Hurricanes, How does anger effect my life?

Today reading in "Seasons of Change a 90 day transformational guide" I was asked to journal about anger and how it operates in your life? I realize today that anger like all emotions is an emotion. Unlike childhood I am aware today that it is here usually to transport me from one place to the next at a rapid rate of speed.

I really enjoy the line in todays reading " How often do I allow anger to sit on the surface of my life waiting for something to come and stir it up?"

When I am pushing myself so hard that I am not taking time to breathe. It becomes easy to lose awareness of my mood, attitude, and emotions. It is in those moments that I find it is most easy to create a storm in my life. I begin to feel unappreciated, unvalued, and took for granted. All of this because on the surface of my life I have allowed myself to become depleted. Which is where I do not honor myself, and value my need for self care.

It is at those moments that I find there is indeed anger (heat) on the surface of my life waiting to be stirred up. Then some unsuspecting person, place of thing come along and not say hello, thank you, or you're welcome and off I go. I think the key here is that it is so much easier to focus that energy of the hurricane of emotions at others rather than looking at the fact I am the one who set the bar for what I will allow into my life by not self caring.

I would far rather someone else be liable for this mess. Not to mention, the sympathy that I receive for being the victim in this experience. It is not difficult to look at others and place responsibility outside ourselves, when in fact we started the party of devaluing who we are in the first place. Take a breath today and check in with yourself and take a look where you are, and love yourself. I love you! Rev Allen

What do I want to change in my life?

I have far more power within me than I tap into at times. My beloved and I are doing a 40 day abundance journey in which each day we read a verse and then we meditate on it for 15 minutes and journal about what was revealed in the process. The greatest gift of this process is journaling about what amazing gifts I/we hold within ourselves.

 I realize today that just like within nature I have the natural, and unlimited ability to create abundance built into my natural make up. I have allowed years of hidden beliefs, and others experiences to become the out picturing of my life. Yet underneath is this amazing truth about who I am. I am unlimited!

Last night after our meditation we shared about what had been uncovered. I was made aware that I have the same divine qualities as a tree. A tree doesn't have a job, or a kitchen and yet it continues to make a beautifully abundant life. It also pulls all the nutrients from the earth in which it is grounded. Within this lies a formidable question?

 What am I grounded in?

What then is it that I know about myself at my deepest level? Today I know I am abundant in all that I l do think and have. It is a byproduct of that which I am grounded in. I know that I am an amazing expression of love. What do I want to change in my life? That I live from my unlimited truth.

 I love you! Rev Allen

Ask for what you want!

For the last couple weeks I have been experiencing unusual stomach issues.  What I thought to may have been a virus turned out to actually be a bacterial infection.   

My tummy has invited me to take it easy the last 10 days and I really chose to honor that calling and follow my stomach, and my heart.  In this process however, I asked how will everything get done?  Who is going to do fill in the blank? How will he/she/they ever get along without my help? How many of us ask these questions on an ongoing basis mentally to ourselves if not out loud to others? 

I have been reminded by spirit many times this week of one of the most loving things my honey has ever said to me… and it was really hard to hear all at the same time. 

I believe that I may have been planning an event from top to bottom and ensuring that all the details of the event were covered.  He asked me if he could help.  I declined the gracious and loving gesture knowing that I had everything under control.  He then told me in his low-loving tone: "You're not leaving me any space to love you."  WHAT?!?!  I paused for a moment to take that in.  Up until this point, I was the one creating and maintaining what I thought a relationship should look like.  I was the one that took care of everything.  I was the one that placed myself in the position of being needed.  That is when it hit me… there is a difference between being needed and being wanted.  My honey is the best at loving me in languages that I totally understand.  Yet when we first got together I was taking the same path as in previous relationships and expecting different results.  “If I do everything and make my honey really happy, then he will never leave.”  Well, I don't know about you, but I have lifted the hood of that belief more than once only to find myself exhausted, burned out, and bitter. 

I am beginning to feel a lot better now and had a craving for some potato wedges.  I jumped in the car and went to our local fast food place that serves these sliced season-salted pieces of deliciousness.  I was reminded while waiting for my "hot fresh potato wedges" that there is a Creative Intelligence in the universe working on my behalf, for my good.  I was also reminded that when I step into alignment with my good, it comes about very quickly. I get what I ask for.  As we say at Amor "Heaped up, pressed down, and running over!” 

I know this might sound silly but it really works.  I want "hot fresh potato wedges."  That is what I said to the universe on my way to get what my tummy requested.  I pulled in, placed my order, and was greeted with the most amazing words at the pickup window "We don’t have enough to fill the order and it will take 5 minutes, are you willing to wait for the hot fresh order to come up?”  

YES!!!

Take a moment this week to pause, honor your "soul self", and allow others some space to love you. 

Trust me, it all gets done!

I love you

Rev. Allen

Did you See it?

Did you see it?

It was amazing!!

This morning as I was posting the daily post for Amor, I looked out the open window to see the morning sky.  It was that magical canvas I so often talk about.  All the reds, pinks, yellows, and purples mixed together in what was a site to behold.  My first thought was to take a picture.  Then I took a breath and decided to just be in the moment.  It was one of those moments when a picture could not capture all the magic within that moment. 

This wonderful thought came to mind; what if the blinds were closed!  I might have missed the magic and wonder of it all.  How many times in my life do I look at the window for the view only to find that I have lowered the blinds, closed them, pulled the draperies, and think nothing wonderful happening here?  How many times do I look at the window and see the wonder of the universe and not pause for a moment to take it in?  How easy it is to listen to the ego tell me that no one is really interested in your beautiful sun rise anyway. 

I state often “We see that which we want to see in life.”  Today I took the time to see the beauty in the universe and know that the same beauty is with in me as well.  I allowed the wonder of nature to show me the way to love and seeing the beauty that surrounds me all the time. 

Take a moment, check to see if the windows of your soul are open to the beauty that surrounds you every day!

I love you

Rev. Allen

Unpacking

When I talk to people about what baggage we take with us on our journey in life, many of us might say, “Oh, I don’t have any baggage.”

In a workshop I gave a couple years ago I asked everyone in the class to bring a bag with sacred items with them to the class. I then asked for each person to share with their neighbor what they had in their sacred bag and why it was important to them. Then we talked about how attachments and sacred items are baggage we often take around in life. I then asked that we allow our neighbor to care for our sacred bag and keep it safe for the remainder of the workshop. It was at that moment that we all realized we have items in our carry-on.

I am a very confident man and have for some time now carried what some lovingly refer to as a “man-bag, murse” you get the picture. I realize from time to time that it’s fully loaded, and there are those times when my honey or a friend will hand it to me, and say: “Wow, what do you have in this thing bricks?” I know that I have attachments in life, and that I ask everyone that I enter into a relationship with to then make room for me, and my bag.

I have often made the word bag, baggage, luggage, to be a bad word when used to describe those things I am holding on to, or those things I have attachment to. One of the great Buddhist teachings is the art of detachment; the ability of letting go and going with the flow. I am doing better with that each day. Things like; how you and I get to the store may be very different and letting go of your path and how you get there. Those seem to be fairly easy these days, and then as if on cue a friend will say “I am moving to another state”, or “I have a new job and I will be traveling a great deal more.” It is at those moments when I realize that I have my bag wide open and I am busy packing.

Sometimes I pack for a day trip, other times I may pack for a month, and depending on the level of attachment, I may even pack everything I own and put it in boxes marked fragile. A few years back when I needed to relocate due to health reasons, I first had to ask for help from my parents, (life lesson) then I had to be open to the way they packed, stacked, labeled, and stored the boxes. Talk about seeing your attachments first hand. Let’s just say that most of my life I have been an “A-type” personality. When I talk about carry-ons, what I really mean is steamer trunks. One of the amazing things that my journey into joy has taught me is the art of letting go. Oh I still have my moments and then I remember to breathe deeply and say the words “I Trust!”

This idea of unpacking came about while thinking about all the things in my bag. Do I surround myself with folks who I trust my scared items with, and are they willing to help me unpack? I’m not talking about them doing the work for me, I am talking about being there to remind me it’s safe, I have this, and that it’s time to unpack. You know, no matter how great I get at the art of detachment, I choose to remember that from time to time regardless of what is going on I really need to take everything out of my bag and make sure it still holds value. When I do that it helps me keep my carry-on light and able to fit in the overhead compartment of life. Enjoy your journey, remember to pack light, and remember to unpack and enjoy your stay.

I love you

Rev. Allen

Attention vs Intention.

The book for the Amor Book Group for the month of March has been The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra.  What an amazing book! One of the understandings in the book that I have taken to heart is “Attention vs. Intention.”  One of the things that I teach at Amor is that there is nothing outside of us.  “Everything we need to know, we already have.”  This is not to say that we do not learn from the things going on in our world. This is a reminder to self that the answer always lies within.  I have noticed within myself that I will often put the “attention” on someone else to take it off of myself.  Another one of those sayings I love is “no matter where you go there you are”. 

With attention, I find I am looking outside of myself for an understanding or an idea that will explain what is going on or why.  At Amor we understand "why" stands for “What Happened Yesterday” and that it really is of no use to me today.  During my personal journey with cancer, I found that everyone was putting their attention on the fight, the cause, the reason…the "why?"  It was in that moment in my life that I went inside.  One of the lines from the book, finding the Joy in Cancer, which I love is “It was at this time I become my own practitioner, healer, and teacher.”  I took the time to look inside myself to see what was going on with me rather than putting all the focus on the outside.  I had been living the other way far too long.  That was the very thing that brought me to this place.  I had focused all my attention on what others thought of me and what would make them happy.  It was eating me alive. 

Once at this place, I realized that I needed to know what was happening on the inside if I wanted to change what was happening on the outside.  I started choosing what I wanted in my life rather than taking "come what may.”  I learned this great technique from an Ester and Jerry Hicks' book about writing out my intention.  I started using that and continue to use it to this day.  What is it that I want to happen in this now moment?  What do I intent to bring to this now moment?  What is my intention? 

With this and other tools in my tool box I realize I am responsible for what I bring to the table.  I am responsible for my attitude, my joy, my happiness, and most importantly, how I love myself. I have learned that I had known this truth all along and forgotten it somewhere along the path.  I could have at that moment put all my “attention” on finding out where, or I could continue with my “intention” on looking inside knowing that what I create on the inside of my life is what must be made manifest on the outside. To remember I am responsible for how I see things, and how I love myself. 

I have found my truth to be that attention is outward focused, and intention is inward focused.  Today I know for myself that everything I need to know is within.  Take some time today and look within for the answers in your life. 

I love you

Rev. Allen

What's Next

I am reading the TAO and understand it and all consciousness to be one and the same.  The TAO talks about microcosm and macrocosm within it as well. I really love the path that I am on at this moment. Looking for ways to expand and expanding who I am and what I believe. I believe that this is what all master teachers teach and applaud any and all paths in getting there. After all it is the journey more so than the destination. I find that once I have reached a destination and pause to enjoy it I find myself asking; “What is next?”  Where do I want to go next, what do I want to see, who do I want to be? 

I think that is what we do when we transition into the next journey after this physical one ends. I believe that once I reach that point I am quite happy to go on the next journey. 

Do I fear death? 

I would say at this moment I embrace the journey I am on, I realize there is indeed a destination and at some point I will reach it. I don’t feel the need to fear it as it is really like going to Disney, Paris, or the moon for that matter. Once there, I choose where I go from there. 

This is very different from when I was younger with the beliefs I held true then. The fear of making a mistake and being sent to hell, or angering the folks who make the decisions and being punished for something that made them unhappy, much like an innocent person in prison. 

Today I see it as I have lived in hell already with some of the beliefs and choices I have made. Living in the here and now really is the definition of Heaven to me. Enjoy this now moment seeing, experiencing, looking for every drop of good there is, and seeing it all as good. Surely that is Heaven in the here and now. 

This is not to say that others are wrong and I am right about this. It states where I AM in this earthly experience as a spiritual being. 

All is Well
I love you 
Rev. Allen