Peace, joy and health can only be obtained by entering into one’s Silent self.   However, while trying to get to a state of Silence, we often we have to face issues that are unresolved, problems we are struggling with and feelings we do not want to feel.

Enlightenment by h.koppdelaney

This stops many a person from meditating, being in Silence or lying in shavasana ( corpse pose)  on a yoga mat.  The key here is to stay with the Silence while releasing all connection you have with the issues entering and swirling around your mind. One way to think of this is to allow the ideas,  thoughts and issues that show up to pass across your “mind screen” and out of your focus.  A mantra, a point of vision like a candle or attention to breath can help to bring our focus back to Silence.  A mantra might be,” I am One with All That Is”, or “I am God’s  Beloved Child”. With enough detachment from our mind’s issues, thoughts, problems, and people, one can move past the monkey mind to a place of no thought while in stillness.  This however does not come quickly to some.

When I first began to try to meditate sitting up,  I would sit with my back next to an old black walnut tree.

At the Feet of an Ancient Master by Premasagar

One day when I was wrapped in a sarape, covered with a hat and gloves and determined to “have my own time”, I thought, is this really what I am doing?  By then, the snow was coming down rather steadily but that tree and I had bonded so I sat until I was completely snow covered.  I felt a certain peace in doing that because, I so desperately needed time for Silence, even if it was snowing.  When I could get to that tree, I felt welcomed because of having put all else aside to go into Silence.  I did not really know what I was doing but I knew I had to show up and be still and let the Silence guide me into greater Peace.  Bit by bit, step by step I was led into the Silence until that state increasingly stayed with me through the day, through my work, through my creating and through my pain.

Here is what I have learned along the way.  We can’t be in stillness and Silence if we don’t show up.  The first step in meditating is to show up with the intention for Silence and stillness. Another step is to select a place dedicated to enter into Silence.  It may be in a corner of a room or it may be a favorite chair or a special tree or garden.  The place has to be a haven for the time you intend to meditate.  The major challenge though is to continue to come to Silence,  even when your last experience was of the mind churning with thoughts.

One can think of this process as training the mind, like one would train a dog to obey.  For most non-meditators, the mind runs willy-nilly all over the place, most of the time. As you begin to sit in the quiet, with the intention to connect to the Greater Whole, the Oneness, you have to let the thoughts pass through without picking any of them up and without giving any of them attention. In the beginning this may be all you do for months.  Then one day, you will come out of mediation and realize that you have “lost time” when you were not conscious of sitting in the Silence.  This is the golden feeling of peace and balance.  As we begin to have a glimpse of this, there is nothing in the entire universe that can touch us this way.  We have created the time and space for peace in our lives.

Collective meditation by Premasagar

Meditating in a group is easier for most people than meditating alone.  This is because as we gather in a group,  there is more energy focused on meditation making it easier to enter into that energy flow.  However, you can simulate this by setting the intention to meditate with those of the Highest Light around the globe who are meditating at the same time you are.  You will be connected energetically with those meditators and it is often easier to get into the flow than trying to meditate alone.

In our lives we get very attached to what is going on with our friends, family, job and affairs. We have opinions, ideas, concerns, conflicts, solutions running around in our heads constantly.  Meditation is a time to check out of the dailyness of our lives and seek Peace for a few moments while remaining conscious of being awake.  It is like taking an energy nap to renew yourself.  However, unlike sleep, meditation trains the mind to be still in the midst of chaos,  and this expands into the very fabric of our lives. Over time, as we begin to be able to detach from our mind’s daily drama while in meditation, we increasingly do detach from the drama  in our daily lives as well. When our mind gets used through Silence and stillness to our letting thoughts and feelings pass us by, we learn to increasingly remain non-attached to all outcomes in our lives as well.  This enables us to increasingly hold the space for the Highest Benevolent Outcome for everything we are involved in all areas of our lives.

In Ray’s efforts to learn to meditate he kept coming up against his feelings about work which were not positive. This would throw him out of a peaceful state, again and again. He became very frustrated with his efforts to meditate. When this happens, we are being led to attend to the negative feelings that are coming up.  It is not that we are “failing”  in our efforts to meditate, it is that we need to attend to these negative feelings.   Here are some ways to do this:

• 1. Out loud, say “I release all these negative thoughts and feelings I am carrying about work, totally and completely”.
• 2. In a journal, write out all the negative thoughts and feelings you have about work and the costs and benefits to you of holding onto these.  Decide which thoughts and feelings you are going to keep, which ones you are going to let go of and what further actions you are going to take.
• 3. While you are coming out of your state of Silence and stillness, call forth you sacred inner flame and command it out loud to consume all your blocked emotional, mental, thermal( self-protective) and spiritual energy from their originating sources which are manifesting as these thoughts and feeling about work in the present.  All that can leave you energy field today will go.

Buddha is a Bridge by h. koppdelaney

There is nothing in the world like Silence for healing and for guiding us to balance.  Our thoughts and feelings create the imbalances and the balances in our lives. The more we are in Silence and stillness, and attend to the imbalances surfacing there, the more balance we will manifest in our lives.  Silence trumps everything we think we are for a glimpse of the peace and stillness within, which is who we truly are.

Most of us in body, in this Earth dimension,  generally think of ourselves as humans having an occasional spiritual experience.  However as our consciousness expands, perhaps more accurately said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” This quote is from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), the French philosopher and Jesuit priest.

Paradise Bridge by h.koppdelaney

The one and only thing that a group of renown spiritual teachers, mystics and writers including Deepak Chopra, Barbara Kingsolver, and Marianne Williamson agreed on after days together in conference was that we are spirit beings having a human experience. Assuming this may indeed be so, there are some implications for living as spiritual humans which can help us  on our journeys.

We are here first and foremost in our bodies for some reason, otherwise we would be elsewhere.  Repeatedly, it seems that we are here to work on our relationship to All That Is/God/Great Oneness.  We come with all sorts of baggage from previous incarnations and we continue to accumulate baggage in this lifetime as well.  However, perhaps because all healing must take place in the dimension in which we incurred the imbalance, we return repeatedly and attract to ourselves conditions which give us the opportunity to heal, come into wholeness, peace, joy and balance.

Could it all be as simple as our being here to clear our minds, bodies and souls from fear and blocked energies which we are carrying within ourselves? Is life being given in body so that this time we may choose Love and Peace, Wholeness and Balance?  Could our ancestors be looking on saying,

• MAYBE THIS TIME, she will choose Love and Wholeness.
• MAYBE THIS TIME, he will choose Peace and Joy.
• MAYBE THIS TIME, they will keep the deep spirit ways close to themselves and find Loving Kindness in all things.

In Chains by purplemattfish

When we release blocked, negative energy, we diminish our sense of darkness and our feelings of separation from All That Is.  Our consciousness expands as fear receeds. We become more aware of our connection with All That Is, The Great Oneness and increasingly aware of our spiritual selves.

We have free will so we can choose to explore our spirituality in this lifetime or we can choose to completely ignore our spiritual selves. We can spend as much time as we like ignoring our spiritual selves. However, there are a range of imbalances in the soul of each person in body which can only be re-balanced while we are in body and when we decide to work on our inner sense of peace.  All our perceptions of our outer lives are formed through our sense of inner Peace.

Meditation can allow us to temporarily escape the human requirements of our lives and be in Silence and Stillness.  The process of entering a meditative state eventually helps our minds and bodies to remember the feeling of inner balance.  Often in the beginning of this process, however, we must face the areas of our lives which are out of balance.

Spirit + Nature by h.koppdelaney

Places of stillness can also be reached through yoga, long distance runs, dancing, biking and swimming to name a few. Reaching this state, through movement is sometimes known as hitting the “zone”.   Others can find deep Stillness in gardening, walking in nature, painting or creating.  All efforts towards stillness result in our remembering what balance feels like.

Prayer is the conscious request for Divine Energy to help us in our quest for greater Peace and Balance.  Prayer is like speaking to our deepest Divine Knowing within ourselves and calling upon other available spiritual energy to support our  journeys or that of another.  Prayer in its most powerful sense is a call to balance.

Fear is the opposite of Love.  We therefore we have to name our fears and face them. Further, in order to become free of those thoughts and feelings we have to caste the fear out or deny any further power to that fear which we may be holding onto.  This allows us to fully embrace Love in our lives. All acting out, physically or emotionally stems from fear, often fears we do not recognize but none the less, fears we are expressing.

When I am out of balance, one question brings me to a place deeply within.  I have finally learned to remember to ask myself,  what fear is producing this imbalance within me?  This is one of the most important questions we can ask along the way to inner Peace. to be continued…

To walk in integrity, we have to lose our fear about the future.  We have to embrace the Goodness of God.  We have to wrestle our human thoughts about appearances to the ground.

Siberian Tigers Play Wrestling in the Water by Abysim

Above all, we have to speak our truth. This is walking in integrity.  When we are walking in integrity, we are able to be at peace within, in a deeply whole way.

Stewart, a graduate student, competed for and was awarded a paid summer internship paying $7000. He was thrilled. The program’s literature guaranteed a good match for the selected students with organizations in the area.  Stewart was tentatively matched with an assignment in a public school system.  After the interview in the school, he realized that he had already done that same type of work 4 years earlier and had moved on from there in the intervening years. When no other placements were actually available, he told the granting organization this placement was not a good match for him.  They strongly advised him to take the placement and told him if he did not,  they would “be obliged” to call his college and say that he reneged on his contract.

He was both disappointed about the mismatch and yet offended by the treatment he had received through veiled threats and serious arm twisting to take a job which was so clearly a bad match for him.  After a second round of meetings, and a lot of soul searching,  Stewart respectfully resigned the paid internship.  By the time he made his decision,  he was in a good place looking forward to a summer of doing his own research and work.  The very day he let this go, however, he was asked to join a team in Africa to work on more efficient ways to deliver medical support for malaria.  This offer was a much better match for Stewart on many levels.

This is a situation where walking in integrity paid off in a rather dramatic turn of events.  In one conversation, we talked about Tom Stoppard’s line, “every exit is an entrance somewhere else.” This was truly Stewart’s experience.  However, he alone had to weight the consequences and act.  He was the only person who could decide what walking in integrity was for him.

One characteristic of being in integrity is that it requires deep personal soul searching at times.  It requires getting our ego out of the way and listening to the energy of the Highest Good.  Walking in integrity often requires facing our doubts, fears and misgivings rather than taking the expected option or path because of the promised rewards. At the end of the day, walking in integrity requires courage, the conviction of the heart that if something is not a good option, the right options will present in the fullness of time.

Meravigliosa Creatura II by dBencheci

One great way to walk in integrity is to write to God or talk to God.  This way, we are not tempted to shade things, twist motivations or color the truth.  We can more easily speak the truth because we know all is already known anyway. Making up a good story for God is a futile act. When we communicate with the All Knowing Divine Presence, we can frequently find out what integrity looks like.  It is never too late to walk in integrity around issues in the past or present.

When Ria began a spiritual practice of meditation, her world began to change.  She began to realize just how unkindly she had treated some of the men she had dated much earlier in her life.  She felt deep guilt and shame around some of her actions and was at a loss to know what to do.  Though she was not in touch with any of these men anymore, the drive to “make things right” would not go away.  She was led to write in her journal to each of the mistreated men, to say clearly what she needed to say, and to ask for forgiveness.  She worked on this process until all the men she had mistreated had been written to in her journal, before God and until she felt whole and clean.  Nearing the end of this process, she had a service for the men of her past.  She blessed each one of them, acknowledged what she had learned from them, asked again for forgiveness  and gave all her shame and guilt to God.  She had walked in integrity with the past.

Where might you need to walk in integrity?  What is keeping you from making amends with your past or your present? Might you be prostituting yourself for the sake of money, prestige, reputation, influence or recognition?

Rock Balance by Marty. FM

All things, no matter what they consist of, can be taken to God/the Great Knowing/the Oneness.  When we take steps to walk in integrity we come into Right Relationship with ourselves, with others and with God.  We come to a place of deep inner balance and peace.  There are ALWAYS better options for us than remaining out of integrity with ourselves and our lives. As we come into integrity, we manifest more balance in our lives, more love and more forgiveness.  Our lives can be literally transformed by taking a walk with integrity.

All acts of the past, those in integrity and those out of integrity are traveling along with us.  Any set of actions we have taken which have been out of integrity are negatively affecting us in one way or another.  We are the accumulations of our past actions, thoughts, deeds and feelings.  Only when we bring those into the space of integrity can we be truly at Peace.   Go hunting for places where you are not walking in integrity. You will be supported beyond your wildest imagination by the Presence of God.

Steps to Integrity

1. Open a Sacred Space with Divine Energy/God/Ascended Masters/Angels and your Highest Self, to support your work.

2. Name the specific person(s) or incident where you are out of integrity with All That Is.

3. Speak or write to God about the feelings you have regarding your situation. Name your fears.  Go thoroughly into this situation and explore it deeply.

4. Ask for the support you need, a way out, a way to let it go of the guilt or fear, forgiveness, support in facing what you have done, etc.

5. Give all negative thoughts and feelings to Divine Presence, in writing or out loud.

6. Give thanks for the support you are receiving to walk in integrity.

7. Wait upon the Presence of God to work within your energy field.

8. Repeat this process with other situations or persons until you feel you are walking in full integrity.

In Exodus 3:14,  Moses asks God what name shall I use for you when speaking to the children of Israel.  God replies, “I am AHIAH ASHAR HIGH (The Living God, The Sovereign God).  Just say I AM ( AHIYA)  has sent you.” Today we are addressing the I AM Energy of  All That Is.  This can only be a tiny sliver of light on this subject however, hopefully enticing you to seek more.

Spirit in the Sky by ecstaticist

The number one issue we as humans have with God is our thinking. We think we are separate from God.  To the contrary, however,  we are One with God, we simply do not have this Oneness in our consciousness.  As you read this piece, keep reminding yourself, I AM One with All That Is/God.  It will keep the familiar thoughts of being separate at a distance.

The I AM Energy is eternal, all loving and whole in the fullest sense of the word.  This energy is within every person in body for it is the core of who we are. However, if we are to know of it, grow it, live by it, we must have some guidance and examples of how to do that.  Jesus offered one way to know more about this.  He said as recorded in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  There are millions in our world who do just that, follow Jesus.  However, this statement, “I am the light of the world” could just as well be said by one named Fritz or Ismelda, Lauren or Machi and have powerful presence if they too knew they were One with God. Jesus resolutely knew he was One with All That Is and that is the source of the power of his declaration.

This statement by Jesus however does not mean that he is the only light of the world, that he alone is only way to learn about the I AM Energy.  This exclusivity in our views of religion needs to shift.  We are all of the same Creator, different sparks from the Flame of Life, different paths given from the same Source. There have been many, many ways we have been called to know of the I AM Energy within.  The pathway of the Sufis, the Kabbalah, the Vedanta Sutras are all ways to cultivate a deeper personal relationship with the Energy of Creation.  The issue is that millions do not go deeply enough into their chosen pathways to develop their own relationship with All That Is.

I might have lost it, but it has never been lost by Shirin K. A. Winiger

Why is this? I think perhaps because it takes a level of commitment to wholeness we are generally not ready to make.  In other words, it is easier to follow the dogma, rules and expectation of a specific faith than it is to develop our own relationship with God.  It feels easier to focus on all the externalities of life on Earth than it is to go within and speak with God. To develop our own knowing of All That Is, we must be in Silence, pray, ask for forgiveness, let go of our ego and embrace uncertainty in all things with the energy of positive expectation on a daily basis.  Further, we have to keep reminding ourselves that we are One with God/All That Is/Great I AM.

Each of us is Divine.  We each have that spark of Divinity within. However, we can choose not to seek it, know it or develop it and still live on this Earth.  It is as if we have a deep pool of knowing when we are out of body and when we come into body, we have to seek the stillness and connection with God if we want to fully manifest our Divine Beings while in body.  It is a practice, a way of Being, a pathway we have to choose. With this pathway comes more Peace, more Balance, more Divine Harmony, Dynamism, Freedom and Creativity. For these characteristics and many more are characteristics of Divine Presence, Brahman or the Unified Field.  They are our birthright if we choose them.

If we want to actualize our I AM Energy we have to do two things simultaneously.  One is to claim the I AM Energy for ourselves.  The second is to train our mind to return again and again to wholeness, love, forgiveness and humility. In this way, the I AM Energy can be fully actualized in our lives and all the positive characteristics of Divine Grace become present in each of our lives.  These statements can help us begin to embrace our I AM Energy and call it forth in our lives.

I AM the loving expression of God manifest in my body.

I AM One with All That Is.

I AM the Wholeness and Peace I seek.

I AM the mighty Flame of God’s Divine Presence.

I AM expansive consciousness, loving all in my pathway.

Put one or two of these statements which speak to you some place you will see them every day.  Speak them out loud frequently for thirty days and your consciousness will have the chance to change its pattern of perception.

Spirit Wings by spitfirelas

The doorway into the I AM Energy is paved by consistent, loving effort over time.  This is one way you can open this pathway more powerfully to receive all the blessings of being One with All That Is.  This knowing is already deeply embedded in your full consciousness, it just needs an invitation to be more accessible in your present body or daily consciousness.