The Frankenstein Lover

I'm loving the synchronicity that I'm experiencing when I receive Messages from the Universe. 
It's Halloween, and I found a tiny little, well, Thing, that looks like a minescule tombstone.  How appropriate, I thought. 
On the tombstone was a series of numbers that added up to the number 6.  6 is the number of love.
In the tarot, the number 6 is the lovers, a card that encourages a spiritual, all embracing love: of oneself, of each other, and of the Universe. 

Having the number 6 on this tiny tombstone implys a death of some kind; not of true love exemplified by the lovers, but of conditional love, a belief in a soul mate, a true partner, an idea that one can only love what is perfect for oneself.  This is an objectified love. 
When love is objectified, it loses its "flow".  Flow is essential and life-giving.  What does not flow grows stagnent and limited, a "stopped" thing.  Understood in this way, and practiced in this way, conditional, objectified love creates mistunderstanding, fantasy, and dissappointment. 
Hanging onto an ideal of love, or an "ideal", lover, indicates the need to control others, and the need to control others implies a deep-seated fear and a lack of trust in what is. 
As my brilliant daughter wrote in a paper for school, "Those who cannot face their fears in love turn their partners into monsters", for the object of such a love cannot grow and change.  We've created them with the dead tissues of our fantasy, we bring them to life with the electricity of our expectations, then we've killed them with our jealousy and doubt when they don't live up to our ideals.
The living, flowing quality of unconditional love is absent.
At this time, when traditions says that the curtain between the worlds of material and spiritual thin, we must put the desire to live and love truly on our altars and rediscover our true nature.  Acceptance of ourselves creates a space for true acceptance of others.  When we see them through the eyes of our higher nature, nothing but love exists in that tender gaze. 
Practicing to see ourselves and others through the eyes of love will put a stake through the heart of our fears and doubts.  We will no longer mistake illusion for love. When we are all loving, we know that all is love.  No one is outside of our love.  Nothing is outside of our love.  Fear and dissappointment will vanish.  For certainly, in reality, nothing but love exists, and isn't love all we need?
Love,
Kristine

One Dog's Tale

I was thinking about my blog today, as I often do when I take my morning walk.  I pondered what I was going to write about.  I hadn't formulated a question yet, and I've learned that well formulated questions often create the most concrete results when I'm looking for Messages from the Universe.  What I knew was that I have felt, lately, imprisoned by a mood.
Once I consulted an astrologist who told me that my chart was "shrouded by your father's pessimism".  That's how I've been feeling, like there's a subtle blanket of gloom over my happier nature, like clouds obscuring the sun. 
I've been working on shaking these feelings, but decided instead to just accept them, knowing they'd change, and see where that got me. This is day three of that attempt. I confess to being a little impatient with my slow progress.  I want that sunny day NOW.  I want change NOW.
Then I looked at my little dog Pixie, and I remembered her story.
I found Pix in an animal shelter in Pinole.  I had been looking for a dog to replace (if that's possible) a dearly beloved pet that had died some years back.  I had waited to feel eager about having a new dog in my life before I went out to look.  When that day came, I was also wanted to make certain I chose as perfect a dog as I could find for me and my family and my lifestyle. 
It was going on 6 months of searching when I saw a photo of Pix in the Pinole Shelter web site (lot's of great dogs there right now.  I just checked)
It was such a bad photo, blurry and unclear.  I wanted a small terrier, but had no idea if this photo depicted the dog of my dreams.  When I was looking, it seemed like everyone in the world also wanted a small terrier. I had missed out on several potential dogs before I spotted this one, so time was of the essense. Usually, when I found a dog on line that I liked (oh, I spent so much time dog-hunting in those months before finding Pix) I would go right out and look at it before someone else snatched it up.

I took the chance of waiting a few days, thinking that if this was the right dog for me, she would be there when I eventually got to Pinole.  I waited until the weekend and made the Pinole shelter stop numero uno in my long list of stops on my quest to find my dog.
I have often said to the Universe "any advice you have to give me, give me in BLOCK LETTERS.  I'm bad at subtle hints".  The Universe has been very obliging.
When I finally got to Pinole, she was still there and as adorable as she could be.  To top it off, in block letters, the shelter vet had written "THIS IS AN AWESOME DOG, LOVING AND SWEET".
I adopted her then and there. 
I think now that her acceptance of what is, her confidence in herself, and her loving nature brought her to me.  She sat in her cage patiently waiting for whatever was going to happen, not barking or distressed in any way.  Her initial "getting to know you" meeting with us showed us how easily and naturally she gave love.  Now she's with us, and every day I thank the universal forces that brought her to me. 
I see the lesson Pixie has for me.
Accept what is, no matter what kind of prison you're in, mental, physical or emotional.
Give love freely.  Don't let your situation prevent you from giving what you can.
Whatever gifts you give will be returned to you.
Pix was in prison:

Now she's free:

All it took was a little patience.

Be patient with yourself. And give love. That's what I'm going to do, and we'll be certain to find freedom.

Thanx Pix!

Love, Kristine

FIVE CENTS MAKES A MESSAGE

I woke up this morning feeling pretty scattered. 
Venturing out on my walk, I worked on staying in the moment. Worked is the opporative word, and I was not having too much success (because, for me, it's pretty much a mind game and, as we all know, the mind changes). 
My dog finally brought me up short.  She was sniffing at a bunch of weeds near the road. She's small, but she ROOTS, and even though I outweigh her by not a little, when she stops, so do I. 
Anyway, I got out of my head and watched what she was doing (stay in the moment, good girl!) and right next to her inquisitive nose was a nickel.
Hmmm. 
I picked it up and put it in my pocket, and when I got home I took a good long look at it. What was this simple bit of coin trying to tell me?  It has to be a message from the universe. 
A nickel. 5 cents. 5 sense. 
I thought about our five senses, and realized how much importance I was giving to my external circumstance vis a vis my mood.  I was letting what I could see, hear, touch, taste, and feel dictate my emotional landscape. I wondered if my involvement in the world of my senses was obscuring my connection with all that is. 
An interesting idea, I thought, but it didn't seem to be the whole truth that I was seeking.
Then I thought about what we use coins for, besides paying for things.  We use them to make choices.  We flip them when we don't know the answer. 
That led me to thing about the dual nature of the coins: heads or tails.  When I think of heads, I think of the mental aspect of ourselves, and tails reminds me of emotions, dog wags for example.  So I'm calling heads the mental process and tails the emotional one: two sides of our nature.
And on the coin itself are stamped the words "In God We Trust".
So, adding it all up: in this little silver coin we, symbolically, have the physical nature (the five senses), the mental nature (heads), the emotional nature (tails), and (of course) the spiritual nature (In God We Trust).
Then I saw this on the coin: "E Pluribus Unum". It's latin for "Out of many, one."
I realized that one of the reasons I was feeling scattered was because of my judgements about myself. I was looking at the many parts of me and thinking that this quality was "good", or that quality was "bad". 
But all these feelings, sensings, experiences, emotions, mental processes, spiritual leanings, all of them are all part of who I am.  None is good or bad.  They all just ARE.  I am I, and I am that which I am. 
All makes one.  All for one. 
And it's about time for me to be one for all.  No more parsing myself or my experiences.  When I do that, I lose patience with myself and my life, and that's not a fun way to live.
I think I might have a better time living with myself if I chose to dispassionately enjoy all of myself more. Good behaviour, bad behaviour, it doesn't matter.  It's me, but not all of me, and it's part of my changing nature, not a quality of my essential, fully loving and evolved self. 
And yet, my essential self relishes it all. 
Heads I win Tails I win.  Only win/win in this game of life.
Love,
Kristine

The 4 of Cups: The gift that keeps on giving

We see a young man sitting by himself under a tree and in front of 3 cups.  A cloud is offering a fourth cup.  Will the young man take what's offered?
Usually when you have a question or problem and that you want some clarity on, you reach out for guidence from friends or family.  When you look to the Tarot, it might be because you just don't want the advice of anyone who may have an agenda, or feelings, toward you because you can't be sure if the advice or council they give will be objective.
Sometimes, no kind of outside input is required.  You might find that it's better just to be with yourself, consulting your own heart and mind with no feedback from anyone else.
Our young man sits in front of three cups.  He's clearly been sifting through his problem wisely evaluating his emotions (the cups are the symbol of our emotional nature) to find a solution.  He's arming himself with his passionate desire for clarity (the red shirt) he's considering the pros and con's of the situation (the grey tunic) and he's ready to move when all becomes clear (the blue leggings). 
Still, there might be one more piece of the puzzle he needs to know.  His meditations have brought him help from an external source.  Now he must ask himself, "do I need another point of view, or do I just need the time and patience to see what emerges?"
It's an excellent question, and I believe it depends on how long he's (metaphorically) been sitting there. 
Sometimes inaction is an answer.  It may not be the most satisfying one, but it is one just the same.  Some problems have no immediate solution, and you have to just wait and see.
The number 4 is the symbol of stability, but sometimes you have to know when being stable is really just being too stubborn to make the changes needed, or too fearful to move out of a comfort zone that used to be, but is no longer, fulfilling or satisfying.  In cases like that, the advice of someone you trust, or a tarot reading, can open doors.
And sometimes, you can find Messages from the Universe that clear things up almost by magic.
You just need to be open to what is, and to assume you'll get help when you need it and wise enough to reject help when you don't, because only YOU know what's best for you. 
Trust yourself, and when you do you'll find that you will trust where you are, who you're with, what you're doing, and whatever else is happening much more easily. 
When you can fully and completely trust yourself, you will understand that there are no wrong choices.
When you have aligned yourself with your own best interests, whatever comes to you will indeed be a gift you can receive with confidence.  Open and enjoy.
Much love,
Kristine

I found love

I'm a mom.  I have three wonderful kids at various stages in their lives.  I noticed that what I worry about mostly is how they are doing, no matter what is going on in my life. 
Some things have been going on with them that I've got a tendancy to lose sleep over.  So I walk, and worry.  The questions I've been asking are solution oriented.  How can I help my children through this or that problem?  The messages I've been getting in response are hearts. 

Friday last week I got this:

A pencil, brand new, with, as you can see, a heart on it.  Nice, I thought.  Pencil hasn't even been sharpened.  Interesting.

A couple of days later, and in the same place, I found these:

Two hearts.  A big one, and inside it was this little one.  Hmmm.

Then, today, after exhausting my mind with worry the night before, I got this:

And this:

For the longest time I couldn't figure out what the image was in this ring.  Then I saw it.  It's a mother holding a child.  All of a sudden all the hearts I received made sense. 

My job, the universe was telling me, is to LOVE my children, not to solve their problems. 

The Pencil tells me to sharpen my ability to love without censor.  The heart is not an eraser, i.e. there are no conditions that will take love away or activate it.  Real love just IS.

The large heart holding the small one tells me that my children are safe within my heart.  That's all the safety they need.

The brown heart cut-out, clearly done by a child,  helps me to understand that I am loved in turn by my children and by mother earth (brown is an earth color). You can't beat the healing power of that kind of love.

The ring containing the loving mother and child helps me put this all together.  It also reminds me that love is circular.  What you give will come back to you, and, as John Lennon and the Beatles say, "All you need is love."

A powerful message that I am very grateful for.

Much love to you,

Kristine

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh MY!

I was walking along, wondering what I was going to blog about, when this piece of paper caught my eye.

Its title was "Funny Frankenstein" and I found it right by the kindergarten yard.  I realized that some smart teacher was making the scary halloween images less so by allowing kids to color these happy looking monsters.  This probably gives those kids a feeling of power over their fears and fantasys.

 The monsters children are afraid of are not really real.  There are no such things as ghosts or zombies or Frankenstein monsters, right?

I thought about our stratagies for managing our fears.
That made me wonder how real our fears are.  War, economic strife, death of a loved one;  they all feel pretty real.  And they are, but do we need to spend so much time being afraid of these things?  They might come, they might not.  What's happening now?  That's what's important. I'll bet if you look at your life, you'll discover that, mostly, things are Ok. 

Living a fulfilling life is all about gracefully negotiating a way through the inevitability of change.  War, economic strife, and death are pretty big changes, I'll grant you, but I bet you've been through a lot, have overcome a lot, and worried about a lot and still, things have turn out all right in your life.

I remember a fairy story where the hero picked up a fearsome monster and just looked at it.  The monster, when really looked at, faded away to nothing.  This is one way to handle our problems.  I think sometimes that works, but it takes time, and courage, and can be painful.  It's sort of like Therapy. 

Another way of doing it is to focus attention on what feels good to us, what gives us a feeling of peacefulness and tranquility.  When we practice this kind of focus, our fears don't have so much to feed on, and they melt away.  Give it a try.

Love, Kristine

What to do With the Blues

Have you ever woken up in the morning, nothing really wrong, all truly well, but you just can't seem to feel a spark of any kind?  You know the kind of thing I'm talking about.  It's a "what's the use" sort of feeling that makes every step a plod and every task a chore. 

That's what happened to me.  So I asked the question:  How can I turn this mood around and really enjoy this day?  I decided to consult the universe by picking up trash on the street.  Here's what I got as an answer:

This is a good time to indulge in a little nostolgia, to remember the good times you had as a kid and the simple things you did that felt good.  Don't try to change how you feel.  Just reflect on happier days.

By thinking fondly of the past, you plan and plant the seeds of future happiness (yellow is the color of joy)

As you remember the fun you've had and focus on what you like to do, you create an energetic protection against the fog of morose and confusing ideas, forge a way out of the darkness of your "bad" mood, and gently work your way into a clearer, happier atttitude.  Even a little glimpse of the light can be enough to shift your state of mind.

So True.  I feel better.  I hope you do too.  Have a nice day.

Love, Kristine

The Vital Importance of FUN

I imagine you saw the utube where they made a stair from a subway in Sweden play and look like a piano.  There was an elevator right next to it, and when they fixed up that stairway, 66% more people used the stairs.  Really amazing and remarkable.  To see it, click here:
When you make a hard task fun, people love to do it.  When you make hard information funny, as John Stewart and others do, it's easier to hear, and hope is mixed in with the message.  A spoonful of suger and all that.  And laughter heals. 
We all know this.  We feel better when we laugh.  We're more open, more eager.  We feel like we're really living.  Feelings, I'm learning, are everything.  Feel good, and good things tend to happen.
Carolyn Casey, the visionary activist, says that wolves choose their leaders by their ability to initiate play.  She also says that you can tell the alpha animal at birth, because it tends to have a lower pulse rate then its litter mates.  Amazing, huh?
I bet we work like that too.  We love the cool-under-pressure people, the warm-hearted people, the people who help us have FUN.  Let's let what feels good lead us. 
I remember that old Hippie expression: "if it feels good, do it."  I think there's more to that phrase than I realized then, so here's the message from the universe I recieved today that I'm eager to pass on:  They, we, were right!
ENJOY!  ENJOY! ENJOY YOUR LIFE!
Love, Kristine

What to do When Life Gets Messy

Today I pulled the five of cups.  This blew me away.  I never look for a particular card when I do these analysis.  I just pull one from the center of the deck come what may, and here came this card that relates so perfectly with the previous blog about best laid plans. 
A young person dressed in black looks down at 3 spilled cups.  He ignores the 2 standing in the background.  He's immoble, not moving toward the city in the distance even though a white bridge spans the river that blocks him from its comforts.
Well, this is a really typical response to dissappointment.  We focus on what went wrong and think about all the things that now won't happen because of some unlucky event.  We also ignore completely what is working right in our lives and what we have that's of benefit to us.
Today, on the radio, I was listening to some famous budhist talk about duality.   I wish I could remember his name, and his exact words.  Oh well, I'll just report what I came away with. 
This man was saying that when you're enlightened you are at a place where there is no distinction between men and women, good and bad, old and young, better and worse, even love and hate.  He said that nirvana is always within us, and when we feel no preference for one thing over another, we have the power to experience all the world as nirvanna.  Wow. 
So our young man is attached to the thing-ness of what has happened to him.  He is so caught up in his evaluation and judgement of it as being a "bad" thing that he has lost sight of the potential of the moment.
His black robe hints at the myriad possiblities, since black is the color in which all possiblities abide.  The river is his emotional nature.  His focus on what happened means that he can feel only his dissappointment or anger.  The full range of his emotional guidence (the river) is at a distance from him.  The white bridge offers a clear way into the balanced perfection of nirvana.  All he needs to do is take the first step.  Turn towards what he has, what works, what will give him pleasure, and he's on his way to creating heaven on earth.
It's really true that there's no use crying over spilt milk.  What's done is done, so let's go do some more with high hopes and a happy heart. Life is messy.  Let's live it up.
Love,
Kristine

The Magic of the Unasked Question

So, I left you last with a breathless account of my boy's good fortune, and here is the update:  He didn't get the part, and he may not be able to go to England either.  Why?  I don't know why.  He didn't have time to tell me and he said he'd call me later.  Sigh
.
My happy plans are dashed.  No trip to Seattle (yet) for me, and possibly no trip to England for him.  Oh, what to do, what to do.  Wailly, wailly, woe!

I was pondering the events when I realized I hadn't done my usual morning ritual of picking out the daily Angel Card.  Do you know about Angel Cards?  They're these little cards decorated with tiny angels doing cute things and they have words on them.  Being a firm believer in messages from the Universe, I like to pick one a day to capture a word it might serve me to contemplate. In my aggitated state, I picked up the jar the cards live in and dropped it.  They went all over my floor, all spread out like a tiny 52 pickup game. 
Except one card.  One card remained in the jar.  Here it is:

Yup.  Trust.  Immediately I felt better.  Even though I hadn't, in my mind, asked myself how I can feel good about what happened, my unasked question was anticipated and answered, and I remembered my fine words on my last blog, about how the best thing always happens, and how timing is everything, and how we can never see what lies ahead, and how the goal is to be optomistic and keep creating in a positive.direction.

It was with a better frame of mind that I went off on my walk with the dog. We headed to our favorite trail on the ridge.  At one point along our route I happened to glance up in the tree branches and I found this:

These pretty broken beads were hanging on the tree. They reminded me that there is great potential in the destruction (too strong a word) of "well-laid plans" and beautifully strung beads.  I think Robert Burns said, ah yes, here's the exact quote (thank you google):  “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley" ...

Yes they do, and there is great potential in our "best laid schemes" getting unstrung.  There arises from the ashes (or tree branches) the raw material to create something new, possibly even better and more beautiful, and definately more in line with who we really are.  When our plans, dreams, or beads, get torn apart, it's not the time to despair; it's time to get creative with whats left to work with.

When I emptied out my pockets at the end of my walk I found this:

I must have gathered this little fellow up on another expedition, because he's been in my pocket for a while, but he knew to reveal himself when it was appropriate.  Sure, “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley", but look how happy this little mouse is, full of eagerness to play with life.

He reminds me that it's pointless to use any circumstance as an excuse not to feel good.  He reminds me to be happy, and accept with trust what life gives you. I just might keep him in my pocket.

Love,

Kristine

Matching What You Want

My son has gone through the 2nd of two auditions for a role in a play entitled "The River Why".  It's his first audition for a legitimate theater in Seattle: the Book It Repretory Theater.  He'll find out tomorrow if he gets the part.  Nail biting time.
I wish him luck, but more than this, I genuinely hope and expect the best thing will happen.  Judging from my experience, I think that this is just how life works.  Life gives you the chance to learn and grow and be joyful in so many ways, and when you're faced with an opportunity, I think that there's an internal process that goes on that affects the outcome.  I think if you truly want something and are truly ready for it, you'll match its vibrational quality and it will be yours.  If you're not ready, it won't come to you, and that's a good thing!  Getting something you're not ready for would be a very unpleasant experience.  A similar opportunity will show up when the timing is right and when you're energy is lined up for it. 
Still, I'm so excited about his good fortune in just having the opportunity to audition that I can't help but talk about it with, well, EVERYONE!  It's so great when someone, anyone, choses to follow their heart, and it begins to pay off. 
Besides, if he doesn't get the role, he'll still have the distinction of the attempt, and his conviction that he did his best.  It also means that he can still take his trip over Winter break to tour the theaters in London with his classmates.  That sounds like a ton of fun.
Getting this roll in this play would mean that his first trip to Europe is out.  He'll be in rehersal when the plane takes off for England.  So, although he may not be watching a ton of English theater, he'll be playing the LEAD in a theater in Seattle.  Pretty exciting.
Too bad for Conner, huh?  Talk about win/win!
Anyway, his angels will decide, one way or the other.
But If he does get the part, I'll be in Seattle, front row center.
One of my angels will be on stage!
Love,
Kristine
Click the theater link above to find out more about this play.


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Sometimes a Great Lotion

In doing the good work of self-healing, there comes a time when sometimes I need a little outside help.  I've made the discovery that some of my belief systems are more powerful (right now) then my healing systems.  For example:  The poison oak?  Worse than before. Here are my beliefs about poison oak.

1. I'm allergic to it
2. Sometimes I'm more allergic than other times
3. When I get it, it localizes in places in my system that are weakened
4. It spreads as it grows in the earth, under the surface; popping out in places that couldn't possibly been in contact with it.  Really.
5. It spreads if I exercise.  Does that stop me from exercising?  No it does not.  I have a dog that needs walking and besides, I keep trying to defy my belief system.
6. None of my home remedys will work, nor will the advice of the Christian Scientist in a previous blog, nor will my Abraham magic, no matter how long or hard I try to think myself healed. I'm a little ashamed of this admission.

So, there they are.  My beliefs.  Can't seem to shake them.  Really want this poison oak GONE.  (I know, I know, what you resist, persists. Go stick your head in some poison oak!   Nah, too cruel.  Just shut up, OK?)
Then I remember those four magic words "Go with the flow". So how do I make this easy on myself? How do I go with this flow?
I start by accepting myself and my beliefs instead of judging myself. 
Since, right now, I do feel these things and think these things, what is the path of least resistance.  I know!  I need to find myself a commercial cure! 
Already I feel better.  So I google "Cures for" and right away, without my having to type it, were the words "Cures for Poison Ivy".  It led me to a site that recommended RhuliGel.  Now THAT'S what I call a message from the Universe.
RhuliGel!  People that used it found that it works better than anything else, and there were a number of pretty encouraging anctedotes. It is now made by BandAid under the name of Anti-itch gel.  Sooooo, I'm off to get some Rhuli! Wish me luck with my poison oak now, and better luck with my self healing in the future.
I'm getting there.  A few itch-releaving detours on the way can't hurt. They might even help.  As Abraham says, the most important thing is that I (you, everyone) feel good.  I'm off to feel, if not good, at least better.  Sometimes the journey to truth is an incremental one.  I can live with that.
Love,
Kristine

Today's Question: How Can I Be More Hopeful?

Answer: Found on the ground around the local elementary school

STRESS IS TO BE EXPECTED, BECAUSE THERE ARE MANY CHOICES TO MAKE

ASK FOR HELP

THE ANSWER MIGHT FEEL WRONG

ALWAYS REMEMBER, THE PLAY'S THE THING

AND ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

Amen. 

I've Got You Onto My Skin

I've got Poison Oak.  On my face.  SOOOOOO uncomfortable. 
At first I thought to myself that I should warn folks who were, like me, writing Messages From The Universe on various trails.  Especially if they're using sticks to form letters.  I thought I'd better caution them to be very careful about the sticks they might pick up.  I was sure that a poison oak twig gave me this hideous rash.
Then I thought: "Wait a minute, I'm around poison oak a lot, and this is the first rash I've had in many years.  Something else must be up.  Maybe this skin thing is just another message from the universe."
The book of Job came to mind.  Not a pleasant story.  Not going to go THERE, but it did  inspired me to go on-line and check it out.  I googled "spiritual causes of skin irritations". 
There were a lot of rememdys to wade through: homeopathic, clay packs, aurvedic, etc., but only one seemed to address a spiritual "cause".  It was a Christian Scientist publication.  The person writing complained about a rash around her checks and eyes (yikes! just like me!) that she thought was caused by mental stress (me AGAIN) and she began to treat it through governing her thoughts. When she decided that she needed help, she called a practitioner to really get the healing on.  Here's what she says:

"Initially I resisted calling a practitioner, as I thought he or she would share with me the same thoughts I was already praying with. After some time, however, I felt I needed prayerful help. After listening to my explanation of things, the practitioner I called said one thing: “God loves you.” I waited for her to say more, thinking she had missed the point. But again she said, “God loves you—that is all you need to know.” She encouraged me just to feel God’s love and not dwell on any other thoughts.
At first it was a challenge to think about God’s love and not the discomfort. But more and more as I sought to tangibly feel His love enfolding me, holding me, caring for me, I actually felt at peace. At the same time, the constant itchiness began to subside. When I was still tempted to scratch, I would put my hands down and instead center my thought on God’s love for me. The most amazing feeling then surrounded me for days. Eventually my thought was so filled with this one simple truth that there was no room for any other thought."

The skin rash dissappeared. 

with regard to any health problem, Abraham-Hicks says,

"Find something to feel good about and get out of the way, and allow the cells to receive what they’ve been asking for. That is the key to healing."

Excerpted from a workshop in Orlando, FL on Saturday, January 22nd, 2005
All Is Well

It's the same idea, isn't it?  I'm asked to find something to reflect upon that is other than this uncomfortable skin condition.  I'll turn to my other cheek, focusing on the one that's not itchy, and contemplate the love that surrounds me. 
I've been asking for messages of hope AND more skill in learning how to focus on more positive aspects of my life. (see the blog about the 8 of discs) This is a good way of practicing, very tangible and very useful.  Hope can come from without, but it truly lies within.  You know, in a funny way, I'm grateful for this opportunity to develop some mastery in consciousness, because I'm itching to open my heart!
Love,
Kristine

The 8 of discs: The Cosmic Blogger

Today I pulled the 8 of discs.  It pictures an industrious young man, his head wreathed in flowers, astride a workbench and carefully creating pentacale after pentacale.  A snug village is seen in the background and the cloudless sky is blue.
In many traditions, the number eight represents infinity, perfection, and the manifestation of the material.  The discs represent the material world and/or the energy of earth. 
The card itself is associated with apprenticeship, where one must practice one's craft over and over again to achieve mastery.  The red tights the young man wears indicate the passionate and steadfast forward motion a person has when they're doing what they love best.  The blue tunic indicates the clarity and idealism with which one sets out to achieve mastery.  The black apron hints that anything can happen when one pursues a course of action, and not necessarily what one imagines. Yet, When we apply ourselves to any task as assiduously as our young apprentice, we will achieve the mastery we seek and reap the fruits of our labor.
It's like writing a blog. They tell you that posting once a week is just not enough; that you must post day after day in order for the web crawlers, and your audience, to find you.  That seems arduous at first, but once you get in the habit, it gets easier and more fun.
In any line of work or play, the more you do a thing, the better you get at it.
Finding your true self is no exception.  It involves dedication and focus to wade through all the sticky habits of thought and egoic attitudes and apptitudes that we think define us.  We are so much more than who we think we are.
I recieved a letter from my astounding Network Chiropractor, Lisa Hartnett (yea, Lisa) who talked about this very topic in reference to mindfulness. She said that one must practice focusing the mind so that the voices that reflect our habitual beliefs and persona will quiet, thus allowing our real natures to emerge.
When we learn who we truly are, the ability to create the life that we really want, full of joy and satisfaction, will get easier and easier. 
The young man in the card is working outside the lovely walled city of his dreams; but as he focuses, keeps his eye on the prize, and gains skill in creating what he wants, the gates will open and he will live his heaven on earth. 
So will we all.
Love,
Kristine

More Messages of HOPE

Still in the "wanting to receive messages of hope" mode, I was watching my favorite guy, John Stewart on the Daily Show (laughter truly is the antidote to dispair) and I saw Bruce Bueno De Mesquita <-- click there for the utube. 
He wrote a book called The Predictioneers Game.  He is so accurate in his ability to predict future events (90% accuracy) that the CIA and FBI use his information in their work. 
This guy isn't some woo woo medium or something (although I love woo woo mediums and spirit channelers). He's a political scientist that uses numbers that describe the currrent climate and the people involved in making key decisions.  Anyway, as you'll see on the utube I linked to his name he is optomistic about the direction we're going.  Optimistic!  Hurray.  HOPE.
Thank you Universe.
love,
Kristine