by Lori | Feb 29, 2016 | Blog
My husband and I are excited to welcome an 8 week old yellow Labrador into our home in two weeks. We have decided to call her Ruby Sunshine in deference to her yellow lab mom and her red lab dad.
As a woman without biological children and no pets in her adult life besides some Koi fish, which are pretty low maintenance, this is going to be a big transition for me. I know it is going to be a happy transition, but big changes are coming, nonetheless. I can already see some of the issues / mirrors that the situation is presenting to me that I haven’t felt the need to address prior to this welcomed addition. I have a feeling this will not be the last blog post where Miss Ruby is front and center.
The biggest mirror for me thus far in preparing for Ruby is the mirror of separation anxiety. I realize that there are more immediate physical / 3D concerns with a puppy than separation anxiety, which I have been lead to believe is more pronounced with older rescue dogs. However, this is the mirror I see, so it is the mirror I will investigate!
How will I manifest the intention that Ruby feels loved, safe and secure no matter whether she is with us, being boarded or being safely left at home? The first step I am being guided to take is to clear my own anxiety, nervousness and attachment. I need to be able to not judge myself that my actions are going to make a mess of Ruby’s life even when my actions are not quite as “Cesar Milan-ish” as I would like them to be. Fortunately, I have energetic tools at my disposal to send energy to Ruby to let her know of her safety and security, regardless. Sending Ruby energy is a recommended step to making the transition to a new home easier.
However, the ultimate mirror for me is how loved, safe and secure I feel in my own life, in my own skin. That is the true mirror for separation anxiety, the separation that I feel from Source, the ultimate divine energy. If I have the false belief that I am separate from Source, I will attract a dog who has the energy of fear of separation in her, as well. She will be my mirror. This is how the Spiritual Law of Like Attracts Like works. Thus, the best way for me to help Ruby to not feel separation is for me to not have the energy of separation in me. With everything in metaphysics, we must help ourselves before we can help others. As we have said before, the flight attendants tell you to put on your own mask first before helping others with their masks.
In the third dimensional illusion, I could look at a frightened dog as that the problem is hers alone. However, the illusion and the experiences we are having in the illusion are simply reflections of how we feel about ourselves. The more I feel oneness and security with Source, the more all my experiences and relationships will reflect that back to me.
Clearing my own separation anxiety will raise my frequency and because we are one with all and each other, that will raise the frequency of those around me, as well. This will bring more joy and peace to us all. As Gene Hill said, “Whoever said you can’t buy happiness forgot little puppies.” Welcome, Ruby Sunshine.
by Lori | Jan 30, 2016 | Blog
I had the wonderful opportunity to live in England for three years. As an American, one of the first things you learn is the old saying that the United States and England are two countries divided by a common language. Idioms are different, spelling and pronunciation of words are different. Even the influence of the proximity to France means that some of the words the English use are different than what the Americans use to describe the same thing. For instance, the English use the word aubergine for the purple vegetable that most Americans call an eggplant. I found all of these differences to be charming.
The only one that I found harder to grapple with was the collective or group nouns. In America, we say, “The crowd goes wild.” However, in England, they say, “The crowd go wild.” The American interpretation is that the crowd is a singular entity, a singular force, maybe even a singular mindset. In the English version, the interpretation would be stating that the individual aspects within the crowd are individually going wild. A bunch of individuals with individual mindsets all going wild at the same time.
This may seem like a distinction without a difference. However, when I was meditating on Unity and Oneness, this was the analogy that came to me to further explain the nuance of what it really means to be in Unity and Oneness.
To truly and completely feel and know yourself as One with Source, One with the All That Is, we must have the knowingness and experience of the singular entity, the singular force, and the singular mindset. Knowing and experiencing this singularity does not mean that we all must be the same. It just means that as unique expressions of Source, we are all part of the singularity of the essence of what it means to be Source. We all have the same opportunities to tap into the Divine Power that is Source, the Divine Love that is Source, the Divine Wisdom that is Source. We are the essence that is All That Is. When we master this understanding of Unity and Oneness the crowd really will go wild!
by Lori | Dec 30, 2015 | Blog
Many of us are working to overcome our judgment of ourselves and each other. We know that the Christ explains to us in the Standing in the Light® classes that Judgment is THE block to knowing ourselves as God. However, we may not have taken the time to look at our beliefs around “competition” to see that competition is another form of judgment.
Many people would look at the concept of competition as “good” but from the perspective of the Spiritual Hierarchy and the idea of Oneness, competition is divisive.
There is some validity to the idea of wanting to be the best version of yourself you can be, but we normally measure it at the expense of someone or something else. When we are in competition, rarely are we focused on being the best version of ourselves.
I am reminded of a scene from the movie Caddyshack. Ted Knight’s character, Judge Smails, who is always trying to feel more superior to everyone, is asking Chevy Chase’s character, Ty Webb, who is a rich entrepreneur with a lot of time on his hands, what his golf score is. Ty, although an excellent golfer, doesn’t feel the need to keep (or at least not to discuss) his score. Judge Smails asks, “How do you measure yourself against other golfers?” Ty’s reply is “by height.” It is a funny scene and of course, Ty’s wit is notable because he is taller than the Judge. The point is that even when we aren’t directly playing someone else we are keeping score. And if we aren’t keeping score on a game, we are on height, or we are on weight or looks or money in the bank. We are always in competition.
Many people run marathons to see if they have the drive and stamina within them to run 26.2 miles. But, even when they say, I just want to break the 4-hour mark, if they are honest with themselves, they also don’t want to be the last one to cross the finish line. And the one who is the last one to cross the finish line will probably console themselves with the idea that there were others that didn’t qualify at all, or who had to drop out due to injury or who were not fit enough to try in the first place.
As someone who has never run a marathon nor had the running of a marathon as a goal, I do admire those who have the drive and stamina to run one. However, most have the comparison to others as part of the reason for running.
So what is “wrong” with competition? First of all, there is nothing “wrong” with anything. It is simply a matter of looking at the intention instead of the action, alone. Let’s look at the saying from Kris Duffy. “It’s not the what, it is the why?”
If a business is trying to make a better car, one that is more efficient and safer to drive and they are looking for bright new ideas to help with that goal; great. But we know the multitude of stories where the rush to market or the need to be better than the other car company overshadows the goals of simply using less fuel and being able to brake on slick roads faster. Sometimes this leads to cutting corners on the quality of the product or mistreatment of employees. The need to have higher revenues or get to market sooner than other companies to undercut their share of the market is too prevalent to be ignored.
Competition is an All-American ideal that allows us to be divided into different camps / teams / parties instead of being united to pursue “the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” as our forbearers wrote in the Declaration of Independence.
When we are holding Divine Non-Judgment, our goal is the altruist goal of being the best we can be without making another feel less and without lauding our success or “score” over anyone else. We can be in the perfect balance point between arrogance and the belief of ourselves as unworthy. In Divine Non-Judgment, if we were to run the marathon it would be to feel alive, to know we can set a goal and achieve it, to better our own fitness level without being discouraged if we are the last one to cross the line or even if we don’t cross the finish line at all. We would see the journey and the experience as the goal, not the finish line.
Sticking to athletics as our example, some like to look at the Olympics as a wonderful way to unite all the world’s nations through competition where cultural exchanges will bring the nations closer together. If that were truly the intention (“The Why”) then the daily medal count would instead be the “friends made” count or “better understanding of another’s point of view” count.
We may look at some of the events and say, “Wow, I just want to see Usain Bolt run fast. I don’t care that he isn’t from the same country as me.” Or “I don’t mind that there are no American teams left in the Pairs Skating finals, I just want to see some beautiful and talented performances.” And of course, all of that is probably true…as long as the daily medal count doesn’t reflect too badly on my particular country!
These same ideas can be applied to high school sports, little league teams, college, and professional teams. The joy of playing well in order to help with our mental, emotional and physical wellbeing and to lessen our stress level is not usually the goal in organized sports. It is about winning and for college and professional teams, about the money and sponsorship potential.
Ultimately, the competition keeps us in separation from each other. It also keeps us looking at the illusion and believing what we see in the illusion is what is valuable and real. Instead of looking at the illusion to see what we still need to heal in order to continue to evolve.
We can set our intention for 2016 to eliminate the judgment of competition and come into the Oneness of knowing we are all worthy and we are all Source.
by Lori | Nov 28, 2015 | Blog
It is that time of year, again. The time when all of us start to scratch our heads as to what gifts we can get for our families! If you are like my family, where my brother, sister, and I start to email each other at this time of year to see what we should buy for our parents for Christmas, for their anniversary (which is in December) and for Mom’s birthday (which is in January). We are defaulting to our usual gifts for them (flowers for the anniversary, gift card to the local hardware store and to Olive Garden, etc.) Every once-in-awhile we come up with something a little more off the beaten path, but the standbys are standbys because we know they will enjoy them. The rest of my family’s gifts are equally easy and appreciated and my husband and I usually give each other a few nights at a ski resort for our gift to each other.
With my family Christmas shopping list filled out and it isn’t yet December, I have some time to ponder what I could be giving to the other beings that are important to me. I am being guided to send distance healing to the other entities who matter to me whether I know them personally or not.
The true gift of energy healing is the ability to send it to those people, plants, animals and situations around the world who may not even know they are open to receive the benefits of the higher vibrations. The miracle of the energy healing is being able to send Reiki or other energy modalities to a whole group at one time. Maybe you are guided to send energy to all the children of the world, or all the water (ocean, seas, lakes, glaciers and even the water within our bodies) or to all the world leaders, all who vote for the world leaders, and all who are in systems where voting is not how the government is formed.
In the Reiki energy tradition, a person learns how to send Reiki at distance using the symbols learned in Reiki II and in other advanced classes. In Eminent Reiki™, we are taught that you can ask The Reiki Masters to help you send energy to whatever group or situation you would like to send it to regardless if you have not yet taken Reiki II. Eminent Reiki™ also teaches that you can ask The Reiki Masters to help you set programs to repeat the sending of the energy as you are guided at specific intervals, say every three hours for four days, etc. Other modalities have techniques for sending energy to each other and situations all around the world, too.
Don’t let a lack of formal training stop you sending higher vibration energy like love, joy, peace and goodwill to whomever and whatever you are guided to send it. If you like working with a particular ascended master or with an Archangel, you can ask them to help you send higher vibration energy to loved ones or world situations. Because we are all part of the Oneness, you can simply tap into the energy all around and ask how best to send love, joy, peace and goodwill to all who need it, regardless of any particular technique. There is no way to do this incorrectly! There are many paths, many modalities and many customs that are forms of healing that are available to us all.
Finally, since we are part of the Oneness from which everything stems, the most intrinsic way we can help heal Mother Earth, our brothers and sisters around the world and all the situations we see playing out locally and globally, is to heal ourselves. This year, give yourself the gift of self energy healing, in order to have more energy leftover to send to others but more importantly because raising your own vibration will raise the vibration of all those with whom you are connected and with whom you are One, which is everyone and everything. Energy healing is the gift that keeps on giving. I urge you to expand your gift giving list to include this wonderful present for us all.
by Lori | Oct 26, 2015 | Blog
Here in the United States, we are currently seeing some of the more colorful human traits played out every day on our TV screens as at least 17 people vie to be the next president. Trying to embody Shakespeare’s words from As You Like It, that “all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players,” might be the way to allow and detach from the frenetic pace of dialogue between various candidates. If we can see the stage for what it is, a mirror to our own issues, then we can look to what messages we need for ourselves and aid our own enlightenment.
One of the issues that is definitely being played on this stage that may have mirrors for us, or that pushes our buttons, is the idea of arrogance. The term “arrogance” and the superlative of “best” have definitely been bandied about this election cycle.
In order to look at what we might learn from the discussion around arrogance, we may want to first look at the word humility and the strength and peace that can be found in perfect humility.
Humility is a word most of us would not associate with strength or peace, but in its truest sense, in its divine sense, the feeling state of divine humility carries power, ease, and a sense of self of who you truly are as a creator and co-creator with All That Is.
In English, many of us think of the word “humility” in a negative way. Instead of humility, which is a noun and which most dictionaries define as “the state of being humble”, we confuse the meaning with the verb “humiliate” which means to cause a person a painful loss of pride, self-respect or dignity, or to mortify.
Being humble is all about being and feeling modest. It is free of vanity, egotism, arrogance, boastfulness, or great pretenses. None of these words imply that you have no strength or power when you are humble and modest. These words have more to do with how you speak, act, or feel about yourself than it does about your talent or proclivities and what you have to offer the world.
In true humility, you stand at the balance point of knowing you are powerful, but knowing everyone else has equal potential for knowing and feeling their own power, too. The Master who holds humility in perfect balance does not feel him/herself as better than another, nor does he/she feel lesser than anyone else, either. We are all unique expressions of Source / The All That Is. It is impossible to be more or less unique; to be more or less All That Is. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, “unique” is an absolute which we all are! All are unique which just means all of us are different, but not lesser or greater. Simply unique. The Master who knows that can speak to his or her qualities, proclivities, abilities, and what his/her service is without making another person wrong or belittling the other person.
In true humility, the Master is neither arrogant nor falsely modest; the two opposite sides of the pendulum swing. When you know who you truly are and feel comfortable in your own skin, the sense of peace and well-being will be transformational. Try the ultimate litmus test—watch some of the presidential debates. If you are able to see yourself as the Divine Being and the Divine Light that you are, and see each of the candidates as the Divine Being and Divine Light that they are, then you have probably mastered Divine Humility. You don’t have to agree with the candidates, you just need to not make them wrong for holding the opinions they hold or explaining their opinions in a way you wouldn’t explain it.
Standing in my own humility, I can tell you that I have not yet reached this level of mastery! I strive for it and am positive that finding this level of mastery, this level of strength and peace through Divine Humility, is possible while still walking on this beautiful stage we call Earth! But, I am not there, yet!
President Teddy Roosevelt is credited with saying: “speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” I would paraphrase by saying: speak softly and carry a true sense of self; you will be unlimited.
