Being Different

I keep hearing the phrase “things are different now” or “I wonder how different ____will be once we can see each other again” or “I don’t like how different things are now” and the list could probably go on and on. Feel free to add your favorites to the list.

What I would like to encourage us to consider is this- different isn’t always a bad or negative thing. It’s up to us how we want to label something “good or bad”. I am reminded of the Taoist story of the farmer and the horse. A paraphrase of the story goes like this: one day a farmer’s horse runs away and the other villagers feel terrible and tell the farmer how sad they are for him that his horse has run away. The farmer replies “good or bad? Who knows?” The next day the horse returns with several wild horses. The villagers are happy and tell the farmer how lucky he is to have these horses. Again, the farmer replies “good or bad? Who knows”. As the farmer’s only son is trying to train the wild horses he is thrown off and breaks his leg. Again, the villagers cry and say how terrible this is that his only son can not help him now. And the farmer replies “good or bad? Who knows?” The next day the village finds out they are in a war and the military comes through the village drafting the able-bodied boys and men to join the war. The farmer’s son is spared because of his broken leg. The villagers are thrilled and tell the farmer how lucky he is that his son can stay home and not go to war. And, the farmer again replies “Good or bad? Who knows”. We could go on and on but I think you get the point. Nothing happens in our life that is “good or bad” until we decide how to view the situation. What may seem like a “bad” event may turn out to be a healing moment, an opportunity to make another choice, or see something in a “new light”.

I would like to focus on what is happening in our world and how we might see it from a Science of Mind perspective. What if we are being given the opportunity to change how we see something? Ernest Holmes taught that God or the Divine is in the midst of all. That means the Divine is in the midst of what is happening and unfolding in our world right now. How can we shift our perspective from the human emotions to the Higher Space in consciousness? It takes spiritual practice, and by this, I mean which ever spiritual practice is meaningful for you. It could be journaling, prayer, forgiveness work, visioning, and/or visualizing the world you would like to experience and co-create. Come up with your own practices. Make it unique to you. We are all creative expressions of God. I love this quote by Ernest Holmes “You are more than you appear to be. Life is greater than you have ever known it. The best is yet to come.” I invite us to lean into this quote, meditate on it, and make choices based from the space of what we want to experience in life rather than what we do not want. Where is your focus? Is it steeped in resentment, anger, uncertainty, anxiety, fear, mistrust or is it steeped in love, gratitude, trust, and harmony? I do not believe in doing a spiritual bypass nor ignoring what is happening in our human, physical world. I do believe in acknowledging it, making choices that are in alignment with what we believe to be true and coming from a place of calm in expressing our thoughts and beliefs. Honoring everyone’s thoughts and opinions – even if we do not agree. That is the space in which we are practicing knowing a Higher Truth. This is Love in Action. Stand for something and against nothing. Just like a camera lens – where we put our attention and focus is the picture we will see. The choice is up to us. Where are you choosing to put your attention and focus?

I would also like to consider what we are experiencing in terms of a glacier. One definition of a glacier according to the internet is “an extended mass of ice formed from snow falling and accumulating over the years and moving very slowly, either descending from high mountains, as in valley glaciers, or moving outward from centers of accumulation, as in continental glaciers.” What if we think of what is happening in our world as our thoughts, choices, and actions accumulating into what we are experiencing now? Then we have a choice as to how we want to accumulate our present and future choices, thoughts, and actions. Being different might simply mean we see and make choices from a different perspective.

Feelings of grief and loss are high right now – we are grieving the different life we now live, the differences we are facing in what is and is not available to us. For many of us, including me, are grieving the lack of choices we get to make in our daily lives. We are watching loved ones die or have to make difficult decisions alone because we can not be present with them, we are watching our beloved world fill with feelings and acts of violence, lack of respect for one another, and other situations across the globe. Honor those feelings of loss, experience the grieving process, and I invite you to heal, to step into a future steeped in that which you want to experience.