A few nights ago, I read a powerful line from one of Marianne Williamson’s books: Everyday Grace. I have been paging through that book now, for almost 30 minutes, trying to find the line, so I can quote it exactly. Alas, the line remains hidden within the masterfully scripted pages. But its impact just as powerful, and its wisdom ripe with spirit. It reads something like, “We are not here to fix the material world, but to transcend it.” The transcending, or course, is done by looking at all of life with love. We strengthen this ability through meditation and prayer, and through rituals and practice that bring us closer to the Divine.

      For instance, the seduction of rhythmic chants or the lullaby of a trickling river can distract our conscious mind enough to allow our Spirit to pour forth. We love these moments. In these moments, the world truly does stand still, and we recognize the perfection of life’s great circle. Most of us have at least one or two fleeting experiences of being completely in tune with our spirit. In these moments, our bills, laundry piles, and relational quarrels fade to the background. We see the perfection in the imperfection, the rhythm of the chaos, the clarity of the difficult path we have been on, and bask in the gratitude and love that the Universe continually provides for us.

      On the other hand, most of us can also recognize those moments that we truly have been “off” of our spiritual path. You know those moments—they are the destructive, self-righteous, angry, argumentative moments when we are unwilling to move off of our position. The whole world is a bowl of cherry pits, and the lazy jerk at work is making your job a living nightmare. Revenge, rebuttal, and remorse fill the cracks in your day, and you are ready for a drink and a gripe session with whoever will listen. But we intuitively know that is not the way back to peace, but just a superficial struggle of the ego to vehemently hold onto its delusion of separateness, blame, and guilt.

      We are not here to fix the material world, but to transcend it. If we take this line seriously, then we recognize that all “jerks” in our life serve but one purpose: to provide the resistance we need to practice going back to God. The resistance, like weights at the gym, gives us the “workout” to gain strength of Spirit. While it might be easier, we can’t “work out” with feathers or pebbles and expect to gain any amount of strength. Correspondingly, life would be much easier if everyone around you behaved well, adored you, and were kind, generous, and fun. But, if this were the case, like a physical body with no resistance, your spirit would fade and become soft, weak, and lifeless. This, in and of itself, is enough of a reason to bless the “jerks” in your life who are seemingly set on making you miserable. That is just a game of the ego. Their “sole” purpose or “soul” purpose is to give you an opportunity for a spiritual workout. Think of it as a free gym membership. What a gift!

      You may question, “How do I ‘love’ the lazy jerk at work who is making my job a living nightmare? I’m angry at him, and I just can’t act like I am not!” One of the great spiritual misperceptions of the world is that “spiritual people don’t get angry.” Hogwash. Put that out of your mind right now. It is more appropriate to say, “Spiritual people honor all of their feelings, and speak their truth, powerfully and lovingly.” So there really is no contradiction here. Take your action, but take it with love. Speak your truth, but speak it with love. Love bears a strong voice. So even before even approaching him, affirm that the “jerk” is, indeed, a child of God, and he is in your live for the sole (soul) purpose of giving you an opportunity to practice spiritual principals. Then, by all means, say what you need to say. You will be pleasantly surprised at how well the words flow when they are said with love.

      On that same note, we all bear the capacity to influence how others behave, simply by modeling healthy behaviors. This is because most behaviors are learned through observation. Could it be, then, that even our perceptions- and resultant actions/ attitudes/ behaviors can influence how other people perceive the world- without us even saying a word? I believe so.

      What circumstances in your life might you be viewing with mud-tainted goggles? How is this making your life experience unpleasant? What are you going to do about it? Are you willing to place your negative experiences and situations into the hands of the Divine? Then meet God half way- through love and inspired action- so that you can solve these problems together? What are you modeling in the world? Are you modeling peace and a mastery of yourself? Or do you typically model aggression, impatience, and judgment? Because, my dear friend, in the scheme of life, it truly does matter.

In Divine Love,
Laurel

I had a wonderful friend named Stacy many years ago. One of the things I remember most about Stacy was how she behaved on the road. When a driver was rude, magoo, slow, or annoying, instead of swearing or yelling, she would hold up her hand and say, “Bless you!” If another driver was being particularly annoying, she would yell, “BLESS YOU!!” “May God bless you with sight so that you can become a better driver!” I often laughed out loud during our drives together because it really was very comical. I quickly followed suit, and found my drives to have much more levity. The practice stuck with me, and while I no longer say it out loud, I do still practice commute blessing. As it has become such a habit, I do it completely unconsciously now.

In fact, I learned, quite by chance, how much this practiced has influenced my perceptions of the road. In my last job, I had a co worker named Dianna. Dianna was lovely in many ways, and considered herself to be a spiritual and loving person. One of her greatest stressors, however, was traffic. Dianna used to constantly complain about the “road rage” of other drivers who would, without fail, ruin her otherwise peaceful drives to and from work. “That 51 freeway is a nightmare!” she would rant every morning as she plopped down at her desk and put her hand to her forehead. Oddly, I drove the same freeway, at the same times that she did. I never experienced any form of road rage from another driver. I also lived about eight miles North of where she did, and so had a longer commute; longer exposure time to the freeway would seemingly increase the odds that I would run into a road-rager. Right? Sure, once in a while there was a rude or rushed driver who would pull right in front of my car without warning, but that was just another opportunity for me to practice the art of blessing.

It happened that Dianna was asked to house sit for a week in my neighborhood. We decided to carpool to and from work for that week. The first morning she picked me up from my house. She gave me a friendly, “Good morning!” as I climbed in her car. We made our way to the “dreaded” 51 freeway; I was putting on my makeup in the visor mirror, grateful for the extra time I had that morning. I was lost in thought about what I had ahead of me that day on my desk, mentally going through my meetings and task list, and looking forward to lunch with a friend. “Damn it! GO already!” Dianna yelled at the top of her lungs. I nearly jumped out of my skin. She abruptly gestured with her hand, waving on a driver who was signaling to get over into our lane. “Did you see that idiot?!” She growled. “He damn near clipped my car! Jerk…” I hadn’t witnessed anything except her yelling and rude gesturing. I remained quiet.

A few minutes later, Dianna slammed on her brakes. I lurched forward and smudged my mascara under my eye. “You’ve got like a hundred yards ahead of you!” She screamed at a driver who had slowed in front of her. There were brake lights ahead, and his slowing seemed prudent—at least to me. Dianna hit her horn and continued her rant and hasty gesturing. The driver ahead flip us the bird out his window. “Right back at ya, Buddy!” She flipped him back through the windshield. Oye. Spiritual person? Okay…

I was getting a little concerned. What in the world was she seeing that I wasn’t seeing? Or was I just being ignorant? Her reactions were completely off the charts. By the time we got to the office, I was a frazzled mess, and absolutely dreading the drive home.

Needless to say, I offered to drive the carpool for the rest of the week. The first day I drove, Dianna started out being a back-seat road-rager, yelling and swearing, and pointing out phantom infractions of other drivers. “Dianna, I have an idea.” I said, cutting her off in mid-rant. “Why don’t you let me worry about the other drivers? You just relax.” I turned on my CD player. “Here. Close your eyes and listen to this.” The CD was a compilation of my favorite relaxation and meditation songs. She did not close her eyes at first, but thankfully stopped yelling. After fifteen minutes, she leaned the seat back and closed her eyes. We didn’t speak until we arrived at the office.

“So… how do you not get mad at the other drivers?” Dianna asked me on our drive home that evening. I ended up telling her about my friend Stacy, and how she taught me the art of commute blessing. I demonstrated the practice out loud a few times, and Dianna laughed. “That’s just… freaky.” She said. On Friday, Dianna asked me if I could make copies of some of my meditative songs so she could listen to them in her car. Amazingly, Dianna never complained about road-ragers on the 51 freeway again. A few weeks later, I overheard Dianna telling another coworker all about commute blessing, and how “it really works” to make driving a better experience.

Yeah, I guess that is a little freaky. But for those of you who understand energy, we know that cursing and aggressive gesturing towards other drivers only complicates the stressors of the road, and a blessing carries the energies of love and peace. Whether or not other drivers are aware that they are being blessed is completely beside the point. They will receive this energy on a subconscious level, and it will make their (and your) travel more peaceful.

Practice commute blessing this month. Make it sort of a spiritual game. Yell as loud as you want; “Bless you!” And be sure to bless the other driver with whatever you think he needs: “Bless you with a stronger right foot so you can increase your speed!” or “Bless you with the gift of perception so you can pick one lane or the other!” Your passengers will get a kick out of it anyway, and soon this practice will become your mental habit.

Happy Driving!
Laurel

Everything in perfect and Divine timing. This economic depression is the proverbial step back before moving the boulder forward.

Whether we recognize it or not, there have been countless upsides to the economic crunch. For instance, people who would normally never leave a mundane career path have been forced out of their jobs- with time to explore their passions. People are going back to school. Paintbrushes are being picked up. Books getting written. Gardens being planted. Dust is dissolving from vocal cords and guitars are being strummed. Children are being cuddled by formerly busy parents. This restructuring is crucial as we redefine our values and move towards enlightenment and authentic abundance.

Tight finances also tend to bring people closer to their families and friends for economic and moral support. While many internally protest and feel a sense of failure, it is a natural effect of a slow economy; old familial wounds are getting recognized and people are receiving opportunities of a deeper healing. These healings are crucial for the energetic vibrational boost of the planet.

In fact, enlightenment of the planet is happening at a rapid pace. Eckart Tolle teaches in his The Power of Now series that, in rare occasions, enlightenment comes about through great loss and suffering and causes a person to completely surrender the egoic structure of the mind. The senses no longer provide pleasure or even a sense of safety from the world. So an immediate move to the Divine ensues. The opportunity for this phenomenon is happening more and more as people experience egoic despair in the slow economy (i.e.: “I failed!”)  And while certainly many do not “get” why it is all happening, all have the opportunity to withdraw their attention from the outside world (which is crumbling and can no longer fulfill their egotistical approach to “who am I?”) and return to their true Source- or The Father, or God, The Universe- whatever or whomever represents the Divine respectively. A booming economy does not offer this opportunity. 

Lastly, the GRATITUDE that people will experience as the economy swings back will be a powerful force that will bathe us in the high, fast energy of thanks and good will.

So what is the best way to deal with the down economy? Well, for starters, surrender your fear. Nudge yourself into a place of a trust for the unfolding of the higher order of the Universe. Whether it is clear to you or not in this moment, know that God writes straight with crooked lines. We are evolving rapidly as humans; this moment in time is all part of the higher plan. After all, it’s not your plan that counts. It’s His.

In Divine Love,
Laurel