Still the Storm

Still the Storm of Stress: Accessing the Peace of Your Spirit . . .

Let your breathing be slow and deep as you affirm the following. Breathe in and silently say, “I AM an extension of God,” and breathing out silently say, “the Almighty I AM.” Breathing in, silently say, “I AM in this world,” and, breathing out, silently say, “but not of this world.

I AM not my hungers and desires. I AM the expanded and formless awareness who is aware of the smaller awareness encased in my body. I AM the expanded, formless me who is aware of the contracted little me feeling the inner storms of hunger, desire, anger, and fear.

I AM the one who experiences all that is occurring within the spaciousness of my awareness without trying to change any of it. I AM still, and from this still space between breaths, I watch and listen, see and hear, whatever thoughts, feelings, desires, and impulses arise in the spaciousness of my awareness.”

Reflect on how stress relief is found in the space between breaths and between desire and satisfaction, between impulse and action, between pain and the relief of pain. Silently say, “I AM the higher consciousness who can provide solace when stress strikes the smaller consciousness inhabiting my body.

I AM the awareness at the apex of the triangle of awareness, looking down on the two points below: the stress and the desire for relief, between desire and satisfaction, between impulse and action, between pain and the relief of pain.

I AM the expanded awareness who is aware of the space between these two states. I watch without reacting to the itch and the urge to scratch and remove the itch. I AM the expansive awareness of all that I experience as an embodied soul through my human form.

I AM the awareness who is experiencing hunger and the desire to eat to remove that hunger. I AM the pure and loving consciousness who is aware of what is and what the little-embodied-soul me would love to have happen.

I AM the awareness who hovers in the stillness of the space between what the embodied soul does not want and what the embodied soul does want. I AM the larger awareness watching over the smaller awareness inhabiting my body. I watch as this smaller awareness is constantly assailed by the endless desires arising in my mind-body impelling me to action.

I AM the loving awareness in the still space between breaths . . . I AM not a mere shadow cast upon the ground . . . I AM a sun . . . a radiant star . . . I AM not an absence of light limited to the contours of my body . . . I AM a light in the darkness shining beyond my body. For God is love, and, since I AM made in the image of God, I AM love extending vertically to touch the stars and horizontally to embrace the Earth!”

• Today, from time to time, still the storm of stress by simply taking a slow, deep breath and remiding yourself, "I AM the spacious awareness who is aware of all I see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. I AM not the content of what comes into my awareness. I AM the process of being aware of all that arises within and around me. (The above is taken from The Space Between Stars. See www.drsrj.com)