One of my favorite pastimes on a Sunday evening after a fulfilling day at Unity by the Shore is to cuddle under a blanket on the couch as I watch some of my favorite shows.  One of the television shows I enjoy is Little Big Shots hosted by Steve Harvey.  This program showcases incredible children and teens with unique and extraordinary talent.  On one such evening while watching this delightful program, I was moved to tears by a twelve-year old boy named Sparsh Shah who rolled onto the stage in a wheelchair.  Sparsh was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, brittle bone disease, and is confined to a wheelchair, because the tiniest movement can result in a fracture or break to a bone.  He was born with 30 broken bones, and since birth Sparsh has fractured over 130 bones. Although Shah is small in statue, his personality is larger than life. Shah was on Little Big Shots to perform several rap songs.   During his interview with Steve Harvey before his performance, Harvey asked “With all of your challenges how do you have the energy to sing?”

Sparsh’s response was, “ I don’t focus on my fractures. I am here to inspire the world.”  With that the tears started rolling down my face as he began singing with such passion and power.  

Why is it that some people, habitual complainers, could have their days ruined because of the weather, traffic, bills, and other people, while others with such physical challenges can powerfully inspire and uplift others?  The answer is consciousness. Consciousness is what one participates and/or holds in thought, belief, emotion, and action. Our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions, shape our attitude and impact the actions we do or do not take.  In the words of Emmet Fox, “What you focus upon grows. Whatever you allow to occupy your mind you magnify in your life. Whether the subject of your thought be good or bad, the law works and the condition grows.” Consciousness not only affects each of us personally, but everyone else around us.  

Despite the pain and physical limitations that Sparsh experiences on a daily basis his consciousness is focused on, “I am here to inspire the world.”  This belief has impacted his life and touched the lives of others in many ways. Sparsh has released a tribute CD of one of his favorite rap artists Eminem, has song the National Anthem for many professional sporting events, has performed at numerous concerts with various rap artists, and has performed at the Grammys.  As he focuses on being a giver of life through his music and zealous attitude, he not only brings good into his life, but he also influences others to be a giver of their greatness.

How would your day be shaped if you awoke each morning with the belief, “I am here to inspire the world”?  How would that influence the choices you make big and small as you move through your day? Each one of us is Divinely Powerful with unique gifts.  As you make the choose to be a giver of love, joy, kindness, generosity, creativity, passion, zeal, and encouragement you too have the power to bring goodness into your life and bring light into the world.  

With the dawn of each new day may you remember you are here to  shine. May these beautiful words of Truth from Emmet Fox remind you of the Power of Love and your passion to be it: “There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer: no disease that love will not heal: no door that enough love will not open…It makes no difference how deep set the trouble: how hopeless the outlook: how muddled the tangle: how great the mistake. A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all. If only you could love enough you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world…” 

Albert Einstein brilliant physicist and philosophical scientist stated that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Here are some very real experiences of participating in behaviors that you know do not serve your greatest highest good, but you do them anyway:

• Eating food that saps your energy and causes major distress in your body.
• Spending money that you don’t have.
• Participating in gossip because it’s familiar.
• Having the same argument with loved ones.
• Procrastinating or failing to complete something.

Participating in behaviors that lead to disempowerment can leave you feeling exhausted, discouraged, and even hopeless. Have you participated in an “insanity loop” of your own? If you have, you’re in good company. In Romans 7:15 Saint Paul wrote, “I don’t understand myself. I want to do what is right but I do not do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate … It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what’s right, I inevitably do what’s wrong.”

Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, reminded us of the importance of self-knowledge and that our most important study was observation of our own consciousness to uncover hidden motives that influence our thinking and behaviors. Exploring the following questions can help you claim Dominion and end an insanity loop.

• What is the pay-off and is it worth it?
• What does my heart truly long for?
• Am I motivated by fear or love?

First, ask yourself what pay-off do I receive by participating in this behavior? Could it be the pleasure or thrill of instant gratification? We live in a world of instant gratification and frequently when we are hungry, lonely, tired, or frustrated the tendency is great for us to look for something we believe will give us a quick fix. Therefore, many turn to substances or behaviors that can give them a “temporary ”high”. Additionally, a payoff could be postponement of doing something you deem unpleasant, so you reach for or participate in something “more pleasant”. For example, sitting in the silence in an effort to transcend loneliness can seem daunting, and so you choose to reach for a few glasses of wine or busy yourself with mindless activities instead of facing feelings of sadness and unworthiness. If you are one who procrastinates, ask yourself, “ Is my free and mindless time more important to me than taking action in order to get my dreams off the ground?” Ultimately, the gratifying feelings of a chosen quick fix will subside only to elicit deeper pangs of unhappiness.

Another area to explore is to uncover what your heart truly desires. Often individuals who desire financial security, love, and/or joy in their lives reach for external substitutes to fill the perceived void they are experiencing. Ponder,
“How might I bring joy or love into my world and into the lives of others, and what is one small step I can take to make that happen today?” Reflection on whether your choices are fueled by fear or love is another important contemplation. Are your desires to participate in nourishing your body with healthy foods and movement conceptualized as “should s” because it is the right thing to do or a means to thwart aging and getting ill? Or, do you desire to participate in empowering practices because you love yourself and are devoted to nurturing your body, mind, and soul with acts of loving-kindness? When the motivation comes from loving you an activity moves from dread to pleasure.

So, my friends, as the season of Lent, a time of reflection and elimination of what no longer serves you, comes to a close, what are you willing to release? Free yourself from an “insanity loop” and rise in all of your glory to claim your Power and you will be resurrected to new life.

Ring out the old, ring in the new. Ring, happy bells, across the snow; The year is going, let it go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. These words written by Alfred Lord Tennyson reflect the practice of releasing the woes and challenges of the passing year while welcoming the promise of new beginnings. As you usher in the start of a new year, it is customary to vow to refrain from participating in self-defeating ways of thinking and being and to initiate a shift in consciousness that would lead to the experience of greater vitality, health, wealth, harmony, love, and joy.
Making New Year resolutions and setting intentions are practices that elicit excitement and hope. According to researcher John Norcross, the feelings of possibility and excitement within many, and the promises made by individuals to keep resolutions are strong the first few weeks of the new year. However, by February the level of motivation and commitment begins to wane. Additionally, his work and the studies of others show that only 8% of the people experience the fulfillment of intentions set. Are you part of the 92% who fail to see the manifestation of your aspirations? If so, have you ever pondered how you can be more successful in realizing your dreams?
If you are truly serious about bringing your intentions into expression you must apprehend that the penning of intentions is only the first step in the creative process. Setting intentions are the seeds of Divine Ideas. Like seeds you plant in the earth, you must tend to them regularly with great care in order for them to bloom and thrive. Other nutrients that will allow the desires of your heart to sprout are affirmative prayer and the conscious activation of your Spiritual Powers of Faith, Imagination, Elimination, Life, Will, and Order.
Faith is synonymous with belief. You must ask yourself the following: “Do I have an unwavering belief that I Am worthy of that which I desire?… Do I know with my whole heart and soul that I am a Divine Being who has the ability to draw forth from the Invisible Absolute Realm my Good?” If you answered no to one or both of these questions your soil is arid and will not support the germination of the seeds of your intentions. If you doubt your worthiness and co-creative abilities, through the Power of Elimination you can disengage your energy from self-limiting beliefs and through the practice of affirmative prayer you can passionately declare your Divinity and claim your Good.
Water helps to transport nutrients from the soil throughout the seedling and helps it to stand tall. Like water, the Power of Imagination is a carrier of needed nutrients. It becomes the vibrational conveyor of what we zealously intend in image form. Daily devotion to visualization sends passionately charged radio waves to the invisible, energetic Substance of the Universe and singles it to produce after its kind. Not only must you visualize your intentions in manifest form, but you must be willing to give the nutrient of Life to your visions. Life is given to your desires by taking action to animate your intentions. You further vitalize your seedling by embodying the attitude and behaviors as if you were living the Truth of your intentions.
Seedlings in fresh bloom are susceptible to the unpredictable weather patterns of Mother Earth. Likewise, along our journey, we often experience unexpected challenges, and we must call forth our Powers of Will, our determination, and Order, our flexibility, to stay the course and adapt to the day to day changes that occur in our lives long after the first of the year passes.
Finally, you would not expect a newly planted seed to grow into full bloom in a couple of weeks or even months, yet many naively believe that the sole practice of writing or speaking an intention passionately for a few days or weeks will produce their heart’s desire like magic. As you set your intentions for 2018, may you be willing to cultivate them with the needed nutrients and only then will you come to realize the desires of your heart.

Daylights Savings Time ends on November 5, 2017, at 2:00 AM when we “fall back” by setting our clocks back one hour. Although many enjoy an “extra” hour of sleep this weekend, many feel a bit of melancholy as the sun sets earlier and nightfall appears to shorten our day. During this time of the year, we begin to prepare to bring light into our experience as we enter the seasons of gratitude and advent. During the Thanksgiving holiday, we are invited to practice acts of gratitude as we call forth from within the light of appreciation. In preparation for Christmas, the illuminating awakening of the birth of the Christ within, we are beckoned to animate the lights of faith, peace, love, and joy.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush approved a joint resolution to designate November to be National Native American Heritage Month. Thanksgiving is a popular and cherished holiday in the United States. However, to Native Americans it is a day of mourning. Thanksgiving is a day when Native Americans hold in hallowed remembrance their ancestors who perished in a genocide and lament over the oppression of native people that began when European settlers colonized North America. During the month of November, many Native Americans vow to leave to posterity their sacred customs and traditions. In the following passage, White Feather, a native American Navajo, shares eloquently what is venerated:

“We believe everything is sacred from the largest mountain to the smallest plant and animal. A lesson can be found in all things and experiences and everything has a purpose. To sum up Native Spirituality; it is about honor, love, and respect. Not only do we love, honor, and respect our Creator and our Mother Earth, but also every living thing. It is about being in touch with ourselves and everything around us. It is about knowing and understanding that we are part of everything, and everything is a part of us. We are all One. We also believe that our Elders hold the answers. Our Elders keep our culture alive. We have much to learn from our Elders, and they deserve and receive our utmost respect.”

We the people of this great land can join our Native American brothers and sisters in holding with devoted reverence the natural world and the sacred worth of all sentient beings. There are many ways you can enshrine the light of appreciation by caring for our planet, embracing diversity in others, and honoring our elders and our ancestors.

Cloaked in the energy of appreciation, may you welcome the month of December and the practice of embodying the lights of advent. Each week of advent is symbolized by a Divine quality. During the first week, boldly examine where you are placing your Faith and set the intention to be led by the voice of Divine Wisdom within. Peace, is the luminous focus of the second week. Take time each day to find inner stillness that comes when you release the busyness of the world and rest in the breath of the Divine. In a place of quietude, ask how may I be the living prayer of peace? Entering the third week of advent, you are called to walk in the light of the harmonizing power of love. What may need harmonizing in your life? Dare to listen to your Authentic Self and take the necessary actions that will empower you to be the unifying presence of love. During the last week of advent, may you ignite the candle of joy within your soul. When you remember what you truly are, the light of the world, joy will naturally arise as your heart becomes filled with zeal as you spring forth with enthusiasm spreading good cheer and joy.

As we embrace the coming of cold, crisp air, earlier sunsets, and the history of our nation, let us rise as emissaries of light. Let us stand on the shoulders of our Native American ancestors and hold sacred the natural world, may we sanctify all life with reverence, and may we boldly be the light of faith, peace, love, and joy.

“I am in a state of despair, hurt, anger and disbelief that we are at this point in America — again”, remarked Myrlie Evers a Civil Rights Leader, on August 18th while being interviewed by a reporter after Heather Heyer, was plowed down and killed by a neo-Nazi white, supremacist who drove his car into KKK and neo-Nazi counter protesters. This tragedy is all too familiar to Evers. In 1963, her husband was cold bloodily shot and killed in the driveway of their home by a white supremacist. She continued to share her incredulity over the vehement intolerance that still exists in our nation.

As I watched footage of the KKK and neo-Nazi gang members marching in the streets of Charlottesville with torches shouting, “Jews will not replace us”, I was filled with gut wrenching trepidation. I was chilled to the bone while I watched white supremacists violently push, trample and mace throngs of people who gathered to stand against their prejudice and hostility as they chanted, “ No Nazis…No KKK!”. Immediately after the events of Charlottesville, groups across the nation organized to take a stand against racism and hatred. I received several notifications from local groups who were organizing marches and rallies for citizens to take a stand against hatred, bigotry, and racism. As I read these emails, I felt uneasy. I understand and profess how important it is to be an active and engaged citizen and to not blindly be a bystander as injustice and harm are inflicted on my brother and sisters. However, the universal law of cause and effect reminds me that what I resist persists. Additionally, Martin Luther King Jr. masterfully taught us, “Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace.” Let us be aware that violence is not only the act of physically attacking someone but occurs when we, judge, criticize and condemn others.

Additionally, when we take a stand against something the vibratory energy we send out in our words and actions is one of fighting and warring. In a “stance of against” we take on the very energy of that which we do not want.

So, how can we the people embody our Divine Nature to bring about harmony, equality, and peace to our nation and the world? I turn to the Master Teachers, Jesus the Christ, Charles Fillmore, and Mother Theresa. In Mark 4:39 while out at sea on a stormy night, “Jesus woke up rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.” In this precept, Jesus teaches us the importance of embodying our Power of Dominion. During stormy times, we can easily be overcome with fear and our emotions can elicit within us a flight, fright, or freeze reactive response, instead of a Spiritually, conscious and empowered stance. In stormy situations, it is important to be self-aware and to become still by taking several deep breaths and dropping to your heart as you speak words of Truth and Power, such as, “ Peace Be Still and know I Am centered in Dominion, Strength, Wisdom, and Harmony!” From that place of center, you become the embodiment of peace and can discern how your actions and words can embody wisdom, courage, compassion, and power in any situation. Charles Fillmore states that a peacemaker is, “One who has the ability to say peace to the turbulent waves of thought and have them obey. A peacemaker is one who reduces to peace and harmony all the thoughts of strife, anger, and retaliation in his/her own mind.”

After you become still, and you do receive Divine Guidance to take to the streets, I invite you to organize or join a rally that stands for what you desire to bring into expression in our nation and the world. Mother Theresa wisely reminded us, “ I will never attend an anti-war rally; if you have a peace rally, invite me. Let us remember that if you focus on what you want instead of what you don’t want you will receive it in abundance. I invite you to be self-aware, speak words of Truth and Power, and be the living presence of peace, compassion, justice, tolerance, and generosity, and together we will have it!