I heard the wind come up from behind and whirled about to see if anyone was there, although logically I knew there was no one.  This annoyed me. I didn’t want to feel fearful on my favorite woods walk. In the past, I might have dealt with this by redirecting my thoughts, or I might have cut short my walk and gone home. This time, I was inspired to try a different approach. I breathed into the fear. I allowed myself to feel it inside and breathe into it. After a few deep breaths, I was surprised to discover that underneath the fear was a feeling of excitement. The more I breathed into it, the more I felt the excitement.

The fear melted away. The dark, snow-lined branches surrounding me looked beautiful now. The drifting snowflakes like magic. I closed my eyes and breathed into that feeling, feeling myself expanding out of the constricted state of fear right into a feeling of connection and alignment. I pulled energy up from Mother Earth and into my heart. I pulled energy down from the Great Central Sun and into my heart. I felt the connection and sent love out and in, up and down. I pushed my hood down and turned to feel the exhilaration of the wind on my face. An amazing experience begun in fear!

What a concept, fear is excitement without the breath. But what is the excitement? Perhaps it is the realization that I don’t have to be afraid of fear. I don’t have to struggle against it. There’s a thought.

Before I started on the path of spiritual development, I spent most of my life feeling afraid. Then I learned that I could take charge of my thoughts and change my experience. It was amazing. The flip side of that, however, was that I struggled against feeling fear, anxiety, stress. Telling myself that if I could just keep my thoughts positive, I wouldn’t be dragged into those negative emotions. My thoughts took another tack then and turned into a litany of criticism for not staying positive. Sigh. What we resist, persists.

We don’t always manage to stay positive and maybe that's OK. After all, we chose to incorporate in this dual Universe of plus-minus, positive-negative, for the experience of both sides of the coin.

What if we greeted fear simply as an one expression of life? What if we choose to allow the feeling, breathe into it and BE with it. As we release the struggle, it will rumble through, rather like that freight train of wind blowing past, clearing the air so that we can experience the connection and love which lie just behind. 

Given this experience, next time fear comes up, I might greet it with a deep breath and a feeling of positive anticipation.  Hey, it could happen.

Spirit is interested in the details of our lives because they matter on a spiritual level.

The details of our lives gradually add up to become the whole of our lives. The seconds become minutes become hours become days become years.

Every detail contributes to our soul growth not because of what we are doing but because of how we are doing it. Are we resenting the maintenance jobs which loom before us? Do they feel like drudgery? Would we much rather be doing something else? Are we mentally elsewhere as we clean the toilet? Do we keep putting off cleaning the scuff marks on the wall, changing out the worn and dirty vent covers, fixing that window? Or, do we appreciate and love the details of our lives? Do we make a prayer of vacuuming, painting, washing windows, ironing or doing the dishes? Do we love and appreciate what we are doing as we are doing it?

Why is this so important that we do this?

It can be challenging to remember this in the course of everyday life. Sometimes you just want to get a job done and get it over with so you can get on to what you want to be doing. But if you can remember to slow down and set your intention to make whatever you do spiritual practice, focus your attention into the present moment and evoke flow, it makes all the difference. You move from one plane of existence into a higher plane.

And you really feel it when you do. The job you are doing starts speaking to you (metaphorically speaking). Or perhaps it is Spirit or your Higher Self. Whoever it is that is communicating, you attune to what you are doing, you know what to do and how to get it done. You know the next step and then the next step after that. You are flowing in the current of energy which you evoked through your intention.

In fact, you are attuning and aligning with your inner self through the medium of the job that you are doing. So, you see how important this particular job is, this particular detail of your life. What you do becomes a pathway to connection and alignment with your Higher Self, with Spirit and with God.

How do we do this? We do this by setting our intention energetically before we take any action.

Let’s take cleaning as an example of a daily maintenance job, a detail of our lives. A job that is often put off or avoided or slogged through just to get it done, at least in my house.

Here are some ideas for approaching this in another way.

1. Start as a clear vessel before you clean. The energy you are holding as you clean is the energy you clean into your home.  If you are feeling upset or rushed, do what you need to do to bring yourself to center before you clean. Breathe deeply, meditate, tap on it with EFT, whatever you need to do.
2. What you keep in your mind as you clean, makes a difference. Listen to upbeat positive music. I like to put on flowing music or music that supports me to fully attune to the present moment and what it is that I am doing.
3. Approach what you are doing in a sacred manner, making it a moving meditation. Repeat a prayer or mantra. Play chants or sacred music.
4. Invite Spirit to support with what you’re doing, asking Spirit to be part of the creation. Intending it to be a sacred creation. Intending flow.
5. Inviting a specific God/Goddess/Master to support. Choose one with whom you resonate and whose energy is aligned with what you want to do.  For example, invite Nukua, Goddess of Order when you are cleaning, decluttering or organizing. She supports with clearing and releasing chaos. Thank the Goddess energy in the beginning and at the end and ask her to stay till you’re done. “Please see me through this, support me through this.” If you don’t know of a specific God/Goddess/Master by name, ask Spirit to send you the appropriate one.
6. Ask Spirit to send you an angel who specializes in what you are doing to support you.
7. Give intent that your actions may be of service.

You might have noticed there is a theme here. Ask Spirit, invite Spirit, intentionally partner with Spirit as you do what you do. As you intend this and take action, you become the hands of Spirit in our world, channeling the energy of love.