Oct
Keys to Happiness: Clarity
This post is part of the Keys to Happiness Series. The keys to happiness are courage, generosity, connection, clarity, presence, non-attachment, and gratitude.
Clarity here refers not only to being clear about what you want, but, more importantly, to being a clear conduit for it to come into manifestation. When I speak of clarity here, I am talking about surrendering so that Spirit can freely express through you.
You see, God/Spirit/Consciousness is all good all the time, just waiting to press out through you. Imagine that you are the filter between the non-material and material realms, much like the filter on a projector. Pure light streams through the lens when there is no film, filter, or cover over it. When you place a red filter over the lens - you’re hopping mad - what you see on the other side is red. If you put up the film of a love story on the lens, a love story plays through in your life. When you place the opaque cover over the lens, even though the light is still shining brightly, you are in darkness.
When did we give up on being lens-less?
Well, you say, isn’t it our path in life to create what we want? Could be, but what’s happened is that we are assuming that we are making it happen. I’ve learned from first hand experience that making things happen is infinitely more difficult than allowing them to happen.
Allowing things to happen should not be mistaken with becoming a victim and letting life roll over you. Allowing is making room for Spirit to move through you, to express as you.
We’ve come so far with technology and science that we don’t see the need to allow Spirit to express at all. With every new invention or discovery, man has taken away the need for God. As man discovered that the world revolves around the sun, we negated the need for the gods in the skies that keep the planets in rotation. As we learn about how the body works, the gods needed to heal us went away. With every discovery, our collective belief in God has been challenged.
I dare say, we have not withheld the challenges well.
Does God even exist anymore? Can we trust It to express through us to make our lives and our world better? Maybe, rather than think of God and Spirit as entities out there moving things around, we can change our perspective to see that it is working through us.
What would happen if you completely surrendered and allowed Spirit to guide you?
In the past 18 months, I challenged myself to really live my beliefs. My first belief is that God is all good, everywhere present all the time. The second is that I am an expression of God. I was taught these beliefs as a child and held them dear, but my life at the time did not reflect them. At the time, I insisted that I would run my life. That I would make my way. That I had all the education and resources at my disposal, and by gosh darn it, if I worked hard enough I could make it happen. The results were impressive. However, I got about 1/2 throughput from effort.
What changed?
I decided to really believe that God was really all good and I said I would surrender so that It could express through me. There was mayhem at first as I struggled with my beliefs and the appearances. My old life fell apart rapidly. Instead of trying to make a business work, I let it go. What I got instead was an income stream that produced results with 1/100th of the effort. Instead of trying the latest diet craze, I decided simply to stop covering up my emotions. The results, 25 lbs lost and lightness in my heart.
Surrender is not an easy thing to do in today’s world. We know we can make it happen, and we can. However, I urge you to try allowing things to happen through you. Have the courage to trust the internal voice that says this path is not for you. Rest in it for a while. Listen for the directions to the path that is yours to tread. You don’t see a clear way. Ask for it to be clear. Have the courage to step onto it. Make yourself an open vessel for Spirit. Let the good freely flow through you. You will experience true happiness.
In Spirit,
Nneka
October 16th, 2007 at 5:40 am
Through someone very close to me, I learned that it’s easier to allow things to happen of their own accord rather than to try and control every single action. I have to say that life has been better since. Not that I’m slacking off or anything but there’s more room for me to breathe… And there’s the feeling that you’re always being taken care of.
October 16th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Brilliant Nneka! Your article truly resonates with me and where I’m at these days. Like you, I have tried many ways to happiness only to keep returning to the path of surrender. Now, I have decided to let go and try remain here. And it’s nice to see that I am not alone, now or ever.
October 16th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Hi Jen, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment. Breathing room is really easy to get and it’s priceless. Take as much of it as you need. You’ll notice that as you create more space, life becomes exponentially easier. At least that’s been my experience
In Spirit,
Nneka
October 16th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Raymond, we are never alone, although we can convince ourselves otherwise. So good to see you around
Cheers,
Nneka
October 17th, 2007 at 12:13 am
Beautiful Nneka,
You eloquently expressed this valuable concept.
I have been going through some of this myself lately,
even wrote about it, sometimes you have to relax and allow what will be.
Thank you.
October 17th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Beautiful, Nneka! I still hit up against this one… do I do it, or does my Higher Power do it? Since I’m a part of my HP, the answer is both!
But it’s gotta be both.
This reminded me of a quote from Ernest Holmes’ “The Science of Mind” - God can only do for us what he can do through us.
October 19th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
Hey. A question
when we surrender do we still visualize, use affirmations. Or do we just give in and let things happen.
What if we would like something to happen. Do we just surrender it to God and let things flow , whatever they may be?? Very curious about this, do let me know.
Thanks
October 21st, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Hi Karen, being a clear channel is really the way to go. I saw your post on taking it easy. A lot of that has been going around on the blogosphere lately.
October 21st, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Lyman, you got it right! We are co-creators, co. That means that we share in the creation process. We say what we want. Spirit guides us in a direction to get it. It’s up to us to be clear channels to receive those directions and, here’s the clincher, follow them. That’s where courage comes in.
October 21st, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Hi Nur, visualizations and affirmations help us to get clear on what we want. Once we are clear, we can let go and have it delivered through us. If we don’t let go and close off our channel of expression or only deliver one-way communication, we’re making it awfully difficult for anything to come through.