Aligning with Grace

  I bless you. Yes, you... We ALL can use a blessing. This is the second practice that I wanted to share with you. Start with someone you love, someone who matters, someone you care deeply about or are grateful for. That one will be easy. Maybe there are a few people you want to send blessings to - people you know who may need it right now. Then, I am going to suggest you move on to people in your life that are most challenging. Start with one. And maybe add on another person tomorrow. Maybe you will have to stay with the first person for a few days. Or a week. Or a longer while. But do so. You might just find your hard feelings toward that person melting away. You may become more compassionate towards them and their circumstances. Keep working at it. Then, consider people you read about or hear about who may need a blessing. You will change over time. And you may also find that the ones you are blessing change as well . Are you willing to give it a try? Let me know how it goes and...

  For years, actually for decades - a man has worked at my Costco checking the receipts of departing clients. Every time he checks a receipt he pauses. and looks into the eyes of the customer on his or her way out and simply says  "GOD BLESS YOU!" I don't know anything about him. I guess from his name tag, that he may hail from a Middle Eastern country. Over the years his accent has soften and blended more into its surroundings. It is always a treat to see him and be in his line because he is so present, and genuine, and I know he has spent a lifetime offering blessings. I often wonder how this simple and humble practice began in his life. Perhaps I will know in due. time. But probably not. It doesn't really matter. As I watched him bless the person in front of me, on this January 6th, which many celebrate as the Feast of Epiphany, when the Magi brought their gifts to a humble child they had been lead to seek, I decided I would give this man a gift. The same gift that...

There are many variations to this practice that I am about to share with you.  Anyone who has studied Reiki will have learned a version of it and you can find them online. There is no right way or wrong way to say them, just as there is no right way or wrong way to walk a spiritual path. While many understand Reik i to be a healing technique with origins in Japanese and Buddhist practices and traditions, brought to the West and adapted to Western sensibilities, it is really at heart a spiritual practice aimed at the transformation of the self and the elimination of all sense of separation between the Self and others.  It is from a Divine state of union that all healing transpires. This is the second practice I do when I go down to the river to meditate and it follows Lovingkindness , which I described in the preceding blog entry. There was a time, over a decade ago, that I recited these religiously over the the course of a year or so, until I embodied them. What I...

Journaling has been a part of my life in some format or another for as long as I can remember.  I have a small book shelf with journals going back to my early teens. I have poetry manuscripts. Notebooks of prose. I have scrapbooks of favorite quotes and passages from books. I even have autobiographical collections - journals of spiritual experiences, of dreams, of pregnancy and my son's first year of life. The point is, journaling can take on all different kinds of forms depending on your needs at the time. You can even have several journals running concurrently! A few months ago, as the year was drawing to a close, I decided that I would write as often as possible in my main journal, which is the one in the middle in the picture below. But I also found a need to establish two others. The one on the left is my "health" journal so to speak. I just simply jot down the things I did that day that contributed to greater health of mind, spirit, and body - not to judge m...

These past couple of weeks or so, I have delighted in practicing self care.  It seems that practically every book I've read recently makes some reference to practicing self care, and most importantly, loving ourselves. For the first time in years I am actually whittling down a pile of books I have been meaning to read. I tend to read non-fiction, so often I do read inspirational books, and a lot of self-improvement, but this year I am reading a number of historical works as well, and brushing up on the main characters and events of the late 15th century, to the mid to late 16th century, a period I have found fascinating, because of the strong women who lived and ruled then.I am especially interested in what was happening theologically, and the rising movements of the time. I also decided to brush up on my French, and have been using Duolingo and some old textbooks to do so. I have wanted to do this for years! Every night, I carve out some time to do my lessons. My dail...

We live in troubling times... We live in sad times... In a time of much despair... But, it is because we have forgotten we belong to each other. We have forgotten that at our essence we are Love. And we can shine that love. We can increase the Love that is on this planet. We can make a difference... Every book I pick up recently has the same message. The world needs your love and mercy. The world needs your kindness. We come into this world as pure love, but we forget who we are at our essence. So, let's take a moment right now to remember who we are. Yes, right now! Stop! Find a comfortable seat. Close your eyes... Place one hand over your heart. And your other hand over that one, as if you were holding or caressing your own heart... Feel your beating heart. Listen to it... Visualize that every heartbeat pluses with Love... FEEL that Love! Let it embrace you and saturate every fiber of your being... FEEL it's warmth! Your heart and body is fill...

The words come to me, easily, and gracefully on a morning walk, as I reflect on challenges and unwanted changes - it is as if I can literally hear them whispered in my ear... "Let it go and let it flow..." I am invited to release all that does not serve.  I am invited to change... I am invited to grow and transition into a higher vibration... "Let it go and let it flow..." What is meant to be flows effortlessly and in my heart of hearts I know that all will unfold as it is meant to be... We cannot go backwards in time - only forward - and yet I know that all that really matters is the present moment... "Let go and let it flow..." I step into the waters of grace and accept the invitation to all that is being offered even if I do not know where it will all lead me. I trust it will all unfold in Divine Order... "Let it go and let if flow..." An ocean of Love calls out to me and I choose to leave behind all that no longe...

For only the second time since my surgery last summer, I stepped into the river... It's not like I haven't been in the river at this time of year before, but never in capris, and short sleeves, and my purple crocs! I pushed away from the launch site, and felt both freedom and exhilaration, as I paddled into the river, in Grace, my trusty kayak, who also accompanied me upstream day after day, just a few years ago, as I battled depression... But today, the only tune that played in my head, was, "I'm free! I'm free!, " by The Who. I know. I'm dating myself... I paddled to the Maryland side of the Potomac River, only intending to be there for a bit. I had a lot of work waiting for me back home. And, I was overwhelmed by the many needs out there, and so many requests for Reiki, prayers, healing energy and my time... I intended to say a few prayers, and somehow decide who needed them most today, and head back... But, God had something else in store for me. I was...