Your Best Spiritual Teacher
"My best spiritual teachers are the ones that hurt me the most."
Shirley McClain
When Shirley McClain made responded the the question, Who was your best spiritual teacher? for Oprah I had an "Aha moment". I related completely even though healing from people who have hurt me is still a warrior's battle. I still struggle with forgiving the people who mistreated me out of racism or general ignorance. Yet I admit that Ms. McClain is completely accurate and that I would like to view the offenders of my heart as my spiritual teachers, leaving me with lessons that are valuable. On the day that I awake in forgiveness for those who I perceive as cruel and having treated me poorly or abused me, I will have learned the lesson because I have become the spirit of forgiveness. After all the reason they did what they did was out of self-hate and lack of loving awareness.
We should be praying for those who have offended us or hurt us. Holding on to the hate, jealousy or resentments will only bring our spirit down and make us ill. Truly the poison of our society is our own hatred and our holding on to the things that people do. Personalizing what others do to us is a huge mistake and when we take things personally we allow others to guide our opinion of ourselves, to devalue us. We must understand that people who set out to hurt us are themselves injured and disconnected from their own spiritual self. They are not in their highest place in their own life and becoming what they say of you is the worse thing you can do. Keep your inner spirit as it belongs to you and is critical to your well-being, always. Pray for those who you believe have hurt your heart because that is the best path to your own healing and joyful life.
One of Simone's best teachers was her abusive husband. In the relationship she allowed him to control almost every move she made and even did things on command because he said so. If she did not do as she was expected either with him or his "mommy" there would be immediate consequences in the form of withholding (affection, love, sex and...). At one point in the relationship her husband wanted her to have intimacy with other men and allow him to watch or to hear every detail, so she made up stories and shared them with her husband in order to get his approval. He would say to her many times over, "you know what to do" (referring to how to turn him on and get sex) and she would comply. After some years in the relationship Simone wanted to get out of the relationship having been subjected to his family of origin who he stated "I cannot help it if they are racists". The fact that her husband coward ed down and would rather triangulate her and his family than to admit the truth about them was cruel and unusual punishment for her. By the time she got out of the relationship she was a woman who'd truly snapped, even enduring sexual violence from a man who started out with a claim that he loved her. The truth about Simone's relationship is that this person who was a coward was to be her best spiritual teacher, even if she did not know this yet.
Where are you in your own spiritual life? What and who has been your best teachers? Why? As you experience this day, take an inventory of your own life and the situations you find yourself in. Is it in the best interest of your spirit and heart to be in this situation you are in? What is the best thing you can do for yourself? These are the questions that may be of help to us when our life seems out of control. Consider forgiving the person or persons who have offended you or mistreated or abused you. Make those forgiveness statements out loud and in writing and understand that if these people knew better they would do better and that they are in fact working with what they have. If they did know better they would not have done what they did, hence it is key to forgive them. Do it for yourself my beloved friends. Do it for YOU!
Elliott Maximo Collazo
Shirley McClain
When Shirley McClain made responded the the question, Who was your best spiritual teacher? for Oprah I had an "Aha moment". I related completely even though healing from people who have hurt me is still a warrior's battle. I still struggle with forgiving the people who mistreated me out of racism or general ignorance. Yet I admit that Ms. McClain is completely accurate and that I would like to view the offenders of my heart as my spiritual teachers, leaving me with lessons that are valuable. On the day that I awake in forgiveness for those who I perceive as cruel and having treated me poorly or abused me, I will have learned the lesson because I have become the spirit of forgiveness. After all the reason they did what they did was out of self-hate and lack of loving awareness.
We should be praying for those who have offended us or hurt us. Holding on to the hate, jealousy or resentments will only bring our spirit down and make us ill. Truly the poison of our society is our own hatred and our holding on to the things that people do. Personalizing what others do to us is a huge mistake and when we take things personally we allow others to guide our opinion of ourselves, to devalue us. We must understand that people who set out to hurt us are themselves injured and disconnected from their own spiritual self. They are not in their highest place in their own life and becoming what they say of you is the worse thing you can do. Keep your inner spirit as it belongs to you and is critical to your well-being, always. Pray for those who you believe have hurt your heart because that is the best path to your own healing and joyful life.
One of Simone's best teachers was her abusive husband. In the relationship she allowed him to control almost every move she made and even did things on command because he said so. If she did not do as she was expected either with him or his "mommy" there would be immediate consequences in the form of withholding (affection, love, sex and...). At one point in the relationship her husband wanted her to have intimacy with other men and allow him to watch or to hear every detail, so she made up stories and shared them with her husband in order to get his approval. He would say to her many times over, "you know what to do" (referring to how to turn him on and get sex) and she would comply. After some years in the relationship Simone wanted to get out of the relationship having been subjected to his family of origin who he stated "I cannot help it if they are racists". The fact that her husband coward ed down and would rather triangulate her and his family than to admit the truth about them was cruel and unusual punishment for her. By the time she got out of the relationship she was a woman who'd truly snapped, even enduring sexual violence from a man who started out with a claim that he loved her. The truth about Simone's relationship is that this person who was a coward was to be her best spiritual teacher, even if she did not know this yet.
Where are you in your own spiritual life? What and who has been your best teachers? Why? As you experience this day, take an inventory of your own life and the situations you find yourself in. Is it in the best interest of your spirit and heart to be in this situation you are in? What is the best thing you can do for yourself? These are the questions that may be of help to us when our life seems out of control. Consider forgiving the person or persons who have offended you or mistreated or abused you. Make those forgiveness statements out loud and in writing and understand that if these people knew better they would do better and that they are in fact working with what they have. If they did know better they would not have done what they did, hence it is key to forgive them. Do it for yourself my beloved friends. Do it for YOU!
Elliott Maximo Collazo
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