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Friday, 31 March 2023
On this day of your life
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I believe God wants you to know ... ... that fairness
is not obvious in every case. Look, we all want
life to be fair, right? But sometimes it just
isn't. True? No. False. Life is always fair --
it sometimes just does not look that way. You will see how
'fair' life is if you will give it a chance to play
itself out. Wait. See. Your Higher
Self, which always wants the best for you, is in
charge here. Believe it. |
The Cycle of Life (OM)
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Dealing with an aging parent is part of the challenges and blessings
that are part of the cycle of life. For most of us, a natural part of the
cycle of life is when our roles as children start to shift from that into
caretaking roles where our parents are concerned. This can be as major as
moving a parent into a retirement facility, or coming to the realization that
it’s necessary to check in with them more often than usual. Whatever the
case, such a shift is momentous as it signals a time of confronting our own
mortality as we confront that of our parents. In addition, it can bring up
issues about how well they cared for us when we were young. We may also find
ourselves consumed with fear at the thought of losing them, even if we’ve
been on our own for a very long time. Talking to other friends and family who
are going through similar experiences can be a large source of support. They
can help us look at both the unresolved past and the unfolding present, and
we are free to talk only about ourselves. Sometimes we need the kind of
undivided attention a friend can offer in order to deal with the material
that comes up at this time of our lives. In many ways, this time of life signals a
rebirth as we examine our individual past, as well as our familial past. As our
parents’ lives move toward completion, we are able to see what they did with
their time on earth, what we have done so far with our time, and what we
might want to do with the time we have left. These challenges and blessings
are all part of the cycle of life. |
Thursday, 30 March 2023
On this day of your life
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I believe God wants you to know ... ... that you are
beautiful. Yes, you. Look at
yourself in the mirror. If God has ever
created anything in the universe more beautiful than
you, it is a secret. Because nowhere can it be
found. You are a being of
beauty. Share the beauty of you today, and
you will experience it! |
Why We Are Not Shown the Big Picture (OM)
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Often, we want to be shown the big picture but it is not always in our
best interest as we can easily become overwhelmed. Sometimes, we may find ourselves wishing
we knew what our lives are going to look like or what gifts and challenges
are going to be presented to us in the coming months or years. We may want to
know if the relationship we’re in now will go the distance or if our goals
will be realized. Perhaps we feel like we need help making a decision and we
want to know which choice will work out best. We may consult psychics, tarot
cards, our dreams, and many other sources in the hopes of finding out what
the future holds. Usually, at most, we may catch glimpses. And even though we
think we would like to know the whole story in all its details, the truth is
that we would probably be overwhelmed and exhausted if we knew everything
that is going to happen to us. Just think of your life as you’ve lived
it up to this point. If you are like most of us, you have probably done more
and faced more than you could have ever imagined. If someone had told you as
a child of all the jobs and relationships you would experience, along with
each one’s inherent ups and downs, you would have become overwhelmed. With
your head full of information about the future, you would have had a very
hard time experiencing your life in the present moment, which is where
everything actually happens. In many ways, not knowing what the future
has in store brings out in us the qualities we need to grow. For example, it
would have been difficult to commit yourself to certain people or projects if
you knew they wouldn’t ultimately work out. Yet, it was through your
commitment to see them through that you experienced the lessons you needed to
grow. Looking back on your life, you would likely be hard pressed to say that
anything in your past should not have happened. In fact, your most
challenging experiences with their inevitable lessons may have ultimately
brought you the greatest rewards. Not knowing the future keeps us just where
we need to be—fully committed and in the present moment. |
CoDA Weekly Reading
Working My Program
My name is Catherine E. I have been in recovery and specifically
CoDA for 30 years now. I have started and led meetings in a couple of different
states, and I have sponsored people in the past. I have had co-sponsors and had
a sponsor and been mentored throughout my journey by many women.
To walk into a CoDA meeting takes great courage. It has been a
very difficult job learning to let go and to stop controlling others; to trust
in and believe that a higher power had my best interests at heart; to overcome
my abandonment issues that plagued me (some of which I still have to monitor
myself for) and to learn new tools in order to take care of myself and speak up
in relationships. It has been excruciating at times because I have been
breaking the chains of bondage in my family’s generations of codependency so
that my future and the future of my children and their children’s children
could be one filled with freedom, truth, trust, and self-love.
It has been extremely hard to face the issues of trauma that I
couldn’t face as a child and instead survived by learning coping skills that
kept me alive but now are harmful to me. I now have to deal with the feelings
my inner child could not possibly have dealt with back then. I’m glad I am
alive to do this work.
Currently, I am running a CoDA meeting once a week and a Twelve
Step Work meeting once a week and sponsoring three sponsees right now. I am
more fulfilled than I have ever been with the joy of the program in my life and
the joy of bringing the message to those who still suffer. I also get as much
joy out of sponsoring, if not more, than my sponsees get from me being their
sponsor.
My message: The work is the most important work I have ever done
and will continue to do. CoDA has saved my life, literally and figuratively. I
have set my family on a new path of freedom. I now have an amazing relationship
with my higher power that I must conscientiously practice staying connected
with every day. I have a deep sense of peace much of the time. I choose to stay
in CoDA because I know that I can occasionally have slip ups and I have a deep
desire to carry this message to help others recover. I am a grateful recovering
codependent. I hope I have been an inspiration to some with my message of
courage, strength, and hope.
But for the grace of God go I,
Catherine E. 02/16/2023
Wednesday, 29 March 2023
On this day of your life
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I believe God wants you to know ... ... that your trust
has not been misplaced. Listen to your Self
today. You have been telling yourself something
very important for days now. Today, listen more
closely. And heed. Trust the still,
small voice within. Your soul is gently leading you
to your next step. |
Anticipating the Good (OM)
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Change will occur in almost every aspect of our lives, we can learn to
embrace it while releasing the past with grace. When we find ourselves going through any
kind of change in our lives, our natural response may be to tense up on the
physical, mental, or emotional level. We may not even notice that we have
braced ourselves against a shift until we recognize the anxiety, mood swings,
or general worried feeling toward the unknown that usually results. There are
positive ways to move through change without pushing it away, however, or
attempting to deny that it is happening. Since change will occur in almost
every aspect of our lives, we can learn to make our response to it an
affirmative one of anticipation, welcoming the new while releasing the past
with grace. One thing we can do is change our
perspective by changing the labels we use to identify our feelings. We can
reinterpret feelings of anxiety as the anxious butterflies that come with
eager expectation. With this shift, we begin to look for the good that is on
its way to us. Though we may only be able to imagine the possibilities, when
we acknowledge that good is there for us to find, we focus our energy on
joyful anticipation and bring it into our experience while allowing the
feelings to carry us forward. We can also choose to do a ceremony to
allow our emotions to process. Every culture has created ceremonies to help
people make the transition from one phase of life to the next. We can always
create a ceremony too, perhaps by burning written thoughts to watch the smoke
carry them away, thereby releasing them, or we can welcome new endeavors by
planting flowers or trees. Some ceremonial activities such as a farewell
send-off or housewarming party, we may do automatically. Society also has
built-in ceremonies, like graduation and weddings, which may satisfy the need
we feel. Sometimes the shift from denial to acceptance is all that is needed
to ease our anxiety, allowing us to bring our memories with us as we move
through nervousness to joyful excitement about the good to come. |
The Greatness of Each Action (MB)
Michael Berg
MARCH 26, 2023
There is an interesting discussion in the beginning of the portion Tzav. It begins, “The Creator spoke to Moses, telling him, ‘Command Aaron and his children, saying this is the law of the burnt offering…’” Here, the Creator is explaining the work that the priests, the kohenim, were to do every morning in the Mishkan. The altar had a fire that was burning all the time, and overnight it had burnt it up all the sacrifices that had been brought. In the morning, the priest would put on special clothing, go to the altar, and take out a certain amount of ashes and then burn them, making them a sacrifice. Clearly, this is not work that was meant to be janitorial; what, therefore, was the meaning of this action, and what are we meant to learn from it?
"One of the greatest illusions is the idea of separation."
My father, Rav Berg, often spoke about the fact that everything we see is an illusion. One of the greatest illusions is the idea of separation. For example, we compare ourselves to great spiritual giants like Rav Shimon bar Yochai and Rav Ashlag, and believe we are separate from them. We do this also in our own lives, as there are times when we feel elevated and connected, and there are times when we feel diminished, and lowered. We believe they are separate. However, all those thoughts of separation and differentiation between where we are today versus where we had been or where we will be, and between where we are versus where other people are, actually diminish the work that we do. All those thoughts are a complete illusion.
In the Tabernacle, there were different levels of sacrifices a person could bring depending on what they could afford. The false understanding of this was that the more a person brought, the more connected they were, and the more Light they could reveal. However, this was an illusion, and is why the Creator told the priest that every morning the first and most important thing to do was take the burnt ashes from the altar and make them a sacrifice. In our eyes, we see ashes as something low, and more expensive sacrifices as more elevated. The Creator is showing us through this elevation of the ashes that the sacrifice of the ashes reveals just as much Light as all the other sacrifices that in our illusionary world seem to be of a better quality. Every single offering reveals as much Light as the other.
"We all can reveal great amount of Light."
This carries over into our lives, because the belief in separation influences us. We diminish our own work when we think, either consciously or subconsciously, that some days we’re less connected or inspired, and so our work won’t reveal that much Light and therefore think we can do it in a lesser manner. But that is not true, and so when the Negative Side tries to creep in and tell us our connection is going to be diminished and the amount of effort we can put in can be less, we need to remember that is an illusion. Just as there are no elevated sacrifices or lower sacrifices, the Light can be revealed at any time, at any moment, from even the lowest place.
The kabbalists often teach, and the Zohar makes clear, that the first thing we do in the morning is the most important action, because it will influence our entire day. And as the portion Tzav shows us, the first thing that the most elevated soul, the priest, would do in the morning was elevate the ashes and bring them as a sacrifice, as a means of demonstrating this understanding that the differences of levels are all illusionary. No matter where we are and what we are doing, in any moment, we all can reveal as great an amount of Light as the greatest soul in their greatest elevation. Any time that we’re feeling low, and through that feeling of diminishment want to allow ourselves to reduce or diminish our actions, we need to remember this teaching of the elevation of the ashes.
Tuesday, 28 March 2023
On this day of your life
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I believe God wants you to know ... ... that life is
meant to happy. I know this is
sometimes hard to believe, and I know that on many
days it simply is not your experience, but it
is true. You have all the tools right now to make
this day, this moment, happy. The best of these
tools is love. Just love everything that Life has to
offer today. And of course, love every person. Then
watch the whole experience change. |
Navel Meditation (OM)
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Navel meditation can be done by a beginner as you focus your breath on
your belly and your breathing. Journeys of
lifelong evolution often begin simply. No matter how complex the goal or desire
we have nurtured in our souls, the first steps we take are nearly always
basic and uncomplicated. Navel meditation, a creation of the Taoist tradition
and the oldest form of meditation recognized in China and India, is a simple
practice suitable for those experienced in the art of mediation, yet it is
also a wonderful introductory meditation for novices. It utilizes the natural
rhythms of the breath and the regular movement of the abdomen as a means to
focus awareness and rid oneself of extraneous thoughts. As you concentrate on
the breath, the chaos within reveals itself, allowing you to gently train
your mind to accept stillness as its natural state. To begin,
assume a comfortable and natural seated position—either cross-legged on a
cushion on the floor or on a chair with your legs facing forward. Maintaining
an upright, balanced posture will ensure that you are physically centered and
prevent fatigue. Close your eyes and relax your body gradually, starting at
the toes and ending at the crown of the head. Take a moment to note any
physical sensations you are feeling, such as the hardness of the floor under
your legs or the weight of a piece of jewelry. When you are relaxed, breathe
through the nose at your natural pace. With each inhalation, draw air deep
into the abdomen, allowing the area surrounding your navel to rise and fall.
Gradually focus your attention on the sensations caused by the inhalation and
exhalation of breath. Feel the air flowing in and out of the nostrils as well
as the expansion and contraction of the abdomen. If you find it difficult to
concentrate on both sensations, concentrate only the movement of the navel
area. As you
endeavor to commune with the breath, you may notice that your mind strays.
When this occurs, do not attach any significance to your thoughts. Simply
bring your attention back to the flow of air into and out of your body and
the rise and fall of your navel. Eventually, the torrent of mental noise
flooding your mind will slow to a trickle, and you will learn to control the
current of your thoughts until you are no longer at the mercy of your
reactions. The more you practice this meditation, daily if possible, the more
you will be able to get back to this relaxed state easily throughout your
day. |
Aries: 12 Days, 12 Ways to Manifest Your Destiny!
If you’re looking for a way to change your future for the better, you’re in luck! As the first month in the Kabbalistic calendar, the month of Aries (Nissan in Hebrew) offers a powerful practice to set the course for all the months ahead. Enter The Aries 12-Day Challenge!
Kabbalist Rav Isaac Luria (the Ari) taught that the first 12 days of Aries are directly aligned with the energies of the next 12 months of the year. By tapping into each day’s cosmic potential–starting from day one (corresponding to the month of Aries) to day two (corresponding to Taurus), and so on through the zodiac–we can manifest our destiny for the year ahead!
Here’s a summary of the celestial opportunity each day offers, along with key questions to guide you in maximizing the potency of the moment:
March 23 (Aries): Begin the new month by looking outside of yourself and helping others. Consider past mistakes or regrets, and find ways to make amends. Set your focus outward and see what’s needed most in your family, community, and beyond, and then take a step today toward making a difference. Access your inner empath and attune yourself to others’ experiences, not just your own. ASK: What can I do for someone else today?
March 24 (Taurus): Seek out newness! Kabbalah teaches us to embrace discomfort by stretching outside of our comfort zones. Today, do something that makes you (even a little) uncomfortable. Try a new food…walk a new path… take an adventure or make a new friend. It only takes one change to spark radical transformation in our lives. ASK: How can I shake up my routine today? Where in my life can I say YES to change?
March 25 (Gemini): This is a day to stay the course and finish tasks. The energy of Gemini can lead us to procrastinate, but we can also harness it as a call to action! So today, finish something that you’ve started. Or continue an ongoing task that you may otherwise have kept for a rainy day. If you’re up to starting something new, create a step-by-step plan, and start today. ASK: What will I start, continue, or finish today? And how will I hold myself accountable for seeing it through?
March 26 (Cancer): The PRESENT MOMENT is what matters most today. Stay tuned to what is, rather than to what was or will be. Count your blessings (writing them down may help!). If any thoughts, behaviors, or possessions have been holding you back, it’s time to leave them behind for good. Clear your closets, clear your mind, and realize that all of your power lies in THIS moment. ASK: What can I let go of today to create more space and energy in my life NOW?
March 27 (Leo): Leo brings out our magnetism and leadership qualities. This is the perfect day to step into your role as a leader and uniter. Remember, a great leader also models respect and genuine concern for others. Part of that means learning how to not just listen but to truly hear the thoughts and feelings of those around you and to act from empathy, rather than from ego. ASK: How can I lead with compassion and kindness today?
March 28 (Virgo): The cosmic quest of the Virgo is to relinquish the illusion of control. We may believe that we can steer the course of someone else’s actions or thoughts, but the truth is, we can only drive our own. And that is powerful in itself! Today, be true to yourself above all. Avoid judgment of others–and while you’re at it, give yourself the same courtesy. ASK: How can I understand more and judge less today?
March 29 (Libra): This day is all about TRUST. Know that you are on the right path, and don’t second guess yourself (that Libra energy can sometimes magnify our feelings of doubt). Each of us is on a journey that will lead us to where we need to be, as long as we connect with this certainty! Trust in the Light, and you will know the way. ASK: Which path (or activity or thought) makes me feel most aligned with the Light?
March 30 (Scorpio): Compassion is the focus today. With Scorpio’s emotional intensity influencing us, we may feel some mood swings or emotional turbulence. Find your inner calm, and remember all the goodness you possess. The more you cultivate self-love, the more you’ll be able to shed anger, jealousy, and other unproductive emotions and replace them with compassion. ASK: Am I holding onto negative emotions? How can I release them today and replace them with positive, loving thoughts and actions?
March 31 (Sagittarius): Today, think before you react. You don’t need to rush things; it’s better to fully understand all the possibilities before you proceed. Look for the things in your life you care the most about and examine what commitments or behaviors are not aligned with them. And when reacting to others, do the same: stop, think, and act with kindness! ASK: What matters most to me? What have I missed in the big picture, and how can I act and react with more care and sensitivity?
April 1 (Capricorn): This is a day to reconnect with relationships more deeply. Feel the love! Spread the love! In order to create more intimacy with others (and ourselves), we need to embrace vulnerability. Express your feelings and show your true colors to those closest to you. Achieving goals and acquiring “things” may have a place in our lives, but nothing brings more texture and richness to our days than the people we choose to keep close. ASK: How can I open myself to accept and give more love today?
April 2 (Aquarius): The Aquarian energy is one of deep independence and originality. Yet, in marching to the beat of our own drum, we may overlook or forget the value (and power!) of teamwork. Today, remember that you can be BOTH original (because you are!) AND part of something greater. This is an ideal day to find a new way to cooperate or collaborate with others. The rewards will be worth the effort! ASK: How can I move from the “me” to the “we” today?
April 3 (Pisces): You may feel particularly sensitive under the Piscean influence today. But instead of letting yourself spiral into feelings of victimhood or self-pity, harness that sensitivity into positive thoughts and emotions. Cultivate empathy. Choose joy, which is strong in the cosmic realm today! Release any blame, criticism, or guilt you’ve been harboring, and remember that you are both the driver and the vehicle in your own journey. ASK: How can I proactively create more joy and fulfillment in my life today?
Rav Berg compared Aries to the planting of seeds–it’s a month full of infinite potential. And luckily, the sign of Aries is ruled by Mars and is represented by the ram–both of which signify action. The Aries 12-Day Challenge invites us to actively clear the way for our best year ahead! So mark your calendar for each day’s unique power, and let the growing daylight of the season mirror the ever-increasing Light in you!
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