January is a reflective time for me. I spend more time thinking about where I am in life and how I want to express and connect with my spiritual nature.
In the world we live in, we can experience much pain. But life is not about the pain we feel, but how we react and thus deal with it in our lives.
I recently read an article in the November/December 2023 Unity Magazine about healing what stands in our paths of expressing our true spiritual nature.
This article caught my attention as a good way to review and analyze 2023 and move into 2024 with new directions and healing.
Rev. Suzanne Carter, The Harmony Relationship Center, lists four steps that she lives and teaches to connect with our spiritual nature:
1. Connect with my truth, including my authentic or divine self. Everyone has their own truth, including perceptions, history, feelings, thoughts, desires, passions, dreams, and more.
2. Heal what stands in the way of expressing the person I have come here to be. I found I had to do some grief work, which society has erroneously taught us is unnecessary since all we need to do is “release the past.”
3. Take at least the tiniest steps to fulfill my purpose now. When I started connecting to my truth, I automatically began to discover my deepest passions, desires, and purpose, as well as my authentic gifts or inner strengths.
4. Express my truth to others and be my truth. This involves speaking truth in love without attack and using advanced communication techniques.
For me, there are many ways I achieve Rev. Suzanne’s objectives:
- Connect with my truth with daily morning reading, prayer, and meditation. It is through this practice that I remember who I am in Spirit as one with the One.
- Heal what stands in the way by taking and participating in the Forgiveness and Dancing with the Shadow Courses offered by Rev. Dr. Michelle Wadleigh. Even though I have been in her classes numerous times as a student, coach, and teaching assistant, healing happens every time.
- Take steps to fulfill my purpose by watching, listening, and observing — looking for what is mine to do in any given situation. Being together with like-minded people also aids in discovering and expressing my passions, desires, and purpose.
- Express my truth to others by living what I believe: Love, compassion, understanding, and acceptance of all people, even when I don’t agree with them.
I don’t always get it right in daily life. When it truly comes down to it, following Rev. Suzanne’s steps will help guide me to be a better person in the year ahead.