Seeing from a Higher Perspective

Think for a moment. How do you see yourself? What opinions do you have about yourself? If you are like most people, you have some critical opinions. These opinions have grown and been maintained over time.

Any negative opinions you have about yourself are opinions based on lack. The opinions cannot be changed as long as you stay in a lack mentality. The lack mentality is what you have been taught by this world. It is a constant focus on what is wrong, what falls short, and what is not good enough. This is the view of the ego.

Get out a notebook and begin to write down negative opinions you have about yourself. Where do you see yourself as not being good enough? Where do you see yourself as guilty? Write down at least a few of these examples.

What are the judgments you hold about these aspects of you? Do you call yourself irresponsible, inept, undeserving, foolish, or unintelligent? Are there other names you call yourself?

With what do you justify these judgments? What is your proof? Do you find yourself arguing for these negative opinions?

It is typical of people to argue for their negative opinions. There is a payoff here. The payoff could be drama, fear of success, or justification for not growing. Can you see any payoffs in your insistence that these negatives are true?

Now we are going to shift our perspective. Imagine how your Inner Being (Higher Self, the Holy Spirit, Christ Within) sees you. Imagine how your Inner Being sees you in each of these aspects of your life. Do you think it judges you? Do you think it is withholding love from you until you straighten yourself out?

Your Inner Being sees you with absolute unconditional love. Regardless of your history, your Inner Being loves you. Your Inner Being looks upon you and sees no sin, nothing wrong. It sees you on a journey to perfection. It patiently and lovingly supports you on this journey home. Your home is in the perfection of your Inner Being. You might imagine your Inner Being as a great and glorious being of light, standing before you, welcoming you into Its arms. It would be saying, “I’m here. I love you and adore you. You and I are one in the same.”

In your Inner Being, you find your true sense of self. It is who you are. Your most important work is connecting with your Inner Being. your I Am.

It is here that you find true well-being. This is the meaning of: “Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and all else will be added.” Where is the Kingdom of Heaven? It is within you. It is in your Inner Being, your I Am.

Here you may seek refuge when you are feeling hurt, frustrated, or angry. For many of you, you have been taught that you may seek refuge in God, or Christ, or the Holy Spirit. This is true. The advantage of seeing this idea as turning within to your Inner Being, is that you learn that there is no separation. You are not a separate entity from God. You are not separate from Christ or Buddha. It is only in your mind that separation exists. It is only in your mind that poverty and lack exist.

When you look at life through the eyes of your Inner Being, there is no lack. Regardless as to whether there is physical evidence, you see plenty. Regardless as to whether there is the appearance of love, you see love. When there appears to be lack, either in you or in your circumstances, you can offer that perception to your Inner Being. You can acknowledge your negative emotion, and turn it over to your Inner Being.

You can ask: “How would my Inner Being see this situation?” The answer is that your Inner Being would see abundance, perfect love, total health and well-being, and harmony. If you can believe this at first, and act as if it is true, you will find your confidence growing. Belief becomes faith. As you continue to practice, faith becomes knowing.

Many of you have already experienced knowing. There have been times when you were absolutely sure something good was going to happen. There have been times when you just knew a decision was the correct one. At the same time, there may have been times when you knew, but you allowed doubts and fears to prevent you from taking the indicated action. When this happened, you felt badly. You felt uncomfortable. When you followed your Inner Guidance, you felt good.

Know that your well-being comes from within. Seek first to connect with your Inner Being. Ask for help. Listen. Act upon your Inner Guidance. Do not make any external person or situation the source of your well-being. When you find yourself feeling lack, turn within where there is plenty.

Take a situation where things are not going as well as you would like. Write it down and read it back to yourself. Now look at the same situation as your Inner Being. If you were loved unconditionally, not judged in any way, and adored, how would you see yourself? Please write it down from this new perspective.

You may see practical actions that you can take to correct errors. For example, if you blame yourself for not planning well, you can decide to change that. Decide what you want instead. Changing what you do from a perspective of unconditional acceptance is much more effective than changing it from the perspective of fear and lack. The important thing is to see yourself differently in this situation. Your actions arise from your thoughts. Different actions taken from the same old thoughts will not create what you want. A different perspective, one that is appreciative and self respecting, will create true change. The action taken is less important than who you are being when you take it.

Another way to say this is that you do not change what you do in order to become worthy. You may tell yourself that if you get organized or if you do something well, you will be worthy. This is a change effort based on fear and lack. You change what you do because you are worthy already. Your action arises out of your identity. If you want to lose weight, set the goal from a higher perspective. "I want to lose weight so I can feel the lightness and the freedom that I enjoy." More weight loss equals more freedom and joy. This is more effective than losing weight so you will like yourself better or so that others will appreciate you more. You choose to lose weight because you appreciate yourself already!

Again, spend some time seeing yourself from the perspective of your Inner Being. If you are not in a place where thinking of yourself as the Inner Being works, then see yourself as the Christ, Buddha, or Holy Spirit would see you. As you evolve your thoughts about yourself, you will see changes in the situation.