FROM FUNDAMENTALIST TO FREE

"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth."  - John F. Kennedy

Many of you know that my spiritual background is that of a fundamentalist Christian, who literally believed every word of the Bible:  Every story, every event, every person listed in that Good Book.  However, I have undergone many paradigm shifts through the last years, and my beliefs have changed considerably.  

Before going any further, let me just say that I know many religious people who are extremely satisfied with their chosen beliefs, and whose lives exemplify love and service.  They are healthy individuals who eat the meat and spit out the bones of religion, rather than being choked by them.

 

As for me:

My concept of God has expanded from an anthropomorphic view.  I now see God in everyone, regardless of whether they have “invited” him in.  I believe in a Divine Consciousness; a cosmic, universal oneness.  I believe that those who have gone before us are still available to us, so that we can tap into their collective wisdom.  One of my favorite problem-solving meditations, in fact, has me seated at a table with admired souls from history (including my beloved grandparents), who all make themselves available to help me find a solution!  I believe that certain persons throughout history are true spiritual masters, having evolved to such an extent spiritually that they set the supreme example of love, compassion, and peace for the rest of us.

As for an afterlife, reincarnation makes the most sense to me.  When I read about out-of-body and life-after-death experiences, these seem to confirm reincarnation to me.   I also believe that part of what happens in the afterlife is based on what we expect to happen.  It makes sense to me that souls who have adhered strictly to a certain religion would congregate together in the afterlife.   I no longer believe in a literal hell where one is tormented and tortured eternally, with no hope of relief.  I believe that we view, experience, and judge our own actions once we leave this body, and that if more time is required to learn specific lessons, further events will be experienced until we evolve spiritually.   To me, this is much more in line with a philosophy of love than the notion that people will be eternally cast into a pit of darkness for simply failing to adhere to the “correct” set of beliefs.

My goal is to learn absolutely as much as I can during this lifetime.  I want to study and grow, exchange thoughts and views with other people.  I will never again allow any one person or group to dictate to me how I must live or what I must believe.  If I encounter philosophies in the future that make more sense to me than my current ones, I AM FREE TO CHANGE MY BELIEFS…. AND SO ARE YOU!

There is one person to whom and one person for whom you are completely responsible:  YOU.  What others think is best for you, what others think is "The Truth," and even what others want for you is irrelevant.   Everyone is molded and bound by something; the trick is not to allow anyone else’s baggage to bind YOU!    Have you ever wanted to _______?  Is it your secret passion to ________?  As a child, did you feel driven to ________?  Well today is your lucky day!  Because YOU are the one with the ambition and the power to make ________ a reality! 

I have found that The Big Three can be either incredibly beneficial or unbelievably harmful as we walk our road:  Faith, Family, and Finances.  These can either embolden us to live out our dreams, or trap us into a fearful, unsatisfying life.   

“My faith does not allow _____.”  

“My family would be horrified if I _____.”   

“I could never afford to _____.”   

Once you discover who is REALLY in charge, these excuses no longer hold water.  If your religion keeps you from living your dreams, it is time for a DIVORCE.  If your family’s love for you is dependent upon you believing a prescribed doctrine, you both need some shaking up.  And if your finances are currently too limiting to live your dream all at once, you do it the same way you would eat an elephant:  One bite at a time!  Start today.  There are always small steps you can take on the pathway to living your dream. 

SET YOURSELF FREE!   Drop limiting beliefs and limiting people.  Surround yourself with those who support you.  Only read, watch, and do what absolutely inspires you!  One day you will take your last breath.  Until then, I urge you to squeeze every bit of life from every minute you are given!  Don’t waste your valuable time trying to live up to anyone else’s expectations or beliefs.   Learn what it takes to make your own dreams a reality, and get on with it.  If no one else believes you can do it, I DO.  Send me a postcard when you get there.

Heresy or Enlightenment?

I drank the silence of God from a spring in the woods. - Georg Trakl

Namaste, fellow Soul Pilgrims.  Creation is breathing a sigh of relief, freed from the constraints of winter.  

As I am a big fan of springtime, it felt strange to awaken on Easter Sunday feeling blue. I recognized the feeling, as it was present to a lesser degree around Christmas.  Christmas and Easter are the two "holiest" days of Christendom, when even nominal believers make their way into the pews, usually under pressure of family.  This year I was not in their company, and it made me realize that there is loss that comes with liberation, and vice versa.

I recalled the tangible joy I had previously felt when celebrating Christmas and Easter in the company of others who venerated those days.  Easter was especially significant, and it was a very big deal to greet  the church family with the traditional Christian greeting:  "He (Jesus) is risen!", met with the joyous reply: "He is risen, indeed!" 

Those words were so precious to me throughout my life.  They encapsulated my raison d'etre:  I lived only to reflect God's glory and to draw others to Him - through my particular religion.  For me and others who shared my religious persuasion, life revolved around attending Sunday services, weekly Bible studies, spending time with Christian friends listening to Christian music, discussing Christian books (purchased from a Christian store, of course).   "Drawing others to Him" meant actively seeking out The Lost to convert from their heathen lifestyles. 

I had read many books on how to "witness" to people who were deluded into thinking that their own religion - the one they had either chosen or been raised with - was actually true.  I sincerely believed that I alone held the truth, and was charged with trying to "enlighten" others to the fact that they were believing a lie.  Forget the fact that they cherished their own religious traditions just as I did, taking solace and comfort from their own beliefs.  

The older I get, the more I realize that no one group or philosophy holds the key.  As Ram Dass, one of my favorite spiritual teachers, has said:  "We're all just walking each other home."  Whether our road is that of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any other "ism," we are all living in borrowed vessels on borrowed time, until our return to Spirit - which is our natural state.  The religious or philosophical road we travel during our time here will ultimately lead to the same destination.

I understand if this bugs you and gets under your skin.  Pray for my soul if it pleases you.  However, a mind  expanded can never return to its previous dimensions.  While I do miss the feeling of belonging to a club with a special "members only" greeting, it is not enough for me to resume my seat in the pew as if nothing has changed.   I feel that, over the past few years, EVERYTHING has changed. 

I like the freedom that I now have to listen and think and judge for myself.  I like the openness and grace that I now naturally extend to others - not just to those who hold my own views.  A friend recently pointed out to me the irony that, once I left the Church, I became a lot more like Jesus.  

PRAYER:

I celebrate being a part of the Universal Consciousness.  I recognize the many truths that are reflected by all members, and give thanks for the Masters who have gone before to show us True Love.  I acknowledge that we are all Soul Pilgrims, passing through this life, walking each other home.  May love, freedom, and grace be our companions along our chosen roads, and may we gain insight with every step.

On Loss

"He that conceals his grief finds no remedy for it." 
~ Turkish proverb

I have recently been reminded of grief in the lives of those around me.  Grief always centers on a loss which one perceives as significant, though not always a human relationship.  In addition to losing a loved one, we can grieve the loss of a job; a pet; health; our dreams, and even our very faith.

When our youngest daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a few years ago, I entered into the process of grieving the relatively easy life we had known previously, as well as the expectation for her pain-free and healthy future.  Suddenly a new level of stress descended upon us as her parents, and it has remained our constant companion.  

She has gone through her own period of deep grief, mourning "the good old days" before finger pricks, needle pokes, diligently monitoring carb intake and food ingredients, missing out on the cake & candy at class parties if her sugars are too high, and having to constantly carry a bulky pack around with all of her supplies.  It is a frustrating, painful, terrifying, and inconvenient disease.  And so we mourn.

My husband went through his own grief when he realized that his career dreams were not going to reach fruition, even though he had tried his hardest to make them reality.  He was crushed, and remained entrenched in his grief for a number of years.   The loss of dreams can be doubly hard, because they are not as tangible as the loss of people.

According to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, there are 5 STAGES OF GRIEF.  These include:  
1.  Denial and Isolation.   "This is NOT happening. I will not acknowledge it and it will go away."
2.  Anger.  "UNFAIR!  I do not deserve this *&%$ to be happening."
3.  Bargaining.  "Okay, God.  If you stop this from happening, I promise to become a nun."
4.  Depression.  "Life is not worth living since this has happened."
5.  Acceptance.   "This has happened.  It stinks, but life goes on.  What's for dinner?"

It would be great to  just cruise through all of these stages in a "reasonable" amount of time, and have our grief thoroughly and quickly dealt with.  However, we get stuck in some stages, and even bounce back and forth between them, adding to the confusion:  "I thought I dealt with this already!"  Welcome to life in the real world.  If you haven't encountered grief yet, you will.  It is a necessary part of the human condition, and can be absolutely transformational if we walk through it completely and with openness to the rich lessons that can result. 

My beliefs about suffering and loss revolve around spiritual growth.  I believe that we choose our life lessons prior to our birth, as well as the length of time we will be here.  When the lessons have been learned and our time here has been spent, we return to Spirit (God), which is our true home.   I believe that we not only choose those with whom we have intimate contact on earth, but that we also likely know them in spirit, as well.  Sometimes our irritating, upsetting relational issues here are exactly what is needed in order for us to burn up previous karma .  I do not have all of the answers, I am just sharing what makes sense to me, and what has helped me to deal with my own grief.

It is very easy to fall into the trap of believing that we have to be "the best" wife, mother, father, child, friend, etc.; at least on an unconscious level.   In my own life the trap I fell into related to my spiritual identity.  I was going to be The Best Christian Ever.  No one would live their life more consciously than me, basing every thought, conversation, and action on the Bible.   It's like my religion was my reason for being; all else paled in comparison.  My main reason for existence was to win souls for the Kingdom of Heaven.

Trying to be "the best" eventually becomes second nature to us, and we continually try to live up to the image we perceive that others have of us.  Eventually, we find ourselves depressed and unhappy about life and unfulfilled in our dreams.  This is very significant:  When we give our power to other people, dreams, and beliefs, we have not been true to who we are.  WE CAN NEVER BE TRULY HAPPY UNTIL WE LIVE OUR OWN LIVES - not just the life that others tell us we should live.

Often we have compromised our individuality and not been true to ourselves because of the desire to please.  So when the loved one dies or the relationship is severed (or in my case, when our faith shockingly and painfully dissolves), we are left with no sense of self-esteem because so much of our identities were tied to the other.  All that is left is a sense of emptiness and loneliness. 

I am very pleased to tell you that life does go on.  The mourning may last for years, and it is painful.  When I was walking through my own grief about my loss of faith - which was far harder than any other loss I have ever experienced - I felt like I was in a tiny dinghy, out on a vast ocean with no one else around.  And I mean NO ONE.  I went from believing that Jesus was my BFF and God was always there, caring for me and loving me, to not even being certain that there IS a God, or even an afterlife.  I am not exaggerating when I tell you I felt desperate, shattered, devastated, and utterly alone.  I pulled up the covers over my head some days and wept bitter, terrified tears.  I could not discuss this with my religious friends, as it would likely only result in chastisement ("You just need more faith!").  I could not discuss it with my family because it was such a huge paradigm shift that I did not want to subject them to it, to my own terrifying fears that everything my life was based on had been untrue.  At times my grief was so overwhelming that I contemplated ending my pain permanently.  The loss was that deep.

How did I get through it?  I read everything I could find by others who had come through similar trauma  and survived.  I opened my mind and heart to any possible lessons that could be learned from my situation.  I started discussing my fears and grief with others who were loving and nonjudgmental.  I went to my doctor when I was scared of my own desperation, and sought medical help to get me through the hardest times.  I prayed, even though I wasn't sure if anyone would hear me.  And here I am, on the other side of it all.  I made it - and so will you.

MY ADVICE ON SURVIVING GRIEF AND LOSS:

*Research.  Read.  Attend lectures, seminars, or anything else that pertains to your situation.

*Surround yourself with those who love you and want only your peace & happiness.  

*Realize that FREEDOM comes with loss.  Was your time and energy totally consumed by this other person?  Now you are released - so make the most of it.  Explore your old creative passions and hobbies - things that excited you and made you happy!  

*BE TRUE TO YOURSELF.  

*Practice "Extreme Self Care," as my dear friend Trish advises.  Find out what makes your soul sing with joy, and do it!  This may be as simple as a bubble bath with a good book, or as grand as finally taking your dream vacation.

*Experience your feelings.  Don't deny them or pretend that it isn't so bad.  If you try to omit this important step in your grief, you prolong it.

I now have a fantastic group of spiritually open, loving, thoughtful friends.  It was hard to rebuild my life, but I did it (thank you, Facebook!).

I am grateful to Ms. Kubler-Ross and to Mr. James Van Praagh for what they have taught me about grief.

Don't give up!  There is life after loss. 
~Rev. Jan

SHAME ON YOU? NO WAY!

Share whatever it is you're ashamed about. You may think you can hide your shame by not talking about it, but in reality, it's your shame that's hiding you.

--Adam Appleson

Lately the issue of shame has come up with various friends and clients.  Few have been willing to actually come clean and tell me what it is that has them feeling ashamed, but I can tell it is there just the same, dragging them down into the abyss of fear.  WHAT IF SOMEONE FINDS OUT WHAT I HAVE DONE?  WHAT IF THEY SEE HOW BAD I REALLY AM? 

We have all done things we regret.  It is part of being human.  Shame, however, goes deeper than regret.  Regret says that we have learned something and will do our best to avoid those circumstances again.  But shame threatens to envelop us, to consume us altogether.  It is, in general, a devastating emotion that humans will do just about anything to avoid.  I liken shame to feeling as if one is drowning, with no hope of a life preserver.

I am here today to tell you that the condemnation and fear you feel from your shame need not hold you in its grip one more minute.  Today is the day YOU can set yourself free from shame.  It has no place in your life, I don't care what you have done.  It is a worthless emotion that has taken the lives of far too many good people.

 

Shame often stems from a childhood where the parents have been either rigidly moralistic, or unable to own their own wrongdoings.  These parents then project their issues onto the innocent child: YOU.  The child takes on the emotional responsibility for the parents at this point. This leads some kids to become super good and perfectionistic, while leading other kids to fight for visibility by carrying the "badness" or shame of their parents out into the open.  They feel that they are otherwise not visible to their parents, and act out in order to gain their attention.  The parents then negatively reinforce the behavior through shameful punishment or words, and the child adds more reinforced, bad behaviors to form an identity:  The Black Sheep.  

The shame that you carry does not serve you.  At one time it served someone else, someone who had authority over you, and who had not dealt with their own issues.  They no longer hold that authority, because you are now a fully grown, mature, independent being.  You are no longer a confused, scared child desperate to gain approval.  You are a loving, compassionate being who can view those former authority figures with pity.  There is no need for anger or disdain; those do not serve you, either.  Let forgiveness and compassion be your best friends and constant companions.  Forgive others, and forgive yourself.

Picture a very young child all alone on a stage.  Would you stand there and yell at a child of 3 or 4 years old, telling her she was stupid and never did anything right, and maybe even hit her a few times just to make your point?  Of course not!  If you did, that child would either end up completely docile and hurting in a corner, or tearing around like a bat out of hell destroying all they could get their little hands on.  Instead, you would tell her how much you love her; how much you care; how very bright and good and clever and sweet she is; that you love the way she does things, and that it is okay for her to make mistakes.

Each of us has that 3-year-old child within us, and we spend most of our time yelling at that poor kid.  This is why our lives don't work.  We continue acting out the script that was written for us when we had no control.  Well I am telling you that now you DO have control over your life.  Refuse to live in shame any longer.  Refuse to behave as one who is ashamed.  LOVE YOURSELF ENOUGH TO GROW UP,  dear one.  Take responsibility and own what is truly yours - and let the rest go.  Forgiveness is the path.

"We are all here to transcend our early limitations, whatever they were.  We're here to recognize our own magnificence and divinity no matter what they told us."  ~ Louise Hay

Spiritual Mind Treatment:

God is LOVE. I am a child of the infinite source, and my consciousness soars. I am a blessing unfolding. I am free from all shame and judgment; I willingly release the past, and live my life in right action.  God is at work in my life. My life is balanced and healthy, and I am grateful.  I turn it over to the infinite law, which is even now unfolding.  I let it be, and so it is.

*Thank you to my beloved Louise Hay for her beautiful insights, and also to Andrea Mathews, L.P.C.

The VERY BEST Advice

Namaste, fellow Soul Pilgrims!

Here we are in 2012, hard as it is to believe.  Regardless of the hype about this year and the Mayan calendar, I trust you are filled with hope and anticipation about the vast potential that the new year holds for each of us!  I know I am.  Let this be your year!

I recently started practicing healing massage as an addition to my Soul Pilgrim Services, and it has been absolutely wonderful!  I just love laying my hands on people with the goal of of helping them to relax and de-stress, as well as being a channel for Universal love, the most healing factor of all!  In addition to adding massage to my list of skills and income generators, I hope this year to also start speaking at various retreats, particularly on the issue of Life Transitions.  This is a passion of mine, helping people to see that transitions are a fantastic gateway to living the life we really want, rather than simply something to be endured.  

On this topic, the very best advice I ever received came from one of my older siblings.  On the occasion of my 40th birthday, my brother sent me a brief, but incredibly important message.  It said:  

"Your life is now officially getting shorter!  Do what makes you happy."

Take a minute to digest that.  I felt simultaneously slapped in the face and given my freedom all at the same time (sounds like a sibling dynamic to me).  I don't know why it hit me so hard; perhaps because it was on a birthday that had a 0 at the end.  Those ones are great for making us take a good look at where we are, where we've been, and where we want to go.  I was definitely ripe for his sage words.  

YOUR LIFE IS OFFICIALLY GETTING SHORTER.  

Not exactly the words one longs to hear, especially when hitting the Big 4-0 (which, in Roman numerals, is XL.  How ironic is that?!).  But I would rather have the truth hurt me than be comforted by a lie any day of the week! Those words were a tremendous gift to me:  A timely reminder that my days in this body will one day draw to a close.  Will I have truly LIVED them out, or merely existed?  Wake up and live every day that you have left!

DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY.  

Thank you, thank you, my wonderful Big Brother!  Thank you for affirming me and setting me free.  These words were a beautiful gift to me.  And I took them to heart, believe me.  I now do what makes me happy, without regard for what others think.  Case in point:  Tonight you will find me in my living room, having fun with my hula hoop!  Sporting dreadlocks and my old PJs!  In no makeup!  Why?  Because it makes me happy.   Life gets serious very quickly.  Seize those giggles and blissful sighs whenever you can!  Need further proof that I don't care what nay-sayers may think?  Next week I am taking my daughter out to a belly dance class!  Because it makes me happy.  

Do you get it?  Life is getting SHORTER.  Do what you want, when you want.  Do not waste your time - the most precious gift of all - being a martyr, or living a life that makes you miserable.  Your happiness is up to you!  

What would make you happy?  A career change?  A different relationship?  An improved relationship? Changing your appearance?  Increasing your bank account?  While these things may not be able to happen over night, you can take your first step TODAY towards living out that happiness.  Your life is an absolute gift to you.  Do not squander it.  Make it truly your own.  Don't wait for anyone else to give you permission - just do what makes you happy.  Today.

I recognize the infinite creative, intelligent, loving Force that permeates all.  I acknowledge that I am a part of this Universal Energy.  I realize that my every desire is available to me, and that the Universe conspires in my favor constantly to manifest those desires! I acknowledge that it is up to me to walk through the doors which are opened unto me daily.  I give thanks for the awakening I have received today, and receive with gratitude the opportunity to fully live my own life.   I release these powerful words into the Law of Mind, knowing that it is already so.  And so it is.  

Wishing you your own revelations about happiness,

Rev. Jan.

The Hairdo That Says It All

Namaste, fellow Soul Pilgrims!

I recently got drastic with my hair.  Very drastic.  In fact, you might say it is dreadful, what I did.  And you'd be right!  After research and soul search, I decided to take the plunge - and transform my head of beautiful, long, curly tresses into dreadlocks.  That's right:  DREADLOCKS. Those funky-looking, messy, snake-like twists of hairy strangeness!

Quick - what comes to your mind?  Besides the obvious, that I must have lost mine.  I mean, when you come across people with dreads, what is your immediate thought about them?   I'll tell you what I have always thought when encountering a dreadhead:  That they march to their own drummer, flout convention, and simply do not care what others think of them.  And let's not forget that other small bit about totally telling Fashion Dictators to get stuffed!  I confess to loving all of those notions, but for me there was more to the story.

If you have followed my posts from Day 1, you are familiar with my spiritual odyssey, having left behind my ultra conservative views and embraced a much larger philosophy.  My views on God have expanded, my fears have largely subsided, and my judgments against my fellow man continue to drop away.  I much prefer this open-minded person; this imperfect person who thrives on questioning and seeking, who refuses to ever again be told WHAT or HOW to think.  This is the state I find myself in now, in my early 40s.  And it was with this in mind that I decided to say "Goodbye!" to my crowning glory - at least in conventional terms.  My hair is still all there, but it looks anything but glorious at this point.

Only a month in, my dreads are still considered babies.  They are wild and unruly and thoroughly disobedient.  I chose to do them myself (with the help of a dear friend & my patient family) and have opted to go natural with them:  No wax or products to help them lock up faster or "look neater."  To me, the journey my dreads go through is symbolic of my own journey through this life.  We all start somewhere, and it takes time to grow and mature!  I would never disrespect those who choose to go to a salon and have their dreads professionally done - that is part of their own journey.  For me, however, part of my own journey is letting go of the frantic need to keep up appearances.  The day I did my dreads was the day I took myself out of the rat race of physical beauty.  It seems crazy to me that in my 40s I am expected to try and look like I did in my 20s, etc.  That whole "cougar thing" just was not working for me.  Happily, it would seem that dreading my hair and having it look totally weird, wild, crazy, funky, and messy DOES work for me!  Whodathunkit? 

Kudos go out here to my delightful and exceedingly patient husband, who has put up with so many changes from me over the last 5 years.  When a friend recently asked how he could stand my new hairdo, he simply smiled, shrugged, and replied: "It's Janice!  A month from now she will be doing something else crazy."   After a mere 17 years of marriage, I think he finally understands me!

So I am ending 2011 on a very happy note.  I am pleased with who I am and who I am becoming.  I am thankful for all of the love in my life.  I am grateful for another year of good health for me and my loved ones!  It pleases me that I am able to be more and more myself, and feel so comfortable doing it. 

"We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity, and its first chapter is New Year's Day." 

~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce

May 2012 bring you growth, love, triumph, abundance, and inner peace.  Thank you for sharing my journey.

-Rev. Jan

Stress As Teacher

Namaste, fellow Pilgrims.

I live in the Okanagan Valley, which is a beautiful place to be.  At night when I look around me, I see the lights of  thousands of homes twinkling brightly on the hills which surround me, looking like an ethereal fairieland.  Recently, however, the Universe gave me a great reminder:  Every one of those twinkling lights represents a person or family living with stress.  New baby or aging parent.  New job or laid off.  Newly married or newly separated.  The list of possible stressors is pretty much endless.

Whether a joyfully anticipated change or a sudden and unwanted one, change = stress to human beings.  To be alive means to live with stress, particularly in our modern, fast paced Western world.  I can't be the only one who has thought of running away and joining a convent/monastery - without even being Roman Catholic or Buddhist!  It is simply the price we pay for being alive.

The trick is to change the way we view stress.  To be sure, our immediate reaction is generally anxiety.  But if we can manage to take those deep breaths and count to 10 (meditation works wonders, my friends!), we just may learn something from our stressful situation.  Dr. Dean Ornish put it succinctly when he said:  "pain and suffering [a.k.a. stress] can be a powerful doorway for transforming our lives for the better."  Does that sound counter-intuitive?  It's really not.  Let me give an example from my own life.

Recently I was faced with the realization that someone I have felt close to did not seem to return my affections to the same degree.  This hit me like a ton of bricks.  I felt sad, foolish, and confused.  You might say I felt stressed! I had anticipated this person being an important part of my life for years to come, and suddenly it no longer seemed like that was the case.  While crying in the bathroom, looking at my tear-stained, mascara-streaked face, the Universe once again gave me a much-needed thump on the head:  If this person did not love me, was I therefore unlovable? 

As I pondered my reflection, I already knew the answer:  What's not to love?  I have not changed simply because another person does not want to be with me any longer.   It is a part of their own journey to determine whom to welcome or dismiss from their life.  If I choose to hold onto my stress and grief over the seeming loss of any relationship, it is to my own detriment.  I gave thanks and dried my eyes, getting on with the rest of my day.

The blessed irony of my own situation is that, within 24 hours of releasing my "need" for this person, they popped back up on the radar, reaffirmed their enjoyment of our relationship, and all was right in the world!  Well, at least where this person is concerned.  The lesson learned, however, remains a significant one for me. 

In general, stressful situations are temporary.  We are not designed to live with chronic, dangerous levels of stress.  It is to come and go, propelling us to grow, let go, learn, and move on.   We all grieve losses and fear change to some degree, but we must not get trapped in that place.  Stress will always be with us, because change is part of life.  The sooner we learn to view it as a doorway to transition, the better it will serve us. 

"Maturity is achieved when a person accepts life as full of tension."  ~Joshua L. Liebman

PRAYER:
I know that there is One Intelligence.  It is perfect, whole, complete, and harmonious. There is One life:  That Life is God, that Life is perfect, that Life is my life, now.  I know that Divine Intelligence now guides and directs my every thought and action.  I know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.  I am open to receive loving instruction through my life situations, and to learn from each one.  I now embrace today's lesson:  I receive it, understand it, and apply my new-found knowledge to help me grow in this life, and pass on my knowledge so that others may benefit from it.  For this knowledge, for this understanding, I am grateful. I give thanks that all this is so. And So It Is.

With a thankful heart,

Rev. Jan