{"id":176,"date":"2012-09-04T00:30:14","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T00:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/?p=176"},"modified":"2012-09-04T01:43:29","modified_gmt":"2012-09-04T01:43:29","slug":"harmony-or-upset-able-this-is-also-my-spiritual-leaders-article-in-unity-at-the-lakes-bimonthly-newsletter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/harmony-or-upset-able-this-is-also-my-spiritual-leaders-article-in-unity-at-the-lakes-bimonthly-newsletter\/","title":{"rendered":"Harmony or Upset-able? (this is also my \u201cSpiritual Leader\u2019s article\u201d in Unity at the Lake\u2019s bimonthly newsletter)"},"content":{"rendered":"

My favorite quote from the Buddha goes something like this: \u201cWe don\u2019t get upset because of what\u2019s happening; we get upset because we\u2019re upset-able.\u201d In other words, just like happiness, upset is an inside job. And I don\u2019t know about you, but I much prefer harmony; in my day, in my experiences and, perhaps especially, in my relationships. So before I start looking for harmony outside of myself, I need to establish it inside myself. When I do, I become much less upset-able.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It has become clear to me that harmony within does not tend to happen spontaneously; I need to establish it. My mind tends to be hectic and chaotic, prone as it is to outside influences. This makes it difficult for me to attune to the harmony that is always present in life, in Nature, in my God Self. For me, God IS the harmony and balance that is always present even in what seems like chaos; the principles that govern my existence whether things seem harmonious or not\u2026and the only place I can be separate from all is in my awareness. My mind is very good at that bit of separation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When things are disharmonious, it isn\u2019t as though God just left the scene, but I undoubtedly did. So, it behooves me to constantly remind myself of my oneness with God. I can feed that part of myself by giving it more of my attention and focus, through prayer, meditation, affirmations, journaling, visualization, or whatever. I can spend more time in Nature or listening to music or doing something to attune with a less hectic vibration. I can start my day and indeed every interaction by grounding in what is most important to me, my deepest values and my deepest desires. And I can tap into the joy, love, gratitude, compassion and peace that always abide in my heart before I speak or act. Or think. These things are possible, but it\u2019s me that has to do them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When I do, I experience harmony. When I do, fewer things seem urgent and I can spend time on things that are important and valuable to me. When I do, I spend more time creating and less reacting (by the way, those two words have the same letters, just in different sequence). Then I notice that what I create in life is much more in line with my core values and intentions. I also notice I am much more able to take whatever comes in my life and use it to unfold more of my divinity.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This summer, I haven\u2019t been doing my usual spiritual routine that I described above. I\u2019ve been out in Nature a lot, but almost none of the rest. And apparently it\u2019s like not drinking enough water: by the time you realize it, your tank is already very low. I\u2019d become quite upset-able lately without really realizing it, and it came to a head the other day. Through that experience I came to realize that it\u2019s not enough to know I am divine Love. I have to affirm it, acknowledge it, appreciate it, fill myself with it and remind myself of it, consciously and often. It\u2019s pretty simple. The more I do, the harder it is for me to forget and the easier it is for me to show it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The word \u201charmony\u201d means \u201cto fit together\u201d, and that\u2019s how it feels to me. When I find harmony within myself, everything seems to fit together. I know everyone and everything already does, but only when I establish harmony within myself do I experience that feeling. And when it feels as if everything fits together, I am much less upset-able!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And if that\u2019s all I remember, that\u2019s more than enough for now.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My favorite quote from the Buddha goes something like this: \u201cWe don\u2019t get upset because of what\u2019s happening; we get upset because we\u2019re upset-able.\u201d In other words, just like happiness, upset is an inside job. And I don\u2019t know about … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-look-for-the-good"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179,"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions\/179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}