I Am In My Positive Place. I Know This For Several Reasons.
I am sitting here in my positive place. I know this for several reasons. It just dawned on me that I hear the inner sound roaring. The inner sound is Continue Reading →
Month: January 2012
Moving Beyond Religion
Image via Wikipedia
Not too long ago I was listening to a radio show in which the host was defending the rapper Jay Z. He was saying that Jay Z was asked if he was a part of the Illuminati, that so-called dark, all-powerful society that secretly runs the world. His answer was no. The host goes on to say that Jay explains that he believes in and worships God. Then one of the co hosts replies “yeah but which God?” I thought to myself” how ridiculous, which God? God is God, regardless of what name you use or of people’s understanding. We can’t get caught up in my God is better than your god. This is how wars get started and people get mistreated and enslaved.”
From my perspective, we are all connected to God, The Light, The Source, The Creator, what ever name your choose to use, we all have access. The sooner we can see this, the more unified we will be and the more of God and the mystery of life we can see. I am happy to say that recently I have had some wonderful encounters with people of different religions on deep spiritual matters. The people involved were able to move beyond judgements and perceived differences of religious faiths in spiritual matters. I will briefly share two of them with you.
The first encounter was with my cousin Marlys. We were having a conversation and in the middle of our talk she says “Craig let me tell you about this dream I had.” She then proceeds to tell me about her dream. As she is talking, I am thinking to myself, “this is the first time this has happened with Marlys. Mom must have told her that I analyze dreams. I will listen closely so I can help her.” When she is done she asks me what I think about it. She says that to her it does not make any sense. Then I explain the way I see the dream. Afterwards, she says “wow that makes so much sense.” Then she elaborates as to why it does make so much sense to her. Later in the conversation, Marlys says “that had to be God that made me ask you about that dream. What you said made so much sense.” I told her that I figured that Mom had told her that I analyze dreams and had been writing a book on dreams and that was why she asked. She told me that my mother never told her and that she had no idea. I went on to tell her that I do it all the time for people all over the world here in town and on the internet with my meditation group. She said for now on I am going to call you about my dreams. The other person I call does not answer me as well. From this point we began to talk about deep subjects, such as our experiences with people just before they died. Marlys then says “I always said you have a lot of Uncle Paul in you.” Uncle Paul was my great grand father and a minister who made his transition when I was 3 years old. What I found interesting was that Marlys and I are not of the same religious faith but we could have great conversations on spiritual life and she could even trust my dream interpretation and see me as a minister of sorts.
My next encounter was an email that came from my mother’s friend Bitsy. Bitsy and I have never met in person. She lives in Tennessee. She has read some of my blogs and other material and has told my mom she is impressed with my spirituality. Bitsy is a practicing Baptist. From what I hear her son-in-law, Scott, is a wonderful man and has cancer. The family is faced with some serious decisions. Bitsy wrote my mother, asking her to ask me to pray for her son-in-law and the family to make the right choice. This has always fascinated my mother because although I am not Baptist, anytime there is something serious going on she will tell my mom to “tell Craig to pray for us.” Me myself, I am honored, and will be praying and meditating for Scott and her family. If you have time and the inclination, I ask if you will do the same.
Peace and Blessings,
Craig
The magic and mystery of work
Image via Wikipedia
My theme for this week is the magic and mystery of work. I guess before I go any further I should explain what I mean by having a theme for the week. Long ago I discovered that my
Image via Wikipedia
lessons seem to come in waves and one particular lesson may last for a week or longer. Sometimes it turns into a month or
Image via Wikipedia
even a year. Whatever that deep spiritual lesson in my life at the time is, it seems to keep showing up everywhere I go. Not only does it show up everywhere I go but it takes me deeper and deeper into a a sort of mystical understanding of whatever the subject matter is. During these adventures I find myself more at one with my world and the universe on account of the incredible ways the same information keeps showing up everywhere. As I started out saying my theme has shifted to the magic and mystery of work.
Early yesterday morning my mom, Brenda Toodle and I were talking. The conversation
Image via Wikipedia
went into what is the next move for her in terms of happiness and self-expression. Whenever such things come up I think about ways of giving and ultimately work. More than I think about the money, I reflect on the sense of giving and being alive. Later that morning I spoke to my mom, Aleatha Kimbrough. I am one of the truly blessed who has two moms and two dads. Anyway, back to my story. Mom Aleatha and I talked about retirement and how we must find purpose in life after retirement. If we don’t achieve this, in my opinion, we either die early or die while still living.
Later that morning I saw Cheryl, one of the members of our meditation group, at a meditation meeting. She had a blue book with her written by my param guru, Dr. Thind. This was unusual so I asked her about it. She said she wanted to read a passage from it during the meeting. After my lecture Cheryl talked about having trouble finding joy in her work, and how the passage in the book reminded her that she must find joy in the work itself and not in the outcome and outer rewards of the work. Last night, which is still the same day of course, I found myself watching the Oprah Winfrey Network. Oprah is interviewing George Lucas, the man behind Star Wars. He was talking about work and saying that you have to follow your bliss. He reminded me of his mentor Joseph Campbell, the master mythologist, as he talked. Just like Joseph Campbell, George Lucas also said that it can’t be about making money. You must work because you love what you do, to truly be happy. You must follow your bliss. This morning when I woke up I found myself thinking about work and my place in this world. I opened up a book by Russell Simmons, Super Rich, and he was talking about transitioning from doing work for money and survival to work you do simply to give. As I thought about all the information coming my way, I realized the magic of work is my theme for now and decided to be open to all it has to bring me. In the next couple posts I will elaborate on memories and discoveries in this area. For now I will leave you with this. Your work is your way of giving to the world. Even if you think you don’t like your work if you shift to thinking of it as giving and serving, the work will seem different. One more note. If you are still here, your work is not done. You still have some sort of work to do, something else to give. Get busy.
Peace and Blessings,
Craig
How Do You Use This Day? What Does Martin Luther King Day Mean to You?
The other day I was listening to a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King and it was truly mind-blowing. He was challenging big business and the U. S. government in such a way that it was scary to listen to. He was challenging the Vietnam war and speaking against U. S. policy. He was also challenging Coca Cola. He even said that he knew there may be grave consequences but he had to speak out. All I could think about was “wow, that was a man on a mission”.
When I think about Dr. King and others like him, I think about people who know how to live. I think about how these trailblazing heroes move forward on their missions in spight of dangers and fears that would hold others back. I think about how their actions benefit people for generations to come. I think about the sacrifices they made and look at the hurdles that I must jump in my own mission as puddles to jump and splash through in comparison. I sometimes even get
embarrassed at how I let certain obstacles hold me back at times in my personal mission given to me by God. It may sound silly to some, but I truly believe that these people who find their mission, whatever it may be, and somehow gain the where with all to move on them with all that they have, are in some way closer to God and in the place, where The Universe wants to express itself through them. For me this is a day of inspiration to remember to do what I feel God has placed me in this world to do and not let anything hold me back. I do believe if I move on my mission I will be of great benefit to others, but to tell you the truth, I feel it’s the only way I can live and truly be alive. Today I reflect on the life of the great Dr. Martin Luther King and use those reflections to remind me how to live and be in this world. How do you use this day? What does it mean to you?
Thank you for reading, feel free to comment below
Craig Kimbrough
MeditativeZone and Positive Ambassador member Brenda Toodle speaks on renewing her life
Image via Wikipedia
- Permalink Reply by Brenda Toodle
-
I have been more aware of blessings coming my way and being thankful – even for ordinary things like traffic opening up as I say, “I am right where God wants me to be.”
I have been thinking a lot about renewal in my life in many different areas. Although I am working on being positive and thankful, I want to meditate more in order to be more receptive to signs of my good coming my way and more at peace. I just realized by meditating more, the other “areas” of my life (exercising, losing weight, keeping in touch with friends, etc.) will probably change for the good because when I meditate, regularly, I have more enthusiasm for life and the goals that I want to achieve.
A Question, A Dream, An Answer, A Challenge
Image via Wikipedia
I kept finding myself in the same place with the same people over and over. Each time I was extremely happy and felt so good that my breathing itself was pure bliss. The interesting thing is that in this dream I was just living normal life doing normal things, but the feeling I was getting each time I showed up was so good I found myself consciously deciding to go back to the dream over and over again to have that feeling one more time.
When I woke up I was feeling so good and so happy I began to ask myself, “What was that all about?” Then as if by some magic knowing, the answer popped right into my mind. Earlier, just the evening before I had asked a question. The question was “What would my life be like if i stepped up my meditations. Is it possible to transform my whole life, just by meditating more?” of course, I already had the answer to this question. I have seen my life changed on account of meditation time and time again. But sometimes we forget, we remember, but in our soul we don’t feel it at the moment. These are the times we need a new experience to jump-start us once again. As I laid there, thinking about my dream, I realized this dream was my incredible answer. Yes stepping up my meditation will totally transform my life. I was actually placed in a world where I was having that experience. In my dream I was the same person doing the same things but life was totally different and the feeling I had about my life was incredible. It was like the ghost of Christmas future, but this was a positive wonderful future showing me what it would be like if I did what I was asking the night before. I was being told that this is how your life can be and by golly I felt it.
Now if you know me, you already know my life is great just the way it is. But life is about growth and change and we are always being challenged to grow more, to live more, on higher, more positive and spiritual levels. If we are open to what is trying to come our way, we will make the change and experience what comes along with it. Me asking the question was me being open. The dream was my answer and my challenge. If I think back on it often and remain motivated to put it to the test I will naturally move onto the next level.
Thank you for reading,
Craig Kimbrough
The great sages are very careful what they talk about, because they know everything they say comes true.
Image via Wikipedia
I had this strange dream. I am not Craig in the dream. I am not even sure what my name is in this dream. I lived in the country in a poor rural area. I also had a girlfriend who I liked a lot and wanted to be with very much, but her ex-boyfriend and some other people desperately did not want us together. They were willing to kill to keep us apart. We would go to great lengths to hide the fact that we were together and I did everything I could to keep her safe. In the end she still ended up in harm’s way from a whole different source. All I could think about was how I did all I could and it was as if the Universe was determined that her time was up. I thought this is just like Michael on one of my favorite television shows. I had watched it just before bed. His girlfriend Abby was in danger. She was a former stripper at a club in town. Several of the girls from this club had been assaulted some even killed. Michael used connections and secretly sent Abby out-of-town. Abby did not even know that Michael arranged the trip. She thought it was purely on account of her job. While she was out-of-town Abby got killed in a construction accident. I thought the same thing while watching the show as I did in my dream. He did all he could to save her and she still died. How sad.
The interesting thing is I started to cut off the show right away because I knew this was pulling on my emotions, but I decided to keep watching. As I watched the rest of the show there was a lot of focus on Michael and how bad and guilty he was feeling. There was also a lot of focus on how unfair it all was. My dream which was nearly identical to the show was confirmation that I should have paid attention to my gut feeling and cut off the show. Instead, I created my own world based on those bad feelings. It reminds me of a saying that goes something like this “The great sages are very careful with what they talk about because they know that everything they say comes true.” Not only must we be careful what we talk about but we must be careful what we think about, watch, listen to, and focus on because it is bound to show up in our own worlds in one way or another.
Thank you for reading,
Craig Kimbrough
MeditativeZone and Positive Ambassador member Sujatha Sriram talks about renewing her life
Permalink Reply by sujatha Sriram
I am going to renew by rewiring my brain on being more open to the moment of now around me.. Inhale every second with positivity coming my way .. Be more regular in pursuing my yoga and substantiate with gym exercises to make it more receptive ..When iam more sync with my inner energy and rhythm, i would bring in more creativity into the field of work i am in and inculcate a sense of well being around, a sense of committment, ownership into the task given which in turn will renew the world around me . This will activate the flow of positivity, harmony, consciousness and renew the whole universe as universe is always listening … I also plan to enrich my life with pursuing my passion of writing and sticking to basics which is the key of every success and connections with the world around us….Get , set , go ….
Journey begins………… Sujatha