Taking Care of Myself First

"If I take care of myself and my basic needs, I contribute to my own personal power and sense of self worth."

Like many things in life, there are many different approaches that achieve the same goal.  On the spiritual path, I have found that my instinctive approach to something is completely backwards.  I tend to look at the goal and then work backwards from that.  For example, I may be unhappy with a particular circumstance.  Conventional wisdom wants me to put all of my attention and energy on changing the circumstance.

I always have two choices.  I can try to change the circumstance or I can accept it for what it is.  I always have this choice, too: focus on the inner life or focus on the outer life.  Focusing on the inner life may mean that I accept the circumstance as part of the Cosmic plan.  If I focused on changing the circumstance, what do I feel?  I feel that I am out of alignment with Life.  I am working upstream.

This is not to say that I can never change my circumstance.  This is simply saying that I should first accept it and consider if there is anything within me that needs to change.  Perhaps I need a perspective shift that will allow me to view it in a new light.  I might see that the circumstance does not need to change at all.  Or, the circumstance changes of its own accord.  As I put out higher and higher vibrations, the vibrational field around me will eventually match.  In other words, as I become a more positive, accepting person, my circumstance will improve to be lighter and freer than it was before.  This may be because of my perspective change, the influence of my attitude and actions on others, or the causal effect of external, mysterious forces.  The point is that rather than take the seemingly correct action of attempting to change my external reality, it may be helpful to consider an inside-out approach.

Another example where an inside-out approach may be warranted is when I want to increase my own sense of personal power and self-worth.  One road may be for me to directly attempt to empower myself through perhaps trying to control others or manipulate my circumstance.  Or, I may try to inflate my self-worth through elevating myself in relation to others or accomplishing things that improve my external image.  Rather than attempt to increase these areas directly, it may be more helpful to look deeper at their origin.

Is other words, I need to look at what needs to change within me.  To change me, I take positive actions that invest time and energy into myself.  If I take care of myself and my basic needs, I contribute to my own personal power and sense of self worth.  This is because deficiencies in my personal power may be related to an undeveloped sense of self.  To cultivate a sense of self, I need to devote time and energy into fostering it.  By simply spending time on myself, I am increasing my self-worth through my actions.  I am investing my limited resource of time on me which builds my worth.  If I practice self-care, I am watering, nurturing and fertilizing both my physical body and soul.  This, in turn, is putting money into my "personal power bank."  I am building up a reserve of power that I can draw upon to mindfully wield when challenging situations arise.

Our View of God and Others

"Our inner world is a direct reflection of how we view our outer world."

There are two ways to transform ourselves, going inward and going outward.  Both are powerful ways on our path of spiritual evolution and both have their place and purpose.  In fact, both should be engaged simultaneously to produce truly powerful results.  I am now exploring a path to inner transformation through examining how we view the outer world.  One way that we view the outer world is how we view God.

How we view God is so closely tied with how we view ourselves.  This is why it is important that we identify what this Power is to us.  If it is
Science, then we view ourselves very logically and cause and effect plays a big role in our lives.  If it is Love, then we see ourselves very lovingly in all things. If we have little to no interaction with this Power, then we have cut ourselves off from a part of ourselves, literally.

If we see a stern, judgmental God, then we are hard on ourselves. If we see a forgiving God, then we forgive our own wrongs. The examples could continue on and on. 

I firmly believe that this Power exists, is a relational, personal Spirit, and is real to me. We need to closely examine our view of God because of this relationship to Self.  Even if you do not believe it, start with positive affirmations about your Power, re-examine old beliefs, and receive healing for any ways that your spiritual world has been traumatized.

One way to do this is to remind yourself of these affirmations regularly.  You could say "The world is filled with Love and is a good and safe place to be."  Throw out old beliefs of a stern, judgmental God that is counting your every sin.  Then, act as if these new beliefs are true.  Lean towards choices in your daily life that put power out of your hands and into those of the Universe.  You will begin to reap the rewards as your spiritual beliefs are embodied in the physical world.

By the same token, how you view other people, especially your enemies, is also closely tied to how you view yourself.  This begins with not only forgiving your enemies but embracing and loving them as much as your friends. If you do not, then you are literally treating the darker recesses of your consciousness the same way.  You are divided internally to the extent that you do not forgive your enemies.

In short, our inner world is a direct reflection of how we view our outer world. If we transform ourselves from the outside, our inner life will begin to reflect this change as well.   As you do these things, you will begin to notice an inner transformation.  You will feel more loving and accepting of yourself.  You will feel happier and more positive.  As your outward view of God and others improves, so your inward view of yourself is more inline with your true nature.