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Judgment Vs. Discernment, Part 1

Judgment Vs. Discernment, Part 1

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Those of us on the spiritual path generally aim to be nonjudgmental. We know the dangers of being judgmental, and what can happen to ourselves and others when we fall into those negative patterns. But do you really know what judging is? Judgement is when a person places an emotional value of good or bad on an activity, person, or experience. When they see an apple, if they determine that it’s a terrible fruit, then anyone who eats one is also bad. Judgement comes from a feeling of shame and inferiority.

A person who judges others feels inadequate. They feel that they aren’t good enough. Not that what they DO isn’t good enough. But that they are not enough. They probably had parents and an environment that criticized them repeatedly, and they have internalized those statements. The only way they can get some relief from the pain and anguish is to dump their negative feelings on others. They judge others as “bad,” and then, momentarily, they can feel superior to someone or something else.

I once had someone tell me that anyone who likes the color green is stupid and has no sense of taste. Because I had the audacity to disagree, she took it personally, as if my opinion was attacking hers.

Being judgmental becomes a vicious cycle. If a person judges others, you can bet they’re doing the same thing to themselves. Otherwise, they wouldn’t need to find a target to shame. As people who are interested in developing spiritually, we don’t want to judge others, and we certainly want to stop judging ourselves. But too many people on the spiritual path swing too far in the other direction, and don’t utilize their God-given ability to discern what is better for them and what is not so great. There actually is a difference between judgement and discernment.

Copyright 2001, 2012 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

Book Review – The Sermon On The Mount

Book Review – The Sermon On The Mount

The Sermon On The Mount: The Key to Success in Life
by Emmet Fox

This author’s books made a huge impact on me when I began to seriously study metaphysics almost thirty years ago. This book was one of those that really affected me and my understanding of mental principles. It takes a metaphysical perspective on one of Jesus’ most well known messages. Mr. Fox states that Jesus’ message was to teach mental states, not theology.

Cautioning against taking Jesus’ message literally, the author explains how Jesus taught through parables. The Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Lord’s Prayer are directions on how to think rightly, how to manifest, and how to achieve a greater spiritual understanding. He dissects each phrase to explain it more thoroughly from a metaphysical perspective.

Many of the phrases that have been twisted or that many find confusing are very practically explained and now make sense. Karma is discussed, as are many metaphysical laws. This book’s original subtitle was “A general introduction to Scientific Christianity in the form of a spiritual key to Matthew V, VI and VII.” For anyone raised with the orthodox view of Jesus’ message, the information in this book is revolutionary and a revelation.

Copyright 2004, 2012 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

The Mask Of Perfection

The Mask Of Perfection

Most people hide away parts of their inner selves to keep them safe. One of the ways we do this is to wear a mask of trying to be perfect. But perfection isn’t authentic. It’s more about conformity and seeking approval. Set yourself free by letting go of the mask of perfection.



Copyright 2012 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

Reclaim Your Authenticity, Part 1

Reclaim Your Authenticity, Part 1

by Linda-Ann Stewart

When I began 2nd grade, I’d read all the Easy Reader books that interested me in the school library. Shortly after school began, my teacher told the class we’d be allowed to start reading in the Juvenile section once we asked her permission. As soon as that class ended, I went up and asked her, and she said, “No.”

She didn’t explain that she needed to assess my level of reading ability, which I’m guessing was her reasoning. My request was simply rejected and I didn’t know why. Fearing being turned down again, I waited until I was one of the last kids in the class to ask a second time. Because of this experience, I stopped asking for what I wanted or knew I was capable of handling. I hid away a piece of my authenticity for safety.

  •  When you were a kid, did you have your natural rambunctiousness shut down?
  • Did your schoolmates tease you for knowing the answers, being overweight or different?
  • Were you told by grownups to be seen and not heard?
  • Were your parents amused when you splashed water on them one day, then punished you the next for doing the same thing?
  • Did your folks change the rules from day to day?
  • Did you become an over-achiever to get their approval that never came?

Any of these things could have shut down your natural self-expression. You learned it was dangerous to express your authentic self.

The problem wasn’t with you. You were simply being who you were. The issue was with the adults who wanted you to conform to their standards and convenience. This wasn’t part of raising you to be a courteous, compassionate, responsible adult. It was you trying to learn what the grown-ups wanted, even when their expectations changed daily.

In general, people shut you down and tried to confine you for their benefit, not yours. Your natural expression made them uncomfortable, took attention from them, came at a bad time or when they were in a bad mood. They weren’t concerned so much about your well-being as they were interested in their own welfare.

Because of this, you might have grown up feeling like your beingness was “wrong” somehow. That nothing you could do was right. And the more you tried to be perfect, the further you moved away from your true self and the worse you felt. When you did this, you shut off your connection to the Universe. It couldn’t give you the good you deserved because you couldn’t accept it.

Because others rejected you, you rejected yourself in the same way. Now, when you make decisions, do you make them for your well-being or to try to make other people happy? If you try to make everyone happy, you’re doomed to failure and disappointment. It’s time for you to start accepting yourself and realizing that you are fine the way you are.

Copyright 2012 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

The Mirror Principle, Part 2

The Mirror Principle, Part 2

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Whenever you don’t like a trait in someone else, it’s usually reflecting something within you that you’ve concealed from yourself. It also may be that you recognize the potential for that trait within yourself, and don’t like it. I don’t like people to belittle others, or are cruel. When I hurt someone’s feelings, even unintentionally, it hurts me.

In the past, I would even avoid confronting someone who’d been mean to me because I didn’t want to hurt them. What I finally realized is that the potential to be cruel is within me, as it is within us all, but it’s well hidden. Since I acknowledged that, I can now respond appropriately to someone who is nasty.

You don’t have to act on those attributes you don’t like. But when you find out how the qualities you dislike are expressing in you, and accept them, the energy around them melts away. You no longer have to attract people who are reflecting the parts of you that you’ve masked.

The Universe simply sent them into your life to teach you to accept yourself. All of yourself. Once I began to be true to myself, and convey that to the world, I attracted friends and a partner who were more open with me. The Universe accepts you unconditionally as you are. Wouldn’t you want to accept yourself as much as the Universe does?

Copyright 2001, 2012 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

The Mirror Principle, Part 1

The Mirror Principle, Part 1

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Your life and relationships are a perfectly polished mirror for what is in your consciousness. One of the unpopular concepts having to do with this is, “When you don’t like something in someone else, it’s reflecting something within yourself that you don’t like.” You might have heard about this spiritual principle, and wondered about it, as I did. How could it be? I didn’t like people to be deceptive or cruel. Did that mean that somehow I was being that way? Try as I might, I couldn’t see that in myself. It took many years of observation and contemplation before I finally made some sense out of it.

Some years ago, I was involved with a couple of men who were deceptive and manipulative. These are two characteristics that immediately offend me. However, while I was in the relationships, I wasn’t aware that they were expressing these traits, even when they lied to me. After the second relationship, I decided it couldn’t be a coincidence that I’d attract the same type of man one right after another.

So I began to explore where I might be deceptive and manipulative. What I discovered was that I was deceiving the world about who I was. I was hiding great chunks of myself, afraid of being criticized or rejected. I wasn’t lying to others, the way these men had been. Instead, I was lying to myself.

That’s when I began to understand the principle. A person doesn’t have to be expressing the disliked attribute in the same way. For instance, two friends each have an issue with time. One of the friends is chronically late, and the other is obsessively early. The issue is the same, but they are presenting different facets of it. I know this to be true, as I’ve had friends who are always late, and I’m almost always early.

Copyright 2001, 2012 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

Create A New Tomorrow From The Thoughts You Have Today

Create A New Tomorrow From The Thoughts You Have Today

The only thing constant in the universe is change. The past doesn’t need to predict your future, because you have the power to change your beliefs and responses. Those thoughts can always be of something better. Learn about the natural process of change so you don’t get discouraged as you move forward.



Copyright 2012 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

Changing Your Life With Affirmations, Self-Talk, and Autosuggestion

Changing Your Life With Affirmations, Self-Talk, and Autosuggestion

I’ve heard some people assert that affirmations don’t work for them, or that they don’t believe in them. Unfortunately, this attitude comes from a misunderstanding about what affirmations are, what they do and how to use them.

Affirmations aren’t a magic wand that will make things change in the blink of an eye. They’re simply a deliberate, constructive use of a process that you’re already using. You talk to yourself all the time, either giving yourself positive feedback or putting yourself down. It’s called self-talk. Affirmations are a way of reprogramming your self-talk.

These statements to yourself are also considered to be autosuggestions. You’re giving yourself hypnotic directives all the time by your self-talk. Napoleon Hill wrote about this concept in his book, “Think And Grow Rich.”

No matter what you call your inner statements, you’re instructing your subconscious mind on what you want. You either do it consciously or unconsciously, deliberately or habitually. The only way to change those directives, and their results, is to change what you say to yourself.

That’s why using affirmations in a specific and regular way makes changes in your life. But you have to use them consistently because that’s the only way to change the way you’ve been thinking.

If you were on a freeway, you wouldn’t expect to go in the opposite direction without braking, stopping, crossing to the opposite lanes, and then accelerating to merge with traffic. Any other action could be disastrous.

You’ve built up momentum going in one direction. And you have to slow down before you can change course. Committing to your decision is vital. If you make a sharp turn on the freeway, while driving at 75 mph, you’re inviting an accident.

It’s the same with autosuggestion. You have to work to slow your old thinking down (braking), and then turn it around to believe something different. As with driving, you move in the direction of your attention.

No matter whether you call it affirmation, positive self-talk, or autosuggestion, the process of changing the quality of your attention is the same. Consistently focus your mind on what you want. That will change your life.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

You Are Your Authority, Part 2

You Are Your Authority, Part 2

by Linda-Ann Stewart

When you listen to the critical things that you say to yourself, you can begin to deal with them. As with everything in the subconscious, they once had a reason and a purpose to protect you. Although they’ve been trying to help you, they’ve been doing it in a way that you have outgrown. Those messages were patterned on the authority figures in your childhood so that you could fit into the conditions at that time. But they are no longer necessary, and won’t realize it until you tell them so. Believe it or not, they’re waiting for you to assert your power over them and reclaim your authority.

If the old ideas are telling you that you don’t deserve good, or that you’re not worthy, realize that the Universe has much more authority than the people who implanted those beliefs in you. And the Infinite knows that you deserve all the good that Life has to offer. Spirit is stronger than any outdated attitude. A Divine truth is that the Universe wants you to accept and express the wholeness of your being.

You have the right to re-examine the standards by which you have lived your life. Those condemning internal messages have been trying to keep you living within the bounds of someone else’s values. With all the knowledge you now have, you can change the attitudes that no longer serve you. Using affirmations and Divine guidance, you can transform the outdated values into ones that are in alignment with love, harmony, joy, abundance, and all the good there is.

Affirmations I used during this period were, “I am the authority in my life” and “I own my authority.” I had to review all the standards I’d grown up with, reassess them and release the ones that no longer served me. When I began to do this, it was scary. The first few times that I stood up for myself, I felt the sky might fall. It didn’t. Instead, the Universe rushed in to support me and my world expanded. The same will be true for you.

Affirmation:

I know that the Universe supports me in the good that I desire. The only one that keeps my good from me is my own thoughts about it. I now release any old concepts that might have restricted my acceptance of all the good I desire. As I place my desire in my mind, knowing that I deserve it, then the All of the Universe rushes in to fulfill it in a perfect way.

Copyright 2000, 2012 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

You Are Your Authority, Part 1

You Are Your Authority, Part 1

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Years ago, I discovered that the critical people in my life, who loved to pick at me and tear me down, were just echoing the condemning voices in my head. I’d spent so much time distracted, defending myself against those outer critics, that I hadn’t addressed the real issue, how I felt about myself. I’d given the past, and the people in it, authority over me.

Most of us have disapproving judgements about ourselves that tell us that we’re not good enough. Maybe you have an inner critic that tells you that you can’t do anything right, that you “should” be perfect, or that making a mistake is worse than death. I know of people who can’t take a day off because they’d feel guilty. And others who refused to hire someone to paint their house because they felt they “ought” to do it. Your internal judge pounds you with its condemnations, both from within, using guilt, and outwardly by reflecting your inner feelings in how the people in your life treat you.

Many people who have rebelled against authority figures in the past tend to have problems now with bosses, police, the IRS, etc. They defy internalized critical messages from their childhood environment, and don’t accept responsibility for their actions. Therefore, the energy that they have resisted and disowned increases and echoes back to them from the world.

Whatever you feel victimized by will mirror in your life. Just as my environment had been reflecting back to me what was already in my consciousness. I had to change my attitude from defending myself to addressing the internal messages from a position of strength. As I took responsibility for my own well being, the critics began to fade out of my life. I’m not saying it was easy. It wasn’t. But once I convinced myself that no one had the right to put me down, including my internal critic, my life began to improve.

Copyright 2000, 2012 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved