"Small Step" Walking

I don't know about you but when I set a goal I tend to go all out. I want to make all the changes I need to make right now to get to my goal. No step one, two, three, let's just do all the steps in one. I am anxious for results. And I never get the results I want because taking 3 steps in 1 is just too much change to manage at once.

I am learning to take small steps. I am learning to focus on "what one thing can I do today to keep me walking in the direction of my goal"?  I think that one small step each day will lead me to my goal's manifestation. It may take longer than my human patience likes but I believe it's the way to success. So when you are setting your resolutions/intentions keep in mind that a plan you can work each day with ease will take you a long way.

Pic.. For a long time I had wanted to visit Michael Beckwith's church in LA. It is in a warehouse. He calls it an "aware house". Anyways, in the pic, that is me to the right as a blurred flash. I had just left the stage. Not only did I visit his church, I was his guest and was on the platform with him re-presenting him with an award he'd received at the Unity conference a few days before. It was a thrilling experience!

Visioning

Today I'll be viewing a video broadcast by Mary Morrisey about visioning for 2013. She is a very inspirational lady and blessed many people who participated in her Prosperity Plus 10 week program at Unity.

It is important to keep the "wheel primed"(?) Not sure if that is the correct expression except that I mean we have to keep positive and inspiring information in front of us at all times it seems or else we get distracted by the negative.

What can you do to prepare yourself for 2013? Perhaps this year as well as setting  monetary goals, work goals, relationship goals how about a spiritual goal? That would be about your daily spiritual practice. How much time are you willing to invest in that each day? It really is the foundation for all else in your life.

Pic.. There can be many roadblocks on our journey. Getting ourselves into the right frame of mind and having plans for how to deal with them when they come up will help us tremendously. Let's create a great vision for 2013.

Time to Reflect

Many people make New Years Resolutions that often don't last past Valentine's Day. Why is that I wonder? Why is it so difficult to stay focused on our dreams and goals, our resolutions? Is it that we choose what we really don't want? Is it that we lose interest in our goals? Is it that what we "want" requires actions we aren't willing to take?

May I suggest you take time in the next four days to think about your dreams and goals? Mary Morrisey, on Saturday Dec. 29th at 1pm eastern time will be broadcasting a 75 minute workshop on visioning.

On this videocast, you will discover:

• A powerful and simple visioning process that will help you clarify exactly what you want to generate in 2013
• The 3 most significant universal laws for manifesting your heart’s desire
• The main reason New Year’s resolutions FAIL and how you can avoid that.
• 3 things you can do to increase the likelihood you will move from wishing about your dream to living your dream.
• How to unlock the difference between living by design and living by default
• An easy way to keep mentally and spiritually motivated each day
• And so much more!

Unity will show it on our large screen and invites anyone who would like to watch it together to join us. Let's really be intentional with our resolutions and goals for 2013.

Pic.. A beautiful expensive hotel in Europe.

Empty

What do you do when you feel empty? When the joy of the season seems way beyond your reach? What do you do with family members that are challenging to deal with?

May I suggest you find a friend or spouse to sit down with and share your feelings with? When the storm of tears finishes its rage, breathe. When your breathing has calmed maybe now you can sit and reflect on what this all means. How is it so easy to let others get under your skin? What do they reflect for you about yourself? Darn it, this is a tough one. Relationships can be challenging. Overcoming the challenges can be very rewarding.

Pic.. Climbing can be a struggle.

It's the Day before....

It's the day..

before the day.. before Christmas

and all through the land

people were scurrying to buy popular brands.

Jimmie wants this and Sarah wants that

Mommy and Daddy with no time to chat

instead they are busy, tired and sad?

that the joy of Christmas has become something bad.

Well, not bad so much as

it's meaning is lost

the joy of the season all but tossed

out with the shopping, where is the joy?

it can't be found within even one toy.

READERS.. WHAT COMES NEXT??

Happy Birthday

Today ushers in Birth 2012, a day where we begin a new Great Year. The Great Year that just ended with the Mayan calendar took 26,000 years ... it is the time it took for the Earth's wobble to go around the sun. The earth is like a spinning top as it revolves and it has a wobble. I'll leave it at that because I don't want to guess at the full explanation. Suffice to say we have come to a new beginning.

We can no longer live unconsciously and as if life happens by chance. It is time to live consciously and to know that we direct the intelligence of life. So take a few moments today and ask yourself how do I want to direct my energy? What would an awakened me look like? What would I keep doing, stop doing and start doing?

Pic.. Cross the bridge that can take you from the old you to the new consciously living you. Only you know what that bridge entails.

Alive and Changing I Hope

The old expression is "alive and well". Today is the day that marks an ending of an age. Barbara Marx Hubbard calls it the end of our "local self" that person in us who is "me" centric. Birth 2012, tomorrow, marks the birth of our Universal Human. Our new self will awaken to compassion, love, peace and a new way of doing things. Our new self will embrace our Oneness with every person everywhere.

The tragic events of Newtown have signalled in a very physical way that the old ways must change and new ways be born. We cannot repeat the patterns we have lived. To have a different world we must be different people, end the violence and embrace the power of love to heal and end personal and global conflicts.

Today is about endings and tomorrow about beginnings. What in you do you wish to put an ending to to get ready for the new you?
Pic.. What is up ahead?

It's Beginning to Look....

A lot like Christmas, so the song goes. However it may be that this is not your favorite time of the year. Perhaps you've lost a loved one and this is your first Christmas without them. Perhaps you've been busy with parental concerns that have taken your attention away from the season.

I've had my tree up since December 1st and my Christmas shopping was just completed. Yet the season has escaped me in a way because my focus has been on my mom and her care and needs. Now we learn she won't be home til Jan 3 or 4.

Christmas is found in the lights, the trees, the trim and I'm thinking the most important place is to find it in our hearts. Like everything, our thoughts are creative. We can create a wonderful experience or a sad one. It's okay to be sad over the absence of a beloved one. Feel the sadness and then move to the joy of Christmas pasts and bring that into the moment. Your beloved is happy in their next experience of life and they want you to be happy in this one.
Pic.. I look happy here.. and that is the feeling I want to bring alive in me today. Will you join me?

More Tao

Tao never stops. Why?
Because it isn't trying to accomplish anything.
The Masters hang back.
That's why they're ahead of the game.
They don't hang on to things.
That's how they manage to keep them.
They don't worry
about what they can't control.
That's why they're always satisfied.

Readers...your thoughts on this wisdom?

Pic.. What doors open for us when we understand?

Happy Sunday!

It may seem as if we cannot be happy because of the tragic news of the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Perhaps you might step away from the constant coverage of the story and open your heart to a higher view of the situation.

The children, I believe, are in a place where violence does not exist. Where schoolrooms are safe places to be. Myrtle Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, writes about this. If the children were at a summer camp where everything is provided for them, we would not worry. She says they are in the loving care of our Mother Father God in another schoolroom, in another dimension, cared for and loved.

We do not all come to this earthly experience with the intention of staying to the age of 103, like my mom's husband. Most leave before then, at all different ages. We come for short journeys and long journeys. Theirs was a short one unfortunately for their families.

So for today, hold them in your heart, know they are fine. Hold their families in your heart praying they can one day feel at peace.

Finding the Truth amidst the Speculation

The horrific event that unfolded yesterday in Newtown is being reported on with so much guess work in the absence of facts. Reporters are sent to scrounge up any tidbit of information they can find. I saw one woman on CNN who'd known the shooter when he was 8 or 9 and hadn't seen him since. Can her perspective really add value to the conversation?

Over this week new details will surface, some true, some not. We are insatiable when it comes to wanting to know something. We are yearning for that piece of information that will make it all make sense. "Oh, okay, THAT'S why he did it!" We want to understand how a human being can kill children, his mother and anyone who gets in the way.

The Truth is we will never know what was in that young man's mind. We can't know how he experienced the world or why his pain was so great or how it made sense to him to inflict pain on others as relief to his own pain.

What we do know is all those who have made their transition have gone on to a different experience of life. Life does not end, it transforms itself. And the grace of God allows those, who have left loved ones behind, to look forward and not so much backwards. The grief is felt by those left here without their child, sibling, parent, grandparent, friend.

I pray that the world can wake up to another way of being. That those who hurt can be identified and given help. That guns will be taken out of the hands of the average American. I pray that the "New" in Newtown will mean something will change and we will stop doing the same over and over.

Bedtime

When my Jenn was little I would cuddle with her at her bedtime. As she grew older it happened less often but I've always found that as we lay together in the dark, it was a rich time of sharing. We would have our best talks there together.

Last night when I visited my mom in the hospital she was already in bed. She'd had a challenging day. Rather than leaning over the bed rail to hear her I got into bed with her. Laying beside her, holding her hand, we talked.

If you haven't tried this with your kids, or haven't done it for a long time, try it. There is nothing better than connecting with those you love.

Pic.. Unity Village another place that opens my heart.

More Tao with Your Tea?

Tao Te Ching

it ain't Tao.

If it has a name,

it's just another thing.

Tao doesn't have a name.

Names are for ordinary things.

I find the Tao very thought provoking. What are your thoughts about this?

Let's Look at the Tao

Tao Te Ching

The Masters get the job done

without moving a muscle

and get their point across

without saying a word.

When things around them fall apart,

they stay cool.

They don't own much,

but they use whatever's at hand.

They do the work

without expecting any favors.

When they're done,

they move on to the next job.

That's why their work is so damn good.

What does this mean for you?

Less than 1%

In London in 2011 there were 2580 males over the age of 85. My step dad is 103! Stats Canada doesn't show how many people are over the age of 100 and still living in London.

It becomes relevant information when making long term plans for an elderly couple. This is what is happening for me. My family is looking for a good living plan for my mom and her husband that covers both of their needs. And therein lies the challenge. At 103 he is remarkable. He has his memory, is mobile and still drives. Mom on the otherhand has greater physical care needs. They want to stay together.. To stay in their home would probably mean a move for mom down the road. To move both of them now settles her for the future.

When you are facing challenges like this or others, call for your angels to help you, guide you, lead the way to a solution that works for all. Somehow they make the way where there seems no way. At least that is what I have discovered in the past and have faith will happen again.  Pic.. beauty, we all need to see the beauty.

Christmas Shopping

Today I am going shopping for gifts for my beloveds. It is my intention to make it a fun day and to enjoy the moments deciding who would love to receive what. Bob is planning to join me but he is thinking it will be torture. Attitude is everything. Who is going to have the better time, Bob or me?

Our attitude sets up our experience. So whatever you are doing today set it up in advance as something you can move through with ease and grace, maybe joy, depending on what you are doing. This day is a gift, right? Not everyone has it, so those of us who do, let's treasure it.

Pic.. Mom and Jenn years ago when mom was disease free.

Music Opens the Heart

Our soloist, Emilio Zarris, sang at Unity today. Christmas music is so heart opening. He sings with such enthusiasm that the music comes alive not only through his voice but his body. Music is very therapeutic and can shift our mood from sad to happy; angry to peaceful, warm to hot and much more. So too can words, thoughts and actions shift our mood.

Birth 2012 is a movement of consciousness that has an awareness that our world and its people are shifting. December 21st the Mayan calendar ends and on December 22nd we begin anew, not again, but a new. We are shifting from a "me me " focus to a "we we" focus. We are seeing our common Oneness and showing compassion for one another. As we each birth our higher consciousness into expression the world will certainly become more loving, less fearful, more forgiving and freeing for all of us. Join the shift!

Pic.. We CAN all get along.

There Is An Answer

Sometimes I tell my challenges to a friend, wanting them to have an answer for me. But I realize that my answers are within me. In Unity's Advent booklet, yesterday's reading, commented on this. That when a friend hears your challenges a true response would be, "There is an answer. I am as confused as you are, but I know there is an answer."

Our friends can only share what they would do from their perspective. Sometimes that is helpful. Mostly I think we know what we need to do but just don't want to do it. We look for someone who will agree with us.

The greatest friend I can commune with is God or Spirit within me. The guidance I can receive is priceless if I'll just take the time to listen. Just for today make time for God, to listen and know that there is an answer there, waiting for you.

Pic..Challenges can seem HUGE until we back up from them a bit and gain a new perspective. It's then we see they aren't so big after all and that there is an answer.

Hope

Today's Advent reading is titled Hope.

"Hope springs from within us with amazing swiftness. It only takes a positive word of encouragement for the prospect of constructive change, and we are hopeful again. This positive surge of thinking is a prelude to the as yet unspoken promise of a brighter future."

If you come across someone today who needs hope, don't hesitate to share the positive you see in them. Take the opportunity to be a person of increase, lifting those around you and leaving where you've been greater than when you found it. You can do it!

Pic.. These guys hunt for themselves and yet every once in awhile they fly together to great heights.

Do You Know?

Beloved One,

Do you know how powerful you are? That your light shines brighter than the sun and reaches out into the Universe? Do you know you have the abilility to change your thought, your mind, your life? Your inadequate thoughts about yourself keep you so very small, unhappy and unsure.

When you are feeling small, turn around on the spot, and ask yourself, "Okay, what is the real Truth about me?" If you are very still you will hear your Spirit telling you what I have written here. There is no mountain too big for you to climb, no pit too deep that you cannot climb out of and no mirror that won't reflect your beauty. You just have to have the eyes to see it.

Just for today... see it!  Pic.. You are always held by a magnificent invisible Presence.

Stop Wanting Stuff...

The Tao Te Ching ...

Stop wanting stuff;

it keeps you from seeing what's real.

When you want stuff,

all you see are things.

Those two sentences

mean the same thing.

Figure them out,

and you've got it made.

During this Christmas season, this is a good message to contemplate. What does it mean to you?

Pic.. a Christmas past.

Do You Know When to Rest?

I guess after all the coming and going to visit mom at the hospital; the Hisson family Christmas and church, it is not a surprise I am dealing with a cold. So today is a rest day. I am still in my jammies and Bob is taking care of me.

I don't know how to do self care when life is busy. Do any of us? As women we are used to multi tasking and do all that needs to be done. When there is no more energy left to do another thing, we do that last thing. What we do need to do is rest when we've gotten sick. That is not the time to push on, right?

When illness comes I affirm health. I know there is a perfect pattern of a healthy body within me. I call it forth into expression. I hope if you are busy or tired that you will give yourself the gift of rest.

Pic.. My sweet angel figurine that says so much.

1st Sunday of Advent

Today's Advent theme is Faith. In our Advent booklet it is written,

" Most of us have become so conditioned to suffering that we believe it is normal, along with illness, deprivation and a sense of isolation. But Jesus had a different view of how the world worked. He wanted us to understand that we always have the power to expand our definition of what is acceptable.

Because we have faith in a loving, all sustaining God, we can start to entertain a different concept - even in the face of bleak circumstances and seemingly insurmountable odds."

Faith is the ASSURANCE of things hoped for. Our role is to know our Oneness with God and the availability to us of all that God is. Believe in all that is of God instead of what is in the world.

Pic.. Part of the Banff Springs Hotel

Merry Christmas!

Today is our Hisson family Christmas and I am hosting it. You can imagine it will be a busy day. Our company is arriving from Bowmanville, Mississauga and Goderich. We will have 2 little ones. One aged 2 1/2 years and the other 6 months.

So I have little time to blog and need to get setting my tables. Going into this day I want to remember to have fun. I want to enjoy my company and relish our time together. We are family sharing in common our heritage and history with one another.

Like any day really, we are invited to remember our Oneness. That there is no them and me. There is only us. Everywhere you go today look into the face of those you interact with and know you are one with them. The same spirit that is in you is in them. Loving others is loving yourself.

Pic.. Our Christmas tree.