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Grace and Self-Effort

Grace and Self-Effort

There has always been an interesting dynamic between the thought of grace and our responsibility for bettering ourselves. Ramakrishna said, "The winds of grace are always blowing, but it is up to us to raise our sails." What a beautiful image and clear exposition. But it may be useful to unpackage it a little bit more. What is "raising our sails" comprised of?

Self-Effort

Self-Effort

I wrote last week that we are much less in charge than we think we are. But while it is true that we need to rely on Spirit, that (unfortunately?) does not take us off the hook! Cooperating is essential for our lives to unfold in the best way, and in the way that is intended for us. A story I was recently reminded of makes this quite clear…

We Are Not In Charge

We Are Not In Charge

This is a slightly different angle on the the recent theme of “there’s more going on than we know or than we can actually affect”. The part of our lives that is our responsibility should receive 100% of our focus and energy, of course, but there is more going on beneath the surface than we are aware of…

Do It Now!

Do It Now!

My spiritual teacher had a phrase he often used (even writing a book with this title). I'd like to share why this is an important phrase and how and why we sometimes get it wrong.

There is a core human belief that we have a very limited amount of energy, and that conserving it is a great idea. While there is of course some truth to this thought, it gets misapplied often and to our detriment.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

Just a brief note this week to wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day! Mother’s Day ought not to be limited to women. It’s funny how people sometimes go back and forth about whether God ought to be referred to as “He” or “She” [Yogananda most often referred to God as Divine Mother]. But in reality, God is neither… and both.