December 5

Re: December 5

Science of Mind Magazine Daily Guide for 12/05/07

By Rev. Ron Fox

COURAGE

Usually we think the brave have no fear, the truth is they are intimate with it.

 Pema Chodrin

 Know your own mind.  Train yourself to think what you wish to think.

The Science of Mind, page 188

WALKING the spiritual path means having the courage to live from a place that differs from what much of the world values.  It is like making a left turn when everyone else is making a right turn: it is not always easy to live like this.  When it feels hard to stay the course, it may help to remember that we are one in God.  With Spirit at our side we can rely on the fact we are always safe no matter what we are encountering.

Ernest Holmes said, “The life at the center of our being is as perfect as it can ever become.”  So when we are faced with a difficult situation and we go within for direction, we are in touch with the highest and most sacred part of ourselves.  What can be better than that?

The path may still feel difficult, because we are being called to leave our comfort zone, and that takes courage.  It means facing our fears and moving beyond them.  Pema Chodrin, quoted above, recounts a conversation with her husband in which he says “Because you are a complete coward, but you do things anyway.”  That is courage.  Put the fear aside and know with all your heart that Spirit is doing it with you.

affirmation

Right now, I know that I am completely connected to my divine source; we are inseparable. 

Re: December 5

Science of Mind Text p. 536M3 & 537M1

Meditations:

Re: December 5

365 Tao (by Deng Ming-Dao) # 339

Learning

                    Learning is the fountain of youth.
                    No matter how old you are,
                    You mustn't stop growing.

Don't think that creativity is only for artists, writers, and musicians.  Creativity is an essential element for everyone.  Unlike the outer-drected creativity of making art, solving problems, or writing, the creativity that everyone can engage in is learning.

As long as we continue to learn, welcome new ideas and ways of doing things, and continually expand our understanding of ourselves and the world around us, then we are engaging in the ultimate creativity of the self.

If one looks carefully at those seniors who are ongoing and vital participants in life, one will see that a common habit is continuous learning and interest.  These seniors are not the same as they were in their youth.  They have found new ways of learning and acting.

As we enter each new phase of our lives, the parameters change.  If we are sixty, we cannot do the same activities that we did as teenagers.  Therefore, we need to revamp ourselves according to our situation.  That continuing act of creativity keeps us young.

Re: December 5

SOM Magazine Daily Guide for 12/05/08

By Steven Van Meter, RScP

CONSTRUCTIVE CHANGES

O you afflicted one, tempest-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in beryl, and lay your foundations with sapphires.

Isaiah 54:11

The law of our life reacts to our spiritual or material concepts and builds and rebuilds according to our beliefs and faith.

The Science of Mind, page 32

I RECEIVED a call from an individual asking, “Do you believe in positive thinking?”  I responded that positive thoughts are our starting point, but positive living and spiritual knowing are our goal and our guide.  If positive thinking doesn't improve our life condition, it would be “positively pointless to continue.”  A life-affirming positive outlook reshapes our world because Spirit responds to our deepest desires and shapes them according to our true beliefs.

Single thoughts usually do not noticeably affect our physical reality.  If they did, our life would change like the images of a kaleidoscope.  The nature of the process of life is the building and the breaking down of form.  As we evaluate our beliefs, and eliminate those which aren't functional, we must also maintain the useful components and rebuild a more constructive awareness through constructive thinking.  The rebuilding of our consciousness, values, and how we serve humankind is an ongoing process.

Life is an ongoing process of evaluating our beliefs, and, in some instances, changing those beliefs.  A willingness to change beliefs as we focus on spiritual truth will result in new and better experiences.  Constructive changes come from a consciousness and willingness to experience the present moment.

affirmation

Today I release the emotional weight of my yesterdays and focus on the truth of my being.  I joyously welcome the new peace, the new abundance, and the new love that is manifest as my life today.

Re: December 5

A Year With Rumi by Coleman Barks

Your Face

You may be planning departure,
as a human soul leaves the world
taking almost all its sweetness with it.

You saddle your horse.  Your must be going.
Remember that you have friends here
as faithful as the grass and the sky.

Have I failed you?  Possibly you are angry.
But remember our nights of conversation,
the well work, yellow roses by the ocean,

the longing, the archangel Gabriel
saying, So be it.

Shams Tabriz, your face
is what every religion tries to remember.

Re: December 5

Ahhhh, yes:

    Remember that you have friends here
    as faithful as the grass and the sky.