Domination leads us endlessly toward differences, judgment, criticism and fear. As long as we live in the world of domination/duality we live in a world based on right and wrong, better than and less than. The world is filled with pain and suffering and limitations.

Dominion allows us to see the connections and similarities. Becoming one with everything and everyone is a by-product of living ones spiritual path. Yet, as we move toward a more loving perspective of life we often begin to judge violence and what we perceive as cruelty.

But, isn’t a belief in separation at the root of all cruelty and violence? Don’t we first need to feel different, detached in order to inflict pain on another?

What if we made an effort to see the similarities in everything and everyone? Everytime we judge someone or something we reinforce our sense of separation. Instead of feeling part of we tear ourselves apart just a little bit more.

My neighbors got a puppy. It barks all the time. I found myself getting more and more annoyed as I judged the puppy and the people. Then I thought about the puppy. It is allowed to do whatever it wants, when it wants. I thought of the sheer joy of being able to bark and bark and bark. Now when I hear the puppy I think of the freedom and joy it is experiencing and smile. When I remember I can focus on the puppy’s joy instead of my mind’s sense of order.

Next time you are annoyed by something see if you can see it in a different way. Walk a mile in the other’s shoes and see what happens.

With love,
Susan

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Life is and then we tell ourselves a story about what just happened. The story is seldom audible – it is totally automatic and so much a part of our everyday life that we simply react based on the story. The sad part is we believe we are reacting to life.

When I lived on Oahu I lived right down the road from where they filmed portions of Jurassic Park. It is a wonderful story, beautiful scenery, intense and a wonderful example of how easy it is the get hooked into the illusion of the story.

Day by day we interact with our beliefs, agreements and assumptions thinking we are experiencing life. We aren’t experiencing life at all we are in a shadowy dance with our mind. Once we are fully aware of that we are free to make a different choice.

All of life is emotionally neutral until we add the story. So if you are feeling judgmental about the cruelty you perceive in life realize the cruelty resides totally in your filter system, your mind. Explore what cruelty means symbolically for you. Observe where you may be cruel to yourself or others with your judgment. What role does cruelty play internally in your life? Once you change that role your perception of life will change.

When we throw gasoline on a fire it certainly doesn’t facilitate extinguishing the fire. If we view the world and judge it we are adding more fear to the world. If we want our world to be full of love then we must throw loving thoughts into our world.

In a very real sense there is no out there. What we really see is our projection of inner world. As we clear out our perception we begin to see a wonderful play ground where we can experiment with our beliefs. This universe is a perfect place for us to practice all our imperfections and in the process see our perfection.

Awareness, transformation and intent are three useful keys to clearing out your perspective. In the coming days I will no doubt talk about each of them. If you are in a hurry to find out about them I explain them in my book The Toltec Way.

With love,
Susan

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Living in Hawaii I spend a great deal of time with the ocean. I love the hues of blue and green and turquoise that surround these islands. If you watch the waves long enough you can begin to sense their rhythm and get to know them. If you look beyond the waves you can see the currents of the ocean.

Often there are rip currents lurking in our waters. If you are swimming and get caught in one the current pulls you relentlessly out to sea. If you swim against it you will exhaust yourself and get no closer to shore. If you simply swim parallel to the shore and swim beyond the current you can let the waves carry you into shore. If you observe the ocean you can learn to use the waves and the currents.

Life is much like the ocean. The energy behind all of our creations is intent. There is the intent of our small self, rather fear based and myopic in its vision. There is the intent of our spirit, expansive and loving. And then there are the intents of the people around us.

If we pay attention we can get to know the currents – we can begin to feel the energy that runs through all of life and we can decide. Do I want to exhaust myself fighting the currents or find one that will take me where I want to go?

When I surrender and allow myself to connect with my spirit – when I let myself be buoyed up and nurtured by that current magic and miracles happen.

Play with your intent, play with your understanding of intent and see where it takes you. All I have to do is look at my life to see my intent. If I am happy my intent was to experience happiness and if I am a angry it was my intent to experience anger. I don’t have to change the world to change my experience – just modify my intent and allow my perspective to be fluid.

With love,
Susan

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Motivation in the traditional sense often comes from a fear-based place. It is an activity that originates in our mind. It is often based on a judgment or attitude of scarcity or self-doubt and seldom comes from a place of self-acceptance and love. We often motivate ourselves by moving away from pain rather than moving toward pleasure. When we choose to move away from pain we create pain to move away from. In school, relationships, and the work place we are often motivated by external rewards or fear of loss or punishment.

Whenever we make choices based on fear the best we can create is more fear. If we make our choices based on love we create more love. Our personality self has an endless list of wants and needs, things to accomplish, objects to acquire, and goals to achieve. The more we feed our small self the more we disconnect from our spirit. Our motivation often springs forth from our mind or our small self, but you can change that.

At the other end of the spectrum is our inspiration. Inspiration occurs when we connect with our spirit. In that moment magic occurs and we see beyond our limitations. Suddenly the solution to an issue that seemed insurmountable becomes obvious. At some point in our life we have all had the experience of that moment of wonder when we connect with the divine within us all. It may have been as a young child, but it is always available if we are willing to listen to the quiet still voice of our spirit.

Life has a way of hooking our attention and assisting us in forgetting to take time to connect with our spirit. Notice how you motivate yourself and allow for the possibility you can begin to use love instead of fear. When you want to change something instead of thinking about how to change it take a few moments, get quiet and ask your inner wisdom for guidance on how to change it.

No matter what the question love is always the answer and fear is usually our default setting. Observe yourself, watch how you think about motivation and modify it until is resembles inspiration and is loves based.

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