There’s tremendous power in being able to stay calm no matter what. Not a denial of our feelings, but mastery.
When I feel blasted by the storms of emotions and drama, whether it’s of my own making or someone else’s, my spiritual practice of non-judgment and nonviolence is my rock.
It’s a haven of Infinite Patience and Love inside my own mind.
So often I see folks do things that make no sense except that people are suffering and they’ve lost perspective. People are deliberately unkind; they’re selfish and hurtful. People respond without thinking and are rude. People are discouraging when they could be encouraging. My practice of nonviolence forces me to look at my motivations and intentions, and to consistently choose the most loving intention regardless of where my emotions are.
Nonviolence is a practice of Infinite Compassion.
It is the daily practice of walking in God’s “Shoes”.
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.
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. Every moment I can choose anew and change the course of my life. When I make the highest choice I can reach for at 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. 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.
Today I walk in God’s “Shoes”. I see with God’s “Eyes”. I stand in the loving intention of those who went before me and I AM that.
Infinite Patience takes me home.
In the comments below, I invite you to share a way that you over-give that you might be willing to let go of so that Spirit can flow in more fully! Thank you!
