Patriotism isn’t blind allegiance, but instead means holding our country accountable to what it can be…Let’s move away from the fringes that sow distrust and get back to center. Let’s hold a vision of America that doesn’t demand perfection of its leaders, but instead seeks in them honesty, strength and passion.
Abraham Lincoln

My country tis of thee…sweet land of liberty. How grateful I am for my freedom…the freedom I experience in so many ways!

Our country has been built on the idea that we can make decisions for ourselves. We can even decide if we want to be a he, she, them or they. How wonderful to have that kind of freedom. Often times, though, our fear, individual and collective, gets in the way of our own freedom.

The wonder of a democracy is that we individuals have choice about what that freedom looks like for each of us. I do know this…when we begin the great individual spiritual quest to “know thyself,” ultimately we come to the great realization of our innate freedom. That is what enabled Nelson Mandela to be imprisoned for years, yet ultimately to become president of his country. Freedom is our essential spiritual nature. When we know this, we understand the importance of cherishing the freedoms we have.

Throughout the ages, people have been ruled by fear. Yet, the essential nature of humanity is love. Many of us do not know that yet, but the truly great ones among us do know it and have been examples of it for all to see.
Fearlessness is our call to our greatness as individuals and as a country.

Democracy is about freedom, and we must be fearless in our pursuit of freedom. As Abraham Lincoln so beautifully alluded to, let us all seek within ourselves honesty, strength and passion.

Affirmation
I live in freedom and love!

Rev. Karen Wylie

With our attention focused on all the knowledge in our head, we no longer perceive the world through the eyes of love; we only perceive what we have learned to believe.
Don Miguel Ruiz, The Voice of Knowledge

It’s not just me.  It’s not just you.  It’s all of us together…black, brown, white, red, yellow…a kaleidoscope of color, always moving, ever changing…we, the people living here on earth.  At the most basic level, we are all the same though we do not want to believe it.

In our arrogance, we want to believe that we and our tribe are special and unique.  It’s impossible for most of us to recognize our sameness.  It’s impossible to imagine that the heart in each breathes and breaks over the same things.  It’s impossible for some of us to imagine that someone else, no matter the nationality or heritage, could possibly be dealing with the same exact trials and tribulations.

Perhaps it’s hard to imagine a world filled with love and acceptance when most of us don’t even love and accept ourselves.  Our expertise is in judgment—judging ourselves or others.  We don’t know the truth of our own divinity so it’s easy to judge ourselves or others as inadequate, unworthy and unlovable.  In our ignorance, we let our ego run amuck, our ego which is desperately trying to make us feel good about ourselves.  Oh my, what work we have to do on this planet, first to discover who we truly are at the deepest level and then collectively to be able to see our neighbors as ourselves.  It begins in you and me.  The healing of the lies we’ve told ourselves and the ones we’ve bought into as children.  

How do we begin again?  Turn off your cell phone and every other device coming from the outside world.  Find a comfortable place to sit quietly by yourself.  Take a deep dive inside yourself, quieting the monkey mind that is all about distraction.  Imagine a light in the center of your being, just focus your attention on that light which is God light.  Concentrate your attention there every day two or three times a day.  It is you communing with your divine center.  It is you waking up from the confusion and distraction of a crazy world.  

Make a habit of your self-contemplation.  You will begin to recognize that you are more than your flesh and bone body, that you can access the energy that has created everything and everyone on this planet.  You will begin to fall in love with the God within you.  You will ultimately realize there is nothing but love and you are indeed that love.

Affirmation
I’m willing to transcend my limited human perspective and see as God sees.

Rev. Karen Wylie

If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships—the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together in the same world at peace.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Most of us don’t even love and accept ourselves.  How then can we be expected to tolerate and accept another?  That defensive posture keeps the wolves at bay in your own consciousness.  As long as I point the finger at something outside of myself, I don’t have to look at my own life and the choices I’ve made.  I can focus on who and what is wrong out there in the world around me.  The focus is off me!  Hallelujah!

Why do we love to think we are right while making someone else wrong?  What would be the motivation for that?  In truth, we are really waging a war against ourselves.  At the deepest level, we are unsatisfied, disappointed and feel betrayed in our humanness.  It seems everybody else got there’s, but I did not get mine—whatever mine is.

It doesn’t occur to us for a moment that we are master of our own fate.  It is so much easier to blame someone else for what we are lacking.  Here is the truth.  You have been given everything you need to live a great life NOW.  It is not about the past or what you think you will not get in the future.  It’s about realizing that right now you have everything you need to live a joy-filled, passionate, prosperous life.  It requires a change in your thinking from lack and limitation to infinite possibility.  

It’s not about anyone else.  This is an inward journey, finding that place within you of divine creativity, that place of self-acceptance and peace of mind.  It’s there for all of us—no matter what we’ve experienced in this lifetime. 

When we are self-realized, we no longer have the need to judge another or make war outside of ourselves.  True self-acceptance and self-love create the space for tolerance and acceptance of others.  Most of us have work to do to create the kind of world Roosevelt speaks of in the above quote, but I believe in us and our human potential to love and be loved.

Affirmation
I am love itself and I see that love everywhere!

Rev. Karen Wylie

Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river.
Lao Tzu

All my life I have believed in an entity that I called God, an entity that would look out for me and keep me safe—an anthropomorphic-like being outside myself.  In my mind, this God always seemed to have human qualities that I could relate to and identify with which were “good.”  Now I realize God is really an energy, a positive flow of ease and grace and goodness.  This God energy is for life and never against it.

I believe that throughout time humans have needed the assurance of a God, sort of a human life-like being who would lead us out of the darkness into the light.  There are Gods all over the world called by different names and worshipped by different people.  I think as humans we have needed to believe in something outside of ourselves…some kind of leader, a God that would help us get out of the darkness into the light.

What an awakening to discover that my humanlike God is really a powerful energy force with which I have become so aligned.  In letting go of my resistance and my feelings of separation (judgment, fear and doubt), I find myself in love with life and everything all around me.  I find myself wanting to be free of resistance to what is.  Things flow to me with the simple thought in mind of what I want.  My only job seems to be to get out of the way of the divine flow of the universe. 

I now know that what I have called God is truly within me.  The power is within me.  It is not an arrogant thing because in the realization of something so vast, so good and so life giving, I am truly humbled.  I will continue to call this life force…this powerful energy…God because that is easy for me, but I now know that God is not outside of me.  God is the fire and energy within me.  What is true for me is true for all of us all over the world, no matter where we come from or the color of our skin.  It only remains for each of us to discover this great truth for ourselves.  That is our holy purpose in this human flesh.  

As I let go of my judgments, my arrogance, my past disillusionments, I am set free to be.  I am in love with life and all that is.  I trust the universe and my place within it. 

All I can say is hallelujah!

Affirmation
Hallelujah!  I am home!

Rev. Karen Wylie

The thoughts and beliefs with which we identify hold the smaller self captive.
Ann Mortifee, In Love With the Mystery

If you want a great life, make one for yourself.  No one else can possibly do it for you yet many of us wait around for our good to show up from outside of ourselves.  Many of us even think that if we just believe in God enough, God will do it for us.  We hold ourselves not responsible for anything.  We wait for life to happen to us rather than deciding that we happen to life.  We want someone else to do it for us. 

Well, truthfully, it is not easy to take complete responsibility for our own happiness.  It’s much much easier to make it someone else’s responsibility or someone else’s fault if things are not going right.

The truth is this, and it’s been said many times by many people, you and you alone are the creator of your life and of your peace and happiness.  You are the one who decides whether today will be a good day or a bad day.  You are the one who decides how long you are going to suffer over a disappointment or loss in life.  Ultimately, you are the one who decides everything.  You are the one with all the power in your life unless you’ve decided to give it to someone else.

The great news is this…you are powerful beyond measure!  You have been imbued with the power to create heaven right here on earth if you want to experience it.  It is a matter of taking dominion over your entire life and taking dominion over your monkey mind which rattles off a thousand thoughts a minute—very few of which matter in the big scheme of things. 

You and you alone are the master of your fate.  It is up to you.  All of us have good news and bad news in life.  Which are you allowing to run your life?  If you are stuck, start asking yourself what the payoff is to being stuck in an untenable situation?  What are you getting out of it?  How is it serving you to escape responsibility for making the changes in your life you need to make?

Your life and your happiness are in your own hands.  God has placed within you everything you need to live a happy and prosperous existence.  You have the power, the resilience, the brilliance and the insight.  Decide today to take dominion over your life.  God supports you and loves you in ways you can’t begin to imagine!

Affirmation
I am master of my own fate and I choose love!

Rev Karen Wylie

Currently your natural energy flow is blocked by the samskaras in your lower energy centers.
Michael A. Singer, Living Untethered

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten…
Joel 2:25

Lately I feel as though I am in a PhD program for spiritual awakening. My past is appearing before me as never before. I now see how the beliefs I developed in the early years of my life (probably before the age of 5) have been determining the decisions I have made throughout my entire life. Those decisions were based on my belief that I was unsafe in this world and that it was up to me to make sure I would be safe for the rest of my life.

At first coming into touch with the reality of that life-long belief system and then looking at all the choices I made in my life over the years based on those beliefs made me very sad and regretful.

But as I sit with this new information and awaken to this reality, I’m seeing my life now and all my experiences and interactions with others in a whole new way. I ask myself, “Is what I’m feeling here based on an old belief system? Is an old story being repeated? What is truly triggering my discomfort? Is there something to fear here or am I just replaying an old tape?” I’m coming full circle back to the miracle when my spirit entered
my baby body—innocent and free, sweet and loving, trusting, adventurous and safe!

Most importantly, I realize now that there is no other. There is only me, being me, looking at me. There is only one. This I think is our whole purpose for being in this human body—that we may have the opportunity before we die to return to our innocence and experience heaven on this earth.

Welcome home!

Affirmation
I am made new!

Rev. Karen Wylie

If you practice letting go of your blockages, not only will you get to live in an elevated inner state, you will also become a blessing on the Earth.
Michael A. Singer, Living Untethered

In his book Singer calls those blockages “samskaras,” and he says they are running our lives, and they will be until they are not. I have discovered in my own life, as I become aware of a blockage, the nature of its beginning, and am able to move past it, I find myself happier, more at peace and more in love than ever before with my life and everyone everywhere. In my acceptance and allowing, the unconditional love within me, which is my essential nature, is free to flow upward and out into the world.

Where I feel any resistance within me now about anything, I take a close look to see what it is I’m resisting, if there is a blockage, and why. This is an advanced course in spiritual awakening. The freedom that comes from letting go of a blockage as it comes up is startling to say the least and so freeing. Many of the blockages we experience come from way back in our childhood, and we have been letting them dictate our lives and the
decisions we make ever since.

What I know absolutely is that my true nature is love. When I take that deep dive within my being I find unconditional love. It is my essence and if nothing is blocking it, the divine flow of my love moves up throughout my whole being and out into the world.

We have come here in physical form to play, dance and sing and certainly to love from the depths of our being.

So I say, resist not or at least take an inward look at what you are resisting and why. You will begin to see the ways in which you have limited your ability to experience the divine flow of unconditional love. Move into acceptance and allowing and set yourself free!

Affirmation
I let go of my resistance to what is.

Rev. Karen Wylie

“Having gone beyond the mind-made opposites, you become like a deep lake.  The outer situation of your life and whatever happens there is the surface of the lake.  Sometimes calm, sometimes windy and rough, according to the cycles and seasons.  Deep down, however, the lake is always undisturbed.  You are the whole lake, not just the surface…”

Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

As I sit to watch the evening news, my heart fills with unbelievable compassion.  I discover it in the deepest part of myself.  It appears that I’m not alone in this discovery for compassion seems to be awakened now in human beings in every corner of the world.  We are getting to see first hand the pain of war, the pain of separation.  

I focus on this awakening of compassion, which seems to be showing up everywhere, no matter the nationality.  We never know why anything happens the way it does.  We never know the good that comes out of events that on the surface seem to be humanly so wrong.

I discover that no matter the situation, my job is always to find the place of healing within myself that allows me to see the blessing in what appears to be catastrophe.  In that way, I become a contributing force for good, not just for myself, but also for the whole human family.

Healings happen in the light of love and compassion.  It is that love and compassion that brings us peace individually and unites us all over the world as one people, inseparable one from another.  And so, as I watch the news, as the events of the day unfold before me, I remember the essence of me, that part of me that can find a greater truth no matter the situation, and the peace and compassion within me for all humanity magnifies.

God is in all things.  I remember that and find my way home to my essential self filled with peace, joy and love.  I remember that I am the whole lake, not just the surface.  I am in touch with my own depth, which remains absolutely still.  It is this deep compassion that creates the potential for healing all over the world. 

Affirmation

I remember who I am at the deepest level no matter what pain I see happening in the outer world.

Rev. Karen Wylie  

Right here.  Right now.  Not in some far off distant place or time, but right here, right now.  What I’ve been looking for is here right now.  Nothing has to change but my sense of reality.  I don’t have to make something happen; I have to allow it to happen.  God as my life is so real.

So I sit this morning submerged in the glory of God.  Sitting in the stillness allows me to break free from the thinking mind.  Then I begin to operate from the mind of God, unlimited and unafraid.  Inspired into conscious living and loving, being open to new and inspired ways of being—unlimited in my potential, thoughtful and generous in my pursuits.  Realizing in an instant…it’s not just about my success and happiness; it’s about everyone’s success and happiness.  Generosity of spirit.  Love for everyone and everything!  Freedom from judgment of others or myself.

This is living a God-inspired life.  It is filled with joy and infinite possibility.  Clearing away all confusion, living from the highest and best within me.  Such freedom—such unbounded freedom.  I am the light, and I see the light.

God is real and I am love.  I am witness to my own perfection.

When we speak of listening with compassion, we usually think of listening to someone else.  But we must also listen to the wounded child inside of us.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Anger

It’s amazing how many wounds we carry from childhood, some so deep we may be dealing with them over and over again throughout our life.

As we evolve spiritually we like to think that once we have faced and handled a particular painful experience from the past, that it is handled for the rest of our life.  Unfortunately that is not the case.  That same wound may be triggered by someone or something else entirely and we are left to once again deal with our painful past.  This may go on throughout life but the good news is hopefully we get better at identifying when we are triggered by something inside of us.  We get better at identifying what is our issue to deal with, not someone else’s.

It may take time in the silence to clearly process what has transpired but over time as our consciousness is lifted, it becomes easier to identify what is ours to deal with and what belongs to another.  And that is the true grace that is given by God in our process of “becoming.”  That is the personal integrity that develops within us as we continue to walk our spiritual path.

Each time we revisit a wound from the past, its power over us is diminished.  We are here in this lifetime to heal the past of anything and everything that would keep us in separation from our divine Self, the Self that knows its oneness with God and all beings.  Do not be afraid to face the past honestly, wounds and all, for that is the way to true freedom and happiness.

Affirmation
I am fearless in my living and loving and am supported by God in all things!

Rev. Karen Wylie