God

Imagine your life as a container–specifically, a bowl. While this might seem like an unusual comparison, it offers some interesting insights about how we live and what we choose to keep in our lives. As Maya Angelou once said, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” Similarly, the more [...]

In the 1970s, my family and I lived on Park Place in Venice Beach, California, in an old two-story house that had been converted into four apartments. When we first moved in, I was pregnant with my second child, and we rented one of the small downstairs apartments. But it was a little bigger than [...]

My sister and I always felt connected through our friends and family apps on our phones. Sometimes, we’d text each other about where we could see each other. “How is Spain?” I’d ask. Or she’d say, “Welcome home,” after I returned from a trip. So the day her husband finally turned off her phone and [...]

It’s Always The Last Time Sometimes we know when it will be the last time. Most often, we don’t. Sometimes we wish it was the last time, but we can’t seem to stick to that agreement to let go. The truth is, it’s always the last time. We will never be exactly the same person [...]

I know habits and preconceived perceptions can make us blind to the obvious. However, I thought that I usually have a good grip on paying attention. I enjoy exploring ways to be more effective and finding easier ways to do things that need to be done. So it both surprised and dismayed me that I [...]

We are not designed to live in ruts, but we do. In some ways, this is a good thing. We don’t have to think too hard about how to get through our day. But when our thinking, and therefore our lives, takes place within deep ruts, and we don’t realize it—it’s a dangerous thing. Living [...]

One morning, while writing my next book, I looked up and saw a man jogging down our road. Years of teaching dance kicked in, and I said to him—in my thoughts only—”Lead with your pelvis, not your head.” Laughing at myself for still having that habit of correcting movement, I thought back to when I [...]

Time doesn’t change us. It just unfolds us. — Max Frisch Even though there is no time, past, present, or future, it’s how we experience life—as an unfolding, a transformation. We can either view transformation as something to fight against or embrace it. And it’s easier, in the long run, to embrace it, to think [...]

When I was in elementary school, I saw the woman who would one day become my dance teacher perform the Red Slippers. At that moment, I fell in love and knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a dancer. But one of my friends told me she taught ballet – she didn’t [...]

…we are not afraid of the dark… Every morning I sweep our hardwood floors, following the path of where we most go each day, and once a week I sweep the entire house. I didn’t use to do that daily sweeping. Then one morning, I noticed what was in the light path that shone across [...]

I was trying to print out something, but I didn’t hear it printing in the next room. Since it was a new program, and I had already judged it to be “behind the times,” I figured it was the program and didn’t check the printer. It took two days and multiple tries before I checked [...]

Not If It Was Never Lost In May, I lost two things. In September, I found them both. Yes, I looked for them, but when I couldn’t find them, I considered them both gone and replaced them. After all, they were only a garden trowel and a paring knife. I found the knife after our [...]

After I pulled out the peas I had diligently planted and tended because their season was over, a lone sunflower remained. I smiled at it, wondering how it got there. Perhaps a bird or a squirrel or even the wind left a single seed to grow sheltered and nourished by the peas. It smiled back [...]

This might help— I don’t think I want to meet the person who knows all the answers. I believe I would be suspicious. How could they be so sure? Did they cause the problem? Are they trying to ruin people’s lives? Do they know all the facts? Our brains are designed to filter out what [...]

Fixing broken things is not an activity that most of us enjoy. The plastic knob on my mixer broke off, and I didn’t celebrate that I would need glue, a clamp, and time to fix it. What I said to myself was, “I can live with it. Who needs a knob anyway?” But the shower [...]

Shifting Stories: Sampling Books, One (or 2) Chapters at a time. Your imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. —Albert Einstein Now that you have the basic tools, are you ready to get started? Each week has a different focus, but the imagination exercises each day will remain mostly the same. [...]

Shifting Stories: Sampling Books, One (or 2) Chapters at a time. I choose, therefore I am. —Amit Goswami, The Self-Aware Universe I wanted to change the world. But I found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself. —Aldous Huxley We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go [...]

Shifting Stories: Sampling Books, One (or 2) Chapters at a time. Imagination should be used, not to escape reality, but to create it. —Colin Wilson Shall we begin? Let’s create a new reality together. But first, let’s talk about a few of the essential tools that you will be using in this course. There are [...]

Shifting Stories: Sampling Books, One (or 2) Chapters at a time. The man who has no imagination has no wings. —Muhammad Ali Here is the question you might, and probably should be, asking yourself. Why bother with learning how to be an Imagination Master? What practical use could being a master of imagination be in [...]

While walking one morning, I had a magical experience. As I turned the corner onto the next street, the world went silent. Not nature. The world. I made no sound. My feet were silent. My breath was silent. It was if the person I call me wasn’t there. I was a camera moving through the [...]

Shifting Stories: Sampling Books, One (or 2) Chapters at a time. Spiritual Perception Spiritual Perception reveals that there is nothing going on but God, Good. Instead of thinking that there will be a time that the tares will be separated from the wheat, we know that as we gain spiritual awareness, what appears to be [...]

Shifting Stories: Sampling Books, One (or 2) Chapters at a time. Is There A God Or Isn’t There? I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own—a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty.—Albert Einstein Hasn’t everyone wondered, at [...]

<img src="https://www.becalewis.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/WhoDoWeFollow-1024x536.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="536" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-3837" / Leadership lessons from Harry the squirrel. We name our squirrels. Harry Peanut is a young gray squirrel with a bounce in her step and a very distinctive way of approaching and eating the peanuts we leave out for her. But most importantly, she is a wise [...]

Shifting Stories: Sampling Books, One (or 2) Chapters at a time. When you come to a fork in the road, take it. —Yogi Berra When you face a fork in the road, step on the exhilarator! —Pat Riley Ready—Set—Shift. Why not change our point of view? After all, who really wants to live in a [...]