Roses for Awake Living by Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy"

The Way of the Heart

When the human being is consciously fulfilled, blessings appear in every aspect of our lives. Full embodiment of the Heart is the precious gift that becomes the art of Awake Living. We live the natural way of the Heart in a profoundly human manner that is globally undivided. This unity is in cooperation with humanity, the living earth, its vital environment and in harmony with the welfare of its creatures.

The quality in which we live is not one of personal choice that is mentally selected as a right way based upon moral virtues, but rather the organic outcome of total surrender to the Heart. The spirit is consciously integrated as we contemplate our relationships, professions, investments, health, schools and politics. It is not that living becomes a spiritual practice, but rather our multi-diversity is appreciated as a symphony of love in action.

We have assimilated a balance in our daily lives that includes the spiritual in every encounter as it appears. We are virtually a free instrument of the Heart and selflessly serve Its way. Awake Living is conscious that we are being lived for the good of the whole.


Four Roses

The roses are limitless in this abundant Garden. Today, I offer you four; they are compassion, service, gratitude and unconditional love. Each has been chosen for its fragrance, brilliance and foremost for its power in turning the "mind's life" around, to the open way of the Heart.


The pink rose of true compassion is a gift of basic goodness to alleviate the suffering of others. Compassion flows from the emptiness and its cultivation purifies the mind. You allow your heart to be touched and are deeply empathetic with human conditions, while compassion stirs you to right action. Compassion is the work of goodwill and fosters gentle kindness. You are the whole and embrace the creatures of the earth and protect the natural beauty of nature.

This compassion includes a feeling of the joy that appears in others' lives with equal warmth and gratitude. You care for life for what life is and for who you are.


The white rose is a gift of purity and innocence in the silence of serving others, the earth and its creatures. It is silent in that the service is selfless and humble, free of personal interest or concern for outcome. With no motive in service, the quality is far beyond the mind and its ideas.


The fuchsia rose is one of gratitude for the life that appears each moment. You express gratitude to others, the greater life for its abundance, the earth for its trees, the sea for its gifts, other living creatures and insects for their service to life and even the weeds that you pull as you smell the earth to grow your rose garden. In the end, gratitude just overflows until a grateful Heart is all there is.


The red rose of unconditional love is the greatest, since virtually every soft petal contains all of the others and indeed, the entire Garden of Awake Living. This affectionate gift appreciates life's truest passion for loving with patience, humility, forgiveness and emotional maturity. You are kind and in harmony with living, instead of throwing life around.

We have differences in the human mind and have differing perspectives, however at Heart, we are one life in essence. Awake Living is not attached to individual perspectives as though they were our personal identity. We are open to the whole, so that human diversity is respected with tolerance or perhaps even fascination.

This receptivity emulates a love that offers a broader reality for the family, spirituality, society, workplace, environment, science and the arts. In this manner, we live in cooperation and acceptance with mutual appreciation and enthusiasm.

Since we are love, we are not searching where to get it. Instead, we are watchful for every opportunity to overflow the greatest gift of the Heart.

Katie Davis Website www.KatieDavis.org

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Now Playing - A Film by God by Sundance Burke, Author, "Free Spirit"

God's film is Now Playing, but many of you do not experience it, as you are giving your attention to the trailer of a coming attraction; produced by mind and entitled, I Can't Get No Satisfaction. You won't be available for God's film until your interest in this coming attraction ends. However, your interest may never end, because you are the star of this film in production and you just can't wait to see your name up in lights.

Who can blame you, given the circumstances? After all, you are assuming this role for good reason. This script is speaking to you. The theme of your screenplay is dissatisfaction. Your main idea is that something about this moment should change in order for you to be happy. That something could be anything.

A follow up to that concept is that you will need more time for the change to appear. So your film is set in a future time and place. Since this moment is lacking and no other time is here, your desired change has to be written now. As you are the only screenwriter for the movie, it's up to you to imagine and conceive the storyline for your future experience. Your desired changes to the present must follow your motivation, which is again dissatisfaction. As you dislike this moment or desire to re-create it for whatever reason, your unhappiness is being expressed just as you think.

First of all, you might not like yourself. Then again, you might not like others. What if you don't like the way the world is right now? Surely, that calls for a big change. However, maybe you adore this moment and don't want it to change, even as it changes right before your eyes.

As you write your own version of the present, your film is taking shape. Soon it will be developed, but not yet. There will be writes and rewrites, one after another, until you are finally satisfied with the look and feel of this moment. However, let's take it from your first judgment. Everything is going along great and then your star makes an entrance into the scene. Right away, we get a sense of your character's anxiety by witnessing the body language. Then the monologue begins:

"This peace can't last. It never has. Nothing ever works out for me as it should. Why can't I just be happy? If only things were different. I remember when times were good. This moment can't be it. Surely, there's got to be more than this. If I just keep waiting, something great is bound to happen or maybe something bad. No, I can't wait. If I don't make something happen, nobody will. Although, I'm not certain if I can do it. I don't know what to do. In any event, I just need more time."

By the way, how long have you been working on this film? Seems like forever, doesn't it? Just when you think you've got it all right, something happens to upset you and just like that, you've got another scene to write and also direct. Hey, no one said filmmaking was easy. Who knows this better than you?

I've got another idea for ending your movie if you're open to hearing it. As I see it, since your theme is dissatisfaction, what would be more dissatisfying than being unable to satisfy your dissatisfaction. Wow, that's truly dramatic, isn't it? Who knows, it might even help you discover a surprise ending. I mean, what if your character gets so fed up with being dissatisfied and unhappy that he just gives up trying to change the moment in any way?

In this circumstance, its hard to say how he would act. Maybe it's better not to write this ending. You could just leave it up to the moment and see what happens, when your character finally realizes that his situation is utterly hopeless. When he realizes that he can't think of anything to make the present other than it is, he might just accept it fully and be satisfied. Of course, this would change your theme, but you have to admit that it's a great twist on the direction you've been heading.

I know that you have been really busy producing your film unconsciously, but if you can be pure attention for just a moment, I've got an unbelievable proposition for you. Right now, I am watching a terrifc film. It's got everything. I would like you to realize it, as well. It's called Now Playing and it's being created by God as we speak. I don't know him personally, but I am witnessing his production and it feels truly alive and dynamic. While your movie has cost you an arm and a leg to produce and distribute locally, God's film is available now and it's playing everywhere. Best of all, it's free, if you are.

So, as far as the price goes, you can realize Now Playing, if you surrender to this moment as it is, because that's the price of your attendance. And when I say, this moment, I mean exactly This! So, forget about the idea of changing anything here. The script is already perfect. Every detail is being taken care of, so nothing is missing. The set looks and feels authentic to this present time and place. All the actors are in perfect form. Every performance is seamlessly happening and each is Oscar worthy in its own right.

This is real movie making in its truest form, so nothing is being edited out of the story. Not one of us hits the cutting floor. Everyone has an appearance in this film and though the reviews aren't always flattering, the acting is phenomenal. The fact is, Now Playing is not only the perennial winner of best film, its our life as we know it; uncut, uncensored, spontaneous, supersized, formatted to the big screen of awareness and therefore available to any being. Now let's relax, be quiet and open our eyes, because it's showtime!

Sundance Burke is author of Free Spirit: A Guide to Enlightened Being

Sundance Burke Website is at www.SundanceBurke.org

Friends of the Heart May Issue by Katie Davis and Sundance Burke

The Friends of the Heart May Issue is Now Posted at:

www.KatieDavis.org/FriendsoftheHeart.html

Free monthly articles on spiritual awakening, non-duality, enlightenment and Self-realization

In This Issue:

"Ego-ji and Fear, Anger and Sadness" by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy

"Nothing Ever Happened" by Sundance Burke, Author, Free Spirit

"Warrior Silence" by Ethan Walker III from Soft Moon Shining

Go Now to www.KatieDavis.org/FriendsoftheHeart.html

"Have You Seen Our Mother?" from Soft Moon Shining: Poems for the Mother of the Universe

Brother Wind

Have you seen our Mother?
   

Was she sitting alone and silent
   

on some lofty snow capped peak
      

as you crossed the Rocky Mountains
      

on your way to caress
      

the vast prairie grass lands?

If you see our most beautiful Mother
   

please tell her I am calling her
   

and that I can no longer contain my love

Sister Earth

Have you felt our Mother's footsteps
   

as she walked across your endless lands
   

planting the seeds
      

of creation and dissolution?

Have you heard her singing her sweet song
   

of compassion and love?
      

If so, tell her that her child
      

who loves her so very much
         

has awakened from his long nap
         

and yearns to hug his Mother once again

Sister Ocean

Has our Mother passed through your rivers today
   

on her way to direct the waters of eternity
   

up into her garden of clouds
      

floating in the deep blue sky of primal awareness?

Or have you felt her moving in the unfathomable depths
   

of your inky black belly
      

where she often goes to stir
      

the boiling cauldron of destiny?

If you know where our sweetest of Mothers is
   

please tell her
   

that I am unable to stop the flood of tears
      

that rises from the well of my deep longing
         

and that I yearn to hold her
         

and to be held by her again

Brother Sun

Nothing at all escapes your warm life giving gaze!
   

Please look all around now from your high place
   

and tell me if you see our Mother's dancing form
     

as she goes about her many tasks
       

- can you catch a glimpse of her shadow
       

as it plays on the steep cliffs of revelation?

If so, please tell her to come for her child
   

who stands now in his crib
      

gripping tightly and shaking
      

the constraining rail of the ego
         

crying Mother! Mother! Mother!
            

unable to find contentment in anything but her

If you see her
   

please kiss her affectionately for me
   

and tell her to come quickly
      

as I am through sleeping and dreaming
         

and only want to be with her

"Soft Moon Shining: Poems for the Mother of the Universe"

By Ethan Walker III

At DeviPress www.devipress.com/smshome.html

Photo Credit: Facebook Page "Moon"

www.facebook.com/pages/Moon/19199534284

Happy Divine Mother's Day to all Friends of the Heart

Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy: The Essence of Enlightenment" www.KatieDavis.org/AwakeBooksKatie.html  

Ego-ji and Fear, Anger and Sadness by Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy"

The invitation of this reading is to allow it to be "multi-dimensional." That is to say, the words are flowing as a river through consciousness and are only pointers. There is something deeper here, something ineffable; the radiant stillness within. This stillness is behind and permeating every word.

If you are not aware of the stillness now, please take a moment to be conscious of the breath and follow it into the silence. While reading, if you find that you are only reading intellectually, please take a moment to stop; consciously breathe. Are you aware of being? The truest teaching is not within the words. The words always point to the stillness.


The phantom named ego is an altered state of consciousness, whose primary belief is the mental idea of "me." Its false assumption is that its identity is the body and that it was born and therefore must die. In identification with the mind-made self, you cannot be conscious of the magnificent Heart that you genuinely are. Instead, the ego believes itself to be only a fraction and its mantra is "me against the world."

This sense of separation creates the delusion of a tremendous pain gap that manifests in the life situation as all forms of negativity; from a general sense of unease, impatience or frustration, to anger or rage, sorrow or misery and fear, dread or even terror. I suppose that one could say that in its altered state, Ego-ji is fear.

For the ego that thinks it is the body, the deepest fear is the threat of death, annihilation and extinction. With great compassion and understanding, we could note that anyone who still believes that their identity is the body is under a constant sense of threat and more likely than not, unaware of the related stress and negativity.

This fraction is in constant search to complete itself through some other, causing anxiety or trying to escape all that it suspects to be a threat. Whether seeking pleasure to avoid pain or trying to escape what it fears, its baseline within time will always be some form of fear.

The most armored state of the ego and therefore the most fearful is anger. When we encounter an angry ego, the misperception is that it is very powerful, when in fact it is demonstrating the strongest need to control in order to protect itself. When we directly investigate and allow anger to consciously arise within us in order to feel it fully, understand its structure and how it perpetuates, in that acceptance, the anger begins to dissolve.

Just underneath the anger as it fades away, we then encounter the next protective layer of the ego, which is sadness. Some cultures have conditioned the ego to believe that crying is a weakness. When in fact, this ego state of consciousness is allowing more vulnerability and is therefore less fearful. When we allow the sadness to fully arise consciously, after first resisting the emotion, it is similar to a floodgate opening. The emotion gushes forth and allows a certain freedom in the release. In its emptiness, one may even realize the birth of true compassion.

Once again, if there is a willingness to attend, allow and understand the accompanying psychological voice and how it perpetuates negativity, we have brought what was previously hidden and subconsciously operating into the light of consciousness. When we completely allow and accept the emotion, it begins dissolving.

If you are courageous and curious enough to investigate the next layer of the ego's negativity, you will encounter fear; the least guarded and protected human emotion. As with all of these negative emotional states, there are many degrees of intensity within the same emotion. So if you are inviting in fear for the purpose of investigation, why only allow a little bit? Let this be the opportunity to follow it from fearful to terrorized to petrified of death or extinction.

A helpful question might be, "Is there anything deeper?" Follow it into the "valley of the shadow of death" and find out whether death is a reality.

Psychological fear is always based on what the ego imagines and never on what is actually happening. For instance, the survival instinct might arise if a tiger jumped out right now from behind your computer screen. For certain, the body intelligence would immediately jump to safety. This is not the fear of which I am sharing. Psychological fear is purely psychological, without clear and present danger. Fear arises due to imagining what might be, so it is a chronic future fixation that is based on separation.

Without time, the ego does not exist. The identification with the ego-I requires the delusion of time and separation. So when we are fiercely being now, separation and its fear are not possible.

Likewise, when we apply the Self-inquiry question, "Who am I?", the mind's attention is turned inward and therefore the veil of ego is immediately dropped. Instead, we look to see from whence that thought is arising.

In either case, whether being now or through Self-inquiry, whatever is subconscious or unconscious will eventually arise into consciousness. This is important, since the darkness cannot survive the light of consciousness and this is the true liberation to which I point. This liberation is not possible if you assume what I am sharing to be true as another belief. It is only available to the brave heart who wants to know the truth by directly investigating.

One could say that there is no escape. In fact, the sooner that you are willing to allow and investigate the deepest fears of the psyche, the sooner those imaginary fears will dissolve into the pure love that you genuinely are right now.

Listen ...

Ego-ji is scared because it imagines that is is separated. It is then angry, because it is imagines its weakness in sorrow. It is sad because it is defending against what it imagines fear to be. It greatest fear is the imagination of what death is.

The truth of the matter is that Ego-ji was never born and cannot die. Ego-ji itself only exists in its imagination. Upon this revelation, it all seems quite amusing and yet when caught up in the dream, it is a nightmare. The opportunity of the awakening is to free all of these ghosts and see things aright. In this, you are fearlessly free. In fact, you are free now and yet may not be conscious of the fact.

Enjoy the Katie Davis Website at www.KatieDavis.org

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"Before the Awakening - Forgiveness and Allowing - The Relative Truth of People and Things" by Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy"

In Hawaii, the pink rose is named the Lokelani and symbolizes compassion.

We enter the temple of the Heart as love. You already are the Abode of Radiant Love.

Yet, when we begin shifting attention out of the head and into the physical body to be present, we become aware of emotions that were previously unnoticed, perhaps for many years.

With the ego's idea of self-protection, these emotions will often prevent the deeper inquiry required to enter the inner body, which is the only gateway to stillness. This inner sanctum rests just underneath the painful emotions; ego's separation theory and therefore personal desire and fear.

If the ego tries to avoid the negative emotions by escaping, the ego succeeds and your opportunity to realize what is already free of the ego and its emotional states will vanish.

If the ego resists the negativity, it will persist. Either consciously or unconsciously, the negativity will continue to have an impact on the body and its life situation. In fact, resistance is likely to make the negativity even stronger.

The only option is to allow the emotion to be just the way that it is and feel it fully in the body. You will notice that the ego's thinking quickly aligns with the negativity, which makes the emotion stronger. With great curiosity and compassion, the invitation is to allow the deeper emotion in order to gain greater understanding about how thinking is directly related to your emotional states and see how the negativity perpetuates.

I am not suggesting that you try to change anything or manipulate the thinking. I am inviting you to merely look and allow it all to be as it is, so that it is directly observed, felt completely and understood. There is really no other choice, since it is as it is anyway! However, in conscious allowing, we may be able to arrive at acceptance. 

Acceptance is not resignation. In acceptance, one could say that there is a willingness to suffer and when it arises, it is welcomed. Uncomfortable, yes, but we are genuinely patient, compassionate and it is alright.

Attention and allowing are consciousness and this consciousness is deeply harmonic and unifying. When we watch and feel emotions fully, the consciousness begins transforming the negativity into the perfect love that it genuinely already is. No effort is required and the transformation happens by itself. It does require attention and allowing.

I understand that feeling the emotions may be quite painful or even what seems to be unbearable. However, most of the pain is in the resistance or in our imagination about how difficult these emotions might be. In this, we merely fear our imagination. Instead, become curious enough to find out if the deeper emotions are as they seem.

It is often said that the pathway to freedom takes a courageous heart. While this is true, allowing is also highly intelligent. You may quickly leap to the realization that you are the awareness within which the suffering is appearing. Yet, the suffering will continue to perpetuate, although "no one" suffers.

This is not the true freedom to which I am pointing. Suffering will not be fulfilled until it is known. That which is known is past. You have rightly heard the good news that Self-realization is the end of all suffering. May you equally hear that there is no escape? In fact, IN is the only way out!

Everyone has had painful past situations that they have had to endure. Although the ego would have you believe that yours is certainly unique and the worst!

We do not need to go into the past to process the story. In fact, we cannot keep telling a painful story and get rid of the pain.

Indeed, the hidden emotions will always arise as conditioned reactions to our present life situation. This is the past that still lives on within you. Some are so deeply embedded in the psyche that they do not even surface until we begin to go within.

You may have already tried to forgive the person or situation, yet the forgiveness might have remained only mental and somehow escaped the ultimate forgiveness of the heart. True forgiveness has no external requirement, which means that it is free of dependence. It has nothing to do with anyone else or even the storyline. Real forgiveness is the power of the timelessness within you that is already free of personal history.

One aspect of forgiveness is frequently overlooked. Have you equally forgiven yourself for the perception? While dual in nature, in Hawaii we have a healing practice called Ho'oponopono that is currently spreading worldwide. The practice assumes personal responsibility for all that is resisted, avoided, judged or negatively encountered. Ho'oponopono then addresses the deeper question, "who am I?"

Before the awakening, when we realize that the life story is a self-projection, self-forgiveness becomes primary. Just as a movie projector projects images onto a screen, so that we can enjoy the movie, what remains unconscious and unattended within you is being projected right now in front of you this very moment, so that it can be consciously seen. The world that you are presently experiencing is a projection of altered states of consciousness within you.

In other words, both the victim and the victimizer have their roots within you. While the ego may adamantly deny this and continue to blame so called others, through direct observation you may find that what I am sharing is true. When you have allowed, attended and understood what seems to be within, you are freed.

Of course, you then realize that you have indeed always been free and that you have been needlessly suffering.

Ho'oponopono is based on four beautiful expressions that are directed only within:

"Please forgive me. I am sorry. Thank you and I love you."

In short, please forgive my projection, I am sorry for perceiving in this manner, thank you for bringing what was unconscious into consciousness, I love you, Divine and self."

While dealing only with the ego state of consciousness and the Divine in a dual manner, the healing does take full responsibility for negativity until this responsibility is fulfilled and until you are free of the ego.

Before active meditation is possible, the most powerful tools that are readily accessible to everyone are silent sitting, a willingness to look within, allow the emotions, feel them completely and observe how they operate without changing anything, as well as Self-inquiry. You will discover that there is nothing wrong with you!

In this willingness, what was perceived as negativity dissolves and you are able to enter the temple of the Heart as love. You are freed for the deeper inquiry into the formlessness within, realize who is looking and ultimately, realize that which is making everything possible.

In closing, you are already the Ultimate Reality.

If you can already hear what is being shared in the pointer directly above, there is no one who is not ready here and now. Surrender the "I am forgiving" (being this) and "I am unforgiving" (being that) to rest only as "I am." "I am" is the bridge that crosses over to who you already are.

Who am I? is the only essential question, whether questioned now or later.

Katie Davis Website: www.KatieDavis.org

(Free videos, free downloads, free monthly Friends of the Heart Newsletters)