Just a reminder—we are more than we seem to be. We are more creative, intelligent, intuitive, blessed, and magnificent than it sometimes appears.

We were created out of perfect Love and designed in the likeness of Infinite Intelligence—we are simply not lesser beings. At the very core we are love and this earth experience is the perfect place to realize it. In a world of contrast—love, hate; honesty, deceitfulness; fear, faith; abundance, lack; truth, lies, we can choose how we wish to be.

Making higher choices doesn’t mean becoming road kill on someone else’s highway. No person is more important or valuable than anyone else, so letting others take advantage of us is not the best course of action. We are meant to stand up for what is right for ourselves.

Any action that gives advantage to one person at the expense of another is not the highest way. We know that cheating another person or abusing someone is not the best choice for all concerned, whereas loving thoughts, words, and actions are. This means that any thought, word, or deed that serves the highest good of all concerned is the highest way to proceed and benefits one’s soul.

What about a situation where someone takes advantage of you? Let’s say you have a friend who likes to tell you all her problems or ask for your help with chores, but doesn’t want to listen to your troubles or help you? Or you may have a partner who humiliates you, puts you down, withholds love, cheats on you—there are many possibilities where a person close to you might be treating you poorly. It is not the highest and best thing to just be a victim and take whatever someone might dish out. It is not an act of love for you. Getting away from difficult people, even when you don’t know how to do it, is liberating. You are the only one who can make the choice to rescue yourself from a difficult situation.

I used to think I was supposed be a friend to anyone, no matter how they treated me. Somehow I was supposed to be saintly and allow bad behavior on their part. But I learned that it isn’t good to allow this type of treatment. Because we are all one, what is truly best for one person is best for the other. It doesn’t matter if the person doesn’t understand one’s decision to leave an unhappy or emotionally abusive relationship is for that person’s highest good as well. After all, if the person being victimized stayed in that type of situation, she/he would continue to enable the other person to continue their bad behavior. If the individual left the situation, the victimizer/abuser would have an opportunity to reexamine his or her actions, realizing that someone might leave their life if they weren’t being treated well.

Sometimes relatives and other loved ones are easier to love from a distance and if this serves my highest good it serves theirs as well. Knowing this helped me get over guilt about leaving a friendship with anyone who treated me poorly. If it involves a relative or other person with whom I must have some contact, I minimize the amount of interaction in person or over the phone.

So the highest choice in decision making is to ask if it serves the highest good of all concerned. This means, of course, that retaliation isn’t the highest and most powerful alternative. Acting in a powerful way, rather than reacting, might involve walking away for the moment and giving yourself time to think. When you’ve calmed down, you’re much more able to give a higher level response. Taking a stand for yourself without attacking the other person is a more masterful choice.

Another way to say this is, "Put on your own oxygen mask first, and then care for others in appropriate ways. In this world of duality, this will always serve you and keep you on a higher path.

By Shala

Shala is a Spiritualist Minister with a Master’s Degree in Education. She offers Spiritual Counseling, Psychic Mediumship, Channeling and Past Life Regressions and classes on psychic development. 248.258.8287. shalakilmer@gmail.com. or visit her site at: www.IntuitionPath.com.