I left you yesterday with a cliffhanger: the three ways I know of to ease the burden of doubt, despair, guilt and shame that can not only build up over a lifetime, but that we take on at birth. (If you didn’t read the previous post, take a look at it. There I tell of my “near-birth experience” that revealed quite a bit.)

So, the three ways that I know of to lighten up—literally—and come to realize your true value, your true essence are:

(1) Faith. People who have conversion or salvation or mystical experiences report how they feel that they’ve “cast the burden” onto a Higher Power. Jesus said, “Cast your burden upon me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” I have found that this helps considerably. Even though my humanness prevents me from turning it all over, letting the Divine take all you’re willing to give is the most helpful action, in my opinion, that anyone can take.

(2) Good works. There are all kinds of debate within Christianity and religion at large about the relative merit of “faith” and “works.” In my experience, the two dance together as effortlessly as Ginger and Fred. Doing good—and refraining from doing harm, the Hindu and Jain concept of ahimsa, non-harming, dynamic gentleness—is said to erase unpleasant karma and I feel that it does.

You ease someone else’s burden, and yours gets a little lighter. You put light into the world; more of it shines on your life. You live in a way that lessens the suffering on earth—by adopting a special-needs child or teaching someone to read or not eating meat anymore—the karmic scales come a little nearer to the balance point.

(3) Remembering who You are. I capitalized that “Y” to signify what the yogis refer to as your
Higher Self, what the Quakers call “that of God in every man.” Sure, we all
have our human faults and foibles and failings, but in addition to this “little
self” that’s here learning lessons and looking for joy and fulfillment, there
is that other part of us that has the answers and knows where the joy and
fulfillment lie.

I remember the nun in catechism class asking, “From what did
God make you?” and the correct response being, “God made me from Himself.” Of
course: because there was nothing else! God made us from Himself/Herself/Itself
and therefore we are as worthy as all get out. We only have to remember.

Note: There’s a new video up on YouTube about my upcoming book, The Love-Powered Diet: Eating for Freedom, Health, and Joy. Thanks for taking a look.