John Denver and Creativity---Part One

My youngest daughter gave me an Echo Dot which means that I can connect it to my iPhone and Amazon Prime in order to "talk" to an imaginary "Alexa". 

The other day I asked it to play soft 70's rock music and it started playing John Denver.  This stirred up memories of John Denver for me.  He went to high school in the Ft. Worth area.

When I went to Texas Tech he was in a trio that sang at a concert which I attended.  Later he went solo and launched his incredible career as a singer and song writer. 

I have been picking out music videos to play at church and came across a beautiful video about how he struggled with music and lyrics for one of his most famous songs.  I am not going to name the video until after tomorrow as I want it as a surprise for the congregants.  I will post more about his process of creativity after tomorrow.

The Mickey Mouse Club and Me

When I was growing up, one of my favorite TV programs was the Mickey Mouse Club with Annette Funicello and others.  I had a Mickey Mouse Club hat and I loved to sing M-I-C-K-E-Y  M-O-U-S-E at the end of the program.

My parents subscribed to the Mickey Mouse Club magazine for my sister and me and I remember being mesmerized by an article about the Incans in Peru.  There was one article about the Indians taking all of their gold out to a lake as part of a ceremony and dumping it into the lake.  Inside I felt like that this was an important article and worked on memorizing it.  I probably was about 8-10 years old at the time.

I remained fascinated with the Incans, Peru, and South America so I went on to major in Latin American Area Studies with a minor in Spanish.  I also went to Peru for 3 weeks and visited all the sacred places as part of a "shamanic journey".  By then I had combined my interest with Peru with my lifelong interest in spirituality.

All of us are so different in our likes and dislikes.  If you are wondering about your life purpose, take time to think about your childhood.  Hidden inside are clues about who and what you are and what makes you unique.

Waiting for the Storm--This Too Shall Pass

It is so interesting to know in advance that stormy, icy and extremely cold weather is on its way when you are experiencing 70 degree warm spring like weather as I am experiencing in Denton, Texas.  There is a feeling of wondering how bad the weather is going to get and I question the best way to prepare for it.

I joined a lot of people at the grocery store because I know I won't want to get out in the morning when the brunt of the slush and cold descends upon us.  I am willing to bet that tons of chili cans and comfort food was sold today.

As I was shopping one of my favorite songs came on in the store which is "I Can See Clearly Now".  Hearing that song brought me back to center and made me realize that storms come and go.  This is also a metaphor for our lives.  Storms come and go but things will be ok.  All we have to do is breathe, relax, trust God and know that no matter how bad the storm we can make it through to "sunny weather".

Using Talents and Abilities---An Example

All of us have unique talents and abilities and I believe that life gives us opportunities to use them.  I think we all have a purpose and reason to be here on this planet at this time.

I am watching a demonstration of this at Unity Spiritual Center of Denton with our new bookstore and gift shop manager, Belinda Toornburg.  She has combined her artistic talent with managerial skills which has made the gift/bookstore a success.

She has the skill to know how to negotiate with people who display their items and the ability to creatively display items.  She is an artist in lots of mediums and does magic with ribbons, bows, displays and signs.  Every week when we walk into the store we never know what treasure we will find.  The prices are right.

Her husband, Ryan, is a master in making displays and with help created a door out of a solid wall.  They make a great team.

She has the talent and ability to do all of this and was at the right place at the right time to use her creativity.  I believe that all of us have the opportunity to be at the right place at the right time but sometimes don't recognize the opportunity or think we can't handle the opportunity.  The universe will support us but we have to make the first step.

Being open and receptive is the first step and this is best accomplished through prayer and meditation.

My Back Fence

One day about 6 years ago a big storm came through and a portion of my back fence fell down because a tree from the neighbor's yard had fallen over knocking it down.  An elderly very nice couple lived behind me and I did not want to bring it up with them since I knew money was an issue as well as their health.   I kept thinking that I needed to hire someone to fix it but my finances were strained at that point so I just let it go. 

One day there was a knock at my door and there was the elderly man who lived behind me.  He scolded me for not letting him know about the tree and my fence.  I told him I did not want to bother him with it.  He said I have 3 strong sons and several grandchildren who help me with my harder jobs and I will get them to work.  Soon there was a buzz of activity in my back yard as they sawed up the tree and put back the fence.

This incident made me realize that sometimes there are solutions to situations that come out of the blue if we just release and let go.  We all sometimes rush to fix things that can be fixed without our having to fix it ourselves.

The Magic Timer

On cold days I love to stay warm in a chair and drink coffee.  I find it very difficult to get moving.  I think I must have the genetics from the time long ago when ancient people took winter refuge in a cave with a blazing fire to keep warm.  

Several years ago I decided to set the timer for 10 minutes and assign myself a task to do in the 10 minutes.  I found I not only had the task done but several other things accomplished also.  My motivation to stay moving would activate and I would be active for most of the day.

When I face a daunting task that seems overwhelming, I also use the timer.  I will do 15 minutes and then do something else for 10 minutes.  It is amazing how the change of pace helps me get a lot of things accomplished.

I also find it very worthwhile to start the day in a positive way with prayer, meditation and affirmations.  I see the day going well and this sets up an emotional tone of expectancy and good that helps bring in the energy.

Minimizing----AGAIN

I don't know how things accumulate so fast.  This time last year I had cleared out my closet and organized my home and garage.  You would never know it now.

When I first got into Unity I will never forget reading Catherine Ponder's books and the first rule for prosperity is to clear out your home.  She would advocate clearing out old magazines and getting your living area organized and clean.  I really believe that this is important but I have a huge task in front of me.

I helped take down the Christmas tree at church and as we were putting the tree in storage we marveled at how things had stacked up since we decluttered just a few short months ago.  It is easy to get into a hurry and just let things stack up thinking we can get to it later which then results in a huge task.

One of my New Year's intentions is to take a few minutes each day to go through things.

Identical Twins Who Are Separated

Last week I saw a special program on 20/20 about identical twins who were separated at birth and then adopted.  They never knew that they had a twin until someone at the agency let them know even though letting them know was illegal.  Several sets of twins "found" each other and were amazed at the similarity of their lives 40 years later. 

Two male twins found that they both coached ice hockey teams and each had 3 boys.  One woman who found her twin discovered that they both had a girl with the same name.  The similarities were amazing.

This has always fascinated me because we are discovering that mannerisms, likes and dislikes, addictions and other personality traits may be more genetic than we realize.  We may be hard wired in the brain for certain behaviors but the good news is that we can change the behaviors if we find that they are a problem. 

Changes can be accomplished through meditation, visualization, and affirmations.  Sometimes it takes a lot of time and effort but it can be done.  Lots of brain research that is being done at universities across the country are allowing us to scientifically prove that change is possible in our thinking and in our lives.

Thoughts About My Rock

The holiday decorations are now down and the new year of 2019 has really begun.  My calendars are almost updated, my organizer is updated and I am ready for a prosperous wonderful year.

I have the stone on my desk that I selected at the White Stone Ceremony at church upon which I wrote down my intention.  My intention is to believe.  Sometimes we think this world is so solid and firm that we can't move past roadblocks in our lives.  The physicists tell us that this world is really full of swirling energy which can be changed by our thoughts.  The rock that looks so solid on my desk is really swirling energy.  When I see the word "believe", it reminds me that my thoughts can change reality.

I will be talking about some of this as I start a 13 week series at church based on a wonderful book of spiritual insights which I will reveal on Sunday.