Dancing in the Streets: Stories to Inspire, Guide and Transform Your Spiritual Life
By Nina Darrell
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About this ebook
From the dawning of time, human beings have been spiritual in nature. Every person has an inborn spiritual self to discover. The universe gives everyone clues that can potentially alter and shape their life, but they are often missed or not fully understood.
We are living in an age of spirit, and spirits desire is to inspire, guide and transform every life. Dancing in the Streets seeks to put you in touch with the language of spirit and enhance your personal connection to the divine. Through synchronistic and spiritual stories and anecdotes, author Nina Darrell offers openings into the language of spirit in new ways. Learn how to interpret spirits guidance for your life, and discover where spirit has been leading you all along.
You can be inspired and engage with a universe that is always willing to teach and communicate with you. Are you ready to learn?
Nina Darrell
Nina Darrell was ordained in 1996 after receiving her Master of Divinity Degree from the University of Toronto in 1995. As well as a pastor, Nina has been a nurse practitioner and a retreat center owner; she has also taught yoga, meditation and spirituality. She lives with her husband, James, in Toronto, Canada.
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Dancing in the Streets - Nina Darrell
Copyright © 2013 Nina Darrell.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-8994-6 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4759-8995-3 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-4759-8996-0 (e)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013908550
iUniverse rev. date: 6/20/2013
Contents
Author’s Preface
Introduction: Three Spiritual Pathways
Part I
Noticing and Affirming: Stories to Inspire You
Chapter One Paying Attention to the Weird and the Strange
Chapter Two Paying Attention to the Troublesome
Chapter Three Paying Attention to the Bigger Picture
Part II
Responding and Partnering: Guiding Stories
Chapter Four Angels in Our Midst
Chapter Five Working with the Universe
Chapter Six The Question of the Fleece
Part III
Living a Synchronistic Life: Transformative Stories
Chapter Seven Dancing in the Streets
Chapter Eight The Evolving Work of Spirit
Chapter Nine Putting it All Together
Acknowledgments
Notes
Suggestions for Further Reading
I dedicate this book to James my partner, and to Michael and Carolynn, love manifested.
My grandchildren Braelynn, Kylan, Cole, and Corsen make life so worthwhile.
The spiritual consciousness of our time is not focused on abandoning anything; the deep yearning is to outgrow, transcend, evolve towards the new that is beckoning us forth; …
Diarmuid O Murchu
Author’s Preface
A new (but also ancient) spirituality has found its way into popular culture over the past twenty years. A handful of authors have been writing about spirituality for the masses. I am grateful for the work of Louise Hay, Sarah Ban Breathnach, Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dwyer and Eckhart Tolle, to mention a few of these giants. Their quest for a new god-language
has captured the imagination of many spiritual seekers.
They have greatly augmented the spiritual health and happiness of countless people with spiritual practices such as daily affirmations, gratefulness journaling, and meditation techniques. But something more is needed. "Dancing in the Streets" will offer you an in-depth spiritual perspective—one that you can apply to many aspects of your life. It will teach you how to make greater sense of your challenges and blessings, and help you discern where your own path is leading you.
My path has not been straight and narrow, but wide and unconventional, embracing both spirituality and religion. I hold a Master of Divinity Degree, have practiced as an ordained minister, but have also explored many alternative forms of spirituality. I am a reiki practitioner, have attended a sweat lodge ceremony, walked on hot coals, and chanted with Tibetan monks to name just a few of these experiences. But most importantly, I have struggled with the differences real and perceived, between organized religion and free-flowing spirituality. No matter the differences, I have always been concerned about the future of a universal spirituality that is open to awe, mystery, generosity and unconditional love. My greatest desire and where I suspect my journey will continue, is to influence the generations to come, to form and create the spiritual-religious environment of this and the next century.
Because my path has been visible to others, many young adults who describe themselves as spiritual,
but not religious,
have sought me out to officiate at their weddings. All of them were looking for something different from a tradition religious ceremony, yet deeper than just a legal marriage contract. Most importantly, they wanted a ceremony to reflect a spirituality that they can live, and one that resonates with who they are and what they believe. I have been deeply impacted by them. They have kept me wondering about the prospects of an on-going belief or spiritual faith that will speak to them and their children. Religious language has been a huge barrier for many of them. Let me begin then, with some of my own challenges to change my spiritual language, in the hope that I have something important and lasting to share.
Over two decades ago, I called divine energy: God. The first time I heard someone use the phrase the universe
to speak about this energy, I was taken aback. I was uncomfortable with what seemed an impersonal term. I did not think of God as a man in the sky, but I still believed in a god more outside of myself, than inside. Today, calling the God-force the universe,
or spirit,
makes great sense to me. In fact, divine energy permeates all life. Because our current language limits our beliefs, we need to incorporate many ways of speaking about the intelligence or energy that creates and orders life. People want relevant language that is true to the whole body of scientific and religious knowledge and experience that has grown over time, and is rapidly changing our world views.
I know that spiritual concepts can be abstract and difficult to apply to your life. Stories on the other hand, help to clarify concepts and make them accessible to you.¹ I already hinted that spirituality is both new and old. In actuality, spirituality is older than religion and has nourished people from the beginning of time. ² Like our earliest ancestors who told stories around the campfire, I will be telling you stories that are intended to spark memories of incidences in your life: some that perplexed you, some you have forgotten about, and some that you may not have thought much about in the past; ones that you may not even considered spiritual at all.
I’ve written "Dancing in the Streets to speak this new language and to help you understand your life from a spiritual perspective, in a fresh way. The truth in these stories, describes the inborn spiritual self that resides in everyone. Although some of the examples I use, reflect and narrate biblical stories,
Dancing in the Streets" is not just for Christians, but for anyone who is seeking spiritual understanding to strengthen their life. There are many books available that address your physical health, your mental health, your job success, you goals, your happiness and how to find love. This book has a different emphasis: your spirit, (and each of us has one) has a plan for you and a way to accomplish it. You will learn that the universe is always offering you opportunities to grow spiritually into your higher and most fulfilling self. However, spiritual development takes time and practice.
All the stories found within "Dancing in the Streets, from birth to death and everything in between, focus on a spiritual principle called
synchronicity or divine timing that infuses many aspects of your life. For now, let me say that synchronistic or unbidden, co-incidental events are mysterious and spiritual in nature; they are often more timely than you realize and potentially can alter and shape your life. But, these synchronistic clues that the universe gives you every day can easily be missed or not understood. They are the
wake up and notice what is going on" messages from the divine. When you learn to recognize this phenomenon for yourself, you will truly know that your life is unique, and guided by a higher power, or the universe itself. You will be able to make new connections about your life, and have some understanding of where your spiritual path is leading you. You will discover a greater vision for your life and the world, and your place within it. I know that following a spiritual pathway is exciting and challenging but also often confusing and unclear. Let me give you an example.
If someone had told me long ago that I would become a spiritual writer or speaker, I would never have believed them. Like many people, I would have chosen death over speaking in public. As a young girl, I was very shy and terrified of speaking in front of other people. In grade six, my teacher assigned each student a date to make a short speech. My surname was in the second half of the alphabet, and I was slated to speak just after the Christmas holiday break. That gave me a bit of breathing room to think up a plan to get out of making that speech. I knew I had to come up with a foolproof way to hoodwink my parents. I was aware that a new Catholic school was opening in the New Year in our district, so I thought that if I asked my parents to let me