The Grace of Inspiration

Did you know, the word inspiration dates back to the 13^th Century and initially meant “immediate influence of God.” In Latin it means to be “in spirit.” I love being inspired!

Having worked in human resources and public service roles, I have been inspired by many people. One story has remained with me ever since I heard a young man speak at Arizona State University. Our Human Resources team attended a dinner where corporations could meet newly graduated engineers. A young man gave a speech that evening that left everyone in awe. He was raised by his Mother in Cabrini-Green in Chicago. His Mother promised him she was going to get him out of that environment. She did and that evening, we got to meet him and his Mom (who was about to finish her degree, also). After his speech, there was not a dry eye in the room. I’ve often wondered where he’s at today.

I can also think of a woman I worked with in behavioral health who was debilitated by depression. Her role in society was to prepare people for natural disasters; she set up role plays for numerous employees from the state/local governments. She had done this so intimately that after they played out their roles, she suffered from what would most likely today be deemed post-traumatic stress disorder. I was inspired by her courage as she took steps to climb up and out of the rubble of this non-reality nightmare. I also admired the tremendous effort she made on behalf of our community.

When I worked with students who were blind or visually impaired, I was inspired by their immense courage – learning to get from a dorm room to a class was a huge feat. One day, I came across a student who had lost her way. As she felt the ground with her cane, it didn’t appear that she realized she was standing at the precipice of about 20 steps leading downward to the campus Library. With her back to the steps, I knew I needed to get to her quickly so she wouldn’t take a step backward but was hesitant to yell to her for fear she’d step backward toward my voice. I was grateful to reach her in time. The courage, stamina and will it must have taken for these students to meet each day totally inspired me.

While working with high school special needs students, I was inspired by one of our students who had a learning disability. He played the cymbals in the band and always marched next to a drummer who cued him when to clap his cymbals! During high school, he got a job at our local theater greeting people and taking tickets. No matter who he met, you would think he had known them for life. One day, I chaperoned him to a skiing outing with his physical education class. As we waited to get on the ski lift, he began to chat with a man ahead of us. He held such a beautiful conversation, I figured he knew him, so I asked him. He said “No, I just wanted to wish him a good day on the slopes!”

I have a cousin, Lisa Marie, who has always inspired me, too. She also has a learning disability; however, she has always found work and is always very excited to meet new people. She greets her neighbors and knows every bus driver and mail carrier. She enjoys being a “social butterfly” and most every Friday attends a group session where she and her friends enjoy a meal or dance or do creative projects. She continues to keep a very busy schedule and exudes love and care wherever she goes!

These beautiful souls of inspiration light our world each day with bravery, courage, love and amazement. I liken them to butterflies in our society – they gently and quietly spread their love and beauty throughout our world each day to provide joy wherever they light.

When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy. (Rumi)

Looking out my kitchen window!

The Grace of Character

In my last post, I spoke of my Dad, who was steeped in integrity. I believe I was in my mid-30s when I realized how much it must have taken him to uphold his integrity, his character. It made me admire and respect him even more. It can be very easy to take the slippery slope down the wrong path. I was very fortunate to have my Dad as my guidepost.

Recently, I heard David Brooks speak about his new book The Road to Character (2015). He talked about how society puts a lot of emphasis on what he calls our resume characteristics, as opposed to cultivating the characteristics of our soul. He admits he’s always been focused on his resume characteristics but now wants to work on his soul’s characteristics. I decided to pick up his book and learned that he researched numerous people who started out in life on the wrong foot but decided to redirect their path – these life vignettes run through his book and make for an inspirational read.

Brooks informed the reader that you can Google word usage over decades to determine the overall change in our language. For example, one word that has risen sharply is “self,” which is not surprising and very telling. Words related to economics and business have also risen; however, words such as “community,” “share,” “united” and “common good” have shown a sharp decline. Also on the decline is language related to morality, character building, character conscience and virtue. Here are some interesting word statistics which have all declined over the 20^th century: Bravery –66 percent, Gratitude –49 percent, Humbleness –52 percent and Kindness –56 percent.

Brooks feels we are “morally inarticulate.” I’m not sure exactly what this says but I found it to be sad. I know we typically build character when we’ve had a more difficult life, when we’ve had to humble ourselves to regroup and take a new approach. I strongly believe that we are here on this earth to “grow” our soul, which builds our love and compassion. Everyone experiences good and bad times and we’re fortunate as a humanity that we’re not all in bad times at the same time and that those not in bad times are capable of compassion to help us through the difficult days.

Brooks shared a quote he received from Dave Jolly, a Veterinarian, as a comment from a previous article he had written:

“Good, wise hearts are obtained through lifetimes of diligent effort to dig deeply within and heal lifetimes of scars. What a wise person teaches is the smallest part of what they give. The totality of their life, of the way they go about it in the smallest details, is what gets transmitted.”

The human body and mind is miraculous; for many years, I watched scientists and engineers attempt to duplicate it. We may differentiate each other by our names and faces but our character is fully ours alone and we get to determine that. If for no other reason, out of respect for the brilliancy of our human body and mind, let us cultivate our character to become the best we can be.

There are a few small quotes I’d like to share that I felt are worth repeating from Brooks’ material:

Don’t let the “deepest parts of yourself go unexplored and unstructured;” Don’t “step into a self-satisfied moral mediocrity;” Be careful not to “grade yourself on a forgiving curve;” Don’t let a “humiliating gap open up between your actual and desired self;” “Shoot for something higher than happiness;” “Become acutely aware of your own weaknesses;” Remember, we have to “go down to go up – from the valley of humility to the heights of character.”

With Gratitude for my Dad

“My Father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.”

– Jim Valvano

With Father’s Day approaching, I’d like to take a moment to honor my Dad. What a man he was – filled with vim and vigor and energy and a big smile! A positive man with a vibrant outlook, who was always willing to lend a hand. He was a man of strength and courage; yet, he was gentle, kind and thoughtful.

My Dad was very dependable – if he told me he was going to pick me up at a certain time, he was there. He always kept his word. Often, when we’d walk home from school, if he was out in his delivery truck, he would come up Raynor Avenue looking for us. He was as excited as I was when we locked eyes on each other. Being before the days of seat belts and even a second seat in his truck – I sat on a milk carton! I was as happy as could be! Later, when he worked at our grade school, I was in 8^th Grade – sometimes he’d walk past our classroom – he knew exactly where I sat and gave me one of his signature winks! Heartwarming gestures that came from his soul were a constant with him.

When I was about 10 years old, my Dad told me - when he dies, if there are nuns and priests around his bedside, he will know he had lived a good life. I had no idea he would die six years later. When he took his last breath, there were nuns and priests surrounding his bed. He always held the Church, priests and nuns in the highest esteem. He taught us to always help someone in need before they ever asked and he taught us to respect all people. “Don’t let me ever hear my children have been disrespectful to anyone.” One day, he said: “There is only one group of people you treat differently,” which really surprised me. He said: “The elderly – with them, you give them even more respect.” Somehow, even though he was constantly teaching, I never felt he was preaching – he was a gentle teacher who knew exactly when and how to impart his message. A humble man, he never sought any kind of accolades.

Even though my Dad was very busy with his grocery store or later with his work at the church/school, he found time for everyone. I never felt left behind because of all the people’s lives he touched. When he was with you, he was present. On the weekend, we would all work on the yard; each of us had our chores to do. My job was to trim the edges of the grass along the sidewalk – no weed whackers in those days! When we were done, we all sat on the front porch and admired our labor. He would get us a treat and we’d sit there as a family and enjoy each other’s company. Every Sunday (the only day his grocery store was closed), he’d go over to the store in late afternoon to make sure the coolers/freezers were running properly. Each Sunday, he brought us a treat from the store – we never knew what it was going to be – maybe a jar of shrimp cocktail or a box of nonpareils (round, flat chocolates covered with white sprinkles). Life was simple with sweet gestures and it was all very good.

My Dad told me I couldn’t date until I was 16 – when my first date came to pick me up for the Junior Prom, I saw a tear fall down my Dad’s cheek. As a teenager, it’s exciting to attend the prom; however, today, I’d give it up to keep those tears from flowing. As I became an adult, I realized my Dad must have been filled with unbelievable wisdom beyond his years. He taught by his actions and his words were brief; yet, what he imparted was lasting. Every child deserves to have a Dad like this – one who believes in you and who provides guidance, discipline and unconditional love. Thank you, Dad, for being a man steeped in integrity and filled with love. Happy Father’s Day – with all my love.

National Day of Prayer - May 7, 2015

The theme for this year’s National Day of Prayer is: Lord, Hear Our Cry. The scripture passage that aligns with this year’s theme is: “Hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying in Your presence this day.” (1 Kings 8:28)

The following is this year’s prayer, written by Dr. Jack Graham, a pastor and the Honorary Chairman for the National Day of Prayer. This prayer will be said simultaneously throughout our Nation at noon (EDT) on Thursday, May 7, 2015.

Heavenly Father,

We come to You in the Name that is above every name – Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Our hearts cry out to You.

Knowing that You are a prayer-answering, faithful God – the One we trust in times like these – we ask that you renew our spirits, revive our churches, and heal our land.

We repent of our sins and ask for your Grace and Power to save us. Hear our cry, oh God, and pour out Your Spirit upon us that we may walk in obedience to Your Word.

We are desperate for your tender mercies. We are broken and humbled before You.

Forgive us, and in the power of Your great love, lift us up to live in Your righteousness.

We pray for our beloved nation. May we repent and return to You and be a light to the nations. And we pray for our leaders and ask that You give them wisdom and faith to follow You.

Preserve and protect us, for You are our refuge and only hope.

Deliver us from all fears except to fear You, and may we courageously stand in the Truth that sets us free.

We pray with expectant faith and grateful hearts.

In Jesus’ Name, our Savior.

Amen

http://nationaldayofprayer.org/national-prayer/

The Grace of Divine Presence

The other day, while in a little shop, I heard the song Brave by Sara Bareilles – I felt her words enter my heart deeply – I knew it was a message from Spirit. Sara’s words urge the listener to be brave – honestly. I felt her words telling me to be brave – honestly. I felt that enter my heart deeply, too.

With Holy Week upon us, I thought about how brave Jesus was, how He stayed on track and didn't waver. He taught love, kindness, compassion and forgiveness. He stood up to the naysayers, the enemy. Through His willingness and strength He remained open and tolerant. In her song, Sara talks about humanity, how we've all “fallen for the fear” at times. Think of the people who are being oppressed by the enemy today purely because of their beliefs – think of their fear. That takes real bravery - honestly.

In 2 Peter 1:-3-4, Simon Peter stated: “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness…through these [promises] you may be partakers of the divine nature….” We can partake? We can be a part of divine nature? We can be more like Jesus? It’s time to be brave - honestly!

Sometimes it’s hard to know where God is, where Jesus is, where our real strength is. I've put together an open poem about where to find Divine Presence. Know that Divine Presence is positively everywhere and it’s time we partake bravely and honestly! Tell me where you find Divine Presence!

Where to find Divine Presence

The pause between each breath

The moment between each keystroke

The touch of clean sheets

A hot bath

The space between each word

The trumpets in the Hallelujah Chorus

Vibrantly colored leaves

Rocks

The smell of pine

New buds sprouting

Shades of green-blue lichen

Pink wild roses

Snowflakes on pinecones

Frost on glass

Crisp, cold air

Squirrels playing

Deer pausing

A gentle breeze

Chills

Music

Art

Speeches

Writings

Laughter

Crying

Words

Warmth

Thoughts

Prayers

Human Contact

Spiritual Connection

Christmas Carolers

Smiles

Salvation Army Bell Ringers

Special Olympians

A Homeless Person

The Ave Maria

The Lord’s Prayer

The Prayer

O Holy Night

The National Anthem

A prayer for one’s betterment

Freedom

Empowerment

Education

Wisdom

Tolerance

Inspiration

Feet

Clean

Grounded

Bare

Clean Socks

Old slippers

In sand

Hands

Working

Molding

Creating

Touching

Clapping

Waving

Welcoming

Eyes

Seeing

Sparkling

Crying

Accepting

Sleeping

Listening

Really Listening

An empty church

The forest

A tiny bird

Sunshine

Soft rain

Thunder

Falling snow

Candles Burning

Understanding

Accepting

Tolerating

Forgiving

Honesty

Integrity

Wonderment

Excitement

Elation

Accomplishment

Birth

Death

Emotions

Happiness

Sadness

Grief

Anger

Fear

Sorrow

Love

Joy

Giggling

Smells

Lavender

Lemons

Crisp Apples

Carmel

Chocolate

Oranges

A baby’s skin

Everywhere

Everyplace

Everything

All Day

All Night

In you

In me

Our Soul

!

With Gratitude for Divine Presence

May Your Easter be Blessed and “Brave – Honestly” Beautiful!

The Grace of the Human Spirit

“All of us are on a journey whether we know it or not.”

“We are all on a journey of learning to express our full potential in this world.”

“Every thought we think and every word we speak is creating our future.”

(Excerpts from the video You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L. Hay, 2007)

Louise L. Hay is a best-selling author and founder of Hay House publishing, who is in her 80s and who has helped hundreds of people shed the fears of life to find healing. Success did not come easy for her, however. Her upbringing was less than nurturing. Given away at 18 months, abused as a child and as a young adult, leaving home at 15 to escape the abuse, made her senses rise. She learned to listen and listen well to the words people said, which brought her to an understanding of people that was – still is – groundbreaking. She learned that the common denominator for those she counseled was a feeling of unworthiness, a feeling of being less than, a feeling of being undeserving – basically unlovable.

Because Louise listened for words between the lines, she began to compile a list of physical illnesses that aligned with a person’s emotional issues. In 1984, she published her book You Can Heal Your Life, which includes a list of many illnesses and the emotional issue aligned with it. The common denominator, underlying feelings of unworthiness, was actually the inability for persons to love themselves. Louise’s self-prescribed antidote is the use of affirmations such as: “I love and approve of myself,” “I accept myself just as I am” and “My body now restores itself to its natural state.” Many people get uncomfortable with statements such as these; however, one must push past that feeling of discomfort because it is tremendously healing – it is not vanity nor narcissism. It is purely loving oneself.

Much of this unworthiness begins very early on when we've been zinged with negative statements by others. Those hurts get buried deep inside and begin to pile up; eventually, the physical body reacts to those feelings deep inside. Because of this, it is truly important to look for these negative thoughts in children and cleanse them before they fester. Tell a child how beautiful he is or compliment her creativity. Allow a child to use her imagination in order to let her soul’s desire exude or commend him for his playfulness. Look for any limiting beliefs a child is holding and share the strengths you see in him/her.

Limiting beliefs get carried into adulthood and often turn into blame, criticism or judgment of others and ourselves, which weakens our life energies. This opens the door for “dis-ease.” When negative thoughts creep in, recognize them, accept them and determine how they came about. Reframe the situation – find positive attributes such as: acceptance, love, joy, peacefulness, appreciation, gratitude. This will lift your spirit and provide your body energy to heal. Louise Hay says “…think of an external challenge as simply a reflection of your own internal resistance to change.” This is where she would create an affirmation, such as: “I choose to see the light in me/him/her instead of the darkness.”  The love/light in us runs much deeper than the darkness. When we lift the obstacles from us, the energy flows.

Finally, a couple beautiful statements I wanted to share, related to this:

“Life challenges give us the opportunity to express and thus know ourselves more deeply as love in all its many facets: empathy, forgiveness, patience, nonjudgment, courage, balance, acceptance and trust. Our earthly experience of ourselves as love may also take the form of understanding, serenity, faith, willingness, gratitude and humility, among other virtues.” (Robert Schwartz, Your Soul’s Plan, 2007)

“We must will into the world the love in our hearts, not through self-will but through surrender to God’s will. That is our spiritual as well as our psychological maturity. Love, to be God’s love, is not a passive but a participatory emotion.”  (Marianne Williamson, The Healing of America, 1997)

Thank you, Louise Hay, for uplifting your Human Spirit and for uplifting the Human Spirit of the World!

With Gratitude for Kindness

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak

but their echoes are truly endless.”

(Mother Teresa)

Last month, we discussed Gratitude, which I believe is very powerful and life changing.  This month I’d like to talk about Kindness, which is just as powerful, just as life changing.  I’m specifically speaking of lovingkindness – one of my favorite words from The Bible – acts of service motivated by love.

As Mother Teresa stated above, sometimes it’s just a choice of words that can change our life or someone else’s.  Think of the words we often speak to ourselves – words of doubt, self-blame, self-loathing, hatred and pity.  We are actually bullying ourselves, which creates a sense of powerlessness.  Sometimes in moments of anger or frustration, we speak derogatory words to our children, family or friends, which can create long-lasting wounds that may take a lifetime to heal.  When these words come, take a first step, recognize the words we've chosen and acknowledge that those are harmful words.  The next step is to slowly determine where those thoughts and words came from and what painful feelings lie beneath them.  Do not berate yourself for what just happened, that will only bring more negative feelings.  Love yourself by being kind to yourself - this begins the process of healing.

Our world appears to be in a state of chaos – all we have to do is turn on the news to hear a string of situations that can easily bring about fear.  The other night, I turned on the news and the stories went from local to national to worldwide – each one bringing more fear.  It made me think of watching Fahey Flynn, a Chicago newscaster, when I was a child in the 1950s – he reported the news but the news was nothing like what we hear today.  The fact that fearful situations are coming at us from all sorts of media can truly throw us off kilter and create anxiety and fear.  This also creates a feeling of powerlessness.

Deepak Chopra believes “All great changes are preceded by chaos.”  I know from what I've read, amidst all the chaos, our world is going toward Enlightenment.  I can’t help but believe this is the reason there is so much chaos – on one hand, our world seems out of control but in the larger picture, there is so much more recognition of feelings, there is so much greater understanding about our emotions, there is so much more openness about spiritual experiences, that it’s like the movement is afoot and we are on our way toward the good.  Those who want control over others feel threatened and respond with more terrorism out of their own fear and create more chaos.  Trust that God leads us only toward the good.

Kindness – small loving acts of service have a ripple effect – look at what Mother Teresa created one day at a time, one act of kindness at a time.  When the weight of the world comes upon you fast and you feel anxiety or fear, find a quiet place, breathe deeply and connect to the source of all love, kindness, care and protection within.  Make that connection instead of the worldly connection of chaos.

The week of February 9, 2015, is Random Acts of Kindness Week.

Get out there and create some chaos – in a Lovingkindness sort of way!