‘Break free from the “it’s good enough” paradigm!’ by Rev. Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith

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Excerpted from Agape International Spiritual Center’s Daily Inspiration ‘Inner Visions’, September 12, 2018,
‘Try It On!’

Courage is the spiritual art of living dangerously.
Osho

When it comes to evolving one’s fundamental life structures, most individuals go through life experiencing an “it’s good enough” mindset.  Fearing that a shift in consciousness equals an unguaranteed outcome, they remain willing to settle for what they perceive to be the safety and security of predictability. More directly stated, it’s about living in the illusion that life’s outcomes can be controlled. Bottom line: A life philosophy of “It’s good enough” is a fear-based agreement with mediocrity.

Break free from the “it’s good enough” paradigm!  Dare to have the courage to trust in yourself, in life itself.  Try on a state of consciousness that allows you to discover that there is so much good, love, joy, peace, prosperity, and creativity yearning to manifest in your life once you give it permission to do so. Because when you do, there will be an energetic opening that will usher you into a whole new recognition of limitless possibilities, into an unconditional “yes” to this great adventure called Life.

What does this take?  Courage.  The courage to disrupt your comfort zone, to live beyond your coping mechanisms, justifications, rationalizations, manipulations, well-worn excuses that hold you back simply because you fear stirring up your life or what others will think about you. Trust that your life, just as it is, is a trustworthy path to evolving a deeper confidence in the truth that you live in a friendly universe that supports you in every way. Let your reliance be on the reliability of Reality, of Spirit, which are constantly offering you opportunities for enlightened action.

Go ahead—try it all on, even if you don’t know where it will lead you, what Teutonic shakeups will take place in your life, because when you do, you will gladden your heart with the realization that it’s all working together for your good with the full support of the Universe.

Affirmation:

As I free myself from mediocrity and try on my highest potential, I realize that it is a perfect, custom made fit.

Michael Bernard Beckwith

 

Tikkun Olam: Repair of the World

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‘Tikun Olam: Repair of the World’ by Dr. Cheryl Joy Bratman from Agape’s Inner Visions publication of daily dnspiration on Sunday, September 9, 2018.

Let the good in me connect with the good in others, until all the world is transformed through the power of love.
Rabbi Nachman of Breslow

Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

This year, September is the month of the Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It is a time of deep reflection and prayer as the Jewish New Year begins and profound atonement and forgiveness are practiced and embodied. In Hebrew, tikkun olam means to repair, heal and restore the world. This concept speaks to the shared responsibility we have with God to continue to make the world a better place.

The mystical teachings of the Lurianic Kabbalah envisioned that God contracted part of God’s self into vessels of light—partly limiting itself—to create the world. These vessels shattered and their shards became sparks of light trapped within the material of creation. Prayer, especially contemplation of various aspects of divinity, releases these sparks of God’s self and allows them to reunite with God’s essence, bringing them closer to a fixed world.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson said: “If you see what needs to be repaired and how to repair it, then you have found a piece of the world that God has left for you to complete. But if you only see what is wrong and what is ugly in the world, then it is you yourself that needs repair.”  We are currently living in a world that seems incredibly chaotic and discordant, and it is our job to come together to make the world whole again.

So at this time of the Jewish High Holy Days, no matter what your religious heritage may be, let’s all come together to meditate, pray, follow God’s commandments, and perform good deeds, realizing that we are all participating in tikkun olam– helping to perfect the world.

Affirmation:
I consciously choose to be responsible for my part in tikkun olam – helping to repair and heal our world.

Dr. Cheryl Joy Bratman