Living Consciously August 31, 2009

Dear friends,

The 20th century spiritual teacher Ernest Holmes, wrote: Expectancy speeds progress.

On the one hand we are told to leave our expectations out of the equation; that they only serve to disappoint. But that only refers to the unwise habit of projecting how things have to look, how they must come about, who shall be involved and the like. On the other hand, the art of spiritual discipline is to expect good; expect miracles; expect the best.

The stumbling block is that we do not always recognize the best if we have hard and fast images of how it shall be represented. A person who has learned to expect the best will know that what looks like a loss is really a door opening to a greater opportunity to express more of their true gifts. If our shoes are too tight we will not be able to dance. A situation that denies our full expression will be short-lived if we desire to be seen and known in greater ways.

This is really high level optimism, the equanimity of what Holmes called a “divine shrug of the shoulders.” Of course we care about what happens, but we are not to be concerned. We are not to leap to the erroneous conclusion that the universe is smacking us down or teaching a lesson. No, it is simply that every change in the outer comes from deep within the innermost realm of our nature and is the beginning of the evolution of expected Good. In the time/space dimension creation happens incrementally. Once in a while a thing will appear fully orbed, instantaneously given to us. That is what we call a miracle. More often, it comes into being at the same rate we grow our acceptance of it. Expect Good, pay attention and let it emerge.

Peace and Blessings,

Rev Carol Carnes

Living Consciously September 1, 2009

Dear friends,

To paraphrase the teacher, Osho: “If our ego is our slave it is quite useful. When it is our master it is very dangerous.”

There has to be a conscious experience of space between the protective aspect of mind and the creative center of it. This space is felt and experienced in the simple activity of regular meditation. It is when we see that many of our thoughts are merely the generated impulses of fear and erroneous conclusions, that we can begin to allow the knower within, the truth holder, to emerge as the thinking center of our consciousness.

My favourite way of explaining the benefits of meditation is that by sitting and observing our own thoughts, we inevitably have to ask “Who is observing?” That is the self that is meant to be the true master of our ego. Our ego is that local cluster of ideas that we have accumulated to define ourselves. They are usually too limited and too attached to outer experience to have much truth in them.

The feelings of well-being that flood our awareness as a result of the daily practice of sitting in silence, are the indication that our core self is uncoiling from its long slumber and is awakening our conscious mind to its presence. What is changing is our way of identifying ourselves from within, which translates into a mind that controls the ego based ignorance and disallows it from holding thoughts which create reactive behaviours in us. We have a deeper sense of who we are; spiritual beings of wholeness and potential. This is the transformation that everyone is talking about. It comes on tiptoes and awakens us to our potential for love and joy, peace and vitality. It changes our mind and opens our hearts to the truth about who we are.

Peace and Blessings,

Rev Carol Carnes

Living Consciously September 2, 2009

Dear friends,

We would walk barefoot all over town when I was a kid. Our summer feet would develop large blisters and the soles would toughen and become like leather. Our mother would be horrified and insist on sandals. We liked to feel the earth first hand. We liked to hop across the street shrieking as if the asphalt were hot coals. We even welcomed the occasional cut from a piece of glass or a thorn. We didn’t think about this, we just knew that summer was meant to be experienced from the ground up. We rode our bikes without helments and took our spills in stride, laughing and helping each other up.

In those days when school was out we were free! No classes, no lessons, no camp, just glorious time stretched out like a long road to no where special. When did we start preparing for everything so cautiously? How did we allow life to dictate how we dressed for it? Who made us schedule everyday as if some schoolmarm were keeping track of our minutes?

Summer has become an inner experience that is attainable only when we decide to do nothing important once in a while. It isn’t the week on the beach or waterskiing on the lake. It doesn’t come in the scuba diving class or climbing a fake mountain. We have to be open to the thorns and pebbles in the street. It takes some childlike eagerness to meet life head on without all that protective gear. Summer is a freedom from worry, a season of nothing to get, no one to impress. Summer is being alive without regrets, big plans or fear of tomorrow. It is a spiritual state and it does not require head-gear.

Peace and Blessings,

Rev Carol Carnes

Living Consciously September 3, 2009

Dear friends,

The word purify used in the context of spiritual practice scares off some people. They mistakenly think it is a throwback to the idea of original sin or the erroneous belief that we are tainted beings merely by right of having a flesh body and earthly desires. But it is a simple truth that the joy of living that we are seeking is blocked by the dark and self rejecting thoughts held by our own minds. It is our own self assessment that needs to be purified.

Our memories and our refusal to set them aside and live from this moment needs the purification process of a New Thought about ourselves, a reframing, if you will. If left unattended they will spoil the moment, the possibility of real love, the flow of abundance that is trying to supply our life. Given enough time and force, negativity will deteriorate the body as well.

The purification process is triggered by the regular practice of spirituality; affirmative prayer, selfless service, celebration and silence. These simple acts are transformational to the thinking mind, which is where the trouble begins. We wrongly conclude that the trouble began in something that was done to us, when it was actually what we thought about ourselves in the context of the event that is the culprit. This is not to excuse abusive behaviour from anyone, but to liberate us from a lifetime of denying ourselves the full expression of our innate joy because we have labelled ourselves victims. A victim will either be defeated or angry, neither of which can ever create happiness and a satisfying life. Purify the mind and everything looks new, from the inside out.

Peace and Blessings,

Rev Carol Carnes

Living Consciously September 8, 2009

Dear friends,

A clerk in a convenience store had an unusual way of dealing with an irate customer. She simply said: “Don’t you know when you get that angry you lose your power?” There are spiritual teachers everywhere! Being mad about something, an injustice perhaps, is not what that wise woman was referring to. She was talking about the angry over nothing much, out of control reaction, that some people develop as a survival tactic. Thinking they are under attack when that is definitely not the case, they go into the offensive mode of protecting themselves. Offensive is the operative word. A loss of power is the result, even though they think they have gained it.

What is power, really, if not steady and deep stability? The ability to remain centered in the midst of the swirling changes of life that surround us. The other day I was driving at the speed limit when a woman in a big SUV decided to move over into my lane without looking first! We very nearly collided! I was so pleased that my first reaction was not anger but a sense of gratitude for being able to control my car and avoid being hit. Then I thought, “wow, that was a good reminder to pay attention.” Spiritual practice works!

Getting angry is rarely the most creative way to approach any situation. If it is a habit it will serve to effectively remove people from our life. They will begin to move away from us and we will feel as if our deodorant has stopped working! Someone said to me recently, “when we are lit up with self respect and love, we draw people to us like moths to flame.” Yes, we are either attracting or repelling all the time. Moreover, we are either creating the kind of world we want to live in, or not.

Peace and Blessings,

Rev Carol Carnes