Be Satisfied

Recently, one of my Spiritual guides suggested an exercise for me. "Find one thing in your life, and be satisfied with it." He suggested. He then said, "Let yourself FEEL satisfied."
Little did I know, that I was in for a rude awakening. At first it seemed simple enough, so I walked into the back yard, and noticed that the grass needed cutting, bushes needed trimming, and that the garden needed a lot of attention that I don't have time for. "So the back yard won't do", I said to myself. How about my car? "That dirty old thing with the wiring problems and the broken gas gauge?" This went on at every turn, and soon I realized that I had been had. My Spiritual guide was aware, that I wasn't satisfied with anything. Everything needed something fixed or repaired, in order to be better. When I say everything, I mean everything, and everybody, including myself.
Immediately the defenses went up. "I help people every day!" "I do this and that and even have a blog on Spirituality!" "I am supposed to be a teacher!" No matter what I said, the TRUTH was out, and couldn't be avoided. I was unsatisfied with everything and everybody, even myself. I had a negative mind. It felt like I was right back where it all started, but things are much better than when this Spiritual journey began. My health is better, my wife and I get along better, I have been more responsible, I feel better, ??? I was pretty perplexed.
It turns out that though there had been plenty of positive changes in my life, I was still of the same old negative mind, and wasn't enjoying life. I was grumpy, tired and depressed, and it was pretty obvious to my guide, but not to me.
"Look at it." said my guide. "Find one thing in your life, and be satisfied with it." "Feel satisfaction." he said. So, to the back yard I went, for the second time. I sat and looked at the yard. There are two Oak's, eight Pines, lovely wind chimes, two pic-nick tables, we had great Watermelon this year, and also Eggplant, our daughters play house, the family bench that has been passed down to me, and many more things that I really love. I decided that I was going to sit and look at everything that is RIGHT about the yard, and soon I was feeling satisfied, lucky, grateful, and at peace. Feeling satisfied is a great feeling! Much better than the weight of all that needs fixing. Having a pretty full schedule, I never let the grass get out of hand, even in the summer, when it has to be cut every week, so why would I worry about it? I will do it when the time comes, as always.
As the days have gone on, this exercise is all I do. Wherever I go, whoever I am with, I look for what is RIGHT, and I allow myself to feel satisfaction. To feel GOOD. As with everything else, the toughest place to practice is at home, but that is where it has needed practice most.
I urge you to take this exercise into your own life! Everything and everyone is perfect in God's world.
SPIRIT

Our Enlightenment

Please relax.  Our journey towards enlightenment has already begun, and there is nothing we can do about it.  Perhaps we have been on our paths since even before this life-time, and will be after, but let's not concern ourselves with those things. Let us be concerned and meditative on this life as we now exist. The breath is there. The life is there. If you are like many of us, the mind is not there. The mind is somewhere else. Anywhere else but here in the present moment, or even in this day. If we aren't careful, our minds can spend a great deal of time in the past, or in the future. Both are only fantasy lands, made up of our regrets, and fears, and wants. What is real is the present moment. Nothing else is real. The more enlightened we become, the more our minds slow down, and the more we live in the present moment.

It was only after I began to make attempts to slow my mind, that I began to realize how fast it moved.  "How am I going to get the things I want?" "How come things aren't good now, like they were then?" "Why didn't I say this instead of that?" My mind was filled with resentments, old friends and family, what it was going to be like when I "made it", or failed to "make it". It was a speedy, never ending slide show of all sorts of things, that never turned off. 

Enlightenment is to me, simply growing Spiritually. Gaining more and more awareness and truth. An awakening can be just as simple as a realization, it is most times not a "burning bush". We all have breath, and all who has breath is somewhere on the path towards enlightenment, even those who fight against it. 

I strive to become more Spiritually awake, and to help others when I can. Hopefully this on-line home will be a place of success stories. A place where we can help each other along the path. Please feel free to e-mail me or request prayers or topics, and I will gladly respond.

SPIRIT