Your inherent qualities
We are all endowed with an inherently divine nature. This view is usually something secularist and spiritualist can agree on, even though we might describe it a little differently. We see evidence of this inherent nature demonstrated in babies, who naturally express divine qualities such as joy, trust, peace & acceptance. It takes very little time however, for a parents projected fears and negative emotions to manifest into similar behaviors in a small child, such as anger, discontent, judgment, and fear.
The inherent nature is intended to be in a state of openness to life, with feelings of joy, peace and much more (love, generosity, compassion and so on). You can tell you are living from these inherent qualities easily because, you feel good. When we act and think from our past learned behavior, (resentment, anger, fear, doubt), then we feel bad. Beginning to feel bad is extremely useful as an alarm system to “wake up” and be aware of what is going on so that we can readjust our mind to its natural state and grow from the experience.
A quick way to get in touch with this inherent nature is to quiet the mind and the body for a few minutes and allow the mind to be totally void of thoughts and allow the body to be totally void of feelings/emotion. If you can get into this still space of being, you will find a certain sacred quality about it. Feelings that arise from here (sacred space) come from a natural inherent energy that expresses itself with feelings of love, joy and peace. Feelings that generate a negative vibe are echos of a residual energy from the impressions of the past that we still cling to.
While sitting in a quiet moment of peaceful reflection, the feelings we experience during this reflection open us up and flow from us quite easily and naturally. But if all the sudden we get a thought about how our spouse did not contribute yesterday and it looks like today is another example of that, and then, if we decide to hold onto this thought, our mind and body begin to constrict and the flow of loving energy we were just experiencing diminishes. We then begin to feel the effects of our negative thought, which may include expressed anger, resentment, or frustration.
Here is another thought provoking method to help consider your natural state and inherent qualities. Take every single thought you have had lately and consider its source and begin to peel away every single thought or feeling that came from something that you learned. There WILL NEVER be a negative thought that cannot be traced back to the past or to a learned assumption about the future. Just begin to peel your thoughts away and if you want, you can do it by thinking about experiences that have impacted you most significantly and then peel off the thoughts that came from them. Either way, when you strip away all the thoughts you have had lately, what do you have left? Natural you, calm and open and full of inherent qualities. These qualities CAN NOT be stripped away, only suppressed or quieted by the power we give to past and future learned thoughts, feelings and emotion.
Below is a list of inherent qualities within us and their diametrically opposing learned qualities. If there are a couple of learned qualities that appear frequently in your life from the list below, you can look at the inherent quality and consider at what point, or with what experience, did you allow your inherent quality to be silenced to give voice to this learned behavior. We ALL embody the inherent qualities (and keep in mind this is only a partial list). Some of the learned qualities are more significant in our lives than others, which again, demonstrates the nature of these qualities being “learned” as opposed to inherent.
Inherent qualities cannot be removed from the source, which is our individual divine nature, and Divine Nature. However, inherent qualities can be diminished by our attention to and acceptance of learned qualities. Learned qualities can absolutely be 100% dissolved into nothingness (which is really what they are in the first place), by recognizing and embracing the inherent qualities within us.
Use this table as a quick reminder to question behaviors that arise within you in the learned column. Who wants to feel this way honestly? There is relief and peace available by immediately allowing in the inherent quality that relates to this learned quality. If you feel fear or doubt to do this, question that too! By doing this exercise to question these learned beliefs often and seeing the results of awakening to your inherent quality instead, truly you are becoming awakened.
Rejoice in your natural heritage as an amazing diving being. The work to emerge from our slumber of learned conditioning is not hard, but it does take our attention. When you wake yourself up, each time will be easier and your days will begin to be filled with new and blessed experiences. Enjoy and Persist! This is your life - do not let it slip away to the nothingness of past suffering and future fears. Live now!
Blessings - Joleen
Pleased to meet you!
Joleen Halloran is the author of 
Beyond Joleen's professional life, she is an avid reader and researcher of books and other materials related to her profession, but also to her special passion, which is metaphysical and spirituality topics. You can find out more about Joleen's book at her books website, www.breakingfreefromlimits.com. Additional articles of a spiritual and inspirational nature can be found at the book's website as well. The book is available for purchase at Amazon and at a discounted price directly from the books website.
