The Mayo Jar

From time to time, I come across stories of inspiration and/or enlightenment that strike me as incredible examples of spiritual truth. The following story is one such example. It's been making the viral e-mail rounds here of late, but I found it powerful enough to include in my own archives as well. Don't know the author, but I thank him/her for this wonderful contribution. I hope you find it as powerful as I did:

The Mayonnaise Jar

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle,
When 24 hours in a day is not enough;
remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class
and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly,
he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
and start to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.
He then asked the students again
if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand
and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded
With an unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table
and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand.
The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things - God, family,
children, health, friends, and favorite passions
Things that if everything else was lost
and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else --
The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued,
'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are
important to you.

So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time
to clean the house and fix the dripping tap.

'Take care of the golf balls first --
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand
and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.

'I'm glad you asked'.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

Upgrading your Awareness

There is a phrase that goes “Heaven must be re-won everyday.” What this speaks to is the importance of not resting on your laurels, to not simply coast on the momentum of past spiritual and creative expression, but to re-engage everyday with a fresh sense of purpose and spiritual commitment. It also means consistently reevaluating your state of consciousness on a daily basis, because our existence on this physical plane and within the multiverse is dynamic and not static. You are not who you were yesterday, nor are you who you will be tomorrow. You are ever evolving, ever growing, so it is important to exercise a conscious awareness of this process regularly. The goal here that we are ultimately striving for and moving towards is a state of full consciousness, the ability to be aware of our multi-layered existence in both the inner worlds and outer worlds simultaneously, while working from the framework of the higher self so as to live in an enlightened, balanced way.

As I had mentioned in a recent article, A New Normal, we’ve existed in this physical realm for eons of time in a state of conditioned illusion, believing that we are separate from our divine source, and as such have found ourselves at the whims and woes of our outer environment. We have been led to believe that we are victims living in a world of fear and oppression, unable to make a difference or effect positive change in a substantial way. These states of consciousness are all pretentious negative hogwash, stimulated through an unrelenting, manipulative, and coercive conditioning; a sort of slight of hand that moved us from a conscious awareness of our true identity as divine connected Souls, sparks of God-source, to separated and hapless victims. The truth is, we are not our conditioning. We are all magnificent sparks of God awareness, endowed with the same potentiality and freedom of expression. But in this false belief of separation, we have come to judge one another and ourselves quite harshly. I say to you now that it is time to cease this practice; you all feel it, the energy is there. Do not sit in judgment of yourself or others. Learn to love yourself and your fellow Souls unconditionally. Now is the time to be who we were meant to be.

We are fast transitioning from 3rd dimensional reality to 4th & 5th, and with it evolving into a new and wonderful awareness that allows us to see our true origins as sparks of God-centered energy. Just knowing and acknowledging that you are a divine spark of God, that you are God itself moves you beyond duality. Ego can hold you back, but the truth is that there has never been separation between you and Source. Say it a couple of times, dare to think it…“I and God are One”. Feel the totality of this truth; there is no separation, this is illusion. There is only connectedness with All That Is.

As you go about your day-to-day activities, bombarded by the drones of negative media, dysfunctional imagery, and harsh selfish human interaction, do your best to rise above the negative fray and be a conduit of love, for when you do you more and more begin to see the stage play that is unfolding around you, and that in truth you may be in it but you are certainly not of it, unless you choose to be. This is not an attitude of spiritual arrogance, but a conscious recognition of the illusions that play out around us everyday. You still do your daily work and fulfill your daily requirements, but your consciousness is able to rise above the mundane physical into Soul awareness and eventually God consciousness. When you achieve this, you are always living in a state of bliss for you know that you dwell in the most high. It is what we all were brought here to eventually remember. The universe is inside of each and every one of us. We only need to do the daily work in order to lift the veil of spiritual amnesia and get back into a conscious awareness of our true identity. Don’t be afraid of this process. Nothing can hurt you, not really. The only thing to fear is… you know the rest. So work at being a conscious practitioner of your own enlightenment. It will be a wonderful journey, for eternity awaits.

Do It Anyway

While going through some old texts and correspondences, I came across a much beloved saying by Mother Teresa that I forgot I had. Upon reading it again, it strikes a chord as strong, if not stronger, as when I first found it. So I felt it was definitely worth sharing with all of you out of love and sincere gratitude:

Do It Anyway
by Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical, And self-centered; Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you Of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some False friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank; People may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

A New Normal

Normalcy is relative. It’s dependent upon what one accepts and/or becomes familiar with in his/her daily life. It is often consistent with what one becomes conditioned to allow into his/her state of consciousness over time. Conditioning is in a major way at the heart our collective experience, and is perhaps one of the biggest contributors to our current world situation and existence on this physical plane. We have for so long been inculcated into such an extensively dysfunctional cultural and societal experience that for many of us there is no clear understanding or comparative representation of just how living the life of a true light-filled Spiritual Being (Child of God) should be, or even could be. This conditioning has occurred over eons of time and through multiple generations. As a result, we have come to live in a world of stress and fear where the playing field is far from level and success often depends on the exercise of selfish intent and disposition, perpetuating a Service to Self rather than Service to Others mentality and consciousness. This is considered by many to be normal. But now, in our ever-present and growing awareness of the spiritual ascension process currently underway, things are changing...drastically. We are transitioning to a new normal.

Coming into a clear and conscious understanding of the relativity of normal was made abundantly clear to me many years ago when I served as a drug treatment counselor in an urban DC methadone clinic. I’ve referenced this before in an earlier entry entitled The Hub of Your Wheel. As a clinician, I worked with a large caseload of clients struggling with heroin addiction but also dealing with poly-substance abuse ranging from cocaine to alcoholism, prescription drug abuse, and even sexual addiction. This environment lent itself on a regular, unrelenting basis to a very high degree of human drama, whether it was from extreme emotional volatility in daily group meetings and individual therapy sessions or a particular client having relapsed for the ump-teenth time and found to be in non-compliance with treatment requirements, resulting in dismissal from the program.

Every day there was a crisis of some sort, and after a while it got to the point where I and many of my colleagues began to find ourselves both expecting these episodes and no longer considering them to be any big deal. There was nothing strange or abnormal about the intensely stressful environment that we were working under. I was slowly becoming emotionally divested from the activities I was involved in, merely responding appropriately to a given clinical situation and/or challenge, but finding myself somewhat detached from what was going on (under the circumstances, not necessarily a bad thing). This same description has often been associated with public servants such as policemen, paramedics and/or medical ER professionals, and the military that deal with life and death situations everyday. There is sometimes a tendency to become oblivious to the madness that they encounter daily, and desensitize themselves from their surroundings often as a coping mechanism. Such was the case with me in this drug treatment environment. The challenge was, being a person of inherent empathy and compassion, I did care what happened to my clients and found myself often pained with their plight, unable to help them since in many cases they were as yet unable or unwilling to help themselves. I continued on this journey for a number of years until eventually burnout set in, and I had to make the difficult decision to either stay and succumb to the stress, or leave and pursue a different career path for my own personal survival and emotional wellbeing. I only mention this life episode to illustrate how “normal” for me became anything but normal, and how over time people can begin to see things from a highly skewed perspective, not realizing that what might be considered normal is in fact an altered state.

Such is the state that we as a world society have been living in for millennia. We have been the generational victims of a sorted dark manipulation of our true divine nature, and have over time been conditioned to become the unwilling effect of a fear-based existence, struggling through the control and restrictive beliefs that such fear can bring into our consciousness and lives. We have been held hostage to man’s law, where initially there was a consistency with a common law understanding that drew clear and easily discernable delineations between right and wrong, but over time has been manipulated to unfairly favor the interests of a selfish and elite few, creating illusions of limitation and oppression for others. This is not the way life should be. This is not the way life was intended to be, and it is now up to us to reclaim our true place as divine light beings existing in the energies of love, joy, and happiness. It is now time that we no longer accept the limitations that have been placed on our personal and social consciousness. But before change can be impacted through a mass transition of Divine Light, change must first take place from within, for we are in fact the conduits and channels of this light.

Research has shown that the amygdala, a small almond shaped part of the brain located near the hippocampus, is responsible for conscious thought as well as emotion. One of the core emotional responses triggered in the amygdala is fear, which was initially hot-wired to protect us in hostile environments with a fight-or-flight response to danger. The problem is that our environment has been created to perpetuate a consistent fear response without reprieve, stimulated by the uncertainties of life, economic triggers, dog-eat-dog competitiveness, and an illusory belief that there is limitation in this world; that there is not enough and that every man/woman must fend for themselves. This is a false premise based on a false perception, but one that has been manipulated and perpetuated for so long that we have been conditioned into believing it is real. Tied to this fear based illusion is the feeling of victimization, unworthiness, and an acceptance of a limited station in the pecking order of society; again, all an illusion. We have on a mass scale become conditioned like Pavlov’s dog, responding to cause and effect stimuli that have perpetuated the myth. It is now time to get off of this broken cycle and begin a new way of living, breathing, thinking, feeling and being. The time for a new normal is now.

We are approaching a new day; a new horizon of possibilities and beauty where love, compassion, honesty, integrity, creative expression and the pursuits of individual passion rule, and fear no longer has a foothold on our interactions with one another. More and more people are beginning to awaken to their true identity as Soul and realizing that within the current status quo, the emperor(s) have no clothes. More and more people are rejecting the fear and realizing that they are all Divine Beings with the potential of living in abundance; understanding that through the law of attraction there is enough! More and more people are realizing that there needs to be wholesale changes made in the gross inequities of man’s law so as to become more in alignment with God’s law, a law based on love, balance, fairness and equity for all. These are the changes that are being undertaken across the world today, for we are the change that we seek. It is time to rise.

Mass ascension is now upon us. It is now time for you to be a part of this spiritual renaissance of upliftment. It is time for you to once and for all become the change that you have always wanted to be. We are no longer the pawns of a skewed reality presented to us as normal, but are moving into a higher place, a greater perspective, a higher self. Now is the time to practice abundance and accept it into your life. Now is the time to become the Light Being and Lightworker that you truly are, and awaken to your true self.

Remember, your universe is consistent with your state of consciousness. It’s time for a new normal. What you think and what you believe is what will manifest, so outflow the correct energy, an energy based on love and not fear. Accept abundance in your life. Reject the fear and anything associated with it. Let the bad stuff go, forgive others and let go of worry. Be kind to your fellow man/woman. Unworthiness is an illusion. You are loved, so learn to love yourself unconditionally. Meditate, pray, or whatever you feel comfortable with, but do so daily in order to tap into the higher energies and become accustomed to these refined rates of vibration. They resonate through you and cleanse the body, heart, mind, and Soul. It is the mechanism of change, the power of love. Have fun with life; it’s not all work and drudgery. Don’t forget to play. Accept a perfect day this day and every other. Get the ego out of the way; it’s a bad and selfish leader and is not who you truly are.

We are now in a global collective consciousness where we are starting to become spiritually aware of the connection that has always existed, and the connectedness with one another and the universe. Know that our world is filled with people of light who want to share in the love, mutual respect and comradery with one-another. Draw to you people of like consciousness who are ready to do their part to change the world. As you’re doing your part, others are doing theirs in similar fashion. What we are talking about here is a critical mass consciousness based on the light of Divine love. It changes things in major ways. Be a part of this change. It is now. Own your personal power and do not allow anyone or anything to take it away; it is yours! It’s time to change the world. Let’s do it together. Visualize the new normal, NOW!

Namaste.

Spirituality and Elbow Grease

Creating your universe in accordance with both your individual state of consciousness and sincere intention requires a combination of spiritual energy and personal effort. The formula is not that difficult to understand or even execute, but takes a certain level of discipline, consistency and daily focus that some of us may or may not be willing to exert. This is of course your choice as to whether or not to be an active participant in your own manifestation, but what must be made clear is that something will manifest, whether you are conscious of it or not; ignorance or lack of effort is not an excuse. So it seems to me (and this is just my 2¢ worth) that you might as well be an active and aware part of your own manifestational existence and experience. Again, it is not rocket science in understanding the how’s and what’s of the process. Certainly there are a myriad of books on the subject pertaining to manifesting things in your life. But one of the things that often get lost in these instructions is the importance of right-thought followed by right-action, a combination of spirituality and elbow grease. This is when the rubber meets the road.

Are you doing everything within your sphere of influence and power to move yourself closer to your goals? Are you acting on all that the cosmos is giving you on a daily basis? Are you aware and receptive to Spirit’s nudges, golden-tongued wisdom and waking dreams that are a part of our everyday experience? Are you consciously aware of the miracles that take place all around you everyday? If not, then you need to take a step back and get yourself in spiritual balance so as to be awake and aware of all of the inner, intuitive energies taking place around you, and tune yourself to these frequencies so you can better read the tea leaves. This is accomplished through regular meditation and contemplation exercises, many of which are shown on the Ato1 Health and Wellness page. Once grounded and tuned in, it is important to do the daily work, the elbow grease necessary to act on impulses and nudges from spirit that are designed to move you closer to your goals, whatever they may be. Once done, you “let go and let God”, as the saying goes. Spirit is an omniscient, intelligent force, and knows vastly more than you could ever comprehend in terms of getting you closer to where you wish to be. You simply need to trust it and allow it to bring you closer without any preconceived notions of how to get there; stop being a control freak. Several options may come your way in the process, all having the potential of getting you where you need to be, but none necessarily containing the prescription of absolute certainty. Therefore, you must act on all of them, not just the ones you like more than others; you simply don’t know enough. As you practice this process more and more, you will begin to trust what is being told to you and feel a certain level of protection and guidance that you may not have been aware of before. This is a good thing and should be nurtured, developed and appreciated. Spirit wants you to succeed.

We are in a time now where the cosmic energies are much more refined and powerful, and the cause and effect relationship of our thoughts becoming things seem to be much shorter in duration. As such, this mental discipline becomes even more important to refine, for we want to make sure that we do not create the things we fear the most, but create our universe based on the energies of love and abundance. In the final analysis, the “things” that you attain through these exercises are not really what's important at all. What is important is your ability to trust in and understand the process of attainment itself. Remember, you are all Masters in training; celestial beings preparing yourself for eternity's call-of-service as co-workers with All That Is. The most important thing to understand throughout this entire process is that the skills you are refining are skills you have always had, for you are not learning anything but remembering what you already know. Our course of attainment and existence is, in the final analysis, one of validation through experience of truth already attained. Source, all knowing and all seeing, experiences life through us, for we are IT and IT is us. We Are One. So roll up your sleeves and get cracking; creation awaits.

Embracing the Silence (True, Necessary, and Kind)

As seekers of the light, as awakened Souls, part of our ongoing exercise during this lifetime is to refine our personal levels of awareness and spiritual skill sets in order to become optimal channels for Divine love. Within this refinement comes an innate understanding that where your thoughts are will invariably be where you reside. To put it another way, our personal universe is determined by our state of consciousness and the thoughts and feelings we choose to allow in it. Throughout history, man/woman has sought to discipline these thoughts and embrace the light, even while living in a world of pain, fear, struggle, and darkness. Some have resorted to extreme measures of spiritual depravity through vows of poverty and celibacy, hoping ultimately for absolution in the end. Still others have chosen a monastic existence vowing an oath of silence. This particular modality is one that I’d like to focus on briefly, not so much from the standpoint of a separation from societal challenges into the more communal existence of an ashram, but more from the standpoint of embracing the power of silence as a tool for living the spiritual life while engaged in the world of 3D and all of its limitations, personal foibles and “mind” fields.

The silence that I speak of has less to do with non-communication to any and all you may encounter, and more to do with the exercise of what has often been called right-discrimination. This right-discrimination has as one of its key features the ability to determine what is appropriate and/or not appropriate to think, say or do in any given situation, and the internal mechanism (the internal filter) used to help replace any lower based thoughts and energies with higher, more refined levels of consciousness. For so long, we have been conditioned within 3rd dimensional existence to accept and embrace gossip, selfishness, slander, ridicule, deception, mean spiritedness, and an overall Machiavellian spirit as just the way the world is, almost dismissing it as simply being part of normal acceptable behavior instead of the scourge of lower fear-based consciousness that it truly is. As lightworkers, this level of consciousness can no longer be tolerated as acceptable behavior; not because of any hard and fast rules dictated from outside, but because they are no longer consistent with the higher vibrational energies of Divine love that now flow through you.

In achieving this embrace of silence, I would like to share something I learned quite a while ago that may be very important in achieving this goal. There is a long held understanding in evolutionary consciousness of a simple rule; a litmus test through which everything that you think, say or do should be filtered through. Within this prism of right-discrimination are three basic questions that should always be invoked:

- Are what you are about to say, think and/or do TRUE, NECESSARY, and KIND?

Notice that I used the word “and” instead of “or” in the three choices posed. This is because in order for the filter to be effective, all three criteria must be met. You may have something to say that you consider true, but is not necessary or kind. You may have something that you consider to be true and necessary, but again is not kind. You get the idea. All three categories need to be met in order to fulfill this filtering process. Obviously, in extreme circumstances, exceptions might have to be made in resolving issues, but as a general rule, this criteria should always apply. Give it a try; see how you do. If you are true to this exercise, you will discover something extraordinary and immediate. The vast majority of what you may be saying to others will become noticeably restricted, since much of our conversation is often filled with gossip and mean-spiritedness. You will find yourself becoming more and more quiet, ultimately embracing the silence. As I said before, it is a means to an end, not an end in itself. At first it may seem a real challenge; it certainly was for me. But after a while you find that something very transformative occurs. Perhaps those within your social circle to whom you had considered “friends” may begin to fall away, because you realize that the only thing you had in common with them was gossip or the putting down of others. When they say something negative, you either give it no energy or counter it with something positive. Your social circle will begin to look at you differently and perhaps even turn on you because who you were is no longer who you are, and as the old saying goes, “If you can’t change your friends, change your friends.” Things begin to fall away that are no longer consistent with your state of consciousness and spiritual growth. In the long run the rules that you live by are of the highest spiritual vibration, and the circle of your relationships begin to adjust to meet this new state.

Some may view your kindness as a sign of weakness, but what they don’t yet understand is that you are not doing this for their sake, you are living within your truth, and that while they are still existing in the illusion, your inner strength and awareness of “reality” is moving you far beyond 3rd dimensional conditioning. It is just one of the many sub-plots of waking up to your true identity as Soul. So to recap, embracing the silence is an end result to refining your internal filter so as to live, love, communicate, and exist from the highest spiritual vibration; the highest Divine realm. Is it true, is it necessary, is it kind? If not, there’s no need to say it, think it, or be it. When you live within this consciousness, your inner light will begin to shine ever so bright, your inner chatter begins to quiet down and is replaced by the loving energies of Source. You are moving closer to ascension and your personal universe is being changed forever. Don’t forget to wear your shades.

Time to Step Up

Ok, where are you now? How are you feeling? Are you in balance? Are you in a happy place, a loving place? Are you taking good care of yourself? Are you honoring your relationships? How is your diet? Are you exercising regularly? Does your exercise include a physical and spiritual emphasis? Are you meditating or some other form of daily inner work? Are you finding time to embrace the silence? Are you handling your outer stress better? Are you reading and/or taking in things of a high vibration? Are you striving for greater awareness every day? Is your inner light shining bright? Well…?

I’m sure you must be asking why all these questions and who are they directed towards. Well if you don’t already know, I’m speaking to those of you have either just recently awakened and come online to your true identity as Soul, or those of you who have had your lights on for some time now, but may be slacking off a bit. How are you? As for why, it’s really quite simple. You see, right now the energies and vibrations of our universe and specifically our planet are increasing exponentially, and it is so very important that we all do our respective parts to align ourselves with the flow of these energies and the ascension that is already occurring, and will continue to occur. In this new year, it’s time to do an honest self-assessment of where you are and what you’re doing (non-judgmental of course), and determine where you may be in the process; this is your wake up call folks. This inquiry is designed to impart a little bit of tough love to all of you out there, because depending on where you are right now or what you are or aren’t doing, it is now time to step up; we need your energy.

If you are awakened, are you living the life of an aware spiritual being? Are you doing the daily work necessary to get your inner and outer self in balance? Are you connecting with your higher self in a conscious, knowing way? Are you asking for help and guidance when you need it from your many loving Angels and spiritual guides, your inner family always ready and waiting to provide for you whatever you may need? Bottom line, are you walking the talk of a conscious, awakened Lightworker? If not, why not? Not judging, just asking.

Perhaps it’s because of the seemingly constant demands placed on you in these uncertain times by 3D existence, to continue the daily grind that a survival mentality requires. Perhaps it’s simply the conditioning you’ve received by virtue of the many incarnations we’ve all had on this earth and the intoxication that Maya (illusion) so strategically plays on each of us to forget who and what we are; that this is the illusion, not the reality. Whatever the reason may be, snap out of it! : )

It’s your time now. It’s your moment to step up. It is the beginning of the final leg of your journey in 3D. It’s just about graduation time. But ascension won’t be handed to you on a silver platter; you have to do the work. You have to step up and do what is necessary to prepare yourself for the inevitable shift that is already taking place. The transition really isn’t that hard, but it does require a commitment to a conscious shift in attitude and intention. You have to want this. You have to be a conscious conduit of love. There is a wonderful quote by Eleanor Roosevelt that says, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” I’ve always loved this quote because it speaks directly to the idea of personal empowerment and the ability to decide for yourself what you choose to accept or not accept. With this as a template, Eleanor’s quote could just as easily be restated, “No one can make you feel anything without your consent,” or even “No one can impact your consciousness without your willing intention.” You have the power to choose what you accept into your consciousness. This is your inherent power; your inalienable right. Illusion simply makes you forget, and fear is an illusion. The awakened individual no longer falls victim to this trap, and lives his/her life in a conscious, aware and loving way. The awakened individual does not rest on his/her laurels, but does the daily work necessary to consistently maintain a higher state of vibration. This vibration is necessary to both protect you and allow you to serve as one of the many spiritual vessels necessary to help the planet and everything in it ascend in the perfect way. We are conscious lightworkers, and there is no need to take a vacation from this state of being because in so many ways it is the freedom we have always sought. Why, because we are consciously connected to Source in all of its love and glory at all times. We remember what our true missions are and what our tasks at this pivotal moment of NOW should be. We are in a constant state of bliss because we know what Divine truth is. Most importantly, we know that the multiverse was created through Divine Love.

Whatever you need to do, whomever you need to speak to, wherever you need to go in order to connect, plug yourself back in and amp it up! Source loves you unconditionally, but as the old saying goes, “God cannot do for you what it can only do through you.” Be the channel, the conscious channel that you are. Do your spiritual work daily to maintain that heightened vibration you know will keep you above the fray. Remember, you are God itself; there is no separation. You only need remember and all will be here for you. You just need to roll up your sleeves and get to it. Much love and light.