I am enough. I appreciate who I am.

January 1, 2018

My intention for this year is Possibility.  I have come into the awareness the last few months of 2017 how much I don't live in the land of possibility.  I am not so much a pessimist with no faith in life, but I have come to see how much of my internal dialogue for and about myself comes from a place of not thinking I am enough.  You may or may not resonate with that internal chatter, but let me tell you living and choosing from an internal belief of not being enough is painful.  I realize how many decisions I have made from that place and it just makes me a bit sad.  I am someone who coaches others on their spiritual path and here I still have this huge, sometimes looming personality challenge of "not enough-ness".  But this challenge isn't necessarily something that ends, its just part of my journey and if I relate to it consciously it can be a catalyst for amazing growth and opportunity.  That is what I declare on this first day of 2018!

This year, enough is enough....no really enough IS enough, it has to be.  Whatever is here for me, you, all of us, is all that can be in this moment and it has to be enough.  If I continue to work, eat, choose and love et cetera from now not being enough then I am not being present and that is all I want to be....present.  In the present moment IS where possibility lives and to stay in the present moment...it has to be enough...I have to be enough.

My  affirmation/mantra personal boot strap puller-upper phrase this year is "I am enough.  I appreciate who I am."

The first decision of this year from this place is re-engaging my daily meditation & prayer practice along side doing the Whole30.  If you haven't heard of the Whole30 read this.  It is basically an elimination diet that can reset or reboot your system, eating habits and health.  What better time to do that than at the beginning of the year.  My wife Dr. Cari Jacobson and I are starting this journey together tomorrow and will be recording and sharing our journey along the way.

I am enough to try something completely new to better my health. 

You are enough to do whatever you need to do this year to have the life you want.

What will it be for you?  Whatever it is, lets support one another.  I am using this blog as accountability support, but hope it is inspiring to you as well.

Happy New Year!

Love, Light & Laughter,

Rev. D

Returning the thank you

September 9 Affirmation - My heart is filled with gratitude, knowing there is always more coming my way.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more." ~Melody Beattie

"Life has enough of everything to spare." ~Ernest Holmes

Rev. Norm wrote "The fact is, it doesn't make any difference to God whether you give thanks or not, but it makes a lot of difference to you...gratitude is not for God. Giving thanks is an important state of your consciousness that keeps you in an awareness of oneness with the divine flow. The grateful heart actually opens the way to the flow and becomes an attractive force to draw even greater things to itself."

This morning I sat for 10 minutes in the quiet, and simply started scrolling through my mind of all the things I am grateful for. I found myself land on the "easy" gratitudes, my parents, my fiancée, the food in my fridge, my job, my co-workers, those I manage and support with my work, friends, teachers, leaders et cetera...and then I found myself turning to the areas, people and organizations that I find personally challenging...I didn't necessarily know why or what I was grateful for initially, but I just kept going. "I am grateful for XXX, I am grateful for YYY" and things softened inside me. I didn't hold them so tightly, I didn't hold myself so tightly. I actually in that loosening and space received some guidance from within on some words I could share to foster connection again with a colleague where there has been some challenge. Gratitude as Melody Beattie wrote, unlocks the fullness of life. Even in the midst of an area of challenge for me, in the process of saying thank you and I am grateful, something opened up.

Let us follow the words of Meister Eckhart (a medieval monk) today. "If the only prayer you say in your entire life (today) is thank you, it will be enough."

Let us thank ALL of life today and open ourselves to a life that thrives!

Day 31 - December Meditations - Vision

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. ~Proverbs 29:18, Hebrew Scriptures

Affirmation: Today I keep my highest vision, my highest possibility fresh before me.  I welcome its guidance into possibilities beyond my knowing.

What is your highest vision for 2015?  What must you embrace and release to support it?  Are there any specific actions to take right now?

Explore the answer to these questions in todays meditation.  Download it here!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Keep fresh before me the moments of my high resolve.

Despite the dullness and barrenness of the days that pass, if I search with due diligence, I can always find a deposit left by some former radiance. But I had forgotten. At the time it was full-orbed, glorious, and resplendent. I was sure that I would never forget. In the moment of its fullness, I was sure that it would illumine my path for all the rest of my journey. I had forgotten how easy it is to forget.

There was no intent to betray what seemed so sure at the time. My response was whole, clean, authentic. But little by little, there crept into my life the dust and grit of the journey. Details, lower-level demands, all kinds of cross currents -- nothing momentous, nothing overwhelming, nothing flagrant -- just wear and tear. If there had been some direct challenge --a clear-cut issue -- I would have fought it to the end, and beyond.

In the quietness of this place, surrounded by the all-pervading Presence of God, my heart whispers: Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve, that in fair weather or in foul, in good times or in tempests, in the days when the darkness and the foe are nameless or familiar, I may not forget that to which my life is committed.

Keep fresh before me the moments of my high resolve.
 

For The Inward Journey
by Howard Thurman 

Day 30 - December Meditations - Becoming

"Through Life Visioning, we become the living condition through which divine ideas express themselves...These ideas can be anything from solutions to problems to a new business model to direction in your spiritual development." ~ Michael Bernard Beckwith

Affirmation:  My vision pulls me into my becoming.  

I live to expand and become everyday!

Contrary to what most of society tells us, we are not here to perform and produce.  Of course it is necessary for us to perform...perform tasks, duties and skills...and often times to be a contributing member to our friends, family and work systems, we must be productive and produce and contribute to the whole.  Performing and producing can pull us away from our underlying purpose and becoming though if that is all that we focus on.  In consciousness work and spiritual practice, the question is less about "what" and more about "who".  Who are we becoming today, tomorrow and the next?  The what actually can be quite easy, the whats of our lives reveal everyday as things are needed and required, but who are we becoming in the midst of the details of our lives.  

This is what we focus on today in our meditation.  Join me in listening for the answer to the question "Who are we here to become in 2015?"

December 29 - December Meditations - Vision

"In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision." ~ Dalai Lama

This morning contemplating the end of the year and what hopes, dreams & vision I have for myself next year, I realized I need to sift through some other things to get to the heart of the matter.  There are a lot of things I think I "SHOULD" do next year, and those things aren't bad, however, "shoulds" often carry with them some baggage and condemning energy.  I am interested in what is deeper than the shoulds.  

An example, "In 2015 I should lose 30 pounds."  Losing 30 pounds would be great for me, however in stead of of bringing "shoulding" energy (which often has lots of shame attached to it), what if the phrase or vision deeper than I should lose 30 pounds was..."2015 is a year of freedom and health in my body.  I celebrate exercise, dancing and flexibility in my body."  That actually gets me excited and ignites something within me to move towards that intention.

A visioning statement or phrase, ideally excites us.  We may not know how to bring everything to pass, however, stating the statement can activate possibility.

Lets start tapping into the vision for our lives in 2015.  Join me for a few minutes of visioning.  

Download today's visioning #meditation here.

Affirmation:  The vision for my life, opens my heart, mind and choosing to new possibilities...today! 

Day 28 - December Meditations - Meaning

What shall our lives mean?

Today I am giving a talk on the meaning we give to our lives or more importantly the meaning we bring to our living.  This is not a singular one time answer, rather something we must listen for and practice on a daily basis.

Download this meditation and move into the stillness listening for the answers to the question...What shall our lives mean?

Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it. ~ Ernest Holmes

Affirmation:  I give my life meaning.  

I choose from the meaning I give my life.  

My life is a reflection of my powerful choice.

Day 24 - December Meditations - Excitement

"Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities.  Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning." ~ Gloria Steinem

I woke up this morning getting ready to go visit family and sensed a familiar yet distant energy.  It was the excitement energy of my childhood around the holidays.  This is something that feels so good and energizes me.  It gave me pause to realize that this energy doesn't need to be distant or reserved for one time a year, this excitement can be cultivated into my daily living and practice.  

So let us begin today by diving deep into a meditation of excitement!  Click here to download.

Affirmation:  Today I welcome the excitement of my inner-child to dream and wonder of the possibility that is my life.