spiritual work

Oct 22 2020

That’s Your Problem

Yet, another fight with hurtful, flung words
Escalating volume and bulging eyes
Red faces, slamming doors, and stalking off down the stairs
With angry tones and nasties still following both of us

What brings us each to these places?
What other options do I have?
What other options does my other have?
What do we do when it is all over?

Inner exploration is the only sure thing that works for me
What triggers me again and again, needs my setting down
My not feeling heard or understood, needs my clearing
My words not seemingly received as valuable, needs my attention

As anger escalates and stays at a heightened, hidden level
The biggest temptation is to bury the issues and the experience
Tiptoe around them and both pretend we do not have
An enormous pink elephant in the room

Pretty soon we are skilled at not addressing anger
We get to a place of lackluster and self-protection
We choose immediate placating and ignoring
Hoping it will all blow over and somehow just disappear

However, when the same issues come up again
The energy is fueled from all the previous times
We have stalked off and pretended we made up
Put on a good face without doing the inner clean up

God of all, help me see what is not at peace within
Help me honor what is not at peace for my other
Help me be brave enough to try again when calmer
Help me be open to what is hurting for my other

I call forth love and kindness for us both
Compassion for my other and for myself
Joy that we are together through thick and thin
Inclusive energy where I don’t get to say, That’s your problem.

Created with a big nod to Thich Nhat Hanh

Oct 15 2020

Inner Work Is Calling

Where have my happy places gone?
I miss my friends and my own laughter
I long to have things to look forward to
The thrill of celebration is strangely muted

I did not fully realize that my life
Was organized around looking forward to newness
Seeking all that is sparkly and unique
Escaping from daily life by going out on the town

Isolation is a mighty and strange condition
It brings up sticky issues and feelings
I absolutely do not care to revisit, yet still
Audaciously get right up in my face, uninvited

In the corner awaits the thorny work
Around every block, my frustrations flair
While totally minding my own business
Old pains emerge that I had successfully buried

When all distractions are taken away
The inner work boldly presents to fill the void
Of course, I have to choose to see it
I had become so adept at hiding from it

With an abundance of down time
A total paucity of scheduled events
Prickly issues keep erupting from within
Saying, here I am again, remember me?

You can’t escape me forever
No way girl, I’ve got your number
I am still here, always just hiding
Until you mess up again for real

I am waiting you out in the long game
Sporting infinite patience and perfect timing
With so few distractions at present,
Give that saggy ‘ole self-perception, the boot

Go ahead, give a try at being your best self
Set down that old irritation and anger forever
Spend some more time with the Great Spirit
We have lots more juicy things to talk about

Sep 24 2020

Fear is Crippling

The way ahead is to face your fears
If you never do anything else but this
Face your fears, again and again
Command them out of your consciousness

This can set you free
This can cultivate compassion
This can bring you inner peace
This can grow mounds of love

Fears are humanly created
They therefore can be set down
That is profoundly powerful truth
For every single seeking one among you

Go searching for the elusive fears
They frequently show up in dreams
They are imbedded in acts of self-protection
They empower lashing out at loved ones

The constant bubbling up of fear
Is scary even if it your own fear
It parades as being truth
It insinuates that it has power

None of this is true for anyone
In fact, what we focus on grows
What we ignore festers
What we face head-on transforms

You are the one who gives power to fear
You cower in the corner and try to hide
You try to ignore the fear to death
You try to deny the fear just begging to be ousted

Call in your courage of heart and mind
Arm yourself with the mantle of Oneness
You are made in the image of Divine Source
You can slay all that is fearful, bar none

Only love and kindness are everlasting
Humanly created fear is born out of
Disconnection with Divine Source
Reconnect in Silence and inner work

Create a fear free reality that serves you
Deny any power to the fears you discover
Fears resides in every single person
Go after yours and free yourself from darkness!

Aug 19 2020

Your ‘I AM’ Presence Awaits

The ‘I AM’ Presence is your unconditional connection with Divine Source/God/All That Is. Every person has this connection regardless of life circumstances. To activate that energy you have to claim that connection out loud for it to fully activate. Otherwise, you can spend you entire life missing out on working from your highest self.

Speak the following out loud.

I call forth my ‘I AM’ Presence as I prepare to confront my daughter about her recent behaviors and grades.
From my ‘I AM’ Presence, I bless the marriage of Johan and Moan, for their highest good to manifest.
From the combined power of my ‘I AM’ Presence and God’s Glory, I command an honest, wise, collaborative, and people serving federal government manifest for this country.
Through my ‘I AM’ Presence, I call forth the most perfect professional position for me at this time.
With the power and determination of my I AM Presence, I command the deepest cleansing for rebalancing the Nation’s mind, body, and soul manifesting as systemic racism in the United States of America.

You are made in the image of God. You have seeds of God-ness all through you. You have to call forth the I AM power and energy for it to fully come alive in this dimension. Know and prepare for your negative feelings, discord, and negative thoughts to come to your surface as you begin to use this energy. By working with the I AM Energy, all that is not a part of this energy will show up for healing. If you ignore these issues, they will increase in severity without fail.

Doing your inner work is your side of the equation in your relationship with God. You can choose to go through life and ignore this inner work. However, as you are everlasting in spirit, you will have to address the imbalances, sooner or later. If you do it sooner, you will be free of those negative thoughts and feelings and their consequences sooner. However, it is your choice. You can take all the lifetimes you want to come to a place of doing inner work. However, the imbalances when ignored, grow bigger and bigger.

Every human is here potentially growing in the understanding of being created and sustained in Love. Regardless of what is around you, your core energy is Love. It could be covered over with fear, abuse, addiction, negative self-perceptions, arrogance, violence, or anger but at the core, all humans were created and sustained in Love. How to start?

Say these out loud. Hold the space for healing. Give thanks.

1. From my ‘I AM Presence’ I bring my feelings of ______________________ to this Sacred Space for healing and rebalancing. (shame, guilt, apathy, sorrow, fear, anger, desire, pride, arrogance, jealousy, self-hate, being a loser, etc.) Thank you for the healing.

2. With my ‘I AM’ Presence I call for clearing of the core reasons for my _________________________ that is no longer serving me or anyone else around me. (lying, cheating, embezzling, hatred, racism, competitiveness, mistreatment, violence, abuse, excessive drinking, addiction to ________, suspicion, etc. )Thank you for the healing.

3. Through my ‘I AM Presence’, I forgive wholly and completely ________________________ . ( myself, all those I have hurt, all my colleagues, my brother/mother/aunt/cousin/neighbor, etc. Thank you for the healing.

4. From my I AM Presence, I call forth Divine help and guidance for _______________________. ( my relationship, my next professional steps, my physical pain, my daughter’s job search, the future of my department, George/Janice/Shiela, the mess I have made of_____, etc. Thank you for the healing.

Work on any of the above issues for a few years and watch your life grow and change!! See my blog, found under Learn on the home page, at www.robbinshopkins.com and search with the words ‘I AM’ or ‘I am’ and see all the other posts on this subject.

May 28 2020

Keeper of Your Gate

There is no other keeper of your gate but you
You have helpers along the way
Those who parented you and loved you
Those who befriended you and taught you

In the end though you are the sole keeper of your gate
You decide what to focus on and who to let in
You decide what you feel and how to react to those feelings
You decide what is worthy of your attention and what is not

You make all the choices of what and who can enter
Based on all the love and hurts you have ever experienced
You draw to yourself all the wonderful and awful
Experiences you need to come clean with yourself

Every life is a balance of the good and the bad
You have to sort it though and decide what to allow
What you will put up with and who you will tolerate
Those people who are helpful and those who are not

This can feel incredibly overwhelming
The sense that is it all up to you
That each choice or decision is solely up to you
This is not fully true, nor your only alternative

The experience of feeling alone and wholly responsible
Is the human interpretations of a lifetime
There is a spiritual dimension that can also be present
That choice is to connect to all the Love energy available

What if you tried to connect your heart to Love
Every single moment of the day and night?
What if you asked for Divine help to do this?
Knowing you will always be heard and supported

Not so alone, not so solely responsible for your life’s trajectory
What if you truly sought the guidance of the Great Spirit?
Try it. Nothing keeps you from opening to Divine Love
And seeing where it leads you. Seeing where you are taken.

You really have nothing to lose but unhealed inner negativity
You have everything to gain, a pathway to Peace and Balance
You will also be accompanied if you call this energy into your life
You have to give permission though for help to be given to you

Take a leap into the arms of Divine Love and Knowing
You are already wired for this, by being in body
You have already committed to learn everything needed to come to Peace
However, you must still activate this call to Divine Source again, now

You may think you have set up your life to work with Spirit before you came in
However, until you consciously make that choice again in body
You will not be fully able to work with Spirit because of Free Will
You have to call in the Presence of Divine Love now for it to manifest

It is not a hard thing to do
Only you may need to set down
The feeling that you do not deserve
To know God’s presence

That is a human issue, fully coming out of false self-perceptions
Set those down, call the Divine energy in anyway
The act of calling in the Presence of All That Is
Will set you on a renewed path to Inner Peace, Kindness, and Love