Thursday, February 25, 2010

Where Do You Get Your Light?

What makes you feel good? If you're down, what brings you back up? For me, on the physical plane, sometimes it's just something as simple as waking up on a clear morning when the barometer has risen; being in the sunshine; seeing Mount Rainier; seeing a rainbow. I rarely feel better looking inside my heart, even though the light of God is supposed to be in there somewhere.

Sometimes the ability to make people laugh, or making a connection with someone such as a resident or family member at work helps me. Today I went over to the Pink Wing to talk to the MD who had just been on the Green Wing, to follow up on an order for a resident. He was on the phone with a family member, with the charge nurse sitting next to him. While I waited, I said to her, Smile. Then I realized she looked tired. I decided to give her a back rub, because she is touchy-feely and I knew I would have permission, and she always has a lot of tightness in her back. She really enjoyed it and it passed the time while I waited for the MD to have his attention available. I enjoyed it, too.

I rarely am able to look inside myself to find light, even though Baha'i Writings say God's light is within us. "My lamp is in thee: get thou from it thy radiance."

Here is one of my favorite quotations about how God's light can be reflected within us, especially when we recognize the Manifestation of God for this day [in this day, Baha'u'llah--but for others, Christ or Muhammad or Krishna or Moses or Zoroaster or Buddha, for example.] The quote:

"Neither doth My earth or My heaven contain Me, but the heart of My faithful servant containeth Me." And thou wilt take up thy life in thine hand, and with infinite longing cast it before the new Beloved One.

[The Kicker, i.e. my favorite]: Whensoever the light of the Manifestation of the King of Oneness settleth upon the throne of the heart and soul, His shining becometh visible in every limb and member . . . For thus the Master of the house hath appeared within His home, and all the pillars of the dwelling are ashine with His light. And the action and effect of the light are from the Light-Giver; so it is that all move through Him and arise by His will.

This, to me, is how we can see God in every face, in every heart. To look at them, to see the reflection of the Essence in the mirror of their heart. I usually find it difficult.

Lately I've been paying attention to the physical symptoms I get with anxiety, and it seems that one of the antidotes is patience.

2 comments:

Bonita said...

"What makes you feel good? If you're down, what brings you back up?" .... years ago, raising 5 kids and holding down a full time job, I learned that 'to feel down' was a luxury I couldn't afford. I also refused to feel excessive joy, as both extremes depleted my energy! I had too much to do to endulge in any emotional state. I found peace in that inner discipline. And the resulting light helped me carry my day.

Weaner Pigs said...

Okay, now I see it. I was away from the computer until now.