One Minute Blessings

Recently I was speaking with my 88 year old aunt, who resides in a quaint village located just outside of Ithaca, NY.  She mesmerized me that day as she spoke about the one minute vacation she had just taken.  My 90 year old uncle had just frustrated her.  This was not a particularly unusual occurrence as they have spent sixty-five years together.  She went outside to hang up clothes as a brief respite.  However, on her way to the clothesline she encountered a red-winged dragonfly that stopped her in her tracks. 

Aunt Betty then began to share.  “You know, Suzi, as I watched that dragonfly, time stood still.  I thought to myself, ‘Oh beautiful gift, I have never seen anything like you before!’  I watched in amazement as it hovered above our sunflowers, first visiting one; then another and finally resting upon a third.  Before I realized it half an hour had passed and I realized I had been one with that dragonfly.  I was no longer angry with your Uncle Don.  No, instead, I loved everything and everyone.  Have you ever experienced these one minute vacations?”

As I listened to my aunt, tears of gratitude flowed from my eyes.  Once more I knew that I had not come to ISIS, the International Seminary for Interfaith Studies, by chance.  I had been led there by my ancestors and spirit guides. You see, I have the capabilities to share the love expressed by my aunt to multitudes.  I have learned the lesson of loving myself by delving deep within my depths, visiting my inner demons, releasing them, and forgiving myself.  As I have risen anew, I have discovered an inner light within myself that acknowledges multiple one minute vacations, which I call one minute blessings.   

Now as I hit a tee shot across the fairway of a golf course, I also take time to acknowledge the squirrel running across with a nut in its mouth.  Have you ever taken a second to wonder how that squirrel came to be, or the nut for that matter?

Or as I watch a punt go high in the air at a football game, I find myself watching cloud formations that come rolling across the sky at that very second.  How did that cloud come to exist, or our sky with all its massiveness? 

If I go backward in time to when I used to work and remember the intensity of the pressure and stress that I often experienced; I can also recall hearing a bird chirp outside my window.  I would glance up to see the sun filtering between the leaves of the trees.  How did the birds, sun and trees come to be?

And finally when I rest at home within the warm embrace of my  four –legged companions, I feel a joy, peace and serenity that cannot be expressed in words.  At times like this I sit with the words of Lao Tzu,

“She who is centered in the Tao can go where she wishes without danger.  She perceives the universal harmony, even amid great pain, because she has found peace in her heart.”

               

This is the gift Aunt Betty gave me a few weeks ago.  I had never been as aware as I am now.  Just yesterday my one minute blessings included watching a hawk as it lit upon a fence post; watching a Great Blue Heron as it soared above me and landed in a field next to me; watching a small gray squirrel as it tried to camouflage itself as it sat in the crook of a grapevine; and listening to the babbling of the Haw River as it twisted and turned around the rocks that have emerged now that the water is lower with the arrival of fall and less rain. 

And so I awake each morning ever more grateful for being alive in this moment in time … as I start my day with the words,

“Mother, Goddess, Divine within Me, please expand my impact in such a way that I may touch more lives to share your light, joy and peace to the depths of my soul and theirs. And so it is.”

Author: Suze Robinson, ISIS Class of 2013

Suze Robinson is a 2^nd year Seminary Student with ISIS who resides with her two dogs, Logan and Tobi, in Pittsboro, NC.  She is a spiritual counselor, storyweaver and companion to the elderly.

               

The 5 Questions

I used to love Mad Magazine when I was a kid, and I especially liked the “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions” department. I thought about that recently when I was waiting for the bus and a woman walked up and asked, “How long has it been since the last bus came?”  I refrained from saying, “About 15 minutes, and I didn’t get on it just so I could stay here and tell you”. Someone once said that the quality of our questions tends to determine the quality of our lives, so I had too much compassion for the woman to lay my sarcasm on her. Besides, I know from listening to my own questions and observing the results that I still often ask lousy ones, too.  Through the years I’ve consciously worked to improve the quality of my questions and this has served my spiritual unfolding well.

Every Passover, Jewish people ask the 4 Questions, but right now there are 5 general types of questions that are alive in me. So here they are, the 5 Questions, in order of value for me as a minister and as a human being (which, by the way, the great majority of ministers are):

“Why?” This is the ultimate; the biggie. “Why am I here?” represents my purpose, my mission, my vision for life. It becomes the GPS system behind my every choice. But I only get to ask it once. Once I clearly know my big “why” and have put it out into the universe, any additional “why” questions are counter-productive. I refer especially to those common “why” questions such as, “Why do these things always happen to me?”, “Why does he/she/they always act/think/talk that way?”, and “Why can’t I follow through on my intentions?” These questions tend to keep me in victim mode and usually stop me from focusing and acting on my big “why” as well as on the other quality questions that are listed below. They cloud my vision and they slow its manifestation. They interfere with the divine process of perfect unfolding that I am. They prevent me from being the change I wish to see in the world. Basically, they stink.

“Where?”  So much depends on where I am in my consciousness. So the most important question I can ask myself in any particular moment is “where am I?” Am I in my heart or in my head? Am I right here in this place and present moment, or am I elsewhere?  Am I going with the flow or trying to swim upstream? Am I in a space of serving God or serving me? Am I present and connected to my experience, or am I running away or hiding my head in the sand? I find that things unfold much better and faster in my life when I’m present, especially when I’m in my heart.  When I’m not where I choose to be, by asking this question I can change my “location.”

“What?”  “What do I choose to do right now that will bring me closer to my “why”?” This question is vital, and equally vital is following through on the answers that come, especially if I’m in my heart when I ask. My brain provides all kinds of answers, mostly limited and based on old ego patterns; my heart gives me the one that is aligned with my divine Self and that brings peace, even when it seems impossible to my little head. So another wonderful and intimately related question is, “What can I do to clear out all this brain fog and tap more into my heart?” And another, perhaps easier one for me to remember is, “What am I grateful for?”, because when I remember to be grateful my heart automatically opens and the universe opens to me. This “what” question helps me to be in the right “where”.

“When?”  This one falls far behind the others. The only valuable “when” question for me is, “When should I do the ‘what’?” The answer to that one, of course, is always, “As close to ‘now’ as possible.” “When is it (love, money, whatever) coming?” is a weak question because the time frame for things to manifest is not my responsibility. It also reinforces the idea that I don’t already have it and therefore my illusions of lack and separateness. “When will I start thinking, speaking and acting in accordance with my highest truth” is a decent question, as long as I allow it to motivate me and don’t use it to beat myself up for having to ask it. 

“How?” is last and least. As one of my teachers says, “When the ‘why’ is big enough the ‘hows’ take care of themselves.” So I don’t have to spend a lot of time asking this. The universe works perfectly, and I let it do its thing. How can my body do 600 octillion things in each second? I don’t know, but it does.  How does an entire universe remain in balance, even with all the absurdly arrogant and interferential contributions from mankind? I don’t know, but it does. How do intention and love inevitably lead to creation and manifestation? I don’t know, but they do. So I needn’t concern myself with how. I’ve noticed that when I focus on my big “why” (and continue to ask the “wheres” and the “whats”), the “hows” come to me in the form of teachers, books, people, circumstances and inner guidance at just the right times.

Well, there you have it, and I realize now that I left out “who.”  Oh well, put it in there somewhere with the top 3, especially if I’m asking “Who am I?” or at least, “Who do I intend being in this moment” and not, “Who’s to blame?”

          

           My wish is for us all to ask the most empowering questions and to find the most joyous and fulfilling answers to them. These questions will help vivify and beautify our own lives as well as the lives of those we serve, and at the same time contribute to the ongoing global awakening.

And if someone asks you how long it’s been since the last bus, be compassionate!

Author: Stew Bittman, ISIS Class of 2013

With his wife Hillary, Stew is the Spiritual Leader at Unity at The Lake in South Lake Tahoe, CA. Their blog and full bios can be found here: http://bittmanbliss.com/wordpress/