METTA CENTER

(This article was first published in November 2008 Metta Center email newsletter.) I was asking Spirit about what to write for this newsletter that would be most beneficial for my readers. Spirit answered, "Remind them of their Truth." Hmmm, I didn't know what that meant, to tell you the truth. (No pun intended.) So, I asked for more guidance on it. Spirit showed me that deep inside ourselves, we already know that all is well -- that all has always been well, will always be well and can only be well. Often, however, we don't remember this Truth. Like many of you, I don't always feel that all is well nor do I think that everything is well all the time. Again, I asked for more guidance. And, this time, Spirit asked me a question: "Have you ever seen your daughter having a tantrum and feeling anxious about something and you know it was not as big a problem as she thought it was, and that all is well, because you have the advantage of having a broa...

(This article was first published in May 2006 Metta Center email newsletter.) Joy, I think, comes in two flavors: the euphoric feeling (Hurray! Amazing! Yes! Hallelujah!) and the easy-and-happy feeling (Ain’t life good? Ahh, bliss, life is sweet!) Both flavors are delicious. How do you get to joy, and how do you maintain it? There are many paths to joy, as many as the grains of sand. Recall the various times you felt happy, and at ease. Was there any one formula for your happiness? Or were they varied, and in that variation, you felt alive and happy? What is “joy” to you? Perhaps your joys come in predictable patterns: you love nature, flowers, clouds, winds, water, music, birds, etc. So, by allowing yourself to experience and notice these wonders as much as possible, you feel joyous. Some of your joys may not be so predictable. They might come from your allowing your self to grow in your awareness, to bring healing to yourself, to explore life, to have adventures, to rest, to listen...

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious." ~ Albert Einstein Several nights ago, I was out looking at the stars during my "blue time," the time in the early evening when the sun has just set and the world seems to be under water with blue hues everywhere. I love that time of the day, it feels magical and wondrous to me. During that time, as I ran my fingers along the blueness as if I could touch its essence of gentleness, I felt and heard the blessings: "All this peace, beauty and love is for you, for your family and for the world, Christine." In that moment, I felt deeply connected to a such delicious source of contentedness and I found my body tingling in ease. I said "I accept, I accept, I accept." It felt really good to allow and accept blessings. At that moment I remembered again that there is nothing but love, even if I sometimes forget. I love opening up, tapping into and allowing myself to connect to the Divin...

(This post was first published as an article in April 2008 Metta Center email newsletter.) I was outside enjoying myself, reading a book that has captivated my heart and soul. The weather was beautiful, the garden was fragrant, my family was with me playing outside. All is well. I felt peaceful and complete. Despite that slice-of-heaven moment, however, I noticed some quiet stirrings of unease and restlessness in my chest. I stopped my reading, and check inward with myself. I brought my attention to the sensations I felt on my chest, and gently waited for an inner response. "I feel lost. I don't know what to do. I have no purpose," came the answer from within me. I was aware of a feeling of confusion that accompanied the restless energy. This answer came as a surprise to me because I was very clear about what my purpose was on that day. My purpose was to be in love with life, and I was doing it so well, I thought. Because of my self-healing practice in working wit...

(This post was first published as an article in September 2008 Metta Center email newsletter. While my daughter is now 15 years old, and not 11 years old as in this story, the message of this post is still relevant today. I invite you to turn your limiting thoughts around and free yourself into your happiness!)   One of the lessons I have learned is that happiness is an inside job. Do you notice that things can be going really well, and yet you are still unhappy? Or, things might go all awry yet you are cool as a cucumber? Something Abraham-Hicks says really struck a cord with me: "Your primary work is to think, speak and do what feels good to you." I really enjoy learning the process of choosing a better feeling thought from Abraham. Similar to changing a diet where you choose a healthier food to nourish your body, learning to think a better feeling thought is choosing to hold healthier thoughts, bringing yourself back into alignment with Source. It is choosing to nour...

"Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself" ~ Zen Proverb "Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke As I started my day this morning, I was spell-bound by the brilliant display of flowers all around my home. In the Bay Area, spring has definitely sprung! Everywhere I looked, blossoms have burst in a profusion of colors: white, magenta, blue, purple, yellow, orange, red, and pink. Young grasses of verdant green dance in the soft breeze. Delicate new leaves are poking out of bare branches where they have slept through winter. I am witnessing life in its full splendor and spring regalia. So glorious, indeed! I invite you to allow yourself to get away from your desk, from the unfinished busy-ness in your day, and go out and greet spingtime with open arms and delighted eyes. Abandon your worries and obligations, and replace them with a sense of joy and ease, even for just a short...

(This article was first published in April 2007 Metta Center email Newsletter.) Yesterday, I walked past sunlit blades of grass. They smelled so fresh and wholesome as my legs brushed against their blades. I watched the wind run on top of the grass, swaying the tips so gently. The verdant green blades touched me deeply, awakening a sense of wonder and awe. It felt like I was drinking from a fountain of light. I felt filled and full. I felt connected. It felt wonderful. How amazing it is to be in Spirit. In his book "Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling," Dr. Wayne Dyer said, "Think of the word inspiration as meaning 'being in-Spirit.' When we're in-Spirit, we're inspired and when we're inspired, it's because we're back in-Spirit, fully awake to Spirit within us. Being inspired is an experience of joy: we feel completely connected to our Source and totally on purpose; our creative juices flow, and we bring exceptionally high energy to our d...

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." ~ Christina Baldwin Here autumn comes -- the changing colors of leaves, the pale sunlight, the chills in the air, the leaf-dropping breeze, and rainfall that nourishes the earth. Mother earth is again changing her cloak. She looks so beautiful! Changes take place in life all the time. Life is growth, therefore its nature is to change. Since we are part of life, we are part of the flow of change itself. To me, change is to leave the old behind and welcome the new into our lives. I think suffering comes from resisting the natural rythms and changes inherent in our own unique flow, our own unique imprint of divine life-force. When change comes knocking in your life, open your door and welcome it! Let go of the old thoughts and patterns, welcome the new seeds of hope and follow your own heart's bidding for more growth. Give yourself the chance to see who you are becoming! Wishing y...

(This article was first published in December 2006 Metta Center Newsletter.) Coming to have faith in myself has been quite a discovery process for me. It has been, and still is, very enlightening, sometimes frustrating and always very fulfilling. I have learned to cultivate self-faith in these various ways: Clear the fearful thoughts/perspectives whenever I recognize and feel them. I meditate on the thoughts and release them to Light to transmute the energy, or use EFT, TAT, Reiki or Angel Healing work to shift the thought patterns. I also reframe my thoughts by choosing different and more empowering thoughts. When I find that I am doubting myself, I focus on the various ways I have come through for myself or others in the past. Here, I practice being aware of my self-talk, and change the pattern from being self-critical to self-supportive. When we remember own past resourcefulness, we remind ourselves of the capacity we have but have forgotten (or didn't give ourselves cred...

(This article was first published in September 2006 Metta Center Newsletter.) Recently, on a labyrinth walk at Sibley Regional Park in Oakland, I received a profound insight from Mother Earth that I would love to share with you. As I walk inwardly toward the center of the labyrinth, I noticed a yellow jacket buzzing around me. At first, I was apologetic to it. I said I was sorry that I was bothering it. When the insect still buzzed around me, I started to feel angry and told it to buzz off itself. Then, I started wondering if there was a "better", different, way to respond than the ways I had responded: either being apologetic to or being upset by this insect. As I thought that question out loud, I heard this thought within me that said, very gently, "We all have a space here." The yellow jacket came back and started buzzing again around me. This time, I quietly said to it "We all have a space here, you and me." Then, to my surprise, the yellow jac...

"A Child of Crossing Places." I simply love this phrase! It touches me in such a beautiful and moving way. I first heard this phrase when reading "The Seeing Stone," by Kevin Crossley-Holland. It's a young-adult book, and it's about a young boy named Arthur who is given a magical seeing stone. In the book, “crossing places” refers to places where one aspect of life meets another, such as the shorelines, sunsets or sunrises, butterfly cocoons, seasons, and others. Crossing places are mysterious, full of potential, unpredictable and transformative. Our inner conflicts are like these crossing places: two seemingly different and conflicting forces of interests. Unlike nature, however, we often feel uncomfortable with our “crossing places,” wishing that they were not there. We can learn from nature’s ample examples to help us resolve our inner conflicts gracefully. Instead of having to choose sides or somehow force both sides of our inner battles to work...

"Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as bird wings." ~ Rumi "You are good when you walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps. Yet you are not evil when you go thither limping. Even those who limp go not backward. But you who are strong and swift, see that you do not limp before the lame, deeming it kindness." ~ Kahlil Gibran "Change is created by those whose imaginations are bigger than their circumstances." ~ Unknown source

Recently, I came across this limiting belief that is fascinating to me. It's about being exposed. But not about hiding some inside flaw from being found out by others. It is about keeping the information that we are loved from being exposed even to ourselves. The belief I came across was along the line of "if we even try to remember we are loved, we are not safe." It blew my mind when I finally understood the full grasp of this thought pattern! Ever felt like a fake? Well, duh, it made sense to me how we could feel that way especially when we don't allow ourselves to remember, let alone, know and embody our own deepest truths. Incidentally, I was realizing that remembering something is a kind of like exposing what was once hidden in our mind, isn't it? What was buried, hidden or lost in the deep folds of our psyche is now in clear view again. So, how does this belief manifest as a limitation in our lives? It can show up as: Feeling unsafe and vulnerable ...

You take a little seed, plant it, water it, and fertilize it for a whole year, and nothing happens. The second year you water and fertilize it, and nothing happens. The third year you water it and fertilize it, and nothing happens. How discouraging this becomes! The fourth year you water it and fertilize it, and nothing happens. This is very frustrating. The fifth year you continue to water and fertilize the seed and then sometime during the fifth year, the Chinese bamboo tree sprouts and grows ninety feet in six weeks! Sometimes, our healing journey and growth process can feel like the story above. Nothing happens after all this work! Have heart. Allow time for the process itself. In other words, what may appear to be "not working" or "not healing" is often a deeper need to experience growth, learning lessons of patience or receiving, learning to appreciate the present, learning to respect and care for yourself, and so on. And, at the end of this nurturi...

I was sitting in contemplation when an inner voice said to me, "Do you realize that we often criticize ourselves when we make the smallest mistakes, and we don't celebrate ourselves or feel proud of ourselves until we accomplish something 'grand,' whatever that thing is? And, when we finally reach that big-goal, often after much stress and effort, before we even have time to savor our success and celebrate ourselves, we immediately give ourselves the next thing to do. We are bad if make a small mistake and only good if we make a good, huge, achievement. Don't you think that is out of balance when we do so to ourselves?" Hm, a good point, I thought. Looking at my own life, I can see places and times where I did just that, I got upset with myself for a small mistake and I didn't even realize when I did something significantly important for myself, my family or the world around me. Have you done that? Do you do so often? Well, how about joining me in...

(This article was first published in May 2006 Metta Center Newsletter.) Intuition is our great ally, a great force, to help in our journey of realizing who we are. It is one of our greatest gifts, and yet we don't always trust it. One of the issues that many of us have about trusting our intuition is that we can't distinguish which voice is intuition and which voice is just habitual mind-chatter. When we feel that "warning" in our stomach and start feeling anxious, is that our intuition? Or, is that habitual fear-based thoughts talking? The power of discernment is what we need to distinguish the voice of inner guidance vs. the other voices. Ask the Universe to help you grow this power so that you can hear your inner guidance the loudest, and give you the courage to follow it. As you learn to discern your voices, watch yourself and your life unfold in magical ways. Another issue we have about trusting our intuition is one of safety. Because intuition often will ...

This morning, I was thinking how so many of us (including me) are afraid to be a fool or make a fool of ourselves. Then, all of a sudden, the word "full" just floated in my mind, replacing the word "fool." And with that simple change I saw things with a different light! It dawned on me that when we are afraid of being a fool, we are afraid to be a full or abundant being in our own right. We are afraid to make ourselves full and be filled with our own Spirit. Hah! What a new thought for me! I was painfully aware of the various (and creative ways) I have chosen to stay small and withhold the fullness that I am because I didn't want to be a "fool." I know I have patterns where the "fool" in me got pushed aside for the voice of reason. So with this realization I have decided to no longer be afraid to be either a fool or "full" anymore. I choose to fully embrace the fool in me and honor the gifts of this archetype. I choose to liv...

(This article was first published in the March 2006 edition of Metta Center Newsletter.) "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." ~ Anaïs Nin When I first read this quote, years ago, I was struck by the enormity of the truth resonating from these words. I felt it with my entire being. It has since been one of my favorite quotes that I go back to when I need an inspiration to renew my hope and grow my courage. This quote is so poignant to me now as we move into Spring where renewal and growth are obvious to the senses. Spring is practically bursting with new life: the flower buds are swollen and some even have blossomed, new branches are extending, soft green shoots are poking out from the cold ground, fresh flower fragrance is in the air. Mother nature is renewing herself after a winter of quietly gathering her potential for growth. It is as if She is telling us, “Trust that spring comes after winter. E...

Our relationships can help us grow personally and spiritually. They invite us to rise to the challenge to be our true Selves. They invite us to allow ourselves to align with the unconditional Love we are inside, the love we want to give and receive. The most important of all the relationships we have is our relationship with our deep inner Self - the Love we hold within us and the Life that is us. Gently, just observe how often you accept and love yourself on a daily basis. How much do you trust your own goodness and gifts? How do you treat yourself? How do you perceive yourself? How do you soothe, comfort, care and support yourself? Do you bother to give your Self the time of day? Are you caging the Love you hold within, keeping it from radiating out and thus depriving yourself of your own fulfillment? You can't afford to deny the importance of You, the importance of being the Love that you are. It hurts deeply when others invalidate the love you have to offer and it hurts e...

"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: it is only with the heart that one can see clearly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery "Jerry" (not his real name) asked me to help him move past his painful feelings of loneliness and his need to be connected through touch. He found that his feelings and needs were getting in the way of his relationships. He quietly suggested that perhaps instead of simply getting "rid" of things that didn't work, maybe it would be helpful to give himself a "replacement" item that he would like to experience in his life. I encouraged him to follow his inspiration and asked him what that replacement item would be. He thought for a moment and then very softly said, " I choose to trust that I will be loved again. " As soon as he made that choice, his energy body sighed with relief and he burst into tears. He sat for a while as his body rocked with sobs, releasi...