There are times in life when it is necessary to have important discussions with a family member or friend. Even people who love one another have challenges in communicating when there is disagreement or deep emotion.

There is a simple practice that has helped me many times in such situations. It is the use of a Meta Blessing. A Meta Blessing can be spoken or prayed for myself when I need guidance or clarity.

Here is an example:

May my mind and heart be open. May I release the need to be right. May I be open to guidance both human and divine. 

If another person is involved and I am seeking mutual trust, understanding and/or reconciliation, I might use these. *Always begin with yourself so that you are free of the need to win or make the other person change:

May my mind and heart be open. May I Listen rather than planning my response. May I receive wisdom and clarity. May I speak with love and compassion.

May (person's name)'s mind and heart be open. May she/he...

Intention is a powerful thought form, an energy that guides my behavior. Please note that I said "guides" rather than "controls." When I was younger, others instructed me to control my thoughts and my behavior. I wanted to be a good person so I set out to control myself. Generally speaking, it did not work very well. In fact, it created an inner atmosphere of resentment because I felt judged by the voices in my head and by those around me. I desperately wanted to be free to just be me. Lack of life experience and tools to know myself made that freedom impossible. In my late twenties, a loving pastor listened as I talked and wept in frustration. As I wound down, he looked into my eyes and quietly said, "Catherine, there are some things you just can't understand until you have lived long enough to understand them. Let it be okay to just be where you are." The door to personal freedom began to open.

As I awoke this morning, a mere forty+ years later, I lay with eyes still closed and...

For me, conscious creating is about being mindful in the moment rather than controlling how my life will unfold. Because I do not live in isolation, I can see and understand that my interactions with others brings an overlap in our life experiences, even in our karma. My karma is just that: mine. Yet there is family or bloodline karma that I am walking out as well. There is karma resulting from my participation in relationships of all kinds. So, yes there are experiences that come into my life - both blissful and highly uncomfortable - that I have not consciously created. I have agreed to them on some level, however, by entering into partnerships, either personal or professional.

Life has taught me to be very aware of who and what I am bringing into the inner circle of my experience. At times this learning journey has been profoundly painful as well as profoundly beneficial.

This mantra filled my thoughts, my being for an entire day recently:  Om Brahma Namah

Deepak Chopra...

While in Taos, New Mexico, I stepped into a gift shop because it had an alluring collection of rocks and crystals. As I browsed, I was in the zone and quite unaware of others around me.  A voice from behind me quietly said, "You are a fellow traveler."

Somewhat startled, I slowly turned and looked into the face of a man who smiled and looked into my eyes with a level of recognition not reflected in my own."Yes, I am on vacation," was my reply.  He chuckled quietly and said, "No, that isn't what I mean. I can see that you are on a conscious journey and that you like to explore the Universe."  My mouth hung open and my eyes widened.  There are many in my life, family included, who claim to know me well and who have never once recognized me in this way.

Humbled, I confirmed his insight and recognition of my true nature and met his smile with joy and gratitude.  Then he took me by surprise again.  "Will you look into my eyes and tell me what you see?" he...