For Sunday July 28th, 2024

Hello to one and all. Maslow's 'Hierarchy of Needs' is depicted as a triangle with five levels through which a person progresses to the top; biological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation. But it is incomplete. In reality there is another mirror-image triangle balanced atop of it. The five stages in the bottom triangle depict psychological development and are inwardly focused, for personal growth. Upon reaching self-actualisation the person becomes more outwardly focused, striving to create those same levels of personal growth for others.

It looks like a balancing act, but the results are magic.

May we sit this evening being aware of the responsibilities of loving outwardly, and of the beauty waiting to be created therein.

 
Bless you all in all you do,

Richard

PS Please excuse my rough computer graphic skills.

For Sunday July 21st, 2024

Hello beautiful people. Like the scent of a flower, our loving intentions are to be given out free to all. We sometimes apply limitations on our outward loving due to personal biases or individual situations.

Flowers give out their scent because that is their nature. We give out our love because that is our nature, as in 'made in the image of'.

 
May we sit this evening knowing we're made in the image of Love. May we love ourselves. May we share our love with others. May our hearts connect.

With blessings for all,

Richard 

For Sunday July 14th, 2024

Hello, good people. As we become more and more aware of the many ways in which we can be of service to others, from the simplicity of calling a cashier by name to devotedly listening to a loved one's difficulties, we not only get better at it but we are also entrusted with more.

So just as we think, "Ah, I got this now," we are offered an increased challenge to be of loving service.

May we sit Sunday evening to be accepting of this constant 'new challenge' scenario. May we willingly step from our comfort zone of loving service into whatever unfamiliar newness may be offered to us, and do so while trusting the 'powers that be' to have our backs.

For the future of humanity,

Richard

 
PS I'll be undergoing an ablation to try and control my atrial fibrillation early on Monday morning. If it works it'll be a huge reset and recovery of my daily energy. If you choose to send me a kind vibe it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks once again for all you do.

For Sunday July 7th, 2024

Hello beautiful people. We are told that if we need to go through a hellish experience in order to learn to not put ourselves through hellish experiences, that it will be provided for us. And, of course, doing so affects those around us as well.

For those who needed cleansing this is a straight forward lesson. For those who did not need the cleansing but were affected by it, the opportunity is very different. For those people the lesson is about acceptance of the paths of others and reaching out to them, if possible. For those who can be reached the lesson is how to do so. For those who refuse help, the lesson is in respecting their paths.

May we sit this evening knowing that each path is always available to all, hellish selfishness or the grace of loving outwardly. May we be present for others and may we choose well ourselves.

With reverence,

Richard 

For Sunday June 30th, 2024

Hello, and a gracious 'good day' to all of you. Donna Gulick lovingly provided me with these beautiful words to sum up a story I'd written on healing, "Anytime I was trying to exert my will and not letting go into "thy" will, I was not only draining myself, but trying to impose on someone else's energy in a way that did not respect their boundaries. I have learned to say, "May this healing work be for the Highest Good of all concerned within their will and Divine Will.""

This particular wording is an excellent enjoinment to avoid the karmic cycling of self-driven decisions and actions.

 
May we sit Sunday evening to find the paths of Grace in our lives. It may require courage to follow but the paths of Grace will lead us to our higher calling, and to who we truly are.

Blessings upon us all,

Richard 

For Sunday June 23rd, 2024

Hello good people, we're told that as we walk the path appears. This of course depends upon us taking the steps of grace. Obstacles become stepping stones when taken with grace. And, as we do more, we are offered more to do. Bigger stepping stones, right?

We are not promised an easy path. We are promised an opportunity to show what we're made of, and to be of help.

May we sit this evening aware that difficulties may come, that courage may be needed. May we be aware that there is always a guiding hand available for us to find. May we find and use the many variations of grace presented before us.

Bless you all,

Richard

For Sunday June 16th, 2024

Hello and apologies to you all. I'm sorry to have missed last Tuesday's meditation. As I think about it, I have only excuses, no actual reasons for missing it. I didn't die. I didn't have another stroke. I simply missed it. So I humbly apologize.

Now, for tonight. John Denver had a poem and a song about peace, about living peace in our lives. It's a choice we can make, which includes recognizing the parts of ourselves that are not at peace. If we, internally, are forcing ourselves into peace then we are not truly at peace. True peace requires discerning where we are not at peace with ourselves, then resolving that.

This evening may we look within, find our tangled internals, and gently release them.

Reverently submitted,

Richard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea9U3E58HC8

For Sunday June 9th, 2024

Hello wonderful people. Life is a physical manifestation of Divinity, of the Source. With our free will we are allowed to direct our lives up or down any path we desire. Speaking in rough generalities, our choices are between karma and grace.

The path of karma, driven by selfish desires, is cyclical. The path of grace, the desire to be outwardly loving, leads us on to our higher callings.

May we sit this evening for the ability to discern our individual paths, for the courage to choose wisely, and for the ability to release that which no longer serves us.

Bless you all,

Richard

For Sunday June 2nd, 2024

Hello beautiful people. We are told that to go into a problem, any problem, to go into that problem very deeply then we must be free to inquire, truly free. However, if we hold opinions, biases, assume structures, imagine forms, or listen to what others have said, then we are not free enough to truly inquire.

 
To truly inquire we must look, listen, and pay attention with a loving intensity which wants to know completely, wants to fully comprehend, whatever person or situation we're facing.

May we sit this evening and just listen, listen to the outside, listen to our inner side. May we simply note what we find, then continue listening. Who knows what we may find if we end up listening beyond ourselves?

With blessed beauty,

Richard

For Sunday May 28th, 2024

Hello good and loving people. We are told that thought is a product of memory and thinking is merely the recombining of thoughts. This leaves us in a state of recycling; learning from our past while waiting for new experiences to broaden our cache of memories from which to draw more thinking.

But there was a time when each of us had no memories and therefore no thoughts to think. In that time we simply experienced, openly and innocently. Perhaps that is why baby's laughter is so compellingly contagious. We can tell it is honest and pure.

May we sit this evening for that honesty and purity which needs no thought. Despite the difficulty of explaining through language that which is without language, may we make the attempt. Now forget all this and just go.

Blessings,

Richard

For Sunday May 12th, 2024

Hello to all and a special 'thank you' to all mothers out there.

 
Mothers' Day, the plural spelling, began in the 1870s by Julia Ward Howe as a reaction to the carnage of the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. Currently seen as a day to be nice to your mother, it originally was an attempt for women to gain political power after losing fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers in the 'mutual murder' of war. Even those who came home were scared in mind and body.

We know there are better ways of resolving conflict.
May we sit this evening for open hearts, for reconciliation, for the courage to explore new ways. May we be led in our personal lives. May humanity move toward One.

Thank you all,

Richard 

For Sunday May 5th, 2024

Hello again, beautiful people. It can sometimes become discouraging to work so much on people getting along with each other, yet there is so much strife still in the world. You may at times feel like Sisyphus, pushing a boulder up a mountain forever.  
However, upon further thought, you may realize that the boulder eventually gets chipped away and the mountain develops a smoothed passageway over the years. Eventually we'll be rolling a marble down a polished pathway.

May we sit this evening for the small spontaneous acts of kindness we perform without thinking, and which shows our true selves to the world. That is what chips the boulder and flattens the mountain trail.

Bless you all,

Richard

Additional for Sunday April 28th, 2024

On Sat, Apr 27, 2024 at 9:05 PM Richard Hughson <loopyrich@gmail.com> wrote:

A gracious good day to all. There is a process which can be applied to advancing the spiritual development of humanity, or 'saving the world.'

1. Be aware. Recognize the troubles and problems of the world as they are, with full honesty, and for what they are – a lack of connection to Source.
2. Allow the horrors you find to be a motivator for you, knowing how drastically something needs to be done and the possibility of you taking responsible action.
3. Don't worry, be happy. Whatever difficulties we may go through, we are promised that all will be well in the end.
4. And now that you're happy – get to work. Pray, meditate, and treat yourself and others with beautiful grace, always.

May we sit on Sunday night to follow our intuition, the pull of our hearts. May we learn our lessons and spread our light.

Bless you all,

Richard

This process of how to address the state of the world as it is, and what to do about it, is something I learned from Tom Sawyer. It's a simple process of motivating yourself to spiritual action.

And, without my awareness of it (Eileen Lindsay brought this to mind) today is also the date of Tom's final passing, his graduation day as it were. It's been a little over 46 years since his NDE, and 17 years since he 'went to his reward.'

May we give a little 'thank you' to Tom this evening for being such a good volunteer, teaching us how to laugh and love.

All the best to all of you,

Richard