Finding the Gift in Endings

We generally welcome new beginnings, looking forward to the possibilities inherent in a fresh start or in novel experiences that we feel will be good for us.  Endings, on the other hand, often aren’t perceived as positive.  When something important in our lives ends there can be feelings of failure or regret, even if we are relieved about being finished.

In order to create in this life we must also be able to destroy, and therein lies the grace in endings.  When we hold on to something that no longer serves us, the message that we give to this infinitely-creative universe is that we intend to stay right where we are.  If we instead choose to end what it is that no longer serves us, even if the ending is painful, it makes room for what we are meant to grow into.

Endings can be a vast gift to the spirit.  Although we may not see them this way in the moment, endings allow us to collect our energy from the past and bring ourselves squarely into the present, which is important because creation always occurs in the Now.

I’ve noticed for myself that I’d really rather avoid endings.  I hold on, at least on an energetic level, to the person or situation whose time in my life has past.  Endings can feel like a death, and in a very real way they are.  Truly letting go of something means the death of the person we used to be, whose roles, priorities and perspectives defined us in a certain way.  Letting go forces us to evolve, and can be scary because it requires moving into as-yet-unknown parts of ourselves. 

I’m learning that I need to fully experience the meaning and emotion surrounding the endings in my life, rather than try to bury my feelings and quickly move on.  Whether the ending was full of conflict or felt appropriate and supported, we need to take the time to process the life experience we’ve just been through so that we can own the gifts it has provided. 

Endings can bring us more awareness of our capacity for love or understanding or of our own power, make clear our need to set firm boundaries, help find our areas of resistance to what is, or countless other steps in our continuing evolution.   

We can sit in meditation or prayer and allow our understanding to come to us.  We can spend quiet, undistracted time just feeling our emotions and letting ourselves acknowledge them.  We can process our experience through journaling or writing poetry.  In whatever way we choose to connect with the infinite wisdom that lives within us, it’s important to take the time to find and assimilate the lessons and the growth so that we can carry them into our future.

May you take time to gather the gifts that come when something ends, and may this tool be a blessing.  

Staying the Course

I wrote a post a while ago called “Stepping Off the Path of Least Resistance,” and I’ve had quite a bit of opportunity lately to revisit that concept. I’ve been able to continue recognizing the gifts that come when we commit to something that tests our mettle, and helps us grow into the people we are meant to be.

Growth for the most part is not easy. It comes with all kinds of resistance from others, self-doubt, and rethinking everything about who we thought we were. We can feel as if everything we’re doing is futile, or the new ways in which we’re expressing ourselves are certain to leave us alone and wondering why we thought ourselves capable of that level of expression in the first place.

I spent a large amount of my life playing it safe. I changed and grew, but I did it quietly. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, I was trying to evolve into my best self while trying to make sure no one around me became uncomfortable. And I got to a point when that strategy didn't work anymore.

We can spend a lifetime attempting to make decisions that keep us safe and comfortable, but the urgings of spirit will make that uncomfortable, too. I’ve found that after spending an amount of time trying to rest easily and avoid challenges, my spirit pushes me to say yes to something that stirs up all kinds of discomfort.

It reminds me of something I read by Anais Nin, “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” I love that.

And so, we blossom. When we could decide to say no to something difficult, when we could just pull our energy out and move on to more enjoyable pursuits, we stay the course. We recognize that it’s only in the long haul that the fruits of our intention will be gained. We turn our attention to the still, small voice of pure knowing that lives in our hearts, which urges us to take the steps that will help us realize our own greatness. We focus on that voice when everything we’re doing that is different from how we’ve always done things feels just plain wrong.

May you trust the Divine Wisdom that guides you in being more than you thought you were, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Letting Life Live Itself Through You

In an ongoing attempt to feel safe, our human egos strive to feel in control of what’s happening in our day-to-day experience. Our level of comfort is directly proportional to how much mastery we feel over the events that impact us.

Studies have shown that people feel happy in relation to how much control they feel in their lives, which makes sense because none of us enjoys feeling at the whim of something outside of us, and unable to create our own outcome.

This speaks to the interesting paradox of control: how much do we really control, and does control actually create a happier and more fulfilling life? William Martin in his book, A Path and a Practice, states that “Attempting to control external events will never keep us safe. Control is an illusion.”   Life lives itself through us in its own way, and on its own terms.

He goes on to say that “Our life is an expression of life itself. Our true nature expresses itself in everything we do. Success and failure are seen as part of a seamless, joyful whole. Each is accepted and fully lived… It seems natural to avoid loss and seek gain, but on this path such distinctions are not helpful. There is no gain without loss. There is no fullness without deprivation. Who knows how or when one gives way to another. So we remain at the center and trust events instead of forcing them. This is the heart of all spiritual paths.”

How do we trust events instead of forcing them, when this human experience fairly demands that we make choices and take actions that further our own agendas and perspectives? How can we not choose to step in to right a wrong or clarify a misunderstanding or push for an outcome that feels right to us?

My dear and very wise husband navigates this paradox by focusing on his ability to influence an outcome, rather than control it. At the end of the day we are really never able to control outcomes. We have no control over other people’s priorities or perspectives, but we can contribute our influence in creating the best outcome we are able to envision. We can state our opinions clearly and even forcefully if we need to, knowing that we can’t control the outcome but we can let our unique voice be involved in the situation. We can take actions that feel right to us, knowing that we have done our best for all involved, and that what happens after that is up to Divine Wisdom. We can live as an expression of our best selves, while allowing life to live itself through us.  We can let go of outcome.

I had the pleasure of hearing a speaker at Unity last weekend who said a few times that no matter what she thinks or how much she resists, life is going to happen anyway. How true. We can choose our own expression and who we want to be in response to everything that happens, but how each individual expression interacts and contributes to the whole is in the hands of ongoing Creation in all its perfection.

May you know the joy that comes from letting life live itself through you in its own perfect way, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

Allowing Others Their Hero's Journey

In order to fully experience our own hero’s journey, we must allow others to walk their own sacred path. As a mother, wife, teacher and generally concerned member of society, focusing on my own stuff and leaving others to theirs is not always easy to do.

My children are adults now, and it takes a great deal of talking to myself to remember that when they’re having money issues or health concerns, or whatever else it might be, they don’t need me to jump in with all of my motherly advice. It’s amazing how hard it is for me to stop myself in those moments. I feel literally pulled to help, and to fix, because I don’t want them to hurt in any way.

As much as I see them as smart and infinitely capable human beings, and know them without question as perfect expressions of God, still, in my forgetting, I feel pulled to intervene. Honestly, I do this a lot, at home and at work, with family, friends, and patients.

When I look back over my own life’s challenges, I see without exception that getting through the biggest ones made me who I am today, and nurtured in me the things that I am most proud of. Each of us creates just the right obstacles that we need to move us along on our soul’s purpose of knowing God within us.

I know that my forgetting is a part of me that is separated from truth, and mistakenly believes that my loved ones, or anyone else, can be separated from their highest good. It is a part of myself that mistakenly believes that I can run things better than God can, or that somehow maybe God forgot just this one thing, and needs my help. Silly, I know, but that really is the heart of it.

When I jump in and try to impose my opinions onto someone else’s process, I am making the assumption that they are unable to handle it on their own, and I am helping promote that belief in them also.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Directing another’s path not only perpetuates the false belief that they are unable to manage on their own, but it keeps me from my own path as well. Sometimes we use staying busy with other people’s issues to keep us from being fully present and responsible for what we’re creating on our own hero’s journey. I’d much rather be here for my own life.

So once again, in my remembering, I choose to release my concerns for anyone else’s creations, and allow them the space to walk their hero’s journey in grace. And I give myself permission to be joyfully present and engaged in my own.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Giving Life to Your Dreams

The new year is a time of hope for our dreams.  Every January, we step into that time when the slate feels more clear, even if conditions are mostly the same as they had been in December.  People feel drawn to create resolutions to do things better, or to make the new year more meaningful or fulfilling in some way.  It is at this time more than at any other time of year that many feel inspired to take a step up in what they can do or have.  I love the holiday season and the new year for many reasons, but mostly because we are more open to possibilities.

People may or may not follow through with their resolutions, but the important part is the dream itself.  Just being open to the possibility that we can create what we envision for ourselves is a very powerful consciousness.  

When we are even slightly open to manifesting our good, even if we previously hadn't been able to figure out how to make it happen, we trust in a universe that always delivers what we expect.  The divine consciousness that we embody is just waiting to provide all of our heart's desires.  We just need to find the place in our heart that is open to the possibility, know it is done, and then do our active part in moving toward it.

I'm finding on my own path, as I glimpse in tiny pieces and in fits and starts the possibility of myself as God, that taking action toward my dreams is the easier part.  Staying connected to the quiet voice within that knows without any doubt what I want and need, what's mine to do in every situation to create the highest outcome for myself and everyone involved, and my inherent capacity to do all of it (and knows this with completely peaceful and joyful ease), is more challenging!

Life is busy, and for me hearing God within means making time to create a relationship with her.  She is always here, but I can't know her quiet, powerful, resonant presence if I don't stop every day and be alone with her, without any distractions.  I can say hello to her quickly in the midst of my day, just to say, "Thank you, God, I am here!"  And that is wonderful.  But I also need to gift myself with the precious time I need to stop and really listen.

When I spend time with the God of my heart my dreams come alive, because all things are possible.  I see my dreams as joyful possibilities that are already complete in spirit, but that I have the amazing opportunity to watch unfold on this physical plane.  The world, and my life, are my playground, and I am born again as a child to myself.

May you stop to hear the God in your heart that is your dreams, and may this tool be a blessing. . .

A Small Correction

In all the excitement of my book debut, the free promo date for my book Daily Spiritual Tools, Healing the World, was pushed back a day.  You can buy it today for $5.99 or get if for Free on my Author Page on January 8th; sorry for the inconvenience.

My Latest Book is Now Available!

I'm excited to say that my latest book, Daily Spiritual Tools, Healing the World, is now available as an e-book on Amazon.  Normally priced at $5.99 there is a promotion happening to herald its debut.  

On Monday, January 7th,  follow the link in this post or just visit Amazon.com and you can get my book for free!

I wrote this book because I believe that people around the world are connecting in their hearts with hope, aware at a very deep level that we are healing, personally and globally.  At this point in our human evolution, healing our world and all who inhabit it is the most important and sacred thing that we can do.  On the surface the task seems too vast to even consider, and we literally do not know how to begin.  But as humanity moves forward in its unavoidable evolution to knowing ourselves as the beings of light that we truly are, we get closer to knowing the true power we have in creating a world that works for all.

The tools contained in Daily Spiritual Tools, Healing the World, are meant to help the reader become more aware of their true identity as a being of light and love.  

May you know yourself as a person of good intentions, compassion and peace and allow these tools to nurture and support our collective path as we heal the world.

Please share this book with friends in order to spread the message that the best is yet to come.

Blessings,

Sherry

Healing the World in 2013

December 21, 2012 is behind us, and the world is, not surprisingly, still intact.  There will always be periods when fear takes up a good deal of our collective awareness, and that is as it should be, because large-scale fears of doom provide very potent opportunities for us to choose even more intentionally what truth we will serve.

I remember another period of fear that happened not too very long ago; it was called “Y2K.”  My son was 10 at the time, and worried about all of the predictions he was hearing.  On New Year’s Eve I remember telling him that throughout history people have predicted the end of the world, but we are still here.  And I explained to him that when people confront their fears and walk out the other side they are better for it, because they grow in their awareness of what is true.  He understood that, in his way, even then.

I work in healthcare and interact with many people every day, and I am struck by how many people in the past month have said, “2013 is going to be a really good year.”  Collectively, we recognize the energy and know it to be true.  The end-of-the-world hopelessness that has affected us, even though it was mostly unconscious for the majority of us, has past, and people recognize a new beginning, which is exactly what the Mayan calendar was all about – the end of one period, and the beginning of an entirely new and different one.

I believe that people are connecting in their hearts with hope, aware at a very deep level that we are healing, personally and globally.  At this point in our human evolution, healing our world and all who inhabit it is the most important and sacred thing that we can do.  On the surface the task seems too vast to even consider, and we literally do not know how to begin.  But as humanity moves forward in its unavoidable evolution to knowing ourselves as the beings of light that we truly are, we get closer to knowing the true power we have in creating a world that works for all.

I write this on December 31 2012, the 27^th Annual International World Healing Day.  It began on December 31, 1986, at noon Greenwich Mean Time, when 500 million people on 7 continents, in 70 countries, from 500 spiritual and peace-related organizations, took part in the most comprehensive prayer in history, creating a global mind link aimed at reversing negativity on many levels (taken from the website).  Our Unity Church took part in this worldwide prayer this morning, as we do every year.

Some time after the 1986 beginning the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported “remarkable progress toward a peaceful world,” manifesting as a “break in the pattern of a constant increase in the number of major conflicts with which the world had grown accustomed.”

From our limited individual perspectives, this may not seem like truth at all.  It often seems as if conflict continues to increase in both frequency and severity, but in looking back over just my lifetime I see that that is not the case.  We are definitely more bombarded by it via the Internet and our immediate access to information.

Regardless of appearances to the contrary, we can, and we are, using the power of our collective intention for good to move without error toward the truth of who we are, Divine Creators made in God’s image, manifesting through the physical.

I leave you with a world healing meditation used by many on December 31 every year.  Click here to view the meditation.

May you hold the light of your intention on healing yourself, our world and all of humanity, and may this tool be a blessing. . .