Inspired Action

In the Gospel of John 5:30, Jesus is quoted as saying, “I can do nothing of myself; for I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me” (Lamsa). What Jesus was saying, I believe, is that he was not attempting to receive or achieve anything of his own desire. Instead, he was allowing himself to be the expression of the Spirit of all Life, which he at times called “Abba,” an Aramaic word which translates to English most closely as “Father” or “Beloved Parent.” He claimed that he was not performing the demonstrations that others believed to be miracles, but that Life (God) was expressing as him, thus it was the Father within that was doing the work. (John 14:10)

Further, Jesus never claimed to be unique. He taught that each of us can do even greater things than he did. (John 14:12) However, it is not by personal effort and struggle that we can accomplish greater things than Jesus did. We can do so by following his example and allowing Life (God) to have its life as us. We can achieve great things by allowing the Spirit within to inspire our actions, rather than acting in response to external conditions or in service to ego attachments. 

It is not always easily apparent when we are allowing Spirit to have its life as us. I have found that asking ourselves the three questions below can help us determine if we are engaged in inspired actions.  

Am I present?

Often while doing something, whether reading a book, driving my car, or writing a newsletter article I suddenly realize that my mind has been focused on something totally unrelated to the project at hand. I may have been thinking about what I did yesterday or what I will be doing tomorrow. I find at times that I do not give my full attention and energy to the moment.

Inspired action calls us to be fully present in the moment. When we bring our total awareness to every moment and every action, we bring the fullness of Life to all we do.

Am I enriching and sustaining life?

As I observe our Mother Earth, I recognize that she is replete with all the elements and nutrients required to support life, and she freely shares all that she is without attachment to how it is used or what, if anything, manifests from her giving. Simply by allowing Life to express naturally, the Earth supports and nurtures all life.

Our doing in the world is meant to nurture and enrich all life, all living beings, including ourselves. When we can be, as Jesus was, simply vessels through which Life gives of itself without any thought to personal gain or attachment to the outcome, we are then engaged in inspired action.

Am I enthusiastic?

The word enthusiasm comes from the ancient Greek – en and theos, meaning God.  Enthusiasm does not simply mean that we are in God or that God is in us. The greater meaning is that we are so filled with the awareness of God as our very life that we experience the fullness of joy in every moment. When joy imbues all we do, we are experiencing inspired actions.

When we surrender the idea that there is a “self” separate from God and we embrace the awareness that we are the very Life of God expressing in every moment, we will realize that all we ever need “do” is to allow the full expression of Life in every moment. As we let go and let God, we live in the consciousness of heaven and we bring the fullness of heaven to the manifested form. 

I encourage us to ask these three questions of ourselves anytime we are experiencing anything other than perfect joy in our “doing” and allow the answers that are revealed in the silence of our own hearts to restore us to living lives of “inspired action.”

 

Breaking the Habit

There are times in our lives, when we to say to ourselves, to another, or to the Universe, “Enough is enough!” We want something different. What we are experiencing is too painful, too much, not in our best interest, or not what our spirit is calling us to do or be.

Getting to a point of saying “enough is enough” and being ready to experience something different is the first step toward affecting a meaningful change in our lives. However, change does not happen simply by wanting it to happen. It requires us to do something different. We often attempt to change the condition by maneuvering the external: we change jobs, relationships, or locations. These may affect temporary change, but to affect lasting change we must change our beliefs, and our beliefs are thoughts that we continue to think and give energy to.

It is a simple truth, and not always easy to do. In many ways changing our habitual thinking is like recovering from an addiction. Just as we can become addicted to a substance, we can become addicted to ways we think about ourselves, others, and the Universe.

I admit it: I am addicted to caffeine. By drinking coffee every morning for years, I have conditioned my body and emotions to the effects of caffeine. In simple terms, caffeine causes increased neuron firing in the brain that sends signals to the body to which the body reacts by increasing the heart rate, increasing blood flow to muscles, and accelerating many bodily functions. It is a stimulant. I feel good when I have my caffeine in the morning. If I do not have caffeine every morning, my body reacts. It reacts with a headache and sluggishness. I feel irritable as well. The body and the emotions get accustomed to feeling the sensations of the neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) stimulated by caffeine, and it rebels when those chemicals are removed.

A similar process happens in the brain as a result of our thinking. The brain is constantly firing neurons and releasing neurotransmitters in response to our thoughts. And, our emotions and body respond accordingly.

When we understand how the brain functions, we can see that by changing our thinking, we can create new neural networks, thus changing our physical and emotional responses.

Each of us has a habitual way of thinking about ourselves, others, the Universe and about how they are all related. Fearful thoughts, which include worry, judgment, blame, criticism and the like produce chemicals that cause us to feel anxious, agitated, or depressed; while thoughts of love, which include acceptance, appreciation, and gratitude release chemicals to which the body and emotions respond with peace, affection, and compassion. Just as the emotions and the body become accustomed to the effects of caffeine or other substance, so do they become accustomed and adjusted to the effects of our thoughts.

If the chemicals change, or are absent, the body and emotions react. The body and emotions do not know what to do with this new information. Emilie Cady in Lessons in Truth refers to this process as “chemicalization.” If one is accustomed to feeling depressed, angry or sad, due to a habitual way of thinking and being in the world, it is going to feel strange to be peaceful, joyful and free. Even though it might seem that experiencing these new feelings would be a relief, it often stimulates discomfort and a temptation to revert to the known way in order to recreate the familiar.

Understanding the reason why it is sometimes difficult to affect lasting changes in our lives may help us to have compassion for ourselves when it seems that change is not happening as quickly or as easily as we would like. It may also help us to move through the discomfort knowing that it is part of the process. Lasting changes in our lives result from a change in consciousness, and a change in consciousness requires a renewed way of thinking. Are you ready to make that change?

If so, I encourage you to start paying attention to your thoughts now. I’ll hold the vision of change with you as we begin our new pathways together.

Forging Your Path

Earlier this week, thanks to the generosity of friends, I spent some time in Breckenridge, CO. 
I have been there several times during summer and early fall, but this was my first time to visit in early spring.

On previous trips, I discovered some favorite trails within easy walking distance of my friends’ condo. I have enjoyed hiking these trails many times in warm weather when the winter snow had all melted away. This visit was the first time I attempted to hike those same trails while they were still snow-covered.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I put on my tennis shoes, walked across the road to the trailhead to assess the situation. I soon discovered that I would need my boots before attempting the trail. Even though the open areas were fairly clear, the wooded areas were not.

Even after donning my boots and returning to the trailhead, I still wasn’t sure whether I should attempt the hike, but I was determined to enjoy connecting with nature and reveling in the quiet solitude of the forest.

As I timidly began walking toward the trial, I realized that I was not even sure where the trail was. In the snow, the trail looked the same as the rest of the forest floor. I did my best to observe the footprints of others and follow their trail, but it was not always that simple.

There were times when I took a step and sank deep into the snow. Other times, I stepped on solid ice, lost my balance and grabbed hold of a tree to steady myself. Still other times, I found a clear spot, stopped there, and searched for signs of where to go next. The trails that had been so familiar in the past were now not so obvious.

My snow-covered trail adventure reminded me of how often I look to others to define my path in life. I observe what others are doing, where they are going, or what they are creating, and I attempt to follow them and do what they are doing rather than forging my own path and doing what is in alignment with my soul.

I am challenging myself not to do that. Yes, we can learn from others, and we can look to them for guidance, but it is important for us to be open to the direction of our own soul and follow where it leads.

Forging our own path can be scary. We may be timid to even begin. We may lose our balance from time to time and need to reach for something or someone to support us. We may step in “it.” We may step deep in “it” at times. We may need to stop along the away and reassess where we are going before taking the next step.

It is good to remember that all of that is part of the adventure of life. If we do not forge ahead, blazing our own trail, we will miss out on so much of what this life has to offer us, and the world will miss out on so much of what we have to offer.

Through it all, we can trust that we are never alone. We are always guided by Spirit and the unseen forces of the Universe. I encourage you to forge your own path, listen to that still small voice, and as my friend Debra always says, “Keep on keeping on. No matter what.”

Oh My God, It's...

I shared in a recent post, Playing it Safe?, that I enjoy watching vocal competition shows, such as American Idol and The Voice. I am entertained and often moved and inspired by them.

In one of the recent episodes of American Idol, the judges were encouraging one of the singers to have confidence in himself. Luke Bryan, one of the judges turned to Lionel Richie, another judge and said, “Tell him what you say to yourself every morning.”

Lionel said, “Every morning when I look in the mirror I say ‘Oh my God, it's Lionel Richie!’”

I turned to J and said, “I’m going to start doing that. Every morning when I look in the mirror, I am going to say ‘Oh my God, it’s David Howard!’” And I did.

As I write this, I am realizing that I have not continued the practice, but I am recommitting myself to it.

On the surface, it sounds like a statement of self-conceit which most, if not all of us, are taught to avoid at all cost. We are told, “Don’t be too full of yourself,” "Who do you think you are?," or “Don’t get to big for your breeches." That’s one that I often heard growing up in the South.

Those sorts of messages from our parents or other authority figures are often damaging. When taken to heart, they encourage us to play small, to not honor our personal power and magnificence, and to deny the wonderful and unique expression of God that each of us is.

In doing that, we withhold our gifts from the world. Not only do we suffer, but the world is deprived of the beauty that we are. In A Course in Miracles, Jesus says,

“Do not withhold your gifts from the Sonship, or you withhold yourself from God! Selfishness is of the ego, but Self-fullness is of spirit because that is how God created it.”

To be selfish is to withhold from the world the expression of our unique gifts and talents. It is withholding God from God!

Self-fullness, on the other hand, because it is of Spirit is about owning who we are and extending our God-self to benefit the world. Self-fullness is confidence – it knows self as an expression of God and makes no apology for owning and living that Truth.

Unlike selfishness, Self-fullness does not “hide its light under a bushel” (Matthew 5:15). Instead, from the realization of the unique individuation of Spirit that one is, it lets that Light shine brightly for the entire world to benefit.

I believe we could all do with a little more Self-fullness. Please join me in the practice of looking in the mirror every morning and saying aloud, 

"Oh my God, it’s (insert your name here)!"