“God gave us the gift of life;
it is up to us
to give ourselves
the gift of living well.”
Voltaire
What’s missing in your life?
What if what you think is missing is just hiding in plain sight?
Calling to you – for the purpose of you growing.
In this regard, it’s similar to my posts on why bad things happen to good people – to broaden our (yours, mine and everyone’s) perspective.
See if my story illustrates my point. I realize we all have similar experiences. This is my experience, and this is what I learned. What worked for me will work for you as well.
It was dark, cold, raining hard with a brisk wind blowing in my face as I rode an old bicycle home from work. My poncho, a black 42-gallion trash bag Pam had cut a hole, so it encased me to keep me dry. It had been a difficult day. I thought back to my lunchtime call with Pam. What was I supposed to do?
Pam asked (she always asked) if I was having fun. Having fun? I hated this job! It had never been on my radar. Was I supposed to lie? I could have said, “Yes, sweetheart, I’m having fun. I love this job.” But no, I didn’t answer her. I had left her projecting, knowing she would get stressed.
Now, when I arrived home, I’d see her. She’d be distressed that she didn’t know how she could help me get over the Supreme Court declining to hear my case; saying although what the State did was wrong – they didn’t care. They let it stand. They didn’t think I merited their time. Although the State had acknowledged in court they had no evidence of my wrongdoing, the only complaints were from competitors who couldn’t compete with us; the State wrongfully took everything away and the Court said, “huh.”
Pam was right, I couldn’t let it go.
We lost everything. I was riding an old bicycle to a job I hated but it was the best job I could get. Just shoot me now!
Then, like a bolt of lightning a question and its answer hit me: “What can I do so I can tell Pam ‘Yes!’? I can change my focus!” I became like a man possessed with a new idea. Think Joe! What is there I can focus on? I love talking with people; I talk with people all day long. Why hadn’t I seen this? I can give my energy to the part I like and let 0ther other part slide. Dismiss it.
I did.
Like magic – everything changed.
I’ve come to see it as I chose to resume putting Love through Grace into my work like I had before. Before I’d been burnt. The State had burnt me. The Court had said “Point being” and I withdrew. Pulled into my shell and hid. I wasn’t going to be hurt again.
But, hiding meant I didn’t engage. I quit putting Love through Grace into myself and what I did. I protected myself but the price of not engaging was suffocating me. I hated my job, my life and I saw no way out. There was no way out – other than to resume putting Love into myself and my work.
I’ve come to realize that I had put Love through Grace into my work as a food stamp case worker and with our financial company Family Resource Network. Then I stopped. Whereas I grew and emerged with Love through Grace flowing through me, when I stopped – the flow and I stagnated.
Love through Grace is the Energy at the Base of all Creation or Action in the Universe.
Love through Grace is giving love no strings attached. Similar to how a fruit tree in the wild grows and gives its fruit to whoever’s hungry, whoever picks it. It doesn’t care who receives it – its purpose is growing the fruit! Being in the flow of Love through Grace is nourishing, invigorating and exhilarating. Stagnating isn’t.
Eventually, I slowly realized the whole experience had called to me for me to see, experience and grow! Expand my awareness.
I am not my body.
Carmen Moshier ~ The Power And The Glory
I am a spark of the sum of all bodies, a spark of God.
This is important and bears repeating: It is a significant step when I acknowledge, like I acknowledge the back of my hand – my body is not me and I am not my body. I am a spark of the sum of all bodies. Everyone and everything! As God said I Am That I Am!
As one with God, I am infinite. I am not limited in a timeline – I am part and parcel with/of God. As such, God and I emerge through all experiences. So are you.
Love through Grace is what’s it all about.
Regardless of our circumstances, our life is about staying true to our purpose: learning to Love through Grace. Learning to experience love and all its facets including Acknowledging, Accepting, Forgiving, Loving and Experiencing Peace and Joy through Gratitude!
I call it Life’s APP: Our Awareness determines our Perception, which frames our Projection. We simply don’t see what we’re unaware of. Our Perception frames our projection, the experience(s) we project ourselves living.
Last week I covered how what we seek is waiting, calling to us and will come to us – BUT we have to develop an open and receptive perspective, or we can’t see it –even when it’s right in front of us as this story by Emmylou Harris illustrates.
“Ballad of a Runaway Horse” is the story of the natural progression of looking, searching everywhere for what we’re longing for. We don’t see it, although it’s right there in front of us, waiting for us.
Like a ship in the dense fog, you hear its foghorn but can’t locate it. The answer is to expand your perspective. Your perspective limits what you see – we only acknowledge that which we’re aware of.
Neil Diamond’s “Hell Yeah” acknowledges nothing is free. Even living what may appear to others as “Living Your Dreams!” isn’t free.
Living our story, whether it’s simply the one we happen to be on or the newest, greatest one we’ve written, comes at a price. The price includes getting out of the comfort zone and falling down, falling off the wagon, as one learns a new skill.
Is it worth it?
In previous posts, I reviewed how Viktor Frankl, William James, myself and others declared undeniably, “Yes!” it is worth it.
Though the price may be steep, challenging and difficult; more so than one ever imagined. If we choose to see it through, we discover it was worth it. I described part of my experiences, the price I paid and how I gladly paid it again. If it wasn’t worth the price, I would not have paid it again and again.
Even the road to recovery itself may be high. I attended Pathways Core Training, beginning in Class 251, found it more challenging than I was prepared for and dropped out to hide.
I graduated from Pathways, Class 252. On the road to reclaiming my life, I was assigned the Eagles “Get Over It.” It’s a little rocking number encouraging the listener to move on; let go of the past. Easier said than done. Although staying stuck in the past, having a pity party may seem tempting but it doesn’t have a happy ending.
I wish you and I, everyone and everything, a happy ending. Don’t you? After all, when you and I wish that for ourselves, we’re wishing it for each other; when we wish it for each other, we’re wishing it for ourselves.
Einstein described it this way:
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” Albert Einstein
This is a variant of what Einstein described as “spooky action at a distance.” More on this in the weeks ahead.
Until Next Time,
Joe