After sending last week’s newsletter, a friend sent this email: Can you say more about how to stay on your path and not let your thoughts take over? Any books to read or meditations to do?
This is something I think about and apply every day, all through the day. I’ve concluded it’s simple….and not easy. I try to keep things simple and efficient….so what I do is this: every day, before I get out of bed, or in the shower, I imagine my Higher Self….currently she looks like a swirl of purple and gold. Your Higher Self can look like anything, you can make something up if nothing comes to you….it can also be a sound or color or symbol, whatever feels good. Then I breathe her in, every day, all through the day, whenever I think of it, or whenever I don’t feel harmonious….she is my pure wisdom, highest integrity, she is the love, peace and harmony that I am, my eternal self. I state that I love seeing through her eyes, hearing through her ears, speaking through her mouth, loving through her heart. She is the peace and love that I AM.
Then every time I feel discordant, or angry, or frustrated or human in any of our usual ways, I think of her/Me and breathe her in. If I start thinking of someone else and what they should be doing or questioning why they are doing what they are doing, as soon as I catch it (which is easier and easier because I feel the interruption of good feeling when I get off my path, when I am not present, which means I am not connected to my Higher Self), I forgive myself for getting on someone else’s path and off mine (over and over and over during the day) and put myself back on my path. It can be very uncomfortable at first….but when we look within, our paths have many unexplored places!
We just haven’t known or given ourselves permission that it’s OK to be self focused on self-care. But when we do focus on self-care, connecting with our Higher Self, we fill ourselves up with the love and good feeling that we inherently are. By being focused on the present, we get the signals in our body and mind when we are not in alignment with the Love that we naturally are. And each time, when we forgive ourself for whatever we are doing that is not creating good feeling, we connect back to our Higher Self (which can never really be separate from us anyway, but we open up the door again and again), and that good feeling fills us up and spills over and floats us to where we need to go or what we need to do. Truly, all we need to do is be willing to focus on being present on our path and in tune with our Higher Self and restoring good feeling and the rest is taken care of, organically and naturally. Simple, not easy.
It just takes willingness (the key) and awareness of what we are thinking, but fortunately, the effects of what we are thinking show up in our body and life, so even if we’re not aware, we can feel what’s going on, then forgive ourselves and make corrections. Because stepping off our path, out of alignment with our higher self, feels bad. Thankfully! There’s a blessing in everything, even getting out of alignment with the peace and love we are. It shows us how powerful we are, and then in that awareness, we can make a choice.
So another mantra I say every day is: I release whatever I might be holding on to that might be blocking my flow of good feeling (my connection to my Higher Self), even if I have no idea what I might be holding on to. And I receive gratefully whatever is for my highest good, more good than I can imagine, by making space and releasing in trust.
I like some Buddhist books about Mindfulness to remind me of this, such as anything by Jack Kornfield, Pema Chodron, Cheri Huber. Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle also help me. There are so many good books! I just make sure I read something every day to help me stay on my path and keep my thoughts in alignment with the Love that I AM.
My wish for all of you is to feel the Love that you ARE. It’s the best! And we go in and out of the awareness and feeling, because we are both human and Divine. And it’s all good.