by Lori | Jan 2, 2017 | Blog
Wow! 2016 was some kind of year! As I reflect on it, I had some great moments as well as some times that I am glad are over. Regardless of the experiences – whether it was something good like publishing my first two electronic books or something less fun like visiting family and friends in the hospital, I know that I learned a tremendous amount about who I am. With 2016 in the history books, I ask myself what I want 2017 to look like. I could say that I would like to publish a few more electronic books and visit fewer people in the hospital, but that would be the specific outcomes.
My true intentions are best summed up by a friend of mine, Marlane Mowitz, “to be more balanced and to continue to move into my mastery.”
What does it mean to be more balanced and to move into my mastery? The obvious answers are to be more balanced in my relationship with others, with nature, with my exercise regime, and with my diet! I want to be more balanced between my inner work and my outer service. I want to balance the masculine and feminine energies within me and to balance the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs and aspects within me.
Being balanced in all these different ways will help me to move more and more into my mastery. When I say “my mastery” I mean the ability to handle whatever situation I encounter with grace and aplomb. In the past, sarcasm was one of my closest friends. Thus, moving into mastery to know when to use humor as a helpful trait not a harmful one would be wonderful. Moving into mastery to know when to be silent and when to speak up would be a good goal. Moving into mastery to be in harmony and balance with life as it comes will mean that 2017 will be successful no matter whether I write any electronic books or accomplish other “new years’ resolutions”. 2017 will be successful because I will continue to grow as the authentic being that I truly am.
What will being more balanced and moving further into your mastery look like?
by Lori | Dec 2, 2016 | Blog
My husband, Pat, and I are going to Fiji in April and it is all because of manifesting!
This is a great time of the year to talk about manifesting. Not only do we all want to manifest a wonderful holiday season with friends, family, and inner peace, but it is a great time of year to look forward to our intentions or New Year’s resolutions for 2017.
In the Standing in the Light® classes, the Christ teaches us the three laws of manifesting.
- The Law of Attraction: Like Energy Attracts Like Energy
- The Law of Deliberate Creation: That which you give thought to, and believe or allow or expect or intend, IS.
- The Law of Allowing: I am that which I am. I am willing to allow all others to be that which they are.
In the classes, we also demonstrate an easy technique for setting the intentions to manifest what is in the highest plan.
This blog entry will hopefully help to illustrate the first two laws – The Law of Attraction and the Law of Deliberate Creation.
If you are a longtime reader of this blog, you will know that Pat and I scuba dive. We heard about a scuba shop in Boulder that was having a scuba expo in September this year. I checked with guidance and we were guided to go to the expo. As part of the incentive for the general public to attend the expo and meet all the businesses that had display booths, Weavers Dive Shop set up a questionnaire with the answers to each question found at the various vendors’ booths. A person would receive a certain number of door prize tickets based on how many of the vendors a person visited. The prizes were to be drawn throughout the day.
Prior to the day of the expo, Pat and I had set the intention to manifest the highest plan – and if the highest plan included us winning one of the door prizes, then we wanted to hold the intention for that to manifest.
On the day of the expo, we managed to visit the booths, meet interesting people, some of whom we had dove with before, and learn more about current product offerings. Come time for the first drawing of the day, sure enough, Pat’s name was drawn and he won a 7-night stay, meals and dives included for one person in Fiji. (Flights and my land package were extra!) We were both thrilled.
How does this door prize demonstrate the first two laws of manifesting?
The first law – the Law of Attraction – was shown when we used the manifesting techniques as well as other clearing techniques to have our frequencies sufficient that we would be able to attract a gift like this from the universe. We needed to be holding Abundance, Self-Love, Allowing, and Detachment, as well as Gratitude and a few other resonances sufficiently to attract this prize.
The second law – the Law of Deliberate Creation – was used when we set our intention to be open to manifesting what was in the highest plan. We took the action steps that we were guided to take, e.g. visiting the booths in order to receive door prize tickets, etc.
So far, everything I have mentioned was us using classic manifesting principles and techniques. But, then I asked myself, how did we attract the specific prize of the trip to Fiji. There were door prizes for gear, there were door prizes for Bonaire in the Caribbean and Roatan, Honduras, etc. How is it, under the Law of Attraction and the Law of Deliberate Creation, we won the Fiji trip?
As “coincidences” go, I was reading a book over breakfast the morning of the expo that was set in Fiji. My frequency was resonating with the energy of Fiji under the Law of Attraction. And the description of the Law of Deliberate Creation is that you create that which you give thought to, and believe or allow or expect or intend. I was definitely thinking about Fiji just before driving to Boulder.
This is a great reminder to be mindful of all of our actions and thoughts not just the ones we are writing down in our manifesting journals. What we write in our manifesting journals is what we want to manifest with our conscious mind. But, what we read or watch on TV or the music we listen to shapes our subconscious thoughts, and those are part of the Law of Deliberate Creation also. Take the analogy of an iceberg. The top part of the iceberg that we can see above the water is like our conscious thoughts and the part below the water – which is significantly larger – is like our subconscious thoughts. We need to try to be diligent about what we allow into our subconscious thoughts and patterns as well as into our conscious ones.
Be mindful of what is on your playlist, your viewing list, and your reading list as you move forward into manifesting the highest plan for you. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year’s Intentions!
(Fiji beach scene from Pixabay.com)
by Lori | Oct 25, 2016 | Blog
Are you stressed over the upcoming 2016 US Presidential Election? It is only 2 weeks until Election Day and early voting has started in many States. Many people are stressed about the election, tired of the divisiveness and exhausted by the nonstop media coverage.
In an article first published in The Washington Post, Colby Itkowitz writes:
“By now we’ve established that election-induced stress is a real and common phenomenon inflicting more than half of American adults, and negatively impacting their work, their relationships and their health. People have been tweeting about their stress eating because of it and giving in to other vices like drinking and smoking weed.
So last week the meditation app 10% Happier enlisted several leading instructors to put together “election emergency” meditations to offer tips and breathing exercises to help our stressed-out populace manage their emotions.
The app is an offshoot of the book of the same name by ABC News anchor Dan Harris, who wrote about a panic attack he had on air and how he subsequently turned to meditation for his stress.”
This is the full article site. http://www.denverpost.com/2016/10/21/stressed-over-the-election-try-the-app-with-emergency-election-stress-meditations/
The app has suggestions for helping us to become centered when we have become wrapped up in the illusion of the election. Meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg reminds us to focus on the breath. “The breath will be with us if we’re stuck in traffic or watching a debate. We can always use that as a resource to re-center or re-ground. It’s very portable.”
In the Standing in the Light® classes, we teach not only about meditating but also clearing the reasons and causes for the agitation and stress. If you are stressing about the election, first start to breathe in peace, calm, tolerance, love, and light. Then, ask to clear or heal any of the reasons you might be feeling stressed, angry, and fearful, or any other discordant emotion. Ask to clear any divisiveness within yourself and to help clear that for the nation or humanity as a whole. Balancing the male and female energies within and balancing the energies of the right and the left sides of the body and/or political spectrum will be helpful, too. Finding a favorite meditation, a favorite song, or energy healing technique will help speed up the process of becoming centered again to who you truly are.
Frequently over the last month, I have found myself humming as well as singing out loud an old favorite of mine to pull me back to a centered position, Let There Be Peace on Earth. This song speaks to me because of the recognition that peace on earth begins with me. If you haven’t read them recently, here are the original lyrics.
Let There Be Peace on Earth, Written by Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller in 1955
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me;
Let there be peace on earth,
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Father
Brothers all are we,
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me,
Let this be the moment now;
With every step I take,
Let this be my solemn vow
To take each moment and live each moment
In peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me
Although, I am guided to include the original lyrics here, Wikipedia offers updated gender-neutral lyrics at this link.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_There_Be_Peace_on_Earth_(song)
Please use the version that most speaks to you and allows peace within you. And if any mirrors are raised by any of the versions, please look at them and clear them! With much love and peace, I AM Lori
by Lori | Sep 29, 2016 | Blog
It is almost impossible to look at the world around us and not see general disarray.
In the United States, the political left and right are fervently trying to appeal to the middle that their candidate is the better of the two most disliked candidates in our country’s history if the opinion polls are to be believed!
Whether in religious, social, or international dealings, the standard for tolerance and compassion appears to be not taking violent action or refraining from verbally insulting those with different opinions or beliefs.
And one wonders whether Lady Justice is wearing her blindfold to hold the energy of non-judgment or because she can’t seem to see a solution for all the strife and divisiveness.
These are examples of how things might look in our outer world currently.
However, I know we are capable of turning the divisiveness and separation we feel into Unity for all. We must abandon the idea that the order and way things were done in the past – whether economic, political, social, or religious – is the only model for us to follow now. There is a reason we see so many systems breaking down. It is because we need to break through with new ideas, new techniques, and new processes that fit the circumstances we find ourselves in now.
The answers that worked in the past may still be valid, but only if the facts and circumstances are the same. Most of us realize that this millennium, this century, even this decade has new challenges that need to be met with ideas that we were unable or unwilling to see in the past.
We need to be willing to work toward unity.
We can start our journey toward unity with working with the energies of harmony and cooperation with our fellow humans and with our environment. Harmony and cooperation are good goals for the majority of us.
Many people are willing to strive for harmony and cooperation even if simply because these energies are the polite ways of getting along in a civil society. At a four-way stop, it makes sense for us to take our turns moving through the intersection. In a ski lift line, more people will get on the ski lift without empty chairs passing by if we line up orderly and move through the line more efficiently. Harmony and cooperation are logical in these situations.
The energy of unity is definitely a lofty goal. Unity must be experienced to be fully understood. Most of the time in our society, individualism is what appears to serve us better than unity. However, just like in the example of the ski chairlifts going by empty, individualism can lead to waste in one arena where more unity would have allowed for that resource to be utilized more beneficially for the whole. When we are coming from the energy of individualism, we may hold onto something longer than we need to because of a fear of scarcity. When we work with and strive for unity, we are trusting that our needs will be met in accordance with the highest plan. The highest plan for unity leaves no one behind, assuming each is willing to commit to the unity of the whole. You will want to check with your guidance to see if the energy of unity is a goal for you right now.
In our society, those of us who strive for harmony, cooperation, and eventually unity may be viewed by others as being in disarray and being out of sync with “reality”. You might even hear others say, “why aren’t you taking sides,” or “if you are registered as an independent, you aren’t doing anyone any good.” When you hear statements like this, you know that the person saying it is allowed her or his opinion, but it doesn’t stop you from having the long-term goal of tolerance, harmony, cooperation, and unity.
Following your guidance, you will be able to stand in your power and stand in the disarray of unity.
by Lori | Aug 19, 2016 | Blog
A few years ago, I went on my first “silent retreat” over a three day weekend. The goal was to not speak, read, listen to radio or music nor watch TV. We were in retreat at Benet Hill Monastery near Colorado Springs, Colorado. Everything we needed was within walking distance and we were on a meal plan provided by the Sisters. This helped to keep the outside stimuli and the need to “think” to a minimum. The goal was to just BE.
Before I went, I was telling one of my long-time friends about it on a phone call. Before he could say anything, I said, “Are you laughing?” He said, “from deep in my belly!” Then, a person who I just met said, “but you are so outgoing and gregarious.” This just made me laugh. I know that I have neither the inclination nor is it my path to take a vow of silence at this particular time in this particular life. But, I would like to share with you what I experienced in my 60 hours of silence.
We used a guided meditation to set the tone for the 60 hours. This meditation, channeled and narrated by Marsha Hankins, helped us connect to the larger parts of ourselves, to mother earth and the cosmos. By leaving this meditation in silence and not breaking it with any other outside stimuli was quite powerful. I could focus on experiencing the feeling of being connected and being one with everything around me in the physical world. I could also experience being connected and being one with everything in the metaphysical world. Experiencing the metaphysical world through the sensations and the sense of knowingness that is lost in the overload of the 5 human senses. This was staggeringly profound, and I was only 1 hour into the silence.
I am not sure I ever mastered the “monkey mind” which is part of the goal of being in silence. The idea is to be in the silence long enough that you don’t feel the need to entertain yourself even in your own thoughts. Instead, you simply allow yourself to experience the “now”. I found myself still discussing scenarios with myself. Discussing conversations that I had in the past and why they were appropriate or how I could have handled them better. Or discussing different ways I could say things that I knew I was going to need to say when I was “back in the real world”. These discussions are all “judgment based.” I realized I was judging myself for things I did in the past or judging “what if I don’t get it correct” in the future. A whole lot of judging going on!
Finally, what I found the most surprising was the simple yet acute joy that I found when I was walking around the monastery grounds. It was a rainy weekend and it was cool at the altitude of 6000 feet. Never being cold but enjoying the coolness was a slice of heaven. Walking the Labyrinth at least twice a day and reminding myself of the innocence and breathtaking aspects of our shared reality that can include peace and relaxation if we allow it. I found myself trying to determine how I would be able to add in some of the aspects of the silence into my everyday life even as the 24-hour news cycle and access to the internet tempt me to fill every moment of every day with someone else’s thoughts and someone else’s experiences. I am setting my intention to claim a little bit of every day for the silence in nature, the silence in the cosmos and the silence within me. This will surely be how and when I find the God/Goddess Within.
