I wanted to share this talk that I gave at the Britten Memorial Church Serivce this past Sunday. It is about Personal Responsibility and some of my Alien Friends joined in as well! Enjoy. I'd be happy to hear any comments or responses it may stir in you.
Britten Memorial Church
July 25, 2010
Personal Responsibility
Greetings to all.
Tonight I would like to explore the topic of Personal Responsibility and Creating Our Own Reality. Spiritualist Principle #5 states: That we are Personally Responsible for the Creation of our Own Reality through thought, work and deed.
The term “Personal Responsibility” can sometimes trigger an emotional response in some of us (or many of us). I don’t think I’m alone in my previous experience of learning to be overly responsible for others and for situations that may have nothing to do with me! For many of us, our upbringing, some of our religious institutions and other influences may have taught us to take on more than our share of responsibility for the world around us while neglecting our own needs. Certainly in my nurse’s training many years ago (I hope it has changed these days!) we were taught that patients' needs came first, followed closely by the needs of the institution or hospital. Our own personal needs for rest and rejuvenation, for private time, etc. were not addressed at all. That old way of thinking led to severe burnout for many of us in the nursing field. So I sometimes rebel now when I hear that I am personally responsible for all that happens to me . That can feel like a heavy load to bear.
I want to explore this partly through the sharing of my own story. My hope is that through sharing some of my story and my challenges, you’ll be inspired to reflect on your own story and maybe begin to see your own challenges in a different and possibly more creative way.
This is a really good principle for each of us to explore on a deeper level. It will likely mean different things to each one of us, depending what our particular gifts are and what purpose we came to planet Earth to fulfill.
Interestingly enough, one of the things that really drew me to Spiritualism was (despite my rebelliousness!) this belief that we each do have the power to create our own reality. I do believe that each one of us does have incredible healing power and potential for manifestation inside ourselves.
If that is the truth, why then do things sometimes happen to us that seem to be so far removed from what we want or what we think we need? Why then do our lives, or circumstances around us sometimes feel so out of control? Why is it that sometimes, no matter how many positive healing affirmations we say or how many positive healing thoughts we think, illness or other seeming catastrophes may still strike us or a loved one?
These are all questions I have grappled with on and off for a long time now and some things have happened recently that have really brought this to the surface for me. We have had some wonderful “positive thinking” gurus like Louise Hay who is still going strong as a teacher and inspirer at 80+ years old. The movie The Secret caused a big stir with its focus on positive thinking. There has been some great work and inspiring teachers in this positive thinking movement. And it seems to make total sense that positive thoughts will draw in positive outcomes.
Like many others I’m sure, I have, in the past, really “worked” with affirmations and trying to always think positively, in order to re-create, those parts of my life and health that didn’t seem to be doing so well. But, you know what? It didn’t seem to work! At least not in the way I thought it would. So, also like many others I’m sure, I began to question – Was I doing something “wrong”? All of my very sincere efforts were leaving me feeling inadequate, wondering what was wrong with me that I couldn’t seem to create the kind of healthy, abundant, prosperous life that the self help, positive thinking books, movies and teachers were talking about.
What finally pushed me to really explore this on a deeper level were some recent problems with my eyesight. Over the past eight years I have had a number of surgeries on my eyes. At one point I lost my sight for several months. I was fortunate to recover a good amount of sight only to lose much of it again. Currently I have recovered a fair amount of sight. This has been a recurring pattern and believe me, I have done everything in my power, that I know how to do – diet, supplements, therapy, endless appointments with healers, affirmation after affirmation. My theme song is “I Can See Clearly Now”. (Anne Murray does that one beautifully!) And the truth is, sometimes I can see clearly and sometimes I can’t! The only thing I can be certain of about my eyesight is that it is constantly changing.
This is my present journey and reality. So now I am really examining this concept of Personal Responsibility and Creating My Own Reality and I still believe in it but in a slightly different way.
I realized that it is important to think about and define what my responsibility really is here. Maybe my responsibility here is not about “making it better” or “fixing it” (whether “it” is my life or my eyesight or my finances or...) in the way that I think it should be. Maybe my responsibility here is to surrender to the Journey, to surrender to the Mystery, to surrender to the new possibilities that frequently present themselves in times of crisis. Maybe my responsibility is to listen deeply and to pay attention to the messages and creative inspiration that are coming to me through my constantly changing eyesight and other life challenges.
And when I think of it this way, it is an exciting, delightful, and mysterious journey. When I look back at my “Visual Journey’ thus far and I see the true richness that it has brought into my life, would I really want to change or re-create a moment of it? Not a chance! The only thing I might change a little is the trying too hard to heal my eyes in the way that I thought they should heal.
The Journey itself has been tremendous. In those moments when I can and do let go into the mystery of it all, immense creative energy and potential start to pour through me. At one point, a few years ago, when I was legally blind, some of the richest and most Incredible Artwork began to emerge through me. I had never previously done any Artwork but during that period I started to crave colour and shapes. So, although I could see very little of what I was doing I started just playing with colours and shapes. Amazing Beings began to emerge onto my paper. Incredible angles and shapes and unexplainable symmetry began to appear on the paper. From those beginnings, a whole community of what I now call “My Alien Friends” has emerged as drawings, many done during those Visually darkest times. When I was unable to be engaged visually with the outside world, my inner world just opened up and blossomed. Artwork came through. Stories and dreams emerged. Insights and inner visions took root. What could be richer? Maybe this is the prosperity I have been affirming! Every day I am surrounded by these remarkable beings (they cover my walls) who, because I was willing, on some level, to lose my external eyesight for a while, have been able to come into this physical reality through my Artwork and stories.
So I am sharing here some of the images which emerged through me. These are all beings that I visit regularly at a place I refer to as the Space Station. To me, it is a place of peace and renewal and wisdom. If you read Ruth Montgomery's Book, Aliens Among Us, you may be interested to discover what else these Space Stations may be doing for us. I'm not trying to convince you of their existence, only inviting you to keep an open mind to the possibility of Beings from other dimensions that are coming in to help us as we transition through this remarkable time on Earth.
The first Being you are meeting here (and in my last blog) is Sweet Wisdom, the Wise Queen of the Space Station.
Here we have Hank (L), Dolores (R) and son Joseph (middle). They are the keepers of the Space Station. Hank and Dolores came through during those "visually dark" days. The other two, Sweet Wisdom and Joseph, arrived after I had regained some sight.
One last tidbit about Space Beings or Aliens, as much as they want to help us, according to Ruth Montgomery, they are no longer coming in the old way of Space Ships or "UFO's" because of our human tendency to shoot or otherwise try to destroy things that we are afraid of or we don't understand. So they are sometimes coming through humans who are open and sensitive to them, so says Ruth Montgomery.
Back to this exploration of Personal Responsibility and Creating My Own Reality, would I have really created blindness for myself? And yet it has been that journey into blindness that has opened amazing and magical doors for me. That journey into physical blindness has taken me into a reality that I could never have opened up to otherwise.
And it has helped me open my consciousness to the Bigger Picture, to the Great Scheme of All Existence. And yes, I love being able to see the physical world. I am very grateful that I can see all of the beautiful faces of those around me. And yes, I will continue to do everything in my power to heal and support my physical eyesight. At the same time, I realize now that something much bigger is knocking at my door. There are lessons, there are gifts, there is magic that I can barley imagine right now. The song that we often sing here at Britten Memorial, “Open My Eyes” refers to those “Glimpses of Truth”. It is true that the Big Picture can sometimes be too big for us to take in, so we are given little bits as we can manage it.
Someone once told me that there is no such thing as 20/20 vision. We can have 20/20 eyesight. But Vision is that deeper, mysterious quality that comes through as we are ready for it. Opening to that sense of Vision is what is really important here. I believe that is our personal responsibility now. It is from that place of deep inner Vision that we can create an awesome world for ourselves and for all beings.
Another way that I find helpful in understanding this 5th principle is in thinking of myself not so much as a Creator of my Own Reality, but as a Co-Creator. Perhaps our biggest responsibility is to tune in to the Divine Intelligence that created us and to Co-Create with that Intelligence. Perhaps our responsibility is to tune in to the Higher Intelligence of the Earth and all humanity and to co-create in harmony with the greater good of all. Perhaps our responsibility lies in allowing the deepest desires and passions of our Heart and Soul to reveal themselves in a way that we can act upon them.
When we create from our Heart and Soul, in harmony with the Divine Intelligence that has created us, our creations will always be for the Greater Good of ourselves and all Beings. In the recent past, some of the books and teachers did encourage us to focus on manifesting our material dreams – a big, luxurious home, big bank account, fancy car etc. At this point, in our Earth’s crisis, I believe we really have to change our dreams from the material to spiritual and emotional fulfillment. We have been using up Earth’s resources at an alarming rate and we cannot continue to do that. I believe that our responsibility has shifted to an urgent need to co-create in harmony with the Earth and all of her Beings.
The one thing that I do know for sure now is that none of us is Creating in isolation. Each one of us is a spark from the Divine Flame. As we tune in and align ourselves more fully with the Divine Flame, our individual lives will become the Creation they are meant to be.
So I’d like to end by encouraging you to look at your challenges in a slightly different way. While it is essential for each of us to take care of ourselves in the best way that we know how, especially when we are experiencing challenges, let’s also be aware of the gifts that may be waiting for us, the doors that may be opening for us, the new possibilities that may be knocking at our door on the other side of that crisis or challenge.
And let’s always be open and welcoming to those “other beings” – our spirit guides, our loved ones from the other side, our Alien Friends. They want to help us but it is only us who can open that door and say yes!
I wish you all a wonderful and magical journey in your own adventure as you co-create your reality here on this beautiful planet we currently call “home”.
Back soon with more of my Alien Friends!!
Barbara
