How is your new year going thus far? How are you feeling? Have you done anything thus far that was “new” or different from the previous year?
Now, stop!
Pause and take in this idea that your Grand Rising should not be “goal-oriented!” Western culture and the consciousness of colonization would have us brainwashed and indoctrinated to the point of being addicted to the checklist and the things needing to get done. Manifest destiny, industrialization revolution, rugged individualism, and what the young folks today refer to as the “grind,” are all forms of this consciousness that would have us work our “fingers to the bone,” because we are addicted to the busyness of got to get stuff done!
A New Way of “progress”
While studying martial arts, I was introduced to the concept of Wu Wei. The most literal understanding of this Chinese term would be, “non-doing or doing nothing, or even getting more done by doing nothing.” Talk about paradox. However, it was around 2020 when my mother died that someone introduced a new translation of this concept to my awareness and practice. “This and nothing more.”
Rather than more and more needing to be done, simply do this one thing and nothing more. When eating, eat and nothing more. No planning what to do after. No checking phone while eating. Simply eat and enjoy the food and if eating with someone else, enjoy the food and their company and conversation or the silence if there is no conversation. This gave me the opportunity to be present with the grief of my mother’s passing as well as all of the family opposition, disregard, and abandonment that followed. “This and nothing more” was the balm that allowed healing to occur.
Wu Wei, is simply being present without the need to win the “getting things done Olympics.”
Self-Improvement – Curse or Blessing?
When approached from the consciousness of colonization, Self-Improvement becomes yet another thing “to do.” It becomes a task that we feel we must embark on to be effective, enlightened beings. And yet, what if we stopped trying to control the wave and simply surfed it?
How many of us are trying to perfect the art of brushing our teeth or combing our hair? Are we working diligently to become more skilled or enlightened in the washing of our laundry or drinking coffee or tea? Before enlightenment, sort clothes and do laundry. After enlightenment, sort clothes and do laundry. Not sorting clothes and doing laundry to become enlightened but because enlightenment and the laundry and one.
We evolve by being in the flow and the flow is not about a check list of things to accomplish. So, this new year there may have been a desire to change the numbers we see when we step on the scale. And that is fine, IF the motivation is centered on truth and not the indoctrinated idea of what you should weigh.
The “self” that sees improvement as a mission to accomplish and has a need to improve is the self that has been conditioned to see itself as less than.
Breathe
The Art of You
In the realm of the “arts” there are two kinds of people who are referred to as “artists.” One is the technician. The person who can create or perform the art technique “masterfully” but there is no depth, no heart, and no soul to the art. The other is the person who imbues the activity and the art with heart and soul. Sometimes this person’s “technique” is not perfect, but it is more emotionally impactful because the soul of the artist is expressed. Often, we get so consumed with getting things done, improving our lives, rising and evolving in meaningful ways, that we lose the vision of what this is all for. Life is to be lived as fully as we choose!
“Religious Science is a religion of joy, free from fear.*
It is a religion of faith justified by results.”
~Ernest Holmes, Living the Science of Mind, p. 74
Put it to Practice
“The spiritual journey is one of constant transformation. In order to grow, you must give up the struggle to remain the same, and learn to embrace change at all times.”
~Michael Singer, “The Untethered Soul”, page 81 3
In order to grow, be present to the ever-present changes that are continually occurring in and around us. Be present while embodying and actively practicing this remix of the “serenity prayer.”
I, as an incarnation of the All that Is, have the wisdom of serenity to know that some things I cannot change, and I accept that. I have the presence, power, and fortitude of serenity to change the things that I can and those that I choose to change. And I have the compassionate serenity that grants me the ability to discern between what can and cannot be changed.
Where in my life am I invited right now to engage this “Declaration of Serenity?”
Feel free to take it to meditation, journaling, or Visioning. What in my life am I resisting because I do not want it to be what it is, even though I cannot change the specifics of it? What can I change when I bring my Full Bodied Yes to the forefront of my experiences and activities?
“There are going to be changes in our lives from hour to hour and day to day, and we cannot escape them. It is the nature of the Universe. Let us accept change, make the most of it, and capitalize on it. The action of the Law never changes, but the direction of the action is always up to us. Life can become a glorious adventure, increasingly filled with more of every good thing as we gradually or suddenly come to change our pattern of thinking so that it embraces more of those good things.”
~Dr. Ernest Holmes, Practical Application of Science of Mind (1958): (p. 22.4)
Blessings
Rev. Ray
*Non-Life-Affirming Fear