Get Your Cit Together – Part I
Cit: {Ch-it} Sanskrit for Consciousness.
It started with a prayer. Actually it started with a nightmare, then a prayer; “God guide my thinking.” Actually it began when I woke early one morning and felt a deep impulse to clear my altar of everything but the candles. Got the order here? Impulse. Clearing. Prayer.
A day or so later I received an email from the library informing me that a book I requested was now available.
A day or so after that Cole and I were out for an appointment. On the way home he fell asleep in the car. I pulled into our neighborhood but when I approached our driveway I thought, “I bet I could prolong this nap if I drove over to the library to pick up the book.” So I turned around in the cul-de-sac and headed out to the library.
I put Cole in a sling, he stayed asleep (!). I walked over to the section of reserved books, found the “H’s” and scanned for my name. I pulled the book down and, drat, it was not what I was expecting.
Having only scanned the notification email I thought I was picking up “The 21 Day Sugar Detox” but in my hands I now held The 21 Day Consciousness Cleanse: A Breakthrough Program for Connecting with Your Soul’s Deepest Purpose by Debbie Ford.
Disappointed and resisting the inner tug to pay attention to what had just happened I wandered over to the mystery section to look for the Walt Longmire Series. (I’m loving the A&E Show and wanted to see if landscape played as much of a role in telling the emotional story in the books as it does in the show). Finding one, I also picked up a Margaret Maron mystery (this library trip was beginning to be ambitious… I don’t really have much time to read right now!). Then I logged-on to the computer card catalogue to look up yet another book, which I reserved and have no idea when I’ll be able to read.
After all this dilly-dally I thought, “well, I’ll at least look through the Consciousness Cleanse.” I flipped to the table of contents. Ok, I guess. Then the dedication page “fell open.”
“This book was written to honor the writings and teachings of Emmet Fox…” My eyes bugged out, I stood gaping like a cod fish, then chuckled. “Ok, I hear You. I’ll get the book.”
Emmet Fox was a spiritual writer and teacher from the early 20th century whose work has been a powerful influence in my marriage and in understanding of the meeting points between Christianity and yoga. Even if you don’t consider yourself a Christian (or a yogi), I highly recommend giving his classic Sermon on the Mount a read.
This is how these things work. An impulse. A desire for something to shift or be created. A clearing of space for what is being called forth. A prayer, a heartfelt request to God, the Universe, Grace, whatever you want to call it. And then attention. You have to pay attention to the coincidences, the synchronicities.
In answer to the impulse to redirect my thinking and open to a deeper, more soul oriented rather than task oriented daily experience – to get my cit together – I’m embarking on this 21 Day Consciousness Cleanse. (I’ll save the sugar detox until blueberry season ends.) So far, it’s good.
It’s also helping me relax a little and at least try to not to overwork, over-plan and run too many errands prior to going on vacation in a couple of weeks. I’m hoping this soul work will make it feel like I’ve started vacation early. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Now I’m not suggesting you need to do a full 21 day consciousness cleanse to open you to new direction in your life (though it might not hurt). But, as we are now at mid-year, do you remember the Word you discovered for yourself back in January? You know, the one to guide and direct your intentions 2014?
I invite you take some time this week or weekend to sit in silence or pull out your journal; go for a walk or take a yoga class and revisit your intention. Your word. Your Sankalpa. How have you lived into this intention? How have you avoided or resisted it? Does it still apply? Is another intention trying to come through?
Think of this a mid-year check in. A time to listen for an impulse, clear some space, ask for guidance and then pay attention to the small but powerful ways you receive the answers to your soul’s longing.
The HouseHolder's Path 