 Years ago I had a conversation with a man who told me that the most important truth he had learned was to be kind.
He learned this, he recounted, during a cab ride in New York City. As he was paying the driver, he said, ‘Thank you, sir.’ At this the driver leaped, ran around the back of the cab, and opened the door for his passenger. Startled, the man got out and said to the cab driver, ‘You didn't have to do that,’ to which the driver responded, ‘I wanted to. You are the first person in this country to honour me by calling me sir, and I thank you for that respect.’ The man had never before considered the power inherent in a respectful gesture, but from then on, kindness became the pillar upon which he built his life and the legacy he hoped to pass on to his children. That exchange, he said, changed his life. He understood at the deepest level that we are all the same – an invisible ‘fact’ of power.
Here are some other invisible facts that you can review when your spirit needs a reminder of the great power you have with which to make a difference in the world.
1. Life is a spiritual journey
Vest yourself in the belief that your life is a hero's journey of spiritual progress. The goal of your individual hero's journey is to allow your intuition and spirit to become your dominant sources of power. Mapping your way along the spiritual coordinates of purpose and compassion will help you navigate the storms of change. Life will never be a logical, rational, controllable experience. Some events and relationships will enchant us and others will crack us wide open with pain. Some people might win the lottery and others may end up broke through bizarre twists of fate, but we cannot outrun or outsmart the winds of change. Know that underlying the storm is peace, and under the chaos is order. Use the power of faith as your anchor: faith that there is a reason why things happen as they do; faith that you will make it through a crisis; faith that you are moving forward to a better place.
Whether you are the one in the orbit of change or whether you are helping another person through a cycle of endings and new beginnings, recognizing a crisis – no matter what that crisis may be – as the spiritual experience of ‘endings and new beginnings' opens up a profound channel of light and grace.
2. Your biology and your spirit want to serve
It's impossible for your body to live separate and apart from the journey of your spirit. Giving makes you feel good; not giving makes you feel bad. Developing compassion and an open heart is good for you and others. His Holiness the Dalai Lama says that as a child, he was as angry as any child and even a bully at times. But after sixty years of meditating and developing compassion, the angry emotions faded away. He doesn't even have to work to suppress any anger; he simply never even feels it.
Following your intuition is vital to your own empowerment and to your physical and spiritual health. All paths of enlightenment direct us to search within ourselves for the right energy to channel to others. Our highest potential cannot be tapped without a commitment to reaching out to others. Service is the most powerful act.
That's why, especially when you are in need of help or around someone who is reaching out to you, you need to increase your attention to your body. Learn to interpret your physical sensations: they are generated by your intuition. These sensations will direct you to decide whether you should help, how much you should help, and when to say no. At the very least, however, respond with a prayer.
Your biology can also signal you to help in ways that are completely foreign to your normal responses. Often your body registers the heightened vibration of healing grace long before your mind and emotions are conscious that you can channel healing energies.
3. Intuition influences every choice you make in life
You are an intuitive being. Intuitive abilities are as natural as breathing; they are not enhanced by diet, incense, or aromatherapy. Your intuition evolves along with your sense of self-esteem, which develops as a by-product of learning how to survive. Your spiritual life enhances your self-esteem and gives you a sense of purpose, which in turn builds your confidence in your ability to survive. That feeling that you can ‘handle’ life – a sensation not based upon the accumulation of wealth or power, but on your spiritual instincts – gives you the mental, emotional and psychic resources essential for strong intuition.
Remember, though, that just because you can sense that someone is in need does not mean that you are the one meant to help him or her. Pay attention to both your biological and your intuitive signals, and ask yourself if you are psychically prepared for the type of assistance required. If not, assist with a prayer and a loving thought. I learned as a matter of my own emotional survival years ago that I cannot possibly do the number of intuitive medical readings that I am asked to do. For the longest time, the guilt was so great that I could no longer even read the letters that poured into my office from all over the world. Finally I began to pray for each one, asking that the divine send someone to them who could help them because I could not. Prayer is powerful medicine.
4. Your intuition and generosity evolve as your personal power evolves
Generosity is an expression of our spiritual maturity. Empowering someone else empowers all of humanity and ourselves at the same time. When we truly understand that, then we will not hesitate to help someone else.
We go through four stages of learning generosity: tribal (first and second chakras), personal (third), intimate (fourth and fifth) and spiritual (sixth and seventh). This scale of ascension is very, very real. What you are capable of doing for others is as important to understand as what you cannot bring yourself to do. To empower someone's spirit requires that you have empowered yourself, confronted your fears, and realized that your personal power will not be diminished. Otherwise you are working from the ‘shadow side' of generosity.
Generosity is an act of service that essentially empowers a soul. Remind yourself that you can provide this power in many ways: encouragement, hope, kindness, and a nod of approval.
5. Angels and grace are real
And that's just a fact of life. Period. Always believe in the presence of angels and in the power of grace. Notice and appreciate synchronicity. Keep an open mind that divine forces are at work in everything that happens to you, whether delightful or difficult.
6. You are never alone
This is obviously a central lesson for us to learn on Earth School. The divine sends us into that place of aloneness just so that our lives can fill up again and make us realize how precious the people are who share this lifetime with us. So whenever you feel that you are alone, release a prayer. Ask for help and let it go. Never underestimate how important you are to someone else. When you feel alone, keep in mind that the aloneness is a temporary place between orbits. You are in motion to another place where there will be love and new friends to meet you. That is a fact of life – and I didn't write the rules. I just know them.
7. Everything you do matters
Everything we do, say, think and feel matters. There is more power in the invisible realm than we can ever imagine. The power of love, kind words, kind thoughts, and a compassionate response, are just a few of the different names we have for the energy of grace. Whenever you are in a bind or frightened, release the prayer, ‘Fill this moment with grace so that I can find my way,’and trust in the presence of grace from that moment onward.
A to-do list
I've gathered a list of the invisible acts of power, and I share them as a to-do list, should an opportunity arise:
1. Hold a door open.
2. Smile.
3. Offer a kind word and encouragement.
4. Give a compliment.
5. Listen without interruption.
6. Make a call when your intuition tells you to.
7. Offer a prayer for a homeless person.
8. Pray - period.
9. Forgive others and yourself.
10. Prepare a meal for a friend.
11. Refrain from judging another person harshly.
12. Remember that life is full of miracles and have faith that every difficult situation can change in the blink of an eye.
13. Remember the truth that there is no such thing as a small or insignificant act of service.
14. Keep your power and attention in present time.
15. Begin and end the day in appreciation of either doing or accepting an invisible act of power.
From Invisible Acts of Power, copyright 2004 by Caroline Myss, published in Great Britain by Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, 2005.
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