Which Makes the Other – Spirit or Body
Posted by: Ann
October 31st, 2009 >> Physical/Material, Spirituality
Our spirit contains our body – the physical, not the other-way-around. Therefore our body or physical needs are important, as important as the spirit.
The physical will not exist forever; whereas the spirit will. But the physical is important because we made it; created it, from our spirit and for that reason we should honor it and nurture it.
The physical is important because it is a physical representation of the spirit. Both the body (and its physical material world) and the spirit must be integrated and not separated.
Our spirit not just contains our body but creates it and our surroundings or physical existence. They are all integrated and important. You cannot ignore the one without hurting the other.
I have been trying to separate the two, making a surgical cut between the two (like in the Golden Compass). NO – Don’t do that!! Embrace both together. They make a whole.
I am here to do a job, to accomplish something and worrying just gets in the way – more than that – it actively prevents me from doing what I need to do.
God is my partner and my partner is very competent and a self-motivator, He can handle the whole business without me. I know in His hands, my business will only prosper – it can’t do otherwise.
But there is a portion up to me, and that is to act on the ideas and inspirations as they come to me. God can act but He wants us to take an active part in our lives also. We are often His hands and feet, especially in our own lives. So I EFT the worry out of the way and just do it.
Find out more about EFT at naturallyresilient.com
I place the future in the Hands of God. This releases me; a weight lifts off of me. We are here to experience not to worry about the future. To trust God to handle my future allows me to pursue things now that I would have been scared to try before.
What if I failed? My previous thought would have been “Oh No, I have wasted all this time, effort and money and now I don’t have any of it and I am further away from my goals.” But when you place the future in Gods hands, when you fail you think “Oh well, I’ll try something else” There is no pressure. God knows what I need and will provide.
Remember a job is not your source, God is your source.
Why is it so hard to live in the now?
Our society and culture insist that we live in the past and the future. They say we learn from our past and can apply it to our future. But in living in the past we drag all our negative experiences and emotions into the present. Why do we do that? And in living in the future, we bring all our fears and worries back to the present.
Why don’t we bring all our good and happy memories to the now and why can’t we focus on a good and happy future instead of a negative one? Our mind seems to be so negative. But when we live in the present, all that falls away. We do not judge in the present, we just experience it. There is no fear in the present. That is not to say that the present situation will always be great and pain free. But we will not be borrowing pain from the future.
I have been reading Eckhart Tolle “The Power of Now”. It has great information about living in the now. As I have said before, the present is a present.
In my struggles with abundance, I have two mentors. Neither knows that is what they are to me, but whenever I am sliding into the black hole of worry, I think of them.
One is my next-door neighbor. We have deep conversations across the fence or on the front porch. He is one of those few people who does not worry about where the money is coming from to pay next months bills. He knows it will show up. When things start getting tight, he will suddenly get 4 job offers out of the blue. He lets life happen and lives in the now. His lemons turn into lemonade. Once when money was tight, His car was run into. Most people would think “Oh No, more problems”. But the proceeds from the insurance claim covered all the car repairs and medical bills with money left over for the monthly bills. We have many over the fence conversations about abundance and life.
The second is a friend who experienced what he calls his “Miracle Year”. One year when he was young, he took off to see the world. All he had with him was his backpack. He said it was difficult at first, but when the fear finally left, the miracles started happening. He tells about a time when he was sitting on a sidewalk trying to fix something on his backpack and thought “I wish I had some scissors” then he glance beside him and there were a pair of scissors laying there. He said things like that kept happening. That is not to say that difficulties did not happen. He tells of arriving in Beirut and started walking towards town, not wondering why everyone seemed to be headed the other way. A car stopped and some one grabbed him and pulled him in. They had guns and took him to an old building and started to interrogate him. They were under the impression he must have been working for the US Government (CIA, spy) if he was headed toward town. My friend decided if he was going to die, he was going to enjoy himself and started joking with them. They finally decided he did not know anything and after some more shows of force they took him back to where they found him and pushed him out of the car. I think he should write a book about his experiences.
What have I learned for these two men? That fear keeps the miracles from happening. That fear stifles abundance. That is why I deal with fears in its different forms in my newsletters at naturallyresilient.com. EFT is great for keeping fears and worry at bay.
Abundance Thinking
Posted by: Ann
October 26th, 2009 >> God, Manifesting, Physical/Material, Sacrifice, Spirituality
I have been struggling for a number of years with the idea of abundance. This has been a hard lesson to learn and I still have not learned it. Most of my life I have been in conflict with abundance and spirituality. I thought to be spiritual you had to give away all you had and live under a bridge. In striving for spirituality, I could not come to terms with loosing everything.
The thought that God is abundance and all things are His to shower on us as He wills somehow did not include me. In my religious upbringing, it was enforced to me that I was nothing, a worm, worthless and God was everything. If I was a worm to be eaten and sacrificed to a bird then I was just here to be used and God did not really care about my physical life and comfort. But this just did not make sense. Deep down I believed in God’s abundance and His concern for us but my mind would not let me accept that.
I guess I got this idea of sacrifice from Matthew 19:17-24. This is where the rich young man asked what he must do to have eternal life and Jesus replied to keep the commandments but the young man said he had done that and what else should he do. Jesus told him to sell all he had and give the money to the poor and follow him.
This conflict came to a head about 3 years ago when I had a Body Talk session and this issue came up to be dealt with. It was very interesting. I went into the session feeling that God wanted me to give everything away and live under a bridge and came out thinking and feeling I did not have to do that to be spiritual. Referring back to the Matthew passage, Jesus told the young man that if he wanted to be perfect he should sell all he had and give the money to the poor and follow him. That was if he wanted to be “perfect”. I am not perfect and don’t pretend to be. I am not at that point where I can get rid of everything and live only in God’s abundance.
God doesn’t want you to be a burden on others or society. The well known spiritual people that have given up everything to live with those they wanted to help, did so because that was how they could best help others. Some can best serve others by having resources and abundance to share.
“I’m not happy. I’m cheerful. There’s a difference. A happy woman has no cares at all. A cheerful woman has cares but has learned how to deal with them.” — Beverly Sills, 1929-2007, Opera Singer
I tend to concentrate on mental attitude because your state of mind can have a major impact, not just on your emotional, but also on your spiritual and physical wellbeing. In my own life, I have found that when I switched from a negative outlook of the present and future to a positive one, my world did change, more things to be positive about started showing up.
To Practice This Thought: Acknowledge that you have cares and problems. They do exist for all of us. But then allow yourself to move past that and develop a cheerful outlook in spite of them.
“I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.” —–Abraham Maslow, 1908-1970, Psychologist
Are you like me? Do you tend to live in the future, Always worried about problems that never materialize? Or maybe you tend to live in the past, full of regrets for what might have been. The best place to live is in the present, the here and now. When you live the present moment the anticipated problems slide away and the regrets change into current opportunities. Remember the present is a present.
To Practice This Thought: Live today as if this is the only day that matters. I bet the whole day becomes more enjoyable.
“Every memorable act in the history of the world is a triumph of enthusiasm. Nothing great was ever achieved without it because it gives any challenge or any occupation, no matter how frightening or difficult, a new meaning. Without enthusiasm you are doomed to a life of mediocrity but with it you can accomplish miracles.” — Og Mandino, 1923 – 1996, Speaker and Author of The Greatest Salesman in the World
Have you ever met someone who showed a lot of enthusiasm and soon you were feeling more energized yourself? Enthusiasm is what leads people to join your cause. Enthusiasm can cause mountainous problems to become molehills. Just feeling enthusiastic about a task makes it more enjoyable. Enthusiasm is also good for you; it gets the blood flowing and the endorphins pumping.
To Practice This Thought: Decide to be enthusiastic about something this week and see if anyone else catches your enthusiasm.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
I have always thought it was strange that you can open a door into a dark room and the light comes flooding in instead of the darkness come flooding out. It is almost like the dark runs and hides behind objects creating shadows. Love is the same way as 1 John 4:18 states “… perfect love expels all fear.” And who has the most perfect love? God.
To Practice This Thought: When times feel dark and fearful, rest in the knowledge that God is there and He does love you.