The Winter Solstice; the Time for Thanking Truth

On this shortest day of the year, we celebrate the longest night.  We are symbolically offered a longer span of darkness to sit with our dreams for what we might be, could be, will be as we consciously commit to being more completely our Self!

Have a wondrous and inspired solstice!  Light a fire or candles to celebrate the gift of darkness, to remember of the gift of light that is eternally within your being, to offer gratitude for the balance of life-the gift of rhythms and cycles.

Self Reflection: I thank Truth for my light, which becomes visible to me in being with my own dark times.

How the Will Centers Feel in Our Physical Body

Recognizing who's WILL is in directing our life is truly an amazing fete.  It reflects a commitment to to be more fully our True Self.  A 'self-hug, pat on the back' is in order.  Do that now!

Now, how WILL feels as it is present in our body:

Energetically, the will centers are energy centers in the backside of our body. They are in alignment with the chakras as  represented on the front of the body. It is helpful to think of WILL as the force which supports us in moving out in the world. It is the energy which gives us the little (or sometime forceful) push to take action in our lives. One of my teachers, John Pierrakos, talked about the importance of aligning our will with Divine Will. The question, he said was whether we were aligned with other peoples will, our will, or God’s will? Of course, whose will is in charge dramatically effects our personal development as well as  self-discipline, self-determination, and showing up Truthfully in the world.

When we work with our daily review practice, our goals and our vision for our life, it  becomes clear which use of WILL mostly informs our life and our choices. To Live Truth is to have our personal Will and Divine Will be aligned (or as the mystics say, 'as one').


Self Reflection:  Who's really in charge of  your life? Give yourself a 'self-hug, pat on the back'  for anytime you have given over to Divine Direction-the 'will' of a higher dierction!

Inner and Outer 'Workings' of Our Cycles of Truth

There are 12 Cycles of Truth as shared  by Twylah Nitsch, the Seneca  Elder who brought these teachings into the world.
As I have worked with these cycles, I have come to see the first five Cycles of Truth are invitations and instructions for relating to our inner growing, knowing, being.  They are in some ways correlated with our senses.**
1. Learn Truth--touch
2. Honor Truth--taste
3. Know/Accept Truth--smell/scent
4. See Truth--sight
5. Hear Truth--hearing/auditory
(Working with each of these cycles incorporates and helps us develop our intuitive/sixth sense.)

The remaining seven Cycles of Truth are invitations and instructions relating to knowing, being and expressing in the world around us, in our relationships with all-people,creatures, places and things. As we work with cycles 7-12 our intuitive senses and our connection to our understanding of Source also grows and develops.

6. Speak Truth  --speaking only truth as we understand Truth
7. Love Truth --Truth as expressed through our heart
8. Serve Truth --live servicing truth as we understand what is Truth
9. Live Truth -- awareness of Truth resonating in our being
10. Work/Walk Truth  --conscious and intentional expression and actions in/of/with Truth
11. Share Truth --willingness to share in actions, words and intention our understanding or Truth
12. Thank Truth --living in/with gratitude

When Jamie Sams wrote her The 13 Original Clan Mothers, she honored the 13th Cycle 'Be Truth', is the clan mother, Becomes Her Vision.  This cycle occurs as the final new moon of the year in our Gregorian calendar.  In my work, I use this thirteenth cycle as a month of reflection, self assessment and integration.

**These are my interpretations and understanding.  It is not my intention to represent them in any way as 'official'.

Self Reflection: Moving through the 13th moon cycle,  take time to review and reflect on your experience with each of cycle of Truth.

The 13th New Moon's Invitation to Be Your Vision, Be Your Truth

I am the Thirteenth New Moon.
Reflective.
Instructive.
From where have you come, so far? So far!
You are already the vision Creator/Great Mystery/All That Is/God birthed you to be.
Be here now and...
Learn who you are
Honor who you are
Know and Accept who you are
See who you are
Hear who you are
Speak who you are
Love who you are

I am the 'Be-ing Moon'.
Be with me in my rhythm and flow
My new is your re-newing
My waxing is your filling
My full is your fullness
My waning is your releasing
My void is your resting
Then you will begin again
On the path of your vision.

I am the 13th Moon Cycle.  I am 'Be Truth'.

Self Reflection: Become Your Vision; Be Truth.

Closing Moon for December: Using Our Senses to Make Sense of Our Vision

When we can  be present with all of our senses, we are present to our Self.  This helps us take full advantage of all the gifts that ultimately show us our vision.  We learn to be fully present to life in the moment and to become more fully aligned with Creator’s purpose for our individual life.  We learn to use our senses as tools for connecting to higher frequencies of awareness.  We are able to have our senses become more acute and sensitive so that we can respond more proactively, rather than from fear or anxiety.  We become more able to use our senses to wake up to the world around us and to our own unique path.  Wise use of senses help us let go of, or at least set down, what keeps our vision from being visible (mostly to us).

Highly developed senses, while they may require our attention and cannot be easily ignored, can bring a sense of ease to our lives once we come to trust them and to use them wisely.  The increased awareness with our senses also awakens our intuition, often called the sixth sense,  Our sixth sense points the way to becoming our vision.  We are at the eve of the New Moon for the 13th Moon Cycle of the year; the cycle of Be Truth. 

Self Reflection: I take time to sit in gratitude for the year that has been. I take time to sit in gratitude for the gifts I have received and for what they portend may already be coming my way. 

Gratitude Replaces Resolutions

Carolyn Shares:  I try to be positive every time the end of December draws near, but I am most always crabby as I approach the final weeks of the year.  For me, there is a difference between the idea of starting over everyday and starting over in a 'new year' with a set of resolutions. So, here is my resolution solution:

The 13th Moon cycle, 'Be Truth', arrives during these weeks as well. For those of us who use the moon cycles as guides for growth and change the date of the ‘Real’ new year begins with the New Moon for January. One that day/night, we will take a deep breath in, and breathing out, start on the next leg of our journey.  

As we look for this new cycle to begin, do a review of the past year by asking for Guidance and Wisdom to see the Truth of your journey.  For the struggles there may have been that don’t yet make sense, set a place of gratitude for what is yet to be revealed.  For any successes, great and small, give yourself appreciation.  Sit in Praise for the journey that has been, and yourself for making the journey up to this point.  Rest in place.  Just rest and have gratitude for yourself, your fellow journeyers and the earth upon which we all travel.  Taking these remaining days of the waning moon phase to rest in thanksgiving without giving into new plans or resolutions will give more energy and clarity in the week to come as we prepare to step into the starting block for the 'real' beginning of a new year.

Self Reflection: This year instead of writing resolutions for the coming year instead, take time to reflect  with writing a gratitude list. Trust the time for new will come after this period of rest and reflection.

Holy Time, Whole Me TIme

This is a post from a year ago on the Circle of Self Muse Blog  It is even more relevant, more true, more important to have these holy times--the Whole Me times as I intentionally spend these last few days in the Thank Truth cycle reviewing what I have come to know of my life.

My early mornings are Holy Time.

Actually, all time is Holy Time,

And I am so distracted

 I don’t recognize the holy minutes and holy seconds

as they flow in and out of me.

But if I practice experiencing my early mornings as Holy Time,

Perhaps it will seep more and more into my days as a WHOLE.

And perhaps my nights will become incubation for Holy Time,

So my dreams will carry more and more a holy message for my life.

And then perhaps my life will have enough holiness

My breath can be a holy mist out to the lives of others.

My early mornings are Holy Time.

Self Reflection: Take time during these last few days of the cycle of Thank Truth to hold sacred and abundant gratitude for your Self and your self.

What it Means to Honor Truth

From Sara we  receive this words of wisdom: "Within us is already everything we need to know."  The difficulty comes in that there are many layers or levels of knowing with us.  We can be aware of many things that are 'true' about ourselves.
As we dig deeper into our consciousness, we find that what is true in one experience is not true in another experience.  We see that what is true in one relationship is not true in another.

We are called to have gratitude for whatever truth is revealed, regardless of how we experience that truth. To begin to discern the difference between what is 'true' and what is 'Truth',  take all that you have held as true and distill it, refine it, examine it.  Where you find a reaction and a rigid response there is likely to be something 'not true'.  

Self Reflection: With gratitude for the experience, thank it and let it go.  Where you have found ease, love, peacefulness and compassion, there is likely to be a Truth.  With gratitude, place these knowings in your heart, and carry-on.

Who We have Been and Who We Are Becoming

By taking time to reflect on our gratitude, and on how the life we have lived so far interfaces with the vision WE have for our life,  we come out of from hiding ourselves from ourselves and the world. We come to know we are already whole. Perhaps we just need to take off the shell that covers our wholeness.  We have not allowed ourselves to see the Magnificent Wholeness of who we are. 

We are manifestations of Creator/Creation.  We all have experienced the magnificence of nature; we too embody that kind of magnificence in our own being. Now we sit in wonder of the magnificence of ourselves-whether we feel we are currently expressing our self in the world, or whether still in the becoming place. What a place of gratitude this is!

Self Reflection: Think about your most awe inspiring experience in nature. YOU are that magnificent, that awe-some as well. We all are.  We can and will embrace this as Truth, by our willingness to travel fully in our humanness. These days approaching the new year are times to allow the Vision of your being to visualize.  Express your gratitude, then YOU prepare to be manifest in the world.

Preparing to Receive; Preparing to Begin Again

When we fully Thank Truth and express gratitude for our lives, we are willing to receive the Vision for Our Being,  we consciously join with Creator to live our life to our fullest potential.   We make the decision to let go of our need to be in charge and control of our creative energies. We become willing to have an open mind and heart to receive Creator’s gifts—inspiration, guidance, direction, and impulse so we may be out in the world manifesting and fulfilling our birthright, our purpose.

Here in this place we do not work alone!  And yet, we alone do the work.  We alone are responsible for our actions.  Yet our actions are made known to us ONLY by our letting go of ‘my way’, the need to control. Preconceived ideas, notions and beliefs—which may be conscious, unconscious or subconscious MUST be set aside for our vision for our life to come clear.

Self Reflection: I am thankful for the Truth of my life. I live in gratitude. Am I ready to begin the journey to know and become my vision I know from living in these Truth cycles? I will rest and reflect in gratitude for my journey of the past year so I may be re-energized to begin again.

How Truth Reveals Our Lives

 "...Does truth work in our lives?...Truth Heals the body, purifies the soul, reforms the sinner, solves difficulties, pacifies strife. There is no such thing as undemonstrated understanding. If you wish to know where you really stand spiritually, look about you at your environment, beginning with the body.  "There can be nothing in the soul that is not demonstrated sooner or later in the outer, and there is nothing in the outer that does not find some correspondence in the inner." (pg 201)       From Emmet Fox, July 20, (1886-1951), a pioneer of the New Thought movement, continues to inform many wisdom teachers and spiritual searchers.  Around the Year With Emmet Fox,

It seems all great spiritual teachers, mystics and holy ones were/are seekers of Truth. All of them! When we seek the vision for our life, Truth is likely to show up in one of the many forms we experience working with the moon cycles, which is just one path for searching and knowing Truth.  

Self Reflections: When I intentionally follow the path of my unfolding vision, I am living my life purpose as best as I currently know it, with the Truth I currently know. I can trust teachings on Truth to pop up synchronicitically in my life. This synchronicity is confirmation of my connection to Creation

Receiving Guidance: Gratitude as a Guiding Force

Carolyn writes:  I have a journal which I write in only when I am in deep awareness of connecting to Guidance-It is my G.O.D. journal' (G.O.D. is my acronym for Grace of Divine/Guidance on Demand/Good Orderly Direction).
Sometimes I write in it everyday for a week or so, then months can go by without an entry. I began this particular journal in 1994 and there are sill a few pages left to fill!  Here is the page that caught my attention as I sat to seeking and writing for guidance this morning.  What a page to show up, as perfect now as it was the year I wrote it. What is REALLY Truth is eternal.  

Self Reflection: What is my gratitude for Truth list for the year now ending?

Can It Really Be True?

Can it possibly be true that already within us is everything we need to know? How different our lives would be if we acted as if we believed this to be Truth.  Yet is is Truth.  Across the long  timeline of Spiritual Teachers, this message is given repeatedly. The difficulty comes in that there are many layers or levels of 'knowing' within our being.  We can be aware of many things that are 'true' about ourselves, yet 'true' only under certain conditions.  As we dig deeper into our consciousness, we find that what is true in one experience is not true in another experience.  Or what is true in one relationship is not true in another. Just because something is true, does not mean it carries the wisdom of Truth.

Self Reflection: As I begin to discern the difference between what is 'true' and what is 'Truth' in terms of becoming my vision I take all that I have held as true and examine it with a desire to know what is true for me NOW. If I find myself in a negative reaction or feelingintreanched in my self-examination, iit is likely I have come across something 'not true'.  I can acknowledge what has been revealed and set it aside.  If I find a compassion in my reflections, it is likely to be a Truth.  With gratitude, I place these knowings in my heart, and carry-on toward becoming my vision.

Flipping the Coin of Forgiveness and Gratitude

In practicing gratitude for our experiences in life, we come upon times where we experience hurt, anger, frustration, dissolution, pain.  Can we even think about being grateful during these times?  The gift in this cycle is 'Thank Truth' .  We look for the Truth, open ourselves to what is Truth, (with an uppercase 'T') when we are confronted with the challenges of living life. 


Self Reflection: Forgiveness and gratitude are two sides of the same coin.
If this coin comes into my possession, I have received a gift more priceless than gold. It is a gift which brings me a freedom greater than I have ever known!

The Amazing Gift of Gratitude for 'What Is"

The gift of  'Thank Truth' is a gift supporting us to start each day anew with the willingness to begin again, and again, and again. Gratitude allows us to miraculously be present to life in an amazing, powerful way.  It truly is a gift to be able to see beauty in the everyday and the mundane.  It truly is a gift to know hope and possibility in the midst of chaos.  It truly is a gift to be able experience change as it is happening in our feelings and actions.  Gratitude = a path of living in the present/in Presence.

Self-Reflection: Today I begin again. Today I will live in the present of each moment. Beginning again and in the present I experience Presence. I live Gratitude

A Practice of Gratitude Changes Consciousness

As we move through these weeks of the waning moon our focus of gratitude turns outward as we explore our perception of others and the world around us. It is easy to express gratitude toward others when we are getting what we think we want, or when things are going our way.  This is only a tiny part of the gift of Thanking Truth.  We receive the gift of greater consciousness when we can be grateful for the whole of the Truth, which may be very different from our original perceptions and beliefs--as was noted in yesterday's post,

What DOES it mean to look for the Truth in every situation and experience, especially those that are challenging in some way? We can start with a question teacher and writer Byron Katie  asks, "Is it really true?"  Through deeper exploration we often find the Truth is different than our personal perception and experience.  We come to understand how important our life experiences have been/are for the growth and healing of our being.  This space of expanded understanding of what is reality is the place where we truly and deeply feel gratitude for the Truth.

Self Reflection: Check out Byron Katie's guided questions here in her process called: The Work. Choose one current belief which is challenging you and explore "Is it really true?"

Full Moon and Sacred Traditions

The December Moon Cycle is always in rhythm with the holidays and holy days. Moon cycle awareness doesn't hang it's lantern on the mantle of any particular spiritual practice, religious tradition or culture.  It includes and incorporates the sacred present in each tradition, and the agnostic and atheist traditions are included as well.  How we label ourselves, and how or why we have come to hold as Truths what we know from the traditions we embrace is irrelevant to the universe in which the moon ebbs and flows. The sacred is contained within each of us, as a spark able to give light, love and hope out into the world.  If we celebrated the sacred days and nights of all the traditions on our planet, it would be a rare day that was not considered holy, sacred or celebratory. If we looked for the wisdom regardless of the source, how much softer and receiving would our world be.

The teachings of all the wisdom givers, all the traditions, which some might call religious traditions, and some might call philosophies and some would have other names, they all teach us the same elemental Truths.  The language may be different, as well as the nuance. But the Truth is fundamentally the same.

Self Reflection: Take time on this holy day of the Full Moon to have gratitude for the Truth shared. Ponder a commitment to learn and have gratitude for the Truths shared on all the holy days in all traditions.

To 'Thank' Requires Action

I can be grateful for what is true/truth in myself. But, what is truth of myself that I do 'thank'?

What does it mean to thank the truth of myself?  This moon cycle we are instructed to 'thank' truth;  not just being grateful, but actively 'thank'.  It’s easy to be grateful for what we deem to be ‘good’ about our self; more challenging to be grateful for what we deem as ‘bad’.  Being grateful is an internal process.  We just think, 'Oh, yes, I'm so grateful ...."  There is a lovely feeling that arises when we sit in gratitude. But, to thank 'Truth' requires active engagement with that we are thanking-whether it is something within our self or another person, place or thing.  The very act of consciously being thankful for what we accept as 'Truth' opens a space for conscious creation of something even more true. This action invites transformation.  This is what deep personal transformation work invites—getting us look at our current view of what is true about how we experience our life, and opening the door for a bigger and more active truth to be created.

Self Reflection: When I find a way to thank everything I think I know about myself, regardless of how I judge it to be good or bad, I will have freed myself of the binding that keeps me stuck in unpleasant pain, patterns, and distress.  Am I willing to thank ALL of what is Truth of the person I am? 

December Moon Gift of Thank Truth Reveals Our Deep Truth

When Jamie Sams writes of 'Gives Praise' as the Clan Mother for December, her story reminds us that we have levels of being and depths of character which are revealed as we journey through life as a human beings.  Many cultures give a 'spiritual name' to children-when they are born or enter into adolescence.  In Jamie Sam's writng in The 13 Original Clan Mothers, a number of stories tell of different ways a spiritual name may be made known.  In our 'modern' culture, such namings are not usual, but that does not mean we don't have a 'name', different from the one by which we are publically known, that represents the deep spiritual qualities of our being.  Is it not  ironic that knowing this identity helps us to live more as the being we really are.

Self-Reflection: What is the name I call myself?  Is it a name which honors or shames my being? 

Keep Me in Truth

If I spoke only Truth
If I saw only what is Truth
How different would my life be?
Truth with the capital 'T' is so different from
          the little truths,
               half-truths,
                    non-truths,
                         wanna-be truths
I embrace as the 'real thing'.
These are 'mis-beliefs', not truths at all.
It takes time to come to know the difference between my mis-beliefs, which have come to feel so much like truth to me, and the kind of Truth which stands up to the scrutiny of time and life.

The cycle of Thank Truth gives me the practice of gratitude. Learning how to be grateful takes practice.  It is a challenge to see the Truth in my own being.  To be willing to see Truth in others is an even bigger challenge.  This waxing moon cycle invites me to take up the challenge.

Self-Reflection: What new Truth about myself has been revealed during the waxing moon phase?  Am I feeling gratitude for this discovery?  Am I full-in with Truth?

Gratitude Builds a Strong Temple

Gratitude builds a strong temple of faith and gives hope a place to live.
As we moved through the waxing phase of the December moon cycle 
our practice of gratitude for all aspects of our life may have had many effects.
Hopefully we have come to more gentleness with ourselves in our struggles and mis-takes.
Perhaps we are now able to pat ourselves on the back and appreciate effort and progress.
Sincere gratitude strengthens our resolve to carry-on.  It builds discipline in our character.
Sincere gratitude brings us faith that our efforts will carry us forward in our life, toward a future of hope.
Sincere gratitude hones our abilities and smooths away the rough places where we stumble.

These qualities are needed as we move into the waning phase of this moon cycle, where our expression of gratitude is outward, toward others.  
We become the strong temple in body mind and spirit.
We are a place where hope can live.

Self Reflection:  Am I ready to share gratitude?

Feeling Alone and Forgetting Truth

Carolyn shares: I wake up very early. The cloud cover has shut out every bit of light from the moon and the stars. All the holiday lights are off in the neighborhood. I'm in the midst of that in-between everything time when I feel totally alone, disconnected from everything and everyone; even from the source of creation. It is a terrible anxiety, moments of total desperation, loss, panic, confusion. I recognize how often these feeling pass through me.--I wonder if I have tapped into an ancient feeling in the core of human beings in those moments, hours, days, maybe even weeks, when they felt alone. How often I forget I am connected to ALL.  I can't ever really escape this connection, but I am always forgetting it. THAT is probably the main reason I stay connected to the mooncyclecircle--so I  forget less and know my connection more. Then, I am able to be a place for others to know and remember their connection as well.  

When I forget, I close myself up in seeming self-protection, and these feelings can not pass through.  Instead, they must take up residence in  my body ('my own personal, 'oh shit, here I go again' response), my mind (which brings up all the bad stories from my memory), my emotions (I feel them in the racing of my heart) and my spirit (which I think feels desperate in my disconnection). They are trapped there until I open up again, which happens ONLY through my willingness to remember I am always connected, even when I forget I am.

Self-Reflection:  Am I willing to open up enough to let the difficult, scary panic,anxiety and fear pass through?  

Learning Gratitude For All Parts of Our Truth

This month is a gift of teaching us how to Thank Truth.  This gift informs us to look deeply within ourselves for all those parts of ourselves that are worthy of gratitude.  This includes thankfulness for both what we consider the ugly, the shame-filled, and what we label as mistake parts, as well as what we label as victories, beautiful and love-filled.  Both are necessary for full expression of our Self. Without thankfulness for each and every experience, our life will remain shallow and, without depth.  Author and Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron, teaches that our ability to experience joy is equal only to our willingness to embrace our pain. Truth sees all, receives all, knows all, accepts all.

Self Reflection: Am I willing to find a way to be grateful for ALL of my self?

Gratitude for Truth: The Crack Where the Light Comes In

Taking time to sink into thankfulness for the truth of what is opens the space for us to be the human we are born to be. This is, to paraphrase the late Leonard Cohen, 'the crack where the light comes in'.

Cracks occur in a number of ways:
A house settles and a crack appears in the ceiling.
The root of a tree grows pressing against the sidewalk.  The sidewalk cracks against the pressure of this tender, tenacious root.
Humpty Dumpty falls of the wall.  He cracks his shell.
The earth quakes, she cracks open.
We lose a Love. Our heart breaks. Our heart has a crack.

It may take some time to hold gratitude for that which cracks us open so the Light can enter into our hearts and our life.

Self Reflection:  Am I willing to allow time to see the truth in the cracks in my life?

Desiring Gratitude for What is True

The desire to thank truth
Invites slowing down.
       No; requires slowing down.
Takes time.
       No; it gives us time.

Self Reflection: Do I desire gratitude for the truth of my life?

Try this: Spend one day expressing gratitude (just say it in your mind and heart, not out-loud) for every experience, every thought, every action.  yes, this experiment will take time.  The gift is: the presence we have for each moment -gives more time.

Personal Work for the Waxing Moon Phase

During the waxing moon we have a chance to embrace those parts of our selves that we tend to hide from others, from the world, and from our own consciousness. 

Marianne Williamson wrote: It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.   

And yes, most of us are more likely to 'hide our light under  the bushel', then to put it out in the open for all to see. (Is the idea of being in the limelight a little scary?)  This tendency to stay small also prevents us from having gratitude for our gifts. In fact, many of us have shame and doubt about the most powerful and effective parts of our being.  

A daily practice of gratitude toward ourselfwill, over time, turn the bushel covering our light, transparent. This covering will gradually disappear, and we WILL be able to share who we are in the world! With a commitment to find and express gratitude in our life on a daily basis, our understanding of life will expand. Our awareness of options and choices also increases, as does wisdom, and also our ability to discern what is truth from what is false.

Self Reflection:  Am I ready for my life to expand? Am I truthfully aware of my options and choices? Am I willing to discern what is truth from what is false?

Thanking Ourselves Deeply

A kind, loving, and steadfast friend knows about gratitude.
They will stay by our side and know we will stand by theirs, regardless.
Yet, there is no taking for granted, no need to know the outcome.
These are relationships of deep gratitude.

We learn to be steadfast friend to our soul
            by holding our self in both compassion and accountability.
By expressing gratitude for our life experiences,
            we remember that our life is a journey of practice and progress.
For us; for others.


Self Reflection:  How will I express deeper gratitude to me?

Thankful for Honsety

In all of our relationships we ask:
Am I in truth?
Or am I in non-truth, falsehood, wishful thinking, manipulation, delusion, addiction?
To walk a path of gratitude for truth
is to walk a path of committing to honesty.

Self reflection: Am I committed to honesty in my thoughts, words and deeds?
Where might I struggle most in using this gift in my life?

The Foundation for Living in Gratitude

These are the foundations that are the basis for living in gratitude:

What Is:  there is so much goodness available.  In fact, the darker the space, the more place there is for good.

What Has Been: We will not regret the past nor try to shut the door on it.

My Gifts: we are the treasurer of our life.  What does that mean? Being able to work the edges and the core of our being at the same time.

My Trials:  It's so easy this time of year to run around like like a lunatic, to lose connection with what grounds me. When I let my environment direct my actions, I can not hear Higher Guidance.

Self Reflection:  I have the ability to listen for gratitude, to discern gratitude in all situations.  The only question is am I willing to live in gratitude rather than ego?

The One Reason We Thank Truth

To say Thank You and really mean it requires we fully accept what is offered.  Otherwise, our thanking is shallow.
To express gratitude while not truthfully receiving what is given, denies a gift we may need for our well being.
It may be that we are given the gift of gratitude for the primary purpose of practicing gratitude so we may eventually learn to thank and have gratitude toward ourselves.
We must experience gratitude toward Self in order to truthfully express gratitude toward others.
To thank the truth within our Self, in our gifts, imperfections, and miss-takes opens us to the gift of being human.
It is a gift to be human...a rare gift.
When we live this gift in the practice of being human, we are Truth,
we know the meaning of Thank Truth.

Self Reflection: Am I willing to express only authentic gratitude?

How Do I Thank Truth?

How to Thank Truth.

What does it mean to Thank Truth?  

Live in gratitude

Gratitude for my path

Just as it is unfolding.  

Cut myself some slack

Pat myself on the back

Lighten up

Maybe even embrace a little humor, even if it is dark humor

Don't take myself too serious

Self Reflections: Creator, Spirit of All That Is, help me remember that the path of my life takes me toward truth.  No matter how crooked my path, no matter if I stray far off the path laid out for me, eventually I WILL embrace my Truth.  And I will thank her for my journey.

New Moon, December: Darkness Becomes Apparent When Exposed to Light

Darkness becomes apparent when exposed to light.
On this new moon, darkness is apparent, because, for the moment, the light reflecting from the moon is not visible to us. And in December, the darkness seems even darker as the night continues to lengthen.

This is the month to Thank Truth.  There may be things, rules,experiences, persons and institutions we struggle with, maybe even feel hatred toward, that we we not only don't want to hold in any form of gratitude.  These same 'things' we also repel from even considering that what have is true about them is not true at all, let alone ask with sincere intention to know and be grateful for the truth of these life experiences.

Gratitude is the light that will end the darkness of any situation.
We begin to bring in light by acknowledging there may be a truth in (the situation we are thinking of) that we do not yet understand and are not yet able to accept.  This can take effort and time.

Self Reflection: Am I willing to commit to continue looking for a tiny place for thankfulness, no matter how difficult or horrible the experience?  If not yet, what would I need (within myself) to look?

In the Time of the Closing Moon of Sharing Truth

The time of the 11^th Closing Moon

I am holding the place of TRUTH that walks beside me. Even when I don’t see her, hear her, feel her.

She is there, here, always present.

But where am I?

How has TRUTH, my silent, ever present partner, manifested herself this month, in me?

A year of sitting with the TRUTH and inviting her into our life:

We have learned her.

We have honored her.

We have accepted her.

We have seen her.

We have heard her.

We have spoken her.

We have loved her.

We have served her.

We have lived her.

We have worked her.

We have walked her.
We have shared her.

Now…

We thank her.

Next…

We ARE her.  We are TRUTH. 

TRUTH (and her sister Wisdom) emanate from the moon.  Both are essences ever present, though visible only through their reflection out to the world.  Still, even in their not being seen, they exist. 

Self Reflection: The truth of my essence is also visible as a reflection in the world. 

How Can I Trust I Am Actually Sharing My Truth?

When we can begin to appreciate ourselves, we begin automatically to accept help and support and gifts from outside sources, including others--the beginning of the end of self-reliance.
Self appreciation is not the same thing as self-aggrandizing, conceit or self-absorption.  In fact, these characteristics are the opposite of true self-appreciation.

In appreciating our self, we are accepting all of who we are, warts as well as loveliness.  This appreciation is a kind of change of view point that allows us to accept our self so much more fully than when we judge ourselves.

Appreciating our self is a necessary first step of humility.  It is also a defense against humiliation. We begin to see and experience the value of our self in the world.

Where are all these words leading?  It is going to take us to a way of being where we are able, without trepidation or fear, to share our being in the world, trusting the truth that it will be the best we are able in the moment we are giving it.  Self-acceptance of our imperfections, and of those moments where we also experience perfection.

Self Reflection: How do I appreciate myself? Am I willing to accept help, support, gifts from others? Am I still hanging on to self-reliance? If so, what fears lie beneath this veneer of self-will?

Rhythms and Cycles as Guides to Caring for Self and Others

Jamie Sams tells the story of Walks Tall Woman, her conceptualization of the archetypal embodiment of the November moon cycle.  As a storyteller, Sams uses mountain lion, the totem animal of leadership, to bring the cautionary message to Walks Tall Woman concerning the right use of her gifts, and the importance of taking time to rest and replenish.

When we are in our role as leaders, we must take time to replenish ourselves with the energy of creator--with quiet reflection and regenerative sleep.  When we don't, we draw on the life force of those we would help and we invite imbalance and disharmony into their lives and ours. (Pg. 234) 13 Original Clan Mothers

Self Reflection: Am I taking time for meditation, contemplation, reflection?  What is my definition of regenerative sleep?

Facing Both Darkness and Light

The November moon energy calls us to face our shadow and our fears, as well as to acknowledge our achievements and dreams (all parts of sharing our truth). 

If we are able to face our fears and our shadow while there is still light, perhaps we would not be so afraid of the darkness. Perhaps the tendency for depression and isolation would not be so strong during the winter months. 

If we could acknowledge ourselves in our successes and deservedness, with humility and balance and clear vision, then perhaps we could truly enjoy those months, which if we prepared and allowed ourselves, could result in a lot of creativity and fulfillment.  

Self Reflection:  I name and acknowledge the successes I have had in all aspects of my life. I name and acknowledge my deserving as a child of Creation.  This is me, Sharing Truth. 

The Waning Moon in Winter Can Get Really Dark

Perhaps it's all the holiday lights that make the dark seem even darker.

Certainly it is the ever shortening days that remind us of just how dark it can get.

Not just in the out of doors, but within ourselves as well.

All the cheeriness and sparkling lights can seem to make a dark mood darker as well.

No shadow is cast in this deep darkness.

We need not be distracted or frightened by their distortions.

We can choose to slow down and be present to the growing dark. 

We can choose to sit with the darkness and come to know it better.

For the gift of this time of growing dark is that, in the end

the deeper the dark the easier to recognize

The small flicker of light that is eternal within us.

Self Reflection: I will embrace my times of darkness. I will let my inner eyes adjust and I will see the small flicker of eternal light within.

Pouring Out Like the Bowl of the Waning Moon

The waning moon is the pouring out phase of the moon cycle.  At certain times of the year, the upside down positioning of the visible moon can mimic a bowl turned on edge to pour out its' contents.
As we approach the midway point of the waning moon phase, we check our intention and purpose in sharing our truth.
The writing on one of the waning moon journal pages reminds us that our path should not interfere with the path of others.

Self Reflection: I pour myself out into the world with care.

All Truth Cycles Imply Movement

Rhythms and cycles imply movement
They also imply there is a repeat in pattern, an ongoing return to repeat,
or to begin again further down the path
or further up the spiral.

Life has rhythms and cycles as well.
Perhaps this is why some of us are drawn to journal amidst the moon cycles,
using the Cycles of Truth as our guiding star.

To Share Truth is 'Walking Our Talk'.  We are growing, changing and 'choosing' beings.  The moment we entertain stubbornness or status quo we are no longer in a present time, we then are no longer in Truth. A very blunt spiritual teacher once said to me "You are either dynamic or dead; ultimately there are no other options."

We are all walking a spiritual path in our life, and by being conscious of our path we remain in motion. Our spirituality is a dynamic process; spirituality is NOT passive!

Self Reflection: Do I experience my spirituality as dynamic? passive?

Carolyn comments: Depending on where the teachings on the cycles of truth are sourced, the 10th and 11th cycles both may refer to Walking the Truth.  This could be a confusion in translation or interpretation, but I have come to understand this seeming confusion not as confusion, but as an invitation to be conscious of the ACTIVE action required in both October's cycle of 'Work/Walk Truth' and November's cycle to 'Share Truth' as Bob and Lee Nitsch name these cycles, or 'Walk Truth' as Jamie Sams and Kenneth Cohen acknowledge it. The teaching source (Grandmother Twylah Nitsch) is the same.

On Being With the Truth of My Day

Carolyn's personal share:
Some nights it is a struggle to find the right words for an inspiring post.

I can't seem to find the connection to inspiration or wisdom.
I feel more weary than witty.

My mind is packed full of thoughts, overstimulated from a full and challenging (in a good way) day.

I think of yesterday's post on Challenge and Truth.
The truth I can share is about my tiredness, and that I am being challenged to change.

I am grateful for the post and for Marianne Williamson's quote.
I'm cutting myself some slack.
I'm accepting this challenge to change.
I have some experience in the challenge and the change getting easier.
Ahhh, I feel better already.

Self Reflection: What is my experience moving from challenge toward change?

Challenge and Truth

A challenge is a call to change.
Challenge is embracing an inner urging to change.

Almost always--this change is toward growth, creativity and joy.
Almost always--this challenge, takes us into a shared space with others, and out of aloneness.

For many people, it is so much easier to resist the change, and instead experience the higher cost and tougher challenge of trying to stay the same.

It is a challenge to live truthfully.  Not because we have so much 'bad stuff' to hide or stop doing,
but rather because we humans have this bizarre shame about letting our light out into the world.

When we accept the challenge of sharing the goodness we are aware we have, then our goodness that still remains hidden will share itself. It emerges, most often (maybe even 100% certain) without challenge and difficulty, but with a sense of ease and flow.

Self Reflection:  What is my goodness? How could I share it more fully?

― Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Interaction and Inner-action

This cycle of Share Truth is a month of action: interaction and inner-action.
Both are necessary for moving in and through the world

Interaction with others, in our family, our community, our work
Inner-action as we go deeply within ourselves to clear out the clutter,
to make way for our authentic self to bloom.

Self Reflection: Where am I taking action in my life?  Who an I interacting with? What is my 'inner-action'?

Surrendering 'My Way'

On the journey (or the path) of sharing ourselves out in the world what is/are the challenge(s) I currently have in my life that could require I surrender 'my way'?
What might possibly be the 'my way' that is getting in the way of my having what I want or long for in my life?

Self Reflection Exercise (yes it takes more than a minute, but well worth it)!

Make A List 

Challenges            My Way(s)         Desired  Outcome       What will I change?

A Task for the Waning Moon: Surrendering What No Longer Serves Me

Surrendering what no longer serves me frees me of shame:

Accepting the time for surrender
Accepting the time for support
Opening to let go
Opening to clarity
Trusting guidance
Trusting intentions
Proceeding with Truth as my sentinel
Proceeding with Source as my compass.

Self Reflection: I can surrender what no longer serves me, trading that in for my real life, that which does serve me, and others, and the world.

PS:Check out Michael Singer's book  surrender-experiment.

November Full Moon Moves Us Into Sharing OUR Fullness

Invitation:

As the moon is full with light on this night, may I too know the fullness of my light.

As the moon reflects the light of the life-giving sun, may I too reflect the light of my gifts, sharing the fullness and Truth of my being in the world.  

As the moon is not alone in a universe of endless stars, may I too remember I am not alone, there are others with me who may light the way for me, or with me.  

Self-Reflection: May I remember to ask for help, support and wisdom as I continue my journey to share my truth.

Shame and Gratitude Meet on the New Moon of Share Truth

Sara’s honesty in sharing her experience of shame around her personal gifts and accomplishments reflects how a willingness to be visible creates an environment for others to experience their lives more fully.  This kind of sharing with others has the effect of dissolving shame and making space for new growth--for ourselves and for those with whom we share.  In Sharing Our Truth we invite others to do the same.  A new community of trust and camaraderie with others begins to form.  This is the deeper calling of this moon cycle, Share Truth. As this cycle moves toward completion, the emerging  moon cycle brings the gifts of gratitude, strengthening our commitment to Share Truth. 

Shame lives in our shadows

              and feeds our fears.

Shame encourages hiding.

Shame keeps us from living fully,

              from sharing the truth of our gifts, talents, accomplishments.

Gratitude is the antidote for shame.

Gratitude nourishes our gifts,

              grows our talents.

Gratitude is a catalyst of encouragement,

for showing up as our real self.

Self Reflection: My time of daily reflection and contemplation makes a space where my gratitude and shame can meet.  This time creates a sacred space where my gratitude can shine light on my shame. Shame crumbles and loses its' power. In this time of sacred, quiet self-reflection, I experience gratitude for my abilities and accomplishments. I find courage to share my life fully in the world. For that, too, I am grateful.

Noticing Choice

It is important to acknowledge both the light and the shadow in how we live our daily lives.  Our truth is played out in the 10,000 choices we make each day.  When we notice and give ourselves credit for the times we choose alignment with our higher self, we have less need to hide from the shadow self.

Sara's personal share: While I easily acknowledge my gifts and abilities, I find they are often a source of shame:  I feel shame for not living up to my potential, not being as "good" as I "should" be, given how I have been blessed.  My "review/release" circle is filled with choices I made that "could have" been more in alignment with my Truth.  Today, I am reminded that I also need to balance my review with acknowledging the choices I make every day that ARE in alignment.

Self Reflection: Do I carry shame about my gifts, abilities, accomplishments?  If so, how has this affected my ability to align myself in truth? to Share my Truth?

Imperfection as Sharing Truth

Perfection is a not required action.
Truth exists within my imperfect self.
I can share truth even in my imperfection
      and it is still Truth.
The roots of Truth are within
Intention.

Self Reflection: When I have integrity in my intentions I have tapped into the roots of truth. I share with ease.

Self-Appreciation

Today, I appreciate myself.
My efforts
My imperfections
That my imperfections don't keep me from keeping-on
That I make mistakes
That I take my mistakes as opportunities
For doing things differently.
For making a different choice.

Self Reflection: I honor the whole of me, my efforts, imperfections, mistakes, doing differently, making new choices. I have compassion for the whole of me.

Be Willing to Share Truth and the Heart Will Open

It was easier to stay small
When I thought there were limits to my being.
I could act smaller than I was,
Give less than I could,
Excuse my bad behaviors,
Hold on to resentments,
Stay in ignorance,
Claim self-reliance.
Not need others
Be superior.

Ahhh, but....
The only true limitations of being human comes when the heart is closed.
There is such bliss in an open heart,
Even when things are tough or seem to go wrong.
There is some kind of magic that seems to happen when
I just show up and be who I am in my
imperfect, True,
considerably more than adequate self.
The cycle of Share Truth , as does every Cycle of Truth, comes with her own marvelous gifts.
They are ours to discover, to claim as our own.

Self Reflection: Am I willing to discover my gifts, claim them and give up those ways in which I still play small?

A Firsthand Experience with Sharing Truth

Carolyn shares: On my journey of learning what it means to 'Share Truth', I've had many firsthand lessons. One such lesson happened as I woke up early one Sunday morning with an intense awareness that I needed to do something for a woman who was about to undergo a very serious operation. If I said 'yes' to this spiritual nudging, it meant giving up a good chunk of my afternoon and evening.  It also meant I would be giving away a shawl I had spent a great deal of time and effort creating.  I felt my hesitation about both things-giving up my time and letting go of an object of beauty I had become attached to.

But, the awareness would not leave me alone. During my morning meditation, the nudging became stronger. So, I rearranged my day, and that afternoon took the train to the city, hailed a taxi to the hospital and offered the shawl.

The other part of this story is that in this nudging awareness, I also felt an insistent urging to hold a healing ceremony for blessing and protection.  My tendency is to keep this 'sacred object' wrapped up and hidden safely away from view, as if it were only for a 'special occasion'.  I act as if I were keeping some kind of sacred 'secret' and I don't share about it, or offer it to others, as though somehow my not sharing and keeping it hidden away was being humble (by the way, I have learned that not sharing  is never humble). As I observe this behavior in myself, it seems rather that I more selfish  by not letting others see or share the fullness of who I am and what I am able to offer, and by not sharing what I have been given. This, unfortunately is a lesson where I seem to need repeated teaching!

This is what I have learned: Sharing Truth is an action step.  It's not enough to have the concepts, or know the principles of Truth.  I must be willing to share actively ALL of myself-All the Truths of Me when asked, when needed.

Self Reflection: Am I willing to share actively ALL of myself-All the Truths of Me?

The Four Levels of Risk-Taking

Over the last few posts, an invitation has been made to take hold of all that supports our life and puts ourselves out into the world in the honesty of who we are as human and spiritual beings.
And so, we are invited to  practice risk taking,
Not the risk taking of an innocent child, ignorant of dangers;
not the reckless, impulse kind of risk-taking of adolescent,
or the compulsive risk taking of an addict.
This kind of risk taking of Shares Truth.
This is the person who can
Breathe in,
Pause,
and with the out breath
Opens to inner and Divine wisdom and
Risks status-quo
to bring more Truth into the world.

Self Reflection: Am I willing to risk status-quo? Will I feel deeply the Truth of Divine Wisdom and and share the beautiful Truth of my being with the world.

Honest Self-Presentation May Not Be What You Think

Honest Self-Presentation?

In his November 18th post of daily meditations, Emmet Fox (1886-1951) wrote that we cannot have too much respect for ourselves, or too much confidence, that we must claim as much as we can for ourselves, all the while realizing these are an expression of the Divine within us, that these qualities are not of our own creation, but are of our expression.  And then, he reminds us that we must also accept them as true for every human being.

We realize we are sacred beings
and our sacredness
NEVER
ends in failure!

"Think, talk, live your divine glorious selfhood, and it will demonstrate itself in your life!"
Emmet Fox

Self Reflection: What one doable act could I commit to that would support me living more of my Divine Glorious Self?

Taking Hold of Our True Self

Taking hold of our self, requires we hold sacred our core values. This requires we know what we honestly value in the core of our being.

Are we willing to be Truthful with ourselves about these core values, even if we are embarrassed to admit what these core values are? Our actions in the world are a either a reflection of the values seeded in our soul or the values of our ego. Either are acted out in the world as 'core values'.

In the cycle of Share Truth, we move through these weeks continually inquiring-Is what we express in our life an expression of the Truth at the core of our being?

Self Reflection: Take hold of who I am at the core of my being, and then take hold of all the support available to me so I can to live my truth.

Courage to Share the Truth of 'Me"

Courage:  The lion in The Wizard of Oz thought he lacked Courage.  He didn't lack courage.  He was ruled by fear and an overrated sense of needing to be in control. 

Fear in its' proper place is an invitation to 'Pay attention to what is coming (next)'.  Ironically, this is also what having a crow fly into your life also means in an interpretation as an animal  totem.  For many of us, when fear comes up we automatically go into hiding or into control mode--our instinctive 'best options' for safety. 

Self-reflection:  Am I in touch with how fear impacts my life? Am I willing to step back (the next blog topic) and pay attention?  Paying attention can lead me to seeing what is possible.  Seeing what is possible opens the space for courage if fear does not take control.

P.S. Carolyn's personal share: A number of years ago I was invited to use the Serenity Prayer as a daily practice in my life.  When I go into control mode, I hear a little voice in my head:

Self Reflection: (God) grant me the serenity 
To accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can

And the wisdom to know the difference.

The Bigger Picture of Stepping Back

The inner nudge to step back might come when we are in the midst of struggling to see things clearly, to know what to do next.
An artist will step back to get a clearer picture of his/her work.  In a sense to see, to have a truer vision of whether their creation is how they 'imaged' it when the impulse to create their art came to them.  This is true whether the 'artist' is a painter, gardner, carpenter, designer, chef, teacher...in other words, the innate creative part of each of us intuitively steps back to take in what we are creating out in the world. We step back to see if what we are sharing in the world is true to our inner knowing or vision.

Self-reflection:  The truth I share in the world is reflected back to me. When I step back to see the 'bigger picture' of what I am sharing, what Shared Truth do I see?

How Stepping Forward Shares Truth

May I become willing to step forward, to speak up when my soul stirs and feels the inner urging to stand where others might hold back from fear, shame or a desire not to be noticed in the crowd.

May I step forward to because I WANT to be more visible in the world to share who I AM in my truth.  May I step forward to share the imperfect fullness of me.  In this way, I am a mirror for others to also step forward in their unique, wonderful, imperfect fullness.

Self Reflection: Let me count the ways I step forward in my life to be fully in my humanness.

Letting Go of 'Our Way'

To Share Truth means opening our minds, hearts and actions to a direction other than our usual way of doing things.  Last month our reflection about letting go related to the things we hold fast to: stuff, relationships, beliefs, habits/addictions.  Now, our letting go is at a deeper level.  We consciously let go of attachment to our way of thinking and doing, adopting instead the intention to interact with our world from what we might call Divine Direction or Sacred Inspiration. 

When we have carried a belief, habit or fear around for a long enough time, it begins to feel as if it is part of who we are. It becomes a part of our identity.  Just the idea of letting go of something that has become our blanket of security, or our 'go to' comfort, increases our anxiety.  Anxiety further shrinks our ability to see the potential for our life.  For many people this becomes an ever deepening rut of  repeat limiting, self-destructive behaviors.

Here are two practices which can help us become willing, able and ready to let go of what keeps us from creating our dreams:

The first practice I call the 'god-box' practice. Write what it is you wish to release on a small piece of paper, fold it up so that the writing is folded inward.  An example:  "I ask for guidance and direction to let go of ___________________. "

If you have a personal altar you can place this request on your altar. I have a 'god-box' on my altar and use that to hold my requests and intentions. If you don't have an altar, to choose a small, special container to hold your requests and place it where you will see it regularly. There is nothing more you need do, except to keep your ears, your eyes and your heart alert for the guidance and direction you will begin to see as you move through your days.

This is not to say your letting go will be instantaneous or easy, though sometimes it is.  Often, our guidance comes in unexpected ways-someone shows up in our life who is able to guide us through an arduous letting go process.  Sometimes letting go comes in stages, by bits and pieces.  Sometimes, we find letting go just happens. Awareness and asking are the key ingredients to letting go over time. Letting go is an intentional request.  The willingness is ours to choose, the timing of when it actually happens, however, is not in our control.

The second practice for when you are not sure if you are yet willing or able to let go:
Write a prayer for the willingness to pray for the willingness to let go. An example:  "Creator, I pray for the willingness to become willing to ask for guidance and direction and inspiration to let go ________________.

Self Reflection: I read this prayer everyday, upon waking and before sleep.  Soon I find myself writing my request for guidance and direction.  Now, I am ready for the gifts of the 'god box'.

Cultivating Compassion

True service to others (not serving with a hidden agenda) is one meaning of Share Truth. Service to others can dissolve shame. Through service, the mask our self reliance will give way to experiencing the other, for whom we do service.  In a way, the playing field of life is leveled. When we can experience the other in their need, we are more able to experience our own need, and begin to see our self as we truly are.  In this way, shame diminishes.  Compassion is born.  We see others, we see our True self.  

Service strengthens the roots of compassion and dissolves the the roots of shame. 

Self Reflection:  Where in my life do I offer to be of service to others?  Am I willing to cultivate this service, bringing well-being to others and to myself as I do?

The Essentials of Growing Humility

Attempting to grow amidst humiliation and shame, Humility will struggle to thrive.

Yet, without humility, our ability to share the fullness of our life out in the world is thwarted .  Humility is the ability to stand tall, not with pride (which is a mask for covering shame and humiliation), but with a willingness to be seen as who we truly are; with imperfections and the awareness we will always continue to become more of ourselves. 

In the garden of our soul, shame is a tough and bitter herb. Humiliation has thorns as sharp as those of the thistle.  Pride is like the rotten trunk of a tree, easily uprooted and blown over by the wind, crushing tender shoots under the weight of her fall.  

Self Reflection: How will I nourish and tend the increase of my humility through self-care and kindness toward myself?  

Stepping into the World As a Full, Feeling, Imperfect Human Being

These qualities are seeded in our hearts and our being.  They are already within us in the seedbed of our souls. A few tiny sprouts will support us stepping out into our world. ***

Humility
Compassion
Letting Go
Stepping Forward
Courage
Stepping Back
Taking Hold
Honest Self-Presentation
Risk-Taking
Slowing Down
Speeding Up

Self-Reflection: Which of these qualities are familiar to me? Which are waiting to take root, to sprout?

 ***Over the course of this waxing moon, each of these qualities will be contemplated.  May they each grow and nourish us.

Our Journey to Share Truth:Begins

"The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are."

C.G.Jung

This moon cycle leads us in the way to share Truth in the world. Our first call is to use the skills, gifts, experiences and dreams we carry within to share our truth. Our willingness to share our truth as best as we currently understand this Truth. That is all that is needed. That is enough.  More will be shared as is needed-we need only be open to receive. Our understanding of the Truth of our being grows toward fullness only when we become willing to share our truth as it is in the now.

Self Reflection: I claim and move in the fullness of who I am,with humility, so that I do not shame or humiliate others.

Gifts of October's Closing Moon

We each have a web of life we have co-created with the Source of our being.
Our web of life holds our dreams.
As we Work with Truth in our life, our love, desire and our efforts manifest our dreams in our life.
As we Walk in Truth, we are taking steps to share our life with others.
Our willingness to Share Truth in our life is the next essential step on the path of our Life.

Self Reflection:  I carry in my being stardust from the origin of the universe--the original big bang. Can I begin to imagine My Truth as big as that? What an origin!
I am connected to all of creation.  This is the Truth I am willing to Share in my work and my walk as I live my life.





 

Waking our Creative Spirit

The spirit of the artist lives within us all.
We are all creators, whether we own this essential part of our being or not.
To see our work in life as a creative act is a choice, regardless of what that work is.
If we walk in our life with an intention to create more love, peace, prosperity, balance..
        we walk as embodied artists for the Creator.
This is the path to Work and Walk in/with/for Truth.

Self Reflection:  How well do I know the spirit of my inner artist.  How would she express herself if I let her work in my life, walk in my life?

Saying Yes to Creating Self

We are coming to the close the the Truth Cycle to Work and Walk in, with, for Truth.  In the final days of this cycle our unexpressed longings may feel more urgent.  Our inner artist/co-creator longs to be expressed in her fullness. Our longings are the seedbeds for creating ourselves.

Truth: you already have what you need to be who you are.  

It is there in the longing.

There is still time to say "Yes!" to growing to our full being.  

There is always time to say "Yes!"  

"Yes!" is the creative nudge.  

"Yes!" must be said everyday, even if some days it is just "yes!".

Self Reflection:  As a living breathing being I am saying "yes!" in some way to my inner-creative self every day. I am, whether I am conscious of my "yes" or not.  How am I saying "yes" to my inner creative self? How do I want to say "yes"?

Guiding Words for Working with the Waning Moon

What we have to move us through the work for the waning moon:

Our Vision
Our Energy
Our Effort
Our Spirit

All must be in balance one with the other.
In this way, we Incarnate  to the fullness of who we are.

Vision, Energy, Effort and Spirit manifest in our Work in the world.
Vision, Energy, Effort and Spirit inform how we Walk in the world.
When each is in balance, our life can be balanced, regardless of the events of the world around us.

When Vision directs the show, looking to far to the future, we become dissociated from the 'now'.
With too little Vision, we forget our direction.
With too much Energy, we are manic and life is chaotic.
When depleted of Energy, we sink into hopelessness.
Exerting effort without regard for the capacity of body, mind or emotions, they become diseased.
Lethargy, the lack of intention for Effort, breeds entitlement and poverty of Spirit.
Spirit connected to Self and to Source, supports our life, our well-being.
Spirit, with no connection to Self and Source, distorts the Truth in our work and our walk.
Disconnected from Spirit, there is no life in our work and our walk.


Self Reflection: As this waning moon moves toward closure, I reflect on awareness of my vision, how I use my energy, my right use of effort, My connection to Spirit.

Letting Go of the Need to 'Let Go'

From yesterday's blog post, a practice is suggested of putting whatever we need to let go of in a specially designated container (such as a 'god box') and then leaving it there:
"There is nothing more you need do, except to keep your ears, your eyes and your heart alert for the guidance and direction you will begin to see as you move through your days."   

 Don't focus on what you think you must do, Just pay attention with all your senses, and a way for letting go will be revealed. Paying attention is an act of preparation for the manifestation of our dreams.  Paying attention also creates openings in our psyche, our behavior and our willingness for Great Mystery to enter.  In this way, we begin to experience the gifts of being co-creator of our life.


Self Reflection: Am I able to, ready to, willing to experience the gifts I receive when I am co-creator and not controller of my life?

Working and Walking Truth in Present TIme

"A secure future depends on walking in balance every living moment".  Thirteen Original Clan Mothers  (Pg. 198)

Perhaps part of the problem is I have held on to and not shared what I have been given in wisdom and awareness in a path of healing (with others).  And so, there is no space for what I long for (abundance, relationship, health etc) in my life. What does all this 'holding on' or 'coming up short' represent in me?  What part of me am I holding on to that prevents my True Self, my authentic, real self from being present?  What of my True Self am I holding at bay, denying, hiding from myself and from others?

Self Reflection: To get where I am going, I must BE where I am.

Practices for Learning to Let Go

When we have carried a belief, habit or fear around for a long enough time, it begins to feel as if it is part of who we are. It becomes a part of our identity.  Just the idea of letting go of something that has become our blanket of security, or our 'go to' comfort, increases our anxiety.  Anxiety further shrinks our ability to see the potential for our life.  For many people this becomes an ever deepening rut of  repeat limiting, self-destructive behaviors.

Here are two practices which can help us become willing, able and ready to let go of what keeps us from creating our dreams:

The first practice I call the 'god-box' practice. Write what it is you wish to release on a small piece of paper, fold it up so that the writing is folded inward.  An example:  "I ask for guidance and direction to let go of ___________________. "

If you have a personal altar you can place this request on your altar. I have a 'god-box' on my altar and use that to hold my requests and intentions. If you don't have an altar, to choose a small, special container to hold your requests and place it where you will see it regularly. There is nothing more you need do, except to keep your ears, your eyes and your heart alert for the guidance and direction you will begin to see as you move through your days.

This is not to say your letting go will be instantaneous or easy, though sometimes it is.  Often, our guidance comes in unexpected ways-someone shows up in our life who is able to guide us through an arduous letting go process.  Sometimes letting go comes in stages, by bits and pieces.  Sometimes, we find letting go just happens. Awareness and asking are the key ingredients to letting go over time. Letting go is an intentional request.  The willingness is ours to choose, the timing of when it actually happens, however, is not in our control.

The second practice for when you are not sure if you are yet willing or able to let go:
Write a prayer for the willingness to pray for the willingness to let go. An example:  "Creator, I pray for the willingness to become willing to ask for guidance and direction and inspiration to let go ________________.

Self Reflection: I read this prayer everyday, upon waking and before sleep.  Soon I find myself writing my request for guidance and direction.  Now, I am ready for the gifts of the 'god box'.

The Pain of Not Letting Go

The pain of not letting go...as human beings we tend to respond to life by either holding on no matter the cost, or stopping just short of the goal. In the animal world, only domesticated animals mimic this behavior.  Creatures in the wild could not survive if they behaved this way.  We human beings may survive, but we certainly don't thrive, and the life we create by living this way is painful, for us and for those around us.

Spider, as a totem so obviously does not hold on! Think about spider spinning and weaving her web. From her being comes the fiber and material for creation of the web. From her essence comes the knowing of its' form, its' creation.

Self Reflection: What does the web of my life represent for me? What is the cost of my holding on? What is the cost of my stopping too soon?

Living in the Mysrtery of Our Own Web of Life

There are ways our own web of life is known to us and ways in which it is still a mystery.
What is asked of us as we move in the space that is ours-to care for, to steward, to enjoy, to create?

Carolyn's personal share:  When I sit to write these blog posts, I sit in stillness asking for guidance, "What is helpful for me to hear, know, write for this day?"  As these posts are written day after day, I am aware the guidance is always there, yet I am frequently not able to hear or see it clearly.  Mental chatter, the static of conflicting needs and wants from other areas of my life result in impatience. I often feel pressure to get into my day (or to go to bed), or to meet another's want or need.  For me, this is the 'poison' that creates the distorted web Sara wrote about in her post on the weaving of one's web.

A Truth I  know as I stay committed to this path of living and being and serving is this:
My willingness to continue to ask for guidance helps me come back to a centered place where I am better able to hear and see guidance.
My willingness to have gratitude and appreciation for all that is in and around my life, regardless of how it currently appears/feels to me, clears a way for creativity.
When I can let go of 'my way', my time frame, my preconceived ideas and notions and prejudices, words and creativity flow.
All this is what allows my inner-artist to connect with Great Mystery to co-create my life (and these posts).  It is truly a wonderful experience and way of being. Knowing this, I wonder why I still leave this space so often?


Self Reflection:  What more is needed for me to trust I AM a gifted artist co-creating my life?

Thinking About the Web of Great Mystery

Moses Shongo's 'Pathway of Peace' meditation invites us to place our being on a very specific path, and on specific stones on that path leading to the  summit of  Great Mystery.  The 'Web of Life' is Great Mystery's web, Creator's web, Creation's web.  Our personal webs are but one among many. Creation is a web of webs. Yes, we are all connected.  We are all interconnected on the bigger web of Creation.

Self-reflection: I am a human being. I have been placed on the infinite web of Creation.  I have a specific place here on this web. I arrived with a path for my unique 'being', with nearly infinite possibilities.  I choose the steps to take on my path.  As part of the greater Web of Life, I will get input along the way re 'my path, my web'.  How discerning am I as to the source of the input? What/who supports my being? What/who diminishes and harms my being?

Gifts of the Cycles of Truth: The Pathway of Peace Meditation

This is a reading of the Pathway of Peace Meditation pages 95-97 in Honoring the Medicine by Kenneth Cohen

Pathway of Peace Meditation


Self Reflection:  Listen to the meditation, familiarizing yourself with the seven stepping stones and their gifts.  It is suggested you take 30 seconds to a minute (or more) at each of the steps to fully integrate the fullness of each stone along the path of the meditation.  This will require pausing the video and taking all the time you need/want before proceeding.  Alternately, over the course of a week, meditate with one of the pathway stones on each of the seven days.