Fairytale Ending

I’m just thinking out loud here.   I’m not sure I can adequately put this into words.  Today is Day 209, and my year-long experiment is taking an unexpected turn.  As you may or may not know, on March 1^st of this year I began a year-long experiment in working with the Law of Mind Action.  During the past six months, I have read books, listened to CD’s, developed and practiced affirmations, written lists of goals and desires, and just generally worked on learning and practicing the principles associated with the Law of Mind Action, which says that thoughts held in mind reproduce after their kind.

My main motivation for beginning this experiment was to take a closer look at my own thoughts and behaviors in an attempt to uncover and remove any blocks or barriers that might be getting in the way of my experiencing life as fully and abundantly as possible.  Certainly I’ve uncovered my fair share of limiting thoughts and beliefs over the past several months, but I never expected to come to the point where I currently find myself.   

  

At the beginning of this experiment, I was expecting to discover the key to unlock the magic and effortless flow of God’s abundance into my life.  I believed that if I just brought my thoughts and feelings into alignment, the rest would take care of itself.  My bills would be paid.  My life would be easy.  My dreams would come true.  You get the gist.  

But what I’m finding is that just thinking and feeling right seems to be only half the battle.  Thinking and feeling right doesn’t have a huge impact if I’m sitting around and waiting for things to happen.  As much as I’d like to believe it can, thinking and feeling right doesn’t pay the bills, and it doesn’t bring me any closer to realizing my dreams.  God doesn’t seem to be waiting for me to get my thoughts and feelings into alignment so he can finally leave a new car/vacation/wardrobe (insert dream here) on my doorstep.

The biggest, most helpful thing I’ve learned about myself so far during this experiment is that I spend an inordinate amount of time sitting around waiting for things to happen in my life.  I spend countless hours/days/weeks/months hoping that God will step in and things will finally work out.  I believe the reason I worry so much is that I’m always waiting and wondering how God will show up and take charge of making things better or, if I’m really lucky, making my dreams come true.  What I’m realizing is that God isn’t ever going to show up and take charge of my life.  God isn’t ever going to step in and make things okay or make my dreams come true.  God’s only job is to BE – to be love, wisdom, creativity, kindness, light, beauty, expansiveness.  My job is to know these qualities in myself and to take DECISIVE ACTION.  It’s MY job to stay connected to the truth of who I am while taking concrete, positive steps in the direction of my dreams.  

As much as this realization feels like a sort of disappointing end to the magical era of rainbows and unicorns and wishful thinking, it also feels amazingly liberating.  It feels like taking off a pair of cement shoes that I’ve been wearing for as long as I can remember.  Thank you to the many teachers who take a more practical approach to prosperity consciousness.  Thank you to those who emphasize the development of good, solid skills and success strategies, in addition to cultivating an awareness of God’s presence.

If I learn nothing else during the remainder of this year-long experiment, it will have been worth it just to have had this realization.  I’m going to keep doing my affirmations, and making my lists, and working on aligning my thoughts and feelings, and practicing all of the principles I know to be true.  But now, I’m also going to add DECISIVE ACTION to the mix.  Thank you, God, for not stepping in and taking charge of making things better in my life.  This has been my biggest lesson in empowerment so far in all my years on the planet.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to take this amazing journey. 

~REBECCA

A Great Way to Spend a Thursday

It is pouring rain as I drive to Unity this morning. It's recycling day. Thank goodness I took the four recycling tubs out yesterday when it was beautiful weather.

In the office, I check my calendar for this week to see my "to-do" list.Regular items on Thursday are preparing the mid-week deposit and post my blog entry for the week (if I haven't already).

Thursday is a special day at Unity. Every Thursday morning (except the first week of the month) Connie Wilson facilitates the Joel Goldsmith/Infinite Way Study Group. Today there are 9 attendees. The discussion runs from 10 until 11:45 AM. Today as they emerge from the bookstore where they meet, they are celebrating finishing their current book The Art of Spiritual Healing and ready in two weeks to start the next book: Living Now.

Someone asks how they can listen to the Ministerial Candidate events of last Sunday. Chris Polacco (thanks so much, Chris) video-recorded the message which is uploaded to YouTube.

Ann Anderson stops in to collect the supplies for Milford Live, an outreach opportunity for Unity, with nearly 10,000 people likely to visit Milford, NJ, on Saturday from Noon to 5 PM. Supplies include two eight-foot folding tables that Dan Cavanaugh and I lift into her car - a Honda Fit - and somehow they do fit with room for Ann - but absolutely no room for a passenger!

Polly Fox stops by to help Ann and we update the information on Unity's 2014 Holiday Shoppe (our third year) which will be the four Sundays in November. See your bulletin and the kitchen bulletin board for the flyer next week.

Every Thursday (every Thursday of the year except Thanksgiving) from Noon to 1 PM is Unity's Meditation hour in our bookstore. Some "Joel" class members leave and others go into meditation.

Jean McBride joins me in the office to fold and stuff our weekly bulletin each Thursday.

All and all it's a great way to spend a Thursday - rain or no rain.

~ JEAN

Don't Feel Like It

I think I’ve alluded in previous posts to the fact that my favorite form of exercise is running.  There is no other fitness practice that gives me the same sense of accomplishment and feeling of vitality and strength.  Now I’m not a marathon runner by any means.  My typical routine involves running about two miles on four or five mornings a week.  Some days I walk instead.  On off-days I might do yoga to get in a good stretch for my muscles.  But those four or five days of running are the core of my fitness practice. They help me stay energetic and strong, they boost my cardiovascular health and help to detoxify my body.  Plus, they give me twenty minutes of fresh air and blissful solitude – precious food for the introvert getting ready to face her day.  

Don't Feel Like It . . .

Now judging by what I’ve just said, you might think that I leap out of bed at 6 a.m. each day, awake and refreshed, with a burning desire to throw on my running shoes and hit the pavement.  Not true.  Even though I’m clear that health and fitness are part of my personal vision and mission, there are some days (many days) when I just don’t feel like it.  These are the days when my alarm goes off and I’m not quite ready to wake up yet.  Or the days when my mind is so full of “to do’s” for the day ahead that I’m tempted to skip exercise and plow full-steam into my day.  So what do I do on the days when I’m having trouble being enthusiastic?  What do I do on the days when I just don’t feel like it – even though I know it’s mine to do?

Well, first I get out of bed.  Then I put my contacts in.  Then I put my running clothes on.  Then I tie my shoes.  Then I step outside.  Then I start running. 

Any time we’re faced with a task that seems daunting or that has us wanting to make excuses as to why we can’t (or shouldn’t have to) do it, we can choose to override our internal dialogue and just take the first step.  And then the next step.  And the next.  

Now don’t get me wrong, there are days when I give into inertia and choose to stay in bed.  But those days are few and far between because I’m clear about my purpose, and I’ve learned over the years that the if I can get past "don't feel like it" and just take the first step, I can accomplish my goal.  

This morning was one of those tough mornings.  After my alarm went off, I spent ten minutes lying in bed, just not feeling like running.   But I rolled out of bed, got dressed while sitting groggily on my bedroom floor, and stumbled to the bathroom to brush my teeth and put in my contacts.   I played games in my mind – telling myself I could run slowly (or walk) today if I needed to.  I made my way to the door and stepped out into the fresh air.  I started my watch and took the first step.  And then the next, and the next.  And it turned out to be a great run.  In fact, often my best running happens on the days when I don't feel like it.  You never know what you can accomplish unless you’re willing to take the first step. 

~REBECCA

The Sunflower Experiment

Here's another nature story with a modern technology twist. I've asked myself why it's okay to write about nature stories in this blog - I answer myself that for me nature reminds me to be present, to know that "we," the whole of God's world, are one. The beauty and perfection of nature reminds me that there is only one presence in my life and in the universe, God the good, omnipotent.

My story begins with buying a couple packets of seeds for sunflowers. One of the packets said the flowers would grow to 4-6 feet tall, another said 2-3 feet. I planted the seeds (trying to remember to put the smaller plants in front of the taller ones) in the best place near our house - the area that receives full sun in the morning. We would see if they grew.

I had a setback moment  several weeks later when I realized I wouldn't be able to keep up watering these plants - they were too far for the hose to reach and the watering can just didn't work well. I kind of gave up. But ... my husband didn't. We have been running two dehumidifiers in our basement all summer because it gets so damp. Unbeknownst to me, every time he emptied one of the dehumidifier "tubs," he would take it outside and water our sunflowers.

One day he suggested I take a look at our sunflowers. Really? We had shoots all over.

And so the flowers grew and grew and grew. They fed bees, hornets and butterflies.

 We had huge flowers and smaller flowers - tall stalks and shorter stalks. I could see the sunflowers from across our yard as I drove up to our house. I smiled every time I saw them.

Then one day, the tallest stalk with the biggest flower cracked. The plants were mature or spent now. About 10 days ago, my husband again called me over to the sunflowers. They were all leaning over and there were sunflower seed shells scattered underneath them. Our sunflowers now were feeding squirrels and birds and probably deer too.

The sunflower seeds were an experiment. I call the experiment a HUGE success. Yea, God!

~ JEAN

BACK ON TRACK

It’s Day 192 of my year-long experiment with practicing the Law of Mind Action, and I’ve been feeling discouraged.  The summer is FINALLY over, and my kids are back to school, but instead of feeling renewed and re-energized, I’m feeling overwhelmed and exhausted.  This morning I woke up after a great night’s sleep and immediately began to feel anxious for no particular reason.  I realized in that moment that I have gotten away from my daily practice over the last few weeks.  In the chaos that surrounds the start of a new school year, I’ve gotten off-track.

I don’t know about you, but for me getting off-track now and then seems to be a part of my journey.  Whether I am attempting to establish an exercise routine or a meditation practice or a new family tradition, I find that after a while I start to veer off-course and lose sight of my goal.  Thankfully, I’ve learned through years of experience that I don’t need to stay stuck in being stuck!  I just need to guide myself gently back to the path. 

So here I am – on Day 192 – going into “review mode.”  I have these blog posts to remind me of all the things I’ve learned over the past six months.  I’ve also gotten into the habit of taking notes on various spiritual books and programs using one of my favorite apps – Evernote.  So I have plenty of avenues for going back and refreshing my memory about the different ways I’ve learned to practice the Law of Mind Action.

First and foremost, I am making a commitment to get back to my daily meditation practice.  My goal is to be in the silence for thirty minutes in the morning and thirty minutes in the evening each day.  I will also need to get back to taking some time each day to practice my affirmations, read over my goal list, and review my notes.  These are the concepts I am practicing:

• Be a person of increase – leave each interaction having made it better than when I entered.

• Focus all action in the present moment.

• Commit to creating the life I want, not the life I think I can have.

• Use my power of will to stay focused on the truth despite outer appearances

• Cultivate an attitude of gratitude

• Regarding my dreams, ask, “If I believed this was going to happen, what would I do today?”

• Practice non-judgment.

• Practice holding onto my desires lightly – not being attached to outcomes.

• Make a commitment to feel good.

• Behave as if I’m coming from my vision, not going to it.

• When I notice I’m feeling uneasy, shift into the role of my observer self.

Getting off track isn’t the end of the world.  Staying off track is the problem.  Thanks to Unity and a myriad of other wise teachers, I have enough tools in my spiritual toolbox to navigate this little bump in the road and get back to my job of becoming fully who I came here to be.

~REBECCA

Denials and Affirmations

Last Sunday's message was on Labor Day, a holiday to honor all work. As Rev Janet McCourt prepared her message, she wound her way from honoring physical labor to honoring all work - including the work we all do on our spiritual paths using spiritual principles.

Janet's particular example of working on her spiritual principles involved Unity principle number four: Through prayer and meditation, we align our heart-mind with God. Denials and affirmations are tools we use. Janet created her own personal denial and affirmation about sugar and a healthy body which she said worked for her as long as she worked on it.

The following definitions are from H. Emilie Cady's book Lessons in Truth, which Janet recently studied here at Unity. From Lesson 4: "By denial, we mean declaring not to be true a thing that seems true." Denials are definitely a more difficult concept to grasp since these days we often think of denial as burying our heads in the sand or pretending something isn't so. Rather, to deny is "to acknowledge the appearance of a circumstance but deny its power over us." From Lesson 5:  "To affirm anything is to assert positively that it is so, even in the face of all contrary evidence....They who have studied spiritual laws find that, besides denying the reality and power of apparent evil, which denying frees them from it, they also can bring any desired good into their lives by persistently affirming it is there already."

Coincidentally (some say there are no coincidences) Janet and I were in the same Lessons in Truth class facilitated by Rebecca and Rev T. I had not yet written a denial and affirmation for myself.

At the end of her message, Janet led us in a meditation to see if each of us would find our own personal denial and affirmation for a particular circumstance in our lives. The format shown here was included in the bulletin. I went into the meditation with this on my mind: I have been struggling lately looking for and wanting other people's approval - that is, looking outside for my worth, rather than looking within to Holy Spirit. And so this opportunity to create my own denial and affirmation was timely.

At the end of July I wrote here that I don't always get a message in the meditation time. Well last Sunday I did again. This is what I got:

I deny any power other people's beliefs hold over me,

and I embrace the power of my own beliefs

and my ability to continue to learn. Thank you, God

I intend to pay attention to my over-reactions to someone else's comment. I intend to pause and to listen and be steady in my own beliefs - or to educate myself if I need more information.

I encourage everyone reading this post to give this a try if you haven't already. Pick a situation and go into meditation looking for a denial and affirmation that fits into the format Janet gave us. And then, if you feel like it, share it here in your comments. P.S. Thank you, Janet

~ JEAN