In Alan Cohen’s long list of great books is one of my all-time favorites, Are You As Happy As Your Dog?
For most of my life, I’ve owned a dog. Or maybe the truth is the dogs owned me.
Dogs, and all animals, can be great teachers for us humans. Even though humans are supposed to be the “superior” species, it’s often the other way around.
Spirit
There’s a dog story—a deeply touching true story—Johnny loves. It’s about Shep, a shepherd dog who lost his master.… Read more
Depending on your spiritual/religious beliefs (or lack of them), our title today could have radically different meanings for different folks.
Below is a recent, slightly edited conversation between Spirit and Berna. She had asked Spirit for clarification of the terms “conscious being,” “sentient being,” and “souled being.” As Spirit says below, the terms you use don’t matter—it is all God.
Spirit
You and Johnny believe—to put it simply—God is All That Is.
If that’s true, then God is in everything, in all that exists.… Read more
A few weeks ago, Berna and Spirit had a discussion about the question of what is real, and what is illusion.
Berna and Spirit
Berna
On the subject of reality and illusion, I thought I really had it clear with all the reading I have done. But recently I’m confused about it again. So what is really real in the material world we see? I know our perception forms the illusion—the idea we are separate is an illusion.
But the material world itself, like the trees and the mountains and the chairs we make, and the bicycles, the material stuff—is that all real or is it also an illusion?… Read more
How can you become one again if you do not first become fully aware of the many illusions of separation you have imposed upon yourselves?
Yes, you certainly are undergoing some serious and heavy challenges on your planet today. Challenges on every level—physical, emotional, economic, spiritual.
You should rejoice you are undergoing such challenges and changes!
The physical manifestation of that new energy flow may still, for a time, appear to you as pain. But your experience of it will be much lighter—and even joyful.… Read more
Spirit and Berna had a recent conversation about intention. Her question to them was Can you tell us more about the concept of intention?
Spirit
It is a powerful concept, a powerful tool in your spiritual toolbox. Your intention is everything, because with your intention you can literally change the path of your life. Nothing can be achieved without intention, a clear and powerful intention.
Any time you form an intention (for example, if you want to heal your body of something) you first form the intention to accomplish the healing.… Read more
There’s a saying you’ve probably heard, Seeing is believing.
But that’s not true, in our opinion. It’s the reverse: Believing is seeing.
There’s a story about Christopher Columbus (or Cristoforo Colombo), the Italian explorer back in the 1400s. As the story goes, when Columbus first approached what is now North America, he and his crew were met by a surprised band of native people.
The natives reportedly could not see Columbus’s three ships. Never having seen one before, they had no idea what a ship was.… Read more
Over the years I’ve been the target of occasional hate mail. That “goes with the territory” when you put yourself into the public eye. I’m sure any of you putting your work out to the world have had similar experiences.
When I was in college my major course was history, which I’ve always loved. One of my favorite historical figures was US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. He was an articulate speaker and writer. Here’s one of his quotations:
“…if there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free thought—not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.”… Read more
If you read our last week’s post, You and God Have An Eternal Connection, you may be puzzled by this post’s title. In fact, you may think I’ve lost my mind.
Let me explain.
Today I was at my desk wondering what we were going to write about for this week’s post. Then I remembered a close friend from long ago. She didn’t believe in God, and did her best to convince me to ditch my beliefs.… Read more
Our dear friend George Ball, of Alexandria, Virginia, suggested recently that we come up with some inspirational thoughts to remind us that we and Spirit are eternally connected. I think George’s idea is a great way to start this new year of 2018—and set the tone for the whole year, and beyond.
The following list consists of Spirit’s random thoughts, in no particular order.… Read more
You would think in this super-connected world we live in no one would feel lonely. Communication is literally instantaneous, even across thousands of miles. And yet there is an epidemic of loneliness plaguing so many people all across the globe.
One of our readers wrote me recently. With her permission, I want to share with you part of her letter:
I’ve been thinking of our last conversation with Spirit and how you told me I already know everything.… Read more
Years ago a good friend asked me, “What masks are you wearing?” A bit startled by her question, I replied, “I’m not wearing any masks.” “Yes, you are,” she said.
In the years since that day, I’ve come to realize she was absolutely right. We’re all wearing masks. We’ve become experts at disguising our true identities.
It’s even reached the point where many of us believe we ARE our masks. We’ve totally forgotten who we really are.
We completely agree with what Johnny’s friend said to him years ago.… Read more
You may have heard of an American woman named Norma Bauerschmidt. Norma’s been in the news a lot over the past couple years. At the age of 90, she was hit with a real double-whammy. First, her husband of 67 years died. Then Norma was diagnosed with uterine cancer.
Sitting in her doctor’s office, she listened to him go through the standard litany of her medical options: surgery, radiation, chemotherapy.… Read more
My spirit guides are particularly fond of dogs and cats, and of all animals, as I am. They say domestic pets, particularly dogs and cats, are often the best teachers and healers for humans.
We ask you to think about these qualities of your pets, and perhaps you will gain some insight into the many reasons humans and animals are so drawn to each other.… Read more
Did you know August is Happiness Happens Month? Me neither, until just a few days ago.… Read more
The UniverseOne of the most basic questions we all have is “Who am I?”
You’ve probably heard it said we are not only in the universe, be we are the universe. The Sanskrit expression, “Aham brahmasmi,” means “I am the universe, and the universe is me.”
Many of us probably think that’s a nice thought, but we don’t really believe it’s literally true.… Read more
Last week we received a letter from one of our readers, Cinda Miller. With her permission, here’s what she wrote:
Dear John,
I wanted to run something by you and see if it has a ring of truth to it. This is a thought that occurred to me the other day and in order to make sense from a thought I have to write it down.… Read more
Note: I chose that graphic above for this post because my spirit guides are fond of saying exactly that—It (life) is all good, whether or not it seems so.
One of our readers, Cinda Miller, sent us a letter in response to last week’s post, Mr. Smith Goes To Texas. I thought it was a great letter.… Read more
I want to thank all of you who read and commented on our last post about Wayne’s passing.… Read more
The Light Beyond the DarknessI’m generally pretty upbeat, positive, and happy. Life has been good to me. I’m deeply grateful for that, and for life itself.
However, this past year has been full of challenges for my family and me. There have been some pretty dark days. Also some damn good days, thanks to all the angels, human and in spirit, who’ve been there for us.… Read more
Albert EinsteinOne late afternoon a while back I was looking out my living room window at the valley below, and the mountains beyond. The scenery is gorgeous. It’s one of my favorite views in this beautiful place where’s there’s an abundance of spectacular scenery.… Read more
Mountain Climbing ChallengeA couple days ago I finished a “21-day meditation challenge”—the name Deepak Chopra has given his periodic free meditation courses. He presents each of the series with Oprah Winfrey. Their latest, Manifesting Grace through Gratitude, ran the 21 days from July 13 through August 2.
As always, it was a pretty powerful experience for me.… Read more
Portrait of a LionYou’ve probably heard the news of protests circling the planet over the recent death of the legendary, beloved Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe.
Many people, animal lovers or not, are distressed, sad, and angry. Maybe you’re one of them.
As you might expect in such situations, people’s reactions vary widely.… Read more
The Heart of GodThis past year or so I’ve become a serious student of A Course in Miracles. It’s had a profoundly powerful, positive effect on my life and work.
As some of you know, I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church, but drifted away from it as an adult. I wanted nothing more to do with traditional religion.… Read more
IntroductionAs many of you know, our dear friend Barbara Clark published a book last week, Brighter Horizons: Spiritual Illumination from The Magdaleine Group.
The Magdaleine Group are a powerful gathering of non-physical spirit guides whose greatest passion is teaching us we are all connected, and we can communicate with each other in the blink of an eye. We just have to quiet our minds, get into the right vibration, listen and trust.
Here is an excerpt from Chapter 23 of Barbara’s book.… Read more
God Is All That IsLast week someone I’ve known many years killed himself. The details are not important. But our perception of those details, and of the death itself, requires some soul-searching.
Our society assumes it is natural for us to fear death—no matter how, when, where, why it occurs.… Read more