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 27 - December Meditations - Stillness

Yesterday, I found myself simply over stimulated.  I went to see a movie, walked around in a store and just found the need to tap into some inner tranquility in the midst of my day.  This morning I welcome a simple practice of becoming still in our meditation.  

Download this morning's meditation here as we ponder the quotes below in the stillness.

As spiritual searchers we need to become freer and freer of the attachment to our own smallness in which we get occupied with me-me-me. Pondering on large ideas or standing in front of things which remind us of a vast scale can free us from acquisitiveness and competitiveness and from our likes and dislikes. If we sit with an increasing stillness of the body, and attune our mind to the sky or to the ocean or to the myriad stars at night, or any other indicators of vastness, the mind gradually stills and the heart is filled with quiet joy. ~Ravi Ravindra

"Be still.  Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity” ~Lao Tzu

“The inner is foundation of the outer

The still is master of the restless

The Sage travels all day

yet never leaves his inner treasure”  ~Lao Tzu

“Being still does not mean don't move. It means move in peace.”  E'yen A. Gardner

Affirmation:  I welcome stillness in the midst of my living.

Day 26 - December Meditations - Unity

Today is the first day of Kwanzaa, a celebration of community, family and culture.  Each day of Kwanzaa a different quality is celebrated. Today's quality is Umoja or Unity.

Paul Ryan once said, "Every successful individual knows that his or her achievement depends on a community of persons working together."

In today's meditation we honor all the circles of community we live and participate in.  Download the guided meditation here and affirm with me....

Affirmation:  Today I embrace the gift of my community.  My living contributes to the whole, and the whole contributes to me.  We are one. 

Day 25 - December Meditations - The Greatest Gift

"Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self."  

~ Francsis of Assisi

Ernest Holmes wrote the greatest gift life could have given us is our self....A bit of a paradox, but in between these two statements, I believe, dwells the greatest wisdom gift that can set us free into the fullness of life.  We have been given the great of our lives AND the ability to overcome or transcend it, to remember our Self that is greater than any situation, yet if we pause and listen we can discover in every situation.

In the Christian tradition today is the celebration of Jesus the Christ.  The physical or human embodiment of the Christ Consciousness or God Consciousness.  Let today be a celebration less of a a particular person or religion, but a celebration of the consciousness and teaching that come out of it, "I and the father are one."

Let us meditate together then on this simple yet powerful affirmation.....download a guided meditation here.

Affirmation:  I am one with all that is.