Hello, my dear friend!
Happy December!
How are you doing today?
I have a prayer in my heart that you are calm, confident, and cooperative.
As I have been contemplating faith, patience, and trust, as discussed in my last post, Destressing Via Spiritual Experiments, I thought about the immense amount of suffering I endured in the first half of my life due to fear, impatience, and distrust.
For as long as I can remember, I have sought a connection to God by reading and studying my scriptures. Also, I've been praying every morning, daily, and every night and attended church every single Sunday for years. I've served when asked and always paid tithe.
I do not know if anyone spoke magnificent words that helped me, but I know I have had superb people who were an example to me.
My point?
I've been seeking a connection to God for a very long time, and all my spiritual education and experiences have added evidence to my undertaking.
Looking back, not one person could or did give me advice on how to connect to God in a way that could and would relieve my stress, aka my suffering. Some individuals meant well, but much of the advice was not spiritual. It was more from confused human conditioning.
Maybe people did give me spiritual advice, but I didn't hear it.
One thing I know for sure is that there have been people in my life whom I still think about today, who are and were excellent examples to me in spiritual practice. Some of these individuals didn't, and don't, even talk about God.
When I think about these people, my heart fills with intense love and sentimental memories. These people are, to this day, calm, confident, and cooperative.
When we work together with others, we are harmonious with ourselves, and when we are in harmony with ourselves, we symphonize with God.
Human conditioning can teach us that life is a competition; therefore, we think we must get what we want and how we want it, which can create friction at home and work.
This evidence can clearly be seen among people who fight to be right by making others wrong.
For example, when a person may disagree with a family member and/or friend, the competitive person will argue to be correct and get angry because he or she doesn't want to be wrong. Then that person will continue to debate beyond the presence of the other, in their mind, and to other people.
A calm, confident, and cooperative person will be okay with the disagreement and let it go. They are unattached to being wrong or right because they understand differences of opinions and that no one thinks exactly alike.
If I could have been a person, who could have spoken words of spiritual advice to my younger self, these are the first words I would have spoken...
"Life is not a competition! Life is a symphony, which can be had by learning, listening, and loving to understand."
"Open your spiritual eyes and see the evidence!"
"Look at the successful people and observe. Success means happiness, harmony, and healthy. Harmonious and healthy meaning in body, mind, and soul."
"Notice how these successful people behave. They are calm, confident, and cooperative because they are thoughtful. People who are angry, anxious, and pugnacious are insecure, disconnected from God, and thoughtless."
Then I'd say, with all the love in my heart...
"Dear one, dear sweet one, practice calm cooperation with others, which will lead to calm cooperation with yourself, which is calm cooperation with God."
"This is how you do it..."
"Fall in love with listening to others with the heart's compassion, as Jesus did. This is characteristic of being Christlike. Talk less, listen more, and try to understand with kindness."
"Caring leads to understanding. To know that everyone is doing the very, very, very best with what has been given in life thus far is understanding."
"To argue with, blame, complain, and criticize others is an unsympathetic habit that focuses on a person's imperfections. In addition, these are the practiced patterns of insecurity."
"You do not have to be right with anyone. The idea of having to be right is part of the human conditioning that says my worth is being right. This leads to insecurity, which closes the mind to leveling up emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually."
"We are all imperfect, and it is not necessary to focus on the faults of human existence. To do so is but a training anyone can overcome."
"You are a spiritual being. Therefore, you have the will with the power to focus and understand life. This leads to you being, doing, and having what you are meant to, and the only one who keeps you from any of it is you and your unbecoming attitude from your perception."
"Open your mind!"
"Use your will to focus!"
"Open your mind to happiness, harmony, and health evidence. Use your will to focus on creating a connection to God via practicing calm, confidence, and cooperation."
Then I'd tell myself...
"Here is your spiritual homework that must be read every night, so it may be put into memorization and practice every day until it is permanent in attitude and personality."
"First, practice being calm."
"When you wake, set the day by taking a deep breath, exhale, feeling the body relax and the mind quiet. Remind yourself to do this throughout the day, and fall asleep at night with this same practice. It may be tough for you at first, but remind yourself that you are not an animal or a child and have the intellect to choose your practice."
"Be still, and know that I am God:" ~Psalm 46:10, Holy Bible, KJV
"Second, notice in this practice of calming the body and quieting the mind, you are in the space of safety and security. This is the power of the eternal now. The mind will have you think of the future or past, which gives way to insecurity, but the safety and security in the practice of the present moment give a habit of confidence."
"Third, talk less, learn to listen, and learn by listening to understand. Give up the urge to speak any opinions of pettiness. Accusations, judgments, and assumptions of nonspiritual things are petty, in that they are insignificant to the calm, confidence, and cooperation of the moment."
"Refrain from unsolicited advice. Unsolicited advice says, "you can be better," which insinuates, "you are not good enough."
"If we could know how good enough we are, we'd accomplish even more amazing things!"
"Fourth, butt out of peoples' business."
"Do! Not! Ever! Gossip!"
"If you are going to be in anybody's business, let it be bragging about them or to make sure they are okay."
"Fifth, think better of others no matter what!"
"This one is huge!"
"When we think better of others, we are doing unto others that which we want to be done unto us. We want people to give us the benefit of the doubt. Therefore, give others the gift of giving the benefit of the doubt."
"Did you know that you give yourself away by the words you speak about others?"
"For example, when we speak assumptions of others being passive-aggressive, we are telling people that's what we are."
"We accuse others' from our perspective. That's what people mean when they say you can only understand from your perspective."
"If you accuse someone of doing something on purpose to hurt you, you are telling your perspective of hurting people on purpose."
"Now, you may say, "I know when someone is being passive-aggressive or hurting me on purpose." But to say these things you are saying, you read minds. If you, in fact, read minds, I'm pretty confident that you'd be a millionaire for reading minds by now."
"Psychology 101 educates, believing we can read minds is an inaccurate view of reality that leads to personality disorders."
I digress...
Finally, I'd say, to myself, "if you want to be connected to God, as you've been diligently praying for most of your life, condition yourself in the habits given above by concentrating and focusing on them into memorization and daily training."
"Never beat yourself up, and never give up!"
"Permanence comes with practice!"
"This is the way!"
And that's what I'd say.
I believe, with all my heart and soul, if someone could have convinced me of the above words, twenty-eight years ago, when I was twenty-eight, I'd be where I am now in my calm, confident connection to God, through cooperation with life, and others, probably twenty years ago.
Don't get me wrong, I have zero regrets! I love my past because I would not be the harmonious, loving, spiritual being that I feel I am today.
My favorite part of life is the faithful and fearless connection to God that gives me guidance and inspiration to lift others and myself. The next favorite part is the smiles and the thank you's of relief because I know what it is to suffer, and I hold a prayer tight in my heart for comfort for anyone who seeks it.
I am but an infant in my spirituality, and I am eager, exhilarated, and excited for my learning to understand more.
This earnestness, my friend, is why I love to learn, love to listen, and love to understand.
My prayer, dear friend, is that somehow, some way, my words can touch the heart of the seeker of connecting to God.
God bless...
Take good care...
Until next time...
Speak soon...
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