Forgiveness or Understanding?

One of the strongest messages we grow up with and continue to hear throughout our lives from all sources of authority is the importance of forgiveness.

 Forgive yourself!  Forgive everyone!
 
But what if there is nothing to forgive?

What if everything everyone does is merely a forward or backward move or perhaps even a filibuster in the dance of their life, all depending on the stage of their evolution?


What if everything they do has NOTHING to do with us and everything to do with their journey?  A journey which is based on their experiences, their personal growth, their unresolved issues, their unhealed pain.  Given all of these variables, it is truly impossible for us to judge or evaluate the choices they are making.  But, for some strange reason, we seem to think we can interpret their actions and that is our ONLY point of reference...ourselves.

It's pretty easy to do this...we all do it most of the time...It's our 
habitual response but it causes SO MUCH TROUBLE!  We can end up feeling hurt or angry or sad and depressed and what they are doing is NOT ABOUT US!  We are the subject of the scenario because we happen to be in the picture at this time; we are the scenery and setting for the playing out of someone's latest life challenge.  What if we really GOT that and, therefore, NOTHING felt personal?

 
There would be nothing to forgive.  For ourselves or others.  We are merely the playing field where someone works out the latest step in his evolution with any accompanying banging and clatter and others do the same for us when we are engaged in one of our "adventures". 

 
I know it's pretty radical to expect everyone to see this...especially when our emotions are embroiled and our egos feel challenged.  But how wonderful it would be if we could navigate our lives from this trekking star:  Nothing to forgive.
 
We are ALL doing what we came here to do:  use the resources of earth school to finally get the Big Picture of our lives.

                                  
                                                           Marie Helena


image from wallpaperswide.com

The Cart Before the Horse

 Ev-er-y-bod-y has heard the old adage..."Don't put the cart before the horse". 

And it makes good sense (as all cliches tend to do).  

However,

The Divine Universe doesn't follow ordinary rules.  

It's  so original...and creative.  

What I've discovered in my life (and I'm sure it's tucked into yours somewhere, too) is that the fabulous, infinitely wise, infinitely powerful Universe LOVES to put the cart before the horse...and by this I mean it provides the solutions BEFORE the problems appear.


Let me explain how this plays out in my life.  


Whenever something is troubling me and I am feeling stuck...not sure how to proceed or lacking the energy or motivation to go to work on the issue...as soon as I take a moment to breathe...to relax...a soundless bell goes off (it's something I just feel) and I gently recall something I had read the day before or a comment someone had made to me recently or, even more frequently, I remember a blog post I have written that reminds me of something important I had grasped and understood earlier but have since forgotten.  And that something I have forgotten is ALWAYS exactly what I need to remember now...today...IN THIS MOMENT.


Sometimes the "direct-tions" are even more direct.


Each day I check my blog's list of the ten most popular posts.  This list is changing moment by moment.  It is based on what posts people are reading and the information is coming from around the world as I know that 110 countries have accessed my blog.  I look to see what is being read each morning and, without fail, it's something I need to be reminded of THAT DAY.


How BEAUTIFUL is that!  Individuals around the world are choosing my posts to read and, in so doing, they are ministering TO ME.  They are helping me become the next, grandest version of myself.


Talk about Love circling back to us!  I send out my thoughts and they come back to me EXACTLYwhen I need them.   


Wow!  What a system!  And that's just one example of how this beautiful dynamic works.


I KNOW...I am SURE...
that YOU have a heavenly guidance system in place. ..the CART before the horse.  


Maybe  you haven't discovered it yet.  Maybe it's hiding in plain sight...a little heavenly merrymaking and mischief.  PLEASE look around and tap into this awesome, original and brilliant celestial stratagem.  


We are all so very loved.   : )

        
                                                                                      Marie Helena

Aperto Alla Luce!

Yesterday I held a Gerber daisy in my hand, gently touching the velvety softness of the petals, enchanted by their gorgeous color which seemed as if an artist had mixed his most precious and beautiful oils together to achieve the vibrant hue.  My eyes were drawn to the center of the flower where I found delicate concentric circles of vivid accent colors.  The effect was stunning. 

How beautiful, I thought.  I felt I was holding an exquisite objet d’art.  And then I realized that this daisy...and everyrose, each droplet of water, the bark on my sycamore tree...EVERY manifestation in nature IS amasterpiece.  All we need do is notice its design, its symmetry, its vibrancy.  How could we not be aware that there is an exquisite and loving Source of all of this beauty! 


These natural masterpieces are profound and loving gifts for us.  They are here not only to illuminate our planet for our awareness and delight;  they are also way showers for us.  They are symbols of OUR beauty.  We are as lovely and vibrant and captivating as our counterparts in nature except that we are in the process of courageously divesting ourselves of our earthly limitations.  We are essentially as translucent as the exquisite Gerber daisy and lovely rose.


Underneath our earthly cares WE are luminous and eternal.  Our paths are laden with these lovely gifts to remind us of OUR beautiful, joyous nature and guide us through our journeys.


As we successfully navigate our earthly challenges, our masquerade of stress, burdens and anxiety drops away, revealing our profound beauty through the simplicity of our now free and naturally loving hearts.


In the wise and wonderful words of actor and artist Jim Carrey:
Flowers don’t worry about how they’re going to bloom.  They just open up and turn toward the  light and that makes them beautiful.

 Aperto Alla Luce!



                                                     Marie Helena



If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change.

                                                                   Buddha

The Lotus

 

“If you can see yourself as an artist, and you can see your life as your own creation, then why not create the most beautiful story for yourself?”

don Miguel Ruiz

Take a quiet journey back in time and ponder the artist palette of your childhood.  In those moments you painted the picture of your life with bold, splashy colors and magical dreams.  Everything seemed possible, just awaiting your attention.  Even though the constraints of time have moved you into more grown up circumstances, the vibrancy and joy of your innocence still see so clearly the beautiful spirit you are.

Perhaps your image has been dusted with weariness or tarnished with unresolved pain.  But the child/spirit/artist in you knows your beauty and worth. 

So bring that sense of adventure and vibrancy into your story.  Make something beautiful in your imagination.  Visualize the exquisite LOTUS, a symbol of rebirth and transformation which blooms perfectly pristine even from the murkiest of waters.

YOU are the radiant lotus emerging so brilliantly from the complications and adversity of the world.  

                                     Marie Helena

“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”

                           Henry Ward Beecher

Painting the Big Picture

As we create our lives, one of our most important tasks is to paint pictures. As the artist, we determine whether the view we hold is a bull’s eye, clear cut, precise interpretation of the moment we are experiencing or whether it is sweeping, global, pandemic, universal.

To put it more simply, are we looking at the minute details or the big picture?

And, while there are substance and validity to both views, one may perhaps be a better collaborator in fulfilling our Divine contract to traverse the human landscape we inhabit.

When we react to something or someone that distresses us, it is so very natural to shift into the magnitude of the feelings that arise…our pulse may quicken, our muscles become tight, our mouths dry as we become the emotion we are experiencing.  And, from this vantage point, it is very difficult and challenging to see or even sense the broad view of what is happening.

But, when we engage our artist’s brush to paint the big picture, everything rearranges itself, presenting us with a wider, more sweeping view of what has just occurred.

We see not just the person’s words or behavior of the moment, we discern the totality of the mysterious, complicated creature in front of us, including his hopes and dreams (realized or unfulfilled), attempts to negotiate life (successful or not), and, perhaps most importantly, aspirations for what he truly would like to be. And we are then privileged to see not just what is being expressed in that moment…which may come from hurt or a sense of rejection or failure... but the beauty of the whole person who is, alongside us, traveling through the challenges of our earthly home.

And this bigger picture can also help us view the distressing circumstances of our lives with the knowingness that we are receiving guidance and protection of our spirit.  (Can you paint the picture of your spiritual guides watching over you with love and compassion?) 

And if you can view this bigger picture as a steppingstoneto the magnificent understanding that is to come about how the circumstances of our lives have taken us so beautifully, so perfectly to the place we have wanted to be…then, the bigger picture becomes one of our greatest guides in moving through the experiment we call life in this dimension.

The good news:

We have the power to change our artist default button to this position…to lift the intensity of the suffering we sometimes endure and help us gain a new mastery of our personal and global universe.

Game Changer

Accept that what other people do or say has absolutely nothing to do with you...absolutely nothing.

                                    Ken Lauher

Hmmmmmmmm.  That's really a major GAME CHANGER, isn't it?

 Here's the logic behind this statement. 

What a  person says or does is a really an authentic expression of how he is being affected in this moment by the circumstances, influences and events of his life...and that is exactly what his message tells us. 

It's a state of the union kind of message.  And his reaction or response to these circumstances, influences and events is determining   

IF, WHEN, WHAT AND HOW  

his message will be delivered and how the events in which we interact with him will unfold.

This is a VERY important piece of information for us to have because this awareness can alter what his message FEELS LIKE to us.

 

WHAT IF every time someone spoke to us we viewed the encounter as a fascinating checkpoint of what is transpiring in this person's life?

 

The information we receive from the interaction would still be FOR us but in a much different way than we had expected. 

It would be information ABOUT the other person and that information (intellectual, emotional, etc.) would help us choose how we might wish to respond...what we say and in what manner we say it.   It would surely be signaling very clearly  whether the person has a need for compassion, support, understanding or assistance.

This would be a MAJOR SHIFT for us 

               from 

"what just happened to me" and "how that made me feel" 

                to 

"what can I observe about you and what you might need from me". 

 

And while this process is going on we would still  be able to learn what we need to know...what is going to happen, is happening ...or not...BUT we would be learning it from a different perspective.  

It would be other directed...and possibly action oriented.  

Not only would it give us an opportunity to pay generous attention to someone else, the fact is that when we sense the emotional need of another and respond in a way that supports that need, our dialogue and conversations play out more smoothly and the other party feels gratitude for our caring and may even choose to respond to us in kind.

Being open to observing a person and learning about the space he is in would serve everyone well.  

In particular, we would no longer SUFFER from feeling hurt by the message itself or the way the message is delivered because we would know that the message is not an attack on us but rather  a behavioral transcript in this moment about the messenger himself.

 

Here is a place where Higher Self can offer us some BEAUTIFUL GUIDANCE as we exercise patience and show support, love and caring.

The question is:

Can we make this leap and view each person as a mystery...unfolding...

and bless our role as witness to and supporter for that revelation?

                                            Marie Helena

 image from stushieart.com

Masquerade

Deepak Chopra,world renowned mind-body connection guru, tells us that "All great changes are preceded by chaos."

It is only when our usual, predictable methods of handling our life problems FAIL and we are feeling LOST that we step outside the box and search for new inspiration regarding how to reframe the issues and, thereby, change our perspective, our beliefs and ultimately our feelings.  

 

This point in time is extremely valuable to usbecause without the turmoil and tumult...without the agitation and frustration of the chaos... we would keep doing what has always worked for us...

we would ride the high...

but we would stop growing.

 

And that is why we need to BLESS these moments.  The Divine Universe is sensing we are READY for the next cutting-edge change in our life.  It has upped the ante, sizing us up as capable of dealing with the distress and, even more importantly,  capable of making it work in our favor.

 

In Alberto Villoldo's COURAGEOUS DREAMING he gives us an inspired suggestion regarding how to change the story we are telling ourselves about the chaos.

 

Villoldo says we tend to see ourselves in one of three roles:  victim, rescuer or perpetrator. 

If, however, we can vacate these roles and fly instead to the spiritual level of eagle in our version of the story...we can successfully REFRAME its significance...how it affects us...and what we are able to learn about ourselves.

 

If the chaos we are experiencing makes us feel victimized...

if the fallout of the crisis feels personal...

know that it IS personal but it is not meant as an attack on us...

it is a personal, unique-to-us  OPPORTUNITY to reach deep inside and find the strength and resilience to transcend the experience and find within ourselves the courage...the creativity...and the conviction to see the bigger picture and to nurture a character trait that we have not yet developed.

What brings  us angst, fear, distress, frustration... ALSO brings us the very  powerful occasion for transcendence and release from that suffering.

Chaos is the ultimate MASQUERADE.  What looks like pandemonium  is, in reality, a perfect strategy.

An always-brilliant plan to help us evolve  into the Next, Grandest Version of Ourselves...from the highest state-of-the-art personal development bureau, The Divine Universe!

                                                Marie Helena

                                                                                  

image from ayrerabbitry.webs.com