What Do I Want?

I want to know my soul.
To feel my connection to the birds.
To infinitely live in the sunrise and sunset of each new day.
I want to break open with emotion.
For love to permeate every fiber of my being.
To fully express the ache in my chest and the lump in my throat.
I want to breathe the air of my ancestors.
To be in communion with all that is.
For the salt from my tears to clear the mist shrouding my ability to see.
I want to remember.
I want to know my soul.

Rev. Patricia Brooks
www.patriciabrooks.net

How To Live Our Lives With Grace And Ease

How do we live our lives with grace and ease?
Remove the struggles?
Squelch the doubt that creeps mercilessly into our thoughts?
Step over the roadblocks?
Embrace the joy even before we feel it? 

These are questions that I and I believe many of you wrestle with.
I have been told that the third dimensional world and energy patterns we live in are not where we should be.

To live with grace and ease, we need to embrace the fifth dimensional energy patterns. This is the new paradigm. This is what our ascension as spiritual beings is.

We need to become so fully present in our spiritual truth that we can move beyond the suffering and move beyond the doubt. To know deep down in the very core of our being that we are Spirit and as Spirit, we are connected and embraced and supported by the Divine Oneness that is all around us.

This is the energy of the fifth dimension.  It is beyond the knowing of the fourth dimension, it is the surrender and trust of the Divine Oneness we are a part of.

But how do we do that?

How do we remove the struggles, squelch the doubt, step over the roadblocks and embrace the joy?

I would like to offer to you an experience I recently had that gave me a glimmer of understanding of this very large and very important question.

For the past eighteen years I have been blessed to live in a home that is protected by a very large rock face in my backyard. The rock face looks incredibly like a gigantic whale that is forever floating and watching and recording life and its’ endless cycles that play out before it.

I love my special friend, the whale and spend much time gazing at it and wondering about life’s mysteries. What has it really seen, all of the eons it has stood steadfast in its mighty presence?

But my whale has also offered to me a personal struggle these past eighteen years. For in the contours of the whales belly and fin, weeds grow; weeds that distract me and upset my peace and calm. I can easily reach the weeds growing near the bottom and pull them out restoring my whale to its unfettered self, but I have a very hard time reaching the weeds that are higher up.

For years I have struggled with this. When I was married I would ask my husband to pull them for me, as I was afraid to climb the rock face myself. A few times over the years when I could no longer wait for my husband to do it, I would attempt to do it myself. And then I would get stuck, halfway up the rock face, afraid to move, frozen in panic. My fear of heights would engulf me and I would scream for my children to come and help me, to offer me their hands to help me back down to safety.

The irony of this is that I love my friend, the whale. He has protected me and given me deep peace for the past eighteen years and in turn I want to help him. And so I decided I would try again; to climb up the face of his belly, and reach the weeds that were beyond my reach, restoring him to his unfettered self.

I began by taking a step up and I found footing a couple of feet up.  Maybe I could reach the weeds from here I thought and I stretched and strained to try and reach the higher weeds. However as in all the times past, they were beyond my reach. And the footing I was on did not feel secure.

I needed to take another step up. I looked around to find a good step for me. As a living being, the rock face is also always slightly changing; parts of it loosening and crumbling to the ground below, making the climb slightly different each time. A few more feet above me I spied what looked to be solid footing.
If I could get to the next step, I could reach the weeds above. I centered myself and went inward for strength. I thought about the journey I have had so far.

My journey has brought me a deep knowing that I am a spiritual being and I am part of the Divine Oneness that is all around us. This Oneness includes each other, nature, and all living beings with us, seen and unseen.
I knew in that moment that I would not fall. I knew in that moment that I am supported and loved and protected by the Divine Oneness, including my special friend, the whale. I knew in that moment that I was going to for the first time in eighteen years, reach the unreachable weeds, and in pulling them, restore peace and calm to my heart.

I relaxed into that knowing, and I stepped up. My new footing was secure, in fact much more secure than the footing I was just standing on. I had to laugh and in that moment I received great clarity.

In my life I only need to trust.  Relax into and trust the Divine Oneness I am a part of. On my journey I don’t need to have everything figured out. I only need to take the next step, secure in the knowledge that I am loved and supported.
And in the next step, the struggle lessens.

As I move forward on my journey, the footing becomes more secure. It is in fact easier to take the next step and move forward, then to stretch and strain from a place that no longer serves me.

I have learned that to begin to remove the struggles, to begin to squelch the doubt that creeps in to our thoughts, to begin to step over the roadblocks and to begin to embrace the joy even before we feel it, we need to relax into the knowing and to trust. 

To live a life with grace and ease we need to trust. Trust in the Divine Oneness, even if we don’t fully understand it, because we are fully supported and loved by it. The energies of the fifth dimension require us to surrender to the Oneness and trust. When we can trust, even before we know, we will live our lives with grace and ease and continue forward.

Three Reasons Why I Cannot Be A Victim And Neither Can You

 I cannot be a victim and neither can you.

That is quite a powerful and empowering statement.

If true it could dramatically change the way that we show up in the world.  It could change the way we view our life and the lives of those around us.

If true it could remove our ability to feel sorry for ourselves.  It could remove our ability to place the blame for our circumstances on others or situations.

If true it could stop us from giving our power away to others.

How could this be true?

I did not choose to have my marriage end.  I did not choose to suffer with depression.  I did not choose to contract a disease.  I did not choose to lose my job.  I did not choose to…

These things happened to me!  I didn’t choose them!

Right?

Wrong.

We choose everything.

There are three reasons why I cannot be a victim and neither can you!

The first reason is we are spiritual beings.  We are in fact powerful spiritual beings!  

The second reason is we choose to incarnate in the physical form to have experiences!

The third reason is our Soul, our Higher Self, chose before we incarnated, the experiences we are to have in order to grow and evolve!

Still not convinced?

I understand because when I first learned this, I resisted.  I knew there was no way in heck that I would choose to be lonely, or unhappy, or sick, or struggle with anything!  In fact, I told the Universe, actually I shouted at it, that if I really chose these experiences, someone, somewhere, was making a big mistake!

But as with all things, a little time and reflection, yielded a different perspective.  I know I am a powerful spiritual being.  You are too!  We are spiritual beings having a human experience.  If we can agree on that then the next question is why?  Why are we having a human experience?  For most if not all of us, it’s certainly not for the unending fun and games!

We are a spiritual being having a human experience to have experiences!  To feel things!  Unless we physically experience something, we cannot know how it feels.  A good example is my friend recently went sky diving.  She told me it was a very cool and liberating experience.  That seems reasonable and I believe her.  But I don’t really know how it feels because I have never jumped out of a plane!  I can only imagine it would be very liberating to release all control and jump out of a perfectly good airplane!

Another example on a more serious note is I have an aunt who is suffering from two chronically debilitating and painful diseases, of which there are no cures.  She suffers every day.  The medications designed to alleviate the symptoms don’t work for her.  Now she tells me she is struggling.  She tells me she is in pain.  I watch as she tries to put on a brave face and lead as normal a life as possible.  I have an idea of what she is thinking and how she is feeling, but I really don’t know because I am not experiencing it!

Why do we need to experience things?  Why do we need to feel things?  Because in the experience is the emotion, and in the emotion is the gift!  

As spiritual beings we learn and expand and evolve through emotion!  To have emotion we must feel things!  To feel things we must experience things!  To experience things we must be in a physical form!

And as powerful spiritual beings we have a choice on what types of experiences we want to have, what we want to learn and how we want to evolve.  Our Soul, our Higher Self has already chosen before we incarnated.  We did not come here this time, or any time before, to have random experiences.

We have a Soul purpose and we have a Soul plan.  Does that mean that our lives are ‘written in stone’ and things will just happen to us?  No; not at all.  What it means is that our Soul has already decided, before it incarnated, what types of experiences it wants to have in order to continue to expand and evolve.

The beauty of it is that as spiritual beings in a human form we will find and have the experience we choose.  The exact person, or place, or job, or sickness, or whatever we need to have our experience can change.  But if we choose to, we will have our experiences.

So life is not happening to us!  We as spiritual beings have chosen our experiences to further our own expansion.

And we have chosen many times in many lifetimes before.

When we look at our lives as a continuation of many previous lives, the idea that we choose our experiences makes sense.

And if we are the ones that choose, then we are the ones in power.

And if we are the ones in power, then we cannot be victims.

I cannot be a victim and neither can you!

Yes, that is a powerful and empowering statement!

Patricia Brooks is author of her book God is in the Little Things; Messages from the Animals and is currently writing her second book in the series God is in the Little Things; Messages from the Golden Angels. Having profound spiritual experiences has changed Patricia’s life dramatically and she has come to understand her Divine life purpose is to spread the message of Oneness to our higher Self, each other, and all living beings. Patricia is an interfaith minister, animal totem intuitive, and angel healing practitioner. She also authors two spiritual blogs and is a contributing writer to many spiritual magazines. Please visit Patricia at http://godisinthelittlethings.com for much more information and where you may also sign up for her mailing list to receive your FREE Understanding Animal Totems report.

 

What's the Plan, Stan?

“What’s the plan, Stan?” is such a great saying.  My dad used to say it to me and I find myself saying it to my kids. “What’s the plan, Stan?” I ask lightheartedly when they are getting ready to go out with friends or when we are planning our day.  “What’s the plan, Stan?” I’ll text to check in with them and see what is going on.

It’s a simple, almost whimsical question.  It brings a sense of levity to a situation, makes it seem less overbearing.  There is something about rhyming that makes even a difficult query seem a little easier.

So I thought I would try it out on a bigger question.  A question that, I have had since my divorce a few years ago.  A question that, I have kept neatly tucked in the far recesses of my brain since I decided to quit my job last year and follow my spiritual path.  A question that, as time goes on and I don’t see major life and career changes happening quickly, peek its head out more and more trying to get my attention.

I take a deep breath.  I am nervous.  Bringing my question forth and exposing it to the light of day will make it very real.  I won’t be able to tuck it neatly back into the recesses of my brain and pretend it isn’t there.  I will have to deal with it.  I’m not sure I’m ready but I know I also can’t ignore it any longer.  So here it goes…

“What am I going to do with the rest of my life and how am I going to support myself?” I finally give an anxious voice to the question that has troubled me for so long.

Whoa! Well that was overwhelming to say the least.  Putting “the rest of my life” and “support myself” in the same question was probably not a great idea.  Either question on its own is a lot to handle and would make even the strongest of people feel a little weak in the knees.

But wait a minute.  Why is it a lot to handle?  Is it because of the words I used?  The way I phrased it?  Is it because of the way I am making the question so all encompassing or possibly because it is charged with my anxiety and my fear?  The knowledge that the last remnants of my old identity, the me I have known for so long, and feel comfortable with, has to change.

Wow that’s the golden nugget I was looking for, change.  That’s it really.  The underlying emotion we feel in almost every situation has to do with how we are perceiving change.

If we perceive change as something to be feared or something to be lost than it creates a sense of anxiety.  Rereading my words above “the last remnants of my old identity, the me I have known for so long…” are riddled with a sense of fear and loss.  My whole thought process surrounding the imminent change that is upon me is that I am going to be worse off than I am now.  I will be losing a part of myself, my identity.

Whether the change happens because a relationship ends, or our children grow up and leave home, or our careers are changing or ending, it doesn’t matter.  Whether the change is our choice usually doesn’t matter either.  We still feel a sense of loss and a sense of fear of the unknown that somehow it won’t be as good as we know now.

But what if we think of it, this change that is upon us, in a different way?  What if we embrace change as an inevitable and wondrous part of life?  That we are grateful for an opportunity to grow and evolve?  Immerse ourselves in a process of self-discovery?  Know in our hearts that as we grow we expand our body of life experiences, not diminish them or us in any way.

Maybe the key to handling life and the inevitable changes we will experience is really all in our perception.  Possibly even more simply in the delivery of the questions.

So I’ll try it a different way.

“What’s the plan, Stan?” I ask myself with a smile.

Please visit Patricia at her website

http://godisinthelittlethings.com