By Rev. Glenn Neil Stocking

There is a bulletin board in the mail room of a South Florida community association. Maybe the one you live in. Most of the items pinned to the board are placed there by the association’s management, neatly placed with a push pin placed at each corner. There is a desk organizer on a shelf at the bottom of the bulletin board containing pens, pencils and a generous supply of push pins.

With some regularity others have occasion to place notices on the bulletin board and here is where an interesting phenomena frequently occurs. Although there is an ample supply of push pins readily available and easily accessible, these notices are haphazardly pinned to the board with push pins purloined from the corners of other notices. The other notices are not left hanging with one corner loose, rather their pins are removed and re-pinned so that two notices are left raggedly posted by one pin at the center in the top and one at the center in the bottom.

Eventually it is not unusual to find more notices all suspended by a single pin while the reservoir in the organizer remains overflowing. A lazy person would use the pins from the organizer, even if only one; it would be easier than rearranging the ones already in use. A deep seeded sense of lack demonstrates as the appearance of poverty even where abundance is within arm’s reach.

Our true beliefs manifest in the simplest ways. Being alert to the clues, even the little ones, can change the course of our lives. Imagine if one day the persons denying themselves the use of the ample supply of push pins awakens to their folly. Out of pride they may continue as they always have and there would be no change, except that now they know there is a better way so there is that extra baggage to tote around.

Say they realize it is easier and neater to use the extra pins and start doing so right away. They will have allowed themselves to release an old idea and move into a new experience. In the world of dragon fighting mythologies this is the single armor scale being torn away; an occurrence that never ends well for the dragon.

Where else in their lives have they been denying their wealth? Where have they been hording an endless supply? Is there something holding you back, or is it something you are holding on to? What clues are you overlooking, and what are you ready to let go of?

Many of us go through our entire live never knowing we have control over how we feel, never knowing we can change the course we are on at any time. Sometimes we need an ah-ha moment to stimulate our attention. Nature has many tools to bring that about; some more appealing than others. One choice we can make is to be proactive by employing our own tools first.

Tool number one, Understanding our True Nature: These individual lives we are living are just cells in a much bigger organism. The evidence? Everything that lives finds a way to cluster with other living things, we are collaborative beings, suggesting a connections that transcends the physical. We have commonalities that we build upon. At basic levels we are all alike, laughing, crying, lusting, caring etcetera.

Tool number two, Understanding the nature of that bigger organism. It is Love. The evidence? It gives us whatever we believe. It does not judge us. It just gives. It is infinite. There is no outer edge. Wherever we perceive an outer edge, it continues beyond our comprehension.

Tool number three, pathfinders. Pathfinders are those in our acquaintance that have already traveled the road ahead, they know where the water holes are and the quick sand. Every spiritual practice has pathfinders. Whether they are called minister, monk, rabbi, mullah, or friend they can help us see things we have been overlooking or didn’t even know to look for.

The universe overflows with push pins. We can use them or not. We can make our lives better or continue as we are. We can use the tools at our disposal or continue scratching at the dirt with our hands. Still not sure you can do it? Stick a pin in that doubt and talk with a pathfinder. You can always come back to your status quo, though never quite the same.

Learn more about your true nature, your connection to the infinite and the pathfinders available to you at a Center for Spiritual Living in your community or on line starting at CSL.org or CSLFTL.org.

By Rev. Glenn Neil Stocking

Spring in hurricane country is the time to buy a little extra in preparation for the storm everyone hopes does not appear. Prudent shoppers pick up an extra can of beans, bag of rice or bottled water every time they shop to squirrel away in the pantry or a corner of the garage. These non-perishable extras are accumulated bit by bit into and through the season so that they do not have to be purchased during a panic rush ahead of an eminent storm bearing down.

Our bodies do something similar with the food we eat. Anything not needed for immediate energy is stored as fat for later consumption. And like our imprudent shopper who waits for the storm before stocking up, our bodies also have a panic mode. Our bodies sense when they are not getting enough good nutrients and begin diverting available stocks to storage and shutting down non-essential functions to conserve fuel.

A result of our body’s survival mechanism is a lack of energy and enthusiasm for the things that make living fun, productive and generally worthwhile. We also experience a buildup of fat because our body-mind consortium is convinced there is a scarcity of nutrients even when there is sufficient supply relative to our reduced rate of consumption.

Is it possible that our hearts follow the same survival practices? Do our hearts begin hoarding love when they sense an insufficient supply of renewing love? Does our heart turn inward withholding its stock of love out of fear there may not be enough? Does it harden itself developing an insulating layer that actually suppresses our ability to receive additional consignments of love?

Answering yes to any of the questions above allows an insight into the behavior of the hurtful people in our lives. We are not designed to live without love, it is crucial to our existence. Love is the natural state of the Universe, the prime directive, the Word of God. Our every belief is made true by the love of a Universe that can only say yes to our stated desires. Sensing little or no source of love, our hearts redirect their love impulses toward providing for themselves at the cost of free circulation and eventual self consumption.

The inward focused heart loses its ability to recognize love directed toward it. It becomes self concerned, self-fixated and numb to any attempts to approach it. It becomes hard in its attempt to retain its self-perceived threatened supply. It consumes itself growing more dry and brittle as its stores evaporate.

The ironic paradox is that our fearful heart has its belief fulfilled by a loving Universe that continues to provide in accordance with our beliefs. The 1964 movie “Fate is the Hunter” centered around an airplane that crashed because a cascade of design faults indicated to the pilot that his one good engine was on fire causing him to shut it down and force an unnecessary emergency landing. Our fearful hearts likewise trigger a cascade of reasonable responses to increasingly inaccurate information driving us into undesirable results.

When the inevitable storm hits and the electricity goes off, we quickly eat our perishable foods first saving the dry and canned goods for the extended recovery period. Eventually conditions improve and a new normal emerges. If starving our bodies consume the food in our digestive systems before eventually tapping their fat reserves. Ideally starvation is avoided and our metabolisms stabilize. Our hearts act only on what they know, and continue consuming themselves.

If there is no storm, we use up our stores in the following months clearing our pantries to be refreshed the next year. If we are not faced with starvation our metabolisms adjust and our energy levels return to normal. Proper diet and exercise eventually reduce stored up fats and the resulting new eating habits help us maintain healthy bodies. Our hearts respond to our beliefs, new beliefs open new possibilities.

When we accept the possibility that our beliefs are erroneous, that our instruments are giving us false readings and what we are doing cannot continue we become open to new solutions. If we allow some small part of our self-directed love to be shared with others in some way, we open our pantry and provide an avenue for circulation to resume. Love wants to circulate, its natural state is to be in motion. A tiny crack in our armor erodes into a torrent of love pouring out and rejuvenating our heart with its flow. In response the Universe pours more love in and the cycle accelerates and expands into the limits of our belief.

Unrestricted by our interference love is self-perpetuating and infinitely expansive. Our hearts soften and expand their capacity to absorb becoming a conduit drawing love in as quickly as it can pump love out. When the next storm hits, our pantry will be overflowing, our bodies will be lean and our experience energized and fulfilling as we lead, respond and identify with the power of love.

Explore more about the power of love and our natural state at a Center for Spiritual Living in your community or on line starting at CSL.org and CSLFTL.org.