Blog Archives

New Format

6/30/2016

Beginning July 1st, 2016, Religious Recovery will post excerpts from the new book Set Your Course: The Student Manual for Religious Recovery (soon to be published). Over the course of six months we will spend one week on each of the Thirteen Steps and Thirteen Stones. A total of 182 different readings will take the student through the concepts and ideas of the Religious Recovery healing program. Our hope is that you will find healing, hope, and spiritual health through the daily readings. May The Divine bless you and always be at your side.

Lasting Peace

6/30/2016

Perfect peace is perhaps something only achieved in the afterlife. We strive for peace, but it often eludes us. Sometimes I determine that I will be more peaceful and less vulnerable to reacting in the moment, only to discover that when the moment comes, my peace has vanished. Part of what it means to live in peace, is to accept ourselves the way The Divine created us, and to accept everyone, everywhere, and in every place as also divinely created and worthy of our love and admiration. The closer we can come to achieving that goal, the closer we will come to knowing a lasting peace that is perhaps not of this world.

Leave Room for Error

6/29/2016

Stone Three of Religious Recovery encourages us to question (or challenge) our beliefs, experiences, information, and motives. The things we believe to be true, could be true, but there is always a possibility that what we believe could be false—or somewhere in between. There is so much that we do not know and more that we might think we know which could, at a later time, be discovered to be “not the whole truth.” Those who are unwilling to leave room for the possibility of error can, at times, find themselves imprisoned by their long-held beliefs.

Begin Again

6/28/2016

No matter how difficult our lives have been up to this point, we can always make the choice to change things and start over. The mythological bird known as the phoenix is said to rise from the ashes of defeat to begin life anew. We can emulate the phoenix and choose at any moment to start a new chapter, write a new verse, or sing a new song. Our past doesn’t have to tether us to the earth. Like the phoenix, we can rise from the ashes of our defeats and soar above the smoke and ashes of the past.

Weekly Newsletter: Communicate Clearly

6/28/2016

Many relationship problems can be traced to communication failures. When you combine weak communication skills with impatience you have a recipe that’s ready for disaster. Even with the best of intentions we sometimes find ourselves being misunderstood. As a writer my job is to communicate clearly. Unfortunately, that skill isn’t always within my grasp on the written page or in my personal life.
I have learned some tricks that help, but the occasional blunder still comes through. In my writing, the secret lies with rewriting. It helps to walk away from what I’ve written and then return to it later. After time has passed, it becomes more apparent if my communication is clear or muddy. The more I rewrite, the better I communicate.
Relationships also work better if we take time to hone our words before blurting them out. Unfortunately, the “rewrite” needs to occur before the communication is spoken, not after we’ve hurt someone because we failed to speak with accuracy and kindness. Communication is an art, and with any artistic endeavor, practice and patience go a long way toward helping us master our craft.

Surrounded by Divine Love

6/27/2016

I believe that The Divine is love, and that The Divine loves us no matter what. I love my children, and there is never a time when I don’t love them. They, in essence, are never separated from my love. If we think that our Higher Power is “somewhere out there” without a care for its creation, then we fail to understand the power and presence of divine love. Though I might be separated physically from my children, there is never a time when they are separated from my love. So it is with The Divine. We are loved more that we could ever imagine, not based on merit, but on our heritage. We are created by The Divine, loved by The Divine, and never separated from that love.

Release Spiritual Clutter

6/26/2016

I would consider myself an average hoarder. I don’t have piles of stuff lying around the house or in my car, but I find it difficult to let go of things that I think I might need some day. I don’t consider being an average hoarder a problem as long as it doesn’t get in the way of enjoying life. But, when it comes to spiritual hoarding, I’ve discovered, at least for me, that hanging onto spiritual beliefs that no longer serve my spiritual path can be detrimental. So, I choose to release old beliefs, friendships that would drag me back to those old beliefs, and anything that doesn’t bring love and light into my life. If I find I’ve mistakenly discarded something meaningful, I can always go back and pick it up.

Forgive Mistakes

6/25/2016

Our mistakes don’t have to follow us around as if they were tethered to us. We can forgive ourselves for our past mistakes and cut the cord that binds us to the past. There is a spiritual principle that allows us to forgive ourselves as we have forgiven others. To the measure that we are able to forgive those who have harmed us, we will be able to forgive ourselves. As long as we harbor bitterness, hatred, and grievances towards those that we believe have hurt us, we will find it difficult to forgive and cut the cord of our past mistakes. Forgiveness is a simple act and yet powerful beyond what we might imagine. Let our forgiveness be as immediate as possible, as complete as possible, as unconditional as possible, and withheld from no one—including our self.

Practice in Small Ways

6/24/2016

We can practice the art of immediate forgiveness in our daily routines. If someone cuts us off in traffic, makes an unkind remark, or hurts is in any other way, we can practice the art of forgiving immediately. We might find this easier to do with strangers than with the ones we love and trust, but over time we will probably discover the practice carries over to loved ones, acquaintances, and total strangers.

Immediate Forgiveness

6/23/2016

I have come to believe so deeply in the importance of forgiveness that I pray the following prayer nearly every day: “Let my forgiveness be immediate, complete, unconditional, and withheld from no one—including myself.” One of the most difficult words in that prayer is “immediate.” How can we forgive someone when the offense is fresh and painful? Doesn’t this go against Stone Seven which encourages us to feel? Of course we must allow ourselves to feel, but as soon as possible, and even at the onset, we can recognize that even though the hurt is undeniable, we can choose to release it as soon as possible. We immediately recognize the need for forgiveness, and in that recognition the forgiveness process begins

Keep Trying

6/22/2016

We don’t always get things right the first time. We often have to try, fail, and try again and again until we find the solution. It would be wonderful if failure was optional, but for most things in life, “failure” is often the word associated with our first efforts. We need a better word. One that doesn’t carry such a negative energy. How about saying that our initial attempts were just practice runs? Or, perhaps we could think of our early efforts as finding and eliminating the things that don’t work until we find the thing that did work.

Let Go of Limiting Thoughts

6/21/2016

We can be nearly anything we want to be. Obviously there are physical limitations, but mentally and emotionally we can become loving, understanding, forgiving, supportive, and all that makes for peace and happiness in life. If we have got it into our heads that we must be a certain way, then we can release that thought and replace it with another one such as, “I am as The Divine created me, and I can find and fulfill my life’s work.” That is just one example of many positive thoughts we can embrace when let go of thoughts that imprison us.

Weekly Newsletter: Whose Will?

6/21/2016

Often our plans are frustrated. We want something to go just right, and we work hard to achieve that goal, only to be disappointed with the end result. When this occurs in the normal routines of life, we can, in many situations, overlook our disappointments and appreciate the things that did go well. As time passes, we may even discover that things may have gone better than we had hoped they would. Perhaps it was only our perception that was off.
When our plans seem to go off track in the spiritual realm, we pause to consider: “Why weren’t my prayers answered?” “How could I have been so off course?” But, another question we might ask which could help us understand what happened on a deeper level is this: “Were my plans frustrated, or were The Divine’s plans frustrated?” If we are certain that our plans and The Divine’s plans were in alignment, then the outcome may have been disappointing only because we had projected a different result, but consider that the end result might have been exactly in accordance with what The Divine desired and also what we desired especially if the outcome was more in keeping with the deepest desires of our heart—to love and to be loved. In the routine of life, and in the spiritual realm, letting go of the end result is an important lesson to learn.

Don't Compete, Complete One Another

6/20/2016

When we realize that life is a journey and we are going to the same destination—only our paths are different—then we can let go of competition and work together. Success has a sweeter taste when we share it and don’t hoard it.

Our Highest Hopes

6/19/2016

There are times when hope works against us. When we hope for something without realizing that the thing we hope to receive isn’t in alignment with our highest and best, then achieving what we had hoped for could prove to be a detour. The detour isn’t necessarily wrong, evil, or bad, it’s just that if we release our hopes into the care of the Universe, our hopes and dreams will be guided in ways that work for our highest and best.

Think it Through

6/18/2016

Religious belief systems that only teach people what to think and not how to think do their constituents a disservice. If their message will not stand up to an open-minded, thinking individual, their message might have some serious flaws. Telling people what to think isn’t necessarily a mistake unless we are told that it is the absolute and only truth. If we buy into that mindset, we are giving our power to them. We are giving up our freewill and letting another think and decide what is right for us. Perhaps what is closer to the truth is that they are making decisions on our behalf based on what is right for them, not us.

Overcome with Love

6/17/2016

The best weapon against fear is love. It is possible to fear something that we love, but the more love we have, the less we worry about fear. When we are able to see the spark of divinity in all of creation, we will be able to let go, or at least lesson, the power of fear over our lives. Enemies become accepted, respected, and in time, loved. It might require a lot of effort on our part, but the results are worth it for both of us and for the world.

The "Right" Path?

6/16/2016

When I read about how important it is to be careful what path we choose, I often feel a bit of remorse or concern over whether or not I chose the right path. But I’ve come to believe that this concern is wasted energy. Every path has something exciting to teach us and wonderful places to lead us. The choice is not so much in choosing the “right” path but in how we respond and make the most of the path we choose, thus making it right for us.

Constantly Changing

6/15/2016

Nothing stays the same. Everything changes. Frustration comes when we try to fight this principle. If we have a fixed destination in sight, we will make many course corrections along the way, and if we don’t, we will miss our goal. Life is often about the little adjustments we make along the way. Hold everything loosely. Be prepared to change your mind, your heart, and your direction at a moment’s notice.

Letting Go of Fear

6/14/2016

When we learn to trust our heart and open to love, we will find that, over time, fear will dissipate. And, as we learn to comprehend our place in the universe and the permanence of all forms of matter, we can also lose the fear of death by understanding that nothing dies, it only changes energy. The part of us that makes us human is not the physical body. The body decays and changes its form, but even the atoms that make up the body are not destroyed, only transformed into different matter. But, the soul—or the spirit—lives on. There are enough near-death-experiences of life after death that attest to the fact that the thing we call the self isn’t destroyed when we shed the flesh and bones of life.

Weekly Newsletter: Recognize Beauty

6/14/2016

There is beauty all around us. But, there is also beauty within us. The beauty in creation is easy to behold. Even in the cold days of winter, we see beauty in the ice and snow. But, looking deeper, we also find it in the barrenness of a long, cold winter—if we choose to open our hearts to it.
     Inner beauty is more difficult for many people to recognize. Some religions even tend to discourage us from seeing ourselves as beautiful lest we become conceited and self-absorbed. But, in all of creation, I know of nothing more beautiful than a human being made in the image of The Divine. We have the ability to see, hear, touch, feel, think, love and be loved. We have the ability to reason, change our minds, and make others smile with just a touch or a hug.
     We are beautifully complex creatures that are worthy of our own love and admiration. We are just exactly as The Divine created us—beautiful, lovely, full of potential, and worth. Recognize your beauty and celebrate.
     As we recognize our own beauty, we might want to extend that recognition to everyone we meet, because everyone has enormous amounts of beauty within them. Sometimes our blindness prevents us from seeing what the heart knows is real. Sometimes we allow the words we hear to taint our vision, but the beauty is still there like gems waiting to be unearthed. If we fail to see our own beauty, it becomes difficult to see the beauty in others. If we fail to see the beauty in others, it also becomes difficult to see the beauty within ourselves.
     At times it only takes a simple act of kindness to reveal beauty. A smile, a touch, a listening ear, or a helping hand can soften a person’s shell and allow us to glimpse the pearls of beauty they guard from others. Beauty speaks to beauty, and grace speaks to grace. By sharing our inner beauty we receive beauty in return.
     There are times when our attempts to extend beauty and grace appear to be rebuffed, but nothing returns to us void. Beauty reflects, echoes, and shadows us with our every attempt. The people who rebuff our kindness have yet to recognize the child of The Divine within themselves. Our grace softens their shell. In time, they will discover there is nothing to fear—from us, or from others.

Pursue the Dream

6/13/2016

All too often I look at a project and think: I’ll never accomplish my goal. But, when I take one step toward that goal, and then another and another, over time I see how it just might be possible to achieve the dream that once looked unattainable. I’ve seen it with writing books, and I see how it works with other dreams, too. As we appreciate how far we’ve come on our pursuit, we can overcome the discouragement that might arise from focusing too far into the future.

Love in Equal Measure

6/12/2016

Most religious belief systems emphasize the importance of love and how it can positively affect our lives and our world. Love is a power so strong, yet seemingly weak to those who do not understand it, that it can transform any life from misery to happiness in an instant. As we learn to love others—even our enemies—let us also remember to love ourselves equally. Love should not be measured out a little here, a little there, and a whole lot to those who believe, act, and think as we do. Love should be given with abandonment to everyone we meet.

Open to What Is

6/11/2016

Detachment can be difficult to achieve especially if we feel a need to be in control of our lives. The problem with attachment comes when we find it difficult to let go of an unwanted outcome so that we can accept the outcome that did come our way. My father often couched his future expectations with the phrase, “Lord willing.” It is a simple reminder that nothing is certain, and life will run smoother if we keep in mind that things might not work the way we want them to work. Sometimes we are disappointed, sometimes we are pleased, and sometimes we just want to shake our head and say, “Oh well. Let’s see where this takes us.”

Does it Fit?

6/10/2016

When trying to piece together the puzzle of our lives, it often helps to look for pieces that don’t belong where we have placed them. My grandmother often found puzzle pieces that were a close fit, but her eyesight was poor and she couldn’t determine if it was right. She often asked one of her grandchildren, “Does that fit there?” She knew it had a place in the puzzle, but she wasn’t sure if she had it in the right place. Until we develop our spiritual eyesight, it often helps to ask those whose sight is better than ours, “Does this piece of my life fit here?”