It is a little warmer this Morning than it has been, 8 degrees F. It is snowing and it is beautiful. Jamie needs to go to her piano lesson and get milk from the Amish; hopefully, driving will be fine.
Weather permitting, we will attend our first Christmas party of the year this evening. We have a wonderful time with this group of people and we are looking forward to it.
I am sitting here without the slightest idea of what to write about. The world is so splendorous outside my window, it is hard to see how there could be pain and strife in the world. The folks in my neighborhood are so loving and friendly it is hard to believe that they could be talked into any violence, including war. Yet history tells us they can be convinced that war can be just. How do folks make that leap in their mind?
How is group A convinced that group B should be annihilated? It seems that people are beginning to see the answer. They are beginning to recognize that fear is induced about the other, then played on until it becomes second nature to believe the other is dangerous or evil.
Waking up to how we have been manipulated into fighting our neighbors around the world is one thing. How else have we been manipulated? Billions and billions of dollars are spent attempting to get us to buy what we probably would be better off without. Fear in some subtle form underlies almost all advertising. With drugs and other medicines it is fear of risking your health. With automobiles, furnishings, appliances it is fear that you will lose status if you don't have the latest.
We are made to be aware of our relative worth to an ego-centered world and advertisers play on that consciousness. Are we attractive enough? Do we have the right job? Are we sexy? Are we too sexy? Do we have enough money? Do our neighbors look down on us? Do we get enough exercise? Are we eating right? Are we getting enough sleep? Are we too fat? Too skinny? Whatever our fear and insecurity is, some advertiser is trying to exploit that aspect of us to make money.
Think about that. Think about how our thoughts and beliefs are inculcated to make somebody money. Then, if corporations do this to make money, what are people in power willing to do to maintain their control? What kind of distortions are governments, religions and other institutions willing to foment in order to keep us under control? How have our ideas and thoughts of the world been altered to maintain people in power?
At the base, we know that the solution is to Love. Love doesn't allow fear. Love undercuts all this manipulation. The old world is waning. The forces that maintained the old world are losing control. How can we hasten the demise of the old world and help the new world of Love emerge?
We have to accept something that may be difficult for some. We can't trust what we believe. The way we look at the world has been manipulated by those who want to make money from our existence and keep us under control. Accept the fact that we know nothing.
Sure we know the basics of bodily survival; if you touch a hot stove you will get burnt etc. But our beliefs about who we are, our purpose, our reason for being have been largely shaped by those in control.
We can use a simple exercise. Look at what we believe. Is it Love. Love will not limit anybodies freedom, ours or theirs. Love contains no judgement. If what we believe is not love, it cannot be true. We must be scrupulous. We have been convinced of much nonsense. Let us start over; look at the world with love. That is all there is.
Love and Peace, Gregg
Monday, December 16, 2013
Friday, December 13, 2013
DISCOVERING WHO WE ARE
I have stated here that we are magnificent beings of light. What does that mean? Who are we? If we are part of source and if source is Unconditional Love, then at a minimum we must be Love. Our teachers down through the ages have taught us that we share the same creative power of Source.
How much of this do we realize? We read inspirational literature. We have moments of clarity. Every once in awhile we feel unconditional love. It becomes clear to us how love works and we become determined to stay in love. Then our wife, husband, girl friend, boy friend, colleague says something that pushes our buttons and its gone. Geeeze, how are we suppose to know love when all around us are jerks?
Just kidding, of course, but it seems that way sometimes, doesn't it? We are all struggling with the veil our egos have made to keep us from seeing who we are. When we feel full of love and we go into a grocery store or among strangers, everyone seems to respond. They shine their love right back. It is very reinforcing. It seems only the most entrenched won't respond.
With our family and friends its different, why? Our family and close friends have a learning contract with us. We selected each other to learn how to love. We learn how to love from each other but we, also, challenge each others egos. We have a history with each other. We have a paradoxical situation. We expect absolute acceptance, but we have our guard up. We don't quite believe it. This may not look like a good situation, but it actually is, because it shortens the learning time. In successful relationships, we see when the other is temporarily insane and we look past it and send love to them. In other relationships [they are also successful in their way], the temporary insanity triggers the partners insanity. They clash, given time, most learn. By temporary insanity, I mean any state that is not loving and peaceful; that is our natural state.
There is only love. Behavior that is not love, is a call for love. When we really understand this, our egos will not be triggered by the others behavior when it is not loving. We will see their invitation to create conflict as evidence they are not loving themselves. We will send love to them rather than engage with their ego.
Understanding this concept intellectually does not immediately free us. Don't be disappointed. Many of us have spent a lifetime defending against presumed insults. We are on autopilot. We react. With intent, we can learn to create a pause and send love rather than respond to the challenge.
The permanent solution is knowing who we are. If we know we are part of Source; part of all that is; pure creative energy. How could we react except with love? We see that everyone else is Love. We see through the masquerade their ego may be presenting at the moment and respond to the love they are.
Pausing at least twice a day to quiet our minds and feel the silence is very helpful. It needn't be a formal meditation. It helps to just sit and relax, with our eyes closed. We can release the content of our minds. Let love and peace flow up from the depth of our beings. Ask gently, who am I. Listen with your heart.
Let us remind ourselves several times a day that we are Love. All other thought and behavior is not us. It is not real. The only reality is Love. All that is not love will pass away. It is not real and can only exist with the energy we give it.
Here on Laughing Water Farm, we are experiencing a heat wave. It is 11 degrees F at this moment. It reached 17 yesterday. That was a big improvement over the preceding days when it didn't get above zero. Normal highs are just below thirty. I don't think normal highs are in the forecast.
The contractor returned to work on our addition this week, after a two week hiatus. They just need to put the flooring in and complete the shower stall and get the plumbing fixtures in. All the plumbing and wiring is roughed in. There shouldn't be much to completing the project.
I need to get at my dishes. Then we are going to school to see their Christmas program. Elijah, our grandson, is participating along with his kindergarten class.
Love and Peace, Gregg
How much of this do we realize? We read inspirational literature. We have moments of clarity. Every once in awhile we feel unconditional love. It becomes clear to us how love works and we become determined to stay in love. Then our wife, husband, girl friend, boy friend, colleague says something that pushes our buttons and its gone. Geeeze, how are we suppose to know love when all around us are jerks?
Just kidding, of course, but it seems that way sometimes, doesn't it? We are all struggling with the veil our egos have made to keep us from seeing who we are. When we feel full of love and we go into a grocery store or among strangers, everyone seems to respond. They shine their love right back. It is very reinforcing. It seems only the most entrenched won't respond.
With our family and friends its different, why? Our family and close friends have a learning contract with us. We selected each other to learn how to love. We learn how to love from each other but we, also, challenge each others egos. We have a history with each other. We have a paradoxical situation. We expect absolute acceptance, but we have our guard up. We don't quite believe it. This may not look like a good situation, but it actually is, because it shortens the learning time. In successful relationships, we see when the other is temporarily insane and we look past it and send love to them. In other relationships [they are also successful in their way], the temporary insanity triggers the partners insanity. They clash, given time, most learn. By temporary insanity, I mean any state that is not loving and peaceful; that is our natural state.
There is only love. Behavior that is not love, is a call for love. When we really understand this, our egos will not be triggered by the others behavior when it is not loving. We will see their invitation to create conflict as evidence they are not loving themselves. We will send love to them rather than engage with their ego.
Understanding this concept intellectually does not immediately free us. Don't be disappointed. Many of us have spent a lifetime defending against presumed insults. We are on autopilot. We react. With intent, we can learn to create a pause and send love rather than respond to the challenge.
The permanent solution is knowing who we are. If we know we are part of Source; part of all that is; pure creative energy. How could we react except with love? We see that everyone else is Love. We see through the masquerade their ego may be presenting at the moment and respond to the love they are.
Pausing at least twice a day to quiet our minds and feel the silence is very helpful. It needn't be a formal meditation. It helps to just sit and relax, with our eyes closed. We can release the content of our minds. Let love and peace flow up from the depth of our beings. Ask gently, who am I. Listen with your heart.
Let us remind ourselves several times a day that we are Love. All other thought and behavior is not us. It is not real. The only reality is Love. All that is not love will pass away. It is not real and can only exist with the energy we give it.
Here on Laughing Water Farm, we are experiencing a heat wave. It is 11 degrees F at this moment. It reached 17 yesterday. That was a big improvement over the preceding days when it didn't get above zero. Normal highs are just below thirty. I don't think normal highs are in the forecast.
The contractor returned to work on our addition this week, after a two week hiatus. They just need to put the flooring in and complete the shower stall and get the plumbing fixtures in. All the plumbing and wiring is roughed in. There shouldn't be much to completing the project.
I need to get at my dishes. Then we are going to school to see their Christmas program. Elijah, our grandson, is participating along with his kindergarten class.
Love and Peace, Gregg
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
LET'S NOT BE WAITING
The winter continues its icy grip. It was -15F when I awoke. Now it is a balmy -5. I had to knock the ice out of the chickens water bucket as well as the goats. I usually let the chickens out on sunny days in the Winter, but I haven't seen much point in it this last week. There is too much snow for them to go anywhere and I don't want to let more cold in the coop.
In the onset of a more gradual Winter the sheep keep the snow in the area around the chicken coop packed down and make a nice path to the barn. The chickens have an opportunity to roam around without wading in deep snow, chickens don't like to have snow up to their shanks. They like to go in the barn in the Winter and scratch around. I will probably let the chickens out later in the week when it gets a little warmer.
I have been warm and comfortable doing the chores despite the cold and wind. A while back, seven years ago[?], I bought a knee length goose down coat from Eddie Bauer. It was an off season purchase. I think I paid $90 for a $300 coat. It seemed too nice to wear for work around the farm. I thought I would wear it for good [whatever that means]. And when is that? When we go some place we are in a warm car. I think I wore it once. It has been hanging in my closet gathering dust. I had forgotten about it until Jamie urged me to wear it on the first sub-zero windy day. It is great. There is nothing like a good warm coat when one needs to be outside.
There is a moral here somewhere. Haven't we at times waited for something before we could be happy? Waited for vacation to relax? Waited for the kids to grow before expressing artistic abilities? Waiting for time to read that book? Waiting for a holiday as an excuse to make that sumptuous desert?
Sure we can't do two things at once. When we are busy changing diapers, we can't paint a picture. But do we have to wait until the last diaper is changed? The kid does take a nap, doesn't s/he? Who says we have to wait? Always waiting for a weekend or vacation to relax means we are missing most of our life. Of course it is a state of mind. We can be happy anytime. We have been conditioned to think we can only relax under certain circumstances. Some of us push off into the future a time when we can enjoy ourselves. I can tell you stories of people who did this; the future they were hoping for never came.
One thing we learn by living in the moment is that we can always be peaceful. Happiness is always available. For most of us that is a goal not a reality. Always being in the moment takes learning and mental discipline; we will get there. In the meantime we are involved in expectations of a future reality and not always happy with the present. Let's take a look at ourselves. Are we waiting to be happy this evening? This weekend? After the kids grow up? When we retire?
Chasing a carrot on the end of a stick has been the conditioning of our society. We have been lulled into a tortured complacency chasing what may never come. It is a subtle means of control which has kept the natives[us] from getting too restless.
Let us not do it anymore. Regardless of what we find ourselves doing; there is also being. Our being, our state of mind can be joyful. Why would we want to put off being happy?
Stop! Time is an illusion! Right now it is racing by for many of us. Now is eternity. Most of us may not be ready to see the truth of this. But most of us can clearly see, that finding love in this moment, makes life precious. Being in love every moment is heaven. Seeing every person we meet as long lost friends; friends bearing love and joy is our truth. We don't have to wait for heaven. It has been here all the time. Let us open our eyes, our hearts and minds and welcome this reality. It is ours. It is what we created with Source.
Love and Peace, Gregg
In the onset of a more gradual Winter the sheep keep the snow in the area around the chicken coop packed down and make a nice path to the barn. The chickens have an opportunity to roam around without wading in deep snow, chickens don't like to have snow up to their shanks. They like to go in the barn in the Winter and scratch around. I will probably let the chickens out later in the week when it gets a little warmer.
I have been warm and comfortable doing the chores despite the cold and wind. A while back, seven years ago[?], I bought a knee length goose down coat from Eddie Bauer. It was an off season purchase. I think I paid $90 for a $300 coat. It seemed too nice to wear for work around the farm. I thought I would wear it for good [whatever that means]. And when is that? When we go some place we are in a warm car. I think I wore it once. It has been hanging in my closet gathering dust. I had forgotten about it until Jamie urged me to wear it on the first sub-zero windy day. It is great. There is nothing like a good warm coat when one needs to be outside.
There is a moral here somewhere. Haven't we at times waited for something before we could be happy? Waited for vacation to relax? Waited for the kids to grow before expressing artistic abilities? Waiting for time to read that book? Waiting for a holiday as an excuse to make that sumptuous desert?
Sure we can't do two things at once. When we are busy changing diapers, we can't paint a picture. But do we have to wait until the last diaper is changed? The kid does take a nap, doesn't s/he? Who says we have to wait? Always waiting for a weekend or vacation to relax means we are missing most of our life. Of course it is a state of mind. We can be happy anytime. We have been conditioned to think we can only relax under certain circumstances. Some of us push off into the future a time when we can enjoy ourselves. I can tell you stories of people who did this; the future they were hoping for never came.
One thing we learn by living in the moment is that we can always be peaceful. Happiness is always available. For most of us that is a goal not a reality. Always being in the moment takes learning and mental discipline; we will get there. In the meantime we are involved in expectations of a future reality and not always happy with the present. Let's take a look at ourselves. Are we waiting to be happy this evening? This weekend? After the kids grow up? When we retire?
Chasing a carrot on the end of a stick has been the conditioning of our society. We have been lulled into a tortured complacency chasing what may never come. It is a subtle means of control which has kept the natives[us] from getting too restless.
Let us not do it anymore. Regardless of what we find ourselves doing; there is also being. Our being, our state of mind can be joyful. Why would we want to put off being happy?
Stop! Time is an illusion! Right now it is racing by for many of us. Now is eternity. Most of us may not be ready to see the truth of this. But most of us can clearly see, that finding love in this moment, makes life precious. Being in love every moment is heaven. Seeing every person we meet as long lost friends; friends bearing love and joy is our truth. We don't have to wait for heaven. It has been here all the time. Let us open our eyes, our hearts and minds and welcome this reality. It is ours. It is what we created with Source.
Love and Peace, Gregg
Monday, December 9, 2013
SUDDENNESS OF WINTER
In nearly eight decades on planet Earth, I have not experienced a more sudden onset of Winter. We have had early cold weather several times. In the early eighties it got down to -40F about this time of year. We have had many twenty below days in December. But this is the complete picture, suddenly we are transported to the middle of January.
I am talking about many little things, like the difficulty in open the barn door, the sticking of the gates. I am not sure I can describe it, but I experience little problems that normally don't occur until mid-winter.
Saturday it didn't get above zero and today it might not. We have a geothermal heat pump. It serves us well down to -10 and even -15 if it is not windy. For people who would be satisfied with a 68ish temperature it would be fine. We like it toasty. So when we have these sub-zero conditions we fire up one of the wood stoves. We have two. This is not a criticism of the geothermal system, it is great. The old part of our house is over a hundred years old. It has blown in insulation that would be stopped by any cross pieces between the studs. We didn't notice the problem when we heated with wood [over twenty years]. We kept that old house toasty all the time. When we built on in the early nineties and put in the heat pump we noticed the cold spots. Jamie has gone around figuring out how to insulate the worst of them; a few remain.
I am sitting here without the slightest idea of what to blog about. If we look for the love in the world, we see steady progress towards the new world of love. If we look for strife and violence, it looks like the old world will never end. Regardless of which is 'reality', seeing a world of love is much more pleasant. And if we all saw a world of love, wouldn't it be ours? We must know that this illusion is ours. We can make it what we want. It is a picture we paint or a movie we produce. It is ours, we need to claim it. Regardless of how we see it now, it is ours.
We split off from Source with free will and the ability to create anything. We explored separateness to the max. We made a horrible mess. We forgot Love. We experienced every kind of divisiveness, conflict and violence that separation could bring us. We made a decision that we want no more of that. We decided to search for love.
If we look at our poetry, music, philosophy and literature, we can see that we have always known love was the answer. We were not quite ready. We had more to learn from separation. We are ready now!
Love is now the driving force. The majority of our people want a loving world. The consciousness of humanity is rising swiftly.
We have a choice, moment to moment, to see love or strife [fear]. As we go through our day, let us pay attention to our minds. Are our minds loving or troubled? It only takes a moment to find mental peace. If you are troubled by an influx of troublesome thoughts, say to yourself, "all is well". Continue repeating it to yourself until you feel peaceful. Love will flood in. Each time we find peace in our mind, we bring peace to humanity. We are all together, our reality is Love.
Love and Peace, Gregg
I am talking about many little things, like the difficulty in open the barn door, the sticking of the gates. I am not sure I can describe it, but I experience little problems that normally don't occur until mid-winter.
Saturday it didn't get above zero and today it might not. We have a geothermal heat pump. It serves us well down to -10 and even -15 if it is not windy. For people who would be satisfied with a 68ish temperature it would be fine. We like it toasty. So when we have these sub-zero conditions we fire up one of the wood stoves. We have two. This is not a criticism of the geothermal system, it is great. The old part of our house is over a hundred years old. It has blown in insulation that would be stopped by any cross pieces between the studs. We didn't notice the problem when we heated with wood [over twenty years]. We kept that old house toasty all the time. When we built on in the early nineties and put in the heat pump we noticed the cold spots. Jamie has gone around figuring out how to insulate the worst of them; a few remain.
I am sitting here without the slightest idea of what to blog about. If we look for the love in the world, we see steady progress towards the new world of love. If we look for strife and violence, it looks like the old world will never end. Regardless of which is 'reality', seeing a world of love is much more pleasant. And if we all saw a world of love, wouldn't it be ours? We must know that this illusion is ours. We can make it what we want. It is a picture we paint or a movie we produce. It is ours, we need to claim it. Regardless of how we see it now, it is ours.
We split off from Source with free will and the ability to create anything. We explored separateness to the max. We made a horrible mess. We forgot Love. We experienced every kind of divisiveness, conflict and violence that separation could bring us. We made a decision that we want no more of that. We decided to search for love.
If we look at our poetry, music, philosophy and literature, we can see that we have always known love was the answer. We were not quite ready. We had more to learn from separation. We are ready now!
Love is now the driving force. The majority of our people want a loving world. The consciousness of humanity is rising swiftly.
We have a choice, moment to moment, to see love or strife [fear]. As we go through our day, let us pay attention to our minds. Are our minds loving or troubled? It only takes a moment to find mental peace. If you are troubled by an influx of troublesome thoughts, say to yourself, "all is well". Continue repeating it to yourself until you feel peaceful. Love will flood in. Each time we find peace in our mind, we bring peace to humanity. We are all together, our reality is Love.
Love and Peace, Gregg
Friday, December 6, 2013
WINTER ADVENTURES
Cold, clear and beautiful this Morning. It was 13 below zero F when Jamie got up at 6:30. I lulled in bed until it got to a balmy 10 below. I had to get out there and take care of the animals early. Sometimes on a Winter day I can wait until mid-morning before I check on them. Generally they have everything they need. However, when it is much below zero the water freezes in the chicken coop and I don't want a flock of thirsty irritated chickens on my hands. About forty chickens give off enough heat to keep the water from freezing until it gets around zero F. Chickens don't seem to get irritated but they will really go for the water if it has been frozen over.
Went it comes to water, sheep and goats are a puzzle. Unless they are lactating, they don't drink on a predictable basis. I water them using rubber tubs that hold about six gallons. If I remember, I empty them at night so they won't freeze. I didn't empty the goat water. This Morning it was frozen to the top, I don't think they drank a drop of water in a couple days. I have to lift up the tub and slam it on a stump or a rock or something to break the ice out. When there is this much snow, it doesn't do any good just to slam it on the ground. It took several tries to break the ice out. Wisely I filled it only half full with warm water, if they don't drink it, it will be easier to get the ice out. I have had sheep that preferred to eat snow in the Winter, but you don't know what you got until you can find that out. I have had other sheep that would never eat snow. I know goats prefer water. Both would probably eat snow in an emergency, but I could not withhold water from them to find out. Any way hauling water is all part of the Winter adventure, it keeps the body functioning.
Every season has its routine. In the Winter I have to haul water and hay out to my animals. I use a toboggan, it is made of heavy black plastic[?] it was designed to be pulled behind a snowmobile. It works very well except it is hard to pull on fresh snow. After you create a path, it glides along pretty well. I have about a hundred yards to travel to the barn and chicken coop.
Back in about 1980, I learned that vulnerability was strength. I understood the principle and believed it, but it didn't penetrate very deeply into my psyche. It has only been recently that I have appreciated how much I have my guard up, especially when it comes to some people. From my perspective, it wasn't obvious that I had my guard up. But when I looked at my reactions to certain things people might say, it was obvious.
What are we protecting, when we are defensive? When others are defensive, we might think they are silly. Do we see that when we are being defensive? I marvel how it can work with Jamie and me sometimes. One of us will say something off hand, perhaps innocently, the other reacts defensively, then the first one reacts to the reaction and away we go. We have had glorious fights over nothing. I use the word glorious, because we are glorious. Human beings are marvelous beings of light. Even when we are nuts, we are amazing.
Being vulnerable is knowing the truth. No one can really hurt us. We can only hurt ourselves. We create far more havoc by reacting defensively and experience more hurt and negativity, than we would if would see the other persons attack as their problem. We attack because we don't feel loved. All attack is a call for love.
So being vulnerable means letting down our guard. It is knowing we are lovable and that knowing cannot be attacked. If someone does attack it is clear it is their problem, they are coming from a place of lack. They are calling for love. A loving look, gesture or comment is all that is needed.
How do we become so confident in our lovableness that we can permit ourselves to be vulnerable? How can we be so peaceful that our boats won't be rocked by an errant remark? I think it is a question of authorship. If we accept that we are part of source and that source is unconditional love, are we not love? Okay, we might understand that intellectually, how do we feel it? How do we make it true for us?
Those of us who have experienced meditation may have discovered the peace and love, the immense quiet, the vastness that seems to be our reality. That realization can help in realizing the unconditional love, that Is. That Is, is Source.
Any of us, accomplished meditators or not, can learn to feel the love of Source. Close your eyes imagine you are like a planet circling a Sun. The Sun is love. Feel the warmth on your body. Feel the love penetrating your being. Spend some time every day just focusing on Love. Feel the Love of Source {God if you prefer} radiating and penetrating your being, making you one with its vastness.
We have nothing to be defensive about. Our vulnerability is our strength.
Love and Peace, Gregg
Went it comes to water, sheep and goats are a puzzle. Unless they are lactating, they don't drink on a predictable basis. I water them using rubber tubs that hold about six gallons. If I remember, I empty them at night so they won't freeze. I didn't empty the goat water. This Morning it was frozen to the top, I don't think they drank a drop of water in a couple days. I have to lift up the tub and slam it on a stump or a rock or something to break the ice out. When there is this much snow, it doesn't do any good just to slam it on the ground. It took several tries to break the ice out. Wisely I filled it only half full with warm water, if they don't drink it, it will be easier to get the ice out. I have had sheep that preferred to eat snow in the Winter, but you don't know what you got until you can find that out. I have had other sheep that would never eat snow. I know goats prefer water. Both would probably eat snow in an emergency, but I could not withhold water from them to find out. Any way hauling water is all part of the Winter adventure, it keeps the body functioning.
Every season has its routine. In the Winter I have to haul water and hay out to my animals. I use a toboggan, it is made of heavy black plastic[?] it was designed to be pulled behind a snowmobile. It works very well except it is hard to pull on fresh snow. After you create a path, it glides along pretty well. I have about a hundred yards to travel to the barn and chicken coop.
Back in about 1980, I learned that vulnerability was strength. I understood the principle and believed it, but it didn't penetrate very deeply into my psyche. It has only been recently that I have appreciated how much I have my guard up, especially when it comes to some people. From my perspective, it wasn't obvious that I had my guard up. But when I looked at my reactions to certain things people might say, it was obvious.
What are we protecting, when we are defensive? When others are defensive, we might think they are silly. Do we see that when we are being defensive? I marvel how it can work with Jamie and me sometimes. One of us will say something off hand, perhaps innocently, the other reacts defensively, then the first one reacts to the reaction and away we go. We have had glorious fights over nothing. I use the word glorious, because we are glorious. Human beings are marvelous beings of light. Even when we are nuts, we are amazing.
Being vulnerable is knowing the truth. No one can really hurt us. We can only hurt ourselves. We create far more havoc by reacting defensively and experience more hurt and negativity, than we would if would see the other persons attack as their problem. We attack because we don't feel loved. All attack is a call for love.
So being vulnerable means letting down our guard. It is knowing we are lovable and that knowing cannot be attacked. If someone does attack it is clear it is their problem, they are coming from a place of lack. They are calling for love. A loving look, gesture or comment is all that is needed.
How do we become so confident in our lovableness that we can permit ourselves to be vulnerable? How can we be so peaceful that our boats won't be rocked by an errant remark? I think it is a question of authorship. If we accept that we are part of source and that source is unconditional love, are we not love? Okay, we might understand that intellectually, how do we feel it? How do we make it true for us?
Those of us who have experienced meditation may have discovered the peace and love, the immense quiet, the vastness that seems to be our reality. That realization can help in realizing the unconditional love, that Is. That Is, is Source.
Any of us, accomplished meditators or not, can learn to feel the love of Source. Close your eyes imagine you are like a planet circling a Sun. The Sun is love. Feel the warmth on your body. Feel the love penetrating your being. Spend some time every day just focusing on Love. Feel the Love of Source {God if you prefer} radiating and penetrating your being, making you one with its vastness.
We have nothing to be defensive about. Our vulnerability is our strength.
Love and Peace, Gregg
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
COMPLAINING
I awoke this Morning a complainer. Maybe it was the snow. Maybe it was the below zero forecast. Maybe I had a bad dream. I don't know. I didn't complain a lot and about nothing of importance. It wasn't bad enough to get Jamie riled up. It was enough that I had to look at what I was doing and reverse course.
Many of us recognize what happens when we complain. Have you noticed, we find more things to complain about? Complaining affects your perception. Our minds look for things to complain about. If we don't catch ourselves we will drive ourselves crazy and the people near to us will comment on it. This will help us reorganize our thoughts or it will lead to a fight and eventually we will reorganize our thoughts.
The easy way is to catch ourselves before the interaction with others happens. It is easy to do. We just need to be aware of what is going on in our mind.
Instead of being aware of our thoughts, we often act like they are cherished possessions. They are our thoughts we can do with them as we want to, we have every right to complain! All true, but are we going to defend them even when it makes our life miserable?
How we create with our thoughts is a theme we come back to over and over. We need to. Our happiness depends on it. It is the most important work we have to do. Fortunately the love that is pouring down on us, at this point in our evolution, enables us to turn around our thinking fairly easily. Negative thinking is based on some kind of fear. We often don't recognize the fear. If we look at humanity as a whole, we can conjecture that fear was more attractive to our minds than love until recently. About seventy years ago a huge number of beings were born with a message of love. By the sixties this message of love reached a zenith and a backlash seemed to occur. Actually we didn't go back but the message of love went underground. Love being infinitely more powerful than fear soon turned the balance in favor of love.
People have always taught that the solution was love and many books have been written on the theme of positive thinking. However, when the universal mind was still captured by fear, it was difficult for the individual to keep a clean mind. Of course there has always been a great number of people who were able to maintain a positive view of things, but until recently it was harder to get there.
Now the power of love is dominate. When we find our mind going in a negative direction it is easier to correct. Asking help from Source always helps.
Everyone of us needs to find our own method of alerting ourselves that we are temporarily insane [which is what negative thinking is]. Recently I read an article on the importance of peace. If our mind is free of negativity, we radiate peace. Peace in our mind brings peace to those around us. Peace is our natural state and it exist in all of us. I have found that lack of peace is a good clue that something is wrong with my thinking. When I feel the lack of peace I will ask Source to wrap me in love and imbue me with peace. It works!
I don't want the reader to get the impression that I always turn to Source when I lack peace. If I did I would be teaching in some ashram or sitting on a mountain top. No, I sometimes indulge my craziness [certain people close to me would hint that it is more than sometimes]. However, if we are committed to raise our consciousness, we do get better and better at avoiding negativity and having a peaceful mind.
At this moment I am peaceful and in love with the world.
Love and Peace, Gregg
Many of us recognize what happens when we complain. Have you noticed, we find more things to complain about? Complaining affects your perception. Our minds look for things to complain about. If we don't catch ourselves we will drive ourselves crazy and the people near to us will comment on it. This will help us reorganize our thoughts or it will lead to a fight and eventually we will reorganize our thoughts.
The easy way is to catch ourselves before the interaction with others happens. It is easy to do. We just need to be aware of what is going on in our mind.
Instead of being aware of our thoughts, we often act like they are cherished possessions. They are our thoughts we can do with them as we want to, we have every right to complain! All true, but are we going to defend them even when it makes our life miserable?
How we create with our thoughts is a theme we come back to over and over. We need to. Our happiness depends on it. It is the most important work we have to do. Fortunately the love that is pouring down on us, at this point in our evolution, enables us to turn around our thinking fairly easily. Negative thinking is based on some kind of fear. We often don't recognize the fear. If we look at humanity as a whole, we can conjecture that fear was more attractive to our minds than love until recently. About seventy years ago a huge number of beings were born with a message of love. By the sixties this message of love reached a zenith and a backlash seemed to occur. Actually we didn't go back but the message of love went underground. Love being infinitely more powerful than fear soon turned the balance in favor of love.
People have always taught that the solution was love and many books have been written on the theme of positive thinking. However, when the universal mind was still captured by fear, it was difficult for the individual to keep a clean mind. Of course there has always been a great number of people who were able to maintain a positive view of things, but until recently it was harder to get there.
Now the power of love is dominate. When we find our mind going in a negative direction it is easier to correct. Asking help from Source always helps.
Everyone of us needs to find our own method of alerting ourselves that we are temporarily insane [which is what negative thinking is]. Recently I read an article on the importance of peace. If our mind is free of negativity, we radiate peace. Peace in our mind brings peace to those around us. Peace is our natural state and it exist in all of us. I have found that lack of peace is a good clue that something is wrong with my thinking. When I feel the lack of peace I will ask Source to wrap me in love and imbue me with peace. It works!
I don't want the reader to get the impression that I always turn to Source when I lack peace. If I did I would be teaching in some ashram or sitting on a mountain top. No, I sometimes indulge my craziness [certain people close to me would hint that it is more than sometimes]. However, if we are committed to raise our consciousness, we do get better and better at avoiding negativity and having a peaceful mind.
At this moment I am peaceful and in love with the world.
Love and Peace, Gregg
Monday, December 2, 2013
AH..........MONDAY
Well, I had good intentions when I wrote that I would blog sometime this weekend. You know what they say about good intentions. No actually I don't. There is some quip about good intentions, isn't there? I am talking to myself; but then, this blog is mostly about talking to myself. If I would be more diligent about following my advice, I would see better. Learning for me, sometimes, is like wearing away a stone. I make progress, however, like we all do. Like most of the population, I see more and more love in the world.
Friday I was busy doing the Thanksgiving cleanup. Jamie does all the cooking and I do the dish washing etc. It works well for both of us. We had fifteen for dinner so there was quite a pile of dishes. I slowly plodded my way through them, using three wash waters and more rinse waters. Of course, I had to have pie breaks. There were apple, pumpkin, pecan and key lime pie to sample. Plus there was cake; it was my oldest grandsons 25th birthday.
We had a great Thanksgiving celebration! For me it was a true Thanksgiving. A thank you for all the loving, beautiful people that filled our house, I felt the loving hearts of all. It was a great blessing.
Saturday we had to go to Menards and pick up some items for our new addition. We were shocked at the amount of traffic and the number of shoppers in the store. We have never shopped the day after Thanksgiving. The media shouts about Black Friday, we have never been out in it. I assume this was a continuation of the event. I don't get it. I don't mean to judge those who get a kick out of it. They must enjoy it. I just can't imagine wanting to buy anything that bad.
Sunday we had to return to Menards because they couldn't find the special order shower surround. They looked and looked for it Saturday and finally gave up. When we returned home we discovered they had called as they found it. Sunday things seemed more normal, the shopping craze had attenuated.
It is snowing. I think it may be time to feed my goats and sheep hay. I think December 1st is the latest my animals have been able to graze. We have less than half the animals the pasture would support so they were able to graze long after the grass quit growing. It was easy to see they were getting enough. They spent a good portion of the time laying down chewing their cud. Hungry animals keep roaming and hunting things to eat. We have had a few snowfalls but the snow didn't stay on the ground long enough to worry the sheep. It looks like Winter rules will now be in effect.
This isn't one of my usual blogs is it? I have a powerful feeling we are standing on the edge of the new world. A world where we will experience, love, joy and peace in a way we never have. A world where fear quickly becomes a distant memory. A world where we will know our oneness and the meaning of creation.
I, also, know we are all dealing with the last struggles of our egoic states. It might not be clear to many that the nightmare of separateness is almost over. It is hard to see when a myriad of little fears cloud the vision. Now is the time to affirm your intent to 'see'. The illusion of separateness that we made is very, very convincing. Realize it is but an illusion and let us remind ourselves, often, that reality is there for us to see. On a moment to moment basis we can remind ourselves that source did not create pain, suffering, fear or anxiety. These are all part of the illusion and as such are not real. Only what is created with Source is real.
Time is one of the trickiest of illusions. It is an illusion within the illusion. We have all experienced its variations. For me, right now, time is speeding by, that may or may not be true for the reader. When I say the new world is to arrive soon, one may ask, "When is soon". Good question, I don't know. It is a matter of feeling. It is a knowing of the heart.
We are doing it together by our group effort to raise our consciousness. We have made great progress. We know we no longer want to live in the world of violence, aggression, war, poverty, inequality etc. etc. We have envisioned a world of people living together as one. A world where poverty and inequality cannot exist. A world where our existence is to enhance one another. A world without national boundaries. A world where we recognize Love is the only thing there is. A world where, for the first time, we will understand the meaning of freedom.
Now is the time for all of us to hold a picture of a loving world in our mind. Determine to see through the haze of the illusion and see the reality of Love. Reaffirm your intent, throughout the day, to see a world of love. Just feel it! It is so wonderful to love.
Love and Peace, Gregg
Friday I was busy doing the Thanksgiving cleanup. Jamie does all the cooking and I do the dish washing etc. It works well for both of us. We had fifteen for dinner so there was quite a pile of dishes. I slowly plodded my way through them, using three wash waters and more rinse waters. Of course, I had to have pie breaks. There were apple, pumpkin, pecan and key lime pie to sample. Plus there was cake; it was my oldest grandsons 25th birthday.
We had a great Thanksgiving celebration! For me it was a true Thanksgiving. A thank you for all the loving, beautiful people that filled our house, I felt the loving hearts of all. It was a great blessing.
Saturday we had to go to Menards and pick up some items for our new addition. We were shocked at the amount of traffic and the number of shoppers in the store. We have never shopped the day after Thanksgiving. The media shouts about Black Friday, we have never been out in it. I assume this was a continuation of the event. I don't get it. I don't mean to judge those who get a kick out of it. They must enjoy it. I just can't imagine wanting to buy anything that bad.
Sunday we had to return to Menards because they couldn't find the special order shower surround. They looked and looked for it Saturday and finally gave up. When we returned home we discovered they had called as they found it. Sunday things seemed more normal, the shopping craze had attenuated.
It is snowing. I think it may be time to feed my goats and sheep hay. I think December 1st is the latest my animals have been able to graze. We have less than half the animals the pasture would support so they were able to graze long after the grass quit growing. It was easy to see they were getting enough. They spent a good portion of the time laying down chewing their cud. Hungry animals keep roaming and hunting things to eat. We have had a few snowfalls but the snow didn't stay on the ground long enough to worry the sheep. It looks like Winter rules will now be in effect.
This isn't one of my usual blogs is it? I have a powerful feeling we are standing on the edge of the new world. A world where we will experience, love, joy and peace in a way we never have. A world where fear quickly becomes a distant memory. A world where we will know our oneness and the meaning of creation.
I, also, know we are all dealing with the last struggles of our egoic states. It might not be clear to many that the nightmare of separateness is almost over. It is hard to see when a myriad of little fears cloud the vision. Now is the time to affirm your intent to 'see'. The illusion of separateness that we made is very, very convincing. Realize it is but an illusion and let us remind ourselves, often, that reality is there for us to see. On a moment to moment basis we can remind ourselves that source did not create pain, suffering, fear or anxiety. These are all part of the illusion and as such are not real. Only what is created with Source is real.
Time is one of the trickiest of illusions. It is an illusion within the illusion. We have all experienced its variations. For me, right now, time is speeding by, that may or may not be true for the reader. When I say the new world is to arrive soon, one may ask, "When is soon". Good question, I don't know. It is a matter of feeling. It is a knowing of the heart.
We are doing it together by our group effort to raise our consciousness. We have made great progress. We know we no longer want to live in the world of violence, aggression, war, poverty, inequality etc. etc. We have envisioned a world of people living together as one. A world where poverty and inequality cannot exist. A world where our existence is to enhance one another. A world without national boundaries. A world where we recognize Love is the only thing there is. A world where, for the first time, we will understand the meaning of freedom.
Now is the time for all of us to hold a picture of a loving world in our mind. Determine to see through the haze of the illusion and see the reality of Love. Reaffirm your intent, throughout the day, to see a world of love. Just feel it! It is so wonderful to love.
Love and Peace, Gregg
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