Spiritual Warrior

Our society uses labels to define people and things. I have struggled to define myself using these societal labels but finally have decided that one of them is Spiritual Warrior.
I searched the internet and found an amazing writing by Ryan Androsoff that describes exactly how I perceived myself.
I emailed him and was honored that he responded and gave me permission to use his inspirational piece in my blog...
This is for all the spiritual warriors out there.

The Spiritual Warriors Creed

I am a Spiritual Warrior.
Love is my only sword,
Faith my only shield.
Truth my only map,
Wisdom my only commander.

I stand for all that is good, I protect the light.
I reject all that is evil, I conquer the darkness.
My wars are not fought on the battlefield.

Wherever there is ignorance, hatred, suffering or fear I wage war.
Wars not fought with bombs and bullets.
Wars where blood is not spilt or lives destroyed.
Wars fought only with truth and light.
Wars where evil is conquered and darkness destroyed.

I fight for no country or army.
No leader, money or power.
I fight for the spirit of creation.
I fight to clear the way so it's love and goodness
may once again embrace all creation.
I do all this selflessly and with humility.

I cleanse my body, temple of the creative force.
I live in harmony with all things.
I resist temptation and embrace enlightenment.
I vigilantly toil to gain knowledge and wisdom.
And above all I stand firm as a beacon in the night,
for all mankind to follow.
I am a Spiritual Warrior
~ Ryan Androsoff



I wrote it awhile ago now, I believe back in 1996, and it seems to have spread around the internet on a few different websites over the years. The inspiration was my religious/cultural background which is the Doukhobors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doukhobors), the English translation of which means “Spirit Wrestlers”.
Ryan Androsoff

The Hero Within

"Every child saved with my help is the justification of my existence on this Earth, and not a title to glory."[9]
Irena Sendler—Letter to the Polish Parliament

In every one of us there is a hero waiting to get out.

Like Underdog- just regular people with a desire to fight for justice,or fairness- or against dark forces; to be a voice for those who cannot speak up for themselves.

Society tells us to 'keep you head down' 'don't get involved' and 'don't rock the boat'.

I'm here to tell you that there is a hero in YOU.

The following is a story about one of these amazing souls that came to this Earth to be a hero. Their praises are not always sung and when they are it is usually after they've died.

Be inspired to be a Hero in your life through Irena Sendler's story.

The little lady above is Irean Sendler. Born Feb 15, 1910 and left this Earth May 12, 2008
She was a Polish Catholic social worker who served in the Polish Underground and the Żegota resistance organization in German-occupied Warsaw during World War II.

Assisted by some two dozen other Żegota members, Irena Sendler saved 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto, providing them false documents, and sheltering them in individual and group children's homes outside the Ghetto.[2]
She cooperated with the Children's Section of the Municipal Administration, linked with the RGO (Central Welfare Council), a Polish relief organization that was tolerated under German supervision. She organized the smuggling of Jewish children out of the Ghetto, carrying them out in boxes, suitcases and trolleys.[2] Under the pretext of conducting inspections of sanitary conditions during a typhoid outbreak, Sendler visited the Ghetto and smuggled out babies and small children in ambulances and trams, sometimes disguising them as packages.[6] She also used the old courthouse at the edge of the Warsaw Ghetto (still standing) as one of the main routes for smuggling out children.

The children were placed with Polish families, the Warsaw orphanage of the Sisters of the Family of Mary, or Roman Catholic convents such as the Little Sister Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary Conceived Immaculate[7] at Turkowice and Chotomów. Some children were smuggled to priests in parish rectories. She hid lists of their names in jars in order to keep track of their original and new identities. Żegota assured the children that, when the war was over, they would be returned to Jewish relatives.[8]

In 1943 Irena was arrested by the Gestapo, severely tortured, and sentenced to death. Żegota saved her by bribing German guards on the way to her execution. She was left in the woods, unconscious and with broken arms and legs.[2] She was listed on public bulletin boards as among those executed. For the remainder of the war, she lived in hiding, but continued her work for the Jewish children. After the war, she dug up the jars containing the children's identities and attempted to find the children and return them to their parents. However, almost all of their parents had been killed at the Treblinka extermination camp or had gone missing otherwise.

After the war and the Soviet takeover of Poland, she was at first persecuted and imprisoned by the communist Polish state authorities for her relations with the Polish government in exile and with the Home Army. While in prison she miscarried her second child and her other children were later denied the right to study at communist controlled Polish universities.

In 2007 considerable publicity[11] accompanied Sendler's nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.[12] While failed nominations for the award have not been officially announced by the Nobel organization for 50 years, the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, reported in 2007 that Irena Sendler's nominator had made the nomination public. [13] Regardless of its legitimacy, talk of the nomination focused a spotlight on Sendler and her wartime achievements. The 2007 award instead went to Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Sendler's story was brought to light in the United States when students in Kansas found it described in a magazine and popularized it through their original play Life in a Jar.

On April 19, 2009, The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, a Hallmark Hall of Fame production written and directed by John Kent Harrison and starring Anna Paquin in the title role, was broadcast by CBS.

Choosing to Suffer...

There is an exercise that I use in teaching explains that
there are 2 kinds of energy- Light and Dark.

We have given these energies labels like good and bad....
God and Evil.
No matter what you call them they are still Light and Dark.

Light is light; you have to reach for it
and Dark is heavy;it pulls you down.

Light is Accountable and Dark Blames.
Light 'gives' and Dark 'takes'.

Light -- Dark

Love -- Hate
Peace -- Chaos/Drama
Joy -- Sadness/Misery
Service -- Selfishness
Accountability/ownership -- Blame/Victim
Faith -- Fear
Compassion -- Judgment

Another way to picture it is Light flows outward- and Dark is like a vacuum- it sucks.
This is why when we are in a good mood- it can be ruined by someone in a dark place in an instant. The dark energy drains us and we own it and allow it and they go away feeling better.
There are people who cannot create their own happiness and are addicted to taking- stealing- energy from others to fill their dark hole.

If we are accountable to our Lives- and see that we make a choice to be in the darkness- we can free ourselves and then set a boundary with others; reminding them that they are creating the suffering.

If they hear the message and want to apply it that is up to them- but if they don't they will soon look for someone else to take energy from and will think twice before they come to you looking for a 'fill'.

So....what side of the road are we operating from?

Be a light spreader-
Let your little light shine!!!!

Faith and Fear

I believe we are here as a soul to have an experience.

Every event in our life- everyone we meet -have been strategically placed in our path in a Divine way to afford us an experience.

When it is a positive experience we can apply Faith that it is Divine.
But- when the experience is senseless and tragic- we have learned to apply Fear and cannot believe that there is anything Divine at work.

Fear is the absence of Faith.

Fear makes us a victim to tragedy- Faith offers us a freedom that it is purposeful in the Divine plan in our life- or the experience of another.

I have experienced many tragedies in my life. In the moment- it is very difficult to think that there is a Divine purpose- it makes me angry- it makes me helpless and it makes me want to control the uncontrollable.

Faith allows me to release my need to know- to control the outcome and be present to the event.

There are many things at work that I cannot understand from my limited perception as a human being. This is where I know- through Faith- that as senseless as it seems- there is Purpose.

In retrospect- I have seen these events inspire significant changes- without them happening, these changes would never have occurred.
Out of the rubble of despair- great things have been born.

Here is the thought for the day-

“There is nothing that wastes the body like worry,
and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry
about anything whatsoever”

Mahatma Gandhi

Animal Messengers in Dreamtime

There was a time when the members of the Animal tribe were respected and revered and they spoke to us. But, man began dishonoring them and they stopped.

When, in Dreamtime, we meet these animal messengers- If we are aware enough to remember that they can talk, and you talk to them first- they will answer you.

I started to have a re-occuring dream during my spiritual awakening of a Polar Bear chasing me- no matter what dream I was having he would appear and chase me until I awoke afraid.

My Spiritual Teacher at that time reminded me to talk to the Bear...

The next night- while running from the Giant White Bear- I remembered to 'talk to the Bear'.... I stopped in my dream- turned and faced the Bear (scared to death- by the way!) and said 'What do you want?'
The Bear immediately replied 'You're running the wrong way.'

I awoke and realized- I was running the wrong way...I was running from Bear (introspection) afraid to face myself and the life I had created out of fear. White- (the North) a place of wisdom- when at that time of my life I was running from the wisdom I knew- and was being ruled by Coyote- tricking myself...being a victim to the events of my life.

This Messenger came to remind me that if I only look within- apply the wisdom I had- stop running from the message that my life needed and was on the brink of a great change- if I only had the courage to face myself and the illusion I created.

The Medicine Wheel of Life

The cycles of life revolve like the great Medicine Wheel.
Each of us on the never ending circle.
Like Grandmother Moon circles
from dark to full to dark again;
completing her monthly cycle.
As the seasons cycle
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
This circle is never ending.

From the time of our birth
that sets our feet on the Good Red Road-
Our mission is one of discovery and learning
as we walk day by day
season by season
around the great Medicine Wheel of our Life.
From Child to Adolescent
From Adult to Elder
the days unfold.

Learning and Teaching
Joy and Sadness
Plenty and Poverty
Love and Loss
The seasons of one's Life pass-
ever cycling.

Awakening us to the experience of living
sharing what we have learned,
and leaving that Legacy to All our Relations.

It then comes time when we must leave the Good Red Road;
a time when we 'Drop our Robe'
and shed this human vessel
that houses our souls for a short time-
and begin our journey on the Blue Road of Spirit.
There we enter the world of our Ancestors,
who rejoice at our return;
While our relations mourn our leaving.

To share what we have learned.
Becoming another spoke
on the Medicine Wheel of Life.
Marianne Goldweber
www.mariannegoldweber.com

The silent killer.....

When I was in the fourth grade, we had to do a project on the 12 Commandants.

When I got to 'Thou shalt not kill' I was having trouble understanding how this commandment would apply to me. I would never kill someone.
I brought this to the attention of the Nun who was my teacher.
She told me that there is more than one way to kill;
You can take someones life physically,or you can kill them with your words and deeds.

I was severely bullied in grade school- so I completely understood the power of hurtful words and lies.

Gossip and slander are a form of murder.
Not in the physical sense; Gossip is an erosion of one's reputation and self esteem; Sadly- some have taken their own lives over such acts.
Our media is even based on sensational reality programming and true journalism is a thing of the past; becoming judgmental and biased. I heard a local anchor person call someone a jerk.
Refuse to watch- refuse to be a part of such destructive behavior.

Get comitted to your own life and find someone to help.

Let's spend our time talking about the achievements of others.
Let's listen more and talk less.
Let's create lives dedicated to Truth and Love.
Let's spread words of encouragement and stories that inspire.



“What is evil? Killing is evil, lying is evil, slandering is evil, abuse is evil, gossip is evil: envy is evil, hatred is evil, to cling to false doctrine is evil; all these things are evil.
And what is the root of evil?
Desire is the root of evil,
Illusion is the root of evil.”

Buddha (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)