“A Children’s Parable” – Neale Donald Walsh – Conversations With God

“Once upon no time, there was a little Soul who said to God, “I know who I am.”

And God said, “That’s wonderful! Who are you?”

And the Little Soul shouted, “I’m the Light!”

God smiled a big smile. “That’s right!” God exclaimed. “You are the Light.”

The Little Soul was so happy, for it had figured out what all the souls in the Kingdom were there to figure out.

“Wow,” said the Little Soul, “this is really cool!”

But soon, knowing who it was was not enough. The Little Soul felt stirrings inside, and now wanted to be who it was. And so the Little Soul went back to God (which is not a bad idea for all souls who want to be Who They Really Are) and said,

“Hi, God! Now that I know Who I am, is it okay for me to be it?”

And God said, “You mean you want to be Who You Already Are?”

“Well,” replied the Little Soul,” it’s one thing to know Who I Am, and another thing altogether to actually be it. I want to feel what it’s like to be the Light!”

“But you already are the Light,” God repeated, smiling again.

“Yes, but I want to see what that feels like!” cried the Little Soul.

“Well,” said God with a chuckle, “I suppose I should have known. You always were the adventuresome one.”

Then God’s expression changed. “There’s only one thing…”

“What?” asked the Little Soul.

“Well, there is nothing else but the Light. You see, I created nothing but what you are; and so, there is no easy way for you to experience yourself as Who You Are, since there is nothing that you are not.”

“Huh?” said the Little Soul, who was now a little confused.

“Think of it this way,” said God. “You are like a candle in the Sun. Oh, you’re there all right. Along with a million, gazillion other candles who make up the Sun. And the sun would not be the Sun without you. Nay, it would be a sun without one of its candles…and that would not be the Sun at all; for it would not shine as brightly. Yet, how to know yourself as the Light when you are amidst the Light -that is the question.”

“Well,” the Little Soul perked up, “you’re God. Think of something!”

Once more God smiled. “I already have,” God said. “Since you cannot see yourself as the Light when you are in the Light, we’ll surround you with darkness.”

“What’s darkness?” the Little Soul asked.

God replied, “It is that which you are not.”

“Will I be afraid of the dark?” cried the Little Soul.

“Only if you choose to be,” God answered. “There is nothing, really, to be afraid of, unless you decide that there is. You see, we are making it all up. We are pretending.”

“Oh,” said the Little Soul, and felt better already.

Then God explained that, in order to experience anything at all, the exact opposite of it will appear. “It is a great gift,” God said, “because without it, you could not know what anything is like. You could not know Warm without Cold, Up without Down, Fast without Slow. You could not know Left without Right, Here without There, Now without Then.”

“And so,” God concluded, “when you are surrounded with darkness, do not shake your fist and raise your voice and curse the darkness. Rather be a Light unto the darkness, and don’t be mad about it. Then you will know Who You Really Are, and all others will know, too. Let your Light shine so that everyone will know how special you are!”

“You mean it’s okay to let others see how special I am?” asked the Little Soul.

“Of course!” God chuckled. “It’s very okay! But remember,’special’ does not mean ‘better.’ Everybody is special, each in their own way! Yet many others have forgotten that. They will see that it is okay for them to be special only when you see that it is okay for you to be special.”

“Wow,” said the Little Soul, dancing and skipping and laughing and jumping with joy. “I can be as special as I want to be!”

“Yes, and you can start right now,” said God, who was dancing and skipping and laughing right along with the Little Soul.

“What part of special do you want to be?”

“What part of special?” the Little Soul repeated. “I don’t understand.”

“Well,” God explained, “being the Light is being special, and being special has a lot of parts to it. It is special to be kind. It is special to be gentle. It is special to be creative. It is special to be patient. Can you think of any other ways it is special to be?”

The Little Soul sat quietly for a moment. “I can think of lots of ways to be special!” the Little Soul then exclaimed. “It is special to be helpful. It is special to be sharing. It is special to be friendly. It is special to be considerate of others!”

“Yes!” God agreed, “and you can be all of those things, or any part of special you wish to be, at any moment. That’s what it means to be the Light.”

“I know what I want to be, I know what I want to be!” the Little Soul announced with great excitement. “I want to be the part of special called ‘forgiving’. Isn’t it special to be forgiving?”

“Oh, yes,” God assured the Little Soul. “That is very special.”

“Okay,” said the Little Soul. “That’s what I want to be. I want to be forgiving. I want to experience myself as that.”

“Good,” said God, “but there’s one thing you should know.”

The Little Soul was becoming a bit impatient now. It always seemed as though there were some complication.

“What is it?” the Little Soul sighed.

“There is no one to forgive.”

“No one?” The Little Soul could hardly believe what had been said.

“No one!” God repeated. “Everything I have made is perfect. There is not a single soul in all creation less perfect than you. Look around you.”

It was then that the Little Soul realized a large crowd had gathered. Souls had come from far and wide ~ from all over the Kingdom ~ for the word had gone forth that the Little Soul was having this extraordinary conversation with God, and everyone wanted to hear what they were saying. Looking at the countless other souls gathered there, the Little Soul had to agree. None appeared less wonderful, less magnificent, or less perfect than the Little Soul itself. Such was the wonder of the souls gathered around, and so bright was their Light, that the Little Soul could scarcely gaze upon them.

“Who, then, to forgive?” asked God.

“Boy, this is going to be no fun at all!” grumbled the Little Soul. “I wanted to experience myself as One Who Forgives. I wanted to know what that part of special felt like.”

And the Little Soul learned what it must feel like to be sad. But just then a Friendly Soul stepped forward from the crowd.

“Not to worry, Little Soul,” the Friendly Soul said, “I will help you.”

“You will?” the Little Soul brightened. “But what can you do?”

“Why, I can give you someone to forgive!”

“You can?”

“Certainly!” chirped the Friendly Soul. “I can come into your next lifetime and do something for you to forgive.”

“But why? Why would you do that?” the Little Soul asked. “You, who are a Being of such utter perfection! You, who vibrate with such a speed that it creates a Light so bright that I can hardly gaze upon you! What could cause you to want to slow down your vibration to such a speed that your bright Light would become dark and dense? What could cause you ~ who are so light that you dance upon the stars and move through the Kingdom with the speed of your thought–to come into my life and make yourself so heavy that you could do this bad thing?”

“Simple,” the Friendly Soul said. “I would do it because I love you.”

The Little Soul seemed surprised at the answer.

“Don’t be so amazed,” said the Friendly Soul, “you have done the same thing for me. Don’t you remember? Oh, we have danced together, you and I, many times. Through the eons and across all the ages have we danced. Across all time and in many places have we played together. You just don’t remember.”

“We have both been All Of It. We have been the Up and the Down of it, the Left and the Right of it. We have been the Here and the There of it, the Now and the Then of it. We have been the male and the female, the good and the bad; we have both been the victim and the villain of it.”

“Thus have we come together, you and I, many times before; each bringing to the other the exact and perfect opportunity to Express and to Experience Who We Really Are. And so,” the Friendly Soul explained further, “I will come into your next lifetime and be the ‘bad one’ this time. I will do something really terrible, and then you can experience yourself as the One Who Forgives.

“But what will you do?” the Little Soul asked, just a little nervously, “that will be so terrible?”

“Oh,” replied the Friendly Soul with a twinkle, “we’ll think of something.”

Then the Friendly Soul seemed to turn serious, and said in a quiet voice, “You are right about one thing, you know.”

“What is that?” the Little Soul wanted to know.

“I will have to slow down my vibration and become very heavy to do this not-so-nice thing. I will have to pretend to be something very unlike myself. And so, I have but one favor to ask of you in return.”

“Oh, anything, anything!” cried the Little Soul, and began to dance and sing, “I get to be forgiving, I get to be forgiving!”

Then the Little Soul saw that the Friendly Soul was remaining very quiet.

“What is it?” the Little Soul asked. “What can I do for you? You are such an angel to be willing to do this for me!”

“Of course this Friendly Soul is an angel!” God interrupted. “Everyone is! Always remember: I have sent you nothing but angels.”

And so the Little Soul wanted more than ever to grant the Friendly Soul’s request. “What can I do for you?” the Little Soul asked again.

“In the moment that I strike you and smite you,” the Friendly Soul replied, “in the moment that I do the worst to you that you could possible imagine ~ in that very moment…”

“Yes?” the Little Soul interrupted, “yes…?””Remember Who I Really Am.”

“Oh, I will!” cried the Little Soul, “I promise! I will always remember you as I see you right here, right now!”

“Good,” said the Friendly Soul, “because, you see, I will have been pretending so hard, I will have forgotten myself. And if you do not remember me as I really am, I may not be able to remember for a very long time. And if I forget Who I Am, you may even forget Who You Are, and we will both be lost. Then we will need another soul to come along and remind us both of Who We Are.”

“No, we won’t!” the Little Soul promised again. “I will remember you! And I will thank you for bringing me this gift ~ the chance to experience myself as Who I Am.

” And so, the agreement was made. And the Little Soul went forth into a new lifetime, excited to be the Light, which was very special, and excited to be that part of special called Forgiveness.

And the Little Soul waited anxiously to be able to experience itself as Forgiveness, and to thank whatever other soul made it possible. And at all the moments in that new lifetime, whenever a new soul appeared on the scene, whether that new soul brought joy or sadness–and especially if it brought sadness–the Little Soul thought of what God had said.

“Always remember,” God had smiled, “I have sent you nothing but angels.”

The Little Soul and The Sun
A Children’s Parable
by Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God

6 Things Everyone Seems to Get Wrong About Depression

Mental health experts share the most misunderstood aspects of the disorder, from the way we treat those suffering from it to the way we talk about it.

Mistaken Belief #1: The pain is all psychological

The Truth—Joint pain, headaches and chronic fatigue syndrome are also associated with depression, possibly because pain and mood are regulated by the same pathways in the brain, says John Greden, MD, executive director of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Depression Center, in Ann Arbor. A recent study presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress also found that depressed patients experience more frequent chest pain even in the absence of coronary artery disease. The combination of mental and physical pain can be debilitating—major depressive disorder is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for those ages 15 to 44, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

Mistaken Belief #2: Nobody you know has depression
The Truth—The average age of onset for major depressive disorder is 32 years old, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health, and in any given year, 6.7 percent of Americans 18 and older suffer from it. Women are particularly vulnerable— 1 in 5 will develop depression at some point in their life, and they’re 70 percent more likely to experience it than men. And because of the stigma that’s still attached to depression, people often hide their symptoms. Meaning “You may know someone with it and have no idea,” says Sarah Lisanby, MD, director of the division of translational research at the National Institutes of Mental Health.
Mistaken Belief #3: There’s always a trigger
The Truth—”Sometimes there are major life stressors we can pinpoint, but sometimes there aren’t,” says Lisanby. “I’ve had patients who say that everything is wonderful and they have no reason to be depressed, but they are nonetheless.” Depression with no identifiable trigger is called endogenous depression, and Ian Gotlib, PhD, director of the Stanford Mood and Anxiety Disorders Laboratory, estimates that it happens in roughly a third of cases. A person’s first depressive episode may have an obvious trigger, like the death of a friend or family member or overwhelming stress, but the more episodes a person suffers, the more likely it is that future bouts will come on without a precipitating event.

Mistaken Belief #4: Antidepressants will fix the problem
The Truth—SSRIs were a game changer when they came to market in the 1980s, and there are many other types of meds available (tricyclics, MAOIs, SNRIs), but none offers a one-size-fits-all fix. Why? “We don’t really know how to match patient to treatment very well,” says Gotlib. “With cancer, researchers are looking at genotypes to predict response to specific treatments. We’re not there yet with psychiatric disorders.” At the moment, depression treatment typically involves a complicated, potentially lengthy process of figuring out the right medication, type of therapy or combination of the two, then waiting to see if it works. Even after that, “[only] 65 percent of people will get better,” says Gotlib.
Mistaken Belief #5: If you’re not sad, you’re not depressed
The Truth—Sadness (clinically known as depressed mood or irritability) is just one of nine criteria for major depressive disorder outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5, the go-to reference book on psychiatric illness. The other eight: loss of interest in activities you previously enjoyed, significant changes in weight or appetite, changes in sleep, fatigue or low energy, change in activity levels, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, trouble concentrating and thoughts of suicide. An official diagnosis of depression requires five of the nine persisting for at least two weeks, but depressed mood doesn’t have to be among the five.
Mistaken Belief #6: It’s a personal failing—depressed people just need to buck up
The Truth—Every expert we spoke with cited this as one of the most common and damaging myths about depression, because while there are factors that can increase your risk (family history, trauma, a stressful life event, to name a few), mental weakness isn’t one of them. “Telling a depressed person that they need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps is like telling someone with pneumonia to do the same,” says Stuart Eisendrath, MD, founding director of the University of California San Francisco Depression Center. “People don’t understand that there’s a physiological abnormality associated with, it just like there is with other illnesses.”

 

Read more: http://www.oprah.com

 

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/health_wellness/surprising-depression-facts/all#ixzz5gf3oiKf8

Pay Attention

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag’s side door!

He slammed on the brakes and spun the Jag back to the spot from where the brick had been thrown. He jumped out of the car, grabbed some kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, “What was that all about and who are you? Just what do you think you are doing?” Building up a head of steam, he went on. “That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?”

“Please, mister, please. I’m sorry, but I didn’t know what else to do!” pleaded the youngster. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop.” Tears were dripping down the boy’s chin as he pointed around the parked car. “It’s my brother,” he said. “He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.” Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be okay. “Thank you and God bless you,” the grateful child said to him. The man then watched the little boy push his brother down the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long walk back for the man to his Jaguar…a long, slow walk. He never did repair the side door. He kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention.”
Author Unknown

How Do You Say Goodbye to a Loved One? – John Holland

“Goodbyes are never easy. Saying farewell to a loved one who’s dying can be one of the toughest things you’ll experience in this lifetime. No matter how ready you think you are, it’s never easy when the time actually comes. If you’re dealing with this at the moment, my heart goes out to you.

When my mom went into long-term palliative care, I received a small booklet by Hank Dunn called Hard Choices for Loving People. It prepared me to cope with one of the most emotional and arduous times in my life! I share the following excerpt in the hope that you’ll find some comfort in the words now or in the future:

There are two ways to hold on. We can grasp tightly as we would a coin in our fist. We fear we will lose it, so we hold it tight. Indeed, if we open our hand palm down the coin falls from our possession, and we feel cheated. The other way to hold on is by opening our hand palm up. The coin may sit there, or it could be blown away or shaken out of our possession. But while it is there, we are privileged to have it. We hold on with an open hand. Our hand is relaxed and we experience freedom.

This small passage gave me comfort and bolstered my strength so I could get through those last months of my mom’s life. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with her. As I perched beside her bedside, we laughed, cried, and shared stories and special memories.

With a sense of openness and acceptance, we chatted about the end of her life, the Other-Side, and what to expect. I told her how those who have gone on before her would be there to welcome her home, so she wouldn’t be alone on her journey. We talked about the signs she would send me, which to this day have been beautiful and heartfelt.

I’m not going to pretend that it was easy, but my mom lived the last part of her life with grace, peace, and dignity. She brought me into this world and held me with loving arms; in return, I held her in mine as she exited this world. I have no regrets because we said and did everything we needed to say and do.

JOHN’S LESSON

I’m sharing one of the most personal moments in my life to get across what I believe is an important message, namely: It’s possible to accept an imminent passing with love and acceptance.

I was able to enjoy my time with my mom while she was here instead of holding on tightly and refusing to let her go at the end. Please say what you have to say to the people that are in your life now, so that you never have to say “I should have, could have, or would have . . .” or, “If only I had . . .”

Try to live your life with an open hand, and enjoy and appreciate each and every moment you have with your loved ones and friends.”

From “Soul Inspirations” with John Holland

The Akashic Records Of Life – Earth-keeper Video

This 2018 Earth-Keeper video presents Kevin Todeschi, who is a prolific author, brilliant teacher, compelling speaker and CEO of Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. The A.R.E. is the Association for Research and Enlightenment which holds the channelings of the famously accurate seer and healer, Edgar Cayce.

Mr. Todeschi’s informative presentation is about Edgar Cayce’s profound readings on the Akashic Records.  This force field around the Earth with our personal data is also called “The Book of Life,” when referenced in the Bible. It asks one to consider all intent, motives, thought & action. There are no secrets in the Akashic Records!

Viewing this video will profoundly assist all seekers ….
www.EdgarCayce.org / www.Earth-Keeper.com