IT'S THE DOING IT THAT COUNTS

[The following is a reprint of my post of November 29, 2012.]

"You need not aspire for or get any new state. Get rid of your present thoughts, that is all." -- Ramana Maharshi

Now, there's good advice, which, like most good advice, is utterly useless if we're not ready to hear it. Until we open our mind, release any resistance and ask within ourselves, "How?," those are just so many pretty words.

But I bring good news! Once I was ready to actually do it, to actually get rid of my present thoughts (because my present thoughts were nattering me, and worse, I was starting to believe them), I began using what I'd been taught. I had been taught that my reasoning mind was God's tool to use, not mine. So don't try to turn it off, turn it over...to God to do with as He knows best for me.

One of the tools I'd been given, in order to turn it over, is: Whenever an ugly looks like it's heading for me, think "thank you" first, then "It is I, be not afraid." The ugly is I, my gift. I accept it as such and turn that sucker around as many ways as I need to until I find the sliver of gold. It is there...find it, and that sliver will grow into a blessing beyond our reasoning mind's comprehension.

What we most need to remember is that the reasoning mind cannot get us there. We must go beyond reason to love...the very first "thank you" turns our dread into love, then into acceptance, then into non-resistance...with which we give over to God who does His thing. Not our problem any longer.

This really isn't that hard to remember...it's the habitual doing it that takes some time.

Thank you.