I am going through a tremendous shift in my life. Much has come up to confront that shift, trying to keep me small in my thoughts and my experiences. I keep on keeping on. One morning this week, my inner voice spoke to me in my meditation. It said, “Stand up and lead.” What did this exactly mean? I took a deep breath and listened. The feeling that came to me was that all the conflict of thoughts and experiences I was having right now was not bad, but trying to keep me safe.

In the study of the brain, I have learned why it is easier for us to think negatively than positively for one reason. It is because as we focus on the negative or the fear for the future, we are keeping ourselves in a high state of being ready to fight or flee. This might have been helpful during our cave days, but our spiritual evolution is prodding us to move away from this state of consciousness and strengthen our sense of unity with our Divine Nature and our unity with each other. It is safe to open up, breathe and venture out into the world as our best and highest selves.

The inner voice that spoke to me in my meditation was more of a command than a plea. It is our time to step up. Quoting Steve Farrell of the Humanity’s Team, “This is our Galileo Moment.” In other words, in spite of great conflict, just as Galileo went against the world view that the earth was the center of the Universe, we, too, now must go against the world view of separation and live in Unity with our Divine self and each other. An embodiment of oneness with everything and then action from that place is the solution to all suffering, moving us into living in compassion and as our true nature.

We might think that It is not easy to change our brains to a different way of responding to the world, but that isn’t truth. As Gurudeva and many mystics have spoken, “I am the complete master of all my forces. My spiritual energies govern and control the force fields wherever I am for the highest good.”

In other words, my mind is the master of my brain and my mind is governed by pure consciousness, which is the truth of me.

With Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita Andriello-Feren, Author, Teacher and Co-Founding Minister of CSL Kaua`i