THE SHOWER OF LOVE
by JO DUNNING
The Shower of Love is a wonderful way to create immediate change in your internal state. It can move you rapidly from sadness into peace, from pain into relaxation and trust. It is such a powerful healing tool, it can completely change your internal physical condition, heal disease, release pain, rejuvenate the body and expand consciousness.
Yet in our everyday life, we allow our mind to wander, leading us from one worry and concern into the next: stress, doubt, lack, loss, confusion, loneliness, isolation, hurry, exhaustion, doing our best to “keep it all together,” and not “lose it,” as we catapult ourselves from one event and demand to the next.
Because the mind has enormous powers of imagination and creation, the emotional system believes and responds to what the mind says and obediently creates an internal emotional state and thereby a physical state to match the story.
Therefore, if you want to shift your internal experience, you can tell yourself a different story about what is happening.
If you tell yourself stories of joy, you feel joyful; if you tell stories of pain, you feel sad. We all use this ability on a regular basis, but usually it is directed in such a way that it creates stress in our lives. We focus the mind on stressful items and ask it to maintain that vigilance though our everyday activities. It therefore creates a mind set or world view to help it automatically maintain that focus and easily seeks out the fear, worry, or concern in each situation we encounter.
Since we are the master of our mind, why not use the mind to create a more pleasant internal state in which to exist? Why not create a new mind set to serve us, maintaining our health, give us energy and propel us joyfully through each day?
Why not create a continual feeling of being immersed in a Shower of Love – a feeling so powerful it can be felt throughout your physical body? Yes, this is possible! And it is not even very difficult. Initially, the greatest task will be to keep returning the mind to its new focus and not allow it to follow the old worrisome instructions.
When you notice the old mind set begin and you start to feel upset or concerned, initiate the change by focusing your attention on some aspect of the event that creates calmness or joy. For example, if you lose your job, instead of focusing on the loss of income, rejection and failure, focus on the opportunity, the wonderful people you will meet, the new skills you will develop and the excitement of the adventure. Then, to stop the mind’s worrisome mind set, give it the job of focusing its attention in your heart or chest and begin the process of creating a pleasant physical sensation.
This sensation is similar to the feeling of being in love, yet is completely independent of external factors, thereby allowing you to maintain this feeling regardless of what is occurring around you. This miracle was discovered and used by many prisoners in concentration camps, who continue to add testimony to its effectiveness even under the most demanding conditions.
As the focus is maintained in the heart area, it is helpful to repeat silently the word “Love” and mage a peaceful internal smile. This assists in calling forth the emotional response available in the heart. After a few minutes of this focus, you will begin to feel a slight, pleasant sensation beginning to develop in your chest. This feeling can continue to build until eventually, after just a moment of attention in the heart, the entire body will fill will this wonderful sensation.
The feeling is so intoxicating and beckoning that you will soon want to maintain ongoing attention in the heart. You will quickly find most ordinary mind functions can be carried out in the background while the attention remains in the heart and you remain in the joy. The occasional necessary activates that draw your mind momentarily from the heart can be quickly handled and you will eagerly return to resting joyfully inside.
As you maintain this internal focus and you will discover your body already knows how to heal itself, and physical pain, emotional insult and mental worries will dissolve into the Shower of Love. You will find your initial efforts well rewarded as you begin to feel your everyday world change as the mind takes on its new task of filling you with Love. Soon you will begin to move in the world as a new Being, filled with Love and joy and available once again to the fullness of life!
From the The Spiritual Guide – A Step By Step Discovery of Growth Into Spiritual Awakening by Jo Dunning.
