dailydatewithgod

As human beings, we have unconscious biases.  Many are built-in and some develop over time. Some of them come about simply due to our minds’ inclination to categorize.  Categorization is an essential element to our survival and ability to handle all the incoming information.  It is our minds’ way of taking care of us and allowing us to live most efficiently.   Unfortunately, these biases can cause our minds to create reservations which impact our actions.   Our minds are very good at making stories up about how perhaps we should hold back to be safe and ensure survival even if it is an idea about not having judgments based on the bias.   We do not have to concern ourselves with dangerous tigers in the wild who will kill us.  So instead we have reservations about the validity of an idea coming from someone we have not met but does not look like someone from our tribe.  God invites us to investigate if our heart has the same reservation.  Pausing to take a breath opens the energy around our hearts. Giving ourselves permission to close our eyes and listen to the idea without the interference of what we are seeing can help us to determine whether the same reservation is in our hearts as well. We can notice if there is a difference and determine if we want to act from our mind’s reservation or not. Equally, there can be things we become aware of for which the mind does not have a reservation but it does not resonate with our heart.  We find ourselves moving into action based on what is considered acceptable by our tribe.   On my daily dates with God, I learn to explore my reservations with curiosity. It becomes a way of knowing the truth of who I am. Making room to pay attention to the reservations of our hearts and minds gives us access to knowing more completely the wholeness of our being.  Learning to be who we are designed to be wholly, allows us to be the unique gift to the world we are designed to be.

We focus on what makes us look good in the eyes of others.  We take time to earn achievements to create a place of good standing for ourselves.   We aim to be successful by the world’s standards.  When we achieve success according to the world we are adorned with accolades, we become known and experience a mix of being inspiring and envied by others. They are the kind of adornments that our mind counts on to tell us we are enough.  Success to the mind is to be held up as an example of someone others should model themselves.  Success in the world means we have arrived. While it is an essential part of the human experience and self-actualization to make something of oneself there is a limit to the adornments provided by the world. Often in the mix, we lose sight of the adornments of the heart.  The adornments of the heart are not ones we need to acquire, they are within us already. We connect to them by venturing on a journey of learning the nature of our own being. Sometimes it takes us a while to find it because we have placed so much of the world’s adornments on top of it.  Upon reconnecting to the truth of who we are in our hearts, we develop a lens through which we can observe and know what we are here to be. There are value to adornments of the mind and the heart to embark upon a full human experience.  God invites us to get to know the needed balance within ourselves to be the truth of who we are in full expression.  It starts with our breath.  It starts with a beat.  It starts with pausing to notice if our actions are drawing from our inherent adornments or the ones we think we are supposed to be earning.  There is an intertwining of the two and we are encouraged to get to know our process for developing a life that mirrors the truth of who we are.

It is easy to mistake the in-between space and moments as times of waiting.  It can feel agonizing when we are awaiting a particular event or interaction.  When we are excited or dreading something the time before can appear to go on without end.  In our minds, we do not know what the hold up is. We can’t imagine why there even needs to be an in-between. Why have the beat between the inhale and the exhale?   God invites us to recognize the power of integration that occurs in between.  There is a distinction between ingestion and integration.  Integration happens over time.  Integration is something that has no specific time boundaries.  It is about rhythms and flows.  The integration of anything is about making whatever it is a part of ourselves so that we can utilize it as an expression of truth from ourselves.  Anyone can digest and regurgitate information or experiences.  To fully embody something takes integration.  Not everything we consume is meant to be integrated on the same level for everyone if at all.

We value expertise. We place importance on knowing.  Conversely, we feel a certain deprivation when we feel we are not in the know. The fear stems from the sense that we are excluded or left out  There is an element of fear of abandonment that drives our desire to know, especially in a world that values knowledge and information.  Unfortunately, sometimes in the attempt to gain knowledge we do not seek to incorporate it with precision.  We are so busy gathering and making sure we are in the know that we do not allow time for it to sink in.  The precision of knowledge requires time to let it digest, perhaps compare it to what we already know, and decide if it is important for us to know. God invites us to work towards precision because it calls for us to invite the heart into the conversation.  While our minds value amounts of information, at our best, the action is motivated from a place of accurate information.  We are all going to miss the mark and make mistakes sometimes.  It is, however, within our power, to take the time to pause and seek precision which involves incorporating the heart’s knowledge along with the knowledge of the mind.  From there, our actions become the expression of our wisdom.

If we were to stop and think about how fast the planet we are sitting on is spinning we would probably get dizzy. I remember as a kid spinning around an open area with my friends seeing how long we could go without falling over. As adults, we do most of the spinning in our heads.  In fact, it often seems like our heads start spinning on a thought without asking for our permission.  Before we know we are dizzy and can’t see straight.  Our attention is drawn in and it becomes more powerful the closer in it gets, like an ice skater who tightens up her position as she spins on the ice.  It looks like beauty and fun when we see it in that form but in our heads, it can feel overwhelming.  God invites us to bring in the quelling power of our hearts when we find ourselves dizzy with thought.  It may not be something we mind being dizzy over like when we are in love and find ourselves spinning with thoughts of the other person.  If, however, we are seeking clarity and a way of unraveling what is underneath the spinning we need the quelling of the heart’s energy.  It starts with the pause generated by the breath.  Our hearts come alive and bring the quelling energy needed to step out of the spinning and see the beauty and the fun without being made dizzy.

Have you ever wondered why it is hard to find the words to explain certain experiences?  The kind of moments that take our breath away and awaken energy in us is hard to wrap around with words.  Sometimes we know words are not needed.  It is like experiencing something that our very being has the knowledge of that goes beyond information.  Our heads want to be able to make sense of it, but it cannot.  We want to logically break down the experience and figure out how we got there perhaps so we can note what caused it or how to experience it again.  Those are all the longings of the mind.  Our hearts which know the reverberation of the experience do not require words.  Our hearts know how to share the experience energetically within our bodies, with our spirits and with anyone or anything outside of us who are on the same wavelength.  Reverberation happens in the moments between friends or lovers where glances of knowing are exchanged.  Reverberation is present when we feel in the flow of life and fully present.  Reverberation allows us to carry the message of the state we are in by our being. In the moments when our hearts circumvent the mind’s ideas about how things are supposed to be and surrender to what is, the reverberation of acceptance is felt, known, and creates an alternate energetic sense of being. Traveling the path with reverberation allows us to be the experience we are having and no words are required.

Usually we think of the ending or break up something as not good.  When there is dissolution there is a death, a change, an undoing, or a termination.  Dissolution speaks of separation and melting.  Yet we recognize that nothing is either good or bad, only thinking makes it so.  Life moves in a cyclical fashion.  There is a constant flow of energy.  So things that looks like dissolution can also be a beginning.  Dissolution can be the very thing needed to see the true elements involved when they are no longer bonded together. Dissolution can bring about a softening of hard lines and ideas ultimately spurring something new into unity.  It is only time which can tell the true story.  If we look at it in the moment, dissolution can seem harsh and devastating.  God invites us to let our hearts tell us a different story of dissolution.  Our hearts know the power of melting into an experience.  Our breath which dissolves into our body awakens the energy of our hearts so we can bring the lens of our hearts online. The dissolution we fear is usually one our minds tell us will bring the ultimate ending.  Our hearts see dissolution as participation in the flow of life where ending is simply the step before beginning.

It is not too difficult to notice when we experience sensation. We learn at an early age that we have five senses through which we understand and perceive the world.  The activation of our senses is automatic and it is typically not until we are void of one do we notice its impact. It is easy to take for granted the ability to hear, taste, smell, touch, and see until one of those goes away or is impaired. The senses provide us with vital information by which we clarify choices and take action. The complexity of sensation that we experience however goes beyond the physical element of the senses.  There is also the impact of the meaning we place on the information provided by our senses which shape our perception.  We label particular sensations based on our stories and experiences.  The context in which we first experience our senses plays a role in shaping the parameters of our reality.  God invites us to learn more about the sensations by which we form our perception of ourselves, others, and the world around us.  Learning to listen in to the stories our minds tell us about a particular sensation gives us an indication of why we are experiencing the sensation we are having. God encourages us to give equal importance to the sense we get from our hearts about a sensation to form a fuller picture of what we are experiencing.  Traveling the path to and from our hearts and minds is driven by  desire to grow and learn and embrace the fullness of all of life’s sensations.

We like to think that what we see is what we get.  It is often considered a compliment to be someone with whom what you see is what you get.  Maybe its the New Yorker in me but I have a great appreciation for people who are straightforward and get to the point.  It is certainly integrity when we are accountable with our word and powerful when we put action behind our words.  Even so, there are things that hold parts of ourselves back that we do not even realize.  The most aware person is always capable of not knowing all of what is behind who they are being at any given moment.  Life is full of variables.  The best we can be is measured in the moments of our lives. I think of it as life’s way of encouraging us to be in the flow.  Trees grow in a particular fashion and we can count on that yet each tree has something unique about it. The same goes for every human being and every situation. Going into any encounter whether with another person, ourselves, or a situation only inhibits our being present for the unknown to unfold and maybe surprise us. Our brains are wired for survival so the more we can count on what we know, the less power has to be used to be present and incorporate new information.  This is extremely efficient and most necessary.  Our hearts are the ones that encourage us along with what we know to let go of our inhibitions that come from our known and allow for the unknown to invite us to grow.  The universe is expanding, at least according to science.  If we are part of this universe, wouldn’t it make sense for us to also be expanding?  Just as scientist do not let their current knowledge inhibit what they might discover, we have the courage and aliveness in our own hearts that invites us to move through our inhibitions and discovering new elements of ourselves and all of life.  God invites us to lay aside anything that inhibits us from living the design of our hearts.

Without realizing it there is a lot that is vying for our attention.  Where our observation is our energy flows. When we become aware of where our attention is going we can learn to pivot and change direction if we want.  We are not slaves to what is making the most noise although at times it may seem that way.  Honing our powers of observation enables us to get to know some of the quieter elements of our being, like our hearts.  It is the steady presence of our hearts that we stop observing because we take it for granted. God invites us with every breath to practice paying attention to our hearts regularly.  The energy placed on an awareness of our hearts gives us the knowledge of how to include our heart’s when it comes to making choices.  It may seem foreign at first to pause and notice what we sense in our hearts, but most new things are foreign at first.  We hear sweeping statements like follow your heart or listen to your intuition.  I had to learn what that meant. God showed me how to embark on the path of attending to my heart by inviting me to do so with curiosity on our daily dates. There was no right or wrong, it was always about just observing.  Through observation of my own heart, I have learned to notice when my energy feels pulled away from where my intention is.  It is an observation practice without judgment that allows me to have a deeper sense of who I am being in the moment.  The practice of observation of one’s heart gives us an avenue to get to know ourselves and the vibration of love all around us.  It is about learning to reconnect with the truth of who we as children of God.