Today, I was reminded of the power of having the Material Mind within the space of Spirit Mind and how it evolves and gets deeper and deeper over time.
I was out on a walk with our Maltese Poodle, toy Poodle Lucas. I walked to a place where I remember having a little tug of war with Lucas. In the past, when my Material Mind was very active and I was thinking about work, or something I’d rather do, or maybe I was just hot from the day while out on the walk, I would get frustrated with Lucas’s tendency to go really slow, smell everything, turn right instead of left—basically just enjoy himself and be a dog.
Since I had a different agenda, I would get frustrated, and we’d end up in this kind of tug of war. Sometimes I’d give him a pull and drag him across to where I wanted him to go, and it made the walk less enjoyable for both of us. By contrast, when Hisami was walking Lucas, she had a very easy, smooth relationship with him. They just walked along, with her being very present, without any agenda other than enjoying the walk, and everything went really smoothly.
I started comparing myself, thinking, “Oh, I don’t like the experience I’m having; I’d rather have her experience.” But I was also comparing myself on another level, thinking, “Maybe she is better than me in some way.” This is normal—our Material Mind tends to do this. You’ve probably heard a similar story in other podcast episodes.
As my Material Mind started moving into the space of Spirit Mind, I noticed that I could find that space more easily and just be present in the moment with Lucas, enjoying the walk. Over time, this ability developed naturally just from doing the Spirit Mind work. This is just one example of how things changed in my life.
But when I would come to the place where I remembered having a tug of war with Lucas, I used to feel guilty. I would think, “I wish I hadn’t done that,” and feel sorry for Lucas. I’d pick up this negative energy of guilt.
Today, something completely different happened. I came upon that place, the memory of the tug of war popped in, but without any thoughts at all, I felt compassion. I felt compassion and love for Lucas in that situation, and compassion and love for myself. There was love all the way around, and I was radiating love to my past self, to Lucas’s past self, and to all those times in between when I had felt guilty. This happened naturally, in a moment. I didn’t think about it, plan it, or do an activity or meditation—it just happened.
In that moment, I realized, “Wow, this is another progression of Material Mind being in the space of Spirit Mind and seeing the whole world from the space of love.” It was wonderful.
