Staying Beautiful in this World

I’ve been noticing how often I’m critical. Sometimes I feel a need to speak up and say something, and then there are other times when I say something and think afterward, “That wasn’t necessary.”

Breathe before you speak. Take a moment so you do not go into rote reaction.  You have the power to easily transcend those criticisms that arise in your consciousness with your conscious intention. What you do with those criticisms in your consciousness means everything. First of all, do not judge yourself because you had a critical thought; we are strong enough to see our weak points, and then we are strong enough to shore them up and give ourselves beauty. 

So let’s say a critical feeling and thought comes to you. Breathe. Take a moment and stay soft, even though the energy is pressing in on you, wanting to come out and be sharp and mean. Just do not do anything other than to breathe in and out.  If you breathe with it, it will subside. A little bit later, when the knife is back in the sheath and the edge is not there, then say what you need to say. Then you will be able to say it without being critical or cutting and sharp. This is the practice of tapas. The space in between the reactions is what we are striving to lengthen and open so that even when these reactions are there, our response to the reaction changes so  we maintain balance and give ourselves the opportunity to do no harm.

Just yesterday something came up as my husband Neziah and I were running errands. It was not a very big thing, but I wanted to blurt it out; then I stopped because I recognized that energy and its charge. Right away I knew I had to breathe for a moment and bring my energies back down into that space of openness in my heart. If we speak out of frustration, that causes harm, a fight for sure. So I just gave myself a few minutes to breathe and be on the ride. That little bit of space opened up my heart just enough to have compassion for Neziah and me and to know how much we need and deserve love and softness. You see, the light is like air, the light is like fresh air; the light is like a cool drink when you are thirsty, the light is like the best, nourishing bite of something delicious when you are hungry; we need it so much. It is not at all hard to do, and life gives us this perpetual opportunity to work with it almost constantly.

Every time you create the short, in-between times in life, you are creating space and balance, and you are opening your heart and becoming fearless. You are awakening and becoming enlightened. You are giving yourself what you hunger and thirst for above all else, whether you know it or not. You do not have to have any special knowledge, you do not have to have this lingo or language, and you do not have to have any “spiritual consciousness” to know when your heart is open as opposed to when your heart is closed. 

Maresha's next blog will be published April 21, 2015.

Messages of Light is published by the Sanctuary of Universal Light on Snow Dragon Mountain in Meredith, New Hampshire. A snail mail edition is available bi-monthly, free of charge. www.snowdragonsanctuary.com