I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I do some of my best thinking while driving in my car.
This has been an interesting week and month – lots of thinking to be done. When I woke up this morning, the sun was shining and there was a dusting of clouds against the beautiful blue sky, and I felt renewed. This was going to be a good day. I could feel it! I shared a few positive tweets, Facebook messages and texts, and my heart swelled with love. Finally, I was back in the peaceful state of mind I have grown accustomed to over the past few years. The struggles I had been rolling over in my mind melted away and I allowed the light and love to pour into me.
While driving in my car, I tried to recall what I had done that brought me back. What had happened that brought me back to this wonderful state of calm? Instantly I realized that I had restored the balance in my mind, body and heart. I have been working toward realigning my mind to a peaceful place, my body to be healthy and thriving, and my heart to be open. Mind, body and heart. Mind, body and heart. Today they aligned and I feel beautiful, loved and capable. Mind, body and heart. The trinity of me. The trinity of you. The three things we must align for a peaceful and loving life. Wait, did I just say trinity? As in the Holy Trinity, like Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
Stay with me for a sec. This is where I started to trip out too.
I have long since believed that religion and our view of God is a way for us to understand life, how things work and how we work. Each religion takes a different perspective on what/who God is and what all of that means. I was raised Catholic, but have distanced myself from the Church as there were too many things that did not align with what I felt in my heart. And the idea of God floating up in the clouds looking down on us, just didn’t feel right to me. I feel like God is something that unites us all and is present in everything, but I have yet to fully understand this and I am working on connecting the pieces. Yes, there are some Catholic beliefs I do not agree with; but there are many wonderful things I have learned that have stuck with me. All of the lessons about being kind, how to treat your neighbor and how to treat and respect yourself – those lessons are tucked within the folds of my heart and ever present in my mind. Lessons about being kind, loving and grateful. Lessons about sympathy, empathy and doing what is right. Lessons on forgiveness, love and family. You find such lessons in most religions. Most religions emphasize the importance of caring for your mind, caring for your body and caring for your heart (soul).
In my recent quest to find myself and a greater meaning for my life, I have been paying a lot of attention to other peoples’ views, ideas and feelings. I have been reading and listening to the thoughts of others with a careful ear and open mind and heart. There is an idea out there, a belief, that we are God. God lives within us. We are all connected and are a manifestation of God. When the word trinity rolled through my mind today, I thought I might just be on to something here. I have long believed that we interpret certain universal truths the best way our human minds can, and assign them names and values to the best of our ability. Words like God, soul, love, connection, dream, devil, redemption, miracle, right and wrong – all ascribed to feelings we try to understand.
Now, here comes my moment of revelation. My thought: during mass and prayer, it is common practice to say “The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” while signing the cross on your body. The Father: touch your forehead (the mind). The son: touch your lower chest or navel (body). And the Holy Spirit: touch each shoulder once (your heart and soul lies within). Tears welled in my eyes at the thought of this.
I am getting closer. This makes sense. Mind, body and heart.
I really do some of my best thinking while driving in my car.
Yours truly,
Erin Terese
P.S. What do you think? I welcome any comments or feedback. Still mulling this over…
erin terese 
hmmm I left another comment but it got deleted. but I meant to say I am a recovering catholic too, and while I hate all that dogma, I have spiritual concerns. I find a lot of solace in recently discovered texts such as the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, etc. as well as a lot of Eastern philosophy, especially Hindu stuff like the Bhagavad Gita, which Gandhi was really into. You should check it out. I have like 3 copies as well as audio versions in case I lose one 😉
Matt S
Thanks for the reading tips, Matt!
Eirn, “God lives within us. We are all connected and are a manifestation of God.” I totally agree with you. Just a few thoughts that may help you to connect the pieces. The Creator and the creation exist in an organic unity like the ocean and the wave. The ocean goes on moving and ‘waving’ in you. The wave cannot exist without the ocean and if you think deeply neither can the ocean exist without the wave. It can be said that in every wave the ocean is present and that the ocean is a totality of all the waves. So the wave is not separate from the ocean. You cannot bring it home and show your children and say “I went to the ocean and brought a wave.” The ocean is the live of the waves. They cannot be separated, they are organically one. I also like what you shared about the relation between the Holy Trinity and the Human being. Another idea about the Holy Trinity can also be found in what is commonly known as the Lord’s Prayer. “Give is this day our daily bread….” reminds us of God the Father the author and sustainer of all life. “Forgive us our sins…” brings to our mind God the Son. “Lead us not into temptation…” is addressed to God the Spirit. Bread is what we need for the PRESENT. Forgiveness is about our PAST and Guidance is necessary for the future. So in three short sentences we bring the whole of our life before the whole of GOD.
That was very insightful and everything you said makes a lot of sense to me. I am going to come back to this and reread a few more times!
Thank you so much for your response. It is greatly appreciated. 🙂
Reblogged this on Choose the Eternal.