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Read Part 1 first.

What do you do now? You’ve taken the first step in honoring Spirit, the God of your being. It was that easy. Something in you does know what the hell is going on. You do know, at some level, what you want. How do you stay there?

First the bad news, you cannot stay there. You cannot hold onto it. It will be something else that you chase. It is a moment. You cannot recapture it.

The good news is that you can be there. You can live from that place all the time. You have to do two things. You have to be present to every moment and you have to choose to honor it.

Be Present In Every Moment

Bring yourself into every moment completely. It’s easier said than done.

If you’re new to all of this you can start by catching yourself daydreaming. When you find yourself dreaming, bring your attention to the moment. Listen for silence. Ignore that voice that’s telling you that this is all wacko. You will come to a point where there will be nothing. Then a voice, feeling, Presence, or maybe a vision emerges. Pay attention to that.

If you want to move from moments to minutes, start meditating for 30 minutes every day. Somewhere in those 30 minutes you will experience continuous moments of being present. At first, it might be just 15 seconds at a time. 15 seconds out of 1800! That’s a lot. Just think, not to long ago you were at one moment in 24 hours.

The 15 seconds will grow into minutes at a time until, every once in a while, you have 30 minutes of being present.

You may be tempted at this point to sit in meditation all day long because you don’t want it to end. That is not necessary. You can be present and navigate the world at the same time.

In the beginning, you might feel really raw and exposed. It might feel like fine sand paper against an open wound. Stick with it past this point. Pay attention to the sights, sounds, and smells around you. Rather than shutting them out as you might do in silent meditation, take them all in. Consume them voraciously. Do not try to contain them. Let them wash in, through, and then out of you.

This practice is not for the faint hearted. You cannot keep it all in or attempt to hold on, you have to let it flow right through you. You will find yourself dissolving into all that there is.

At all of these points of being Present, choose the still small voice.

Choose to Honor Your Divinity

When I speak of Divinity I am not speaking of some woo-woo, out there thing. I am talking about your internal compass (not your gut). I am talking about the Presence that is the essence of who you are. The thing that was before you materialized and will persist after your body disintegrates. The thing that underlies all that there is. Yes, you are that.

Divinity is not separate from you. It does not exist only in the sky, although it lives there. It does not exist only in nature, although it is present there also. It is equally present on battlefields, in maternity wards, in churches, and houses. And best of all, it is in you.

It is as tiny and innocuous as the still small voice. It is as grand and pervasive as the peace that passes understanding. You walk with it everyday and it can be as familiar to you as your arm.

It speaks in whispers from within and confirms with shouts from outside. One day, you are taking a walk and you muse to yourself, “I wonder if I can start taking that Bikram yoga class that everyone’s talking about.” You casually turn left and see a yoga studio. Or, you are journaling and write the words, “I want a new dressing table that looks like weathered wood. It must be made of real wood through and through.” The words show up on the paper mysteriously. You know you wrote them, but you would never want furniture made of real, heavy wood. You’re driving around your neighborhood and you spot the dressing table you imagined in a garage sale. Price: $40.

These nudges from the Universe/God/Spirit, are what You want. They are what You desire. Have the courage to choose them every time. The more you go with them, the clearer they will be. It will move from I want to get daisies, to I want to run in a marathon, to I want to take a trip to Italy, to I want to be a peace keeper. It will guide you and provide for you all the resources for your desires to materialize.

In Spirit,
Nneka

Kara Leah wrote an excellent post on “The Secret” that provoked me to write this article.

We, the 28 to 38 year old women of the West, were raised by feminist mothers. They instilled in us the idea that we could do anything we want: climb the corporate ladder, raise the perfect children, be the perfect wife to our husbands. Those are our expectations now, and in today’s world we can absolutely do it.

We can go to the Ivy League schools (or the not-so-Ivy-League) and debate with the best of them to get to partner in a top law firm in 5 years. We can beat out the guys in the office and be the first to earn a 6-figure salary. We can master technology and new media to be among the movers and shakers in the Information age.

We can be the best protectors of our children with everything from car seats and bicycle helmets, to designed suburbs and 24/7 contact. We can ensure that they have an education tailored to them with magnet schools, private schools, charter schools, and home schools. We can work from home the day our son gets a skid knee on the playground and not abandon him to the school nurse. We can even pre-qualify their friends with neighborhood play dates.

We can talk about sex openly among our friends so that we have the variety to spice up our love lives. We can speak Martian with the best of them and have the perfect ear for our spouses. We can be the perfect hostess at the dinner party to impress our husband’s bosses.

We can do, be, and have anything we want. It is not a question of competence or resources. It is a question of what we want.

Are you exhausted from chasing? Have you filled your life with all the things you thought you were supposed to have only to find yourself wondering, “Is this it?” Do you recognize yourself in the mirror?

Stop. Take a breath. I am giving you permission. Life will not end. Just take a breather.

As you read this, ask yourself, “What do you want?” Ask it as if you are talking to someone else. What do you want?

Listen to that voice. What did it say? Did it say I want to take a nap, I want to read a silly book, I want to go for a walk, I want to listen to classical music, I want to drive to the beach?

In this moment, have the courage to honor that voice. Just for this moment.

In Spirit,
Nneka

PS. Stay tuned for Part 2.