Our Soul Star Circle Grows! Take a moment to feel into your Soul Star and imagine connecting with 64 people through a lazer beam of light, connecting Soul Stars and Hearts in circle. Ahhh... breathe and receive. Now we connect into a Group Soul Star that we are all nurtured by. Again, deep inhale, and long full exhale... breathe and receive. And now... let's send her off into the ethers to surround our Earth with scintillating light and love...
How did your practice unfold with greeting yourself each morning with love?
Now we are invited to expand this practice to everything all day long. Therefore, if you forget, there is always the next moment to practice...
What can be a more beautimus spiritual practice than to respond to yourself with love?
It is empowering and freeing to realize that it does not matter what arises, but what does matter is how we respond to ourselves in relationship to what arises.
If one makes it a goal to think only positve thoughts, they are destined to feel like they failed. It is not the nature of the mind to be controlled like this. Even if filled with gratitude and other juicy perspectives, the mind is scripted by old beliefs and ways of seeing that inevitablely surface again and again.
The key is not about mind-control but rather how we respond to what arises. Breathe. You can witness your mind, tame your mind, train your mind but you can not stop it from having certain thoughts.
Thoughts come and go. Like waves, thoughts emerge and dissolve in consciousness. So, why get so upset by thoughts?
Like a wave, you can either ride it in (feel into the feeling and express it) or you can say, "I think i'll let this one pass."
Or, you may find yourself taken by the wave and going for the ride, whether you want to or not. The key here is to retrieve yourself as soon as you can and respond with compassion and intention.
You may reach for a surf board to ride the wave with. Thoughts like "This will pass" or "I don't have to beleive everything my mind says" or "I am not this thought" can be used as the surf board. Or, the repition of a mantra like "Om Namah Shivaya" (more on this next time) can serve as surf boards that take you through the tumbling waves of the mind so that you don't identify with toxic and obsessive thoughts.
It is not a matter of what your mind thinks, but how responsive you can be with love, compassion and guidance.
You are invited to practice responding to your mind as a loving parent would to a child. Sometimes the child is having bratty temper tandrums, sometimes the child is sulking with insecurities and fears and sometimes the child is demanding and crying out...
Isn't it true that children express whatever they express? The important factor is how we respond!
This invitation is for you to practice being aware of your self-talk, your feelings, the sensations in your body and learn to respond with loving kindness and guidance. Don't abandon your mind to do whatever it wants to do ~~ just like you won't leave a small child alone.
How you respond to yourself matters.
Invite yourself to respond with love! Be the most loving parent to yourself that you can be.
And when you consciously respond to yourself, what happens for you in your heart? In your skin?
It does not matter what arises, what matters is how you respond to yourself in relationship to what arises.
Continue to greet yourself with love in the morning and continue the practice of responding with love and compassion throughout the day. This is an invitation to cosnciously bring more love to yourself, no matter what is happening.
(Some qualities that you can invite into your practice are: patience, loving kindness, encouragement, steadfast compassion, tenderness, softness, support, protection, discipline, focus, joy, light...) Please invite two people to sign up on the mailing list at www.devajoy.net to expand our Soul Star Circle!
Please share on the blog what arises for you as you do this practice by clicking here Click Here to Post
You are such an incredible force for light! Thanks for calling others into it. In response to your question, "what is given to you as you?":
On Wed, I had tea with a friend. We hadn't seen one another for a while and she began by sharing heartache related to her father's ill health. She stopped and apologized for starting on such a heavy note. I'm grateful that I mostly feel connection and empathy when people share their difficulties. I honor that we all have our ups and downs, and all I could actually hear from my friend, through her pain, was deep love for her father. It was an honor that she felt comfortable being open and vulnerable. I'm grateful for this gift. xx
YUMMY for my soul and spirit!!! Thank you Devajoy!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are such an incredible force for light! Thanks for calling others into it. In response to your question, "what is given to you as you?":
ReplyDeleteOn Wed, I had tea with a friend. We hadn't seen one another for a while and she began by sharing heartache related to her father's ill health. She stopped and apologized for starting on such a heavy note. I'm grateful that I mostly feel connection and empathy when people share their difficulties. I honor that we all have our ups and downs, and all I could actually hear from my friend, through her pain, was deep love for her father. It was an honor that she felt comfortable being open and vulnerable. I'm grateful for this gift. xx