You Are Already Enough – Rev. Linda Jackson
This video features the Sunday “talk” only. Watch the full service on our Facebook page.
DESCRIPTION
When we shift out of striving from lack to recognizing our inherent wholeness, we align with the universe’s creative flow and manifest with ease. Join us as we explore how embracing our Divine enoughness transforms our lives and relationships, and supports us to co-create with ease and flow.
SUMMARY
In this talk, Rev. Linda Jackson discusses the theme of “Radical Connection” and the book “The Divine Matrix” by Gregg Braden. She shares a story from the book about a Native American wisdom keeper and explores the idea that we have become separated from our true nature and the natural world. Rev. Linda explains Braden’s concept of the “Divine Matrix” – an interconnected field of energy where our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs shape our reality. She emphasizes the importance of recognizing our divine enoughness and aligning with the consciousness of the infinite, rather than seeking fulfillment from external sources. Rev. Linda also discusses using our relationships as “mirrors” to gain self-awareness and heal our wounds, ultimately contributing to the transformation of collective consciousness. She leads the audience in a guided meditation to explore these relationship mirrors and embrace their own divine wholeness.
TRANSCRIPTION
This transcription was auto-generated, please excuse typos, errors and omissions.
Rev. Linda Jackson (00:00):
Thank you. So we are in our last week of our February theme Radical Connection. I am Rev. Linda, I use she her pronouns, and I’m so happy to be here in the room with you – and you create a lovely space, a lovely energy. So thank you for sharing that with me. And our February book, the Divine Matrix by Gregg Braden. It’s a little bit of preaching to the choir because he’s saying a lot of the same things that we already talk about all the time, but he’s saying it in a different way and I think it’s always really helpful to hear things different ways. And early in the book, he shares about hiking in a remote canyon in New Mexico, and he met a Native American wisdom keeper along the trail. And this wisdom keeper shared a story with him, and I’m going to try to share it in the same way that Gregg Braden shared it in the book.
(01:03):
So the Wisdom keeper said a long time ago, our world was very different from the way we see it today. There were fewer people and we lived closer to the land. People knew the language of the rain, the crops, and the great creator, they even knew how to speak to the stars and the sky people. They were aware that life is sacred and comes from the marriage between Mother Earth and Father Sky. In this time there was balance and people were happy, then something happened. No one really knows why, but people started to forget who they were. And in their forgetting, they began to feel separate, separate from the earth, from each other, and even from the one who created them. They were lost and they wandered through life with no direction or connection. And in their separation, they believed that they had to fight to survive in this world and to defend themselves against the same forces that had given them life. The life they once learned to live in harmony with and to trust. Soon all of their energy was used to protect themselves from the world around them – instead of making peace with the world outside, – I mean instead of making peace within.
(02:51):
So even though they had forgotten who they were, somewhere inside of them, the gift of their ancestors remained. There was still a memory that lived within them in their dreams at night. They knew that they held the power to heal their bodies, to bring rain when they needed to and to speak with their ancestors. They knew that somehow they could find their place in the natural world once again. As they tried to remember who they were, they began to build things outside of their bodies that reminded them of who they were on the inside. As time went on, they even built machines to do their healing, made chemicals to grow their crops and stretched wires to communicate over long distances. The farther they wandered from their inner power, the more cluttered their outer lives became with the things that they believed would make them happy.
(04:02):
And Gregg Braden asks the wisdom keeper, well, how does the story end? And the wisdom keeper whispered, no one knows – the story isn’t finished. The people who got lost are our ancestors, and we are the ones who are writing the ending. What kind of ending do you want to write?
(04:31):
And Braden goes on to say that the farther we stray from our natural relationship with the earth, with our bodies one another, and the God of our being, our source, the divine, whatever word works for you, the further we stray from this, the emptier we feel and we strive to fill ourselves with things from the outside.
(04:54):
How much power do you give away to your distractions, to your video games, movies, virtual dating or voiceless communication, right? Are these substitutes for real life and face-to-face contact? Braden says, “When the focus of our lives become how to avoid disease rather than how to live in a healthy way, how to stay out of war rather than how to cooperate in peace, how to create new weapons rather than how to live in a world where armed conflict has become obsolete, clearly the path we’re on has become one of survival. In such a mode, no one is truly happy – nobody really wins. When we find ourselves living this way, the obvious thing to do would be to look for another route. And that’s what he’s offering us. I think that’s why we come here to Cityside. We’re looking for another route to remember that we are not separate, that we create peace and fulfillment within.
(06:10):
And I’ll try to do the book justice. I can only share the way I make sense of it. He describes the divine matrix as the web of life with everything interconnected, everything influencing and being influenced by everything else.
(06:28):
He says, “We live in a participatory universe where everything is connected and our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs shape the world around us.” It’s participatory because we are the creators as well as the experiencers of what we create, what we think, feel, and believe shows up in our experience. It’s not so different from Ernest Holmes, the founder of Science of Mind. For anyone new in the room, that’s the foundational teaching that we share here. And according to Braden, we are part of this interconnected field of energy, the web of life or the divine matrix, influencing and co-creating reality through our consciousness. That’s just like the Science of Mind creative process. My beliefs create my results or experience, your beliefs create your results or experience, and their beliefs create their beliefs or experience. And because of this interconnection, we are all impacting ourselves, one another, and everyone everywhere, all the time. He shares this as the phenomenon of quantum entanglement, which essentially just means that changes in one part of the interconnected field can instantly affect another part of the field no matter how far apart they are. And he shares this in a scientific way. It’s been validated through research with splitting light and photons and things, which is beyond my way of thinking.
(08:06):
But according to Braden, it means that we are unified and interconnected at the subatomic level, what I would simply call oneness. We are inherently connected at our essence. So my waking up and taking responsibility for what I’m experiencing is more important than ever. Not just for me, not just for my experience, but because the individual impacts the collective. What I believe and do affects everyone.
(08:43):
Now, I think sometimes we see this more easily in the world around us, right? It’s easy to point the finger, look what they’re doing, look at the impact they’re having, but are we taking responsibility for our part in what is happening? Even if our part is not doing anything, there is a consequence of the non-action. He goes on to say, “To create reality… And I would add “intentionally” create reality, because we are always creating our reality. But… “To create reality, we must first see ourselves as part of the reality we wish to create. Rather than viewing ourselves as separate from our desires, we must embody the very conditions we choose to experience.”
(09:34):
So do you ever find yourself looking out here for fulfillment? Anybody? Do you get seduced by what you think someone else has going on? I mean, especially in the world of social media, right? So much comparison, fear of missing out> Thinking they have something you want, something you may not be able to have.
(09:58):
We are living in a time where more than ever it feels like us against them. There’s competing, othering. And I believe this stems from believing or the fear that there’s not enough, not enough for all of us. We think somebody else is going to get it instead of us.
(10:24):
So imagine this, you’re applying for a job and you really want the job. It’s almost like your dream job, but you’re going through the requirements and you’re writing your letter to align your credentials with what they’re looking for, and you’re sort of pumping up your experience and qualifications to match what they need. And you realize your colleague who is also looking for a job is actually a perfect match for this position.
(10:55):
What do you do? Do you center in love? Do you know and trust that there’s enough for everyone. And from that vibration of love, do you reach out and say, “Hey, I think this job is perfect for you.” Or do you contract and hope they don’t apply for it and continue trying to bend yourself to be a match hoping that maybe just maybe you’ll get a chance. Does it sound like I’ve done this before? I can tell you it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. Your outcome is always a match to your beliefs. You can’t fake it. You have to be the quality you seek.
(11:47):
So rather than viewing ourselves as separate from our desires and that we’re somehow going to get it out here, we have to first embody it in here. The invitation is to say there’s more than enough for all of us. But in order to get there, you have to believe that you are worthy.
(12:12):
The name of the talk is you are already enough. And when Jonathan and I were chatting the other day, he shared that when he first saw the graphic for the talk, he read it as you’re enough already. Same idea, but just a little sassy, right? You are already enough just as you are. When we align with our innate wholeness, with our divine enoughness, we shift from that lack to abundance. Instead of pushing against or forcing, we co-create with the universe, we can move effortlessly.
(12:50):
And we understand that the higher vibration emotions like gratitude, joy, and love, are powerful signals to what Braden calls the divine matrix. So when we’re in the high vibration of trusting, there is enough, feeling gratitude, walking through life in joy and in love, we are signaling to the universe which responds as a mirror, reflecting what we are putting out. When you know are already enough and live from that energy, not just believing it but really feeling it. The universe responds accordingly.
(13:36):
And Ernest Holmes in the Science of Mind says, “You already have within you a potential for greatness. You do not need to become something different. You only need to recognize and accept the divine nature that already exists within you.” So you are not separate from God, life, the divine, whatever your word is, you are a channel through which this divine intelligence expresses itself. When you recognize your divine nature, the creative power of the universe flows effortlessly through you. We can let go of the striving, the struggling, the controlling, the bending, the manipulating, right?
(14:26):
Because when we’re contracted and in lack, afraid that someone else is going to get our share, we’re like putting a crimp in the hose, right? When we know ourselves as enough, we’re aligned with the divine intelligence, with the flow of abundance, it flows through us and into our experience. As Eric Butterworth said, “God can only do for you what God can do through you.” So are you an open channel? Are you trusting that good is flowing to you? Are you moving through life in that high vibration of love and joy, creativity? Not just intellectually getting the concept, but really feeling yourself as the pure potential of all that God is, all that the divine is? Or are you contracted in fear? Are you in lack, in competition, in us versus them thinking? We are one with the all encompassing power and presence. This interconnected field as Braden calls it. So we live and move and have our being in it, whether you call it God, spirit, the divine matrix, there are no words that can contain it. It is infinite possibility. It is pure potential. It includes everything that could ever be. And we are the channels through which it expresses. Are you open and allowing or are you grasping from fear?
(16:21):
When you know your enoughness, you’re aligned with the consciousness of the infinite, the consciousness of the divine. This can’t occur from the same consciousness that has you gripping and striving or trying to control. When you are aligned with your divine enoughness, you are already enough and there’s always enough of everything. You’re enough already.
(16:52):
So the invitation here is to get right with yourself. For your own good and for the impact that you make in the field of interconnection – for the impact that you have on everything else. From the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success with Deepak Chopra, he says, “There is no separation between you and this field of energy. The field of pure potentiality is your own self. And the more you experience your true nature, the closer you are to the field of pure potentiality.”
(17:25):
So the more you align with the field of pure potential, the more you experience yourself as enough and the more you experience yourself as enough, the more you are aligned with that pure potential. It’s an exponential experience – we can practice.
(17:46):
So the reading that was today from the Divine Matrix, “…relatively just a few people, creating a new program in consciousness can make a huge difference in the outcome of our collective reality. The key is that someone must do it first.” That’s each of us. “One person must choose a new way of being and live that difference in the presence of others so that it can be witnessed and sealed into the pattern.” We’re being invited to stand up against or.. I don’t want to say against, let’s say for the good, for the power, for what’s possible. Right? And not just step back and allow things to be in a way that we’re not comfortable with. It’s our responsibility to step up.
(18:45):
“In doing so, we upgrade our programs of belief and send consciousness the blueprint for a new reality. We’ve seen this principle for work many times from Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad to Gandhi, mother Teresa and Martin Luther King, Jr., numerous individuals lived a new way of being in the presence of others, even within the very consciousness that they chose to change.”
(19:11):
We get to do this.
(19:16):
Ernest Holmes said, “Life is like a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker, what he thinks into it.” And similarly, Braden says, “The divine matrix is neutral and simply reflects back to us.” It’s not a new idea, right? Some ancient traditions also believed that by looking at the hurt and fear we experience in relationships, we master the patterns that allowed the hurt and the fear to be there in the first place. And this reflection of relationships is the path to awakening. So when you have a challenge or a struggle in a relationship, it’s not to go, “I’m not having any more relationships.” It’s to lean into the discomfort, to do our work to see what’s there for us. We awaken through relationships. It’s easy to practice in a spiritual bubble. It’s when we bump up against this stuff that we get to know more about ourselves and that we are pointed back to the divine.
(20:26):
Braden shares five mirrors of relationships. Our interactions with others reflect back to us what we’ve created in our beliefs. And if we’re willing, if we’re willing, we can gain insights into the way we are seeing the world – the filter through which we’re looking. It is through relationships that we begin to heal our wounds. Sometimes it’s obvious and sometimes more subtle. In the book he says it’s by spending time with others, that they become the triggers for just the right emotions and feelings at just the right times to help us heal our greatest hurts and deepest wounds. From the greatest betrayals of our trust to our most desperate attempts to fill our emptiness, everyone shows us something about ourselves and it always, always provides opportunities for self-awareness, healing, and pointing us back to the divine.
(21:31):
We are one with the divine. We are already enough. And if we are willing to do the inquiry, we will always come back to the divine and our divine enoughness. So I’m going to go quickly through the five mirrors of relationship. I won’t spend a lot of time on them. He goes from the most obvious to the most subtle, showing us where our growth edge is.
(22:00):
The mirror of our presence in the moment. Pretty straightforward. This mirror is a direct reflection. So if you’re calm and centered in the world around you tends to be peaceful. But when you’re stressed or frustrated and you feel like there’s chaos going around you, right? That’s a pretty obvious one.
(22:20):
Then the mirror of our judgment. When someone’s doing something that bugs you, like maybe they’re chewing too loud or they’re too needy, it’s touching something unresolved or unaccepted within yourself, and he says, “life is asking, why does this bother you so much?”
(22:44):
And then the mirror of what we have lost and the full statement there is the mirror of what we have lost, given away, or had taken from us. So if you have ever felt drawn to someone who has qualities that you admire but don’t express, that could be reflecting parts of you that you have suppressed or repressed, whether it’s creativity, strength, many ways this could show up things you’ve set aside and might be ready to reclaim.
(23:19):
The fourth, the mirror of our most forgotten love. And these are usually our patterns from childhood that play out in our adult relationships. So if you keep having the same emotional reactions, it’s probably a clue that an old wound from your earliest relationships is asking to be healed.
(23:40):
And the fifth is the mirror of our relationship with self. How people treat you can be a powerful reflection of how you treat yourself. If you find yourself surrounded by kindness and respect, you’re likely giving that to yourself. But if you feel unseen or unworthy, ask yourself how you are valuing yourself.
(24:12):
So whether it’s through the use of these mirrors as tools or through other spiritual practice, our relationships are tools for personal growth and healing. And by healing ourselves and recognizing our inherent wholeness, we can influence the world and contribute to the transformation of collective consciousness. When I do my work, it impacts the collective field.
(24:44):
So I’m going to take us into some practice. If you want to come, give me a little underscore. Thank you, Greg. So we’re exploring relationship mirrors to embrace your own divine enoughness, and I invite you to get settled in your seat. Feel yourself anchored if you need to move around. Shift a little bit if you’re comfortable closing your eyes. Taking a deep breath as you exhale, letting go of any tension you may be holding and breathing at your own pace. Inhaling and exhaling tension and bringing your awareness to the present moment by feeling your breath flowing in and out.
(25:47):
Using each breath to bring you more grounded and to create more opening. Silently affirm, I am open to receiving insights that reveal my wholeness and divine enoughness. I am open to receiving insights that reveal my wholeness and divine enoughness. Remembering that the reflection of relationships is a path to awakening. Bring to mind a relationship that feels emotionally charged or one where you often feel triggered. This could be a partner, a family member, a neighbor, even a political figure. He says, even if you have sworn off relationships, then you have to be in relationship with that.
(27:02):
So allow the image of this person or relationship to come into your awareness without judgment. Ask yourself, what emotions arise? When I think about this person? What patterns of behavior do I notice in our interactions? And using the five mirrors, we’ll do a gentle inquiry of what this relationship may be reflecting about your inner world. You can see if any of these mirrors resonate for your healing, the mirror of your presence. Asking yourself, what qualities in this person mirror my current emotional state? Am I seeing my emotions reflected back to me? The mirror of judgment? Are there traits in this person that I judge or resist?
(28:23):
Do these qualities point to something or unhealed within myself? The mirror of what is lost? Is this person expressing a part of me I have lost or suppressed? What qualities do they embody that I want to reclaim? The mirror of forgotten love. How does this relationship echo patterns from my past? Is there an old wound seeking my attention, the mirror of relationship with self? How is this person reflecting the way I treat and view myself? Are they showing me where I feel unworthy or unseen? Or maybe I already feel whole? Now let’s take a moment to bring some compassion to whatever has surfaced.
(30:02):
Perhaps envisioning yourself with a nice warm light as a symbol of your worth and divine enoughness. Maybe imagine even giving yourself a hug, giving yourself some love. And I invite you to silently affirm I embrace all hearts of myself with love and acceptance. I allow my relationships to reveal and reinforce my divine enoughness. I am already enough. And if you feel called, extend this light to the person you reflected on releasing blame. And thank them for being the mirror that reveals deeper truths of yourself for pointing you back to the divine, to your divine enoughness, and using relationships as a path to awakening, recognizing your wholeness.
(31:20):
This personal transformation ripples outward contributing to the healing of collective consciousness. Every step that you take towards self-love and acceptance elevates the consciousness you wish to see reflected in the world. Let us breathe life into this idea that every step we take towards self-love and acceptance elevates the consciousness that we want to see reflected in the world. Taking a few more deep breaths, beginning to bring your energy back, your attention back to the room. Just remembering we are writing the end of the story. As you move forward, carry this awareness with you. Every experience is guiding me back to my divine wholeness. I allow my relationships to reveal and reinforce my divine enoughness. I am already enough. I let this go. And knowing it is already so I invite you to join me in saying and so it is.
(33:01):
Thank you, Rev. Linda.