Living life at 1,000mph! The world that we created…

Are you? I’m sure you are, most of us are, rushing from one activity to another or from appointment to appointment, this earth shatteringly important thing to an even more important something or other. Busy… busy… busy… We feel compelled to push, push, push just to stand still and the stress is killing us.

We feel we must have control, we feel we must force life to fit the ridged set of requirements we feel are necessary for us to feel secure and at peace. This world stems from fear, we must compete with, battle against, trick, out manoeuvring contriving and scheming and if necessary completely destroy those we see as competitors.

Working so dam hard earning a living when we should be making a life and where is it getting us? - And the big question, where is God in all this anyway?

Humanity suffers from the separation manifested by our out-of-control egos, egos that are fed by the fear that sits at the root of, and is the foundation of, our need to out manoeuvre, scheme against and battle with all those we see a competition for the apparently scant resources of this world.

Look around you at this world that we have created, fighting harder and harder with ourselves and each other and we’re not even standing still, we seem to be sliding backwards.

Is it possible that by slowing down, by training our egos to take a back seat, to step aside and by gradually releasing our fears we can actually achieve more?

That by ending the struggle, ceasing to worry and ending the battles with our fellow humans (and for that matter, with the whole of life) we can finally achieve the state of peace and security for which we’ve always longed?

We human beings were NOT created to live a life of struggle, fear or disease (dis-ease) we are NOT here to worry about our very survival or live a life of terror not knowing if there is a way out.

Believe it or not, life is designed to manifest the exact and most deeply held dreams and desires of your hearts. Really! I know as you look at the world around you it doesn’t seem like it, but it does, always, and it’s the peace stealing and ego feeding fear that does it.

And yes, by the way, there is a way out…!

Let go, stop trying to force life to show-up in a certain way, stop trying to change your world with brut force and ignorance. SLOW DOWN, and to coin a phase, “Let go and let God.” Is it just possible that by trusting the process called life, by believing that God knows how to run your life better than you do, and that he knows how to get you to your destination with grace and efficiency? Not only can he get you there faster but with perfect timing too?

The creation of your desires suddenly become effortless, graceful and you might even say easy, when you let go and trust life, when you trust God. When we cease our fear filled struggle with the circumstances of our lives (Cast your cares…) and follow the lead of our God created spirit, (Seek ye first the kingdom…) the peaceful, fulfilled lives we seek can gracefully manifest in surprisingly short, (but nevertheless, perfect) period of time.

1 Peter 4:8-11 "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."

That’s not to say you shouldn’t live an interesting life, quite the opposite, live life to its fullest just cease all this maddening, stress inducing, fighting and struggling. Have your adventures, live your dreams, fulfil your potential and by all means live big - but stop the worry filled fear induced struggling!.

To live your life from a position of peace, we must trust, having faith that everything will not only work together for our good but, will also appear and manifest at the right time and in the right season. Cast your life’s cares onto your creator, onto life himself, in the process of which setting yourself and ourselves free to love each other deeply, acting with care and hospitality towards all (something I’m still working on, btw).

Make full use of your talents, you have them for a reason, use them to bless and to serve others and when you do, grace can flow through you in all its myriad forms. Speak at all times using words of love, act with the strength that comes from love and in all things live in gratitude.

Life will get you to the life you dream of faster and with perfect timing better than you ever could yourself, slow down, stop worrying and trust.

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Mindfulness

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Being mindful and aware of what you are thinking and the emotions that are produced by those thoughts, can show you so much about yourself. It can reveal the motivations that are not only behind your thoughts, emotions and actions but the repeating (and often negative) patterns of thoughts, reactions and emotions in your behaviour.

Watch yourself, in your mind take a step back and watch yourself. Observe, without judging, how you tend to react in a habitual way to certain types of thoughts, situations and people. Observe (again without judging), the emotions that arise at these times, then, ask yourself why? Why do I keep reacting this way?

The answer you arrive at could change your life. It will probably take some time and waiting with patience and you might have to let it sit with you for a while before you come to an answer and will different from person to person. But, when you do it really could change your life.

Continue observing in this way and a thought might occur to you, “These negative thoughts and emotions are not me”. You will on longer identify yourself with or as these negative ideas and realize you can make new choices, you can choose the way you see yourself. You can now choose to act as a pose to reacting in the way you have up until now, this will set you free to be who you really want and should be.

You can now give yourself permission to choose differently, to consciously and deliberately choose and act in a new positive life affirming way. A way that will revolutionize the picture you hold of yourself and therefore, revolutionize the whole your life.

Understanding your motivations is an important step, but, acting from the revelation that the observing of your thoughts, emotions and actions has given you is essential if you are to see any real change in your life. It could be your health, finances, or in your relationships or any other aspect of your life, whatever it is action is the fastest way to see change.

Act from this place of observation, of mindfulness, be aware of the effect your words and actions have on your life, the world around you and all the people in it. So, who is it that is doing all this observing? You are, the real you, the spiritual you, the part of you that come to this life to experience and express as much of itself as possible. Focus your mind on this observer, think of it as observing the observer if you like, spend some time with your real self, with the divine you.

Another good idea is to ask that part of ourselves that gives us our individual identities, the ego, to step aside and to allow the real you, the spirit you, the observer you, to take the driving seat. Coming from this place of the spirit is to come from a place that is motivated only by love you will gain a completely new perspective on all that noise and drama that goes on in your mind. Again allowing you to see your usual motivations and reactions in a new way and again, allowing you to consciously choose a fulfilling path for your life.

Come from your true self and you are motivated purely by love, you accept yourself, you accept others and you definitely do not judge. Now you have seen yourself in this new way, now you understand your motivations and beliefs (which area just un-questioned ideas you hold about yourself) you can leave the old you behind and march into the future with a peaceful mind, confidence, standing tall with your head held high.

You are also free to see all those you meet; family, friends, acquaintances or even those you might call strangers, in a new light. Because you now have an insight into their motivations and feelings you no longer have expectations of them that they were probably unable to meet. You now realize that everyone is struggling with the same internal battles you are, the difference is that now you are able to (gently) bring them to the same realisations that you have.

The point of all of this is that being consciously aware of your inner life allows you to deliberately choose the course of your life. You now have control over your thoughts, emotions and actions, not as before when you believed that they (your thoughts, emotions) had control over you. You can be who you always wanted to be, you can be the person you always knew you were on the inside, but never thought you could be on the outside.

Remember you are not your thoughts, you have thoughts, but they are not you -- BE THE BEST YOU - YOU CAN BE.

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