Tag Archives: #WPLongform

AWAKENING TO SPIRITUAL GARDENING

Posted on June 12, 2013 | 5 comments

“It is like the seed put in the soil – the more one sows, the greater the harvest.”  Orison Swett Marden

Flowers 003 - Copy

What thoughts do you sow in your life and the lives of those around you?  How does what you sow affect your life?

I have never planted a garden, but I have sown seeds in my life and in the lives of others.  Some have grown and others have withered, and some remain hidden in the soil waiting for the right season.  There is the common saying, “You reap what you sow,” and this is true especially in terms of our thoughts.

Our Thoughts Are the Seeds That Create Our Lives

Our lives are our spiritual garden and each thought or action is a seed we sow that will grow to feed us with abundance, peace or love, or will cause us to wither.  Each thought ripples out into the universe affecting other energy and people’s thoughts.  Have you ever noticed that when you’re in a bad mood, some people around you keep their distance?  Others may respond to your complaints, and in doing so, magnify the negative feelings you are experiencing.  In the same way, feeling delighted with life will often draw to us others who are happy and full of fun.

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What Reality Forms the Spiritual Ground For Your Life?

When we plant a garden, we first prepare the ground by pulling weeds and stirring up the soil.  How do we prepare the ground for living our lives?  Do we follow the ways we’ve always been taught?  Do we experiment and stay open to learning new ideas and having new experiences?  The ground we choose for our lives often has much to do with whether what we have been taught growing up serves us well.  If childhood did not provide us with a positive ground, we will have to search and create our own.

For some, the ground is religion. For some, it is a personal spiritual journey, and for others it is a life of service or accomplishment.  But without a spiritual ground or connection, we are living half a life.  The inner compass that can guide us through all challenges is missing.

Are You Sowing Positive or Negative Thoughts?

When we have prepared the ground for our spiritual garden, what do we choose to sow?  If we focus on peace, love, and joy, it will return to us.  The more we sow these seeds, the more beneficial experiences appear in our lives, but people who always focus on what is wrong in their lives or in the world are often very depressed.  They fill their inner garden with negativity and that attracts more negativity into their lives, and something withers.  When things are not going well for us, the best way to manifest what we want is to focus on what we truly want, even while we are cleaning up the current mess we’re in.  We can sow positive seeds even when it seems all is going wrong.

We Have To Feed Our Spiritual Lives

Feeding and watering our spiritual lives with positive spiritual readings, listening to talks that uplift us, and surrounding ourselves with like-minded people are three ways we can create a life that blossoms with what is good.  These activities, like meditation and prayer, help us find ways to connect with Spirit, the source energy of our spiritual lives.

For years I’ve read the daily message in Science of Mind Magazine, reminding me that I do have power over what grows in my life based on my thoughts.  The book Oneness by Rasha has also enriched my understanding of the universal changes currently occurring and how they affect us.  Listening to the DVD’s on the Abraham teachings by Esther Hicks or attending talks in my spiritual community often open my mind to a new perspective.  Most of all, having friends and being part of a spiritual community where people are open to spiritual growth feeds me on a deep level.

Positive Energy Creates An Abundant Harvest

Marden, a New Thought writer of the early twentieth century, said, “…the more one sows, the greater the harvest.”  The more positive thoughts and actions we express in our lives, the more we will create healthy relationships and new opportunities in all areas of life.  The harvest will be abundant.  I think so often of all the people who have had to retrain in order to find a job.  It isn’t easy to make those changes, but by taking positive action to adjust to the economic and business challenges of these changes, they are planting new seeds that will create a more abundant harvest.

Growing spiritually often allows us to make these kinds of significant changes.  Letting go of what has served us in the past, but which no longer does, allows us to create a better life and grow in new ways.  When we continue to feed our inner life, that inner life guides the outer to make good choices, to serve where we can make a difference, to love and transform our lives and others, to plant seeds of peace, love and joy wherever we go.  That always creates an abundant harvest.

What do you do to feed your spiritual garden?  Please Comment.

© 2013 Georganne Spruce                                                            ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Related Articles: Effects of Thought on Physical Reality – Dr. Wayne Dyer(video),  Growing Your Spiritual Garden, You Become What You Think About – Dr. Wayne Dyer (Video)

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AWAKENING TO GET UNSTUCK

Posted on June 5, 2013 | 8 comments

“Life can only be understood backward; but it must be lived forwards.”  Soren Kierkegaard

2012 Catawba Falls 002 Do you ever feel you’re stuck in a perspective, job, or relationship that no longer serves you?  How can you release what’s stuck and move on?

When I look back over the many years of my life, I’m amazed at how much has changed in our society and in my life.  I went to school in segregated schools until the Sixties when I entered college.  I knew the first black woman to live in the college dorm.  In those days when I was majoring in theater, the gay guys who were my friends didn’t want me to know they were gay.  Although we all knew they were gay, it was never discussed openly.

Society Changes Only When We Change

The Sixties opened up my generation as nothing else could.  As a result of the turmoil of that time, our society began a process of opening to new ideas about equality for all Americans.  While many attitudes and laws have changed in our society, there are still people who are racist, sexist, or against anyone who is not like them.

The society can become unstuck and move forward only when we do.  So how do we do that when we feel so attached to a belief or stuck in a life style that makes our change challenging?  How do we learn to live forward as Kierkegaard suggests?

We Must Release Limiting Beliefs

Living attached to limiting beliefs about the past can stymie us.  When I married at twenty-one, I believed that marriage lasted forever, no matter what.  I still think it’s the ideal, but after dealing with my former husband, who kept trying to leave for ten years, I finally decided I had to let him go—there was little value in his remaining for either of us.

Resistance Is A Sign We’re Stuck

How do we know when we’re stuck?  We usually encounter repeated resistance in some way.  It feels like no matter what we do, nothing changes.  Problems don’t get solved.  We aren’t getting what we want.  Every attempt to get what we want is blocked in some way.  The frustration level rises because what used to work no longer does.

When we feel this way, something needs to change, and it’s usually our thinking.  When I moved to New Mexico years ago, I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a result of stress and exposure to chemicals and mold in the New Orleans environment and the schools where I taught.  I needed to move to a dry climate to heal.  But it was more than that.  I had felt an attraction to New Mexico and had subscribed to the New Mexico Magazine for years.  I found the landscape and art beautiful and felt deeply connected to the Native American Culture.

I did heal my illness there, but my high school teaching experiences were a nightmare.   Administrators who wanted to replace me with people they knew wrote evaluations full of lies, and others refused to give me any support with a terribly-behaved class that had been a serious problem long before I arrived.  I became a scapegoat for the problems administrators couldn’t solve.

New Mexico Sunset

New Mexico Sunset (Photo credit: courtfkizer)

Still, I refused to face the facts.  My arrival in New Mexico had been magical, and my first job was perfect for me—teaching a humanities class in a fine arts academy.  But it didn’t last because I was the last teacher hired and when they discovered they had too many teachers for students, I was the first to be transferred.  Unfortunately, by this time, I had fallen in love with the Land of Enchantment.

We Have To See How Illusions Keep Us Stuck

You know how it is when you fall in love.  It’s impossible to see your lover’s negative qualities.  You make excuses for him.  I refused to give up my belief that this beautiful place was my soul’s home.  I ignored the real meaning of enchantment.  The lure of its beauty had bewitched me.

Despite being stuck on staying where I was physically, I did begin to be unstuck in other ways.  I had been writing a novel, but was blocked and frustrated.  Then I started writing my memoir instead just to keep writing and that began to feel like a good change.  Eventually, I let go of my attachment to the desert, realizing it was a metaphor for my experience, and moved to North Carolina, a place that truly is my soul’s home.

We Have To Release Our Fear of Change

So often we resist what is obvious because we’re so afraid of change.  It’s the unknown and we choose to remain unhappy rather than take a risk, but staying stuck only buries us deeper under more unhappiness.  It is only after making the change that we can look back and see whether it was a good choice.  That’s reality, and to live life forward means to summon our courage and take the risk.

When I’m at this point, I always think of this saying, “When you 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.”  Unless you are willing to take the step forward, you will never know what possibilities await you.

Through Change We Find Our True Path

In New Mexico and in North Carolina, I kept clinging to the feeling of security that teaching gave me, but that was an illusion.  It has all worked out.  Just at the time I was running out of money, I reached the age to collect Social Security.  Then, I published my memoir and created workshops on how to release fear.  The chaos led me to my true life path and whatever I have needed has shown up.  It was all in Divine Order.

May you find the courage to live your life forward.

What have you let go of over the years that has allowed you to understand the past and move forward?  Please comment.

© 2013 Georganne Spruce                                                                 ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Related Articles:    Getting Unstuck – Pema Chodron (audio), What is Stopping You?, Getting Unstuck

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AWAKENING TO NOW

Posted on May 29, 2013 | 7 comments

“The destination toward which you assume you are traveling in your spiritual quest is not a destination at all.  For a destination, by definition, is somewhere other than where you are.  And where you are is all there is and ever can be—which is Nowhere.  All that can be changed is your perception of that blessed state.”  (Oneness, p. 342)

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How often are you in the moment?  What does that feel like?  Can you see the ways not being in the moment creates blocks for you to move forward?

Enlightenment As A Goal?

I once knew a man whose goal was to become enlightened.  I was puzzled by that because it seemed to me that enlightenment was something that came to us or didn’t.  Of course there are many spiritual practices that can take us to a consciousness level where enlightenment is more likely, but it seemed to me that making it a goal was self-defeating because enlightenment then became a destination.

George_Harrison_Chanting_Hare_Krishna in Vrind...

George_Harrison_Chanting_Hare_Krishna in Vrindavan, India (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Time Is An Illusion

We earthly beings have created the concept of time.  It doesn’t actually exist.  Perhaps we created it so that we would know where we were in some sense because we have not yet developed the consciousness to just live in beingness.  In this physical body and physical plane we need concepts that ground us.  Time is one of those.

The older I get the more I am able to live in the moment.  I think it’s part of letting go of the need to control so much of life or perhaps it’s the result of having had so many experiences when I couldn’t control the situation.  As an adult, I reached a point where I was very depressed because it seemed I couldn’t get anything I really wanted.

Trying To Control Everything Creates Resistance

My parents wouldn’t send me to the school I wanted to attend, then my husband proved to be uncommitted to our marriage the way I was and he left, then I tried to get a full time teaching position after I left the one I had in Nebraska and couldn’t.  It seemed that there was nothing that was really important to me that I was able to create despite my determination.  I had been taught that if I worked really hard, I could get what I wanted in life, but it didn’t turn out that way.

What I didn’t understand then, that I do now, is how my determination created resistance and how resistance blocks the manifestation of what we want.  I was always so busy doing what I thought I needed to do to make things happen that there was no space for what I wanted to enter my life.  I was unaware of how my energetic vibration affected all of this.

A Positive Energetic Vibration Creates What We Need

While I was applying for a job or looking for a new friend or lover, my focus was out there on some destination, not in the moment, because in the moment I was unhappy with what I didn’t have and so that energy was the most influential.  Now I’ve learned to focus on the present.  If I’m filling out a job application, I do it with excitement and pleasure, relishing this first step.  I need to stop worrying about getting the job, and make this step and each following step pleasurable.

Our energy in the moment is what creates the future, but when we get to the future we are again in the present, and we were in the present as we journeyed to the future, so….how we experience the moment is the only thing that matters.  The more we visit the stillness within us where the moment resides, the more clarity we will experience.  It also allows thoughts and feelings from our deepest selves to emerge.

Answers Come To Us In the Spiritual Silence Of the Moment

Recently, I was sitting with much anxiety about why I was feeling anxious.  I knew there was no rational explanation, so I sat until I felt calmer and let go of my need to understand.  In the quiet I created a space for the answer to emerge, and when I calmed down, it did emerge.  I saw that the child within me was responding to how my mother’s overprotection used to make me feel smothered.  I reminded myself that this had nothing to do with this current situation, that I was projecting the past into the present.  When I saw what was going on, I let go of the anxiety that no longer served me.

When Oneness reminds us that in the moment, we are nowhere in relation to time, it also reminds us that being in the moment means we are also Everywhere.   In this state, there is no sense of “not having.”  “All That Is—is present.” (Oneness, p. 343) When we can slow down enough to experience this present moment, it allows us to experience peace, love, and joy—not because of what we have, but because we simply are.  In this spiritual state, we are all that we need to be.

Is practicing being in the moment a part of your life?  Please comment.

© 2013 Georganne Spruce                                                                 ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Related Articles:  Awakening to New Life, Oneness Speaks (video), The art of Now: Six Steps to Living in the Moment, Learn to Live in the Now With Eckhart Tolle

New video: Awakening to the Dance: A Journey to Wholeness

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AWAKENING TO OUR SPIRITUAL HOME

Posted on May 22, 2013 | 5 comments

“Where we love is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.”  Oliver Wendell Holmes

photo (2) Is home a place or a person for you?  Is it within or without?  Is your spiritual home different from your literal home?  Are you at home with yourself?

What is Home?

I live in the mountains of North Carolina where most people who live here are from someplace else.  Their stories of why they decided to move here are very similar.  They were drawn here.  They visited here and for the first time, they felt they were home.  Very rarely do I hear a story with any rational explanation.  Moving here was motivated by something deeper, something unexplainable and very spiritual. It isn’t just that they feel at home in a place; the home they feel is a community of like-minded people, the spiritual energy of these mountains, and the artistic and diverse people who live here.  It is a place that touches their hearts in many ways.

Home Is Not A Place

In 1999 when I moved to the Land of Enchantment, New Mexico, everything I needed to stay there fell into place.  There were many signs that it was where I belonged, and I was sure that it was my soul’s home.  But just as easily as things fell into place, things fell apart, and the five years I was there were extremely challenging.  On the other hand, I began writing seriously and found Southwest Writers, a wonderfully supportive organization where I met many successful writers.  The more I wrote, the more I felt at home in my own skin.

Make Your Home in Your Mind

Tad Williams has said, “Never make your home in a place.  Make a home for yourself inside your own head.  You’ll find what you need to furnish it—memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things.  That way it will go with you wherever you journey.” photo I spent much of my life looking for the place where I would feel at home.  I always seemed to have different ideas and values than the people around me.  I equated feeling at home to feeling I belonged.  The problem with all that was that I was looking outside for something I could only find within.

Edsel Ford, an Arkansas poet who was a family friend when I was growing up, once wrote:  “Love is to come home dying from the world and find life there.”  I often felt I was dying in New Mexico, but I learned to let go of my attachment to the outer and follow my inner guidance.  I learned to stand more firmly on my own two feet, and all that led me to understand, home was wherever I was and the life and light I sought was within me.

Our True Home Is Our Spiritual Core

What we feel inside at our spiritual core affects everything in our lives.  If we are at home in our own bodies and minds, we will experience peace.  If we love ourselves, we will love others and they will love us.  The physical place where we are won’t matter.  It will be just another experience in our spiritual journey.  We can be in Alaska, Africa, or Spain and feel at home because at the deepest level we are at home with ourselves and that connects us with all humanity on a deeper level.  We are all One.

Love Is the Center of Our Home

The physical place where we are may not give us the life we need, but the friends, the memories, the desires, the energy of love we find with others can make wherever we are home.  Growing up, my family lived in several places, but what made each house home was the presence of my family’s love for me.  Love is the place we feel safe and accepted.  It’s where we can be who we really are.  It’s the spiritual center within us that we allow to open and gather in all that is good and nourishing, and it’s the place where we connect with Spirit and experience the greatest love that is possible.

Even now that my dear poet friend and most of my family have passed on, their love still lives within me.  The love of friends far away and nearby feed the home within me, and I carry them with me wherever I go.

How do you experience home?  Please comment.

© 2013 Georganne Spruce                                                            ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5 Related Links: What Does It Mean to Live Spiritual, Eckhart Tolle On Being Yourself, Accepting and Loving Ourselves in Ten Easy Steps, One Path, Many Mountains

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AWAKENING TO NEW LIFE

Posted on May 15, 2013 | 1 comment

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness.  How do you know this is the experience you need?  Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.”  Eckhart Tolle

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Is the urge to grow part of your life?  Are you willing to encounter what is unpleasant in order to make changes that will improve life?  How does positive thinking enhance your life?

Finally, spring is here with a few warmer days, blooming flowers and heavy pollen.  My front stairs and deck have been covered with the yellow pollen of the oak trees in my yard.  Every few days, a new flower blooms and adds color to the yard.  Because I’m not a very good gardener and I’ve left the yard as it was when I moved into the house, I often forget exactly what is there. As a result, spring becomes a delightful series of surprises.

Spring Awakens New Life

Spring is the constant unfolding of new life.  It’s dynamic and color drags us out of the winter doldrums and reminds us of all that has been lying fallow beneath the snow.  The reality is that although nature is tied to this cycle we are not.  We can awaken to new life at any moment, any day.  When we are open to new ideas and experiences, we create a spring with our lives and new things blossom.

What do we feel in spring?  New energy, excitement, freedom, and hope.  Life that has been restricted indoors moves outdoors where there is more space, more stimulation, and more possibilities.

Spring of Life, 2006

Spring of Life, 2006 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Let Go of the Negative and Welcome the Positive

So how can we create these positive and uplifting feelings in our own lives?  We can let go of those things that no longer serve us:  resentment, fear, lack of worth, and attachment to the past or attitudes that keep us from moving forward.

I often write about letting go of fear, but what do we do once we have released it?  Releasing fear creates a space where all things are possible.  We ask for guidance and it will come to us if we are listening carefully to our inner selves.  Of course, sometimes, what we need manifests in the physical world right in front of us.  Are we willing to open ourselves enough to experience the unfamiliar?

To do that, we have to either take a positive view assuming that it will be an improvement in our lives or at least a neutral attitude that allows us to explore the possibility.  There are no guarantees that everything that comes our way will be good, but if we choose to live with a positive attitude, that there may be some good in whatever shows up, we are more likely to experience good.

Find What Is Good in Each Experience

Living with the attitude that life is basically good is rather like experiencing spring or summer year round.  We can live like this when we are willing to focus on what is positive in each experience we have.  Any change we make requires an adjustment and this may seem uncomfortable, but if we aren’t willing to experience some discomfort, we may never move ahead.

For example, when we begin a new relationship, there may be conflicts.  We may feel the other person wants too much of our time or doesn’t want to see us often enough.  Our partner may reflect qualities of the last partner with whom we had a failed relationship, or we may project qualities of that person or a parent onto the new partner.  We may not like the same movies or food.  But we have a choice every time the conflict arises.  We can choose to assume for the moment that this is an opportunity to learn more about ourselves and the other person, and if we can thoughtfully engage in a conversation and try to understand why the issue is a problem, we may be able to create a positive and meaningful relationship.

Let the Light Inside Grow

In the spring, the light and longer days are inspiring as well as the new growth of nature.  The sunlight gives us the Vitamin D we need to feel good, and it makes it possible for us to enjoy more time out of doors gardening, hiking, or playing.  So, it is also worthwhile for us to look for the light inside us.  What are our positive qualities?  When new possibilities appear, do we think we are worthy of a better life, job, or relationship?  Is the light within us a match to this new opportunity?

Loving Ourselves Brings Spiritual Growth

We can choose this moment to nurture and love who we are, to expand the light within and to allow the best of us to blossom.  If we are to grow, it is so important that we are willing to try new things and take risks.  When these things turn out well, we feel better about ourselves, but it is critical that when we take the risk and it doesn’t turn out well, that we applaud ourselves for having the courage to try.  That is a positive thing too.  Applauding ourselves increases the light.

As Tolle points out, each experience we have is an experience we need to have to grow.  We need to value each one, even the unpleasant ones, for this life is our spring.  We are here to learn and grow and expand our energy, and move into the light.  How do you bring the light into your life?  Please comment.

© 2013 Georganne Spruce                                                                      ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Related Articles: Dont’s Miss this video:  Eckhart Tolle: Shifting from Negative to Positive Energy, It’s Time To Wake Up,  Are You Ready to Awaken,  

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AWAKENING TO A FULL LIFE

Posted on May 8, 2013 | Leave a comment

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”  Mae West

Wamboldtopia

Wamboldtopia

Does your life feel complete?  Is it satisfying and fun?  If not, what is missing and what can you do about it?

Unlike Mae West, I believe we live more than one life, but I like the spirit of her quote.  Just because I believe I may have another shot at this earthly life doesn’t mean I don’t want this time to be great or that I’m willing to stop trying to create the life I want.  Right now, what I’m experiencing is what matters and I want to feel good about it.

A Full Life Is Based On Spiritual Values

What is a full life?  I think of it as a life that is satisfying and full of peace, love, and joy, my three favorite spiritual qualities.  It means I have good friends with whom I can share art, nature and good conversations and know there is a deep connection of love and respect.  It also means that I am following my passion in the work I do, and the activities I engage in bring me joy.

However, we are each on an individual journey and have individual desires and needs.  For example, I would feel deprived if I couldn’t view fine art often.  It touches my soul and lets me see into the soul of the artist.  But there are some people who never view it, who consider it frivolous or uninteresting, and feel no need to have it in their lives.

A Full Life Includes Love

To have a full life, we have to be connected to someone or something that we love, for the things we love feed our souls and expand who we are.  When I am around my nephews and niece and their children, I feel such joy because, not having children of my own, I had the privilege of seeing them become adults and now parents.  I’ve laughed and cried over them through the years and counseled and encouraged.  There is no doubt that my life would be less full without their love and my love for them.  So instead of feeling sorry for myself because I didn’t have children, I created relationships with them.

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We Must Fill Our Own Lives

We are the only ones who can fill our lives.  We decide what we will let into our lives and what we will reject.  To most people, having a full life is about what we have in terms of security, family, friends, or work, but it is also about how deeply we are willing to live.  What are we willing to do to make our life full?  Are we willing to be the hero or heroine in our own life and take full responsibility for creating the life we want? Or do we choose to be the victim of circumstances?

If your life does not feel full, what is lacking?  What are you ignoring that is too painful to look at?  Over the years, I’ve seen many people who are educated, financially secure, and intelligent who have ignored aspects of their lives that make their lives less than desirable.  I always wonder why they choose not to change what can clearly be changed. Perhaps they feel hopeless or are afraid that making the change would also have negative consequences in other areas of their lives.  There is always a reason why we are not the best we can be, and understanding the root of the problem may require us to look deeper with the help of a therapist or counselor.  It is important that, regardless of what limitations we feel exist, we are willing to take that first small step.

Good Change Requires a Shift in Thinking

Every good thing that has come to me has come after I made a shift in my thinking.  It is how we think about a situation that makes it possible for us to change.  When I was in high school I was fairly shy, despite my involvement in speech and drama.  In my senior year, the Thespian Society members gave me a Best Actress Award.  That was a huge boost to my confidence and led me to believe later, that if I could be that good, maybe I could also be good enough to become a modern dancer and dance with a company.

A few years ago, as a relationship was ending, I suddenly became aware of the fact that this man was so much like my father in his stubbornness and his inability to understand how his unwillingness to compromise created problems between us.  Like my father, he was emotionally shut down.  As I looked at him from this perspective, I saw more negative points of comparison.  It was startling!  How could I be so blind!  I thought I had worked through these issues.

We Can Learn From Positive and Negative Experiences

While winning the Best Actress Award was a positive event that motivated me, the ending of a relationship was a negative event, and yet, it motivated me to heal and let go of an old pattern that was limiting my life.  We can learn from the positive and negative.  Taking the time to heal these old patterns has allowed me to attract a man into my life who has none of my father’s negative characteristics.  The work that I’ve done in the last two years cleared out past issues and opened a space for a more fulfilling love to appear.

Wherever we are in this spiritual journey to experience fullness of life, we must know that we are meant to live in peace, love, and joy.  Our purpose here is to expand our lives through experiencing these qualities, and it is our responsibility to do the work that will take us to a fuller life.  May whatever you need for your journey, show up.

© 2013 Georganne Spruce                                                                 ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Related Articles: Nora Ephron’s Advice – Be the Heroine in Your Own Life, Be A Hero: Save Your Own Life, Make Now Count:  How to Live a Fun Life Full of Possibilities, How to Be At Peace:  Eckhart Tolle Seeing the Good in Life 

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AWAKENING TO BEFRIEND OURSELVES

Posted on May 1, 2013 | Leave a comment

“I now see how owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we will ever do.”  Brene Brown

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Are you as supportive of yourself as your best friend is supportive of you?  Do you have the courage to own your own story even if you don’t like it?  What are you willing to do to empower yourself?

I’m glad April is over because I don’t feel so guilty any more that I didn’t complete a project I promised to complete.  It wasn’t anything terribly important.  It certainly wasn’t earth shattering.  I doubt that anyone cared about it but me.  But I’m a person who values commitments and so I’m rather disappointed in myself.

I had joined the event called NoPoWriMo which meant that I committed to write a poem every day.  It didn’t have to be polished and it could be a first draft.  I only completed six poems.  Why?  Well, the rest of life intervened in ways I couldn’t ignore.

Opportunities to do events or publicize my book and preparation for a Release Your Fear workshop that I gave on Saturday took more time than I expected.  A wonderful new friend came into my life with whom I chose to spend some time.  Everything that pulled me away from writing the poetry was really good and more important.

Being More Conscious of Intuition

My error was apparent from the moment I made the decision to do this event.  My intuition said quite clearly, “This will put more pressure on you.  You don’t need to take on one more thing.  If you feel pressured, you won’t be able to write poetry.  You won’t be in the right frame of mind.”  Clearly, I should have listened, but my sometimes overly optimistic self said, “I’ll find time.  It will be a nice way to relax in the evening.”  Hah!

So, I failed to meet the goal I had created for myself.  Although this wasn’t anything that impacted my life in a negative way, it’s a good example of how I used to have too much of a tendency to over commit.  I would get so involved with so many activities and people that I would be exhausted all the time.  This felt like I was backsliding.  As an introvert, I must have my quiet time each day in order to recharge, but for years, I often didn’t leave enough room for it.

Loving Ourselves to Make Good Choices

The damage I’ve done to myself by pushing too hard or over committing is one of the stories I need to own.  I have a tendency in this area to make bad choices because there are so many interesting things I love to do.  But if I love myself, I have to be willing to say no, not only to myself, but to others as well.  Usually it’s easier to say no to myself; it’s much harder to say it to someone else.

Going Deeper to Awaken

Compared to many stories, my poetry experience is trivial.  For example, feeling we failed at relationships is a much harder one for most of us.  It is important that we take the time to understand why it didn’t work and the part we played.  When we can do that, we can learn to make better decisions and choices the next time.  But then, after the analysis and owning our part of the story, we need to love ourselves enough to forgive ourselves, knowing we did the best we could at the time.

At those moments when we are most disappointed in ourselves, can we give ourselves what our best friends would give us?  Elizabeth Gilbert once said, “Never forget that once upon a time, in an unguarded moment, you recognized yourself as a friend.”

Eat, Pray, Love

Eat, Pray, Love (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Experiencing Friendship With Yourself

As your friend, you will listen carefully to that voice in your head that tells you you’re not good enough, and you will tell yourself about all the ways you are good enough.  You will have compassion for that hurt child within you who sometimes feels powerless to change what makes you unhappy.  You will empathize with your hurt self and reassure that self that things will be better and that you have the courage to seek out the hard answers.  You will remind yourself that you deserve the very best and that what you desire will come to you.

Our best friend

Empowering Ourselves On Our Spiritual Journey

When we hear these things from our best friends, it feels good to know someone cares so much, but when we can say these things to ourselves and believe them, we empower ourselves.  The bravest thing we can ever do is to look inside and openly observe our deepest self.  The next bravest thing we can do is begin the journey to fix what needs repairing.  These journeys may be challenging, but they will be more manageable if we learn to be our own best friend.

© 2013 Georganne Spruce                                                         ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Related Articles: Befriending Ourselves, The Art and Craft of Befriending Your Experience, Is it Realistic to Befriend Ourselves, Befriend Yourself 

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AWAKENING TO OPENNESS

Posted on April 25, 2013 | Leave a comment

“It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.”  Erma Bombeck

How much of yourself do you share with other people?  If you don’t share much, what fear prevents you from doing that? Why do you feel you must hide a part of yourself?

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Hiding or Not Hiding

I met a woman some time ago who seems to be a very nice person.  We’ve been in several discussions; yet I know nothing really personal about her except for her political beliefs.  Her emotional life remains hidden.

I have also recently met a man who is so open that I continue to be amazed by the depth of what he is willing to share.  Instead of practically pulling teeth like I’m used to doing with many men, communication with him is so easy.  He just says what he thinks and goes deeper without my asking him to.

Trust Is at the Core of Openness

There are so many things that affect our willingness to be open.  At the core of it is trust, the two-fold kind.  We have to feel we can trust the person with whom we are sharing our stories, and we also have to trust ourselves and believe we have something of value to share.

While it is true that we must use discretion in what we reveal to others, our ability to share deeply with others enriches our lives.  There have been times in my life when I felt no one understood me and no one really wanted to know what was going on inside me.  Those were barren, lonely times because I was surrounded by people who were not comfortable sharing much of themselves, so they really didn’t want to hear about my deeper thoughts and struggles.

However, most of my life I have had at least one best friend with whom I could share anything and who would share anything with me.  Sometimes what one of us thought or did shocked the other, but we were always there for each other whether we approved of the other’s choices or not.  Our trust in each other created an incredible intimacy and richness to our lives.

openness

Openness Requires Discretion

Of course there are times when it isn’t wise to be open.  Sharing too much about one’s personal life in the work place can be distracting and inappropriate.  If a friend or partner has misused the information we have shared, we need to reconsider the wisdom of sharing so much with that person.  Sometimes we just have to set boundaries in order to feel safe enough to be open.

Once, when my relationship with a man I loved was breaking up, I shared this with a friend, never dreaming she would pass the information on to two women I hardly knew.  They then shared with a neighbor.  Soon afterwards, I walked into the ladies restroom at my spiritual community and a woman I barely knew told me how sorry she was that this man and I were splitting.

I was shocked.  I had told only my closest friends who I thought would be discrete.  When I tracked this back to the source, I told that friend how upset I was, and she was very sorry.  Her perception of how close I felt to her two woman friends was different than what I felt, and when we sorted it out, she agreed not to share my relationship information with anyone without asking my permission.  With this understanding in place, I felt comfortable sharing with her in the future.

Being Who We Are Creates Connections With Others

While we have to be wise about our openness, we also miss so much in life when we are afraid to show others who we truly are.  As I’ve said many times, when I decided to publish my memoir, I had to overcome the fear of being open.  Being that open felt vulnerable, but I couldn’t tell my story in a way that would benefit those who read it unless I was transparent.  It took quite a while to find the courage to do that.

I’m glad I made that decision because my being open has allowed others to open up to me, to share their deepest thoughts and tragedies, to share things with me that they would never have shared with me had we not had the book to connect us.  When we understand that others have had similar experiences, it often helps us to stop judging ourselves and just know that our “failures” are only human.

I like what Tony Schwartz says:  “Let go of certainty.  The opposite isn’t uncertainty.  It’s openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides.  The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.”

Openness Enriches Us Spiritually

When we truly accept who we are and love ourselves, we can also accept that we make mistakes.  To be open to living life at its fullness, we have to interact with others, explore our thoughts and lives together.  We have to be open to the idea that it is often our mistakes that teach us the lessons we really need to learn in order to grow and become who we truly are.

When we show our dreams to someone else, they may know exactly what we need to make those dreams come true. Openness allows us to connect, explore, and discover “the buried treasure” within each of us. When we do that and open our hearts to each other, life can be oh, so sweet.

© 2013 Georganne Spruce                                                          ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Related Articles:   Love:  It’s Not Where You Look But Who You Are – Wayne Dyer,  Do You Worry About What Others Think of You, Initiating Relationships With Honesty, Openness and Directness

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RELEASING OUR FEAR TO AWAKEN

Posted on April 17, 2013 | 2 comments

“Love is what we were born with.  Fear is what we learned here.”  Marianne Williamson

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How often do you avoid doing something you need to do because of fear?  How often do you feel fearful?  How do you let go of fear in order to move forward?

We Are Divine Beings With Worth

When we awaken in the morning, the rest of our lives are before us, and the decisions we make each day determine the quality of that life and how we will experience it.  We were born in love, a divine being with worth, but often the living of this life takes its toll.  If our childhood was filled with love and we had nurturing parents, we have the best chance to create that kind of adult life for ourselves.  However, if our childhood was filled with conflict or abuse, we had to learn coping mechanisms for survival, and while they may have helped us survive, they may have caused us to shut down parts of ourselves.

Fear Blocks Our Spiritual Awakening

The process of awakening is never ending.  In Oneness, awakening is described as “ascension” but one never arrives at a destination; one always continues growing.  In this earthly life, the one thing that limits our awakening more than any other is psychological fear.  It is the source of all dysfunctional behavior and every fear we experience is either a fear of rejection or a fear of inadequacy.  Our response to the problems that stimulate these fears is blocked by the fear unless we release it.

The fear that causes us to fight or flee when we are physically threatened is a different kind of fear; it is natural fear and one that we want to respect.  It causes the adrenaline to flow when we need the strength to out run a physical threat.  It causes that chill down the back or the intuitive knowing when harm is near, and it directs our mind to avoid the threat.

Thoughts Full of Fear Do Not Support Our Best

Psychological fears are different.  They may prevent us from pursuing the profession that is our passion or cause us to settle for less than what we need in relationships.  We may have internalized negative ideas about ourselves from an unloving childhood or from failures in our lives and feel that we are not worthy of happiness.  How we experience life depends so much on how we think, and if our thoughts are often filled with fear, our thoughts will not support the best in us.

We Must Embrace the Pain Of Growth

Our society has taught us to deal with pain by taking some kind of painkiller:  pills, drugs, sex, food, anything to stop the pain without having to go deeper to look at the emotional source of the distress because going deeper would be painful.  Marianne Williamson says, “It takes courage…to endure the sharp pains of self-discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives.”

We need to shift our thinking to understand that sometimes pain is good, especially when it raises our consciousness.  Recently, a part of my foot started hurting like the beginning of plantar fasciitis, which I previously had for several years.   It was a signal that my foot wasn’t supported properly.  I visited the podiatrist and discovered that the orthotics I wear in my shoes needed more support in a certain area.  Emotional pain is also a warning—something is wrong and needs to be fixed or the pain will increase.

The method of releasing fear that I teach clears the mind of the block created by fear so that the mind can pull through information that will help us solve the problem that created the fear to begin with.  First, we direct the mind to release the fear and allow it to leave.  With the fear gone, we can access memory, past lives, spiritual, and psychic areas of the mind where there is information that will help us solve the current problem.

Trust That the Mind Free of Fear Will Serve Us

When we ask Source or Spirit for the answer, we have to believe we will receive it.  The problem is that it may not come when we expect it or look like we wanted it to.  Abundance is a good example in my life.  It appears in the form of money gifts, service exchanges, love, friendship, sharing information, free classes on a skill I need to learn, and work for which I’m paid.  The abundance in my life appears in a multitude of forms.

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How does this happen?  Because I believe that I will receive whatever I need when I need it and am ready to receive it.  The best way to attract abundance is to feel abundant and be grateful for every little good thing that happens.  Most of all, I no longer fear not having enough.  Having released that fear provides an unobstructed channel of energy through which good things can come to me.

The Awakening Path Is Endless

Marianne Williamson points out that it takes courage to face the pain of discovery.  We also have to release the fear that going into our muck won’t make things better.  We were created in love and to love we must return.  Love is what we are at our core, but “fear is what we learned here.”  What we have learned, we can unlearn when it does not serve us.  The reality of awakening is that we do outgrow certain ideas or circumstances in our lives.  We have to be willing to move on when the time comes.  The path of ascension is always there.  How quickly we awaken is our choice.

Please share your experience with fear and awakening.

 My next “Release Your Fear” workshop is Saturday, April 27, 10:00 am to 12:00 at Jubilee Community, 46 Wall St., Asheville, NC, $15 at the door.  If you want more information, see this link or email me at lifedancer33@charter.net.

© 2013 Georganne Spruce                                                            ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Related Articles:  What is Spiritual Awakening, The Mind-Body Connection: Fear Manifests in Many Diseases , Fear: Your Worst Enemy

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AWAKENING TO RELATIONSHIPS: COMMITMENT, Part 4

Posted on April 10, 2013 | Leave a comment

“‘I will always love you,’ means nothing unless the mind is fearlessly aligned with the heart.  It takes the courage of a warrior to make and to keep a vow of love.”    www.lovedovetarot.com

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Have you ever committed to a love relationship, friendship, or profession?  What is at the core of your choice not to commit to something you actually want?  Do you feel that if you commit to someone you will lose your freedom and you value that above all else?

For the last three weeks, I’ve been writing about what I feel are the most important elements in any relationship: empathy, intimacy, integrity, and commitment.  Today, I’m writing about commitment, and although it’s a major issue in love relationships, I believe it’s also very important in many areas of life.

Developing Any Skill Requires Commitment

In my late teens, I realized I wanted to be a modern dancer and knew that the sporadic classes I’d taken were not enough.  At that point, I had to commit to daily classes to develop my skills, and when I had to miss a class, I worked out by myself.

When I moved to Washington, DC, I had to travel into the city and committed to taking daily classes no matter what.  In fact, I even found a high school teaching job where I didn’t start teaching until 11:00 am so that I could take a class every morning.  It was this commitment that made it possible for me to develop the technique and skill to be good enough to eventually dance with a company.

In cases like this or in developing skills, commitment to training allows us to fulfill our goals and desires.  The problem is that this isn’t always easy, and when things get hard, many people give up so that they never feel a sense of accomplishment.  The discipline feels too confining.  However, if we want to feel good about ourselves, we have to be committed to being the persons we want to be and be willing to search for what we need and practice that skill in our lives.

Spiritual Practices Require Commitment to Learn

I grew up in a family that was very emotionally reactive, and so I modeled that behavior for many years.  At some point, though, I realized that behavior wasn’t working well for me, and I thought meditation might help me find a more peaceful way to be.  I was right, but it took some time and commitment to reach a point where I could center myself in the midst of an argument or difficult situation.  Just learning to feel peaceful when I was meditating wasn’t enough.

Meaningful Relationships Require Commitment

Perhaps the most complex situation where we make a commitment is in a relationship because it isn’t about just disciplining ourselves to do something we want to do.  There is another person whose well-being we must consider.  This is also true of friendships because to sustain a long term friendship, we need to practice empathy, integrity, and intimacy.  Parents also have to be committed to their children and help them develop as happy and whole individuals and not abandon them when they are most difficult.

In Loving Relationships We Can Grow and Expand

With a divorce rate at over 50% in this country, it appears commitment between adult partners is quite challenging.  I would venture to guess that all those relationships lack at least one of the elements I consider important.  They are all essential in creating a loving relationship that is healthy and meaningful, and a good relationship can be one of the best places to grow and expand who we are and our ability to love.  That takes time.  No matter how much we think we know someone, when we marry or move in together, the dynamic may change and require adjustments.  That is why being truly committed to make the relationship work is really important.  It takes time to grow together and deepen the love between two people.

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To Love Requires A Fearless Mind

It also takes more than love to create a successful relationship.  “‘I will always love you,’ means nothing unless the mind is fearlessly aligned with the heart.”  I love this quote because it points out that we have to make decisions that come from the heart and release the fears that arise and block our thinking.  When life becomes difficult, we can always find reasons to run away, but if we are committed and mature, we take responsibility for doing what we can to solve problems and move forward in a positive way. We find the courage of the warrior.

When we fear we will lose our freedom by being in a relationship, what we really fear is that we will lose our sense of self if we merge too much with another, and if we don’t love ourselves, we may fear we aren’t capable of being loved.  I was once with a man who loved me very much, but he seemed ashamed of his love because his concept of masculinity was that a man who needed a woman was weak.  In his need to be masculine, he made selfish choices and felt bad about them, but refused to change his behavior.

Good Relationships Grow With Time

But it is possible to be in a relationship where we become more of who we are with someone we love, for love opens and expands us.  I see the beauty of long term commitment in the relationships that some of my married friends have who have been together for 30 years.  They have not been diminished by commitment.  Their love has grown and expanded.  They have had the freedom to be who they are and follow their interests because they love each other for who they truly are.  They have all had to make adjustments and changes, but in the end, it has been worth it to have loving partners who are deeply committed to them to share the joys and sorrows of life.

You have To Know And Love Yourself First

But here’s what I think is the key.  If you know who you are and are confident, freedom isn’t such an issue because knowing who you are gives you great inner freedom and you won’t make choices that violate your integrity.  You have to first trust yourself before you can trust someone else.  Trusting and knowing yourself means you’ll make a better choice in choosing a partner and you won’t settle for less than what you need.  You’ll choose someone with whom you can grow and expand and have mutual respect.

I think Timothy Keller sums it up in this statement:  “To be loved, but not known is comforting but superficial.  To be known and not loved is our greatest fear.  But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, is a lot like being loved by God.  It is what we need more than anything.  It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”  And so it is.

What have been your experiences with commitment?  Please Comment.

© 2013 Georganne Spruce                                                                      ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Related Articles:  Heart to Heart: The Importance of Freedom and Commitment in Intimate Relationships, Relationship Problems: Commitment, Do You Have a Fear of Commitment

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