The Will to Choose

Early morning moon over the San Luis Valley

… will is developed out of the analytical process through which you begin to understand what you want to do with your consciousness at any given point in your experience. Gregge Tiffen (The Language of a Mystic: Awareness – July, 2009)

Will I or will I not? Do I want to? Or, not? Such is the seesaw I’ve ridden this week over what I assess should be a simple decision.

I’ve made far bigger and seemingly more consequential decisions in my life with much less vacillation and much more clarity. What was stopping me? Or better asked: how was I stopping myself?

In the back and forth of my pros and cons, I’d missed a step, an important, perhaps the important question: What do I want to do with my consciousness?  Above and beyond ‘do I want to?’ ‘do I need to?’ ‘what is the cost?’ questions, I wasn’t analyzing the choice from the perspective of my consciousness, the potential to learn and grow.

I wasn’t considering the bigger picture of flow and opportunity that is ongoing in the pure nature of consciousness. I’d forgotten to apply a fundamental truth: consciousness doesn’t discern right or wrong in our choices, it only moves to the next sequential step.

When I framed the decision in terms of how I wanted to engage my consciousness, I began to feel a shift, lightness, accompanied by a willingness to look more deeply. I had a sense of opportunity and possibility. After steering myself away from attaching to a particular outcome, I took a deeper dive. I wanted to know what was in the way of making this choice, of exercising my will and moving on, letting the chips fall where they may whatever my decision.

On that dive I found a couple of related emotions: fear and sadness. I feared that what I might discover by participating would evoke sadness. At the same time, I feared that if I didn’t participate, I would miss an opportunity to discover something new about myself, about life. Or worse, that I would put myself out of sync with the flow of energy.

I was clear that saying ‘yes’ was the path I wanted to choose, but I hesitated … not vacillating all the way back to ‘no’ but honoring a niggle of doubt that wanted to be heard. Another dive revealed that I wanted a guarantee about the outcome. What? That one again! I thought THAT was conquered. Where have you gone curiosity? Re-enter please!

And, so my answer is YES!  I’m trusting that my indecision was just a part of the path to evoking divine timing and not a delay that upsets an unfolding cycle.  Consciousness and will exercised and engaged. Curiosity restored. Onward!

Cool Hand Luke loves being out early as the sun peeks over the peaks!

The Gift of Retrograde Planets

On the trail out back as the sun peeks over the peaks

The need for adjustments within our personal life cycles exists for the same reason that galaxies are kept from bumping into one another; both are a consequence of some extremely intelligent avatars somewhere in space having created and continuing to create planet Earth within the whole scheme of the harmonic flow of energy often heard in the music of the spheres. (Patrece on behalf of P Systems – www.p-systemsinc.com)

The more we are aware of retrograde conditions and their possible influences, the more we are able to navigate through our life experiences with greater control and clarity. (Gregge Tiffen - https://www.g-systems.com/)

First, a disclaimer: I’m no expert in astrology. What I’m sharing comes not from decades of studying the planets and their influence. Rather it comes from considering what Patrece and Gregge Tiffen have shared on this topic and from observing my own life’s conditions and events. It also comes from my conviction that, despite so much evidence to the contrary, we live in a universe that is divinely ordered and anchored in love, a universe in which we are not victims unless we choose not to receive the gifts the universe offers.

What inspires me to share is that the planet Mercury went retrograde earlier this week as it does several times each year. It reminded me of the prevailing attitude when planets go retrograde: life is disrupted, ‘bad’ things happen, and that we just need to suffer through. Such an attitude casts us as victims, putting attention on the disruption and ignoring the opportunities planets in retrograde offer: gifts from a benevolent universe.

Planets do not go retrograde without purpose. Their doing helps maintain order in the cosmos, ensuring the universal “harmonic flow of energy”. Adjustments are required. Planets adjust.

As above, so below. As a part of this intelligent universe, we are given the opportunity to use the cycle of time when a planet is retrograde to do the same: adjust. Taking time to assess and to make changes during these cycles can help us avoid bumping into ourselves, one another, and the events life brings our way. (Imagine a world where we each did that, including our leaders!)

When it went retrograde this week, Mercury joined four other planets that were already in retrograde. Yes, your math is correct: five planets are currently in retrograde. Perhaps you’ve wondered why the world (and maybe your life) seems crazier and disrupted to the extreme.  Rather than looking at the chaos, I’m choosing to look to the opportunities to slow down and consider what adjustments might serve me.

Mercury (Ruler #2*) is the planet that influences decision making and communication, including all of the technology we use in both. In retrograde it presents opportunities (indeed more than one!) to slow down and pay close attention to detail in all communication, that coming in and that we’re sending out. (I’m doing my best to practice this message as I focus on this post.) This is also a time to identify and make adjustments to communication habits or patterns that aren’t working well, to examine how you manage time and energy, to assess projects underway and adjust to get/keep them on track. Notice what puts you on edge as a guide to where adjustments are needed. Mercury’s retrograde is short – ending on July 31 – but it’s potential is powerful.

Saturn (Ruler #7) retrograde invites us to look at how we use our minds. This is a good time to observe and eliminate clutter in our thought processes and to bring forward mental qualities that may be dormant. Exercise your mind and explore what keeps you from manifesting the results you’d like and refine your operating style. This retrograde ends on September 19.

Pluto (Ruler #8) influences money and success. When in retrograde it invites us to review and make sure our financial house is in order. A key question to ask is ‘what needs to be reworked to put myself on a more solid financial footing?’ This opportunity exists until October 4.

Jupiter (Ruler #6) retrograde provides opportunities to look at health and relationships, including your relationship with you, and to explore how your home environment supports you (or doesn’t). Jupiter ends its retrograde cycle on August 10.

Finally, the influence of Neptune (Ruler #9) retrograde is mostly beneath the surface, offering the opportunity to look deep within to what inspires us and what gives life meaning. It’s a time when deep reflection and solitude can serve us well. We have this opportunity until November 27.

How will you unwrap, receive, and put the gifts of these retrogrades to use? Start by slowing down, paying attention, and being curious.

* Gregge used a numbering system rather than the customary planet names in his work, as you’ll see if you visit his website for more detail on these retrogrades. Here’s the link: https://www.g-systems.com/wordpress/?cat=9

Cool Hand Luke pauses for a photo op on an early morning hike to the Zigurat

Independence - Reflections 2019

July 4th - The Crestone Schooner Rides Again!

Dependency is a basic violation of Universal law. The Universe operates on independence. The Universe operates on individuality. It operates on separation in every shape and form. … The minute you become dependent upon anyone in any way you no longer have any power to move forward in your own pattern, in your own blueprint, and on your own behalf. You come to a halt. Gregge Tiffen (Finding Freedom: The Meaning of Independence - July, 2007)

 Earlier this week, I had the good fortune to attend a web presentation by my friend, author Rivera Sun, on the history of nonviolence in the American revolutionary period. Although I’d read a few snippets about this hidden aspect of U.S. history, I was amazed at the acts of nonviolent resistance that were carefully organized and executed over the decade preceding the Declaration of Independence in 1776. And, the role of women in that phase of the American Revolution is a story in itself.

 Underneath the historical facts that Rivera shared, I saw clearly how divinely guided and in tune with the Universe and its laws these colonists were. They understood freedom for the inside job that it is – moment to moment, day to day. And, they took action aligned with their desire to be free of the constraints imposed by the King.  They understood Universal law and followed it. When she posts the webinar, I’ll share the link. Meanwhile, here’s an excellent essay she wrote on the topic - http://www.riverasun.com/the-nonviolent-history-of-american-independence

 Rivera’s thoughtful, informative presentation expanded the context for what’s become my annual musing about independence.

 If you reflect on Gregge’s quote, you may discover the source underneath feeling stuck, frustrated, or impotent. You may discover a deeper source of the pervasive angst in society. If you dig deep with a commitment to your own independence, you may discover that breaking the bonds of dependence requires vigilance, courage, and commitment. Independence requires practice. Freedom isn’t a free ride. It’s not for the faint-hearted. And, it is our divine birthright.

As the 243rd  July 4th approaches here in the U.S. I wonder if we/I really know what freedom is. Do we understand what the source of our freedom is?  Do we/I know the importance of exercising our independence? Do we/I even know how?

 Observing the political landscape, I hear demands for freedom. I notice the fear that someone who is ‘different’ will take our freedom away is rampant.  We’ve lost our understanding that the source of freedom and independence is not man or government. Rather, freedom is our gift from the Universe.

 And, we’ve created and continue to support dependence upon our systems of government, education, business, as well as in our personal relationships. We give life to these systems and to other people when we depend on them as our source. We’ve become dependent on jobs, clients, government agencies and circumstances for our happiness and our well-being. We expect others to ‘be there’ for us, and we may be dependent on them needing us as well.  In doing so, we abdicate our freedom, our power to choose, and to express our authentic selves.

 It’s no wonder that the level of frustration, angst, and fear has reached revolutionary proportions. We aren’t being true to our nature. We desperately want to find our way back. Many people revolt, lashing out at the ‘powers that be’ as if they are the source. Others wisely recognize that change starts within and that individual responsibility is key to the exercise of freedom.

 We restore our independence by identifying dependencies we’ve allowed to creep in: awareness by awareness, step by step, choice by choice. We learn from experience and commitment that our independence is mostly an inside job, made more challenging in a culture that fosters dependence as a means to control.  Yet, in the final analysis we and we alone are the authors of our own freedom.

 NOTE – This post was originally posted on 7-7-2016, and, updated a bit, it still seems apropos today as I reflect on the sad state of governance and on our misunderstanding of the true source of our independence.

July 4th Crestone Style!

Passion, Consciousness, Life

In the Woods with Cool Hand Luke

Little children listen to consciousness before the age of five, and they are passionate about a lot of things. They have not developed the personality of restrictions. We need to make this a way of life, not just something that comes around every twenty or thirty years. Gregge Tiffen (The Journey Continues: Sex, Lies, and Assumptions – June, 2010)

 Yesterday morning a curious stream of consciousness emerged when pen met paper during my journaling time.

Activism starts in the heart

Nothing to prove

Only conviction to express

With art.

Art.

The art of living

Full out

Not busy

Engaged

As your unique

Expression of the divine.

Wisdom.

Live wisely.

Only you know the meaning

To you, for you, of YOU

Revealing herself

In events

Around every corner

Opportunities to awaken.

Be present

Gifting self

Gifting others

Your gifts to life.

 Hmm, I thought as the stream ended. I smiled. Although I was curious about its meaning for me now, I set my journal aside and headed out for my early morning walk with Cool Hand Luke.  I had a vague sense that the stream might be intended for this week’s post, but no clarity until this morning when I picked up one of Gregge’s booklets in search of inspiration and direction.

 It opened not to page 1, but to the page that began with the quote above. The page ended with this additional wisdom from Gregge: Consciousness recognizes Life not society. It recognizes that knowledge is not hidden under rocks, but is right there in front of you. All you have to do is to see It, study It, and learn from It. I’d found meaning along with inspiration and direction.

 Ah, living a life guided by consciousness and passion, not by the world’s standards and demands. How do we do that? We wake up. We break free of the ‘personality of restrictions’ that those standards and demands try to impose. We discover our values and live in alignment with them. We examine our beliefs and let go of those formed by limitation, replacing them with an understanding that we live in an abundant Universe. We make choices and practice ways of being that are aligned with our beliefs and values.  We experiment. We observe. We experiment again.

 And, as we do these things, our faith deepens. We live more at ease; artful, perhaps. We discover the many faces of passion from quietly hugging a tree or enjoying a stream’s gentle burbling to marching on the front lines of change for causes our heart cares about. We hear consciousness speak quietly above the roar of the crowd. We embrace life with passionate abandon and put the ‘personality of restrictions’ in its proper place as a vague, shadowy relic of where we’ve been on this journey of life. We live! 

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver

Burbling Cottonwood Creek

Happy Solstice!

Summer is bursting into bloom!

Nature is intimately partnered with us in this physical experience, and that is perhaps the greatest boon of our incarnate existence, as nature is directly connected to and informed by the Universe. Gregge Tiffen (Life in the World Hereafter – The Journey Continues)

A cycle ends. Another begins. Here, north of the equator, spring gives way to the summer season at 9:54am Mountain Daylight Time tomorrow, Friday June 21.  At the same friends south of the equator will bid adieu to autumn and celebrate the Winter Solstice.

Nature, quiet and restful in winter, began her slow awakening in late spring here in the Rocky Mountains of southern Colorado. Right on time, she is now bursting forth toward full bloom. Bird songs and the buzz of hummingbirds fill my listening heart with joy and gratitude for our planet and for where I’ve landed on it. The roar of Cottonwood Creek, just past peak flow from the snow melt, and the howl of coyote add their voices to morning’s song.

The cycle we call summer begins. It is a time of action, activity: planning, planting, having fun. Projects that languished in winter find new energy and focus. New opportunities present themselves abundantly, offering outlets for our attention. How will we choose to expand, to learn, to grow?

Summer Solstice is a sacred time to remember our partnership with nature. It is a time when heaven and nature sing ‘joy to the world’, not with ‘chestnuts roasting on an open fire’, but with the clear voices of birds and beasts responding to the renewal that the cycle of summer brings. Bountiful blooms and with the burbling Cottonwood Creek add to the chorus of auditory and visual delights. It is a time to remember that cycles of life move with nature, and that nature knows nothing of the clocks and calendars of man’s world.

As I write this morning, a mere 24 hours of spring remain. Having experienced a couple weeks with more scheduled, timed events than are usual for me, I look forward to celebrating the longest day of the year quietly here in the woods, enjoying the warm of the sun and allowing the flow of the day to inform me whether to move or not.

My celebration begins unexpectedly when, midway through writing, I open the door to check on Luke. New sounds entered the soundscape: clip-clop, clip-clop, the clip-clop of a horse’s hooves and a sound that I can’t describe, yet I knew it was my neighbor’s buckboard coming up the road. As she passed, I hollered a cheerful ‘good morning!’, and she invited me for a short ride. I accepted the gift as a reminder of the flow that is present always, in all ways. An auspicious beginning!

As I do in December with its partner, the Winter Solstice, I will use the Summer Solstice to recalibrate, syncing myself to the new cycle: the light that nature, my intimate partner on this journey, brings forth right on time. I invite you to give yourself some quiet time in nature to do the same.  

Flow! An unexpected start to my Solstice celebration!

Father Time

Gently Resting in the Shady Woods

A wise and benevolent father protects the day-by-day life of his progeny and prepares them for an endless journey of growth, development, and maturity.  Gregge Tiffen (Father Time – June 2007)

In what was a big leap into possibility last week (you can read it here http://cindyreinhardt.com/blog/the-end-of-time-a-fantasy-of-possibility), I suggested what the world might be like without clocks and other tools we use to control one another. I’ve continued to reflect on this for myself, reexamining my own relationship to cycles and time.

As I began to think about this week’s musing, I found myself reviewing previous June posts. I wasn’t surprised to find that I’d explored time several years back. And, that I’d done so just in time for Father’s Day here in the U.S. (Good timing, I’d say!). My musing then rings true today, so, I brushed off and polished that post just a bit to share this week.

In his early writing, Gregge Tiffen reflected on time, the clock and how it is used as a mechanism for manipulation and control.  His writing along with my own struggles with time led me to think that we might be wise to look at time anew.

This week, in many parts of the globe fathers and father figures will be celebrated for their roles in preparing us for this journey called life.  For some, the benevolent, wise father created context and order in our early life giving us a foundation on which to set sail on our course in life.  For them, we are grateful.

Others lived a different experience: fathers, who lacking wisdom and benevolence, sought to control. For them, with forgiveness, we can also be grateful. Perhaps that forgiveness can come more easily when we understand that fathers often feel trapped in systems that equate success with control and that honor time over natural instinct and cycles.

Harmony is the essence of nature, instinct, and natural cycles. As I continue to experiment with living less by the clock and more by awareness of my personal cycles, I feel more harmonious within.  Doing so is not so easy in this 24/7, fast-paced world.

We use time as a weapon. Finding it hard to let go and trust that events will unfold in divine perfect time, we set deadlines. I’ve come to understand just how ‘deadly’ they are. I wonder: How deeply have I bought into this world’s accepted systems where time is used to control? How might life be if we were more compassionate with ourselves and others about time?  How can I be wiser and more benevolent with time?

At one time or another, we’ve all put pressure on ourselves with words and beliefs about scarcity of time (‘I don’t have time …’). Some years ago, I broke the habit of using that language and replaced it with ‘I have enough time for everything that is important in my life’. Slowly that became my belief. It feels like wisdom, and it opens the door to being benevolent to me and to others.

With practice we can ease the pressure and begin to make choices that honor our natural rhythms – not as a program to complete, but as exploration of a different way to live. Eat when you’re hungry. Rest when you’re weary. Bloom when you’re ready. That may be the best of benevolence and wisdom in a world that sometimes seems to have lost both. 

Romping Through Water on the Trail

The End of Time: A Fantasy of Possibility

New Rock Stacks on a Morning Walk

The proper use of cycles is to evolve to a natural manifestation. Deadlines give pressure. Task-masters are brutal “Father Timers” who use time as a weapon. In our current society, this is being intensely perpetuated under the guise of progress. Gregge Tiffen (Father Time – June, 2007)

No, this is not a post about the end of the world. Rather, it’s about what emerged from stress I experienced in the midst of working with two synergistic professionals who I’ve engaged to support me in navigating a current challenge. 

Their work is invaluable to me. They helped with a gnarly event a couple years ago, so it was natural to reach out when a similar situation arose recently. Although their work is synergistic, how each deals with scheduling and time is different, and it’s guided by the nature of their work with clients. After working individually with each, I found myself caught in a dissonance between their two approaches when we came together. 

In dancing with that dissonance and, especially in exploring a way forward that will work for each of us (that part of the journey is still in process), I was reminded of my vision of a world that works for all. As I immersed myself in the vision, I saw ending the abusive, controlling concept of time as a key aspect toward real progress. Yikes!  

Make no small visions! Stay with me and let’s envision together how this might unfold …

Open your mind and your heart, and imagine a world without time. No clocks to measure the seconds, minutes, and hours. No calendars to command your presence at some pre-set event.  If you manage to get beyond ‘no ____ way’, you’ll likely imagine chaos, confusion and the craziness of a world out of control. What? We have that already you say? Yep, we do. Hey, maybe our ‘progress’ isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Stretch yourself and envision that time as we know it does not exist. Rather that we (me, you, EVERYone) are deeply in touch with ourselves and our purpose on the planet. We are aware of our place in harmony with nature and others. We learn from nature how cycles work and how to dance in harmony with the cycles of life and the events in those cycles. We trust that in making choices that are true to our individual nature, events will unfold perfectly for our highest good and the good of all. Could this be what ‘natural manifestation’ looks like? Did I mention that trust and faith are key ingredients?

This is a vision, a fantasy if you like, that I’ve held for a very long time: perhaps for my entire life but only with awareness for the past four decades or so. This possibility is what engages my curiosity about mysticism and metaphysics, spurred my interest in personal and spiritual growth, and guided me toward coaching.  

More than a possibility, this is how I believe the Universe in general and life on our planet in particular is designed to be.

Like being on a long road trip still far away from the destination, we aren’t there … yet.  I’m not ‘there’ yet. But I am on the journey, and, heck, a few million millennia and lifetimes from now, I might just seize the elusive brass ring.

Posing on a Beautiful Morning

Living As If ...

Morning Walk … THIS is My World!

Your own life is the parameter of your experience which is your own world. To begin to accept this provides you with the incentive to take responsibility for the power you have over your own world. … Nothing is larger than your world. You’re it. Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: An Air of Optimism – May, 2011)

This morning as I began to think about this week’s post I noticed how often the world pulls me to be ‘of it’ not simply ‘in’ it. The world’s systems want me to ‘live as if’ all that happens outside of me is what’s important, that I’m just a little blip on the radar in the flow of life. The world would have me believe that what happens out there, beyond the boundaries of my energy field, is what is important.  The world would have me ‘live as if’ it is all powerful and as if I am not.

I think ‘the world’ has it wrong. Wrong, that is, unless I abdicate the power I have over my world. My power (and yours) is clear in the choices I make and actions I take moment to moment, day to day.  Using that power wisely requires awareness of what lies beneath each choice.

Or, as Ben and Rosamunde Zander wrote in their great book, The Art of Possibility, “What am I assuming that I don’t know I’m assuming that gives me what I see?”  Said another way: what am I living as if?

This insight emerged as I was thinking about whether to make changes in an auto-ship order. As I fell into an ‘either/or’ choice (change or not) I noticed that I’m always ‘living as if …’. Indeed we all are.  A convenience like auto-ship has me ‘living as if’ my need for this product won’t change; life will continue as it’s been. If I receive new information that may change that need in the future, how do I respond?  Do I react hastily without much thought? Yes, sometimes I do.

But this day, I paused, recognizing that my choice would indicate what (or how?) I was ‘living as if’. And, in that moment I had the power to choose to ‘live as if’ some future event would occur soon (and therefore the ‘practical’ choice is to make adjustments now) or to ‘live as if’ it will occur in perfect divine timing and make any required adjustments then.

Thanks to a little old auto-ship order, I realized that when I fail to take time to identify what my ‘living as if’ is (yep, tongue twister!) I can easily slip into reacting to an event (situation, etc.) becoming a victim to ‘it’ and abdicating my personal power by acting without awareness.

As I reflected a bit more, I recognized how quickly the seemingly small choices I make daily can lead me away from my core beliefs IF I don’t make those choices with awareness.  And, it opened the door to re-evaluate some other recent decisions that I’ve made. Hmmm … who knew that ordering a few items used daily could yield such a rich reminder?

So, as you navigate and make choices in the week ahead, I invite you to pause and ask yourself ‘what am I living as if’ by making this choice? After all, life is about your world!

Living As If … the river of life always flows!

The Grace of the Universe - A Rerun

Looking Ahead Through the Portal

This week I’ve been reflecting on change and how I respond to events that life presents, especially events which I didn’t see coming and that present challenges.  Those reflections led me back to the basics of life and law (Universal law that is) and to what is important each day:  choosing how I want to be present and how I want to respond to life.  Employing the law of magnification supports me to remember the importance of my choices and, hopefully, to choose wisely moment to moment, day to day.  May this rerun bring light to your day!

You live by the grace of the Universe interacting with you. You do not live by yourself alone. … The Universe always magnifies your action. Gregge Tiffen (The Language of a Mystic: Change – May, 2009)

There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness. Dalai Lama

The grace of the Universe presents the challenge of our times. May we rise to meet it in kind.

Whether we are aware of it or not, the Universe is interacting with us 24/7, magnifying each and every action we take in its own way.

Think about that. Let it sink in for just a moment. Everything you do is magnified. EVERY THING!

Say a kind word, offer a smile to someone experiencing challenging times, listen deeply to another view, share an uplifting post on social media. MAGNIFIED!  Take action on a project; choose to eat healthy, nourishing food; call or write your elected representatives. MAGNIFIED!

The Universe is benevolent (at least that’s my belief), but it is not selective in what it magnifies (everything – remember?). We humans were given the gift of free will, the power of choice that the Universe did not keep for itself in this grand design called Life. Make a snarky remark. MAGNIFIED!  Engage in an act of violence. MAGNIFIED!  Protest in anger toward others. MAGNIFIED!  Shut down in fear. MAGNIFIED! 

I’ve been reflecting on this law of magnification in terms of what I want more of in my life as well as the kind of world that I’d prefer to live in.  That reflection brought me right back to where I live, the simple choices I make each day. If I want to be a writer, WRITE. Give the Universe words strung together into ideas and step back to allow the magnification. Know that magnification is happening even when I don’t see it. I’m making adjustments in how I create each day to do just that.

If the world I envision is one of peace, kindness, compassion then my responsibility is to choose thoughts, words, and deeds that are peaceful, kind, and compassionate. Give the Universe THAT to magnify.

Of course, the Universe does not magnify alone.  We are its agents, little magnifiers one and all. My words each week are a magnification of something I read, experienced (usually both!), or am in the midst of considering. You read those words and are inspired to make a change in your life, or to share the post with others, or to delete. Whatever your choice, your action magnifies mine and it offers your own to be magnified.  

The meadowlark sings its cheerful song each morning in the meadow where we walk. The president tweets. Both are magnified by a Universe that magnifies everything. But we, you and I, have the freedom and the power to choose what we magnify. Imagine a world where the meadowlark’s song or the Dalai Lama’s quote is the ‘breaking news’ of the day, and the president’s tweets go mostly ignored. Do the words peaceful, kind, compassionate come to your mind’s eye?

That world is possible if we have the will to choose to put our attention on peace over conflict, kindness over anger, and compassion over judgement. It’s already emerging daily in the thousands (perhaps millions) of thoughts, words and deeds that are peace-filled, kind, and caring. May we choose that path – moment to moment, when the choice is easy and, especially when it’s not.The grace of the Universe presents the challenge of our times. May we rise to meet it in kind.

The River of Life often flows like the spring snow melt on Cottonwood Creek …

Fairy Godmother to a Shero

Luke is a fan too!

And, she thought with wicked delight, it’d put Brindle in a tizzy to see her using the Way Between to neither concede to injustice nor stay sullenly in her room all winter. Rivera Sun The Lost Heir: An Unruly Royal. An Urchin Queen. A Quest for Justice

Ari Ara is my kind of shero. And, I’m proud that author Rivera Sun calls me her “fairy godmother in the mountains by the Great Sand Dunes.” It takes a village of fairy godmothers, supporters, family, friends, along with a creative, caring writer like Rivera to bring Ari Ara to life in mythical times as treacherous as those of our world today.

Rivera does that with aplomb and a creative flair that makes The Lost Heir (the sequel to Ari Ara’s first adventure, The Way Between) an important story for our times. She weaves the kind of stories needed to inspire creative approaches to looking at our world anew and to point to possibilities for creating a just and peace-filled world that works for all.

Having successfully completed a community publishing campaign in late 2018 and early 2019, the first edition of The Lost Heir is hot off the presses and the countdown to its release date – May 25 – has begun.

As you can see, Luke is a fan too. He was excited last fall when the author’s edition arrived in the mail.   

I could say so much more about Rivera, this book (indeed ALL of her writing) and its relevance in and importance to our world today. But this day finds my attention drawn to another life event, so I’ll close with this link where you can read much more AND pre-order a copy for yourself and another for someone you love.

Here’s a little taste of what you’ll find when you click that link …

“Going beyond dragon-slayers and sword-swingers, The Lost Heir blends fantasy and adventure with social justice issues in an unstoppable story that will make you cheer! … “
“With all the fun of a sword-swinging adventure, but without the violence, The Lost Heir spins a spectacular story with strong female characters and powerful social justice themes. "Armed" with nonviolence and love, Ari Ara sets out to restore the honor and dignity of both her peoples. A shero with spunk and spark, Ari Ara confronts prejudice, discrimination, bullying, and injustice with all the action, adventure, magic, and fantasy that readers love!”

I can only imagine what Ari Ara would do in these mountains!