Morning Notes. Hugh Prather

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СКАЧАТЬ when we read or hear words that helps. That's why familiar passages from sacred scripture often mean something new each time we reread them. And that's why it never works for me to decide what someone else needs to hear. If I want to be of use today, I must focus on my feeling of connection with others, because God is hear d within the experience of love.

      29

      Trusting a greater Reality makes relationships easier.

      When I judge others, I question the innocence God has placed within them. Seeing my mistake, I must immediately put them back in God's hands. Today I will acknowledge that I really don't know how hard people try, how far they may have come, or in what ways God is transforming them this very instant. Comparing is the opposite of r elating. Going Home is not a foot race in which I compete. To conclude that I am ahead or behind another, I must first break with the peace of Oneness.

      30

      Only love can discern the bridge that stretches between two hearts. In love it is seen, and in love it is crossed.

      What another person does has no fixed meaning. I interpret behavior as I choose. What do I want it to mean? I perceive others through either my moods or my peace. Stillness sees oneness; moods see chaos. Don't fight thoughts; change the source. Since I am responsible for which part of my mind I use, today I will keep returning to my quiet mind.

      31

      Dare to be ordinary.

      God is One. I experience God by experiencing equality: the sameness in another person and the divinity in all living things. Today I will dare to turn my back on the world's shrill urgings that we should each strive to be the best. Instead, I will embrace my ordinariness. I will be normal and equal. I will have no “spiritual” posture, tell no ego-enhancing “spiritual” stories, think no separating “spiritual” thoughts. I did not create myself, and today I will relax into who I already am.

      32

      God knows the way to my heart.

      God is not nearer just because we think about God. God could not be nearer. God's strength is our strength. God's life is our life. God's happiness is our happiness. We are each made out of God. Even now, God breathes into us our purpose, our motivation, and our fulfillment.

      33

      Discouragement is not helpful.

      Discouragement is love of the ego because it turns to the ego for its sense of reality. Spirit will not and cannot confirm “low spirits.” Discouragement is never necessary. And it isn't much fun. But the answer is not to fight it. If I fight it, I make myself a victim of my own mind, which is impossible. When I am discouraged, no matter how slight the feeling, I will be still a moment and find the place in me where I am whole. I will let my mind fall gently back into place. Then, I will start over by doing just one thing without discouragement.

      34

      Whatever I worry about is not worth worrying about.

      Stillness, not worry, plumbs the depth of my potential. If I want to have a deep sense of freedom, be attuned to my intuition, and remember the beauty in those around me, worry is of no use. Today I will confront my ego directly whenever I worry. I will ask, “Just what is it you suggest I do?” In this way I see that the aim of the worried part of my mind is not to improve the future. In fact, it has nothing to do with the future. The aim of worry is always to disrupt the present by undercutting connection and peace, which can only be experienced now.

      35

      There are no questions in God.

      Today is the day I stop arguing with myself about whether the divine is logical or Truth is true. Questioning whether it is reasonable to be kind, to believe in a higher Reality, or to act from faith is merely my desire to put of f practicing today. Yet only practice brings understanding. It's arrogant to think that somehow I need my “intellectual honesty,” my wise and profound questions. What does doubt have to do with Love? My aim today will be to let all questions dissolve within the stillness of my heart and the gentleness of my actions.

      36

      Adding light to darkness solves the problem of darkness.

      My thoughts constitute the happiness or misery in which I live. When I battle my thoughts, I split my mind and put myself in a firefight with shifting realities. However, I can safely leave all conflicted thoughts in place if I merely add God to them. No matter how strident my ego, it can't completely drown out God's quiet reassurance. Today, all I need do is worry in peace, be discouraged in peace, be confused in peace, and so on. There is always music behind the discord, if I choose to hear it.

      37

      Fear is my responsibility because fear means that I am conflicted.

      We are like children pointing and screaming at a shadow, and all the while a loving parent stands beside us offering comfort and safety. God shows us the place where we are invulnerable and completely at peace. Yet if I am conflicted about moving in that direction, the peace of God doesn' t force me to decide against my desires, even though those inclinations, no matter how tentatively or erratically followed, always hurt me. Today, when I notice I am afraid, I will examine my mind for conflicting purposes.

      38

      The means I use to change my mental state becomes my new state of mind.

      I can't force my mind to be whole, because force itself is mental. Pressure in any form is war. When part of my mind tries to force another par t to change, the outcome is mental upset. However, if I focus my full attention on wholeness, my mind becomes whole. When stillness and peace are the means, stillness and peace are the result.

      39

      Just one thought of blessing recreates me in its image.

      I intend to pray for others, but so often I for get or do it halfheartedly. Perhaps this is because sincere gifts from a loving mind are given without calculation, and prayer by its very nature is anonymous. But it is not without effects on the one who prays. As I go through the day, I will try to notice any damaged images I carry about anyone I see or think of, and I will correct them on the spot.

      40

      Awareness disarms my ego.

      Our busy, conflicted mind never forgives, for only peace can see innocence. Whenever I fall back into my ego, all the old stuff is still there. There is no way to perfect it, but there is a way to disarm it. When I look long and carefully at my judgments, when I “look the beast in the eye,” I begin to see that these are not my deepest feelings. But I must stay with that process long enough that I truly do perceive a different side of me and not just sugarcoat the mental contents with pleasant words.

      41

      My mind is a gift. Its nature is pure.

      There СКАЧАТЬ