Emotional Set Point and My Miracle

Vonnie

Miracle Return . . .

It has been a long while since I last posted a blog. Plenty has been happening since that last post, but I didn't feel safe in writing about it.

To catch you up, Irfan and I have returned to the United States from 8 months living in India.

Irfan, Abby, Brent and Liam

We arrived in St. Johns, MI, at the end of July 2018, and are staying with my aunt until we are able to re-establish ourselves.

We are safe. We have shelter. We are nourished.

We have been enjoying the green of Michigan with my brother Brent and his children Abby and Liam. GREEN TREES! WATER! Wide open spaces!

Goldie

We have purchased a 2008 Chevrolet HHR.
I have been to a doctor and my diabetes is being treated.

Happy Vonnie

In short, we have experienced a series of miracles that have left our minds reeling and challenged our understanding of how Source is able to provide for our needs.

I didn't write for the longest time because I was avoiding bringing attention or focus to the difficulties we were experiencing while trying to settle in with our family and the religious/cultural environment  we faced in India. Focusing on what wasn't working and on the pain being experienced would only have brought more energy and focus to the things that were troubling us than was healthy for our situation.

Emotional Set Point . . .

The guiding principle of the universe, The Law of Attraction, would tell us that --what we give focus to is drawn to us, or rather, we are drawn toward what we give focus to.  By sharing the difficulties, I was concerned that I would put myself in a negative mindset and contribute to or place undesirable focus on the things I did not prefer. Giving additional focus to the negative would place me more deeply into, and make, the negative complaining voice in my head my "emotional set point" for attraction. The more I talked about the things I did not prefer the more accustomed to that negative frequency I would become. Instead, I focused on what I could do and on the blessings we had around us - a private apartment to live in, enough income to set up house and to meet our living expenses, a scooter - no need to depend on others for transportation, a washer - no need to wash clothes by hand.  We made gratitude lists and repeated them nightly.  We listened to inspirational teachings on YouTube from Ekhart Tolle, and from Abraham/Ester Hicks.  We held each other. We spoke only words of encouragement. We supported each other in every challenge with unconditional love.

I would like to offer an audio I found on YouTube that has helped me. It was taken from the teachings of Abraham, at one of Ester Hicks's channeled workshops.

Practicing a Positive Emotional Set Point . . . 

Even now, I would prefer to keep my mind focused on what is going well in the moment, rather than share with you the drama stories of my time in India. In future blogs, if I am able to re-frame these experiences into a useful example or illustrative story with some spiritual benefit, I may write about what I experienced, what I discovered about myself, the struggles of humanity, the problems I witnessed, and other such. For now I just want to share that. . . We have come home. And I want to reaffirm what became my mantra in India . . .

I am safe.

Source is my generous provider.

I always have everything that I need, with enough to share and to spare.

I Am Safe. 

Source is my generous provider

I always have everything that I need, with enough to share and to spare.

I Am Safe. . . .

What I will share with you today is this . . .

While I was in India our financial needs were being met by our income. However, there was no way for me or my husband to earn enough money to purchase return tickets to the USA. Certainly, at our level of earning and the exchange rate, it would have taken us an unknown number of years to save the price of those tickets. If we had been able to come home, there was no apartment to return to, no job, no car, no clothing. We did the only thing we could do. We surrendered to what was, and accepted all of that. I set my mind, and my husband set his mind, toward finding or creating work -- with the agreement that we would prefer to live in the USA, and should the means be present we would come back. We then turned our focus to doing the best we could where we were at, accepting that for the moment our life was in India.

The next time I was asked how things were going I responded honestly. "Not well, but I don't want to go into the horror stories. If we could come home we would."

That was the turning point. Source took over and moved the willing components into alignment. We stepped into the Vortex of Creation and out poured the miracles.

Four days later my husband and I boarded a plane headed to Detroit. We were able to leave our Indian relatives in good health, with more than enough money to cover our remaining expenses, and all of our household possessions including a new clothes washer, a new refrigerator, and a 2017 Honda Activa 4G scooter. We left without debt, having benefited our family.

Vonnie's Message Given at the Light House Chapel Service 9/16/18

 When you look at your life, reflecting back over your varied experiences,  how often do you see yourself being negatively impacted by the demands and expectations of others; family friends, society, work, culture, religion?  How many times have you made decisions based on receiving the approval of or to accommodate the needs of others? Are you mirroring their choices or following their ideas of instead of your own?
How many times has the influence of others caused you to go against your own self interest?

Ask and it is Given Card 37

I am not speaking of choices you made - not to do this or that -out of a decision to protect say, a relationship. Those choices are made from a place of self interest. "I want this relationship therefore I won't do something that will harm it."
I am referring to choices we make about what school to attend
what to wear . . .
who to talk to . . .
what friends to make . . .
the field of study we'll follow . . .
the career we choose. ..
I am referring to silencing our creative inner being because our impulse to paint, to dance, to sing or make music doesn't meet the approval of our family, friends, social or religious group.
I am referring to picking the study of law over literature because our parents don't think there is a career in writing; because someone else's influence overpowers our will to create a life of our own choosing.

Ask and it is Given Card 37, back

Beyond the personal examples that might weigh more heavily on our hearts. . .

How many times and in what ways  . . . 

have we been guilty of imposing our choices, beliefs, and fears on others; of trying to influence their choices based on our biases, beliefs, and prejudices - our needs and self interests?

We are very blessed to be living in a time and in a nation where the cultural influence, as it has evolved, leaves room for expanded experience and individual self expression.

Look around at the shifting awareness levels our society is experiencing.
Gender norms are being challenged . . .
Gender roles are being rewritten . . .
Gender identification, sexual orientation and the divisions of power within society, down to accepted behaviors and sexual based power divisions are all being challenged and reassessed. Other countries and places in the world are not so tolerant of people with new ideas or ways of doing things and of looking at the world. Yes, we still have differences in religion, politics, sexual orientation, desire and what is acceptable. In some countries these differences are more rigidly defined, guarded, and enforced.
In some places you could be killed by a mob for breaking a taboo.

I know it doesn't always seem that way, but we live in a place and time when ideas about reality are less defined by religion and conventional thought; where science is playing a role in opening rather than closing the possibilities.
Our expanded understanding of Quantum physics, and other studies, String Theory for example, have offered explanations to ideas that were once solely in the realm of mystics and mysticism. Once only the shamanic experience postulated/described what Science now theorizes - worlds within worlds, where every possibility exists in it's own universe.

There Is No One Right Way Of Being . . .

Most of you may be aware that my husband and I are recently returned from 8 months in India.
If there is one thing I have learned, or rather experienced through living abroad, it is that there is no one right way of being. What works in the USA may not work in another country. What works overseas doesn't always transfer here, may not be necessary or even appropriate.

For me, what truly makes living in the USA preferable is the flexibility found in a culture made up of blended ideas and influences. India is full of distinct cultures and languages but very little blending. There are many religions and religious cultures, but in India people pretty much stick to their ethnic/religious groups or casts and are largely intolerant of outsiders and outside influences. For the most part they do not inter-marry. People keep to their groups, even to the point of maintaining separate languages.
What makes America great is the co-mingling of our diversities, the melting and combining of solutions and possibilities within a blended society. Oh, we have our problems. This is not a Utopia, but this is a country built by many peoples from diverse cultures who have had to learn from each other in order to grow and prosper.
In our country's life, as in our own, some of our best solutions, our most fulfilling moments have come through allowing others and ourselves freedom to expand and create.
When we stop trying to influence and instead turn our attention to our own creations, to the reality we are choosing for ourselves we flourish.

Like attracts Like. . . and . . . We Choose!

We are drawn to others who are like minded, who have the same vibe or frequency as ourselves.
We find our tribes.
We find them faster when we allow others rather than trying to control them.

Source, Life is expanding through us. It will have every experience good, bad, painful, pleasurable; all possibilities and permutations of reality will come into being. However, we can choose. We create our reality, are drawn into it, through our beliefs and what we will allow into being, by what we give focus to. It all exists. Through our belief we choose the reality we exist in.
What we give focus to draws us in or is drawn to us.
There is room for all ideas and experiences.
What are you choosing?
What are you giving your focus to?
And if you aren't giving your focus to what you prefer, what are you going to do about that?

There Is Enough Room For All Ideas and Experiences

My appreciation to the Abraham Teachings and Esther Hicks for inspiration and guidance. 

Differences and the 180° of India

Living in India is hard. I had no idea how hard it was going to be when my husband and I arrived in Hyderabad. Talk about culture shock.  I feel as though I am in an alternate reality, one where everything has been turned upside down. It would be less shocking to my sensibilities if the moon were to rule the day and the sun the night. I don't know where to begin writing about the core differences which change how one lives here, but I can tell you that as a woman my experience is even more impacted. I know now why the caged bird sings.

I am not having the tourist's experience. I am settling here.  Learning to navigate the culture is consuming all of my attention, demanding a level of awareness that I am forced to maintain or pay the consequences, which might be very harsh. 

180° of India

In western culture the female is objectified, sexualized, and targeted by media advertising. Here it is the male who is the focus of these pressures and the female is elevated and to remain untouchable, worshiped. She must be beautiful but if a woman is perceived as being too opinionated, independent, friendly, approachable or sexual it is scandalous. She might find herself targeted for violence and possibly rape.  Being worshiped here means a woman is isolated for her protection. Her house has barred windows and doors. Her clothes are meant to display the wealth and status of her family but should hide her body from prying eyes -- eyes which are everywhere and come with wagging tongues. Being worshiped demands perfection, stillness -- do not laugh too loudly or move freely in your body.

Men are blatantly sexualized in the media and their masculinity is even more heavily evaluated than I have ever witnessed before. I think this contributes to the huge rape problem that India is having. As pressures increase for men to be perceived and prove their masculinity and power over women and in life. There is vicious judgment and pressure on performance for men (and women) to receive even the smallest level of respect or benefits. The man must perform or he is condemned a failure. A husband must perform or his wife and children are shamed and ill treated also.

Further Differences . . .

India has bought into the all the worst most superficial aspects of western capitalist culture with a desperation to acquire and display. The India portrayed by their television is a lush, sanitized, clean fantasy India of wealth and luxury, with no waste or poverty. The reality is in stark contrast with harsh living conditions, abject poverty, and beggars crawling through trash filled streets.

I attended a trade exhibition where the central lawn area designated for family relaxation, sitting, and eating looked like a trash pit. People sat on trash to eat their food purchases, rising to leave a layer of more trash and move on through the exhibitions vending stalls. In India it is taboo to handle garbage. Only the lowest cast person is concerned with clearing away rubbish and they are reviled for it, Untouchables. Everyone else simply drops their litter where they stand and moves on, creating a cesspit of garbage. I was told simply to "look up."  "Don't look at it." (I carried my trash home with me. I could not bring myself to toss it on the ground.) My mind was reeling at the enormity of a mind set where the person who cares for the environment is considered the lowest of all, while those who are respected treat the earth with disregard, and disdain to clean up after themselves. 

These are just a few of the differences I have encountered. Others include people climbing and sitting on tables where food is being served; walking over food; grabbing food from the plates of others; dumping left over food scrapings off one's plate back in to the serving dish meant for others to share. No food is to be wasted. Beggars come to the door and happily take rancid or moldy food if given it.  Sanitation isn't even a consideration. Heaven help you if you need a toilet.

Perfect Diversity . . .

My spirit is being tested. My comfort zone is being challenged. My assumptions about life and how best to live are being examined against different world conditions, views, and culture.  I am being forced to see things with the eyes of a stranger and to find sense in the world turned 180°s round from what I've known. I am being forced to let go of values which have no force or potency in the circumstances which I find myself.

The culture or ways of being may be different but the humanity and human needs are consistent. I am beginning to see more than differences and expanding in my awareness of others. Thank you India.