Mum's the Word

 
It’s almost Halloween and I am a holiday junkie.  

The front porch is filled with scarecrows, corn stalks, bales of hay, a black cat and some very big (and I mean big) pots of chrysanthemums in purple, yellow and white. 

 And though I love the color and texture of everything on the porch, the really big deal for me is putting my face right into the flowers and taking in their essence… the touch and smell and coolness…in other words, their vibration!


I take breaks during the day to go out and do this. It connects me with nature’s bountiful gifts and beauty. It lifts me out of my everyday tasks and says, “We’re right here…just waiting for you to enjoy us.” Yep, those flowers are smiling. I know it. They love to have someone get right in their faces.

Which reminds me…I am also addicted to hugging trees. I have a particular tree in the neighborhood that lets me feel its roots straight down into the earth. I used to look around before I approached the tree, but, naw…I don’t look around anymore. I just see that beauty and go for it. I hug bushes, too. And have been for many years.

Although I am no gardener, I think that this is exactly the kind of  high  that gardeners feel when they do their thing. Now here’s a really interesting fact I learned recently about plants and gardeners. If you are raising plants that you will eat, when you tend them with personal, loving care they produce for you whatever your DNA requires.
 

Now that’s mind blowing. And it sure tells you that the universe is alive and wanting to spread its goodness everywhere. 

 So have at ‘em…pumpkins, flowers, trees…the whole works. They’re just waiting for your perceptive eyes and glowing attention. 

                            

                                                                                             Marie Helena

originally printed October 31, 2011

Soul Contracts

If you've ever been cast in a play, you are aware of the huge responsibility of memorizing the lines of your part and delivering them perfectly on stage in front of the spotlights while the audience watches your every move.   Wow!  Just describing things that way can evoke some major anxiety.  It's no small thing to be selected to be in a play.  It's a role of responsibility.  The words you utter and the moves you make propel the action forward.  The other characters are counting on you to interact with them, to play your part and do it well...make it real, make it believable so the emanation from the ensemble will be a catalyst for the next scene waiting to unfold.


And here's the really interesting thing about the "play" I am describing.  It is a metaphor for what every one of us is called to do in our lives.  It is utterly amazing to realize just how universally we all occupy these coveted roles.  Every one of us in earth school has accepted this casting opportunity, this "on stage" assignment in numerous life productions by reason of our soul contracts with others.  And they carry some very profound responsibilities.


It is our souls who have cast us in these productions,  They have made the agreement for us to enter into a contract to BE the catalyst for others to help them in the lessons they have chosen to learn.  We are ALL actors playing parts in the lives of others and, simultaneously, we are also being acted upon as WE receive the "guidance" we need to learn our lessons.  


The "guidance" which we give and receive is provided by ourselves and the persons (characters) we encounter in our lives.  Some of them are major players and by that I mean they are individuals called upon to say or do things to us that are upsetting or confronting because that is what our souls have decided is needed to get our attention and inspire us to reach the next place we want to be. 


The fact is we may often encounter major difficulties on our journey and require the help of our supporting cast.  The characters we encounter in that supporting cast are often the persons with the hardest roles to play because they irritate or upset us or throw us off our equilibrium but they do this because they hold deep love for us and have agreed to play the uncomfortable roles needed to catapult us into action and to accept the consequences of this choice.


Looking at life this way...as a series of soul agreements ...means seeing everything that happens through the lens of Light and Love.  Words, events, actions that upset and irritate us are not what they look or feel like at first glance.  They are pure acts of love and caring and help inspire the work we do which produces change and transformation.  Whether we step up and into our challenges is always our decision, but the soul contract players bring that opportunity right onto our playing field.

If we can only observe ourselves moving through the "gift" of these encounters and keep our perspective about how it all works,  we can actually enjoy the beautiful "guidance" of a cast that supports our HIGHEST aspirations.   There is immense power in this portrait of  love.   Everything we need is being provided for our soul's evolution.   We are being given countless opportunities to grow.  


All of this mysterious, under-the-radar activity is not always easy to distinguish amidst what appears to be chaos and cacophony.  Do you have the ability to recognize what is being given to you?  Can you perceive these amazing acts of love  weaving through your life?   And do you appreciate how much you, in return, are helping others?


Do you recognize the play that your soul has written?


                                                                                                             Marie Helena



stage image from www.wantoobee.co.uk
second image from meetville.com 

The Stage of Our Soul's Making

My sister remarked to me the other days that I was so fortunate in having GUIDANCE...from the Divine Universe.  And she meant...to help me get through the moments in life which feel so difficult and heavy.   Like when you're wearing  the lead apron you get when you're having an X-Ray at the dentist's office, only this one is full-body and there are three or four of them stacked up on you.  I'm sure you know what I mean...the times when you feel blindsided and without the resources to "get up offa that thing" as James Brown sings it.

 
My sister and l talk about this Guidance a lot and we both KNOW that EVERYONE has it from all kinds of sources, BUT many are not aware it is there moving through our thoughts and inspirations and circulating all around us, offering loving support, grace and direction.  This seems to be a well-kept secret and it shouldn't be for it is the BEST NEWS out there. 

 
All it takes is having the INTENTION to receive and opening your heart channel which will alert you when these beautiful messages are coming in.  And they come in from the strangest places...an email message, a random comment, the lyrics of a song, a new thought that seems to spring from nowhere, a horn honking outside exactly when you are contemplating taking action.  It's a glorious, on going celebration of the Ultimate Help Desk...your Divine CONNECTION to the Love that rocks the Universe.


This morning I got one of these wonderful messages and it has showed up before for me as a soft whisper but today it is drum-rolling itself so I won't miss it.  And here it is:

When life feels H E A V Y and it seems so difficult to get through it, make the simple switch from Living the "HEAVY" to Watching Yourself do the "DANCE".  In this moment, consciously be Who You Truly Are...and that is your Soul.  Ranjna Sharma, coach, trainer and Soul Guide from Delhi, India, says "It is not the Soul that is Living in the Body... it is the Body that is living in the Soul."  It is your SOUL who is the executive spiritual administrator of the show you are living.

 
Can you see the drama of your life through the Soul's Vision?  Can you see that YOU are playing the scene your soul has written?  This life which seems SO vibrant, SO real and, sometimes, SO very difficult is the product of your soul's intention to experience, grow and learn.  So while you live the "play" your soul has created, do not fail to appreciate your skill and art and complete immersion in the "production" for the YOU of today is a GLORIOUS present expression of your soul's longing to "DANCE" in the Universe. 

 
It's a magnificent expansion, a blossoming of Life itself.

 
THAT is what all of this heaviness is about...the opportunity to step up and step into our soul script and bring in our exquisite creativity to choose how it all plays out,

 
We are not alone on this Stage of Our Soul's Making.  We have the Guidance of Love in its many forms and the joy (and appreciation) of  Observing Ourselves  address the many adventures of life in this dimension.


                                                                                            Marie Helena


image from www.dragoart.com

The Calling

If one is called to be a street sweeper then one must sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music. 

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth shall pause and say, "Here lived a great sweeper who did his job well."  Martin Luther King said that and he was also talking about associate assistant bank managers, postal workers and kings and presidents.  Put your heart in your work.  Be happy.

Oliver O'Toole
Signed, Sealed, Delivered



"Bloom where you are planted."


I am not sure where I first heard this saying but I have often paused to appreciate its profound wisdom.  Is there anything more beautiful than the experience of meeting someone who is at peace with himself and the universe!  Who has embraced the place he now occupies in the world with deep joy and appreciation!  Who holds a grateful heart for all that he experiences...and who brings the best of himself to every adventure he encounters!

This magnificence is not reserved for royalty nor for those of the highest status.  It is the universal privilege of man...the opportunity to stand in our authentic power and bring our full consideration to the task which lies before us, to enter into the beauty of its flow and gift it with our loving creativity.

This is where peace resides...in the consummate embrace of our calling in the Universe.  The little child in us has felt the calling.  Can we now "remember" the invitation in our hearts?


                                                                                           Marie Helena



image from www.gutenberg

The Third Identity

We all want to have the most beautiful relationships…kindred souls sharing our thoughts and feelings, listening to each other with perfect engagement, affirming the amazing gifts we see in each other, sharing the joy and pain of our adventures.

But…

The “instant snapshot” of this idyllic picture reigns mostly in our hopes and dreams and in our imaginations…for real relationships take a great amount of work…and patience…and nurturing… and, often, our egos join in and cause even more complications.


Recently, I heard a podcast by Meredith Murphy of Expect Wonderful in which she discusses “whole relationships” and how to achieve them. In this presentation she says that every relationship between two people has a third identity, too…and, that is, the energy of the relationship that is created between them. And, this, according to Meredith, is an important place to put our attention, especially when there is discord and strife.


As I reflect on this thought, I feel drawn to the invitation to leave self and move beyond to this energy vortex. Tuning in to this energy field seems to change the picture for me. It releases my personal reactions and, instead, focuses on what is going on in this energetic exchange and, especially, it focuses on the question of where/what is the energy of the other person in the relationship at this time.


This conscious choice naturally (and immediately) introduces CARING and COMPASSION directly back into the picture for me. It SHIFTS the focus to a loving place. And this is what I aspire to.


It is so wonderful TO FIND A WAY TO GET TO LOVE so directly during a time of dissonance and unrest.



                                                                                                 Marie Helena

originally published December 10, 2010

Proof Positive

Earth Life is such an interesting combination of the fascinating and the mundane.

And, often, we place our consciousness on those everyday tasks and responsibilities…cleaning, cooking, earning a paycheck, paying our bills (and our taxes), keeping up with the news and the neighbors.


What we often take for granted is the fascinating, the miraculous, the wondrous phenomena that surrounds us and quietly anchors our everyday life.


I am talking about the body…that same body that can get tired and feel aches and get a cold. We can become so caught up with these body sensations that we miss the message right in front of us.


And that message is:

The body is a work of art...a masterpiece.
This wonderful body that can process emotions…sadness, for example, that permeates our every cell and take that sadness and change it into chemicals that move through the body and release themselves through the shedding of tears.

This wonderful body that can harbor an embryo and nurture it so carefully on a beautiful heavenly timetable so that a fully developed infant is born with all of the chemistry and growth patterns intact to help it become a mature adult.

This wonderful body that can produce super-human strength through its resource of adrenalin, aiding a grief-stricken mother to lift machinery that weighs many times her weight to save the life of her child.


This wonderful body that can do all of this and much, more more has the capacity to heal itself...IF we don’t get in the way.

But it’s so easy to do that…and so human to get lost in the duality of our life and the problems we have taken on.

It is our work to see beyond the mundane and our suffering and to trust in the sacredness, the gift of life.

It is our work to keep our hearts and emotions clear by acknowledging our feelings, accepting them, valuing and not judging them and speaking them in a loving way to ourselves and to others.

It is our work to clear the way for the body to do what it has been designed for…to provide radiant health.


It is so very clear. There is  Proof Positive  that our body has the capacity to do this if we look at the miracles that already happen.


All that we have to do is get out of our own way,
enter into the flow of life
and connect with the LOVE that governs the universe!

                           
                                                                          
                                                                                 Marie Helena


originallly printed May 28, 2012