Daily Inspiration 6-14-17

"When you look in the mirror

and don't like what you see,

change what you are looking at."

-- Albert K. Strong

[New post]

This is a recent selfie of me, yet the subject of this is not about me and it is. It is what we see when we look at ourselves.

We're so used to seeing from the inside out, receiving light from that which is outside of our bodies and translating that into our external reality. The only time we see from the outside in is when we see a photo or when we look in a mirror, and we do both of these things many times during a day. Far more seeing out than seeing ourselves, for sure. Consequently, we create an image of ourselves from inside that might conflict with the image in the mirror. In other words, the inner vision of ourselves and the outer version do not necessarily match.

Lately, in the last few weeks, I've been finally taking the advice from Louise Hay to do some "mirror talk." Truth is, I've always done mirror talk. I'm speculating that we all do it. Why would it just be me? And, the key is what we are saying about ourselves as we see our reflection in the mirror?

I used to look for flaws. blackheads, whiteheads, spider veins becoming more prevalent, skin texture, coloring, puffy cheeks, lines and crevasses, dry cracked lips, receding hairline, that nose that keeps growing, eyebrows in need of maintenance, my red face (neck, arms, etc.), and the list went on and on. There was so much to be concerned about; so many imperfections to see. All of that had me feeling like crap about myself, causing me to think even further about the rest of my body and all the massive flaws there too, and how all of those things were in need of change. This is a path to nothing but stress.

So I decided to heed Louise's advice and say positive things and look for joy instead of pain, to look for beautiful instead of ugly, to see wellness instead of illness. As I was realizing that I had made this change last evening just before bed when I rinsed my face and while my face was still wet, I was loving myself exactly as I was, I thought that I would share that with whoever is reading this. Because this change has taken me from disappointment all the way to love and joy.

What did I say to the mirror image? I said, "You are beautiful. All of your so-called flaws are not that at all. You have beautiful eyes. Yes, they are older now, but they are as bright a blue as they have ever been. Your skin coloring is perfect. You are perfect exactly as you are. You are a wonderful person and whatever you have done or not done in your life is perfect. You are a magnificent example of a human being, and beyond this human suit you are wearing, you are Love. Your smile is delightful. I love you!"

Each morning, evening, or whenever I pass a mirror now, I am saying something positive and uplifting to myself. This is also causing me to think these kinds of thoughts all day long. As I think about something that I might have previously thought of as a mistake in my life travel, I now see that as guidance toward growth and expansion. As I might think of some painful event in the past, I see it now as a stepping stone toward the joy that rules my life now.

I can see more clearly now. I can see that things that used to go bump in the night were nudges back onto my chosen path. I can see how love rules my life now, and how all that blaming and judgment of others in the past is nearly gone from my life. And, the worst of any of those things was as people have said that we are our own worst critics. The benefit from this change is seeing the real me, the truer me, the loving me, the embraceable me.

I hope that if you have been experiencing any of that negative self-talk when you look at a picture of you or look in the mirror, that what I have said here may be of benefit in moving toward loving yourself instead. It not only feels better, it is the ultimate encouragement.


True Love Begins With The Self. After all, You Are With Yourself Constantly. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by loving you as you as God loves you.

Daily Inspiration 6-13-17

"Where we are drawing from the infinite 

we need never be afraid 

of taking more than our share."

-- Thomas Troward

Yesterday, I shared a post from 2012 that had some quotes in it from The Spirit of Opulence by Judge Thomas Troward, so I thought that I would share the entire piece. It's the kind of thing to print out and read many times, for it contains such volumes of wisdom and more important than this: encouragement. There is no need to put limits on ourselves as the Universe is limitless, by our agreed understanding. Here is:

The Spirit of Opulence

by Thomas Troward

"It is quite a mistake to suppose that we must restrict and stint ourselves in order to develop greater power or usefulness. This is to form the conception of the Divine Power as so limited that the best use we can make of it is by a policy of self-starvation, whether material or mental. Of course, if we believe that some form of self-starvation is necessary to our producing good work, then so long as we entertain this belief the fact actually is so for us. “Whatsoever is not of faith”—that is, not in accordance with our honest belief—“is sin”; and by acting contrary to what we really believe we bring in a suggestion of opposition to the Divine Spirit, which must necessarily paralyze our efforts, and surround us with a murky atmosphere of distrust and want of joy.

But all this exists in, and is produced by, our belief; and when we come to examine the grounds of this belief we shall find that it rests upon an entire misapprehension of the nature of our own power. If we clearly realize that the creative power in ourselves is unlimited, then there is no reason for limiting the extent to which we may enjoy what we can create by means of it. Where we are drawing from the infinite we need never be afraid of taking more than our share. That is not where the danger lies. The danger is in not sufficiently realizing our own richness, and in looking upon the externalized products of our creative power as being the true riches instead of the creative power of spirit itself.

If we avoid this error, there is no need to limit ourselves in taking what we will from the infinite storehouse: “All things are yours.” And the way to avoid this error is by realizing that the true wealth is in identifying ourselves with the spirit of opulence. We must be opulent in our thought. Do not “think money,” as such, for it is only one means of opulence; but think opulence, that is, largely, generously, liberally, and you will find that the means of realizing this thought will flow to you from all quarters, whether as money or as a hundred other things not to be reckoned in cash.

We must not make ourselves dependent on any particular form of wealth, or insist on its coming to us through some particular channel—that is at once to impose a limitation, and to shut out other forms of wealth and to close other channels, but we must enter into the spirit of it. Now the spirit is Life, and throughout the universe Life ultimately consists in circulation, whether within the physical body of the individual or on the scale of the entire solar system; and circulation means a continual flowing around, and the spirit of opulence is no exception to this universal law of all life.

When once this principle becomes clear to us we shall see that our attention should be directed rather to the giving than the receiving. We must look upon ourselves, not as misers’ chests to be kept locked for our own benefit, but as centers of distribution; and the better we fulfill our function as such centers the greater will be the corresponding inflow. If we choke the outlet the current must slacken, and a full and free flow can be obtained only by keeping it open. The spirit of opulence—the opulent mode of thought, that is—consists in cultivating the feeling that we possess all sorts of riches which we can bestow upon others, and which we can bestow liberally because by this very action we open the way for still greater supplies to flow in. But you say, “I am short of money, I hardly know how to pay for necessaries. What have I to give?”

The answer is that we must always start from the point where we are; and if your wealth at the present moment is not abundant on the material plane, you need not trouble to start on that plane. There are other sorts of wealth, still more valuable, on the spiritual and intellectual planes, which you can give; and you can start from this point and practice the spirit of opulence, even though your balance at the bank may be nil. And then the universal law of attraction will begin to assert itself. You will not only begin to experience an inflow on the spiritual and intellectual planes, but it will extend itself to the material plane also.

If you have realized the spirit of opulence you cannot help drawing to yourself material good, as well as that higher wealth which is not to be measured by a money standard; and because you truly understand the spirit of opulence you will neither affect to despise this form of good, nor will you attribute to it a value that does not belong to it; but you will co-ordinate it with your other more interior forms of wealth so as to make it the material instrument in smoothing the way for their more perfect expression. Used thus, with understanding of the relation which it bears to spiritual and intellectual wealth, material wealth become one with them, and is no more to be shunned and feared than it is to be sought for its own sake.

It is not money, but the love of money, that is the root of all evil; and the spirit of opulence is precisely the attitude of mind which is furthest removed from the love of money for its own sake. It does not believe in money. What it does believe in is the generous feeling which is the intuitive recognition of the great law of circulation, which does not in any undertaking make its first question, How much am I going to get by it? But, How much am I going to do by it? And making this the first question, the getting will flow in with a generous profusion, and with a spontaneousness and rightness of direction that are absent when our first thought is of receiving only.

We are not called upon to give what we have not yet got and to run into debt; but we are to give liberally of what we have, with the knowledge that by so doing we are setting the law of circulation to work, and as this law brings us greater and greater inflows of every kind of good, so our out-giving will increase, not by depriving ourselves of any expansion of our own life that we may desire, but by finding that every expansion makes us the more powerful instruments for expanding the life of others. “Live and let live” is the motto of the true opulence."

--Thomas Troward, from “Hidden Power and Other Papers Upon Mental Science”


Enjoy Your Expansion!

Spread some joy today--by imagining the positive possibilities that lie waiting to be accepted by you.

Daily Inspiration 6-12-17

"If we clearly realize that the creative power

in ourselves is unlimited, then there is no reason

for limiting the extent to which we may

enjoy what we can create by means of it."

-- Thomas Troward

[Classic post from 3-22-12]

I was brought up as the eldest of five in an environment of lack. The common complaint was that there wasn't enough, yet the reality is that there was always enough. A better way to say it was a lack mentality, or there was a focus on lack, or always looking at the glass as half empty on its way to empty.

I didn't really know any better than to think those same things and then throughout my own life, I chanted similar sentiments, continually reinforcing the lack. Luxuries were a rare event for sure, but looking back, I see clearly that there was always enough and that it was this attitude, or way of looking at things that created a consistent flow of more of the same.

It is only now that I am thinking differently about this by ignoring what is, and focusing on opulence and generosity, which naturally means that there is more than enough so that there is plenty to give away. One thing that has helped me is a short piece by Thomas Troward called, The Spirit of Opulence. I've shared the entire piece previously, but today I want to share just a bit to reinforce what I am saying about my purposeful change in attitude.

I'll start with this short quote with bold highlights that are mine: "The spirit of opulence--the opulent mode of thought, that is--consists in cultivating the feeling that we possess all sorts of riches which we can bestow upon others, and which we can bestow liberally because by this very action we open the way for still greater supplies to flow in. But you say, "I am short of money, I hardly know how to pay for necessaries. What have I to give?"

"The answer is that we must always start from the point where we are; and if your wealth at the present moment is not abundant on the material plane, you need not trouble to start on that plane. There are other sorts of wealth, still more valuable, on the spiritual and intellectual planes, which you can give; and you can start from this point and practice the spirit of opulence, even though your balance at the bank may be nil. And then the universal law of attraction will begin to assert itself. You will not only begin to experience an inflow on the spiritual and intellectual planes, but it will extend itself to the material plane also."

I have taken this wonderful advice written in approximately 1921 to heart and have concentrated in the last several years on practicing the spirit of opulence by giving most generously in many ways other than in dollars. There are many who concentrate on nothing other than dollars, and I think this is so limiting. I am so wealthy in so many ways and it is a sheer joy to share any and all of that wealth in the spirit of opulence.

I Highly Recommend This Practice!

Spread Some Joy Today--Realizing that you have spiritual wealth is the embodiment of joy sharing capacity. Focus on your wealth to realize you have more than enough to share.

Daily Inspiration 6-11-17

"It is, a very common,

ancient, well-perfected device

for trying to feel better:

Blaming others."

-- Pema Chödrön

She continues, "Blaming is a way to protect your heart, trying to protect what is soft and open and tender in yourself. Rather than own that pain, we scramble to find some comfortable ground." And, often, we seem to find what we think is more comfortable by blaming others or circumstances or events. But, is it more comfortable? Does it feel better? Really?

What was eye-opening to me in this quote was that I had never thought of blaming as an attempt at trying to feel better, and yet it resonated with me. Protection, yes. I get that. Protecting myself and my ego, trying to put the spotlight somewhere else. Heck, we learn this at very young ages. But, trying to feel better? To feel good instead of bad? That seemed so different to me.

Another quote regarding blaming from Pema is this one:

"We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who's right and who's wrong. We do that with the people who are closest to us and we do it with political systems, with all kinds of things that we don't like about our associates or our society."

Certainly, it is a defensive mechanism, yet I never thought of blame as a way of not communicating genuinely with others. It makes total sense. Fortifying it with our accumulated concepts of right and wrong adds even more clarity. I also know how we have a tendency to do it across the board in life, and it is especially easy with things that are not very close to us. I think it is harder to blame the other when they are really close, though we do it anyway, if not outright verbally, within our inner constant dialog.

But, rather than blame, I think Pema gives the way through and to resolve rather than pretend it is another's fault is this:

"Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look."

We don't have to stay there, but accepting responsibility for how we feel and how we may have created this feeling can help us come to own it and brings us to allow it to pass away without becoming attached to it.

Even more clearly, she shows a more enlightened approach:

"If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher." 


Whether We Blame Ourselves Or Others, Is There Really Any Benefit In That? 

Spread Some Joy Today--by letting go of the need to blame. Try accepting the way things are and finding loving ways to resolve issues.

Daily Inspiration 6-10-17

"The concepts

of right and wrong,

good and evil,

exist only in a finite view."

-- Albert K. Strong

Close up, it is easy to see right and wrong. Hard to ignore.

In the last many weeks, I have been reading the books of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Robert Caro. His four-volume series, The Years of Lyndon Johnson, (only 3,557 pages!) is a lifetime of work, and the fifth volume is still coming at some point.

His first book, The Power Broker about Robert Moses is a masterwork about New York City, massive public works projects, and how one man could control so much power in the city and the state of New York, and who may have been the most prolific builder in all of history. Both of these works are a study in power, and from an even bigger perspective, idealism and practicality in the human endeavor.

I didn't just learn about the people in these books and not even the overriding subject of power and influence and achievement. I didn't just learn, no--I was enlightened. Even that word seems so weak. My consciousness was expanded. I will never be the same as a result of what I read.

I've been practicing trying to explain in as short a manner as possible what I got out of these books. What I just wrote is part of it, but it is also more.

Two days ago, at the check-out in Sam's Club, I had my headset in my ears with the audiobook off for the moment and the young female clerk asked what I was listening to. I told her it was an audiobook called The Power Broker and she asked me what I had learned from it. In a split second, I was amazed at her insightful question, and in a couple of seconds formulated my necessary short answer. Here is what I said:

"Right and wrong exist only up close. The further away we get, right and wrong do not exist."

She seemed fascinated with that answer and seemed like she wanted to sit down and have me explain more about that to her, but the next customer was cued up.

Right and wrong have left the building. Out here it is not existent.

As I was leaving, I was so grateful to her for asking that wonderful question and having very little time to answer it. It was as succinct as I can imagine getting in explaining the overriding theme that I received from the 1,162 pages of this book in less than 15 seconds. The Lyndon Johnson series brings the total to 4,719 pages matching that same theme and answer.

This morning getting a haircut, I told my hair stylist about that encounter and what I learned from these great books. It made sense to her. We talked then about how so often we make judgments about events or people when we don't know the whole story and we may never know any but the smallest piece of a story. I told her that applies to others and it applies to ourselves in how we may remember things differently at different times and so on.

I told her that the best result for me personally is to step back in every situation and try to get a larger perspective and allow things to unfold rather than simply making a judgment.

She thought that maybe we should all do this and I said, no, that doing that would never work. The best we can do is to allow others to believe as they choose, to make judgments as they choose, to do or say what they choose, as we allow ourselves to gain a perspective where we can see how all that works together gaining a better understanding of all of life. As we express our own perspective to those who want to see or hear it, they can adopt some ours for their own, or let it be as they choose.

And, that is how it was from the books. All of it worked together. It is like watching the earth from space how the clouds are moving around, the earth is spinning and circling the sun at the same time, the water and the land, all of it in harmony, traveling in harmony, in divine operation without any of our input or concerns. Yet, it is fascinating also to see things closer up and to see it unfolding in its own way.


The End Result In Just One Word? Love. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by enjoying the unfolding joy in your life.

Daily Inspiration 6-9-17

"You don't make mistakes.

Mistakes make you.

Mistakes make you smarter.

Mistakes make you stronger.

And, they make you more self-reliant."

-- Harriet Lauler, 

played by Shirley MacLaine

written by Stuart Ross Fink

from the movie, The Last Word

A few moments later in the movie, Harriet advises Anne Sherman, played by Amanda Seyfried to not only not fear failure or try to avoid it, but to purposefully fail:

"Fall on your face! Fail. Fail spectacularly! When you fail, you learn. When you fail, you live."

In an earlier part, these questions were asked when she was talking to some young kids about all the big risks she took in her life:

"You have to ask yourself this question: Are you willing to take a risk to do something stupid, or, are you willing to take a risk to do something great?"

It always fascinates me what I learn from movies. And, in some, I gain whole new perspectives about my own travels through life.

I loved these gems I just shared with you, and yet I gleaned more from this delightful flick. I saw deeper into someone than the surface knowing may indicate. I saw beyond the harsh, angry, controlling facade of someone who is manipulative and overbearing into that soft, gooey, loving and divine part so effectively hidden until some circumstance, or some encounter with another, or others open that faint crack wider and wider until there is no more animosity, hatred, disdain, or fear, and then there is ourselves in some way, and there is infinite love. And, in this, all are affected.

How can that be? Someone who is hated by everyone in their life, including family, and blaming all others for their plot in life (pun intended) is not really that at all. It is only a show. It is only a facade. What is beyond the facade is what is real.

It reminds me of a grand statement in the preface of A Course In Miracles, where it is said: "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God." 


Seeing Beyond What I Think I See. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by loving the unloved, the rejected, the downtrodden, the discarded. Seeing ourselves in them helps us to love them and to allow them to allow their own love to surface and show the real person within.

Daily Inspiration 6-8-17

"There is not a more pleasing exercise

of the mind than gratitude.

It is accompanied with such an inward satisfaction

that the duty is sufficiently rewarded

by the performance."

-- Joseph Addison

[Classic post from 6-15-10]

While searching for something else, I found a site about psychology and someone was stating what a loser they were and how everything goes wrong and how terrified they are and how depressed they feel and they are 25 and unemployed and living at home and on and on and on. Then there were all these responses to the lengthy statement of how bad things are and how hopeless life is right now. The responses were all over the place, some recommending psychotherapy, others to stay away from self-help books and others trying to cheer him up by just being positive and upbeat. It was an interesting read.

I have an easier answer and a much more effective one too. Get ready. . . here comes the wisdom of the world. . . to solve almost all of life's problems, turn your life around and turn your life on. . . Here it is--gratitude.

The other day I had a sort of revelation while driving. I was thinking about some people who have told me that they have a hard time being grateful for so many things. I always suggest that they not worry about that aspect and just pretend to be grateful and that the practice of pretending will bring it to you in reality. I know this because I did it myself.

So in the car, I was thinking about those responses and it came to me that the whole purpose of gratitude is to get out of yourself! Wow. I thought that was pretty powerful, simple, and very enlightening. It's so simple that it is taken for granted.

We're into ourselves 24/7 because we are inside ourselves and everything else is outside. We think thoughts so fast and we've accumulated so many habits and beliefs. Sometimes the only way to get some perspective is to find a way to get outside of ourselves, even if only for a few short minutes. The benefits can be life-changing. And, the way to do that immediately and surely each and every time is to be grateful. Find things to be grateful for. Express gratitude for people, things, and events. Seek thankfulness and enjoy the rewards of that outward expression of inward thought.

If you ever feel down, seek to be grateful for being there. If that doesn't work, find something else to be grateful for. It doesn't matter how big or small. To God, I don't think there is such a thing. Just find something, anything. Then begin adding things. It could be that the sky is blue or that water comes out of the faucet, then it could be gratitude for the family, the home you live in. Believe me, the list will grow and grow and grow. There is so much to be thankful for. Make a list today!


There Is Always Something. . . To Be Grateful For!

Spread Some Joy Today--I know it for a fact and have proven it to many others: become grateful and your life will always be full--beginning with the day you become grateful.

Daily Inspiration 6-7-17

"Holding a grudge

is like walking on hot coals

while being chained to a post."

-- Albert K. Strong

Nelson Mandella said, "Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies." When looked at from either of these perspectives, it is filled with pain and only harming ourselves.

It begs the question: What good could possibly come from that?

Nelson Mandella was an angry man, and that anger was easily justified in his mind and that of many around him, and he learned while in prison for many years what good that anger did. He heaped hot coals upon his own head for a long time until he came to the realization that it was only himself that he was doing harm to--like drinking poison and then hoping it would kill his enemies.

I watched an excellent short video last weekend from Davidji. I subscribe to his weekend meditation emails and find myself learning more every week on choosing a more peaceful perspective. In the video, Davidji said this line that resonated with me:

"Having gratitude for the painful moments is the true life lesson."

What good can possibly come from painful moments? A grateful heart would be at the top of the list in my mind. Why? It's not so much because it is a lesson that I need to learn, but a perspective that I am encouraged to view that can help me come back to love.

Drinking poison won't help me, holding a grudge keeps me in a repetitive cycle of self-inflicted pain. A few simple questions at any point leading me toward a better perspective might be, how's that working for me? Is this what I want? Do I want to feel this way? Am I in charge of my own life?

When I can find gratitude, to be grateful for, thankful for, blessed by a situation I was in pain about, I can see beyond the pain. I can take responsibility for the pain as being self-inflicted. I can see a grander perspective of life in general and how harmony and disharmony co-relate everywhere, and that out of disharmony, harmony is born in desire for its own sake, all leading back to love.


Love Is The Larger Perspective.

Spread Some Joy Today--by taking another look from a different point of view to see the benefit that magically appears from that perspective.

Daily Inspiration 6-6-17

"In the phrase,

'power and control,'

power is the ability,

and control is the choice."

-- Albert K. Strong

Contrary to popular misconception, each and every person on this planet, have the same exact amount of power and choice. No one has more than another regardless of how it may appear. We all have the power of thought--the ability to think. We all have the unique choice of choosing the thoughts that we think. No other regardless of position has more power than any other in these. Unless they abdicate their own power.

I was reminded this morning by a few key phrases I was reading in Money, and the Law of Attraction, by Esther & Jerry Hicks and the Teachings of Abraham. Here are some of those phrases and thoughts that resonated with me:

"If you will bring yourself to a more deliberate control of your own thought, you will bring yourself to a more deliberate control of your own life experience."

I remembered that no one has any power over my thought unless I allow that. I alone retain the power of thought in me and I alone control my choices of what I will think.

"As you develop the habit of looking for good-feeling thoughts, the circumstances that surround you must improve. The Law of Attraction demands it. When you feel good, you experience the sensation of doors opening as the Universe is cooperating with you; and when you feel bad, it feels as if the doors are closing and the cooperation stops."

The key, of course, is paying attention to how I am feeling and having a desire to feel good. I have the power and the choice here always and in all ways. Feeling bad is merely and exquisitely a wake-up call that feeling bad is not what I really want, thereby giving me an opportunity to choose differently. Whatever the negative feeling is I might call bad is simply telling me that I am out of alignment with what I want. As I focus on a pothole and become upset that it is there, I find more of them to be upset about. As I focus on beauty, I find more beauty to love.

This last part is such a powerful learning experience for me:

"You must not rely on conditions changing in order to control the way you feel. You must improve your ability to focus positively regardless of the condition--and to do that, it helps to remember that every subject has wanted and unwanted within it, and that, if you are deliberate, you can find something that feels better."

Abraham was pointing this out by how we might be in some kind of relationship (romantic, work, or any other), and see the other or others experiencing pain in a situation, maybe even blaming us for the pain. We may want their pain to subside and to have them feel better, but often we may be feeling their pain within ourselves. They add this very important bit:

"We just want to emphasize that you are not feeling their pain, caused by their situation, but instead you are feeling your own pain brought about by your own thinking. There is great control in that knowledge, and, in fact, true freedom."

Again, we all have the same power and choice, but not in another. We only have that power within ourselves. We cannot make another feel anything, but we can certainly and exclusively choose how we want to feel by what we are choosing to think.

One of the most empowering things that we can do toward inner peace is to allow all others to think and choose as they will without any insistence that they will satisfy us. Only we have that power for ourselves.


Our Individual Power And Ability Reign.

Spread Some Joy Today--by rejoicing in your power of thought and choice.

Daily Inspiration 6-5-17

"Seconds tick you closer to death.

Moments bring you closer to life."

-- Alan Cohen

Spend them. Savor them. In a hurry or in calm. In worry or in peace. On time or on point. Confronting or allowing. Upset or in love. Out of focus or in clarity. Complacent or in joy.


How Ever They Are For You, Is Purely Up To You.

Spread some joy today--in the culture of your moments.

Daily Inspiration 6-4-17

"We aren't selling anything!"

-- Chili Palmer,
played by John Travolta

in the movie, Be Cool

You've probably seen or heard the phrase, lack mentality, or lack mindset, or, limiting beliefs. We all have beliefs. A lot of them. Some are helpful and some are not so helpful. Having a lack-mentality is one that is not helpful. It is a limiting belief, and yet it is prominent in our world today and throughout history.

As I learn more about myself, I have paid more attention to my thoughts, and especially my lack-oriented thoughts. I want abundance. I want abundant thoughts and I have many of those, and more of them all the time as I grow in my expanding awareness of the natural abundance of our planet and our universe. I don't want to think about what I don't have, wish I had, worry, and such, and yet, it is there. It is there because I have had a great deal of input from my parents and the world in general to support the idea of lack and not so much about abundance. It is my strong desire to really know abundance that has led me to attract teachers that support me in a better way.

I recently bought two books that are helping me look at those limiting beliefs I've carried with me through my life. One is short, easy and delightfully titled, The Abundance Code, by Julie Ann Cairns. It is about 7 predominant money myths that most of us have heard and experienced many times in many ways, such as an old saying like, "money doesn't grow on trees, time is money, and others. I am enjoying the information and it is putting some of my lackful thinking into words and mental images I can easily see reoccurring in my life.

The other is somewhat more academic by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler: Abundance - The Future Is Better Than You Think. I've only just stepped into this book and I can already see how helpful it is to realize that abundance is the rule and lack is the myth, though our world often reverses that.

Then, as I was thinking about how to share my thoughts on this subject this morning, I remembered one of my favorite movies because it makes me laugh out loud every time I watch it: Be Cool, which is a sequel to Get Shorty. Both excellent. I had never thought about that movie in this way, but I thought that the movie is all about lack and abundance mindsets. Chili Palmer has an abundance mindset. He sees possibilities all day long and isn't fearful to step out with confidence in an abundant result, while all around him is fear and worry and lackful thinking, as in what can't be done, shouldn't be done, and more. It made me laugh to consider this new insight into this movie and to see it from that perspective.

When you've got some financial issues (and it need not be financial as it can be about any lackful thoughts), and you have assets you could sell, do you think of doing that? Even if you aren't acting on it, do you think that? I have done that so many times in my life not realizing that this was lackful thinking, my limiting beliefs about money and about having and not having, stress and relief and more.

As I was pacing my office, which I do when I am just thinking about things, I was having some of those thoughts and I realized that I was having them. I recognized them as my limiting beliefs in action in my mind. All of a sudden, Chili Palmer's ultra-confident and massively abundant statement came to me: "We're not selling anything!" I started laughing again. I'm talking joyful laughter where the smile takes a long time to fade from my delighted face.

This is a definite indication that I am not quite "there yet." I am certainly a work in progress; however, I have made significant progress! If nothing else, I am aware now of these limiting beliefs, and how they come in and try to take over my mind. I watch them come in and watch them for a while and then I find the benefit of their visit. It is often to remind me to pay more attention to what I want instead of what I might have at the moment.


Lack And Abundance Have Two Things In Common: Awareness And Choice. 

Spread Some Joy Today--because every single moment is a new opportunity to choose joy and something else. Which one feels right to you?

Daily Inspiration 6-3-17

"A loving silence

often has far more power 

to heal and connect than the
most well-intentioned words."

-- Rachel Naomi Remen

This is especially true when there may be differing points of view of what may be happening in another's life. To simply support them in their point of view and their choice of thought and feeling is one of the best definitions of being loving.


Sometimes Words Just Get In The Way. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by allowing others their choice of experience with our loving support.

Daily Inspiration 6-2-17

"Today,

no matter where I am going

and no matter what I am doing,

it is my dominant intent

to see that which

I am wanting to see."

-- Abraham, Esther Hicks

I've had this empowering affirmation printed out and on my wall for at least a few years now. I love it and have long ago memorized it, yet it is so beneficial to be there on the wall to remind me.

Perhaps underneath that printed page, there should be another that says, "How's that goin' for ya?" And, it is that question that caused me to write about this today.

If I were to answer that question, I would say, "It's going pretty well. The majority of the time now, I think I am seeing what I want to see, and sometimes I don't, but then I am reminded that I am empowered to see that which I want to see, to experience that which I want to experience. Then, I can get back on board so to speak."

The difference now with a few years of practice is that it takes less and less time to get back on board in my empowerment. But, what came to me this morning is that as I am seeing that which I don't want to see, it is simply that I am out of alignment with what I want to see. I'm not lining up with myself and instead, I am wandering around. I've gone walkabout as they say in Australia.

I used to go far on my walkabout and now the distance is shorter. I realize that I'm moving away and I can tell because I am paying attention to how I feel. If I am feeling tense, irritated, upset, angered, it is such a great clue as to where my thoughts have taken me. When I am aligned with myself and seeing what I want to see, I feel calm, relaxed, happy, peaceful, and even joyous.

This morning I read something on the front page of the newspaper that caused me to instantly go walkabout. I felt how I was feeling and it was sadness, disappointment, even some anger, and disgust. It doesn't take long anymore for me to realize what is going on. I'm out of alignment with what I want, and what I want to see and to experience.

I get to choose that and this is what makes it so empowering to me. All I need to do is to lay down the rope of resistance that I find myself pulling on, and turn toward what I want to see and experience. Once that is done, I am back in alignment, back on track, in my power. In this place, I am aligning with what I want to see. And, that is then what I see. Life is good again regardless of what any other may be choosing for themselves.


What Are You Aligning Yourself With Today? 

Spread Some Joy Today--by breathing deeply, laying down the rope, remembering you have the power of choice. Always. Always. Always. No one else can think for you. Only you can do that for you.

Daily Inspiration 6-1-17

"Men are anxious to improve their circumstances,

but are unwilling to improve themselves; 

they, therefore, remain bound."

- James Allen, 

As A Man Thinketh

[Classic post from 9-29-09. This was the first post that started the CTS Daily Inspirations]

Most of my life I was anxious to improve my circumstances and I did that mainly by complaining about them. I really wanted things to change, but I really wanted to wake up in the morning and have it all done for me during the night.

I've read a lot of books trying to improve myself and very little action in making the changes. Why? Because it is hard to change. And who really wants to anyway? No one wants to be uncomfortable.

I would go through fits and starts at making changes--many fits and few starts and even fewer finishers. Heck, I quit smoking at least 10,000 times, and I was serious about changing until the next morning when the desire kicked in. So many starts, so many times. I got really good at making changes that didn't have any lasting effect because nothing changed very much.

Sound the least bit familiar?

Here's what happened to me to improve myself and get unbound: Decisiveness. I began with desire and a plan of any kind, and made a firm decision to do it, whatever it was. I kept on deciding to decide and getting stronger all the time. Think about it, there is not much worse in feeling powerless than not deciding. Fretting about making the wrong decision, what other people will say and many other things that don't really and truly matter. It is just fear. Decision chases fear away like no other action.

You want to improve your circumstances? Decide you will do it. Decide you will improve yourself. Pick up the books, take the courses, get the info and get going. When a question comes up, just chase it way with your strength of character! You're in charge now! You are a decisive person! You can change your world!

There is only two more powerful phrases than, "I CAN." They are "I WILL" and when you really get there: "I AM."


Have an awesome day!

Spread some joy today--smile!