“If the person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening, be patient.  It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”

Winnie the Pooh

I have never seen patience and compassion expressed more succinctly.  When someone is not listening to you, it is not about you.  Know that.  Be patient.  Be compassionate.  Not only with the other person, but with yourself, as well.  Life is often desperate, but never serious.  Keep it light. One day I may have a little fluff in my ear.  The next day, you may.  We really are connected, you and I, to each other and to God.

Have a bit of honey and relax.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (who was my favorite until I discovered Pooh), reminds us to get our “…bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits.”  I think Emerson’s bloated nothingness is Pooh’s small piece of fluff.  Although I doubt Pooh is a real Emerson fan because I distinctly remember The Pooh saying, “ It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like ‘What about lunch?’”

I’ll be patient with your bloated nothingness, and you can be patient with mine.  It’s a beginning–a sure-fired start to getting the fluff out of our ears and opening the divine circuits.  In the mean time, what about lunch?

At DreamLife Depot our spiritual coaching, mini spiritual books, declarative prayers, and guided meditations are here to access your compassion and provide tools to deepen your understanding your connection with Life Itself.

Would you think it odd if Hafiz said,

“I am in love with every church

And mosque

And temple

And any kind of shrine

Because I know it is there

That people say the different names

Of the One God.”

Would you tell your friends

I was a bit strange if I admitted

I am indeed in love with every mind

And heart and body.

O I am sincerely

Plumb crazy

About your every thought and yearning

And limb

Because, my dear,

I know

That it is through these

That you search for Him

Hafiz – translation by Daniel Ladinsky

At the Spiritual Center that I attend, we begin our Sunday Celebration with “The Flames of Faith,” a candle lighting ceremony honoring all paths to God.  During this beautiful ritual, my discipline is to stay completely aware and mindful of my thoughts and my personal connection.

As we light a candle for:

Shamanic traditions, I hear the rhythm of the didgeridoos that honor the Ancestral spirit  responsible for the ways things are;  and I hear the echo of the drum that represents the  heartbeat of Mother Earth

Hinduism, I see the Brahmin as he carefully prepares the ghee, an offering to maintain the dharma, the basic order that makes life and a universe possible.

Judaism, I see the bowed head and the gentle rocking that quiets the mind and brings Truth into focus at the Temple Wall.

The Tao, I see the thoughtful follower as he seeks the delicate balance of the Universe, and I join him in the contemplation of the complementary forces of yin and yang that interact with the Greater Whole.

Islam, I see a figure kneeling toward Mecca, his forehead gently touching the floor as prayer refines his spirit and brings it more into harmony with the nature of God.

Christianity, I smell the sweetness of incense and see the taking of the bread and the wine in remembrance of Him and the Path of Perfect Love.

Buddhism, I hear the Temple Bells and see closed eyes and an open heart making the journey to enlightenment

The universalistic religion of Baha’i, I see the worn edges of an open prayer book, and a face that shines with the peace that only comes through a personal relationship with God.

All forms of New Thought, I witness the seeker as he renews his mind and reaches out for larger conceptions of Truth and new viewpoints to expand thought and come into a closer union with God

Spirit is the Whole that only expresses as the many. Bigotry and an attitude of superiority are hard to defend when we look directly at one person, one individual face of God that makes up the Whole.  When we feel the nap of the prayer shawl between our fingers, when we feel the warmth of life in the actual hands that hold the ancient text, when we look into the weathered face of one man in the moment God is revealed to him and we rejoice with him, no matter where he is or what path he is on, when we smell the incense and hear the bells of every temple and feel the sands of every distant beach beneath our own bare feet, then we begin to understand how connected we are each to the other.

We are One.  The God in me acknowledges the God in you.  Namaste.

At DreamLife Depot we honor and support your path   with spiritual coaching, declarative prayer, guided meditations, and mini spiritual e-books, including these specifically to open your heart:

The Easter Story always takes me to a contemplation of transformation.  I thought about it a lot during this Easter season, appreciating and embracing the teachings of Jesus and His transformation into the fullness of who He is.

I have a close friend who had for years a very difficult relationship with her mother.  But two years ago when her mother became ill, my friend took her into her home and has cared for her unselfishly and with love.   Tonight, that friend is with her mother who is very close to death. Her mother is in the process of making her transition and transformation into the fullness of who she is.  And my friend, through this experience, is also transforming.   There is a miracle happening for both of them.  The Miracle of Forgiveness.  The Miracle of Love.  The Miracle of Truth.   The miracle of Eternal Life.  Both mother and daughter in this most holy moment in life are revealing to one another the Truth of who they are.

Transformation is not becoming something we were not before, but rather revealing who we have always been. We are each a child of God.  We are all Way Showers.

Know with me that you are a beautiful individualized expression of God.

“You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”    Matthew 5:13-16

In each moment that you reveal that Truth, you are being transformed.   By letting your light shine, you glorify God as Jesus did.  What a privilege it is to be in this life and share your unique light.  What a privilege to see the unique light of others as Jesus did even in the darkest hours.

Take the journey to reveal your light. We are here to support you with Spiritual Coaching, Affirmative Prayer, Mini Spiritual Books, and Guided Meditations.

A good place to start is:

Now is the time to know

That all that you do is sacred.

Now, why not consider

A lasting truce with yourself and God.

Now is the time to understand

That all your ideas of right and wrong

Were just a child’s training wheels

To be laid aside

When you finally live

With veracity

And love.

~Hafiz

NOW is a perfect time to remind yourself of your divinity.

Now is a perfect time to examine those belief systems you crocheted together out of bits and pieces of your childhood that say “you’re not enough.”   I love the metaphor of the training wheels in the poem.  All those years that we were trying to learn to live and not fall down, we tried on different ideas and concepts like training wheels.

Some support us,  but others do not serve the Truth of who we are.

NOW is the time for those training wheels to be laid aside.

You are a Divine Child of God.

Sign that truce with God and give up fighting against your sacred self.

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

-Matthew 5:48

Our mini-spiritual books, spiritual coaching, prayer, and guided meditations can help you finally take off the training wheels and live your life with veracity and love.

Here are some tools to  take off the training wheels and live the life your were meant to live.

It Felt Love

How

Did the rose

Ever open its heart

And give to this world

All its

Beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light

Against its

Being,

Otherwise,

We all remain

Too

Frightened.

~Hafiz

The Sufi mystic and poet uses this magnificent metaphor to remind us how to open our hearts and give all our beauty to the world.    How simple and yet profound: just let yourself feel the light against your being.

That light is God encouraging you in every moment to reveal that unique beauty that is you.  And remember, the rose doesn’t question its beauty or its divine purpose to bloom.  It simply is. And so it is with you.  Don’t question your beauty or your divine purpose in the world.                  Simply know.

Turn your face to the light, feel the Love of God, and bloom. It’s okay if you’re  frightened right now.  We all are until we allow ourselves to feel the encouragement of the light.

At Dreamlife Depot our spiritual coaching, mini spiritual books, declarative prayers and guided meditations are here to celebrate your unique beauty and to provide a few simple tools to feel the encouragement of the light and open you heart .

HERE WE GO AGAIN

with that all TOO PREDICABLE family drama;

with that ONGOING CONFLICT at work.

Whatever it is, we all have those patterns of conflict and struggle that we keep getting pulled back into.

What would happen if you didn’t go?        What if that bus left without you?

What if it just drove off into the sunset without “your advice,”  “your anger,”  “your opinions,” “your judgment”?

I have a dear friend who has a note next to her phone that says:  “It’s none of my business!”  And that doesn’t mean she doesn’t care or have compassion for the individuals involved.  It simply means she is not going to participate in conflict, or gossip, or even in trying to “fix” a perceived problem.  Her focus is on the Love, not on the problem.

Here they go again, but she’s not going.

You have that choice, too.

The next time you hear yourself saying “Here we go again,” and feel yourself sinking into that abyss of righteous indignation, frustration, anxiety, anger, or fear

STOP and remember you do ot have to go there!

You can’t control what happens, but you can control how you show up.   And by your not participating, the whole dynamic of the situation will change.  You are creating a space for Love.  Remember Love casts out all Fear.

We have created some exciting tools to help you recognize the patterns in your life.  Our Spiritual Coaching, Mini Spiritual Books, Declarative Prayers, and  Guided Meditations are designed to lead you out of the Toxic Zone and into the Peace you were meant to have.

Explore these tools and create a Drama Free Zone:

Would you let just anyone drive your car?

No way!  Yet we allow the most amazing thoughts to drive our lives:   “I’m not enough.”  “I don’t deserve . . .”  “People like me just don’t get ahead in this world.”  “I can’t.”  “If it wasn’t for . . .”

Negative, Limited Thoughts! False Beliefs!

Until you can drop these “Unlicensed Drivers” off at the nearest bus station, at least stick them in the back seat.  You get behind the wheel.  You!  The magnificent you.  IT’S YOUR CAR!   IT’S YOUR LIFE.   YOU DRIVE!

They’ll be back there for awhile, still trying to tell you which way to turn or trying to convince you to pull over and stop completely.  But now you’ve got the keys.  It’s your  hands on the wheel, your foot on the gas pedal. Give those backseat drivers a coloring book.  Loan them your iPad. Whatever it takes to shut them up.  Learn to laugh at them and their persistence. Your job is to keep your eye on the road and keep moving.

And when you spot the Bus Station, just before you drop them off, tell them you love them.  After all, it was taking a closer look at them and asking for their license and registration that woke you up to those empowering words:  “Hey, wait a minute.  Whose life is this?   Give me the keys!”

Most of us can use a little help getting the “nonsense” into the back seat, finding the Bus Station and taking control of our lives.  We have created tools to empower you with the knowledge and the courage to get in the Driver’s Seat and live the life you were meant to live.                          

Our spiritual coaching, prayer support, mini spiritual books, declarative prayers, and guided meditations are here to remind you of who you truly are: a Driver, licensed by God, on a magnificent Spiritual Journey.

Let’s take the trip together and explore a few of these tools.  You drive.

There is some kiss we want with

our whole lives, the touch of

spirit on the body.

Seawater

begs the pearl to break its shell.

And the lily, how passionately

it needs some wild darling!

At night, I open the window and ask

the moon to  come and press its

face against mine.

Breathe into me.

Close the language-door

and open the love window.

The moon

won’t use the door, only the window.

~Rumi

What keeps us seeking?  Why are you reading this today?  Why am I writing it?  We are seeking that kiss, the touch of Spirit.  There is an urgent yearning that pulls us ever closer to the Truth of who we are.  Spiritual Beings.  Expressions of the Divine.  That Truth cannot be denied.

In another metaphor used by Sufi poet, Hafiz  the call to Divine Love is explained this way:

We are like lutes once held by God

Being away from his warm body

Fully explains

This constant yearning.

Poetry is a beautiful tool to reach our hearts and begin that journey within.  Whatever path we take, eventually we “close the language-door,” “open the love window,” surrender into the arms of God and experience the warmth.  Spiritual Coaching will help you find your way into those Divine loving arms, and these Spiritual Books, Guided Meditations, and Affirmative Prayers will help you to reveal the Truth already within you, to open the love window.

Choose one, then hand and hand we will walk and talk until we leave the words behind and  experience the Pure Warmth of Spirit.

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing

and rightdoing there is a field.

I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass

the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase each other

doesn’t make any sense.

― Rumi

There IS a place “out beyond” the limiting ideas  of “wrongdoing and rightdoing,”

This beautiful poem is an invitation to journey there, to that place deep within me, to the Divine Center that is the Truth of who I Am.  That place where there is no separation from the Divine, where there is no “you and me,” no “each other,” only The One.

Rumi’s rich metaphors speak to my soul.  My soul that longs to break free from the prisons of guilt and blame and to lie down in the grassy field of a Love and Acceptance that is beyond ideas and language, beyond any definition of myself I have created.

I know I can find my way to this field for it is as close as my breath.  And lent seems the perfect time to begin the journey to give up attachment to perceptions of wrongdoing or rightdoing; to give up the appearance of separation from God and from each other; and to lie down in that sweet grass that welcomes me free of all limiting ideas.  Isn’t that the freedom Jesus taught and went to the cross for?

We all can use guidance and maps to help direct our steps on our journey to freedom.  Get some Spiritual Coaching, read these Mini Spiritual Books, use Declarative Prayer, get Prayer Support, or use Guided Meditation.  Set your Spiritual GPS with these tools and arrive at that place of freedom and wholeness that is your Divine Inheritance.  I’ll meet you there.

If you are in over your head in any area of your life, you won’t be saved by shaking your fist at the conditions or the people you blame for your predicament, and you sure won’t be saved by sinking into self-hate for falling in.  Know that within you is a Divine Intelligence that knows the way to shore.  Listen for that inner  voice  and SWIM. Know that you are saved.

Waiting on shore is the life you are meant to live.  Get out of the water.  Get out of the blame game. Begin to live from that place in you that understands the Divine significance of who YOU are.   Love yourself.  Love the time you spent in the river that introduced you to that Divine Strength and Wisdom that is within you.   Enjoy the journey then dry yourself off and get ready.  Here comes LIFE as it is meant to be expressed uniquely through you.

Sometimes we all need a little help to get out of the water. So, throw yourself a life preserver.  Get some Spiritual Coaching, read these Mini SpiritualBooks, use Declarative Prayer, or get Prayer Support. And, if you’re not currently in over your head, now might be a really good time to take some swimming lessons.