Greetings Everyone!
I’m sure that you’ve heard me talk often enough about the importance of integrating whatever we learn from books, meditations and life experiences. Integration simply means that instead of lessons going in one ear and out the other, we make it a point to absorb whatever valuable lessons we can from those experiences. In other words, integrating means absorbing. So our progress and evolution are determined NOT from what we have, and what we experience, as much as being about who we are and what we gain from our experiences. Without gaining, there is no growing, and without growing, there is no knowing.
But there’s another important concept/tool that is crucial to our growth and that is how much we live our lives in alignment with our beliefs. In other words, how congruent (in alignment) is our life? For example, if we preach the value of being a good mother, it would not be congruent to neglect our children. If we preach the value of being prosperous and successful, it would not be congruent to speak words of financial fear and lack.
The universe is always watching to see exactly how congruent (or incongruent) we are. At Unity of Sedona, we tend to take this concept very seriously. And for us (and most spiritual centers), the demand to live in alignment with what we teach is magnified several times more than it is for just one person. And, in its infinite wisdom and love for us all, the universe is always trying to move us in the direction of becoming more and more congruent or in alignment in all areas of our life. This is what Jesus meant by saying that we should let our inside be like our outside and our outside like our inside.
One of the biggest challenges in moving towards a life of congruence is that the people around us that are the least congruent usually don’t like the changes we end up making when we are choosing to move towards greater alignment. For example, if you are a counselor who begins to integrate your own advice about not allowing certain behaviors from family members, those family members might become quite annoyed with you.
When it comes to us (at Unity), we will one day change our name because we are rising to such heights, the old name no longer fits. And when it comes to selecting which outside facilitators we will rent space to, we could make a lot more money just renting to anyone. But to live in alignment means that we only rent to people who have a similar integrity, vibration, and focus. So yes, we’ll possibly make less money but, by being true to ourselves, our level of vibration and integrity will rise to new heights. And this always makes our commitment worth it!
Everything we do at our spiritual center is selected through healthy discernment. All we have to do is ask ourselves if the person, group, or even a product is congruent with our theme of living the Christ life and the decisions usually become quite clear.
We use this technique of spiritual discernment for the songs we select on Sundays, the musicians we choose to hire, the products we choose to feature in our store, and what policies we should use as guidelines to run our center. Even our decision to charge 30% less for the products we sell in our bookstore is a decision that we made based on this being congruent with our intention to be of service by making things affordable for people. You see…? Everything needs to be in alignment. This is not to say that we don’t sometimes slip or make mistakes in decisions or discernment. But we absolutely do our best to accomplish this.
So how are YOU doing with this specific spiritual tool/concept? Are you living up to your highest integrity? Are all areas of your life in alignment with each other and with your ultimate spiritual goal? If not, which areas are off and what can/will you do about it? But keep in mind, any area that is mis-aligned is like a spinal vertebra being out of alignment. Leave it as it is, and it will eventually bring you pain and discomfort—not to mention it can limit our range of motion—limiting our freedom of movement through life.
Love & Light,
Michael Mirdad
