National Sorry Day

Seeds X, 48

Seed: National Sorry Day

Hearing about this unofficial Australian holiday made me cry. It was started as an apology to the aboriginal peoples of Australia in 1995 and is held on May 26^th annually. The history of the day documents a wrong done to the indigenous of that continent—their children were taken from them. It was called the Stolen Generation.

What do you think of every country of the world creating a National Sorry Day? For apologies to indigenous peoples, for apologies to other nations, for apologies within states, cities, counties, towns. Apology is one of the major tools in the kit of human relating. Rather than carry unresolved social or historical guilt or its correlate, anger, why not just apologize?

I realize that apology doesn’t undo the wrongs. Often it can’t. But what apology does do is acknowledge the hurt. Apology says, “Yes, I see you. I see the hurt, and I’m sorry for my part in it.”

This Seed arrives on the day after American Thanksgiving. Take a sec, and see if there are any apologies that might increase your gratitude.

Be content,

Susan Corso

Dr. Susan Corso

Seeds are remarkable gifts. Sown in consciousness, they bring you to the most important part of your being—your Divine Spark.

Check out the Seeds Archive for past messages of inspiration.

When you have friends you would like added to the Seeds e-mail list, send their addresses to me at SeedsDrCorso@comcast.net

and please visit my website www.susancorso.com

and my blogs

Ode Magazine. and The Huffington Post.

Vows of Poverty: No, Thank You

I’ve written about vows of poverty before. Usually I encounter them in the past lives of people I counsel when they come to work on prosperity issues. A vow of poverty is usually taken in a monasticlifetime along with the other two: chastity and obedience.

I recently discovered the work of Drunvalo Melchizedek. One of his projects is an ezine called The Spirit of Ma’at. In searching the archives, my eyes fell upon an article called “Releasing Your Vows of Poverty,” a message from Quan Yin, channeled by Gillian MacBeth-Louthan. Quan Yin is the Mother of Mercy. Her name means: She Who Hears the Cries of the World.

 It was these two paragraphs that grabbed my consciousness:

 The reason that you took a vow of poverty to begin with was because you were about to embark into a spiritual field or a spiritual endeavor. This could have taken the form of a priest, a holy person, a shaman, a nun, a minister, or any other form.

When you walk into any type of spirituality, automatically all ”vows of poverty” are reactivated and initiated. In many lifetimes, you believed that to be Godly you must be poor, you must do without. You believed this wholeheartedly, and took a vow of poverty to prove that belief.

 To quote Elle Woods of Legally Blonde fame, “Whoa!”

 Is it only me, or has anyone else noticed that spirituality is becoming a bigger and bigger part of people’s lives these days? More people are turning to the seeking of spiritual answers, and some of us are even finding!

 Now, think. The pundits say that our economy is in as big a pot of hot water as it was during the Great Depression.

 Do you see the juxtaposition I’m seeing?

 Quan Yin continues:

 Any time new levels of Light, of energy, of God declarations come to your earth, you automatically step into the DNA remembrance of your vows of poverty. Every time a new, expanded form of awareness comes to humanity, you stop creating money! You have done it over and over and over again. That is the fear of most of you when you walk fully into your spiritual position: that you will not have a cent to your name. You fear you will have to rely upon the good nature of other people to feed you, to clothe you, to give you love offerings or pay penance.

 Aha! We, as a species, are walking more and more toward the light of new realization and understanding. Could it be that our economic “crisis” is a result of those vows of poverty being reactivated? I think so.

So how, I hear you asking, can I break these vows?

It’s really quite simple. Tell ALL the vows of poverty you have sworn in all the lifetimes you have lived, are living and will live that you are through with them. Be polite, and tell them, no, thank you. I have learned the lesson. Poverty is now no longer coupled with enlightenment.

 Enlightenment comes with riches beyond measure—both in tangibles and in intangibles—if we’ll embrace this as the Truth.

 We are made in the image and likeness of the Creator, no? Is God poor? No! God is Riches Itself. Accept who you are, dear one, and carry your riches into the world. They will bless you, and God, and all the rest of us, too.

No Drama Obama and Me

I love the theatre and it has a small consciousness hazard connected to it—I know how to do drama in my own life. So here it is . . . long story short.

A friend recommended that a friend of his meet with me. We did so and hit it off. I then recommended an old friend of mine to my new friend. New friend was inappropriate with old friend and I BLEW MY STACK.

I called my original friend to see if I could figure out how to deal with our mutual (my new) friend. I was raging, furious, a fierce Mama bear in all aspects. Very tough. DO NOT MESS WITH ME, DEAR ONE, when I am in that mode. It doesn’t bode well for anyone who crosses my path.

Fortunately, my original friend was delighted at my ferocity, the clarity of my emotion and my brutal honesty in owning my own reaction. He, bless him, helped  me to get clear that my reaction was actually an over-reaction, connected to childhood events around betrayal. I chilled out.

Now I can call the person in question and make clear my feelings about his behavior without separating his head from his body. I plan to give myself Sunday to continue to relax over the issue, make space for myself, and be sure I am completely calm before I call.

All that put me in mind of No Drama Obama, and the silly IV drips of information about his new cabinet picks. It’s taken me many years to figure out that drama belongs on the stage and not necessarily in my life. In fact, I prefer it on the stage and I prefer it out of my life. It is, however, my default position.

The cool thing is that I was able to connect to a friend who totally appreciated my passion and saw it for what it was—my own reaction, and not really connected to the other players at all. That sent me back to No Drama Obama. He could have fussed at the media this week about the so-called leaks, but he just let it go, and kept on purpose.

That’s what I have to do, too. Keep on my purpose, speak my truth in love, and let my yea be yea and my nay be nay, and return, return, return, once, forever and always to peace. Obama is a great example.

Disarrange

Seeds X, 47

Thank you to everyone who made the time to comment on my nomination as an Intelligent Optimist for Ode Magazine. Be especially blest, SFC

Seed: Disarrange

When we arrange things, we put them in order, usually an order that makes sense to us. Alphabetical. By size. By color. By item. When we try to arrange ourselves, I think sometimes the Universe responds by disarranging us.

“It is necessary for things to disarrange you,” wrote French essayist and poet, Francis Ponge. “We cannot truly see something until we approach it, not as a superior but as an equal that has the power to startle us with the marvel of its selfhood.”

Be on the alert for disarrangement, dear one. It usually happens when we ourselves our clamoring to grow but can’t see how to get it done. A new relationship will disarrange us. A new job. A move. Endings. Beginnings. A new book. A new course. A new route to work.

The trick isn’t to attempt to arrange the disarrangement. (Disarrangement isn’t always disarray.) It’s to look at the disarrangement and see where you’re called to expand who you are so the new arrangement makes sense to you.

Be content,

Susan Corso

Dr. Susan Corso

Seeds are remarkable gifts. Sown in consciousness, they bring you to the most important part of your being—your Divine Spark. Check out the Seeds Archive for past messages of inspiration.

When you have friends you would like added to the Seeds e-mail list, send their addresses to me at SeedsDrCorso@comcast.net

and please visit my website www.susancorso.com and my blogs

Ode Magazine and The Huffington Post.

Who Are You Waiting For?

I had a sad thing happen yesterday. A client chose to terminate our relationship. There are all sorts of reasons he chose to do this—not the least of which being that I was the wrong guide for the process he wanted. Truly, I was.

That’s sad for me, but it’s great for my client. It’s great because I’m hoping that by “firing” me, he’ll be able to make the space to find what he really needs.

My new assistant sent me the quote below. It goes with what happened yesterday.

“There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.

Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. See who is in there with you and celebrate.

At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally. Least of all, ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves!

Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.

All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

—The Elders Oraibi
Arizona Hopi Nation

In my own case, in my client’s case, in your own case, dear one, we are indeed the ones we’ve been waiting for. Everyone’s path to that realization is different. Trust yourself, and fire the people, thoughts, experiences that don’t get you to where you want to go.

Some Cool Responses to Seeds

I always like it when  readers write back to me in response to that particular week’s Seed. I even have a file in my computer called “Cool Responses to Seeds.”

Several of you wrote about this possible history of ps & qs:

The etymology and evolution of the phrase, in my experience, was found in connection to the earliest revolutionary days.

The command to mind your p’s and q’s was an admonishment when the pub got too loud and rowdy.  Or for the servers to push more ale.

They served pints and quarts of ale.  As the customers became more inebriated, the pub owner would shout to mind your p’s and q’s, in an attempt to lower the volume and rambunctiousness of his clientele and of course to save his establishment from the damage caused by drunken brawls.

  If he was not making enough money for the night, he would command his ‘ladies’ to mind your p’s and q’s, of course meaning that they should sell more pints and quarts.

Since then, the phrase has been adapted to a more civil meaning to attend to peace and quiet.

I always enjoy reading your Seeds.  Thank you for taking the time.

Another reader offered this explanation:

One of the explanations I’ve heard for the Ps and Qs comes from the printing trade.

In a type tray all the letters are backwards, and a printers assistant (known as a ‘devil’) could easily confuse a p/q!

Overall, most of the responses I received were glad about the reminder to allow for a little peace and quiet as the weekend began.

Peace and quiet are what let each one of us connect to the deepest truth of ourselves, dear one. Peace, quiet and inspiration—a.k.a. a deep breath—turn the Divine Spark into a Divine Flame, and that’s really what we’re doing here on Earth.

ps & qs

Seeds X, 46

Seed: ps & qs

Ode Magazine recently published their Silence Issue. Much of it was about noise and its less-than-healthful effect on our minds and bodies. A headline in that issue using the words peace and quiet made me think of my maternal grandmother. She used to tell us grandkids to mind our ps and qs. Did yours?

I own a words and phrases dictionary so I looked up that phrase. What is it to mind your ps and qs? No one is totally certain, but the overall consensus is that it means: be very careful, be precise most especially in terms of your penmanship—don’t confuse the loops of a p and a q. That works for me.

But what works more for me is minding my peace and quiet. Things are getting busier for me these days. Lots of clients. Writing. My audiobook is out and there are more to come. I’m doing interviews, writing, monitoring comments on various blogs, writing, even coming into the 21^st century on Facebook. When I get cranky because of too much input, minding my peace and quiet works every time.

Be content,

Susan Corso

Dr. Susan Corso

Seeds are remarkable gifts. Sown in consciousness, they bring you to the most important part of your being—your Divine Spark. Check out the Seeds Archive for past messages of inspiration.

When you have friends you would like added to the Seeds e-mail list, send their addresses to me at SeedsDrCorso@comcast.net

and please visit my websiste www.susancorso.com

and my blogs

Ode Magazine, and The Huffington Post.

Afterglow

http://change.gov

True to the spirit of his campaign, Barack Obama’s website has a link whereby you can make suggestions: how cool is that!

http://change.gov

(Actually, just “change.gov” will get you there.)

Then click on “Tell Us Your Story.”

Here’s what I’m worried about:

That we’ll get over the euphoria of electing Obama and that all the energy that went toward electing him will dissipate. That’s why I wrote to our President-Elect: utilize the energy that elected you! Challenge Americans to pick one issue and work on it every day for a year.

The other one I’m urging is the establishment of a cabinet-level Department of Peace.

What’s bugging you?

Tell the Obama folks. I did.

Keith Olbermann on Proposition 8

I don’t usually post on Tuesdays but Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment broke my heart — OPEN.

God Bless Newsweek

Their post-election Special Edition arrived on Friday and I spent my Saturday night reading it word for word. Even the ads. What appears below in italics are quoted in order of appearance from Newsweek. The non-italic type is my thought process as I read.

First, let me say that I was thrilled that Obama won. I cried, tears of relief more than any other kind. I felt brimming with hope, a chance for true change.

Jon Meacham writes, “His voters share convictions, not experiences.”

Now we need to wade in, make some serious choices and share experiences. Government, too. For us citizens, we need to consider where we’re going to put all that energy we created through the election season. In my Huffington post this week, I suggest that we each pick one—one issue that we care about and start now to take action to change it the way we think it ought to be changed.

A Liberty Mutual ad read, “For one Tuesday each November, the chores, duties and errands can all wait. Because democracy can’t.”

Democracy, that crazy ideal foisted upon us by the Founders of our nation really does involve a government of the people, by the people and for the people. People isn’t just a generic term, dear one. People is made up of persons, individuals, who by their choices make a difference.

Raina Kelley, writing to her four-month-old son, writes, “He did not simply dream of being president, he summoned the discipline to get there.”

This is what’s called for now, in all of us. Discipline. The slow, tiny action steps that make for both eventual and overnight success. Pick one, one issue and act. What’s the thing that bugs you the most about where our universe is right now? Global warming, global cooling? Polar bears? Panda bears? No arts education in our schools? Diminished athletic programs in schools? Do something about that thing, whatever it is.

T Rowe Price’s ad said, “Re-evaluating your investment choices?”

I’ll say. I’m taking every single penny of my consciousness out of the ‘we have a terrible government’ account and putting it into the ‘yes, we can and yes, we did’ account. And I’m asking myself seriously, what do I want to invest in for our country’s future? For me, trees are important—very important, and so is, as always, peace.

Rick Perlstein writes, “What can Barack Obama do? He’ll need help.”

Duh. Duh. Duh. Yet I worry that the energy and the euphoria of the election cycle will give way to the lethargy and carelessness of past years. What do you care about? DO SOMETHING about it. Now. While you/we still have the energy.

Newsweek goes on, “Obama used to send listeners out of his stump speech with five words: Let’s go change the world.”

Notice the little pronoun in there? It’s not “me.” It’s “us.” Let US go change the world. Obama can’t do it alone, dear one. Even if he is the President of the United States.

A U. S. Bank ad made me laugh out loud: Fly high. Go far. Yes, the future looks brighter with us.

Now they, of course, meant U. S. Bank, but I saw us. The future does look bright for us, as a people, as a nation, but only if we DO what’s ours to do.

Oprah Winfrey is quoted, “Winfrey spoke of reading ‘The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,’ how the enslaved Pittman was searching for ‘the One,’ the child savior who would lead her people to freedom. Well, I believe, in ’08, I have found the answer to Ms. Pittman’s question. I fo-o-u-und the answer! It is the same question our nation is asking: ‘are you the one? Are you the one? I’m here to tell y’all, he is the one. He is the one. . . Barack Obama!!”

Oh, dear one. Yes, he is the one, the one we elected to be our president, but Barack Obama, no matter all the things he definitely is, is NO savior. In fact, God help him if he or we think he is. Barack Obama is a good man, connected to his ideals, and aware that he needs a team to get done what needs to be done. Are you on his team? Good, because that means you’ve picked one issue and gone to work in its behalf.

A Royal Bank of Scotland ad: Commitment. Make it happen.

And that’s it in a nutshell. We have to commit. Now. To making the changes we want to see in the world.

On November 3^rd, speaking in Florida, then-Senator Obama said, “We have a righteous wind at our backs.”

We do. We have the tremendous momentum of the election season. We have the joy, the hope, the release into faith in our country. Let’s harness that energy and commit. Pick one issue, dear one. One, and do something.

Anna Quindlen has been a favorite writer of mine for decades. She sums up Newsweek’s issue stunningly. Citing Barack Obama’s race speech, she writes, “He made the political spiritual.”

And that, blessed one, is my whole point. Everything is spiritual from our votes, to our country, to our president, to our commitments, to the air we breathe, to the issue we commit to changing.

So I say, God bless Newsweek. May each of us pick one issue and go at it.