Please allow at least 30 minutes for this exercise.  As you move through the script, you might highlight the segment you are working on (or scroll) so that you can quickly find your place in the script to resume after you pause.  I suggest that you close your eyes and touch your heart during the pauses.  Pause for as long as it feels right, until you have clarity about what has been expressed or asked.

A facet of my own spiritual philosophy is that everyone I experience, every witnessing of the world and its creatures, is a teacher.  Often, our teachers mirror for us the issues which we are challenged to handle.

The point of this small exercise is to see the gift in each person, in each experience that we have in this world. Some gifts are easy to see and feel:  The sensual, eager lover, the snow-capped mountain peak, the singing of birds.   Other gifts are a bit more disguised:  the offended partner, the fender bender, the snowstorm when you are driving....

This latter type of  "challenging" gift is sometimes tougher to see as positive.  Yet, there is a way to do this.  It is by placing your hand on your heart, feeling its  power, and then identifying with it.   Feeling it as who you are.

I ask you to consider the possibility, just for this exercise, that your heart is both the seat of your true power and that it is also equipped with a PAUSE BUTTON .

By placing your hand on your heart, you are empowered to quiet the workings of the mind and tune into the joy, the trust, the courage and the presence that is available to you when you tune into your Self.  Self with a Capital S.

As you place your hand......either one.... on your heart, feel its power and wisdom.

I consider with my heart: Is that wisdom more of who I am than any wisdom to be found in my head? 

Do I trust the wisdom of my heart?

How can I build this trust?

In the Carlos Castenada teachings, three basic types of people are delineated.  The names have been adjusted for these types for the purpose of this exercise. Let's go through each of them for some clarity.   Consider putting your hand over your heart when we begin this process, perceiving your heart as both the seat of your wisdom and as a PAUSE BUTTON.  You will pause the workings of the mind as you connect with the silence and the wisdom of the words that will come from your heart.  You may get FEELINGS , rather than words, from your heart.   Intuit what those feelings teach you. You will be asking your heart questions.

The first of the types is ANGRY.  What person whom I know seems to be most angry? 

Now, I ask my heart: When I witness this anger, what is the opportunity for me in it?

What about myself provokes my anger?  

What part of me do I reject, condemn, or see as unworthy? 

What about myself can I choose now to forgive?

I feel a complete willingness to forgive in my heart, and I let that feeling radiate throughout my body now. 

The next type of person is arrogant.  What one person in my life is most arrogant in their behavior with me?

Now I ask my heart: What is the opportunity for me when I witness this arrogance in someone else?

One aspect of arrogance is the pretense that one has the wisest solution to other people's questions or problems---or the mysteries of life.  Edward Abbey said this about that:

To the intelligent man or woman, life appears infinitely mysterious.  But the stupid have an answer for every question. (Brief Pause here.)

In what ways have I been arrogant?

What about myself might I choose to be compassionate about?

Am I willing to prioritize in my life the quest to both be in my loving power and to be humble at the same time?

Repeating: Am I willing to prioritize in my life the quest to both be in my loving power and to be humble at the same time?   Along the road to unfolding my love, how important am I willing to make it to raise my levels of both power and humility? 

The third and final type is the nervous person.

What person in my life right now may be thought of as most nervous? 

Am I willing to accept that person as they are right now? 

What am I nervous about?  

What kinds of things have I done or said recently that feed nervousness in myself or another?

Am I willing right now to choose a more calm way of responding to life?  If so, what's in that for me?

As I breathe deeply for a minute or so, pressing a bit more firmly on my heart, I recognize my own power to be calm right now. 

Closing Quotation and Brief Pause:

Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.  One brave deed is worth a thousand books.

---Edward Abbey