October-December, 2016
When I am in nature, especially trail-running with my dog Bella, I often reflectively commune with Inner Wisdom — my God-Source within. During a recent trail-run, I invited Inner Wisdom to help me understand a pattern I was noticing in my mind. A pattern of evaluating and assigning judgments to everything — assessing whether something was a good thing or a bad thing or whether I was making a right decision or a wrong decision. I noticed the energy drain I felt from this and how it kept me from the present moment.
I said to Inner Wisdom, somewhat exasperated, “Here, really, just take this. I am giving this to you.” And then I let go. I didn’t try to figure out what to replace evaluating and judging with, or when to replace it, or any of that. I have learned to simply hand anything over that is not supporting me being at peace. Handing over is the beginning of the miracle for me, A Course in Miracles type miracle.
Over the next few days, whenever the evaluating and judging crept in, I handed it over to Inner Wisdom. Sometimes though, just before handing it over, I observed it. I didn’t judge myself for evaluating and judging, I just said, “That’s a curious thing your mind is doing.” I also didn’t try to assign meaning about why I was evaluating or judging, I simply let myself be curious about it in a very gentle and kind way.
With Inner Wisdom’s guidance, I then received the awareness that I was evaluating and judging to separate myself from others and was preventing Inner Wisdom from showing me what anything (and everything!) is for.
One of the many wonderful courses I studied in the Pathways of Light Ministerial program is a method I now facilitate called Accessing Inner Wisdom Counseling. Working with this process, I have learned that peace begins with accepting all of the thoughts in my mind, which is why I let myself be curious about the evaluating and judging thought pattern. By not judging myself, I extended love to my mind. In essence, I hugged myself every time I told my mind, “Hey, it’s okay you’re doing this, but let’s give these thoughts to Inner Wisdom because they don’t feel peaceful.”
In its most substantial part, Accessing Inner Wisdom Counseling is a guided meditation. Quite perfectly, I received a counseling from a student in the Ministerial program during this time. The counseling began, as it always does, with an inquiry into an area of my life where I wanted more peace. I wanted freedom from evaluating and judging my life — its circumstances, my relationships, finances, any of it. I was then guided to look at the evaluating and judging (the counseling process calls this the ‘thought cluster perception’) and was shown how I developed this “skill” long ago, to navigate uncertainties in my childhood home. The counseling continued and I was guided to strengthen my relationship with Inner Wisdom. More insights came about how I was giving up my peace of mind by evaluating and judging.
Next, I was guided to experience myself as one with Inner Wisdom and one with Peace and Love. I was asked to share aloud what I was experiencing. The counselor (student) scribed what I was saying, word-for-word, which is a key part of this amazing process. Here’s what I said…
It feels like falling and exploring, wandering and being curious.
Like being in the ocean, a vastness of possibilities I can expect for myself, any possibility I choose. Being like a jelly fish, floating where I need to be. The ocean will take me there. The sense of seeking is over and I am trusting that whatever comes is perfect.
Evaluating and judging is false information. It stifles my creativity, it stifles my spontaneity, restricts my joy.
I let it go to float like a jelly fish. I do not need false safety. I only need to float in the ocean of Love I am in.
I was amazed. Truly, with my own skillful thinking, I would not have seen how I was stifling joy and foregoing peace. The miracles I experience when I allow Inner Wisdom to lead my way, when I leave the evaluating and judging to that God-Source within, are always more than I would ever create for myself. I am always in awe, ever-grateful, made freer and more peaceful, when I float with Inner Wisdom in the Ocean of Love.
Rev. Andrea Sassa Archuleta is an Ordained Minister living in Santa Fe New Mexico. Rev. Andrea joyfully joins with you for Accessing Inner Wisdom Counseling, in her on-going A Course in Miracles spirituality group, and to officiate your Wedding or Vow Renewal Ceremony. Find Rev. Andrea and Awakening JOY Ministries® at http://www.awakeningjoyministries.com, emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), and calling 505.699.5066.
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