Being Here Now And Enjoying Every Minute Of It.

             This afternoon I (finally) finished Gary Zukav’s Seat Of The Soul.  It’s the type of book that takes a while to sink in.  It’s also one of those that you kinda want to own, so you can go back and read bits (parts I totally would have highlighted if it was mine) to supply helpful reminders when you feel derailed.  Sadly, I have to give it back to the library.

             But not before I share some.  There is a lot in there, and I was drawn to several sections specifically.

“All of what you are doing in each day is creating what is appropriate and perfect.  Apply consciousness to this process.  That is trust.  Although what you encounter and what you do in each moment is appropriate and perfect to the evolution of your soul, the shape of the experiences of your life is determined nonetheless by the choices that you  make.  It is you that chooses to linger in resentment, or to be consumed by anger, or enveloped in grief, or to release these lower-frequency currents of energy.  Each choice that you make, to dwell in negativity or to take up residence in your heart, serves perfectly the evolution of your soul.  All roads lead to home.”

             He goes on to say that we still learn our lessons, the ones that we mapped out before we got here, but we do it in either a conscious or unconscious way.  By choosing to engage the full power of our souls we walk our paths with authenticity, rather than stomping along begrudgingly with an “it’s happening TO ME” attitude.

             ”Allow your self to become aware of what you feel.  Give yourself permission to choose the most positive behavior in each moment.”  When we do this, and do it mindfully,  it discharges negative energy, while at the same time refilling our souls with love and dynamic positive power.

             ”Power is energy that is formed by the intentions of the soul.”  When we think of our own spiritual power as Light that is shaped by our intentions of love and compassion, guided by wisdom, we know, without doubt, that we’re on the right track.

“The Universe does not judge.  Eventually, you will come to authentic empowerment.  You will know the power of forgiveness*, humbleness, clarity, and love.  You will evolve beyond human experience, beyond the Earth school, beyond the learning environment of space and time and matter.  You cannot not evolve….”

*He gives a less-than-common definition to this word.  Not a cliched form of forgiveness as a blanket of letting all wrong-doings go, but more like a working-within and from-the-inside-out sort of attitude.  I have, in the past, had trouble with this concept, so it was great to see it re-framed here.

             Another topic he covers, in discussing our choice versus our destiny, is the question of Free Will.  Because every time we stop and question the options in front of us, we exercise our soul journey’s actions of freedom.  Do we learn (and choose) to go the way of love and authentic empowerment, or do we falter in that innately human way and buckle under to fear and  doubt?  It’s always up to us.  Always.

             The message coming from our card altar room is validating in a truly entertaining way, and oh so reminiscent of our recent Follow Your Bliss draw.  In so many of Life’s selections we don’t look for this angle, this viewpoint.  But we totally COULD!  We move along wearing our Serious Adult expression, when often, we absolutely might have worn a Festive Fun Face instead.

“Angel Of Pleasure  ~

Take pleasure in the things you do.

The message for you today is to start to take pleasure in all the things you do.  It’s not all about hard work, achievement, and performance.  What is important is that you make the most of every moment in your life.

Start to do more things that bring you pleasure and that bring pleasure to those you love, work, study, and play with.  Try it.  You may be surprised to find that when things become pleasurable, you accomplish more, with less stress and effort.”

             Since I (almost) never go back and look at what we did the last time a card or message appeared (because to me, it’s not the same card or message, the timing and circumstances dictate that this is true, not me, I’m simply the radio), I have no idea how much of this illustration there was in the posted picture.  For this photograph, that hunk of brown paper was handy, so I used it.

             I’ve decided that I need to go find something small and colorful to replace these images that are simply NOT-BEAUTIFUL  (as J.D. so eloquently put it).  Gotta search The Burrow for some stacks of old magazines, left over from kid collage projects now.  (Good thing I never throw anything away.)

Today’s Deck:

Angels, Gods, and Goddesses Oracle Cards by Toni Carmine Salerno

FLP Report:

Missouri.

Yesterday’s Baking:

ended up being a simple, and no-stress fall-back batch of cookies.

Oatmeal raisin, quickly becoming a family favorite.

             I had wanted to try a new recipe, but that damn Zen Balance can be very unstable, and NOT really as balanced as I had hoped (or been led to believe).  The improvement in attitude is evident though, in how rapidly I am able to REGAIN the Present Moment Consciousness, so that’s nice.