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My
Cherokee grandpa taught me this lesson when I was
seven. He took me to a fishing hole and asked me
to throw a rock into the pond. He asked me what I
saw, and I replied that I saw a splash. He asked
me what else I saw, and I said a circle of water and
another circle and another circle. He then told me
that every person was responsible for the kind of splash
they made in the world and that the splash would touch
many other circles, creating a ripple effect. I
sat there and watched the water until he asked me to
notice the muddy bank where we were sitting. He
pointed out that one of the circular waves made by my
rock was lapping at my feet, having found its way back
to me. Then he told me that we all need to be
careful of the kinds of splashes we make in the world,
because the waves we create will always come back to
us. If those splashes were hurtful, we will not
welcome them back, but if the splash and the waves were
made from goodness, we will be happy to see them come
home.
The
teachings of all major religions on our planet show us
these same truths. They ask us to be loving, to
respect one another, and to become influences for
good. We can see the truth of these teachings when
we see that energy abundantly flows through a person who
has not tied up his or her life force with feelings of
jealousy, envy, and the need for revenge. By
contrast, people pursuing a lawsuit, for example, feel
like they cannot get on with their lives while so much
of their emotions, time, and energy are tied up in a
court battle.
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The same limiting ineffectiveness
occurs when we waste our energy on regretting the past,
fearing the future, or battling with negative thoughts
or feelings. These activities create a dam of
stagnant energy inside of us that keeps us from living
life in a synchronistic and abundant manner.
From
the moment that we experience synchronistic joy in our
lives, we are put on notice that we must become aware of
every thought, feeling, and action that we put into the
world, owning them all as our creations.
Accountability for all aspects of our lives is a tall
order. The levels of what we are willing to be
accountable for continue to increase as we grow,
allowing us to be more aware. Forgiveness toward
ourselves and toward others is of paramount
importance. If we cannot forgive others and
ourselves, letting go of the wounds encountered in the
situations we have experienced, we get stuck. When
we refuse to forgive, we are asking for a pop
quiz. These pop quizzes can come in the form of
life situations that force us to look at our personal
behaviors.
Imagine
a sponge that is set in a dish of water until all the
water is absorbed into the sponge. The sponge
cannot soak up any more moisture because it is holding
on to every drop it has absorbed. When we hold on
to our resentments and fears, our anger and bitterness,
there is no room in our life for other thoughts,
experiences, or feelings. To the degree that we do
not release our negative feelings and hidden
resentments, we are effectively soaked in them.
The creative force of life cannot flow through us when
we have dammed any part of it. This lessens our
ability to embrace new experiences. When we clutch
our wounds, using them as justifiable reasons for not
moving forward, our life force is used to fuel our
avoidance mechanisms.
Forgiveness
and the release of the past open the creative flow of
life, supporting all levels of mind, heart, body,
emotion, and spirit. This energy flow determines
the state of our health, our desire to create and
procreate, our willingness to develop our gifts, and how
we use or deny the life force that we are given as human
beings. . . . by choosing to let go of the past, our
fears, and our negative patterns or reactions to life,
we are suddenly funded with a resurgence of life force,
which propels us into a newfound way of being and a very
different way of understanding the world.
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