dailydatewithgod

In this Yin-Yang universe of duality there is a myriad of contrasting experiences and understanding.  We fall prey to focusing on the contrasts to our detriment when we think the flip side of the contrast is not true.  When we start thinking there is nothing we can have in common with the person who thinks or believes something in contrast with what we think or believe, we have lost our true sight.  Did they somehow lose their humanness?  The mere fact that a contrast occurs is not a sign of us simply being the contrast to the other but of them being the contrast entirely.  We all have all sides to us. It comes through in different forms but none-the-less it is present in all of us.  When we latch on to one side of a person we are not extending to them the same human dignity we would want extended to ourselves.  None of us are just one thing.  None of us have only one way of thinking and believing.  When we recognize it is our desire to have things figured out, not risk the mystery of the moment, or trust the value of getting to know someone on a deeper level, it is easy to believe the other person is only the contrasting idea.  Our eyes and ears may get stuck in the one-sided view but our hearts are open to the contrast.  Our hearts close to our breath remind us life is one beat at a time.  Each beat is a new moment and opportunity to relax our eyes and ears and breathe in the mystery of getting to know all the contrasting elements of ourselves and others.

We have all been blessed with the gift of life.  While the blessing itself is profound, I often felt like I was left without instructions on how to live it.  I know I am not alone in this.  We all go about figuring it out the best we can.  We go with what we are given by our family and society.  Schools and religious institutions instruct us.  There are fundamental biological elements built-in which we do not have to think about. There are also components we absorb unconsciously in our early years that we do not even notice until we are older and they begin to break down.  This breakdown can be viewed as a problem or an invitation to be a creator in our own lives again.  It takes moxie to go against the grain and discovery a new path. Some, like me find themselves on their knees after having valiantly tried to live by the components adapted from those around them. In those cases, it takes some moxieness to admit we have done our best to go with the design we were shown.  There is a space in our hearts and our spirit calls us to look at some other options.  But we like the familiar and the known and we are afraid to step out of it.  This is where the moxieness comes in.  Courage is not the absence of fear but the decision to go ahead anyway.  When we utilize our moxieness to admit what is not working for us, we become willing to find another path.  The good news is there are many out there including the one resonating most deeply with the truth of who we are.  God is with us as we walk the moxie road of unfamiliar territory whispering in  our ear that we are worth living life in a space that supports and accepts the truth of who we are.

At our core as human beings we are wired to survive.  It is not something we have to think about it is ingrained in every part of our being, right down to our cells.  It is part of the grand design of the universe for the human race to continue.  So many of our inherent decisions are made in our minds long before we are consciously aware of them.  The mechanisms we have created in order to insure our survival that we developed as children, can begin to outlive their usefulness.  Those mechanisms were created to account for the discord between our reality and the truth we knew in our hearts. Now, our circumstances have changed and we can return to our truth.  We have power and agency as adults that we did not have when we were young. We no longer need to rely upon our childhood mechanisms for survival.  In the process of the setting up and repeated use of the mechanisms as a child, they have become ingrained.  Our brain does not require any added energy to go with the default.  To create new mechanisms we need to defy the old ones.  We have to move against the defaulted groove in our brain.  When we start doing this, it feels uncomfortable simply because it is unfamiliar.  If we are not careful we will listen to our brains which tell us we are defying who we are.  To step into the wholeness, authenticity, and power of being an adult requires some defiance of our usual self.  Fighting for our right to be uncomfortable while a new groove is formed is what our hearts are calling us to do.  We can be grateful for the mechanisms that got us where we are today and then let them go. They are no longer the measurement of the truth of who we are.

We are often unaware of the effect we have on each other and the world around us.  We are all usually so busy inside our own heads that we do not fully conceive the impact we are creating.  Our heart’s energetic frequency extends about six feet outside our physical body. We are literally bumping into and rubbing off on those around us even if we never touch them physically. This means what we are carrying in our hearts is permeating into our environment.  God encourages us to get in alignment with the truth of who we are at our core so we can be spreading the message of our truth through our being.  Permeating the light and love of our existence is what we are here to do. We can influence others to do the same for themselves only when we take the time to do it for ourselves.  It shows up in our reality and we cannot run from it.  It is not easy to make peace with ourselves especially if we have been telling ourselves a false story of who we are based on some experiences in our lives.  It take time and effort but the truth will prevail and it will permeate our being if we are willing to courageously discover God’s view of us.

Sometimes we forget how valued we are by God.  It seems nonsensical that we could matter that much to such a great being.  But if we did not matter, why would we be alive?  God could have created anything and anyone but God created all that we experience and see including ourselves.  What if we supported each other in our daily lives in the same way?  What if we had the courage to take a moment and recognize the inherent worth in ourselves and the people around us?  Regardless of our shortcomings and our failures, regardless of our eccentricities or origins, regardless of our physical demonstrations of power and success.  What might the world look like if we were supporting the inherent value of each life simply because it exists.  If the premise we worked from included supporting God’s choices and not just our own, how might we treat ourselves and every person we encounter?  At the end of our lives we do not get to take anything with us, it is simply us and our way of being.  What if our life meant the value of life was supported in a myriad of different ways?  If we truly believed God equipped us with the light of life in our hearts, would we be able to see more clearly and support the light of life in the hearts of others?

For some reason I have been around a lot more children lately.  I am absolutely stunned at the profound they way of being captured by the vitality of life in such simple ways.  I know we all have this within us.  What is it that causes us to lose our connection to the fragility of life.  It is the quickest way to access our hearts and the fastest way to stay connected to one another.  Is it because we stop allowing ourselves to feel out loud.  Granted we do not want everyone throwing pouting crying fits when they are tired but it might be more manageable than being treating others with hostility for apparently no reason.  We are know we are more fragile and affected by everything around us when we are run down. There is something of grace in just being able to be with the feeling long enough to let it work through.  Instead as adults we tell ourselves we are overreacting and chastise ourselves for being so fragile.  How might our lives have less weight to them if we gave ourselves permission to show our fragility to one another more regularly.  At least to those with whom we feel will accept it.  Maybe that is the issue, there are fewer people who feel they have someone in their lives with whom they can show their fragile nature honestly.  I am not sure what the answer is but shutting down and pushing aside our fragility is not working.  We think it is inconvenient and makes us less productive.  But we invariably shut out the impact of the downside and the upside of our fragile nature.  God encourages us to stay in alignment with our fragility and live from our heart so we do not lose sight of the connection we have to each other.

In the invitation of life to participate fully in our everyday experience lies a hidden opportunity to go rambling.  We do it a lot in our minds.  Sometimes it comes out in our speech, our writing, or our walking.  All forms of rambling reveal our predilections and curiosities.  A way to get insight into the workings of ourselves is to allow some rambling.  This is often what happens when someone attempts to meditate or just get still and quiet.  They notice, perhaps for the first time, the loops that are rambling along in their mind called thoughts.  There is a never-ending stream of them and as indicated in the description of rambling, they are not in any particular order. Many will be deterred by these revelations and not want to attempt meditation again under the guise they are doing something wrong.  After years of meditating myself, I am aware that the rambling is part of the process.  The distinction is I can observe it without buying into it.  At least during my date time with God.  In my everyday life I can get attached to the rambling and run with it before pausing if I am not paying attention.  After a while one can observe that the rambling which seems to be purposeless and nonsensical, can reveal the concerns of our minds or even our hearts.  Those are the things we can bring to God. What if anything will you have me do with this rambling?  Is it trying to tell me something?  How does my heart interpret the rambling?  If we do not allow it to occur without judgment, we will never get past the seemingly incoherent nature of it to the message it is attempting to share.

There is this beautiful wide-eyed look on a child’s face when their imagination comes online.  We can see their mind wandering and creating just observing it in progress lights up anyone around them.  Their fascination with little things most adults do not take a second look at because it is common place is full of wonder for them. To begin to see our lives through some fresh eyes requires a little wondering.  Most adults wonder in the form of worry.  At its core, the essence of wondering is the ignition of the spirit of discovery.  It is about exploring possibilities and making connections. Wondering asks us to pause on trying to figure it out and just be with whatever it is we are contemplating.  It engages the breath of spirit and the strength of the heart. It is no small task to wonder because it asks us to let go of what we think we already know and start anew.  God encourages us to bring wondering to the areas of our lives that have lost their fervor.  We can begin by engaging with the breath.  Then put aside or even blow away our current understanding of what we are facing.  Wondering invites us to be in the moment we are in and see it with new eyes.

There are all kinds of little things we find ourselves doing with great ease.  It is not difficult because we just have a knack for it. We often do not even notice until someone who lacks the ease we do points it out. We become the go to person for ideas, tasks, or even a way of being.  Our knacks provide a template through which to explore gratitude.  On days like Thanksgiving we focus on the big things for which we are grateful.  It is the knacks in our lives which add up to the big things.  If we have a knack for listening it creates good relationships.  If we have a knack for organization it creates clarity for those who interact with us.  If we have a knack for technology we can be helpful to others.  How often do we stop and appreciate our knacks?  One of my dearest friends has a knack for finding good places to stay at our yearly girls reunion.  I am so grateful for her knack because not only is it not something I do not have to wrestle with other than when it comes time to vote, but we always end up at reunion spot in a great place which adds to the overall experience.  I am very grateful for her and my core group of gal pals whom I have known since I was 10 years old for so many reasons.  My love for them just lights up my heart.  Each of them have their knacks and I do not often stop to reflect on the little things they do that make being in relationship with them so special.  We all have them and we all know other people’s knacks.  What if today we expressed gratitude for our knacks?

Ideas and experiences come to us in the form of messages.  What we actually experience depends upon the message we attach to it.  Two people can have the same experience or be exposed to the same idea but have two different interpretations to it.  We attach a message of good or bad, then we add in details and explanations.  We use it to either enhance or detract from what we already know.  We feel things in our body and we have messages attached to those so we can make sense of them.  Our minds are quite busy with all the messages that have to run from our various systems back and forth to the heart and the mind.  This is what we call our experiences.  We are drawn to messages that confirm what we already know.  It is easier for the brain to work with the already known entities because it requires more energy to work with the unknown.  To bring mindfulness to our daily lives we are going to have to start using some energy.  If the messages we are seeking to confirm work for us then we can rest, but if they do not, we have an opportunity to make adjustments.  We can interpret the experiences differently.  We can attach a different message to the same experience.  It takes repeated action because we are working against the already well-worn loop of messages, but it is possible.  It is how I have rewritten a lot of my experiences.  Because of my experience as in incest survivor the messages I attach about any kind of sexual feeling or experience is defaulted to fear, pain, confusion, pleasure and that is not mine to feel.  To actively counteract the automatic default when I notice I am having a sexual feeling or thought I talk myself through it.  I remind myself of where I am and the body I am currently inhabiting.  I affirm what is good and remind myself there is nothing to be afraid of or in pain about. This new message creates a new groove with time.  Eventually, I find myself in those experiences with the new messages in place.  We all have our experiences which default into negative spaces. If it no longer works for us God invites us to change the messages. Not sure what a new message could be, start is asking what God thinks about the experience.