You know more than you think you know!

And, you know more than you're letting on to others.

No, I don't mean that you're deliberately concealing your own knowledge, at least not in a purposefully detrimental sense.

What I mean is that you, and all of us really, are pretending to not know what our life direction and purpose is.

We pretend in order to protect ourselves.

Protect ourselves from what, you ask?

Good question. The answer is a challenging one, but you did ask.

We are protecting ourselves from our own power.

That power is intimately linked to the power inherent in The Universe, of Goddess, or God, or Spirit, or The Force. I don't care what you call it, but we're all linked to it.

We're part of the network, the matrix of all we see around us.

And we pretend that we aren't connected.

How do we do this? Well, in many ways. We pretend when we feel discouraged or depressed, which is a particularly isolating feeling.

It's not possible to be isolated when we're intricately connected to The Universe. Doesn't work that way.

We pretend when we see our own lives being a struggle, whether financially, or in relationship, or with our own self-image, and we come to the conclusion that our life just isn't working.

It's not possible to be separate from how well The Universe works, as we are such a part of It.

We pretend when we feel alone. Disconnected. Lonely. Pretending in this way is hard on us, as it denies every piece of evidence that is shouting out to us about how much a part of The Universe we really are, all the time. So we really have to work hard at this illusion to make it convincing.

I don't mean to be too direct here, or too harsh. I do it too, at times. And I have to remind myself too that I'm a part of this great big beautiful Universe, in all Its glory.

Sometimes, that is a harder task than at other times. I'm sure you agree.

So how do we make our connection known to us and stop pretending that we are mere islands, surrounded by nothingness and discouragement?

Here are three paths that I use to keep my connection foremost in my mind, whenever I feel the illusion of disconnection coming on:

1. I stop and relax and actually feel the physical sensation of the world around me: the wind on my face, the sunshine on my shoulders, the birds chirping and cat stalking. I let these experiences sink into my mind and realize that I am a vital part of all that surrounds me, as I see and feel it happening all around.

2. When the going gets tough, as it often does for all of us (me included), I relax back into the awareness that pretending is a game, an illusion, and one that I'm done playing. I reclaim my power back from the illusion, and feel my center filled with this power as it flows back into me. I actually feel it, physically, this power, as it moves through my body. No lie, it really happens.

3. And finally I use logic, just like Mr. Spock. I pull myself into the most logical stance I can take, and that is to ask myself, "How can one part of the The Universe, namely me, somehow be separate from all the rest of The Universe? It's not possible. There can't be one separate piece of this grand scheme of things, me, and the rest of The Universe that I'm embedded in every moment, going on about its merry way without my being within it. It's just not possible. So, I must be intimately connected to The Universe. And therefore, not alone."

And if I'm not alone, then I have a very different experience of my life, one of deep and abiding connection all the time. I can feel my expanded self in constant connection with all other people, with Nature, with Spirit. And, when I don't necessarily feel this connection, I can relax back into it simply by remembering one of my three steps above, and following them.

So even when I don't feel connected, I can know that I am connected, as this feeling of isolation or loneliness is simply a signal to reconnect. That makes my expanded self pretty darn smart, as it's always going to remind me of my connection to The Universe, one way or another!

And that's Sustainable Spirituality!

Copyright (c) 2007 Don McAvinchey