Signs, Synchronicity, and Waking Dreams

Sharing the “HU”

On January 24, 2024

In Animals, Divine Love, Guest Posts, Spirituality, Stories from the Heart

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Guest Post by Dennis Ernst

While attending a retreat at a remote location in the Oregon Coast Range, I had a unique opportunity to share the sacred mantra of “HU.” I had gotten up a dawn to take a walk before breakfast and hiked up a gravel road, in the early morning rain. The road wound its way along a creek for a half a mile before starting up a steep ridge. I noticed a variety of wildlife along the creek. Canadian geese, a duck, many birds and even a blacktail deer. A little later I saw an elk, feeding on the early spring grass along the brushy bank.

Accidents Lead Us Through Change

By Michael Avery

On January 22, 2024

In Guest Posts, Health & Healing, Inner Warrior, Love & Relationships, Past Lives & Karma, Personal Growth

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Guest Post by Bob Switzer

I believe accidents and resulting injury are a way we are led through necessary change by Spirit in this physical world, often moving us forward spiritually, teaching us something we didn’t know about ourselves. Otherwise, we would not need the message(s) and lesson(s) contained in the “accident” experience.

A Circle of Friends

By Michael Avery

On January 19, 2024

In Animals, Health & Healing, HU: An Ancient Mantra, Love & Relationships, Meditation, Personal Growth, Spiritual Exercises, Spirituality

Reading Time: 3 minutes

By Michael Avery

My wife, Pichaya, and I have learned that Divine Spirit, Spirit, God, or “the Universe,” call IT what you will, won’t interfere in our lives unless we ask. When faced with an important decision or a personal crisis, we can ask for guidance through dreams, contemplations, visions, or waking dreams. Most people, however, forget to ask.

It is important that we do all we can to help ourselves in addition to asking the Divine. A number of spiritual exercises are available that can help us navigate “dark nights of the Soul” or other crises. Many can be found in a book called The Spiritual Exercises of ECK, by Harold Klemp.

One additional spiritual exercise that I have found helpful in stressful situations is simple, and yet powerful. It’s called “A Circle of Friends.”

The Way of the Wanderer

By Michael Avery

On January 17, 2024

In Guest Posts, Love & Relationships, Spirituality, Stories from the Heart

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Guest Post by Paul Hillman

My mission:

“You must assist people using what they understand. Simple ideas for simple minds. Young things for young people, something fun, imaginative, maybe even a little silly. More complex ideas for highly intelligent people. Realistic things for people who are struggling.

“What you say must appeal to what they want or need at that exact moment. It has to offer them a solution to the problem they are experiencing. Then, people will respond and grow into a healthier, more spiritual life.”

“But how will I know what to say, Master?” I asked.

The Buzzing of the Bees

By Michael Avery

On January 15, 2024

In Animals, Guest Posts, Love & Relationships, Spirituality, Stories from the Heart

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Guest Post by Dennis Ernst

There are moments in life when you act on what you know and don’t think about it. That sense of knowingness trumps feeling and thinking even though it may not seem too logical at the time or make sense to anyone else. This kind of knowingness is often a reflection of your core values, who you are, and what you truly believe. Even though I was only four years old, the profound memory of a magical moment still resonates strongly with me.

Can Inner Guidance Come Through Dreams?

By Michael Avery

On January 12, 2024

In Dreams, Guest Posts, Health & Healing, Inner Guidance, Spirituality

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Guest Post by Linda Wilken

Dreams. Some people contend that these are what life is made of. But there are some who say that dreams are simply the effects of a bit of indigestion, or situations from earlier in the day being worked out. Others say that we’re actually living in the dreamworld and that there is a reality beyond us greater than we know. yet others say that dreams are a bridge linking different realities.

3-Point Men

By Michael Avery

On January 10, 2024

In Guest Posts, Love & Relationships, Spirituality, Stories from the Heart

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Guest Post by Paul Baker

On the basketball court a line is drawn so that when a player shoots from behind that line 3 points are registered. In the mornings here in ZhongHo, Taiwan, I shoot at the basket with 3-pt. men.

On the opposite end of the court are women shooting baskets. They also dance to music while they shoot.

A Most Wonderful and Mysterious Gift

By Michael Avery

On January 8, 2024

In Divine Love, Guest Posts, Love & Relationships, Spirituality, Stories from the Heart, Waking Dreams

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Guest Post by Jim Jackson

In late April of 2023, I received a phone call from Marlo Rees, the wife of one of my very best friends and decade-long senior doubles tennis partner. They had sold their home in Portland and moved to Santa Barbara in mid-2021. Frank Rees had suddenly passed on shortly thereafter.

Marlo told me she had been able to have contact with Frank since his transition, and was sure I would want to know. She also called to thank me for the “wonderful gift.” I had no idea what she was talking about, so I listened on.

A Return to Joy: How Sawyer Brown Helped Heal My Heart

By Michael Avery

On January 5, 2024

In Health & Healing, Love & Relationships, Personal Growth, Self-love, Spirituality, Stories from the Heart

Reading Time: 3 minutes

By Michael Avery

Before Sawyer Brown became famous, the band always stopped at the Douglas County Fair near my hometown on their whirlwind tour throughout Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. When I left the fair each year after hearing them play until well after midnight, one song always stayed with me—“The Walk.” Little did I know that, many years later, the song would facilitate a healing with my father.

“The Drop”

By Michael Avery

On January 3, 2024

In Divine Love, Guest Posts, Poetry, Spirituality

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Guest Post by Riley Carson

Rumi was a renowned Sufi scholar, mystic, and poet (1207-1273) . His writings weave a mystic’s viewpoint with scenes from daily life into thought-provoking (sometimes thought stopping) ways. My poem was inspired by the following passage by Rumi, which captures a mind-bending viewpoint, and in a way that relates to some of my own mystical adventures. Rumi wrote: “You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the ocean in a drop!”