More Helpful Than Harmful

We are all on a spiritual path whether we know it or not. Before I knew that there was a spiritual path to be on, I would often get stuck in ideas that would not let go of me. They stuck to me and I stuck to them. Most of them were not for my highest good. I practiced the blame game with alacrity. There was always something to fear, and then there was always someone to blame for that fear. (Believe me, I rarely considered that I could be the cause of my unhappiness.) I  was probably typical for women of my age -- there were so many things wrong with life -- there was the government, my spouse, low wages, parents of the children I taught, the children themselves, and the weather. Just to begin. It was not uncommon for me to declare that the weather was just miserable. And it may have been stormy, or cold, or icy, or too hot, but none of those conditions makes weather miserable. Feeling that there was someone or something to blame made me feel righteous. I was filled with righteous indignation. Imagine what charming company I would have been! Haha. Nothing was my fault. But I was playing the victim.  Of course, I would have railed against the idea that I was a victim. Through my eyes, I was simply describing what was so.

Later in my thirties, when I awakened to the awareness of divine presence, I was fascinated by God. I spent hours in meditations and contemplation. I wrote volumes about the nature of God. Most of what I thought I knew, I have now changed my mind about. But still it was a great change of direction to be contemplating something eternal, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent whose nature is love. I spent a great deal of time wondering about my purpose. What was God calling me to do or be specifically? That was not very productive as far as directing divine mind, but it was much better than the first two decades. It was healthier.

When I started understanding New Thought, I still contemplated God, but now as me. The Divine Presence that fascinates me is in me as me! During one of the first classes I took, I remember feeling overwhelmed by the vastness of subconscious mind, and how impossible it felt to change my entire way of thinking. I would often catch myself in negative thinking and often felt discouraged. Fortunately, we don't really have to erase every negative thought we have had, we simply need to keep filling up with positive ideas and hopefulness until the tendency of our thought is more helpful than harmful. 

Gradually, almost imperceptibly, I  started noticing that the tendency of my thoughts were positive, hopeful and life-affirming. I noticed that there is always so much for which to be grateful. I notice that more and more things for which to be grateful come into my life. (Were they always there, and I just couldn't see them because my filter was so negative? Or did my change in thinking actually change my life?)

I like to think it is the latter. Since then I did discover my true purpose which is to assist others in seeing their divinity. I feel thankful every day for my wonderful life!

Remember, it is  a wonderful life and all the better because you are in it.

A Gift From Some Students

I

What Do You Give a Great Spirit Who Already Has Everything?

The Joyous Living Journal 

"Spirit has given you the greatest gift; it is the gift of your life.  What you make of it is the gift you give back to Spirit!"

This is the first sentence I read on January 2 in the Joyous Living Journal, our reading for 2014.

Pretty powerful words, aren't they?

I have always understood my life being a gift.

But what these words made me contemplate was that what I make of my life is a gift BACK to Spirit.

That isn't an idea that has ever become present to me and, for some reason, it packed a punch.

Am I making my life into a gift back to spirit?

My answer brought peace to my heart and a smile to my face.

If I would have been presented with this same question six years ago, the question would have brought sadness and maybe even anger.

Six years ago,  I certainly wasn't making my  life into something I would have viewed as a gift back to Spirit.

I was living for other people.  Doing what I thought would make others happy.  I was working a job I hated.  I was "buying" a life so, on the outside, my life looked happy and successful.

But, I was so sad and so unfulfilled on the inside.

It took a major, and heartbreaking, life event for me to take a true, honest look at my life and from what I saw, things needed to change.

Change they did and as I contemplated this idea in my morning reading six years later, I was pleasantly surprised by my answer.

I am living a life, that I believe is a gift to Spirit, and, it's getting more and more of a gift every day.

Why?

Because six years ago, I started living for ME...not from a selfish standpoint, but from the place of living from my inner Spirit.

That part of Spirit that lives within me.

I dedicated myself to being One with it and following the thread of joy everyday...not someone else's joy, not even my kids' joy, but mine.

It took me some time to get to that place.

As they say, it's a journey!

And, a journey it certainly has been!

Following my heartbreaking life event, I had to heal first.

I had to forgive.

I had to decide to live differently.

I had to  decide to let go of everyone else's happiness and choose my own.

I had to decide  to let the old me (and all her beliefs, paradigms, and thoughts) die and allow my soul to emerge from the dark depths I had buried it to.

...as my soul emerged,  I had to step aside and allow Spirit to express Itself through me  and as a result, I have found peace and more joy within than I have ever known.

The results of my spiritual emergence is still unfolding, but I can definitively say that I am a better mom because of it.  I'm a better person because of it, and I am certainly living as if my life is the gift I know it to be.

And because of that, I am making my life into a life that I know is a gift back to Spirit.

For that, I am living in joy!

Already two days in to 2014, and working through this daily "Joyous Living" Journal, I feel pretty certain that 2014 will be the best gift I have to give back to Spirit!

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What about you?  Contemplate the words:  "Spirit has given you the greatest gift; it is the gift of your life.  What you make of it is the gift you give back to Spirit!"

Are you making your life into a gift that Spirit would be proud of?

No matter what your answer is, every day is an opportunity to decide to live life and give your gift back to Spirit!