Reader Inquiry: Do you think it’s still possible to do inner work when my immediate family members are negative?
While I do have friends who support me, for now I can’t separate myself yet (practically) from my family – unless there is a way to do that.
Is it possible to do effective inner work amidst a negative environment?
Response: The negative environment is your inner work, friend. I heard a spiritualist say once, and I’m paraphrasing, that he used to grow quite frustrated at the distractions that were preventing him from his work — and then he realized that the distractions was his work.
Your family, those that are pushing your buttons, are your teachers and they are pointing you towards salvation. Their curriculum is difficult but they cannot get to salvation without you, so they continue to push. Their lesson is simple: there is nothing, outside of you, that can affect you. You are already saved; you just don’t realize it.
It’s difficult, isn’t it? I’m speaking as someone struggling with the lesson of salvation myself. Nearly everyone who is here is struggling with this lesson. But there are some, a few, who are closer to understanding the lesson than others. I’m not sure where I fit in but your motivation to do work indicates that you’re on the path.
You’ll get there. It is certain because it’s Divine will.
Work with the things that bother you. As the spiritualist above realized, that is your work. It is also your doorway to salvation. Your burdens will be turned to light, if you allow it.
Reader Follow-up: Oh my that sounds a lot like what teacher’s of A Course in Miracles say.
Yes it’s hard to stomach that “bad” people are our teachers.
But maybe as my buttons are pushed, it is a key to Self knowledge and I might spot what it is in them I need to get cleared within me.
Follow-up Response: ACIM, Eckhart Tolle’s teachings, Ho’oponopono, even the affirmation based teachings of people like Louise Hay and Wayne Dyer, all say one thing in particular: the problem is inside, not out. Go within, and look at your thinking in particular.
It is extremely difficult not to blame the external world, but doing so keeps us stuck. When we look in instead of out, we get to light. I have no doubt that’s the way it works.
You’ve got it. You understand. Keep doing the inner work you referred to, moment by moment, and there you have it. It’s not easy but it’s the right choice; and in the long run it’s easier than trying to change the external world, which is what most people attempt to do.
