Whimsy

I love well-illustrated children's books, whimsical illustrations, and general silliness. It helps lift my spirits. On the heels of blogging about despair, I wanted to offer a little whimsy to lift your spirits and help bring the spiritual quality of joy into your lives.

First of all, I recommend the SkippyJon Jones books by Judith Byron Schachner. Adorable, charming, fantastical tales of a little siamese kitten with big ears and an even bigger imagination whose self-image is that of a chihuahua. Check out her site here.

Secondly, there is a wonderful site called "I am otter" with charming illustrations of an otter. You cannot stay blue if you look at this site, I guarantee you. Click here.

Lastly, artist Nakisha Vanderhoeven has a charming blog and a new illustration "Fireflies" that can be found here.

Please check out these sites and enjoy them. As spiritual author Sonia Choquette says, laughter connects us to our spirit. Enjoy....

Difficult Times

In Difficult Times

Consoling God,
be a source of serenity for me
when struggles and difficulties
threaten to overwhelm me.

God of hope,
assure me of your unconditional love
when I doubt myself
or question the worth of my life.

Truth-bringing God,
encourage me to embrace you
during those times when I get lost
in the lies of my weakness.

Compassionate God,
hold me to your heart
when I feel helpless
in the face of the world's pain.

Light-filled God,
keep me ever close to you
during those moments
when bleakness surrounds my life.

Comforting God,
shelter me under your wings
when I am engulfed in sadness
and overcome with distress.

God of peace,
you are at the center of my life,
a strong refuge of peace
in the whirlwind of my pain.
I look to you for strength
and a constant assurance of hope.

— Joyce Rupp in her book "Out of the Ordinary">

I love this prayer. It acknowledges that finding God/religion/spirituality doesn't mean the end of grief, of despair, of difficult times. Life has challenges. Whether it's stubbing a toe or getting stuck in traffic, or having a drunk driver kill a relative or facing a debilitating illness, things happen in our lives that cause at a minimum, frustration--on up to depression, despair, and hopelessness. It's human to feel "negative" feelings. Suppressing feelings is really not the goal of the self-help books. Transforming feelings, reframing how we think of things, is.

I asked the angels to weigh in about times of despair and this is what they said:

You are not alone. You may feel alone. You may feel abandoned by God, betrayed and alone and lonely. Yet God is always there. Why doesn't God prevent "bad things" from happening? In some cases, what you think of as "bad" turns out to be a growth experience. And sometimes, life seems unfair. We angels are always with you. We proclaim the truth of a God who perpetually loves you--but who will not impose Himself upon you contrary to your free will.

When you turn away from the realm of Spirit, when you lose faith, it is difficult for you to hear our message of love. But that doesn't mean we're not right there with you--any more than a deaf person attending a symphony who can't hear the orchestra means that there is no music. Unfortunately, there are some things that are set into motion by free will that are less than pleasant. Drunk drivers creating accidents. Mental illness causing suicide. Criminals creating deliberate harm to others.

Why? Why are you allowed to suffer? You are not meant to remain in suffering. You are intended to seek out God, to seek solace in communion of your soul, your spirit with the Divine. By seeing with a larger perspective, you may find comfort. Yet "bad" things may still happen. But God can and will be your refuge, if you ask him to be... Your attitude can be transformed. Your heart can be uplifted and healed. Our wish for you is to turn to God, not away from God, at your most difficult moments.

Rather than difficult times, think of unfortunate events and feelings as opportunities to grow your connection with the divine.


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To contact Sue to get angelic guidance, to contact your animal companions both here or beyond the veil, to schedule a shamanic healing session, or simply to say "hi" and give me some feedback on my blog,please click here to email Sue. Please go to http://budurl.com/grcn to follow my Twitter feed. My rates are in the "About Me, My Rates and What I Offer" section in the Links Section to the right of my page. Many blessings and thanks to you!

Never Lose Hope

This is a link to a cool bit of news--about a cat missing almost two months who is found IN A SNOWBANK and reunited with her family. The cat was pretty frozen and blind, but recovered.

How many of us people are dejected about physical issues, or about a lost animal? NEVER give up. Pray. Think the best. This cat was found, and this cat healed despite pretty bad circumstances. We can all learn from this.

Perception and Guidance

This weekend I went on a hike with some good friends and during the hike we kept hearing sounds of frogs, ‘croak, croak.’ We looked in the water, on the ground and all around us, but we could not find these frogs. They sounded like they were right next to us. For a few moments we slowed down and I chose to close my eyes, open my ears and just listen. As I began to feel more present and let go of the expectation that the frogs needed to be in a certain place, I opened my eyes again and was able to shift my perspective and see the frogs, they were camouflaged against the rocks. It was amazing. All along they were there but my mind and eyes were stuck and couldn’t perceive them. It made me think: How many things in this world are we literally not able to sense because our minds get stuck in automatic patterns of perceiving or auto-perception? How might this auto-pilot of perception contribute to our depression and anxiety, day to day?

-Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. "Depressed? Break out of Auto-Perception"

Dr. Goldstein has an excellent blog about mindfulness and mental health. This particular passage about how we condition ourselves to expect to see certain things in certain contexts, often filtering out reality right in front of us, resonated with me. The energy of God's presence is constantly radiating like rays of light from the sun. The angels carry the comfort, hope, joy, peace, love and guidance of God to each of us--but how often do we say "I can't hear any guidance" because it doesn't come to us the way we expect?

I have asked the angels to give their insights on this topic:

People get stuck on insisting that life goes the way they think it should. It's not just not seeing guidance. People think that they shouldn't have auto accidents. They think that love should last forever and that divorce shouldn't happen. People believe children shouldn't be molested, that murders shouldn't happen. People believe that children shouldn't get cancer and die. And of course, all of those things are valid opinions of how life should unfold, and what things are undesirable-even what you call evil. But the experience of human life involves things that unfold contrary to expectations, contrary to beliefs of how life "should" be. And this leads to suffering. This leads to unforgiveness and resentments--against family members, against the church, against, religion, against God...

God's love is all around, but often people who are locked into fear, or guilt, or anger cannot feel it. God's peace is all around, but people who are deep in grief cannot perceive it. God's guidance and the angels are all around, but if one doesn't think one is capable of receiving messages from God and the angels, one won't perceive that guidance, feel those presences, feel close to God.

So how to break open the gates of perception? First of all, remember to pray. Pray for your heart to be opened, to be able to forgive, or to move through anger or grief. Talk to God about how you feel. Secondly, try to erase your expectations of what guidance "should" be like, or how an experience of the divine "should" be. You may hear a song on the radio. You may have a friend tell you something that's an answer to prayers. Yes, guidance comes through thoughts and feelings and images from God and the angels. But sometimes, God arranges for other people to convey the message--no "clairs" needed. So be open to a relationship with the Creator, however it unfolds. By opening up to the unexpected, you may find God right there with you all along, even though you may not have noticed Him before.

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To contact Sue to get angelic guidance, to contact your animal companions both here or beyond the veil, to schedule a shamanic healing session, or simply to say "hi" and give me some feedback on my blog,please click here to email Sue. Please go to http://budurl.com/grcn to follow my Twitter feed. My rates are in the "About Me, My Rates and What I Offer" section in the Links Section to the right of my page. Many blessings and thanks to you!