“Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny.” The quote by Mahatma Gandhi has always been a mantra for me. The power of this statement for me truly lies in the sentence, “Your words become your actions.” From there, everything flows or it doesn’t. Are you aware of your thoughts, your words? Really aware? Are you able to listen to yourself as you speak? Are your words and thoughts open and expansive? Do you relish your world? Do you seek to be of service to others? Or, when you listen to your words, do you notice that your pattern is to worry, to doubt, to dampen your own enthusiasm? Are you challenged by life? Are you eager to find solutions? Or, do you feel defeated even before you ...
Walking your talk. Three words that are possibly the most important words you can live by as you walk the spiritual path. When I discuss walking your talk I am really referring to the ability you have to stay in the values, the spiritual values that you hold dear 24/7. When you are able to respond from the energy of your natural inheritance of love, when you are able to respond with tolerance, compassion, patience, when you are in your awareness, when you make choices, then you are walking your talk. It’s very difficult in the world to walk your talk. That’s why we call spirituality a practice. That’s why awareness, observation, discipline, effort are tools as we seek to walk our talk. If you choose to walk in your spiritual values 24/7, you have work in front of you. It is possible your life will be richer and deeper, ...
Years ago I had a partner. He was a very deeply spiritual man, he was a very intelligent man, a very good man. I was so excited because I loved being in a relationship with a man who had a lot of awareness. We used to have great conversations. We had a wonderful, wonderful dance of the mind. During our conversations he would very often talk about his goal to be enlightened. Everyone has different ideas about what enlightenment is about. For him, it meant that he had reached a state of maturity with his spiritual work and he was at an elevated state of consciousness and would probably leave the planet. I used to think about that. Teachers talk about enlightenment and the enlightened being. Very often we hear that the goal of spiritual work is to become enlightened. I decided a long time ago that having any state ...
In my work as a teacher, I know that accountability is probably the most important tool you’re going to need if you want to make your life your practice and use your choices, your decisions, your relationships, your challenges as a vehicle, as a springboard, as a palette for your spiritual growth. Think about it. All plans, every effort, and each action you think about needs to be actualized in order for it to reap results. In our universe, thinking is not enough. You need to put muscle behind the idea in order to manifest any results in our physical world. This is where many people fail. It’s easy to think about our ideas. The video, The Secret, told us all you need to do is think about what you want and you become that. I take exception to that. It’s not enough to think and to wish and to ...
You know, from the time we are little, we hear stories. We make up stories. We share stories. Through most of our lives, stories have a very big meaning and a purpose. There is a time and there is a type of story and there is a way that we often use stories that don’t serve. There is a thinking in the world of spirit that in order to be in the present you must be out of your story. I’m sure you’ve heard people say, “Stop with all the stories and be in the present moment.” What does that actually mean? What is the problem with a story? What may be happening for you is that you may be getting stuck in your stories. Let’s see how that might happen. Very often, when things don’t go our way in the world of physicality, when we have hurt or conflict, ...
It’s not what you do in life that matters. It’s where your consciousness is when you’re doing whatever you’re doing. If you work from a consciousness of love, which I would put forth is our natural inheritance, it’s that energy we all have inside of us that we brought here when we evolved into bodies. When you work from that energy of love, from that consciousness of love, your decisions, your choices, the people you bring into your world, the people you let go of, the jobs you take on, the shifts that you make, everything you choose has a different vibration and a different feel. When you work from that consciousness of love as you move through your life, you build a life that is rich, and meaningful. How can it not be? Love begets love. Most of you know, I’m not talking about romantic love here, although that ...