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 Opening Act

 



Just be a witness to whatever thoughts come in and you will begin to realize the veil that cloaks the mind.

Kwai Chee Low
 

One of our preoccupations that we find so easy to do is focusing on the words and actions of others.  And why wouldn't we...as those words and actions play a part in our lives.  We listen and watch and try to discern their meaning.  We ask ourselves why someone has reacted in this particular way.  Sometimes we seem to sense emotions the other is carrying that he himself is not even aware of. 

It's all part of our journey, learning to navigate what is happening in our lives.  And these skills of observation and discernment can also be used to perform a task of even greater significance:  witnessing the thoughts that pass through OUR minds.  Witnessing them as an observer would, a third party, an objective reporter.  Instead of becoming embroiled in the emotional twists, turns and loops of the thoughts that arise in us, we can choose to "take note" of them instead.
 
When we objectively observe the landscape of those fractals of energy racing through our mind, we are amazed to see the "VOICES"  being expressed there. The sound of "voices" we have been exposed to all of our lives...voices of those in authority, our family, friends, politicians, educators, supervisors, rule makers, religions, society, culture.  Those voices represent the many individual paths that have unfolded for myriads of individuals and collectively for countless groups.   Paths that serve THEIR purposes.  Paths offered with the intention to guide and educate others regarding the pitfalls these individuals and groups have experienced...teaching the lessons they have learned.  It's all so confusing...like little children we hear these voices telling their stories...and those stories heard and assimilated over and over eventually become our beliefs.
 

But the critical point here is that we must see the influence all of this well intentioned "info"mation has on us...how it can COVER and CLOAK the authentic, pure impulses which emanate from our true, loving nature.  Our impulses which, when recognized, embraced and treasured, genuinely lead and direct the actions of our lives.  These experiences are OURS...they emanate directly from our hearts...they feel uplifting, beautiful, joyful.  And they are often very different from the clutter of the "voices" which may be emanating from lessons not learned, pain held within, unhealed hurts.  The lessons being presented to us by others may be their view of self protection.  Subconscious messages...be sure you have the last word...leave before you are left...Everyone is out for himself.


When we are objectively able to identify  the voices being played and replayed in our minds, we can choose to bypass their influence and tap in, instead, to the pure, gentle, loving wisdom of our hearts.

 The "Opening Act" is designed to get our attention.  Notice the hoopla, the cymbals and drums, the jangle of converging perspectives.  See it as an INTERESTING PARADE of impressions and beliefs you have adopted along the way.  Then prepare yourself for the engaging joy and beauty and bliss of listening with complete devotion to the messages of your own heart.

 
We can get to the deep essence of each engagement by witnessing, recognizing and acknowledging our mind's chatter and, then, afterwards, in silence and honoring, discern what feels beautiful and right to us.
   

                                                               Marie Helena


 
 image from carolgearing.com

The Mystery of Your Next "Opening Night"

It is always a great adventure to attend the opening of a new show on Broadway.  By the time we arrive for the evening's performance we have undoubtedly already heard a great deal of advance publicity about the event to take place.  We know the story of the play and may even know the basic plot lines.  We certainly know who is starring in the play. And so, looking forward to this particular experience, we enter the theater and take our seats with great excitement and expectation regarding what we are about to behold.

And it's delightful and fun...relaxing and entertaining...to experience the show.  It's exactly what we were looking for.  (How cool is that!)  All we have to do is buy a ticket and find our way to the special seat reserved for us.

Simple, easy, delightful and, most importantly, PREDICTABLE...and, therefore, a ride-the-high experience of fun and relaxation.  One we occasionally get to enjoy. 


But our attendance at earth school also includes additional experiences which are more COMPLEX adventures...productions where we have no idea what is about to unfold (even though we think we do), productions where we do not know the plot or the story and where we may not even know WHO will be co-starring with us in the production.


These complex adventures are called daily life and they are billowing with unexpected turns and twists, surprises, difficulties and, often, challenges that test our mettle and require that we are centered, grounded and creative in our processing of them and in the integration into our lives of the lessons they carry.


The secret to navigating these kinds of adventures is to hold NO EXPECTATION about how they will unfold other than the certainty that the Divine Universe senses our strength and readiness to move forward and learn yet another of life’s challenging lessons when the moment is right.


And here is exactly where daily life orchestrated by the Divine Universe is more fascinating, more complex, more creative than the best Broadway show for our "lessons" must be discerned through the literal occurrences that are happening to and around us.  Tucked into those daily interactions are metaphors, the seeds and promptings of the next lesson awaiting us in our personal evolution.  But we must search for their meaning.  We must recognize and explore the metaphor...follow it to its symbolic conclusion.  And, if we are diligent and committed, we will clearly be able to see the guidance we are being given.


But this moment of discovery only happens when we are READY.  When we want to step up to the Next, Grandest Version of Ourselves.  And when we trust that the Divine Universe is always there for us.  Loving us… Affirming us… Leading us into a deeper realization of our Divine Nature.


Our greatest adventures occur in our daily life when we enter them with no expectation of what will transpire.  (And, fortunately, then, we experience no disappointment or dismay that our "expectations" did not occur.)  Instead, we choose to approach them with a completely open heart...willingly watchful for new life lessons...asking ourselves, "What are you here to teach me?"  We observe the process of life unfolding  FOR us and, in that unfolding, we discover the lessons we require to move forward in our desire for spiritual fulfillment.


Adventure, excitement, mayhem, mystery...all leading us ultimately to our soul mastery!  Watch for the clues.  Stay tuned for your next "Opening Night"!   



                                                                                             Marie Helena



image from info@pdxfilmfest.com



                                       

The "Night Blooming Jasmine" in Your Heart

The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.

Baba Ram Dass
                                    



On a dark, moonlit night most of natures's floral offerings excuse themselves from the diligence of the day and nod off to silent slumber, releasing their daytime rigors and replenishing their energies in anticipation of the first break of dawn.  But there are several verdant beauties that choose to blossom instead in the velvety night, stirring under the exquisite luminescence of Mother Moon.

Casablanca Lilies, Moonflowers, Cereus and Night Blooming Jasmine are some of these nocturnal angels.  And, it seems, in choosing the blackness of the evening boulevard, they display to us a special wisdom in their enterprise.  These moonflowers, cereus, lilies, these jasmine choose the quiet of the night as their daily point of departure. 

They do not engage with the clamor and bustle of the day.  Rather, they await the peace and tranquility of the night tide and, in this gentle ambiance, they quietly attune themselves to the senses and sounds surrounding them...

the whisper of the wind,
the hooting owl,
flitting fireflies, 
wandering spiders. 

They feel the majesty of the moon sailing in the sky. 

Intuitively, they embrace the knowledge and wisdom which are crossing their paths rather than attempting to dispense it themselves. 
As always, Nature continues to gift us with metaphors of a life well-lived.  Is there a "night blooming jasmine" in your heart waiting to guide you to the beauty and knowledge and wisdom you have been too busy to see?


The quieter you become the more you are able to hear.




                                                                                     Marie Helena
                                               


image from pinterest.com

Dreaming

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.

                 Henri Bergson





Quantum physics tells us that our consciousness constructs what it is we see before us.   Therefore, what we are willing to conceive of and entertain is what we will experience.


Do you wish to stand before a landscape of beauty and vibrance? 
Do you wish to see individuals generously sending and receiving love in every moment? 
Do you wish to sense Divine intelligence treasuring all of creation?


What are you prepared to comprehend?


Is it the gift we have been given to live in this magical playground on earth?  
Is it the exquisite design of nature and all of her inhabitants? 

Is it the beauty of every human heart which has the potential to see the world through eyes of love and feel the happiness this brings?



Can you still dream your child-self's dream of being loved so deeply and so dearly that everything you encounter and experience is a gift for your journey?  


                                                                                               Marie Helena 


image from jefusion.com

Beautiful Dreamer

 

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.

             Winston Churchill






Our boy Winston has an epic concept there...ardent, passionate, towering, rhapsodic energy that completely sustains itself as we move in life from one adventure to the next.  No matter the quest.  Irrespective of the outcome.  With no expectations.

ONLY the exuberance of the tinkering and imagining of our intellect. 
ONLY the pleasure of our senses dreaming the possibility and then experiencing its manifestation. 
ONLY the heart deciding to embrace, decline or defer what has revealed itself in the process.   
ONLY the stray, crucial threads emerging which lead us to our next, personally satisfying cutting edge conception.


ONLY THAT.


After writing this description of the JOY of the JOURNEY I'm ready to don a cape and fly off on yet another adventure for who does not want to play the detective, the dreamer, the magician!  The ever fervent seeker of how things mysteriously circle back to us for our pleasure when we have consciously let them roam free to find their connections in the corridors of our heart!


The SECRET to sustaining the life force which always embraces the excitement, the joy AND the  turbulence and tumult of the journey is the knowledge that we exist for the purpose of EXPLORING this magical playground designed to provide us with whatever we can dream.


Beautiful dreamer, wake unto thee!
Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee!*


                                                                                                    Marie Helena 




*lyrics from Beautiful Dreamer by Stephen Foster


top image from quoteko.com
bottom image from favim.com 

HeartSounds

image of Andrea Bocellil from sonbab.deviantart.com 
Andrea Bocelli by sonbab

The Voice of an Angel...Andrea Bocelli...
  my go-to place for heart connection!

Italian tenor and singer/songwriter Andrea Bocelli is a very important part of my morning ritual.  I am not by nature a morning dove...rather a night blooming jasmine.  But when this jasmine awakens to (very slowly) acclimate to the morning, Bocelli's music is what begins the process of my energizing.

I've been listening to and loving Bocelli for quite some time.  His voice connects with my soul and though I studied a little Italian in preparation for a beautiful encounter with Firenze several years ago, the fact is I do not understand what this impressive tenor is singing.

And it makes no difference to me because it is ONLY the words I do not understand. 

The FEELINGS expressed by his beautiful voice ARE  the MESSAGE and they SPEAK to me.  And they do MORE than that...they vibrate with the sweep of my heart.


And I am mesmerized by this vibration...it SUSTAINS me.   This impulse tells me it is my HEART that is designed to direct the music of my life...not my intellect (though I dearly love to exercise it).     

I believe this is true of everyone.

In some individuals the heart may be sleeping...hibernating...because of unhealed pain, protecting itself from life's countless and often unpredictable adventures.  But the desire to FEEL is a human need we all share.

And the OPPORTUNITY to feel and to have the feeling RECOGNIZED is a Gift of Life.

The Divine Universe is unendingly creative in the way it sends its messages to us. Just this morning I realized I had received another tapping of this awareness a few days ago when I attended a planning meeting in Florida with David Webber, Chief Operating Officer of Practice Technology, Inc., who commented to me that he always reads his email for the FEELING of the writer, not for the words. 

It is not the words of Andrea Bocelli that affect me so profoundly.  It is the WAY he sings those lyrics.  And it is not the words of an email that David Webber "hears"...it is the message of a heart.


Is your heart vibrating with emotion?  Have you given yourself permission to feel this primal longing?  And do you "hear" the HeartSounds of everyone around you?


                                                                                                         Marie Helena