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Give me the steps to inner peace in the grocery line

January 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

grocery lineIn the “Spiritual Life” section of Allison Maslan’s Blastation (TM) she makes a statement that burns in my mind. She states:

It’s one thing to find balance in a state of meditation or at the local ashram, but give me the steps to inner peace in the grocery line or while paying the bills. How do we find the smoothest route through life’s tumultuous storms?

I haven’t done the exercises connected with this lesson yet – I wanted to wrestle with this statement for a while first and it seems a perfect statement to blog about so you can join me in the wrestling match.

This is where the rubber meets the road, isn’t it? Some of the questions this statement evokes are

  • Do I walk my talk?
  • Do those around me know what I believe by watching my behavior?
  • Do I know what I believe?
  • Do I give “lip service” to Spirit (God, Creator, a Higher Power, the Divine) or is what I believe a powerful driving force in my life?
  • Do I take care of the spiritual part of me as well as I care for my physical part?
  • Does my belief system give me joy in the grocery line as well as in a place of worship or in deep meditation?
  • What/Who do I turn to in times of trouble?
  • Do I have a feeling of “well-being” regardless of what is happening around me?
  • Am I aware of “Spirit within me?” Do I go there for advice and help or do I apply the steps of problem solving according to the scientific method? Which works the best?

Questions just keep coming, but this is enough to deal with right now.

It would be so easy just to accept someone’s total package of beliefs without examining it first but it’s a decision that needs to be made at a soul level. And it is your choice. You are the one who has to listen to your soul’s longings and search out a path that feeds and satisfies these longings.  Sometimes you have to examine various paths to know if they’re right for you and sometimes you come to a fork in the path and have to make a decision about which one to take next.. Sometimes we are afraid to follow our heart and choose a way that feeds us and gives us joy – it is easier not to make waves and not to take the risk.

If what you believe gives you peace and fills you with joy and if your beliefs show up in the line in the grocery store, or the unemployment line or the marching line of the military, then you know you are on the right one. If your belief system has no relevance to your daily life at home, in the office, in the field, in the car, on the stage, in the classroom or wherever, it’s time to take a look within and determine if you are on the right spiritual path or if you’re on a path at all.

It is so important to be true to who you are and each of us is a unique individual unlike anyone else on the planet. It may be time to examine your life and your belief system and make some decisions about where you are going spiritually. Thee’s no better time  than now.

Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Have you examined yours?

Filed Under: Self Improvement Tagged With: , ,

Beliefs: the underpinnings of self esteem

March 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

By Irene Conlan -

As we work on this issue of self esteem, it’s important to know what you believe. I don’t mean what your parents told you that you had to believe, or a teacher, or – anybody. What do you believe? About what? About everything!  Your belief system serves as the foundation for what you think, do say and how you feel and react to life around you and how you perceive yourself. You may have examined and formulated your beliefs and they line up with what your parents taught you – fantastic! Thank God for great parents. The point is that you examined them and made a decision one way or another – to accept or reject.

If, for example, you believe in a loving God who gave you free will and expects you to make decisions about your own life  you will make a different set of decisions than you would make about yourself if you believe in an all powerful, vengeful God who punishes at a whim and creates obstacles all along your path to trick you. If you don’t believe in God at all, you make decisions from still a different viewpoint.

If you believe the purpose of life on this planet is to suffer, you will react differently than if you believe that life is meant to be lived in joy.

If you believe that since you came from a tiny town in Mississippi or Idaho or Arizona or a farm in Ohio that you can’t make a difference you will react differently than if you believe you can have as great an impact for good (or bad) as someone from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, or Paris.

If you believe your work is important you will go about it differently than if you believe it doesn’t matter. (And tell me about  a job that doesn’t matter – they all matter somehow).

If you believe you don’t have any influence on anything or anyone, you will react differently than if you understand and accept the concept of “oneness” and know that everything you think, say or do impacts us all.

And, as Billy Joel sings, “And so it goes”

When you “fine tune” your belief system, you will most likely discover that many of your self esteem issues have been resolved and you just need to do a bit of tweaking here and there and then daily work like you need to do in a garden – you just have to keep pulling those weeds.

This is not an easy task but one that just keeps bursting with rewards. It takes time, patience with yourself, – and others, reflection, meditation and a lot of revision of the revisions. As your consciousness expands it requires more reflection, meditation and revision. An on and on – “And so it goes. ..”

Your life matters. It’s up to you to decide just how you show up in the world.

Filed Under: Self Esteem Tagged With: ,