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The Dream

9/21/2022

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When we are driving or walking at night going through mountains, you might perceive through each turn the lights of the town you are hoping to reach and it seems to you that you are never going to reach.  Because you seem to be very close to the town on each turn but then the town disappears again in the next hill or pass.  And once again you find that you are farther than you hoped.

This is a common experience in that what we are looking for seems to be so far.  Just around the turn, around the corner, but somehow out of reach.  At some point you do reach the town, and once you are there, you might want to reach another place.  And life goes on.

When we find ourselves in those places where it seems a mirage into the future, we forget that life exists in the very road, in the very curves we are trying to get through.  It is not that the destination is not important.  It might give us encouragement and direction. However, the destination seen is not the life lived. It can be part of your life lived, once you reach the destination, as much as the road under your feet is the life lived in this very moment. 

Why is it that you find this moment so lacking?  Why do you think that life happens only once you reach your destination?  At the end of the day it is still you who reaches that destination, and all destinations and moments are nothing more than a reflection of your very being.  So the question is who are you in this moment and why is it that your happiness seems to be projected into those lights in the distance?

Today I want to give you a better road.  An inward road.  I am not telling you to leave that outward destination on the wayside.  Just asking you for a moment to notice the gap.  To notice how far you need to go to find happiness.  If you ask, why would I want to reach the destination if I already have happiness?  Why bother? I would say that the movement forward is in itself part of the experience of fulfillment in life.

There was this woman once.  She would sow for a living.  She would patch clothing, make it fit better, alter it.  She loved her job though she fould find herself  dreaming of creating paintings and godly scenes with her thread and colors. But it seemed too out of reach and besides, she would tell herself, how would I maintain my family, and who would help my clients? 

So at first she tried putting her dream out of her mind but then found herself sad, depressed even. She started to find her job meaningless, then bothersome. She started thinking she was going nowhere and she wondered about this because, she used love her job and the people she helped.  It was as if her dream stole all of her happiness, her satisfaction and fulfillment in her job.

So she looked a little deeper and realized that her dream represented something that was missing in her day to day job. And she realized that she was creating such a big dream for herself because she was thinking that it was not possible to have creativity in her job as it was.  So part of her did not want to change her current  circumstance. Her job after all, gave her security, stable income for her family,  recognition in the community, a relaxing craft among other things.  But it did not give her, according to her, creativity.  So if she constructed a dream that was far away she could stay safe, there was no need to try to get there.

I am telling you this story because she discovered t the reason she placed her dream so far away was because there was a part of her that she did not want it closer, it was too threatening to her life as it was. This is an important realization, nobody puts the dream so far away.  The only one who puts the dream anywhere  is you.  

So this week  I invite you to see if your fulfillment and happiness are placed in a dream and investigate, why does that dream seem to be this far away. Why would I place it so far away? The woman in the story found that her job could have creativity in small ways and bigger ways.  They just did not look like her big dream. 

She started to create patches with very original designs and would offer to patch some clothing for people.  And she was surprised many enjoyed her patches.  She started to realize all the other ways she was creative.  The way she organized her store, her home, the food she cooked.  The way she even interacted with people, so much creativity she brought to those moments.  So she realized it wasn’t that far away and her dream did not need to be so far away.  She was able to reassess her dream. Maybe it was not the life of this “high artist”  that would bring her the happiness and fulfillment she wants.  She started focusing in the designs and other things, and her life started to change.  Because she understood the heart of her dream.. She understood that her dream existed in the present moment.  

So I invite you to examine your dreams, especially if you find them too far away.  Or maybe they are the right size and you will know because the road will seem wonderful.  Maybe not because it is all beauty or all adventure.  But because this is where you would rather be, this is the only road you would take.  

Thank you,

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Hope

9/16/2022

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For this week I bring you a message of hope.  When we think “hope” we might refer to our wish of life going in a particular way where our problems are solved or we are  rescued  from our situation. Sometimes this hope is the very thing that allows us to keep going. 

Now, I invite you to think of hope as an energy of truth. A truth that no matter what situation you are in you will find deliverance from your suffering, to a place of relief, a place where dreams become truth for you.  

However, this deliverance is not always the deliverance we imagine it to be, with things changing exactly how we want them to change.  This deliverance speaks of the deliverance of the heart, the inner experience.  If we hold hope as a truth, we can trust that whatever happens is in itself the vehicle for our deliverance.   

So in these times I invite you to look at hope in this way.  Hope is a truth of life and the more intention you place in that truth, the more you accept that truth, the more you can surrender to the present.  Not waiting for the future to reveal what hope holds, but rather allowing the light of hope to illuminate your current life and see that your current life itself is the road you are meant to follow.

Today I include a guided music meditation of hope that can allow you to better connect and understand the inner feeling of hope.

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The True Gift of Giving

9/5/2022

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First of all I want to express appreciation for those who are reading this newsletter.  If you are stopping to read this it is because you are struggling with something and you are looking for answers, and as we often do, we look to others for wisdom.  There is nothing wrong with this approach, in fact, that is how communities are built in this ongoing exchange of what is valuable in life.  We do this exchange of giving and receiving in ways in which we overtly keep track of, and also we do it in other more subtle ways, in our everyday living. This is how we create bonds but also how we carry each other through difficult times.

Even though we might search for where we can find an answer when we are experiencing a challenge, we can forget that when we extend a hand to others it is often how we ourselves can find the answer we are looking for.  This is because it is in the giving and in the receiving that an opening occurs.  There is an openness to receive on the part of the seeker, and there is an openness necessary in the giving.  When we give we have to find ourselves, we have to find the place of ours that is whole from which we can give, and so often we find wholeness in the giving. 

There was once a man who worked in a shoe store and everybody in town came to him because he was very knowledgeable, everybody wanted their shoes to last longer.  But while he worked very seriously on his craft, he could never quite appreciate and know the levels in which the town appreciated him. One day the man decided to move closer to his family and to his surprise, when people in the town found out they came to him and asked him to stay.  “How are we going to find someone to fix our shoes?” The man looked at them in confusion, and said “but there are others in this town who fix shoes.”  And they said “but nobody does it like you. Nobody has this love in what they do, to see, as you do, the levels of detail in your work, how much you care not only for the shoes but for those wearing them.” 
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The man was very moved because he thought it was just his little way of doing things, his quirkiness, and he never really considered it was special. He realized as he was listening to people telling him how much they appreciated him that although he had thought he had lived a small and inconsequential life, he in reality had a very meaningful life.  As he was listening to others appreciate what he gave, he became deeply aware of his own presence of love when working on his craft and serving his clients.  He suddenly understood how to be in that presence.

So I’m telling this story because many of you sometimes discount something that really brings you to a place of wholeness because it is not something that you perceive as valuable to others.  It could be something as small to you as your laugh, or your presence as you look at someone with compassion and take their hand.  Our minds are so conditioned  to the rules of our culture that we discount and make lists of what is valuable and what should be valued for and what is not important.  But believe me when I tell you, at the end we realize what is important.

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    Armando 

    Armando is a Song Healer and Intuitive Guide.  He lives in Santa Cruz, California.

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Armando Alcaraz
PO Box 2841
Santa Cruz, CA 95063