Day 1

Into the Desert

Fear not the aloneness and isolation that you might feel. You are beginning a journey into the knowing, a journey of self-awareness. This is a place that isolation does not know. This is the place where you will begin and end your journey. Happiness and profound joy will be yours in this sacred place. The desert is not a place of desolation but a place of plenty. Forgo the need to tell yourself to forget this or that. We shall guide you on this journey. Therefore, the first requirement is that of surrender. Surrender your heart to us for safekeeping, as we are aware of your secrets, your fantasies, your desires, and your fears. Your gestures to circumvent the truth are fruitless. It is our desire to teach you the art of happiness and forgiveness. These are two gifts that we will bless you with. You may prefer other blessings at the moment; however, these two homages will carry you to any destination you desire to reach. Like two balls rolling down hill, they will always place you in the same spot—the place of truth and awareness. Go forth bravely on this journey of hope. The quest for happiness is an odd one, we feel, for you currently possess everything you will ever need to create your happiness. Perhaps the fact that all is yours at this present moment will become more self-evident during this traveling time.

A Poem for Quiet Reflection

Circular movements,
Currents on air,
Come to Me in silence
And lay your body bare.
You seek the inner knowing,
The mystic's foreign quest,
A space of the uncommon,
A place where your faith will be put to rest.
For these footsteps that you walk in
Have been traveled by many before.
However, strength and endurance are not the issue;
It will be the battle of the ego that you will come to deplore.
Walk silently on the path before you,
The path of inner light.
Your sanctity will be verified
When your soul is ripe.

Questions for Contemplation

1. What do I currently need in my life to feel complete?

2. Why do I feel I need this to be complete?

3. How does this grasping for "completeness" cause my suffering?

4. Am I willing to take responsibility for my own suffering?

5. Am I willing and open to looking at things differently?

A Prayer Just for Today

Help me to see Your ways. Open my eyes and heal my heart so that I may see the perfection of the situation. Help me to surrender to You. Help me to know that You will lead me to the highest good of this situation. Guide me to see that everything is unfolding beautifully—that there is a plan. I sit in absolute love, knowing that I am always taken care of.

Mantra

I am willing and open.

Day 2

Who Am I?

Like all things in creation, you are a concept. You are a concept of God's creative mind and a concept of your own creative mind. You have created who you are. You have created the concept of who you are and who you shall be. Defining the concept of you is not deferred to others who may be misguided enough to imagine they can create who you are. Do not follow the illusion of who others think you should be. It is not within the scope of their purpose to define you or another. The process of creating the concept of you is an eternal process. The aspects of you are as infinite as the mind of God. Understand that you may see yourself as many concepts. This is similar to watching the colors of a crystal transform as the light and angle of your gaze define its impression.

A Poem for Quiet Reflection

Close your eyes and think of Me.
The world is not the way you perceive it to be.
Many questions and challenges lie on the road before you.
It is your perception of the world that currently blocks your view.

Some will disappoint you and even break your heart.
The key is to remember not to lose hope, for we never exist apart.
People will have opinions on the perfect
way to kneel down to pray.
Remember, I will am not a ritual, a rule, or
an organized set of principles to obey.
I am the loving gratitude and unconditional
love you carry deep within your chest.
Rejoice and connect to this feeling on a
daily basis, and I will do the rest.

Questions for Contemplation

1. How do I define myself?

2. What situations do I let define me?

3. Who do I pretend to be?

4. How do I feel when I pretend?

5. How would I like others to see me?

6. Why is that important to me?

7. Complete the following sentence: I feel the most alive when I ...

A Prayer Just for Today

Lord, let my true essence light the way.
I will have many thoughts throughout my busy day.
People will tell me who I am and what they want me to be.
Bless my heart and my mind so I may be worry free.
It is through my stillness that I find my connection with You.
Come breathe into me so that I may carry
You the whole day through.

Mantra

I reside within the mind of God.

Day 3

What Am I?

Sensing who you are is a complex aspect of who you are and why you are here. You look at yourself in the mirror and assume that you know completely who you are. You assess yourself, taking inventory of only those things that you can see. Now, let me tell you about who you really are. You are the whole one of everything. This life is, by its very nature, divine. In the beginning there was almighty God, the divine One. There was never a nothing For God, in His divine nature is a continuum of creativity. There is no beginning and no end.

Therefore, since God is, was, and will always be, there is always going to be something. It follows then that if it is made by God's divine hand, it is divine as well.

This will hopefully provide a better understanding of whom and what you see in the mirror from now on. Realize that when you look at yourself, you are seeing the divine workmanship of God. His workshop never closes. Yet despite His endless work, people more readily recognize a trademarked product than the work of God. You are a name brand. The brand is called Divine.

A Poem for Quiet Reflection

To truly see myself for the first time
Is to see the eternal flame of hope.
I see my face illuminated among the stars
And my name written in the sky.
I am the gatherer of clouds,
The collector of leaves,
The secret keeper,
The granter of wishes.
I tend the garden
And turn the sacred soil that nourishes the soul.
I know that from You I have sprung forth,
An eager bud longing for Your glowing kiss,
Knowing that my petals are just a mere reflection
Of Your seed of grace that resides within me.
I see myself in everything, and as I do,
I come to know the God that blooms in me.

Questions for Contemplation

1. Where did this "me" within this body come from?

2. What does "created in God's image" mean to me?

3. If I truly believe I was created by a higher power, in the image of God, do I really see the God in me, in everything I do, and in every thought I have?

4. At what point did I abandon my vision of my own divinity?

5. If we were all created by God and in His image, then how can I be less than or better than anyone else?

A Prayer Just for Today

Teach me to hear the truth and to un-hear everything else.
Release any old, empty tunes of hopelessness.
Remind me of the song of joy that You write within me.
Place me where I may share my song with
those who need to hear these notes
and recall the infinite possibilities that You give me daily.

Mantra

All that I need comes to me.

Day 4

I Want to Change My Life

You must understand that nothing exists outside of the self and that you are not teaching anyone but yourself. In this life, you are your only teacher. Your life will really change when you incorporate this belief into your consciousness. Nothing exists outside your mind. Everything that you see is really a projection of a thought that you hold in your mind. The body is an instrument, a neutral instrument by which you have an experience of a thought. The things you fear or try to run from exist within your mind. In essence, you keep trying to divorce the self, and it is impossible. How can you run from your own mind?

You say you want your life to change. Start with the self and change how you look at it. Notice all the projections and concepts that surround the self. As the perception of the self changes, so will your experience of the outer world. Talking and thinking are the same; both are of the mind, stem from thought energy, and incorporate perceptions. Remember, the highest form of communication is done through the heart, not through the mind. The divine heart has neither words nor judgment. To be in the light means to reside in the heart. To be in the heart sometimes is to have no words.

Poetry for Quiet Reflection

Sit with me by the broken tree.
Shall we lie down in a bed of summer flowers?
Your silver hair swims in a sea of lavender
As I drift within your ocean of stillness within the evening hours.

We lay in peace upon this sacred robe,
Your hand nestled sweetly within mine,
Chanting songs of love and hope so faithfully,
Surrendering as instruments plucked by the divine.

A moonlit sky, a twinkle in your eye and lilt upon your breath,
We lift our voices in prayerful psalms,
Pretending not to know what we really fear is our death.

Who am I?
Who are you?
One never ceases to wonder.
Press your hand against mine, ceasing to be two.
Roll your electricity through my body like a great clap of thunder.

As I taste the sweetness of truth when I wake,
A warm mist envelopes my being,
Wiping the remains of my ego from my eyes.

I realize it is really me I am seeing.
Remember, O dear One, that the thread woven
within has no beginning nor no end.
For it is in the sweet richness of our
challenges that we find our bliss.
So let the Great Hand unfurl your
branches in the wind and bend.
Let no illusions lead you amiss.

Walk through this fear of aging, this ring of fire,
As time has no passing.
So release thoughts of youthfulness and
prowess from your consciousness,
As the source of your suffering is found in this grasping.

You are the light of The One streaming through the trees,
The moonbeams that dance across the long blades of grass.
Feel the warmth of His unconditional love wrap around you,
Knowing all that is can be yours—.
All you must do is ask

Be present to your divinity that lives on within.
Let the tiger rest for a while, releasing it from its pace.
Be like a feather gliding on the wind
And accept God's boundless youthfulness,
This thing we refer to as grace.

Questions for Contemplation

1. If all the things in my life are meant to never change, how can I allow the new things, the more abundant opportunities, and the delicious sweetness of the creator into my life?

2. Am I more uncomfortable in the situation that I am currently maintaining than I am with accepting change? If the answer is no, what am I forfeiting by holding on to my current situation or way of being?

3. What would the process of "allowing" require of me? What beliefs would I have to let go? What activities would I have to relinquish? How do I feel about letting go or surrendering?

A Prayer Just for Today

With all my heart, I ask You to help me see myself
in my perfection as You see me.
Allow me to accept all the blessings of healing.
Help me take notice of Your answers to my prayers.
Let me rejoice in the renewal of hope and Your healing miracles.

Mantra

Light my way so that I can see.

Day 5

Having Childlike Faith

Adults are reminded of the power of childlike faith in God's creation when they find themselves in a predicament for which the way out seems unforeseeable. This is when they are reminded of the power of believing. As a child, it was easier to believe because you were still unexposed to outcomes that fell short of your expectations. As you matured, and your expectations became more complex, you could no longer elude attachments, and therefore you became disappointed. Disappointments are part of this existence's curriculum. Here is the reminder to hold out in faith and hope. When circumstances appear not to match the original expectation, remember that faith combined with hope always delivers the highest return.

Do you remember the childhood experience of opening an unexpected gift to find something quite unexpected—something that was not on your wish list? As a child, you still found a way to incorporate this gift into your play or routine. As this unexpected gift became more rewarding, you nurtured your ability to create. What you call "Improvising" is another term for creating. Recall this experience when you are presented with an "unexpected" gift. This gift may be a pink slip, a notice of insufficient funds, or a "Dear John" letter. Unwrap the experience the same way you unwrapped the gift as a child. Remain in the spirit of childlike hope, and you will create that which you never expected.

A Poem for Quiet Reflection

Come, Spirit, Creator, come.
In your light I truly live.
Within my soul we dance as One,
Not only do I receive but I also give.

We have come to this plane to create
This promise we have seen is true.
We falsely believe disappointment is our fate.
In reality it's an opportunity for faith renewed.

Learning improvisation as an art,
Our own power to create our gift,
God's handwriting upon our hearts—
It is important to grasp for thoughts that uplift.

Through You, ourselves we come to know,
And learn through hope our happiness is spun.
Believing now and ever more,
By our faith Your will be done.

Questions for Contemplation

Recall a time when you were disappointed or something happened unexpectedly.

1. What was my initial reaction?

2. Based on this reaction, why did I see this event from this point of reference? What was my original expectation or attachment to an outcome?

3. Knowing what I know now, I now review all the blessings that have come from the way things happened.

4. Coming from the viewpoint that things unfolded perfectly, where do I notice that I am mentally and emotionally in this present moment?

5. I give gratitude for this event; for without it I would not have the wisdom, beauty, and compassion I have now.

A Prayer Just for Today

Dear Lord,
Take the veils from my eyes so that I may see
the path that You have cleared for me.
Help me follow the path and allow me
to see the signs along the way.
Grant me rest and joy throughout my journey.

Mantra

Each day I am reborn.

Day 6

Tell Me about Miracles

When you hold great expectation of what is to be, you are giving that creative project more momentum to manifest. If you really stop and think for a moment, what you call a miracle is an event with the low expectation of becoming a reality. This is where you must be instructed. Man must now understand the concept of miracles. Miracles are manifestations that occur just like any other manifestations. The manifestation that man has named a miracle is a creative thought in which the author has invested little faith in its fruition. You must understand that each creation in which you invest energy will take form in one way or another.