WHERE WE DISCUSS OPENING AND MAINTAINING OUR CONNECTION
Are you there?
Yes, we are here.
And so am I. As you know, and as most of our readers know, I decided after our last conversation that I needed to take a little break from the blog.
What led you to believe that you needed to take a break from the blog?
Well, for some reason, I was having trouble making the connection with all of you. It was like I had writer’s block or something. I just couldn’t hear your voice. Of course, I tried to fix the problem by pushing against it, a common reaction I think for anyone who feels stuck or closed off. I told myself that I just needed to buckle down and make better use of my time. “Just focus, for goodness sake! You need to strengthen your intention, ground yourself more often, meditate more, and stay away from the online news and the YouTube videos. That’ll restore your connection.” As you can imagine, that kind of bullying didn’t work. I only ended up pressuring myself to the point where the blog came to feel more like an obligation than a joy and a pleasure. That’s when I realized I needed to stop and take a break.
Being hard on yourself and forcing the issue when you are in a vulnerable, disconnected state is rarely a choice that will serve you well. There is ALWAYS a better choice to be made. With your transcribing, you might show yourself some appreciation by acknowledging that the work we are doing together requires a great deal of commitment, patience and emotional fortitude, and as such, represents a unique type of challenge not experienced by most human persons. Yes, it is true that there have been times in the past when our connection did not immediately establish itself, but overall, you have done an excellent job of opening and maintaining your connection with us over the course of more than 100 conversations and that is no small feat.
You’re right. I could be more supportive, more appreciative. This work has brought me a great deal of pleasure over the last year and a half and I could remind myself of that more often. Still, I found my way back somehow, because here we are talking and I’m transcribing our conversation, but to be honest, I’m not sure exactly how I got back here. I want to better understand what I can do, what any of us can do, when we feel lost or out of touch with our own internal guidance and inspiration.
If your commitment to whatever activity you have chosen for yourself begins to diminish for one reason or another, whether you have lost faith in your work, or you no longer feel enthusiastic about continuing, or your original intention has changed, or even if you are just physical and emotional drained from the kind of work that you are doing, then we believe it is a good idea to first step back as you have done in order to gain some perspective. Then you might ask yourself some questions. “Why did I originally choose this activity? What was the initial intention behind this choice? What feelings or emotions, if any, did I hope to experience by engaging in this activity?” If the action you are undertaking to achieve your goal, whether it is writing a blog or balancing a spread sheet or delivering the mail, becomes dislodged from your original intent and loses its emotional connection, then the activity will eventually leave you with an empty feeling devoid of any emotional payoff other than boredom or frustration. That is when a different set of questions might begin to arise. “Why am I still doing this? Do I have to continue? I’m not enjoying myself, so what’s the point?” Not an unusual line of inquiry for most human persons, as you very well know, particularly when it comes to one’s choice of employment. Many humans experience a creeping emotional disconnection in the workplace as they become more and more accustomed to the daily, repetitive activity common to most jobs. That is why it is so important to continually refresh your commitment to whatever activity you choose to engage in, even the smallest activity, yes, even brushing your teeth or cooking your dinner, for without an emotional, feeling component, there is indeed no point.
But what can you do when you can’t seem to reconnect to that original intention, to that original feeling? As I said before, when I feel disconnected from all of you, I try to force the connection, which, as I’ve said, doesn’t work. It only creates more frustration and then I eventually give up.
If you continue to focus on what you see as your problems – “What’s wrong? Why can’t I connect? – you will only succeed in attracting more problems, more obstacles. Yes, it is important to be aware of those obstacles, like a fear of failure, for instance, that might be standing in the way of feeling good and experiencing joy, but you should seek to avoid placing your focus on your fear in a way that draws it further into your experience. If you wish to improve your connection with anyone or anything, you first need to trust that regardless of what you are experiencing, your connection to Source – for that is what we are really speaking of, is it not? – that your connection to Source is ALWAYS there. It is unchangeable and can never be completely lost, only weakened or pinched off by your own fear and resistance. Remind yourself that this connection is a permanent part of who you are, then place your attention on that connection. Search your mind and your feelings for those times when you have felt connected, in the flow, in a timeless space. Believe in it, summon it up, nurture it, appreciate it. That will make it easier for you to hold your connection in place. Remember: your connection to us, to Source, indeed to every single element in the Universe, is rooted in the present moment. That is where it exists, where it abides, always. The more you can maintain your focus on the present moment, the more open your connection to us and to Source will feel to you.
Is there anything else we can do to help strengthen that connection?
Let us return for a moment to the words you used in pressuring yourself to reset your connection with us. You said, “Just focus, for goodness sake! You need to strengthen your intention, ground yourself more often, meditate more, and stay away from the online news and the YouTube videos.” The problem resides not with these individual statements, but with the pressure that you used in your attempt to enforce them. If we remove the pressure, and any expectation of results, what are we left with? Some very good ideas for opening and maintaining your connection with us and with Source. So instead of pushing against the problem, embrace the solution. Say YES to improving your focus. YES to setting and maintaining a clear intention for any activity you choose to engage in. YES to grounding your energy on a regular basis. YES to meditating daily. And above all, say YES to positive thinking rather than a steady diet of low-vibrational energy contained in much of what you read in the news, energy that can interfere with and block your connection to Source.
I suppose I could also be more flexible with the schedule I set up for posting the blog. That would help to remove some of the pressure I feel. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I generally work better when the activity I’m engaged in has some structure. My exercise regimen is like that and it keeps my workouts very consistent. With the blog, though, I’d gotten into the habit of using a regular posting date to motivate myself, as if it were some sort of job assignment, like a project for my boss. I tried to remind myself that I am no longer working for someone else, that no one is looking over my shoulder and I am free to do as I please. But that didn’t always work. Instead, I pressured myself to post our conversations according to some arbitrary deadline and in the process, I lost the spontaneity and the fun of transcribing.
Flexibility in all things is very important. In your case, there is pleasure and enjoyment to be found in all of the variations of your transcribing experience. It does not have to be exactly the same each time you engage in it. Some days your connection with us will be very open and our conversation and the transcribing will flow smoothly and easily. Other days, our conversation may come and go over the course of several days and the transcribing may occur more in bit and pieces. What causes you difficulty is when you attempt to force your writing experience into the same mold each and every time. This approach works very well for many who choose the writing experience. In your case, as you say, this approach triggers thoughts and emotions that were common during your 9-5 working life and as such, creates obstacles and pressures that you no longer wish to experience. Perhaps one day when you have released more of these old behavioral patterns, you can return to this sort of structured writing life. But for now, given that you have complete freedom to write and transcribe when and how you want, it might best serve you to let go of the need for structure and allow yourself more flexibility over how you experience your connection with us and with Source.
I also think it would benefit me to be more accepting of the emotions that arise when I’m transcribing. As you said, this work can be very stimulating and at times can trigger some very challenging emotions for me. Rather than trying to resist or avoid them, I think it’s much better if I can accept them as part of the work I’m doing and just allow them to be. That too, I think, would help to keep my connection open.
This is the point at which trust comes into play. Honor whatever feelings arise as a result of activity, regardless of how challenging they may be, and trust that you are being guided, by your own higher-self and by those who like ourselves are committed to assisting you on your journey towards remembrance, to exactly where you have intended to be. That the activity you are engaged in, whatever that might be, is the activity that at this present-point moment serves you best in remembering who you really are and why you have come. This does not mean that if at any point you wish to make a change, to shift your position regarding a particular activity and make another choice, that you should hold your position regardless of how you feel and remain committed to an activity that no longer brings you joy or excitement or pleasure. Only that wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, you trust that the experience arises out of the strongest connection with who you really are in that given moment.
I think we’ll stop there for today. It’s good to be back and I look forward to our next conversation. You’ve given me and our readers some very good advice on how to open and maintain our connection to that voice of inspiration and guidance within all of us. We greatly appreciate it.
It has been our pleasure. Until next time then.
Thank you all.
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