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In asking we can know that helpers of various kinds await our call and that their commitment is to respond and to offer us assistance in every way imaginable. This is particularly true of those beings of the angelic realm whose singular purpose is to respond to human prayer and invocation.
As we ask for help our prayer becomes an offering of ourselves as instruments of Divine intention, always bearing the thought in mind: "Thy will, not my will, be done." At the same time that we surrender to God's higher Will, we accept responsibility for our own part in the partnership with God. We do this so that the Divine plan for ourselves may become fully embodied upon the earth and so that we may become co-creators with God of our lives.
Our minds can be a help or a hindrance in the opening of our hearts to God and to God's love. Through our intention we can employ the tremendous power of our mind to harness our free will in the service of Divine will, or we can find reasons to reject this relationship. We can make choices in each moment to expand beyond fear-based thinking to thinking which openly embraces possibilities. This leads to a balance of mind and heart.
Positive alignment begins to take place when we decide to emotionally and energetically open to something greater than ourselves. What this greater presence is that we call upon, whether God or higher beings, is a matter of familiarity, of background, and of resonance and can be based on the natural sympathy between ourselves and those beings of light who share with us qualities of heart and spirit. The ability to recognize sympathy or resonance increases as we come to trust ourselves more and as we gravitate toward those with whom we feel a natural kinship. At the same time we remain mindful that even beings of the higher realms do not replace God within our hearts, but rather smooth the path toward intimate contact with Him.
It is not uncommon to discover that the times in which we most need to align are those when we are least likely to think of it. Experiences of fear and doubt tend to distract us from the movement toward alignment into worry and a need to control and at these times we tend to forget the way of surrender and of asking. Positively aligning is useful at any time, but it is most useful when we have a need to face problems aided by the wisdom and love of our higher selves3. This need is especially apparent when the answers to problems we face seem just beyond reach.
The practice of aligning in the most basic sense represents our intention to shift our emphasis from 'doing' to 'being,' and from worrying or obsessing, to receiving inspiration and insight. Frantic or compulsive activity, whether physical or mental, is a barrier to such an inward focus. Depending on how caught up we are with such activity we will need to go to various lengths to relocate our sense of inner balance and to come back to our center.
The actual process of alignment involves being still and physically positioning ourselves in such a way that the spine is erect and the various energy centers up and down the spine are in line with each other. Focusing on the breath rising and falling in the chest around our heart center is an important way of moving our awareness into our bodies and hearts as we try to contact the deeper life within us.
How long we sit, whether we are silent or focus on a word or words, and whether our asking is non-verbal or takes the form of a prayer, is a matter of soul-guidance and will vary both from person to person and also as our consciousness changes. Always, coming back to the breath and the focus of breathing into the heart quickens the movement toward the Source of life within us. Trusting ourselves, higher energies, and God to bring us into a more profound experience of connection is both the method and the purpose of alignment.
It is important to know that alignment will not always be experienced as joyful, though its effects are always positive. God hears our call and responds to our desire to be shown the essential truth of who we are by providing us with the necessary conditions, both inner and outer, to encourage healing. Often, courage and support are needed in order to come face-to-face with our fear that we will not succeed in our healing efforts.
In aligning what is needed most of all is spiritual perspective. Doubt that we feel regarding the outcome of the practice of alignment need not be a deterrent to this practice. Doubt can stir within us more intense prayer to be helped as we make the maximum effort we are capable of to continue to be receptive to this help. In centering within the heart and aligning we join with the deepest core of ourselves, the core that wishes to know God in love and truth. Our hearts can teach us the way to peace and of dealing with fear and limitation within ourselves; they can also teach us to wait in faith.
Perseverance in the practice of alignment and discipline in continuing this practice when times are hard, needs to be maintained, even though our sense of motivation may wax and wane. The important thing is that when we notice we have lost our center we return to this practice whose ultimate goal is to bring us home. In doing this we create the optimum circumstances for experiencing the essential truth of our natures and of God's unconditional love.
Our heart is the mysterious realm of our being in which rigid definitions and linear ways of thinking dissolve. Within our hearts intuition takes the place of logic. Intuition teaches us about our true nature as beings of light and love and about God's true nature as the essence of Love. The journey to this center of ourselves is the goal and purpose of our human experience and every thought, word, and feeling is moving us in this direction all of the time. However, the twists and turns along our way must be navigated as we move through confusion, fear, and doubt into the place of peace and clarity.
In our search for the essence of ourselves, in our search for the Love within us, we are introduced to a new way of life. It is our task to remain faithful to this new way and not be defeated by difficulties so that our own Divine essence can finally emerge into the light of day. Our faith in the sacredness of the transition can be based on the understanding that all that blocks our passage, all that hinders the emergence of light and love within us, will ultimately be revealed and healed as we persevere. Our role in this is to stay present and to become ever more willing to open our hearts.
Love heals fear and is the most unifying force in the universe. Giving and receiving God's love is the highest form of consecrated spiritual commitment. As we take more risks in living love's expression in our lives, we broaden the river of love that flows through us toward all of humanity. In this way we heal the earth as we heal ourselves.
The first step begins with us. With each thought of self-judgment that arises we can choose to focus not on blame, but on forgiving ourselves. We can respond to ourselves with patience and tenderness rather than criticism. We can take an active part in the transformation of ourselves through basic self-care and through efforts to unconditionally love ourselves. These efforts are manifested through self-nurturing behaviors and through the ever-widening expression of the truth of who we are.
This loving attitude toward ourselves is the precondition for genuine love toward others. For love toward others needs to grow toward its Divine expression. It needs to outgrow its basis in personal need and become an outflowing of energy that is unconditional. When we know that our expression of love is no longer dependent on the response we may or may not get from another, we have moved a great distance toward the capacity to feel and to be the embodiment of our Divine essence.
The ultimate transition from human love based on need states, to Divine love which expects no return and seeks only to bless, is made possible through our effort combined with the help of Divine grace. As we feel more nourished from within, as we align ourselves daily with the Source of nourishment, we witness nothing less than a miracle within ourselves. We become empowered to embody our true natures and to bless the world in all its astonishing diversity with kindness and love.