Category Archives: Inspirational Posts

ART: A FEAST TO AWAKEN THE SOUL

Posted on June 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

Art is a shadow of what a person is thinking…a small glimpse of what they hold inside.  Little secrets, regrets, joys…every line has its own meaning. ~Sarah, Los Cerros Middle School, 1999

A Glimpse of Artist’s Visions

This past weekend I gorged on a feast for the soul, a series of the most tasty fine arts dishes that I’ve consumed in quite a while. The feast began on Thursday night with a unique event at the art museum, a PechaKucha Night where several artists each showed 20 slides of their work, making a 20 second comment on each piece.  These were the hors d’oeuvres.  Each was a small delicious sampling of the artistic vision of each artist, and like all art, each vision was a glimpse into the soul of the artist.

Art Awakens the Soul

That is why I love art: music, dance, visual art, literature and theatre.  I am uplifted by this soul connection and by seeing the interior of another human being expressed through art. Twyla Tharp, the wonderfully innovative choreographer, once said, “Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.”  We can leave our rational minds and the mundane aspects of our lives and attend the dance of life, exercising our mental, emotional, and spiritual selves in new ways. Art awakens us to a different point of view, one we might never have experienced had we not seen a particular piece of art.  Art may take us to a depth of knowing beyond words.

The main course of my feast each day was the arts walk in the River District, a buffet of sensory delight.  Overloaded by color, texture, and design, I could only embrace what was there. I let it seep through my pores and become a joyful energy that awakened me to the diversity and uniqueness of human expression.

Having looked at art all my life, I have long since giving up the need to attach meaning to what I see.  It is interesting to talk to artists about why they use a certain color or image, but often the artist doesn’t have a rational explanation.  Images for a sculpture or painting may arise in the artist’s mind mysteriously just as the ideas I receive for my writing are frequently surprising gifts from Spirit.

Going Deeper Unites

My soul was further awakened on Saturday evening, when I ended the day with a dessert even more satisfying than chocolate.  While I enjoy the intensity and brief pleasure of dark chocolate, the flavor of Anam Cara’s music has lasted for days.  Listening to Mary Davis’ soulful ballads, especially “Life Moves,” reminded me of the depth and width of human emotion taking me to deeper places within myself.  Listening to her sing of challenges in her own life reminded me we are all One and how our love for one another can heal so many wounds.

Dancing With the Divine

On Sunday evening, my feast of the soul ended with the Dances of Universal Peace based on a cycle of seasonal invocations to the Goddess.  Like strawberry shortcake, there were many divine layers to these dances.  We learned basic steps, then layered on symbolic gestures and ancient chants, each enriching the experience in some way.  As we danced, our individual energies created a community connection that carried us all along, blending with the chanting.  As I moved, there were moments when I was lost in the energy of the dance, imagining the goddess presence in our midst and being in touch with my own Divine Feminine and the source of my creativity.

Since the weekend, I have felt renewed in some deep way.  Spiritually sated by the wide range of sensory experiences spiced by innovation and originality, I feel grateful for the abundance of soul awakening experiences that stretched and opened my perceptions.  Today I feel like there is more of me to express and share and give.  I am more awakened to the dance of life.  That’s what art can do if we are willing to take it in.

How will you dance with the Divine and feed your soul this week? 

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

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AWAKENING TO THE END OF SUFFERING

Posted on June 8, 2011 | 2 comments

Do We Have To Learn Only From Suffering?

One day it occurred to me that I had always believed that suffering was a good thing and the primary way we learn, and I thought “why?”  Why do we believe that spiritual awakening and growth always come through negative experiences rather than through positive ones?  This, in fact, is the philosophy of most of our world.

On the day that I asked, “why?” I was fed up with negative experiences.  I thought about the life of children and how they cannot learn how to love if they are not loved.  The interactions with their parents teach them how to be human beings, for better or for worse.  It is common knowledge that criminals who commit horrendous crimes are often victims of abuse or are mentally ill.

Learning From Positive Experience

While it is true that we can learn from suffering, we need to come to understand it is not the only way.  On the day I asked “why?” I declared to the Universe, “I no longer want to learn from pain and suffering; I want my learning to come from positive experiences.”  I declared it loudly with great emotion.  What manifested were several experiences where people expressed ideas that, unknown to them, helped me to avoid mistakes or offered me deeper insights about situations.  I was reminded again how important it is to listen.

But of course, most suffering is self-inflicted.  It’s all in our minds.  We create elaborate stories to prove we are being hurt.  We’re sure a friend is unhappy with us only to find out we haven’t heard from her because there was a crisis in her business or family or she has had endless company.  We’re sure we’re going to be fired when the thought has never entered our boss’ mind.  We tend to expect the worse and by doing that we draw unpleasantness to us.

When I declared I only wanted to learn from positive experiences, I did understand that it was really me, not the Universe, that would have to change in order for that to occur.  When a problem arose, I tried to stay in a frame of mind where I expected to find a positive solution.  This often required me to first release any fears about the problem.  I also chose to avoid contentious people and situations and take responsibility for staying centered.

Letting Go Of Suffering

One very scary practice I’ve used a couple of times in my life is to affirm, “I release from my life all those people and circumstances that do not support the Divine Plan for my life and welcome into my life those people and circumstance who do support the Divine Plan for my life.”  This is what I call “cleaning the spiritual closet.”  Do not take this lightly!  I am often surprised by the amazing results of this practice.  Even when the losses from taking this action hurt, I’m always able to see what happened was for the best.  Most importantly, it reminds me who I am.  I am a spiritual being first.

The last time I did this, a really loving person became more friendly, a person I thought had dropped out of my life returned with a more supportive attitude, a totally new and loving person came into my life and a couple of negative people dropped away.  Not a bad response to one affirmation.

 Choosing A Cheerful Soul

In the end, this is just another way to let go and to get in touch again with our Divine purpose.  Eckhart Tolle explains how to end suffering better than I ever could, so please click on his name and listen to his five minute video.  We may have to experience suffering at times in our lives, but we can choose to leave it behind.  Have I succeeded in creating a life where I never have to learn through suffering?  Well, no.  It’s still a work in progress.  But more and more, I feel positive about life and am cultivating a soul that is cheerful rather than sad.  Friedrich Nietzsche said, “There is one thing one has to have: either a soul that is cheerful, or a soul made cheerful by work, love, art, and knowledge.”  I’m with you, Freddy.  I’m gradually awakening to the end of suffering and I hope you are too.

Please comment and share your thoughts and responses.

The source of much of our joy is finding our passion.  Read more at “Finding the Fire.”

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

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BODY AND SOUL AS ONE

Posted on June 2, 2011 | 1 comment

The Body As Container For The Soul

One of the problems I’ve often had with traditional religion is the way it describes the body as a lesser part of our being.  The body is, after all, the container for our soul.  If we didn’t need it in some cosmic sense, we wouldn’t have it.  At this stage in our spiritual journey, we are experiencing a physical life because we need to learn lessons we can only learn by being in a physical body.

If we embrace the idea of wholeness or oneness, then we have to acknowledge that all parts of ourselves are sacred.  Living in a body offers us infinite opportunities to learn.  As a child, I had many illnesses including one that left me with a heart murmur which I out grew by the time I was twelve.  I missed those early carefree years of life that others remember with joy.  What I remember is lying in bed alone reading and designing paper doll dresses, feeling weak and shy and inadequate when we played softball at school and never learning to ride a bicycle.  I remember having a friend or two but never feeling part of a group because so many group activities were too strenuous.

 Awakening The Body And Soul

As a result of this childhood experience, I developed two interests: good health and creativity which I later developed through dance and writing.  Staying healthy became a priority in my life.  As a young adult I began to search for the answers that would allow me to become stronger and stay in good health.  My love of dance was not just about expressing myself creatively.  It was about building muscles on my skinny frame to become strong.  It was also about the mind/body connection.  Having rejected traditional religion by this time, I found that dancing brought me joy and touched my spirit.  At times, dancing was transcendent, my body seemed to fall away and I was all spirit.

Each physical challenge has been a teacher.  Around 1976, I studied with an amazing dancer, Erick Hawkins during a summer dance program at American University.  Having studied Eastern philosophy and anatomy and kinesiology, he had created a modern dance technique that trained the body gently, working with the pelvis as the center of the body, and teaching us to respect our own bodies.

But that summer, I was in distress, and despite Hawkins’ peaceful way, I made a decision I would regret.  I injured one foot simply walking across campus, adding more pain to the tendinitis slowly healing in the other foot.  I was in a dance company and had a performance coming up.  We were short on dancers; I couldn’t disappoint the director.  So, I demanded that my doctor give me cortisone shots which he did going against his own better judgment.

When I danced, my feet were numb; I couldn’t feel the floor, but somehow I got through the performance.  Afterwards, as I rested and healed over several weeks, I realized I had committed a terrible act of aggression against myself.  I’d somehow crossed a line I’d never crossed before and was willing to abuse myself in order not to disappoint others. This was clearly a signal that something was very wrong with my thinking.  I realized at that moment that I couldn’t stop thinking about the reverence with which Hawkins treated the body even in training.  As I thought about Hawkins and the reverence he had taught us to have for our own bodies, I realized he had been my spiritual teacher that summer.

 Loving Ourselves With Good Health

This experience made me realize that I needed to learn to love myself.  I had created unnecessary suffering and my soul ached. Dance taught me about one aspect of taking care of my body, but other experiences taught me about a healthy diet.  When I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I found a doctor of integrated medicine who taught me how to use food and supplements to heal. What I learned from him has continued to serve me well over the years to support my immune system, keep my blood sugar level, and sustain a level of energy that creates a feeling of well-being.

It is difficult to enjoy life when we don’t feel well, and while it is important to take care of our minds and soul, taking care of the body is sacred work too.  To deny the body’s needs is just as detrimental to our well-being as ignoring our spiritual or emotional needs.  Although I am middle aged, I’m actually healthier than I’ve ever been, and I believe that is because, in addition to taking care of my spiritual life, I have cared for my body, this precious container for my precious soul.

 Do you want life to be a dance or a drag?

We have a choice and it’s an important one.  Caring for our bodies makes it possible to do things that feed the soul like walking in the forest, dancing until dawn or jogging through the early morning air with your daughter.  What are you willing to do to make your body and soul one?

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

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HAVING FAITH

Posted on May 25, 2011 | 1 comment

Clearing the Heart Blocks

 Several summers ago, I attended a retreat in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina taught by Vani(Linda Bretherton), a healer from the United Kingdom.  The setting couldn’t have been more inspiring with ponds and streams, a butterfly garden, and a quaint rustic lodge.  The year before, Vani had worked on my charkas, opening many blocks that enabled me to find the courage to pursue a more heartfelt life.  In a small pavilion by a rushing stream, we did deep, difficult work, and when I left I knew it would take a while to integrate what I had experienced.

For the next year, my life was rather stressful, but also joyous, because there were times when I was joyfully immersed in writing, stopped worrying about how to make a living and just celebrated being alive. Only when the sense of lack from my early conditioning came back to haunt me did I feel stressed.

Spiritual Messages

This conflict between my emotional and practical sides had always been a challenge.  One night just before the retreat, I had a dream in which I was at the Intuition Institute.  Referring to my lack of clarity concerning the path I should follow, I asked, “What’s this all about?”  The answer was “It’s a struggle between the rational and the intuitive.”

Then, almost a month after the retreat, I woke suddenly at 3:30 am like a bolt of lightning had hit me.  Totally lucid and feeling surprisingly peaceful, I saw a large billboard in my mind.  Across it in neon letters, Spirit wrote, “It’s all in place. Relax.”  That was simply too much for me to process, so I turned over and went back to sleep.

By the time I woke again, I could only respond to this message with awe.  It didn’t seem quite real.  However, the theatre teacher in me was very impressed with how dramatically effective Spirit had been in getting my attention.  She was usually more subtle than this, but evidently I hadn’t been listening very closely or my fears were clouding my mind.  Clearly, she didn’t want me to miss this one.

The Fear of Letting Go

After I exhausted myself analyzing the meaning of this remarkable experience, I realized I was avoiding accepting this simple and beautiful message. Underneath it all, I didn’t trust myself enough to believe I deserved Spirit’s trust.  What if I were unable to truly accept this? And what if I could accept this?  That was a scary thought: really turn my life over to Spirit, to do it completely this time.  To really let go.  To have complete faith.

 I have a little poster on Faith that says,

When you have come to the edge of all the light you know,

And are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown,

Faith is knowing one of two things will happen:

There will be something to stand on

Or you will be taught how to fly

 I remembered all the tears I had shed at the retreat.  They came in enormous waves as if the ocean were crashing through my soul.  They were uncontrollable, washing away large quantities of deep sadness, ancient wounds, carrying me through deep currents to eventually deposit me in the light again where I knew I was a Divine Being.  I had underestimated the power of those tears to force me to let go. 

What more could I want to know than “It’s all in place. Relax!”

And yet, there I was a week later – angry, resistant, confused, stressed, clutching, attached to one point of view – unwilling to shift my thinking to a new perspective.  Even after releasing my fears and reaffirming that I was open to Spirit’s guidance, I fell back into the quagmire of negativity and attachment.  Where was my trust, my faith, my knowing?

At a ceremony on the night before the October full moon, I chose an Insight card, “Prosperity.”  I asked, “How?”  The answer was “It’s coming.”  For clarification, I drew another card that stated, “Take time off to allow your body to rest and renew.”

“It’s all in place. Relax!”

So, I rested.  On the full moon, something shifted.  I let go of my need to control the situations in my life.  I accepted the possibility that looking at the cause of my anger from a different perspective would allow me to understand these situations in a deeper and more beneficial way. I considered the possibility that I truly did deserve Spirit’s full support, that I did deserve this gift, that all I wanted was already in place waiting for me to claim it.

Five years after Vani’s retreat and Spirit’s amazing message, I have continued to receive financial and emotional support for my writing from many unexpected sources.  I have learned to trust that I may not know the outcome of the whole plan, but I simply take the next step.  I don’t need to know what the step after that really is, for Spirit keeps surprising me with where she wants me to go.  I’m learning there is not one answer; there are many answers.  I have to remind myself frequently to let go, relax, and make space for the miraculous to bless my life.

Faith is, after all, the ultimate acceptance that the unknown is Good.  “Relax!  It’s all in place.”       © 2011 Georganne Spruce

Check The Vortex on the side bar for more information on The Law of Attraction.

 

 

 

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ENLIGHTENMENT: A GOAL OR A GIFT

Posted on May 18, 2011 | 4 comments

Awakening to the Journey

I recently read in Oneness by Rasha, “The process of awakening is not one in which a definitive threshold is crossed and one is then enlightened, transformed, or ascended.  There is much backsliding to be expected on this journey….Your own preoccupation with the concept of completion will keepthat state of attainment ever elusive.” (p. 92)

Over the years I have known people whose life goal was to reach enlightenment.  For a long time I assumed there was possibly a path mapped out in Eastern religion that would lead one to that goal.  I never explored Hinduism or its relatives, but when I began to experience Buddhism, I found meditation so challenging that I decided there was no point to set enlightenment as a goal because it was unattainable in my lifetime.  If it happened, it happened.  Setting enlightenment as a goal seemed self defeating.

 The Ego Loves Spiritual Goals

When I first read the Oneness passage above, it really resonated with me.  A friend and I had a conversation on this topic.  He wanted to attain enlightenment
in this lifetime.  I said that I felt making enlightenment a life goal was an ego response.  It was the ego that wanted to brag about being enlightened, but that true enlightenment just happens.  When we become attached to doing good so that we will become enlightened, we are not being authentic.  Again, we are not acting from the heart, but to fulfill a goal created by ego.

Living authentically from the heart will take us to a place beyond ego.  We will help others because we truly care about them, not because it impresses them.  We will release judgment toward ourselves and others, embrace our backsliding and learn from it how to live more consciously.  We will understand that the journey is endless.  What matters is not the imaginary end but how we experience the process.

 Respect Each Person’s Spiritual Journey

Each journey is unique, and we create it by the choices we make each day.  Each of us awakens at our own pace. The reason I use the word “awakening” as part of the title in this blog is that the first step to any growth is to awaken or become aware. Whatever wisdom has awakened within me over the years has appeared when I least expect it.  Often as I search for an understanding of one mystery, the answer to another emerges. Just when I start feeling that I’ve reached a point of healing about an issue, the pain or grief may erupt more powerfully than ever.  What I know is that this is individual and unpredictable and that it is a gift, no matter how painful it may be.

However, who am I to say that it isn’t good for my friend to choose enlightenment for a goal?  Perhaps that is exactly what he needs to do in order to learn his karmic lessons.  But my goal is still not enlightenment.  I need to keep things simple and just live each day as consciously as I can. I want to treat myself and others with respect, to offer help when I can, and to create activities that stimulate the joy within me so that it will spill over to others.  A spiritual teacher of mine used to say our purpose on this earth is to expand our energy and to do that we need to experience love and joy.  When we are able to do that, we are enlightened.

How do you see enlightenment?  What do you think about Rasha’s comment on
enlightenment?  © 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related posts are “Diving Deeper” and my first experience with Chakra Balancing, “My First Time”

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ATTRACTING ABUNDANCE

Posted on May 11, 2011 | 3 comments

What are you thinking as you pay your bills? Do you see this
activity as a reflection of the scarcity in your life or of the abundance?

Positive Thoughts Have Power

I used to know a woman who wrote on the top of each check, “Thank
you, God.”  For her, having the money to pay her bills was a sign of abundance, and she sent gratitude out into the Universe each time she spent money.  She
wasn’t a wealthy woman with unlimited resources.  She worked at a job, owned a house and had responsibilities,
but she chose to focus on what she had instead of her lack.

I don’t write “Thank you, God” on every check, but whenever
I remember, I say “Thank you for this abundance.”  It is important to acknowledge what is good
in our lives and identify that as abundance.  Acknowledging this gift from the Universe makes me feel good and raises my vibration.  That vibration ripples out into the Universe, drawing to me more positive energy in many forms.

Definition of Abundance

Don’t limit your ideas of prosperity or abundance to finances.  Anything uplifting contributes to our concept of abundance.  What about the love of friends and family?  What about opportunities for growth or expanding awareness?  What about a surplus of food?  What about good health or an understanding health practitioner?

The forests and mountains where I live are one of the most bio-diverse
areas in the world and constantly feed my spiritual needs.  This area also has an abundance of people who share my values and many opportunities to explore self-growth and artistic expression.  Despite often living on little money, I’ve had little debt and never felt poor.  It isn’t a mind-set I choose to embrace.

How To Draw Abundance To You

I grew up in a family with a huge scarcity consciousness so it is an on-going challenge for me not to allow that to become an obstacle.  In order to feel prosperous most of the time, it is important to keep one’s energy up and to be free of expectations about the source of the abundance or how it will look. Sometimes we receive what we requested but don’t recognize it because of our preconceived ideas about its appearance or source.

 Recently, I discovered that my car needed an expensive repair.  Repairing it at the price the dealer quoted me would have destroyed by monthly budget, so I asked the Universe for another solution.  First, I released my fear to clear my mind. Secondly, I expressed gratitude for the good in my life and the fact
that I had extra money in savings. Thirdly, I visualized gold coins showering me and the car being repaired for much less than the dealer’s quote.  I
visualized this until I felt it had actually happened.

Within a few days, through a friend, I found an excellent mechanic who would do the repair for half price, and the next day my tax refund was deposited in my bank account.  It was more than enough to cover the repair.  Since I had made a mistake on the tax return and had no reason to expect it so quickly, this was a delightful surprise.  I knew the synchronicity of these events was not random.

In the final analysis, I see everything good that comes into my life as abundance.  As a result, I feel secure most of the time.  When I don’t feel that way, I use the three steps I mentioned above.  That’s how you too can create abundance and flow with the Universe.       © 2011 Georganne Spruce

For information on creating abundance, try these following
links and any of the Abraham books by Esther and Jerry Hicks.

 “Removing Brakes from Abundance in 17 Seconds” – Abraham

“How to Attract Abundance” – Wayne Dyer

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BEING THE RIGHT ONE, Part 4, Releasing the Fear

Posted on May 4, 2011 | 5 comments

Eckhart Tolle says, “Joy does not come from what you do, it flows into what you do and thus into this world from deep within you.”

 Have you ever noticed that when you feel joy, you are totally free of fear?  Joy is really love, for when we feel joyful, we feel loved or feel loving.  It’s all one.

Years ago when I had chronic fatigue syndrome, I awoke one morning, and as I lay in bed still feeling weak, a soft cool breeze blew over me.  This was New Orleans in the summer, so a cool breeze was no small thing.  My cat lay purring next to me.  Suddenly, I was flooded with joy.  It welled up within me and I felt profoundly grateful for being alive.  For a moment, I was totally free of all the daily fears that I would never recover, feel energetic again or be able to live a normal life.  For a moment I was free of the daily depression I had experienced for three years.

In that moment, I realized the joy was always there within me and had nothing to do with what was happening in my life.  I could draw on it at any time.

 Fear Can Block Joy

When we believe joy resides outside us, we are always looking in the wrong place.  But sometimes we do not realize that joy is within us because it is buried deep beneath layers of disappointment, anger, frustration, and other negative emotions that can be heavy to lift.  All negative emotions are caused by fear, so in reality our fear is what blocks our ability to experience love and joy.  Only when we release our fears and clear the mind can love and joy flow to the surface.

The Effect Of Fear On The Mind

We all experience fear sometimes, but what is important is that we learn not to let it control us.  As long as we experience fear, it will block our mind’s ability to pull through information that will help us solve the problem that has created the fear.  Fear will only pull through information that helps us cope with the fear.

 How To Release Fear

When fear arises, we must direct our minds to release the fear, and if we are willing to let it go, a peaceful feeling will replace it.  As I direct my mind to release the fear, I often take a deep breath and exhale in order to feel the release throughout my body as well as my mind. When the fear is released, the mind will be clear to pull information from our memory and the spiritual realm that will help us solve the problem that stimulated the fear.  We will always be given the guidance we need when we need it.  If a clear solution does not appear immediately, just know that it will come in time.

By using meditation, practicing gratitude and releasing our fears, we can become more spiritually conscious and awaken to a calmer, more joyful life, empowered from our centers.  When we are the source of our own joy and feel good about ourselves, we become “the right one” and draw to us those people and experiences that will enlighten and enliven our lives.  Learning to release our fears allows us to have access to the wisdom of the Universal Mind, Spirit.          © 2011 Georganne Spruce                   

Similar topics are discussed in Oneness  and The Vortex.  See the side bar.

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BEING THE RIGHT ONE, Part 3, Meditation

Posted on April 27, 2011 | 2 comments

Using Meditation to Find Your Inner Self

In order to be “the right one”, rather than looking for completion outside ourselves, we must be in touch with our inner selves.  However, during most of the day, our focus is on the outer, the daily routine of our lives, and our minds are concerned with working, solving problems, shopping and running errands.  The chaos and noise of the outer world and our active minds distract us from being in touch with our inner selves. 

Over the years, I have learned to integrate my spiritual and material lives so that, for the most part, I am at least marginally in touch with my center most of the time.  As problems arise, I stop and turn inward for a moment, observe and evaluate my options.  It has taken many years to reach this point and the practice that has made this possible is meditation.  Years ago when most of my friends practiced Transcendental Meditation, I was drawn to Buddhism and began the sitting practice of zazen.  Now I’ve created my own version of a meditative practice.  It doesn’t matter what form of meditation we use.  Any form will put us more in touch with our spiritual selves.

Meditation Takes Us Beyond Ego

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of meditation is that it takes us beyond our egos.  When we are caught up in the turmoil or pressure of everyday life, our egos are often fully engaged.  We are concerned with how we do our jobs or who will get the promotion or be laid off.  Parents worry about their skills as parents.  Are they doing the right thing about their children’s problems?  Why is this friend or partner being distant?  Don’t they like us anymore?  Did we do something wrong?

As Eckhart Tolle points out in A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, “…almost everyone carries in his or her energy field an accumulation of old emotional pain, which I call ‘the pain-body.” (p. 140) He goes on to explain how negative emotions feed the pain-body and make the ego more powerful.  The only way to combat this is to be present so our egos don’t control us.  With regular meditative practice, we can be present, an observer in our own lives, operating from our peaceful center and unobstructed by the needs of the ego.

 Meditation Supports Spiritual Awakening

Meditation takes us to a place deeper than ego where we are able to release our attachments to the concerns of the day and our emotional pain.  This place is sweetly quiet, a place empty of conflict where we learn to observe our thoughts and emotions and release them without judging or attaching to them.  In this holy place within, we become an empty vessel and create a space where Spirit can visit and provide us with deeper insights.  In this peaceful place, all is well and joy flourishes.

Once we are able to find this peaceful center and commit to experiencing it on a regular basis, the inner balance this creates spills over into our daily lives.  We learn to identify those moments when we are about to turn an incident into a major drama and are able to choose not to.  We notice that we are being caught up in the fear that something negative might happen, and we choose instead to envision the event turning out positively.  Instead of panicking because we don’t know how to solve a problem, we are able to sit quietly and wait for the mind to clear.   

Knowing we can choose to experience our challenges with a positive or neutral attitude gives us more power over our lives.  Knowing we have a center that is peaceful and connects us with the Infinite Mind gives us a beautiful security.  In this place of inner joy, we are healthy, whole, and complete.  Having access to our inner selves, we know we will always have the capacity to be “the right one” in our own lives.         © 2011 Georganne Spruce

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BEING THE RIGHT ONE, PART 2 JOY

Posted on April 20, 2011 | 2 comments

 Living A Joyful Life Through Gratitude

Creating inner joy is the key to a deep sense of inner confidence.  If we know how to find joy within ourselves, that is a powerful tool for spiritual growth.  If we can do that, what else might we be able to do? 

This is the second part of a series on “Being the Right One.”  Last week, I quoted Ken Keyes, Jr., who said, “As we grow in consciousness, we discover it is more important to be the right person than to find the right person.” For the next two weeks, we will explore this concept, identifying tools we can use to create this inner joy that helps us feel healthy, whole and complete. 

We Can Choose How We Want to Feel

How we think determines what we experience.  How we think determines how we feel.  How we think is a choice to some extent and that is often determined by how much responsibility we are willing to take in moderating our own thoughts.  It’s easy to say that one person has an easier life; so of course, we think it’s easy for her to be happy.  That’s true to a certain extent, but how do we account for the fact that there are people paralyzed from the neck down who still find pleasure and joy in life?  And how do we account for the people who have everything money can buy, but are unhappy?

 I will admit a few bites of dark chocolate can go a long way toward making me feel better when I don’t feel harmonious, but what do I do when that luscious, lingering taste deserts me?  Nothing external lasts.  It’s always about the interior, our feelings and thoughts determine what we experience and if we can think joyfully, we will experience joy. 

One Way to Create Inner Joy Is to Think Positive Thoughts of Gratitude

One of the most meaningful practices to create joy is gratitude.  There are many ways to experience gratitude.  Every morning when I first awake or am at breakfast, I thank Spirit for all the good things I have experienced recently.  I used to do this sometimes on the way to work.  I’ve even taken a moment while I was stopped in traffic, to thank Spirit for a couple of things.  Many people keep a gratitude journal where they write down the things they are thankful for each day. Expressing thankfulness can be done anytime, but allowing time for gratitude at the beginning of the day is very beneficial. 

I especially love my friend Debra’s practice.  “Each day when I am going for my walk / run, I am always grateful……..first that I can get out and use my body to run up and down the hills. Second, that I live in such a beautiful place in which to enjoy the wonderful outdoors. When I am grateful, my morning exercise becomes joyous and not something I am complaining about having to do. It makes my whole day more positive.”

Finding Joy When Life is Difficult

On those days when I feel everything is going wrong, I force myself to hunt for those tiny morsels of gratitude,  remembering how much I really have – shelter and food and the necessities of life.  Sometimes, I simply thank Spirit for helping me through another day.  It’s interesting how focusing on one tiny object of gratitude always leads me to the next one, and before long, I feel that glimmer of joy lighting up the negativity. 

That glimmer of joy reminds me of all the times I felt confused, bereft, or abandoned and how it passed.  This joy reminds me that I am stronger than I think I am.  It refuels my confidence and I remember that I am never alone.  Spirit is always there and with Spirit, I can do anything.  And I am grateful for that.  © 2011 Georganne Spruce

Do you want to know more about thinking positively?  A wonderful source is The Vortex by Esther and Jerry Hicks.

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BEING THE RIGHT ONE

Posted on April 14, 2011 | 4 comments

“As we grow in consciousness, we discover it is more important to be the right person than to find the right person.” Ken Keyes, Jr.

How many times have you said, “If only I had the right___.”  We can fill in the blank with any of the following:  the right partner, the right dress, the right friend, the right job, the right house or the right degree.  Actually the list is endless.  What we are really saying is that we believe something outside of us is magical enough to fix what is not right within us.  If we are not at peace with the interior, the exterior will never be acceptable.

When I found the house where I now live, I chose it for many reasons.  It has beautiful hardwood floors, it’s one level, it has lots of trees around it, and it’s in a quiet neighborhood.  But the main reason I chose it was that when I walked in the front door, it felt like my center.  The energy felt like my peaceful energy when I’m meditating.  A feeling of happiness and thankfulness filled my heart.  The energy of the house’s interior matched the energy of my interior at its best.  I wanted a house where I could come home from the trials of the world and find life there – a place of healing, regeneration, and celebration that matched the best part of me.

Too often we focus on what is out there, and time after time we are disappointed.  Husbands, parents, bosses, friends just don’t live up to our expectations.  The problem isn’t with others; the problem is within.  When we are the right persons, we fill up our own emptiness.  We find the courage to make the decisions that will make us happy. 

One time when I lived in New Mexico, I was complaining about everything that was going wrong in my life.  I said to a friend, “If I could just put together the life I want, I would be happy.”  Without missing a beat, she smiled and said, “When you’re happy, Georganne, you’ll have the life you want.”  She was right of course.  When we generate that joy within, take responsibility for being the right person in our lives, our expanded consciousness becomes a magnet for all good things.  The people we meet and the experiences we have are matches for our joy within.

This week let’s make a list of all the things we can do daily to generate joy within ourselves.  Each time a wave of joy springs up inside, notice what you’re doing or thinking that has generated this.  Please share at least one thing under comments and I’ll use your ideas in my next few posts.  Blessings!

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

 

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