This is a baseline that I didn't have before. I would get up to an alarm and off to the races. If I was off that day, and woke up naturally, I was probably still in a state of fear about what I needed to do that day to ensure my needs were met or give the impression that I somehow knew what the hell I was doing. As an alanon too, my thoughts naturally went to what did I need you to do to ensure my needs were met that would make me ok. So before I would even get out of bed my mind was racing, shemming, manipulating, rehearsing conversations, explaining, convincing, debating, lying, ect. At some point you just start to believe that those thoughts are your thoughts and you become interwoven with them. Then when I act upon them, my spiritual malady gets worse because none of that information aligns me to God which is my organic state-everything else is the ego that makes noise to keep it relevant and keep me spinning and sick-and making others sick too.
On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead.
24 ahead-not backwards or too far into the future..just 24 hours. This is a practical way to live because 24 hours is just enough-like what's actually in front of me
We consider our plans for the day.
We consider our plans for the day, not theirs. And really, what are my plans and how do I consider them rationally without God? I can't consider anything rationally in a state of fear.
Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.
I get on my knees every day because that's how I get grounded and still-and I breathe. I say the 3rd and 7th prayer- So when I start the day off from this place, I am less likely to be used as an instrument for chaos, confusion and discourse or sinking into apathy, spiritual sloth or depression because I am consciously seeking God-not just going through the motions or doing it because someone is watching.
Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use.”
Indeed. I learned that incessant noise and chatter about them, that, this and the other is not the proper use of my mental faculties. This is not thinking, pondering, questioning, or anything sane or good. Nothing rational can come into a mind that is full of noise. I was just an automaton who was used to parrot the latest talking point from my "team" so that I could repeat and create what was being spoken-so no real contemplation of anything-just reacting-used as a reactor..re-actor.
Re means to feel again, and an actor is a liar playing a role.
If I start the day with God, God will start to remove the defects that block me from becoming who I am authentically. An authentic person who can employ their mental faculties guided by God doesn't need the TV or social media to condition or program them on how to think or what to think. When I receive information through my eyes and ears, I have learned to reroute it to the heart, body, nervous system and the brain for processing. Lead by God means that I need not get upset about information. Information is fine, it's my job to discern if the information is valuable for my soul's expansion or the betterment of my life here for the next 24 hours. If information is making me crazy, depressed or angry, then I should not receive information until I can maturly process it.
I have had to step away from all of it for a season and it was absolutely ok for me to do-there is no shame in it. No one died because "I" wasn't "informed". Just because some people seem to have zero problem with tv, phones, jobs, relationships, or whatever I may use to validate me or distract myself with, doesn't make me a bad person-it's just like alcohol, some people can drink with impunity-I cannot. I had to address all the other things I couldn't do with impunity that were causing me, and others harm based upon my responses to it all.
I do not have to go through life as an actor anymore-I am not "normal" I can't just do life and be ok-and I am fine with that. I need God like air, otherwise I will make all those other things, them, and me-God, and that will quite literally drive me insane. Pretending that I was normal, or like them-that I knew just knew what to do or what the right thing was based upon emotional responses that are triggered by trauma is the root of unmanageability. Using defects to do life won't fly if I am to be used as an instrument for God-and if I am an alcoholic, then that is my only choice. Be used by God, or be miserable by what's presented on a screen or by what others are or are not doing, and perhaps drink again.
If I start the day with God, God will start to remove the defects that block me from becoming who I am authentically. An authentic person who can employ their mental faculties guided by God doesn't need the TV or social media to condition or program them on how to think or what to think. When I receive information through my eyes and ears, I have learned to reroute it to the heart, body, nervous system and the brain for processing. Lead by God means that I need not get upset about information. Information is fine, it's my job to discern if the information is valuable for my soul's expansion or the betterment of my life here for the next 24 hours. If information is making me crazy, depressed or angry, then I should not receive information until I can maturly process it.
I have had to step away from all of it for a season and it was absolutely ok for me to do-there is no shame in it. No one died because "I" wasn't "informed". Just because some people seem to have zero problem with tv, phones, jobs, relationships, or whatever I may use to validate me or distract myself with, doesn't make me a bad person-it's just like alcohol, some people can drink with impunity-I cannot. I had to address all the other things I couldn't do with impunity that were causing me, and others harm based upon my responses to it all.
I do not have to go through life as an actor anymore-I am not "normal" I can't just do life and be ok-and I am fine with that. I need God like air, otherwise I will make all those other things, them, and me-God, and that will quite literally drive me insane. Pretending that I was normal, or like them-that I knew just knew what to do or what the right thing was based upon emotional responses that are triggered by trauma is the root of unmanageability. Using defects to do life won't fly if I am to be used as an instrument for God-and if I am an alcoholic, then that is my only choice. Be used by God, or be miserable by what's presented on a screen or by what others are or are not doing, and perhaps drink again.
We never apologize to anyone for depending upon our Creator. We can laugh at those who think spirituality is the way of weakness. Paradoxically, it is the way of strength. The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage. All men of faith have courage. They trust their God. We never apologize for God. Instead we let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do. We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be. At once, we commence to outgrow fear.