Gaining in Letting Go; Listening Within. Journey of Fulfillment: 03.06.08

Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Copyright Tam Black 2014
Designed for susanwithpearls.com

Guiding Thought

My motivation is my choice. My intention is my choice. My will is my choice. In Peace, I listen within for guidance so that my actions are motivated by joy, my intentions are love, and my will is simply to share Joy and Love.

Sharing

Two thoughts today.

1.

“My will is my choice.” What about “Thy Will be done“?

So often it seems, people seem to think that “Thy Will be done” means that they must lose, give up, or surrender their personal will. That’s what makes “Thy Will be done” so difficult, yeah? “I don’t want to give up my will. I want my freedom!”

The Journeys are all about aligning with Divine Will, though–allowing Divine Will to come through “me”. And there does seem to be a certain amount of letting go, of surrendering.

Yet, my will is my choice. And I can use my choice to choose Thy Will. Then, I’m not giving up or surrendering; I’m fully utilizing my own free will to choose Thy Will. What’s more, Thy Will holds so much more Peace, Harmony, and All things in Right Order than my little will. Thy Will is so much better for me than my will!

It’s nice to think that even in so-called surrendering to Divine Will, I still have full choice to do or not do, to align with the Divine or decide everything for myself. Life is easier when I make the one small, simple choice to allow Thy Will.

2.

More and more recently, I am listening within for Guidance. It’s not always completely conscious; sometimes I only realize I’ve done it after I have done it.

This is how it happens: I naturally ask questions a lot. Sometimes I am addressing another person, sometimes my questions are in my head. Recently, I’ve “heard” answers to questions that I think are just in my little brain, but the answers are not of my little brain.

Here’s an example. Someone said something to me, and immediately I thought, “Is this B.S., are you lying to me, or are you telling me the truth?” And then all of the sudden, I knew/heard that the answer I was just given was about 70% true, with about 30% exaggeration. Then I immediately asked, “Can I trust this person”? and the answer I got was, “Yes. There is no willful deceit, just trying to make a point”. And this is not the first time something like this has happened.

Now, I am coming to understand that I need to be aware of this question-answer, and to enter into the relationship a little more intentionally, asking questions that I want the answer to, then listening within for the guidance.

I’ll be experimenting with this now!

Peace.

Square One Commencing. Journey of Fulfillment: Day 03.06.07

Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Copyright Tam Black 2014
Designed for susanwithpearls.com

Guiding Thought

My joy unifies! Accepting my own joy, acknowledging it, sharing it, and expressing it heals me and others. To be wholly joyful means to be wholly love…means to be wholly my Self.

Sharing

I know from experience that the Guiding Thought is correct. I’ve verified it for myself. I’ve experienced situations where joy has unified, where it has lifted and healed. I understand that Joy is a True Expression of the Self.

These are cognitive recognitions and memories of a time. Currently, I neither feel this Truth, nor know how to access it cognitively. >sigh<

Here’s why: I’ve felt really stressed out and overwhelmed the past two weeks. It had been building for a bit before then, but these past two weeks I have felt the walls closing in. Pressure. (This is being reflected in my physical body by headaches and sinus pressure).

I could talk about what it is that is happening; I could tell you the psychology going on; I could tell you some of the things I’m “working on” that are contributors…but what would that accomplish?

I’d rather share what I’m doing about it (so here it is). This was my realization today:

Earlier on in the Journeys, I had to remember to remember my Divine Self. I would do the Journey, meditate, and feel like, “OK I got this”. Then I’d go out into the world, where there was vulnerability to noise, chaos, and distraction and I would forget. So I had to learn to remind myself to remember my Divine Self, so that amidst the noise, distractions, and chaos, I could still center my attention on my Divine Self.

This remembering has gotten much, much better. I now often remember my Divine Self, and call It forth. But now I have something new that I need to remember to remember, another layer shall we say.

That new thing is: my Divine Self does not need to take my human crap, and I can tell my human self “NO MORE”. NO more with the stress. No more with the overwhelm. No more with the pressure. No more playing tired, playing small, playing defeated. NO MORE. I Can Choose. I am a Divine Being, created with Love, with full access to ALL that Love has to offer. I direct my mind and actions with Love, by Love, through Love, and I decide for my highest good (which incidentally has naught to do with stress, pressure, or overwhelm).

What does this mean in practical terms?

In the moment I must recognize that I am feeling/behaving as less than a Divine Being and I must call forth the full Power and Authority of God I Am to take dominion over all my thoughts-actions. I must align with the Divine Will of All Good, All God, and be in Harmony with the Law of Love–the only Law of Power, Expansiveness, and Harmony, dismissing any thought-emotion-action that is less than the Law of Love.

Square One Commenced.

“Logically Speaking…”: Journey of Fulfillment 2.0 – Day 27

Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Copyright Tam Black 2014
Designed for susanwithpearls.com

Guiding Thought

Our Joy unifies! Accepting our Joy—acknowledging it, sharing it, and expressing it—heals us and All. To be wholly Joyful means to be wholly Love…means to be wholly our Self.

Sharing               

Often, I’ve been noticing, the Guiding Thought answers my questions and responds to my objections when (if!) I think it through.

Our Joy unifies! Whyyyyy??? Why does Joy unify? Is there something inherent in Joy that is a unifying quality?

Accepting our Joy—acknowledging it, sharing it, and expressing it—heals us and All. Again…Whyyyyy? There is nothing inherent in Joy that is healing, is there? There certainly is anecdotal evidence that humor helps people heal and recover (just talk to Patch Adams), but is humor JOY?

The “answers” come in the final sentence: To be wholly Joyful means to be wholly Love…means to be wholly our Self. When we experience Joy wholly, it is the outcome of being our Self, which is Love.

Now we can go back and answer the previous questions:

Our Joy unifies! When we experience Joy, we are experiencing our True Self, our Self of Love. Our Joy Unifies because in Love we are One; in Love we are equal; in Love there is no differentiation, no separation, no “you”, no “me”, no “I”. In Joy we experience this, we KNOW our Unity.

 Accepting our joy—acknowledging it, sharing it, and expressing it—heals us and All. It’s not actually the Joy that heals; do you see that? It’s accepting, acknowledging, sharing, and expressing the Joy that is healing. Why? Because Joy is the indicator of Knowing your Self, your Self of Love. When you accept your Joy, you are accepting your Self of Love. When you accept your Self of Love, there is nothing to do except acknowledge it, share it, and express it. Through your expression of Love, you create a channel by which Love can do what Love does: Unify. This unification is  the healing.

All of the answers are finally summed up (again) in the last line: To be wholly Joyful means to be wholly Love…means to be wholly our Self.

Two notes:

If you are a logical, rational human beings (and there are philosophers who say that if you are a human being you are logical and rational, as that is what sets humans apart from other animals), then you will notice that when I think through the Guiding Thoughts, and my own questions, I ask you to think through them with me logically.

The first note is: Yes, I am speaking to your rational mind. You may wonder how or why I am going through an “argument” on Love and Oneness rationally. How can Love and Oneness be analyzed rationally? The answer is: a) I still want you to feel it. This round, another round, in combination with thinking about it, whichever—you do want to balance the thinking with the feeling. Thinking does not negate feeling. b) The logic speaks to your doubting mind, the mind that wants proof, the mind that wants to understand, and to know logically why something makes sense, or if it even does makes sense. It’s that mind we are pulling/pushing/influencing.

The second note is: Since, in these instances, when I present an “argument”, I want to point out that you have the option to accept or reject my premises. If this were written like an “argument” it would be something like this:

Premise: To be wholly Joyful means to be wholly Love…means to be wholly our Self.

Conclusion #1: Our Joy unifies!

Conclusion #2: Accepting our joy—acknowledging it, sharing it, and expressing it—heals us and All.

Do you agree with the premise? What do you think? How does this feel for you? Is there anything that feels “off” for you? What is it? Would you change anything in the Guiding Thought to make it True for you? How would you write it?

There have been many times when I have read wise sayings, very intelligent writing, or explanations of philosophy or scripture, that I feel is almost right for me. I change it so that it “fits” with how I would say something, fits with what I have learned or researched, and I tweak it just enough to make it my own. I encourage you to do that with these Guiding Thoughts. If you don’t have ways to change it, then leave them alone—they will not lead you astray, but you have options.

 

“Being Carried”: Journey of Fulfillment 2.0 – Day 18

Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Copyright Tam Black 2014
Designed for susanwithpearls.com

Guiding Thought

Your motivation is your choice. Your intention is your choice. Your will is your choice. In peace, listen within for guidance, so that your actions are motivated by joy, your intentions are loving, and your will is simply to share joy and love.

Sharing

There’s always a choice right now. The choice in the moment is always “what do I want my mental approach to be?”

I’ve never needed to worry about quitting an addiction, but I once read that a good way for smokers to prepare themselves when they are quitting is to decide in advance what they are going to do when a craving hits. This way, they have a plan in place and when it happens, they don’t have to think, don’t have to make a decision, they already know “this is what I am going to do”, and they just do it.

This can be transferred to the idea of the Guiding Thought. A person can decide in advance what their motivation is, what their intention is, and how to direct their will. That’s one of the reasons for doing the preparation days at the beginning of each Journey. It’s a choice that prepares someone how to approach any given situation. When something comes along to throw someone off, there’s already a plan in place: the decision about how to approach has already been made. There’s no need to think, no decision to be made in the moment, you already know, “this is what I am going to do”.

If you decide in advance that you are motivated by Joy, when a decision comes up, your mind will already know, “I am motivated by Joy” and your actions will follow naturally, toward the event/person/situation that will bring you Joy.

When you decide in advance that you choose to have loving intentions, then as you approach events/people/situations, you already know where your mind/heart is. You always come from a loving place.

Make those choices in the stillness while listening to your Inner Guidance. Keep making those choices, keep listening in the stillness. Let your Inner Wisdom carry you through.

“What is Fulfillment? Part II”: Journey of Fulfillment 2.0 – Day 14

Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Copyright Tam Black 2014
Designed for susanwithpearls.com

Guiding Thought

Your Self wills only to extend itself. Extending, sharing, creating as Divine Love, through Divine Mind, is your sole purpose. Your Self knows its fullness in Divine Love and wills only to liberate you to fulfill your purpose and release your Joy.

Sharing

Please take a look at yesterday’s post, as the precursor to today.

Here is the idea I am working with today: How do we find the form of fulfillment that is the perfect expression of Divine Love? How do we live in such a way that is the perfect expression of Divine Love? And how do we know that we live in just such a way?

This is where I get hung up, sometimes…Am I doing what best expresses Divine Love, and how do I know?

This, to me, represents the classic age-old question of spiritual versus material dichotomy, which basically says you can be either spiritual and deny the material, or you can be material, which inherently denies the spiritual. (I am not saying this is actually the case; I am saying this is a long-standing formulation of it.)

In other words, If I am spiritual, doing the work of Divine Love, living through Divine Will, how do I incorporate the need/want for material goods? Aren’t material goals counter to spirituality? And if I put aside material goals, in order to live a spiritual life, does that mean I will be poor and destitute?

Sometimes I think I’ve had way too many lives as a monk in the woods, or in a cave to be able to understand it being OK to have, need, and use material things to live.

If I were a monk in a cave, it would be easy: deny the material things. Be spiritual. No conflict. No problem. Rely on God. Be fulfilled.

But I live in 21st century American Society. I have to figure out what it means to be fulfilled in Love while being surrounded by materialism, how to use money and material goods but not be “consumed” by them, to be in the world, yet not of it, to contribute to the world fully in a way that really matters. You know what I mean?

I feel conflict with this. How do I want anything (material goods, money, etc.) without betraying my essence? What is the balance between material achievement and spiritual work? How can I create my life so that it can still be devoted to God, while living in a material society? How do I balance the time that I need to work to make money with the time I want to devote to God for spiritual practices?

I am working this out. It feels big. It feels like I have been working on this one thing for a long time. Thanks for being my sounding board. I look forward, already, to What is Fulfillment, Part III.

 

“Just So”: Journey of Abundance 2.0 – Day 17

Copyright Tam Black 2016 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Copyright Tam Black 2016
Designed for susanwithpearls.com

 

Guiding Thought

Your consciousness is the gateway through which Divine Love flows, materializing your infinite Supply. Be now conscious of your own Inner Divine Presence—Infinite Love—expressing through you, providing you with the means to be aware, to understand, and to know It as your Self– more and more!

Sharing

The bottom line: Love yourself. The more you are aware of yourself loving yourself, the more you appreciate yourself for the Love you are. That’s really all this Guiding Thought is saying.

You see, when you are aware of loving yourself, well, that’s you being conscious of loving yourself. That is the gateway to materializing your infinite Supply.

And what is your infinite Supply? Love, of course!

The Source is Love. The Supply is Love. The channel (you) are Love. Infinitely.

As I was walking today, listening to the Guiding Thought, it was a hard concept for my brain to handle. That is why I simplified it. It was as much for me as for you.

Everything is Love. Everything comes from Source. Look around. When I was walking there was an abundance of blue sky! an abundance of dirt! an abundance of leaves and green! Everything is provided by Source in abundance! Appreciate the abundance all around you, anything and everything, large and small. Let your mind see it as Love providing you with an abundance of >whatever it is<. Recognize abundance! Be aware of it, even if it’s not the “kind” of abundance you “want”. Let yourself see abundance.

That’s opening your channel. That’s letting Love flow. That’s seeing abundance materialize in your life.

“Peace be with you”: Journey of Abundance 2.0 – Day 15

Copyright Tam Black 2016 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Copyright Tam Black 2016
Designed for susanwithpearls.com

 

Guiding Thought

Your Inner Divine Love Presence Knows what you need or desire before you do. It is constantly providing you with ideas, material goods, situations, and interactions to fulfill all your needs and desires. Relax! and allow the Presence Within to supply you with everything you need.

Sharing

Today was a day for relaxing! A day for trust! A day for feeling good! A day for joy and satisfaction and simply being. I hope you have had a peaceful, relaxing day full of that natural communication with Self/Spirit, which simply carries you buoyantly through your day, through your life.

As you know, there are ways to communicate with Self/Spirit that are not verbal or mental. I have been so relaxed and in the peace of the moment all day that I wanted to continue it through the doing of the Journey—contemplation (thinking) would have taken me out of the flow.

Since I have the option of communicating with Self/Spirit through my coloring, I chose that today.

In my picture, I am relaxed with all my needs fulfilled. I am in a beautiful place, surrounded by beauty, with the perfect head/back rest, showered with sunlight. I am so thankful for this. I feel so much gratitude for all my needs being met, for feeling so at peace, so comfortable, surrounded by beauty…all I can do is thank God, thank Spirit, thank Self/soul/the Divine/the ALL that IS that surrounds me and contributes to my being. The blue from my heart is this thankfulness. I can’t tell you how calm and peaceful and right it all feels.

I wish for you an amazing, peaceful, trusting, relaxing day. If you didn’t have one as I did today, I wish it for you right now, or tomorrow, or when it is right and perfect for you (every day!!). Peace be with you, now and always.

IMG_20160813_172740

The More Beyond Words. A Journey of Fulfillment: Day 10

Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Copyright Tam Black 2014
Designed for susanwithpearls.com

I am light. My body is light. I am free. I know my fulfillment: I feel it rise within me, expand out from me.

 

Like many things in the realm of God, the meaning of the word fulfillment goes beyond words or rational understanding. It’s like I have a sense of it (as yesterday’s article attests), yet even with all those words and definitions, there is something more.

What is the more?

Again, I have some words, ideas, and definitions. And again, those are insufficient.

The more of fulfillment is letting go—really letting go, trusting in life, trusting God, trusting my Self, and trusting myself.

When I think about it, I say, “of course I trust God; of course I trust my Self (the Self who Knows).” Then I realize it is myself that leaves me in doubt.

This makes sense to me. Myself is the part of me that is so close (indeed—IN) the immediacy of the material world, so the physical world surrounds me all the time. I can’t get out of it. Even the dead remain in it, in a different form.

The physical world holds my attention and it takes a real effort to move my attention to the non-physical. Then it takes more effort for the non-physical to hold my attention. Then it takes more effort for me to see/understand the effects of the non-physical in the physical world.

With all that effort, it makes sense that I can doubt or that I do not rely on the self-of-me that is making that effort.

[Two quick notes about this phrase, the self-of-me that is making that effort: a) I would like to acknowledge the possibility that there is no self at all, that the self, the “ego” identity, is an illusion (as in some philosophies and/or religions) b) I’d like to point out that there are ways to ease this effort (whether or not you believe in the self as real or as an illusion)—like the practices of earth, air, water, fire, mind, and Love.]

Which brings me back to the letting go…

Since I know I trust God, and I know I trust my Self, it is the self that is so close to the material world that I need to let go. I need to let go the effort, let go the struggle, let go the need to see/understand, and decide to give my attention to my Self; decide to listen, decide to trust (after all, I say I do trust, right!?)

OK. That was part of the what is the more. What else?

Fulfillment is freedom.

But I don’t mean freedom like “I can go anywhere, do whatever I want” kind of freedom.

Fulfillment’s freedom is more like lightness, absence of cares, worries, or burdens. How would it feel to have “not a care in the world”? That’s part of it.

How would it feel if I didn’t have bills to pay, always knew I would have food when I am hungry, always know everything is just taken care of? That’s part of it.

How would it feel if my body always felt expansive, supple, and flexible?

How would it feel if I were just content all the time? Really content and happy and satisfied… all the time?

Here’s the thing: I have raised the quality of my thoughts as I have worked on letting go the self of me that is invested in the physical world (refer to above). As I have learned to listen, connect with, and be directed by God, through my Self, I have experienced what I am describing as freedom—I have been Light and carefree and expansive…I know how this feels, and it is blissful! Can you think of a time when you have felt this way?

So why don’t I feel it all the time? Why don’t I feel it all the time, even after 25 years of doing the work of unraveling and letting go? Because there must be a lot to do! But it’s great to see progress and be optimistic about what is possible.

This is the work now; these journeys are the work, and the reason I share them. I have glimpsed, I have felt, I have been—for moments-hours-days—in a state of blissful freedom of joy and peace and gratitude, that I know is accessible to everyone.

I want that experience more…and more…and more. And I want it for you too.

I want you to Know fulfillment beyond words, to experience it so deeply that you have no words. I want you to feel my words as more than words—as who you are: the essence of fulfillment.

 

 

 

Life Itself is the Essence of Fulfillment. A Journey of Fulfillment. Day 09

Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Copyright Tam Black 2014
Designed for susanwithpearls.com

May those who seek, help others find;

May those who sorrow, be compassionate;

May those who are lost, light a path for another;

May those who question or doubt, give guidance;

May those who worry, lift the burden of another;

May those who hide, see their own light in the eyes of a stranger;

May we all give peace, no matter what.

 

Fulfillment is Joy and Love and Peace, and listening to the still voice within that Knows and guides appropriately, always appropriately.

Fulfillment is knowing with total satisfaction that I am in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing. Fulfillment is being confident in the choices I make…or in the choices I refrain from making.

Fulfillment is a feeling of satisfaction, a feeling of accomplishment—whether or not I’ve done anything to “deserve” it.

Fulfillment is human-connection, whether a brief glance of “Namaste” with a stranger, or a two-hour Skype conversation with a friend or loved-one (or anything in-between).

Fulfillment is watching the doubts-fears-uncertainties waft by, knowing they have no foothold.

Fulfillment is hearing the nay-saying (in my own head, or from the mouths of others), and knowing it has no power, knowing there is another voice cheering me on, guiding me, directing me, leading me, while being my biggest fan.

Fulfillment is knowing that LIFE is not my job or my income, not my family or relationships,  not the car I drive or the house I live in, not my health or my diet or my future.

Life itself is the essence of fulfillment; Life lives as me!

Life fills my bones and my marrow, fires my neurons, wiggles my toes, thinks my thoughts, feels my feelings, fills me up to overflowing with the essence of Source—the source of the universe, the cosmos, of all.

I just experience it all and enjoy the ride.

 

The Quality of Thought. A Journey of Fulfillment: Day 08

Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Copyright Tam Black 2014
Designed for susanwithpearls.com

My motivation is my choice. My intention is my choice. My will is my choice.

In Peace, I listen within for guidance so that my actions are motivated by joy, my intentions are love, and my will is simply to share Joy and Love.

 

There are three really “big things” going on today through the guiding thought. The first one is acknowledging that I am “in control”, so to say. This isn’t saying that I can control things or people. No, it’s saying I can control myself. Behaviors and actions begin as motivation, intention, and will. By choosing in advance what motivates me, and the attitude with which I want to approach a life experience, my will is enacted to accomplish those results.

The second thing going on is recognizing that I have complete and total free will—I have choice, I make my choices, and I am the only one who makes my choices. That’s very liberating! But it also implies responsibility—I am the one responsible for my outcomes. Don’t like your outcomes? Change your mind! Do you want to emulate someone’s behavior? Do you have a role model you admire? Emulate their thoughts, mimic their mind!

(And, by the way, you will never “lose yourself” if you emulate or mimic someone else. The information you gain from someone else will only enhance and raise – assuming positivity – the quality of information you have already accumulated, which is totally unique.)

Continue to increase the quality of information that constitutes your thoughts and the quality of your outcomes will increase.

I choose and I have free will. These things imply that I can make poor choices. In the context of fulfillment this means things like disengagement, withholding, numb, disconnected, and uncaring. Because what fulfillment means is to be in tune with creativity, to be accepting and acceptable, and to attract all the wonderful experiences life can bring.

The third and final big thing in the guiding thought is that I have help/assistance in making better choices. “In peace I listen within for guidance”. “Guidance” implies it is possible to become lost. Guidance implies there are many choices, some better than others. Guidance implies I may not know my own best interest.

But there is a part of me who knows! And I can connect with that part in the peace and stillness of my own mind. That part of me will assist me toward the better choices and help me direct my mind to the fulfillment of Joy and Love.