Nothing outside of you has power over you, other then what you give it.  The only true power in your life is the power of the creative force within you.  We call this force God, or Presence, or Lifeforce or any number of things.  It is the same force, regardless of what we call it.

When we pray we are making contact with this force within.  The act of prayer is an intention. When you say “I wish to connect with you, source of my being,” you are setting your intention to make contact; to establish a true relationship with the source of your life.

Source is always listening!  So, there is no need to worry that you are not heard.  You are heard!  But you often don’t realize you are being heard because you don’t hear the answers to your prayers.  You may not immediately see your prayers being answered in the way you think they should be.

You may pray “God, please take me out of pain. Lift this pain from me.  Set me free.”  And….the pain is still there.  Proof there is no God.  Proof that God does not hear your prayers.

If you don’t learn to meditate as well as pray you won’t hear when God is talking to you.  The busy egoic mind is dominating your reality and there is no room for the still, small voice within.

I had a client who, while in hypnosis, was talking to her higher self.  The client asked “where were you all those years when I was suffering? ” The higher self answered and said.  “I was always here trying to get through to you, but you wouldn’t listen.  The loud demanding voice of your ego, overpowered my still, small voice.  I couldn’t get through!  I couldn’t be heard.”

What your higher self would probably say when you ask to be lifted from your pain is….”I cannot take you out of pain but I can guide you through it so you can come out the other side.  I am here, always, walking with you, but your pain is your teacher and if I were to take it from you, I would be taking from you, your greatest lessons.  I would be taking from you the very thing that caused you to finally reach out to me, to stop, to talk to me, to listen.  If I were to take from you your pain now, you would go right back to living the life you were living prior to now.  Your pain is your wakeup call.  It is what is leading you to this sacred place within.  When you truly find me and connect with me, you will no longer need your pain and it will leave you.”

For most people in great pain, this is not what they want to hear.  They look at God like a Genie in a bottle.  “Your wish is my command!”  I’ve even seen “law of attraction” materials portrait God like a Genie, waiting to fulfill our every wish, our every command.  But, what if your wishes are based on lower level narcissistic, materialistic desires?  Would it be in your highest good to have your every wish fulfilled?

You have come here with a mission and a purpose and most people really have the same mission and purpose.  It is to grow, to evolve, to know God and to let the light of God shine through you so that you may illuminate the world with your light.

The path of enlightenment is to learn to embody the light.  When you bring more and more light to the darkness within you, you become more and more enlightened.  The more enlightened you are, the more aware you are.  The more aware you are, the more you see the dark agendas of others and the more you understand these agendas come from a lack of awareness.

It is not your job to get other people to “see the light.”  It is your job to find the light within you.  You do this through daily contact with the divine within you.  At first it may feel empty and meaningless to talk to a force you don’t understand or feel connected with.  But keep talking anyway, and keep listening.

Spiritual practice is super important.  The more you practice, the more the still, small voice, can make its way through the loud noise of the distorted ego.  It is the ego that tells you that you are not enough, there is something wrong with you, you are not worth loving, you don’t deserve anything good in your life.

The voice of the ego is distorted because its original job was to protect you and keep you alive, but it lost sight of its job and instead became the voice of judgement, the critical parent, the narcissist!  You may have received the message either directly or indirectly as a child, that you don’t matter, you are not important, you are a trouble maker, you are too big for your britches, you should be seen and not heard, or maybe even that you shouldn’t be seen.  The ego picks up these messages and reinforces them.

To the distorted ego, to believe in your own unworthiness is to survive.  Our parents are our Gods, in the beginning, and our survival depends on them.  So we must dim our light, play small, be seen and not heard, suppress our voice, suppress our light, not make waves and so on.

As an adult your ego is still feeding you these distorted messages.  Dim your light, don’t be seen, don’t be heard, don’t make waves!  Play small!  You are insignificant!

The ego, unchecked, becomes more and more powerful with time.  Its voice becomes loud and dominating.  We learn to believe its lies.  We forget that we come here not to play small, but to step out on the stage of life and shine our light as brightly as we can.  We come here to be seen, to be heard, to make big waves and transform the current narcissistic state of the planet.

Prayer will help you to overcome the ego.  Prayer will help you to release your fear of stepping out onto the stage of life and being seen.  Prayer will help you to get through the cruelty and abuse of those who still believe you should be playing small.

In prayer you must ask “help me to find my strength.  Help me to know who I am.  Help me to endure the darkness I am in.  Help me to find the light within me.  Help me to know true love.  Guide my footsteps.  Help me to hear you.  Bring me a sign.  Help me to know you are here.”

When we meditate, we practice listening.  We learn to tell the difference between the ego and the spirit within.   At first the ego sees this as an opportunity to take control and may speak louder.  But as you begin to recognize the narcissistic, judgmental voice that is loud, boisterous, and unforgiving; you can say “no thank you, I’m not going to listen to you, I am listening for the voice of wisdom, the voice of love, the voice of truth!”

When the ego realizes it isn’t getting your attention, it stops trying so hard and eventually loses control all together.  This is why it is so important to keep practicing and don’t give up.  The ego wants you to give up and give in to its distortions.  Its not that the ego is evil or bad.  It is dysfunctional.  It is distorted.  It believes it is keeping you alive, in a sort of warped, twisted way.  It is like the internalized narcissist. 

If you have ever heard “you are your own worst enemy” there is truth here.  But the true statement should be “your distorted ego is your worst enemy.”  You are not your ego, so you are not your own worst enemy.  You are a spiritual being having a human experience and the ego is controlling the “human.”  Your higher self is in charge of the spirit.  Your higher self is the spirit.

The ego itself is not your enemy.  It helps you to realize your humanness and ensure your physical survival, so you don’t jump off a cliff or step out in front of a truck.  But as the ego becomes distorted, it becomes like an autoimmune disease, attacking the self.  It attacks the self , by trying to keep it in a little box, so it doesn’t do anything that may threaten its survival.  “Play small, dim your light, stay safe, stay in the box” becomes its distorted way of protecting your physical human.

Making any part of ourselves the enemy is not helpful.  It sets up an internal fight, a constant struggle.  It is much better to develop understanding and know that the original intention of the ego is to keep you alive.  Can’t fault it for that.  It just got trapped in narcissistic society and knows not what it does.  You have to learn to talk back to your ego and let it know it is no longer in charge.  It is not the boss of you.  It is your servant, not your master.  You must take back your mastery and put your ego back into its servants’ quarters.

Tell your ego “please don’t talk to me like that.  I won’t listen to such rubbish anymore. Be quiet.  What you say is not true.  I know you mean well and are trying to help, but I will not be dimming my light and playing small anymore.  I am headed for greatness!  If you want my attention then you need to help me to achieve my greatness by reminding me how awesome I am, not how small and insignificant I am.  That program won’t run with me anymore.  It is time for a new program!”

Once you let your ego know the new program, you will have to reinforce it for a time, until your ego aligns with the new “undistorted” reality.  Your higher self is the true master, and your ego is your assistant.

When you talk to higher self, don’t beg or grovel.  Set your intentions and make your requests and always follow up by saying “for my highest good and the highest good of all.”

Don’t forget to practice gratitude.  Say “thank you” for my life, my health, the roof over my head, my job, the food on my table and everything you can think of that are blessings in your life.  During the gratitude prayer, focus only on the blessings and not the curses, so to speak.  Don’t assume because there are curses that there are no blessings.  Don’t assume you are entitled to have a roof over your head, a job, a healthy body, or food on your table.  Our narcissistic society is very entitled.  Be grateful for all that you have.

Sometimes your greatest blessings may seem like curses.  When a relationship is ripped away from you, it could be your greatest blessing.  It could even be the answer to a prayer.  But it may not feel like it in the moment.  When you are in deep pain, it may also be a blessing in disguise because it is your pain that is leading to your spiritual enlightenment.  Your breakdown is leading to your breakthrough.  Practice gratitude.  It trains your mind to take account of what is good in your life.

When you pray and say “for my highest good and the highest good of all” you are acknowledging that the answer to your prayer may not look the way you would like it to look, but it will be for your highest good and as a result of your highest good being taken into account, it will also be for the highest good of all.

It would be impossible for something to be for your highest good and not be for the highest good of all.  If it is for your highest good to leave a relationship, it is also for the highest good of your relationship partner.  He or she may not know it yet.  When one leaves an addict or alcoholic who is not getting better, your leaving may be the catalyst for that person seeking help.  Or it may be what takes that person to his or her ultimate low, which will then lead to seeking help.

When you leave a narcissist, you hold that person accountable the only way you can.  You are saying “I will no longer tolerate your behavior.  You may never change and that is your choice.  You may hurt others and that is between you and the others, but I will no longer put myself in harm’s way.”

So, as you pray, understand that the answers to your prayer is in the highest good of all.

Learn to listen for inspiration.  Listen to the still, small voice within.  Watch for signs and number sequences that remind you that you are being guided.  If you feel confused about your direction, pray for clarification.

It is important that you never let anyone else decide for you whether or not your life has value.  It is too easy to give your power away.  It is too easy to get lost in the insanity of another person or groups distorted idea of you.  Others don’t have the power to define you.  Only you have that power.  Take that power back from the narcissistic ego and give it to the higher self!  The higher self knows who you are and its greatest desire for you is that you can see yourself the way it sees you.  You are nothing less then a part of God, occupying a human form.  You are a God.  You are a creator being.  Create your life in a way that the cultivation of your inner light becomes the most important pursuit in life.  All else will come to you naturally.

Life in true communion with Source, with God, is a life unopposed because when you are in full communion with Source, you don’t experience the separation from others.  You only experience your Union with divinity.  This is where you are most powerful!  This is the home, you would hope to find by leaving this physical reality.

You don’t have to leave your physical body to find “home.”  Home is here, within you.  It is in the NOW, the presence!  It is the eternal-ness of “being.”

Don’t pray to be redeemed from the darkness!  Pray to know the light of your eternal being.  Pray that your eyes are opened to the truth.  Pray that your enemies will either fall away or be transformed by love.

And so it is!