Living Consciously March 31, 2009

Dear friends,

Do the best you can. This is the advice we have been getting since childhood. Whether we are about to take a test, be interviewed for a new job or dance in a talent show, someone is bound to say, just do the best you can. It is an incomplete statement, for none of us ever does the best we are equipped to do. We do the best we can according to what we believe. We may have had the best training available, but if we are unsure of ourselves, we cannot do our best no matter how much we may want to rise to the occasion.

Our best is a work in progress. It is the evolution of our awareness coupled with the confidence that comes with practice and training, yet no amount of either will overcome unbelief. There have been some athletes, figure skaters, tennis players, gymnasts, whom everyone expected to win gold medals at the Olympics. They were the best in the world but somehow could not manage to do their best in major competitions. When they are asked what happened, invariably they will say I did the best I could, but they don’t really believe it. Underneath it all, they know that their nerves got the best of them, their fear overtook them, the need to win someone else’s approval got in the way.

There is always some mental sabotage involved. Even the commentators, who are former athletes themselves, know it. They will observe that she lost focus, her mind is not in the moment, he seems unsure of himself. Only one person can win the Gold and it is always the one who believes that their best is more than they have ever done and this is the moment to give it expression.

The affirmation is: I am fully prepared to reveal the best of me, the rest of me, the not yet expressed of me, right here and right now.

Peace and blessings,

Rev Carol Carnes

Living Consciously April 1, 2009

Dear friends,

The first Day of Spring came two weeks ago and the snow kept falling. Nature has her own rhythms and she is fairly reliable. Surely the daffodils will rise up and take over the land before too long? There will be green again and trees bursting with life and the birds will sing in the morning. We count on the changes of the seasons even if they are not always as punctual as we would like. There is an underlying trust in the inevitability of outcomes where nature is concerned. But have some unexpected event drop on us and we recoil in horror. How could this happen? We are doomed! Things will never be the same!

Change is something inherent in life. It cannot be controlled or stopped. Our bodies are morphing right before our eyes and our relationships are subtly transforming every day. We live in a kind of catch and release experience. People come and go, jobs disappear, we take on new ideas and feel differently about things. Just consider what is happening right now in our culture. We are rethinking God! We are changing our minds about the origins of consciousness. We are seeing ourselves reflected in a transformed mirror. Our sense of reality is shifting. This is an enormous evolutionary moment and trusting the outcome is key.

To borrow a book title, we are in the winter of our discontent. Time honoured traditions are losing favour. Institutions are disintegrating. Fear based religions are closing their doors. A change of this magnitude affects every aspect of our lives. But we are not doomed. We are birthing a new reality. We are growing out of our spiritual adolescence into maturity.

Trust the process. A new day will surely come.

Peace and Blessings,

Rev Carol Carnes