My friend Donna recently shared a Hasidic story with me. A disciple asked the rabbi why it said in the Torah that God placed the teachings on the heart of man; why did he not place it IN the heart since God had the power to do anything. The rabbi responded that God knew that only when the heart breaks, can the teaching truly enter.

Life breaks us open repeatedly. Sometimes it is from a simple kindness, sometimes it is from a loss. Whether we are broken down by what is happening or broken open is a choice. I just talked to a dear friend whose beloved dog passed away.  A month out, I still hear the sadness in her voice. She described to me the altar that she created honoring a life well lived. I was touched by her willingness to simply be present with her heartbreak and all the resulting feelings. Grief is a natural response for losing what we value.

To allow our hearts to break open is a radical act. It requires turning a deaf ear to the voices that beckon you back to the surface where things make sense. Often it is the very act of moving out of ‘sense’ that leads one to an expansion of receiving the light. When we refuse to let go into what the present moment is offering up, we end up recreating the past. We come to see that when loss, heartbreak, or any form of anguish knocks on our door there is a blessing on the other side. It is always a choice to open the door and invite in fully the opportunity that resides within and beyond pain. Each knock hearkens us to move closer to our essential self, to God, to the vitality that moves through all of creation.

Winter is such a wonderful time of introspection. I am always moved by the deep quiet that a blanket of snow seems to create.  On a crisp clear night, the moon and stars draw my attention upward; how miniscule I feel, how insignificant. Yet at the same time it is the ineffable presence within me that is able to experience the presence around me. I feel a connectedness and peace as I slow down to commune with this still, cold season.

We live in a culture that is heavy on intellect, activity, and intolerant of emotions. To be present with our emotions requires us to slow down and go within. We do what we can to avoid those broken hearts choosing instead to numb ourselves with unconscious choices. It isn’t easy or comfortable to sit in the deeper darker places of the soul without looking for the nearest exit. It takes a commitment to accepting ourselves and all our experiences as perfect in the imperfection.

Sometimes I hear clients or students in a hurry to get rid of something that is causing pain. There is beauty in every state – even in our suffering. Dare I say that when you take presence to the hardest of times, each moment can be a rich experience.  It becomes just another state of being, to explore and eventually to awaken you. “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves” says Rilke.

It can be painstakingly slow to sift through the parts of ourselves that lead us away from living with an open heart. But the rewards are greater depth and an intimate communion with one self and life. To make friends with a life that is in a constant state of flux we first have to make friends with ourselves. You have to start where you are. Because wherever you are – whatever painful emotion or challenging life experience you encounter – there is a diamond there waiting to be unearthed and brought to the light. That diamond is the very essence of God manifest in you.

~Rev Juli Somers

Change is not always an easy thing to embrace.  Though we may really want to improve certain aspects of our lives or ourselves, often we resist the process that change sometimes demands of us.  The grooves of past habits can seem too deep to overcome.  And in order to fill in those grooves with new, more conscious choices we are asked to leave our comfort zones.  We glance back at the familiar with a longing for the sense of safety that it once gave us and look ahead to the unknown with fear and distrust.  What if a caterpillar refused to come out its cocoon? We would be short a lot of beautiful butterflies in the world.

Discomfort mistakenly becomes our measuring stick of whether something is working or not.  Yet discomfort is often part of the process of realizing that we have outgrown a certain belief or behavior.  The cocoon can be a tough skin to shed before the butterfly frees itself into a new life.  Once while meeting with his students, spiritual teacher Krishnamurti paused and asked the audience, “Do you want to know what my secret is?” While everyone eagerly waited to be let in on some great secret to enlightenment, he proceeded with, “You see, I don’t mind what happens”.
Not minding what happens is a state of complete equanimity with life and a state of non-resistance to what is. From this perspective our discomfort or suffering comes from our resistance to the present moment just as it is. The one undeniable thing about the present moment is that it is how it is. Wanting the present moment to be different than it is constitutes crazy thinking – but how often do we do just that?

I recently caught myself resisting what was presented before me.  When I am resisting I am usually pretty obvious with it – to me and everyone around me – but this time it was subtle and harder to catch myself at it. I thought I had a clear agreement with someone around some work they were doing for me.  When it was time for them to fulfill their end of the agreement, the person expressed dissatisfaction at what they had agreed to and a desire to change it. I responded in a fairly neutral way but found myself mulling it over in my mind for hours. There I was in resistance.

When I am resisting what is happening, the possibility of a win/win solution doesn’t appear to exist.  I felt like a politician! Once I realized my resistance I wondered how this opportunity was asking me to grow.  In this particular situation, I decided to let go of the story that my mind kept recreating to see what was being triggered on a deeper level. I felt disappointed and powerless in the situation. When I could just have my feelings without making either one of us wrong, I started to feel better and my resistance evaporated.

I suddenly had a lot of space around what was happening and I knew in my heart that what was most important was for both of us to feel good about what we agreed to. There was nothing I had to do to fix it, just take care of my own consciousness. If it doesn’t feel good to me then it is shining a light on something I need to heal inside – not fix outside. Reach for the higher ground and allow myself to evolve! It is said that we are either operating out of love or out of fear. I so clearly experienced how fear constricted my energy. When I was able to return to the love inside of me, there was no problem.

We are all encountering opportunities to become enlightened at a faster pace these days. If I want to change, and I do, then I can only be grateful to be seeing myself more clearly despite any discomfort in that process.  When I am in that place of not minding what is happening, not resisting what is, I am at peace.  All is eternally well.

~Juli Somers, Executive Director

How does the saying go? The only thing constant is change? I think we are all seeing that truth dramatically playing out in the world and most likely, feeling it in our own lives. How are you doing with it? Some days I just want to pull the covers over my head. Other times, I am in awe of the level of transformation we are all going through. I think the key to enduring and dare I say enjoying all the change is to stay connected to what is changeless.  All the thoughts, the feelings, the outer forms – they change.  But the beingness of who you really are is unchangeable.

Most often we have pictures in our minds about what is ‘right’. I watch people (myself included) get stuck on the story in the mind instead of just living the moment.  It’s in the moment where you can just be, where everything is alive and revealing itself. When you are in the moment you can respond and be creative. You can participate in what is being revealed and be open to what the healing opportunity is in the situation. When we get stuck on being right we block the flow of energy within us and in life.

I was watching an interview recently with a possible republican candidate for the next election. I was shocked that in this day and age we would consider electing a candidate as, may I say, crazy as this woman. I decided I was right and she was wrong.  I was doing the same thing that she was!  I realized she is simply a mirror of a certain level of consciousness that is obviously alive and well and I am a part of that consciousness.  If I can see it in another, then I have it to heal in me.

Everyone reveals ourselves to us if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.  There isn’t a ‘right’ to attach to – just the shedding of layers that keeps us from the truth that we embody divinity. No one is less important in the scheme of things. We are all necessary threads in this tapestry always guiding us to discover the God within.  When we get caught up in the outer details of life we often lose track of our inner purpose.  And that is the reason we are all here. You know when you put your car in neutral? Sometimes it behooves us to park ourselves in neutral so the mind doesn’t shoot out in a direction that doesn’t serve a higher truth.

I was at a spa recently celebrating a friends’ birthday. While there I decided to go to the yoga class that was being offered.  The instructor was teaching a familiar form in a way that I had never encountered. My mind initially judged what she was doing as wrong or ineffective.  Once I let go of my mental construct that there was a right way of doing it, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and learned something new.  I let myself be in the moment and it was pretty darn good. Ever notice there is never a problem in the moment? Or if you think there is one it is because your mind is preventing you from simply appreciating the richness of each adventure.

I have been getting all kinds of great life feedback of when I get caught in thinking there is a right way.  The thing is it all comes down to love, right? I want to appreciate each person as a beloved child of God. Within the outer form lies the one spirit and it is on this level that we can realize that none of us are so different.

Be okay with where you are.  Know that as you ask you will receive but maybe not in the way you thought it would come.  Life is a spiritual grinding stone –honing you to your brightest brilliance. I trust there is a higher order running this show. What returns to me via my experience is always perfect. It is up to me to see how each challenge is coaxing me to grow. Life is moving rapidly these days. It helps to stop and remember what is real. Allow yourself to breathe deeply and feel the “peace of God which passes all understanding” – and that is in inside of you and very real. Enjoy the ride!

written by Juli Somers

I recently returned from a trip to Brazil and the Casa de Dom Ignacio where spiritual healer John of God offers his work. It was my seventh visit to the Casa. Each trip has been a meaningful experience on my spiritual path and always provides me with a next step on my healing journey.

While at the Casa, I had a spiritual surgery. When receiving a surgery like this you sit in a room with many other people. Spirits come in from another dimension and assist those in a physical body with what they want to heal. The first thing I felt during this healing was a spiritual entity enveloping me in love to a degree I have never experienced before. As I became infused with that powerful energy, different body feelings and memories of how alone and unsupported I had felt in my life came into my awareness. I felt this Being transmitting to me just how loved I was. I also had the knowing of how supported I have always been on my journey; that any feelings of not having support had been just an illusion. Yet that picture had affected me much of my life.

I grew up in a family where I felt unsupported. Most memories of childhood were of profound loneliness and a lack of feeling loved. And because of that, a picture was formed within me (thoughts and feelings attached to a mental image) that I didn’t have any support. Throughout much of my life, I would create and encounter scenarios where I experienced feeling unsupported.  Each situation that occurred would confirm my belief.

What we perceive, we receive. I often say that I see life as a great ‘yes’ machine. Whatever vibration or energy I am putting out, I will receive back to me in experience. If my picture of reality is that I am unsupported, life can’t come back to me any other way. That is the lens I am looking through and that is what I will see of life. Just like when you take a picture on your camera. The image that gets captured is the one you focus the camera on. It has nothing to do with reality. As I become more aware of the internal lens I am looking at life through, I give myself a choice to change my perceptions.

When these pictures and unconscious beliefs have been with us a long time, they gather a lot of weight and can feel very familiar. Over the years, I have witnessed myself identifying less with that picture I described and as a result, I am able to feel support in my life. In the work at the Center we call it ‘peeling the onion’. You heal it layer by layer until it is de-energized. When you clear the charge on the picture it no longer controls your reality. It becomes a neutral memory.

I invite you to become aware of a picture you have had since childhood. Probably it will be easy to come up with but if it isn’t, what is a reoccurring thought or theme that causes you unhappiness in your life? It might happen often or just once in a while. Look at the message this affirms about reality. Reflect on all the times that life has seemed to confirm this belief. What if it was actually the picture inside of you that attracted to you those outer circumstances? Because again, the outer image that appears is as a result of what your inner camera focuses on.

Now simply create a picture in your mind of what you want to affirm about your reality; love, support, abundance, etc. When you find yourself drifting back to the old picture, consciously turn the lens in this new direction. Believe it to be true even if it hasn’t shown up in your life yet. The reality is we are blessed beyond measure and have more support and love than we can possibly imagine. Healing comes when you shine a light on these inner pictures that take you away from love. Change the picture and you will change your life.

“Remember, we are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not. Our actions and states of mind matter, because we’re so deeply interconnected with one another.
Working on our own consciousness is the most important thing that we are doing at any moment, and being love is the supreme creative act.” – RAM DASS

Occasionally I have the opportunity to watch the news on television. The way in which world events are depicted makes one believe there is nothing good happening anywhere. It reminds me of the days when I lived on the island of Hawaii. While driving to work I would pass some very dedicated people holding a huge banner day in and day out that said “Repent; the end of the world is near”. I think we should repent from the over identification with doom and gloom and plant ourselves instead in the faith that we can perceive and create a harmonious world.

With the Obamator rating declining daily, the rift between the parties rivaling the grand canyon, the economy resembling a monopoly game, and war being threatened (and lived) on many avenues of the planet – where’s the love?? This is exactly the time to not succumb to feelings of powerlessness and remind yourself that each of us has the ability to shine the light for others.

A wise person told me recently when I was feeling great sadness that the cure for it is to make someone else happy. That isn’t hard to do. Instead of getting lost into our own stories, doing a kindness for another may be the balm that heals the collective heart. Imagine if all of us truly realized that we are the embodiment of Divine Love itself and also were able to see that same truth in others. It would be a different world.

As we continue to spin in this whirlpool of energy taking us closer to the prophecies of 2012, it may prove hard at times to extract yourself from the fears that all the change can elicit. If, as the story goes, it takes faith the size of a tiny mustard seed to move a mountain, then why not believe in what is possible? The trick is to not go back to sleep as Rumi speaks of so eloquently in one of his poems.

Each day is a new beginning in which we can all use our energy to envision and live a brighter world. Changes have come from individuals who could see and hold steadfast in their belief in what was possible – Martin Luther King, Jesus, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, to name a few. There is a greater purpose as to why we are here and all of us can do simple things each day to be a force of love in the world.

It is a part of human nature to hold a spotlight on what isn’t working yet if we keep our energy focused on the problems than the box we are stuck in just keeps growing bigger. It is the human spirit that knows there is One energy that moves through the entire universe and each one of us. We all contain divinity. Isn’t it time that we embody that more? What we focus on expands. Imagine if we focus on cultivating inner peace, extending love to those around us, and remaining hopeful in ourselves despite the surrounding storms of life. Now that’s what I’m talking about.

Much Love,
Juli

Reverend Juli Somers is the Director of The Center For Inner Truth in Santa Fe, NM. She can be reached at 505-920-4418.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

“What could you not accept, if you but knew that everything that happens, all events, past, present, and to come, are gently planned by One Whose only purpose is your good?”
- A Course in Miracles
During an acupuncture session recently, a needle was put into me at the “Lazarus” point. Roughly, this point is to help bring you back from the dead or as I interpreted it for myself since I wasn’t technically dead, to bring in new life. Needless to say, I was excited about the possibilities of that little painful point and all I could think was – bring it on. And I have felt the stirrings of new life lately, gloriously and joyfully. Not
from any outer experience happening, because really there is no ‘outer’ experience – life is only experienced inside of us. This experience of new life for me has entered as subtly as the aspens changed colors this fall. It
started with a little yellow here and there increasing as the weeks went by. Now I marvel as each new venture outside provides a new and bigger explosion of color. Such is the rekindling of life sometimes.

If you read my article in the last newsletter, that one was about entering the darkness. And enter the darkness I did. I experienced a greater release of old beliefs and patterns as a result. As we keep increasing our energy
levels with this evolutionary leap the world is taking, we need to allow ourselves the space for however our healing steps arise. Perhaps like the ‘mush’ state that precedes the caterpillar becoming the butterfly.
Everything that needs to happen will happen in the process of our transformation. And everything that is happening is necessary for that change. Might as well just lie back and enjoy the mush when that is what is present. The real day to day practice is to greet all experiences with equanimity knowing they are neither good nor bad. Our minds may attach a meaning to what is happening, but that doesn’t make the story true.

Energy is neutral. And the nature of energy is movement. Why be attached to anything that comes up in the way of thought, feeling, or experience because it will all pass anyway? Ultimately, if we remove the judgment
about what is happening it just translates into life. As Eckhart Tolle says, we are life. So we get to constantly BE life experiencing life. When we judge the goodness or badness of an experience we limit how
that new life may want to come in. The truth of the matter is that it’s all good stuff. Doesn’t mean it’s easy or that you won’t need support as you journey through the changes. Most of us tend to enjoy summer more than
winter; the warmth, nature at its fullest. Yet no cycle is less important than another. When we experience the harshest of winter it ultimately provides us with more flowers and vibrant green in the warmer seasons. It is the same with our internal cycles. Everything has its purpose.

What helped my recent renewal of life energy was surrendering to what my healing process put on my plate. Surrender doesn’t mean a giving up but an inner allowing for life to have its movement. A good practice is to
be aware of when you are creating a story about what is happening and drop it. Deepen into what you are experiencing within and just be present. It is simple really except that the mind loves a good story. And the mind
also takes seriously its job of protecting us by creating fear, reliving the past, and convincing us to limit any moves in new directions. To that I say “thank you” and I believe I am ready to pull a Lazarus. We all hold a piece of what needs to be healed in humanity. As we expand in consciousness and live the truth of who we are as spirit, we carry the torch for all of us on our journey home. Truly as we heal ourselves, we heal the whole of the world that resides within us.
- Much love, Juli
Reverend Juli Somers is the Director of The Center For Inner Truth in Santa Fe, NM
She can be reached at 505-920-4418.

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“On the path, you confront things you would prefer to keep in the dark, not just secrets but every sort of negative energy. But hiding from fear, anger, shame, and guilt is pointless. In God’s eyes, everything
has been revealed already. When this truth is taken to heart, it becomes easier to reveal your secrets to yourself and in so doing to release them”.
- From The Third Jesus, Deepak Chopra

When I was a child growing up in rural Wisconsin, we had a root cellar on the side of the house. I had a love/hate relationship with going into it. I was very fearful of the darkness inside of it devoid of even a drop of light. On the other hand, I was always drawn to go into it because I loved the deep earthy smell. That sweet smell seemed to seep into the cells of my soul and bring me great peace and comfort. Again and again, I would get a flashlight and muster up the courage to traipse down into the cellar and just stand and smell the earth.

I have been going down into my internal root cellar lately. I tiptoe into the darkness, those parts of me that bring me pain, and bravely shine the light into that darkness that seems devoid of light. The rich earthy smell that comforted me in childhood is today more like a state of grace I experience when I simply drop into a deep presence with these places. You see, light not only illuminates the darkness but the darkness elucidates the light. When we push away our own darknesses – in whatever form they take – we miss the opportunity to discover that underneath both the light and dark is purely the experience of God.

I find that the deeper I go on my spiritual path, the greater darkness I sometimes encounter. All those unconscious places that have tricked me into believing, maybe for lifetimes, that I am separate from God. I’ve given up the fantasy that life is meant to comfortable. I think instead I am meant to be comfortable with life. To surrender to being present with whatever is showing up – ah, now that has a rich, earthy smell to it.

A compassionate way to dance with the darkness within is to greet it all with love. You can look upon anything that you stumble into – grief, anger, judgment, or negativity as an opportunity to let in more light. That is what darkness does, it simply holds the space for light. That light is love. It is who you are and what you came from, and what you will return to.

Try looking at the painful places and stories that take you out of the present moment and say ‘I love you’. Practice unconditional acceptance of all that you encounter on the path as an important part of the journey. Otherwise it wouldn’t be there. Know that it is the very darkness you may want to push
away or run from that is providing a means for the Light to come through.

It is for all of us then to hold the torch for the beautiful beings that we are, not in spite of the darkness you encounter, but hand in hand with it. Seeing yourself clearly means loving all the parts of you just as God does; loving the dark as well as the light. The depth of any pain arising that you are able to hold with loving presence will create the space for an equal depth of joy and peace. And the beauty is that whatever love you take to your own healing process then ripples out into the collective consciousness.

When you are taking the flashlight into the cellar of your mind, heart, or spirit and it seems like the little light you are carrying can’t possibly penetrate enough of the darkness – stop and smell the richness of that damp, dark space. Feel the breath of God whispering in your ear ‘I love you and am with you always’. The real healing is in just being present with the totality of All That Is. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good”.

- Much love, Juli

Ps…I want to humbly thank the dear handful of friends I have, near and far, that have so lovingly held the torch for me lately on my journey into the root cellar. I am so blessed.

Reverend Juli Somers is the Director of The Center For Inner Truth. She can be reached at 920-4418 or revjuli@newmexico.com

“Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. ” - Rainier Maria Rilke

At our healing and meditation service this month, I used the metaphor that focusing on problems outside ourselves is like trying to put out a fire then one day realizing that you are the one lighting the match. Maybe you worry about how to bring in more income, have job concerns, or relationship issues. Your energy goes to the problem and the mind tries to figure out how to solve it. It’s what we are taught to do. But the stone thrown that created that particular ripple in your life came from within. And most likely the mind played a part in the creation of the problem in the first place. A more effective way to heal whatever is happening may be to turn your attention away from what feels like a fire in your life and ask yourself “what inside of me won’t let this go?”

Everything serves a purpose. Nature is a great example of that. Nothing goes to waste. It all gets recycled and creates new life. Same is true in our lives. Any situation or challenge has a purpose. That purpose is to grow our consciousness. There is no problem ‘out there’.  The good news is, if the problem is in me then so is the solution. Each new choice lends an opportunity to believe in and create a greater outcome than you could previously have. The point isn’t to have a problem free life – won’t happen – but to see that each and every one was offered up by your soul and lovingly given to your life as a way to bring in more light. That light will always illuminate where you are not in alignment with truth.

Think of a reel of film and the movie being projected on the screen. It’s the film that is creating the images not the screen. Whatever is showing up in your life was first projected from the pictures in you. So you can sit back, eat some popcorn, and learn about what is in your unconscious by what is showing up as a problem. Back to the question – what in me won’t let this go? The mind will think that is a crazy question because of course you want to make enough money or have a good relationship. Well, then you might need to change the movie that you are unaware of playing in the background. Maybe there is a bit of film that says you aren’t good enough. That invalidating picture will keep playing on your screen – in your life circumstances – until you heal it with a new consciousness.

The first step is to simply be present. It’s simple but not easy because life seems designed to distract us from the moment. To be present means you are aware of what is around you and grounded in your body. If you are doing dishes you are right there with your awareness doing dishes. Not thinking of something else. Next step, reclaim your amusement. It’s okay to lighten up no matter how tough it appears. When you are in a lighter vibration then energy flows and shifts happen naturally. Really, shifts happen. It always helps to notice the beauty that is around you and there is always some beauty to appreciate. It’s a balm for the soul.

Remind yourself that you are an eternal being in this grain of sand of a lifetime. The creative energy of the universe flows through you. You are capable of far greater than your mind can know. Give your thoughts a rest and allow inspiration (in spirit) to chart your course.

Reverend Juli Somers is the Director of The Center For Inner Truth.  She can be reached at 505-920-4418.