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?