TRUTH OR DARE A great source of personal suffering for me has been the innate capacity to know when people are being untruthful.  To be more honest and direct: since the time I was a child, I could always tell when people were lying.  It wasn’t until I was well into my adulthood that two very pertinent perceptions came to me that unlocked the prison door to my suffering around said dishonesty.  First, I always thought that people knew that were being dishonest. I thought they were intentionally telling tales. I came to learn that very often people are coming from a place of unconsciousness and disassociation, thus unaware that what they were communicating simply wasn’t true. This was huge for me. It also deepened my own

HELLO DARKNESS MY OLD FRIEND Hello darkness my old friend.  I have been experiencing rumblings in my gut as of late. Faint wafts of the old “uh-oh” have been arising. A very slight hint of dread. A bit of heaviness in my heart. Some chaos in my mind.  Something good is obviously opening.  Yes, you read that right.  I think most people would read my current symptoms and wonder what is wrong. I feel these activities and ponder what is emerging.  It wasn’t always so.  It has taken a lot of discipline, practice, and prayer to get to the point when I welcome discomfort and darkness as the friends I have learned they are.  Hello darkness my old friend.  Something is dying within me, and that always

REVEREND PERSON I know that I was born to minister. I also know that in many ways I do not have the personality to do so.  I was ordained more than twenty-three years ago and have worked in full-time ministry ever since. That does not make me special. It does not make me more spiritual than anyone else. It certainly does not mean that I am better than anyone else, or perfect in any way.  What it does mean for me is that my very life is a dedication to all things Source. It means that the highest priority of my life is to allow this imperfect self to be used in service of what is truly and always perfect. It means that I am soaking in

PICKING PROBLEMS What if it is not a problem?  This is happening, and I am disturbed.  I am disturbed because I think it should not be happening.  Because I think it should not be happening, and yet it is, I make it into a problem.  Problems disturb me.  It is a problem because my resistance and framing has made it such.  If it is happening, and I choose to allow it to be an opportunity instead of a problem, I am not disturbed.  This is happening, and if I make it a problem, I am disturbed. If I do not make it a problem, I am not disturbed.  So, where is the problem and disturbance?  The out there is not really the variable. The variable is in

HURTING HEART - WITHHOLDING WORDS My heart literally hurts, and it has nothing to do with my recent surgery.  I feel as if this pain is exacerbated by the fact that I have not found a way to aptly articulate the pain in such a way that doesn’t alienate others or inadvertently offend those for whom I am hurting.  Brilliant, caring, contributing men and women are being maligned in ways that I never thought I would see again. These men and women and, yes, even children are being denigrated because they happen to be people of color. Black, brown. Whatever the term you choose to apply there is a poison being exposed and spread and it must be spoken of before it can be healed.  Some of