Universe And Me Are Aligned Quotes

The sense of wonder and possibility – that I owed to the Argentine women who had fought for freedom before the universe conspired and the stars aligned to make me.

At the altar of the tree, I make a thousand soundless prayers and offerings, beg whoever’s listening to align our stars and let him be who I thought he was. If he can’t be that, I pray, may I be free of him and not have it kill me.

To be sure, I had, and have, spent the better part of my post-college life growing up in the public eye, with my shameful warts, big and ugly, looming there for the world to see; and it has been a mighty battle trying to be a man, a Black man, a human being, a responsible and consistent human being, as I have interfaced with my past and with my personal demons, with friends and lovers, with enemies and haters. As Tupac Shakur once famously said to me, “There is no placed called careful.” On the one hand, Tupac was right: There is not much room for error in America if you are a Black male in a society ostensibly bent on profiling your every move, eager to capitalize on your falling into this or that trap, particularly keen to swoop down on your self-inflicted mishaps. But by the same token, Tupac was wrong: There can be a place called careful, once one becomes aware of the world one lives in, its potential, its limitations, and if one is willing to struggle to create a new model, some new and alternative space outside and away from the larger universe, where one can be free enough to comprehend that even if the world seems aligned against you, you do not have to give the world the rope to hang you with.

I suffered at her hands as a child, and any pain she subsequently endured appeared to me to be a kind of redemption - a rebalancing of the universe, where the rational order of cause and effect aligned. But now, I can't even the tally between us. The reason is simple - my mother is forgetting and there is nothing I can do about it. There is no way ti make her remember the things she has done in the past, no way to baste her in guilt.

The religious faith that we are born into is largely determined by the region where we live and the ethnic background of our family. In my case, I was born to an African American family in the southern region of the United States. Like most families of our description, we embraced the Baptist religious tradition. Although I went from Baptist to Buddhist, I’ve honored my family’s heritage and cherish the similarities between these two paths. Baptist teachings encouraged me to work toward attaining admission into a heavenly paradise, while Buddhism inspires me to attain the enduring and enlightened life condition of Buddhahood. Although the goals of these two spiritual paths may sound somewhat different, both focus on creating a state of indestructible, eternal happiness. To me, that is an important similarity. I’ve met people from all over the world, from many cultures and faiths, and I believe that all religious traditions share the same basic aspirations at their core—to experience everlasting joy by aligning with the positive forces of the universe. We may describe this ultimate reality as Jehovah, God, Allah, Jesus, Hashem, Tao, Brahma, the Creator, the Mystic Law, the Universe, the Force, Buddha nature, Christ consciousness, or any number of other expressions.

When I’m aligned with my presence, I’m breathing easily, words come to me without overthinking, I feel genuinely confident, and people resonate with my energy. I feel safe, calm, and in the flow with whatever is happening around me. When I’m out of alignment with the power of my presence, I feel stuck, weak, tired, anxious, and annoyed. No one wants to be around me, and I feel disconnected from everyone. It’s invaluable for me to clearly know the difference between what it feels like to be connected to my presence versus what it feels like when I’m not. This awareness helps me witness when I’m out of alignment so I can choose to realign in an instant.

My worst day, worst fall, worst headache, worst bruise, worst cramp, worst mean thing anyone could say has always been nothing compared to what August has gone through. This isn't me being noble, by the way: it's just the way I know it is. And this is the way it's always been for me, for the little universe of us. But this year there seems to be a shift in the cosmos. The galaxy is changing. Planets are falling out of alignment.

All things are possible for me because I believe all things are possible.

Inevitably came the time when he angrily repudiated his former paladin Yasser Arafat. In fact, he described him to me as 'the Palestinian blend of Marshal Petaín and Papa Doc.' But the main problem, alas, remained the same. In Edward's moral universe, Arafat could at last be named as a thug and a practitioner of corruption and extortion. But he could only be identified as such to the extent that he was now and at last aligned with an American design. Thus the only truly unpardonable thing about 'The Chairman' was his readiness to appear on the White House lawn with Yitzhak Rabin and Bill Clinton in 1993. I have real knowledge and memory of this, because George Stephanopoulos—whose father's Orthodox church in Ohio and New York had kept him in touch with what was still a predominantly Christian Arab-American opinion—called me more than once from the White House to help beseech Edward to show up at the event. 'The feedback we get from Arab-American voters is this: If it's such a great idea, why isn't Said signing off on it?' When I called him, Edward was grudging and crabby. 'The old man [Arafat] has no right to sign away land.' Really? Then what had the Algiers deal been all about? How could two states come into being without mutual concessions on territory?

I make a thousand soundless prayers and offerings, beg whoever’s listening to align our stars and let him be who I thought he was. If he can’t be that, I pray, may I be free of him and not have it kill me. But he is worth dying over and that’s the part that gets me, I guess.

I’m Steve, and I’m an addict,” Steve said after raising his hand to share. Steve was in his seventies and always shared first. It was as if he prepared an amazing speech every morning to present to all of us and his words always had a way of putting everything into perspective for me. “I look at these young girls over here, man,” he said pointing to our row, “and I can’t help but feel a bit envious. I’m 71 years old. I’ve got five years clean. I used for fifty years. I missed so damn much. I missed everything.” His voice broke and I could tell he was getting emotional. “I lost my wife once she finally got sick enough of my shit. My kids are adults and haven’t spoken to me in over twenty years—hell—I got grandbabies I ain’t even met.” He stared down at the table for a moment, you could hear a pin drop in that room. When he finally looked up, he looked straight at me and stared into my eyes. “Man, I’ll tell you what…. I would give anything in this world, to go back in time, and enter these rooms when I was your fucking age. Then I might actually have something to look back on and be proud of. You girls are young enough now to get it right, to have a life and make something of yourself. Don’t do what I did. Get it now so that you aren’t my age looking back on your life and thinking damn…I wasted all of it.” It felt like I’d suddenly been struck by lightning. Tears began welling in my eyes as I processed what he’d just said. I imagined what it would be like to have waited until I was an old woman to get clean – if I made it that long. I imagined my children being adults and never speaking to me. The loneliness, the guilt… for what? A momentary high? Never in my life had anyone’s words saturated my skin and seeped into my soul like his just did. I could hear other members voices mumbling as they shared their own bits of wisdom, but all I could do was replay in my head what Steve had said. That was it. That was the moment. Steve’s words changed my life that day. The universe had carefully devised a grand plan to align our paths so we both ended up in the same room that day. Whatever higher power was out there, knew that I needed to hear what that man had just said.

BODY - cultural tendency: maintain lifestyle; treat health problems with surgery and medication / Principle; prevent diseases and problems by aligning lifestyle to be in harmony with established, universally accepted principles of health. MIND - cultural tendency: watch television: ‘entertain me’ / Principles: read broadly and deeply, continuous education HEART - cultural tendency - use relationships with others to forward your personal, selfish interests / principle: deep, respectful listening and serving others brings greatest fulfilment and joy SPIRIT - cultural tendency - succumb to growing secularism and cynicism / principle - recognise that the source of our basic need for meaning and of the positive things we seek in life is principles - which natural laws I personally believe to have their source in God.

When I go running through the forest on hot days, if I stop for any reason, in that very moment mosquitoes will attack me. If I keep moving, they do not bother me. This motivates me to continue without resting. Imagine how wonderful it would be if every time we stopped being active in life the Universe would send us a signal that would push us to carry on. Guess what, it does. When the life we lead does not align with our passions, depression bites at us so we will change our ways. If we eat poorly and live sedentary, we are often afflicted with a serious health condition. We do not get sick, or become ill so that we can blame God, curse our genetics, or give up on life. These conditions arise to motivate us so we will correct our errors and clean up our mistakes. The reason why we are confronted with failures on our mission to obtain happiness is not so we can dwell in misery, but rather for us to reshape our desires and go after what we are destined to succeed with. The Universe is working in our favor, not against us. It is okay to rest at times, but if we do not want to get bit by misfortunes, then we must remain active in our pursuit of a better life.

My mind is a manifestation of breath. The more aligned with breath I am, the clearer my mind becomes. My body is a manifestation of breath. The more aligned with breath I am, the more vibrant and open my body becomes. My emotions are a manifestation of breath. The more aligned with breath I am, the more harmonious my emotions shall be. My world is a manifestation of breath. The more aligned with breath I am, the more fulfilling my relationships shall be. Every aspect of reality is a manifestation of breath. The more aligned with breath I am, the more real I shall be. Instead of living in the reality of my ego’s fantasy I shall dwell in the reality of my soul’s eternal light, where I can simply abide with my breath as an announcer of well-being, becoming aware that within me as my breath, well-being and perfection are always existing. And to signal to the Universe that in recognizing my breath as evidence of perfection I am ready, willing, and able to receive more perfection. And to receive it with worthiness and joy as a gift for myself and for those who don’t know the worthiness of their own eternal light, allowing my happiness to be a service to all. And so I’m free.

The big question that usually comes up at this point of our discussion is, “Abraham, how do I know that what comes forth from within me may be trusted? Isn’t there someone greater than I who makes all of the rules and wants me to be or do specific things?” And we say, you are the creator of your experience, and you have emerged forth into this physical body through the power of your desire. You are not here to prove yourself worthy of something else; you are not here because you seek greater salvation on some other plane. You are here because you have a specific purpose in being here. You want to be a Deliberate Creator, and you have chosen this physical dimension, where there is time and space, so that you may finely tune your understanding and then see the benefits of whatever you have created in thought by allowing it to come into your physical experience. You are adding to the expansion of the Universe, and All-That-Is benefits from your existence, by your exposure to this experience and by your expansion. All that you do pleases that which you seek to please. There is not a list of things that are right and a list of things that are wrong—there is only that which aligns with your true intent and purpose, and that which does not. You may trust your Guidance that comes forth from within you to help you know when you are in alignment with your state of natural Well-Being.

I am sure like me, you also need to learn appreciating your present moments & everything that is happening right now without wishing it were different. Darling listen – you need to enjoy good & pleasant things without worrying that these will end soon (which it may). You also need to be peaceful being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t). You need to learn to appreciate yourself the way you are, every individual around you & everything happening at this moment in the same way that you appreciate a sunrise & sunset. Everything including you & everyone else is just as wonderful as sunrise or sunsets, if you can let them be. When you think that this isn’t how it’s supposed to be, when you fail to appreciate things & people the way they are at this moment, you are actually practicing resistance, not mindfulness! Remember this! Sweetheart, I am not saying that you shouldn’t do your best to improve or take steps forward to grow from here. No, not all! All I am saying is accept what is right now & develop the habit of looking at whatever happens through a positive mindset instead of a negative or defeatist one. Acceptance or as we say Mindfulness is the key & proven practice to convert momentary happiness to enduring happiness. It actually helps you move from feeling connected to actually being connected & aligned to this Universe (God’s Plans). I want you to patiently practice mindfulness, act with pure intentions, no matter what & believe me, all that is meant for you will come to you, very soon!

You must imagine your ideal outcome in precise detail. Often clients will tell me things like, “Well, I want abundance in my life!” Abundance can show up on your hips. Abundance can manifest in your bills. Abundance can mean even more clutter in your surroundings. When you are focused on a clear and definite outcome, you are helping the Universe deliver it to you without the clutter. When you hold that specific visualization as you implement your mind, body, and spirit tips while you are making adjustments in your environment, your outcome will be much more powerful and effective. Know that you hold the power to create the transformation you desire. It’s okay if you can’t picture how it will happen, just have faith that it will. Expect the results you want. Know, with certainty, without wavering, that your desired outcome will happen. In addition to holding this mental picture while going through each chapter and making your holistic adjustments, try to start carrying these thoughts with you continuously throughout your day. Your own affirmative thoughts will begin to attract similar situations, interactions, or experiences that are in alignment with your goals. This is not wishful thinking. This is actively choosing to harness your universal birthright of attaining beneficial energy and ideal opportunities in your life.

Setting intentions is a powerful way to direct your channeling experience and discover the relevance and meaning of channeled material for you. Intention setting is the process of focusing your undivided attention and your will toward a particular objective, aim, or plan. Intention setting is like telling the Universe what you would like your life to align with and letting the Universe figure out exactly how and when that will happen. One example of intention is, “My intention is to clear any obstacles blocking me from channeling.” An intention is different from a goal. A goal could be, “I will do my channeling practice every day for five minutes.” It is specific and measurable. You often have direct control over making it happen. Intentions, on the other hand, don’t have expectations or evaluations attached to them. You are just declaring the outcome that you envision. You aren’t defining exactly how your outcome will happen. Another example of intention is, “My intention is to feel more joy in my workday.” You can use intentions for any aspect of your life. They are essential for learning and developing your channeling abilities. One way you can use intention is to decide whether the information you receive from channeling is relevant for you. This is important because not all channeled material may be useful to you. I and others have found that some channeled material is nonsensical, redundant, or irrelevant. Some communicators can seem to have their own agendas and desires not related to the channeler or audience. Some even appear to be deceptive. Some provide unreliable information and do not take responsibility for the implications of the material (Hastings 1991, 169). Some people believe that any channeled material is true and relevant to them just because it is channeled. This is not true. I am not sharing this to scare you. However, it is essential to use your judgment and intuition to decide if the material is right for you. In essence, you can’t take channeled material at its face value. You must choose when and how to use channeled material in your life. This is true regardless of what you think the source is, the type of information that comes through, or how it arrives. Discernment is key. Intention setting can help you decide what material is relevant and meaningful for your life.

On my first day I realized why investment bankers make a lot of money: They work longer and more controlled hours than I knew humans could handle. Actually, most can’t handle it. Going home before midnight was considered a luxury, and there was a saying in the office: “If you don’t come to work on Saturday, don’t bother coming back on Sunday.” The job was intellectually stimulating, paid well, and made me feel important. But every waking second of my time became a slave to my boss’s demands, which was enough to turn it into one of the most miserable experiences of my life. It was a four-month internship. I lasted a month. The hardest thing about this was that I loved the work. And I wanted to work hard. But doing something you love on a schedule you can’t control can feel the same as doing something you hate. There is a name for this feeling. Psychologists call it reactance. Jonah Berger, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania, summed it up well: People like to feel like they’re in control—in the drivers’ seat. When we try to get them to do something, they feel disempowered. Rather than feeling like they made the choice, they feel like we made it for them. So they say no or do something else, even when they might have originally been happy to go along.25 When you accept how true that statement is, you realize that aligning money towards a life that lets you do what you want, when you want, with who you want, where you want, for as long as you want, has incredible return.

See one thing keep in mind always, as I said before I control my subconscious mind and that aligns the planetary positions, so I decide to be good or bad or crazy or neutral in order to save the nature. Which means, wherever I go, matlab, wherever I go or whatever field I choose, whomever I talk, Definitely bad people will keep on dying as I speak. Each and every word or even my body smell or frequencies, my nasal air will keep on killing bad people always. Whatever I touch, will reflect somewhere on the universe, whatever i eat will create disease somewhere, whatever I drink will be going to universal lord which in turn become natural disaster somewhere. So whatever I do, Bad people will keep on dying one by one each and every second. Good people will be happy and neutral people will be missing me each and every second that I should be with them.

See one thing keep in mind always, as I said before I control my subconscious mind and that aligns the planetary positions, so I decide to be good or bad or crazy or neutral in order to save the nature. Which means, wherever I go, matlab, wherever I go or whatever field I choose, whomever I talk, Definitely bad people will keep on dying as I speak. Each and every word or even my body smell or frequencies, my nasal air will keep on killing bad people always. Whatever I touch, will reflect somewhere on the universe, whatever i eat will create disease somewhere, whatever I drink will be going to universal lord which in turn become natural disaster somewhere. So whatever I do, Bad people will keep on dying one by one each and every second. Good people will be happy and neutral people will be missing me each and every second that I should be with them

Then the center of influence shifted to London, with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Cream, the Who, the Kinks, and all the bands that orbited them. San Francisco, with the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana, had its moment in a psychedelic spotlight around the Summer of Love and the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, but as the 1960s gave way to the '70s, the center of the musical universe shifted unmistakably to Los Angeles. "It was incredibly vital," said Jonathan Taplin, who first came to LA as the tour manager for Bob Dylan and the Band and later relocated there to produce Martin Scorsese's breakthrough movie, Mean Streets. "The nexus of the music business had really moved from New York to Los Angeles. That had been a profound shift . . . It was very clear that something big had changed."'' For a breathtaking few years, the stars aligned to glittering effect in Los Angeles. The city attracted brilliant artists; skilled session musicians; soulful songwriters; shrewd managers, agents, and record executives; and buzz-building clubs. From this dense constellation of talent, a shimmering new sound emerged, a smooth blend of rock and folk with country influences. Talented young people from all over the country began descending on Los Angeles with their guitar cases or dreams of becoming the next Geffen. Irving Azoff, a hyper-ambitious young agent and manager who arrived in Los Angeles in 1972, remembered, "It was like the gold rush. You've never seen anything like it in the entertainment business. The place was exploding. I was here—right place, right time. I tell everybody, `If you're really good in this business, you only have to be right once,' so you kind of make your own luck, but it is luck, too. It was hard to be in LA in that time and have any talent whatsoever in the music business—whether you were a manager, an agent, an artist, a producer, or writer—[and] not to make it, because it was boom times. It was the gold rush, and it was fucking fun.

I couldn't let go of my star, not even if she was meant to align with the rest of the universe.

Kaleidoscope Yoga: The universal heart and the individual self. We, as humanity, make up together a mosaic of beautiful colors and shapes that can harmoniously play together in endless combinations. We are an ever-changing play of shape and form. A kaleidoscope consists of a tube (or container), mirrors, pieces of glass (or beads or precious stones), sunlight, and someone to turn it and observe and enjoy the forms. Metaphorically, perhaps the sun represents the divine light, or spark of life, within all of us. The mirrors represent our ability to serve as mirrors for one another and each other’s alignment, reflecting sides of ourselves that we may not have been aware of. The tube (or container) is the practice of community yoga. We, as human beings, are the glass, the beads, the precious stones. The facilitator is the person turning the Kaleidoscope, initiating the changing patterns. And the resulting beauty of the shapes? Well, that’s for everyone to enjoy... Coming into a practice and an energy field of community yoga over and over, is a practice of returning, again and again, to the present moment, to the person in front of you, to the people around you, to your body, to others’ bodies, to your energy, to others’ energy, to your breath, to others’ breath. [...] community yoga practice can help us, in a very real, practical, grounded, felt, somatic way, to identify and be in harmony with all that is around us, which includes all of our fellow human beings.
 We are all multiple selves. We are all infinite. We are all universal selves. We are all unique expressions of the universal heart and universal energy. We are all the universal self. We are all one another. And we are all also unique specific individuals. And to the extent that we practice this, somatically, we become more and more comfortable and fluid with this larger, more cosmic, more inter-related reality. We see and feel and breathe ourselves, more and more, as the open movement of energy, as open somatic possibility. As energy and breath. This is one of the many benefits of a community yoga practice. Kaleidoscope shows us, in a very practical way, how to allow universal patterns of wisdom and interconnectedness to filter through us. [...] One of the most interesting paradoxes I have encountered during my involvement with the community yoga project (and it is one that I have felt again and again, too many times to count) is the paradox that many of the most infinite, universal forms have come to me in a place of absolute solitude, silence, deep aloneness or meditation. And, similarly, conversely and complimentarily, (best not to get stuck on the words) I have often found myself in the midst of a huge crowd or group of people of seamlessly flowing forms, and felt simultaneously, in addition to the group energy, the group shape, and the group awareness, myself as a very cleanly and clearly defined, very particular, individual self. These moments and discoveries and journeys of group awareness, in addition to the sense of cosmic expansion, have also clarified more strongly my sense of a very specific, rooted, personal self. The more deeply I dive into the universal heart, the more clearly I see my own place in it. And the more deeply I tune in and connect with my own true personal self, the more open and available I am to a larger, more universal self. We are both, universal heart and universal self. Individual heart and individual self. We are, or have the capacity for, or however you choose to put it, simultaneous layers of awareness. Learning to feel and navigate and mediate between these different kinds and layers of awareness is one of the great joys of Kaleidoscope Community Yoga, and of life in general. Come join us, and see what that feels like, in your body, again and again. From the Preface of Kaleidoscope Community Yoga: The Art of Connecting: The First 108 Poses

Syzygy of Love There's a syzygy in the alignment of our hearts that leaps beyond the mere meandering of stars. It's like an elision of words, compacted not contracted, a c'est la vie with celestial synergy that impacts like an asteroid upon the zodiac and brings to extinction any world without you. Look only into my eyes when we make love for if your glance should stumble elsewhere you will see not me but my deformities, the misshapen amalgam that is me without you. In loving you, you’ve rendered me perfect, whole, rectified, an unblemished Adonis to your Dawn. Your eyes need never stray beyond mine, for in their rheumy orbs you shall behold the Big Bang of creation, the sensuous dance of Shiva, the birth of humanity, the awakening of consciousness. Just look in my eyes and I promise you will behold the universe entire, with you at its center.

Observing yourself in the now, choosing to radiate well-being and love, aligns you with a powerful point of attraction. And so, when you are in the vibration of love, you send out a thought such as, I want a fulfilling relationship, or I want a job that brings me joy and abundance, or I want an opportunity to serve and connect with the earth in a loving and sustainable way. When you send out an intention like these from a place where you are feeling happy and loved, vibrating with the goodness, light, and love of the universe, you are aligned with your power. And so, your intention is supported with the power of love. As long as you are able to stay in this love, as you move forward in your life, the intention you desire can effortlessly flow in, merging with you in the physical. The key here is love. The key is your positive vibration and feeling good, sending the message to the universe: This thing I desire, I love and feel good about, I want. Staying in the vibration of love means you are in a state of allowing so your manifestation can flow in.

TRUST ME ENOUGH to spend ample time with Me, pushing back the demands of the day. Refuse to feel guilty about something that is so pleasing to Me, the King of the universe. Because I am omnipotent, I am able to bend time and events in your favor. You will find that you can accomplish more in less time, after you have given yourself to Me in rich communion. Also, as you align yourself with My perspective, you can sort out what is important and what is not.

This is how the creative intelligence, the universal guide, interacts with me — like music on my soul. It could be similar for you, and it could be quite different, too. Our guides speak to us in the language we know best. This book is being written to tell you why that is, and show you how to listen, so that maybe you, too, will be further enabled to create a life, in alignment with your own soul’s vision of joy.

This is an advanced level of awareness, yet when we touch this more universal dimension of our needs, we encounter great freedom. Whether or not our needs are met, we can still “meet” them—we can greet them face-to-face. When I directly encounter my need for peace—when I experience it as an ancient part of my humanity—I can feel it as a value within me whether or not it is fulfilled. This, paradoxically, allows me to advocate energetically for peace without burning out if I do not achieve a desired result, for my actions come from a place of integrity and inner alignment rather than a fixation on the outcome.

pull the knife I gifted her from the strap on her thigh and flick the blade open with my wrist, she eyes it wearily as I line the blade up with her inner thigh. “Everything I’m made of demands you, Briony,” I explain, our chaotic breaths aligning as she swallows down her fears, eyeing my every move. “I am yours, and you are forever mine. Until the end of this life, then whatever life we live after that.” I remain lodged deep within her, our eyes focused on one another as if no one else in this universe exists. Fisting the blade, I cut through her perfect flesh. Her eyes wince slightly but don’t dare come off of mine. She trusts me in a way she shouldn’t trust anyone. With everything. Her jaw tightens as a light whimper of pain leaves her throat, and she lifts her chin more to meet mine. This is the sexiest I’ve ever seen her. Determined yet still questioning. Resilient yet slightly fearful. Emitting submission to me completely, yet knowing she’s entirely unstoppable in her own right. My cock swells to a rock inside her, twitching within her tight grip as I carve the upside down cross into her flesh, an arrow pointing towards myself at the tip. Her eyes finally peer down at the branding that’s now dripping blood down the soft flesh of her inner thigh. The wildest, most ferocious gaze emits from her blown pupils, passion straight from the soul. I turn the blade on myself, and she grips the handle, carving the same symbol into the flesh of my lower abdomen, oblivious to the pain as endorphins flood my mind.

In any event, I remain flummoxed by what seems to be a natural tendency of contemplative practice to strengthen the sense of beauty. I guess one explanation is that, without really thinking about it, you're using mindfulness to filter your feelings-working harder to get criti- cal distance from the unpleasant feelings than from the pleasant feelings, such as aesthetic delight. But, for what it's worth, it doesn't feel like that. The sense of beauty feels more like something the mind just naturally relaxes into when the preoccupation with self subsides. I'm tempted to invoke John Keats's famous verse, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty." Maybe when you truthfully, you enjoy not only see the world more clearly, more a measure of liberation but also a more direct and continuous perception of the world's actual beauty. On the other hand, the idea of the world having actual beauty, inherent beauty, seems at odds with the Buddhist emphasis on our tendency to impose meaning on the world. It's certainly at odds with the view from evolutionary psychology, which holds that our assignment of feelings to perceptions is indeed that: an assignment, made by brains designed to feel certain ways about certain kinds of things based only on the relationship of those things to the organism's Darwinian interests. Another possibility is that a certain affinity for the universe is a kind of default state of consciousness, a state to which it returns when it's not caught up in the inherently distorting enterprise of operating a self. But here we're venturing beyond psychology, into the philosophi- cal question of what consciousness is. And my general view on that question is: beats me. There's a lot to dislike about the world we're born into. It's a world in which, as the Buddha noted, our natural way of seeing, and of being, leads us to suffer and to inflict suffering on others. And it's a world that, as we now know, was bound to be that way, given that life on this planet was created by natural selection. Still, it may also be a world in which metaphysical truth, moral truth, and happiness can align, and a world that, as you start to realize that alignment, appears more and more beautiful. If so, this hidden order-an order that seems to lie at a level deeper than natural selection itself is something to marvel at. And it's something I'm increasingly thankful for.

You know, my mama always told me that you are given a chance at greatness once in your lifetime. She found her greatness in my dad through music. She said, ‘When it hits you, you won’t know how you could have ever lived a day without. It’s like the universe aligned itself perfectly, just for you.’ I gave up hope on that a long time ago, I think.

Your arms, like Saturn's rings orbiting around me. Our lips, aligned constellations... want to be in control spin the galaxy with my hips, feel the universe dangling at our fingertips.

THE PRIORITY THAT TRANSFORMS ALL OTHER PRIORITIES That revolution begins with consciousness. Transform your consciousness, direct your attention wisely, and the transformation of your material circumstances immediately begins. According to most traditions, the time when meditation is most potent is in the morning. The delicious state of Bliss Brain is like a broadcast channel. You can decide to tune your awareness to it anytime. When you make this choice first thing in the morning, when your brain is in high alpha and you’re moving from sleep to wakefulness, you align your experience with the energy of this channel as the first act of your day. This is a powerful statement of intention. You are saying to the universe, “My first priority today is to align with you. I choose to live in synchrony with nature and the cosmos the whole of this day, starting now. Nothing is more important to me than this alignment. I surrender my local mind to the greatness of nonlocal mind, and I open the whole of my existence to love, joy, and peace.” Get this priority straight, and all your other priorities line up behind it. By getting in tune with the universe, you step into synchrony with all of nature. You enter a flow state, your life becomes easier, and the challenges you face are placed in the context of the love, joy, and peace found in Bliss Brain.

I focused on staying positive every day, despite the money issues, health challenges, and constant reminders of the fire. It took every bit of focus I possessed. Six months after the fire, in the middle of the financial crisis, after one morning’s meditation, I wrote these words in my journal: I woke up this morning feeling like I’m being cradled in the arms of God. The energy of Spirit fills every part of me with blessing. The universe radiates perfection all around me. I am cradled in this field of blessing. It holds us always in love and joy. It nudges us daily to experience the light and beauty at the core of our being. I realize that I’m 100% spiritually successful. I enjoy a life of attunement to the universe. Daily, I celebrate oneness between my human consciousness and the greater consciousness of which I am a part. That’s the ultimate goal of every life, and I’ve lived it from the beginning. I choose to remind myself of this when I’m mesmerized by the things that haven’t materialized in my material world after so many years of visioning and hard work. As I tune in to the universe’s energy, I feel mine change in response. My thoughts become ordered and inspired. I start the day feeling optimistic, positive, enthusiastic, and creative. I embody prosperity. I attune daily to the energy of prosperity, as I have been doing for so many years. I know that material reality arranges itself around the signal that my consciousness produces. The truth is that I am abundant in every possible way, including money. I choose to maintain the joy of that vibration. I celebrate every manifestation of success in my world, no matter how small. I am grateful for my life just the way it is. I remain positive no matter what. I have the most important thing attainable in any life: Oneness with the universe! I attune to its music every morning in meditation. My mind, cells, and energy field come into resonance with its song. I then move into my day inspired and aligned. What a wonderful life. After writing those words, I decided to bask in the experience. I lay down in bed and visualized the experience turning from a delicious but intangible feeling into a hardwired neural fact in my body.

It’s not over. I’m never going to be finished with you, Hallie. You want space? Fine, I’ll give you space, but this isn’t about space. It’s about how we work together.” He pauses, his thumb ghosting along my jaw as he cradles me in his hands. “We don’t fit. Not on paper. Not in any way people would expect. But one thing you’ve taught me is that being different isn’t wrong. Sometimes the pieces may never align, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be something beautiful. This may have started as me teaching you, Hallie, but it’s really you that’s been teaching me all along. You’ve been teaching me how to love.

The way that I feel with you is something like aching inside my stomach the cosmos are baking A universe hung like a mobile the alignment of these planets unique In me the earth moves around the sun no land all sea

I believe in angels, spirit guides, ascended masters, and a community of loving entities who are always guiding us to lean toward love and unlearn the fears of the world. I believe that the Universe is the ever-present energy of love within us and around us. I believe that in any given moment we can align with that powerful presence of love through prayer, contemplation, and stillness. We can measure our peace based on our ability to align with this force field of universal energy. I trust in these spiritual guides just as much as I trust in my husband or my mother. I believe in them deeply, and I know they are working through me to strengthen my faith in the Universe. Most of all I believe that we are here in these bodies at this time to learn great spiritual lessons. As we come to embrace the light and transformation within these lessons, we’re guided to spread the light to the rest of the world. I nurture this faith daily with prayer and meditation. This certainty sets me free.

You seek so, to be found, and yet, You send neither a beacon I could follow nor say at which door I could knock: Neither have you left me a way to send a message to you nor have you left clues of yourself, to be found. Hence I have enlisted the help of the Universal Fisherman. His net is cast over the entire universe. Wherever you may be, oblivious to my existence, unaware of my alignment to you, I say to you, beyond suspicion of doubt: We will bring you to us.

To reach spiritual synchronicity Me, myself and I Emit our own frequency Hear the symphony of the universe Align with the dance of stars Radiate with power and energy Feel the divine spirit drawing us to our future self And travel beyond the limitations of space and time.

I recognize I’m out of alignment with [name a person, situation, belief system, etc.]. I choose to release the outcome and feel good now. Thank you, Universe, for guiding me.

I think Fox was paying him about a million bucks a year, and he had created the Ice Age franchise for them, which was billions of dollars of value. I said, “Here’s how we’re going to negotiate with Fox. On a separate track, we’re going to create a company that you’re going to run. We’re going to get off-balance-sheet financing and we’re going to align you with another global distributor.” At the time we had at least three studios that would be great strategic fits. But he didn’t want to be an employee, he wanted real ownership. So we created parallel paths. On one track was the Fox negotiation, which I told him would take a year, and they would give him a 15 percent increase. They would grind it out and play hardball. I told him, “At the end of the day, they’re not going to pay you anywhere near what you’re worth. But on this other track, we’ll create this opportunity to change your life, for you to have something of your own.” I remember having a meeting with Mark Shmuger and David Linde, who were literally in the first day of their new jobs as co-chairmen of Universal Studios, and Bryan, Richard, Kevin, and I met with them in their first official meeting and I pitched them the idea of being in business with Chris, and they said, “Yes. We want you to do it.” It took probably well over a year, but ultimately we created Illumination. Universal came in and financed the company 100 percent. They wanted to clean up their balance sheet because they were about to sell to Comcast, so we got paid an investment banking fee for $ 4 or $ 5 million, and then on top of that we’ve commissioned every movie that Chris has done. Chris got a very, very, rich deal, probably the best producing deal there is. The truth is, on Minions he’ll probably make $ 80–$ 90 million. To date he’s probably made hundreds of millions. And he’s got Despicable Me 3, and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

Healing on All Levels The body, mind, intellect, and the part of you that is immortal (soul, spirit, root light, etc.) all work together when all the chakras are aligned. Every chakra is working well at these times: you sense the state of your body, you communicate your creative ideas, you have the ability to meet obligations, your heart is open to receiving with appropriate boundaries, you are honest in your interactions, you look at your routines and practices of thinking clearly and critically, and you listen to the quiet place inside. What you feel, hear, tell, and line up when this happens, and in your life you will manifest what you want. You are in harmony with your body, mind, and central force that binds you with all of the universe's life and energy. You are able to manifest your dreams and focus on profoundly healing physical, intellectual, and emotional wounds through this, your connection to universal energy. It seems that in this fast-paced world, until something goes wrong, it is common not to focus on health. It seems normal to go on and on until you feel an ache or pain, and then you go to a doctor. Until the way you perform your daily activities is affected by a physical sign, it is easy to ignore how you feel. Part of Everyday Life Maintaining good health is an ongoing practice, not something to wait until you already have physical disease symptoms. As part of your ongoing self-care practice, chakra healing can be done regularly, and it will be a proactive and preventive way to take care of yourself and bring more joy to your life. Find at least one way of doing something for yourself every day. It may mean you get up fifteen minutes early to linger with a cup of green tea, or you may park your car in the fresh air to walk away from work. Find something to give you a healthy "me" time every day.

I have to believe that every day she battles the same urge I do. To come back, to get us back – there – to that place where nothing can touch us. Where we aligned our separate planets and revolved around each other, protected each other, shielded one another, and grew together in our own universe – one we created to simply exist. With her, I felt safe, accepted, more like myself. I grew into a better version of me with her. Without her, I’m a lonely planet.

Thank you” is a high message, possibly the most healing message of all. “Thank you” aligns you with the grace that comes from the Universe of soul.

Okay Universe, you sly big huggy bear you, once again you give me everything my heart desires.

When things align themselves in my favor, it makes me suspicious. Maybe because I don't like the idea of my life being part of some overall cosmic plan. I don't want the universe to pay attention to me. I just wanted to put my head down and go.