Dear Mind:
Please hand all our concerns over to God and let’s get back in alignment to the flow…
Best wishes,
Sheila
Now that that’s taken care of…
The Letter I Thought I’d Write
When I first imagined this blog post, I thought I’d write a long, sassy letter to my mind. Maybe you thought that’s where we were headed too?
I pictured teasing it for being kind of a narcissist—always trying to insert itself into everything, making life more complicated than it needs to be.
(Side-heckle to my mind: It ain’t that serious, bro.)
But instead of writing the letter, I ended up processing everything in my morning pages. And through that, some ideas started bubbling up.
Man-Powered vs. God-Powered
Ever since I published Sentenced, I’ve been filtering life through the lens of “ticket games” vs. “talent games.” That distinction has now morphed into a different question: Is this man-powered… or God-powered?
I’ve noticed that when I feel off or uncertain, it’s usually because I’ve started thinking I need to figure everything out. I start believing I must follow someone else’s formula or engineer the perfect path.
But that’s not how I create best.
My best work comes when I’m creating freely and joyfully—when I trust the process rather than pressure it. That doesn’t mean I don’t have plans or goals. But the answers rarely come on my schedule. They come through detours. They show up playfully, unexpectedly.
Pressure ≠ Progress
Looking back at old journals, I noticed a consistent stress that used to precede the completion of every project.
Sure, I got things done. Things I’m proud of. But the cost to my mental health? Not worth repeating.
Now, I know: I don’t have to suffer to make something meaningful. I can create from flow, not force.
A Useful Book
There’s this old gem of a book called The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn (written in 1925!). It’s filled with anecdotal stories that sound so improbable, they’d make a skeptic snort-laugh. But if you’ve ever consciously wanted something and handed it over to a higher power—only to have it arrive in magical, unlikely ways—you start to see the logic in letting go.
One quote that sums it up for me: “Prayer is your communication with God. Intuition is God’s message back to you.”
Nudges, Detours, and the Daily To-Do List
I still stumble (often). But I’ve noticed that I’m most aligned when I act on the nudges—even the ones that take me off my “important” to-do list.
Sometimes the nudge is toward something I don’t want to do. And wouldn’t you know, those are usually the most rewarding.
Don’t Limit Your Life with a Programmed Goal
Last year I met a stranger at an event and we chatted about kriya yoga, meditation, the Silva Method, and other practices for living more consciously.
I mentioned how I’d used self-hypnosis to “program” myself toward goals. She responded with something I’ll never forget:
“What if I don’t know what to program? What if I end up choosing something smaller than I’m capable of?”
I had to agree. We would likely program ourselves according to what we imagine and our imagination is often limited by our experience. I have certainly done that.
Being Before Doing
So now I ask:
What would a full-fledged life look like if it were more focused on being instead of doing??
The being is the flow. Doing arises out of that, but then is infused with universal magic.
And so, dear Mind, my short letter still holds true.
Let’s hand over what we need to hand over and let the current take us.