Practical Wisdom Archive

There are three dragons that must be slayed in every person’s life in order to live well. They are shame, guilt and fear. As you slay the first one, you move on to the second. And if you make your way past the third dragon (fear) you will live well for the rest of your life.

The spiritual journey is about facing those dragons so you can realize the Truth of who you are. They are in your experience so you can have a “personal” awakening to that Truth.

Each person must slay their own dragons. No one can do it for you. Everyone’s spiritual journey is personally designed with their particular challenges. It’s an adventure story. Approach your life knowing that you are the “Indiana Jones” of the story, who in the end, will always triumph!

Don’t make the mistake of identifying with the challenges or obstacles in front of you. You are NOT your problems. You are the person who can overcome them. You are NOT your dis-eases. You are the person who can heal them.

Nothing comes into your life to destroy you. Everything comes to lift you up to a greater knowing and a better life. You are the Victor in the story—the only thing that lives beyond the story itself. Everything else is just an illusion that allows you to meet the challenges and know the Truth. Act as though this is so. Meet the challenges knowing you are the only one carrying a sword.

Dragon One – SHAME

“And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said to him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked?”
King James Version

At some point in your life, someone told you that you should feel ashamed. We all get the message that we’re “bad and wrong.” We are taught to be ashamed of our bodies, our desires, our ideas, choices, etc. All of that shame depletes our life-energy and disables us from living well.

At the core of every problem we have is the belief that we are not good enough. This is the issue that must be brought to the surface of our current awareness and healed by the Truth.

What were you taught to be ashamed of? How did it affect your self esteem? How did it affect the choices you made in life?

Dragon Two – GUILT

“I do not explain, defend, or justify my life to anyone. I let the results speak for themselves. I am not here to make people feel comfortable. I am here to assume the unique post that God created for me.

I cannot be made to feel guilty. Whatever I have done, I did because, at the time, I thought it was the best thing to do. As I grow in wisdom, I forgive myself for past mistakes and make better choices.”

Chris Michaels

To live well, you must be sure you have a right to be here—and a right to express who you are. You are your own authority! No one else is cause to your emotional state of being; unless, of course, you allow them to be. No one can MAKE you feel any particular way.

Living well requires self-forgiveness for past errors. It requires you to live in a guilt-free zone.
In the past what did you feel guilty about? How did that guilt affect your life? How did it affect the choices you made in life?

Dragon Three – FEAR

“All doubt and fear must go and in their place must come faith and confidence, for we shall be led by the Spirit into all good.

Dr. Ernest Holmes

You cannot live well as long as you are living in fear. If you are making choices in your life based on fear, you are making the wrong choice. To live well, we must live absolutely fearlessly. We must abandon our fear as we would an old car that can no longer take us where we want to go.

Knowing the Truth sets us free of fear. The Truth is: You are surrounded by a Power that loves and cares for you throughout eternity. It is the ONLY Power in the Universe and you are safe in It forever!

What are you afraid of? How have those fears affected your life? How did you let fear affect the choices you made in life?

Prayer for Living Well

The life of God is the only life there is in the entire Universe. That life is inherent within me—and at work restoring my body and all of my affairs to match It’s own perfect design.

I have nothing to fear. I have nothing to feel guilty for, or ashamed of. God created me to express myself exactly as I am. I will no longer edit myself to fit other people’s comfort zone. I am here to give the world the “full dose” and that’s exactly what I intend to do.

As I set myself free to be me, God supports my faith by drawing into my life everything necessary for my success. I am a magnet for love, wealth, joy and ease. I set my spirit free to live a life unencumbered by my past.

This truth establishes a new identity within me. I am my own authority. I am cause to my own experience. I am no longer a victim of my past. I am a powerful co-creator of my future. And so it is!

Many people have been living a kind of “faux prosperity” lifestyle. From the outside looking in, it appears they are doing well. They live in large, beautifully decorated homes, drive new cars and have all of the latest gadgets and toys. However, if you take a closer look, you will see their paycheck-to-paycheck life is not sustainable. With mounting debt and little to no savings to fall back on, any challenge such as a job loss will bring things crashing down rather quickly. This has been realized in the recent uprising of home foreclosures and personal bankruptcies. Too many people were financially unprepared for the current down trend in the economy.

The recession is not only causing a wake-up-call for people who have been living this “faux prosperity,” it also brings a golden opportunity for them to change the way they perceive and practice prosperous living. They have had to shift their thinking about what prosperity really means and come up with a new way to define abundance. A new definition is beginning to emerge as they place their focus on quality of life, instead of quantity of goods.

We all have something to learn from this uncomfortable change. Many of us have placed too much emphasis on consuming and not enough on saving. It is time to rethink the way we have used our money and return to the spiritual principles that guarantee a prosperous life.

Unfortunately, many people have responded to the current recession in a fearful, reactive way. Now the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. Their knee-jerk, human reaction is to hoard money and give less. From a strictly human perspective, this appears to make sense. However in a universe governed by a spiritual principle that says, “you can only receive what you are first willing to give,” this strategy is a catastrophe. All it does is block the flow of future good and guarantee a life of lack and limitation. Now is not the time to react in fear. It is the time to be proactively involved in creating a more prosperous life.

If you have been living the “faux prosperity” lifestyle some basic restructuring may be necessary to regain your financial strength. This may be the time to revisit the spiritual law of tithing and start investing in yourself again by saving another ten percent. By practicing the “give some, save some, spend some” model you realign yourself with the fundamental laws of prosperity. Giving ten percent off of the top engages the Law of Circulation and begins the flow back to you. Saving the next ten percent of your income guarantees there will always be resources to fall back on. And then spending the leftover eighty percent with the wisdom to live within your means is an exercise in integrity and honor. By using your money in this faithful manner (Give 10%, Save 10%, Spend 80%), you guarantee a constant in-flow of good.

Being a good steward of your financial resources is just the first step in living a prosperous life. The second step is to take a heartfelt look at your sense of value and self-worth. The primary dictate for income is consciousness. In other words, your sense of self-value is what attracts good into your life. Therefore it is of primary importance for you to remember that the Source of your value is God in you. It isn’t determined by your accomplishments or successes. You have value because of the Life that resides within you. Remembering this will keep your self-esteem intact and ensure the uninterrupted flow of good into your life.

If you want to live a more prosperous life, now is the time to surround yourself with faithful people. Attend classes, workshops and events that reinforce an affirmative attitude toward life. Read books that inspire you. Find things that ignite your passion and engage your creativity. Don’t let yourself spiral downward into fear. Keep your consciousness afloat by making choices that uplift your spirit.

The most challenging days are behind us now. It’s time to move forward into more prosperous living. Armed with great wisdom and faithful practices, we are now more prepared than ever to live well. By redefining prosperity as a quality of life experience, not a quantity of goods lifestyle, we realign ourselves with the truth that sets us free of limitation and lack. With a greater understanding of our value, we are poised to accept an even greater good than we had before. Now the post-recession prosperity will no longer be a “faux prosperity.” It will be permanent and lasting because it is based on sound principles and faithful practice. And more importantly than that, it recognizes God as the Source of our good, not the limited economic condition.

THE GENIUS WITHIN
Leonardo da Vinci was a genius, so were Michelangelo and Mozart. Spiritual geniuses include Jesus of Nazareth, the Buddha and perhaps even Ghandi. The world has been greatly blessed by what each of these men brought to life. Throughout time, many geniuses have graced our world such as Einstein, Newton and Stephen Hawkings. Some people say the Beatles were musical geniuses, holding equal talent with Beethoven. The question is: Did these people have something special? Is it possible they were given something more from their Creator than others? What kind of a God would give more to one and less to another?

You have the same life in you as they had in them. You have access to the same Mind, the exact same Genius. There are no favorites. God grants the same access to everyone.

The ego wants to claim genius and say, It’s mine. I am a genius.” Egomaniacs believe their talent is greater than others. They think they are more gifted. But nothing could be further from the truth. People do not achieve genius status because of anything they, themselves possess. There is only One Genius. That is God/Universal Mind. Those who have done great things have learned to tap into it. They have made themselves receptive to the Mind of God.

You’re not valuable because of what you’ve done. You’re valuable because of the Life of God within you. Without Spirit animating your body and living in you, there is nothing but an empty shell, an orifice. You are an inlet and outlet for God’s expression. The more you allow in, the greater your life becomes. When you discover the Genius-within-you, your life will explode with new creativity.

Trust yourself. Great men and women have always done so. Release yourself from self-doubt. Conquer your fears and walk into the world upright and proud. The life you carry into the world each day is the Presence of God. Trust in your best ideas. Pursue them with faith and allow God to create through you. There is a genius within you waiting to be released.

“I desire not to disgrace the soul. The fact that I am here certainly shows me that the soul had need of an organ here. Shall I not assume the post?”
Emerson

THREE POTHOLES ON THE PATH TO SELF-LOVE & APPRECIATION
Number One – Conformity

“For non-conformity the world whips you with its displeasure. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,—that is genius.”
Emerson