The Plentitude that is Gratitude

One of the consistent tools I use to shift my energy so that I can feel more joy and peace in my life is to start telling myself what I am grateful for. I can be anxious about money or upset with myself for eating something that keeps me up at night, but if I start naming things that I know to be blessing my life, I start to feel better. I can always find something to begin with – even if it is that I am able to breathe. Once I find one thing to be grateful for, others pop into my mind. Before too long, I realize that the money worry or guilty consciousness no longer feels like the 500 pound gorilla sitting on my heart.

As I shift my attention to the many parts of my life to give thanks for, I can feel the tension ease a bit. I notice that my breath is less labored. I can feel more compassion for myself. By continuing to give thanks, I start to remember how truly blessed I am.

I remember during one workshop I attended, we started by first focusing on our breath and then taking turns around the circle of each one expressing gratitude for something. Once we made it around once, we wanted to go again because someone else’s gratefulness reminded us of another of ours. We also noticed that we all started feeling better. Our hearts were being cracked opened by the expressions of thanksgiving around and around the circle. In that openness, we could feel more love and joy.

The mere act of thanksgiving brought a sense of prosperity and abundance. We each had forgotten how many blessings we had in our life. It shifted the energy of the whole group. We left feeling the plentitude of life by merely expressing gratitude for what we had.

Join in me in this meditation below, as we tune into what we are grateful for and see how that opens our heart to the many gifts we have available to us right in this moment.

Embodying Light – Can It Be that Simple?

In my last blog I talked about the basic concepts around experiencing Heaven on Earth, Right Here, Right Now.  One of the first steps is to ask yourself, am I feeling joy in this moment?  Most often the answer is “Not really”.  Sometimes, it can be “Not even close.  In fact, I don’t think it is possible for me to ever feel joy again.”  

I would like to address what we can do if we are feeling so bad that we have lost hope that we can ever feel better.  Circumstances in life can be that tragic, and unfortunately I have been in that space.  Thankfully, it has been a while ago for me, so time has given me some perspective on that period of my life.  However, one cannot listen to a news channel or read a headline in a newspaper without knowing that many are in that state right now.  I often find it hard to have hope when I hear of the many tragedies going on around the world.  

First of all, let me say that I am not a therapist.  I am a student of spiritual truths.  I study and teach what I have learned about the divine nature of our creation and our Creator.  I am ever seeking higher levels of truth and wisdom.  As a seeker and student, I have learned that it is important to discern why I was created in the unique way I was created and to have the unique experiences I have in this lifetime.  Through this exploration I better understand what my life purpose is and how I am to serve.  The umbrella for my personal work is this concept of bringing Heaven on Earth.  By studying what that means I have learned that there really is no “bringing” to it other than bringing awareness to its existence and availability to us no matter what – and more importantly “being” it.

I am fortunate to be among a large group of friends and acquaintances who are using this time of shifting circumstances to look deep into their hearts and see why it is that they came to this planet. They are connecting to their purpose and in connecting with them, I find support in my purpose of bringing Heaven on Earth and figuring out what that really means.

This past week was huge for me.  I participated in a small group experience in which the Divine Feminine spoke through my coach and friend, Rosemary Bredeson.  I am still processing the information given through that transmission.  In fact, it was not just information, it was an energy download as well.  I was reminded to embody as much light as I can so that I can radiate it out into the world.  That is my responsibility.  That is why I came into this world.  That is what my mission “to bring Heaven on Earth” is all about.  When I embody the living light of the Divine, I accomplish my mission.  It is as simple as that.  To hear the full message, go to Rosemary’s website and check it out under her oracle readings – http://thescientificmystic.com/  .

In the context of what we are experiencing on this planet – between the fears of a worldwide Ebola epidemic and the expanding and evolving conflicts in the Middle East – it was comforting to know more specifically what my responsibility was.   Like many I was getting caught up in the fears generated by the relentless, repetitive news about Ebola and the group calling itself an Islamic State.  After much processing and digesting of the message of the Divine Feminine, I realize that my fears are, indeed, merely indicators that I have forgotten that I AM the light.  When those fears come into my awareness, my responsibility is to focus on the light and the love that are me.  As I focus on love and light, they grow.  Fear and darkness cannot exist in love and light.

I invite each of you to this exploration as we experience these shifting times.  When a fear arises, choose to focus on your light and love instead.  See how that shifts your perceptions and your experience. Embody your own slice of heaven on earth, right here, right now.  We are in this together.  As the Hopi’s have said and many friends remind me, “The time of the lone wolf is over.”  As we help each other to remember what is true, we each grow stronger.  We help the evolution of the whole planet.

Namaste.  The light and love that is me honors the light and love that is you.

Heaven is on Earth, Right Here, Right Now

Heaven is on Earth, Right Here, Right Now 

How does that statement strike you?  Do you say, “I believe that and I feel it!”  Or do you say something more like “Dream on.  That is a fantasy or, worse, propaganda put out by religious nuts!” 

If you are like me, you may be somewhere in between.  You want to believe it, but you are not feeling it this moment, and you believe that it is hard to attain.

Would you like to feel it on a more sustained basis?  I know I would and that is probably why the Universe planted the seed in my mind years ago that my divine purpose was to “bring Heaven on Earth”.  When I first heard that as my purpose while in meditation, I cringed a bit.  I felt it was too huge and rather pompous at that.  Yet, as I asked for something more doable, more practical, more defined, the message stayed with me.  “Your purpose is to bring Heaven on Earth.”

Since that time I have been trying to figure it out.  How do I do that?

The answer:  There is no “doing” it.  It is all about “being” it.  Simple, but not necessarily easy.

So, here is where I AM with it.  I ask myself, am I feeling joy in this moment?  If the answer is yes, then I know I am there or at least close.  Most of the time my answer is some form of “Not at all”.  Having brought that into my awareness, I make a choice.  Do I want to stay in that place or do I want something better?  I know it is up to me, and sometimes I choose to just muddle on.  More often, I decide to act on my knowing that I can feel better and use one of my spiritual practices to help me remember who I AM and what is available to me right here, right now in my heart space.  I breathe into that knowing and the simple act of conscious breathing shifts my energy.  It may take some additional work.  It is all part of the process of living as human beings, having forgotten who we really are and what our natural state is.  Most saints and sages agree, happiness is our natural state and feeling joy is an indicator.

Let me give you an example of how this works for me these days. I was sitting in a meeting one evening, and the group was having trouble coming to agreement.  Conflict happens to be a tough thing for me to experience, so I got real serious about trying to resolve the conflict.  In being so serious, I moved myself a long way from joy.  When a friend asked me, “what happened to your laugh?  Where did it go?” I realized I had a choice – stay in that dreary, serious place or find a way to lighten up.  I chose the latter.  I allowed myself to rise above the chatter and see the humor in what I was doing.  My being so serious was not resolving anything.  It was actually adding to energy of perceived conflict.  So I let it go, and allowed myself to laugh.  Through being able to laugh at what was not serving me or the others, I lightened up.  I could feel joy again.  My heart space expanded and I could remember.  Oh, yes.  Here is where Heaven is.  I thought I had lost it.  How silly of me.  It was here all the time.

So what does this have to do with you?  I invite you to journey with me along this path of remembering and forgetting and remembering who we really are and what we really are doing here on earth as human “beings”.  Let’s play and explore and play some more as we find our way to laughter, joy, and happiness, our true birthright.

I will be blogging on this topic twice a month and will occasionally include free meditations to experience the message of the blog more fully.  I hope to lead us in an adventure, an exploration of what heaven on earth really means to us in daily life – ways to connect to our essence and life purpose.  And I want to bring in joy and laughter as components of the process because they are both important pieces. 

If you are reading this for the first time, please sign up on my email list so that you will receive my emails that will include my blogs as well as spotlights on people bringing Heaven on Earth – globally and locally in the D.C. – Maryland area.

In much love and light,

Lilia Shoshanna Rae

Robin Williams – After Death, Still a Teacher on the Meaning of Life

I know a lot of people have written about Robin Williams since his death. He was such an icon for all of us and brought us to so much laughter. Each of his roles touched us deeply because he had a profound way of tapping into truth through humor. Yet despite his ability to make his audiences laugh, we have learned that he suffered from deep depression. His humor and his gift for making others laugh apparently was not enough for him to choose life over death.

I feel called to write about his transition because laughter is one of the tools I use to uplift my spirits. I use it as teaching tool to get in touch with the joy and happiness that is our natural state. It is one way that I connect to Heaven on Earth.

It brings home for me a tough lesson that sometimes we have issues that even our icons have trouble overcoming. Someone who made us laugh so hard could not laugh at his own plight – however he saw it and whatever he perceived as the issues. Certainly laughter is not enough in itself, even though it is a valid tool under the right circumstances.

I hold the family and friends of Robin in my heart and visualize them surrounded by love and light in this time. I thank Robin for all of the gifts he gave while being the unique individual he was in his human body. I know that his soul goes on and we will hear more from him. That is just a sense I have. He gave so much love through his humor, I know we will hear more from his current location.

It is my hope that each of us will take our feelings of loss as a result of Robin’s leaving us to remind us what is important while we are still in human bodies. We each have an opportunity to share our gifts during the time we live on this planet. Let’s do our best to bring as much heaven on this side of the veil.

I also know that those who make their transition out of life in a human body are still available to us. We may not be able to reach out and hug them or relate to them as we did before, but we can send love to them and feel their love for us. It is my firm belief that life goes on. The more we acknowledge that and understand that, the more we can make the most of the time we have here on earth.

So, Robin, I know you are witnessing all of the tributes to you, and you are probably surprised by all the love being expressed for you. Did you know how many hearts you had touched? You are now allowing us to express that love and to learn from what we know of your experience to help others who are experiencing depression and the other challenges you faced. Thank you for being such a bright light on this planet and for continuing to radiate your bright light from beyond.