Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: Janet Conner

Questions Enlighten
It is not the answer that enlightens
but the question.

~ Eugene Ionesco

Tuesday evening as our group met on Zoom, physically located all over the globe, we were fully present with one anothers’ questions. “How do you know if you are awake?”

“I can feel that still center. I can tell when I am not there as well.”

“How do you know you are receiving guidance or listening to your higher self?”

“I am less impatient. I am more able to sit in the unknowing.”

I mentioned an experience I had a few years ago when Writing Down Your Soul: How to Activate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within, a book written by Janet Conner, appeared on my co-author’s Kindle.

My co-author did not purchase the book, and although I share access to his Kindle, nor did I. That this book just ‘appeared’ caught my attention. When I synced his Kindle, my attention was held as I read Conner’s words: “After all, it is no accident that this book has come to you. In the big scheme of things there are no accidents, only divine appointments.”

Conner’s outer life had fallen apart. Her husband abused alcohol, threatened suicide, and put their son in harm’s way. Her dog dragged a copy of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way down the hallway from her bedroom to where she was seated in a stupor of sadness and despair. Picking up a pen and paper and opening to the power of writing in a journal changed her life. Along the way, she wrote out her covenant:
A few minutes ago when my son-in-law came home to take an important phone call. My daughter said, “Do we need to pray about it?”

Without even thinking, I replied, “Are we not already praying?”

My soul seems to have integrated these high hopes written so succinctly in Janet’s Covenant because I do not use prayer as something I “do.” Prayer is truly a wonderful sense of being continually in the Presence of the Divine.

When others ask me for prayer, and I say, “Praying,” my experience is that I am moving my attention into a stream of well-being that is already flowing toward that person or situation. My prayer is not a request for an intervention so much as it is an acknowledgment of an omnipresence of grace and love available to all at all times.

“And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24)

Buddhist “prayer” activities, such as the recitation of sutras or mantras, are about connecting with our own inner capacity to develop constructive emotions such as compassion, enthusiasm, patience.

The motivation to prayer is to engage in constructive actions of helping … for the benefit of all.

May your heart soar as you read the Great Spirit Prayer translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887:
Whatever your questions, be willing to ask them. The very asking is an expression of your soul’s willingness to be one who knows.

Questions enlighten….
December 14, 2022
Patient Patient

When I had my well-skin check-up in December, the doctor noticed a bit of light scaly tissue on my nose (solar keratosis or sun damage). She prescribed a topical treatment, for four days.

I asked if it was OK for me to wait a bit. I was scheduled to do a workshop at Open Door Retreat Center in Fort Myers the first Saturday in January. I did not want the participants of my Meditation as Healing program to be distracted by healing scabs. The doctor assured me it was OK to wait.

The presentation was this past Saturday. Monday morning when I got out the supplies, I realized I had some unanswered questions about the protocol. How to protect my eyes? (John used this same product last year with some HORRIFIC reactions…) Do I cleanse and moisturize the way I normally do? Can I apply makeup? What about sun exposure?

When I told John I had called the office with my concerns, he said, “Wait until you hear back from the doctor before you start. They are good about getting back to you.”

I did not get a call back from the doctor’s office.

On Wednesday afternoon I called again, suggesting it might be better if I send an email with my questions through the portal. I was informed they have a new portal, and they would need to send me an invitation.

Thursday evening, I still had not received the ‘invitation’ to join the new portal, nor had I received a call back.

Friday morning as I sat writing in my journal (Beyond Mastery Newsletter “Writing Down Your Soul”), I had an ah ha moment: I have been asked to be the FACE introducing all of the video presentations of my meditation teachers, Barbara Brodsky and Aaron. Final edits to the copy are being made now, and the video production is scheduled for the very near future.

Suddenly I had such great appreciation for the unfolding. If my questions had been answered when I asked them, I would have started the protocol.

It is such a Divine gift that I had opportunity to be a patient patient….

I entered a 53-Word Story writing contest this week. Here is my entry for your enjoyment:

“Better to go to Waste” by Debra Basham

Voices from the past, “There are children starving in Africa.” Food is cheap, but labor is costly, so portion size is generated to justify price. World hunger barely matters. Our dinner plates are now the size of platters. Guilt generates so much waist. It is far better to let something go to waste.

January 11, 2019
Happy New You!

Most people will be wishing you a happy new year today, but I am wishing all beings a happy new YOU.

Attributing the saying that “Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be” did not happen until 50 years after Abraham Lincoln’s death. Dr. Frank Crane included the saying, and the attribution, in a column about New Year’s resolutions in the Syracuse Herald. No evidence exists that Lincoln said it, but it is probably pretty true, whomever said it first.

The most significant learnings of 2018 hover around mindfulness, nondual awareness, and intention. In September of 2018 I joined a two-year study intensive with Barbara Brodsky, Aaron, and John Orr: morning meditation, daily journal entry, and living from highest purpose.

Previous posts have mentioned Rob Swartz, Rupert Spira, and Janet Conner. Perhaps you have already taken time with them, but I will include links again just in case today is the perfect day for letting their expanded awareness awaken our own.

Rob Swartz “Buddha at the Gas Pump” interview.

Rupert Spria “Buddha at the Gas Pump” interview.

Janet Conner “Find Your Soul’s Purpose & Live a Life You Love!”Interview.

This morning’s thought from the Brahma Kumaris says it well:

The best solutions to problems will not be the result of hard thinking. Use your time better by creating peaceful thoughts, and problems will cease to affect you. Do not try to solve everything on your own. Leave some space for God to come and help you.

Whatever your thoughts about “God” might be, whether you have a religious or spiritual practice, or perhaps just your sense of something greater than yourself, make 2019 the year you rely less on your own effort and leave some space for God to help you.

For example, if you misplace your keys, rather than frantically searching, simply ask within. Affirm, “What is mine comes to me.” See what happens.

When you are not feeling well—an ache or pain—something major or minor—rather than name the symptom or the diagnosis, or go into story about it, simply note “sensation…” Try it! This is a new year, and a new you.

Notice old habit energy. A dear friend of mine has recently begun boating regularly after many years without a boat. I notice the habit energy to feel left out and jealous. Looking more closely, it is clear those are not my authentic experiences of her good fortune. I am truly thrilled for her. I am enthusiastic about her being able to renew a passion for boating. Her joy is my joy.

2018 was also the year when the tree in our yard came down. The most significant question around that was when Barbara Brodsky asked, “Who dies? What dies? Does the tree still live in your heart?” (See: Does the Tree Still Live in Your Heart?”

What year ends? What year begins? Who is the old you? Who is the new you? Does the real you still live in your heart?

January 1, 2019
Do You Know Who Your Master Is?

Our daughter was sharing a precious “aha moment” she had recently. She works in an industry which has it’s peak adjacent to retail sales— during the months of November and December. As many who are responsible for hiring entry level workers, she has struggled to get reliable help. That has been a HUGE frustration to her, robbing her of the joy of the rest of her job. She experienced an emotional overload, had a crying time, and then an insight. Related to her responsibilities, she became aware of feeling pulled between her plant manager who was screaming for help, a co-owner who wanted to keep payroll down, and the publishers who wanted timely deliveries…. just to name a few.

Awareness is key. Her awareness included a sentence spoken within herself that became her ticket to freedom a few days later, “I don’t know who my master is.”

Deep Spring Center Thought for Today

‘You’re on a boat,’ he said. ‘The boat is riding too low on the water and there are waves. You’ve got to toss one person out. In the boat are a loved one, a person about whom you feel neutral, a person who is a difficult person, and yourself. You’re the one to decide: which one are you going to cast into the water?’

She thought about it awhile and said, ‘There are no grounds for decision.’

He just smiled and bowed and indicated that the interview was over.

‘Did I get it right?’ she wondered.

But of course, when you get to that place where you understand your interrelationship with all beings, there are no grounds for decision. You cannot cast yourself into the shark-infested sea to save others nor can you throw others in to save yourself.

~ Aaron

There are no grounds for decision.

Like the people on the boat, every one of those needs my daughter was feeling torn between had value, but not ONE of them was more or less important than the others.

A few days after her breakdown, she had a breakthrough. This is the insight that set her free:

“I do know who my master is. I serve God. The plant manager is not my master. The co-owner is not my master. The publisher is not my master. My master wants me to experience peace, and joy, and to do what I can do to serve/help.”

An aside: if you do not automatically receive the Beyond Mastery Newsletter, or if you currently receive only one email message with links to the newsletter included (rather than the email message with the links plus the individual post/s), then you will want to sign up now to receive all posts automatically. The January edition will come out at the end of this month, and it may just rock your boat. Here is the link: Sign Up Now for Beyond Mastery.

The outer circumstances at work have not changed. She did not magically have adequate, dedicated, reliable hires. She was able to have a heart-to-heart with her plant manager, and with the company president about having recognized her real master. Theirs is a Christian organization. The name they use is God. The miracle in her life happened because she listened to God, she heard that voice within. When we listen, we have to take action. The action she took was to let herself be transformed from within.

Included in my January article will be an invitation for others to join an online group based on the book Writing Down Your Soul: How to Activate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within, by Janet Conner.

You will know if you are ready.

December 9, 2018