Expanding Joy Coaching

This month the Spiritual Nourishment weekly quotes have all been excerpts from the Poem, The Invitation.

Since I was not able to share every paragraph this month (there are a few more than 5) and so you can fully appreciate the complete poem, I have included it here. Enjoy.

The Invitation by Oriah
It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon…
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming,
from the book The Invitation
published by HarperONE, San Francisco,
1999 All rights reserved

For more information on the Poem and the book of the same name that gives a deeper description of each passage check out Oriah’s website or purchase the book.

One of the core components I teach in most of my groups, workshops and individual sessions is that we come into this physical life for 3 reasons…. to CREATE, to GROW, and to SERVE. I share a lot in these blogs about conscious creation and how we grow through our life experience, but today I want to talk about a unique aspect of SERVICE OF THE SOUL that many people are unaware of.

When most of us think of the way we serve in this lifetime we often think of the good things. How we help family, or educate others, or donate money to charity, or serve at our church or spiritual center. These are all powerful ways to serve in this physical life, but they are just one component of service from the perspective of the soul. There is an equally powerful way a soul can serve another soul in this physical experience and that is through providing a contrasting experience for another soul.

Duality is a key component of physical life that is absent in the non-physical realm. So most souls choose to come into this dualistic physical realm to experience the opposite of their true nature (pain, separation, unworthiness, limitation etc) in order to more powerfully embody their true nature (oneness, wholeness, inherent worth, vitality).

Souls agree, prior to birth, to support each other in experiencing these untruths by taking on roles that will accentuate the contrast. So for example, two very loving souls may agree to come together in a future life time as Mother and daughter. The soul that will play the role of mother may agree to come in with a tendency towards insecurity for her own soul to eventually embody the truth that she is inherently good enough and her security is within. This could take most of her lifetime to accomplish. So she may also agree to be the mother of her loving soul friend who wants to work on self-love in this lifetime. The mother’s insecurity while the daughter is growing up could cause her to be very critical of her daughter enforcing her daughters experience of feeling unloved by her mother. Through this contrasting experience, the daughter’s soul will not be able to look to her mother for love, so she will be forced to find love the only true place it ever can come, from within.

So you can see from the soul level that the unkindness that is experienced between mother and daughter is exactly what the souls have requested for their own growth and the growth of the other. It is a powerful and loving way of serving.

So next time you find yourself blaming another loved one for their behavior or blaming the universe for giving you a hard life, turn within and ask yourself the more powerful question….

WHAT WAS MY SOUL WANTING TO LEARN/EMBODY FROM THIS EXPERIENCE?

As we move along our spiritual path, we can come extremely excited about a Spiritual Truth, spiritual practice, tool, technique or concept that we have recently learned. As we see powerful results in our own life, we may want to share it with everyone we know, especially those we see struggling with the same issue we had been struggling with.

One of the questions I used to ask a lot at the beginning stages of my growing awareness was “Why doesn’t everyone know this?”. The books are out there, the cd’s are available. I would ask “Why the heck is this not in the school systems?” or “Why didn’t I get this info earlier?” And then there are those that know about it and still don’t use these powerful tools that have changed our life. I would righteously think “The answer was right under their nose and they didn’t use it!”.

Then as I deepened my understanding on why we choose to come into this life and how this physical existence works, it made a lot more sense to me. I looked back and realized there were years that many of these solutions were right under my nose and I didn’t use them either. Or I had been told about them, usually by my mother, and blown her off. So why? Because I was not a vibrational match to them.

We choose to come into this life to create, grow and serve. Part of the learning process requires a sufficient amount of time learning what DOESN’T serve us (based on untruth) in order to more fully appreciate what DOES serve us (based on TRUTH). So, the solution, awareness, or experience of your Truth will not come until you are vibrationally ready, which means you have had enough time experiencing the negative and are ready to really embody the Truth that is caused you to ask for.

This is the same for the greater humanity. It is growing in awareness at a much slower pace than most individuals, so the majority is not going to feel drawn to some of these amazing solutions and truths that are already in existence here on the physical plane till we as a society are ready. The embracing of the movie “The Secret” was a profound next step for our society. As you know it is a very basic, simplified version of spiritual truth, but it is way more than most of society currently knew and was a perfect way to pave the path for the next level of vibration.

So, don’t beat yourself or others up for not “getting it” yet. They/you will get it in their/your divine perfect time. It is all unfolding perfectly. Just enjoy the ride.

As I move into the final stages of launching two new businesses, I am reminded of the world of two of the most enlightened people I’ve experienced on this planet about priorities.

Rev. Michael Beckwith of Agape International Spiritual Center meditates for 2 hours every day… and it’s not like he isn’t a busy man. But he makes his meditation an absolute priority. He also includes visioning and spiritual mind treatment in that list of priorities in meetings, planning events, speaking with community members. All these ways of connecting to his higher self and Source are embedded in every aspect of his daily life.

Eckhart Tolle talks of Presence similarly. In his book “The Power of Now” he states: “Instead of Dwelling in time and mind paying brief visits to NOW…. Pay brief visits to the past and future and mind only when necessary and then return to DWELL IN THE NOW.” He also states: “Give your fullest attention to whatever the moment presents. Accept what is, honor the present moment, and watch as unhappiness and struggle dissolve and life begins to flow with joy and ease.”

So often, it is when we need our spiritual practices like centering, meditation, visioning, spiritual mind treatment or just “being” the most that we use them the least. It is a wonderful for building your spiritual muscle to practice these tools when things are going well. But you will find that they truly shine in their benefits when you use them when things are not going so well (or in my case.. when things are going so well you are bit overwhelmed!)

Namaste,
Michelle

It has come to my attention lately that our society often confuses following your inner guidance with procrastination.  Though actual procrastination is quite prevalent, there are many instances where you may make a great plan of action and then the universe may start to guide you in a different direction causing you to put off your current task to another day. Some would perceive this as procrastination because you are putting off your current task.  However, in the realm of spirit, it actually serves you to follow that guidance instead of your planned activity.  There may be a person you need to rendezvous with or an action that will result in something important on your path.

So, then the question may arise, how do I know when I am procrastinating and when my higher self is guiding me to something else that will serve me better?

The distinction is in motivation.  When someone is procrastinating, it is because they feel negatively about the thing they are “supposed” to be doing for some reason.  They may not know where to start or what the next step is, or it may simply be a less pleasing activity.  Then the avoidance of that activity will result in guilt, overwhelm, a deeper drop  in vibration and inevitability a continuation of that procrastination cycle.  Avoiding what feels bad is the motivation.  Not a high vibration.

On the other hand, there are plenty of healthy, creative people out there that have a lot going on and feel excited about many activities.  If you are one of those people and you are just being pulled energetically to one activity more than another, than this is not procrastination, but the universe calling you to something else.  The motivation in this case is excitement of one thing over another, not avoidance.  In this case, following your intuition will raise your vibration vs. drop it and will align you with the people, circumstances or situations that you have been asking for.  And, as you follow your guidance, eventually you will start to feel a pull towards your original activity at which time you will feel energized to address it and be much more efficient and effective in the activity itself.

NOTE: When you don’t follow your inner pull and continue to try to do the activity you feel you “should” be doing instead of what you are truly being called to do, this can lead to a drop in vibration and ultimately actual procrastination.  So, skip all that mess and just follow where you are pulled.  Trust that the universe has the bigger picture and all will get done in it’s perfect time!