S.H.I.N.E

Seeing Humanity In a New Expansiveness. SHINE!!

Do you meditate? Like, really meditate? Why do you do it? How did you discover it? What does it mean for you in terms of how you live your life on a daily basis?

For me, meditation has become a daily activity as vital as food, water and sleep. I learned many years ago thanks to a prompt from a dear friend. My good fortune was to get a bit of training from a practitioner/instructor in transcendental meditation. For a short period in my early '30s meditation was a revelation and I was a zealot. It didn't stick however. To be honest, I can't fully recollect how I lost touch with the practice but I know that for a good decade or more I wandered in the dark without it.

Then, at the insistence of a very earnest, honest and kind Swiss gentlemen I was blessed with the opportunity to visit the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona. We were traveling there together and though I almost always shiver at the thought of visiting well worn tourist destinations, his invitation was not something I would ever reject.

The church, if you've never visited, is overwhelming. From the standpoint of sheer ambition, dedication and focus it is a masterpiece of humanity's capacity to do important things for others. Started more than a century ago, the work continues to this day, having employed thousands of artisans over the decades to realize the vision of the original artist and architect, Gaudi.

And so as I sat there, marveling at my own insignificance in contrast with this spectacle, it ocurred to me that my connection to the spirit realm through meditation had to be begun anew. In that moment, I recalled my mantra, closed my eyes, put my feet firmly on the floor and my hands closed with fingers touching and began to breathe deeply.

I sat for what must have been 45 minutes without moving and was transported, just as I had been more than a decade ago when I was first introduced to this most magical of life's blessings. And in that space, during that time, it was pure transcendance. I soared to the top of the nave, communed with the visionary himself and had a conversation with God and Jesus. If you've been there, you know what I mean. And with that resetting, I have not missed a day since. (well that's an exaggeration but I have maintained this practice now ALMOST daily for the better part of the past 9 years.)

One of the things that I always try and day in a meditation is make an appeal for wisdom. Any small bit of wisdom, something that I can carry forward with me as I leave my communing with the angels and bring to my daily existence. And if you listen, if you are paying attention, you almost always can catch it. And this is the subject of today's article and headline. The message I took from my moments of transcendance came through in the acronym: S.H.I.N.E.

You see today I made a request. I am feeling a lot closer to my mortality in recent years and so I spend so much time and energy 'researching' how best to appreciate the last bit of time I have in this realm. It's not fatalistic, but more about making the most of the trip. Like if Disney were closing in a few hours, you were not fully aware of all that you hadn't seen, and so you asked a park worker for advice and what to do to make the most of what remained of the day!! My request was about my interactions with people.

I have always been somewhat of an introvert. While I do love intersection with others and digging in deeply to ask questions and learn about what their lives are really like, I'm also very self conscientious and shy in certain regards. And that has always lurked within me when it comes to interactions with others. Surely that was lurking underneath my request today in asking my spirit guides about how I should best experience other people in the limited time I have left. Should I be doing something differently? Can I stop being guarded, self conscious/scared??

The response was that I am supposed to shine on them. I am supposed to radiate the energy that I have found in the meditations. I am supposed to overwhelm people with the feeling of connectedness that I possess and allow them to immediately feel at ease, at peace and loved by the Divine energy that connects us all. And when that happens, then I am able to intersect and interact. As I connected more deeply to this message, the acronym began to form. My angels, it seemed, were allowing me to register the message more deeply at this point by seeding the mind with this easy way to remember how and why to shine. An acronym.

And so I felt compelled to write it all down. To share as well if you've decided to participate in this journey with me. And with that in mind, I will remember from this day forward that every interaction with another human being is a unique and blessed opportunity to SEE HUMANITY IN A NEW EXPANSIVENESS.