A Thousand Little What-Ifs

What if we split up?  What if I can’t find a job?  What if I lose my job?  What if I never meet the right person?   What if I can’t pay my rent?  What if my business slows down and I can’t pay my bills?  What if I lose my insurance?  What if my cancer treatments don’t work?  What if I die before…  What if?  What if?  What if?!

Have you ever noticed how our minds race at the first sign of trouble?  We can work ourselves into a complete frenzy in no time!  Before we know it, things seem hopeless and we are in complete despair.  Yet honestly, if we stop outside our own little mental mania, all that has REALLY happened in the last five minutes is a lot of worry.  In this moment, we are safe and none of our worst fears have even begun to materialize.

This is the most important moment ever!  We can derail that fateful Train of Dread and climb on board the Train of Possibilities.  Before we have begun to truly manifest anything negative for ourselves out of fear, we can change course and create a powerful future for ourselves!  Here’s how…

Whether we attend a service at our favorite church or step into Nature, the idea is to be still somewhere.  Even if we can’t physically go anywhere, we can go to our favorite quiet chair or floor pillow, light a candle or plug in a water fountain, and be still.  We can mediate.  We can pray.   Spiritual ceremony is very powerful.   In that space, we deeply sense the Divine within us.

Now that we feel Divine Energy flowing through our very body, mind, and soul, doesn’t it feel ridiculous to suggest that anything in this world is stronger than Divine Love?  Seriously!   What in this world is too big for God?   It is only this strong sense of KNOWING that God has this covered that will begin to melt it away from our reality.  The miracle is ours for the taking, and gratitude is our response.

Old Tapes on Father’s Day

Messages we hear in childhood can be thought of later as old tapes.  Our parents warn us about things that have hurt them out of love, wanting only the best for their children. However, these good intentions may become harmful over time.  Allow me to illustrate.

My father was an entrepreneur, and not all of his business ideas were fiscally sound.  As we experienced the ups and downs of small business struggles within our family, my mother began to caution me about being financially smart.  The messages I interpreted and carried through the years sound something like, ‘taking risks is bad’, ‘you’ll never have any money owning your own business’, ‘security is more important than chasing your dreams’, and blah, blah, blah.  Mom was trying to spare me her challenges and pain.  She was unconsciously passing down her fears and insecurities as she encouraged me toward more traditionally dependable, secure jobs in corporate America.  Fast forward to today.  The jobs that once represented security are now being outsourced, and only top management feels  any job security.  Logically we can see that these old messages were not able to withstand the changing times.  However, we are here to discuss the spiritual aspect of our life Journey.

“There is for each man perfect self-expression. There is a place which he is to fill and no one else can fill, something which he is to do, which no one else can do. It is his destiny!…The Perfect Plan includes health, wealth, love, and perfect self-expression. This is the square of life, which brings perfect happiness.” (Florence Scovel Shinn, The Game of Life and How to Play It, which by the way is my #1 recommended read at a mere 53 pages of spiritual genius!)

When our life does not look like what Shinn describes, we know we’ve gone off course somewhere, no matter how safe and secure it may appear on the surface.  We are not living God’s perfect plan for us, and it shows!  Do we really want to bet our ‘sure thing’ against the Divine Purpose given us by God?

Old tapes placed lovingly on our hearts during childhood leave lifelong impressions.    However, we must look beneath those tapes and discover the original Old Tape placed within us at conception by our original Father: God.

This Father’s Day, let’s honor our ultimate Father and surrender all aspects of our life: health, love, family, career, and finance.  Let’s find that Divine Original Tape and play it loud and proud!

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GUIDING PRAYER:  “Infinite Spirit, open the way for the Divine Design of my life to manifest; let the genius within me now be released; let me see clearly the perfect plan in your perfect time.”  Amen.  (F.S. Shinn)

There Is No Status Quo

Every day we actively make choices that move us closer to joyful, purposeful living, or further away from it.  Many of us struggle with exercise, so let’s take that as an example. Lately my schedule has made it easy to slip back into procrastination about my wellness.  I lie in bed in the morning tired and I make deals with myself.  I tell myself I need to sleep in today because I’m so tired, but  I’ll make it up tomorrow at the gym.  I become complacent about not meeting my fitness goals as quickly and tell myself stories about how I have time, there’s always tomorrow, or my favorite, I’m okay with the status quo for one more day.  I wish!  The truth is that when I fail to engage my cells and muscles to stay active, I choose to be less energetic, carry extra weight, and be more vulnerable to sickness and disease.  Far from the status quo,  I’m clearly moving away from my goals and reinforcing bad habits.

This doesn’t just apply to weight and fitness.  What goals have you put off  in your life?  Education?  Hobbies?  Socializing?  Travel?  Special interests?  Career development or change?  Where have you been telling yourself  you’ll get around to ________ as soon as ______________?  Any time we put anything or anyone above our own truth (which is being well and living purposefully), we are not merely accepting the status quo.  We are agreeing to be ‘less than’ our potential, less than our own Divine possibility.  Women are particularly encouraged by instinct and culture to put ourselves last, although some men do this as well.   We’ve all procrastinated because of fear or convenience at some time or another, haven’t we?  I joke that it actually runs in my family.

There are certain things we must do for ourselves that no one else can do for us, no matter how much they love us!   We alone can properly nurture and care for our bodies, minds, and spirits.  We alone can live the life we are here to live.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we must admit that nothing remains the same, so then the only real status quo is change.  As the popular expression says: if we’re not living, we’re dying.   Let’s empower ourselves by understanding that every choice we make and every action we take moves us closer to, or further away from, our goals and dreams.  There simply is no status quo.

Lessons From Dad

Father’s Day is approaching and this gives me pause to reflect on wonderful memories and great lessons I learned from my dad.  It’s hard to believe he’s been gone for 21 years.  Thankfully, his memories and lessons allow the best of him to live on strongly within me.

Spread joy! My father would whistle and joke with people moments after awakening in the morning.  He greeted everyone with a smile and a good word.  Some people would groan when he would pop in whistling and chipper at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning, but he was never discouraged.  He spread joy everywhere he went, and everyone was always glad to see Chuck coming.

Live life fully! “If you want to try it, let’s try it.”  That was his motto for life.  I recall him spending $60 at a circus on one game because I was having fun and he also wanted to teach me through experience how tricky those games are designed!  At work, he was a jack of all trades and master of just a couple because he felt work should be fun, too.  As he became unhappy or bored, he moved on to try a new job or career. While my risk-averse mother busied herself worrying about the changes, we never lacked for anything.  All the while, he enjoyed his work and his life and encouraged us to do the same.

Be positive! Expecting the best in others, the best outcomes in situations, and happiness in life may seem naive to some, but this outlook on life endeared many to him, and put a smile on his face every day.  Often, people live up to our expectations of them.  Expect good and quite often that’s what we get!

Relax and Play! While he definitely gave his all to work throughout the week, he relaxed and played with the same passion.  A nature lover, our family regularly went fishing, crabbing, swimming in the surf, camping in the forest, or simply barbecued with friends in the back yard and played croquet.  Laughter and relaxation renew us for the next thing in life.

Savor every day; it may be your last! One afternoon, my father suddenly began having strokes from a blood clot just like the one that had taken his mother from this world too young.  From that moment on, he was never able to communicate again and we lost him a few short weeks later.  While I’d always expected death to come when we are old and sick, he was neither.  He taught me that our end comes when it comes and we had better share our love, talents, and joy in a way that prepares us accordingly.

I have a small humidifier containing a bit of my father’s discontinued pipe tobacco in a drawer in my bedroom and it loses a bit of its smell every day.  On special occasions like Father’s Day, I indulge myself to open the lid and allow the fading smell to release a flood of thoughts and feelings as only smells can.  Vivid memories of laughter, love, and zestful living fill me with joy.  May you treasure all that is good about your father or his memory with gratitude and love.  Release any negativity that may be there with Love and Light.  Life is short, and as Dad knew, we all have good in us that deserves to be recognized and celebrated.  Happy Father’s Day!

Healing Spaces

Life sure can knock us down…low! At one point several years ago, I actually walked out of a well-paying professional job at which I was doing well and moved myself to an island. Stressed out and depressed, grieving the loss of my parents, new marriage struggling, I was hurting. This was just the sort of irrationally desperate move in which we surprise even ourselves! All I really knew for sure was that I couldn’t keep doing what I’d been doing anymore. It was only in this state that I finally gave myself the time and space I needed to heal. It was only in this place that I nurtured myself with endless walks on the beach. It was only through this move that I discovered I really was self-sufficient beyond my successful career. I lived on the barter system and met others on the island who’d arrived in similar condition. There was a large movement of healing in this community I soon discovered and connected into. That energy was so powerful! I participated in sweat lodges. I danced with scarves on the beach with a silver haired native American angel. I went back to school. I had an amazing time renewing myself! All of this was made possible because I had finally surrendered and sought healing.

Later in my life, I was again facing loss when I took a retail job at an outdoor recreational store. Not clear why I was shifting to retail, I soon realized that I had been drawn to another healing space to connect with nature and others in pain.  Several coworkers from across the country had been drawn there from a myriad of experiences and were searching for their own healing and Purpose. Not only did we create wonderful bonds and memories, but together we went into nature to beautify, conserve, educate, and enjoy. Once again, sharing nature with kindred healing spirits strengthened and healed me.

Healing spaces are so vital to our happiness and growth! When we find ourselves grieving painful loss, we are more vulnerable and open than at any other times in our life. When we surrender, we find ourselves Divinely guided to people and places that facilitate our healing. When we don’t surrender, we find ourselves quickly getting lost in alcohol, work, shopping, drugs, food, and any other distractions we can find to avoid the pain. Ultimately, walking through the pain is the only path to healing, so how much better to face it now than to add addiction recovery and making amends to our healing process later!

One word of warning about healing spaces: know when to leave them. Such comforting places do not inspire us to move on when our healing time is passed. When the time is right, we must leave or we will not achieve our potential made possible by that healing.   Maintain the beautiful friendships formed there. Visit the healing space for renewal. However, as Master Yoda would say, leave we must. Our final gift is to pay forward the love and healing we’ve experienced to those we meet who suffer. It is also to nudge along those who are ready to fly but afraid to leave the healing space themselves. In seeing us fly, we inspire them. A cycle is completed and we have ourselves become a healing space for others.

Let’s Make a Deal

Do you recall the game show Let’s Make a Deal?  Contestants could either keep prizes they won or gamble them for bigger prizes. It  was fun to watch and consider whether I would keep the prize or risk it for something better.    Of course it was much easier to say I’d take that risk as I watched from the comfort of my own home with nothing to lose.

How we make decisions in our daily lives isn’t really so different, is it?  Every day we opt to live in the Truth of who we are and see where that leads us, or to accept a job/mate/lifestyle that we know to be less than our heart’s desire.  The difference is that we aren’t on a game show, and God wouldn’t tease us with a bigger dream, daring us to take less or risk maybe not receiving the grand prize!

Florence Scovel Shinn wrote some 90 years ago (tho The Game of Life and How to Play It remains timelessly accurate today) that God typically sends an “olive branch” as in the great flood as a sign of larger blessings ahead.  This is NOT the prize!  However, if we accept that olive branch and then abandon pursuit of the larger dream, we have left the game as assuredly as if we were a contestant on that show returning to our seat.  How much better to give thanks for these olive branches and continue in faith along our journey of Possibilities to our own best Life.

Sheryl Sitts

www.JourneyOfPossibilities.com

www.Facebook.com/JourneyOfPossibilities

The Spiritual Continuum

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Fear/Stress/Busyness/Resistance                                Love/Peace/Stillness/Acceptance

Have you ever become so frustrated with a situation or relationship in your life that you threw up your hands and said something like, “OK God, I can’t do this anymore!”  Did you give it to God when you couldn’t take it anymore?  How did that feel?  Then what happened?  As it started to improve, did you find yourself slowly taking charge yourself again, as if to say, “Thanks God.  I’ve got it now”?  Maybe you just grabbed it back completely in one panicked moment and didn’t leave anything at all for God to manage?  Honestly, I can’t even remember how many times I have done this in my lifetime.

As I explore my own life as a Journey of Possibilities, I recognize our spiritual Journey as a Continuum.   When I am scared, stressed out, trying to stay busy, or resisting the flow of life, it’s a safe bet that I’m running the show.  I’ve even lost myself in addiction before so I didn’t have to see whatever I was avoiding.  At the other end of the spectrum, I know that feeling of being filled with love, serenity, and acceptance of everything just as it is, trusting God’s perfect Design and Order.  That’s the way my life feels when I put God in charge.

Whenever my life becomes unmanageable, as they say in the 12-step program, I surrender and let go…not of one thing, but of everything.  The moment I do, I instantly begin moving back across the Continuum.  Thankfully, God doesn’t have a waiting period!

If there is such peace in letting go, then why do we resist turning everything over to God? Boy, don’t we always want to be in charge!  We blindly trudge forth in busyness (often by losing ourselves in business), believing that even a little progress is better than the stillness of waiting on God.  However, any gains made this way always prove futile later against the grand Design.  When it is God’s Time for something to occur, all is manifested at amazing speed and often with much less effort on our part.

One way to check our status on the Spiritual Continuum is through daily prayer and meditation.  Give God a bit of your time, and consistently check your human urge to take control.  The sooner we surrender to God, the sooner we return to the flow of Divine Harmony.  Trusting that all is exactly as it should be brings amazing serenity no matter what is going on in this Earth School.

Sheryl Sitts

www.JourneyOfPossibilities.com

www.Facebook.com/JourneyOfPossibilities

Seeing Things Differently

Recently, I’ve begun praying that God would help me to “see things differently and find the best, most healing path” in areas of my life where I become frustrated, hurt, angry, impatient, or confused. It is amazing how quickly a receptive heart praying this earnestly will begin to see other aspects of a situation that open new possibilities, understanding, and healing. Let me give you an example relating to career.

Have you ever chosen a job you just knew you wanted, and prepared yourself for the day it became available so you could apply? Maybe you’ve had a job you loved but something happened there, and you promised yourself you’d return to that work one day.  Both of these opportunities presented themselves for me this week, and the most amazing thing happened.  I no longer see my future in either role!  In fact, I am completely certain that God has something else in store for me, bigger than I ever dared to dream for myself.   I prayed about each opportunity, and instead saw myself much happier elsewhere than I’ve ever been…creating Journey of Possibilities!   God helped me to see things differently and know instinctively the right course of action….and trust this vision will be realized in perfect Divine time and order.   He also showed me that our possibilities are not among those visible to us in this reality, but the realm of ALL possibilities known and visible to Him and made available to us by giving Him control of our life.

Is there someone with whom you are frustrated? Is a particular area of your life feeling blocked? Is there some lesson that keeps presenting itself in the same annoying way over and over in your life?  Try praying with a truly open heart for God to help you see things differently with regard that that person or circumstance and find the best, most healing path for your future.   This prayer opens the door to abundant peace and allows miracles to happen in your  life!

Sheryl Sitts
www.JourneyOfPossibilities.com
www.Facebook.com/JourneyOfPossibilities