dailydatewithgod

Being in a world full of technology we have become accustomed to a rapid rate of change.  Things seem to pivot from one thing to the next at the drop of a hat.  Working in the world of IT in Healthcare has created a barrage of change.  It is as though the doors are coming undone. Supporting those who are taking care of people on the front lines means being able to be flexible. Knowing what we are doing and why we are doing it has an impact but often we can’t wait to understand why to do what needs to be done. Understanding comes later.  Not having an awareness of the hinges upon which we are pivoting creates a sense of instability.  Healthcare historically hinges on sound research and data but in times like these, there is no time to gather it. It is easy in the midst of all that is going on with information coming from every angle no matter what industry one works in to feel like the doors are going to come off because there are no hinges.  Those are the moments when God calls upon us to get connected within.  If we can manage to remember that who we are hinges on the power of our hearts, we can ride the waves and take the pivots.  The doors of our being will not fall flat because what they are opening has such an uncertain reality if we are hinged to the truth of who we are as God knows us to be.  Following the path of the spirit is less about having the answers and knowing and more about simply knowing what our true self is hinged on. Our breath opens our awareness to our heart and we are more than halfway.  In moments when we forget to breathe our very being feels unhinged.

There is a fabulous song that will never fail to lift or change my mood, it is “Sway” sung by Rosemary Clooney.  The Latin flair, the horns, and the classiness of her voice amplify its appeal and it makes me want to move.  If music has the power to move us, what else has power over us to influence our behavior that we can’t see?  Music has so many layers beyond the hearing of it that it is hard to nail down exactly which part has enough sway to make us sway.  God invites us in all experiences to pause and notice how we are experiencing them, what meaning we are making out of them, and what they motivate us to think, feel or do.  We are in and around situations in which we pick elements based on our senses but below the surface are the things that sway us into movement.  Taking the time to get to know our own heart gives us a window into what sways us to action or inaction.  Our breath is also an indicator of what has sway over us.  Learning to connect with our hearts through our breath is the gateway to being the one who has the most sway over ourselves.  So much of what we experience in life are things we cannot control.  In uncertain times like now, we feel the sway of what is happening outside of us with a deeper palpitation.  We can experience ourselves being swayed in one direction by this information or another by this person who said something entirely different.  Being able to slow down and connect with our hearts through our breath gives us access to our own internal sway.

Two essentials things I learned embarking on a path of recovery many years ago is 1) I often think I am the only one going through what I am going through and 2) I am never the only one going through what I am going through.  It seems as though our minds which make everything personal lead us to believe we are all alone.  Yes, things do affect us personally and we all have our particular lens through which we experience life. There is nothing inherently wrong about this.  The difficulty we experience however comes when we allow whatever it is to lead us into thinking we are separate because of it.  There are certain basic essential elements of being a human animal showing us over and over again as we go through life how similar we are.  We become deceived by what we see with our eyes.  We do not notice the collective experience because when we look we see the differences.  Most of the differences are on the surface and our brains take things at face value.  Our hearts are willing to open us up to what is beyond what we are seeing. Our hearts know what it is like to connect energetically even before we connect in physical proximity.  There is a lot of discussion about the importance of physical distance and isolation because of the world health crisis right now.  If we look with our eyes only we will not see what we are all collectively going through. If we can be feeling it, so can others.  If we are experiencing it, most likely so are others regardless of what our differences may be.  There are certain things in life which provide the opportunity to break apart the divides we have created with our ability to notice distinctions.  As terrible and uncertain as things are right now, maybe we can use it to remind us to stay connected through the lens of our hearts.  Maybe we can open ourselves up to what it looks like to remember we are part of the collective human race and are not as alone as we think we are at any given moment.

Technically we are always in a time of uncertainty but these days we feel it with trepidation as the world deals with the reality of the Corona Virus pandemic.  We are more connected than ever which means we have access to more information.  However, it makes it hard to distinguish what to pay attention to and what not to pay attention to. We can take any one of the messages received and turn them into a memorandum.  Taking time to pause and reflect in our hearts as well as in our minds what to take action on is where the rubber meets the road.  There is still a lot that is being figured out. What often happens as our fear base gets hijacked by all the latest information on what to do next and what will happen if we don’t, we lose connection with ourselves the truth of who we are.  I get it, the last thing that sounds like a good idea is to continue making my daily dates with God the first thing I do in the morning before opening my phone.  Yet, if I want to move through life based on the memorandum of the truth of who I am at my core versus circumstances I am facing, there is no better way.  If I intend to respond instead of react, I need to keep checking in with my heart and see what it’s memorandum is on how to walk, talk, and drive in the world.  Our heart’s memorandum is the one that will remind us we are not alone in what we are feeling and dealing with at this moment in time.

In the world of self-improvement, the emphasis always seems to be on creating oneself anew.  I like the idea and I appreciate the perspective but over the years I find it lacking.  However, the message given is often less about the improvement of who we truly are and more about being someone or something else. Freedom for me has come from first noticing what is, seeing how it works positively or negatively, and then choosing to keep it, discard it, or adjust it.  On my daily dates with God, I get an adjustment just by taking the time each day to connect with the truest part of myself.  God is not the one who looks at me and sees what is broken, I do that.  My head is all about unearthing or burying what I believe are faults, brokenness, and darkness.  My heart, as God has shown me on our dates, sees the potential for adjustments.  To believe that what is inherent is flawed and wrong is to believe God messed up the design.  Nothing in nature ever screams to me as messed up.  There are things I don’t understand, there are things I do not like, but I am humble enough to recognize that just because I don’t understand it does not mean its wrong. My unwillingness to be open to an adjustment versus an overhaul is directly proportional to my level of acceptance. God can see the gift in whatever it is. My heart reminds me of this when I am ready to bury or burn something I have unearthed about myself I do not understand.  My heart whispers the possible adjustments and if I can quiet my mind down long enough to listen to the still small voice, I can see exactly what adjustment is connected to the truth of who I am at my core.

The reason hindsight is 20/20 is that there is no way to know when something starts out what its ripple effects might be.  We may have some inclination to where something is going based on the preface of the experience but an inclination or educated guess is always based on what we know from the past.  We relate to things from the space of what has come before.  At the preface where everything is starting out, it is a clean slate.  A preface is the opening to possibility.  Our minds quickly go to how it fits in with what we already know but it is a limited view.  If we can conceive of it in our minds than we are not allowing God’s perceptions to take root.  Our hearts which speak the language of energy know how to hold the space of possibility.  Our heart’s approach is the preface to an unknown experience or person because we see what is in front of us outside the boundaries of our mind.  To preface an experience or encounter with something new we can pause and breathe as we open our eyes reconnecting our head to our heart.  If we are willing to preface our movements with the idea that we may not know it is the same as taking a breath.  It is a refresh to our thinking to let go of what is known.  Every preface we come to is the chance to play in God’s view.  It is humbling to acknowledge just how much of what we experience is a repeat of our past but when we are willing to be honest with ourselves we know it is.  It changes shape and circumstance but life can become a series of repeating thoughts that become beliefs that form our character. If we instead opt to preface our next movement with a breath and invoke the energy of the heart we open ourselves to the curiosity and surprise of the unknown from a place of courage.

We recognize symmetry when it is in front of our eyes. We are drawn to it and find it beautiful. We seem to be challenged by the symmetry between our hearts and our heads.  There is a Sioux Indian saying: “The longest journey you will make in your life is from your head to your heart.”  It is hard to imagine that such a short physical trip takes a metaphorical, energetic, emotional, and spiritual lifetime.  From what I have gathered on my daily dates with God is it is about the process. We find ourselves in symmetry and then we get off track. We struggle in asymmetry and come across the way to get back into symmetry.  It stays for a while and then something comes along to alter our mind or heart’s perspective and put them in asymmetry.  My humble estimation, therefore, is that asymmetry is just as important to the process as symmetry.  In a world of dualism, it plays right into the game of life to dance between the two.  On the path to symmetry, we are in asymmetry.  To really appreciate and enjoy the symmetry we must fully know asymmetry.  God does not hold the judgments of whether we are asymmetrical or symmetrical in mind and heart. Given how plentiful judgment of ourselves and others is God does not need to jump on our bandwagon. God is the space that holds the power of the symmetry when all we feel is an asymmetrical connection between our head and our hearts and the space of gratitude and peace when we are in head-heart symmetry.

One of my spiritual mentors pointed out to me that there are three kinds of business.  Mine, God’s and other people’s. If I am rotating in someone else’s business orbit I do not function well.  Being outside the sphere of my influence while perhaps well-intended allows me to be spinning about something over which I have no control.  We like to think we influence people by stepping into their orbit or that God might do better if we were to assist in God’s orbit.  However, in all honesty, and humility, all that seems to happen is it messes with the orbit of all parties.  We can look at the orbit of another and imagine if they ran their orbit the way we do ours, it would have stellar results.  Yet, others may not have the same star composition or types of gases that we do.  We may see something we would like in others but as I have evidence for in my life, anytime I have adopted someone else’s way of operating, it was only successful when I put my own spin on it.  Staying in our own orbit allows us to influence by example.  Being able to line up our own planets and stars and various elements of our lives because the resonant frequency is aligned allows us to be a shining example of an orbit of love.

We carry a message with us wherever we go.  The message comes through in who we are being.  Sometimes it correlates with what we say and do but sometimes it does not.  We are the vessel for our intentions.  We hold them in spaces within ourselves no one can see and they are conveyed through our energy.  When our words and actions are in alignment we are a clear vessel. When our intentions are out of sync with our words and actions we are a muddy vessel. It is not about being a perfect vessel at all times, I do not think this is possible.  Rather it is about the awareness that being a clear vessel makes room for the light of life to be transmitted through us.  When we are in alignment with the truth of who we are at our core we have no need to create a distraction or hide.  When we have done the work of investigating the stories and beliefs we have adopted from others to determine if they are in resonance with our hearts we can breathe. The Spirit of life moves freely through us when we participate in the respiratory process. The clearest vessel is the one that is free of elements that do not resonate with its energy.  The brightest vessel is the one that holds true to who or what it is in the moment and allows life to move through it.

Living in Southern California I have some would say the luxury of enjoying rain because it is somewhat of a novelty. I am drawn to it, but not enough to move to a place where it rains consistently.  I chose to live where it is sunny most of the time because it is a better fit for me. Yet I love it when it rains.  The draw is a mixture of the darkness, the mystery, the uncertainty, the cloudy atmosphere, the messiness and yes the novelty of the rain. I always appreciated growing up in the desert how after the monsoons came, everything outside was so colorful and pungent it was like a painting.  I could see the life that came from being nourished by the water. It is said that water is symbolic of our emotional nature, maybe because of its flow.  What I find most powerful about rain is the clearing nature it inhabits.  There is a sense that all that came before is being washed away and cleansed.  When it stops raining the clouds part open and make way for the sun.  Things are cleared of debris and ready for the fresh breath of light.  It is similar to the clearing my mind and heart feel after a good cry. I can breathe easier and I feel lighter. Sometimes it is as though the release has made it clear for something deeper within ourselves to be seen and known. The rain starts out with the ominous clouds of darkness that have a foreboding nature and at that moment we can decide to run and hide or open ourselves up to the clearing that comes just after the darkness.  The clearing that comes to light after the darkness and the rain whether external or internal allows for the true nature of whatever is rained on to shine from its core.