Every day holds the opportunity for a fresh start, a new beginning, and even though we all know this or have tried this, actually putting it into practice has been a bit uneven for myself.
There are so many things in our past that we allow in to fashion what our ‘today’ will be, and it takes a lot of focused effort and desire to work on undoing and releasing these unhelpful influences from the past.
It was more common for myself to get to a point of total frustration because things would not be turning out as planned, despite all the spiritual work I was doing on myself. The universe seemed unfair or unaware, or perhaps just not concerned at all about my particular situation or circumstance. Then, a point would come where I would have enough and would just set aside any desire to pursue spirituality and would just go on with life.
Inevitably, something within myself would draw me back over time and I would once again try to resolve the issues I could see and work on setting a better direction. I would generally get invigerated and find a goal, persue it, … and in most cases, nothing seemed to change or happen, and I would just let it go once again.
Actually, I can’t say that nothing happened since I always did see how I was gradually changing. I was bothered less by some things, attracted more to some things, less concerned about some things, and more peaceful in general. The issue, however, is that I was more fixated on the endgame and was not appreciating the small steps being realized along the way.
I can’t say that this would be the same experience you may have been having, or may have had from time to time, but I feel as though I made a turn and I’d like to share what this means so that if anyone keeps ending up frustrated like I did, maybe I can shed some light on how to get past it, or at least provide a different place from which to start.
Let’s go back a little
Why would I get frustrated? I had an idea in my mind of what it meant to connect to source or spirit and if that idea did not have the results I had hoped for or anticipated, I would experience a sense of failure, and I did not like having that experience.
What idea did I have? In general, I just expected life to improve where abundance would flow, relationships would get better and life would become more balanced and happy.
On the surface, that seems like a practical expectation of what life would be like when following a spiritual lifestyle, but it took me dozens of times through that cycle until I saw the flaw in that idea and finally stopped being frustrated with the results.
The flaw? As much as it helps to have goals or aspirations, when any spiritual goal includes or expects a physical result, this is not a spiritual goal, but simply a misguided ego goal.
So, my spiritual goals always included the hope of finding or creating a better way to make a living, a hope of improving my relationships, and things of that nature. There is nothing wrong with having these desires, but that was not a helpful place to set my focus.
Moving Forward
Where Should I Focus? Now I see where it’s best to simply focus on being, and to trust that my needs or desires are known, so I don’t have to be concerned with them at all.
How is this different? I have been aware for quite some time that we often attempt to fix the result of our problems, but ignore the source, resulting in those problems never being resolved. I now see that this is no different. By my focus being on income or relationships, I was never working on the source of the problem, but was simply trying to fix the result of the problem.
Now, I see that to resolve issues with finances or career for example, I take a moment to share my desire with spirit and acknowledge they are aware and extend gratitude they will work with me to bring about whatever is best for me and just forget about it. It’s no longer in my hands and no longer my concern. Now I can let go of that burden in my spirit and mind and focus on being peaceful, being kind, being loving, being forgiving and being a light.
Why will this work? Because there is no problem, there is only the experience. As I change my focus on what I am being, my experience will shift all on its own with divine guidance and aid, because that is the natural order of things. Whenever I tried to control this on my own in the past, it failed, because I was attempting to do a job that was not mine to do.
I have to laugh because this reminds me of an article I wrote over 10 years ago and I wonder how or why I did not follow that advice back then. The truth of the matter is that I did not see how I was not applying those principles to all things in my life, but just to a few.
Here’s an excerpt of that article:
There is nothing God requires that you do. There is no payment or sacrifice he requires or desires. There is no path to discover by racking your brain in trying to figure out what it is that God would have you do. There is no physical thing in the entire universe that you need to give God or to those who claim they follow God. There is only one thing that God desires from you and that is for you to Be Willing.
- Be Willing to see clearly.
- Be Willing to choose differently.
- Be Willing to set aside what the world has taught you.
- Be Willing to be what he would have you be.
Your willingness creates an opening in your being that allows the Holy Spirit to Do things. It allows the Holy Spirit to heal you, teach you and guide you. Learn to Be willing and you’ll truly see what God Can Do.
– Excerpt from article: In Everything You Do
So what’s my first step in being? I am feeling a distinct desire to release my attachments to certain things. For example, I was following the impeachment process closely because I wanted a specific conclusion because I felt our President did not represent the true values of our nation. Again, my focus was on a physical outcome, so my focus was flawed. With the process concluded, I could choose to express my flawed dissatisfaction and write articles accordingly, or, I can choose to be a part of the answer and be the change I had wished I had seen.
In many ways, these are not new messages because we have all heard these things time and time again, but the change is in how I am choosing to apply those messages.
The other day I felt a shift into something different, like an inner choice was made to simply not let certain things matter as much as they did, or not at all. This is similar to what I was gradually feeling happening to me from time to time in the years past, but was not appreciating it at the time as being the change that mattered.
This shift in thinking is almost outside my awareness, but I know something is there, opening a new doorway to seeing. It feels like a sense of ease that I will be able to apply to things, thereby shifting how I see them and interact with them.
I’ll write more when it anchors in a bit deeper where I can more clearly see it, but for now, unlike before, I extend gratitude for this change and for what is yet to come.
Namaste
