Blessings and welcome to the Path to Freedom,
This beautiful journey,
This beautiful adventure,
This wonderful,
Magical,
Magnificent adventure that we are on as we are continuing to wake up to who and what we are,
As we're continuing to transform our lives,
As we're continuing to release and let go that which no longer serves,
So that the next great and grand version of who and what we are may emerge,
Where we're continuing to allow for ever-expanding peace and love and joy and harmony and wholeness and beauty and abundance to be the order of our days,
To reign more and more supreme in our lives.
So walking this path,
It truly means a lot.
It truly is deep work that we get to do,
Which does not mean that we are toiling and sweating and struggling and efforting,
But it is deep inner work,
Creating our own minds,
Witnessing and observing what is running us so that we may set ourselves free to allow the heart to lead,
Love to lead,
Peace to lead,
Compassion to lead,
And so on and so forth.
So my name is Daniel Rocchio and I'm very grateful,
As always,
That you are choosing to join me,
That you're choosing to tune in,
That you are on this path,
And that you're willing to do this work.
So thank you so,
So much for being here,
For being now,
Whenever and wherever that is.
This theme is about compassion,
It is about forgiveness,
It is about love,
It is,
Let me see if I can remember it,
It is,
Let's not be too quick to judge another.
That's the theme for this message,
Let's not be too quick to judge another.
And this theme came into my awareness,
Was it yesterday?
As I was growing up,
I had this individual in my life,
Who I adored,
Who I loved to hang out with,
They were my,
One of my most important role,
Male role models growing up.
As I grew up without a father,
I didn't have that many male role models,
But this individual was definitely one of them.
And I loved hanging out with this man,
And yet,
I was sort of afraid of him,
Sort of intimidated by him,
Because he was kind of harsh,
And he was kind of stern,
And he was,
He wasn't a warm and cozy,
Loving,
Hugging teddy bear,
If you know what I mean.
He was the exact opposite,
He did not throw around appraisal,
He did not show any kind of affection at all,
He did have a sense of humor,
But he wasn't smiling all that much either.
So as I'm describing him,
It kind of makes me wonder why this man was so important for me in my life,
But he was.
And I remember growing up,
As I got older,
That I began having judgment,
And judgments about this individual,
And how he moved through life,
And especially how he was not generous with affection,
I mean,
Hugging,
I don't believe I ever received a hug from this individual.
I don't believe I ever received any affectionate words from this individual.
And as I grew older,
I began to question this,
And I began to have judgments about this.
And now as I've grown even more old,
I've done my forgiveness work,
I've released these judgments that I had,
I've released the opinions,
Thoughts as to what should and should not be,
What he should be,
And what he should not be.
So we're good,
We're cool.
And this man passed over a number of years ago,
So it's been quite some time since he was in this physical dimension.
Just a few days ago,
I learned that as this man,
As he was a small child,
As he was growing up,
He was growing up and he was being raised by parents that were even less evolved than him.
And so I just recently learned that as a punishment,
Not just once,
Not on occasion,
But as a habitual way of punishing him,
His parents would lock him into a cage and have him sit there for long periods of time.
Now I don't know the size of that cage,
And I don't know the circumstances around any of this,
But having learned this,
Or learning this,
Brought deep compassion into my heart for this man.
Hence the topic,
Let's not be too quick to judge,
Because,
And this is not about me,
This is not about this individual,
This is not about what happened to him as he was growing up,
But so often,
It is so normal for us individuals to judge other individuals,
To have opinions about what they are doing,
What they are not doing,
To hold on to beliefs and perceptions as to what they should be able to do,
How they should be able to act,
What we want them to be,
And yet,
In many cases,
We have no idea of the circumstances,
The conditions,
The experiences that these individuals have moved through,
That they have had in their lives,
Contributing to them being where and who they are now,
In this now moment.
We don't know why another is acting the way they are acting,
And chances are that they don't even know why they are acting the way they are acting,
Why they are doing what they are doing,
Why they are not doing what they are not doing,
Why they are choosing the way they are choosing,
Because there is so many,
Kind of like a jigsaw puzzle,
That has all these different pieces,
And each piece,
Even though it's an individualized piece,
When put together,
When assembled,
They make up the whole image,
The whole painting,
The whole jigsaw puzzle,
And this is so with us individuals,
This is so with every single one of us,
Everything that we have experienced,
Every condition,
Every circumstance that we have moved through,
Every individual that has come into our awareness,
That has come into our lives,
They all contribute to us being here now,
To us being who we are,
When we are,
What we are,
In this now moment.
And so rather than be quick to judge another,
When they are not living up to our expectations of what they should be,
What they should be able to be,
How they should act,
What they should do,
We want to always remember,
We want to always come back to compassion,
Which simply means that we have an understanding of the lack of understanding in another individual,
And in ourselves,
Every single one of us.
Oh,
Before we go there,
Let's take a couple of deep breaths,
To come back to this now moment,
To anchor,
To ground,
To center ourselves in that which is here now.
So breathing in,
And releasing.
Another deep breath in,
And releasing.
So we want to always be aware that every single one of us,
In every single moment,
We're all doing the very best we know how to do.
This man,
That according to my perception,
Was not too generous with affection.
He absolutely did the very best he knew how to do,
With what he had been given.
And I can only imagine,
If his parents saw it fit,
Were alright,
With putting him in a cage,
With locking him into a cage,
I can only imagine what other things he had to endure,
What they put him through.
So he had been given,
Where love is concerned,
Where compassion is concerned,
Where affection is concerned,
He had been given so little,
And with what he had been given,
He did the very best he knew how to do.
He did not put me into a cage,
He never scolded me,
He never yelled at me,
He very rarely berated me,
He very rarely called me any kind of names,
As far as I can remember,
He never called me names.
Even when he was upset,
Even when he was angry.
So he had come such a long way with what he had been given,
Doing every single moment the best that he knew how to do,
What to do.
And this is so for all of us,
So rather than judging another,
We're invited to come into,
To lean into compassion,
Recognizing,
Realizing,
Acknowledging that regardless of our preferences,
They are doing the very best they know how to do in this now moment.
Had they had different experiences,
Had they moved through different conditions and circumstances,
They might have been able to do differently,
To choose differently,
But in this now moment they are not.
So we do not,
We do not want to be too quick to judge.
As Jesus said,
Forgive them for they know not what they do.
Choice is a function of awareness.
We can only make a conscious choice if we are at the level of awareness allowing us to make a conscious choice.
We can only make a conscious choice if we are aware that we have that choice.
If we're not aware,
We're not going to be able to make that choice.
If we're not at the level of awareness needed to make a particular choice,
We're not going to be able to make that choice,
Even though we can see it,
Even though we can perceive it,
Even though we can sense it.
So every single one of us is doing the very best we know how to do,
And us,
Us holding on to judgments,
To opinions.
Where ourselves are concerned,
Where another individual is concerned,
It serves nothing.
It's like that old Native American saying that goes,
Holding on to resentment,
Holding on to hatred,
Holding on to negativity,
Where another is concerned,
It's like swallowing poison,
Hoping,
Wishing that the other will die.
If we swallow poison,
It's not going to do much to the other individual,
But it's going to give rise to a whole lot of negative consequences and effects within us.
And that's what holding on to resentment and negativity is.
We are stewing in that.
We are suffering the consequences.
We are suffering the effects of the negativity,
The stories,
The beliefs,
The judgments,
The opinions that we are holding on to.
Yes,
Some of that negativity may rub itself off on the other individual as well,
But most of all,
We are the ones being affected by it.
So the invitation for us,
Let's come back to the breath before we move into the meditation.
So let's take a couple of deep breaths,
Breathing in,
And releasing.
Once again,
Breathing in,
And letting it go.
So the invitation for us is to examine,
To witness,
And observe where we are holding on to negativity,
Where we are holding on to resentment,
Where we are holding on to judgments,
Opinions,
Expectations,
Where another individual is concerned,
That do not serve us.
And the second part of the invitation is for us to do the inner work of releasing and letting that go.
This is forgiveness,
Releasing and letting go of the stories,
The beliefs,
The judgments,
The opinions that we are holding on to,
Setting ourselves free to be in joy,
In peace,
In love,
In harmony,
In wholeness,
Abundance,
Beauty,
Setting the other free to be who and where and what they are.
These are the invitations.
Questions to ask,
When we become aware of holding on to judgments and opinions,
Questions for us to ask is,
What is it that I need to release and let go of?
For me to be in peace,
For me to be in love,
For me to be in joy,
What is it that I need to release and let go of?
The question to ask is,
This choice that I am about to make,
This belief that I am buying into,
That I am entertaining,
That I am repeating to myself,
This story,
Whatever the case may be,
Is it serving me?
Is it in alignment with what I wish to experience?
If it is beautiful,
We can keep making that choice.
If it is not in alignment with what we wish to experience,
We are now invited to make a different choice,
A higher choice.
So these are the invitations,
These are the questions.
As we set ourselves free from judgments,
Opinions,
Perceptions,
Point of views,
Where other individuals are concerned and even when we ourselves are concerned,
So that we may be free.
So that we may be free.
Thank you so much as always for tuning in,
For participating.
Until we meet again,
I absolutely bless,
Bless,
Bless our days and I bless,
Bless,
Bless our ways in the full knowing that all is well,
That something wonderful is happening,
That everything is working for our highest good,
The perfect preparation and unfolding is always happening.
Much love.
Many blessings.
Namaste.
