Love to Learn

When my son graduated from the U.S.C. School of Music, Vince Mendoza, a famous composer and arranger, gave the commencement address.  He advised young musicians entering the music industry to always ‘practice and play positive.’ Have positive energy while creating music, he said, and if you are making music with gusto and love, you will not only translate the art form into something that uplifts humanity, but you’ll make the loudest mistakes. The best musicians are unafraid to put themselves out there 100%.  Finally, he reminded the graduates to have faith. Remember, the music is always in you. Always.

He also spoke about how important is to have an attitude of continuous learning in life. Without this humble attitude, a person can never be empowered to serve another human being, nor personally or spiritually grow. We teach our children the importance of a good education, going to school and the value of homework.  But learning is more than getting prepared for a better job or tomorrow – it’s a positive attitude about how we should view life.

Commit to Constant Improvement and Growth

We can showcase our capabilities simply for the joy of doing it, but also we must make a commitment to constant improvement. Life is a process and we can never really expect to reach perfection. Often, it is not the material that provides a personal growth lesson, but the context surrounding the learning.  Volunteer for an organization that teaches impoverished inner city kids to read. At the end of the day, you’ll find you learned far more from them then they did from you. Life is a big, reciprocal exercise and if we don’t put ourselves out there to learn something new, we will miss an opportunity to grow.

The possibility of what you can do keeps life interesting! To live a balanced life and feel empowered we must encourage others to learn, but also show we are not above making positive change. As adults, it is important to take a class. Test your limits to learn anything new. Develop your innate gifts that can help someone.  By doing so, you are helping to serve and uplift humanity.

Together, let’s:

1. Show people that learning is about elevating the human condition. Learning, and improving your mind and heart, is about how we can better release our gifts to the world and serve humanity. Show your children you desire to challenge yourself in order to serve another human being. Teach them that learning and education is not all about making more money.
2. Fill each day with enthusiasm, positivity, and hope for a better world.  All positive energy is contagious when you are committed to living life fully. Learning is a result of that process. You will experience life differently when your attitude is positive and hopeful. Teach others to see their challenges as opportunities, not obstacles.
3. Be humble to the process. Whether you want to learn to dance, get a high school diploma, or complete your Ph.D., feel empowered by the process. Don’t be critical of yourself and feel you cannot learn fast enough than someone else.  You will always have your own rendition of every song, so sing with gusto and happiness. If you do, no matter what you learn, you will face your responsibilities with a sense of renewed joy and confidence.

We can trust life to show us what we need to learn but we must put effort into the process! Let’s affirm:

“When I look in the mirror, I see a person whose potential knows no boundaries. I am an example of a miracle and a work in progress. I engage in life robustly and wholeheartedly, without fear, knowing I contribute to the greater good of humanity.  My contribution is important because no one has my unique essence.  I love life, and love to learn.”

Become a life-long learner. Your desire to learn uplifts humanity and is vitally important to experiencing an empowered and balanced life.

Every Blessing,

© Charlene M Proctor and The Goddess Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved. For more affirmations, read The Women’s Book of Empowerment:323 Affirmations that Change Everyday Problems into Moments of Potential. Click Here to buy.

Boredom

Each day is an opportunity to stretch the limits of my mind and give more to humanity. The unlimited universe now gives me room to grow in unlimited fashion. It is time for me to step outside my space and expand my world. I give to the world with excitement and love I have extra energy to find ways to channel my capabilities, through either this situation or another, and I am grateful that I have time to take mental, emotional, and spiritual inventory in order to improve myself and my attitude. New opportunities are coming to me now!

Life Passing Me By

I live in the present moment; therefore it is impossible to watch the past or the future. I am fully engaged in a present life experience. I am the center of experience; I watch nothing and experience everything. My presence on earth contributes to a beautiful mosaic of everyone. I leap into life with vigor and say yes to all life has to offer!

Connect with your food

Autumn is the season when we can fully appreciate our connection to what sustains us—our home and hearth, families and friends … and our food. Having a balanced outlook on life means you know you are part of the whole. It’s understanding the energetic exchange between you and the universe, your symbiotic relationship with the whole. The fall harvest is a great time to recognize that growing your own food and eating it is part of your interdependency with your spiritual source and with the planet.

We are interdependent with nature

Our culture and society of convenience have divorced us from our natural connection with the earth. Capitalism has changed how we nourish ourselves. Our kids no longer see their connection with nature. They think our food magically arrives at the grocery store in microwave-safe baggies. We adults have also lost our reverence for nature. I remember the time my son wanted me to buy him something. “Sweetie, we can’t today,” I told him. “I don’t have enough money for that.” What did he say to me? “Don’t worry, Mom. Let’s just go to the ATM and get more out of the money machine! Don’t you know that’s where money comes from?” It’s up to us to teach our children that we and nature are one, big organic equation.

We depend upon nature, upon our Mother Earth, for our sustenance. Mother Earth’s bounty is awesome. We need to remember to express regular appreciation for it. It begins with connecting with our food—how it’s grown, what the soil smells like, how good it feels to harvest the miracle of nature that is one vegetable, any vegetable. When we sit down to bless our food and eat, we experience a more compete state of gratitude. We give thanks for our beautiful opportunity to be alive as a human being.

When we see ourselves as part of this larger equation, we become empowered and awaken spiritually, too. I have a friend who is now a monk living in India. When he was going through his awakening process, he sat down to dinner one night and began to laugh hysterically. “What’s going on?” we asked him. He was practically rolling on the floor. “What’s so funny?” He said he’d just realized that by eating his food, he was eating himself. He’d just realized that we are all one, that the universe is one and we are all part of this magnificence we call oneness. For him, it was a moment of happy spiritual awareness where he realized that he was a part of all oneness.

In everyday life, how can we better understand our oneness and appreciate our connectivity with all life?

1. Get out in your garden more. Spend less time (and money) in the store. Get close to nature. Smell the soil, dig in it. Show your kids how to plant seeds and watch them grow. Take time to talk to your kids about the miracle of nature. Everything is eating something else in this magnificent cycle of life! There’s a whole world going on out there that we don’t fully appreciate, so let’s learn to be part of it! When harvest time comes around, pick fruits or vegetables together and eat them for dinner.
2. Meditate outside regularly. Get quiet. Look up at the sky. Listen to the sounds of nature. Project a vibration of gratitude for the miracles of nature and for the planet. Don’t be embarrassed to be a tree hugger.
3. Bless your food. The family dynamic of connecting around the food is an important ritual. It’s an acknowledgement of sharing the things that sustain us physically. It’s acknowledging what we have in common with everyone on the planet. Blessing our food is an expression of thankfulness to the earth.

When we think of these simple acts in life, we are learning to live consciously in the present.

So, today let’s affirm (and let’s do this outside):

“At this moment, I see Spirit as my Source, my food, and I recognize this in myself, in every individual, and in everything on this beautiful planet. From this day forward, I choose to see the energy of goodness in everyone and their contribution, no matter how small or large. I am supported in the dynamic equation of life.” Watch the corresponding video on The Balancing Act here.

Every Blessing,

© Charlene M Proctor and The Goddess Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
For other affirmations about positive body image and weight loss, and Charlene’s Lose Weight, Feel Great, Meditate Diet, please click here to download. For more affirmations, read The Women’s Book of Empowerment: 323 Affirmations that Change Everyday Problems into Moments of Potential. Click Here to buy.

Celebrate World Day of Prayer

Hello Beloveds:

I am inviting you to be part of the Unity World Day of Prayer. Please join me in the flow of abundant blessings and my heart-felt desire to vibrate peace. If we do not change our vibration, then who will? If not now, then when? We must become that which we desire to see in the world. Remember, peace, joy, and love being with YOU. So, let’s begin by praying together on September 9th. Join me on Facebook and let’s start a conversation with our Unity friends! On this powerful day, I hope you enjoy my special prayer and blessing. Please share it with your family and places of worship. Love, Charlene

Today’s Blessing:

Today, let us dedicate ourselves to listening deeply: to nature, to one another, and to the infinite love and wisdom that emanates from the universe and has endured for generations. Today, in our work and relationships, let us dedicate ourselves as clearly and as authentically as possible. Let us dedicate today to that which is present within us, the divine presence that lives and breathes as us. It is our brightest light by which we navigate life. Today, may all alleviate suffering in our beloved human community, and taste kindness and joy in all forms of life.

Amen

Om Shanti

Prayer:

Dear God, we recognize yet another week of a September eleventh. Many of us may still harbor fear which we know is an illusion. Belief in a suspicious world that is always on the edge of terror is a false belief and not true. Belief in a negative condition invites us into a lower level of consciousness. As we see the divine perfection of life, our perceptions of fear, judgment, and hate dissolve. Please help us to understand that love, not fear, is our natural state. Dear Beloved Creator, help us to be a beam of healing in our troubled world. Give healing to those who blame their problems on others, as we know our external world is but a reflection of our inner world. Heal us from the urge to dominate and build power by taking away power. Heal humanity of the false belief that killing our brothers and sisters is necessary to manifest the Divine Presence within. Allow us to trust one another, love rather than hate, and give us the courage to risk our comfort zone in order to be ambassadors of peace.

We pray that our national leaders will adopt a new way of relating and learn to heal world conflict by using their heart-center. Help us to move forward and trust that the way is clear for us to create a better, peaceful, and more prosperous world.

To the Christ Light that lives in each one of us. Amen and Om Shanti.

Visioning

Daily Word starts the week off with a focus on visioning. Forming a steadfast vision of good is a lovely way to begin your day!

The Joy of Reconnecting

Summertime brings us together.  And being together is a joyful gift! Last week, Tom and I gathered with dear friends to watch fireworks and laugh about old times. Our kids are all in college. How fortunate we are to share our collective lives! Our young adults arrived at the picnic with new boyfriends and girlfriends in tow, stories of freshman year drama, and plenty of hugs to go around. In the Michigan Midwest, being with people you love under a perfect sunny sky while something is on the grill, well, it doesn’t get much better.

The simple pleasures of jumping into a lake or time spent in a wicker rocking chair near the impatiens on a screened porch is one way I reconnect with nature. Every summer, I marvel at the stretches of hot, sunny days and how good it feels to have a cool lemonade in hand. On Sunday mornings, when I stroll through the Farmer’s Market in town to buy tomatoes and basil, I inhale the smells of newly picked produce. It’s good to reconnect with our food too! I try to pass by the cherry pie vendors, unsuccessfully of course, as I cannot resist fresh baked goods. But at this time of year, it’s important to wake up our senses too, and consciously reconnect with Mother Earth and her bounty. It feels good to enjoy.

Having just completed my new book The Oneness Gospel: Birthing the Christ Consciousness and Divine Human in You, I’m so happy to reconnect with you, my reader! And, I am now indulging myself in a few summer reads.  I am enjoying The Gentle Art of Blessing by Pierre Pradervand. As a blessing giver, this book caught my eye. Pierre writes about new ways of seeing our world and says we remain connected and in tune with our “world family” through the power of blessing. I couldn’t agree more.  Living life, Pierre says, is simply the process of removing barriers to experiencing Divine love. As a spiritual practice, constantly blessing people wherever we go brings us closer to humanity and the heaven within.  When we bless someone, we affirm the good (and God) that is within all beings. A blessing helps us be aware of our own inner perfection.

Let’s recognize that the whole world is one family. This month, when you meet friends or even God through quiet meditation, be aware of the perfection that exists in your connection though consciousness.

Summer Affirmation: I am at peace with life and nature, fully connected to the light that exists in everything and everybody. My world feels good and I radiate beauty. God’s love is reflected in me.

Summer blessing:  I acknowledge the universal presence and loveliness hidden from my eyes and the unlimited good in every person and situation. I invoke the Divine to provide my friends and family with abundance. From the bottom of my heart and with great love, I see their complete fulfillment and deepest happiness.

Every Blessing,

Charlene

Copyright © 2010 by The Goddess Network, Inc., and Charlene M. Proctor, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

The Rev. Dr. Charlene M. Proctor of The Goddess Network is the best-selling author of Let Your Goddess Grow! and The Women’s Book of Empowerment. A Blessing facilitator and a Minister of Spiritual Peacemaking, she is dedicated to helping awaken individuals from all walks of life to the magnificence of their own Divine gifts. Visit www.charleneproctor.com for many books, workshops, and recordings and her blog at www.charleneproctor.com/blog.

Are you reading this summer? Check out Charlene’s Shelfari for her favorite books! Love your Kindle? Buy Let Your Goddess Grow! and The Women’s Book of Empowerment!

Divine Thoughts: Worry Less by Building Gratitude

In the current economic conditions, many people are worrying about how change will trickle down into their personal lives. If a daily exchange of fear, blame, or doom has replaced your daily affirmation, you need to say yes to the goodness life has to offer and build an attitude of gratitude.

Living in a true state of thankfulness allows us to manage worry with ease. No matter how difficult they are, life’s lessons are always learning opportunities. Spirit is attempting to get your attention in an area that is not serving your best interests. When we acknowledge the lesson, learn from it, and add gratitude to our daily life, worrying will fall away. Let’s practice six ways to build gratitude today.

1. Yes, You can cope. Affirm it! When the caca hits the fan, first learn to affirm your innate ability to cope.
2. Remember that you are made of Unlimited, Divine Spirit. Affirm that spirit is a part of your skill set. Invite the Divine Presence into each day and every circumstance and in whatever wisdom tradition or faith feels right to you.
3. Widen your perspective to deep appreciation.
4. Use the Law of Attraction.
5. If you want to be a person who is loved, continue to give unselfishly and thank others for all they do.
6. Get the energy to return to you by practicing gratitude.

Living in a continual state of gratitude for being alive and well and having a chance to improve the lives of others through your words and actions turns negative situations around very quickly. When you express gratitude in your words and actions, you’ll be among the most beloved people on this planet, and your worrying will fall away. Without a thankful approach to life, we do not have as great an opportunity to explore the limits of our patience and our capabilities as loving individuals have.

Did you enjoy this post? Read the entire article and expanded affirmations relating to building gratitude available to all as a gift by clicking here.