I don't know of anyone who does not have some deep and primal connection to elephants.
They are the true KING of the jungle.  

This Saturday at 9am EST I will continue the exploration of time and the power of NOTHING..

One of my favorited excerpts is from a book by Kurt Vonnegut; Dead Eye Dick.  "  I have caught life.  I have come down with life.  I was a wisp of undifferentiated nothingness, and then a little peephole opened quite suddenly.  Light and sound poured in.  Voices began to describe me and my surroundings.  Nothing they said could be appealed.  They said I was a boy named Rudolph Waltz, and that was that.  They said the year was 1932 and that was that.  They said I was in Midland, Ohio and that was that.  They never shut up.  Year after year after year they piled detail upon detail upon detail.  They do it still.  You know what they say now?  The say the year is 1982, and that I am fifty years old... blah, blah, blah, blah."

We can all write our equivalent of this story - right?    "I have caught life.  I was an invisible non-material state of being bliss and then decided to foray into the realm of the visible.  Light and sound poured in and voices began to describe me and my surroundings.  They said the year was 1951 and that my name was Denise, the oldest of 5 children born to poor and powerless teenagers.  They said I was of the ilk that would never go to college and that life would be a struggle. They said there were rich people and poor people and that we were poor.  There were people who had everything and people who had nothing - and we were the have nothings.   They said I loved John F. Kennedy, was against the Vietnam war and should remember my place. It was best to be seen and not heard and to love and trust sparingly.  You are born, you pay taxes and then you die and everything in between is just plain hard.  My family, friends, teachers, and preachers, and the media have never stopped telling me how life is.   Now they say that I am 70 years old, close to the the statistical expiration date of 81.1 years (for women in U), and to try to be happy being comfortable and grateful to having lived this long.  Blah..blah..blah...

The point is that life gets dictated to us pretty early on and unless and until we open the eyes of our hearts and see through the eyes of our authentic Self (our SELF as a Spirit), the realm of possibility and the realm of 'nothing', will remain illusive.  Living from  past circumstances (or something) rather than from possibility (nothing), our lives will inevitably have a kind of limiting, restricting feeling to it.  Sometimes that might be a nudge to think differently or a push to pivot into a new idea or activity -- but when chronic it can be the source of a great deal of existential angst, depression, addictive behaviors or lethargy.  Each of us has to determine for ourselves our tolerance level for this kind of suffering.

 I know mine is quite low.  I have re-invented myself more times than I can count in my 70 years on the planet.  I did start out to be the first  born child of painfully poor and powerless teenagers.  I Somehow made it through the melodrama of being a child raised in an alcoholic household to reinvent myself as the wife of an orthodontist, wall-papering my bathroom on a monthly basis and playing bridge with the ladies  at the country club twice a week. That clearly wasn't it for me!    I spent another twenty years playing a variety of roles in a plethora of plots -- some fun, some traumatic or dramatic, some lucrative, some quite interesting -  all had in common an ongoing search for someone or something that remotely matched who I knew myself to be on the inside.

Then something broke open or broke through.  The only way I know to talk about it is that I got cured.   If I caught life then what happened is I found the cure for the life I had caught.  That cure was a coming face-to-face with the SELF I really am and now know myself to be, separate and apart from the self I was told and believed myself to be.  I don't mean for that to sound lofty.  But it opened up something deep and fierce and authentic in me that has allowed me to live in a creative, authentic, unapologetic  kind of way.  Is the this way better than the normal way?   Today, I say yes.  In truth life still happens in all of its glory and its challenges.  Covid still came, my cats still died, I still had a stroke.  But I am happy, living in the present and unfettered by the past and mostly I feel real.  I no longer blame others  or myself.  I am definitely not feeling sorry for myself.  I simply ask at every turn, "What do I want to do, to have and to be from this moment forward?"  And I ask God (the Infinite Ineffable) surrounding us all, "What would you have me do and/or have me be in this moment?".  I listen carefully, and then I go about the business of creating something out of nothing in the full awareness that my mind, my thoughts, my beliefs, my intentions and my deepest and most soulful commitments are the tool of manifestation  -- Life's gift to us to co-create our destiny.

Write your blah blah blah paragraph -- and then write your created future paragraph.  It is quite fun!

Join me tomorrow morning  9am on Facebook and YouTube Live to explore the top of "Creating Something Out of Nothing".

Love, Denise

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/A-Life-of-Spiritual-Power-106836340982992
Zoom ID:  https://zoom.us/j/4792839409

All is well here in the African bush.  During our stay at Thamabati we were privileged to come across a pride of 9 lions - 7 young boys and 2 girls who had been lucky enough to secure a meal consisting of a young hippo during the night.   Unfortunate for the young hippo of course but very lucky for the hungry young lions.  At any rate, the sighting made for some lovely pictures which I share with you here.

My traveling partner David goes home tomorrow morning and my next friend does not arrive until May 1st, so I will have a couple of weeks to acclimate to the rhythm of life in South Africa.  My charge is to contemplate a worthy message and what is occurring to me this morning is the ongoing  conundrum of time - past, present and future. 

As we awaken to the higher levels of awareness and consciousness available to us, our attention to time shifts.  Prior to this awakening, almost everyone has their primary focus rooted in the past.  This focus almost always has a limiting influence on our happiness in the present and most certainly plays an important role in the future we are constantly creating for ourselves.    In my Facebook Live event this past Saturday, we explored how both the 'bad' and 'good' experiences we have get stored away as memory and then projected into the future thereby affecting our present moment experience of life. Not merely do we limit our satisfaction, fulfillment, happiness and peace but we move through life with our authentic, true and real self concealed by our human story. This inauthenticity is the source of suffering, depression, addiction and a host of other ailments.

A fundamental piece of work every aspirant of authenticity must face and accomplish, is the making peace with the past regardless of what happened, what we think we remember happened or even what we might have made up along the way.  Werner Erhard, the visionary behind the Landmark Forum inspired my life when he said, "Whatever you can let BE, can let you BE."  

I know that this work of letting our past be, forgiving those who made missteps with us and those with whom we misstepped is a process and takes as much time as it takes.  But the time must inevitably be taken because doing so is the opportunity  to architect a future of our own design rather than living a kind of re-run existence where the same old stuff continues to happen.  Trust me, the same old stuff happening has nothing to do with luck or fate or the idea that the 'apple doesn't fall far from the tree".  The same old stuff continues to happen because we are endlessly stuck in the re-play of the past. 

The conundrum of time is that once we let the past be, we are not done with our work. Now we have to manage the human tendency to think we know how the future will turn out. The work of Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, Dr. Ernest Holmes, Jesus, Buddha, Wayne Dyer and every other teacher and avatar of the ages, offers us the truth teaching that how the future gets created is by us through the God-Given tool of creation - our minds.  It is our beliefs, our attitudes, our perspectives, our interpretations and our feelings about all of that which mold s the molecules of existence into things, conditions and circumstances.  That is why Dr. Holmes built his legacy on "Change your thinking, change your life."   Now, I am really talking to myself because I am in this moment (with David leaving) facing an opening for my future and I have this silly idea that I might be bored. And thinking I might be bored is messing with my serenity!

This, of course has nothing to do with reality.  It does have everything to do with who I am in relationship to 'being' versus 'doing'.  It shows up like, "what will I do with my time or myself?"  It ties in with my recent theme of becoming aware of how lions and elephants don't worry about what they are going to do tomorrow.  They never feel depressed at not knowing what their purpose in life is.  And they never stay mad at their mothers.  Only human beings do such silly things. I invite you to join me this week in the pondering of how we put things into the future that we don't really want and then our emotions and feelings respond as if the things we projected actually happen.  How crazy is that really?  Every experience we want -- happiness, peace, hopefulness, joyful anticipation is actually created by us in the only moment there ever really is.  NOW.  NOW. NOW.  Don't awfulize the future!

Join me this coming Saturday at 9am on Facebook and YouTube Live to explore the top of "Creating Something Out of Nothing".

Enjoy the lions,  I will feature the elephants from Thamabati next!

Love, Denise

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/A-Life-of-Spiritual-Power-106836340982992
Zoom ID:  https://zoom.us/j/4792839409

This lodge is truly wonderful.  A beautiful room, delicious food and stunning wild life.  A truly remarkable experience from on ever level.  I have so much to share that I am going to do it in three separate blogs.  This one and then one dedicated to the elephants and another to the lion experience.

What has mostly been on my heart today is a question.  Why can't humans live in exactly the same was as an elephant or a lion or a spider?  The question really has to do with BEING and PURPOSE.  When I spend time in nature I am  inspired by any and all creatures simply being THEMSELVES.  The life of the elephant is about food, water and family.  It eats, drinks and raises its young.  There is no acquisition.  No ego gratification.  No accomplishment, No achievement.  No trying to be something other than what it is.  The elephant doesn't care what you  think, whether or not you like it and certainly never languishes over questions of life, death or purpose. 

When a lion kills an antelope it is not being mean, vicious or brutal.  It is simply being ITSELF.  Everything works together as it should and everyone is satisfied with life as it is.   Can you even imagine what life would be like if from the moment of your birth we were allowed, encouraged and supported in simply BEING who we were born to be?  All of the spiritual teachers and way-showers in human history have tried, and continue to try, to speak to us of our inherent perfection, our goodness and our right to live, to be and to do what is ours to do.  Our hearts, at some level, know what we are here to be and so few of us ever allow ourselves to be that.  

I am excited tomorrow to begin a series on "Conversations That Matter:Insights and Distinctions" written by the Landmark Forum Leaders.   Our first exploitation is the essay "If I weren't my past, who would I be?" written by Nancy Zapolski, PH.D. It directly speaks to how and why humans end up so distant from what is natural and right.  Please join me on Facebook and YouTube at 9am.  You might be getting this right at that time -- but hop on if you can.

Enjoy some of the pictures from our game drive here.  More to come!!

Love, love and more love,
Denise

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/A-Life-of-Spiritual-Power-106836340982992
Zoom ID:  https://zoom.us/j/4792839409

Such a great first week here in South Africa.  We have been exploring the area, resting and preparing for the excitement of a few nights on safari Wed-Friday.  Last night we experienced an evening at the Kapama Game Preserve which offers a Covid special - a 3-hour game drive and a 5-course dinner including wine for about $50.  Really a GREAT value.   I am continuing to do the work of melting into 'being' and releasing 'doing'.  In reality sometimes this 'being' is not as easy as I would like it to be. 

 I have often spoken of change and how much most human beings resist anything even resembling significant disruptions in our routine and comfort level.  I am pretty sure I am working on the mastery of living jin the zone of disrupted comfort.  There is a slight difference if the change is self-induced versus induced by some seemingly external forces like another person or circumstance.  In my case, my stroke this past November was the facilitator of great change since, at least for the time being, left me as one who should not be driving and once again re-inventing how I work in the world.   I also love to talk about how we are designed to create 'something out of nothing' which is our innate capacity to architect a life of our own design with a present to future orientation, rather than past to future orientation. So that is what I am working with as I move out of those changes and into a future which first makes me happy and secondly with has meaning and fulfillment.  South Africa is a wonderful place to just "be" and I am working with the questions of how I express my purpose and passion in this lovely land.

Starting this Saturday I am drawn to begin the sharing of the essays contained in the books "Conversations That Matter:Insights and Distinctions" written by the Landmark Forum Leaders.  These essays are not so much spiritual as they are philosophical --but then again I am more of a philosopher than a spiritualist myself!  Our first exploitation will be the essay "If I weren't my past, who would I be?" written by Nancy Zapolski, PH.D.  Please join me on Saturday at 9am EST followed by an opportunity to connect on Zoom immediately following.

As always you can email or WhatsApp me directly at revdschubert@gmail.com.  Join me on Facebook Live at 9am EST.   Begin to explore for yourself where you are in 'being' vs. 'doing' and in contemplating who you might be if you had no past. 

Enjoy the pictures from our game drive last night.  These stunning creatures bring me more joy and happiness than can be conveyed in this writing but I am sure you can appreciate them nonetheless.  Keep in mind that your coming to South Africa is an option for you at any moment while I am here.  Easier and less expensive than you think.  

Love, love and more love,
Denise

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/A-Life-of-Spiritual-Power-106836340982992
Zoom ID:  https://zoom.us/j/4792839409

I am happy to report that David and I arrived safely to our destination which is Bush Baby Haven our Airbnb in Hoedspruit, South Africa. Tom Cruise also happens to be here filming the next "Mission Impossible".  How fun is that.  We see his helicopter pick him up and drop him off every day.  The flights from Florida to Newark, Newark to Johannesburg and Johannesburg to Hoedspruit were completely uneventful and lovely.  We arrived on Wednesday at 11:30am, unpacked a bit, grocery shopped and had a really wonderful meal at the "Thirsty Giraffe" - a fabulous local place.  I continue to feel amazing.  My hip has benefited from all of the exercise and my eyes have not deterred me from the joy and peace I feel being here.  Perhaps a tad  feeling foolish for my 5 over-stuffed suitcases - aware now that I will never wear or use half of what I brought.  I did get my Echo Dot to work so Alexa came with me!  A reminder that I will be streaming live on Facebook from Bush Baby on Saturday at 8am EST so pease drop in if you are able.  We will also try a conversational follow-up on Zoom at 9am EST - also on Saturday.  

More to come....

Love, love and more love,
Denise

revdschubert@gmail.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/A-Life-of-Spiritual-Power-106836340982992

Zoom ID:  https://zoom.us/j/4792839409

 I suppose I am not officially blogging about the time in South Africa as I am still here in Naples Florida for another week. 
The word "Safari" means  a "journey" or an "expedition", which I definitely feel like I have already started.  Michael Singer, the author of "The Untethered Soul", would be proud of me.  Not only is my soul untethered but so is my body.  No house, no car, no debt --- not much stuff.

I am quite antsy to head over to say the least. I am ready to unpack everything I own into my new bedroom in Hoedspruit South Africa.  Just look and see how beautiful it is!  Indoor shower, outdoor shower and a soaking tub the size of TEXAS.  Anyone who knows me well knows that the tub is enough to get me to move half way across the world.

I officially have 7 more 'sleeps' in this hotel.  My travel companion and I head out to the airport on Monday, March 28th.
We fly to Newark and board a non-stop to Johannesburg at 8:45pm, arrive in Jo-berg (as the natives call it), spend the night and then catch a domestic 1-hour flight up to Hoedspruit. Home sweet home for awhile. 

More soon, 

Love Denise