STARDUST

On a warm evening in summer, under a clear sky I was outdoors looking up at the sky, and turned my attention to how the stars were speaking to me. Opening to feeling how their light was reflected in my body, it seemed to connect to different physical organs and energetic aspects. Wisdom was being offered. A conversation was taking place. Consciously I felt like I was being lovingly tickled.

We are star beings on many levels. All of the atoms in our bodies were forged in the depths of stars, billions of years ago. Released into space by novas and supernovas, and on the great stellar winds flowing outwards from all stars. Swept up and collected into our solar system as it was birthed 5 billion years ago. They now flow through your body, hour by hour, day by day, year by year.

We are powered by Sun light. Sunlight that fuels the whole food chain: from the algae of the oceans, to the wheat in the Midwest, to the animals that eat the plants, it comes to us. We bask in its summer radiance and it warms and nourishes us in the depths of winter.

Forged in the stars and powered by the sun, our bodies house souls that have other spiritual/energetic connections to the beings that we call stars. As I stood conversing with the stars I saw, my being was remembering the stars that I have known in other ways. Both physically and spiritually I am remembering connection, and it feels joyful.

Choose a clear night, be warm for whatever season, and invite the stars to speak to you. Notice that you are surrounded, held on all sides. Dropping into your being open your awareness, as their vibrations flow through you and resonate with your own star nature. They are "speaking" to you of life and being alive. Time to wake up a bit more. Be joyful.

(© 10/09)

SUNSHINE DAYDREAM

Its a beautiful warm summer afternoon. We're in mid October now, so the sun isn't too hot, but the sky is deep blue, with a few clouds drifting through on lite breezes. Since it is October and we've had our first snow already I'm finally up on the roof doing "winterizing" things: draining the swamp cooler, cleaning gutters, trimming low hanging branches, calking leaks.

Pacing myself, I'm enjoying being up in the trees and the sky on such a glorious Huckleberry Finn sort of day. Slowly anxiety and tension that built up earlier in the day fades.

When I'm done I lay in the roof, looking over trees tops to a view of the mountains and the flatirons. The warmth of the shingles soaks through my shirts and relaxes my back. I am drifting, in a timeless space, warm and relaxed. When I read this is "sunshine yellow", a mellow, optimistic, energy of being. You may have heard me mention it.

Watching a white puffy cloud slowly swirling itself east, constantly forming, dissipating, and reforming, I close my eyes and drop into the feeling of this moment. Lazily I start to remember childhood summer days, with this feeling of being in the moment, no past, nothing far in the future, just being. Perhaps wondering what game comes next, or what might be for dinner.

I realize that as an adult I operate in a much broader sense of time. In the back of my head are "to do" lists, planning processes waiting to happen. I'm aware of next week, sometimes next month, or even next year. As a young child even in school, I'm perhaps concerned about assignments for tomorrow, or at the outside events that might be a few weeks ahead (a play, or vacation) .

I can feel the weight of this mental calendar in my head, this energetic matrix in which I exist. It extends backwards too, differently, but its there. All the events, emotions, memories that go into how I approach and experience the present. Many are unconscious, but they are there as well.

Lying on the roof, letting my mind drift like the cloud, the thought comes that perhaps this is why kids have so much more energy? they don't have to maintain this weighty structure of time. They have all their energy in the present, while we are spread over decades. And I realize I can chose this for myself in present time. I can call all of me to be present in this warm moment of being.

So take a few minutes and find a place to relax, in the sun, or a bath, or inside. If you can create a space that evokes your "sunshine yellow" feelings from childhood. Let yourself drift back and remember what its like to release the mental calendar, to just be alive in the moment. Invite your inner child to show you how to do this, and feel yourself come more alive.

No reasoning necessary, just do it because you can, and as a soul you are meant to.

(© 10/09)

WHICH VOICES DO YOU LISTEN TO?

When you're listening to the radio and something comes on that you don't like, you change the station. Maybe its a song that doesn't feel good today, or a program, or perhaps (if someone has been playing with your tuner) a whole station. But you make a choice and find something that you like.

How many channels do we have on the TV now? Often we don't even wait for one thing to end before we change the channel, or you skip the commercials by watching bits and pieces of another show. You have a remote, you know how to choose.

Going on line, you find 86 emails. Some you trash immediately, others you might look at briefly and then ditch, or file for later, a few you may want to read right now. You make choices about what serves you.

Consider the people in your life. How many, and how varied are these voices? Do you make choices about which ones you listen to? Do you notice which ones serve you? You probably wish you had a remote for some of them. Others you may feel you have to listen to, though even there you do have a choice. You know the difference between listening and paying attention, only, even when we think we are not paying attention these voices are going into our brains.

Voices that we have listened to over and over, we internalize. They come back to us, sometimes supporting us, but often critically. There may be many reasons we have internalized and still listen to critical voices, but they are never truth, they are mostly not really aspects of ourselves, and we can make choices with these too.

We can choose not to be around people who speak in ways that limit us. We can choose to disregard what these people say when we do have to be around them, or we may learn that we can ask them to change their station. Most importantly we can consciously pay attention to which voices we listen to and give our attention and belief to, both out side and inside. With awareness comes choice.

This may take practice, especially if the voices are old(young) ones. Patience is important, and self-forgiveness. There may be deep psychological, even evolutionary reasons we tend to notice even one critical voice among a group of supportive voices. But we can still make a conscious choice and over time it will stick.

I'm not speaking about constructive criticism, but words that limit our being, that tell us we are not OK in some basic way. These are never truth. The truth is that at center, you are a soul that is perfect and beautiful. This soul has its own voice, which is always supportive, even when suggesting changes. You know it when you experience it.

Amid the cacophony of voices that we walk through everyday, it may be hard to hear this deep inner voice. But we can recognize those voices around us that echo it and choose these. We can choose to give our attention and belief to these. Over time the supportive voices around us will strengthen the internal voices that echo our soul, that inspire us and give us life. We can learn to choose these, and release the old critical voices, that were never ours.

You can choose to listen to all the voices that say "Yes, you can", rather than "No, you can't", and they will help you find your inner voice that knows "Yes, I am".

(© 10/09)