Spiritual Pushups
Linda Heron Wind, Ph.D.
We all know what pushups do for us on a physical level - they make us stronger. Spiritual pushups make us stronger on mental, emotional, and spiritual levels.
The more I practice, the better I get at knowing when to do a pushup and when I need to act on the physical level.
What is a spiritual pushup? It is lifting up
a situation, challenge, or burden, that you have no control over on a
physical level, and giving it to spirit, God, guides, the ancestors, or
however you think of the higher dimensions.
There are several steps in learning to do spiritual pushups. First, you need to be able to discern when a spiritual pushup is called for. This is sometimes difficult because we human beings have a tendency to try to do everything ourselves without asking for help, or the opposite - not believe that we can do anything ourselves so we don't even try.
It is a process to discover what is yours to do and what is not. The general guideline here is that if it is someone else's problem, it is not yours to handle regardless of how much you care for the person. With your own problems, it is best to see what you can do about changing your inner environment or attitude before you attempt to change the outer environment.
It would be appropriate to do a pushup if you
have tried to change your inner environment and cannot, or if you have
changed your inner environment and there is no possible action you can
take in the outer environment that would support your inner change. This
may sound complicated but it basically says that you do what you can do,
and don't do what you cannot.
Once you have determined that the problem is not something that you can do anything about or you have done all you can do and the problem still exists, you lift that problem up and give it to those on the other side to handle, as they know much better than you do what needs to be done and how to do it. I usually do this with the addition of saying that if there is something else I need to do, they will make it clear to me what that is.
Who you give the problem to will depend on
your beliefs. For many it would be God, but for others it would be the
Creator, the Spirit that Moves Through All Things, the One Heart, the
Source, the ancestors, or guardian angels and guides. It doesn't matter
really. The important part is that we don't try to handle ourselves what
is not ours to handle.
After you have done a spiritual pushup, you
need to really let go of the situation, knowing that it is being handled
and it is not your responsibility. A spiritual pushup is a form of surrender,
a release of frustration, worry and fear. Of course it does require that
you trust in something beyond what you can see. The image I get is that
of lifting a weight up over my head and spirit reaching down to pull it
up. It then disappears as it leaves this reality and moves up to the next
for the beings on that side to handle.
Life is a co-creative adventure. We are not
meant to handle everything ourselves or on the physical plane. Practice
some spiritual pushups and allow yourself to feel supported by the universe.
You are part of a large community of the seen and the unseen. Life is
much easier when we all work together, each handling only what is ours
to handle. Practice your pushups to be stronger and happier on all levels
of being.
Things out of control?
Do spiritual pushups
Come back to what's yours
If
you have comments on this or ideas for future topics,
call Linda Heron Wind at (585) 924-5620 or send e-mail to LHWind@aol.com.
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