When I’ve felt blasted by the storms of emotions and drama, whether it’s been of my own making or someone else’s, my spiritual practice of non-judgement and nonviolence is my rock. It’s a haven of infinite patience and Love inside my own mind.

Often I see folks do things that make no sense. We lose perspective and then we suffer and make crazy choices.

At times folks are deliberately unkind; they’re racist, selfish, sexist, malicious and hurtful. People respond rudely without thinking and are indifferent to the consequences. I’ve done so much of that in my life.

Some people are discouraging when they could be encouraging. My practice of *non-judgment forces me to look at my motivations and intentions and to consistently choose the most loving intention regardless of where my emotions are.

My spiritual practice of non-judgment is a living practice of infinite compassion. It’s the daily practice of walking in Spirit. Just as that farm girl from Kansas put on the ruby slippers and remembered her personal power that could take her back home, my personal practice of nonviolence takes me back home to the spiritual truth of all life: I am one with all that is.

I can tune into the Power of Love or choose fear. I can choose strength or weakness.

If I hate the one who hates, I’ve lost my power, I’m wearing their shoes and they can never fit. If I am rude to the one who is rude, I am living someone else’s pain. If I have no compassion for the one who has no compassion, I am spending my precious energy magnifying someone else’s hurt. Every moment I choose whose shoes I’ll stand in and what my perspective is. Every moment I can choose anew and change the course of my life.

When I make the highest choice I can reach for in the moment, I lift the world.

Mother Theresa taught us, “People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self centered. Forgive them anyway … Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give the best you’ve got anyway.”

When I look at Mother Theresa’s life and the lives of Buddha, Jesus, St. Francis, Gandhi, King and Thich Nhat Hanh, I see the power in their moment to moment practice of choosing Love in much more difficult circumstances than I’ve ever faced. I choose to carry close to me this awareness of those who went before me. This is my ruby slipper practice.

“Open-mindedness comes with lack of judgment. As judgment shuts the mind against God’s Teacher, so open-mindedness invites Him to come in.” A Course in Miracles, Manual for Teachers, Ch 4, X

We can triumph in difficult situations. We have an inner strength that comes from our divinity and is always available to us.

In every moment I remember my intention to love and I am that. How grateful I am that no matter where I am, no matter what is happening in and around me, I can have a ruby slipper moment and come home to my heart.

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