I had never heard the term “spiritual shortcut,” until a few years ago.
Also known as “spiritual bypassing,” it just means taking spiritual action without taking any physical action.
At first this didn’t make sense to me, because wasn’t it the spiritual action that made us more spiritual?
But imagine that you wanted to plan a birthday party for someone you loved. And so you briefly visualize this party in your imagination:
Would you serve food, or just snacks?
Would the balloons and streamers be blue or purple?
Would the birthday cake be red velvet or vanilla?
Would you invite just family, or friends too?
Would it be in the afternoon, or evening?
Imagine that you visualized this party with total clarity to the point where you felt happy and excited just thinking about it.
What would you do next? Create a vision board? Carry a crystal? Say an affirmation about how it was the best birthday party that ever happened on this planet, ever?
Maybe you would (I’d carry the crystal, for sure LOL). But would you stop there? Chances are you’d make a list of things that you needed to purchase, and you’d do some shopping. You’d make a list of attendees, pick a date, and send out invitations. And there’s probably even more to do.
So this is why I believe that spiritual shortcuts can keep us stuck.
First off, you are already a spiritual being. In fact, on a soul level you are already in a state of perfect awareness and have the awareness of your perfect wholeness.
But your soul created this human life for a new experience; it’s really kind of a game – to call forth your divinity through your humanity, and all the things you can do in this life.
Now when you create the image of your “birthday party” in your imagination, you’ve made a blueprint. But without your participation in your physical life, that birthday party will stay in your imagination.
It’s your physical actions; your choices, responses, and the way you participate with life that anchors your happy outcome into your life. Once it’s anchored in, its manifestation in your life becomes highly probable.
So, as you’ve made all those plans for this birthday party, and purchased food, decorations, and sent out the invitations; all of that physical preparation (activity) made way for your happy outcome to become a physical event in your life.
Yes, our spiritual life matters. But it’s our physical life (and all our activity) that opens the way for our spiritual self to express into our physical world. ??And to be of service; to be the heart and hands of God in this world, it’s not enough to sit home on our comfy meditation pillow and send out good vibes (though do that too). We have to be participating with Life, and interacting with the world. ??
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said: ?You are not a human being in search of a spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being immersed in a human experience.
Because that’s how our soul gets to have all the new experiences IT desires.
“Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art.” ~ don Miguel Ruiz
I was introduced to “The Four Agreements” by don Miguel Ruiz back in 2000. At the time I was a student of A Course in Miracles, and I had been part of the local “new age scene” for several years. Of course, at the time, I believed that the principles in The Four Agreements were a little too simple, and I thought I was a little high and mighty for them… after all, I’d read the likes of Thomas Troward, Joseph Murphy, and Dr. Thurman Fleet. So The Four Agreements was just a little too beginnery for me.
What I didn’t know at the time was I’d fallen into the trap that many spiritual seekers fall into; being unteachable. You just don’t know what you don’t know, right?
From my life 21 years later, I will say that I now believe that “The Four Agreements” is one of the very best books out there on living a truly loving and authentic life, because these four agreements are the means to help you stop living your life as a technician and begin to live your life as an artist; a poet, creating a life you love that is worthy of the light you carry.
An artist lives a beautiful juicy life that they pour their heart into.
A technician is focused on how everyone else is living their lives (and pointing out how they are doing it wrong).
An artist sees the divine in all, and recognizes that God is at work in every person (no matter how they eat, vote, or worship).
A technician believes that their way is the only way.
An artist surrenders to the creative force expressing through them.
The technician is waiting for perfection.
I know that many spiritual seekers like to start with the meaty stuff, the heady stuff; Thomas Troward, Emma Curtis Hopkins, and Charles Fillmore, and this is truly noble! They are deep and thoughtful writers, and I greatly admire them.
However, for myself, when I find I’m focusing more on what other people are doing, and how they are doing it, the heady stuff isn’t where I start. When I’m too busy worrying about how others eat, vote, and worship, I have to acknowledge it’s likely that I’m in one of my unteachable phases (and being a technician).
The Four Agreements always helps me to become teachable again.
Big Love,
Deanna
The definition of Congruence: Agreement, Harmony, Compatibility.
It’s important for us to be in congruence with the experiences we want to create in our lives. But often we’re not. We may say we want to be healthy, yet choose to eat fast food. We may say we want to make friends, but then never accept any invitations to meet up with folks. We may say we support anti-bullying in our communities, but then go name calling other people we don’t understand.
We are out of congruence when we say one thing, and do another.
When we are out of congruence we are out of integrity, and we are more likely to experience struggle in our own lives because our actions are not supporting us creating the life we truly desire.
So – what do I want to create today? And, do my actions and behaviors support what I want to create today?
Big Love,
Rev. Deanna
In the new thought philosophy, there is a lot of emphasis put on the importance of positive thinking instead of negative thinking. And we all know it feels better to be in a positive frame of mind as opposed to a negative one.
But we do live in a world filled with conditions that catch our attention (like potholes on the street), and :::gasp::: some of these conditions may cause a negative thought to cross your mind (dang potholes – I gotta be careful). Some negative thoughts may even come to you from other people (did you see all those potholes? They are terrible!).
But that negative thought does not matter – it, alone, will not spin your life out of control, and you won’t “attract” a bunch of bad stuff cuz of that one negative thought.
Because it’s not about the negative thought…. it’s about your “thoughts” about that negative thought.
Your thoughts about that negative thought are what cause all the mischief in your mind that can lead to a crisis in negative thinking.
We can have a negative thought, and choose not to entertain it (mischief managed), just like you may see a pothole and choose to just drive around it, and not worry about it the rest of the day.
It’s when we start getting indignant and dwelling on those negative thoughts that the quality of our life can become affected; worrying about the potholes you know about, and having anxiety about the ones you may not know about; fearing you may get swallowed up in one, and being indignant that they exist in the first place.
If you have a negative thought, you can just observe it without getting indignant or dwelling on it. Noticing that negative thought and then choosing not to entertain it can actually strengthen our mental positivity muscles.
The stronger our positivity muscles are, the greater our resilience, and the more open we become to inspired guidance and action.
Big, Big, Love,
Deanna
This used to be hard for me. It felt like I was working really hard, and yet not getting to where I wanted to be as fast as my peers were. And in some cases, I was much better at doing what I did than they were! Yet they were still getting the attention and accolades.
I felt sullen and envious every time they celebrated a success.
I finally realized that this was very poor energy management on my part, and that I would never experience my own success while I was busy channeling all that sullenness and envy!
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I’ve had to face rejection so many times, I’ve lost count.
I’ve watched people attending my talks cross their arms, and roll their eyes at me.
I even recently met someone I believed was a potential student tell me they wished their previous teacher would teach the class I’m teaching – they just loved him so much, and did I know how he was doing? Did I know if he’d be back?
And I used to respond to these situations by trying to become a little different – more like a person who those people wouldn’t reject.
“Thank You Universe for the good that’s on ITS way!”
One of the most powerful tenants of the New Thought metaphysics philosophy is the importance of having faith that our good is on its way, even when the appearance of that good is absent from our physical life.
Sometimes it can be hard to believe that something good is on its way, especially if we are experiencing something really difficult.
If we are in pain, it can be hard to imagine that wholeness is already ours.
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Back in 2007, I asked the angels for a “sign;” Should we move or should we stay?
Well, actually I wanted to move. I was stressed, and our house needed so much work, and the bathroom had this mold in it :::yuck:::. And then my husband mentioned that he’d seen a house for rent that “looked like an enchanted cottage.” Of course I HAD to go look at it. And of course I took my kids who were 10 and 8 at the time. We fell in love with it.
So I found myself in a quandary; should we move or not?
I wanted to move because I wanted to run away from the stress that was in my life at that time.
So I asked the angels “should we move or stay?” And I decided that if I saw a “444” anywhere, it meant that we should move. So I got in my car, and I drove around town, staring down every license plate, until FINALLY I spotted my “444.” My sign!!!
It was time to sell our home of seven years and move – the angels told me so.
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The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
Rumi
I spent a good part of my adult life waiting; waiting for support, guidance, improvements, help, or relief. I’ve waited for my husband to read my mind, my kids to do chores I haven’t asked them to do, and my friends to call me out of the blue. I’ve waited for my sister to help me with the burden of caregiving to my mom. I’ve waited to be invited to sing, speak, and teach. I’ve waited to be appreciated, recognized, and acknowledged.
I’ve done a lot of waiting.
And I used to believe this was the way things were done.
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