Inspiration for Today . . .

 

 

I Will Do My Best to Make the Best of IT.

A key to regaining your feeling of empowerment is to decide, right now, that no matter how good or how bad you are feeling, you are going to do your best to make the best of it. 

Do that again and again and in a short period of time you will find yourself in a very good feeling place.

Gloom Be Gone! Shifting Out of Depression One Day at a Time.

Many, if not all, of us have Facebook friends who constantly complain about their lives, health, exes; who make negative or critical posts, and dour comments, or always seem to be focusing on some source of pain in the world. Well, I have been there, chronically depressed and anxiety ridden, experiencing panic attacks, engaging in self harming behaviors. I have been stuck in gloom to the point where I just wanted OUT, out of life.

That began to change when I watched a movie called What the Bleep Do We Know.
Here is a clip from that movie which helped me understand that I could start to make the shift out of gloom and into emotional health and mental well-being.

It was in watching this movie, I began to realize my responsibility in creating the negative state of my existence.  I was addicted to and fostering a negative mindset and emotional state of being, and in doing so attracting more negative situations to feed my addiction to negative emotions. After all, I am the one choosing to believe the thoughts I'm thinking, choosing how to react to the various circumstances of life. I am the one choosing to obsess, to be offended or irritated, to personalize and otherwise absorb the negative encountered. I was the person looking in the mirror and hissing hateful self criticisms. Yes, I experienced bullying as a child. I've had hateful things said and done to me.  I have been abused by others. But, through all of that, I also have had a choice in how to respond and in what I would believe. Through the movie, I learned that cells recreate themselves based on the chemical composition of their parent cell and that when I foster negative thoughts I keep my body in a state of growing chemical imbalance.

The second big influence on my emotional well-being came through the work of Ester and Jerry Hicks, The Law Of Attraction, and the teachings of Abraham, where I learned about how to use my emotions as a compass --indicating how far in or out of alignment with Source my thoughts are based on the level of negative charge my emotional state of being has in any given situation.

For some time now, I have been making an internal shift away from a negative emotional "set point." In fact, making this shift has been something I've been working on with focused intent for several years and is the main reason I didn't write much about my stay in India while I was there. 

If you are unfamiliar with the terminology "set point," I'm referring to what the teachings of Abraham describe as one's habitual mental and emotional state of being, or frequency of vibration. The key word being HABITUAL. Our "set point" is the most practiced mental/emotional state-of-being or response we offer the world. It is where we are most comfortable emotionally and mentally, our "go to" most practiced habitual hang out frequency, our main vibe. For most people their "set point" has become a huge part or expression of their self concept or personal identity, their ego-- when they identify who they are with having essentially practiced a characteristically negative emotional set point. 

It has taken me years of actively choosing to foster healthier thoughts to shift my habitual responses away from negative and self destructive patterns. Part of the reason for the long journey was that I had to find my way with little or no guidance. Thank Source for others on the same path who have lit the way, offering their own experiences and wisdom. In that time, I've had to develop patience with myself, to have compassion for my failures, and to forgive past behaviors that I am not particularly proud of. I can share with you there is immense relief to be found through every stage and aspect of making this shift. Gradually, one day at a time, I have grown out of gloom and into a state of peace with life. My emotional set point is no longer one of anger and self loathing. I find happiness everywhere. True, life still has its ups and downs but now that I am discerning about my emotional "set point," and taking charge of how I'm creating through attraction, I spend more of my life in joy and I invite you to do the same.

This card, drawn from the Money, and the Law of Attraction Cards, has been helpful in guiding me to a better state of well-being and receptivity. I hope it can help you too.

In My Appreciation I allow Myself to Receive Wonderful Things . . .

The best way to accomplish and improved environment is to focus upon the best things about where you currently are until you flood your own vibrational patterns of thought with appreciation; and in that change the vibration, you can then allow the new-and-improved conditions and circumstances to come into your experience. 
Look for good things about where you are, and in your state of appreciation, you lift all self-imposed limitations (and all limitations are self-imposed) and free yourself for the receiving of wonderful things.

Reaching For Improved Thoughts

"What Is" Can Be Frightening 

Take for example my present situation, recently returned from India to the USA, with everything I own fitting in a carry-on suitcase, no job, no money, and no prospects to start life over with.

At the moment the hardest thing I am coping with is being reliant on my family for assistance and support. They have been wonderful but, the pressure to find employment is immense.  In my worst moments I am a terrified gibbering mess.

What is that Frank Herbert quote from Dune?

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration."

Looking for Relief 

Many mornings I wake from a night terror in which I am homeless, because I haven't been able to find work. I don't remember much of the dreams, but I know that the fear is still with me when I opened my eyes. The urgency to be working is so powerful a motivator it has been consuming all of my thoughts and efforts.

Keeping a positive attitude is proving difficult. This has been a tough year and my confidence has been badly shaken by the unhappy experience of going to India and not being able to succeed in making a life there.

I keep reminding myself that Source is my generous provider. I only have to look at the many great and surprising things which came together to bring us home in order to find evidence of it.  I can't be anything but gratefully amazed. 

I Reach for an Improved Thought

The card I pulled today, from my Getting Into the Vortex deck, reads . . .

I Can Find Harmony by Feeling For Improved Thoughts.  

If we were contemplating an action that caused negative emotion, we would not proceed with the action until we had resolved the negative emotion. We would make sure that we had come into alignment with Source before proceeding. By feeling for the improved thought, in time, and usually in a short time, you will feel the harmony of your Source; and you will know the appropriateness of your behavior. we would not look for the long lists of right and wrong, but instead, we would feel for the emotion of alignment with Source.

Today My Best Effort Is In Reaching For Improved Thoughts  

I Am Safe.
Source is my generous provider.
I have everything that I need with enough to share and to spare.
Good health is my divine right.
I Am Safe.

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. 

Changing the Old Story

Several months ago, I was holding space for an older friend of mine who has been experiencing hardship. By holding space I mean that I was listening without offering feedback or council, giving only the comfort of loving presence.
As she told me about her week and caught me up on the happenings of her life, I became aware that nothing had changed for her since our last visit. In fact, nothing had changed for her in all of the many years I have known her. If I were to boil her story down to its essence, erasing the names of the players and the varied circumstances within the unfolding drama, it was the same story she has been repeating throughout the course of her life.

In the growing awareness of this realization, I found myself somehow less impacted or personally caught up in the drama of it, and better able to listen objectively from a place of true love. I found my thoughts about the situations, my judgement of the participants, evaporating in the realization that she was creating this; hidden in these stories were the beliefs shaping her reality and experience.

I said nothing. My friend isn't the kind of person who looks to others for guidance or teaching. In her mind SHE is the teacher. Offering her the observation that she is repeating the same complaints, retelling the same story of abuse, poverty, neglect and unloving behavior, would have fallen on deaf ears. She is not yet able to receive the observation that she is holding a consistent frequency and vibrational offering of pain, poverty and victimization. She doesn't believe that she has the power to create or change her reality.

Experience within our relationship has shown me that she would most likely have absorbed my words as criticism and a lack of empathy for her current situation; because that perspective would confirm and validate the belief she has in her own victimhood and lack of power over her situation.

The inability to recognize our own patterns of behavior and a tendency to squeeze any feedback from life into our established beliefs about who we believe we are, is common in the egoic experience. Putting aside our beliefs --upon which we are taking actions, forming relationships, and creating our lives-- even temporarily to consider that one or more of those beliefs may be based on  false premise can begin a life altering awakening.

Through being an example, my friend has illuminated for me the lesson in today's card; which is helping me re-frame the thoughts and beliefs I have held about myself and my personal back story. This lesson isn't just about money and financial abundance.  It holds true in all areas of  experience. Telling myself new stories about life, power, purpose, wealth etc. has shifted my attitude, my vibrational offering, and the direction of my path. Consequently, my whole experience of life is shifting for the better. Big changes are afoot.

On a side note . . .

Next week I will be flying to India to stay with my husband's family. I am unsure of how long I will be there, but am willing to imagine it becoming my new home base of operations.  Wish us well!

The Importance of Building a Relationship with Source

2017 is here and world events seem to be moving so quickly. It is all too easy to identify and become caught up in the swirling maelstrom moving around and through our lives. Every direction we turn we are faced with changes and challenges. Life seems so uncertain. The planet is on fire with the consequences of human indifference and mismanagement. The United States political scene is in upheaval. People have little or no confidence in their elected leadership. There are wars and rumors of wars. Humanity has overgrown the space allotted to it within the circle of Life. And yet. . .

In times of uncertainty, strife, pain, and illness we are forced by circumstances to find new ways of coping or adapting. These are the moments we must go within and discover or rediscover ourselves, our needs, beliefs, and drives. These are the moments of transformation, when we are most likely to reach deep and connect with Source.

Ask yourself what this present moment is challenging you with. 

Are you struggling with negative core beliefs about money, need, insufficiency, worthiness? Are you being undervalued or marginalized? Have you undervalued yourself? Have you lost sight of your own worth, or integrity? Are you being challenged to redefine your idea of self, your role, or place in society? Are circumstances demanding you reevaluate your ideas of superiority, or inferiority?

Ultimately, all of the illusions which create conflict and pain in our lives --need, insufficiency, superiority, inferiority-- find their root in one illusion. 

No matter what triggers our circumstances, the fundamental root cause of our discontent is the illusion of separation from Source. (Refer to Communion With God, by Neale Donald Walsch)

Abraham Teachings, Ester Hicks

Know that you can never be separated from Source, but you can believe in a separation and therefore experience the effects of it. 

When you release your doubt and your fears of inadequacy, allowing yourself to accept the inseparable nature of your relationship to Source, you will feel, know, and begin to experience the bounty of that connection. 

That is why. . . 

My Most Important Relationship Is With My Source . . .

Getting into the Vortex Cards

There is no relationship of greater importance to achieve than the relationship between you, in your physical body, right here and now, and the Soul/Source/God from which you have come. If you tend to that relationship first and foremost, you will then and only then have the stable footing to proceed into other relationships. Your relationship with your own body; with money; with your parents, [partner], children, grandchildren, and your world. . . will all fall easily into alignment once you tend to this fundamental relationship first.

Practicing Mindfulness: Beneficial Beliefs Feel Better When I Think Them. . .

Practicing Mindfulness. . .

Almost daily I encounter someone, or myself, experiencing suffering over or with tumultuous thoughts, thoughts run amok. Thoughts that torture our minds, interrupt our focus, steal our attention and energy have become a plague within our society, which culturally places a high importance on thoughts and thinking ability. 

René Descartes

"Cogito ergo sum. . ."

 a Latin philosophical proposition by René Descartes, translated into English as

 "I think therefore I am. . . "

Complex thought may be one of the factors in the advancement of humanity as a species, but look what has happened to us as the thoughts we think spiral into fearfulness and aggression. . . when our thoughts about ourselves become overly critical. . . when our thoughts about each other become separatist and exclusionary. . . when our thoughts about life become those of superiority and inferiority. . . thoughts of insufficiency and greed. . .

Believing every thought that comes into our minds is a symptom of mental illness, as not all of the thoughts we think are true.

Consider that what we believe shapes our reality and as such it is beneficial to be mindful of the thoughts we pursue and the beliefs we cling to. It may seem simplistic to point this out, but --to paraphrase one of my favorite influencers, Abraham and Esther Hicks-- a belief is just a thought that you keep thinking and thoughts can be changed.

We have the power to choose which thoughts we will pursue, cultivate and grow. We have the ability to examine our beliefs and when we find those which no longer serve us, re-frame them to bring about change.

Distinguishing between which thoughts are beneficial to us and those that are not is a skill which requires practice. When we have been unconsciously allowing our thoughts to rule our lives, it can become confusing to ween ourselves from those thoughts which separate us from the improved state of being we desire.

Thursday's thought to think upon . . .

Beneficial Beliefs Feel Better When I Think Them. . .

There are things in your environment --that you believe-- that match what you want.  And there are all kinds of things in your environment that you believe that defy what you want. How would you ever sort them out? How do you know the active beliefs within you that serve you well and the active beliefs that do not serve you?  How do you know the beneficial beliefs from the detrimental ones? The Beneficial beliefs feel better when you think them.  The detrimental ones feel worse when you think them.

 ~ Getting into the Vortex cards

by Ester and Jerry Hicks

The Teachings of Abraham

Aligning with Abundance

I Can Praise Abundance Wherever I See It. . .

"If you seek financial well-being for yourself-- you must praise it wherever you see it.
If you would like more abundance for yourself, personally, or for others you care about-- you must not criticize those who are experiencing abundance.  When you criticize or condemn or push against anything, you activate an opposing Vibration to what you seek. Every time. No exceptions." 

~ Getting into the Vortex Cards, by Esther and Jerry Hicks, The Teachings of Abraham

It is easy for me to recognize that my criticism and condemnation of others who are experiencing the abundance I desire reflects attitudes, beliefs, and thoughts of lack I must hold. Attitudes and thoughts which limit my ability to see opportunities for financial growth and abundance; thereby effectively blocking prosperity in my experience.

If I hold negative core beliefs about money and those who have it, those negative beliefs need to be released in order for money to flow into my world. As long as I have unresolved negative beliefs about money-- and am projecting those beliefs outwardly toward those experiencing abundance-- I will be activating a vibration of lack and attracting from a place of lack.

Simply by turning my attention and gratitude toward the abundance that already exists in my life, I am closer to receiving the increased wealth and prosperity I seek. If I choose thoughts of joy and appreciation for the success and affluence of others, I will be less likely to block or judge the wealth and abundance which flows in my direction. By choosing thoughts that embrace money rather than thoughts that reject it, I am leaving room for wealth growing opportunities and will start attracting from a vibration that supports rather than rejects prosperity.

* * *

When I read this card, I was most affected by the statement "When you criticize or condemn or push against anything, you activate an opposing Vibration to what you seek. Every time. No exceptions." This last bit carries weight far beyond my desire to have abundance or more money in my life.

Something worth thinking further on. . .

This is important because our point of attraction is the frequency we visit most often. If I am giving all my focus to what I find undesirable that is where my attention and attraction point is dominant. I am just going to get more of that, the unwanted!

SO, how do we get around the things in life that we oppose without activating a vibration of opposition; pollution, sexism, racism, and over vaccination as a few examples?

By focusing on the desired instead of the undesired? By taking action and choosing thoughts that focus in the direction we prefer? Instead of spending energy on thoughts and actions which proclaim what we do not prefer, we give our attention to supporting the existence and perpetuation of the preferred.

For example, instead of complaining about and pointing fingers at plastic pollution . . .  I start carrying reusable cloth bags to the grocery store, and make purchases from companies that use packaging in harmony with my desire to reduce the use of plastic? Glass bottling. . . . shopping for and sharing info about reusable products instead of fretting about one-use plastics. . . .

What about educating ourselves and others? How does that fit in? Can we talk or inform about the non-preferred without activating a vibration of negative attraction? I guess that would mean changing tactic, moving the focus of our attention as quickly as possible, from problem focus to solution focus. Would presenting a preferred alternative also serve to inform?

If my disapproval is an attraction point,  I choose to find ways of letting go of judgment and condemnation in favor of discernment and opening myself to new ways of growing what I prefer.

It seems to me, the quicker we can turn our attention to the preferred and away from the non-preferred the better off we are.

What are your thoughts on this Thursday's card?

Letting Go Of The Old Pain Story

Why is it so important that we as individuals be able to move on from and let go of the old pain story of our life circumstances?
How are we served by letting go?

Here is a wonderful audio clip taken from one of the Abraham-Hicks seminars found on Youtube.
I hope you are as inspired by it as I am.