Podcasts Launched!

Happy New Year to all! And in keeping with doing something new in this New Year, we are posting the first feed of our first podcast.

Just a little background. In a survey we did of our website visitors, a number of suggestions came up for a podcast as a way to help fulfill the Conscious Kernels goal of encouraging, enhancing and advancing your personal spiritual growth. I had been thinking about starting a podcast also. Not surprising, as there is only One Mind!

So this is a dry run. We may be tweaking the delivery as I learn more about actual podcast feeds and other technical stuff. We are all learning here, right?

Right now, you can access our podcast in two ways:
the first one is just to click on the link that is the main head of this post (Podcasts Launched!!). This should take you to where the mp3 file is residing. You can then listen to it right on your computer or download it to listen at another time, or listen to it again, or to load onto your mp3 player.

The other way is to subscribe to the podcast feed. You will need some sort of podcatcher for this. Just look to the top of the right hand column and there is a link for the feed. Depending on what podcatcher you are using, it may automatically "catch" this link for you or you may have to copy the link and add it to your url list in your podcatcher.

The advantage of using a podcatcher is that each time you launch it, it will scan the internet for any new podcasts you have subscribed to and automatically download them for you! You don't have to go see if there are any new episodes.

Give our podcast a listen. Let me know if you have any comments on the material or how you were able to access it.

We intend to make this a weekly feature -- but let's see how this first one goes!

Thanks for listening!

2008 Electronic Pop Up Calendars

I am so excited to be offering 2 electronic daily pop up calendars for this coming year.

We will have our perennial favorite: the Daily Affirmation Calendar -- available very soon.

And new for this year a Daily Quotations Calendar. This calendar contains profound and life-changing quotes from the great minds who pioneered and founded the New Thought movement.

Such as Ernest Holmes, Thomas Troward, Wallace Wattles, and Nona Brooks.

But here's the great thing about the new Quotes Calendar. It features photos of my two cats, Thelma and Louise!

Move over Geena Davis and Susan Sarandan! There's a new Thelma and Louise duo on the scene!

I live with two stars, two Divas, soon to become international sensations and world-reknown personalities.

Here are my babies:

Thelma is on the far left.

They are just a hoot as any cat owner will tell you. Louise actually sits still for her portraits better than Thelma. Thelma is not very camera-aware!

They are sisters. Litter-mates, who, as little kittens, were inseparable, so I took them both. There was a third kitten in their litter, a boy, and he was adopted by someone else. Unfortunately, he died a short time later. They did not have a close bond with their brother. But wherever one girl was, the other was sure to be around and vice versa.

They still get along well for being stuck with each other for 14 years!

So with the release of the 2008 Quotes & Cats Calendar, they are bound to become media darlings and then there really won't be any living with them!

More than 15 photos were used in the creation of the calendar. You should check them out!

Here's to a great, Catty 2008!

December Idea of the Month

I've asked for comments and thoughts on this month's Idea of the Month, as well as the feature article in the monthly Conscious Kernels eNewsletter.
(if you would like to sign up for the free monthly newsetter, click here.)

The subject: Materialism in this season of holiday gift giving. Also giving and receiving. I personally have never seen so many ads for sales etc. as I have seen this year. At least they waited until Thanksgiving for the onslaught. There is nothing worse than seeing Christmas stuff before Halloween.

So if you have read my Idea of the Month or the featured article, you will know that I put forth the argument that there is no such thing as what we call "Materialism" and its negative connotations.

If you look at things from a spiritual perspective, there is only the One. The one includes everything, including what we call material possessions. Material things are only the physical manifestation of spiritual ideas, thoughts, consciousness.

So if we stay in that mindset of spiritual vs. material, we are not understanding the very nature of God, Spirit, the Universe or how it works.

To say that these two concepts are opposed to each other is to not know the nature of Spirit. Spirit must express as physical things.

But enough from me. You know where Ernest Holmes and I stand.

What do you think? Respond to this post.

Taking time is no luxury

Many people believe taking time to just sit and think is a luxury they cannot afford to take. Everybody is so busy doing and going, that to actually have them take some time to stop and think about all the doing and going does not even occur to them.

"The unexamined life is not worth living" is the famous quote. Taking the time to think about where your life is, is not a luxury. If you don't take time to think about where your life is, you will have no control over where it is going. And before you know it, years will have gone by.

I am taking some time right now to think about the direction I want Conscious Kernels to take in 2008. I am setting my priorities. I am setting my goals. I have several lists of where I would like to see Conscious Kernels move in the coming year. Will I get to all of them? I'm not sure. But I have a road map, and I am setting out on the journey, and I know where I am going.
(The Law of the Universe likes definite-ness!!)

Taking time for your spiritual growth is no different. Where are you going with your personal connection to spirit? Are you drifting around? Take the time to figure out what spiritual growth looks like to you. Are you getting there? Have you really started the journey? Ask for Divine Guidance.

Before I started writing down the goals for Conscious Kernels in 2008, I took the time to quiet myself, connect with Spirit in treatment and asked for Divine Guidance and the understanding to see that Divine Guidance in my life. I did not want to unknowingly miss it!! I want to make sure I recognize Divine Guidance when it happens.

Taking time can be a few minutes in a day. It can be a week-end. It can be a week. The actual length does not matter. It is the quality of the time taken.

"Be still and know that ye are Gods."

Until next time.
Namaste.

Making room for the new by letting go of the old

Everyone says they want change in their lives, they want new, they want different.

Yet at the same time, they are really afraid of change. They are anxious about the different. They feel uneasy with the new.

If you truly want something new, you must first make peace with the old and release it. Otherwise, the Universe will keep you in the same place because you are giving it two messages: wanting the new, keeping the old.

Recently, my dear beloved car of 14 years (!) was hitting its last stride. For nearly 160,000 miles, we traveled together. It was zippy, peppy, pretty, and fun. But now it required repairs that cost more than the car was worth. The time had come. I always knew this day would come, especially in the last year or so, as more and more things started to go wrong.

Its last visit to the shop spelled the end. Driving this car could prove dangerous without certain repairs. I had to get a new car. It was a Friday. I was going to go serious car shopping the next day. That evening, I went into the garage. I looked at my sad, rusting, old, broken car. I put my hand on its hood. With some emotion, I have to admit, I talked to my car. I said thank you for being such a great car, for all the trips we took, for all the rain and snow it shielded me from, for all the summer days we ran with the sunroof open and the windows down. I told my car that there was someone better than me to take care of it now. It was beyond my scope of car ownership.

I was saying my goodbyes. I was making my peace with this thing. I was mentally and emotionally letting it go.

And, instinctively, I knew I had to do this, I had to clear this, if I was ever to find its replacement. I had to finish the chapter. I had to end this story. I had to do this to ensure that the activity of finding a new car would go smoothly and joyously.

Otherwise, resistance would kick in and I would be driving a car that was destined to become dangerous at any moment. You must let go of the old in order to make room for the new.

And do the letting go joyously! Know that the thing you are letting go of will be in its right place.

So to finish my car story. The next morning I got up and did not fret about getting another car. I cleaned the house and had a wonderful lunch. In the early afternoon, I got on line and looked up some cars. I called 4 or 5 dealers. The fifth one had the exact year, model and color of car that I wanted. The bonus was it had really low mileage and the asking price was right (and it could only go down from there). It was in the late afternoon by now and the dealership was closing in an hour. I thought to myself, well its too late today. I'll go Monday night when they are open later.

Then I stopped myself. It was a tiny bit of resistance and fear of the new that made me think that. I told myself, I had dealt with any resistance. I was to get over to that dealership now.

I got to the dealership 15 minutes before they closed. I test drove the car. I negotiated the price and they even offered a good trade-in price for my old baby. Two hours later, I was driving off the lot with a new car, new license plates, all my stuff transfered from the old car to the new.

It was truly amazing. Truly a spirit-driven (pardon the pun) experience. It all worked out so perfectly. And I know it was because I had mentally cleared the way for the new. I thanked the old and opened myself to the new.

If you truly want new in your life, you must do the same.

Blessed Event

The other day, I received a small pamphlet from Catherine Ponder's ministry talking about blessing. The idea was to start blessing the things you have been condemning. So, for instance, if you have been complaining about your job or your boss, start blessing them. And then wait to see what happens and how things improve.

I thought this was a great exercise and maybe something I needed to do in my life right now (after all, there had to be a reason I received this -- as there are no accidents!). So I set aside some time the next morning and began blessing everything in my life I could think of. One of the things I blessed was my house and everything about it. The furniture, the plumbing, the heating and air conditioning, the electricity, the windows, everything.

So I was excited and looking forward to what all this blessing did. Here's what happened. That very night, for the first time in 3 years, the electricity went out! And due to storms in the area, my electricity has gone out 3 more times in the last 24 hours. So much for my blessings!!

But, seriously, what does this mean? I truly said my blessing with feeling. It was not just some rote exercise. I truly felt grateful for everything in and connected with my house.

Then last night, another huge storm blew through as I was riding home on the train. I heard people talking on their cell phones about tornados, electricity going out, trees down, flooding. All the way home I said my blessing -- but differently this time!! I said "I am blessed." "My car is blessed." (which was parked on the street surrounded by trees). "My home is blessed." I said this to myself over and over. When I got off the train, the town was deserted. The power was out, the streets where flooding. Many tree branches had fallen to the ground. An electical wire had been snapped by a fallen tree. One side street was roped off and impassible. I kept walking the 4 blocks to my car, wondering what I would find there. I waded through ankle deep water in a low spot in the road. I turned the corner and found my car. PERFECTLY FINE!! There were tree branches all around it, but nothing had hit my car. It was blessed!

Then I drove through the darkened streets to my home. The power was on in our little neighborhood and the streets were not flooded. I got into the house and everything was fine. My home was blessed!

Do you see the difference between the two experiences? I have made a distinction. The first time, I was doing the blessing. I was bestowing my blessing on things and people as if I were some exaulted leader. (Read ego -- even though I did not realize it at the time). The second time I was declaring that things and people are blessed. Blessed by Source, blessed by God, blessed by Spirit. Remember, as Jesus said, "I of myself can do nothing, It is the Father within that doeth the work." So really I cannot bless anything in that way. I can have good will toward someone or something. I can stop condemn things, circumstances and people. But I will not be blessing people or things from now on.

I will declare and affirm that I am blessed and people are blessed and things are blessed. Not by me but by the infinite Love and Givingness of Spirit.

That is my blessed event.

New (old) inspirational book

I just have to share with you the latest book I've read and that is now available at ConsciousKernels.com. It is called "In Tune with the Infinite" and it was new to me, but written in 1897! So new-old. I have to say that this is one of the most profound New Thought/Metaphysical books I have ever read, and I am so happy to share it with you. It is even more astounding to me to know when it was written -- 110 years ago. It is so insightful and uplifting and amazing. While reading and after reading it, I guarantee you will feel you have "touched the hem". It is a bit hard to describe, but you will feel more connected, more in touch, more conscious, more aware of and with the "Big Picture." Truly an incredible work. Not to be missed.

What I like even more about this book is that it is both practical and esoteric. Get something useful in your day-to-day living and be spiritually uplifted too. I am truly grateful I found this book. I intend to read it again and again.

Maybe once lost in the shuffle and forgotten, this book truly has staying power. It is just, if not more, relevant today as it was when it was written. Ralph Waldo Trine, the author, was truly ahead of his time. Whether he realized it or not at the time, he is one of the great Truth teachers.

I urge you to get this book and let it change your life!

Until next time...