“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner spark of possibility into flames of achievement” — Golda Meir
We are made in our Makers image. To me that means – like our Maker, we have a desire to create. The important thing you can create is yourself. You have an inner spark of possibility; it just needs to be fanned.
To Practice This Thought: Create something this week. It can be a cake, a birdhouse or the first step to a new you, just fan that spark and see where it leads.
“If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don’t be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning ‘good morning’ at total strangers.” — Maya Angelou, Poet, Writer and Performer
We are reminded in church each Sunday to greet those around us especially those we do not know. But have we greeted our own family members with kind words that morning? The tone of the day is set in your family by how you greet them in the morning.
To Practice This Thought: Greet your children and spouse with a smile and a “good morning” and mean it. Send your loved ones out the door with a kiss and a hug because life is uncertain and this could be the last time you see them.
“A glimpse is not a vision. But to a man on a mountain road by night, a glimpse of the next three feet of road may matter more than a vision of the horizon.” — C.S. Lewis
Sometimes we get scared when we cannot see what is to happen 6 months down the road, or even 1 month or next week. Sometimes we have to inch along one day at a time. We forget that God is still there and He has laid the road. Just because we cannot see the path doesn’t mean it does not exist.
To Practice this Thought: Bring God your concerns but also thank Him for showing you the next 2 feet in front of you. Rest in the knowledge that God knows the path and He will never lead you into places you should not go.
“An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day” — Henry David Thoreau
My days go so much better when I get up and walk. Just being outside in nature is uplifting and relaxing. My day gets an extra lift If I remember to show appreciation to God for everything I see while walking.
To Practice This Thought: Get up early tomorrow and walk, even if it is just a short distance. Remember to appreciate all you see on your walk.
Help From My Guides or In Search of Underwear
Posted by: Ann
September 7th, 2009 >> Guides, Life, Manifesting, Spirituality
Several years ago, my husband had a “job from hell” in Houston for several weeks (that is how we refer to that job to this day, but that is another story). I drove to Houston with our 8 year-old son, so we could spend some time with him. Our son who was chunky at the time had out-grown his underwear and I had thrown them out instead of packing them. I told myself we could buy more on the way to Houston. Well I made a wrong turn and ended up going 50 miles in the wrong direction before I realized my mistake. This scenic detour really put me behind schedule. I really hate rush hour in Houston.
As I approached Houston, I started looking for a place to buy underwear. I soon realized I would be past the exit ramp before I would see a store. I did not want to drive on the feeder for miles and miles with all it stoplights, I was late enough as it was. This called for some guidance from some one who could see farther down the road than I could.
I said to my guides “please help me find a store with underwear that will fit Jesse. And you are going to have to tell me when to get off the freeway.” As we approached each exit ramp I asked, “do I get off here?” I finally felt a yes and I exited. As I sat at the stoplight, I looked around for a Target or a Wal-mart. But all that I saw was a strip center with a Men’s clothing store having a grand opening sale. I ignored the store and pulled back on the freeway I asked my guides “what was that all about? That was a men’s store” I heard back, “you asked for some thing to fit Jesse”. I then realized that maybe a mans small might have fit him, or maybe the store carried boy sizes. But it was too late I was back on the freeway.
I decided I needed to clarify what I wanted. Trying once again I said, “OK let me be a little clearer. I want a Target or a Wal-mart that will have boy size underwear”. I kept driving, again asking at each off ramp “here?” I then started testing what I was hearing. When I thought I heard a “get off”, I would stay on and start looking for a store and sure enough I would see one just over the next overpass.
I know I must have been frustrating my guides. Finally at one point before an exit ramp I heard a chorus of “GET OFF NOW”. “OK” I thought, “I’ll get off”. As I pulled up to the traffic light on the feeder, I started looking around. No Target, no Wal-mart. But I glanced up toward the freeway and saw cars coming to a screeching halt just on the other side of the overpass, out of view of the traffic on the freeway approaching the overpass. I said a quick thank you to my guides for getting me off before hitting that mess. I asked If I should get back on and I heard a “not yet” which I obeyed.
About 3 blocks down I found a Target where I did stop and found the underwear my son needed. I continued on to downtown.
Quote: “People say, ‘What is the sense of our small effort?’ They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time.” Dorothy Day quoted in Words to Live By by Eknath Easwaran
You never know when your small effort can lead to something large. Someone may see you doing something nice and that sparks them to do something. This can have a snowball effect.
To Practice This Thought: Make an effort — no matter how small it might seem to you — to improve your community.
When I was 5, I was introduced to the idea of faith and the power of prayer. My mother, a devote Christian, saw it as a parenting duty to teach her children the ideas and tenets of her faith. I loved to be with my mother and that day I was in her room playing and talking while she folded the laundry. I was asking her about God and prayer I don’t know if it was because I really was interested or if I just wanted her to respond to me in a way that affirmed that I was important to her. I ended up with more than her affirmation, I received God’s.
In answer to my question my mother responded “I have a story for you. In the Bible Jesus says that if you have just a little bit of faith, you can move a mountain.” I did not know then that she was referring to Matthew 17:20. But she continue “There was a woman who read that in the Bible and then prayed for a mountain that she could see to be move. Well nothing happened. She looked up from her prayer and saw the mountain still sitting there and she said ‘I knew that would not work.’”. I left my mother’s room then and headed to the family room, mulling over what I had just heard. If you had just a little faith and believed that it would happen, it would. All sorts of possibilities opened up to me. I looked out the big sliding glass doors into our suburbia backyard. Mountains were still on my mind. “How fun it would be to have a mountain in the backyard.” I thought. But being the sensitive child that I was I carried my idea out and realized “No, that wouldn’t be good. Our neighbors house might be hurt.” So I modified my request. “What about a hill instead? No, that might hurt our two large Oak trees in the backyard. OK what about a small hill, one that would not hurt anything but be big enough for us kids to run up and down and play on.” That was it! I prayed for my small hill then ran off to play not thinking much about it.
Ten years passed and while looking out the back door at the age of 15 I realized that prayer had been answered. Many years before, when I was six my father had bought a load of sand and had it delivered in the backyard. Time passed and he never got around to spreading the sand. Grass grew on it and us kids had played, running up and down it’s sides. God does listen, even to a 5 year olds wishfull prayer.
… “I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to this mountain,’Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Matthew 17:20
“Source” holds all our atoms together to create our physical body. Source is our soul and is connected to all others and helps hold all things together. This connection to all things is how we manifest or create the physical in our life.
Manifesting stops when we try to maintain a separateness of our soul from others. Sometimes we try to close off our source flow or separate ourselves from others thinking this will hold our physical world together and keep it safe. But when we do that, we greatly limit our manifestation, our ability to metaphysically control our environment. In seeking to control, we loose control.
When we allow our source-soul to expand, to merge and to encompass all others; we open up our manifesting. We see the impossible as possible. We are limitless and feel it. All things are possible in that state.
One day while meditating I asked my wise counsel “What does God want from us”. Does God want us to behave a certain way or to do certain things, if so, where is free choice?
The answer I received was that all God wants is a relationship with us that’s it. No expectations, no specific actions. But this relationship is hard for some to achieve.
God is truth and if you are living in illusion, not truth, you are far away from God and can not (or it is very hard to) have a relationship with God. So the people living in hate, cruelty, anger (which are not the truth of God) have a hard time getting to know God. You must be in God’s world – Truth – to actually get to know Him. The biggest truth to maintain is being truthful to yourself.
What is the opposite of Love?
Some say hate.
Some say indifference.
Some say fear.
Love vs. Hate. Both are intense emotions but are different sides of the same coin. I don’t think they are true opposites.
Love vs. Indifference. This sounds more like true opposites. Love is an intense emotion that includes caring and concern. Where as indifference is an emotion (or lack of emotion) where you don’t care what happens to the other person. I have seen this in people about to divorce. They have given up on the other person and on the relationship. There is no emotion anymore. There might have been hate earlier because the person was intense on either getting their way in the relationship or trying to get the other person to see things as they saw them and not being successful. Even with hate there is hope but with indifference there is no hope, it is like depression, not worth fighting for anymore.
Love vs. Fear. In my meditation I discovered the opposite of fear is not love but security, safety. What is fear? Fear is future based. “I may die from this”, “I don’t know what tomorrow will bring”, “I don’t know what to expect for next year”, “I am afraid for my child”; all are future based. Love is in the moment. Feeling secure and safe pushes fear out. Confidence, security and feeling safe all push fear aside.
Therefore I believe the opposite of Love is indifference and the opposite of Fear is Confidence in your own safety. What are your thoughts?