Repeat of Building Mental Tools

Wherever we might be in our journey, we need certain basic bits of time-honored wisdom like the Golden Rule to guide our development. With practice, they become like mental tools that we use regularly to keep our lives running smoothly.

One of my favorite mental tools that I use somewhat like the one you use to turn the earth in a garden is wondering what a spiritually oriented person would think walking down the street—or doing whatever it is I am doing at the time. It brings things up from a deeper level of my being. Like the smell of freshly turned soil that brings a raft of associations, my exercise almost always gives rise to a longing to be more spiritual—to see the real truth of life.

Years ago, I would stop there and feel a little hopeless, as if such a thing were beyond my grasp. I have learned, however, that if I don't stop there and push myself to complete the thought in a different way, my perception will gradually change. So I look at what I know must be there—a search for glory and the idea that spiritual fulfillment means being transformed by love. It implies that someone like me should be more than this that I am!! I see my excessive pride and how it attaches me to the hope of enlightenment, a magical transformation in my thinking that would come when I am filled with love and ecstasy. A moment of glory where all of my dreams are realized—whether through my efforts or some incredible grace.

There too, I have learned to not stop. I have built a mental tool, a line of reasoning, that will be in line with my messages. So, I remind myself that this is contrary to everything my messages have been trying to teach me: everyday life is the ideal place for spiritual development. It's OK to like rituals, prayers or meditation but that is just a small part of what must be done.

I remind myself that I will develop spiritually better by living in this body and satisfying its needs in a balanced way. The Creator has the best method for my spiritual development—my own everyday life. I am bi-dimensional; and my soul is attached to my particular body, with particular parents in a particular society to learn certain particular lessons in a certain way. All it takes is these adjustments in my intention to be in line with what life is trying to teach me in classroom earth—right in that moment.

I have used this tool, i.e. run through this same line of reasoning hundreds if not thousands of times. I no longer view this repetition as a sign of being stuck any more than I do of deliberately applying the Golden Rule in difficult situations. Again and again I push myself to reconsider how whatever I am doing offers the best possible opportunity for a well-rounded spiritual development. So, I then work myself back up to the starting point, seeing my need to set aside preconceptions of what spirituality is, then put my search for glory into perspective before I return then to attention to that task that I am doing.

So my suggestion this week is to identify lines of reasoning that seem to always stop you cold and turn them into tools that work for you by completing the thought in a different way. Work it down to the spiritual perspective and then back up to what you are doing. Use that mental tool again and again in regular situations in your own life—particularly when you don't feel the need. It will keep your spiritual skills sharp and avoid problems before they arise.

Click on the link http://www.decodeyourmessages.com/content/repeat-building-mental-tools to share the mental tools you have developed and use regularly to keep yourself on track. If it involves a message, click on the following link and add your experience http://decodeyourmessages.com/node/add/experience.