“Nothing needs to be fixed. Everything is unfolding perfectly. So, when you stand in your now, accepting that all is well, then from that vibration you become surrounded by more and more evidence that all is well.”
-Abraham-Hicks
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Sometimes life is uncomfortable, even painful. Sometimes we struggle and feel like we need to fix the parts of ourselves that feel broken. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were some kind of spiritual repair shop where we could drop off our egos and come back in a week to bring home a newly refurbished, fixed self?

 Sounds great right? Well, maybe there is... 

​OK, let’s look a little more closely at the form-list from God’s Repair Shop and what it means.
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I understand that it is my own perceptions about things that create struggle and pain in my life.

When we are in pain, struggling emotionally, most of us want to fix what we perceive as our broken selves. But are we actually broken? Do we need fixing? Or is this a soul-level opportunity for expansion signaling a need for a change in perception?

I understand that I make it hard for myself when I take too much responsibility for the aspects of my life which feel broken by thinking it is my job to fix them.

As we encounter discomfort in our lives, we often assume that it is up to us to make it better and fix it. After all, ego thinks, who else is going to do it? But that is like putting the cart before the horse. We’ll go nowhere fast. The more we try to fix what we think is broken, the more broken it feels. Our egos just aren’t equipped for the job.

 I acknowledge that I am ready to make a different choice.

The first step to change is awareness. We acknowledge that when we are in pain and discomfort, we have the opportunity for soul-growth. We have the opportunity to make a different choice.  

I acknowledge that I don’t have to know how to do that.

The beauty of this is, we don’t have to know how or what to change  because God knows what needs to be done. We make the choice to turn the whole situation over to God. We let go of trying to fix anything. As we do that, we open the door for our Spiritual Support Team to guide us through solutions and answers that will make real change possible in our lives.

​When you turn over your worries, and their attendant need to fix and control, to God, asking Spirit to be an active participant in your life, you may discover something wonderful.

You can relax. You may feel creative energy flowing and creative ideas popping into your mind. You may find that smiles and laughter come easily and naturally. Humor bubbles up spontaneously. You feel appreciative, grateful and loving.

All this from making a simple request  and a little change of perspective.

“No man ever steps into the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.”
-Heraclitus

How do you feel about change? Do you love the adventure of it? Or do you fear it, feeling safer if things stay pretty much the same? Do you struggle to maintain the status quo in your life, opting for security rather than the open window of change? A lot of us do. Yet change happens. It’s part of life. Every day you’re a different person and things are changing all around you. How do you deal with that?

 If life’s inevitable changes feel scary to you, this might help.
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This morning I woke before dawn, intending to get up early, but one more minute of warm comfort led to the next and I stayed in bed. Lying on my back, legs outstretched, I fell into that luxurious state in which I don’t really feel my body. My thoughts drifted.

I focused attention upon my breath, just breathing in and out.  The thought came that God is ever moving, like the breath, like the air all around us. God is like the ocean, ever changing, ever the same. You can watch the ocean every day for a lifetime and it will be different every day, you will see different things every day. Yet it is always the ocean.

Another idea came in and I saw an image of a rainbow-colored slick of oil on water, constantly in motion, ever changing its design, yet always the same in its changeability. You can look at one small section of it and it looks different every time. But if you look at the whole, it is the same in its constant variability.

The only constant is change and so, as sparks of God, our lives are filled with change. That is where the expansion, growth and learning take place.  Our smaller selves look for things to stay the same, wanting to stay safe and secure. We may even convince ourselves that the devil we know is safer than the angel we do not. Yet there is no growth, no expansion in the comfort zone of safety and security.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” – Alphonse Karr
 
Just as the ocean is always the ocean, even as the waves move constantly, the color shifts from grey to blue to turquoise to black, the surface roils in white frothed violence one day and undulates gently another, and the life therein thrives and dies, so our daily lives change constantly. Yet our essence, our soul, is eternal. That then must be the way to navigate change with grace, flow and ease, by focusing on the eternal soul, the constancy of God and Spirit.

That idea does sound good. But how do we actually do that when we are shoved unwilling out of our cozy, comfort zones by the inevitable changes that rampage through our lives?

Your beliefs and attitudes concerning change naturally affect how you experience change. Having beliefs and attitudes that support you can make all the difference the next time scary change blows through your life. 

If you find that flowing with the inevitable change in your life is difficult, take a look at your beliefs concerning change. Do they support you? If not, consider where you may make a few adjustments. Check out today’s Spiritual Toolbox for some suggestions.

The Pre-Socratic philosopher, Heraclitus said, “Life is flux,” meaning that all things in life change. That is to say, the only constant thing in life is change. Knowing this, it makes sense for each of us to create a personal belief system that supports us through the changes, large and small, giving us the resilience of a flexible palm tree weathering each storm that passes through.

Photo by Fernando Brasil on Unsplash
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“Not just one day, but all three hundred and sixty-five days of the year should be filled with joy. Our entire lives should become a festival! Spirituality teaches us the way to accomplish this. For this surrender to take place, total refuge in the Supreme Being is required.”
-Mata Amritanandamayi, Amma’s Pearls of Wisdom
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This is such a powerful teaching, given by the amazing humanitarian and spiritual teacher, Amma. The one known as the Hugging Saint. Since 1975 she has traveled around the world individually hugging millions and millions of people, spreading her message of love and compassion. But what does this teaching mean for our daily lives?

When I read this teaching for the first time, I hadn’t gotten through more than the first two sentences before my mind piped up, “Right, my entire life a festival, three hundred and sixty-five days a year filled with joy. How am I supposed to make that happen?” Then I read on, and the word ‘surrender’ jumped out at me. Amma says joy is the result of surrender. What does surrender mean? To me it means releasing my agenda. Releasing any idea that I am the one in control. It means letting go of ego determined desires, plans, ideas, agendas. Surrender is all about letting go of the ego.

I look out the window, leaving my writing for a moment. I see a gray sky, shading darker, now lighter at the horizon with blue peeking through, as the wind moves the blanket of cloud along. I see the swaying, bare brown branches of the oaks, their lichen covered bark skins, pale green in the overcast, morning light. A single, orange leaf waves at the sky from the tip of a branch. Tiny v’s of terns pass high overhead on their way to the life-giving river flowing behind our home. All of it, an expression of the Supreme Being, our Source.

My attention drifts along the wall to my vision board. Here too I see the bare branches of a tree. It is my own tree of life, its branches filled with what I desire in my life. How do I know if these are the desires of my ego wanting to control, or the desires of my soul in alignment with Source, in surrender?

I return to Amma’s teaching and read on – ‘total refuge in the Supreme Being is required.’ Total refuge, the image that brings to mind is of a child huddling under a large umbrella, dry, safe, surrounded on all sides by a downpour. Safety, support, guidance, being totally cared for, this is what refuge means to me.

At the center top of my vision board is an image of a waterfall, and on it are written the words, “I joyfully trust God.” I wonder now, why would any of us choose to do anything else? Why wouldn’t we choose the joy that comes from trusting God, taking refuge in the Supreme Being, surrendering our egoic desire for control?

Where does this desire for control come from anyway? Life experience tells me that it comes from a child’s need for safety and love in a world that feels like a downpour of fear. This child seeks refuge outside herself, in those around her, and when they cannot give her what she needs, she seeks refuge in trying to control her world in whatever way seems to work for her. This can only succeed for a little while, but the pattern of seeking refuge by trying to control the outside world is set, and she will just keep trying harder and harder to control. This little girl is doing the best that she can with what she knows. Sound familiar?

It doesn’t work of course. The little girl becomes a woman, still seeking refuge, still trying to control her outside world, until finally, feeling like she is drowning in the rain of fear, she gives up. She knows that what she has been doing all these years hasn’t worked. She surrenders and in doing so she opens the door to Spirit.

The difficult piece now is, keeping the door open. Like a well-trained dog the mind keeps charging down the old pathways, looking for refuge somewhere in the outside world. The mind forgets that there is a better path, a path that clears the storm clouds and brings out the sunny skies of joy.

I look out the window again and fluffy white clouds scud along a bright blue sky. Sunlight shines on bright green lichen covered branches, dancing in the wind. The trees know nothing of trying to control the elements. The trees know only surrender to what is, living in the joy of taking refuge in the Supreme Being. They know no other way. I think I’ll take a hint from the trees. I think I’ll take Amma’s advice and allow the blue skies of joy to shine on me today. How about you?

“If you allow yourself to expect guidance, guidance will show up.”    
 - Richard Bartlett 

A few years ago, I took a class on reading Tarot cards from my spiritual mentor. It was not your usual class because she was not your average teacher.

She saw guidance from Spirit all around, everywhere she looked, and she taught her lucky students to do the same, starting with Tarot cards.

We learned in that Tarot class to pay attention to what jumped out at us from the pictures on the cards. She taught us to look carefully at the card and then close our eyes, noticing what appeared to us in our mind’s eye from the card.

Then we analyzed the metaphor of the symbol of the picture that appeared in our mind’s eye. What did it symbolize to us?

I was delighted to spend time with my spiritual teacher as she pointed out symbols and messages from Spirit throughout the day, a license plate number that had special meaning to her, a particular weather pattern, the unexpected behavior of a bird or animal, these all contained messages to her from Spirit.  

It could be anything in the environment that caught her attention. She expected guidance to be all around her.

Symbols and metaphors are the language of the subconscious, the superconscious, and Spirit. They are the language of the heart.

What we find ourselves paying attention to in our environment is a message, a symbol, guidance from our intuitive inner Selves. That part of ourselves that is aligned with Spirit.

But here’s the hard part for me - just as with interpreting the Tarot, we need to discern the difference between what our minds are paying attention to and what our hearts are guiding us toward.

Our minds pay attention to ‘to do’ lists, judgments, self-criticism, our inner chatterbox. Our hearts pay attention to wholeness, balance and trust. We're looking for the heart's guidance.

What does your heart tell you is needed to be in your wholeness today? Guidance from Spirit is all around you, like the symbols on the Tarot cards, written in the symbolic language of the heart.

“Let go of what you think you know. Something amazing happens when you let God and trust.”
Tammy L. Kubasko
 
God’s timing is not always our timing. The thing is, it can be difficult to trust in God’s timing.

I used to visit a care facility for Alzheimer’s and dementia residents each week with my dog, Goldie. The folks we visited with sat or walked about in the living room area of the buildings and enjoyed patting Goldie and talking about the dogs they had when they were young. Even many of those that were non-verbal still seemed to enjoy looking at her and touching her soft fur.

One day, there was a new patient. He was disoriented and upset, calling for help. A very elderly gentleman, he wanted nothing to do with Goldie or me, and continued desperately calling for help. When staff responded, he just kept saying, “Help! I need help! I need to get out of here. I don’t know what to do.” My heart went out to him. I prayed for him to have the support he needed and feel peace.

I found his distress upsetting. Yet, I’ve discovered that when I have an experience that triggers me like that, it's an opportunity for healing and learning.

That night I had a dream in which I woke up in a small airport waiting room. I was disoriented, not knowing how I got there, and anxious because I knew I was there to catch a flight but didn’t know what flight to get on. What if they called my flight and I missed it? I needed help. I didn’t know how to help myself, and I didn’t know if others could help me. It was a frightening dream.

Still, it gave me insight into how the new patient in the care facility was feeling. For him, he was in a strange, public place. He didn’t know where he was going or when he would go home. The bewildered gentleman didn’t even remember how he got to that place. He just woke up there. It was all terribly upsetting to him. He felt so helpless.

It was all in God’s hands.

How many of us are in similar circumstances, too anxious to trust God’s timing? Thinking that we are in charge, that we should take control and force things to happen, and afraid because we don’t know what to do or how to do it. Or, even more difficult, we are unwilling to surrender to God’s timing and so are in a constant struggle against it?

What if we could ask God for what we want and then surrender all else? What if our job is to show up each day and allow God to move in our lives, guiding us to what we need to do to go where we want to go? Wouldn’t that be peaceful? Wouldn’t that be a relief?

What is required is trust in God’s timing. Trust that God will show up for us. Trust that God will make the signs clear enough that we are able to interpret them and know how to go where we want to go. Trust that we are worthy in God’s eyes to receive what it is that we want.

I’ve had the idea that I’ve somehow got to make what I want happen, forcing the energy along through my focused, positive attention.

The word ‘forced’ here is the key. The need to force indicates fear.

There is no forcing with allowing, there is only surrender, releasing to God, to our Higher Selves, and trusting.

As I wrote this my daughter called saying that whenever I was ready, she could start upcoming web site changes from the road. This is part of what I’ve chosen to manifest. I expected to start when she got back home in two weeks. Yet, here she was saying that she was inspired to start right now. She's a tuned in gal. 

God’s timing is not our timing, sometimes it’s even sooner than we expect!  

“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”    
Christopher Reeve
 
This is the first of the Soul Doors series on manifesting. It is the result of my research and experimentation, and the results are quite simple and straight forward.

Each of the posts will contain a manifesting technique that you may use separately or all together. They build one upon another and each adds more oomph to your manifesting.

I’ll be sharing some of my own experience with this process, including both the pluses and the minuses as I go through this process again with you. Fears and doubts come up. Life happens. We can support each other by doing this together.
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So, what comes first to manifest? Deciding what you want of course!

The first step is to allow yourself to dream, to believe that what you most want is possible.

God is within each one of us, present as our inner knowing. God within speaks to us through our imagination, our dreams and our deepest longings. We intuitively know what is the best direction for us, the direction that will fulfill our dreams, if we will allow ourselves the quiet time to access that knowing.

Still, it is one thing to trust God in an abstract, “I believe in something larger than myself out there,” sort of way, and quite another to trust God within oneself.

God within oneself is attainable and accessible. God within oneself is a part of your daily life. Guidance and support are there for the asking and the willingness to believe it is possible. You start to believe that your desires are possible and your goals are attainable.

However, along with accepting and trusting your God within comes the necessity of taking responsibility for the direction of your life. You choose the path. You create the action. You choose what you think. You choose how you feel about what happens. You choose. You choose. You choose.

Wouldn’t it be easier to just allow life to happen to you? Maybe, but it’s not nearly as much fun!

In denying your own dreams you fragment yourself from your source of power, your imagination.

Your imagination is the conduit whereby God, your Higher Self, your inner knowing communicates. In your imagination are the seeds of intuitive guidance letting you know the next step toward your dreams.

It may feel like a gentle tug on your attention, or it may feel like a yearning desire. Sometimes you’ll have pictures in your mind, or just a feeling, a direction you want to move in. It may come as a dream during sleep time that fills you with longing, or a lightbulb moment when an idea flashes into your awareness. It may come as a series of synchronistic events guiding you toward what you want.

Be aware of guidance from within. Pay attention to hints and synchronicities in your outer world. Attune to your imagination. Stay open and allow your dreams and longings.

Today’s Spiritual Toolbox is about using day-dreaming as a way to clarify what your inner knowing is telling you, opening you to your dreams. I hope you enjoy it!

BTW, if you have any questions or have anything you’d like to share about your experiences with manifesting, I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below. 

“Belief will open the door, faith will help you see the light, but trust will lead you to the promised land.” 
― Charles F. Glassman, Brain Drain The Breakthrough That Will Change Your Life

I woke that morning feeling good. My husband, Peter was already up. I could hear the clatter of pans in the kitchen.

“Dadu! Dadu!” Eden’s high, excited voice carried from upstairs, calling his grandfather.

My daughter and grandchildren were staying with us. I could hear giggles from Sophia and Eden as they ran down the stairs.

Heavier, more purposeful steps sounded from the bedroom overhead and then down the stairs and moving toward the kitchen.

‘Everyone’s up. I’d better get out there,’ I thought. I felt the need to rush out to the kitchen, take charge and make sure that everyone was happy and cared for. It weighed on me. I felt my morning glow dim.

‘Wait,’ I remembered, ‘Trust God.’

With that I decided to trust that everyone would be fine if I took the time I needed to feel ready for the day. I stretched luxuriantly under my down comforter and relaxed in bed for another few minutes.

‘Trust God,’ I reminded myself again with a smile, as I got out of bed and pulled the bed clothes up and arranged the pillows. I chose clothes for the day and went into the bathroom. Twenty minutes later I emerged fully dressed, hair still wet and walked into the kitchen, feeling great.

Eden came running to greet me.
“Good morning my Lovie,” I said.

“Mima! Wha’ happen to you hair?” Eden gestured wildly at my head with both arms, his eyes opened wide in surprise.

I knelt down in front of him, laughing.
“It’s still wet from the shower. Here, feel it.”
Eden touched the back of my head. “Wet!”

“I’ll dry it after breakfast. Did you have breakfast already?”
He nodded solemnly.

“What did you have?”
Eden leaned into my arms smiling and said, “Pea-but ‘n jel.”

Alexandar, the youngest, turned from where he was exploring the contents of a kitchen cabinet and crawled rapidly toward Eden and I. As soon as he was within grabbing distance, he pulled himself upright and leaned into me, fussing to be picked up. I put an arm around him and pulled him close.

“Mima, want to see the drawing I’m making? It’s a sun and it has teeth. See? Teeth,” said six year old Sophia, proudly holding up her picture from where she sat at the kitchen counter and looking at it.

“Turn it around, Honey, so I can see it.”
Sophia turned the picture around and I admired the sun with teeth.

“Mom, could you take the baby while I get the kids dressed? I’ve got to be in town at 9,” asked Ana.

“Sophia! Eden! Upstairs!” She said as she headed to the stairs.

“Sure, I'll grab some breakfast and he can share it with me,” I answered to Ana’s retreating back.
 “Peter? Can you hold him while I get some food?”

“Eggs in the oven,” said Peter absently. He reached for the baby from where he sat in the wing chair by the patio door, the sleeve on his fuzzy bathrobe slipping down his arm. He held his phone in his other hand studying it intently. Then he put the phone down on the table next to the chair and sat Alexandar on his knees.

“Hey Buddy!” He bounced the baby on his knees and Alexandar smiled. He bounced him some more and Alexandar laughed then threw himself at his grandfather hugging him fiercely.

I reached into the oven, gratefully retrieving the plate of scrambled eggs and poured myself some tea, carrying both over to the table.

“I’ll just get a spoon, then I can take him.”

With baby and spoons I sat at the table. Alexandar leaned from my lap reaching for the plate of eggs. I spooned up a small bite and evading his grasping hands touched it to his lips. He opened his mouth slowly and allowed the bite entry.

“Good huh?”

Alexandar swallowed and reached again for the plate. I put another  bite of eggs on the spoon. He ate the eggs and reached out for more. I put the spoon in his hand with a small amount of egg. He stuffed it into his mouth.

I took a bite of eggs for myself and Alexandar watched the spoon all the way from the plate to my mouth, looking at first hopeful and then disappointed.

Smiling, I gave him another bite, and sipped my tea. We continued in this way until the plate was clean.

“Let’s get you cleaned up now so you can go with Mummy.”

Shortly thereafter, Alexandar was happily scrambling up the stairs with me close behind.

“We’re just ready Mom. I’ll be right down,” called Ana from the guestroom.

Sophia appeared at the top of the stairs, looking pretty in matching pink pants and top. She joined me with Alexandar half-way down the stairs.

“Hi there, pretty girl! Ready to go?”

“Uh-huh, but I just have to get my book,” said Sophia, already racing back up the stairs.

Eden appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed and flying a small, wooden airplane through the air.

“OK, let’s go everyone!” Said Ana arriving beside Eden and scooping up the baby from where he had reached the top of the stairs.

The four of them thudded down the stairs and trooped out the front door.

“Bye Mima! Bye Dadu!”

“Bye,” yelled Peter from the next room.
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“Have a good day!” I answered, settling myself on the bottom step.
​
“Trust God indeed,” I sighed,  a smile playing about my lips.

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“Tie your camel and place your trust in Allah.”
 - Muhammed, founder of Islam
 
Have you heard this ancient saying attributed to the prophet Muhammed?  The story is that Muhammed saw a Bedouin leaving his camel without tethering it and asked him why he was doing this. The Bedouin replied that he was placing his trust in Allah and had no need to tie the camel. The prophet Muhammed then replied, “Tie your camel and place your trust in Allah.”
 
What does this mean for us in our Western lives?
 
The other night I had a dream in which I was desperately seeking what it was I needed and I was unable to find it. It was unpleasant, I can tell you. Analyzing it afterward, I realized that I was feeling fearful about having what I needed for comfort and nutrition on our upcoming trips.  
 
Does this mean that I don’t trust God to provide what I need? Would careful planning and packing be a fear-based action or a love-based action?
 
Oh, the woes of self-questioning!
 
As I worried about it, the above quote came to mind, only I remembered it like this, “Trust God but tie your camel.”
 
I love how guidance comes. This time it was a gentle reminder in the form of a misquote.
 
Worded like that it implies that I did not trust God to provide what I needed.
 
I looked it up on-line and the quote is better translated as “Tie your camel and trust God.”
 
That implies action on my part and then allowing God to do the rest. The former is a fear-based translation, the latter, love-based. The difference is very important.
 
The action looks the same either way, the motivation is very different.
 
I strive to learn to take action motivated by love. Therefore, I choose to tie my camel and trust God. I choose to do my best and leave the rest up to God. I choose to take action over what I have control of and plan and pack what I feel I need. Then I choose to let go and invite God in, knowing I am supported by my own efforts and by God. 
 
There is a saying, often attributed to Benjamin Franklin.
“God helps those who help themselves.”
 
We can lovingly do what is there for us to do, and then let go of all else, leaving room for God to enter in. We can do our part and we can trust God.

“Be willing to dare different things and try different things. Comfort zone and rut are synonymous.  There is nothing wrong with being comfortable, but when you get stuck in a comfort zone you are in a rut.”
-Red Feather
 
Inspired by Michael A. Singer’s The Surrender Experiment, (see the previous post below in Trust God, “Say Yes!”) I read Untethered Soul, also by Michael A. Singer. Once again I was challenged to open myself and grow even further. Though Untethered Soul was written before The Surrender Experiment the order in which the books came to me was exactly right.

Untethered Soul extends the teachings from The Surrender Experiment into staying open in every situation that feels uncomfortable, observing your discomfort, allowing the discomfort, feeling it, breathing through it and releasing it. Staying with the situation, no running away, no hiding, no avoidance, no protection, no closing off, only observing, experiencing and releasing. Saying, "Yes," to keeping your heart open.

Just reading about it at first brought up fear for me. That’s understandable. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to avoid and protect myself from emotional discomfort. Yet in doing so I’ve locked up my heart, imprisoning myself in order to feel safe, effectively shutting off my heart energy in many areas of my life.

After reading Untethered Soul, I chose to say, “Yes,” to moving through those layers of fear in which I hid from pain, tried to fix events, tried to protect my sensitive self, and avoided emotional discomfort in my life.

​It is freedom I seek, freedom above all else. Emotional freedom, mental freedom, physical freedom and spiritual freedom. The wisdom in this book showed me the next step to that freedom.

This morning my heart opens to a feeling of excitement for what Life will bring me today. I choose to free myself by accepting, saying “Yes,” allowing myself to push my comfort envelope. That sense of excitement is about opening to freedom, the freedom to say, “Yes!” to life and all it offers.

How often have I been reminded of Red Feather saying that comfort is synonymous with being in a rut? Pushing one’s comfort envelope is where our growth is. Apparently, it doesn’t even have to be a big push, just one small, “yes,” at a time, allowing something new into your life or allowing yourself to breathe through a fear.

I’ve been practicing, amazed to discover how many times each day I feel that little twinge of constriction in my chest that signals a fear response. I had no idea fear was so much a part of my daily life. When fear pops up my mind gets busy explaining it to me and what I need to do to fix it. But rather than listening, I focus upon observing the sensation, just noticing that it is there without judgment. I breathe deeply into that feeling in my chest, consciously breathing in relaxation, and letting the sensation of fear go on each out breath. Sometimes it releases on one breath, sometimes more. I stay with it, breathing and relaxing until once more I feel at ease.

​When I travel someplace new, taking in new sights, smells, tastes, doing new things, it gives me a feeling of excitement, a sense of aliveness. I thought I had to travel to experience that. Not so.  I can experience that every day just by saying, “Yes.”

We can all experience that excitement, that aliveness, that love. Every day can be a day of discovery, experiencing new things and growing into freedom as we keep our hearts open.