Speaking of Spirit

An epiphany came to me this morning as I awoke. Lying in the warmth of the bed, stretching and slowly becoming aware of a new day, I realized that each day is, in essence, a resurrection - a rising again, which is the exact meaning of the word in Latin. In the evening, as we fall asleep, we leave the conscious world behind. Each morning, we rise again to a new day.  Most of the time, we go through life monotonously, o ne day spilling into the the next. No beginning, no end. What if we were mindfully aware as we awoke each morning that we are beginning a new day?  What if, in rising again,  we realize a fresh opportunity to let go of our past hurts?  What if, in rising to a new day, we grasp the opportunity to begin our lives anew. A life full of gratitude and the intention of sharing the blessings we are given.  Consider how different our lives could be if everyone was fully aware of this wonderful opportunity to begin each day anew! This week, let us ...

"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit."  Helen Keller  Over the past few weeks, we have suffered the wrath of natural disasters around the world.  In spite of total destruction, humans tenaciously begin to reconstruct their lives.  How? Everything I know about life, after 64 years of living, tells me that the "can do" attitude comes from faith, which inspires hope, which calls forth creativity, which brings forth incredible things.  (In this instance, when I say faith, I don't mean belonging to a religion. I mean real belief that comes from the knowledge that there is more to life than meets the eye.) Proof of this phenomenon can be found everywhere. People in countries totally devastated by floods, landslides, earthquakes and tsunamis, can be found pulling together to rebuild their lives. I find this incredible! Recently, I viewed a video ...

When it feels as if all that we love is falling apart, it is difficult to see a silver lining.  The despair this brings causes fear. Fear leads us to unconscionable situations, where all manner of horrors live. William Sloan Coffin, Jr., minister, peace and civil rights activist said, "The opposite of love is not hate; the opposite of love is fear."   Hate is something learned through fear.  Fear comes first.  For example, as a child, I feared falling from high places. After seeing images of people falling, being told over and over to get away from the edge and finally, having someone in our community fall from a height that crippled him, I learned to hate high places. This hate grew into a phobia that nearly crippled me. Fortunately, I learned to retrain my brain to understand that high places can be dangerous if I am not in a safe position. In other words, I don't hang by one hand from a cliff edge. (I still don't like to be up high, but I am not afraid like...

This week, as I walked down our lovely tree-lined street, I saw it...the first leaf of autumn.  Everything in me screamed, "NO!!"  I am not ready for fall, not ready for the cold to begin to seep into my days, not ready for the thoughts of blizzards, ice storms, holidays. But, as a wise person once said, "The only constant in life is change." So, no matter how unwilling I am, how unprepared, how unhappy, the season will change in its own time.   Life happens in its own time. We may try to schedule things. We turn clocks back and forth.  We may assign days to various happenings. But, in reality, what will come to pass arrives when the time is right, in spite of all our protests, manipulations or demands. Change has to happen. If a child doesn't grow, it means something is terribly wrong. If the weather stayed constant, plants would fail to grow. If seeds stayed seeds, there would be no flowers, no food. Change has to happen. Change is a blessing. Writer ...

I remember the first time someone told me to "Forgive and Forget."  I pondered this for days. Forgiving, I felt I could do, but how could I forget?   His Holiness, the Dalai Lama said, " Forgiveness doesn’t mean forget what happened…If something is serious and it is necessary to take counter-measures, you have to take counter-measures."   When our world is filled with hate, we cannot forget. We must remember, in order to prevent the hate, the horror, from happening again. Each time we forget, hate rises its ugly head once more. However, we can forgive.  Nelson Mandela when asked why he was not resentful for his imprisonment said, " Resentment is like a glass of poison that a man drinks; then he sits down and waits for his enemy to die." When we release resentment, when we forgive, we heal. This healing allows us the energy, the blessings, the grace to move forward in positive ways. We become conduits for positive change because we are no lon...

Evil is evil. Evil wears many faces, has many names and exists in many places. When evil rises up, we cannot hide behind politicians, who may or may not risk their political careers to condemn evil. We cannot run to our clergy, expecting them to somehow conjure up miraculous cures for evil. We cannot turn our backs, expecting someone else to deal with the problem because it isn't in our continent, our country, our state, our city, our community or our home.  Evil IS evil. We must unite and face it. We must say, not again, not now, not ever.  My father, my uncles, my friends did not fight in a land across the sea, some dying, to stop Evil from spreading.   We cannot run from Evil, for it exists everywhere we go. BUT, we can stop it.  Be a Light in the darkness of Evil. Be a Light that grows bright against the hate.  Be a Light that illuminates the shadows of fear.  Be a Light! Glow fearlessly!

There are things I was taught that have remained in my life since the day the lesson was learned. Looking back, I realized these were all things my Momma taught me.  Today, the young people would call these "Life Hacks" - tips for making life go more smoothly, more efficiently.  Momma's life hacks had a bit more oomph to them, though. They were based on a deep connection to Faith, Hope, and Love. A connection that was lived daily, not simply taught, then forgotten except for one hour or so a week. Here are the top five life hacks learned at Momma's knee: Be nice - it doesn't cost a penny. Be nice, even when others are not being nice to you. Be nice especially to your elders, who may be grumpy or cranky, but you have not lived as long as they have. You do not know the pain and sorrow they carry. Be nice, it can change someone's life. Always share what you have with others. You are never too poor or too rich to share when others are in need. Bu...