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Voluntary Simplicity:
Changing the Dial of Consciousness
by Michelle Liberté
Voluntary simplicity is a state of mind; it's wanting to be free.
It's become crystal clear as we've walked through the door of the 21st century into
an even faster-paced, high-tech world that our lives, in general, have become more
complicated, more complex and yes, more stressful. Some may argue that this is the
result of circumstances beyond our control. Those would be circumstances like: a
competitive job market; an ever-more increasingly digital world; more peer pressure
in colleges and high schools to pursue recreational chemicals and recreational sex;
instant communication that forces people to make faster decisions; inflation; and
higher taxes, to name just a few . . ..
Life is basically simple and carefree when we're young. However, it gets more interesting,
and we tend to make it more complicated, as we come of age and enter the world of
invoices, mortgages, car payments, high food bills, high gas prices and college tuitions
and are forced to deal with the day-to-day initiation of surviving on this planet.
Some people believe that leading a simple and happy lifestyle is not possible in
a world that generates so many circumstances beyond our control. There is a mindset
that we must conform to trends, financial pressures, etc., to survive. Examples of
this could include holding down two jobs to pay your bills, or working for a boss
you can't stand, or having to divorce your spouse and break up your family because
of "irreconcilable differences."
If we believe that the circumstances of our life force us to conform to a lifestyle
that is stressful, unfulfilling and complicated, then we've conceded the loss of
true freedom and allowed those circumstances to control us. This is neither rational
nor healthy.
There are spiritual solutions to a complicated, stress-ridden lifestyle. The most
basic solution is to first look at ourselves and our lives and then make some personal
changes. Looking at our life is easy. Choosing to make personal changes is more difficult.
Why? Because change is hard and people don't tend to do reality checks on themselves.
However, spiritual principles teach us if you want to attract wealth, you need to
act wealthy. If you want to magnetize committed people into your life, you need to
be committed to something greater than yourself; if you want to attract success,
you need to act successful; if you want to simplify your life, you need to be and
think more simply. Ancient wisdom dictates this wise teaching: What you become is
what you can attract. This wisdom comes from the great luminaries known as the ascended
masters -- the saints and adepts who have emerged out of the spiritual traditions
of East and West.
Anyone who desires can find or reinstate simplicity in their life. The first step
is to recognize and identify which factors or situations in your life are causing
stress and preventing you from peace of mind. The second step is to decide if you
want to do something about them. The third step is to act on your decision.
Prioritize and choose wisely if you want to have a simpler life. Every day people
make choices. Some of those choices may lead them away from the simplicity and happiness
that is intrinsic within life. We may not always believe that certain choices we
make, at any given moment, contribute to making our lives too complicated, too stressful
and ultra-controlled, until we feel that tightening noose of anxiety around our neck.
Voluntary simplicity can be reinstated in our life by applying some very basic spiritual
principles such as making personal changes, prioritizing and making careful choices,
changing our perspective and thinking more simply. Once we change our perspective
of the problem and how to deal with it, the negative circumstance we were in often
changes or even completely vanishes. Applying spiritual principles to a complicated
lifestyle that begs for simplicity will often create conditions in our life that
seemed impossible when we were in the grip of the "Catch 22 syndrome."
Some of the spiritual principles mentioned in this article are outlined in greater
detail in a little pocket-size book, Practical Spirituality, published by Summit
University Press and available on Amazon.com
This small book combines ancient and modern spiritual teachings in an easy-to-understand
format and offers a number of good ideas on how to bring harmony, simplicity and
practical spirituality into one's life. One of the key principles of these teachings
is the use of the violet flame. The violet flame, if you're not familiar with the
term, is a spiritual force of high frequency, violet in color, which can be called
into action by invocation to transmute negative energy.
By understanding that there is a spiritual solution to every problem, we can have
a fuller life in a world that promises to get more sophisticated and more stressful
as time goes on. We can embrace, for example, spiritual concepts like learning to
live in the present, discovering our soul's core passion and learning to connect
with our Higher Self.
Once we begin to apply these spiritual principles in our life, such as the science
of the spoken word in the form of prayer, spiritual fiats and decrees, they can help
us to turn the dial of our consciousness and actually create a new, improved everyday
reality for ourselves.
When this happens, we are better equipped to deal with our daily choices. We come
to realize that even though the world may be moving faster and getting more complex
and burdensome, we can live a simple and fulfilling life, because we took the responsibility
to not allow circumstances beyond our control to take away our freedom. And freedom
is what it's all about -- it's our greatest gift.
Michelle Liberté is a freelance writer who lives in the Twin Cities. For more
information about the teachings of the Ascended Masters referenced in this article,
please visit www.summitlh.com/minneapolis or call (952) 926-4385.
Copyright © 2005 Michelle Liberté. All rights reserved. |
| June 2005 |
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