happiness

March 23, 2014 – The Heart’s Path to Freedom: 3. Understanding

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Tsu3/23/14 Rev. David McArthur
The Heart’s Path to Freedom: 3. Understanding

On our journey to be free the first step is Embrace your feelings, especially the ones not in harmony, identified by that reactive pain. When they come up, there is healing to do. Then turn on the power of the heart by Breathing Love. Today step three, Spiritual Understanding. It’s divine objectivity. It’s in the heart because love is there, God is there, and there is intelligence and light.

I found myself filled with anxiety and a very strong feeling to get away from a conference that I really wanted to attend. Feelings are something we experience, but are not our nature. It was time I healed my feelings. So I took time to be alone. I turned on the power of my heart and spent five beautiful minutes breathing love. Then I asked for understanding. Within that love is the wisdom to truly see. When we look at ourselves through the head it is judgmental. The brain loves right and wrong. We feel guilt, fear, blame. That’s why we don’t like to look at ourselves. But I was in my heart, breathing love, opening to Spirit, to the heart’s deep understanding. It is enlightening, compassionate. Wholeness is it’s nature because Divine Presence is wholeness.

We know a secret: God is good all the time —even when it doesn’t feel like it. There are those who are healed just by the spiritual power when they open to compassion. A young missionary found she was increasingly unhappy, even depressed. She didn’t know she could just go in and turn on the power by breathing love. But she prayed, asking for help, a beautiful expression of self love. She opened to that until she could the feel love. She asked for understanding. She then understood it wasn’t her dream, but her parents’. She needed to go home and attend to her own needs. She was freed of her unhappiness.

The medicine wheel is a wonderful part of the Native American teaching. One of its four directions is Eagle. This young lady had the experience of Eagle, seeing from above. Emily Cady put it this way: “Understanding is a spiritual birth, a revelation of God within the heart of man.” It’s a greater vision from God through the power of the heart. The Taoist, Lao Tzu, said, “The master observes the world but trusts his inner vision…His heart is open as the sky.”

Affirm Breathing love, I open to understanding. In a quiet moment in your day, ask, “Were there recent times when pain or emotions not in harmony came up?” Then Breathe Love. That openness is the opening to the beautiful, powerful individual you are. It brings understanding to everything in our lives!

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March 23, 2014 – The Heart’s Path to Freedom: 3. Understanding

by


3/23/14 Rev. David McArthur
The Heart’s Path to Freedom: 3. Understanding

On our journey to be free the first step is Embrace your feelings, especially the ones not in harmony, identified by that reactive pain. When they come up, there is healing to do. Then turn on the power of the heart by Breathing Love. Today step three, Spiritual Understanding. It’s divine objectivity. It’s in the heart because love is there, God is there, and there is intelligence and light.

I found myself filled with anxiety and a very strong feeling to get away from a conference that I really wanted to attend. Feelings are something we experience, but are not our nature. It was time I healed my feelings. So I took time to be alone. I turned on the power of my heart and spent five beautiful minutes breathing love. Then I asked for understanding. Within that love is the wisdom to truly see. When we look at ourselves through the head it is judgmental. The brain loves right and wrong. We feel guilt, fear, blame. That’s why we don’t like to look at ourselves. But I was in my heart, breathing love, opening to Spirit, to the heart’s deep understanding. It is enlightening, compassionate. Wholeness is it’s nature because Divine Presence is wholeness.

We know a secret: God is good all the time —even when it doesn’t feel like it. There are those who are healed just by the spiritual power when they open to compassion. A young missionary found she was increasingly unhappy, even depressed. She didn’t know she could just go in and turn on the power by breathing love. But she prayed, asking for help, a beautiful expression of self love. She opened to that until she could the feel love. She asked for understanding. She then understood it wasn’t her dream, but her parents’. She needed to go home and attend to her own needs. She was freed of her unhappiness.

The medicine wheel is a wonderful part of the Native American teaching. One of its four directions is Eagle. This young lady had the experience of Eagle, seeing from above. Emily Cady put it this way: “Understanding is a spiritual birth, a revelation of God within the heart of man.” It’s a greater vision from God through the power of the heart. The Taoist, Lau Tsu, said, “The master observes the world but trusts his inner vision…His heart is open as the sky.”

Affirm Breathing love, I open to understanding. In a quiet moment in your day, ask, “Were there recent times when pain or emotions not in harmony came up?” Then Breathe Love. That openness is the opening to the beautiful, powerful individual you are. It brings understanding to everything in our lives!

January 12, 2014 – The Second Step to the Heart: Heart Focus

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1/12/14 Rev. David McArthur
The Second Step to the Heart: Heart Focus

This is the Year of the Heart, both individually and also for a community of consciousness that touches the world. How do we get there? The first step is self awareness: stop, check, what do I feel—happiness? stress? unlimited anger? peace? Self awareness puts us at a moment of choice. Self awareness is in the brain, but this is the year of the heart. To experience San Francisco, you have to leave Walnut Creek. You can’t experience the heart in the head, you have to leave the head.

The next step is to shift from the head to the heart. Focus your attention on the area around your heart. Sense this part of your being—the energy there, the movement, the warmth. It is easier if you place your hand over your heart. One of the most powerful ways to focus attention on the area around your heart is to pretend to breathe through your heart.

So we got there. Our attention is now on our hearts. Why do we want this? The Koran says that whosoever believes, God guides from the heart. From the Hindu scripture, “I, the supreme Lord, the super-soul in every embodied being…you should meditate upon me within the heart and maketh me the God of life.” In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu says, “The great Tao flows everywhere…since it is merged with all things and hidden in their hearts.”

To find it we have to go find it in the heart. It’s the way we are designed. The brain interprets life. That’s wonderful, but it separates. The capacity to understand our oneness is in the heart. We have to choose to focus on the heart.

A nun who managed multiple half-way houses told David that this alone had changed everything. She asked everyone who came in suffering to place their hand over their heart and breath through the heart.

The first step is self awareness. The second step is heart focus. Keep checking in: self awareness—what am I feeling? Whatever, take a deep breath “through” your heart. It’s a beautiful feeling—breathe through your heart—our freeway. Breathe through the heart. “Whatever I am feeling, I take a deep breath through my heart.” Anchor there and bring the energy through the heart. In stress, pain, difficulty, or worry, put your hand on your heart. Take a deep breath through your heart. Watch the shift to the place where you connect with the divine, with greater balance, intelligence, peace. It is profound—it takes us to the heart, the place of connection. It’s gift is peace. Whatever I am feeling, I take a deep breath through my heart. Welcome to peace!

January 12, 2014 – The Second Step to the Heart: Heart Focus

by

1/12/14 Rev. David McArthur
The Second Step to the Heart: Heart Focus

This is the Year of the Heart, both individually and also for a community of consciousness that touches the world. How do we get there? The first step is self awareness: stop, check, what do I feel—happiness? stress? unlimited anger? peace? Self awareness puts us at a moment of choice. Self awareness is in the brain, but this is the year of the heart. To experience San Francisco, you have to leave Walnut Creek. You can’t experience the heart in the head, you have to leave the head.

The next step is to shift from the head to the heart. Focus your attention on the area around your heart. Sense this part of your being—the energy there, the movement, the warmth. It is easier if you place your hand over your heart. One of the most powerful ways to focus attention on the area around your heart is to pretend to breathe through your heart.

So we got there. Our attention is now on our hearts. Why do we want this? The Koran says that whosoever believes, God guides from the heart. From the Hindu scripture, “I, the supreme Lord, the super-soul in every embodied being…you should meditate upon me within the heart and maketh me the God of life.” In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu says, “The great Tao flows everywhere…since it is merged with all things and hidden in their hearts.”

To find it we have to go find it in the heart. It’s the way we are designed. The brain interprets life. That’s wonderful, but it separates. The capacity to understand our oneness is in the heart. We have to choose to focus on the heart.

A nun who managed multiple half-way houses told David that this alone had changed everything. She asked everyone who came in suffering to place their hand over their heart and breath through the heart.

The first step is self awareness. The second step is heart focus. Keep checking in: self awareness—what am I feeling? Whatever, take a deep breath “through” your heart. It’s a beautiful feeling—breathe through your heart—our freeway. Breathe through the heart. “Whatever I am feeling, I take a deep breath through my heart.” Anchor there and bring the energy through the heart. In stress, pain, difficulty, or worry, put your hand on your heart. Take a deep breath through your heart. Watch the shift to the place where you connect with the divine, with greater balance, intelligence, peace. It is profound—it takes us to the heart, the place of connection. It’s gift is peace. Whatever I am feeling, I take a deep breath through my heart. Welcome to peace!

Play

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November 15, 2009 – Cinderella (part 3): Steps to Happily Ever After

by


Rev. David McArthur

“…The divine essence within me, is my guide to spiritual living… Whether in an established time of prayer or a moment’s sigh of release, I am lifted into the light of divine potential where I receive guidance and inspiration. I consciously connect with the Christ and prepare to meet my good, to succeed and to prosper in my endeavors… ‘God chose to make known how great… are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.’–Colossians 1:27” Daily Word- October 15, 2009

Thank you Rev. David for the “how to”:

Begin with being grateful for the people, animal friends, or events in your life which take you right to that place within that feels closest to God. Then acknowledge the power and love that flows through your heart. Now feel your conscious union of mind and heart with God.

You empower your knowledge with your feeling. You “enliven” it. Now you can live it.  God bless.

— Your Prayer Team

Music

“Lord’s Prayer” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Walking in the Light” – Traditional, modified for Unity

“Peace Song” – Jill Jackson, Sy Miller