STAMP IT CONFIRMED

All month we talked about authenticating IT -  God, the Divine, the Power and Presence Within. It's what we are awakening ourselves to all year.

We started off talking about that there is no secret being kept from any of us about the Universe or how the Law works.  You may not have been taught this philosophy, but the Universe isn't keeping information on how IT works for members only. The secret is there is no secret! There are only tools to be discovered that enhance what you naturally know, even if you don't know that you know. Don't get sucked into the clickbait titles or descriptions claiming a big secret is being revealed for the first time b.s. And don't begin your day, week, month, or year pining on thinking you're starting in a deficit. That is not a good way to set yourself up to learning.

I also reminded you this month to look around, use your senses as proof of the existence and the workings of divine intention, grace, power, and wisdom. We can learn most if not all we need to learn from Mother Nature.

And last week, I asked you to decide which do you prefer, or which do you work your innermost education transformation and transcendence through....nature or nurture? Actually, there was no choosing...it was both

This week I want to stamp this month of Authentication...CONFIRMED. Not only confirming that:

• The Power of Presence of Universal Creative Energy is working within you right now
• The knowledge to succeed and prosper is innate and discover-able through our senses
• We don't have to go to the top of the mountain or the bottom of the sea to discover God and our Godness
• Nurturing our True nature leads us to manifestations of health, wealth, love, and peace. 

This week we confirm our authentic selves. We stamp our passports to self-definition and self-determination. We stamp our decree of being an expression of the divine. And we attest, verify, and certify as Michael Singer said in “The Untethered Soul”:

The prerequisite to true freedom is to decide that you do not want to suffer anymore. You must decide that you want to enjoy your life and that there is no reason for stress, inner pain, or fear.

How often do you show up authentically?

We are to see that Spirit creates all things by the power of Its own word, and that we are spiritual beings. We are to hear that inner voice of Truth, which is ever proclaiming the freedom of all life, the eternal unity of God with [all].  ~Ernest Holmes

No matter your profession, who you love, how you pray, where you live, how much formal education you have, how much money you have, what gender you identify with, how old you are, etc., you weren’t born to fit in....you were born to stand out.

God makes no mistakes - people do. And yet mistakes are a great teaching tool if you let them be. Regardless of what anyone says, your unique gifts have a purpose and individually it's our responsibility to be our authentic selves, to live and express that purpose. That might be annoying or unappetizing to some, but the more we express ourselves authentically, the more we inspire others to do the same, even if they find us annoying

Unconditional love and acceptance for others who are expressing themselves authentically doesn't mean we have to hang out with them, vote for them, or like them. Appreciating one's authenticity and that of others brings spiritual maturity into play and practice, and emotional maturity into life.

As the inner light dawns, it delivers the outer life from bondage. This is in line with the teaching that everything is from within, out. When the soul knows freedom, the law will free the body, and the outer life will express health, happiness and success. All things work for our good. Even that which we call evil is salutary, leading us to the Way, the Truth and the Life. Suffering should teach us a lesson which would cause us to refrain from making more mistakes; it carries a blessing with it when we learn how to garner knowledge from experience.  ~Science of Mind

If you were living a life of freedom, how would your life look?

Don't be depressed about the answer because it seems like a wish unfulfilled. Be encouraged, impassioned, inspired, motivated, and awakened by the answer as the first step to fulfillment. That is your authentic self calling....answer the call - your soul's desire is ringing.

Say this with me right now:

I consciously and confidently live as my authentic self.
Solid in self-respect and joy.
Firm in my respect and kindness to others.
Centered, grounded, and stable in my connection to Nature and Spirit.
And bold and brave in my self-expression.

Don't be what the world wants you to be. Find and be the definition of your authentic self. It's never too late. Look at these two womyn:

Julia Child

...worked in advertising, media, and secret intelligence before stepping into her passionate self and writing her first cookbook when she was 50, launching her career as a celebrity chef.

Martha Stewart

...a full-time model, then a 25-year-old mother before working a five-year stint as a Wall Street stockbroker; then finding her true purpose through her love of gourmet cooking and creative presentation to create the empire, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

How about these two:

...was a figure skater and journalist before entering the fashion industry at age 40 and became one of the world's premier women's designers.

...Anna Mary Robertson Moses began her prolific painting career at 78. In 2006, one of her paintings sold for $1.2 million. Previously, she was a housekeeper and farm laborer.

And finally these two/three people:

Taikichiro Moris...was an academic
who became a real-estate investor
at age 51, which made him
the richest person in the world in
1992, worth $13B.

Tim and Nina Zagat...were corporate
lawyers in their late 30s when they
turned their personal, passionate list
of favorite restaurants in Paris and
New York into a published collection
of restaurant reviews which eventually
became a mark of culinary authority.

     

So what hidden or not so hidden passion is waiting for your authenticity to emerge?

You know I know you know, even if you say you don't....you do. We all get caught up in the box of our degrees, our jobs, what the family expected, what we expected, and even the word “retiree.” So now is the time to commit to showing up -authentically- and choose to live the life we’ve always dreamed of. 

A bonus to all this is that doing so in your life also inspires others to follow. By you being an example of unconditional love & acceptance of a life of Spirit expressing Itself as you, that makes for a better world of unity, peace, love, and joy. And that authenticates the Divine in us all!

Stamp your authentic life confirmed and fly my friends, fly!

Affirmative Incantation

I answer the call from Spirit to awaken to the beauty and power within

With this Divine intention, I have the courage to think only clear, productive, and empowering thoughts, no matter what's going on.

I certify that since I am the master of my thoughts

I am the healer of my body

And the designer of my life.

The Truth confirms my wholeness

The Truth attests to my spiritual perfection

The Truth guarantees my success

And I verify this Truth today.

Ta-ta negativity

Goodbye old stories

Adieu junk thinking

I am my authentic True Divine Self right now!

Cleaned Up, Now What?

Photo by v2osk on Unsplash.com

I want to invoke a Wholly Holy Uprising

We stand poised, with the ability to use this teaching and other tools to take ourselves and all of humanity into a new paradigm of consciousness.

• A paradigm of prosperity, happiness, health, and loving relationships
• A model of miracles, aha moments, and infinite possibilities
• A pattern of connection, communion, and joy
• A habit of right thinking and Truth
• A mirror of opulence and opportunities

We are invited every single day to demonstrate all of this and more in our lives, our communities, and the world.

To do so, we must rise up!

Like we rise up for social injustice, we must rise up to a consciousness of equality and unity – Oneness revealing the Divinity within.

Like we rise up to save our family and friends from dangerous conditions, we must rise up to a consciousness of protection, security, and peace.

Like we rise up to move away from addiction and depression, we must rise up to a consciousness of joy.

Like we rise up to move away from negative thinking, we must rise up to this consciousness that we are being supported by Divine Love and the Law of Cause and Effect at all times.

We need not place limits on Spirit, It has none.

Once we have the consciousness of what it is we require and as we align with the great power that created all, we avail ourselves to the infinite possibilities and give ourselves the permission (already granted by the Universe) to put our hands in the biggest cookie jar and pull out all the goodies we can grab – including peace and prosperity for all. Then we can increase the size of the bucket inside our minds knowing that God's bucket is the one we get to fill ours from.

With limitless prosperity available and ready to be served, our mental equivalent is the mirror to our external circumstances. Our inner life, our consciousness, is Truth-based and the experiences imagined, Earth-bound.

We have spent the month decluttering our minds and freeing our hearts and connecting with Divine wisdom from our gut's intuitions. Now it's time we allow it all to flow...getting into the flow of joy 
of our communion with Spirit.

Imagine a garden hose that is attached to a water spigot. The spigot is Source. The water is turned on and is flowing. How much water comes out of the end of that garden hose depends on whether or not the hose is obstructed. The water is flowing fully and yet, at the other end of the hose, water may be dribbling out. Our spiritual work removes the obstructions in the garden hose to allow the full flow of water. 

God is the water that's flowing. The degree to which we experience that flow which is the giving-ness of Spirit in our lives is determined by the degree to which we able that water to flow through unobstructed. Our work, our Word, is “unkinking the hose” so that Spirit can flow through fully.

We don’t need to do anything about the flow of water; that's spigot's on full already. Our job is to allow the water to flow through us.

Let's not be confused or deterred over the appearances we see, but don't want. Let's face the fear. Let's face the disappointment. Let's face the bag of cookies or the next cigarette or drink. Name the condition and then know the Truth of it...

...it's old news

...it's an old story

...it is yesterday's thoughts, opinion, perspective, or perception

The fact is, the energy you invest in knowing, using, and being the Truth -the spiritual practice you invest in speaking, embodying and illuminating the Truth, and the focusing of your mind and heart to the frequency of the Truth- the more yesterday's thoughts and beliefs become neutered, null, and void.
This happens not only in your life, but it also affects all of life.

In this interconnected universe, every improvement we make in our private world improves the world at large for everyone… Simple kindness to one’s self and all that lives is the most powerful transformational force of all.  ~David R. Hawkins, Power vs. Force

According to Hawkins, who was a nationally renowned psychiatrist, physician, researcher, and spiritual teacher, and who calibrated human consciousness from its lowest “vibration” (shame) to its highest (enlightenment), higher consciousness radiates a beneficial and healing effect on the world. Using kinesthetic testing (muscle resistance to a word), Hawkins created a chart to explain, in detail, what the mystics have always known:  love is more powerful than hatred, and the truth sets us free.

The Truth is when you increase your integrity, understanding, and capacity for compassion, you also change the world.

In God-awareness, problems dissolve because there are no “real” problems; in the mind of God, there are only perfect patterns of existence and divine ideas. ~Michael Beckwith, Spiritual Liberation

So, you've been cleaning up all month, all year...now what? What perfect patterns are you creating? Ask yourself:

Are there any areas in my life where I am “playing small” or working patterns of lack?

What limiting beliefs can I let go of to expand my consciousness and fill that bigger bucket?

...our belief sets the limit to our demonstration of a Principle which, of itself, is without limit. It is ready to fill everything, because It is Infinite...It is entirely a question of our own receptivity.   ~Ernest Holmes, Science of Mind

When appearances suggest an absence of the Divine:

1. start decluttering
2. face these appearances with the courage and power that is innate in you
3. neutralize them with conviction, purpose, spiritual practice, therapy, counseling, and/or coaching
4. take action to lessen or remove these appearances' grip on your beliefs and life

I am not asking you to ignore or gloss over genuine issues in your life or the world at large and hide behind platitudes the bypass life until the storms pass. In times of social unrest and personal tragedy, apply the principles of this teaching and all the other philosophical and psychological tools there are to find what is yours to do.

I am invoking a Wholly Holy Uprising

Using the principles of Oneness, love, joy, and Truth, we allow any uncomfortable topics, situations, and stories to help us deepen our spiritual practices, grow our compassion, and take divinely inspired action to transcend, transform and inspire our best life!

So, cleaned up – now what?

Live an absolutely fabulous, opulent, and love-filled life

...that's what!

Affirmative Incantion

I have a big intelligence system: my mind

I have a big feeling system: my heart

I have a big wisdom system: my gut

This Divine Matrix is abundant with all the tools, ideas, feelings, imagination, and power I require to live my life fabulously. I have decluttered my world and exclusively energize thoughts of prosperity, vitality, and love. I am relishing this miracle called ME!

Letting Go of Yesterday

Every night I lie in bed

The brightest colours fill my head

A million dreams are keeping me awake

I think of what the world could be

A vision of the one I see

A million dreams is all it's gonna take

A million dreams for the world we're gonna make

      ~Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, "A Million Dreams" from The Greatest Showman 

I wanted to remind you of a few things about your yesterdays. This isn't to get you off the hook of the work of acknowledging, releasing, and letting go of the old stories that are cluttering your consciousness and getting in the way of manifesting your dreams. Our past experiences, stories, yesterdays can have a significant impact on our beliefs, and many times we don't even realize it's happening. Sometimes we have to dive deep to even realize they are there just so we can acknowledge them, even before we face them, forgive them, neutralize them, release them, and replace them.

I've talked about radical self-forgiveness that has nothing to do with the other party. And even if it does have something to do with another person - as Oscar Wilde said:

Always forgive your enemies—nothing annoys them so much.

I've given you the tool called PLACE (see "What's Your Response?"):  Pause, Label, Ask, Choose, Express. So you respond vs. react to situations because reactions come from yesterday's stories.

There's the 4-step shame and regret process I shared (see "What Are You Looking At?")to get squeaky clean with our ethics and integrity and neutralize the power yesterday's story has a hold on us.

Or you could follow Tony Robbins' (and others) advice to:

1. Turn "letting go" of the past into a “must”

Gaining a clear sense of purpose to move beyond the hold of yesterday and serve as your emotional drive when you feel like raging, hiding, etc. 

2. Identify your emotional habits

Emotions are like a muscle. The trauma or challenging incident can train us to feel frustrated, sad, stressed, untrusting. However, you can train yourself to stay passionate, joyful, and strong, even when something bad happens in your life or reminds you of your yesterdays. When you catch yourself falling into a negative emotional habit, try to cut off the thought and switch gears immediately. This new conditioning will re-wire those emotions to have less or no effect as a trigger.

3. Condition your mind and work on personal growth

Feed your mind and soul with empowering stories instead of limiting ones.  Surround yourself with people who make you better and put yourself in a peak state of mind and action. Focus on learning and improving your mind and heart, and thus your self-respect and perception.

4. Create empowering rituals

Build momentum by practicing gratitude, meditation, affirmative prayer, journaling, etc. All the spiritual practices we talk about and work.

5. Focus on what you can control

You can’t take back an unhealthy relationship, but you can learn from it. You can’t go back in time and fix a bad childhood, but you can realize that “Your past does not equal your future.” From the minute you wake up, you make choices. In fact, that could be your greatest birthrights - volition and choice. Learning how to let go of the past means breaking the pattern and focusing on creating the life you deserve, not dwelling on the one you used to have.

7. Give back

No matter how broke you may be or how broken you feel, you have something to offer others – even if it’s something as common as a smile or a listening ear. Realize that the secret to living is giving.

Not a Tony Robbins or NLP fan? Alice Morse Earle put it very plainly in the early 1900s:

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present. 

Here is the most important thing happening in the present that I want you to grasp onto, awaken to and allow Its transformative abilities to take hold:

If God is all there is, then EVERYTHING in our life is God speaking.

Doubt, pain, resistance, and misery are a calling for reconnecting our humanness with our spiritual essence.  It holds no judgment or opinion of the experience! When you begin to see yesterdays that pop up in our 'todays' as a blessing, you tap into an opportunity to remember the fundamental truth that God is all-in in your life and ready to wave the flag and hold your hand, if need be, and point us to the Truth to:

REALIZE  ACCEPT  KNOW

• Realize your feelings are valid
• Accept that God has given you all that is needed to step through yesterday's junk
• Know you have the power of choosing and then choosing again and again and again

I would like to conclude with a poem I heard about and found on this subject.

She Let Go

by Safire Rose

She let go.

She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.

She let go of the fear.

She let go of the judgments.

She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.

She let go of the committee of indecision within her.

She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.

Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

She didn’t ask anyone for advice.

She didn’t read a book on how to let go.

She didn’t search the scriptures.

She just let go.

She let go of all of the memories that held her back.

She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.

She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn’t promise to let go.

She didn’t journal about it.

She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer.

She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.

She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.

She just let go.

She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.

She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.

She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.

She didn’t call the prayer line.

She didn’t utter one word.

She just let go.

No one was around when it happened.

There was no applause or congratulations.

No one thanked her or praised her.

No one noticed a thing.

Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.

There was no effort.

There was no struggle.

It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.

It was what it was, and it is just that.

In the space of letting go, she let it all be.

A small smile came over her face.

A light breeze blew through her.

And the sun and the moon shone forevermore…

You will probably face setbacks and challenges, I have. But with conviction and a purpose that drives you, you will stay focused and dedicated when those yesterdays show up. Then you can acknowledge, release, and let go. Don’t beat yourself up for what has happened in the past - all god's children's got stuff. Beyond your own self-work, please seek out spiritual counseling - I do, cognitive therapy - I have, and know that you can and will let go of your yesterdays and manifest your million dreams.

I know you can!

p.s. I am available for spiritual counseling. Contact my office at ntsc@newthoughtsc.org

Peace and blessings to you!

Affirmative Incantation

I welcome my new stories. 

My todays are filled with wonderment, excitement, imagination, and the best of infinite possibilities. I am moving forward with everything in my life. I am energized, authorized, crystallized, concretized, exercised, harmonized, and recognized as the Divine Light that I Am born to be.

I now forgive, release, and neutralize the blocks, triggers, and walls of indecision, victimhood, and strife. And I welcome the new stories of strength, wisdom, plenty, and love. I am rockin' it from this day forward.

Going With the Flow

The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius encouraged people not to waste energy by fighting against society. He called it..."Going with the flow." Now, going with the flow has come to mean having a relaxed attitude, letting life carry you along. After all - “what you resist persists,” right?

I've been described as someone who goes with the flow; easy-going, keeping my neutrality in conflicts. Yet I have found that the practice of going with the flow can also lead to laziness or playing the spiritual bypass game or having a reluctance to taking life seriously or deeply or by the collar, when necessary.

Today, I want to about the power and depth in going with the flow in a spiritually conscious & mindful way by going with the flow on the River of the Divine You. 

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.  ~Lao-Tzu

Going with the flow doesn't have to be a cop-out, accepting life's lemons as the end of the story. You and I create the flow by getting in the Flow on the River of Love and Law. It may not be all peaches and cream and may involve some tough relaxing into the chaos, learning not to stress, and responding versus reacting. The main action behind going with the flow is not just laying back, it's taking hold of the consciousness cord that connects us to the Power of Manifestation where we can get guidance. We cannot practice the love of life in isolation or in a vacuum. Every spiritual path and all the mystics have described that each of us in nature is connected to that single Divine River where the wellspring of infinite possibilities flows. 

Within this Infinite Mind, each individual exists. We are not separated from Life, and neither is It separated from us. We are separate entities in It — individualized centers of God Consciousness.  ~Dr. Holmes, The Science of Mind

When we awaken to the Truth, we become open to the impulse & guidance of Spirit, inspired by imagination and wisdom, directed by our values, committed to our core principles, and dedicated to transformation and transcendence - no matter the circumstances. Leo Babauta, in the blog, Zen Habits, says:

No matter how much structure we create in our lives, no matter how many good habits we build, there will always be things that we cannot control — and if we let them, these things can be a huge source of anger, frustration, and stress. 

This conflict or condition has already happened; we can't go back to make it not have happened at least not yet. So what do we do when we step in it when junk shows up in our lives - big or small? I had a kidney stone journey in 2013:

4 days of cramps

4 days of feeling like Sisyphus...invoking powerful names = Jesus, Iron Man ...and phrases I cannot repeat...jumping up and down to rattle the stone around and break it up. I noticed the usual go with the flow idea went out of my mind as quickly as the cursing came out of my mouth. Then I became focused on not resolving the pain but remembering who I was. I had plenty of moments of health worries, possible financial concerns, and just the agonizing pain but it was my consciousness work that brought relief. 

Kamal Ravikant wrote:

Most of our pain, most of our suffering comes

from resistance to what Life is. And when we

resist what life is, we suffer. When you can say

yes to life, surrender to life and say: “Okay, what

should I be now?” That’s where power comes from.

There is a story about a young martial arts student was under the tutelage of a famous master. One day, the master was watching a practice session in the courtyard.

He realized that the presence of the other students was interfering with the young man’s attempts to perfect his technique. The master could sense the young man’s frustration. He went up to the young man and tapped him on his shoulder. “What’s the problem?” he inquired.

“I don’t know,” said the youth with a strained expression. “No matter how much I try, I am unable to execute the moves properly”.

“Before you can master technique, you must understand harmony, my son. Come with me, I will explain,” replied the master.

The teacher and student left the building and walked some distance into the woods until they came upon a stream. The master stood silently on the bank for several moments before he said, “Look at the stream. There are rocks in its way. Does it slam into them out of frustration? Watch it simply flow over and around them and move on! Be like the water and you will know what harmony is.”

Whether its COVID or a broken pipe, don’t dig in your heels, push, shove, and struggle until the veins pop out on your head. Stop saying no. Say yes and accept whatever it is.

Now the act of accepting doesn't mean giving permission ...accepting lets us stop thinking we must swim upstream or wish we could go back in time somehow ...accepting turns the dial to tune into and allow the nourishing Flow of the River of Divine Intelligence to carry us over and around the rocks. Here are a few daily practice tips from Bev Janisch:

1. Learn to distinguish between thoughts and feelings that arise from the condition or event – is it

bringing in your small self or your [highest self]?

2. Ask yourself: What is my heart’s desire? What inspired action arising from my soul am I meant to

take today or in this situation?

3. Create a daily habit of communicating with Source through meditation, prayer or “divine chats.”

Going with the Flow is about creating awareness, space, and practices that enable us to tune in to what Divine wisdom is intuiting and then honoring what we hear.

• Commit to participating in the awakening of your spiritual magnificence and personal power

• Commit to catching the spark of Divine ideas

You may be in pain or in fear of a prognosis or consequence, uncomfortable with making some changes in your habits of thought and action. It may be messy, chaotic, sad, or dirty, but as we understand that any yuckiness is the perfect outcome of the flow of the river of life we decided to float upon, we become open to and ready for the ideas, practices, & solutions to incorporate into our boat. Going with the flow doesn't mean you just sit there, hoping to become dislodged. By going with the Flow using your spiritual tools, you will rise up from the hurricane of discomfort. So go ahead and rage and weep for a few minutes, then take a breath and tap into the River of Divine Wisdom and allow your intuition to inform you of your options and find your best practices from a place of “yes” and acceptance. There is beauty in everything around us if we look at it as perfect.

Go with the flow of your life

Go with the flow of your community

Go with the flow of your health

Go with the flow of this time of COVID

Go with the flow of your relationships

It doesn't mean you don't take action. It means you go with the flow on the River of Divine Intelligence and Love to take action with the wisdom of the ages, the power of the mighty Mississippi, the best advice available from the Universe and Its creations.

Affirmative Incantation

I am stepping into the Circle of Love which surrounds me with ever-expanding energy that vibrates at the speed

of the Divine, awakening me to my best self.

In this Circle of Love, I lift up my mind to the highest thoughts and ideas.

In this Circle of Love, I lift up my heart to the highest frequencies of joy, passion, enthusiasm, and purpose.

In this Circle of Love, I honor that which binds us all together in everlasting Unity. I work the Universal Law to

cause and effect my dreams into an experience.

It is beautiful in this Circle.

It is calm in this Circle.

It is powerful in this Circle.

In this Circle of love, I am living Life to Its most abundant, highest, and prosperous; allowing the best of me to flow.

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Standing On The Shoulders of Giants

So much of what I teach comes from Ernest Holmes and the books teaching the Science of Mind and Spirit, my teachers in New Thought, and those who have counseled me, been in class with me, or indirectly taught me or inspired me in other ways and from other fields of study. It all adds up and continues my growth and what I can bring to you. It also reminds me that though I may put a spin on something, make it my own, even inspire people with it, I am standing on the shoulder of giants. And even behind that, it is more about my openness to the open-source of all wisdom that comes to me from the Divine Source.

Like software for which the original source code is made freely available, and may be redistributed and modified, the wisdom of the ages and the intuitable creativity and imagination of the Universe is an open-source venue ...for everyone. Even Newton’s “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants,” wasn’t entirely original...

In the 12th century - John of Salisbury, who described himself as Johannes Parvus, was an English author, philosopher, diplomat and bishop of Chartres said, "We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours."

I look at my library and I see all these ideas that interested me, were suggested to me or required for me to read, and some I don't remember why I was inspired to have them. Many are stalwarts in our teaching, but all of them created by standing on the shoulders of giants from ancient times to the last couple of centuries, or from each other.

It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.  ~Jean-Luc Godard

An everyday example is found in the book,  Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, where Nassim Taleb describes an evening of a dinner out...

I realized I was going to a place the likes of which have been around for at least 2,500 years, in shoes similar to those worn at least 5,300 yrs ago, to use silverware designed by the Mesopotamians and drinking wine based on a 6K year-old recipe, from glasses invented 2,900 years ago, while eating cheese unchanged through the centuries (in fact, the older the better – right? wine too) while awaiting a dinner prepared with one of our oldest tools - fire, using utensils much like those the Romans developed.

2021 is not a New Year, New You. It is a New Year, NEWER you. As singer/songwriter Peter Allen wrote, “Everything old is new again.”

January's theme, in our year of AWAKENING, was Believe It. What we believe is the ground floor of our awakening. What we believe is the basis with which we experience a fabulous life and a fabulous life is a creative series of connecting the dots of wisdom throughout the ages, ancient to modern to today into our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Here's an example of connecting the dots wisely. It is about creating something you probably have in front of you right now:

1. The first touchscreen was developed by E.A. Johnson for air traffic control almost 50 years earlier than this thing

a. by 1975 other engineers built upon Johnson's work, developed and patented usable models

b. around the same time, the University of Illinois was developing touchscreen terminals for students

c. the first commercial touchscreen computer came out in 1983, soon followed by graphics boards, tablets, watches, and video game consoles

d. Casio released a touchscreen pocket computer in 1987 (20 years before iPhone)

2. Likewise, Kane Kramer (23 yrs old) designed a small portable hand-held touchscreen digital music player called the IXI

a. 1979 invention inspired by the Sony Walkman

b. held only 3.5 minutes of music

c. Kramer pitched it with the potential for immediate delivery, digital inventory, taped live performances, digital storage, and the promotion of new artists and micro-transactions.

Sound familiar? All that got us to the iPhone. Similarly, the technology for a fabulous life is already present and ready to have the dots connected. We can stand on the shoulders of giants right now to make these ideas our own; from Ernest Holmes, the Vedas, James Allen, Meister Eckhart, Wayne Dyer, Florence Scovil Shin, and hundreds of others. Even Shakespeare, drew heavily upon prior works to observe and create from (some may say, plagiarize)

• Hamlet took inspiration from a play based on Gesta Danorum, a twelfth-century work
• Holinshed's Chronicles was a comprehensive history of Britain originally published in 1577 - a source for Macbeth, King Lear, and Cymbeline. 
• Parts of Antony and Cleopatra are copied verbatim from Plutarch’s Life of Mark Anthony. 
• Arthur Brooke’s 1562 poem The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet brought us Romeo and Juliet. And that poem came from a 1559 poem by Pierre Boaistuau, who in turn drew from a 1554 story by Matteo Bandello, who in turn was inspired by a 1530 work by Luigi da Porto.

In 2015, John Maxwell wrote a short primer on how to stand on the shoulder of giants. He said:

Stand on the lessons of history.

His example was through Norman Cousins, who wrote, “History is a vast early warning system,” teaching us to learn by mistakes. I say we learn by successes instead.

Stand on the lessons of others.

Throughout my life, starting when I was a very young man, I’ve made it a practice to spend time with people ahead of me on the journey. Observe and ask questions of people you respect, and you’ll gain incredible lessons that you can apply to your own life.

Stand on the lessons of experience.

When you learn from others first, you gain skills in evaluating experience in order to grow. I’ve often said that experience is not the best teacher; evaluated experience is. Use what you learn from others’ experience to evaluate your own, and you’ll go farther, faster, than you would have otherwise.

With your mentors, ally's, and life itself ... what is your history, your lessons, your experience? What do you believe? Whether you are new to this teaching or have been involved with this philosophy for a while, what are you doing with your beliefs?

The words are nice to hear and read - I know, but the belief and its integration, the awakening and embodying of it is essential to the transforming and transcending or for just having a happy life

You must be willing to incarnate your theology and illuminate the world around you … that devotion will give you the will to follow through on all you are guided to do, say, and become in this life. ~Carolyn Myss, Entering the Castle

We don't have to reinvent the wheel for a prosperous life.
We don't have to hold ourselves back or have misery in our lives to learn and grow.

When it comes to the ideas of:

• Divine Love always within and available
• Using the Law of Cause and Effect to reveal all  good in your life
• The One Mind and Unity of Spirit in all life
• Limitless Power of the Universe is available to us at all times

...our belief in them is proved by our use of these ideas, conscious or unconscious.

Take it all in. Don't lose the wisdom from the ancients because it's old and maybe abused. Don't lose the wisdom of the recent as just the latest fad or what those other people believe

Look at it, smell it, listen to it, touch it. Is it loving? is it constructive? Does it support:

• Divine Love always within and available
• Using the Law of Cause and Effect to reveal all  good in your life
• The One Mind and Unity of Spirit in all life
• Limitless Power of the Universe is available to us at all times

If so, add it in, make it your own, make it work for you.

Awaken your spirit to adventure; hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk; soon you will be home in a new rhythm, for your soul senses the world that awaits you.   ~John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

Believe it, risk with it, love it, be it. Always remember that behind (and above!) it all is God, the biggest giant with the widest and strongest shoulders. 

As we advance through our year of awakening and continue allowing the evolutionary impulse of Spirit to work through us, let us remember and commit to an upward journey of Divine Unfoldment. Mary Shelley wrote in a preface for Frankenstein: “Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos.”

Not the chaos of confusion, disarray, disorder, and mayhem, but the chaos of the cosmos, of the Divine, of the wisdom of the ages - an open-source of information, inspiration, and transformation.

You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you. ~Luke 17:21

Stand on the shoulders of my words and the words my words were inspired from, and the fruits where those were burgeoned and on and on till you get it, believe it, awaken to it; till you see further than ever before …and thrive!

Affirmative Incantation

Today I am lifted up and carried by the gigantic stature of that undeniable, ever-reliable Loving Intelligence that moves through me, with me, as me, and for me.

 I experience It's love like I do gravity, oxygen, magnetism, and electricity – in the result of Its power and presence in all of life.

I believe in It as I see It expressed in the beauty of nature or the eyes of a puppy or my truest love. I believe It as I hear It ringing in the sounds of the cooing of birds, the laughter of children, and the music that stirs me. I believe in It as It is disclosed in my freedoms of choice, words, thoughts, feelings, and actions. 

I believe that I Am to be guided and enlightened today, centered in the love and support of the Highest in me.

FORWARD...MARCH

 The spiral of life is upward.  Evolution carries us forward.   ~Science of Mind

Like many others, I too was struck weeping and patriotic as we stepped into a new political stance, a new national leadership, and a re-kindling of Light, here in the physical.

I am inspired to declare on this day that we step out of what we thought was a never-ending shade (as Amanda Gorman described)

...the day we step past the loss we carry

This is the day we leave behind the sea we have waded to stand tall on the land of the free and to feel safe in our home of Divine bravery where limitations are sent on their way, fears are held at bay, and peace, health, prosperity, and love are no longer delayed

If we needed a reason, an excuse, some motivation to plan, dream, envision or set our intention to the work of moving forward, one has arrived for both this nation, which Amanda Gorman described as

...striving to forge a union with purpose

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man & womyn

...and ourselves

I declare this purpose has arrived for each of us to experience where it is that we want to go forward as an individual, a family, a community, a nation, and a world with all the possibilities found in the infinite possibilities of the Universe.

We are bringing forth from beyond the horizon of our self-induced boxes of limitation and past the edges we had put around ourselves, our communities, and our movement; a transcendent growth, yet the dawn is ours before we knew it. She said...

...before we knew it

And yet always there awaiting us to reveal It

Somehow we do it

Somehow we've weathered and witnessed

a nation that isn't broken, but simply unfinished

As it is in this nation, so too is it in our lives - simply unfinished. We are not done, and we shall never be done. We have aligned ourselves with a teaching that emphasizes unity with God and each other, a faith that calls the world, both individually and collectively, to a higher state of consciousness and action for a life where our spiritual principles/practices like affirmative incantations, affirmative prayer, breath, contemplation, imagination, inspiration, and meditation from 20 secs to 20 mins are always available to awaken to, clothe ourselves in, and continuously experience our highest, most divine ideas choosing to think and feel, believe and reveal, declare and experience our best, most vibrant, prosperous, and succulent life.

The Law is on our side – the spiritual Law- to attract, manifest, demonstrate, compensate, mirror, reciprocate, magnetize, harmonize, and boomerang our intention, our focus, our purpose, and our glory to the right here and now.

In this year of awakening, we are called to intensify our Self-awareness, illuminate our alignment with Spirit in all our motivations, inner dialogue, and hidden beliefs; illuminate it with the Light of Divine Intelligence. We are called to awaken our willingness to observe and take responsibility for our thoughts, feelings, and word choices.

Self-awareness is the foundation for conscious choices, the wise imaginative ones from staying open-hearted to Universal wisdom, the Divine choices brought through our communion with this loving intelligence that Ernest Holmes describes in Can We Talk to God like this:

Consider the Spirit as a warm, pulsating, reciprocal thing. It presses against us, It flows through us. It is our intelligence. It is a great universal urge and surge. It is a warm colorful thing. It is a beautiful thing... Know that there is something more than law; an intelligence to which we may come for inspiration, for guidance, for direction; a power responding to us, a Presence pressing against us, an animation flowing through us, a light within us. 

Where do I go when the whirling dervish seems to take over in my head?...HOME

Where do I go when I have lost something, and going cray-cray finding it? ...HOME

Where do I go to keep the motivation of my passions alive when I'm frustrated about manifesting them on time?  Or have doubts, worries, and other junk?

I go Home ...to commune with the power and presence of Creation here in the Divine Matrix, where the wisdom of the One Mind occupies the body in head, heart, and gut – toes, elbows, and spleen. Richard Strozzi-Heckler, a somatic leadership coach says:

When we connect with the core energy [of the body] we contact a vast reservoir of wisdom, compassion, and intelligence that we have neglected, over three billion years of embodied knowledge of survival, adapting, social intelligence, coordinating, intuition, and reciprocity lie largely unused in us.  If we learn to listen to this life energy, and to act from it, there’s much it can teach us about living spiritual values while our feet are firmly on the ground. This somatic intelligence [the living process where neither mind nor body is separate from the other] affirms the truth of our interdependence, interconnectness, and a power that lies beyond the self. 

Though It is a living process, we must choose to get in it and take the ride. While on the ride, we shall turn away from the past, turn away from the conditions that do not serve us. This is not to bypass the conditions, not to ignore our feelings, or stock them away in some attic of the subconscious, pretending they did not happen, but to transcend them

Our teaching can be attractive to those who think they can bypass their emotions using such phrases and mantras as: 

“We are 100% responsible for our experiences” 
“Everything happens for good or for a reason” 
“You are exactly where you are supposed to be”

Though these statements are true, they become heartless platitudes; unhelpful, unsupported, dis-empowering spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks. As we march forward past the breach of this first month of 2021, let us not deny the complex nature of our lives and of our Universe, let us not deny we played a role in what manifests. 

We all have unconscious patterns and beliefs that we let go wild with our thought choices; they may be unconscious or subconscious, but they are not out of reach. We can face them and...

• process the emotions through our systems
• learn from them and re-calibrate our thinking
• awaken our factory-setting perspective from the depths of our core
• reveal and declare the Truth of who we are by drowning the head voice with the heart, responding instead of reacting, and changing those beliefs that are in our way to the ones that lead the way

…if you want to live a more spiritual life, live a more human life. Be more truly madly deeply human.   ~Jeff Brown, Grounded Spirituality 

I know I have some of that to work to do on myself. Join me and be not afraid! By constantly and consistently expanding our awareness and understanding that too many of us swim in some form of privileged 'you against me' mentality, or victim-hood, systemic racism, sexism, ageism, and other isms perspective, and then communing with the Divine within more often than the brain within, we will be able to step up, lean in, do the mental work in brain, heart, and gut. Here are your marching orders:

This is the...

day ... we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid.
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we're brave enough to see it
If only we're brave enough to be it

Be brave enough to be It ... to be the highest you can be and go forward....always forward. You've got the strength of the powers of creation behind you to get through it, get past it, and manifest your best life yet. 

Believe It, Work It, Be It, Live It

I'll be joining you....let's go forward... and march!

Affirmative Incantation

inspired by St. Teresa of Avila

The Divine has a body on earth...mine:

Hands that are mine and feet that are mine.

Eyes of mine from which It looks out,

And ears of mine with which It hears the cry, listens for its meaning, and begins the healing.

With my feet, Divine’s compassion to the world goes about the movement of doing good;

And with my hand to my heart, It blesses as I answer the call of the Divine urge to be in joyous song.

Today I use these hands to take out the trash of my past

Today I use these feet to walk away from the dump of my junk

Today I use these ears to hear the sounds of forgiveness and peace in my mind

Today I use these eyes to see the best in me, the Highest in me....and in all who surround me.

Today I use this mind and heart to know gratitude and grace flows freely within me

And today I use all of the Divine in my body to be the holistic harbinger of prosperity for all parts of my life

I am the ever-evolving living embodiment of Divine Love and Intelligence and I use It every day and spread It around the world in every way.

ALWAYS THE WISER

 …you are one with the Creative Genius back of this vast array of ceaseless motion, this original flow of life. You are as much a part of it as the sun, the earth and the air. There is something in you telling you this -- like a voice echoing from some mountain top of inward vision, like a light whose origin no man has seen, like an impulse welling up from an invisible source. ~Ernest Holmes, This Thing Called You

The theme for 2021 is AWAKENING. After working on our perception of how life works, it is time to awaken to these perceptions...solidifying them in all we think, feel, and do.

Each month we will explore the path to our awakening. Themes like:

Loving It
Observing It and Decluttering It
Connecting, Expanding, and Authenticating It

                                                                                              …and much more

January is titled Believe It. Believing the wisdom of The Thing Itself, call It God, the Universe, Spirit, Divine Love, Divine Intelligence, Source...This Thing Called YOU

Our fundamental principles are an ageless amalgamation of many spiritual traditions and mystics that have tapped into the Infinite Eternal Gnosis of Universal Love. We believe in a Divine Intelligence, call It what you will, the Living Spirit Almighty; one, indestructible, absolute and self-existent Cause that manifests Itself in and through all creation.

We believe in the incarnation of that Intelligence in everyone and that all people are incarnations of the One Spirit.

We believe in the eternality, the immortality, and the continuity of the individual soul, forever and ever expanding, empowered by this loving Intelligence within.  Following these principles is a full body experience. It takes the logical mind, the open heart, a faith, an enlightenment through alignment, a willingness to transform and transcend, and an eager awakening to the Truth of how the Universe works. Ernest Holmes said in his 1959 Sermon by the Sea:

Others will arise who will know more than we do; they won’t be better or worse, they will be different and know more than we do. Evolution is forward. ... [a] most direct impartation of Divine Wisdom that ... incorporates the precepts of Jesus and Emerson and Buddha and all the rest of the wise.

It's not just about attending Sunday celebrations, classes and workshops, or reading about the teaching. It's about showing up for and with yourself; using personal responsibility traits like:

Honor and Purpose

We honor the ancestry of our teaching by acknowledging the alchemy of the universal wisdoms to embody and use them in our lives. We are not talking about some dogmatism or any kind of authority generated from some alleged revelations or special information delivered only to the mystics or metaphysicians...there is no secret product or special dispensation of Providence or wisdom. It is wisdom dispensed and available to all who reach out to receive and honor It; to those who welcome the wise, awaken the intuition, and willingly evolve the mind and heart.

Do you have a special quote or text, a “timeless” wisdom you keep near you at most or all times? If not, I ask you to find one that resonates with you. One that causes you to vibrate at the speed of the Divine and honor this powerful Word by awakening to it and using its gnosis (its knowledge) in revealing the Divinity in you.

Openness Is Our Mission

Grounding, centering, and communing with Mother Earth and the energies of the Cosmos opens us up to the Divine impulses and urges of wisdom that is always calling us inward to the deeper part of ourselves. We prepare ourselves by cultivating the consciousness of humility, letting go of our spiritual arrogance and bloated nothingness out of the path, and perceive beyond our current perspective. And to be open to the “new thing” God is doing in, as, and through us and all beings. In this openness, we bust through, soar and zoom out of the old perceptions and perspectives that held us back and leave it burned in a ceremonial bowl of release and renewal. 

Visioning a Vision to Envision and Live A Great Life

Here's a different take on the caterpillar to butterfly metamorphosis and its relation to inner wisdom, transformation and transcending. From Norie Huddle's book, “Butterfly” she writes:

The caterpillar’s new cells are called "imaginal cells". They resonate at a different frequency. They are so totally different from the caterpillar cells that his immune system thinks they are enemies . . . and gobbles them up - Chomp! Gulp! But these new imaginal cells continue to appear. More and more of them! Pretty soon, the caterpillar's immune system cannot destroy them fast enough. More and more of the imaginal cells survive. And then an amazing thing happens! The little, tiny, lonely imaginal cells start to clump together, into friendly little groups. They all resonate together at the same frequency, passing information from one to another. Then, after a while, another amazing thing happens! The clumps of imaginal cells start to cluster together! . . . A long string of clumping and clustering imaginal cells, all resonating at the same frequency, all passing information from one to another there inside the chrysalis.

A wave of Good News travels throughout the system - Lurches and heaves . . . but not yet a butterfly.

Then at some point, the entire long string of imaginal cells suddenly realizes all together that it is Something Different from the caterpillar. Something New! Something Wonderful!! . . . And in that realization is the shout of the birth of the butterfly!

Since the butterfly now "knows" that it is a butterfly, the little tiny imaginal cells no longer have to do all those things individual cells have to do. Now they are part of a multi-celled organism - A FAMILY who can share the work. Each new butterfly cell can take on a different job. There is something for everyone to do. And everyone is important. And each cell begins to do just that very thing it is most drawn to do. And every other cell encourages it to do just that.

Have a conversation with the wisdom you hear, read, and learn. Cultivate this Field of Consciousness into your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and let these wisdoms impress and inform, inspire, and evolve your life. When we know that we know what we know and put it in our lives as a practice, setting our previous ideas aside and becoming aware and conscious of the impress of Universal Spirit and Infinite Possibilities, our access to infinite wisdom and intelligence turns into a readiness for It to flow through us, as us, and with us.

One who comprehends truth is wise, one who loves it - good, one who orders his life in accordance with it - happy. ~John of Salisbury

When I want to learn something, I use the mental powers in my brain-mind. When I want to embody something or heal myself, I use the spiritual and emotional powers in my heart-mind. All are guided by the enteric-mind (the intuitive). The gut is where wisdom enters, the brain is where wisdom computes, and the heart is where wisdom lives and expresses.

The spiral of life is upward. Evolution carries us forward, not backward. Eternal and progressive expansion is its law and there are no breaks in its continuity. It seems to me that our evolution is the result of the unfolding consciousness of that which already is, and need but to be realized to become a fact of everyday life.  ~Ernest Holmes, Words That Heal Today

Let us not use 2020 as a headwind, holding us back. Let us use it as a tailwind, pushing us forward. 

When our purpose is strong and meaningful, 

we will be always the wiser.

 

When we have a mission that is bold and brave, 

we will be always the wiser. 

And when our vision is clear and forward moving, 

we will be ever the wiser.

Affirmative Incantation

Steeped in the wisdom of the ages, I humbly awaken to the inspiration. The greatest ideas of my life are now downloading into me:

When ancient mystics tell me I Am One with the Divine, I believe it.

When the modern mystics lay out the tools and practices to rise up to my best, I believe it.

When the Universe lets me know Its power lies within me ready to be used to manifest health, freedom, love, prosperity, peace, and tranquility, I believe It.

In this new year, I hereby resolve to evolve! I hereby provoke to become woke. I hereby breakthrough into the new.

Roused, revived, enlivened, and energized, I awaken to the wisdom of the ages and shape my world and my experiences with power and grace

Leftovers

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

  Listen, listen, listen to my heart's song...I will never forget you, I   will never forsake you...  ~Paramahansa Yogananda

  Deeply embedded in our nature is the knowledge of how to receive. It    is a great and beautiful birthright. And yet, for any number of reasons,    we sometimes do not believe that we can receive good or we believe      that our only value is in giving.

  The Universe is impersonal. It gives alike to all. It is no   respecter of persons. It values each alike. Its nature is to impart,   ours to receive. When we stand in the light, we cast a shadow   across the pathway of our own experience. Emerson advises that   we get our bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine   circuits. ~Ernest Holmes, "The Science of Mind"

 Reality Check:  we’re in an ever-flowing cycle of giving and receiving. It is the literal process of our breath. We receive oxygen at the inhale, “God Is,” and give carbon dioxide, “I Am,” at the exhale; giving other living beings an element of their survival and thriving. In the Law of Circulation - in the flow - God gives to ItSelf (each of us). We live in synchronicity with the world around us and each of us will experience this when we know...

Where I sit is holy; Holy is the ground.

Who I am is holy; Holy are we.

Body, thought, emotion:  Connecting you and me.  ~Shaina Noll

Where do we position ourselves in the ebb and flow of the universe?  in a stance of interconnectivity? in a position to receive good and foster good being received by others?  

We are not bloated nothingness, yet there are aspects of the ego that certainly show up in a “bloated nothingness suit” and can cause us to turn our back towards the warmth that is available to us. We need only pivot ourselves in the direction of that good with our arms wide open, ready to receive the sunlight, moonlight, the intoxicating sound of rain falling, our purpose calling, being swept off our feet with love, compassion, and all the bounty the Universe has to offer.

Who's doing that and how much?

For most of us, it's “sometimes.” Sometimes we’re open to goodness, to receive goodness. Perhaps you live in a space of receptivity every day. If so, congrats on rockin' the joy. But maybe your answer is a resounding, “No.” Your brain screams that the wide arm receptive stance poses too many risks and provokes undesirable feelings. If that is your experience you are not alone. 

Brene Brown discovered that about 15-20% of people live in a full-hearted way where they can easily both give and receive love in the divine synchronistic flow. The findings suggested that what causes the ability to really receive as well as give is whether or not people believe they are lovable at a core truth.

Do we believe we are irrefutably lovable and valuable? That we don’t need any benchmark of success to prove it? 

When we can know our value, we are more in touch with our feelings, both those we label as positive or negative, and that helps us become big-hearted receivers of good and givers of good. Many times we must look in between the spaces:

 

Here we are, and there's a place where I can meet you, in between, and in the spaces in between, the stories that we've made...  Shaina Nol (In Between the Spaces)

What to do with that leftover gratitude?

Gratitude is like those carryover minutes in a mobile or data plan - the leftovers are re-usable. Just like Turkey Day's leftovers. You can make a sandwich of turkey and thankfulness, moistened with gravy and gratitude or a soup of forgiveness, vulnerability, and healing or a casserole of declarations and revelations or even some turkey and affirmation-filled egg rolls, or perhaps wow-is-me waffles topped with cranberry and Divine Intelligence.

What we intentionally welcome into our lives or ingest into our minds has a tremendous impact on how wide our hearts will open and how available we can be to receive the goodness we require from the Universe. We are taught that we should mostly welcome benchmarks of power and strength without much if any, vulnerability and tenderness. Power is worshiped. It projects strength and invulnerability. But isn't vulnerability a courageous thing to embrace? a part of the core of our humanness?

Perhaps being open to this is precisely what makes peace and love and cooperation possible. It is this openness to a vulnerability that allows us to receive and reveal the Divine within us. When we do this, there is much leftover for another day. Brene Brown found in her research:

... people who deeply believed that they were worthy of love and belonging [and] believed this regardless of the circumstances, unlike the majority of us who think: "Okay, I'm worthy of love and belonging a little bit, but I'll be super worthy if I get promoted. Or I'll be super worthy if I lose 20 pounds."  These folks believed that they were lovable and that they had a place in the world, and those beliefs translated into specific choices they made every day. They were aware. They recognized shame, and they knew how to deal with it. They recognized vulnerability, and they were willing to feel it—rather than ignore or numb.

When we can welcome in our own vulnerability and the vulnerability of others we are well on our way to being grateful and cheerful receivers of goodness. Let’s cultivate our tenderness and tune into God’s rhythm.

The ebb and flow of life is just waiting to course through us ...with plenty leftover!           

Affirmative Incantation 

I stand strong with my mind and heart open to the infinite possibilities in front of me. Nothing separates me from the river of prosperity that flows throughout the Universe as I give and receive my time, talent, and treasure. I am always in surplus of the vitality, knowledge, boldness, curiosity, and schedule required to fulfill my life with all the nourishment the mind, body, and spirit requires. 

I am getting me some 'happy.' I am getting me some love. I am getting me some security. I am getting me some adventure and joy on this journey. And I am doing this right now, with many leftovers available for all.

With ease, peace, and gratitude I celebrate today with wild abandon.

thx btw

Thanksgiving has a lot of emotional heat associated with it. Family drama, the actual Thanksgiving story which was not so thankful day for the Wampanoag people. However, there is a lot about Thanksgiving history that is interesting to know. So here are a few fun facts about Turkey Day:

First Thanksgiving was a harvest feast in 1621 ... in October. There's no record of turkey being eaten at the meal this holiday is based upon, just waterfowl, venison, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash. So, per Rogers and Hammerstein, "chicks and ducks and geese better scurry."

The mother of Thanksgiving Day was Sarah Josepha Hale; the 19th-century author of “Mary Had A Little Lamb.”

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is called Drinksgiving. A usual time of being back home and visiting old friends at the bar before the family festivities begin. Since we all must stay home, it's a good year to celebrate this event - you won't need a dedicated driver, UBER, LYFT, or cab.

Black Friday, is of course the day after Thanksgiving and the biggest shopping day of the year. It is also the busiest day for plumbers.

"Jingle Bells" was a song written in 1857, originally called "One Horse Open Sleigh." Its composer, James Pierpont, intended it to be a Thanksgiving Day song, but it became so popular around December 25th, that in 1859 the title was changed to "Jingle Bells" and it was dedicated as a Christmas carol.

Thanksgiving became a federal holiday in 1863. President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." Lincoln's GPS might have been a bit off on the location of the beneficent Father or Mother or Force or Divine Intelligence or The Thing Itself 's dwelleth-ing-ness, but the sentiment was certainly there.

Speaking of location. Have you decided how you're gonna do it this year? many are having an online family get together on FaceTime or Zoom, etc. So here I would like to offer you a short primer of 9 to save your Thanksgiving Zoom Dinner:

1) Can also use Google Meet, WebEx, and Microsoft Teams

2) You don't have to zoom through your Zoom holiday dinner as Zoom is deferring its 40 minute limit for Turkey Day, so talk politics and religion all you like with Uncle Charley.

3) Be sure to designate yourself the host. Be in charge...of the mute button; especially for using on Cousin Fred, whose questions always get too personal.

4) Plan ahead! The placement of cameras is important. Maybe put a laptop next to the turkey or on one end of the dinner table, place an iPhone near the cranberries, a webcam in the kitchen and by the stuffing, and perhaps an Ipad or tablet next to the pies.

5)   Have a practice run. You'll have some more time with the family you like, and more opportunities for holiday food! Perhaps on Drinksgiving.

6)   Remember since it is your Zoom Turkey Day, you have control over the mute button. I know that's a bit of a repeat, but important to remember.

7)   Don't get stressed out about the usual hiccups from slow internet; lost connections. Use it as a good excuse to lose Cousin Fred and Uncle Charley for a bit or forever – other than using the mute button.

8)   You might want to pick a background for the Zoom call, that way you don't have to tidy up the house.

9)   Most people won't know about the unlimited Zoom thing for Turkey Day. So, go ahead and keep it as short as you like. Maybe stick to the usual 40-minute limit. You know, have a prayer or two, the meal, some quick dessert, then ...  “nice to see ya, thx btw, goodnight!”

Gratitude comes from the Latin, gratia, meaning grace or graciousness. Gratitude then is a thing of grace to be thankful.

Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.  ~Henry Van Dyke

GRATITUDE is more than a holiday experience, it is a daily part of living. Bad or good experience, let us be in gratitude. Whether it is a happy time or a challenging time with something learned, let us love it even if don't like it. Living in gratitude expands what you have now; it opens up a Power within you to have more from this ever-emerging infinite Universe.

Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life.  ~Rumi

Gratitude and manifestation go together like turkey and mashed potatoes! It is full of feeling, impulse, and action.

Feeling ALWAYS precedes demonstration. The creative process is set in motion by our thoughts and feelings, whether conscious or unconscious, individual or collective. And It inspires an impulse.

Impulse is the act of following your inner guidance as you make decisions. Listening and heeding to the voice of the Divine within you. That which is instructive and constructive. That which inspires each step of the way. When you follow your Highest Self's guidance, it should feel effortless and fun! and leads you to...

Action. The Universe doesn’t act until we do. We set the Law in motion with our thoughts and feelings of gratitude and being physically engaged. So let us say, thx btw, as we harness the Divine Power that is our birthright, and: 

• Center ourselves in the quiet place within, where all possibility lies - communing with Spirit, our Highest Self;

• Thx btw, as we set our intention for manifestation, the starting point of everything that takes place in the Universe. When we see it, feel it, imagine it, taste it, smell it, experience it in our minds and hearts - we manifest it; 

• Thx btw, as we let go and let God handle the details of how / when / where it comes about; 

• And thx btw, as we follow the intuition stirring in our bellies and live as if our intention already is.

Ernest Holmes reminds us:

...Universal Subjective Mind is a doer and not a self-conscious knower. It knows how to do it but It does not have any conscious knowledge that It is doing. Man calls It forth into expression.

The Universe is only motivated to create when you are! Our job is to know, accept, and expect with gratitude and thanksgiving. I invite you to make Thanksgiving a daily holiday; maybe without the overeating and arguments. 

Say "thx btw" as you watch the gratefulness turn into an abundant expression of great love, health, creativity, prosperity, and if your anything like me, another slice of pumpkin pie.

Affirmative Incantation 

I show up in the world today with my best attention, my best intention, and my greatest powers of Love and wisdom to freely share the richness of my being, my talents, my time, and my treasure.

I have the courage to be my Authentic Self on this day, knowing my mind is the mind of God Itself at work and play. I give thanks for the gracious use of my best self in this life, for me, my family, my community, and my planet. I am in great gratitude for taking my unique place in expressing the creative energy of the Universe.

I am awake! I am aware! I am revealing my magnificence … eternally grateful to the Divine Intelligence within!