A New Way of Thinking

Does the New Year greet you with trepidation or elation? Are you happily making out new to-do lists and setting goals?

I have not made any resolutions. “I resolve to….” Is such a power struggle, deep within my psyche. I’m done with the disappointment of not living up to my own expectations.

So I’ve decided to work from the inside out, and design my year from a spiritual perspective. I have this feeling that if I align my inner self with God and His purpose for me, then everything else will fall into place.

Sound too simple? Ah, yes, but it is the simplicity that makes it work! I am empowered by forces that are much more powerful than my own free will. You know how it feels when everything just falls into place, when you are purposefully following the path that was meant for you? It’s effortless, right? And we wonder, how can this be so easy?

Well, that’s how I feel about this change in my thinking. My drive is not to be focused on losing that next pound or logging how much I exercised today. Instead, I am taking a spiritual approach, and checking in with my inner self to set my focus.

Does this make you wonder what I"m talking about, or question how this will be accomplished?  Let’s back this story up just a bit to shed some light on what I mean.

I’ve spent my whole life allowing my thoughts to be controlled by my emotions. Believing fully in my feelings, but not trusting my inner guidance. In other words, listening to my head instead of my heart. But it goes deeper than that. 

I believe in the power of our inner spirit. It’s really who we are anyway. This covering of flesh and bone serves us well to navigate our earthly lives, but our spirit is strong inside of us, whether our bodies are working the way they should or not.

It takes effort to slow down our whirlwind lives and shift our focus to our inner selves, but it is time well spent. This calm can be achieved through the practice of various breathing techniques, as well as through meditation and yoga.

Anytime we can block out the busyness of the world around us, and send our focus inward, we begin to connect with our inner spirit. Breath work is an easy and pleasant way to calm our bodies and our thoughts, and starts us on the path of our inner journey.

Once we find what soothes us, whether it is calm music, a yoga practice, or a walk in nature, we can use this time to connect with our inner being. It should feel relaxed, and not forced.  There is no fear in facing your true inner self.

When you have created calmness away from the outside world, you may begin to focus on whatever may be your most prevalent emotion or thought. By the guidance of your inner spirit, you may solve your problem, or not. But you will certainly gain some insight.

Hopefully, you will come away with the realization that what matters most is seeking your own inner peace. We have so little control over what the rest of the world is doing. We only have control over how we respond to the myriad stimuli around us.

As we learn to trust our inner guidance, our thoughts and actions will reflect our beliefs as we honor our inmost selves. 

By regularly practicing this focus on our inner journey, we begin to more quickly connect with our inner power. We become familiar with the inclinations of our true self, and respond to the tugging of our spirit when we need to make a decision. In short, we learn to trust ourselves.

I’ve spent the last couple of years meeting my inner self for long walks in the woods, and learning to shift my focus inward when I need to evaluate my outward situation. By learning to trust myself, I find I feel more confident and self-assured. 

Even though I’ve made the switch from allowing my circumstances to control the outcome of any given situation, it was a revelation for me to realize a new outlook for my new year. An epiphany, if you like.

No longer will I rely on my strong self-will - which crumbles at the sight of chocolate! I will use the strength of my inner being as my compass, to guide me to make right choices, and to steer me into the wellness I’ve dreamed about for years.

By nourishing my inner spirit, and giving my body the rest it needs along with the healthy foods I already eat, I know my goals will be obtained. Yes, goals. This is a new word for me. I’m more of a “let’s see what happens” kind of girl. But this year, I am setting goals, milestones that will further my cause of wellness. Perhaps this starts with de-cluttering, and in fact I have already begun to purge what is unnecessary.

But even more than what I achieve in my physical world, my emphasis and focus will be to keep in constant connection with my inner world. After all, I am the only person I am going to spend my whole life with.

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For those of you who waited to see our Christmas tree decorated for the holidays, here is a photo. I’ve made all our holiday visitors make a guess as to how many ornaments they think are on the tree. Now I have to take them all down and count them!

 Happy Holidays!

When Hope is Scarce

There are days when my spirit soars, free from worry, like a bird on an updraft column of air, reaching a pinnacle of height and effortlessly soaring over all of creation. Then, like the bird, I have to come back down to earth.

Gravity is a force to be reckoned with, but so is despair.

Why is it that I can be so full of the Spirit and feel complete peace within my life one day, and wake the next day to a feeling of hopelessness hanging on my spirit like a heavy blanket weighing me down?

Where do we find hope when hope seems lost? How can we restore our peace when hope is scarce?

Certainly we can’t live on the highest peaks of euphoria all the time, but neither do we want to wallow in the valley of despair.

How do you restore balance in your life?

I know there is joy that restores my spirit when I sing praises to my Lord. My thoughts shift to God and pull me out of my troubles, and I am reminded of His great Love. Yet I don’t always remember that just to lift my voice and sing will be restorative to my spirit. And sometimes I don’t feel like singing through my sadness. But when I sing, I am instantly transformed back to a child of God, loved by my Heavenly Father, and free from worries and cares.

There is a certainty that a walk in nature will make me smile, as I feel oneness with all living things of the natural world. Perhaps it is because the focus moves out of myself and into the world that I am restored. I walk along, one foot in front of the next, and the pattern becomes a soothing rhythm. 

The glorious wonders of nature surround me, and I feel connected to heaven and earth. Soon I realize I am smiling, and there is a song in my heart once again.

For me, these methods help to restore my inner peace. If I can’t get outside, and I am feeling more introspective, I might turn to meditation for its restorative properties. Instrumental music playing softly helps to tune out the rest of the world, and a mantra of “I am well” or “I am healed” calms my spirit and allows a change of inner perspective.

Prayer and meditation are excellent methods of connecting with our inner selves and with God. Through prayer, we can share our troubles with God, and release them. Through meditation, our hope and wellness can be restored. 

As a young woman of twenty years of age, I saw mountains for the first time. It was through this natural beauty that God first whispered to my heart, and I began to believe in a higher power that ordered this natural world.

I’ve always been drawn to the words of the psalmist who wrote, “I lift my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2 (NIV)

There is power in knowing God is in the strength of the mountains, and peace in feeling His presence in the order of the natural world. Restoring our spirit and finding hope when it seems scarce is as easy as turning our thoughts to God and laying our burdens at His feet.

Releasing our pain and our worries to the One who knows all, sees all, and is Infinite, lifts our burdens revealing our pure inner self which only seeks peace and knows hope is the pathway to finding that peace.

The Purpose of Life

Another senseless tragedy. Families torn apart. Pain, suffering and a sense of security that will never return.


How do our sensitive spirits deal with such tragedy? All we can do is pray. Pray for God’s comfort for those involved. Pray for some kind of reconciliation and peace, knowing it may be years before that is felt. How then do we soothe our own fears? 


We were meant for so much more than this. We cannot let the darkness overcome the beauty of this life. Reach down, deep within yourself. What do you crave? We crave love, and acceptance. And when these basic needs are not met in our lives, it seems our psyche may go berserk.

The truth is that there is no satisfaction for our souls in the ways of this world. The peace we seek, and the love we long for, are all transitional in the tangible world we live in. The only way to know true joy, to feel a deep sense of peace and belonging and to realize true love is to know God. 


With God, we are never alone. He loves us inexplicably, no matter what we do or say. His heart and His love are not based on the things of this world. He is in our thoughts, both conscious and subconscious. 


He exists in a realm our minds cannot conceive, yet we know that He is there. His presence can be felt in the nuance of a thought. His love can be known by the communion of His presence. We feel God and we experience God each in our own way. 


While we exist in this world of people and things, our hearts and our minds must be focused on the spirit. Our spirit guides us through our lives, and learning to listen to its yearnings will direct us on the pathway to inner peace.


We will always have the pull of our external world, with its obligations and insecurities. But if we move our focus inward, and realize it is through our spirits that we communicate with God, the noise of our busy lives can be pushed into the background and our true purpose will be revealed.  


Each of us must find our way. When we communicate with God’s Spirit through our own spiritual existence, we begin to understand the reason why we are here. It isn’t to fight the 9-5 rush-hour life. It isn’t to gain notoriety or wealth.


Our purpose is to grow as spiritual beings, bringing us closer to the realization of what life can mean when our focus is not on the things of this world. Through prayer and a conscious effort at gratefulness in all areas of our lives; through connecting with God from our inner spirit, and not through our intellect, we begin to glimpse the beauty of life that we are meant to know.