Robbins Hopkins

Spiritual Health: Being at Peace in Everyday Life

inner peace

Acts of Love

Revelation and praise, singing and grace
They all have gratitude in common
The cultivation of appreciation
Expanding the mind’s capacity for loving

Loving is more than an ideal
It is a series of small steps towards Peace
It does not come effortlessly
For all around us are numerous contrary actions

Photo by Sai de Sliva

Choosing love is an act of courage
It is in defiance of ever present darkness
It is in opposition to meanness, bullying, and prejudice
It breeds powerful healing and replication

Loving is a mind set for the brave
It is pabulum for the courageous
Love is profoundly transformational
It can heal myriads of dark deeds

Love is free, not available for the right price
Love is not known to the faint of heart
Love does not dwell in the fascination of attraction
Nor the actions of passion masquerading as love

Love is born of our activated integrity
It takes it place among the humble
It thrives on kindness and grace
It underlies every good and kind act ever experienced

Appreciation and gratitude are part of the love cluster
Both being outwards expressions of love
Cultivate acceptance, inclusivity, and allowing
Grow your smile, your tenderness, and your patience

Photo by Blake Barlow

Love is sure to follow in unexpected ways
Love pops up when the heart is being warmed
Love swoops in when wee ones are present
Love is always just around the corner, waiting for an opening

Specialize in creating chances for love
Manifest unexpected acts of generosity
Tender your resignation from egoic preening
Return to the Silence for needed sustenance

The cluster of love acts is limitless
The timing for love acts is timeless
The breadth for love acts is infinite
The rewards for love acts are eternal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Activate Your Free Will

Having free will cuts both ways. You can settle for exactly where you find yourself or you can choose to have the life you want, regardless of your life circumstances. You have to exercise your free will though to do so. Seek the help you need through Spirit/God/The Oneness for greater peace, health, and prosperity. The building of your desired life begins with you. How and where to start?

Photo by Anh Nguyen

Until you have an awareness of what is bothering you, out of balance, or draining you, you won’t be able to make the changes you desire. When you seek connection, you can begin to figure out what is out of balance. You may find yourself battling your ego in the beginning, not wanting to see what you are feeling, why you are feeling that, and what you can do about it. You have to really want to connect with Divine Source to actually have a fighting chance to do so. There is peace there. There is guidance there. There is a way forward there. All this can stay as shrouded or as separate from you as you choose. That is the essence of free will.

The level of support, love, and guidance available by consciously connecting with Divine Source is literally infinite. That connection just gets stronger and stronger as you sit in Silence and seek Peace.  You are the one that is out of balance, feeling lousy, lost, frustrated, angry, demotivated, judgmental, or insufficient. Your feelings start with you regardless of how they arrive in your face.  The issue sits with you even though another person may be the catalyst. You can choose to stay in a blaming mind set as long as you want to. Further, the issues are not with the job, your body, your friend, your house or your spouse. The issues are within you, always. You have to figure out what is getting triggered in you to rectify the imbalances you feel. Or you can choose to blame all your troubles on everyone and everything else. You will stay exactly where you are until you begin to look at yourself deeply and figure out what you are carrying that is no longer serving you.

A little known truth is that those in your life are always there to be a mirror for you. You come here to heal, grow, and feel more connected to Divine Source. Literally, every step of your life is designed for you to realize what you need to see to grow more peace, more balance, and more connection with All That Is. Few people know this, fewer people act on this knowing. To make progress, you must go inside, again and again to see what needs to be jettisoned from your energy field.

Mostly everyone around you is focused on the externals of life such as making money, having a family, having a prestigious job, having fun, or having their desired material wealth. You can spend your entire lifetime involved in these pursuits and still be off inside. Nothing really insures peace of mind and wellness like getting rid of feelings and situations that are not serving you. You can’t do that if you never pay attention to how you are feeling. You can’t understand how you are feeling if you do not look inside with a seeking mind to clear the draining energies you are carrying.

Photo by La-rel Easter

So, activate your free will and make the time you need to go inside, again and again. If you figure out what you are feeling, then you can clear for the trauma energy those feelings are causing. If you recognize repeating negative patterns, then you can command those out of your field and amazingly, they will leave. Why? Because you are both eternal and human. Your eternal self is trying to help you find your best self in your human life. Use your free will to begin, sustain, and return repeatedly to this journey to wholeness.

You may feel you do not know how to do this. Just begin. Show up to Silence. Seek the Peace you desire. Stewing about your feelings and your situations does absolutely nothing good for you. Entering into Sacred Space to listen, identify and clear stuck energy does everything you need to feel lighter and more grounded. Keep entering into Silence with a seeking mind. Seek the way forward you desire and you will receive the awareness you need about what you have to let go of to find your way. You might even consider taking this free healing yourself tutorial as a possible beginning step for you.

Patiently Waiting for Me

Photo by Raychan

I want to open all of me to all of Thee
Take every part of me that is shrunk and disconnected
Take all my fears and my repeating worries
Reshape the parts of me that are hesitant and self-protecting

I know I need to feel expansive to touch to the Wholeness
Many days though my littleness is playing out
Other days my self doubt and the nasties are showing up
Then I swerve severely from thinking big and boldly

I am forming daily mantras for the shriveled up days I have
I am one with All That Is, I am known and loved
I am always connected with Divine Source
Spirit and I are one, are one, are one, are one

In Truth, I am always connected to Divine Love
I have to keep reminding my flighty mind of this
I must feel the desire to connect a dozen times a day
So reaffirming in little ways seems to see me through

My life, my work, my relationships, and my health
Are better when I feel connected to God and Oneness
I seem to be able to sail through all my responsibilities
And come out with more energy than I began with

There are even whole days my mind does not judge me
There are times when every part of my day moves with Grace and Ease
These are the glory days, the way I wish every day could unfold
These are the days that support me through the rough periods

Nothing human is ever a perfect constant
Change is always occurring with all things
I remember, I am the one with the dissonance
Divine Source is always patiently waiting for me

Another day, another try at connecting
This day will be the one with flow and delight
This day will be my best effort of all to connect
This day I will be the Peace and Joy I seek

And so it is!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking the Truth

Why is it important to speak the truth when most of the time you just want to have the person be happy with what you said to them?  It is important because what you say is a reflection of yourself.  If you do not speak the truth, you cannot expect to be truly known or well thought of, by anyone.  Pleasing others by sacrificing the truth helps no one, not you and certainly not the other person.

photo by Yolanda Sun

People often tell me,” it is just easier for me to say something that skirts the real truth. Everyone wins.” Well, that may seem true if you are not in Right Relationship with yourself or at odds with the other person.  Perhaps the relationship is perfunctory or of little importance. Still, the lie coming out of your mouth has an energetic affect on your well being. You can’t see it but it can cause havoc with your sleep, your energy, your self-perception, your outlook on life, and your sense of efficacy,(the ability to produce the desired result).

In Cross-Cultural Communications, it is often stated that as much as 97% of our real communications in non-verbal. So, if you lie or are being lied to, it is likely that both parties know this. The issue then is how to deliver difficult information to another. Figure out what you truly feel without judgement or guile.

Speak the truth first to yourself. If you are anxious about speaking the truth to another, clear for the anxiety of speaking the truth to that person. If you are worried that what you are saying will negatively affect your relationship, figure out the kindest way to say what you need to say. But do not stuff what you need to say or make up a lie to cover the truth. Falsehoods have a way of growing out of control rather quickly. It is as if through lying you give the Universe the sense that you do not care at all about the consequences of having lied. This catches up with you eventually in undesirable ways.

Photo by Kawtar Cherkaoui

You have to clear for all the stuck energy you have about speaking the truth. I have seen people go to the extreme of being so blunt in their message to another, it is as if they are attacking the person they are speaking with.  This often comes from fear of confrontation and push back. Fear of being punished, ostracized, or attacked is often given as a legitimate reason to lie. Rehearse and prepare to speak the truth in sticky situations. Clear for all the fears and misgivings you have before delivering your truth.

Years ago, before numerous training programs, I would go outside and train the trees in my backyard. I would speak out loud to hear if I liked what I was saying. I still do rehearse and modify aloud when I need to say something that feels hard to deliver.

Speak truth with compassion. Imagine how the person will react to your truth and deliver your message with love and compassion, even if the message is a hard one to present. Kindness goes a long way to help support a relationship when hard things need to be said.

Often the truth is not spoken aloud because you do not want to face the truth you know is present. Take rape, infidelity, incest, stealing, addiction, betrayal, hiding financial resources, abuse, molestation, blackmail, fraud, etc. If you are dealing with these issues yourself or with a person you care about, you may well need professional help to speak your truth with positive results towards another or for yourself. Especially in these tough situations, speak the truth to yourself to begin the next phase of your life towards wholeness. Do the clearing you need to stand up and speak the truth with compassion and clarity to those who need to know. These practices keep us on a humble path towards greater inner balance.

If you are stuck around whether to speak the truth or not,  ask for guidance if this truth is yours to speak. Sometimes, the Divine preference is for us not to speak the truth in a given situation. You have to determine if this is your work to do. Perhaps, it is too late to bombard a person with the truth of the past. Sometimes, we want to speak the truth so another will suffer, face up, or pay for what they have done. The wrong reasons could be at play here. Other times, it is clearly not our affair even though we know a truth regarding others.  The motivation to speak the truth needs to be for a positive outcome and not a solely punitive one.  What is the loving way to speak the truth?  Cultivate that thinking and effective actions will follow.

 

 

Just Aging or Inner Struggle

I hurt, feel listless, and nothing helps
I take my medications and I get exercise
And still I hurt some of every day
I am discouraged, I must be getting older

My systems are sluggish and draggy
I feel strong, stuck, lurking emotions
They bubble up and I keep pushing them away
They feel buried, deeply hidden, but still agitating

My gut is a mess due to too much sugar
Too much rich food and drink
Too many simple carbs and sweets
Sugar treats everyday and twice on holidays

Food and drink help me celebrate and forget
Because inside I feel alone, disconnected, and empty
My feelings of being lost and unfocused loom,
Improve a bit, return, and eventually overwhelm

Photo by Clement Souchet

My body screams at me about being out of balance
Out of touch with All That Is and myself
I continue ignoring the small indications of trouble
While time passes and all issues grow larger

I just keep on keeping on, in ole’ familiar ways
Then pain strikes, days feel lackluster
Migraines take an upturn, wakeful nights begin repeating
Every part of my mind, body, and soul now on the edge

I have to stop and listen because medicines only work
For a short time when congestion remains inside
I know I should seek out the blocked and stuck places
And find a path forward that really works

However, I really prefer to not focus on this inner stuff
Even as my body continues to yell, scream, and cajole
Demanding the needed changes, aching daily
For balance, peace, health, and clearing

I’ve been told I get all the help I need by asking in devotion
By staying the course, by clearing, and trying to love
By commanding out fear, anger, shame, and apathy
By returning and returning to Silence for more guidance

It still seems easier to let all this fall on my deaf ears
To continue to feel invincible, pretend I’m good enough
Blowing off steam when I am angry and irritated
Totally denying I have settled for pain and suffering

I know how to play at being just fine
Know how to put on my no care in the world face
Only I truly know that act is a pack of lies
And, yes, my body continues to tell me the truth

I really, really do not want to do this work
It is so hard to look inside at what is not working
Or maybe that is just my mind playing tricks on me
Keeping me from giving my all to be my best self