The mind can tell you anything. Most thoughts are merely mental chatter. Many people believe their stories. We are not our stories. Be careful what you say to yourself.
Use these steps as a guide to help you free yourself from limiting beliefs.
- Be aware of the stories you believe that you constantly tell yourself. Drop the stories. See what happens when you do this. All of the great teachers of wisdom that the world has known have emphasized this. Holding onto your personal story is like carrying around a heavy bag of rocks. It loads you down. There is great freedom in letting go and living in the precious-present moment. At some point along the path to spiritual growth, we all have to indeed abandon our own personal stories, for this is cargo that otherwise will weigh down the passenger unnecessarily. This is how we can get into the great stream of life and be guided by the benevolent universe or God.
2. Recognize these stories are not true. They are stories of the small self or the ego. Your True Self or Christ consciousness is found in emptiness. There is paradoxical power of surrendering the Ego’s personal identity. We become strong and gain power by surrendering our small self-will. Jesus’s Salvation, Buddha’s Nirvana, and Krishna’s Self-Realization cannot be understood by the Ego mind nor described by words attached to our personal me. It is reserved for the private chambers of the human soul just beyond the mind and only found in a state of surrendered silence.
Remember the words of St Paul if you need some guidance: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things”. – Ephesians 4:8
3. Change the stories that do not serve you. Realize that consciousness and its content are but shadows of the ultimate truth. We are not our thoughts. We are the one who is aware of the thinker. If you are going to think, think only positive thoughts. I call this thought habits.
Everything indeed is transient and impermanent in consciousness. Thoughts and perceptions are the raw material of consciousness. Awareness of this is the beginning of knowing the absolute (GOD). We all are attached to the little person we think our self to be. Without our “I thought” there would be no perception, thought or duality. Where would be the so called manifested world without the I thought?
When we realize that God is actually living us, we are humbled by the sacredness of our own breath. That which is being sought is indeed the seeker itself.
4. Surround yourself with people and wisdom teachers who are where you want to be – find a spiritual path that resonates with your soul.
I love reading Buddhist and Hindu philosophy, especially Vedanta, the Tao Te Ching and other ancient texts. They have taught me so much wisdom and a greater understanding of the Bible. One of the things I have learned is that God must be sought in earnest. The Hindus taught me the value of a guru. A traditional etymology of the term “guru” is based on the interplay between darkness and light. The guru is seen as the one who “dispels the darkness of ignorance.”
I have a deeply personal relationship with, and love for, Jesus Christ. I consider Jesus my Guru and enjoy the simple potency of His teachings and the way they dovetail perfectly with the higher wisdom shared from other ancient spiritual traditions that I have grown to love. Perhaps you have your own favorite jewels—all shining drops of Truth originating and returning to the same single ocean.
Our life journey is like a beautiful river returning to the realization that we are that ocean. Jesus provides us with a road map for transcendence.
If we trust in God’s higher guidance—or as Emerson called it “The Universal Soul” we become more conscious of the subtle depth of ourselves—we then get the power we need to live in peace. It all leads to the same altar. Often we have to go through a lot of pain until we open up and start that part of the journey to liberation and freedom.
“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.” Kahil Gibran, The Prophet
“The cosmic mind, manifesting in some rare being is able to effect the linkage in others of the individual (weak) mind with the universal (strong) mind of the inner recess. Such a rare being is called the Guru or God in manifestation.” Ramana Maharshi
In my spiritual experience, Jesus Christ would be an example of such a rare being.
CONTEMPLATION
Close your eyes, and take a few soft, gentle deep breaths. Drop into the awareness of your heart. Feel your heart like an empty cup. Simply breathe, and allow that cup to be filled by the Presence of Life itself. Drop your personal story. Give the story of your life a rest. Do not interfere with your thoughts. Be an unattached witness to your mind. Smile, and gently breathe. Surrender your heart, the Holy Grail of your being, to the Spirit of Life. Do this with tender, humble love. Allow yourself to be filled with this peace and sense your true self within.
When you open your eyes, take this peace into all your affairs.
