The Energy of Love

Morning Clouds Bring Blessed Rain!

There are billions of molecules of energy entering your aura all of the time. They are being attracted by the magnetism of your vortex. Gregge Tiffen, Deeds Are Fruit – Words Are Leaves ­– October, 2008

… at whatever point we place our mental attention at that point the firm of God and company establishes a branch which is certain to be successful. Ernest Holmes Your Invisible Power quoted in Science of Mind, October, 2018

I woke to the sound of rain gently falling on the roof, its aroma wafting through an open window. I imagined for a moment how clean the rocks and trees will look and how soft the earth will feel under my feet when Luke and I venture out for our morning walk.

Rain is a blessed event here in this mountain desert, parched in drought conditions deemed “extreme” by experts who measure such things.

I take a few moments to feel gratitude deep in my bones and I speak a quiet, heart-felt ‘Thank you!’

This is where I place my attention as I begin this day.  I don’t do so with the intention of strengthening the branch of gratitude in my tree of life, yet I know that it will have that effect.

I allow, no I invite, Gregge’s words to sink in. I remember that we are energetic beings. The quality of the energy that we attract is determined by the qualities of our thoughts. Fear (and there is plenty of it ‘out there’ in our world) begets fear. Love magnetizes love. I choose love, expressing gratitude as one of love’s highest expressions.

I think about our world and my heart suggests that our greatest challenge in these times of chaos, cruelty, hostility aimed at making us fearful is to find loving ways to respond. I wonder how I might express my strong convictions about the current nominee for the Supreme Court to my senator from a foundation of love.

For love to inspire we need to invite it in with our attention, our thoughts and our gratitude. The energetic force of love deserves – no demands – our attention in these times. We need to call love forth as never before. Not as a superficial, airy/fairy concept, but as how we live – moment to moment, day by day.

Love does not cower in a corner waiting until it is safe to come forward. Love finds ways and words to express outrage and anger with care. Love invents approaches to navigate chaotic, even dangerous, events cautiously, yet without fear. Love fuels and finds ways to express strong, solid conviction. In the midst of darkness, love brings forth light. In the midst of drama, love is calm. In the midst of confusion, love seeks and finds clarity.

The conditions in our world need our attention but most all they need for that attention to be firmly grounded in love. As we each choose the messages and forms that best express our concerns, even our outrage, let the energy of love fuel us. As we make demands on elected officials to hear and respond to our voices, let us not seek to be the loudest, but the most loving. That is how we will build a world that we want to live in. Love is the answer.

Peek-A-Boo Showering Love on You!

Learning Love

Finally!  Snow on the Peaks

We know, deep down, that it is the greatest power on earth. Are we afraid of such power? In order to use the power of love we need to drop all facades and show ourselves as trusting, uninhibited children of a loving Universe. … Love seeks no power over the mundane. Love wants no ego aggrandizement. Love turns from hatred and bears no arms in anger. Love accepts things as equal and is never short of tolerance. … To accept love, we must change.  Gregge Tiffen (The Numerology of Love – February, 2007)

Not one effort toward love is ever lost in the record of the Universe. It goes on imprinting into the hearts of total strangers, carried like a spark into generations untold. Rivera Sun (The Dandelion Insurrection)  a story of revolutionary lovers and love-in-action transforming the landscape of their world. Find it here: http://www.riverasun.com/online…/the-dandelion-insurrection/  Or here: https://www.amazon.com/The-Dandelion-Insurrect…/…/098481325X

Earlier in the week as I was journaling about something totally different (or so I thought), I found my pen putting these words on the page:  WAR does not work. Never has. Never will. No war on drugs, cancer, poverty, on anything can ever work because victory in a battle is transitory. Only personal transformation can bring peace. Nothing is built by tearing something or someone else apart. This I know.

I wondered how it is that I ‘know’ this and found an answer, at least in part, in Gregge’s words.  My knowing comes from that place deep inside, a Universal knowing of the power of love.  In those moments of quiet by the fire, I’d touched that place.

My journaling made its way back to the initial topic. I moved on into my day. But a seed had been planted, a curiosity about the true nature of love. I felt a deeper awareness that the systems, institutions, and other of man’s creations are grounded in fear and control not love, a sense that was supported by reading I did later in the day.

This isn’t new to me, but feels rather like an opening for something new to emerge. And, it pointed to how far I’ve come, as well as to how much I have yet to learn and experience in this domain. It evoked questions to consider and experiments to be conducted:

• What facades do I hold on to – knowingly or not – that prevent me from using the power of love?
• How can I trust the Universe more deeply and allow that to be reflected in relating to others and to the world?
• How can I expand my understanding and increase my capacity for tolerance?
• What new possibilities for activism and engagement arise as I grow in my capacity to use the power of love?
• What changes do I need to make in order to be, to accept and to express the ever-present Universal love that our world so desperately needs?

In the midst of these reflections (and caring for a lost puppy that we found in the woods – a story perhaps for another day), the amazing Rivera Sun posted the above quote yesterday, reminding me that every word we utter, every action we take lives on forever as energy in this Universe.

So let our words – especially our words of resistance and change – be grounded in the power that is love.

As Gregge Tiffen so often said, ‘the journey continues’. I hope you’ll join me from your unique path and let’s bring more ‘love power’ to the planet.

Cool Hand Luke & long walks in the woods

Deepening Your Conviction

Twists, turns and shadows are a part of nature. We humans didn't invent them.

Understanding that the Universe is forever moving in perfect form, we can suffer the mean and the ugly by reinforcing our own conviction that right and love WILL prevail.  Gregge Tiffen (newsletter re retrograde planets)

Despite so much evidence which seems to contradict Gregge Tiffen’s statement, do you believe that the Universe is unfolding in ‘perfect form’ and that (though perhaps not in your lifetime and maybe not even on our planet) that ‘right and love WILL prevail’?  I do.

More and more I’m appreciating that what I believe about the Universe – the infinitude of which we here on earth are but a tiny part – matters. Although we’re just a dot in the vastness that is the Universe, we are important as are all the other dots. Deeping my conviction about the nature of the Universe has become an important anchor for me in these times. I’ve stopped trying to make sense of current events, remembering that we humans are constantly co-creating learning opportunities for ourselves and that all that I observe on this mundane plane is just that, a vast array of learning in this school called Earth.

That doesn’t mean I accept or condone any individual or collective acts of violence, hatred and the like.  I don’t. It doesn’t mean that I look the other way (as tempting as that may be) or ignore the choices made by elected, so-called ‘leaders’.  And, it doesn’t mean that I don’t stand in admiration and gratitude for those whose role it is to stand strong and vocal for their beliefs.

I’m taking these events as opportunities to explore how to be informed and make informed choices without getting pulled into the world’s dramas.  As I understand more and more about energy, I understand the importance of being mindful of my thoughts, my words, my actions.  I think more and speak and act less. I’m aiming to avoid reactions, especially internal ones, which only serve to fan the flames of these dramas.

Celestial events such as the coming solar eclipse along with several planets being in retrograde offer each of us opportunities to stop (or at least slow down), reflect, inquire and find clarity about our convictions.  Irregardless of the world and what we are witnessing at ground level, it’s helpful to remember that human consciousness is evolving as a part of a Universe that extends far beyond that ground level humanity.  As we individually tap into that, we are nurturing a collective consciousness of greater understanding and helping call forth the true nature of the Universe so that ‘right and love’ DO prevail.

This week take a breath, disconnect from the world’s hype for a bit, and connect with what you believe. Attend to the best in your nature and seek to nurture the best in human nature. Breathe it in. Call forth ‘right and love’. Breathe them in.

The forest floor is alive with new growth. 

What The World Needs Now

A few of my favorite things -- Cool Hand Luke, Cottonwood Creek, and a beautiful crisp morning!

What the world needs now is love, sweet love… (lyrics by Hal David, music by Burt Bacharach)

Without our faith in the unseen, the reality becomes too overwhelming, too horrible to bear. It is from the unseen that we draw the courage to deal with the reality that confronts us. (Gregge Tiffen – It’s Springtime: Flow With The Power of Nature – March, 2007)

What the world needs now IS love, the vibration of love from every being on the planet.  Love is a characteristic of the Universe. With love come the other Universal characteristics: abundance, beauty, harmony, joy, light (intelligence), life, peace, and power. The world needs these as its foundation.  We need them in order to navigate that world.

This week I’m struck by the level of despair that I’ve heard in listening to the world: to news reports, to Facebook posts, to conversations with others.  With all my heart, I beg you: DENY DESPAIR.  Yes, I know that in the view of many, the world as we know it is falling apart. Change is upon us. Our opportunity is to be the love on which a new foundation can be built.

Allowing despair and any other members of the family of fear to take hold of your being is just what the world would like. Despair, you see, leads to abdication. And, that is how the world controls. As contemporary author and activist Rivera Sun says in The Dandelion Insurrection, “When fear is used to control us, love is how we rebel.”

I want change to be grounded in love, not in fear. And, since I have no control over others, it seems that my job is to muster all the love, the harmony, the light that I can in my own walk through this world.  I notice that it’s easy for me to get caught up in the drama that seems to be the world today. Yet I want to stay informed.

In reflecting on how to do so, I was reminded by something my coach wrote this week that we have two eyes – one to focus on the world, the other to focus on the Universe. I have two ears as well. Perhaps the same applies. Listen to the world with one. Listen to the Universe with the other.

For certain I need an antidote to what I see and hear when I look at/listen to the world. For me, the Universe offers just that in the form of nature and, perhaps more important, quiet time to listen to the small, still voice inside.  I also find inspired places in the world to explore: art, inspirational writing, and music to name a few. Then, I can see and hear the world from a different perspective. This I know. And this I am learning to apply and to practice.

What about you? Are your ‘sources’ of input only from the world’s chaos? Or are you giving equal time to the Universe so that you can find and contribute the love that our world so needs?  

May we have the clarity and flow of a mountain stream.

Conspiracy Theories

Beauty in the Broken

You cannot separate yourself from the Universe, period! You just cannot do that and nothing can. That is the Law, and that is how the Law operates. The premise is that you are not different from the Universe from which you are drawn. Gregge Tiffen (The Language of a Mystic: Polarities – February, 2009)

So there. That’s that. You are the Universe. You are all its qualities. I am too, along with 7.125 billion humans scattered over the planet. In Universal terms none is greater or lesser than another. Oh to see one another through the eyes of the Universe, and then live from that perspective. I aspire, but I’m no saint. Yet my aspiration has offered up new insights this week.

The world constantly yaps that we are separate and, thus, should live in fear of one another. Some of those messages are overt and obvious. We hear them and recognize that we have a choice about whether to accept or reject. Others are more subtle and insidious. We may not even be aware that messages suggesting “that’s just the way things are” are swirling about. Hence, we don’t clearly see that we have a choice. We go along to get along. Both are messages of a system that puts power in the mundane, fame, fortune and seeks to control based on fear. And, both are erroneous.

In my quest to discover beauty in every thing last week (http://cindyreinhardt.com/blog/an-atmosphere-of-well-being), I found myself going beyond the five senses to find beauty in those ways of the world that I abhor. Yet, beauty I found.

I discovered beauty in the vast learning opportunities our chaotic world is offering moment to moment, day by day, 24/7. Perhaps the greatest learning of all is to remember that we are at the very core of our being all of the qualities of the Universe from which we can and of which we are a vital part.

•         We are beauty. Learn to BE that beauty.
•         We are harmony. Learn to BE that harmony.
•         We are abundance. Learn to BE that abundance.
•         We are peace. Learn to BE that peace.
•         We are power. Learn to BE that power.
•         We are joy. Learn to BE that joy.
•         We are light. Learn to BE that intelligence.
•         We are life. Learn to BE that life.
•         We are love. Learn to be that love.

I found beauty in unexpected places because I was making the choice to see beauty in those places. I was reminded to remember my Source and to choose THAT as my expression in the world.

Love on the Road!

And, I discovered that the qualities of Source (or the Universe, if you prefer) are inseparable from one another. Where I found beauty I found each of the others.  No matter which is the focus or the lead, when I found beauty, love, peace, joy and the others easily followed. Then, just beyond I found the gift of gratitude.

So, while some conspire to conquer and control others, the loving Universe seems to have a conspiracy of its own: granting us the opportunity and privilege to learn along with the power to make that choice.

While our individual choices may separate us from the pack, choosing to learn offers something the pack can never offer: strengthening awareness of our connection to the Source from which we came and of which we are forever a part. That learning becomes wisdom to carry with us into the great beyond. 

Last week I conspired with beauty to take the lead. This week, I’m choosing joy. What about you?

Elephant in the Woods (can you find it?)

An Atmosphere of Well-Being

It may still be winter, but the spring flow has begun!

I am what I am what I am, and I cannot do any better than that. (Gregge Tiffen – The Journey Continues: Communication with the Living – February, 2010)

We are what we are and we’re creating what we are going to be. (Patrece – undated personal communication)*

In this world where well-being seems pushed aside in favor of an agenda founded on divisiveness, fear, and use of force, I’m noticing that maintaining an attitude of well-being requires consistent awareness and adjustment.  While we are at choice about how and how much of the world we allow into our space and awareness, we are still IN this world.

As I noticed myself leaning toward overwhelm and despair (not atmospheres of well-being and not ones I would pick from the shelf at the atmosphere store), I went in search of knowledge and wisdom from others to apply in these times.

A personal communication from Patrece (www.p-systemsinc.com) from some years back (likely when I was in some other of life’s funks) reminded me that I only need “a speck of inspiration” which I can then expand upon. Of course the corollary is also true, and today there seems to be much negative that I definitely don’t want to expand upon. Indeed, I want to maintain a personal atmosphere to counter that.

Let me find positive specks of yeast to braid with the dough of life. Let THAT rise. Tapping into Universal wisdom with awareness and intention is a place to start, and Gregge Tiffen’s enumeration of the nine characteristics of the Universe provided my next ingredient. Those characteristics are:  Harmony, Peace, Beauty, Joy, Power, Life, Love, Abundance, Light (or Intelligence).

In the booklet quoted above, Gregge writes about these characteristics that “… you can apply any single one of them in totality, and the other eight will automatically be included.” Wow!  What, I wonder, might unfold if a speck of beauty was expanded and applied in its totality? What indeed does ‘in totality’ encompass?

I'm blessed to live surrounded by nature's beauty, a reminder of the beauty in all.

The possibilities seem worthy of experimentation. Aiming to focus on the beauty in everything (and every one!) seems as though it maintain the atmosphere of well-being that I know is so important for me in what seems to be a chaotic and divisive time. Might I even find beauty in the chaos that is so ugly on its surface? 

And so I begin a quest to discover and name the beauty that is in my world every day. My intention is that no thing and no one be excluded on this path.  I neither expect nor put pressure on myself to be perfect in this endeavor. I am, after all, experimenting. Who will join me on this journey?

As I begin, I’m reminded of Ray Stevens’ song Everything is Beautiful which seems a good theme song for the journey (hear it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a45z_HG3WU

*Patrece writes on behalf of P Systems, an independent 501(c-3) non-profit corporation she established in 1983. You can find her work and publications at www.p-systemsinc.com.

Mr. Handsome, beauty of the canine kind

Resistance With LOVE!

As the snow melts, the gentle flow of Cottonwood Creek comes to the surface.

Love is long suffering and kind. Suffering does not mean endurance but rather the willingness to permit and allow the kind of person someone is. Love recognizes individuality and respects individual freedom. If I love who I am, then my love for you will include the tolerance to let you be yourself without censure or critique.  Gregge Tiffen (The Numerology of Love – February, 2007)

When fear is used to control us, love is how we rebel. Rivera Sun (The Dandelion Insurrection - http://www.riverasun.com/)

Love is the most potent, powerful force on the planet. It is a characteristic of the Universe. Love’s power can guide us to create a world of peace and plenty. And, as history shows us, love misplaced or misunderstood, begets fear, fighting and scarcity.

In forgetting that we are each created as unique individuals with our own characteristics, strengths, foibles and lessons to learn, what have we lost in terms of awareness of the individual contribution we are each here to make? Have we forgotten that EVERY ONE has THEIR story? That we are all different and we are all the same?  Even, especially perhaps, those with whom we disagree.

Across the ages, right up to this very moment our ignorance has led us to fear the ‘other’ and to engage in cruelties beyond my comprehension. And yet, in quiet, reflective moments I wonder ‘is there a line, some circumstance or event that would provoke me to physical violence?’ I pray that the answer is ‘no’, but I know that I am capable of thinking and speaking harsh words and that I can suddenly find myself in a stream of consciousness that is far afield from recognizing and respecting the individuality of those with whom I disagree. That is especially so when their decisions appear to have the ability to impact my choices, my lifestyle. I noticed that a sort of ‘how dare they …’ attitude is often what spurs me to act. 

Recognizing that this attitude is grounded, not in love, but in fear, led me to begin to explore how to pour love into the acts of resistance I choose to take. After all, why pour gasoline – acting out of fear – on a fire that is already raging? 

I hit the ‘pause’ button on taking action and realized that before joining the crowd in reacting to the latest outrage (of which there are plenty), I need to tend to my heart. It’s important to connect with what I am FOR even as I speak out against those things with which I disagree. What I am FOR is, I believe, grounded in love – justice, human rights, free speech (indeed freedom in all its forms!).  I’m aiming to engage from love.

Whether I’m signing a petition, writing a letter or email, or making a call I’m aiming to take time to infuse it with love. Love that “recognizes individuality and respects individual freedom”. Love that speaks what is true for me in the moment and, hopefully, opens the door for the other to consider. Love that opens me to other points of view – deeply, honestly.

I don’t know all the ways to make this shift, but I’m up for the learning. Whether you’re actively engaged in either ‘side’ of the current political divide or simply observing, I invite you to join me in exploring and experimenting how to pour love into your action.

One by one, let us deepen our love of self so that we can pour love into all that we do.

Give yourself a little treat and enjoy “All You Need Is Love” The Beatles:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsxtImDVMig

Sunrise lights up the San Juan Mountains across the valley.

Prelude to The Winter Solstice

Early Morning Greeting from the Moon and Venus

All of heaven and all of earth coordinate at the Winter Solstice. Gregge Tiffen (Winter Solstice: The Christmas Story)

This week amidst a community controversy in which the board that I chair is being challenged, I’ve felt out of sync with the season and out of sorts with myself.  I want to stop. I want to stop not just for a few minutes to catch my breath, center myself and move on to the next task or conversation, but I want to STOP and BE the winter. Quiet. Still. Peaceful.

My time for that will come. I feel her on the horizon. Until then, there are ‘miles to go before I sleep’ in these last days of autumn before that moment when heaven and earth synchronize at the Winter Solstice. I know without a doubt that I will be there.

I know too that I alone am responsible for choosing how I walk through the tasks along those miles. I choose calm, confident, clear, kind as my foundation. These are grounded in love.  My choice is simple; implementation, not always easy. Often when I’m challenged, fear interrupts and invites me to its prickly path of tension, harshness, unkind words spoken and not. Too much of the world is on that path. I don’t want to be a part of that crowd.

And, so I pause. Make time for a long morning walk with Luke to visit a favorite spot along the creek. I ignore the ringing phone and resist the temptation to see what new jab is posted on Facebook. I pick up Gregge’s booklet Winter Solstice. I find this message, perfect to remind me of the choices I can make now and moment to moment, before my time of winter solitude, and beyond winter into the spring:

Prelude*

There is nothing I can give you which you have not got; but there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it, you can take.

No Heaven can come to us, unless our hearts find rest in today.

Take Heaven

No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant.

Take Peace

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness could we but see, and to see, we have only to look, I beseech you,

Look!

In the quiet there is tranquility. May your life move and radiate in that unity and your heart sing the hymn of peace to all mankind.

And so, at this time I greet you not quite as the world sends greetings, but with profound esteem and with prayer that for now and forever the day breaks, and the shadows flee away.

* Gregge Tiffen (Winter Solstice: The Christmas Story)

A Gift of Love from Cottonwood Creek

In League With The Angels

“In effect, negative levels of earth consciousness will contribute to defeating the positive levels of non-physical consciousness. In other words, when we have someone who is nasty or when we get depressed, we are in league with the devil. Gregge Tiffen (Do The Angels Take A Vacation? – August, 2007)”

The simple beauty of early morning's haze.

My coach recently shared the fun she had after a momentary panic when she discovered that her computer had been hacked. She was writing away in the wee hours of the morning when suddenly a message popped up to ‘call this number immediately for assistance’.  She called and after paying a fee for the assistance, realized that she’d been had. Rather than trekking the path most of us would likely choose (anger, fear, etc.), she played along, not letting on that she was onto their scam.  While she was getting her computer repaired by a legitimate techie, she took advantage of the 24/7 help that she’d paid for, and called the scammers with questions at all hours of the night.

When she shared this story, I could hear the lightness in voice and feel it in her spirit. Complete absence of feeling like a victim. Her response was much like I imagine the Dali Lama responds when things don’t go exactly as planned on this path.  It was good for a laugh and a reminder to, if you will, take the high road.  (I don’t know about you, but I need that reminder quite frequently.)

I confess: I’m not there consistently regarding current events in my life.  In the last few weeks as I’ve been immersed in concern for and care of Luke (summer allergies and a weakened system seem to have left him vulnerable to mites or some other canine biting critters); along with leading my community in opposition to a marijuana growing operation in our neighborhood and hosting guests in the B&B’s busiest month of the year, I’ve needed to be vigilant to maintain my positivity.

I don’t do so just for my own sake (although life does flow much more easily when I’m in that place), but also as a contribution to the well-being of our planet. I’ve come to understand that we are always contributing to the atmosphere.  I want contribute positively, especially at this time when positivity seems quite needed.

Stories remind me not to take myself and the events in my life too gravely.  Quiet time for reflection opens me to listen for the guidance ever present no matter what opportunities life presents. Being in nature demonstrates to me that being alive is a process and that change is constant. 

These in turn lead me back to my core conviction that my life (indeed all life) is unfolding perfectly for my (our) learning.  I’m reminded as well that, like my coach, I alone am at the helm, choosing how and where to use my energy each moment, each day.

When I choose with anger and fear, I choose to be the victim, in league with the devil’s negativity. When I choose with compassion, love, and grace I see challenges as opportunities to experiment, to create, to learn and grow. I may even get to express me in some new way.

The world would have us believe that only those who do ‘big’ things make a difference. Not so.  Moment to moment, step by step, choice to choice each of us is contributing to the atmosphere on our dear planet earth.  She needs us to make uplifting, positive choices. How will I contribute today? What about you?

The Power of Love

"In order to use the power of love we need to drop all facades and show ourselves as trusting, uninhibited children of a loving Universe." - Gregge Tiffen (The Numerology of Love)

Just what is the ‘power of love’ and how can we discern when we are using it?

Language has its own energy, and like all else, words vary in their vibratory rates. Dr. David R Hawkins in his groundbreaking book, Power vs. Force, distinguishes and measures levels of consciousness. The word ‘fear’ vibrates at a low level. It produces anxiety and withdrawal – not the level one wants to live in when aiming to create a relationship, build a business, or simply life.

‘Love’ on the other hand, vibrates at a much higher level, a level that moves you forward, supports engagement with others, and helps make navigating life’s challenges an opportunity rather than a burden. As, I’ve suggested before, love of self is the foundation on which our ability to love others, to receive love and to create a love-filled life is built.

As I’ve reflected on how I came to (mostly) live a life of love, I discovered forgiveness and gratitude at the core. I’ve learned to forgive myself and others and, in doing so, my capacity to let go and allow has grown. For the most part, I’ve thrown out the mantel of perfectionism and embraced excellence and continuous learning. For many years, I’ve practiced ‘breathing in love/breathing out gratitude’. Over time, I’ve grown to feel and express gratitude for (almost) everything.

When life goes off kilter, I aim to have the awareness to notice whether gratitude or my capacity to forgive are missing. Awareness is key to making the moment to moment choice to live in (and, thus to use) the power of love, to be that trusting child of the Universe.

Taking love and awareness a step further, Gregge Tiffen shared more in a short booklet published in 2007. In his training in mysticism, Gregge learned that each letter of a word links to the vibratory rate of the word itself. The sequence of the links, “defines how the manifestation of the word will flow”. Here’s love:

L – Creative

O – Progressive

V – Emotion

E – Energy

So, we can ask if we are “creatively, progressive, emotional, and energetic” about anything in life – a relationship, our work, projects that we’re engaged in, a trip we’re considering, and even life itself. If yes, then the power of love is present, and we likely are being that uninhibited child of the Universe. If not … well that’s perhaps to muse another day.