Center for Spiritual Living Huntsville

Kindness is the antidote to everything.  Being kind renews our kinship with all things.  Kindness can accomplish much.

The masks we wear suffocate who we are.  In removing masks, we can once again be touched and surprised by life.

It is through relationship that we come alive and heal.  We are changed by everything and everyone we meet.  The good news is we are never done.

Rumi said, “Love is a fire and I am wood where I burned and burned till all there was ash.”  Let's catch on fire with Truth and Love and burn up.

Becoming conscious is shedding what everyone has told you and whispering to the stars what the water coming into spring has learned from being ice.

There is a radiance in all things as the emanations of a presence that brightens everything into being.

Rumi said:  “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." Let us remove the barriers to let the love flow freely.

Life is like a symphony. We are here to enjoy it all.  When we open to the unconditional love of our being, we are sitting in the best seat of the house.

As the song lyrics ask, “Why have you come to earth?  Why have you come to birth?  Do you remember?” Could we inhabit these questions and awaken the Presence within?  Each of us must discover the answers from within.

Our attention is the tangible measure of our love.  Examine where we spend our time and attention.  Is a recalibration of our priorities in order?

When the lens of our perception is cleansed, the whole world is seen with fresh eyes.  Changing the way we look at things enables a shift both within and without.

It has been said that the only one who wants change is a baby with a dirty diaper.  Although we resist necessary change, it is heartening to realize that it is possible.

When we awaken to our interconnectedness, we are called to serve what is whole amidst the chaos.  As we live in the question, we can start with “What's still true for me?”  The clarity begins to strengthen as we transform anger into courage, sadness into compassion, and confusion into resolve.  We belong together.

Could we slow down enough to receive images and messages that educate the heart? This requires that we be attentive and receptive to the oracles of life. We listen with our heart and soul.

We are here to grow and evolve.  Let us ignite the call of our soul to an authentic life filled with meaning and purpose.

We can cultivate a readiness for clarity and authenticity by practicing patience, acceptance, inner inquiry, and seeking out the wise. The key is to search for the Ground of All Being where we find acceptance and contentment.

How we practice compassion between us and integrity within us is the ongoing journey of the inner self.  The self that contains our essence is never in isolation from other life.  How do we stay open to others and not lose who we are?  Our journey becomes one of “falling in” and “loving through” the mystery of life.

Blessed be the gifts you never notice - your health, eyes to behold the world, your heart to feel the world's waves, your breath to breathe the nourishment of distance made intimate by Earth.

Open your eyes and see the friends whose hearts recognize your face as kin, those whose kindness – watchful and near – encourages you to live everything here.

“May all that is unforgiven in you be released.  May your fears yield their deepest tranquilities.  May all that is un-lived in you blossom into a future graced with love.”

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning that is One with your life's desire.

Life is about involution and evolution.  The Universe will continually evolve eternally.  Will we evolve along with it?

What is the bedrock of truth that we each find reliable?  What won't let you down?  Let's remember those unnameable truths that can help us restore what matters when we lose our way.

When we begin with a fresh mind, everything is a new beginning. Let us view life each moment as a new beginning. 

Let us listen for the hints that awaken us from within.  They are teaching us what we already know.

Often the best thing we can do in the mystery of life is to listen, ponder, and feel deeply as we slip into wonder and awe.  We become intimate with the vastness from which listening arises.

Let yourself be surprised.  Be an explorer in unknown territory and a child filled with wonder and surprise.  “Behold.  I make all things new.”  Yes, we witness YOU.

Rumi says, “The only way out is through. You are your greatest barrier.  Rise up from within it.”  Could we approach our blocks with openness and curiosity?  Our freedom lies within.

To access the mystery, we move beyond belief and exchange the known for the unknown.  As beliefs unwind, we realize we are not our thoughts and beliefs. We are beyond those beliefs. 

There are infinite paths to knowing oneness. We each get to choose how we go there. It is up to us to make our own way. 

Love is the work of the soul.  Let us fall in love with the world in fresh ways.

As we bless the path with every breath in conscious moments, we grow what we are and learn how to live with it.

The universe is everything and everywhere and is always available to us. It is up to us to call it inside ourselves and experience the One. 

Grace is the unmerited givingness of the Universe to all of us.  As we change our point of view, we shift from suffering to grace.  With faith there is no fear, and without faith, fear.

Embracing life requires that we adapt to change.  When we meet our resistance and our expectations with a smile and deep acceptance, we can let go again into the next inevitable moment.

“I will set You on my breath so You will become my life.” -- Rumi.  Conscious breathing takes us into the observer self where we lose our mind to gain our soul.  We then see from the awakened heart.

As our country celebrates Independence Day, we take in the freedom we have within. We are free from our thoughts as we choose our thoughts. In this way, we find the road home. 

When we stop chasing after the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, we begin to experience the aliveness of the journey.  The focus then shifts from the imagined future scene in the movie of our life to the present scene, here and now.  Every step reminds us how to live.  The walk is everything.

Could experience be for humans what erosion is for elements?  Is the purpose of experience, over a lifetime, to carry us to what matters and then wear us away till we become part of the sweet water the next generation drinks?  If this is so, then what is the work of being human?

Is it possible that with each inhalation we take in the world, we also awaken our soul?  And with each exhalation, do we free ourselves of the world which inevitably entangles us?  Is this how we fill up and empty a hundred times a day, seeking the gift of the two breaths?  Perhaps this is the work of being.

Rabindranath Tagore wrote, “Where the mind is without fear, the head is held high: where words come out from the depth of truth, where tireless striving stretches its arms toward effortlessness, where the clear stream of life has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit. Into the heaven of freedom, let us awaken.”

The Dalai Llama has said that “My religion is kindness.” Kindness is the antidote to everything. It is the kindness and wisdom we encounter beyond our fears that brings us Alive.

What if in the midsts of our troubles we are given the gift we need? Every circumstance incubates the soul so it might germinate while we are here. By entering where we are, thoroughly, we see a way to navigate the gifts of life.

I never stop trusting that life will give me exactly what I need. It is then my privilege to work with what I have been given. Reaping the blessings is the art of gratitude and inter-being.

We cannot enter a space of joy and inner peace by using our minds. We must lead with our heart so that the door will open to us. 

There is truly nothing more we can do than to accept what is. The deeper our acceptance, the deeper our healing and joy. 

As we do things in our lives, are we awake as we go forth? Let us be conscious as we take each step. We are awake. 

We must choose between chaos in our lives or creating a higher order. When we follow our intuition, we know and create that great sense of order in our lives. 

The universe calls us each day to wake up. Not only from a night time slumber, but to the beauty that is. Let's wake up today. 

Sing your song for you and not them.  When our true nature awakens, we can allow it to express freely and openly.

Our gifts naturally emerge from our authentic self.  Let us imagine ourselves as these gifts and offer them to the world.  Surprise yourself.