Keeping the Dream

We have too little time to waste it in relationships that are not equal and mutually rewarding. Exchanging energy nourishes our souls.
— Sue Patton Theole in The Woman’s Book of Spirit

To Practice This Thought: Examine some of your significant relationships to see if they are energizing or enervating.

Soul Booster from Spirituality and Health

This came in my email this morning, and caught my eye.

“We have too little time…” But how often do we live as if we had all the time, as if time was a commodity that belonged to us and would never run out? I have found this to be very true about being in relationships with people that do not nourish us, but also in our relationships with our habits, our apetites and wants.

Sometimes the relationships we have with things or habits are just as destructive as the ones we have with people, where we can’t point to someone else’s disrespect for who we are, as the cause of our pain, but our own self-disrespect.

But our relationships with people should not be discounted so easily, either, as we tell ourselves we can simply rise above the negativity. We can wind up tripping over our own spiritual vanity and take a nasty spill. Especially, if we have underlying reasons and hidden agendas from unresolved past dynamics that we remain unaware of.

Spirituality and Health posted a good article, called “Creating Win-Win Relationships” by Pat Burns Claire, M.F.T. She refers to “loving watchdogs”. I appreciate that more than ever now. Good friends or authentic acquaintances, who are willing to tell you the truth and ask the hard questions so you can discover your own truth, are truly valuable.

Being in relationships that drain us usually also has a tendency to isolate us. That’s why, we need to find the strength we don’t think we have to reach out and get support.

It’s not a sign of weakness. Those who want you to not change and upset their cozy little world want you to believe that, and maybe those broken tapes in your head tell you that, as well, but reaching out for help, extending yourself to be open to another’s view that might and probably will upset your own view, is a courageous act.

It takes strength.

Demian,
~DreamSinger

There is nothing more powerful than a grateful heart. Why? Because a grateful heart is an open heart, and an open heart is a channel for love.

Gratitude is not indebtedness. It’s a deep mindfulness of true value, a right seeing of the true nature of things. It’s saying “yes” to life’s blessings in its myriad forms. Gratitude is not a high interest loan that you must pay back. Gratitude is a state of being that springs forth from within you. It is the force that expands your cup so that the full measure of good that “overfloweth” increases.

Gratitude is not a privilege for the rich or the few. You can always find something to be grateful. No matter how dire the situation may be, you can stop right where you are and start thinking about what’s good in your life. Even if the only good you can think of is having the mental ability to ascertain how horrible everything is in your life, you have the gift of awareness! And awareness is where all real change begins. Your mind is a powerful tool, a potential you possess to create, dream, imagine, and work for a solution, a tool for which you can be grateful.

Counting your blessings is more than an intellectual exercise. It’s more than accruing items for a list, more than naming people in your life who do love you, related or not, or saying thank you for being healthy or having food to eat or whatever it is that comes up on your list. It’s those things too, if they’re true for you, but it’s more than that.

Counting your blessings is stepping into and up to a higher resonance. Even if you aren’t capable of feeling grateful, at this time, it can bring you there. Counting your blessings can create the space for your feelings to catch up to it. It can freeze time long enough for you to catch your breath. And when you do, even for a moment, it’s a reprieve, for in that moment, you are not focusing on what is hurting you.

And within that moment there is the invitation. Stay…linger a while, and let yourself receive whatever gifts of healing are there for you.

I dream of a Middle East with children laughing in the streets

I want to thank everyone who lit a candle on my birthday. It was so neat to visit the pages and just sit with the candles. I am so inspired by the messages of other dreamers. For the past few days visiting the candles have become a very sweet ritual. So nice to wake up in the morning and to connect with others who have a vision of hope and goodwill. So nice to learn of a need that I can close my eyes and respond to in spirit, and perhaps inspire me to move my feet in my immediate reality.

So every day I will be there, and I hope you will return, too. Perhaps to light a candle in my group DREAM or perhaps to start your own group or maybe just light a candle and let it sit in the general community.

If you do place a candle in a group, bookmark the page so you can return more easily. The candles burn for 48 hours.

They, also, have a wonderful forum, where people ask for prayer or give support.

Many blessings,
Demian,
~DreamSinger
Keeping the Dream

Light a candle and make a wish, send a blessing for the world or someone you love…or someone you hate. Please click on the icon and follow the steps.

It’s a peaceful place, which is what I wish for you on this day in your heart.

Demian,
~DreamSinger
Keeping the Dream