The true Higher Power, presence, and wisdom also
entails unconditional love, as from a loving parent or friend; totally
unselfish, a true servant, leader, and protector. This love can be considered a
super power, more than able to overcome crippling anger, hate, jealousy, and
other problems in the world. We believe there are many of these
“super powers” available to us, such as peace, joy, beauty, one-ness,
wholeness, and holiness. These can aid us on the ultimate level as we focus and
meditate on them in the realm of their absolute, pure, and perfect nature on
the spiritual level, but also on the relative level as we seek out, embrace,
and enjoy the love, peace, joy, beauty, and other “super” blessings in or lives
and world.
This is where we may come into communion with them through communion with our Higher Power, the Oversoul, and Great Spirit. We can also embrace and enact them on the relative level as we see them at large and in action through-out the world and in our daily lives. Nature is a good example, as peace, love, joy, beauty, and so on are self-evident in the workings and wonders of mother/father nature. For more on accessing and utilizing Higher Powered super powers in your life please see the Super Powers Sanity File.
Too often love and goodness can seem far, far away, but there is
no blessing 2.0, we are all equally and outrageously blessed at all times and
in all places. It is when we take time in prayer and meditation, we hear a
still small voice calling us from deep within. This is the voice of our True
Self, True Home, and Higher Power. Prayer and meditation are a key to this
all-important connection and very helpful ways to experience true grace. To
learn more please look to the Sanity Files on prayer and meditation.
It is very easy for us to feel bad about ourselves because we haven’t got it
all figured out by now and gotten it all together. The fact is the modern world
is so complicated, difficult, and crowded that most people are struggling and
suffer from anxiety, loneliness, inadequacy, and depression. This is another
reason a good relationship with our Higher Power is so important. Through
prayer, meditation, journaling, and other paths we can come to see and feel our
Higher Power as a loving friend that created, sustains, and supports us, and
knows everything about us in intimate detail.
All these paths to our Higher Power allow us access to all the power, presence,
wisdom, beauty, and all the other aspects of The Infinite. It’s like a
computer, as nothing is going to happen until it gets plugged into a power
source and gets turned on. Prayer, meditation, journaling, nature, and other
paths are how we can get plugged in and turned on. Unfortunately, life seems to
yank our plug out and turn us off all too often, so we recommend building your
own “Sanity Files” to keep finding your Higher Power source and get turned on
as often as possible!
For those that have a real problem with the idea of God, or Higher Power, some
find "A Power Greater" works for them. For many, that "Power
Greater" is their recovery or support group or a loving family member or
friend who exemplifies God's infinite power, presence, and wisdom in tangible
ways. We often find these people are our angels and God's eyes and ears, hands,
and feet. For a short post click here.
Since our view of our Higher Power good or bad was created and cemented as a
child, our childhood is another very important place to slowly work to
understand and transform ourselves and our situation. For help in this
endeavor, we recommend the Inner Child Sanity File. Here we can
recapture the creative, authentic, joyful, playful, imaginative, and loving
child often hidden deep inside.
As wonderful an idea as this seems, we must be cautious, as the inner child may
be holding onto intense anger, fear, grief, and sadness that can overwhelm us
if we aren't ready. This is good reason to have a Loving Higher Power and Inner
Parent to hold our hand and help us face the difficulties of our past. It also
helps to recognize that our transgressors were most often also wounded as
children and longing for love and closure. This is not to condone their
behavior, but to allow a measure of forgiveness to lessen our burden.
Another amazing source of kindness, caring, and love for us is our own Inner
Parent. Just like our concept of a Higher Power, the inner voice and opinion of
ourselves was inherited from our parents and other authority figures, so
healing this internal entity is also of the great importance as many parents
were highly critical, neglectful, or abusive in response to their upbringing or
difficult life situations. For help in this essential endeavor we recommend the Inner Parent Sanity File.
Once this also crucial relationship is recovered, it is as if a loving Higher
Power takes our hand on one side and a Loving Inner Parent can takes our other
hand to guide us onward to discover, tend, and recover from our dis-ease,
disorders, and dysfunction to enjoy a fully functioning, loving, and satisfying
life. This journey will not be fast, easy, or painless, but we are worth it! As
we build a loving relationship with our Higher Power, Inner Parent, and Inner
Child, we find places we can go to rest and recover our mental, physical, and
spiritual joy, vitality, and vigor.
Nature is also saving grace for us as we so cherish time spent in nature.
Everything in the wild feels blessed, sacred, and holy. Wherever we look we see
great beauty, love, and peace. Often when we share this aspect of our recovery,
people tell us how much nature means to them too. Nature is a symphony, a work
of art, and a feast all at once and for all the senses. For more
"natural" healing see the Mother/Father Nature Sanity File
If the concepts of Inner Child and Inner Parent are foreign to you or a bit
confusing, check out the Twelve Step Recovery Sanity File for clarity
and inspiration. Alone we are on some level deeply flawed, broken corrupt,
tainted, fallen, and tarnished. Yet on an even deeper level infinitely blessed,
divine, and perfect. Twelve step is a great way to find and build a loving and
supportive community, a new family of choice rather than chance that is willing
to help us find, nurture, and welcome our True Self. We find this path
incredibly healing and healthy so urge you to take a good look.
If we can come to a place where we see Higher Power as the benevolent presence
behind creation, we can find forgiveness for our anxious worries and look past
the chaos, sorrows, and ugliness of the world and rest in the immense love,
peace, joy, and beauty that is always there for us. Trying to go it alone is
very common and often why we feel so much loneliness and strife. Spending time
with wise and loving family, friends, and therapists can be very helpful. Also
as mentioned Twelve Step Recovery programs helps in building friendships and
interpersonal bonds that help and heal us in many ways.
Another "personae" we also recognize as a part of our human nature is
the courageous, powerful, and perhaps best part of us we recommend you explore
in the Hero's Journey Sanity File. This aspect of our
True Self stands up for us, gives unconditionally, and bravely fights for what
is right. This inner hero has many super powers such as love, kindness, and
compassion. Again, these powers are not self-powered, but higher powered
through an intimate and reverent relationship with our Higher Power.
These relationships are pivotal keys to having a safe, welcoming, and nurturing
place to move forward in our lives with joy, purpose, and passion. We find we
can alternate back and forth between Mother Nature, Higher Power, our Inner
Wonder Child, Adult, Loving Inner Parent, and Inner Hero as needed to live a
full and complete life.
Taken together, these aspects of our basic nature constitute what can be seen
as the True Self, the whole and complete self that can relate to life in any
possible way. For more on this exciting and fulfilling way of looking at the
ourselves, please check out the True Self Sanity File. You may find other aspects
of your True Self you wish to add and we say go for it, this model is one that
works for us, but what is most important is what works for you.
Can there really be so many powerful and distinct parts of us? While Whitman
stated this great truth in The Song of Myself when he said “I am large, I
contain multitudes.” Perhaps the best part of us is on our knees praying for
God's will for us and the power to carry it out. God's will, God's power, not
ours. We strive not to become a better person, but to be vigilant, to stay
awake to our True Self in alignment with Higher Power. It can be hard in the
beginning like changing any habit or strengthening muscles, but once we learn
to really get into the flow of grace, we can rest, rest in God.
Another super tool for getting in touch with Higher Power is Journaling (Sanity File). We write out all
our doings, issues, and struggles good and bad. We find it takes the weight off
our shoulders, hearts, and minds and to leave it on the pages. This can also be
true of prayer, meditation, and all our "conversations" with God. All
it takes is a simple spiral bound notebook from most any store. Some prefer
fancy leather bound and engraved journals, but this can feel intimidating so
might hold back the flow.
As we journal, we imagine speaking with a best friend. An incredible friend who
created, sustains, and supports us year to year, day to day, and moment to moment
on every level from the amazing functioning of body and mind, to the laws and
seasons of nature. Some have written dozens of journals, and so created an
excellent relationship with their maker they feel deeply. Just a few lines a
day or week can lead to great inner peace.
Some might find it silly to "talk" to God in this way, but we don't
have to imagine Higher Power as understanding our words specifically, yet can
still believe there is an understanding of the intention, and meaning. It's
like when we talk to our babies, pets, plants, and other things. There is an
energy and spirit there we feel they get on some level. Not by the words, but
from a deeper pre-verbal place. Even if our plants, pets, or Higher Power don't
get the good energy, we do!
The Eastern Wisdom Sanity File explores how our
minds create and control our reality. For this reason, we are wise to
understand how our minds function so that we can master our minds rather than
have our minds be our master. This is also covered in the prayer and meditation
files, but here adds the benefit of thousands of years of insight, learning,
and wisdom.
This path teaches that us that we must first tame our minds to then train and
transform it with the ultimate goal of acquiring a "Sacred Outlook".
This is real transformation, to see the hand and spirit of God in everyone and
everything. To look into every face and see the face of God, and to gaze back
into God's eyes with confidence that the greatest good and highest law is at
work at all times, in all places, and in all things, however screwed up and
awful things may appear.
The Middle Eastern Sanity File looks the the
positive attributes of Christ consciousness and celebrates the ecstatic beauty
and liberation of the poetry of the Sufi philosopher and Muslim scholar Rumi
(Jalal ad-Din Mohammed Rumi). We hope to expand this file soon.
Of the course the west has added much wisdom, insight, and healing from
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, on to modern thinkers such as Erick Erickson,
Joseph Campbell, and Abraham Maslow, to living legends of Matthew Fox, Eckhart
Tolle, and Brene Brown. To access these and other westerners, please check out
the Western Wisdom Sanity File.
God's fingerprints are all over creation, and we so much enjoy sharing ways
that we have seen the "evidence". A great way to see how God has
woven infinite intelligence, beauty, and wonder into the natural world is to
check out Sacred Geometry. Science has unraveled this
mystery for us, all the way back to the beginning of creation, Artists and
musicians have also been engaging mind and heart to inspire us to embrace and
cherish our dear mother earth and our wild and beautiful individual natures.
Seeing how beautiful and hospitable the universe is for life and humans, we see
our Higher Power as loving also. A flight of imagination took our focus and
emphasis on love to the extreme, considering Love Force as the fundamental and unifying
theory of the universe. It may be a stretch of the imagination, but a fun and
interesting one we hope you find enjoyable and inspiring.
The Music Sanity File has a section just for
Higher Power and Love with many wonderful songs to share and enjoy. It is one
of the most beautiful, touching, and powerful ways we can stir our passions to
really feel the love, peace, joy and other emotions that help us be happy. We
highly recommend making your own music files if you haven’t already. Ours are
sorted into files of love, Higher Power, every day, rock, relaxing, inspire,
blues, dance, joyous, and best songs to fit our mood and need.
The Super Sayings and Slogans Sanity File also
has a significant part dedicated to Higher Power listed just after the LOVE and
FIRE (passion) sections. Many of the other Sanity Files and posts also have
aspects of Higher Power in them as all are connected and interrelated in many
ways. These are short pithy statements that can say a lot in just a few words
and are also sorted by mood. This is another great tool to have so, we highly
recommend jotting down your favorites and building your own super sayings and
slogans file today.
"Today my birth is fruitful. My human life is justified. Today I am born into the family of the enlightened ones." Shantideva