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Whatever shows up in our life is our spiritual practice.  It isn’t as if one is exercising their spirituality only when praying or meditating or repeating a mantra and then just a regular person in day to day life. As you become more aligned body and spirit, you see that the experiences you are undergoing, no matter how awful or catastrophic, are the opportunities given to grow you spiritually. It is our spiritual lives that actually bring to us these experiences.

Sometimes, the mind wants to convince us that we are doing something wrong “because otherwise life would be peaceful or only good things would happen.”  If we were always comfortable, we wouldn’t have the impetus to grow – we could sleepwalk through life and believe that we are merely here to enjoy a physical existence.

It is exactly the sand irritating the oyster that creates the most precious pearl. And it is exactly in the handling and transcending of life’s most painful situations that we can surrender to a greater Presence within ourselves. It has been called the ‘peace that passes all understanding’.

I have had my share of painful losses the past couple of years. After repeatedly swimming in the pool of my emotionality from these losses, I am finally reaching the shore and seeing that the pearl is indeed forming. Most of my life, I have struggled to understand why we lose everything in this life and what remains beyond those losses. My mind screams, “What’s the point?” Often I have approached each new loss with that attitude and the limited understanding of a wounded inner child and a seemingly small, small self.

I think the whole time God has been patiently coaxing me to surrender: “Quit trying to control the outer life – just surrender and you will see that there is something greater moving through this”. To get to this Presence, requires a going into the pain. One must face that instinctual avoidance of what can feel like a black hole and quiet the mind of its relentless limited story. You have to walk into the scary room, sit down and say, “Okay, show me what you’ve got. I am willing to be with you”.

When we don’t surrender into the pain and allow our experiences to move through, to change us and deepen us, then they get stuck inside; perhaps showing up later as an illness or a pattern repeated. One’s power is diminished and life can become an experience of just being a body instead of allowing the essence of God to become manifest within our lives.

Last night I had a dream of being with my mom. My mom died over a year ago. In the dream, I was lying on the bed with her as she was dying. I was crying and asking her not to die. I looked down at my feet right next to hers on the bed.  I showed my mom how much my feet looked like her feet. We are both walking our paths. I felt awash in a complete connection to her, completely loving and loved. Though I grieved for the loss of her in this dream, I felt no separation just an acceptance of the cycle of life and death. I woke up feeling light and healed. The pearl is becoming more and more polished.

We are here to know God within us. End of story. To be able to gaze upon the astounding beauty that surrounds you even in the midst of the greatest losses allows you to be filled with what remains. The paradox of the impermanence of this life is the medicine that gives us the experience of what is eternal. There is incredible peace and love at the bottom of that black hole.

Reverend Juli Somers is the Director of The Center For Inner Truth.  She can be reached at 920-4418 or revjuli@newmexico.com.

Written by Juli Somers

“I’ve had many troubles in my life, most of which never happened” - Mark Twain

At times I slip into the noose of believing that something that is happening in my life is bringing me trouble. My mind will give me a convincing argument that I am powerless to untie this particular Gordian knot. Soon after, my emotions begin to play me as a pawn and move me along their chessboard. Before I sink into the inner quicksand of illusion, I remember that I can choose how to be in relationship to what is happening in my life.

I reestablish myself as merely the observer of the story and consciously reframe the situation as an opportunity instead of a punishment. I am inspired by what Emmett Fox called the ‘golden key’. When the mind gets caught in focusing on what is wrong, he suggests reflecting on all the qualities of God; God is all powerful, always present, all loving, etc. Everything is possible with God. And as importantly, God is within me. When I get there, then I know that all is well.

I recently had to deal with what felt like trouble in my life. My computer started to die just when I sat down to work on this issue of the newsletter. I was quickly and with resistance introduced to the term ‘blue screen of death’. In the past with scary computer issues, I reacted with overwhelm and felt helpless in knowing how to proceed. I would imagine the worst; all the money I would have to spend for a new one, the newsletter would be late, I would lose my work, etc. I watched as my mind was having a field day creating all kinds of negative scenarios. Not once did it think “Wow, this is great, I have to get a new computer”.

This time, I decided that I wanted to do it differently. Instead of walking down the old familiar road, I decided “I can do it”. I chose to change my self perception from one who didn’t know what to do to someone who could handle it. So, I told the negative thinking that it could take a hike, looked fear in the eye and showed it the door, and decided that I would be completely taken care of with my computer problem.

As I shifted my vibration, I spontaneously began to reflect on all the things I felt grateful for in my life, this, too, a golden key and always a good practice. Doing that made me feel better and lighter. I decided that not only could I tackle this problem, but that something good was going to come out of it as well. I decided to expect a miracle. Wow! I was starting to feel really good. And just by changing the thoughts running through my mind!

I was first inspired to call a few people to ask for their ideas. From that move, I received my next step. And the next step flowed from there. I ended that day feeling very loved and supported by the universe. That was a miracle of sorts. As the days go on, I keep getting more – the old computer is hanging in there enough to finish the newsletter, and a beloved friend is unexpectedly making a donation of the new computer. And I know I received these miracles because I consciously decided that whatever was going to happen in this situation would be good.

God works through each one of us. We can’t ever go where God is not because God is everywhere. We are all God experiencing God. I can feel like a victim to what is happening in my life (and sometimes do) or I can see that the bigger part of me is asking me to further wake up to my divinity.

Each of us really does have everything we need to handle whatever shows up on our doorstep. Of course you do because, after all, you created it! There is something in whatever challenge you are facing that your spirit decided would be the perfect circumstance for growth. Sometimes you just have to move out the resistance to change and decide that all change is moving you toward something better – despite any appearances of the contrary.

With so much fear on the planet and all these shifts happening these days, it is a great time to practice what the spirit already knows. Life is an adventure and the light is always there prompting you to open further. It greatly helps to have energetic tools with which to navigate energy and life. I feel profoundly grateful for the tools that I learned and that we teach at the Center. Come learn some tools to help you ride the waves of change!

Reverend Juli Somers is the Director of The Center For Inner Truth. She can be reached at 920-4418 or revjuli@newmexico.com