Eight basic values determine our spiritual lives: Compassion, Unity, Truthfulness, Fairness, Tolerance, Responsibility, Respect, and Service. These are the common principles taught by most religions and spiritual paths. These same principles define trust. The concepts are not new. Many of us just lost track of them as we find ourselves in a complex and confusing world.
WHAT IS YOUR PRACTICAL SPIRITUAL TRUST FACTOR?
1. Compassion
Do you care about and like yourself?
Do you care about the people you interact with on a daily basis?
2. Unity
Do you believe that in working more closely with others, something better
can be accomplished?
Are you willing to make a commitment to work more closely with others?
3. Truthfulness
Are you willing to be honest in your dealings with others?
Are you willing to be honest to yourself about your needs, wants and desires?
Are you willing to be honest with yourself about the integrity or lack of it your life?
4. Fairness
Are you willing to treat people around you fairly?
Are you willing to insist on fair treatment for yourself?
5. Tolerance
Are you willing to accept the diversity of others?
Are you willing to allow others to have different views and opinions?
6. Responsibility
Are you willing to assume personal responsibility for your life?
Are you willing to assume your share of responsibility for the overall
Advancement and evolution of our society?
7. Respect
Are you willing to learn to respect others, their opinions and their beliefs?
Are you willing to respect yourself and what you do?
Are you willing to have respect for the earth and be conscious of not polluting the environment?
8. Service
Are you willing to help others in your life to advance and succeed?
Are you willing to commit to helping others in your community with time as well as money?
Scoring: Assign one point for each “YES” answer.
Scores will range from 0-18. Acceptable scores range from 10-18.
If your score is in an acceptable range, Congratulations! You are a practical spiritual role model and need to be encouraged to continue your quest.
If your score is not in an acceptable range, reconsider which principles you disagree with. How do these affect your view of trust and how others view you? Are you a trustworthy person? Do your friends and coworkers see you as a trustworthy person? You might want to review the qualities that you want to work on.
These concepts apply to our everyday lives but show a practical spirituality. We don’t need to preach to be effective. Being role models with our actions is the best way to promote our spirituality.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
A Review of How To Read The Akashic Records by Linda Howe
I always think of the Akashic Records as the “universal library in the sky” or the record of all of our past, present, and future selves. A new book, How To Read the Akashic Records: Accessing The Archive of the Soul and Its Journey by Linda Howe explains that the Records contain, “everything that every soul has ever thought, said and done over the course of existence, as well as its future possibilities.” I love her analogy of the Records being the “cosmic internet” and we can “google” specific information from them.
The Records are governed and protected by nonphysical Light Beings. Our “Masters, Teachers and Loved ones” are our guides to the information of this universal repository.
These Records are not the exclusive domain of any one organization or religion. They are available to everyone. In the past, mystics and saints had access, and Mystery Schools provided entrance information. Today, we have evolved to a spiritual freedom, which allows anyone to gather data from the Records.
A specific prayer, the Pathway Prayer, is used to gain entry. While answers are provided, there is also an energy exchange that allows us to ask the right questions and “feel” the right responses. We are reminded that we are “perfect selves.” The Records don’t hold anything negative. They contain our potential, which is “eternal beings of Light whose essence is wholeness and wellness and goodness.”
Howe suggests that the Records provide an “energetic tune-up” for everyone, especially for those feeling out of touch or lost in the complexity of the material world. Remembering that we are connected to a Divine Being provides a comfort. “All souls desire to experience their wholeness and Oneness with all of Creation,” although not all of us are aware of this.
Accessing the Akashic Records is aspect of our Practical Spirituality. We are all capable of a spiritual independence, one in which we can help choose and define our spiritual connection. The Records provide another avenue of support, one in which we can connect directly to a Divine or higher Energy.
The Records show us that whatever our soul is seeking, we will find. What a liberating time to be living in, when we can gain this inner spiritual awareness and have access to help whenever we need it. Each of us has a unique light to shine. Our challenge is to accept the gifts we are given to help find and shine that inner light.
The Records are governed and protected by nonphysical Light Beings. Our “Masters, Teachers and Loved ones” are our guides to the information of this universal repository.
These Records are not the exclusive domain of any one organization or religion. They are available to everyone. In the past, mystics and saints had access, and Mystery Schools provided entrance information. Today, we have evolved to a spiritual freedom, which allows anyone to gather data from the Records.
A specific prayer, the Pathway Prayer, is used to gain entry. While answers are provided, there is also an energy exchange that allows us to ask the right questions and “feel” the right responses. We are reminded that we are “perfect selves.” The Records don’t hold anything negative. They contain our potential, which is “eternal beings of Light whose essence is wholeness and wellness and goodness.”
Howe suggests that the Records provide an “energetic tune-up” for everyone, especially for those feeling out of touch or lost in the complexity of the material world. Remembering that we are connected to a Divine Being provides a comfort. “All souls desire to experience their wholeness and Oneness with all of Creation,” although not all of us are aware of this.
Accessing the Akashic Records is aspect of our Practical Spirituality. We are all capable of a spiritual independence, one in which we can help choose and define our spiritual connection. The Records provide another avenue of support, one in which we can connect directly to a Divine or higher Energy.
The Records show us that whatever our soul is seeking, we will find. What a liberating time to be living in, when we can gain this inner spiritual awareness and have access to help whenever we need it. Each of us has a unique light to shine. Our challenge is to accept the gifts we are given to help find and shine that inner light.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
A New Look at an Old Favorite Book: Gift From The Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
My Mom, who recently died, loved this book and this author. But I had never read this gift until after her death. What a treat!
Lindbergh has a quiet determination in her writing. Perhaps this helps explain how she survived being the wife of the world’s famous aviator, Charles Lindbergh, and the kidnapping and death of her son.
She focuses on creativity and women, solitude, and relationships. Her words remind me of the wisdom of my Mom’s generation. We can learn much from our elderly if we are only willing to listen.
“While man, in his realm, has less chance for personal relations than woman, he may have more opportunity for giving himself creatively in work. Woman, on the other hand, has more chance for personal relations, but these do not give her a sense of her creative identity, the individual who has something of her own to say or to give. I believe that true identity is…found in creative activity springing from within…Woman can best refind herself by losing herself in some kind of creative activity of her own.”
This reflects Step Seven in the Do It Yourself Guide to Spirituality: Seven Simple Steps, which shows that one of the spiritual rules is to create and develop our unique ability. Lindbergh’s writing has a practical spiritual component.
“All relationships are in process of change, of expansion, and must perpetually be building themselves new forms. But there is no single fixed form to express such a changing relationship. There are perhaps different forms for each successive stage.” Lindbergh reminds us of the Step Three of Change, which affects all relationships.
"Perhaps one can at last in middle age, if not earlier, be completely oneself. And what a liberation that would be.”
Ah, if only we could all be completely ourselves. I find that 50 years after those words, the idea is becoming significant again. That internal liberation, however, still escapes most of us. Lindbergh understands the importance of the inner life. That inner life is necessary now. That inner life is part of our spiritual evolution.
Searching for our creativity, allowing relationships to change, and finding peace within – what words of wisdom.
Lindbergh has a quiet determination in her writing. Perhaps this helps explain how she survived being the wife of the world’s famous aviator, Charles Lindbergh, and the kidnapping and death of her son.
She focuses on creativity and women, solitude, and relationships. Her words remind me of the wisdom of my Mom’s generation. We can learn much from our elderly if we are only willing to listen.
“While man, in his realm, has less chance for personal relations than woman, he may have more opportunity for giving himself creatively in work. Woman, on the other hand, has more chance for personal relations, but these do not give her a sense of her creative identity, the individual who has something of her own to say or to give. I believe that true identity is…found in creative activity springing from within…Woman can best refind herself by losing herself in some kind of creative activity of her own.”
This reflects Step Seven in the Do It Yourself Guide to Spirituality: Seven Simple Steps, which shows that one of the spiritual rules is to create and develop our unique ability. Lindbergh’s writing has a practical spiritual component.
“All relationships are in process of change, of expansion, and must perpetually be building themselves new forms. But there is no single fixed form to express such a changing relationship. There are perhaps different forms for each successive stage.” Lindbergh reminds us of the Step Three of Change, which affects all relationships.
"Perhaps one can at last in middle age, if not earlier, be completely oneself. And what a liberation that would be.”
Ah, if only we could all be completely ourselves. I find that 50 years after those words, the idea is becoming significant again. That internal liberation, however, still escapes most of us. Lindbergh understands the importance of the inner life. That inner life is necessary now. That inner life is part of our spiritual evolution.
Searching for our creativity, allowing relationships to change, and finding peace within – what words of wisdom.
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