Rev Charli Tupper

A few months ago, I was speaking with a friend and she was talking about the spiritual principle of being selective about saying yes.  This was particularly meaningful to me, because I was constantly saying yes, often because it sounded like so much fun.  When we feel the urge to say yes, we might first want to ask the question: by saying yes to this, what might I be saying no to?   It is amazing what can happen when we shift the question a bit.  It allows us to take the question to a deeper place within, because it is easier to by-pass the initial automatic response.  Asking the question of what might I be saying no to, opens a space for us to consider what is seeking to express through and as us at this time.

A few weeks ago, I said I wanted to stop asking the questions, why and how.   By consciously asking different questions, I find my mind shifting to more creative answers.  By asking new questions, rather than the same questions I have always asked, I am holding open a doorway for not only a new vision of life, but also, the awakening of an ancient Truth of who I am.

There is a power in the open question.  One of the most important pieces is that there is no right answer.  All too often I  thought I had the answer, no matter what the question.  I’d like to say it was the answers for my life.  Truth be told, I may have thought I had the answers for others too.  The mind tells us our way of thinking is logical and anyone who doesn’t agree with us….well, they just need to rethink the situation from our point of view.  This rigid thinking has been the foundation for many conflicts throughout history, and many conflicts within my own life.  When we drop down into our hearts and listen, even for just a moment, we can listen for the still small voice within that always allows for more than one opinion or thought.

In the book Anam Cara, John O’Donohue says: In your thoughts, the silent universe seeks echo.  It is by going within to the secret place of the most High, that we empty ourselves of everything that stands in the way of hearing that sacred and beloved voice deep within our souls.

Over these past few months, I have been in a place of having sacred space.  I have to admit, one of my first reactions was to fill the void with anything.  The thought that I would not be a minister was terrifying.  If I don’t go to church everyday, who am I?  Yet, every time I tried to just blankly fill the void, doors would close.  People would ask me to do services or classes and then back down.  Space, it was all about space.  Opening a space to learn for the first time in my life what it looks like to honor my Self by not doing.  As I quit running, slowly more and more old false beliefs fell away.  I was able to hear what the thoughts in my mind were really saying to me, and it wasn’t always pretty.

I don’t know exactly the moment of awakening, I just know the freedom that comes with it.  A freedom to be wholly my Self.  No need for approval.  No need to wear the mask of know it all or its counter part, small and unintelligent.  The Truth is, I am no one special.  I am a human being just like everyone else.

I will close with another quote from Anam Cara, When love awakens in your life, in the night of your heart, it is like the dawn breaking within you. Where before there was anonymity, now there is intimacy, where before there was fear, now there is courage, where before in your life was awkwardness, now there is a rhythm of grace and gracefulness, where before you used to be jagged, now you are elegant and in rhythm with your self. When love awakens in your life, it is like a rebrith, a new beginning. 

Namaste’,  May God’s grace awaken and fill your heart, mind and soul,

Rev. Charli