Universal Lessons

Note from Suzanne: This past week I faced a couple of big interpersonal challenges. The sun is back out today. This morning Sanaya spoke directly to me at first, and then to all of us …

Do you not see that what you perceived as some of the best messages came to you this past week when you were facing challenges of your own? Yes, to you it seems a blessing when all is going smoothly, but look how you grew. Look how you had a chance to put into practice the teachings. Look how the teachings we gave “specifically to you” (so you thought) spoke so very clearly to others.

Emotions, feelings, reactions, experiences are universal in your world. Why do you think so many respond to these teachings by saying, “Sanaya was speaking directly to me!”? Because we were and we are. You are all one. You think you are separate, but you are all children of the same God, the same Source. Your physical DNA may seem to separate you, but your spiritual make-up is identical, matched with its Source. You share the same spiritual “genes,” so to speak. This is why you reach out to a brother or sister when they ache, for you understand pain.

Always remember, the pain is temporary and it is a source of growth. Embrace it, then rise above.

With New Eyes

See with new eyes.  This is the remedy for when you experience discomfort.  If you are unhappy or less than joyful, if your thoughts constantly return to something that makes you uncomfortable, a mere shift in perception will cure your ills.

 

It is quite easy to get stuck in one way of seeing.  Know that with this word "seeing" we mean thinking and perceiving.  The human brain actually creates neuronal pathways in accordance with your thoughts, creating the same hormonal reactions and thus the same emotions in response to your habitual thoughts and perceptions.  You can and oft do become addicted of sorts even to the most unpleasant of emotions.  The body craves a dose of fear or anger.

 

You wish to break the addiction?  See with new eyes.  When you experience the undesired reaction—the fear, the anger, the unrest—shift your perception.  See from another's eyes.  Whose eyes will you see from?  Hopefully one with compassion and love for all others, for these are the antidotes to all ills. 

 

Practice this shift in perception enough times, and when a situation or person who would have previously caused you angst comes into your awareness, you will respond in a wholly and holy new way.

Conflict Resolution

Conflict arises when two or more do not see eye to eye. You have different ways of approaching the same goal. One wishes to go in one direction, the other in another. Oft times there is confusion about the destination itself. The more you diverge, the more negativity surrounds the situation, and like magnets repelling each other, you cannot seem to come together. This is called reverse polarity. It does not work.

So what is the solution? Agree to disagree. Meet in the middle and set new goals, even if this means a parting of the ways. Surround the situation with love and surround the one with whom you feel in conflict with well wishes. You do not all walk the same path. You will eventually discover the reason your paths did cross, but cross they did—at an angle, not in parallel. This you call conflict, but there is a reason for every meeting, every crossing. What have you learned? See the situation not with bitterness, but as yet another learning point in this school you call Life.

Two Posts Today ...

#1. On Right and Wrong

You have an expression, “Do not waste your breath.” To you this means to try fruitlessly to defend yourself. This is good advice. What purpose does it do to state your case? Does it matter if one is right and another wrong? What if both are right in their own minds? What does “right” mean? You give it meaning and then become stuck in defending that meaning. And what if the meaning should change, as surely it will, for all things change as growth is experienced? And so, the effort spent in defending one’s actions, thoughts, and words served what purpose? To antagonize another? To make another feel better or worse?

Is it your goal to show another how to think? Why do you feel the need to do so? Surrender and allow all to think as they will, including yourself.

You cannot waste a breath, for with each breath you experience and learn. Once again we advise you to step back with compassion for all others as well as yourself, for you are learning through the angst and through the joy. All is in perfect order. Relax and live with joy.

#2. On Winning and Losing

“You cannot win.” Another of your sayings. What is “winning?” It is when you can beat the chest and say, “Do you see? I am victorious. I was right. I caused the other to admit defeat.” Is that truly winning? What have you won, other than a momentary satisfaction of the ego? And what have you proven to your ego? That separation exists and is real. In your heart you know there is no separation. When you truly understand this, then it becomes clear that the greater You cannot win, for there is no winning and losing. These are aspects of duality. In Spirit, all is One. There is no winning and losing. All exists. All is. All is Love.

If you are focusing on winning and losing, on right and wrong, then you have stepped out of Love, out of Oneness, and into ego. YOU cannot win. YOU cannot lose. YOU are Love. Focus on that, and the need to win or lose becomes completely irrelevant.

Stretched

You wish to go back to your bed and crawl into your shell.  At times this life gets a bit much.  The challenges come after you one after another.  Never forget that this is why you are here.  You chose these lessons to help your soul to grow.  If you want to run and hide, this is an indicator that you are being stretched.  Stretching leads to growth.

 

Go ahead and retreat into your shell—this shell you call a body.  There in the darkness where no others can assail you, ask to feel the love which you are.  No greater strength will you find.  Wear it like a suit of armor—not to keep others away, but so as to reflect upon all who see you the light you carry inside.

 

This armor gets a bit heavy at times.  You may feel it as a burden, until you realize that like the body, this suit of armor merely gives form to the formless.  Your true Self has no form and cannot be contained within a body.  When you retreat inside you will understand this.  So, escape for a while as you find the need.  Before long you will stretch so much that no suit can contain you.

From Suzanne: Please visit www.SuzanneGiesemann.com for several updates to the website (see "What's New" on the homepage), including a new essay entitled, "The Fear Factor." Meanwhile, Sanaya's message for today is below ...

Round and Round

Circles.  Round shapes.  Spheres, balloons, balls.  These have no corners in which to become stuck and stagnate.  A circle is endless.  All on the circle cycles round and round, always with the potential to come back to the beginning. All in the sphere is harmoniously connected.  Look for the shape of the sphere in your life:  your planet … the egg from which you were formed … all evidence of Perfection.

 

Your life is a circle.  It truly has no beginning and no end, merely cycles of experience as you orbit through it.  When you finally realize this, you can move with fluidity—with the flow of Life itself—and not get stuck in a painful corner.  Are you feeling stuck?  Sit in the silence and feel the flow once again.  Ask to be led back into the stream—the life stream of life from which you have wandered.  It is a circle.  You will come back around, for Love is always guiding you home.

The Season of Giving

You rush about buying gifts for each other—symbols of your love. Why this tradition of bestowing a gift? “I love you. I wish you to know how much you mean to me. Take this gift as a reminder. When you see it, think of me.”

God gives you the gift of life. Each of you is God’s gift to each other. Now when you look upon a fellow human being will you see not the person, but God’s gift to you? A symbol. A reminder. “Think of Me as you see this gift I bestow upon you.” Now look at your hand. Think of God as you look upon and use that hand. It is God’s gift to you. A reminder of how much you are loved.

All around you are reminders. All that you see. Gifts to be used, to be appreciated, to know that you are loved. Your life is a gift. You are a gift. Will you not help the Giver to spread the love?

Let it Bloom

Note from Suzanne: This week Ty and I attended a really fun Christmas party. All present were separated into four groups for a variety of games. For one of these games each team was given a word and had to write a poem based on that word (ours was “sausage!”). I couldn’t believe how hard it was for us to come up with the required 16 rhyming lines. We really struggled, and in the end our poem was pretty bad. Everyone kept looking at me and saying, “Come on, Suzanne! You write poetry!” And I said, “No, I don’t! Spirit gives me those words!” It’s true that over 400 poems have come through my pen, but if I tried to insert myself in the process, the result would have been as bad as our pathetic sausage poem and the effort just as painful! This morning I sat and asked for Sanaya’s message. After two sentences I recognized a poem and smiled. The words flowed non-stop with total ease. Why? Because I got out of the way and let Spirit speak. In that meditative state I had connected with higher consciousness, and the result is the poem which follows, given to me from Sanaya in all of three minutes … Thanks for joining me to enjoy this inspiration from Spirit. Read the words, then go on out and smell the roses.

Pick a flower from your garden.
Put it in a vase.
To smell its fragrance and see it there
Does bring a smile to your face.

A flower is a symbol,
A thing of beauty to behold,
A sign that love is everywhere
A story to be told.

Look around you daily.
See the signs of love in all
In the beauty of a flower
In the cry of a bird’s call.

Yes, stop and smell the roses
Smell their sweet perfume.
Bring this beauty to your heart
And feel the love inside you bloom.

You are a part of all that is.
You are the beauty in a flower.
You are the majesty of all you see
For you carry in you God’s great power.

That power is the love you feel
Each time you stop and pause
It’s then you know that all you see
Is the effect of one great Cause.

(Over 365 poems are at www.MessagesofHopePoems.org)

How's the Weather?

Mastery of the emotions is a lofty goal. To hold a steady state of peace is nigh unto impossible for the average human. Strive for perfection, if you please, but be quite pleased to merely be aware of your emotions from moment to moment. Pay attention to your body. This is your barometer. Is the pressure high or low? Are you comfortable or not? You adjust the settings. Those around you and events around you can set off alarms. It is up to you to sense the alarms and adjust your reactions.

Do you enjoy drama? Then, by all means, keep your settings on high. But beware of the effect of high emotions on the physical body. Do you wish instead for more peace? Pay attention to your human weather station.

The Greatest Gift

You package your gifts in a box, then wrap them in colorful paper. Why do you do this? So that the recipient does not know in advance what treasure lies inside. YOU are gift-wrapped, my friend. God has packaged you for a while in the most beautiful of wrappings: a human body.

Each of you is decorated just a bit differently from the other, but the treasure inside all holds the same essence of its Giver. It is your task in life to open the package and behold the gift that lies there hidden. Will you be one of those careful beings who removes the wrapping oh so very carefully, peeling away each corner and very slowly revealing the contents to yourself and others? Or will you rip off the wrapping with utter abandonment and joy? Both methods are fine. Worry not, as long as you savor the process. Ultimately, the treasure is revealed to all.

Peace is the Prize

Suddenly a thought occurs to you.  You have forgotten to do this or that, or you focus on how much work lies ahead.  Suddenly you are no longer able to enjoy yourself.  The body tenses.  What has happened?  You were in the now, but now your consciousness has shifted to a future event.  You are taking care of the task in your mind at some time in the future, and you have lost your equanimity.

 

It is well and good to plan.  Take time to do this.  But when you are involved in an enjoyable task, keep your focus in the present.  It is quite easy to lose your sense of peace.  Merely shift your focus to the past or future.  If you can learn to be entirely present, more peace will be the prize.

In an Instant

An argument that lasts but a minute of your time does cause you to separate yourself from another for not just a minute, but for years.  You no longer speak to that other.  The body clenches at the mere anticipation of crossing paths, and when you do cross paths, you give a wide berth, avoiding the eyes and holding onto anger.  Why?  It is pride—a facet of the ego.  "I was right!" the ego screams, "and you were wrong."  Perhaps, but now who suffers?  Two suffer, not because one was right.  What is "right?"  A perception based on beliefs.

 

Perception is changed in an instant, but stubbornness and belief cause you to hold onto anger, resentment, judgment, and pain.  If perception can change in an instant, imagine the instant change of seeing that the only thing that ever matters is love.  The only thing that never changes is spirit, which is born of love.  Recognize that the human is flawed.  The spirit is perfection in action.  The human is spirit striving to once again reveal its perfection. 

 

Release your grudges in a moment of grace.  Forgive your neighbor and you have forgiven your Self.  Do so in an instant and feel the love once again flow.  It is that simple.

No Strings Attached

Abandonment.  What does this mean?  In your concept it means that another has left you—that they no longer need nor want you.  The very reading of these words brings pain to your heart.  All humans want to be needed, wanted, and loved.  We wish you to know that when one human leaves another, it is merely through the physical presence.  Once joined in love, you are always connected.  It is your human attachments which do cause you pain.  You cling tightly to others, often out of fear and not true love.  If you were to let go of your fears and attachments, you could look inside and there find all the love you need.  Feeling secure in your Self as the Source of love, all human beings could walk away from you and you would still be content, knowing that there is truly no separation.

 

When you cease clinging, let go of attachment, and allow love to simply flow, then you are truly free.

Nudges

The physical body has urges.  With these you are familiar.  Quite a few are they, and you respond quite willingly to them, giving yourself food, drink, sleep, exercise, and so on.  But do you not realize that the spirit has urges as well?  These you so often ignore.  You can only go so long without food, drink, sleep, and elimination before the body rebels or shuts down.  What do you think happens when you ignore the urging of the spirit?  Aha!  It is not as you think!  The spirit never shuts down.   You merely choose to ignore it. 

 

The spirit cannot die and it does not go away.  It is who you really are—your true self—and its essence is love.  Its very purpose is to experience and express love.  This is the greatest urge you feel:  to express and experience love.  Ignore it and you feel and experience dis-ease.  You cannot ignore the bodies' urges.  You choose to ignore the spirits.' 

 

Mind your choices carefully.  Listen to your inner urgings.  Act on them and find far greater ease in the flow of your life.

Growing Pains

Yes, it is true that man is meant to thrive.  All things seek evolution, and man is no different.  What is evolution, but a path of growth and improvement?  This is your natural tendency.  Can you stop the body from growing?  Behold your fingernails.  Behold the self-healing of a cut.  Behold Perfection in action.  And so, just as the body experiences growth, so does the soul.  Can the soul ever stop growing?  No, my friend.  It may stagnate for a while or slip backward based on choices, but the ever-present pull upward does not go away.

 

The soul will experience unrest as it rests for a while.  And then, when a choice is made which propels it once again on the upward spiral of growth, relief is felt.  This is evolution.  It is in your very nature.  Pay attention.  Are you restless?  Are you uncomfortable?  These are growth pangs.  Mind your choices.  When the pang eases, you are moving in the right direction.

"I" vs. "i"

You are beginning to understand this very sacred of concepts, the I AM.  When you truly and fully understand yourself as I AM, then you will know that there is nothing but the "I" that sees all, knows all, is all.  This is not you.  Do not get hung up on your pronouns.  Feel this sense of "I" as the one "I" that has no other behind it.  Yes, the all-knowing, all-seeing "I" … the First Cause with all others—all of the little "i's"—being but manifestations of the one I AM.

 

Once this understanding begins to set in, we ask you to look upon others and see the Great I AM within them.  Say not, "That is John and that is Mary."  Say instead, "That is 'I'."  Do you feel how you rebel?  This is because your language pulls you to that place of thinking of the "i" as the ego.  Of course you are not John and you are not Mary.  But you are an experience of "I," as is John and as is Mary.  Set ego aside and see the Great "I" within John and Mary.  Feel "I" as the essence of all beings.

 

Does not John feel the vastness of the "I" within?  Does not Mary?  The "I" is all that is.  Now try again.  "I AM That."  Look upon John and Mary now and see "I."  Say, "I AM That."  Now do you understand that what you do and say or do not do and say to another you do unto your Self?

 

Namaste.

Small Talk

Do you feel the need to brag and boast?  It is quite normal, but ask yourself why.  If it is an inordinate need to feel better about yourself, then you have forgotten Who your Self truly is. 

 

It is one thing to share with others if that sharing is helpful and leads to greater understanding and enlightenment.  It is one thing to share your excitement over an achievement, but beware of excessive talk of the smaller self.  Do not feel bad if you fall into this habit often.  Merely use it as an indicator that it is time to see and feel the greater Self within and to look within others for that Self as well.

 

Turn your focus away from limitation and look outside yourself for the variety of ways that God expresses through others.  Do this regularly and you will experience expansion rather than limitation.  You are all limitless.  Now, isn't that something to brag about?