Spiritual Awakening: Let Your Heart Lead The Way!!!
As I sat in quiet meditation on Saturday 12/6/2014 while at The Relay For Life Leadership Summit I was compelled to write the following:
The Lights of The Highway Shut Down
As I sat in quiet meditation on Saturday 12/6/2014 while at The Relay For Life Leadership Summit I was compelled to write the following:
In the James Bond movies he has a catch phrase when ordering his martini, Shaken Not Stirred. As I reflected back on this phrase I immediately thought that there are many times when we take action that we are shaken and not stirred and when we are shaken we must find something to un-shake us and put us back on our spiritual path that will allow us to continue in the spiritual awakening process. This song was one of the reminders that if you have faith and you create a oneness consciousness you will not be shaken, however if you are shaken you can get back on track. In answering your calling and following your heart you will have some detractors who will do their best to shake you and take you off of your path. Do not allow these naysayers and doubters to shake you simply detach from them and move forward in the positive direction of your dreams. As you begin to change those that are involved in your life will change. At first this may shake you up as you eliminate people and things that no longer serve you. As you get past the initially shake up you will begin to come alive and see that you have greatness inside of you and that it is time to step into your power.
Sometimes in our efforts to be of service and value we will be shaken as not everyone will resonate with our efforts. In my quest to create a world with less cancer and more birthdays through my involvement with Relay For Life I used to take it quite personally when someone said no or made an excuse or was mean towards me. I recently realized that if I am shaken this doesn’t serve my purpose and that I must detach from the outcome and continue to do what I am comfortable with. I was a bit shaken during the fundraising for The 2014 American Cancer Society Relay For Life because I kept comparing my results with the results of others. As I was telling someone that I have raised $1862 so far they said that is great. I replied yes but there are people who have raised a lot more. The person’s response to me after that was JDOGG you have to stop comparing yourself to what others have done your $1862 is $1862 that the organization didn’t have before you did fundraising. I reflected on his words and thought he is right. It was at that point that I became un-shaken and continued to do the fundraising the way I was comfortable and looked at each dollar raised as a triumph. I began to use the concept of gratitude and instead of being shaken I was able to stay the course an now look at from the perspective that some money raised is better than no money raised. I now look at the detractors in a different light as I know some will, some won’t, so what, some waiting, next.
As I was reading through my Facebook feed today I saw many great posts about the goodness people are doing to help others in their respective communities. I began to think what if we could capture this spirit of goodness and make it last all through the new year? What if we could all experience a spiritual awakening and recognize that we are all interconnected and because of that inter-connectivity we have a responsible to take action to help others in our community. I remember watching the Bill Murray movie, Scrogged, and the final scene where he speaks about miracles happening and thinking what if we could push this idea of goodness to the limit. I remember watching Jim Carey in Bruce Almighty and the scene of him with Morgan Freeman’s character, GOD, and GOD explaining what a real hero was and thinking about how true his statements were about everyday people doing extraordinary things.
When you have a spiritual awakening you begin to understand your calling and your purpose and you find ways to push it to the limit. many things in your personal and professional life begin to change. You start to come alive and you find a sense of giving that leads to serving the community and thus taking goodness to the limit!!! In math we talk about approaching limits understanding you never reach the limit because the limit doesn’t exist. This is also true in life as there is no limit to the goodness you can do. You are capable of so much more than you think. Many times prior to a spiritual awakening we find ourselves limiting ourselves because we buy into the negative self talk and the naysayers. It is when we dismiss the negative self talk and tell the naysayers to pound sand that we begin to push the limits of our goodness. How many times have you not pursued something because of what someone else said? If you find yourself around doubters and negative energy take a step back detach yourself from the situation and commit to moving forward to push the limit of your goodness because you are capable of much more than you think you are. So many time we allow limiting beliefs to hold us back because of an underlying fear of moving forward and thus we never manifest our dreams. I am reminded of the scene from the movie, Accepted, when Bartlebee asks the board that is about to decide the fate of his college what they wanted to be when they were growing up and what they ended up settling for. How many times have you settled instead of pushing the limits of your goodness?
Most of the people that watch sports will recognize the time out signal. After reading about George Carl and his battle with cancer I began to contemplate the way we use our time outs in life and are we using them effectively. A coach is often criticized for not taking a time out at a crucial part of the game. In this game of life that we are actively participating how many time outs are we missing out on.
A few years ago I wrote the following poem, which explains these photos.
By Jonathan Steven Lederman
Take time out to see a sunrise
a new day
Take time out to hear a baby’s cry
a new life
Take time out to feel a brick wall
a hardship
Take time out to taste an icecream cone
a happy moment
Take time out to smell a red rose
an emblem of love
Take time out to experience the good things life
I was listening to The Barney (Yes The Purple Dinosaur) Song I love you, you love me……. and began to think what if I could change the lyrics and make it a song about Namaste and came up with I am Divine, Your are Divine, Namaste for Everyone, spread it everyday at work and at play, show your love like an angel or a dove and let’s praise our source from above, Namaste for Everyone. As I began to share this idea I was asked what Namste was? I found the following answer to help people new to the spiritual path to become more enlightened.
The gesture Namaste represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another. “Nama” means bow, “as” means I, and “te” means you. Therefore, Namaste literally means “bow me you” or “I bow to you.” The picture above shows how to deliver Namaste as to place your hands infront of your heart charka and bow to the person you are greeting or saying good by to.
This article was inspired by Rick Figley and Stacy Sossner, who were recipients of A Spiritual Entrepreneurs Visionary Award for their outstanding work in helping people find their divine within. Their facebook group Being in Namaste has great uplifting stories like the one shared by Elaine Caban, who I had the pleasure of interviewing on my radio show and who is always full of love and joy. I have had the privilidge to meet so many wonderful people who truly exemplify the idea of being in Namaste. Many were recipients of The Spiritual Entrepreneurs Visionary Award in March. You can see a list of honorees by clicking on The Meet The SEVA Honorees tab.
When I was a kid I remember watching Superfriends on Saturday Morning and thinking how powerful these characters are. As I got older I began to ask the question, what is your power? Over the years of exploring I found my power to be the ability to bring people together for the benefit of others. In high school I was the one who captained our March of Dimes Walk Team, in college I was the one who organized the special events like The Homecoming Bon Fire, where we collected donations for a local children’s hospital. After college I joined The Jaycees and quickly began chairing special events. Today I do volunteer work with The American Cancer Society through Relay for Life and have found my power in fundraising. For the last 9 years I have been a STAR Supporter of The Relays that i participated in, raising a minimum of $1500 each year. Finding your power can be done by:
1: Meditation
2: Doing a Personal Skill Set Inventory
3: Finding What Makes You Come Alive
4: Looking at What Brings You Joy
5: Studying and Reading