Carve out a Place of Peace

At this moment, I’m heading for Assisi on a fast train in Italy. Tomorrow I will meditate in the quiet place, Eremo delle Carceri, a monastery 2 ½ miles east of the town. This tranquil place has not changed since the time of Saint Francis. When I get to this peaceful, holy place, I will go within to my own sacred place in consciousness. 

This spiritual place of refuge within is universal and changeless – available to all – but needs to be discovered and nurtured. Here is the place to hide away in times of trouble – a place where you can be still and strong while the wildness of stress-producing incidents or circumstances nag or rage. 

Stress hits. Best to have a solid place carved out and ready in consciousness – a place in which to resort and take refuge. Make it a place of stillness. Make it quiet. Fill it consciously with the Christ-presence, with soft and gentle Light. Prepare this sacred place ahead for challenging times always come.

Stress strikes fast, and when it’s an intense situation with no way to physically escape, you need a place within to be safe. Psalm 91:1 calls it the “secret place of the Most High.” This is especially wonderful for one who tends to be sensitive, shy, or introverted, and is the best place to go universally. This “secret place” or “kingdom of heaven” that Jesus said is “within you,” provides secureness amidst stress-producing inharmonious events or situations. Go there mentally and take a deep calming breath of Spirit, Soul.

Remember, only what your heavenly Father thinks of you is important, not what other people might perceive, and He looks on the heart. If you wish that someone would totally understand you, it is done. The Father, divine Mind, the all-knowing, knows you entirely and understands. 

So what does the Father see when He looks at you? His own “image and likeness,” minus the flaws, sins, and errors – and this truth of your being consciously realized to any extent has power to purify, transform, uplift, and forgive. It enables you to express the true qualities of good that have their source in God, and to awaken to your actual eternal and spiritual selfhood in His image.

Carve out that quiet still tranquil place in your consciousness through prayer and feeling after divine Love. Carve it out hard because when you need it in extreme temptation or stress, it will be there prepared and strong.

Expand Your Comfort Zone

How big is your comfort zone? You might think of this "zone" as a circle around yourself. Within the perimeter are all the things that you are most comfortable with, things you are most used to, or things of which you have most expertise. When something comes to your experience that is outside of your comfort zone, it can cause some degree of stress, from slight discomfort to downright dread, fear, or trepidation. In grief coaching, this uncomfortable thing is usually due to a loss, either of a loved one, someone that was depended upon in some way, or loss of a home, business, or relationship damage. Any change at all will cause stress -- but the huge changes -- like when my husband of many years passed away and I found myself alone -- hit like a tidal wave that smashes in all around that comfort zone perimeter. Jesus said that the "winds and waves" would come and "beat on [the] house" -- things will happen that are difficult and force change. In Hebrew literature, "house" means "consciousness," so these are things that occur which beat in on our consciousness. The "house" that "does not fall" is the one "built on the rock." This rock is Christ, and Christ Jesus illustrates our true dominion in every situation, shows our capabilities through oneness with the Father, Love, to stand strong like a rock through adversity. You do not stand by yourself through human endeavor, but you stand supported and impervious through oneness with God -- like a ray of light to the sun. It is through grace that you are carried through the emotional storm. Be still and hold to this truth -- God is All, and it is He that comforts (strengthens) you and holds you secure on the rock. Whatever comes to you, no matter how difficult or insurmountable it appears, operates to expand your comfort zone if you turn to divine Love and focus on the Light that is God, knowing He sustains and carries you through. Even Jesus said, "I can of mine own self do nothing," but he adds that "whatsoever I see the Father do, the son doeth likewise." You are the child of God, and as His image and likeness,  you reflect and repeat the good that God is, in every action, in every word and deed (when you turn your attention to Him). You are like a ray of light that gives attention to the sun, its source, nature, substance, and real being. In this allness of Spirit where we "live, move, and have our being," all is present, there is no separation -- and this is the eternal reality. WHAT TO DO: The first 5 minutes and the last 5 minutes of your day (minimum) find a way to devote thought, heart, soul, and mind, to the Creator, our Father who loves you. Spiritualize your thought. In one week you will have turned from the tempter's despressive suggestions to a solid hour and 10 minutes of pure awareness of God's presence, power and love. Expand and include challenges, your comfort zone will expand, you will be higher and stronger, more comforted and able to better comfort others as well.

Change = Stress; One Power = Peace

Any change = stress

Any change, perceived as good or bad, is said to bring stress. I do not really want to bring such an unwelcome companion along with anything I do, anywhere I go. Stress is pesty and persistent; it seems to resist our best efforts to just stay calm or maintain inner peace.

After a loss of a loved one, a loss of a home, of a business, a marriage, and so forth, there is so much drastic change that stress can flood in like an uncontrollable surge through huge open doors -- an incoming flood that threatens to drown one, and for which there is no perceivable end!

There is a mental strategy.

And it works.

First, in order to have stress, you must have two powers, one pushing against the other. It's like pressing  the palms of your hands together really hard for a sustained amount of time. If you suddenly took away one hand, however, then what? With one power, not two, there is no stress.

Second, prayerfully meditate on God, Good, Love, as the one Power.

Third, after your meditation, consciously state the fact of one power operating in the universe to every circumstance and situation.

	Rom 13:1	Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=no+power&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1