2000-07-16. Choices
Nashville #91
Topic: Choices
Group: Nashville TeaM
Teacher: Ham
TR: Rebecca
Opening
Ham: Greetings, children, I am Ham and I am happy to greet you all this evening. Tonight, our discussion shall center around our choices.
Lesson
Decision
You each have in any time period certain choices or freedom of choice that you can exercise. These choices bring you into the next time period in which you have again a number of choices to make. These decisions, or choices, are limited in time and space and then within that limitation, you can work toward a longer range decision.
For example, you may choose to write a book. The choice does not materialize that book. Then within the time frame of a day, you may be able to choose to spend a certain amount of time working toward that goal. You may choose to lose weight, for example. Simply deciding to lose weight does not create the effect. You have within each time period a choice to eat or not to eat or what you decide upon when you do eat. Each one of these choices brings you closer to the realization of your greater choice.
Each moment contains a choice about what you will do, what you will think, where you will be. Even the depth of your breath, the position of your body, the view which you are looking at or not looking at, everything is a choice. When you think about living eternally and all the responsibility that that entails, all the effort, all the time that you will be working and striving and living, it can seem to be overwhelming when you say “I must become perfect” and you see where you are, it can seem to be an insurmountable gulf between where you are and the perfection that the Father is drawing you toward.
When tragedy befalls you and you feel that there is simply no way you can get through the next day, it can help you to break it down, to think of each moment as a decision, each minute as a choice and instead of being overwhelmed by the perceived threat of the day, or the future, you can begin by saying right now, “I will sit here”, right now I will drink a cup of cocoa or something and connect with your living in the moment, connect with the decision which is before you right now. Usually if you can do this and get through the period of crisis when you feel overwhelmed and find that you have gotten through that hour or that day, the future tends to take care of itself and not be as difficult as you had imagined because it is made up of these moments, these moments just like right now.
Yes, you will experience losses, you will experience suffering of various types. You will find yourself buffeted by the stresses of success and failure and each time when you feel overwhelmed, come back to the thought that what is my decision right now and it can be as simple as stretching your legs, scratching your nose, looking at the ceiling.
You must remember that you are just children and you are just learning and you will make mistakes, little errors of judgment that cause problems here and there, but that’s part of life. Nothing in life is hard and nothing is easy. Existence is a gift. It is a wonder to be alive, to exist as the miraculous entity that you are. It is wonderful to have a body, even with its aches and pains, its malfunctions, it is a miraculous gift.
Many of you have noticed that often the big decisions in life are not ever really made, they simply occur as an accumulation of many small decisions. Then you find yourself in a position to make a decision that may seem like a large one, but is really just another step. The Father helps you to prepare for each eventuality that he sees coming to you. His plan for your life is so much greater than anything you could imagine for yourselves that often times, his angels have to nudge, nudge, nudge to get you to open your eyes to look and see what is right in front of you.
If there is one disease that is common to you all, it is the disease of wanting to map out your lives and then to fulfill all the landmarks that you think you should do. Often you resist the leading of the angels because it is difficult to imagine yourself in a different situation than you had imagined in your mind before. You tend to suppress yourselves by thinking, “I’m not that I am this, I can’t do that because I don’t do that” for whatever reason. So, you artificially limit your choices.
The Father always seeks to expand your lives, to open you up to new possibilities, to new things and new ways of seeing yourself in the world. Often times, if you see yourself in a role of being the rebel or the upholder of whatever flag you are flying, you define yourself that way and forget about things like contentment, happiness, love. Sometimes your intelligence can work against you because you imagine yourselves as seeing all the angles and plotting out exactly what must be done to achieve this or that goal that you forget that you are more than that.
Every person living had tremendous, tremendous potential. Each one has the potential to be absolutely incredible and individual. You are all the creators of your lives. You are creating something new every single day and as you create this new you every morning, a little bit of the old you has to be put down.
People fall into little traps of thinking they have to have things a certain way in order to be comfortable and this usually draws some kinds of antagonism with someone somewhere because every body else has the same idea. They have to have things a certain way also. So, there are often needless antagonisms between you that tend to draw energy and create mild unhappiness for no reason. All of you are doing well and are beginning to adapt to the changes that are coming about in your lives. Life, as I said, isn’t hard and it isn’t easy. But it is both. I perceive that there are questions. Go ahead.
Dialogue
Progress
Q: Talk about the balance between planning and making choice in the present moment. If you spend all of your time in the present moment, you can’t seem to see opportunities and set goals. If you are too worried about the future and spend too much time trying to make things turns out the way you fantasize you think they should be, you miss the opportunities in the moment.
Ham: Yes, of course. This is such an individual question that it is difficult to answer on a broad scale. But, much of it comes down to priority. If your first priority is to write a book, then in the moment when you have decision about what to do, you may think perhaps I should work on that instead of watching television or something else. It is good to set these goals and to have these priorities in your moment to moment living, but also, as you work in the moment and develop yourself, other possibilities open up and that is how these priorities shift and begin to change and your interests perhaps change over time and you are drawn into new things that you might not have done had you not begun that first project.
Everything around you, everything within you, is changing moment by moment. You are a different person, just a little, from when you walked in the door this evening. Each of you is growing and this is an actual reality that occurs in the moment through every single experience. So though your goal might have been to write this book and have it published and make a million dollars, perhaps in the writing of the book you developed and grew to the point where you understood more about your subject to the point that you began to speak about it and this opened up possibilities with other people who recognized your expertise perhaps and so you were led into something else, something that you hadn’t envisioned to begin with.
But, your spiritual growth enabled you to handle the new situation where the earlier you could not have taken it on. Everyone progresses step by step in an experience of inner unfolding. There are inner blossoms within you that are coming to the surface then breaking forth in beauty and wonder that surprise even yourselves. Have patience. Walk a step at a time, but yes, set goals and follow the way the angels set forth. Sometimes it is a straight line toward that goal you envisioned early on, but often it is more of a sightseeing trip, where you gain many experiences and learn many things that you would not have otherwise. Is this helping?
I would say that that feels like it describes how I have been dealing with things over the last few years.
Ham: Yes, everything works toward a purpose even though you may not see that purpose and you may thing you’re working for something when in reality you are being moved and positioned for something else, something greater.
Q: It seem to me that some people get so concerned about the future, or about having certainty over the future, that they cannot make good decisions in the present. If you are constantly trying to find that certainty or to control how things are going to turn out, you also end up missing opportunities and you make decisions that are not that good.
Ham: Sometimes plans are made out of fear more than anything else.
Q: Ham, I would like to request a message for my beloved Amalain and for myself.
Ham: Daughter, you do well. There are many new opportunities coming to you and you are growing in your ability to understand them and to accept them. Find time to open your own awareness of yourself, to receive guidance, even as a little child receives guidance. Fear not, but rather learn to love yourself more and more and so it shall be.
My son, you are beginning to experience peace, the peace that the Father bestows upon you, the peace that is beyond understanding. Use that place of peace. Learn how to find it so that you can always return there. Life continues to be an adventure. Do not be anxious, but rather be thrilled by the ride.
Q: Ham, do you have any counsel for me tonight?
Ham: Of course my son. Open your heart more and more every day to the Father’s love. Abandon the old patterns and adopt the new awareness. You often understand things without going through the experience of them, without making them real in your life. This is a time now for deepening your awareness of yourself, for expanding that place of peace and understanding that you are loved in greater measure than you can ever understand. Life is full of paradox, of change within change. Embrace these things, allow yourself to change, allow yourself to embrace that which is unknowable. But most of all, love yourself. Take things one step at a time and don’t try to see the end of each one of your actions. Take the small steps and you will be fine.
:Q Ham, do you have anything for Esmirelda?
Ham: Of course. Daughter, you have learned to take one small change at a time, to expand your horizons little by little so that now you see much more than you did even a few months ago. Take comfort in stillness, allow yourself to be in the moment more and more and to not bring every past circumstance, every past experience into the present moment. It is fine simply to be.
Q: Elena?
Ham: Daughter, you do well. This is a time of breaking out, breaking out of old habits, of old concepts of who you are. It is as though you were turning your life on its head and making some very bold moves, some very courageous decisions. Remember, as we said, to break things down, to live moment to moment when things are too stressful. Let go of the things that you cannot control.
Q: Rebecca?
Ham: Daughter, you do well. You are making good and steady progress as usual. Likewise, you are breaking out of your shell a little bit and are becoming more bold and adventurous. This is good for you to open yourself more and more to new possibilities and new understandings. Fear not my daughter, you do well.
Q: Jarad?
Ham: Yes, son. You enjoy breaking out of old molds and yet you are comforted by them. Sometimes, you are like a crab that has outgrown his shell but continues to try to creep back into the old one. Change your schedule this week. Do different things. Read or write instead of watching television. Do things differently. Listen to your body about food. Eat something when you are hungry, but do not make an arbitrary schedule about when or what you should or shouldn’t eat. Do things differently. With your work, also, try something new. Do something that you haven’t done before in your writing. Stretch and reach instead of going back to the old. Is this helping?
Q: I’ll try to do that. About the work, I don’t know. I have these things I need to do.
Ham: You will see what I mean.
Q: Charlie B.
Ham: Yes, of course. My son, you do well. Remember to take things a little bit more with a grain of salt. Don’t be so rigid in your thinking that you have antagonism when really there is nothing there. Continue to open yourself more and more to the real love that is all around you. When you become irritable, or fatigued, take some time to remember that you are loved, that you are cherished, and then love and cherish those around you. A lot of times, troubles are made worse by simple fatigue and stress. Be sure to get enough rest and be careful not to push yourself too hard which is a tendency you have.
Q: Do you have any feedback for me this week?
Ham: Of course, my son. Remember that time can be an ally as well as a foe. You have always tried to fit more things into the time you had than was probably prudent so that time became a problem. Time can also be a powerful ally. Remember that you can use time to your advantage. Not every decision or every task must be done immediately Some things should be allowed to ripen. Is this helping?
Q: In an abstract way yes. I guess I’ll have to make a decision each day about which things to let ripen and which things to work on.
Ham: Yes, that is so.
Closing
To my children who have not asked specific questions, know that I know you, and that I love you, that my words are also for you. You each have many different circumstances and many different problems and trials and yet you are all going through certain growth stages so that my words can be a comfort on many levels to many people. Often times, my words are meant to convey an understanding that will develop. Not every discussion is narrow, but rather most are quite broad so that everyone is included.
It is my greatest wish and desire that all of you find within each lesson something that helps you in your living, something that gives you an opening for growth. Remember that you are each working with the Father and he will help to take that which you need. He is like the regulator who pulls in nutrients that are necessary to the body. The Father helps to pull in nutrients for the soul and if I can help to fertilize the soil to some extent, I am grateful. Go therefore in peace and know that my love is with you and my prayers are with you each, farewell.
