Thursday, January 9, 2014

Meditation for 1/10/14

Seabrook Island


“God, please set aside everything I think I know about myself, this life and you so that I can have a new experience today….”   - variation of the Set-Aside Prayer

“I already know everything I know – and I don’t know what I don’t know.”  -  Anon

     I cannot grow spiritually, emotionally or mentally when I am in the mindset that I have “arrived” and have grasped what I need to know about life.  When I am vulnerable and desperately need guidance it is easy to humble my ego, get on my knees and ask for guidance and strength.  But when I follow the guidance and things fall into place in my life I tend to “ease God out.” I hit a “plateau” as for a while the spiritual work I have done puts me in a position that life’s turns and twists are acceptable.   Then little things start cropping up.  I am getting frustrated by traffic.  Things that I had come to accept about people in my life start irritating me again.  I start worrying about next month’s bills and thinking through all the potential disasters that might come to pass next year.  Old grudges I thought I was past crop back up, and the next thing I know I am back in familiar pain.  When the pain gets strong enough I will finally stop and think – what has changed?

     Inevitably I find that I have been slacking on my morning routine – after all, I already know what I am supposed to do today, so why waste the time to pray and quiet myself so that I can tune in to intuition?  Or I may be doing my morning routine but my mind is far from where I am – I am already thinking through and putting into place what my plans are for the day.  I stop asking myself how I can be of service to the person in front of me and start mentally critiquing what they are doing or how they are doing it.  I become less willing to atone for my errors – I am quick to justify and rationalize my behaviors.  And just like that – anger, anxiety, resentment and pride creep back into my life.  I heard someone say that this is exactly how we get back into EGO – we Ease God Out.

     The outcome is always the same.  In letting go of what I think I know I have gotten used to a life of serenity, peace, honest relationships and freedom and suddenly I find myself “back in charge” and invariably discontented.  And the solution is always the same.  It starts with calling a few people I know that are further along on the spiritual path and telling on myself.  They remind me of what works and help me think through the current “circumstances” that I find unacceptable.  Invariably they help me find where I have gotten off track and what I can do to become better attuned and work for a better outcome.  Then I get quiet and ask myself if a return to insanity is really what I want.  The answer invariably is no, and so I do what it takes to return to living in the moment and being willing to take the necessary actions to follow the guidance I have received.  Honesty, willingness to be teachable, willingness to take appropriate action and surrender of my self-will.  The answer is always the same, but somehow it seems new every time.  I wish I weren’t such a slow learner.

Today, may I know humility. 

Happy Friday all !!

David

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