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

Ye are the light of the world.
St. Matthew 5:14

The outer world is changing.  The only thing that is not changing and will never change is the sacred and holy place within you.  

The messaging we are receiving in all forms of the media is contributing to the separation we are experiencing now in ourselves and with each other.  We must wake up lest we become divided against ourselves.  Can you see that concepts of right and wrong are man made?  We have to search inside ourselves now to find “the way, the truth and the life.” It is in that place that you will find the answers to all your questions and the clarity that is so needed at this time.  It is in that place that we can reconnect to the oneness of all life and the unity of our humanity.  It is in that place that you raise the consciousness and find the power to rise above any outer circumstance and the peace that enables you to endure any outward condition. 

It is your holy essence, that which is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow which has been there since the beginning of time.  All the answers lie within you.  It is the gift of life—the treasured essence and clarity of your being.  You will find it and utilize it through inner exploration, meditation, quiet walks in nature, and being still with the Self.  That is the answer for these times in which we live.

We cannot count on the outer world to give us what we are seeking.  Our charge then is to realize our oneness with all of life and the peace and harmony that comes from that awareness.  Blessings then abound even in what seems like the darkness.  Truly, our richest life is lived from the inside out.  We find in the center of our being everything we’ve been seeking, including freedom, and we are at peace at last.

Affirmation
I am here for the healing body, mind and spirit of everyone on this planet and for the healing of Mother Earth.

Rev. Karen Wylie

At the present time, the dysfunction of the old consciousness and the arising of the new are both accelerating.  Paradoxically, things are getting worse and better at the same time.  Although the worse is more apparent because it makes so much “noise.”
Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks

Recently I was playing a doubles tennis match and something interesting happened to one of the opponents on the other side of the net.  He became very upset with himself over the way he was playing and he began pummeling himself with negative self-talk.  As expected, the more he railed against himself, the more his game deteriorated.  He became angrier and angrier.  As I watched him, I realized he was really in a tennis match with his ego, not us, and his ego was winning.  He told me later that his ego has been in charge for most of his life.  He’s used it as a defense mechanism while inside himself, he’s often felt weak and vulnerable.

We now have evidence every day of what happens when the ego takes charge.  As we have seen, an ego out of control can be a dangerous thing.  When the ego is allowed to take charge, we often discover a scared being out of control.  The ego is run by fear, and the greater the fear, the greater the need to control everything.  Sometimes we think a huge ego is a great power but that is never the case.  It is in the letting go of our need to be seen and heard that we find our true power.  True power is humbling.  It is not arrogant and forceful.  

So we check in with ourselves.  What are we saying and doing that is real and how much of it is a lie trying to cover up a false sense of self?  Now, more than ever, we must be in high integrity with the self.  Now more than ever, we must shine the light of truth and beauty everywhere we go.  The world needs our compassion and understanding.  The world needs our clarity and conviction.  Through living in our highest integrity, we give others the opportunity to do the same.  Inside each of us, whether we know it or not, is the most beautiful essence of divine life.  We are meant to live from that place…defenseless, for in that place, there is nothing to defend against.

Affirmation
I choose to live in highest integrity with myself!  I know who I am!  

Rev. Karen Wylie

Know Thyself
One of the Delphic maxims inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

When Martin Luther King said “But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop…I’ve seen the Promised Land,” he was not talking about having reached a level of popularity and acclaim in the outer world. He was talking about what he had discovered within himself.

He was telling us, just like Jesus before him, to seek ye first the kingdom of God within. It’s about learning to live from the inside out. This spiritual aspect of you has been there from the beginning of time. It has never succumbed to the illusion of separation. It knows only oneness, unconditional love and eternal life.

We are here to get to know and trust that place within each of us. It is a safe harbor in any storm that arises. This world we are living in is filled with ups and downs, things and events we call good or bad. That within us, which is our connection to the Christ Presence, will always show us the way to peace and love in troubled times. It will always provide answers to our toughest questions and comfort in our greatest need and biggest challenges.

Our job is to become so aligned with the Spirit within us that we are the beacons of light for others who are lost and cannot see. We become the visionaries, the instrument through which a great transformation takes place on planet earth. We rise together to see a glorious new day filled with oneness, peace, love and inclusivity. We are not at the effect of the coronavirus or the economy or separation of any kind that may occur in the outer world. We are the change makers of our time. Peace and prosperity show up as soon as we open the door to our own inner storehouse of well-being.

Know Thyself…Great words for an important time in our history. There is a great healing in body, mind and spirit happening individually and collectively on the planet at this time. We keep our eye single upon a great vision for oneness and unconditional love throughout the land.

Affirmation
I am an instrument through which God’s love reveals itself.

Rev. Karen Wylie