Week two: Begin with the Climb

From the valley to the peak begins with the first steps of the climb.  The are simples steps with the decision on what motivates, which is the PPN’s.  I choose Liberty and Legacy which will bring me to fulfill all that I plan to achieve.  First steps can be easy, the climb to the peak’s the labor in it, which is the forming of new habits and organizing time.  I am on my way from the valley floor to the highest peak.  It is not a Mt. Everest peak but it is my peak.  I choose how high I will go and MKMMA is the teacher and the support.  See you at the top!

Week 1: Peaks and Valleys

There are many peaks and valleys in life.  I have found myself in a valley the past few months.  Even though I have been through the MKMMA before, I was faced with a dilemma or maybe an obstacle, I never realized was there.  In June 2017 I made a major decision that has left me with a grief such as when you lose someone.  I closed my business, the one my mother started and I took over.  It was a sixty-year-old business that had endured many years of success and difficulties.  It was my stubbornness that kept me trying to keep the business going.  The reality that this was not making me happy became my reality.  In June the business closed and the grief of the loss has weighed heavy on me.  For this reason, I have chosen to begin MKMMA again as I build my next chapter.  My entire life and focus are now on a different path.  That which has gone before me will always be a part of me, but it is not who I am.  Letting go may be a sad time for me but it opens the door to new adventures and happiness that will be mine.  

 

Week 9: My Fortress

In my efforts to take on my fortress I have come to new realizations about it.  It is not what I thought it was as of the last blog.  I spoke of scaling or dismantling the walls and now I know, all I have to do is open the doors.  All the energy in tring to solve this can actually be quite simple.  Like all fortresses of stories and legends told, within it is usually a chapel or temple.  It is the temple I wish to tap into.  Within is the golden bhudda or the radiant light of the universe.  As a child I remember being told that we are a temple and God lives within this temple.  Well to me, as a kid, a chapel or temple is a building and I used to wonder how a building can be within us and then I had the thought of the guy with the white beard living in there.  A kids concept of things.  All these years I have remembered that and have learned the the temple is not a building and I carry it with me but it has had little effect on me.  Until now.

Meditation.  I have tried to meditate and have various CD’s from different people on their technique to do this.  They all begin in a similar way, imagine yourself on a beach, or in a garden.  That has given me difficulty.  I try to hard to imagine the place they speak of and miss the whole idea of meditation.  Well now I have my fortress, and the door is open.  My next step is to enter the temple, my temple.  The words to this song go along with what I have discovered.

My Fortress, home of the sacred place within,  within it is my heart and my home, my shelter.  It is where I find my maker who sustains me.  All I see when I enter is mine to own.  Even in my darkest hour, the light to the Divine Source is within this place.  It is my sanctuary and within it is love, courage, wisdom and the connection to all the answers I need.  I can do anything knowing my temple does exist and is protected by my fortress.

 

Week 8: I Was a Rock

As I stated in a previous blog, this is not my first time with MKMMA.  I been successful in many things since I have taken this on but now I face the greatest challenge.  There has been a block in my way and I have struggled in finding the answer as to what stops me.  This block has stopped me these last few weeks and I have fallen behind but the block is more clear now than it ever has been.  It is being revealed to me.  It has brought me to this song by Simon & Grafunkel, ‘I Am a Rock’ and it describes me so well as to the way I have lived my life.  I experienced pain and grief very young and it also established lack of trust in people.  My answer was to build walls, to never let anyone know what I was thinking or if I was hurt, all hend and protected within the fortress I built.  It is a song of strengtht but also isolation.  The last words are ‘And a rock feels no pain And an island never cries.’  which is a great untruth as there have been many tears in my isolation.  The fortress has provided strength but has kept me from many other things.  So my job now is how to I scale the walls of this fortress I have built to live the life of my dreams.  I am not confined within my fortress, I am find myself on the outside of these walls I built.  So the work begins, to take down the walls and find my solutions within.  It is a daunting task and this is my purpose, here and now.

Week 7: A Story Of Forgiveness

In reviewing the week 7 lessons, it reminded me of a story I heard years ago.  It was at a time I was reading and listening to the teachings of Dr. Robert Schuller the Power of Positive Thinking.  It helped me in placing some family history and a decision that was made by my father in its proper place.  He had a difficult life.  It was years before we decided he probably suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  It was not known at the time, but his decision to exclude himself from our family life when we were young as he did drink in access, and then the decision to end his life that affected us as children.  We were blessed with a strong mother that raised us and took care of us despite his failings.  For the longest time his decisions and the impact on our life did follow us into adulthood, and it did me as well as my siblings.  That was until I heard this story by Dr. Schuller.

There were two brothers.  They grew up in a family of dysfunction, a father that drank and was abusive.  The father was a single parent with these two boys.  It is a story we hear all to often in the society of today.  The two boys grew to adulthood.  One became a drug addict and live a life on the streets and getting the money he needed in whatever way he could.  He isolated himself from his brother who lived a life of hard work and success.  He had a loving family and did well in his business raising his family with his wife.  He tried to help his brother when he could but no effort to help made a difference.  It came to a time that he had to make the decision give up on his brother and focus on his family.  Without his brother’s efforts to help himself he had to accept that he could not help him.  It came to a point of crisis and the brothers were brought together again.  In the process of interview by social workeres there was a question asked as to why the brother that chose the path of self destruction took this path.  He answer was, ‘With a father such as I had and the childhood of neglect we grew up in what choice did I have.  I didn’t stand a chance in life and I am like my father.’  The same question was asked of the brother that tried to help and who lived a better life with love and family.  His answer was. ‘With a father such as I had and a childhood of neglect we were raised in, what choice did I have?  I did not want to be like my father.  I choose a better life.  I have my family and love them deeply.  I choose that over what we grew up in.’

At the point of hearing that story I no longer dwelled on the fact that my father took his life.  It was a situation of dispair for him and I do grieve for him as I saw this as his only option, but it was his choice, not mine.  It is not mine to carry into the future.  It is part of me as I never did get to know him but it is something that has made me make choices.  As we make these choices in life we decide if we want to be victims or victors.  I choose victory.

Week 6: Is It A Fluke

This week is the focus on he movie poster.  I have done this before and I have modified it and shifted it around as it is a living thing in my perspective, as it is my road map.  The destination changes as time goes on.  It brings to mind many great movies that have been produced over the years with the reference to this as a ‘movie poster.’  There have been many great movies remade with the new technologies to make them more realistic.  One of the great movies that has been reproduced in some form but not totally a remake is the “Ten Commandments” and within that story is the parting of the Red Sea to escape the oppression of the Isrealites by the Pharoah.  I take this symbolism to heart as I see it within myself.  My self doubts, the obstacles in my way of thought that was taught when I was younger is the oppression that I created in myself.  The things that held me back.  My own limitations that are melting away as I move forward in my third time with MKMMA.  I see these thoughts parting much like the walls of water that took place in the story of the escape by Moses and his people.  The power of these walls no longer hold me  back and I walk through them peacefully on my way to the other side and the future the universe holds for me.  The reshifting of the movie poster is the next chapter of my movie.  One of love and sharing.  I am on the verge of a new and exciting future.  It changes from day to day and each day is an adventure.  It’s not a fluke as it states in the photo, it is reality, it is the will of the universe and God’s love.  All I need to do is choose the destination and believe.  On I go.

Week 5: Yes I can

 

I find the right things coming to me as we move along with MKMMA and I find this video approprate to what the Master Key is for us as a group.  It’s like learning anything new at any age.  We need to take small steps until all it it comes naturally and it is best to do this with others rather than struggle alone.

Week 4: A Safe Passage Home

A PARABLE:
Safe Passage Home
From Fire in the Soul
By Joan Borysenko

Once upon a time, a long long time ago,
before even
Grandfather Sky had given birth to the stars,
there was only One Being.
One pure consciousness of love resting in the completeness
of its own untold Stories and mute Songs unsung.

Then, one day, for reasons that no one remembers,
if in fact anyone ever knew,
the One became restless.
Some say it decided to play a cosmic game of
hide and seek, splitting its Light into
tiny sparks, each with the full potential of the Whole.
In this way the One could know itself and grow itself.

So each spark was clothed in a costume of flesh
and its Light and wisdom hidden deep within its heart.
The challenge of the game was for all parts of the Whole
to discover their way back Home again
having lived all the Stories and sung all the Songs
that would make them wise and compassionate
co-creators and companions to the One.

The fledgling souls took many roads Home.
Each Way had its own Story and each soul
responded to that Story with the gift of free will,
embroidering new stories on the dream-tapestry
of the One Great Dreamer.
And the sun rose and the sun set.
The tides came in and the tides went out.
New flesh was born and old flesh went back to the earth.
And the One saw new stories grow in the Theater of the Many.

Some of these stories led closer to Home.
These were the ones in which fear was conquered by love.
Some of these stories led down blind alleys.
These were the ones in which love was hidden by fear.
The plays were long and the distractions many.
One by one
most souls forgot that they were on a journey at all.
They fell asleep to the First Stories
that the One had left as eternal roadmaps and guides
so that each soul could find its way
back Home.

Believing that they were alone and separate
these lost souls wandered in a strange land
dominated by the illusion that death was real and
that love was as transitory as a shadow.
Some sought solace in money, others in power.
Some found it in food or drugs or alcohol or anger or
television or possessions,
gossip or judgment or a jealous god
who whispered lies.  You are special, you  are saved,
there is only one way Home and this is it.

In its love and mercy for the lost parts of itself
the One sent alarm bells out into the Universe
to wake its sparks from their dreams of fear
and to guide them back into paths of love and longing
for reunion with the Great Cosmic Beloved.
These wake-up calls of pain roused the souls from their
sleep of forgetfulness.

And their cries for help were heard by their
brothers and sisters throughout the Universe.
Seen and unseen helpers came
whenever they were drawn by the intent,
the powerful pull of will
of any soul who appealed to the Source
with a true longing for reunion, forgiveness and love.
And they helped those souls to become free
from the bondage of limited beliefs and
past unloving or ignorant actions
so that they could find
safe passage Home.

They will give you safe passage, too,
if you ask with faith,
even the size of a mustard seed,
and if you are patient and willing to listen
to the directions of the Universe,
even if they are
not what you wanted to hear.
Thy will, not mine, be done–
this is the understanding
that will bring you Home.

Week 3: My Authentic Self

Who am I?  What is my purpose?  I emerge as a butterfly from the cacoon and the beauty of that emergence.  The discovery of my purpose as I leave the old self behind and discover this new world I am entering.  It is a rebirth of my soul as I claim my power to achieve the miracles of self discovery, the new life I lead in this new chapter and share that discovery with others.  It is a beauty that has lived within me and I have carried untouched with me for so long.  My wings take to flight and my soul is no longer weary.  A new love, a new adventure await me on this next road I travel.  The key has opened the door to achieve all things available to me and I am empowered by the Divine Source.  My true self, my authentic self is my power and my destiny.

My Fight Song

It’s always a surprise to me when I reach within, something emerges that pertains to my purpose.  This is my song for the time being as I make new decisions and move toward change in my life.