Seeing is an art Form. Really seeing with your heart and soul is an art form. I was very touched by the movie, "Because of Winn-Dixie". The main character is a ten-year old girl named Opal who is searching for a community and for friends and even for family. Everything comes together when this very special dog finds her. The dog is the catalyst for introducing her to many people in her community who are just as lonely and disconnected from a community as she is feeling. Instead of being lonely and separated, they actully start acting like a community and caring for each other by meeting and socializing and sharing their joys and their sadnesses. It is never easy to share sadnesses with people but it is so necessary for true friends to come to an understanding. If a person has no idea what made you who you are, they can never really appreciate what and who you are. Within this cast of characters is a lady named Gloria Dump. She is blind and tells little Opal that she sees using her heart. She makes the most endearing request of Opal.
She says: "Now go on and tell me everything there is to know about you so that I can see you with my heart".
Opal was eager to share her heart because she had been holding so much inside of her with no one to tell, and so she shared her sadness and her joy. I think this is the request we have to honor in all of our relationships. But before we ask a person to tell us everything that there is to know about them, we need to be ready to see them with our hearts and not our Egos. As Gloria stated, she used to have eyes but could not see. It is like the song Amazing Grace, incidentally a favorite hymn of mine and also the title of a mighty fine movie I happen to love about William Wilburforth and William Pitt and the end of the Slave Trade in England. I once was lost but now I'm found...was blind but now I see.
Grace really is all around us and found in the hearts of every compassionate human being who chooses to see and hear what is NOT being said in the words that people share. We must learn to use our deep intuitive abilities to discern when we are being told the truth or when we are being deceived and also to know when and to what degree to give ourselves... to trust someone. Giving our hearts and trusting someone is expected of us. It is not an optional part of human nature. We are all connected and therefore it is our calling to act on faith. This only works through integrity and can only be reliable if it is received with integrity. Relationships depend upon integrity and confidence and Love. In my experience it has become important to mentally strengthen my resolve. A very good friend and a woman who I know lives by her word, advised me yesterday that my choices will pass or fail by my resolve. No one can be resolved or empowered if they give their power to choose...away to someone else. So no matter if you are choosing what your heart deeply desires or you are choosing to make a sacrifice of your desire (be it temporary or long term) it must be a choice that you have embraced and resolved to do. Then you can be Impeccable with Your Word and True to Your Heart. Throughout history, BRAVE and NOBLE men and women and even children, have found that giving-up something comfortable or desirable was needed in order to protect the Greater Good or Defend the defenseless or just because they needed to act with integrity! This also goes back to the Christ Consciousness. I love the movie adaptation of Jesus Christ, Superstar! by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Judas tries to tell Jesus not to die on the cross because they could have so many great things in this world...friends, community, money, women. He points out all that JC has going for him. But JC was resolved, wasn't he? That is the Age we are in in 2012. It's important to strengthen that resolve...whatever it is on whatever level.
So how can we tackle these tough situations and keep that positivity about us? First and foremost, we ought to PRAISE AND GLORIFY each beautiful moment as it comes! Gratitude! Be grateful that you have what you have and you are what you are because there are many many beautiful gifts all around you. FIND THE BEAUTY and stare at it long and hard...all day if you have to. ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT. Strengthen your resolve by seeing beauty all around you and feeling gratitude for it. Some situations in life will be so hard to work through, that this will require CONSTANT redirection to this form of self-mastery. But it can be done and it should be done by every person everyday. I happen to believe that the results will be priceless. Seeing the beauty in the flowers and trees and people and buildings and cars we love or tv shows that make us laugh or beautiful superstars that make us feel instantly happier...this is what we need to focus the mental energy upon. Also, deeper than that, the connections we share with others, like our families and friends and loved ones near and far. Even a deceased or past love or family member: A memory is just as powerful as a present situation. In some cases, the memories we have created are there to give us power and we should use them to make us stronger and better people.
Don't forget that the people in your daily life need you. They are there for a reason and cannot be easily discharged. We all possess the power to create and recreate ...and so we can! But creation needs to serve the greater good and not the Self alone. So I will leave you today with that to think about and ponder as you face your challenges and I face mine. I feel the challenges that others are experiencing and I feel my own too. I hope that I can inspire people to carry on and push forward and be bold when they can and be calm and faithful in other times. I am grateful for these words that came to my heart today to share and I hope they help a few others out along their own path too.
Lilac
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