Not only children experience bullying, but many adults have also found themselve facing this distressing situation. Are there practical solutions that don't involve resorting to reciprocated aggression and violence? Absolutely, many people have found spirituality and prayer powerful weapons to arrest and solve this evil situation.
Lois Carlson, a teacher and practitioner of Christian Science in Chicago, Illinois, was the guest on this Sentinel chat called, "A spiritual defense against bullying." Lois has been in the full-time healing ministry of Christian Science since 1975, and has been a Christian Science teacher since 1991.
FROM TAIWAN: Kids are calling me something I really don't like, and sometimes I'm frozen with anger and left feeling deeply humiliated. How do I pray about this?
LOIS: You've helped us to idenify what bullying is - it's when somebody does or says something to you that makes you feel like you can't be yourself, and being afraid almost makes you feel like you're paralyzed. The great thing I can assure you of is that right in the middle of the fire is a voice inside you, telling you that you are loved and you are safe, and that you are worth being known.
When somebody calls us something, or exaggerates some part of our body, or says things that are just so contrary to our spiritual nature as children of God, the good thing is that it doesn't change our spiritual nature. We're still just as lovely to God, just as good and useful. It is important that you pray about it before this happens again-if it happens again, since I would love to think that it could be stopped in its tracks right now. When you pray about it, either before or after, ask God to help you hear His voice, because when God created you, He didn't just let you go like you were some balloon floating off into the atmosphere. God holds on to you, and nobody can change who you are by saying something ugly about you.
NO LOCATION: As a young girl I was bullied relentlessly at shcool. Now, many years later I have a happy active life. However, at times I still feel bullied-especially by other women. I have a young daughter and wish to protect both of us from these attacks that seem to be so prevalent and even acceptable among women.
LOIS: Your good life gives us assurance that the effects of bullying can be neutralized. This bad, manipulative behaviour is really the exact counterfeit of a true sense of womanhood, which comes from God's great mothering. Think of qualities like patience and intuition, of steadfast love, of nurturing care. These are a very sharp conterfact to the aggression and belittling that we associate with bullying.
Painful periods in our lives will yield to the reality of God and His kingdom, which upholds and enforces creation in a way that we can understand. Our Father-Mother God, the creator of the universe, never leaves us alone, never leaves us subject to the limitations and hatred of the carnal mind.
FROM GERMAN: There are situations in which there seems to be a legitimate form of bullying. For example, many superiors think they have the right to treat other employees disrespetfully.
LOIS: That aggressive nature is not natural to man. Man's purity, his goodness, his ability to love, can't be canceled. And when I say "man", I'm referring to both men and women. Just as we want the victim of bullying to know that something else is going on for himself, to protect him from attack, so we want the attacker to know that there's something better going on, so they don't have to act out the attack.
It's agony to be mean - it's agony to act in a way that's foreign to your own spiritual nature. It's just like any other form of sensuality - it feels so entrapping because it makes you feel finite, when you've actually been designed to be this infinite expression.
FROM CHICAGO: I've been picked on, insulted, and made fun of all my life. How do I get my self-esteem back?
LOIS: You have a right to revive your life according to the good that has happened. A friend of mine who's a beekeeper old me that one worker bee only produces one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey. The tendency is to belittle what we do, and the good news is that you don't get your thoughts about yourself from other people - you get your thoughts from the majesty of God's love for you.
It's a very powerful prayer to ask God to teach you to know yourself the way He knows you, because He doesn't see you in terms of the cruelty. He sees you in terms of your authority over the cruelty. The tiny bits of good in your life are actually aligned to the divine Principle of all good, and that's what enables you to make your contribution to society, even if it's very modest. It's just like, every raindrop counts, every ray of light counts, every bee contributes to the jar of honey!
To listen to the entire chat, go to cssentinel.com/chats/bullyingdefense.
This is an important topic that needs healing both for the individuals suffering from its effects and for society as a whole. We'd love to hear about your ideas on peaceful, healing solutions to bullying.
Lois Carlson, a teacher and practitioner of Christian Science in Chicago, Illinois, was the guest on this Sentinel chat called, "A spiritual defense against bullying." Lois has been in the full-time healing ministry of Christian Science since 1975, and has been a Christian Science teacher since 1991.
FROM TAIWAN: Kids are calling me something I really don't like, and sometimes I'm frozen with anger and left feeling deeply humiliated. How do I pray about this?
LOIS: You've helped us to idenify what bullying is - it's when somebody does or says something to you that makes you feel like you can't be yourself, and being afraid almost makes you feel like you're paralyzed. The great thing I can assure you of is that right in the middle of the fire is a voice inside you, telling you that you are loved and you are safe, and that you are worth being known.
When somebody calls us something, or exaggerates some part of our body, or says things that are just so contrary to our spiritual nature as children of God, the good thing is that it doesn't change our spiritual nature. We're still just as lovely to God, just as good and useful. It is important that you pray about it before this happens again-if it happens again, since I would love to think that it could be stopped in its tracks right now. When you pray about it, either before or after, ask God to help you hear His voice, because when God created you, He didn't just let you go like you were some balloon floating off into the atmosphere. God holds on to you, and nobody can change who you are by saying something ugly about you.
NO LOCATION: As a young girl I was bullied relentlessly at shcool. Now, many years later I have a happy active life. However, at times I still feel bullied-especially by other women. I have a young daughter and wish to protect both of us from these attacks that seem to be so prevalent and even acceptable among women.
LOIS: Your good life gives us assurance that the effects of bullying can be neutralized. This bad, manipulative behaviour is really the exact counterfeit of a true sense of womanhood, which comes from God's great mothering. Think of qualities like patience and intuition, of steadfast love, of nurturing care. These are a very sharp conterfact to the aggression and belittling that we associate with bullying.
Painful periods in our lives will yield to the reality of God and His kingdom, which upholds and enforces creation in a way that we can understand. Our Father-Mother God, the creator of the universe, never leaves us alone, never leaves us subject to the limitations and hatred of the carnal mind.
FROM GERMAN: There are situations in which there seems to be a legitimate form of bullying. For example, many superiors think they have the right to treat other employees disrespetfully.
LOIS: That aggressive nature is not natural to man. Man's purity, his goodness, his ability to love, can't be canceled. And when I say "man", I'm referring to both men and women. Just as we want the victim of bullying to know that something else is going on for himself, to protect him from attack, so we want the attacker to know that there's something better going on, so they don't have to act out the attack.
It's agony to be mean - it's agony to act in a way that's foreign to your own spiritual nature. It's just like any other form of sensuality - it feels so entrapping because it makes you feel finite, when you've actually been designed to be this infinite expression.
FROM CHICAGO: I've been picked on, insulted, and made fun of all my life. How do I get my self-esteem back?
LOIS: You have a right to revive your life according to the good that has happened. A friend of mine who's a beekeeper old me that one worker bee only produces one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey. The tendency is to belittle what we do, and the good news is that you don't get your thoughts about yourself from other people - you get your thoughts from the majesty of God's love for you.
It's a very powerful prayer to ask God to teach you to know yourself the way He knows you, because He doesn't see you in terms of the cruelty. He sees you in terms of your authority over the cruelty. The tiny bits of good in your life are actually aligned to the divine Principle of all good, and that's what enables you to make your contribution to society, even if it's very modest. It's just like, every raindrop counts, every ray of light counts, every bee contributes to the jar of honey!
To listen to the entire chat, go to cssentinel.com/chats/bullyingdefense.
This is an important topic that needs healing both for the individuals suffering from its effects and for society as a whole. We'd love to hear about your ideas on peaceful, healing solutions to bullying.
1 comment:
I was once praying with a friend whose child was being badly bullied at school. As I thought deeply about what was going on I realized that God loved that child with an almighty love, an infinite love, a love that was like the sunshine, it just filled this dear little one's life with goodness and kindness and joy. I knew that such an all-powerful divine love had no competition from evil. Evil could not exist in this child's experience if his life was filled up full with God, divine Love.
I thought about his day, would bad things be happening to him today? And I realized with great confidence that NO! only God's love would be his experience today. And each day this proved to be true - straight away the child started to experience peace and as well the school started to govern the situation more kindly and other children started to befriend him. I started each day by spiritually (mentally) witnessing him being basked in the sunshine of God's love, knowing that evil could not exist in such a heavenly state, just as the darkness could not exist in the light. And the child's peace continued day by day, until the entire bad situation was completely healed.
I also gained out of that lovely experience the recognition that God loves us all that way, we are all as precious to God as is that darling child. God loves us all and we're safe in that Love.
Beth
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