California Free Press

Beginnings, Middles and Endings

Dear friends,

“In all things, beginnings and endings are the most interesting.” Yoshida Kenko

That is such a true statement. We love the new and we welcome the release of the old. It is in the middle where we are most tested. Sometimes that wonderful new job we were so thrilled to get, becomes tiresome or tedious or challenging. The day to day marriage is far different than the wedding and the honeymoon. A newborn baby is a joy but the 13 year old can require more maturity in us than we thought we had. The ending of anything does not necessarily mean we are glad to be rid of it, rather that we have completed with it.

The cycle of life is beginning, middle and end. It is the middle that gives us the opportunities to grow, to discover more of ourselves, to dig deep and perhaps to be surprised by how strong we actually are. Endings usually require our compassion, our gentle letting go, our gratitude. The principle inherent in the cycle is that nothing stays the same.   Wanting nothing to change is fertile ground for disappointment, even sorrow.

Enjoy each stage of the experience but do not resist the natural movement into the next. It is unavoidable that beginnings become middles and middles evolve into endings. Wherever we may be right now in the process, it is a good place to be. All is well and, if we stay as present as possible, bringing as much of our best selves into the moment, we will flow with change and have no regrets.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspiritualliving.com

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Humanity is a Part of Nature

Dear friends,

Einstein said to look deep into Nature and we would understand everything better. That is such good advice. Nature is the grand metaphor for Life itself. Nature is beauty, diversity, interdependence, cooperation, birth, death, reemergence, reproduction, intelligence and love, which is the lavish and relentless giving forth of the fruits of each species. There is an invisible power making the whole thing function perfectly. It is a continuum and can withstand any temporary changes in the environment. It will always come back into balance given enough time.

Humanity made the great error of thinking it was apart from Nature. With our ability to affirm or deny, we denied our place in the grand scheme of things We removed our actions from the equation and we have interfered with the natural balance. Worse yet, we have adopted the erroneous notion that there is a lack of everything and that we must fight for our good.

From this point of view, the Adam and Eve story seems a cautionary tale. We removed ourselves from Nature (“left the garden”) and entered the realm of pairs of opposites. We forgot oneness when we became aware of twoness. We named everything and lost the sense of unity and became convinced of separateness. It is a useful illusion in this time/space dimension, but if separateness is our only view of reality, we get into serious trouble. It is a spiritual misunderstanding. A new view of our place in Nature and our relationship with the invisible power could set things on a whole new path.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Change is Inevitable: Go With the Flow

Dear friends,

We watched in sadness and disbelief as the Cathedral of Notre Dame was engulfed in flames. There will be some rebuilding, but some treasures were lost forever. This historic structure, 800 years old, survived two wars, uprisings, weather, upheavals of all kinds. The lesson today is one we humans must constantly learn; everything is temporary; nothing lasts forever or stays the same.

If we are mentally healthy, we are in sync with the changing world. We live with an open hand and an open heart. We let go of our children, release them to be who they choose to be. We say goodbye to old friends, former homes, favorite businesses that close their doors. We release with an appreciation for the gifts we received and pause to reflect on the good times. What naturally comes next is a gentle welcoming of whatever is arising in our midst; new friends, new work, new surroundings.

We even have to release our youthful body, our former beauty, our young self. We look back with a smile, perhaps a tear, but we move on. Everything must change but change is not only natural, it is necessary. Life must evolve for the species to survive and thrive. Everything has a season of growth and a season of resting. Knowing where we are in the process greatly helps with our happy state of mind. Resisting change is foolish. Wisdom is dancing with the music that is now playing.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Where Are You?

Dear friends,

Be happy right now this minute! Stop your mind from dwelling on what seems to be a problem. Shift your attention just for this minute to how beautiful Life really is. Think of yourself, just for now, as a miracle of intelligence and love. You can fuss and worry about your detriment later. But for now, decide to be in a bit of bliss. People say they can’t do it, but they are wrong. Happiness is a tiny move away from our perception into what is true.

Just what is true? Life itself, is perfect. It is untroubled, completely engaged in reproducing itself in a spectacular display of diversity. Life supports life. Life is for Life and never against it. Life is God, Spirit, the Absolute, the One. Life is the only thing there is and it is extending itself into form as you. In other words, God is being you. Isn’t that a happy-making thought? The Divine is located right where you are, meaning, Life is responding to you right where you are. Where are you but someplace in mind?

Wouldn’t we want Life to respond to our happiness, bringing more reasons to be happy into our awareness? Seems simple but we humans are very good at complicating things. We have a collective belief in the value of waiting for things to change before we can feel our innate happiness. Really? What has to happen first? If we give that question some serious consideration we will see the folly in waiting for anything to happen. Just be happy now, in this minute. This is all we’ve got!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforsprituallivingbakersfield.com

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A Higher Intelligence Is Always at Work

Dear friends,

Where is our Faith today? In New Thought spirituality Faith is an informed conviction. It is the “evidence of the thing hoped for.” We are unshakeable in our belief because we have some understanding of how the creative process works. It is the difference between longing for something and cheerfully expecting it. Our faith can be negative as well. I heard someone recently say about themselves, “I have a lack consciousness.” I wondered why they didn’t affirm instead “I have the consciousness of ongoing prosperity.”   The positive is always closer to the Truth and it is the truth that “sets us free.”

We gain insight into where we place our faith by listening to our inner commentary on things. Are we hearing life supportive statements? Are we building a belief in sufficiency or are we affirming “not enough?”  Do we run a story about how everyone else is doing everything wrong? Or do we speak with compassion and declare that a higher intelligence is always at work.   How we talk to ourselves is the evidence of things to come. Rather like a preview of what we are directing the creative process to bring through us.

Faith is not a religious practice. It is a component of how things come to into this dimension from the invisible realm.   It is Belief deeply embodied. Today decide to change your pattern of limited expectation by consciously declaring what you would like to believe as if it were so now. For example:

“I believe I exist in a stream of prosperity that supplies my every need before I need it.”

“I have Faith in the Goodness at the heart of all people.”

“I expect Love and support from everyone in my life.”

“I am free to travel the world with ease.”

“My health is always perfect.”

Make up your own. Repetition is an effective tool. So is spiritual education. Take a class in the Science of Mind. www.csl.org to find a Center near you.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

The People We Meet Along the Way

Dear friends,

An extraordinary human being made her transition last night. She inspired me, opened my mind to a larger reality, validated my intuitions, shared her wisdom so freely. When we first met it was a full circle completing itself. I had seen her 13 years prior on television in the wee hours of the morning. She was giving a speech at the Democratic National Convention, running for vice-president. Her words ignited my soul. I felt a kinship. I said to myself, I have to meet her someday.   The day came when I was asked to join the Association for Global New Thought.

At our first meeting she motioned for me to come sit next to her. I had one of those moments when you realize you are in a manifestation of an idea you set in motion a long time ago. When she spoke about the future she was so visionary and “out there” that I was a bit dizzy trying to follow her. She was one of a kind and so naturally expressive. Her wisdom seemed to roll out from her soul.   Truly an evolutionary being.  

Thank you Barbara for so many enlightening moments, conversations and laughter. I am the better for having known you. Fare thee well.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspiriuallivingbakersfield.com

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It is Better to Forgive and Forget Than to Hold on to a Grudge

Dear friends,

Who will you forgive today? There is always someone who is in line to be released from our choke hold, so to speak.   Personally I have had to let go of those who project their woundedness onto me. It happens to every spiritual teacher or leader of any kind. Healthy people do not do that. They may have ideas, suggestions and constructive criticism, but they do not demonize you to make a point. The truth is, as Laura Huxley wrote, ‘You are not the Target.” That is the title of her book, written long ago but still very on point. We need to remind ourselves of that simple truth.

Most people are walking around almost completely consumed by their own internal conflicts. It is why there is so much road rage, anger and abuse in our world. Until humans wake up to their true origins, their intact wholeness, they will continue to act like wounded animals. That is why modern spirituality is so centered on helping us to remember who we are. It is a self-identity crisis that humanity is facing. It comes from subtle, and not so subtle, indoctrination into the superstitions and dogmas of religion that taught us to fear God and to think little of ourselves. We are suffering from a giant identity problem and the wound is leading.

We can start our own healing by forgiving those who have thrown shade on us because of their own pain. We can see them as fellow travelers on a long and twisted path to self-realization. They are not the enemy. They are our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers, our friends and co-workers. They are neighbors or far way. They are people we have never met who we see on the news. No one is out to get us. Everyone is fighting their own demons. Forgive them and know the truth about them. That is compassion. That is kindness. That is the spiritual way.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Angels to the Rescue

Dear friends,

Just now I looked up and a pigeon was walking around my balcony. It was not the big white Egret I have been hoping would return, but it definitely was a close facsimile! (a bird is a bird, after all) Sometimes we receive indications that the thing we desire is on its way. It is called synchronicity. I have lived here for 6 months and no bird has landed on my balcony before today.

Are there such things as omens and messages from the beyond? Life is always responding to itself (that would be us) and when we see it in action, we give it a name, such as omen. Are there unseen forces at work to move us forward? Are there guardian angels and guides surrounding us, with our best interests in mind? There are times in every life when we sure hope so! We may have hit the wall, so to speak and cannot seem to think our way out of a particular situation. That is when we call in whatever help may be available. We might not even believe in angels, yet suddenly we are asking them to assist!

I believe it is always the same Power, dressed in many disguises, whatever may appeal to us, whatever we can imagine. I have heard amazing stories of angels appearing to help in dire situations. They appear as humans but disappear after the call is answered. This is a mysterious universe. But it is alive and intelligent. It is dedicated to its own evolution. It is responsive to consciousness. It feels like love. It is what we call God in action. It is active in every life right now. Call it an angel or a guide or whatever you choose, but do call it. It is always its good wish to give us the “kingdom.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivigbakersfield.com

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Our Innate Wholeness and Infinite Potential

Dear friends,

James Hillman, author of The Soul’s Code, coined the term, “acorn theory.” It is a reference to the soul, the calling in each individual, the uniqueness that we are and our personal destiny. He makes the case that our culture and our attachment to genetics as cause, have robbed us of our true nature and our reason for being here. Asserting that every person is complete at birth, he quotes Picasso, who said “I don’t develop, I am.”

Uncovering that true calling, that real self is the aim of modern New Thought spirituality. By means of raising our inner conversation from self-rejection to statements of our innate wholeness and infinite potential as if they were in place now (and they are!) we reclaim our soul’s purpose. We activate a kind of remembering.

We have been lulled into wrong assumptions about what it means to be human. Most of us feel we are victims of life rather than the givers of life that we become when we find our calling and express it. Simple affirmations assist in the awakening and of course, meditation is a known vehicle for reconnecting with the Original Self. It simply arises in us and is very subtle, soft and more like a dawning than a lightening strike.

There is a time in every life when we feel the pull to find ourselves. It is easy to ignore it, mostly we are simply distracted, but those who follow its lead are to be blessed. As I sometimes say on Sunday morning to our congregation, “we do not come here to bow down to anything outside of us. We come to learn how to live up to something inside us.” It’s a journey. It’s a practice. It’s fraught with sudden insights and even regrets as we realize how far we may have come from where this soul began. But there is also realization, relief and release. When we learn how to use the mind, we discover how to access the soul.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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I Am in Perfect Health

Dear friends,

Whatever we maybe looking for, is in us as an energetic, a potential that can be fulfilled. If it is a desire for a loving partner, the potential to BE a loving partner is within; our part is to become that in mind and heart, then we attract what belongs with us. Would it be any different with a desire for greater vitality and health? It might seem so, but there is a way for us to be healthier in mind, to see the wholeness of everything, to believe in our own. Health can be a matter of trusting the Intelligence that governs the body and keeps it in fine working order.

So much of what plagues us can be related back to our belief, or lack of, in the originating Power behind everything. That Source the world knows as God, is real. It never withholds or withdraws its availability. We access it with our mind, with what we declare to be true. It never fails to support our needs but we must convert need into a claim. This is very important. Try these affirmative statements:

I claim my lavish prosperity right now.

I claim my perfect health in this moment and every moment.

I claim success in everything I do. I do everything wholeheartedly.

I claim inner peace as my very nature

You can feel the difference between those statements and “want, need, gotta have” can’t you?

Make a declaration and stick to it. Put this creative mind to the test! Give it something to do!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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How the Universe is Run

Dear friends,

There have been times in my life when I could do nothing to solve a problem but change my mind about what and where the power to do so actually is. It is not in the economy, the weather, the current news. The Power that supplies my life with all the Good I can receive is everywhere my attention is. And so I give my mind a treatment of spiritual truth. I am restored to cheerful expectation, profound gratitude and receptivity. It is stunningly effective.

There has to be a mechanism through which things come into being. It seems to be a field of Intelligence that individualizes into the revealed concept. Do I have a concept of love and joy? Am I cheerfully expectant of success and financial freedom? Am I willing to be used by the power as the vehicle through which they are expressed? If I can answer YES I have done my part. From that moment on I am led, guided and intuitively directed into the necessary actions to allow the manifestation to take place.

The universe is pretty strange, but it would be even stranger if it were not a system of law and order. While allowing for spontaneity, it nonetheless operates in a logical sequential manner. From idea to form, the power behind the universe is forever at work. The invisible becomes the visible. The thought becomes the thing. The feeling is experienced. Everything comes out of the “nothingness” of potential. Trust this process for yourself. Cultivate cheerful expectation, gratitude and a willingness to be fully involved in your dreams. “Use me” says the One Life. ”Use me to fulfill your highest ideas.” It always matches our Yes with its own. Can you think of a better way to run a universe?

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Water is Analogous to Spirit

Dear friends,

In a used book sale I picked up one called Sacred Waters by Maril Crabtree. It is a collection of essays by various people about their experiences with water.   Water is vital to our well-being, but it is also a big part of our recreation. My own best memories have to do with oceans, ponds, rivers, lakes, swimming pools, (public and private) rainfall, fog, sprinklers, fountains and garden hoses. I believe water is the closest we can get to God in form. It is Spirit made visible and is a gift to us.

We christen babies with water, baptize and cleanse with water. There is deep meaning to us in being immersed in it, whether it is a bubble bath or a hot springs spa. As Ernest Holmes pointed out, it is always H2O in any form; ice, steam, or liquid. That is his analogy to God; that no matter what form it takes it is always wholly intact in the form. When the form disappears, it returns to the unformed state of wholeness. It is a nice way to think of oneself and our relationship to our source.

Much of the world’s people do not have access to clean water. Those of us who do are often dehydrated; we don’t drink enough of it. I see this as another analogy to our spirituality. There are oppressive religions that do not feed the soul; their adherents are dying of thirst, so to speak. There are those in the West who are so busy achieving in the world, they ignore the largest part of themselves, which is Spirit.

When you take a drink of water today, just pause and imagine God is pouring itself into the form it has made out of itself, also known as you.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivngbakersfield.com   if you appreciate these messages please donate to us via our pay pal.

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Stop and Smell the Flowers

Dear friends,

Poet Wallace Stevens said ‘there is the beauty of the moment and of the moment gone.” This rings true for me and that is just what he meant. If I delight in hearing bird song in the morning, I am still affected when it is gone. It is like attending a wonderful concert or play; when it is over we are still in it, so to speak. It is an extension of the experience that can last until we are distracted by some other stimulus. However, we can always recall our delight and feel the moment as if it were now.

Those are the good memories and ones we need to keep active. It is healthy to recall feelings of joy and wonder. I cherish a moment in Hawaii when I was young and riding a bus home from work. I saw a little boy running in the gutters, scooping up fallen orchids and throwing them over his head to rain down on him. It was a moment of sheer joyful abandon. I also remember floating in the water in a lagoon on the Big Island when the air and the water were the same temperature and I felt as if I were in natures’ womb. The best memories are ones of deep connection to Life; like the first time your newborn looks at you. There is mystery in such moments. We realize we are living in a universe of immense beauty, love and pure intelligence.

Let’s look around today. There are beautiful moments to be felt and extended. Breathe, move a little more slowly than you are inclined to do. Stop from time to time and just look at the sky or the flowers outside the window. Pay attention to the baby laughing in the supermarket, the birds in the trees of the parking lot. Life is happening and it is good.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Release That Which is No Longer Useful

Dear friends,

Lao Tsu said: “when you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” HH the Dalai Lama also said something similar; “feeling satisfied with what you have is vital.” Some of the worlds most beloved teachers advise us to live more simply if we want to be happy and calm. The idea that less is more is very true. William Morris advised “have nothing in your home that is not useful or what you think to be beautiful.”

Taking all that to heart, what can we release into circulation that someone else might find useful or beautiful? What do we carry with us that is neither of those things? Now I am speaking about more than possessions. We also carry old ideas that are neither useful nor beautiful; ideas that cause us to feel burdened or unable to be happy and calm.   Taking a mental inventory is always a good idea but we have to be honest about what we find.

How to know what old ideas are still attached to us and operating? Just look at our current experience and see if it is not part of a repetitive pattern. Have we been in this place before? More than once? Then it is time to jettison those pesky ideas and replace them with ones that would cause us to have the experience we really desire.   What would I like instead, is a good question. Begin there and fashion some thoughts that belong with the fulfilled idea.

Try this: What belongs with me cannot be kept from me and what is no longer useful to me is released into the nothingness from whence it came.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Keep the Mind Focused on Cheerful Expectation

Dear friends,

Clearing the mind of any negative or limiting ideas is an impossibility on this plane of existence, according to Raymond C Barker in his wonderful book "Treat Yourself To Life". Having said that, we can, in any instant, negate the negation! Our spiritual practice is a moment by moment awareness.  Keeping the mind focused in cheerful expectation is not something we “take care of later.” It is a right now necessity.

What stops most people from using their mind properly is the lack of knowledge regarding its creative powers. Once we accept that our thoughts elicit a response from invisible intelligence and tend to become seen and experienced, we will take steps to keep our attention stayed on the Good, the True and the Beautiful. Our subconscious is a repository of memories and beliefs. They have no more power to produce our today experience than we give them.

Spiritual Mind Treatment is how we obliterate those old ideas forever. We do it by replacing them with new thoughts.   Like changing the oil in your car, once we open up our mind and begin to pour in the positive and cheerful ideas, the old ones dissolve. Like the crank case in our car, the new pushes out the old and we are filled with healthier thoughts. It is a daily activity, as important as brushing our teeth. Meditation helps us relax the subconscious mind so that it is more amenable to suggestion. All the tools we need to recreate our reality are ours to use. If we are not using them, we are making life harder than it needs to be.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes   www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Those Also Serve Who Only Stand and Wait

Dear friends,

Yesterday was completely taken up with sitting. I was called for jury selection and spent the entire day listening to lawyers ask questions and then reject possible jurists. A new crop would take their place and the process would go on until the end of day. They finally chose twelve and two alternates. The judge suggested me as an alternate but the prosecutor sent me packing. I am never chosen because I talk about compassion and cause and prevention. They are not interested. They want to win their case.

I respect the justice system but it is the individuals involved who are so invested in winning, the defendant is rarely considered in the proceedings. The lawyers ask questions intended to discover if you would help their case. Sometimes I think it would be fairer if twelve people were simply selected at random and the case went forward. Judgment is a tricky business. Our own fears and beliefs come into play and cloud the issue. Do we see clearly?

Think about the people you meet today as if they were on trial. Will you judge them harshly, kindly or indifferently?   Are they attractive to you, repugnant or invisible?. Do they deserve your compassion, kindness or rejection? Today we will meet many people. We will pass them on the street, see them on television, observe them from our cars, hear them on the telephone. What response will we give? Will we be the judge and jury or can we attempt to be the compassionate, fellow human who knows the truth behind the façade? Can we see through the appearance and judge righteously?  Maybe it is we who are on trial?

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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John's comment: It has also been suggested (see David Van Reybrouck's book "Against Elections") that Congress be chosen randomly from among the population so that the American people are more truly represented and without the hassle of campaign contributions and elaborate campaigns, corporate donors, professional politicians and all that.

What If There Were No Limitations?

Dear friends,

What if? is a great question. Ask yourself: What if I did not have this worry plaguing me? What if I were really happy? What if I no longer carried any resentments towards anybody? What if I were healthy? What if I were suddenly wealthy? These questions are meant to help us see how we are using limitation to protect ourselves from something we perceive to be a threat. The threat can be freedom as well as anything.

If a person is sick and wants spiritual help I always ask them, “why do you want to be healthy?” Sometimes the answer is “aren’t I supposed to want to be healthy?” The same is true of increased prosperity. What use do you have for it? It is not uncommon to use limitation to avoid something, like intimacy or freedom that frighten us on deeper levels than our conscious mind may recognize. Very often it comes down to self -trust. We might be harboring a fear of being corrupted or irresponsible if we didn’t have these emotional tethers.

Today play the what if game with yourself. You might be surprised at how defensive your outer mind will be. But the one asking the question is the one in power. What if I allowed this true self to be seen and known for who she/he really is? What could be bad about that? The answers may surprise you, but they will be gifts of the Spirit. From the answers, we can release what we have been using to feel safe or secure. Even limitation is our servant. But who needs that kind of help?

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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The Evolution of Human Consciousness

Dear friends,

Nothing runs without a power source. Your car, the lawn mower, the Blender, even your toothbrush needs a hand that moves it; but what moves the hand? Power is invisible; we only see what it does. Behind all movement is some kind of energy that causes it. What makes a dancer dance or a tree to bear fruit? All of life is an example of the effects of hidden power. Change the way the power is used and the effects change.

Human beings have access to a power that is truly amazing. It is the power that causes the effects of art, music, literature, science, invention, social structures and variations of all of them. It is the imagination, and that is the effect of Creative Intelligence. Commonly known as God, Creative Intelligence is more like a receptive field than a Being, however it is cause to being-ness!   What power causes it? No one knows, but both science and religion have been searching for the answer.

New Thought spirituality says it is enough to know it is real and how to use it to create a beautiful world of peace, plenty, love and joy; to banish disease and suffering forever. These are figments of our collective imagination, not causes in and of themselves. We know that disease is a real experience, but is caused by our belief in its necessity. The same is true of suffering of all kinds. They are the effects of a cause called Ignorance of the Power, and how to use it. We are at a place in the evolution of human consciousness when we deeply need to re-imagine our shared Reality. It begins with locating the Power that makes all things new.

Affirm: “The Power is mine to use. I am a creative expression of Creative Intelligence itself. The answers to every question are within my own field of imagination.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Take a Moment to Think Positive Thoughts

Dear friends,

Big changes can come from small ones. It is said that ten minute walks three times a day would make a big difference in our health. Five minutes a day declaring our spiritual freedom might do the same. What about one minute an hour of an energized affirmation such as “There is nothing in me to obstruct the flow of supply” (or vitality, or joy, or peace etc.) How would our day be made better if we stopped what we were doing once an hour to declare “I love my work. I love the people I work with.” This is a form of mindfulness that can reap rich rewards.

Spiritual practice is not to make us into new people It is a way to remind us of who we are and have always been.   Affirmations simply put us in accord with our true nature. We are thinking all day long, so why not interrupt the habituated negativity or complaining ideas, with some powerful truths? Most of what we think, if we are not paying attention, has some element of complaint in it. IE: There is not enough time to complete this task. It is too hot or too cold in here. That person is a pain in the you know what.   I don’t make enough money. The litany of seemingly harmless rhetoric needs to be deliberately stopped and replaced with healthy ideas that are actually true.

Write some affirmative statements on strips of paper, let’s say a dozen or more.   Fold and place them in a jar or little box. Once an hour take one out and read it out loud. Then repeat it several times.   Place it back in the container.   Repeat in an hour. If you keep getting the same one, that is a clue to what wants to be known. In any event, you will have taken a big step toward actually changing your mind. That is where it all begins.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes   www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

The Infinite is the Potential

Dear friends,

There is a huge distinction between helping and enabling, just as there is between compassion and sympathy. Enabling is supporting a false belief, a negative pattern, an addiction. Helping is just that; helping someone gain mastery over something or elevating their consciousness with new ideas. Sympathy endorses their pain but offers no solution, while compassion is right there with them, acknowledging the difficulty but seeing through it to a better outcome, knowing it possible right here and right now.

It is a wonderful thing when someone knows the truth about us, the spiritual truth, when we seem unable to see it ourselves. Compassion is unwilling to participate in perpetuating the pattern. It can be called tough love, but it is love nonetheless. At last, someone sees through our “story” to the powerful being we are. That is a real gift.

In today’s world with so much violence and mayhem, we are called to see through the lowest human consciousness with compassion. We must know there are other choices available and to affirm those choices to be evident now. All life responds on some level to the highest ideas in the “field” of intelligence we all share. What is known here is known throughout the subjective realm.

That is what the intention of prayer for others actually is; to state the spiritual truth and declare it activated now. The alternative is what Emerson called “the wringing of hands and the gnashing of teeth.” He went on to say “only the finite has wrought and suffered. The Infinite lies resting in smiling repose.”  The Infinite is the potential in each and every one of us.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

Also check out www.californiafreepress.net

Manage the Content of Your Mind

Dear friends,

As Raymond Charles Barker wrote in Treat Yourself to Life, spiritual mind treatment takes prayer out of the nebulous and brings it into the factual. Humans have always prayed. They were never certain their prayer would be heard or answered, but they prayed anyway. There is something in the human mind that deeply knows this is a responsive universe. But knowing how to respond to IT is the great teaching of New Thought and the evolution of prayer.

Our awakening to the how of it followed the discovery of the conscious and subconscious mind, the two aspects of consciousness which interact all the time. The conscious mind directs the subconscious by what is allowed to take hold as a belief. The subconscious acts upon what it has been given and brings the idea into form and function through us. We get the results of our beliefs. It is an ingenious system and one that cannot be improved. It is how humanity has individual experience. It is how the species evolves, through the spontaneous expression of each of us.

Managing the content of the mind is the first order of business if we want healing and change. What ideas do we want to be reproduced in our world? Spiritual Ones! Ideas that proclaim our wholeness, our ongoing supply, our vitality, our joy, our capacity for creativity, our love and our peace. We inject these ideas into the subconscious by attaching I AM to them and sending them into the soil of the soul. Barker said they are demands and commands and they are acted upon. Treat your mind every day, many times a day. Shout the truth into the universe! “ I am a very wealthy, healthy, happy human. I do great work and I am forever grateful.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

  Check out www.californiafreepress.net for diverse views on human experience

The Best Things in Life Aren't Things

Dear friends,

Humorist Art Buchwald said “the best things in life aren’t things.” A two thousand dollar watch does not tell time better than a ten dollar one. When we get our sense of self worth from things that break and tarnish, we are playing the fool.   No object can ever fill an empty place in us. Our personal self-worth is ours for the making. When it is intact and healthy, we can enjoy the fruits of our labor but not be attached to them.

The Buddhists ask “who would you be if all your possessions were suddenly gone?” No one wishes this on anyone, but it is a good question to ponder. Who would you be without your toys? Some people have faced that question when a natural disaster levels their home and everything is ruined. It is always interesting to see how differently individuals react to the situation. Some are quick to begin rebuilding or to move on and others are unable to do so. Of course it might depend on how one is insured or financially fit, but the philosophical question is still valid for all of us.

The level of our dependence on things to validate our worth is indicative of a larger condition. Do we have a sense of our own immense Being? Are we aware that our individual life is a personification of the Infinite? Do we know we are always in the Presence of our Source. Do we believe in our eternality? Can we imagine that our life here on earth is but one of many, many, we shall have? If we allow our soul to inform us, we will see that it is all good, all temporary and forever becoming something new. We are not things. We are the maker of them, the master of them and we are always greater than any thing or experience . We are spiritual beings enjoying the perception of time and space.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivigbakersfield.com

Check out www.californiafreepress.net for diverse views on our shared reality.

This is the Time for Humanity to Stop Pretending it is Powerless

Dear friends,

Ernest Holmes said the goal of our teaching is to arrive at the deep knowing that our Word is simply an announcement of Reality. He suggested that is how Jesus performed what others called miracles. He announced wholeness where there appeared to be brokenness. He spoke Life where death seemed to be. He declared Abundance in the face of lack.

Our word is our belief, our conviction, our expectation, and it all begins with a perception; the perception that this universe and everything in it is the visible evidence of a perfect Intelligence and Absolute Love in right relationship. In harmony, they bring forth all physical form. We are their creation, as it were. We are the effect of a Cosmic Cause. As such we are endowed with intelligence and love (made in the image and likeness of) so that our word also produces effects in the world of experience.

Because we hold that kind of power, it is essential that we love life and love it intelligently. It is crucial that we drop the sense of us and them and see the Presence everywhere. We are not fighting anything. We are projecting everything. This is the time for humanity to stop pretending it is powerless. This is the time to awaken to our ability to actually create a world of harmony, peace, joy, love and plenty. There is no other option. As the ancients knew “Grow or die.” As Dr. Jean Houston wrote “This is Jump Time!”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspiritualliving.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Ignorance Is Not Bliss

Dear friends,

Ernest Holmes set down the basic condition of the mind of a person who has spiritual understanding. He said their belief in goodness is greater than any apparent manifestation of its opposite. Yes, that is the way of the spiritually aware, and it is a constant practice to see through the appearance of evil into the Cause behind it, which is always a lack of spiritual understanding.

In today’s world there is ample evidence of evil being perpetrated by those who are unaware and who have adopted a mind-set that sees enemies in anyone who has a different perception of Reality. These people appear dangerous and yet, they deserve our compassion. Ignorance is not bliss, it is a terrible burden to carry hate and anger because of false beliefs. It may seem impossible, but if we refuse to see ourselves as enemies of anything, we retain our power to transform experience.

This has nothing to do with “letting them get away with it or to go unpunished.” This is about the spiritual understanding that we live in a field of consciousness that we all share. Yes, we have our individual use of it, giving us a personal reality, but at the subjective level we are all swimming in the ocean of awareness. This means when Love and Goodness are alive in the field, they affect the whole group. Our part in creating a world that works for everyone, is to daily or even moment by moment, pour love into the mix; that could be as simple as proclaiming “I believe in the goodness of all people.   I know we are all the expression of Love. I believe in the Spirit within each person to be available right now to awaken each soul to its spiritual magnificence. “

Let’s all do our part. Let’s know something greater than what we see on the news. Let’s stay with the truth; Humanity is on the brink of an evolutionary leap. Let’s push it forward with love and compassion; with knowing and affirmation; with belief and action.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Life Will Never End

Dear friends, 

The mystical poet, Hafiz, asked: “how could an ocean stand upside down on its head and never lose a drop? If your life were not contained in God’s cup how could you be so brave and laugh, dance in the face of death? There is a private chamber in the soul that knows a great secret.”

We do know that secret. We know deep within that we are immortal beings, that we are here to enjoy the manifestation of Universe. We know that all is well all the time regardless of what forgetting can do. We can laugh and play, not because we are trying to ignore our inevitable death, but because we know it is nothing more than a transition, not an ending to anything.

We are profoundly aware of God within, even while making up stories about how “he” is somewhere else. We feel the Presence of a Greater Self when we are in love, when we are in the woods, when we see the night sky, when we float in the ocean and do not fall out.

Hafiz continued “Indeed, God has written a thousand promises all over your heart, that say, Life, Life, Life, is far too sacred to ever end.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Be a Full Participant in the Dance of Life

Dear friends,

As I was sitting here thinking about what to write, I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see what it was and saw only the steam from my cup of coffee, rising and curling into the air. For a second I felt the Presence of the Larger Reality; the one that governs such things as movement. The truth of the statement by Einstein that everything is energy suddenly rang truer than ever. Not only that, but there is a certain beauty in such small things.

We are all part of something rather amazing. Life moving itself through a field of time and space. Life expressing, becoming, evolving, expanding. I know a few people who have been at the side of a loved one who died while they were present. They saw a soft, white, smoky something rise up out of the body. The Spirit released from the body? Movement is what life is.

It is important for us to keep in the flow of energy as well as simply observe it. Life is what we are. To attempt to stop or block what wants to happen by means of us is to say NO to doing our part, which is to evolve, express and expand the Presence of Life as us. Today let’s be more than observers. Let’s be full participants. Let’s do as Henry Thoreau advised; drink the drink, eat the fruit of each season as it passes. Resign yourself to the influences of each.

Try this” “I am freely moving into this moment with the eager delight of a full participant in the dance of energy called Life.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Take Charge of Your Subconscious Patterns

Dear friends,

The fourth version of A Star is Born was a contender for Best picture at the Oscars.   Every time that story is told, it is updated. The music is of this time, the dancing, the costumes, even the substance that the main character is addicted to, changes. The arc of the story is the same, yet told in a way that is current.

Memory is a wonderful thing as long as we can keep it current. What? How can we keep memories current? It is a play on words, of course, but there is a spiritual idea here. Memories are clusters of images that tell a story. The story is not of this time although it feels like it when we are reminiscing. If it is a story that causes us to feel guilty or sad or angry, then we need to retell it to ourselves. We need to see it as part of the arc that brought us to NOW but which has no more influence on us than we allow it to have.

Raymond Charles Barker in his timeless book "Treat Yourself To Life", suggests talking to those memorized patterns in this way:

     “ I no longer accept you. You have managed me long enough. I refuse to accept you as a power in my experience for one more second. Be gone. I now accept your opposite. I am unconditioned by tine and space. My Good is delivered to me now.”

You can feel the power of that, can’t you? This is how to take charge of our subconscious patterns. This is the way we update our life. This is the method to bring our responses into the current moment.    Be Here Now is the wisdom of the ages but if our mind is filled with old movies, we react to today from a story that is no longer real. Let’s be the master of our minds. Let’s write a new script.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

Check out www.californiafreepress.net

We Are Always in the Presence of the Infinite

Dear friends,

There are a surprising number of birds who die from crashing into windows every year. They see their own reflection of course and move to engage with the intruder. Surely there is an analogy here to our own reactive ego. Thinking we are under some kind of attack, by a look, a tone of voice, a perceived slight, we go into defensive mode, rushing headlong into the fray. The only thing we experience is our own fear and aggression. There was nothing there to begin with but a distorted image.

Is there anything about us that really needs protection? Our spiritual understanding lifts us out of that mode into the freedom of inner guidance and the knowing that all is well with us. We are in the Presence of the Infinite, all the time. As we allow our mind to perceive our own intact Self, we are less inclined to rely on the ego to lead the way. We begin to feel our own worth as being unassailable. There is no need to fear its demise. Who we actually are is beyond time and space.

We are transcendent beings temporarily experiencing experience! Once we realize, as Viktor Frankl did in the Nazi camps, “they can take everything but my mind” we are free to be fully present in this moment. That, of course, means to be available to love, to joy, to peace. It means to receive inspiration, intuition and to be a creative thinker. Without the need to defend, our true self is quite capable of gliding through life like an eagle on high, far beyond a distorted self- image.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

For diverse views on things www.californiafreepress.net

 

Believe and You Shall Receive

Dear friends,

There is a big difference between longing for something and planning for it. In New Thought spirituality, we see planning to be the state of mind that knows the desire is already fulfilled, even if it is not yet revealed. Longing delays the action of mind that makes our dreams appear. “Act as though it were and it shall be” is good advice.   While it is fun to be surprised, it is more gratifying to be able to say with real conviction, “I knew this would happen.”

Brother David Stendahl Rast said “ my favorite synonym for God is YES!” Isn’t that a wonderful way to see the invisible Power That Makes All Things New? It does so by means of the belief of the one up for renewal! What would you like to be renewed in your life? Plan for it and expect it. There is an immediate YES response within the Creative Process.   Nothing in this universe withholds or pulls back or says NO. How it comes to be may be surprising, but the result should look familiar if we have planned for it.

When my mother was twenty three years old and about to be married, she had a ruptured appendix that became peritonitis and nearly killed her. In fact she was given the last rites by a priest brought in by her future mother in law.  But her own mother sat by her bedside, crocheting her wedding dress.   My mother told me she came out of the near death experience she’d had, to see her mother sitting there preparing for her wedding! That is the kind of conviction planning contains. “Believe and you shall receive.” Simple but true.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerfor spirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Meditation Calms the Mind

Dear Friends,

Did you hear the grass growing last night, or the flowers opening? It was Mother Teresa who observed that everything in Nature grows in silence.   She suggested that it is the same with us. We need silence to grow out of our own potential. Our busy minds are invested in problem solving more than anything else; they need to be silenced so that the inspired idea can slip through the space between thoughts.

What draws you into a more present awareness? Is it sitting by the ocean, watching it ebb and flow? Perhaps it is gardening or walking in the woods. For some, daily meditation is the key to achieving more silence and presence. Whatever it is for us, let’s make sure we give ourselves that gift. If it is impossible for you to walk in the woods or sit by the ocean right now, then meditation will be the perfect alternative. It is easy and free. It is something anyone can do.

Remember, the goal is present moment awareness; inner tranquility and stillness. However you achieve that is beneficial. Dancing, singing, chanting, playing a musical instrument are all types of active meditations.   As long as we do not make them stressful they will have positive effects in our day. The key is the opposite of effort. It is to be available to the flow of the mind, which naturally seeks its origins.   The mind begins in silence; that is where the first I Am we ever utter arises. Give the mind the respect it deserves. Give it space to rest in its own potential.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

When we are overly focused on getting, we leave little room for Be-ing

Dear friends,

If we got all our information on how to make our lives better from the world of accepted thought, we would get the impression that we had to fight for it, win while someone loses, best the competitor, beat the market etc. There is a strong underlying belief in the lack of things. We are subtly trained to grasp what we can, call it our share and then find ways to get more. The belief in lack is the cause of most of our ills, as a people and as individuals. The not- enough-to-go-around syndrome is the reason wars are waged; little personal ones and global conflicts as well.

Within our own mind, the sense of not enough is the death knell to happiness, peace and even love. When we are overly focused on getting, we leave little room for Be-ing, which is the actual source of everything we desire! We rob ourselves first and that attitude extends into everything. Our relationships seem unsatisfying, our work is not challenging, our bodies not toned enough, our home not big enough, our car not fine enough, our children not successful enough. Nothing is ever enough when we look outside of ourselves for that validation.

You are enough! Right now, this moment, you are all you need to lift your life into higher levels of love, peace, joy, abundance, vitality and creativity. It begins with seeing the fullness of existence in Nature. Count the grains of sand on a beach, the stars in the sky, the ants in the garden, the breath you take all day. There is plenty of everything for everybody. We claim what is ours by first acknowledging, in gratitude, the faculty of Mind that is universal, capable of bringing forth “the kingdom” that is within our own field of awareness. We are One with the Source of it all. It responds to our belief by co-responding; producing through us an experience that validates the belief.

Try this: “I see the sufficiency of Spirit everywhere. Life is the visible evidence of an incredible Source, pouring forth its opulence. My share is whatever I believe belongs with me.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes   www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfiled.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Clean House. Get Rid of Beliefs That Are Harmful.

Dear friends,

William Morris advised “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

That is relevant to our inner house, as well; we live there, too. Our collection of beliefs might need sorting today. Are they useful to us? Are they serving our happiness? Are they interrupting our sleep? Are they preventing our good health? What about those ideas we harbor that are anything but beautiful? Those old resentments that are like pockets of poison, lurking behind our attempts to move forward.

What would we like to believe instead? We can begin today to declare it out loud in an affirmative form. If our unuseful belief has been with us a long time, it might be unnerving to let it go. These emotions get attached to our self-identity and, like barnacles on pilings, have a tight grasp. But we have the power of intention and the resolve to make our declarations despite the duration of the old belief. They cannot stay put if we continue to speak them gone

Haven’t we all cleaned house, taken things we once loved to the goodwill center, perhaps with some regret, only to realize with time that we do not miss them at all?   We wonder why we held on to them when they were in the back of the closet or just gathering dust. Let’s declare this “Good Riddance Day!”

Affirm: I release all persons, places, things, conditions and ideas that do not belong with my highest Good. They move away with ease and Grace. I am free to move forward in cheerful expectation.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Boundless Possibility Within the Field of Consciousness

Dear friends,

Just as we are not aware of the fact that we are revolving at a dizzying speed right now; that earth is traveling through space when we appear to be standing still, we are not always aware that we are also evolving spiritually!  Perhaps we have forgotten how afraid or angry or resigned we used to be, before we found meditation or New Thought spirituality. When we have broken through to optimism and cheerful expectation, it is hard to remember those other states of mind. We might wonder “was that really me?” The answer would be, no, it was not.

Spiritual evolution is about stepping out of a false self-construct, usually based on childhood trauma or cultural training, and moving more and more into the realization that my true self was not affected by any of it. But even so, there may be times we wonder if we are making progress. How to know? Notice who you are when disappointment or real challenge occurs. That is the current state of your consciousness. Do you remain aware that all is never lost, that situations and conditions are temporary and cannot reproduce themselves without a supporting consciousness? Does optimism stay active in the face of chaotic appearances? If yes, that is who you know yourself to be right now. That is how you gauge your evolution.

Of course we are dealing with an Infinite Being-ness, meaning there is always more to know. There is a boundless possibility within the field of consciousness from which we draw inspiration. The Infinite is a mirror reflecting to us our true nature, but our looking into it must be something we value and practice on a regular basis. Look within to reclaim your real self-identity.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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My Success Brings More Good Into the World

Dear friends,

Ernest Holmes said to ask ourselves “do I look at myself from the standpoint of restriction? Free yourself forever from the concept that “God” is pleased with a life of sacrifice.” What kind of restrictions have we placed on our own lives?   Do we fear that we might be corrupted by vast wealth? Do we think we will attract jealousy with great success? Are we afraid we will not be liked if we are honest with people? Do we put up with abuse, thinking we are being compassionate in some way? These are but a few of the restrictions we place on ourselves, albeit unconsciously.

The human subconscious mind is highly susceptible to new ideas; let’s give it some! You might find these statements useful, but you can design your own.

“I am free of all money restrictions. I live in easy, abundant flow. I am comfortable with wealth. I handle money wisely. My success quickens the success principle in others. My success brings more good into the world. My success is lauded and appreciated. I am comfortable with great success. My relationships are mutually supportive and loving. I am free of the need to be misunderstood or brought down by anyone. I celebrate my uniqueness. I am free to be seen and known for who I really am. My body is a joyful effect of a loving Cause. I am healthy all the time. I am free of any belief in the value of disease. I know that my health is natural and normal. My body knows how to keep itself in tip top condition.”

The subconscious mind is the servant of the conscious mind. But it can only produce for us what we have poured into it. Use spiritual technology to change old patterns and watch what happens!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

Check out www.californiafreepress.net

An Opportunity That Might Surprise Us

Dear friends,

Sometimes we miss a gift when it is staring us in the face. We might interpret it as inconvenient, perhaps the timing seems wrong. A friend met her perfect love and eventual partner right after her husband left her for a younger woman. She at first refused to date him, declaring that relationships were not for her. She had been hurt and this was just too soon to even consider. Everything about him seemed “too good to be true” and she deflected his advances.

He was persistent, however, and she was definitely attracted. She overcame her own fear of rejection and they began a “courtship.” Thirty years later they are still happily in love and she is even grateful that her first husband left her so that she was available to her ”soul mate.” Have you ever turned down an opportunity that could greatly expand your world out of a sense of obligation or duty? Later you regretted not taking a chance when the door was wide open?  

We have heard the story of the man stranded on the rooftop of his house when a flash flood swept through his town. He prayed to God to help him get out. A helicopter hovered over his house, but he waved them off shouting, “God will save me!” He did the same thing when a man in a rowboat came by and offered to take him to higher ground “thanks, but God will save me.” The weather turned worse and the man drowned. When he met God face to face he angrily asked  “why didn’t you answer my prayers?!” God said “why didn’t you get in the boat?”  God as the Law of Mind does not teach us lessons. It appears as the answer to our prayers in some form or as an opportunity that might surprise us or even seem “too good to be true.”

Affirm: “God knows what is in my heart. The Good that comes to me is for the highest Good of all concerned. It is always the right thing at the right time. I am grateful!”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Make Sure Your Mind is in Good Working Order

Dear friends,

Look at your reflection in a still body of water and there is a clear image of you. But if a wind blows over, causing ripples, your face will be unrecognizable. A mind that is still behind activity is more likely to reveal the true person, than one that is ruffled with lots of extraneous thoughts. Extraneous thoughts are those that have little to do with the moment. Usually they are habituated expectations (such as expecting rejection) or unexamined self-images. Since we take our mind with us wherever we go, wouldn’t we want to make sure it is in good working order? Rather like our car, the mind is the vehicle for self- expression. The quality of what we say or do is shaped by the condition of the mind. It is just smart to fill it with positive, uplifting ideas on a daily basis, but also to give the mind intervals of silence.

There is a small pond near my apartment where ducks fly in to glide about the quiet surface. But the other night when I returned from teaching class, there was a loud noise coming from that direction. It took a moment for me to realize I was hearing the cacophony of dozens of frogs! The pond had completely changed character. The still pond was now jumping with activity. That is what happens to our mind if we let in thoughts that disturb our natural peace.

Affirm: “Knowing my mind is the resting place of my true self, I nurture it, feed it lovely thoughts, sit in its presence, behold my own spiritual reflection.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

No Material Object Will Ever Give Us Lasting Contentment

Dear friends,

Mark Twain “any material thing you want is merely a symbol. You want it not for itself but because it will content your spirit for the moment.”

His observation seems to hold true; a desire for something that is out of our reach has meaning for us. It may represent status or indicate our success in life or make us feel secure. But of course, security is a mental condition and will fade if it depends on anything other than our own inner experience. You have seen those television programs about hoarders. People who cannot release anything are seeking something that is unattainable through material objects

It is fine to have beautiful things but the degree of our attachment to them says everything about the state of our mental health. I recently visited an antique and collectibles store. There are many booths operated by individuals. I suppose they rent space or share profits with the store owners. The amount of “stuff” in that building is impossible to describe! One woman told me she and her sister were “getting rid” of their deceased mother’s collected objects. What the mother saw as treasures, they see as meaningless junk.

The meaning we give to anything is very personal. That includes how we interpret the behavior of other people. Often we see something that was never intended but our perception colors how we experience them and it matters not that we may be wrong. It is our desire for something that is immaterial but which we do not know how to get that causes us to misread the situation. No one can give us peace or love or joy or self-respect but ourselves. No material object will ever give us lasting contentment. The ancients wisely said “what you are looking for, you are looking with.” If we begin there, we will find meaning and contentment.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Intuition is a Device to Maintain Our Wholeness

Dear friends,

Einstein said if we look deep into nature we will understand everything better. The overriding observation about nature is how interactive it is. All of life in all its forms, interacts with the physical earth, with other life forms, with the environment and most importantly, with an inner intelligence that knows exactly how to sustain the form and evolve it.   Call it instinct, but animals, insects, birds, butterflies and bees, to name but a few, follow some inner guidance without knowing they are doing it.

Humans have something akin to instinct, called intuition. It is the portal to the Infinite aspect of Intelligence.   Humans, in their insistence that the Source is remote and indifferent, have ignored or even ridiculed the idea of intuition, calling it feminine nonsense or even witchcraft. That is how strong our egos can be. We are fully capable of denying our own greatest power!

Intuition is a device to maintain our wholeness. It leads us into decisions that promote our greater good. It can be as mundane as a sudden sense that we need a certain vitamin or that the job offer is not for us. Intuition is a direct link to the Creative Process that is ongoing and very personal. It is invested in our well-being. Because we ridiculed it, we do not always trust it. They key is, the guidance will never prompt us to do harm to ourselves or another. It will always prompt us to move into greater safety, abundance, health, love, joy and peace. If we sit still some time every day, we will develop a relationship with this Presence. We will be more inclined to follow its lead. We will know and know that we know, what to do, where to be and how to get our good.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivngbakersfield.com

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Older People Have a Valuable Perspective

Dear friends,

If you have seen Antiques roadshow, you have learned the value of old furniture often depends on the patina and signs of use it has. If we strip it or paint it, the value drops considerably. It seems counterintuitive. Our western culture dictates that if it is old, make it look young. If it has flaws, hide them. The resistance to aging is a kind of national dis-ease that has terrible consequences. 

George Santayana: “to be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with Spring.”

Many of us who are senior in our wisdom and experience notice a kind of shaming around our age. People say unconscious things like calling older women “young lady” or referring to a senior man as Grandpa, when he is not a relative. It is as if young people are afraid of the natural process of Nature. Old age is a result of growth, not a failure of some kind. Every living being and all of nature is in the growth game. We are born, we bloom, we express our individuality and we disappear. Like Spring itself, we eventually become autumn. The leaves fall, the earth reclaims them, the cycle continues.    

Old people ought to be respected for surviving wars, disease, loss and heartbreak. But also for gaining wisdom, for the love they have kept intact, for the joy they may have brought to life, for the good they have shared. No one gets it right on all counts, but overall a long life is an epic story that deserves to be told and youth needs to hear it. 

I will always remember what the young nephew of the Dalai Lama said to us older folks at a conference about creating a better world. "we need to work together. You have the wisdom and we have the energy."

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Don't Let Labels Define You

Dear friends,

If you could change one thing in your life today, what would it be? How would you go about it? Would there need to be magic or some Divine Intervention? We often think we are stuck with something when actually, there usually is a way out. We sometimes forget that the way out is the way in; that is, the answer lies in us and the first thing we need to change is our mind about the situation.

 Everything is a temporary manifestation of an old idea. Even the things that seem permanent, like a physical injury, are only as debilitating as we think they are. Many a person has risen above the apparent limitation to live as if the limit did not exist. I am thinking of the special Olympics, the para Olympics and the many wounded warriors who ski, sky dive, play basketball and generally do more physical activity than those of us so-called able-bodied folks.

Life can be really hard and challenging but the human spirit is greater than any-thing we experience. We have the capacity for stunning renewal! The key is finding our self again after we have been labelled or attached one to ourselves. It doesn’t have to be disease or injury; we can limit our life with age-labels or gender-labels. Sometimes we have given all power to those who have seemed to limit us in the past. Take the power back!

Affirm; “Who I am, I have always been. I am completely present in my wholeness. My mind is the Power, the last word, the deciding factor. I say who I am right here and right now. I am the greatest!”

( a nod to Muhammed Ali)

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

If you haven’t read “A Mythic Life” by Jean Houston, I highly encourage you to do so.

See also www.californiafreepress.net

Are We God Pretending to Be Us?

Dear friends,

One life being all life. What a simple idea, yet so difficult to keep in mind as we experience the stunning diversity that is on this one little planet. Why would it be important to remember? How would we behave with each other if we consciously saw ourselves in every pair of eyes? The illusion of separateness is necessary in order to have a space/time experience, but if we had some awareness of our unity, we might enjoy the whole thing more. We might feel a bit like Shakespeare, that we are all actors on a stage.

We might be less inclined to take everything so personally, to laugh more at our own shortcomings, to be less afraid of difference, to try new things with greater joy. If you knew you were God pretending to be you, would that change anything? Joseph Campbell famously said “we are seeking the rapture of being alive.” We often feel it in what we call Peak experiences, but isn’t spirituality about the moments that make a life? What do we know now? What do we feel right here? What do we believe in this encounter?

As Ernest Holmes said “it is simple, but not easy.” Life is a bit like a masquerade party. Your masque is beautiful or scary or funny or serious or important or friendly or ugly but we are all the One behind the façade. Knowing this, we could rewrite the script of this play at any time. Maybe God has had enough of the experience of war and violence. To paraphrase John Lennon’s masterpiece, “let’s give God a chance.” Perhaps God is also seeking the joy of being alive by means of this life we are living.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.calliforniafreepress.net

Love What is Here Right Now

Dear friends,

Steven Wright said “you can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”

We need very little to be happy, to be content, to feel at ease in our world.   We need friends, shelter, clean water, good food, music, beauty, fun and some kind of creative outlet. We need to keep learning new things, bringing out latent talents. We need some order and a bit of chaos to keep us on our spiritual toes. We need some routine and some unplanned surprises. We need to think of ourselves as a wild spirit while we act like grown-ups and take care of business.

We do not need the approval of anyone else but ourselves. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t care what others think of us, it means we do not need their approval to be ourselves. We do not need luxury although it is mighty tempting to think so. We need things to be in good working order so that we can be free to express without a lot of distractions.

At the local art museum the other day I had the experience, once again, of realizing how much I love art and design and beautiful objects, but at the same time I do not need to own them. I appreciate the wonderful creations I see in every store, but I am content to leave most of it to others to dust, insure and worry about! The older I am, the more I see what folly it is to pursue happiness or security in things.

The real juice in life is love. Loving life itself. Loving our own soul. Loving our Source, whatever it may be. Loving humanity with all its messiness. Loving imagination and our own mind. Loving peace and quiet. Really, Loving what is here right now, heals the mind of the longing for more.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Love is Alive in Me

Dear friends,

Dale Carnegie said something like ‘you never saw an unhappy horse. Birds don’t get the blues.  That is because they are not trying to impress other horses and birds.’

It is much easier to do the right thing if we are not trying to impress anyone, but care deeply about the health of our organization, our family, our world. If we make decisions based on the approval of others, we have let everybody down, including ourselves. A true leader will follow their heart, their intuition, their   desire to achieve long lasting results for the group. No matter what our field of expertise, if we do it to get love, we will fail.

It is wonderful to be loved and admired. It is more wonderful to know we have given our best without ulterior motives of the ego kind. Self-love is inseparable from self-respect and that is the result of trusting the inner Spirit to lead, guide and direct. Taking it another step back, that trust comes from sitting in its presence in stillness and silence. There is a communion that takes place without words between our universal and personal self. If we are only engaged with the outer world, we will find ourselves waiting to see what will impress, rather than leading with our whole self.

Affirm: “Who I am is enough. I follow my higher mind, my true self to make decisions. I trust God within as my Source and co-creator. Love is alive in me! I always do the right thing.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Let the Past Go

Dear friends,

Japan’s most revered Haiku master, Matsuo Basho, wrote;

By the roadside grew

The Rose of Sharon

My horse just ate it

No one has ever made a better statement about the value we place on things and their temporary nature. The horse sees a snack while we mourn the loss of a beautiful object. Things are not meant to last forever. That awareness is part of why we value them. We know they are fleeting aspects of our experience and will soon disappear.

I just read a brief article on the value of old toys. Barbie dolls are still worth lots of money as are those little Pez dispensers. We might hear ourselves say “I wish I had saved those things.” But no, then we would not have enjoyed them. We all have treasured possessions. But what if they were all gone tomorrow? Who would we be without them? Would there be a terrible sense of loss or could we move quickly into opportunity and create a new lifestyle?

I stopped in a huge antique shop the other day. One of the individually owned booths was so crammed with collected stuff that it was hard to believe it all came from one person. She had passed on and her daughter was left with the task of getting rid of it all. What was treasured had become a burden.

We can be as possessive with our old ideas, as well. Out-dated thinking weighs us down. We spend time defending our position while the world moves on. We are meant to release what we believed based on what was known, and to explore what is emerging in our collective awareness. Without fear, we acknowledge that God is not a man in the sky after all, but a real Presence in us. We let go of superstition and dogma and lightly hold to some new concepts of who we are and our relationship with Presence. It is such a relief to step out of the heaviness of misunderstanding.   We value our mind. We value this life. We value love and truth.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

Check out www.californiafreepress.net

The Answer to a Prayer Is in the One Praying

Dear friends,

After a long drought, California is green again. Of course the rains also bring mudslides and devastation in some areas.   It seems that the Good we welcome contains a growing edge in it. If we are suddenly financially free from a winning or a windfall, we must learn to manage money, deal with tax professionals and investments. We have more responsibilities than ever. It comes with freedom. It takes a kind of discipline to be truly free.

To be free from anxieties we train our attention to stay on the pleasant, the uplifting idea. Isn’t that the purpose of prayer, to raise our own perception? We ought to feel great after a Spiritual Treatment with our own mind. When we feel up against it, afraid or full of limiting ideas, our first line of defense is to straighten out our thinking! We have become convinced that there Is a lack of something, such as love, money, power, health, peace or joy. And so we return to the Source and Praise it! We give our full attention to the Truth that the universe and everything in it is the visible evidence of an incredible Intelligence. We praise the Presence right where we are; we express our trust in it to shine through us as new thoughts, gratitude and joyful expectation.

As Ernest Holmes taught “the answer to the prayer is in the one praying.” This is the essence of New Thought spirituality. “to learn how to think is to learn how to live.” New Thoughts raise the quality of our own life. It is rather like the end of a drought. Flowers bloom, the grass is greener, rainbows appear.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

Find a Center near you www.csl.org

For interesting comments on our shared world www.californiafreepress.net

Take Your Time and Everything Will Get Done

Dear friends,

Lao Tse: “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

There is a flowering tree outside the front door of our Center. Just last week it was bare, the way trees are in winter.   Then suddenly it is in full bloom. The entire tree is abundant with tiny white blossoms. No human did anything to make this happen. It seemed early to me, but I was assured by long-time residents that this is what it does this time every year. Is this a sign that Spring will surely come? Of course it will. That is the nature of Nature; to reveal the seasons on time, every time.

As Lao Tse wisely noted, Nature unfolds with ease and grace. She does not rush to produce beauty, she simply allows it to be revealed. We could take a lesson from Mother Nature. Our sense of time has been shaped by technology to the point it seems to be speeding up. We receive so much information so quickly and constantly that we can hardly absorb it before there is something new to consider. If we want to be more in sync with the natural flow of nature, we might take steps to be outside of the time train as much as possible. For example, not turning on the television in the morning; meditating first thing or taking a walk. Sitting quietly with our tea or coffee, simply being aware of our own aliveness is amazingly restorative.

Why be in a hurry to do anything? When we get into that rushing mode, we tend to create a little chaos, some turbulence.   Our energy is not conducive to producing effortless results. Those around us feel the disturbance in the field and react accordingly. Soon everyone is frantic and agitated. But a calm and steady demeanor is like a magnet that draws the same energy from anyone nearby. Try it. Whenever you are in the midst of poorly managed energy, stand still, smile and wait.  As in Nature, everything will get accomplished more easily and with less effort.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

The Fisherman Within

Dear friends,

Henry David Thoreau remarked “many go fishing all their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after.”

Why do we visit museums, love art, listen to great music? Why do we vacation in Nature, long to live by the ocean or in the mountains? Are we unconsciously seeking the inner serenity that comes from proximity to Source? Are things made by us evidence of something within us that we value above all? A simple basket woven a thousand years ago reminds us of our commonality. A bird in flight seems to evoke some memory in us of freedom.

Fly fishing has been prescribed to those with grave illness as a way to stop the progression of the disease. There is something about being in one-pointed awareness that takes us out of time. Great art does that, and so does music. We are in it, not merely observers of it.   We become one with the artist, the composer; we recognize our own creativity. We think “I could have made that or written that” and of course we are correct.

Our hearts crave connection with the Power behind and within our own being. Our souls need to be reassured of our Divinity. Our minds require the quiet that comes from solitude. Our bodies are renewed by timelessness. Each of us must figure out how we are to satisfy our heart, soul, mind and body. How shall we serve those deep needs today? If nothing else, we can sit still for a few minutes and go fishing within.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

Check out www.californiafreepress.net

Insight Into the Creative Provess

Dear friends,

Striving for perfection is what artistic blocks are all about. Unable to finish the work, fearing it is not yet perfect, is the death of originality. If we write with the reader’s reaction in mind, we fail to allow what might be truly useful to emerge from our deeper self. Flaws are growth points. Potential is always present in the imperfect expression. The paradox is this: we have potential because we are perfect, spiritually! It is precisely because of that truth that we can improve, achieve new heights, heal from the past and become happier, healthier and more creative.

When we know there is a vast, untapped reservoir of creative ideas available, we can approach the work with the attitude of “let’s see what wants to happen here.” I   often begin to write a Sunday talk with a question; “what wants to be known today?” It seems to unlock my own insight and facility with words. I love the creative process. It is forever at work, never pausing or stopping. We enter into it to the degree we realize we are its way-in to visible expression. It is a true partnership of co-creation, and it is not just for artists.

Everyone of us is co-creating with potential. If we are unaware of it, it is known as the Law of Averages. It is kind of a survival mechanism. But once we realize the Presence of Potential and its counterpart, the Law of Specificity, we have entered the realm of Creation. We begin to specify what shall be on the canvass of our life, what the life story we are writing shall be. We have become the “imperfect that adores its own perfect.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

Check out www.californiafreepress.net

There Are Many Ways to Create Beauty

Dear friends,

As Emerson noted “little things are often filled with great beauty.” Once I marveled at the patterns ice had formed on my window. It was as beautiful as any museum painting. The glimmering trail left by a garden snail; the way grass turns silver in the moonlight; our own breath on a chilly day. There is beauty everywhere. We are affected by it because it seems to have been intended. It is as if we are meant to enjoy everything about this place and this life we are living.

Can we find beauty in death? We praise birth as a miracle but death is something we see as tragedy, and yet it is no less a miracle. There is great mystery surrounding the departure of a conscious being, but we would be wrong to think they are no longer aware of be-ing. It seems that Life is intent on creating beauty in unexpected ways: as chaos becoming order, darkness becoming light, young becoming old, as the emergence of form and its disappearance. It is all the exquisite activity of Intelligence and Love in perfect right relationship.

When our personal intelligence couples with love, we also create beauty. We turn challenge into opportunity, confusion into understanding, fear into compassion. We create comfort, safety and respite for those who have no place to call home. We feed the hungry and rescue animals. We foster children and show them how to trust. We are turning chaos into order all the time and that is a beautiful thing.

Affirm: “Today I find many ways to create beauty for all to see.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspiritualivingbakersfield.com

Also see www.californiafreepress.net

I Value My Friends

Dear friends,

Roger Egret was back at my pond yesterday and he brought the two ducks with him! I am happy he has made friends. It must be lonely to be the only one of your kind around; to have to forage for food all by yourself. Now he has a couple of experienced hunters to help him get breakfast. He stands in the pond close to where they are floating. He seems calmer to me.

Having friends to share our life with makes it an adventure. We laugh at our less than skillful moments and cry together when things are tough. Mostly it is good for the soul to be seen and known for who we really are without the need to impress. I bet those ducks feel safer, too, with Roger around. He is quite large and when he spreads his wings even the squirrels take off. Sometimes friends are more loyal to us than family. It doesn’t matter if we are not blood relatives. Mutual appreciation for the whole person is the best gift we can give each other.

Some of my favorite people have passed on but they remain my friends. When I think of them I smile. Sometimes I talk to them. I feel their presence. I always love it when I am introduced as “this is my friend, Carol.” It is an honorable designation. I am happy for my friends' successes, and I try to be there, encouraging, when life is not so blissful. Like you, I can be the big bird or the attending duck. Both roles are valuable.

Affirm: I value my friends. I value myself as a friend. I am blessed to be seen and known with all my flaws, quirks and strengths.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

Check out www.californiafreepress.net