My current gratitude practice is to share at least 10 things I am grateful for each day.
Yours Truly with a car full of turkey dinner.
Today, I give thanks for ...
The Outreach Team at Unity of Royal Oak whop are making Love real and felt.
The sixteen families we were able to provide a Complete Thanksgiving Meal.
The joy of delivering some of those meals.
The Life that fills our center several days a week through the volunteers and staff members. When I started in 2015, many weeks, I was the only person in the building during the weekdays.
My recently purchased Ford Escape which I have used several times to transport items that would not have fit in my previous car.
The opportunity to connect with the Unity Of Royal Oak Music Makers at their rehearsal for Christmas Eve.
A 52° day on November 26, Wow!
Our church elf (Nick) hauling all of the Christmas decorations up out of the basement.
Being able to sleep in this morning because I was tired and I knew that URO was open and humming along.
Harvey's big heart for driving a coworker home to Algonac because his tie rod broke. Love in action.
During service last Sunday, we paid tribute to Dr. Maya Angelou who had made her transition into the Light on May 28. 2014. Part of our program was showing a video clip of a Super Soul Sunday segment where Oprah asked Dr. Angelou, "Where do you go for solace and comfort." Dr. Angelou shared that she was a student of Unity and then shared an idea she gleaned from the book Lessons in Truth that "God Loves Me." Maya shared the journey of that powerful idea from intellectual understanding to soul knowing.
In a sweet and mystical way, it feels like the Universe has hijacked this day, June 3, and used many elements to remind me that God Loves Me, too. Understand that I deeply know that God love you and me and all of life. I speak it and teach it and am witness to the truth of it in the lives of people all around me. Today, I am reminded that beyond my story about God loves me is the experience of Love that rushes into me and floods my soul, filling my entire being when I let it happen. Since last Friday I had felt a cold settling into my chest. I took some supplements and powered through the weekend and even through a Monday morning appointment that my mom had for some lab work. I woke up several times early this morning coughing and feeling like I couldn't breathe. Okay, I knew that this was more than a cold so I went to the urgent care center and after an exam and X-ray got the diagnosis that there was a cloudy area in one of my lungs - "walking pneumonia" and a prescription for an antibiotic. I even knew which drug would be dispensed. The doctor told me to take all the pills, drink plenty of fluids and get some rest if possible. All of this was very routine because about once every 12 or 18 months I get one of these infections.
Garden of Healing and Renewal
Miracles and Mitzvah While I was waiting to be seen by the doctor, I sent an email to the church to let folks know where I was and after the diagnosis, I sent another email (my name is Ric and I am a smart phone addict) as had been requested to update my status. When I got through the discharge process and got to my car, I noticed this garden across the street from where I parked - a Garden of Healing and Renewal. The sign and the scene felt inviting, peaceful and were a reminder for me to notice where Love was moving in my life. Then the emails started. One of my colleagues let me know that several of my "to do's" over the next few days had been taken care of and that I had been banished from being part of our Adopt A Park project this weekend so I could take some time off. Then another colleague emailed that there was nothing going on that through the end of the week that needed my attention. A few seconds later, a text inquiring how I was and then a phone call to encourage me to take a couple of days off to heal and renew. Oh and to make plans for the vacation I had mentioned I wanted to take this fall. When I got home, my neighbor was mowing the last small part of the bottom of the hill I had not had time to get to last Friday. Then a sweet message via Facebook. And another message from a colleague. I got it. The Universe was conspiring to remind me that God loves me. The Garden of Healing and Renewal is a lovely garden and it can be a state of conscious, almost overwhelming awareness that God Loves Me. The simple, powerful Truth for me and for everyone. Life itself can be profound Spiritual Practice when I notice that God loves me and take that idea to heart. If God loves me then I might find the ways to love me as well. God loves you too, so I can love too. I tend to live like a human doing at times. Time to balance the doing and being. How and what is the Universe whispering to you this day? Better to get the message when it's a whisper. Grace and Peace, Ric
(c) 2014 by Richard L. Beattie, all rights reserved
Today, instead of spending countless hours watching news commentators dissect each moment and movement of the last week of Whitney Houston's life and creating stories about how/why she died; we actively looked for ways we could add some kindness to another persons life?
What if we each did what showed up for us to do? Check out this video:
What if we were aware enough to notice the opportunities that are showing up in our lives?
What if we stopped listening to political leaders trying to convince us that "they" have a plan to restore confidence/jobs/pride or the past glory of a bygone time--that only exists in retrospect anyway? What if we let go of thinking anyone else can fix the mess we are in but us?
What if we took a one day break from our agenda about the issues that seem to divide us and put the same energy into finding ways to work together for our common good?
What if we dropped out story about everyone else. What if we turned away from whatever it is that we think "they" should or shouldn't do about this, that or the other thing? What if we released needing to get anything and focused out attention on what we have to give?
What if we each laid our carefully crafted, hand painted, designer logo life aside for one day?
"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." ~Jesus (John 15:12-13)
What if we took matters into our own hands and unleashed Love in our world? What if we stop waiting for someone else to do it?
To have gone shopping with my brother a day earlier than usual
Blah days are good for reflection
Swollen lymph glands, sneezing and a runny nose - nature letting me know that I need to slow down and care for me
Candlelight Wedding Chapel calling me for a quick, small wedding
The gift of officiating Craig & Karen's wedding and the two of them sharing tears and open hearts with me
Craig's adding a gift "for the alms plate at church" on top of an honorarium for the wedding
Noticing that it is not too late for love, taught by a 60 year old man getting married for the first time
Still loving me after an unplanned pizza
Noticing that I have friends from many and diverse political backgrounds: tea party to OWL devotee, Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians and everything in between and loving them all.
An evening at home, alone, when I really needed it.
Happy New Years Day! I am watching the final rays of a most glorious sunset as this first day of a New Year slowly gives way to the nighttime.
I have enjoyed this day spent reading Marianne Williamson's new book, A Course in Weight Loss, listening to a webcast on emerging consciousness, walking the neighborhood and quietly reflecting on the areas of my life that have been in motion lately. Front and center of which is my recent participation in The School for The Work of Byron Katie in Los Angeles this past October.
It feels like there is a huge connection between The Work and A Course in Weight Loss for me. When I was getting ready for The School for The Work, I set and held an intention of developing a new relationship with my body and of learning to release this barrier I had created that keeps people at a distance personally. As I read A Course in Weight Loss in order to prepare for our first session in the class I am leading at church, this seems to be next in this process of personal transformation that began in earnest at The School in October.
I don't know exactly where this is all leading, yet I feel big energy moving in and around me. I believe this process is the next step in several areas of my journey. I surrender myself to the process, trusting that Love is my guide and is leading the way.
