{"id":666,"date":"2013-12-23T01:48:56","date_gmt":"2013-12-23T01:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/batesonline.org\/triciablog\/?p=666"},"modified":"2013-12-23T01:48:56","modified_gmt":"2013-12-23T01:48:56","slug":"dec-22-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triciabatessmith.com:443\/index.php\/2013\/12\/23\/dec-22-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday 12-22-13 Live and Help Live"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>The Law of Dharma: Everyone has a purpose in life . . . a unique gift or special talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals. ~ The <\/i><i>Chopra<\/i><i> <\/i><i>Center<\/i><i><\/i><\/p>\n<h2>Happy Sunday!<\/h2>\n<p>Something has been bothering me that makes me feel disconnected from Source this week.<br \/>\nI have a friend who is going through a hard time and it makes me feel uneasy.\u00a0 I don&#8217;t know my role in it or if I am suppose to have a role in it.\u00a0 My mind has been very busy thinking over everything that has happened, the things I offered to help, and the actions I have taken. \u00a0Looking back I should have recognized by the amount of thought I am giving to this that I am disconnected.<br \/>\nThank you God for the weekend to give me time to think and learn!<br \/>\nYesterday I was reading an ACIM lesson about forgiveness (CH29:IX) related to becoming aware of the importance we put on other people or things, stuff outside of ourselves, in the hope of finding happiness, self importance, or Love.\u00a0 What struck me in the writing was that it said that we put importance (and thereby judgement) on something out of fear, thereby betraying our true selves.\u00a0 We decide in our minds that something or someone has to fill a specific role so that we can be happy. In this manner we make less of others and of ourselves.<br \/>\nFrom this reading I recognized my mind was judging my friend because he was acting in a way different than what I thought was right.\u00a0 I had put importance on my role in helping so I had created expectations outside of the intention of helping.<br \/>\nThis morning Joel Osteen spoke on labels, how others put labels on us and we must choose either to be limited by holding onto the label or to remove the label to be the unique individual God made us to be.<br \/>\nAfter Joel&#8217;s sermon ended I reflected on the ideas in my mind about helping my friend. \u00a0Having realized that all the activity in my mind to figure him out was judgement and labeling his situation just so I could then feel comfortable within myself that I had figured him out.\u00a0 This is bad &#8211; bad for him and bad for me.<br \/>\nThis could be bad for him if he were to accept my label and let it limit him.\u00a0 This certainly is not my goal in wanting to help someone else.\u00a0 I want everyone to be aware of the great potential God has placed in each one of us.<br \/>\nFor me I know it is bad to judge.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like that I fell into thinking I could help someone else with their problem by making judgements in my own mind.<br \/>\nI took a break from writing for a few hours as I felt I was blocked in writing about how my judgemental ideas were bad for me.\u00a0 Several events happened that made me realize that I was not opening my heart to act from Love and compassion.<br \/>\nOne event was hearing about a family member&#8217;s hurt and afterward I felt like I wasn&#8217;t really giving them the help that they needed.<br \/>\nThe next thing I did was re-read Don Miguel Ruiz&#8217;s second agreement from the book <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>The Four Agreements<\/em><\/span>. \u00a0This agreement says &#8220;Don&#8217;t take anything personally.&#8221;\u00a0 This lesson has been on my mind all week.\u00a0 It is saying that what other people might say or how they react is not about us but about their perspective of us or the situation. \u00a0This is similar to what Joel was speaking of about taking on labels that others put on us. \u00a0After reading the chapter I came away with the sense it was not what I was trying to understand in my lesson today; I was looking for more about giving.<br \/>\nFinally I read today&#8217;s <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Daily Love<\/em><\/span> blog. Mastin Kipp wrote about just what I needed to understand &#8211; having Love and compassion for another.\u00a0 In his blog he asks the following:<br \/>\n<em>&#8220;So when it comes to other people, I have a question, and I want you to answer honestly\u2026 What are you looking for in them? Are you looking for what\u2019s right? Are you seeing them as doing the best that they can? Are you having compassion for them at the same level that you do for yourself or those you Love?&#8221;<\/em><br \/>\nNo, I&#8217;m not having compassion for them.<br \/>\nFor myself, I have great faith and expect the best from the tough situations that I personally go through but I am realizing that when someone else is suffering my mind goes right to judgement.\u00a0 (And, I must admit I have not been through anything very difficult in the last two years to test my soul awareness \u2013 thank you Lord!.)<br \/>\nMy judgement is due to that I question in my mind why they can&#8217;t have the soul perspective that I have: to have faith that things will work out; that there is a lesson to be learned; to not take personally another&#8217;s behaviour; to know we are always connected by Love &#8211; to name a few key lessons.<br \/>\nAs I think about it, when a friend or loved one speaks angrily about someone&#8217;s behavior toward them I am able to advise compassionately, helping my loved one to change perspective and look at this third party with compassion.\u00a0 I don&#8217;t think I am doing the same for my loved one but instead placing my expectations on them that they should have faith and expect the best. I also think I am trying to protect myself as the hurt of those I love can bring me hurt as well if I choose to take on the pain and worry.<br \/>\nSo how to I help and advise with Love and compassion?<br \/>\nMastin says we must let them &#8216;off the hook&#8217; as we would ourselves by being compassionate of all the struggles they are dealing with.<br \/>\nI agree with him but I know another way that I have closed myself off from this week and that is to ask for help.<br \/>\nI know that pausing to bring the intention of Love to the situation and then asking within my self for guidance will bring the right perspective to my heart and mind. \u00a0I hope that in this way I can learn compassion.<br \/>\nYes I want to move from judgement and be an example of Love to the world.\u00a0 I think I have learned to bring light to what we see as our mundane everyday lives.\u00a0 I need to learn the tools and use them to help others who are hurting. \u00a0I also must choose Faith over fear to be able to offer compassion.<br \/>\nOne last thing on the idea of labels, in my reflections this morning on judgement I had the thought that if I really thought I could sum up anyone in one word the only possible word would be LOVE, and there is no way to put limits on that.<br \/>\nLord, help me to not put limits on any of my brothers.<br \/>\nAmen<br \/>\n<em>&#8220;No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.&#8221; ~ Albert Einstein<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Law of Dharma: Everyone has a purpose in life . . . a unique gift or special talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/triciabatessmith.com:443\/index.php\/2013\/12\/23\/dec-22-13\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6],"tags":[10,27,33,34,38,52,58,60],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Live and Help Live<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"reflections on how to 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