In the course of spiritual study and growth you learn many things. You will say to yourself, why didn’t I know this before? Your life as you know it changes for the better. You become empowered. You become peaceful. The many irritations of daily life just don’t get to you anymore. If they do, your awareness and what you have learned bring you right back to a peaceful place. You start to feel happiness and joy consistently for the first time and not just every now and then but every day.
Some of the people and personal relationships in your life start reacting to you differently.
Some of these interactions will be uplifting and life changing and some will be negative and hurtful but you will start to discern and see the lessons and the messages in everything.
I have found that because of my spiritual practices life is just plain sweeter. An ordinary task is not ordinary anymore. I practice being in the moment and gratitude in my daily life. I can do the laundry now and it is not a chore any longer.
I am grateful for the clothing that got dirty… grateful for the appliances to wash them…grateful for the soap and fabric softener and grateful that I am well enough to wash, dry and fold the laundry in this beautiful home. There are people washing their clothing by beating them against rocks. Now the truth is if you ever have a chance to see a lot of women gather in Africa for example to wash their clothing on the rocks, you will see they are in a state of communal joy. They discuss their problems and just enjoy life in the sun while swapping stories and watching their children play in the water nearby. I often wondered if they are in a state of peace and in the moment while they do this? I would guess the answer is yes. Their problems are not smaller because they have less than us materially. The fact that they have less is just our perception. In truth they have as much as you do, it is just different stuff. In some parts of the world having a few head of cattle and healthy children is considered wealthy.
Our perceptions of the world and the people in it tell us a lot about ourselves. Do you look at everyone who is dressed poorly as someone who is suffering from poverty? It could be the woman in the grocery store who looks a bit raggedy is actually someone who decided to run out quickly to the grocery store after gardening and before she took her shower. She could just possibly live in a million dollar home and be driving a Cadillac. Howard Hughes was one of the richest men in the world but in later years looked like a bum on the street. If you ran across him you would have crossed the street to avoid him. Now, he was mentally unhinged at that point but I think you get my point. The old man on the street talking to himself
and avoiding eye contact could be someone suffering from Alzheimer’s and has wandered away from his caretakers.
Start to notice what your first thoughts are as you encounter people and see for yourself if maybe your perceptions are a bit screwed up. The truth is you don’t know all you think you know. To quote my associate “they don’t know that they
don’t know.” Your perceptions will give you a clue as to how much you are enlightened and how far you have to go to get to awareness. How much wood do you have to chop and how much water do you have to carry? If you want to lighten your load… be in a state of awareness of everything and everyone around you.
What are you thinking as you go about your day?
Now on to the chopping and carrying scenario…what is the before and after difference? Before… it took more effort to do whatever you had to do. It exhausted you and aggravated you more. You spilled a lot of water before you go to where you needed to be. There were a lot of splinters in your spirit from trying to do what you had always done.
The people who do not serve your greatest and highest good leave your life either through their own choice or yours. Your awareness is to recognize who these people are. Step by step you become enlightened. Spiritually you start to ascend. To ascend in its purest meaning is to rise up and that is exactly what happens. You start to go higher above human illusions of judgment and a pervasive feeling of being lost and not worthy. You start to make contact with your “higher self.” Your precious divine “higher self” is your soul. You become aware of all the beauty around you and start to enjoy the precious moments as they come. You realize that time is just another illusion. You start to appreciate and become grateful for everything. Your life just starts to work. The issues of the past start to fade. You learn the lessons and vow not to repeat them. After all, it has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same dumb thing over and over again expecting a different result. I know I have done this many times in my life. I am sure if you think back with an open heart and honesty with yourself, you will see a pattern emerge of repeating the same issues in your life.
Before all this awareness and enlightenment you had to work, deal with problems,
take care of life and business and just generally do your human things. The big news is after you become a spiritual being and honor the God force within…you still have to work, deal with problems, and take care of life and business but you do it in a different more powerful way.
Most of you think that you will walk the spiritual path and that there are no problems to deal with because you have entered awareness. You have put all this work and intense study into becoming the spiritual being that you are and suddenly life is just one big “bliss party.” Life is life and such as it is…it will still present itself with issues. Every day and every moment is a growth process of ascension into the soul planes. Each time you enter into another level…life is truly better and more peaceful. Moments of joy are so intense that the hair rises up on your arms.
After… is totally different. You are grateful for the wood and the water. You are
clear and aware and you move through and beyond issues in a peaceful life affirming way.
You are grateful to be able to do what you have always done just differently. The load is lighter. You are in a state of peace. You spill less of your spiritual essence and there are a lot less splinters in your soul. You are able to speak your truth. You stop allowing people to take advantage of, abuse, lie to, cheat and disrespect you. Your human garden is being weeded. You start to bloom. You find creative outlets that you did not know you had. You feel physically better and sleep deeply. Life has become something beautiful. The restraints of life are not so tight anymore.
You are changing and life itself is changing. You stop feeling alone and lonely.
You have become one with the God within.
Enlightened means to know…not to guess at but to know. It is a place of profound knowledge. It is not the name of a town in Blissville. You can’t find it on your GPS.
The only way to know what this feels like and how it feels is to go within and make conscious contact with the God force that is in all of us.
Your choice…what are you going to do?
No comments:
Post a Comment