This is Olivia. She's my fearless 12 yog and that is her with her previous horse. I was going to share about that; her leaving her 1st horse and believing that her mom....I mean that Love, (she had NO faith in me and rightly so) would provide her with another horse. Her other horse is on the way, Love has provided. But I didn't share that. Next time.
Today I've come to the conclusion (again...because I forgot) that all my difficulties are due to my preferences. If I would GIVE UP my preferences and opinions, my ego would have nothing to say. If there is nothing to say, nothing to listen to, there is nothing to do but be PRESENT.
The present is full attention with the mind and hopefully the senses as well. This takes training. You'd think if this was our nature, to be aware and present, it would come easy. And IT WILL SISTER, but you must enter training! You must exercise self-discipline* to connect to your higherself/Divine/god.
Start SLOW. Start with a 2 minute meditation. There was a time when 2 minutes closing my eyes and listening to all the crap in my head just about drove me mad. Meditation only served to INCREASE my crazy thoughts! But then I'd read some sacred verses, I'd sing some songs about love and god, and my mind would REMEMBER what my soul had always known and never forgotten.
Increase to 3 minutes of meditation. Can't be still? How about a 3 minute walk while repeating a mantra or sacred verse? A 5 minute walk while observing your mind's thoughts without connecting to them.
Lately, my connecting to Divine looks like me sitting on the floor in lotus, rotating my hips while exhaling loud and extended moans (releasing what needs to go) interspersed with tears (more releasing) and smiling coupled with laughter.
How I spend time with Love changes with the seasons. In the spring and summer I'm at the beach often early in the morning or at dusk to sing with the Divine. Winter has me bundled up before the sun rises drinking a cup of mushroom tea, reading ACIM or another sacred book, journaling, and meditating near the furnace. When I'm working, when I am home, when I am out....I am not embarrassed to pause, close my eyes and do a few breaths.
Because our true identity is love, our SOUL (the part of us that never dies) CRAVES this connection to its source. 2 weeks ago I didn't shower for 3 days, nor did I eat. On the 4th night I enjoyed a hot bath and a delicious steak salad. My physical body craved this!
Our soul CRAVES being fed as well. It must be fed food that is in alignment with its nature. Our nature is love. It would make sense to nourish our being with songs of praise, affirmations, good words about OURSELF and others.
I am about ready, as soon as I am done writing this, to enjoy my room alone (lots of kids most all the time in my home), put on some Ajeet Kaur to sing words of praise.
There are over 7k religions and EVERY SINGLE religion/thought steam, tells you how to connect to god. And guess what? All paths lead to god.
All.
It doesn't matter what you believe or do.
We can't escape love.
"If I ascend up into heaven, Love is there; if I make my bed in hell, Love is there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Love lead me." Psalms 139
My joy, is to ENCOURAGE you sisters in EXPERIENCING the Divine within you and merging with the Whole of the Universe or God. There is NO RIGHT OR WRONG WAY to know God! Experiment, try different yoga positions, read a variety of sacred texts, solicit wisdom from older brothers and sisters who are walking the path, try psychedelics if you need help stopping the commentary/ego.
*Only in the beginning does a LOVE RELATIONSHIP with the DIVINE require a bit of self-discipline....once your soul TASTES and SEES and is REFRESHED by the basking in its true identity, your body/mind/heart will follow....the more you practice, the more and quicker it is to REMEMBER, you will feel chains bound on your mind and physical body begin to loosen their grip . The more time you spend in this Love, the more you crave it. The MORE you crave it. the MORE you CRAVE it. MORE. CRAVE.
"Perhaps you think that different kinds of love are possible. Perhaps you think there is a kind of love for this, a kind of love for that; a way of loving one, another way of loving still another.
LOVE IS ONE.
It has no separate parts and no degrees; no kinds no levels, no divergences and is distinctions. It is like itself, unchanged throughout. It never alters with a person or a circumstance. " ACIM Lesson 127