TRUE FREEDOM: Quebec Leads the Way!

In Quebec, I recently discovered, it's against the law for women to use their husband's last name!

Reason?

It's easier for the government when the couple gets a divorce.



I laughed out loud at the sheer cynicism of the decision when I first heard it.

But you know what?

It makes so much sense!

It's not that I've bought into the belief that people will get divorced in large numbers.


But think about this:
How free are we when we have to identify ourselves as a "couple" by having the same names?


I noticed something curious, too, about the woman who told me this: she seemed to have real power!


Unlike many American women I'd interacted with on the subject, this Canadian woman did not even pause to include her husband in the decision making.

She made the decision on her own...then...included him in a subsequent project she and I were working on...because it fit with his needs!

So now, an incremental benefit of the Canadian law seems to be that by having women maintain their identity in marriage, they also maintain their autonomy.


I'm sure the French Government didn't think of this. Nonetheless, they have empowered their women by default!

I want to believe that we are all FREE in all that we do.

But we know that's not true.



We know that all of our actions or thoughts have a consequence, manifesting back to us in our world as our own experience.


As you know, this is the law of Karma, suggesting that as we choose our thoughts and actions towards others and ourselves, there are consequences. Thus there are consequences, too, for us choosing not to be FREE!

From our youth, we may have been witnesses to people manipulating others by acting a certain way to get certain results. This is no less so than with many single women I've observed over time. (This observation now also includes men.)


Many give up their sense of SELF and give their power away to men, bowing to their will instead, just to be in the company or arms of a man.

Ultimately, I've seen the suffering that results from this type of self sabotage and relinquishing of freedom.

What these women and others who act similarly don't realize is that when we give ourselves away to others, by choosing not to be ourselves, then we absolutely have given away ALL of WHO we are...so the man (or woman, in the case of a man in a heterosexual relationship) has nothing left to embrace!

When we give ourselves away, the "shell" of who we are is left...empty... and devoid of true substance.


True Freedom, I believe, comes from being FREE to BE all of who you were created to be in...mind...body...SOUL!



So, I applaud the government in Quebec, whether their intentions were cynical or not, for at least being on the RIGHT TRACK!

By mandating that French women keep their last names is certainly a first step in acknowledging the rights of women to certainly be free to BE!


But we should all learn from what is not being mandated:

True freedom comes from within!


We were all created to be FREE ...in mind, body...Soul!



True freedom also comes from what is not being mandated:

Allowing others their freedom...whether in religious differences, sexual preferences, politics...

Achieving that level of understanding and tolerance is true freedom.



Hurray to Quebec for beginning to see the light!

Namaste',

Che'

ONENESS within us ALL!!!

In response to my February 14, 2010 blog, entitled, "My Love for Everything Chinese," a Chinese person tried to post a comment in Chinese. I didn't know if it were a "blessing" or a "curse," and did not want to burden my Chinese friends with interpreting for me, so I rejected the comment.


Week after week, my "commentator" wrote. Finally, he/she wrote in English. He/She was sincere enough to find an English friend to write in English.

The message? Here it is:

"Thank you for you to make me learn more, thank you∩０∩."

Tell me, I was not humbled!

Despite my spiritual training, I still am very superstitious and very much a cynic when it comes to people's intentions.

I have a group of lovely, truly lovely people, with whom I interact each day.


But...

...whenever something "good," is about to happen for me, I distance myself from them...and ...get this...

...actually shoo them away from me!

I have bought into the belief that good and bad energy flow from people.


This is true.


But we've got to get to place where we trust...simply trust...and believe... and know that people in our world have only good intentions for us!

Even if they don't...their bad energy or intentions cannot and will not hurt us.


That is what energy is all about.

Surround yourself with love...loving people...and loving thoughts... and even if someone out of malice, jealously, anger or spite...sends "bad energy" your way, know it will never and can never hurt you..if you don't believe it!


We're all in this game of life together.


Sometimes we forget this and try to shut people out, believing that we can go it alone.

Yes, we can. If we're truly connected to the Spirit within.

What this means is that on a temporary basis, we can trust God to guide and protect us, where we may truly NOT need a Soul!

But...

On an ongoing basis, we've got to recognize that we TRULY do need each other to make it through each and every day.

I've been humbled by my colleagues who send me love each day and whom I tried to reject!


I will do that no more, whether I'm superstitious enough to believe that among the midst may be a few sending "bad" energy.

That's okay.

I will fortify myself in enough love to carry that "bad energy" off...and transform it into "goodness."


The bottom line is...that... we are ALL ONE.

Truly aboslutely.

There is ONLY ONE Presence and ONE Power.

That is God, the Good.

To believe in anything less than that would be to separate from the Source of our Being.


I will do so no more.


Trust. Believe. Receive....

The Love that is being sent to you!

Namaste',

Che'

Why this "Resurrection Day" is For More than Christians!

"Weeping may endure for a night, but Joy cometh in the morning!"

Psalm 30:5


Today we celebrate Easter Sunday.

This day of "Resurrection" comes after 40 days of Lent, which started on Feb. 17 and ended on Holy Thursday, which was las week.


This year, Lent seemed much longer than normal, especially with heavy rains in the Bay Area and other places and heavy hearts of many around the country.


In the Catholic tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter.

The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

The 40 days represent the time that Jesus spent in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry and where he endured temptation by "Satan."

Forty days in the desert.


ONLY 40 days!?


For many people who are going through years of seeming "suffering," 40 days seem like a raindrop in a life where there is a heavy downpour of rain each day, every week...and for years.


Only 40 days for Jesus.


To him, too, it may have seemed like a lifetime.

That's when we know for sure that each individual will have his or her own unqiue experiences in life to expand one's Soul. The manner and time of those experiences can and will vary, indeed, from days to months to years.

It's all in "divine order" and for a divine purpose.


Those g(r)o (w) ing through the experience cannot see the way out or even the benefit of this time in their lives...with long, dark days and nights.


Yet it is in this period that the Spirit within gets to do its mighty work.


It is during this period that many can, if they are discerning point to an awakening from within.


It is during this "incubation" period that we can and should and must give our human strivings a rest and learn to be carried by grace...THE GRACE of God that passeth all understanding.


Those looking on from the outside fear more than the person walking through the desert or through the heavy rainstorms. That's because they cannot FEEL the stirrings from within that Soul.


Like a baby going through its gestation period, protected in the mother's womb by God's grace, so, too is the Soul awakening to the PRESENCE within.


Life is filled with dark moments.

There are many seasons of Lent in many lives.

St. Therese, the Little Flower:

"I must remain little, and become more and more little--to the point of becoming this 'little one' whom God fills with His motherly love."

We must learn to recognize these seasons as truly the gestation period for new birth...new awakenings.

We must learn to stay hopeful throughout the dark days and nights, knowing that like the rising sun, covered over by clouds on some days, the Light surely will follow the Night.


We must learn to release these periods of trouble into God's tender care, looking forward with certainty to the Resurrecting Light.


Jesus suffered 40 days in the desert, a period of temptation.

It is because of those 40 days of "overcoming" that he was fortified to carry his cross to his cruxifiction and death.


He knew what he was g(r)o (w)ing through would ultimately lead to the Light.

He had faith.

With us all walking through our "40 days of Lent," let us also, whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu or other, also look to this Easter Day as a day of HOPE and RENEWAL.


Let us celebrate the Light of the Lord gl (r)owing more brightly within us ALL, even as we walk through... downpour or ...desert.

Heavy rain or desert: Let it rain or be dry.

Heavy rain or desert: Let it rain or be dry.

Heavy rain or desert: Let it rain or be dry.


It all leads to our Resurrection Day!

Let's all celebrate.

Happy Easter.


Namaste',

Che'