As we expand our consciousness, the veils of illusion continue to fall away. It is amazing how we have been programmed to think the thoughts that continue to imprison us. Ah… a crafty plot! But as we breathe deeply and enter into our heart space, we begin to breathe the air of freedom. Heady stuff as we are meant to live and breathe this air.
The latest veil of illusion that came to my attention was the way that we deal with suffering. We are taught to believe that we must suffer as we view suffering around us. On an energetic level, what does that look like? Suffering is a heavy energy, dark clouds of swirling pain. So if I see a homeless person and my heart identifies with their perceived suffering, I add to that dense energy cloud. Have I changed the person’s condition or rather amplified it? That person has chosen the experience of homelessness on some level for the growth that it will afford their soul. Does this mean that I do not feel compassion? No, I can decide to offer money or food or a smile, whatever my heart choses, but from a place of joy.
If I look the person in the eye, make contact heart to heart with a greeting of joy, I have injected a new energy into that dark energy. As Mother Teresa was oft quoted as saying. it was not for want of food that people in the West were starving, it was more often for the want of love.
We cannot help anyone by joining them in their suffering. We cannot help our Mother Earth by feeling bad about global warming. We cannot help the poor by lamenting their condition and feeling guilt for our abundance. So many beautiful souls work for the betterment of the planet, of the poor, of the disenfranchised from an attitude of guilt or a weight of pain. We have been taught that this is the way to uplift, to aid. Yet we add to the weight rather than lighten it. Again, it seems counter-intuitive yet our intuition in these instances has been programmed to keep us enslaved to the old paradigm.
If I truly believe that we create our lives for our highest good, then I can step back and be grateful for what I have chosen to create in mine and accept what experiences others have chosen to create in theirs. This does not mean that we do not feel our hearts opening in compassion. We do. Rather that we can respond in a new way. I can feel compassion for my brothers and sisters in Queensland who are experiencing flooding. I can send money and aid but more importantly, I can be in my joy and picture them dancing in their joy. I can see them living their lives with gratitude and appreciation. I can give of my heart by sitting quietly and envisioning waves of healing light flooding Queensland. I can smile as I do this, knowing that all is well. Knowing that I am adding my heart’s love to uplift my brothers and sisters and the nature kingdoms. We are all connected. They are my heart, I am theirs.
We can step out of our small way of thinking and realize the power of our thoughts and feelings to create. We all want good for one another. We want to live in a world where there is abundance for all. We have been taught that it is by “the doing” that we accomplish this. As well we are taught to “do” under the weight of guilt, sorrow, duty. What if we choose to “be” and move to the doing from a place of pure joy. Inspired action from a heart so full of the truth of joy, the truth of beauty. We can feed what we want to see, feed the world with thoughts of the truth of love.
My first teaching job was in a juvenile lock down center. I was young and my class consisted of 16-18 year old boys. They were convinced that this sweet little young woman would run screaming out of there within a week, tops. What amazed me was how the whole system was set up to perpetuate the victim consciousness and the idea of suffering. The kids had counselors and we were to be their friends. I told the boys that I certainly was not their friend, I did not hang out with teenagers and I had no desire to know their histories. I was given huge files in each student of their background but I did not read them. I stuffed them in a drawer. I told the kids that I did not care if someone had put out cigarettes on their arms or beat them or starved them. It did not matter to me. I told them that everyone has had some trauma in their lives and the only question was, what were they going to do about it. I was only interested in being their teacher and seeing what they could do with their lives from here on out.
My attitude did not endear me to the system. If a student decided to end the week by screaming an obscenity at me, I saw that he had chosen a restricted weekend. The counselors would challenge me to change my stance as the “poor kid” had been subjected to this abuse and that. I refused to buy that story, the young man has made a decision to engage in behavior that resulted in a consequence. That would be how he learned to change his behavior and create a life that was more to his liking.
The students came to appreciate my approach and began to believe in themselves in a new way. They had become conditioned to everyone reflecting back victim consciousness as well as fear of their toughness. I saw the yearning of their hearts to be whole and reflected that back to them. The other kids began to call them Linda’s brownies as they began to tuck in their shirts, comb their hair and move out of the habitual slouch to stand in their bodies in a new way. They began to know themselves. I did not believe that they suffered, I believed that in each moment, they had the opportunity to begin life anew.
Despite not understanding what I did, the administration began to send new students through my class first. My students would quickly show the new ones what was up and discourage the usual angry postures. If a new student threatened me in any way, my boys would surround me and set the student straight. They protected me on all levels. They knew in their hearts that I did not pity them, I did not feel sorry for them but rather that I loved them. Love is the most powerful force on this planet, in the universe. It is everything.
So when you watch the news or walk past a homeless guy, open your hearts to love and let that be your guide to your actions. Fill yourself with love so completely that it bubbles up through you as a continuous stream of joy. Send that out into this beautiful world of ours. You are light. You are love. Own it.