"Begin anywhere."

Spiritual resource to share: fresh starts

"Begin anywhere." This is one of two quotes that hangs around my office. Its only two words are attributed to John Cage, American composer and philosopher. It is a constant reminder that we are able to change thought, break through a lull, reverse directions at any time. We have that authority to start anew - right now.

Starting anew - right now.  What hope!  This newness and freshness can mark the beginning of our new year.  It can mark the beginning of our new week.  It can even happen in the littlest moments of the day.  A total turn around.  A fresh start.

After having a very bleary morning where interruptions threatened any advancement on a number of projects, I felt the day could have turned out totally unproductive. But these two little words "begin anywhere" provided enough of a jolt to encourage me to stop this fuzzy accommodation of blah to totally reverse direction. I literally closed the door on my little interruptions, forgave my wandering morning, and gave myself permission to have a great day! I jumped into one project at a time and completed what needed to be done.

This same principle of fresh starts that can turn our day around, can also turn our lives around. This principle can be seen in the remarkable lives of such people as Buckminster Fuller whose life took a 180 degree turn and continues to be a marvel, and to our own everyday lives. Mary Baker Eddy, another individual whose life proved this principle of fresh starts offers these words, written over a hundred years ago:

The purpose and motive to live aright can be gained now. This point won, you have started as you should. You have begun at the numeration-table of Christian Science, and nothing but wrong intention can hinder your advancement. Working and praying with true motives, your Father will open the way. "Who did hinder you, that ye should not obey the truth?"

Begin anywhere. Whatever your background, your history, or your prospects, you can begin - right now - to claim your inheritance as a child of God. All that is good, pure, true and fulfilling is at hand!  A happy new year?  Yes!  And a happy new week, a happy new day, and a string of happy new moments.

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

here comes the sun...

Spiritual resource to share: being present

...we hope. I woke up this morning to eight inches of freshly fallen snow. My heart sunk. We have had months of a record snowfall. I scrambled to find all my past posts where I lauded the beauty and magic of the first snowfall. But the beauty and magic of the snow alluded me now.

Have you ever been in a situation where you were waiting and waiting for something, and then, right when you thought you were going to get "it" (whatever it was you were waiting for), you realized you had to wait some more?

When I have been in these situations where the waiting is prolonged, I remember being brought out of a sense of impatience and irritation by being more present and grateful to what is happening now.

We all need to wait for things, but when that waiting turns into thinking that you lack what you need now, and can only have it sometime in the future - and the nearer that future the better -thought turns inward and restrictive.

What has been most helpful to me is Christ Jesus saying: "the kingdom of God is within you."

The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is defined in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by MBEddy as "the reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme."

And most comforting of all, MBEddy writes,'.... remember Jesus' words, "The kingdom of God is within you." This spiritual consciousness is therefore a present possibility.'

So the atmosphere of Spirit, the reign of harmony is a present possibility. Right now. Right now as you are reading this. But how can that be? When we have waited so long? Step up to this claim and make it your own. You can claim this. Harmony right now is a present possibility.

Harmony, goodness, love and abundance aren't stuck in a material expression. They are qualities of thought. And we can align our thought with all we know of God. We can harmonize with God. We can pray. We can accept that the kingdom of God is here.

It is this yielding and letting go of sometimes our most cherished hopes that may be hardest to do. But actually it is harder to hold on to these hopes when we can only see that they come in a certain form: For instance if we feel that we have to see that person, or we have to see green grass growing or we must get out of this place -- in order to be happy, we are stuck. Letting go of those materially based hopes help us see the good we already have - now.

The kingdom of God is already within us. We can expect to feel that satisfaction that we have what we need, and trust that God is guiding us to those places that are best for us. And best of all, we can see the beauty and loveliness that exist around us right now.





To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.