By John Ashbrook
A critical tool in the development of one’s personal spirituality is a working knowledge of the Law of Attraction. This spiritual law basically states that you attract to you whatever you are. At first glance, this seems fairly straightforward and simple, but in reality, it is a little more complex than its surface meaning would indicate. A quick take on the meaning of this law might go like this, “If I give to others, they will give to me, or if I am sensitive to the feelings of others, they will be sensitive to my feelings.”
However, for many people in the course of day-to-day living, this simple reasoning does not seem to hold up. Many people give and give and never seem to get much in return. Many people are careful about not hurting the feelings of others and yet find that others don’t seem to care about their feelings. If the Law of Attraction is right, then how can this be? The answer to this perplexing question lies in this spiritual fact, your inner reality is revealed by the circumstances of your external reality.
The way you treat yourself is the way you will ultimately be treated by others. If you give too much, then you are taking from yourself, draining your own energy, taking for granted the fruits of your own labors, and as such, you will attract the same in the outer circumstances of your life.
People will take for granted what you have to give just as you do to yourself. It is easy to correct this problem: simply do more for yourself, honor the fruits of your hard work and cultivate a discipline of balance in giving and receiving. As you give more to yourself, you will begin to attract more giving people into your life. The universe itself runs on the perpetual motion of balanced giving and receiving, and so should your life. This is a key element in consistent, joyful living.
It is a similar situation with sensitivity. If you do not protect your own feelings because you are too concerned about the feelings of others, then you will attract people into your life who don’t seem to care about hurting you. This situation, too, can easily be corrected. Teach yourself to let people know that they are hurting your feelings. Don’t ignore your pain. Protect yourself, and you will find that you will begin to attract more sensitivity from the people in your life. Some people may go out of your life, but new, more caring people will take their place. In some cases this may sadden you, but at the same time, you will be comforted by the fact that you gave an insensitive person a chance to change by gently but firmly stating your own discomfort with their behavior to them. In this case, you did the best that you could to retain them in your life without sacrificing your own peace of mine. Remember, you can always observe the state of your inner reality, the relationship you have with yourself, by consciously and honestly scrutinizing the state of your relationships with others.
It is important to note that whatever someone else is doing if you have an adverse reaction to their behavior, this must mean that either you do the same thing yourself or you have wanted to behave this way even though you know better. Owning up to this truth helps you to dissolve this inner negative intention and fosters harmony within your soul. The Law of Attraction guarantees that harmony will attract harmony. Harmony within is measured by inner cooperation. Do you express your honest feelings? Do you strive to nurture, love, and support yourself in your everyday living? Do you take action on your behalf? Do you listen to your inner voice, or do you ignore it? Paying attention to your inner state is the way to create harmony within your soul. Working to dissolve fear, misconceptions, and negative emotional patterns gently and patiently always results in increased inner harmony. Areas of inner harmony will be reflected in your external world. In each and every area of your life where you have manifested inner harmony, in that area, you will see outer harmony take shape. Where you are harmonious within, in that area of your psyche, you cannot be disrupted by the disharmony of another. You will note their behavior, but it will not bother you. Where there is conflict between two people, disharmony must exist in both of them. Genuine harmony cannot be disrupted by disharmony, but harmony can quiet disharmony. If a person of great inner harmony enters a room where people of inner disharmony are congregated, that person’s inner harmony will have a calming effect on the others in the room. This will always happen unless the person of higher inner harmony is in a forcing mode. If they are forcing, the others will sense this and resist this quieting effect. Understand that while this inner harmony can calm the disharmony of others, it cannot dissolve it; that is their responsibility. Everyone has a personal responsibility to love and honor themselves as well as others. The spirituality healthy individual strives to create a state of inner harmony because they know that it will automatically shape a more fulfilling and joyful outer reality. Inner harmony is calm, quiet, peaceful, and undisturbed, but it is also, at the same time, alive with the vibrancy of its free-flowing, ever-expanding creative expression.
Next Class Dec. 4th
John Ashbrook
Attraction and Harmony
By John Ashbrook
A critical tool in the development of one’s personal spirituality is a working knowledge of the Law of Attraction. This spiritual law basically states that you attract to you whatever you are. At first glance, this seems fairly straightforward and simple, but in reality, it is a little more complex than its surface meaning would indicate. A quick take on the meaning of this law might go like this, “If I give to others, they will give to me, or if I am sensitive to the feelings of others, they will be sensitive to my feelings.”
However, for many people in the course of day-to-day living, this simple reasoning does not seem to hold up. Many people give and give and never seem to get much in return. Many people are careful about not hurting the feelings of others and yet find that others don’t seem to care about their feelings. If the Law of Attraction is right, then how can this be? The answer to this perplexing question lies in this spiritual fact, your inner reality is revealed by the circumstances of your external reality.
The way you treat yourself is the way you will ultimately be treated by others. If you give too much, then you are taking from yourself, draining your own energy, taking for granted the fruits of your own labors, and as such, you will attract the same in the outer circumstances of your life.
People will take for granted what you have to give just as you do to yourself. It is easy to correct this problem: simply do more for yourself, honor the fruits of your hard work and cultivate a discipline of balance in giving and receiving. As you give more to yourself, you will begin to attract more giving people into your life. The universe itself runs on the perpetual motion of balanced giving and receiving, and so should your life. This is a key element in consistent, joyful living.
It is a similar situation with sensitivity. If you do not protect your own feelings because you are too concerned about the feelings of others, then you will attract people into your life who don’t seem to care about hurting you. This situation, too, can easily be corrected. Teach yourself to let people know that they are hurting your feelings. Don’t ignore your pain. Protect yourself, and you will find that you will begin to attract more sensitivity from the people in your life. Some people may go out of your life, but new, more caring people will take their place. In some cases this may sadden you, but at the same time, you will be comforted by the fact that you gave an insensitive person a chance to change by gently but firmly stating your own discomfort with their behavior to them. In this case, you did the best that you could to retain them in your life without sacrificing your own peace of mine. Remember, you can always observe the state of your inner reality, the relationship you have with yourself, by consciously and honestly scrutinizing the state of your relationships with others.
It is important to note that whatever someone else is doing if you have an adverse reaction to their behavior, this must mean that either you do the same thing yourself or you have wanted to behave this way even though you know better. Owning up to this truth helps you to dissolve this inner negative intention and fosters harmony within your soul. The Law of Attraction guarantees that harmony will attract harmony. Harmony within is measured by inner cooperation. Do you express your honest feelings? Do you strive to nurture, love, and support yourself in your everyday living? Do you take action on your behalf? Do you listen to your inner voice, or do you ignore it? Paying attention to your inner state is the way to create harmony within your soul. Working to dissolve fear, misconceptions, and negative emotional patterns gently and patiently always results in increased inner harmony. Areas of inner harmony will be reflected in your external world. In each and every area of your life where you have manifested inner harmony, in that area, you will see outer harmony take shape. Where you are harmonious within, in that area of your psyche, you cannot be disrupted by the disharmony of another. You will note their behavior, but it will not bother you. Where there is conflict between two people, disharmony must exist in both of them. Genuine harmony cannot be disrupted by disharmony, but harmony can quiet disharmony. If a person of great inner harmony enters a room where people of inner disharmony are congregated, that person’s inner harmony will have a calming effect on the others in the room. This will always happen unless the person of higher inner harmony is in a forcing mode. If they are forcing, the others will sense this and resist this quieting effect. Understand that while this inner harmony can calm the disharmony of others, it cannot dissolve it; that is their responsibility. Everyone has a personal responsibility to love and honor themselves as well as others. The spirituality healthy individual strives to create a state of inner harmony because they know that it will automatically shape a more fulfilling and joyful outer reality. Inner harmony is calm, quiet, peaceful, and undisturbed, but it is also, at the same time, alive with the vibrancy of its free-flowing, ever-expanding creative expression.
Next Class Dec. 4th
John Ashbrook
