May 3, 1992

Samuel: Hello, dears.

Hello, Samuel.

S: Good group. Gifts!

I have a gift from inside, but it came all the way from a third world country. It’s been settling for a couple of weeks. I thought Costa Rica was going to be really, really different. I ended up staying really close to the hotel and not really going out and seeing a lot of the country. It was different, but what really struck me was how much the same it was and how, when we communicated with people, we wanted the same things. They wanted to know how comfortable we were and was there anything they could do to help us out. It seems like it’s been sinking in that you can go all the way around the world, but it’s all the same stuff. I mean we’re all doing the same things. It just sort of made me feel glad to be where I was at any time. I can do this magic anywhere.

S: You know, the more connected you are—connected as a word meaning the more you are able to allow the energy that you are to literally merge with the energy of that which is around you—the more you are able to recognize, to claim, what you are, then that is absolutely what you find, that wherever you go you touch essential levels, primary energy. It’s always home. Good for you. Aye. Nice work.

Another. Aye.

I’ve got to say that it gives me such joy to see these faces here. It’s been a number of years since I’ve been intimately involved with you all, and those years brought a lot of change in my life. That change has been both easy and difficult—easy in the fact that I’ve been able to manifest easily everything that I’ve wanted, and I give thanks; the difficulty has been that, when you’re out there living what you believe, then you’re going to be constantly challenged on your own convictions, and it’s something to live through. And I give thanks for those difficulties, because it has shown me another level of myself. And my gift is you all, because, while I’ve not been around, you’re always in my heart. And it is from this room that I’ve drawn a lot of strength. And I want you to please feel welcome to come out to Eartheart any time you like.

S: Especially because it is not so very often that one has the opportunity to walk in somebody else’s vision right here on the planet. Don’t forget that it’s only the master that is able to find power in the tough times.

One more, eh? Good.

I guess everyone mostly knows here that I have the gift of my daughter’s life. She fell off a cliff about three weeks ago. So many gifts I want to share, but I think that I learned through all of this about my own worthiness to receive what we received. I thank all of you.

S: You’re blooming big.

There were so many coincidences! It was so orchestrated. There was no doubt. But I just moved into the neighborhood. There were so many little details. My next door neighbor is a great man. Many gifts.

S: It is everywhere. The magic doesn’t end. The interesting thing for you to remember is that the truth of it is the magic never actually begins, either; it simply always is. That has not changed; that will not change. Your awareness, your willingness, your permission to yourself to be a magician, to be a great magician—this allows you access, freely and easily, to what you’ve always had available to you but could not see. It’s time to use it; it’s time.

I’m coming at you from a couple of different directions tonight, because what I desire to do is to really set things up. You know, one of the things that I don’t like to do is to encourage you toward any sort of teaching that says, “All right, here is what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to do this and this and this and this. And if you do these five things all the time, then you’re going to be happy and healthy and wealthy and wise,” or whatever it happens to be that you’re tending to want.

And yet, the truth of it is there are certain things within your existence that really will make a difference. The difference in this presentation, where you’re going to be receiving if you do this and this and this and this, you’re going to be healthy and wealthy and wise, from the usual ones, however, is that only you are in charge of which—any, all—of these are right for you. It’s never, ever—and I’m going to use one of those funny words—wrong to give yourself the opportunity to make choices. It is only “wrong” when you believe that that choice is the only one. It’s only wrong when you believe that if you do not follow that choice, there are no other chances, and wrong when you think that if you don’t follow that choice something will befall you that is unpleasant. This is not a chain letter, in other words. (Stuart got a very interesting piece of mail this week. I’m reading your mail these days, Stuart. “If you don’t send this off, we’re not saying that something bad will happen, but we are saying that plenty of others have had these bad things happen.”)

Here is why I’m moving in this direction tonight. One of my favorite things to do is to chat with you. One of my least favorite things to do is to find that, when I’m chatting with you and you and you, I seem to be saying the same thing to everybody, because that’s letting me know that there is some sort of mass consciousness thing going on. And usually it doesn’t have to do with particularly pleasant things. The message this past week has been, repeatedly, balance. Accept who you are; stretch for that which is new. You have the opportunity to start over—do it!

In very many different sorts of ways, that has been a fairly common theme. It has been a common theme because what I have been hearing, amidst the “SAMIEL!” has been the “You know, I just feel so detached; that’s good, isn’t it? I feel sort of lost. I feel sort of like nothing really matters, and something tells me this isn’t really healthy.

“Essentially, what can I do to claim this ascendancy that you say is coming? What is different than the last eight years of teaching, which says, ‘Do the best you can where you are with what you have?’ I don’t feel very different, and, in fact, in very many ways I feel a whole lot less connected. What can I do?”

Any of you been feeling that way?

Or worse.

S: A very powerful act of mindfulness is to be aware of what you are doing. To do things on purpose. Even when what you’re doing on purpose is choosing not to do. I choose to just sit in this chair and sip water and read magazines. But choosing to do that makes it an act of awareness. That sort of conscious living begins to change you.

Therefore, with that in mind, I want to talk to you about things that some of you have heard before. Some of you have heard them before and have not been doing them, because, in your amazing leaps of spiritual growth, you have grown beyond these simple measures—ahem. Some of these things you have heard before, but not necessarily in a spiritual context.

I’m going to be talking to you about things you can do physically and mentally to allow yourself to become more prepared, more ready.

All right, what was yesterday?

Derby Day.

S: Very good. How many were ready to say Saturday? How many thought Derby Day? Aye, this is Kentucky.

Now, with the exception of a few here, who are either involved in the equine industry in one way or another or who are perhaps compulsive bettors, very few of you, with the exception of one week a year, have a very good idea of what’s going on in the horse industry, do you?

What was the favorite in yesterdays race?

[Group] Arazi.

S: A month ago, had you heard of Arazi? A few had. What color was that horse?

Chestnut.

S: Good looking horse?

Yes.

S: How do you know? How do you know? How would you know what a good looking racehorse looks like? How do you know if that horse has hope in this Derby?

You study conformation.

S: Well, maybe you do. Is that how all of you do it—you studied equine conformation? Probably somebody whom you trust has told you this is a good looking horse. You probably figured that if this horse has been able to get into the Derby, then in all likelihood this horse has a bit of hope. They all do.

You also judge it by the ones you’ve seen in the fields by the roadside. You judge it by pictures of horses you’ve seen. And then you look at the performance, aye.

And that’s where this illustration’s got to stop, eh. And so it is with so many things that are a part of your life. On your own, you don’t have knowledge—proof—that this thing is going to work, that the meditation is going to do anything for you, that the exercise or the dietary change is going to make any sort of difference. There is nothing in you from your own knowledge that tells you this is going make a difference for you.

What I am going to tell you tonight fits absolutely within that category. Please do not give it stature that it should not have. Listen to what I am saying, unless you are an expert in these arenas and therefore agree with me [laughter], as you would, of course.

Do not take this information and just put it into your life with absolutely no knowing. That would be about as good as betting on—what’s the name of the horse that won?

Lil E T.

S: Lil E T? A mystery horse. Well some people did [bet on it]. Aren’t they glad!

My point simply is, take the information, run it through with what you know. You’ve seen pictures of horses, you’ve seen them on the roadside, you’ve listened to a commentator say this is a good one. Run the information through with what you know, and then give it a try. Look for performance. Never forget this.

With the exception of a few specific exercises given to a particular group at a particular time in which I say, “This is going to do this,” generally speaking, your trust in your performance is the determining factor whether you should continue something or not. If it works for you, keep it up. I am not a believer—and I’m giving myself the out—there are a few things [which], I’ll tell you, you’ve got to do for two or three weeks before you’re ever going to see a change.

My desire tonight is to show you shortcuts—and there are a few here or there. You give them a try. If they work for you, great. I do not believe that you should have to do them for six or eight or ten months, and if you notice any sort of change, then you’ll know that it’s all right for you. I think you should come back and report next week that it worked or it didn’t. I don’t think you should be wasting your time with exercises that were either designed for individuals two thousand years ago or that you’re not ready for right now, because that tends to be the issue. You’re either not right there yet or you’re so far beyond that it’s not going to do you any good. There is not enough time for you to do what you are here to do. There is not enough time for you to be wasting it on things that don’t work. So.

First things first. What you’re going to be hearing me do is something that you do not usually hear me do. I’m going to be fairly—I’m looking for a word here—fairly bold, opinionated. I’m going to be offering you “shoulds.” I want you to remember that that is specifically the style of this presentation. It is not a “should” for you. All right?

Again, only you should determine what you should do.

Having said that, I also want to tell you that I am offering an ideal program here. It is not a program that everybody will or—ahem—”should” follow altogether. But the more of it you do, the more you will find quick change.

Let’s start with the physical, because, after all, that’s what you are living in. The physical expresses itself through two major outlets: the actual working of the physical body and the working of the physical mind. You can increase the working of the mind by particular changes in what you do with your physical body. Every one of you, every day, should be taking a half-hour walk outdoors.

You should—all right, you get the feel for what I am doing. You may say, “All right, I am not going to take a half-hour walk every day, because three times a week I am doing bouncy-bouncy [aerobics] and twice a week I am . . .” whatever, whatever. And that’s fine.

Consistent exercise is the key here, specifically in the walk. There is to your advantage things you cannot get when you are training indoors with a group of sweating people. Let’s tell it as it is, eh? What you cannot receive is the stimulation that comes to your body from sunlight—even when it’s a cloudy day—from the air that you breathe and—hear this—the distractions that come your way. You will find, when you are in an indoor exercise situation, you tend to have the same. It may be different, different people, but it’s the same sort of routine. When you are taking a walk, you are in a world that is constantly changing. You are out in it. You are allowing yourself the opportunity to ground from the feet up; you are also allowing yourself the opportunity to begin the second part of the exercise that makes a big difference: When you are out taking a half-hour walk every day, practice awareness.

Awareness means making yourself attuned to what is going on around you. Now and again, do sensory checks: What is everything that I am seeing right now? What are all the colors? What are all the shapes, what are all the smells right now? What is everything that I am hearing? Sensory attunement.

Then go just one step farther. What am I feeling as I am going right now? As you do that, push yourself. Let me change how I’m feeling. Let me rev up a step or two or three or four, if you’re particularly down. I want you to begin playing with your mind, and by consciously recreating emotional states, you are preparing yourself for the opportunity to take part in merging of energy and, at a greater level, some of the higher healing techniques.

Recreating your state of mind. It’s not worth your energy to work at recreating depressing ones, so don’t do it. Stop thinking it, those of you who are smarty-brains.

So, happy. Can I get excited? What can I do to just make myself feel really good? Pay attention as you do that to what it is that you do. Am I increasing my pace? Am I putting a bounce into it? Am I changing my breathing pattern? Am I moving my arms differently? What am I doing? Make yourself aware of this process. That’s a lot going on in a walk. Does it matter to me how fast you go or how slowly you go? I just want you continually moving for half an hour. Yes, you can go longer than that if you wish, but whatever it is that you decide to do, do it consistently. “Half an hour isn’t long enough for me; I want forty or forty-five minutes.” That’s all right. But continually forty-five minutes, and when you don’t have time for it, you can’t slide back and say, all right, I’ll just do the thirty. If you’re not going to have time for it, break it up into two pieces—fifteen minutes and fifteen minutes. Every day a walk.

Every day a good stretch. A stretch from the inside out. Not only are there those here who are very at yoga, there are those here who teach it. Make it known if you do that, because yoga is a very good stretch. Specifically for you, however, what I am talking about in a stretch right now, if you are familiar with Salute to the Sun, it is a very good full body stretch. Five minutes of those will have you warm and stretched and feeling very, very good. If you do not know and do not choose to get involved in a yogic body stretch, that’s all right.

Essentially what I’m wanting you to do is this: stand up, take a very deep breath; feel yourself expanding from the solar plexus; exhale—push your diaphragm all the say in; then do a few pants just to get your body limbered up a bit; then breathe in; as you’re breathing in, stretch up, stretch back as far as you can go; hold; as you release very gently, slowly move your body forward and down to your feet. When you’ve got your feet up, raise your hands up again behind you, and then get back up. that particular function of stretch is going to stretch your whole body—not particularly evenly, but give you a bit of a stretch. Again, I recommend Salute to the Sun, but if you’re not going to teach yourself how to do that very quick and very easy group of stretches, then at least breathe, move up, down, and up again.

Your diet. All right, let’s talk about your diet.

Here it is, as clear as I can be—this choice is yours, all right?—this choice is yours—however, eating flesh doesn’t help you. Eliminating flesh and flesh byproducts from your diet will make a powerful change not only in how you feel, but in how you think. Yes, you too can be a vegetarian [laughter].

For those of you who are very smugly sitting there saying, “I already am,” let me remind you that being a non-meat eater does not necessarily mean that you have a good diet. Clean your diet up. Almost all of you are quite aware that this is the season in which you are able to, if not grow your own, certainly purchase some very live food, food that is perhaps only a week from the ground. Maybe you can get it fairly local—go beating on David’s door; you can get people out there and pick their own or something, eh? Perhaps you can even find a connection where you can get food even more recently than that. You might grow a few things on your own, who knows. Get as much live food—or just barely dead—into your diet as possible. Right now that means, eat your vegetables. Don’t kill them before you eat them by cooking them to death. I recommend that you give yourself a day each week of raw food, and that can be juice, it can be ground. Just don’t cook it.

Six to eight glasses of distilled water. Drink your water. Drink your water. Drink your water. It helps you. And until you are in the habit of drinking six or eight glasses of water, drinking water until, when you release it out of you it’s clear. All right? Do I need to be more clear than that? You got it.

Pay attention to those foods that affect you emotionally. There are two sorts of allergies. One allergy is a specific effect upon the physical body through—like a virus, the body attacks it. “This corn is not good. My body does not want it. I’m going to spit it out.” You’re allergic to corn, aye? Perhaps yours is—tell me one.

Wheat.

S: Wheat. What happens when you eat wheat. You get an upset stomach, perhaps; you don’t digest so well. Perhaps you’ve noticed such things.

What you don’t notice is that there are also emotional allergies, and those emotional allergies are absolutely as powerful in your system, but you’ve got to be more sensitive in order to be aware that that’s what it is. It’s not really your boss. Many of you have an emotional allergy. If, for instance, Frank eats too much acid food, especially tomatoes—many have problems with tomatoes and you don’t know it; you don’t know it because you don’t want to know it, mostly—when he has tomatoes, Frank, what happens?

[Frank:] I get depressed and irritable.

S: And are you sure that that’s what it is?

Yes.

S: And what do you mean by depressed and irritable?

I get sad and I get real short-tempered and angry real fast.

S: Sweet souls, it may not be that, as the Gateway opens and you are becoming so much more spiritually sensitive, it may not be that you are becoming so aware of other people’s negative energy, that you’re having to protect yourself and become a hermit. Perhaps you have fired up your system so much, meaning as your energy has been rising—and it has—and your body has been forced to try to adapt to it, it has been functioning at a much more acidic level, and it’s the highly acid state that’s giving you some problems.

Now, start cutting out some of that acid food. You may find you start liking people again. You might find they start liking you again. Tomatoes, too much sugar, no matter what kind it is—”I only get my sugar in fruit; I only have maple syrup.” Well that’s fine. Too much of it will have the very same effect as that grain of white sugar you’ve been avoiding. It will do that.

How many of you have been having allergy problems? Oh, the pollens out there, and the mold; it’s so awful, and your body just can’t take it, and you’re sniffing and you’re watering, and you’re sort of closed up—don’t answer; don’t raise your hand. You don’t want to admit this. How many of you are having allergy problems right now?

If you take dairy and acid foods out of your diet, you are likely to find a one hundred percent improvement. Sweet ones, you are probably not allergic to this planet that you chose to come on to, that is designed to nurture your life force. You are probably not allergic to the planet. You have probably so stressed your physical vehicle that any tap pushes you over the cliff. So, give a try.

I want to remind you that certain stimulants, certain depressants, which are a very pleasant part of many of your lives, really aren’t good for you: caffeine, alcohol, the good stuff, you know. Your body can’t experience its own natural high and low while you are messing with it. Your cup of tea to get you moving—and absolutely, tea is so much better for you than coffee. Surely it’s not a problem. I’m not talking making the best. I’m not talking now, all right, since it is that you used to drink a whole pot of coffee a day, just cut down to two or three cups of tea and it’ll be all right. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m giving you the whole hog. It’s wild pig time. But I want to remind you that you make the choices here. I am simply saying, you will find a difference. I will warn you, when you take yourself off of these addictive substances, you’re body is going to react. But it doesn’t matter; you’ll still feel better. Even though, if you have been addicted to caffeine—and you’ll know that you were when you have a headache for getting off of it—even though, by not having your cup of coffee, by ten o’clock you do have a headache to replace not having that coffee or that tea, you will find anyway an amazing thing happened. You were able to wake up and keep moving without it. Somehow you did not just fall on the floor and go back to sleep. Your body actually can function without these things, and you can pick it up and you can make it move.

Trade in your caffeine for a walk; trade in your alcohol for a walk. Because, just as it can perk you up and wake you up, it also can let you release and relax. For those of you who want it all, cut out all of the addictive substances. Do it. Just let it go. See how your body functions on its own. Remember that some of the chemicals in your foods, natural ones such as salt, are addictive. And that’s not saying have no salt in your foods; I’m saying be aware of this.

“Oh, it’s all right, Samuel, because I know that I can replace salt with tomatoes.” Aye?

Some of the chemicals that are in your foods you are highly allergic to, but of course you would not know that until you begin taking them out, and you would not know what effect they have on you until you start seeing how it is your body is without these things.

So that is my challenge as far as the diet is concerned. Drink more water. Be aware of acid foods, and try to cut down on the acid. And look to see if you have any sort of food allergies.

Essentially that is what I have said here. Those are the basic guidelines over and above stop eating flesh and byproducts of flesh—that’s a given.

Giving yourself those guidelines, see what works for you with the purpose being, how does my body work on its own. How does it function? Where do I need help? Where don’t I need help? Stop living in unawareness. After a week you know—I cannot live . . . . No, let’s change that, because that’s not how it is. What you must say instead is, “I choose not to live without three cups of coffee in the morning, a cigarette at noon, and a glass of wine at supper. I choose not to live without these things.” And that’s all right. But know that that is your choice. You are choosing that experience, and you are doing it by knowing what the alternative is.

The alternative six months ago is not the same as it is now. Although you knew what it was like to stop drinking a month ago, that’s not who you are now, so start this over and do the process again.

Second, the mental parts of this. This is going to sound like a physical should; it’s actually a mental one: Finish all of your showers with a blast of cold water. [Reaction from the audience.] Oh, that doesn’t hurt! Such babies! Grow up.

What shower?

S: Hop in a cold tub, then. The reason that you want to do that is twofold. The first one is, it’s an absolute act of courage. [Laughter] I mean that. I mean that. And it’s so good for you to express yourself in small, simple acts of courage. Along with it being an act of courage, it’s also an easy discipline that will allow you consistent successes with something that’s simply a discipline—”All right, let me start turning off the hot now. Okay, did it for the day; it’s over now.” That’s all right.

The second effect that has, over and above the first set of them, is that it actually starts teaching the fright/flight portion of your brain that there are a lot of surprises in life, but you tend to live through them. [Laughter]

Do you know why these people are laughing? Because, for the last three months, their lives have been so unpredictable, and they have been always in flight mode.

Truly, it is a means of teaching yourself, in a gentle sort of way, to cool it—couldn’t resist.

If you have a dog, you can use the dog barking at night to learn to disconnect and play with that shock when it wakes you up suddenly. It’s really wild, the things you can do…

S: The things you can do to teach yourself to stop over-reacting, to teach yourself to stop shoving yourself up into a tiny ball and trying to move through life this way, because that’s what you do. To begin teaching yourself, on an even more subtle level, to learn to relax with what hits you. And sometimes it might be cold water. All right.

Second, a very strong should: You hang around with the most rotten people; cut it out! You do. Now, stop it. Why do you do that? Charlotte just looked at Gayle and said, “See, I told you.” You knew it all along, didn’t you, Gayle?

And, although you are welcome to go ahead and make a joke out of that and look at your mate and look at the people you enjoy being around, and say, “Gee, I knew that; I shouldn’t hang out with you so much; all right, I’m stopping the Monday night meeting”—you can do that if you wish. But what I’m saying is exactly what you know I’m saying: You have friends with whom you spend some of the worst times of your life consistently. And maybe you work with them and you can’t get away, but perhaps you can do something to change the nature of the experience. But certainly what you can do is consciously choose friendships with those who feed you, with whom you laugh, where you feel happier, that bring out the best in you.

I want you to tell me, on a hypothetical basis, of course, what would be the types of activity that tend to be signals that a relationship might not be feeding you. Maybe you haven’t laughed, not just for five minutes, but for five years. Perhaps it’s boring or you don’t feel happy.

Complaining.

S: It’s a complainer’s group; you just get together and gripe—isn’t that healthy; doesn’t that feel good; doesn’t that just help you release everything? Well, there is a particular sort of plant, and it’s very, very good with raw meat. It’s Venus flytrap. Get one of those and complain to it. It will soak up that energy and get stronger for it; it’s a carnivore. You don’t need that.

More. “Oh, I just don’t even know what those behaviors are. Aye.

You feel drained after you’ve been around them.

S: You feel drained, because you’ve either been having to put out so much energy or you’ve not been yourself. All of your issues kind of come up all of the time with these people. They’re not spiritual enough for you. They’re too spiritual for you. (Absolutely any time somebody’s not spiritual enough for you, it means that they’re too spiritual for you. I promise. Always. Always.)

Work to secure intimacy with individuals and groups that feed you, that’s what I’m saying. You don’t have enough time to waste with these relationships that bring out the worst in you. And they do. They bring out the worst in you. Give it a break. See if you cannot change it. Don’t just drop it; see if you can change it. See if you can change it by refusing to play by the rules. Don’t gripe; don’t gossip; don’t slow down and give second best. Be the best you can where you are with what you have. Bring yourself up to a high and happy level, and if it doesn’t work, then maybe they’re not going to feed your mind, and you should look for that outlet elsewhere. Think of somebody who really loves you, and be around that person more. And for those of you sending me very loving thoughts, you’re right, but it’s hard.) Be around that person more. Cultivate that love.

Back with the mind. Give five compliments each day. And count them off; be sure you’ve done it. Five compliments. A compliment is an act of completion, so it’s not, “Oh, you look so nice!” It’s making a statement from the heart.

End your day with a conscious spoken awareness. If you do not live with another—or whom you live with you cannot word this in such a way it would be acceptable to them, which means that your imagination has fairly well gone flat, because you should be able to come with a way to do this. If you live with yourself, journal this; otherwise, speak it out loud, if only to yourself—the good things that happened to you that day. “These are the good things that happened to me today.”

Tell me one, Frank.

Today I sat out on the back porch and ate breakfast, and I enjoyed the beautiful blue sky and the green trees.

S: Lovely. Very good. Tell me one, Suzie.

Well, I got a lot accomplished. I got my collages done.

S: Good. Aye. Putting your mind to beauty, to harmony, to love, to what works instead of what doesn’t work. Go to sleep with the angels instead of the demons.

Every day, choose God alternately with Goddess. Of course, what I’m working on here is your constant memory that Source energy is not God or Goddess alone, and that by—for some of you, in your over-compensation for so many years of patriarchal energy, now you’re only talking to goddess energy. That doesn’t quite fit, either. Choose—perhaps even days god energy, odd days goddess energy—that sort of fits, don’t you think? And specifically, through the day, talk appropriately—stream of consciousness, continually talk to god, to goddess. Communicate; talk, constantly. “Good grief! Did you see that? My goodness.”

God energy has to do most specifically with the out-of-form and the active, and the goddess with the creative aspect, the inner. So therefore, when you’re talking more to the goddess energy, you might, appropriately speaking, speak then, when you see Joy, say, “I have such a lovely time, Goddess, when I see Joy. Thank you so much. You know, her creative self is such a powerful reminder of your creative energy, and I become more aware of this world, and it’s so beautiful, and thank you for all the colors of the trees and the flowers and how lovely it is.”

God day, same thing. “Thank you that Joy is here and in form. Thank you that Joy is in my life and making changes and doing things in my life.” Or whatever it happens to be; active particularly, right there, right now. “Here are the things that have made a difference. Thank you for Phoenix and the activity there. Thank you for the work that I’m doing, the job that I have, and these are the things that are going on in my job that are kind of worrying me. and, Goddess, I’m going to talk to you tomorrow about these things, because here is how I see them affecting me on inner levels.” You get the idea? Stream of consciousness, constant conversation; God, Goddess, God, Goddess, God, Goddess.

And finally, learn to be thankful for everything. You heard a bit earlier in gifts that you’ve learned from the hard times, too. I want you to learn to see the other side of things, and you do that by pure thankfulness. I’m ending with this one. One of the things that’s causing so much difficulty in your life right now is you have very strong resistance. One of the hardest things there is to deal with with open-minded New Agers is how close-minded they are. It’s true. It doesn’t matter what path you take up the mountain. You end up at the top of the mountain. You’re there for the view, not the trek. “Ach, but this is the best path; this is the one that works, and if you’re not following this path up, then you’re not doing the right thing.”

You get so closed in, so one-sided, and that shows up in your inability to see options, choices. You have absolutely no idea that something going on in your life might actually be a good thing. In the last workshop that I’m doing for you this year, I’m talking to you about finding and knowing your gift. In Costa Rica, I did this by having people find out from people they cared about what was awful about them, because it’s the other side of what’s good about you.

“What is it you think I have trouble with?” I’m speaking hypothetically, of course [laughter]. You would say, for instance, “Are there areas in my life that you think might be my blind spots?” Or maybe you know them. Do you have patterns of things that aren’t working. Right now, in your life, are there patterns of things that aren’t working? Those are likely to be the areas of your gifts. Doesn’t that make sense? No? Because the behavior of devotion under stress becomes fanaticism. The behavior of love under stress becomes fear. You see? When you are unsure, then you tend to behave in the opposite of what works, but all your inner self is doing is getting you on the road. It’s not noticing that you’re going the wrong way. It’s just getting you on that path.

So if you can allow yourself to recognize, “Now wait a minute here, I’m not bad. I’m on the path, and if I can see the good in all these behaviors, then I can start resisting and taking action.” There is nothing that you do that is not, in one way or another, helping you. What we want to do is have you controlling your experience enough that you are capable of seeing how this particular action, this particular mode of thinking, moves you farther and faster.

There is nothing you do that’s wrong. Inappropriate sometimes, but not wrong. And to give yourself the opportunity to see what is right and the opportune use of it.

Cathy teaches Jung’s shadow teachings. It probably is not Jung’s shadow; it is Jung’s shadow teachings. Is it possible, dearest, that excitement can be a shadow?

[Cathy:] Oh, yes.

S: How about evil thoughts? How about lustful thoughts. Lustful thoughts are evil, aren’t they?

I hope not.

S: Good, Jean, why do you hope not?

They’re so much fun.

S: Why are they fun?

Potential for pleasure.

S: All right. Lustful thoughts are previews of coming attractions. Aye? But they also can be inappropriate and deserving of that sometimes title, evil, can’t they? So it is with everything you experience. There are two sides. To be able to see and thank for what is useful and helpful in all of your experience changes your ability to function.

When we’re next together, I’m talking about that in more detail, because it’s going to have a very strong effect with the solstice energy coming up. But until then, I’ve given you a whole list of shoulds, shoulds that are absolutely—I swear on my life [laughter]—absolutely guaranteed to have a positive influence in your life. Literally, acting as shortcuts. Follow them as much as you can, but if you choose to follow one, stick with it. If it doesn’t perform for you, don’t If you don’t choose to follow it—maybe you ought to just take one thing at a time and see what happens—don’t judge yourself by the person who’s doing it all at once—or the person who’s not doing any of it. Be willing to try, that’s all; be willing to try.

These are things that can get you through this rough period, that’s all. And you want to do that. They help with the focus. I hope you feel good about you.

May is a month devoted to two things: the outflow of Love/Wisdom and the recognition of Goddess energy. Put that in your life.

Be well, sweet souls, and be happy. Choose love.

Glochanumora. Happy trails.