Attentiveness to Spirit
Paying attention over the holidays
Posted by aplecompte on December 28th, 2009
This letter is from Kirsten Buxton, a Messenger of Peace with Awakening Mind.
Dear Friends,
Christmas seems to be a time where extra vigilance is required to stay right-minded. Expectations to see or call relatives and maintain past associations come into the mind, providing many opportunities to ask the Holy Spirit to ‘decide for God for me’. This is the perfect time to strengthen in the Spirit, to choose to look at the motivation behind each call or connection, and to honestly observe ‘how do I really feel’ before, during and after these interactions. The ego sets the relationships in this world up, and so they do involve reciprocity and guilt. With the purpose of awakening, each interaction and communication must be for the purpose of forgiveness; otherwise the purpose is maintaining guilt. And this we do not want.
I am here at 'the Ashram' in NewCastle with Melanie, Michael and Karen during this Christmas time and we have joined together in prayer around all decisions regarding who to contact and how long each visit or encounter will be. This prayerful approach gives a framework for mind-watching that is very supportive. With reference points, such as feeling connected to a mighty companion, together we join to see the resistance to following Guidance, and the ‘add-ons’ to the Plan which lead away from being present with the Spirit and feeing connected to our Source.
Because the Path we have chosen involves an authentic awakening, the Spirit does not guide us to indulge (oh well, it's just one visit so I'll just go along with whatever happens) or avoid (I don't want to deal with specialness so I'll avoid it altogether). Guidance from the Spirit is individualized, and will be given to support what is most helpful right now for seeing and releasing guilt and specialness from the mind in an authentic way that leads towards lasting peace.
It is easy to see afterwards which interactions felt like the old way, and so we have had ‘debriefing sessions’ after each encounter. These little adventures are great ways to see the subtleties of people-pleasing and the thoughts or temptations that arise that lead to falling into old patterns and old ways of relating. The patterns I'm referring to here are ones that are like an automatic pilot way of being – such as deferring or taking control as a defense (way of coping) – neither of which feel like the Grace of the Spirit. Other patterns may be offering to help out or say yes to invitations that are not Guided. I heard a great analogy of the Holy Spirit the other day, being like a GPS system. You're never wrong or lost, because the Spirit can always recalculate to bring you back on track. However, the less that commitments made with the ego have to be undone to realign with the Spirits Plan, the easier it is on the mind.
We had a conference call with friends around the world today who are doing the Mystical Mind Training Program, and they shared many miracle stories and experiences of mind-watching and heart-opening experiences over Christmas. It is such a joy to join with devoted brothers and sisters, it feels like we are all linked, arm in arm!
The transfer value of attentiveness to following the Spirit's prompts is huge – it is the perfect way to move into a ‘new year’. The potential for joy is unlimited!!!
With love and happiness,
Kirsten
Tags: Awakening, Guilt, Relationships
