“Those who are awake live in a constant state of amazement.” – Jack Kornfield
“How do I know if my inspirations are coming from God from my own thought?” A client asked me this great question recently.
There is a point of surrender on our spiritual journey where we know that the essence of who we are is much greater than the flesh body and more immense than our limiting thinking. When we connect with the infinite presence of God we know there is but one power, one presence, one life. We are not separate from God’s Presence but one with it.
We know that all activity, ideas, opportunities, come from this creative Source. One way to deepen this experience is the practice of gratitude. Every time we give thanks for something good, we acknowledge our greater connection with God.
There is no magic to trusting our intuition. It is a continual practice to listen to insights that we have. One of the reason’s why the time we spend in silence is so precious. Intuition comes as a whisper and a quiet presence.
I invite you to use this attunement from The Book of Love and Creation by Paul Selig:
I am choosing to live my life in accordance with my higher knowing. And I am aware that all that is before me is created in conscious choice in alignment with my Creator. As I move forward, I change my knowing to align into congruence with Divine Will and with my own requirements for my freedom. I am Word through this intention to stand in my freedom. Word I am Word.
As we develop inner awareness, we are able to discern the difference between the ego wanting attention or the whisper of Divine Wisdom. As we deepen in our practice, we trust the inspirations of the heart.
Affirm: I am grateful for Divine Wisdom guiding me each day.
“The great wisdom traditions are trying to teach us that grief isn’t something to run from. It’s a liminal space, a time of transformation.” – Richard Rohr
Years ago, my neighbor’s cat, Scooter, would wander over to my garden and watch me weed. At first I was irritated with her, but I learned to appreciate her company when I found out she was taking care of the mice invasion in the garden. I looked forward to her visits. One day I realized I hadn’t seen her in a while. I asked my neighbor where Scooter was. She sadly informed me that she was hit by a car and died the week before. I remember being so devastated by the loss of this cat. It didn’t make sense; she wasn’t my cat. I didn’t feed her or take her to the vet or change her kitty litter. But the loss for me was overwhelming. What is wrong with me, I thought? Am I crazy? Why am I grieving the loss of this cat so intensely?
Isn’t that how we think about grief? Why can’t I get it together? Why am I so emotional all the time? Why doesn’t life make sense?
We are so misguided when it comes to grieving. Grieving is a normal, natural and necessary way to deal with loss. We tend to be afraid of our emotions. From an early time, we are told, “Don’t cry. Crying is a sign of weakness.” We want to brush grief under the rug. “You should be over grief in two to three months.” “Grief gets easier as you get older.” There are so many myths about how to move through the grieving process. The greatest truth about grief is to learn to allow the process.
I was interviewed this week by Georgena Grace on her Integrated Wellbeing podcast. I appreciate her explanation of grief. “You are not broken by loss. You are broken open like a seed to self-awareness and new connections.”
Grief is not something to get over. We learn to include the loss, the pain, and the sorrow as part of life. We allow it to open and expand our experience of love. Feel your feelings of grief. Attend a grief group. Journal your innermost thoughts, fears and loss. Find a grief counselor. Reach out to friends for support. Be patient with yourself.
In the Book of Hope, Jane Goodall writes, “The depth of our grief is a reminder of the depth of our love.” When we allow ourselves to grieve, we expand our awareness. We open ourselves to more love.
“Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you. Lao Tzu
As a new Science of Mind student, I would passionately pray my spiritual mind treatment. Immediately I would speculate how my prayer was going to be answered. My prayers were usually about money since I believed that there wasn’t enough to go around. I would wait for the mail to show up only to find an empty mailbox. I would check to see if any clients called with potential business, but no one called.
When I complained to my practitioner, she reminded that it was none of my business where or how my good will appear. She said, “If you continue to look for it, you haven’t developed your faith.”
I discovered there are three steps to building faith: Hope, trust and gratitude. Hope is a sense of doubtful expectation. We hope something good will happen to us but underneath, doubt and fears linger. Those doubts and fears produce a type of anxiety called waiting.
As we release the doubts and fears, we begin to develop trust. We have a deeper conviction in the creative process of life and develop greater patience. The stress of waiting is replaced by patience and a sense of calmness that all is well.
Here was the important part for me: not to look for the demonstration of good but to give thanks that it was already done. Gratitude is the expansiveness of faith.
I learned it was none of my business how my prayer would be demonstrated but I now give thanks that it is already received. Lesson learned.
Affirmation: I give thanks that what I desire is already received.
“Use your intellect, imagination and feeling for the purpose of seeing and sensing freedom instead of bondage, joy instead of unhappiness, plenty instead of want, health in place of disease. The very denial of your good keeps that good from you.” —Ernest Holmes
Every year around election time, I pull out Ernest Holmes “Prayer for My Country.” I pass it around to friends and social media and pray it feverishly in hopes that people who think like me will step up and vote so that my candidate will win.
When I read the prayer recently, I realized that what I was doing was based in fear. I slipped back into my childhood ways of beseeching God — please bring me the bike I want for Christmas or please help our team win the football game.
Ernest’s prayer has nothing to do with elections, politics or winning. The prayer is acknowledging a vision of our country where “success, prosperity and happiness are now operating in the affairs of every individual in this country.”
In his recent talk (October 9), Dr. David Alexander stated the importance of embodiment. He said we are missing the point if we are trying to GET something. We already live in a divine flow of life. Ernest Holmes states, “God’s Creative Power of Mind is right here. We have as much of this power to use as we believe in and embody.” It is our work to align, believe and embrace this good.
I realized Ernest’s Prayer for My Country is an opportunity for me to stand in agreement with this vision, to heal my places of unforgiveness, release resentment and fear. My work is to surrender my belief in separation and my belief that my way is the right way. My work is to be of service to my community, take responsibility for my actions and speak with good purpose.
My work is to vote with a loving heart for our country and embody the vision “…this spiritual democracy shall endure, guaranteeing to everyone in this country personal liberty, happiness and self-expression.”
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” Albert Einstein
We are reminded each day what a fragile line we walk between peace and conflict. War might look like it’s happening somewhere else, but daily we face inner conflict and turmoil that causes us pain and suffering.
Since our human nature is 98 percent emotional and 2 percent rational, conflict causes a physical feeling of anxiety and an emotional feeling of insecurity. When anxiety is experienced, we have a choice between reacting or reflecting. If we neglect to choose, our default mode is reactive.
The reflective path takes commitment and intention. It cannot be established during the conflict; it is something we have to practice before the conflict takes place. When we are reflective we observe both our own behavior and others. We use that 2% of the rational mind that allows us to feel compassion and love and eventually forgiveness.
There is a lesson in the Course in Miracles that invites us to focus our thoughts: “Peace of mind is clearly an internal matter. It must begin with your own thoughts, and then extend outward. It is from your peace of mind that a peaceful perception of the world arises.” The lesson invites us to notice our fearful, anxiety-producing thoughts and offending personalities or events and repeat a new thought: I could see peace instead of this.
Dr. Wayne Dyer stated it best, “How do you get world peace? You get world peace through inner peace. If you’ve got a world full of people who have inner peace, then you have a peaceful world.”
I am often overwhelmed with the conflicts and issues about our country. I am grateful for this prayer from Ernest Holmes.
My Prayer for My Country
by Ernest Holmes
Believing in the Divine destiny of the United States of America and in the preservation of liberty, security, and self-expression for all, I offer this, my prayer for my country:
I know that Divine Intelligence governs the destiny of the United States of America, directing the thought and the activity of all who guide its affairs.
I know that success, prosperity, and happiness are the gifts of freedom, the Divine heritage and is now operating in the affairs of every individual in this country.
I know that Divine guidance enlightens the collective mind of the people of this country, causing it to know that economic security may come to all without the loss of either personal freedom or individual self-expression.
I know that no one can believe or be led to believe that freedom must be surrendered in order to insure economic security for all.The All-Knowing Mind contains the answer to every problem which confronts this country.
I know that every leader in this country is now directed by this All-Knowing Mind and has the knowledge of a complete solution to every problem. Each is compelled to act upon this knowledge to the end that abundance, security, and peace shall come to all.
And I know that this spiritual democracy shall endure, guaranteeing to everyone in this country personal liberty, happiness, and self-expression. Amen.
