Walks in the woods, standing on the dock, looking out across the expanse of water, listening to the loons melancholy cry, the excitement of catching a "big one," the laziness of relaxing in the front yard, alongside the shore, all bring delightful memories and good feelings.

Yearly summer vacations at a cabin on Lake of the Woods in Canada in my youth still bring myriad memories and pictures to mind. This special place offered a blessed, refreshing seclusion into my fantasy realm, even though there was much happening in my surrounding world. These memories will forever retain vivid impressions. Maybe you have experienced something similar!
Placid reflecting mirror of sunset -
sky blue, mercury, liquid gold
all in fluid blend;
Changing to sparkling copper
as clouds pick out a pale peach,
crowned with a brilliant
sun-drenched halo;
Fading to a raspberry dull mauve
as we draw close to shore.

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Oneness in Spirit
by Dusty Reed

"The higher the truths we tell, the finer and more precious their meaning" - Emma Curtis Hopkins, Scientific Christian Mental Practice.

Recently, I experienced a deeper meaning of communication at a conference where I had not previously met, person-to-person, any of the participants. We did all belong to an email spiritual group. When we came together, it was as if we were one soul amongst our different roles as parents, teachers, engineers, and of various other walks of life. When we came together we could sense the Oneness in thought and feeling. This Oneness surpassed these two senses. It was an Essence of delight. It continues between us, even though we live many miles apart. We sense the continued connection.

This is a true sense of my perception of what God intends for us as communication, along with the fellowship in sharing with one another. As this happens, our world expands through awareness and communion with our Creator, with others, whether we consider them friend or foe, and with observing nature.

Today’s world offers ample opportunity for this type of communication. With the technical advancements, scientific studies, psychological analyses, social corrections, variety of religious beliefs and all forms of constant adjustments, we feel our world is spinning with no sense of communication with anyone or anything. We can jump off the merry-go-round and find that deep sense of communication in the Oneness of spirit.

Pondering our communication with others, we observe that in daily conversation we may not be seeing a situation as it is. We perceive through our interpretation from memory what we believe it is. Perception is what registers in our brain as what we think we see or hear. How we perceive develops our beliefs about life. What we perceive is not necessarily the same as what others perceive. We may both be looking at the same object and interpret it differently. Word pictures we present bring up different memory perception. Is that glass half empty or half full?

We absorb only as much as we are willing to embody. We may learn to believe self-generated excuses, exclaiming that circumstances prevent any opportunity for expansion of awareness. There are no excuses. We have an inner knowing of how to live our lives. How we choose to attain this depends on how we interpret our circumstances.

Contacts with others as we travel through life can provide occasions to discuss their philosophies on communication. By asking questions, we discover interesting subject matter. It may provide reason to question what we have established as beliefs. We can also learn how others perceive making communication connections.

When in a discussion, we can be attentive to our vocabulary as an important means of practicing being understood. The interesting concept is that by expressing precisely and concisely, we can give others the nuggets we are sharing without them having to dig for them. They may believe the nuggets are silver while we believe they are gold but we both believe they are precious minerals. This happens with being precise and questioning the depths until the mineral is found.

Although this can only be done with face-to-face contact, a friend of mine shared one way she focuses deeply on the communion that is taking place. She looks directly into the eyes of the person she is conversing with, to literally see their soul through their eyes. She is thus listening and concentrating from the other person’s perspective.

When asked how to invoke deeper communication when in general conversations, another friend shared that it happens “by tuning in to what is not being said and reaching out with love."

My question to that was, how do we "tune in to what is not being said" with accuracy?

She responded, saying she finds that it is harder to tune in with accuracy to what is being said, than to what isn't because words can be interpreted so many ways, whereas energy is energy. It is important to not be attached to what we are receiving. If we are having a reaction to it then we are probably interpreting it based on our own story.

Until we develop our full telepathic abilities, can we really hear exactly what the other person is sharing? Do we need to? Maybe it is only necessary to release the need to be accurate and allow each person's sharing as valid. It can then serve us in whatever way it does.

Still another friend shared that it is important for in-depth conversations to “try to connect at a deeper level than just sound. Taking another’s hand, finding your own pulse first, they theirs, finding you are one with them, is a good start. It works! Then make deep eye contact, and invite them into your mind. Keep the eye contact as constant as possible and you will find that you are communicating at many levels.”

A successful sense of communion happens through conversation that is thoughtful and self- reflective. We can delve deeply into why we respond as we do and trace the progress of our understanding of the subject, rather than simply justifying our interpretation. How important is the language we use in these conversations?

Ideally, language is a direct reflection of reality. This would mean that indications match things and facts. Society consciousness has developed through this means of understanding. To learn a language, we see an object at the same time as we hear the word that gives it name. How we perceive still may be different from another person’s perception. Universal understanding with the same perception is not a given.

Reality is not stable. It changes with new experiences. With new experiences we learn something that changes our beliefs, our reality. Experiences provide the meaning of language. We begin to find the awareness that language does not hold a shared, consistent meaning for everyone.

Ernest Holmes, in his book, How to Change Your Life, reminds us, "You live in the house of God, as do all other people. The house of God is filled with people of Divine origin, whose divinity will be revealed to you if you allow it to be. As you look at the divinity in them, they tend to see the divinity in you, for this is the way of life. Everyone responds to you at the level of your recognition of them."

As we share with others, they are welcome to participate in sharing, just absorbing or even disregarding the subject at hand. This is our privilege, too, when they are sharing, as long as we give it enough attention to understand for ourselves what is being shared.

This sharing provides a stepladder for new mindfulness. By asking questions, we blend various perceptions and develop what is good for us. We realize the Divine origin in others, which brings us to the cognition of Oneness in Spirit.

(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`)

Our guest author(s) this month bring a message well worth taking to heart.

POINTS OF REMEMBRANCE
by John & Cheryl at Sacred Wind

We come together with a simple reminder that as a soul, you are always connected to that which is the very Source of all. You are always connected to the stream of the flow of Love and Light. You are always connected to the Consciousness of Creation that is the Source and is the moving energy that takes all intention into manifestation.

This is a reminder that needs to be integrated into every moment of your existence, for as you walk through your daily exercises, your daily activities, your daily connections within the physical world, there are many opportunities to be diverted from remembering who you are and forgetting the connection to the Source of all.

It is important to remember and to then fully live in that flow of consciousness from that connection that is always present. As you intercede or interact with another soul, it is important to know and to remember that the same connectivity, the same radiant Source is radiating from the soul you encounter.

You see, these are points of remembrance for as you are active in your daily pursuits, there are many events, many activities and many challenges from the human perspective to be addressed and to be faced. Yet if you remember your connection, remember that you are a soul embodied walking this earth, and as you remember and as you reaffirm that connection with the flow of love and light, every interaction with another soul will be magnificent. It will be a beautiful expression of the immortal and eternal statement of love that you are conscious of and that you are consciously applying and fully exhibiting and living in that very moment of interaction with another soul.

Ponder what we are offering in this remembrance for it is the conscious connection to the Source, the conscious radiant, fully-expressed awareness that is the pathway that you are walking, the pathway you need to remember to walk. This is a remembrance and one that is most important to internalize and then to fully activate for you are I AM the Love, Light, and Life of creation. Do you feel that? Do you know that? Are you living that truth moment by moment? Remember who you are and walk the pathway of love being expressed and radiated through light in every interaction within your world. That is the pathway of enlightenment that you have earned, for you have come through many lifetimes and many experiences, and many points of revelation that confirm the truth that you know, the truth that you are.

So remember and then fully live the truth that you are I AM, the Love, Light, and Life of creation.

(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`)

Some sites I recommend:

Reality Shifters

Living From Spirit

Paradigm Alchemy

Art With a Conscience

The Messenger
A Guide for Life's Adventure

(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`)

It is my joy to share with you that I now have some new rose drawings and some photographs available at art.com! You can view them at Dusty's Roses
And, I also have a page with note cards (for sale) with some of my rose drawings. You can check it out by going to Rose Descriptions.
I have been posting nearly all of my drawings that are not displayed elsewhere at Rose Garden I have two galleries there. The other is at Reed's Loft. It has various photographs, other drawings, and notecards available.

My sister-in-spirit, Sunny, has several of her drawings and has added new photos at art.com, too, at Sunny's Art Work

(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*`~`(`~`*`~`)`~`*``~` (`~`*`~`)

And, for anyone who enjoys playing at ebay, lots of goodies (records, colored pencil drawings, books & post cards) are available at Dusty's eBay

You are welcome to forward this newsletter to friends who might be interested! If they would like to subscribe (at no cost), they can write to me at cascade@mahaska.org (with Expansion Encounters as subject). Thanx muchly!

Working toward consideration and to better humanity, we want to encourage free enterprise, free speech. We are Life Now, a spiritual happening on and off the Internet.

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