The Gratitude List

A friend of mine explained to me that one of her spiritual practices, each night before bed, is to write a list of everything that she is grateful for. I love this idea, and when I practice it my body immediately feels lighter as my awareness expands to include all that is possible.

The state of being grateful increases our capacity for good things. It allows us to validate the positive and make room for more of it. Studies have shown how gratitude affects our bodies, easing the tension brought on by worry, lowering blood pressure and enhancing our immune system. I have begun talking about a gratitude list as a tool for some of the people I work with around stress-related illness. I notice how quickly their breathing slows and their faces soften, as they realize they can stop fighting what's wrong in their lives and acknowledge that they have a choice about what in their experience they emphasize.

Gratitude is a choice. A person I know who often struggles with not having enough money had been telling me that he was about to be homeless because he couldn't pay the rent. A short time later, he told me about getting some money unexpectedly, so he was able to stay. He then went on to talk about how bad things are for him, barely making it by the skin of his teeth. His thoughts of lack are creating alot of difficulty. What he didn't even see was the tremendous gift he had just been given, in getting the money he needed! What we put our attention on, we cause to grow in our lives.

Our lives are meant to glorify the creator within. Holding on to limiting beliefs does not honor what is most true about us. In any situation of seeming lack, whether it be not enough money, not enough time or love or recognition, we are able to change our perspective and the course of our lives. Cultivating a feeling of gratitude instantly changes our experience from one of disappointment and wanting to one of creativity and abundance.

My gratitude list is long, and tonight I plan to rewrite it. I don't mind that when I rewrite it many of the same things come up each time, because I can appreciate and validate them yet again. In acknowledging the good in my life, I make room for more.

Be grateful for your gifts, large and small. Don't let them go unnoticed. Just behind every belief in lack lies our ability to consciously look for the good. That is our birthright, and worth being thankful about. Through it all, we live. We laugh and cry and strive and wonder. Our hearts beat on, allowing us the miracle of expressing the divine through our own unique humanness.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Affirmations

We have been given dominion over what we manifest in our lives through our thoughts. When we consciously decide what it is that we desire, and then speak as if it is so, we set in motion unlimited creative power. Affirmations are well-known and widely used as a tool to impress the subconscious, and change the way we automatically think, to help us manifest our desires. An affirmation is a statement to yourself, in the present tense, regarding a circumstance you want in your life.

I decided recently to try something new, to write an affirmation as a simple mission statement for my life. (In case I ever need to be reminded, which of course, I do. And just so I, and the universe, are clear. . . )

"My life is created for good. I am meant to have all of the joy and peace I can imagine for myself. I am blessed and lucky. My marriage and my relationships are mutually nurturing, joy-filled and healthy. I have work that expresses my talents to the world, fulfills me and has great meaning for me. I am being used for a mighty purpose, and all I do brings me joy.

I am at peace with my childhood; the past does not control my present reality. The truth I know is much bigger now. I honor others' paths as I walk my own. I own my place in the world as a person of value.

My body is completely healthy and strong; I move through menopause gracefully and with validation of my place in life. I heal easily from temporary dis-ease. I treat my body with love and respect in all ways, getting enough play, exercise, and rest, and eating healthy.

I have abundant money and resources to have and do all that I want, because my life is created for good."

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Spiritual Lessons From Elvis

Elvis was a red-eared slider who graced our family with his presence until he died last September. He was almost 30 when he died, which is a long life for a turtle in captivity. He lived with us for not all, but many of those years, and in that time I grew to know Elvis as one of God's most extraordinary creatures.

Elvis was the epitome of what you'd expect from a creature whose type has been on the planet for upteen years; he was the wisest of all of us. He'd look at me with the kindest, most understanding eyes. He was also a great listener. I mean it, he was. Elvis was present. All of us in my family came to know Elvis this way, and expect it. Other people who came into the house, too, were drawn to walk over and speak to this amazing turtle, and feel his very strong and peaceful hello. Every morning when I opened the blinds behind his tank, and other times, too, I would bend down and say hello, telling him what a sweet and handsome turtle he was.

He was very social and very clear about what he wanted. He loved to get out of his tank, and I have great memories of him trying to keep up with me as I walked down the hallway with a load of folded laundry in arms. You haven't lived until you've been chased by a turtle. He also loved to have me hold his face up to my cheek; the warmth must have felt nice to him. He would go limp and his legs would sort of hang down, like he was just too comfortable to move. It was endearing, and probably would have won us $10,000 if someone had taken a video.

His death was really hard for me, but the spiritual lesson I learned from him as he made his transition is one I'll never forget, and certainly fitting one as amazing as Elvis. For months I had been noticing that he was slowing down, still eating and interested, and being his old self, but slowly becoming less vibrant. I knew he was getting old, and began to try to accept that, hard as it was. Over months it progressed very slowly, to the point where I started to consider whether I should take him to the vet. I was very torn because I didn't think there was anything they could do and I kept getting very strong messages from Elvie that he did not want to go to the vet; he wanted to die in peace, outside in the backyard grass.

I did end up taking him to the vet, despite what he kept telling me, because I had to. He was pretty chipper on the way. They kept him all day, took blood and did a number of tests, and when I picked him up I knew it had taken out of him all he had left. I found out that he had an infection. I hadn't even known it.

I got him home, lay him in the grass outside and lay next to him and told him goodbye. He opened his eyes once and looked directly into mine with that deep acknowledgement of everlasting life, then very peacefully closed them and stopped breathing.

In addition to alot of grief, I felt so much guilt and sadness over not realizing he had been sick. For all of the understanding of what he wanted and needed, I didn't pick that up. I felt so bad at having failed that amazing creature. One day, in my meditation, I said hello to him as spirit, and very bravely asked how he had experienced his turtle life. I was afraid to hear the answer. And he showed me a clear picture, without hesitation, from his perspective in his tank, looking up, of my own face above his, lovingly saying, "Hello Elvie, hello sweet turtle." And I cried as I remembered that life and love continually change form but never really die, and that my loving of him had been more than enough.

Love chose, for a time, to be a red-earned slider . . .

Forgiveness

Forgiving is something very simple in theory but difficult in practice. I understand that we're all finding our paths to the God within in our own unique, often stumbling ways. I know that we are all perfect in the process of remembering who we are. Much of the time, I can even consciously acknowledge the spirit of God within the people who I encounter.

I have a limitless ability to forgive, but that doesn't mean I always do it. Fear gets me stuck in needing to blame or to hold someone in a less than Godlike view. I need them to be a certain way, because I fear that if they aren't, somehow I will lose, something will be taken from me or I will be hurt, or somehow less. I know in my heart this is not true, but in that reactive moment it feels true. It usually has nothing really to do with the situation at hand, but more with reminding me of something from my past that I haven't yet come to terms with. Those memories can have alot of emotional charge.

Forgiving may not be easy much of the time, but it's an important part of our spiritual nature. When we condemn others in our thinking, even over little things, we perpetuate negativity in our awareness, and it can affect our outlook and physical health. It also robs us of our joy. Blaming takes alot of life force that I'd like to use for other, more delightful things.

Edwene Gaines talks wonderfully about forgiveness in her book "The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity." In the chapter, The Mysterious Power of Forgiveness, she states that "harboring a grudge completely blocks our ability to have peace of mind. . . An unwillingness to forgive is like stabbing ourselves with a knife and expecting the person who did us wrong to feel the pain. Forgiveness is not something we do for the sake of another person. Forgiveness is something we do for ourselves." Before I read her book, I hadn't considered the connection between prosperity and forgiveness.

I've enjoyed practicing one of Edwene's tools about forgiving, which is to try to spend an entire day without holding on to a single negative thought about anyone. It's harder than it sounds, and certainly makes it clear how often the mind rushes to judgement. I noticed in practicing this tool what a great space it is, choosing to instantly release each negative thought as it comes up and not dwell on it. In doing so, I create a world of my own making.

I learned another simple forgiveness tool from Roland at Unity. A group was discussing forgiveness, and he said "I just see them in the light." Wow. That means that in a twinkling we can see the truth of someone as the light of God, even if they have just done something that ticks us off. And the great thing is, it works!

I really love how the light of truth graces our humanness in so many simple, small ways.

May this tool be a blessing. . .

Treasure Mapping

Treasure mapping is a way to clear our connection with the creative power of the universe, in which we are all active participants. They pave the way for us to see our steps in manifesting our desires. Treasure maps are also called vision boards or mock-up boards. I learned about this tool years ago, and have enjoyed creating many treasure maps in that time.

Start with a big poster board, glue sticks, scissors, and magazines that pertain to the things that you want to have in your life. Most adults don't often get an opportunity to play with glue and scissors, so this is fun! The idea is to cut out as many examples of the things that you want as possible. Cut out picture and words expressing the spirit of your goals.

The treasure map can focus on a single thing, a certain category or a number of different things. Sometimes when I make a treasure map for the new year, I include goals around my health, my work, my leisure activities, and other things that are important to me. Other times, I focus the treasure map on just one thing, and the specific details around that. Make sure it has a clear theme. The more specific you can be about what you put on the map, the better. The clearer you are with your intention, the more likely it is to come to fruition.

The next step is arranging the ideas that you've cut out and gluing them to the poster board, much like a collage. Some people like to add a picture of themselves on the treasure map. I have at times put the date in large letters in the center of the map, as a way of emphasizing that in creation.

I like treasure mapping because as I'm sifting through magazines, considering which pictures and words best reflect what I want to have or be or do, I am sending very specific instructions to the universe, and that creative spark within me, that it will be so. It is very spiritual work, but also a very fun process.

I have quite a few treasure maps from years past up on a shelf in my closet, and also a few more current ones down where I can look at them often. It's always very validating when I occasionally take all of them down from my closet and am delighted by how much I have brought into being with my intention. It's a great reminder that all we have to do is put the picture out there, and then let it come to pass.

May this tool be a blessing!

Finding God in a Pickle

I spent time yesterday with a group of wonderful women, doing our yearly treasure-mapping day, where we each create a collage of what we want to create in the coming year. It's a great spiritual tool, and I'll discuss it in a future blog. Today's blog concerns a different topic, though, stemming from our conversation yesterday, when Carrieanna came across the idea in a magazine of "finding God in a pickle."

That struck me as a very juicy subject to ponder, so at MaryAnn's prompting (the gauntlet having been thrown down, so to speak), I tackle the topic of the lowly pickle as a spiritual tool.

Believing as I do that everything is a spiritual tool if you look at it the right way, I considered the possibilities. We can look at this in a number of ways, depending on the word stressed. A less obvious way might be to think about what if we found God, herself, in a pickle, as in a problematic situation? How would we respond to God in a pickle? And what could that pickle be? The possibilities are mind-boggling, current world events notwithstanding. Or, taking that line of thinking a step further, could we then be asking what do we do if we find ourselves, as Gods, in a difficult situation?

Definitely worthy queries, but what about actually finding God in a pickle? And would that be somehow physically manifesting herself in that pickle, or metaphysically speaking? Because metaphysics explains the fundamental nature of being (and because it's pretty funny), I couldn't resist the chance to consider the fundamental nature of God being a pickle.

Which leads to another question: Not all pickles are brined cucumbers, or even troublesome situations. Sometimes a pickle is a sour, disagreeble person. Can God even be a pickle, in that sense of the word? I choose to think so, yes. God can be any darn thing she chooses.

God is everywhere present, in our highest highs and lowest lows, in our jubilent successes and in those moments when we feel we are not worthy of taking up space on the planet. God is the source of every idea ever imagned, including the most modest. God is who we are when we are manifesting our greatest, and also when we're feeling like we'll never get it right. Every expression of us is right.

So back to the humble pickle. Some people don't like them, but some people like them alot. Sometimes they're pale and joyless, other times they're crisp and vibrant. At times they're tart, but can also be pretty sweet. Sounds alot like some people I know. Clearly, God is a pickle.

Replenishing Your Energy

It's helpful to have a tool for calling our energy back into ourselves. Energy is very fluid, and is constantly being exchanged between people. When we encounter someone who is frustrated, for example, we may end up feeling out of sorts without really understanding why. When we are trying very hard to talk a friend through a difficult time, we may walk away feeling depleted and sad. In this situation the energy transfer may have been in both directions, giving away our vitality and taking on another's sadness.

The Berkeley Psychic Institute teaches a simple way to replenish our energy, called a golden sun. What we think, we create. What we visualize, our bodies perceive as real. We could use any image to represent our life force, but a golden sun is a a great healing. To me, it represents the energy of the Supreme Being within me, which contains all of the truth of who I am.

Begin by visualizing a very large, bright golden sun above your head. Allow that golden sun to begin to collect any of your own energy that you may have left behind or given away. You don't necessarily have to see what's coming back to your golden sun, just allow it to happen. It's important to call our energy back to ourselves because while our energy works for us, it doesn't work for others. For others, it actually gets in the way. When we give our energy away to others in an effort to help them, we are not acknowledging their infinite ability to perfectly create for themselves. In the process we can begin to become uncomfortable, things can feel difficult, or we might lose our clarity and get caught up in things not of our own making.

When you feel ready, allow the golden sun to come down through the top of your head and into your body, filling every organ and bone, every cell in your body with the gold vibration of your own spiritual energy. That's all there is to it!

This is an easy tool to practice, and also easy to forget. But I teach, and write, to remember. So my tool for today is gold suns, lots and lots of them!

May this tool be a blessing. . .