Guiding Thought
The Peace of God is stronger than your self-constructed obstacles to it. Open Your mind to holy communion with the Divine. Brought to union with God, obstacles crumble. Peace stands victorious. You are that Peace.
Reflection
Lita
It was from an email on a list-serve recently which stated that we have between 50, 000 –70,000 thoughts per day and that 70% are negative. Ah, so that’s my monkey in my mind having set up residence, the one which finds me hitting the repeat button with my petty judgments and irritations about the world around me.
My daily walking partner and I talk about such things and ways to get off the band-width of negativity. One such suggestion is to change your thought to something positive and hold it for 14-17 seconds. This is the length of time that it takes to reset the neural pathways, so say the experts from neuroscience. In truth, I am slow to switch my thoughts from negative to positive, mostly because I get caught up in the message and less so with awareness of what path I am on. Uncomfortable as it is, I am thankful for those around me who shake me to wakefulness.
I am, however, more interested in attending to that monkey who wakes me up in the middle of the night and keeps me from returning to sleep, or the quiet one who rests on my shoulders during the day who has me looking over my shoulder, waiting for some big bomb to drop.
Holy Communion is very much needed. My go-to resources are books and energy work, and I use these in silence.
My husband’s health crisis a few years ago disrupted my sleep in a big way. It was rather timely that some books I had been longing to read on Incarnational Spirituality became available. The words of Big Mind/Divine reminded me that I am responsible for my own journey, just as my husband is for his. I was able to mentally shift from being a victim of circumstance and wake up to owning my own path. Sure enough, I became calm and could return to sleep.
I don’t think I knew about that 17 seconds with a pleasant thought to shift my neural pathways at that time, so my ruminations about all things of loss were running rampant during my day. Solace, Holy Communion came as I sat in silence holding the shoulder of my 95 y/o non-verbal client. Somehow our engagement took me away from my worry and she took some lovely deep breaths. My drive home had me grateful for the perceptible shift of energy, a Holy Communion for us both.
SusanWithPearls 
The Peace of God is stronger than your self-constructed obstacles to it. Open Your mind to holy communion with the Divine. Brought to union with God, obstacles crumble. Peace stands victorious. You are that Peace.
Reflection
-The Peace of God is stronger than ANYTHING (not just my self-constructed obstacles).
-All and any obstacles are self-constructed.
-It is the comportment of my mind, what I invite in and where I choose to place my focus, that brings awareness of Holy Communion with the Divine. When I choose Divinely-oriented thoughts, I open to Divine communion.
This is where there’s a bit of a gap in the Guiding Thought: “Brought to union with God, obstacles crumble.” This sentence presumes an understanding of bringing obstacles to God.
But without that understand, it may seem counter-intuitive to bring obstacles to God. Don’t we just want to bring thoughts of unity and love to God?
When we bring the discord, the inharmonious to God, we offer it up for healing and transformation. Otherwise, we will keep it. Give it to God, ask for those self-constructed obstacles to be released and transformed.
Peace prevails. You are that peace.
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Day 17 Peace – Mary
I’ve been feeling a little short tempered today. It’s dark, cloudy, wet, chilly and I’m still healing from recent knee replacement surgery which is causing me impatience with a few physical limitations. We may (or may not) have several people coming over this evening. Communication on that issue has been somewhat incomplete. I’m feeling grumpy over the question “to tidy up, or not to tidy up?” Hmmm, so even here, I lie. I said that healing is causing me impatience. The truth is, I’ve been causing my own impatience. I “should” be celebrating. A neighbor’s father had the same surgery a few days before I did. That patient had heart issues during the surgery, bleeding issues afterward, and infection requiring him to undergo additional surgery and now be in a rehabilitation center for an indefinite period. How can I be grumpy? Why would I choose grumpy? I’m walking well and quickly regaining range of motion. I am blessed with one of the best and quickest recoveries the physical therapist has witnessed. And so, today’s exercise in writing my reflections on the guiding thought has stopped me in my tracks. After hours of choosing to be grumpy, I’m choosing to BE THAT PEACE. Simply because I have a choice. I always have a choice. I CHOOSE PEACE.
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Journey of Peace – day 17 Reflection
My obstacles are indeed self-constructed. Taking offense, feeling let down, having someone misunderstand my actions or intentions. They are not the obstacle. My reaction to them is the issue. I will tighten up in my gut, some emotion of being hurt arises. And if I don’t catch it, they will fester, and I will let them ruin my day. And it is over such small things most of the time. In wanting to protect myself (probably the little child within), I cut myself off from peace, I lose the awareness of union with the Divine. My Divine connection is still there, but I have lost touch with it. Every one of these situations of small hurts is an opportunity to bring my awareness back home to a state of Oneness. In these small battles, Peace can be victorious, and my obstacles dissolve.
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