Don't Waste a Good Crisis

St. Patrick's Day in Eureka Springs - PC: Richard Quick

As we go through the day, words and actions we witness make an impact on us. Today I heard Miten, Deva Premal’s husband, say this is the time for compassion, creativity, devotion to positive change. He advised us to not “waste a good crisis”! I love that, don’t you? Crises seem to be the impetus which force us to a better place than where we were. I could name numerous times in my personal life when I was urged upward and onward through sadness and fearful circumstances. And the second thing which struck me today was reading about a woman in Philadelphia who lived near where the strangely-named proud boys were going to have a rally. The people of the area got together and had a fun fair in the park where the men planned to gather. There was music, games, happy clowns, balloons, children, animals — beautiful, joyous people were everywhere doing what happy people do! The gun-toting men who showed up seemed confused and wandered around briefly before leaving. Let’s do that today and everyday, when we meet any sort of derision. We need not be afraid when bringing Love to the table, no matter what the event!

"Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health page 571:18

Most Of Us Are Kind and Helpful

Suzie Bell fixing her neighbor's roof

Growing up, I don't remember being around people who held themselves above everyone else; people who thought the world revolved around them and had no consideration for others. Maybe it's faulty memory, but it seems as though everyone was considerate of other people. Maybe that's only because my parents were kind and helpful. Everyone who lives on my street is kind and helpful. Everyone I know well is, also. These things cause me to truly believe that most of the world's population lives by the "golden rule", to treat others the way you want to be treated. Yet we hear of just the opposite, constantly, from media of various sorts. In our circle of friends, there are those who save dogs and cats, provide free medical treatment for those in need, and work tirelessly for causes which improve the world and its living creatures. We are energy, and that energy can be described in many ways, but my favorite is Love. God is Love, and we are that reflection. Anything other than that truth is an illusion created by lost children. We can help them return to Love by bombarding them with it, no matter what.

"The serpent of God's creating is neither subtle nor poisonous, but is a wise idea, charming in its adroitness, for Love's ideas are subject to the Mind which forms them, -- the power which changeth the serpent into a staff." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 515:6

Heroes, Then and Now

Who are your heroes? After watching the movie Hidden Figures, which tells how three women were integral in getting the United States space program off the ground, my heroes are every woman who has continued to do her best in the presence of ugly racism. This movie helped me to realize the depth of prejudice and the senselessness of racism and sexism. Every time this understanding reaches a deeper level within me, it becomes more difficult to understand its origins. How did we become a society which looks down on someone because of their skin color, gender, or social standing? Social standing, what the heck does that even mean? I look forward to the day we see people for who they are, appreciating qualities such as kindness, intelligence, integrity, morality, creativity, and such. And my heroes today, specifically, are the women who are running for political office, speaking truth to lies, showing us what kindness and integrity mean through their actions, those who walk the talk. Suzie Bell comes to mind first and foremost. Saying these words remind me of other heroes I see every day. I think I'll write them notes telling them so, because they probably don't know how valued they are!

"Ignorance, pride, or prejudice closes the door to whatever is not stereotyped." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 144:25

Birth of a New-Old Idea

Arches National Park - PC: Aaron Springston

Change is everywhere. Some of us do not care for the changes we are making, while others are seeing more efficient ways of doing things they always took for granted. The avenues we've become accustomed to strolling are sometimes closed, causing us to turn disappointedly down new paths. I love seeing disappointment turn into joy when a new talent is discovered. Perhaps someone you know has the freedom now to explore ways of life they had only dreamed about prior to this major shift in our lives. Speaking of dreams, is anyone else having vivid, lucid dreams? I look forward to going to sleep every night to see what new ideas I'll wake up to! My friend, Carol Peacock, posted a great idea to Facebook today. For Halloween, the kids (and adults!) can dress up and hang out in their yards, while we drive by and toss candy to them! I love this new/old way of thinking, don't you? Before we thought we knew everything, we were always dreaming of new and better ways to express ourselves. I'm watching a huge orange harvest moon show itself right now, wondering that something so familiar can seem so exciting and brilliant. You and I are like that, too. Shift our thoughts just a bit, look at a friend in a new light, be willing to watch and wait...

"As a material, theoretical life-basis is found to be a misapprehension of existence, the spiritual and divine Principle of man dawns upon human thought, and leads it to 'where the young child was,' -- even to the birth of a new-old idea, to the spiritual sense of being and of what Life includes. Thus the whole earth will be transformed by Truth on its pinions of light, chasing away the darkness of error." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 191:8

Namaste, Mr. Trump...

Colorado Fall - photo credit: Aaron Springston

Today someone said to me that she felt as though we are living through a Shakespearean play. I replied that I did, too, with added elements of many dystopian science fictions books. Our president is now in the hospital with the virus which is sweeping the world. Throughout the past years, I have come to expect hyperbole and fibs to flow from this man’s mouth, and so my first reaction upon hearing he had tested positive was that he is probably faking symptoms in order to avoid prosecution for the multitude of crimes which are coming to light faster now than ever before. My first reaction was not sympathy, as it would be for anyone else, and for that, I am sorry. It feels like a failure on my part that I have reacted this way. When I stop to think about that, I could name any number of reasons why I am not sorry for my lack of compassion, but it doesn’t really matter. I am judging another human being who has been crying out for love his entire life. It’s not my job to try to change him, but it is my job to give him the love he thinks he does not have. Unbeknownst to him, he’s always had this divine Love which permeates eternity, surpassing the limited love we feel in this third dimension. There is much to be corrected within myself, and this writing is the beginning of my work toward that end. Namaste, Mr. Trump...

"The wrong done another reacts most heavily against one's self. Right adjusts the balance sooner or later." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 449:7

The World Will Change Because We Are Changing

Marianne Williamson is now writing a column for Newsweek. I draw strength from her words.

"These are such diseased and disastrous times, it’s a challenge to keep the toxicity of the world from poisoning our bodies and souls. It’s a difficult task to bear brutally honest witness to the dangers of this time without being personally infected by them. From meditating to yoga to eating well to reading more - and more than anything else, to thinking deeply about what the world is going through and trying to see how best we might help - all of us are navigating our individual boats through the turbulent waters of a societal storm. There is an invisible captain, a wind at our back, a map that leads us to calmer waters if we are silent and still enough to perceive them. Inner activism is done in silence. Our capacity for stillness is as important now as is our capacity for movement. This is the alchemy of personal and societal transformation that will bear amazing fruit a bit of time from now. The world will change because we are changing. This is the winter of our collective agony, but if we dwell within it with grace and power we will one day see a miraculous spring. Faith and patience and hope and love are the angels that light our way." Marianne

"Never fear the mental malpractitioner, the mental assassin, who, in attempting to rule mankind, tramples upon the divine Principle of metaphysic, for God is the only power." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 419:25

You Can't Bully a Wave

 

South Africa - PC: Heather Peters

“Have you ever tried to bully a wave in the ocean?” This is the question a 104-year-old Buddhist nun asks her great-granddaughter in a beautiful novel titled, A Tale For the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki. The two went into a store to get food for a picnic on the beach. A group of gangster girls were hanging around outside the store and harassed them as they went in. When they came out, the old woman bowed deeply to the group of young women before walking away. After they got onto the train to go to their destination, the older woman wondered aloud if it was a holiday of some sort, mentioning that the girls were all dressed so brightly and seemed so happy. The granddaughter tried to explain that they were gang colors, and that they were being derisive in their words and laughter. The grandmother didn’t see it that way and asked her young charge if she had ever tried to bully a wave, explaining that no matter how much you hit at it or yell into it, it stays what it is. That is its function, and that is our function as well -- to stay what we are. I love that!


“Can we gather peaches from a pine-tree, or learn from discord the concord of being? Yet quite as rational are some of the leading illusions along the path which Science must tread in its reformatory mission among mortals. The very name, illusion, points to nothingness.”  Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 129:24