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There’s lot of talk about doing God’s Will. “You choose, I’ll follow.” There’s also quite a bit about it being about my will, what I decide it to be. Which is it? I think it means that God wants for us what we want for ourselves. God’s will is simply salvation – that we remember who we are. So the path He lays out for us can be colored by our wishes, our will.
God never forces us to do anything. He only encourages. Seeing the wider Point-Of-View, He knows all is well. No matter what our monkey minds might chatter up. God never stops, never loses patience. Why should He? He has all the time in the world.
What an amazing system He created of Cause and Effect which moves the energy in the Universe. We all have an impact on how it moves, in our own way, at our own pace, in our own time. By our impressions about life we are at cause in what’s happening to us. Our thoughts conjure the particular effect we think about. They direct our action (our cause) to the effect it produces.
Underlying the various stories we seem so magically able to create, is a brilliant, Loving Universe that wants to support us to have whatever it is we say we want. This entity wishes only that we experience all that life has to offer – the “good” and the “bad” – as it’s all God Stuff after all.
It is we carbon-based creatures who care to see this false reality of guilt and blame, up and down, love and fear. We can’t seem to get the game; that it’s all about Love. We find it so hard to see through the illusion to the Loving nature of the Universe.
We can feel it. Maybe see it in action. But it is I guess our challenge, our question to answer: Will we rest into that Loving Universe each and every day? Welcoming all that comes our way with love and understanding? Doing what makes us happy, helping and supporting others, knowing we are all in this together?
In the end, it is God’s will that we find our way there. Salvation is the goal and its end is assured. But in the meantime, it is our will that fills in the details. What we believe about ourselves, about our lives, how the universe works is how the Universe works for us.
I’ve been playing around with surrender lately. Thought it’s particularly appropriate in my situation right now, I do believe it’s an important concept.
Surrender, as I’m talking of it, simply means to accept what you find in your life. A wise friend pointed out that surrender without positive action attached is merely giving up. I prefer the idea of giving in. Getting in the flow of what’s happening and letting it take you. That doesn’t mean you can’t paddle or flap your wings, or look out for obstacles in the way. It’s just that you stop fighting the current and allow it to work for you instead of against you.
1) Surrender to the Daily Trip Ups
The best place to practice surrendering is with the little things. When you didn’t get the flavor you really wanted. Or when the lid doesn’t fit, the printer isn’t behaving, the kids are bouncing off the walls. You have a choice. You can get pissed off, rant to yourself or anyone who will listen about how that’s just another sign that life is out to get you, things never go your way, you should’ve . . . (or whatever such babble might come up that makes you feel bad). Or you can surrender to the fact that the kids are just playing, that this is not the right lid, or the printer needs some attention. Tell yourself that it’s all for the best. Maybe today is strawberry. Tomorrow could be blueberry. Use the small things to practice for the bigger ones.
2) Surrender to the Moment
It’s quite easy and possible to stop and surrender to this moment. It only takes one breath. I find this extremely helpful in the holiday season. When things get to moving too fast or too loud, if you take a breath and see what’s around you, you might find some good stuff. Even if there’s nothing going on and it’s quiet. Whatever is happening, surrender to it. Just this one moment.
3) Surrender When There’s Nothing You Can Do
Keep an eye out for those things that you truly can’t do anything about. At least not now. They’re not so hard to surrender to. Simply acknowledging that there’s nothing you can do about it can kick you into surrender gear. The rent’s due, but it’s Sunday and there’s nothing you can do about it today. So “Don’t worry. Be Happy.” Just accept it. You can take your positive action tomorrow. The Dalai Lama said, “If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.”
4) Surrender to Your Right to Shine Your Light
We all have something to shine. It’s not really a right, I just liked the rhyme of it. It’s more like a purpose or even an obligation. I believe that we are all put on this Earth to share our light. The light that’s inside of us. That’s not exactly easy. But if we practice with this thought, maybe we can learn to let it shine!
5) Surrender When You Feel Caught
If you find yourself stuck in resistance or obstinance or anger, or a meeting that won’t stop, just breathe out and realize you’re there. Take a moment to ask yourself, “Can I accept this situation as it is? Do I have a choice?” This is where you are.
6) Surrender to the Joy
I happen to believe it is a Loving Universe. If I allow myself to see all the joy around me, I’m reminded of that. Surrender to the hot bath, the loving embrace, a good meal. There’s so much in this world to enjoy! It may be hard to surrender to a bleak situation, but not so hard to surrender to what’s good. Practice where you can.
7) Surrender to God
Caroline Myss said of surrender that it’s about saying to God, “You choose, I’ll follow.” Knowing that we don’t know it all and can’t see the whole picture. We can trust in and surrender to God.
Just this past week, I saw a pattern of mine. People say they’re going to help me and for one reason or another, it doesn’t happen. I can’t blame them because there has been a dizzying array of faces in this place for me. It can’t be anyone’s fault but mine: this even happens to me when the person hasn’t offered a thing.
Let’s say I have an issue. I see that I have arrangements to meet with several people over the next few days who could offer some good perspective. Lo and behold, the dates get cancelled, or I show up and the other person has something more important to talk about and my issue never even reaches the table.
This is clearly all about me and my pattern. Why, I would tend to wonder, upon seeing this unfold once again, do I thwart myself like this? With this latest go-round, I’d say I might have even expected it. Don’t I want the help? Of course I do. Then, why?
Nothing. Why would I do this to myself? I can’t think of a reason. Okay, what if I take the positive slant and turn it around? What if I ask instead, “What am I trying to help myself see?” What would I do or say if I was going to use this a lesson?
When I phrased it that way, 3 things came to me:
1) Quite clearly, life is trying to tell me to just figure it out by myself and stop expecting others to do it for me. Conversations with God Book 1 says that there is no sin – except maybe to take someone else’s word for it.
2) That doesn’t mean I don’t need the help and support of others from time to time. So maybe I can be more proactive about getting help. I’m the one who’s asking for it, after all. Don’t let it slide. Stay with it until I find the answer to the question I seek. Get clear on what it is I want to know. The more specific I am, the more likely I am to get an answer. I might also try to ask for one thing at a time, instead of a general ~ I need help with this issue.
3) Be sure I follow through on my offers to help others. It always pays to act the way you want others to act. Like attracts like. What goes around, comes around. I have found in matters such as these, that it is not however, necessarily, the path you are expecting it to be. (Networking, I believe, works on the same principle.) You may be talking to one person, but that energy can spread to others. Lots of others. You never know from where unexpected help may come.
In the end it just doesn’t matter if, in fact, I was thwarting myself because of some fear of success or deep down I’m afraid of what they will say or what I will need to do about it . . . Waste of time. That’s just an ugly quagmire.
This way, instead of kicking myself, wallowing in self pity or feeling myself a loser, a victim, afraid, I have an action plan for how I can move forward.
Emotions have a habit of collecting other emotions; especially similar ones. When you feel pain after stubbing your toe, you might start to wonder if someone is avoiding you. The next thing you know you’re aggravated at your printer! It can go so far as to make you feel like you’re being sucked into a downward spiral. A slight thought that someone did something wrong catches into feeling like they did it on purpose and before you know it, you’re boiling with anger!
When things are said to “escalate” that’s an example of the chain reaction. Emotions can be catching. There’s a well-used story of the guy who has a bad day at work, comes home and snaps at his wife, who is short with the child, who smacks the dog. One good deed, on the other hand, can cause someone to have a better day than usual, go home and do something helpful for a spouse, who gives the child some extra time. The child then feeds the dog, without being asked.
This chain reaction is what creates your life. You have a thought. It generates a feeling or emotion, which spurs you to action. You influence and create your world by the thoughts you have that put you into e-motion.
It’s important to watch for and pay attention to chain reactions of emotions, both in yourself and others. You may want to get out of the way if you don’t want to be affected by it. For you will.
Like running into a moving car (or the swoop of a loved ones arms), chain reactions of emotions have Effect. What kind of effect are you making with your thoughts?
Taking action in the world creates a conduit for life to flow.
Being Grateful allows Good Things to flow. And it keeps you open for Guidance.
Using Guidance to fuel your actions helps you move past apparent barriers.
(Do remember to take good care of yourself along the journey.)
If the flow should slow down, try giving more to others.
The actions you take on others’ behalf will open the conduit wider.
May Goodness flow freely into your life!
This is a sample of my upcoming e-book, due out in the Fall.
We all have them. Doesn’t matter what you do – full time worker, unemployed, freelancer, mother, billionaire . . . we all have places where we waste or lose time unnecessarily. Sometimes we may choose to do nothing or are forced by physical or emotional woes. I’m talking about those that we are often unconscious of.
For instance, in the company I work for (which employs thousands of people), I happen to still be the delegate for two people who have left the company. Every time someone sends out an email to everyone, I am inundated with multiple copies that I must delete. This is an energy leak.
How about an illustrative example? Let’s say you have a leak in your roof. Whenever it rains, you have extra work to collect and dispose of water that gets in the house.
Sometimes energy leaks occur for me when I say I’m going to do something and I don’t do it. I expend a lot of energy remembering what it is I’m supposed to do, or reviewing it and transferring it from To Do List to To Do List.
If you pay attention, you can often feel the energy flowing from your body, though you are clearly not exerting yourself.
Items such as broken appliances draw energy from you when they don’t work properly. It certainly zaps your energy when things that are supposed to save you time and energy, add to it.
I often waste a lot of time trying to find the right socks. I’m a working girl, so there is no reason why I can’t afford to buy myself a few more pairs of socks to stop this ridiculous waster.
There was a time in my life when I struggled day after day with a litter scoop that clearly wasn’t making my life easier. I was at the store one day when I noticed a scoop that would do the job so much better. I believe it cost $1.49. I couldn’t believe I had wasted all that time and energy when all I had to do was spend this small amount of money to change everything!
Things like litter scoops and socks seem like small potatoes in the hurry up and keep up world we live in. But they can add up and make you feel far less energetic than you should.
What I try to do is, once a month or so I take an inventory of places where I think my energy is leaking. It’s important, I’ve found, to give myself a little quiet time to think about ways to plug those leaks.
Very often it’s simply a matter of taking a step. Taking action to get what you need. Maybe calling a repair person, or taking something back to where you bought it. Remember that things on a To Do List can be very draining. I know, it’s hard to find the time to do things as they come up, sometimes. I often keep a list through the week, when I don’t have the time, and then deal with them on the weekends. I reserve 30 minutes for doing all the little things that pile up through the week – like picking up and putting away, sweeping, sewing a button, etc.
The trick, really, is to deal with things, as soon as you can. Taking even a small step can often cross the thing off your list or at least help to regain some of the lost energy.
Another place you may find energy leaks is in relationships. There are some people who just zap your energy. I admit, I haven’t figured out how to protect myself from this. I suspect preparing myself for it, knowing what will happen, and accepting that I’m going to leave some energy behind, I can at least keep it from compounding.
Maybe the leak is a matter of saying what you need to say to someone. Things left out in the air can definitely drag you down. A writing tip here would be to write a rough draft of what you want to say (even if you’re going to say it out loud). Don’t hit the send button (or seal and stamp, or open your mouth) until you’ve thought it through a bit. Just make sure you promise yourself to do it. You’ll be surprised how much energy will rush back into you when you let that go.
I like to make a game of plugging energy leaks. Whenever I catch myself doing things more than once, or gritting my teeth and feeling like something’s a chore. When I find I’m not comfortable with someone or some situation. When I say to myself, why am I doing this? I challenge myself to come up with ways to make it easier.
This week in my newsletter from Cheryl Richardson, she was talking about her new book, “You Can Create an Exceptional Life,” written with Louise Hay and due out on September 20, 2011. It came out of a year long discussion with Louise Hay. (Some people have such blessings!) Cheryl shared some of the book with us. I think these habits are excellent and wanted to pass them along.
1. Optimism — That’s taking the Positive slant, which works for me. I’m coming to believe what I keep hearing: that life is what you think it is. The more you fill your head with optimistic thoughts, the happier you are. It’s not denying what is, but putting a positive slant on it, to keep yourself centered and smiling.
2. Simplicity — I don’t think anyone would say that complicated is better than simple. It’s SARK’s notion of Micromovements, chunking it down, baby steps. We are creatures that don’t do well (most of us) when there’s too much going on. Be on the lookout for multi-tasking. Wherever you can simplify your life you feel better. I believe it was Cheryl Richardson who said that improving your life is usually not about adding something to it, but getting rid of things you don’t need.
3. Trust — This one speaks of having a view of life that all is well. That there is perfection in everything that happens, that there is a reason. With this kind of attitude you’re more able to bounce back and move through whatever comes your way.
4. Service — Nothing makes for an evolved life quite like being of service. It adds dimension to everything you do. And raises the level of vibration. It is an amazing cure for many mental stresses. Give of yourself and watch how much comes back. When you’re trying to do something, if you add the aspect of service you infuse everything with an energy and power that can’t be equaled by anything else.
5. Action — Without action, nothing gets done. I’m a dreamer myself and have often gotten lost in the imaginations of my mind. But without action, whatever you dream of remains on the border between metaphysical and physical realities that Maria Nemeth speaks about.
6. Faith — Behind all action is the willingness, the faith, to move forward even though you don’t really know what’s ahead. I think of it as a form of courage. Faith is the driving force that gets us all up every day. Whether it’s faith in God or money, that things will get better, or something wonderful will happen. None of which we know for sure.
7. Magnetism — This is an interesting one to include. It’s the knowledge that like attracts like. It’s knowing that our feelings dictate what are lives are about. Cheryl and Louise talk about it coming from “putting (and keeping) ourselves in the right state of mind.” And, they say, there’s much about that in the book.
I would suggest keeping an eye out for “You Can Create an Exceptional Life.” I’m sure it will be available everywhere.
Keep on evolving!
The Positive Slant On the Path 