Cold Outside, Warm Inside

If you are a gentle caring person, you may have felt the world closing in on you lately. There is a lot of anger among us and it’s not just the product of the hateful actions of a very few radicals. It also exists in the hearts of people who are aggressive on the highways and in television shows that the entertainment industry creates. It is in the actions of a few greedy corporate executives and it the hateful exchanges of politicians. 

For those of us who are highly intuitive and are dialed into people’s feelings, our “radar” is going crazy as we receive these jagged, nasty messages. We feel like we have no place in a society that seems to worship negativity and discord. Nothing could be further from the truth. We need to remember that in peace there is power. I think of the example of Jesus, forever peaceful, made for all of us. In His own sacrifice he saved us. So often, we forget that we peaceful people can have tremendous influence. We just need to rise above the negativity and exert the strength of our peace.

One of the most peaceful experiences that I have had, in addition to prayer, is the healing practice of transcendental meditation (TM). I was trained in TM in the 70s and have done it (or I should say have tried to do it!) since then. But, it was only recently that I began to understand the power of mass meditation or prayer in defeating regional conflicts.

There is a great article in the online magazine, Positive News from the UK (http://positivenews.org.uk/2011/wellbeing/spirit/4065/could-the-military-use-meditation-to-create-peace/ ) that presents examples of the healing influence that thousands of meditators had on an area, and how there is a consideration for the military to use these same techniques. It supports the notion of using TM to “calm international tensions and make every nation free from enemies”. Wouldn't that be amazing!

This is no time to think that you can’t change things. Sure, you can isolate yourselves by turning off the TV and not going online, but all that does is make one less person to take a stand. In our culture, it seems that the loud, negative people get heard. But, instead of being loud and crude, be loud and gentle! Flex your peaceful muscles and pray or meditate together. Show our children who God really made us to be.

Don’t be discouraged. This is a time when peaceful people need to stand together and stand strong. We need to be a massive power of good to diffuse the evil that is trying to rise around us. Speak out in peace. Practice kindness. Pray together. Sing together. Reclaim the warmth in the world!

Surprise!

Do you like to be surprised? Is a surprise something that you think is thrilling, or something that is unexpected, out of no where, and something that throws you for a loop?

I talked to my mother in New Hampshire yesterday and she told me that they got 22 inches of snow over the weekend - in October! She was telling me how it was kind of fun to have something so unexpected happen. Both of my parents are in their 80's, and you wouldn't think that a pile of snow would be fun! When I was watching the news here in the Boston area about people clearing their driveways of 4 inches of snow, you would have thought that their world was coming to an end.

My parents both taught me a long time ago that life will always have surprises - good and bad. As a family we lived though many ups and downs together, but now these many years later we can look back on it and be thankful. I can be thankful because I know that all those ups and downs were a gift that was given to me, to all of us, to prepare us for lives that will never be without surprises.

Too often we try to homogenize our lives and make them as predicable as possible. We have calendars and iPhones to keep us scheduled and on track. We fill up our days with commitments and responsibilities that carry us on a path that never curves, with nothing to trip on or step over.

If God meant us to be so boring and linear, then why did He put so many wonderful distractions around us? The changing of the seasons. The snow storms in the middle of the fall. The stars in the sky. All there to keep us in this world as a part of our surroundings and a part of each other.

So, when you are surprised and shocked out of where you are and what you are doing, take it all in. Look around and see what's there and understand how much joy can be right in front of you that you wouldn't have seen without being shaken out of your inner world. Be thankful for those unplanned events in your life. They are all there to make your life more meaningful and to bring you closer to what's around you.

Surprise! What did you see?

Paying Attention

I’ve heard people say that God never shows them anything that influences their lives. Well, the reason why we don’t hear God and not see the miracles that are by His hand here on earth is that our world is TOO LOUD and we are TOO DISTRACTED by all of the things that we busy ourselves with every day.

Think of it, we are bombarded by noises and visual stimuli all day long, from the moment that we wake up (to your alarm clock) to the television that you watch at night. In between those times are car horns, jets flying overhead, telephones, radios and lots of people to engage with. I won’t even talk about computers, cell phones, PDAs, iPads, etc. My Goodness, where’s the quiet?

The quiet is where God is. You may not be hearing His voice because His voice can’t be heard!

Try this. Whenever you feel most relaxed – could be in the morning, or at night – go to a quiet place. Maybe it’s a room, outside away from the action, a library, etc. Close your eyes and visualize a beautiful landscape, or road in front of you. At the end of that road is a colorful sunset or something that you find calming, but that inspires you. Breathe regularly. Push the stress out through your breath.

After a few minutes, when you feel calm, simply ask God to be with you. I say “I am here, God”; you could choose something different. It’s not praying, or asking God to tell you your purpose. It’s just being there and waiting patiently as you relax. If you don’t sense anything, that’s OK. At least your forming a connection.

God very rarely says something directly to me. But, I’ll hear His words through other people, or see His actions in things that are around me. How many times have you looked at something or seen something and said, “my God, that is beautiful!” Well yes, from God it is beautiful. It was placed there just for you.

So, try it. Try slowing down for God and he will communicate with you. The thing is that He will communicate with you when He’s ready, not necessarily when you ask him to. You have to train yourself to wait for Him. He’ll say something, or do something for you. You just need to be paying attention to what you see and hear.

1 in 5

I wear a wristband that says “1 in 5″ on it. It is from my support of the Pituitary Network Association and I wear it proudly all the time – even in the shower. What it means is that current findings show that one out of every five people suffers from a pituitary tumor of varying size and complexity. Mine happened to be quite large, requiring an involved and lengthy surgery to remove most of it.

I’m typically a pretty private person, but I will always talk openly when people ask me what 1 in 5 means. Without going into a lot of detail I say that I had a benign brain tumor that took away the functioning of my pituitary gland, and now I supplement all of the hormones that the pituitary gland usually produces – ranging from cortisone to testosterone to desmopressin, which controls fluid retention.

I guess that I’m open about it so that people won’t be scared of it, and that they can see that I am still a functioning person that’s capable of doing most of the things that “normal” people do. I want them to feel the strength of believing in yourself and feeling that you can overcome difficult situations. I don’t do it to brag, I just do it to pass on strength.

I also happen to have a Myers Briggs personality type of ENFP – extroverted, intuitive, feeling and perceiving. In this personality classification I am 1 in 14 people. My Goodness, I could get caught up in being so out of the norm, but in reality, I feel special. I feel like God has deliberately challenged me to use who I naturally am to overcome difficult situations and help others to see that they can do it too.

Do you have something that you consider to be special about you? Tell your story. I would love to hear it!