let a memory surface. When it comes, I visualize it for about ten or fifteen seconds, as clearly and vividly as I possibly can that morning. I try to re-create the situation or scene in my imagination, and for that moment I let myself become the person I was back then.” And when this process was working well for Alan, he would actually experience the emotional flavor of what was going on inside himself in the event or circumstance.
Certain memories seem to come up frequently. For example, here’s one memory that he described as coming up several times. “It happened more than ten years ago. I had gone on a business trip to San Diego and I was staying at the home of friends. I arrived in the early afternoon, but the work I’d come for wasn’t until the next day. My friends had picked me up at the airport and taken me home to the suburb La Jolla, where I had the remainder of the day at leisure. After getting settled into the guest bedroom, I decided to take a walk through the residential neighborhood and enjoy the beauty of this warm February day. As I started the walk, I had lots of problems on my mind. There were worries about things from the office. What’s more, this was also a rather lonely time in my life, and I would easily slip into feeling sorry for myself.
“But as I continued on this walk—which eventually lasted for at least an hour—something began to change. It was as if all that stuff of personality began to melt away. I was shedding those worries and self-doubts. All those familiar stresses gradually disappeared for about thirty minutes. What came forth was a very centered and very peaceful me. I was in no hurry to finish the walk. There was no particular destination that I was straining toward, no goal to which I was compulsively fixated. Instead, I was simply walking mindfully and in touch with my feelings and my surroundings. What seemed particularly striking about this remarkable sense of myself was this realization: that very identity was always nearby, it was always right at hand even though my stresses and worries usually blocked it out.”
That experience of his individuality self was extraordinarily vivid. And whenever it came back to mind in his first waking minute of the morning, he could easily recreate in his imagination just the way he felt that day. He could visualize the scene and could reconnect with that part of himself for fifteen or twenty seconds while lying there in bed.
“Once I’ve used a memory of my individuality—the meditative walk or any other memory that arises that day—then I turn my attention to an inner question, just as Cayce prescribed. I ask, ‘ God, what would You have me do today?’ I usually pose the question about three times, staying attentive and silent for about ten seconds each time. I try to listen for a prompting, an urge, or an intuitive feeling about something that should be a priority for that day. Sometimes what comes to mind is not so much a specific job to be accomplished but instead a particular quality that it’s my task to live fully that day. It might be joyfulness or appreciation or persistence. On other occasions the inspiration that comes to me in that first minute of the day is the name or face of someone I know. It’s as if I’m being reminded that there is something very important for me to do in relationship to that person today. Rarely do I know immediately what that something is. My job is to pay attention to that person carefully enough that I can sense his or her needs and be responsive.”
But there were many mornings when he posed the inner question; and as he tried to listen, nothing came. It was tempting on those mornings to feel like he had failed, but he had to remind himself of the deeper purpose to this one minute positive habit described by Cayce. The real goal was to get in touch with a certain openness to being guided and shown the way. Even if the message or the guidance didn’t come in that first minute, he still had gotten in touch with his willingness to be directed. If he could trust that the direction would come, then often it did in the first few hours of day.
He reported one typical episode. “A good example of this process happened to me this week. Monday morning I followed the Cayce prescription for how to start the day, but at the end of that minute, no particular guidance came to me. I knew I had made a good connection with the part of me that is willing to be guided. However, at that point, no direction came forth. An hour and a half later I was on my way to work, ready for what was sure to be a very busy and demanding week of work. Within the first thirty minutes of being at the office, I received my guidance. It became very obvious what God wanted me to do that day.
“The message came as an event, a sort of synchronistic occurrence. I was surprised to suddenly confront in the hallway a fellow employee with whom I’d been having lots of trouble lately. He works in another building of our company’s complex, and I almost never see him in the building where I work. My surprise at seeing him was quickly replaced by an inner knowing: working through my resentments and frustrations with him was the number one priority for the day. I found it natural and easy to say to him, ‘ When you’re finished with what you’re doing, can you come up to my office for a few minutes?’
“Ten minutes later we were alone together. What followed during the next half hour was a healing experience for both of us. There were tense moments as we talked about recent situations in which we had misunderstood each other’s motives. One thing especially helped me during those times: I remembered my early morning one minute positive habit. I’d take one slow centering breath, try to remember my own best self and his, and then try to make as reconciling a response as I could. In the end he left to go back to his office, and I’m sure that we both felt that our relationship was now better than it had ever been before. And I’m just as sure that none of this could have turned out so well without that creative habit for starting my day right.”
APPLYING THIS POSITIVE HABIT TO YOUR LIFE
Make a commitment for one week to start the day right. Each morning of the test period, upon first awakening, dedicate the first minute or two to this positive habit. You may find it helpful to get yourself fully awake by focusing all your attention initially on about three slow, deep breaths. Then invite a memory of your individuality self to surface. Silently say the words “my best self” or “individuality self” and be still for a moment until a specific memory comes to mind. When one does, take about fifteen seconds to vividly recall the situation or event. Reexperience how it feels to be that part of yourself.
Finally pose the request for guidance. Use whatever version of these words works best for you: God, what would You have me do this day? Then be inwardly alert for an inspiration or intuition. It may come as a reminder of a certain person, suggesting that this relationship is a priority for your day. The guidance might come as a feeling about the importance of a certain task or as the need for a certain quality to be expressed often during the day.
If nothing specific comes, that’s OK, too. What’s important is having made a connection with your individuality self and having affirmed your willingness to receive direction. As you stay mindful and attentive, the direction is likely to come soon.
Postive Habit #2
Three-Minute Meditation
Meditation has long been a tool of spiritually centered people. It offers a connection to a higher power, and it awakens a calming, harmonizing influence. Contrary to some beliefs, meditation does not take years of practice and discipline to achieve results. Nor does it require long periods of uninterrupted time. The positive habit of a regular meditation session may be more within our reach than many people have thought.
For most, the biggest obstacle is just finding the time to do it. It can be difficult when we are busy to squeeze in yet another activity. Or, even when we have had some success with a regular practice, some crisis or unexpected demand can quickly have us shifting priorities, and suddenly the steady meditation discipline is lost. Or, sometimes the obstacle is merely fatigue. When we are tired from a long day, spiritual practices are sometimes the first thing to be cut out of the evening’s schedule.
