Tag: writing

The Heart of the Matter

YouTube: The Heart of the Matter

When a challenge disturbs me—sparking anger, fear, resentment, or resistance—I try to pause long enough to ask two productive questions:

  • Who is this “me” that is responding in this way?
  • What obligates me to maintain and reinforce this version of myself?

I admit that this kind of spiritually grounded response is not usually my first reaction. My human self often wants to send the problem packing and get on with the day. Yet these moments are invitations. They reveal not the truth of who I am, but the part of my self-image that feels threatened.

It is rarely useful to attempt to answer the first question in the heat of reaction. In that moment, the temptation is to blame the appearance and try to remove it. A better approach is to take the response into a quiet, private place and observe the one within me who is doing the reacting.

This “me” feels threatened because it sees itself as separate from the fullness of its spiritual resources. The corrective step is not necessarily to eliminate the outer problem, but to release the identity that feels endangered by it. The goal is simple and freeing: the appearance may still be present, but I no longer have to be ruled by it.

This leads naturally to the second question: Am I obligated to keep defending this limited version of myself? The answer is no. I am free to rise above that level of response.

This practice does not avoid action. I may still need to seek clarification, offer an apology, set a boundary, or take a practical next step. But I can do so from a larger, steadier place within myself rather than from fear or resentment.

If an issue is pressing upon you now, ask these two questions thoughtfully and honestly. You may discover that the path forward clears—not because everything outside has changed, but because something within has become freer.

Capture the Moment

YouTube: Capture the Moment

The phrase, capture the moment, is often associated with photography. When the shutter snaps, a fraction of a second is instantly frozen to be viewed and relived for years. If it weren’t for the camera, that fraction of a second would be gone forever.

How many fractions of seconds have passed that we’ve forgotten? In one of my songs I wrote, “The moment is eternal, but it slips away so fast, we rarely seize it.”

From a spiritual point of view, it should not be our objective to build an impeccable memory capable of retaining every moment. Our objective is to be present, as free of the past and anticipated future as possible. Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, said, “You cannot step twice into the same river.” The problem is not memory or anticipation of the future. Problems arise when we pollute the river with negative emotions from the past or anticipated fears of the future.

Many people live as prisoners of what has already happened or what might happen tomorrow. Regrets replay endlessly in the mind. Old wounds are reopened again and again. At the same time, imagined futures create anxiety that steals the peace of today. While the body exists in the present moment, the mind drifts somewhere else. In doing so, we miss the simple beauty directly in front of us.

Life is not experienced yesterday or tomorrow. It is experienced now. The laughter of a child, the sound of rain on a rooftop, the warmth of sunlight, or the quiet stillness of an early morning are all sacred moments waiting to be noticed. Most of life’s treasures are not hidden in dramatic events but in ordinary experiences we are too distracted to see.

To capture the moment spiritually is not to hold onto it, but to fully enter it while it is here. It is learning to listen deeply, love fully, and notice the holiness woven into everyday life. The present moment is the only place where peace can truly be found. Yesterday exists only as memory, and tomorrow exists only as imagination. But this moment—this breath, this heartbeat, this unfolding instant—is where life is actually taking place.

Have We Lived Before?

YouTube: Have We Lived Before?

I’ve met many people in Unity who believe in past lives. While I don’t remember any of my own, it feels spiritually plausible that we’ve all lived before. If you accept that the soul continues after death, then the idea of pre-existence isn’t a huge stretch. I won’t try to prove whether we’ve lived before, but rather, simply consider the possibility.

The late Dr. Ian Stevenson, a leading researcher on children who recall past lives, shared the story of Maria, from Brazil, whose father drove away her young lover, leading him to suicide. Distraught, Maria lost her will to live, intentionally exposing herself to the cold and dying from tuberculosis. Before her death, she told her friend, Ida, that she would return as her daughter. Months later, Ida gave birth to a girl, Marta, whom she and her teacher husband raised. As Marta began to talk, she recounted numerous details from her previous life, which her father documented and verified.

The credibility of this case is what initially interested Dr. Stevenson. Stevenson, and now Dr. Jim Tucker, have documented thousands of similar cases, making it hard for even skeptics to dismiss reincarnation entirely. In Maria’s case, what fascinates me is that she chose to return as her friend’s daughter, purely out of her own desire.

I suspect this applies to all of us: we’re here because we chose to be. I also believe we don’t fully know what our lives will hold. We set our canoe in the river, unaware of the rapids or calm waters ahead.

Consider the many phases of your own life that have begun and ended. You were “born” into that role and “died” to it. It’s now just a memory, a past phase, a past life. Yet, you remain you. You launched your canoe at one point in the river and landed at another. How many times does this happen in a single lifetime? Often. It seems like a microcosm of the larger picture.

I have no wish to revisit any former period of this life, nor do I feel compelled to explore past lives. What truly inspires me is the power of choice, the knowledge that I’m not driven by a need to be anything other than who I am. It’s all mine to shape as I desire.

New Beginnings

YouTube: New Beginnings

Life unfolds in cycles. If you observe these cycles closely, you will notice there are times when things seem to be falling apart and other times when they are falling into place. We are often confronted with the familiar question: Is the cup half full, or is it half empty?

This question points to an important truth. The answer is not determined by the condition of the cup, but by how you are feeling at the moment you are viewing it. If you are optimistic and full of expectation, the cup appears half full. If you are feeling weak, vulnerable, or worn down by circumstances, the same cup will appear half empty.

Many spiritual teachers have embraced a simple principle: life is consciousness. The condition of the cup does not need to determine how you feel. When you determine how you feel, the condition of the cup often takes care of itself.

Have you noticed how, during a low moment, a single encouraging word—a phrase from a book or a line from scripture—can suddenly inspire a new way of seeing? A cup that looked half empty moments before now appears half full… and filling. Do not be discouraged during emotionally low moments. Refuse to set your course by these brief seasons of diminished vision.

Always remember that in the twinkling of an eye everything can change, simply because you allow yourself to change the way you see.

Each new moment holds the potential for a new beginning. It does not matter how negative you may have felt just moments ago—you can begin again now. Set a new energy in motion. Create a positive, encouraging affirmation and begin speaking it with joy and expectation, for these emotions lay the groundwork for transformation.

Refuse to see yourself as a victim of circumstance or personality. And when you slip back into a half-empty way of thinking, remember that life is dynamic. There is always reason to hold even the smallest glimmer of hope, affirming that the good you desire is already coming forth.

As we stand at the threshold of a new year, choose to see it not merely as half full, but as brimming with possibilities—many of them still unimagined.