You may have noticed in the About Me section of this website that I base many of my teachings and counseling on a philosophy called Science of Mind. I received my spiritual counseling training through the Centers for Spiritual Living, which centers its spiritual principles on Science of Mind.
As noted on the Centers for Spiritual Living website, “Science of Mind teaches the unity of all life. Intentions and ideas flow through a field of consciousness, which affects and creates the world around us. This idea is common to the major religions and is supported by the teachings of psychology and quantum physics.” It is part of the New Thought Ancient Wisdom teachings that originated in the 19th century. It is essentially the beliefs that run through all the major religions, such as “it is done to you as you believe” (i.e., your faith), “life after death” (i.e., eternal life), and “do unto others as you have done to you” (i.e., love your brother as yourself). Through these teachings and having applied them in my life, I believe that the secret to living a successful and happy life is to consciously choose positive and productive thoughts and break through fear and false beliefs that hold us back from our true dreams.
The Science of Mind teachings were developed and founded by Ernest Holmes. He was influenced by earlier New Thought teachers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thomas Troward, and Emma Curtis Hopkins. New Thought embraces the knowing that we are all One. We are not separate from God, and we are not separate from anyone or anything in this Universe. So, we are one with people who do “bad things”? Yes, we are! People who harm others are typically so entrenched in their fear, they see no other way. Can you have compassion for that? I’m not saying to condone the behavior, but simply to love the individual regardless of what they have done. Knowing their Truth, which is Love and Peace, helps raise their vibration and our own. And when we raise our vibration, we are elevating the vibration of those around this. Don’t believe me? I invite you to try it and see what happens. My experience is that when I approach anyone with love and happy expectation, I am met with the same. What if I’m not met with love and joy? I try again and again. This doesn’t mean I stay in relationships that are harmful to me. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work. As they say, people are meant to be in our lives for a season, a reason, or for a lifetime. Most of our relationships aren’t abusive (and if they are, I urge you get out of them), but simply need a little loving care and someone to make the first move towards love.
Is life eternal? I really do believe it is. There are numerous, nearly identical accounts of Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) that point to life after death. I was most impacted on the subject by Anita Moorjani’s book, Dying to Be Me. In her book, she accounts seeing her body below her in the hospital and experiencing only bliss and love. She just “knew” that love and faith is the answer to every question. She knew she could heal herself if she chose to go back in her body, without the assistance of the doctors. We have our own healing ability. Our bodies are SO intelligent. And sometimes, our current belief system cannot grasp that, so we rightfully seek a healthcare practitioner, but it is possible.
What about this business of “faith”? Does it really matter? In my experience, it is everything. Have you ever noticed that when you are on a roll, you can’t lose, but when you start out your day on the wrong side of the bed, things don’t go as smoothly? Going back to the idea of “it is done to us as we believe”, there is a “mental cause” for all that occurs in our life. This is not to judge or blame you or anyone else for things in our life that don’t go according to plan. We all have unhelpful thought programs that run through our mind consciously and unconsciously. A common one is “not good enough.” We may overcompensate for this false belief with arrogance, by going overboard and trying so hard to be perfect, or by not trying at all. This is where spiritual counseling can be helpful. In sessions, we look to uncover these false beliefs about ourselves and the world and change those beliefs through spiritual practice, such as prayer, and through action, such as taking steps toward our goals. I have found that once we identify these false beliefs, we can “catch” ourselves in these thought patterns and make concerted efforts to turn them around. Science is finally starting to catch up with this Ancient Wisdom through the study of Quantum Physics.
I have had a few different careers in my life and each time, I was a little nervous. With inspiration from spiritual counseling sessions and the book, Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway by Susan Jeffers, I took a deep breath and dove in. Most of the times I was successful and when I wasn’t, there was great learning there to apply in the next adventure. I went from banker to biker chick (founding a women’s motorcycle apparel company called VaVaVroom) back to banker then to clinical assistant professor and now to spiritual counselor. It’s been a wild ride and I wouldn’t change a thing, even the difficult parts. They made who I am today. I now go into my next voyage with Live Life Spiritual Direction with joy and nervous excitement. Who wouldn’t be excited about a career that you love that also helps people be their best?
