Environments

Our inner environment, our inner-being, is our positive, ever-replenishing inner oasis. It is built into every human body and it is our experience of soul. It is the part of us that gentles and enriches our outer life.

Our outer environment is separate from our physical body. It is both the Natural World of Mother Nature and that which is created through the imagination and ingenuity of the human mind and spirit. We live, educate ourselves, work, worship, and socialize within our outer environment. It can make our life easier or harder depending on our decisions, perceptions, and our relationship with our inner-being.

Our soul-self holds the history of our entire existence as well as our memory of the soul state we experienced prior to birth. Everyone’s experience of their inner-being is a bit different because we all have unique backgrounds, wants, needs, interests, talents, and personalities. Common to all is the experience of coming home to self and a sense of inner silence and perfect peace. It also brings about the increased ability to trust the process of life.

Like many human beings, I didn’t know what an inner-soul-self was. As a little girl I learned about prayer and contemplation, but I thought that meant thinking about what I wanted to pray about and then offering a prayer that might or might not be answered. I had no idea how to build a relationship with my conscious physical self, let alone build a relationship with something as nebulous as my soul.

Our spiritual guides and teachers take teaching us about our soul-self seriously. They always provide insight and avenues of learning. As a child and early teen I suffered anxiety and fear. I remember lying in bed one night, heart pounding in terror, and hearing a voice very calmly say, “It is Ok.” “I love you.” I instantly felt peace. I fell soundly asleep and slept all night without another incident. I didn’t hear that voice again until I was about twenty six or twenty seven years old. I was having medical problems, and I’d been given some medicine that made me extremely ill. I remember sitting down on the steps inside my house, head held in my hands. An internal audible voice quietly spoke one word: “relax.” That one word brought instant peace and quieted my mind and body. I knew, regardless of the side effects of the medicine, I’d fully recover. As I sat there I remembered the first time I’d heard the voice and knew that there was someone or something helping me cope with life. Because of my history, I assumed the voice belonged to Yeshua, the Christ. The voice signaled the possibility of two way communication.

My great grandmother gave me permission to have spiritual experiences by telling me Bible stories of mystical occurrences and some stories that I thought were Bible stories but now know were not. She taught me to look beyond the obvious.

Music was also one of my vehicles for learning. As a young teenager I’d hear music in my mind, and I’d sit down at the piano and play what I heard for hours at a time. I just seemed to know how to create complicated sounds and rhythms. I certainly didn’t have enough piano skills to do it on my own. The music I played spoke to my heart and quieted my soul, but I had no idea why or what I was receiving. Spirit taught me through music.

When my children were babies, I was a member of a United Methodist Church where the minister very freely talked about the mystical and spiritual experiences that changed his life. Because of my prior experiences and his stories, I began to understand the nature of spiritual relationship. However, it was not until I attended Adult Children of Alcoholics and Overeaters Anonymous meetings and was introduced to 12 step recovery that I had a visual structure on which to build a spiritual inner life. My minister and 12 step recovery served as my teachers.

Today I clearly know that every human being is born with similar inner skills, and it is up to each of us to develop them. Becoming aware of our teachers is a way to prosper and embrace our personal truth as well as the truth of who you really are.

We are not alone.

If you stop to think about it, regardless of your religion or religious beliefs, you have had some kind of spiritual experience during your lifetime – maybe many of them. Perhaps you’ve awakened from a dream feeling it was 100 percent real; every cell of your body confirming your experience. Maybe you’ve suddenly awakened to the sound of a door bell ringing or wind chimes tinkling close by. Maybe you’ve been in the hospital, sick and frightened, and you turned to see a well-loved deceased relative sitting quietly by your bedside offering you inner peace and love. Maybe you’ve found yourself so deep in meditation that you didn’t hear your phone ring or hear your husband call your name letting you know he was home. Some of you’ve been in what felt like a vortex of energy – you have no idea where it came from – you just know it feels warm and loving and you are crying for the pure joy of the moment. These are all spiritual happenings, wake up calls, teachings, and offerings of assistance and guidance.

We all have a similar wise inner being (soul-self) whether we are atheist, agnostic, religious, or spiritual. It is how we “phone home” or connect to other dimensional realities: angels, teachers like Yeshua, Buddha, or the archangels. We “phone home” when we pray. We “phone home” when we are swept away by the beauty of a sunset or a rainbow, when a child is born, when we touch pure love during meditation. “Phoning home” is our birthright.

In Yeshua: 100 Meaningful Messages, Yeshua often speaks of his connection to his holy father as his perfection. He tells us that his lifelong connection was the source of his wisdom and through it he found the strength and power to fulfill life mission. He taught his students how to find the silence within and teaches us the importance of finding our own silent and empty place – the place of wisdom and personal power.

Making time for the brilliance within and allowing it to flow into our conscious minds and daily life is how we create our joy and happiness. It is how we stay positive, hopeful and at peace with ourselves and the world. It is our pathway to freedom, peace between individuals, groups, and nations, and the only way we can heal the mass destruction of war.

I wish you awareness of your human teachers and their role in your life. I wish you awareness and relationship with your inner teachers and a most wonderful soul adventure.