Living Consciously March 10, 2009

Dear friends,

Remember when you couldn’t swim or ride a bike or dribble a basketball?  It seemed like such a wonderful power to have, but once mastered, it turned into nothing special.  Decades could have passed since we last took off on a bike, yet we could do it today without giving it much thought.   That information is nicely stored in our subconscious and it is nothing special.  It resides alongside how to remove a splinter from our finger, write our name or drive a car.  It occupies a place in our reality along with how to feel when someone seems to reject us, when to blush, get angry or overeat. We are the keepers of survival tactics as well as operational skills

A spiritual practice is meant to address this problem by infusing thrival skills into the mix, which eventually will supplant the old reactions and bring us into a more responsive reality.  Meditation and positive thinking are wonderful powers to master.  Yet, in and of themselves, they are nothing special.  Simply sitting silently in our own presence seems impossible to do, but with a little practice it is easy.  Training ourselves to replace doomsday talk with vision and cheerful expectation takes time but can be achieved by anyone.

We are learning beings.  Our minds only hold onto what we think we may have a use for in our daily life. It is our decision to enter the school of New Thought; to sign up for the radical transformation of the content of our minds; to master the wonderful power of a positive perception. These are the skills that support us in living up to our true potential.  Useless information such as feelings of unworthiness, fear and anxieties fade away, which shouldn’t surprise us.  After all, they are nothing special to begin with and they have no power in the presence of a spiritualized mind.

Peace and Blessings,

Rev Carol Carnes

Living Consciously March 11, 2009

Dear friends,

It is a spiritual principle that we cannot change other people, but only how we see them.  It is a shift in our perception that allows us to have a different experience of anything.  That doesn’t mean that we put up with abusive behaviour, but when we see it as an expression of inner turmoil and that they are acting out of their own pain, we lift ourselves out of victim mode.  We can then make wiser choices about how to heal the situation.

There are many things in life we wish to change; poverty, oppression, hunger and violence, to name a few.  Those are important and need to be addressed.  But we will not be up to the challenge if we see them with the eyes of despair. Our activism has to be rooted in a perception  of  possibility and empowerment.  We want to see everyone as capable, intelligent beings who are deserving of a better life.  When we know that we are all in this together, creative energy is released and we are able to do what seemed impossible. 

When you are feeling down and worried about something, don’t you want encouragement?  It would not be helpful if someone told you that there was no hope for you, that you were just not in the loop of life, that you would always be a victim of something.  No, you want to be seen and known for who you really are, not for the problems you are having.  That is true of all people.  There is a solution to every problem and it comes through our perception.  When we see through the appearance and judge it rightly, we can help to bring about positive change.

Peace and Blessings,

Rev Carol Carnes