Being in the Moment

Fourth Principle of Personal Transformation > Being in the moment

“Often, our daily lives offer us intense purification experiences from which we derive teachings that we need to learn and could not obtain otherwise. Our challenge is to remain trustful and to allow insight to develop as to the cause for the events that come to us in God’s time. Achieving this level of acceptance becomes an ever-present goal as we engage in the daily process of healing. Sometimes our experiences of healing are painful, sometimes they are joyful, and sometimes they are both.”

I have developed a trust that what I need most in order to heal and advance along the path of self-discovery will be brought to me through the circumstances of my life.  This trust grows out of direct experience – out of being in life with a sense of openness and curiosity.  As I release control over the circumstances of my life, asking to be led and transformed, I am witness to the way life arranges itself to become an intimate teacher and guide.  And as I, through sincere prayer, invite God into my life even more, asking to join in partnership in creating my life, I experience life’s ability to arrange itself according to my inner growth needs accelerate and amplify.

Often the insights about what specific circumstances are offering me do not come immediately.  Sometimes I have no idea why I am faced with a certain challenge, or what even I am being asked to do.  But as I wait with openness, an understanding that transcends logic and rationality will generally begin to organize itself within my consciousness.  And the more I can trust this understanding, even as it is half-formed, and the more I pray for further elaboration, it unfolds progressively like a flower, or like a butterfly opening its painted wings.

And of course acceptance is essential.  If I turn away or close up as a result of discomfort then the teaching is lost for now.  Yesterday it was brought to my attention that I had neglected to show up for someone in my life who is suffering.  I had turned away in an act of self protection and fear.  When I realized this, my first reaction was to feel shame, guilt, and a sense that it was impossible to rectify the situation now – the damage had been done.  It felt irreparable and hopeless.  And I felt too small to be able to show up for them anyway – which was why I had turned away to begin with.  But as I refocused my attention on possibilities rather than limitations, I realized that the present moment was offering me an opportunity to heal.  I felt a rising sense of hope, and I called the person with a spirit of honesty, humility, and love.  I now feel grateful to life for bringing to me circumstances that at first felt unbearable.

Receiving Guidance

Each one of us, every human on Earth, was created with the innate ability to hear the Voice of God.  The ways that we hear are as unique as everything else about us, but the capacity is universal.  What we often lack is trust and a willingness to open to the possibility of something new – something that most parents and teachers don’t teach.  And the experience of separation, of wandering through countless lives mired in the density of matter, has led many of us to doubt our ability to participate in this reciprocal relationship.  This doubt has become a solidified feature within our collective consciousness, so that what we feel within is reinforced from without.

In order to open to the possibility of receiving guidance from God and from the Beings of Light who support our embodied experience from behind the scenes, we must be willing to step outside of conventional thinking.  We also must assume the posture of a learner.  Learning is something that we begin doing the moment we are born, and don’t stop doing until we die, but  we often begin to avoid situations that further our learning because of the discomfort of not knowing, and the possibility of getting something ‘wrong’.

When a baby learns to walk, he does not get up one day and start walking, never to fall down again.  He stands up on wobbly legs, and plops right down.  He will fall innumerable times along the journey to full walking – but we don’t see those falls as ‘wrong’.  They are essential parts of the process, without which the baby would never walk.  And the same is true for us – without risking the ‘falls’ that are part of any learning process, we protect ourselves from growth and evolution.

Each one of us has been seeded with particular, idiosyncratic affinities regarding how we hear God’s Voice.  Some hear actual words, spoken in the depth of their heart.  Some hear music, or see images.  Others just get a feeling that their inner self has the capacity to interpret.  And still others hear or feel or see nothing at all, but simply need to pick up a pen and start writing for the Divine Voice to start pouring through them.

We each are also drawn to specific aspects of the Supreme or specific Beings from the Realms of Light.  Certain saints, gods, angels, fairies, or devas may feel familiar and comfortable to us.  The many religions of the world have arisen from and supported the creation of stories, images, music, and writings that capture different vibrations and emanations of the One.  And while we may be drawn to certain of these, places in nature, sitting in silence, or a sacred space that we have created can also provide the same experience of familiarity.

By immersing ourselves in an environment that reminds us of the God of our understanding and experience, we can increase our receptivity to Divine guidance and inspiration.  And prioritizing surrounding ourselves with a Light-filled and sacred environment on a daily basis will strengthen our underlying capacity to hear, so that guidance will flow more freely.

But the most important consideration in opening to sacred guidance is a sincere aspiration to know God.  Our hearts, reaching upward and inward toward the holy emit a beacon, a call that resounds throughout the universe.  And the more we kindle the fire of aspiration, the stronger this call becomes.  But regardless of whether it is a whisper or a trumpet blast of devotion, our call is always heard, and always answered – though the answer may manifest in time and space in unexpected ways.  So we must grow in our discernment, learning to interpret the sacred messages that flow from above and within.

And here we return to learning, for discernment can only grow if we risk being wrong – if we risk misinterpretation.  We each must decide of the risk is worth the reward.  But without the attempt we will never know.