Working and Walking Truth in Present TIme

"A secure future depends on walking in balance every living moment".  Thirteen Original Clan Mothers  (Pg. 198)

Perhaps part of the problem is I have held on to and not shared what I have been given in wisdom and awareness in a path of healing (with others).  And so, there is no space for what I long for (abundance, relationship, health etc) in my life. What does all this 'holding on' or 'coming up short' represent in me?  What part of me am I holding on to that prevents my True Self, my authentic, real self from being present?  What of my True Self am I holding at bay, denying, hiding from myself and from others?

Self Reflection: To get where I am going, I must BE where I am.

Tools Part Two: Praying

Support tools for letting go what no longer serves us AND for learning to serve in Truth:

1) Gathering with a few others to review the scene before any action (just be sure they aren’t enablers)

2) Praying (remember the running out the door prayer-that is enough)

3) Contemplating  (which means watching and listening and hearing)

4) Receiving help (as gracefully as currently possible)

5) Taking a ‘do-over’ and humbly beginning again (as many times as needed)

To Pray is being present in the moment, giving voice, and listening with all of our senses.

Begin with gratitude, no matter how tiny the gratitude may be.  It may be only a gratitude of having the willingness to try and pray.  How we pray and why we pray is a very individual process.  There is no wrong or right way, and if there are‘rules’, there are just two: to begin each time of praying with ‘thank you’ and to ask to be heard (followed by asking).

Praying is an active process. Actually, it is an interactive process involving asking and then listening. We do not need to know with whom or what we are interacting.  Our belief in any form of God or Spirit is not even necessary for prayer to be effective.  Our beliefs do not 

make the receiver of our intercessions more or less able to hear for what we are praying.   

The universe receives our words, even when we dare not speak them out loud, though out loud is better.  Hearing ourselves speak our request out loud seems to make it easier to listen and hear the response coming to us.

Then, we listen with our ears, our eyes, our heart, our voice, even with our senses of taste and smell.  This listening can take a while, but it will come.

If you need a starter way to pray try the ‘running out the door prayer' from the post during the waxing moon for August.

"As I go out the door I notice whatever it is Creation presents to me from nature: a tree, bird, animal, the morning star or the moon. 

I notice and I say: 'Good morning, thank you for listening; thank you for hearing, thanking you for being.  Your being allows my being. I ask (insert a request for a definitive support for your day).' Then I say again.  'Thank you, thank you.  A million, million times thank you.'” 

Then, even if you can not stop long enough to listen at that moment, you will find your senses are listening for answers, as you move through your day.

Self Reflection: How is prayer a part of my life? I remind myself that to Serve Truth is a form of prayer.

One Minute Running Out the Door Alignment Prayer

 I like my rituals to be uninterrupted, so I plan them for early dawn hours. In these days, at the close of summer holidays, schedules are getting back in sync for fall—school, work, whatever.  These schedule changes call for adjustments in my personal routines, as well.

My morning ritual takes some time, and part of the frustration of these end of August days is when the morning changes interrupt MY morning prayer and contemplation routine. 

When this happens, I have a one minute ritual, my ‘running out the door into my day prayer’.  As I go out the door I notice whatever it is Creation presents to me from nature: a tree, bird, animal, the morning star or the moon. 

I notice and I say: “Good morning, Creator, thank you for listening; thank you for hearing, thanking you for being.  Your being allows my being. I ask (insert a request for a definitive support for your day).” Then I say again.  “Thank you, thank you.  A million, million times thank you.”  

When this becomes a committed one minute ritual of every day, life changes for the better.  This prayer sets a template for our day. Try it! 

PS: This prayer is an adaption I learned through the teaching that originated with Twylah Nitsch.

Self Reflection: As I leave my home for the day, I notice whatever it is Creation presents to me from nature and greet the day: “Good morning, Creator, thank you for listening; thank you for hearing, thanking you for being.  Your being allows my being. I ask (insert a request for a definitive support for your day).” Then I say:  “Thank you, thank you.  A million, million times thank you.”  

Strengthening and Aligning Our Internal Flame, Final Part (at least for now)

Carolyn writes:  Sara and I both shared about our ‘off day’ experiences.  From my long years of working with others, I know these kind of days happen for everyone.  Out-of-sync days occur regardless of our supposed level of ‘spiritual development’.  We can’t prevent them, and we can’t control when they occur; that’s not the point. When they come, they are an invitation to upgrade our life.  They become the backdrop for the illuminating the experience of being in sync with Divine Direction.

Self Reflection: The feeling of not being ‘good enough’ or not doing things ‘right’ are ways that my internal flame, my being, moves out of alignment with Creator.  My morning ritual-my intentional act of offering my life to Servie, restores my alignment. This practice is pure act of faith.  If I stick with it-it sticks with me. In short order, it will become my felt sense, a known internal feeling.

Strengthening and Aligning Our Internal Flame, Part 5: Building a spiritual muscle memory

Sara writes:

Sometimes, our environment or situation can be incredibly challenging or draining.  When I am in the midst of such negative energy, I often become uncentered. Afterward, I recall the spiritual person I think I am during my morning contemplative time and wonder where she went!

Today, I am reminded that the challenging times are the reason a spiritual practice is exactly that; a practice.  During my contemplative time, I practice sensing and aligning with the pull of the Universe/Creator.  I become centered.  Frequently, I set reminders for myself throughout the day to do a mini-check-in with that same centering.  In this way, I build a kind of spiritual "muscle memory".

The more dedicated I am to this practice, the more likely I will remember to (and be able to) open to the Grace and Guidance needed.  Responding from a perspective that allows a positive outcome becomes more automatic.  When I neglect my practice, I become spiritually "out of shape" and revert to old, negative attitudes and reactions.

The words in the daily circles in the journal are practices of gratitude, opening to guidance, intention, and noticing alignment working in our life.  As Carolyn mentioned in yesterday's post, there is great value in just the practice, even when (or especially when) we aren't feeling particularly "spiritual"

Self Reflection:  How does my spiritual practice nourish and support me?

'saying what you think' & 'speaking your truth'

Is  'saying what you think' the same as 'speaking your truth'? 

"I speak my truth," she said. "I always say what I think. People think I'm too blunt, but you know, I can't help it if the truth hurts."

Speaking bluntly does not equal speaking truth. 
Neither, however, is softening or putting a spin on a truth that need to spoken.
Speaking the truth is not the same as giving someone 'a piece of your mind'.
Speaking truth takes practise and more.  It is more than a skill; it seems rather to be an evolving wisdom that comes with practise and with conscious intention. 
We grow in our ability to recognize our tendency to speak out of defensiveness and the need to be 'right'.
We learn to take time to 'think our thoughts through, thoroughly. 
We check our motive.
Speaking Truth can mean NOT speaking any words at all--especially when our thinking brain or our emotions are urging us to blurt out words that we know will cause injury, pain or hurt to our self or another. 

Self Reflection:  Just for this day, I will practice thinking through the truth of my thoughts before I speak.

Practice Listening With the Whole of Your Being

How do we listen with the whole of our being?

Whole being listening is an intentional practice.
First be still in a posture of attention, all senses alert, yet relaxed.
Steady in our stillness, aware in our body, true listening begins to make itself known to us.
A likely first reaction is impatience, our body becoming restless; the quiet is uncomfortable.
Some will hear a pulsing in their ears; some will be distracted by the sound of their breathe.
Some will doze off, impatience overcome by fatigue (or distracted boredom).
Begin again, stay the course, the payoff is worth it.
Overtime, your presence with this way of listening will become comfortable and sustainable.
The ability to hear in this 'remembered' way may take a few days or nights of practice, or it may take weeks, maybe longer. The timing for receiving the gift of whole being listening is not up to us.
It is worth the wait, worth the practice.

Self Reflection:  What is my awareness of how I listen with the whole of my being?

Practice Listening

With practiced listening I will learn to discern deceptive words from True words.  
My ongoing prayer is to listen with compassion. 
Deceptive words are often spoken out of fear.  
Fear of the consequences of truth.
Just stay present and aware of thoughts.  
Use the eyes of see truth to work with the ears of Hear Truth. 

Self Reflection: Today I renew my commitment to listen whole heartedly.

Honor Truth Reminds us 'All Is Fundamentaly Well'

We have been sitting with Truth this month, receiving her wisdom as her Truth is revealed to us-- in our past, our present moment, and a vision of our future.  However distorted, foggy, clear or poignant this Truth might be, we are committed to receive our current perception of Truth. 

We do so with humility,  And with humility we allow what we receive to be transformed. We learn from what we perceive. We walk in the shoes or scan of the 'other', whether that other is a person, an animal, our environment. Moving through life with this kind of receiving is a very active process. We are called to practice, moment to moment, awareness-actively; consciously receiving and honoring what comes our way. 

Remember this kind of active receiving doesn't mean we like what is revealed, doesn't mean we want it, doesn't mean we believe it. It allows us to have ever greater awareness of what it is being revealed. in this moment, in this week, in the whole of our life. 

This active awareness can sometimes be overwhelming, When this overwhelm occurs, these words bring comfort and Truth: "I am not the One in charge.  At this moment, I am not asked to do anything. In the moments I am totally safe, all is as it needs to be, just for this moment." Sometimes the only truth we can honor is that in the moment we are reading this, all is fundamentally well.

Self Reflection: I am not the One in charge.  At this moment, I am not asked to do anything. In the moments I am totally safe, all is as it needs to be, just for this moment. All is fundamentally well.

Learning Truth the Hard Way: Ignoring My Body's Message

Carolyn Shares: My sense of touch is overly sensitive today. My skin hurts with every touch, my muscles ache with every movement. Even my ears hurt, and I don't want to hear anything or anyone, My brain seems to hurt as well, and yet I fight against the calling of my body to go and rest for the remainder of the day.  I have my own agenda to complete and goals to move toward.  A 'sick day' interferes with 'my plans'.

Clearly, I am once again learning things the hard way!  This month I am searching through the wisdom teachings for messages about how we learn truth.  I am no longer surprised that in my readings across cultures and spiritual teachings the same themes surface at the same time across the different lineages.  This week it has been no different.  I read Richard Rohr's posting on learning the Truth about how the body and soul teach us when the body is hurting and the soul fearful.  And then a reading from Hafiz, and a psalm about resting in the Divine. Finally, I came across a reading from Talks With Relations, Jamie Sams name for the clan mother of the January Moon: ..."she must also learn the importance of resting when her body's rhythms are being pushed beyond their capacity to endure. It must be difficult for her, no longer in Spirit-form, and having to limit herself to the perceptions of a human body." (Blue Jay's commentary-pg. 39 in 13 Original Clan Mothers).

Self-Reflection: Learning through my sense of touch, and learning to communicate willingly with my body is my practice for this month's teaching.