Good morning,
Grand Rising.
Thank you spirit for waking me today.
Thank you for this beautiful day that I have been gifted.
Thank you for the joy and the love and the peace that is present in my heart.
Today we're going to discuss responsibility and accountability for self.
What that looks like and what it is not.
Before we do so,
Always opening with gratitude.
Let us open with a few moments of silence to pay homage to our ancestors,
Those who have come before us,
Those who have paved the way and honoring the reverential,
Sweet loving tone of the presence of God,
The presence of spirit and the presence of love.
So very grateful.
Thank you beautiful spirit.
Thank you for your healing powers and your presence.
Thank you for your vigor and resolve.
Thank you for your chase me down unending love.
So before I get really into it,
First and foremost,
I want to say what we learn and what we experience and what our childhood looks like and what our upbringing is and our environment,
All of those things definitely play a part.
Most certainly,
Absolutely.
They play a part in who we are,
How we grow up,
What we learn,
So on and so forth.
Regardless of age,
We get to a place and space in our life where we are either recognizing and aware that we are absolutely in joy and in love with life or the complete opposite.
And so whichever it is for you,
You are responsible and accountable for your life.
You're not responsible for what someone inflicted upon you as a child.
You're not responsible for maybe some abuse that you may have experienced as a child or a teenager.
You're not responsible for what your parent did or didn't do.
You are not responsible for the ways in which your parents showed up for you emotionally,
Physically,
Spiritually,
Physically.
You are not responsible for your parents.
You are not responsible for their healing.
You're not responsible for their accountability.
But you are responsible for you.
And so I have experienced this in my own life.
And I've also had many,
Many conversations throughout the years of individuals having a challenging,
Chaotic,
Trauma-filled childhood.
And then we seek that in friendships,
In jobs,
In relationships,
Because that is what we know.
That is what we've experienced as a child.
And so it's no one's fault.
No one is here.
We are not here to blame anyone.
We are not here to shame or guilt anyone.
And there's absolutely no judgment in this space.
There's simply awareness and accountability.
And awareness is a function of choice.
When we become aware,
We then realize that we have the power to choose.
One of the best things that you can do is acknowledge and recognize that your parents,
Your guardians,
Whoever raised you,
Maybe it was foster care,
Maybe it was a grandparent or an aunt or an uncle,
Maybe it was a single parent,
They have their own experience.
They have their own joys,
Their own grief,
Their own souls unfolding.
And they have their own pain.
And they have their own suffering and their own trauma.
It is not your responsibility to heal your parent.
It is not your responsibility to take accountability for them.
It is not your responsibility to be in a position where you can be what they need.
You have to be what you need.
And so when you recognize that your parents,
Your guardians,
Your grandparent,
Whoever was a big part of your upbringing,
When you realize that they have their own journey and that you are not responsible for that,
You become unattached.
You become more compassionate.
You become more kind and patient.
So we get to a place in our life regardless of age,
Because it's different for all of us.
It could be a teenager,
20s,
30s,
40s,
50s,
60s.
Could be you are in your 70s.
You get to a space and place in your life where you want different,
Where you desire different,
Where your soul has been yearning for different,
Where every aspect of your being has been communicating with you that you need different.
So you are at this place and you don't know what to do.
You don't know where to begin.
And so where you begin is right where you are.
You begin with love.
You begin with kindness for yourself.
You begin with compassion.
You begin with becoming extremely honest with yourself.
You begin with sitting with God's Spirit.
You begin with journaling.
You begin with sitting in meditation.
You begin with affirmative prayer,
Affirming what God knows to be true about you.
You begin with the breath.
You begin with smiles.
You begin with tears.
You begin right where you are in this very moment.
And then you practice.
And the more we learn,
The more we realize we have to unlearn.
So I really want to hone in on being responsible and accountable for self.
All the things that I just mentioned,
Those are great practices.
But they're just that.
They're a practice.
And you are responsible and accountable for showing up to that practice daily,
Multiple times a day.
This is not a one and done.
I had a great meditation,
Had a great journaling session,
Had a great yoga practice,
Had a great conversation with someone.
This is a lifelong practice.
Life is a practice.
Joy is a practice.
Peace is a practice.
It's always present.
The practice is aligning and realigning,
Remembering,
Reminding ourselves who we are in spirit,
What we came here to do,
Which is love on everything and anyone.
And so I just want to specifically go back to our childhood for just a moment and acknowledge that whatever our experience was with our parents or our guardians,
We do seek that in our adulthood.
And so if you had a parent or parents that were emotionally unavailable,
Most likely you're going to seek that in a friendship or a relationship.
If you had a parent who was constantly putting you down or constantly trying to control you mentally,
Emotionally,
Physically,
Financially,
Relationally,
You're most likely going to seek that.
It is up to you.
Hear me loud and clear.
It is up to you to break the cycle of abuse.
It's up to you to break the cycle of control.
It's up to you to break the cycle of blaming and shaming and guilty.
Nobody else.
Nobody is here to save you.
Nobody's coming to save you.
It is solely your responsibility.
And yeah,
It's challenging.
Yeah,
It's tough stuff at times.
But you are equipped because you came into this world with all of the tools and resources that you will ever need.
God's Spirit has gifted you with the greatest gift and that is life.
And you are an expression of Spirit.
You are an expression of God.
So everything that Spirit has access to,
So do you.
You are an expression of the One Divine Mind.
You are an expression of all of creation.
You are an expression of unconditional,
Unfathomable,
Relentless,
Unending love.
And so I'm grateful in this moment to recognize that I get to choose,
That you get to choose that you get to take accountability if never before you get to do it right now.
I'm so grateful in this moment to recognize the unending grace that Spirit continues to present to us.
And all that I'm saying wouldn't be possible if God wasn't God.
All that I'm sharing wouldn't be possible if love wasn't unconditional and grace wasn't ever sufficient and ever present.
You get to choose.
So what do you choose?
So grateful to recognize in this moment that we are all connected in Spirit,
In love,
That there is no,
There is no separation.
The mind will tell you that we're separate.
The media will tell you that we're separate.
Family members,
Friends,
Co-workers,
Religion,
Finances,
Socioeconomic status,
Many things will attempt to tell you that we're separate and that we're different.
Yes,
We're uniquely different,
But we are uniquely woven by the way maker and the weaver of life.
So I'm grateful to be unified with each and every one of you in this moment.
Our childhood,
Our experiences,
Our bank account,
Our geographic location,
It can all look different and we are still one in the same in the mind and the heart of God.
So as we continue with prayer,
So grateful in this moment to be in this space of unification with self,
With God in each and every one of you.
So grateful to realize in this moment that Spirit,
You give yourself to us fully.
You are present entirely.
You don't give yourself to us in pieces.
You are the same presence that is present in every blade of grass and every tweed and every branch and every stick and every leaf and every bit of soil.
You are the same presence that is present in every sunflower and rose.
You are the same presence that is present in every lily and every smile and every baby crying and every mother giving birth.
You are the same presence that is present in Enti and Zen and the ways in which they purr.
You are the same presence in this beautiful bird I get to look at right now.
You are the same presence everywhere.
Present in your presence,
Present in the presence of life,
Present in the gift that keeps on giving.
God,
You are present in the moment.
You are the moment.
You are the gift.
You are the presence.
You are the joy.
You are the love.
You are the peace that surpasses the logical mind.
You are the peace that washes over us in the midst of grief.
You are the peace that is present when a loved one transitions.
You are the peace that is present in the midst of a divorce.
You are the peace that is present in the midst of a bankruptcy.
You are the peace that is present in the midst of any and all court proceedings.
You are the Supreme Court.
So I'm grateful,
God.
I'm grateful to know you.
Grateful to know you in my heart.
Grateful that you express yourself in infinite ways and that you present to us infinite possibilities.
You want more joy in your life?
Practice joy.
You want more patience in your life?
Practice patience.
You want people to be patient with you?
Practice being patient with yourself and others.
You want more financial abundance?
Live freely.
You want more grace in your life?
Practice being graceful with yourself.
God,
I thank you.
I thank you for the joy of play.
I thank you for the joy of being childlike.
I thank you for the joy of ease.
Don't get it twisted.
You don't have to be out here working 60 to 80 hours a week,
Killing yourself physically,
Mentally and emotionally.
You don't have to be out here grinding and hustling and working a full-time job and a part-time job.
You don't have to do that.
Life is easeful.
Spirit is easeful.
Life is easeful.
You get to choose because you are accountable.
You are responsible for you.
And so I give thanks,
God.
I give thanks for this morning.
I give thanks for this prayer.
I give thanks for the bed that I woke up in.
I give thanks for my house.
I give thanks for the beautiful sounds,
The melodic melodies,
The sweet,
Soulful songs of the birds this morning.
I give thanks for the vibrant colors of each bird.
I give thanks that I get to bear witness to Zen and NT playing.
I give thanks,
God.
I give thanks that you are God and that I can rest assured because I know that you have a perfect orchestration in your absolute perfection.
I don't need to know it all.
I don't need to know or see the next step.
I'm grateful that I get to show up and that I get to choose how I show up.
So I give thanks for all that has been said and all that has not been said.
I give thanks for all that is seen and unseen,
Sight beyond sight,
Sound beyond sound.
But I release this prayer into the law unto itself,
Into the law of the universe,
Into the law of love,
And into the natural law of your unfolding.
I release this prayer by saying,
And so it is.
And so be it.
Amen.
Ashay.
Thank you,
God.
Thank you for being the one who goes by many names.
You are the Buddha.
You are Christ consciousness.
You are Allah.
You are Krishna.
You are the one who presents itself in all spaces and places.
So thank you for whoever listens to this right where you are.
Love is present in your fullness,
In your presence,
Holding you,
Coddling you,
Cradling you,
Looking at you as you are the most magnificent,
Precious being because you are.
I love you,
Family.
Have the most amazing,
Magical day,
Remembering that you are the alchemist of your life.
Peace family.
