{"id":10785,"date":"2018-10-18T16:00:31","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T23:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/?p=10785"},"modified":"2021-02-24T17:00:05","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T01:00:05","slug":"claiming-creating-and-completing-with-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/archives\/10785-claiming-creating-and-completing-with-joy","title":{"rendered":"Claiming, Creating, and Completing with Joy"},"content":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \n

This article by John Morton was first published in the New Day Herald in March of 2014.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the years, John-Roger<\/a> has said that we are to have joy and to have it more abundantly.\u00a0There is a reference in Scripture, \u201cThese things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full\u201d [John 15:11].\u00a0I see that like a law. You could say, \u201cIt\u2019s my right to have joy because God said.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s important in experiencing the joy is to ask yourself, Where is your faith? \u00a0Where is your trust? \u00a0Do you claim your joy? If you do claim it, do you claim it in full or do you claim it only when you feel joy?\u00a0When you don\u2019t feel joy, do you still claim the joy for yourself?<\/p>\n

Claiming the joy is a process that is part of our learning and part of how we can evaluate if we\u2019re keeping the faith. Do you have the patience, to trust and to hold while you find the joy? Joy is a spiritual promise.\u00a0It\u2019s our natural way of being from the Spirit.\u00a0This world has a way of knocking us for a loop every once in a while or maybe quite a bit, depending on how your life flows.\u00a0That to me is just another way of saying we\u2019re going to be tested. But the joy is still present always.<\/p>\n

Consider what you are aware of in this moment. What are you giving your awareness over to? Do you give it over to fear and doubt, things that you don\u2019t like, or things that bother others? Do you let those concerns be the focus of your awareness? If you do, then where\u2019s the joy?<\/p>\n

It may seem at times that joy is missing. It may seem to be asleep inside of us, taking a rest, and waiting to come awake again. The joy is never missing. Joy is always present. It\u2019s up to us to awaken to it.<\/p>\n

Have the intention, and that claiming of your joy, so it\u2019s part of how you identify yourself.\u00a0Claim to yourself, \u201cI\u2019m a joyful person. I create joy. I find joy in my life and my circumstances.\u201d I find it\u2019s along the lines of St. Patrick\u2019s prayer about the Christ being with us in every way. Joy is in front of me, behind me, on my left, on my right, under my feet, behind my eyes. Joy is always there.<\/p>\n

Claiming the joy is a movement. It\u2019s rising up one more time to meet the joy. It\u2019s taking the responsibility to create the joy in what you\u2019re doing. John-Roger has said, \u201cIf you want to be happy, do happy things.\u201d \u00a0So it follows that if you want to be joyful, do joyful things.<\/p>\n

Claiming Your Spiritual Promise<\/h3>\n

To know yourself as a spiritual being, claim it. Identify with it. You are spiritual. It is your heritage. You can\u2019t lose your spirituality. You may displace it. You may forget about it. You may act as if it isn\u2019t yours, but it remains yours.\u00a0You are always a spiritual being.<\/p>\n

We really can\u2019t mess with who we are spiritually.\u00a0We may mess with ourselves, but who we are spiritually, that divine treasure, is held intact. It\u2019s not tarnished. It\u2019s not broken. So if we act as if it is, that\u2019s when we\u2019re off. And then our life is going to reflect that we\u2019re off.<\/p>\n

As John-Roger has said numerous times: we get sick and tired and then we get sick and tired of being sick and tired. \u00a0That\u2019s around the time we let it go.\u00a0Sometimes that\u2019s with a sense of desperation, like, \u201cI give up because I don\u2019t know what else to do.\u201d\u00a0Amazingly, what may happen then is that at long last, you\u2019re open. Because you were desperate, you created your openness. Now you\u2019re reachable. You\u2019re touchable.\u00a0Your focus can be directed into who you are, rather than what you think you are or what someone else thinks you are.<\/p>\n

Letting Go of Judgments<\/h3>\n

Would you like to shift your awareness from judgments to more awareness of your joy? \u00a0That\u2019s fairly simple. Just change what you\u2019re looking at. Change your focus. What would help you do that is to release the judgments.<\/p>\n

A dynamic in a judgment is that something or someone should be different, including you.\u00a0You might judge yourself that you should have more money, more things, or be more successful. If that\u2019s the case, then I think if you look carefully at yourself, you\u2019re going to find that you are the one who assigned those things to yourself. You created an expectation for yourself about what you should be accomplishing in your life, particularly around the results.<\/p>\n

The reality is it\u2019s just a dynamic where you are in conflict with the results in your life. You assigned an expectation to yourself. It could be an attachment. Sometimes the attachment is to where things were in the past.\u00a0You might say, \u201cI used to have this\u201d or \u201cI used to have this job,\u201d and then focus on what occurred in the past. That then becomes a victim story rather than a story of learning, growth, and ever-increasing joy.<\/p>\n

Instead of focusing on what once was, connect to where you are in this moment.\u00a0Ask yourself \u201cHow am I?\u201d Look at your life as it is.\u00a0Look at what you\u2019re wearing, where you live, where you are right now, and what\u2019s present with you, here and now. Take notice and claim the joy already present in your life.\u00a0It\u2019s a good idea to update yourself regularly so you\u2019re in tune with your life as it is now, rather than wishing it was different than the way it is.<\/p>\n

Although it\u2019s fairly common to judge ourselves, it\u2019s a source of dis-ease when you do that because you\u2019re out of alignment with who you are.\u00a0When we become aware and connected with who we truly are, we often find it\u2019s a good story; a story of success, abundance,\u00a0and prosperity. There\u2019s a lot for us to be thankful for. As soon as you start that process of waking up your thankfulness, you\u2019ll start feeling better because joy follows naturally. Gratitude is a good attitude.\u00a0It lifts us. So if you want to experience more joy about your life, move into your thankfulness.<\/p>\n

Manifesting the Joy<\/h3>\n

As you become more aware of your judgments, you can change your focus. \u00a0If you think, \u201cI should have more money.\u00a0I should have nicer things.\u00a0I should have a job I enjoy more,\u201d you can change that from \u201cI should have it\u201d to \u201cI can have it.\u201d Your life isn\u2019t over. It\u2019s still being created, and you are a co-creator with God.<\/p>\n

As you choose into the joy that is present, there is a practical aspect that has to do with manifestation.\u00a0Consider what you want to create in this world.\u00a0What do you want to make your life become? What results are you looking for?\u00a0Energy follows thought. So the more you can be specific, the better.\u00a0If energy follows you in some vague, general concept, then the results will match with unclear results.<\/p>\n

Consider that even if you were in a garbage dump, you could be happy, content, and at peace. That\u2019s possible.\u00a0In fact, you might not even want to change that situation for yourself.\u00a0But if you do, if you\u2019re aware, \u201cI do want to change it. I want a nice house. I want a nice car. I want a job that\u2019s interesting to me,\u201d then energy starts to follow your lead.\u00a0And there\u2019s a responsibility to bring it forward.<\/p>\n

I suggest you put in writing your intentions because that has a way of concretizing it. If it\u2019s difficult to put it into words what you\u2019re envisioning, it can be done with pictures. You can envision an ideal scene, where you cut out pictures from magazines and create a collage of what you want to manifest in this world. Put it in a place where you can look at it and focus upon it.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you have an ideal scene from a long time ago. Is your current vision the same?\u00a0If it hasn\u2019t materialized as of yet, you might need to update it. Maybe it needs to be re-energized and re-done so it matches your intentions here and now.<\/p>\n

The most important part of envisioning what you want is your energy. So if you don\u2019t have energy on what you want to create, then you\u2019re adrift. You\u2019re kind of at the mercy of whatever winds are blowing.\u00a0Those tend to be karmic.\u00a0So if you want to set a new course and change the karma, ask yourself, \u201cWhat do I want to focus upon? \u00a0Where am I in relation to where I want to go?\u201d<\/p>\n

Overcoming Distractions<\/h3>\n

When we are faced with distractions or things that annoy us, we can choose to increase our awareness. \u00a0It may be a toothache or a headache, a jackhammer, a noisy store, or any number of things that bother you such that you register, \u201cI don\u2019t like that.\u201d\u00a0Actually, it may be more like, \u201cI don\u2019t really seem to have the opportunity or the willingness to change it.\u201d So now what?<\/p>\n

You can overcome distractions through your observation and the willingness to embrace whatever it is rather than resist it. That\u2019s a key over and over again for all of us in this level.\u00a0Can you embrace what it is rather than move into some form of resistance where you\u2019re contracting?\u00a0Can you let go of protesting and judging?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a choice point to accept or reject whatever is distracting you. Rejecting and resisting the annoyance tends to add to its persistence and even increase its magnitude.\u00a0Acceptance starts creating a lesser annoyance and allowing for greater enjoyment.<\/p>\n

We always have the opportunity to take distractions on as a kind of puzzle or riddle that is already solved.\u00a0God already solved it.\u00a0God loves the annoyance, so you can love it too. You can even enjoy it. Let\u2019s consider God knows that, so God says, \u201cYour turn. Your move.\u201d If you know that you can solve the puzzle because it\u2019s already solved by God, then you can move to the loving and joy of whatever is that experience.<\/p>\n

Because of our intention, we can find a way to find the good, to find the joy and upliftment in any distraction.\u00a0It may take our patience and our willingness to endure. I encourage you to have that willingness, like \u201cOkay, I\u2019ll hang in there.\u00a0I\u2019ll use whatever this is as a process for my upliftment and learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Completing Karma with Joy<\/h3>\n

If you find yourself envisioning and starting to manifest but you stop part way through rather than finishing, you may have a habitual pattern of not completing what you started.\u00a0Because it\u2019s familiar and because you know what it is, then it tends to run like a course. \u00a0It\u2019s as if it has its own track.\u00a0It just repeats itself, which in and of itself can be disturbing. You might ask yourself, \u201cWhy would I recreate and do over and over again something I don\u2019t really like, where I get disappointed and frustrated? Why would I go half way instead of finishing?\u201d Instead, ask yourself, \u201cWhat would change the pattern?\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer is for you to continue. At the point where you might want to stop, you don\u2019t stop. You keep going. Notice markers along the way, such as how you got closer to the finish.\u00a0Remember, we\u2019re not trying to do everything all at once.\u00a0If you can, go for it.\u00a0Sometimes we can resolve something instantly. But many times it\u2019s a gradual process and it\u2019s important to note and honor our progression.<\/p>\n

Part of what brings us happiness and success is having a willingness to be gradual, to do what\u2019s available now and appreciate it as a gain, improvement, or advancement of some kind.\u00a0Celebrate your victories in the action cycle. If you\u2019re done with what you wanted to do, but you don\u2019t acknowledge it, you don\u2019t celebrate it, you don\u2019t thank yourself or whatever helped you including God, then you\u2019re missing something. You\u2019re missing out on appreciating what you\u2019re doing with your creation.\u00a0So part of completion is celebration.<\/p>\n

If you have a reference point from your past actions, where when you finished something and then you were harmed or betrayed in some way, that experience tends to set up in the unconscious a sense of, \u201cI don\u2019t want to finish because I just get hurt.\u201d If you experienced it as a death experience, where you carried it over and it wasn\u2019t finished, then it can hold as a pattern of fear into this lifetime. You may then say to yourself, \u201cWhen I\u2019m successful, I lose.\u00a0Something is taken away from me or they give me greater responsibility.\u00a0So now I have expectations that I just had my first success and now they want me to do it better.\u00a0And I don\u2019t even know how I did the first success.\u201d That\u2019s a fairly common thought process in which people feel set up negatively by finishing and creating success.\u00a0It becomes something that is registered as an experience that didn\u2019t work for you rather than an experience of joy in your process towards completion.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to realize that you\u2019re growing and maturing as you gain your life experiences. You don’t need to let things that happened to you when you were younger and less experienced govern where you are now. Have the awareness that the right thing to do, the correct approach, is to keep going. Choose to finish in ways that are complete and in celebration.<\/p>\n

Even if it isn\u2019t accomplishing what you originally set out to do, choose to come into a completion and celebration, which can simply be an inner experience of satisfaction.\u00a0That\u2019s one of the ways to work the karma, make sure it\u2019s complete inside of you and not just done outwardly. Often what is done in the world doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s complete within.\u00a0That\u2019s where the acknowledgment comes in.<\/p>\n

Being complete means you\u2019re clear.\u00a0You can move on.\u00a0There\u2019s a next step available to you, and you can move to that next step. You\u2019re not being held back or stuck.\u00a0You are complete.<\/p>\n

In this path with the Traveler, we are actively finishing the karma. We are completing the karma so that we can make our move into the oneness and the love of God that\u2019s available.\u00a0That means that whatever we created in our past actions, which we often refer to as karma, we need to work out and clear.\u00a0Whatever we\u2019re carrying as the karma surfaces, and it can surface on all levels: physically, mentally, emotionally, and psychically.\u00a0It doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that the way your lifestyle is and what you\u2019re doing is bad, wrong, or needs fixing.\u00a0It may just mean to have some patience with yourself.\u00a0Your karma is at work, so things are surfacing to be completed and cleared for your highest good.<\/p>\n

Whatever you\u2019re working through from past lives is being delivered at a rate you can handle. If you\u2019re studying with MSIA, then you have a wonderful support system with you and around you. The MSS and DSS classes<\/a> give tremendous support and remind you how to keep going and how to work through and clear patterns of judgment.\u00a0So when you need help, when you need support, call out. \u00a0That\u2019s what friends are for.\u00a0That\u2019s what we have in our ministries; heartfelt reaching out to one another. Clearly that\u2019s going to help.\u00a0Part of it is to do some of that yourself, to take care of and minister to yourself first.<\/p>\n

We are born with the blessings of health, wealth and happiness, abundance, prosperity, and riches.\u00a0They already are in us. Yet we need to learn how to claim them for ourselves and then stand up so that we create them. We express them in this world and wherever we go in our creation, so that we\u2019re in a place that\u2019s finishing the karma. Choose to be happy and healthy with what you have.\u00a0If you can create more that helps, then do that. But we can also have some contentment and appreciation for the blessings that already are.<\/p>\n

Karma is addressed in some way in just about every Discourse<\/a>. The focus is on the law of cause and effect. What is it that we need as experiences for our learning and growth?\u00a0We need experiences so that we balance out whatever is off, where we\u2019re not in harmony and understanding the divine plan.<\/p>\n

God created it all perfectly. It\u2019s all in perfect order so that we\u2019re never in a place that\u2019s actually lacking. All the circumstances and the conditions that we ever encounter have something that we can use for our upliftment. One of the aspects of the karma that we all need to realize is it is set up for completion, and that completion would register as a loving consciousness that\u2019s honoring, blessing, forgiving, and not holding againstness in any way.<\/p>\n

The essence there is that God sets the tone for all of us by loving what it is. Consider that\u2019s the truth and not some theory. God\u2019s love is real, and it\u2019s real for every single person, place, and thing.<\/p>\n

Discover the Blessings in Your Creatorship<\/h3>\n

We\u2019re all working out our creatorship. So this is the level where we discover and expand our creatorship as divine beings, however long that takes. The more we\u2019re doing it as a form where we take the divine energy that comes into us and we issue it forth as an energy, that goes to whatever we\u2019re looking at, wherever we are, and whatever we consider, we can attend to things in the world in ways that are uplifting, honoring, and respectful, rather than something negative like a bother or irritation. Negativity often reflects our ignorances. Those are also opportunities for us to wake up, pause and hold while we discover the blessings that are present.<\/p>\n

John-Roger gave us one of his great directives about the soul and Soul Transcendence which is to look for the good in all people and things and leave the rest to God. I\u2019ve said that for me, blessing is simply greater good; taking the unmanifest good and being a vehicle, channel, a person who has the intention to make something better.\u00a0When we do it through us into the world, that same energy field comes to us from our divine source within, so we too become a greater blessing as we co-create with God.<\/p>\n

Blessing of Wealth and Joy<\/h3>\n

Lord, we are Your family and also we are Your friends. So we gather here for Your blessing.<\/p>\n

We just ask that once again You show us new experiences of Your light, Your love, what You\u2019ve called us to do in this moment in our creation.<\/p>\n

We take advantage of the opportunity that we have gathered with those who are on this path with the Traveler for the blessings of fulfillment, the wealth of going home to God, the wealth of having that spiritual promise fulfilled in this lifetime, the wealth of being amongst those who will come to our aid at our time of need, and that we would be those who would also do that in kind, the richness of our life, the abundance of our opportunities, and the prosperous ways it\u2019s manifesting, so we can be thankful for the little things and the great things all at once.<\/p>\n

Remove whatever scales may still be on our eyes, so we may see with the eyes of the Christ and the Beloved the richness of every moment, that we can notice that You are in the details. There is no detail that is not infused with Your blessing.<\/p>\n

We forgive ourselves for whenever we castigated and discarded whatever You brought to us as the blessing. We step in to a new day, a new opportunity, our intention to follow, to cooperate, to step into this life every day in greater appreciation. \u00a0We ask to be those who exemplify Your bounty. We can call it forward into the world in ways that people may realize that we are all in a field of glory, a place that has been infused from the beginning with great and ever greater blessings.<\/p>\n

We take a moment to open ourselves to receive. We let go of whatever we have in this moment, that we offer it up in whatever ways. You may use what we have created for gain so we may receive in whatever we are to be given and bestowed within this time and this place.<\/p>\n

We know You are our beloved Father, Mother, God, and we are those who follow in Your way until it is done.<\/p>\n

Baruch Bashan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article by John Morton was first published in the New Day Herald in March of 2014. Over the years, John-Roger has said that we are to have joy and to have it more abundantly.\u00a0There is a reference in Scripture, \u201cThese things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":91695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,189,261,1142,257],"tags":[3,5330,4324,90,4107],"class_list":["post-10785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-happiness","category-john-mortons-current-story","category-money-wealth-abundance","category-ndh-archives","tag-blessing","tag-co-creation","tag-creativity-and-spirituality","tag-john-morton","tag-joy-and-happiness"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}