Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Guiding Thought
I am light. My body is light. I am free. I know my fulfillment: I feel it rise within me, expand out from me.
Sharing
Moksha is the Eastern concept of Freedom. This is a spiritual freedom, not a civil/political freedom. For many people who practice Eastern religions or follow Eastern philosophies, Moksha is the goal, the highest attainment. This is a State of Being that we can attain here, now, as human beings.
Human beings were born able to attain this State. We all have the ability. (I am reminded of the idea from A Course in Miracles that says, “Miracles are everyone’s right, but purification must happen first” Principle #7; we are so much more than what we allow ourselves to believe).
In my (humble) opinion, the Christ’s Ascension was the achieving of the state of Moksha.
The body, here-now, this human body, is able to attain Moksha, ascension. Human beings are able to so fully align with highest Divine Love and Light that all of their bodies–mental, emotional, physical, and etheric–take on a Divine State. All of their bodies become Divine Love, Divine Light.
I am light. My body is light. I am free. I know my fulfillment: I feel it rise within me, expand out from me.
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 ThyWill. 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.
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.
Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Guiding Thought
Why would I choose to limit my Self? Or choose to limit my reality? All of reality is mine, and mine to give! In giving and sharing, my joy increases, expanding my Love, expanding Life!
Sharing
I feel like this Guiding Thought is a backdoor. It asks questions to which my conscious brain would pretty obviously respond, “I wouldn’t!” or “Right!? why would I choose to limit myself or my reality??”. The point is that no one in their conscious brain would choose to limit themselves.
So why does the Guiding Thought begin here? If it’s a “case closed” scenario, why mention it?
I suspect that the point is twofold. 1) To get very solid buy-in from the brain that “I” would never choose to limit myself 2) To point out that maybe, just maybe, there are places where I do limit myself.
I know there are places where I feel limited. And if I feel limited, there is no one limiting me except me. So, if I am actually limiting myself, why am I choosing that?
And this can feel really overwhelming. On the one hand I am telling myself that I would never limit myself, on the other hand, there are recognitions of limitation that I have “done” to myself.
That contrast could really feel self-defeating.
But the Guiding Thought does not leave me with this self-defeating spin. It gives me a way out. It assures me All of reality is mine, and mine to give!
Then it tells me how to experience this, and “have it all”: In giving and sharing, my joy increases, expanding my Love, expanding Life!
Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Guiding Thought
In Divine Mind, I am already filled full! In my mind I see mere shadows, slight glimpses of true fullness. I remember how much I do not Know! I am determined to fulfill my purpose, to know my Self as Divine Love, and to share the fullness I am.
Sharing
The first two lines of today’s Guiding Thought contrast Divine Mind (in which I am already filled full) and my mind (in which I see mere shadows and glimpses of true fullness).
This is really striking a chord for me today, this contrast.
Everywhere, each person has a mind in which there are shadows and glimpses of true fullness. Every person we meet sees shadows and glimpses.
People act, react, and interact with each other through their own shadows and glimpses…Sometimes while thinking or believing that their shadow or glimpse is the true and correct shadow or glimpse. How shadows and glimpses can be so staunchly defended!
I almost always have two-layers happening these days as I do the Journeys. There is the layer the acknowledges the “what is“, which is what we are currently seeing and experiencing in the world, in our lives (which for many people is chaos, tumult, anxiety, uncertainty).
The second layer reflects the optimist in me. What is is not what is going to be. The Being of now creates a new Being through its own becoming. In other words, this is a transition. What we are seeing and experiencing is real for today, but it may not be real tomorrow.
The optimist in me also believes that more and more, people are remembering how little they know, and remembering their Self, which is Divine Love.
The more each person remembers this now, in this moment of Being, the more each person’s –and our collective–becoming will reflect the Fullness of Divine Being.
Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Guiding Thought
What is fulfillment but knowing my Self as an expression of Divine Love? My Self wills to create! My Self wills to share! My Self wills to extend itself! My fulfillment is creation; my joy is sharing; my peace is extension.
Sharing
Last night I did a meditation on my Soul’s True Purpose. It took me “down” within, to where my highest purpose resides, where no outer disturbance can reach it, and then aligned my outer world with that purpose.
During this process, I had a series of thoughts that came all together, as they do sometimes in meditation. Here is the summary of those thoughts, “Yeah, what is my true Purpose? I used to know my purpose– my purpose used to be focusing on seeking God, seeking the Divine. I’ve spent almost my entire life seeking the Divine, becoming an individualized expression of the Divine. My “I”dentity has been colored by the seeking. Who am I as someone who has found the Divine?”
It was an “I”dentity crisis of sorts. Who am I now? Who am I without seeking?
What is my purpose, now, if not to seek? What is my purpose now without the seeking?
But that is what I am now telling myself to do: Seek no More. Find. Know. Be.
Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Guiding Thought
I now invite, welcome, and receive the effects of Divine Love, and I am Truly grateful.
I experience Divine Mind as I experience these effects, and Divine Presence confirms itself in my life, activities and affairs.
Sharing
I wrote this Journey in 2014. At that time, I had only just begun thinking how important it is to invite Divine Love and Divine Presence into my life and affairs. Now, six years and 3 Fulfillment Journeys later, after I’ve been using the phrase, “I invite, welcome, receive…” regularly, frequently, and I look back and remember there was a time when seeing the effects of the Divine in my life was not a regular, common occurrence.
Leonard Orr used to say, “the Divine is so ordinary It’s often overlooked”.
When I was studying with Leonard, 25 years ago, I took this to mean that I should pay more attention to ordinary, common things that I would often overlook in order to become more aware of the Divine in my Life. It became a mindfulness practice, to notice the Divine, to find the Divine in small things, in the base happenings of my life.
Now I understand this phrase very differently, and I am certain that it has to do with consciously inviting the effects of Divine Love into my normal, ordinary, base life more and more frequently over the past 6 years.
The way I now understand Leonard’s phrase is very akin to the Sixth Principle of Miracles, “Miracles are natural. When they do not occur something has gone wrong.”
I experience miracles every day. It’s hard to explain; it’s not like big things are happening. It’s not like time stands still or the heavens open, or I am “cured” of anything, or anything like that. There are basically 3 categories that I notice “miracles” in my life:
Something potentially really tragic or dangerous unfolds in front of me and I meet it with Peace, clarity, and equanimity. For example: When I was on the highway at 70mph and the truck ahead of me lost it’s tire, with one huge piece flying at me and several smaller pieces flying every which way. I just notice, breathe, and “see” where I can drive safely and do so. Or, another driving example: It was a dark and stormy night (yes, really), I was driving up Route 1 (NJ), with people in a hurry all around me going 50-55 bumper-to-bumper traffic. A car on my right cuts me off to pass the guy in front of him, then immediately slams on his brakes because traffic ahead is slowing down. Just before that happened, I “knew” he didn’t see me, knew he was going to cut me off, and I was prepared and slowed down in advance–he still almost hit my front bumper… I have several more of those kinds of stories. I always know that I am safe, that all is well, and–sometimes–I feel like I was put into those kinds of situations to remind people to slow down with “near misses”, to help them avoid a much worse situation in their future.
My life works…perfectly. What I mean is that big things in my life work out perfectly. Moving. Job. Finding a place to live. Meeting “the right” people. This is why/how I know that whatever happens with my relationship, it will be perfect. All is well. (This is not to say that I am immune to tough emotions, mind-disturbances, or uncomfortable situations–I have these, too, and I simply remain vigilant in keeping my mind focused as best I can on the Divine through these situations).
I notice that when I do have disturbed thoughts or feelings, or am in a disturbed situation, when I change my mind to invite the Divine, I handle the situation better than “I” could ever handle the situation. I’ve experienced this over and over. I turn my mind to God in the moment, and all is well. The situation smooths out, tensions dissipate, emotions reconcile, the other person becomes more peaceful. “Om Namah Shivaya”.
When the effects of Divine Love become usual, common, and ordinary, Miracles are experienced naturally, as life. When Miracles are experienced often, usually, as common, daily, ordinary interactions, it’s easy to “overlook” them. One way I notice the miracles in my life is by reminding myself, that others don’t experience life the way I do; other people have hardship and struggle. My life is good. So very good.
And one day, this will be the experience of everyone. Miracles are natural. Divine Love is Who We ARE. Divine Perfection is what we can expect. Always. All ways. This is Life.
#
I just had an unrelated thought that I’d like to share:
I’ve always thought of A Course in Miracles to mean something like, “A class-type format, which through study will teach a person what miracles are and how to live a miraculous life”. And, it is that.
My new thought changes the meaning of the word “course”, to mean “a route”, a path, a direction. So not only is A Course in Miracles a learning format, but it is also a course/route to Miracles. Not much different than a Journey, eh? 🙂
Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Guiding Thought
I am light. My body is light. I am free. I know my fulfillment: I feel it rise within me, expand out from me.
Sharing
Ahhhhhhh! Can you feel it? The light. The lightness! “I am free” takes on a whole ’nother meaning on day 40, doesn’t it? It’s a feeling of relief, completion, and “thank God I made it” all rolled into one big exhale.
What a beautiful day. What a beautiful Journey.
The thing about small steps is that progress or change happens almost un-noticeably. What did I do for the past 39 days? What was relevant? What was important? What moved me?
I don’t know the specifics. I can’t identify the what. But I am changed; I am fulfilled. How do I know? Because I love more. Because I am relaxed and enjoying my life, my friends, and my family. I am feeling deeply appreciative for everything. Because even with my car breaking down, several “high-intensity” interactions, several unexpected insertions (“there are no coincidences”), I have been open and flowing (buoyant!).
Life is beautiful. I am fulfilled. I am experiencing being fulfilled—through everything, with everything. This feeling is not coerced or imposed; it’s not affectation or the façade of an underlying desire. It “just is”. And that’s how I know it’s right and it’s real. I haven’t done anything to “make it happen” (except, of course, spend the last 40 days with some bit of attention focused on uncovering it, cultivating it).
This is the power of just a bit of attention every day: small changes which, in the end add up to a shift that is so gradual it’s practically unidentifiable, yet also amazing and powerful. Who I am, when I am being, is not noticeable. It’s like breathing—it’s so natural, you just do it, you just be it, be you. That’s why being is so powerful—you don’t even notice it, yet you live in such a way as that deep, strong, real part of you comes out simply, easily.
I hope that you experience this for yourself. I hope that you have placed some attention on your Inner-Self of Fulfillment, just a bit! these 40 days. I hope that you feel your Inner Self in a new way, in a way that is natural, in a way that is easy. I hope that you know yourself as buoyant, even as anything and everything unexpected comes up. I hope you have experienced the interconnectedness of coincidences. I hope that you love and live and be and know your freedom, your light, your fulfillment.
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I’ll be back in just a few days with the Afterword!
The next Journey is Journey of REST. It could also be called Journey of Recuperating, Journey of Integration, Journey of Relaxing, Journey of Gearing-Up-For-The-Next-Journey. Take your pick. See this page under the header Step Back, Relax, and Rest for more information about why this is important.
Rest does not mean idle! I’ll be here, staying in touch, just probably not every day. If you are interested in guest-blogging over the next 2 months, let me know–here’s your opportunity. See this page for more information.
Copyright Tam Black 2014 Designed for susanwithpearls.com
Guiding Thought
My Self wills only to extend itself. Extending, sharing, and creating as Divine Love, through Divine Mind, is my sole (soul) purpose. My Self knows its fullness in Divine Love and wills only to liberate me to fulfill my purpose and my joy.
Sharing
I think one reason that I am able to do “this work” and be honest about my doubts, skepticism, “negative” experiences, or struggles, is because at a deeper (much deeper) level, I feel assured that those doubtful, skeptical, “negative” thoughts or struggles have absolutely no “real” basis. In other words, at that very deep level, I trust the Truth of Love, which cannot be diminished in any way, especially by my small doubts, etc.
For example, when I read the Guiding Thought, some part of my always knows that it gets at a Truth stronger than anything I can overcome or vanquish. My doubts, my insecurities, my small thoughts about me in my little life are like trying to chip away at an iceberg with a pea-shooter. It just won’t happen.
I’m safe. I can’t assail the Truth. There is nothing that I can do to the Truth which will overcome the Truth.
Since I am safe, I might as well just be honest. I might as well take hard looks. I might as well ask questions. I might as well throw every doubt, negative thought, worry, anxiety at the iceberg of Truth. Truth is not going to go anywhere. It’s not going to be impacted by my mushy pellets.
The only thing that will happen is that I will open myself to the Truth to teach me of itself.
Why is that? In using my pellet gun against the iceberg, I willingly expose what is going on within myself.
Or, to switch metaphors: I willingly open my hidden-places to transformation. I shine the flashlight in my own darkness.
You see, Knowing the Truth is as simple as allowing Truth’s light to shine within you. When you keep things hidden, you keep out the light. The hidden becomes less scary to face, when there is assurance that Divine Love is always with you. Divine Love always cares. Divine Love loves you always. Confident in this, I can willingly, at my own pace, in my own time, with my own intensity, shine the light, learn the Truth, reveal the Truth within me. Better that I do it willingly, of my own accord, because Divine Love will bring me to the Light. Better I use my choice, my free will to begin to approach Divine Love within me, to begin to allow Divine Love to be the Truth within me. Better that I use my free will to go willingly; I can’t change the course of an iceberg, might as well join it or it will pull me in and carry me with it whether I like it or not.
SusanWithPearls 