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April-June, 2022

“Pause” for War

by Rev. Mary Lenihan, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

In October 2009 when I first received PAUSE, the words that bolted into my awareness were:

We all need training on how to be helpful.

The moment this thought was heard, WNYHOO-NOW! World Needs Your Help One - to - One - NOW! began.

A few moments down the road, another thought was given:

”THIS IS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD.”

DON’T THINK THE WORLD NEEDS YOUR HELP?

Such is the sorrowful saga of the cubicle self heart÷mind who sees only its own reflections, hears only its own sighs.

”KNOCK, KNOCK,” says your Inspired Self.” Who’s there?” says the cubicle self.

”IT IS I,”

”I who?”

”I AM your Inspired Self. Why are you looking for LIFE amid your own reflections, the living among the dead?”

As we pause to access Inner Wisdom,on some level, it helps everyone access Inner Wisdom. True Wisdom is always Safe, Kind, Wise, and Truly Helpful.

Today I am watching the news, seeing the photos of chaos, destruction, and confusion, listening to live interviews with the citizens of Ukraine, and hearing the repetitions of fear in the voices of journalists, reporters, and the people of Ukraine.

I am saddened, upset, and angry. Sad for everyone on all sides of the war, angry with those who appear to be the instigators, and broken along with those who are suffering.

This is what, I, Mary, am feeling and I will not deny my experience. This is what it is now. Denial makes for more suffering; it is the ego’s strongest defense mechanism.
I decide to receive help using the practice I share and teach, Pause for Wisdom:

PAUSE: The decision to stop in this moment. As I see and hear what is happening between Russia and Ukraine, I am sad and upset. I choose to pause.

STEP BACK: The decision to get out of my own way. A mother and her two young children are sheltering in a subway. She says to the journalist, “I never, ever imagined this could happen.” I look at that mother who is trying to stay strong for her children. She manages to harness a pleasant facial expression and even a slight smile as she shares something like, “I can’t let the children know how fearful I am.”

I am getting caught up in her circumstance, imagining myself in her shoes. I want to help. I choose to still be with her in Spirit while getting out of my own way. In the kitchen, I rest my hands on the counter, humbled by grace, I am moved to drop to my knees in prayer.

STEP ASIDE: The decision to invite Inspiration Within to help. I welcome Inspiration, Wisdom, and LOVE. I ask, “What can I do miles away? How can I be truly helpful? I feel at a loss.” I pause to listen for an answer.

ANSWER: “Breathe. Let these emotions not cloud your judgment. It is right to pause for those who are not pausing. It is right not to linger in anger or fear. The world has unleashed its darkness.
Yet, even in the greatest darkness, there is an even Greater Light.”

LET WISDOM GUIDE: The decision to follow the safe, wise, and truly helpful direction of my Inner Wisdom. I rest willingly towards receiving Wisdom saying, “Here I am.” As I am humbly available to Inspiration, I am re-Minded, guided to focus on my Higher Mind and I am given 5 specific directions from Wisdom to follow:

That woman and her children that I just observed on the news, I can continue to pause for them.

President Zelensky. I can pause for him.Putin, I can pause for him.

President Biden, I can pause for him.

All the people. I can pause for us.

How will Wisdom’s specific direction be helpful? I won’t know for sure until I actually follow the Wisdom and actually pause! I have found that it’s one thing to listen to Wisdom, another thing to receive Wisdom, and a complete other thing to follow!

I have begun my pausing, a Peace wiser than war is with me. Though I am not face-to-face with these individuals, I can still help in trusting this Wisdom within.Over these last few days, I am practicing following this Wisdom given, not always, to be honest. As I do, however, I am receiving more healed perceptions. I am becoming more aware of my frame of mind. The talk and images on the news can easily cause inner turmoil, body tension, and speed up thinking in general.

First, I am re-Minded about the importance of willingness. How can I better remember to be willing? I come across these words in Pause, “Willingness, it is resting in the space connecting two breaths.” Ah, between two breaths is an open space to welcome willingness, to say, “I am willing.” I am also reminded to use this practice not only with my experience of the war at hand, but in my daily communications, relationships, activities, and situations – my own “little wars” if you will.

One unwilling day my frame of mind was getting the best of me and it’s no accident that I came across another Pause notion, “It’s not so much what you are doing, but the frame of mind you are in while doing it.”

I saw how I was taking orders from the ego to, “Get it done” and I had lost my peace. My body was tense, I was probably holding my breath so there goes “the space between two breaths,” my cubicle mindset was shoving me around with its boxed beliefs about what I must do to prove I am worthy of existing, and the result was feeling like I just stepped out of the boxing ring. Whoa. Where’s the referee?

As I opened to receiving Help, the Referee, I became aware of a Peaceful Presence within. I simply needed to shift my focus away from warped thinking to this Peace. Peace is now my starting point for all doing. I will forget throughout the day, need to re-pause, connect with Peace, and begin again.

I am still watching the news, but less, enough to stay informed about the war. It’s good as I am given plenty of opportunities to pause, to step back from ego entanglement, pray, receive Inspiration’s help, and give it to those people on the big screen. For they are my sisters and brothers in Christ. They are me and I am them. We are all creations of LOVE. No matter what.

I know from direct experience the concrete power of pausing for Inner Wisdom, the miraculous power of praying — settling my mind on truth alone. Not denying what appears before us, rather letting it catapult us into loving thoughts, words, and actions. Yet, Inner Wisdom whispers,

“Mary, your compassion for others is a reflection of the compassion you must practice with yourself.” We appear to live in a war zone, yet we can rise from the ashes as we choose to pause for LOVE consistently and especially in the stuff of everyday life, for this is where the ego digs in its heels. Vigilance may seem too hard, but look at the alternative — consistent ugly ego rumors of our uselessness and the consequences it brings. Which is more compassionate for myself and others?

© 2022, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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