Contemplating the purpose of dreaming while sleeping

I wonder if the purpose of dreaming is the same as the purpose of the waking state.

Lucid dreams are described as very vivid and life like. My mind recreates my waking life experiences and exposes the deeper or underlying currents (feelings) which I can't or don't observe from a distance.  I say can't or don't because I know that developing a consistent practice of meditation each day increases the ability to observe everything while going through the experiences.  A peaceful separation between mind and body can be created in which you are contemplating before each thought and before each action.  People are calling this practice "mindfulness."

In the dream state, "the world" is a little more fluid so I can both observe and experience what is going on. What I dream about are re-organized thoughts and scenarios from my waking life. My conclusion about the experience is this:  I am the soul and I am the dreamer. The environment is recreated by my access to the universal mind. My brain is keeping my body alive while I am focused on this inner experience the same as it does when I am moving it around during my waking experience.

My soul doesn't need sleep and is conscious and aware during the resting period of my body, the soul is connected to the non-stop creative nature of the universe so every second is still a "teachable moment" on some level. Dreaming has a purpose. I think contemplating the purpose and beginning to understand them may help us get to the personal destination we choose a little faster or maybe there is no faster or slower to it.  We'll get there when we get there!

Be well and be happy!

(i.e., my dream last night; this part is more of an optional read of couree)

I awakened this morning from a lucid dream unfolding into a repeat cycle of events from a past relationship.  As usual in these types of dreams there was an element of physical danger. The danger was that a house I had been in (which was not mine), was located on a steep cliff like hill.  The drop from the edge appeared to be from 50 to 100 feet although I didn't spend too much time looking down because where your attention goes, so do you!

There was a foot path that led to the house that was very close to the edge of the cliff and (typical for my dreams) as I was walking back to the road from the house, a moment of danger arrived.  I moved my left foot and as I planted it on the ground, I lifted my right foot.  As I moved my right foot in the walking motion, midway there, I felt that my body weight was not balanced and leaning toward the right! The exposure to the cliff's edge was to my right. My left which was closer to the "wall" of the hill.

It took all of the focus I had to internally sway the motion of my body to the left so that I would not fall and could continue the path to safety. As dreams go... the oddities that seem so normal in them continued like a film, cut to the next scene. 

There were a series of interesting conversations (well scripted for the unfolding scenes) occurring in the house. After a little while, I left with individuals that I met there. There was one person in the house that I had met before.  We had been friends, but I dropped the relationship because it was harmful. We all went to a store.  As we were leaving (about six of us), I was engaged in a conversation with the one person that I knew.  

The conversation was going sour as disappointments were shared were degenerating into blame. At some point the items that were in my hands fell to the floor and rather than help me pick them up. the person speaking to me was taking the opportunity to send me a verbal missive.  As I was struggling to pick the items off the floor I heard a comment made by someone in the store who over heard the words my friend said to me indicating that someone who speaks words like that can't really be a nice person (although he appears to be).  

This comment was interesting to me in that I was getting a clue about him.  So... I was right about this person who was very skilled in his speech. Skilled enough to effectively deliver an insult with just the right level of energy to allow the words to enter into your awareness in a way that you don't initially react.  A very effective way to reach people emotionally. The result of that communication skill is that it effects you from within. This skill can be used positively or negatively.

Cut to the next scene, I am observing from overhead yet I am still in the dream with my items preparing to go to the cashier... from my overhead perspective, I watch as one by one each of the people from the house roll their shopping carts out of the store, intentionally by-passing the cashier! This is occurring because in the dream  (like waking life), the store is understaffed.  Each one of them with the exception of my friend intentionally took the items without paying for them.  

My friend was seated, with his goods for which he clearly intended to pay for because he had the means. I was angry at being part of that group and I said to him.  They will get caught and when they do, I will not acknowledge them.  I have nothing  to do with them and will not admit that I was with them, then I was awakened after that speech. 

Of course, since I was dreaming that drama, I recognize elements of my thoughts throughout the day and the week in the dream. Two elements always seem to exist in my lucid dreams, a house which is not mine and danger.  The "house" is often in disrepair and very large. 

Answers from God.... or the universe

Write the first three words you see... was an exercise from a friend's facebook post.  So funny, when I was a child facebook didn't exist.  The first three words I saw were "do" "you" and then "success." I thought nothing of it when I did the exercise.  I just wrote what I found.

This morning I awakened and read those words, this time they had meaning.  I looked at the post again and saw the same three words.   Then I read what other friends saw. They saw love, intelligence and more.  I looked at the post again after reading their findings and saw love too.  Later, I saw intelligence.  But the point of the exercise was to identify only the first three words you saw.

In looking at what I saw, the word "do" was diagonal and the word "you" right under it, from left to right.  The word "success" was under the word "you" from left to right.. I really felt it was a message from God to me. I am in a state of transition.  We all are but sometimes those transitions get intense when big changes are due.

Do you. You will have success! That was the message I received this morning. I wondered if that message was from God.  I also wondered about the being that I call God or sometimes "the universe" which    (to me) translates as the soul of all that we know and don't know, seen and the unseen.

The term "universe" in science means a system of stars and planetary bodies, but my definition of God includes the soul of the inter-dimensions of the quantum universe.  Unfortunately, men and women have made "God" a name or term to fear which is why so many have rejected that name.  I sometimes hesitate to use the term or name because I don't want to isolate those who fear it or reject it.  But I do want to acknowledge the presence of that powerful and yet humble creator and sustainer.

No one wants to acknowledge fear as a leader.  I have never known fear of God.  I have only known love of God and non judgement of God and grace and kindness of God.

In my life, one family member has always questioned the decision of God to give his creations, (man in particular) free will.  I understand that decision.  Free will is what gives us autonomy to explore to experience to enjoy and to choose to love God in return.  Without free will everyone of us would simply be machines, programmed objects.  God as a master creator empowers his (gender does not really apply) creations so that they may choose to enjoy their experience (or not).  Thus making my analogy of the Earth World more relevant.

I am grateful for my message from God.  Because I received a great gift to share.

Be well and be happy today.

If you know where you're going, you'll get there faster.

If the destination point is total bliss and satisfaction, wouldn't you want to run to it? Total bliss and satisfaction is getting to the end goal, finishing what you've started and reaping the results. I want to get to my end goal, but first I have to know what that is. When you know where you want to go, you get there faster.

If you know what you are looking for, you will ignore and not waste your time with all of the other things you see or find along the way. It is important for me to have a complete vision and to know where I want to go, what I want to do, then start, continue and finish!

Sometimes I am standing when I would prefer to be walking or running toward my intended destination. The distractions that present (and which I get caught up in) fog up my focus and instead of traveling toward my destination, I am side tracked.

When this happens its a lot like being a football player on a field. I have the ball (my vision) but I need to get to the goal (fulfillment). Other players are rushing at me to prevent me from getting there and some are rushing at me to take the ball!  In football, some player's only mission is to knock you down!  I hope this analogy demonstrates the challenges we all face as we head toward our end goals. (Note: when you are knocked down, get up and brush yourself off like the players do. Don't waste time replaying the knock down in your mind.)

People I meet along the way with a focus on their own vision have a positive influence. People I meet who have forgotten their purpose distract me and sometimes ask for more attention than they need.   At the moment they believe they need and want the attention of another, but what they need is to harness the energy of their own attention.  With their energy focused they have the ability to return to their own journey.
 
Recognizing this situation before you find yourself on someone else's journey saves you both, time. No one wants to be off track from their own mission.  Everyone is designed for a unique purpose and the process of realizing that purpose is their unique journey. Time is the resource for realizing purpose, which is why we shouldn't waste it.

Where do you want to go and what do you want to do today? Stay focused and hurry up! Your bliss and satisfaction awaits you!

Be well and be happy!
Peaceful background music for you

Contemplating the inner world....or worlds

I often wonder why every thing sleeps.  We know that we all need rest, but what is interesting is that we do this everyday and when we can't, we become ill or off balance. So where do we go every night? For those who work at night... when you lie down to sleep, where do you go everyday?  And then too, we eventually die.... We die from this Earth World where do we go?  Everyone is born and everyone dies.  Everyone wakes and everyone sleeps... age old questions I know... Buddha asked these kinds of questions too!

And what about this dreaming that we do.... Is it a reminder that this day life is a dream too?  I think it is.... (breaking through the matrix here!)

Years ago (in my teens) I had a dream. A short film like dream. In the dream my two sisters and I were in the back seat of a car that was rolling along the freeway at quite a lovely pace... without a driver!  All was going well until the car started behaving as it would without a driver.

As the more gutsy one, (or so I thought at that time in my life) I reached over from the back seat and took the wheel and steered the car to the next exit that just magically (and conveniently) appeared.  I was able to stop the car by running into streetlight on a corner sidewalk.  The car remained in the street and no one was hit.  We three got out of the back seat and began to walk in a city.  There were stores, people walking taking care of their daily business. The scene was very real.  Suddenly a policeman came to the car and was asking some questions (most likely about the "accident") and another policeman planted some drugs in the trunk and the chase was on!

We began to run! We ran into the stores to hide because it was a no win situation (after all we saw him plant the drugs).  Soon afterwards my older sister got separated leaving only me and my younger sister still engaged in "escaping."  After a while, we ran out of the store we were in and were running as fast as we could when I began to jump with each step... with each step the jump was higher and higher and I felt a floating sensation.  Finally, I was just flying.  I flew higher and told my younger sister to fly too... and she did, although she flew a little lower than I.... I wondered what became of my older sister.... shortly after taking flight I awakened.

I remember trying to figure out the meaning of the dream.

My guess was that the freeway was the pathway we were on and we were traveling that pathway together for a while.  The city represented the kind of experience we were going to have.  The policeman and the drugs represented the challenges that we would experience. The fact that the car had no driver was that our lives during our childhood were being guided to our destination until we could take control.

It was a dream, but it was still an experience in my life. I remember the dream, so on some level it was real.

I enjoyed the "flying" feeling. What is more interesting though is to consider where all that "activity" occurred. Somewhere inside, in my inner world. Now that I am all grown up, I dismiss dreams as "unreal" but I know that inner world is a real world and worth exploring....that is what meditation if for.... getting to the real of everything.... I better get busy, sitting still!

Be well and be happy!

Preparing for meditation by using imagination.

When I was a child I could easily slip into day dreaming, especially in a class room.  I loved how I felt while day dreaming. I remember being amazed that I could be sitting in a room with others with the teacher speaking, but I didn't hear anything that was said.

I don't day dream much these days if at all.  I also used to use my imagination a lot as a child. I remember making up incredible stories about ice cream mountains and beautiful dense dark forests.  I can see them now in my mind.  It seems our society is designed to prevent us from this type of activity.  However if more of us were free enough to dream I think the world might just be better off.

Take a look at the happy faces of children.  They are so excited and part of that excitement is their imagining what could be!

Imagination is a special gift from God. I think we have a responsibility to use it for good.  It seems we've formed this collective world and in it we've fallen asleep, but we really need to wake up and dream. Remember,

“Except ye be become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Here is a meditation technique using your imagination.

Take a comfortable sitting position. Feet flat on the ground, back straight.  Take a full breath in and then breathe out.

Close your eyes.

Imagine a place that is beautiful and peaceful to you. Imagine that all of your challenges are perfectly and peacefully resolved. Imagine the sounds that you hear in your beautiful and peaceful place. Imagine that you smell your favorite scents.  Rest in this place for while.

Create this place each day and several times each day.  It will strengthen your ability to visualize your future.  This space can also serve as a starting point for meditation.  

When stress hits, this space will be available for you to enter in and immediately you will begin to regain your balance. The kingdom of heaven is within.

Be well and be happy!
see how our world is changing through technology

What if?

What I am listening to this morning.

I wonder what Earth would be like if we all just behaved as if we were in heaven.  What would change for us?

What would the world be like if I smiled at everyone I saw.  Helped everyone who asked and what would it be like if everyone else did the same.   What would our world be like if we all committed to causing no harm to anyone or any living being? What if no one owned the lands and everyone shared everything freely.  What if we traded with each other instead of selling? What if we shared all of the food the earth produces. What if shared the work that we chose to do? What if we didn't ride on animals?  What if we only ate what the Earth gave us to eat? What if we didn't kill?  What if we didn't hit others? What if we only used our speech for kindness or sharing information?

What if we all were well educated and what if the education was free.  What if we used science to better the world and to improve our health and the health of other living beings?  What if we stopped riding in our individual cars and made use of our transportation systems, but our transportation systems were free?

What would the world be like if we lived our purpose and thrived? What if artists were supported, and those who love to cure were supported, and those who love to build were supported.  What if we did not use money?  What if?

Miracles... a message for those who pray

Is there any such thing as instant gratification?

I pray for miracles every day even though I am aware that miracles are constantly manifesting around me all the time.  I have had to learn that the actual request that I am making is for the “instant manifestation” of whatever I am praying for.  

For example, “money.”  I share this because so many of us agree that we want money, but we don’t really want money.  We want the things we can buy with it.  We want that purchasing power for ourselves and for those we love.  When you understand it this way, wanting money doesn’t seem so bad!  So we ask God or the universal creator to grant us some and we hope that it will come quickly! But I have to ask; is anything in Earth instant?  Question: What have I learned about Earth World since being here? Answer:There is a process for everything! Creating anything seems to take time.  Manifestation is the result of quantum mechanics on the unseen levels.

The birth of a child is a miracle.  The presence of fruit on a full grown tree is a miracle.  The diversity of the species on this planet are miracles. All of these are supported by the environment into which they are born and that is a series of miracles.  At first, It might seem that breathing or being aware is instant but they are not either.

Breathing is not instant, it is a process of inhaling, stopping as the molecules transfer into our system nutrients (oxygen) they bring and then receiving the waste (carbon dioxide), then exhaling it into the air.  

Awareness seems close to instant, but even that is a process… for example; awakening in the morning from sleep to waking state requires that our awareness moves or passes from dream or a deeper state and as we pass through to waking, we are aware of forgetting.  “Awareness” occurs multidimensionally.  For the most part in our general state of consciousness we are not aware of all levels simultaneously. Even awareness isn’t instant, it is a process too.

The only thing I know that is instant is “being”.”  Being is existence. It doesn’t mean being aware or even breathing.  It means the ability to exist.”  Now that I have come to understand that more, I can have more patience.  I have had four miracles that were direct answers to prayers and I am praying for a fifth.  This miracle that I am praying for includes my request that I understand the process better so that I can become a better “miracle worker.”

For those of you who want to fast track your knowledge, there is a popular book titled A course in mircacles  I have a copy but I don’t want to read it until my prayer is answered.

Be well and be happy!

Flowers, blossoms and thoughts along the way

Another day at the Earth World theme park!

Where am I going today and what am I going to do. As I write this morning, I am listening to music (smiley face here!) and I am peaceful. I like feeling peaceful.  I see with my eyes, hear with my ears, taste with my tongue, smell with my nose, feel with my fingers, and all the while I am changing physically every day, all day, all night, but later in the day I am going to forget that and lose myself in a flow of activities.  I won’t remember that I have all of these senses for me to experience the Earth World. Nearly everyday I get so busy that I forget to "stop and smell the roses" although stopping (ceasing activity or being still) is very important for rejuvenation and for allowing life's energy to flow.   

Every now and then I get to see flowers either before the sun has fully risen or at dusk  I notice their petals are closed.  They close each day and open again when the sun is high in the sky.  I also feel something like “how sweet” they are waiting for the sun.  Flowers and plants are silent as far as my range of hearing goes, but they express themselves beautifully in the way they grow. They are an amazing testament to the creative force around us.

Trees are amazing too! I used to carry an infant outside to see nature.  That infant wanted to touch the trees.  He would place his little baby hand on the tree trunk and then look up at the tree towering overhead.  I wondered what the infant saw and why he wanted to touch the tree.  I remember thinking that he knew the tree was alive. I developed a deeper respect for the trees observing this interaction after some months.

This beautiful tree lives in the Marin Headlands park.  It was silent but its expression touched me.

In our social awareness particularly in urban environments where so much of the earth is paved over, we have a lot of noise going on.  So if something isn’t making noise we overlook it (or forget it exists for a while) until we experience a moment of silence.

Sound is a gift and its range is very wide. We also know that there are sounds we cannot hear. Perhaps plants do make sound on some level.  Human beings make a lot of sound, speech, moving things around, our machines (cars, trucks, boats, factory machines,  motorcycles) beautiful sounds too, like music.  

Someone once said that silence is golden.  It is. Perhaps the balance between sound and silence is carefully selecting the sounds you will make and the sounds you will listen to.   

What are you going to listen to today?  Remember even what (or who) you listen to is a choice! Life is beautiful and so is the Earth.

Be well and be happy!

Note to self: Stay on your path!

Sharing the experience of my journey today!

sound beauty with raindrops for you!

It is important for me to remind myself that everyday is full of choices.  I’ve learned that it is better to start off quiet. To consult my “map” be still, breathe and then listen.  After my mind has cleared or is quiet and I am peaceful, I can write down a few tasks that I want to accomplish for the day. (Try it for ten minutes at first or longer if you choose.) When I stay focused I can accomplish what I’ve planned.  Many successful people have shared this process of daily meditation. It works. Many more people experience the deeper more enriching aspects of this practice and implement it at night as well.

It is important for each of us to remain happy -for that is our natural state- and to remember that others are journeying with us throughout our day.  This is critical because we can become distracted by watching or engaging with them.  Sometimes we stop our planned activities because of these distractions which may be enjoyable (someone we care about) or require our patience (someone we feel sympathy for). Although we had pre-determined what we were going to do for the day, we find ourselves engaged in some other activities because we have become engaged in the journey of another!  Our feelings of balance and contentment may change because we are not where we intended to be.

We don’t want to stay off course because when that continues we become un-happy. This unhappiness is usually not part of our planned course, but because we are trying to be helpful to others and may be forgetting to consult our guidance system we find we are far from our intended destination. What is worse is that we find that we  are living the experience that someone else chose for themselves and there we are right along with them!  

While it is okay to stay on their journey, if you choose to keep them company, its better (for you) to get back to your own journey because each person has their own unique purpose and that purpose makes our world a better place.

When this happens, mentally consent your inner map for guidance. When you do this, you will be able to cut through the chase.  You will remember they are the same as you! Others have the same freedoms and guidance system that you do.  Remember the theme park analogy!  You are here in Earth World! Don’t become unhappy, go back to the ride you wanted or choose another one!

Where are you going and what do you want to do today?

Be well, be happy!

It's a new day!

Good morning!

Sending you a blessing of sound beauty for background meditation this morning! I am sending myself and you a reminder to be still first and know that God or the Creative Force of the universe created you for a unique purpose and that your expression is a great value to the rest of us.  You are 100%  unique from anyone else.

So what are you going to produce or express for the rest of us to enjoy, learn from or experience? We are each a unique flower or expression of the one universal conscience.

Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not yet here.
Where do yo want to go today and what do you want to do? Be still and listen to your inner guide.

Please note: I did not create or perform the music I sent you, someone else did and posted it on August 25, 2014.   Meditation Relax Music posted it for me (and now you) to find.  A lovely gift and a lovely expression by the individual(s) who wrote, produced and performed the sounds. I hope you enjoy it!  I feel very creative and inspired by the sounds.

Initiating change.....first a thought, and then another

Where do you want to go and what do you want to do...today?

Beautiful thoughts bring about positive change.  Dr. Emoto, a researcher shared his photos of water molecules after exposing them to thoughts.  His findings created an amazing awareness of the impact of thoughts, words and other expressions.

Enlightening others on the impact and the effect of words on water, he brings our awareness to a higher level.  Once you become of aware of the outcomes of his research, you cannot ignore your own behaviors.

If we want to change our lives, or change the world we must first change our thoughts.  Once our thoughts change, our environment changes.

Where do you want to go and what do you want to do today?

Be well and be happy!

Earth World experiences (rides) are often funny….really!

Where do you want to go today and what do you want to do?

The world is out there and there are many experiences just waiting for you! You can walk the same path as you did yesterday or you can mix it up! You can even do something or go someplace you haven't before! But before you do sit still when you get a moment and get to a peaceful place even if (like me) it's in the bathroom! Be alone and be still, at least there is a place to sit there! Life is so funny! The bathroom is a "room" after all!

I remember slipping and falling flat on my back with all of the wind knocked out of me. It wasn’t exactly painful but I was literally unable to get up until I was able to inhale.  I chuckle now as I remember the experience.  While I was on my back I was also wondering if I was really hurt, I really didn’t know what happened (in terms of how the air was knocked out of my lungs so completely) I was not able to call for help because my breath was gone, you need breath to speak!  I didn’t know that at the time. My plan was to wait until my breath came back and call for help, but when my breath came back I was also able to get up! What a funny way to learn about the deep effects of simply breathing!  

These days everyone is talking about breathing. Inhale deep and then exhale.  Woo saahh!  We don’t always breathe intentionally, but we always breathe. Can’t help it, it is by design.

Even the dogs have a lesson to share about breathing.  I was wondering why a dog I was trying to feed ate his food so fast and almost whole without taking his time especially if it was his favorite food.  Once I gave him a piece of jerky and he almost choked to death eating it whole.  Recently as I reflected on almost causing the death of my family member’s beloved pet, I realized that - more than taste - he liked the smell of his food.  That was interesting!  Again a funny (and frightening) way to learn a lesson.

Breath is the central process of getting nutrients from our environment into bodies, food is too, but breath is constant.  Science says that if you can smell it, then particles of what you smell  must also be in a gaseous state.  Hence my thoughts around the dog breathing in his food, while not necessarily tasting his food.

We breathe in and breathe out all day and all night.  The mystery of the breath is taken for granted for the most part until something happens and we can’t breathe or we begin to wonder just how it is that each morning our eyes pop open and “Wow, I’m still here. I am  living to see another day!  Many people thank God for the opportunity for another chance to “get it right!”  or start over or pick up where they left off yesterday.  Some people can’t believe they’ve made it through the night!

These days there is a change emerging in our social environment that informs us that we need to focus on the fact that we are breathing and that breath is what makes us alive, right after that we have ask why are we breathing and what for. This leads to finding our unique purpose.  

Why am I here? What is my purpose? Mind science instructors tell us of prana, chi, and the subtle aspects of the breath such as the consciousness that comes with it!  It is a mystery that eventually explains itself as you sit still and reflect on your breathing and what comes with it.  Consciousness is a form of awareness and the subtleties of reflecting on your awareness leads you to deeper understanding and an eventual “knowing.”  It is in this space that you begin to discern your potential purpose.  Your map unfolds here in the stillness.  “Be still and know that I am God” comes to mind.  “Meditate.” comes to mind.  This leads to what is called enlightenment.  But how? Be still and breathe. Not pray, not think, just breathe. A few minutes a day and then go back to where do you want to go and what do  you want to do today? Perhaps your personal answer will be much clearer.

Here is something from you are Water by Dr. Emoto to help! It will give you something reflect on and the piano playing is beautiful.

Be well and be happy!

Sound beauty for you!

This music may be helpful in finding your quiet space. Enjoy!

Finding your map

Where are you going and what do you want to do today?

Your map is your guide.  As above so below.  The macrocosm and microcosm appear to be the same. The plethora of activity you see externally is similar to the activity going on within.

The map you need is within you. It is the universal mind.  Everyone and everything is connected to it.  However we forget this when we are distracted.  Getting in touch with the instructive aspect of the universal mind requires stillness. This is often referred to as meditation.

If you haven't meditated before, there are tools that can help you relax and get used to becoming still. Music and sound are very helpful. Singing a peaceful tone in a melody that is harmonious is helpful too.  The music and the singing calms the river of thoughts that can really take your attention into many different directions.

On the internet, there are many visual and sound uploads that are available to help us begin to understand the nature of our environment.  Like the external world there are a lot distractions there too.  But if you are a seeker what ever you are seeking you will find.  The internet tool is a great example of the universal aspect of the mind.

The universal mind is so vast that is is not possible to completely describe it.  Trying to describe it would be like trying to describe all of the books that have ever been written, all of the art that has ever been made, all of the life forms that have ever been created, all of the forces of nature, all of the mechanics of time and concepts that are beyond imagination and even more than I can mention. Truth is stranger than our greatest fiction!

Each individual needs their own unique map and that map is within.  You will speak it into your existence when you need it.  You will ask for it and it is in your "hands." The map has always been with you. However if we don'think to ask for it, it isn't forced on us.

You will "hear" your instructions and guidance. You will know the guidance is true because of the satisfaction you will feel as you follow your path.  You will feel harmony.  You will feel joy.

Where are you going and what do you want to do today?

Be well and be happy!
Understanding water Dr. Emoto is living his purpose and we are blessed by it.

Welcome to Earth World! Enjoy your rides!

Where are you going today and what do you want to do?

Each of us is a unique and purposeful expression of divine energy. We arrive with full potential and often with excitement about each day. What is more exciting is that our journey renews each day! We are given an opportunity to start a completely new experience or we can relive the previous experiences we’ve had in the past again and again and again. At least until our life span runs out.

I've heard some express that our Earthly experience is similar to a school, where you learn “life's lessons.” As I grow older, the "school" metaphor has faded and in its place has emerged the "theme park" model where you enter the gate and try to decide which of the rides you will choose to experience.  You have to calculate how much time you have to stand in line to get on the rides because the theme park closes at a certain time. How many rides can you go on given the limited amount of time in the park?  Your choices become framed by the amount of time you have.

Just like the theme park, there are lines (processes) for getting what you want for a specific experience. A theme park is an illusion that provides different experiences.  Some people like to be thrilled, others like the feeling of floating or flying.  Some people just want to go round and round.  Theme parks offer bungee jumping, roller coaster rides, scary houses, children’s rides, carousel rides and so much more just for the experience of it.  Why do we want the experience? Because it is fun!  Sometimes we get on a ride that frightens us out of our wits!  We go screaming and yelling “Stop the ride! Stop it now! Get me off of this thing!” We know that we made the choice to get on that ride, but it isn’t the experience we thought it might be, we just want off right NOW!  We yell at the controller who may or may not be paying attention (because the rides are timed - thank God for that!)  When we get off the particular ride someone might say I am never getting on that ride again!  Someone else may say I’m going on that ride again!  That was fun! They even laugh at themselves if they were afraid and thrilled all at the same time! They  get right back in that line right away!  

Others prefer and choose a gentle ride where they can observe the surroundings in view, for example a carousel.  The ponies go up and down and the wind sweeps your face, little ones are smiling and the ride is safe!  On this ride someone may hope it never stops or at least goes longer than the three minutes.

As you can see by those examples.  They were just rides in the theme park built for fun! One person learned was that it was not the experience they wanted to have after all. The other person felt so good that they had to experience it again!  There was some learning going on. The point of “learning” is merely to gain experience.

If you want proof simply look at the eyes of any child when he or she awakens in the morning. Their eyes open and they are instantly ready to get up and go! What are we going to do? Why? What are we going to eat? I want to brush my teeth! Where are we going? Their energy is amazing and reminds me of the same kind of excitement you get when you go to a theme park.  The adults in their lives have to find ways of keeping them busy or distracted.  After breakfast the adults might hand them toys to occupy them or turn on a game or television.  They are so excited that they have to be distracted.

In our daily lives when we move into balance, we feel our inner excitement again.  This inner excitement is our own unique and powerful creative force that seeks to express itself.  When we allow it, this force brings things into the world that are as unique as we all are.  

In keeping with the theme park example, someone had to come up with the idea for it!  Working within their own imagination they imagine the idea of collecting all the different types of rides in one place with a central environment.  Going deeper; each of the rides in the theme park were first ideas in the imagination of the individuals who decided that such a ride would be fun!  Of course creating the enormous rides that must be mechanically engineered to be safe and secure is an intricate and complex process, There are probably hundreds of such parks in the world they are so large that maps are required for travelling in the theme park world.  Theme parks are real but are illusionary environments and the only difference between those parks the environment we live in is our understanding.

Our environment has trillions of experiences to offer in the same way a theme park does. It has many rides, foods, rest and play areas, people and more, but it is important to remember that our "Earth World" is even more complex than the ones that human beings create. The sheer diversity of the environment and the underlying forces that make the physical seem so inflexible is a mystery. So it is best to start with a map and to know what you want to experience.

When we arrive each day we can decide which "ride" we want to go on, but remember our environment has processes too, you have to "get in line" or "align" with the ride you want.  Where are you going today and what do you want to do?

Coming soon: Get your map so you know where you're going!

Be well and be happy!