California Free Press

It is up to us to Manage and Express Love

Dear friends,

If the highest level of Love is oneness with, the lowest must be indifference.   Even hate has some attachment in it and as we move to the opposite pole we go through interest, compassion, affection, romance, caring for, commitment, and merging into oneness. There are of course, many other variations of love along the way but they fall into one of these broader stages. The point being, love is the only true emotion and everything else is a lesser expression of it.

This holiday season is about Love and the Peace it creates when fully alive in us. ”Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men” will not happen without true love for humanity and that means seeing through the veil of illusion into the collective heart. We are actually immersed in oneness. We cannot be separate in any way except appearance. We have a shared reality that we are creating together. Up until now, it has been created rather haphazardly and without conscious awareness that we are doing so.

What will life be like when we understand and feel the truth of our power together? No more fighting each other, we would be interacting in the most creative and wholistic ways. We would be joyful and peaceful The realization of our capacity for projecting ideas into form, removes fear and greed and jealousy, all of which lead to some conflict and even war.

Let’s start with ourselves. We are the ones who are in charge of how we manage and express Love. What will we do with it today? It is a guarantee that we will have ample opportunities in the next 24 hours to put it to the test. Love yourself first and all else shall be added.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

See also www.californiafreepress.net

It is Better to Give Than to Receive

Dear friends,

One of my most memorable Christmases was what I now refer to as the recycled gift year. Our family decided the adults would buy for the children, but we would give each other things we already owned that the other had shown an interest in or coveted. It turned out to be the most satisfying and fun time together. Everyone received what they had longed for, and the giver felt the lovely emotion of fulfilling a wish. It was so gratifying to see the smiles and whoops of delight.  

That year my mother gave me an antique white serving platter. I was with her when she bought it years before. I mentioned at the time that I would love to have one like it. I still treasure it and now my daughter has shown an affinity for it. She will have it one day. The intentional passing along of something we love is what real giving is about. It can be love and praise as well as a material thing. It can be encouragement and support. Sometimes a check in the mail can help someone to get moving again.

We can never know for sure just what impact our giving will have in a person’s life. However, we can be sure of what it does to ours. Giving is the closest act to what the universe is doing. In religious language we might say that, when we give, we are doing what God does. We are participating in the grand and glorious activity of Life expressing. God never withholds or withdraws. It is forever coming through as new opportunities, new prosperity, new vitality, new joy, new peace, new life. We receive the gift as we give it, as we extend it into this world.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

See my friend's blog www.californiafreepress.net

Be Kind to Our Mother

Dear friends,

Arthur Schopenhauer:

Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized.

In the first, it is ridiculed

In the second it is opposed

In the third it is regarded as self-evident.

Down through the ages, many great minds have been either crucified or relegated to the crackpot list, only to be proven right much later. Be patient with humanity as it tries to grasp the full implications of oneness. Be patient while humanity releases superstition and welcomes science into its world view. Be patient as old prejudices die in the light of spiritual awakening. Be patient while the world wakes up to the reality of our planet as our Mother.

Being patient does not mean we stop making our voices heard or cease to protest or not vote. Being patient in this sense is a kind of faith and trust in the deeper and higher nature of humans. It is a testament to our personal conviction that we live in a spiritual universe governed by spiritual laws, which, when perceived and accepted, offer us the opportunity to consciously create our shared reality.

The effects of our unconscious acts against Nature were first ridiculed; then opposed, now it is becoming self-evident as the polar ice melts and the air is unbreatheable and the oceans are polluted; as species die off and children are born with severe allergies. We have played a huge part in the destruction of our environment. It is self-evident.

Along the way we will also realize that the human mind is the link to God. We will throw out old ideas of Man-in-the-sky and look to the power within to make all things new. We will bring forth the missing Feminine. We will amaze ourselves with the right use of Mind. Don’t wait, but be patient.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

See also www.callifonriafreepress.net

Give Love and Thanks Today

Dear friends,

Emerson:   “Like the New England soil, my talent is good only whilst I work it. If I cease to task myself, I have no thoughts.”

If we want to be a writer we must write; a dancer must dance, a musician must play. Along the way we develop skill, we attain higher levels of expression. Nothing comes to us if we wait to write or dance or play. Can we do the same with love? Should we wait for love to come to us or would it be wise to love right now. Do we really need an object to love? How much of our precious time do we spend on longing for something and not seeing how accessible it is right now?

There are many varied forms of everything we desire. We may very well think we have met the right person to love but if love is not active in us first, what is the attraction? It would not be anything lasting. Give love to your pets, your friends, your co-workers, your family. Be alive in it and love will reveal itself in many different ways.

The same principle holds true in all things.

This week of American Thanksgiving we are focused on gratitude. We like to state the things we are thankful to have in our world. What about you doing things to help others feel gratitude? What can you give today, express today, circulate today that enhances someone else’s experience? Don’t wait to have more to give more. Give anyway. Love no matter what. Be the answer to someone’s prayer. You are not rehearsing to be alive, to be you. This is it! Let’s make the best of it by giving the best of ourselves.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

A Happy Ending and a Visionary Beginning.

Dear friends,

We love happy endings. You may recall my blog about Bodhi the puppy we rescued and for whom we got medical attention. Well, he has been adopted! I m told he is being spoiled by his new family. Isn’t that great news?   Every prayer treatment I do includes the vulnerable children of the world. Like a lost, injured puppy, kids all over the planet are starved, abused, living in war zones, being trafficked and are victims of all manner of deprivation: lack of sanitation, clean water, food, medical help, education, safety. They will become adults and they will either bring anger with them or perhaps solutions.

My vision for our world is one in which every child is safe with every adult. They are cherished, encouraged, loved, educated, spiritually free to discover their own inner potential. They are seen as windows into the future. They are listened to and mentored by wisdom and gentle strength. HH the Dalai Lama has said if all 8 year old kids today were taught to meditate, we would have a transformed world in one generation. I know how powerfully liberating meditation is to the soul and how beneficial to the body. If you have children in your life, show them the value of silence. Help them be still. You could benefit from it, too!

Bodhi has had a happy beginning. Let’s make part of our daily practice the vision of a world of compassion, love, joy, peace, prosperity and liberty for all. Dogs, kids, all of Nature are part of our shared good. Since everything begins in mind, let’s activate some very high ideas for how we choose to live together on this little blue planet. Let’s have a happy ending and a visionary beginning.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

See also www.californiafrepress.net

Nature is Our Greatest Teacher

Dear friends,

Last year at just this time a large white Snowy Egret arrived on the property. We reveled in his presence for about a month, watching him fly up to the rooftops, preening and stretching out his long neck, the way ET did. He would stealthily move about the grounds, occasionally standing at the edge of one of the many ponds on the property, dipping down quickly to snag an unsuspecting insect. He (or she) was a holiday gift, then was suddenly gone at the end of December. I had named him Roger Egret. I felt a loss and wondered if he would ever return.

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting on my balcony thinking about that amazing bird, wishing I could see him again, when I caught some movement across the way, a flash of white as Roger, flapping his huge wings floated to the ground. I remained motionless while he treated me to a show of his prowess flying from rooftop to the ground and then up again. He would stand on the chimney on the building across from mine and slowly turn so I could see his beautiful tail feathers.

Imagine a sentient being who can fly; who knows just when to take off for Florida or Costa Rica and who also knows how to get there. Nature is such a miracle to me. The other day I found a wasp struggling on its back, trying to get upright. I slipped a magazine page under him and set him on the balcony railing. After a long time he flew off. Again, I am humbled by the sheer intelligence inherent in every living thing. That includes the trees around me who are shedding their leaves. They do so without remorse, merely letting go, allowing for the natural cycle of rebirth to take place. For that to happen there has to be a period of regrowth where things look bare and bleak. If we pay attention, Nature is our greatest teacher.  

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes   www.carol-carnes.com

Also see www.californiafreepress.net

War is Ugly, Even When it is Fought in a Field of Flowers

Dear friends,

On my first trip to India in 1997, we stayed in New Delhi at a businessman’s hotel in a rather desperate neighborhood. Arriving in the wee hours of the morning, all we saw was deep darkness with a bit of light coming from the small cooking fires on the street, where a few women were making chapatti. It was quite the shock for western eyes that had come from the sanitized cities of North America.

The next morning when we ventured out, our surprise and delight were uncontainable. There before us was the beautiful sight of a street faire, a bazaar, with colorful wares for sale and tantalizing aromas in the air. It was crowded with happy, chattering customers and vendors. The transformation was stunning.

The difference between ugliness and beauty is often what people do with where they are.  We can create both with our attitude, our desire, our expectations. If there is beauty in the heart, it tends to shine through in any environment. At the same time, the most beautiful landscape is ruined by anger and fighting. War is ugly, even when it is fought in a field of flowers.   We make our own experience by what we bring into it.

What kind of beauty can we create today? If there is always a choice, why would we choose ugliness? Could it be that we are the deciding factor in the quality of our experience?

Stay tuned in

,Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Also see www.californiafreepress.net

The Road Less Traveled

Dear friends,

Emerson remarked that we are always getting ready to live and never living.   He went on to list all the stages of life where we are preparing for life; “but the work of self-improvement—always under our nose—nearer than the nearest, is seldom engaged in. a few, few hours in the longest life.”

He had a point, don’t you agree? In some cultures, it is the intention of married couples to pursue spiritual matters after the children are grown, once one has retired from work. Then one or the other partner might go off on a vision quest or enter an ashram to study with a meditation master. In that way they can give their full attention and energy to self-discovery.

Here in the West, retirement often means boredom or adult games like golf and ballroom dancing lessons. Our spiritual life is not on the top of the list of intended pursuits. That is why it is so gratifying to see so many New Thought adherents giving self-discovery the time and attention it deserves. Our whole aim is not to worship an outer power, but to learn how to live up to our inner potential. It is a life-long endeavor, simply because there is no end to us. We are infinite beings on the spiritual side of things. Our potential is forever expanding according to our self-awareness.

We are never too young or too old to turn inward and to seek the power that resides in us. New Thought spirituality is a very effective path to take. With classes and inspirational literature, there is a clear road to take. It might be the one less traveled, but it is the choice of the sincere seeker. Join us!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Also check out California Free Press

Happy People Solve Problems

Dear friends,

Happy people are more likely to be blame free than others. That is, they do not blame anyone or anything for their current experience. They might have been on the receiving end of a natural disaster, yet they do not curse Nature. They see it as a challenge but one in which they can find something of value. Happy people are less likely to feel frightened by the news. They see it all as an opportunity to know the spiritual truth and to stick to it. They see violence as an effect of a cause and they know cause is not the power. The mind that created the cause is the power.

Happy people are deeply invested in change but they know it begins in our shared consciousness. They spend time everyday cultivating inner peace and affirming the best for humanity. Happy people never give up on an idea that is for the greater good of all. They promote it, praise it and participate in it. They fund it, vote for it and expect it. Happy people are movers and shakers. They are the ones who can sustain the vision through thick and thin.

Happy people are the most spiritually advanced people on the planet. HH the Dalai Lama has answered the question “what is our purpose” with this: “Our purpose is to be happy. Happy people do not cause problems. They solve them.” It is a grave mistake to equate happiness with foolishness. Nothing good and lasting has every come from anger and aggression.

Social change comes from non-violent assistance, not resistance.  We assist the better idea and help it to grow and spread. Try it. Try thinking about humanity as good and lovely and creative and compassionate and wise and spiritually awake. You will feel the shift. If nothing else, you will be a much happier person.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Also see www.californiafreepress.net

I Am Alive with the Presence of Now

Dear friends,

Yoshida Kenko, a monk who lived in a ten foot square hut in the mountains of Japan, observed; “beginnings and endings are always the most interesting.”

It is the bud about to blossom that holds our attention, yet the fallen petals are beautiful. It is the sunrise and the sunset we love. Births and funerals are equal in importance, as are weddings and partings. Who doesn’t love the anticipation of a great evening in the theatre when the orchestra plays the overture? There is also the wonderful experience of giving the performers a standing ovation at the end of the program.

What about the middle? Do we fully engage with the time in between the beginning and the ending? Perhaps we would be more present if we did not suppress the truth that all things end or transition. Henry David Thoreau, who also lived by himself in the woods on Walden, wrote: “live each season as it passes; breathe the air; drink the drink; taste the fruit; and resign yourself to the influences of each.”

This life is a moving, fluid river of consciousness. Our experience is what we hold to be sacred, important, worth our time and attention. We interrupt the flow with our resistance to change. We put a stop to the energy of creation with our fear of endings. We deny ourselves the joy of discovery when we insist on permanence. It does not exist in the real world. That simple truth ought not to make us sad, but give us a sense of the wonder of it all and the preciousness of the life we are living.

Affirm: “I give myself into this moment and the next and the next and the next. I am alive with the presence of Now.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

See my friend’s blog www.californiafreepress.net

Be In the World But Not of It

Dear friends,

We live in two realities but are usually more aware of only one. There is a spiritual realm and an earthly one. Some say we ought to be completely invested in this earthly one. Others proclaim the best path is to renounce the world and to spend one’s life contemplating the spiritual. Then along comes a master teacher who said “be in the world but not of it.” Probably the greatest advice humanity has ever been given.

It has always been my perception that he was trying to teach us how to be human, knowing that our spiritual nature was fully intact. His teachings were about being informed by the spiritual, through communion and prayer, and to take that awareness into the realm of experience. There is an aspect to you and me that is decidedly unworldly, yet when in the form of a physical being, tends to reside in the background, ready to come forward when called.

My daily blogs always end with “Stay tuned in” a reminder to myself and others, if they choose, to keep our mind actively aware of our origins in the spiritual, and to reveal what is then known in the world. What will be known will be love, peace, joy, vitality and intelligence. We have it all, ready to be brought into the world by us.   Remember the other most important truth attributed to the master teacher? “It is done (through) you as you believe.” What else do we need to know?

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

See also www.californiafreepress.net

Where Ought My Attention Be?

Dear friends,

Sometimes there is a feeling of ‘let down’ after a big event is over, one that has been in the planning for months. That is not the case today. Our 70^th anniversary Gala was a great success, well attended with high energy and a sense of optimism for our shared future. I feel ‘lifted up’ rather than let down. Everything necessary is in place for us to take a leap into substantial growth.

Looking forward is easy, but in the meantime we have to do the work involved to bring our desire into attainment. You know yourself that once one goal is reached, you are not done. It is another beginning point and there are steps to take to keep things moving. We need new ideas, all the time. The energy of the new idea will fortify us and keep us moving into success.

Our part in the creative process is to continually ask “what is mine to do today?   What would help my new idea to unfold? What thoughts support it? Where ought my attention be?” It is so easy to be distracted by doubt or fear or worry. We tend to give much energy to those kinds of mental states and when we do, there is no room for the new idea to lead us. Stay with the positive thought! Be the change you wish to see, as Gandhi advised. Don’t let yourself down, stay in the vision and it will enliven the mind, stabilize the emotions and carry you forward. Plan that party and don’t forget to send out invitations.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

See also www.californiafreepress.net

The Unashamed Confidence of Youth

Dear friends,

Yesterday as I was walking up the front steps of our Center to open for the day, a chattering group of about twelve children, who were waiting for their school bus, began bombarding me with questions. “Do you live here? Why not? Why are you going in? What do you do here? It looks like a house. Can we come in and see it? Can we see the backyard? ” There were two adults with them, also quite young themselves, whom I asked if I could show the kids around. Off we went, a ragtag bunch of diversity, from about age 6 to 13, many different ethnicities, all smiling. They loved the sanctuary, the “secret” meditation garden and asked if they could see upstairs.

I told them they might miss their school bus, but, if they came back that afternoon, I would show them upstairs. Later that day a few of us were decorating the hall for our 70^th anniversary banquet tonight when there was a clamor at the front door. A volunteer asked me, “these kids said you invited them to take a tour upstairs. Did you?” I laughed at the unashamed confidence of youth. They oohed and ahed at my office. A small boy said “I like the word Love up there.” They marveled at the bathrooms which are large and have big bathtubs. “Do you live here, they asked again?”

We are in a low income neighborhood. Our little Center must have seemed like a palace to some of them. I began to see it through their eyes. It really is unique. The overriding experience for me was one of connection, not only with those beautiful kids but with youth itself. Seeing things as if for the first time is what sparks awe and wonder. It would have been easy to chase them off, but I felt flattered that they wanted to engage with me. Finally the real point of the whole thing came at the very end. They wanted to know what kind of church it was. I said “the kind that teaches you how powerful your mind is and how important your thoughts are.“ They were silent, big eyes looking up at me. Perhaps someday they will remember those words and go looking for a place like ours wherever they may be.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Now is the Time

Dear friends,

What if this time in the evolution of human consciousness is necessary for us to take a quantum leap into a new way of Being? What if this is our cocoon? What if we have initiated this unconsciously, led from a higher knowing? What if it is all Good, not as a comforting thought, but actually? What if each one of us is absolutely necessary to making this change? What would our role be?

Would it make sense to release all resentments regarding old relationships? Would we be helping if we turned away from worst case scenarios and placed our faith in the higher nature of Humanity? Are we actually that involved in the future of humankind to think our daily consciousness is important? Well, we are, and it is.

There is no “they” out there. There is only WE right here. Each one of us is part of the collective WE. What we think, say, do feel is either contributing to an awakened world or it is supporting the old one. It is time for us in the spiritual community to take our place seriously in the elevation of consciousness that will be the way into a bright, peaceful, prosperous and loving future together.

Now is the time and we are the people.  As Dr. Jean Houston has asked “If not us, who? If not now, when?

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Also see John Lawrence’s www.californiafreepress.net

What is the Nature of God?

Dear friends,

When I was a young girl, a friend asked if I believed in God. I remember replying “I think it’s some kind of energy.” At that time I had no real idea what that meant, but have since discovered there is truth in it. It seems to me that God is intelligent, inert energy until, from within its own field, it is prompted to move and it becomes seen. It becomes alive-ness in form. In the past we were told to not question God but to just have faith in it. That is fine to a point but in a scientific, technology driven world, the mind needs to fit God into the mix or it becomes superstition. It becomes too easy to dismiss all concepts of a spiritual nature.

In the 20th century a man named Ernest Holmes placed God in the context of a modern world. He realized that although we cannot see God, we can see the evidence of its reality. We can see what it does. It makes things out of itself and inhabits them as sentient life. If a person fervently believes God to be a person in the sky, this line of thinking will be frightening. But to the open minded, this is joy-producing, thought provoking Good News! There is no blasphemy in it, only a door into greater freedom than we have ever known.

Holmes also realized that the very qualities we deeply desire are the qualities that the more enlightened ancients attributed to God. Love, Joy, Peace, Power, Intelligence, Supply, are inherent in our own aliveness. That is why we desire them. They are the inert energies wanting release through us. Our role as the image and likeness of God, is to express them into form and experience. That is how we get what the heart desires.

Find a Center near you. www.csl.org

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

California Free Press

Affirm What Makes Your Heart Happy

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 sensible when we prepare for a yard sale, but it is brilliant when taking a mental inventory of the house we actually occupy. Why would we hang on to ideas, thoughts or feelings that are neither useful nor beautiful? Are we capable of discerning which ones need to be removed or updated? One of the great benefits of regular meditation is the space it creates between us and our thoughts. We become aware of thoughts as merely ideas that appear on the screen of our consciousness. We are not actually attached to them, therefore they are under our control.

We tend to think useful ideas will either protect, defend or elevate us in the world. The question is, do we need to be protected, defended or elevated? From what and to whom? Our actual identity, our real life, our true nature is intact and under the umbrella of what the world calls God. We enter into this incarnation with the ability to guide our lives by our beliefs, perceptions and expectations. Are they useful and beautiful? Things can change rather quickly with a change of heart, which is preceded by a change of mind.

It is never too late to put our house in order, so to speak. Take a look at the most dominant fear you may have and deconstruct it to an idea. Is it true? Replace it with what makes your heart happy; what calms your emotions; what rings true. Affirm it. Declare it. Insist that it proves its reality in your experience.

Like this: “Who I am is beyond the slings and arrows of opinion. I am wholly intact. I am both useful and beautiful in this world.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Also see www.californiafreepress.net

Let the Energy of Change be Your Travelling Companion

Dear friends,

What if what is going on in our world right now were the most significant chain of events in human history? If now were the point in our collective story where a dramatic Plot Twist is possible, what would be our part in it? We are all in this together, you know. Individually and collectively we are the way through. What looks like chaos predicts the new order; a higher level of interaction with each other, with Nature, with our common Source, with the universe.

The best things always happen suddenly, have you noticed? It seems like they drag on in the same old stuck-ness for a long time, but when the shift happens it is NOW! It is more like a leap than a crawl over barriers. We do not come into it battered and broken but are renewed, reawakened, remade in the image of wholeness and open-ended possibility. We are, in a real sense, reborn.

If we can keep our wits about us personally, we will be contributing to the whole in a healthy way. By this I mean that we look at our own situation as the micro of the macro. Our problems are also points in our story than can catapult us into new ways of seeing ourselves and into higher levels of self-expression. The problem is not the worst thing that has ever happened but it may well be the most significant. This is not quite the same thing as “getting the gift” or “learning the lesson.”

This is affirming: “I let the energy of change be my travelling companion. I allow myself to be taken and lifted. I am ready to co-create my own new world, knowing I play a part in the awakening of humanity. “ 

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Try: www.californiafreepress.net

Thank You to the Universe for Hosting Us

Dear friends,

Rachel Carson: “It is the wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth to know wonder and humility.”

We had nothing to do with the creation of our planetary home. Its beauty, the sheer magnitude of its details, its astonishing diversity, are taken for granted by us. We rarely give it much thought. Yes, we love a sunset and to come upon a rainbow still delights us, but how often do we think of the unseen and intricate web of life forms that support our very existence?

On the other hand, when did we last look up at the night sky in awe of the immensity of the cosmos? We wouldn’t think to thank the moon for its gravitational effect on our oceans. Have we thanked gravity itself for keeping us from floating off into space? We complain if rain ruins our picnic but are we aware of its life-giving properties? Water is the most wondrous of all the elements. It can be ice, steam or liquid, yet it is always H2O. In any form it serves the purpose of supporting life.

There is something else that is always present and unseen. That is the very consciousness from which you and I have emerged, taken form, become individualized. It matters not one whit what we call it. It is real. There is a hidden Power right where we are, all the time, available to us to become whatever we decide to do with it. It is the open field of possibility that our personal consciousness is attached to and involved with in every moment of our life. Just considering what it has already done by means of us is awe inspiring and humbling at the same time.

A good prayer is “Thank You.” Meister Eckhart said if that is our only prayer, it is enough.

Stay tuned in, 

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Also see www.calfiorniafreepress.net

The Great Awakening of Humanity

Dear friends,

e.e.cummings said “the world is mud-licious and puddle-wonderful.”

My inner child knows exactly what he means! It is an invitation to come out and play with the natural world that has been gifted to humanity. Our adult worries are the construct of perceptions we derived, not from the mud-licious realm of Nature, but from superstitions and dogma. Somehow we became deaf to the calling of the Mother. We mistakenly thought we knew better than she did about how to live in this world. She promised uninhibited joy and delight but we opted for dominance and control.

She gave us trees to climb to achieve a higher vantage point, but we cut them down. She provided rivers of clear, clean water but we polluted them with abandon. She gave us beauty and we raped it. She asked us to care for her and we decided she was not worth the effort, leaving her to fight for her life. She is greater than the sum of her parts, however, and she will put herself to rights by eliminating the problem. Is it too late for humanity? Can we survive our own ignorance?

The answer is Yes! We are already waking up to our part in the current situation. There are young people coming up with the most innovative solutions to things like providing clean water to people in drought ridden climes; to the cleaning up of the islands of plastics floating in our oceans; to creative mini-houses for those who have been living on the streets. Young people are reclaiming the mud-licious, puddle-wonderful world. Let’s ask ourselves how we can play in their game.

Affirm: “ I am naturally drawn to my place in the great awakening of humanity.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Good Words for Our Collective Unconscious

Dear friends,

Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of our collective unconscious.   Now, more than ever, we need to be pouring good, positive and spiritually true words into our shared reality. We are all one on the subjective level. We are interconnected in the field of consciousness. What is known with conviction in one place resonates throughout the field and is known by those who have ears to hear. Right now humans have their ears to the ground, a it were, hoping for some powerful words of truth to help them stay in the vision of a world that works for everyone.

A few times a day, perhaps even once an hour, stop what you are doing, close your eyes and say this internally and then out loud; “This world is alive with love and compassion, peace and plenty. We live in harmony and joy.” You are enlivening the field with a deep truth that must become a real time experience when a critical mass of us are in agreement! Join the chorus, sing your song of vision for this world.

Nothing will change until human consciousness changes. We are in the midst of that change right now. Transformation is messy and there is always a backlash of the old ways, (which are nothing but beliefs to begin with), fighting to stay in charge of our shared reality. Let’s drown them out with a song of freedom and justice for all. Let’s sing our song for all we’re worth.

Affirm: One life is being all life in a myriad of forms. All is well with all of us. We are alive in love. Our planet is a reflection of that love.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Also see www.californiafreepress.net

Let It Go!

Dear friends,

Negative memories are like old movies we have seen so many times we can recite the script, yet we wish the ending were different. The ending is still ours to create but it can only be done now. Only now can we decide to release the hold the incident had on us and begin to raise our perception to what is real now. What is real now is us. Our whole, intact Spiritual Self is still here, still alive, still able to make our dreams come true. As Ernest Holmes taught, “there is a Spirit in us that desires to be more fully expressed through us.”

We deny the presence of Spirit in us when we name ourselves damaged or ruined by past experiences or carry the label of victim. While it is factual that we have been victimized, we are so much more than any experience! The reason this is not so easy to do is our mistaken sense that if we are not damaged, then the perpetrator got away with the act. It is illogical but to the wounded self it seems reasonable.

The best revenge, as someone said, is success! In fact it is more than revenge, it is the real state of forgiveness.   You know you have forgiven when you live a great life regardless of what happened to you yesterday. Only the realization of our whole self can elicit forgiveness. It is not about making them right, it is about compassion for a soul so wounded themselves that they felt powerless. That is the recipe for violence of all kinds. Let it go, let life flow through you. Let it reveal the real you.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

See www.californiafreepress.net

Have You Played a Game Lately?

Dear friends,

There is something all humans have in common. It is the natural tendency to play. Children learn a great deal about relationships and communication through play. They might also learn to manage their emotions. Can you remember being angry and throwing your toys when you lost a game? Perhaps not, but feelings of being less-than might have surfaced. We were also taught to be ‘good sports.’

Play is so key to the development of social skills that it has become part of staff programs in large corporations. When adults get together and play a child’s game, they revert to their uninhibited or fearful selves. They often feel they know one another better. There is more empathy and compassion. If nothing else, the more competitive traits come out and it is good to be able to identify that need in ourselves and others.

How long has it been since you engaged in play for no other reason than to have fun with friends? It is sometimes hard to get adults to let go of the idea they have to be ‘good at’ a game in order to play it. Not so! Gutter balls are as much fun as strikes if our attitude is healthy. We can always improve but that is not what play is about. It is simply good for the soul. The same is true with dancing. It has been shown recently that dancing makes the brain healthier. So does singing in a choir, just for fun. Gardening is akin to making mud pies, isn’t it? Unless you take it so seriously that you develop an adversarial relationship with Nature! I have heard people complain loudly about how the deer eat their roses. I always think, so what? That is just part of the game.

What do you do for fun? How long has it been? Let’s go bowling!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Also check out www.californiafreepress.net

Changing Everything for the Better

Dear friends,

There is an old saying “don’t cry over spilt milk.” It cannot be put back in the bottle, it is undrinkable. However, there may be a use for it if you have a cat!   It is often remarkable how something good will result from a perceived problem. One door closes another opens, seems to be a principle we can count on if we do one thing; let the door close! Do not bemoan the change. After all, nothing happens to us, it comes through us. Surely we have something to do with everything in our lives, even if we cannot see it in the moment.

It is possible that what appears to be a negative turn of events is actually our higher knowing leading us into new levels of living. We cannot have the new if we are clinging to the old. It is not easy to release a relationship that is clearly not working, or a job that seemed so ideal, or a location that turns out to be all wrong for us. Nothing is all bad or all good. There are always reasons to hang on, at least in our local assessment of things. But our Spirit, our whole self, knows where we belong and how to get there.

This kind of mental peace comes from a deep and abiding trust in our intuition, our Source and a deep belief that Life is always for us and never against us. It is a proven truth that the origins of our experience are within the field of consciousness we inhabit. It can be an unacknowledged fear that acts as cause to the very thing we worry about.   It can be old resentments we have not healed that bring up similar circumstances in our current experience. That is why it is so important to be “prayed up” as some say; to be focused on what we welcome, not on what we want to avoid. Positive thinking is more than being cheerful; It is a way of perceiving reality that changes everything for the better.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

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Hold to the Promise of Our Inherent Goodness

Dear friends,

The difference between people, as far as how we see things, is quite astonishing. Those in the investigation field know that eye witnesses to the same incident often tell very different stories. Everyone is seeing through the lens of their own beliefs and prejudices. It takes training and personal effort to change the lens. We begin with a simple acknowledgement of the value of every life.   We extend that into the awareness that we must have a common source. We take it a step further with our sense of each unique expression being valid in its own way.   In India the greeting of “Namaste” means The Divine in me sees the Divine in you.”   That is a good place to start.  

Behind all the diversity, there is a Unity. It has to be there, common ground from which we all arise and express. Knowing this helps us remain calm in the face of what we perceive to be inappropriate behavior. Not that we make it right, but that we are not changed by it. This leaves us with the ability to help, to see through the appearance to the potential inherent in every situation. Because we are all emissaries of the Spirit, we have a natural capacity for transformation. Our individuality is not an indication of separateness from Source, but is proof of our oneness with it.

Each one of us has the right and the responsibility to insist on seeing the highest and best in ourselves, and the rest of the world’s people. We have to hold to the promise of our inherent goodness. We are the harbingers of a new era in human togetherness. But it only happens with our changed perception.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Also check out California Free Press for great articles on contemporary society!

We Are Meant to Live Well

Dear friends,

What is the starting point of thought? It must be a self-knowing awareness.   That is our spiritual self and our mental self is where we house perceptions. If our perceptions are mostly based on the objective world to the exclusion of our self- knowing Spirit, then we are bound and limited by what we perceive. Our life experience begins with who we know we are. In a way, we are always describing ourselves by the thoughts we hold to be true.

Our reactions to the news for instance, say much about self-identity. Do we feel powerless and victimized by current events? Then we might want to look deeply into how we perceive our own presence in this life. Did we arise from nothingness? Or did we emerge out of a field of Intelligence and Love? Did we come equipped with the capacity for love and joy, peace and plenty, vitality and creativity? Of course we did, and we did nothing to make it so.

Those are the very qualities of Being that we feel as desires. We want to express every one of them but our perceptions tell us we have to find them in the outer world. Our soul knows the truth but its voice may be stilled by our programmed beliefs in limitation and lack.

Look around today at the bountiful world we inhabit. See the beauty everywhere. Notice the variety and multiplicity of life forms. See how the denizens of Nature know exactly how to be well-supplied and to fully express their true identity.   With the one exception of our ability to deny or accept who we are, we are the same as the rose, the redwood, the bee and the butterfly. We have the ability to think about things and decide what they mean. That is both a curse and a blessing depending on the level of our spiritual self-knowing.

Affirm: “I am meant to live well and live long and have fun.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes   www.carol-carnes.com

See also www.californiafreepress.net

Focus on What Makes You Feel Glad to be Alive

Dear friends,

Hafiz said: Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive.”

That is why I love being with my children. That is why I was so taken with Bodhi, the stray dog we helped. That is why I am drawn to the ocean, flowers and old friends. That is why I go to art museums and craft fairs. That is why I love music of all genres. That is why I adore ballet and dance of any kind. That is why I donate to good causes, write about spirituality and teach what I know so far.

What makes you glad to be alive? What are you doing or seeing when your heart feels deep appreciation for life itself? Give it some thought today. I bet you will find it has more to do with what is simple and available right now. Feeling grateful and happy to be alive is the most natural response, but it may have become lost in the burdens we create. The burden of “not enough.” Our perception gets clouded by temporary conditions. In reality, they can change in a flash! Things have a way of righting themselves, especially if we are glad to be alive, appreciating what is here now and trusting that God is still in business.

The Laws of life are still operating. That which goes around tends to come around and that includes our dominant perceptions. There is great wisdom in keeping yourself happy no matter what is looming before you. Remember this: nothing is real until we make it real. So let’s focus on what makes us feel glad to be alive, well supplied and in love with it all.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Help us celebrate 70 years in Bakersfield! Donate to www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com via pay pal.

Also see www.californiafreepress.net

What You Think of Me is None of My Business

Dear friends,

We have to refuse to be hurt by the ignorant comments of those who would seek to build their ego by tearing us down. Ernest Holmes was a spiritual teacher who was also eminently practical. He would say such things as; ‘no one can enter your mind unless you allow them in.’ So much of our experience seems to be about other people, but actually it is only about our perception in the moment.

Forgiveness comes as we realize everyone is at a different level of self-awareness. The more advanced, the less affected by outer events. With spiritual understanding, we become more responsible for our own well-being. The truly liberated mind does not need validation from anyone to know its worth. Of course we do like to be respected and even loved, but those are add-ons, so to speak, to the consciousness of high self-regard we hold.

Question today: Do you like yourself? Do you respect yourself? Do you feel confident that you are being authentically you? Can you make decisions regarding your life without seeking approval first? Can you laugh at your own foibles? Can you forgive yourself for blunders and move forward? Affirmative answers to these questions show a level of spiritual growth that serves us well. There is more, of course. There is always more.

Affirm: “As I march to my own drum, I find I am naturally in step with the world”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Also see www.californiafreepress.net

Be Still and Know, I Am is God

Dear friends,

Although we see the evidence of hidden power throughout Nature, it is still hard for us to claim that power as hidden in us, as well. Yes it activates the process of caterpillar becoming butterfly; yes it pushes the chick out of the egg. Yes, it moves the tides and causes the rain to fall. Even our own birth was orchestrated by hidden intelligence. Why then, do we feel separate from it? It is the problem of physicality. We are so used to thinking about ourselves privately, seeming to be walled off from others, that we develop a sense of being all alone in this life.  

We relate to the others but we long for that union with our Source. Over time, humans have constructed ways to contact the hidden power, but rarely have those ways included diving into one’s own mind. We have been told to pray 70 times 70, to deny ourselves food and water, to flagellate our bodies, to give up worldly pleasures, to renounce the physical altogether, to sacrifice something we love, to chant ceaselessly, to obey the rules of the church.  All in order to contact the Power that we perceive to be somewhere other than where we are.

New Thought spirituality simply advises “be still and know, I am is God.” In the inner silence resides the very thing we think is missing. Within our own field of self-awareness there is God. God is how we describe something indescribable. It is the focused energy of pure Intelligence that projects itself into form and individualizes its intelligence as consciousness. That would be us. What we think about tends to come about because we are using the same intelligence that created us in the first place. It is not easy to accept this but with the practice of stillness, we begin to feel how impossible it would be to be separate from the very Power that made us out of itself.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Also check out www.californiafreeress.net

The Truth Comes in Silence

Dear friends,

It is spiritually important to our self-awareness to note that every advance in science, music, literature, the arts, technology, came through the consciousness of humans. We discover heretofore invisible laws and when we do, our use of them evolves.   Think of what has occurred since the wheel was first made. All manner of locomotion from carriages to space travel has to do with that first understanding of motion.

When we see what humans are capable of, we also see possibilities for ourselves. We use the same laws as the scientists and the great innovators we admire, for our own experience. Perhaps we forget that fact sometimes. No one is excluded from the laws of this universe and we are all available to them. It is a case of having some passion, some vision, some strong desire that aligns us with the principles of the creative process and supports our fulfillment.

We used the laws of locomotion as we walk or ride a bicycle or drive our car. We use the laws of electricity when we turn on the lamp or start the oven. We use the law of attraction by thinking certain things with conviction. That is how we “plug in” to the power that makes ideas visible. There are likely many more Laws we have yet to discover but it will be done by those who believe this universe is a living experience of incredible intelligence and absolute love. Then we know that we are always supported and guided into ever greater awareness of who we are. That is how every great change happens.

Einstein “ I stop thinking and swim in silence and truth comes to me.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Also see www.californiafreepress.net

It's Good Mental Health to Be Here Now

Dear friends,

Comedian Don Rickles wisely said: “the old days were the old days. And they were great days. But now Is now.”

Hindsight often colors things more beautifully than they actually were. Looking backward keeps us in a kind of denial about how perfect now is. We may long for the good old days without considering how much we have grown since then or how much wiser we are today. It is a sign of good mental health to be here now, fully engaged from our whole self, as if time had nothing to do with it. And it doesn’t.

We are always intact as a spiritual being projecting itself as this individual life. The awareness of that intactness is the key to health, happiness and productivity. Goethe wrote Faust when he was 83! There are child prodigies who play musical instruments as if they had been studying for decades. It is an expression of something within them that preceded their birth. We each have a gift that can only be seen and known NOW; age is not a factor.

The Living force within us must be expressed or it kills our chance at deep self- realization, and it can only be done now. Unexpressed energy becomes frustration, sadness, depression, anger or irritability. If you have a book in you, write it. Do it for your children or future grandchildren. It matters not one whit if it is published. It matters that you get it out of your potential into the actual. That is a healthy way to live. As Emerson wrote “do your thing and I shall know you.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

See also www.californiafreepress.net

Open Channel to the Soul

Dear friends,

There is always an open channel to the soul, so said Saul Bellow. No matter how awful things appear to be, how much despair we may be in, there is a way in to the place of power and peace. The mind is the doorway into the deeper self. It is by giving up thinking about the problems and turning instead to the origins of awareness that we find it.

Before anything was added on to our self-identity, we knew we ourselves were an open channel for the revealing of our Source. We knew that our individual expression was what the universe needed to continue to unfold.   Consciousness on the move is what drives the whole thing. Imagine what we could do collectively if we agreed on something, were for something and gave it expression.

First we have to separate our sense of self from what seems to be missing in the world. We have to know that the soul is more than peaceful, it is powerful. It is where the power resides as our potential. It is the same for all of us. No one has a more powerful soul than another. What makes the difference is how aware we are of that deeper self and how to access it.  The vehicle is meditation or silence. Solitude is essential to our well-being, but it is always a choice.

Carol Carnes   www.carol-carnes.comsee

see also www.californiafreepress.net

Our Perception of our Place in the Universe has to Change

Dear friends,

Emerson: “the sum of life ought to be valuable when the fractions and particles are so sweet.”

All the minute aspects of life that make up the human experience are sweet indeed; such as love and laughter, dancing and singing, friendship and caring, a baby's smile, rainbows and starlight. These are just a tiny example of the gifts of life that we all experience. The interconnection of all sentient beings, from the insects underground at work on our behalf, to the invisible forces like gravity that make it possible for us to be here; our appreciation ought to be profound.

But no, we kill life with impunity. Pesticides, chemicals, war, violence, hunger, poverty, weaponry, the seeming disregard for future generations, all point to an ignorance of how perfectly nature is designed to thrive if we would but interact with her with respect and gratitude. We have become arrogant and willfully destructive. Not all of us, of course, but to the extent that we do nothing to help real change happen, we are somewhat culpable.

Our vision for humanity must include forgiveness for ourselves and everyone else for the misunderstanding of Reality that has allowed us to behave so unconsciously. Our perception of our place in the universe has to change. We are of it, not merely observers of it. We are part of an incredible intention to know and experience Love in physical form. Our life is one way that can happen.

There is a God but it is nothing like the one we made up, in our image and likeness. God is everything that lives. Not merely in it, but IS it. It is boundless potential and immediate power. It is always accessible. Like right now. Imagine a world where that was common sense. What would we be doing together?

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Also see www.californiafreepress.net

The Best Way to Run a Universe

Dear friends,

Everything changes for the better when we come to the realization that life is a revealing, not a happening outside of us. But what is being revealed if not our version of God? Our individualized use of pure intelligence and absolute love?   Of course we are referring to God as a universal presence, not a person far off in the sky. It is consciousness without form but it takes form as us and continues to take form by means of us. What a system! Can you think of a better way to run a universe?

If we could keep in mind that simple principle, we would be much happier and more creative people. The Power that makes all things new is ever present and always available to do our bidding. We call it forth with two words “I am.” Those are the magic words that direct the power into full manifestation. I am love in relationships. I am joy in every moment. I am prosperous mind. I am grateful and praising. I am living a life of ease and pleasure. I am helping to make the world a better lace for all. I am engaged in perfect work to reveal my own souls purpose.

Think about all the add -ons that you announce as “I am” throughout your day. Most of them will be negative or limiting. I am bored. I am broke. I am angry. I am not enough. I am hating this job. I am not in my right place. Turn them around into positive declarative statements. You can do it. It just takes being aware of what you are allowing your mind to entertain. Stop the train of thought and give it something good to think about. Love yourself and say it out loud! I love being me! I love this life I am living!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

See my friend's site www.californiafreepress.net

Enjoy the Adventure

Dear Friends,

On the grounds of this apartment complex there are some of the largest and fullest trees I have ever seen. They are thick with foliage, towering over the buildings. I know that in a few weeks they will begin to shed their leaves. It is hard to believe, looking at them now, that they will soon stand bare and stark against the winter sky. Come December it will be even harder to imagine they will become lush with greenery in the Spring. I admire those trees for their non-resistance to the changes they must experience. They do so with apparent trust in the unseen power of Nature.

I don’t know very many people like that. We resist everything that seems to threaten the status quo, even when the status quo is limiting our experience. Are we so afraid of change because of a deeper fear of our own demise? Is that why we see wrinkles as some kind of indication that we have failed in living well? Isn’t it strange that a species would actually create an industry called Anti-Aging when aging is as natural as birthing. We come in and we go out. While we are here we might want to heed the words of Helen Keller, who knew something about non resistance to Life. Blind and deaf, she became an icon of how to live well.

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole, experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

Relax. Enjoy the adventure.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

We are still working out the kinks in our live streaming venture but you can watch my last talk on You Tube 9/29 Center for spiritual living Bakersfield.

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The Normalization of Violence

Dear friends,

Have we, as a people, normalized violence?   Do we no longer see it as an aberration?   Have we come to expect the worst kind of behaviors in each other? Is that why we are so suspicious, so wary, so fearful? The mistaken belief that humans are inherently evil acts as cause to the way we live together, the world we make.

I wonder if we can’t trace it back to the belief in two universal Powers; Good and Evil; God and Satan. Those metaphors are not to be taken as reality, and yet we have done just that. Those of us who believe that humans are inherently Good, that our natural tendency is to love, to praise, to celebrate this life together, are seen as Pollyanna-ish and naïve.

While we accept the facts as manifestations of awareness, we believe that we are, at any point in time, perfectly capable of taking a leap in awareness that would act as cause to a whole new way of being and doing. This is the time we are living in, right now. Millions of us have left superstitious religion behind, and yet, some have not yet accepted our true origins. We are born from a field of pure intelligence and Love. That Field is conscious, in ways that are hard for us to grasp, but we know that we are conscious and it follows that we came from consciousness. What would intelligence and love be conscious of?

Let’s make a real effort today to see through the appearances of evil and into the heart of the one ignorant of their true potential.   Can we keep the vision of a world that is made for love and joy alive? Change will only come from a changed perception and of course, like everything does, it begins with us.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Check out www.californiafreepress.net

Forgiveness and Compassion

Dear friends,

“When we understand, we cannot help but love” Thich Nhat Hahn

In this sense Love is compassion and a sense of being one with. When we know the motivation behind behaviors, we can see through the act to the person who is in some kind of emotional pain. The pain may be masking as anger, or outrage, or fear but there is always a limiting perception behind violence of any kind. Humans simply do not lash out unless they believe that is their best option to either get their good or ease their pain. This is not about excusing the act, it is knowing that person is redeemable.

We live in a world of crime and punishment, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Forgiveness and compassion are feminine responses that have proven to be as, or more effective in rehabilitation than punishment by itself. In our personal lives, we often keep people in a kind of mental prison. Understanding can work wonders on us even though we may still choose to not interact with that person physically.

There is something quite healing about knowing we are never the target. Yes, we can question as to why we were there to be the recipient of bad behavior, but that is as far as it goes. In the grand scheme of things, at the soul level, perhaps we had been wanting to learn what true compassion is and here is our opportunity. Release and let go. That is the mantra of Love. We release the harsh judgments and let go of the need to seek revenge. We let Love soften our hearts so that peace may be the active energy between us. Then some serious healing can happen.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

See also www.californiafreepress.net

Time Is of the Essence

Dear friends,

Old people often wonder “where does the time go?” Good question. Unanswerable, but a good one to think about. Time is something we all experience and yet, it is nothing. It is the way we account for our movements in space. Or something like that. Time is a mystery. We can speed it up or slow it down with our perception. The fact that it is not real, in and of itself, but a perception, is why we cannot imagine how we got to be this age. We are here, and here and here and somehow we are older today.

The numbers have no meaning. They are part of an accounting system the mind seems to prefer. We are always in accounting mode. This is not that, and so on. Instead of young and old, how about “new and seasoned.” Would it make a difference or would we be saying “she is too seasoned to wear that short skirt.”   Dealing with the so-called passage of time is one of our greatest challenges. If we say we do not have enough of it, we feel rushed and pressured. If we feel we have too much of it, we conjure up all kinds of “I should be doing something” feelings.

It is easy to advise, “Be Here Now” but it takes some serious practice. Meditation helps and so does gratitude, laughter and being in nature. Would we “get older” if we did not experience before and after? I don’t have the answer to that one. But I do know that any age is great when we see beauty, love it and cultivate it. We are forever “new” if we are still in awe and wonder at the sheer magnitude of the universe and of the exquisite details in the smallest life forms. If Life seems like a gift we keep unwrapping, we are here now and we are ageless.

Happy Birthday to all who celebrate this week.

Stay tuned in, Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

See also my friends’ site www.californiafreepress.net

Buying Stuff We Don't Need

Dear friends,

Goethe:   “certain flaws are necessary for the whole. It would seem strange if old friends lacked certain quirks.”

We are not perfect. Spiritually, yes. Humanly, no. We would not be individuals if we were perfect. It is our quirkiness that friends love and remember. A song that never deviates from a monotone quickly becomes a dirge. We cannot dance to it, nor sing along. Yet, in this culture of commerce, we are urged to seek perfection in our looks, our clothes, our children, our work; everything! That is how merchants sell us stuff we do not need.

How much do we love ourselves as we are? An indicator is the level of insistent self-talk we tolerate about how we need to do this or that to achieve a more acceptable image to present to the world. How much do we worry about how we seem to others? A person who loves themselves is not a puffed up ego, but simply at ease. They have come to terms with imperfection and are even able to laugh at their own quirks.

You may have noticed how quickly people tell you what is wrong with you, what you should be like. Those are the very ones who are ill at ease in their own skin. Unable to see through the façade to the beautiful being before them, they have the same trouble looking in the mirror. How about we have a day of celebrating the flaws? Let others be. Period. There is a ancient saying that speaks to the ego mind's ability to perceive its own wholeness. “I, the imperfect, adore my own Perfect.” Let’s start there.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com     my pay pal is working!

See also www.califorforniafreepress.net

After Endings, New Beginnings

Dear friends,

In Nature the most interesting times for me are the beginnings and endings; such as the first inklings of Fall arriving. The cooler mornings are also the last days of summer. Tiny rose buds are as enchanting as the open beauty they will become and then again, what is more moving than a vase of Tulips that bend low as if to greet their petals lying on the table. Newborn babies of any species, human, canine , feline or any other, are so adorable we wish they would never change, yet we welcome the mature friend who can play with us.

Graduation ceremonies usually include a speaker who addresses the issue of “what next?” Advice and encouragement are given along with inspiring stories of those who achieved more after their school years than they did during them. The whole subject is about using the ending to launch a beginning. Is there something ending in your life today, something that, at its beginning was thought to be the ending of something else? It seems that life is rather like the game of leap frog we played as kids. One way of living is eventually overcome by another and the pattern repeats itself.

Look at it this way. If you are bemoaning the loss of a relationship, a change in your work, or even the chaos in the world, ask your higher mind “what is trying to begin? What is the press to express? What do I need to know right now?” If sincerely asked and if you can be silently patient, you will receive an answer. Endings are not failures. They are indications of a shift in consciousness. When that happens, what was, loses its form, rather like a beautiful rose becoming a little pile of petals. It is not to be lamented but thanked and released.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com thank you for supporting my writing via pay pal

See also www.californiafreepress.net

Life is For Us and Never Against Us

Dear friends,

Rumi: “that which is false troubles the heart but Truth brings joyous tranquility.”

Yes, it is the lack, the disease, the bitterness of others, the injustices, the whole gamut of human mistreatment of the planet and each other that causes us emotional pain, sleepless nights and stressful days. But when we sit down and give our mind a treatment of spiritual truth, peace is restored; hope is rekindled, feelings of love are quickened. That is the real meaning of prayer, to give our mind a healthy dose of Truth, which tends to dispel the limited perception.

What is Truth? The simple awareness of our shared potential for love and beauty, prosperity and peace. It is the realization of our unity in Spirit and our capacity for change. It is knowing that all effects are temporary manifestations of ideas, and ideas themselves are temporary. It is the certainty that Life is for us and never against us. Truth helps us to see through the misbehavior with compassion.   It keeps us in the optimistic and cheerfully expectant mode.

This is not head-in-the-sand foolishness. It is seeing through the veil of the illusion of permanence. It is judging righteously. It is turning to the field of possibility with a healthy conviction that we humans are quite capable of making a Leap into a higher level of consciousness, one that would make all things new. In fact, we tend to believe we are struggling right now to do just that. Let’s do our part to make it so. Tell yourself the Truth and watch what happens.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com   you can use pay pal to support my work

Also see www.californiafreepress.net

The Sounds of Silence

Dear friends,

Things grow in silence. Grass, trees, flowers, babies all reach their potential without fanfare. We did not hear our own bones elongating, did we? Does our hair make a racket or our fingernails? Physical growth makes no sound. But psychological growth, that is a different story. We rail against circumstances that, upon reflection, seem to have been necessary. We resist change by expressing our discomfort, loudly, only to look back and see how it put us where we needed to be to succeed in some way. We are quick to voice our displeasure, but it is much more beneficial to growth to be for something, not against it.

Coincidentally, spiritual growth is more like nature; silent. It is from the silence itself that our awareness of inner peace develops. It, as Emerson said of God, “comes without bell.” Spiritual growth sneaks up on us, expanding our perception gently. We realize over time that we are not the same agitated, fearful, contradictory person. We are emotionally more stable, less likely to “freak out” over daily challenges. We have outgrown some promptings of the ego.

Spiritual maturity is an ongoing process, of course, but even a smidgen of it makes our life much smoother and easier to navigate. With regular practice our inner silence acts as a kind of landing place for the more excitable aspects of our mind. We might feel the nudging of the ego to lash out at some grievance, but the silence is stronger. It pulls us back and we find other ways to cope. It is wise to cultivate silence in ourselves. That is where the real growth happens, and it is necessary if we want to be seen and known for who we really are.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com support my work via pay pal Thank you!

Also see www.californiafreepress.net

Be Careful What You Ask For

Dear friends,

Lao Tse said “nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

Yes, it all seems to happen at the right time in just the right way to produce the intention within the form; as in the acorn becoming the oak and the bud opening into the Rose.

A friend told me a funny story about a dinner party he was planning. He wanted everything to be perfect. He bought two dozen while tulips a day before the event. They were not opened but he assumed they would be the next day. When two hours before the party, the Tulips had still not opened he tried to help the process by using his hair dryer to warm them up, thinking that was the answer. He was horrified to see the Tulips wilt and fall apart, completely ruined.

There is a natural order to things. Your heart’s desire comes true when you are fully prepared to experience it. Forcing the issue with mental willpower might produce a version of it but more than likely it will not be sustainable. If we do not have the self-identity that matches the desire, we might rue the day we set it in motion. “be careful what you ask for, you will probably get it.”

Make sure you are ready to receive. That means do the work in consciousness. Release old contrary ideas about the subject. Adopt some new behaviors that support your dream. Become the thing you desire in action. Then it is naturally yours and continues to unfold.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

See my friends site www.californiafreepress.net

Be In the World But Not of It

Dear friends,

Ernest Holmes remarked that is has taken humanity thousands of years to learn it can control its own destiny. Much of humanity has yet to discover this liberating truth. It is contained in the power of thought, or consciousness. That which we are the most conscious of, we become immersed in and it spills over into form and experience. It is not easy to navigate this path. Largely, we are dealing with the invisible realm of Cause. Most of us are very invested in the realm of Effects and we get mired in them. They seem more real to us than the Cause that is unseen but very real.

To “be in the world but not of it” is great advice and difficult to maintain as we move about in the world of experience and seeming limitations. It takes practice to know a higher truth than what is before us as facts. But what are the facts but Cause revealed? In New Thought spirituality we always work with Truth, not facts. While we do not deny the existence of a fact, such as an illness, we deny it has any consciousness of its own and must be reinforced at the level of belief to continue to exist.

This does not mean the person with a scary diagnosis wanted the dis-ease or created it consciously; but that everything comes into existence from deeper levels of awareness. A simple belief in disease can be the culprit, or long term stress which weakens the Life Force in us. There is no blame or shame. There is a returning to the inner to straighten out our thinking. We declare our spiritual being, our wholeness, our vitality to be active right now creating vibrant health.

New Thought offers classes in the art of thinking from the Infinite. Those classes are life-changing. You can find them at a Center for Spiritual Living.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

My friend John Lawrence created www.californiafreepress.net

Moral Is "Check Your Website"

Dear friends,

This is one of those “how could I be so unconscious?” stories. Last year our Center had a new website built. The person who did it was a friend of mine who had done the same for me in the past. While she was here I asked her to resurrect my personal site because it had been hacked and was taken down. Then she also retrieved some information I had posted on another site. It was a busy time and I was very involved with being the new senior minister at the Center.

Here is the silly part. I forgot she had actually created a new site for me! Don’t ask how that happened except to say overly involved with other things. In the past few months I have been thinking how much I needed my own website. After some conversations with people who thought they could help, I decided to call my friend again. She said the most shocking thing to me “Carol, you already have a website.” Huh? Yes, it was true. She went in and improved it and it is up and running.

Now, is that a basic New Thought principle or not? We already have what we are seeking! We have forgotten our true origins. So involved with the human side of things, we are not accessing our spiritual nature, which is where all that we desire is contained. That is why it is so important to have a daily visit with our own Spirit. A quiet time of communion with the more unbounded aspect of our Being is like preventive medicine. Sure, we will still do silly human things, but we will know where to look when we are seriously challenged or when we want to make all things new!  Ancient saying “what you are looking for, you are looking at and with.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes   www.carol-carnes.com    (e mail me for my web designers info.)

Check out www.californiafreepress.net

Raise Your Expectations for What is Possible

Dear friends,

Ernest Holmes wrote “In our ignorance we misuse our divinity without changing it.” Our divinity is, of course, our spiritual or more universal Self. We are capable of great Love, for instance unconditional love, but we misuse that power. In some cases it is shrunk to indifference. There are polar opposites to everything. With Love, they are, (on the low end), indifference and on the high side, Oneness. In between are all the possible variations of Love, such as: like, interest, compassion, caring, commitment, romance, friendship, all the way to a sense of being One with something or someone. On the low end of Love it can look like the fear of difference, actively refuting oneness, hate and violence. Yes even our most atrocious acts are a misuse of our divinity.

Just so, extreme poverty is a form of abundance. Opulence being a greater use of it and Constant Flow being the most evolved. Stockpiling is not abundance, it is fear of lack made visible. Circulation is the higher form of wealth. And so it goes with everything we desire in life. Are we at the low end of our use of it? Can we move ourselves along the spectrum? What can we do this day to make that become our experience?

When faced with the need for drastic change in perception we often hear “I can’t help it, it’s just the way I am.” No it isn’t. It is just the way you believe. The way we really are is a unique expression of the Divine with all of its qualities available for our use right now. That is my personal mantra, the one I repeat to myself throughout the day. It never fails to lift my sights and to raise my expectations of what is possible with the right use of my Mind, which is my divinity in residence.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes   www.carol-carnes.com  

(yay, got my website up again)There is a link to CSL Bakersfield.

Also check out www.calliforniafreeprfess.net

Why Am I Here?

Dear friends,

It is interesting to note how many physical bodies we have outlived this lifetime. From a newborn weighing only a few pounds to a toddler, to a big teenager, to a young adult, to a middle aged person, to elderly or wherever we may be now, we have remained within the façade. We, who are observing the passing scene, do not pass ourselves. We are a permanent resident in the ongoing adventure of evolution. It seems reasonable to assume that life itself, does not end.

In his chapter on Immortality in The Science of Mind, Ernest Holmes suggests rebirth is the eternal action of Being. He said “our contention is not that a dead person lives on, but that a living person never dies.” He did not teach reincarnation in the usual way, but more universally. He felt there were so many options, why would we come here again? On the other hand, why not? Perhaps we want to finish some business or continue to learn a particular skill.

Assuming the premise is true, what are you doing here this time? Why did you desire to be here on this planet at this time with the skills that you have accumulated over eons? What are you going to do with them? My contention is that it isn’t so much a conscious choice but more of an affinity. It is an energetic that is so well defined in us that we are pulled into form by the need for it here on earth. Well, there are lots of variations on the theme, but it is still a good question. Why am I incarnated here in this place at this time?

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

Hey! First live stream this Sunday! Get on our Facebook page cslbakersfield or on our you tube channel. 10:30 am

Check out www.californiafreepress.net

Have the Courage to be Yourself

Dear friends,

You’re either in or your out, so says the world of trends. Things change so rapidly, if we tried to keep up we would be unable to attend to the rest of our real lives. What is fashionable today looks ridiculous a few years later, so why bother to be “trendy.” In short, because we have a natural desire to belong. We are somewhat tribal in that sense. Familiarity helps us to feel at home and comfortable. We know what is expected of us and how to retain our group status.

I can remember when my daughter longed for designer jeans, when her speech patterns were like all the other girls her age. Of course my own teen years were also about having the right white buck shoes, a certain brand, not the pointy toes ones but the round ones, or was it the other way around? Point being obvious; a sign of an underdeveloped self-identity is revealed in the level of our need to look like everyone else.

My observation has been this; the ones with the most individualistic self-identity are those who achieve the most in life. Think of the great innovators, whether it be Jesus or Steve Jobs.  These people do not base their decisions on what others are doing or what anyone would think. They have the self confidence to trust their own path and to follow it with passion. People follow them, not vice versa.

Do we claim our own true self? Are we available to what lies within us? Do we trust our natural talents enough to give them outlet? Are we our own best friend?

Affirm: “ I know my place in the world is everywhere I am. I trust my inner guidance. I belong wherever I may be.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerfrspirituallivingbakersfield.com

We begin live streaming Sunday event Sept 22 10:30 am PDT log in on our facebook page cslbakersfield

Also see www.californiafreepress.net

 

Is Reality a Construct of Our Mind?

Dear friends,

Ernest Holmes on Nature; “she does nothing without ample reason, leaves no gaps and provides for all emergencies.” This quote is from The Science of Mind (page 379) in a section on the more subtle uses of mind we all possess. The possibility of communicating with those who are no longer physical, is just one of our abilities at the soul level. It is a compelling argument.

We are often asked “do you believe in ghosts?” I can only answer, I believe in mind. I believe we can perceive many dimensions of reality. Do I believe these perceptions exist outside of my awareness? Is there anything that really exists outside of anyone’s awareness? According to quantum physics, the answer is No. This is an observer participatory universe. An apprehending mind is required in order to “see” anything.

The case is made that our reality is a construct of our mind. We don’t, for the most part, think that is even possible, but if we decide to be more observant of the connection between what is now in our life and how we have been thinking, we will see the flow of the one to the other. It is never easy to admit we had something to do with what is challenging us, but when we take ownership of our life, we are free, perhaps for the first time.

Here is a serious question. “What would you like instead?” Answer that and begin to infuse your mind with images of what you do want. Think of it as already so in the realm of possibility. See it already manifest in the world. Convince yourself that this is yours to experience. Affirm it and act as if it were so. That is how we participate in the creative process. Nature provides for all emergencies!'

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspiriitualivingbakersfield.com

See also www.californiafreepress.net

Agree to Your Highest Good

Dear friends,

Now that the mornings are cooler I have no excuse for not getting out and walking every day. When it is deep in winter, however, it will be “too cold.” Aren’t we all good at coming up with reasons why we do not do what we know we should and vice versa? The psychology is obvious; we do not really want what we say we want or that we think we ought to want. Motivation is everything.

But even motivation is temporary if it is to please someone else or to impress, as when a class reunion is coming up and we go into exercise mode to drop a few pounds. Once the event is over, we will go back to our usual routine unless something important has changed; our need has become a real desire. Temporary motivation is like doodling on paper, making quick little images. Real desire is more like drawing a complete picture.

There is no shame in not doing what everyone else thinks we ought to do, but we often fool ourselves in that regard. If we agree that it would be of benefit to us and still hesitate, then we can be fairly sure that there is a hidden resistance that we think is a better idea! For example: I once knew a woman who was quite obese. She had a wonderful personality, fun and quick witted. But after she lost the weight she became snarky and impatient. She gained it all back because in her own words “I don’t like my thin self.” The same idea was present in her whatever she weighed. It was the belief that she needed to protect herself, that she was vulnerable to attack. In both cases, she was trying to keep others at a distance. The mind is so creative!

Affirm:   “I am in complete agreement with what is the highest and best for me in any situation. I know what to do and I love doing it!”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

You might like www.californiafreepress.net

The Shift in Our Collective Consciousness

Dear friends,

At least 30 years ago, futurists, metaphysicians, gurus and some scientists, began to speak about the enormous shift in our collective consciousness that, at first, magnifies all that is not in harmony with Nature and our spirituality. They predicted the collapse of a certain mind-set and the arrival of a completely different perception fueled by our collective soul.  It seems we are in the final stages of it right now. The cartoon-like behavior of some world leaders, the closing of huge businesses that have been staples of the economy, the mass protests in the streets of cities around the world, the revealing of injustices in our prison system, the tainting of our food, the melting of the glaciers, all are indications that our unconscious, money-oriented choices have come to a point of unworkability.

Like the caterpillar in the chrysalis, we are at that stage where the old ways cannot be supported. We have come to the point of no return and the possibility of transformation is upon us. This is the time to forgive, love, hold to our spiritual truth, know the highest and best for everyone. This is when our hearts must take the lead and the wisdom of our souls must prevail. We are beyond politics, beyond revenge, beyond name and blame tactics. We are the ones , in the right time and the right place to lead the great awakening.

We simply must begin with our own lives; pay attention to our soul. It is prompting us to be on the high side of things in every situation. It wants humanity to live up to its potential. It is not easy to be a light-bearer. It is tempting to curse the darkness but it is not the way. We are better than any choices we have made. Let us remember who we are and act accordingly.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

Also see www.californiafreepress.net