You Are Simply Divine — says your soul

Who ever thought their soul would have a bucket list?

Janet Conner, famed author and Unity on-line radio host personality, does. And with an expert track record in tuning herself and her reading and listening audiences into “soul-land”, I will take her at her word.

She offers a pretty intriguing invitation and challenge: “Have you taken your pulse lately? There is a Divine Presence alive and well and growing, something that marks out a rhythm of what is holy, important and good for you in your life. It knows the life of the Divine is your life and so is the Love and Presence of the Divine.”

I like lists and I do pretty well with directions and recipes. Many years ago and one day at a time, I learned through the Twelve Step Program how to thoroughly follow the path which promised I would not fail. It opened to a full life, but for the grace of God, I would not have today, without the guidance and companionship of many of the members.

I’ve known Janet Conner for five years now and besides being authentic in her words as an author, she seems to companion her readers and followers all along the way of discovery, in her books, in her Internet seminars, with her news on Facebook and in her on-line Unity discussion programs with radiant guests that make the hour fly by.

And what Janet wants to companion us with is purely ……soul inspiring.

In fact, there are soul-writers writing in soul journals all over the globe since the publication of her first book, Writing Down Your Soul. I, along with many other writers, built in a daily practice of quiet time and writing down questions or just filling a page with stuff. Then we listened. For what? For God to answer. Yes, and when the message came (and it always does), we had blank space on the left hand side pages of the journal, reserved for God, and we wrote what we heard.

This was my introduction to Janet Conner around  2010, from an article written from her in Daily Word, Unity’s monthly inspirational booklet, which I had read faithfully since the 1970s.

I continued to work with Janet with her Yearly Intention Mandalas, which she wrote about in her second published book, The Lotus and the Lily.  Again, much more soul work with recognizing the bang-ups of life, the gifts in the pain, and some power-shaking methods of finally forgiving self and others.

The design of the mandala focuses on the inner conditions you intend to live that year and statements or images of manifestations of good you wanted to appear in your life. Really, really BIG things you have no idea how they will come about. Just put them on there, said director Janet.

My 2013 Intention Mandala center with BIG manifestations images (not shown) on circumference

I have lived each yearly mandala I have made over the last five years now with astounding manifestations that have appeared that I, by myself, could not have produced.

I trust that my soul is at the center of this all.

In Janet’s latest book, Soul Vows, she recognizes the vows she formally makes to her soul as lifelong companions whose beauty and depth she can never exhaust. Thus, the pulse she speaks of needs to be recognized as both human and Divine.

She calls this union….”the new I”.

“The vows, themselves, were always breathing and living in a space of vast consciousness. They were always big — It is us who have slowly expanded our consciousness to meet them”…and then to make this just a little more puzzling, but thrilling, she adds, “filled with paradox.”

Janet considered her soul vows of over fourteen years, faithfully said upon rising each morning, to be the most important prayer of her life. Yet they had a startling change within her as the meaning of “the new I” came upon her. Their deeper nature called upon her to unite the Divine, living Presence into the human part of the vows. Within her book, she is that guide I talked earlier of needing. She presents a great map of the journey to the divine union through soul vows.

So what about that bucket list? Does my soul really want something of me? When Janet asked that same question, she looked to the fingers of her hand and her soul voice proclaimed, “Yes, I want 5 things:

1)  To connect with Source   @) to commit to values   3) to serve a purpose   4) to express itself   5)  to create a life”

Janet Conner, in finding her soul-partner publishing company, has dedicated both her writing and teaching life and her very living of life to soul communication. I witnessed and partook of many graces of her purpose, journey, and passion to be open, vulnerable and sharing of the deep messaging type of pilgrim she is.

In general terms of this bucket list, I don’t see one which honestly does not resonate in my own soul and which has not been present as a type of large, overriding value in my life  when I was busy in the details, messiness, pain, joy and grace of “life goes on.”

I’ve always sought a center. These are very centering ideals. They serve anyone of contemplative nature and even assist those who value a noisy, raucous life style. “There are many gifts, but One Spirit.”

I, for One, am paying attention to my soul’s bucket list. When its happy, I’m happy.

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All I Had to Do

It seems like all I had to do this year was find my sunflower child. And I did that.

I found her in an image I could not ignore. A sweet child placing her soft face right into the center of a large sunflower.

I put her in the center of my Intention Mandala for 2013. I look at this often and so the presence of this sweet child is with me throughout the days.

But more than that, she keeps appearing in images I come upon in other places. She was on the East Coast with me when I enjoyed my weekend at the Women Writers and Artists gathering. Of course she was! My 2013 Intention Mandala is “The Year of Joy and Fun” and I was certainly joy-filled and having fun with my women companions, enveloped in writing, art and reverence for the larger story of us all.

During one of the workshops, there was my sunflower girl in a pile of images to be chosen for our projects. You know I chose her!

And today, as I begin preparation for the SoulCollage(R) and Daily Word  workshop I will facilitate at Unity of Kalamazoo in September, I found her once again, as an image in the front of the September/October Daily Word. What a blessing and confirmation for the work I desire to do with this. I have read the Daily Word as a subscriber since 1979. It always lights up the next step in my path with Scripture and Affirmation Truths. I trust it with my whole heart and soul.  Perhaps, that is where the desire comes from to play and pray our prayers and affirmations into image through the wondrous process of Seena Frost’s SoulCollage(R)

In the accompanying poem, “All I Had to Do”, by Donna Miesbach, a question is asked:
“Why, then, did I Not see You?
How could I have
Missed your Presence
When all I had to do
Was stop and look
Within my heart?”

That is exactly what we will do when our workshop gathers and selects the scriptures and affirmations they want to “see” through their own images selected at random from many magazine visuals I have spent tearing from sources recycled and given to me. The perfect images will be present, just as the sunflower girl has been present to me. The attendees will have an awed sense of “All I Had to Do” was…..put some pictures together to express a heart and soul-felt confidence that “this is the Truth of me.” The Scripture, affirmation and image will continue to live in them in a “best friend forever” sort of Presence.

All I had to do when I first came across my sunflower girl image was imagine her at the center of my mandala. This Intention Mandala is based on the work of Janet Conner and her “Lotus and the Lily.” I’ve been making this type of yearly mandala since 2010.  On these mandalas, we put whatever we can imagine we want the most to manifest in our lives on the outside circumference of our mandala. Then we don’t really think about them anymore.

“When the right conditions are present, there is manifestation.”

She also insists we put “big things” on the mandala, not necessarily things we think “possible” to get, because the manifestation comes without effort from our “making it happen”, if your focus is in the right place.  Some of my “big things” have been: a home I love; check; a large weight loss; check; good health and fitness; check; travel abroad; check; financial supply for workshops and training; check; live and love with Tom; check. These are big! These are manifest.

To get to the right place, we first concentrate on total forgiveness of others and of self. And to stay with that, working on that whenever and wherever needed. I do that.

Next, we state the conditions we agree to live. These conditions are written out and placed in the center of the mandala. Mine have changed over the years, but they are my guideposts when they appear on my mandala. So for my year of 2013, My year of Joy and Fun, these are the conditions I live by, as witnessed by my sunflower girl:

It seems like this is “all” I have to do to live a balanced and centered life. “All” is always a very small word, but sometimes “all I have to do” is a very large thing to do; other times, it is as easy as floating with the waves. In any case, when I am doing these things, I cannot miss “the Presence” that is always right within my heart.

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Simple Kindness is not always Easy

“Be kind whenever possible.
Hint: It is always possible.”
                           The Dalai Lama

Today, I was treated unkindly by three people in a business of which I have been a frequent customer. There was a time in the past, that I spent a fair amount of money at this nail salon business (which is a highly competitive business) receiving both pedicures and synthetic finger nail applications, colors and manicures.

Our family income has required the scaling back of this discretionary spending, so I have settled for getting a pedicure once in awhile because I have difficulty caring for my own and they do a good professional job. Then I do my own manicures, keeping my nails short and not requiring the expensive add-on nails from the salon. I occasionally treat myself to a manicure and polish which is not expensive.

Today, I went in for a re-polish of polish that had come off quickly from their service.  It was only a $5 expense for me (but I had spent $40 for toes & fingernails within this past week). Today, this was not enough of a service for them, and two of the employees plus the owner treated me gruffly as if they didn’t want to bother with me. It wasn’t enough of an expense to have them accept my debit card (they have a business charge on use, but they offer the convenience) so I had to pay cash.

Ok, enough on the situation. They were rude and unappreciative  to me for my business. They were unkind.

And I was unkind in manner and response to them. I left, mostly unattended, and knew I would not come back. They lost a customer.

But I lost the opportunity to be kind, in a situation where I could have been truthful… but kind….about how their treatment was affecting me.

I am thinking of this now because I am creating my living intentions (in mandala form) for the coming year of 2013 — my 70th year.

I have been fortunate enough to have studied with Janet Conner, author of Writing Down Your Soul and The Lotus and The Lily, the second one being a recently released book, and she is on cross-country tour with it.

http://www.janetconner.com/

I took her first course on-line when it was known as The Lily. It was a fabulous experience that was centered on the scripture, “See ye not the lilies of the field, they neither toil nor spin, yet God……” you know the rest probably….they are adorned in splendor and seem to lack nothing.

That was the promise or “manifestation” I wanted to co-create in my life at the time I took her course. There had been a financial upheaval and a new way required for us to live within some newly set narrow boundaries. Yet, I needed the reality to know, really know……that my life was and could be nothing less than prosperous.

I learned that Truth in so many important ways through Janet’s spiritual and worldly and historical teachings. I carry that learning in me today which is why I am thinking about kindness.

She, rightly, took the focus off our “I wants”, even though we had to name them and put them on the outer reaches of our mandala. What really mattered, it turned out to be, was our “inner conditions”….our list of commitments to how we intend to show up in life…..and then to live those, truly each and every day.

Oh there were a few little things to mind before the co-creations and manifestations of our wants. Like looking back and “seeing the gift” in perhaps the pains we have experienced. And there was that little matter of forgiveness…..the once and for all type of forgiveness, we had to apply to the people and circumstances in our lives, and then finally to….yes, ourselves.

After those little things were tended to, it seemed much more possible and even joyous and purposeful to live our life according to the conditions we set. And as that began to happen, the “I wants” began to suddenly or “at the right time” or even surprisingly appear too.  Just one of mine was financial stability and supply without end over the past two years since I entered this process. I am grateful.

Now, I am thinking about one BIG condition to enter into 2013 with: Being kind whenever possible, knowing that it is ALWAYS possible! Can I live that? Can I hold that as a core value and what wonderful transformations will occur within me when I try to live this path?

I think I am going to go for it. I can settle for a day at a time and then the whole year won’t look so daunting to me. My heart resonates with it, but my flaws are only too willing to take the stage.

In any event, I think I will let the 2013 curtain rise on this newly created play in my life. I know I’ve got the best support cast in the business. I’ll just go out there and take the Lead……in kindness.

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