Stay open

Stay curious

Stay teachable

This side of heaven, where do you suppose this side of heaven is?

“It’s not a place you can get to by a boat or a train. It’s far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain.”

So said the rubyslipper-ed one just before she sung that unforgettable song: Over the Rainbow.

Behind the moon, beyond the rain…is it really that far away?  Or is it found within each of us?  Is it found in between the spaces of
judgment about ourselves – that field that Rumi spoke of?
Is it found in opening to our innate creativity?  Is it where our
dreams lie?  Where imagination comes alive?  Is it in the little
forgivenesses we give ourselves and others?

Is it in that moment we took to consciously take a breath?  Is it now, when I end this entry, step outside, look up, look around, point my face to the sun, breathe in the beauty of today and stay there for a good long time?

Unencumbered
Free
Free to just simply
be

“LOVE is essentially self-communicative: those who do not have it catch it from those who have it….”
~Meher Baba*

Some may have heard of the other kind of flu but word on the streets is that there is another kind of flu which is highly contagious, spreading wildly, reaching epidemic proportions worldwide and with no known cure.  It’s the Love Flu Virus Epidemic.

Here’s what you need to know about it:

Incubation Period: Unknown, sudden onset.

Duration:  Never ending.

Symptoms: increased respirations, increased heart rate, occasional benign palpitations, satiated with the fullness of who you are leading to decreased appetite, given to smiling spontaneously, flushed cheeks due to a radiant glow about you, frequent and prolonged bouts of an overwhelming sense of well being.

Treatment: Shower yourself and others with love liberally.  Avoid hand washing, showering with a friend is optional.

Prognosis: Incurable.  Once exposed to love, you take it with you wherever you go forevermore.  And you are inexplicably compelled to pass it on.

*props to my friend Mj for the quote

postscript: As Patrick Swayze’s character said in Ghost just before he returned to the non-physical realm, “it’s amazing…the love inside, you take it with you”.  I feel your intrinsic love shining through dear Mr. Swayze, may your fans and loved ones know this, too.

This week a wise teacher reminded me of the old adage: all roads lead
to Rome.

I remember that at one time all roads did lead to Rome.  But why do
we still say this today and what does it mean about life and the living
of it?

I believe it reveals that there are no wrong turns in life.  How could
there be, in a world where everything is in a continual state of unfoldment?

And if all roads lead to Rome and there aren’t any wrong turns then we’re
always on the right path for us in the moment.

We may meander a bit, as most roads do.  And that meandering is really
the stuff of life.  It is also said that life is in the details.  Life and living it,
isn’t just in the straight, unfettered path.  It’s also in the crooked one.  It’s
in all the turns that we once thought were wrong turns.  It’s in all the side
trips and meanderings.  It’s even in the “dead ends” as we come to remember
there are no spiritual dead ends; there’s always and infinitely something more.

May I now remember always there are no wrong turns, as all roads do lead
to my Rome.  No big hurry here, I’ve got all the time in the world.

From here on out, this blog will be in re-runs.  There will be a continual, unending loop of re-posts.  It will be boring, repetitious and worse yet, time will elongate during this period and appear to slow down.  Painfully so.

I’m just kidding!  My point and I do have one, she says snarkily, is that even a word?  Back to my point, the little locally focused me – the one that goes to sleep and thinks she is separate from God/Source/Universe et al.  The one who thinks banging it into place still works.  The one who believes that all forms of fretting will keep any negative surprises at bay.  The one who forgets about resting and trusting in the continually unfolding nature of all things. The one who wants to go it alone and get out there and make it happen.  The one who thinks her hands are the only hands on the levers of life.  The little locally focused me who gets a little crazy even at the idea of rest and trust.  What is little me supposed to do while bigger me is off resting and trusting?  Somebody has to DO something.  We can’t just sit here resting and trusting with a dumb ass smile on our face.  Hurry up, we’ve got worrying to do and plan B’s to execute!

Or do we?  Isn’t all spiritual forgetfulness just a re-run and a boring one at that, stuck in an endless loop with no fast forward button.   Well, I’m not actually in re-runs not literally and not metaphorically because if I were, I wouldn’t be writing about it.  I’d be lost in black and white re-broadcasts desperately searching for my color palette by adding more drama to the mix.  But if I should re-visit re-runs, I hope to remember this.  And especially I hope to recall that nothing very serious is going on here but by now some seriously dull and tiresome re-runs.

it’s nice to know
that when I’m feeling low
I can come visit my own blog
and laugh and cry and be soothed
find hope and remember

it’s nice to know
I’ve left a well marked trail
it’s lighted, too
and filled with my favorite things

it’s nice to know
others have come here and
felt better for it
they’ve also laughed and cried
found hope and remembered

and now I remember, too
I am not alone
not now, not ever.

what is the purpose of the sun?

my cat’s perspective:

the porpoise of the sun
yes, pun intended
we like fish

back to the porpoise of the sun

is to lay
stretched out
long
warm
no cares
naps
yum

the sun is for my people to give up their
worries to
so they come and love and snuggle up
next to me

ah, sun

©heartsdeesire

Remember that, Bethie?

Ah, I had a moment where I forgot, but now I am getting into the flow of
remembering that.  I tried to sneak in a period at the end of that experience.
Ha! but I know too much now. And as I recall the eternally unfolding nature
of all things, I also am reminded that Absolute Grace threads both visibly
and invisibly throughout all of my days.  Oh yes, now I remember there is
*no* time off from Grace at work in my life.  And there is *nothing* I need
to do to orchestrate that.  How cool is that?  These are the gifts this
benevolent Universe offers up to me each day.  Grace is breathing me right
now, right this moment.  Grace is ceaselessly at work on my behalf and the
entire Universe’s.

Always.  All-ways.

I don’t have anything else to do today except to acknowledge all my gifts.
So many gifts!

Wow, when I look at it that way, I don’t even remember what
the heck that panty wad twisting was all about! :)

Love, Bethie

Apparently, the mavericks were not happy with the limits of the old group, so
they banned together to start a new one.  I think I am quite liking this new one.
Now for all you Joe six packs that was two mavericks=two drinks.  Ok, all political
humour aside, here is an Abraham Hicks quote.  Sorry I don’t have a date or
workshop reference, that’s really the last thing on a maverick’s mind.  (That’s 3
drinks – but who is counting!)  If you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about,
watch the SNL version of the Palin/Biden debate on the web.

Now without further adieu, finally, the Abraham quote:

“You are never, ever, ever alone. You are always embraced. You are
always understood. You are always adored. You are always cared for and
well-being is always pre-paved before you.

In other words, you do live in an environment of absolute grace. And
the more you practice thoughts of that and watch for evidence of that
and speak it, you beat the drum of it whenever you see it.”

I love those words: absolute grace.  I want to spend time being really mindful
today of just how much I/we live in a state of absolute grace.  How much we
are cared for, how much well being is our natural state, how much this Universe
is rigged in our favor, how we live under the umbrella of a benevolent Universe.

Today the place I choose to embrace as my home is the state of Absolute Grace.
I walk in Absolute Grace and Absolute Grace walks with me.

Love, Bethie

Finally, you know what I did?  I gave myself permission to be in
Whackville, no-holes-barred-have-at-it-all-you-want Whackville. Ah,
that made Whackville such an easier place to be.  And as a result
I left it behind in less than a day.  But not until I received all the gifts
it laid out for me to see.

I was facilitated by Philip over at the Field Center.  It all started there.
I thought I was a control freak of mostly myself.  That’s all I was willing
to admit to at the time.  But in Whackville, I saw it all.  I was controlling
of mostly everything except maybe breathing and the beating of my
heart.  And, ok, I have no control over the earth spinning on its axis,
nor the ocean tides.  :)  Everything else, just call me Control Freak.

This was good to see, you know?  Just shine an honest spotlight on it
all.  Reveal the hidden payoff in control, the grand illusion that it would
provide me a safety net from all that I have feared.

And so is there life after control?  You bet there is.  I can’t say I’ve been
reborn, I sort of feel the same but different.  Freer.

I got in the car today and started driving and singing.  I was making up my
own words and my own tune.  I may work on it a bit more and turn it into a
song but I’ll include it below now.

Whackville isn’t such a bad place after all.

“she’s got the sun on her face
lives in a warm friendly place
light pours from heaven above
bathes her in glorious love
she’s got the wind in her hair
no burdens ever to bear”

With love,
Bethie