IN IT TOGETHER
MAY 2014

Hello Everyone...

Once again, I want to congratulate us all for making it through yet another month of intensity! I know Dixie said it would be an easier month for some and a difficult month for others. Well, I’m here to shout that I saw clear examples of both. I had friends who danced through the month, and I had friends who fell a few times but immediately got back up on that dance floor, their steps even Lighter than they’d been. At one point and within a week’s time, I had three friends who had unexpected meltdowns triggered by deep-rooted pain, and these are people who don’t DO meltdowns. The pain came rushing out pretty much without warning, and all any of us could do was watch it as it was experienced and released. That’s the good news about this energy – it triggers and if we let it go, bam – it GOES.

The thing I decided to write about this month comes from an experience (surprise) I recently had with another friend who is going through a divorce. There she is in the midst of all kinds of emotions – mostly grief, some anger and fear …and she said to me, “I know I should be able to rise above all this. If I would just meditate, I’d be OK…but I just don’t FEEL like meditating.” And I watched her add yet another layer of emotion to her Being – GUILT that she was somehow failing Spirit. She holds herself to great accountability when it comes to serving Spirit, and she equated her inability to meditate as completely letting Spirit down.

Bingo – this month’s newsletter…smile…

I have to say that there are sometimes days and even weeks when I CAN’T meditate because I simply can’t “rise above” to do so, either because I’m bogged down by the weight of my own emotional process, my mind is over stimulated by something going on in my life, or my body falls to sleep before I can get to the meditative state. I used to believe, like my friend does, that I was failing Spirit every time I failed to reach a conscious state of Love and Light….and I piled up my OWN layer of guilt about that.

What I gradually came to realize, though, is that when it comes to emotional processing, it takes as long as it takes, depending on how deep it is and how willing we are to find it and release it. Clearing out limiting emotions absolutely IS serving Spirit because we’re refining our Beings a little bit more every time we release a limiting emotion…..we’re “lightening” our Beings up for Spirit’s Light to work in us and through us as It will. Our ability or inability to meditate is ultimately not the bottom line. Our ability or inability to SERVE SPIRIT is the bottom line – at least, in my opinion….and we can’t Serve Spirit cleanly if we’ve got a lot of emotional weights going on in us – who can “rise above” while that emotional weight is holding them down??

Having said that, absolutely it’s more important than ever to work on BEING in Partnership with Spirit every single day, and meditation is a wonderful way to align us so that we CAN be in Spiritual Partnership. EVEN when we know we can’t “rise above it all”, it’s still important to make a daily date with Spirit and invite them to sit with us if only for a few minutes. Quite possibly we won’t be able to sense their presence very much (if at all) due to the chatter we’ve got going on in our minds or the hurt we’ve got going on in our hearts…..but they WILL be there and by our intention, we WILL eventually get to the place where we can once again “rise above it all”. Incorporating that few minutes into every day holds the space for that moment when we can finally still our minds and hearts and BE with Spirit in our meditative states.

AND…there are other things we can do with the intention of working in Spiritual Partnership when we’re not able to “rise above it all” and get to a meditative state, first and foremost of which is to STOP BEATING OURSELVES UP WHEN WE CAN’T MEDITATE!!!

What we CAN do is every morning when we first awaken, we can call on Spirit to be with us throughout the day. I always say, “Thank you, God, for helping me be a clear and perfect channel for your Work to be done in me and through me in this day.” That instantly starts my day out focused on Spirit and what I can do to help Spirit help US. Starting the day out by calling to Spirit and saying whatever YOU want to say is a wonderful habit to get into.

Another thing we can do is remind ourselves throughout the day that Spirit is ALWAYS with us; all we have to do is remember that they are. As the business and busy-ness of each day comes along, it’s sometimes easy to forgot TO call on Spirit. One of the things we can do to help us remember is to put up post-it notes in places where we’ll be certain to see them, reminding that Spirit IS with us in every moment and all we have to do is ask for their insights or clarity or wisdom or whatever it is we’re needing. Now obviously if you live and/or work in an environment with people who would think you were weird for plastering the walls with odd notes about Spirit, don’t write anything on the post-it note. Just put a blank one up. If someone wants to know what that’s all about, you can simply say, truthfully, that it’s a reminder to you. You don’t have to go into any details about WHAT it’s a reminder of.

AND of course, there’s prayer…remember to pray throughout the day. (That post-it note you put up to remind you of Spirit’s presence can serve a dual purpose here.) “Ah, God…I’m having a difficult time understanding my lesson in this situation. Can you help me?” That’s an example of an initial prayer. Dixie’s mentioned this on several occasions, but we only have to ask for help once in any given situation….after that, we offer Gratitude to Spirit FOR helping us. “Thank you, God, that with your help, I am in the process of understanding my lesson.” It’s very important to remember to not only ask for help, but to then extend Gratitude FOR that help – it confirms in our Beings that whatever it is we’re seeking help for IS being provided. If we’re constantly asking for the same thing over and over in our prayers, rather than confirming it is in process by our gratitude, we’re basically begging God and disbelieving that our request has already been granted.

AND having said that, sometimes our prayers can’t be granted, despite what we think we need or want. Spirit can only aid us if whatever we’re asking for is in alignment with our Soul’s intention. For that reason, I always like to add “If it’s to my highest good and to the highest good of all” when I pray/offer Gratitude for a specific thing. For example, I once applied for a job at a busy school. My initial prayer was, “Help me, God, get that job if it’s to my highest good and to the highest good of all.” And then I followed it up afterwards (and often) with my “Thank you, God, for helping me get that job if it’s to my highest good and to the highest good of all.” Well, guess what – I didn’t get that job….BECAUSE it wasn’t intended for me but rather for someone else….and sure enough, shortly after that I went to work for Dixie, which WAS in my Soul’s intention. Sometimes what we think we want and need simply isn’t going to happen….at least not in the way or form we think it should.

At any rate, I just wanted to mention a few things we can do to help ourselves and Spirit when our intention is to be in Partnership with Spirit, especially when we can’t specifically “feel” that partnership because we can’t “rise above” to be with Spirit in our consciousness due to the weight of our emotions or whatever stimulation we’ve got going on in our minds. We came to experience this Earth dimension and all its inherent emotions so that we CAN ultimately learn to transform our lower emotions into Love and beyond. It’s required learning before we can enter the next dimension. It’s a Gift from God, this Earth experience. It allows us to grow at a much faster rate than if we were simply sitting on a cloud somewhere, plucking our harps with beatific smiles on our faces. That’s fine and dandy and Love and Light and “rising above it all”, for certain, but (cough cough)…give me THIS Earth as my chosen Alma Mater – the intensity of the experiences in this place are why we come again and again and again. It’s the Ride of all Rides and thank GOD for each and every experience, every emotion, every reaction, every moment we get to be in!!! When we beat ourselves up for not being “perfect”, ahhhhhhh……I bet Spirit wants to weep every time we lay guilt trips on ourselves for being human.

I know I JUST included this in last month’s newsletter, but doggone it, it seems like a good thing to include again in light of my friend who was sure she was failing Spirit (as I have thought in my own life at times and I’m guessing some of you have, too) for “being gorgeously human”.

Dear Human: You've got it all wrong. You didn't come here to master unconditional love. That is where you came from and where you'll return. You came here to learn personal love. Universal love. Messy love. Sweaty love. Crazy love. Broken love. Whole love. Infused with Divinity. Lived through the Grace of stumbling. Demonstrated through the beauty of....messing up. Often. You didn't come here to be perfect. You already are. You came here to be gorgeously human. Flawed and fabulous. And then to rise again into remembering.

Hold on to your Spirit...        
Marty