Spring Cleaning Your Practice

Spring Cleaning Your Practice

Lately we have been doing a lot of cleanup around our home, I guess you could call it a spring cleanup. This takes me back to a time when I was integrating my near-death experience (NDE). Friends and I made a trip to my mentors home in Virginia, but she didn't know we were coming.

Margaret Kean was my NDE mentor and I’d like to share a tidbit of what she showed me. Here is an excerpt from our book Voyage of Purpose where I was speaking about that time.

Margaret lovingly and graciously invited us into her home, though with an odd look. Little did we know at that moment that she had just asked the universe for some help and received instant confirmation from Spirit with us ringing the doorbell.

Margaret headed a healing missionary in Swaziland, Africa. She and her assistant, Libby, spent eight months, or more, of the year bringing medicines and healing to the poor in Africa. Margaret and her husband, Len, had decided to sell the retreat center to allow her more time in Africa. Libby was away drumming up financial support for their upcoming mission work. Hearing all this, William and I immediately offered to help get things ready to sell the property; in exchange Margaret offered guidance, sharing, and her company.

One of the many tasks we tackled was cleaning the stone floor in the front foyer. William and I got down on our hands and knees to scrub it clean. While we were in the process, Margaret walked by and in passing bestowed a gem of wisdom that stays with me to this day: “How you approach cleaning is the very same way you approach your spirituality.”

Some people clean by starting at one end and work systematically and thoroughly. Others have a scattered approach and hit spots here and there. There is no wrong or right way, only the way we choose. Whatever your cleaning style is, it is more than likely it is going to be the same method you approach your spirituality. There is no wrong or right way, it is just your process. Trained as an engineer, I do things systematically. Mindfulness works well with a systematic approach and my cleaning habits reflect that. Margaret’s words not only affirmed my approach to spirituality, it made me realize that you can use cleaning to focus and reflect on your spiritual practice...

From time to time those words return to me, and I reflect on them. Occasionally we should perform a little housecleaning to shake the dust off our practice. For me that is returning to what started me down the road of spirituality, my NDE. For others it may be connecting and experiencing the joy, beauty, creativity, and healing of living on Mother Earth. Whatever it is, return to the root of your practice and revive it so it may again shine in your heart, bringing revived vigor and inspiration.

Use your style to approach and infuse your practice with the original loving intention that created your practice. Clean the glass so to say, and as we are shinning things up the light can clearly illuminate our future path. Again there is no wrong or right way, but make sure to utilize “your” process, to keep it on your path.

Joseph Campbell once said “I have a theory that if you are on your own path things are going to come to you. Since it’s your own path, and no one has ever been on it before, there’s no precedent, so everything that happens is a surprise and is timely.” 

Along your path you may find that others may have a parallel path or may intersect yours from time to time. Enjoy their assistance and friendship. Embrace your own path and your own practice; allow it to propel you into a future of positive potentials.

In our spring cleaning we let go of past hurts and pleasantness, because they weigh us down on the journey. We let go and live in wonder of this moment, always looking forward to the next, forever keeping our light clean and bright. The time has come, enjoy your cleaning.

Blessings,

David Bennett

www.DharmaTalks.com

Becoming "Authentic Beings"

Becoming "Authentic Beings"

As we traveled across the country these past two months on our book tour, I was able to give many talks. One message that Spirit kept giving over and over was, that to flow through the increasing shifts that are coming quicker and quicker, spiritual people will benefit by developing into Authentic Beings.

This leads people to ask “What does Spirit mean by Authentic Beings?” This came up so many times that Cindy and I felt it would make a wonderful topic to reinvigorate our newsletters and blogs that had fallen silent during our journey.

To become Authentic we have to develop a new way of Being.

If we focus on the prime element of Love and being heart centered then we begin to think and act with loving intention. Love is the key to being “Authentic,” yet many people across the country have reminded me, “It is hard to stay focused on loving intentions in todays world.”

I agree. Yet we must develop the discipline despite the challenge and it all starts simply with a deeply sincere and solemn intention to work toward living with loving intentions. Let’s start developing our own personal practices, as opposed to just reading the theories. Just like recommended in the noble eightfold path, it's time we start taking steps and developing right action now. Our Being instinctually knows what is loving; we only need to instill it into our way of living one step and one day at a time. That is a marvelous way to begin and once we step down that path we are making a difference.

We are all a part of this universe, so we are all a part of the shifts we see today. It is a serious responsibility we all share to make our future and the future of our children a more verdant and peaceful place. As we become more heart centered in our daily tasks we contribute to those goals. Along with a heart centered lifestyle runs parallel the necessity of mindfulness or living with a focus on this moment. The more we focus on this moment, trying to do our absolute best, we are continuously working for a better tomorrow.

This is an ancient way of living that is being brought forward and melded into todays lifestyles to create a togetherness and coherence of old and new. Living in connection to our heart is living a spiritual life. Our true being resonates to this new way of being, supporting us with guidance, enhancing our light connection and inspiration. Gratitude and giving back to our circles and communities is an important part of this lifestyle. It allows us to share our inspiration, our spark of light with those around us, igniting their light and love. In this way we build stronger communities based on mutual respect and cooperation.

Always know we are human and sometimes we fall down, but we can use our failures to strengthen our spiritual transformation. If we learn from our missteps, we add considerably more knowing to our consciousness and to the greater all. We pick ourselves up and continue on our paths toward developing into Authentic Beings.

Remember ~ Authentic means "of undisputed origin," let us live true to our hearts in all ways, lifting our loving intentions for the greater good for all, that way we are being true to ourselves and authentic.

We have some very exciting news ~ Our publisher Findhorn Press has found our book Voyage of Purpose is doing so well that they have ordered a second printing.

Also great news for those of you who are waiting for an eBook version. Voyage of Purpose is now available as a Barnes & Noble Nook eBook.

Taking the First Step

Taking the First Step

We have completed the end of an era and we are beginning on a new road of light and awakening. We all have a part to play in bringing a greater spiritual consciousness to our world. The intentions of awakening were laid down long before our births in the illuminating light of unity and the completion will be known by our children's children. Breathe in this new dawn and let it fill you with Love, Hope and Courage as we emerge from the darkness.

Let us begin our walk from the darkness with an understanding of our rhythms and long-term spiritual development. We have within us the most effective monitor of our rhythms. Our heartbeats reflect our life’s rhythms and cycles. Our first step is to develop an orderly discipline and practice in our day to listen to our heartbeat and rhythm, hearing the message of this moment. In that way we bring our being into perfect and proper order.

As we learn how to live in harmony with the rising and falling energies of our lives. We flow with the ups, downs, ins and outs to progress toward our goal of spiritual maturity. Now, carefully study your inner relationship with the outer world, see how your inner states are projected onto the screen of life. As we develop universal unity and love in our being, our values shift to be more in alignment with the greater cosmic order.

Our being is connected to all the beings of the world. As we change ourselves, we change the world we know. In this way we introduce our seeds of truth into the earth, with our new found inner and outer relationship, and transform her. We are here to embody the highest good and bring it into the greater whole.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but not in a sacrificial way. We contribute more in the manner of the greater good enhancing all individuals along the way, so not one part gains more than the others. Always there is balance and movement forward within each of us and our world.

As we advance in our spiritual maturity we contribute beyond just this physical world, we contribute to the universal consciousness. Awakening comes as a realization that there is a higher dimension of reality with which we are connected to and this higher dimension is a universal consciousness of unity & oneness.

The new road is bright and shining with cooperation. It may be a long road, yet as we help each other we will advance to a new way of being. Now is the time to take the first step.

After the Holidays Gift

With all the shopping, cooking, gift-wrapping, and traveling over, it's time to start to focus on this new year of 2012. I would like to offer a concentrated focus to prepare us for the energetic shifts that are coming our way.

Let your Heart Shine this New Year

The more we connect to the Divine Source of Creation the more we begin to change for the better. Slowly a belief in unity replaces our belief in separation, and with that comes a sense of harmony. At first we are out of practice in connecting and creating our link. In order to polish our rusty link and have it communicating smoothly, we need to release and let go so we may flow with our higher nature. This means bringing our ego into balance.

Before our transformation we are focused on wants and needs like wealth, fitting in, pleasure, accomplishments and respect. Our hearts know deep down that this is not our primary focus. We then begin to teach the ego that compassion and universal love are the true focus our heart needs to strengthen the link to our higher nature. We learn through interconnection with everything in the universe that what we do to another we do to ourselves. What we fail to do for another we fail to do for ourselves. These are the lessons that build a relationship with our ego based on compassion and love.

We live in a world where anything is possible, yet to work with the energy of all potentials, we must be totally honest with ourselves and everything within our circle. We must come to accept our faults and strengths. This is not something everyone wants to do but it liberates our heart and strengthens our mind. I favor using stillness, gratitude and mindful attention within my circle to accomplish this quest of personal acceptance. Honesty and acceptance is an ongoing practice, which is essential to having clear communication with our higher nature. With time our practice becomes a way of living and many of what we perceived as faults evolve into strengths.


With this new way of living we connect more with our higher nature and thus with the Divine Source. If we look again at the interconnection with everything in the universe, we begin to see how our living with our own truth and acceptance reduces and burns away our karma. In doing so we are reducing karma for others, and we are building honesty, love and compassion for the world.
I can’t think of a better gift during this season of giving.

Om Namaste
David Bennett
Coauthor of Voyage of Purpose
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