http://soulwiseways.com/blog Making the Spiritual Practical in Life, Love & Livelihood Wed, 19 May 2010 21:18:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en © Rhoberta Shaler, PhD www.SoulWiseWays.com What is "a Christmas Day?"  I invite you to consider an addition to the view offered by the Christmas story, a view that can make every day Christmas for you. Can you allow yourself to accept that the significance of Christmas is even the birth of Jesus? It can be so much ... http://soulwiseways.com/blog/?p=108 ©  Rhoberta Shaler, PhD www.SoulWiseWays.com Many of us were raised with the idea of God being somewhere outside of ourselves, a Being, an Entity, a Deity above and beyond us. Some see an anthropomorphic God pictured as a man with long silver hair, floating benevolently above on a cloud. Some adopt artist's renderings ... http://soulwiseways.com/blog/?p=105 © Rhoberta Shaler, PhD Are you mistaking your schedule for your life?  If so, you're not going to have much joy. When the end of your day...or the end of your life, for that matter...arrives, what do you look back on?  Does it bring you joy?  Better yet, did you bring any ... http://soulwiseways.com/blog/?p=101 ©  Rhoberta Shaler, PhD www.SoulWiseWays.com Have you ever seen a person so caught up in their spiritual that they seem to be a little odd, a little tipped? That happens sometimes when a person cannot seem to live effectively in the world, meeting his or her human responsibilities while retaining that inner ... http://soulwiseways.com/blog/?p=97 ©  Rhoberta Shaler, PhD www.SoulWiseWays.com I've learned that any focus on "getting" is a mistake. In the last few years, many folks were brought to the awareness that their focus and thoughts make a huge difference in the outcomes in their lives. Unfortunately, films like The Secret (which wasn't one)  make it seem ... http://soulwiseways.com/blog/?p=93 ©  Rhoberta Shaler, PhD www.SoulWiseWays.com What is an even balance?  And, is it achievable?  Big questions. I think we are always balancing rather than actually achieving balance for very many minutes...or seconds. That said, though, coming to that state of balance, equilibrium and joy is the important concept. How long we can sustain ... http://soulwiseways.com/blog/?p=90 ©  Rhoberta Shaler, PhD www.SoulWiseWays.com When we were writing Soul Solitude: Taking Time for Our Souls to Catch Up, I had to include my favorite question: "For what might this be good?" I call it "the magic question."  It is simply the quickest shortcut from "Ain't it awful?" to "Maybe I can do something ... http://soulwiseways.com/blog/?p=87 ©  Rhoberta Shaler, PhD We call people "spiritual seekers" and many are looking for God in all the wrong places...in my opinion. (Of course, I can only share my thoughts and conclusions about this after fifty years of walking the spiritual path through amazing experiences and beside still waters, and they ... http://soulwiseways.com/blog/?p=82 ©  Rhoberta Shaler, PhD www.SoulWiseWays.com It would be folly to think that we can go about in life doing anything we please. Many have learned that the hard way as the twig has been bent first one way, then the other. My mother's generation seemed most concerned with "What will other people think?" My grandson's ... http://soulwiseways.com/blog/?p=77 © Rhoberta Shaler, PhD We have all heard the directive to "love your neighbor as yourself."  It occurs in some paraphrase in each of the ten major spiritual traditions and religions of the world.  So, there must be something to it, right? So, what is this kind of love?  Love in the ... http://soulwiseways.com/blog/?p=74