Today marks the one-year anniversary of the passing of dear friend and teacher, David La Chapelle. Here is a story that wanted to be written for him.
There was once a boy who lived at the edge of the forest. He lived there so that every night, he could go out and look a the moon. The moon told him many tales of things he'd forgotten. It sang to him songs of the ways of things for the people of the earth. It reflected back to him his finest dreams, even dreams he had not known were his to dream.
The boy became a man, and what he learned from the moon, he began to share. The light reflected on its surface became reflected in the hearts of those he served. He saw no difference.
One day, the moon light reflected on water shone shone so tenderly, that he walked across this river of light into the other realm. Those who were close to him were shocked at how someone so bright could disappear so quickly.
But this is the nature of stars and moons and human beings: that when they are ready for the full and naked truth, they become it.
And so, my dear friend, there is nothing to mourn for. The reflection of the inner beauty of the Divine reality is the only truth there is. I am that I am.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Overcoming Fear
Fear is a topic I can speak about with a certain amount of first-hand knowledge! I have had to overcome many fears in leaving my Mennonite community, in loving friends and family well and with honesty, in having a more public life as a writer and speaker. I often have to get out my swords and go to battle with my inner fear-mongers!
Fear is an energy in the body, often found in the belly, throat or chest. It moves through us, asking us to re-evaluate, to act, to accept, or to set a boundary. The easiest way to overcome fear is to talk to it, I have found. Hello, fear. What is it that you want of me? What do you need? It is usually creature comfort that the fear wants -- reassurance that we are OK. That reassurance might take the form of sitting on the earth, of taking a walk in the woods, of having a favorite drink -- simple creature comforts for the body!
Another method is simply breaking through, as one would a battle line. Athletes are known to hit walls during a feat of endurance. In that moment, there is no time to sit down and brew a cup of tea and have an inner dialogue about fear. There is simply pushing right on through. This is the "I think I can" approach we learned from the children's story of the train moving up the tracks of a mountain. You tell yourself you can, and you go for it.
***
Do you have fear of moving forward with a project, or a conversation with a friend, or pursuing a new line of work? Have a dialogue with your fear. Sit down with a piece of paper and pen and ask your fear -- what do you want of me? And sit and listen for an answer from your body, wherever you feel the fear is residing. Write down the first thing that comes to you. If you think you imagined it, you did!! This is all about the imagination. What you imagine will be the solution, will be the solution!!
With love,
Cynthia
Fear is an energy in the body, often found in the belly, throat or chest. It moves through us, asking us to re-evaluate, to act, to accept, or to set a boundary. The easiest way to overcome fear is to talk to it, I have found. Hello, fear. What is it that you want of me? What do you need? It is usually creature comfort that the fear wants -- reassurance that we are OK. That reassurance might take the form of sitting on the earth, of taking a walk in the woods, of having a favorite drink -- simple creature comforts for the body!
Another method is simply breaking through, as one would a battle line. Athletes are known to hit walls during a feat of endurance. In that moment, there is no time to sit down and brew a cup of tea and have an inner dialogue about fear. There is simply pushing right on through. This is the "I think I can" approach we learned from the children's story of the train moving up the tracks of a mountain. You tell yourself you can, and you go for it.
***
Do you have fear of moving forward with a project, or a conversation with a friend, or pursuing a new line of work? Have a dialogue with your fear. Sit down with a piece of paper and pen and ask your fear -- what do you want of me? And sit and listen for an answer from your body, wherever you feel the fear is residing. Write down the first thing that comes to you. If you think you imagined it, you did!! This is all about the imagination. What you imagine will be the solution, will be the solution!!
With love,
Cynthia
Saturday, June 05, 2010
Speak Worlds Into Being
Dear friends,
In every conversation and interaction, an opportunity is available to create a new world.
The words and the energy we put behind our words directly impacts our body and our world. If we put positive energy behind our words, then positive energy is being vibrated through our vocal chords and through our body and also out into the world. If negative energy is behind our words, then this is the energy that is reverberating through us and through our world.
Consider these two stories on the use of words.
The Prophet Mohammed once criticized a spiritual practitioner who was fasting. He suggested that the spiritual man had broken his fast by speaking ill of his brother. His brother's flesh is already in his mouth, he said.
Mohammed also suggested that when reciting the holy Quran it is better to recite out loud then silently, as it is the difference between a bottle of perfume that is corked and one that has been opened. Speaking holy words out loud is the perfume of life, uncorked!
In a world full of daily human suffering, it is perhaps easy to dwell in the negative. And yet we could just as well focus on the holy gifts that we receive every day. We receive the gift of breath, the gift of food, the gift of shelter. We receive the gift of friendship and the gift of Divine Love as shown through the flowers and the brooks and the clouds that send us rain. Every day, we receive the gift of life itself.
What will you speak of today? What thoughts will you dwell on and share with others? What love can you send through your vocal chords, out into your world to share? Even one well-spoken word of "hello" to a neighbor can send ripples out into the world, carrying healing power and helping to create a world we all want to share.
Cynthia
www.cynthiayoder.com
In every conversation and interaction, an opportunity is available to create a new world.
The words and the energy we put behind our words directly impacts our body and our world. If we put positive energy behind our words, then positive energy is being vibrated through our vocal chords and through our body and also out into the world. If negative energy is behind our words, then this is the energy that is reverberating through us and through our world.
Consider these two stories on the use of words.
The Prophet Mohammed once criticized a spiritual practitioner who was fasting. He suggested that the spiritual man had broken his fast by speaking ill of his brother. His brother's flesh is already in his mouth, he said.
Mohammed also suggested that when reciting the holy Quran it is better to recite out loud then silently, as it is the difference between a bottle of perfume that is corked and one that has been opened. Speaking holy words out loud is the perfume of life, uncorked!
In a world full of daily human suffering, it is perhaps easy to dwell in the negative. And yet we could just as well focus on the holy gifts that we receive every day. We receive the gift of breath, the gift of food, the gift of shelter. We receive the gift of friendship and the gift of Divine Love as shown through the flowers and the brooks and the clouds that send us rain. Every day, we receive the gift of life itself.
What will you speak of today? What thoughts will you dwell on and share with others? What love can you send through your vocal chords, out into your world to share? Even one well-spoken word of "hello" to a neighbor can send ripples out into the world, carrying healing power and helping to create a world we all want to share.
Cynthia
www.cynthiayoder.com
Monday, May 17, 2010
Express Yourself!
Sometimes a passion has to go underground before it is reborn. Just as the bulbs that stay underground in winter give birth to new life in the spring, so it is with what we long to express. I can't say why this is true. But after observing my clients and my friends and the people around me, I believe that this is part of how we unfold as humans.
There was one point in my life when I did not write for six months. After writing creatively in some way or another since age eight, I thought for sure my writing life was over. But it was only underground. When it re-emerged, the voice I wrote in was different; even the style had changed. It was a more authentic voice; and a more signature style. I understood when I began writing again that my writing had stopped so that these change could manifest.
Sometimes, a passion can go underground for years. The key part of this process is patience with yourself as you rediscover what seems lost. And an understanding that nothing is ever lost. It is just remade. We are beings that unfold, and we can't unfold all aspects of ourselves at once. Perhaps in one season of our lives, we unfold the artist. At another time, the mother. At yet another time, the business woman. Perhaps we unfold the child, discovering the world as if for the first time.
***
Do you have passions or talents that you once thought were going to be expressed more fully or recognized? Take some time to contemplate what is unfolding for you now. What is begging expression? Try not to judge the past. Look only at yourself in the moment, as if looking at a rare orchid. What color of expression is emerging? What line of thought? What rare scent are you wanting to set wafting into your world?! Think of one small step to express who you are today.
With blessings for who you are today,
Cynthia
There was one point in my life when I did not write for six months. After writing creatively in some way or another since age eight, I thought for sure my writing life was over. But it was only underground. When it re-emerged, the voice I wrote in was different; even the style had changed. It was a more authentic voice; and a more signature style. I understood when I began writing again that my writing had stopped so that these change could manifest.
Sometimes, a passion can go underground for years. The key part of this process is patience with yourself as you rediscover what seems lost. And an understanding that nothing is ever lost. It is just remade. We are beings that unfold, and we can't unfold all aspects of ourselves at once. Perhaps in one season of our lives, we unfold the artist. At another time, the mother. At yet another time, the business woman. Perhaps we unfold the child, discovering the world as if for the first time.
***
Do you have passions or talents that you once thought were going to be expressed more fully or recognized? Take some time to contemplate what is unfolding for you now. What is begging expression? Try not to judge the past. Look only at yourself in the moment, as if looking at a rare orchid. What color of expression is emerging? What line of thought? What rare scent are you wanting to set wafting into your world?! Think of one small step to express who you are today.
With blessings for who you are today,
Cynthia
Friday, May 07, 2010
The Heart Knows More
Going through some old files to create room for new ones, I found this writing that will eventually be part of a book of writings about living with intention and purpose. I wanted to share it with you today. The voice is instructional, spoken from a place of meditation on the Greater Realm within.
Do not reach outside yourself for what resides within. Chasing after love and money will only lead to more chasing. Fold your hands together, and place them at your heart. Ask yourself which is greater -- that which is in you or that which is in the world. Embrace that which is greater, for only in that embrace will you find any answer worth pursuing.
That is not to say do not love that which is in the world. But only from the knowledge of Self --the greater aspect within you -- can this love of your world be pure.
So sit with your hands at your heart every day, and ask yourself any question you like. The mind is not where the answers will emerge from. Answers will rise up, like bubbles, from the heart, and a kind of "aha" will follow. This is how you will know the answers have come from the heart.
The mind will question you, always, but do not regard these questions as anything beyond mind-stuff.
The heart knows. It is of the highest intelligence, beyond the mind, beyond concepts, beyond understanding, beyond logic, and beyond any human constructs.
Trust your heart, without any doubt. Let doubt be like pesky flies; swat them away or pay them no regard.
With infinite blessings for your day,
Cynthia
Do not reach outside yourself for what resides within. Chasing after love and money will only lead to more chasing. Fold your hands together, and place them at your heart. Ask yourself which is greater -- that which is in you or that which is in the world. Embrace that which is greater, for only in that embrace will you find any answer worth pursuing.
That is not to say do not love that which is in the world. But only from the knowledge of Self --the greater aspect within you -- can this love of your world be pure.
So sit with your hands at your heart every day, and ask yourself any question you like. The mind is not where the answers will emerge from. Answers will rise up, like bubbles, from the heart, and a kind of "aha" will follow. This is how you will know the answers have come from the heart.
The mind will question you, always, but do not regard these questions as anything beyond mind-stuff.
The heart knows. It is of the highest intelligence, beyond the mind, beyond concepts, beyond understanding, beyond logic, and beyond any human constructs.
Trust your heart, without any doubt. Let doubt be like pesky flies; swat them away or pay them no regard.
With infinite blessings for your day,
Cynthia
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Ask and You Will Receive
One of the greatest spiritual principles ever spoken, I believe, is "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened." These words were attributed to Jesus of Nazareth. While this principle is often quoted as a way to manifest material wealth, the words are most true when applied to spiritual abundance. When you seek true happiness, true freedom, true abundance of life, and you ask for this with all of your heart, you do reap the rewards of your asking.
Getting clear on what you want on a soul level is the first and fundamental step in being able to ask. When you become clear on what you are looking for, you open yourself up to receiving it. Whether you seek happiness or freedom or soul or devotion, getting clear on what it is that you are after helps clear the pathway to it.
All seeking, ultimately, draws us back into the arms of Infinite Love that resides in our hearts, and in the hearts of others. Seeking, it seems, is our unique human way of climbing, step by step, into those greater arms.
In honor of Mother's Day, I am including a prayer that I wrote for a client recently which she was happy for me to share with you. It is a simple prayer to align the personal self with the Infinite Self today and every day.
Mary, Divine Mother,
Show me what is real.
Let me let go of the worries
That consume me and instead
Let me be consumed by your
Your Divine Love, your Divine Heart.
Do not let me run away from you
In my thoughts or in my deeds.
Instead, let me serve you with
Every thought and every breath.
Show me the way, great Amma,
Mother of the Universe,
My true Mother, my true Heart.
Amen.
Bowing to the Divine Ma in you, in the world,
and beyond the world
Getting clear on what you want on a soul level is the first and fundamental step in being able to ask. When you become clear on what you are looking for, you open yourself up to receiving it. Whether you seek happiness or freedom or soul or devotion, getting clear on what it is that you are after helps clear the pathway to it.
All seeking, ultimately, draws us back into the arms of Infinite Love that resides in our hearts, and in the hearts of others. Seeking, it seems, is our unique human way of climbing, step by step, into those greater arms.
In honor of Mother's Day, I am including a prayer that I wrote for a client recently which she was happy for me to share with you. It is a simple prayer to align the personal self with the Infinite Self today and every day.
Mary, Divine Mother,
Show me what is real.
Let me let go of the worries
That consume me and instead
Let me be consumed by your
Your Divine Love, your Divine Heart.
Do not let me run away from you
In my thoughts or in my deeds.
Instead, let me serve you with
Every thought and every breath.
Show me the way, great Amma,
Mother of the Universe,
My true Mother, my true Heart.
Amen.
Bowing to the Divine Ma in you, in the world,
and beyond the world
Thursday, April 22, 2010
The Power of the Mind
Spring has a lot going for it. The sun is more present, the birds are more chirpy, the leaves are so tenderly green. It is a season of growth and gain.
There is the old adage, that what you focus on grows. Imagine if you could focus on a flower so much, that it could grow! That's exactly what happens in the mind. If you put the full power of your attention on positive movement, you will actually generate positive movement.
This is called the Power of Positive Thinking or Manifesting, today's popular phrase. But what it is, under the label, is the ability of the mind to generate experience. The Buddha said, "All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become."
Manifesting literature often focuses on visualization for material gain. But the Buddha had something else in mind. He was interested in the alleviation of suffering. When you focus your mind on positive outcomes, self-judgment and negative thinking have to fall away. There is just not room for them to grow. And it is precisely negative thinking that is the root of suffering.
So in this season of growth and gain, it's a good time to ask: what am I focusing on? What positive outcome can I put my attention on?
Here is a good mantra for today:
In this breath, I am a flower,
growing into full bloom.
In this breath, I am the water
that the flower drinks from its roots.
In this breath, I am the sun,
shining in my heart of hearts.
In this breath, I am a flower,
adding beauty to the world.
In support of your blossoming,
Cynthia
There is the old adage, that what you focus on grows. Imagine if you could focus on a flower so much, that it could grow! That's exactly what happens in the mind. If you put the full power of your attention on positive movement, you will actually generate positive movement.
This is called the Power of Positive Thinking or Manifesting, today's popular phrase. But what it is, under the label, is the ability of the mind to generate experience. The Buddha said, "All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become."
Manifesting literature often focuses on visualization for material gain. But the Buddha had something else in mind. He was interested in the alleviation of suffering. When you focus your mind on positive outcomes, self-judgment and negative thinking have to fall away. There is just not room for them to grow. And it is precisely negative thinking that is the root of suffering.
So in this season of growth and gain, it's a good time to ask: what am I focusing on? What positive outcome can I put my attention on?
Here is a good mantra for today:
In this breath, I am a flower,
growing into full bloom.
In this breath, I am the water
that the flower drinks from its roots.
In this breath, I am the sun,
shining in my heart of hearts.
In this breath, I am a flower,
adding beauty to the world.
In support of your blossoming,
Cynthia
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