Friday, June 24, 2016

Summer

It is summer. We are on break. We hope you are enjoying the longer days full of light. We will return soon. Love & Light, the Soulcerer.


Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Life goes on

Impotence. This is what I feel. I did not lose any friends or family members in the Orlando mass shooting. Nonetheless, I feel the pain. I am so hurt, distraught. I walk about with this collective pain. I don't know what to do with it. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to help.

The hardest thing to say in a moment like this is life goes on. It is especially hard for those who lost someone in the massacre. The hardest thing to do in a moment like this is to love. The impossible thing to do in a moment like this is to forgive. Yet, it is what will heal us and help us move on. For until we do, we will focus on the wrong thing, on what causes the pain, on what injures, on what is wrong with the world.

We can't change this state of the world with angry outbursts, attacks, blaming, condemning, cursing.
The churches are not to blame. Neither is religion or non-religion. Guns are not to blame. School systems are not to blame. The media is not to blame. Bad parenting is not to blame. Governments are not to blame. We do nothing with this blame.

Certainly the separation and judgment created by certain religions, governments, beliefs and ideologies do not help and do make our work harder, our coexistence more difficult. But this is a mental health issue. We are ill. Our conditioning and life experiences can predispose us to certain behavior. Yet, many of us are exposed to many of these experiences, dogmas, beliefs and ideologies, and we do not go out to murder others thinking that this will solve, fix, cleanse, right anything or to convince anyone to believe the way we do. We help the cause by attending the mental health aspect of it.

We don't fix this by yelling, moralizing, censuring, or pointing fingers. Until we take some ownership of this, nothing will change. If we blame anything or anyone, we have to wait for that anything or anyone to change for the world to be better. We can't wait. We have to figure out our part in this and do our part in healing it.

After the catharsis, we need to come together, not for tolerance, but for understanding and respect. We need to love. How do we love? We do it by accepting others, by ceasing to call out the differences, by acknowledging others' dignity, humanity, and personhood. We love by changing our thoughts. By healing our own thoughts, we move from fear into hope. We heal by coming into the present and loving through the fear, the confusion, the misunderstanding, the pain, the despair, the rage, the feelings of revenge and righteousness. We need a break from all this hate. Hate breeds hate. Love breeds love. Healing breeds healing. Healing is what we need right now.

There is a time for everything. We cannot change others minds in a moment as raw as this one. Our rhetoric will be returned with more rhetoric. This is a time to embrace the pain, the anguish and, more importantly, each other. This is a moment to value life – ours and others'. We pray for the courage and the strength to forgive. Hate will not heal us. Love will.

Life goes on. Do we want it to go on in pain and fear, or in love? Do we want it to go on as it has or do we make it better, different? Our life goes on. Let it make a difference.

Today is a good day to realize that we have gone mad. Let us stop the insanity. Let us heal our minds that we may feel and act out of love and not fear. Let us remember that this too shall pass and life goes on.

Image found at eaglespiritministry.com. 
© Millicent Maldonado and www.soulcerer.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved.


Sunday, June 12, 2016

We send thoughts and prayers of peace for Orlando, as well as thoughts and prayers of comfort, consolation and condolence for the injured, friends, families, and loved ones. May the Light dissipate confusion, fear and intolerance. May Love bring us together.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Money Wise

I hesitate writing about money here. I have written about it in other mediums and have given workshops on it. Yet I know it is a sensitive subject and I abstain from bringing it up here. This morning, though, I was performing some of my money rituals and a wave of gratitude, appreciation and joy came over me. I felt I had to share it. So here I am, writing to you about money.

I love money. I do. I have many rituals, habits and attitudes around and about it. They include balancing my checkbook, creating a budget, calculating my cashflow, ordering the bills in my wallet by denomination and facing all of them in the same direction, sharing it gladly, spending it joyfully, paying bills on time, saving it with intention and purpose, never feeling embarrassed about it, celebrating when others get it, never speaking ill of money or judging it as good or bad, blessing it when I give it, never complaining about it, and never talking about its lack. I have a relationship with money. We all do. Some of us have a good one while some of us don't.

People can be wounded about money and this translates into a fearful, emotional, resentful and angry relationship with it in which we blame, judge and begrudge. When we do, we never seem to get where we want to be or do what we want to do. We focus on the wrong thing. We assume it has to do with money. But it doesn't. It has to do with our perceptions, beliefs and attitudes. This is not about public policy and world economics – that is another matter. This is about our personal relationship with money.

Money is energy. It flows. It needs to flow. When it doesn't, it festers. When it flows, it allows, because we have allowed it. It is also neutral – neither good or bad. Because it is energy, it never ends. Money never ends. It flows. Perhaps it helps to know that money is not only about currency, cash, credit, income, expense or debt. Money, as I write of it here, is about an abundance of good things and experiences.

I wanted to share this with you as a testimony of what love can do to change a relationship. Money doesn't love us, but the Universe does and as we handle our finances with honor, respect, joy and love, we receive with great measure. It doesn't give because we do. It is entirely up to us to allow its flow. This is very empowering to know. It took me a very long time understand this. I lack for nothing. I live with an abundance of goodness in all areas of my life.

Today is a good day to release our fear about money, to remove the obstacles to its flow. Let's relax our attitude about it. Let's trust our relationship with it and invite its flow with joy, gratitude, and non-judgment. Spend it, share it, receive it, let it flow.

Image found at livingmandala.com.
© Millicent Maldonado and www.soulcerer.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Bloopers

I am so glad I waited until the credits rolled. The movie was not that funny, but the bloopers were hysterical. I laughed so hard my abs were burning, my cheeks were hurting, and I forgot everything that was bothering me. I was enjoying life. Everything that mattered was happening right then, right there. What a mindful, wonderful moment. It helped me put everything into perspective, lifted my mood, and opened me up to joy.

I realize that laughter won't make problems go away. It won't fix what is broken. Yet laughter helps us deal. If we have to face difficulties, it is better to do it in a pleasant state of mind. Laughter gives us an edge over our negativity bias and helps us feel optimistic and positive about life. It also relaxes us, shifts our energy, brings our focus to something different, and softens our rough edges making us more approachable, welcoming, and warm.

We are in this movie together. Today is a good day to stay for the bloopers and have a good laugh. Let's spread some joy.

Image found at pinterest.com.
© Millicent Maldonado and www.soulcerer.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved.