How Empty is Your Cup?

In order for Spirit (God) to fill your cup, it must first be emptied of all those things that are in the way of your receiving all that you desire.
In my experience, the things that tend to 'get in the way' include my ego, my sense of not having enough time, other things that take first priority...and the list goes on.
When I forget Who made me and Why I am here, I get my priorities all mixed up and wind up filling my cup with all sorts of distractions.
Then I wind up needing to spend focused energy on rearranging my priorities and finding my center.

Creating ceremony can be very helpful in releasing all that no longer serves you.
Utilizing ceremony invites in the 'sacred' and creates a larger space for Spirit to enter.
My favorite releasing ceremonies include a candle that represents my own inner light and its connection to the Divine.
Incense further shifts my energy to the sacred as I inhale purifying scents of sage or peppermint or rosemary.
I often use a cup or a special chalice that I was given many moons ago.
I use the empty cup to remind me of the emptiness that I desire as I release all that is in the way of Spirit fully entering my being.
Entering a prayerful, meditative state with an open heart and mind connects me further with my Maker.
Then, I focus on allowing the power of the Christ force to come within me and guide me into a space of full surrender.
Experiencing emptiness brings a sense of true peace and stillness.

And then when I am 'full' of 'emptiness', I can begin to remember how to receive.

How Full is Your Cup?

Whenever I see an image of a cup, I am reminded of a dear friend.
She said one day, 'it isn't that my cup is half full....it isn't that my cup is half empty...the truth is I don't even have a cup...'
She was sensing that she was so 'empty' and drained that she didn't have any way to hold her own Spirit.
She tried to refill her thirsty soul by going on a silent retreat.
She found herself happy in the shower one morning and started singing.
Later that day she was reprimanded for not being 'silent' in the shower since it was a 'silent' retreat.
She tried reading spiritual books, going to spiritual services, and on and on...
She really worked hard at 'trying' to fill herself back up again.

So it is with so many of us.
We spend so much time 'doing' things to fill ourselves as if it is a job
that we must accomplish.
In my experience, what has worked best is to first create a space for receiving from Spirit.
For me, that translates into creating intention, setting aside time, choosing a place that connects me with my Creator, and creating ceremony that moves my inner Spirit into a mode of receptivity.
That most often involves music and sacred objects that remind me of why I am here and what my service is in the world.
When I create this experience, all that is left for me to 'do' is show up.
The presence of the Spirit of the Creator is so very available and accessible
by any open heart.
It is a place to rest, to receive, to remember and to renew.
Come drink from the cup that invites you to thirst no more...

Can You Sense What is Hatching Within You?

Within each of us is the potential of who and what we are becoming.
It sits expectantly, awaiting our command to come forth.
It may take the form of fully mature, or it may appear to us in an egg that needs maturing.
Either way, the potential is ours to call forth.
It cannot be 'birthed' until we create the intention for its opening and we act on our intention.

The beauty of the fully mature substance that we call forth is that when it 'appears', it is often ready to 'rock and roll'.
It comes forth in a form that is almost operational.
It presents to us an idea in motion, already on its way to being.
Sometimes that takes the form of a job, a gift, a home, a project, a relationship.

The beauty of the immature egg, is in the substance that it is made of.
The substance is not yet solid.
It is asking for support and nurturance to be developed.
It comes forth as a gift to be grown and loved and cared for.
It is only with this care that it can achieve what it was originally designed for.
Sometimes the 'egg' takes the form of an idea, a concept, a form.

Whatever is resting within you, let it speak to you of its nature, its desires, its hopes and its potential.
Let it awaken within you a desire to become more of who you are here to become.

Say YES, to the joy of exploration.
Say Yes, to dancing with the mystery of the unknown.
Say Yes, to the spark that is igniting the passion of service.

There is no better time than this.
The invitation has been sent.
What thinkest thou?

Equal Distribution

I have been working on my sprinklers lately to make sure that all the grass and the scrubs and the trees get adequate water as the weather gets warmer.
In the backyard, I had to replace most of the sprinkler heads that were along the back wall.
They had become clogged with debris and dirt.
Several along the edges of the grassy area had become stuck and didn't 'pop-up' like they are supposed to do.
In the front yard, I had a challenge with distribution of the coverage.
There were some areas of lawn and greenery that were covered well and there were others that were getting next to no water at all.
There were other sprinklers that had been partly 'grown over' with grass.

So, now that I completed my assessment, it was time to make a trip to the hardware store and purchase the needed replacement parts...
This was certainly not as easy as I expected.
There seemed to be way too many choices and from the standpoint of an inexperienced consumer, I was a bit challenged.
But along came a wise old soul who was about 30 years old and saw my distress.
He proceeded to ask me what my problem was and then ever so carefully, went to the appropriate bins and chose the specific part.
Wow...what relief...
But then, how was I going to install these parts that all looked the same to me.

I called in the angels that help those that are not adept at sprinkler installation and proceeded to try to act confident.
Certainly I could do this...I am a nurse and have had to handle lots of human 'plumbing' problems and this couldn't be that difficult.

Well, the short story is that I made several more trips to the hardware store and sought the counsel of the wise young man.
He was gentle with me and helped me better understand what my 'real' problems were and what I needed to fix.
One of the biggest problems was the distribution.
Once I addressed distribution and even allocation of sprinkler responsibility for watering, then things starting going much better.
It became more and more clear where each type of sprinkler should be placed for maximum benefit and I wasn't oversprinkling some areas and undersprinkling others.

After getting totally soaked oh so many times, I finally sat down and asked my angels what this experience was really all about.
It was all a life lesson about how to build equal distribution in order for the grass and the trees and the garden of life to grow.
If there isn't even distribution for work, responsibility, energy consumption, etc., then the garden will suffer.
There won't be enough for some and there will be too much for others.
And the wisdom of the wise young man spoke to me also...it said, 'it is really important to know clearly what you are trying to 'fix' before you go out to acquire the 'fixers'.

The angels of the sprinklers taught me to review my current life responsibilities and make changes where there is imbalance or unequal distribution.
I may go back to the wise young man in the hardware store to get another consult too...his deep listening to my distressed Spirit was such a gift.

Sacred Movement

So much of our lives we spend stationary.
Our 'sitter' is placed carefully on a chair, and we move into an experience of relative inactivity.
We respond as little as possible to distractions in our environment, and continue trying to maintain this very important motionless position.
What do we accomplish? We manage to put our wonderful bodies into a state of disconnect because the body was made to 'move'.
It was Divinely created to be in a dynamic state of movement and shifting and lifting and lowering...
Just like what we see in Nature.
Look at the those creations that inhabit the ocean.
Because of the water element they live in, they are in constant motion.
They shift their habitats as well as they connect in with the rhythm of the tides.

Our bodies are mostly water.
They want to move.
They want to breathe deeply.
They want to explore.
They want to become renewed.
They want to experience diverse conditions.
They want to change and metamorph into other life forms.

Sacred Movement is a way of consciously connecting with Spirit through movement.
It can become a prayer, a meditation, of gratitude for the gift of life.
Sacred movement can be simply an opening of the Spirit to allow the sacred dance within to be expressed.
There are no 'rules' as to how it must be 'performed'.
The beauty of it is that it is a way of giving the body permission to move authentically and freely in any way it so desires.
It is a way of facilitating Self expression.
It is a way of facilitating healing as we move in ways that we haven't since we were children.

A dear friend of mine regularly uses sacred movement to help her create 'movement' or transitions in her life.
When she wants to take a leap of faith, she gets up on a table or chair and 'practices' taking leaps of faith.
When she wants to 'stretch' her Spirit, she does just that...she imagines herself stretching her Spirit as she stretches her body in ways that she hasn't stretched it in many moons.
She practices opening her heart by listening and free dancing to songs of the heart.
When she wants to be inspired, she pretends to be an inspired dancer performing a magnificent ballet.
When she wants to feel deep peace, she becomes the sacred movement of the ocean.
When she wants to move mountains with her work in the world, she dances a volcanic eruption like has never been experienced in the world before.

Movement and Dance are ways to open to new experiences, to create new aspects of life for ourselves and others.
By witnessing the authentic movement of another, we witness their unique style or gift of being in the world.
We honor their way of being as Spirit-filled.
We 'see' the Divine within them and help them open to more of its expression.

Sometime soon, when no one is looking, pick a favorite song, and dance your heartsong like you have never danced before.
Feel the magic...feel the wonder...surprise yourself...allow yourself to 'be' in a whole new way...and then invite another to experience this for themselves as well.

Create Your Own Community

The joy in the journey can be enhanced tremendously if you choose to create a community to share it with.
This community might be a 'religious' community, a 'civic' community, a community of folk that share a common experience.
There are so many different options of what you can create.

The synergistic healing energy that is created when human beings come together is powerful.
Opportunities to help each other with all manner of challenges comes up and solutions present themselves, often before the problems show up.
What develops is a true sense of support...not just in an emotional sense, but in all manner of tangible other ways.
Last week at our Wisdom Circle, Doug brought tomato plants to share with the group. He encouraged all members of the group to begin to experience the magic of working with the Earth, and harvesting the fruit.
Many of us haven't had the courage to attempt such a feat.
But from Doug's invitation, my sense is that several new 'green thumbs' have been birthed.
Last year, Steve and Shirley brought their homegrown tomatoes to 'seed' our interest which inspired us as well.

We can help each other in our circles of community in so many ways.
We can provide opportunities to learn, to grow, to plant, to reap, to harvest, to fail, to leap, to fall, to get back up again.

Create your own community that you will love to 'play' in and 'explore' with...you will never be the same again...

Come on in the Water

Sometimes we spend time on the sidelines, watching others in the 'water'.
That's just fine.
Other times, it can be great to just get 'wet'.
Getting 'wet' gives us an opportunity to experience firsthand....to learn from seeing, feeling, hearing and touching the elements of this experience.
Younger folk often find this easier than those of us that have been around for a half a century or more.
There are fewer 'battle scars' in the younger years sometimes and there are less 'tapes' in our head that tell us it's a bad idea to get 'wet'.

But consider what is being missed...living life to its fullest...

Our God experiences life through us. God has an opportunity to 'taste' all that life has to offer as we 'taste' it.
So when an opportunity 'knocks' gently or not so gently on your door, consider if your Creator would enjoy a more invested experience.
And if you were God, what would you appreciate.

Consider an offering to your Creator a wider view, a larger vision, a deeper relationship with All That Is.

and then, 'go ahead and get wet'...