Too often I hear people talk about being independent. But there is no such thing as independent in this life.  Everything we do, even eating an apple, is interdependent.  The same is true of our country!  We celebrate Independence Day because it is the day we gained our independence from England but we are not an independent country.  We are interdependent.

Everything we do in this life, is a part of many people coming together to make it happen.  Let’s look at eating an apple.  It took the farmer, the labor on the farm, the truck driver who took the apples to the packing place, all the workers in the packing place, then another driver, etc.  Finally it is in your hand ready to be eaten.  But you depend on hundreds of people to do their part for you to have that wonderful juicy apple. 

(more…)

Today I’m going to focus on the topic of transcending your fear. Especially as it relates to the pandemic. And I’m going to do this by quoting my upcoming book, The Sage’s Template.

“The experiences of this life are either fear-based and uncomfortable or love-based and comfortable.  Most everyone is looking to feel comfortable and in a “good” place, so what is the purpose of this dual format of experiencing?  By design, in this life, you will experience fear. Fear is what creates the illusion of separation. It is through the knowing and then transcending of fear or suffering that you are able to experience the truth of who you are.”

(more…)

With recent events related to COVID-19 and sheltering-in-place, the world has become an unsure, scary, and stressful place. Over the last few weeks your daily routine most likely transformed into a life you barely recognize. You wonder how things you once took for granted – your home, job, relationship, and health, to name a few – became so precarious. It stands to reason, that this uncertain environment has caused your anxiety to spike. You barely know what day it is, and tomorrow doesn’t look much better. So how can you possibly live in “the now”?

Across the country, the lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have lifted, are lifting, or will soon lift. Things will begin to look and feel a little more familiar than they did when you were sequestered in your home, juggling work, family, health, and financial commitments – just to name a few.

As you emerge from the chaos, and enter into what has become your new experience of life, you have the opportunity to look back at the past weeks and assess how you weathered the storm. What behaviors, attitudes, and actions brought you the most happiness and joy during quarantine? How could you improve upon them moving forward? Are there things you would do differently if faced with another lockdown or similar limitations?

Like Jack Canfield says, ‘If you want to change the results you get in the future, you must change how you respond to events in your life starting today.’ OR: As I always say, “If you want a different future, today you must do something different from yesterday because today is tomorrow’s yesterday.”

In the coming weeks I will revisit many of the emotions you may have experienced, or are still experiencing, as you cope with these uncertain times. I will focus on feelings of Fear, Calm, Disconnect, Anxiety, Depression, Lack, Gratitude, Relationships, and Living for Today.

So, please join me to identify opportunities to find strength and courage within yourself and use even the most trying experiences as a launching pad to blossom into the person you’ve always known your Self to be.

How do we begin to understand the number of massacres this country has endured? I am constantly finding myself in the middle of this question. Here are my thoughts. This is not a political statement or a gun statement. It is a statement of what I see as a line of explanation for the frequency of massacres at this time.

I’m 57. Growing up we did not see mass murders. We would hear of some serial murders but not mass shootings/killings. The weapons that were available back then were not much different than today. In fact, some of the weaponry was the same. Yet, the way people murdered was different. Back then it was one person at a time. Back then we talked a lot about copycat murders. We don’t hear that on the news anymore. I want to talk about the copycat concept together with modern day massacres.

(more…)

Hate is fear; fear is the absence of love! Within your Self, when you judge and hate you are not able to feel love. You may think that your hate and judgment are about the other person or group of people but it is only happening inside you. You are the one living with the hate, rage, anger, and heavy density. It clutters your mind and shadows your heart. Consequently, you are the only one who ends up suffering until, of course, your anger causes harm to others.

We are given this life and we were given free will. Free will says you have the right to live with your hate, anger, rage, and judgment. Free will also allows people to live in harmony, love, unity and peace. Free will gives each of us the opportunity to live this life as we choose. What it does not do is support the destruction of the free will and the rights of another human being.

You are not born with fear and anger or any of the fear-based emotions. You are not born with judgment since judgment comes from fear. You learned all of that, and the beliefs associated with them, in this lifetime. You thought you had to believe as you were taught to believe. But now you have a choice. Do you want to live with love for you, from you, and for others? Or do you want to live in absence of love? Do you want a life filled with pain, suffering, anger, and heat or a life filled with love and happiness?

Can you be grateful for who you are at the same time you’re hating another? The answer is no. So, yes, it is your right to hate, judge, and be angry. It is your choice to live at that level of suffering. Just remember suffering begets suffering and fear begets fear. It is love that begets gratitude, joy, and love. So, I ask you which do you prefer? And be clear, because even if you were feeling anger and hate at those who are angry and hateful you are feeding the darkness not light.

May each and every one of you be graced with gratitude, forgiveness, and love.

On this day we honor our fallen warriors. It is not a happy day. It is a day of honor. It is a day of reflection. It is a day of pain. It is a day of gratitude. It is a day of loss and a day of gain. Even for those warriors who returned home, it was with great loss in their lives. Life will never be the same for them.

We live with a great freedom because of their gifts that cost them their freedom. Most of our warriors will never feel the freedom in their hearts. Of the families, friends and loved ones of those warriors who passed, most will lose the freedom in their hearts as well. We must not forget this.

On this Memorial Day, during your prayer or your quiet reflections, let each of us send a healing energy from our heart to each of theirs. Feel it. Send it. Know that as each of us opens our heart to its freedom and to its love that we are uniting with those who have served us. Let us begin the healing of the wounds.

On this Memorial Day, recognize the freedom that allows you to believe whatever you believe, worship whatever God you choose to worship or not, marry whoever you wish to marry (almost there!!), speak whatever you wish to speak, be all that you can be and infinitely more! Then say “Thank you” to those who have been willing to fight for our freedom and to maintain a powerful presence on this earth as a free and protective people of all!

IF YOU TRULY WISH TO SAY THANK YOU TO OUR WARRIORS, VOTE!!!!! It is with our votes that we keep freedom alive. Just vote! Vote for YOUR choice of candidate at the local, state, and federal levels. All votes are the right vote. There is no wrong vote. Your choice of party or no party affiliation is a great choice! You have freedom to choose! Have a voice in freedom. Honor the lives that have gifted you this freedom by voting! Keep their memory alive with your vote! Don’t just sit and wait for the warriors to fight for your freedom! VOTE AND SHOW OUR VETERANS THAT THEIR EFFORTS ARE SUPPORTED BY YOURS!

May each of you have a blessed Memorial Day that begins the healing and influences greater freedom!!

We have lost our hearts and our minds!

A 90-Year old man and 2 Reverends were arrested for feeding the homeless in public!

What are Fort Lauderdale and many other cities in the country thinking when they post laws that prohibit feeding or gifting the homeless! Now we are cluttering our courts and jails with homeless and citizens of service!!! I am truly speechless. I feel a deep anger and pain inside me for the hideousness of this thought process!

My anger asks: What if we DON’T use jails for the innocent? What if we don’t create crimes out of good behavior? Is this about cities and counties making money?

Then my calm heart asks: What are some of the other options?

Too often I hear people (family members included) saying “Get off the street and get a job!” What an incomplete thought that is!!! How do they propose a homeless person do that? Are they going to buy a paper to look for a job? Oops, most job postings aren’t in the paper anymore. Ok. They are going to walk into a public library (without being asked to leave because they are dirty or smelly) and look at the listings on the internet! GREAT! Then what? How do they make a call? (Pay phones are very rare!!) How do they get to the location to fill out an application? How do they clean their clothes? How do they shower? How do they return for the interview?
With no job, how do they eat?

There is a very big difference between homeless and street people. Our street people are those who live on the street and prefer to be left there. More often than not these people are suffering from severe mental illness that is untreated. In the state of Florida a majority of the counties do not have programs for the mentally ill and their medication. How do we solve that double bind? NOT FEED THEM? Arrest them for eating or asking for meals or money? That is NOT a solution.

The homeless are a more varied group. They may be individuals and families who have truly been displaced from their homes and do not know the resources available. They may be our veterans who have fought for our freedom and now suffer because they cannot enjoy freedom in their own lives. They may be addicts or alcoholics. They may be injured or handicapped in a way that did not allow them to keep a job and so they are now living on the street. They may be our runaway children. This group is a majority of the people on the streets. We, as a people, can help each and every one of these people get back on their feet but not by angrily judging them or assuming they just need to get a job! The apathy many of us have witnessed is very sad. “It’s their choice” people say! Yes it is but not in the way they mean it when they are angrily discharging themselves of guilt and responsibility for a fellow soulful being.

Every day we make a series of choices, hundreds, some we don’t even notice. Each of those choices builds upon previous choices and experiences. One day we find our Self in a very difficult life situation. How do we ask for help? Where do we go? Do we run? I cannot tell you how often I have heard someone say, “I will leave. I do not know where I will go but I will leave.” Another thought I hear quite a bit is, “I am too tired to fight anymore. I don’t care if I don’t get anything, I just want out!” These thoughts if acted upon can lead to homelessness.

And then there is the addict or alcoholic. No one chooses to be an addict! I don’t know of a single individual who awakened one morning and said, “I want to be in the greatest suffering life can offer!! I want to be an addict!!” It doesn’t happened that way. The person is already familiar with the abuse pattern from life experience. The use of alcohol or a drug opens them to being seduced by the illusion of a relief (substance) that recreates the vicious abuse cycle that is already active within them. They do not know they are falling victim to the substance until it is too late. Some will choose to use until they die. Most are desperate for help and love. All are suffering.

Welfare is not an answer! It is not even support. It is useless at this point. We need a way to empower those who are suffering. To heal them to a point that they can stand on their own and WANT to work and live! We need people who are willing to reach out and feed them so that they can have the strength necessary to even WANT to heal or move forward. The problem is, we need resources. We need independent charities that are structured to empower, train and place these people – Boca Helping Hands is a great example. We need charities that will address the mental and emotional issues. We need charities that will fund scholarship treatment for the substance abuse needs. We need charities that will pay for the medical treatment. THEN we need the police, sheriffs and paramedics/firefighters to know how to transport. Or maybe we need a charity that is central for the assessment and placement.

So, I ask you to ponder the situation. Let’s come up with a solution. The holidays are upon us and they are about unconditional acceptance and unity. Could there be a better time to rise up from judgment and separateness and unite for the good of all?

Why do you watch the news? Why? To be informed… Wherever you are sitting at this moment, turn off any TV or radios that may be on. Ask your Self, “How does everything I gather from the news affect me at this moment?” Is your mind going to: “Well it allows me to stay safe; or it allows me to know what is going on in our government; or it tells me about the strife in Venezuela…” Stay right here in this moment. How does it affect you right now!? The people who are in the tragedy are not in your experience. How is it affecting your minute, your now?

Lets move away from that and look at something else. Some of what happens are important facts. We are a free country and are able to vote, so some of what we could gather could be factual information. Then, when we do need to make a choice, it is in our best interest. But that is not what we gather from the news. The news preys upon the fear. They have researched the tone of the news to be sure it catches your fight or flight response and, consequently, your attention. So lets back away. The issue isn’t factual information because we all know we can gather our facts from reliable sources via the internet, readings, etc. The news we watch, or the biased newspaper we read, are a gathering of opinions! So how does all of that affect your moment right now!? If you are sitting in a park and looking out over trees and a pond, how does it affect that experience? If you are sharing a beautiful evening with the one you love, how does it affect that experience? If we take those beautiful experiences and we find ourselves talking about the news, have we lost the moment?

In conclusion, I hope you all think twice before allowing your Self to be seduced into the fear-based news shows and newspapers. They are not always factual. They eliminate those blocks of time from you experiencing your life. Be sure of the truth of why you watch the news. The news and media can sensationalize, so it important to do your own research. What are you truly gaining from the information? Does it truly better your life? Take one week. Turn off any news media and gather your information from factual sources. Watch how you start to see more roses on your path of life!

I hope all of you will take the time to watch this video of the current travesty and devastation of life occurring in Venezuela! I hope you will join me in supporting all of my Venezuelan friends as well as freedom for all people on this earth. I am so upset by this situation and it is so close to home and my heart. I thank you all for watching this. I will be continuing to post informative pieces. Please join me in upholding freedom for our friends and neighbors and the people on this earth!