Sometimes questions surprise me, but I never mind answering them unless I feel they are too personal. Am I religious? Yes. I consider myself Roman Catholic, even though I don't always agree with the pope or the church. I don't go to church as often as I would like - mostly due to family obligations and health reasons.
I'm not that much of fan of Mass I admit, I prefer my religious experience to be more personal, so you will find me more often at the small chapel in Delft that is connected to the Maria van Jesse Church. I prefer to spend some time for worship there, pray and sometimes I write in the prayer book that is there. I also sometimes pray for those who have written before me. I tend to light candles for those who have passed, those who are in trouble and those that I love and asked that they be sheltered, reminded that they are loved and aided in their goals.
When I'm abroad, I always visit churches and not only Roman Catholic churches. It's become a ritual to light candles (if possible), to leave money for churches and to buy a rosary. I've been to famous one's (Notre dame, Sacré-Cœur, Berliner Dom etc.) but also to obscure monasteries in Crete for example. I have also visited Fátima and would love to visit Santiago de Compostela and Lourdes.
I find it important to have space in my life for service, for the knowledge that we are all connected, for recognition of God.
At home, I have some small symbols of the fact that I'm religious, like a statue of a saint, statues of angels, icons and pictures of Mary. I also listen to christian music. Kutless - What Faith can do is my favorite at the moment. One of my tea mugs just got chipped which had the saying: "With Faith in God we can achieve everything that we believe from R. Fogle" on it.
I'm respectful of other people's beliefs so at the practice I often say: "God/Higher Power/Higher Self", but in my personal life I just say God. One of my friends once joked that he feels I'm a bad Christian because I don't proselytize, I don't go to church that often, I don't judge others and I don't have a holier-then-thou attitude. He says I'm just too busy being tolerant, loving and kind. Sometimes it surprises me what other people think a (good) Christian is.
My favorite prayer is: "Let me release everything but the truth (aka release my ego, my fears, my baggage etc.), work through me to bring Your Will into this world (love, peace, understanding, healing etc.). Let me be Your instrument." I often pray before meals and then I pray a variation of: "Thank You for this meal, this sustenance, this bounty, thank You for the people I'm sharing it with". I've always believed that God is not Santa or Sinterklaas, so I never pray for things I want. I pray for understanding, for faith, for aid etc.
Often, people ask me how I reconcile beliefs they have with Christianity. Frequently I'm asked about how I say I'm a Psychic as somehow that's not Christian according to the person asking me. The Bible is of course full of people having visions like for example the story of Joseph. I do believe my gifts have come from God, because I've come from God and if I wasn't meant to use them, I would have found that out real quickly. Instead, my life and those of others have been incredibly enriched since I started my practice, so I do feel it's God's plan for me.
The other question that comes up often is how I reconcile karma with Christianity. Often in the western world Karma is seen as "you deserved it", when bad things happen and that doesn't reconcile with the idea of a loving God. This isn't how I understand the concept of Karma, but if that's people's understanding I often explain with the following example:
"As a parent, you can be loving when you say no, you can be loving when you feel your child just has to experience something after you told them many times it's wrong as that's the only way they will learn and you can be loving when you forbid things."
I believe that God wants us all to be happy, healthy and to succeed, but we often don't listen and then our expectations are dashed and we do get hurt. Just like children sometimes don't listen to their parents. It isn't the parent or the child's fault, just an integral part of learning. The Spiritual idea of: Every experience has a lesson" comes from that. When we learn what works for us and we listen to God, we are creating happy, positive and beautiful lives.
Want to talk about religion? Post a comment on the Blog, the Facebook Fan Page or talk to me at the practice.
It's often very hard to take care of yourself, let alone the person you are going to be in the future. Yet, when we do this, our lives will be immeasurably easier. So today I'm going to talk to you about why we should do this and how we can do it easily.
Working for Future You
Future you has to take care of all the things that you, in the now, aren't doing and that need to be done. If you plan to go to bed right now and your dishes aren't done, future you has to do them. When you are playing a game and enjoying yourself but forgetting the time, future you will wake up with not enough sleep for the next day or will oversleep.
Everything we do today, will impact our tomorrow. We often recognize this, so we can choose if we want that impact or not. We might agree to have a little less sleep to have a little more fun. However, most people don't realize that it's we can also use this cause and effect to make our lives so much easier and to practice gratitude work.
Simple things to do for Future You
- Rinse the dish you just brought to the kitchen, so future you doesn't have to scrub so much
- Pack your bag in the evening, so future you can easily leave in the morning
- Plan your day or week or month in advance, so future you has a quick overview and can work more effectively
- Take a 10 minute walk through your house before bed, so future you wakes up in a cleaner home and can easily do dishes, take out trash or other household tasks
- Plan easy meals or cook in advance and freeze them, so future you can eat easily and healthy on busy days
- Stack your mail together, so future you can easily pay bills at the end of the week
For most people, past you is a bum. It's the person who didn't do the dishes, forgot to take the trash out, left the bills for too long etc. etc. It's past you's fault that your administration is 3 months behind and you are having trouble finding that receipt to file your taxes. It's past you's fault that your house is a mess and that you feel overwhelmed and are unable to clean. It's past you's fault that you didn't make your new years resolutions and that you hardly ever see your friends.
So, take a deep breath, and forgive past you. There is a reason why things are behind or not up to snuff. There is a reason why you feel overwhelmed. A simple step plan can help you sort out how to make sure that the new past you is going to be a lovely caring supportive person. It's going to help Future You be grateful for past you.
Simple step plan to transform past you:
- Recognize what isn't done that would make your life easier. It might be a better cleaner more organized household, it might be more time for social activities, it might be finally finishing that degree etc. etc.
- Look at underlying reasons it wasn't done: do you prioritize fun, are you overwhelmed, do you know where to start, do you need help, are you often too tired
- Take action to fix underlying reasons (with help or not)
- Start fixing that what needs to be done
- Thank Past You every time your life is easier
So for today - recognize where you are at. Recognize that future you needs your support, that past you needs your understanding, to make your life the best it can be. Take care of all of yourselves!
Want to discuss this article or need help to understand past you or support future you, leave a message on the blog or Facebook Fan Page, send me an e-mail or talk to me in the practice.