I know you’ve thought about the Circle of Life, mainly because of The Lion King movie. Have you ever considered the Circle of Blessing? Oh, you haven’t? I wouldn’t have expected you to since I just made it up!
You probably have, though, considered the relationship of thanksgiving and gratitude to faith — maybe? Whenever I can give thanks for anything, whenever I express true, deep, appreciative gratitude, it builds my faith. How? Quite simply because anything for which I can give thanks means I have seen the fulfillment of some expression of faith, even if it was subconscious. And that blessing encourages me to express faith in another goal, another dream, another mission, maybe. Whatever exists in my life, I have attracted it, created it, or built it in one way or another. Whether I can give thanks for some specific thing or not depends — depends on if I filter and process it through Ego or Heart. What vantage point do I take? What value do I assign to it? I believe what I have said a number of times: Hearts know things, and my Heart is the originator of my faith. Ego says believe only what I can physically sense, and then, I should only give thanks for what directly benefits me. Ego does not understand that my own vibrational energy has summoned it all. Because of that, Heart knows I can be grateful for it all. Even those things not directly positive can be viewed as something to be thankful for because it helps me to shift my energy to manifest more positive results. Ego spews bitterness, guilt, blame, fault, hatred, and doubt. Hearts generate gratitude and faith. In fact, my Heart has been a strong influence that way for me, even when I wasn’t fully aware of the workings of it. Heart allows us to emulate an example referred to many times in history: burn the boats. Various accounts of historical figures show some leaders — not always well-intentioned but still effective — gave commands to burn their troops’ boats once they arrived on the shores of nations they wished to conquer. This includes ancient Chinese commanders, Alexander the Great, other Greek commanders, the Muslim commander leading the invasion of Spain, and Hernan Cortes. Once they were on foreign, hostile soil and those boats were burned, no means of retreat existed. Win or die; conquer or be conquered; live or die. Burning the boats took away possible exit strategies, because either the armies achieved their objective or suffered defeat. That has deep spiritual applications for me. My most recent boat-burning event concerns my extra-early retirement from public school teaching. If I had continued teaching and bumped my retirement up significantly, days like yesterday and mornings like this morning would have been a disaster for me spiritually. Why? Because all the Thanksgiving entertaining and visiting becomes hectic. I would have skipped my writing, my very Purpose. I would have allowed my Ego rationalizations to convince me that, after all, I would have an income and be okay. Yep! That’s Ego! However, now that the boat of financial security in a form that could undermine my Vision and dreams is incinerated, I give thanks for every challenge I overcome. Make no mistake; I am not eschewing financial security. I want to have a healthy income flow through the exercise of my Heart to make that core Self known. However, as I said, financial security that undermines Purpose will only be Ego actions that would leave me feeling empty, unfulfilled and then wondering why. I would advise anyone, though, that they must come to know core Self and create Purpose before burning any boats. Sometimes, ego can trick us even in these aspirations. For me, having burned that boat, I push forward in carrying out my mission. Do I know the end? Nope, but I can’t go back now. No escape. I don’t want one, either. I want to express my love and appreciation to the Spirit and this whole Universe through my Purpose. When I see manifestations of that happening, I give thanks. I have faith to go forward, no looking back — when I stay in fellowship with my Heart and am encouraged in the fellowship of the Heart. See! Gratitude produces faith produces manifestation produces gratitude: the Circle of Blessing!
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Questions to consider:How many times have you asked yourself or simply thought about the following questions?
Who am I, really? What is my truth? How do my actions reveal what I really feel and believe? What would I do with my life if I could do anything? What is my passion? Why am I here? How can I discover answers to any of these questions? If you have considered any of these questions, I hope that my experiences and writing will give you some guidance. Please read my blog and comment and share your thoughts. I would love to hear from you! Archives
December 2019
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