Surrounded By Angels

Surrounded By Angels

So many of us suffer in silence,

the loss of a loved one

who's birthday was on this day

reminds me of this.

Those moments when a grief

you thought was finally accepted

rears its head once again

and consumes your emotions once more.

Take just a minute to remember

you are never alone in these feelings.

You are never alone,

you are surrounded by Angels.

I share a song that expresses this with you.

As I walked through grief nine years ago

I referred to my friends as Angels with skin on.

No matter where we are in our Spiritual journey

we are surrounded by Love

and those that Love us or Loved us on this plane.

Those that have transitioned

continue to Love us from another realm,

their Love lives on in our hearts and memories.

And for that,

I am grateful

to have known and Loved them.

All My Love Always, Keith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhfMgVonRjk

You Are Love

You Are Love

  

You are what breathes you.

You are Love.

You are not your physicality.

You are Love.

You are not your thoughts.

You are Love.

Do not your prayers and sending love to others

show you you are boundless?

You Are Love.

You Are Boundless Love.

All My Love Always, Keith

To Where You Are

To Where You Are

09.16.2019

My daughter called last week, late in the day, it was,

unusual for a call after the kid's bedtime.

She told me through some tears

about someone calling her asking for her mom.

I told her it was ok.  Consoling her with

telemarketers don’t know if someone on their list

is deceased even if it’s been nine years.

It was just days before her Angelversary

and touched my daughter’s memories of her mom.

She ends the call with

“I just wanted to hear your voice.”

This comment snags a heartstring in me.

This morning she asks me to be picked up.

She wants to spend the day with a dear friend,

can I take her there?

Her recent car accident has left her

without a vehicle for a bit.

The kids are at school

and she doesn’t want to be alone all day today,

today is the actual Angelversary.

As I set off to pick her up

I’m thinking of her mom, Jane E.

This song I listened to in the early days of my grief

arises in my awareness:

To Where You Are by Josh Groban.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8CWGq8e3Bo

Today even though I long to hear your voice again, Jane E.

I know you are still with us.

You see my daughter called me a couple days after that phone call.

“I’ve got to tell you this, you’ll understand,” she said.

“I’m sitting on the back deck this morning.  Birds are singing all around

and then a cardinal lands on the deck.

I never see cardinals at my house!

It walks up to near my feet and starts chirping away.”

My response was “that’s your mom saying Hi!”

she says “I know.”

I listen to that song today and tears flow yet again.

We miss your physical presence Jane E.

but as the song says:

“And love will live on. And never leave.

Fly me up to where you are.”

Isn’t that what I just related?

A phone call, a thought “I just wanted to hear your voice”

and a cardinal chirping away.

They all fly us up to where you are

and remind us Love never dies

it just changes form.

All My Love Always, Keith

Cultivating Gratitude

Cultivating Gratitude

08.02.19

As I work on cultivating more gratitude

in my life

I become aware

I am planting seeds.

Seeds of surrendering my desire

to judge life events,

seeds of accepting life

as it is,

seeds of letting myself

just be.

Contemplating this gratefulness

I notice a growing calmness

and joy in my life.

For those moments

I am thankful,

I am grateful

for the realization

they are worth nurturing.

All My Love Always, Keith

Spiritual Connections - Mom's Gift

Spiritual Connections – Mom’s Gift

My son, Alex and his wife, Gabi

were in Gatlinburg last week

celebrating their first anniversary.

He called me Friday night

to tell me about their day.

They wanted to do

Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies,

but when they got there in the morning,

the line was way too long.

So they went off exploring the town.

They saw three bears which just delighted Gabi.

Alex had an experience that was amazing also.

Hours later they realized

they needed to get to the aquarium

if they wanted to get through it before closing.

There's a unique feature

where you walk through a transparent tunnel

and see the fish all around you.

As they entered this narrow aisle way,

“Canon in D” was playing.

Alex looked at his watch;

it was 5:56 pm.

His body flashed with goosebumps

as he thanked his mom in heaven

for her impeccable timing

to get them both there

at that moment

walking down an aisle way

with that song playing.

Why?

At just before 6 pm
exactly one year ago

they walked the aisle together

for the very first time

as a married couple

as that song played!

I remember watching them

walk down the aisle

with so much love in their hearts.

I remembered he had asked us

to save a seat on the front row

for his mom and put her picture there.

I remembered all those times

his mom has visited me

over the last 8 years since her transition

and how I too experienced goosebumps.

These signs from her

have utterly changed my view

of what death means.

I have read of so many similar accounts

and immersed myself in trying to understand

what “across the veil” means.

I call them truth shivers now.

So as I related it to my wife Laura and others,

I was so thrilled Alex

had such an overwhelming feeling arise in him.

That his mom was there with them,

that she had ensured

they showed up at the very moment

that would crystallize

his recognition of this event

into a belief.

A belief

that our loved ones don't die;

they live on in another realm

we like to call heaven.

Heaven seems so far away at times,

but in reality,

this veil is so delicate and porous

that if we are aware enough,

our loved ones

continue to be with us

and let us know it.

They honor our special days

with spiritual synchronicities like this

just as we continue to pay tribute

to their special days

on this human plane. 

Thank you, Alex and Gabi,

for sharing your mom’s gift with us,

I love you both so dearly.

All My Love Always, Dad

Connections – The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Connections – The Gift
That Keeps On Giving

I'm content
with the connections
I have with Spirit
in other ways
I told someone recently.
A few Sunday's ago I went shopping
and couldn't find all I wanted at WalMart.
Later that afternoon I felt compelled
to finish the grocery shopping.
My wife, Laura, said she needed fresh ginger
for the superfood soup
she wanted to make us for supper.

So I followed my intuition
and went all the way out to Publix
past Earth Fare
where I could have gotten all of it.
I felt Publix was the place.
I headed for the produce section,
I knew I could be in and out quickly,
I only needed 3 items.
As I started scanning
the produce section,
my heart leaps alive with joy
and a profound sense of love.
There stands a lady
with strawberry blond hair,
same build, similar height,
and with this beautiful sweater on
that would be just like what Jane E.
(the wife I lost suddenly years ago)
would wear.

I looked at her
I never saw her face.
Just felt a feeling of love swell in me
as truth shivers
washed over my whole body.
I mentally thanked Jane E.
for reminding me
she's always with me
wherever I am.
I got the fresh ginger
and turned to leave
the produce section.
As I did this gal rose up.
As though Jane E. was saying
take another look and feel
the same emotions again!
Like she totally understands
my incessant skepticism,
even after all the spiritual nudges
that I have experienced
these last 8+ years.
I only saw her from the back,
but I was again overcome
by the very same
intense rush of feelings.
It is a gift these moments,
these spiritual synchronicities,
we experience now and then.

The feelings washed over me
two or three more times
as I continued shopping
and my mind kept going back
to analyze "what just happened?"
The same feelings came back
when I shared it with Laura
a few days later.
And as I sat here writing this.

So truth shiver is an apt name
for the experience.
It also reinforces
the knowledge in me
that Spirit has
an infinite number of ways
to get our “attention.”
Whether we are awake
at the moment enough
to notice it or not
is on us.

I’m glad I wasn’t blinded
with self-absorption
about getting in and out
of the grocery store so fast.
If I were, I would have missed
this wondrous connection.

I share this most recent occurrence
of the gifts that Spirit
keeps on giving with you.
Know you are loved
whether the ones you love
are on this plane or not,
love never dies.

Spirit is sending us
messages all the time.
May you always be awake,
aware, and grateful
when these messages arrive.

All My Love Always, Keith

Full Moon Symbolism

Full Moon Symbolism

Have you ever contemplated

the significance of the full moon?

May the full moon show you

how you always return to wholeness;

the wholeness of you,

the spiritual nature of you.

The realization that

you are a spiritual being

having a human experience.

That at your core,

in your heart of hearts,

you are pure love,

plain and simple.

Even on the days,

you don’t feel it,

those new moon days.

At least for me sometimes 

I feel so very connected

so in touch with my true nature of love,

it’s like the full moon phase.

Then other times

I’m in differing aspects of it.

Waxing and waning

into and out of my true nature.

I wake up realizing

I need to capture these words

that come flooding to me

in the middle of the night,

like bright moonbeams

during a full moon

on a clear, crisp night.

What phase are you in?

Is it like me?

Do you seem to drift

in and out of step

with your true nature,

the love that you are?

The love you have always been?

There are those times

when I doubt and question myself.

As if my spiritual life is waning.

And there are those times

when I see connections

and feel them building,

waxing, into the full moon glory

of the unconditional love

that lives at the core of me.

When it blossoms

into its complete fullness

and feels so self-evident and true.

May the cycles of the moon

remind you of the boundless love

that lives in your soul.

May you realize that even

when you feel less than

or not enough

these are the human experiences

you came here to grow through.

The adventures of life

that as you work through them

enhance and expand

your true nature of love.

Your true nature

is to shine

in the fullness of the love

that you are.

Shine that love,

be that love,

and express that love,

that you innately are

and forever will be.

All My Love Always, Keith

Journey of Remembrance

Journey of Remembrance

If I look back with eyes of awareness,

my spiritual journey has been a life long pursuit.

Lost in my humanness and the vagaries

of raising a family for decades.

I admit I was unaware of this

for a large part of my life.

A significant shift occurred in 2010.

The intensity of exploring my spirituality took off.

I started devouring books on it

and came to find

spiritual mentors and practices along the way.

My spiritual practice

has evolved and morphed over the years,

meditation and spiritual readings

have become an ingrained daily action.

I often begin and end my day that way.

Last night I picked up a favorite read

Spiritual Growth by Sanaya Roman.

A single chapter is easy to read before bed.

I enjoy ending my days

with a focus on my spiritual nature.

That lead me to read chapter 11

Accelerating Your Growth.

On page 109 I read

“for the more you desire it,

the more you bring

a spiritual intention

to everything you do…”

As words and sentences began flooding into my mind,

I knew I was being called

to write about these contemplations.

Bring a spiritual awareness

to everything you witness

unfolding in your life.

I am love, I am peace, I am serenity,

I am aware I have a choice.

As I wrote this,

I was reminded of another teaching

Suzanne Giesemann’s meditation CD

Journey of Remembrance.

I picked up my iPod and listened to it yet again.

The meditation leads you through

the Sacred Seven which are

Joy, Peace, Strength, Courage,

Gratitude, Humility, and Love.

Contemplating the Journey of Remembrance meditation,

A spiritual awareness of it opens.

A realization that everything you witness

unfolding in your life

is guided by spirit.

I am Joyous, I am Peaceful,

I am Strong, I am Courageous,

I am Grateful, I am Humble,

I am Loving.

These are not qualities

that exist “out there.”

They are found innately within me, always.

I am a spiritual being

having a human experience.

A feeling of serenity

arrives with the awareness

that I still have a choice

to live from any

or all

or none

of these qualities.

In any moment

I can choose

Joy, Peace,

Strength, Courage,

Gratitude, Humility,

or Love.

When I see through

the eyes of my Soul,

my Higher Self

I live from these

because I innately am these.

All My Love Always, Keith