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See, not with the eyes, but with the heart.

One day, two flower merchants set up shop next to one another. They opened for business on the same day, carried the same lovely selection of aromatic flowers, and maintained similar prices for their marvelous plants. Both merchants took great care with raising their plants and both were kind and courteous to their customers. In fact, their stores appeared to be equal in every way.

At first, the merchants even received equal traffic through their shops, but–as time went on–the first merchant’s shop became more popular among the people. The second merchant noticed this and became concerned. One particularly slow day, he decided to look into the matter. As he stepped out his door to visit his neighbor, he passed one of his regular customers leaving the first merchant’s shop carrying their weekly purchase of flowers. In disbelief, the second merchant hurried into the next store.

Indeed, the store was teeming with customers. The second merchant noticed his competitor wasn’t taking the money himself, as he always did. The first merchant was out among the aisles, talking with his customers. To his amazement, the second merchant watched as the first would chat at great length with the customers and even would occasionally talk to the flowers themselves! The second merchant prided himself on being a serious store owner and could not understand this leisurely approach to running a shop. Yet this behavior seemed to be working for the first merchant, as his thriving store would attest.

When the second merchant could stand it no longer, he approached the first and politely asked to interrupt the conversation. The first merchant smiled, handed his customers to one of his clerks, and turned his attention to his exasperated neighbor.

The second merchant asked, “Brother, I am your humble student. Our stores are nearly the same in all ways, yet your results are doubling while mine are halving. I do not understand.”

“Brother,” the first merchant said, “We are the same in most ways, this is true. The difference lies in what we see with our hearts. You see your store as a store, your plants as plants, and your customers as customers. I see my store as a beloved home and my cherished friends are my customers, clerks and plants, all present to be adored. In that way, we are very, very different.”

Why should you tell your story? Who are you to tell others how you feel and why you feel it? Who are you to tell others about the life experiences that have brought you to this point? Indeed, who are we to believe we

1. have a message of value for others,
2. worthy of being shared, and
3. compelling enough that others would want to hear it?

The audacity! Who are we? Why do we matter? Why does any of it matter?

Jesus Christ is recorded as saying, “Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, so you do unto me.” The Golden Rule is to treat others as you would ask to be treated (which assumes you want to be treated well!) Begin, then, with the question, “How do I want to be treated?” Not sure how to answer that? Think about a time when you felt elevated as a result of your interaction with another. Ask yourself, “When have I felt the most loved, accepted, nurtured, safe, inspired, encouraged or supported?”

Exercise

Complete the following sentence: “I have felt the most ________ (positive adjective) when ____________________________________________________________ (positive event, interaction, condition). Discuss your experience.

This is what the whole Metamora effort is all about. One of the Metamora Group’s prime reasons for being is to inspire, educate and entertain people while establishing the idea we’re all in this together. The Metamora Group is a collection of individuals and organizations who are tuning into their responsibility to uphold Metamora’s simple, concise mission statement: Elevate humanity. One of the ways the Metamora Group seeks to accomplish this is to bring people together (fostering a connected community) through live events. These live events focus on a myriad of topics including physical wellness, spiritual health, emotional growth and financial well-being. At the very core of this effort is the focus on providing a platform whereby people are called to get up and share their stories and their passions with the ultimate goal of elevating their audience. It is through the sharing of our stories and experiences that we come to learn how very similar we are to one another. It is through sharing our stories that we come to realize we’re really quite normal after all. Further, it is through the sharing of our stories (and then supporting those stories with action) that we inspire true, lasting change in the world.

Now, when I say “our stories”, I’m not saying you have to talk about yourself. Your stories may be derived from your own life experience, certainly, but you have much more to pull from than that. Tell us about the thing that keeps you up at night thinking. Tell us about the stories that mean something to you and then tell us why they mean something to you. Finally, tell us why those stories mean something to us. Stories are repeatable. There are layers of meaning within stories. Ever heard the adage “facts tell, stories sell”? Facts and statistics can be used to reinforce your point, but they will seldom make your point for you.

Okay, so now that you’ve determined what your passion is… wait… have you? If you had to get up and give a presentation tomorrow and the only requirement for the presentation was that you had to leave people with a greater sense of awareness and empowerment, what would you talk about? On what would you expand their awareness and how would you help them realize they were part of the solution? How would you move them to action? Move their minds and they’ll forget you tomorrow, but move their hearts and their minds will follow.

Exercise

Tomorrow is your last day on Earth. You will be leaving on a long trip and will be out of touch until you return, 50 years hence. You have been told by a trustworthy source there is one person who especially needs to receive encouragement from your before you leave. Who is that person? What do you say to them? Anyone want to share their answer?

Why this exercise works: If you cannot be around to shepherd, counsel, enable or otherwise influence another, you are forced to let go and believe they will be able to find their own way. The most you can do, therefore, is to release your attachment to their outcome and offer them the encouragement to seek their own growth and happiness. How do you do this then? What do you say? How do you say it? Finally, what if it was more than one person you were charged with inspiring? What if it was one hundred? One thousand? One million?

As you begin to solidify your message, you begin to craft the answer to “So what?” Assuming we want to hold true to the high mission of elevating humanity, how do you do this? Again, we return to stories for the answer.

Tell others why you feel the way you do about your passion of choice. Were there experiences that lead you to the views you now hold? What events helped for your current concerns? Why do you fell like others want or need to know about your topic? What happens if you remain reticent and choose not to say or do anything?

“Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead. But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change.”
~Ebenezer Scrooge, in the Charles Dickens classic, “A Christmas Story”

Can one person make a difference? Ask Gandhi. Ask Martin Luther King, Jr. Ask Jesus of Nazareth. Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” You want to see change then? Begin living the change. Begin leading the change. Begin with one person; you. Then lead by your example.

Realize then, you have something to offer the world. You don’t have to worry about being particularly eloquent, but you do have to consider whether you’re doing your part with the gifts you’ve been given. I’ve heard sagacious speakers state that really, all we ever need to do is just be. That’s it. If we just be, we will have done enough. I understand and agree with the sentiment of being okay with yourself regardless of your personal results. I disagree, however, with the notion that we are okay to do nothing to improve ourselves and the lives of those around us. I would like to conclude this with a story most of you have heard before.

The Servants and the Talents

A rich man who was going on a long journey called his three servants together. He told them they would be caretakers of his property while he was gone. The master had carefully assessed the natural abilities of each servant. He gave five talents to one servant, two to another, and one to the third—to each according to his ability. The master then left on his journey.

The servants went forth into a world open to enterprise and investment. The servant who had received five talents went into business and made five more. The servant who received two made two more. But the servant who received one hid the master’s property in a hole in the ground.

The master returned to settle his accounts. The servant who had received five talents came forth. “My lord,” he said, “you entrusted me with five talents; see, I have made five more!”

“Well done, good and faithful servant!” the master responded. “You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your lord!”

Then the servant who had been given two talents approached the master. “My lord,” he said, “you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have made two talents more!” The master praised the servant in a like manner.

Then the one who had been given one talent approached his master. “My lord,” he said, “I knew you to be a hard man; you reap where you have not sown, and gather where you have not scattered; and being afraid I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours!”

The master’s response was swift and harsh: “You wicked and indolent slave! You were aware that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered; you ought for that reason to have invested my money with the bankers; then, on my return, I should have received my own with interest.”

The master ordered that the talent be taken away from the lazy servant and given to the one with the ten talents. “For to every one who possesses not,” said the master, “even that which he has shall be taken away. Cast that useless slave into the outer darkness; there shall be weeping and the grinding of teeth!”

What do we do with the gifts and hearts we’ve been given? Do we hide them or do we risk the investment of putting them out into the world? What does Christ say will happen if we choose the latter?

Know your passion.
Share your passion.
Ask yourself everyday, “What will I do today to elevate humanity?”

We understand the ails of humanity can largely be contributed to our own lack of connectedness. Much—if not all—the strife we experience, whether through crime, war, abortion, disease, environmental concerns, socioeconomic unrest, prejudice, hatred and fear—boils up from a well of disconnectedness and identity. It is in the seeing of the world as separate from ourselves that we come to learn (and teach) abuse; both self-abuse and the abuse of other living creatures, including the living system that sustains us all—the Earth. Without a concrete sense of connectedness with others and the world, we naturally begin to foster and define an identity for ourselves. At first—as infants and young children—this is done for us by our parents, grandparents and the other adults around us. As children, our parents choose our name, our clothing, our diet and a myriad of other experiences based upon their own preferences. Their preferences are a result of a complex matrix of conditions and experiences that have resulted from their own lives which were—in no small way—crafted by the adults around them as they grew up.  [As we grow older, we adopt this role of crafting a persona and we tend to do this rather unconsciously.]

On and on the cycle continues. Parents influencing their children, the children grow up, become parents themselves and pass their own influences on, and on, and on (for better or for worse.) Each generation goes on passing (or works to avoid passing) the sins and favors of the generation before. In Eastern tradition, this is what is meant when it is said a son takes on the sins (or the karma) of his father and forefathers. We are talking about a way of being and thinking that is passed on from generation to generation.

Like the energy shared among celestial bodies, sometimes—whether by your own power or as a result of a key event—we may break free of the gravitational pull of this ancestral energy, but our direction is still grossly influenced by our beginnings. This is especially true the closer we are to our point of origin (birth). As we move away from our perceived beginning, however,

1. we become more able to consciously choose our direction, and
2. the courses we set grow more attainable as we continue to refine our heading by orders of degrees.

In the event we choose to completely change direction (whether by conscious decision or inspired through a life-changing event), we establish a new course and drive toward that, but we do so with greater wisdom (assuming we learn from our experiences upon having them.)

In this way, not only are we connected to our parents, our parents’ parents and the lines of ancestry that proceeds them, but so too are we the direct ascendants of our own lineage, paying forward the writing on our own walls onto that of our children, their children and their children’s children. On and on it goes.

Extend this now—not only to our blood relations—but to all the people we come into contact with on a daily basis; such as our friends, coworkers, associates and acquaintances. Extend this to the people we meet on the street, the people we share the road with, the people we serve and whom serve us for the briefest of instances, whether we are staying at a hotel for a single night or checking out a book at the library or purchasing groceries at the city market.

Think about this for a moment. Have you ever had anyone do something unexpected for you? Some random act of kindness? I once had a client gift me with a free hotel room in Chicago. As a travel agent, Lynn knew I had collected quotes for a surprise trip for my wife months prior, but I had pulled back from making reservations because I had hit a number of road blocks in deciding how to get there. I had tabled the idea and about two to three months later, Lynn approached me with the offer of a free room at the Embassy Suites in the heart of downtown Chicago. She said she “had some rooms open up.” It was a wonderful offer that came out of the blue and it was enough to rekindle the idea of treating my wife to a weekend in Chicago. I hired our nanny for the weekend and my wife and I hit the museums, gallery and soaked up some of the sights and sounds of this wonderful city. It was marvelous! To show our appreciation, I sent Lynn a gift certificate to a local up-scale restaurant upon our return.

Conversely, have you ever been the recipient of someone’s ire while driving? How did that make you feel? Do you still remember the experience? Myself, I have multiple stories here, however we’re not going to get into those, as that’s not where we want to put our focus. Suffice it to say, it’s likely we remember the little random transgressions, right? How do you react when they happen? Do you react to anyone differently afterward? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe you easily shrug off the negative experience and don’t even tell anyone about it. Or, maybe you become so charged by the transaction you share it with anyone who will listen. If you share the story, are you telling those people a positive, uplifting story? Do you think they will leave your presence feeling inspired and uplifted?

Now, am I saying you should never share your bad experiences or misfortunes with others? No, I’m not saying that. Among those we should be able to lean on, counselors are professionally trained to listen to stories upon stories of hurt and misfortune and then shed these stories rather than allow themselves to become burdened with the collective weight of them. With varying degrees of success, they do this. Those who aren’t as good at clearing and recharging their energy on a frequent basis usually end up finding another line of work. Why should this be? Aren’t they separate from their patients? Ah, well, there’s the conundrum. How do you help heal someone while remaining disconnected from them? I would offer it’s nigh impossible.

There is a Hawaiian method of healing called Ho’oponopono. This method is the exact opposite of distancing yourself from another with the intent to heal them from afar. In fact, Ho’oponopono says a problem doesn’t present itself to you (even if it’s in the form of someone else’s problem) unless you’re part of the problem! By agreeing to take 100 percent responsibility for the problems that cross our paths, we now no longer seek to heal or correct the other person as if there was something wrong with them. Instead, we turn inward and ask Divinity to heal that which is within ourselves that has caused the misalignment within them.

Where is this on the “connectedness spectrum”? Is this connected or disconnected thinking? I would offer this is extremely connected thinking. In taking 100 percent responsibility for the ailments and disharmony we see in the world, we take the first step toward healing them. What is the first step in any recovery program? It is to acknowledge we have a problem. Only through owning the problem are we able to then right the condition we seek to correct. Additionally, within these same recovery programs, notice the submission to a higher power. “Let go and let God,” you’ll hear. There is a common understanding across most religions, institutions of healing and recovery programs that we are not alone. In fact, we can turn to Divinity and—with Divine countenance and direction—find ourselves as co-authors of the solution we seek. The first step for attaining what we seek then (be it health, wealth, or happiness for ourselves or others) is to first come to terms with the fact we are part of the problem.

Second, we must realize we will accomplish little on our own. Indeed, it is the connecting with our dreams, our loved ones, our patients, our clients, our healing, our abundance, our joy and our own inner Divinity that we may hope to achieve any of it. Anyone who builds a dream into reality, be it a new company, a lifestyle or any other worthy endeavor, must start with connecting with the ideal in mind. We affect the universe around us in three ways: thought, word and deed.

I once heard someone say that it doesn’t matter what your beliefs are while they rattle around in your head because—until they are evinced through word or deed—they don’t matter. I would respectfully disagree with this. Through the study of quantum physics and other means, we have proven thoughts have power to alter physical matter (see Emoto’s work with water crystals.)

In the documentary “What the Bleep are We?”, the topic of physical reality is discussed. We know that all matter is made up of molecules and the space between the molecules. We also know that the difference between matter in the form of a gas, liquid or solid is negligible, being defined merely by the difference in frequency by which they vibrate. Additionally, the space between these molecules is more than a little. For instance, if you took a hydrogen atom and zoomed in until the proton in its nucleus was the size of a grain of sand, the electron orbiting the nucleus would be over half a mile away, held in orbit by nothing but an electrostatic force field. Most of everything you experience as physical reality is made up of empty space. That includes the floor you stand on, the chair you sit in, the clothes you’re wearing, the body you move with and the food you put in it; everything.

We are not our body. We are not the clothes we wear, nor the car we drive, nor the place we live nor the place where we were born. We are not the job we have or don’t have. We are not our things. Even our emotions are temporary; we’re certainly not them either. So, what are we then? I might offer we just simply are. Or, more appropriately, you may say to yourself, “I am.”

“I am” is ubiquitous.

“I am” is complete connectedness.

“I am.”

Connected.

You are you, no matter when or who.

One day, a little water droplet awoke to find herself surrounded by the great blue Ocean, reaching out from her as far as her eyes could see. At first, she delighted in exploring all the sights, sounds and sensations the Ocean had to offer, but after a time she became restless.

The droplet went to the Sun and said, “Sun, I would like to become a Cloud. I wish to soar the sky and be adored by all the World.”

The Sun said, “Imagine soaring the sky and you will be.”

So the droplet climbed to the top of her Ocean, closed her eyes and thought soaring thoughts. When she looked again, she was flying high in the sky. She looked down at the great blue Ocean and asked, “Sun, what is the Ocean made of?”

“Water,” Sun replied.

The droplet seemed satisfied with this and enjoyed soaring the sky and being adored by all the World. After a time, however, she became restless.

She went to the North Wind and said, “North Wind, I would like to become Rain. I wish to fall to the Earth and bring life to all the World.”

North Wind said, “Imagine falling to the Earth and you will be.”

So the droplet climbed to the bottom of her Cloud, closed her eyes and thought falling thoughts. When she looked again, she was falling to the Earth. As she fell, the droplet looked up at her Cloud and asked, “North Wind, what are Clouds made of?”

“Water,” said North Wind.

“Oh,” said the droplet, a little confused now.

Once she landed upon the Earth, however, she busied herself with bringing life to all the World and forgot about what the Sun and North Wind had said. She was quite happy for a time, but—after a while—the droplet became restless.

She went to the River and said, “River, I would like to know who I am. I have been the Ocean, and the Clouds, and the Rain and now I even bring life to all the World, but I still don’t know what I am supposed to be.”

River said “Follow me.”

The droplet joined River and soon found herself returned to the Ocean. The droplet was dismayed by this and cried, “River! I don’t understand! I have already been the Ocean!”

River said, “When you were Ocean, you wanted to be Cloud.
When you were Cloud, you wanted to be Rain.
When you were Rain, you brought life to all the World and yet,
you still became restless and wondered what you were to do.
Know you are Water and—in being Water—you are the Ocean, the Cloud, the River and the Rain.”

And, from that moment forward, the little droplet knew she was Water and felt peace, no matter what she decided to be.

“There are two mistakes that can happen along the road to truth–not going all the way and not starting”
~The Buddah.

I recently met a young man who is actively seeking a career in motivational speaking. As he and I were talking, it quickly became clear we agreed on a good number of points ranging from public speaking, to personal development, to our approach to life, and so on. In that brief exchange, the only thing we seemed to disagree upon was our approach to knowing who God was. The young man stated he didn’t want to invest time in figuring out the unknowable. That’s fine, I thought; that’s just where he’s at.

Following that conversation, I questioned myself, however. After all, doesn’t it sometimes feel like an exercise in futility when we begin to try and understand God and the nature of Divinity? What’s more is, who is to say we’re even right when we think we’ve hit upon a truth!? How do we know? Can we?

Well, it was here I arrived at my deep inner desire to know God and to know my own nature–and the nature of all things, as a result. For me, it all begins with knowing God. Know God and all else will be revealed. Through knowing God, we will know how the stars and planets and universe work. Through knowing God, we will know the why’s and how’s of the world around us. We will understand the seasons, evolution and the life and death of it all. We will understand why our parents, teachers, priests, leaders, family and friends were who they were. We will understand who we are. We will know why we are.

Albert Einstein says, “I want to know how God thinks. The rest is just details.” For me, quite often, it’s the details I get caught in. It’s the details I allow to weigh me down. It’s the details to which I attach myself. It’s the day-to-day grind, the high’s and low’s, the drama and fantasy of life; that’s the stuff I find myself focusing much of my attention and energy upon. That is the roller-coaster I step off when I slow down, take time for myself and look quietly inward. And it’s in those moments where I feel closest to God.  In the silence and calmness. In the “just being”.

Second to this, for me, is the sharing of insights of a spiritual nature. When I have a deep, powerful, connected conversation that raises both the other person and myself, I feel ecstatic! Thrilled! I’m back on the roller-coaster, sure, but it’s a great place to be in that moment! It feels inspired, God-centered and whole. In Matthew 18:20, Christ says, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am.” Have you ever felt this phenomenon? I do it all the time now and–as I speak more about Divinity–more people come up to me to share their own experiences. On top of that, the more of these conversations I have, the more I see Divinity’s Presence in the world around me. And, the more aware I am of Divinity around me, the more centered in Divinity I feel.

Epilogue: After my counseling session with Dr. Christopher today, I was walking out of the community church where these meetings are held. The building is set up in such a way one can access the conference area downstairs or the classrooms upstairs without ever seeing the chapel. In fact, I had never seen the chapel before this afternoon, having apparently walked past it several dozen times. On my way out today, however, I looked up and noticed the printing over a doorway that leads down a darkened hall. What I noticed for the first time were the symbols “Α” and “Ω”; the statement that God is the Alpha and the Omega–the Beginning and the End. I saw blue light coming from a room down the hall, so I followed it and discovered the large, empty chapel. The blue light was from the stained glass that lined the walls. The chapel was modest, even down to simple wooden chairs for the clergy, saving the ornate for the massive set of organ pipes that filled the front wall. I stopped for a moment to soak in the stillness, then walked to the front and sat down in the third pew from the front. There I sat in silence for a bit. I considered the contents of the altar, where stood a simple metal cross and a bible, displayed open, upright and facing the congregation. I stood, genuflected, and approached the altar. This was the first line I read:

Psalms 27:8 – When Thou saidst, “Seek ye My face,” my heart said unto Thee, “Thy face, LORD, will I seek.”

And so I will.

When we feel alone in this world, know that feeling of aloneness is just that; a feeling. What do we know about feelings? They are temporary! Contrary to what we might perceive when we’re heightened by a strong emotional reaction, we are not our feelings and our feelings are not us. Feelings are vibrational frequencies generated by judgment. A judgment may occur in an instant, but it must happen in order: event (input), judgment (filter), emotional reaction (output). We must hold an opinion about something before we can have an emotional response to it. Whether we’re receiving good or bad news (input, a.k.a. stimuli or content), we first

1. receive the information (in its pure and free-of-judgment form),
2. process it by running it past the filters through which we view our worlds, by which we access our past experiences related to that information and–pulling from that file–we
3. form the “how I feel about this” response and release it into the world.

Depending on how emotionally-charged we find the information, and depending on many other factors swirling around us in that moment (including our emotional state prior to receiving the information), the severity of our emotional reaction will vary. We may feel happy, pleased, thankful, melancholy, angry, sad–we run the gamut.

Adversely, if we are clear–truly at peace–there is no judgment, and without judgment, we don the role of the “silent observer”, allowing ourselves to step back from information we are receiving, consider it, and let it pass without attachment.

I offer that emotionally-charged responses have their use! They are great for manifesting our intents. The challenge is–unless we’re aware of our judgments and the manner in which we’re directing our emotional energy–we could be manifesting the very things in life we don’t want.

For instance, I went a long time being unaware of how connected I was to my own abundance. I would look at my bank statement and upon seeing the balance, I would believe I only had enough money for this-or-that; seldom did my thoughts include this-and-that. Usually the “or” fell between something I wanted to do and something I felt obliged to do. During an EFT tapping session, a mentor of mine, Dr. Christopher Henley, helped me uncover this. It took me a moment to fully grasp the concept, but once I got it, I really got it. I realized I had been doing this for years! More, I realized I had seen my mother do this when I was a young boy. When it came to buying new clothes for herself or putting my two sisters and I through private school, she worked to achieve the latter and often sacrificed the former. She, herself, was the oldest of seven kids. Her parents had seen the Great Depression. My grandfather worked two and, sometimes, three jobs at a time to support their family as a Detroit fireman, a house-painter, and a purveyor of other odd jobs. My grandmother stayed home and watched the kids. My mother’s family grew up knowing sacrifice. Is it any surprise then that we grew up knowing sacrifice? Is it any surprise that it was many years before I really began caring about my own wardrobe? I believe this is what is meant when certain religions talk about paying for your ancestors’ karma. The thoughts, words and deeds we hold today telescope well into the future through those around us, especially our children. This is the reason I believe raising happy, healthy children is one of the highest responsibilities we have in life.

Well, once I realized I was operating financially from a this-or-that paradigm, I quickly realized I treated my time the same way. I saw myself as only having time for this activity or that. If I spent so much time on web work, it would take away from my spiritual work. If I allowed myself to work on the spiritual efforts, the web work suffered. I had effectively built myself into a construct where I could feel my limits all around me. That would lead to feelings of being overwhelmed, guilt-ridden, torn, depressed, tired, burnt out. Obviously, not where I wanted to be. Once I saw this error of this thinking, however, things began to open up for me. I began seeing possibilities where, before, none seemed to exist. By more fully realizing my connection to Divinity and my own abundance, I was able to shed this-or-that thinking and things began to happen very quickly.

As for getting free and clear of judgment? I think the quieter we can be on the inside, the less we will be affected by the outside. The less we are affected by the outside, the more present we become and the more open we become to receiving Divine inspiration from within.

Speakers’ speaker, John Childers, talks about the three ways we represent ourselves when we speak publicly. The first way, he says, is to present ourselves as the Expert. This usually means we’ve been in our field for a while and we have amassed a body of knowledge and experience from which to speak and teach. This is the role most people think of when they think about a public speaker.

When I first considered public speaking as a profession, I immediately discounted myself on the thought I was not an expert at speaking about God or spiritual matters. I had 16 years of web design and online marketing experience and if you had asked me to teach a full day seminar on that subject, I could have gotten up, formulated the curriculum and delivered a workshop right there on the spot. After 16 years in that industry, I could speak easily about web design, content management systems, search engine marketing and optimization. But to hold a 20-minute lecture on God and matters of the spirit? I didn’t feel terribly well-equipped, even though I was fairly comfortable in my relationship with God.

Fortunately, “Expert” is only one of the three roles John discusses.

The next way is to present yourself and your message through the Reporter. The Reporter–just as it sounds–studies other sources of information and inspiration and reports out on them. I am speaking to you now primarily through the Reporter role. Upon studying John Childers’ material, something resonated with me and now I am bringing that material to you in the hope it will help you in your own life. It is my desire you will be able to connect with what I’m saying and use it to find your own voice (if you’re in the process of discovering it, as I imagine I will always be.)

By being a Reporter, you shine the light on someone else’s work, giving credit where credit is due, while bringing a deeper level of substance and credibility to your own message (providing you’ve chosen your source well.) Additionally, you remove some of the burden of having to “know it all” and you share that mantle with your sources. Don’t feel like you’re an expert on something? Share the spotlight with someone you feel has something expert to say and bring that value to your audience.

The third role in speaking is that of the Student. When you speak as a Student, you place yourself at the same level as everyone else around you. You share your experience and your ideas, but you do so in a very open, humble way. This role is less used to lead your listeners to a particular conclusion or insight, and more to share, intimate and normalize. When you approach as a Student, you say to your audience, “Hey, I’m making my way, just like you. Here is what I’ve seen.” I feel the Student role is, by far, the most intimate of the roles we take on.

So, there we have it; three roles: Expert, Reporter and Student.

When you speak, do you pick one role and stay in it? No, not usually. You’ll find most people will move very fluidly from one to the next. We use these roles without thinking, and we do it whether we’re before an audience or having a one-on-one conversation.

When I first learned about these different ways to present our ideas to others, I was relieved. I found it was easier for me to get started presenting spiritual material through the Student role. This allowed me to remove myself from the pressure of the Expert’s spotlight and humbly approach my audience as one of them. I still try to bring that humility to my audience when I talk, as I 1.) am quite aware I don’t know it all, and 2.) I feel the speaker-audience relationship is a sacred thing. You have sought me out or allowed me into your experience for however much time we have together and for that I am always honored. I love my audiences and I see them as a reflection of myself and I, a mirror back to them. I believe we would not be here, together, if it were not a part of the Divine Plan.

One final thought: I think it’s possible to whittle this list of three roles down into one. It feels like it may be possible–even preferable–to dissolve the Expert and Reporter roles into the Student. After all, if we approach our audience with humility and an earnest intent to serve by bringing value and insight, I believe the natural result of that research, self-analysis and preparation will organically lend to the easy expression of the Expert and Reporter roles. For me, that originates from working and speaking from the Student.

Question: If you believe God is limitless, where does that leave you?

Answer: In line with the Divine. The notion that we are separate from God, that we have to appease or fear God, that we are not God, is a fallacy. If we are not God, then there is something God is not. If there is something God is not, there are limits to God.

Do you believe God has limits? Or do you believe in God’s infinite love, infinite nature, infinite connectedness and abundance? Meditate on this.

When it came to kids, I was on the “Two-and-Through” plan. Then we had a miscarriage. This turned out to be a completely God-inspired event.

I was listening to a tape made by Rosemary Taylor (a local astrologer) as she gave a reading to Grace. At one point in the tape, Rosemary began talking about the current pregnancy (our third.) Grace knew I wasn’t happy about having a third kid. Grace wanted to be happy about the pregnancy, but she was afraid of my emotional set, so she went to go see Rosemary where she hoped to learn what to do about my dark cloud.

Rosemary simply gave her a wonderful Rosemary reading, full of affirmation and hope. One of the key messages in that reading, however, said I was looking at the work of it, I was looking how fractured time seemed already, with not enough time to give the first two kids, not enough energy to give, not enough, not enough, not enough. I knew this intellectually but, you know, sometimes you just need to hear it.

As I lay on our office floor staring up at the ceiling, my eyes got as big as dinner plates and I said, “Oh, that’s it exactly! That’s exactly where I’m at and this is exactly where I need to go. I need to see the miracle of it, the fun of it.”

This was my first real experience of “God can change a person’s heart in an instant.” Sure enough, within that moment I was, “Okay, no, I understand now. This is great.”

Within five minutes of my epiphany, the baby miscarried.  After being with us for almost two months, it was as if the baby said, “Okay, he’s got it.  Let’s start over.”

A month after that, we were pregnant again and later that year we would welcome our third child, our beautiful daughter, Natalia.

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Hi, guys.  Good morning.  Thank you for having me here today.  You have a wonderful role in paying witness to my story for a short while today and I appreciate that.

I’ve been going through something of a shift lately, to use Wayne Dyer’s terminology. I’ve discovered that there’s this book out there called The Shift, and apparently what Wayne has begun talking about is this movement from ambition into spirituality and what this turning point looks like.  I haven’t read the book or seen the movie, but it’s been brought to my attention a number of times and I’ve noticed in life–when things pop up on your radar a couple of times over the course of a week–you may want to listen; someone is trying to tell you something. It’s a little bit of serendipity there that I’ve been trying to be more tuned into as I’ve gone through my journey of life. There’s been times where it’s just come out and smacked me across the face and then there’s been other times where it’s been much more subtle.

Well, here I am, and the reason why I am here standing in front you is because I’m trying to listen more to that serendipity and listen more to the intuition that’s coming out.

I have Roman Catholic roots and, as a child, my mother was an Irish, red-headed, Roman Catholic, single mother of three and she ruled with an ironclad fist. She worked very hard to put us through Catholic school (private school) and so we were taught religion at a very young age. As children, we’re brought into this belief system; we’re just indoctrinated into it and told “This is what you believe.” It isn’t until you get to be in your teenage years–maybe your young adult years–where you start to question everything around you. You start to wonder why it is you believe what it is you’ve been taught and that’s if you’re lucky. Some of us may make it all the way through our lives believing the same thing, just continuing on, knowing everybody else on the planet is wrong, thinking “My belief system is the only way to go.”

As I began to question “Who is God” and “What does He really want from me,” you come up against a place where you’ve got to believe this, otherwise (in Catholicism) you’re going to Hell.  That’s kind of heavy. Of course, we don’t even know what Hell is. You’ve never been hit with three seconds of Hell. You’ve never been hit with 30 seconds or three minutes or three hours or three days, or whatever the length of time it would take you to really get a sense of “Oh, this is Hell. I don’t want to be here so I’m not ever going to deviate from The Path.  I’m going to fly right for the rest of my days.” We don’t have that.

So, to be given this doctrine to follow and say, “You follow this or else”–it didn’t sit well with me as a teenager and, so, I began to ask questions.  I began to talk to people and I loved to get into theological debates at the time. There was one conversation I had with a co-worker of mine (I worked at McDonald’s as a kid.) We were doing our McDonald’s stuff and we got into this debate, what do you believe and why do you believe this. Turned out she was a Jehovah’s Witness and I didn’t know this.  I had never met a Jehovah’s Witness before. (They seem like nice people.)

She said, “Well, all right, you believe in Heaven and Hell, right?”

I said, “Well, yes, yes, I guess so, yes, from what I know; that’s what I’ve been taught.”

She said, “Well can you possibly believe that any parent–capable of unconditional love–is going to condemn their child to eternal damnation?”

I said, “Well, it does seem kind of incongruent doesn’t it?”

There’s the whole unconditional love but if you don’t follow this–and by the way, you’ve never been punished before but if you don’t follow these rules you’re going to get the ultimate punishment: fire and brimstone (whatever you believe Hell is)–this is going to be it for you for the rest of your eternity.  That’s kind of stiff.

And, so, I started questioning this and that was a key moment for me.  Later, I ended up taking it another step further. If you’ve never been shown what the punishment is, how can it mean anything? How can you have that impetus? It’s got to come from within, sure. You’ve got this doctrine. You’ve got Ten Commandments and maybe you’re following them and maybe you’re not. I was always good about a few of them, the lying and cheating and stealing and that kind of stuff but going to church on Sunday not as much and some of these other.

So you try your best, and actually, I’ve got a friend of mine, she and I just had an off-the-charts conversation where–she’s been struggling.  She’s trying to find her own way. She was actually led back to the Bible through metaphysical means.  Just messages that had come to her, hey you need to–or metaphysical (what I’m going to call metaphysical) serendipity kind of led her back to you need to look at the Bible. So she got into the Bible and–you know there are places in the Bible where you can get stuck. When it talks about slavery is a good idea or marry your sister; that’s the Old Testament stuff. I cautioned her to draw a line at much of the Old Testament stuff. Christ’s teachings; there’s a core, there’s a kernel. Devour it because that stuff–I haven’t seen anything wrong with Christ teachings–but yes; watch out for the Old Testament.

Through this course of this conversation she and I went up and up and up in this kind of this spiritual feedback, and it was that conversation that got me thinking I want more of that. I want to go out and I want to talk to people, and I want to have these conversations with people because as I was bringing clarity (or some sort of calmness) to what she was going through I was feeling exhilarated. I was feeling a connection. I was feeling, “Wow, this is something I want to do more of. This is a God-inspired moment.” I even came close to crying at one point during that conversation because I believe in what Christ had tried to provide us by His example. Yet there’s these moments in your life where you don’t think you can do it.

I know for me, years ago, I got myself worked up over a book. My mom had sent it to me and it was a book that had in it pictures of the stigmata.  It had pictures of the Children of Guadalupe receiving visions from the Holy Mother Mary. This book talked about the end of days and some of the revelations that came out through those visions and–I got myself worked up. I was reading this book at night, in my little studio apartment down in Florida, alone, and I terrified myself. I called up my mom close to tears and said, “Mom, how do I know I’m on the right path?  How do I know? I’ve got it in me! I know I could pick up and leave everything and go to the other side of the planet and administer the poor, heal the infirmed… I’ve got it in me. I know I’ve got it in me.  I don’t want to do that. Is God asking me to do that? Is Christ asking me to do that? I’ve got it in me, so all I’m doing is saying no.”

She said, probably the best thing she could have said when you’re child is 3,000 miles away and freaked out on the phone because they think they’re maybe being called to the other side of the planet to do the Mother Teresa thing. She said, “Matthew, you have been given a specific set of talents. It is your highest calling to use those talents to the best of your ability and make a change or make a difference in people’s lives with those talents.  Certainly, I’m not going to stop you, if you want to run to the other side of the planet and administer to those less fortunate than yourself but… relax.” And I did, I relaxed, I was like “Whew, okay. Alright, I’ll relax a little bit.”

But don’t we have that in us?  Don’t we all have that in us?  If Christ were to walk in the door right now and say, “Follow me,” would we be able to do it?

I don’t know. Now I’m even more entrenched in this life than I was back when I lived down in Florida. I’ve got the family, I’ve got friends, I’ve got a j-o-b, I’ve got a company. Could I follow Christ if he was–and if you knew it was Christ, if you knew, would you be jumping out of the boat and paddling to shore? I don’t know if I’m strong enough to do that. I would want to believe that I would and I could, especially, once you got hit with that “This is Christ” or “This is God.”

So, I don’t know. What I have opted for on a daily basis when I’m making this daily decision what to do, where to go, how to best follow in the path that lays in front of me, is I try to see God in everything. You’ve got these satori moments where you really know in your heart you’re seeing a glimpse of God. Whether it’s in the operating room and your third child has just been born and you’ve got this little bundle of waxy, crying, baby right there for the first time and it’s the first time you’ve seen this child. You’ve been talking to the child for the last ten months, (it’s not nine months, it’s ten months, folks) and this is the first time you’ve seen that child.  That’s a God moment, for me.

It could be on a dreary, cloudy day, just walking out in the cold air and nothing in particular happening, you’re just feeling the cold air on your face; that could be your God moment.

For me, as I began to prepare this talk, I began to think of all these sorts of stories that I might tell and I even wrote a couple down and been kind of blogging and that kind of stuff but I was beating myself up, thinking, “No, this isn’t it.”

There’s a little recorder that a mentor of mine offered me. I was working with this tool and getting used to it. It’s got a little time stamp on it, regardless of whether its on or off, you put batteries in it and it tells you the time.  Well, I never set the time on this thing and I sat down last night to kind of go through the spiel and the time stamp had 222 on it. Now for those of you who know anything about me, you know I’ve been sucked into number patterns for about seven, eight years now. Don’t know what they mean necessarily, but they seem to occur.  Like I had my grandfather died on November 11th, at 11:11.  Just weird patterns and numbers and when I’m in the thick of a spiritual something, I’ll be asking a question or something like just wondering and I’ll hit on a revelation or something and a car will drive by me and there’s a license plate that says 1919 or 333 or just a weird little sign to which I think, “Okay, I’ll just take it as that.”

Well, this little device said 222 on it and I’m like, “Okay, all right, it’s all about this talk, 222.” Well, my wife–years ago–had given me this book, Doreen Virtue, Numbers of Angels or Angel Numbers or whatever the title–I actually brought it here today. It essentially said, under 222 (you can look up all these numbers from zero to 999,) “They’ll get the message they need to get.”

Alright God! We’re just going to go out there, we’re just going to let it all hang out!

So I think my give to you in this little chat is: I think we’re all students of life, and I think we’re all making our way, even when we’re wondering whether or not we’re on the right path, we’re on the right path. I would say when you have these coincidences that pop up in your life or you hear the title of a book a couple of times in a row…

I just had this experience again; Food, Inc. Has anybody seen Food, Inc. yet? You will never look at chicken the same. I gave that experience. I was the third one in line to mention Food Inc. to somebody the other day and over the course of their week and I said, “Oh you need to listen to that. Go get it. It’s going to mean something to you.”

When you see these patterns try not to drive yourself crazy with them, obviously, but pay attention and ask. If you’re wondering what the patterns mean, follow them, especially if it’s something is innocuous as “Go get this book” or “Go watch this documentary.”

Listen to it; that’s my encouragement to you. Just listen to it. Look within, listen to the message when it comes up and if you’re wondering what the sign is supposed to be about–ask the question and I bet you get that answer too.

Thank you.