This time of year I often go through my home and find things I can give away.  Since we tend to accumulate more stuff at Christmastime, it seems timely to clean out the old to make room for the new.  Fortunately, as my children are now mostly grown, we have less need to accumulate more stuff.  However, it still feels necessary to give away whatever is no longer needed or useful.  This outer activity seems to reflect what I’m also feeling inwardly.  There is an inner need to examine what no longer serves us, what we’ve outgrown, and what may be holding us back spiritually.  As I go through my physical stuff, I often recall the usefulness or enjoyment the item once brought even as I now feel ready to let it go.   My inner process is no different.  Before I choose to let go of some quality or behavior, I often reflect on how I perceive it once served me.  We have not accumulated our inner qualities randomly.  Rather, at some point, they were deemed useful, even necessary.  But, like our physical stuff, we outgrow certain traits and behaviors.  Their usefulness diminishes.  These qualities can almost feel like old friends; they may have been with us for many years and have seen us through difficult times.  Perhaps it is our sarcastic nature that helped hold people at bay, our pride that is quick to bolster our confidence, or our judgmental nature that assures us of being right.  There is a reason we chose each of these qualities and a need we’ve had to maintain them.  But perhaps we are ready now to let something go.   Each quality needing to be transmuted has a story.  Listen to its story, be open to what it has to teach you, and in love release it into the transforming Light of God.

(thoughts and reflections by Andrea Chinn-Parillo)

Rev. Phyllis Isaac shared a story in one of her talks that has stayed with me.  She told of two nuns who were very close friends.  When one of them made her transition she was able, for a time, to communicate with her friend who was still living in this dimension.  She explained to her friend that when one passes over they review the life just completed.  First they are shown what was possible, then what was realized.  She expressed heartbreak at realizing the disparity between the two scenarios.  I often think about that story and wonder how my two scenarios will differ.  With each new year I am more motivated to manifest what is possible.  Recently, I journaled about this idea of learning to take full advantage of each moment and to make the most of my days.  Here is what came to me:

“Remember who you are.  You are a soul disguised in an earthly robe.  Do not allow yourself to lose your true identify.  When an actor takes the stage, no matter how much he loses himself in that role, does he not also maintain his true identity?  This is what you must learn to do.  Each lifetime is given you as an opportunity for great possibilities.  The material world creates the theater for your soul’s journey.  The journey is the vehicle through which your soul ascends.  Do not allow limited thinking or fear to keep you from realizing the potential that is within you.  You are a soul, forever a part of God.  Meditate on that.  Learn what it means; become what it offers you.”  

(thoughts and reflections by Andrea Chinn-Parillo)

I have one houseplant and I struggle to care for it.  It seems I forget all about it until such time as its leaves are drooping and it’s looking pretty sad.  I’m ashamed to admit how long it sometimes takes me before I get around to giving it some water.  The other day I finally remembered to water my droopy little plant and within hours I scarcely recognized it.  It had transformed into a full, vibrant, healthy plant with beautifully outstretched leaves.  We are fortunate not to be at the mercy of someone else for our nourishment.  And yet how often do we allow ourselves to become droopy and undernourished spiritually?  I’m quite certain if my droopy little houseplant had the ability to feed itself, it would have without hesitation.  I think our state of spiritual malnutrition sometimes even begins to feel normal.  We get lulled into complacency and this state begins to feel comfortable.  Yet my mind keeps returning to my vibrant plant.  I could feel its joy as it lifted its leaves Godward.  Surely, this same joy awaits us in each moment if we only open ourselves to the Light that feeds us.  For those of us who attended the Advent class Wednesday night, we could feel the power of the Christ Presence infilling us with spiritual nutrients and we were transformed.

(Thoughts and reflections by Andrea Chinn-Parillo)

"Divinity is ever attempting to awaken us from automatic attitudes, and to illumine us with the Light of Spirit. It is saddening to realize that we deter the approach of Reality. God constantly endeavors to enter us, only to fiind that the state of our consciousness bars His entrance." -- Flower A. Newhouse.

How shall you use this day?  Will it be totally for the self or will you allow room for the Creator to help and inspire you?  Every day we have the opportunity to become a blessing to others, to bring in more light to the planet, and to strengthen our own soul with added growth.   Each moment brings new opportunities; each moment is all we ever have.  In each moment we can either be animated by our own willfulness or we can allow the Spirit of God to animate us.  Our willfulness blocks the influence of Light while our willingness is a gift we give back to God.  Our willingness creates openings where we allow God to come in and creatively transform us.  In the moment just before we speak, perform a task, or interact with another, we have the opportunity to lift our consciousness through our remembrance of our Indwelling Spirit.  This simple act of remembrance establishes a conscious connection with our Creator and has the power to transform the moments that make up our days.  How shall you use this day?

(thoughts and reflections by Andrea Chinn-Parillo)

Perhaps this post will be reminiscent of neighbors who put up Christmas lights too early or stores that promote Christmas shopping well before we’ve finished our Thanksgiving feast.  However, this year I cannot quit thinking about my inner preparations for Christmas.

As Advent approaches, we begin examining our lives in an effort to distill that which we are being called to refine, that which we could offer as our gift to Christ this Christmas Eve.   When I was young, I saw this exercise as a chore.  What was I going to give up this year?  I felt like a child being asked to give up a favorite toy.  This was not something I looked forward to doing.  Age brings a different perspective.  Rather than a chore, it now feels like an incredible opportunity.  We have the opportunity to draw closer to that which we desire to become.  This is what Christ is calling us to do.  Who will you be a year from now?  What will you refine; what will you transform?  It is up to you whether this time next year finds you unchanged or deepened, widened, and more opened spiritually.  Flower reminds us, “Time is very precious because it contains the essence out of which all things emerge.”  What will you do in the coming year to emerge transformed?

(thoughts and reflections by Andrea Chinn-Parillo)

In our last Wisdom class we were asked to spend a day awakening the atoms of our causal body.  In an effort to do this I spent some time in meditation trying to tune into this master self within.  In this process, I found myself letting go of the common labels to which I normally identify myself.  My soul is not ‘mother’, ‘software engineer’, ’American’, ‘wife’, etc.  And so I tried to describe who I feel this one to be.

“I am on a journey to discover the invisible part of myself.  When I am quiet and very still, I get a glimpse of her and I am inspired.  She is not afraid to experience all that life throws at her.  Her heart is open to embrace compassion and joy as well as sorrow and heartache.  Love is always her first response.  She is gentle and peaceful during confrontations.  She is undaunted and fearless in the face of danger and the unknown.  She appreciates the blessings in each moment and easily finds humor in life’s many experiences.  She is sensitive to the suffering of others and compassionate in her response.  She is grateful for the smallest overcoming and she is steadfast in her service to Christ.” 
How would you describe your soul?

(thoughts and reflections by Andrea Chinn-Parillo)

Lucy gave a wonderful talk on Sunday, ‘Intuition: Awakening To Our Sixth Sense’.  She explained that intuition is a shortcut to truth which bypasses our rational mind. We all possess intuition; that inner voice is always there.  It speaks in whispers and does not compete well with the noise and distractions of our outer world.  So it is up to us to come to stillness if we want to hear it.  Intuition does not explain rather it just points the way for us.  It does not tell you why or how but simply asks you to trust.  Trusting our intuition is often a leap of faith as it may ask us to go against what our rational mind recommends.  How have you experienced intuition in your life?  What has helped you learn to trust this inner voice?  How do you recognize your intuition?

(thoughts and reflections by Andrea Chinn-Parillo)