I’d like to pass along something that I have found helpful.

Side note: If I could get all “Lutheran” on you for a second,  Martin Luther on his death bed is reported to have said, “I’m just a beggar telling another beggar where to find some food.”

In the spiritual life we talk often of “waking up.” This beggar would like to talk about our literal waking up in the morning. I have found that those first few moments of waking into consciousness after a night’s sleep are perhaps the most important in the entire day.

Why? We’re in a really good place. Michael Singer in his wonderful book “Untethered Soul” talks about his “crazy roommate.” You know, that voice in your head that won’t shut up. That voice (the ego) that is constantly spinning and commenting on everything. Fearful. Paranoid.

During sleep, our crazy roommate has finally taken a break (for the most part at least). In sleep we spend time in our Truth. We are in our simple Beingness. Our I AMness. There is little to no resistance.

I love sleeping. And naps! On my kindergarten report card, the only box Mrs Hary checked that “needs improvement” was “ relaxes properly during rest period.” Well, I’m proud to say that after 6+ decades of hard and dedicated work, sleeping is probably the thing I do best! Mrs Harry would be so proud. It’s going to be the first thing I’m going to tell her on the other side. That, and one more attempt at telling her that it was really David Zimmerman (who’s mat was next to mine), that really made it hard to “relax properly.” I suppose it’s possible that she’s let it go by now. Anyway, I digress…

While we are in our Beingness, there can actually be much going on. Many (Echo included) speak of the soul leaving the body during sleep and going wherever it wants to go. You know those sudden jumps you experience when sleeping that wake you up. It’s the soul returning to the body and saying, “I’m back!”

Our spirit guides can more easily do their work on us when we are asleep because our resistence is down. We’re like a glass of water that has been stirred up all day, and it finally rests. All that is stirred up settles to the bottom and we become much clearer and open. “Do your work on me while I rest. I’m all yours” , I have found is a great way to fall asleep.

And it is those first moments of waking into consciousness that can help establish the place within, the energy from which we live our entire day.

When we are first aware that we are waking up, we can immediately focus on remembering the truth of the reality we’re waking up into. Before our crazy roommate wakes up! We can think of it as: “I’m going to get ahead of my crazy roommate.” Before it starts spinning. Before it starts going through my list for the day. Before it starts commenting and evaluating everything. What’s good and bad. Should or shouldn’t be happening. Before it starts telling me what it wants and doesn’t want.

It is in these first precious moments that we each need to find what works for us. I have found the following (or something like it) to be helpful in waking to true reality, instead of the drama the human ego creates. The drama that I can so easily and quickly lose myself in that day.

I am love. Love. Love. The love of God surrounds and permeates me. I am this love that is God. There is nothing but this love within and without, and nothing can harm this love. I am an embodiment of love. I live for this love in all I say and do. 

Lay there, or sit by the side of the bed, and just marinate in that space. Soak in that energy for a couple of minutes.

Then we can go play out our day in our imagination (as far as we know it). We can imagine ourselves living the day from this energy space. What would the day look like? What would WE look like? We can imagine ourself walking into work. Being at that meeting. Meeting that person we have an 11:00 appointment with. What are we saying? Doing? How are we responding to people around us as we live from that energy of Love?

Now the day can easily suck us into it’s drama. Our crazy roommate in our head will be up and be talking, talking, talking. Be kind to yourself here. We can greet it, “Oh you’re awake! There you are. There’s my crazy roommate.”

When we find ourselves getting lost in the day, take a moment to return to the energy space you began that day with, in those precious first moments of consciousness. I have found it easier to return there, if I’ve recently been there.

Remember this is a spiritual practice. We have to remind ourselves they are called practices for a reason. They take practice. We can’t let ourselves off the hook by saying, “Oh I tried that once or twice, and it didn’t work.” Practice. Practice. Practice. Repeat over many days.

I love what  James Clear writes about in his book “Atomic Habits”. He writes “imagine you have an ice cube sitting on the table in front of you. It is currently 25 degrees. Ever so slowly, the room begins to heat up. Twenty -six degrees, Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight. The ice cube is still sitting on the table in front of you.Twenty-nine degrees. Thirty. Thirty-one. Still, nothing has happened. Then, thirty-two degrees. A one-degree shift seemingly no different from the increases before it, has unlocked a huge change.”

Habits work like that. Spiritual practices work like that. They are like spiritually working out. They often take reps before we notice a change.

I wonder what Mrs. Hary would think about all this?

You are Love,

Pastor Tim Tengblad

timtengblad@comcast.net