March 4, 2012

Samuel: Hello, dears.

Hello, Samuel.

S: Well aren’t you looking good. How are you?

Good.

S: What are you? Like that one. Shining. Yes. Come on. What are you?

Spirit in form.

S: Spirit in form. That’s right. You are energy, you are frequency. You are magnificent. A powerhouse of love simply floating through the world looking for a way to express that love because it’s what you are, it’s what you’re about. Love is the function of Source in this world. So when you live that love, what are you doing? You are being Source in this world. Or a world.

What do you think this world really needs? A lot of Source in this world. So you have a lot ahead of you. Because this is a very important year, and a very important time, and your lives are showing it. And sometimes that means your life is showing it because things are flowing beautifully, and you’re feeling good, and you’re enjoying yourselves. And sometimes it means your life is showing it because things are somewhat in chaos. “Wait a minute Samuel, I think you made a mistake in the way that you said that, because you cannot mean that if I’m doing what I should be doing things might be chaotic, are you?” Yup, that’s what I am saying. Have you noticed it? What do you think that’s about?

We, just in this area, just experienced a lot of serious storms.

S: Ya think?

But I noticed that people in those areas were taking care of each other and helping each other. And it was just . . . I wondered and figured it was not always quite like that, but in this time was created an opportunity to be really the best of yourself.

S: In the midst of the great problems that the storms have brought about there have been many opportunities for people to express the best of themselves, to choose to act in the best kind of way. It is a pity, sometimes, that that is what it takes. But sometimes that is the case. People like to stay in their own little caves. It’s part of that old hermitage from long ago; “I’ll just stay in my little cave and drink water and eat grain, and mark the days on the wall. And by doing so, I will become purified and holy.” Right. Whereas what I will tell you is that what makes you purified and holy, if you will, is living every day out in the middle of the world, being the best you can, loving the best you can. But that idea of just hiding in my little cave is still around, not only in other countries where they literally are in their little caves, but some of you have your own version of a little cave. You call it your home, but you just snuggle in and do all of your living there, missing out on the world and on the opportunities to spread your light and your love into that world. Living in a cave is not for this time. What is for this time is living in the trenches. And when you are out in the trenches, particularly right now, you have the opportunity to find out what you are really about.

And at the last Lifescapes, I started with a small exercise. And I’m going to give that same exercise to you. I want you to think about how things have gone over the last few weeks for yourself. Maybe the month of February since we were together like this last, and I want you to think about two things you’d like to keep experiencing—two really good things that came about for you—and two things you’d really rather not experience again. Let’s have more of this and less of that. Two things each.

You thinking about it? [Pause] Got your four? All right. If you can’t get any better than that, how about one each. Get out of your cave more often. Now, this isn’t to share with the group. This is just for you to think about, and while you’re thinking it through, I’m going to tell you a couple of things.

One of them is, this is a very important year. Now, is it a very important year because this is 2012 and all of the ancient prophecies have said that the world was going to end in 2012 because the Mayan calendar said it was over then? No, that’s not the reason.

But will it?

S: Well, yes, the Mayan calendar is ended at 2012, but it doesn’t mean that your world is. You’ve got a lot longer than that. Sorry. Keep at it.

No, that’s not the case at all. It’s a very special year because you are here; you are in it. You are awake and alive and you are here in this world to make a difference and this is a year where you’re going to have more of a chance to get that going than you have ever before. And as I said when the year began, the first six months are going to be a lot of internal work.

[Aside] That’s more here . . .  so I’m not going to hit on it too much.

I got distracted—sorry. Clothing. [. . .] Even though it would be a lot more comfortable, Gwendolyn says, “Keep it on.” I have a deal with the form. I wouldn’t have done otherwise; it’s all right, it’s safe.

Where was I? Really getting into this inside the first six months, right? And that the second six months would be more putting it out there. Well, by looking at those couple of things that you really enjoyed and would like to see continue and those couple of things that you did not enjoy so much and would rather not repeat, you are giving yourself the opportunity to see two very, very important things. So think back or look back on your notes as to what those two things are, because here is what you are seeing: The two things you’d rather not repeat are the things that are challenging you. Now, it doesn’t mean that particular instance will keep cropping up, but look at what that’s about. That issue, that is what is a weakness for you. And this could be many different sorts of things, but I can pretty well guarantee that at its very foundation, at its most basic place, you are going to find a fear.

In this world there are two things that motivate you, push you. And in a very general way of expressing it, fear motivates you. Now it might motivate you to get in a cave and cover your head, it might motivate you to take action to try and change things, but fear is a motivator. So is love. And it doesn’t mean romantic, once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-princess-named-Margaret . . . that’s not what I’m talking about. I mean your function as Source in this world. Your special talents and gifts that you have brought in with you in order to best function as Source in this world. These are found in those things you like the most, the things that stuck out as “that was really good and I’d like to see it repeated again.” And you’d like to see it repeated again because it was successful for you in one way or another. It was a good thing. Why was it a good thing? You want to look at that one, you want to work that one through, figure it out, because it’s going to show you one of your abilities, talents, gifts. “Well, Samuel, I’m not so sure it did. It was just getting together with friends. We had a really good time over Valentine’s Day. I knew I would remember, it would come back eventually. We had a little party and it was just a bunch of friends getting together and we had a good time, and we enjoyed it. So what’s the talent in that?” Somebody?

Being a hostess, and creating what you’re going to serve, what you’re going to do, the space . . .

S: Perhaps it is your ability to organize, to put together. Maybe it’s that ability you have to bring people together, which is really rarer than you think. What else could it be? “We just had a bunch of friends over.” How could that be a talent? What kind of talent might show up in that?

Maybe some social skills . . . that you’re out in the world, that you have friends.

S: That can say a whole lot. It’s very true. That you’re capable of making friends, having relationships. Children do it easily, don’t they? And yet adults not so much. What happens?

Too busy and too caught up in your own thing.

S: Yes.

Trust.

S: Yes. Yes. When you become an adult, you don’t trust the same way a child does. A child trusts, “You’re going to like me because I like me. I’m a lot of fun.”

I still think that.

No comment.

S: And you’ve got a lot of friends. Those people who make friends wherever they go, that kind of person stands out because most adults, particularly in this culture—which is, by the way, one of the friendlier cultures—adults don’t do that. Making friends is a gift you give yourself as you become a gift to the other.

Now where were we with how could something as simple as having a bunch of people over be a talent or success? Any other ideas with that?

It shows that you are able to interact with a variety of people and to find common ground that way.

S: The ability to relate to others, and that’s another thing that isn’t so easy. That’s the way I’m wanting you to look at this. The actual scenario is the code, and in that code are talents, gifts, successes you have. It’s a message for you. Read the message from it and show yourself two things: the abilities you have and will need to use this year for your successes, and the distractions, difficulties, challenges that are going to stand in your way as you go. Again, as a reminder, the very bottom of it, the very foundation of it, is a fear. Now, truth be told—and I always do—this is something you could do every month: looking back on the last month and learning a lot about yourself. You could give yourself a gift of your gifts and awareness of the challenges you’re dealing with.

In every life—and here I’m just going to border a little bit on the land of airy-fairy, all right, since I spend so much time there most of the time; just a little here—you come with certain abilities waiting to blossom, and you also come with compacts of challenges waiting to help. “Hold on, Samuel! My challenges aren’t much help. I don’t think they’re any help.” Let’s think about that for just a minute before we move off to what I’m really talking about tonight. Can you think of a situation in your life that you really resisted, did not want, and yet it ended up actually being pretty good? Or a situation, perhaps, in your life that perhaps was very hard on your heart, hurt, painful, but through it perhaps an opportunity presented itself or you grew from it in a very good way. Have you had that kind of situation in your life? That’s what it’s meant to be. What keeps a dreadful situation from becoming a gift? Do you know?

Your perception. Your reaction.

S: Your reaction, your perception, your resistance,

Sometimes you don’t want to let go of it.

S: Maybe it’s too good of a friend. “Ooh, I don’t like it but I don’t know I’d like anything else either.” Who said the word wallow? I like that one—“I think I’ll just wallow in it”—because it is based in fear.

Lakshmi.

Samuel, whenever I’ve gone through something like that and I look back, I realize that the biggest fear I’ve had to deal with is that I wasn’t enough to deal with it. And you’ve said that mastery is generating more choices. And so as I know more about it, the biggest fear is that then I will have no excuse to do what I’m here to do.

S: [Joking] I don’t live in time.

More maybe perhaps a question. This doesn’t mean that some experience that you had didn’t suck. It just means you were able to work with it, learned from it, and move beyond it, correct?

S: It doesn’t mean it did not hurt, it did not suck. Especially in tornadoes that you’ve been dealing with these last few days. They’re all about suck and destroy. It doesn’t mean you haven’t had your heart torn out or any of those other things. But you know people who’ve had a horrible experience and choose to wallow in it, who live in it years later.

Identified by it.

S: That’s right, it’s their identity. Afraid to let it go. Lakshmi said that that very wise person said to her that your fear ultimately is about “I’m not enough to handle this. I’m not big enough, bright enough, smart enough, clever enough, loving enough, human enough, and spiritual enough. I’m not enough.” The very thought of it breaks my heart because it is a statement that you are blind to what you are, that you are out of touch with what you are. It also isn’t a statement about situations that are there because of someone else’s free will, because you have a lot of those in your life. But in the very same answer to it, it doesn’t matter how it comes up. Don’t stay there. Choose to act with what you know at that moment, not what you’ll know tomorrow. What you know at that moment to be the most loving thing to do. And sometimes that means getting yourself out of there. When you are caught in “I am not enough,” very often going back to what Lakshmi was saying is very often, that’s an excuse that is just covering up “I don’t want the responsibility.” The responsibility of being what you are instead of the luxury of wallowing in who you are. Got that? Who you are is this stuff [skin]. What you are is this stuff [indicating something much greater]. What you are is Source in this world. You are indeed the power behind all of creation because you are a function of that great Creator. Source functioning in this world is an expression of love, and all it requires for you to start getting in touch with that self is to choose not to hide from it but to start day by day, little steps, little steps, doing—here it comes—the best you can, where you are, with what you have—key words:—at the time. And you have what you need to do that. Have you ever heard that expression, “People are like tea bags? You don’t know how strong they are until they’re in hot water.” I have no idea where that one came from. It seemed to work so I put it out there. That’s why there can be times in which that hot water is the gift. Shows you how strong you are. Of what can be.

Give yourself the gift of giving yourself this little review: two things you really liked; two things you did not. Over the last couple of weeks, over the last month. Get a sense of what you’re dealing with as your strengths and what you’re seeing as your weaknesses, because right now your weaknesses need your attention. They are taking over your life. You are spending more time looking at what is not working and either blaming it on yourself or someone else, or something else, rather than dealing with it. And yes, looking for the gift in it. And finding your strength through it.

This is a great year for you. It is a year of massive transition on every level. That means without a doubt it’s a year of chaos. Chaos is your friend. Tattoo it on your chest so you see it every day. I guess you’d have to tattoo it backwards wouldn’t you? Maybe on your wrist. “Chaos is my friend,” “Chaos is my friend,” “Chaos is my friend.” Because it is. It tells you that creation energy, creative energy, is at work and it only needs one thing to make it yours, to make the power of it yours. What is it that’s needed? Just one thing. Say it aloud.

Intent.

S: Intent. It needs intent. And that is where your March message comes in. It’s a pretty quick and easy one. Pay attention, beloved one, to what you are thinking these days. Be careful about what you think, how you think. How you think? What could I mean by that? I’m not sure I can say this to make it make sense, but work with me. Sometimes you don’t think about thinking; it just happens, like it’s its own thing. Or you’re not thinking, not realizing that that is thinking to not think. It is. Harvey.

When you say thinking, would this be the same thing as being alert?

S: Well, yes. Conscious, alert. Paying attention to what you are thinking. Why would I want you to pay attention to what you are thinking?

If we just let our minds ramble . . .

S: And they do . . .

. . . and if it’s tied with emotions and beliefs, and if they’re old ones that no longer serve you, then you have that going on in your mind, and that is putting out an intent that is unconscious in a lot of ways. So it can be as much as, “Am I thinking a negative thought, am I thinking about the situation in a negative way, or am I thinking about it in a positive way?” If I can catch myself when I’m doing it in a negative way and transform that, I am in control of the power of the intent that’s going out in my thought.

S: How long did it take to come to know that as you do? Was it something that just one day was just a great flash and it was there, or was it kind of a process?

It’s been a process. It’s been watching myself wallow in some things at times and to get to the point of where it was a tiredness that said, “I’m only going to give it this much energy in my mind,” and to stick to that. So, it’s my ability to say, “Enough. I’m going in this direction.”

S: If you’re not controlling your thoughts, your thoughts, I can guarantee, are controlling you. And that’s dangerous. Here is what happens. You have this lifetime of information that you have just been living with for years and years. Well, you never know what you really think about something until you really get tested on it. Sometimes you are convinced, “Ah, I handle that well,” and it happens to you and you find out that’s not true at all and you panic. Or “I don’t believe that I am unworthy,” until one Facebook comment is just a little bit negative and you just can’t handle it. Or one person doesn’t even have to say anything, they just sort of look at you, and all of that rubbish comes right to the top. If you are not controlling your thoughts, your thoughts, whether they are helpful, supportive or even real, will control you. And an example that I often use—but you know I do not repeat things for fun, I repeat them because you don’t get it—is that your ancient self, your ancient ancestors, learned that they had to be really, really careful of going into the world by themselves because there were bears. I actually had a lot of fun with this. There were bears in the woods and they would kill you. What’s your bear? Of some kind.

And so the way that that translates to modern humanity is, “Don’t ever learn to be strong and independent and on your own. Don’t make decisions by yourself. You’ve got to run it by someone who knows better. You’ve got to stick with the crowd, do what they do, because that’s the only thing that’s safe. Because that way the bears won’t get you.” And so you have this instinctual—and indeed very helpful at one point—sense that says, “Be careful wandering in the world of the unknown all by yourself, because you never know where there might be a bear around that corner, and you’ve got to stay safe,” right? But you translate that to become, “I think I’ll just stay in my own little cave and not risk anything that’ll get me hurt, and of course, everything hurts me!” And you live your life like that. There you were that open hearted, loving twelve-year-old, or eight-year-old—they start early nowadays—and you fall in love and it’s so nice, and you and your friend are just so close. But then the summer comes and you go your separate ways and when you come back to school the next year, your true love forever has different feelings now. Or maybe you have different feelings now. And so you learned early on love means betrayal. Brick number one around that heart: love means abandonment. Brick number two around that heart: love means having to let go of who you really are to fawn and beg and try to become what they want so that maybe there’s a chance to have that relationship again. And then you become twelve and you’re still doing it, and fourteen and you’re still doing it, and forty and you’re still doing it. These are the kinds of thinking that can run you. You get into a situation in which maybe there’s just the tiniest little bit of smell of that twelve-year-old’s experience, that eight-year-old’s experience—just the tiniest bit the same. And what do those uncontrolled thoughts do? They slam right in there with “Betrayal. Abandonment. Run!” Build that wall up higher and tighter and pretty soon you have an impermeable wall around your heart. And you don’t know you, afraid of love, and you develop your routines and you call it life. And you spend your life avoiding pain because you know you are too weak, and too incapable, and too woozy and sucky, and whatever else, to be able to get out of the trap. And you’re not!

The creative Creation Energy coming here now—and I promised Pittsburgh that I would start there at this Lifescapes—this energy is about you finding the best of you: controlling your thoughts, functioning creatively, speaking your truth, living your power. That was Intent, Thought, Word, Deed if nobody caught it.

David and then Bonnie.

I was thinking about how you think things. Through the years I think I’ve tried to evolve how I look at how I think in terms of perception of the world. I start to look at filters, glasses or spectacles. I used to get in the car and I’d put on my everybody-on-the-road’s-a-jerk glasses and now I put on my everybody-on-the-road-is-just-like-me glasses, and that’s a lot different. Or at work, I put on my I-hate-work glasses—no, I still wear those. [Laughter] Anything like that. In terms of my relationship with my parents, I used to think, I used to put on my she’s-a-controlling-monster.” Now I put on . . .

S: She’s a bear.

. . . stuck in her ways. It doesn’t have to have anything to do with me. I kind of like looking at it as a glasses kind of thing. It’s something you work through, as opposed to the negative of putting walls around me. That’s harder, less permeable and harder to change in some ways.

S: And yet it’s so acceptable to do it that way. When you’re standing around talking with most people, you’re probably talking about what you don’t like, what’s not working, what makes you unhappy. You call it things like, “Wow, this is really a hard day, isn’t it?” or talking about your sports team. Your sports team right now is doing exceptionally well, isn’t it? Any complaints? So maybe right now sports isn’t the one, but let’s change it to the other typical: How about the weather, or the boss, or the traffic, or the kids, the. . . ? On and on it goes. Because it’s common to talk about the grumbly things. It’s uncommon to make a point of changing that to something more positive, but it requires doing exactly what you said: changing the way you look at it. And I love that: imagine it’s a different kind of glasses. “I choose to see differently.” That’s a big one.

Oma cannot decide right now. Did I say Oma? Oh, my! Sorry, Cindy. Noki is not sure if she’s going to be the Seeing Eye dog or the shepherd tonight. You know that what she’s doing is wandering all around, figuring out who is here and doing her best to make sure she keeps you here. She’s watching you.

Bonnie, then Frank.

When I’m aware of my thinking, and monitoring it, and trying to change it, I do a pretty good job of running the teachings through my . . . and I convince myself that I’m seeing. Invariably, if it’s something that’s really bugging me, I’ll dream about it. In my dreams, I’m not very evolved. In my dreams sometimes, I react in a way that I wouldn’t when I’m awake. And I wonder if sometimes that is dealing with it, or . . .  I’m not sure what’s going on there.

S: Well, yes, in a way it is dealing with it, because you’re having the opportunity to see better what happens when you behave in a way that could be hurtful to yourself or others. You can see it going on. Always in your dream—and this is important to remember—you can, yes, try it, intercede within your dreams. You’ve had those dreams where you are sleeping and you must go to the bathroom, and you wake yourself up, don’t you? You’re tired of dreaming about water or something like that, right? Something. You wake yourself up. Or you’re in a dream, maybe it’s one of those cycles of dreams where you’re really stressed, and things are kind of crazy, and you tell yourself, “This is a dream. Let’s do something else.” Dreams are great that way. They’re an opportunity for you to see what your brain’s dealing with. They’re showing you your process and they’re giving you the opportunity to see it without harming anybody.

I think of it as saying, “I’m not through. I haven’t talked to myself enough. I haven’t really dealt with this issue. I’m still reacting. I haven’t worked it through.”

S: Better to do it in your dream than in your world. But you know, dreams are also more than that. Dreams are also opportunities for you to experience that which you cannot do in the limitations of this world. Some of those dreams, those real dreams with a beginning and a middle and an end, I call them dream school. And they’re opportunities for you to act and do and gain and learn and grow. And they also give you the opportunity to learn. But they are your spirit learning, as opposed to those kind of disjointed ones where your brain is learning. Know the difference, but in either case choose to learn from it. Something Bonnie has said before but did not say now, but I am going to touch on it anyway, is that she’s finally got something worked out, she’s got her mind working well, she’s positive, she’s anchored right in it, it’s great, and then one of her kids or grandkids does something that—poof!—feels like you’re going right back where you started. And you have a lot of those experiences in your life. And you have a choice when you have those experiences. You can just beat yourself up, go ahead, feels good, “I’m so awful I’ll never get this! Life is so bad, I’m such a terrible Guardian, what am I going to do?” Go ahead. It’s very useful. Shows you what you shouldn’t do anymore. Or look at it and say, “I’m not going to do that anymore.” Catch yourself. In the same way I’m always encouraging you to catch yourself doing something good, pat yourself on the back. Catch yourself when you’re not doing good, face it and choose not to do it again. Consciously, purposefully.

Frank.

I was thinking about the way, as you said, people get together and talk about negative things that they’re experiencing. And I wonder if that may not come back to almost cellular memory, when in a tribal society, when we’d talk about what didn’t work and dangers were so we could come up with some ways to overcome it.

S: Certainly that makes sense.

So we still kind of think it will help to talk about the bad things, but it doesn’t.

S: It’s like the, “You have to express how you feel. You’ve got to talk about your anger.” No, you don’t. You’ve got to get over it, not nurture it like a chicken on an egg. “I’m going to see if it hatches out more bile and confusion, irritation and anger. I’m going to hold onto this. Oh, goody!”

Michelle.

When speaking about not doing it again, I have experienced it very often when I bake and I do my gluten-free products. Before, I never did anything vegan, and I never thought it would be good. So I bought some books, and with my husband beside me . . .

S: Brave tester, you.

So I will try recipes and if they are not good, my husband tastes it and will tell you, “This isn’t good.” I would write down on the recipe, “This is not good.” So for me, it’s enough that my husband is a guinea pig, and he tastes something unusual.

S: I want you to think about having a dream, having a vision, having a desire to do something good, maybe new in your life, while I tell you a little bit more behind that story.

Michelle is a very amazing cook. She is one of those gifted with liking it. How many of you in here like to cook? You should get together and help those who did not have their hands up. But she became very aware of the changes that come into your life when you are no longer eating animal-based foods, and are eating a plant-based diet—the physical/mental/emotional health—it all starts showing up. She’d never done that before. Ooo! Faced with possible failure, “What if I make a mistake? What if this isn’t liked? What if this is no good? I’ll be a failure! I can never do it again! I’ll just crumble in a little ball and hate myself.” She did not do that. She gave it a try, and had some good results and had some not so good results, but kept trying. How many of you have tasted her baking? Oh, yeah! And how many of you who tasted it are grateful she kept trying. But what if she had just stopped? “I tried it with this cake. It did not work, it was no good. I’m never going to do it again.” No. She made muffins instead. She made a pastry. She kept trying something else.

And that’s the kind of thing this current energy is good for because it is creating/creation energy. It’s the kind of energy that if you’re not afraid to make a mistake you’re going to have the time of your life. “But Samuel, I learned very early on as a young child that if I made a mistake, I would be hurt.” And there is a lot to be said for a generation of people who grew up with physical punishment. There’s also a lot to be said about a generation that did not.

Everything is about moderation and consciousness. A whole lot of people have the attitude of if I make a mistake it will be painful, or it will crush my world, or I’m going to be harmed by it. And you’re so afraid to make a mistake that you don’t try anymore. And your life is pretty much a rut, and you have your routines and you don’t know what feeling fulfilled and successful and doing what you are here to do feels like because you are so afraid to try. “Well, I’ve tried to do this twice, and I’ve tried to do that. And I’ve tried to do this. And none of its working and I just think I’m a failure.” Because you tried four times and quit? What a wuss! Knowing what you are capable of is not a guarantee you’re going to be perfect at it. It’s going to take practice. And practice means sometimes you hit the wrong note on that piano. Sometimes the ingredient isn’t exactly right. Life is about becoming your best. You are already perfect, so maybe life is about unlearning that you’re not. And the process of that unlearning is what allows you to reach the best of what you can be. Don’t miss these opportunities. Do not let fear run you, do not let old patterns take you over, old beliefs do your thinking for you.

You are here in this world to make a difference. You are a function of Source in this world. But it won’t do anything for this world if you don’t know it, if you don’t allow yourself to get over the old stuff and become new. You’re here, here in this place because you have been burdened by a huge heart all of your life, because you have known that you are different, but special. That you are here to do some good. You know that. Do not miss the opportunity to learn how to live that. Because that’s what this world needs: you at your best. And it’s not so hard to get there. It’s just a matter of being willing to scrape your nose now and again when you fall flat on your face. You get back up, you keep going.

Know your gifts. Know what holds you back. Pay attention to what you’re thinking. Focus your intent on what you are. And as simple as that sounds, it’s an everyday process. But by doing it, you will change this world. And that’s the point.

Glochanumora.