Peace, Passion, Purpose

Let Go of Control

To have more peace in our lives requires authenticity and self-mastery.  More passion is kindled through relationships and growth.  For a sense of purpose, we need to clarify what is meaningful to us.  That all sounds like the work of a lifetime, and it is.  But don’t forget it’s a journey, not a destination.  If we are seeking more peace, we may work on living authentically and developing self mastery for the rest of our lives, and day by day, as we get better at it, we will experience more and more peace.  Through improving our relationships, and living on a growing edge we create a life that becomes more passionate as we get older.  The more we understand what is meaningful to us and why, the greater our sense of purpose.

   Do you know how many people have worked all their lives just so they could have a good retirement, then they die just a few years after retiring because they feel useless and have no purpose?  Or the opposite example; those who retire and begin a second career, maybe even a volunteer career, and find more meaning and satisfaction than ever before.  My parents belonged to an Airstream club that built its own retirement motor home park in the mountains of Arizona.  It was easy to tell which people had a sense of purpose and which ones were just waiting to die.  I don’t want to tell your story for you, but I would bet you are not one of the people who is going to be willing to spend your last years just waiting to die.  I’m certainly not going there!

   Oddly enough, in order to find the song in our own soul and live in a state of peace, passion and purpose, we need to let go of control.  Control is nothing more than the ought to’s and shoulds that made us forget our soul’s song in the first place.  This doesn’t mean we go unconscious and say ok, God, you’re in charge.  We become very conscious and discover Spirit leading us exactly where our hearts yearn to be.  Our letting go is only into the presence and power and love that gave us life in the first place, and it is done with a willingness to become the full grown potential carried in the seed that has been planted in us with the breath of the divine.

   A life of peace, passion and purpose is our heritage as sons and daughters of life’s longing.  Anything less is waiting to die, no matter our age.  What we are born to, our heritage, is to live in a state of peace, nurtured by the power of divine love no matter what outer circumstances we face.    To spend our days passionately, with relationships that challenge us and keep us on our growing edge makes our later years outshine our youth by megawatts.  To discover our deepest values and live according to their calling give us a sense of purpose that is not dependant on anything but the joy and satisfaction in our own hearts.  In the words of my faith tradition, “Life is an upward, progressive movement of Spirit.”  All things are possible, including a life of peace, passion and purpose.

Prayer

What is prayer to me; my personal experience of prayer?  In childhood I thought my family was the universe and I was the center, literally with “Now I lay me down to sleep.  I loved praying as a child, especially the rosary.  Then in my late teens, it seemed to me that all that praying didn’t do much, and that was the beginning of resistance.  Life became busy, and there were more important and effective things than prayer that I could do.  It was the stage of believing the illusion that I could consciously master my fate, and that no one out there was listening anyway.  My universe had gotten much larger than my family, but I still had the unconscious perspective of being the center of that universe.

Robert and Janet Ellsworth defined three major types of prayer.  The first is results oriented prayer, in which you pray for specific requests for yourself or someone else.  The next is defined as consciousness expanding prayer, or affirmative prayer and prayers of praise and thanksgiving.  The third is defined as non-directed prayer, or meditation and the experience of the silence. 

All three of these types of prayer have a place in my life.  When I am troubled, or when another is in need, results oriented prayer brings me great comfort.  God is within me, but God is also much more.  I turn within to find Divine contact and surrender my concerns and the needs of others to that one Presence and Power which sustains all of us in love.

Consciousness expanding, or affirmative prayer, is a tool to break down the barriers in my own mind to the good of God’s will.  It is my path to discovering and activating the power of creation in and through me.  It is a method to transform my own negative thoughts, my fears, my false beliefs, into realization of the love and power active in my life, often in spite of me.

Non-directed prayer, or meditation and the experience of silence, is the source of my joy.  This is where the thoughts of my mind, the feelings of my heart, and the knowing of my spirit come together and meet a “something” that is so great and so beautiful that touching it, even for just a few moments, sustains me and give me a serenity which lasts for days, sometimes weeks.

I invite you to examine your own prayer history, and your prayer life now.  Which forms of prayer seem to work best for you?  What brings you the most joy, the most comfort, the most growth?  Is it different kinds of prayer at different times, or is there one way that always suits you best?  Become familiar with what stimulates you to pray, which forms of prayer you use, and which kinds of events lead you to the various forms of prayer that are a part of your prayer life.  This is where the conscious mind and will can make a positive contribution to mastery of your fate.  Know yourself, become consciously aware of the truth of who you are, and use your will to make the choice for comfort, for growth, and for joy.

Making a Difference 2

On Eagles Wings

Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks?  The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come.  Then, when the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm.  While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it. The eagle does not escape the storm.  It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.

When the storms of life come upon us - and all of us will experience them - we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward the Divine living as us and through us. The storms do not have to overcome us.  We can allow the power planted in us by the Creative Force of the universe to lift us above them. We are invited, encouraged, called, to ride the winds of the storms that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives.  We can soar above the storm, and call forth the Good even in the midst of tragedy.

In doing so, we contribute to lifting up all our brothers and sisters of the earth.  Our lives become not only an example for others, but even more importantly, a powerful force of energy helping the human race shift the balance toward evolution of the spirit.  Hold in your heart the thought that every difficulty that plagues you is presenting an opportunity to grow in strength and achieve greater spiritual power.  It is the only true power.  Remember, it is not the burdens of life that weigh us down, it is how we handle them, and we always have a choice.  

This is not a new idea. "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles."  Isaiah 40:31

Making a Difference

Thoughtful Evolution

In the spiritual communities which have aligned themselves with a philosophy called “New Thought” one of the primary tenets is that we are energy beings; spirit wearing a space suit we call a body.  Mind you, New Thought is only new to the western mind.  It is a compilation of principles taught and proven in countless societies, since before recorded history.

So far in this world physical power has dominated, or so we thought.  Let’s take a look at the evolution of thought and how it relates to human physical evolution.  If we look at humanity’s history, with all its beauty and horror, courage and cruelty, we can see significant shifts along the way.  How many hundreds of generations passed when we didn’t even have language?  Then over time  we shifted from rule of the strongest male, rule of magic and superstition, rule of city states and kingdoms, rule of law, and so on.  Each shift in our community interactions was an evolutionary shift and each one began with an idea.  A new thought.

Here is the key concept.  None of those shifts could have happened unless enough people accepted and believed the new thought.  Whatever the thought, it had to be accepted and energized by Spirits in bodies before it could show up in the physical world as what appeared to be physical power and physical reality.

The evolution of though has carried us from grunting survival to where we are today.  Along the way there has been much beauty and horror, courage and cruelty.  Heroism and greed.  There still is.  Here is the good news.  In spite of our faults, in spite of our seeming detours into destructive errors, we have come a long way.  Kindness is growing.  More people have food and hope.  More people show up to offer food and hope to others than ever before.

To paraphrase Einstein, we need to decide whether the universe we live in is friendly or unfriendly.  Each of us must make that decision and as we do, each of us will be a force to bring into physical reality that which we hold as true in our hearts and minds.  Ultimately, this is a friendly universe and our fearful or greedy thoughts can do no more than create temporary detours in an evolutionary process which is an upward spiral toward more and more good.  Choose your thoughts carefully.  They carry the power of your spirit and join with others of like kind.

Making a Difference

You want me to do WHAT??

   When we give of our time and talent through volunteer work, or our resources through donations, we are making a difference in our communities in a very important way.  How many people would starve on the streets of the United States if there were no food banks? 

How much more would the people of New Orleans and other disaster areas  suffer without the donations and help of private individuals?  Some kids have a backpack, new jeans and school materials only because of Back-To-School collections in churches.  New England and other areas have been graced for many years by our volunteer fire departments.  The list could go on for pages.  We are a generous nation, both at home and abroad.

   There is, however, something else we can do that does not take any time or any money.  That might sound like an oddball statement in a world consumed with busyness and nervous about high costs.  What value could possibly exist without the commitment of time and money?  We all know the buzz words.  “You get what you pay for.’  “No pain, no gain.”  “There’s only so much you can do.”  “I’m only one person, and I have a family and obligations.”  “You want me to do what?”

   Perhaps we could ask ourselves if we are engaged in a dance of survival or in a dance of creativity.  People caught in survival mentality see all the ways they can lose.  People engaged in creative mentality continually search for better options.  Sometimes those better options can be stunningly simple. 

   This “something else we can do” is about a shift in how we see the world and our own place in it.  It is not about finding a way to do more or give more.  This idea simply requires a specific focus of our attention.  Quantum Physics has rocked the scientific worldview by proving that the smallest particles of matter change behavior in the presence of human attention.  That means your attention counts whether you know it or not, and your attention can count for a lot when you choose to use it consciously for positive change.  If you have ever walked into a room full of people and been able to sense either a very positive or negative feeling, what follows will make perfect sense to you.  Let me set the scene.

   The world is not in a very happy state right now.  Volatile might be an apt word to use.  Fear, distrust and hatred, leading to hunger, suffering and death are in every newscast.  But fear, distrust and hatred are only possible when people agree on them.  What if some of us started changing our agreements?  That begins with changing our own thoughts.

   For instance, I go into a store to shop several times a week, usually rushed and distracted.  You know what that looks like.  There are a lot of us rushing around, looking distracted and bumping into each other.  Suppose I, or you, take a deep breath on the way in and choose to focus my/our attention on looking for something positive to comment on while shopping.  Or we could deliberately make eye contact as often as possible and offer a smile.  What might people sense from us when our focus is consciously directed toward being a kind and smiling presence?

   And then, suppose I or you convince a friend or two to try the same thing, and they liked it and started telling more friends, and then……….  How long might it take for this idea to move around the world?

   “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”   Margaret Mead, 1901-1978