The New Year always brings the hope of new beginnings, new resolutions, and new inspirations for the year ahead of us.

It is the time when we make choices for what we want to accomplish, set plans in motion for how we want to do it, and start with good intentions and excitement.

There really is nothing more important in life than developing our spiritual consciousness. We do this primarily through meditation, but also by reading and listening to spiritual teachings. Through the study of spiritual teachings, we learn spiritual truth, what we call the letter of truth. As we learn these principles we can begin to pull them into our experience as we begin to put them into practice. It is only through our practice of these spiritual truths that we begin to develop our spiritual consciousness and it is through meditation that we begin to shift our intellectual knowledge of truth from our head down into our heart, into what I call the Abiding Place, (taken from Biblical scripture, "Abide in me, and I in you.")

Understanding Meditation

Let me just sidetrack here a moment and talk about meditation. People meditate for all kinds of reasons and in many different ways. They practice mindfulness, do breathwork, do "moving meditations," all kinds of different techniques and reasons are called meditation in today's world.

For me, the purpose of meditation is to "know God aright," to develop that "mind which was in Christ Jesus," to look within to the Infinite Invisible to experience Grace. It is all about God, learning the nature of God, and experiencing awareness of the Presence. This is the first part of meditation and I call it and develop it through Contemplation. Pick a phrase, a favorite scripture verse or spiritual idea to contemplate and focus your mind. Allow yourself to think deeply on the topic and allow ideas to come to you. Revelations will begin to come to you.

Then the second part of meditation, the true meditation, is the stillness. You have settled your mind through your focus and attention and then you enter the stillness. Now instead of thinking and concentrating, you develop what I call the listening ear. You listen for that still, small voice. You probably won't literally hear a voice, but you will in some way become aware of a Presence. You may release a sigh, or draw a deep breath; you may feel lighter, as if a burden has been lifted. You may simply become aware of the stillness. You may experience what I call the "fruits of the Spirit." I often feel that "peace that passeth understanding." Feelings of love, joy, contentment, are other fruits you may experience. The fruits of the Spirit, however, begin to manifest throughout your day, not just in your periods of meditation. They are, indeed, the fruitage of your practice.

Now, just to be clear, the still, small voice does speak. Sometimes it speaks so softly that if you are not listening, you will miss it. I have received very clear directions when I was really not thinking about anything, like when washing the dishes, or riding a bus. I think as we develop our spiritual consciousness, we realize that Presence is always with us, is there for us, guides us and is always communicating with us.

Seeding Consciousness

Choose a trait you want to develop this year to enhance your spiritual consciousness. Write the word on a prayer stone or a small rock and place it where you will see it every day. I put mine on the window sill over my sink in the laundry room. The window looks out over the area where we feed the deer and I use that sink to prepare cat food and wash my bird feeders, so I am in there often during the day, looking at my stone when I am also looking out the window. Every time I look at my word, I think about that quality. Just doing that begins to seed consciousness.

If you also have a daily meditation practice, just take a moment before you begin your practice and think about your word for the year. You don't have to dwell on it, just think about it for a moment and let it go.

It is such an easy and fun thing to do and it is very powerful. Next Winter Solstice, when you reflect back over 2026 you will see the work your seed word did during the year.

Many blessings for the New Year!

Dreama

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