Living Consciously March 16, 2009

Dear friends,

The power of creation is Joy.  It is the energy that propels the unseen into visibility.  It is the initiating push that brings form into existence.  Joy is the irrepressible nature of God.  It will not be hidden!  It will not be kept in the invisible and when it is attached to an idea whose time has come, nothing can stop the manifestation of that idea.  It must be fully expressed and fully endowed with all that is necessary to maintaining its integrity in form. 

In our human experience we know this kind of joy as passion.  It is absolutely essential in the creative process.  That power which brings about what we are passionate about is neutral and must be impregnated with a clear idea, a vision, an image that we are attached to by means of our identity. This is why all creativity begins with the awareness of “I,” not as in the ego, but the I of the Spirit, ie: I am the love I seek. I create it in my world. I see myself as living in love and acting as an enlivening agent for love wherever I am.  This is who I am and this is my vision. I am passionately involved with creating love in this life.

A spiritually awakened world is an idea whose time has come.  Each one of us is birthing this changed culture by how we live. Are we living in the passionate awareness that our very being is the conduit for peace and love to be made into our image and likeness?  Are we joyfully alive with possibility thinking?  Are we expressing our highest vision and expecting the best?  Do we circulate our good generously without fear of depletion?  These are only a few of the ways that we use the creative process to bring about shifts in our collective consciousness. Whatever we choose to experience can only come effortlessly, in grace and dignity,  when joy is the activating energy.  Light up and watch the magic happen!

Peace and Blessings,

Rev Carol Carnes

Living Consciously March 30, 2009

Dear friends,

I have read that more men die on Monday morning than at any other time, and that the next most likely occurrence is a few months after retirement. They cannot live without the stress that caused their death, which creates a new kind of stress which chips away at their self respect.
This is quite an alarming statement about our cultural tendency to put work first and to live one-dimensional lives. It speaks of the necessity of engaging in activities that are fun and energizing. It has to do with how we honor and respect ourselves. Does our position in the workforce give us our value? We cannot ignore the role of self-perception in our health.
We speak of down-time but what is needed is play-time. Not merely a cessation from our usual schedule where we sit in front of the television, but playful activities which engage our heart and soul. The whole self contains the child. The strongest mind is the one that can easily drop into the depths of inner silence. The spiritually mature man will never neglect the inner boy who longs to run free play games and explore his world. The woman of wisdom will create and make beautiful things and give them to her friends or dance and sing with abandon.
All of us are more than our work. If we love what we do, that is wonderful. Yet there is more to us than that. We are reservoirs of unexpressed happiness. Find some new things to bring into your life that will help unlock your joy and keep you healthy.

Peace and blessings,

Rev Carol Carnes