Rejoice: There is No Choice

We all want to be brilliant, to use up every bit of talent hidden beneath our inner admonitions of failure, ineptitude, and worthlessness. Some people work so hard to rise above some societal stigma, that they wear themselves out trying to prove their innocence and value. Few escape the limits imposed on them from their families, schools, or churches. Given these parameters, it is amazing how many actually emerge to be brilliant, creative, and compassionate.

What is it that brings out our distinctive abilities, even when we are thwarted at every turn? A religious person might say it is God’s grace. A motivational speaker will tell us it results from motivation, a good attitude, excellence, and persistence. A psychologist might mention the support of family, loved ones, or a mentor. Every system has an explanation for that which really cannot be explained. When I lie in bed in the morning, I resist getting up. I stretch, read, meditate, but in some unchosen moment, I hop out of bed. I wonder, at those times, what it was that pried me out of bed in just that moment. Two moments before, I was tied to the bed, then suddenly I am up in a flash.

I want to explore something, and you might think me mad, yet I cannot leave this idea alone. The idea is not new, and it is most popular in the eastern culture. The theory is that our creator created everything in the world of form so we could experience limits as unique possibilities. God, or Source, was the same, bliss and consciousness, yet Source wanted to explore all variations of creation. This action of exploration is called Leela or divine play. This all sounds plausible, but the intriguing aspect is that it means that Source, or God, is not only the creator but is the creation itself. When easterners speak of Leela, they deviate a bit in their definition, but the part that interests me in all the definitions is that Leela is a play of consciousness, and consciousness is the source of all. This is where it gets interesting, though I am not sure the concept of Leela incorporates this aspect of consciousness. And I must add this: concepts are not reality. They are the vehicles we use to try to express something that cannot be fully expressed or understood. I can tell you all about a diamond, but until you see one, all the information I push toward you is relatively irrelevant. Back to this theory or concept, which you can laugh at, given I have just destroyed its efficacy. God/Source is the doer, of everything. We think we have free choice, but we are an instrument of the Unlimited, and there is no choice. Just as I hop out of bed without making a conscious decision, Spirit operates through us, not just making that one leap, but making every leap and every choice through us.

This might seem like a terrible idea to the independent thinker and to the culture that almost worships the idea of free choice. To put this bluntly, we have absolutely no choice. Source does everything through us, as a part of the unfolding of the infinite universe. Maybe that’s a clue that we are Source, living our life as a unique individual. Hum, the whole idea brings me to a weird kind of freedom. It means that I can chose anything I want, thinking it is I who is choosing, even though every thought I have is made through me, not by me. All this may or may not be true, but in sifting through myriads of experiences, philosophies, and teachings, I can see its merit. And in my brief moments of being fully awakened, it was true. I was never the me I thought I was, separate from the Source, and I never had any choice. If spirit is living through me, I can just enjoy the ride. The idea that there is a me, is a lovely, complicated, original creation of Source, but “that me” does not really exist. When something happens, I do not have to freak out. I can know it was what was supposed to be. I can change it if I want, while remembering that I am not really doing the changing. And if I want to freak out, that is okay too. This is not an excuse to go out and do crazy things, but if the me I think I am, does crazy things or make mistakes, those actions were always the movement of Consciousness.

I write about this for a couple of reasons. One is that it helps me parse out things, and the other is to see if there are others, meaning you who are reading this currently, who are on the same page. We live in a no fail universe, and though it may seem as if there are many injustices, ultimately there is a stream of bliss or consciousness that flows through everything. It is divine intentionality, and it is That which we should trust, because we are That. And that is about all I can say, except that the more I realize that there is no me, and that the me that I think I am has no choice, the EZier I find my life to be. And that’s all, folks.

 

 

Relationships

Relationships are the playing field from which we learn love and goodness. Without these indispensable basic elements, relationships are cold and dark. They imprison us in pain or limitations. Loveless relationships are full of competition, a relentless drive to get something, or the need to be right and prove the other wrong. Unhealed wounds are the source of punishment when the other friend, child, or partner does not meet one’s unmet baby needs! Revenge on one’s parents is taken out in the relationship.

Gina Lake puts in succinctly when she says, “What interferes with expressing love is the tendency to be absorbed in your mind and thoughts about yourself and what you want and need rather than about how you might express love.”

It’s not a pretty scene, the loveless relationship. However, relationships founded in lack, pain, power, and struggle have the potential to come alive through love. It is in the awakening to our true nature that love flourishes. Love surfaces when we surrender the egoic mind. Once we stop demanding the form love must take, we are free to become what we really are – love incarnate. This loves shines away the darkness in our relationship and even the darkest corner becomes a welcome potential to strengthen love. Focusing on love awakens deep compassion, and it is this compassion that allows us to see our partner, friend, or family member clearly. We cease to identify them with their actions and define them through their Essence.

Truly, the quality our relationships is dependent on our relationship to Source. When we know who we are and make a conscious effort to be the space for love to live, everything changes.

Are you ready for the change? How can you live love?

• Don’t try to be right. Just drop the conversation that keeps love at bay. This is a game called right - wrong and it is designed to thwart intimacy.
• Really listen to what your friend or partner is saying.
• Heal your thoughts about your parents. Unhealed parental wounds not only show up in your relationships, they show up as your relationships. Acknowledge what your parents did to you. It’s not about blame. If a parent runs over a child with an automobile, it’s unintentional, but the child is hurt none the less. Truly acknowledge what happened, then forgive your parents, and drop it.
• Pray for your friend or partner. Wish for him or her the best. Don’t try to coerce the Universe into getting more love or attention from your partner. Radiate your love toward your partner.
• See yourself as whole and lovable when you are with your friend. Be aware of your self-talk. Don't use that inner voice to put them down. Don't think about what you want from your friend. Experience your lovability; drink in the ever-present, omnipresent love available. Keep your mind clean.

Relationships can be thought of as a spiritual pilgrimage. You enter with high expectations, stumble and fall, then discover things about yourself that would be hidden if you were alone, then heal those wounds, and finally share love from the deepest places. If you can’t go to India and see a guru and you desire the rigorous teaching of a master, just turn to your relationships and see them as your guru. If you open your heart and let them, they will lead you to love, and with love as your guide, everything is EZier and EZier.

Anne #relationships

12 Steps to Freedom from Stuff - From Chaos to Order

Chaos is an important idea in the totality of the universe, but when it is a part of our daily lives, it creates and sustains stress. We are drowning in our stuff. Annie Leonard’s video, The Story of Stuff, tells of the predicament we are in with our possessions. Our society not only supports the purchase of more and more, it solicits these purchases.

It’s possible that we are genetically predisposed to hoard, buy too much, and clutter. In the past it’s been wise to store food or other supplies for the future. This is not the case today, but epigenetics show that genes are malleable and they can change in the midst of trauma. Environments, even emotional environments, affect our genes. Could it be that our needing to have so many things is a product of our parents' or grandparents' experience of hoarding during and/or after the Depression? Studies of holocaust survivors suggest that people whose parents went through the Holocaust carry unique genetic markers: the same markers their parents carry.

One of the most popular ideas of our time is the idea of decluttering. It’s about taking control of the physical chaos that surrounds us and creating order. Does the story of more have an irreversible hold on our lives? If our genetics predispose us to hang on to too much stuff, does that mean we are doomed to buy and keep much more than we will ever need?

We are destined to fail unless we become aware of the problem and take some time, energy, and effort to overcome the problem. The first step in overcoming our stuff problem is knowing that we have a problem.

I've written a 12 step Program to help us with decluttering our lives that's fashioned after the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.

12 steps to Freedom From Stuff

1. We admit we are powerless over our stuff—that our lives are unmanageable. Just say, “I admit that I have too many things and, as a result of that, my life is unmanageable.” Having too much stuff makes a heavy load. We call that a burden.
2. We believe that a Power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity, relieve our chaos, and empower us to let go of useless items. There is a force larger than what made these problems. It’s larger than our past and more powerful than our limited minds.
3. Make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of The Infinite Source of our understanding. This is the humbling step of surrender.
4. Take an inventory of our keeping behavior and of our stuff. What behaviors keep our chaotic system going? For example, too busy to take care of ourselves, don’t know what to do, self-talk is negative. Make a list of categories of stuff. For example, kitchen gadgets, shoes, shirts, makeup, or toiletries.
5. Admit to Source, to ourselves, and to another human that we had too much stuff, didn’t have the ability to organize our belongings, nor the willpower to let go of our useless items. Talk with a trusted friend. Tell them you are in the midst of cleaning up your life and your environment and that you have a problem. Tell them you are going to get rid of the things that no longer serve you and that you don’t want or need as many things in your life as you used to.
6. Become entirely ready to have The Infinite Source remove all these defects of character and self-judgments, and for Source to break the chains that bind us to our family history. I am willing to have my life changed at the core. I am willing to be changed internally so that I can make the external changes I need to make.
7. Humbly asked Source to remove our need to buy and keep too many personal and household items. Ask Source to instill in us a sense of having more than enough of all things necessary to abundantly support our lives. We pray or ask for help in our own way. The Cosmic Forces Exercise, developed by David St. Clair, has proven an effective way to ask for help. Years ago I taught this method to a Catholic Priest. He told me later that he had solved a long time problem using this technique.
8. Made a list of how having too much stuff saps our energy, keeps us from succeeding, and keeps us in the addictive drama of overwhelm. Be specific. For example, “When someone rides in my car, I feel ashamed because there’s so much junk and trash in it.” “My purse or briefcase is too heavy and taxes my body.” ”I’m ashamed to have anyone to my home. I don’t want them to see the mess.”
9. Work the steps, develop an action plan for decluttering, and execute this plan. Take action. Go through the steps, make your plans for recovery, and implement them.
10. Continue to take personal inventory and continue to declutter on a daily basis. Carry a copy of the steps with us and affirm perfect and easy order in your mind and all your surroundings. Click here for a PDF Printable copy.
11. Seek, through prayer and meditation, to improve our conscious contact with Infinite Source, praying only for knowledge of our dharma and the power to carry that out. Stay in touch with the stillness. It is from this stillness that all order is born. The stillness allows us to experience the enough-ness of the universe and gives us the ability to lighten our loads.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we seek to live in freedom from stuff, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

My 5-5-5-5 Plan will help you declutter your mind so you can focus on the task at hand and provide a plan for the day. The Minimalist blog offers ten creative ways to declutter your home.

As humans we walk a dual path. One path involves our physical world. This includes earning a living and taking care of our physical world in an effective way. It is the path of the physical, the practical, and the sustenance of life. The other work we do is on ourselves. This is our dharma. Our dharma requires that we live life in an effective way that enriches life itself. In order to live the path of rightness for our lives, we must identify the obstacles than keep us from fully living. Working the steps helps us live our dharma, lighten our karma, and makes our lives EZier and EZier.

Anne

Facing Genuine Pain and Suffering

 EZosophy is a philosophy that calls us away from ego driven suffering. EZosophy does not deny that we experience real physical and emotional tribulations. Individuals suffer, communities suffer, America suffers, and the world suffers. Suffering is not just individual; all suffering pulls at the fabric of humanity.

One of the most beloved saints of all times, St. Francis, overcame tremendous suffering. He was born into a wealthy family. He ran around  with his drinking buddies and eventually went to war – or at least participated in a skirmish. He fought for his city and was taken and held prisoner for more than a year. After his release he wanted to become a soldier, but illness kept him from military service.
Can you imagine? He was to be one of the greatest saints in history and he wanted to join the army! No wonder he kept getting sick. Deep down the seeds of spirituality were planted and his body said, “Hell no, you won’t go.” None-the-less, he planned to marry, but after seeking guidance, he was called back to a more solitary spiritual life. Eventually he became the original animal whisperer, a respected spiritual teacher and leader, and attained sainthood from the Catholic church.

Once I was in love and planned to marry. Many things got in the way of the marriage; it never occurred.  I didn’t understand. I wanted, longed for an explanation. I asked for help and guidance through this dark night. The St. Francis story led the way to understanding. When the young man’s path was blocked from his chosen career and his marriage, he might have felt sorry for himself or complained about the unfairness of life. Instead, Francis was led deeper into the spiritual life. This wasn’t the end of his life; it was his renaissance. But things didn’t go so smoothly for Francis; actually, his life was miserable. His community thought he was crazy. He was guided by a voice his friends and family did not understand. Yet, under pressure, Francis grew into a spiritual giant. The following thought is attributed to the great saint. “Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” The saying sounds too contemporary to be the words of a 13th century mystic, but it does describe how Francis lived his life.

While I was not happy that Francis suffered, I was happy to find that even saints, maybe especially saints, suffer. It was comforting to know that I was not the only one - even the most spiritually astute suffer.

Ego driven suffering can be cleared up in an instant, but an instant cure for genuine suffering rarely exists. The trying times anoint us and guide us. These wearisome times, at their best, evoke compassion and humility. When we are on top, it’s so easy to serve the egoic mind, but when tragedy strikes, it brings with it the ability to reach into our deepest spiritual strengths and reach out to our support systems. This is what makes our situations EZier. We might not be able to carry our 50 pound load, but when a friend joins with us or someone wipes our tears, it lightens our load. And when there is no one else to count on, something can rise from deep within to soothe us. We are never left alone.
We must navigate genuine suffering with care so as to not complicate suffering by suffering about our suffering. This is affectionately referred to as feeling sorry for ourselves or having a chip on our shoulder. We can’t use tough times as a bargaining chip to get others’ attention and resources. That’s like trying to go into the back door of life. When we rise up and face difficult situations, such as a loss, and don’t complicate the circumstances by involving the ego, we receive assistance from other realms and join a flow that eventually carries us past the pain.  It’s called integration. Our past pain becomes a part of us that informs us and sends us into higher levels of compassion, but the pain no longer dominates our lives.

The saints, the foremost champions, and the greatest losers go through times of genuine loss and suffering. While we can’t escape these times, we can be sure that we do not travel alone. The eight word miracle mantra, “Everything can be EZ (Ego driven suffering can improve right now!) or at least EZier,” speaks to the nature of suffering and recovery. We are the champions of our lives, and whether life is peachy or downright sucky, we exist in a matrix of love that guides and guards us, even when we are too weary to look. Love says, “You may not be able to see it from where you are standing, but I assure you that everything is okay. The Supreme Okayness is with you and you are safe.” Our lives have already been saved, so when tough times befall us, we can be assured that we will make it though. This is the promise of the spiritual life, that we will make it through and emerge and reemerge into the adventure called life, and that every pain, every burden, every mistake – all will be renewed, restored, and revitalized if we allow it to be. We must give up our ego driven suffering, face our genuine suffering, and surrender to the Source. Spirit brings us the present of life, but we must open it to receive its gift and trust that the good and the bad work together to provide exactly what we need to be free, joyful, and fulfilled. #EZosophy #Saintfrancis #spiritual

You may find the following links about St. Francis engaging:

• Story of St. Francis’ life
• St. Francis miracles
• St. Francis Animal quotes