Walking Your Talk Everyday

Go Within And Learn

Can You Stand Up To Your Own Standards

As I’ve mentioned many times before, I get a lot of email from folks around the world. I love getting email. Especially from far off exotic places. I love answering questions and hearing about the experiences of others as they traverse their own paths through life and spiritual exploration.

It’s a double edge sword being a writer and teacher of a spiritual path that has centuries of demonstrative propaganda to stand up to. There are wonderful moments of enlightenment, excitement when someone shares their “Ah-ha” moments, and the inner peace you feel when others thank you for helping them find their own truth within themselves. It’s a calling I’m proud to take and honored to share.

But from time to time there are nasty eMails that condemn my writing, call me names and are in general monstrous accusations of sin, guilt, damnation and so on.

Anyone however, can receive an email like this. How you view those emails might say a lot about you and your own spiritual thoughts and perspectives. It can be a litmus test for how far you’ve come on your path, where you are today and maybe even shed some light on where you need to go moving forward.

Do they offend you? Do you get angry or take them to heart? Do you feel the need to respond or do you simply ignore them. If you do ignore them do you still think about what you would have said and how you would have put them in their place had you responded? Do you carry their message with you even if you know their comments and attack on your character are invalid?

Yesterday I received an email and I asked folks on my FB page this question:

Here’s a quick exercise in walking your talk. How would you respond to this email? I look forward to your responses. ….Let me clarify; I’m not asking you how I should respond. I’ve already taken care of that. I’m asking how would YOU respond to receiving such an email.“Human beings construe nature, energy, and the elements as sources of mastery. It’s a lie. We are meant to be stewards, not masters. Our Maker, yours and mine, has created it so. Forget paganism…..find your way to Christ by allowing Him to find His way to you. Our time is both endless and short, and our choices are simple….asserting “I will be,” or embracing He who says, “I AM.” You are of abundant spirit. Embrace Christ, and all else will truly be. God bless.”

There were a number of interesting answers. There’s no right or wrong reply. How you view and see this message is what’s important in this exercise. And it is a moment for learning.

I see moments like this as opportunities to be Mindful about how I’m thinking in everyday life and especially at that moment in time. Do I walk my talk? Do I live what I believe and preach?

Everyone has their good days and bad. Like all people I have my moments where I’ll read a note and already being annoyed or irritated I’ll think something or say something out loud that is at odds with what I believe; even if it’s for a brief moment. But if we don’t take notice of those moments, we can’t work on fixing our gut reaction and response to change it for the better. We can’t correct our gut reaction of negative thinking if we don’t even admit to ourselves that we have those reactions in the first place. This is part of Walking Your Talk©.

Not all Christians are rude, ignorant or bigots. Even this person wasn’t rude or offensive. He merely felt the need to “witness” about his beliefs that he’s obviously passionate about. It’s easy to do that in person when a Christian sees someone face to face and thinks they need God in their life to turn things around. Maybe they saw a homeless person on the street, or saw someone looking sad in the coffee shop. I’ve even seen first hand someone walk up to a woman who was arguing with someone on her cell phone, interrupt the call and start Witnessing to them. It takes guts to do that, but when the moment is at hand, it’s easy to get involved face to face.

I think however that it takes an effort to fill out an email form on a website you wouldn’t normally go to and contact someone to witness to them about your belief. Maybe this guy does that kind of thing on a regular basis. Perhaps he seeks out pagan websites and tries to convert those who create them. Who knows. But responding with rudeness, hate or anger does nothing but give them confirmation that their view of Pagans or non-Believers is right. That we’re all evil heathens being lead astray by Satan. It encourages them to continue.

I don’t believe in ignoring these types of communications. Silence condones the behavior and does nothing to share in knowledge, understanding and tolerance of other beliefs, no matter what they are. If I want people to accept me and my views with respect and tolerance, then I must show that energy through my expression and response to them, whither or not they give it to me.

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” – Dalai Lama XIV

If I’m annoyed or irritated by these eMails, I’ll walk away and take time to look within myself. Why did I get pissed about what was said? Why did I allow the words chosen to describe me, affect my own view of myself? I know me, who I am and what I do. I know their description of me is based on ignorance. They don’t know me. So why did their words affect me today and at this moment in time?

Often it’s because something else has happened during the day or week on a much closer and personal level that has shaken my confidence of what I know and do. I’m already feeling vulnerable and the words of someone else only added fuel to that fire. It is our own turbulent energy within that creates the opportunity for us to attract the same energy we are already directing at our selves. It’s a strange little cosmic message that says “Hey, do you see what you’re doing to yourself? Well here let me show you.”

Here’s how I responded to the gentleman.

I appreciate your passion Charles, but I don’t share your belief.
I respect the essence of Christianity and what it’s meant to stand for; but unfortunately many of its followers do not do the compassion of the belief justice. I have followed my heart, mind and research since I was a young adult. It not only fits my view of life; but it has been confirmed on a daily basis through my experiences and interactions with the world around me. While I hold your views and perspectives with respect; I hope you will extend to me and those like me who follow our own calling and our own path the same respect. The GreatSpirits have allowed all of us to see the Divine in the way that rings true and means the most to us and our lives. We can walk different paths, yet walk alongside each other with kindness, understanding, respect and tolerance. I wish you many blessings on your path.

Now I’m not saying you have to stand up and respond to someone who has done this to you. It may not be your way or your calling to do so. Each situation is different and each one should be looked at on its own merits. There maybe situations where a response really isn’t a good idea and it’s better to walk away. But even in those situations, how you respond and react is an opportunity to advance your own soul toward enlightenment.

Instead of being angry at the speaker, we should thank them for giving us the chance to see how we are letting our own self talk bring us down, creating a negative view of our own abilities and bashing our own thoughts and actions from within. It gives us a chance to put our talk into practice.

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Here’s an interesting side note. This is the 999th post here on Springwolf Reflections and that’s worth a look into the Numerological insight behind that number. From a Shamanistic Numerology standpoint, this number shares the following message.

Actual	Derived	Designed	Calculated
999	9+9+9	2+7	9

When a repetitive number is derived to itself, there’s a great deal of magik and insight into its message. And that’s definitely true for this instance.

Nine – The number of Divinity, bringing together all forms of mind/body/spirit into one alignment.

This number is associated with the Universe.
This number is associated with the Oak Tree.
This number is associated with the Raven and Crow.
It represents the ultimate source of everything, The All, The Divine.
Positive Direction: When 9 is present it represents accomplishment, attaining goals or dreams, the ability to achieve influence and impact over our circumstances.
Negative Direction: In reverse 9 can be egotistical and arrogant. Making assumptions that everything revolves around its presence. Nothing else matters and there’s nothing else to consider if it doesn’t involve itself.