(And their Obstacles)
Hello, again. Happy to be back writing to you all!
First off, I want to make it clear in laying out these Approaches to Life (and their Obstacles), I do NOT do them perfectly. I don’t practice these ideas well all the time. I fail often. While I have laid out these concepts very neatly, the reality is not so neat, as life is not that neat! I have laid them out as I did so we could focus on them individually, like Openness and Lightness.
I do practice with these Approaches, and I keep practicing. I am better with these things than I used to be. God has at times moved mountains. Other times, He gave me a shovel. There were times He sent a pastor, a book, or a podcast, telling me to listen and read. He sent birds, or wind and waves, and literal floods sometimes. He/She aligned readings and circumstances quite inexplicably. I journaled, fussed, cursed sometimes, and even had total melt-downs–ask my wife and neighbors.
I’m still here. I got back up. God took my missteps and kept leading me back to the Path, often going a long way with me to Emmaus and far beyond. (Luke 24, Christian Scriptures). That Divine Love truly kept bringing me back from darkness and confusion. I don’t have all the answers, even if I write like I do sometimes. I write confidently on some of these things as my life has born them out, often painfully, but my soul has learned them, somewhat. I share with you, Dear Reader, what I have learned. I heard words like these in my quiet times, I hope you hear them too:
“Stay on the Path, my Son. Stay on the Path, my Daughter.”
So what do I do? How do I stay on this Spiritual Path? How do I do this stuff? What does it look like in Eric’s Life?
- How Do I practice with Openess?
I ask God to help me. I literally pray: “Open me, Oh Lord.” ,”Or grant me Openness.” I try to relax my body, and I literally open my arms, like Pastor Bill Hunter from my first post on Openness. I attempt to see where others are coming from. I try to hear what others are saying, and what their body language is saying. Are they upbeat or downcast? Are they “locked in”, or wanting to talk? I try to be open to what I perceive is the Flow of God’s Spirit in the world. What does the Universe seem to be telling me? Is something just “not working”, and I need to abandon my efforts? Maybe the timing is off for a task or conversation. Maybe the timing is perfect, and I need to get to it. I try to be a cooperative presence rather than wrestling with everything and everyone. You’ve met people like this, or you are one, at least some of the time.
I also spend time with Spiritual Readings, in my case, the Bible. For a number of years, I routinely did the ancient practice of praying the “Daily Office” from the Book of Common Prayer. I still believe in the Fixed Hours of Prayer, as Christians call it: Prayer at rising, prayer at Noon, and prayer in the Evening. I also read books/devotionals by others: Richard Rohr, Brian Zahnd, and St. Benedict, just to name a few. I listen to podcasts, such as “Everything Belongs” , or “Turning to the Mystics”from the CAC. (See my Helpful Links Page). I also listen to other items from my Helpful Links page, such as Leo Babauta, or Kimberly Quinlan, so I keep hearing other perspectives. I look at my own mental issues, and how I can be creative with my gifts. I want keep becoming a more Open presence in the World. I want to keep growing.
2. How do I practice with Lightness?
I ask God to help with this too. “Grant me lightness, Oh Lord.” Again, I try to notice tension in my body. This one is hard for me. I take myself way too seriously. I hold too tightly to how I want the world to go. I am far more “heavy” with life than I would like! I find I need to remind myself often of both Openness and Lightness. I do want to emphasize this: Neither of these is something you should work too hard at. It is much more something you relax and receive, rather than a “I will now be open and light!” demand of yourself. More to come on that. Promise.
3. How do I practice with Alignment?
I ask God often to Align me, and re-align me. I ask Him to Align me to His Love-Flow in this world. It is there–sometimes hidden, but it IS there. Sometimes, I am the one that has to manifest it. One of the images I have presently is of falling into a current under the water and being carried by it. So often in my interactions there is the “noise” of my own thoughts and feelings, but then there is a Sense, of Someone else, of Something else. With that Sense, there is a notion of what to do or say. This is where I mention Alignment being a choice. I have to choose to Align with that Inner Sense. It takes time to even cultivate the ability to be aware of it. As James Finley says, I “must calibrate my heart to a finer scale”. Prayer time and reading Scripture, or other Spiritual literature, is one way to start recalibrating your heart, as I already wrote above. Sitting quietly by yourself, and just listening is another.
4. How do I practice with my Ego?
How should I not practice with my ego? This is a daily “dying to self” as we Christians say. I watch myself, not to scold myself, but to observe. As I wrote in a prior post, my basement got flooded, and my finished den has to be repaired, new flooring laid, etc. I then had to put back all the furniture, clean it, rewire all my TV tech, and the like. I wanted it done, and I wanted it done how I wanted it. I got crabby real quick when the TV died upon being set back up. I was annoyed when the cleaning was tedious and time consuming. I was angry I had to do all this work at all! At it’s heart–was my ego! I wanted the den put back. I wanted my hang out place back, I wanted to show off to guests, and I just wanted it done. Putting back together a destroyed room takes time. No one really would care if it was done, but I acted like it was a big deal if it was. So, I had to keep “offering” it up, as in letting it go. The den is all back together, with only my workshop to cleanup-finally.
5. How do I practice with my Expectations?
The same as my ego. I have to loosen my grip on what I anticipate will happen. I just today wrote in my journal the phrase: Be intentional without being intense. In other words, I can have a plan for a given situation, but it may not go the way I want. I do not need to be short, snippy, or mean, because someone did not do what I want, when I want, or how I want. If I believe in this Loving Universe, then I must also accept that things not always working out as I would like is God’s will, and it may even be better than my plan! I need to be OK with how things turn out. More dying to self!
6. How do I practice with Myths?
These can be harder to see in the moment. Sometimes I need to do some reflection via journaling to dig into what narrative I am operating under. To use my den story again, my Myth is that my house should always be picked up and in order. This is ridiculous, unrealistic, and stress-inducing. I was never threatened with a beating if my room was not picked up as a kid, so I am not sure why I believe this. My family did value order and cleanliness, so I must have internalized this, but I do have an attachment to this ideal that is beyond just a preference. If I am overly engrossed in putting my den back together, being cranky when it is not going the way I want, and being unkind to other family members, this is unhealthy. I am doing the Ego-Expectations-Myths Dance. I keep stepping on other’s toes! Ouch.
A Practice I do for all of them:
This is something I call the “Clock Practice”. If you recall an Analog clock with the hands and face of said clock, I try to recall at the “top” of the hour, (XX:00) to literally look up. I pray: “I thank you, I trust you, I praise you, Lord,” borrowing from Sarah Young’s wonderful devotional: Jesus Calling. I truly believe in the power of “Mantra Prayers” or mini prayers, to recenter and refocus our minds and hearts. At the Quarter hour, (XX:15 or XX:45), I try to pray: “May I recognize you Lord, and respond to you.” This is my way of seeing Jesus, or whoever you view as God, as being present in the situations I am in or manifesting in the people I am with. Obviously, the image of God may be absent, or seriously marred in another’s life. But it is there, as I believe we are all Children of God.
At the “bottom” of the hour, (XX:30), I try to look at me, and look over my ego, expectations and myths. I do this briefly, as I may not always be able to do introspection at that moment. But I can notice if I am tense, or angry, or worried about whatever. I have some prayers I use, but I am going to actually break that out as a separate posting, as I want to go into it in more depth.
I do not do this Practice well! I forget often, and I want to say again this is not a Practice, that if you fail at it, you should beat yourself up for it! The Apostle Paul in the Christian Scriptures says to “pray without ceasing”, (1st Thess 5:17), and this is another way to try that.
I say that this Clock Practice is a way to:
Look up. Look out. Look down.
Look up (to God/Spirit). Look out (to Others), and how God is manifesting in others. Look down (inside) to see how you are doing and feeling. Look how God might be coming to you in your own thoughts and feelings. Not every thought and feeling is from the “Devil”. When I even make some effort at this, my day is so much better. I am not feeling churned up and unsettled. I am more peaceful, and attentive to what others are thinking and feeling, and I can be more present to them. This Aligns me more with Love, and I believe it will do the same for you!
These are some of my thoughts. I fail at all of them many times, and try not to be too hard on myself. I spent many years oblivious to all of this, and only began to awaken as life kept hitting me over the head, and God kept saying lovingly: “Please stop the way you are living, Eric.”
I hope you found this helpful, and it brought some clarity on how to live (and love) with these Approaches and their Obstacles. This is my way of imagining it, and how I do it. It is NOT the only way, best way, or perfect way. You may find some of these ideas helpful, some not, or have very different ones. I’d love to hear about them! Let’s all grow in grace, love, and maturity. Let’s be truly renewed humans, partnering with God, as we live our lives here on Planet Earth.
Be Open. Be Light. Practice Alignment.
-Eric, The Wordsmith
BP17