“Under construction refers to a building, structure, or project that is unfinished but actively being worked on.”

As I feel the devastation on Maui and all it will take to rebuild it, I can only imagine the amount of patience that will need to be practiced. I already hear people who are so disgruntled, even though they are safe and fed and their families are safe. We can be so impatient. We can expect so much from each other.

Are you “Under Construction?” and what does it mean to you? Are you always feeling you are not perfect enough? Rich enough? Not enough in some way? But we are enough. We are always enough. However, we block ourselves with endless thoughts of not good enough. I have been practicing really appreciating myself. I do this by constantly recognizing all that I am doing and being that is so good and helpful.

What about your thoughts about yourself? Are you conscious of thoughts that are detrimental to you? This teaching assists us in becoming aware of those things in our thinking that we want to change not to be better but to realize how wonderful we really are.

The first step is awareness. Dr. Joe Dispenza has a meditation that includes bringing to mind the thoughts you do not want to think any more so that when they come up during the day, you catch them and can then decide to shift them. To me, this is what being under construction can mean in our life. It is deconstructing the thoughts about ourselves that no longer serve us and replanting the new thoughts. Our journey is to remember our perfection not develop it.

How do we do this? I believe it is a process of accepting and surrendering to that highest self. It’s about self-love. I heard that there is some talk that it is selfish to love oneself. These people are confusing self-love with entitlement and non-compassion for others. Self-love is the highest form a construction project that I can imagine. I am haunted by the woman that is mentioned in the book Radical Acceptance which I will facilitate a class in in January, who on her death bed said, “I always thought something was wrong with me.”

Nothing is wrong with us. Nothing is wrong with the feelings we have no matter what they are. Many of us have been told all our lives that we are not good enough. We are more than good; however, there might be an onion of self-acceptance that needs to be peeled back, recognized and embraced. In her book, Radical Acceptance, Tara Brach quotes Antonio Machado:

“Last night, as I was sleeping, I dreamt – marvelous error! – that I had a beehive here inside my heart. And the gold bees were making white combs and sweet honey from my old failures.”

There is something called our personality and there is our Divine individuality. Our personality is the conglomeration of our life, our beliefs developed through our experiences and relationships, education and the world in general. In other words, it is our self that is in reaction to all that has occurred in our life. Our Divine individuality is our perfection that has never been touched by anything. It is the deep self that knows who it is. It is the place that is always calling us home. This is why we are always searching for more, I believe. There is a part of ourselves that remember who we are.

Ernest Holmes wrote this,

“The Original Life is Infinite. It is good. It is filled with peace. It is of the essence of purity. It is the ultimate of intelligence. It is power. It is Law. It is Life. It is in us. In the inner sanctuary of our own nature, hidden perhaps from objective gaze – nestles the seed of perfection.”

Marianne Williamson wrote,

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.

So, in summary, being under construction is not about fixing anything or changing any aspect of your perfection. It is remembering who you are and accepting and embracing your Divinity. It is the only thing I can think of to work on right now. It definitely is a construction project in that I takes daily practice. It takes building bridges of consciousness to that highest self through meditation, treatment, and then action, of course.

I am so grateful for myself and my place in the world. I love this journey and I will continue to embrace it and work on the deconstruction and reconstruction of my thoughts to embrace all that I am.

Blessings and Love,

Rev. Rita Andreillo-Feren, Author, Teacher, Artist and Co-Spiritual Director of CSL Kaua`i and the Institute of Magnificence. Find my books on Amazon

PS I invite you to join my group on FaceBook” “What Do I Need to Know?” where we meditate on thoughts that inspire our greatness and service in the world. You can join with the QR Code or go to the group page https://www.facebook.com/groups/1314421162843519/ and ask to join.