You Can Achieve Your Goals | Rev. John Riley

Well good morning. Good morning, good morning. Everyone, take a nice deep cleansing breath. 

Have you ever felt like things just weren’t quite going right? Have you ever felt that sometimes, around this time of the pandemic, that there may be a little darkness, that there may be a little hesitation in you, that you may feel like you’re stuck? Those dreams, those goals that you had, maybe feel like they’re sitting on the couch? Anybody experience that? Yeah. 

Raising Consciousness

We’re in the middle — we’re toward the end actually — a couple more Sundays of a talk series that is all about raising our consciousness. And it’s all about getting us to the point where we can start to live and express those dreams, and those goals, and those visions with ease and grace. We started a couple weeks ago, a few weeks ago, with the idea of emptying our cup, emptying our cup of all of those unhealthy stories, all of those beliefs, all of those resentments that we had so that we had space, so that we were in a place where we could become filled. And even empty our cup around our idea about God, so that we can have a greater understanding and expression of that which is ever-present, the sum and substance of all that is, that which is within every person, in all creation, the source, the creation, the creative power, the creative impulse in our lives, to have a deeper understanding of that. And whether you call it God, or isness, or divine mind, or consciousness, or the universe, or Spirit, whatever it is that you call that, to have a deeper and greater opening for that and celebrate that in the world and in our lives and then to start to identify with that which is within us. Because as Unity says, as Tiffany said earlier, God isn’t just out there somewhere but God is in everything, around everything and in each one of us. 

The Divine Consciousness, the I AM

So, we begin to identify and recognize with our I AM-ness, that divine consciousness that is within us, that openness that is within us. And as we begin to align ourselves with that and begin to recognize that I AM-ness, begin to identify and really integrate that into our lives. So, we’ve got the I AM and we’ve got “the little me”. We’ve got that higher consciousness and then we’ve got our ego and our pain body or whatever you want to call it. They’re not separate. We sometimes think that they’re separate but we need to integrate it so that that little me is following the lead of the I
AM within us. When we start to integrate those two things, that’s when we’re ready to start realizing that truth. 

That’s what today is all about. It’s about walking your walk because each of us is an each-ness in that all-ness of life, love and wisdom, each of us has an individualized expression of it. So, each of us are ready for something new and something greater, and yet sometimes we are sitting on the couch. Our first step in that — I have to get back to my notes here — our first step in that is first that understanding of once we get to that realization or that integration, is to start realizing that. 

In the Right Place at the Right Time

I don’t know, has anybody been watching the Olympics, have you been watching the Olympics this last few weeks? Yeah? I selectively watched a few things. I watched — I love water polo. I played water polo, so I watched the women’s, several of their games, and I watched the gold medal game yesterday. It was on rewind and they won. I was watching that and sitting on the couch thinking, gosh, I used to do that. That used to be me. Now, granted, it was at a community college level so that is a little bit different. I don’t know if you know water polo or not but if you watched it but it’s a pretty rough sport. First off, you can’t touch the bottom. You are in a pool, you are in water and you’ve got to throw this round ball into the goal with one hand. And there’s a defender on your back usually holding you down underneath the water, kicking off on you when you’re ready to go, when they’re heading the other direction. 

It’s a rough sport, let me tell you. And I am sitting there watching it thinking, I don’t remember it being that rough. But then I remembered oh yeah, I was the goalie. Yeah. We didn’t have to sprint back and forth, but I have to tell you the US women’s goalie was phenomenal. She was always in the right place at the right time. I have watched big collegiate like CAL or Stanford play water polo and they’ve got their seven-foot-tall swimmers with seven-foot-wide wingspan as goalie so all they have to do is kind of go like that. This woman was much shorter than that. But she was always in the right place at the right time. 

That’s what this is really about. It’s about being in the right place at the right time. It’s about stepping out into your goals and into your dreams. It’s about stepping out into that I AM-ness so that you know that you are in the right place at the right time, you taking that step to move into that place. 

The first step in knowing that in the process is really to begin to create a new paradigm for you so that you get your dreams up off of the couch, so that you get momentum and get movement into them. It’s not enough to simply know that you’re the I AM-ness. You must apply it in your life and bring it out into your life. You must apply it into the world and that’s where we need to begin to change our mindset. The first three steps of getting into alignment with that, with Spirit and emptying ourselves and getting us ready, that prepares us for this mind action. That prepares us for our ability to expand our consciousness, to create a new reality. 

Changing Your Mindset

A lot of times, what we do is, after our meditations and affirmative prayers, we kind of slip back into our mind pattern. We begin to slip back into the way our life used to be. Sometimes in our lives — I’m going to go over here — sometimes in our lives we are using that energy, that momentum for a moment and then we set it down and we go back into our old patterns. So, we really need to change first our mindset. That’s where affirmations come into play. 

The word has creative power. I love this. This is from the first Apostle John the first Epistle of John, chapter 1, verse 1. “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” The word is the divine logo. It’s the creative constructive power of Spirit to work in and through us. It’s through those words, and when we apply those words into our consciousness then they become realization for us, then they become manifests for us. But we must take on that role of using our words, our thoughts and our actions to align ourselves with that one presence, with I AM-ness within us. All the potentialities, the I AM-ness, the wisdom, the will and consciousness come into play. All ideas begin in wisdom. All ideas begin in God, begin in Spirit. It’s that, that’s the logos, that’s the divine inspiration that we get. And then we bring them into manifestation through our will. It’s our inner spiritual will that begins to align ourselves with that. It’s our inner spiritual will that allows us to say yes, this is the way I’m going to move, to change our thinking so that when we are feeling upset, when we are getting frustrated, when we’re feeling that pain body, we just acknowledge, that’s the little me. 

We don’t separate ourselves from it. We integrate it. We take that little me and we enfold it with the love of the I AM-ness that’s within us. That is the part of us that will always be there. And we will always have in this human experience, the times when we’re feeling a little needy, our little ego, our little control body, our little wanting things to be the way we want them to be. But when we use our power of will to move to inform the little me with our I AM consciousness, with that higher consciousness within us, then the little me becomes the servant. The little me becomes the joy of experiencing it and expressing it. Then that’s made manifest in consciousness. Everything begins first in consciousness, everything, from this podium, to this crazy electricity thing that operates our livestream. Everything within this world begins in consciousness. You are a spiritual being living in the spiritual image and likeness of that divine energy. 

How Will It Show Up for You?

So, step number two is, how will it show up for you? How will it show up in you? What will it look like in your thoughts? How will it show up around you? What will it look like in your actions? What will it sound like in your words? Take time to really understand this. If I’m at my highest self, what does that highest self really look like? If I’m doing the things that are mine to do, how does that show up in the world? If I have these great dreams and visions, what will it look like when I’m expressing them, when I’m moving towards them, when I’m taking that step and walking my walk? Take time to really think about that and then let it go because the little me will want it to be exactly like that and when it’s not, when it’s a little bit off course, the little me will say, ah this doesn’t work, I’m going to sit back down on the couch. 

So, we find our path. We take one step and then we allow Spirit to guide us to the next step. We allow that I AM-ness within us to guide us to our next step. Sometimes we will change course but it’s so much easier to change course if you are actually moving. We fight against inertia when we are sitting on the couch. Our goals fight against inertia when we’re doing nothing about them, when they’re just a dream. But when we start to put feet to them and start to move in that direction, Spirit guides us as long as the little me, the ego me, is just there for the ride. Spirit will guide us. Spirit will guide us. Spirit will guide you. All you need to do is walk, walk with Spirit. 

In this idea of changing consciousness, we raise our consciousness to that level and then we apply our affirmative prayer. We apply our affirmations to our lives. We change the constructs of our thinking so that we are focused on Spirit, moving forward. There’s a goal out there but we are focused on that idea, that divine essence that is within all people. And then we look for it all around the world. We look for it in every step. 

Take the Steps

Now, there are times when it doesn’t feel like we’re there. There are times when we feel like our dreams are stuck on the couch. A dear friend of mine, Martha Creek who many of you know, her nephew Wesley Creek just lost his fiancé, his life partner who was going to be his fiancé. She was twenty-five and she had an ATV accident, an accident on an ATV and she died. Twenty-five years old. Their life had changed. They had just come back from Disneyland with their family because Wesley has some kids and she has some, three kids so the five of them including Martha went to Disneyland, to experience life. She came home and she thought – well, I don’t know what she thought — but she was experiencing an ATV excitement and then a tragedy happened. Don’t wait. Don’t wait for a tragedy to happen to get up off of the couch and move your feet. Don’t wait for some level of knowledge to suddenly appear for you. Don’t wait for — you know, if you have the impulse of moving forward, don’t wait. Take one step. 

So often what we do is we say “ah, here’s my dream, here is my goal” and then we set to documenting it, to thinking about it. But we don’t ever take a step. Sometimes we have that goal, and we think “I can do that as soon as I get my next degree, as soon as I get my — I’ve got to take this class before I really understand it. I really have got to apply forgiveness first in this situation before I can let go, but I’ve got to learn more about forgiveness because clearly, it’s not working for me.” We put all of these barriers in front of us. We put apathy in front of us. All it takes is a little bit of courage to stand up and take one step. Because what happens is that once you have the courage to stand up and take one step, you’re moving beyond that consciousness of victim/victor. You are moving beyond the consciousness and the inertia that is in there, that is set in. As soon as you take one step in the direction of courage, you are now lifted in consciousness. 

So you take another step in the direction of harmony, of love, another step in the direction of peace, another step in the direction of accomplishment, all along the way knowing that there may be times when something will change, that some tragedy might happen or even a small thing might happen that will change, it will give us a setback. But when we stay in contact with that presence and power, when we move back into that experience of the divine in all, of the divine in you, then with a breath you just take one more step. That’s how Spirit works. We can fight against it all we want. Spirit is always there saying, here you go, “Here is the next step”. “No, it’s over here. No, no it’s over here. No, it’s over here.” Anybody experience that? We go in one direction and then a little later “Uh, I should have done something a little differently.” Then the should’s can turn into blame, shame and guilt. BSG. It’s my new acronym. The blame, shame and guilt anchor us to our couch. 

Recognizing the Divine Impulse

So today and this week, our goal is simply to recognize those dreams, those goals, that spiritual pull within you. Spirit is always pulling us forward. There is always that divine impulse that is urging us towards our highest good. So, it’s a matter of really recognizing that, seeing that and acknowledging it, and saying, “What would that look like? What’s my first step? What would that sound like? What would that feel like?” And then taking that step. How does my highest self-show up in this situation? That’s it. That’s our practice this week. 

Each of us has a dream or goal. Each of us has that divine impulse. And some people say, “Well, how do I know whether it’s ego or the I AM? How do I know?” Beloved whatsoever is pure, whatsoever is true, whatsoever is life-affirming? If there’s an idea that creates, that is creative, that is constructive that does not detract from others but adds to the universe, that adds to the good in the universe, whatsoever is beautiful and joyful, think on these things. And as you think on those things, the way will open up for you. As you look for the silver lining, as you look for the rainbow at the end of the tunnel, the light at the end of the tunnel, as you look for these good things, the way will open up for you to move in that direction. 

Spirit Guides You

Whatever storms there are in your life, God is here, present, within you. Spirit is the action and activity that is guiding you. As we raise our consciousness it’s time to start expressing that into the world so that we can make a difference in the world. We can be a beneficial presence in the world, however that looks like for you, however that shows up. 

Let’s take this to our affirmation. I’m going to read this once and then invite you to affirm it with me. 

One with Spirit, I joyfully activate the power within me to walk my path, to make a difference in my world. 

I think there should be an “and” in there. I am going to read it again and then you can decide whether my conjunctions are correct or not. 

One with Spirit, I joyfully activate the power within me to walk my path, and make a difference in my world.

I’ll invite you to read the affirmation with me. Together:

One with Spirit, I joyfully activate the power within me to walk my path, and make a difference in my world. 

And so it is. 

Let’s try some more. Are you willing to flow with it here? This is an easy one. 

I’m walking my path with Spirit. 

Would you affirm that with me? Together: 

I’m walking my path with Spirit. 

I forgot, there is an exclamation mark at the end. So, let’s try it with an exclamation point at the end. 

I’m walking my path with Spirit! 

Yes? I’m going to say it, then you repeat it because I want to hear it. I feel like Ted Lasso. I want to hear it. 

I’m walking my path with Spirit! 

I’m walking my path with Spirit! 

I am walking my path with Spirit! 

I am walking my path with Spirit! 

I am walking my path with Spirit! 

I am walking my path with Spirit! 

And so it is. 

Unity Palo Alto is here for you. We are here to help you discover that spiritual magnificence that is within you. We are here to help you raise your consciousness so you can walk and be that beneficial presence in the world today and through this week.