Lissa Rankin - The Daily Flame: 365 Love Letters from Your Inner Pilot Light

Acknowledgments

Thank you first and foremost to my Inner Pilot Light, without which The Daily Flame would be nothing more than a twinkle in God/Goddesss eye. This whole creation belongs to the Divine Beloved who wrote it through me. I feel incredibly blessed to have been chosen to be the conduit for this book. I bow with all my love and devotion before this Force of Love that burns within us all.

To all the Daily Flame readers who have been reading Love Letters from Your Inner Pilot Light since 2009, you have my eternal gratitude. You inspire me daily and remind me to check in. Without you, this book wouldnt exist.

To Tami Simon, Jennifer Y. Brown, Gretel Hakanson, Jade Lascelles, Bridgette Boudreau, and everyone else at Sounds True, who took what was intended as a little pet project for my Daily Flame readers and had the vision to turn it into this beautiful book. To Jaidree Braddix, Celeste Fine, and Michele Martin, thank you for bearing with me as my little pet project became an unexpected book.

To my mother, Trish Rankin, to whom this book is dedicated and who transitioned out of her body as I wrote this beside her, I am forever grateful that you brought my Inner Pilot Light into this human world and that your faith taught me to trust an invisible Force of Love whose presence I came to know and trust. When people ask me where I got my faith, I think of you. Your steadfast, unwavering faith gave me the courage to make choices in my life I might never have been capable of making if I didnt believe in this Force of Love. Thank you for being such a blessing in my life.

I might never have come into close contact with my Inner Pilot Light were it not for the guidance, illumination, and love of my mentor Rachel Naomi Remen. When I first met Rachel, she told me that she recognized me but that the part of me she recognized only had about 28 percent stock in the company of Lissa. Maybe if we hang out together, she told me, the part of you I recognize can get 51 percent stock. All you need is 51 percent stock in a company to make all the decisions. I now understand that the part of me Rachel recognized was the part I later came to call my Inner Pilot Light. I still dont know whether that part has 51 percent stock in the company of Lissa, but at least I hear the voice of that wise, old part of me, and I am forever grateful to Rachel for recognizing something in me and fertilizing it until it started to blossom. I know you dont like it when I gush, Rachel, but I thank my lucky stars every day that you are in my life. I love you and am in awe of how blessed I have been by your presence, your wisdom, and your unconditional love.

To my daughter, Siena, thank you for showing me how brilliantly a childs Inner Pilot Light can sparkle when it is uncorrupted by the conditioning of dominant culture, fostered in the nest of a Waldorf-inspired school, and nurtured in the soul tribe that we live amongst. The purity of the divine love that shines through your cornflower blue eyes every time I look at you inspired me to write this book so that all beings everywhere might radiate love the way you do. Imagine a world where that is possible! Wow. Just wow. I love you, pumpkin.

To April, my home tree, house spouse, tribe glue, and roomie, I adore you. Thank you for being and doing all that you be and do so that I can tackle projects like writing a book. I love and appreciate everything about you and am so glad you once asked me if I would be your family. Yes. Yes. A hundred times stillyes.

To Pearl, the wind beneath my professional wings: Thank you for making this book possible, for keeping me grounded, for tending to the Daily Flame every day, for loving InfusionSoft and Excel spreadsheets way more than I do, for keeping the tribe sane, for having the courage to speak the truth, for sanding over many of my rough edges, and, most of all, for sticking with me through all that weve been through over the years. I appreciate you.

To Diane, my bestie and soul sister, thank you for traveling the spiritual path right alongside me, for listening to me ramble as I question everything, and for remembering my wholeness whenever I forget. I respect and admire the hell out of you, and I love you more than words can say.

To my beloved husband, Olivier, your presence in my life is a blessing that fills me with awe at how unbelievably generous the Universe can be. Thank you for showing up with your tender, wise heart wide open when my Inner Pilot Light sent out the cosmic call to yours. I did not know the kind of endless intimacy that was possible until you came into my life. I awaken in your arms each day, bowing in devotion and grateful thanks to the Force of Love that brought us so mysteriously together. I choose you today.

To Mary, thank you for reminding me that Anne Lamott once said, One secret of life is that the reason life works at all is that not everyone in your tribe is nuts on the same day. What a relief! Mary, Mary, I love your Inner Pilot Light. I love that you want to take all the wild animals home to sleep with you in your bed. I love that my smile muscles always ache from overuse when you leave. I love reading the killer blog you write for only eight people. Thank you for not being nuts on the same days Im nuts.

To Maja, thank you for being the goddess of stillness in my life and proving to me that longtime meditators can still (cue the dubstep) rap like nobodys business! I am so grateful for you and the delicate petals of your blossoming heart.

To Rachel, my twin from a different mother, bless you for showing how I could be if my Inner Pilot Light was lit up all the way! Thank Goddess someone at Esalen once told me we needed to meet. Ill never forget the day I met you on that Santa Cruz beach, looked deep into your forever eyes, and knew from the shocking heart-opening I had never experienced before in the presence of a stranger that I must have met you in some life I dont remember. Im so grateful we are reunited in this life.

To Dennis, my sky love, twin flame, soul brother, whose journey through the depths of mysticism opened me to understandings I never would have been able to express in this book had I not experienced them through the eyes of the Beloved in a dear friend. I cherish our unusual friendship beyond words, so I wont even try to express how grateful I am to have you in my life and how dearly I love you.

To Charles, who rocked my world, opened my heart, shifted my worldview, and lit up the love revolutionary activist in me. Bless you for holding the peacemaking vibration of nonpolarizing universal love and showing us all how to love one another, even when we hold opposing points of view. Your influence is all over this book. My life has been so enriched by having you in it. I carry you in my heart.

To my spiritual counselor, Ted, many thanks for helping me navigate what is often a bewildering spiritual path. I am so grateful for your wisdom, your intuition, your knowledge, your expertise, and your friendship. So many Daily Flames have been inspired by your teachings. I am blessed by your presence in my life.

To Asha, bless you for helping me clear some of the intense trauma Ive experienced in the past three years so my Inner Pilot Light can continue to sparkle, even in the presence of deep pain. What a blessing to have met you at just the right time, and thank Goddess my projective identifications didnt keep you away from me. (Phew.)

To Brandy, thank you for teaching me to expand all the ways I can hear my Inner Pilot Light communicate with me, for teaching me to reach deeper and inquire further, for connecting me with a mysterious invisible world of love, energy, and magic. I adore that we get to be in Hogwarts together.

To Emma, what a blessing to have Aphrodite Incarnate sparkling her Inner Pilot Light in my tribe, my home, and my heart. I feel this bursting in my heart just invoking your sweet presence in my consciousness. I love you and appreciate you.