2019: The Year of Inner Alignment

Have you ever gone grocery shopping without a list or started a project without making sure you have all the materials (or started cooking without making sure you had all the ingredients?)  I have.  A lot.  Often.  I think I am moving faster, but in most cases, I have to re-do, re-start, break the flow, and everything takes longer.  I am pretty sure that is why I married my husband.  He never makes a move until he has thought it out all the way, has all the materials he needs, and has thought through the likely scenarios of what may come up.  Wow!

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I have learned a few things on this latest journey of taking ownership and responsibility of my decision to suffer.  One of the biggest things I learned, is that I rely to heavily on the feedback of others.  I actually love this about myself.  I love hearing different perspectives and seeing things differently.  I also know for a fact that I am so unsure of what I am doing.  I have made decisions that I was 100% confident and SURE were right, that turned out to be hugely misguided and based on some unconscious unmet need versus my true nature.  I have passed on opportunities that I was 100% sure were all wrong, only to be shown later, that they came from a place of deep love and respect and deserved to be at least considered. Knowing my own imperfectness, I looked often to others for their thoughts.  But this shifted this year as I worked on my practice of non-suffering.  You see, in order to not suffer, I had to change the way I saw everything that happened to me.  And, I had to see it completely different than how any conventional wisdom would teach me to see it.  In order to do that, I had to stop sharing and telling others about what was happening because 1) if I was talking about it, I was suffering over it and 2) even if I felt good about it, when I told others, they would say something that would make me question myself and thus start another cycle of suffering.  In order to stop suffering, I had to stop giving events air time in my life.  Internally in my head and externally in the form of telling others what happened and asking for their thoughts and perspectives about it.

I also learned to have more discernment in whose advice I listened to.  I wrote a blog post about who to follow and why. I realized upon signing up for a class, that I tend to sign up for classes with people who I see consistently, walking their talk.  No one is perfect and the teachers I follow tend to talk about the things they are working on and perfecting, just as much as the things they are rocking and getting right.  Authenticity.  And, the person who is Remembering Who They Really Are.  Because, when I spend time in the company of people who Remember Who They Really Are, I naturally Remember Who I Really Am.  They create an environment where that naturally happens for me.  In Who to Follow and Why, I suggested some questions to ensure the person whose advice you are taking is doing their own spiritual work.  Both of these are essential to consider before allowing outside influences in to your inter-alignment process.

As this year ends, I have noticed I am talking to God a lot more.  I am talking about all kinds of stuff.  Whether I should try a new recipe or just make the one I always make.  Whether I should let the cleaning lady bring someone with her or tell her to come alone.  Whether I should take a big trip I want to take or wait longer.  Whether I should reach out to offer consulting support or wait and see what flows in.  Being in flow, which is my favorite way to be, requires aligning yourself with a higher power.  Whatever you call the Higher Power, the key is to align internally to that higher vibration, that higher plane, and get a higher perspective.  In my blog, Puzzle Pieces, I talked about how to create the things I want in my life, they are not from using the same puzzle pieces and making them fit, but by opening up and allowing more in to create a bigger, better outcome.

Finally, the last reason for focusing on Inner-alignment is because you are currently Whole and Complete.  You have everything you need, right now, inside yourself, to create whatever is the highest, best outcome.  I love the opening of A Course in Miracles, which talks about the goal of ACIM.  It is not to teach love, because that is something that cannot be taught, but instead, to remove your barriers to love.  That is so true about each of us.  There is nothing to fix about ourselves or improve, only to remove the barriers, the hurts, the suffering, that keep us from being the amazing human beings that we TRULY are already.  

As we step into 2019, this is my prayer for us all

Dear God - 
As we move forward, guide our steps, our words and our actions.
Remind us often of Who We Are and Why We Are Here.
Remind us that love is enough.
Remind us that us being our true, authentic self is what the world needs the most.
Where we have fear, replace it with faith.
Where we have judgement, replace it with discernment and knowledge.
Where we have anger, replace it with true sight.
Where we have pain and suffering, replace it with miracles.
Let us not judge ourselves or others.
Let us see the truth of Who each person we encounter Really Is, so that we may remember Who We Really Are.
When we walk away from another or a situation, let us leave with love in our heart and with kindness, under your direction.
When we get triggered, remind us to pause before acting.
When we feel hurt, allow our own self compassion and your love to wash over our wounds and heal them.
Grant us our heart's desires and more than we ever imagined possible, so that we may give more than we ever thought possible.
Ease the burden of every human around the world and allow us to be of use to end suffering for all.
This year, give us the strength to be the men and women we are capable of being so that we may do the work that so desperately needs to be done to uplift the planet and each creature on it.
Use us for the greatest good of all.  Use our gifts, our talents, and our strengths.  Heal our weaknesses and our wounds so that we may shine brighter and be the miracle for each other.
So it is and so it shall be.
Ameen