Tag Archives: Mind

What does a 21-day complaint fast mean to me?

woman-954785_1920-1It means taking care with every thought and word I express. Although an adverse thought is not necessarily a “complaint,” it does require carefully acknowledgement and often a shift of consciousness to expressing it in words or actions.

Conversation takes on a much quieter character as we carefully consider our words before speaking them. Likewise, expressing thoughts about what is happening around us, particularly the news, becomes an activity for deep contemplation. If what we focus our attention on is what we create and experience, careful reflection on our thoughts, opinions, perspectives, and responses becomes critically important to our own well-being and that which the world experiences too.

Today, after a brief setback earlier this week, I continue my fast. I notice that there are a number of positive things happening in the world. I give thanks for those and consider them answered prayer. As I look at the things occurring that still cause my heart to ache, my mind to contort my inner Christ to remind me to ‘shift that thought!” I choose to keep the words of complaint and judgment to myself. I express the facts and specific needs, but not the judgement. I take positive action where possible and I choose to look at challenging occurrences in a new Light, one of spiritual unfoldment, and a evolutionary movement within the heart of humankind that leaves no stone unturned, no dark place hidden so that we might release, transform, and ascend to greater heights.

© 2018. Rev. Eileen Patra. Rev. Eileen is an ordained Unity Minister currently serving Unity of Livonia in Livonia, MI. You can view her Sunday messages online at http://www.unityoflivonia.org 

 

A Magnet with Choice?

magnet-cc-10330622805_f9e64832eb_qMAGNETS are miraculous objects that attract various substances with a mysterious and often powerful force.  MAGNETS are useful for lifting, holding, separating, retrieving, and sensing. They are found in everyday objects and tools such as speakers, doorbells, microwaves, televisions, compasses and, of course, on the door of many American refrigerators.   Like a MAGNET, we draw to us a variety of experiences.  Our thoughts, feelings and emotions create a field of energy which draws to us similar energies.  Unlike a MAGNET, we can choose our thoughts, move through our feelings and emotions, consciously creating our energy field to attract that which we desire.  When we fall asleep to this inner power of choice, or we give this power away to the challenges that appear before us, we attract whatever is showing up and we allow it to multiply in our consciousness.  A MAGNET has no apparent choice in what it attracts, but we do. What will you choose to attract today?  What thought or belief will you release in order to stop attracting something?  What will you focus on with all your heart and mind that will attract a more powerful, harmonious experience in your life?  What will you hold in mind and place your faith in that is a more powerful MAGNET for good? 

© 2016. Reverend Eileen DeRosia Patra

Rev. Eileen is an ordained Unity minister currently serving at Unity of Livonia in Livonia, Michigan.

Paint A Miracle Today

paint-ccPAINT is a magical, miraculous substance capable of changing the color of an object.  A vast variety of pigments and tints can be added to this liquid substance to create a coating of the desired color and hue. Easily changed or even removed in its liquid state, PAINT becomes fixed when it dries.  Metaphysically, PAINT represents the thoughts and energy we project into our world and our experiences.  We can PAINT our thoughts or experiences in the color or hue of our choosing.  We can choose a color that vibrates with joy and harmony. Or, we can choose a color that constricts or vibrates with fear or anger.  Thoughts and energies held for long periods of time become fixed and require one or more coats of a new color, or new thoughts.  If I have been holding thoughts of fear or anger for a long period of time, it may require numerous affirmative thoughts to change the picture I have allowed to become fixed in my mind. Today, I paint a miracle. I paint the world with shades of Love, Healing, Acceptance, Forgiveness, Faith and Joy and they become fixed in my mind and in my life.

© 2016. Reverend Eileen DeRosia Patra

Rev. Eileen is an ordained Unity minister currently serving at Unity of Livonia in Livonia, Michigan.  

A Miracle A Day, Day 119

tent-cc-7732621858_74d3e3b1fd_mTENTS seemed quite a miraculous thing to me as a child.  I recall pinning a blanket to the top of the fence in a neighbor’s yard, stretching it out and holding the lower edge with rocks to form my own little refuge from the world.  Inside the TENT we could hide, giggle, tell stories and share secrets. It was a world unto itself, yet temporary, easily moved to another place for another day.  Have you ever thought about the physical forms that we walk around in as being like those TENTS?  Our bodies provide a virtual TENT in which we can find a bit of refuge from the vastness of the universe.  They are a private place in which we hold our own personal thoughts and ideas.  We tell ourselves stories about the world and our lives.  Sometimes we laugh and sometimes we cry.  And when we close our eyes we can close out the physical world around us and reconnect with the vastness of the universe, with the very essence of Life which is greater than all the stories we tell ourselves.  A TENT is a miraculous idea providing shelter wherever we go.  Our bodies, the physical body, the energy body, and the spiritual body, provide a place of refuge too. Within them we can close the door to outer appearances aligning our minds with the Mind of God, the ultimate shelter that transcends time and space and all that has appeared before us.

© 2016. Reverend Eileen DeRosia Patra

Rev. Eileen is an ordained Unity minister currently serving at Unity of Livonia in Livonia, Michigan.  

A Wondrous Moon In You?

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The MOON, whether full or simply a sliver in the sky, floats silently in its rhythmic path around the earth providing light in the night sky, a scene of beauty for lovers and artists and a sense of wonder for all who would pause and take in its majestic presence.  Light on one side, dark and cold on the other, it provides for us what it cannot provide for itself; a sense of warmth and comfort.  Just one of trillions of lights in the night sky, the MOON is a special miracle as it is a part of the Earthscape, the subject of human poetry and a constant reminder of the cycles of time.  Its regular 28-day cycle is predictable, its gravitational pull powerful. Capable of creating tidal waves and capable of being the centerpiece of a peaceful, pastoral scene, the MOON is a miracle that warms the heart and lights the sky.  What in you is like the MOON?

© 2016. Reverend Eileen DeRosia Patra.  Rev. Eileen is an ordained Unity minister currently serving at Unity of Livonia in Livonia, Michigan.  

Clairvoyance

cc-clairvoyanceCLAIRVOYANCE, the ability to see beyond what is currently visible to the human eye is the miracle of Spiritual Vision or seeing with the Mind’s eye.  This is not an ability conferred upon the few, but an ability inherent in all.  If I invite you to think about a blue butterfly, an image comes to mind of a blue butterfly.  It may not be a picture-perfect image, but you know what you are seeing in your mind’s eye. The “Clairvoyant” has simply learned to utilize this invisible sense to a higher degree.  Seeing the invisible, that which has not yet occurred or that which occurred millennia ago only requires that we transcend what the physical eyes behold.  Time, is an illusion, relative to our current position in the universe. In Spirit, all things occur simultaneously so seeing what has not yet occurred is simply looking beyond what the physical eyes, bound by time and space are beholding.  With practice, we can increase the ability to SEE beyond the physical, to SEE beyond the appearance of limitation and separation.  We do not alter the future in doing so. Instead, we alter our own consciousness which in turn changes what we bring forth next.  CLAIRVOYANCE, is the miracle of Spiritual Sight inherent in all.  It is intended to be utilized, not “… hidden under a basket.”

© 2016. Reverend Eileen DeRosia Patra

Rev. Eileen is an ordained Unity minister currently serving at Unity of Livonia in Livonia, Michigan.   

A Miracle A Day, Day 82

idea.cc.7650740066_bb5e4ea62b_qIDEAS spark possibilities.  They are a miracle of the mind.  IDEAS, like dreams, access the power of imagination.  IDEAS are constantly connecting us to the divine and bringing the future into the present moment.  An IDEA is a thought that sparks a new way of being or a new way of doing something.  For an IDEA to take hold it is vital that the old way of doing, thinking or being is released.  Without that act of release, the IDEA has no room to peak through or take form. IDEAS are miracles continuously popping into our minds, inspiring us to create something greater than the current experience. God once had an IDEA.  It was an IDEA of a world in perfect balance, populated with spiritual beings that would have creative IDEAS themselves, IDEAS that would be fruitful and multiply.   Open the space for a new IDEA.  Honor the new IDEA of another.  Work together to try new IDEAS and begin to manifest an entirely new way of being.  Right now, this very moment, someone has a better IDEA of how the world can become a thriving, fruitful place that works for all.  Perhaps, we can join together and release the way things have always been to make room for the Divine IDEAS that will carry us to the next phase of spiritual evolution.

© 2016. Reverend Eileen DeRosia Patra

A Miracle A Day, Day 46

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SILENCE may seem especially miraculous to the new parents who have finally gotten their infant to sleep.  SILENCE may seem elusive to the night shift worker as his day ends and his neighbors begins.  And, when he finally drifts off to sleep, SILENCE becomes a miraculous gift.  SILENCE however is always present no matter how elusive it may seem.  It is miraculous in its existence before time, before sound.  In the SILENCE, lies all answers, all wholeness, all potential.  In the silence lies the contrast to sound.  The SILENCE provides the space for sound, and sound then gives back vibration to the SILENCE in a perfect circle of harmony.  It is in the miracle of SILENCE that thought is born and form takes shape. SILENCE is the miracle beneath all that takes shape, all that breathes, all that is.  In the SILENCE we find our Source, the Face of God moving across and through the waters of Mind and Heart.  In the SILENCE is the Word and the Word is alive in me. 

© 2016. Reverend Eileen DeRosia Patra

Rev. Eileen is an ordained Unity minister currently serving at Unity of Livonia in Livonia, Michigan.  To view the entire Miracle A Day series, visit her Facebook page.