Mindless Reacting VS. Mindful Responding

I used to live a life of reacting to everyone and everything around me. I grew up in a violent and abusive family and all I ever knew how to do was to react. I was in survival mode, even as a child. In my younger adult life, even into my thirties, I was still using this way of being. Acting and reacting to life and all things around me. I knew it didn't work for me, but I was so caught up in ego. The I, self, and me of it all, that I couldn't be present for anyone else, mostly myself. I was caught in fear. I learned that everything stems from either two things:  Love or Fear.  And I was enveloped in fear.  Fear that I wasn't going to get something that I wanted, fear that I was going to lose something or someone I had in my life, fear that life just wouldn't work out for me. Fear ran the show. I was not living in the sunlight of the Spirit. And it was manifested and exemplified in every area of my life.

Today, as I so often mention, I do not have to live this way any longer. An amazing healing shift occurred in my life.  I now know how to respond. Mindfully. To be fully present, in the here and now, and to have the emotional maturity when communicating with others to respond in a healthy way. The fear based impulsivity is now gone.  No longer, when communicating with others am I thinking of what can I say next? How can I respond to this (which was really just reacting). I wasn't practicing deep listening. Today, I respond in a deep and mindful way to others and this is also shown in how I am choosing to live my life now. I practice mindfulness.  True, things may go on around me that may not be how I planned them to be, but I now go with the flow of things, I let situations evolve, and I know it isn't all about me.  That has been the greatest relief.  That it's not up to me, it's not all about me, that we all have our spiritual paths and journeys we must travel and learn what we need to in order to grow.

Fear is now gone so I can be fully present in my life.  This allows me the freedom to choose how I want to live.  When I lived in fear, I lost the ability to choose.  But today, I choose to respond in light and love, compassion, and with empathy to those whose suffering I so understand. I respond now because not only am I in love, but because I am connected to God in such a way that I never was before. And God is LOVE.  When I am connected to God, I am connected to you.  I allow the Divine to work in my life and in yours. We are all on our spiritual paths, and allowing that to be and responding to the God Light in you is what gets me through my days.  It makes me excited FOR another day!

I ask that you, too, try to practice mindful responding.  It works.  You will feel the difference. It envokes such an inner peace.  You'll know when you are there...there is no other way to describe it.  May you all be connected in God's love and light today and may you take the moments necessary to practice mindful responding instead of mindless reacting!

Peace and love with you always,
Sharon Asheton