Faith is Freedom

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Katherine

“When we expect things to get better, we’re in faith. When we expect them to get worse, we’re in fear.”
I don’t know who said this, and if it was me, I forgot. If we’re in a place where we’ve aligned with spiritual principles, our faith acts as a conviction that the Universe will deliver what we need.
Coincidentally, what we need is usually right in front of our face. I believe God is always directing us, sometimes dropping little feathers of guidance or wisdom, and sometimes throwing bricks. The bricks hurt, but our willingness to maintain faith in the goodness of Spirit allows us to see the bricks as blessings.

My friend Brian is an extremely controlling parent, and does not listen to the needs of his young daughter. Possibly out of a frustration at not having her own voice, she began to eat as a way to both comfort herself and to “gain” some measure of control over her life. Her overeating was something Brian could not control, and because he did not see this as an opportunity to do some spiritual introspection, he felt confused, angry, and scared. He then externalized the problem onto his daughter. Because he does not understand nor use the basic principle of The Law of Cause and Effect, he lives in a place of consciousness where he believes that things just happen out of the blue, and he perceives those things as very very bad.

God is love and law at the same time. If we believe that God is good, then everything in front of us is lining up for our good. When we see something we don’t want or like, our faith can take us to a place of re-evaluation. With the belief that God is all there is and God is good, whatever is happening must be good. Ironically, when we take responsibility for creating our reality, we move to the next level of good, the next level of freedom.

If we’re willing to do the introspection, inquiry of this nature can bring us from a place of judgment to a place of allowing.
I believe allowing is a wonderful form of freedom.

Blessings, Katherine

Posted in Codependency/Control, Faith, Healing, Reflections of our Reality, The Goodness of God | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

What Have you Cooked up as the Truth?

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Katherine

We’re always using a recipe that pulls together the thoughts that create our reality.

Our recipe is made up of our attitudes, conditioning, expectations, and especially our beliefs about how it all works. In New Thought philosophy this is known as The Law of Mental Equivalents. It is having a subconscious idea of the desired experience. As we uplevel our concept of what we can accept as normal, our vision of what is possible expands, and the good ole Universe, which is always saying YES to whatever concept we believe we can have, will also say yes to an expanded expression of what we want.

I like the analogy of a drip (filter) coffee maker. What kind and quality of coffee you put into the filter determines what kind of coffee is brewed. The filter represents the impersonal and universal Law of Cause and Effect, which just says YES. It does not care what you put into the filter. It doesn’t make judgments or say, “Don’t use that cheap coffee, use the French Roast.”

Just like the brewed coffee is a direct reflection of what you put in the filter, the circumstances and conditions of our lives reflect what  moves through out thoughts. If we put rocks in the filter, we get rock water. If we put fine coffee in, we get fine coffee. If we have been under-earning in our work, we can identify the set of beliefs that have shown up as under earning, change the belief, and things will change at work. The change may come in many ways, such as a willingness to ask for what we deserve, a desire to improve our skills, or as creative ideas that lead to opportunities for different work. If we want to change our status we have to play a different game. Creating a new mental equivalent means that we create a new normal for ourselves.
When we are aware of the Law of Mental Equivalents and participate in the principle, we no longer need to live our lives by the Law of Averages.

Sending love and blessings, Katherine

“Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.” ~ Grandma (Anna Mary) Moses, American painter, who began painting at age 79.

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Is All Judgment Self-Judgment?

Posted on January 15, 2011 by Katherine

In preparation for my upcoming class, “Who Me? Exploring the Role of Judgment on our Spiritual Path,” I’m deepening my understanding of the effects of judgment on our lives. Here are a few bullet points of what I’m working on. The basis of this inquiry is self-honesty.
• If someone is behaving in a certain way and we judge them, thinking they need to change in order for us to feel o.k., this indicates that this is OUR work to do.
• When you judge others, especially when it takes up residence as resentment, you are the one who is in your body feeling the pain. Someone once said, “When you resent someone, you better dig two graves.”
• When you hear The Voice inside that judges or criticizes, whose voice is it? Does it sound like a parent’s voice that judged you and others? When we listen to this voice, we are often entrapped – unable to access our authentic nature.
• What’s the story that involves feelings that is behind the voice? Is it an old story, e.g. “people don’t like me” or “I can’t make friends easily because I’m shy,” or “It hurts when people don’t include me.”

For some, judging is a compulsive behavior. We most likely learned it from someone else. Think of someone you judge. Put on your Self Honesty Cloak. Ask these questions, or better ones that you come up with:
- What would I like to be happening here?
- What is my emotional experience (e.g., sadness, grief, fear, anger) right now ?
- What is The Voice saying and what is the story? Is this story current or from my past?
- How is judging keeping me from feeling my feelings? How am I criticizing others so I don’t have to feel pain?
- What do I want and/or need that I’m not getting? Am I willing to ask for it?

If we’re willing to do the introspection, inquiry of this nature can bring us back from the ledge of suffering.
Blessings, Katherine

Check out our website for information about upcoming classes: http://www.richerliving.org/classes.html
“I love my thoughts- I’m just not tempted to believe them.” ~ Byron Katie

Posted in Codependency/Control, Ego, Healing, Reflections of our Reality, Spiritual Practices | 1 Comment

Creativity, God, and the New Year

Posted on December 28, 2010 by Katherine

Many of us think of creativity as something that some have and some don’t.

Often we use the word creative to describe those who do well at writing, music, or crafts. Maybe we think, “I’m not creative,” or “she’s so creative.” I’m not talking about that creative. I see creativity as the force that runs your life. It’s a quality of God, so it not only came already hardwired into your internal programing, it’s who you ARE. I see creativity, not as something to reach for, but a process of allowing the life force energy of God to move through us. Getting out of bed in the morning is a creative act. Something motivates us to get going.
How available or unavailable we are to this divine channel of creativity determines the rate of ideas and opportunities that flow through us.

One of the biggest blocks to our natural creativity is our own fear of looking bad. Many people would choose a root canal over the fear of maybe feeling embarrassed and/or acting like a fool if they step outside their comfort zone. How about you? Are there any areas in your life that feel blocked, or stalled, or empty? Is it possible there are negative beliefs or attitudes about your abilities or spiritual resources that are running the show of your reality? If so, here’s a quote and a few ideas to shake things up, unstop the drain of creative ideas, and loosen up the channel of God’s unlimited good, so your intentions for the New Year can manifest more easily.

“When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap.” ~ Cynthia Heimel

Here’s a few ideas for allowing the creative flow:
• Take risks daily. I define risks as something that is  dangerous to the status quo. Acting like a fool is a great way to rock the boat of your normal. If the idea gives you sweaty palms, start small.
• Along the way, many of us have learned to compare our efforts to others. Stop it!
• Take an inventory of your childhood experiences around creativity and see if there are any dusty old beliefs yourself that are obviously not true.
• Increase your contact with Spirit. Your intuition is part of the same divine channel through which creativity flows. Write out questions and use your non-dominant hand to answer as the voice of Spirit. We’re all part of God, why not tune into the Divine Channel on a daily basis? The more I do this as a spiritual practice, the easier it is for me to access the divine channel.
In our upcoming intentions setting playshop on January 8, I will be giving you more practices that can help you to daily tap into your inner guidance.

Check out our website for information about this and other upcoming classes: http://www.richerliving.org/classes.html
Blessings, Katherine

“The only choice I have is to deny the truth of who I am.” ~ Master Nigel Henry

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A Meditation that Turns Off the Thought Machine

Posted on December 22, 2010 by Katherine

Holiday time usually finds me with more thoughts in my head than I have space for, so meditation can be an exercise in “Wow, I just sat here for 20 minutes and all I did was work on my ‘to do’ list for the day.”
Wayne Dyer has a wonderful book, Getting in the Gap, which describes a meditation that can help you stop, or slow down the hamster wheel inside your mind, bringing calm, inner peace, and all the other good things that come from a deep meditation.

Our thoughts are things, like bricks. In order to become a wall, bricks need space between them that contains mortar. The mortar is made of particles that require space between them so the mortar will work. Our thoughts act in the same way. They need space between them so they can attract new forms of life, like new ideas, creativity, and peacefulness. This space is called the gap. It provides the opportunity for our thoughts to create and manifest. For me, the gap is a place of blissful nothingness (no thingness). It feels like hanging out in God’s living room. While in the gap, we’re silently communing with God while bringing forth the essence of creativity that God is and that we are. The book describes the meditation process using the first 10 words of the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. This is about entering God’s domain, and not about religion.

Here’s how you do it. Sit in a comfortable meditation pose, preferable with your back straight. Quiet your mind, and either bring up the first word, Our onto the screen of your mind, or get a feeling sense of the word. Focus on the word, and then slightly move your head to the right and focus on the word Father. See or feel them next to each other, and then move your head slightly to the left, so your attention is in the space between the words. Now allow your consciousness to steal away, to slip in between them. I picture each word on top of a tall cliff with a deep gap in between them. Then I allow myself to fall into the gap between, as though the two words are taking care of business and I can let go of controlling anything and just fall into God’s no thingness.
If (or when) your surface mind kicks in with thoughts, simply move on. Imagine the word Father on the left side of your screen and then focus on the word who, and then slip into the gap between these two words. Repeat the process until you get through the 10 words. Sometimes I do the meditation using only the two words good and more good. I don’t think it matters what words you use. This has helped me fall asleep at times when the hamsters are busy disco dancing in my mind.

Check out our website for information about upcoming classes: http://www.richerliving.org/classes.html

Sending love and blessings, Katherine
“All man’s  miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.” ~ Blaise Pascal

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Mantra is Your Friend, Mantra is Your Friend, Mantra is Your Friend

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Katherine

In honor of the winter holiday season, a time to spread love and joy, please enjoy this Christ Mass video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE

It’s always a good time to talk about meditation, especially around the holidays, and I say hooray to anything that keeps us on track with Spirit.
A mantra is a word, a name of God, or a spiritual phrase that is repeated over and over.  It’s purpose is to connect you with the sacred, and it does this by helping to bring your mind back from the spouting off of your surface mind thoughts. Most mantras focus you on God through a repetition of a divine name, however I had a brilliant teacher who said it doesn’t matter what you say – “banana” is fine. A mantra is like a boat in which you can float through your thoughts – unattached, entering more and more subtle realms. It’s like you get on the ride “The Pirates of the Caribbean” at Disneyland, except without the pirates and the debauchery and the violence. This boat steers itself to God.
A mantra focuses on one thought, one wavelength, and it helps you detach from other thoughts until they appear as leaves would, just floating down the river.

Try a mantra while standing in line, whenever your feel stressed, when you’re put on hold, when things don’t go your way, or when you’re meditating. Keep repeating your mantra, handing over whatever thoughts, fears, or judgments that may come up as a offering to your mantra. Imagine them on a lovely silver tray… Just give them to your mantra. Breathing also really helps the process.

Here are a few mantras:
• Ram
The Sanskrit mantra Ram is the name of God- You can repeat this mantra anytime during the day, and I suggest you do. If you do it over and over, you eventually surrender into it… merge with it.

Aum (pronounced AH-owm) or ‘OM’
One of the most sacred Mantras in existence, OM is the one basic sound or totality of all sound.. It represents the Primodial God. The attributes of God – Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent, are derived from Om.

Aum Mani Padme Hum (pronounced AH-owm, MAH-nay PAHD-may HOME.
This is a Tibetan mantra meaning “The All is a precious jewel in the lotus flower which blooms in my heart.”

Om Namah Shivaya (pronounced OM, na-MAH She-VAY-ah)
This Sanskrit mantra literally means, “O Lord Shiva, who has come out of the Supreme God (OM), make me Egoless (namaha).”

Of course, you can come with your own personal mantra. In our community we are making our monthly intention one word that will also act as a mantra. I chose “creativity.”

Here’s a tidbit from Journey of Awakening by Ram Das:
“Before long, if practiced continually, a mantra becomes somewhat autonomous, like a top spinning inside, which every now and then needs just a flick to keep it going. Eventually it will go on with no need of encouragement, as in the case of the saint Kabir who said, ‘Ram practices my japa (repetition of God’s name) while I sit relaxed.’ It’s a blissful moment when that happens: instead of doing the mantra, the mantra is doing you.”

Check out our Center for Richer Living website for information about upcoming classes: http://www.richerliving.org/classes.html

Sending love and blessings, Katherine

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Gratitude, Appreciation, Acknowledgment, Thanksgiving, Yeah God

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Katherine

In honor of this Thanksgiving week, please enjoy this 50 second video of acknowledging the good, taught by a master…

I’ve been thinking of the three things I’m most grateful for. This is a good practice for me because it helps me get down to the nitty gritty of goodness in my life. My three are: my family, my spiritual practice, and my health. What are yours?

Enjoy this holy day of giving thanks,
Blessings, Katherine

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The DMV- A Great Place for Praise and Practice

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Katherine

My good friend Samantha White contributed this fun narrative for our Praise-a-thon. It’s about personal transformation at the DMV. I love the DMV because almost everybody has to go there! I have edited the piece for the sake of space.

“I was already angry and upset at having to go to the DMV to renew my license because I did not like the DMV and because I knew I was going to have to get a new picture and give up my picture taken over ten years ago that, though it no longer looks anything like me, proves that I once looked really pretty good.

I was dreading having to look at the new picture of OLD me every time I take out my driver’s license and was angry at everyone at the DMV for making me confront my mortality and more importantly, loss of collagen.  So I was already in a cranky mood, prepared to spend half a day at the DMV where it has been my experience that everyone is always angry and crazy, especially the employees. Fortunately, spiritual principle is not bound by precedent.

Sure enough, there was a line that extended outside the doorway into the parking lot.  That really set off a cacophony inside my head of voices yelling about all the righteous reasons I had for being so pissed off.  Then, as the line moved up enough for me to see the sign posted next to the door, I read an announcement that the computer camera was broken and there was no indication of when it might be functional again.

Here was yet another reason to be out of sorts.  I wasn’t sure if I should even continue to stand in line because I was specifically there to have my picture taken and didn’t know if I was going to stand in the first line for some unknown but intolerable amount of time only to discover that I could not even accomplish the task.

My license had to be renewed by my birthday, which was two days away, and I had worked myself up into a right fine hellish state.

Then I woke up and had a useful thought.  “Ok, I cannot control anything here except my own experience.”  I stopped banging around into the furniture inside my head and screaming because I’d bruised myself, took a deep breath and asked for guidance as to whether I should continue to stand in line or just leave.  My guidance to stay put was clear. I consciously replaced the screaming inside my head with ‘Om, om, om.’

By that time I was inside the door where I could see that the line I was standing in was the line to take a number so that I could find out what line I should be standing in.  I’m not making that up.  You stand in line to get a number.  When your number is called, someone tells you what line to go stand in. By the time I was inside the building, my breathing was slow and regular, as in meditation.

I was then able to begin to really look at all the people around me. Then I had the thought that this “dream” was just like the dreams I have at nightime and everyone in the DMV was a character in my dream and was some aspect of myself.

As I looked around at the amazing variety of folks, I thought, “as everyone here is an aspect of myself, and I come from the One, everyone here is an aspect of the One.”  There was a little girl about two years old who was really wailing. This is a sound that usually superbly irritates me and causes me to feel compelled to DO SOMETHING to make it stop, but I was filled with appreciation for her, for how loud and strong her voice was and how committed she was to making herself heard.  I sat next to her and laughed with delight and appreciation.  The child did not stop crying but I saw that her mother relaxed a bit as she saw I was not reacting negatively to her daughter’s display.

That’s when time began to shift. The room was filled with people who had come in before me, but my number was called almost immediately. I thought it was a bit wierd but just went with it. Now everything was also looking a lot brighter, shiny, kinda sparkly.

As I approached the window, I noticed the people working there seemed much nicer and more relaxed than I had ever experienced at the DMV. The fellow who took my check and my form was nearly pleasant.

As I went to stand in the next line,  I was fascinated by the variety of expression in all the characters in my dream and realized that I could choose to love them all. So I did. I sent blessings to them all for their most joyful well being.  Time was no longer meaningful to me because I was so contented with everything just as it was, and standing in the DMV line was just as good a place to breathe and experience unconditional love as anywhere.

Standing in the line to get my picture taken (they were using a non-computerized camera), I noticed a young man in a Forestry Service Uniform standing with a completed drivers test in his hand and invited him to get into line in front of me. Shortly after that, I saw an elderly gentleman who looked a bit unsteady on his legs and brought him into line in front of me. I was calm, deeply relaxed and filled with bliss.

When it was my turn for the camera, I had a sweet interchange with the woman behind the counter about her pretty shirt and about how we both enjoy clothes and it seemed as if we had all the time in the world to connect.

Even with all the socializing and letting people into line in front of me, I was amazed to find that I was in and out in slightly under an hour. I left the DMV feeling as if I’d been to a weekend spiritual retreat.

What amazes me most is how quickly I shifted from a fairly extreme negative state of being into an expanded state of bliss awareness.  And, as everything does, it began with an idea. I know that the reason I was able to do this can be explained in one word – PRACTICE.  That, in spite of my previous commitment to misery at the DMV, I was able to find a useful idea and move myself into a better experience.  Because I have practiced.  For years and years.

I am learning to not berate myself when I am in a negative state of being,  and I can and do shift out of these states with ever greater swiftness and consistency. I am focusing on appreciation for being able to shift, rather than disappointment at not being able to maintain the expanded bliss awareness state. I am able to do this also because of PRACTICE.”

Do you have short stories of praise? If so, add them to the comments. For me, just writing about them feels good.

Sending blessings to you,
Katherine

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Simmering in the Hard Questions

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Katherine

originally written on 2-15-2010
Last Monday we had our BYO Spiritual Topic night, and someone brought up this question: “If God is everything, and God is good, is it all good?” What about the hurricanes, terrorism, famine, etc.? This is not the type of question that can be all neatly wrapped up in a nice answer package. It’s the kind of question that invites us into a chamber of other questions, like “Who or what is God?” and “My cat was attacked- it doesn’t look good to me,” and “What is the nature of good?” Is good defined as that which is pleasing or is it something else? I see good not as pleasing, or even my first conscious choice, but more of an indication of a balanced, aligned and orderly universe.

For those of us who strive and sometimes struggle to see everything as good, the longing is to be able to have a felt sense of that reality so we can move peaceably through our day- to have a deep knowing that everything is connected and never out of balance, so we can be relieved of the effort of convincing ourselves over and over. Having a felt sense of the order and believing it is good must bring us to a feeling of peacefulness and therefore change our reality.

As we prayed at the end of the evening, we were lifted up by knowing we can bring forth the deep and compelling questions and be engaged, supported, encouraged, and witnessed by the group without having to figure it all out. Staying in the question was as powerful as walking away with an answer. We don’t have to have the answers to participate in divine grace, or to experience the loving arms of that which created us as always around us. We don’t need the answers to know we have all that we need inside us to deepen our faith and belief that we live in a field of infinite possibility.

All things exist because we first have them as an idea. Just as starvation exists because we have the concept of it, so will world peace, unconditional love, and global forgiveness exist when we won’t see anything else.

There’s a Buddhist story where the teacher asks her students: “What does the master do when he meets the tiger on the path in the jungle?” One student says, “He pulls his sword and kills him.” Another answers, “He calmly walks away.” Another student answers, “He sits down and meditates.” The teacher says, “There is no tiger. The master would not have created one.”

How do we create the consciousness of knowing Oneness every day? Practice.

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Reviewing Abundance Concepts

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Katherine

Reviewing Abundance Concepts

This week I’m sharing some abundance concepts that were mostly taken from Spiritual Economics by Eric Butterworth, my most favorite book on the consciousness of abundance.

• The metaphysical is more powerful than the physical

• “A true desire is not to have but to be. We are whole creatures in potential, and the true purpose of desire is to unfold that wholeness, to become what we can be.” ~P. 79

• All of God-substance is already here. “The goal should not be to make money or acquire things, but to achieve the consciousness through which the substance will flow when and how you need it. ~P. 27

• Our consciousness is always creating- what will you choose to focus on?

• There is no job with a future – the future is in us.

• Have vs. be: Develop the standard of living vs. the standard for living

• I am God’s enterprise, and God cannot fail – any appearance of failure is in consciousness

• “God doesn’t heal. God is Life. Consciousness heals it accepts the flow of life.” ~P. 134

• We don’t need money. We need creative ideas and faith.

• We’re not praying “for,” stuff, we’re praying “from” a consciousness of abundance

• We don’t see things as THEY are, but as WE are. ~ P. 58

• When things get tight, something’s got to give… If there’s lack, something in your consciousness is blocking flow. Give something.

• Giving replicates the all-giving activity of God. It also contributes to the circulation of good, or God-substance. We share to expand our God-nature.

• Gratitude is Causative- Consciousness is creative. Focus on gratitude, not on the money coming back.

• Your business is always the express business, no matter what name your worldly vocation may bear ~P. 170

• “The only thing that ever needs to be healed is your sense of separation.” ~Rev. Deborah Johnson

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