New Levels of Mastery
Taking on My Thoughts
This is the time of year that I begin to reflect on the coming year. It’s not unusual for me to get a “theme” from Spirit telling me what my focus will be. That’s how this whole thing of joy and ease started. It became the focus following the year of giving up people pleasing. What if I lived from joy? Was I making life harder than it needed to be?
Subsequent years came and went with their themes, most of which I shared but some I just couldn’t. They were too raw and humbling. I remember the year Spirit told me You have come to the end of your ability to love others until you love yourself. That arrow hit the bullseye of my heart with a thwang! I was openly speaking about living with joy and ease, but like so many, I was limited in my ability to love myself (and I’m still growing). I clearly saw the correlation between my ability to love others and my own self-love. In fact, after hearing a horror story involving my ex-husband, when I confessed to Spirit I didn’t know how I could continue to love this person, Spirit told me quite simply then love yourself. As I learn to have compassion for myself, I have compassion for others. As I build capacity for my own emotions, I have capacity for the emotions of those around me. And when I’m “short” with myself, I am short with others. That’s why self-care is vital. We cannot give what we do not have. Struggling to set boundaries? Maybe you need to find and connect to your own internal ones.
For the past several years I’ve been pondering how do I bring in the “kingdom of heaven”….the unseen truth of which masters such as Jesus spoke about? I know that what I see with my eyes, my experiences and logic, all tell a limiting story — only that which I’ve known to date. I have biases I don’t even know about. You’ve heard it said… [fill in the blank], but I’m going to tell you there is something more true than this by which the Universe works (the teachings of Jesus). And so I’ve been paying attention to the stories I tell myself, those that I’ve been reinforcing on a daily basis. Oh, I can tell you a good tale with lots of evidence of why these stories are “true.” But I also have seen things that defy them. Stories of synchronicities and “miracles.” Do these happen accidentally or do I make room for them by believing in their possibilities? Do I have more influence and power to be a conduit of the unseen than I realize?
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.
As I’ve been pondering these questions, I’ve carried a prayer in my heart that I would be able to hold fast to this unseen realm rather than the “evidence” of my eyes. And with that prayer it seems I’ve been given a lot of “opportunities” to practice. I can choose the limitations of my circumstances and thus be in fear and anxiety, or I can lay hold of truths that are yet unseen to my limited vision. My faith tradition gives me many promises such as “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory,” “Seek first the kingdom of God (the unseen reality) and his righteousness (align yourself with these truths), and all these things shall be added unto you.”
This morning I was reminded of the words “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Spirit often speaks to me through the words of my faith tradition because of their familiarity. But Spirit also speaks to me through numbers and nature, for Spirit is always speaking. My daughter who has not grown up with the same structures and traditions has a lexicon all her own through which Spirit speaks…books she’s read, movies she’s watched, etc. So, as I googled to to see the context of these words, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, I had to laugh because the message became clear. I know it’s hard sweetie but put your big girl panties on! It doesn’t matter if you’re afraid and trembling….just do it. Yes, it’s work! And so this next year I’m going to practice my thinking and hone my focus. I will lay hold of the unseen and bring it into being in the physical realm, no matter what circumstances look like. This is what quantum physics teaches us as well. Particles don’t exist in a space until we go to observe them — the act of observing calls them into being. In other words, we call in what we are looking to find. Science and faith are finally finding a common language. [If your curious about quantum physics, here’s a great interview that explains it in plan language: The QUANTUM Faith ]
And so I’m being called to a new level of mastery in my thoughts. I will lay hold of them or they will lay hold of me. I can choose my thoughts deliberately or I can let old scripts run in my head that toss me about and have me repeating cycles and even generational patterns. And sure it’s hard! Fear and trembling? You bet, until what you see and know in your heart is stronger than the evidence of your eyes.
2025: The Year of Choosing My Thoughts with a new level of mastery
What are you focusing on in 2025? I’d love to hear!
Remember our tools — Courage. Curiosity. Compassion.