other person or their reaction to us that matters. What matters is that we’ve had the courage to feel our fear and do it anyway. It’s about stepping beyond our current level of comfort. It’s about taking care of ourselves by asking for what we need and by stating our feelings.
We may not get the raise we’ve requested, but at least we ventured forth to ask. Someone may not accept our apology but at least we’ve given it. Someone may not respond when we tell him or her we love them…but at least we’ve expressed ourselves.
When we’re able to do the very thing we’re afraid of or think we can’t do, then we’ve walked through the proverbial wall of our own making. On the other side of that wall, a larger more abundant life is beckoning to us.
Is there a wall we need to walk through?
Today, I'll speak up, I'll run, I'll start my diet and the very thing I think I can't do...this is the day I'll just do it! Thank you, God...and so it is!
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
Thu Jan 19, 2012
How to Win Your Own Golden Globe
Terri Hatcher after receiving a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress
Dear Hearts,
What a beautiful example Terri Hatcher gave to all of us. How many times
have we felt like "has beens"? Our life as we have known it seems to disappear and we feel washed up. What do we do when this happens?
We begin saying, "yes" to the smallest opportunity that comes our way. Often when some seemingly insignificant opportunity presents itself, we immediately qualify it and say "no", thinking what possible good could that do us? Well our job isn't to qualify; our job is to do ~ to say, "Yes" to what Life offers us. Every time we say "yes", it becomes an opening for Life to present another step and another opportunity and before we know it, we're in a whole different place and space in our lives.
Terri Hatcher commented that the previous year she was in her pajamas eating popcorn watching the Golden Globes, perhaps dreaming of what could have been. But she kept doing her work, saying yes to each small step presented to her, showing up for every audition and 365 days later, she was on the stage of the Golden Globes with a hit TV show and accepting an award for Best Actress in a comedy series.
This is an impersonal Universe...meaning Life plays no favorites. What happened to Terri Hatcher can happen to us. Maybe we don't want to be on the stage of the Golden Globes, but saying "yes" to life brings us to whatever stage of life our heart truly desires. Let's try it and see where life takes us. Remember the secret of life is a three-letter word, "Yes"!
With love and blessings,
Rev. Barbara
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