Spiritual Solutions

This week’s message is an article by Kevin Schoeninger, of Spiritual Growth Monthly. I hope you enjoy the article and I heartily recommend the site to you if you are interested. Just click on the following link: http://www.mindbodytrainingcompany.com/go.php?af=1103102

Over the years, I endeavor to keep SGM minds active and growing by reviewing the latest books in the field of mind-body training, personal development, and spiritual growth.  In this process, I attempt to repeat essential points in many different ways and through many different practices so that we take in this material deeper and deeper.  I also like to keep things fresh by adding the latest research to the mix.

This week I’d like to highlight three insights that I’ve found absolutely crucial on the spiritual path.  Sometimes amidst the complexity and quantity of information coming at me everyday, I find it necessary to re-iterate the essentials to myself.  You may feel the same way. 

While variety is interesting, the essentials are what help us filter complexity and stay on track with what is most important.  So, with that in mind, here are three things that have guided my spiritual path for the past three decades.  I hope you find this Week’s presentation a good reminder and an inspiration to deepen your personal practice.  If you’re new to Spritual Growth Monthly or to our programs, you might find this to be a good introduction, as well:

The Three Most Powerful Things I’ve Learned

1.  What you experience is the result of what you bring to your experience.  Life is an interpretive act.  While we endeavor to grow in consciousness and to see things more clearly, we do not experience things “as they are.”  Instead, we experience everything through the lens of our intentions, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, mood, and physical state at the moment.

You have probably heard this many times in many ways.  Nevertheless, it’s likely that at certain moments you forget.  When you forget this, it’s likely that you experience tension, conflict, and resistance. 

While you may know this concept in your mind, it is another to practice it in all areas of your life.  You may master it in one aspect of your life or in one or more relationships, while finding it more difficult in another area of your life or in a particular relationship.

You can practice regaining this insight whenever you experience tension, frustration, or conflict, by asking yourself the following question:

What role am I playing in this situation? 

Asking that question shifts you away from blaming or judging others or circumstances.  You take responsibility for your side of the equation.  That doesn’t mean that others or circumstances don’t play a role.  It simply means that you have a responsibility for your side of every situation.  How much conflict could be avoided or resolved with that simple realization?

Secondly, the way you are interpreting things makes a huge difference.  You do not see things “the way they are”; you see them from your perspective at the moment—and your perspective can easily change.

For example, have you noticed that when you are relaxed, well-rested, and have a positive outlook, good things tend to happen?  And when you’re tired, stressed, and overwhelmed more negative and overwhelming things seem to pile up?  I’ve noticed when I am tired and feeling like “I have to do it all” more people ask me to do things. 

When you really understand this first insight and take it to heart, it leads you to a second point:

2. You can shift your life experiences by shifting your inner state.

When you realize the role you play in the experiences you are having, you may get motivated to play that role better.  You may develop a strong desire to create positive shifts in your inner state to create positive results in your life.  You can do this in any number of ways, from self-observation, to meditation, to affirmations, to physical exercise, to dietary supplements, to actively listening and communicating better, to taking up a sacred mindset by acknowledging your relationship to the Universal Life Force, to seeing all things and every being as an expression of the One Life that we all share.

Having practiced all of the above for the past three decades, I’ve found one practice that creates profound shifts on all four dimensions of my being: body-heart-mind-spirit.  That practice is Core Energy Meditation™.

If you have the “Raise Your Vibration” program, you have a full exploration of this practice as it relates to the Law of Attraction.  I’ve also posted an early guided version of this practice on the SGM website in the Toolkit, so that all of you have access to the basic practice.

Core Energy Meditation™ incorporates physical cues to relax and align your posture, along with deep breathing, inner smiling, and visualization and feeling of your three primary energy centers to create a state of strong, positive, clear and coherent energetic vibration.  I call this a Core Energy State (CES).

The more you become familiar with this state, the more you practice it, the more it becomes a consistent background for all your life experiences.  Your background state strongly influences what you experience in the foreground of your consciousness.  Remember from the earlier diagram that the “figure” you see is strongly shaped by the “background” against which it appears.

Becoming familiar with a CES also makes you more sensitive to times when you are not experiencing that.  You more easily recognize when you are caught up in reactivity, tension, and unnecessary drama.  Through consistent practice over time, a CES becomes a clear, relaxed, background presence that you can return to whenever you get caught up in stress or lost in the tangles of life.

Personally I’ve found Core Energy Meditation™ to be a lifelong practice that refines with each year that I work with it.  If you’re at all like me, you’ll find that, when you first start practicing, you have certain energy centers that are more open and clear.  At first, your energy flows smoothly in some areas of your body and not in others. 

Wherever you’ve had injuries or store past tensions and unresolved traumas in your body, your energy will be congested in those spots.  By practicing a calm accepting attitude as you become aware of your inner tensions, you facilitate release.  Through meditation, you learn that while you have had trauma and tension, these do not define who you are.  Though you have thoughts and feelings running through you, these also, do not define who you are.  Though you get caught up in stress, it doesn’t have to rule your life. 

You learn instead that you are an energetic presence who can inhabit anything—any intention, thought, feeling, action, place, relationship. . . How would your life be different if you lived from that understanding?  You are an energetic presence who can inhabit anything you choose.

This brings us to the third essential point:

3. You have an authentic life path which is your unique contribution to the One Life that we all share. 

You are here with purpose.  You are not here to do anything at all, but to engage in certain things that you are particularly gifted to share.  On a spiritual level, you are part of an infinite field of unlimited possibilities.  Here in this body, in this life, you have some very specific things that are yours to do.

When each of us do what we are here to do, we all benefit.  Your authentic path is not just for you.  It is your service to “Us.”  It is what you add to the whole.  You are specially resourced and situated to express specific talents, insights, skills, and gifts. 

Each of us is here to fully express our unique perspective and to support others to do the same.

When you choose that which is authentic for you, your life unfolds with greater meaning and purpose as well as greater ease, health, and happiness.  That doesn’t mean that your authentic path is without pain and struggle.  Yet it is how you relate to these things, the awareness you gain, what you learn, and the way that you deal with any experience that makes all the difference.  The more you learn to dis-identify with your pain and struggle, your life history and negative conditioning, the more you release those imprints from your consciousness.  As a result you open to deeper peace and joy, greater love, and expanding wisdom.

A primary roadblock to walking your authentic path is the inhibition resulting from what you think you “should” do.  You may have had experiences where others told you that being yourself was unacceptable.  You may have been traumatized into keeping your head down, being quiet, and not making waves.  You may have come to believe that “how you are” is not  worthwhile or good enough.

On the path to authenticity, it’s important to recognize when you are “shoulding” and instead practice loving acceptance of yourself, others, and circumstances—exactly as we are.  That doesn’t mean that all things are helpful or beneficial.  It simply means that negative emotional judgment creates resistance that stops life from moving forward in the best way possible.  When you release the negative emotional charge, you can more clearly see what is best for all.  When you release “shoulds” you free yourself and others to take up our authentic paths.

You can look at these three essential points as a three-step process.  Try this out whenever you feel tense, negative, or just “off track” from “who you are.”  Ask yourself these three questions:

1.  How am I contributing to this experience?

2. How can I let that go and relax my inner state right now?

3. What is my most authentic response, the response that is best for all, in this situation?

 Those of you who have read or listened to me for a while know that I call these steps the 3Rs: Recognize, release, and return.  Recognize what you are doing, release your attachment to that, and return to your Core Energy, to your most authentic response.  This is another powerful life-long practice. . . I’d love to hear how this works for you!

Until next time,

Walk boldly on your path,

Kevin

(If this article has been helpful to you, you can find information on the Core Energy meditation, the “Raise Your Vibration Program,” and Spiritual Growth Monthly  just by clicking on the following link: http://www.mindbodytrainingcompany.com/go.php?af=1103102)

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham
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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over forty years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com

Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend. You may also reproduce and publish this article if you also include this reference box. Thank you!

If you’d like to receive “Rich Words,” featuring weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at www.alanrowbotham.com
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For most of us non-resistance does not come easily. It goes against our normal reaction to life, where we usually tend to push ahead against all obstacles. Jesus’ teaching of “Resist not evil” is one of supreme spiritual power, for when you antagonize any given situation you give it power against yourself. But when you offer mental non-resistance the opposition will crumble before you.

Unfortunately, there is a tendency to resort to using force to get our way, to use a battering ram rather than a key to open doors. And it is this tendency which is the cause of most world conflict, and most of our own inner conflicts, which in turn cause most of our physical and mental ills.

To foster a clear perspective of our relationship to life, it would be helpful to reflect upon this statement by Jesus: “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” In other words, in the world there are many conflicts, dilemmas, and problems; but, says he, I have risen above these things and do not let them stand in my way. He made a clear distinction between the world “out there” and the world within.

Life is “outer-directed” for most of us, the world around us and the people within it setting the tone of our lives. When you are outer-directed, you have permitted yourself to grow a relationship to life wherein anyone has the power to push the buttons which disturb, frighten, or anger you, or make you discouraged.

Jesus says for us to be inner-directed, to “go into your room and shut the door.” Go into yourself to find your inner direction; forsake the outer-directed way. When you are inner-directed, you know that you are your own person and your life is lived from within out; you possess an inner poise and an inner security.

With your mind stayed on God, you are free from fear of outer conditions or person. Our troubles really stem from whether we are outer-directed or inner-directed. In the one case, we react and get disturbed, blaming the outer person, situation or event; in the other case, we are committed to keep our inner peace, refusing to react to the turmoil. In a consciousness of inner peace and calm, we can deal effectively with the situation. When inner-directed, we can deal with people in an understanding manner, realizing that they may have good reason to be feeling and acting as they do; however, we never have a good reason to let them cause us to be upset or hostile.

The real test is how you react in every experience. You have heard it said, “Life is consciousness.” You react not only from your particular level of consciousness, but your reaction begins a new chain of causation which then becomes your new level of consciousness. If you react in an outer-directed manner, then in a way the other person or situation has done you a favor in showing you that you are in the wrong state of consciousness, so you need to change that; and it is a good thing that you have been reminded of it.

Non-resistance does mean simply following the path of least resistance or taking the easy way out. If, in contemplation, you find something disagreeable, stop thinking about it and go out and meet it with an attitude of serene non-resistance.

The key to non-resistance is what Jesus pointed out; it is overcoming. It is to change the mind and to keep it changed, not to fight the person, the job, the debt, the situation. It is to “overcome the world” or worldly view, not to come over these particular things.

Love is another key to non-resistance, which is why Jesus tells us to love our enemies, not because they are deserving of our love, but because when the other person causes us resistance we are not acting the part of our divinity. The power that accompanies our divinity is only ours when we act the part. When you take an inner-directed approach, you reach for and act in accordance with your higher, divine self.

Jesus says that we must go into the inner room and close the door in order to restore our contact with God and with our innate potential. So, when we find resistance in our world, instead of fighting it or resisting it, we are to perceive it as a warning light that we are dealing with the rest of the world in an outer-directed consciousness.

In other words, don’t fight the other person, change yourself! Bless the situation; love the other person, not because he or she deserves your love, not because of what it will do to him or her, but because in the act of blessing and loving you can rise above it and get your thoughts back on the right track.

Non-resistance is a key element in our personal development and spiritual growth.

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-seven years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at Spiritual Solutions. Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend.

If you’d like to receive “Rich Words,” featuring weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

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