HUMANS AND TREES

Trees; we love them, we have worshiped them; they are universal symbols found in the mythologies  of all peoples around the world; they are ancient symbols of growth, unfolding shelter, nurture. They are seen as gatekeepers to the next world and to other realms. They are touted as the keepers of higher vision and the absorbers of its higher knowledge and wisdom.

The correlation between their life cycle and humanity’s is seen as a bridge between us and the Earth and the Heavens. And, to further intertwine us with the trees, our environment depends upon them and theirs upon us....we share breath and because of this, the tree is a wonderful metaphor for our condition of growth and health.

Trees and humans can be broken down into “like” parts. A humans physical foundations correspond the the trees  lower trunk and roots. Like a tree we must pay attention to what we are growing in, our soil, air and water (what type of environment are we creating with our thoughts, perceptions, judgments and responses). We have to be pruned (loss and renewal) in order to achieve growth.

Just as a tree is open to damage from outside sources such as insects and pollution, we are too. If we are not aware about keeping out spiritual, mental and emotional energies balanced, the imbalance will work its way into our physical body and show up as illness. This is why learning that we truly operate on different levels within us is very important.

Learn to take care of your balance of body, mind and spirit so that as you grow and evolve into the wonderful person you are meant to be, your path will be a joyous and blessing filled one.

Bright Blessings, Love, Light and Laughter , Chessie

© Chessie Roberts 2012, all rights reserved

FOR MOTHERS DAY

FOR MADELON M. SCHWARTZ

1924-1997

                                                Lyric from the title cut from “The Angels Sang” by Archer's Meadow
                                                             written by Chessie Schwartz Roberts © 1997, All rights reserved.

An' the angels sang before they came to take her

In all my life 'twas the only thing that I saw shake her.

She was all that's left, all the rest had gone before her.

All that's left behind are memories in my mind--- and I adore her

You have someone with you to guide you along,

Some one to teach you and to help you be strong.

Someone to protect you; they won't steer you wrong.

You learn how to love them, and then you are gone,

oh, you learn how to love them, and then they are gone.

An' the angels sang before they came to take her

In all my life 'twas the only thing that I saw shake her.

She was all that's left, all the rest had gone before her.

All that's left behind are memories in my mind--- and I adore her

Where does love come from? Where does it go?

How does it chose us? We may never know.

It brings us such sadness, it brings us much joy.

It just comes to take us and make us it's toy.

Oh it just comes to take us and make us it's toy.

An' the angels sang before they came to take her

In all my life 'twas the only thing that I saw shake her.

She was all that's left, all the rest had gone before her.

All that's left behind are memories in my mind--- and I adore her

http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_5080974

To all mothers of all ages on both sides of the veil. Enjoy your parents as much as you can, you will miss them when they move on to the other side. Bright Blessings to you all and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

© Chessie Roberts © 2012, all rights reserved

PROGRAMING

PROGRAMMING 

© Chessie Roberts 2012, All rights reserved

“One determination I have concluded...technology has been used

 on us in the same manner as we used blinders on horses...the

 leather pads attached to the sides of a horse's head...to keep him

 focused...only...on what we want him to see...we spend most

 of our days and nights...looking down...when we absolutely

 need...to be looking

 up...”{Leo Walton}

I know that we are programmed by all sorts of things through our lives. I teach this information to others and explain to them how and why it happens. However, in the past six months or so, I have had it displayed for me in an unexpected way.

I try to use my time in pursuit of knowledge, wisdom and information rather than just staring mind numbingly at the TV but, I have discovered a station that carries the shows, or should I say programs, from my youth. I admit, I was sucked in and I now understand why. It was so that I could report to you what the programmers did to us.

The cartoons from the 40s and 50s were overtly sexual. The ones from the 60s alluded to the alteration of one's brain chemistry. As I have watched the westerns, I have realized the overt damming of and the assimilation the Native American and the African American into a “whiter culture” and have watched the pendulum swing (slowly) in the direction of honoring other cultures and allowing them to just be.

I have seen the Feminist Movement move from total oppression to the acceptance of women as people too. I have watched the dawning of the fact of molestation that, when I was growing up, no one talked about, the fact that seems to be mainstream in our society these days I find a bit alarming.

I have watched, this time with conscious awareness and better understanding of what I was seeing. I have watched, with horror, the demise of our dietary choices and a dumbing down of society as a whole as we have been programmed to give our power over to those “who know more that we do.” 

The doctors, lawyers, psychiatrists and even celebrities who are now knowledgeable about things “beyond our comprehension”. We have sat in bondage to the flickers of the waves coming from the box that mesmerize us into believing we are separate entities, that we are entitled to whatever we think we desire, and should get it no matter what the true cost; that we must rely on the opinions of others to make us worthy to be. We have been taught that we need to have committees of friends with whom to share our ideas in order to make them worthy of presenting. Society seems to have embraced the idea that we are connected to everyone else's drama and that we should re-act accordingly (get spun up in it) 

This idea is embraced while we look away from our true connection to the planet and ourselves, and our responsibilities to it and to ourselves. We feel detached from everything unless there is fear, drama and angst. We have given over the wisdom of the ancestors, our own common sense and the ability to think for ourselves to the prognostications of our electronics. 

Those wonderful toys that bring everything, true or false, within eyesight and earshot. The information we get now is so fast and overwhelming that we are numbed by it and accept what is easy. Take the product, aspirin for instance. For eons it (willow bark) was used for pain relief and as a blood thinner. Then big pharma began touting it as a help in time of heart attack, which it was, but the selling job was so successful in the US that now the advertising is geared to remind us that it is good for pain relief; and the pendulum swings again.

The other thing we get from programing is the idea that we need to be victims. This pendulum is just now swinging back to the “stand in your own power and lift yourself up” side of things. I say good to that.

Now I am not saying that this is all a bad thing, but I do caution balance and due diligence. If it doesn't vibrate comfortably with you, check it out. By the same thought process, if it seems too comfortable, check it out; is it playing into your memes (false ideas of truth) or is it reflecting a prejudice you have? If it sounds too good to be true; it probably is. If you can achieve it without any effort; run the other way. If you are angered by it; you should figure out why, there is probably a lesson in it for you.

Wisdom is a wonderful thing, but it does not just fall on you like rain, it is something you have to look for, work for and truly desire to find. It requires work on your part, like it or not anything worth having is worth working for. By becoming aware of the programing around us that is, in our present time, fast, furious and doesn't give us much time to think and make a conscious aware decision to “wake up and pay attention” {EOS} we can use it to our advantage. “Turn on, tune in, drop out” was the rally cry of the kids in the 60s. We can change that to better use in this century “turn off (the TV) tune in (to our higher self) and drop in (on your own power and life) to make this the best year you have ever had.

“May the entire world be filled with Peace and Joy, Love and Light. May the Light of Truth overcome all darkness. Victory to that light!” Chessie

THE OCEAN OF I AM

 © Chessie Roberts March, 4,2011, all rights reserved

My life is an ocean with ebb and flow, high and low,

Life within and without, above as well as below.

The sun rises out of one hemisphere and sets into the other;

Into my ocean and out from my sea.

Many drops and one heaving mass, crashing waves of emotion

as well as gentle caresses that wash over your sands.

Frozen bergs floating, bobbing and rocking in warm currents,

I evaporate in your heat and am drawn up into you

There, sated and heavy I fall again into myself,

Coming together from all over, dripping from leaves, melting from snow,

Bubbling up from deep wells, all back into the ocean that is me,

the ocean of I AM.

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE

"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle."

{James Keller, Catholic Priest}

                                                 © Chessie Roberts 2012, all rights reserved

I awoke in total darkness. The only sounds from outside were the crickets, owls calling way off in the distance and water lapping at the shore of the lake not too far from the cabin's front door. My dream had been a bit unsettling, and I was not ready to reenter it, so I decided to get up. The moon was in its new phase, and the only light was from an occasional star that flickered in and out of view as the clouds scudded overhead.

In total darkness I fumbled until my hands found one of the pillar candles that were scattered about the room. I found the accompanying matches and lit the candle. It flared to life and settled into a steady flame, bringing a small amount of light to my searching eyes and a feeling of comfort to my dream fogged heart. My biology decided that it required a cup of calming tea, but the cabin was still too dark for this endeavor so without much thought, I reached for another candle and used the lit one to light the next.

For reasons known only to the gods of such things, I was suddenly aware of the fact that by lighting the second candle from the first, the light in the room was greater but the first flame was not lessened. I had heard this adage all of my life but had never stopped to consider it before, now I was transfixed in facilitation of the truth of this statement. My quest for tea forgotten, I rounded up all of the candles that I could find and began to study the phenomenon as I slowly advanced one wick toward the flame of the first lit candle. 

As the flame caught the new wick, there was a small flair as both flames burned in tandem for a second then, as I moved the newly lighted candle away they both burned with the same intensity but now they burned separately. Again and again I lit a dark candle from the bright one, just studying how the light spread and grew without taking anything away from the original candle or any one I chose to use as the source.

As I watched, I understood how we are all candles. What source our light comes from really does not matter, what does matter is how we spread and share out light with those around us; those looking for light and warmth. Our sharing will never diminish us; it will only diminish the darkness of ignorance. As a candle of understanding flairs with the light of love and understanding, compassion and faith, so the light of truth will lead our way to the greater truth of what we are all searching for; the way back to what we truly are.

Namaste, Bright Blessings, Truth, Love and Light. Chessie

FOCUSED INTENT AND WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU

FOCUSED INTENT

 AND 

WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU

What exactly is focused intent and how do you use it. Funny thing is that you use it every day. When you leave your house to go somewhere do you get in your car and then sit there until your destination appears? No, you have a plan, a map in your mind of where you are going and how you plan to get there right? When you dress in the morning do you sit on the bed and wait for your clothes to fly out of the drawer and closet and cover you? No, you make decisions and choices, you focus your intent to decide what to wear.

Focused intent is useful in anything you do. It is actually goal setting. You decide to perform an action and then do each step that is required to get your desired outcome. Take cleaning your teeth for instance. You decide that it is time to perform this act of hygiene. Step one you go to where you keep your toothbrush and its accompanying paraphernalia. Step two, you choose the brush that is “yours”. Step three, you apply your choice of dentifrice, and you begin to brush your teeth. You may have a cup for rinse water, you may cup the water in your hand, but the point is that you have a plan one that has become a a routine for you so that by now you don't have to think it through every time, but it is, in fact, focused intent. See how it works?

So why do you panic when someone suggests that you set goals for yourself? All they are is a ladder to climb in order to reach that thing you want that is, at the beginning, out of your reach. If you decide that you would like to be your own boss, look into the steps it takes and set goals that will allow you to reach that goal. You did it when you were a baby, a child, learning to walk, talk, read, think on your own and every other thing you now know how to do and take for granted, why do you feel you can't do it now?

As you take and internalize the classes that Evolution of Self; Journey into Body, Mind, Spirit Balance provides, you are setting yourself up to stand on your current information so that you can reach the height of the next piece of information. As you rise through the classes with a focused intent, you accomplish them in one way and are then able to transfer that understanding and knowledge to be used in other ways that will allow you to climb your ladder higher and faster than you ever thought possible.

Your focused intent to better your understanding of YOU will serve you well throughout the rest of your life. It will give you an unprecedented view of exactly what you CAN do, what you CAN be if you chose to allow yourself to focus, learn and grow. Bright Blessings, Love Light and Laughter, Chessie

© Chessie Roberts 2012, all rights reserved

WHAT DOES YOUR JOY LOOK LIKE TODAY?

WHAT DOES YOUR JOY LOOK LIKE TODAY?

“One of the sanest, surest & most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.” {Robert A. Heinlein}

 

As some of you know, I ask a question of the day on Face Book every morning and one of my favorite questions was, “What does your joy look like today?” I enjoyed the answers that I received, and they prompted this blog.

The first person answered, “A beautiful heartwarming dramatic movie, exquisite (to me) food, and letting my passion express itself through my creativity!” A movie can surely influence your mood.

 The reason being that it involves all of your senses, thereby triggering your emotions and they, in turn, trigger your chemistry. A bit sneaky yes but very affective when you are looking for a boost to how you are feeling that day.

Food is another good way to “feel joy” both by its preparation and by its consumption. Having good company in the kitchen can be very joy filled.

Someone else quoted the Buddha; "We are shaped by our thoughts.  We become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves."{Buddha} This is sage advice, I teach and live by the adage that “as we think so we are.” {Chessie Roberts}

 And with the conscious, aware intention to be happy and filled with joy, you stand a much better chance of having it happen.

One of the answers was based on having a project go in the desired direction: “Its contingent on if I get more people to pick up their volunteer packets for this weekend Joy meter on the rise.” I caution you here that if your joy depends on anything outside you, you run the risk of having it let you down. If you are leaning on an outside project, do it with the conscious awareness of being happy no matter which way the outcome falls, and you will achieve greater goals than you ever before thought possible.

This next was a conversation between two of the answering parties. “Getting my procrastinating butt out the door and editing at the library/ ‎(to be honest, at the moment I am vacillating between a yoga session first or getting straight to editing.... feeling the yoga need, but can it wait till after?)

Reply by person #2 “If you are “yoga-ed” your editing session will probably go better.

Back to person #1 “Very true, thank you, besides, this would be a quiet yoga session now, where I may have other 'participants' later.... decision made!” Exercise is always a good way to lift your spirits and get you motivated and energized. Yoga is an amazing way to accomplish this because it oxygenates your blood and the gentle stretches wake your body and make it ready to take on the world.

 Having a defined plan is also good for your productivity because you know exactly what to do next. You don't frustrate yourself trying to decide what your next step will be.

The next person chose the attitude of gratitude; “My joy looks like waking up this morning.  Good or bad, I am grateful for another day.” Being grateful for your life and everything in it carries great joy in and of itself. If you are truly grateful for where you are right now, you draw more joy and good things to you.

The next person chose a childhood memory that elicited joy from within “I awoke to see a fog bank surrounding me this morning.  It always feels like hiding beneath the covers when I was a child. It always gives me joy” The recalling of childhood joys and bringing that joy into your present is a lovely to experience joy in your present. 

This is one that I use a lot; “I find something kind to do for someone else. I try to do it anonymously (the joy is greater if I can) It doesn't have to be a big thing, but it must be done with no thought of reward. It works every time!” I don't think I need to add anything to this one.

Here you have some wonderful examples of how to find joy in your life, I am sure there are many more. The surest one I know of is to intend that you are joyful while using the tools at your disposal to make it so. That very last one is one I use when I am at my lowest, the rewards for both parties are amazing!

Wishing Bright Blessings, Love, Light and Joy to you all, Chessie

© 2012 Chessie Roberts, all rights reserved