I didn't want Thanks-giving to go by without sending each of you a blessed thought to carry you into and through the holiday weekend coming up.
Family times are intense times for many because family members carry intricate stories about each other that are often and easily triggered when we all come together. Pause and listen a minute to the story that comes up in your own mind at the thought of being with (or without) your family over Thanksgiving. Now know that every single other family member has a story (that most likely looks nothing like yours) running in their mind too. And you're all going to inhabit the same space for some length of time, each one of us looking for evidence that what we believe is true.
It might sound something like this:
“Oh man, I dread the drive and then I've got to put up with bossy old Uncle Steve … he always makes everyone miserable…” – you get the picture.
As a result of the low frequency we start spinning days, weeks, even months before we get there, we generate the low frequency necessary to “spark” a fight. Instead of participating in a “Festival of Thanks”, the ego turns it into a feeding frenzy for its own agenda!
That's the down side of it … there is a”higher frequency option” however – and that is to understand that we are in service to a Universal Source who sends us out on assignment sometimes. Our family is our assignment -has nothing to do with whether you like it or not, that's just “real life”. Family gatherings are where we get sent to practice being useful to Source (not flaunt our superiority)… it is our mission field. It also happens that our family members are our most important teachers, as well.
Our task is to balance these two energies- that of missionary and student. The marriage of these energies within us creates a third energy, that of the “Witness”. We learn how to witness both what is being shown TO us and That which is moving THROUGH us. In other words, as we integrate these energies within us, our consciousness matures and we are able to relax into or surrender more completely to Source, who awaits our willingness to be filled and spilled into the lives of those we love.
When we go to our families in consciousness we know that we are there, both to demonstrate-by-example, and learn.
Our job includes shifting our attention to what “they” are doing, and instead, bring our attention to what resistances in us are blocking the Light of Source. It is these precious and completely intractable human beings who have the audacity to stand boldly in front of us and hold up the mirror, that teach us the most. Every time we react negatively to what we are being shown, we can know we are coming up against some part of ourselves that we have not accepted. The things we tell ourselves and believe that make us “feel bad” are examples of such blocks. When we go into our families with our own judgments and agendas about how they “should” or “shouldn't” be and focus on how we are not being appreciated or loved then we are bringing a frequency that can only exacerbate whatever potential drama lies- in-wait for the first opportunity to “enflame” the room.
If, on the other hand, we enter in peace with minimal story running, we are clear conduits for the One Thing that can transform every one in that room.
It was Eckhert Tolle who reminded us that consciousness is like a burning log. When wet or green logs are placed in contact with a brightly burning fire, sooner or later, they too will ignite. Our opportunity this holiday weekend is to become like that burning log. Be one of the gifts that your family is thankful for by modeling peace and acceptance. You may find that your loved ones want to gather at your “hearth” and warm themselves in your loving glow. After all, it's what we all truly want, isn't it? – Just to feel loved and accepted by the people who are important to us. Emanate the love and acceptance you long for FROM them. Sooner or later their hearts too will ignite with the fire of love.
May you be a thanksgiving blessing for your loved ones this year.
Lynne