What matters ...

 
I don't necessarily agree with the exact wording that goes with the above image, but I really liked it for today's post, it makes me feel better.  It's been a big week for me, with increasing pressures and difficulties, although my time in the Chair with John on Friday evening was deeply good.

At last night's meeting, in speaking to a questioner, John said: 

"Being on cutting edges of 

discernment and realization 

is of greater value than

the answer that comes out of it."

When the pressure is on big time it's difficult for sure and, in spite of using all my deeper resources, things aren't always as clear as I'd like them to be.  At such times, I simply do the best I can with what I have and with what I'm able to honestly discern, acting accordingly and accepting the consequences ...

I'll be asking John more of your brilliant questions later in the week, but meanwhile if you've got anything you'd like to ask him, please send in your question in the usual way.

Until next time,

Love,

Shanti   

Responding to Greater Reality

John de Ruiter

I've been really enjoying the live broadcasts of John from The Netherlands.  I can feel how powerful that Seminar is for everyone participating and I love being able to connect with John and what is happening there.  And I'm looking forward to seeing him again this Friday back here in Edmonton.  What a magical being he is.  
During yesterday evening's talk John spoke to a woman who had clearly surrendered to what she knew the truth of in her heart - here's a couple of Golden snippets where he spoke of  not letting anything in the self or in life distract from what the heart is responding to:

"Make mistakes rather than suffering any distraction.

Mistakes won't stop you.  You learn from mistakes

- you don't learn from distraction." 

When he spoke of what occurs when we do respond to Greater Reality, he said:

"The gifting to the planet is all behind you.

You're not the bearer of gifts

- they spring up behind you."

 

He then spoke of walking out through the desert with the desert in front of you, saying:

"The desert behind you turns into garden."

   

 Ahhh ... that magical Oasis!  Today is the last day of the Seminar, so if you're in The Netherlands - or watching the broadcasts - enjoy!

Until next time,
Love,
Shanti 

Bonfire of the Vanities!

The title of this week's post refers not to the movie, but the far older practice of burning objects deemed to be occasions of sin - where 'sin' refers to missing the mark, or going against God's will... 

 As life continues to move at incredible speed I am, more than ever, aflame with wanting to be sharper, wanting it all to come together in me - now!  This morning, for example, I noticed a thought about not wanting to do something I had to do today.  If I give such thoughts my energy/belief then I'm in a world of pain and small self.  In letting such a thought go, I get to stay in what's deeper and lovelier.  Then whatever I do, whether it's working or painting in my studio - either way, the opportunity in life more than ever is to come from that deeper living Knowledge and true way of being. In that, doing something my small self wants to react against is all fuel for the bonfire of the vanities!

Speaking of blazes, John was aflame on Sunday afternoon.  Here's some Golden snippets:

"If you're under pressure

whatever you're coming from that pressure feeds."

"There's value in you, as awareness, under pressure

being in your weakest weakness.  

Your weakest weakness is you, 

from within the deepest, 

being meaning Knowing."

"When meaning Knowing is under pressure,

because of the subsequent and outward bodies that it has,

such as the heart, the self, the person,

compression builds."

"Where there is compression

Knowing within becomes hot.

That heat gives density to Knowledge - 

it gives density to meaning Knowing.

That density of Knowing becomes 

like a burning coal within the heart."

"When you're not, as awareness,

relating to meaning and you're relating

to what you experience in your self,

holding what you think and feel in your self

as being primary then, as awareness in your heart,

you're closing and hardening."

"Pressure fuels 

whatever you are being 

in your heart."    

This coming weekend John is back in The Netherlands for what will surely be an awesome five day retreat.  For more information on that, please click here.   And there will be another dialogue with John in a couple of week's time, so if you have a question you'd like to send in, please do so in the usual way.

Until next time,

Love,

Shanti 

It's nearly the end of summer ...

Last of the summer bike rides here in the northern hemisphere.

I've had some feedback from friends who were at the Nordegg retreat over the weekend and by all accounts it was a great time in the mountains and even the weather was good.  The next retreat with John is scheduled to occur in a few weeks' time in The Netherlands, for more information on that and to check John's schedule of events, just click here.    

It will be so good to get back into attending the regular meetings here with John and I look forward to seeing where he takes us next.  For all his wonderful help though, it is still up to each one of us to do our part in transforming ourselves into what it higher, lovelier and more true.  It's never been more apparent that the surface of things ain't where it's at, not at all.  Although when life provides profoundly difficult events to deal with, then my connection to that other-worldly loveliness is much more of a stretch, because the surface of things is demanding more of my attention.  But for sure, when life's a little calmer it's so good to pour into It, quietly loving It within and without, especially when I'm busy doing nothing.  One of the deepest times for loving It  is still most accessible in the meetings with John, he's such a quantum activator!  I wonder what's next ...

The next dialogue shouldn't be too far off, so as always please type any questions for John in the 'comments' below.

Until next time,
Love,
Shanti 

Blinded by the light

John is back and it was so good to be in the meetings with him again where he seemed to me to be weightier with Knowledge, kinder and more powerful.  And there was so much light coming from him at times I could hardly see him.  It was lovely, nurturing and simply so good.

Yesterday he spoke beautifully of the need to be the clarity that's in our heart.  Here's a few Golden snippets :

"Listen to your clarity instead of listening to your self."

"Your self is a loud voice,

the clarity that is in your heart

is a quiet voice.

You don't belong to the loud voices."

When he was kindly explaining to the questioner that she had little self problems because she listened to her little self, he said:

"It isn't going to stop until

you listen to your clarity

instead of listening to your self."

Yes, to not give in to the demands of the little self does cost us what's been our accustomed ways and reactions.  Yet, as John so cleanly pointed out, when we don't pay such cost, we are then victims of that little self instead of being, as he said: "more than your self and bigger than your self."  

John spoke of empowering the clarity by living by it and even by living for it.

"Everything that is yours belongs to your clarity."

 
In all this, as always, honesty and discernment are key in unlocking the door that keeps us imprisoned in that little self perspective.  And in that, the first thing that's clear is to open and soften ...

I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it to Nordegg this weekend, but it will no doubt be a blast for all those lucky enough to attend the upcoming retreat in the mountains.  A blast of fresh air, beautiful surroundings and of course more wise words and illumination from John.  I anticipate that a new dialogue with him will soon be scheduled, so please send in any questions for him in the usual way.

Until next time,

Love,

Shanti  

This Moment

It's a constant learning; to live in the moment.  The difficulties I wrote about in last week's post are on-going and I'm dealing with it all as best I can.  At times I feel I'm walking on a knife edge, not to get taken by all the anxious thoughts and feelings; to deal with it all with the help of what is deeper and calmer within.  That way of walking is truly only moment by moment. 

Somehow the summer break from John and the meetings is almost over as there's a meeting this Friday.  Though it seemed so long at the beginning, now it feels like it was over in a blink.

As I end this little post, I can feel the poignancy of life being made up of so many tiny moments and what an art it is to learn to live them well and with heart ...

Until next time,
Love,
Shanti   

Softening in the midst of Profound Difficulty

The past 24 hours have presented me with what can definitely be classed as profound difficulty.  For much of it, I was just thrown into the midst of the trauma and felt pretty overwhelmed and assaulted by the events.  But I have been increasingly going to my little bit within, to what is deeper than any trauma or circumstance, no matter how awful (and it has been awful) and I have been realizing more as a result of that orientation.  I know I use John's terminology a lot, but it is really good language for expressing the truth.  In the midst of this profound difficulty, I was presented with yet a bit more difficulty - and that could have easily become too much ... but instead I have been achieving something like breakthroughs, in that I am able to, in the midst of all this awfulness, realize abilities which have to do with simply not making things any worse than they already are.  It's been so horrible, and I've been softening and softening - and still feeling it all - actually feeling more, I suspect.  But when yet one more thing came along, and the tendency to harden and close was right there, I just didn't, I just became calm, it was like, I couldn't feel any worse, so I had to stay calm, and then I softened, and I just dealt with the extra difficulty.  I stayed open and soft and I dealt with it as best I could and I felt so much easier in it, I felt True. In fact in dealing with it in that open and soft way, there were some nice surprises, and it certainly wasn't remotely as difficult as it would have been if I had stayed in the hardening and tightening.  So that's what's going on.  It is still going on and I am doing my best.  I realize more than ever I think that life is like this; sometimes things happen and it can feel absolutely awful and it is absolutely awful, and yet, when I soften and stay in what is deeper and truer, when I don't harden and tighten and make a 'poor me' story out of it, I can live through these times with altogether more grace and loveliness.  More than ever, I get why John goes on and on about openness and softenss of heart - it is absolutely key to true freedom.  It's not about feeling blissful all the time, it's about being true in whatever circumstance life brings.  For that kind of learning, I am grateful and I see that it is what life is (an opportunity) for - that is the evolution.

Until next time,
Love,
Shanti