God in the Moment BY
RUTH CHERRY, Ph.D.
SO OFTEN WE FEAR vulnerability and want to insure that it never recurs. We might say, “If I were (fill in the blank) then I wouldn’t feel (fill in the blank).” Perhaps it is: “If I were married, I wouldn’t struggle with this deep fear that no one could ever love me.” Or, “If I had money, no one would laugh at me.” Or, “With enough education, I will be as good as everyone else.” Those thoughts are logical and all that our controller minds can do with our feelings, but feelings are to be felt, not managed. It’s terrifying and overwhelmingly painful to feel, “I’m not good enough to be loved.” Of course, we want to escape that experience, but it is an experience. Experiences exist in the moment. They are not terminal judgments. Feeling afraid of being unlovable is a momentary experience. “This second, I am overwhelmed by my fear.” Okay, breathe, stay focused on that feeling, and allow.
HEAL AND PASS When we breathe and accept our feelings without struggle or judgment or interference from our controller minds, they heal and pass. Feelings are just feelings, always in process. Feelings move. They heal and pass naturally unless we interfere in that process by thinking. No matter what is in our feeling realm, if we acknowledge it, feel it, keep breathing, and allow, it will heal and pass. Why do we fear our vulnerability so much
that we block this natural flow? My guess is that it’s because we’re not anchored in that central place of peace that exists absolutely in each of us. At our core, we’re one with the greater reality. In our place of peace, we know we are protected. We know we always have a home and that whatever we need will be provided. And when we know that, we also know that the feeling of this moment will pass and we will be fine. It comes down to who or what is your god. Using the word god doesn’t matter. Dogma is irrelevant, and structure is only external. Having a peaceful core inside us makes life experience meaningful and, thus, tolerable. The peaceful core offers us an anchor. Anchoring doesn’t happen from our heads or our thoughts. No one can give you an anchor. An anchor inside develops from the experiences of staying present to yourself no matter what. Whatever feeling, whatever thought, whatever impulse, we stay present to ourselves. We stay focused and open to everything going on inside us and we pay attention. I don’t know of a better way to build self-esteem. By practicing presence, we give ourselves more than we can get from another’s adulation. We can’t take in from outside us that kind of solidity. We stay with ourselves no matter what. And we confirm ourselves. By our presence we say, “I know I am worth love,” for we are practicing loving ourselves. We treat ourselves gently and,
yet, we know every ounce of what it is to be us — the fear and the shakiness and the immaturity — and still we say, “I choose to be on my own side.” What more could we want from anyone?
PEACEFUL CORE A peaceful core exists for every human, but we have to work to find it. It abides under the struggles and the mind’s activity and the distracting busyness and the compulsivity. That peaceful core is our essence and the only place where we feel satisfied. Efforting, amassing, achieving and competing doesn’t bring us peace. And yet, those are the gods many of us choose. Your god is whatever is the basis for your decisions. Do you make choices you hope will make you look good to others? Do you make choices in favor of denial of your hurt? Do you choose to remain aloof and unknown? That tells you what is your god. When you make choices from that place of peace at your core, then that is your experience of God. And like all experiences, it is momentary. So God becomes an experience of the moment. Always you have a choice. Do you want to be open to your inner world? Do you want to know your oneness and your perfect center? Do you want to operate from that deep place of peace? Or do you prefer busyness and distraction and appearance? It’s your choice. a RUTH CHERRY, Ph.D., is the author of Living in the Flow, Practicing Vibrational Alignment, Accepting Unconditional Love, Transformation Workbook, and Open Your Heart. She has recorded a series of guided meditations available at www.RuthCherryPhD.com/GuidedMeditations. COPYRIGHT © 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
BE AUTHENTIC
How to create a loving relationship with yourself, with others and with life BY SWAMI DHYAN GITEN
TO BE AUTHENTIC MEANS to remain true to your own being. Be truthful to yourself. You are not needed to change others or try to teach others according to your ideas, expectations or ideology. If you change, that is enough. How to remain true? There are four things about authenticity: remain true to your own being and listen to your inner voice; learn to listen to yourself and your feelings; learn to trust yourself; and learn to love and accept yourself. • Remain true to your own being and listen to your inner voice — otherwise your whole life will be wasted. The first thing is your being. Don’t allow others to manipulate and control you. Many people try to control you and want to change you according to their ideas, ideals and ideologies. Remember: be true to your inner voice. To be authentic is to be true to oneself. Always listen to the inner voice, and don’t listen to people who want to control and manipulate you. Just close your eyes and listen to the inner voice. That is what meditation is all about: learning to listen to your inner voice. • Learn to listen to yourself and your feelings. The hypocrisy of society is its desire to teach you to not listen to yourself, to 1 6 WWW.EDGEMAGAZINE.NET
your feelings, and to not show your true face. So each individual becomes like an island, closed and separated. From early childhood, we have been taught to suppress the real. In unconscious and mechanical ways, we go on suppressing, without knowing what we are doing. Listen to the heart, and whatsoever is true, bring it out. And once you know how to be true, it will be so joyful and beautiful that you will never go back to being false. Be true to yourself: that is the basic responsibility towards yourself. You are answerable to your own being. This is the whole problem: how to be yourself. Then life becomes a beautiful mystery to be loved, and not a problem to be solved. • Learn to trust yourself. If you trust yourself, you can trust other people, and you can trust in existence. But if you don’t trust in yourself, then no other trust is possible. Society destroys your trust at the very roots. It does not allow you to trust yourself. Society teaches other kinds of trust: trust in the parents, trust in the church and trust in the state, but society destroys basic trust in yourself deliberately, because those who trust in themselves are dangerous for society. They are independent. Society needs dependent people, who are easy to manipulate and control. This is why