Spiritual Guides

The other day I was talking with a friend about the money-related details of my life like selling my house, building a business and so on.  I caught myself saying:  "I don't know how to DO this shit.  I need a coach or something."  Later I was  watching TV and noticed that a man, working with a movie star, called himself a "sobriety coach."

I began to think about spirituality and the complex simplicity of being in its flow.  I realized that many of us need or want a guide or coach for various things.  It's like having a good friend or fellow traveler.  In some cultures and in some eras, people HAD medicine men or women.  They were drawn to those who could help them and it wasn't shameful.  It was honorable to have a spirit guide; it was part of life's normal process.

Several years ago, in a Reiki session, I had a past-life experience and saw myself as a medicine woman living on a lake at the edge of a Native American tribe.  Since then, I've been doing everything I can to prepare myself for that role.

What IS that role?  It's giving voice to the inner wisdom of others.  In our culture, the closest thing to it is the life coach function or calling.  The spiritual guide, like the life coach, does not tell you what to do or what path to follow.  The spiritual guide listens with an open heart and hears the voice of your soul.  The spiritual guide highlights "soul moments" as they appear in your sharings and helps you see the spiritual path unrolling in front of you.

I offer my service as a spiritual guide to you, my readers.  Please contact me and accept my offer of a complementary phone session.  Email me at anneclarice1@gmail.com or go to my website beyondyourfearcoaching.com

Roxie

Mayhem and the Big Dude

I tend to think feelings are truth!  I've learned to check myself and notice they are a passing show and often have no relationship to facts or truth.  For example, someone tagged me on Facebook and made what seemed like a judgmental comment.  I felt outrage!  I wanted to blast this person back, skewer her with sarcasm.  What's up with that?  Where are feelings in the bigger picture of spirituality?

Another time, my brother noticed that I was bashing the Michigan State football team (being a Michigan fan) and just below that I had posted a Buddhist statement about accepting all comers, something like that.  My "fan" feelings seemed to contradict my Buddhist beliefs.  Why IS that?  Why were we even given feelings?  What is their spiritual purpose?

Checking out the cartoon I posted just below, I wonder if the Universe has a wicked sense of humor.  Can't you just hear some minor god begging the Big Dude as follows?  "Oh, c'mon.  Let me stir things up a bit.  These humans think they're so important and smart; let me give them, I don't know, some kind of inner gadget that messes up their thinking and makes them do ridiculous things.  What d'ya say, Big Dude?"  Obviously, the Big Dude said yes and here we are stuck with the ebb and flow, face it, sometimes the MAYHEM of feelings.

As a result of feelings, I tend to think I'm in a state of grace when I feel serene and connected.  Most of my friends see it that way too.  What if feeling serenity has nothing to do with my overall spiritual health?  I'm pondering this because 10 minutes later I can be livid at my dog because it ate my ham sandwich.  Serenity and anger are both feelings, right?  Why is one considered "better" in the spiritual world?  I think about the Course in Miracles staple that you can't feel love and fear at the same time and, of course, its belief that love is the greater state of being.  Is that true?  Or, are feelings just the passing show and pretty much unrelated to spirituality?

When I look around me at the Universe, I see diversity which runs on a spectrum from decay to birth.  Even black holes are now shown to spew creative elements back into the universe whereas they were previously seen as only sucking energy our of the universe.  Everything seems to be on a cycle of decay, death, rebirth.  So, one is not greater than the other, just another face of the whole.  I wonder if feelings are like that.  They, too, seem to cycle around from serenity/joy to fear/anger and everywhere in between.  Our human need to judge and compare makes us decide that one set is better than the other

Somehow, we get from there to equating positive emotions with spirituality and "negative" emotions with chaos that ought to be gotten rid of.  Yet, the Universe seems to encompass all with equanimity.  Possibly emotions of all kinds are gateways or lessons to spirituality and are not to be confused with spirituality itself.  Serenity feels wonderful but it isn't the God.  Fear feels terrible but it isn't some demon to be exorcised.  Maybe I could see my ever-changing feelings as elixirs on the spiritual journey.  A flask of serenity now and then can renew my commitment to the spiritual journey.  Truth be told, a bit of terror in the old wineskin can renew it in a different way.

This needs more thought.  Any ideas, my readers?  Roxie

It's a Re-Mix, Baby!

Seriously, need I say more?

Particles, Waves, Tide, The Ocean, Baby!

I've always had a mad jealous streak quite at odds with my theories of spirituality.  I felt like I had been dealt a raw hand by the Big Dude or whatever.  This feeling that I had been cheated allowed me to covet what others had and also to cut corners myself.  I figured since no one seemed to have my back, as the saying goes, I had to do whatever it took for me to survive.

Fast forward many years.  Last week, I faced my jealousy head on.  I was visiting my best friend for several days.  She has a perfect home, the perfect modern family, a successful marriage, and abundance in every aspect of her life.  Grandchildren!  Grown children who are happy and successful and who come to her for cozy conversation.  A job she loves.  No major health issues even though we're about the same age.  Need I go on?

So, there I was ensconced in that picture-perfect home for a few days.  I felt loved, protected, and richly engaged by her spirituality and intelligence.  It came time for me to leave and I was sitting in her picture-perfect family room surrounded by at least a hundred pictures ranging from grandchildren to grandparents.  I felt like an outsider and a big, fat LOSER.  As I sat there quietly, things began to rearrange themselves in my awareness.  Suddenly I saw her as another soul in the universe.  I remembered her origins. I saw her striving to go beyond her family.  I saw the little girl who had to grow up fast and didn't get a chance to play.

I stopped comparing my life to her life and realized I was obsessed with the trappings of life.  The bottom line is the same for both of us--to wake up to the God or whatever that is manifest in our very own selves.  That's it.  That's all.  When I am jealous and lonely, I am like a drop of water in the ocean.  I'm only thinking about that drop.  Once I realize I am part of the ocean, I'm amazed.  My friend is a drop of water and so am I.  It takes many drops of water to build an ocean.  All of us moving in divine harmony make up the tide and waves.  Wow! Roxie