It is amazing how Spirit works and how It shows up in our lives! I hope you are all living your lives with your minds, hearts, and spirits wide open so you’re catching glimpses of at least some of it. I know it can be easy to lose touch with that part of you which recognizes those moments, that hears and sees them, and that part is called, by many of us, the GOD-SELF or the CHRIST-SELF. And THAT is the part of you and me which can connect with the ONE SOURCE of all that is, of all ideas and all solutions and answers we will ever have reason to know. And to borrow a bit from transactional analysis language, I believe it reflects two aspects of who we have come here to be: the NURTURING PARENT and the NATURAL CHILD.
But this GOD-SELF is not the only part that is us. There are other parts that hide in the dark, like the WOUNDED INNER CHILD, the CRITICAL PARENT, and the ADDICT. In stressful times like these, they can take over and cause us to either be critical of others (or ourselves) or binge out on foods or drink or other substances, other ways to avoid feelings (you can name your own), all in order to not feel the fear, the pain, and the uncertainty we’re facing.
Here’s the thing to understand: these may be different aspects of us, but they aren’t who we truly are, and it is always in our own best interest to acknowledge and own them. For the moment we do this, we have just stepped back into the Light of our own Christ consciousness. And from that sacred space we disconnect from any desire to judge or blame or defend. Instead we can observe our own thoughts, feelings and actions with a level of curiosity that opens us up to UNDERSTANDING, to the powers of RELEASE/ELIMINATION, WISDOM, LOVE and so much more.
And how did Spirit show up for me today that prompted me to blog about this? Well, as some of you may know, both my wife and I have lived with weight issues most of our lives. Dieting has been a constant presence in our lives, taking on many different forms: the Atkins Diet, the South Beach diet, Weight Watchers, TOPS, and OA. You name it and we’ve probably tried it. And we finally found an approach to our eating that made scientific sense to both of us because it was based upon brain chemistry science. Skip forward two and a half years later, from the point we both made a decision to follow the Bright Line Eating program, and we’ve each been maintaining a sixty-three-pound weight loss. And it was because we decided to listen to a vlog by Dr. Susan Pierce Thompson, founder of the BLE program, in which I heard her again make reference to something called “Parts Work” that she’s offering in collaboration with a therapist by the name of Everett Considine who has created a concept called IFS (Internal Family Systems). It is a system that allows one to recognize, understand, and deal with a variety of sub-personalities that most of us have. And if you’d like to explore what these two offer in more detail, leave me a contact message on any of the pages of my website (www.lifepossibilitiesfullfilled.com) and I’ll respond with more information.
I also received another gift of upliftment while listening to the ACM television special that was on last evening. Two singers, among the many who joined this beautiful “remote distancing” production, touched me with the numbers they sang. Tim McGraw sang his “Always Stay Humble and Kind” and Kelsea Ballerini sang “Home Coming Queen.” Listen to those songs and tell me they don’t move you deep in your heart!
And you know what else? I had a pretty darned good day today, mostly because of having been able to take part in a Zoom version of our Sunday service, yesterday, where I had the gift of being able to see the smiling faces of some of those who are a part of my spiritual family, to be able to hear “The Lady in Black” (sometimes known as Donna Fraley) sing, and to be challenged by our minister, Rev. Mo, to NOT watch any more news channels for the entire week! Wow! Tough? Not so much when you do it one day at a time. We exchanged the time we had been spending watching too much news about the Coronavirus pandemic for time to hear uplifting music, to play, and to be once again connected with a heart that guides me to write this blog. I hope it serves you.
And that, my friends, is how we should be living every day, one moment at a time. And be present to it! Here’s seeing you safe and healthy and centered.
Namaste, Steven