Month: September 2024

A Farewell Celebration of JOY

Big Sky Retreat 2024

The Big Sky Retreat – Aug 31 to Sept 4, 2024

I wrote the prose below to Honor this amazing accomplishment of having achieved the record number of years of an ongoing metaphysical retreat! I had the privilege of being with it from its beginnings. For me – it was my spiritual anchor – reminding me of my personal freedom to discover my own authenticity and encourage all to do the same.

“A Journey to Love” was our Theme.

It is Remembrance that is the key,
Angels go before us to prepare the way.
That we open to our destiny.
The Power of Love to see.
It’s the quest to sing our song,
That we all belong.
We are born into forgetting,
And believe life is about getting,
When Life is about Being
That we are here to shed our Light.
And open to inner sight,
There are no others – just all.
Seeking Remembrance of the “Call”
It’s a journey to Love that we may rise.
And come to realize.
That sacred quest we all share,
That we all matter and are here to care,
That as Mother Nature proclaims – Be!
Sing your song that all may be free!
Remembering – That journey to Love is our Destiny.

Our keynote speakers – Dr. James Mellon – our Music Artistry by Robin Hackett, workshops by Angel Howard and Paul Hasselbeck, power talks by Rev. Liz Luoma, Rev. Jen Dickey and Rev. Dr. Liza Marques were all WOWS!

There were 25 new attendees, 50 returnees – all know it was our last retreat and all arriving in such JOY to celebrate our history – the moment – and honoring 48 years of touching lives was a phenomenal achievement.

Rev. Dr. James Mellon made a wonderful observance that tough our theme “A Journey to Love,” he put forth to consider it “A Journey as Love.” This retreat has been an ongoing journey of 48 years to ever deepening love, because its origin was rooted as LOVE to begin with.

May we all be mindful, more than ever, we are here to evolve and build bridges, not walls that we learn from one another for the salvation of all humanity. Check out the pictures on the Big Sky Retreat Facebook page.

Monthly Theme and Weekly Speakers.

Every month, we take the Key Principles of MYOB and put them into practice in our lives. Looking at the deeper call before us — What are we each to “Be” to bring about societal change through our soul evolution in ways that establish justice, love, and care for all – without exception. Please join us weekly on Thursdays at 7 p.m. EDT for our virtual program.

Our Belief in Duality is What Blocks Us from the Realization of Oneness and the Joy that Comes from that Realization.

Bird Flying in Sunset Sky

Wisdom quotes from great teachers, ancient and current:

  • “Forgive yourself for not knowing what you didn’t know before you learned it.” Maya Angelou –
  • “Our sorrows and wounds are only healed when we touch them with compassion.” Buddha
  • The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.” – Carl Jung
  • “We can make ourselves miserable or we can make ourselves strong. The amount of effort is the same.” – Pema Chodron
  • “The belief in duality has made us sick – and the understanding of Unity/Oneness will heal.” Ernest Holmes

We are all One in this journey together. Wholeness envelopes us – but only we can bring it into our hearts and soul as the Truth of our Being.

Thanks to a dear friend whose husband dealt with a therapy process that got to the root of the intense pain and anger he had buried; she recommended a therapeutic process called EMDR.

EMDR’s goal is to help you heal from trauma or other distressing life experiences. There are such therapists here in Helena.

As I have entered this therapy personally, I cherish that one of the great insights is that deeper healing is not about our age – it’s simply our willingness to step out of the self-inflicted pain that no longer needs to reside within us. This transcends all the fearful thoughts I may create.

I share 3 Keys to Advancing on Wholeness and the amazing Joy that unfolds.

  1. Integrating the light and dark as integral to our Being and wellness.
  2. I can’t expand without going deeper. My growth and expansion are to stretch to new awareness.
  3. Acceptance of events we cannot change, but how we can see them in a new light.

    “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” – AA

    And I am adding: “The openness to see things in new light.”

    “Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life’s search for love and wisdom.” – Rumi

“Radical Forgiveness is much more than the mere letting go of the past. It is the key to creating the life that we want, and the world that we want. It is the key to our own happiness and the key to world peace. It is no longer an option. It is our destiny.”
– Colin Tipping – Founder of the Institute for Radical Forgiveness

The soul work I do on me impacts generations past – present and future. Nothing brings me greater Joy than that realization.

I close this blog with a reference to a beautiful song by Daniel Nahmod. For me it’s the realization that to genuinely Mind Your Own Becoming is first realizing what you must Unbecome.

Unbecoming – Daniel Nahmod

Monthly Theme and Weekly Speakers.

Every month, we take the Key Principles of MYOB and put them into practice in our lives. Looking at the deeper call before us — What are we each to “Be” to bring about societal change through our soul evolution in ways that establish justice, love, and care for all – without exception. Please join us weekly on Thursdays at 7 p.m. EDT for our virtual program.

Joy – Accepting the Light and Dark Creates the Authentic You!

Man walking into light tunnel

“Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one’s being, but by integration of the contraries.” ― Carl Gustav Jung

Perfection exists – it is our origin. Transcendence and healing, however, only come through the vulnerability to integrate the experiences of this earth journey – the darkness, grief, joy, and triumph. It’s the inner work we do that evolves our soul and benefits all to the reality of Love and Wholeness.

I have recently come to realize the intense shame, guilt, and depth of the feelings of unforgiveness of myself I have held onto.

I have also been able to realize the intense anger within me by reacting to a key word “disappointment.”  I had no idea the deeper pain it revealed. What I took in was that I had disappointed them – and that had nothing to do with what they meant. I recognized in that moment; it was time to do deeper soul and healing work on myself. I have been in the study and practice of – what I now choose to call sacred life force within us all.

“You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.”              
– Aristotle

“An unexamined life is not worth living.”
– Socrates

“Our greatest ability is not in ever failing, but in rising every time you fall.”
– Confucius

From the scam I experienced a year ago and losing a significant amount of money, the impact of the shame, guilt, and feeling I had that I had done something horribly wrong and how stupid I felt has remained. And then the triggers in the past two months of that key word and how I heard it – not what was meant. Being disappointed by someone in something I did throwing me back to “shame on you” and childhood memories of living with a sense of shame for existing as I came into adulthood.

The anger and rage I felt was my own self-loathing – still buried and unresolved.

The revelations through these past 3 years in Montana have been profound:

  1. For the first time in my life, I have not felt driven – regarding taking care of family, friends, church, and others.
  2. With the long winters in MT – there’s nowhere to go but inside – homewise and within oneself.
  3. My remembering – I have come here to do the deeper work on Charles.

I am grateful I have my writing blogs through Mind Your Own Becoming website.

It is a time to put myself first to honor the healing I am here for.

I am here to open to unconditional love for myself and the forgiveness work required for that. I remind all the Joy that emerges when you choose to go deeper and the revelations that occur when you honor – you matter and always have.

Monthly Theme and Weekly Speakers.

Every month, we take the Key Principles of MYOB and put them into practice in our lives. Looking at the deeper call before us — What are we each to “Be” to bring about societal change through our soul evolution in ways that establish justice, love, and care for all – without exception. Please join us weekly on Thursdays at 7 p.m. EDT for our virtual program.