People are empowering themselves to make decisions. They are recognizing that every thing they do is based on a decision they make, which is based on old and new beliefs and feelings. Those who work with the inhabitants of Earth are thrilled and grateful every time someone recognizes that they can make more and more conscious decisions by looking at and resolving some of their old beliefs and feelings.
Author: rennwest
Freedom and Liberty for All
People are giving up just following the crowd or their friends or their family on what is expected of them. They are asking themselves what they really want.
People are getting to know themselves. They are asking who they truly are? They are asking for a more expansive, less limiting, more universal answer. They are feeling a spiritual connection to something higher than anything human and they are exploring that connection more.
People are seeking universal truths in their hearts. They are taking their next step towards Christhood.
Freedom and Liberty for All
More and more people are baptizing themselves in the light of Christ. They are asking to see beyond their current limitations. They are asking for different ways to live their lives. They are seeking to be more creative.
People are willing to look at what they think they know from different perspectives.
People are asking for deeper, more expansive knowledge.
People are willing to see what they have previously been blinded to.
People are asking themselves how to make more conscious decisions. People are giving up the idea that life just happens to them, as if they are victims without any real input.
Freedom and Liberty for all
People are experimenting. Some are choosing to change their diet or exercise program or hair style. And they are deciding on their new choice, not asking an “expert” to figure it out for them. They are asking themselves what they feel or think they need. People are asking what will help them feel better about themselves.
People are recognizing that they have made decisions that have contributed to the circumstances they are finding themselves in. They are asking themselves if they are where they want to be. People are looking at what has worked for them and what has not worked. They are deciding where they want to go and how to get there.
People are recognizing that they don’t want to waste time on desires that can never really be fulfilled. They aren’t making their new decisions with their outer mind. People are asking what is true in their own heart. They are tuning in to their intuition and seeking what will truly fulfill them.
Freedom and Liberty for all
People are asking: “Is this all life can be?” They’re opening up to the possibilities that there can be something different. And something more to their liking. It’s something that allows them to be more creative in whatever position they’re holding in life right now. People are asking if there’s something that they can do from their current level to make their lives a little bit better for themselves, and for the people around them.
One lady had the idea that just smiling at people who walk into her office would make her feel better, if no one else. Greeting people with a smile did make her feel better. And made the interactions with these people go a little more smoothly.
Another lady, decided to bring in a coffee maker with several different flavors to add to the coffee. She offers people a cup of coffee when they come into her office. And that’s making her feel a little bit better and the interactions with most of the people to be a little nicer.
A man realized that he could greet people with a light-hearted joke. And most people would respond with their own level of humor and it made him feel better. And made his day go faster. It made being at work a little more enjoyable.
So, people are finding ways to play, to create more enjoyable environments for themselves and others. They are making small, easy changes that make them feel better and put people around them more at ease.
Creating Inner Peace – Boundaries Regarding Other People’s Feelings
What boundaries have you set regarding other people’s feelings? What boundaries do you want to set right now?
In the first example below of accepting people’s choices I mention my mother being understandably worried about me. But the event also helped me set my boundaries regarding other people’s feelings. Earlier I talked about how at age seven I began not accepting guilt for mother’s feelings and fears. So, it took 10 years and this event to solidify the decision. I was gone for several hours and of course in this instance her concerns were quite justifiable. But what got triggered in me was all the times I felt her worries had been excessive. Throughout my childhood I felt she was afraid of so many things and I had decided I didn’t want to live a life where fear made my decisions. In a few more years I would take into account that there was a 40-year difference in our ages and that her mother had lived with and inflicted upon her even more fears. I didn’t want to take on her fears and I rejected most of them. But beyond that I felt that my mother tried to control me by making me feel guilty about her feeling worried about me. I had let worry about my friend’s condition that I could do absolutely nothing about cause me to make some poor decisions and I chose not to do that anymore. And this event at age 17 helped me put my foot down and quit feeling guilty about how someone else chose to feel.
Accepting Other People’s Choices
What choices have other people made that you have had to accept? Have you made peace with the situations?
I was given lots of examples for this one in my young adult years. Like I said, sometimes I was too honest and straight-forward; but that’s what I chose. My 13-year friendship with my best friend ended when she asked me what I thought of the man she was going to marry. She asked. I told her. She stopped talking to me and didn’t invite me to the wedding. Actually, they might have eloped. They moved to another state. He beat her several times before he hospitalized her, nearly killed her really. She eventually divorced him and returned to town. We tried to rebuild our friendship and even worked at the same place. But several tries over several years showed that our friendship was lost. But I had accepted that when she chose to stop talking to me after I answered her question. And again, even as I say I had accepted the loss of our friendship, there was still a tie between us. I dreamed about her being in big trouble just before her mother told me about her being in the hospital. I borrowed my mother’s car and drove into the mountains exceedingly upset. I ended up putting myself in danger with a poor choice. My boyfriend had told me about it being fun to coast down a hill in neutral. Well, I didn’t take into account that he had a manual transmission on his car and my mother’s car was an automatic with power steering. When you turn a car off that has power steering, you lose your ability to steer. And that’s not a good thing when you’re headed downhill toward a cliff. I did get the car turned back on and maneuvered safely around the corner prior to the cliff. I also quit worrying about my friend. But I don’t suggest this approach. I think I’ve already said that acceptance is a big part of creating inner peace. Acceptance of other people’s choices and how life unfolds.
Another example of having to accept other people’s choices occurred about a year later. In this one I had designated myself as a savior. This was also the case of a battered wife, but with children. I was so positive the woman would leave her husband. Without telling anyone, in my own mind I had decided how I, at the whopping age of 18, would take over the economy of the household. I would help this person get an apartment and help support the household until they were on their own feet. I was so excited that she would finally be free of that man. I had no idea that she didn’t see it that way at all. And then the person called and said: “It’s okay, he loves me.” Writing this, I realize that it’s still a moment frozen in my own mind that I need to let love melt and dissolve my attachments. I threw the phone across the room. I ran out the door and down the street at top speed. I ran as far as I could until I dropped exhausted on somebody’s lawn. I cried hysterically until I was semi-conscious. I have no idea how long I lay there, before I eventually got up and walked back home.
Finally, I realized that there was nothing I could do to protect this person. And worse than that, she didn’t even want protection. I had to find a way to come to a place of peace regarding the situation. It took years, even decades. I had to forgive her for making choices I didn’t agree with. I had to forgive myself for having expectations and opinions about what her choices should be. I had to forgive her husband for his behaviors. It was a lot of hard work. But it taught me that we are not here to live someone else’s life for them. Also, I recognize that her view of it all is completely and totally different from my own. People make whatever decisions they make and have to experience the consequences of those decisions. And it’s not for me to inflict my value judgment about right and wrong on their choices. I still do it all too often, but I do recognize it as fruitless. It only serves to muddy my own feelings.
Creating Inner Peace – Decision To Find Peace
Please take a moment to look at all your answers to all the questions so far; in order to see the foundation you already have, as well as areas you might like to work on. Do you feel firmly grounded in your decision to create inner peace for yourself?
Inner peace is a lifetime process and even when I didn’t know what inner peace was; I was still working on it. To encourage you to look at similar things, I wanted to give you a glimpse of what either disturbed my peace in my childhood or gave me gifts and/or tools to create and maintain it. And to give some baseline regarding what about my attitudes gave me a head start or had to be overcome. I hope you’ve been able to see the same for yourself.
In looking for events in my childhood to illustrate points of peace I had learned; I realized that it wasn’t events that gave me peace. It was decisions I made. And it’s not even specific decisions. Although, as I’ve illustrated, various decisions led to various bits of foundation that point towards creating an inner peace. It’s the one decision to find peace no matter what the events or circumstances are that will eventually make the difference. It’s a rather odd exercise to look at various points of our life and ask: “What did this teach me relative to building peace within myself?”
Creating Inner Peace – Peace With Death
How have you made it through the important deaths in your life?
My dad was put in the hospital with advanced cancer on Memorial Day and died on Labor Day of the summer before my senior year of high school. I spent almost every day in the hospital room with him. I worked on a replica of the ship, the Mayflower. It was great therapy to have to concentrate on tying the rigging of the sails with a tweezers. There were some horrible events of well-meaning family members saying the most inappropriate things, like I’d have to take care of my mother after she went insane when my dad died. Or that my boyfriend couldn’t sit with the family at the funeral; but since I wouldn’t let go of his hand, there was nothing anyone could do to boot him out. The poor dear, I think I crushed his hand. I went into a state of shock for maybe three weeks, so there is a great deal I don’t remember. It never occurred to me that his lifestream wasn’t somewhere doing whatever it needed. I was mostly worried about how my mom and I would get along without my dad’s mediation between us. Also, my mom went to bed and wouldn’t eat or get up or anything. I skipped school to go talk to a priest to try to figure out what to do and came home to a cooked meal and a furious mother. She informed me that I was never to skip school again. Apparently, someone had called worried about me and mentioned that I had missed an important test. She never gave up on life again. So, both of us eventually found peace while missing my dad.
Creating Inner Peace – Not Getting Used
When have you inadvertently been used to create a fight between people? When have you been aware of someone agitating a group, even if you are personally be used, and been able to stay out of it?
This goes hand in hand with not being manipulated. There are people on this planet who just flat enjoy creating problems. I was almost used to create a fight between high schools. Luckily, a level-headed adult stepped in to put an end to it in time. A group of teenage girls from two different rival high schools were put together for a slumber party. A girl from my school wanted to create a fight. I was known to be a calm easy-going person. So, when I came out of the restroom cussing up a blue storm about some girl from the other school that had peeked into the toilet stall that I was in; I had no idea that I would be used by the girl who wanted to start a fight. In a snap she took advantage of the situation to set up a kangaroo court. The trial and the girl who wanted to start a fight agitated things so fast. And I was so angry, it took me some time to calm down enough to recognize that the girl in the bathroom meant no harm. The girl who had peeked over the stall partition was SO frightened. It turned out she was innocently looking for one of her friends. It took me even longer to recognize that I was being used to create a fight between the two schools. Thankfully, one or more of the adults supervising the party stepped in and deflated the situation in time.
This taught me to be alert for these people who like to agitate. To be alert to when others are being used to create a fight between people. We see it in news items all the time where the media is trying to stir up one group of people against another group of people. I also certainly learned to monitor myself so I’m not again used for such a purpose.
Creating Inner Peace – Maintain Your Own Sense of Who You Are.
When you do follow someone else’s lead, do you still maintain your own sense of who you are?
At the same time, I speak of independence from the larger group, I have to admit my attachment to my best friend since the time we had been five years old. I tended to follow her. She went to public school, so in ninth grade my father let me switch over to the same public school. She wanted to be part of a group of friends, so I was also friendly with them. In tenth grade she wanted to join ROTC for the guys, so I also joined. Even though I knew I would never ever be joining the military for the same simple reason of not wanting to be told how to act and dress. I did put up with the ROTC uniform on certain days and enjoy carrying the flag during parades and prior to football games. And the two military balls I attended were exquisite. And the guys were a nice bunch of people.
Authentic Who? 