What’s Waiting for You | Rev. John Riley

Well, are you ready for your change?  Yes, raise your hand if you’re ready for your change or put something in the chat there.  I’m ready for my — almost everybody is ready for their change.  That’s nice.  I’m surprised because normally, a lot of times, not this group apparently, but a lot of times people are more ready for other people or other things to change.  Are you aware of that?  

Raise your hand if you’re ready for others to change.  It’s okay.  I’m raising my hand.  That’s right, because so often we are looking at things from outside of us.  We’re looking at the world around us to change.  We’re looking for things that are going wrong in our lives.  Have you ever felt the experience of “Gosh, I really wish that life was going a little bit better.  I really wish that my goals and dreams were being accomplished more quickly.  I really wish that things were a little different out there”, or just kind of waiting for things to shift?  Have you ever felt that?  That experience of, “Gosh, I’m feeling stuck.  I feel like, ugh, how do I get going?”  The nervous chuckle.  I’ve got some wonderful goals and dreams from ten years ago.  “I’m waiting for them to be done.  Can someone go do that for me?”  

So often that we’re looking outside of ourselves to find the problems or to find the solution or to fix a problem that we see in the world, with all the struggles that we see or are experiencing, with all of the stress that’s going on.  — I’m supposed to take that off.  You can’t hug me while I’m on stage.  I’m sorry. — There’s just this needing for us to seek out things and to see different, seek change and make things happen but the challenge is we’re always looking outside of ourselves.  

The Law of Mind Action

So, the first step here is to realize, what is our real thinking.  If you haven’t made the progress that you have on your goal, if you haven’t made the change that you are looking to have in your life or in your relationship or in your career, if you’re struggling to move forward, then the first thing we have to do is become aware of what we’re thinking about it.  

It’s that third principle that Jho was talking about, the law of mind action, those things that we think about, the ideas that are running through our heads are what we focus on.  So, when we’re focused on the struggles and the stress and the not enough’s, then we are coming from a standpoint of not enough.  What are we creating in our lives?  Not enough, more not enough.  I’ve got a whole bag of not enough over here for you.  

Our goal here is to shift and become aware of our thinking first and foremost.  Now, this isn’t always an easy thing to do because when we’re in the middle of something our brain takes over or our amygdala takes over and we’re just focused on trying to fix the problem.  

I was speaking with a good friend of mine who is an executive in a high-tech company and she was basically going from a small marketing department to a large marketing department with multiple products all of a sudden, so it’s really like re-creating a brand-new department, a brand-new organization.  The stress and strain of keeping up with, “Well, here’s what we did in the past and here’s how we have to do things in the future”. And that kind of change in our lives and how much she was struggling in it, not only to shift her own thinking about it, to shift then the company’s thinking about it because it’s doing business a different way.  What a great opportunity.  The gift in it is, the company’s actually growing so there’s that opportunity.  And the struggle of going from the way we were before and how we operated and what we did to a brand-new way of thinking can be difficult.  

Willingness to Make a Change

Now, we’ve experienced this over the last three years, haven’t we, this idea of the pandemic.  Life changed and all of a sudden, we had to change with it.  Those of us who struggled against the change, who got frustrated with it, felt more, what did you feel?  More stress, more anxiety, more anger, more frustration, until maybe you got to a point of apathy, of not caring?  It’s like “Ugh, we’ll have to figure it out tomorrow” because it’s simply that need to change and shift from what we were doing in the past and be willing to make that change.  

So, the first step is to really identify what it is that we are holding onto, what are we resisting?  Having that self-awareness to hear our thoughts will tell you what you’re resisting.  The practice in Unity that we talk about most often, or that I like to talk about, is this idea of non-resistance.  

The Difference Between Non-Resistance and Allowing

Now, I had a discussion with someone else about the difference between non-resistance and allowing.  So, for me, they’re two very different things.  And if you can get a sense of this, allowing is this idea at least in this person’s mind and in my mind, of giving power over to the situation.  I’m allowing it to be.  I’m allowing this condition to be.  I’m just allowing it because it is, so I am allowing it to be.  That seemed to, in her mind, give more power to the situation.  

Non-resistance, on the other hand, doesn’t give any power over to it.  It’s just stating the data.  “This is what I’m experiencing today”, without the story.  Can you see the difference?  Can you see how it feels differently in you?  Here’s the data, but the story is, “Well I’d have to allow it.  Well, I need to get over it.  Well, I need to make some change.  Well …” all of the stories that we wrap around it.  But non-resistance is simply acknowledging the presence of whatever is in your life at that present moment, acknowledging and accepting — ah there’s the word — acknowledging and not being resistant to your present state of mind — how about that one? — your present state of body, your present state of consciousness.  It just is.  

Because once we acknowledge it and become aware of it, then we have the opportunity to change it.  So, she shifted from allowing to just non-resistance.  And then, what energy do you want to take into that?  

What happens, I think, is that when we get frustrated, when we get angry that leads us down into that spiral, that low energy range when we are just, we feel drained.  Sometimes I get to that point in my goals, my dreams, it’s like, “Well, if I really want to do it I’ve got to get up and I’ve got to do something.  I’ve got to take some action.  Well, maybe I will just take it tomorrow.  It’s okay if I take a break today.”  I was experiencing this all week.  It’s like, normally when I come up with the talk and I usually have the talk, title and affirmation up front by Monday-ish so that I can give it to the musicians and then the musicians can get inspired by that and come and create the music program that goes along with it.  

Well, Monday, late Monday, Margo sent me, hey here’s our set list.  I’m like oh thank goodness.  Now I don’t have, now I don’t have to stress about it.  One of the things I recognized about myself is that my behavior pattern is, it’s that stress that gets me to move.  So, this morning I was like, what’s my talk again?  It wasn’t that bad, but it did relieve some of that pressure and then I was inspired by what they were writing, what they were coming forward with and that led me to this talk and where we’re at.  

What I recognized is, and then yesterday I came in and just wrote down, here are the next ten talks for the rest of, for the rest of the next couple months.  I don’t know whether they’ll happen in that order.  I leave space for Spirit to change, but I wrote them down.  I was very inspired by it simply by not resisting, not getting stressed and letting go of that fear.  So, letting go is a very important component.  

Forgiveness and Releasing

Now, you may talk about it in different ways.  It may be forgiveness.  That’s a big word and people don’t usually like that word because it means I’ve got to do some work.  It may be the idea of just releasing something, releasing the allowing, releasing the fear, not the fear, but the story around the fear, releasing the resentments or the bitterness, or the anger, or the frustration that we might have with people out there, those spiritual knuckleheads as we call them, releasing all of that within us, because what’s happening is we are blocking ourselves from experiencing our good.  We are blocking ourselves from taking that step forward by our own thinking and our own stories, by our low energy, by giving into the apathy, by giving into the resentment.  

I’ve spoken to a lot of people about forgiveness.  It’s a common practice and a very important practice because whenever we have some form of resentment or resistance to something or someone, there is a sense within us and something within us that needs to be forgiven, that needs to be released and let go.  Forgiveness is that internal process of letting go of something.  

The “No” Power of the Mind

Again, this week I had written a letter and a card to Dr. Catherine Ponder.  She’s a Unity minister and author.  You may have heard of her.  She’s written many books. — The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity, The Prospering Power of Love, several books out there.  I wrote her a letter because I wanted to receive, in her book she says, if you want a special advanced angel writing letter, write to me.  So, I did.  Do you want to hear what she wrote back?  

“Dear Mr. Riley, if there are times when your affirmative prayers do not seem to be answered, there can be a reason.”  Well, wait a minute, I didn’t say anything about my affirmative prayers not being answered.  “Perhaps you need to use the ‘no power’ of the mind to free, cleanse and release.”  

You love that one, okay good.  I did not know that Catherine Ponder can see into my soul simply from that card that I sent but yes, this is exactly what I needed to hear.  “By saying no to troublesome appearances you can help to be released, cleansed, and freed from any fear about them.”  By saying no to troublesome appearances.  “As you continue to say no to them, they lose their grip and fade away.  Ancient philosophers have said, “Now –”, I always want to slip into my Catherine Ponder accent because I have CDs from the 1960’s when she was speaking – “Now friends, ancient philosophers said the ‘no power’ of the mind could clear out one’s great difficulties.  I believe it.”  The idea of no is reclaiming your power.  It’s an inner no saying, “I’m not going to give my energy over to that fear.  I’m not going to give my energy over to that experience that’s out there.”  It’s saying, “Okay non-resistance, it’s there but I’m saying no to it.  I’m not going to take it on.  I’m not going to bring it and align with it and make it a part of my I AM, that I AM consciousness”.  I’m going to say, “Okay, there it is and I give no power to it.”  

She had an affirmation at the end.  “In our prayer ministry we shall be declaring that the ‘no power’ of the mind is doing its perfect cleansing, freeing, releasing work in your mind, body and affairs.  You go forth to your new good, freed, released and cleansed of all that is less than the best in life.”

That’s the power of that simple no.  It’s the power of saying I’m going to, I’m going to stand in my truth of knowing that authentic self, of knowing that divine I AM consciousness and I’m going to stand in that.  When things come along, I’m not going to, you know, blow like the wind and say, “Well, I’m going to move in that direction or I’m going to move in this direction now” because that’s what people, our external conditions are telling me to do.  I’m going to say no and I’m going to stand in my truth.  I’m not going to give my power over to the resentment, to the story that I’ve created in my life about what happened twenty years ago or ten years ago or five minutes ago.  I’m not going to give my power over to my fears, my stories, my resentments.  I’m going to say no to my resentments, to cleanse and to clear those out because until you clear them out that good, that flow, that love, that joy that Jho talked about can’t flow, and it flows from the inside out.  It always does.  

Sometimes we confuse the idea of this divine impulse which is always calling us higher and leading us to our higher good and wanting us to stretch and to be more aligned with the I AM principle, but we confuse that with our desires out here.  We confuse that with the things in life.  There is nothing wrong with things and desires and relationships in people and things out there but when you make them the object of your joy, the source of your joy, then you are bound to be discouraged and disappointed at some point in time.  Instead of making that situation, that person, that thing be the source of your joy, the source of your joy comes from within.  It’s a perk.  It’s how that relationship is how it’s expressed.  The thrill of getting behind the wheel of that burnt orange McLaren, which I have never done, is how it’s expressed.  That new project that you are picking up is how it’s expressed.  The joy is expressed from the inside out.  And when you come to that awareness, then any situation that comes along you can stand in that joy even in the face of the storm.  That ‘no principle’ is, I’m not letting my power go.  I’m not giving it up.  

Willingness

I would like to read — well actually I’m going to the idea of our willingness.  The simple approach and the most effective approach that I’ve found is this idea of willingness, because non-resistance can be a little difficult.  That takes a little more understanding, a little higher energy level.  But willingness is just the simple state of saying, “I’m willing to let go.  I’m willing to forgive.  I’m willing to love.” 

What I have found is, when we’re in the middle of the anger and the frustration, or the apathy, or the shame, or the guilt, just having a sense of willingness lifts us up.  Energetically it’s like, “Oh, you know what?  That’s the power of no, I’m not giving my power over to this and I’m willing to forgive.  I’m willing to express harmony inside.  I’m willing to have a sense of joy and oneness inside.  I’m just willing to take one step forward.”  And that willingness lifts us up.  

So, this week practice when you find yourselves in those situations, those human situations that we all have, when you discover your thoughts around them, say, “No, I’m not going to give my power over and I’m willing to see this from a lens of harmony.  I’m willing to see this through the lens of inner peace and joy.  I’m willing to stand in that truth of who I am.”  

Wayne Dyer, in his book, Change Your Thoughts: Living the Wisdom of the Tao, said, “When expectations are shattered, practice allowing” —  I’ve got to start over again because I lost my train of thought.  Sorry.  You’re okay?  Everyone good?  Okay – “When expectations are shattered, practice allowing that to be the way it is.”  So, when expectations don’t come true, when we’re putting our joy out there and it doesn’t come true for us or something happens that demolishes it, or that cracks it, just allow it to be.  Don’t resist it.  “Relax, let go, allow and recognize that some of your desires are all about how you think your world should be rather than how it is in that moment.  Become an astute observer.  Judge less, listen more, and take time to open your mind to what is.”  

Just be in the moment.  He uses the word allow.  I would replace it with non-resistance, for me, because it’s just simply what is.  That helps me to recognize this is just what is in this present moment.  That takes away any of the hooks in me that want to pull me into this scenario, this storm, this story.  To use the power of no, become aware of your thoughts and have a willingness, a willingness to be there, a willingness to show up.  

I Asked

I would like to read a poem by the great and famous Unity author, Joyce Riley, aka mom.  It’s called I Asked, by Joyce Riley.

Where is that place where I’m at home, 

wrapped in love and never alone?  

Where is that place where I find joy of heart 

and peace of mind?  

I asked and looked until I could see 

the blessings I sought were hid in me.  

Waiting for me to see them, 

waiting for me to be them.  

Waiting for me to start living and loving 

with the whole of my heart.  

Now I pray to be, centered always 

blessed Spirit in thee.  

Your Good is Waiting for You

It’s just waiting for you.  Your good is there.  Your good is a present experience.  See it.  It’s waiting for you to acknowledge it.  It’s waiting for you to simply align yourselves more, a little bit more with that I AM consciousness.  And what you’ll find is that all of the muck and the clogged flow from resentment and anger and frustration melt away and that love flows freely.  That harmony, that good, whatever you want to call it, that expression of abundance flows freely through you.  It’s waiting for you.  It’s ready.  It’s like Spirit saying, “Okay, here’s your good.  You ready?  Oh, you’re not ready yet.  Okay.  It’s okay.  I’ve got eternity.”  

It’s just waiting for us to say yes.  To be open to it.  To be accepting of it.        
It’s waiting for you.  Are you ready?  Are you ready to make that change?