Superstition & Miracles

Heard the song "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder. It got me thinking. Is the "germ theory" superstition? Do we stay well if we wash our hands/keep things clean because we believe we will? If we believed that bacteria & viruses had no power over us, would disease end?

Perhaps we simply give germs a temporary home, acknowledging that they are living beings, a spark of the Divine just as much as we are. Perhaps we're not meant to die because of them, but simply enable them to live, also. 

A philosophy I follow states that we humans have collective agreements that capture us and affect our lives. We believe, collectively, that as we age, we deteriorate. So we do. And if we want to disengage from that collective belief, it's very hard, since it surrounds us, and we've incorporated it into our "knowing" since childhood.

So, the song suggests religion & science are both based on superstitions - believing in things we don't understand.

Then I saw a picture on Facebook that said - we all are Enough. We are all, each & every one of us, a Miracle.  And I saw, for a second, the Earth sparkling with powerful Miracles, on the beach, in the cars, at desks, in stores, rocking babies, pounding nails, laying bricks. Is this how God sees the world? All of us Miracles He has Created, the entire planet sparkling with miracles? Bigger question: Do any of us realize what miracles we are, what power that gives us?  Even bigger question: Can I keep that in mind as I go about my day?  Each & every person I encounter is a miracle, created by God.

We bind ourselves in chains of superstition. We are actually powerful miracles.

Dream

I had a dream. I've been asking God/Source/HP/Universe to tell me what I'm meant to do. I just don't think CallCenter is the be-all of what I'm meant to do. So, I've been trying to be open to suggestions from my soul. These days, I don't remember much of my dreams. But one scene from this one has stuck with me in living color.

So, I'm sitting someplace with my peeps -- family, friends. Can't remember who exactly, but people I knew, trusted, felt comfortable with.  And I hear a voice in my head say "You are a demon-hunter."  One part of me simply accepts this "Yes. The other part of me says, "What?!?" Then I see I have a manila envelope in my hand. I draw the papers out, and they contain information about who my next target is. I skim them, but don't really read them.  I look up, and realize the papers are talking about the group of men sitting across the lounge/bar from me/us. They are them - demons.  Look like regular guys to me, young adults, full of themselves, putting down all around them, looking forward to a wild time wherever they're going. one, the leader, is a taller, athletic-looking blond.

Demons?

I watch them, measuringly, observing. The blond looks around, notices me watching them and seems to recognize ... me? what I am? my mission?

They call our plane, and we fly to NY, where we catch a cruise ship going to Reyjavik, London, then out to the Baltics.

Dream ends.

I remember thinking "How am I supposed to fight demons? I'm a short, fat, 59yr old woman. Out of shape, untrained in weapons of any kind." And something settles within me, knowing I will have what I need, become what I need, when the time comes.

It's an election year again, and, as usual, people's vituperativeness about political choices amazes me. Don't we live in a country where we are encouraged to be our own self? Think for ourself, develop our own opinions? Why, if I think differently than you, does that make me stupid, or selfish, or .... fill in your epithet of choice.

Feels like bullying to me.

Whatever happened to "agree to disagree" ? Or being a member of the "loyal opposition"?

The True Eden

While listening to Lionel Ritchies's "All Night Long" -- I had an insight. I understood where the cultural meme that you must work hard in this life came from.  

The line from the song was "Throw away the work to be done" and I thought -- well then how does anything get done? And I thought about primitive cultures, Amazon tribes, South Sea islanders -- how do they function? I realized they live in places where one can go out into the environment & gather what is needed pretty easily (comparatively). Then I thought about being cast out of the Garden, and God saying "You shall eat by the sweat of your brow." -- which has always been the "proof" that we have to work hard. 

Then I realized -- it's only because we left the presence of God that things got hard.  If we live in God's grace -- living is not hard.

Awareness

I saw tonight that I've been trying to re-create, for myself, the life I had when I was married. This has been my response to having a life I liked taken away from me. "Well, if we aren't going to have the life I want, I'll just give it to myself!"


I saw how that attitude has kept me chained to the past, including the pain of the divorce. I was constantly looking at what I'd had, comparing it to what I had now, and feeling less than. I've been unable to let go. In addition, I'd been trying to do what I'd done before, to achieve that kind of life, and it hasn't worked. Get a corporate job, move up a few rungs, get comfortable financially, and live as I did before. 


It hasn't worked. I've had so little energy. When I think of possible new steps at my job, the energy & enthusiasm just drain away. When I think of doing the same thing for the next 11yrs -- I feel desperate & futile.


I have a new life! I can't have a New Life by doing the same old things. I did that already.  Not that they were wrong -- just they were right for then, but not for now.


Everything changed and I've tried so hard to put it back the way it was -- to prove that nothing has changed.


God has put me someplace new, and I've refused to budge/change.


I need to be open to the new, open to possibilities, open to being changed.


I've been scared to change more than what has been changed for me. I felt more secure if I kept everything else the same.  I could point to things and tell myself I was still OK. 


What if where I'm supposed to go is better than I can imagine? What if what I'm supposed to do means no more immobilizing fear?


Wow.

Do I Work Hard For My Money?

I've always had a thing about making sure you knew I worked hard, that my job was hard, that I was justified in feeling tired or cranky at the end of the day.

I knew where it came from. When I was growing up, women who worked did so for "pin money", extras -- or to keep themselves occupied while the children were in school or husbands at work (earning the real money, doing the real jobs). Because their "real" jobs were to take care of their family, keep the house nice & organized, the meals coming, the clothes clean.

** This was all before I knew what a Job doing all that actually was. **

I got married in 1974, when we were just edging out of the expectation that a woman would work until she had children. Women who had children & continued to work were either lawyers, doctors or some other type of high-powered professional; or they were single moms (not well-thought of), or had a dead-beat husband who couldn't/wouldn't provide for them.

I was determined to continue my precious career (I didn't know what it was, but by God, I was going to continue it!), I wasn't going to be relegated to the back seat financially in our relationship, always dependent on my man's good graces for every penny! I was going to contribute!  My job wasn't just for pin money.

My job was not a joke.

So I made very sure you understood how hard I worked.

I think this thought process is no longer serving me.  I think I've incorporated the "I work hard, I'm tired" concept internally way past the point of positive returns.  Now I truly am always tired. Not as a justification - but really.

In the midwest, it was common to have other activities after work. No one I knew went home & vegged on a daily basis.  People kinda looked at you funny if that's all you did.  Getting out of work was the starting point for your "real" life.  On moving here, I discovered most people thought an 8 hour day, 5-6 days a week, to be horrendous, and that one should take it easy after work.

I admit, I absorbed that concept -- it fed my "Look at how hard I work" meme.  But now, I find myself longing for personal time, sleep, time to myself to do what I want with no expectations from others. My 8-9 hours a day seems too much. My job feels hard & tiring, like it sucks the energy out of me.

Is that true, am I tired? Or is it only my belief system? Is it truly different & more draining working a full week at 59, or am I starting to believe my own "advertising"?

I'm not sleepy-tired after a work day, but I'm out of enthusiasm, out of energy. I just want to be left alone. Most of the time, after a meal and about an hour and a half of vegging here on the 'puter, I'm ready to do something.

I need a better way to think about working. I'm going to experiment with changing my thoughts.  See if that changes my energy level.

Sparkling Love - Connection

When a man has a connection with a woman - when she makes his head swirl and completely captivates him, and she feels the same with him -- this is what we all reach for, yes? This is true love, a soul mate, the prize we all dream of having.

Except, women who have been able to do that, have, in times past, been killed for being witches. Especially if she captivates the wrong man -- such as the leader of the Church, or a married man.  Or many men.

It was too easy, in times past, for a man to explain his womanizing by blaming the woman -- the cry of "Witch!" was enough to exonerate him, and make sure she got run out of town, or killed.

The women who had that special sparkle, or the capacity to love totally, were weeded out - prevented from reproducing. What was left were those who could cast down their eyes, not fight back, tolerate loveless or brutal marriages "for the sake of the children."

But don't we all want, with the deepest fiber of our being, that complete connection with another person?  Don't we all want our world to sparkle, to thrill to the other's breath on our skin, in our hair?

Yield

Your touch is freedom
Your directions are shackles
Yield                 Tyr, to Sal in HeartsBlood by  Carolyn McCray

Imagine God (Source/HP/Creator/G_d/Godde/Goddess, etc) whispering that in your ear.

*** Interestingly enough, tyr means god in old Norse languages. ***


I hear this as: Your life nourishes Creation, but you giving Me directions limits Me.  Then the Invitation: Yield.


Yield to God, the Source of All-That-Is; Yield to Me and let Me guide you to the Joy that was yours from the beginning.


How powerful a message!


We say:
I want more money God! But don't let anybody I love die for me to get it; and I don't want to work harder than I already do, nor longer hours. And I don't think I want to own my own business, I don't want the responsibility.  But I need more money.


I want to lose weight God!  But I don't want to eat less; or give up my favorite foods. Forget exercise -- well, maybe if it's not too hard, and doesn't take too much time.


I want love God!  Bring me someone who will love me. And s/he should not be overweight, has to have beautiful hair, be attractive, polite, considerate, kind to my parents/family, and have good teeth!  And good hygiene. And not be a drunk or druggie. Intelligent.  And -- s/he won't break my heart, won't hurt me ever!


What if we just, in Joy & Faith -- Yielded to God.


How often have you discovered that you were tense and rigid, holding yourself together as if something would go wrong if you didn't keep eternal vigilance over yourself, your loved ones, or the world?


What am I guarding against?


I am guarding against "something going wrong."  Name it -- something could go wrong if I don't watch and guard and hold things together. 


What if I just let God guide me? What if I trust the He is guiding others?


Jesus said "Seek first the Kingdom of the Lord, and all else will be given unto you."  When did you last ask God what He wanted you to do with your life?  When did you last allow yourself to be guided?  Don't make the decisions yourself; pause, ask for an answer, an intuitive thought?

Yield.


12-Step Programs suggest turning your will & your life over to the care of God, as you understand God. They call it Surrender.  


Yield.


Your directions are shackles.  The more you say how things "should be" the more you imprison.


Yield.


New Age thought encourages going with the flow, turning your attention to the flow of energy that encompasses all living things.


Your touch (attention) is freedom.


Yield to your freedom.