Short Moments of Rest...

...repeated many times, become continuous!

You don't have to sit like a buddha to experience true rest.

Rest is available all the time. Even in the midst of chaos,

we can take a short moment.

That means.... stop thinking....

and let everything be as it is.

It is a simple practice and a powerful one.

What happens is that one begins to

identify with the ALL rather than

the measly point of view.

We are powerful beings!

Stand in the pure beingness that you are!

Watch as the various phenomena arise,

live their life,

and then dissolve!

Why get caught up in a mirage?

You are the one

you've been waiting for...

What you are searching for

is the infinite that you are already!

Candice O'Denver, founder of the

Great Freedom Teachings,

talks about our true identity below:

Open Intelligence - Our True Identity - 5.8.11 from Balanced View Candice on Vimeo.

What Does It Take to Wake Up?

Lake Travis, near Austin, Texas

There is a Cree Prophecy coming true~

"When all the trees have been cut down,

when all the animals have been hunted,

when all the waters are polluted,

when the air is unsafe to breathe,

only then will you discover you cannot eat money.

San Angelo State Park, Texas

It's a friendly universe....

Can you imagine a Mother Earth so lovingly patient

that she allows us to learn our lessons

in our own time?

Can I be as loving with myself?

Today on a blog I found, was a photo of a father teaching his young son

to hunt squirrels. Why is it that people feel the need to kill?

Now let me ask myself:

Where is it that I kill ?

... the fire ants in my yard.

...the squirrel hunters in my mind.

Let me remember the prayer of St.Francis:

"Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light,

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may

not so much seek to be consoled,

as to console;

To be understood, as to understand;

To be loved, as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned

and it is in dying that

we are born to eternal life."

Living the Work of Byron Katie

A friendly reminder to all those who have purchased a "Work package"~

Private facilitations of the Work are $75.~ per session and a package of 6 sessions are now $425.~. What a great savings! Please know that packages will be honored for 6 months. The most effective way to use this great tool is to get facilitated once a week or once every other week. After 5 to 10 sessions, the Work will begin to DO you! That's when you find yourself laughing at the situations that used to make you cry!

What are people saying about sessions of the Work?

"Wow... that's really profound!" ~D.M.

"My anger has disappeared!" ~P.K.

"I feel completely transformed!" ~ N.C.

"You are really good at this!" ~R.R.

"I love you Byron Katie!" ~C.G.

Don't put off feeling better!

Give yourself the most precious gift~

The Gift of You!

Watch this lovely video of Katie describing how the "Work" works!

If Peace is your goal, the "Work" is for you...

Don't forget every first Wednesday of the month!

Byron Katie night at Rev. Julie Gallagher's house.

Call 512-448-2374 or email: squirrelady@gmail.com

~Space is limited so please RSVP~

Love Donation $20.~

Love is the Only Thing that Heals

When it comes right down to it, the one thing everyone is after, whether they're conscious of it or not is to love and be loved. It is when we are feeling the lack of love that we feel bad. In order to understand what's really going on here, we must first get clear on what love is!

What most people define love to be is a romantic, conditional possessive type of love which really isn't love at all. The love that Christ spoke of was a love without conditions placed on it... an all encompassing love that included everything and everybody.

The reason why people keep searching for this love and can't seem to find it, is because this LOVE is who you are. It is the substance that holds together the entire Cosmos. It is in the act of searching for love outside oneself that one denies their very essence!

One of my favorite teachers, Candice O'Denver speaks to this very topic. Listen to this amazing talk called PERFECT LOVE:

I Know The Way You Can Get

I know the way you can get

When you have not had a drink of Love:

Your face hardens,

Your sweet muscles cramp.

Children become concerned

About a strange look that appears in your eyes

Which even begins to worry your own mirror

And nose.

Squirrels and birds sense your sadness

And call an important conference in a tall tree.

they decide which secret code to chant

To help your mind and soul.

Even angels fear that brand of madness

That arrays itself against the world

and throws sharp stones and spears into

The innocent

And into one's self.

O I know the way you can get

If you have not been drinking Love:

You might rip apart

Every sentence your friends and teachers say,

Looking for hidden clauses.

You might weigh every word on a scale

Like a dead fish.

You might pull out a ruler to measure

From every angle in your darkness

The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once

Trusted.

I know the way you can get

If you have not had a drink from Love's

Hands.

That is why all the Great Ones speak of

The vital need

to keep remembering God,

So you will come to know and see Him

As being so Playful

And Wanting,

Just Wanting to help.

That is why Hafiz says:

Bring your cup near me.

For all I care about

Is quenching your thirst for freedom!

All a Sane man can ever care about

Is Giving Love!

From: "I Heard God Laughing-Renderings of Hafiz'

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Relax.

Relax... and take a step into the

New Paradigm!

Everyone gets caught up in an old story now and then. Have you ever had the experience of feeling like you just can't quite shake it off? You've tried affirmations, meditation techniques, read a bazillion self-help books, and still that nagging story pops up and takes you down a hole!

Not fun.

There is a way to be free of the old stories! A simple process called the Work of Byron Katie combined with the powerful Oneness Blessing is a powerful method of dissolving the "velcro" that keeps us stuck!

How does it work? It's all about a shift in your perception. Everyone has heard the adage, "Are you seeing the cup as half empty or as half full?". But how does one look at a particularly painful situation as 'half full'? Call today for a session and experience the relief of letting go of your story! The only thing you need is the willingness to end your own suffering~ are you ready to take the leap?

The Work is a simple way of inquiring inside of you... that's where all the answers are and where they have always been! You are the one you've been waiting for! For an explanation,

see: http://www.thework.com/thework.php

The Oneness Blessing is a transfer of energy (shaktipat) that assists in quieting the parietal lobe of the brain (the place where we feel separation) and opening the frontal lobe (the place where we experience our connection to the Divine, to bliss, and to all that is). The Oneness Blessing comes from India via the transmission of Grace.

See http://www.onenessuniversity.org/index.php/about-us/history for the history of this phenomenon!

Now there's a great way to experience both! You can have a phone session in which you will be facilitated in the Work and given a Oneness Blessing at the end of the inquiry. After the call is ended, you simply lay face up with palms up (known in yoga practice as the shavassan position) for as long as you like. You will feel as if a great burden has been lifted off your shoulders... and it has!

Rev. Julie Gallagher, a minister in the Alliance of Divine Love since 1999, a Reiki Master-Teacher initiated at the Queen's Bath on the island of Hawaii in 1995, a Oneness Blessing facilitator initiated in southern India in 2006, and a member of the Institute for the Work since 2009, offers sessions in person or by phone at your convenience. You may email her at: squirrelady@gmail.com or call her at: 512-448-2374.

Relief is a phone call away!

CLOTHED IN SPACE

Awareness is a Sea of Love that includes

all points of View

The being in the picture above is Shripada Vallabha. He is an Indian saint/avatar that lived in the 14th century. The famous chant that includes his name is:

"Digamabara Digambara Shri Pada Vallabha Digambara"

This lovely chant can be heard by clicking on the video below:




This mantra is a request to be "clothed in space".
What does that mean?  For me, it is best explained by the Western teacher, Candice O'Denver through whose words came the Great Freedom teachings.  Listen as she discusses the Space of Love in the video below: 



 Why Not Be Polite?

Everyone

Is God speaking.

Why not be polite and

Listen to

Him?

~Hafiz

Unconditional Love is the Nature of the Mystery

Have you noticed that there is nothing that you can hold on to? Everything is created, changes, disappears, and something new is created. I have taken hundreds of photos of squirrels in an attempt to hold onto these little creatures. And it is just not possible! Yes, I have the photos, perhaps, but not the squirrel. The joy I feel as I connect with the little squirrel is indescribable bliss! The essence of the squirrel is unconditional love... the essence of everything is unconditional love. There is nothing in the entire universe that is not unconditional love!

Therefore, there is no need to try and hold on! We are swimming in a sea of love... we are not separate from love!

I so appreciate Richard Sylvester's The Book of No One. He says, " The phrase 'unconditional love' is not a comforting phrase, it's a fierce phrase. It's impossible for an individual to really conceive of unconditional love, no matter what spiritual philosophy we may embrace. We may have it as a poorly understood concept but it cannot be experienced by an individual. ~~ When the person drops away it is simply obvious that unconditional love is the nature of the mystery."

So then, what does this mean? Listen below to Jeff Foster as he speaks of love as "the falling away of me, the falling away of separate self".

"Love is not something you can have... it's what you are!"

And here's how the world of Love looks if you are stationed on another planet!

LOVE ITSELF

An Excerpt from Byron Katie's: "I Need Your Love - Is That True?"

"Love is what you are already. Love doesn't seek anything. It's already complete. It doesn't want, doesn't need, has no shoulds. It already has everything it wants, it already is everything it wants, just the way it wants it. So when I hear people say that they love someone and want to be loved in return, I know they're not talking about love. They're talking about something else.

Sometimes you may seem to trade love for the stressful thought appearing in the moment. It's a little trip out into illusion. Seeking love is how you lose the awareness of love. But you can only lose the awareness of it, not the state. That's immovable. When you investigate your stressful thinking and your mind becomes clear, love pours into your life, and there's nothing you can do about it. Love joins everything without condition. It doesn't avoid the nightmare; it looks forward to it and then inquires. There is no way to join except to get free of your belief that you want something from your partner. That's true joining. It's like "Bingo! You just won the lottery!"

If I want something from my partner, I simply ask. If he says no and I have a problem with that, I need to take a look at my thinking. Because I already have everything. We all do. That's how I can sit here so comfortably. I don't want anything from you that you don't want to give. I don't even want your freedom if you don't. I don't even want your peace"....

"Love wouldn't deny a breath. It wouldn't deny a grain of sand or a speck of dust. It is totally in love with itself, and it delights in acknowledging itself through its own presence, in every way, without limit. It embraces it all, everything from the murderer and the rapist to the saint to the dog and cat. Love is so vast within itself that it will burn you up. It's so vast that there's nothing you can do with it. All you can do is be it."

A Realization is Not Enough

In the video below, Mooji talks about "no mind". He explains that it's not enough to have and experience of pure clarity. A realization cannot be kept until it is lived. It has to be tested. He discusses the process very well.....

You have to go beyond this hold of identity.

Who would you be without THAT thought?

WhenByron Katie asks the fourth question, "Who would you be without that thought?", many people answer with a possible outcome such as, 'I would be happy' or 'I would be calm and without stress.' However, if you take time to just sit in the question, and let yourself be immersed in it as you would a Zen koan, you will find yourself immersed in spaciousness. That spaciousness is what Candice O'Denver refers to as "Clarity" in the video below. I found this video on the website: http://www.greatfreedom.org/index.html where you may download the pdf file for the book: Clarity in Everyday Life

.

Introduction to Clarity - 9.07.10 from Balanced View Candice on Vimeo.

How does this work when you are in the midst of reacting to a painful thought? What can you do when you are in the midst of arguing with what is presenting itself to you? Here are a couple of paragraphs from the book Clarity in Everyday Life (p.119-121) that answers these questions.

"When afflictive states come up, it can be very difficult to recognize the natural ease of our own being, because everything in us is screaming, "No,no, this feels too awful. It can't possibly be part of clarity!" That's the most important time of all to JUST RELAX.

When we relax more and more, we begin to see that all the points of view that appear within the pure view of awareness are our allies instead of our foes. When these appearances appear, we recognize the inherent clarity of awareness. It could be that al of our lives we have been afraid of the afflictive states, but through the clarity of awareness we are now able to see them as old friends. Affictive states are a great support for relying on clarity; however, if we continue to exclude them as if they didn't belong in clarity, then we will be returning to them again and again.

If, for instance, we have a pain in the body and we're focused only on that pain, then that is all we'll see. But if we relax body and mind completely, then we can see this pain that is appearing is nothing other than an appearance of super-intelligence and flawless knowing. If we absolutely insist that we have a pain and it is our pain, then that's the only information we will have, and we won't be able to see it for what it truly is. But one thing is for sure about experiencing pain: it motivates us to look for relief from the pain. This is why afflictive states are our greatest friends. Without them we might never be moved to discover our ultimate nature.

When we get familiar with our ultimate nature, we just feel better all the time. There is no other way to say it; it's not a mysterious or esoteric matter. Our true nature doesn't belong to any kind of category, institution, philosophy or religion. It has never been owned by any country or by any person. We can either get familiar with it--or not. When we do get familiar with it, then we pass completely beyond cause and effect.

We see that all these appearances really are allies, and we have NEVER been at their whim. It's all in what we take them to be. If we take them to be a monster, they will be. If we think we are ruled by them, then we will be. The more we know ourselves as we truly are, the more we see that we really are not affected by the labels we have used to describe everything.

....When the afflictive states arise with great vehemence, we have the choice to either go into them and be ruled by them or to know ourselves as clarity. It we have difficulty in seeing that the afflictive states are nothing other than pure clarity, then that is a good time to seek support. We should go to people who have integrated their own negative points of view, because these are the only people who can truly help us."

and from p.122...

Let's say that something happens that has caused us to get very angry in the past. The real breakthrough of true clarity comes when we're right in the middle of the anger, and we really get it--firsthand and right away--that everything is included in clarity. When we can face anger or any other afflictive emotion squarely, exactly as it is, allowing naked seeing from within, that releases tremendous energy to be able to really see things for what they are."