{"id":21441,"date":"2022-06-24T09:54:22","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T13:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=21441"},"modified":"2022-06-24T09:59:27","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T13:59:27","slug":"responding-instead-of-reacting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=21441","title":{"rendered":"Responding Instead of Reacting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nWGek2SB_cE\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard\ndescribes how we learn to navigate our emotions in a healthy way and find\nourselves grounded more deeply in the love of God: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I believe we are made for love, that our natural abiding place is love, and that we in fact\u00a0<\/strong><em><strong>are\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><strong>love. Our absolute foundation is communion with God and others.<\/strong> This is the \u201cdeepest me\u201d to which we must return before we act. From this foundation, we know we\u00a0<em>must\u00a0<\/em>act, and we\u00a0<em>are able <\/em>to\u00a0act from a place of positive, loving energy. <strong>Unfortunately, when \u201ctriggered\u201d by strong emotions, it is very difficult to come from that deep place of \u201cyes.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The next time you are offended, consider it a \u201cteachable moment.\u201d Ask yourself what part of you is actually upset.<\/strong> It\u2019s normally the false or smaller self. If we can move back to the big picture of who we are in God, our True Self, we\u2019ll find that what upset us usually doesn\u2019t amount to a hill of beans in objective reality! <strong>But we can waste a whole day (or longer) feeding that hurt until it seems to have a life of its own and, in fact, \u201cpossesses\u201d us. At that point, it becomes what Eckhart Tolle rightly calls our \u201cpain-body.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tolle defines this \u201caccumulated pain\u201d as \u201ca negative energy field that occupies your body and mind.\u201d [1] In this space, we seem to have a kneejerk, self-protective reaction to everything\u2014and everyone\u2014around us. I emphasize the word\u00a0<em>reaction\u00a0<\/em>here because there\u2019s no clear, conscious decision to think or act in this way. It just happens and we are seemingly powerless to stop it. <strong>By doing healing work and by practicing meditation, we learn to stop\u00a0<\/strong><em><strong>identifying with<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0the pain and instead\u00a0<\/strong><em><strong>calmly relate to it<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0in a compassionate way.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, in centering prayer, we observe the hurt as it arises in our stream of consciousness, but we don\u2019t jump on the boat and give it energy. <strong>Instead, we name it (\u201cresentment toward my spouse\u201d), then we let go of it, and let the boat float down the river. We have the power to say, \u201cThat\u2019s not me. I don\u2019t need that today<\/strong>. I have no need to feed this resentment. I know who I am without it.\u201d <strong>This is the beginning of emotional sobriety. <\/strong>[2] Many of us think we are converted to Christ, but without the conversion of our emotional reactions, we remain much like everyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If we\u2019ve been eating a regular meal of resentment toward our spouse, our boss, our parents, or \u201cthe world,\u201d the boat\u2019s going to come back around in the next minute because it\u2019s accustomed to us filling our plate<\/strong>. But we must be able to ask and to discover, \u201c<strong>Who was I before I resented my spouse? And even before that?\u201d This is the primary way we learn to live in our True Self, <\/strong>where we are led by a foundational \u201cyes,\u201d not by the petty push backs of \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8212;Sarah Young<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hold My Hand and trust. When we are connected all is well. Fearful anxious thoughts melt away in the Light of My Presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isaiah 41:10  <br><strong>\u201cDo not fear that I am with you\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cDo not fear because I am with you; do not be dismayed, because I am your God who strives you; I will always help you; I will always support you with the right hand of my justice\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ephesians 5:8  <br>For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Psalm 62:5-6  <br>I will find my rest in God alone. He is the One who gives me hope. He alone is my rock. He is the One who saves me. He is like a fort to me. I will always be secure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Father Richard describes how we learn to navigate our emotions in a healthy way and find ourselves grounded more deeply in the love of God: I believe we are made for love, that our natural abiding place is love, and that we in fact\u00a0are\u00a0love. Our absolute foundation is communion with God and others. This is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21441"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21441"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21445,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21441\/revisions\/21445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}