End of Year 2008

Affirmation: I release in to the hands and heart of Spirit all my unfinished dreams from this past year.

I am writing in my current culture to folks of mostly Northern European stock born and raised in the Western Hemisphere, but these ideas are universal. Each conscious person begins their year with certain hopes and dreams for themselves and their families, and at the end of the year some of those hope have been dashed and some of those dreams have not come true.
As the next year approaches, each of us, wittingly or unwittingly recreates a new set of expectations for our upcoming year. This cycle; the life, death, rebirth cycle happens all around us. Without ceasing, it occurs all over the world in nature and in human enterprise and in our hearts and lives.

For those of us in the US, there is this short window between the end of the Christmas Season and the beginning of the New Year, and this post is targeted at this period. In the deepest recesses of our human consciousness, in our DNA perhaps, we know that this dark and cold time of year is for introspection and reflection. Yet, so many people have filled this window with holiday travel (and what a terrible time to travel with ugly road conditions and storm warnings, air port closures and flight delays and so forth), with returning certain Christmas presents or shopping at after Christmas sales with gift cards they received, watching non stop football, and other distractions. Then, on New Years Eve, they party and get drunk and begin the year hung over, exhausted and perhaps more deeply in debt.

Here is a possible alternative for those of us on the Spiritual Path.

Instead of consumption, focus on release.

As I suggested above, almost all of us have some hopes and dreams from the prior year that did not materialize the way we wanted them to. So, after Christmas take a little break from the creating and acquiring mode and embrace that which you lost. Release those physical things we wanted for ourselves that did not show up. Let go of interpersonal hurts and slights that we might have tried to bury in the flurry of holiday business. Surrender those ideas and strategies we had for self improvement.

This process of completing our years by letting go allows us to not carry forward into our next season, the New Year, our unfinished business from the prior year. Unfinished business can often be a subtle drain on our energy and enthusiasm when we have not completed with it by acknowledging its existence and releasing it. If we are yearning for something that did not manifest, then pretending that our hopes were not met dampens the very yearning that pulls it into creation. If we are hurting from a personal loss or set back, this is the time to acknowledge the loss fully, feel the angst of our suffering and release it to the Divine Mystery. If we have betrayed ourselves or others, this is the time to atone for our mistake by admitting its impact and by making amends when appropriate.

Taking the time for this window of release will open up deeper and more profound possibilities as the next year unfolds. One way to ritualize this process is called a Burning Bowl. We take time in mediation to write down each of our losses, disappointments and hurts on a sheet of paper or a 3x5 index card. We then offer them up in prayer and release by lighting each card on fire. As the card with our hurts is burning, we sacredly place them into an open clay bowl- signifying their release from our control as well as our willingness to let them die. As the smoke from the card rises, we see it carrying with it our pain to the heavens and we can relax knowing that we are opening up for “this or something better”.

Prosperity Thoughts More Christmas

After my last post someone wrote to remind me that this story about my friend Curt would be a great example of the same theme...

This Christmas, we are looking at a basic premise of prosperity- the idea that

you, yes you, are here to make a difference. Consider the proposition that your Creator gifted you with all the talent, skills, insight and personality to contribute to the well-being of us all. When we look at examples like Dr. Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa or Bill Gates and Steve Jobs it is easy to say that they were uniquely incarnated to make a difference in the world. It is however, all to easy to also say, “Sure, they can make a difference but they are exceptional and I am just ordinary. I cannot make a difference”.

Today, I write to that question. Here is a story that was shared with me by a friend about a mutual friend, whom we will call Curt. This story shows how an average extraordinary man (not much different that you and I) trying to make a little difference can create ripples which can have huge effects and thus make a big difference.

Curt has a good marriage, a good job and is a very decent man, but he is as well “everyman" with everyday difficulties and their attendant problems. Curt is a bright and kind guy, maybe extraordinary in his kindness but not much more so than many other people.What I am trying to say here is that while Curt is a good person, he is also typical. I am suggesting that if he can make a difference it is because of his willingness to express his passion unconditionally and to give to life. Thus, anyone reading this can make the same kind of difference that Curt did. It takes willingness to serve life, to follow your heart and humbly do the right thing in the moment. These are things we can all accomplish because they only depend on our being uniquely who we are called to be. Here then is the story.

About thirty years ago Curt joined with a few others in helping families
in need to have Christmas gifts that they themselves could not afford.
Curt and his small band of friends would select a needy family and choose one of the children to go on a shopping spree with a member of the group to buy gifts for each member of the child’s family.

In the mean time, a mutual friend of Curt’s and mine, let’s call him Jeff, got involved with a woman with two children- so they became his step children. One of her holiday traditions with the kids was to pick a couple of "ornaments" off of a Family Giving Tree (FGT) at her place of work and then go shopping with the two step children for the gifts listed on the ornament card.

The FTG is a non profit that is organized around providing specific gifts to children in needy families. They start by contacting local aid agencies to ascertain the specific gift needs of disadvantaged children in the area. Then Christmas Trees are placed at strategic places around the county, for example in the foyer of churches, or the lobby of office buildings and so forth. The tree has a bunch of tags hung on it, like Christmas ornaments. The tags all have a child’s first name and a gift that specific child would like. People, (employees, customers, vendors, anyone) can then take the tag off the Tree, go buy the gift and return it- placing it under the tree, often with a simple Christmas Card for the child. All these gifts are then transported to a vacant building. (The building owner generously donates the use of the vacant building for a month or two before Christmas), where the gifts are wrapped and then distributed to the family just before Christmas.

My friend Jeff joined in this tradition and it was great for him to see the care and concern that his step kids’ put into selecting gifts for some kids about their ages. The next year he somehow became aware that folks could go and volunteer at the warehouse sorting gifts so he invited a gang of his male buddies to do this as a community service project. The following year his gang of buddies invited a bunch of their male friends, including me.

As a side note to the main story, volunteering in the warehouse is an utterly amazing undertaking, I have volunteered at the FGT warehouse personally many times. It was such a dramatic experience that I brought my children to help out the next year. Imagine this; there are literally tons of gifts stacked to the ceiling in this giant building. There are hundreds of volunteers helping sort, wrap, transport and distribute the gifts. The volunteers are all happy to be there, there is an undeniably excited and productive energy. It is multigenerational and multicultural with kids and elders scurrying around to locate the gifts for each family. Executives are working along side hourly employees to sort and wrap the gifts. It is barely organized chaos with all the beautiful ribbons and toys and general mayhem leading to an image in the hearts of everyone there of a small child getting a special gift for Christmas.

In the midst of this, Jeff and his gang of men volunteering year after year developed a reputation for organization and logistics and FGT staff began to rely on us as a resource. And one of the men that Jeff invited to help out at FGT was Curt and as we pick up the story, one winter, Curt was volunteering at the Family Giving Tree with us helping to joyfully organize chaos.

And “coincidently” this one year, Jennifer Cullenbine, the founder and Executive Director of Family Giving Tree recognized Curt. She thanked him for the difference he had made. Thinking she was just offering a general compliment to a volunteer, Curt shrugged off her compliment. Jennifer pressed on; telling Curt that he was responsible for the founding FGT. Curt politely listened, but had no idea where she was heading.

Jennifer continued, explaining to Curt that she herself was one of the disadvantaged children that Curt had taken on a shopping spree years before. Jennifer told him that she never forgot the impact it had on herself, and her family. She went on to share that in 1990, during her MBA program at San Jose State University, she was given an assignment where each student had to create a class project that added value to someone else’s life. Remembering her experience with Curt, she started a small program to collect gifts for needy children and distribute them for Christmas. She and a classmate, created the Family Giving Tree with the hope of providing holiday gifts to 300 children in East Palo Alto.

Encouraged by the success of the first year, Jennifer decided to continue and expand the operation. Now, some 18 years later, the number of gifts and backpacks donated has grown to over 650,000 per season, making the Family Giving Tree the largest gift and backpack donation program in California."

Curt’s humble story shows us that one man can make a difference. When we allow our light and love to touch another, we never know how the ripples created will travel and change the world.

There is an interesting prologue to this story. Some ten years after the interaction between Curt and Jennifer, Jeff had divorced, changed jobs and moved out of the Bay Area. He had pretty much lost touch with his step kids. He was living in Seattle but was down in the Bay Area on business, it just so happened to be during FGT sorting season. He decided to get together with a couple of friends and volunteer at the FGT warehouse. And who does he run into over there, but his two ex-step kids, busily helping out and training other volunteers. He had no idea they were going to be there...turned out one was home for college break and she and her brother decided that the most fun they could have together was to go over to FGT! And they sure were surprised to see Jeff and reminisce about how great their time at FGT was for them.

So, I could have written this story from the perspective of these two kids. It is an example of how two little kids made a huge difference by doing something kind of special as part of their Christmas tradition, and what a difference they made. Their joy inspired their dad who invited his friends and now over a hundred men (and their families and children) look forward to the highlight of their winter season by volunteering to sort gifts at FGT. Their family tradition, has become a big community wide tradition and immensely valuable to FGT. If it hadn't been for their joyous generosity then none of this would have come to light.

My friends, we are all interconnected. There is a profound and subtle organizing energy in the world and how we show up makes a difference.

Christmas 2008

Affirmation: I am alive because I make the difference.

Today, my friend, we consider your role in the world this Christmas. The bringing of the Christ Light, the Celebration (Mass) of the Anointed One is celebrated every year across the western world. Some teach that the birth of Jesus was a singular event in human history. I am asking, though, about the possibility that your birth was filled with every bit of the possibility that was manifested in Jesus. What if you were an anointed child of the Most High?

We all agree that some people change the world with their vision and passion and commitment and values. Yet, do we wonder if it wasn't Mother Theresa it would have been someone else? Do we entertain the very question of our own existence as a saint, a sage, a player in the world stage that is destined for greatness and brilliant light and impact?

The story of Jesus and the results he manifested in his life is for most in our culture a tale about someone else and not about our own journey. I challenge you today to take the projection of Jesus and shine the light on yourself. Accepting our greatness is not easy, especially at this stage of our life and in the face of our failures and set backs. But I am not asking you to be delusional here; I am asking that the veil of delusion be lifted during this Christmas Season.
Each of us is born to greatness. I was reading the other day that in 1974 Popular Mechanics had on its cover a story today had an amazing impact on the world. MITS launched the Altair 8800 personal-computer kit in December 1974, and that changed the lives of four key people and they changed the trajectory of the world forever in a way that is no different from the way Jesus changed the world or the way you and I can change the world.
Upon reading the story, two young engineers, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, sold off Jobs’ VW van and Wozniak’s scientific calculator in order to get the funds to start building their own computers. They build an company that became Apple Computer. They went on to develop Pixar Studios, the I Pod, the I Phone and neither is past his prime.

In a similar fashion, Paul Allen showed the magazine to his friend Bill Gates, who promptly dropped out of Harvard College to start writing software for computers. Their company became Microsoft. The combination of personal computers and integrated software applications put unprecedented power into the hands of the public and changed the world forever. Inventions like the Internet, U Tube, Twitter and many others are shaping and reshaping the Universe in our lifetime.

Now, in the face of knowing this and measuring our own results which are often somewhat less spectacular, sometimes we psychologically transfer our greatness onto others. I fantasize all the time about how I could have been this or that...sometimes a great leader, other times a great General, and other times a great sports star. Maybe others do this as well; I would be surprised if I was the only one. So, I think this is normal and perhaps healthy in small doses since it frees our mind to think outside the box. However, I do also think that one consequence of this type of transference is that it detracts from the brilliant decisions and choices made by those who are stepping up to greatness over and over again. You see, there are ordinary people making brilliant and great decisions all the time, and they are achieving near miraculous results.

I think we are all born with this capacity. One thing we do to diminish our greatness is to blame our failures on luck or circumstances in the hand of others. I cannot tell you how many bankruptcy cases I filed of engineers that thought they were the truly brilliant but someone else got lucky and they missed out by millimeters on their big chance, or were a week late with whatever and the whole project failed. The only difference between greatness and failure is the willingness to blame our failures on others. Microsoft has made billion dollar mistakes. Steve Jobs got fired from Apple at one time. No one can achieve greatness without making mistakes and those making big mistakes are on the cusp of greatness if they are willing to be accountable for their failures rather than blame others.

Each and every person who exists has the possibility of making great contributions. Mother Theresa is a Saint; she started out as a young nun with a simple vision. She followed it with passion and relentlessly did not give up with she met with small set backs.

If we have a gift to give and are willing to give it, then that greatness will call forth the opportunity to manifest the impact we were created to deliver. Lincoln was a dismal failure for years before becoming one of those who made an impact so large it can hardly be comprehended. Even in the face of discouraging set backs he never gave up.

Lincoln proved in both his own life and in his conduct of the Civil War that the resources will show up on time and abundantly to guarantee success to those of us that are willing to let our light shine. In fighting the Civil War, Lincoln promoted dozens of Generals trying to find one called to fight and win. Each General he pinned his hopes on had major short comings and failed. The war continued, men died, resources were lost, and hope across the North was fading. Lincoln kept searching. Finally, he settled on US Grant. Grant won major battles at Shiloh, Vicksburg, Lookout Mtn. and finally defeated General Lee and the Confederate Army at Richmond.


Do not worry about how small your resources are at the start. Do not focus on the competition or the difficulties you can imagine. Instead focus on your calling, the Divine Idea that you are called to manifest with your passion and life energy. In the mid 1980’s there were dozens of Personal Computer manufacturers in Silicon Valley, including giants IBM, Hewitt Packard, Apple, Compaq and others. In the meantime, a student at the University of Texas in Austin came up with an idea and founded a company known as PC's Limited with capital of only $1000. In 1984, operating from his off-campus dorm-room, this kid built custom computers from stock components. This college student had the idea to sell personal computer-systems directly to customers and to configure them to the customer’s specifications. In contrast, the other established PC manufacturers delivered large numbers of standardized computers to retailers, who then sold the standardized machines to the ultimate customers. He then dropped out of school in order to focus full-time on his fledgling company. A few years later he changed the company name to Dell Computers. His name was Michael Dell, now one of the most successful and respected businessmen in the world.

Just like every one of us, like Michael Dell or Bill Gates or Mother Theresa or Jesus, you are born to personal greatness. Each of us are the anointed one... there are things that you and you alone can accomplish and to think otherwise is to make yourself and others small. Christmas is the time to recall that you are the Anointed One.

Winter Solstice 2008

Winter Solstice 2008

Affirmation: I reflect deeply to find the progress I make each year.

In just a few days we will experience the Winter Solstice. For many on the spiritual path this event marks the end of our spiritual year. If this is true for you, it is an ideal time to reflect deeply on our accomplishments over the past four seasons.

This incidence of reflection is different than the gratitude list we often write up around the holiday of Thanksgiving. Typically at Thanksgiving we focus on those things for which we are grateful, the blessings we have received and so forth. At the Winter Solstice, I suggest we look more deeply, into how we are co creating our life and living out our lifetime dreams. Here is one way I have found useful.

Each January I set some intentions or objectives for my year. These types of intentions are not like goals that are necessarily measurable; they tend to be more intangible personal transformational objectives. Since they are not goals, I find that they do not register at Thanksgiving.

One January for example, I sought to be more conscious about my eating. I had some personal limits about what this meant to me, such as not being about dieting or restrictive eating and so forth. I did not know how this would manifest, but I want to make it clear there was no goal of weight loss or set amount of exercise I was supposed to do.

As it turned out, only a few weeks later a friend of mine invited me out of the clear blue to attend a workshop on healthy lifestyles with an Olympic class trainer. By “out of the clear blue” I mean he had a couple of extra tickets to the workshop but he did not know about my objective for the year. Ordinarily I would have passed this up, but given my intention to transform my awareness about food I decided to join him. I did this even though it entailed a long drive to hear a presenter I had never heard of and who might be off topic compared to my limited agenda to be more conscious about eating.

As it turned out, looking back at the end of that year at the Winter Solstice, I was very pleased at how that objective had been manifested. I could see progress towards my intention. In fact as I write this, it is now at least 10 years later and I still follow many of the suggestions that were made at the workshop about food, nutrition, eating and so forth.

This Solstice, I’d say that this objective was met on time and abundantly. I can look back today and see that I am making progress on my intention to be more conscious about my eating patterns even though this year has not had any major milestones on this front. But on Thanksgiving itself, I was focused on other things (eating pumpkin pie perhaps) and did not even notice my progress in this arena.

In addition establishing to annual objectives each January, over the years I have set out my lifetime dreams. I like to use the Winter Solstice to notice my progress on manifesting lifetime dreams because the time frame is so much longer that oftentimes I overlook the small tidbits of success. Much of the work for me on manifesting my lifetime dreams is already either built in as a foundation for my day to day life or already in play at some level in my life, so I wonder if perhaps I might take them for granted. Thus, for me, it is a sweet reminder when I am able to be mindful that I am living an intentional life that brings meaning to my heart because I am co creating with my higher power those things that matter to me.

Thus, for example, one of my lifetime dreams is to be a friend, confidant and mentor to each of my children for their entire life. This past year I helped my daughter purchase her first home (a condo really), went to visit her at her condo and while there helped her put in a small patio garden. None of these would necessarily qualify as a blessing to me in the reflections I choose to do around Thanksgiving but I would notice them explicitly at my Winter Solstice year end because they are related to my lifetime dreams coming true.

Just to balance out the picture, I also have a son. This past year, I went skiing with my son, something we have not done since he was a young teenager. In addition, he is going to help me by illustrating a children’s book that I wrote to my kids some 20 years ago. Moreover, he and I have recently made an agreement that I would help him attend college.

I believe I am on track with this vision with both of my children. Going to visit my daughter at her condo and helping plant her garden were not even remotely on my mind at the beginning of the year, nor was illustrating my children’s book, but as they fit my lifetime dream it was easy to say yes in the moment and to find appreciation for the Divine Presence in my life that responded to my dreams.

There are oftentimes that we do not actually meet the goals we set out for ourselves, but none the less, we have made substantial progress on our path. It is important to keep a positive perspective even when our judgment of success has not been met. I have found that sometimes I am too ambitious and if I reflect on the good progress I have made and not my failure to meet my goal, it leaves me in a more empowered state of mind.

So, as we enter into the deepest of nights, lets take a moment and shine our light on how well we have manifest our vision for ourselves this past twelve months.

Giving your most precious gifts

Affirmation: This is the perfect time for me to give my most precious gifts.

Your Most Precious Gift

There are some valuable gifts that can be purchased by anyone in a store or on line. There are other gifts that only you can give. This Christmas Season, I invite you to give the most precious gift, one that only you can give.

Here are several suggestions:

Giving anonymously to those less fortune is a measure of true generosity. There is no payoff except in knowing that your gift will make a difference in a way that nothing else can. This year we are giving stuffed animal toys to young children in orphanages and foster homes. We will never see the joy in the eyes of these kids when they open the present. They will never say thank you to us. Yet truly, this is an invaluable chance for us to share our gratitude for all we have by giving an anonymous gift to these youngsters.

One of the many gifts that only you can give is to take the time to write a wounded soldier a Christmas Card or a Thank You card. No matter how you feel about “the war” or “warriors”, there is meaning in looking beyond your initial feelings and reflecting on offering a measure of gratitude and compassion to someone who has given so much of themselves. There is no one else who can give the compassion in your heart except for you- please share it unconditionally.

Giving your time and your presence is a gift that no one else can give. On Christmas Day for several years running, I would go to a Veteran’s Hospital and sing Christmas Carols and give out small gifts to the patients- most of whom were utterly alone in the world. One year I took my kids with me on Christmas Day, which seemed especially meaningful to the patients. On another year, I volunteered to serve a hot meal at a center for homeless men on Christmas Eve so that the shelter’s normal volunteer teams could stay home with their families. In a similar fashion on several other holidays, such as Easter or Thanksgiving, I served meals to those in need. Each time it was my presence that made all the difference.

There may be people that have harmed you, betrayed you or in some other way hurt your feelings. If you are able, perhaps you might unconditionally pardon them. Giving them the gift of forgiveness will open your heart as much as any material gift that you receive.

I think that each time we give these types of precious gifts there is something in our own heart that grows more humble and more magnificent. Prosperity encompasses much more than material wealth, and by using the Law of Circulation we create prosperity beyond wealth by giving others gifts that only we can offer.

Winter 2008

Affirmation: In these times of turmoil, I invest in Spiritual Practice for my freedom of economic insecurity.

As we move ever more deeply into Winter, a reflection on Creative Destruction seemed timely. Creative Destruction is inherent in capitalism, democracy and Mother Nature. Some might say even that Creative Destruction is the driving force of capitalism, democracy and Mother Nature. It is the reason that capitalism and democracy are inherently unstable and the reason that the only constant in nature is evolutionary change.

As you know, the financial news is full of turmoil and uncertainty. Whenever you read this the financial news will be full of turmoil and uncertainty because capitalism is unstable. One hundred years ago, General Motors did not exist. Fifty years ago, the Chairman of GM told congress that what was good for GM is good for the country and it was one of the largest capitalistic enterprises in the world. These days GM is looking for a government bail out to prevent it from going bankrupt after loosing billions of dollars over the past few years.

As you know, these days the political news is full of turmoil and uncertainty. It is predictably unstable. Political Parties in a democratic system rarely remain in power more than a decade. The population, given a free vote, will inevitably vote for change and the parties out of power will relentlessly compete for leadership by creating new ideas and criticizing old ideas until change is mandated.

As you know, the news is full of fear these days about climate change, the extinction of species, (or the discovery of new species), and devastation of the environment. Mother Nature is terribly unstable; here is a small example, the Great Blue Heron will establish its rookery in a healthy tall tree near water. The birds feed alone, but nest at night and raise their children in huge colonies of hundreds of birds. Thus, they need a very large tree for their support. However, their droppings are toxic to the tree. So, once a rookery is established, the magnificent tree hundreds of years old, will die a few years later. The Blue Heron rookery will be forced to move to a new location. But with the principle of Creative Destruction at work, the dead tree they must abandon then becomes a perfect place for the Osprey to build its solitary nest from which it will fish and raise its young.

What all this says that if you depend on your security from your job, your investments or your retirement accounts, then you are always at risk because these are all inherently unstable. If you are relying on the government for your support, either as an employee or for your pension, your economic security is an illusion. (For instance, keep in mind the insolvency of state and local government employee pensions or social security). Creative Destruction is always operating and never fails. As Jesus said “Remember those will be first are last and those who will be last are first” Luke 13:30.

Freedom from economic insecurity cannot be found in business success or political action, it can only be found in God. Jesus was very intentional about this when he said that the Kingdom of Heaven is within. Scripture quotes him saying “Do not acquire possessions here on earth… Instead gather your treasure in heaven.” Mathew 6:19.

Now, I am not saying that God is not in politics or that Spirit is not in business. As there is only One Presence – then God is in everything. What I am suggesting is that your peace of mind comes from spiritual awareness and not from business acumen or political skill. I am urging you to realize that financial turmoil and political upheaval are the ways of this world and that your only “salvation” is in Spiritual Truth. Investing in business or expecting the government to take care of you is short sighted if you want true security.

Here at Unity of Corvallis, we do our best to teach Truth each week on Sunday. In our dealings we intend to practice the Spiritual Principles that we teach. These principles- when applied- guarantee peace of mind. So, in times like these, in fact, at any time, if you sincerely want freedom of economic insecurity, then look to the Guide Within.