The Cardinal Virtues
Anne Smith’s latest challenging from Hilarion. Always Words of wisdom, says me. Halirion says:
Cardinal virtues are those which help steer our lives. Let them be kindness, acceptance, appreciation, and wonder. This will create a beautiful life.
Most of us have goals in life. We want to be or do something. We’d like to be a successful musician. We long for a vacation to Hawaii. Our goals are usually about what we want to become or experience. They have a tangible, desired outcome. Success with this type of goal changes the outside reality of our lives.
Less frequently, our aims are about how we want to live our lives. We may wish to be more generous, tolerant, thankful, or peaceful. These pursuits don’t have a specific endpoint. They involve the process of changing how we feel and think on the inside. Our interior shifts will result in outer changes in what we do and say, and in how we experience life. They won’t have a deadline or diploma at the end. Yet they will help us enjoy life more, whatever it brings.
Being a happier, more fulfilled person in any circumstances is perhaps the most important thing we can do to help ourselves achieve our material goals. Outer change is most successfully initiated, supported, and achieved by inner change. Gratitude and joy in life will bring us more of what appreciate.
When we are kind, we treat others with love and respect. We honor their essential divinity and worth. In doing this, we recognize our own divine nature and worth and our connection with other individuals. Kindness helps us learn more about divine love and generosity.
When we are accepting, we are willing to take other people and life as is. We trust that others are exactly where they need to be in life, doing what best serves their spiritual path. We also trust that whatever we experience is for our benefit. Acceptance helps us learn more about divine non-judgment and optimism.
When we are grateful, we enjoy other people and events in the smallest of details. Little things can make us happy. We aren’t waiting for something in the future. We savor what is going on right now. Appreciation helps us learn more about the divine infinite in the moment.
When we unleash our sense of amazement, we can recognize the power of serendipity in our lives. We learn to notice life’s small, delicious coincidences. We enjoy the humor in circumstances. Wonder helps us learn more about the infinite creative potential of life.
Let’s take a few moments to connect with our sharing within—our inner divinity—to learn more about how to make the interior changes that will help our outer life seem more rich and fulfilling. We’ll start by relaxing our breathing rhythm, letting our breath become slow, gentle, and smooth. We also will picture our sharing within as a ball of golden light in the center of our chest. Our breath will help build conscious connection with our sharing within. Inhaling, we will see the golden light grow steady and bright. Exhaling, we will see the light fill us and our surroundings. We’ll continue until we feel calm, steady, and relaxed awareness, signaling conscious connection with our sharing within.
We will ask our sharing within to help us understand interior changes we can make that will help us enjoy and appreciate life more. We’ll ask to shown one act of kindness we might perform which would benefit us and someone else. Perhaps we will be directed to offer a helping hand to someone we don’t know or understand well. Or perhaps we will be asked to react calmly in the face of another’s anger. Whatever our sharing within suggests, we can trust that it will expand our capacity to love.
We’ll request to be shown something or someone it would be beneficial to accept. Perhaps we could view someone different from us more tolerantly. Or perhaps we should stop resisting a current change in our circumstances and instead view it as an opportunity. Whatever our sharing within brings to our attention, we can trust that it will help us view others and life from a more divine standpoint.
We also will ask our sharing within to direct our focus to someone or something we might appreciate more. Perhaps we feel a lack of love and companionship, while our pet dog is playfully nudging our legs. Or perhaps we bemoan a tight food budget rather than being grateful to have enough to eat today. Whatever we are shown, we can trust that it will help us learn how to appreciate life in the now.
Lastly, we will request that our sharing within remind us of a recent helpful coincidence. Perhaps we didn’t have enough money to pay a bill and accidentally found a hundred dollar bill in a coat pocket. Or perhaps we are concerned an undiagnosed health condition and overheard a helpful clue in someone else’s conversation. Whatever we are directed to notice, we can trust that it will help fuel our sense of wonder and ignite our ability to manifest.
Finally, we will thank the divine within us for helping us recognize ways in which we can experience the beauty of life more fully. We were born to love and be loved. Our purpose is to help the universe—aka the sharing—experience itself in joy and wonder. Life is fun!
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Divinely unique and beautiful reader, what cardinal virtue might most change you? Please share…