Sunday Celebration Readings
Trust Beyond Self 11/28/10
Written by Jim Toole
Limit yourself not within the boundaries of that which you believe you are. You have shaped your world well. Within it, you hold dearly onto your perceptions, beliefs and understandings of what you believe “is”. It is, in fact, what you believe you must do in order to maintain your “existence”. For many, it is vital that there is strict order, direction and certainty within the structure of life. As it is with all things that “have been”, if kept in place there can be no change.
It makes common sense if you recognize by doing what you have always done, you shall always have the same results. If you follow only what you have always known, like many in the world today, you will be caught in the same cycles over and over again. Changing slightly your view or position will only temporarily alter your experience. At times, when challenging situations arise, frustration and its effect can be caused by staying contained within your own way of seeing it or doing it.
By choosing to “stretch” your limits or “extend” your boundaries, you expand your consciousness and make more room for freedom and change. Each time that you “let go” into the “wide open spaces” of “you”, you begin to get more in touch with who you are and “make room” for new awareness’s and influence. This also gives you an opportunity to explore “parts” of yourself not yet known by you. In this way you get to know Your Self better.
If you allow yourself to imagine for a moment that what you know and have experienced of yourself is only a small piece of the puzzle, it opens up your awareness to new possibilities. Although you may only be in touch with or aware of your “personal” self, there is a “bigger picture” to consider. In every way you experience your self from day to day there is a direct connection to the whole or “all that is”.
In the same manner that there is more to you then your immediate experience, so is it true for those around you. Each and everyone you encounter has various qualities and attributes that are theirs and theirs alone. Each of these qualities and attributes can be shared and become another opportunity for you to see the world differently than you do within your own self.
Allow yourself to venture beyond your own limited experience of yourself and welcome the reflection of the unlimited possibilities beyond you. You will find these possibilities both in the “space” outside of your scope of experience and reflected from your brothers and sisters around you. Left not the differences come between you and those around you. See the diversity as an opportunity to deepen and widen your experience of life. Where two or more are joined therefore I AM.
Keep in mind always, there is endlessly flowing to and through you, a higher and higher expression of your own being. By being aware of your “limits” you can reach slightly further than what you “know” and begin to draw new inspiration and influences into your world. These new aspects of your being are unlimited because they are literally beyond your “limits”.
It is, as always, a dance, experienced in harmony and balance, to the music of life that you create. Rejoice and honor the “you” you have created AND continue to reach into the “unknown” and make it “yours”. By doing so you are continuously tapping into awakening and renewal as part of the flow of fulfillment within you. Honor also those who you “dance” with you in your life. They hold gifts and treasures for you to be discovered through true connection and unconditional love. Above all else, BE YOU, the perfect, pure, powerful expression of God and Spirit in the world.
The Freedom of Thanksgiving 11/21/10
Written by Jim Toole
There is within you a delicate balance between what you are and what you are becoming. There is a continuing cycle of creation that replaces what was with what is. It is to the extent that you are able to be free in the flow of your being that the space is created for renewal and creation. What you choose to hold in that space determines both your experience and your expression.
By focusing on concern or worry about what you want or what you don’t have, you fill that space in a way that keeps your creative “juices” from flowing. These “juices” are made up of a combination of your desire, will and passion. These energies are your personal “touch” that you “put” on the opportunities that arise within your life for expression and creation.
There is available to you and constantly flowing through you the unlimited possibilities that life has to offer and the creative forces (both within you and from your highest) to shape them. The higher the vibration the more easily creation occurs. By choosing to be centered, balanced and open within, you maintain a state within which life can unfold easily and effortlessly.
There are stages to creation. There is the initial inspiration, followed by desire, fueling passion, and by the use of will directing your presence upon the circumstances to mold and shape them into the desired outcome. A key in both being able to manifest that which you seek, and to experience fulfillment and freedom, is staying open and allowing creation to unfold naturally.
It is a time of Thanksgiving. It is a time to bring focus upon gratitude. It is a time of choosing to focus upon what you have verses have not. It is the very energy of Thanksgiving that not only completes the cycle of creation, but continues its momentum within your life. As you choose to be thankful, you open into a free and joyful experience of being. It is within this expansive place within you that life can express powerfully and clearly.
Take the time to recognize that it is within you that “Heaven” and its infinite nature joins with “Earth” and takes shape as you and through you. You are the pivot point of creation. Choose to reach high for the inspiration that initiates the cycle of your life. Let it move in and through your heart and be touched by your love. Allow it to stir your desire and passion and guide you to direct your will upon it so as to begin to shape it. As it reveals itself, let go. As it passes through your experience, give thanks. In this way shall your vessel be always filled and flowing with the fullness of life and its endless blessings.
Follow Your Instinct 11/14/10
Written by Jim Toole
There is within you a pure and powerful energy, making its way through the layers of perceptions and beliefs you hold true as yours, into the light of your expression. Continuously the true essence of you reflecting from your deepest true self, brings its influence into and through every part of who you believe you are. You are not in these “parts” you play. You are, as you know, your presence and your presence alone. What you believe you are is simply is simply where your Spirit shines its light so you can see it and experience yourself.
You will at times fly like a bee busily from one flower to another of a huge bush covered with an abundance of flowers filled with sweet nectar and covered with pollen. Without being concerned with what or now you are doing it, gathering up the treasure each flower holds and taking from the encounter more than you bargained for.
At times, driven even by purpose or love, you are focused on your duty, what must be achieved for you to feel fulfilled. When you live like what you must do is more important than what you must be, you can not only lose track of who you are, you can lose track of the “Spirit of your Soul”. As the bee you fulfill your obligation to the colony and the Queen. In such a focused manner of living, the “job gets done” or you “meet your commitments”, but you miss what is important in life.
At other times you will float effortlessly as a butterfly upon the winds of life, being carried by its inspiration and upliftment gliding from flower to flower, lightly touching upon it, not only naturally gathering from it it’s treasure, but offering yours. You find yourself, quietly sitting, wings wide open, taking in the light and warmth of the sun.
It is when you are in alignment with the rhythms and currents of life, and you are in touch with the guidance and insight they offer, you will experience their benefit rather than feel as if they are controlling you. By opening to take in what life has to offer, there is less of a focus of trying to “get from it” what you believe you need. By opening yourself you also reveal your beauty to the world; the inner light and love that you are.
In every moment of expression of the soul, there is an opportunity to express both the masculine (assertive) and the feminine (receptive) essence of you. At times, you will be one or the other. By seeking balance, both the bee and the butterfly coexist together in harmony, in both your experience within and through your expression.
Seek not to be concerned completely with what must be done or letting go of your hold completely of your experience of life. Find within you, your center, that internal balance point of peace, harmony and deep inner knowing of your Spirit and True Self. Trust it. Listen to it. Let its flow release you from any bondage or burden you feel you’re held within or held down by and express in all things you are and do, you’re true inner essence. It is Spirit. It is God. It is you.
Selling Your Soul…..To God 11/07/10
Written by Jim Toole
You have chosen this experience of life you are in. You craft and shape every moment of it with your will and desire. It is your desire that causes you to long for the fulfillment you believe the world and all it offers holds for you. In fact, a powerful driving force that continues to motivate many of you on your path of achievement and success is acquiring the “riches of the world” or “having the most toys”.
I know, some of you in your deepest humility are saying to yourselves right now “I’m not like that” or “that is not important to me”. Take a moment to translate these statements into getting what you need and want out of life. Otherwise, you would be living as a monk or priest isolated from the “world as we know it” and forsaking the material world.
It is clear that those of you who seek to discover, experience and express their spiritual nature, are not completely focused on “things”. Keep in mind the need for balance between having and being. Your inheritance is truly “the gifts the world has to offer” and the “richness of life”. Let your soul guide you as you make your way down this pathway you have chosen to express; not your minds ideas, but the purpose of your Spirit.
In the stories you may have heard of “Satan” tempting and luring with the power and treasures of the earth, there is a negative, devilish or evil aspect. In this respect Satan represents the extreme, out of balance, self centered and overly focused part of us that begins to lose touch with the “whole” of us. Anytime that you put all of your attention and energy on only one part of life, you “lose touch” with the rest of it and become self-absorbed.
It isn’t as much that you “damn” yourself by “giving in” to one part of yourself, it is that you cannot experience fulfillment without embracing all of life in a balanced and centered manner. It may sound odd, but if you were to focus all of who you are only on your spiritual self, you would literally begin to lose touch with the world around you.
Remember at all times when you call out or reach beyond yourself for the inspiration and support of Spirit, you are only reaching to the Highest of that which you are. When you believe you are not enough, you are calling on that part of you that knows you are. When you are experiencing challenging feelings, you “cry out” to that part of yourself that is understanding and compassionate. When you feel something is missing or there is lack in your life, you reach out to the wise and powerful part of you that can express and manifest through your creativity.
As always, life is a never ending unfoldment of every part of who you are, showing up as your highest, your deepest, your lightest, your darkest finding each other in a dance that brings balance and centeredness to your experience. There will be times that you find yourself absorbed in the extremes of gathering and even hoarding the world around you. You will venture also into realms and dimensions of your consciousness beyond your understanding.
As you consider the idea of “selling your soul”, be sure you choose to “do business” with the right party. Turn over the deed of ownership of your everlasting, infinite and eternal Spirit to God; your True Self. Surrender all you have and all you are into the unlimited flow of life creating itself through you and as you, the boundless essence of Love, Joy and Peace.
Trick or Treat 10/31/10
Written by Jim Toole
It is that time of year of ghosts and goblins, witches and warlocks. It is a time for dressing up like something you’re not and wandering around asking for what you want, and if you don’t get it “tricking” somebody. How may I ask is that different for so many people today?
Although this holiday originated from the combination of a Celtic tradition and a Christian holiday, it is a time to celebrate the wide spectrum of expressions that we are. The Celtic’s gathered together in fear of the “walking dead”. Christianity celebrates honoring the dead and Halloween is the eve of that day: All Saints Day.
In the United States children (and adults) dress up in costumes to disguise themselves and come together in many different ways to celebrate, to eat and to enjoy what has become ”the holiday of candy”. If we look closer in at what we are doing and possibly why, there could be a lesson to he learned.
Have you watched the children (and adults) as they choose their costumes? Is it not an opportunity for one day to be someone they are not? Or are they? Isn’t there a superhero or even a monster in each one of us? What is “lurking” inside of you that doesn’t get expressed? Do you need a costume to be who you really are inside?
One we are all constantly expressing who we are “on the surface”. It is the part of us that has risen to the surface to be shared in that moment. With so much going on in the world around us, we may find ourselves retreating inward to “get away from it all”. What is important to look at is that sometimes we leave part of us there when we return to “being ourselves”.
So many are searching in the world, even expecting from the world what they truly want. In fact, people become resentful and want to “trick” when they don’t get their “treat”. In the same place we may hide our hidden desire to be who we truly are, we hold our power to create or manifest our deepest desires. Rather than reaching out to gather from the world what we believe we want, we can reach in, find our true desires and “treat” the world with our expression instead of feeling as if we must “trick” it.
Be like a child on this day in one of portraying our innermost and offer the world a “treat” of revealing, expressing and sharing who you really are and what you have to offer. The “trick” would be that the world will get exactly what it wants and so will you, by being your authentic, powerful and true self.
As we all choose this pathway, there will be no need for costumes or fear and we can share the “treats” we have to offer openly and easily with one another. Take the time on this unique holiday to playfully and spontaneously, with or without costume to share yourself with those around you. Let the brightest of your inner light, love and truth be the costume that you wear sharing your “spirit” with everyone.
Unity and Diversity 10/24/10
Written by Jim Toole
When you allow yourself to let go of your judgments and perceptions, you begin to get in touch with who you really are. As you turn within and begin to create distance between your pure essence and the circumstance is that surround you, it is easy to remember you your peaceful, expansive and brilliant light and love.
What is sometimes overlooked is the value of how different and unique everyone is. Each of us approaching and expressing life according to our beliefs, perception and purpose. Our differences frequently create separation and barriers, even conflicts and wars. Today is a day set aside to celebrate both our unity and diversity.
Today is the first annual Global Oneness Day. It celebrates our inner oneness and outer diversity. By embracing this idea both our universal and spiritual connection can be remembered, but also the vital importance of each of our unique expressions. The fact that, literally, without us being as different as we are, “life as we know it” would not exist.
By choosing to bring into our consciousness the connection between Unity and Diversity, we create UNIVERSEsity. Is it not only how we label our schools of knowledge where we come together to learn such a wide spectrum of concepts and ideas, it is that coming together of us in the full spectrum of who we are as one.
It is a time not only to recognize who we are, but also what we have to offer each other and the world. This is not a new idea. The basis of coming together and sharing our abilities and talents, and our ideas and energy has long since been called COMMUNITY (Common Unity).
Lead us this day reach in and connect with our inner love and presence AND reach out and embrace the beauty of how uniquely we express into form our Spirit. By doing so we can extend the essence of our infinite self into the world around us together. Walking as one being and sharing all of who we are with each other and the world. This is the reason in Unity, while celebrating our diversity, we join together in celebrating and experiencing the unlimited energy of our true nature while experiencing the fulfillment, innocence, acceptance, understanding of unconditional love.
What’s Your Story? 10/17/10
Written by Jim Toole
Each and every moment of your life you create the way you experience your life and the world around you. It must be this way. You have gathered to yourself your beliefs and perceptions. You have projected them onto your own circumstances, as well as everyone and everything around you. This is your story.
It would be said by some to lay aside the story you have created because it is an illusion. They would say that you are much more than the judgments and descriptions you use to make your way through your experience. Consider this: all things that are within your conscious awareness are reflections of your spirit into and through the situations you encounter each day.
Your story is the painting or the sculpture your soul is creating so that you and those around you can experience Spirit expressed. Each has their own, unique and personal. Be certain that as you make your way on your journey you do not get so “wrapped up” in your story that you come to believe it is who you are. Remember always, it is the vehicle through which you shine your infinite light into the world.
By recognizing and respecting your story as an expression of your Spirit, so will you recognize and respect the story of others. For it is your nature to believe your story is the “right” one. The way you see things and how you believe is the way it should be. What is true is all stories are the vehicles through which you and your brothers and sisters are expressing their Spirit and experience the world.
In fact, if you allow your self to listen carefully to the stories of others you will find yourself fascinated by their storytelling. Listening carefully, without judgment. It will be an opportunity to see Spirit being expressed in a way different from yours and therefore add depth and diversity to your experience. Gather to yourself the images of life like a photographer in the midst of the most beautiful of nature.
Watch carefully and listen quietly and you shall see and hear great gifts in the stories of those around you. As you practice listening shall you lay aside your judgments and the separation they represent. You will find yourself not only “taking in” more of what those around you are sharing, you will find more and more often “your part” in their story.
As you feel more “a part of” the lives of those around you, you will begin to experience more understanding, acceptance and compassion. Your story and the stories of those around you will begin to become one. Instead of your beliefs and perceptions limiting your experience and separating you from others, your stories will flow together like a chapter in the book of life.
Seek not to withhold the expression of the story unfolding from within you. Allow the expression of your Spirit to rise up and be heard, sung like a song joyously. Seek not to sing louder or better than your brothers and sisters. Sing in harmony. Share with joy the essence of your presence in the feelings, words and gestures of your stories.
Let them be not the barriers that keep you apart. Write a new chapter in the book of life that reflects the innocence and joy of unity as judgment falls away. Listen carefully each day, for the stories of your brothers and sisters are messengers bringing guidance and wisdom you have called for. Withhold not the expression of your story, for the gifts it holds are countless and beyond your knowing. We are all “in this” story of life together. Let us embrace with love and deep honor the experiences of our brothers and sisters through their stories and ours.
New Horizons 10/10/10
Written by Jim Toole
As we approach another date set aside to honor an individual who has had an impact on this country, we reflect on him and what he represents to the world. Christopher Columbus has been given the recognition for “discovering America”. A more factual account of his adventures would be that he “arrived” in America in 1492.
In other areas of the world Columbus Day is also known as Day of the Cultures and Discovery Day. As are many who represent significant events in our history, his endeavors become more of a story than a depiction of his true purpose. There was, is and continues to be, more to Christopher Columbus than is seen by many.
For a moment, allow yourself to explore with your consciousness or imagination what must have been occurring within Columbus during these most important times. Here was a person and not only willing to, but choosing to venture into the unknown in a way beyond no one had done in his time. The level of his insight, faith, courage, compassion, devotion, as well as so many other attributes, were obvious.
Not only did he defy all odds, much of what he chose to gain support for and do, was beyond the reach of most people’s minds and understandings of what the world was. The inspiration and encouragement he must have been open to and therefore received was beyond measure. So what was “behind” this great man?
For those who study the Ascension materials, Christopher Columbus was one of several incarnations of St. Germain. By bringing our attention to what Columbus and St. Germain represent, we can begin to see the importance of what this great discoverer accomplished. St. Germain’s primary focus and duty is associated with Freedom. He is associated with the Violet Transmuting Flame, an energy that eliminates discordant or challenging karmic energy that stands in the path of freedom. The “course” of both St. Germain and Christopher Columbus had to do with creating pathways that have led to the establishment of a country and culture that is referred to as a melting pot.
America has become a place where so many nationalities and cultures have come together in the “land of the free and the home of the brave”. Of all the countries in the world, America is known for its freedom in so many ways. The premise of its Declaration of Independence is for the people of this great country to be able to be who they truly are and express it in their own way.
Set aside for a moment all philosophy, history and reference. Allow yourself to recognize your purpose in this experience of life you have chosen. For welling up within you always is a desire to reach beyond the limits of where you are and to discover new frontiers within yourself and your world. All that you do (although you gather parts of the world to yourself along your pathway), is focused on being all that you can be in freedom and fulfillment.
Find for a moment, within yourself, the energy of your “explorer”, your willingness to look beyond what you believe, the deepest of your passion and presence and set sail for new horizons beyond what you know to be true and the world as you know it. Set your sights beyond where you are, what you have or even who you are. You have within you the ability to carve a pathway of transformation within you, in the circumstances of your life in the world around you.
Call on whatever inspires you, be it from the past, be it from above, be it from deep within you. For your sake and those around you call on it. Bring it forth and give it a voice. Let its expression be reflected brilliantly so that all can see it and be touched by it. Not only can it change the “course” of history (his story), it will fulfill your purpose and destiny many times over. Be all you can be, right here, right now.
Love Beyond Measure 10/03/10
Written by Jim Toole
Each day is another opportunity for the purpose of your being to fulfill itself. To take more steps in life on the journey that has been chosen. Each moment, each step, another chance to experience the reflection of your presence and the truth it reveals. Although there seems to be so many activities within each day, it is when you bring all of who you are to the moment that allows for you to access the doorway to your freedom.
There are so many longings and desires within your hearts and minds. You seek to experience the deepest meaning of what is within you, all around you and in your connections with one another. You have established clear understanding of your relationships with one another. Father, mother, child, friend, spouse or partner, even as basic as man and woman. You are conditioned to believe, even strive to stay within the boundaries of these definitions of yourself and your interactions with one another.
You seek to “get from” and “give to” each other within the scope of these ways you have chosen to relate to one another. Like so many parts of this life you lead, there is always a deeper level to discover, encounter and express. As you choose to look closer at the interactions within your daily lives, you will find that your emotions and feelings will allow you to have a deeper and fuller experience of yourself.
Even as you seem to come to a clear understanding of who you are, your “place” in the world and others, get in touch with your deepest feelings and what you might see as the true meaning of your life, you have yet to touch into the essence of true freedom and fulfillment. For as you have come to understand, nothing that you can have or do will bring true satisfaction to your soul.
That is not to say that your relationships, perceptions, feelings, desires or any other activity within your awareness or consciousness is not a valuable instrument through which you can express your true essence. Take a moment and bring your full concentration to a place within you and ask (even beyond words) to be shown or experience within you what truly matters most.
It can be described as a parents feeling for their child, the bond between two that are soul mates or beloved, the inseparable connection of two who have chosen to be true friends. It can be pursued in order to be captured, and offered with arms and heart wide open. It can be reflected in a gift or an embrace. All of these as beautiful as they are do not truly touch on the absolute essence of what love is.
For love beyond boundaries and conditions is not given or received. It is the inseparable bond between child and parent. It is the unreachable elation of joy and freedom with in the hearts of two beloved devoted to one another. It is even the deep, echoing sorrow felt in the loss of someone you hold so precious to your heart.
Seek not to discard your understandings, the definitions of your relationships, your perceptions of what must be, the way you feel about your life or the world around you. Surrender into the very center of the most open and deep place within the sanctuary of love in your heart. Let go of all that you are connected to within your world and fall into your own pure and perfect love. From within this indescribable energy and essence look out into your relationships, experiences, beliefs, your deepest feelings, even what you believe means most to you and watch it change.
Consider this: in this attempt to describe love beyond measure only the slightest glimpse of a drop of love from the ocean of love has been touched upon. Reach in each moment to dive fully into your ocean of love and immerse yourself in that which is your complete, true and natural essence.
Bringing It Home 9/26/10
Written by Jim Toole
It is vital that you allow yourself to reach upward into the highest of you so as to connect to the vibration that is essential to your awakening. The purity of your infinite presence is the key to unlock the door through which you may find “your way”. The essence of your Spirit is your innermost and highest guidance. It is the very energy that transforms what you desire and choose into experience.
Although this connection is necessary for your growth, “you” (your mental, emotional and physical nature), is the instrument through which your expression shows up in the world. Be certain to balance the extension of your awareness both upward and “downward”. As you experience your divinity pouring into you, “descend” in the mental, emotional and physical humanity of you.
As the flow of being moves from above to below, your divinity passes through your heart, gathers the deepest desire, is blessed by your love and moves into your mind. Your mind is meant to be a divine tool by which you direct and extend your attention and will. As you “put” your attention on something you direct your personal power and presence upon it. As focused as you get with your mind in this manner, the more energy you put “into” something. Again, you must not stay caught up in your thoughts. It is the vehicle through which your inspiration can flow deeper into you.
A thought left to itself will only come and go. This happens for many who notice, and yet only think about what they want to express. Touching into your emotions, creativity and passion, the creative process begins to gather to itself the depth of feeling you have within you for your creation. This is where your expression begins to take form. Instead of it swirling around as a thought like the air, it begins to flow more deeply and fully as the waters of your emotions blend with it. This is where a thought accessible to many others becomes “yours”.
As you have grown on your journey, you have created your own “ways and means”. This way of dealing with life is yours and yours alone. When you begin to apply your ways to your creation it begins to take shape in a way very specific to you. It begins to move through you and to move you to expression in alignment with your purpose and desire.
You’re almost there. This is where many meet roadblocks. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where all that you are meets with the earth (your experience). This is where it is necessary for you to have a “groundbreaking” or a breakthrough. In this way, the seeds of your Spirit can be sewn.
So many thoughts move through people’s minds. They may even have very strong feelings about them. The thought and the feelings may even stir them inside. It isn’t until the flow of your energy that started well “above your head”, moves through your heart, has brought awareness to your mind and has awakened your passion can it find its way into action and be truly realized.
The higher vibrations of your divinity move easily. Your thoughts, like the air, swirl around in your mind over and over again. Your emotions literally move you. It is not until the lowest vibration of your physicality is put into motion that the highest of you can move through the deepest of you into expression.
Sit quietly and allow your awareness to travel to the highest reaches of your consciousness. “Listen” carefully and allow the inspiration of your presence to awaken your divine mind to awareness and thoughts within you. Let your passion be ignited to reveal and awaken your deepest feelings about what life really means. Breathe your highest vibration all the way through the core of you and direct it into the earth and the world around you as you bring “Home” the expression of your Spirit.
A Change of Direction 9/19/10
Written by Jim Toole
As you are making your way down your pathway, seek not to become too over focused or narrow-minded. So often the need to have an answer or to understand situations as they arise, can cause you to become so caught up in the process you lose track of yourself. Not only does the why become distracting, so does the where, when, how and what.
This same can occur within consciousness. When you’re insight or inner vision becomes so single pointed, you can find yourself in “one place or another” in your awareness. As you find yourself there, because you are so “wrapped up in it”, you may begin to believe you are what you are experiencing. It would be like being in one room of your home, and seeing it as your entire dwelling.
It is not that you should not be focused or purposeful about your journey and discovery of self. It is that being obsessed or “caught up in” what’s happening causes you to miss out on the true meaning of what you are seeking. The answer or the destination is not the “end all” reason for being. It is the full experience of what is happening within you and around you.
When the pressures of life weighs heavily upon you or you feel as if you are being pulled or pushed around by them, allow yourself to realize you are simply only in a particular place at a particular time. Also, recognize that how you are experiencing yourself in that “place” at that “time” is only a very small piece of the puzzle.
By simply turning to look in a different direction and move through or away from where you believe you are, you will find your experience changing quickly. This is true because you simply experience a different part of yourself. Keep in mind no matter where you end up, it is only a piece or part and not who you are completely.
In addition, you are never stuck anywhere or in any point in time. For the moment that you think you are stuck in has already passed. And the place you are in is not only by your choice, but only another room in your home. You can choose to move from one place to another, seeing and experiencing yourself differently at any time.
Even if you have been experiencing some part of your pathway for what seems like a long time, it does not mean that is all there is or that you cannot move towards something else. Circumstances, conditions, your emotions and even your beliefs might seem to hold you static in one place. As easily as your presence and spirit moves through you, you can change direction and begin to experience yourself and the world around you differently. It is not so much about how, it is about letting go of what you are holding on to and where you are.
You are never imprisoned in any part of your life’s experience or any way of seeing it unless you choose to be. As you open to deeper and higher places within you, you will make a more “room” to move within. Not only will you discover more in these places not yet “visited” by you, you will feel more freedom to experience and express yourself.
Seek not to hold true to your course, even if the winds of change seem to be directing your sails. Allow yourself to look to the horizon and choose the direction your heart calls to. As you hold true to love, your desire and intention shall you become the “captain of your ship”. Grasp firmly the wheel of your power, press with wisdom upon your rudder and harness the winds of change as yours to move in the direction your soul and purpose calls to you.
May the seas rise only to awaken you. May the sun shine brightly down upon you. May the stars enlighten your darkness. May you to sense the depths of the waters and the expansiveness of the skies. Let the fullness of all that life has to offer be your compass allowing you to experience all you are and all of that is in Joy, Peace and Love.
Where Is Your Heart 9/12/10
Written by Jim Toole
There are events in the history of every civilization that stirs the very deepest of every person. When these events create destruction, mayhem and death, the importance escalates. When philosophy or religion plays a part (especially extreme and exaggerated aspects of them) it shatters even the strongest barrier of protection and defense. It literally cuts to the heart of the matter.
The anniversary of such an event happening in the recent past causes many to bring to the surface once again many thoughts and feelings. The act committed by a group of individuals belonging to a specific religion and associated with what would be labeled: an extremist group, literally shook the world. It is a time to allow its impact to once again, open each of you into a deeper and more powerful experience of yourself.
It would seem appropriate that the feelings of anger, even rage or resentment and frustration would arise within each and within all. Looked upon by many this would seem negative or even vengeful. Seek to look beyond the “ways and means” you would normally view and handle this kind of situation. Let yourself begin to let go of the labels and judgments you have placed upon the energy of the feelings moving within you.
Begin to consider the power that this energy and these feelings make available to you. As you feel them rise up and intensify within you, they need not destroy. Allow your self to harness and redirect for your benefit with these powerful and passionate aspects of yourself. Seek not to direct this power against what you do not believe in or may not understand. How can you possibly comprehend the depth of belief and commitment that was moving within these deliverers of death.
What you may find shocking as you look more closely, is there is very little difference between what stirs within you now and stirred within them during the “unspeakable act”. On a level most would have a difficult time even comprehending, these individuals were beyond completely committed and devoted not only to what they believed in, but that their participation would create a direct path to God.
There is no argument in the difference between the methods and reference used by most to find their way to God and those held by these individuals. And yet, stripped of all judgment and description, the essence and the energy is very much the same. In no way does what is being conveyed here condone mayhem. It encourages you to look into places you wouldn’t experience of yourself that can change your world and the world around you as powerfully as this recognized event.
How often do you encounter situations within your world that you withdraw from not believing you have “what it takes”. How often do you shy away from the full expression of your heart and soul believing you are “not enough”.
Consider looking deeply into your heart and see where, with the utmost certainty, your devotion lies. Connect with it. Dive completely into it. Allow yourself to be immersed in your souls passion and for it to permeate every aspect of your being; physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Choose to take each breath from that moment on from that place. Allow the inspiration of your Spirit pouring into you to awaken this deepest and most pure longing.
Seek to allow that which is within you that is incomprehendible to be comprehended by your heart. Let your hearts love and light redirect this power masked and hidden within you, into your expression. Coupled with your longing this pure and powerful energy of your heart and soul can change everything. Seek not to be limited by your limits. Let them be the doorway to your hearts full expression; in the name of Love and God.
The Labor of Love 9/05/10
Written by Jim Toole
It is instilled in each of you, in different ways and at different levels from as early as you can remember. It may start at a time where you believe you may not even understand it, but you begin to want. In simple ways at first: a bottle, a dry diaper, a warm blanket, maybe a hug. As you grow, what seem like simple things when you were a baby, only become more complex. What you eat or drink, what you wear, the comfort of your surroundings and the ultimate relationship evolve from needs to wants.
Whatever way it may show up in the world around you, it is simply a desire of your being seeking to express, manifest and experience as much as and sometimes all that life has to offer. Much importance is placed on success and achievement within society. You are taught to “work for a living”. A key point to consider is that you were already living before you began working.
I mean this not in the duties you have chosen to perform as your career or livelihood. I mean that the nose does not need to be pressed against the grindstone. Nor does your shoulder need be put into it. True achievement and success is not measured by tasks accomplished. It is measured by the depths of desire and the height of passion, shaped by the love of the heart and expressed through the inspiration of Spirit.
It has been said by a man labeled a genius and a madman that: “work is love made visible”. It is a description of the process of the physical and spiritual coming together in love, naturally reflecting its beauty through the vehicle of labor and work. It is drawing upon the infinite and unlimited essence of “heaven” infusing it into the experience of “Earth”.
How often have you heard it said “it is not the destination, but the journey”. It is not even that which you might gather along the way. For the true essence of you, your soul, your being is concerned not with what you might eat, what you might wear, where you might live or who you are with. The purpose of your being is to BE or experience itself. It may do this through the circumstances around you or that you live within, but it is the essence or the feeling that truly matters.
This does not mean life is meant to be dormant and passive. In fact, like the athlete that puts his or her heart, soul and body into the event seeking the gold, life is to be lived “full out”. Or another way of describing it would be to experience complete fulfillment. Not full of the things, but of vibrance, excitement and exhilaration. These levels of energy literally coursing through your veins allow you to feel fully human and fully alive.
Seek not to “work your fingers to the bone”. Seek not to be an empty instrument or vessel from which nothing is drawn or music played. Allow your self first to reach as deep as you can into your dreams and wishes, gathering all of the desire you possibly can, fuel it with you unlimited passion and allow your spirit to ignite the flame of your expression so it shall burn, reflecting its beauty and brightness into the world.
Awakening Your Spirit 8/29/10
Written by Jim Toole
In the activities of everyday life patterns and habits are developed. It is simply a matter of following the same routine until you are comfortable. The more comfortable you become the less effort you make to move beyond the limits you have established.
This way of living becomes a simple and quiet “existing”. As difficulties arise effort is then made again to “deal” with them. This usually means attempting to return to the “state of existence” you were in. There is a part of you that is satisfied with “doing the best you can” or “just getting by”. There is a much bigger part of you that wishes to experience all the fulfillment that life has to offer, within and all around you.
It is a matter of tapping into places within your self and your world you have not yet discovered, expressed or experienced. These uncharted areas of your consciousness and in your life are not places where you must work harder, but places where adventure is. How often do you hear those around you wishing life had “more to offer”. IT DOES!!! It starts by reaching up, reaching deeper and reaching out.
A beautiful way to awaken your Spirit is to reach within meditation or quiet time to a higher and brighter place within your consciousness. Allow yourself to connect to that not yet experienced or expressed energy of you and open to allow it to flow in and through you. Do not try to understand it. Do not even try to direct it. Like sitting under a waterfall allow it to flow over you and through you blessing you with its infinite and unlimited nature.
The very essence of this energy seeks only to join with you and fueled by your passion and desire to create and express all that it is as YOU. It is life energy seeking to become a reflection of you, the instrument through which it flows. It is the not yet manifested energy of creation (Spirit) wishing to become the being that you are. This is the true meaning of co-creation; Harnessing the highest of you, awakening the dormant of you, and in perfect balance expressing YOU completely.
What would the world be or your experience of it, if you weren’t experiencing its fullness. The fullness of life lies in the depths of your being. Reaching up taps into your divinity. Reaching down taps into your humanity. When you are wanting to plant a seed in order to bring forth a harvest or to “bear fruit”, you do not plant it on the surface. You dig deep into the rich fertile soil, filled with all that the Earth has to offer, and carefully place “the acorn that contains the oak” (your seed) into it. You trust and know that “nature” will take its course. The sun will shine brightly down upon the earth and the seed, urging it to break out of its shell and bring all that it has to offer to the surface and into the light, expressing all that it is.
The same process occurs within the depths of you as you create your experience of life. It is within your depths that your desire plants a seed longing to be experienced and expressed. It is fueled by the natural essence of your passion and purpose. The bright light of your Spirit shines down upon it and within the mystery of creation the perfect union of your highest in your deepest brings forth your true longing expressed.
You walk not in isolation separate from your brothers and sisters. You are not meant to create “a world of your own”, kept to yourself. Even beyond your perception you walk in unity and oneness with everyone and everything around you. You are meant to be a beacon that shines the light of creation outward into the world, creating not only your own experience, but also contributing to the whole.
Reach up, yes. Reach down, yes. Even more powerfully, reach out to extend the awakening of your Spirit into the world around you and embrace it with all the love that you are. In this way shall you walk conscious upon the earth and sleep not in the darkness of the unconscious. As each and all of you know this truth of yourselves and each other, shall the world awaken The Spirit of Life in everyone and in all the world.
Living With Soul 8/22/10
Written by Jim Toole
It is not as important to discover the meaning of your life as it is to BE the meaning of your life. True enlightenment is not the discovery and embodiment of all truth. It is the discovery and embodiment of YOUR truth. You may feel as if you must know your purpose and the deepest essence of your being in order to fund the doorway to your truth.
The very fiber of your being is the instrument through which your Spirit plays the most beautiful and magnificent melody of you. It plays it with or without your awareness of it. This only means it is your decision to be aware of the unfolding of your soul in your day-to-day activities – or not. You have the opportunity to experience depth in your life by not forsaking the facets of your experience that are all around you.
Each facet reflects another aspect of your expression, vibration and the unique role you play in the world. By taking the time to “stop and smell the roses”, YOUR ROSES, you can begin to become aware of the part you play in bringing your Spirit to life. It is not only affect your Spirit moves through you into your world, influenced by your desires and journey. It is that you are the messenger, deliverer and a vehicle through which Spirit becomes expressed in the world.
If you could just stop long enough and imagine like Merlin you conduct and direct the energy of life into and through all things bringing transformation and manifestation to the world. Use whatever term you like: sorcerer, magician, alchemist, Mystic, light worker or just the name you go by. It isn’t as important the way you label or describe the process; JUST BE IT! AND honor and respect the part you play.
This is not encouragement to break your own arm patting yourself on the back or a way to boost your ego to new levels. It is simply an opportunity to notice and recognize the vital importance of your participation in your life and the world around you. Not only is it not the same without you, you are not the same without it.
Notice not only your part in the continuingly unfolding scenes of life, but also the part your brothers and sisters play. They too are constantly bringing forth infinite and unlimited energy into form. By paying attention to the miracles that are being created by you and your fellow world traveler, you can bring back the unity to community, partner to partnership and the experience of relating to one another in relationship.
Look also at the facets, fiber, circumstances and situations around you. For they are what occur within your world between you and your brothers and sisters. By noticing how each and all of you are infusing what is in the “gaps” between you, you will realize they are the “ties that bind”. Not in bondage, but unity and oneness.
Yes, each of you plays an important and unique role in the web of life. Each of these roles is necessary. It is important by remembering community (common unity) you “bring it all together”. It is the difference between a tree standing alone on a square mile of land or a thousand trees side-by-side creating a forest.
Life expresses itself not in solitary confinement. It belongs to laugh and play. It wishes only to extend its wings as far as it can in order to feel the upliftment of Spirit carry it to new heights. The pathway to fulfillment is not found in solitude absence from the conditions of the world, but found in the midst of the fullness of life, filled with your light and love, as it unfolds moment by moment.
Rejoice in what you have made and are becoming. Embrace the beauty of life as you reflect it into every possible part of your life. Celebrate all that you have done and been. Celebrate all that you have not. All of this has brought you to this moment in which you are perfect, powerful, playful children of God expressing and experiencing all that life has to offer.
Trusting Nothing 8/15/10
Written by Jim Toole
As you make your way through your lives each day, look beyond what you are doing and wanting to accomplish. It seems as if achievement and success are frequently based on what can be created or manifested. The importance of “having” and the false security that sometimes comes with it becomes a driving force for many people.
There is certainly a need to acquire “things” to be able to make our way practically through the circumstances and situations we live within. It can appear that the more we have the easier it would be. In some cases, comfort and ease can be a part of the “things” in our lives.
An incredible contradiction lies right in the middle of our need and desire to acquire and possess. As with many things, the more and tighter you hold on, the more tension and constriction there is. When working with your creative energies, the last thing you want is tension in constriction. In fact, the opportunity for unlimited possibilities and the room to be able to create lies in expansiveness.
The world and your fear would say the more effort you put in the more you get in return. It is as if you must wrestle from the world what you need. The truth is the more energy you put into your creation and the more room for that energy to expand and manifest, it will. The truth is that creation is not about holding on, but letting go. It is not about doing nothing. It is about working with and going with the flow of your own energy, passion and desire.
One key to remember is that if you only use what ever you have already discovered within yourself and around you, you will only create what you have created before. By opening up into new territories within you and allowing the influence of your intuition and inner guidance to direct you, you will find yourself being carried by your own flow into the harvest of what you have sown.
Impose not your force on the resources in the world around you believing you can mold them into something new or claim them as your own. Allow your infinite nature to move in and through you and bless it with your desire, purpose and passion. In this way will you open the doorways to allow the unlimited energy of Life, Source, Spirit, God to flow into the open places within you and your world to unfold effortlessly like a flower to the Sun.
Creation knows its direction and path. It seeks only to bring into form the essence of your own longing fueled by your purpose and ignited by the flame of your passion. It is not so much that you must rely on what you have or do not have. It is not that you must work with what you have and nothing else. It is not that the circumstances and situations in your world control you. You are truly the master of your destiny.
Trust not in the way you believe it must be. Trust in what has not yet become. Trust not the limited tangible and physical world. Trust the unlimited, nonphysical flow of spirit. For if you do, your desires shall call on the highest of your energy of creation and it shall reach down and gather up what your desire seeks and form it perfectly into that which you have called for.
Trust beyond the limits of the world and your perceptions. Trust what appears to be nothing (non-tangible, nonphysical, unlimited) and realize that when you do, you are trusting in everything that is.
Trust Your Truth 8/08/10
Written by Jim Toole
Today a lot of focus is put on finding a new approach or technique to resolve situations that are uncomfortable. So often while looking for the answers to life, the obvious, which is right in front of you, is ignored. Although it seems as if the quickest way to get out of a bind that you might be in is to find a completely different way to deal with it, it is important to recognize and trust your own truth and let it lead you.
What is so frequently forgotten is you have spent a great deal of time and effort to discover who you are and be it. Discarding what you believe and how you see things for something else apparently better isn’t always the best answer. Usually situations that are difficult or challenging are really only a small part of your life. It may seem like a big deal at the time, but it’s just a part of you showing up to be seen for what it is.
For the most part, the rest of you is doing just fine. You may put all of your attention on what’s “in-your-face”. You may even be seeing the world “through it”. It doesn’t mean that’s who you truly are or what your entire world is all about. If you allow yourself to think about it in that way it means the rest of you (most of you) is well anchored in your integrity and truth.
Other than recognizing that most of you, most of the time is just fine another important factor must be considered. Beyond your very critical judgment of yourself, you are innocent and perfect. Other than what you believe you are not, you are life itself expressing. Looking at yourself in that light allows for you to begin to trust the fact that what you have been doing has worked very well to get you to where you are now.
You have heard “trust the process”. YOU ARE THE PROCESS! Coursing through every aspect of your being is not only your truth (your perceptions of belief systems), but also THE TRUTH! You are the perfect expression of the flow of the infinite and unlimited energy of Spirit and Presence! Because of this everything you do and everything you are experiencing is the best guidance system available to you.
Although there may be a longing within you to experience something different than you are in the moment, doesn’t mean who you are in the moment isn’t your best reference. By listening both to the desires that arise within you AND to the truth that is established within you, you can have the best of both worlds. What is most important is to not hold on to tightly to either one. What you truly seek will be found in the freedom of surrendering into the flow of the influence of your desire and truth woven into one.
You call synchronicity or being in the “right place at the right time” divine guidance. If this is true, then divine guidance is that combination of desire and truth that is always there. Do not reach so far beyond yourself that you lose you. Believe in that which you have become. Trust that you have done your best and your best is who you are. Do not ignore what seems to be challenging or uncomfortable. These circumstances are your directors.
What is vitally important is to recognize that as a vessel or instrument through which the profound and magnificent energy of Spirit, Life, Source, God flows, you are perfect. You are perfectly unfolding as beautifully as the most fragrant and colorful flower in the “Garden of Eden”. Allow all of who you are to be moved by what you have not yet become and carried by what you have.
By trusting in your truth and the flow of life as it moves through you, you will find yourself in places and situations you didn’t expect. In those places will you find the unlimited possibilities for growth beyond measure at a pace your mind can’t imagine. Surrender to the dance of life and find your freedom. Let the rhythms move your very soul and stir you into laughter, joy and playfulness. Trust your truth, it’s who you are, what you’re made of and what really matters.
Holding Your Own 8/01/10
Written by Jim Toole
So often is the statement made: “I want to make a difference” or “I want my life to matter” or “I want to fulfill my purpose, whatever that is”. For many as much effort is spent on trying to find the answers to life as it is trying to determine whether these answers are right or wrong. There seems to be an ongoing struggle to do the” right thing” for the “right reason”.
The experience of life certainly requires that the circumstances in situations that go on around us be judged and labeled. It is how what’s going on in the world can be described and understood. Each and every way of explaining or expressing has within it the unique “flavor” and view of the individual experiencing it. It is how perceptions are portrayed one to the other.
As you are learning “your way” and “making your mark”, be aware of way that you are conveying your thoughts and feelings. As you find yourself trying to make a point or convince, notice the urgency and tension within you. In situations when you are not “sure of yourself” you may find your self retreating or pulling back. In between each of these is the place where your truth can be found. It requires no effort or force to express something that is real or true.
Each of you, of course, is different and will not see things the same way. The topic or the subject is not as important as the way it is expressed. Views and opinions are like colors of the rainbow, one no more important than any other, and all play a part in the whole. Choose your colors well and express them vibrantly and beautifully from your heart like nature shares her rainbows with us.
This does not mean to not have certainty or confidence in your own truth. It means to be clear within yourself and to yourself about what is your truth and why. Claim your truth. Live your truth. Be your truth. In this way you naturally express it from within and into the world through all that you are.
There will be times of course, while finding your truth, that you will experience determination and doubt. These are the pendulum swings that allow for you to discover the full spectrum of what you are trying to understand within your life. As you find yours and claim it, it becomes a part of you and not something that must be imposed upon someone else; simply naturally expressed.
In the process of finding and creating your “own” way, it will feel as if it is necessary to take a stand. Standing in your truth does not require taking a step back or a step forward, against or away from anything. It simply means you have found your truth and in instead of holding on to it for dear life, you embrace it with love as yours.
As you take each step of your journey of life you shall see that which is within you and around you differently. Although the circumstances and situations around you may change, the difference is found within you. What may be true for you yesterday may not be true for you tomorrow. Seek not to hold on to that which has been or long too much for what has not yet come to you. Look carefully within your heart and see what is true for you now. Offer it your honor and respect. It will then be honored and respected. Allow it to influence the way that you experience and express yourself.
It is the essence of your infinite Spirit continuously flowing through you that brings to you the inspiration that carries you from one moment of truth to another. Claim each of them as yours. Hold on to them only enough to draw them into your heart to be touched by your unconditional love. Allow them to flow through you, as you, as the natural reflection of your Radiance in the world. In this way, the light of your truth and all that it is will be seen as you while you make your way through the world.
Look Beyond Your Limits 7/25/10
Written by Jim Toole
The “world” each person “lives within” is created and maintained by the perceptions and beliefs that literally “make it up”. In the same way as “the world around us” is made up of everyone and everything in it, our own personal “world” is made up of all the thoughts, feelings and actions we have ever been – suspended in a field of consciousness. By getting in touch with, clearly identifying and working with how we see ourselves and feel about it, we can even reach beyond what we believe is true.
Imagine the pure and perfect energy of your spirit (consciousness) as the vessel within which and through your life flows. By paying attention to the flow and what is within it, it is possible to set yourself free from its limits. The way of looking at it would be to compare be “held down” by what you’re experiencing or “dancing” with it. By looking beyond what you believe something is and “staying with it”, you can bring your awareness, attention, power, insight and presence to it.
In this way you can begin to truly see what is happening within you and therefore participate in a much more intimate way in the circumstances and situations of your life. In fact, as you begin to “dance” or work with the way you see yourself and your world, you get to know it and understand it.
Instead of your beliefs and perceptions containing or restraining you to them, they become more flexible and allow for you to see beyond them.
In fact, the judgments that make up what seems to be the determining factors within you are thin indeed. The closer you get to them and the more you look “into them” you will not only see them for what they are, you will see what’s “behind them”. You may find the reason behind them. You may find what “supports” the belief or perception. Depending on how deep you look, you may even find the place where it is possible to set yourself free from it and experience effortless transformation.
For it is absolute and true that your beliefs and perceptions do not have a hold on you. It is as absolute and true that they are apart of you because of the hold you have on them. You have masterfully creates it to layer after layer of belief to validate the way you see and feel about things. You are the creator of your world, the experience you have within its, your expression of it and the degree of fulfillment and freedom you wish to experience.
Take the time to open to the highest of you, drawing in the most brilliant and beautiful light that you are and reflect its against and through these layers of perception and believe you hold within and against yourself. As you do, watch them begin to become more transparent, flexible and dissolve “before your eyes”. Do not fear the release of your believe of self. By letting go of what you believe must be, you literally “open your self up” into a newfound freedom of the who you have always been: your perfect and pure spirit expressed with in and beyond the limits of the world around you.
Do not allow even these words to confuse you. For they speak to every level of you. Hear these words from where you are and allow them to ripple through every aspect of your world and being.
It is only a matter of allowing your own life and love to reveal to you the fabric of the world you have created, so you may choose to unravel the threads that make it up and weave again a new and beautiful garment to wear or cast it aside to reveal your true self.
For you are not meant to be held in place by the ways and means you have created. They are meant to be vehicles that set you free from the circumstances and conditions you live within. Choose not to be imprisoned by the illusion of what you see and believe. Bring all of who you are into every moment and watched the illumination, power and magnificence of your spirit bring to life your freedom, love, fulfillment, joy, playfulness, innocence and peace.
Trusting Your True Self 7/18/10
Written by Jim Toole
As turbulent and chaotic times continue to be a normal part of everyday life rather than coming and going, it becomes more and more necessary to rely on deeper and higher aspects of consciousness. Although engaging in fight or flight may seem to be the first instinctive choice, it is vital to stay in touch and present with what is going on. You will want to find “a way” to “deal with” the conditions that arise. Your mind will want answers and reasons; it is its nature. You will say to yourself as you attempt to “wrestle” with the situation, “what am I going to do about this?”
It would seem as things get tougher, “the tough get going”. Although contradictory to the mind’s way of thinking and the “normal” way of dealing with things, the opposite of getting tough or wrestling with it is the answer. The most powerful tool available to you is the most subtle and gentle part of you: the pure presence of your spirit flowing through your consciousness.
It is human nature to be reasonable and use common sense, suppress emotions and to “get it done”. It is your spiritual nature to surrender, detach and allow for the inspirational aspects of you to carry you effortlessly into the transformation of your circumstances. WOW! Both of those sentences are a mouthful and a challenge to accomplish.
The key, as always, is balance. It is finding that center point connection within and feeling the pendulum of extremes coming to rest. It is finding the place within you neither human or spiritual, but the integration of both. You are asked so often to reach to the highest of your wisdom and intuition. You are “forced” by what is going on in your world to make do with what you have. The key is to use your awareness and willingness to blend them.
In order to experience the freedom that you seek in your expression and manifestation of what you truly desire, it is so important to connect with and trust the simple, sweet and silent flow of the inspiration of your Spirit into and through your “human nature”. The unlimited possibilities and true power necessary to “make your way” through the difficulties of your life are found by surrendering into your infinite nature ever present for you and each moment.
The truth of the matter is that even as you’re hearing these words your mind maybe questioning what is being said. It is hard for your mind to give up its need for evidence and except guidance without having to have a reason. And yet, by letting go completely and allowing for the influence of your spirit (your true self) to weave its way in and through your thoughts and feelings, true fulfillment and freedom is found. In the process, the answers you have been looking for show up.
Life is a dance, unique and different for everyone. Each of you move to a different rhythm and march to the beat of a different drum. Seek not to follow or to lead. Seek to allow the flow of your own Radiance, infinite and unlimited, to bring all that Heaven has to offer to your earthly experience. You will find as you let go into those places within you that are open and free of what you believe must be true, you will find exactly what you’d need to carry you directly to what you desire.
As you set to yourself free from your “bondage of self” you will fall into the energy and influence of your “True Self”. As you learn to trust this powerful and profound part of you, you will gently begin to embody the highest of you into the deepest of you and experience the wholeness of your being: body, mind and Spirit. In this beautiful and amazing state, DANCE! LAUGH! PLAY! as you make your way through this experience of life your soul has chosen to express!
Surrendering to Softness 7/11/10
Written by Jim Toole
As you find yourself making your way through the twists and turns of your life as it unfolds, stop and smell the roses. Certainly, the roses offer the beauty of their color and the aroma of their scent. Look also and see the thorns many times hidden among the lushness of their green leaves.
By nature, you will allow those things that are best understood and more easily handled be where you put your attention and your effort. As challenges arise, many create ways very subtle and effective to avoid the difficulties of life. In the desire to see the color and smell the fragrance of the rose, the thorns are avoided.
The intention is always to do your best and succeed at your endeavors. The continuous urge to do “what must be done” because it seems the most important, can keep us from hearing and following the sometimes more challenging and yet fulfilling path. If you are willing to “stop, look and listen” you will hear the whispers of your own mind and heart let you know the secrets you hold within you.
This is why it is so vitally important to take the time to turn within an open into your awareness and consciousness. By surrendering to the view of your self beyond the circumstances and conditions of the world around you, you will hear and see the truth of what is happening within. Although you may find resistance in these places within you not yet expressed, trust their inspiration to carry you through whatever may arise.
It isn’t as if it is necessary to purposefully reach out and grasp the stem of the rose in order to feel the pain of the sharpness of the thorn to learn the lesson it holds. It is in fact more about experiencing the softness of the petals of the bud in itself as it unfolds to reveal everything it has to hold within.
You are not meant to do battle with the world, or with yourself in order to fulfill your purpose and find the happiness you seek. Just like the essence of the energy that unfolds the petals of the bud of the rose in a gentle, slow and perfect manner to reveal its
magnificence, so are you meant to express naturally and gently into all of your souls splendor expressed as you.
Listen carefully to the quiet whispers (sometimes not so quiet) that show up with a new to pull or push you in a different direction than you are moving in your life. Watch for the resistance. Many times it is an indication of the most direct route to exactly what you seek. Yourself like the rose to draw up both upon what heaven (your highest) and earth (your deepest) has to offer.
It is as you listen to your deepest longings and desires and you draw the fullness of the inspiration of your Spirit into them, shall they root themselves in the earth and reach to the sun to break through the darkness of the soil revealing themselves into the light and opening to express all that is hidden within the seed of possibility planted deep within the earth.
Open deep within two hear the song of your heart and soul sing out to you its desire to express what has always been what has sought to be your expression: love, joy, peace, wisdom and power. Listen to the flow of your presence as it moves through your longings and awakens and reveals the pathways opportunities for you to flower and blossom. Let all of who you are be expressed, not by pursuit or force, but by allowing the infinite and unlimited energy of life to naturally reveal itself from within you into your world.
Happy Interdependence Day! 7/04/10
Written by Jim Toole
Today you find yourself celebrating Independence Day. It certainly has historical meaning and yet, there is a great deal more to independence than a document or an event in your country’s past. You would have to look past all of the “meaning” placed upon it for your country’s sake and look into the hearts of the men and women who longed for the opportunity to be able to be who they really were.
Even the “best made plans of mice and men”, “for our country’s sake”, only reflect an outward expression of what really moved within the souls of those who sought to be free. It was for them and is for all, then and today, simply a matter of remembering the pathway “home” to the unconditional essence of the heart. For home, and all of its peace, comfort, shelter and solitude is not found in any particular country, state or dwelling. Home is where the heart is; the sanctuary within which the unlimited spark of Spirit and love live.
“Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose”. If you think about that line of the song it speaks directly to the truth. If you have nothing left to lose, you have let go of everything. In letting go you find yourself in a state of freedom. It doesn’t say: “freedom is just another word to fight for” or “freedom is just another word for getting everything you want”. Freedom is not a condition or something you can have, it is the experience of surrendering fully into the unconditional nature of being.
As you walk your pathway each shall experience the pendulum swing from codependence to independence in your relationships with each other and the world. As you release your need in codependency and your fear of intimacy in independence, you will find yourself naturally coming to rest in a centered balanced state of interdependence. In fact, for our country’s history and the well-being of everyone in it, today should be Interdependence Day!
In interdependence, we find ourselves in an open state of being that neither seeks to restrict and impose or run away from. It is a place of acceptance, compassion, understanding, honor and respect. It is the state within which nothing is held in place by belief or perception and the world and all that is in it are embraced with unconditional love.
Remember also freedom is not “getting away from it all”. What challenge is its to find freedom in the “wide open spaces”. True freedom is found by having freedom with rather than freedom from. What better place to experience fulfillment than while in the middle of all of the activities and circumstances of your world, experiencing freedom.
You will know it in the instances that it occurs by the joy that it invokes within you. You will know it when it unexpectedly shows up because you have released your expectations. You will know it with your brothers and sisters through your uncontrollable desire to share your unconditional love. You will know it in most profoundly and powerfully when you have fallen into your own divine heart filled with unconditional love and the totality of your experience is if you are in perfect Presence of your Spirit flowing fully through you and in to the world around you.
Go out this day and eat, drink and be merry. For this day and every day is an opportunity to remember the truth of who you are and what you have come to experience here: a balanced, effortless, centered and harmonious experience of Spirit, your Spirit, expressed fully, completely and unencumbered into your life in the world around you. Let the fireworks you experience this day be not only those you see with your physical eyes, but experience emanating from the center of your being as the light and energy of all that is reflecting its magnificence for all the world to see!
The Best of Both Worlds 6/27/10
Written by Jim Toole
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have 1 foot in heaven and 1 foot “here”? To be able to have access to a world without limits right in the middle of the limitations of this world we live in. With so many challenges to face it seems as we evolve, it becomes more and more difficult to bring our faith and our connection to the highest of ourselves into our day-to-day activities and the challenges we face. It seems as if situations that used to be “matter-of-fact” have a great deal more energy, sometimes turbulence and even chaos within them.
This “duality” seems to grow even wider when we feel as if we have to reach even higher or deeper than we have had to before to deal with the same situations that we are working through today. For so many it is vitally important to find a belief system or philosophy that works for them. In the past, faith and devotion has been defined as an unwavering commitment to a particular religion, creed or philosophy. In fact, the focus of many of these belief systems is that to the degree you are committed and “live by” the principles of these ways of life is how well they will work for you. Sometimes individuals are even called to live by blind faith. The words themselves describe a pathway that is narrow and rigid rather than bringing openness and freedom.
Many of these philosophies are fear based and speak of or refer to damnation, sin and hell. This approach is to assist individuals to stay on the straight and narrow. Once again the words are self defining. With this experience of life, your journey or pathway, becomes a thin line that is straight and narrow that you must follow, your life is naturally limited. Keep in mind, without judgment, that these ways of life serve those who serve them. The simple truth is it is not so much what you believe, but that you believe. More and more people are giving up on their faith or have begun searching for a new source for answers.
That being said, how can we bridge or close the gap between the experience of our infinite Spirit and our seemingly finite experience of the world around us. First, we must honor and respect all ways of seeing and being. For even if we were able to walk a mile in someone else’s moccasins we still could not experience ourselves as them.
It is a matter of honoring and respecting our own inner knowing and trusting the guidance of our intuition. By taking the time to “listen” to the essence of our spirit as it moves through us and within us, we will hear what sometimes become whispers amidst the busyness of our days. We can best bring balance between our inspiration and our expression by staying in touch with the guidance that moves through us, being open to its influence and stepping fully into the situations of our lives reflecting it fully.
It is never meant to be an experience of one (our higher self) or the other (our lower self). It is meant to be a dance of our Spirit’s inspiration and energy, directed and influenced by our intentions and desires and expressed by the use of our power and will in love and grace. Heaven (our highest) is brought to Earth (our experience and expression) by our choice to stay in touch with our wholeness even at times seems we are fragmented.
By continuing to surrender into open hearts filled with love, keeping our connection open to the flow of our presence moving through us and creating a channel for it to be expressed through us and as us, we become the center point connection between both worlds. A way to describe working with a way of life rather than working within a way of life is choosing to have flexible faith. By allowing your spiritual experience to ebb and flow, weave and dance, you are an open and clear channel for the influence of your Spirit as your philosophy to express itself naturally.
Finding Your Truth 6/20/10
Written by Jim Toole
It seems as if all your days are filled with an endless search for answers to questions, at times, you don’t even understand. It is as if by finding all the answers life will be fulfilling and you will be satisfied. Although you may find the evidence to prove a point or seemingly resolve a situation, you are only seeing part of the picture.
Keep within your awareness that you are a multifaceted being. Answers will certainly bring to you the evidence that satisfies the reasoning of your mind. The deeper levels of your of emotions and the actual manifestation of your desires are also vehicles that allow for you to get in touch with your truth.
So often you find yourself either in your mind, in your emotions or totally engrossed in the activities of your days. You are meant to experience your truth in all levels, not just one at a time. This requires you to become aware of your totality in each moment by staying in touch with your thoughts, feelings and actions at the same time.
You may say to your self “it is hard enough to keep track of just what I’m thinking, much less what I’m feeling and doing at the same time”. It isn’t as if you must split yourself up to keep track of more than one part of you simultaneously. It is by to continuing to allow your consciousness to expand that you will make enough room within your awareness to truly see what is going on within you and therefore in your life.
This may sound mystical and even etheric in nature. It certainly happens within you and therefore in a non-physical manner. Putting it simply, so to speak, it means paying attention to everything that is going on with you in the moment and being willing not only to admit it to your self, but to accept and embrace all of what is happening within you.
By doing so your Spirit brings its inspiration to your thoughts, feelings, and therefore your actions. In this way you are being guided by your highest, inspired in thought, experiencing your emotions fully and completely present and responsible for your actions. Again, in short, all of you is there for all of you in each moment of everything you’re being and doing.
It is so very important to remember always, that all you seek shall be found in the essence of your Spirit. Although you may search diligently throughout the circumstances, conditions and interactions of your life, you will only find what satisfies your soul in the stillness and silence of your presence.
The encounters of your life are most certainly an opportunity to reflect your true essence into them and therefore back to you in various ways. This adds “flavor” to your experience and therefore to your perception of your truth. It is as if the circumstances of your lives allows all of you to eat soup and yet each of you to “taste” it differently. Seek not to make another’s “recipe” yours. Seek only to add spice to your life by simply being you just as you are.
By staying centered, balanced and in the present moment you will find yourself in the flow of your presence and therefore in connection with your Spirit as it reflects the truth that has always been present within you into your awareness, your world and therefore into the experience of your consciousness. It is by continuing to open up to who you truly are, seeking not to hold on to what comes and goes in your life, simply noticing the reflection of your Spirit, shall you see, discover and most importantly find and remember your truth.
Keeping It Together 6/13/10
Written by Jim Toole
It is the very nature of the world to be filled with a multitude of circumstances and conditions that attract our attention. As we allow ourselves to be drawn into all of what is happening around us we begin to lose track of focus. We begin to extend ourselves in so many directions for so many reasons the very energy we create with becomes scattered and very thin.
Remember it is to the degree that we can focus our attention and therefore our presence into and upon anything that arises before us that we can manifest and express fully. As instruments of creation it is vital that we keep our awareness sharp and focus within the flow of our presence. As we venture from a centered balance connection with ourselves and our Spirit, we diminish our ability to create the world we truly desire.
In our lives so much is going on in so many areas. Each seems as important as the other. We make an attempt to “keep it together”. It is important to keep in mind that in order to bring all of who we are into the situation it is ourselves we must keep together. Staying in touch with the eternal flow of our Spirit, we bring all of who we are into the each situation and therefore our unlimited influence.
It is not about wrestling with the situations and circumstances that show up in our world. It is about staying in touch with our love, light, wisdom and power. By bringing these aspects of who we really are to what we encounter we can have the most profound experience and affect on our life.
As we follow a steady and focused course of inner growth and true connection, we can experience our wholeness and power. Even when circumstances seem to unexpectedly distract us, we can bring our totality to each one of them rather than a part of ourselves to all of them. In this way, all of who we are shows up in each and every instance allowing us to be “all we can be” in every moment of our lives.
Unexpected distractions and difficulties now become unexpected pleasures. This is because anywhere we find all of who we are, we can find fulfillment. Seek not to gather to you and hold tightly to the world around you. Reach within and embrace the true essence that you are. By staying in alignment with the flow of your unlimited and infinite Radiance, the world will be brighter, your pathway more illuminated and your journey more effortless and graceful.
You ARE “all you can be” already. It is truly about being in touch with that rather than scattered throughout the “far reaches” of your world. Find in the moment, within you, the true essence of your beauty, wisdom, love, power and being. By staying in touch with the flow of your light it will shine brightly into your life benefiting you and all who feel its essence touch them. Celebrate the magnificence of who you are by gathering yourself back from all that you are wrapped up in and reflecting that light from within you for all of the world to see.
Friendship 6/6/10
Written by Jim Toole
Kahlil Gibran wrote it The Prophet “your friend is your needs answered”. Focus not on the word need in that quote, for it actually represents the fulfillment without attachment of the very basic desires of your heart and soul. When we reach out to one another withholding judgment, allowing for a connection filled with trust, acceptance and understanding, we have reached beyond separation and found our oneness.
In order for our Spirit to experience itself we must describe or “label” all of the circumstances, interactions and encounters we have. Of all the ways to describe or label this connection, “friend” feels the simplest and most true. It seems to be the term that best describes the opening through which we experienced each other in a pure and powerful way.
Have you noticed in gatherings where you have come together for reasons of celebration, joy or deep compassion, reasoning and whatever you have held within your self against others falls away. You greet or embrace one another with a smile or deep reverence, holding the utmost of respect for your friendship, regardless of what your mind might hold as evidence that keeps you apart. In fact, the excitement and joy of the celebration or the deep emotions in a more solemn situation, opens you up to allow for real intimacy and vulnerability to be expressed.
It is the same when children who have not yet learned to place judgment between them play freely with one another even when they do not know each other. In fact, for a child, their curiosity draws them even more to the child they don’t know rather than being concerned about how they may “see” them. As usual, the children of the world have great lessons for all of us.
When you encounter your friend or any of your brothers and sisters seek only to experience the freedom of who you and they truly are. Allow to fall away the veils you feel must be there in order for you to be safe, understood or right. In your interactions with others choose to extend love, peace and joy. By doing so, no matter the circumstances, there will absolutely be more love, peace and joy between you and therefore in your interaction.
By both releasing the judgment between you and holding within the “space” between you the essence of innocence, acceptance and understanding, you create an opening to extend love, peace and joy into your relationship (the place from which you relate). This may seem like a complicated formula. It is, in fact, a simple description of you just being you, no more, no less.
By choosing to walk each day open to the depths of our heart and reflecting the energy and beauty of our Spirit into the world, we will not only greatly deepen the friendships and relationships we are to have, but create new ones based on unity and oneness. Our interactions between us, no matter what they are called, will become the vehicle we experience and express our Spirit through. It is by being who we truly are in each and every moment and embracing the world, as well as those in it, we fulfill our purpose of being the extension and expression of life itself and All That Is. Greet this day your brothers and sisters with the essence of your spirit and experience peace, love and joy.
Memorial Days 5/30/10
Written by Jim Toole
Countries and cultures create holidays to celebrate or honor individuals, important occasions and in the case of Memorial Day, to honor those who have given what is considered to be the ultimate sacrifice: their life in the service of their country. As we take the time to honor those who have chosen to give of themselves so dearly, let us look more closely at the essence and meaning of this day.
There are many reasons for the urge that moves an individual to play a role in the protection and defense of their country and what it represents. Beginning with the name United States of America, we touch into some of what is woven into the fabric of this holiday.
Unity is a powerful theme that is an integral part of so many ideas and concepts important to our heritage. As the individual states of this country are joined for the common good of all their inhabitants, so are we on a smaller scale of community (common unity). We can carry the essence of this into the energy and experience of family. This brings us to what makes up our families, communities and therefore our country; the individual. It is the urge from within the heart of each of us that desires true and real connection that draws us to share and defend what binds us together: the truth that we are one.
The common thread to consider on this day as we honor those who have “given it all” is their devotion to maintain the opportunity for each of us and all of us to be able to live in the safety and freedom of our connection with one another. It certainly requires discipline and commitment for an individual to serve in the armed forces. In the same manner we each must look within and recognize the driving force that calls us to serve within our daily lives in devotion to the truth of our connection, to one another and to the world around us.
As we honor those who have given their lives for all the right reasons (from within the heart), let us also honor each of us who day after day choose to live in love, peace, truth and with respect for each other and the world around us.
The concepts and ideas this country was founded on are still the threads of truth and hope that run through of all of us who seek to see our country in the world return to a state of not only peace, but of harmony, connection and unity. Let us stand with, not just in honor of, those we remember this day. Let us hold a position side by side in devotion to what really matters, defending and protecting it through love, forgiveness and peace.
Let us show honor to those who have gone before us to give of themselves in the service of their country by honoring not just what they have given their lives for, but the true essence of why they gave it all. Let us give it our all, in service and devotion to being the expression and reflection of unity, oneness and connection in our country and in the world.
By being this light and reflecting it brightly into the world we can return to the knowing of our oneness and connection to one another, ending the need to protect or defend so we may stay open to share the true essence everyday of what is valuable and meaningful in our world today: love, peace and joy.
Heaven and Earth – Here and There 5/23/10
Written by Jim Toole
On your quest for a deeper understanding of yourself and life itself there will be a constant draw to reach above and beyond where and who you are. There are very real and meaningful reasons for this. And these reasons are the purpose for you being here.
You are and have always been the pure and perfect essence of life extending itself from the very center of Source, the Heart of God, from All That Is! You are also no more than the very dust of the Earth. The purpose of your life is to experience everything in between these – the highest and deepest of you.
That being said, why do you reach from what seems to be “down here” to so far “above your heads”. The simple answer to that is a concept spoken about frequently in spiritual circles – you long to be home. Not to the place where you were born or came from. Not to the house or apartment that you live in now. Although you may feel the answer is longing to leave this world and return home to heaven or spirit, it is truly about experiencing the complete and total fulfillment of the essence of that.
In the same way we can find total peace, joy, love, connection, safety and shelter, security and a complete sense of freedom in the solitude and comfort of our home, we seek to find that place of “home” and “heaven” within us. Our experiences of life help us build the foundation, the walls, the roof over our heads, put the windows and doors in the right places, decorate so it feels just right, landscape so that everything around us looks beautiful and so we can BE amongst what we have created and feel complete.
Everything we do and everyone encounter, with individuals or in situations finishes another piece of the puzzle that we put in place. Slowly over time the picture becomes more and more complete, the gaps are filled in, everything begins to make more sense as it all “comes together”. Coming together, within us and with the world around us, takes us back to the whole process of understanding ourselves and life through our journey and guided by our desires and purpose.
Although we struggle with what we believe is not fair, or with the circumstances that don’t feel good or cause us pain, each and every event that unfolds every day has shown up simply allowing us to dig a little deeper for our foundation or reinforce our walls and roof. Not to keep the world out, but to boldly and authentically create our own unique expression of home and ourselves.
We must, “here or there” walk through all the experiences our soul is: the essence of the totality of life expressed. Although we have these references of the world, of Heaven, of even hell, the only important reference or experience is the one we have deep within our own hearts and in relationship to one another and the world. Find gratitude, joy, love, wisdom, yes even pain in all that you are and do. By allowing yourself to enter deeper into all of your experiences of life you will find its true meaning and as they say “you can’t take it with you”. This is because you are IT.
BE IT in all of its magnificence, splendor, wonder and totality. The pure and perfect essence
of life extending itself from the very center of Source, the Heart of God, from All That Is!
Reading Sunday, April 18th
Written by Jim Toole
HONOR AND RELEASE THAT WHICH HAS BEEN FOR THAT WHICH YOU ARE BECOMING
Forsake not that which arises before you on the pathway of your journey. For all that you encounter holds no meaning except for what you have gathered from your experiences and placed upon it. How else can it be? All perception is a gathering of previous experience molded into the shape and form you believe it must be. What else are we but an accumulation of all of our thoughts, words and deeds. This is the evidence your mind would use to keep you imprisoned in your illusion.
Forsake not the circumstances and conditions that arise before you to meet you on your pathway. For you have called them to you to understand more deeply your reflection upon them. They are the canvases upon which you paint the images of your perceptions so they can be seen and experienced by you. And yet perception reflected upon illusion creates only a mirage. Seemingly real and pleasurable and yet fading as it is embraced.
It is not that you must withdraw from all that is around you and that you encounter in order to experience freedom and fulfillment. It is that you seek freedom with rather than freedom from the world around you. Become present and centered in the light and love of your heart speaking clearly to you the truth that is the essence of your being. Experience the world around you not from the place that your mind understands to be true, but from the place your heart knows is real.
Your past and all that you have experienced before this very moment shall either hold you captive or set you free. The decision is yours. By holding true to that which is false and “has been” you shall “recycle” your life forever. By shining the light of your heart and reflecting the love that is your true nature upon the same circumstances they shall speak to you of the wisdom that they hold and allow you to set them free. As you do shall the walls of your prison crumble allowing the beauty of the day to come streaming in.
Become observant. For by choosing to see the world through the eyes of love you will see its innocence and release the judgment you have literally placed upon it. As these veils of judgment are lifted you shall see what has always been there, clothed in your fear and doubt for what it really is. And by being in a place of love you shall experience the beauty of life rather than difficulty and heaviness.
Honor your past like stories told by your elders for it has been the vehicle that has brought you to this moment in time. It is your choice to create what you are becoming, either from fear and perception or from love and light. Both exist within your consciousness. It is by remembering the truth of who you are and coming from that holy and divine place that the transformation of your life shall bring to you the freedom and fulfillment you have always sought.
As always, it is a release from the conditional and not a gathering to of that which you believe shall bring you satisfaction that allows your Spirit to soar. How can we experience the unconditional within the conditions of life itself. It is our purpose to bring the unconditional, the love in light of our heart to the circumstances of our world and set them free and therefore ourselves.
As you continue in this dance of life let it be the song of your heart that inspires you to move unencumbered through the situations and activities of your days (daze). It is by reflecting the essence of your spirit into and through the lights and love of your heart that you illuminate the world around you so that you and your brothers and sisters see the truth, love, joy and freedom that is your true inheritance and destiny.
Reading Sunday, April 11th
Written by Jim Toole
THE DOORWAY TO FREEDOM AND HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS
Be sure of this – it is in the places where you experience your most resistance, where you feel your most fear, doubt and difficulty that the doorway to greater God consciousness exists. Realize the challenging feelings you are experiencing are the very directors brought up (BY YOU) to guide you through them to freedom.
Go and share the truth of your feeling and challenge so that you walk directly through it to the place you truly seek to be. The experience of the feeling holds the key to the release of the barrier between where you are and where you want to be. If you feel your heart constantly calling you – follow your heart. It speaks to you beyond the limits of your challenges.
The world will say keep it to yourself. By doing so you harbor the very anchor that keeps your ship from sailing. Follow only that voice of Truth within yourself. That voice of Truth within you that says to do the very thing that makes your heart sing.
Some would say this is living from your authenticity. I do not speak of what is authentic as being what the mind thinks, that is, its social image. That is not authentic at all. That is a mask, a persona.
That is authentic is what you feel in the depth of your being – in innocence. The innocent heart is not needy. It does not require others to agree with it. It does not wait until the universe nods its head in approval. It merely knows it is innocent and acts from it, and is not attached to the opinions of the world.
Authenticity and integrity is the true pathway by which your True Spirit grows. Any time you look and see that you have not been living authentically, and decide to take a deep breath and tell the truth, first to yourself and then to the world, allowing whatever changes that need to occur to occur, then you are growing as True Spirit.
To live authentically, in some sense, is to live alone. To live alone simply means that you no longer are run by needing to look a certain way, succeed in a certain way, so that the judgment of the world will nod its head and give you a “10″ instead of a “1.”
You were created to create. You were created out of joy and Love. Therefore, live joyously, live loving yourself. Dare to consider that your Self is so important that you have an obligation never to settle for less than your own authenticity. Sometimes that requires beginning the process of discovering what is authentically yours and not what others believe.
Love heals all things. Love transforms all things. Love embraces all things, and thereby, transcends all things. Do not be in a hurry to put aside these ideas. Read them a few times and wherever you find resistance ask yourself:
What changes can I make so that I am truly showing up in a more authentic way?
What changes can I make so that I am following my heart and being who I really am?
You are God expressing. You are free to follow your heart and walk through the gates of hell directly into the gateway of heaven. The power you need to walk through the veils and barriers in your life lies in your hearts purpose. Let it carry you without exception through your challenges into your freedom and the fulfillment of your purpose — being you in Joy, Peace and Love.
Reading Easter Sunday, April 4th
Written by Jim Toole
THE RESURRECTION
Celebrate and accept your resurrection as living Spirit by seeing beyond the boundaries of death, loss, fear, hurt, anger, projection, and perception. You are the one who has been reborn when you choose to remember only loving thoughts.
Accept the resurrection for yourself, and be determined to walk this Earth as one who has arisen. It means that you have chosen to awaken from the uselessness of despair and apparent absence, the uselessness of victimhood, and the uselessness of weakness. You have chosen to accept the empowerment of becoming responsible for this dimension of creation and your experience within it.
For you have tortured and crucified yourself by your own thoughts. On your own journey you have chosen your teachers, who have confronted you with an opportunity a million times to see the truth (your truth), so that you could practice choosing to continue to look out upon the world and see only through the eyes of Love.
These teachers, both the individuals and the circumstances you have summoned to yourself have actually been the keys to the deeper longings and desires of your heart and soul. Imprisoned deep below your reason, your most powerful dreams of purpose and true fulfillment await patiently to be stirred by what literally holds them there – fear, insecurity, doubt, even rage and terror. For as you shed light – your light of life upon them they will reveal themselves to you.
As you choose to look upon the beauty of the gift your deepest desires offer you, rather than what is “wrapped” around them – they will inspire and awaken you to a new level of passion and inspiration. This is the true resurrection. Reviving the seemingly “dead” longings (spirred by our very nature) to be a shining light helping to lead us out of the “dark night of the soul” into a new day.
Place not your Spirit in empty and cold tombs and seal them with the stones of your pain, unanswered prayers, loss or emptiness. Recognize that it is not by avoiding, but walking purely and truly through the “gates of hell” (your deepest fears); you will find not only your truth, but the inspiration, inner knowing and power to fulfill your every true and pure desire. For within your depths, hidden behind the door you have created and locked so well, lies the Presence and Radiance of your Spirit awaiting you heart and soul’s beckoning to bring into the light the Truth of who you are and to express it in Joy, Love and Beauty.
Make a pilgrimage to the heart of your Self by looking upon all that you see this day and seeing its beauty, its harmlessness, and by knowing that you are looking out through the eyes of your arisen Spirit. You are that One who has overcome the world.
What can there be left to do but to celebrate with your brothers and sisters? What can there be left to do but to laugh, to sing, to play, and to remember, in quiet devotion, the Love your Creator has always had for you?
You can choose only between love and fear. In love you are resurrected. In fear you are crucified. The only choice that matters is before you now, as it is always-Love or fear, resurrection or crucifixion, joy or suffering, unlimitedness or smallness. The choice is always yours.
Choose to “rise above it all” and lift your eyes from the world that you think you see and choose:
Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit.