California Free Press

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Let the Obstacles Go Under the Bridge and Over the Dam

Dear friends,

There is nothing to worry about specifically, but there is much to think about generally.   We tend to zoom in on one or two areas of our life but fail to consider how they fit into the overall landscape. What meaning do we give things if they are not seen as part of something trying to unfold?   We call them problems or glitches or obstacles on our path. It is possible they are none of those things, but are road signs showing us what needs to be either released, developed or increased.

Our personal journey, if we look back on it, has included all manner of events.   We have had moments of great joy, love and creativity. We have also had those times of fear and dread and the feeling of being wronged.   They pass and we learn. What we are supposed to learn is something about ourselves! A broken heart in youth can help us realize just how much love we are capable of giving.   It might teach us to be more self-assertive or more present.

When things go sideways in any situation, there is a nugget of gold at the center.   Like real gold, it might take a little digging, a chipping away of our stubborn ideas to get the gift. Life is forever becoming what we do with it. Today is another opportunity to do the right thing; to say the words that heal, think the thought that elevates.   Until we pay attention to the whole picture and know what we need to know to rise above and move forward, until then we might agree with Edna St Vincent Millay who said ”life is not one damned thing after another, it is one damned thing over and over.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Be Awake and Aware

Dear friends,

     So much of our life depends on these little devices called batteries. When a device stops working it is usually because it needs a new one. It becomes a problem if we do not have a supply of the various sizes on hand. Then we go searching the house for some other device to borrow from.   I think of this as an analogy to ideas. When some area of our experience stops working well or seems stagnant, we often go on a search for something to make it function again. But if we are looking outside of our own mind, we will not find what is necessary. There may be a temporary fix, but soon we will see the need for real creative thinking.

     Most of us could use some new ideas in some area of our life.   We can be so used to dealing with lack or ill health that those conditions seem to be in charge. We have forgotten how things come to be in our personal experience. It is a real spiritual practice to not attribute Cause to anything other than consciousness. The Law of Mind is real and is infallible as principle. There is a power in mind that produces visible forms of ideas. Some call the Power God but it might as well be name “I AM, for what we announce ourselves to be is what is reflected to us in experience. The announcement is subconscious until we decide to think more spiritually about who we are and what is possible. “I am   a spiritual being living in the physical world. My Source of everything is in the Field of awareness that is Infinite and immediate.” That is a seriously new idea to most people.

     Let’s not be too hard on ourselves. Maintaining a consciousness of our spiritual heritage in this changing world is not easy. Simple, but not easy. That is why we meditate, take a metaphysical class, participate in spiritual community and monitor our thoughts. We write affirmations, practice the presence of Spirit right where we are, and stay grateful.   That is how we stay super-charged, ready to power up our perceptions and our expectations.   We are double A’s; Awake and Aware.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Be Still and Feel the Beauty of Life

Dear friends,

Thomas Moore said “The ordinary acts we practice everyday at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.”

Making a cup of tea, sitting quietly for a few minutes, petting the cat, watering the plants, making lunch for your kids, nursing the baby, shoveling snow from the walkway, showing your son how to tie a four in hand, fixing the toaster, reading something uplifting, dancing in the living room. Our soul is fed by simple acts of caring for it. It loves beauty and order. It is fed by the moment we are in……..or it is not.

 

Those who rush around in chaos are not honoring their own Being. “Not enough time” is the hue and cry of the unconscious. It is a matter of priorities and cultivating inner stillness. Like the hub that remains motionless while the wheel turns, our inner core is either stabilizing our emotions or is ignored. How we think of time is crucial to personal happiness and even our health.

Small conscious acts that help us to be more present wherever we are, is a kind of spiritual practice. I think of the difference between doodling and drawing. One is random action, the other is intentional and creative. We speak of wasting time as if slowing down and even doing nothing were not important. Yes, we all have obligations and work and families and duties to fulfill. But we also have a soul that craves quiet and beauty and order. We can feed it wherever we are with a little attention to the moment. What can we bring into this one that validates the presence of our own soul?

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspiritiualivingbakersfield.com

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As You Think, So You Are

Dear friends,

California is very green right now. It has rained on and off for a couple of weeks. In fact, it is raining again right now. It has made things so beautiful, lush and alive. If it keeps up, however, there will be mudslides and devastation in certain areas. This is a classic case of “too much of a good thing.”

When I was young we talked about the influence of ideas on groups as “mob psychology.” If one could get a whole lot of people to agree with an idea, one could control that group and get them to do things they never expected to do. We pointed to Hitler’s youth and the KKK as perfect examples. In today's world, it is ever more dangerous because of social media and the tendency in our population to be undereducated and non-informed. There is a lack of interest in investigating claims. Too much access to those who would impose their ideas on impressionable minds is not a good thing.

When we do not understand the power of the mind, we are more likely to allow it to be invaded by fear and untruths. This insidious attempt to create fear and loathing is the greatest threat to our shared good. That is why New Thought teaching is so vital in the world right now. If known and practiced, it could bring about lasting peace and prosperity. It requires individuals to think for themselves, to monitor what they allow to enter their subconscious; to spend some time every day in silence feeling their own power. New Thought spirituality creates individuals who know who they are and who can see through false beliefs into the eternal Truth. That is what will heal our world.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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We Have No Limitations

Dear friends,

When we need something, there is no built-in limitation on it, according to Eric Butterworth in his book, "Spiritual Economics". We interpret a desire to express as a need, but really it is a prompting from within, a nudge from our own wholeness. Organic desires, such as for greater health, wealth, love or creative ideas arise from their own power to produce themselves through us. Like acorns that contain the oak tree in potential, desires point to success. The trouble is, if we think of it as something we do not have but must try to get in the world, we are blocking its advent into our experience.

Beware of thinking of yourself as “only human.” We are not. We have a spiritual heritage, one in which all possibility exists. It is like a field of arable soil just waiting for our sowing. We must plant the seeds of acceptance of our true nature. The more we see ourselves as direct descendants of an unlimited power, the easier life becomes for us. We discover we are dealing with a giving-ness that has no intention of withholding anything we claim as ours. It will come through us into the light of day with stunning originality.

And so we must go back to the basic law of life. Know what you desire but do not assume you know how it will happen. Let the Power that makes all things new surprise and delight you. As ancient scripture declared “It is it’s wish to give you the kingdom.” Your kingdom and mine may look different, but each will be perfect for us. Speak your word and trust the desire to fulfill itself.

Affirm: “The Power within knows what my heart desires. I give myself permission to be surprised and delighted with the immediate results.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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How Lovingly Are We Expressing Intelligence?

Dear friends,

Ernest Holmes said a mouthful with these words: “Body or form is the necessary outcome of self-knowingness. In order to know there has to be something to be known. Body is a concrete manifestation existing in time/space for the purpose of furnishing a vehicle though which Life may express itself.” Page 373 Science of Mind.

Well! That would be you and me. We are one of the trillions of ways Life (God) brings itself out of the field of the invisible into the visible. We reveal its nature to the degree of our awareness that we possess its nature! What is its nature if not Intelligence and Love? How intelligently are we expressing Love? How lovingly are we expressing Intelligence?

There is freedom in self-realization. It varies in each one of us according to how much we can believe in our wholeness and spiritual origins. We did not arise in a void. We are the evidence of the activity of Spirit taking form for the joy of experiencing this particular dimension of reality. That puts us in a very favorable position. We have the entire Intelligence of the universe at our disposal. We are the owners of a vehicle that is fully loaded. As we give ourselves more opportunities to be seen and known for who we really are, our lives get better and better. God, itself, is silence. We give it voice. God is Love. We give it relationships. God is supply. We give it circulation. God is Joy. We give it play. God is creative. We give it something to create. God is peace. We prove it to be so.

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Welcome Your Greater Good

Dear friends,

There are times in every life when it seems as if nothing is working in our favor. Eventually we will come to the realization that we must take up a new idea. Perhaps we need to change how we work or even where and with whom. If we have been trying to make something function and it just isn’t responding, is it giving up if we let it go? That seems to be the big dilemma; not wanting to give up on something in which we have put our heart and soul, but which really needs to be released, at least temporarily while we regroup.

A shift in our focus also has a positive effect on our energy levels.

It is emotionally draining to try to resurrect a broken relationship or a dead end job. The moment we say yes to something better, is the moment we feel in charge again. Sometimes there is something more we need to know that cannot be found while we are entangled in the problem. We need to remove ourselves and be open to the insights that come with distance.  

Today is our day to step out of limitation and into freedom. Be ready to receive what comes when you are in a state of receptivity to change. Say this out loud:

“I am free of any and all ideas that have produced this current situation. I am open to what is trying to happen for my greater good. I see it, I welcome it, I accept it.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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This Day is the Best Day of my Life

Dear friends,

We never know for sure what this day will bring. But one thing is for certain; it is a continuum of all the days prior. Life flows, it does not start and stop. Beginnings are simply the flip side of endings and they merge seamlessly. Like a river moving under its own weight and seeking its natural level, our lives are a moving expression of what is in our deeper mind, what we truly believe is ours to have, to know, to expect. We cannot rise above that level unless and until we impart, with energy, a truly new idea.

You know the saying “today is the first day of the rest of your life”? Well, it is also the last day of the life you have been living, up until now. How about making a leap out of the past and into a now moment of spiritual truth? We are brand new, right now. We are not effects, we are Cause. We are the incarnation of pure intelligence and absolute love. We are the open doorway for all that is contained in the field of love and intelligence to come through, individualized by us.

Could today be the one that more perfectly reflects our true nature? Why not? If we can raise our inner sight to include the whole self that we are, great good must surely follow. It will be ours alone but it will be pleasing and appropriate to the best image of us we have. Say it out loud: This day is the best day of my life, so far. I am happy, healthy, wealthy and in love. All is well with me. I am blessed.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivigbakersfield.com

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Change Your Beliefs, Change Your Life

Dear friends,

Today I celebrate my own arrival on planet earth, probably not for the first time, but who knows? When I was little, two and three years old, I was convinced I had come here to tell people something. I tried and tried to remember what it was, to no avail. Another pursuit was trying to “lift off.” I knew I could do it if I just stood with my arms over my head long enough. It never happened, but I had a memory of floating in the air. None of this makes me special. I feel all children are little forms of big souls. Mostly we are adapting to expectations and hence, we act like we are first timers. It is rather like playing a part to please the audience.

There was a moment at age 34 when I allowed my true self to demand answers. I cried out “I don’t know where you went God, but I want you back.” This was very strange for a woman who had been raised by an atheist and an agnostic, who was anti-church. However, that little girl always felt the Presence of Something Else, but it seemed to have departed once I became an adult. My demand was immediately answered. Within the week I learned to mediate and two months later I was led to a New Thought Center. The message was familiar. I knew what I came here to tell people.  

It goes like this: God is the word we use to try to describe a universal Intelligence acting in a field of Love bringing about visible forms of itself. You and I are those forms, as is all sentient life. Our Mind (awareness) is the way God can have a time/space experience, as we spontaneously express our uniqueness. What we think about, believe with conviction tends to be revealed as our personal experience. Hence, change your beliefs, change your Life. Mission accomplished. You’re welcome. 😊

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspiritualliving.com

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Nothing Great Was Ever Achieved Without Enthusiasm

Dear friends:

Emerson in “Circles” said “nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”   It is easy in the beginning of a new venture to be enthusiastic and certain of success. But as time goes on, there are ebbs and flows; downturns and recovery. Staying in the enthused state has something to do with belief, of course, but also with the sense of support from the invisible power that enthuses us in the first place. If we know that our efforts are being supplied by a higher power than the economy or the opinions of the world, we can stay the course.

The example most often given is that of Edison who would not give up until he perfected the electric light. There are countless others whose names we do not know who have maintained a high level of commitment and positivity to their idea despite obstacles and even ridicule. The other night was a beautiful lunar eclipse. I thought of those dedicated men and women of the space program who eventually took us to the moon. Without enthusiasm, that would never have succeeded.

In our daily life with the obligations of family and work we might not feel enthused. Yet the Spirit is with us, always, and as Emerson has suggested, seeks new ideas to support. If we can get involved with something bigger than our individual life, we will feel its presence. A commitment to a Cause, participating in it and giving something of one’s self, activates our relationship to Spirit. It has been described as feeling the “hand of God upon us.”   Participation breeds enthusiasm. Spirit seeks and finds the way in, that it might do its work by means of us.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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The Inner Self is Always at Rest and Perfectly Intact

Dear friends,

Emerson wrote in Spiritual Laws: “a standing army is not as good as a peace.” We take that as metaphor for our mental tendencies.   Are we standing in defense of our emotions, ready to strike when we feel hurt or betrayed? It is observable in many adults who one would expect to have matured beyond that stance. Yet, if we are not given the means to change our own mind about what is the truth of our circumstances, we will forever be on the alert for attack.

The ego mind is meant to protect the status quo; that is, what is contained in our subconscious and what is our deeper self-regard. It will always see us as we see ourselves, and produce effects that perfectly make us right. The conclusion, and the irony, is if we want to be loved, we must love ourselves. There is no escape from that fact. Loving ourselves means honoring the Spirit that indwells us, seeing through the physical, knowing our past does not make us who we are; that is God’s business and it is in operation right now.

Who we are is new every moment if we could but see it. Meditation on a regular basis helps us to stay in that awareness. Without any doing or any reaction to us, we simply rediscover the inner self which is always at rest and perfectly intact. We are never damaged goods. There is nothing about our true self that is not lovely and beautiful. Let’s start anew every day with a visit to our own heart and soul. Let’s affirm our wholeness and set about our day with the cheerful expectation of a child discovering the world. Or would we rather be armed and ready for a fight?

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes   www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Overcoming Our Resistance to Achieve Our Good

Dear friends,

This is my birthday week. January 25 is the actual date but I am already thinking about who I am at this advanced age. It has been a long run from babyhood during the second World War to now. There have been moments of sheer delight and some terrifying ones. I still have friends from kindergarten and many new ones I cherish as well. There has been world travel and great adventures.  But the one thing that truly made my soul open up (excluding the birth of my children) was learning to meditate and then the discovery of New Thought spirituality.

Prior to that, it seemed to me that the world was living with false ideas. I could not accept the version of Reality that had a man in the sky dictating our lives. But I felt the Presence and cried out for answers. Immediately I was led to a class in meditation and a bit later to the New Thought Center near my home. It was a revelation to hear what felt true. In those days it was called the Church of Religious Science. I was very much against institutionalized religion, which meant I had to overcome my own resistances to walk through the door. But isn’t that what we always must do to move beyond where we are into something greater?

Our resistance might be fear; fear of rejection, fear of losing something, fear of being challenged, fear of being fooled, fear of looking silly. Don’t we often go through something like that when we start a new relationship or interview for a new job? Overcoming our own resistances is a huge part of life that we don’t give much credit. It is rather amazing what our mind can do when it senses some Good that doesn’t look like we thought it would. Can you trust yourself to know when your Good is being offered? If it turns out to be not so good, you will know it, but the great gift will have been the triumph over fear. That alone is what lifts us out of survival into thrival. Once activated, we never lose that power.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes   www.centerforspiritiualivingbakersfield.com

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See the Good and Praise It

Dear friends,

Leaders do not have to be perfect human beings to be visionaries, to make life better for others. In our social media culture, we have become “outers.” Quick to condemn, ridicule, find fault with or just plain criticize people for anything and everything they do or say, we are losing our spiritual sight.

It is one thing to be discerning but quite another to be hateful. The expectation of “saintliness” is childish and is a kind of spiritual malpractice. Not everyone, in fact most people, are very good with great power. It is easy to lose one’s sense of appropriateness when you are being worshiped or feared. However, there are those who have managed.   President Jimmy Carter comes to mind.  

This week we honor the birth and lifetime of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was a flawed person but his work in the world opened the pathways to greater freedom and equality for millions of people. His efforts on behalf of African Americans had a profound and positive affect on the women’s movement and Gay rights, as well. Let’s see through the superficial to the heart of the matter. This man was courageous, stalwart, wholeheartedly involved with the vision of a world that works for everyone. He has earned our respect and admiration and most of all, our gratitude.

Spiritually, we will do well to see the Good and praise it. At the same time to call it forth when it seems to be missing. There is a soul present in each one of us. It is trying to be seen and known, but sometimes the ego gets in its way.   Affirm with me today about anyone who you have seen as a problem:

“I see through the façade of negativity into your very soul. I call forth the beautiful self who is standing before me. I refuse to condemn. I praise the potential and give it open space to be revealed. All is well with us.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Are We God's Experiment Responsible for Our Own Consciousness?

Dear friends,

Thomas Troward on our relationship to the One Source, which he called universal Mind, “we come into contact with the Absolute in proportion to our withdrawal from the relative.” He is advising us to never associate our potential with the conditions that now appear in our life. He is saying to affirm that our wholeness is now manifesting as vital health, rather than asking God to heal something of which God has no awareness. The Source of all Life knows only wholeness. It is not in the healing business. It is in the immediate creative process business, bringing forth the proportion of wholeness we accept as ours.

Life could be so much easier for all of us if we just stuck to this simple truth. The effects now appearing are nothing more than old ideas repeating. A new idea will dissolve them. But the new idea is not an idle thought. It is the deep belief in our own spiritual heritage. We are not effects of the world. We are the incarnation of Spirit in human form.   Why? Just for the fun of experiencing time/space and all it has to offer. But never are we less than our experience. We are always in charge of it.

That seems like crazy talk to most people. But crazier is the idea that God is a man in the sky doling out rewards and punishment. This universe is a system of consciousness producing everything out of itself by becoming the thing it makes. You and I are made in that image and likeness. We are consciousness producing experience from our personal sense of who we are. Let’s stop playing with metaphysics by saying our troubles are good for us. No, they are errors in thinking visibly revealed. Now is the time to raise our sights and see through the illusion of limitation.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspiritullivingBakersfield.com

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Be in the Present Moment

Dear friends,

Today may seem like any other day, but it is entirely new. Repetition is a function of our mind, not something beyond our control. Some things we prefer to stay the same but in the context of that framework, do we remain open to serendipity?   If all we are doing is maintaining the status quo, then we might as well be some kind of artificial intelligence, pre-programmed to complete tasks. 

In New Thought teachings, the emphasis is on present moment awareness. In other words, Spirit, acting as the creative process in us, responds to ideas in the immediate, not from the past. As far as it deduces, what we are thinking now is what we desire, expect, perceive as so. It proceeds accordingly. The Spirit is not bound by time, it knows only to act in this moment. Our disease, our lack, or our prosperity is a brand new experience. It only seems like a continuum because we have not changed our mind.

There have been countless true accounts of instantaneous healing, physical and mental. The truth is that all healing is instantaneous, as are all manifestations of any kind. Because we live in a time/space dimension we mistakenly think it took a long time to happen. No, it took as long as we needed to change our perception of who we are right now.   The truth of this is demonstrable. Make a bold declaration about yourself. Put it in the affirmative form. Write it and place copies of it around your house where your eye falls throughout the day. Put it in your office, your car, your purse or pocket. Stay with it. At some point it becomes its own cause to a new experience. It will happen in some moment of right now.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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See the Good and Praise It

Dear friends,

In our busy world, we know we need sleep. We are aware of the need to stop and be still. The misunderstanding is that we are “wasting valuable time” when we remove ourselves from the action. In all of nature, including our bodies, there is action and repose, but, as Thomas Troward wrote, repose does not mean purposelessness. It is in the quiet contemplation of what we are, that state of non-doing, that our energies are recharged. It is the thinking mind that must be mastered, not by eliminating thought entirely, but by redirecting it to its source.

Somehow, westerners have become so invested in work and achievement that we have forgotten where our true wealth resides. It is in the deeper recesses of mind, the Center from which everything flows. There is a point in us that is open to the universal mind. It comes through us according to how much of an opening we give it. This is actually the purpose of prayer, if done in a more scientific way. It is to change our perception of limitation to one of being available to what is possible.

There is no power outside of us, teaching us lessons or inhibiting our good for its own reasons. There is only the Center outflowing through us, by means of us. The means we give it to use is our love, our joy in living, our gratitude for life itself, our generosity, our vision, our self-worth, our acceptance, our belief. This is our true work; to train the mind to see the good and praise it; to fill it with ideas of growth, expansion, evolution, increase and extension of all that the Source is, by means of this life we are living. Be still and know.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Life is Not a Rehearsal

Dear friends,

I knew a girl in high school who always had a steady boyfriend. Oftentimes the boy would be a nice kid but not anyone the rest of us would date. It only seemed to matter that she always had an escort to the dances, the games, the movies.  I learned years later that her mother had taught her to never postpone her life, that if she was always waiting for just the right thing, she might miss out on a lot of good times. That was pretty good advice, philosophically.

There was a book some years back titled “Life is Not a Rehearsal.” I don’t remember much about it, but the title suffices.  Have you ever avoided getting close to someone or intimacy in general because you were holding out for a different kind of friend? Do you get out and mix it up with new acquaintances? What about work? If you are waiting for the perfect job, how many paychecks have you missed in the meantime?  Get back in the game and live your life as best you can while creating space for opportunity. We do that by being involved and visible.

There is nothing more attractive than a person who finds good where they are, enjoying what is right here and right now. What travels with us is our capacity for love, for fun, for play, for creativity. It is not attached to a person, a place or a position. If we are not expressing our best self now, it might as well not exist.

 Be active. Participate. Join in. Suit up! And most of all,

Stay tuned in

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Let the Sun Shine In

Dear friends,

The Power we use to generate ideas into form and experience is the same power Jesus used to generate the effects known as miracles. There is only one power and it is present throughout the universe. It is pure intelligence and exists in a field of Love, meaning a magnetic force that brings together those things that vibrate in the same harmonic. Well, let’s just put it this way: like attracts like.

Everything in our personal experience belongs with us by right of identification with it. We could also say, acceptance of it. Even the things we do not like, if we interact with them they become real to us. How to relieve the burden of what we do not want? Raise our vibration to a level where it does not exist. As Thaddeus Golas asked “what am I doing on a level of consciousness where this is real?” *

The great secret and the biggest challenge is this: It is all an inside job. Nothing changes until we change the perception that has brought it to our door. Most people will not believe it is so, but it is demonstrable. Trouble is, we are so distracted by the world, the news, the gossip, the chatter, that we do not stay with it long enough to actually lift ourselves out of the realm of the predictable and the mundane. Break the momentum today. Remove yourself from the doom and gloom. Take time to see the sky, feel the air, taste the water. Be by yourself at least some portion of every day. Sit and focus on the highest idea you can imagine. Let it begin to quiver inside. Feel the energy of it. Let it grow. Give it permission to come through you into the light of this new day.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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*The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment by Thaddeus Golas

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Our Consciousness Is Our Reality

Dear friends,

     Ernest Holmes, one of the greatest spiritual teachers of the 20^th century, taught with such simple eloquence that he was misunderstood by those who expected a statement about the nature of reality to be complicated and difficult to understand.   He said such things as “nothing is real to us until we make it real” and, whatever it is, “it’s as real as it needs to be” (to give us the experience of our consciousness.)

     He was not portraying our experience as an illusion, but merely as a construct originating in our mind. He said “in the independence of your own reality, believe you are wonderful. This is not conceit, it is the Truth.” Living from that principle has never been easy. We are participants in a whole world of constructs and they seem to be aimed at us. It feels natural to think of everything as outside of us, certainly not of our making.   But try we must. Power is inherent in the one who takes full responsibility for how they interact with the field of consciousness, playing out as human expression.

       He advised us to become aware of what we are contemplating throughout our day. It is the tendency of our thoughts that generate our experience, the atmosphere within our mind. Take steps today to celebrate yourself; speak well of others, too. Everyone is on some level of self-awareness. There is much work to do to raise our collective perception.   Let’s do our part today.

“I am a wonderful gift to life and so is everyone else.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Be That Person Who Radiates a Calm and Safe Energy

Dear friends

After having written my message for today and attempting to save it, somehow it disappeared. I cannot find it. It was a good one. Oh, well, I guess something else wants to be said.

Non attachment is healthy. We “create” everything, so it is not necessary to cling to what has been. We move on with new ideas and prove once again just how available they are. What wants to come through you today? That is the place to begin. The answer will never be to best someone, to hurt or to injure. It will always prompt us to give our wisdom, our guidance, our love, our support, our understanding, our compassion. Given expression, all of these make life better. Through them come solutions and fresh ideas.

There is a great song “someone needs a prayer today.” Someone needs you today. In all the world, you could be the one person to brighten their day. You could be the presence in the supermarket that radiates a calm and safe energy. You never know how you are affecting the field until you decide to do so. In grade school we were taught that courtesy is contagious. You might be the peace contagion wherever you are. Spreading light is real, not a new age platitude.

As challenging as life may be, it is, nonetheless, coming through us, not to us. Claiming our power means to take full responsibility for how we are being in each moment. Are we reacting from our attachment to old ideas or are we responding from our innate wholeness, our access to our Source? Either way, the first person to experience us is us!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Be Attuned to Nature

Dear friends,

Roger Egret was sitting on the highest point of the roof across the way this morning.   Next time I looked he was having breakfast in the little pond near my place. His presence soothes me, as does most of Nature. Emerson wrote something about what little difference it made where he slept if he could awaken to the beauty of the natural world. It is one thing to be homeless in Hawaii and quite another in New York. The difference is the beauty of Nature all around; the ocean and the mountains and the swaying palms; the mynah birds singing their conversations and the warm breeze caressing one’s face. Fruit on trees is easily had and fish are plentiful.   It is the presence of nature that keeps us civilized. Isn’t that odd?

Men becomes brutal in the city where the sky is blocked out and the honking horns replace the cry of the eagle. I remember a news story of a few years back about a family of Hawks that made their nests high above 5^th avenue. Every day a small group of New Yorkers would gather to watch them build and prepare for the birth of their offspring. Soon it became a crowd and a news story. This band of busy people stopped and watched and became united in some way. They were sharing the real world and, for a few moments, it soothed them.

Vacations are often attempts to find it again. But we can take steps to bring the Mother closer every day. Tend to something that grows. If not a dog or kitty, then a plant. Notice the birds but also sit still and feel the natural beat of your own heart. Experience the Being that you are before all the doing starts again. Close your eyes and hear the sound of silence. That is where it all begins. That is the nesting place of what is to come.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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All Is Well With Me

Dear friends,

Here is the hard truth. Whatever you think is missing in your relationship, your work place, your church, your country, does not actually exist unless it is active in you. Love is just a word, an idea until it becomes the energy of our mind and body.   Otherwise it is simply not real. That is true of everything we desire for ourselves and our world. We must ask ourselves, “why does what I long for seem to be elusive? Why do I not see it here? “

Everything began as an idea but was made visible by the expression of it via some human being. Love, as an example, can be staring us in the face but we will not see it if we deny its existence. Prosperity is everywhere. Nature is lavish in its production of supply. This universe and everything in it is the visible evidence of an inexhaustible reservoir of sufficiency. Why do we not have enough? Perhaps we have been shouting Lack so long, we cannot receive what is attempting to come through.

January is always a good month to make some changes in our perception. Decide today to see prosperity and love everywhere.   Allow your mind and heart to accept their presence in you. Give them permission to transform your experience of them. Say yes to the relentless giving-ness of this universe.  Nothing is being kept from you. It is all present right now but must be embodied as part of our very self-identity.

Say this:

“I am love on the move. I am prosperous and plentifully supplied with whatever enlivens my heart and opens my mind. All is well with me.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Honor the Kid in You

Dear friends,

Remember when all you wanted to do was grow up to be an adult, with the power to do whatever seemed like a good idea?   It didn’t quite work out that way, did it? The responsibilities of being a grown up can be taxing, no pun intended.   The inner child screams to be let out to play but we are too busy taking care of business to hear its insistent pleas.   What we feel is tired, over-whelmed or just plain disappointed, resigned to a life of meeting obligations.

How to honor the kid in us, our more joyful self? How to integrate that self into our adult life? It is not so much what we do as how we think about what we are doing. The inner kid in an otherwise responsible adult is not a brat. He/she is capable of happiness regardless of what is happening.   They are cheerfully expectant of Good and always grateful for what they have right now. This inner playful self is actually more grown up than most adults!   They know how to use their imagination to “make-believe.” That happens to be an important part of spiritual maturity, acting as if it were so.

Honoring the kid in you is not about doing kid things like jumping in rain puddles or rolling down a grassy hill. It is a   point of view, a way of being in the world. Eager to make friends with new people; seeing difference as fascinating; welcoming the day as a blank canvass waiting to be designed by us, are a few of the traits of the grown-up child. It is for us to nurture that aspect of our nature; to care for its pure heart and open mind. To bring it with us into the office, the relationship, the world.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Commit to a New Way of Living

Dear friends,

Is growth without some pain possible? It depends on what we call painful and also the degree of our resistance to growth itself. We say we want the world to be a kinder place but what would that require of us?   We want more customers, yet is our product needing renewal? We wish for greater prosperity while we are afraid to share what we have. Love does not find a resting place in a closed heart. Our growth is always a challenge to the status quo and that is what we must allow to dissolve if we expect life to get any better than it is right now.

Emma Curtis Hopkins, an early teacher of spiritual principle, said in effect, when we remove our consciousness from any situation, it becomes “unglued.” It is our mental and emotional attachments that cause anything to stay intact in form.   When we commit to a new way of living, the old will seem to disappear.

Emerson wrote that the country person walking through the words would never awaken from a dream-like state if not for the call of the crow or the sudden presence of the eagle. That is what a desire is; an inkling of something better. But do we give it our attention? Do we tamp it down, opting for sameness? Desire is an indication that “there is good for me and I ought to have it. “ Those are also the words of Ms. Hopkins. Coming from the soul, they are the hue and cry of the Spirit, attempting to awaken us from our limitation.

Say this:   “I am ready to be shown the way into the fulfillment of my desire. I trust the process. I grow out of my current state with ease and grace.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes   www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Adaptibility to Change

Dear friends,

Charles Darwin said the one who will survive is not the strongest or the most intelligent, but the one most adaptable to change.

Why is adaptability to change so important to our well-being? Because it is what all of life does; it morphs, evolves, ages, becomes, grows, learns. Most of all, it is our nature to desire newness. It is the life force itself that pulls us out of a stagnant state.   Our deeper consciousness (we could say our soul self) will not tolerate stasis. Our bodies must be constantly renewed and it is the same for our psyche.

Renewal does not mean loss. It means what was present is still with us but in an improved or enhanced state. Renewal involves change but it is a stepping up, an up-leveling; also a rearrangement of energy. Our focus shifts from the past to the now, an important and necessary step in adaptability. Welcome the new! It will draw out those latent qualities in us that could give us a bigger experience of life.

Could you use deeper love, greater health, more prosperity, expanded creativity, real peace? How will any of those qualities come into play if everything stays the same? The capacity for an enhanced life is ours to activate; but our unwillingness to allow change stops its movement forward. We remain in potential, never realizing the possible. Adapt!   Let Life fulfill its purpose.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspiritualivingbakersfield.com

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Off the Top of My Head

What's $330 Million Among Friends?

by John Lawrence, January 3, 2019

It seems Saudi Arabia "forgot" to pay the US taxpayers some $330 million for refueling services provided for the war in Yemen. It was attributed to an "accounting error" in Pentagon billing. Only at the Pentagon could $330 million be called an accounting error. But when they waste hundreds of billions of dollars of US taxpayer money, $330 million is just a rounding error at most.

albawaba.com reported:

Commander Rebecca Rebarich, a Pentagon spokeswoman, stated on Friday that the US Central Command (CENTCOM) was specifically looking to reimburse about $36.8 million for fuel costs and $294.3 million for flight hours, which were not included in the initial bills and were therefore paid for with taxpayer money.

"US Central Command reviewed its records and found errors in accounting where we failed to charge the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) adequately for fuel and refueling services. USCENTCOM calculated the correct charges, and Department of Defense is in the process of seeking reimbursement," she said in a statement to CNN.

After the outcry over the killing of Jamal Khasoggi and the humanitarian crisis caused by the Saudi led war in Yemen, the US has decided to stop refueling Saudi bombers. The charity, Save the Children, has reported that more than 84,700 children under the age of five may have starved to death in Yemen since the Saudi regime and a coalition of its allies launched the brutal war on the already-impoverished nation. Again a bad call by the US to sell the Saudis weapons, because Trump didn't want to lose American jobs. Trump said, “It’s the best equipment in the world but if they don’t buy it from us, they’re going to buy it from Russia or they’re going to buy it from China or they’re going to buy it from other countries. Russia and China wanted it very badly."

So weaponry to kill and starve children is only an arms deal, money owed for refueling is only an accounting error. Lives lost can be computed on a balance sheet somewhere, and war is only a business in which the US seeks to remain profitable. There hasn't been the outcry over America's war time atrocities since "Hey, Hey, LBJ, How Many Kids Did You Kill Today" In those days there was some moral outrage over war. Today it's just accepted as a business complete with accounting errors and weapons sales that we can profit from. Trump has no qualms. At least President Johnson was morally conflicted over his conduct of the Vietnam war.

Has America lost its moral compass?

Let's Lighten the Burden of Others

Dear friends,

Charles Dickens: “There is no one useless in this world who lightens the burden of others.”

The words “lighten the burden” are profound. We cannot always heal the entire situation. We might know what needs to happen but are not able to implement the right action. We won’t be able to take away a person's deep grief or narrowest beliefs, but we can certainly lighten their burden. A small gift, some money, listening, can lighten someone’s burden. There are people doing just that. A four year old boy uses his allowance to make sandwiches and hands them out to the homeless. Another young man is giving out sleeping bags. Still another has equipped an RV with showers and offers clean clothes and shaving supplies for those who live on the streets.

There might be a lonely neighbor whose long time pet has died. A visit with some flowers would be appreciated. In other words, there are ways to serve humanity without having to change our daily routine. We just need to be aware of what is going on around us and respond. When we give money to someone on the street, let’s make eye contact and say something like “I know things can get better for you.” The burden of feeling no one can see us can be lightened with an encouraging word. I think that must be terrible, to feel we are invisible.

Let’s treat everyone with the observation of Ram Dass:  “You can’t fool me, God. I know you’re in there somewhere.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes   www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Taking Responsibility for Our Experiences

Dear friends,

One of the most effective means to emotional freedom is to take complete responsibility for our behaviors. Never blame anyone for anything. This does not mean we don’t call others on their actions if they impact our life, but that we do not blame them for anything we do in response. It is a very high road to walk and not an easy practice. We are living in a dimension where everything appears to be outside of us.   It is natural to point outwardly to attribute cause to the effects we are experiencing.

HH the Dalai Lama said compassion is understanding the motivation of others. Why do they do what they do? It will always be something they feel about themselves that acts as cause to their actions. If a person thinks their position is threatened, or they might lose something of value because of our presence, they will act in unsavory ways to protect themselves. They might point to others as the cause of their feelings. That is never the case. We cause our own feelings by what we believe about ourselves.

If we make one change in ourselves as we move into this New Year, it ought to be to take complete responsibility for how we experience anything. It is up to us to name it and claim it; good or bad, positive or not, it is we who say what it means. Meaning becomes motivation.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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There is a Power for Good in the Universe

Dear friends,

Having just viewed pictures of the universe taken by the Hubble telescope, I am, once again, stunned at the mystery of our existence. What is this thing called universe? No one really knows how it can exist. Yes, there was a big bang but what was before that? Naturally we had to make up a story to ease our minds. But basically, Life is incomprehensible.

Having said that, there are observable aspects to life that can help us feel more at home in the mystery. Such things as the apparent responsiveness of ‘something’ to our mental atmosphere. It is undeniable that our thoughts, held in conviction, tend to become our personal reality. It seems as if we are not creating, but somehow involved in the Creative Process that is always active. The universe and everything in it is the visible evidence of its ever becoming.

Our mind seems to be one of, probably, billions of vehicles for the ongoing creation of the universe. Just like the tiny ants on our planet have a tremendous role to play in our own ecology, perhaps conscious beings are important to the Whole. One has to wonder what earthlings are contributing with all our ignorant rantings and ravings and destructive behaviors. Yes, there are more of us who try to live with love and compassion, but we also fail at times. Our collective self esteem is so low we cannot imagine that what we do every day really matters in the ongoing creation. Our religious stories have turned us into little worms in the dust. But there is a new story, one that can turn things around. It is the New Thought assertion: There is a power for Good in this universe. It is available to everyone and you use it when you think.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes  www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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The Avenue of Our Consciousness

Dear friends,

How many times have we had to ‘make room’ for a new acquisition?  Perhaps it was a nice easy chair or a large TV or a painting we found on a trip.  Sometimes, making room means letting go of what has been there for a long time.  We store it or give it to a friend or the local thrift shop.  But the point is made; we cannot add the new if there is no room for it.

Here is a good end of the year question.  What is taking up so much space in our mind that the new desire cannot find a place to grow? If our mind is so filled with the fear of lack, will prosperity have a chance to become our prevalent mental atmosphere?  How do we ‘make room’ anyway?  Like any goal, the desire for a prosperity consciousness is attainable with daily steps in that direction. We begin to recite affirmative statements about supply. We read books about how our mind creates our experience. We circulate what we do have happily. We might write out a personal statement of our intentions around giving.

However we approach it, focus is the answer.  We fill our mind with only thoughts of supply, wealth, circulation, giving and  receiving, ease and flow. The old ideas of lack are pushed out, there is longer any room for them. The last days of any year are opportune times to be honest with ourselves around what we have been living with in the realm of perception. There is no judgement, only an opportunity to make room for whatever seems to have been missing. Love, supply, friendships, creativity, joy, peace, it matters not.  Everything comes through us via the avenue of our consciousness.  That is where we live and what is contained there can be replaced with a willingness to do the work of clearing.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes  www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

You can donate to us via pay pal   Thank you!

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The Year of Compassion

Dear friends,

Name your Year is a simple practice that I have been doing for a few years. It is like knowing the title of your book before you write it. The title ought to be somewhat like a personal vision, so that we are pulled by it, changed by it and can use it as a touchstone. For me, 2019 is “ The Year of Compassionate Service.” I do not know how that will become real, other than, for me, a more hands on approach to my teaching. I already give to people on the street, donate to No Kid Hungry and sponsor a little girl in Africa. But this is something more. I feel the pull of it.

We are each capable of so much more than we are now expressing. We have felt the longing for more meaning in our lives. Sometimes we equate that with work but it can be anything. Most of us have skills that could be used to mentor younger people. Maybe we secretly write poetry. Is this the year to go public? It could be more than one thing, a cluster of ways to reveal more of who we are. What if 2019 were our last year on planet earth? Would knowing that change how we are or what we choose to do with our remaining days?

There is a wonderful poem about how, at the end of the year, we recognize that we have lived through the anniversary of our future transition. When I first read that, it shook me a little. Yes, I thought, the day of my passing will be marked by those few who might remember. It was that little idea that has given rise to my desire for compassionate service. I am eager to see where this might take me. What will you Name Your Year?

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes    www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Life is Ephemeral. Feel the Moment

Dear friends,

The day after a major holiday is a bit of a let-down. Our energy has been in one direction for a few months, then it’s over. The decorations begin to look a bit out of place. We shift our attention to the next big day and the process goes on throughout the year. Humans need reasons to celebrate, to break up the tedium of everyday life. Our culture is such that we find little to think of as a reason to celebrate on a day to day basis. And yet, that is exactly what we ought to be doing. Other cultures around the world do it, why are we so inclined to ignore the moment and its inherent perfection?

Perhaps it is because we have become so goal oriented. Goals are good, but if our life is mostly futurizing, we miss the present. Think of all the TV commercials about saving for retirement. If that is a major goal, then we are unlikely to take career risks. We might become afraid to make a move. Alan Watts wrote a great book titled “the wisdom of insecurity.” It is a philosophical statement of just how fleeting this life is, how temporary all materiality is, how the pursuit of security robs us of vitality.

In western life, it becomes a both/and situation, a kind of balancing act. We want to make sure we can afford to live here after a lifetime of working, but we also want to enjoy right now. Simple things keep us in touch with beauty and love; things like gardening, making a pot of soup that takes some time; arranging flowers, even washing our own car. Every day as I write these little messages, I cut and paste and do the mailing myself, rather than have a service send them out. I like a more hands-on relationship with the process itself, and I feel a connection to the people who read them. I see the same names on the lists and in some cases I am reminded of times I spent with those friends. You are probably one of them. Let’s take time this New Year to feel the moment, experience the people, create some beauty, be relaxed with work. Our life is about being alive, not preparing to stop working.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Mother Nature is Our Friend

Dear friends,

There is nothing like the sight of a full moon on a cold wintry night. A few evenings back, it was casting a bright light through the bare trees. Very romantic, but the first, or maybe second thought I had was, “humans have walked on that thing!” Nature in all her beauty and mystery, nonetheless has secrets that can be discovered and catalogued. There is a scientific side to everything, from why the full moon can make dogs aggressive to why lovers swoon under it.

Our beliefs about the origins of life have been largely romantic. But with modern science we are beginning to see we had the right idea but told the story in poetic language. Scientific language turns “Let there be Light” into the Big Bang theory. From dark matter, the universe erupted and light was born.   Well, maybe. We could be wrong about that, too. Time will tell. But it is important that we hold our stories lightly and keep an open mind.

Life on planet earth could be a paradise. The science of today can help us restore her to her former perfection. But if we cling to the old story of ‘we have dominion over all life’, we will continue to treat her as if she had no value whatsoever. The common story is that Nature is our enemy. It is quite possible that one will come true. Not because it is true, but because we have made it so. It is time we wrote a new story about our dependence on her well- being, on our responsibility to care-take the planet, on our debt to future humans who will live in our legacy. Let’s keep romance out of it and listen to the scientists. The full moon is beautiful but it has a purpose. Without it we would not be here.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Love God's Creation, Love the Earth

Dear friends,

What does it mean to love God if not to love Life, all of it, in its wild diversity. We ought to be in awe all the time! I once spent most of an afternoon sitting in front of the jelly fish exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, marveling at their beauty, delicacy and variety. It is impossible to pay attention to the details of Nature and not fall in love with whatever is the Source of it all.

When Emerson was 36 years old, he wrote about a visit to Walden Pond. “The water seemed made for the wind, and the wind for the water, dear playfellows for each other. I said to my companion, I declare the world is so beautiful that I can hardly believe it exists.”

This beauty, this perfection of activity, all interlocking and mutually supportive, does exist and we barely notice it. Nature is the grand metaphor for God. Intelligent, creative, forever becoming, she shows how Life in the physical realm can be a dance, a symphony of interdependence. The terrible mistake Humanity made was to see itself outside of this masterpiece. We thought we should dismantle it, classify it, dominate it. It never occurred to us that we are as much a part of it as the butterflies and the jellyfish, that our well-being is intrinsically tied up with the well-being of Nature herself. If we love God, we love its creation, all of it and we take care of it.

Stay tuned,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Joy to the World

Dear friends,

Joy is a word seen everywhere this time of year. How many of us have actually felt it? There are peak moments, as when our child is born or perhaps on a wedding day, when joy is real for us. Most of the time, however, we settle for being free of pain. The great spiritual Masters have taught that Joy is a natural state of well-being and that well-being comes from deep within our own psyche. It is not generated from worldly experience.

Very small children often exhibit joyful squeals at play. They are having a moment of true well-being. Joseph Campbell said people are not seeking peace, they are seeking the “rapture of being alive.” Rapture is another of those words that we attach to saints and mystics but not to ourselves. Is there some way for us to feel an approximation of it?

Try sitting very still in the dark for several minutes. Or gazing at the night sky with its twinkling stars. In warmer climes walk barefoot in the grass or lie down and let the sun shine on your face.   Being without doing seems to open the door to Joy. The Joy of being alive. We all deserve to feel it once again, but as adults we have to put ourselves in the optimal position for it to happen. The child in us will lead the way if we agree to allow time to stop for us for a bit.   Let the world go away for 20 minutes or so, even when you have a to-do list in your hand. Give yourself the ultimate gift of reconnecting with the most natural state of awareness, Joy.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes   You can donate to www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com via pay pal   Thank You!

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Release the Old and Behold the New

Dear friends,

We cannot forget that religion is mostly metaphor. There is deep meaning in it but we cannot get to the real juice if we take the stories at face value. First of all, they are about us, not some special person who was better than most. No, the tales of miracles and redemption are teaching lessons regarding being human. We are all capable of great change. Just look at those who have overcome addictions or terrible childhoods to become great at something and revered by others. We are blessed with super-powers!

Have you ever changed your mind about something and seen real shifts in your experience? Of course you have. Think about what that indicates! The power of mind is stunning but real change also involves the feeling nature. There has to be more than a desire or a good idea. Change requires deep conviction, belief and a kind of awareness that our fulfillment is at hand, coming through us, by means of us. There is no special dispensation required, only intention and attention and a willingness to be changed ourselves.

This season in the Christian world is the celebration of birth. It is about how Light comes down into form but also how it arises up from the earth, via the Mother. As above so below. The Power to create life is in us and that includes our health, wealth, love, joy, peace and creativity. It is all there awaiting the gestation of awareness to be complete in us. Now is the time to release the old and give some deep thought to the new. What shall we birth in our personal world?

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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We Educate the Heart by Training the Mind

Dear friends,

HH the Dalai Lama has said “ we educate the heart by training the mind.” He suggests we make conscious decisions to do three things: deliberately refrain from doing harm to self or others; cultivate positive behaviors; seek ways to be of service to others and therefore the world. The premise is that once we actually make these choices and act upon them, the heart, or our feeling nature, will awaken naturally. When we are involved with life-supporting actions, we have a profound sense of well-being. We feel authentic because we are serving the desires of the soul!

The desires of the ego are always to enhance our standing in the eyes of the world.   We make decisions that are devoid of altruism or compassion. It is all about serving our own ego demands. Hence we wind up depressed or angry because we can never get the reaction we crave. But turn it around, support the greater good, and our hearts will feel the joy of living.

It is a constant choice to be human in the true sense of the word. We can also choose to serve the false self but it never brings happiness or peace to the heart. The question is ongoing.   Christians ask “what would Jesus do?”   Not a bad reference but we can also simply stop and ask “is this what my soul desires? Will this make my heart happy?”   We are happiest when we are giving, sharing, loving, caring. Training the mind to choose rightly, opens the heart, awakens its powers, which are astonishingly transforming!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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The Dalai Lama reference is from his book “Beyond Religion”

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There Are No Labels Attached To Us

Dear friends,

When we are alone, sitting in meditation, we might have the sense of “the stillness that comes after a parade has passed by.” (paraphrasing of Emerson.)

Where is the world when we are not engaged in it? Does it exist somewhere outside of us? Perhaps it is a figment of our imagination. Lately there have been peculiar comments from scientists suggesting this may all be some kind of computer generation. Well, as Ernest Holmes said about the realm of experience, “It is as real as it needs to be.”  Yes, our personal life is as real as it needs to be to give us the experience of our consciousness.

That is why such tag lines as “change your thinking, change your life” are good advice. Everyone carries with them, actually proceeding them into any situation, a sense of who they know themselves to be. Usually they are wrong, having attached some label based on past events to their self-image. That sense of self precedes us into the office, the relationship, the meeting.   Without knowing it, we try to live up to our self-assessment and will unconsciously goad others into making us right.

The parade of the past has gone by but what we are left with is our own perception of what happened and how it affected us. However, when we enter the stillness, the silence, the realm of pre-experience, we find there are no labels attached to us. We are as whole and intact as the day we were born. We are now and always shall be, the Christ incarnate seeking to bring its light into the world. Change your self-identity, change the world.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Life is a Balancing Act

Dear friends,

We all know we cannot get very far in our car if we are “running on empty,” if there is no gas in the tank. It is also a reference to us, how we scatter our energy, take on more than we have time for, when our life is more outwardly directed than in balance with our inner life.   This time of year it is easy to get caught up in the busy-ness of the season. We run around shopping, cooking, visiting relatives, wrapping gifts, attending special events; all of which can be enjoyable if we are “filled” with the fuel of deep inner rest. If not, we may feel anxious and even depressed.

Life is a balancing act, on every level. We know very well the things we use must be maintained in good working order.   We get the car tuned up, change the oil.   We mow the lawn and weed the garden.   We see the dentist and go to the gym.   We clean our homes, make small repairs or call in the professionals. But how much attention do we give to this person we are? If we are not giving ourselves care and attention on the inside, we may wonder why we are so tired, bored or feel unappreciated.

We do have a whole self; a soul self; a knowing self; a self that rejuvenates, stabilizes and elevates our perception of reality, changing how we experience everything for the better. But it must be engaged. We will not find it in the world. It is something we bring, but it must be respected and cultivated. The simple act of sitting in silence every day puts us in direct contact with our greater being. We might not notice anything particular happening in that moment, but we will definitely see the difference in how we feel during the day. The effects of meditation build up over time. Find some time today to be with your Self. Fill up that mental, emotional tank so you can eagerly greet the world with cheerful expectancy. Enjoy the benefits of spiritual practice

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.ceterforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Let’s Proclaim our Joy, Love and Peace

Dear friends,

When Descartes said “I think, therefore I am” he got it backwards. It ought to be “I am, therefore I think.” But no one knows how. No one knows how matter becomes conscious or how consciousness becomes matter, but we live with the truth of it all the time. Our lives are proof that matter is conscious and that consciousness takes form.

Ideas shape our reality. Our everyday experience is a moving picture of ideas that are in temporary form. They are the past revealed. What if we, who are conscious, decided to reshape our reality with some new ideas? Would we want things to be a little better, somewhat improved or would we go for a real transformation? My sense is that we all think too small, too locally, hold too narrow a view of what is possible.

As we move out of the calendar year into a blank slate, as it were, what would we like to see in our world? Can we begin to imagine it? See it in our mind? What if we could get together and vision a world that is a joy to experience for all of humanity? We do not need to see the details. We need to feel the energy. Our part is to live, right now, as if it were already so. The energy of joy, of celebration, can be brought up from the depths of our consciousness at any time. Those energies are qualities of Being inherent in us. We do not create joy and love and peace. We live them. Let’s do what we can today to raise the level of expectation for our world. Let’s proclaim our joy and let it be seen.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspiritualliving.com   You can donate to us via pay pal

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Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

Dear friends,

The man Jesus was a tough love kind of guy. He got so angry he withered a fig tree! He threw the money-changers out of the temple. He was what we might call a radical healer. He was friends with misfits and harlots. He walked with lepers, which was unheard of in those days.  He showed a kind of fearlessness that is rare in our time. Jesus was not a hippie. He was a mystic, probably a great Yogi.

According to some biblical scholarship* his mother Mary belonged to a healing circle of women who called themselves “the virgins.” He came by his desire to transform the world via her. His father was a carpenter. He built things. The young boy, Jesus, must have been deeply imprinted by his earthly parents. His lasting gifts to the world are those of healing and building. His words are those of every great spiritual teacher.

They all teach: Find the Source within. Let your ego take a back seat to your Spirit. Take care of your mind, feed it good thoughts. Be compassionate to those who seem lost. Do not be attached to worldly possessions, but be willing to follow a high calling. Let go of things as they happen. Forgive and move on. Love your neighbor and Love your Source and Love your Self.

Before Jesus the rule to live by was “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”  Jesus introduced love and forgiveness into the collective unconscious. We are still trying to bring his advice into our shared reality.  This time of year is the celebration of courage, love, power and forgiveness whether you are a Jew, Christian, a Religious Scientist, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or someone who has never been to a church or temple. It is time to celebrate being human and to welcome our own awakening to the simplest of truths: “The Father and I are One.” (God is within.) We are its hands and feet. Let’s try again to walk the high road.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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*For more about this read ”The Gnostic Gospels” by Elaine Pagels.

A Choice Worth Making

Dear friends,

When was the last time you made a choice and then blamed someone else for it? It is a shockingly common tactic, one we would expect to have ceased in our youth. But no, people are quick to grab onto anything but their own responsibility for their choices. We do what gives us some satisfaction in the moment, whether it be ego or our true self.   There is never blame if our choice is motivated by self-love.

Spiritual maturity is a praise-response to life. It is not a complaint department. Praise, like love and joy, wants to be conspicuous. It wants to be seen and heard and expressed. If we are in a state of resistance to what is in our immediate experience, we might try to find the praise response inside and let it out!   We can clean up much negativity in our life with some praise. We do not have to agree with everything that is going on, but we can certainly find much to praise.

Whatever we say is missing in our family, our workplace, our church, our synagogue, our team, we are not bringing. We need to give it into the mix and let it meet its counterpart in the others. We can be a quickening agent, which was what teachers like Jesus and Buddha were. In this Holy-days time, try bringing what you miss with you wherever you may be.  You might be surprised at how powerful you really are. It is a choice worth making.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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Relish the Joys and Sorrows of Human Experience

Dear friends,

Habits are sometimes ways of reassuring ourselves that we are in control and safe in this wild universe which is constantly moving and evolving. We place a great deal of value on a fixed idea of Reality. We have created a need that quite possibly does more harm to our mental health than good.   We want to feel solid and permanent in this life but that is the last thing we are. Our bodies are energy systems, activated by breath. They are temporary structures that give our Self a way to experience time and space, which is a real treat to the formless Soul.

But we think our body is us and we rush to protect it; to feed it and clothe it and keep it warm or cool as the climate demands, to medicate the fears and ritualize things.  While we rightfully care for and tend to its daily needs, there is a paradox here. We must also allow the body to change, to grow, to mutate, as it were, to become some new version of itself. There comes a time, in old age or in sickness, when we must give it back into the field from whence it came. That is the ultimate letting go. The one who has found her/himself outside the body will have little difficulty doing this.   They might be a bit nostalgic, but they will not mourn the form.

The closer we are to seeing ourselves as a natural occurrence in the journey of Love and Intelligence, in and out of the invisible realm, the more we can enjoy our time here in the visible. We can relish in the joys and sorrows of human experience. We are more likely to praise change than fear it. We are freer with our compassion and forgiveness. We are more alive when we are not afraid of death.  

Just some thoughts in this winter-time of darkness, which is the deepening time.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

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