Sometimes life seems like a mini series of crisis after crisis. We wake up and go through motions without really ever existing. We allow every experience to overcome us unfortunately until one tragedy ultimately brings us to our knees.
Thats when we wake up. That’s when we understand with our entire Being that life is not our experiences but something more profound.
External events are there to guide and teach us. They are there to push us into becoming our best Self. We stumble and fall from time to time but we understand we must get back up.
Faith allows us to recognize the challenges that surface exist so that we can learn to separate from them and come to terms with our own existence firsthand.
We are not our experiences and the sooner we recognize that, the sooner we go on living in Truth.
The thing about greatness is that sometimes it is derived from darkness.
While experience may seem grim at times, we always rise above.
Jennifer Picinic, PhD
Certified Spiritual Counselor
Published in Science of Mind Magazine
September, 2015
Like so many, I have spent my life trying to understand concepts such as who are we and what is the purpose to our existence. I sought to understand happiness and came to recognize a concept difficult to comprehend. Difficult to even say out loud- can suffering be self-imposed?
We all know stories of people who persevere through the difficult challenges that life sometimes brings. We know stories of pain, loss and tragedy, but are there really experiences that cannot be overcome by the human spirit? Our inner relationship with our outer world is by far the most important relationship that needs recognition. Unfortunately, this relationship is also the one that often gets brushed aside.
As children, we begin to learn about the world by being fully present to our task at hand. Through conditioning, we are slowly programmed into thinking a certain way. At some point in time, we slowly take on what we learn and begin to identify ourselves AS our thoughts. Perhaps here is where personal conflict begins.
As we gain perspective, we begin to understand how our perceptions play a crucial role in how we experience life. That child who was once able to fully engage in what she was doing in the moment has now been molded by societies list of shoulds and should nots. If we spend some time paying attention to how our mind operates, we begin to recognize how our thoughts can take on a life of their own. Somewhere along the way we are led to believe that we are inferior. There are all sorts of reasons for this- just take advertisements, for example. We are fooled into believing we need something outside of ourselves to make us complete, whether it’s a material good or another person.
As we continue to grow spiritually, we recognize this is not the case at all. New Thought teaches the only thing needed is recognition of the truth of who we are.
Spirit works for us by working through us.It cannot work for us in any other way. It spreads Itself over the whole universe and shouts at us from every angle, but It can become power to us only when we recognize It as power.
Recognition that we are divine beings is the only way to true happiness. Thoughts are indeed energy and we must guard them carefully. Learning to discipline the mind through tools such as meditation, mindfulness and affirmative prayer will help deter self-limiting thinking and correct faulty beliefs systems. We are whole and complete within. We need not more.
Welcome all things beautiful into your world today and become just that. This is spiritual law.
Dr. Jennifer Picinic
Certified Spiritual Counselor
How do you spend your time? Are you out there experiencing life to its fullest or do you spend a majority of your day consumed by the thoughts in your head?
Some days can be mentally and emotionally draining even when we are not engaging in a physical activity. But here’s the thing, people don’t control how you feel. You do. You can control your own feelings by carefully monitoring your thoughts. No one has more power over you than you yourself. And thank God for that.
If you’re like me, you may catch yourself wasting hours by replaying events in your head like an old record player. Or maybe you start to compare yourself to others and end up putting yourself down. We can literally get stuck in our head and be left feeling crummy as a result, if we are not careful to guard our thoughts accordingly.
Why not begin each day with new, uplifting thoughts? When you notice yourself moving towards a state of negativity, lean inward. Connect with your own inner life force and recognize all that is required of you is already present within. No one is excused from challenges in life, but I remind you, we all have endured a lot and are here today carrying on.
Outer experiences can be difficult and may even seem unbearable at times. Take time to reflect, learn and grow as you move forward. Life isn’t a competition but rather a process. Be gentle with yourself. Be patient. And more importantly, learn to soften.
We are much too harsh on ourselves and can unfortunately become our own worst critics. We wouldn’t dare place the same expectations we have with ourself on others. Self compassion is a skill that goes a long way. Learn about it and find opportunities to apply it. Allow it to be the foundation for all that you do. Remember, it doesn’t matter if there is anyone sleeping next to you at night. You awaken each day and end each day with the thoughts of your own mind. Don’t let them run rampant.
Life doesn’t come with instructions. We all work to do our best given our set of circumstances. When we accumulate more information, we can use it to carry us further in our journey. There is no right or wrong. There is simply movement along a continuum that aims to guide us back to a state of love.
As a new day unfolds, do your best to welcome more positive thoughts. Be open to experiences and begin to approach life from a state of love and tenderness. Love is all there ever was and will ever be. Honor it and begin by starting with you.
Dr. Jennifer Picinic
Certified Spiritual Counselor
We hear all the time that we should forgive and forget but forgiveness may not be for everyone.
When we think of forgiveness, we often associate it with an action. We envision ourself forgiving another for their wrongdoing but this process is not always necessary.
What matters most is whether or not we allow the agony to remain within us or not.
We can learn to release the pain we feel and welcome peace back into our lives once more.
By giving our inner wounds permission to heal, we are not acting as if an event didn’t occur or that the action of another was warranted, we are solely choosing to love ourselves first and foremost.
We are refusing to let the distress of the past be carried with us to the present time.
Healing is a process and we can begin by opening up our own heart. We can become a support system to our own self by meeting our past struggles with compassion.
The more we practice self love and allow ourselves to engage with the present moment at hand, the more we move away from the wounds that have seemingly bound us.
It is time to release anything that has weighed heavily on us and take back our lives in the present time. We no longer have to give another the power over us for we ourselves, heal ourselves.
Dr. Jennifer Picinic
Certified Spiritual Counselor
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