[Andrea Barnett Budin]

When the voice in your head (which is the ego or separate self) fills you with fear and anxiety and what ifs -- and thus provides horrid pictures on our mental screen -- we must resist.

Such thoughts and imagery make us feel rotten, and worse and worse. It effects our T cell count and brings our immune system down, it causes chemical changes that are unfriendly to our well-being -- physically and mentally.

Emotions are preceded by our thoughts.

When we are able to instead reach for our Higher Selves, our Truest Selves, we are connecting with Spirit. We are aligning ourselves, and identifying ourselves as a Spirit, or Soul, with a mind and a body.

For me it was a gradual evolution and of course I have miles and miles to go yet.

Today I had to take my dogs to the vet for their annuals. My husband is having double vision/6th cranial nerve palsy and is wearing an eye patch. So I had to drive. I hate to drive. But I do when I have to.

The vet is a half hr away and my husband said to take the Turnpike. I no longer do Turnpikes. They cause panic attacks. But it is so much faster.

The dogs were yelping nonstop in the back seat. I was clutching the steering wheels with sweaty palms. I was talking to myself (under the music I was playing, to try and calm me).

I am the Witness. I am above myself, looking down. I am Spirit. I am the Universe. I am the All. I am in the sky. (It was a gorgeous blue with some fair weather clouds.) The sky is a magnificent expression of the Almighty. I am the sky.

This was my dialogue, my inner dialogue that I felt the need to murmur a bit out loud. With the yelping and the music and being almost 75, my husband couldn't hear me.

I had moments of completely setting myself free from the anxiety. Enough so that we got there and we were all in one piece. Enough so I had some blissful moments midst the craziness that was playing out in my head.

When we got home, I went out shopping, returning stuff and in the cacophony of energy that pervades the mall. Good and bad. All real. All a part of life. I felt light and joyful. Smiled, chatted with some, as I am prone to do.

I consciously stopped the voice in my head from prattling on and on. I took charge. As best I could. I listened to my Inner Voice. My Spirit. Which guides and protects me and loves me even more than I love myself. I trust it implicitly.
Andi