awakening | Plain Talk and Ordinary Wisdom

I’m reposting this from some 7 years ago now and the message still rings true on this eve of the Christ child’s birth. May you all have a blessed and loving Christmas.

The night is dark and there’s a silent hush. A candle shines calling out to the heavens from here on Earth.

The light flickers with diminished promises of Hope for mankind as it looks now to the stars this Christmas for the magic of love, peace and kindness for one and all.

It doesn’t understand the turmoil. There has been unrest, despair and hate in the past but this is different. “Where is mankind?” the candle asks, “Is he in trouble?“

As it searches the depths of the oceans and mountain peaks, there are scars and pollution.

As it searches the sky, there is clutter of metal space stations and confusion of air waves.

As it searches the Holy Lands, there is the threat of war and nuclear holocaust.

As it searches the deserts, there are hideouts and weapons, casinos and golf courses.

As it looks to the children, they are in harm’s way.

“I see signs of him everywhere of what he’s been doing but somehow feel he has forgotten and lost his way” says the candle.

Christmas Star Photo from MSN Clipart

Suddenly, a star appears in the heavens shining bright as it did over 2000 years ago for the birth of Christ. It glows again with warmth and brilliance and seems to send a beam in the direction of the candle.

“Be of comfort” it says to the candle “mankind is WAKING up! Its loving presence is not found on stages or in bright lights but can be found in the quiet corners of a small apartment, around a kitchen table or in prayerful, quiet places of slumber as it drifts off to sleep.“

“Don’t give up, even in the midst of chaos and unrest, there have been many acts of kindness appearing – now more than ever.”

Though small in comparison, the candle notices evidence of mankind reaching out to one another with help in time of need gaining momentum through love and comfort. It’s happening in our neighborhoods, homes, in our country and the world. The changes are beginning to appear.

Mankind is poised to realize and experience an AWAKENING like never before! It’s time and we’re ready for love instead of pain, joy instead of despair, comfort instead of rejection and prosperity instead of destruction.

I feel HOPE again this Christmas and the coming New Year for beloved family, friends, myself and everyone from the testimonies of love that have poured out this year for those who’ve experienced great loss from fires, hurricanes and precious loved ones in harm’s way from war and shootings.

May God bless all of you this Christmas and Hanukkah and rejoice in the New 2013 Year! May you and all mankind experience the evidence of AWAKENING with renewed hope, love and peace!

Pat from the ‘ol kitchen table

Acknowledgements: "The Four Candles" at https://www.you more...

We hear a lot these days about identity and identity theft. What are we losing when we lose our identity according to the world’s standards? How attached are you to the things you identify with? I was thinking about this and something else today in more depth after reading Andrea Hess’ post called The Leap Into Growth. Something she said really struck home as I have been wondering “What in the world is going on?” since the beginning of this year.

FIRST PART OF AN AWAKENING
The first part of this understanding and awakening in making some sense out of my life right now came from these words of hers:

“Sometimes, if we’re truly bogged down in our comfort zone, life itself will conspire to toss us over the edge of our own perceived limitations. Our circumstances seem to crumble around us, making forward movement no longer a matter of choice, but of survival.

Who or what is pushing you out of your comfort zone right now? Honor these people and situations as your master teachers. They are serving you on your path, perhaps in ways you don’t appreciate right now. It may seem that they are conspiring to make you fall into the abyss of the unknown. But perhaps, as you go over that cliff, you realize that you are not falling – you are flying!”

Mother-in-law hospitalized, horse dying, losing job, bills piling up, plumbing backs up, truck blows up………ughhhh! She described my family’s life situations perfectly. We were in survival mode. You would think something is conspiring against you but the “Ah-ha” moment came when I realized from her post that we’ve been in a major spiritual and physical transition and we have been resisting by continuing in our preconceived limitations. We have been looking at life situations from the old perspective. It’s time we no longer hold onto how things worked in the past and how we handled them then. I am now, as she says, “honoring these situations as my master teachers” and looking and listening for spiritual guidance on the next steps to take. I now realized what was happening.

SECOND PART OF AN AWAKENING
The second part of the beginning of this awakening for me started through the reading of Eckhart Tolle’s book called A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Oprah’s Book Club. In this book, he talks about ego and explains how it operates. I’m only a couple chapters in but what’s significant to me so far is how the ego uses identification. If we associate the “I” with wanting or having then, when things start going amuck, our self-worth is shattered because we’ve identified “I” with what we don’t have. Tolle says it so much better in several ways:

“The egoic mind is completely conditioned by the past. Its conditioning is twofold: It consists of content and structure.”

“One of the most basic mind structures through which the ego comes into existence is identification. … So when I identify with something, I “make it the same.” The same as what? The same as I. I endow it with a sense of self, and so it becomes part of my “identity.””

““I don’t have enough yet.” by which the ego really means, “I am not enough yet.”

So, if, without realizing it, I identify my self-worth with lack it will constantly be reinforced and what I am really saying is…that I am not enough. The awakening part is to realize what we are identifying with and what it is really saying about who we are. You have to start to become aware of it for it to begin to unravel and change.

It’s powerful when you learn to be the observer in your life situations and not judge. Just open your awareness and things will begin to transform. They have already for me just in what I read and absorbed today and in writing this. My identity wasn’t stolen it was just misplaced by attaching its importance to the wrong things. Who I am doesn’t change by situations. Who I am is intact and when I align myself with that instead of what I may identify with my life is transformed.

***Oprah Winfrey is having a free 10-week teleclass on Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Oprah’s Book Club), starting this coming Monday, March 3rd. If you’re interested in reading this book and participating in this class, you can still sign up on her site.

From the kitchen table – Pat
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