CLEARING

We are experiencing another warm spell; a reminder that Summer is not over. It has been getting up into the eighties these last few days. It is very pleasant now, low 70sF, plenty of Sun, a beautiful September Morn.

Jamie has been cleaning out drawers, closets and other nooks and crannies. It scares me. She gets into, a throwing away, mode; she might throw away some of my precious stuff. Never mind that I might not have seen it for forty years or I might not remember what it is. Hey! I saved it for a reason; I just can't remember why.

It is amazing how much stuff accumulates, when you live in the same house for over forty years. We did throw away lots of useless stuff and we found things we forgot we had. I have been meaning to buy a can of silicon spray and I kept forgetting. I looked and couldn't find any in the closet where it would be. We found, not just one can, but two cans. Its good that I kept forgetting to buy some. The closets and drawers look much better now. I am pleased with the results. Cleaning binges still make me wary. I tell Jamie, "When I am doing them, it is just fine, but I don't like you messing with my stuff." She says, "But you will never do it." What a base canard. It has only been forty years! She just might have a point.

We have a whole lifetime of accumulated thoughts, feelings, beliefs, attitudes, etcetera, that weigh us down. Our mentors keep telling us that we need to give up the past. We take the advice seriously, but we still find ourselves mulling over something that happened years ago.

There are different kinds of past thoughts. They are harmful in different ways.

The first is reminders that we are not worthy. These thoughts could be from this Morning or when we were small children. They point out our imperfections. They could be, how we overlooked somebody we knew, in the grocery store, just this Morning, because we were preoccupied, or how we were especially mean to a friend or sibling when we were very young. They can be about big things or small things. They may cause us a moment of embarrassment or even cringe. The impact of this accumulated negativity can weigh heavily on our consciousness, even though, we may know regret is nonsense. We need to deal with each one of these reminders directly. We need to forgive ourselves, and affirm, they are not real. THE PAST IS NOT REAL. Sometimes we will have a certain event come back, over and over, in our minds. We can't seem to be done with it, once and for all. We need to be brave. look at it. Is there something we have difficulty forgiving ourselves for? Why? Allow, yourself to feel the feeling. Is it humiliation? Let the feeling come over you. Forgive yourself and all others involved. If it comes to your mind again; dismiss it- let it go without further ado. Always affirm, that you are a loving being worthy of happiness, peace and love. We all need to find our own words in these mini-affirmations; what sounds fine to me, might not fit for another.

Another category of past thoughts have to do with others. These thoughts can be subtle or blatant. They are always judgements, but that is not always obvious. We may think we are just making assessments. These thoughts might not bother us. In fact our egos may actually encourage them. We may feel superior. They may puff us up some way. We need to not fool ourselves into thinking these thoughts are okay. They may or may not hurt the other individual. It is always more difficult to grow, if we have minds around us, that attempt to freeze us in place. The one we have thoughts about may be strong enough to resist the influence. We are not. Whenever, we have unkind thought of another, we hurt ourselves. Remember we are One. We can't poke, another, without feeling the prick. Having negative thoughts about another, gives energy to those negative reminders, we are trying to overcome. These thoughts about others can be hidden. Be aware of the amusing stories you tell about friends and relatives; are they indeed innocent? We really need to let the past go.

The third category [there may be many more categories- but I will deal with only three] is the thoughts and attitudes that arise from beliefs we a have absorbed from our environment. They are myriad and as we learn and grow many will drop away. These can include judgements about race, nationality, class, religion, food, entertainment; our whole experience and perception, is shaped by those around us. As we learn we get over many of these things. We no longer are suspicious of Catholics, Jews or Baptists, because our Uncle Harry always told dis-barraging stories about them, over Sunday dinner. But other things, we may still not realize we hold on to. It is election season- do you have an automatic reaction when you hear somebody is a Democrat or Republican? Is that fair? Is it honest? How do you feel about vegans? How about those who love meat? Wouldn't life be better if we could rid ourselves of all our little prejudices? We carry with us all kinds of limiting opinions and attitudes. We don't even know where they came from.

It is said that we are entering into a period, where we will see, that reality is love, and that everything that is not love, will be seen as unreal.

We can use that concept for clearing out the closets and cubbyholes of our minds. It is time to put, all that is not love, in the trash bin. We don't need it now and we certainly won't need it in the future.

We have been struggling with clearing our minds and giving up the past. It will become easier We are over the hump. It is all downhill from here.

Love and Peace,  Gregg