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A Spiritually Enlightening Online Magazine. November's Theme: "Gifts" A number of years ago, when working at a high school in Nassau, New Providence, the capital island of the Bahamas, I was faced with a hot and thorny issue. I had been at the school for many years and had taken on extra work in order to facilitate a rise in enrollment with a lack of sufficient staff. Now, I was hearing 'second hand' that I was being overlooked for promotion and instead, a new coordinator was being brought in from another school.
After a few days of anger, frustration and feelings of 'being used,' I knew it was time to look at the situation from a higher perspective. I created quiet time for contemplation and armed with my journal, inquired: Allowing time to first 'sit' with the questions and then hold them in conscious awareness, I asked the universe to reveal the answers in forms that were identifiable and easy to understand. With that intention made clear, insights rapidly began to percolate under the surface. Just a few days later, a lucid dream provided profound teachings which initiated openings to higher levels of understanding, shimmering and sparkling with the promise of exciting, new opportunities.
In the dream, I found myself standing in a completely bare room. In front of me, was a large, ornately decorated wooden table, on which stood the most beautifully wrapped gift I had ever seen. It was large and rectangular shaped, covered with delicate, hand-made rose petal paper and on the top lay white, fragrant orchids carefully set on top of cascading, silky ribbons.
Staring at the gift, I absolutely knew it was for me. As confirmation, I suddenly felt the unmistakable presence of an Enlightened Teacher with whom I had been studying for a number of years. After a few moments silence, her voice rang out powerfully. With laser-beam clarity she instructed:
"Look at every challenge as a gift from God, beautifully wrapped and perfectly presented. Everything is God. Everything is God. Everything is God."
With that she withdrew and I was left standing in a vast ocean of light. I also became aware that I could open the gift if I wanted to. However, I declined. It was obvious that there was nothing inside. I absolutely knew the box was empty. And, at the same time, I intuitively understood that the work issue meant nothing. It was simply a 'form' given to me as a gift in order to look inside myself and discover what lessons I needed to learn.
On waking from the dream, I felt an indescribable peace and most importantly, I knew I would be able to accept whatever was unfolding in my working life. The 'heat' around the issue had completely dissolved and on a deeper level, I began to acknowledge and value this gift as an obvious prompt to follow my heart. For many years my dream had been to take temporary leave and go to live, work and study in an ashram in India, but I had allowed myself to become entangled in concerns about how this would unfold and how my current 'role' would be taken care of. Since I could not figure it all out in my mind, I had attempted to bury the dream.
Suddenly, I began to see that in choosing to trust my own limiting thoughts, I was repressing the limitless abundance of the universe. Thinking small was not honouring the natural flow and expression of grace. In other words, I knew the small 'i' was getting in the way. The details of 'how' was not my concern. If I created an intention, trusted the process and allowed grace to flow, then everything would be taken care of in a simple and effective way.
With these insights and a newfound willingness to embrace what my heart was longing for, I was able to welcome and support the new co-coordinator. A few weeks later, I applied for a position at the ashram and was quickly accepted. Happily resigning from the school, I was amazed and exhilarated by both the small and large ways the universe supported my long held dream until I was finally able to step onto the tarmac in Mumbai, ready to embark on a new life in India.
My Teacher once said,"You are not necessary." With this experience I began to see the power and Truth of her words. She was speaking to the notion of 'me and mine' and the narrow belief in the small 'i' having to 'do' everything. The abundant and limitless flow of grace really does take care of everything, every little detail, if we are willing to let go and open the door to what the heart is urging us to do.
Right now, today is there a challenge in your personal or working life that is being presented as a beautiful gift in order for you to open to a higher level of understanding? Have you been attempting to repress the longing of your heart? Is there a soft whisper calling out to you to create something new? If there is, what are you waiting for?
Julie is a natural intuitive, writer, artist and transpersonal hypnotherapist who lives on Grand Bahama Island. Her profound spiritual awakening and the unfolding of unity consciousness is detailed in her book, 'An Awakened Life- A Journey of Transformation' at: www.anawakenedlife.org
For information about the work of 'True Alignment' and the 'Living in Alignment' online course go to:
www.livinginalignment.org
Here are a few more sites you may want to visit:
Twitter
and her blogs:
http://truealignment.blogspot.com and
http://anawakenedlife.blogspot.com
Julie is offering a 50% off coupon for An Awakened Life- A Journey of Transformation for TSM readers. The coupon code is VT44Y and is good until October 31st, 2010.
Volume 8 Issue 1 ISSN# 1708-3265
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Featuring: Aleesha Stephenson
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Embracing Challenges as Gifts
by Julie Hoyle
"Is there something I am supposed to learn from this situation?"
"What have I been choosing to turn away from?" And,
"Is there something within me that needs to be acknowledged, embraced and loved?"
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