Connor, a man in his late 40's, has achieved everything he ever thought he needed to feel happy and secure. He owns a successful business, has a wonderful wife and two children, and a beautiful home. Yet when you look at him, he doesn't look happy. He looks empty, with no sense of vibrancy about him.
His wife, Brianna. also has everything she ever wanted ? a husband, children, financial security, successful work and a beautiful home. When you look at her, you see a person filled with aliveness and vitality, friendliness and joy.
What is the difference? Why are these two people, each who have the same outer things, so very different in their energy? The answer is that Brianna has a strong connection with God while Connor has no spiritual connection at all.
The longer I've worked as a counselor, the easier it has become for me to tell the difference between people who know and experience God and people who don't. It is the difference between Connor and Brianna. It is the difference between being full from the inside or inwardly empty.
It's not that Connor doesn't want to experience God. He says he really wants to. He sees the difference between him and Brianna and he says he wants what she has. He sees his parents as empty and he says he doesn't want to end up like them, with no sense of passion or purpose in their lives.
Yet Connor does not experience God, and the reason is simple: he places a higher priority on having control over money, employees, what people think of him, his wife, and his children than on being a loving human being. He says he wants to be loving, and the times he is loving he feels great, but it never lasts because his desire to control is greater than his desire to be loving. He is afraid if he is loving to himself and others his business will suffer, he will have less money, he will lose friends. His ego wounded self tells him that if he is open and loving, he will be taken advantage of, and that is the last thing he wants. So his primary intention is to protect against what he fears rather than to be loving.
God is love, the spirit of love, the energy of love. That love is always here for us when we open our heart. Our heart opens automatically when our intent is to learn what is loving to ourselves and others rather than protect against what we fear with our controlling behavior. To know God is to know Love. To know Love is to know God.
When Brianna looks at Connor with love, Connor feels afraid and turns away. If he opens to her love, he fears he will be vulnerable to being hurt. Maybe she won't like what she sees if he is open and will reject him. Maybe she wants more than he wants to give. Maybe she just wants to suck the life out of him like his mother did. Protecting against his fears is more important to him than being loving and sharing love with Brianna. Brianna loves Connor but is often lonely with him because he is afraid to share love with her. Connor complains that he doesn't feel good a lot of the time ? he feels empty. He avoids his emptiness with food and TV, which doesn't bring him joy.
Connor complains that he doesn't know how to experience God. I tell him it's not about how, it's about intent. When his deepest desire is to be loving rather than controlling, he will easily and naturally experience God. It's all about intent. Our intent is what we have choice over. Our intent governs how we live, who we choose to be, how we behave. Our intent to love and learn about love opens our heart to the experience of God.
If you feel empty, consider that it may be more important to you to control than to love. If you know others who appear to be empty, consider that it may be more important to them to control than to love.
Opening to love does not mean that we will be vulnerable to being hurt, manipulated, taken advantage of. In fact, the opposite can happen: in experiencing God, we receive the wisdom and strength to know what is good or bad for us, what is right or wrong for us. In opening to God, we discover what is in our highest good. It is far safer than relying on our wounded ego self. Opening to the Love that is God through your intent to learn can bring you the deep sense of fullness and safety for which your heart and soul have always yearned.
About The Author
Margaret Paul, Ph.D. is the best-selling author and co-author of eight books, including "Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You?" She is the co-creator of the powerful Inner Bonding healing process. Learn Inner Bonding now! Visit her web site for a FREE Inner Bonding course: http://www.innerbonding.com or http://www.innerbonding.com. Phone sessions available.
whole house cleaning Highland Park ..In the game of billiards there are two things you... Read More
How a Divine "Dream", gave me a Spiritual Principle for... Read More
Matthew 2:19-23 The Return to Nazareth19 But when Herod died,... Read More
*Advice on living a humane and compassionate life.According to text... Read More
The contrast between the two men could not have been... Read More
Today we do not experience great manifestations of God as... Read More
Before the movie "Finding Nemo", came out Steve Jobs the... Read More
Seems that everyone who writes to me signs their letters... Read More
I have a confession.I used to have doubts about God's... Read More
My wife, our friend and I went to listen to... Read More
As Mother's day is upon us, Iam moved to express... Read More
One cannot make a decision in the moment of now.... Read More
In the early 90's I had a spontaneous Kundalini Awakening... Read More
One of the first steps toward understanding the Tarot lies... Read More
Many consider anger a normal human emotion and continue to... Read More
The normal Aquarian preoccupation with rational science is clearly seen... Read More
70% of people who send me feedback at http://www.insideoutmusic.net tell... Read More
After 6 years, I left an abusive relationship with an... Read More
You will become as great as your dominant aspiration...If you... Read More
"This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as... Read More
Did you happen to see the made-for-tv movie, "Jesus," that... Read More
Heaven is a place of abundance and earth is a... Read More
Everyone is busy nowadays. It's hard to find time for... Read More
Can I be honest with you? There are days when... Read More
We'll begin with a question:What is a moral?I'd say it's... Read More
pet-friendly home cleaners Glenview ..The possibility of almost 400 Old Testament prophesies coming to... Read More
Jack Nicholson (Col. Jessup) (marine cornel) YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE... Read More
In the golfing world, yesterday may have been one of... Read More
As a Psychiatrist I spent most of my life training... Read More
The Question Really picture this in your mind.... Someone tells... Read More
Last month, one of my readers needed a new car.... Read More
As a walked across the gym floor with perspiration coming... Read More
With those words recorded in Exodus 15:26, God proclaims to... Read More
For many years of my life, I thought the spiritual... Read More
Malice is a great enemy to mankind. It is evil... Read More
What is the opportunity here? What is the benefit of... Read More
The story of Cain and Abel stands very close to... Read More
Qohelet had grown old with time when he delivered his... Read More
1. Raphael means "God heals." Raphael heals physical, emotional and... Read More
Michael Shermer speaks with the energy and passion of an... Read More
Aristotle referred to happiness as the most we can achieve.... Read More
Every month I usually sit down and write an article... Read More
Healing is a special gift that any human being can... Read More
Self-actualization comes down to three basic premises: this is who... Read More
There is so much going on in the world around... Read More
To a shaman a kachina isn't really a doll or... Read More
Often, in being dishonest about our own faults and failures,... Read More
Life is growth. For many people life is like a... Read More
Being"You have taken yourself to be something that you are... Read More
I was originally brought up Catholic, at the insistence of... Read More
Spirituality |