Make It Heaven Newsletter:
Getting Off the "Foiled Again" Playing Field

Vol. Three – May/June 2003

Definition of the ‘foiled again’ human nature playing field of life:

Where your reactive, fear-based responses create the drama and trauma of life.

In This Issue

• Glimpsing New Possibilities: Remembering Your Goodness
• Making Conscious Choices: Tip of the Month
• Practicing Self-Mastery: Grit or Grace?
• Cocreating with Divinity: Setting Your Intention to Remain Aware of Divinity
• Guest Article: When You’re In Heaven, There’s No Hiding by Bernie Cardell

Remembering Your Goodness

"The bud stands for all things/Even those that don’t flower, For everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing."
– Galway Kinnell

Take a moment and remember a time you extended kindness? Reach inside and recall that place of caring and empathy you felt for a friend in need? Remind yourself right now of those qualities of loving, caring and sharing you can express.

Your greatness lies hidden many times in the small acts of compassion you extend to others. Recognizing and reclaiming those brief moments of selflessness creates an opening to glimpse beyond the mire of the moment.

As you bless others by sharing your light, take a moment and bless yourself.

Receive the gift as you give it. Begin watering the inner garden of goodness by affirming tiny acts of thoughtfulness. Grow your awareness of your inner value. Hold your assessment in high regard. When you can esteem yourself you extend esteem graciously to others. Then, all will be blessed.

Tip of the Month

GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT LIFE, THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED:

1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.

2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.

3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.

Human nature is our teacher. It shows us where we are stuck, how we limit ourselves, where we are unhealed and what games we play. Deliverance is through expanding into our divine nature, which takes place on the self-mastery playing field. First, we must learn our lessons on the ‘foiled again’ human nature playing field, and consciously choose to cross over.

Games are based on misperceptions. When we need to always ‘do it right’ the misperception is: Right is good, wrong is bad and I need to be right in order to be loved and accepted and feel like I am OK.

If we play the comparison game to win the misunderstanding is: I can only feel good about me if I am stronger, faster, richer, prettier or more powerful than you. If somehow I come up short, then I lose.

Your human nature maintains these games at a high cost. For staying unconscious you sacrifice lasting joy, happiness, peace, fulfillment, loving and well-being.

A few games to consider:

1. Let’s Get Even
2. I’m Better Than You
3. There’s Never Enough
4. I’m Right, You’re Wrong
5. Am I Okay?
6. I Deserve Justice
7. You’re Out to Get Me
8. I Don’t Need Anyone
9. Poor Me
10. I Can’t Trust You

Action to Take:

Examine the limiting point of view that traps you in the sport. What fears, beliefs, thoughts and feelings no longer work for you? Vow to create another game plan. How about keeping score with acceptance? Grace? Forgiveness? Compassion? Self-responsibility?

Quitting a game is no small challenge. It takes courage and fortitude to terminate long-standing contracts you have with those limiting perceptions.

When you finally determine to bail out of the old game, give yourself a congratulatory pat on the back and hurry along. Your true self is waiting.

Grit or Grace?

"When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."
– Alexander Graham Bell

The grit of life is hard to swallow. You make a presentation at the office and someone points out a small mistake. The traffic was terrible that morning and you were late to an important appointment. You rehearsed exactly what you wanted to say to your boss, but when the time came the mind went blank.

In each situation what was your internal response? Self blame? shame? fear? Each instance of self-judgment is hard to stomach and quickly creates added stress. What is your gut response to the following common limiting beliefs?

Five Self-blaming Beliefs:

1. I deserve to be punished.
2. I look like a fool.
3. I am not safe.
4. I'll be abandoned or rejected.
5. I am powerless.

Action to Take:

Take a few minutes and trace any tightness back to its origination. Now, rewrite a new, self-empowering belief; take a nice deep breath and repeat the belief several times.

Here are a few examples of shifting from shame/blame to acceptance and support.

1. I learn from my mistakes and grow in patience and understanding.
2. I see my foolishness with the eyes of compassion and kindness.
3. I am safe and secure in my ability to love and accept all parts of me.
4. I am loyal friend and ally to myself.
5. I empower my weaknesses with the strength of my loving heart.

Patience, compassion, acceptance and self-love settles the mind and expands the heart. Full of grace the body relaxes and peace is present. Grace is the balm of the soul. Choosing to live under grace rather than grit creates an abundance of simple blessings.

Five Blessings of Grace:

1. I know that all experiences are growth promoting.
2. I uncover purpose through loving.
3. I realize I am here to prosper.
4. I am assisted in times of challenge.
5. I live in joy while seeking the divine within.

Challenge yourself to live one week with the blessings of grace. Note any changes in your attitude and over-all anxiety. Pay attention to any surprise glimpses of joy. Watch the tiny shifts in your behavior ripple out and touch your work environment and home life. Champion yourself to one more week of grace, and reap the bounty of your loving choice.

Setting an Intention to Remain Aware of Divinity

"There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique."
– Martha Graham

Amidst the rough-and-tumble of daily life, it is easy to lose sight of sacred messages to and from spirit. A ready-made intention to remain aware of those subtle communications can set you back on course. Compose the most relevant intention possible, keep it handy, and use it as a homing device.

Action to Take:

-Sit quietly, open your heart, and observe your most immediate experience of spirit in this moment.

- Based on what is present for you, create a clear intention to help you remain aware of God. Here are a few examples:

I am hearing the voice of God

I feel the warmth of my divine nature.

I am seeing signs of my divinity at work.

I breathe in grace, loving, and divine essence.

I am always in the light and love of Spirit.

- Recall your intention when your mind is chattering away to refocus your attention and energy.

- Return to your intention whenever you feel lost in confusion and chaos.

- Redirect your feelings from fear to loving by using your intention to connect you to the source of peace.

My Heaven

This month I asked Bernie Cardell to share his experience of cocreating heaven. Bernie sees clearly his vision of what his heaven "looks, feels and smells" like. He articulates honestly the challenge of letting go of control and trusting the universe to bring it forward.

The questions are mine, but the wisdom that follows is all Bernie’s.

When You’re In Heaven, There’s No Hiding
By Bernie Cardell

1. In what areas are you co-creating your heaven for 2003?

Creativity is my area where I have been co-creating for the past year. And when I look at my calendar these days, Heaven is everywhere! I am continuing to follow my dream of being an actor and producing and directing!

I have also been developing my coaching practice, forming coaching partnerships, and developing new seminars to present here in Denver and in the southwest.

2. What obstacles / challenges are you presently working with and overcoming?

Control – The need to know exactly what something is going to look like before I dive into a project has kept me on the bench. At times, I have doubted my decisions. Consequently, the opportunity has passed me by.

Isolation – Isolation is funny. It sneaks up on you when you least expect it. I can be working with our theater group or a group of coaches and suddenly it’s like I was never there. I can feel my body there, but for practical purposes, I may as well be a ghost. For me, this disconnection typically comes from self-doubt, comparing myself to others, and self-judgment.

3. How are you doing this?

The best way I have to deal with these two challenges is to connect. A hug, touch, or even saying something about how I am feeling can bring me back enough to get back into the game. I can connect through a script while on stage with my fellow actors, or during a simple conversation over dinner. The trick for me is to make it very conscious and to "stick with it."

4. What is your experience of cocreating heaven? Learnings? Awarenesses?

The biggest awareness that I have had about co-creating heaven is to know that once I have imagined the highest vision for my life, this vision then becomes the foundation for the universe to build on. So, in effect, my highest vision is only about 10% of what’s really possible and that the universe has big, big, big plans for me when I open up to knowing what they are.

This has been a great learning. What a world of possibilities open up for me when I realize that not only do I not have to do everything (contrary to my limiting belief) but also the universe is willing to meet me halfway (and in most cases, more than halfway).

5. How do you invite your divinity to cocreate with you?

Trusting myself, trusting others, trusting the universe. And also through the process of forgiveness. I find that forgiveness can remove the layers of tough-ness inside, revealing a clean, whiteness. Sort of like those scrubbing bubbles on television, they just come in with the forgiveness and leave everything sparkling!

6. How do you see yourself sharing your heaven?

I am a firm believer that the choices we make in our lives are a tapestry of our legacy. It has been very amusing for me to discover that in choosing to direct a play this summer, I have been invited to share my inner landscape – my sensitivity, vulnerability, courage, and other general human-ness. Everyone that is involved in the play or purchases a ticket will be able to see all of the choices I have made.

When you’re in heaven, there’s no hiding!

This is a great thing.

For Bernie, creativity is a way of life.  As an actor, author and musician, he brings out new levels of his own creativity, and as a personal coach and facilitator, he is able to help others realize higher levels of creativity.  He can be reached at bernster74@hotmail.com or 303-237-5233.

Websites and Ezines to Check Out

NAN FISCHER, a coach and journal writer, inspires people to get beyond their fears, blocks and limitations through creative journaling. I met Nan when she called on one of my teleclasses. I could tell that her approach is fresh, fun and consciousness promoting. Her website has just the right spark to jumpstart your self-exploration.

Check out her website: www.inspiredtojournal.com

If you have a favorite website or ezine you visit or subscribe to send me the link and I will check it out for our newsletter. Please remember the intent of the newsletter: Supporting consciousness, personal growth, and cocreating heaven on earth.

Endorsement of Heaven

Every once in awhile, I receive an unsolicited endorsement from a reader that I feel would be very valuable to share. This particular email came from a woman who found You Can Make It Heaven to be supportive of her work with the 12-step program of AA. I am including her words in this issue incase you know of someone else that might also receive value from reading and using the approach of the book to further their inner healing journey. And if you pass this recommendation on, thank you and blessings.

Dear Rebecca,

I am so grateful to you for writing your book and sharing it with the world.  I want to share with you a bit of how it has had an impact with me.  I have also recommended it to some friends of mine, and have read portions of it to my guy, Gordon, and piqued his interest as well.

I am a sober alcoholic, and thus have worked through the 12 Steps with my sponsor.  The self-excavation work that you offer in the book is very similar to the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Steps of AA.  The 8th and 9th Steps are the amends steps, and we belong at the top of the amends list.  The other night, I was at a meeting and I was holding your book in my hands before the meeting started.  I was reading the Steps off of the wall, and the first part of the 12th Step kind of hit me up the side of the face.  "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps…"  And it dawned on me that what the 12 Steps are designed to do is exactly what your book does…discover the divine within us.  I had heard this in meetings before and couldn't grasp the concept.  Until I read your book.  It defines the purpose of what was given to Bill Wilson back in 1939.  I am so grateful.

Your book also gives me permission to trust the still, small voice within that I learned about from Judy's book, "The Voice of the Soul".  I had been poopooing that voice as "wishful thinking".  I began listening to it, and I kept hearing the word "Trust"… what an impact it had in opening up my heart and mind to this journey.

In my opinion, being sober is not about not drinking, and any person in AA who works an honest program will tell you that.  It's about living and becoming the person that God intended for us to be.  I am finally realizing this gift in my own life.  Self honesty is the key, as it is in your book.

Dear Rebecca, you have done something of tremendous value here.  You have given the principles behind the 12 Steps and a perfect design for living to people who may not otherwise need a 12 Step Program.  God Bless You for this.

I can honestly recommend your book because the work inside is too valuable to miss out on.  I am so grateful to you.

Love to You, dear friend,

Rita Malone

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Rebecca Skeele, President of Make It Heaven LLC, is an author, speaker and master facilitator supporting people to cocreate their personal heaven on earth. She is the author of You Can Make It Heaven: How to Enrich Your Life with Abundance and Loving and numerous articles supporting personal and spiritual growth. She combines her extensive years as a spiritual counselor and coach, two Master’s degrees in Spiritual Counseling and Spiritual Science, her certification in the noetic field of consciousness and her study as an non-denominational minister to support conscious choice and awakening to the truth within. Her new course, Becoming a Spiritual Scientist: A Course for Cocreators is offered in Santa Fe, NM.  Visit http://www.spiritual-scientist.com for more information or email Rebecca at rebecca@makeitheaven.com

Copyright 2003, Rebecca Skeele. This content may be reprinted or forwarded in full with author’s name and contact numbers.