Closing Moon for September and the Cycle of Live Truth

We are in the closing moon for September.  In this day may we become aware of the small ways we have learned to use our senses to hear, see, sense, feel and taste the presence and power of the Creative Force of life within.  

We prepare to step consciously onto the Web of Life, to work with and to walk with Truth in our lives. 

Self Reflection: A Contemplative Prayer: "Bring me more into alignment with my own inner truth and enrich my capacity to Live Truth in my being, within myself and in the world.  I ask a vision for my life. I ask for a conscious dream to understand how to live the unique expression of Truth in my life walk, in my life work."

Live Truth and Abundance

All Truths are within myself.

I experience them day by day.

Each step is a discovery

of new Truth,

of more Truth,

of clearer Truth.

Here in this place within, which some might call the soul, I will find the key to abundance.  In all of my experiences, a positive abundance is available.  Accessing this abundance requires a shift in my perceptions .

No matter my feeling-being sick, excited, afraid, brave..., I can use what I am feeling to support my going within to say 'yes' to the needs of my body (and mind). This is a vital and necessary step to Live Truth in my life.  Am I willing to Live what I know is True to have abundant health?

Self-Reflection: What would I need to change in how I live?

Live Truth is When We Experience the Extraordinary Gift of Being Human

These morning blog posts really are meant to be one minute meditations.  Hopefully sparks of illumination to shed light on the direction of the day.  BUT...
It is definitely worth taking extra time to read this post from Dr. Kelly Flannagan's Blog 'Untangled'
dont-try-to-be-more-extraordinary-just-try-to-be-more-human

To Live Truth is my having the _________________to experience being human as an extraordinary gift.

What word fills in the blank...
ability
willingness
humility
courage
serenity
surrender
peace
intuition
intelligence
heart
....what IS my word?

To Live Truth is to experience being human as an extraordinary gift.
Life is a gift; not always a fun or easy gift and Truth is a gift we receive when we come to understand our life as a gift, an extraordinary, co-creative Gift.

Self-Reflection: What is 'my word' that will support me to experience life as an extraordinary gift?

How Do We Know if We are Living Truth?

As we enter the final days of the waning moon, reflect on how the phrase 'Live Truth' shown up in your day to day life.

Remember this is a process.  It is unique for each of us. It will change as we change.  We will have moments where we lose connection with the power within us that brings us the peace, courage and wisdom to claim and manifest OUR awareness of Truth.

A Serenity Prayer:
I ask for the Grace of serenity to accept what I cannot change in my life.
I ask for the Grace of courage to change the things I can.
I ask for the Grace to use Wisdom to discern what is mine to accept, what is mine to change, and what is mine to let go, and to act with that Wisdom.

Carolyn writes:  At this point I still mostly know when I am NOT Living Truth.  But this, too is progress.  I am now so uncomfortable when I am in 'NOT Truth', that I am more and more willing to surrender to not knowing and...Truth arrives (sometimes after a bit of patience).

Self Reflection:  How have I experienced my process of  'Living Truth'? How do I experience living 'Not Truth'?

Inner Knowing Illuminates the Difference Between Wants and Needs

The waning moon teaching 'Live Truth' reveals that inner knowing illuminates the difference between wants and needs.  In living Truth in our life, we learn to discern ego from soul.

Egos are not capable of sorting out what are wants and what are needs.  Only the soul can do that.

The source of our deep inner knowing is our soul.  

Only the soul would know that what the little girl really needed was a pair of glitter-covered red mary janes.   It wasn't just a whim.  It was her symbol for courage so she could read her poem in front of class.  The ego would say she was showing off, or how much better it made her look than the other girls, or that it wasn't something her parents' could afford.  But the soul persisted.  Her soul wore those red shoes long after her physical feet had outgrown them. Years later, in a courtroom they were with her when she spoke clearly, wisely and forcefully on behalf of her client.  The soul knew she needed those red shoes. 

Sometimes what the soul knows surprises us.

The Grace of the childhood smorgasbord Sara wrote about in yesterday's blog is a smorgasbord where wants and needs are served together, each complimentary to the other.

Not either or, not excess, or gluttony, but generous portions, yet always the right size.  That is the way it is with Grace. That is the way we give meaning to Living Our Truth.

Self Reflection: How can I find this Grace again and feast at her smorgasbord more often.  

Saying "YES!" to Life

Saying "yes" to life is the outcome of inner peace.
We get there through listening for guidance, consciously creating balance in our inner and outer lives and trusting in the outcome.
Saying "yes" to life is an earthly experience of heaven.

Sara writes:
As a young girl I often experienced what I now realize is an incredible gift of Grace:  Many, many mornings, I would wake up in a state of rapturous anticipation.  I had a natural ability to joyously welcome the experiences the day would bring.  I think now that the secret to that joy was that I 
looked forward not to some specific outcome or event, but just to LIFE happening.  Back then, I knew in the depths of my soul, that life was good.

Today, I am only rarely blessed with awareness that I stand before life's buffet table; abundance laid out before me in ways I cannot imagine, and which I did not create.  My spiritual practice directs me back to this state of welcoming acceptance.

 Self Reflection: May I live in a state of "YES!", welcoming the depth, breadth and variety of what life will bring me today.

To Have Inner Peace IS To Live Truth

When I have inner peace, I am the essence of Live Truth
When I am pushing to get something done--OUCH!

Miss-takes happen.

Words are care-less; or at least not care-full.

Inner peace comes,

One breath at a time, a conscious pause in thinking, doing.

I pause in my be-ing
And open my consciousness to Great Mystery's influence.

When I am under the influence of the Source

I AM the essence of Live Truth.

Then, I am able to live truth in my life.
From this place of inner peace, it happens automatically.

Self Reflection: Let me reflect on my time of greatest inner peace.  Reflecting, I am shown how this reflects to me my personal essence of Live Truth

On Finding Inner Peace

Inner peace is found inside the self

How does my body show that I have peace within me?  

Do I know how it feels to have peace inside my body?

I can't find inner peace from outside myself;
Not from others
Not from my environment.  
Neither is necessary for being in a state of peace.  

Even if others and my environment have peace, if I don't have a willingness for it,
even just a tiny seed of willingness,
I will not be able to manifest this inner peace.

Self Reflection: How does my body show me MY inner peace?  How will I honor this body wisdom?

What Live Truth Means to Each of Us in Our Lives is Different

Truth, Lived through me, will be uniquely my truth,
Different from everyone else,
Yet, each living ou rown path of Truth,
We create a path for Peace.

Carolyn writes: This little poem is one of the conclusions about the meaning of 'Live Truth' as it is in my life. I came to this awareness during the time I spent with Lee and Bob Nitsch.
I saw that each person has their own gifts and a unique vision for their life, different from all others. To Live Truth, for me, means to Embody Truth as I currently understand Truth, then to express this Truth in all my thoughts, words, deeds.

Self Reflection:  In this waning moon phase, I have the possibility--and the ability-- to Live Truth in my actions and interactions with all of life.  My commitment to daily contemplation and reflection (daily review) ensures Truth lives in and through me as fully as I am currently able to allow. Contemplation and Review are preparation for my next action or my next letting go.

Preparation for Action; Stillness invites Faith

Action requires Preparation

Faith requires stillness.

I prepare with faith

My Action and my Stillness are in balance.

What are the actions I want to take in this time of the waning moon?

What is the preparation do I need to take these actions?

Am I able to be still? In body? In Mind? In Spirit?

Ah, Faith!  

Do I have faith enough to give my time to prepare for my action?

Do I have the faith I need to take action, 

        without promises or guarantees

                of the outcome?

Self Reflection: Faith, which is manifested fidelity to Truth, insures my success, guides my actions.

Waning Moon: Live Truth and Balance

Balanced, Balancing, Balance  

This word choice for the Waning Moon.

What does this word, 'Balance' mean for me?

Thoughts?

Feelings?

Balanced meals

Balanced use of time

Balanced relationships

Balanced exercise

Balanced work and play

Balancing Act

Balancing give and take

Balance in my walk

Balance in my talk

Balance in my thoughts

Balance in my prayers

Self Reflection: When I Live Truth in my life, I live in Balance.

Waning Moon for Live Truth: Alter Actions; Understand Feelings

When we practice a daily review of our life, we create a space for awareness, clarity, and ultimately, transformation to occur.  Understanding feelings and altering actions are the two 'qualities' and teachings for the season of autumn in the Medicine Wheel direction of the west.  Both allow us to Live Truth.
We take time with our changes, seeking first awareness and clarity. Subtle adjustments to our behaviors are often easier for ourselves and others to accept than rash action.

Self Reflection: I prepare to interact with the changes life presents by altering my actions and understanding my feelings.

September Full Moon, Contemplating Twilight

All spiritual traditions, from all over the world, and throughout history, hold a time for sacred connection at close of day. In our modern, secular world, the end of day ceremony is likely to be ‘rush hour’ or ‘happy hour’.  

The most mystical and sacred times of day are in those moments when the sun sets and the sun rises.  These are two short periods of time in the twenty-four hours of each day where there seems to be a thinning of the veil between the material and the ethereal—our physical being and our spiritual being. 

What would happen if we consciously entered this the time between Evening and Morning? 

What is required?  

Merely begin a practice of contemplation.  

Merely!  This is such an act of conscious commitment.   

It is how we begin to express the Truth of our Self; how we Live Truth.

Self Reflection: My readiness and willingness to self-reflect leads me deeper into contemplation. I can rest in the natural growing of this practice, this gift. I can be grateful--and patient.

Seeking Our Own Morning Star

Carolyn writes: The evening star is called Wata-jis in Jamie Sams’ story of Setting Sun Woman in her book 13 Original Clan Mothers.  This same star is present in the morning sky for six months of the year, and is brightly visible to us in these predawn hours of autumn. If my memory from previous years serves me correctly, those of us in on this continent should be able to see her at least through the end of the October moon cycle.  If you recall from the story of Setting Sun Woman, the evening star became present to Setting Sun Woman as an infant in a cradle-board, also with the fur of the white bear as her robe.  Setting Sun woman put this child on her back.

Metaphorically, the child is symbolic of our purpose and calling in this life.  This little one is also the connection we have to this purpose; a way to express Creator’s design/template for our unique  being.  Setting Sun Woman puts the child in the cradle board on her back, another metaphor for us: our willingness to carry and align the expression and development of our purpose and calling with Divine Will. We are willing to carry our calling and to pay attention to it, and let it direct the way we express it in our life.  In the story, Setting Sun Woman sends the child back to the stars.  As I think about this in terms of my own growing Spirit within, I think of metaphorically offering my life and my spirit back to Creator at the close of my day.

Self Reflection: Am I willing to cradle my life purpose and carry it always with me; nourishing her and seeking to know her better?

Being Faithful to Truth Life to Truth

"The ultimate source of courage, of 'fidelity to truth,' is fidelity to the light that is in us which is from God. May you find again within yourself the deep life-giving silence which is genuine truth and the source of truth: for it is a fountain of life and a window into the abyss of eternity and God."  (Thomas Merton in correspondence to Boris Pasternak in collected letters, Courage for Truth, 1958)

Carolyn understanding: Fidelity to truth is my faithfulness to what I currently understand as Truth, for the more I am faithful to my current understand the more Truth seems to come to light.  This I have come to know, and I find the silence of twilight a nightly metaphor. It reminds me of the the recurring truth that going willingly into the depths of the dark abyss of night will ultimately lead me to the source and fountain of life. And this 'fountain of life' reveals herself-- as in the ever present, though not always visible, morning star.

Self reflection: I find myself in the deep life giving silence of the twilight time. Here I can be faithful to my commitment to Live Truth, as I currently understand Truth.

Being Sick and Really Living Truth

What about those days when I feel sick and miserable?
The reality of what it means to Live in Truth sinks in.
What a challenge it can be to live with what is really happening in my life-
And
Accept it.
And
Listen for Wisdom about what to do, now, next.
And
Actually, do what I need to do to take care of my
Physical being,
Mental being,
Emotional being,
Spiritual being.


Carolyn writes:  I am still learning this lesson of truthfully caring for my life.  When my body is sick, exhausted, frightened, I try to suck it up and in live my image of what it means to be a women who 'Lives Truth'.
I try to over-ride my achy body, crusty eyes, stuffed-up nose, scratchy throat and carry-on.
I fight accepting what was happening in my body.
I fight listening to the inner wisdom saying, "Stop! Go to bed. Rest." Until Wisdom gets projected through other peoples' reaching out to care for me, then,  humbled, imperfect, fumbling, I will finally, give in to bed-rest.

Live Truth is a process, and a practice, and a humility.

Self Reflection:  I first express Live Truth through truthful caring of my own being.

The Union of Awareness and Gratitude

Awareness can be used as either a tool or a weapon. Awareness is a weapon when we bring our past and our fears into the present.  These two become like blinders, focusing our awareness on a very limited version of the present.  From this place we are likely to manipulate, control, strike out, or withold and withdraw.  We have to as we do not/can not see the whole picture. We are human beings and not likely to ever live entriely free from the influence of our past nor the pressure of our fears. The antidote for limited awareness is gratitude.  We Live Truth  when we continually invite a bigger, deeper and more expansive awareness into our present moment.  We are able to see the bigger picture --closer to Creator's view.  With this invitation comes snipets of gratitude.  Little snipets at first, but then this gratitude grows and eventually the blinders of fear and past are disolved away.  This is  awareness as a tool.  It allows us to see more, know more and 'trust the bigger picture'.

Self Reflection:  What is the quality of my awareness about my life? Am I aware of my blinders? Do I have a practice of writing gratitudes and appreciations?  If not what would I need to shift in order to beign to know them and write them down?

Am I Willing to Have Awareness of the Effects of How I Live My Life?

It is by our daily living, more than by our great accomplishments and achievements that we Live Truth and have a real power to influence the course of human consciousness.   Our daily living, our thoughts, feelings, words and deeds create the template for living on this planet for the seven generations to come.   It is not a question of whether or not a template for the future will be created, the only question is what the template will be.

We each have a template for our own unique being.  The path of Live Truth is a path of increasing awareness of our unique template for this life:  What gifts we bring, what grace we offer, what beauty we are in this world.  We have choice to add honor, peace, ease and beauty to the template of future generations.  Or, we can lay down lines of hatred, prejudice, greed, ugliness and deprivation in the pattern being created for future generations.

Self-Reflection: Each day I add a piece of code for the future. As I come to the end of the day I have a chance to review what I have contributed and amend it if needed, before it causes harm to another or to myself.  Am I willing to use the mystical energy of twilight time to ensure there is harmony in my relationships, my home, my Self?

 
   

On Living Truth with Intention

I am intentional about my life with my thoughts and words in these two ways:

1) about what I want to create in my life, and

2) with awareness that what I think and say impacts the lives and well being of others.

From this place, I consider the needs of future generations:
1) I play my part in the evolution of human consciousness.
2) I stay aware of connection and unity.
3) I treat everything as sacred.
4) I am a conscious parent, mentor and role model.
5) I trust in the bigger picture.

Self Reflection: Am I living my life with intention?

Life According to Other People's Will

We begin our reflection on Willingness and Will by looking at how we learned to adopt 'other people's will' as a strategy to live our life.  As infants and young children, we were dependent human beings, and we learned to follow the instruction of others to be safe and secure in our life.  Sometimes these 'instructions' were really demands, and not living according to the rules and dictates of our caregivers threatened our well-being.

For some of us, learning to pick up cues from others about their needs and wants, and about what of our behaviors were acceptable to others became a way of life; a pattern we have never outgrown. In fact we may have honed these skills into fine art.  This way of interpreting and responding is so second nature we may not be aware we are doing it.  

When we are in the grips of 'other people's will', we feel pushed around, helpless., with no or limited options, often out of control, fearful, and concerned about getting things right.  We also feel stuck,  dependent, confusion, and feelings of shame .  We are aligned with a need for approval and acceptance as a priority in our life.  This list, of course, is not nearly complete!   

Self Reflection:  What are times or areas of my life where I still experience some of the above mentioned states of being, emotions, feelings, thoughts and behaviors.  Are there some other ways not on this list I would add where I recognize Someone else has control in my life?  I can recognize this and know, by recognizing the patterns, I have begun to shift them...my willingness to Live Truth has begun.