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A Single Simple Truth
During a family gathering over Christmas a family member who identifies himself as a Christian and one who considers himself an atheist got into an argument over religious beliefs. The position of the Christian was that Jesus was a savior who died for the sins of all of humanity and Christmas should include a time to honor that sacrifice. The atheist argued that if Jesus existed at all, that he was nothing more than a man with a convincing enough story that he was able to sell it to a lot of desperate people. He stated that he observed Christmas only as a way to express love to his family and friends and that the spirit of Christmas was all that needed to be acknowledged.
This unwinnable debate brought to mind the many instances I have had over the years of people who call themselves Christians asking me if I am a Christian. I generally reply to that question with a question of my own. “What exactly do you mean by ‘Christian’?” If the answer is that a Christian believes Jesus died for our sins and that we can only be saved through Jesus, I answer “No, I am not that kind of Christian.” Most of the time individuals will ask what other kind of Christian there is. My answer to that is “The kind of Christian who heard Jesus’ core message and adheres to the spirit of that message.”
Those who have truly studied the life and teachings of Jesus, apart from all the other stuff added by others over time, recognize that the core message is one of love and when you get right to the core of the message, you recognize that it doesn’t matter whether Jesus was a historical figure, as some believe, or simply a myth manufactured as a parable or teaching metaphor as others claim. When you boil it all down to love, the story is rich and full and worthy of perpetual repetition, not as history or myth, but for the purest of reasons; love.
Love is actually the entire story. It aligns religion and science and allows the theist and the atheist to agree. When love is considered from a core perspective, religion and science are in perfect agreement; they are just using different terms. But, as Shakespeare observed, “a rose by any other name is just as sweet.”
When we consider that the core message of Jesus was love and we look at the power of love, we find that the source of every miracle anyone has ever performed is really just love in action. Love does indeed heal the sick and raise the dead, and not just those who are emotionally dead either. Many people have been brought back to life by someone passionately administering CPR or by a doctor working passionately over a clinically dead patient to revive them.
And that’s just the beginning. Love is actually irresistible attraction and when you explore irresistible attraction, you discover that virtually everything that exists; all matter, all life, all energy has its being in irresistible attraction. Every substance, be it solid, liquid, or gas is made up of atoms which are themselves made up of electrons, protons and neutrons with specific attraction features. All matter, all energy and even life itself exists because of irresistible attraction.
Science calls irresistible attraction by names like electromagnetism, gravity, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, etc. Biologists call it instinct. Psychologists call it urges, obsessions, wants and needs. Some who consider it from a spiritual perspective call it the law of attraction, others call it love.
No matter what you call it or to what source you attribute it, the result is the same. Love creates. Love heals. Love attracts. All that exists or ever has existed or ever will exist has its being in irresistible attraction and in the purest sense that is exactly what love is. The scientifically minded can call it whatever they want as can the spiritually inclined, but it’s just a “rose” by another name.
We often hear religious people proclaim “God is love.” Perhaps a more accurate statement might be “Love is God.” If all things exist, including life itself, as a result of irresistible attraction and if love is simply a term for irresistible attraction, then truly love is the source of all creation.
Some people believe that Christmas is a celebration of a man named Jesus. Some believe it is about the spirit of love and giving. Ultimately, everyone is right. Jesus taught love. He lived by it and he died for it. So the real story of Jesus is that love heals. Through love we are able to forgive past transgressions. Through love we help and support one another. Through love we gather together to celebrate the bonds we share with family and friends.
No matter what we believe about Christmas or the reason for the season, at the core of it all is a single, simple truth; all things come together as a result of irresistible attraction; that universal force which some see as science and some know as love.
Problems Are Gifts
What appears to be a difficulty or a problem is a GIFT. The purpose of the gift is to enable you to grow to your fullest capacity. As long as you see the gift as a problem and resist it, the Giver of the Gift will continue to present it to you. When you have learned to accept the gift, utilize it and be thankful for the growth the gift brings you, similar gifts will cease to be presented, as growth in that particular area will no longer be required.
Never in the life of man will man be without such Gifts, for there is always room for growth and upward evolution. When you no longer need growth in the earth plane, you will cease to exist in that plane.
You will never have an uneventful life, nor would you really want one. You only think you do. Learn to find the lesson in the Gift and appreciate the opportunity for growth that the Gift brings, then prepare yourself for your next Gift and the opportunity it provides you, for surely it will arrive.
As long as you reject the Gift; as long as you see the Gift as a problem to be avoided or resisted, you will not know growth and you will not know peace.
Learn to embrace the Gifts that are presented to you for they are all given for your benefit.
Posted in Abundance Principles, Spirit
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The symphony of Life
In reality we are just one part of a great symphony of life. We play one instrument–ours–and that is all we have control of. If we play our own instrument beautifully and choose the orchestra we play in carefully, the odds are good that we will experience beautiful music most of the time. But, if other people in the orchestra happen to play discordant notes, we will be impacted by them. We should not, however, allow their discord to deter us from playing our music beautifully.
Posted in Abundance Principles, Spirit
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Can You Hear Me Now?
The phone rang as George and I were preparing for our morning exercise and meditation, so we let the answering machine pick it up. The caller had dialed the wrong number and left a message about someone’s hearing aids.
We mused about the call and George stated that he often got calls from Hearing
Aid companies because his mother had worn them and they assumed he would need
them. He commented that his hearing wad good except for high tones that matched the ringing caused by tinnitus.
“Funny thing is,” he said, “is that I don’t notice the ringing until I think about.” This led to a discussion of the power of the subconscious mind which led to a discussion of the power of the Universe to direct energy beyond what we generally consider.
We had no control over the phone call yet it was instrumental in generating new
insights. We have had no control over many things; some of which are aggravating and some of which seem miraculous. Like a little Hibiscus tree I bought before George and I got married which produced only two beautiful blooms in its lifetime and those two blooms issued forth in amazing glory on our wedding day like a gift of celebration from the Universe.
Most of us believe that every result is up to us. This limits our ability to tap into all the possibilities that are around us all the time and to experience the miracles which regularly occur when caring people come together to support one another.
Posted in Abundance Principles, Mind
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An Ice Cream Misadventure
The Mishap: It was a summer job of many years ago that almost gave me a permanent distaste for the frozen delight. The job was driving an ice cream truck, not the “Good Humor” kind, but a large Ford F-8 with refrigerated box that was capable of delivering large quantities of product to grocery stores and markets. I was to replace the vacationing route drivers and the job involved carrying cash, since back then the transactions were mostly COD.
Things were going pretty well for over 2 months with just the normal problems, until that infamous day. It was a late Friday afternoon and I was hurrying to finish up. My next stop was a small store and gas station out in the country. I was pushing the old truck for all it had, which wasn’t much. Since I was the newbie and junior guy, I got the oldest and most tired of the fleet.
As I pulled into the store parking area, I noticed a cloud of smoke in my rear view mirror and figured the old girl’s engine was on its last legs. Coming to a stop, I pulled the hand brake as I always did and shifted into low gear. I noticed brake handle didn’t seem to have any resistance, but, being in a hurry, I went in the store to take their order.
The Mayhem: Some minutes later, a man rushes in saying “There’s a truck on fire.” Sure enough the old F-8 was ablaze. The emergency brake had evidently never released from the last stop. It had overheated setting a collection of old papers and trash under the front seat on fire. I tried to get the fire extinguisher and rescue rolls of coins that I kept in the glove compartment, but the smoke was too much. The coins were later found in melted gobs. The next concern was the truck’s gas tank which was behind the seat.
Then, before the local volunteer firemen could arrive, the truck’s starter shorted out from the heat and began to operate. With the truck in low gear, no emergency brake, and the starter spinning, the blazing vehicle began to slowly creep toward the store’s gas pumps and all we could do was stand back and watch the pending disaster.
The Miracle: The firemen arrived at almost the time the starter died and the crisis was averted. Whew!
Posted in Mishaps, Mayhem and Miracles
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The Key to the Kingdom
The kingdom referred to in the title of this post is the kingdom of the mind; the center of all passion, all motivation and every outcome.The key to that kingdom is the alignment of conscious desires and subconscious patterns.
Having studied the subconscious mind for 25 years and spent the last 23 working with people at a subconscious level, I am ever awed at its power and its willingness to provide anything its owner believes he/she needs and deserves—and it executes commands flawlessly.
The longer you hold a belief and repeat the behaviors that align with that belief, the more ingrained the belief and the actions become. At some point, they turn into habits and then into patterns.
Once a habit deepens into an ingrained pattern, it is almost impossible to change through conscious determination. At the point of habit, we are still consciously aware of our actions and usually the beliefs and attitudes that drive them. And we can sometimes affect the habit with repeated effort. It takes a lot of determination though, and can take six weeks or longer.
The problem with trying to change habits at a conscious level is that most people don’t stick with the change consistently for the duration. What most people don’t understand is that, if you slip even once in that six-week period, you are back to square one—meaning you have to start all over and go six more weeks without slipping.
Recent brain research suggests—and my experiences over the years validate— that each time you lose resolve and slip back into the old behavior, it gets harder to apply the resolve and follow through on the next try.
You see, the subconscious mind does not like failure. It translates failure as pain and it avoids pain. So, each time you try to change a habit and fail at it, the habit gets better protected and getting to it to change it gets harder.
A far better approach is to go straight to the subconscious mind and change the habit instantly. You can try your hand at will-power or you can change habits, and even deeply ingrained patterns you are not consciously aware of, instantly, effortlessly and permanently with Rapidly Accelerated Mind Patterning (RAMP).
I will leave you with 3 things:
- A poem that is more truth than poetry
- A quote with a bit of advice from Napoleon Hill, author of “Think and Grow Rich“
- The link to the Banish Blocks website where you can learn more about the subconscious mind and how wonderfully helpful it is when it is aligned with your conscious desires.
Enjoy!
THE POEM
Who Am I?
I am your constant companion.—
I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.
I am completely at your command.
Half of the things you do you might as well turn over to me
I will do them – quickly and correctly.
I am easily managed, but you must be firm with me.
Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons,
I will do it automatically.
I am the servant of great people, and alas, of all failures as well.
Those who are great, I have made great.
Those who are failures, I have made failures.
I am not a machine though I work with the precision of a machine
Plus the intelligence of a person.
You may run me for profit or run me for ruin. It makes no difference to me.
Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet.
Be easy with me and I will destroy you.
Who am I? I am Habit.
THE QUOTE
In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill wrote “The principle of habit will take hold of the faculties of your mind just the same as it will influence the physical muscles of your body. The object in writing out and repeating a self-confidence formula is to form the habit of making belief in yourself the dominating thought of your mind until that thought has been thoroughly embedded in your subconscious mind, through the principle of habit.”
THE LINK
To learn more about the workings of your subconscious mind, go to www.banishblocks.com
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The Lesson of the Quarter
Sherry and I were enjoying a wonderful relaxation weekend in Hot Springs, Arkansas celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary. We had been waiting for a bus that provides free rides to points of interest in the area and were becoming extremely frustrated as our wait extended for over an hour and the bus was supposedly scheduled for every 30 minutes. Not sure exactly where the pick-up point was, we tried several locations to no avail. Sherry even tried to contact the bus company, but, as it was Saturday, there was no response. The people we asked at our hotel gave conflicting answers.
Finally, we decided to go to what seemed to be the most logical location, the corner on a main intersection. After waiting only a short time, another couple arrived and Sherry was chatting with them and learned they were also from our home town area and staying at our hotel. About the same time, a chap walked up to me and asked for the time. Appearing reasonably neat and clean cut, I responded “about 20 to, no a quarter to twelve”. He then asked “do you have a quarter?” My initial reaction was “sorry, no”. Then he asked “do you vote?”. At the same moment, I reached into my pocket and felt a coin. I saw that it was a shiny, well preserved Liberty Quarter and I handed it to the man saying, “You’re in luck”. Within moments the bus arrived. As we boarded, Sherry asked where the man was. Neither of us had seen him leave nor had any idea where he went.
A week later, as I was putting on a pair of house moccasins that I keep in the entry hallway, I picked up the right hand shoe to put it on and there, lying on the floor, was a shiny Liberty Quarter where the shoe had been.
Sherry: I then added this observation. What makes this such an interesting event is an earlier event – one that happened years ago while we were, also, vacationing. On that occasion, we encountered a rather neat, healthy looking young man sitting on the ground outside the door as we exited a restaurant who asked, “Can you spare a quarter?”
That time, in seeing that he was a strapping young man who appeared capable of working, we refused his request and got in our car and left. Both of us immediately felt that we should have given the man what he asked for and more. We quickly turned the car around and went back to the restaurant. Though our return took just moments, the man was nowhere in sight. He had just vanished! In discussing the incident, we both felt we had failed a test.
Was the Hot Springs incident another chance? It certainly appears so. On our way home, I was writing about the incident in my journal and as I wrote the words that George spoke as he handed the man the quarter, “you’re in luck”, from out of the blue came the thought “No, you’re in luck!”
We discussed the fact, while driving home, that a quarter gets you very little these days, ….. not even a cup of coffee, and that the encounter was not about the quarter, but about our ability to be compassionate and caring and open to life without JUDGMENT.
We must have been right – it wasn’t about the quarter. We passed the test this time and the quarter was returned. We now have the quarter framed and on display as a reminder of the wonderful lessons that the opportunity to give has provided.
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The Canary’s Tale
In her book “The Law of Abundance”, Sherry describes in detail how the law works and how to use it to gain abundance in what you most desire. She, also, warns that you must be very specific in what you seek because without clarity you may receive something very different or much more than you ever wanted or ever expected. A classic example is the following true story.
We both enjoy simple things of which our pets are an excellent example. Outdoors we have a pond with Koi and Goldfish that are easy to care for and provide great pleasure in watching their beauty and playful antics. We, also, have a wild bird feeder and a family of squirrels that provide entertainment in their endless attempts to reach it, but that’s another story.
Our indoor pet was Chirpie, a canary that we loved dearly. He was a beautiful golden yellow that our daughter-in-law called Lemondrop. His song was very melodious and enjoyable to hear. But, after almost 12 years Chirpie passed away.
Missing his lovely song and companionship, we were determined to find another canary. Sherry searched pet stores everywhere in the area and found only one store that had any in stock. They had two. She chose the smallest which was a very young bird that was a golden yellow. We were not even sure he was a male and could sing, but he was purchased anyway and we called him Chirpie 2 or “Chirps” for short. After getting him home and caged, we found that, where Chirpie 1 was mellow and laid-back, number 2 was a hyperactive spaz in constant motion.
After several months and his initial molt, he found his voice and, OH BOY! did he. How could such a small bird have such a big voice? Although his trilling is pleasant, it’s continuous, especially when Sherry is on the phone. Apparently, he feels she needs to be serenaded.
He has become a special member of the family and of course we spoil him like a child with treats he enjoys, but when there’s an import phone call, Chirps goes to another room.
We had hoped to find another canary who sang beautifully and we did. What we forgot to add was that we also wanted it to be nice, mellow and calm, and to sing only occasionally.
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A Different Way to View Problems
What appears to be a difficulty or a problem is a GIFT.
The purpose of the gift is to enable you to grow to your fullest capacity. As long as you see the gift as a problem and resist it, the Gift will continue to be presented it to you. When you have learned to accept the gift, utilize it and be thankful for the growth the gift brings you, similar gifts will cease to be presented, as growth in that particular area will no longer be required.
You will never have an uneventful life, nor would you really want one. You only think you do. Learn to find the lesson in the Gift and appreciate the opportunity for growth that the Gift brings, then prepare yourself for your next Gift and the opportunity it provides you, for surely it will arrive.
Posted in Mind
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