Monday, November 9, 2015

Why not try RELAXING...


What if we spent a little less time worrying and working ourselves to the bone and a bit more time, relaxing, unwinding and resting in God each day?

Having a sweet 1 year old baby girl named Sage gives me the perfect visual of this.  She is by nature a very snugly baby.  She loves to be held and sit close to her father, sisters and me.  In those special moments, it is as if she melts into me, her head against my shoulder, her heart against my heart—it is as if our hearts are beating as one and our energies are joined together.

She is comfortable, relaxed to the point of falling asleep.  Her sweet coos and sighs and breaths show how relaxed she is in that moment.  She is not struggling to be anywhere else but where she is.  She is content to simply be in the comfort of loving arms.

In the past few weeks as I was preparing to speak to a group here locally in Pennsylvania.  I was guided to share on the topic of Relaxing into God.  I came across a text where a devoted South African nun, Francis Banks, described that she can now see that it was the tenseness of her striving that was actually keeping her from experiencing the presence of Spirit in her life.  That Presence had always surrounded her—but she hadn't recognized it because of the level of stress she put herself under.  She had been living with the idea that she had to constantly DO something to experience God. 

As she looks back on her life, she recounts:

“I was lost in illusion; lost in glamour.  I looked for the Spirit to reveal itself to me, when all that was necessary was ‘relaxation unto God.’ The Spirit was always with me, veiled because my physical sight could not view it.  The great secret of finding that Spirit was ‘letting go’ of self. . . I am realizing that the very tenseness of my striving was my undoing and it barred the way to that very union which my soul longed. . . Light, Divinity, Reality. . . all-pervading consciousness…was there for my acceptance.  Much greater progress would have been made by ‘letting go’ of all these human images and by allowing the spirit to absorb me.  Relax and allow the Spirit to stream through you.  Swim with the tide of the Spirit.” (from Testimony of Light)

This description resonated deeply with me.  For many years I lived from a state of being ultra-responsible, working myself to the bone, achieving the highest accolades possible and driving my body to the point of exhaustion.  Yes, I was a Christian and I loved God deeply.  But there was something I hadn’t known about a spiritual practice – a simple call in the Bible to “Be still and know that I am God.” And, “In God we live and breathe and have our being.”

It’s only been the past 10 years where I have begun to sit in silence and listen.  I’ve learned to quiet the restless mind.  I’ve woken up to the beauty of just BEING in the moment.  I’ve started to experience and understand that the quiet, silent practice of breathing and allowing the whispers of Spirit to refresh my spirit.  This new way of sitting and being is profound:  it has changed me, transformed my thinking and allowed me to deepen my faith and refresh myself.  I am learning more and more each day to RELAX INTO GOD.

My spirit longs for more of this relaxing…and the funny thing is that by taking the time to relax into God, I get the breakthrough ideas, the insights, the a-ha moments needed to fulfill my purpose in new ways.  It is the stepping back to rest that ends up speeding me forward!

What if life is easier than we typically make it on ourselves?

What if melting into the arms of our Heavenly Father can restore us and renew us in a way that allows more energy to flow through us to fuel our purpose?

What if the times of sitting silently in the Presence can lift us to new wisdom, fresh insights and a further discovery and expression of our gifts?

Our cultural promotes constant Doing as a symbol of importance.  It’s easy to buy into this mentality.  But we can see all around us and in our own lives how the constant DOING causes stress, physical disease and an erosion of our relationships.

Perhaps our opportunity now lies in beginning to experience, practice and gain expertise in BEING and RELAXING.

Why not this week plan some time into your schedule to BE, to RELAX yourself into God?    Even 5 minutes of deep breathing in the Presence each day may begin to renew you in a way you haven’t felt for many years.

May your week be full of new light, energy and an exuberance for your purpose!

I’m here if needed – just drop an email to patricia@patriciaomoqui.com .

With my deepest love,

Patricia Omoqui, The Thought Dr.
www.patriciaomoqui.com

No comments:

Post a Comment