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There is currently, in New York City a powerful controversy that is taking place over whether a Muslim group should be able to build a Mosque…a Muslim house of worship…at a site that is very near to the ruins of the World Trade Center. The argument that has been posed is that it is an act of great insensitivity to allow a church…that is of a similar denomination to those people who planned and acted out the attack on the twin towers. It would be an insult and a veritable “slap in the face” to all of the survivors…is what is being said. Angry people are making this not only a personal issue, but a political issue as well and the ability of this landowner to build a church will likely be taken to the highest possible court.

It is interesting for us, of the angelic order, looking at this from a somewhat removed perspective…and by removed I mean away from the emotions of anger and pain on both sides. St. Paul’s Church stands almost directly across the street from the former towers and it miraculously enough was not damaged by the fall of the towers. This historical church was the place of worship for many of the founding fathers when New York was then the capitol of the new nation. George Washington worshiped there as did many others…and 9/11 rescue workers slept in the seats that are marked to remember their historical places.
St. Paul’s is a Christian church and as one, it hails from the roots of that religion, which was the Catholic Church…up until the time of the protestant revolt. The Catholic Church for many years was the religious support of the crusades…the holy wars that were intended to remove the world of the non-believing infidel’s that practiced the Muslim religions. Clearly, as with most wars, there were much more pressing economic concerns that actually fueled the wars…but the reason given to the people was that it was a religious war. Christians had essentially declared war on the Muslim religion and others…because it was not the one “true” faith. And good “god fearing” people were led to believe that the infidel was “evil” and meant them harm.

Clearly, there are already some similarities to the current situation…but I do not desire to fast forward yet to this time. I would ask you first to fast forward to the formation of this nation called the United States. It was originally born as colonies that were formed as an oasis from government control. A peace loving people who believed that government should not establish an “official” religion and that all religions should be allowed to be expressed. But even at the same time that Washington prayed at St. Paul’s Church…across from the place that the World Trade Center would one day stand…there were parts of the country that still enslaved people and others where, though not slaves, they shared no equal rights. But even amidst the imperfections of this government…it came to form one of the greatest nations in the world. If one were to look upon those who formed this government and blame the country for slavery, or the stealing of land from the Native Americans who lived on them…or the persecution of races of people for years…then I would think that there would be enormous protests on any lands on which the government wished to place a building. Or American’s, who practice the Muslim faith, would protest the existence of any Catholic churches…on the basis of their use as political locations to perpetrate planned death to other religions. One could even extend that illogic to say that since the Catholic Church and other Christian churches oppose abortion that the actions of the extremists who bomb these clinics and in turn take lives…then these people act on the part of the faith.

Clearly this is not the case and I say to you that the great, great, great majority of all of mankind wish the same things. They wish for love, passion, financial security, fulfilling work, family, a comfortable home and peace in the world. And they also seek a deeper spiritual meaning and understanding in their lives…which is why religions of the world have arisen. There is no true place in the concept of seeking a higher understanding that would speak to hate. The two greatest commandments that were placed forth by Jesus…the central focus of the formation of the Catholic and other Christian religions is to love your neighbor as you do yourself…and to love god with all your heart. Jesus spoke of loving your enemies and turning the other cheek because he was trying to teach mankind that all hatred and fear will do is breed more hatred and fear…but loving in the face of adversity…that will breed more love and will destroy fear and hatred.

Most of those who are calling for the Mosque to not be created are Christian and in their defense they are not doing what they are because they are bad people. Some are Jews, who already share a historical conflict with Muslims and who also have a much deeper connection to the fears and pain of being a persecuted people. They are trying to honor the dead and protect the living survivors. But what they are unknowingly doing is stopping the process of healing and further splintering everyone into “us” and “them” groups as has been done throughout time. We forget that us and them all came from the same creator…him…the I am. We are all particles of God expanded to the human form. It is us who decide how we will identify ourselves by a religious affiliation…but we all speak to the same creator…no matter what we call the building that we are speaking from.

Such a small word…stress! Only six letters and yet it is the most powerful active energy on the planet. We have used it to describe many things. Bridges are built to hold tremendous weights over large spans by the appropriate distribution of stress…and roofing trusses that hold up almost every roof that covers the world and generally designed from that same concept. Distribute the stress to several points so that it will not overcome a particular point of pressure. However, if the stress of a great weight…like the current snows that fell in the northeast…cause cracks in the structure…”stress fractures”… then it will actually compromise the design and cause the entire structure to collapse.

In the Bible,Koran and every other “Holy Book” you will note that almost every apparition of Angels begins with the words…”Fear Not”! This is not simply a statement to reduce anxiety about the appearance of celestial beings. It is the most crucial life advice that we can offer. So is it not interesting that in the structure of the human body, stress is designed to function and manifests itself in the same way as a building structure and it is essentially the body’s response to fear. By now, almost everyone has heard that stress was originally placed in the human DNA to respond to life threats, in the “fight vs. flight” theory and this is a very good explanation of some aspects of stress. But let us discuss it further. Fear originates in the heart chakra. It is triggered by a situation that makes the human feel that it is being removed from love. Love is remembered by the unconscious mind…through its connection to the universal connected consciousness… as the essence of the creator. Therefore it is perceived as being removed from the creator…the source of en-lighten-ment. So ones energy then moves to a space of lack of enlightenment…better known as darkness or fear.

Fear is in itself not a negative reaction in the structure of the body. It transmits instant messages to the neurotransmitters of the brain to send chemicals throughout the body that will allow it to heighten its senses so that it can locate the “light at the end of the tunnel”.
When this experience subsides then the body returns to its original state and the framework of the body is left in tact.

But here is where it gets tricky. For most humans fear is a constant condition fueled by a constant state of worry about the unknown. We seek out that which is familiar…because we have the belief that the unknown is a scary and unpredictable place. So humans will stay in bad jobs and bad relationships and allow themselves to be in bad health because it is what they know. By “bad” I do not judge or ascribe a meaning like “evil”. I mean “painful” or that which causes pain.

Just like the heavy snowfall…constant fear creates “stress fractures” in the human form and psyche. As the body tries to distribute the stress from the brain…it sends it to the shoulders…the neck…the back…the legs…the stomach…the bowels. It tries to send it to places where it can be dissolved or attended to. But the human condition is such that stressful thinking occupies almost every waking…and most sleeping thoughts. Will I get fired from my job…how will I pay the bills…will I ever find love…will I ever leave him or her…will they ever leave their spouse…will my kids be ok…and finally…the most humorous of all the stress-full worries…I wonder if my health is OK? I should drink more water…I should get to the gym…I should try to eat better…why can’t I sleep?

The answer to all of these questions is quite simple…Everything you are thinking or feeling is the result of the fact that YOU HAVE ALLOWED YOURSELF TO BE CONSUMED BY STRESS!

“But I try to fight stress” you respond…I try to get to the gym 3 times per week, I do yoga when I can fir it in…I try to eat well…except at the office…
And to all of this I say…please dear ones…RELAX!

You cannot reduce stress by fighting it with more stressful situations. Have you all not heard of the person who runs at 5 in the morning…eats vegetarian…doesn’t drink or smoke and yet has a heart attack? All of those things will not reduce stress if you do not change your thinking about the root cause…

FEAR

…There is only one way to fight Fear and that is to expand Love. And the only way to expand love is Gratitude. Your lives are filled with hundreds of little things that happen to you every day that is the evidence of love in your life. The person who holds the door at the store…or says bless you when you sneeze. The person who works at the electric company…braving all types of weather so that you will be able to have your lights and heat and your TV and computer. Be thankful for the person who discovered this technology and all of those who make it and support the back end of your Face book friendships and the ability to have all types of knowledge and products at your fingertips. Every day there are thousands of people who are doing things that makes your life easier without an ounce of love or thanks…just because it is what they do. Give thanks for the clock that wakes you…the shower that warms you…the coffee that starts your day…the train, or car or bus that brings you everywhere you need. Give thanks for the person who gives you unkind words because that means that you have the gift of hearing. Give thanks for the smelly person on the subway…for you have the gift of smell. Give thanks for all of the parts of your body…who for years have been distributing the stress throughout …so that you would not collapse under the weight of your worry.

I would challenge you to think in this manner. Make it a game with yourself. Rather then the crossword or Sudoku, challenge yourself to find something wonderful that is touching your life everyday. The radio program that makes you laugh…the $1 menu…the surprise phone call…nothing discouraging being said at the office.

To recognize wonder is to realize your connection with the creator…which expands the love in your heart…which sends love hormones…rather then stress hormones…throughout the body and which repairs the “stress cracks” that were already created when you reacted to some “idiot” who most likely accidentally cut you off in traffic.

There is a human phrase that I love which goes…”It’s all Good”. If you can begin to think in this way…even 50% of the time…you are well on your way to “embracing” stress as just the right amount of pressure that is holding everything together.

Go in peace,
Margaret

Throughout the course of life there are things that will occur that are not consistent with the expectations that we have ascribed to a certain situation. Ultimately this leads to feelings of disappointment. This is an interesting word. Appointment, as we all know, means a certain time that is set forth to complete a certain task, meeting, activity or the like…and generally they involve other people. A disappointment, therefore, is the in-completion of that task, activity, meeting or the like by that appointed time.

Dis-appointment is often accompanied by regret. Regret is the re-playing of a certain dis-appointment in our lives that allows us to re-experience the pain of the dis-appointment over and over again. While this experience is certainly not one that feels good, humans will call upon it on a daily basis…as a way of confirming to themselves that had they made a different decision at a certain point in time, and then perhaps they would now be in a place where they would be happy.

The truth is that what is keeping them unhappy is the inability to make a decision in the present moment. Relationships generally do not start out badly and that is why most people enter them. Even when there is something bad there is a pleasure that is so good that it overshadows the discomfort of the bad feelings.

So then what is it that makes it so hard to make a decision that would allow a person to pursue their “happy place”? For many it is a lack of knowledge as to what their “happy place” actually is. For others it is the fear of the unknown and for still others it is the guilt of choosing their own happiness over the happiness of another. For others still, it is the need to try to maintain a concept of a certain type of reality as they would like to see it. And when others do not conform to their concept of reality then they are disappointed and re-gret the time that they have in-vested and wish that they could find a way to dis-engage themselves from that situation…usually with a desire to not hurt another.

So then, how can one avoid the trap of disappointment? The very easiest way to do this is not to establish appointed behaviors that we expect others or ourselves to ascribe to. Appointments are events that are scheduled to take place in the future. We appoint a date that we will loose the 35 pounds that are desired, or that we will find that perfect person…or that we will give up believing that a certain person will “come around”. I am not saying that it is not good to set goals. Goals are the translation of mental concepts into a timetable of creation. An appointment is something set in stone. It is an expectation that a certain thing will occur at a certain time and that to not have that occur will result in a dis-appointment. I know that for many of you reading this it seems almost semantic in nature. But look at it this way. If you have a goal to write a book by a certain period of time and you utilize that goal to call forth the powers of the universe to help you to summon all of your powers of creation then you have empowered your dream with a goal. But when you set an appointment with a publisher to produce this creative document by a certain date…then you have set an appointment….which can lead to dis-appointment as well as a dead-line. Essentially a word that was derived from the concept of the “last ditch attempt” that one would take in a life and death situation. Picture the movie saying…”once you cross that line there is no turning back”!

Now I am aware that the very nature of modern life among humans is driven by appointments and deadlines…but how many are actually driven by self-fulfilling goals.
Just some fodder for thought. Setting an appointment, without a goal is akin to steering a plane from New York to Los Angeles without the slightest concept of the coordinates and the steps that need to be taken to even get the plane to lift. We seek good relationships in which we will be infinitely happy and yet have no clue of what makes us happy…or then if we do we give that up for the happiness of the other and then live in re-sentment…the act of revisiting a happier past and re-gret…that needs no explanation.

Please dear ones…set goals for tomorrow….plan for tomorrow but do not appoint a result of certainty that if not achieved would be disappointing. If on that flight between NY and LA you developed navigation problems that could lead you to crash…and you safely landed that plane in a totally other location saving your life and the happy lives of those around you…would you consider it a “disappointment”? In the
Miracle on the Hudson plane landing do you think that even one passenger was first upset about not getting to their destination…their appointed place of arrival? They instead were happy that they were alive.

Be happy that you are alive. Live each moment to its fullest and live your lives with goals…moveable plans for the future rather then perceived appointed outcomes that will only lead to disappointment.

Go in peace
Margaret

That is the question that Gerry has been asking himself for some time now. Whether it is nobler to open oneself up to the slings and arrows of those who see “conversations” with angels as silly…if not potentially delusional. And then there is the fatigue. The option to actually take the one hour of solitude and quiet time that is given to Gerry on weekdays…as he commutes by train from his home to New York. Sleep occupies the morning and the need to additional work, or possibly read and unwind occupies the evening trip. So what would it be that would entice him to sit for another hour before his laptop to deliver messages to an audience that might not even be there anymore?

Faith.

Beliefs…trust…heart driven logic. These are the things that drive mankind to act and to respond and to do…even when that which they are doing seems to be without reason or merit…or worse. Sometimes that faith is tested and sometimes, as humans, you are just too tired to act everyday in the manner that your deeper voice tells you is what you feel the call to do. Sometimes you may feel that your life is so overwrought with responsibilities that to take on just one more…would surely make you snap. This is often the feeling felt by parents or caretakers…who act from a place of love but suffer from a place of mental and physical fatigue…sometimes financial fatigue as well. There are those of you who will read this and will feel a sense of truth about your loss of faith. Is your loss of faith in those who you thought loved you…or in God…or what you thought was God…or is the loss of faith in yourself? Faith is not just an unseen belief…it is not just a belief in something that defies your sense of reality. Faith is a feeling…an emotion…an energy that propels you to action…or to in-action if your faith tells you to act would be wrong. For every in-action is an action in itself. Faith energizes you to feel. To act upon a certain sense of purpose and meaning. Faith is why we go on. We wake each day with the faith in a better day or a faith in a bad day…faith is energy that you invest in the creation of a belief system. If you believe in the best…you will create the best that you have the ability to imagine…and as your imagination grows so to will your outcomes.

Remember always that you are the creators. You are the extension of the “big bang” of creation that continues every day in the actions that you and mankind are taking. So all of the things that you do, think or say are creating the energy that will shape the future you are molding. You create the reality based on the belief of the good you deserve and the challenges that you think you must endure to receive it…oh and your beliefs on what you deserve. Your belief system will then shape your “faith” the energy and action that is given to the creation of your thoughts and subsequently your reality. You are what you think…you think what you believe and you act on the faith in those beliefs.

It is all about faith…
To prosper or not to prosper
To live or not to live
To love or not to love
To have sex or not to have sex
To care for yourself or to care only for others
To care for others or only for yourself
To plan for the future or to just let it unfold
To blame god for your life or to take responsibility
To believe or to not believe
To trust or not to trust

To blog or not to blog.
Only you can decide.

Go in peace,
Love,
Margaret

It is often difficult to assist humans with achieving what they would like to view as their accomplishments. This is because there are so many differing emotional levels that underline how humans see the things that they do. For example, Gerry works in the newspaper industry and if one of his sales people accomplishes wonderful things then they are happy to be recognized for that and yet unhappy to have their accomplishments paraded before those who did not accomplish that which was expected of them. Ah, there are the key words…that which was expected of them. In almost all of life there are goals that we are expected to work, in order to reach and even to exceed. There is an expectation of what makes a good mother, a good friend, a good boss, a good leader. There is a sense of what is the “standard goal” for all of these things and when one exceeds these goals they are either revered or criticized…depending on the person you speak to.

So then what are goals…what are accomplishments and how do you sense what is a true accomplishment for your spirit and not for the overall well being of others…and when do the two connect how can you tell?

Those goals that are the best sought after are the ones that would take you to the most complete expression of the “human being” that you have chosen to be in this lifetime. These are sometimes in concert with the goals that have been created for you by your family, friends work and social circle.

Finding yourself, the real expression of who you are, is no small task. From the time of being very young most humans gain approval by behaving in the way that most pleases other people. Humans are driven by love or removal of love and it is quickly learned that actions that are taken to make other people happy…whether in work or in their social lives…will get them love…or rather an expression of appreciation that they will allow themselves to perceive as love. After awhile one is so used to determining the value of ones self worth by the actions of acceptance taken by others, that it is easy to forget what were the things that truly made you personally happy. Up until the teenage years the individual has, in most cases, extreme awareness of the things that make them happy. After that point, they will derive their happiness from the act of making other people happy and that will become their primary goal. You may not recognize yourself in this scenario…or more importantly you may not see this in your significant other…but if you look deeply you will see that there is someone in their life that they are seeking approval from…even if it is not in their relationship. Their accomplishments become “being a good father” or “being a good mother”…or son or daughter…and all of these are admirable things…but in the process if you loose a true sense of yourself than you are no longer being you…but rather you are a shadow of the person who you desire to please.

But what does this have to do with accomplishments and being your truest personal self. The greatest accomplishment that one can make is to not loose your soul while you are trying to lift the souls of others. In the world of 12 Step Programs this is called “setting boundaries”. Retaining a sense of your own identity while you are answering the needs of others. To do this is not really that difficult. You need to continually seek out what makes you personally happy in all the things that you do…for yourself and others. If your focus is on what makes you happy…in all that you do…then your energy will draw to you more things that will make you happy. But if your focus is on how much you resent the things that you are doing…your work…your marriage etc, then the focus of your life is on what you are missing rather then what joys you are experiencing. To recognize these joys and to give thanks for all of the things in your life that make you happy is an accomplishment. It is the recognition of an act well done, or the joy of lifting your own spirit or the spirits of others. When you discover a song that lifts your spirit it is an accomplishment. When you find a book that gives you rest and enjoyment then you have soothed your mind and spirit and that is an accomplishment. When you do something for another and you know you have done well…even if it not appreciated…it is an accomplishment. It is a “fete de comply”…a good act completed. These are the types of accomplishments that will build the spirit and will soothe the soul. And as they build in momentum they will draw you to even greater accomplishments and blessings.

Give thanks for that which gives you joy in even its most simple form and more abundant joys will come to you tenfold.

Be well and go in peace,
Margaret