Cynthia M. Sexton’s Online Journal. This Journal is a place where you will always be welcomed, may it help to refresh you. Return again and again to enjoy a moment to reflect, and to be encouraged. I hope it will be a time you will warmly remember. Here, in the following entries I will openly share thoughts that I hope you will find useful, stimulating and interesting. Please feel free to email me anytime with feedback or requests. ~ Cynthia

Today! ~ at last

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:23:07 -0400

It has been a long time since I’ve been able to use my website program. My husband finally has figured out what was wrong (takes a genius sometimes!).

While today’s work-time window has spent itself I must leave you with this poem I’ve been thinking about. It’s a poem that we kind-of know....

 The Road Not Taken  Poet: Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,  And sorry I could not travel both  And be one traveler, long I stood  And looked down one as far as I could  To where it bent in the undergrowth;  Then took the other, just as fair,  And having perhaps the better claim,  Because it was grassy and wanted wear;  Though as for that passing there  Had worn them really about the same,  And both that morning equally lay  In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!  Yet knowing how way leads to way,  I doubted if I should ever come back.  Somewhere ages and ages hence:  Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -  I took the one less traveled by,  And that has made all the difference.

In my next Journal entry I’ll be writing about Masks and the courage it takes to reveal our genuine Authenticity, the truth of our inner voice.

More very, very soon! ~ Cynthia

Frustration ~or grist for the mill?

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:01:24 -0500

Any one of us can be reduced to a spiritually disheveled state at any moment. Life has been designed to challenge our most refined skills, as well as our weakest ones. By having our character traits challenged we can witness our strength tested, as well as our values, morals, ethics, commitments, and our priorities.

We can say we are devoted to living a “good life” on the High Road of good intention, but not always are we able to live up to these good ideas and prayer promises. So much “good words” can be said easily, but it is when life events unpredictably intrude upon our serenity that we learn what we hold as true inner skill. It is like receiving a Report Card. It is humbling, and it is meant to be.

Our ability and inability can now be seen by us. It is at this point that we face a significant choice: will we blame who or what threw us off balance, or will look into the mirror of our past actions and better ourselves this time? Will we devote all of this newly released energy, that we often call negativity, to condemn someone or will we use it instead change ourselves, or perhaps the direction of our life? Will we use our moral fiber and our instincts, or our animalistic reactions as our navigation tool?

We can easily look at someone else, the situation, the timing and blame all or any part of that this is the easiest option to act upon. We are Spiritually “Growing UP” when we let their behavior be their responsibility and focus on our part only. This precious new energy that surges up from within is the very energy we need for our own transformation. In the end, we can only change ourselves, we can only master ourselves. Don’t judge this energy, use it well.

More soon ~ Cynthia

Suppose to...

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:26:35 -0500

We are suppose to be patient, kind, thoughtful, forgiving, responsible, attentive, loving, caring, gentle, and did I mention forgiving...

There are times in life when we find ourselves unable to forgive someone who has done something to us. What does it mean when we can’t forgive? The answer is too lengthy for this quick entry, but I’ll speak to this issue as clearly as I can.

We are suppose to forgive those that have wronged us eventually. This has been laid out for us time and time again. However, we often end up feeling guilty when we find ourselves holding negative feelings toward someone who has caused us to feel hurt. We are encouraged to “let go and let God”, to “turn the other cheek”, or to “write it all out in a journal”. All good suggestions on how to find healing from our inner pain. Just because it’s the right thing to do does not mean we are finished processing our experience. It is as if healing should be placed on a time-table. It cannot be. And, to quickly get rid of it because it feels bad is really the wrong thing to do. Instead, we must hold this sacred fire and burn, and in so doing have what is less than who we really are melt away. Eventually, it does. Like a butterfly once captive in her cocoon of limitation, we are set free to be more than what we once were.

To let go before we have extracted all that we can from what we’ve experienced no matter how minor or horrible it might have been is to be at risk of denying ourselves the precious inner learning just made available. It can take day, weeks, months, years, or decades. The length of time does not matter.

This is what is meant by us when we say “I’m not ready!” There is no time-frame that can be set for this type of inner-work. It will happen when we have integrated all that can be extracted from this special kind of life lesson. In the end we say, “While I don’t ever want to go through anything like that again, it was the best thing that happened to me. It changed my life for the better forever.” Such is the power of healing that comes from life’s most difficult challenges we’ve each encountered.

To awaken to the need for change is to heal. To become more conscious of who we really are, what we really need, and what we need to do to heal our lives, and ourselves is the whole point of adversity entering our lives. While not one of us will seek it -- when adversity once again finds us and knocks upon our door, if we’ve learned from before we will open that door wide and say... “Oh it’s You. You who only comes to visit when it’s time for transformation, for real change. Come-in, I knew You’d come back! Thank you for not leaving me to live in this mediocrity.”

“All greatness of character is dependent on individuality. The man who has no other existence than that which he partakes in common with all around him, will never have any other than an existence of mediocrity.” ~James F. Cooper

No, we do not forget what has happened to us that hurt, but it does become a dim memory when we have extracted all of the Light it carried to us. It becomes part of our journey, part of our learning, and part of our compassion. This is the essence of true forgiveness.

More soon ~ Cynthia

Smile! ~ don’t forget to notice who is smiling back

Fri, 4 Feb 2011 12:38:41 -0500

Rejoice

I smile every time my girls giggle,
I smile every time our dog plays with our cats,
I smile every time our cats don’t mall our dog, they like him.
I smile looking at my African Violets in bloom.

I smile when I look back at my journey,
I smile when I look forward to another sunrise,
I smile when my husband does something for me that I didn’t expect,
I smile when I think of my life’s work.

I smile at every bird I see since they still make my heart skip a beat,
I smile at every changing season,
I smile at anyone who smiles at me,
I smile at strangers too whether they smile back or not.

Oh I could go on and on, but this raises questions.
Why be grumpy then? When all this is true.
Why not notice Beauty and Joy all the time? When all this is so true.
Why oh why can we not remember to smile all the time?
There are many reasons to just smile. All of this is so true.

So, yes let’s remember to Rejoice more... If a cupcake can do it we must try! ~Cms

More soon! ~ Cynthia

The New Year Unfolds... ~ so fast

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:24:36 -0500

Oh my.... I hope your new year has been gentle with you so far. For us, the work of 2011 has begun to reveal itself already.

None of us can know when Adversity, that necessary ingredient for real inner growth, will come calling. With one ring of the BELL the dance begins. First, we resist, then we try to oppose it while standing tall, in the end we fall to our knees in defeat. The adversity, whatever name it might take to disguise itself as, will always overpower us. This is not a problem. The challenge presented to us is not from a crushing foe, but is from the destined opportunity to find the “Golden Insight” contained within all that negativity. This is the path-work of a spiritual student who is an ordinary person, but who is quietly and inwardly compelled to sift through the inner and outer debris of life’s fires. This person “knows” that life has presented a chance for real growth, and who might complain but all the while will toil endlessly seeking the deeper insights.

This is the nature of the Golden Light contained within all adversity. There are “bad” things that exist in this world, but remember every single one of them contain within them this intrinsic “Light” that Silently waits to be found. The discovery offers instant healing, spontaneous freedom, and inner peace. I guess we could correctly call this process Spiritual Gold Mining.

When pain exists at any layer with us, be it physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, and or familial there is the presence of the Golden Light of Pure Understanding that has yet to have been discovered. These larger Thoughts, Feelings, and this Pure Knowing pushes everything less than themselves to the surface of our consciousness and in so doing causes us to feel pain, benevolently given, drawing our attention to what is ready to be healed.

More soon....
Warm Regards ~ Cynthia