Is It True?

What is true?

If you are anything like me, you believe that what is true is what you believe. What you experience as real and important. Try this one on for size:

Yesterday I had the most unusual day of my life. Nothing was different on the outside; same family, same house, same friends. No life changing event. No newfound opportunities, no crisis moment. Just normal life. 

Oh yes, American Idol is on and Piers Morgan had Simon Cowell! I was more unmotivated than I have ever been. I did not want to talk to my wife, play with my children, or watch TV. I did not want to read or write, pray or meditate. I did not want to call anyone, or work on my website. Nothing. I had no desires. Is that good? I did not know. I was confused.

My wife reminded me: You have birthed a child- your book. “When I gave birth I felt the same way. Don’t make mountains out of mole hills. It’s okay.”

So I sat with the feeling of unmotivated emptiness. Until today.

I woke up feeling exactly the opposite: I wanted to love, give, share, play and live. Where did it come from? Did it matter? Here is the lesson: We are not defined by our experience but by who or what is behind it.

We believe we should believe the days that we feel stressed, unmotivated, resistant, small and struggling as an indication of what we are capable of. We are capable of so much more but it is not through effort, but through opening up to a greater source of our motivation.

What if the only reason for your inertia is the untangling of your ego? Would you then say "yes" to it?

It is a glorious thing to not take ourselves (and our experience) so seriously. Give “it” a try. No matter what “it” is.

Who You Are

Who are you when you strip away all that you think you are?

I recently read a book given to me by a good friend titled "Who You Are" by Jeffrey Kloss. The first thing I did was the read the back cover. Not much there. Well, let's take a look at the "About the Author" section. No "About the Author" section? That's odd. The book was calling me just to read it and in doing so, gave me a glimpse of my soul where I found deep rest.

This experience is in stark contrast to the expert marketing approach I have been learning and trying to live by. I do have an "About the Author" section in my book. Every day I feel like I am not "doing" enough to get my message "out there"; to show my audience that I know what I am talking about, to get them to see me as having answers.

But the world around me is crying out for a brother not a savior. We are in this together. We are witnessing the profound struggles of brave men and women attempting to avert an even greater catastrophe in Japan, in Lybia, in Syria, Yemen- the list goes on and on. Can we look suffering straight in the eye and keep our hearts open to each other? Can I see life with all its uncertainties as the gift that it is? Or am I doomed to get caught up on how many comments are left on my blog, likes on Facebook, reviews on Amazon? I AM so much more than that and so are you. I AM part of all of it- Life, the gift. Not by what I do but because of who I am. I am made worthy to find certainty in the midst of uncertainty, to find peace in the presence of fear and judgment.

As I am writing these words, my seven year old daughter just showed me a note she wrote to her soul.
It reads:
"I got you a gift
when you take it
I do not want to see you
I do not want to hear you
P.S. Have a good night."

To: Sol
From: Sofia


"We started by asking what is wrong with the world and we ended up discovering what is right with it."- From Tom Shadyac, director of a new documentary- I AM.
http://iamthedoc.com/

Doreen Virtue's Super Human Effect Moment

Excerpt from Blog.Beliefnet.com
http://blog.beliefnet.com/angelsonyourshoulder/2010/07/interview-with-doreen-virtue-part-1.html

Susan:  What was your most profound experience with angels?

Doreen Virtue:  Well, it has got to be when my life was saved, and that was on July 15th, 1995.  I was driving to an appointment and before I got in the car I heard this male voice outside my right ear, so not in my head but outside, as if someone was talking to me, and he said, "Doreen, you'd better put the top up on your car or it will be stolen."

I had a car that was a convertible but the motor that controlled the top was broken at the time so there was just no way to put the top up.  And so for some reason, instead of questioning that there was this voice, I argued with it and said, "Well, I can't put the top up" and it just simply repeated this same message over and over again.  And then finally, it said, "Well, have Grant do it."

Grant is my youngest son who was home at that time.  At the time, he was kind of, maybe eleven or twelve, so it was not his voice; this was a full grown man's voice, and he was the only other person in their house, and he was in another room.  And this voice just continued to warn me and I just couldn't put the top up.

So instead, as I was driving to the appointment, I was praying for protection and when I got to my appointment I was jumped by two armed man and they were demanding my purse and my car keys.  I was being car jacked.  And what was remarkable to me was that even though I had argued with this voice and hadn't listened with putting the top up, which would've prevented the whole thing, because the top of my car was just very ugly and no one would've wanted to car jack an ugly car.  So with the top down it was white upholstery, white car, and so it was very flashy.

Even though I had kind of, ignored their warning the voice was still there to protect me and the voice said, this time, "Scream with all your might, Doreen" really clear in my right ear and I just didn't even hesitate.  I just screamed from my gut and the man's eyes, even though he had a gun, got really big.  I was taller than him and I was wearing high heels, so I think, partly, my height and my screams were like a cave woman's scream.  I didn't even realize we had a cave woman in us until this experience.

He backed away but he was still pointing this gun at me and he was motioning for me to give him my car keys and my purse. I just wasn't; partly, because I didn't have theft insurance on my car.

I'm thinking really fast during this.  "God, if he takes this car I don't have the money to get a new car."  So when the angels told me to scream that is what I did and the screams attracted the attention of a woman who... and I always just say, "she just happened to be" because it was no coincidence. She was sitting in her car in the parking lot, eating her lunch and she looked up, saw what was happening and she leaned on her car horn to help.

The car horn attracted people inside this who came out and just the presence of all these people the man just got in their car and ran away.  I just fell to my knees because it was it was so shocking on all these levels: I had almost lost my life... my car, at the very least.  And the other shocking thing was that this voice had known my future an hour before it happened and that the voice got me out of it.

It was just so big. I just started praying again.  I just said, "God, thank you for saving my life.  And what can I do?"

I was already an author.  I was writing about eating disorders.  In fact, I was scheduled to fly to Las Vegas the next day, to go talk at some sort of healthy food convention about food cravings, about a book called "Constant Cravings" that had just come out and I was just told to teach about angels.

I came straight out of the closet.  The next day, when I flew to Las Vegas, I was wearing a goddess gown, my crystals, I talked about angels publicly for the first time, and because I had almost died the day before I was still in shock.  I just quit caring what people think and then I've just been doing it ever since; ever since July 16th, 1995.


Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/angelsonyourshoulder/2010/07/interview-with-doreen-virtue-part-1.html#ixzz1EHCVukHw

The Power of Grace

The Super Human Effect: Stories of the Moment When Everything Changes

by Grace J Power

The moment that everything changed for me happened when I was listening to a sermon at church, and the message was about seeing grace in every moment and in every circumstance. I listened intently and found myself wondering, “What is grace, really?” This question stuck with me. I started to look for grace in every circumstance of my life and since I wasn’t particularly clear on what grace was, I found it difficult to see. That week as I was journaling, I decided to delve into discovering what grace really meant. I started by looking up the definition in the dictionary. There was quite a long definition. I read:

grace   (gr s)

NOUN:

Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion.

A characteristic or quality pleasing for its charm or refinement.

A sense of fitness or propriety.

A disposition to be generous or helpful; goodwill.

Mercy; clemency.

A favor rendered by one who need not do so; indulgence.

A temporary immunity or exemption; a reprieve.

Graces Greek & Roman MythologyThree sister goddesses, known in Greek mythology as Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia, who dispense charm and beauty.

gra·cious   (gr sh s)

ADJECTIVE:

Characterized by kindness and warm courtesy.

Characterized by tact and propriety:responded to the insult with gracious humor.

Of a merciful or compassionate nature.

Condescendingly courteous; indulgent.

Characterized by charm or beauty; graceful.

Characterized by elegance and good taste: gracious living.

Archaic Enjoying favor or grace; acceptable or pleasing.

As I was reading about these qualities of ‘grace’ I heard my thoughts say, “I love this word! I want this to be my name!” Then it was like I heard the sound of a bell ‘ding’! That was it! I am going to have Grace as my name. As I thought about this further, I decided it would be my middle name, since I never had a middle name. “MaryAnn Grace Probert. That sounds great!” I thought.

The next day, I called my good friend, Ben and told him that I was so amazed by the word grace that I was going to make it my name. He said, “That’s great! Do you want me to call you Grace?” I quickly thought about this and exclaimed, “Yes!”

Since I changed my mind to using Grace as my first name, I considered, ‘Why not change my whole entire name?’ And that is what I did.

A couple years previous to this, I had been through a divorce and changing my name from MaryAnn Benavides back to MaryAnn Probert felt rather awkward to me. I had been MaryAnn Benavides for four years and considered that it would be my name for the rest of my life. I also liked the name. Benavides means ‘the good life’ and I had considered keeping it. Although, when filling out the divorce documents I decided to go back to my maiden name, MaryAnn Probert which felt foreign to me as well as most of the people in my life. My English teacher in High School always pronounced my last name like the French Canadians, and I decided to pronounce my name with that accent since it gave it a different twist than what I grew up with. Still, I honestly felt a bit awkward about this. It just didn’t seem like ‘me’.

Now that I was inventing a new name for myself, I wanted to have a strong last name and it came to me at church one Sunday. The pastor was recognizing a group of new members to the church, and as he was reading off the names, it occurred to me that I should listen to the last names and see if any of them would fit for my new last name. Immediately after I thought about this, he announced a woman with the last name Powers. I liked it right away, and remember thinking, “That’s it!”

Again, I discussed this with my friend Ben over the phone wondering if I should use Powers or Power. He said, “I like Power best. Like One Power instead of mystical powers.” I trusted my friend’s advice. Then it was onto deciding, middle name?...no middle name?

I had a session with an Intuitive Reader and I asked her about the name change. She suggested looking at the numerology of the amount of letters used in the name.

A couple weeks went by as I pondered about choosing a middle name or not. My boyfriend had a book of gods in his library and I decided to skim through it for name ideas. As I read about various gods, I flipped to the page about Janus. This god intrigued me as I read that he represented the present moment. He had two heads, one facing forward and one facing backward, representing past and future. January is named after Janus since it represents the end of one year and beginning of the next. Since I was practicing living in the present moment, I decided this was the perfect name for me. I also had heard that the number 5 represents change. And each word (Grace Janus Power) has five letters.

With this new name declared, I have felt more like ‘me’ and each day I am living into this new name and seeing grace in every moment.

The State of My Union

For those of you who have been following my journey, you are aware that a year ago I began writing about a defining moment. A moment when everything changes and we gain clarity of our life's purpose.  It comes without warning. It feels right and we have no choice but to set fear aside and act. It is a super human moment that awakens in us a new perception known as unconditional love. I have had my eyes and ears opened to this moment in the lives of so many. Brendon Burchard speaks of the moment when during a near fatal car accident, he asked the questions for the first time: Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter? Brendon committed his life to earning the right to live? Doreen Virtue writes about the moment when during a car-jacking, she felt the presence of an angel. Everything changed and if you have read any of her books since the car-jacking, you know by how much.

When this “moment” arrived for me, I was beside myself with joy at the prospects of starting a new life as an author. I was filled with a spiritual connection and an inspiration to write, for 80-days straight, what would become The Super Human Effect book. I was communicating with spirits from other realms daily and intuitively connecting to the soul’s desires of  many. The healing experiences were also extraordinarily common.  I felt like I had entered heaven while on earth.

Then everything changed… Again!

About six months ago, I lost my ability to connect to spirit. Darkness set in and inspiration could not be accessed. No mystical experiences. No desire to pray. No words. Nothing.  Had I given up my 9-5 job to become a spiritual author only to have all of my “gifts” be taken away. Had I replaced having a job with being Job? The struggles were endless. My ego wanted so badly to hold on to the idea of the new spiritual leader emerging.  The new messenger whose message is simple: Fear will not win. There was only one problem:

I was afraid that fear was winning.

Instead of giving in to the “shoulds” of an author’s life, I chose to have this fear be my curriculum for change. Can I be present and know that God is- regardless of what I experience? Awakening to the moment is when the work begins. For the past six months, I have lived the life of a poor struggling artist who is staring at an empty canvas.

Why am I telling you this instead of shaping your perceptions of me as an expert? Because as you grow more and more into who you really are and follow your dreams, I don't want you to give up even if everything that fueled your desires is temporarily taken away. I have found a deeper connection through letting go of all my roles including the role of a writer.  My message is more important than a career. Fear will not win. No matter what your circumstances look like, your union with all that is can never be severed. It is found in an awareness of present moment, not in ideas of what you think makes you valuable.  You are valuable because you are.

I am writing this while coverage of the fate of Mubarak’s reign plays out in the background. Fear will not win. The protesters will not walk away from their dream.  In our perceived weakness the state of our union is strong.

Dennis Rodriguez

Feel What You Want

Is it possible that these four words hold the key to fulfilling all our dreams and aspirations? Feel what you want.

A year ago, I resigned from an eight-year old management position at a university when most around me hunkered down and rode out the worst recession since the Great Depression. I did so to write a book called The Super Human Effect: My Quest for the Moment When Everything Changes. If my actions seemed irrational, it is because they were. My actions were not guided by a thorough risk assessment or a bullet-proof business plan. My actions were guided by my spiritual heart’s desire. The map to its fulfillment does not reveal an inter-state highway to a large bank account or a stellar book rating on Amazon. The map reveals winding roads of what I am feeling in the present moment. If my map has been hard to read, convoluted and smudgy, it is because it is. My map includes feelings of what I don’t want as much as what I do. My map includes feelings of fear. Fear of losing my house, of losing inspiration and motivation. Fear of simply losing. My map also includes trust in a supportive source that planted my heart's desire, without which I cannot breathe. It includes a joyful awareness of surprising twists and turns that have led to synchronistic encounters, reminding me of perfection in divine timing.

Thankfully feeling what I want is winning out and my book is set to be in stores March 2011.

What is it that you really want? Can you hold the vision in such vivid detail that it actually creates the feelings of what you want right now? What if you consciously chose to feel what you really want in every moment? And what if (and this is the fun part), your external circumstances are waiting for you to choose to feel what you want before showing you the evidence?


"[We] must learn to lay all judgments aside, and ask only what we really want in every circumstance."- A Course in Miracles, Manual for Teachers

Where Is Your Light Source?

When I was in acting school, I had a teacher who would have us create a multi-sensory space using nothing but our voiceless imagination and then see whether the rest of the class can interpret correctly what we created. I would get up on stage and mentally place the position of doors, tables, and other characters in the room. I would imagine distant sounds, pleasant fragrances or unpleasant odors. Once I believed all my senses had been activated and the space brought to life for others to experience, I would end the exercise, like countless actors before me, with a resounding- “Scene”. All eyes would be on my teacher for his anticipated pronouncement.

“Where is your light source?”

“Uh, my what?”

“Where is your light source? How can we see you if you don’t know what makes you be seen? Is it the sunlight? Where is the window? Do you feel the warmth on your back or is it right in front of you slamming you in the face? Come on man, Where is your light source?

“I don’t know”

“Well then you better find out! (he lets out his signature laugh) Next.”

I sat down but I have never stopped trying to find out. Sometimes my light source can be found in the eyes of my children impatiently waiting for me to finish a responsible adult task before commencing tickle time. Sometimes my light source seems light-years away when life’s challenges get too heavy and the drama too thick. And sometimes my light source- what brings me to the present moment and to what’s really important, comes from hearing of the loss of a beloved friend.

I just found out that my teacher James Spruill- The best teacher I ever had (and I have had many), passed away of pancreatic cancer on December 31, 2010.

Jim, I promise to continue to look for my light source. I know you have found yours.