Renewal Law # 21

...Think of Spring and the great lessons of each new season.  Renewal is at hand in every moment…there are those who can catalyze newness and growth for us all.

Cynthia F. Davidson, excerpt from the Wisdom Wheel Renewal card 

(cards, stones, posters & more available via www.thewisdomwheel.com)

Let's give ourselves the next ten days for some Renewal. 

Will that be long enough? 

How do you renew yourself? 

When has Renewal happened before?

What catalyzes your new feelings and new thinking? 

Some times we must seek Renewal out deliberately, when life gets dull and stale and we know we're in a rut. Taking a 'mental health day' or a vacation can restart your engines when you just need a rest, but genuine Renewal might require big changes. 

When we take too much for granted, tragedy strikes, death or disaster arrives and Renewal is forced upon us. The Law of Choices comes before Renewal on the Wisdom Wheel for a reason. Be wise enough to seize the initiative and make the Choices you are sensing the need for, before Renewal is thrust upon you. 

New projects, places and possibilities can always be explored, as can new ideas, people and different kinds of relationships. Seek out newness in all its forms during these ten days. Renewal can come from simplifying your life. Make time for what truly matters to you this week. Say no to whatever needs releasing. Renew your promises to yourself and your vows to others. 

For these ten days, bring up the subject of Renewal in your conversations with family members and friends. Consider what physical Renewal might entail. A make over? More exercise? Better eating? A haircut? Up dating your wardrobe? What would emotional Renewal feel like? And intellectual and spiritual Renewal? Start something today in at least two of these categories.

Here are some words of wisdom about Renewal from others. 

                                                           

Renewal is the key to survival and passion in all realms of life.

Shmuley Boteach, author of Renewal: A Guide to the Values-Filled Life

So as long as a person is capable of self-renewal, they are a living being.

Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881) Swiss writer known for his Journals

If you've lost focus, just sit down and be still. Take the idea and rock it to and fro. Keep some of it and throw some away, and it will renew itself. You need do no more.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes

I don’t know what you learned from books, but the most important thing I learned from my grandfathers was that there is a part of the mind which we really don’t know about, and that’s the part that is most important in whether we become sick or remain well.  

Thomas Largewhiskers, Navaho medicine man

Personal transformation can and does have global effects. As we go, so goes the world, for the world is us. The revolution that will save the world is ultimately a personal one.

Marianne Williamson, American author and spiritual leader

The only real hope of people today is probably a renewal of our certainty that we are rooted in the earth and at the same time we are part of the cosmos. This awareness endows us with the capacity for self-transcendence… (this) is the truly reliable path to co-existence in today’s multi-cultural world…(we) must start from what’s at the root of all cultures and what lies infinitely deeper in human hearts and mind than political opinions.

Vaclav Havel, past President of Czech Republic, remarks taken from 1995 speech

Becoming honest is an act of self-renewal.

Angeles Arrien

The way to be new is to be yourself.

Steve Tourre

Deep, unspeakable suffering may well be called a baptism, a regeneration, the initiation into a new state.  Suffering can be likened to a baptism - the passing over the threshold of pain and grief and anguish to claim a new state of being.

George Elliot (aka Mary Anne Evans) (1819-1880), English author, works include Middlemarch

Retreat: a place and time for you to get reacquainted with you; the ebb in ebb and flow; a solitary sanctuary for renewal; a safe haven; a snug den, a refuge.

Corrie Woods

If you watch how nature deals with adversity, continually renewing itself, you cannot help but learn.

Bernie S. Siegel, American psychologist and bestselling author

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Leo Buscaglia

When tears come, I breathe deeply and rest.  I know I am swimming in a hallowed stream where many have gone before.  I am not alone, crazy, or having a nervous breakdown…. My heart is at work, my soul is awake.

Mary Margaret Funk, author of Thoughts Matter: the Practice of a Spiritual Life

The phoenix was the mythical bird that was consumed by fire, so a new being could be resurrected from the ashes. In true spiritual growth, transformation at core level is necessary to gain access to truth and wisdom. The phoenix represents that capacity.

Delyne Marie

Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.

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

In ten days we'll take up the 22nd Law of Purification, until then focus on your Renewal.

Choices Law # 20

Most of us make Choices from a range that’s far too small, that diminishes us.  We let fear, confusion and other people’s opinions limit us.  How do we discover and consider our Choices before we make them?

                 Cynthia F. Davidson, excerpt from the Wisdom Wheel Choices card

Time for Choices, the 20th Law. During the next ten days, take the time to seriously review all your options. Brain storm and generate some new Choices to consider. Make some lists of alternatives in many areas of your life. Think up new job possibilities, creative projects, different places you could live in the future and what you could do with your 'retirement' years. Review how you source your ideas, energy and expectations. Do you feel the freedom of 'free will' or do you feel trapped and limited in terms of your Choices?

Next consider how you make your Choices from among these conscious options. Then make room for your unconscious motivations. 
Are you aware of what's involved when you try to make up your mind? 
To what degree is your spirit consulted when considering your options? 
Do you pray for guidance before making your Choices? 
If you were consciously 'spirit led' rather than 'self propelled' (from your fear/mind/ego level), what changes could be possible? 
When it's time for change, do you tend to act in a pro-active or reactive way? 
How has this attitude affected your range of Choices?
For these ten days, ask others about their Choices. What were their best and worst ones? Why? 
Emotional Choices, intellectual Choices, physical Choices, and spiritual Choices are all worth considering, so remember include these categories. You can choose to feel well, have healthy thoughts, make Choices that honor Nature and your body,  your loved ones. If all we ever choose to do is what someone will pay us to do, then our Choices are severely constrained. 
In the end, we will be defined by the Choices we made and failed to make. So write down all past Choices you can recall, and the ones you know need to be made in the near and long term.   

During these next ten days allow different Choices to present themselves without rejecting them at first glance. Reconsider the Choices others have made, and how things have turned out for them. There are always consequences, even when you try to avoid choosing. 

On the Wisdom Wheel the Choices Law is balanced by the Eternal Present. This means we need to stay in the 'now' and not bring forward the baggage of bad Choices when considering current options.

Here are some wise words from others on the subject of Choices. 

The Law of Free Will aka the Law of Choices

We...have the right...to bring our creative and expressive energies out into the world in positive or negative ways... No matter what our circumstances, we have the power to choose our direction. We also choose to be under the influence of others or choose to be an example for others. We do it with a hundred actions which lead to the circumstances we find ourselves in today. Thoughts are things and the mind is the builder.

Margo Kirtikar Ph.D, Flowing with Universal Laws

Everything you do is a choice based on your dominant values at the moment. Even taking no action is a choice. You are where you are and what you are because of your choices and decisions in life to this moment.

Brian Tracy

If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is compromise.

Robert Fritz

I do not know why it is we remember so much about some of the small decisions of our lives and so little about most of the great ones, but for me at least that has always tended to be the case. Maybe it is because the great decisions are not made at some particular moment in time but deep within us have been so long in the making that we find ourselves acting on them before we are altogether conscious of having decided to.

Frederick Buechner’s memoir, The Sacred Journey

It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realized, somehow, through the screaming in my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn’t sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when it’s all you’ve got, that freedom is a universe of possibility. And the choice you make, between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life.

Gregory David Roberts

Although every man believes that his decisions and resolutions involve the most multifarious factors, in reality they are mere oscillation between flight and longing.

Herman Broch

The choice to experience life as a genuinely powerful person librates a huge amount of creative energy, and most people are unwilling to enjoy that amount of energy.

Gay & Katie Hendricks

Freedom is a terrible gift, and the theory behind all dictatorships is that ‘the people’ do not want freedom. They want bread and circuses. They want workman’s compensation and fringe benefits and TV. Give up your free will, give up your freedom to make choices, listen to the expert and you will have three cars in your garage, steak on the table and you will no longer have to suffer the agony of choice.

Maldeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water

Spirituality is neither the privilege of the poor nor the luxury of the rich. It is the choice of the wise man.

Chinmaya

Ethical existence [is] the highest manifestation of spirituality… A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself to all life ...which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives.

Albert Schweitzer

Transformation is happening, the only choice you have is what it will look like: war, pestilence, frogs, blood. It can be plagues but it can be pleasure. Love each other into newness…

Pat B. Allen, art therapist, books include Art Is a Way of Knowing

At every instant, one is really making a choice between heaven or hell. The cumulative effect of all these choices determines the calibrated level of consciousness and one’s karmic and spiritual fate.

Dr. David Hawkins in I

We are both burdened and blessed by the great responsibility of free will- the power of choice. Our future is determined, in large part, by the choices we make now. We cannot always control our circumstances, but we can and do choose our response to whatever arises. Reclaiming the power of choice, we find the courage to live fully in the world.

Dan Millman, in The Laws of Spirit

In ten days, we'll take up the 21st Law of Renewal, so do your Choices work in the meantime.

Clarity Law # 19

...We recognize Clarity the instant we see it. The great seers and sages could see clearly because they had insight. Their secret was their focus, inward, not outward...

                     Cynthia F. Davidson, excerpt from the Wisdom Wheel Clarity card
Time to take up the 19th Law, Clarity. 
Have you noticed how this follows the 18th Law of Forgiveness? Clarity comes after we've done our Forgiveness work. Until then resentments, hurts and attachments will tend to distort our lenses. 
During the next ten days, play with this idea of Clarity. 
Emotional Clarity, of an open heart. 
Intellectual Clarity, of an open mind. 
Physical Clarity, of the body, not tormented by need for sleep, health or loving. 
Spiritual Clarity, when we see ourselves as the spirits we actually are, beyond personality, ego and fears. 
Ask for Clarity; during your morning walk or meditation, on your ride to work, during your shower or bath, during love-making, cooking, laundry or as you lay down to fall asleep. Astounding Clarity can often be gifted to you in your dreams...  

Mention Clarity when speaking with friends and family this week. See what it means to them. Offer any thing you can, by way of clarification which has to do with what you know, did or believe. 

What sort of Clarity do you still seek? Write it down in your journal, blog or in a letter to God or whomever you seek answers from, and see what happens.  

During these next ten days allow Clarity to come from all kinds of people, places, images and thoughts. On the Wisdom Wheel Beauty balances the Clarity Law.

Here are some wise words about Clarity from those with experiences to share. 

Clarity moves much more efficiently than violence or stress… The world is as you perceive it to be. For me, clarity is a word for beauty. It’s what I am. And when I’m clear, I see only beauty. Nothing else is possible.

Byron Katie

 More important than the quest for certainty is the quest for clarity.

Francois Gautier

Perfect clarity would profit the intellect but damage the will. …Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what he loves.

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) French writer, mathematician and philosopher

Traveling through the world produces a marvelous clarity… We are all confined and enclosed within ourselves, and see no farther than the end of our noses. This great world is a mirror where we must see ourselves in order to know ourselves. There are so many different tempers, so many different points of view, judgments, opinions, laws and customs to teach us to judge wisely on our own, and to teach our judgment to recognize its imperfection and natural weakness.

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French writer and philosopher

Ultimately, you must decide in your own hearts and these alone. Base your decisions on your perception. To inhabit the new awareness, you are required to be yourself, for when you are, you are a beautiful being, in touch with your eternal dimension, conscious of the generations that came before, immersed in the love that lights and unities the leaves of all generations upon life’s singular tree.

Ken Carey in The Third Millennium

Discernment, or the process by which we evaluate situations and make decisions, is a critical aspect of our growth, our spiritual development and our ability to create communities that contribute to our collective well-being. Discernment is also the art of asking sensitive questions of ourselves and others in order to see deeper meaning and implications…this involves four interrelated processes; perception, intuition, decision-making and action.

Dr. Norma Milanovich and Dr. Shirley McCune in The Light Shall Set You Free

When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and arguments. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding.

Thich Nhat Hahn

Different sets of facts are real at different vibration levels. The truth is
the same for everyone: the facts are always a little different for everyone.
Thaddeus Golas

To get to the simplicity of a thing, you have to go through the complexity
and only then, after you've gone into and through the complexity can you
state the simplicity. What never rings true is the person who states the
simplicity without understanding the complexity.
Susan Slater Blythe

It is because we don’t know who we are, because we are unaware that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us, that we behave in the generally silly, the often insane, the sometimes criminal ways that are so characteristically human. We are saved, we are liberated and enlightened, by perceiving the hitherto unperceived good that is already within us, by returning to our eternal ground and remaining where, without knowing it, we have always been.

Aldous Huxley in The Perennial Philosophy

I experience a period of frightening clarity in those moments when nature is so beautiful. I am no longer sure of myself, and the paintings appear as in a dream.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) Dutch painter, post-Impressionist

Simplicity, clarity, singleness: These are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy as they are also the marks of great art. They seem to be the purpose of God for his whole creation.

Richard Holloway

We need to be perfectly clear what we want, and not give out mixed messages. When we are clear, our messages are picked up accurately and everyone, including the universe responds to clear messages. Activating the law of clarity is done by… making a decision and acting on it. This is one of the quickest ways to move along your spiritual path. When you have the qualities of clarity (truthfulness, honesty, genuineness, integrity) people respond to you and want to trust you. Clear thoughts and intentions help you to draw from the universe that which you request in your life.

Diana Cooper in A Little Light on the Spiritual Laws

In ten days we will take up the 20th Law of Choices, until then, enjoy the gifts of Clarity.