Archive for Meditation
Greatest Fears or Golden Opportunities
This seemed like a much needed re-post given the times we are living in. I know I found it a helpful reminder:
Sometimes it takes the biggest challenges in life to force us to evolve into the Beings we are meant to become.
When we’re down and out; feelings like we are going to collapse from exhaustion already. Suddenly something else comes from out of the blue … something so dire that it jolts us out of our weariness. It pushes us beyond what we are capable and before we know it … we’re there … we’ve arrived at where God intended us to be all along.
However, we MUST vigilantly be open … vulnerable … in order to perceive God’s guidance. In my meditations today (on my prior post, “Willful Exposure“) I reflect on what it is necessary to be vulnerable. Sometimes we master one aspect of it; say we’ve learned how to not cling to the things we desire … we’ve learned how to let go. Then something else comes along and shows us yet another facet that we have been missing all along; someone berates you and you harden yourself … you push away.
In truth, the state of vulnerability requires a sort of spiritual stasis … one in which we are neither clinging, or pushing away. We don’t react to the inner longings that push us to grasp for what our heart aches for. Nor do we react to the machinations of the outer world … which is full of people desperately trying to cling to what they want.
When you are calm, and still … the cords of reaction that bind you simply slip away and you are then free to ACT. You are free to make decisions based on where you feel God is leading you. When you are in that place you are actually able to hear, and sense, where God is leading you. You also see how completely lost you were for so long before.
But … in order to arrive at that place … you have to be vulnerable in the face of your greatest fears. If you let the opportunity pass you by … you will just be lost in the never ending maze that is Reaction.
Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
Why American Republicans are so angry
I don’t normally get involved in politics in this page, but I have found it impossible not to ruminate on the topic leading up to election day. There has been so much more anger and hostility than I have ever seen in an American election that has given me pause to wonder.
I remember my brother, a staunchly right wing voter, said to me after Barack Obama won his first term,
“This isn’t really a reflection of the majority of America, it is just a reaction to the Bush administration. Next election he will be gone.”
Then, when Obama won a second term, he didn’t make such bold prognostications … but he was still adamant that what Obama represented did NOT represent the majority of Americans. In his view what Republicans really needed to win was a “true conservative”.
I would not put Trump into the category of “true conservative”, however he has whipped up the ultra conservative base like no other candidate I have seen. So, while I don’t think Trump is a “true conservative”, he has motivated the base in a way that I believe was what my brother wanted … someone who motivated the “real majority” to get out and go out and vote.
So here is, in my opinion, why Republicans are spitting mad this year and talking revolt. They are finally starting to realize that they are no longer the majority. They have been the majority for a very long time and it feels like something is being taken from them that they have cherished.
I get that, I can relate with that.
I am a member of one of the minority groups in this country. I can attest that it does not feel good to be disrespected. I acknowledge that it makes the blood boil when you feel like other people are trying to MAKE you fit into a mold that they have cast … when you don’t fit into that mold.
The majority is becoming the minority … and the minorities have largely banded together to make it so.
As much as one side might like to take it out on the other … to have them know what it feels like to be treated in such a manner. This is a mistake … and it is not the behavior of someone with an open heart who is connected to God.
I hope that when this day ends we can actually “go high”, instead of just using it as a catchphrase. I hope that this country can focus on Love, compassion, understanding and, yes, compromise.
It is no easy thing for them … just as it has been no easy thing for those of us who have been minorities all along. We all still will be living together.
God is Love … measure all of your actions against that measuring stick … is how you are conducting yourself the embodiment of Love? Surrender, let go of the ego … and Love.
That is how I plan to move forward.
Peace and Love.
Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
it’s me, my reflection… — Known is a drop, Unknown is an Ocean
Realize that your world is only a reflection of yourself and stop finding fault with the reflection. Attend to yourself, set yourself right; mentally and emotionally. The physical self will follow automatically… ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
via it’s me, my reflection… — Known is a drop, Unknown is an Ocean
Creativity is the training ground for miracles
Have you ever thought that there must be some sort of greater purpose to your creative surges? You find something that you love, and when you give yourself over to it your spirit soars! You could spend days, weeks, months doing it and never tire of it. The stereotype attached to this is that it must be something artistic … that’s true creativity.
That’s simply not true. We can find creativity within us during just about ANY activity. If your calling is to be the world’s best mom, or dad; you can find amazing and incredible things to do with your kids, and creative ways to show them your love. If your calling is to be a construction worker; you can find creative ways to make yourself the best and most trusted in your trade. Basically … if you LOVE something, or someone … there’s probably a reason for it. Whatever it is … that is part of the unique Creation that is you.
Here’s the thing about creativity though … just because you have it, doesn’t mean that it is necessarily being put to good, or constructive, use. Here’s an example: when I was a suicidally depressed teenager – my teacher remarked that every time she read my poetry she cried. I remember I wrote one piece in particular that reduced her to a weeping mess … it was about a deer that had been shot through the lungs by an arrow and was dying a slow death. Yeah … REAL uplifting.
What Creativity DOES do is show us the unique gifts that God has blessed us with. When we are connected with God and unimpeded by the past, worries of the future, and all of the chaos that goes on in the world of today … when we are just CONNECTED to God’s Love. That is when our Creativity can then take on the form of a Miracle.
I enjoy expressing myself through writing (as well as many other forms: cooking, singing, composing music, etc.). You could say that since I gave my life to the arts, I have become a creative being … and that would be true. However, the things that I produced as that creative Being were a direct reflection of who my True Self was at the time … at the time when my True Self was repressed and shackled to an Inner World of fears, rejection, bitterness, anger, and many other things … that was how I expressed myself creatively … those awful things within me were expressed inherently in what I Creatively did in some way, shape, or form.
THAT is why I say that Creativity is the training ground for Miracles. When you have gone within and cleared out all of those ancient blockages. When you have opened yourself to allow the Love of your Creator to wash all of that crap out? Then your Creativity becomes what God always intended it to become all along … a conduit for God to work through you.
Think about it … when you see a painting, or hear a song, that completely takes your breath away … or makes you cry even … there is something MORE to it than just the brush strokes, or vocal gymnastics of the singer. There is a SOUL that is expressed. THAT is a miracle. Raising the most beautiful children in the world, because you allowed God to shape them instead of imposing your own flaws upon them … THAT is a miracle.
Guess what?? LOVING yourself, even though you can find a million ways to loathe yourself … THAT is a Miracle … it is the first Miracle in the line of many more Miracles to come. Learn to Love yourself … you are beautiful, just as you are. God thinks so … and I think so too (because I choose to be a mirror of God’s Love to the world).
God wants you to accept how wondrously you are Loved, and embrace that View as how you see yourself. Then your TRUE Creative Self will be unleashed upon the world … for whatever God intends.
Peace and Love.
——-
* this posting came from meditating on my prior post, “Portal of Healing and Creativity“. Picture is from 10000 Victories Kung Fu School.
Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
I LOVE YOU
Here is a poem I wrote while struggling and grappling with issues that came up from, well … living life!
Interestingly, this poem has changed my WHOLE way of meditating each day. Now, after doing my breathing, stretching, grounding, connecting to God and establishing boundaries … I spend time allowing whatever is causing me stress or anxiety in my life to come up. I feel it to its fullest … and then I simply say “I love you.” … just as in this poem.
I love you.
~
Rising swells
all flecked with fury.
~
I love you.
~
Judgement’s eyes
cast weight on the scales
of my heart.
~
I love you.
~
Friend or foe;
uncertainty’s advance.
~
I love you.
~
Ancient wounds prodded
provoking past mistakes.
~
I love you.
~
Dreamscape carnage
littered with pieces and parts
of who I was
and what I’ve done.
~
I love you.
~
A shuttered heart
defending inner sanctum.
~
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
~
Namaste.
~~~~~~~
- poem written by the author of Religion4All, art by Amanda Sage.
Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
Source: I LOVE YOU
The Untethered Soul (meaningful excerpts) …
A wonderful looking back on a transformative period in my life!
~~~
2012
During the past year I have had the good fortune to read an extremely meaningful and fortuitous book, “The Untethered Soul” … fortuitous in terms of the timing of when and how it came to me. It is one of a handful of books, over the course of my life, to have drastically altered me. Lately I’ve been re-reading it, while doing cardio at the gym, by opening it up to whatever page wants to present itself to me. I found the following excerpts to be powerful (yet again):
“Life is surrounding you with people and situations that stimulate your growth. You don’t have to decide who’s right or wrong. You don’t have to worry about other people’s issues. You only have to be willing to open your heart in the face of anything and everything, and permit the purification process to take place …
The stuff that holds you down periodically rears its head. When it does, let it go. You simply permit the pain to come up into your heart and pass through. If you do that, it will pass. If you are sincerely seeking truth, you’ll let go every time. This is the beginning and end of the entire path – you surrender yourself to the process of emptying yourself …
Getting involved in the darkness does not dispel darkness; it feeds it. Don’t even turn toward it. If you see disturbed energies within you, it’s okay. Don’t think that you don’t have blockages left to release. Just sit in the seat of awareness and never leave. No matter what goes on below you, open your heart and let it go. Your heart will become purified, and you will never know another fall …
Always let go as soon as you’re aware that you didn’t. Don’t waste your time; use the energy to go up. You are a great being who has been given a tremendous opportunity to explore beyond yourself …
So don’t fall. Let go. No matter what it is, let it go …
That which is holding you down can become a powerful force that raises you up.
You just have to be willing to take the ascent.”
Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
Source: The Untethered Soul (meaningful excerpts) …
Garden of You
Always struggling,
manipulating,
brainstorming,
conniving.
Always the energy
sent into the ethos
after the goal in mind
from my point of view.
I acknowledge it now;
I let go my selfish yearnings.
I replant my best intentions
in the Garden of You.
In meditating on my prior post, “Reflections of your Being”, I was forced to acknowledge what the last line of that incredible quote says:
“… people are not ready to surrender that much. They want the other to surrender; then it never happens.”
Even when you have the BEST of intentions. Even when your love and giving feels pure; free of negative energy. Even when you sacrifice. Even then … the seed of self interest takes root. We want our love – our investment of time, energy and Soul – to be rewarded with the validation of being returned.
It’s natural … we really can’t help it! That is why it takes the very active mindset of constantly grounding ourself in God … pruning back those probing tendrils of selfish hope, and planting them back in the Divine.
Unconditional Love is neither easy or natural … it is the great adventure of open-hearted fragility … the indomitable strength of letting go, and trusting God with ALL things.
Going against one’s learned nature is difficult … don’t get discouraged … just open your heart, and God is there; it’s that simple … no penance required. You simply are THAT Loved.
——-
Picture credit: gardenwebs.net
Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
Source: Garden of You
In A Harmonia – Osho
The words that will be fertilizing my mental and spiritual landscape today:
~~~~~~~
~
Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
Source: In A Harmonia – Osho
What Defines You?
What exactly is it that defines you? Is it your family, or your nationality? Your career, or your dreams? What is that one, specific thing that defines you as a person … completely?
This is what I found myself meditating on today (from my prior post, “Forget the Pose“). Early on in my life, as I suppose would be the case for most people, it was my family. When you are a child, what else is there that could possibly define you more than that?
When family was taken away from me, in my teenage years, I was adrift in the vacuous void of aimless depression … so I suppose that depression defined me. In my twenties it became self-liberation and my dreams … going after the things I was passionate about, and letting nothing stand in my way.
Over time what I have chosen to define me has changed several times: a couple of times it became people I fell in love with, another time it became avoiding rejection at all costs, and at one point it was religion as well.
Here’s the thing though … ALL of those phases I described are exactly that … PHASES! They don’t define me any more than a Magnolia flower defines the tree. I made the decision to make them define me though … I wanted to be in control, because being OUT of control was way too scary a thing for me.
Now, I am at a new place … God defines me. The old things keep clawing at my mind to find their way into control … but I don’t even have to fight them any more. Once they get in? They come face to face with a Loving and Living God within me who has lit my Soul on fire … nothing else can take up residence in that place any longer.
Of course, that takes a certain amount of work as well. It’s not enough to just say that God defines you … you have to put in the work to make that reality. For me that means spending at least an hour or two with God each day. It was work for a while … now I find that I am loathe to leave God’s presence. Today was like that … an hour went by, and I automatically thought, “Okay, time to get up and go about my day.” Then I simply decided to just stay there … and spend some more time connecting with God … soaking in that Divine presence and Love.
So, yeah … there still are things that try to wrest control away … home life, love, the future and all the vagueness that entails. My mind struggles to try and DEFINE something, so that I can be in control. It’s like I needed all of those things, or people, to be there to take care of me in some way … so that I could be good enough … because it is clear that I obviously have been thinking that I am not good enough, or worthy enough.
God told me this today, “YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH.”
THAT is something to define me … that with God at the center of my being: I am good enough … all things are possible with Love ablaze in your heart. I can let go … there is no need to fight, or cling, or push … just let go, and BE … whoever, and wherever, and whatever it is that God guides me to be.
~~~~~~~
Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
Source: What Defines You?
The Politics of Walls
In this heated, oftentimes hate and anger filled, world we live in … we must know that WE are still the authors of our own destinies. Nobody else truly has the power to make us angry or afraid … we allow it, we do it to ourselves with the contextual lens we look through each and every day.
So today I would like to meditate on the freedom of not allowing anyone to build or impose walls or boundaries around us. We are free … free to live and love and author the reality we want to live in!
My words to meditate upon:
“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”
– Maya Angelou
“Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?”
– JRR Tolkien
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.”
– Joseph Campbell
~~~~~~~
Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
A History of Victory
My words to meditate on for the day:
“You are not a victim. No matter what you have been through, you’re still here. You may have been challenged, hurt, betrayed, beaten, and discouraged, but nothing has defeated you. You are still here! You have been delayed but not denied. You are not a victim, you are a victor. You have a history of victory.”
~~~~~~~
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
– Jesus – The Bible, John 14:27
~~~~~~~
“You can either be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It all depends on how you view your life.”
– Paolo Coelho, “Eleven Minutes”
- Photo of Winged Victory statue from My Ancient World.
~~~~~~~
Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
The Sum Of Our Parts
We are all the sum of our parts … those being experiences had (good and bad), and decisions made (good and bad).
There is no other person in the entire universe who actually “gets” how things occur uniquely for you … nobody.
None of them have your experiences … so when something happens to them they are triggered back to their own unique emotional responses based on their own set of experiences, memories, and decisions. You and your set of emotional reactions to the world spinning around you … are completely unique and literally not knowable to anyone else.
Kind of makes you feel lonely to think about. In thinking on this deeper however it actually gives me hope, and understanding, and forgiveness.
In my own life I was taken back to the first person who broke my heart. I vilified this person for years and made them into a complete monster.
That former love had no clue, however, what was being triggered in me by the lies, deception, and severing of our bond. For me it took me back to a childhood full of abuse, the death of my mother, rejection by my father, etc. I was a quasi-suicidal teenager … I’m also living proof that it very literally DOES get better. Each and every year that goes by gets better and better … life is is a beautiful and tragic miracle and through all that pressure, pounding, sculpting and polishing … it really can turn into a beautiful gem. So if you are in such a place … don’t give up hope. Keep living, and striving, and learning how to live with your heart wide open … life will get better.
Back to my earlier point … that person who broke my heart? The place that I was transported to by their rejection and deception was completely unique to me. There was no possible way anyone could have known the horrors of that place. That person did not do THAT to me … because they didn’t even know those levels of pain could exist, most likely.
I now look back and can literally see the whole scenario as a few mistakes that were made … mistakes that I very easily could have or could make in my own life. I can see that now and forgive them … LOVE them even. That person wasn’t a monster … they were just flailing around trying to find a way to stay afloat.
The same is true for everywhere we go in life. Every person you come across throughout your day is a unique universe unto themselves … their emotional triggers that take them back to places within them unknown to you or anyone else.
This is why LOVE is the only way to be … LOVE is the only source that translates to every person. True love … unconditional love … LOVE freely given from an open heart. It gets through that mine-field of personal travesties and recollections and touches people at their core. To live any other way … is to simply be setting off chain reactions of other people’s personal histories all around you, everywhere you go.
You really do change the world … but it is up to you to decide how you want to do that. All you have to do is LOVE, and you will be a success … a beautiful, stunning, dazzling success of a person … nothing else is needed, or even important.
Keep your heart open, and never close … become a conduit of Love … and life will miraculously transform around you.
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* pic by Edward Honaker
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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
Source: The Sum Of Our Parts
Conscious Evolution
My words that I have been meditating on for today:
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“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough”
– Oprah Winfrey
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“Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.”
– Lao Tzu
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“At each moment you choose the intentions that will shape your experiences and those things upon which you will focus your attention. These choices affect your evolutionary process. This is so for every person. If you choose unconsciously, you will evolve unconsciously. If you choose consciously, you will evolve consciously.”
– Gary Zukav; from “The Seat of the Soul”
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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
Changing Your Destiny
Below are my words to meditate upon today … on being the author of your own reality. We each are creators, made in the image of the Creator, and we create our own reality every second of each day … we create our reality based on how we view, perceive, translate and understand the world around us. If you take on another person’s perspective … suddenly your reality is different.
I strive to make my lens for viewing life simple: always having an open heart that is connected to God and follows wherever that leads. Still, many times every day I fail … I sense my heart being closed and must open it up again. The mere fact that I am doing this however means that I am actively CHANGING my own reality and altering my perception of the world around me. I am authoring a new reality … and we all, each and every one of us, have this ability.
If you are unhappy, you can change that … if you are fearful, you can change it. It might take some work, but there is hope … never give up, go forth and create!
Peace and Love
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“What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be altered. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes does not need to be discouraging, because it also means that we are free to change this destiny. One is not in bondage to the past, which has shaped our feelings, to race, inheritance, background. All this can be altered if we have the courage to examine how it formed us. We can alter the chemistry provided we have the courage to dissect the elements.”
– Anaïs Nin
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“I can’t wake you up. You can wake you up. I can’t cure you. You can cure you.”
– John Lennon
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“God provides the wind, Man must raise the sail. ”
– Saint Augustine
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- painting by Ella Richardson
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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
Your Mind Is Complicit
My words to meditate upon today on how we truly are the authors of our own reality, whatever that reality may be. If that reality is shame, or fear, or even hatred … we each personally have authored that. We become our own worst torturers … don’t allow the actions of others to turn you into an abuser yourself. Don’t give them that power … instead be the author of love, compassion and forgiveness.
Shift … and you will find happiness.
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“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”
– Nelson Mandela
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“If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. Which is why it is essential that we not respond impulsively to impressions; take a moment before reacting, and you will find it easier to maintain control.”
– Epictetus
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“Without self-respect genuine happiness is scarcely possible. And the man who is ashamed of his work can hardly achieve self-respect.”
– Bertrand Russell
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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
The Game Of Being Unenlightened
My words to meditate on for the day … on how we “play the game”. We make the choices and decisions that have us live in confusion, anxiety, depression, insecurity or self loathing. Then we go bounding about the earth with these decisions for how to live our lives affecting the flow of each day. We have the power to alter our course, to view the world differently … to be the author of our own reality. Peace and Love.
~~~
“Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything – anger, anxiety, or possessions – we cannot be free.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
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“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
– Jesus; the Bible, Luke 10: 38-42
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“If somebody wants to remain unenlightened, it is absolutely his business to decide about it. If they want to play the game of being unenlightened, it’s perfectly okay. If you have become fed up with the world, if you are fed up with your anguish and anxiety and you have realized that now it is time to awake, then there is no difficulty. Nobody can prevent you. Nobody is preventing you. It is only your own decision to play the game as an unenlightened being or to play the game as an enlightened being. It is only a question of inner decision.”
– Osho
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- pic from Something Borrowed Weddings
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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
Meditation as taught in a children’s show
If only more children were taught in such a fashion! I literally felt myself going through the process just as I watched … a nice way to open up and connect spiritually this morning:
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In a TV show called “Avatar: The Last Airbender” a character is trying to reach his spiritual potential, but can’t due to emotional and psychological blockages he has.
He is then guided through the emotions associated with the 7 energy centers of the body and is show how to open them up to achieve his highest state of being.
This is great not only for children, but for anyone of any age. It’s cool to see stuff like this taught in children’s cartoon!
Source: http://spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/
Pic by Artylay
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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
A Self-Authoring Experiment
This past year I have been engaged in an experiment. I have re-entered the world of classical music after having spent several years of my own meditations as well as taking part in an intensive personal development group.
One of the primary things I learned in this period of time is that WE are the authors of our own reality. Every day, every hour, every minute and second … we author the world around us based on the programming we have received over the course of our lives.
What we’ve been taught from birth. Traumatic experiences that have shaped us. The families we were born into … etc. etc. These are the filters for how we view the world … and thus how we create our personal reality.
But you don’t HAVE to let this be your reality. You can learn how to go within and bring resolution and peace to those inner conflicts and burdens that so shape your current existence. You can be your own author of whatever story you choose.
So, I re-entered the world of music with a very specific promise. I was going to take whatever opportunities presented themselves to me, and do my absolute best with each one. No worrying about the future or fear of rejection to sabotage me … just staying in the present and doing my best with what unfolds.
In order to do this I basically had to let go of results. I let go of worrying about success or what others would think of me so that I could simply focus on keeping my heart open and doing the best that I know how to do. As long as I do those two things … I am a success!
The results have been fairly mind-blowing. By the time a year is up (still several months away) from having made this promise I will have performed roles in seven operas … that’s more than I’ve ever done in one year.
Even still, there is fear and anxiety … what happens after this year? What if nothing else comes along and I’m right back to ground zero? What if opera is not the world for me as I once feared and wondered? What if, what if??
Sometimes I get lost in those “what ifs” … but all that developmental and meditative work I have done has shown me that all I have to do is stop, open my heart back up again and continue doing the best I know how.
Whatever the result of all that is … doesn’t matter. Happiness and contentment are a result of living life in such a manner, as opposed to the outcomes I achieve.
My results don’t define me, the manner in which I choose to author my life does … and I choose to be an open-hearted conduit of Love. Wherever that takes me, I am happy to go.
Peace and Love
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- pic by MarlouJ
~~~~~~~
Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
Patience Is Power
My words for daily meditation:
“The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.”
– Paulo Coelho
~~~
“Patience is power.
Patience is not an absence of action;
rather it is “timing”
it waits on the right time to act,
for the right principles
and in the right way.”
– Fulton J. Sheen
~~~
“One who is patient glows with an inner radiance.”
– Allan Lokos
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Pic from mindbodygreen
~~~~~~~
Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
Having Faith
Having faith is essentially keeping the door of possibility constantly ajar. The proverbial door is really your heart; an ever-transposing portal to the Divine path intended for us. The world passes through US, and with our hearts blazingly open … we are able to discern and traverse the spiritual landscape of God’s intention.
Blind but ever seeing. Deaf but ever straining to hear. Empty but always seeking to be filled by the only Essence that quenches this slaking thirst.
This is a state that is very rarely rational. In fact, if one would try to make sense of it they would be maddened to the point of despondency, and convince themselves to give up.
We do not have the minds to comprehend the brushstrokes of the Master. The incomprehensible milieu we perceive is but a tiny stroke on the canvas of what is intended. We strive to dictate our placement, shape, length of duration, and hue … without even knowing what we are a part of … it is thus that we pervert an intended masterpiece.
All we can do is sit back in the seat of our consciousness … and wait … watch … breathe … discern … and then act when we are prompted. Everything along the way is simply to be enjoyed, or grieved, and then let go of … simply trusting that wherever we wind up is where we are meant to be.
——-
This post is a result of meditating on my prior post: “Faith is an Oasis in the Heart”
~~~~~~~
Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.
We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!
There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.
By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.
In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.
Southern California, Northern California, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin, San Jose, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Palm Springs, Long Beach
Source: Having Faith
Religion4All 
