Upon Waking Up Today

To Love Or Not To Love
That is the question we face every moment of our lives. Too often we forget that our soul is immortal and the consequence of this forgetting is that we adapt strategies based upon the idea of survival such as dog-eat-dog and only the strong survive .
For me, this morning as I awoke, I came face to face with a demon who told me to give up and that I have no hope. For a long moment, I felt the dullness of depression falling on me. Just sleep, a voice said, give up - don’t try, don’t do anything. I wrestled with this notion. What if I just stopped - what if I just gave up and let myself fall into an abyss of depression and fear.
At this point, another idea came to my mind - what if I just radiate love from my heart. I have to say that I have never had that thought before while wrestling with depression and fear. It was such a different thought that I decided I had to try it. Love and joy, I thought. Immediately I felt a warmth around my heart, a warmth that radiated forth and filled my whole being. This warmth made me feel lighter, brighter, and more loving. And better.
I took my new warmth, my new radiant loving feeling and I once again faced my fear and my depression. They faded away almost instantaneously. When they were gone, I realized that I am immortal (at least my soul part is). I do have a body and this body will age and die but this body is only my vehicle for living on earth. My soul (or me) does not have the concerns that my body does. If I allow concerns of my body to dominate my thoughts and emotions, I develop bad habits for my eternal soul. One such bad habit is chronic worry.
Chronic worry is any worry that lasts longer than an instant. Chronic worry is a slow acting acid that eats away at your concepts of yourself. Say you are driving to the store. A worry comes to you that you have not turned the coffee maker off. You worry that the coffee will cook away until none is left and then the coffee pot might break. At this point, you must choose to do something about this worry. Since you are pulling into the store’s parking lot, you choose to quickly get what you came for and then go home. But once you get into the store, you realize that you will not be able to get in and get out all that quickly. Again you worry what will happen to the coffee pot and again you must make another decision. You decide to keep shopping and hope everything works out. But you worry that things won’t. And do to the law of attraction, everything and everyone seems to be moving in slow motion, everything seems to be taking forever. (Yes, you have attracted this because you have put both thought and emotion into an idea - that of you not getting back home in time). Finally an hour later, you still are not done and you are still worrying and exerting even more emotional energy towards these frustrating people who are making you wait. Why don’t they get more check-out people, you say out loud, what the hell is the matter, and oh that stupid old woman didn’t she realize she didn’t have her credit card with her ?
You get done and you bark bitter tones at everyone in sight. You get to your car and say what else could go wrong and sure enough something else does - something that slows you down even more and all the while you are picturing that very thing that you do not want to happen - the coffee pot breaking. This is chronic worrying. Chronic worrying exists because we think that it does us some good but it does nothing good for us. It only helps create the very thing we do not want to happen.
The end result of our coffee pot worrying can go on for days and even longer if we let it. Yes, the pot did break and then there was a fight between husband and wife because there was no coffee for breakfast and then there was the minor accident in the store’s parking lot and on and on. Worry is a demon beast that once fed always demands more.
Love is the way to tame this beast. Remember that you are an immortal being. You are not here on this earth to get everything right. That is impossible. Acceptance is the miracle of you admitting that you do not always know what is the best way to proceed. Acceptance is admitting that learning comes when we are open to finding answers as opposed to ‘being right from the get-go’.
Yes, I woke this morning worried that I am not doing the right thing. I have had this thought way too many times in my life. But today, I tried something different. Today I tried to be the loving person I know that I truly am and the results astonished me. I felt loving and light and hopeful. I felt full of love for myself and everyone and I felt like I can do what I want to be the right thing - my path.
I was able to put this experience down in words and share it with the world of the internet. And today, when I leave home - I know I will turn the coffee pot off.

The Center of Your Strength

We live in a rough and tumble world. Television, the staple of proper cultural behavior, tells us that we have to fight to make our way in this world. We have to overcome our obstacles, we have to defeat our enemies, we have to make the bad guys lose. Or else, we will lose and be abused.
Nothing could be further from the truth.

The center of your strength, the place where you make things happen in the world, is your heart - your love. When you stand in your loving center, you realize that the world is connected - you realize that there is no such thing as good and bad - there is only people doing things with various degrees of love. The things we think are good, are loving things such as helping someone. The things we think are bad, are actually things with less love in them such as hating someone.
When you realize this, you also realize that it makes no sense to make the bad guys lose. How does someone being abused help another or society in general ? How does hurting someone achieve your goals ? How does this make you any different than the bad guy ?

When you return to your heart and practice loving, you begin to realize your true power and strength. You begin to manifest what you truly desire, your heart’s true desire. And it happens almost like magic. And no one gets hurt. In fact, the more you practice the better you get and the less likely that a bad guy or obstacle will appear. And the more you practice being loving, the more you will realize who your true enemy is - yourself.

That’s right - you. Every bad guy whoever appeared in your life was only reflecting your attitude toward yourself. That is why it is essential for you to practice loving yourself first before you try to love anyone else. You cannot love anyone more than yourself. You can fool yourself into believing that you can but the truth is loving someone more than yourself is impossible. Why? Because where does this love for others come from ? From you. From your realization of what love truly is. You can fool yourself into thinking that being of service to others is love but without self-love it is only slavery. Or just a job to do. If you become tired and exhausted loving someone else, you are NOT truly loving them. If you were, this love would be self-renewing and it would renew you in kind.

So the reason we need to love ourselves is so that we can be ourselves. And in so doing, we who stand in our true loving center, can make miracles happen - miracles of manifestation, miracles of change, miracles of love.
So how do we get there, this place called our loving center ? The answer is both easy and difficult. The easy part is this : just love yourself unconditionally. Just tell yourself something loving such as - I am beautiful or I am pure or I am wonderful . . . or whatever makes your heart vibrate with joy and happiness. For me, I have a special image in my mind in which two angels come to me. They tickle and play with me and tell me that I am beautiful. They show me an image of what I look like to them - a radiant loving man with dazzling eyes of gentleness and love. You are that person, they say to me. I accept their vision of me and immediately my heart begins to radiate love. My eyes open to the world and I see all possibilities - I know what my heart desires can happen and I know how to make it happen: Believe in myself, believe in the loving essence of the universe, believe in my intent and will and believe in the power of love to make things happen.

The difficult part of getting to our loving center is Not Believing that you can get there. Not believing in yourself. Not believing in love. Not believing in your heart. Not believing in loving yourself. Doubt, fear, mistrust, belittling yourself, blaming - all these things cause pain, not just to ourselves but to everyone around us that feels our pain. Not believing hardens our heart, makes it more difficult to access our heart and makes it painful to try to access our heart. The more you have practiced not believing in your heart, the harder it is to break this habit or addiction of not believing in ourself - this Unlove of ourself. Most of us have had countless years practicing not believing in ourselves. We have been taught to seek happiness and solutions from things outside of ourselves - get that new plasma screen TV, get a new motorcycle, get a facial. This will make you feel better.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

A Sign of Things to Come ?

I am sitting in the library, in one of their new comfy chairs, today's newspaper spread out on my lap and a book I have just picked up from the hold shelf is in my hands. I have waited weeks for this book to come in and I am eagerly skimming the pages when I here a strange buzzing sound directly in front of me. My first thought is that I am hearing someone's phone that is set to vibrate, but that thought quickly goes as I notice that the buzzing is irregular. Plus, there is no one sitting in front of me, only a large window that is looking out to the setting sun.

The buzzing continues and then I laugh because I see what is making the noise. It is a large dragonfly. It is trying to fly off into the sunset - unsuccessfully. It is inside, on the wrong side of the window. The poor dragonfly keeps trying to fly up into the sky only to be met by the resistance of the glass. He tries with all his might to get going but the glass keeps him from his goal. The buzzing is coming from his attempts to get out and up. He tries until he runs out of energy and then he sits on the window sill resting. When he refreshes himself, he tries to fly away again and again he meets with failure.

All at once, I decide that I can help him. I decide that I will trap him in a coffee cup, use one of the library's flyers about upcoming programs as a makeshift lid, and I will take him outside where he can be free. I see this all in my mind and I go to the new coffee machine, get a cup (which appears to be almost too small), get a flyer, walk back to the window and try out my escape plan for my friend in need. I tell him not to worry that I am helping him and he lets me trap him in the cup. The flyer is barely able to cover the opening but it works and he does not resist. I walk the entire length of the library with my new companion and then I go out the front door. There is a cement bench nearby and I put the cup down there. I figure he will crawl out and then fly off but he surprises me - He flies immediately out of the topless cup and straight up into the sky. In an instant, he is gone. No thank yous, just the satisfaction of helping out another of God's creatures.

I get back into the library, back into my chair and then it hits me. Maybe, just maybe, this is some sort of sign, an omen or a sacred sign. I had been reading a book titled "Sacred Signs" by Adrian Calabrese. In it she says that to receive a sacred sign (a strange occurrence that has deep meaning for you), you must both ask for it and be ready and aware of it when it comes. I had asked for a sign, but I had not gotten any significant odd occurrences yet. So I went home and looked up what dragonflies might represent.

According to the medicine cards book by Jamie Sams, dragonflies represent illusion. Specifically illusions which limit you or restrict you from reaching your dreams. Wow. Here I was with a sign custom made for me - this little guy, my dragonfly, was constantly trying to fly high and free but was stopped time and time again but an invisible barrier. But he would not give up. He might still be trying right now except for the fact that I helped him.

Maybe he represents me, I thought, maybe I too am trying to fly away only to be stopped by something I cannot comprehend. Maybe, just like my friend, I need help to achieve my goals. And when I thought that thought, another thought followed - ask us for help. I knew this came from my guides and angels and helpers (I call them team Frank). I knew they were telling me that I am being moved to a place where I can fly high and free. I have to sit back and trust them, and they will do the rest.

So that is where I am now, thanking team Frank for the sacred sign and thanking them for the help that is to come. I have to have faith and not resist. I have to wait for the lid to come off of my coffee cup and then I too can fly high into the sunset.

Namaste from the Taomaster

A little advice I recieved a day or two ago

Sometimes it seems that no matter how you pray or ask, you don't seem to get what you want. I was feeling like that a couple of days ago, when out of the blue, a thought came to me - You are not asking properly.

I kind of figured that this was an angel telling this, so I went along with it. I asked how is the proper way to ask for something. Immediately, I had this thought - be specific
and since words direct your energy, say the right words.

Again I was left wondering if I had to do a proper ritual or something but the thought came to me that instead of saying something like this:

"Angels and the universe and God, I want more money"
say something more like this:

"Angels, God, and all who would help me for my greater good, bring to me enough money to do _____________ in the next two weeks." (fill in the blank with whatever you to do)

The thoughts explained that rather than saying what you want or what you need, say what you will do with whatever tool (money, opportunity, jobs...) you require. This makes you focus on what you want to do, rather than the tool you need. What you really want in life is not enough money - what you want to do is what you feel in your heart. If you focus on money (a tool for obtaining what you want - you will lose sight of what you want and become stuck on getting the tool rather than getting the job done.

I thought that was some pretty good advice so I am posting it here.
I am testing this out this weekend - I will let you know what happens.

Love to all,
Taomaster

Changes To Come

It feels like a whole lot of changes are coming all at one time. I wonder what parts of me are going to be lost. I wonder what is in my base, my core that will survive. I think this all for the best but sometimes the storm can be quite scary looking too.

Rising out of the pond

The scene was very much like this picture. A large circular pond with crystal clear waters, light coming from above. I was seeing this picture in my mind. I noticed there was someone swimming in the pond and another person on the far shore. There was a path on the far shore which ran down a hill, ending at the pond's shore.
The two people were calling to me - telling me to jump into the pond. The swimmer swam towards me. I had a good feeling about them so I did as they said - I jumped in.
Instantly, the swimmer was upon me and the person from the other shore was right behind her. They held me under the water and I did not struggle, in fact I allowed them to do this. There was something about the water, something healing - I liked being under the water. I felt my body and soul being refreshed. The two people introduced themselves as angels and told me I needed to be reborn in my eyes - and when they did that I saw myself, lying just under the surface of the water - but it was a different me - a more radiant and glowing me. (I did look good !)
The angels said they needed to open up my heart and they said that I needed to let what was in my heart out. So I did. And it was a fantastic experience - I saw that I was holding onto some negative concepts about myself - and as I let go of these concepts, a radiant light came from my heart. The angels were holding me in their arms and I felt love coming from them.
I thanked them and they hugged me - "We are always here for you. Whenever you need to be refreshed, come back here."

The vision faded and I ended my meditation. And I have felt lighter and more accepting of myself since.

Now I get it !!!

The process of life - the great discovery !! I have done it !!

Okay maybe it is not that great but I do feel great. After seemingly a lifetime of angels telling me, to trust myself, I have finally seen what they were telling me.

And now they are telling me to think and do things in a big way.

All miracles are the same to them - if you think it is possible, if you believe it is possible, and you want it to be possible then you are half-way there. The final step is to feel as if you have already done it - because in reality You have (if you have done all those previous steps).

Well, that is all I have for now - more later.