Whenever I am doing random things around the house, like this morning as I was just changing the sheets on the bed, my mind is often thinking about, How do I describe the process and the allure of change? How do I describe the results I have been getting from years of paying attention to consciousness and the rapid acceleration I have experienced since doing Divine Openings?

Today it came to me like this: 

If you are tired of the recurring situations in your life, if they seem both all too familiar yet just as confusing the tenth time you noticed them as the first time, if you have tried certain remedies and they didn’t work, well, it may be that you are stuck in an old game. And rather than trying to fix the individual problems (so far next to impossible, right?) what of you could just exit that game, and start playing a new game where you are more closely aligned to your true inner wishes and abilities?

I talked a little bit about the 5-day silent retreat I took in April. It has had a wonderful effect in my life, and in the lives of many people around me. Life is so interesting because there are always these parallel realities colliding and crossing – it makes it nearly impossible to have certainty. So I like to look for trends, and the trend is up up and up.

I am coming to a much deeper understanding of vibrational energy – it is not a concept anymore but a mental and physical reality for me. Oh yes it still takes consciousness to remember, although this is getting easier too.

We have this concept of miracles – throughout time they have occurred, things we cannot understand or explain with our current knowledge, but that are indisputable even if they seem to happen rarely and to other people more than for us. Plus, almost every day we come to accept things that used to seem hard to believe. Like the ringtone sound that teenagers can hear and adults cannot – at first it seems strange then you see/hear it in action, and that part of the brain settles down and says, “OK. I will accept this.” And we move on to the next thing.

When will it be your time to truly believe that the universe is a safe place and wants to do your heavy lifting for you? I have been pondering this question for some time. Now, since having Divine Openings, I can answer, “Now.”

Be here now – the present is the place of power. We’ve heard this for so long, yet often in the present moment we are busy in our minds trying to make sense of things or telling stories about the past or the imagined future that make things seem difficult or impossible to change. We work harder and harder, thinking one day the tide will turn in our favor, not realizing we were full of resistance to the Divine. In fact, the more we speculate and work hard, the more we are blocking the very support we seek. 

Here are some things that change after having Divine Openings:

• believing things can turn in our favor, and they do;


• understanding how we create our own reality, without blame or guilt;


• feeling the feelings that have us in a stuck place, so they can move on and get out of the way;


• letting go of what is no longer working, with gratefulness;


• getting out of the way so grace can do the hard stuff for us.

Since I have been giving and receiving Divine Openings, I have found the experience of it to be profound and the description of it in words to be quite lacking. For years I have lived by the notion, “It’s all about the energy.” For example, someone can be saying nice enough words to me but if the energy is in the basement, I pay more attention to that. Likewise, I can pretend to be polite to an airline ticket agent but if I am really ticked off about a canceled flight, that energy will leak through.

So with Divine Openings, it is all about the energy too! It is not about any set of rules, or mantras, or daily practices. It is simply about opening up to grace, and then having a frequent conversation with the Divine, passing my problems over and forgetting about them.

I have really been noticing how many problems I used to make before they actually exist in reality. I have a tendency to in the past to think of this as “being prepared” or “being responsible.” Now, I see it for what it was: a fearful small self trying to do the heavy lifting! Now, I notice more of what is going on the present moment. I am less interested in stories about the past – after all they do not predict the future. Unless of course, I really want them to by clinging to that version of reality.

The amount of stress I have shed from this single aspect of the Divine Openings is quite enormous. Again, hard to describe it, unless you too have a mind that is always turning things over again and again.

I also experienced an immediate physical healing – a pain that I have had quite chronically for over 20 years in my lower back (left side – SI joint) went away. And has stayed away for over 3 months. I think it was just stuck energy, and no amount of yoga, stretching, massage, chiropractic or working out could make it go away. Clearing the energy so grace can enter my body and then take it away for me was the answer.

If you would like to experience a DIvine Opening, please email me. I offer sessions in person here in Hawaiʻi and can also give them by phone or Skype. You can read more about it here. I can also offer group sessions at your place of business or other gatherings.

Shane and I are building out the KnowHow Cafe, a place to learn about the social web. We are creating courses to teach people about blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and how to build your personal and business brands online. The tools are mostly free; knowing how to use them? Not so simple!

I am offering a private label course for Lola Jones and her associates before we launch the public site. Please join the email list if you want to be notified about this course. I intend to start it the first second week of May if there is interest; the topics are subject to change based on your input. Please join the email list if you are interested and use promo code “rox”.

Getting Started on the Social Web
Session 1: Setting up your member profile on www.lolajones.com
Session 2: Managing your online identity
Session 3: Setting up a free website/blog
Session 4: Managing your blog
Session 5: Joining and using Twitter
Session 6: Joining and using Facebook

While we are building out KnowHow Cafe, please visit our Bare Feet Blog, where we have been posting howto articles and business tips since 2005.

I am sitting at the beach before sunrise having undigested thoughts.

Got the call an hour ago that my father will likely die today. I thought of forgiving him for the things he did in his life that I found offensive. But if I believe we each came here as co-creators or co-conspirators, then “who am I” to offer forgiveness? Presumably I, my large self, wanted these experiences, these opportunities. So gratefulness more than forgiveness seems to be the order of the day.

Besides, I long ago digested these experiences, and carry no grudges of which I am aware. No need to be fearful for Dad departing.

My Dad has been wrangling cancer for over 15 years – it considers him some sort of proving ground I guess. Prostate. Malignant Melanoma. Bladder. Adrenal. Pancreatic. It appears that he may be winding down, and I am curious at how certain events in my life relative to him are showing up on my radar.

When I was a (miserable, lonely, depressed) senior in high school, I created a massive collage from floor to ceiling on one of my bedroom walls. One side was mostly surfing stuff and the other was the wall of my discontent – vietnam war protests, politics, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and in the mix a cut out of the photo above from Life Magazine. I didn’t dare post the anger I felt at my family.

When I went away to college, my father sent me a gift, and it was an enlarged print from the original photo. This quite astounded me – as it meant a considerable amount of tracking and cajoling to accomplish this task. At that time he had friends in high places, so perhaps not as as hard as I might imagine it to be – but really – it was the thought that counts. I was quite rebellious which made it hard to be gracious. I think I was cool and reserved, much like he and my mother were in my memory of my younger years. We battled frequently, and I was not about to let this gift be my undoing.

Most times when I would really stop and gaze at it, I would simply sit and cry. I figured these limestone cliffs in Turkey could hold plenty of tears.

That he somehow waded through this 8 by 12 foot wall of anger, depression, idealism, and surf fantasy to find that one image that really captured the isolation I felt – that is what struck me.

I kept it for a long time, moving it with me from place to place, and finally gave it away to one of my similarly young and disaffected employees years ago. I felt a tinge of guilt letting it go, but then again I was going through one of my many periods of not being on speaking terms with him. So there.

I hope to ask him about this photo. When I asked him initially, I recall him brushing it off with a Dad-type platitude: “Your father understands you much more than you realize.” Surely there was more to his thought process though. I wonder if he remembers. It was 38 years ago, more or less.

You can see the full size photo at the LIFE Magazine archives on Google. I think they printed it flipped horizontally?

I am sometimes prone to constipation. I woke in the middle of the night with lower GI cramps. While in the bathroom, I had a case of stinkpot syncope! Apparently a little straining in the netherlands can trigger the vagus nerve and pop! I passed out with no warning. Next I knew I was on the travertine tile floor, having banged the corner of the marble counter, head first in the great tradition of “Look Ma! No hands!”

Of course I have no idea how long I was out. When I did come too, I was face down on the floor, drawers by my knees, expecting to feel a puddle of blood in the darkness. None found.

I am incredibly grateful for my hard head; I intend to put it to more selfish use and to stop waiting for things to appear perfect. I am wearing my bumps with pride and counting on Arnica to keep the bruising to a minimum. I have also been putting ice on it.

I have drifted off to sleep several times writing this. Thank you and Good Night.

I have these great friends, the funhogs. Remember? They took me boating with them on Saturday. Sunday I took care of Kaile, their daughter, for several hours while they raced outrigger canoes.

Afterwards, they helped me with some tree trimming. At the same time, my neighbor’s son Patrick hauled away a huge pile of demolished plumeria tree-about 6×6x6 feet! Imagine the metaphors – my dear friends literally helping me cut back dead limbs, uproot old and workout branches, and then haul it away for me!

Life is good to me.