MAY 2010: Seasons come and seasons go and Life is relentless

Seasons come and seasons go and Life is relentless in constantly moving forward in its changing sights and formations. We humans say we completely accept that Life is change and change is Life... but I question the true ease with which we navigate the changes that come through our own lives. Think for a moment about the last big change you experienced or are now experiencing. Maybe it was a financial hit you took or are taking in the recent crisis, or the loss of a loved one. Perhaps you're experiencing a health challenge that has sent you reeling.

Speaking for myself, my human inclination through periods of unwanted change...up until now...has been to deny, resist or ignore what's occurring, to simply procrastinate facing it head on. I would run faster, do more, keep busier to escape the internal confusion and chaos. And, yet it is in the very act of standing still and being willing to face the feelings, the fear, the devastation and anxiety that we draw forth the inner spiritual resources that are always at our disposal, when we make ourselves available to them. Regardless of what's happening remember, "This too shall pass."

How does one make oneself available to one's inner spiritual resources? There's only one way as far as I can glean. And, that is through daily, consistent spiritual practices, such as meditation, affirmative prayer (referred to in Science of Mind as spiritual mind treatment), quietude, mindfulness and self-inquiry. Until we are willing to take a compassionate look at what is going on in our internal world, we continue to be on automatic pilot, spinning out of control by taking old escape routes we're familiar with. So I support myself and everyone in the willingness to shift into taking a new and higher road that starts within, by practicing the following steps when "stuff happens."

AWARENESS CONTEMPLATION:
Take out a fresh and new welcoming journal and smoothly writing pen. Write answers to the following questions:
(A) What is currently occurring in my life that is causing me discomfort...or that persists from the past?
(B) How do I feel in the midst of this experience? Be meticulously honest ie: "I feel fearful, impotent, confused, angry, anxious, etc."
(C) Do I believe there is a deeper Self within grounded in clarity and calm that holds my key to a new way of thinking and a new way of living?
(D) Am I willing to consciously connect with my deeper Self by experimenting with this writing technique for the next seven days...followed with declaring this affirmative prayer?

AFFIRMATIVE PRAYER:
I Am not my thoughts, feelings or experiences. I Am pure and perfect Creative Spirit. I reflect the spiritual nature of God, therefore, I Am wisdom, clarity, calm and faith in action. There is a greater Universal sense of myself that I consciously identify with in order to see new possibilities, access new answers and implement new solutions. I reclaim my inner spiritual power, no longer giving it away to people, places and conditions. I remain steady in the midst of all changes, choosing to see the blessings they contain and thereby claiming them as my new experience of healing, upliftment and transformation. I make myself available to the ways of the wise one within, knowing by speaking this way, I speak the Truth of who and what I Am. I gratefully let something new and greater now emerge from within me and so be it and so it is!