Order and the Mind
A Supernatural Quest
St. Augustine’s autobiographical work Confessions is a journey into a thinker so deep, I sometimes get awareness whiplash while reading, and I haven’t even finished it. I read it in tiny doses. Things I learned little by little in my New Age days, sitting on the floor of a yoga shala with wise women, seem to have originated in that book.
“It is difficult to heal the mind with the mind, but it is the path” said one wise yogi, and though it is true, I just repeated it, without contemplating whether it was providing a solution. (it wasn’t.)
St. Augustine clarifies that concept, which could provide a way out. He says,
“the mind commands the body and is instantly obeyed; the mind commands itself and meets resistance.”
Obedience in the mind as an ingredient for freedom in the mind is an interesting concept. Asking God to arrest your negative thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:5) to boost obedience in the mind is an experiment I encourage for everyone, Christian or not. Try it for 21 days, track the experiences in a notebook, heck, send me an email and tell me what happened. It could be that you discover the way out of a frantic mind!
The Mind Commands the Body - No Problem. The Mind Commands the Mind? Static!
If you’re a healthy, vital gal and your body is in good working order, and you command it to
move your right foot
your right foot does not resist. It moves.
If your mind is in good working order, and you command it to
remain positive about the possibilities in the New Year
remind yourself about the number of available men in your town, regardless of shenanigans on dating apps
maintain a positive outlook for harmony in your present commitment
your mind resists. “That’ll never happen.” “It’s always been this way.” “I’m stuck.”
How do you get your mind to be as obedient as your right foot?
By sharing. By cracking open and breaking through mental isolation. By facing unconscious motives that convinced you to do the hardest things all alone, because the hardest things are usually the most vulnerable, and the most dear.
Gals on our Emotional Fitness Friday Zooms know what it’s like to hear someone else’s question get answered or to share their own “data” and experience real relief in the mind. Granting air and light to mindful places that were dim and stagnant can boost faith in God and good orderly direction.
It takes guts to take a risk and expose your heart’s desires. With God, sharing openly is not only possible but it establishes momentum that is made of the very things it takes to be married. There is a spiritual version of compounded interest in it, as if tiny choices to be vulnerable and share anyway become a driver towards good, while you spiritually expand and trust the process.
Do you need some faith in the high-stakes area of love? Have you ever considered borrowing some from someone who is lending theirs for a little while? I lend mine out on our Zooms all the time. It is available because God provides so much, and I can see boosted faith in faces by the time we log off - they heard someone else’s issue and felt less alone. They got clarity and found patience from sharing their own “stuff.” They got a necessary reminder.
In between Zooms, the chat here on Substack is available to website subscribers as a free perk, to answer questions and seek solutions in between our Friday Zooms.
Y’want to know one of the reasons why I think I am married, even though my life was a mess and I had drifted as far from that dream as I possibly could have? Because I had major guts about seeking help, relief and guidance in massive amounts. I wasn’t shy about it and I wasn’t afraid to share and get feedback, diving into courageous, scary changes to the same degree I had once caved in on myself, hiding in bravado and airs. That’s why I wrote a book about it.
I want to make it as cool (or cooler) to restore virtues and traditional values as it is to make crying selfie videos about the culture’s traps and false light. Those “boring old” traditional values increase in value over time and multiply fulfillment, and the culture has convinced women they are optional, disposable, and oppressive. I encourage you to train your mind to see how cruel it is to convince fertile women that a deeply spiritual and fulfilling path as a wife and mother is a dubious option.
You might find that seeing false light for what it is causes a positive pivot into better choices and sunshine.
My aim for everyone who joins my membership is that they
just luxuriate
in my availability and the other available souls on the Zooms. You’d be surprised how easy it is to spot virtuous, available, masculine leaders when you spend some time in loving and supportive spaces with other like-minded emotionally available souls.
