REMOVING OUR HUMAN CLOTHING

When you take your clothes off, what is left? Your naked body...your birthday suit?

When you take your human clothing off  -not just the clothes-  the skin, the bones, hair, teeth, organs, along with your mental stuff, your practicalities, your actions; down to the very cells of this vehicle called the physical body...what is left?

Some would say “nothing.” Some would be wrong. What is left... 

          is everything

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.  ~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

When all else seems to be failing, when nothing seems to be going my way, when my life seems to have been wasted, I know it's time to remove my human clothing. I'm not talking about ending it all, returning to pure Spirit, because I don't have to end it all to connect to and live as pure Spirit.

We've seen that proved in many NDE stories. 

Read:  "Proof of Heaven" by Eben Alexander

...a neurosurgeon who had a week-long coma brought on by meningitis and was incapable of brain activity yet he remembers this experience of pure Spirit.

Read:  "To Heaven and Back" by Mary C. Neal

...former director of spinal surgery at the University of Southern California was submerged in a river after a kayaking accident.

Read:  "Dying to Be Me" by Anita Moorjani

Read:  "After:  A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond" by Dr. Bruce Grayson

...Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia 

In these stories, we learn that we aren't our successes or failures, or our brains or our bodies, we are spiritual beings.

You might remember that story I've told about the 5-year-old boy who kept asking his parents to spend some time alone with his new sister. When his parents asked him why he wanted this alone time with the new baby, the 5-year-old said that he needed to talk to her because he was starting to forget God. 

Have you forgotten how you are connected with Divine Intelligence?

Like God or the concept that is referred to as God, we are infinite beings. That creative energy that makes and made all, we are part of that. That is our essence - our Alpha and Zeta, our beginning and ending, from"womb to tomb," "birth to earth," our before and beyond...no time, no space.

Leslie Caron is quoted as saying:

In order to have great happiness you have to have great pain and unhappiness - otherwise how would you know when you're happy?

No offense to Ms. Caron, a nice person whose voice lessons followed mine many years ago. And others who have said something similar...I totally disagree. I don't believe you need a comparison to know or appreciate happiness, health, or success. To me, that idea is an ignorance of the learned, from one who is out-of-touch with one's Greater Self. Too many of us on too many occasions are not present in our bodies or minds. Marcus Aurelius, philosophical Emperor of Rome in the second century said:

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable...

And Margaret Lee Runbeck, author of 16 books and famous for her quotes, wrote:

Happiness is not a station to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.

How are you traveling and where are you traveling from? I can't answer that for you, that's your perspective to decide upon. But I can tell you that when you strip away your human clothing and awaken to your spiritual magnificence, intelligence, and creativity, you tap into an infinite storehouse of information, intuited ideas, wisdom, a foundation for clarity, and calm. When you remove your human clothing, you don't talk at the Universe...you talk to It, with It, and as It. You talk to that Power and Presence of Nature, that Infinite Wisdom. You connect to and converse with the Light and Power of God.

It is a sensation, a feeling like love. You don't see that Light, you experience IT. You don't see that Power, you live IT. Your goals may be powerful, but unless you connect with them like you do with Spirit, they are merely words and wishes, hopes and possibilities.

Remove the ego of lack, maybe, someday, tomorrow, before, victim-hood, bills, bosses, news, dis-ease of body, brain, relationships or situations, and even successes, acclaim, talents, victories, or any prosperity. Remove them from your head for now and what is left? Not emptiness, but the most full of all! 

You are left with the Prime. Do you remember what prime is? It is a number that can only be divided by itself and one, just like Spirit, the Divine Mind, the Creative Power, First Cause, the Absolute, the energy and frequency of the Big Bang, the Formless, the Radiance. Prime = One.

Remove our human clothing and we are at our Prime, our very essence / our very worth our headquarters / our factory settings, the basis of our existence, the dawn of our being, the birth of our humanity, the Genesis, the starting point.

Yeah, yeah, [Beyonce wrote] and the wind is talkin'

...With a melody that pulls you towards it

Paintin' pictures of paradise

Sayin', rise up ...light in the sky...

Watch the light lift your heart up

Burn your flame through the night

...Watch the heavens open

Yeah, Spirit  

Can you hear it callin'? 

Connect to, commune with, and awaken as the divine within you. Always start there and end there, no matter where you are or what's going on. It is there, without your human clothing, where you enhance, support, ground, center, expand, love, and transform your spiritual experience into your human experience...

...now, tomorrow, and forever.

Affirmative Incantation

I disrobe from my human clothing

...taking off the worries, disgust, judgments, and disappointments

I peel off the sludge of that which does not serve my greatest good

...stripping down to my very soul 

I divest of my ego

...and undress to my very essence

Today, Spirit speaks through me

Today, intuition from the wisdom of the ages guides me

Today, I am emboldened by my True Self to be bold and brave

Revealing the Divinity within me

Vibrating at the speed of that Divine Power

And busting through to soar and zoom into my best day.

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.

What's Your Response?

Three men are traveling on a ship when they are accosted by the Devil. The Devil proposes that if each man drops something into the sea and he cannot find it, he will be that man's slave. If the Devil does find it, however, he will eat that man up. 

The first man reacts by immediately slipping off his Rolex watch and dropping in the ocean, confident of his choice. Poof, he disappears, eaten by Satan. The second man quickly drops a pure, clear diamond into the ocean, sure this cannot be found; and poof, he's gone, eaten up by the evil horned essence. 

The third man, not one to react quickly, thinks a moment, contemplating the situation and his life. He then fills a bottle with water and calmly pours it into the sea. Smiling, he turns to the Devil and says, “Try finding that!" 

Did you ever wish you would have responded versus reacted to a situation, comment, or condition? Or be able to take back the snark or yell or cursing or worse? Some people think that the words "react" and "respond" are synonyms, but to me, they are practically antonyms.

When I react to something, it's instantaneous, without thought, usually driven by lingering biases or fueled by some defense mechanism projecting my old stories or insecurities. It is subconsciously full of blame and I end up taking it out on the other person. This reaction has some unconscious survival theme to it using words or actions I come to regret.

A reaction usually comes from a short-sighted, sometimes aggressive, or out-of-control impulse. We might freeze, flinch, run away, or even want to physically fight someone - i.e. a Fight or Flight Reaction! Our stress is high, cortisol is running rampant, and you might shake or sweat as your hackles are up. You may have been triggered by the conversation to expose things you are in denial about or things you have repressed or regressed, stuff you have put away and rationalized. For example, say your boss yells at you, but you don't yell back, and later take it out on your partner by yelling at them over something stupid. Or you may blurt stuff out because you have intellectualized or compartmentalized a past hurt and the conversation triggered that memory. Reacting can be a dangerous answer to a situation.

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.  ~Victor Frankl

Responding, on the other hand, is a conscious, intentional, purposeful answer where we utilize our mindfulness skills before speaking or acting. Here, we are able to get beyond the emotion and into the information; more likely producing a calm, value-centered, and connected solution. It’s important to acknowledge that this is a skill that requires repeated practice. And that’s okay! Our journey in these bodies is always going to be an adventure, unfolding. 

I understand that it's doesn't always seem possible to respond versus react when in a stressful event full of triggers. If you feel threatened or hurt, your brain and body have what I call unnatural natural reactions that are coming from your stories, perspective, opinions that too often are hiding, waiting for the opportunity to get triggered and lash out from.

It is the goal of this philosophy to move towards interacting with ourselves, others, and the world from a more centered and peaceful place. That's part of the job of the guided meditations, affirmative incantations, and prayer; by becoming grounded, centered, mindful through spiritual practices, and remembering who we truly are. In fact, in these reactive-prone situations, your spiritual and mindfulness practices become the precursor to your use of responsive answers and actions in a situation.

Before I give you some tools to use, I want to say that we can use our reactions to observe what the heck is in our way from our skills in manifesting, moving forward, or getting healthy. They are an insight into the junk ideas, old stories, and perspectives that are blocking our bliss. So don't get down on yourself, use your reactions as a learning tool, along with the following:

This responding tool is called PLACE.

Pause, Label, Ask, Choose, Express

1. Pause

You know the MAD TV sketch with Bob Newhart as the psychiatrist who uses his fancy education to tell his patient, after her victim-filled rant, to just "STOP IT." Though the sketch is funny, especially to fans of The Bob Newhart Show, it's a reactive answer to her situation and yet, in the end, not a bad response. Of course, the more proper course would be to take her through the stories, asking questions, guiding her to come up with realizations and answers herself.. All of which would lead her and most of us to "stop it." Maybe it was a cry for that fictional psychiatrist to take a vacation and get refreshed in order for him to "stop it," stop reacting and begin responding again to his patients. At the very least, he needed to remember to PAUSE. 

The moment you notice you are triggered and that your energy has changed, take a moment to pause and breathe.

2. Label Your Emotions

Name it. What you’re feeling? is it anger, frustration, sadness, grief? Identifying how we feel helps us process our emotions. After all, it's our emotions that are getting in our way. So, label them, realize what's going on with you. It will take the heat off the matter.

3. Ask Yourself: Why?

You've paused and labeled, now ask yourself, "Why was I triggered? What was it that triggered me?" This can bring awareness to what is under the surface for you. It might not be what the person said that upset you (probably wasn't at all), but that it was a reminder of a different memory that sparks an unresolved emotion in you. Or perhaps you're just more sensitive today than yesterday, feeling unwell, or had a bad day, etc. The big question for yourself is "how can you best communicate what will best serve the discussion all are involved in at this moment?"

4. Choose A Mindful Response

This is the big one! Consider the labeled emotion(s) and discover the trigger before you choose what’s important to share about your experience. Choose to communicate the answer which is connected to the situation at hand, not your old stories. A response is not harmful or unproductive. A reaction most probably will be.

5. Express

When we think big picture, we put the situation in context. When we blend logic with our emotions and balance those immediate emotional responses with thoughts and facts, we fill in the blanks of what's reactive and what is responsive. Recognize your choices, and create a 20/20 vision (an imagined 20/20 vision, yes) to determine your best response to the current situation. We answer with thought rather than emotion, care versus haphazardness, mindfulness instead of fear, and all with love, not hate or anger.

The man who is asleep reacts; he knows nothing of action. And reaction is a binding: it binds you into new prisons, new chains. Response is out of freedom, hence it brings more freedom. Reaction is out of the past; you act according to your memories, built-in by your experiences, conditionings. You react not to the present, not in the present. You don`t reflect the real situation as it is; you go on interpreting it according to your past, your past experiences. The man who is awake is like a mirror: he reflects that which is the case. HE IS AWAKE.   ~Osho Rajneesh

Our best prayers, our most powerful meditations, and our greatest manifestations come from an absence of fear, chaos, desperation, and destructive emotions. Let us take away our old stories from the conversations with ourselves, others, and ultimately Spirit and replace them with thoughtful intentions, awakened purpose, and the energetic frequency of fulfillment. Move the energy of your conversations with a love of life and the Light of the Divine. Then watch your experiences glow with peace, prosperity, and ease.

Affirmative Incantation

I look from my deepest Source

I look at infinite and prosperous possibilities

And I look to a world where peace, Oneness, love, freedom, and appreciation reign.

Today I declare these ideas as the way I experience my life. And attract others who live this same divine, succulent, lovely, and sane vitality. I celebrate grace, ease, and gratitude as I sing the body electric and I dance the Song of Songs.

From the morning's dew till the night's slumber gongs, Spirit guides me to my best. 

Resistance is Futile

 

Our theme for January was "Love It."  February brought us:

• Black History Month and part of the Season of Non-Violence
• Groundhog Day, Tater Tot, and Ukelele Day is also in February
• So is Washington, Lincoln, Bob Marley, and Frederick Douglass' Birthdays
• The Periodic Table has a day in February and so does doggy bones and toothaches
• The Chinese New Year was on the 12th – of the Ox
• The Jewish holiday, Purim was on the 26th, commemorating the victory of Queen Esther of Persia in saving the Jewish people from execution by Haman, the advisor to the king
• And Lent began on the 17th, reminding Christians of Yeshua's 40-day sacrifice in the desert

Lives to remember, foods to enjoy, events to commemorate, rituals in which to partake, ideas to contemplate, and of course, love to celebrate - so much in 28 days. But all of that is man-made. I say so not to lessen its significance, but to show its exquisiteness and uniqueness. A uniqueness only possible through the loving expression of God.

In going within, we do not turn to our own spirituality or our own goodness or our own strength or our own knowledge; but we go within to unleash the Infinite Invisible.  ~Joel S. Goldsmith, The Art of Meditation 

We are individuations of the One Universal Power & Presence and we each act in this Oneness to unleash that Infinite Invisible from within. We don't have to spend days in the desert or atop a mountain or live in a cave. Each is their own mystics able to live the mystical experience by letting God be God in them and as them.

You are Divine now...it is your birthright. Your uniqueness, talents, and dreams are all waiting for you to WAKE UP and accept your divinity! It is only our resistance to this Truth that gets in our way. When we resist, we strive against or oppose something, the polar opposite of working a resolution. Changing things in our life begins with not wanting to experience this or that anymore; to set up a barrier to reliving that idea. But that is where resistance should quickly end.

One of the most notorious creatures from the Star Trek universe is the Borg. In the 1990 third-season finale of The Next Generation series, the evil Borg sent an audio message to those whom their collective would absorb (imagine ominous robotic voice):  “We are the Borg. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile.”

“Wow,” you may think, “Rev. Jay is comparing our Oneness and connection to Spirit to the Borg?” In a way, yes. I don't claim we are all some sort of spiritual cyborgs roaming the earth. But take away your biology and technology and what is left? ...your etiology – your causation and origination ... your most basic self - your Godness!

We are in a collective of sorts, not evil like the Borg, but one that is available through the conscious activity of embodying Spirit; a complete emancipation from discord that no one can truly take away without our permission.

On July 9, 1868, the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. Garrett Epps, Professor of constitutional law at the University of Baltimore, wrote this about the 14th amendment:

Its centerpiece is the idea that citizenship in the United States is universal—that we are one nation, with one class of citizens, and that citizenship extends to everyone born here. Citizens have rights that neither the federal government nor any state can revoke at will; even undocumented immigrants—"persons", in the language of the amendment—have rights to due process and equal protection of the law.

Yet, the road to freedom does not truly lay in amendments to a constitution or any set of man-made laws again, not to lessen the efforts of Federick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Thaddeus Stephens, and other abolitionists or 13th/14th amendment proponents. However, freedom must be made first in the minds and hearts of those whose values and beliefs equaled that pronouncement. It may have started as a resistance to hate, inequality, and unjust actions and ideas, but accepting it first -remember this is not about permission- acceptance allows us to transform those ideas from the resistance of the negative into working for something that is positive and a part of Nature's Laws. Before emancipation could be a fact in the United States, the Truth of our equality and Oneness within the creations of the Universe had to be recognized and accepted to set man free. In other words, our minds had to echo through our communion with the eternal Thing Itself.

The sooner we awaken to Truth and live it holistically, and not just in our heads, the sooner we shall become factually free & happy, no matter the conditions we experience or the laws or amendments to any constitution. Viktor E. Frankl, Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor - founder of logotherapy, a search for a life meaning as the central human motivational force - wrote:

The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance. ...Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.  

Yes, we are obligated to enact laws to codify our understanding of Truth. God does not condone enslaving or mistreating anyone and we cannot be free in our spirit nor free in our mind when we withhold human liberty from another; neither can we be truly free when we kill, maim, cage, strike, spit upon, tear gas or shoot another. We can only be completely free when we respect and honor all of life. Those not participating in the Divine collective of Oneness, peace, and Universal love are bound to suffer the consequences of having a void in their heart filled with more hate, fear, shame helplessness, powerlessness, injustice, and inadequacy....all learned feelings one decides to embrace.

But when you fill that void, no matter the size, with Spirit, you gain a foundation to build upon. You step into a world where kinship with all life connects and prospers in you, guides you with spiritual wisdom...a world that will show up without police brutality, white privilege, or any cultural beliefs of superiority and its inherent arrogance and delusions

I am not telling you to bypass what may be lurking inside - confusing you, irritating you. The resolution, however, must begin with who you are. Looking for approval outside of yourself is futile - it will never fill any void. Remember you are worthy NOW and you're pre-approved for your highest good now, as well.

     Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.  ~Teilhard de Chardin

Are there areas of joy in your life that could support you in remembering that God is always everywhere equally present?

Find them...Nurture them. 

Incorporate them where the joy isn't as strong

It’s foolish and futile, to dedicate your time and attention to resisting what you don’t want. Reapply your energy toward what you do want and plan a prudent spiritual practice, then a wise practical course of action. When we choose to love the awakening to our highest self, we ease the effects of the negative and ease the inclusion of the positive, and we reveal the wisdom of the ages and disclose the best we have to offer to the world and beyond. Believing and loving who you are is a powerful antidote for lack and limitation, depression and distress, dis-harmony and dis-ease.

Allow the Divine's Love and Wisdom into your life

Resistance is futile!

Affirmative Incantation

Divine Love acts through me and the Law of Love frees me to be my best. Today I offer myself to loving this loved life. 

I am dedicated to being my best today, declaring superlative thoughts, revealing my highest ideas, best practices, the deepest empowering beliefs, and the most succulent experiences.

This day is my day and I express it with joy in my heart, a twinkle in my eye, and a spring in my step.

Watch out world, here I Am!

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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!

YOUR OBLIGATION

There is a meditative process I use where you place a thermometer or some sort of a
gauge in your mind's eye to see where I am and to move it to where I declare it to be. It reveals the conscious energy flowing to and from the Universe. It is moving the bar between desire and fire, from have not to have now.

To have a have consciousness about something, we have the obligation to set the bar of acceptance high. To engage the intellectual, imaginational, and spiritual tools and energy modalities into action

Spirit is 100% engaged with us...

...are we 100% engaged with It?

Being spiritual does not mean we are not active in the material world. Most of us are not here to live in a cave contemplating our navel in the Himalayas or to live under a rock, ignoring the happenings of life around us. We are equipped to be 100% Spirit-led and, at the same time be 100% material world-lived.

Florence Scovel Shin talking about the Law of Resistance reminds us:

So long as man resists a situation, he will have it with him. If he runs away from it, it will run after him. ... The inharmonious situation comes from some inharmony within man himself.

Are we each heeding the call to participate fully in life and Spirit?

In Spirit, we do so by using our tools:  

• Spiritual Mind Treatment
• affirmative prayer
• affirmative incantations and affirmations
• meditation
• visualization
• contemplation
• gratitude
• forgiveness and the ho'oponopono
• and silence

pushing that thermometer to 100% connection and belief. In the material world, we do so by heeding the call to action:

• speaking our word
• walking our talk
• living our values

It is our obligation to use our powers intentionally, both inwardly and outwardly. Otherwise, as Rev. Dr. William Barber asks us:

How will the haters learn that they’re wrong unless they learn of God’s love?

It is in gratitude that we manifest our desires. It is in gratitude that we learn from others what not to be or do. It is in gratitude and love that we speak out; even when steeped in fear of rejection, even when we have to get in front of our own anger, stubbornness, or obstinance, and/or in the disbelief, shock, and awe of someone so full of hate, ignorance, injustice, or gross entitlement (and for some, with pride).

Yet, we must speak anyway. 

We need not leave the world; for we may engage in all of its activities without being controlled by them; we may be in the world of affairs as masters [of ourselves and our minds] and not as slaves [to lack, fear, social pressures, upbringing, etc].    ~Ernest Holmes [mine]

An Ethiopian Tale of Wisdom tells the story that:

Long ago, Fire, Water, Truth, and Falsehood lived together in one large house. Although all were polite toward each other, they kept their distance. Truth and Falsehood sat on opposite sides of the room. Fire constantly leapt out of Water's path.

One day they went hunting together. They found a large number of cattle and began driving them home to their village. "Let us share these cattle equally," said Truth as they traveled across the grasslands. "This is the fair way to divide our captives."

No one disagreed with Truth except Falsehood. Falsehood wanted more than an equal share but kept quiet about it for the moment. As the four hunters traveled back to the village, Falsehood went secretly to Water and whispered, "You are more powerful than Fire. Destroy Fire and then there will be more cattle for each of us!"

Water flowed over Fire, bubbling and steaming until Fire was gone. Water meandered along, cheerfully thinking about more cattle for itself.

Falsehood, meanwhile, whispered to Truth. "Look! See for yourself! Water has killed Fire! Let us leave Water, who has cruelly destroyed our warmhearted friend. We must take the cattle high in the mountains to graze."

As Truth and Falsehood traveled up the mountain, Water tried to follow. But the mountain was too steep, and Water could not flow upwards. Water washed down upon itself, splashing and swirling around rocks as it tumbled down the slope. Look and see! Water is still tumbling down the mountainside to this day.

Truth and Falsehood arrived at the mountaintop. Falsehood turned to Truth and said in a loud voice, "I am more powerful than you! You will be my servant. I am your master. All the cattle belong to me!"

Truth rose up and spoke out, "I will not be your servant!"

They battled and battled. Finally they brought the argument to Wind to decide who was master.

Wind didn't know. Wind blew all over the world to ask people whether Truth or Falsehood was more powerful. Some people said, "A single word of Falsehood can completely destroy Truth." Others insisted, "Like a small candle in the dark, Truth can change every situation."

Wind finally returned to the mountain and said, "I have seen that Falsehood is very powerful. But it can rule only where Truth has stopped struggling to be heard."

There's a Hebrew word, hineni. Abraham says it to God in the Book of Genesis and Moses said it to the Burning Bush in Exodus. It means “here I am” - available, engaged, ready and willing. It is our obligation to say hineni to the Universe and Life:  

 

Here I am - not hiding, not ignoring circumstances or the Divine within. Here I am in full view - open to the possibilities, waiting to surrender to the inspiration and wisdom of the Divine, and taking action where action is due.

Some of us will carry signs, some will run for office, some will make a scene, and others will write letters or send money, but all of us can speak up and pray.

The consciousness of this nation is a work-in-progress. And though I stand in the disgusted and sad awe of so many taking a stand for hate, unfairness, and a lack of dignity; I still heed the call that rings in the Universe:

...a call for love and thanksgiving
...a call for peace and justice
...a call for sharing and forgiveness
...and for treating people equally, lifting up those in need

In Project Gratitude, I wholeheartedly take hold of this obligation to speak and live the word of love, peace, calm, wisdom, thanksgiving, and justice. And I do so with this affirmative incantation now:

I am listening and I am engaged. 

I am listening for the cries from my heart and the hearts of this world

   ...listening for the ideas and words that will heal

   ...listening for the best expressions of peace, prosperity, good health, and love in my life

   ...and I am listening for the inspirations Spirit has for me to illuminate my whole Being.

I am listening and engaging the calls to action. Engaged in the fullness of living, I match my heart, mind, and gut with Divine Love, Divine Wisdom, Divine Source, and Divine Light.

I am listening and I am engaged and I expect joy to spread throughout my life and the lives of those around me.