Too High A Price

Remember when we were teenagers and couldn’t wait to enjoy the supposed fruits of adulthood? As a wise man said: youth is wasted on the young. So many truths of youth take on a different patina when viewed with experienced eyes. Who wouldn’t love to have the energy, the recuperative power, the abs and above all the knees of our youth? But at what price?

Looking back at the younger me I was filled with self as only the young can be, I thought I had all the answers and was quick to offer them up, usually unasked. And I was clueless to down right dismissive on spiritual matters. I placed worldly possessions, accomplishments and titles on the pedestal of success, relying on them for personal significance, holding these things as important, paramount, chasing the fleeting chimera of perceived entitlement, believing spiritual living was archaic, pointless in these modern times. So the query is: Would we surrender the work done to Live on the Spiritual Basis, the visible and invisible scars so well earned, forgotten, to recapture youths glow and promise?

I can only answer for me, but no, I wouldn't. The price too high where spiritual pride, self-righteousness, wallowing in hedonism, especially at the expense of others are on the bill. So I guess I'm stuck with these knees, afternoon naps and the memory of a 28 inch waist. It’s not so bad though, although I may have to don reading glasses my vision has never been better, I see with the clarity that comes by trusting and relying upon infinite God, rather than my finite self. I have learned the hard lesson of refraining from answering unasked questions, having learned through bitter experience that as much as I may wish to help, that help is not welcomed if offered uninvited.

So when the day comes, hopefully sometime from now, when I somersault into eternity my life will be measured not by the love I received or even earned, but by the love and the blessings given anonymously without expectation, that will truly mark my life, not the things I owned or the accolades I garnered. I really do miss those knees and that waist though.

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

The Secret, Wayne Dyer, Recovery, Addiction, Zen, Emmet Fox, Opioids, NA, Four Agreements, Chopra, Heroin, Einstein, AA, McRaven, Healing Path

The Road Back

The Road Back

When we “decide” to dwell in the negative we place ourselves in a position to be harmed. Typically negative thinking begins innocently enough with a news story, a letter, cough, phone call, e-mail or text, some random physical pain or tossed off comment often from a stranger that for no good reason we begin to dwell on. As we roll the thought around in our consciousness, beginning to entertain possible negative outcomes, we surrender ourselves willingly to another trip down morbid reflection lane, volunteering for what inevitably follows. Our internal dialog outlines all the negative, possibly bad/horrible things that can/will happen if our fears are realized. As we continue down the path, spiraling deeper into despair, planting ourselves deep into the fertile ground of depression and self based fear we often find ourselves physically ill. Additionally, remember the old adage: misery loves company? Now we can sink even deeper by eliciting comments and support from those of a like mind, fellow willing travelers who always answer the bell when morbid reflection calls.

Now the path leading away from this thinking is well lit, but requires conscious and consistent effort on our part. When we become mindful that we are drifting into morbid reflection or are already in its embrace, we stop and immediately turn to God in prayer and visualize the Presence of God where the trouble seems to be, affirming God’s love and guidance, rejecting the negative, holding this truth in the forefront of our consciousness: Nothing, no problem or seemingly hopeless condition can come into our lives that God cannot change or remove completely, if we are about His business, not ours. I can’t, he can. So we let Him.

If you are new to Living on the Spiritual Basis this will feel odd and somewhat clumsy when first employed. In time it will become second nature and in truth is the only path away from morbid reflection and back to health, peace of mind and unlimited potential. Remember: progress, not perfection. So when we recognize we are traveling in the wrong direction we alter course back to truth, back to God, away from the adversary fear and limitation based living and thinking.

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

The Secret, Wayne Dyer, Recovery, Addiction, Zen, Emmet Fox, Opioids, NA, Four Agreements, Chopra, Heroin, Einstein, AA, McRaven, Healing Path

Calling Fears Bluff

Calling Fears Bluff

Morbid reflection is a switch hitter. It strikes not only when we rehash past events negatively, but when we project negatively into the future as well. When we ruminate over the state of our health as we grow older, our children's future opportunities, retirement or what have you negatively, we open the door. You know the voice, it chimes in with all the possible negative outcomes, never a silver lining in any cloud, which then leads to anxiety. But what are we really doing? We are time traveling. Traveling to a future that is dystopian, where it is dark, getting darker and we better get that cardboard box now to live in before all the good ones are gone.

To be clear: morbid reflection is a bluffer, just like it's parent, fear. Fear truly is the adversary and morbid reflection is one of the children it employs that work to block us from the Sunlight of the Spirit. Fear never sleeps and is always hunting for an open door in our consciousness to slink through to steal our serenity, crush our spirit and turn us from the light. The good news is that once we stand up to fear through prayer, meditation and service it flees for in truth, fear is a coward and easily cowed by Our Father. God will provide the strength and direction, but we must ask and remain willing to act in whatever manner prescribed, standing firm in faith, that as children of a loving God, He will keep us safe and unharmed spiritually if we are about His business, calling the adversary's bluff.

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

The Secret, Wayne Dyer, Recovery, Addiction, Zen, Emmet Fox, Opioids, NA, Four Agreements, Chopra, Heroin, Einstein, AA, McRaven, Healing Path