“There is no stagnation in Spirit, nor should there be any in our idea of spirituality. To be spiritual is to create. The Spirit is alive, conscious, aware, and active.” — Ernest Holmes

Yes, I say yes to this statement. I know that in the times when I have needed healing the most, the answer has always been, create. My forms of creation are writing, singing, and creating workshops—and more.

I remember when I was a young teenager, hurt by the rejection of a boy I had a crush on. What did I do? I wrote an entire story about myself falling in love and having it be reciprocated. I was healed and ready to move on. Creating something during times of stress and sorrow is healing. So why would we choose to stagnate our energy instead? We are capable of healing.

I’ve seen this happen to people—in sorrow, in mourning, in illness. We can get stuck within ourselves, losing our desire to live fully. I’m not saying we should deny our feelings. What I am saying is that getting stuck and becoming unable to move forward is a denial of Spirit as “alive, conscious, aware, and active.”

I also believe that in times like this there is such a thing as Grace. When we feel there is no answer and we allow ourselves to fall back into Grace, we will receive one.

What is Grace? It is a gift of the Spirit that is waiting for us to receive it. I remember hearing a speech by a man who had lost his daughter. His words were, “I was in the deepest despair, but I knew there was a bottom to my grief.” That bottom was Grace. He allowed himself to be held there as he fell apart.

Sometimes the sorrows and challenges of life feel like too much. Yes, we should allow ourselves to weep. Jesus did. Scripture tells us that he wept with those who were mourning. His sorrow for the world was, in that moment, too great to bear alone—so he wept.

Sometimes my sorrow for what is happening in our current world feels great. I wonder how it will end. I wonder what I am leaving for my children and grandchildren. I could get stuck here in this heaviness. But when I meditate, when I reach within, I begin to reframe the challenges. Instead of seeing doom, I feel that something greater is unfolding. I trust this feeling and then I ask, What is mine to do?

The answer is always to create something that only I can create. Make something of meaning.
“Write and offer your writing of hope to the world.”
Sometimes the answer is to sing a song that carries a message of overcoming and rising.
Sometimes I simply go within again and ask, What now?

Each of us is here on Earth for one reason: to identify with Spirit—the Infinite Beingness of our true nature. There is no stagnation in this place. It is always pressing forward, seeking expression—and it can only be expressed through each of us in our own unique way.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Dr. Rita Andriello-Feren, Author, Director Center for Spiritual Living Kaua’i, The Institute of Magnificence and Partners in Empowerment