My personal Mockingbird Saga, in 10 short chapters

Chapter One

What a lovely surprise: a birds nest with beautiful blue eggs adorned with brown dots, set in a well-built nest in our lemon tree. It takes me a while to figure out who these birds might be. Turns out they are mockingbirds, amazing song birds who can remember and repeat almost thirty different tunes.

Why did they build their nest so close to the ground in a tree right next to our patio door? Don’t they know there are four active cats around there (two feral cats and two pets)? Immediately I feel a sense of protection for the little ones who haven’t even emerged from their eggs yet.

"Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Is luck just a coincidence, or does our attitude have anything to do with attracting good luck?

Some people claim that luck is an illusion; they hold on tight to the idea that preparation is better than counting on luck. The Emerson quote seems to confirm that notion. Is luck nothing more than what we rely upon when we don't prepare, therefore we embrace a very passive attitude? Maybe. But it is also possible that above all preparation, planning, visualization, goal setting etc, we need to show up for life as it happens and be open to the 'miracle' of unexpected results. True, intentionality leads to results, as part of the cause and effect of karmic law. Maybe we get results in life when we take responsibility for ourselves as life unfolds. It is evident that we can’t control the events of life, but we can show up present to them, gather information from them, then make meaningful decisions in the moment. Not showing up for the present moment distracts us and make us vulnerable to the whims or plans of others. We then celebrate good luck or blame bad luck for things.

Ah, the tricky aspect of setting goals for 2014! Haven't we all gone through some aspect or other of committing to new year's resolutions, only to find the momentum fade away even before the end of February? I certainly know I have. Sometimes it seems as if only a miracle could take us through the doorway of good intentions to  our wildest dreams fulfilled, highest vision manifesting, the 'impossible' coming true.

Here is a suggestion that might help. What if instead of trying to force the manifestation of our goals, which often creates a lot of pressure and stress, and maybe even unwanted outcomes, we simply aligned with our highest and best good? Prayer and meditation are proven pathways towards that destination.

Are you ready for a true story as proof that miracles do indeed happen, and that Angels protect us? Here it is, and it just occurred yesterday, December 19.

I need to give you just a little background for my story: many many years ago, I participated in a channeling group. We called ourselves "Brothers and Sisters of the Stars". Over the years the messages and meditations grew ever more meaningful, uplifting our energy for days afterwards. But as life changes, so our group dissolved, after 15 years of monthly gatherings, each of us moving on to different areas of Spirit work.

Recently, I made contact with a dear friend from the group who had moved to the Bay Area. We met and renewed our friendship connection. As we talked about other group members, we both felt a need to check up on them. Some were now in their seventies and eighties. We exchanged contact information and reached out to one dear friend, let's call her Lina. The calls we made that day to Lina saved her life!

Do spiritual shortcuts exist? If they do, this one must be the number one shortcut: the magical words of “thank you”. All languages, all cultures feature the expression of gratitude to someone, be it a person, circumstance, Nature or God. Is feeling or expressing gratitude a secret to happiness? Research seems to support this connection. But why not do the experiment yourself and find out? What is there to lose?

Are earth-bound spirits real? Can they affect us in any way?

Aside from the Halloween obsession with ghosts, we want to look at the possible reality of spirits who have not yet made the transition to the higher planes. They are often stuck in their plane of reality, not even realizing that they are no longer in body. Maybe their time of transition was traumatic, such as in sudden death, suicide or even homicide. Are they evil? Not necessarily. But they may attach themselves to us in order to have access to our life force energy. They can become psychic 'vampires', seeking to control in order to feel validation and importance.

Summer time: a time to enjoy the gifts of the season, to interact and play, and a time to tend to the garden - verbatim and figuratively speaking.

Whether you are a gardener or not, have you considered the garden of your soul? That metaphor relates to our self-care and the loving awareness that helps us to distinguish weeds from things we want to grow. We plant seeds with every thought, every action, even every non-action. Some seeds germinate quickly, others take more time to root and unfold. Seeds of negativity, such as resentment, living in the past, envy and doubt develop into 'weeds' that are often hard to eliminate. The most persistent weeds are the ones with deep roots and survival strategies. They grow underground, in the depths of our unconscious/subconscious mind. Awareness is the tool that exposes these pernicious weeds and stops them from propagating in the garden of our soul.

What are you planting today?

How does Great Spirit speak to us?

Sometimes we want God to communicate with us in grandiose ways. Maybe we want a clear message, written in flames on the wall and signed by God. In my experience, it rarely happens that way. Source, Spirit, whatever you want to call it, speaks to us in quiet, unexpected ways.

Today we had a meditation gathering in honor of Divine Mother. A beautiful meditation came through that touched everyone's heart.

Much later I went into the kitchen to clean up. I found a paper towel that had absorbed water in such a way that it created a perfect heart shape. Does Divine Mother speak to us through paper towels? I don't know. Maybe it's just a coincidence.

What are the 'weeds' in your life? Its's a matter of perspective.

Today I happily pulled weeds in my garden. The rain of the last few days have softened the soil and made it so much easier to pull weeds out with their roots.

Gardening has always been a meditatiive activity for me. Therapy for the soul, I call it. My work allows me to interact in meaningful ways with others, and sometimes I just need quiet space to restore my soul.

The Earth wobbles, the Solar System wobbles, and so do we!

Did you know that the Earth's whirling through space actually create cycles in the cosmic realm, moving us through the different ages?  This cycle causes the Precession of the Equinoxes. Hence we talk about the "Age of Pisces", or more recently, the "Age of Aquarius". There are cycles within cycles, rhythms within greater harmonics. The entire Solar System wobbles in a dance of celestial bodies who catch and swing each other. Earth - Moon - Sun - Galaxy: dancers that invisibly "clasp hands" on their cosmic journey through space. Why would we humans be excluded from that dance? It isn't always fun though to feel like we are being tossed around in space, subject to forces unknown.

Live in the Now, back when, or out there?

“For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion” –Albert Einstein

Is Einstein saying that our idea of linear time that segments our experience into past, present and future, is only an illusion? How does that view agree with the popular idea of ‘being in the now” as a goal of enlightenment?
Maybe what we understand as the present moment refers to our ability to attend to internal and external experiences at the same time. We would be here now, and at the same time access the eternal wisdom of our souls, accumulated over millennia. And we would have a vision of the future self. The choices we make today, every moment, along with the karmic journey of soul co-create the one we shall become.
At this level, enlightenment is no longer limited to the present moment: awareness would allow for recollection of one’s past, complete presence in the now moment, and a vision of the future all at the same time. This idea may sound illusory, but it is my personal experience that it can happen and is very real, depending on your definition of reality.