Is it all a lie?

A  friend recently posted on Facebook the 5 simple rules to happiness: 

1. Free your heart of hatred

2. Free your mind from worries
3. Live simply

4. Give more
5. Expect less

I responded with praise and conformity. However, I was startled to see the following post from someone I didn’t know:

“I did this for a while, all five. Here’s what happens – you lose touch. The material world’s demands eventually infringe on your peace and you realize that you cannot transcend while still attached to the world. You lose your use of goals and become bound to nothing…and the happiness becomes ignorance of all but the current moment and your passion fails. External suffering makes life move forward, finding internal happiness leads nowhere without a desire to change external circumstance, both must be in balance. Or something.” WOW was my initial response. Ignorance, yeah I guess I can see that. I mean I don’t watch the news anymore because it depresses me and drains my energy. Does that make me ignorant? If we detach ourselves from outcomes then what are we really living for? Can we be highly spiritual beings and still have goals that depend on the world? I look at Gabby and think HELL YEAH! That woman is spiritual, has goals, and success. Does that mean she is still connected to outcomes?

A few days later I had the same sort of conversation with my husband. I insisted that you can be spiritual and still have goals and live a full life. He told me I’d be living in my own world and would lose touch with reality. If I was continuously avoiding our money problems and affirming that we live in abundance (although we don’t) then I am not living in reality, right? He continued that by me changing my perception to happiness and gratitude for the things that I already have, I was acknowledging that I didn’t need anything else and therefore there was nothing to manifest and that was how I was able to achieve peace. I wasn’t actually manifesting anything. Boy, was my head spinning at this point. “I dunno,” I answered, confused

So is this whole spirituality think a lie? Are we just changing our perceptions and affirming our happiness to live in our own inner worlds while detached from the unchanged “real” world? How can I possibly manifest more money when I keep telling myself I have enough? Is manifestation actually a trick? Is the purpose to trick your mind that you already have what you want so that you live in this imaginary-esq world where you have everything? Will flooding my mind with positivity prevent horrible things from happening?? How can this possibly work. I’m starting to doubt the journey. And I don’t want to. For the first time, I was starting to feel connected to something larger and I liked the process. But is it fake?

What are your thoughts?

ACIM quote to live by

A Course in Miracles quote from Gabrielle Bernstein's book Spirit Junkie.

"If he senses even the faintest hint of irritation in himself as he responds to anyone, let him instantly realize that he has made an interpretation that is not true. Then let him turn within to his eternal Guide, and let Him judge what the response should be."

What this means is that we control our perceptions of everything and therefore it's existence. Being a woman who is naturally sensitive, sometimes hormonal, and often times defensive, I always read too much into what people say. So I might be having a conversation with a friend when she says something that comes off as mean spirited, rude, and just obnoxious. In my head I am thinking "Wow, what a B%$&*! She has said this before so now I really know what she thinks of me." This is the ego speaking and its perception of the situation. If I were to ask my inner wisdom to intervene what would she say? She would probably help me return to love and see that I have myself created the idea that this person is attacking me. If I return to loving thoughts my perception of this person and the situation would completely change. So the question is do you want to live peacefully and happily with loving thoughts of yourself and others? Or would you rather be suffering and angry person? The choice seems simple.

The bigger idea here is that we are truly the creators of everything in our lives. We create our interpretations and therefore our happiness and everything else that exists in our lives. Everything I learn about spirituality, love, and happiness always goes back to the mind and the thoughts that we think. It is such a difficult aspect to wrap our heads around that we think about we actually bring about. Our thoughts bring things into existence. My thought of love towards this person during a tense situation would have brought more love and happiness into both of our lives instead of anger. And so with that I am making a commitment to myself right now that I will try to follow this rule in my everyday life. 

Day 7: Claire Zammit talks spirituality

Wow, what an amazing woman. If only we could all change our thoughts and perceptions to co-create and manifest with the universe like this woman does. A true goal in life.

First off, spirituality begins with a quest for something bigger. Many women go through a time in their lives when they are searching for something more in life and something bigger than themselves. That is what started may journey and may be the beginning of yours as well. So start by defining your current relationship to spirit. Even if you don’t have one right now, you will. For me, meditation was a wonderful way to connect to spirit and myself. It is a time for me to get quiet and really listen to what my inner wisdom has to say. It is also a way for me to connect to Gd outside of religion.

Don’t resist the opportunity to understand and connect with your inner knowing due to responsibilities, time restrictions, or other aspects of your life. This IS a very important aspect of your life. Because of such things, many of us put limitations on ourselves and what we can have. “There’s no way I can make that much money. I don’t see how I can find my soul mate at this age. I have absolutely no time to work out therefore I can’t possibly lose weight.” We begin to shut down to our deepest, inner desires because we have that mentality that we can’t have what we really want. So we start settling for other things that may not be our true calling in life and don’t make us particularly happy.

When we include spirituality in our lives we begin to open our minds to the idea that our opportunities are limitless. We can have and do anything that we want. This is a difficult concept to grasp. And I admit, I still can’t master this. But Claire says, get the HOW out of your mind. This is something that ‘The Secret’ talks about too. Don’t worry how it will happen just believe that it will. Trust that the universe is on your side and allow it to happen. Don’t stand in the way with your big fat lies and misconceptions. Listen to your inner answers. Don’t give up. If you fail, know that this was the course you were supposed to take. There is a lesson to be learned from everything you do.

“Stay faithful to your pathway because your own destiny is inevitable.” (Claire Zammit)

<3 live, Love, Miracles