Avenues of Peace

Gratitude

Robert — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:21:09 +0000

In the presence of the Divine, one becomes grateful
for all of life.
A grateful heart is one that has been touched
by the Divine, whether knowingly or not.

Calendar of Awakening - Day 92
~Julie Redstone~

From gratitude all good flows.

One of the deepest truths of life is, that when one is feeling gratitude we are in the presence of the Divine. And when it is difficult to feel the goodness and holiness of all life, then one can seek gratitude, for when we truly seek to be grateful, open, innocent we are open to be moved and touched by God’s love.

I am very moved by how gratitude can lead us home to our truest selves and to the Divine. My prayer is that no matter what the challenges we each face in our daily lives, that we allow love and gratitude to guide us.

All of Life is Sacred/ All of Life is Precious ~ I first received these words over 15 years ago for my first website. I say that I received them, because they did not come from my conscious self, but they came as a gift. A gift from my soul and God, to remind me of the preciousness and holiness of all life. These words have had deep meaning to me throughout these years. I experienced them as a great truth, yet I longed to know, feel and live this in my daily life. For the most part I only had moments of being able to do so. I was very grateful for these experiences, but I longed for a deeper connection with all that was holy.

Through out these years, I would continue to have spiritual openings. Profound and beautiful experiences of the beauty and truth of the sacredness and holiness of all life - and yet I still could not live from the place that I longed to live from. I prayed to know God in every moment, to know and feel the sacredness of all life, no matter what my outer circumstances were, and I continued to deepen my own healing and purification with God. I waited, prayed, and continued to life my daily life to the best of my ability. I was grateful for all that was given, yet I longed to live a life that was filled with the experiences of knowing and feeling God’s love for me.

In these last few months, I have experienced a deep, profound and holy gift. More and more, I am having the experience of the sacredness, beauty and holiness of all life. It is not complete, I know that there are ever-deepening ways of being present to the Divine. For now, I am so moved and grateful that my deepest prayers have begun to be answered.

Alongside this great gift, on many levels these have been very challenging months. I hold this suffering deeply within myself. My own suffering, the great suffering of many around me and the ongoing suffering that exists in our world. They exist for me entwined in my heart. The beauty and goodness of all life and the enormity of the ongoing suffering for so many. I am profoundly grateful to be able to feel both. It allows my heart and my being to open more deeply to All of life around me.

As I have opened to the deeper truths of living life more fully with God, I have begun to experience the preciousness and goodness of life daily. On the outside, my life continues to have many difficulties, but my inner experience alongside these challenges, is one of profound knowing of the depth of goodness of life. For a period of many days I had the experience of feeling completely pure, whole, innocent and a Beloved Child of God. I could feel God’s precious love for me, I could feel how all my journeys, my “mistakes”, my life was held in God’s palm and held preciously. I experienced my own complete and unconditional self-love. I experienced this Love, as gift that was here for each of us. This is how we are all meant to live. This is how we will all begin to live in peace and harmony with each other.

I now know deeply in my own personal experience, what is possible. And so when I am not holding myself with the deepest love, I know that I have left God ~ for God is only Love.

At this time life has many challenges for so many. Yet underneath all these challenges lies the inherent truth of life - that all of life is good, precious and sacred. We are each awakening to this truth, and as more and more of us awaken the world will begin to change. This is how our swords will be changed to plowshares, this is how each mother will have food to feed their children, this is how each human being will be able to live a life of dignity and freedom.

With all love and blessings, Michaela

Surrendering to Love, to God

All good comes through love.
If we remember nothing else, we can seek to love, and let all that is not love within us fall away.

Surrendering to God, I am upheld in each step on the path of love and truth.

The recent time for me has been one of significant deepening in love and truth. I’ve become more awake to ways that have not been of love in me. Ways I haven’t given myself fully to love.

As I’ve become aware of this - through the light and love of my spiritual teacher Julie Redstone, and of Michaela, I have felt remorse for ways in which I have not been more loving. Along with this comes the great opportunity to choose to love more fully and deeply - to truly give myself to love. There is a growing surrender in me - in our marriage, and to God. Through this, I am becoming more open to being led, let go of ordinary ‘planning’ of the mind, let go of control. I am so grateful for what I am being given.

It means not really knowing where I’m going - except that it is toward love, toward openness to God. It means letting go of my separated will, agenda, ways of doing things, and habits of emotion, energy, and behavior. All these have to be purified in the pathway of surrender and love. Then all the things I do will have within them, surrender to God and to love. Then the vibration of how I am can truly help the world move into the future of love that is my deepest prayer for humanity and the Earth.

No matter what we may plan, life unfolds differently from what we might expect. It’s not in our control. We may try to arrange life according to our habits, attachments, and preferences - yet doing can close us off from opening to possibilities that only God can see. God sees what we can’t, with our limited human perspectives.

Learning to let go of navigating with our limited human perspective - and opening to and aligning with the larger Universe of which we are part -we begin to live in the fullness of who we truly are, as part of All that Is.

Love is my compass.
Growing discernment of what is Light, and what is not, becomes the path I walk.
Opening to the Unknown opens me - opens my life up. I am not in control.
I learn to give all to God, “Thy Will Be Done”.

In this way I come, by love and trust, to the innocence of the deepest self I AM.

With deep gratitude,
Robert

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We invite you to see two new entries on our blog, Love is the Way:

Hearing God’s Voice

Standing With All Who Suffer

Link to Light Omega Newsletter

Robert — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:26:50 +0000

Dear Friends,

It is with regret that we are not able to write a newsletter for this month. At some point we hope that we will be able to share more deeply the process we have been in this past month. We pray and trust that we will be able to resume the newsletters for next month. Until then we offer you the latest Newsletter from Light Omega.

Living With the Unknown

May you feel upheld and supported in this time of blessing and challenge. Thank you for your ongoing support.

With all love and blessings,
Robert and Michaela

Pathways for Hope and Change

Robert — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:46:38 +0000

To become new, become like a child.
Embrace simplicity.
Let the mind rest from its labors and open the heart.
Trust your heart which is the seat of your soul.

MEDITATIONS ON HOPE
and Transformation
Day 56
~Julie Redstone~

A Sacred Choice - A Call to our Common Humanity

Before each of us is a critical and sacred choice. Will we open more to our common humanity, our interconnectedness with each other or will we fall into deeper separation, hopelessness and despair. Will we hold on to the inherent goodness of life, no matter what the appearance of outer circumstances? Do we allow our fears to control us, or do we take courageous steps forward.

We each have a choice to awaken - to courageously follow our hearts truest longings, or to continue to make choices from a smaller place within ourselves. The choices we make will change lives. As we open to our common humanity, Love and God will guide the way. We will find solutions to what seems to be un-resolvable differences.

God and life is calling us, we each have our part in changing the world. If we open our hearts and are willing to hear and then make choices - we can change the world. If we continue to act out of fear, feeling the need to protect our own interests and security, we can cause more harm. The choice is there for each of us.

In these past weeks, as I have listened to the ongoing debate in Washington over raising the debt ceiling, I long for our elected officials to awaken to their common humanity and begin to act, feel and think as planetary citizens. To feel their own ability to respond from a deeper, more whole place within themselves. From this place of our common humanity, they would be able to make wise and clear decisions, sacrifices and compromises that hold the needs of All. This is my prayer for our country and for the world.

I continue to deepen my commitment to the path that I feel called to. I am deeply immersed in the work of starting the new spiritual counseling practice that I wrote about last month. I look forward to sharing more with each of you in the next months as it unfolds. Below are my most recent blog entries.

~ Ongoing Prayers
~ Willing Compromise

We are each being called in our own ways. This is a time of great blessings and challenges. My prayer is that all may feel comforted, upheld and blessed by the Love, Light, and Grace of God. May all beings feel the blessings and comfort of God’s loving presence as the Earth and all it’s inhabitants begin to awaken to a new consciousness.

With love and blessings,
~ Michaela

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Finding The Way

In this time of many challenges in the world and in our personal lives, where to we find hope? How do we find pathways through the difficulties? Where does deeper meaning come from, so that the suffering that we may go through can be felt as redemptive? I find myself asking these questions for myself and for people I counsel. In the struggle to uphold the sense love and light and truth within, the Source at times can feel more difficult to locate.

I was helped greatly with this recently by Julie Redstone (my spiritual teacher) in how she spoke to me, and in reading articles she suggested to me:

Loss of Alignment with Light and Path of Return to Light

In essence, she reminded me of God being all there is - that at the deepest level my soul is of God, and love, and innocence. I am this, at source. For me to remember this, to know with my heart the truth of this, brings me back to the truth of what truly Is.

This vanquishes and dispels all that obscures the truth of the light within.

I have found that mental/emotional interpretations of events are easily subject to distortion, because they are not made of the highest Truth. In the midst of suffering, we can get lost in human feelings that are separate from God. By recognizing when this happens, and choosing to remember and align with God of which we are part – we aim our consciousness toward a higher state of being where we are less vulnerable to getting lost. I believe this is part of how I am learning to rise out of the darkness of feelings of despair, doubt, or lack of hope. This change from one state of being to another is not just a concept to be believed, but something I am beginning to feel. When I come back into alignment, it is the life [small “L”] in me recognizing the greater Life of which I am part. (As I write this in this, I feel my heart beating faster and more fully – it is the joy of life resonating with Life. Beginning to know, by feel, what I am part of, and made of.).

Such must be the way that each of us, in our own ways, finds the pathways whereby our souls know who they are - by inner recognition. Deep within, our souls know the way to find God. For we are of God. We seek the Source of which we are. We recognize it as us, and us as part of it. In this way we find our way back to God.

Julie writes profoundly, that we can affirm and remember:
“Only God is Real” *

This affirms the truth of what is - beyond any interpretation of suffering that might otherwise induce us to turn away from God’s truth. Recognizing and attuning to what is True, all else begins to fall away. Like a sailboat, we turn in the direction of God by remembering and aligning - and the current of God brings us home to who we really are.

With Blessings,
~ Robert

* from Path of Return to Light, Julie Redstone – Light Omega, 2011. Further recent articles by Julie Redstone may be found at Light Omega Updates

Manna from Heaven

Robert — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 19:41:59 +0000

Rest not in what is visible,
but in what is invisible.

Resting in the invisible sustains hope.
While to some it may look like foolishness,
to the soul it is the way of truth.

MEDITATIONS ON HOPE
and Transformation
Day 46
~Julie Redstone~

In the bible we read the story of how when the Israelites were crossing the desert God provided them enough food for each day in the form of Manna. The bible recounts how they were instructed to only take what they needed for the day, because more would be provided tomorrow. We then read that if one of the the Isrealites tried to save some for the next day, the Manna would spoil. Each day God miraculously provided for the travelers. Each day they were fed and nourished.

This bible story has been a precious gift in my life, pointing the way as to how we are truly meant to live, trusting God, trusting life. A client recently shared how meaningful this bible passage was to him. We pray that you receive what you need in this day to deepen your experience of the goodness and beauty of life.

With all love and blessings,

Michaela, and Robert

Below are two of Julie Redstone’s newest writings that feel deeply connected to this month’s newsletter, and can be found on her Light Omega Updates page ~

The Simplicity of Life

Letting Go and the Arrival of the New

~~~

The birds in the trees do not awaken and wonder, how will I earn enough to buy worms for my family. The trees do not concern themselves with when the sun will shine, or the rain will nourish. The flowers open for us, completely unconcerned whether we will love them, or find them beautiful - they open because it is what they do. The offer their beauty, their fragrance without question.

Most of us have a deep sense within that life is meant to be simpler. That we could live more in harmony with the earth, with each other and with ourselves. And yet we find our days filled with activities that seem to take us from our deeper peace and deeper purpose. We feel we are alone and must take care of our own needs. We feel compelled to attend to the tasks that seemingly pull us a away from a more sacred reality.

In this past week I have found myself longing for a new way of being. A way of life that is filled with God’s love, God’s purpose and God’s breath. A life of simplicity and balance. I know this way of life is possible because I have had so many moments, days and weeks that have been filled with the joy of living a purposeful life. And then I get lost, pulled in by the seeming demands of life. I feel burdened, I forget to breath, I forget that God and Love is Real.

And then I return. I breathe more deeply and fully. Life has more depth, beauty and wonder. I know so many of us struggle with believing it is possible to live a life aligned more deeply with God and with ourselves. This is the journey. It won’t always be like this. At some point, living with God will be as natural as breathing. But for now it is a journey. A journey home.

This month has been a month of deep joy as I have opened more fully to being willing to step more forward in my life and “share my fragrance” with the world. I have taken brave steps forward, I share more of my journey here with each of you in this writing: Being New - Opening to Inspiration.

May we each come to know and trust that we are more deeply loved than we know. May we awaken to the gift of the preciousness and beauty of life.

Michaela

~~~

A few days ago I was sitting and listening as Julie Redstone (my spiritual teacher) was speaking with a group of us - on God’s Breath.

Afterwards, I told her that listening to her at that time felt like hearing God’s great river - as if in the fullness of what I experienced in God from her, I could feel the reality of God infusing all of life.

This river is a current, a reality, underlying all that is.
I could feel it.

I told her I had really needed to feel this.

I also said I can’t always feel it…. or to hear it as being right there.
But when I can’t hear it….. I can try to feel it in the rain, or in the streams and rivulets of life. And when all seems dry or far away, I can try to remember the roaring of that river - of God’s life, God’s breath.

As I spoke with Julie about this, she just beamed her love with and to me. I felt her not only recognizing my experiencing God in her, but her celebrating and inviting me to know God in me. Her love inviting me into communion and celebration of God between and within us, and in all of life.

Namaste ~

Robert

~~~

New Blog entries on Love is the Way:

From life stress to Divine Flow (Robert)

Being New - Opening to Inspiration (Michaela)

Germany (Michaela)

Life Calls Us to Awaken

Robert — Sun, 29 May 2011 00:31:13 +0000

Imagine being free.
It is what a Divine and sacred life on Earth
is meant to be.

It is yours to choose, beloved.
Step out of the garments of the past into
the truth of who you really are.

MEDITATIONS ON HOPE
and Transformation
Day 30
~Julie Redstone~

Within each of us is a precious seed of truth of who we are, what the world could be like, how we could all live. For many this seed has remained hidden from ourselves, from each other and from the world. These seeds hold the promise of who we are, what our purpose is, and what our deepest dreams are. Some of us have hints of what we long for, but don’t believe it is possible to live our dreams. Others don’t feel they have a sense at all what their deepest purpose is. Yet we were all created with these seeds of truth.

This month as Robert and I opened to receiving the Newsletter the theme of Life Calls Us to Awaken is what came to us. This is a theme that I have been speaking to many of my clients about in the past months. What prevents them from living out their deepest dreams. What keeps each of us from taking the steps forward to begin to live a life that has more truth, joy, peace and integrity. What are the limitations and fears that we feel are real and thus keep us from taking steps forward. I found myself needing to make changes within myself to truly offer more to my clients, myself and the world. To be willing to step forward and be what I was offering.

As we were preparing for this Newsletter, the following writing (Deepening Trust) is what came to me. I feel it is the beginning of something larger. It is not clear to me whether it will be a blog, or the beginning of a book - but it is a new beginning, a new shoot that has sprung forth. When I shared with Robert that I was confused, because the writing that I received was too long for a newsletter - he immediately and lovingly responded - you don’t need to know, you just need to be grateful. So on that note I share with each of you this ongoing journey. May we each come to treasure the preciousness of who we are. May we each come to recognize the gifts that live within us and be willing to recognize our own gifts and then be willing to share them as they emerge.

Namaste ~ Michaela

- - - - - - - - - -

Signatures of the Soul

Each of us has ways that our souls shine through.

The other day I met a man. He was elderly and walking across the street with a cane, with strain but also with determination. I thought to myself ‘should I help him’, but felt I wanted to respect his independence. A few moments later I heard a sound, and turned and saw he had fallen by a parked car and I went quickly over to help. He was shaken, and worried he might have broken something in his body. But after a few moments and helping him, it was clear he was ok. A group of young people had spontaneously formed around him, asking if he was ok. A woman who had also seen him fall and had stopped her car had come over, and she guided him with me to his feet.

He and I talked a bit. He was saying he would “learn from this”. He didn’t want something like this to happen again, he valued is independence. He didn’t want to be in a nursing home. He had two doctors’ appointments the next day, and he said he would talk the them and see what he needed to do. I’d noticed he had a purple heart on his license plate, and he’d told me he was 85. He had a slight German accent, and he spoke about how grateful he was for his life, how blessed he was to have made it through that time (I presumed he had escaped to America and then fought in WWII).

He was clearly a person always seeing what kind of forward progress could be made, and there was a spirit of life and liveliness in him, and in his eyes. He was deeply grateful to God for his life. And he was learning too - willing to see what experience taught him, and when he needed to adjust his course.

We shared our names, I told him we lived in the same town and asked if he needed anything. He said he had what he needed, he had good neighbors who helped him - came to his aid when his car had gotten stuck in the snow this winter at night. He asked my name - and he made sure I spelled it until he could pronounce it well. I asked his name too. We shook hands warmly, and I sent him my blessings, and we wished the other well.

To me, his life expresses signatures of his soul.

Saying “Reach for what you hope for”.

As well as: “Always learn and grow”, and “I am grateful to God”.

~ Robert

- - - - - -

Each of us are beloved children of God. As we awaken to this truth, our lives truly begin to change. We hope that these writings offer each of you encouragement, support, and comfort as you reach to become more fully who you are.

We are very grateful to receive and share with you Julie Redstone’s newest writings, through the Light Omega Updates page.

With all love and blessings,

Michaela and Robert

New Blog entries on Love is the Way:

Deepening Trust (Michaela)

I had a choice, here’s where it led. Turning (Robert)

Generosity (Michaela)

Opening to Divine Flow

Robert — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 01:42:24 +0000

God is the source of all creation. If we could begin to know this, live this and trust this - each of our lives would be changed.

This month, we began a new way of writing the monthly newsletter. Rather than having it come from what we perceive as “us”, we are opening to receiving inspiration together in a whole new way. To being able to breathe God’s breath in the moment and then write from that deep place of inspiration. We began by sitting together at Light Omega, our spiritual center that is founded on the teachings of Julie Redstone. Julie suggested and invited us to come sit at Light Omega. We prayed to be led to write the newsletter from the place of Divine guidance and inspiration. We hope that each of you feel more encouraged and inspired to open to God’s loving flow in each of your lives.

Joy

from Michaela

Joy is one of God’s greatest gifts to us, yet for many the feeling of joy feels very distant and not easily accessible. As I was sitting in the Dharma Room at Light Omega, opening myself to receiving what God wanted to come through me for the newsletter this month, the theme was Joy. As I opened to God’s breath inside myself, I felt the gift of joy, purpose and love within me. I was so grateful for this feeling of deep joy and purpose, because I have not always been able to feel joy in my life. In this past month and a half, as Robert and I have been called into much deeper and profound spiritual service, I have been able to feel joy much more consistently. This joy springs from the feeling of being aligned with my deepest purpose at this time. To a growing and deep feeling within myself of being so grateful to be me. This feeling of being grateful to simply be myself is a new experience for me. It is a feeling that I have longed to feel, yet on some level did not even know was possible.

For many of us we feel burdened by the responsiblities and “have-tos” of life. We forget that we were created out of Love and that each of is a unique expression of God’s love here on earth.

The question then becomes, how do we return to Joy. What is the source of true joy in one’s life. Joy comes from being aligned with one’s deepest and truest purpose. For many of us, we have not allowed ourselves to access our own deepest truth and purpose. Some of us have a sense of what our deepest purpose is, while for others our sense of purpose and mission feels very far away or almost non-existent. Yet, whether we are aware of conscious of our greater purpose we each have one.

As I sat with the feeling of Joy, this is what came to me.

~ It begins with believing in ourselves. Allowing our self love to grow.

~ Then aligning each day with love, God and our higher purpose. Believing in our own inherent goodness

~ Allowing ourselves to be fed from the source of Love.

~ Being willing to let go of the past and be New. To allow forgiveness to change us.

~ To not allow doubt and fear to be real.

~ To believe in our ability to choose Joy, and begin to discern the difference between true joy and the what is often called happiness.

I am finding that no matter what the outer circumstances or challenges might be, it is always possible to re-align with the truth of God’s sacred reality. As I learn to live life - holding that every moment is sacred, feeling the beauty and gift of life - my days are being infused with a depth of joy that I am deeply grateful for.

Waiting Open Heart / What God is Asking

from Robert

Hour 1 (Friday April 22).
The first time we sat and prayed, and waited to receive, I didn’t feel much at first, but noticed the sense of discouragement I felt at this. So rather than give in to that, what came to me was the phrase “waiting with an open heart”. So I sought to make that my meditation - trusting in the waiting for God, and seeking to keep my heart open rather than close down.

We talked some; Michaela talked about joy.

The thought ‘golden light’ came to me, then this poem.

I thought of the song “Waiting for the World to Change”, and wondered what can we do while we’re wating for the world to change.

Then what came to me was valuing looking for the Divine in small moments. That our consciousness may not be used to Divine flow, and it may take time to feel more of God’s flow though my being and in this writing - but I felt the importance of small openings… like seedlings, small plants that can grow, if we allow ourselves to value what comes to us.

Hour 2 (Tues April 26)
I felt “blocked” as I sat down. Still felt that way after meditation for a few minutes. Michaela asked if I wanted to ask for Julie’s help (as I’d felt similarly for a couple hours). I didn’t want to yet - wanted to see what would come through.

Two things came through. A prayer for the people of Syria

Also I felt this thought, “The Earth cries out for our lives to be joined with her”

Yet also in the second hour, the most important thing that happened was this. I had again been feeling ‘stuck’. I felt strained. I couldn’t feel the flow. I wasn’t working smoothly with Michaela. We asked for Julie’s help, and she helped me re-center in God and inspiration. A short time later she came back - told me something had come to her about me. And from what she shared with me, I reached more purely for just wanting to do whatever God was asking of me. Whatever God wanted to come through me. Surrendering all questioning about whether it would be good enough, or accepted. Just simply doing my best to open to what God is asking.

That will change everything… and is doing so now… in these seedlings that will grow.

Final Thoughts

It is possible to feel God speaking through each of our hearts, what is needed is a willingness to open to a new way of being. One that does not primarily rely on the mind, but believes in the possibility of the new coming through this path of inspiration. It is not always easy to trust and feel God’s breath within us. It can often feel challenging and confusing as we open to this new way of being. Yet, as each of us reaches to open to God - to open our hearts with faith, innocence and courage, we begin to change. As each of us begins to know it is possible to live in this way, we become part of the world transforming.

As we awaken to the source of inspiration, we come to live from this place more…we become more whole and holy. The way of harmony with the Source of our being lives within us, is in reach. It is the path of healing and lasting peace on earth.

With love and blesssing,

Michaela and Robert

——————————————————–

Further Spiritual Resources, and Prayers:

Julie Redstone recently wrote about profound changes that are happening as we shift into choosing to be led by God in this time: Non-Linear Time and the Divine Flow (on the Light Omega website).

Response of Light - Prayers for those whose lives are directly affected by the tornados Alabama and the South - Sat., April 30th

Recent entries in our blog “Love is the Way”:

Trusting Inspiration

Bolivia Protecting the Earth: Ley de Derechos de La Madre Tierra (Law of the Rights of The Mother Earth)

God’s Loving Kindness

Robert — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:37:15 +0000

When one’s eyes are truly open,
they become eyes of love.
When one’s heart is truly open,
it holds the world within itself.

Calendar of Awakening - Day 56
~Julie Redstone~

The truth of life is all is held in God and God’s love is real. That God’s love for us is far greater than we could imagine – it is vast and eternal and it is deeply intimate.

In this time of bearing witness to the suffering in the world and in our personal lives, it can often feel difficult to experience God’s love. When faced with so much suffering. many find themselves questioning either God’s reality or God’s compassion for humanity - his loving attention to our individual and collective pain.

How do we hold suffering - both our own and the suffering of so many people - without leaving God? The answer is in trusting that God is holding All. No matter what else we might think, feel, or believe – God’s love is real.

Suffering exists on two dimensions. On the human level, often all we want is for suffering to end - to bring an end to our own pain and the pain of so many. Yet there is also a deeper level, where our lives are in God’s hands and suffering serves a deeper purpose. This is part of God’s divine plan for our own healing and the healing of our planet. The purposefulness of suffering can feel very difficult to embrace, especially when the suffering has been so long or so extreme. To trust life and God is the path of healing. Learning to trust that what is occurring in our lives, in the midst of suffering, brings great healing to ourselves and to the planet.

This can be difficult to hold in an ongoing everyday practice. Often we feel that the suffering has been more than enough - and we are tired, frightened, and longing for some ease. These feelings can lead us to the questions… Why would God allow so much suffering to continue? How could there be purpose in so much pain?

In the face of ongoing feelings of aloneness and suffering, many people become discouraged, depressed and hopeless. This can lead to or can amplify feelings of being abandoned by God, and thus create an opening for further distance from God and one’s true self. Human beings have often felt abandoned by God, when in truth it is we who have left God – by turning away from God when we were afraid or felt alone with pain and suffering. We may have reached instead at those times, for comfort and relief in ways that are not of God.

Human beings have often turned away from God, either out of pain, or out of willfulness of wanting something other than the path of love and goodness. This has caused enormous suffering for humanity over time. We are healing the karmic wounds of our collective pasts. As we become more willing to become more whole and holy, as we turn to God in our pain and allow true healing to occur, we help God transform not only our own lives, but the world as well. Suffering while reaching to God both creates healing for ourselves and it also prepares us for serving others in a far greater and deeper way. Though none of us would want more suffering, often when we reflect back on our lives, we find that going through this has deepened our compassion, our love, our sense of common humanity, mission and purpose. When we seek to remember this truth, it can help us trust the inherent goodness of life, and trust in the vastness of God’s love for each of us.

Here are some simple, profound and often challenging ways we can choose love, and choose God:

- Seeking to know ourselves as spiritual beings.
- Choosing with courage and commitment to live a life based on Love, upheld by God.
- Offering ourselves in prayer and service to all who are suffering, and seeking to trust that our prayers truly make an enormous difference.

Julie Redstone, our Beloved spiritual teacher, has offered some guidance for dealing with ongoing difficult challenges. Originally titled “Facing Financial Challenges”, it is reprinted with permission with the adapted title “Facing Difficult Challenges” - as we felt its relevance for all difficult challenges in one’s life. We have included it at the end of this newsletter, with a link to the original writing as well.

Julie has also written a new page on her website - Loss of Alignment with Light.

We hope you find these spiritual resources helpful to stay aligned in your spiritual journeys.

- - - - - - -

We offer our love and prayers to the people of Japan in their time of great need and suffering. We send our love and prayers those in the Middle East reaching for new ways of being and living. We share our love and prayers with all who suffer.

With love and blessings,
Michaela and Robert

Note: we have new posts on our blog, Love is the Way:

Breath of Hope

Gifts

Open Doors

Gratitude to the Oceans

___________________________________________________

From the blog “Time of Awakening”
by Julie Redstone

Facing Difficult Challenges

1. Trust. In all instances where life seems to present what appear to be insurmountable circumstances, trust is needed - trust that there is a way through the difficulty and that Divine support and guidance can be found. Trust is a necessary spiritual quality of the embodied soul facing life challenges.

2. Disconnect from fear. Trust cannot flourish in the presence of fear. It is limited by fear. And so those who wish to improve the chances of finding the way through difficulty need to try to disconnect from fear and believe that a way through can be found. Where fear is strong, one must practice disconnecting over and over again.

3. Seek inner guidance. Every human being has access to inner guidance from the Divine source within. Such guidance is important in decision-making and in knowing which direction to take.

Light a candle and ask for guidance about the way through the challenges you face. Listen in quiet for the inner voice of truth that you carry. Let your mind become silent. Listen to your heart and to your deeper knowing.

4. Explore possibilities. Do not believe that you are helpless or that there is no open road ahead of you. Believe that with God’s help you can create a different outcome than the one you most fear. Trust that not all paths are closed.

5. Believe you are loved. Do not think that because things seem desperate that you are not loved by God. There are reasons for what is happening to you financially, emotionally, and in all ways. This is a time of planetary transition, and many are going through huge internal and external upheavals. In the presence of these upheavals, God is holding you.

6. Monitor your thoughts. Your inner thoughts and feelings have much to do with what happens to you outwardly. Let your thoughts be of hope and of a positive outcome to your dilemma. Turn to inner guidance and to the deepest truth of your heart for a truth that can sustain you.

7. Value love in all forms. In times of difficulty, allow love to cushion and comfort you, for love can hold all things and make all things bearable. The valuing of love is in itself a way through all difficulty.

8. Connect. Do not isolate yourself, but connect with others. Let yourself be part of a world that supports hope, not part of a world that supports despair. Know that no matter what you are going through, you are not going through it alone.

May these principles of light, light your way. With blessings – LIGHT OMEGA

An Awakening World

Robert — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 01:36:45 +0000

You have traveled a long road during your
time on Earth.
Now this road is leading you to a vaster landscape.

Do not be afraid of what you cannot see.
The steps ahead, though invisible to
your mind, are known to your soul.

Calendar of Awakening - Day 54
~Julie Redstone~

We are living in a profound spiritual moment. The world events that are unfolding before our eyes are unprecedented.

Three months ago no one could have predicted the scope of events that are occurring across the Middle East and Africa. Every day more news is reported of dramatic changes – whether it is in Tunisia, Egypt, or Libya or in our own country in the protests for worker’s rights. This is the spirit of people around the world rising up together to claim their birthright as souls, their freedom to be - and it touches us profoundly.

This is part of the awakening of a new consciousness that affirms the rights of every person to basic human rights, freedoms and dignities. Many of us have been longing for a better world, but could not see how it could happen. We knew that something needed to change – but it was not clear how change could occur. The situation in the Middle East has felt intractable, as do many of the current problems of the world. So many of us have longed for great change, but it was not in our power to do anything. It was still a time of waiting.

Now we are beginning to see change as the light of God awakens more fully within our collective hearts. The miracle of what is occurring in the Middle East and Africa was hard to imagine – yet it is here. What we have longed for has begun, where before nothing had appeared to be possible.

Let this be an inspiration and touchstone for each of us individually and for us collectively. This path of not knowing, not seeing anything on the horizon, not knowing how change can come - and yet staying faithful to an inner sense of truth – is the way. We each need to allow ourselves to awaken to our inner visions and truths, to begin to believe again that we can have a better world. For many, it has been a long wait. We are weary from how hard it has been. We can find hope and sustenance in the strengthening of God’s light here on Earth. This light has awakened people’s longings for freedom, peace and dignity. As individuals awaken it will be possible to join our hearts to work together to achieve common goals.

These difficulties are occurring on the planetary level as well as the personal. Many people are struggling with difficult personal relationships, financial struggles, health issues and many other ongoing and difficult challenges. For many the way through is not clear. What is clear is the old ways of being and coping are not working, and yet a new way is not yet found. Though there is a longing for change, a need for something new to come into being, it is not known how this can happen. Yet this is how change will come. Just as the caterpillar does not really know what it is like to be a butterfly – many of us are not clear how true change can come to our lives. This is a journey of trusting, waiting, healing, believing, listening – and reaching out to others.

- Trusting and believing that we are loved.
- Waiting to act only when we truly feel true guidance – being willing to act only when we feel in alignment with God’s love for us.
- Trusting that we can receive guidance from God and that we are loved, and are not alone.
- Being willing to allow ourselves to heal, allowing love to begin to heal us.
- Trusting in the power of God’s Love and Light to heal and change all that is need in of healing.
- Believing that with God’s help a way through can be found – not aligning with those thoughts, beliefs and feelings that would convince us that it is not possible.
- Reaching out for support from those who we feel can truly support us.

These are some of the ways that have been helpful to us and others in the midst of waiting for true change to come.

We are in a shift of consciousness – moving from “I and you”, as separate from one another, to “We”. This is the awakening of the truth of our Oneness with each other and all life.

We have lived in a state of separation for eons. This form of consciousness has roots in many of our public and private institutions, as well as in our own behaviors and beliefs. We have lived in this illusion of separation from each other, from the earth and from God. This belief in our separation has caused great pain and suffering. It has allowed the few to benefit at the cost of many. This is what is changing in this time. God’s love and light is penetrating this illusion. We are awakening to the greater truth of our interconnectedness with each other.

How this will all unfold is yet unknown. But the seeds of this new beginning are planted. In many places in the world, the suffering of oppression, violence, hunger and lack of freedom continues. We pray for the end of such suffering, and for the new roots and branches of hope and liberty to take hold within the earth, to be nourished, and to grow and flourish.

There is much suffering that has led up to this moment. As we are writing this newsletter, the situation in Libya is very difficult. We trust that the path of light, love and truth will triumph, but there is and has been great suffering. We pray for the people of Libya and that the way through be as peaceful and as swift as possible. At the present time many people are suffering. As God’s new Light and Love infuses our world, people’s lives are being transformed.

This is a time of passage, that is causing great upheaval in the Earth, in the structures that hold many governments and countries, and in the personal lives of many around us. It is an opportunity for us to awaken. We are in a time collectively of both confronting the legacies of the past – in the world, in our communities, within ourselves – that have not led to peace, love and joy. And we are simultaneously seeking and reaching for new ways of Being – as individuals and as a world. This is a joyous spiritual moment, and though many are yet unaware of the changes that occurring, all are affected. This can feel very disruptive, as one’s consciousness is affected, without truly understanding what is happening. At this time, it is important for us each to love and nurture each other through this transition. Let us remember to be gentle with ourselves, our friends and family and all those around us.

We are in a transformative moment. Let us rest in the truth of this moment and find comfort with each other and within our spiritual lives.

With all love and blessings, Michaela and Robert

* There are a number of new writings posted on on our blog Love Is The Way:

Spring is Coming
Alone
World Food Prices
On Behalf of a New Egypt
Bearing Witness to Suffering

Being Present, Opening to God’s Love

Robert — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 05:32:39 +0000

Love is the Fountain.
Compassion and tenderness stream
from this Fountain, dissolving all
hardened places of the heart.

Those who experience divine Love
cannot help but become gentle.

Calendar of Awakening - Day 91
~Julie Redstone~

Everything we need is available to us in the present moment. If we could really know, feel, trust and believe this - our whole lives would begin to change. We leave the present moment because of fear. We may be afraid of pain from the past. We may fear that if we don’t figure out the future everything will fall apart. We may be afraid that if we don’t try to control things or people, we will feel hurt. These fears can run our lives. Yet for most of us, unless we are currently in a life-threatening situation, we can choose to notice that we have what we truly need in this moment. Living in the present is not what most of us have learned - we have been conditioned to worry about the future and think about the past. As we let go of these worries, breathe, and allow God’s love and tenderness to be with us, we can notice that no matter what the outer circumstances we are experiencing, in this very moment we are taken care of.

Learning to Live a Shared Life with God

The two of us have made many changes in this past year. Some of these changes have felt very challenging at times. One of the major changes that occurred was that Robert felt it was time to leave his job, as it was no longer bringing the level of light, love, creativity and truth into his and our life. If he had stayed at his job in order to feel more secure, he would have been compromising his soul’s deepest wishes. So we jumped into the unknown together, not knowing where it would truly bring us. This year and half has had many moments of peace and many challenges. Along the way we have needed to go deeper inside ourselves and ask what is our life is asking of us in this moment. How do we meet this particular moment with trust, rather than fear? We have sought to allow ourselves to be led ‘by a way we know not’ - following the truth of the heart and our best sense of God’s will for us.

So many people have been going through tumultuous times - related to financial problems, health issues, and challenges in relationships. At these times it can be tempting to fall into patterns of fear and control, but this is not the way forward. Instead we can begin to recognize these moments as opportunities to make new choices. We can begin to know that there is another way - with God.

We can allow ourselves to breathe, relax, and seek to trust that we are not alone. We can choose to recognize our fears and worries, but not to act on them. We can seek to trust that God is with us, and trust that there is a way through. We can slow down, practice being present, and allow God’s plan to unfold. Our part is to trust, to listen as life guides us, take action as we feel inspired, and be willing to wait. Being willing to wait is the crucial step. Not acting out of neediness, fear, or willfulness. Trusting that we are deeply loved by God, and that God’s plan is unfolding in its perfect time. This is how our trust grows. This is how our life changes. Being willing to wait in the unknown, and innocently waiting for how life will open to us.

For the two of us, this past year and a half has been a great gift to both of us, despite its struggles. There have been numerous moments that have been challenging. Whether it is a car breaking down and needing to be replaced, a large unexpected health bill that we have needed to sit with God about how to deal with, or just managing the daily stress of managing limited finances - these have all been opportunities to trust that God will lead us through these challenges. There could have been a moments of panic (and there have been some moments we would have liked to have gotten through with less stress). But no matter what, we have continued to come back to trust in God.

One of our deepest prayers over this time has been: Thy Will Be Done. To live more fully with God, allowing God’s highest truth for us to touch all aspects of our life. This would be the greatest gift of this time for us.

With Love and Blessings,
Robert and Michaela

* We also have several new writings posted on on our blog Love Is The Way:
Choosing to Remember
The World Changes From Within
The Kindness of Strangers

Changing the World

Robert — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 00:38:36 +0000

The path to awakening is through an open door
that lies within.
Though the journey to locate the door may
have taken long, the action is quite simple -
but a single step to the other side.
You may take this step this moment, this day,
this lifetime, for it is not far from you.
In your deepest being you are already home.

Calendar of Awakening - Day 106
~Julie Redstone~

As we prepare for the beginning of this New Year the following meditational words come as a gift for this time. May you feel nourished and supported by these words of love and truth.

Breathe
You are more than you think you are. You are a soul. Let your mind come to quiet, and breathe. Put your hand over your heart, to center yourself in loving kindness rather than in the mind. Breathe

You are part of the great Oneness of Being. Breathing in this way, you are creating a space within to receive. The greater Life of which we are part, of which we are made, flows within us, through us. This is who we are - we are part of this Divine Flow, and it is part of us.

Breathe in this knowing. This is within you even if you may not feel it. Your choice to breathe in this moment in this way, moves you toward experiencing the reality of this, regardless of what you may be consciously experiencing.

We are more than our minds, we are more than our feelings.. trust the practice of breathing.. you are being transformed and healed.

From the place of connecting with our larger selves, we begin to change. We begin to become our truest Self - our souls, our beings as an extension of God in the world.

As we do so, our perceptions change, our ideas of what life is about, of what is most important to us, evolve. We each become centers through which the good of the Universe flows. We become more able to discern what to involve ourselves in (activities, pursuits, ways of relating) - and what to let go of. We begin to live a life of integrity. Through coming to know more clearly who we are, we help transform the world. We help open the pathways through which love, peace, and goodness can flow into the world. We are spiritual beings on the earth in the process of becoming - learning to integrate our physical existence with our spiritual natures. Through doing so, we are helping to bring love, peace and goodness into reality.

This is the essence and purpose of this time in which we live.

Though our intention and desire may be to remain centered and aligned, it is often not an easy path. We live in a world that often can be disheartening - with all of the disruptions to people’s lives, ongoing wars, shortages of food, lack of care for our planet, and continued misuse of resources and power around the world.

These patterns of separation, fear, and darkness have been with us for a long time, and must come to the surface of our consciousness, before they can be changed and healed. What is not whole, and what is not of love - must be become visible. Through this process of purification and transformation we will increasingly feel we can no longer live in ways that support or enable ongoing suffering. We will begin to address the needs of the world, because our growing consciousness demands it. It is simply what we must do, like feeding our own children. As love becomes the answer, and as all that is not love begins to heal - the world begins to change.

There is much good happening in the world - efforts to respond through charities to the needs of people around the world, increasing awareness through global interconnectedness of where those needs are, and growing consciousness of the One Earth we share whose well being depends upon us.

Yet we also live in a time where the structures of societies are still very dependent upon motivations and interests that do not serve the needs of the whole - and economic and political systems have evolved that benefit a few, or some, while many suffer.

This is a challenging and momentous time. As each of us is willing to have the courage to be ourselves - to risk loving, speaking, and acting from the deepest place of love and truth that resides within each of us - the world changes. As we all awaken to the truth of love and our interconnectedness, seemingly large and daunting problems, will have simple solutions. Each of us will be called to use our hearts, our strengths, and our love for the greater good of All. Those with planes and resources will contact those who have surplus food. Simply and easily - food will be transported to the hungry. Wise men and women will join hands and hearts and commit to our inner cities. Peoples and countries will find ways to stop conflicts and wars, and build ways to live in peace and sharing. Solutions to long-standing issues of violence, isolation and poverty will present themselves. Some solutions will seem so clear and obvious, we will wonder how we had not been able to find them before. Communities will flourish. Gardens will grow. The Earth will begin to heal. This is the promise of the future, and the future of our promise.

As we begin this new year we also invite you to visit our blog with some new entries: Love is the Way.

With all Love and Blessings for this New Year,
Robert and Michaela