Whether you are new
to meditation and are just beginning to explore your inner, spiritual nature, or
you are a seasoned spiritual practitioner, the biggest challenge to you is the
same. In order for you to succeed in finding the peaceful path which lies
within your soul, you must learn to focus your consciousness and to coalesce
the energies into positive thought and concentration of energy.
It is almost easier
to do this as a beginner. When you begin something new, there is an eagerness
and enthusiasm that holds all possibility and so acts as a buoy to the
practices. When one has been practicing for a longer time, the relentless
challenges of growth can test and try the soul. Either way, the challenge to
uphold light and remain positive in the face of trials is the real test.
Test me, O Lord, and try me; examine my
heart and my mind. For your mercy is before my eyes so I will walk in your
truth (Psalm 26:2-3).
One-pointed
consciousness is imperative on the path. You have always to remember, in every
single moment, that you have a choice.
As you are tested and tried, you must repeatedly choose between love and
fear. Love contains an unbounded, positive energy that sustains an uplifting
current that affects all people and things in a positive way. But our vision is
so narrow and our self-importance is so needy that our recognition of this
truth is almost non-existent. You must expand your vision to the larger picture
and release the constraints of self-importance so you can expand the boundaries
of love in your life. Know that each test and trial holds within it the power
to transform fear into love. Know that the path lies before us; our teachers
and elders walk before us so it is easy for us to find our way: I will
walk in your truth.
As the ability to
stay focused in positive energy matures, it unfolds into deep gratitude. The
positive energy begins to directly permeate and influence how you perceive
everything. Positivism, or openness, perceives refined levels of awareness. The
awareness of the present moment allows your being to be penetrated by the
higher emotions of beauty, acceptance, depth of feeling, and gratitude for
life. Even the most difficult challenges are understood to be the trying and
the testing of the soul, and are perceived to be so because of the positive container
in which they are held.
Attune daily to the
breath in meditation. As you breathe, align with the neutral witness so the
energies are neither expressed nor repressed. Hold nothing. Allow
your body and your consciousness to be soft and fluid. Find a simple prayer or
mantra to also use when you are engaging in daily activities. In these simple
ways, you train your mind and emotions to coalesce the energies into positive
thought and concentration of energy.
This positive
stream of consciousness is the very nature of love.