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You want some kind of change so you wait and wait…hmmm… If you want change in your life, you want to think outside the box of your normal thinking. You want to reach for the stars and imagine what life would be like with that new positive change. And then when life begins to change, embrace the change even if it is uncomfortable. It means forward movement. Just see it with ease and take each day with positive vibrations. When you don’t know which way to go imagine all kinds of ideas of a solution. Even if they are way “out there” ideas, something will come from thinking outside the ‘normal’ way you think. Unlimited thoughts bring unlimited life.
Lee and I have Unlimited Thought meetings every week. We get together with everyone in the studio and we begin throwing around ideas. Yes, some are way out there but out of those we find we are able to relax, laugh, and come up with some tangible ways to do many of the ideas we have. Unlimited Thought meetings can be done with one person or many. But the most important thing to do during that time is to really think ‘outside the box,’ work from your unlimited imagination and when you do this, ideas are born, positive vibrations are created, and some unlimited ways to figure out how to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Sometimes we don’t get any ideas but just having those moments creates a vibration that tells the Universe, “any way, shape, or form is okay by us!”
Do you try to please others at the cost of yourself? Sometimes that feeling to please can be overwhelming and can push us to be someone that we’re not. One of the hardest things to do in life is to be what others want us to be.
How about being ourselves and not worrying about whether someone accepts us for who we are? You don’t ever want to not be you to please someone else. The only person that should have a say so in who you are…is you.
As a child, I was a pleaser. I would do what I could to make sure that no one would get upset with me. I was uncomfortable with any kind of confrontation or a sharpness in voice. My dad had a huge booming voice and I knew he meant it so I steered clear of making anyone upset; that is…until my brother finally pushed me too far.
My brother and I are three years apart. I was the youngest of four and he resented his little baby sister hanging around him. We would lay on my mom’s lap…his head on one side, my head on the other, and we would push our heads against one another to see who would get ‘the whole’ of Mom’s lap. He always won because he definitely had the harder head of the two of us! 
He would give me arm burns, punch me when Mom wasn’t looking, and that was brother I wanted to be around no matter what. His life seemed so interesting to me. He was allowed to do all these things that I couldn’t do so I did everything I could to please him so I could hang out with him.
So on one of our vacations we were in the backseat. Mom and Dad were up front. I was doing everything I could to make my brother like me. I gave him my last candy piece, let him have the water jug first, and he still ignored me and when he wasn’t ignoring me he was giving me hidden pinches when Mom and Dad weren’t looking. I was so confused. I was supposed to love my brother. I wanted to please him but he was so mean to me so I made a decision right then…
I leaned over and whispered, “You better not pinch me ever again!” I said in my strongest whisper. He narrowed his eyes and whispered back, “What are you going to do about it?”
“Are you kids okay back there?” Mom said from the front.
I kept my mouth quiet and my brother said ever so politely, “Just fine, Mom!” My brother looked at me and got out his pincher fingers. I didn’t know what I was going to do but I was going to do something. I gritted my teeth and whispered, “You better not pinch me.”
He leaned over…and pinched.
Big tears welled up in my eyes. I couldn’t believe it. I had to do something so…I bit him…long and hard. Tears were streaming from my eyes because I didn’t want to hurt my big brother but I knew I had to fight fire with fire. The look on his face, I can’t even describe. He was shocked, proud of me, and in pain. He never pinched me again and he’s now fifty years old with a five-year-old little sister bite scar under his arm.
I still don’t understand why I wanted to please him so badly but I learned a great lesson…don’t try to please anyone who pinches! LOL
When we are in the middle of a negative situation we can’t see the humor within it or the positive lessons we may learn from the experience. But when we look back we can actually laugh at some of the story and what had transpired and realize that what felt like a negative hard time may not have been as serious as we thought it was. Laughter and positive thinking can actually bring you through that experience. Don’t forget that that difficult negative experience is just one little moment in your life. There are so many other positive experiences you can focus on.
I inherited something from my dad that not only helps me with what I do for a living but also helps my own inner work. And that is the ability to not remember things. My mom and Lee both are able to remember every date known to man. My mom remembers every little dress she had since she was two years old and Lee can remember being potty trained. I, on the other hand as well as my dad, don’t hang onto dates very well and our memory is sketchy when it comes to experiences. Let me clear that up a little. When it comes to negative experiences.
Mom can remember when a little boy looked at her sideways when she was young, and every moment from here to eternity. Dad and I forget. We tend to forget when someone has spoken meanly, we forget the feelings and thoughts attached to hurtful situations, and we are able to just forget period. Now does this mean we ‘let go’ easily? There’s a difference between ‘letting go’ and forgetting. ‘Letting go’ is when we intentionally make an effort to release a situation from our lives whereas forgetting is, well, forgetting!
But it does come in handy in the process of ‘letting go’ when you can’t remember what you are ‘letting go’ of! LOL
Here’s where it takes the inner work. We forget the actual experience but we do hold onto the feeling and essence of what happened. We can’t quite place our finger on why we feel the way we do about someone or something because we have forgotten the experience itself. So for us it is like a phantom to track down why we feel as we do. I found my fix years ago.
When I am experiencing a situation I immediately work it out in my mind, body, and spirit. I don’t wait. I listen within. I ‘let go’ of the resistant feeling immediately knowing that if someone has hurt my feelings it is only because I reacted to something they might be experiencing…not me. I always know if it has worked because the next time I see them or they apologize for something I don’t have that resistant residual feeling that I had before. The key is begin working on the resistance immediately so that it doesn’t cause any repetitive or residual thoughts and feelings.
We’re all so unique in how we handle life and what we experience. No one is smarter, better, or more enlightened than the next. We are all experiencing in different ways together.
It’s natural to grieve over someone we have lost in our life. There seems to be a void that has been left and it can be difficult to think that the void will ever be filled. Loss is one of the natural progressions of human life. Remember that it is the physical that is no longer here, but that the spirit is eternal and is still with you. Just in a different way but in a way that you can be comforted knowing they are still with you.
But there is a point when we have to begin to ‘get along’ without their physical presence and begin to move on from the pain. This doesn’t mean to ignore or forget but it means to look at life in itself as a gift. Learn and remember this time for the growth of your spirit and use it within your daily life of who you are and continue on and live.
I understand grief and I respect it. I remember going to a funeral when I was five years old and not understanding why one of my favorites aunts, Aunt Hazel, was sleeping. It was hard to fathom at such a young age and then I saw that everyone was crying because she was sleeping. It hadn’t been explained to me that she had passed on. It wasn’t a concept I had learned quite yet. Everyone talked of how sad it was, how they would miss her, and everyone was so upset. I could see her there. Had she really gone? That was a moment I would never forget. I could ‘feel’ her right in my heart. She had to be alive. Then I knew…she was alive, just not in the form I was used to.
Then over time many grandmas and grandpas, a tiny little angel of three-months-old (my niece), and friends passed on. I remember thinking how much I missed ‘seeing’ their physical self there, but I could still ‘feel’ them. And the more I cried in tears of remembrance of the joy they brought to my life, the easier it got. You see, we grieve because they are no longer here in a physical form where we can talk directly to them, hug them, and just know they are there. We think of the things we should have said or shouldn’t have and we grieve not having a few more moments. There’s a heaviness in grief.
But realize that they are still with you, still hugging you, still talking within you. It is only the physical that isn’t felt. You can still talk with them and remember them in all the joy you had, all the lessons they taught you, and know, through your grief, they are stilling teaching you in some form.
Just recently we had a family member pass. Some would snicker to think that it was a beloved pet but he was a family member. He took care of us, loved us, and brought immense joy. Tears flowed at his unexpected death but instead of focusing on ‘I wish I had paid more attention to him’ or ‘ I wish I had known’, we focused on all the love he brought to us; the unusual meow he had, the way he ran for his morning treat, the funny little way he would bring us a bug, and all the laughter he brought to our lives. The tears still flowed but out of the remembrance of an incredible family member who is still with us…in our hearts.
It’s nice when someone acknowledges us when we do a good job. There’s a feeling that we have when we accomplish something that makes us feel great about ourselves. And then there’s the feeling of accomplishing something and hoping someone acknowledges us for our great job. It’s always wonderful to hear the praise ‘How great you are’ but don’t make that your main goal for doing anything. It is the sense of accomplishment and that you did the best you could that is the best feeling ever. It doesn’t require your relying on someone else for pats on the back. Pat your own back and enjoy. When you rely on the opinions or compliments of another then you are needing approval of what you do. That vibration sends out quite a message, don’t you think?
When I was younger, I had a friend who needed to feel appreciated. Anything she did was met with a question to me and our friends, “Doesn’t this dress look great? How is the pie? Did I mess it up? I bought this shade of lipstick, isn’t it perfect on me?” Now it may sound as if she had quite an ego but she didn’t. She just needed to be appreciated. She wasn’t patting herself on the back, she was trying to get one of us to do it so she could feel good about herself. Bottom line was…she was insecure about all her decisions and didn’t feel like anything she did was right.
When she got married, she married someone who made her feel even worse about herself. He told her how she felt about herself. He told her that she looked terrible, she was overweight, she always looked haggard. So you want to know what happened? Her friends began to take her to lunch and slowly but surely helped her to find who she was and when she did…look out! She began a journey of self discovery that is still continuing to this day. She now says, “I did my best with picking this out and you know what? I like it!” She divorced and remarried to a wonderful guy who is full of compliments and appreciation for her. All because she began the inner work herself.
Sometimes we put off doing the things that seem to need to be taken care of. A cluttered desk, a car that needs washing, a step that needs to be taken to get something done. By putting it off it’s as if we are putting off life. And every time we look at what needs to be done, we get a little more frustrated and upset with it not being done. But just think about this…a little at a time…step by step…you can get it done. Maybe a portion of the desk today and a step toward whatever else needs to be done and then eventually sooner than later it will be taken care of and it won’t be staring you in the face creating negative thoughts and vibrations.
So instead of feeling as if it is too much to take care of take one small step at a time. Those small steps become many all added together and the negative thoughts will be gone replaced only with a clear clean positive vibration!
One of our sons came by to spend the day. He needed to talk. We had a nice big breakfast and sat down in the living room. He said, “I feel so cluttered. I can’t wrap my mind around anything.” The first thing I said was, “How does your apartment look?” He looked at me like I had gone off the deep end.
“Mom, I’m telling you about my life here and you want to know about who clean my apartment is?”
I said, “Yes. You see, how we live is a reflection of how we feel and if your apartment is a mess I can tell you right now, if you clean it up you’ll begin to feel better. You’ll have more space, you’ll have clean dishes, when you go in the bathroom the creepy crawlies in there will be gone and you’ll have a sense of relief.”
He stared at me. “That’s how YOU feel when you come to my apartment.” I laughed. He was right. I could never understand it. I taught him to have good hygiene and to keep his space clean when he was a little boy but it seems he inherited my ex-hubby’s genetics. Don’t get me wrong, my ex is a great guy but let’s just say he never did the cleaning.” At least my son had good hygiene.
“But, you have a point. So you think if I clean the apartment, I’ll clean out my mind clutter?”
“It’s a start,” I said.
He grinned. “Want to help?”
“Uh…no. I’m not used to the kind of furry things that grow there. Think this one is yours.”
I added. “And throw out those old stale English muffins.” I knew him well. He kept bread until it became hard as rock and green enough to make his own penicillin.
“I use it,” he declared.
“For what?”
“I polish my shoes with them.”
“Are you serious?!”
“Yep. You know my shiny Beetles boots? When the muffins are hard they are a great polish buffer.” He was serious.
Yeah, my son. Inventive…
They say that experience is a wonderful teacher. But have you noticed that many people who have been through a hard experience don’t seem to learn from it? It’s not just the experience that teaches us but the way we deal with the it. One person may go through a tough time and become upset and depressed and maybe even blame everyone else for their negative experience. Then there are others who may have the same experience and use it as a board to spring forward and create something wonderful. The same experience…it is in how you ‘see’ the experience and learn from the experience that creates different results. It’s all up to you once again.
My daughter and I were talking about different experiences and how we all have a unique way of dealing with situations. She loves astrology and has always been fascinated with how a birth sign shows up in most people. Not that we are all lumped into one when it comes to the different signs, but we do all have some general traits of each sign. So she tells me about all the different signs and how they react to problems according to their sign. I’m a Sagittarian and my oldest daughter is a Scorpio. She tells me that Sagittarians, when they are upset, go into ‘their cave’ and think about how it works into the greater good and come out with a higher vibration and lesson from the experience. So much so that they do this with everything. She said, “That can get annoying, Mom.” 
Then, she said, there is the Cancer. The Cancer crawls into ‘his cave’ and sulks and replays the experience over and over again in their mind. He or she may come out of the cave having released or attached to the experience.
I then asked her, “Well? What about your sign? What does a Scorpio do?” She smiled and said, “Scorpios go into ‘their caves’ and plot their revenge! LOL!
It’s funny… I know all the good traits of the Zodiac but my daughter is well rounded in the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all. All’s I know is you don’t ever want to upset a Scorpio! LOL!
When we head out the door some of us put on our smiles and greet people with respect and joy. We make small talk with people and smile at someone who looks like they could use one. Maybe we bump into someone and apologize politely. And then we get home and walk through the door and drop ‘the act.’
We complain, get upset, and goodness sakes if someone bumps into us it is their fault. Maybe we don’t smile because they have to love us no matter what kind of mood we’re in. How about we give our best to the house as well? Maybe it doesn’t have to be an act. Maybe we could just be positive and happy with everyone around us. Give those that are closest to you just as many smiles and positive experiences as you do people you don’t know.
My mom is an amazing woman. She raised four children and even raised a few neighbor kids as well. She cooked, cleaned, and took us where we needed to go. I knew early on who she liked…and didn’t like. When she liked someone she would joke and laugh and bring them food but if she didn’t like you…she was even nicer. She would gush and bend over backwards for that person as to never know she didn’t care for them, but when we got home, I heard an earful.
She always taught me to be kind no matter who was around but she said, “You know, Bethie, deep in your heart, you know who is true or not. You remember that.”
I could read her like a book. We owned a florist for over twenty-five years and everyone in town thought she was the sweetest lady and that she loved everyone. But I could see. I could tell who was true and who was not by the volume of her voice. One time a woman came in and complained about everything. “The flowers were too small, they were the wrong color, and the arrangement was awful.” Mom’s voice got higher and higher until I hardly recognized it. And then…she blew!
Her voice got deep and it sounded as if it came from the depths of the underworld when she looked at the woman and said, “Take your money and NEVER step foot in my store again. You are a rude mean woman and I don’t like you!” The woman closed her mouth, walked out the door, never to return.
Mom fixed her hair, came walking back to the workroom, and smiled. “I’ve been waiting to do that for over twenty years.” Then she looked at me and said, “It’s not how you handle things, Bethie.” Dad stifled a laugh and Mom came over and whispered, “Bethie, close your mouth. You might catch a fly or two.” And then she walked out to water the plants.
Dad looked at me and said, “And THAT’S why I married your mother!”
Do you have the same thoughts you used to have but just have rearranged them to fit your ‘now’ life? It takes a new thought to change your life but many think they have new thoughts but just rearrange them in a disguise, thinking it is all new… only to come up with new reasons why your thoughts must work in your life.
When we have a new thought and stick to it we find new ways to think and experience. Be open to new ideas no matter what your strongest beliefs tell you. A new thought, a new way, a new experience, a new life.
This was an interesting thought to explain to one of our students. She couldn’t understand why life wasn’t changing when all she had on her mind was changing her thoughts. She would go about her day and think of wonderful things that she wanted in her life and then try to conform those thoughts to her normal way of thinking. Nothing changed. She didn’t quite get it until Lee said this, “Look at it this way: take a car that has a few problems in the engine, maybe the air conditioner doesn’t work, or the speedometer is shot and get a beautiful perfect paint job on that car. Is that paint overhaul going to change what is inside the engine or air conditioner?” She said, “Well of course not. Just because you gloss over the outside doesn’t mean the inside is working as you want it to. You have to get the work done on the inside as well.”
Lee said, “Exactly.” That’s all it took. She no longer tried to gloss her thoughts with what she thought would work. She dove inside and did the inner work that was needed to change her thoughts and ways and she did it. Check your engine…does it need an overhaul? Start within…:)
We sometimes can act as if what we hear from someone else somehow makes us feel wounded just by the disagreement and a different view. Then we begin to ask friends or colleagues to side with what we believe. Do we really need to convince others of what we think is right? Are our thoughts that fragile that we have to rally others to agree so that our thought becomes that much stronger? When we hold resistance toward what someone is saying we are holding resistant thoughts that create resisting vibrations that are being sent out to the Universe, and the Universe sends them right back to you in some form the more you focus on them. Is your thought that weak that you must fight for it to be true? Hmmm…
How about we listen to others’ ideas. If we don’t agree with what they have to say then we can let it roll off our back without all the drama of ‘how right you are’. No matter how right you are, in the eyes of someone, you are wrong.
Remember that your thought is perfect just for you and their thought is perfect just for them. Aaahhhhhh…no more resistance.
Oh, my grandpa. He was a wonderful, kind, nice man but he was a stubborn man as well. He hung on to every idea that he had with vim and vigor. You couldn’t talk him out of anything because he was always right. I’ll never forget being in the car with him and my grandma looking across a field to see something burning.
“Looks like they’re burning the field,” Gannie said.
“Nope. That’s not a field. That’s a house burning,” Gramps declared.
“No, it’s not. You think you’re right but you’re wrong,” Gannie snipped back. She knew how much he couldn’t stand being wrong. He flipped the car around to drive all the way to the other side of town to get a closer look. Steam was coming out of his ears and he had the need to be right. We got right next to that fire and…they were burning the fields.
Gannie stifled a laugh and said, “See? I told you!”
He floored the gas pedal and said, “It LOOKED like a burning house and THAT is what I saw!”
“Oh that stubborn-ness of yours!” Gannie said.
“It got me you, didn’t it?!” Gramps shot back.
“AND a whole lot of trouble! Honestly!”
It’s seems like in this physical life we are always being warned to live life carefully. Eat healthy, lock your doors, buckle up, stay away from the edge of the pool, don’t talk to strangers, be careful, be cautious. Being smart about being physical is a good thing to do but don’t worry about all the don’ts of the world. So much caution. You know to stay away from the curb if a car is coming but don’t dwell on the don’ts and fears. We can’t grow if we don’t change. We can’t expand our life without some risks. Life is meant to be lived, not to be afraid of. Make sure to say to yourself each day, “Life is an adventure! I want to explore today!” New experiences will appear in your life to enjoy and explore.
Look for the ‘do’s’ of life and put your focus there. Do stop and smell the coffee, do take a walk in the middle of the day, do stop and tell a stranger how adorably cute her baby is, do look to the sky and in-joy that beautiful cloud formation, do smile at a funny billboard…do, do, do, what makes you feel good.
I fill a day up with joy. No matter what I am up to I always check in with myself and say, “Beth, are you seeing the joy? Do you feel the positive in that? More of that! More of that?”
Sometimes my family thinks I go a little overboard, but I disagree. The other day I was walking into the living room. You see, with this big ol’ cast on my foot I have to kind of walk a little ‘off.’ That in itself makes me laugh. I know that one side of my bottom is getting a little more muscle tone than the other and that just cracks me up. So as I’m balancing on my rocking cast I didn’t realize that the floors had just been cleaned. We have a nice little rug that is right in front the the two steps down into the living room. Yep…I slipped on the rug. Now I was thinking, “Save the foot! Save the foot!” so I did a little bit of a different maneuver than normal. My feet went straight up in the air and the chair I had grabbed onto fell over with me on top of it…right on my bottom!
I sat there for a second. Everyone came running into the living room. I got up and slowly checked my foot. Not a scratch…A-okay. People trying to help me up and me shooing them away (I’m an independent spirit, through and through!) Dad came hobbling in after my ‘show.’ Everyone was upset and worried. Dad looked at me and said, “Bethie, what happened?”
I looked at Dad and said, “DADDY! I broke my butt!” We all started laughing. It may have been a different story if I had hurt myself but I refuse to let one little moment get me down. (literally!) Life is meant to be lived and dog gone it…I’m going to live and ‘be’ with as much joy and humor as I can possibly muster up even with a broken bottom.
Sometimes things seem like fiction and then up pops something that seemed impossible yet it happened. The light bulb, airplanes, trips to the moon, computers, instant communication all over the world. At first it was just an idea and then it came into physical existence. Each began, just like everything, as an idea that could happen. Most didn’t believe, but all’s it took was one or a few to bring that idea into existence. We’re so used to things out of the ordinary progressing in this world but can’t seem to accept that every day this can happen in our lives. Things that seemed impossible in the past are now just a part of the present. An idea…that’s all it takes to begin the process of physical manifestation. Imagination becomes reality.
Don’t tell me it’s impossible. I’ve had too many instances where something that seemed impossible happened. My great great grandmother came across the country with a sick husband and a newborn infant looking to be near the ocean air for her husband. Everyone told her she couldn’t do it. Not with the wilderness, no work for a woman, and many other seeming obstacles. But she did it. She believed. She knew and trusted all would be well and it started with an idea.
If I had listened to all the naysayers I wouldn’t be where I am today. Lee and I had an idea and we stuck together with that idea without setting limits on the ‘how’ the idea would happen. We just knew the idea had potential. The fears of others didn’t faze us. Just because others weren’t able to do it doesn’t mean we couldn’t. We believed in the possible, not the impossible. We took the risk of going our own direction and sticking to what we wanted. Always checking ‘within’ to see if the idea was still ‘feeling’ on track. Here we are today with the life we had always envisioned because of an idea and the ability to ‘let go’ of the normal thought of ‘impossible’ to the thoughts of unlimited possibilities.
You can do it…I know you can.
To understand others, the first thing we must do is put our own assumptions and judgments aside. We must listen with our full attention to that person. Don’t listen with just a little part of your attention because you want to be ready to jump in and make your own point. Listen with your full attention. To understand another we must sit in the stillness and listen.
“Blah, blah, blah, blah…” That was all Peanut could hear. She was on the phone with one of her friends but she wouldn’t let her get a word in edgewise. She covered the phone and said, “All I can hear is ‘blah, blah, blah…” She kept the phone covered. I whispered, “Maybe, just maybe, you could listen to what she has to say and that way you won’t be sitting there waiting to get a word in.” Peanut rolled her eyes and giggled.
Peanut listened and waited and waited and waited. I walked by once again and she said, “All I can hear is blah, blah, blah still.” I took the phone to take a little listen. Her friend on the other end of the phone was saying, “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…” They were having a ‘blah blah’ contest to see who could go on the longest. So let me change this. LISTEN when they are actually saying something! LOL
When we sit down and watch a movie, love is huge. Big moments with sweeping camera shots that come in on a kiss or someone running to an airport to expound upon his undying love for the woman that got away. Each word is scripted perfectly…
Love in our physical world isn’t like the movies. It isn’t going to come crashing through a window and swoop you up with a beautiful musical score and after-movie credits. Love is subtle. Love is in the small gestures to one another. Love is giving a hug because you fall in love all over again with that cute way he smiles. He doesn’t have to fly through the window and sweep you away.
Remember to appreciate the small wonderful moments with love. It is there. You can find it if you keep your eyes open and look. You are loved in the most subtle loving ways by the Universe and many others. Know this without the drama…
I love the ways the Universe subtly shows its love; a soft breeze, a brilliant sunset, a blossoming flower. I love the ways the people around me show me love in a subtle way; taking out the trash, a hug, a holding hand, a funny joke, a look. Everyday in some way love is shown to me. I didn’t always recognize it. I wondered where love was but I found it in the ordinary things in life and once I opened my eyes, I was overwhelmed by the love for me. Love IS what makes the world go ’round.
There are days that we are just happy and positive. We don’t have to have a reason to be happy. We can just sit back and relax and enjoy the feeling. Don’t try to figure it out or think that tomorrow will be bad because today is good. Enjoy the happiness and acknowledge that you are having a great day!
I LOVE waking up in the morning. I LOVE seeing what the day has to hold. I LOVE changing a negative situation into a positive situation. I LOVE just ‘being’ on those days that I don’t feel like doing anything else. I LOVE the thought of being positive and implementing it in my life, I LOVE seeing others happy, I LOVE relaxing and in-joying at work, I LOVE the thought that no matter what kind of day you’re having, you can always shift to the positive. I LOVE, I LOVE, I LOVE for no particular reason sometimes. Oh yeah…I LOVE everything about this marvelous adventure called life.
The word enlightened sure gets thrown around. Some think it is the only thing to attain to and they spend their whole lives looking for enlightenment. This is how I see it. Finding peace in every situation shows that you have now figured out how to live through your physical body with your eternal self. If you are afraid or stressed out then you are not realizing enlightenment at that particular moment. When you are able to be aware of peace and calm in the moments where life feels as if it isn’t peaceful and calm then this in one of the ways of feeling enlightenment. Knowing all is well and seeing the peace, calm, and ease in everything. Through this calm comes moments of expanded thought…enlightenment.
I’ll never forget a remark that someone had for Lee and I at one of our workshops. She said, “You have the answers to everything!” Lee smiled and said, “Thank you so much for your wonderful words. But we don’t have the answer to everything.”
I then began my thoughts, “No one has all the answers. We wouldn’t be here if that was the case. We all are in a process of expansion and learning. I’m so happy we were able to give you some answers and thoughts that work for you.”
She looked bewildered. “Huh? I meant the temperature you keep the room and the nice little snacks you have provided. You’ve thought of everything!” Lee and I both looked at each other and laughed so hard! Now it’s a joke between us when things aren’t what they seem.
The world is constantly moving. Cars, mp3 players, iPods, movies, constant chatter, birds chirping, dogs howling, a tractor going, neighbors…you name it…there is some kind of sound always being heard. Take a moment to listen to the silence. No sounds other than silence. Just for a moment. It is the best place to connect to the Universe and every day give a few minutes of silence to yourself and the Universe. It gives you a clearer focus and a clearer mind and is important to your inner self and the connections to the physical and spiritual worlds.
I am a positive person. I know there’s no question there but I do find that if I don’t get the ‘one on one’ time with the Universe I get agitated ‘within.’ How do I describe that feeling? There’s this feeling within that feels goopy and thick when I don’t get those few minutes of connection. Things seem just a little off and kind of spacey. The first time I did without those few minutes of silence I couldn’t figure out why I felt like I did. The only thing I had done differently that day was I hadn’t given the Universe some ‘solo’ time. So immediately I closed my doors and relaxed and it only took a few minutes to get back my clarity, my focus, my ‘lightness.’ Aaaahhhh…what a relief it was.
I make sure I get that one-on-one time with the Universe just like my daily routine of brushing my teeth, taking a shower, and having meals. It is just as important to your overall being.
We think we know what makes us happy; enjoying the garden, taking a walk, watching a great movie, talking with a friend. We try to do things that make us happy. But did you know that if you keep yourself open to happiness, you can find happiness in the most unusual places. How about drying your clothes? Think about it. The nice warm clothes coming out of the dryer with that wonderful amazing smell of warmth and your favorite detergent and softener. Clean sheets on your bed. Even though this is one of the things we have to do…we can find the joy and happiness in it as well.
Don’t just do what makes you happy. Find the happiness in what you do every day.
My grandma used to iron and wash clothes for extra money. My grandpa would go to work at the mill and she ‘did her part’ by making some extra cash. I stayed a full summer one time. I enjoyed homegrown tomatoes every single night, sat on the porch with my grandma and grandpa in the hot evenings, and Grandma taught me some of my first ‘driving moves’. During the day women would come and drop off their laundry. Gannie (that’s what I called her) would iron and wash all day long. She did it humming and laughing watching ‘her shows.’
I didn’t understand how THAT could be any fun. One day I sat in Gramps’s recliner waiting for her to finish the ironing. She was humming her usual little tune.
“How can you be so happy ironing clothes, Gannie? It’s hot and you’re touching other people’s underwear!” That seemed important at the time.
“I like it,” she said. “I like the smell of the clean wash, I love hanging it out to dry and the smell of the sunshine in the sheets. I love the look of a nicely pleated skirt, and I love how much joy it brings those women not to have to do it AND they pay me well with a nice fat tip to take you to Mooney Grove park.”
I hadn’t seen it that way. One of the women came to pick up their nicely folded pile of laundry. She handed Gannie a white envelope with a hundred dollars for the month.
“Ready to go to Mooney Grove? Want some more driving lessons and maybe a snow cone?”
I hopped off the recliner and went outside to wait. Then I realized I had left my shoes at the school across the street. I jumped the chain linked fence, grabbed my shoes, and went to climb back over the fence. I missed my footing and my shorts caught on the top of the chain link fence. I hung there like a rag doll. My legs dangling and I couldn’t reach the ‘catch’ where my shorts were. Gannie came out and saw me there. She got to laughing so hard she peed her pants. Right about then my shorts ripped and I landed on the ground…laughing.
She helped me up and said, “I have to go change, you have to go change. Aren’t you glad I made a little extra money today? You need a new pair of shorts and I need a new pair of pants!” Neither of us told Gramps. It was embarrassing enough as it was. What a day that was; Mooney Grove, snowcones, driving lessons, a new pair of shorts, and the love and laughter of my Gannie.
Sometimes there are just certain personalities that we seem to clash with. We’re not really sure why they rub us the wrong way, but they do. If you look at it a little closer it may have nothing to do with the actual person, but maybe someone or something that you have had in your life before and had problems with. Maybe they are showing you a reflection of something you don’t like about your own self. Maybe they have traits that repel you because they go against your own perceptions and they feel wrong to you. Usually the clash that we have is something that WE have a problem with in our own experiences. Next time try to really find the reason for the clash within yourself so that you can let it go and move on. Each experience we have helps us to understand ourselves better. The more we are able to understand our reactions and thoughts, the more we are able to ‘let go’ and send out a vibration that is free of ‘seeing’ the negative and full of the positive.
You have the choice whether to react to someone who just isn’t your cup of tea.
“Just wait ’til you meet him,” is what a friend of mine said. I’ve known this friend since high school. We walked to school together, studied for tests together, and stayed over each others house. ‘Him’ was one of our friend’s boyfriend.
“He’s a piece of work. He’s bossy and she does everything he says to her. Just wait…”
We went to dinner and I met ‘him.’ ‘Him’ was the nicest guy ever. He helped out our friend, pulling out her chair for her, helping her with the menu, and she was just as kind to him. They really did love one another but I could see what my other friend was seeing…she was seeing her dad.
‘Him’ was just like her father. And she had issues with her father overstepping the lines she had written in the sand. She was continuing her issues with her dad with ‘him.’ But not only that ‘him’ looked like her dad as well. It was a realization for me that a personality clash is more about ourselves than the ‘clash.’ We have the choice to chose how someone makes us feel and react as long as we are able to ‘let go’ of what we think they are and just ‘be.’
Do you have a repetitive moment that appears in your life from time to time? You know the one. Maybe the Universe hands you a teeny tiny lesson for you to learn from and you decide to ignore it. Then the Universe gives it to you again and you decide that ‘now’s not the time’ and you go in a different direction. Then the Universe gives you a huge knock on the door and you say, “I can’t believe how the Universe sneaked up on me! That one came out of the blue!” Then in hindsight you realize, “Oh…I should have been more aware.”
How about we skip all the back and forth (and the Universe having to bonk us over the head) to get us to take notice? How about we stay aware and listen? Then all those indicators you were getting will not have to become massive signs.
Okay…guilty. We have been hosting cruises for some time now and there has been one of the cruises and its destination that we have had to keep postponing with our group that wanted to cruise with us. The first time around Mom had cancer and we postponed the cruise to be with her. We rescheduled that cruise and then Lee had to have surgery. Here it was, two times around, we had to postpone the same cruise to the same destination. Not any of the other ones we had but this one. The Universe was telling us something. Sure the first time we could have seen that it just said, “Wait” but at the second time we should have been more aware that the Universe was telling us something different.
Lee and I had even joked about it. Lee said, “Okay…no matter what. If I can’t go on the cruise then you just go Beth.” Even though it was a joke, it was the plan. So what happens? Four weeks ago I break my foot. Now I thought for sure it would be healed by now but the doctor told me different. I have to have surgery and it has to be next week. That will put recovery smack dab right in the middle of the cruise. I actually asked the doctor if I could postpone the surgery and go on the cruise? She said, “This is your health. This will affect how you walk in the future. You’re willing to risk it for a cruise?” Then it hit me while I was sitting on the examining table. The Universe was tapping me really hard on the shoulder. “BETH! You are NOT supposed to go on this one! Do you hear me?!”
Aye, aye Universe! Loud and clear, loud and clear!
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