“Hansel took his little sister by the hand. They followed the pebbles that glistened there like newly minted coins, showing them the way.”
-Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
 
What is your Path of Power?

Your Path of Power is like that trail of shining pebbles from the story of Hansel and Gretel, laid out for you by your Higher Self and guiding you home. Each pebble shines with joy, excitement and bliss.

You choose your Path of Power each time you choose the activity that aligns you with your Higher Self, and through your Higher Self to Universal energy. Alignment with your Higher Self is your direct link to that source of power which is Universal energy.

Your Higher Self gives you clear indication of what activities guide you along on your path and which activities do not.  

Here’s what that looks like.

When you have the choice between two possible activities, pay attention to how you feel about them. The feelings may be physical or emotional. Our Higher Selves communicate through our bodies and subconscious with bodily sensations and emotions in response to activity choices.

If your Higher Self is telling you that the activity will deplete your energy and take you off your Path of Power, you may feel a constricting sensation in your solar plexus. This might be combined with an emotion of feeling let down or disappointed.

If your Higher Self is telling you that the activity will energize you, you may feel an expansive, opening sensation in your heart area, and positive, uplifting emotions.

It is as if you and your Higher Self have your own secret code for communicating. As you pay attention you will become attuned to how your Higher Self communicates with you.

Imagine choosing your daily activities based on what most appeals to you! That is how your Higher Self guides you on your Path of Power.

It is a testament to the love of God that our Paths of Power are those which most attract us, those which are our dream and feel the best. You will find that these are the activities with which you choose to spend your spare time, even if you feel you cannot pursue them as your career or job.
Your Path of Power draws you like a magnet.

Choosing to follow your Path of Power is solely your own responsibility.

No one can tell you to do it. It must come from within. No one can give you permission to pursue your path. The permission must come from within.

Seeking your Path of Power is not a selfish seeking. It is Self-centered Soul seeking. Additionally, in the pursuit of your path you are reenergized and have that much more to offer to others as well as to yourself.

As you follow your path on a daily basis you will find your world opening up as you have more energy for yourself and more to offer to others. What may have felt like a selfish pursuit is actually for the benefit of all. Others will benefit from your energy flow and be energized by you.

You can choose to follow your Path of Power, one bright, shining pebble at a time, and create more and more of the bliss and energy of alignment in your life.

“It’s the excitement in the simple things that tells you what simple things are actually connected to the bigger things that excite you. And will actually get you there in what may seem to be a round-about manner, but by following the excitement is actually the shortest, fastest, straightest path.”
-Bashar, channeled by Darryl Anka

You can choose to feel good even when you are doing something that might normally feel onerous. It’s a matter of what you are paying attention to and how you are focusing your attention.

Recently, inspired by an upcoming get together here at the house, I’ve been doing an hour of puttering each day which has resulted in the house getting cleaned.

Despite the fact that cleaning is one of my least favorite things to do, I have enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed the process and I’ve enjoyed the results. I’ve even woken up each morning and looked forward to my hour of puttering each day.

What? Looked forward to cleaning? How does that work?

I’ve found there is a big emotional difference between the idea of puttering and the idea of cleaning. It is a change of perception and therefore attitude.

When I’m “cleaning,” (cue air quotes and frowny face) I have a specific job in mind that I feel I have to get done. It might be vacuuming the downstairs. It might be washing the windows. Whatever it is, it is something that has been bothering me. I’ve resisted doing it and now I want to get through it and get it done so I can move on to whatever it is I really want to be doing that day.

My thought process is generally negative, “Look at that dirty floor! I’ve let it go too long. I’ve got to vacuum today.  I might as well just get it over with.” It feels punitive and I get it done as fast as possible.  

On the other hand, when I’m “puttering” (cue happy, smiley face), I give myself an hour to putter. I invest myself fully during that hour, mentally and emotionally. I don’t allow myself to think about what comes later in the day. I am fully present with whatever I am doing.

This week, the focus of my puttering has been cleaning the public areas of our home, because we’ll be entertaining this weekend. That’s the only focus I’ve had. I’ve drifted from vacuuming, to washing the counters, to hanging a picture, to washing windows, to cleaning cabinet doors, to touch up painting.

Surprisingly, I’ve done more than I would normally do for getting ready for a party, just because it was enjoyable.

The cleaning has happened organically, one activity flowing into the next, and my feelings about it are very different from my usual feelings about cleaning. I’ve enjoyed the process and I’m enjoying the results.  

During that week, when I had the time and energy, I added onto the hour and tackled another area. In this case the garage. I loaded up a car-full of cardboard boxes for recycling. Mind you, these boxes have been stacking up in the garage since winter.

I drove to the recycling dumpsters in town and spent a surprisingly satisfying quarter-hour unloading cardboard and breaking down boxes. The dumpsters were located at the back of the parking lot of our local community center, bordered by woods. The temperature was perfect. A lovely breeze cooled my face as I worked. Every so often I stopped to listen to bird song and appreciate the fact that I was there completing a job I’d been intending to do for months.

You might well ask, “What is the matter with this woman that she is blissing out at the dumpsters?”

Given a job to do, wouldn’t you rather enjoy the process rather than have to force yourself through it?

What’s the difference? The difference is in slowing down, focusing on the process more than the product.

My thought process goes like this, “I’m going to invest this hour doing whatever catches my attention and needs doing. When I’m done with that, I’ll do the next thing that catches my attention.” There is no rushing to get it all done. There’s time to take a deep breath, look out the window and listen to the birds sing as I work. I’ll often put on flowing music which adds to my sense of relaxation and flow. At the end of the hour I am done for that day if I choose.

I generally get a lot more done than when I assign myself specific jobs that I feel I have to get through.

So, what’s the take away here?

Bashar talks about bliss as a sense of excitement. I believe that bliss looks like any number of positive, life-affirming emotions. Bliss is a combination of happiness, contentment, attraction, excitement, satisfaction, well-being and more.

Bliss may be what you experience as you reach the summit of a mountain after an exhausting climb. Bliss may be what you feel as you hold your sleeping grandchild. Bliss may be what you feel as you pursue your avocation or vocation. Bliss may even be what you feel as you flatten cardboard boxes with the breeze on your face and bird song in your ear.
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Bliss comes in small packages as well as large, life-purpose size packages.
We can, through our choice of attitude, choose bliss, even in the small things.  

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
-Wayne Dyer
 
 
Bliss is one of those feelings, like ecstasy and transcendence, that feel miraculous and unapproachable except by a select few. What does following your bliss look like in everyday, regular old life? Is it a miracle? Maybe, and maybe it’s just a change in how you look at things.
 
For each one bliss looks different, but the foundation is that of perceiving with the eyes of love. To give you an idea of what love flowing on a regular day might look like, here’s an entry from my  journal of several years ago.
 
“It is a glorious, sun-filled morning. The weather is unseasonably warm. I have been following the energy for several days rather than my usual, routine work schedule. Because of that, the windows are put away and the screens are up on the front porch, the dead plants are cleared off the back porch and several plants sit outside here with me, enjoying the early spring sunshine. As I follow the energy, jobs get done before I need to have them done. This must be something the same as squirrels instinctively wanting to collect acorns and seeds in August that they later need over the winter. All part of how the creative energy flows so beneficially for all. It gives me a feeling of being watched over, cared for and loved.
 
I have an increased awareness of the beauty and joy with which I am surrounded. A robin singing her cheery good morning outside my bedroom window. Her evening song lilting and lovely through the deepening dusk of day's end. The sparkling brook flowing through the dark green and rust of the pine woods in back of our home. Perhaps I am simply allowing myself more time for these things by not sticking to a prearranged job schedule. Perhaps I am more relaxed, better able to appreciate. What a gift!”
 
Wouldn’t it be nice to feel like this every day? I’d like to. I don’t always, but that’s what our spiritual tools are for, because we each of us has a choice to change how we look at things today. We can choose to see through the eyes of love. 

​Image by geralt on Pixabay 

“Namasté means that whatever is precious and beautiful in me honors whatever is precious and beautiful in you.” 
-Debasish Mridha
 
In Western culture, the polite greeting, “How do you do?” or the more casual form, “How’re ‘ya ‘doin?” expresses the importance placed on doing in our society, rather than being. Success is measured in terms of how much one has accomplished in a day, a year, or a lifetime. Celebrities are lauded for the number of their achievements. Lecturers are introduced with a listing of their accomplishments. Professionals receive initials after their names with each degree earned. The more initials listed the more the perception of success. Even our religious leaders are perceived as most successful based upon the number of their followers, the size or monetary worth of their church.

In Indian culture, the polite greeting, “Namasté,” meaning, “I honor the light within you,” expresses the importance placed on being rather than doing. Although Western culture has infiltrated many areas of Eastern life, still the revered spiritual leaders teach the importance of being.

In my own life I swing back and forth between my Western indoctrination with the belief that the more I can do in a day the more successful I am, and my Eastern leanings toward the importance of being.

I generally start my day with a to-do list in mind. As the day progresses I mentally check off my list as I accomplish each item. At the end of the day, the more I’ve done the more successful I feel.

I do this in an habitual way, not thinking about the fact that my focus is upon doing rather than being. Doing is my habit. I have to make a conscious choice to make being my first priority and my determinant of success. This is a choice I need to make over and over throughout each day, because I easily slip back into a doing frame of mind.

Today I choose to do from a being place. 

Photo by Raychan on Unsplash