Check Your Shields

This weekend my husband and I attended Changing Times, Changing Worlds, an interfaith conference where I can work on some tools in my tool box, such as grounding/centering, shielding and healing.

The Shielding II class left me with a litany echoing through my mind:

• When you get up in the morning, check your shields. 
• When you shower, check your shields. 
• When you eat, check your shields. 
• When you leave your home, check your shields. 
• When you get in your car, check your shields. 
• When you get out of the car, check your shields. 
• When you enter your workplace, check your shields. 
• When you have lunch, check your shields. 
• When you take a bathroom break, check your shields. 
• When you head home, check your shields. 
• When you arrive home, check your shields. 
• When you have dinner, check your shields. 
• When you go to bed, check your shields.

My Christian faith plays a big role in everything I do, especially the spiritual aspect of my being. 

When I feel the need to shield myself, I firmly hold in my mind the image of myself in God's hand, reaffirming that God never let me go. When another is in similar need, I picture them in God's hand.

What we can conceive, what we believe, IS. Yeshua/Jesus said the same about moving mountains. It is a matter of focusing on the positive thoughts rather than on our fears or the negativity in our minds, and then letting God show us Wonders.

While I shield, I work with God to do so. When I heal another, I reach for God and let the Divine work through me. So when the above litany runs through my mind, it changes to incorporate my relationship with God:

• When I get up in the morning, pray. 
• When I shower, pray. 
• When I eat, pray. 
• When I leave my home, pray. 
• When I get in my car, pray. 
• When I get out of the car, pray. 
• When I enter my workplace, pray. 
• When I have lunch, pray. 
• When I take a bathroom break, pray. 
• When I head home, pray. 
• When I arrive home, pray. 
• When I have dinner, pray. 
• When I go to bed, pray.

God and His angels very much want to help us. But they cannot until we invite them to do so. It is the nature of our free will.

The more I pray, the more I ask for God's guidence, the more I invite God to be a part of my daily life, and the more God can do within my life, and through me, as God determines best.

The more I pray, the more I keep that communication line open. In that shielding class, it was stressed that shields left unmaintained will deteriorate and become ineffective. The same for our lines of communication with God. The more we use them, the stronger they are.

Whatever this day brings...
I Pray.

P.S. ~ I am now using my other blog post account to post on both blogs.

Reinforcing Postive in People

During a day at an amusement park with my family, we ran into an issue. Determined not to let the negative moment intrude on my thinking, I insisted on staying positive. It paid off.

The full story can be found at this post. But I did want to share this note with the readers of this blog.

While I could easily have been caught up in the gripes of the moment, I stood my ground that there is kindness in others.

If we all hold in our minds that others will be kind, what avenues do we open? The more that do so, the further we can spread this.

Please, dear reader, try this each day.

Surprises will also appear your way.

Satan's Fear

While digging out a negative thought, I came upon an unexpected core root. I discovered a fear... that was not my own. 

I found a Fear of God, and a Fear of being undone by God. Yet at the same time, I knew it was not MY fear. It was the adversary's.

That confused and confounded me. Why would *I* feel this Fear? My overactive imagination unleashed all sorts of twisted and deranged possibilities.

Setting aside the potential Hollywood blockbuster plot line, I turned to the simplicity of prayer, as well as confirmation and understanding outside/beyond myself. And I discovered something that applies to every single human being living in this world.

Satan (a.k.a. the devil, the adversary, the enemy, etc.) actually does FEAR God. He also fears being undone/unmade by God. This fear fuels his hatred and is the primary drive for trying to separate humanity and God.

Satan weaves his OWN fears into humanity, using them as a base to manipulate our thoughts and perceptions. This is seen in many different ways.

Greed arises from a fear of loss. Gluttony is the over-reaction to a fear of hunger or not receiving that which satisfies. Envy develops from a fear of not receiving or receiving less than another. Hubris is driven by fear that one's worth will not be recognized. Wrath/pre-emptive strikes are the result from a fear that another will attack. Lust is a perversion of the fear that one will remain incomplete and undesired.

Apathetic listlessness (often labeled "sloth" or "acedia") is also a form of fear; one's subconscious thoughts make one afraid to take a risk, step forward or even simply act. This ranges from shyness to incapacitating fear of failure. Thus one does not act at all... letting the waves of life take them where they will, as the person sinks into depression and/or anxiety.

If we dig deep enough on a negative thought/motivation, we discover that the core root is doubt or fear. And Doubt is only Fear in nicer clothing. These are very real and VERY strong. But, ultimately, they are not ours. This is not as humanity was created to be.

Humanity, however, acts upon those fears, and the lies that are woven over them. When we do, we experience things that enforce those fears, and even support the lies, from our own perspective. The root becomes further buried and ingrained in a person, so that the person can no longer see the root but only rare glimpses of negative thoughts (see prior post).

Once the root is taken away, much of what supports the fears crumbles, making it harder for new dark thoughts to take root.

Pulling Out Roots

Recently I work with the Holy Spirit (a.k.a. Holy Ghost) on pulling out the negative thoughts and dark whispers that tickle the back of my mind. The more I practice, the more confidence I have.

Now, each time any negative thought so much as briefly comes into my conscious awareness, no matter what I am doing at that time, I stop, grab hold of that thought, and reach for the Holy Spirit.

I ask the Spirit to lower my barriers, opening the connection between God and myself. I need as clear a communication as possible. I also need to reduce any fear that exists, for the adversary uses fear to divide me from God.

When I find Peace and Calm in my mind and soul, I know the connection is ready. Then I ask the Spirit to help me dig, following that negative thought as far back as possible.

The journey takes many sharp bends and twists, connecting to past experiences, and other negative thoughts, and pain I buried over the years.

This process also creates a lot of fear. The further I dig, the more afraid I can be. This is a spiritual battle.

The more afraid I feel, the more Faith and Trust in God I need. But this step is SO VERY WORTH IT.

At the root of that negative thought that merely grazed the surface of my conscious thoughts, I discover how much an iceberg negativity really is. The majority is well below the surface.

I hold this rotting, writhing mass of negative thoughts, emotions and turmoil out to the Holy Spirit, for God's Spirit holds the strength to get rid of this negative thought – right down to the roots – where I do not.

In my journal, about two years ago, I had noted something about my attempts to cut away negativity within my thoughts and emotions. All were by my will; not working with God. All failed. I had to lay down the hot knife. When I attack something, even myself, it does not work.

But when I let go… and let God, the negative thought, and all the "baggage" with it, are pulled out with a gentle Love that can only BE God.

The Spirit does not leave a vast open rent within my mind, heart and soul afterwards though. It is swiftly filled to overflowing with soothing, living, flowing Love, Light, and even Laughter. Sometimes when the root is very deep, I find myself giggling with tears flowing down my cheeks as the beautiful Healing takes place.

I don’t know how it happens. I just know it does.

Even better, when the SAME negative thought is introduced again, there is no root unless I willingly (my will) accept it. Yet, the more I continue to weed, the more I recognize those propositions…

…and I walk away, leaving the negativity to die in the dust at my feet.

Not alone can I do this.

But we are never alone.

Dark Whispers

When I took time to look inside my head and witness all the negative whispers streaming from my subconsciousness, I was surprised.

How many others have similar dark whispers, drown out of conscious awareness by the internet, TV, radio and all other worldly distractions, but still influencing on a sub-conscious level? I am willing to bet we all do.

During my hiatus, I had an opportunity to open up with another that also has many frustrations, doubts, fears and a super-sized helping of tears.

She had drunken deeply from all the negativity around her - that she was fat at a size 7, that she was ugly, that she was worthless, that she was unloved and unlovable, and so on.

Whether our subconscious minds learn these lies from ads, news, stories, others, or sources of which our conscious minds are completely unaware, it DOES have a negative impact on our self-perception.

While not easy, I admit that my own mind over-indulged in these dark whispers. It led to insecurities, depression, fears, emotional turmoil, stomach ulcers and a wide buffet of other issues. And all the while, I was barely aware these thoughts existed - if I was aware at all.

But the dark whispers also had a firm command - do not speak of these. So I buried my pain deep (see prior post). These past weeks, I had an opportunity to change this.

A friend and I traded many emails in which we revealed all these dark negative whispers that danced randomly through our minds.

We would read each other's confessions and ask, "What the heck is she talking about?!? I can see that isn't true. Why does she believe that of herself?"

Then I issued a challenge I hope to continue in life. We tell each other the truth, as often as possible, starting with the most important: We are God's children. We are Loved. We are Loving. We are worthy of Love. 

Then we work on the particular lies we each have rolling across the dark corners of the mind.

Hand-in-hand.

How bright would the world become if we all had an opportunity to know that those dark whispers in our subconscious were all just lies?

How often could a sad face be lifted, a self-image be strengthened, a soul healed, and love and courage renewed?

I hope I never stop trying to counter that, for each and every person that touches my life, even for a brief moment.

After all, the moment in our hands is truly all we have.

Remember: You are God's child. You are Loved. You are Loving. And - no matter what the dark whispers tell you - you ARE worthy of Love.