Day 48 (2008-04-22): Heaven and hell, re-revisited

I wrote this Sunday night:

“I’m steadily increasing the joy that I feel. I’m fully aware now that there is more than enough in my life for it to feel like a paradise if I were to choose to experience it as such. So the spiritual work is clearing the mind of all of the games it uses to convince me otherwise. Not easy work, but good work.”

I’ve written twice before about this idea that my life can be heaven or hell at my choosing.

The new part is the recognition that my spiritual practice is a clearing.

One of the principles I teach in my time management teleclass is to focus on high-value actions. These are the actions that have the greatest impact, that produce the most results. What are my high-value actions in my spiritual practice, especially in this context of clearing? Some ideas:

• Making what I do a game, instead of a goal (intention vs. expectation)
• This blog (it keeps me from drifting very far into the fog)
• Asking, “What am I experiencing right now?”
• Touching my finger to my forehead and saying, “It’s all in my head.”
• When I find myself waiting, I can appreciate the opportunity to be present
• Meditation? (I do it every morning and I trust that it’s beneficial, but I don’t experience it in that very centering way that others describe it.)
• Appreciation and joy

I feel I could use some clarity here, so I will make that my intention for today.