As with anything worthwhile, to achieve your desires, you require practice. A pianist requires practice every day to achieve the ability to play flawlessly. A painter requires practice to understand more fully the use of the medium to create art. A martial artist requires continual practice, each time stretching the boundaries of what is possible, to achieve a state of supreme flexibility, unmatched strength and increasing awareness of surroundings and situations. Practice applies to all great athletes, sales people, doctors, hair stylists, auto mechanics…whatever you do, whatever you practice becomes your daily practice and your specialty.
So too does the practice of tuning into spirit and communicating with your soul for the purpose of understanding yourself and your world. As a practice, one must continually put forth effort and time to the practices of mind/body communion. In this sense of the word, “communion” means that both the body and the mind are aware of each other – feeling each other – in a way that actual communication occurs. Being that tuned into the body and that aware of the thoughts running through your mind is a practice that requires continual time and effort. The “observer” of the body and the mind is the higher self, or soul, or spirit – whatever term you feel best describes it for you. This “trinity” that is YOU, is responsible for all outer appearances and circumstances in your life.
The Great Mystery in which this trinity, this YOU lives also has an influence in your world. For even though you were given the power to create your world, to change and to recreate yourself over and over again, the Great Mystery has a vast plan – a master plan – of which you are an irreplaceable part. It is for this reason that there are often circumstances in your life that you cannot change, no matter how practiced you are at the art of mind/body/spirit awareness. The Great Mystery will be using you in ways that you cannot predict or control. This is where trust and faith comes into the picture. You must rely on trust and faith to KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that the Great Mystery has your best interests in mind when it uses you, as you were created, for the purpose for which IT designed you.
When you give yourself over to those practices which bring you joy, you are following the instructions that were “coded” into you by the Great Mystery. When people say, “Follow Your Dreams!” what they mean is that by doing what it is you always wanted to do you are doing what you were programmed to do. If you deny yourself the practice of this passion, exercising your free will to choose to follow a different path, you most likely will feel very disoriented, stressed, and unfulfilled because that path does not resonate with your program. However if you follow the path that makes you happiest, you will find joy and along the way, be confronted with situations that will test your resolve just to force you to stretch a little further – showing that you truly believe and desire this dream. It is in these times of struggle that you are given the best opportunities to stretch and grow.
Continual practice allows you to move gracefully through these growth stages and not be derailed by fear or anger or frustration. You will feel these emotions, but you will fall back on your practices to connect your awareness once again to your mind/body/spirit for clarification and guidance. Exercises will come to you that will allow you to further process what is happening and you will achieve a state of peaceful awareness. Remember to relax. Relaxing into whatever is happening to you allows all of your creativity and energy to flow freely into the situation thereby relieving stress and returning you to a state of peace.
Whether your mind/body/spirit practice includes yoga or meditation, long walks in the woods, or simply staring at a flower, keep at it and remember that you are not alone in any of this noble work that you do. At all times you are surrounded with angels and guides. Loved ones who have dropped their bodies exist forever in Spirit and also come by to visit with you from time to time. You can recall them instantly in your mind and spend a moment or two in communion with their spirits. Learning how to do this is what the spiritual practice is all about. It includes connecting your awareness or consciousness with all parts of yourself (mind/body/spirit), and reaching beyond yourself to connect with those in the Spirit realm who are here to assist you in your earthly journey.
Intention, Focus, Action and Prayer (asking and allowing) are a practice. Keep at it, for it is definitely worthwhile and life changing.
