Your Awareness | Rev. John Riley

Well, we have begun a journey, a journey of expressing our most prosperous life, of really tapping into that law, that principle of abundance and allowing that to come through us. How is it going so far? Great. Yeah. 

Be One With Life

So, this last week, our task was easy. It was just, look at all of the abundance around us. The rule number one was, be one with life. So, look at how that abundance gets expressed in the world without any trying and see that abundance in the world and really identify with it, really understand that it’s there, that that principle is always moving, and you are a part of that. 

You are a part of that because — what Rusty [Gaillard] said this morning — that idea, that spark of divinity that is within you, whether you call it the Christ consciousness or your higher self or simply a spark, it’s that that’s within you, that is waiting to come out. That is who you are. That’s just it. That is who you are. 

Awareness

So, the principle number two, the rule number two is awareness, is being aware, being aware that we live in an expanding universe. In his book — that is not it. Okay, there it is — in his book, The Art of Abundance the author, Dennis Jones, talks about this idea of the expanding universe. It’s always expanding. It’s always growing and so there’s always new things coming into manifestation, into creation. And that includes us. 

So, that impersonal law that we were looking at last week, that just happens. The goal for this week is to make it personal for ourselves, is to step in knowing that that energy flows through us as well. That’s who we are. And so, we become aware of that idea that we have the ability to create, to bring forth that principle of abundance, and we call it prosperity. The law is absolute. It’s perfect. It just works. It just works. So, whatever you are focused on is what you will create. Whatever you are giving your great attention to is what you will bring forth. It’s the lens through which we see in the world. That is the lens in which we are acting in the world. 

Self-Awareness

So, awareness that we live in an expanded universe is really self-awareness. It’s really taking a look to see, “What am I thinking? What am I saying? What am I doing?”, that self-awareness of, “How am I living into that principle? How am I living in and drawing forth from that idea and living that in my life?” That is self-awareness. 

And to practice self-awareness when the other shows up, the opposite shows up. There will be times in our life when there will be a little bit of struggle. There will be times in our life when things don’t go exactly how we had planned. But where are we putting our focus on it? See, the challenge that we have is so often we are waking up in automatic mode. We are waking up and we are just on autopilot. We do what we do every morning. We go. Our thoughts are just on autopilot. We are not really focusing on what we are thinking about. So whatever belief system that we have on, that is what is leading us. Awareness says, “Well, take a step back, take a pause and just look at that. Look at what you are thinking when you are waking up in the morning, when you are going about your day.” 

The challenge is sometimes we get caught in our belief system, that BS that holds us back, that belief system that comes from that idea of not-enough-ness, a belief of not-enough-ness. I am not enough. You’re not enough. There is not enough in the world. That not-enough-ness becomes our lens and so that is what we create. Not enough. So, we have to be aware of where are our not-enough-nesses. Instead of focusing on the prosperity that we are generating in our life, we are looking at the cracks in between. We are looking at the spaces in between where there is nothing. And we are saying, there is not enough. Instead of looking at the good that is happening in our lives, we are looking at all of the challenges in our lives and that becomes our focus. When we are self-aware, we are beginning to notice where we are putting our attention on our not-enough-ness. 

The Collective Consciousness

There is also the challenge of living in this collective not-enough-ness, that collective consciousness, that idea that the whole planet, all of us conscious beings, are thinking this idea that there is just not enough to go around. So that has an impact on us because we are separating ourselves from our oneness. We are living in the duality, the duality consciousness of victim and victor. It’s one or the other. I am either winning or I am losing. I am either beating you or you are beating me. When we come from that perspective, from that consciousness, we can never know our oneness. We can never truly understand that principle that is active within us. We are not in that energy. 

Now, that energy is propelling us forwards and sometimes we just got to trip into our good. Anybody have that? “Oh look, there is some good in my life. Hey, look at that, I got a new job. I like it. What do you know? Give me a year and then come ask me whether I like it or not.” We trip into our good because the universe is always moving us in that direction. That divine impulse is always bringing us up. If you want to really enjoy it, be grateful for it in the moment. If you want to really enjoy it and be more thoughtful about it, be aware of your thoughts. Be aware, self-aware. Self-awareness includes mind, body and spirit. It’s the allness of you. It’s the whole of you. Be aware of how that shows up and how that expresses in the world. 

Your Point of Power

The premise here that Jones talks about – “The universe is eternally expanding at the speed of light. It is perpetually pushing out, creating more of itself from within itself. The principle of abundance is the dynamic of this expression in action. Its mandate is to create impersonally through you at the level that you are able to personalize this principle.” At the level at which you are able to personalize this principle. “Your conscious awareness of that is your point of access”. That is your point of power. “With awareness we can become curious, conscious creators with the unlimited potential of the infinite universe.” 

So, let’s bring ourselves back to that idea of discovering the kingdom within, bringing ourselves back to that idea of knowing our oneness with Spirit, knowing how that flows through us, bringing ourselves back to understanding that principle within us. 

Be Accountable for Your Consciousness

And that brings us to our third rule. Everyone take a nice deep cleansing breath because this is a hard one. Are you ready? Be accountable for your consciousness. Now that you have the answer, now that you know that it’s a matter of awareness, now become accountable for it. Eric Butterworth once said — a Unity Minister and author — once said, “Prosperity is consciousness.” Prosperity is consciousness. “Prosperity is a way of living and thinking and not just having money or things. Poverty is a way of living and thinking and not just a lack of things.” 

So, you are responsible for your consciousness. Be accountable for your consciousness. So often in life we go around saying, “Well, life would be great if all of those other knuckleheads would just get in line”. Don’t we? Anybody ever think that or is it just me? Okay, there’s a few hands. Okay, there’s a few honest people out there. Sometimes we look at the world and say, “Gosh, if they only knew about Unity. Gosh, if they only knew about these principles. If they only thought the way I thought, everything would be great”. Except I don’t like what I think sometimes so then that gets a little dicey. A bunch of me’s running around? Ugh. You are only responsible for your consciousness. But you are responsible for your consciousness. You are responsible to show up. You are responsible to take a pause, take a breath, take a beat. Become aware of where you are at. 

I have been practicing this week. Whenever I got a little frustrated or whenever I got a little angry, whenever something was bubble upping, something was bubbling up within me, I took a pause. I would look at that and say “Oh, that is bubbling up”. And then what helped me was just saying, “You know what? I don’t need to be angry. I don’t need to be angry right now. I don’t need to be frustrated right now.” And that was enough to shift that consciousness out of being angry. I didn’t suppress it. I didn’t say, “No John, you can’t be angry, you have to be pious. You’re the minister.” I just said “Oh, there it is. Hello dear friend.” Every once in a while, our shadow comes out. Every once in a while, my shadow twin Skippy, as I like to call him, comes out. Every once in a while, your shadow will come out or your anger or your frustration, in our relationships, in our experience of life, in our experience of looking at not the good but at the cracks in between. In that moment when we look at the cracks in between, we can say “You know, I don’t have to look at the cracks in between anymore. I can be here, present, I can look at my good and I can be grateful for my good.”

Awareness Builds Consciousness

Jones talks about the idea of A-B-C — awareness builds consciousness. Awareness builds consciousness because consciousness is everything. Having that conscious awareness that we are one with that indwelling Spirit, that divine presence that guides us and moves us and has its way, has its being in us, that breathes us every moment. Consciousness. Being aware of the good in our life and how we are showing up in life, how we are expressing this good in our world. Consciousness. Awareness builds consciousness. 

So, our practice of awareness can come from mindfulness and mindfulness practice, just taking a step back, taking a beat and noticing “What am I thinking? What am I feeling? What am I saying? What am I doing? Is it in alignment with my highest good?” Sometimes when we start to move through this practice and we begin to gain a little awareness, we start to look out at the world, at our friends, at our family, because we had been there and we now have a little bit of perspective on it, we can easily see, “Oh, you know what your problem is?” because we can see ourselves in the other person, because we have that awareness. 

So, the risk here is, it’s great to offer support when support is asked for but sometimes what happens is, “You know what? I can fix you. I know exactly where you are at. All you have to do is this. Breathe like this ten times. Do this affirmation and you’ll be fine.” But it doesn’t always work. Do you know why? Because they are an individual person who is in charge of their own consciousness. You can give them suggestions and they might find their own way through it. You can live according to your truth and you can shine your light, you can be that buoyant personality, you can be that conscious compassion, you can be that ear and be coming from that higher consciousness and that will show them that there is a path. But you are responsible for you and when it comes to that collective consciousness, we would all love the collective consciousness in the world to rise above where it is at. Our focus has to be here, to express that energy out more into the world so that others can see it. That is what is meant by you are the light of the world and a city set on a hill, so that others can see your light. And allow it to shine so bright. 

Gratitude

There is a practice that I would like us to work on this week. It is this one right here, the practice of saying thank you. Gratitude is one of the keys to an abundant life. Gratitude is one of the keys to unlocking that energy and allowing that energy to flow. There are many gratitude practices that you have but the one that I found to be very powerful is when you actually tell someone thank you, “Thank you for showing up. Thank you for being a part of my life.” So, we have practiced with Thankyou.io. Of course, it has been created by a couple of people in our congregation and you can learn all about that on our website at unitypaloalto.org/thankyou. You can go to their website at thankyou.io and there is a little form that you fill out. You put someone’s email address if you want them to receive an email. If you don’t know their email address you don’t need it. Put your email address so you can get notified, but what you do is you put a little 200 word thank you and if you include #unitypaloalto in it, it will come to our website and you can see all of the thank you’s. What a wonderful way to support each other, as a spiritual community. Don’t you think? 

You know what else it does? It gets you really looking for reasons to say thank you. If you have a goal to say, I am going to say thank you to one person every day, one person. That’s not your normal everyday thanks for being there. Someone outside of that inner circle, one person. All of a sudden you become really creative. You really start looking for ways in which you can say thank you to somebody and when you start looking for ways that you can say thank you, you are inviting that good to come to you. You are creating that flow within you, that abundance, that energy of abundance is now moving, simply by saying thank you to somebody. 

So, I invite you to go to the website every day and say thank you to someone and if you include the #unitypaloalto in it, it will come to our website and then I will share a few as we go forward. What a wonderful way to support each other in this experience of abundance. 

In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu said, “Knowing others is intelligence. Knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.” The idea of owning that gratitude, gratefully being aware, gratefully being accountable. And when things go wrong and when you are not there, don’t blame and shame yourself. Just come back with gratitude. “Ah, I woke up. I just woke up. How grateful am I for that?” 

Our affirmation is on the screen and I am going to read it once, and then invite you to affirm it with me. 

With conscious awareness, I shift from not-enough-ness to unlimited possibility. With conscious awareness, I shift from that not-enough-ness belief to the consciousness, to the abilities to the unlimited possibilities that are within me. I AM a clear channel for the energy of abundance to flow. 

Would you affirm that with me? Together: 

With conscious awareness, I shift from not-enough-ness to unlimited possibility. I AM a clear channel for the energy of abundance to flow.

Thank you all for being here today. It is so wonderful to see all your faces and so wonderful to have you with us online. 

Prayer for Protection

And now, our Prayer for Protection. Together: 

The Light of God surrounds us;

The Love of God enfolds us;

The Power of God protects us;

The Presence of God watches over us;

Wherever we are, God is!

And, all is well.

Love and blessings everyone. Have a wonderful week. Namaste.