This Week’s Quotation:
Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.
~ St. Francis of Assisi
Overcoming the Personal Self
Soul Care Facilitator
Transcending the personal self and its history is the path to expressing our authentic being. Yet, let’s not kid ourselves. Being human is messy business. It takes conscious and persistent effort to clear away the inauthentic yuck that collects inside us over a lifetime. Yet, what more important work is there to do?
All sorts of stuff gets stored inside us as we experience our human life. Fears, insecurities, guilt, and grief (to name a few), that we don’t want to deal with or are unable to deal with at the time. It takes self-honesty and a willingness to see when something “out there” triggers the icky stuff to the surface.
So, something happens that disturbs us and draws our consciousness to investigate. What do we do about it? We exercise one of our superpowers—our free will. We choose to witness what is happening instead of reacting to what is happening. It's a conscious decision to breathe, relax, release and allow it to pass through us.
We need to be compassionate witnesses, free of judgment. We want to avoid getting snagged in the "how and why" it came to be. If we suppress, resist, or identify with it, we feed the pattern.
When there are unresolved wounds and fractured experiences inside us, they interfere with receiving uninhibited life force from our Creator. To clear obstructions to the flow, we don’t have to fix anything. All we need is the willingness to witness it honestly, breathe, relax and release. That frees our life energy so it's humming hallelujah again.
About Open Windows
We, the authors of this blog, dedicate it to the transparent exploration of the world’s sacred scripture and enlightened spiritual thought. We believe that the original inspiration of all faiths comes from a common source, named and revered in a myriad of ways. With that understanding, the innumerable symbols, beliefs, and practices of faith cease to divide. They become open windows to a common reality that inspires and unifies us. We find deeper insight and nourishment in our own faith and from the expression of faith from others.
We hope these weekly quotations and meditations speak to your heart and soul.
9 Responses
Profound and true. So relevant to my life and something that just happened!
Lately, each day has been providing me with an opportunity to practice this. And each time I release, I experience the seat of my soul opening, deepening. Oh, what a wonderful world!
“We want to avoid getting snagged in the “How and Why” it came to be… If we suppress, resist,or identify with it, we feed the pattern”
In Becoming a Sun, and trying to compassionately accept, as a witness…free of judgement!
For me, I AM in need of clearing obstacles, unresolved wounds ( there seem to always be more )
witness it honestly… then Breathe, relax, and release.
‘’Thank you” Terri. ❤️ Very poignant for me today.
Bless your beautiful heart, LuPa! In my experience, it took concentrated willpower initially because some of the patterns run so very deep. But with each release, more softened and loosened up, and greater space inside opened up. Supporting you in Spirit!
Thank you Terri – yes – I always need to remember – Surrender – Let it go – Send love…..
What an important message for me today. Thank you for your wise words!
Yes. It is interesting how many hyphenated words in the English language begin with “self” – serf-serving, self-promoting, self-ish, self-aggrandizing — etc — and none of them describe people we would want to be around … so why should we be like that? I appreciate your emphasis upon selfLESSness. It is interesting that 20 years ago David Karchere was giving services promoting Selfhood — but this is “Self” with an upper case S — the true Self of God being — it is very different than the isolated personal self (lower case) we seek to maintain in our worst moments. Thanks so much for your fine blog! Here’s to the Self, but not to the self and the selfish. WITH YOU, Tom
Love Terry
And thanks to you that you put so clearly what s happening in ones life and what to do about it .
it works for me in also assisting in listening to others who are talking about their drama .
A big cleaning up is happening.
I like that my house is clean and happy but first of all real!
Facing what I have to face and care also about all the beauty too,, the magic and the flow of
Life Love Truth Joy and thankfulness to grow in awareness and being conscious.
Your words remind me of a passage from Psalm 91 that I often bring to awareness: “A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.” In other words, whatever happens in my personal world or the larger world, I simply observe it, offer a blessing to it and continue to flow with the radiant current of love that I am here to bring.