Cleaning out your Spiritual Closet

Have you ever attended a talk by an inspiring speaker or a wonderfully uplifting seminar, feel different at the end of it, and then come home, and revert right back to the miserable way you felt before the so-called life changing event? Except worse? Who did you blame for the regression? Your S.I? The behaviour of your kids? Your job? Your home?  Do you realize that you are feeling the discomfort of coming face to face with who you once were and who you are now?  How do you maintain the good feeling of positive change while surrounded by situations that feel so bad? Do you have to get a divorce, quit your job, disown your kids, or move?

Nothing so draconian needs to happen. All you need to do is realize you have choice. You can decide to choose to feel good despite every excuse in the world to feel bad. Acceptance is key in choosing to feel good, and acceptance means honoring your past choices.  After all, it's those contrasts in your life that motivated your desire to change in the first place.

Best of all, and ironically enough, when you settle into accepting all your past "mistakes", you inspire changes in your world. As you become more tolerant, you find that people who used to irritate you are easier to get along with. As you approach your work and family life with more patience and acceptance, you'll discover more about each of them to enjoy.

A good speaker or seminar inspire in you those good feelings because they remind you of your true and essential nature. You really are the tolerant, patient, accepting, loving and compassionate person you want to be, despite certain personal patterns of thought and behavior that can hide these finer qualities.

We think that changing who we are is like cleaning out all the old clothes from our closet. The qualities we seek are already in our spiritual closet, and they fit us perfectly (and very becoming they are too!) Believe it or not, you'll see that they go quite well with all the other aspects of yourself because the new you is a natural part of the old.

You don't have to eliminate what you were to become who you are. You are a work in progress. Choose to appreciate how far you've come. Anticipate more changes in the future. Enjoy your own path, since every beautiful step of it was carved out by you. You created both your need to change, and the change itself, and once you start appreciating the contrast between who you used to be and who you are, it's easier to move forward and become who you want to be.

Focusing on your regrets for past choices keep you stuck in the past.  Instead, enjoy your evolution.  It's truly a beautiful thing.

Love,
Kristine