What agreements are you making with yourself? What agreements are you constantly upholding? What decisions were made without discussion? What longheld beliefs keep you from pursuing your fullest potential? The subconscious loves to attach and it does so very easily, but it is also extremely intelligent, flexible, and ready at any moment to move in a new direction. Tell it something new and it will agree. Give it new, positive, healthy commands. Imbue it with new vigor and it will snap to. Change agreements and see what happens. You won’t be disappointed!
Emotion is like the wind unleashed in the unruly passion of a hurricane. Experience its power and intensity, but don’t attach. Don’t mistake passion for the heart’s intent. The wind is a passing sensation. How can the wind offer stability? Such an illusion breeds only delusion.
A child’s innocence is not childish. To the contrary, innocence is the only requirement to advance in infinity. Innocence greets oncoming time with total attention, unencumbered by thoughts, needs, desires and entitlements that filter the discovery of what truly is. Innocence is the key to hearing the heart’s true message.
The ego is the master of our time. The ego both generates its own thoughts and attaches to the pervasive flow of thoughts in the universe. The ego also harbors the childish child that seeks to remain the eternal child, driven by the pleasure principle.
Even the most mature thinker might belie the hidden child insisting to live in the sandbox of its thoughts. Be mindful to distinguish the golden child—the child that grows through innocence—from the eternal child, the one who refuses to ever leave the nursery.
For the ego to mature to innocence it must learn to command its attention. Much of the time the ego is asleep at the wheel of consciousness, as the drone of the subconscious flits from association to association and takes it down different roads of thought. Of course, thoughts automatically generate emotions befitting this unfolding drama of thought.
As in meditation, the task for the ego is to become aware that it has slipped into unconsciousness and to bring its attention back to presence in the current moment. Placing attention on the breath is a universal alternative to the focus on thought.
As the mind is cleared of its preoccupation with thought, the ego can place its attention upon the heart. Breathing into the heart focuses attention to the place of truth. Sometimes the heart speaks with a subtle or strong sensation that punctuates a word or thought that spontaneously presents itself as you ask the heart a question. This is an affirmation, either a yes or a no, or a suggestion to explore further.
Sometimes the heart affirms with an outside synchronicity, like a bird loudly breaking into song at the moment a thought appears. Sometimes the heart speaks directly in words of calm whisper. Often there is a definite feeling of rightness, a knowing of what is right to do. Feeling is a weighing function, like a scale, distinctly different from the windstorm of powerful emotion.
The heart is the place for ego and High Self to meet. Ego, however, must be cleansed of its egoism and narcissism to enter the chamber of the heart. Short of this, the ego, like every narcissist, can only hear itself. The ego must surrender to its true purpose, to serve the intent of its High Self, like the knight who serves the ruler.
Freed of attachment to emotion, with the receptivity of pure innocence, and the commitment to serve the intent of the High Self is the path to receive the truth of the heart.
Contentment comes from the hard work of fully knowing the self in the deepest way and learning to be fully present to life without resentment or regret but understanding that everything that happens is a result of your own intentions to grow and evolve. Find your feet every day upon the solid ground of your life and remind yourself of that intent, along with reminding yourself of your intention to connect with and fully allow your spirit to ground itself in your life as well. With spirit known and in alignment with physical self, contentment comes easily into play.
You have autonomy and the ability to choose, every day, how you wish to live your life. Once adulthood is reached your decisions are your own, your attitudes are your own, how you decide to express yourself is up to you. Thus, you are in charge of the person you become each day as you interact in the world. Your inner world also comes into play because what’s going on inside you affects how you behave. Get to know yourself well so that your life has balance and so that it is healthy inside and out.
Make time for yourself today by taking a few minutes here and there to check in with how your body feels, with how your inner self is feeling and with where your heart stands on any important matter that arises. By checking in throughout the day you offer yourself an opportunity to maintain balance, to get grounded in the true reality of you. The true reality of you is just as important as the reality of others, or the reality of the world around you, for if you are not grounded and in reality nothing else will be either. So make a healthy habit of checking in with yourself. And pay attention to feedback, taking steps to remain in balanced harmony, within and without.
