“Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you. Lao Tzu
As a new Science of Mind student, I would passionately pray my spiritual mind treatment. Immediately I would speculate how my prayer was going to be answered. My prayers were usually about money since I believed that there wasn’t enough to go around. I would wait for the mail to show up only to find an empty mailbox. I would check to see if any clients called with potential business, but no one called.
When I complained to my practitioner, she reminded that it was none of my business where or how my good will appear. She said, “If you continue to look for it, you haven’t developed your faith.”
I discovered there are three steps to building faith: Hope, trust and gratitude. Hope is a sense of doubtful expectation. We hope something good will happen to us but underneath, doubt and fears linger. Those doubts and fears produce a type of anxiety called waiting.
As we release the doubts and fears, we begin to develop trust. We have a deeper conviction in the creative process of life and develop greater patience. The stress of waiting is replaced by patience and a sense of calmness that all is well.
Here was the important part for me: not to look for the demonstration of good but to give thanks that it was already done. Gratitude is the expansiveness of faith.
I learned it was none of my business how my prayer would be demonstrated but I now give thanks that it is already received. Lesson learned.
Affirmation: I give thanks that what I desire is already received.
“Wounds feed on wounds. Over time, if not dissolved, wounds form a constellation of anger, hurt and recrimination which implode in self-destruction or explode in violence to others. We live in a world of wound contagion.” – James O’Dea
Physical wounds are obvious. We can see the cut, clean and bandage it and allow it to heal. Emotional wounds are much more difficult. We cannot see them and they often unknowingly direct and influence our thinking. Thoughts become emotions and emotions dictate our actions.
On the spiritual journey, our work is to be the observer and be aware of our thoughts, emotions, and reactions. As the observer, we are empowered to respond rather than react.
In his book Soul Awakening Practice, James O’Dea states that most of the time we don’t understand our emotions and we try to manipulate and control the outside world so that we won’t be faced with uncomfortable emotions. The wounds of our past are often running our present circumstances and they can limit our relationships and experiences.
There are a few helpful steps we can take to heal emotional wounds:
Be willing to look at the emotional upset. Just like a physical wound, we have to examine what is troubling us and bring it into the light to be healed.
Be willing to let go. Lay down any anger, separation, or belief and observe the situation in a new light. Be willing to forgive.
Be willing to write a new story. Claim your good and declare what you want.
We often struggle with how to forgive and let go. But the good news is — we don’t have to figure it out. We can surrender to Spirit and be willing for a new story to emerge. Give thanks for the gift of awareness and allow the wound to dissolve and peace to emerge.
“In the inner reaches of your heart, a light shines. It is a light that is eternally present. The primordial light that shines in the heart is the light of consciousness and the progenitor of all light in the world.” James O’Dea
A Taize Service îs a contemplative time of meditation and music. It is a time to mindfully go within and contemplate what Spirit has to offer. Join us for this powerful evening celebrating the light within.
“Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.” Christina Balwin
In our fast-paced world, sometimes it is important to stop and ponder the situations and experiences life presents to us. There is often valuable revelation just waiting to be discovered. Join us and explore journaling techniques to access inner wisdom, unearth buried dreams and inspire creative juices.
Saturday, January 14, 2023 10 am to 1 pm Location in Tigard area. $25 ($20 -Women’s Retreat attendees)
Register: Please send check payable to Sacred Heart Ministries, 15605 SW 114th Court #21, Tigard, OR 97224
Or Paypal: revgreen@sacredheartministries.org
Address will be sent to registrants. Light refreshments served. Soul Musings suggested but not required.
“Use your intellect, imagination and feeling for the purpose of seeing and sensing freedom instead of bondage, joy instead of unhappiness, plenty instead of want, health in place of disease. The very denial of your good keeps that good from you.” —Ernest Holmes
Every year around election time, I pull out Ernest Holmes “Prayer for My Country.” I pass it around to friends and social media and pray it feverishly in hopes that people who think like me will step up and vote so that my candidate will win.
When I read the prayer recently, I realized that what I was doing was based in fear. I slipped back into my childhood ways of beseeching God — please bring me the bike I want for Christmas or please help our team win the football game.
Ernest’s prayer has nothing to do with elections, politics or winning. The prayer is acknowledging a vision of our country where “success, prosperity and happiness are now operating in the affairs of every individual in this country.”
In his recent talk (October 9), Dr. David Alexander stated the importance of embodiment. He said we are missing the point if we are trying to GET something. We already live in a divine flow of life. Ernest Holmes states, “God’s Creative Power of Mind is right here. We have as much of this power to use as we believe in and embody.” It is our work to align, believe and embrace this good.
I realized Ernest’s Prayer for My Country is an opportunity for me to stand in agreement with this vision, to heal my places of unforgiveness, release resentment and fear. My work is to surrender my belief in separation and my belief that my way is the right way. My work is to be of service to my community, take responsibility for my actions and speak with good purpose.
My work is to vote with a loving heart for our country and embody the vision “…this spiritual democracy shall endure, guaranteeing to everyone in this country personal liberty, happiness and self-expression.”
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” Albert Einstein
We are reminded each day what a fragile line we walk between peace and conflict. War might look like it’s happening somewhere else, but daily we face inner conflict and turmoil that causes us pain and suffering.
Since our human nature is 98 percent emotional and 2 percent rational, conflict causes a physical feeling of anxiety and an emotional feeling of insecurity. When anxiety is experienced, we have a choice between reacting or reflecting. If we neglect to choose, our default mode is reactive.
The reflective path takes commitment and intention. It cannot be established during the conflict; it is something we have to practice before the conflict takes place. When we are reflective we observe both our own behavior and others. We use that 2% of the rational mind that allows us to feel compassion and love and eventually forgiveness.
There is a lesson in the Course in Miracles that invites us to focus our thoughts: “Peace of mind is clearly an internal matter. It must begin with your own thoughts, and then extend outward. It is from your peace of mind that a peaceful perception of the world arises.” The lesson invites us to notice our fearful, anxiety-producing thoughts and offending personalities or events and repeat a new thought: I could see peace instead of this.
Dr. Wayne Dyer stated it best, “How do you get world peace? You get world peace through inner peace. If you’ve got a world full of people who have inner peace, then you have a peaceful world.”
