It's a gorgeous Fall day in October 2013 as I write almost a year into the future. I just attended my first Hindu Interfaith Durga Puja festival. It's their Fall festival honoring the Goddess Durga. I was invited by a very dear new friend to represent Christianity. I was reading some of the literature of the Hindu faith and the Vedanta Society. I smiled as I recognized yet again such Oneness among the traditions speaking of the Divine as immanent, permeating all things. I don't remember many of the words or their ideas. I just remember the feeling and honoring of Oneness. I met a new friend who I know I will see again and I reconnected with my dear friend who feels so very much like a sister soul mate, a sharer in the Joy and friendship of Life. I feel very, very blessed!!!!!

I'm experiencing so many blessings right now I can't help but wonder how many more blessings I will have experienced as I actually arrive in September 2014. In the last few days I just finished reading "Daring Greatly" by Dr. Brene Brown, for the third time!!! Brene shares a comment that continues to leap off the page of my mind: "The brain experiences physical and emotional pain as the same thing." Yet again science has proven what I've intuitively known for ages: physical and emotional pain trigger our survival response. This reality proves to me irrevocably that the body and mind are inextricably one. I've known this for eons and it's so powerful to see it proven!!! Still I'm trying to wrap my head around the process of staying embodied when I feel derailed by emotional pain and the immediate disconnect that happens in contrast to the connection I want to feel. Brene makes the point over and over that we are made for connection. I truly know that!!! I truly know that connection is a survival skill!!! Without it we die a death of loneliness and isolation. We're not made for that!!!!! We're made for Love!!!! In this process I learned yet again the invaluable lesson of staying centered in the Truth that their story is their story. It has nothing to do with me. When I'm triggered by their story I know it's a fear-based response, an emotional biological survival response. I have reactively disconnected from the Truth of my own Beingness!!! Recently I felt so uncomfortable at an event I attended it took me five days to realize what was going on and what I needed to do to come back to my Self! I felt so unsafe by the disparity in our points of view I didn't know how to stay present in the moment!!! I didn't feel safe enough to share my opinion or my feelings. It took me five days to realize that it cannot matter what someone else is saying. It cannot matter how different our points of view are. Theirs is theirs. Mine is mine. It's a learning process and sometimes the learning curve feels very, very steep. I know I will be triggered many more times in my Life. I also know I'll get better and better at staying grounded in my own Truth. That's what Trust and Confidence and Faith bring to us: Immeasurable Gifts!! I have learned so much!!!!!!!

I know that all of this is preparing me for the larger world I am stepping out into as my work and my opportunities continue to unfold. I'm very grateful for the opportunities I'm receiving and the lessons I'm learning. As I continue to grow in my heart-centered worldview I know my Courage, Compassion and Connectivity will vastly increase!!! That's what Brene Brown's book is all about. That's what my Life has always been about. I don't always feel up to the task but I'm always grateful for the opportunity. I know unexpected Good will come out of it. It always does!!! I look forward to my ongoing Journey. It means so very much to me to be heart-centered and Gracious!!!! What I learned is comparison is a death knell to Connectivity. In comparing myself to someone else I was not able to stay centered and simply listen and be clear. Comparison breeds a feeling of "less than" or "greater than" rather than simply two souls on a journey. Self Comparison is a completely different healthy story. I am measuring where I am and where I want to be. That leads to Self Awareness!!! Comparison to other is a shame based destructive judgment process!! Self Awareness brings the desired result!!!!

As I continue this Life lesson I find it rather comical that I haven't yet addressed my favorite time of year as we near the Fall Equinox of 2014, the time we celebrate Balance, equal night, equal day in our precious daily and annual process of Mother Nature's unending Journey. Balance is a Conscious process. I don't feel Balance when I'm upended by someone else's opinion. As I come back to this lesson just days away from Thanksgiving in 2013 I'm so thrilled out of my wits that I have the emotional support system I have as I experienced a recent vulnerability meltdown as Brene Brown calls it. After the fact I always find it comical that I experience these meltdowns as I continue up the ladder of spiritual development and out into more and more visibility leadership positions wherever I am. As Mother Nature continues to grow her underground root system in preparation for new growth in the Spring I now continue my own underground and above ground work to nurture my I AM Consciousness for my self and my spiritual community far and wide. It is a bold Faith-filled adventure of the highest magnitude. I love Brene Brown's wording that Faith is the highest form of vulnerability. To have Faith in the as yet unseen is a bold, bold courageous adventure and I truly love it as tear jerking as it may be at times. I'm happy to be on this adventure knowing full well that to be doing anything else is a death knell to Joy in all Its infinite forms. As I said to my students last night in my class based on my book, "Quantum Prayer: It's Already Answered! Quantum Reality: It Already Exists!", I will never live a Life of silence based on fear. That would be a living death. I'm not here for that now or ever. I'm here to speak and live my Truth in as loving, clear Faith-filled way as I know how to do. I learn again and again it can't matter whether I'm understood, whether I'm rejected or not. My community keeps growing and growing and they only find me as I continue to speak up and out and live my Truth boldly and Joyfully. I AM here for that now and always!!!!!!

In this vibrant beautiful changing time I hope you continue to live your highest holiest dreams into your highest holiest Vision of what you want for yourself and others. You are an invaluable unique cog in the wheel of Mother Nature's Life, Love, Joy, Peace and Wisdom. If that's a new message for you I hope you stop in this contemplative time of year and give thanks for a new Vision unfolding in you, through you, as you and for you. You are Worthy. You are Sacred. You are the highest holiest Magnitude of Spirit Unfolding. Rejoice and be glad. I look forward to meeting you in person and hearing your dreams come true as we share our stories along the way. Blessings to you as you dare to live boldly and greatly as Brene Brown invites us to do. I assure you it's a thrilling Journey. I'm on It. I love It and I invite you to see and experience It for yourself as you step up and out into the Light of Love and Joy!!! You can see my youtube video at Cathy Combs. You can see Brene's youtube videos at Brene Brown. Namaste. Enjoy!!!!!