Do You Hear What I Hear?

There are so many things calling.  Pulling in a zillion different ways.  There are those calls I have to make, the errands to run, emails to return, this to work on, these things to tend to. Whoops!  Don’t forget that. Oh, and what about the stacks of mending awaiting my time and attention?  Is it Christmas already?  I still have packages to wrap. And look, Aunt Mabel showed up!  Where will she sleep? What about all those newsletters and bits of information to read?  The emails continue to pile up.  And the laundry.

Internally there are voices, too.  A running commentary about yourself, your spouse, your kids, your parents, how you did, how you will do, the weather . . . Most of the time it’s easier to ignore most of it.

Sometimes I think this instant access to answers of all kinds, from millions of sources doesn’t help much. The telephone’s ringing and the television offers hundreds of options.  There is no lack of things to choose from, no dearth of distractions to keep us incredibly diffused.  Unless you’ve been spending your time atop a mountain, it’s unlikely you get more than a small portion of your day to focus quietly on anything.  Most of us are expert multi-taskers. It’s easy to see how a person could have to shut down in some places in order to keep up.

So, what are you going to listen to?  Where do you put your trust?  How do you know which of the million answers to your search you should take?  Which politician really speaks for you?  What spiritual author has all the answers?  How do I know which expert to follow?

I believe that each of has, inside our heads at all times, a voice that offers guidance.  It is buried under all that noise.  It is a quiet and unassuming voice.  It does not yell or demand.  You can tell it by its calmness. And that it never criticizes or judges.  It just quietly guides you. It’s loving and accepting. You’ll know it by how it makes you feel.

You develop it by listening to it.  Heeding its guidance.  You may, from time to time, find you’ve listened to the wrong voice.  When it feels Right, in your gut, you know you have it.  But practice will give you more skill at recognizing it.  When it makes you feel good and worthy, it’s likely to be that voice.  But you are free to test it out and see which voice feels the best.

Open your internal browser and seek answers and direction.  Use the inboard guidance system of feelings to lead you to it.  When you do, you will find a single source you can go to.  One that will support you well and help you make good choices.  Then you can pick which of the million results is right for you.

This process is especially good for teenagers.  Learning how to separate the urges that feel right, that spread warmly across your chest or settle broadly in your gut. Those that seem like they would be good for you and maybe others, too.  Leaving behind the fearful longings that someone won’t like you if you don’t do what they say.  Or that excited, risky feeling that doesn’t seem to have much in the way of positive results.

Imagine the good choices you could make if you had one source you could trust.

Faith and Trust

I am of the belief that Faith is some powerful juju. Along with trust, it’s one of those things we come equipped with.  It requires no tools to have faith.  No money, no help.  Just a choice.

Julia Cameron says we can practice trusting. But Faith, for some reason, feels easier to me.  Trust seems like something you must actively do.  Stand up and trust.  But faith feels like something I can rest into.

This faith business is active in many areas of life. Certainly in religious circles. But also around money.  In most deals and interactions there must be a certain amount of faith. “Money is a substance which faith attracts.”  In God we trust.  Full faith and credit . . .

We have faith the sun will rise and most of the time that our bank is solvent.  We have faith that we will get paid for the work we do.  That the computer will boot up and all our files will be there. Our favorite shows will air as scheduled.

But Trust can be limiting if we are expecting a particular thing.  What if we have faith, we just know that someone will act in some kind of negative way?  Our expectations pave the way for that behavior.

In “Friendship with God,” there was a question raised about how to trust more.  God said that if you fully trust, you no longer need to.  A Master has no expectations, no need for anything to happen in a particular way. She simply accepts whatever is happening.  God said, “If you have faith that all your needs will be met, then, technically, you have no needs at all.”  And therefore, don’t need to trust.

Liquid Luck

I am a huge Harry Potter fan.  And I believe there is much to be learned about spiritual growth in its pages.

In “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince,” Harry scores high marks in Potions class one day, with the help of the Half Blood Prince’s text book. His reward is a golden potion called “Felix Felicis.”  It’s a neat little elixir often referred to as “liquid luck.”  It takes six months to brew, is tricky to make right and is banned from using for competition or testing. It comes with a warning that too much can cause giddiness and reckless behavior.

Felix Felicis fills the taker with confidence.  When Harry takes a few drops to help him retrieve a memory from Horace Slughorn, he feels confident in the urges he feels from “Felix.”  Coincidences happen and synchronicity opens his path.  He seems to just know what to do. He listens to what the potion tells him to do and everything goes his way.  The confidence allows him to use his own talents with more expertise than he would without.

Readers of this Blog have heard me talk about the Spells of Doing.  I feel we all come equipped with certain magical spells, always at our disposal.  Confidence is certainly one of them.  It can be conjured up no matter what is going on outside.  Confidence is built-in and only needs your choice to use.  Anyone with a brain that functions normally is capable of trusting, using imagination, generating forgiveness.  These magic spells are within us all. If we try, it is not impossible to listen to what we’re telling ourselves.

So maybe we could make your own Felix Felicis. If so you would always know you could handle anything.  With that confidence flowing, you might trust more easily, listen more carefully and allow yourself to be led to just the right things, people, events, coincidences. If you are generating your own potion, maybe you could control it, as well.

Perhaps it is possible, with practice, to mix our own golden elixir of Felix Felicis.  Creating our own ethereal luck!

Writing to Mine Who You Are

It’s hard to hear what you’re thinking.  Most of us run around with a million thoughts (or so it seems).  Things I need at the grocery, what time to be somewhere, the gas in the car, how my shoes feel, what he really thinks, that’s a good song . . .  Not to mention dealing with whatever is in front of you and what comes next.

There are a lot of thoughts going on under all the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life.  It’s difficult to know what they all are.  But these thoughts are important. They color everything we do, whether or not we’re aware of them. I sometimes see it as a running commentary: “Oh, that worked out well.  That didn’t play out the way I thought. I wonder if I can do this.” The really scary thoughts, though, are buried down deeper, under all this chatter. Things like I’m no good or people don’t really like me.

Of course, they are not true. Certainly there’s something good in me and there are people who do like me. But these thoughts have been around a long time.  And their roots run deep. The thing is that once they’re revealed, once you face them and really hear them, they lose a lot of the sting.  You can see them for what they are.

One really good way to get at these thoughts is to write.  I call it journalling, but you may call it Morning Pages, like Julia Cameron (or Writing Practice as Natalie Goldberg deems it.) Writing longhand, 3 pages of whatever is going on in your head.  Julia suggests the morning because it’s a good idea to get all that out before you start your day. But also because it tends to be quiet and there is less activity in your brain.

It does take time.  Sometimes you need more than 3 pages. And you need, most of all, to feel safe doing this.  Know that this is for your eyes only.  No one else need read it.  You must have a certain amount of trust to pursue the mining.

It’s about allowing yourself to be completely honest. To be able to say things like, “I’m not sure I really like him.”  Or “Doing that really makes me feel good!”  Perhaps, “I didn’t handle that well.  She pisses me off and I reacted too fast.  Maybe next time I’ll try to think first before I speak.”  You might also try to explore why you felt the way you dind when someone reacted to you.  The more you can partake in this monologue, the deeper you can go, the more you will learn about yourself.

Talking to someone else, especially a credentialed person, definitely helps.  But most of us don’t feel compelled to seek that kind of help.  This is free and doesn’t entail a lot of effort on your part. I believe that thinking doesn’t work because you can think yourself into circles. Writing is the key.  Nothing beats seeing it for yourself, on paper.

Some of those floating thoughts in my mind tell me that I have so many things I need to take care of.  When I take the time to write them down, I often find it’s really more like 2 or 3 things.  The others being easy, part of one of the two or something I can do tomorrow.  Saying it out loud can be powerful, but nothing gives more clarity than the written word.

You have little chance of changing a situation and zero chance of changing others, but you can change yourself.  And deep knowledge of yourself is how you do it.  Writing is the key to unlock your secrets.  It there anything more valuable than understanding yourself?

All in Good Time

I tend to get obsessed with getting everything done.  I do set high standards – well, let’s say long lists.  But I’ve found I get far more done when I allow life to lead.

The way to do that –  to allow that to happen without any guilt or remorse – is to remember it will all get done.  All in good time.

“Good Time” means it may fall into another time slot, but it will be rescheduled, soon. With that in place, it’s easier to  remain calm, knowing and trusting that you will do it, eventually, in good time. A good boss would understand that, too.  Whether that distraction was work-related or personal.

Knowing is the key.  We know that if it has to get done, it will.  If the intention has been set to do it, we will.

I’m going to practice allowing life to lead today.  And rest into knowing that whatever doesn’t get done, I will reschedule for another day.  As Paulette Terrels says, “May we do our very best today, and know that it is enough.”  All in Good Time.

Belief and Trust

I am grateful for this powerful combination for doing everything with fun and ease.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could see everything as enjoyable?  Perhaps the only thing that keeps us all from living that way is Belief and Trust.

It’s fun to believe!  To make believe, believe in magic, in fairy tales, that all will be well, in God . . .  When life is treated in this light-hearted spirit, we can set our hearts to believe that all is well, that we can handle whatever comes up.  How delightful to step into belief!

Trust is the easy part.  Resting into trusting that all is well. Just relaxing and letting go of any disbelief, unclenching. I think it is a more natural state for us. So we can just sit back and allow ourselves to trust.

This is not a lolly-gagging bit of easy going.  Like in Tai Chi, the easier, lighter hand is the stronger hand. In that state the body is far more aware and prepared to strike.

These are really practice mechanisms.  When you’ve played with these two for a while, you will find yourself transforming into Knowing.  Add some gratitude along the way and you can arrive quickly at that place where you no longer need to trust. It always has been, always will be.  In that comfortable space, you know you can handle whatever happens.

I’m using this method to help me hold a stronger vision of people.  See them as whole, well, and abundant, rather than needy.  Believing that they will be fine. Trusting their lives will be whole again.

Finding Completion

“There are two ways to complete a task: 1. Do more.  2. Let go.” – Alan Cohen

This makes a lot of sense.  It may be that you have to get busy, get off your duff and do more to forge toward completion.  Sometimes you can’t see that the end is just around the next bend.  There may well be times when you’ve just not done what was needed. Perseverance is key to completing anything you undertake.

But there are other times when you’ve done all you can do and it’s just not coming to an end.  It’s important to know when it’s time to give up.  At this point, if you want completion, in order to keep the books clear, you must let go.  It may be time to decide that you’re not going to finish it.  Have done with it, move it aside and get to the next thing.

However, letting go does not always mean giving up.  It may mean letting go of your heavy hand in the mix. Letting go of the need to complete the task.  Or letting go of your need to be the one to finish it.  Sometimes you  have to trust and allow the Universe (or someone else) to see it through. The world may be asking you to release and let the flow of life take it from there.

Ghost Meanings

In honor of the 25^th anniversary publishing, I’ve started rereading Susan Jeffers’ “Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway.”  When I finish, I‘ll write up a nice review of it.  In the meantime, as always, Susan inspires me.

She had a story about when her mother had gone in for surgery.  Susan was sitting with her for a long time, but when she got up to leave, her mother, still weak from the procedure called to her, “Be safe.”  The point was, though her mother was being a good mother and caring about her daughter, what she was doing was acknowledging her own fear. And that she would rest easier if she knew her daughter was safe.  Susan also, wisely, noted that in saying that, even with the best intentions, her mother was also saying she didn’t trust that Susan could and would keep herself safe.

I wrote an article in college about “weasel words.”  They are those words and phrases, often used in advertising, which say nothing. They’re meant to just attract with fluff, but leave nothing at the center.  This is just the opposite of that.  These are words or phrases stuffed to the gills with meaning, overflowing.  Leaving behind ghosts of meanings in their wake.

I was freaking out the other day about not really knowing how to do something that I needed to do.   My colleague, wanting to help, offered to do it for me.  Sounds nice.  But the message delivered was:  “Since you can’t do it yourself, I’ll do it for you.”  What that said to me was I am incapable of doing it or even learning how.  Didn’t make me feel a whole lot better.  I needed to know how to do it because I couldn’t run to him anytime I had to do this in the future.

Parents are often guilty of this.  Calling warnings to their children like Susan’s mother did.  What they really mean is, “I am afraid for you.”  The message that hits those tender ears is that you can’t watch out for yourself.

Communication is a funny thing.  You have these words, hanging out there.  On the one side, you have the deliverer who may or may not know the hidden meaning behind the words.  Then, on the other side, you have the receiver who hears one thing and may ingest it in a totally different way.  How we manage to communicate at all is a miracle.  There are so many layers of information to move through.  We so rarely get the real meaning.

Like everything else, the interpretation is in the mind of the beholder.  So as the receiver, you can take things any way you please.  Particularly since you may not know the impetus behind what you hear.  You might as well take it the way that feels best and chase away the ghosts.

The Right Time

I’ve been thinking and talking to others lately about getting what you’re after, whether that’s a mate, a job, more business or a new pair of shoes.

It’s an odd thing, sometimes.  You need to take steps toward what you want. After all, shoes are not likely to come walking up to you.  But sometimes, you just might find, you have to allow the pauses.

It’s not always the Right Time to move. You need to listen for the still, small voice. But if it’s just not there, maybe the best thing to do is nothing.  Just wait and be quiet.

During this time you may feel a need to keep going. Perseverance is important.  But you can do it more gently. Keep your face pressed against the glass.  Do what you can, but continue to trust and allow that the time will be right again to move.

BUT

Where did I get the notion that everyone else is right and unless I agree with them, listen to and take their advice, I must be wrong?  Do I not think I’m capable of thinking for myself?  Why would it occur to me that there’s not enough wisdom to go around for me?  Perhaps I’m under the delusion that I can’t be trusted to make the right choices.

Inadequacy says I’m not enough of something, anything.  Scarcity equals there’s not enough of whatever it is that is in question.  And Lack of Trust adds up to not being able to trust myself, you, them . . .

BUT the truth is, I can Believe, Understand and Trust.

I Believe that I am worthwhile and can handle whatever comes up.  This will help me remember that I am enough of whatever I need to be.  I Understand there is plenty of help out there. That there are greater forces at work in my life. I have always been provided for and always will be.  There is no such thing as lack.  I can Trust that my life is playing out just the way it should and that I will take the necessary steps.  In those actions I am demonstrating that I can trust in myself.