Black Friday may have come and gone for those of you who decided to participate in the annual ritual of mass hysteria all with the intention of scoring a scorchingly good deal on Holiday gifts for loved ones later next month. While I do not judge this year's participants, I will admit that I usually sit that day out, usurping the materialistic gifts to concentrate on what type of ‘EXPERIENCES’ I choose to allow into my life this coming Holiday Season. And don't get me wrong. I LOVE a wonderfully thought out gift as much as the next, but the older I get, the more I realize that it is in the BUYING OF EXPERIENCES that really keeps the Grinch stay FAR away from my Holiday Heart!
You see consciousness in the form of ENERGY is the the form of currency in the Universe. Whenever we pay attention to something with our focused intention, we are actually ‘buying’ that experience! And most of the time, we don't even know what experiences we are purchasing or putting on SPIRITUAL LAYAWAY. How different would your daily life experiences be if we spent as much time and energy on what we are truly focusing our attention on as we do in making up our holiday shopping lists?!? ENERGY FLOWS WHERE ATTENTION GOES! Can you honestly say you know where the bulk of your daily attention is going. And if it is NOT where you would like it to BE, what are you doing to change that fact of spiritual intention.
I have an idea. For every hour spent on Holiday activities, what would it look like to spend the same amount of time on being mindful and intentful in our thoughts, words, and deeds on what EXPERIENCES we are choosing to buy (Whether they are subconscious or not) by PAYING ATTENTION to things that do not serve us.
We are constantly in a state of paying for experiences to come into our lives whether we are aware of it or not. This is why spiritual teachers have always practiced and taught mindfulness as a way of conscious living. Now we can also change the type of experiences we are paying for IN AN INSTANT! How you ask?! I hoped so!! ;0)
Being present in all of our interactions is one practice that I believe would serve your highest good! And when I say being present, I am talking about a surrendered form of presentness that usurps the SELF and allows only the OTHER to be seen and heard. By shining a light on others, we allow them to step into their greatness. Essentially giving them permission to something that has perhaps been taken away from them through various life imprinting and trauma. And what a world it would be if we all allowed each other to be the Greatest Version of the Grandest Vision ever held of themselves!
Compassion is another wonderful form of energetic payment for miraculous gifts and experiences. In fact, COMPASSION combined with GRATITUDE is the real way to any Spiritual Santa Clause's heart!! As a form of Re-membrance or for those of you who have not read my post on COMPASSION, here is a small section that will help you in understanding the true power of this GIFT for the ages!
Passion is God's way of saying ‘Hi!’ And COMPASSION in my belief is the way we spread the Godliness within to ourselves and to each and every person that crosses our path. For when we come with passion in everything we do, we also learn so many other things. Jack Kornfield teaches that our Western Culture has produced a society of both loneliness as well as self hatred. Why?! Because the first stage of COMPASSION is understanding. It is learning to LET GO of the stories we have been told and imprints our psychological being. Every day is a miraculous chance to start over and Re-member who we truly are; which is nothing less than a perfected emanation of Infinite Intelligence and Source energy. To let go of the shaming, blaming, and judgment that the ‘others’ in our life have needlessly projected onto our own sense of being. For most of us, this causes years if not DECADES of painful habits and life choices that mimic the projections of our precious past. It shows up in the choices we make in our friendships and especially our deep intimate relationships. Basicially replaying our past over and over again trying to desperately heal a past that was NEVER a part of our own sense of reality or own BEINGNESS to begin with. We make up stories to help make sense of the painful imprinting we received throughout those oh so many years of our life.
And for you SHOPAHOLICS, the wonderful news is that you can learn to channel these tools to be in a perpetual state of buying the myriad of experiences that will manifest into your life through the manner in which you pay attention and focus your ENERGY on them!! What I'm trying to say is Christmas be damned, WE ARE ALWAYS SHOPPING!! Once again, our currency is energy and energy is always and in all ways being radiated out from your Spirit into the world. And that energy is constantly ‘purchasing‘ what you are focusing on.
So this Holiday Season, what would it look like to focus your energy on Light, Love, Joy, Compassion , and Gratitude not only toward ourselves, but especially toward others. Because as wonderful as having a trophy of amazing gifts under the tree on Christmas morning may be, having a room radiating with kindness, understanding, and mindfulness toward yourself and others is absolutely PRICELESS!!
Nerdmaste,
Jeffrey Louis Martinez
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