"You are confined only by the walls you build yourself"

                                                                                        author unknown

I call this blog Spirit, Soul and Work because I feel Spirit working through my Soul a lot of the time. I am paying attention to the whispers of Spirit most of my waking moments. It is important to me to live in such a way that honors and allows time for quiet talks with the Master.

For the last few days I have served on jury duty. The process was long and arduous (because of the constant sitting and waiting) but I held my self open to the experience. After some time I was placed on a jury.

Our case was relatively cut and dry. A man robbed a bank, was caught with money a short time later and admitted his guilt. The defense attorney had hoped for guilt on a lesser charge. We, the jury, found him guilty to the letter of the law. 

At first two of the jurors thought he should be guilty of theft and for a few minutes during closing arguments I leaned that way. But it was clear that this man robbed a bank. After the verdict, the judge told us that this man had just gotten out of prison after 16 years for the same crime and had been incarcerated many times before.

I walked away saddened for this man. He has been in prison his whole life and would likely die there. He never opened himself to the possibility of freedom from his own demons. He just couldn't do it. I sent a silent blessing to him I pray he feels the love surrounding him. I am glad he is no longer on the street and will have food and a regular place to sleep.

My Soul knows that we all create little prisons for ourselves...little imaginary cages that keep us confined. The only way out is to notice that they are created by our own thoughts about things and are not really holding us back, unless we choose to believe they are. There is so much love here, so much joy.

Choose to love your self, to take care of yourself in the most loving way possible. Step out of self imposed shackles. Is there something in your life that it's time to let go of? Give it some thought and know that there is a loving Presence with you now. You can notice or not...still there...helpful, loving, encouraging...

Until next time...

Namaste