Embracing Joy and Strength When Times Are Tough
Nov 30, 2021 07:35AM ● By Elle Maurene
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Each of us is really a divine, unique, shining
spiritual being: soul. Soul exists because God loves it. The challenges of life
can tempt anyone to forget that birthright of joy and spiritual freedom. But
accepting that birthright—really taking it to heart—helps show how tough times
provide an opportunity to build inner strength.
Eckankar, the path of spiritual freedom, offers
tools for anyone to transform their life into a place of peace, resilience and
growth.
Gratitude. Thinking, writing or saying all the things one
is grateful for shifts the energy from “poor little me” to “look what bounties
I have in my life.” It opens the heart to divine love. As guide and teacher
Harold Klemp writes in The Spiritual Laws of Life, “Gratitude unseals
fountains of creativity, because a grateful person is relaxed.”
Singing or chanting the word HU. HU (which rhymes with the word you) is an
ancient, universal name for God that can open the heart to divine love and
insight. Singing the word HU, inwardly or aloud, can attune anyone to a higher
consciousness where calm prevails.
More information on HU—plus an inspiring
recording of thousands chanting it—is online at HearHU.org. Download the free HU app for Android or Apple (search
for HU, keyword Eckankar).
Repeating a sacred, meaningful phrase that
strikes a spiritual image in the consciousness. People have done this throughout history.
Sometimes it is called prayer. The ancient Chinese ECK Master Lai Tsi offered
this verse (in The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad,
Book Two):
“Show me Thy ways, O Sugmad;
Teach me Thy path.
Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me;
On Thee do I wait all day.
Remember, O Beloved, Thy guiding light
And Thy loving care.
For it has been ever Thy will,
To lead the least of Thy servants to Thee!”
Since Sugmad is another name for God, one can
substitute the word God, Lord or whatever word for the divine feels right.
Spiritual exercises. Daily spiritual exercises (including singing
HU) tune us into God’s love. The spiritual exercises of ECK promote higher
levels of awareness that give access to divine creativity for solving problems
and building spiritual stamina.
Compassion. Spiritual exercises let the heart open to
compassion for all life. Compassion consumes the heart with love, leaving no
room for stress.
Surrender. Spiritual surrender means giving one’s worries
and cares to God and aligning the personal, human self with soul. It does not
mean giving up free will but, rather, allowing the divine to flow through every
thought, word and deed. Acting consciously as a vehicle for God’s love
dissolves fear and lifts the heart.
Staying spiritually strong, free and focused. Keeping focused on something higher than
life’s challenges is a priceless, strengthening discipline. Spiritual
contemplation, singing HU, embracing gratitude, and practicing compassion and
surrender to the divine all lift us above the daily grind.
Soul—our true self—has the spiritual resources
to stay balanced and happy even in tough times.
Elle Maurene, author of the visionary fiction
novel Masters of the Golden Wisdom and member of the Eckankar clergy,
works in marketing and sales and lives in North Phoenix. For information about
Eckankar spiritual events and opportunities, visit EckankarArizona.org. To learn
more about Eckankar, visit Eckankar.org.
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