It’s Sunday morning and I’m cruising through face book and I see this quote from Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and writer: “We must take sides; neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.”

Then, a few posts down I see this, “God seeks our authenticity.” From Justin Tanis, from the Pacific School of Religion.

The first thought got me thinking, should we be attacking Syria for its crimes against their own people? I mean, they have been killing each other for a long time now. )I don’t know how long, I do try to keep positive about life and I keep sending love and light there and everywhere in this Universe, but I try to not get too much into the negative in the world. My thought is to know enough of what is happening and send as much assistance as possible.)

It’s like letting the Holocaust go on for so long…what’s the quote about not doing something to help others until they (meaning the ‘bad guys’) come for you? And the second quote asks me what is mine to do so I remain ‘authentic’?

Well, then we have to ask ourselves, what is my definition of being authentic? What is authenticity to myself? What does that mean?
And that takes me to our classes where we are discussing “The Four Agreements” and “The Fifth Agreement” by Don Miguel Ruiz and Don Jose Ruiz. Here we are asked again and again, “What do we believe?” We have been ‘domesticated’, Don Jose’s word, I believe, by society and family and education and religion, etc., to believe all kinds of things, often without a single thought about what it really means.

But do we REALLY believe them?

Or, better yet, do we know WHAT it is we say we believe?

Don’t know. I’m working on all that…daily. As things come up I have to ask myself how I want to respond to it. Or even, do I want to respond to it? Where does the challenge fit into my integrity? Do I need to look at my integrity again and check it with what I believe today?

All interesting questions…at least for me.

So, where does that lead us with the original question in this essay? Well, it asks how do you ‘take sides?’ There are many ways to do that. It could mean advocating bombing Syria if we continue using that situation as an example for discussion. It could mean agreeing with the solution at hand. It could mean writing our representatives with our opinion. It could mean praying and sending positive energy to those involved with the choices that must be made in this complicated world.

It could even mean doing nothing. That’s what choice is all about. And it’s a choice with integrity that we are looking for when and if we respond.

So, what do you think? Have you thought about what it means to take sides? Do you know what your integrity stands for now? Are you questioning what you believe about everything? Do you understand what people are saying to you or are you just agreeing without even thinking?

Or better yet, are you listening?

As I was receiving a massage today (well done by Diane Heck), several thoughts came to mind. 

For whatever reason, the image of the three monkeys came to mind.  I should probably look back to remember what part of my body Diane was working on at the time!

The three monkeys are associated with the legend ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.  There’s a fourth sometimes included, ‘do no evil,’ depicted with crossed arms. 

In the Western world both the proverb and the image are often used to refer to a lack of moral responsibility on the part of people who refuse to acknowledge impropriety, looking the other way or feigning ignorance.  It may also signify a code of silence in gangs, or organized crime.  Leave it to the West to take something positive and place a negative connotation on it!

In the Buddhist tradition, the tenets of the proverb from which they are taken are about not dwelling on evil thoughts.  And this is where my thoughts travelled, since I am associated with the New Thought ministry, Unity Worldwide Ministries.

In my classes, we have had many discussions about our thoughts and how our thoughts create our world.  There are many ways to look at that, through many writers.  But the bottom line is, what we think, affects us in many way, on many levels.

So what does ‘see no evil,’ ‘hear no evil,’ ‘speak no evil,’ or ‘do no evil,’ have to do with our thoughts?  We are responsible for what we see, hear, say and do.  Personal responsibility is one of the tenets Unity encourages.  Right. 

How can we stop seeing something that is right in front of us?  Sometimes, we probably can’t.  But what we can do is be selective of those things we do see.  For instance, do we have to watch the news all the time?  Do we have to gawk at an auto accident as we pass by?  Do we have to perceive negativity when we see something we don’t understand?

How can we stop hearing evil?  Be aware of what situations we place ourselves in.  We certainly don’t need to listen to ‘talk radio’ or TV shows that promote negative information or misinformation.  We can select not to participate in gossip.  We can be aware of the people we choose to associate with.

‘Speak no evil’ is one of the easiest.  We are in control of what we say.  So, don’t say anything that’s negative.  Too hard?  No, not really.  It takes time to first, be aware of what we see, hear, say.  Then, we need to recognize what it is we are doing.  Are we reacting to something?  Or someone?  These patterns can be eliminated.  Just takes a little work.

Once we have hearing, seeing, saying under our control, what we do is easy.  We control what we do, no one else does.

All this comes down to our thoughts.  It is our thoughts and what we think about what we see, hear, say and eventually do, that shows the world and ourselves who we acknowledge who we truly are.

I have this bumper sticker in my home as a reminder: “Think Good Thoughts:  Words become actions; Actions become habits; Habits become character; Character becomes destiny.”

It all determines what we will see, hear, say, do…THINK.

As a Unitic (Unity inspired person) I believe in the concept that we are all One, God in us and us in God.  God as Substance, there’s all these Ideas out in the ethers for us to draw from.  This is how we increase our abundance.  We take the Divine Ideas and bring them forth through our thoughts and thoughts create. And we always called that co-creating with God. (And here I use the term God but one could use Spirit, Divine Wisdom, Divine Universe, etc.)

So, I was reading the “Fifth Agreement” by Don Jose Ruiz for my Tuesday class.  We are in the midst of the “Four Agreements” by his father Don Miguel Ruiz.  And he presented this idea in a different way.  He looks at the creation process as a re-creation from us. 

We are re-creating what God has already created in Divine Idea.  And this makes sense to me.  God has the idea in substance in the ethers and when we are aware of the idea, when we come forth with the idea, we would then be re-creating what God has already created in the idea.

Some may say, “Yea, but Sandy, the idea has to be brought into form and that is the creating.” And I say, but is that really co-creating?  I guess you could say it is because the Idea comes from God first. 

I wonder what you all think about this.  Let me know.

I’ve been seeing that phrase a lot lately, especially on Facebook. It means different things to different people, I’m sure. Many of us who have been Star Wars fans from the beginning have associated a spiritual connotation to it. The Force is our Christ presence. It is our True Being, our Soul, our Spirit.

And when I think of our True Being, our Power comes to mind. We have been talking about our personal power in my classes. It comes up again and again as we discuss the different things we are doing to become self-aware of exactly who we really are.

Some of us struggle with it all. The thought that we are powerful human beings having this amazing experience is beyond many of our own ability to comprehend. I think sometimes we think too much about it all. If we have moved along on this journey, we have some idea of who we really are, what we really are.

So we take that knowledge and mold your integrity around what it is that we have learned. What is it that we believe is the ‘right’ way to handle certain situations? Do we believe we are all ONE? DO we believe that animals have the ‘right’ to not be mistreated? Do we believe in keeping Mother Earth and Father Sky clean for this and each following generation? Do we believe we all have the ‘right’ to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”?

Once we answer these easy questions we develop our integrity. And they really are easy. Once we have our integrity in place, life is easy. Any ‘opportunity’ to choose between something that places our integrity in question, we easily make our choice because if it’s against that integrity that we have adopted, we easily choose what our response is to be. If we go against that integrity, it hurts. It doesn’t sit well at all in our conscious. So, it’s simple.

And what does that have to do with our personal power, you may ask? That’s simple too. If we know what we stand for within that integrity we have formed, we have power in our belief that what we stand for is ‘right’ for us. That’s power. We KNOW that we believe in certain things, and even though we are open to hear some one’s else’s point of view, if it goes against that ideals we have stood for, we can easily walk away from it.

If, on the other hand, it causes us to think about a belief we have, that’s ok too. Because we have the strength in our formed integrity to question the new thought or idea, weigh it against our current beliefs, and if it fits better, than we make adjustments. We try it on. If it feel ‘right’ for us, we adopt that idea or thought and adjust our integrity.

As I look over what I’ve written, I’m going back over my life so far and looking for the changes in my beliefs and how I have come to my integrity today. Part of it has to do with finding Unity. A big part. But part of it has to do with my life experiences, good and not so good. But that’s the thing. All those experiences are part of what made me who I am and they all helped me to form the integrity I hold myself to today.

And that’s power. Knowing where I have come from, what I believe, who I am and who I am becoming. Yes, the Force is with me. I may not be a Jedi yet, but with the help from all the Yoda’s that I have met along the way, I push on. Thank you Yoda Sharon. Thank you Yoda Erica. Thank you Yoda Toni. Thank you Yoda Unity LUT teachers. Thank you Yoda friends and family. Thank you Yoda Graycie, Tasha, Alix, Kes, April, Shyla. (All my dogs).

I’m not sure what got me thinking about the prayers we use to say as kids. You know the ones. Here’s the prayer thanking God for our food: “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food. By His hand we are all fed. Give us Lord our daily bread. Amen.”
And then the nighttime one: “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. God bless and then we name all the people we hope God will bless and finish with amen.”

I wondered what the prayers would look like if I took a look at them metaphysically. So, here goes:
God is great. God is good. This is true no matter what name or word you use for God. Could be Universe, Divine, Spirit, Goddess. Any will do. We in Unity and all New Thought believe that God is all good, only good. There is no opposite to good where the Divine is concerned. And if Goddess is all good, that has to be great, right?

Let us thank Him for our food. Well, personally, I thank the Divine Universe for everything. Gratitude is one of the greatest means of increasing abundance there is, so be grateful for all that you have, all you experience, all you know, the people in your life. Even the unpleasant things and people, because there’s a lesson in there someplace.

I am so grateful to be able to see and smell the flowers and the sea air and the good food cooking. I am so grateful I can think and speak and touch. My one dog is almost blind and will lose her one eye in surgery this week because of the glaucoma is that eye. But she is still such a happy dog. I appreciate my sight even more as I watch her get use to finding her way around the house and yard.

And if we look at how we get our food, we can see that the Universe has a part in it all. We get our ideas from the Great Cosmos, ideas are our gift from God/Goddess. So, the knowledge to know how to plant and what to plant and how to get the harvest to where it can be used to nourish the people of the world, that’s all part of the wisdom Divine Spirit has given us.

So, yes; by His hand we all are fed is true. We just have to let go of our need for more than we need and the whole world could be fed, and safely too.

Because we only need ‘our daily bread.’ We don’t need to stock up with food that doesn’t get used until it’s too late and spoiled. We don’t need so much that we throw away at one meal more food than what some people get in a week, and not just in third world countries either. There are families, children in this country who are food insecure, not knowing where the meal is coming from or when.

It’s not much different than the Israelites crossing the desert. Yaweh provided manna twice a day for sustenance. They didn’t need anything else and they didn’t need to save anything day-to-day. They just had to trust and follow the guidance given them.

Now let’s look at that nighttime prayer. Now I lay me down to sleep; that’s simple enough.

I pray the Lord my soul to keep. How can God not keep our soul? We are part of Goddess and so our soul cannot be apart from the Divine.
And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Same thing. We are all part of the One, whatever you want to call that ONE. So, living, dying. God is with us, in us, a part of us. And of everyone and everything else.

And Blessing everyone is a most wonderful thing to do. When we bless someone, we are saying, be plentiful; be at peace; be happy. So, yes; bless everyone and everything. Send them peace and love. This is how peace begins, with each one of us. Be peace. Give peace. Be loving.

I’ve been practicing PATIENCE these last few weeks.  It’s not something I had on my agenda to do, tho I must say that I do try to be patient in my daily living.

No, it’s my oldest dog, April.  She had a medical incident that I thought was a stroke.  Her one eye couldn’t open and she was so restless that neither of us had much sleep that night.  Of course, Shyla, my other dog, slept through the whole thing!

Taking her to the vet to find out she has glaucoma in her right eye.  It was compounded with an abscessed tooth on her right side too.  So, surgery took care of the tooth.  The eye is another story.

April was already very challenged with her eyesight due to cataracts in both eyes.  She could still see pretty well though.  And she could follow me her nose which she said was in very good working order, thank you very much!

After this episode, however, she has hardly any sight, some motion and about 6 inches in front of her she can see SOMETHING is there.

So, we have been taking extra care watching out for her so she doesn’t get into any trouble falling.  She likes to be independent so likes to wander around, but now I have to make sure she doesn’t wander too far or into any danger.

I have had to adjust my work inside and out. Outside, always looking for where she is and going to get her, at least until we figure out some kind of outside pen so she can be with me as I work in the yard and garden.

Inside it’s not too much of a problem until I try to work on my class work.  For those of you who are not aware, I lead classes in this area on spirituality, metaphysics and self-awareness. I spend a d amount of time preparing and with April, now, getting interrupted to get her, move her from falling off the couch, taking her out when she used to be able to do that on her own.

That is where the patience come in.  It can be frustrating when moving along with a thought and have to stop because she needs out, or rescued from something. So if this seems a bit out of sync, my apologies!

I don’t recall asking for more patience?  We all know to be careful of what we ask for because we may just get it, and not necessarily how we thought!  I do recall asking for patience decades ago, while still teaching and in another working situation where personalities clashed.  But not lately.

So, the Universe may be catching up with me, which I doubt.  I recall many opportunities to practice patience during those times. 

Maybe one more opportunity to give to others?  Been doing that.  Almost to a fault.

Whatever the lesson, I will work on patience for my little furry friends and take care of them.  They have been a blessing. And maybe that’s the message, to honor all life (something I’ve been contemplating with the mosquitoes).  And to honor every day, live it because we do not know when it will change with the loss of a loved one.

So, I will continue to love my April, and my Shyla, my two bichons.  And all life, even the mosquitoes (I’ll give ‘em a chance to leave the house). And I will hold reverence for each and every day, even when we don’t sleep because April can’t get settled.  And when I’m working, I will remember said these things. 

And I will ask the Universe to remember I already worked on PATIENCE!  

Yesterday I viewed the video from Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday interview with Maya Angelou.  In the interview, Dr. Angelou talked about, with tears of joy I might add, how important her peace and joy with her life was through her association with Unity.  If you are not aware of Unity, it is the organization that professes the spiritual philosophy based upon the teachings of Jesus.  We believe in the power of prayer, that God is all good and only good, that thoughts create our world. 

I say we because I too have been transformed through the teachings of Unity.  So much so, that I went through the training to become a licensed teacher in Unity.

The founders of Unity, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, believed that their teachings could be an addition to Christian teaching that folks received in their churches.  That is why, originally, churches and ministers were not part of their plan.  Eventually, they were encouraged to begin training ministers.

Another testamony to the power of Unity’s teaching was the interview, again with Oprah Winfrey, with Jason Collins, the professional basketball player.  He stated that a Daily Word reading is, in part, what encouraged him to take the steps to come out as being gay.  Daily Word is a publication of Unity Worldwide Ministries.

And Oprah herself, has noted that the book, “Discover the Power Within” changed her life and how she looked at spirituality.  The book was written by Eric Butterworth, a very well known Unity minister and writer,

I often wish that there was some way I could tell everyone the power of the truth I, and many others, have found through the New Thought philosophy.  I am putting my life’s work toward that goal as I hold my classes here in the Rehoboth Beach, Delaware area.  If you are in the area and want to know more, please contact me.  If you are not in this area, there are Unity churches and centers all over the world.  Maybe it’s time to contact one of them. 

Peace to you all.

I heard the phrase, “Living in the question” the other day and wondered about it.  Of course, I quickly looked for something to write it down on so I would remember it.  I have learned that I am past remembering something that I think I should remember easily.  If I don’t write it down, it’s usually gone for a long time if not for good.

So, I asked my ‘text’ buddy, ANA, what her thoughts were on the phrase.  Her first response was ‘being fully in the moment’.  Then, ‘it depends on the question’.  Her next was a good one, I thought, ‘in the asking and the unraveling’.

After thinking about it for awhile, I had thought it had to do with being in the NOW moment.  I thought it had to do with the level of consciousness.

Our level of consciousness is a determining factor in much more then we are probably aware of in our daily activities.  In fact, it may be THE determining factor in our choices.  I say that because where we are in consciousness makes us more aware of the choices that reflect our integrity.  Our integrity is an integral part of our choices.  If something doesn’t fit in with our integrity, we can usually “feel” that and we can choose to stay within the boundary that our integrity was formed with.

If we go ahead and choose outside those integrity boundaries, we always have another choice!  I heard this statement the other day too:  ‘it doesn’t have to be your final answer”.  That’s what choice is all about.  That can be looked at as the difference between choice and decide. 

If you look at the word decide, you will notice that it ends with ‘cide’.  ‘Cide’, as in insecticide, pesticide, homicide …get it?   ‘Cide’ means kill, death.  No other decision.

But choice always gives you another choice, if you want it.  SO, unlike “Millionaire” where you must have a ‘final answer’, when you choose, it doesn’t have to be your final answer.  Each and every moment is a choice moment, just choose again.  Start where you are, wherever

While listening to a podcast of my minister, Rev. Toni Fish from Unity in Frederick, MD, I was reminded of one of the favorite subjects of one of the instructors at Unity Village, Rev. Dr. Paul Hasselback.  That subject is ‘watch your language.’ 

Toni was referencing a story she saw in the monthly Science of Mind magazine where in the writer was talking about Hurricane Sandy and the fact that the household was going to ‘lose power’.  Think about that…what are you really saying to the universe when you say, ‘we lost power’ or ‘I lost power’?   You’ve just given your power away just as easily as if you handed it over to someone and said, “Here, do with me what you wish”. 

Think about it.  What other ways have you handed over your power with careless words?

Here’s another thing we hear all the time, mostly in the media (which is another reason NOT to listen to the media!); “the storm was devastating” or “it’s a catastrophe” or “I’m sick about it” or I’m sorry for …” or; it’s a challenge”.  All these words send a vibrational message, if you will, to the universe saying a negative message.

Our self talk is often as negative: “I’m sick”; “I’m tired”, “I’m not smart” or “I’m stupid, dumb, not good enough …”whatever it is that we all put behind the words “I AM”.   If you understand the meaning of those words, you might think twice about using them in a negative way.  The “I AM” is the name Yahweh, God, gives in the Old Testament when ask who it is Moses is speaking with.  So any word or meaning we place after “I AM” is a statement of what or who we actually are. 

Try making up affirmations using the I Am as a start.  I AM good.  I AM kind.  I AM prosperous.  I AM beautiful.  You fill in the blank.  I AM grateful is a very important one.

Here’s something a friend and I use to do while riding in to work: start with the alphabet and say an I AM affirmation for each letter on the alphabet.  I AM agile.  I AM beautiful.  I AM caring.  I AM dependable.  You get the picture.  Try it.  Not only is it a good practice for positive affirmations, but it is great for setting the stage to change your thoughts.  And after all, we all know, “Change your thoughts, change your life!”