 
The Heart of Abundance:

A Simple Guide to Appreciating and Enjoying Life

by Candy Paull

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Smashwords edition

Copyright ©2010, 2013 by Candy Paull

Copyright ©2013 Candy Paull/Grand Harbor Press: excerpts from Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress, used by permission

Nashville, TN 37215

Website:http://www.candypaull.com/

Blog: http://candypaull.com/blog.htm

Discover other titles by Candy Paull at:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/candypaull

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/3901

Cover design by: Candy Paull

Cover photo by: Candy Paull

Editorial assistance: Ellen Paull

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free e-book. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

@2010, 2013 License addendum for The Heart of Abundance from the author:

The text-only e-book edition is free and you may pass it along to whomever you please. I only ask that you remember I make my living from selling my books in many formats, and your willingness to buy my products supports me and honors our relationship. If you want to quote portions for your blog, thank you for including credit and a link to my website candypaull.com.

Though I offer the e-book itself for free, thank you for protecting the use of my copyrights in all other instances. It is my hope that the support of those who can pay for my works will make it possible for the abundance to be shared with all, regardless of ability to pay.

And remember that whatever your monetary resources might be, you can always share the gift of abundance from your heart. I offer this e-book edition of The Heart of Abundance as a gift of love and as an act of faith in the new gift economy that is developing. It is my joy to share my gifts in a larger and more abundant way.

Candy Paull

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There is a great gift when we realize that the journey of life is guided by our willingness to believe in ourselves and know that with God, all things are possible. This kind of abundance cannot be measured, only celebrated. Candy Paull's wonderful words of wisdom will remind you of a simple yet profound truth: The journey to claim your abundance begins within.

Rev. Donna Michael, recording artist, forgiveness coach, speaker

Candy Paull's writing is the readable equivalent of Earl Grey tea, steeped in a pot, and served in your grandmother's china. That is: it warms you through and through.

Victoria Moran, bestselling author of Creating a Charmed Life

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The Heart of Abundance

A Simple Guide to Appreciating and Enjoying Life

The Heart of Abundance is a "best of" collection from Candy Paull's books, including the bestselling book The Art of Abundance. Discover more abundance, encouragement, and simplicity in your life. Be present in the moment, see the divine at work in all circumstances, and experience ordinary life as sacred. Learn to practice the art of abundance as a form of spiritual awareness based in gratitude. This free e-book helps you enjoy the life you have and create a life you enjoy.

Introduction to the Second Edition November 2013

The Heart of Abundance was first published as an e-book in March 2010. It was at the beginning of the e-book revolution, and at the time it felt like I was committing career suicide, because self-publishing would virtually guarantee that no agent or publisher would be interested in my work again. Now times have changed as the self-publishing revolution has taken hold, and the entire book industry is being reinvented.

Over 200,000 people have downloaded The Heart of Abundance, and now it's time for a new edition. I have taken reviews to heart, and followed many of the suggestions offered. I have also been writing new material and wanted to introduce my readers to new books that have been written and published since the initial release of the first edition in 2010.

In some ways, The Heart of Abundance is becoming a ongoing love letter to my readers. I am so honored that you have taken the time to download and read my book. It touches me deeply to know that you have found encouragement and comfort in what I share. Your reviews and encouragement inspire me to grow as a writer—and as a person. To know that one of my readers has been helped gives my heart great joy. It is my prayer that you will find something to brighten your day in this volume.

I have updated the formatting as well. E-books are becoming more sophisticated, and this new edition not only offers additional material, but improved interior formatting for ease of navigation. I plan to continue to offer The Heart of Abundance as my free gift to you, and to publish new editions and upgrade formatting as the technology evolves.

It blesses me to know you are blessed. Your abundance is my abundance.

Candy Paull

Introduction to the First Edition March 2010

The Art of Abundance was originally published in 1998 and eventually sold over 80,000 copies through my first publisher. As the fortunes of my career and the publishing industry waxed and waned, I went on to write other books and to work with many publishers. Eventually the three Artful Living books were published in 2006 with Stewart, Tabori & Chang. They created amazingly beautiful packages, but the upheavals in 2009 proved too much and the books went out of print. Thanks to a fabulous agent who negotiated a great deal, my rights were returned to me. Now I have the opportunity to publish them on Smashwords.com, where I published my first e-book, Inner Abundance, on September 11, 2009. I was determined to have that date mean more than an act of destruction, so I made it a day of creative revolution. Now the revolution—or should I say, the evolution—continues.

I have been greatly influenced in my understanding of the Internet infrastructure and its burgeoning possibilities thanks to visionaries like Seth Godin, Chris Guillebeau, Christine Kane, and Pam Slim, among others. Their insistence on the gift economy and making information freely available has convinced me that it is time to share some of the best from my books, especially key concepts from The Art of Abundance, the book that started it all. The Heart of Abundance offers excerpts from several of my books in a free e-book format. It's a good introduction to the other books and products I will be offering for sale on Smashwords.com, Amazon, Apple, Sony, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and in other venues. Please continue to check back at candypaull.com to see what other books and formats I will be releasing.

We live in transformational times. When the road to transformation gets bumpy and we feel lost and disoriented, it is even more important to ground ourselves in the firm realities of daily life. Mindful living, slowing down to notice and savor the blessings and beauty of the ordinary, and soothing our spirits with thoughtful and loving actions can help us through times of doubt, despair, and loss. Practicing the art of abundance is a form of spiritual awareness based in gratitude.

Everyone has something to be grateful for, no matter how dire the situation might seem to be. The little "Abundance is..." observations can be a springboard to inspire you to discover the abundance, encouragement, and simplicity in your life. By being present in the moment, seeing God at work no matter what the circumstance, and experiencing ordinary life as sacred, you can begin to heal yourself so that you might reach out and heal the world.

May The Heart of Abundance bless every person who reads or shares it with others. May it find its home in hearts around the globe, freely and gently, from my heart to your heart.

Your abundance is my abundance.

Celebrate the abundance!

Candy Paull

I feel an earnest and humble desire, and shall do till I die, to increase the stock of harmless cheerfulness.

Charles Dickens

Table of Contents

Introduction to the second edition of The Heart of Abundance

Introduction to the first edition of The Heart of Abundance

Abundance Prayer

Five Spiritual Principles

No Fear in Love

Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress

Chapter One: Serenity Is a Choice

Chapter Three: Serene Healing: The Wisdom of the Body

Chapter Four: Serene Spirit: Meditation and Mindfulness

Chapter Ten: Saying Good-Bye: Loss, Death, Rebirth

The Translucent Heart

2. Listen to Your Inner Guidance System

14. Identify Your Patterns

19. Create Something That Satisfies Your Soul

22. Get Out in the Fresh Air

23. Sit and Stare

37. Love an Animal

38. Welcome Divine Appointments

54. See Your Life as a Sacred Journey

55. Bless the Dark Night of the Soul

56. Be Open to the Great Mystery

Inner Abundance

Abundance Begins Within

Live in the Presence of Abundance

Affirmative Prayers

The Artful Living Series

The Art of Abundance

Overcoming Fears

A New Way of Looking at Life

Say No to Fear, Say Yes to Life

Celebrate the Abundant Life

Abundance Is...

Share the Abundance

The Abundant Life

The Art of Encouragement

The Optimist's Choice

Soup for the Soul, Tea for the Spirit

Compassion

Permission Granted

If Not Now, When?

The Art of Simplicity

The Freedom of Simplicity

Celebrate the Simple Things

Essentials of the Heart

Clearing Clutter: Releasing That Which No Longer Serves

Spiritual Magnificence

Fear is the Poison, Love is the Antidote

We Are the Future

The Golden Spiral

The Art of Creativity

The Art of Celebration

The Art of Enchantment

Credits

About the Author

Books by Candy Paull

My advice is really this: what we hear the philosophers saying and what we find in their writings should be applied in our pursuit of the happy life. We should hunt out the helpful pieces of teaching and the spirited and noble-minded sayings which are capable of immediate practical application — not far-fetched or archaic expressions or extravagant metaphors and figures of speech — and learn them so well that words become works.

Seneca

Abundance Prayer

When I am afraid, I ask myself:

How can I give more to life?

When I am tangled in past regrets

or frightening stories of the future,

I bring myself into the present moment

And know that I am safe.

When I am tempted to complain

I choose praise and gratitude.

I take a deep breath.

I look around and see

How rich I am in the things that count.

I look within and see my unlimited potential

I realize that every moment is filled with blessings

and every day I am alive

is a gift to be grateful for.

I remember that God is my Source

and abundance is reflected

in the faces of the people I love

and in the faces of those

I have yet to learn to love.

Eternally, this abundance says:

Every family is my family.

Every success is my success.

Every bride is my beauty

and every bridegroom my Beloved.

Every child is my new beginning

and every elder is my life ripe with experience.

Every dawn is my new day.

Every sunset is my world turning.

Every season is good

and offers its bounty to me.

Every moment is mine to embrace

for it is the Eternal Now

forever expressing in, through, and for me.

I live in the Forever Here

that is alive in all.

Translucent grace shines in us,

awake and aware of the beauty we are

as we become all we were meant to be.

And so it is.

For it is in giving we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Judge not and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.

Luke 6:37-38 (RSV)

The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.

Benjamin Disraeli

We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.

Ben Sweetland

Nothing is really ours until we share it.

C. S. Lewis

Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything.

1 Peter 4:8 The Message

Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.

Mother Teresa

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.

John Lubbock

In all ranks of life the human heart yearns for the beautiful, and the beautiful things that God makes are his gifts to all alike.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Touch the earth, love the earth, honour the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills, and her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places.

Henry Beston

Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invisible host against difficulty.

Helen Keller

An unshared life is not living. He who shares does not lessen, but greatens, his life.

Stephen S. Wise

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Five Spiritual Principles

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whatever aspects of life we hope to change, the process is the same. It does not happen overnight, but over time. Creating new habits will bring greater happiness. There is nothing "New Age" or "woo woo" about this. It is the same for music, sports, parenting, or learning any skill that helps us create better and more meaningful lives.

There are no guarantees of perfection in this earthly life. But we are eternal beings who can realize that there is an innate perfection within, a spiritual essence and wisdom that we can access through the attitudes and actions we choose. There is a Universal Power, a life force, a God-given ability that comes from the center of our being and expresses itself through our creative choices.

A few basic spiritual principles can help you create a better life, become a happier person, and persevere in difficult times. Understanding and applying these simple ideas can be a catalyst for growth and self-expression. I have used these principles as an affirmative prayer, and I have found comfort and encouragement in them when life felt frightening and overwhelming.

God is my source.

There is that within me that knows what to do and how to do it.

All is well.

PRINCIPLE #1

GOD IS MY SOURCE

For behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Luke 17:21 KJV

You exist in a spiritual as well as a material universe. Life is large, mysterious, and miraculous. Remember that God—or whatever you prefer to call this life force—is your source, and something greater than you is at work in your life. Instead of limiting yourself to what you can see or to past experience, open yourself to the infinite possibilities of what can be.

Choosing to believe that something larger than you is at work in, through, and for you is the starting point for all the good things life has to offer. Trust this larger life to support and sustain you. Trust a wisdom greater than your limited knowledge to be provider and guide in all situations, for the highest good of all.

PRINCIPLE #2

THERE IS THAT WITHIN ME THAT KNOWS...

What the inner voice says will not disappoint the hoping soul.

Johann Von Schiller

There is something inside you that knows, and you can trust that knowing. You can also grow in your understanding, tapping into the power of the subconscious mind. One way is to examine your beliefs—the unspoken assumptions you are only half aware you are making. What you believe affects what your life becomes. If you believe in lack and limitation and your own unworthiness, your outer life will reflect that inner belief. If you can teach your subconscious mind to believe in your own potential and possibility, then your life can be gently and incrementally transformed.

Listen to your intuition and the pull of your heart. If something gives you energy, excites you, and makes you happy, that's a good indication that this choice is best for you. Let love be your guide rather than money or prestige or power. Trust that the love is your inner radar, leading you over time to the desired result.

PRINCIPLE #3

WHAT TO DO...

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The next step is to set an intention. Decide what you want to do, and then take one step at a time in the direction of your dreams. Learning to know what you really want and giving yourself permission to go after it is a skill that can be learned. One of the challenges of setting an intention is being clear about what you really want. You say, "This is who I am. This is what I want." Some blocks to gaining clarity include feeling that you don't "deserve" to have what you want, settling for what you think is "possible," or being afraid to choose for fear of being disappointed. Another block is choosing something you think you "should" do or that you think others would approve, rather than what really moves and excites you. It takes courage to choose to follow your heart.

Sometimes you need to find out what it is you don't want before you can know what you do, so don't feel that you've "failed" if you try something and it doesn't work out. You're learning a new way of navigating life, so give yourself some room to make mistakes and grow in your understanding. Explore new ideas and options. Be willing to take a chance on the unknown. Value what is in your heart. Do something you love, and the rest will follow. Trust yourself; believe that you have a unique destiny to fulfill.

PRINCIPLE #4

...AND HOW TO DO IT

The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

When you have done what you know to do, it's time to let a Higher Power do the rest. Let go of your agendas, and stop trying to second guess how things will come together. On this spiritual path, you are not dependant on your own resources or limited understanding. You have chosen to believe that God is your source. Trust the process. Your conscious choice sets things in motion, but it is the unseen that works to pull it all together. The law of natural attraction works in mysterious ways.

Be open and alert for new ideas, new possibilities, and new partnerships. Do what you know to do, then leave room for God to move in your life. Release your attempts to control or outline what should happen and when it should happen. Remember that your vision of how things should be is limited to your experience and understanding. But the God of infinite possibilities is not limited to what you can imagine. Let God surprise you. Your job is to keep the faith while the dream is incubating.

PRINCIPLE #5

ALL IS WELL... GRATITUDE

Before me, even as behind, God is, and all is well.

John Greenleaf Whittier

This last principle encourages you to accept life as it is, right now, and declare that you trust all things are working together for good. This step is one of cultivating the awareness of just how good life can be in this moment. Learn to fall deeply in love with life as it presents itself to you moment by moment. See God as the Source in everything and everyone. Just as you are a unique expression of God, so are all the people you meet.

Cultivate an attitude of gratitude instead of a mindset of scarcity. Observe the abundance and good that is already in your life. Expressing gratitude enhances your enjoyment and deepens your pleasure in life. It also makes you more receptive and paves the way for more good to come your way. Whether you are thanking a friend for offering a helping hand or praising God for a beautiful day, learn to count your blessings and you'll see them multiply.

Gratitude is the heart's memory.

French Proverb

APPLYING THE PRINCIPLES

Good actions are the invisible hinges on the doors of heaven.

Victor Hugo

These spiritual principles can be applied to every aspect of your life. Whether it is health, love, money, success, or just wanting to enjoy life a little more, you can use these ideas to help you make gradual progress in life. Know that God is your source for a good, high-paying job. Trust that the Divine is guiding you as you take steps in the direction of your dreams. Affirm that the perfect people and resources show up in your life at just the right time.

Do what you can in small ways to embody your expected experience of good. Imagine what it will feel like when you receive that check in the mail, accomplish that goal, or meet that special person. Stay open while God is working behind the scenes to put miracles together for you.

No Fear In Love

By consistently choosing love rather than fear, we can experience a personal transformation that enables us to be more naturally loving to ourselves and others. In this way we can begin to recognize and experience the love and joy that unites us.

Dr. Jerry Jampolsky

We have the choice. We can choose to live in fear or we can choose to live in love. Encouragement is about believing the best — of ourselves, of others, of life. Fear is a choice to believe the worst. Frequently, the most encouraging option comes out of love and choosing to believe that a benign universe will respond to our attitude of faith. To believe for the best is to choose to believe that God is good and that what He does is good. It is to believe that there is a Higher Power that responds to our positive attitudes and actions. This is not to discount the pain, sorrow, and disappointment that come with life. But we can choose to move beyond a limiting and fearful view of how life works and learn to practice the kind of optimism that opens the doors of opportunity, change, and blessing.

I choose love when I face my fears and go for my dreams anyway. I choose love when I reach out to someone else. I choose love when I trust the process, even when I don't have all the answers. Choosing love is an act of courage. We all carry that courage deep inside our hearts.

There is no fear in love . . .

I John 4:18

Fear believes . . . there is never enough.

Love believes . . . there is plenty for everyone.

Fear believes . . . the worst about people and situations.

Love believes . . . the best about people and situations.

Fear believes . . . there is only one right answer.

Love believes . . . there are many ways to understand something.

Fear believes . . . you have to change others through manipulation and coercion to get what you want.

Love believes . . . real change comes from the heart, starting with your own heart.

Fear believes . . . things will never change.

Love believes . . . any situation can be transformed by the power of love.

Fear believes . . . that everything must be mapped out ahead of time.

Love believes . . . that you can trust the process.

Fear believes . . . in negative thinking.

Love believes . . . in positive choice.

Fear believes . . . the damage is done.

Love believes . . . healing can happen.

Fear believes . . . if you're not a success by now, you must be a failure.

Love believes . . . you're only a failure if you give up on your dreams.

Fear believes . . . I must do everything with my own strength.

Love believes . . . there is a Higher Power that wants to help me.

Fear believes . . . that everything needs to hyped.

Love believes . . . in quiet strength and simple faith.

Fear believes . . . life is cheap.

Love believes . . . life is precious.

Fear believes . . . anyone different is "them."

Love believes . . . there is only "us."

Fear believes . . . it's too late.

Love believes . . . it's never too late.

Fear believes . . . the situation is impossible.

Love believes . . . a solution can be found.

Fear believes . . . that fifteen minutes of fame makes you important.

Love believes . . . we are all important.

Fear believes . . . people are disposable commodities.

Love believes . . . people are sacred.

Fear believes . . . in proving your own superiority over others.

Love believes . . . in honoring the greatness in others.

Fear believes . . . no one is listening and no one cares.

Love believes . . . in prayer.

Fear believes . . . effort is only justified by outward success.

Love believes . . . sometimes we need to do something for its own sake.

Where there is great love, there are always miracles.

Willa Cather

Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply.

Romans 12:9-10 The Message

Providence is the care God takes of all existing things.

John of Damascus

Trust God for great things; with your five loaves and two fishes, He will show you a way to feed thousands.

Horace Bushnell

For in reality, none of us know what the future holds. So we can choose to imagine it either in nihilistic terms (if we do this, all work stops) or as a playground of possibilities for our species and loved ones (if we do this, creativity can begin anew . . . ).

Matthew Fox

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I loved writing this book. I am blessed that a wonderful publisher believed in the potential of this book and its author. Writing it was an adventure in allowing Spirit to speak through my writing in an even deeper way; I was listening with all my heart, trusting that Something Greater was part of the process. As I wrote, I prayed that the words would be healing, for so many people are facing stress, chaos, and pain in their lives today. Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress offers practical help that addresses the outward symptoms of stress and tension, and encourages you to examine the root causes, which are spiritual in nature. May these thoughts help you discover the sweet serenity that is always at the center of your being.

Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress

Simple Solutions for Difficult Times

Stress is the perception that we are separated from our divine source.

Brian Luke Seaward

Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress offers a combination of practical help and spiritual insight to help you bridge the gap between the way things are and the way you wish they could be. There are no guarantees or promises of nirvana, just simple suggestions for coping with the stress of daily life and thoughts that might inspire you to find a higher perspective during troublesome times. You'll find practical ideas for body, mind, and spirit that will help you cope with unavoidable stress and inspire you to eliminate that which no longer serves you. With small adjustments to seemingly minor stress points, you can learn to simplify your life and make room for more beauty, meaning, and joy. You'll be reminded of things you already know but often forget when the pressures of life become overwhelming.

May you make a simple choice to become more aware and to cultivate a serene spirit. This is the starting place for an inner revolution that can color your entire life with light, joy, love, and a sense of peace and plenitude. Open your heart to accept the sweet serenity that is always at the center of your being.

Man ordinarily goes no further than his own experience (and that includes the experience of the race) for help in an emergency. But those who go still further within themselves for the answer will find a timeless wisdom and inspiration to be translated into the human need of the moment.

Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood

Chapter One

Serenity Is a Choice

We have to make peace and reduce the suffering in ourselves first, because we represent the world. Peace, love, and happiness must always begin here, with ourselves. There is suffering, fear, and anger inside of us, and when we take care of it, we are taking care of the world. . . . So first you have to focus on the practice of being. Being Fresh. Being peaceful. Being attentive. Being Generous. Being compassionate.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Making More Conscious Choices

Our lives reflect who we are and what we have allowed ourselves to become. We do not become more serene by chance but by choice. The only difference between those who have control of their destiny and those who feel controlled by events is how conscious they are of the choices they make. If we make choices unconsciously, moved by a reaction to outer circumstances or driven by our own random and chaotic thoughts, we have habituated ourselves to being constrained in a mental prison created by our own lack of understanding.

We have often chosen without knowing we had a choice. We assume that life controls us, that we are victims of circumstance. But it is our choices that lead us step-by-step into the circumstances in which we find ourselves. We sometimes drift with the tide and run aground on the rocks, choosing by not choosing. We must consciously steer the vessels of our lives in another and more fulfilling direction. We constantly make choices and each choice has its consequence, which leads to more choices and more consequences. Most people are so unaware of their own choices that they never realize they had made a decision and never recognize that the chain of causation was set in motion by their own unconscious assumptions.

For instance, it's easy to react automatically to a negative situation and replay old victim stories with a new cast of characters, even when the new situation has nothing to do with the situations of the past. Perhaps someone betrayed us in the past, and when confronted with a new hurtful situation, we assume that we have been betrayed again. What has happened before seems to be happening again, and so we fall into the same patterns of behavior without thinking.

The first step toward serenity is recognizing that you are replaying an old script in a new situation. Observing without judgment is a powerful way to gain better perspective. With this perspective, you are able to make a more conscious choice to respond to a negative situation in a more positive way—you empower yourself and become a responsible actor in the scenario instead of limiting yourself to old, childish patterns.

Feeling powerless is one factor that contributes to our perception of life as being stressful. Modern society is built around concepts of power that make us feel our individual choices are meaningless. A traffic jam on the way to work, an arbitrary supervisor who thwarts our best efforts, the impersonal bureaucratic red tape that complicates even the simplest task, a system of government that increasingly favors the rich and penalizes the poor, or a family system of enablement and denial all seem to trap us into negative-feedback loops that pull us into pointless tail chasing. We can get caught in our own limiting cycle of poor choices, dooming us to forever repeat the same mistakes. One definition of craziness is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. Our attempts to control results or overcome negative systems are often frustrating attempts to force change from the outside, and they end up reinforcing the negative-feedback loops. What we resist persists.

However, small, incremental choices that come from a positive sense of authenticity and meaning can create a renewed and vibrant experience. Choosing to see the truth that is beyond mere fact and condition exerts a subtle influence that can lead to consequences in ways we cannot imagine. Chaos theory tells us that a change as subtle as the movement of a butterfly wing can affect the formation of a storm on the other side of the globe.

You cannot predict how or when or even if your choices will change the world, but a new thought and a different choice will certainly help you begin to see beyond a current belief structure and past experience. You can choose to move beyond your own outdated boundaries and limited context to create a more intelligent response to a challenging situation. In doing so, you will open yourself up to new possibilities.

Choices are the hinges of destiny.

Edwin Markham

Chapter Three

Serene Healing: The Wisdom of the Body

If you bring forth what is within you,

what you bring forth will save you.

If you do not bring forth what is within you,

what you do not bring forth will destroy you.

Jesus, Gospel of Thomas

The body lives at the intersection between the temporal and the transcendent. It has its own dimension of being and its own intelligence. Animals know this, living fully in their bodies and following their instincts. Just watch a cat stretch. Not only is the cat at ease, with a natural grace, it knows how to just be still and present in the moment in a way humans seldom allow themselves to be. This is a quality of life lived in partnership with the body that we can cultivate.

Athletes do it in sport. Disciplines like yoga and aikido bring about this union of body, mind, and spirit. Dancers and drummers learn to feel their bodies fully, from within, and that kinesthetic sense shows them how to move with joy, with grace, with ease. The potter feels the clay. The woodworker knows the wood. The farmer develops an understanding of the land to bring forth the best crop.

Our own physical body possesses a wisdom which we who inhabit the body lack.

Henry Miller

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essay "The Poet" says, "As the traveler who has lost his way, throws his reins on his horse's neck, and trusts to the instinct of the animal to find his road, so must we do with the divine animal who carries us through this world. For if in any manner we can stimulate this instinct, new passages are opened for us into nature, the mind flows into and through things hardest and highest, and the metamorphosis is possible."

Enjoy the Bliss of Your Body

Most of us buy into our society's images of the body. Starving it with diets and punishing it with exercises to whip it into shape, we live as if our bodies were the enemy or something we need to conquer and control. But there is another way, one so instinctive that babies and children know it; something we know ourselves when we forget our judgments and just let ourselves be. Nonjudgmental awareness, an alert observation without comment or criticism, opens the door to another relationship to the body, one where the body becomes the teacher and we are the students. Listening, feeling, sensing our way into the heart of the body slowly teaches that the body is sending signals to us all the time—even when our minds are contemptuous and dismissive. Ignoring what the body is trying to tell us, we become ill, or our pain and discomfort are so great we have to learn a better way to partner with this physical entity that is us. Flesh and bone, blood and sinew, the body is a master teacher for those who are willing to learn from the humility of things close to the earth. The body is teacher and the vessel where spiritual alchemy can take place.

If the body is in harmony with life, it is naturally a body of bliss. Imagine the pleasure of the senses when you come home from a walk in the crisp outdoor air: a sweet scent of roses, a symphony or jazz playing in the background, a delicious meal, the warmth of a fire, a soothing back rub, a loving embrace, a bed to cradle you after a long day.

Yes, there is pain and suffering. But look at how much sensuous bliss the body offers every single day, and how it reminds you constantly of the goodness of creation. A morning cup of coffee, the warmth of water running down your back as you shower, a brush pulled through hair, the color and softness of a cozy sweater, the smell of freshly baked bread, and the taste of a crisp apple. Even a simple morning ritual becomes a panoply of sensations when experienced with awareness and attention. Seeing, smelling, touching, hearing, tasting—all the senses—combine to offer a banquet of bliss, if we are not too tense and stressed to experience it. Entering into a more relaxed and aware relationship with your own body can make you feel more alive, more grateful for the gifts of life.

The bliss of the body is often felt and seen in the mysterious enchantment babies bring with them. Even in the most sordid and sad circumstances, their innocence truly does trail clouds of glory. We catch a glimpse of what authentic human nature really is. Being the mother of a newborn isn't all rosebuds and good feelings. It's real, it's raw, and life for new parents is often seen through a haze of sleep deprivation. Yet the baby's gentle presence awakens mysterious forces of compassion, tenderness, and love beyond the power of words to describe. A baby may be tiny and helpless, but there is no doubt that here is a whole person, a human being ready to grow and evolve, yet perfectly at home in the present moment.

I have heard that the body listens to rhythms the mind can't even hear. The wind and the sunset are like a dog whistle to the bones, but the mind is deaf to their high, clear missive.

John Lee

There is a unique and mysterious essence of your true self that longs to express itself in the world. Moving from mental concepts into the body's intelligence can help you intuit the mystical image you were born with, the larger story you are meant to live. This practical mysticism embraces both matter and spirit, tracing the ways mind, body, soul, and spirit are interconnected, and how the wisdom of the senses can be tapped into for greater spiritual understanding and soul growth. Moving beyond mental maps of the ways you think things are supposed to be and into the here and now of the body helps you discover the mystical image you were born with and grow into the larger story you are meant to live.

When you move into a deeper understanding of your life beyond the dictates and mind-set of your culture, family, religion, and past experience, important questions arise. Whether these questions are precipitated by a crisis or by a growing dissatisfaction with the way your life is unfolding, you find yourself asking: "Who am I?" and "Why am I here?" These are questions that every human being on earth must face sooner or later. The body partners with the mind to bring all dimensions of your being into play in seeking solutions. Ask yourself:

• Who do I give my power to? To the one who would destroy or devalue my work and treat me poorly? Or am I willing to claim my own power, authority, and creative energies?

• Do I judge my worth by the standards of the world? Or am I willing to go deeper and move into a place that transcends judgments, old stories, and my cultural conditioning?

• Am I willing to make the journey that could transform my life as I have known it? Am I willing to follow my heart and trust my intuition? Am I willing to partner with my body and deepest instincts to discover the next stage in my personal evolution?

Your body often knows the answers before your mind does. The body is a wise guide that most people ignore. You can use the body's bliss—or the absence of bliss and presence of discomfort—as an interior guidance system. Resistance, unease, distress, tension, and pain are all trying to tell you something. Are you willing to listen to the messages your body offers? Simply by training yourself to observe and be aware of the sensations and energies that constantly flow in a river of life through your body, you can tap into a physical intelligence that will help you find serenity, sanity, and intuitive insight. It is not a matter of fixing or diagnosing or planning; it is a skill of inner listening that empowers you to feel, see, and hear what you have missed before. By including your body in the dialogue of body, mind, and spirit, you bring all facets of your being into alignment. Therefore you discover more authentic answers to your questions and dilemmas.

Your mind does not get sacrificed as you travel into this inner world of bodily intelligence. You gain a richer, fuller understanding that will satisfy your mind's need for information and decision making. You also gain a source of guidance that can lead you moment by moment through any crisis, change, or difficulty. All the wisdom to navigate life is within you, for you are connected to everything that exists. All the power, all the peace, all the good there is can be accessed in this moment, in the rhythm of your beating heart, the flow of your in-and-out breathing, the aliveness that pulsates in every cell of your body. Move into body time and discover a more balanced and integrated way to approach the stresses and challenges of your daily life.

In a mechanical way of looking at the world, body, mind, and spirit can be defined and separated, each in its own watertight compartment. Analogies often include machines and building blocks. But, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said in his essay "Spiritual Laws": "The simplicity of the universe is very different from the simplicity of a machine. . . . The wild fertility of nature is felt in comparing our rigid names and reputations with our fluid consciousness." In the emerging paradigm, there is no separation. Body, mind, and spirit are so intertwined that whatever you do with one affects the other, and is the other. Nature is a fecund source, not only of the physical life on earth, but of the consciousness that knits body, mind, and spirit into a larger whole than we yet understand or imagine. It offers a passage from a lifeless universe to a cosmos breathing with mystery and invitation.

Understanding the Primitive Brain

The anxious thought, the worried feeling—where do these conditions begin? They reflect the primitive mind of the fearful reptile, scanning the horizon, alert to danger even if there is no danger to be seen. The primitive brain exists in all of us, and as we learn to understand it, we can make wiser choices when anxiety or worry would drain us of the joy in life. On some days these familiar anxious feelings arise like ghosts out of our distant past, haunting the day and dimming the colors of life into shades of black and white and gray. We create our own portrait of depression and fear, shadowing our vision with drab opinions and even darker judgments. We become frustrated trying to predict and control what cannot be predicted, controlled, or explained. Anxiety, worry, fear, and dire predictions of horrific scenarios are our reptile brain gone wild. It is the ancient mind arising, taking over today with worries about the future, regrets about the past, and a two-color, two-dimensional view of a multidimensional rainbow reality.

What does the moment say? What dimensions and depths are being missed because the mind is running ahead of the body? What joys and pleasures are lost because we are tense and on guard—even if we don't know what we are tense and on guard for? The body, in this case, is wiser than the reptilian mind, for the body lives in the forever here, the eternal now. While the mind is caught up in memory or anticipation, the body is grounded in what exists in this moment. The mind races ahead, scatters its energies, cannot focus. It lives in perpetual anxiety and stress if left to its ancient reptile devices. The body moves at its own slower, timeless pace. It breathes in the breath of now. The mind does not have to breathe. It flies back into the past, then leaps into the future; it moves in an instant, unstable and unpredictable with a natural penchant for looking at life as a dangerous place full of predators. The mind wants answers, believes that if it could just get all the facts in order and the information properly computed, then everything would fit together in linear fashion. There is a part of us wanting to be assured that the correct hypothesis, the socially acceptable story, and the correct answer will provide the formula for the perfect life. It has a stressful, fast-paced, multitasking existence. To the mind, time is linear, moving in one direction—toward the future (and not necessarily a good future at that).

The body is wiser than the restless quicksilver mind. It feels a deeper rhythm, tunes into harmonies unheard and dimensions unseen by the human mind. The body is connected to earth time, the now moment of what is. It stands deep in the muck and the mire and the mystery. The body knows the way a hunter knows when following the game, the way a bee knows which flower holds the pollen. The prey is unpredictable, moving and changing, adapting to the forest as it moves through the tangled brush. The logical mind has only the eye to see, but the body feels with all its senses. The mind focuses on a target with arrow precision but is lost when the thickets of ambiguity interfere with that clear vision. The body just puts out more feelers, testing the scent on the wind, alert for sounds and clues, moving from one vantage point to another with its own sense of grace and balance. It feels for the next step. It taps into ancient instincts, is aware of a larger context, and surrenders itself completely to the moment. It knows God intimately as the here and now Source. All its active senses become intuitive radar to navigate the twisting and turning passages through time and space. The prey is felt before it is seen, and the hunter's wisdom is an instinct that responds to the world in its entirety.

Anxiety arises in the intersection between the now of body time and the future of mental anticipation. The mind wants answers, while the body wants to listen. The mind creates stress and resistance, while the body uses its sense radar, picks up the tension, and amplifies it. The mind always feels that past or future is where the real action is. But the body knows that this moment is the only reality, the only place where choice is possible, where life is experienced. Creating the future begins in this moment. When we are feeling anxious, it is time to look at what we have been thinking and choose to release those restless thoughts, then partner with the body to ground ourselves in the goodness of this moment. The body will give the mind information that would otherwise be missed. The mind will sense this grounded wisdom and set a calmer intention, softening the focus to take full advantage of the intuitive signals the body is sending. Our body—that beautiful and strange creature—is our home and our patient, long-suffering guide as we navigate the journey of life. When we trust this physical being, we are led safely home.

Authentic control comes from ease and allowing. When we pay attention to how we move or stand, we see how our tensions are counterproductive to our innate ease and grace. Resistance creates pain. Our bodies—and our lives—are more easily moved and guided into grace when we become aware of our own tendency to react to situations rigidly. Many of our problems with age are because we move incorrectly and the body compensates with aches, pains, and physical problems. Listening to our bodies, relaxing our resistance, being open to a new way of understanding how body, mind, and spirit interrelate can help us become more flexible and alive. Simply by learning to observe and honor the body and our own experience, something within guides us to the wisdom we need, and connects us to the resources and people that will help us become more conscious of what we are choosing. The mind cannot figure out the "how" but the body leads us surely to the desired goal. The body connects us to the stream of life if we are willing to be present to our own human nature speaking in and through our bodies. Connecting to body time connects us to the eternal now—high season, perfect timing, Divine right action.

Emerson says it like this: "There is a soul at the centre of nature, and over the will of every man, so that none of us can wrong the universe. It has so infused its strong enchantment into nature, that we prosper when we accept its advice, and when we struggle to wound its creatures, our hands are glued to our sides, or they beat our own breasts. The whole course of things goes to teach us faith. We need only obey. There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening we shall hear the right word."

Savoring Every Breath

In order to connect to the body's wisdom, you must observe the way you are breathing. When experiencing stress, the rhythm of the breath stops in gasps, and shallow breathing occurs as the anxiety of the mind increases. The body automatically picks up the rushing, running fight-or-flight of our anxious thoughts, creating a feedback loop that makes the mind run even faster. It winds the body into a tight, tense coiled spring of tension and resistance. Notice your tendency to feel overwhelmed and overloaded. You begin to "globalize" and "eternalize" everything. You think life is completely out of control (globalizing the problem) and that it will always be that way (eternalizing the situation). In reality, you are moving out of the moment into the past and the future, coloring it with fear, worry, and negativity. Short, shallow breathing mirrors these thoughts. Conversely, the breath can be consciously slowed and deepened, lengthening and stretching and relaxing into a calmer, more deliberate rhythm.

Are you plagued by worried thoughts about having enough money or time or energy? Observe your breathing and see if you are cutting off the supply of air with contracted breathing habits. Take deep expansive breaths to bring more air into your lungs. Let your body soothe your anxiety and remind you that unlimited supply is available for you with every breath. A deep inhalation is a powerful reminder that supply is everywhere and always available. Anxious, clutching, quick breaths tell you that fear has crept in and tightened its grip.

When this occurs, stretch, open your arms, and inhale an expansive breath of life. The body will respond with relief. Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out. As the mind enters more fully into the now that the body always inhabits, it discovers rest and relief. False urgencies are transmuted into clarity and peace.

When anxiety arises, breathe deeply and consciously. Bring your attention back to the now. Recognize your feelings and release them. Move out of your head down into your heart and lungs. Ground yourself by sensing the life energy in your arms and legs. Trust the process and observe your energy lighten up as you move from tightness to an easier, more relaxed state.

Stretch Like a Cat

Imagine a cat curled up in a ball, sleeping in the sun. Now watch that cat awaken, yawn, and stretch out with long, long legs and torso. Cats know the wisdom of stretching. Stretching is good for the human being, too. A good yawn and a big stretch offer a simple way to relax tension when you've been hunched over a computer or concentrating on a problem for a long time. Feel the stretch, breathe into it, release tension. Slow your breathing to calm yourself. Exhale with a sigh of relief and bliss.

Chapter Four

Serene Spirit: Meditation and Mindfulness

Read not the Times, read the Eternities.

Henry David Thoreau

Learn to fall in love with the moment, and you will love life in a deeper way. Falling in love is an intense "now" experience. We long for the rush and inspiration and discovery represented by a new adventure in life—whether it is the sensory overload of traveling to exotic places or the romance that offers the breathless wonder of exploring a person who takes you to new levels of exhilaration and intimacy. What if this expansive awareness, this tingling aliveness, is not reserved exclusively for the highs of romance, travel, or any other high that we latch onto to feel more alive? These experiences make us aware that there is more to life than mundane daily routines. But it doesn't take a rush of adrenaline or the excitement of a new experience to sense the bliss of being alive. It is available in all moments, all seasons, including the commonplace moments we take for granted.

Practicing Mindfulness

Becoming mindful, keeping your consciousness alive to the present reality—here and now—offers another way to fall in love, to sense the hidden dimensions and aliveness of the present moment. Thich Nhat Hanh says that mindfulness is "the miracle which can call back in a flash our dispersed mind and restore it to wholeness so that we can live each minute of life." Mindfulness is a practice that helps you keep your attention focused. Being mindful is having a calm heart, being alert and able to handle each situation as it comes. Cultivating mindful awareness teaches you that every moment is worthwhile, no matter what your experience is. It grounds you during the high times, helping you appreciate the good more fully. It sustains you in difficult times, when depression or disappointment or difficulties weigh you down and make life feel more like a burden than a blessing. It is a practice that will teach you to sense the love that underlies all of life, in all seasons and weather.

Loving what is means being aware of the particular, how it manifests here and now. When you are rushing through life, you see in generalities, not particulars. You mistake the map for the territory. Interact with a human being and as you get to know the particularities of that person, you move from an abstract definition and category—male, good looking, single, available—to the concrete particulars that do not define but open you to the uniqueness of this individual—David, fortyish, musician, likes golden retrievers, fixes houses, has a ten-year-old son, an ex-wife who lives in Alabama, likes strong coffee and dark beer, working on his first CD, moved to town fifteen years ago, is sensitive but not ticklish, and wants to find a relationship but is still a bit gun-shy from the last go-round.

Or here's another instance of the abstract versus the particular: Remember the companies that wanted to cut old-growth forests, and headlines of tree huggers camping up in the branches of the most ancient trees so that the loggers couldn't cut them down? The loggers knew the forest in one way (and loggers do love the forest and the logging life), with much of their attention on board feet (the measurement of saleable wood), profit, and loss. The tree sitters might have come in with their own abstract theories about the forest, but they came to know the one individual tree in a more intimate way after living up in that tree for weeks on end. And the spotted owl, whose presence became the legal loophole to save the forest, would know those ancient trees in a more wild and mysterious way than any human could comprehend.

Time for Mindfulness

When we rush through life, time becomes abstract and mechanical, ruled by the clock as diagram and system of coordinates. It's shorthand for plotting our lives on a productivity chart.

The English language has only one word for time, but the ancient Greeks had two. Chronos can be plotted on a mental map, measured and defined. "Time is money" we say, and we cut time off from the totality of reality into separate compartments of an hour, a day, a week, a month. But there is another word for time in the Greek: Kairos—which refers to season, opportunity, high time. It cannot be trapped within the coordinates of a clock. Chronos conveys time literally: It's the fifteenth day in September. Kairos interprets a sensation: It's a day that the summer heat has finally been broken, and the blessed northern breeze is blowing across the lake. Chronos is three o'clock in the afternoon. Kairos is the moment I take a walk on a sunny afternoon after the first autumn cool front has moved through, reveling in the freedom from heat, humidity, and the cave-like existence of air conditioning. Chronos asks, "What time is it?" Kairos asks, "What is time for?" Through meditation, mindfulness, and prayer you move out of the abstract into the real. You move from Chronos into Kairos. You move from measurement into meaning.

You attune yourself to eternal harmonies and play the music instead of looking at black and white notes on a page. Like a violinist in an orchestra who tunes her instrument to A to play in the same key as all the other instruments, you prepare to play along with life instead of struggling against it, trying to control it, or measuring and comparing some abstract sense of accomplishment to it. Instead of chaos, dissonance, and cacophony, you come in tune with the key of life. You use your whole body to join in with the orchestra, to play in tempo and in harmony and create beautiful music effortlessly. You don't play the symphony to get to the final crescendo; you play to enjoy the entire musical piece, to be in the moment, to share that moment of music with the other members of the orchestra and with an audience. You create music that is in perfect time, and allegro is not better than andante, but both have their place in each movement of the symphonic composition.

So it is in life. You no longer feel you have to struggle against what is, demanding that the world conform to your ideas of what it should be. Instead you learn to flow with what is right now and what could be tomorrow. From this point of departure, your current circumstance can become the turning point between the past and the future, the turning point that comes in subtle and unexpected ways.

The present is the only point of time that allows you to choose between Chronos and Kairos. Enter into the Kairos, and you are in high time, perfect time. Stay stuck in Chronos and you miss the possibilities because you are limited to time measured by restricted thinking; you are too focused on what has been to create what could be—on measuring what cannot be measured. If you live by abstract concepts and definitions, you'll miss the life that is in front of you. Without the fresh reality that breaks into your limited ideas, you will make the same old choices over and over.

This moment, the eternal here and forever now, is the vortex of self-organizing power, amplifying positive and negative experiences into different possibilities. Becoming aware of your limiting definitions helps you release old habits of thoughts, opinions, and experiences—the negative-feedback loops that confine you and keep you in old patterns. Your habits of mind produce distortions and deceptions about reality. These habits of mind obscure the underlying mystery of other dimensions of reality, the truth that is larger than your experience and opinions would normally allow.

Stress comes from resistance; serenity is being in the natural flow of life. Struggling against this current moment is struggling against the entire universe. Fighting the way things are, and confining the reality of the moment to an abstract definition, creates resistance and rigidity. Such fighting is futile because you are fighting to defend your ego instead of surrendering to the harmonious unfolding of life itself. Accepting situations, people, circumstances, events as they occur releases resistance. Allowing and accepting frees you from unnecessary pain. You have the freedom to choose, but only in this moment.

Practicing meditation and mindfulness regularly helps you become more aware of Kairos, the eternal moments and the underlying realities, because you are relaxing your resistance, becoming open to less limiting definitions, more expansive experiences. As you release an abstract view of the universe, such as your definition of outer conditions, you can begin to experience the truth of what lies beneath shallow perceptions of reality, beyond your mental concepts and expectations. You begin to sense the potential hidden in the moment.

For example, you can look at a tree and just think in generalities about that tree, seeing it as if it is a child's drawing of brown trunk, green leaves—just a generic tree, the "tree" you see only as an abstract idea. Or you can move beyond the representation of an abstraction into a new understanding by seeing this tree in front of you in this moment, dissolving what you "know" about trees to see the unique beauty of this particular one—its leaves in the sunlight, the knots on its trunk, the way the branches turn and reach for the sky, the sense of roots going deep into the dark earth beneath your feet. You discover that the tree becomes a focus of contemplation, a living entity that is absolutely fresh in this moment. The more you contemplate that freshness, that "treeness" of the tree, the more you will realize that something in you responds—a part of you that partakes of the eternities. Something comes alive in you that connects you to the tree and the tree to you. You are in a relationship with the tree, aware of its existence and your existence on a deeper level than the mere abstract idea you took for granted. You are sensing another dimension of life.

The Taoist sage Lao Tzu says, "Existence is beyond the power of words to define: terms may be used but none of them is absolute." When you allow your conception to die, when you stop resisting reality because you are defending your definition of reality, something new is born in that moment. The hard, bright shell of the seed opens to let real life—life that has always been in the kernel of the seed—emerge.

During this moment of nature's emergence, the measuring Chronos mind transforms into the limitless Kairos spirit. When this happens, creative insight catches us unaware, shocking us with the delight of unexpected truth and essence shining through the ordinary and familiar, allowing us to see that every moment, every being, every situation is extraordinary, one of a kind, always new and fresh, a gift from God to be appreciated and accepted with gratitude.

Accepting Your Newfound Awareness

Within this kind of insight, the very essence of reality, all that is and was and will be, is allowed to emerge, opening us to possibilities unseen, unheard, unappreciated when we were locked in the way we thought things were. We have created space for God to walk into the room; we have split the atom and a powerful energy has been released. It does not take mystical visions and out-of-body experiences to touch this reality beneath the world we know. It is always here waiting in the ordinary moments if you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. It will speak to you, unveiling the magnificent potential hidden in the heart of time and space, and hidden in the heart of your whole being. You are in touch with dimensions deeper than you ever knew existed. Thus, every condition, every thing, and every person you encounter all become more "real" than ever before, just with this awakened observation and acceptance.

Accepting awareness and nonresistance awaken slumbering powers that you miss when you are caught in the trance of abstraction and resistance. Everything in the universe has led up to this moment. You are part of the whole. Your acceptance or rejection of this moment is your acceptance or rejection of the whole. Acceptance becomes the flap of a butterfly wing that can create a vortex of cause and effect to spin into chaos, creating a storm on the other side of the planet. It is a subtle influence but a "real" potential for transformation waiting to be unleashed.

No matter your situation in this moment—whether it be pain or pleasure—you can choose to harmonize with the underlying deep essence of life itself, or you can continue to fight what is and lock yourself into your limited perception. Your habitual mind will want to stay in a trance of old thoughts and comfortable definitions. It is easy to dismiss the subtle influence of this new awareness because very few people are willing to do the work to change their awareness. Yet if you are willing to walk the "narrow way" that leads to life, a world of possibilities awaits. There is a greater reality waiting for you, an adventure to discover subtle essences and potentialities that will reward your willingness to explore. Trade your maps and charts for the actual territory. You will be amazed by what a simple moment of awareness will offer, and what an open mind will reveal.

Light a Candle

It's a simple little ritual, but it can be incredibly meaningful. Light a special candle and let its glow comfort you. Lighting a candle can help you set aside sacred time in your day. The candle is a reminder that this time is different from the rest of your day. It is a time set apart for you to meditate, pray, or just be present in the moment. As long as the candle burns, you are in a sacred space and a sacred time.

Chapter Ten

Saying Good-Bye: Loss, Death, Rebirth

This is what I have learned. Within the sorrow, there is grace. When we come close to those things that break us down, we touch those things that also break us open. And in that breaking open, we uncover our true nature.

Wayne Muller

Life is filled with paradoxes. Death is a mystery that makes life even more precious. Sorrow can break the heart wide open. As the shell of a seed must be broken open to allow new life to emerge, so we discover that the losses and sorrows we thought would destroy us become the place where new life begins. The round of seasons continually reminds us of death and dormancy, rebirth and resurrection. Autumn's fading glory gives way to the stony gray and sere browns of winter. Then spring emerges in tender green spears and delicate blossoms, merging into the lush growth of the summer's fruitful bounty. The symphony of the seasons is echoed in the seasons of our own lives.

We are all mortal. Nothing lasts forever. When troubles come, we have a choice—let troubles destroy us or transform us. The losses may seem overwhelming, but the love and life at the center of our being are more powerful than any sorrow or darkness.

Bless the pain you feel and the promise of potentialities you cannot see. The human spirit is larger than you yet comprehend, able to transform the unspeakable into a gift to life. Believe that a time of trouble is not an end but a beginning, if you are willing to choose life in the midst of your tribulations.

Embrace Life

We can choose to allow life's natural energies to flow in life-giving and supportive ways. When we learn to overcome our fears and access the inner capacity that knows what to do and how to do it, we align ourselves with renewal. Life is change and evolution and we can choose how we will respond in the midst of life's challenges.

It takes courage to choose life. A small transforming choice multiplied by daily practice and nurtured by continued affirmative thought and prayer can change the trajectory of a life. We often settle for a limited life. Whether it is the well-worn path of family or societal expectations or our own self-doubt and fears that hold us back from more expansive lives, the result is still the same. We end up living lives that may be comfortable and predictable but that never fulfill our potential for greatness. Confronting our mortality and walking through the valley of the shadow of death with a loved one can be a wake-up call, reminding us that as long as we are here living on Earth, we have the power to grow and change.

No matter how much you might like to dig yourself a hole, crawl in, and pull the earth over to cover you like a blanket, you cannot. Life insists on going on. You can choose to numb yourself with addictive behaviors. You can waste a lot of time in denial, pretending that the pain doesn't exist or avoiding the questions you don't want to ask. You can blame others, get angry, and try to deny that there is anything wrong. But a chocolate binge, a drug trip, a tirade against the injustices of life, a hysterical fit, or a plunge into depression eventually leads you back to square one: How do I find meaning in the losses that break my heart? How can I put my life back together again into a healing new pattern?

What makes you feel more alive? What seeds of faith can you sow today that will contribute to life, make things better, express your uniqueness as an individual? Think of what you love. Does the life you live reflect your most authentic priorities? Are you willing to release old limitations and roles to embrace a richer, more deeply satisfying way of being in this world? Instead of allowing grief to overwhelm you, open your arms to life. Have the courage to choose a life you love instead of settling for a pale imitation of the real thing. Be willing to fashion a better world with your mind and hands and heart. Be courageously creative. The courageous choice sets you free. Life is more meaningful and beautiful if you are willing to follow your heart. The life-affirming choice begets life.

Even if you cannot see how conditions can change for the better, trust that your intentional choice begins a chain reaction that will create greater good. Remember that all things are possible, if you dare to believe. Say yes to life right now. Affirm the unseen good that is potentially here. This time of trouble can lead to something meaningful and wonderful if you are willing to look beyond today's shadows and trust that more good awaits. Trust that Infinite Intelligence can make all things work together for the highest good for all if you are willing to do your part. Do you give yourself permission to do what you love? Are you willing to step out in faith and say yes to what you love and yes to life? When you let love lead the way, you allow grace to support you through every season of life.

Sing Your Own Song of Life

Music has always made me feel more alive. It has been at the center of most of the choices I have made that were affirmations of life and expanding possibility. As a little girl, I would dance around the living room to Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, the Pastoral. When I became a teenager, I adored the pop music of the sixties. It was so full of the exuberance and idealism of youth. I enjoyed drama in high school, but when I had to choose between drama and being part of a church choral group, the choral group won. I loved singing in those old Ralph Carmichael, Jimmy Owens, and Kurt Kaiser musicals. I spent another summer in college traveling across the country with the Lutheran Evangelical Movement Gospel Crusaders. I learned to play guitar and sing folk songs. Music grew ever more important in my life over the years. I was a buyer for the music department in a Christian bookstore in the early eighties, which marked a decade that saw the rise of the contemporary Christian music genre. It was a golden era for me as I began co-writing songs and attended the Christian Artists Seminar in Estes Park, Colorado. I found long-term co-writing relationships in Seattle and began a long-distance co-writing relationship with an established Nashville songwriter. I was involved in church and arts organizations and finally chose to move to Nashville in 1993 in pursuit of my musical dreams. Now I have a collection of my own songs, and recording them is part of my dream for future adventures in music.

In fact, it was the music, and my love of music, that moved me into all kinds of wonderful adventures. One reason Nashville has been so transformative for me is that I have found so many kindred spirits who also come alive when they make music. It creates a tight-knit community built around the incomparable "high" of writing songs and performing them for a group of appreciative peers. I have a passion for creating the perfect song, offering a moving performance. I also have a deep appreciation for those who do it well. Nashville is a particularly rich place to hear the best of the best, whether it is at a casual writer's night or a formal performance in a world-class auditorium. Best of all, I am surrounded by people who understand this passion for music, who celebrate excellence, and who feel that life would be dry and dead indeed without making music in one form or another. For me, being involved with music is essential to feeling fully alive. My choice to move to Nashville to follow my musical dreams brought rewards and relationships beyond anything I could have imagined. It also brought its share of heartache and loss. But I still continue to follow that dream by making courageous choices and trusting the inner voice of my heart.

You don't have to be a musician to appreciate the aliveness that music represents. Scientists have confirmed that the nature of the world is musical. The Greeks defined music's most beautiful sounds as arising from certain fixed mathematical relationships—the fingerprints of the gods. Pythagoras, a Greek mathematician, had a school that not only taught the mystery of numbers, but also the use of sound to affect and heal the body, mind, and spirit.

Just as there is a spectrum of light, only part of which we can see, so there is a spectrum of sound. Dolphins can project and receive frequencies more than ten times beyond our limit of hearing. Dogs hear sounds we cannot. In most spiritual traditions, there are many stories of saints, sages, and mystics who sought to cultivate hearing celestial sounds through spiritual practices.

Waves, harmonics, and octaves are part of the ways the electromagnetic spectrum is measured. Johannes Kepler, a seventeenth-century astronomer, believed that each of the planets is alive, inhabited by its own guardian angel, and has its own song. In 1976, two Yale University professors took Kepler's laws and musical notations, fed the information into a computer connected to a synthesizer, and came up with a thirty minute tape representing one hundred years of planetary motion. The deep structure of music is a reflection of the deep structure of everything else.

If music can bring harmony to the heart and energy to the body, then choose the kind of music that makes you feel most alive. Or choose whatever it is that makes you feel like life is worth living. It could be a career in the arts, running a business, raising a family, working with the land, pursuing a sport, or using your gifts and talents to make the world a better place. Make choices that are deeply resonant with your heart and that lead in the direction of hope. Listen for that which sings within, that which makes you feel more alive. Listen to the music of your heart. Let your choices be in harmony with your highest aspirations. Then no matter what happens, you will know that you have lived fully and fearlessly.

The Courage to Choose Life

When we struggle through difficult times, we wrestle with questions of "Why me?" and "Why this?" and "Why now?" It takes faith to believe in the outworking of God's intentions for our ultimate good. Doubt and fear can overwhelm us in the face of our own fragility and mortality. It takes great courage to affirm life when loss, sorrow, and death enter our lives. When we choose faith over fear, trusting that God can make a way where there is no way, we can persevere through the changing seasons of life.

If you are in a season of loss, you can still make life-affirming choices. When you are not sure what decision to make, which path to take, or where to invest your life energies, set an intention to live life more fully, no matter what happens. Allow yourself room to grieve your losses, but do not stay locked in your own sorrow. Be positive and proactive. Take care of yourself as you take care of others. Believe the best. Pray and affirm that you are guided and that healing can happen in every circumstance. In tangled situations, trust God to untangle the mess. Be willing to take risks. Dare to embrace life.

Remember that this moment is the point of power. There is nothing you can do about what is past. Your choice here and now is what creates the future. Have the courage to make even one small choice to affirm your faith in life. Even if it seems like your entire world is dying, trust that this winter of the soul will one day become a spring of the spirit. Plant seeds of faith, believing for a resurrection and renewal that is beyond your limited understanding. Surrender to the greater rhythm of life, trusting that your affirmation of life, no matter how weak and trembling it seems in the face of death, does have life-altering power. You may not know when or how renewal will appear. You just have to trust that spring will return in your life.

Concentrate only on what you are able to do today. Let go of trying to control or predict the outcome. Do your best and leave the rest up to God. Trust that a greater process is happening, that all this is working together for your good and your growth. Count difficulties as blessings in disguise, believing that you will one day understand. The courage to keep going may sometimes be the only blessing you can see, but remember that life goes on and reveals its secrets in time. In most of the important things in life, we are dependent on the nature of creation and time, the grace of Divine Love that carries us through the events and processes of living—and dying.

Using the Power Within to Cultivate Peace

There is that within us that knows what to do and how to do it. The part of us that knows is a part of the Greater Consciousness. Reaching out beyond the boundaries of time and space, we open our hearts and minds to the infinite possibilities that exist in the Mind of God. Through imagination, visualization, and choosing new thoughts and actions, we can create a new reality in our lives. There is a higher self that believes and knows more than our limited consciousness can encompass.

You don't have to get the power; you are the power, deeply connected to the Divine, with the essence of the Divine within. When you set an intention, you are choosing the direction you want your life to unfold, and the energies of God will flow through you in that direction. Your consciousness creates and coordinates with the infinite field of possibilities.

When you have done what you know to do, it's time to let a Higher Power do the rest. Let go of your agendas and stop trying to second guess how things will come together. On this spiritual path, you are not depending on your own resources or limited understanding. You have chosen to believe that God is your Source. While you must do your best with what you know to do, it is up to God, to make it happen. Your conscious choice sets things in motion, but it is the unseen that works to pull it all together. Trust the process, knowing that all things work together for the highest good. Recognize that the unlimited Mind of God knows far more than your limited human mind. You'll discover that the Divine orchestrates the answers to your prayers and affirmations in ways you cannot imagine or predict.

Make a conscious choice to cultivate peace and happiness in your heart. Resolve to find reasons to rejoice rather than reasons to complain. Make gratitude a way of life. Pay attention to the simple, small, wonderful gifts the universe brings into your life every day, like hot showers, a car that runs, a job to do, friends and colleagues to see, and good food to eat. See each person as a Divine appointment to be greeted with kindness and love. Every circumstance has its mercies and small blessings. When you praise the goodness of life, you inspire faith in your heart and teach your soul to trust. Develop a habit of being thankful in the good times, so those habits of gratitude and faith will be well established when the difficult times arise.

Each one of us is born for a specific reason and purpose, and each one of us will die when he or she has accomplished whatever was to be accomplished. The in-between depends on our own willingness to make the best of every day, of every moment, of every opportunity. The choice is always ours.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress is a journey, not a destination. Consider this book a map of the territory, not the territory itself. Stress is unavoidable in modern life. Serenity is like an oasis in the midst of changes and challenges, offering a way to become more conscious in your choices and attitudes. Each person's journey is unique, so what may work for one person may be inappropriate advice for another. Trust your own instincts, for that inner voice will guide you in wonderful and often unexpected ways.

Remember that meditation is an essential tool that can bring calm and focus to your life. It is one of the core skills for creating a more serene life. Experiment with different forms of meditation to see what feels right and works for you.

Set an intention to cultivate more serenity in your heart, and you will be surprised by the ways serenity makes its way into your daily life. You will also be challenged to make changes that may be far beyond the scope of merely reducing stress in your life. Creating a calming home atmosphere, getting grounded and centered in your body, and being proactive about making positive incremental changes will help you create at more tranquil and meaningful existence.

Serenity is not the absence of stress but an openness to experiencing a greater sense of the Divine Presence in your life.

You will be guided as you discover ways to blend spirituality and practicality to uncover the hidden wholeness that is already within. Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress offers encouragement and simple ideas to create a happier and more blessed life. May it be a reminder of the stillness and aliveness that are at the center of your being.

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It took me over two years to write The Translucent Heart. It's a compendium of 61 meditations with a cornucopia of quotations. I am such a quotaholic, so I really went for it in this book. If you love quotations, you'll discover even more in the full lnegth book. I love the juxtaposition of quotes from people from many different backgrounds and philosophies. It's fun to see how one quote amplifies another quote. These meditations are practical and spiritual, offering inspiration for daily living.

The Translucent Heart

Inspired Choices for Challenging Times

We need to remember that where we are going is here, that any practice is simply a means to open our heart to what is in front of us. Where we already are is the path and the goal.

Jack Kornfield

When I was a little girl, my older sister came home from school with a fascinating project she had created in class. She took plain square pieces of plastic and turned them into small translucent hearts. She glued pieces of plastic together, cut a basic heart shape, then sanded and rubbed the plastic until it became a smooth and perfectly rounded heart. A chain could be attached to create a necklace. I particularly remember a dark blue translucent heart. The mystery of a piece of plastic that could seem to be opaque in the palm of my hand, yet translucent when held up to the light, felt like magic. I wondered that a plain square flat piece of plastic should, with some gluing, sanding, and knowledgeable effort, be turned into something so beautiful—holding darkness and light in the center of the heart.

Translucence is a quality that allows the light to shine through, without fully revealing what is behind it. A transparent window will reveal clearly, as a picture window frames a view. An opaque brick wall hides and protects the secrets behind it. But translucence sparks the imagination precisely because it both reveals and conceals, reminding us that there is more here than meets the eye. This image of translucence illustrates the essence of heaven shining through earthly solidity. A translucent stained glass window allows the light to shine through the colored glass, filling a cathedral with color and light. The light creates the beauty of color and image as it enters through the glass on a sunny day. At night the magic comes from within as the illuminated church glows like a lamp, its stained glass beckoning the pilgrim to enter and find beauty and peace within.

Look at any frosted glass light fixture, and you will see that the room is softly illuminated through the translucence of the glass. A translucent object, like stained glass, can symbolize a bridge between two worlds: the opaque solidity of earth and the luminous transparency of heaven. Our spirits, so full of light, and our bodies, made of common clay, form the meeting place between the eternal and the temporal. Those who hold heaven within their hearts often have an air of luminosity, as if the inner fire of faith becomes so bright it makes common clay seem like a translucent vessel.

We are filled with the glory of God, but may be so immersed in the cares of earth we lose sight of the light we carry within. Though some reach spiritual heights that allow heaven to shine clearly through, most of us muddle along through life on earth, with only occasional glimpses of luminous glory. We may feel as opaque as a brick wall on blue days, or when we are facing a struggle or crisis. Still, in our best hours, we sense that light is in our very nature, and know that we want to live more of our hours in the light.

As we grow in grace, there are choices we can make to cultivate our inner light and become more translucent. Religious traditions offer spiritual disciplines to encourage inner growth, but daily life also offers ways to stay in touch with the eternal hidden in the mundane. When Jesus told us to "consider the lilies" I can't help but believe that enjoying a bouquet of roses in a cobalt blue vase can be one way to take his instructions seriously. It is one form of meditation on the glory of the unseen spiritual realm revealed through the common things of earth. We can become more translucent, less opaque, by making a few simple choices that encourage us to consider the inner dimensions of our lives. We live at the intersection of enlightenment and earthiness. Translucence can be an image of what we are, and also an ideal of what we would like to become. As we cultivate our inner light, we become more translucent, allowing light to shine through the solid forms of daily living.

The path to enlightenment is not a straight line up from the dark valley to the sunrise on the mountaintop. It is a winding way that spirals round and round the mountain, up and up toward the summit, but going through many valley forests as well as seeing shining vistas along the way. The Translucent Heart was written with that journey in mind. It is a collection of meditations and quotes that encourage the heart in the midst of this day's stretch of the journey. You will be reminded of simple choices and attitudes that make a difference as you walk through the common daily round. From being kind to others to forgiving yourself, loving an animal to loving the mystery, you'll find reminders of the goodness of this day, this time and place. Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this place, and we have learned how to see it, and to be present in this mindful moment.

It is said that enlightenment is an accident, and meditation makes us more prone to that happy accident. I say that enlightenment is along the way, and certain choices and attitudes make it easier to awaken from our trance and find that the enlightenment is already here in our hearts. It is with us all along the way, not only waiting at the end of the trail at the top of some distant mountain. It is who we really are, obscured by our mistaken beliefs and cultural conditioning. We can train ourselves to see what others miss, and create a little bit of heaven on earth. Common clay does glow with an inner light, for those who have the eyes to see.

As those who have read my other books already know, I love quotes. I decided to make this book a compendium of quotes that go along with sixty-one meditations on daily living. I have found that having a "cloud of witnesses" helps me to see that some wisdom is universal, and that people from different times, cultures, and spiritual traditions often agree on the essentials. For those who love quotes, I know you will find as much joy in these gems as I had in collecting them.

If some days feel more opaque with weariness and struggle, these pages offer a little bit of light to brighten the day. May the light shine through these words to illuminate your heart, reminding you of the sacred light you carry within.

2. Listen to Your Inner Guidance System

Follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.

Joseph Campbell

One way of interpreting "bliss" is to call it that essential energy that is from Spirit. That's the energy that transcends the limited circumstances that seem to loom so large in your life. This bliss takes you into a larger, more spacious view of reality. You know that feeling of lightness, joy, and anticipation. It's as if a light has come on in a dark room, a path has cleared through the Red Sea of despair, and Something (or Someone) is calling out to you in a playful and wise Voice. That Voice, that sense of inner guidance, is a trustworthy guide, a messenger from the unseen and yet-to-be-manifest field of infinite possibilities.

In a still moment, that inner guidance can calm the stormy seas of your fear—rational fear of a particular condition, irrational fear that screams like a maniac that the sky is falling and you will be crushed by the clouds. One part of your mind is having a panic attack about an unpaid bill or a frustrating relationship, focusing with its reptile brain on conditions that seem beyond your control and beyond your resources. That part of your mind is primal, and though necessary on the path of evolution, is not necessarily helpful in your spiritual evolution. When you hear that voice of fear and doom dominating your inner dialogue, it is time to move into stillness, to drop all those negative voices screaming for help, and to check with your inner guidance system for sustaining wisdom.

The inner guidance ignores the fire, the earthquake, the storms, the thunder, and the shouting. It does not need drama. It offers a path out of your dilemmas, and solutions that are beyond your resources and your understanding. Whether you enter into silent prayer or meditation, or go do some simple, soothing task that will calm your body and focus your mind, sooner or later that still small voice whispers clearly beneath the tumult and terror. It whispers that you have a choice in this moment. You are not controlled or confined by your limiting circumstances.

It may only be a small choice. It can often be a choice that sounds impossibly playful in light of the doom and gloom your reptile brain/ego mind has been feeding you. It may whisper, "Take a walk. Take a nap." It may say, "Call this person." It may say, "Do one small act of unconditional love every day—either for others or on behalf of your dearest dreams." Or it may say, "Sit down. Be quiet. Wait on the Lord."

There is great power in this moment. The power to choose. The power to move into a mental frequency that is harmonious with Divine order and with the outcome you most desire. This inner guidance always brings a sense of an increased aliveness, clarity, and a sense of abundant possibility. Those lighter, more positive feelings are your radar, telling you where to go when you cannot see, making a way out of no way. This "bliss" is more than just a concept in your mind or an emotional charge. It is your connection with the Source of the Infinite being activated.

How do you hear this inner guidance? Try this for starters. Take some time and go somewhere you can be quiet and undisturbed. Take several deep breaths. Close your eyes and visualize light. Imagine you are looking up at the sun and being bathed in its warmth. For a few minutes, suspend your usual concerns. Focus instead upon experiencing the peace that is at the center of your being. Feel the energy you are made of and imagine an inner sunlight glowing from your heart. Listen inwardly. Make this your focus and concern for the next few minutes—the focus of listening and feeling for the energy of bliss, the still small Voice of calm and smiling guidance. Give thanks that you are being guided. When you're ready, open your eyes and then gently go on with your day.

Give yourself the daily luxury of suspending your usual anxieties and spending time being receptive to intuitive revelation and Universal guidance. You will feel relieved, for you will be in a world of God-sourced realities.

You will find as you make this a daily practice that you become better at stilling your mind and listening to your intuitive guidance. You can dare to relax into a Wisdom that is greater than your fears and anxiety. This is why so many pursue meditation practices that calm the body and still the mind. It is a long-term investment and commitment to listening for inner guidance.

At the end of your listening time, mentally offer a "Thank You" to the Greater Wisdom. "Thank You, God. Thank You Spirit." If you have been given clear guidance, follow it. Trust it. If there is no special guidance given, do whatever is needed next, whether it is going back to your desk to complete a task or simply staying calm and centered as you run errands or do laundry and dishes. Trust that you will be guided to whatever you are to do next one moment at a time. Dwell calmly in the present moment and go within to listen to your inner guidance often during the day.

You will find in your experience that over time that your intuitive awareness or sudden clarity is true, even if you still flip flop between feelings of blissful openness and stressful old ways of thinking about yourself and others. Don't let it bother you. Movement is happening as you become unstuck from your old worldview. Your conditioned mind is being liberated. Inner guidance, intuitive awareness, and luminous clarity are intimations of the many levels of reality that reside in the present moment. There is more in this than meets the eye, and there are benign forces at work bringing your good together in ways that you could not imagine from the limitations of your old way of looking at life.

The question to ask yourself is: do I believe only in what I see and know and understand? Or am I willing to draw on a greater Source and an unlimited wisdom that can guide me to a safe and nurturing place? Am I willing to take the time to listen to the unseen, the unheard, the yet-to-be-imagined place in me that is the secret heart of Universal love and creative power? Am I willing to journey beyond words and concepts and conventional ideas into a world where infinite possibilities await?

Be curious. Explore with the antennae of your mind the essence of your being. The only way you will ever know if this inner guidance is "true" is to cultivate a listening heart; then follow the guidance as it is given. You'll prove it or disprove it by living it. No one can tell you in words, and no outer power can dictate your response. Your inner guidance system shows you the way—it does not necessarily explain what is happening. You'll know it when you feel it, experience its flow and wisdom. It's a process that is beyond words, but it is ultimately more "real" than any material object or intellectual interpretation of how things are.

You are learning to release misperception, to experience yourself with clarity. When you are listening to your inner guidance, you are listening to that within you that knows what to do and how to do it. You are listening to eternal spiritual Wisdom, unbound by time and earthly conditions, yet fully a part of everything that is. It is the most trustworthy guidance you will ever experience.

If there is a problem or a situation in your life that is troubling you, disturbing your peace, or if you have a specific question or concern, voice it mentally. Silently ask for clarification and then silently listen for an answer. Desire to know whatever you need to know.

Eric Schiffman

There is that within me that knows what to do and how to do it.

Ernest Holmes

You must begin to trust yourself. If you do not then you will forever be looking to others to prove your own merit to you, and you will never be satisfied. You will always be asking others what to do, and at the same time resenting those from whom you seek such aid.

Jane Roberts

We are kept from the experience of Spirit because our inner world is cluttered with past traumas... As we begin to clear away this clutter, the energy of divine light and love begins to flow through our beings.

Father Thomas Keating

There is a hidden love center in human beings that you will discover and savor and nourish yourself with. That will be your food.

Rumi

14. Identify Your Patterns

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.

Richard de Bono

Just as clearing clutter in your living space calms and soothes the soul, so being aware of your emotional clutter helps you make better choices that help you live life more freely from the heart. Old patterns can include the stories you tell yourself, as well as the ego agendas that trip you up in your relationships, or even physical habits that keep you tethered to old disappointments and limitations instead of allowing you to dream of leaping grace.

Perhaps you have a pattern of looking at life through the lens of lack. You tell yourself stories about what you don't have, or why people don't really care. But are those stories really true? It is empowering to look at your patterns from a higher perspective so you can see the pattern of limited thinking, and choose a different mindset.

How often have you clutched at the status quo, fighting the natural forces of change, trying to control and confine life within the small boundaries of your fears and expectations? Move beyond rigid opinions and limiting patterns of behavior and belief systems. Let go of old attitudes that no longer serve you, and release old expectations, forgive yourself and others for past loss and disappointments.

Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." The questions that afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted can be the catalyst for a personal encounter with truth. Gloria Steinem writes, "It pays to ask those painful questions. The answers can set you free."

The questions that move us take us beyond the answers of our own time and culture, beyond the easy chair comfort of clichés and familiar patterns. It feels dangerous to challenge and question the status quo. There is the fear that we will never again feel as sure of ourselves, confident of our own rightness, or convinced of our own superiority and ability to control life. But neither will we settle for being controlled by others or manipulated by our society. We will no longer become our own worst enemy, stepping on our own dreams before they even have a chance to take root and grow.

When we dare to move into the wider and more mysterious world of unanswered (and sometimes unanswerable) questions, we discover that our tears are meaningful, our suffering has a purpose, and our thirst for truth, goodness, and beauty can be quenched. Life is too large to be put in a box. When we stop expecting easy answers and learn to really listen, the questions lead us to a larger perspective.

It makes a great deal of difference in your daily life what you think about yourself, about others, and how life works. Your thoughts are the starting point of your actions. If you think negative or limiting thoughts, you will make choices that lead to a more limited life. If you think expansive thoughts of faith and trust, you'll find a richer, more expansive life follows. Make room in your life and create space for something new by releasing old thought patterns, habits, and ideas you've been holding on to for too long. Release and bless that which no longer serves you.

To reach for excellence in a sport, an athlete must undergo a re-patterning process. Giving up old patterns and developing new practices, both mental and physical, are part of the process of developing strength, skill, and endurance. The impulse to stop is overcome by the decision to stretch the body beyond its ordinary capacities. The breaking down of muscle and capillary is necessary for the new, more efficient pathways to grow. Athletic training is a process of breaking down and building up, always with the one-pointed discipline that pursues the new self who can win races, climb mountains, endure long distances, and take the human spirit into new territory.

A change of patterns can become a change of self. A woman who was overweight and sedentary now runs marathons. A man who dared to dream of the mountain heights one day stands on the top of the Himalayas. A losing team is forged by the disciplines of the sport and becomes more than just a winning combination—it is as if every individual is transformed into a unity of collective consciousness, playing the game with a rare elegance and grace. Old patterns must be understood and released. New patterns are built over time. And something new emerges in the process.

You were born with an original mind, if you are willing to use it. So many people settle for hand-me-down ideas. You may have a limited idea of yourself or what is possible. You can transform your life by becoming aware of your patterns, questioning your assumptions, and being willing to learn. Even a small change or a fresh perspective on who you might become can shift the pattern. Like the turn of a kaleidoscope, everything changes when something moves.

How you think about your life can make a big difference in how you experience life. If you always focus on what you don't have and what is wrong, you will create more stress through your frustration and negativity. Instead, choose to focus on what's right and good in your life. Create a happier pattern for living.

• The next time you find yourself opening your mouth to defend a decision you made, stop and think. Don't waste energy in self-defense. Be willing to admit your errors, look for ways to improve, and move on.

Sorcerers say that in every explanation there is a hidden apology.

Carlos Castenada

He who reigns within himself and rules his passions, desires, and fears is more than a king.

John Milton

We sleep, but the loom of life never stops, and the pattern which was weaving when the sun went down is weaving when it comes up in the morning.

Henry Ward Beecher

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind is part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

Anatole France

You cannot solve a problem with the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.

Albert Einstein

19. Create Something That Satisfies Your Soul

Find out what you really like if you can. Find out what is really important to you. Then sing your song. You will have something to sing about and your whole heart will be in the singing.

Robert Henri

A beautiful hooked rug that took a year to make is treasured for generations. That finely crafted grandfather clock kept time in your father's house and now marks the hours in your home. An heirloom quilt, a soft hand-knitted sweater, a family keepsake book, a ship's model, a lustrous old table—these are soul-satisfying creations that are treasured from one generation to the next.

In this age of mass produced plastics, it's refreshing to create something that will last for generations. Enjoy making something timeless that demands the best of your skill and craftsmanship. It will satisfy your soul to create something with lasting goodness. Give yourself permission to create something you love, to allow the artist within the freedom to come out for a healing and nourishing time of creative play.

Creativity teacher Julia Cameron tells her students, "Creativity is God's gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God." We are all meant to live creatively. Preparing a tasty new dish, planting a garden, writing a poem, restructuring a company, singing a song, decorating an office, sewing a doll's dress, painting a canvas, building a tree house—we are born to express ourselves through creative choices.

There is great power in immersing yourself in a satisfying creative project. First of all, it takes your mind off your worries and immerses yourself in the moment, in the doing of the thing. It is also empowering, for you are the one who is making the choices. The creative work is yours. When other parts of your life are stressful and feel out of your control, the world you create in your artistic projects tells you that you are capable. The soothing nature of the creative process can calm and center you, bringing serenity in those moments when you are most absorbed in a project.

As you move deeper into the process, you also learn to surrender to the greater wisdom of what is being made. A potter works with the clay, a woodworker cherishes the grain of the wood, the melody demands certain chords, the brush and color sometimes seem to guide your hand. You realize that surrender to the flow and energy can create unexpected effects and combinations, bringing something into being that is beyond what you originally imagined. It is true in art—and it is true in life as well.

Eric Maisel, author and a psychotherapist who counsels artists says, "Remember the three companions of creativity: loving, knowing, doing. You can propel yourself into a creative outburst by choosing any one of the three as starting point." You can rejuvenate yourself by time spent appreciating great art, falling in love with the creations of others—loving. You can rekindle your creative spirit by learning a new skill or technique—knowing. Or you can leap right into a project, allowing the work itself to carry you along—doing.

Composer Aaron Copeland said that inspiration is the antithesis of self-consciousness. Like children at play, we bring an unselfconscious joy to acts of creation. Tap into the unselfconscious pleasure of creating something that satisfies your soul, nourishes your heart, and challenges you to express your creativity.

You are born creative. You don't have to be labeled "officially" creative—an artist, performer, or inventor—to express yourself in creative ways. You do it naturally, just by being you. You can approach the whole of life creatively. Here are some simple rules of the road for the creative journey.

• Step into the unknown with courage.

Each act of creation begins with questions, chaos, and emptiness. You may have a mental picture of the finished work of art at the beginning, or just a small spark of an idea that catches your heart and connects you emotionally to the act of creation. Like any journey, whether meticulously mapped out or launched on a whim, the creative journey starts with that first step into the unknown. Begin—and see where the work leads you.

• Pay attention.

Art is born in observation, awareness, and appreciation. Pay attention to your senses, become aware of the marvels each moment offers. Your life is rich in beauty, mystery, and the commonplace miracles of life. Practice mindful observation, looking at life without judgment or opinion. Pay attention to the details. Then let what you are seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, and hearing fire your imagination and become the catalyst for your own expression of creative joy.

• Become a student of life.

If you want to approach life more creatively, always be open to learning. Never feel that you have all the answers. Instead of locking yourself into a limiting view of life, expand your horizons and relax your resistance. There is no right or wrong to debate, just something new to learn. "Let a student enter art school with this advice," cautions Robert Henri. "No matter how good the school is, his education is in his own hands. All education must be self-education." Be an eager student of life and even the difficulties and challenges can teach you priceless wisdom.

• Trust the process.

There are no "wrong" answers in the creative process. Process, not product, is the point of any creative activity. Often it is the "mistakes" that lead to a new way of seeing, a new way of approaching your work. Every experience has something to offer and is something you can apply to your creative work—and your life. Let the process itself lead you. When you begin creating, the work itself speaks to you. There is a dialogue between artist and the art that is being created. Instead of trying to impose your will or stick to a rigid agenda, let the flow of creative energy lead you. You'll learn priceless lessons about the creative journey that can be applied to other areas of your life. Trust the process, for it will lead you where you need to go.

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

Pablo Picasso

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.

Joseph Chilton Pearce

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.

Martha Graham

No seed shall perish which the soul hath sown.

John Addington Symonds

• Create an object for the home that you would like future generations to cherish.

22. Get Out in the Fresh Air

Touch the earth, love the earth, honour the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills, and her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places.

Henry Beston

If you've been closeted indoors too long, your thoughts get as stuffy as the closed rooms you've been living in. It's time to get out and let the wind blow through your hair, the sun shine on your face, and the fresh air invigorate your attitude.

They call it "shinrin-yoku" in Japan—forest bathing. A group of Japanese medical researchers and government-affiliated forest organizations support the creation of thirty officially designated forest therapy centers. People wander trails, enjoy guided walks, and even receive free medical checkups beneath the trees.

It turns out there are measurable physical benefits from being in the forest, from lowered cortisol levels and lower blood pressure to an increase in the immunity-boosting natural killer cells and anticancer proteins. Phytoncides, organic compounds produced by trees and plants as protection from disease, increase in dense forest areas and during summer growing seasons. Nippon Medical School's research showed an increase in immunity-boosting cells from simply walking in a forest for a few hours.

Forests are not the only places to find renewal and rest. Past the fast food restaurants, strip malls, and billboards, there is a world of untouched beauty that speaks to the soul. It is the wild places—mountain, forest, untamed shore, winding riverfront, vast desert—the primal creation that shimmers with living glory and reminds you that this is a very large and beautiful world.

Escape to the wild places to renew your spirit. Let the wind blow through your hair and whisper secrets of wild freedom to your heart. Enjoy being away from all man-made structures and in the midst of nature's beauty. You'll return to your daily life with a wider—and wilder—perspective.

Mountains, deserts, seashores, green fields, gardens—find a little bit of earth and spend some time on it, staring at the clouds, digging in the dirt, smelling the flowers, and just being with green and growing things out under the wide bowl of arching sky. Rejoice in nature and let it remind you that life is larger and airier and freer than the enclosed world you've been immured in. Watch a squirrel scrambling through leaves, intent on her business. Remember that life is rich and full and mysterious. Nature shares secrets of renewal with those who will take time to listen to her.

Climb the mountains and get good tidings. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.

John Muir

I asked the boy beneath the pines.

He said, "The master's gone alone

Herb-picking somewhere on the mount,

Cloud-hidden, whereabouts unknown."

Chia Tao (777-841) Searching for the Hermit in Vain

Trans. Lin Yutang

You ask why I seclude myself in my little forest hut?

I just smile and say nothing, listening to the quiet of my soul.

This peacefulness lives in another world.

That no one owns.

Li Po

Spring flowers, autumn moon,

Summer breeze, winter snow—

When the mind is free from unnecessary thoughts,

Every season is just perfect!

Ekai

Look at that rainbow. It is only when the sky cries that you see the colors in the light.

T'ao Shan

• Walk outdoors today. Pick up five pretty leaves or rocks. Take them home to remind you of nature's bounty and your creative potential.

When I go in my garden with a spade and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health that I discover that I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.

William Shakespeare

• Take a good book or spiritual reading with you on a wilderness hike. The words will have a different resonance for you when read in nature.

23. Sit and Stare

There were times I could not afford to sacrifice the bloom of the present moment to any work; whether of the head or the hand. I love a broad margin to my life. Sometimes, in a summer morning, having taken my accustomed bath, I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise till noon, rapt in a revery, amidst the pines and hickories and sumachs, in undisturbed solitude and stillness, while the birds sang around or flitted noiseless through the house, until by the sun falling in at my west window, of the noise of some traveler's wagon on the distant highway, I was reminded of the lapse of time. I grew in those seasons like corn in the night, and they were far better than the work of the hands would have been. They were not time subtracted from my life, but so much over and above my usual allowance.

Henry David Thoreau

You are busy and have a great deal to accomplish. The chores are always there, the to-do list never seems to grow shorter, and the demands on your time don't let up. After awhile, your mind gets tired and your soul grows weary.

Try this simple remedy: Take a break. Sit. Stare. Do nothing.

You need time to be away from all the noise and distraction. A quiet hour spent alone will replenish your spirit and give you access to your own inner wisdom. Let go of all the chatter and opinions and to-do lists; just be with God in the silence. Allow the silence to fill your inner emptiness. Consider spending an afternoon in silence to nurture your soul.

The soul enjoys a softer tone toward life. It likes to mellow down, take its time, and savor existence. A gentler attitude allows more room for the give and take of satisfying relationships. An open attitude creates space for God to bless and surprise you.

Watch a thunderstorm roll through or a butterfly sipping nectar from a flower. Look out the window at passing clouds or across the green grass to the blue horizon beyond. Be like a child—empty, open, and receptive to the Spirit. Discover the secret of doing nothing in particular.

A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy can live.

Bertrand Russell

• Create a personal mini-retreat for an afternoon or morning of silence, prayer, and meditation.

What we nurture in ourselves will grow. This is nature's eternal law.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If ever I have to get away from it all, and in the words of the Chinese poet, "wash all the wrongs of life from my pores," there is simply nothing better than to climb out onto a rock, and sit for hours with nothing in sight but sea and sky.

Alan Watts

Here is the unsophisticated self, your original face. Here is the landscape of your birthplace, bare and beautiful.

Yuan Wu

With all our philosophy, with all our grand and enhancing ideas, we cannot escape life as we live it. Star gazers are still walking on the solid earth.

D. T. Suzuki

But the twilight comes; and the lover of the fireside, for the perfect moment, is now alone...the fire assumes a more glowing presence. The contemplatist keeps his easy posture, absorbed in his fancies, and everything around him is still and serene... This is the only time, perhaps, at which sheer idleness is salutary and refreshing.

Leigh Hunt

One of the shining moments of my day is that when, having returned a little weary from an afternoon walk, I exchange boots for slippers, out-of-doors coat for easy, familiar, shabby jacket, and, in my deep, soft-elbowed chair, await the tea tray.

George Gissing

He had a marvelous gift of silence. We all know the old rustic who said, "Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sets." Kenneth Grahame [author of The Wind in the Willows] had reduced "just sitting" to a fine art. He would slowly become part of the landscape and a word from him would come as unexpectedly as a sudden remark from an oak or a beech. He could not have been thinking... No, he was "just setting"; in other words, he was on the threshold of Nirvana; his brain was receptive but at rest, a great peace was with him and about him and his companion was drawn into it.

Graham Robertson

We become contemplative when God discovers Himself in us.

Thomas Merton

There are places and moments in which one is so completely alone that one sees the world entire.

Jules Renard

A special transmission outside the scriptures;

No dependence upon words and letters;

Direct pointing to the heart of man;

Seeing into one's own nature.

The Message of Bodhidharma

Heroes become Buddhas with one thought, but lazy people are given the three collections of scripture to work through.

Zen saying

When Zen wants you to taste the sweetness of sugar it puts the required article in your mouth and no further words are said.

D. T. Suzuki

Think about a piece of music—some great symphony—we don't expect it to get better as it develops, or that its whole purpose is to reach the final crescendo. The joy is found in listening to the music in each moment.

Alan Watts

I sit alone at peace. In blissful release I greet the dawn sun.

Kuo-an Shih-yuan

It seems indeed as if peace and nutriment from heaven subtly filter into me as I slowly hobble down these country lanes and across fields, in the good air—as I sit here in solitude with Nature—open, voiceless, mystic, far removed, yet palpable, eloquent Nature. I merge myself in the scene, in the perfect day.

Walt Whitman

Let this or any time you practice be your time for letting go of all doing, for shifting into the being mode, in which you simply dwell in stillness and mindfulness, attending to the moment-to-moment unfolding of the present, adding nothing, subtracting nothing, affirming that "This is it."

Jon Kabat-Zinn

37. Love an Animal

I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.

Abraham Lincoln

Wagging tails, rubbing noses, soft purring, gentle companionship—what could be more wonderful than a loving animal companion to share life's journey! A dog bounds up to greet you, demonstrating unconditional love and enthusiasm for life. A cat decides that you will be the privileged person to be her willing slave, and you are grateful for the high honor. Hamsters, bunnies, birds, fish, and a menagerie of animal companions teach us all lessons in life and love. The intuitive wisdom of a horse shows you ways to heal. The quicksilver of a wild deer watching you from the edge of the forest reminds you that the world is filled with magic. Love animals, and they will show you secrets of God's love.

Research confirms that living with companion animals offers an abundance of physical and emotional rewards, especially for those in difficult circumstances. Pet owners have less illness, recover faster from serious health conditions, and tend to be more content than people who do not own pets. From lowering blood pressure to lessening allergies (seems counterintuitive, but studies have shown that exposure to animals offers more immunity from allergies), animal companions like dogs and cats can soothe the body as well as the troubled soul. Lynette A. Hart, Ph.D., professor of veterinary medicine at the University of California, states: "The comfort and contentment offered by animals is documented in a large number of studies with vulnerable people, including children, the elderly, and people with disability, disease and loneliness." Even birds and fish have a positive effect on people.

You don't have to commit to owning a pet (and let's face it, a pet "owns" you, not the other way around). Just include more animal interaction in your life. You might take a riding class, volunteer at an animal shelter, help special needs children relate to animals, or just " borrow" a friend's pet for a few hours or a few days. Offer to pet sit. Go to a farm or petting zoo. Take children on an animal adventure. Read about animals. Go to the lake or forest and watch wildlife.

Horses have been proven to help people recover from emotional trauma, and there are programs that include opportunities to heal psychological and emotional wounds through equine therapy. Simply riding the trails can take you to a higher perspective. There is something amazing about seeing the world from the back of a horse. Riding the trails blends fresh air, beauty, a sense of progress and movement, and the pleasure of interacting with a magnificent horse.

Think about the important animals you have in your life, whether it is a beloved companion who gently rules your life or a long-lost childhood pet that taught you the meaning of love and loyalty.

Pat a dog and see the unconditional love and loyalty reflected in his eyes. Stroke a cat gently and bring the purr out in the furry creature. Be soothed in zenlike manner as you watch fish in an aquarium swim around (there is a reason why so many doctor's waiting rooms have aquariums). Take a pair of binoculars and go bird watching or set up a bird feeder in the back yard. Watch a sleeping kitten stretch in its slumbers or enjoy the puppy pile gathered around the protective mother dog. Animal friends remind you that there is more to life than speed and accomplishment.

• Take photos of other people and their pets. Discover the power of the digital camera to capture the essence of love between a human and a dog, cat, or other critter.

What is it that so many people find enchanting in animals? Their essence - their Being - is not covered up by the mind, as it is in most humans. And whenever you feel that essence in another, you also feel it in yourself.

Eckhart Tolle

Being with pets can often be a very prayerful activity as well. Animals are the highest form of aliveness that are still spontaneously transparent to the Divine. Humans have to work at that. Meeting an animal can be quite similar to meeting a very saintly person. They are totally transparent. When I look at a cat, it's like looking into God's eyes.

David Steindl-Rast

I love cats because I love my home and after awhile they become its visible soul.

Jean Cocteau

If I spent enough time with the tiniest creature—even a caterpillar—I would never have to prepare a sermon. So full of God is every creature.

Meister Eckhart

I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.

Emily Dickenson

In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog.

Edward Hoagland

No matter how little money and how few possessions, you own, having a dog makes you rich.

Louis Sabin

You can say any fool thing to a dog and the dog will just give you this look that says, "My GOSH, you're RIGHT! I NEVER would've thought of that!"

Dave Barry

A cat pours his body on the floor like water. It is restful just to see him.

William Lyon Phelps

If there were to be a universal sound depicting peace, I would surely vote for the purr.

Barbara L. Diamond

Who among us hasn't envied a cat's ability to ignore the cares of daily life and to relax completely?

Karen Brademeyer

I discovered that horses are more intelligent than we give them credit for, and I mean a lot more intelligent. When allowed to exist in a relatively stress-free environment, a horse's mind is literally swirling with the nuance common in creative geniuses. Just by associating with their equine partners, riders can tap into this stream as well.

Linda Kohanov

For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations.

Henry Beston

Practice love first on animals, they are more sensitive.

G. I. Gurdjieff

Every creature is a word of God.

Meister Eckhart

An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language.

Martin Buber

38. Welcome Divine Appointments

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding: In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)

Divine appointments are those seemingly serendipitous happenings that bring people and events together, often in unexpected ways. A divine appointment may be a wonderful contact with a long-lost friend or an unexpected emergency that takes you to a hospital waiting room. You may meet a new person or lose a loved one. You may reach a long-desired goal or lay aside a cherished dream. You might have encounters with angels that guide, direct, or prevent you from harm. People tell stories of missing the flight that crashed or receiving an unexpected gift of money just as a bill was due. In one form or another, you can sense that these are divine appointments, synchronicity moving all the pieces and people to come together in ways no one could have predicted or imagined. Detours, disasters, dilemmas, and unexpected delights will meet you at every turn, and providence can step in when you least expect it.

When the unexpected is a delightful surprise, it's easy to be thankful and feel sure that all is going to work out well. But when troubles come knocking on the door and desired goals have to be set aside, it is often hard to believe that any good can come out of the difficult situation that has detoured your day. The real tests are the small irritations and frustrations, when a day goes from bad to worse and problems pile up. You can get caught up with grumbling, complaining, and lamenting what cannot be changed. If someone interrupts your day with a problem, you are the one who chooses whether you will accept the situation gracefully or grumpily. If a crisis arises, you are the one who chooses whether to have a calm heart of trust or a panic attack.

Trust your intuition, and be open to wisdom that sees the hand of God working behind the outer circumstances. Analytical thinking is the skill of evaluating situations by gathering data and finding an answer that would work in most situations. But analytical thinking is limited and will not guide you through the mysteries and paradoxes of life. It takes a deeper wisdom that draws from unseen dimensions. Let your heart speak, listen to your intuition, and then let the analytic mind have its turn to share. Pay attention to all facets of wisdom and remember that when Spirit speaks, it may not always make sense to the brain, but it will resonate with the heart.

Your intuition is a spiritual gift. Pay attention. Intuition is the voice of the heart speaking to the mind, the gut reaction that tells us something about a situation that our analytical brains can't see. Trust this instinct that whispers there is more to this meeting than the eye can see. Understand that your intuitive response may be the voice of God whispering, "This is the way, walk in it."

Divine appointments can even come from our mistakes, weaknesses, and problems. Sometimes our hearts know the wisest course to take, but we still stubbornly choose a foolish path. Or we'll make what we think is a good choice and it has unanticipated consequences. However, we often learn more from our mistakes than our successes. Our foolish choices may lead us down a path we never planned to take. But on that path we find divine appointments, lessons in love, and wise teachers who point the way to the high road we left behind. As compost makes the soil richer, so even weaknesses, mistakes, problems, detours, and losses can enrich our lives and help us grow in understanding.

When your plans are interrupted, take a deep breath and give yourself time to think before you react. Take care of the need that is confronting you at the moment. Look at each person who needs something from you as if he or she is sent from God. When a desired outcome is delayed, learn the lesson in the detour. Welcome the difficult people in your life as teachers. Be open to the gifts that are brought by people you love and admire.

Providence is an old-fashioned word with a timeless meaning. Saint John of Damascus said, "Providence is the care God takes of all existing things." Providence refers to the divine care of God and to his perfect timing in our lives. Believe that providence is at work in your life in unseen, mysterious, and wonderful ways.

Remember that each encounter is a divine appointment, each problem another opportunity for making new choices, and each blessing a reminder that God is at work in your life and can pull things together in unexpected ways. Welcome serendipities and synchronicities. Receive the unexpected gifts a day brings and be open to divine appointments.

By going a few minutes sooner or later, by stopping to speak with a friend on the corner, by meeting this man or that, or by turning down this street instead of the other, we may let slip some impending evil, by which the whole current of our lives would have been changed. There is no possible solution in the dark enigma but the one word, "Providence."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sometimes providences, like Hebrew letters, must be read backward.

John Flavel

I am satisfied that when the Almighty wants me to do or not to do any particular thing, he finds a way of letting me know.

Abraham Lincoln

O Lord, thou knowest that which is best for us. Let this or that be done, as thou shalt please. Give what thou wilt, how much thou wilt, and when thou wilt.

Thomas à Kempis

You can't access wisdom by the megabyte. Wisdom is concerned with how we relate to people, to the world, and to God.

Edmund P. Clowney

God wishes each of us to work as hard as we can, holding nothing back but giving ourselves to the utmost, and when we can do no more, then is the moment when the hand of Divine Providence is stretched out to us and takes over.

Don Orione

Providence has at all times been my only dependence, for all other resources seem to have failed us.

George Washington

I firmly believe in Divine Providence. Without it, I think I should go crazy. Without God the world would be a maze without a clue.

Woodrow Wilson

54. See Your Life as a Sacred Journey

Journeys, like artists, are born and not made...They flower spontaneously out of the demands of our natures—and the best of them lead us not only outwards in space but inwards as well.

Lawrence Durrell

We step out into life and do not know where it will take us. Yet we can look back and see how God led us step by step. Life is a journey, a sacred pilgrimage through unknown territory. You can choose to make this life a pilgrimage of faith and trust. You can proclaim, "I may not know where I'm going, but I know Who is going with me." Like those who have traveled the pilgrim's path, you can walk with the Divine Presence every day.

See your life as a sacred journey, traveled by faith. Think of the passages that we all go through. Childhood, marriage, parenthood, celebrations, sorrows—all are milestones marking your sacred journey through life. These personal journeys take us not only across time and space, but also through epochs in our lives.

Think about the great adventure of childhood, when you became aware of yourself and then discovered the world beyond the family home. Remember adolescence, when you awkwardly began to reach out for adulthood. The first time to live away from home, searching for a place to belong in the working world, finding compatible social circles, the commitment to a marriage, starting a family and watching your own children begin their own life journeys, letting go of aging parents as they move toward the great mystery beyond this life—all of these are stages in life's journey and pilgrimages in and of themselves.

Life pushes us out of the comfortable and familiar into new adventures. Just when you think you're settled in, something sets you off in a new direction. A crisis may make you re-evaluate your life and reinvent yourself. A tragedy or loss can push you to create a life without someone or something you thought would always be there. Situations change, priorities shift, and suddenly you find yourself a wandering pilgrim once again, learning new lessons about faith and trust.

Saying "yes" to marriage, raising a family, making a move to another town, deciding to learn a new skill, giving yourself permission to pursue a dream, returning to school, taking a trip to a long dreamed of destination—all of these are journeys that can be taken with a pilgrim heart. Expect to be changed. Ask yourself this question: If my life is a journey, where am I on that journey? Know that at the end of the journey you will be a different person than the one who began the pilgrimage.

I think of my life and the lives of everyone who has ever lived, or will ever live, not just as journeys through time, but as sacred journeys.

Frederick Buechner

• Think of your life as a map, marked by the milestones along the way. Where are you on your sacred journey?

In the spiritual journey we travel though the night toward the day. We walk not in the bright sunshine of total certainty but through the darkness of ignorance, error, muddle, and uncertainty. We make progress in the journey as we grow in faith.

Christopher Bryant

The path followed by those engaged in the spiritual life is long and arduous, but their work can be summarized in a few words: instead of allowing their lower, instinctual, animal nature to get the upper hand, keeping them enslaved and forever excluded from paradise, they work to give the spirit a voice, to submit to its laws, so that the powers of eternity may come to reign within them.

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

Every man has two journeys to make through life. There is the outer journey, with its various incidents and the milestones.... There is also an inner journey, a spiritual Odyssey, with a secret history of its own.

William Ralph Inge

Pilgrims are persons in motion—passing through territories not their own—seeking something we might call completion, or perhaps the word clarity will do as well, a goal to which only the spirit's compass points the way.

Richard R. Niebuhr

If your journey is indeed a pilgrimage, a soulful journey, it will be rigorous. Ancient wisdom suggests if you aren't trembling as you approach the sacred, it isn't the real thing. The sacred, in its various guises as holy ground, art, or knowledge, evokes emotion and commotion.

Phil Cousineau

55. Bless the Dark Night of the Soul

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.

Albert Camus

There are seasons in life when suffering and loss cannot be denied. Depression, despair, heaviness of heart, and a sense of helplessness in the immensity of life's darkness can overwhelm a life and submerge you. All of the joy in living can feel drowned forever in a sea of sorrow. Like Jonah, you are swallowed whole and now are sweating it out in the belly of a giant whale, wondering if you will ever emerge from this difficult place.

The phrase "dark night of the soul" comes from Saint John of the Cross, a Spanish mystic, poet, and monk who lived from 1541 to 1597. He was imprisoned by his own order for eight months. In that tortured time, he wrote a series of remarkable poems, and his later writings are commentaries on those poems. The best known is The Dark Night and it has inspired many sufferers over the centuries. The dark night of the soul is a period of transformation, a time of soul-making and gestation. From its scars and losses emerges a deeper initiation into being human. This period of disintegration, sadness, loss, frustration, and tribulation can be part of a process of a new birth into a higher level of consciousness. Sometimes our sorrows are the only way to the center of our hearts.

When troubles come, we have a choice—to let troubles destroy us or transform us. A diamond is just a piece of coal that has undergone extreme pressure. When we are handed a lump of coal in the form of trouble, it's an opportunity to see how Spirit can transform it into spiritual treasure. Dark ugly things can become jewels reflecting the light of eternity, if we are willing to plunge into the darkness with God and discover the hidden treasure.

Perhaps you are struggling with a disappointment. A relationship has been broken and you rehearse the things you regret over and over in your mind. Or you lost your job and you have to reinvent your life while you try to pay the bills. Perhaps illness has curtailed your ability to do the things you love. You may be sad from the loss of a loved one. If you are a mother who has lost her child, there is no grief quite so deep and dark. You may be widowed or divorced, coping with loneliness and an empty heart. A betrayal may have scarred your innocence. A failure may feel like being buried alive. Though you pretend to feel positive, all you really want to do is pull the blankets over your head and have a good cry. Such times of tribulation are truly a form of death, for you will never be the same again.

The losses may seem overwhelming, but the love and life at the center of your being are more powerful than any sorrow or darkness. The still small voice at the center of your heart is a candle in the dark. Focus on the light and it will grow. Do not betray the life and love in your heart for a darker vision of what life holds. Step toward the light, toward those who love you, and say yes to your own life. Say yes to possibilities that cannot yet be imagined in a sad and depressed state.

Think of this time of low energy, sadness, and confinement as a womb, or a journey in which you are carried by the whale that swallowed you, even though you seem to be going nowhere. It is a rite of passage—unsought, unhappy, but yet still fruitful with mysterious possibilities. Bless the pain you feel and the promise of potentialities you cannot see. The human spirit is larger than you yet comprehend, able to transform the unspeakable into a gift to life. Believe that this time of trouble is not an end, but a beginning, and the losses will clear a space for new life to enter.

Let the secret alchemy of soul and spirit work its quiet magic. Surrender your agendas; let life itself carry you. This dark night of the soul can paradoxically be both failure and success, loss and gain. It may be that these trials and sorrows are the gateway to a more fruitful life and meaningful service in the world.

God is with you in every season of your life. When the storms of sorrow tear your world apart, Divine comfort is there for you. The Presence walks with you in times of discouragement, waits with you for the perfect timing, and comforts you when sorrow weighs your heart to the ground. This is not a time when logic has anything to offer. This is a time when all explanations fall away, and only deep can speak to deep, Spirit to spirit.

In the darkness, out of sight, the pressures and problems can create the lovely jewel of a quiet spirit, a strengthened character, and a wiser heart. One day you will see—whether in this life or in the shining, glorious crowning glory you will behold in the next life. Remember that there are treasures to be discovered in the darkness and that troubles can be transformed into glorious victories if we can walk though them in trust and faith. Grace will carry you through in ways you cannot yet imagine. Trust.

Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservations.

Elton Trueblood

You number my wanderings;

Put my tears into your bottle;

Are they not in Your book?

Psalm 56:8 (NKJV)

Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.

Charles Dickens

One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.

Carl Jung

Where the light is brightest the shadows are deepest.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To surrender is to accept that there is a waxing and waning rhythm to events and to trust that good things can happen without our needing to control them.

Peter Block

I find myself in the Void, but the Void is totally saturated with love.

Bede Griffiths

Descending into the depths of my own nothingness, I was then so raised up that I attained my goal.

Saint John of the Cross

There can be no rebirth without a dark night of the soul, a total annihilation of all that you believed in and thought that you were.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

To one who waits, all things reveal themselves, as long as you have the courage not to deny in the darkness what you have seen in the light.

Coventry Patmore

56. Be Open to the Great Mystery

One should hallow all that one does in one's natural life. One eats in holiness, tastes of food in holiness, and the table becomes an altar. One works in holiness, and he raises up the sparks which hide themselves in all tools. One walks in holiness across the fields, and the soft songs of all the herbs, which they voice to God, enter into the song of our soul.

Martin Buber

We live in a society that loves to reduce everything to slogans and soundbytes. Unfortunately, we also tend to do the same in our own lives. Yet all that we understand is but a drop in the ocean compared to all we have yet to learn about the world we live in. Open your heart to mystery and let wonder and awe teach you that the heart is unimaginably complex, sacred territory that reflects eternal mysteries in time and space.

Like grass growing between the cracks of cement, even the most literal-minded person can be confronted with the mystery of life's transforming power. Your own life, however mundane it might seem on the surface, is full of mystery. Why were you born to one particular family and no other? How did you meet the people who would change the course of your life? Why do some things resonate so deeply in your heart? What makes the dogwood outside your door open its blossoms in the spring? How to the birds know when to fly south for the winter? Why does your heart lift and sing at the sight of a round full moon? Why do you love one human being so dearly and deeply and irrevocably?

Our lives are mysteries that we take for granted. Why does one person have perfect pitch, while another is tone deaf? Why is one person given the long legs and endurance needed to become a runner, while another is built on stockier lines and seems born to be a quarterback?

Look at the astounding variety in the people around you. An office may hold a whiz in accounting, an artist on the computer, a manager who knows how to smooth ruffled feathers, and a customer service representative who never seems to get angry at people, even when they are being totally unreasonable. Each has his or her own area of giftedness.

Look also at the varieties of ineptness. The frustrated manager who is too bossy. The klutz who can't walk between desks without knocking something over. A waspish assistant who loves to stir up trouble. These people are gifted, too. But they are functioning on the dark side of their strengths—the weaknesses that are part and parcel of giftedness. They may be in the wrong job. Perhaps they never learned to appreciate the mystery and wonder of their own being, so they bully others or tear people down.

Take a look today at the mysteries hidden in the people around you. Have eyes to see their gifts, their uniqueness. Take a look at yourself. Are you missing the mystery in your own life because it seems so common and mundane? Eternity shines through the glass of time darkly, but it does shine.

Take time to contemplate the mysteries of nature, too. There are hundreds of thousands of different species of bugs on this planet. Why so many? Animal, vegetable, mineral—infinite variety in infinite combinations. What makes a dog so doggy? A Bassett Hound, a Pekinese, and a Great Dane are extremely different, yet you'd never mistake them for anything other than dogs. The Universe creates with a lavish, and often laughing, hand.

Each face has two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Yet every face is different. Every person holds the "breath of life." Your body is complex; networks of veins and arteries, pulsing organs, compact bones, and smooth skin. Think of how you change and yet stay the same. You are still you whether you're six, or sixteen, or sixty. But look at the vast changes your body and personality goes through in a lifetime. Your very existence is a mystery of life.

Ponder the mysteries of life in your heart. Be practical, yes. Make your lists of things to do and check them off one by one. Make logical choices and live a down to earth life. But also make room for moments to honor the mysteries of the human heart. Take time to really see your life for the mystery and miracle that it is. The more you learn, the more you realize there is more yet to understand.

The philosopher aspires to explain away all mysteries, to dissolve them into light. Mystery on the other hand is demanded and pursued by the religious instinct; mystery constitutes the essence of worship.

Henri Frederic Amiel

A religion without mystery must be a religion without God.

Jeremy Taylor

To see a world in a grain of sand

And heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.

William Blake

He who has no vision of eternity has no hold on time.

Thomas Carlyle

Let us leave the surface and, without leaving the world, plunge into God.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

If you think you understand, it isn't God.

Saint Augustine

Men live on the brink of mysteries and harmonies which they never enter, and with their hand on the door-latch they die outside.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then, face to face: now I know in part; but then I shall know even as also I am known.

1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV)

We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into and swum up as if rivers of wisdom, characters we have climbed into as if trees, fears we have hidden in as if caves. I wish for all this to be marked on my body when I am dead.

Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

Spiritual people work to bring into their daily life the subtle elements and quintessences that live in the loftiest part of their being. By means of their thoughts and feelings, their faith and their effort, they keep alive the divine spark buried inside them. To the humdrum course of events they contribute something that springs up fresh and radiant, something in which the presence of the divine world reveals itself.

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

Winter is on my head but eternal spring is in my heart. The nearer I approach the end, the plainer I hear around me the immortal symphonies of the world to come. For half a century I have been writing my thoughts in prose and verse; but I feel that I have not said one-thousandth part of what is in me. When I have gone down to the grave I shall have ended my day's work; but another day will begin the next morning. Life closes in the twilight but opens with the dawn.

Victor Hugo

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Inner Abundance was the first e-book I ever published. I published it on September 11, 2009, so that I would always be able to celebrate life on the anniversary of 9/11.

Inner Abundance

Affirmations for Confidence, Creativity, and Higher Consciousness

Abundance begins in the heart...

Inner Abundance gently helps you look at life from another perspective. You'll find fresh insight on the small joys that you often take for granted or miss in the rush of modern living. This inspirational guide offers simple ways to cultivate a more meaningful and more abundant life.

What you think about affects how you feel about your life. Learning to focus your awareness by affirming the goodness of life is a wonderful tool that helps you move beyond fears of scarcity into a sense of plenitude and joy. The meditations, quotes, and affirmations in this book remind you that true abundance is available every day, no matter what you may be going through.

Discover your hidden potential to create a happier and more satisfying life. Learn to embrace what is already yours with thankfulness, joy, and the expectancy of even more good to come. Inner Abundance reveals the treasures of the heart with effective ways to create and celebrate abundance every day.

God is with me now and all is well.

I blossom like a rose in the light of Divine Love. In this blossoming I discover a renewed vision for my life's work, a work that brings joy to my heart and blesses all whose lives I touch. My good expands and brings delight and joy and love to every situation. God is my Source and the inner wisdom of the heart is my guide. Today's positive choices lead to wishes granted, hopes fulfilled, and dreams come true.

And so it is...

When you hold a grain of dust, you are holding the universe in your hand. A golden lion, in all its splendor, is you.

Lo-p'u

I'm always studying the nature of abundance. I don't have all the answers, but I'm learning. I also know that when I write from my best and most intuitive mind, the words I write are often wiser than anything I know from education or experience. My first book, The Art of Abundance, rings even more true as the years go by and I grow into the wisdom that flowed from the original writing. Writing Inner Abundance has been another intuitive leap from scarcity and fear to abundance and love.

Many books describe the same thing over and over. It is a mysterious yet strangely natural breakthrough "I AM" idea that transcends ordinary reality and brings us into another realm of functioning and consciousness. It is more than merely speaking a few affirmations or making mental assent to a set of theories or theologies. It is about connecting to Source (God as we understand who God is) and about a realization that we are much greater than our limited ideas of who we are and how we relate to the world around us. We might call it the "secret" or "awakening" or "enlightenment" or "translucence." Whatever it is, it cannot be confined to our old definitions and descriptions. It is a new, yet not so new, way of being that takes our lives in a more whole and compassionate direction, a more intuitive and loving way of functioning in the world we live in. A higher consciousness might be one way to describe it.

Whatever this way of being might be called, the trajectory of life changes under its benign direction, taking us in unexpected directions, moving us out of limited and fearful thinking into more expansive expressions of the life within us. We become open to new horizons of freedom and discover an expanded capacity to enjoy and contribute to life. Dropping the baggage of the old egocentric ways of life, we enter into a new life. It is rebirth and transformation, beginning in the core of our thoughts and feelings, expanding outward to reflect in the lives we lead and the people who are affected by our beliefs, attitudes, choices, and creative contributions.

We live in a world that reinforces and rewards the old worldview of fear, lack, and scarcity. Pick up any newspaper or listen to any newscast, and you will be offered a constant stream of bad news. Even if the news is "good" the writer or broadcaster will soon bring up reasons it can't really be good news, won't last, is bad news for someone else, or presents a whole new set of problems and potential horrors. In a world that runs on fear, control, and scarcity, there is always a reason to worry, always another disaster waiting around the next corner. Since we are already familiar with this way of thinking, it's part of our comfort zone. It offers a context and an explanation for the way things are—or how we perceive the way things are.

It's all a mindset. In many ways we do create our own reality. It's the mental atmosphere we create around us. We become comfortable with our limitations and our explanations, even if they no longer work for us. We often resist the very change that would lead to greater maturity and fulfillment. No matter how much we might complain about our current situation, there is something in us that is reluctant to disturb the status quo. We are more comfortable in our ruts than we like to admit. Our reptile brain doesn't want the dangers of exploration and expansion. New territory, new thoughts, new choices are too challenging for the lumpish part of us that resists our own good. Yet the rewards for moving out of the comfort zone of old ways by choosing to change our mindset and create a better reality are immeasurable. And it begins with small choices, incremental changes.

From affirmative self-talk to positive action steps, abundance grows in your life because you believe it is possible and you are willing to take action to prove it to yourself. Your heart already knows this deeper reality. There are many who have gone before you and proved these truths in their lives. It is your choice in the here and now that decides whether you will live a life of increasing abundance or a life of diminishing returns. There are spiritual laws that will work in your favor, but only if you are willing to plant and nurture a few seeds of faith.

Inner Abundance offers simple affirmations and insights to help you cultivate that higher consciousness. The full color photo edition (PDF version to come) also offers photos of beauty and light that seem to capture an eternal moment, helping you to meditate on more positive thoughts and images. Consider them windows into another world where abundance is the nature and order of everything, where we are all interconnected by threads of kindness and caring. Trust that this vision of light, beauty, and abundance is the real world, and the world of fear, scarcity, and egocentric power is truly an illusion.

When I find myself caught between the worlds of scarcity and abundance, fear and love, something about these words and images brings me back into the sanity of trust in Divine providence. They remind me that God is my source, and it is my destiny to reflect the abundance, love, and joy of God's very nature in the life I lead every day. May you discover the riches of your own inner abundance within the pages of this little book.

Abundance is...a candle flickering in the wind.

Abundance is...fragrant purple petunias.

Abundance is...mint overflowing in a garden space.

Abundance is...the smell of steaks sizzling on a neighbor's barbeque.

Abundance is...a lawn mower on a green, green golf course.

God guides me into abundance. I choose to receive abundance from many sources. I anticipate surprises, challenges, and changes, trusting God to be my provider, protector, and comforter. I open my heart to new directions and walk into ever widening opportunities.

Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Abundance Begins Within

From every point on earth we are equally near to heaven and to the infinite.

Frederic Amiel

It is not just things we want, it is the creative power that they represent. It is this ability to choose, to take an idea and grow it into something good, something true, something beautiful, that we can experience with our senses and with our full being. It is our creator nature desiring to express itself.

You don't need to pay anyone to discover the secret to the Source of this potential for riches. You hold the secret within. It is the God secret, the Life Force that is the source of your abundance, awaiting your decision to unleash its power in the world of conditions and effects. "Choose ye this day who you will serve" was not just an admonition to the children of Israel spoken by Moses. It is a choice that is offered always to you today. This moment is your moment to choose, this day is the day you can experience a higher good. Abundance or scarcity, love or fear, faith or unbelief, victory or defeat, the choice lies within you.

You'll notice that the closer you get to making a life-empowering choice—to practice your art, to commit to a relationship, to build a business, to move from theory into practice—that there is an inner resistance that arises. All the "yes, but..." and "no, I can't..." and "it hasn't been done before..." thoughts will rise up and accuse you of being an idiot for daring to question the common wisdom. Old resentments, fears, and past pain will be like fire-breathing dragons that tell you no good waits on the other side of any choice of faith, telling you that there are only more disappointments, losses, and sadness waiting for those who dare to cross the borders between the known past and an unknown future. If you allow the dragons of your own fear and resistance to stop you, they will rule you for the rest of your life. Taking a step of faith can feel like dying. And in some ways, you are dying. You're dying to the old definitions of who you are and what you can be, do, and have. Releasing your resistance and opening to something greater will take you beyond the limited thinking of the past and help you create the life of your dreams instead of recreating old nightmares.

When you choose to move through your fears and beyond your own resistance, you cross into another level of consciousness and another way of being. The Universe moves you in unfamiliar (and sometimes unfathomable) ways, yet the gentle flow feels right and natural. It feels good, for you are moving into your true and authentic nature, which is a reflection of God's goodness and creativity.

It is as simple as taking the next step and choosing the next thought. As you do the work that is before you to do, in faith and trust, and follow your inner guidance, the hidden potential that was always waiting to be revealed begins to develop and show itself in your life. You also learn that clear intention and a willingness to stay the course through the difficult times eventually lead you to where you need to go, no matter how long and winding that path may be. Following your heart, trusting your better angels, choosing to move with the rhythm and flow within will take you where you are meant to be. This is something to be experienced, not explained. Words can only sketch the outline. It is your own experience that will fill in the picture.

It can sound like a fairy tale, especially before you fully commit to this kind of life. But countless others have taken this "leap" of faith (more like one baby step leading to the next baby step, actually) and proved that it works. It is new every time, though. You have to prove it for yourself anew every day. No one else can do it for you. It is a choice—a free choice precisely because there is no coercion and there are no guarantees. It's all about what you want to choose. Once you begin moving in a chosen direction, the whole world begins to move around that decision.

Your free choice is like the first note in a symphony. A quiet flute begins a slow build to a crescendo completion, with each instrument joining in perfect timing and harmony. The conductor directs the ebb and flow of sound that the composer created. The orchestration of the Life Force takes that first decision and moves you in the direction of your dreams. Each moment becomes a prayer to life and an opening to infinite possibility. You begin to cooperate with the Divine givingness that desires your good and responds to your resolute intention, helping you evolve into your highest potential.

While a description of this process can sound grandiose or poetic, it is in the prose and practicality of earth that it unfolds. From choosing a positive thought instead of a negative thought to taking a single proactive step in the direction of your dreams, each small choice will eventually lead to a larger and more meaningful life.

Abundance begins in the heart. There is that within you that knows what to do and how to do it. Trust that inner instinct and follow its leading. Feed your soul with books and resources that encourage you on this path of spiritual discovery. Use affirmative prayers to remind yourself of the reality of the unseen world of love and abundance when you are feeling overwhelmed by the old illusions of fear and scarcity.

Know the spiritual truth: God is your source. True abundance flows from the fountain of the loving Presence that is always with you and within you. God is in your heart, in the still small Voice within that comforts, guides, and sustains. Every time you choose to trust this calm and steady sense of Presence, the Universe will move in support as helping hands, loving hearts, and kindred spirits arrive in your life. Some call it the law of attraction. Some call it growing into our spiritual potential. This is the grace of inner abundance, helping you discover a peaceful, life-giving strength that can transform your life. Heaven is within, and you can create a taste of heaven on earth when you live from that inner reality.

No one is ever really taught by another: each of us has to teach himself. The external teacher offers only the suggestion, which arouses the internal teacher, who helps us to understand things.

Swami Vivekananda

The life each of us lives is the life within the limits of our own thinking. To have life more abundant, we must think in limitless terms of abundance.

Thomas Dreier

We must make choices that enable us to fulfill the deepest capacities of our real selves.

Thomas Merton

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.

If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.

Jesus, from the Gospel of Thomas

Do the thing and you shall have the power. But they who do not do the thing, have not the power.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I call that mind free which is not passively framed by outward circumstances, which is not swept away by the torrent of events, which is not the creature of accidental impulse, but which bends events to its own improvement, and acts from an inward spring, from immutable principles which it has deliberately espoused.

William Ellery Channing

Prayer changes things? No! Prayer changes people and people change things.

Paul Tournier

Blessing arises from a state of mind and heart that understands wholeness, that understands joy, that sees what is right rather than what is wrong. It is not problem-solving as much as it is problem-dissolving.

David Spangler

Only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible.

Frank Gaines

Abundance is...a fire in the fireplace.

Abundance is...having a mom who will kiss it and make it better.

Abundance is...a nap on a Sunday afternoon.

Abundance is...the cereal aisle in an American grocery store.

Abundance is...a church potluck.

Live in the Presence of Abundance

There is no more of God in one place than another. Wherever we are, there God is, and wherever we recognize the Divine Presence, then the Divine Presence responds.

Ernest Holmes

God is always with you, greater than you, yet also expressed individually in, through, and for you. The Divine Presence is always here, waiting for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, for no matter where we are, God is always present. There is no place where God is not. The more you cultivate awareness of the Divine Presence, the more you will discover the peace, power, and wholeness that is alive at the center of all creation.

One simple way to become more aware of the Presence of God in your life is to bring a higher quality of attention and care to whatever you do. Whether you are arranging flowers or listening to a friend, pay full attention to this moment, this task, this sacred person you are encountering. A hidden wholeness will begin to reveal itself in these times, for you are bringing the quality and character of heaven down to earth with such loving attention.

Paying attention seems simple. You think you're doing it when you listen to a friend telling you about her day, but how often does your mind wander to what's next on your list of things to do? Paying attention means keeping your mind in the moment, taking in what's really happening, what's really being said, instead of some mental scenario about the future or past.

Live fully and attentively right now. See this as a holy moment, a time of communion with the Divine. Sense the sweetness of the day. Observe the sights, sounds, scents, and sensations that surround you. Be awake to the miracle of your life.

As you become aware of how rich life is with blessings, your attitude toward life shifts. Simple gratitude tells the Universe that you appreciate life's gifts and are open to receive more gifts. It shifts your energies from an attitude of lack to an attitude of receptivity and thanksgiving. Learn to see the Divine givingness at work in your life.

Every single day make this affirmation yours: "I live, move, and have my being in the Presence of God." Begin your day with a time of prayer and meditation. Take a brief time out during a busy day to become quiet and present, reconnecting to God as your Source. End your day with a prayer of thanksgiving for the gifts this day has brought, the grace that has been with you in the difficult times.

Connect to God as your Source by dwelling in the Presence. Bring a peaceful quality of focused awareness to each moment, and you will nourish your soul and attune yourself to an inner spiritual reality. From this springs the energy and abundance of life.

One should hallow all that one does in one's natural life. One eats in holiness, tastes the taste of food in holiness, and the table becomes an altar. One works in holiness, and he raises up the sparks which hide themselves in all tools. One walks in holiness across the fields, and the soft songs of all the herbs, which they voice to God, enter into the song of our soul.

Martin Buber

Look at everything as though you were seeing it for the first time or the last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.

Betty Smith

To understand the world knowledge is not enough; you must see it, touch it, live in its presence and drink the vital heat of existence in the very heart of reality.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Belief is a truth in the mind. Faith is a fire in the heart.

Joseph Fort Newton

Made in God's image, man was made to be great, he was made to be beautiful, and he was made to be creative in life and art.

Francis Schaeffer

The transformation required of us is not simply to be "like" Christ, but to be a Christ.

Alice Walker

We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into and swum up as if rivers of wisdom, characters we have climbed into as if trees, fears we have hidden in as if caves.

Michael Ondaatje

We can, you see, take it with us. It will be precisely because we loved Jerusalem enough to bear it in our bones that its textures will ascend when we rise; it will be because our eyes have relished the earth that the color of its countries will compel our hearts forever. The bread and the pastry, the cheeses, the wine, and the songs go into the Supper of the Lamb because we do: It is our love that brings the City home.

Robert Farrar Capon

Abundance is...a canoe trip on a wilderness lake.

Abundance is...reading Alice in Wonderland for the first time.

Abundance is...goldfish swimming in a goldfish bowl.

Abundance is...the first green buds breaking open to reveal a tender pink flower.

Abundance is...a waving field of grain shimmering under a hot summer sky.

Affirmative Prayers

All that is good, all that is true, all that is beautiful, all that is beneficent, be it great or small, be it perfect or fragmentary, natural as well as supernatural, moral as well as material, comes from God.

John Henry Newman

What you think about colors your experience of life. Your ability to focus your awareness is a wonderful tool for creating positive change in your perceptions. You can choose to create a better life on a thought-by-thought basis.

If you focus on what you dislike, what makes you angry or afraid, or who you disagree with and why they are wrong and you are right, you'll find that your mind will dwell on those negative thoughts. You can change your focus and choose to think about what is good and true and beautiful. Focus your thoughts on the good in a situation or a person and your mind naturally looks for more good. Make it easier on yourself by replacing disparaging negativity with encouraging, life-affirming thoughts.

Affirmative prayer is a wonderful way to encourage yourself and express your trust in God. Speak positive words about yourself and your situation in the present tense, affirming that these things are true and that you trust Divine right action to make them true in your life. It may feel like a lie at first, but you are training your subconscious mind to envision a reality that has potential to exist, and by that simple act, your subconscious mind will work with you to make that vision a reality. This is the true power of an affirmation: your willingness to believe and be open to new ideas, new possibilities, new realities. It is a key to co-creating a better reality by unleashing the power of your own natural potential.

Write a personal affirmation and post it in a prominent place. For instance, you can post it next to your bathroom mirror and read it aloud while you get ready for the day. You can also take a favorite mantra or scripture and turn it into a personal affirmation. Affirmations are faith builders that encourage your heart and convince your reluctant mind of a truth that is larger than the life you have experienced in the past.

Affirmations offer a wonderful way to speak abundance into your life. Whether you use a promise from sacred scripture, a prayer, or a positive saying, an affirmation can be a reminder that abundance is available every day of your life, no matter what you may be going through. Inspirational quotes, positive prayers, and heartfelt affirmations help you embrace life with thankfulness, joy, and expectation.

In difficult and demanding times, it is essential to understand that abundance begins within. Whatever you see in your outer circumstances is a reflection of what you have already created by your thoughts, attitudes, and actions. As you change your thoughts you affect the outcomes of your life. Living in the higher energy of positive attitudes and a more conscious way of thinking opens the door to new possibilities, aligning you with the energies of God's nature.

Your attention is a form of energy, so if you focus on the problem, you focus on the energy of "problem." This might work if it's a small problem that is simple to fix. However, as Einstein said, you cannot solve a problem at the level of thinking that created the problem. You must focus your attention on solutions and positive energy, for then you open your heart and mind to the possibility that something (or Someone) is there to bring about elegant solutions that are greater than anything you can imagine when you are focused on the details of the problem. The problem is an effect of a certain way of thinking. What you want to do is change your way of thinking to achieve a different effect. What you think and believe causes the effect, so if you change what you think and believe, you will change the effect. Affirmations are tools that work with how you think and what you think so you can create the outcomes you really desire.

These are not "name it and claim it" formulas and incantations. Affirmative prayer is a way to improve your self-talk, helping you renew your mind by dwelling on the positives and potentialities of life instead of fears, complaints, and self-imposed limitations. These affirmations emphasize that help is already available even in the most difficult situations. They help you focus on being thankful for the provision that already exists, and on trusting that God is working in, through, and for you to manifest a better and happier reality. Without denying the facts of the situation you are currently experiencing, affirmations of abundance move beyond appearances to tap into a higher truth. Your consciousness affects the outcome, so no matter how you landed where you are right now, the thoughts you choose and the actions you take from here on out release the power that works from within to transform the outward circumstance. An affirmation offers a way to focus your intention, name your heart's desires, and allow a better reality to flow into your life.

You can look at your life not as a series of problems to overcome but as unfolding opportunities to say "yes" to life. It is a way of choosing to cooperate with the Divine in all the joys, challenges, and changes you encounter. The mystical secret is that God is everywhere and there is no place where God is not, so God is expressing in and through you. As you expand your consciousness, growing in your ability to make the truth real in your life, you'll discover that there is a gracious and loving Presence at the center of your life. No matter what name you give to God—the Life Force, the I Am, the Great Mystery, the Good Orderly Direction of Universal Flow, the Christ Consciousness, the Atman, the Buddha Nature—this Presence is with you at all times, a source you can draw upon and that is part of your very nature.

Use affirmations to remind yourself of who you really are. Speak them aloud as an affirmative prayer. They will help you reprogram your thoughts. Using affirmations can help you move to a higher level of consciousness, helping you accept the truth that you have a Divine inner power that helps you reach your full potential.

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.

Henry Ford

Prayer is the most powerful form of energy one can generate. It supplies us with a flow of sustaining power in our daily lives.

Alexis Carrel

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pale in comparison to what lies within you.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am a co-creator with God and now choose to create a more fulfilling reality in the here and now. Resources appear with perfect timing and the Divine plan is now manifesting effortlessly, naturally, and beautifully in my life. I know that everything works together toward the highest good for all. I know that there are no rules because I've never been here before. Old patterns no longer apply. New patterns and happier ways of being are manifesting easily and joyfully every single day of my life. That which I once thought "impossible" is now possible, for I am willing to think about myself in a new way. I am thankful that the Divine intention is working perfectly to bring every good gift and blessing to full fruition.

Abundance is...a meadow full of wildflowers.

Abundance is...money to cover the bills when you don't know where the money will come from.

Money, which represents the prose of life and which is hardly spoken of in parlors without apology, is, in its effects and laws, as beautiful as roses.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I say yes to... beauty

Life has one ultimate message: "Yes!" repeated in infinite number and variety.

George Leonard

Each time I say "yes" to abundance I say "yes" to God's good will for me. I consciously choose to practice the art of abundance by being thankful every day and appreciating the gifts that life brings. I enjoy productive work that contributes to the good of all. I treasure time with family, friends, and loved ones. I am grateful as I remember loved ones who are no longer with us and cherish the sweet memories. I savor my food, enjoy peaceful rest, and live a life that is abundant in every way. I say "Yes!" to life.

I believe that God is in me as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower—the Light in my darkness, the Voice in my silence.

Helen Keller

Abundance is... apple blossoms on a bright spring day.

Abundance is...sunset behind a mountain peak.

Sometimes I go about in pity for myself,

and all the while

A great wind is bearing me across the sky.

Ojibwa saying

I create elegant solutions because I am open to new ideas. I focus on solutions instead of problems. I choose to see every problem as an opportunity. Abundant supply and abundant wisdom are already mine. God is bigger than my problems and has more ways to solve them than I can imagine. I do not force solutions. I allow solutions to unfold naturally through trust and openness. I am willing to wait for an elegant solution to emerge in God's perfect timing. I give thanks for that within me that knows what to do and how to do it.

The power of a man's virtue should not be measured by his special efforts, but by his ordinary doing.

Blaise Pascal

I say yes to...this moment!

If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.

Rainer Maria Rilke

God has created a Universe that works. God has created me to grow and prosper in this Universe. It is a large and wondrous Universe, unfolding in ever expanding goodness, order, and harmony. I am part of that mystery and wonder, growing and evolving. I rest in the Divine intention that impels me to grow and evolve. I look at the world with wonder, trusting that the dreams of my heart are the dreams of the Universe dreaming through me. I am thankful that I live and love in a complex and wonderful Universe.

Every now and then go away and have a little relaxation. To remain constantly at work will diminish your judgement. Go some distance away, because work will be in perspective and a lack of harmony is more readily seen.

Leonardo da Vinci

I say yes to...courage!

One to-day is worth two to-morrows.

Benjamin Franklin

Abundance is...an opportunity to pass the good on to someone else.

Abundance is...sweet sleep after a good day of hard work.

Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, filling it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

Joseph Addison

I never need to worry or fret. I choose a cheerful faith in Divine resources. Abundant help and provision is always available. I only need to know the highest truth: that God is my Source, and with God as my Source, anything is possible. I calmly anticipate unexpected gifts of abundant provision to arrive in my life. I do the work that is mine to do and choose cheerfulness instead of worry or fear. I trust that all things are working together for the highest good. I receive the gifts life brings with joy and gratitude.

When you make the choice for consciousness, learning, and growth, then you have also chosen the path of spiritual power, which resides in your being and not in your position.

M. Scott Peck

We are a stream whose source is hidden. Always our being is descending into us from we know not whence.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I ask and it is already given to me: pressed down, shaken together, overflowing, running over—life in abundance, love in the light of Divine love and light. My cup overflows, my barns and granaries are full. I release all fear of scarcity and lack, knowing that I am perfectly supplied by an endless flow of Divine energy. There is plenty for me and there is plenty to share with others. I rejoice in the gift of God's gracious abundance.

I say yes to...life!

Learn to dance, or the angels won't know what to do with you.

Saint Augustine

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The Artful Living Series

The art of living is enjoying the life we have and creating a life we enjoy.

Originally published in a gift book format, the Artful Living books form the foundation of my personal philosophy. The Art of Abundance was first published in 1998, and has seen several incarnations. It has sold over 100,000 copies in hardcover gift book format. The Art of Abundance, The Art of Encouragement, and The Art of Simplicity have all been previously published. The new titles on celebration, creativity, and enchantment are yet to be written and published, but I chose to include excerpts from all six books. Like all e-books in this new era in publishing, these are works in progress. I hope these excerpts are encouraging to you.

The Artful Living series...

• uses an easy-to-access format that offers instant inspiration through quotes and practical concepts for better living. The concepts, though shared in simple language, are deep life lessons—essentials we must all learn to become fully human.

• follows a progression of spiritual growth that traces a spiral pattern instead of the usual more linear approaches of most self-help books. Instead of ten easy steps, the format offers an intuitive approach that makes unexpected connections and draws from diverse sources, leaving room for the soul to breathe and to explore.

• is less about steps to some future enlightenment and more about seeing the light, joy, and energy in the here and now of our lives.

• is about embodied spirituality and a sense of holy presence: being aware and in love with life, going ever deeper into the nature of our incarnated life on earth; discovering heaven hiding in earth, eternity in time.

• is encouragement to transform living into an art.

• is less about "self-improvement" and more about luminous acceptance and recognition that we are whole and connected to the Great Source (God, Higher Power, Universe, Infinite Mind, Cosmos, Christ, Buddha Nature, whatever you want to call that Infinite Creator and Sustainer, the Mystery at the heart of all things).

• offers a spirituality that emphasizes

• deep and embodied love

• acceptance and delight

• celebration of life as a dance of divinity

• the sacredness of all life

• the importance of art, music, movement, sensation, sensuousness as expressions of our divine nature and a manifestation of God working in and through us.

• offers thoughts on enlightenment, presence, awakening, translucence, awareness, rebirth—that process that moves us from being asleep to the greatness of life to being awake and aware.

• is playful, encouraging generosity of spirit, humor, lightness, love, creativity, gratitude, and joy.

Books in the Artful Living Series:

The Art of Abundance

The Art of Encouragement

The Art of Simplicity

books to come:

The Art of Celebration

The Art of Creativity

The Art of Enchantment

The Art of Abundance

A Simple Guide to Discovering Life's Treasures

Abundance is...not how much I own but how much I appreciate.

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

John 10:10 (KJV)

Abundance is... a pink and lavender sunset sky.

Abundance is... the smell of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.

Abundance is... an unexpected phone call from a friend.

Be alert for the unpredicted presence of God unexpectedly intruding upon your everyday life.

M. Scott Peck

The art of abundance is not about greed or selfishness. The art of abundance is about celebrating life right now, this minute. It is a way of looking at the potential your life holds—the little blessings to be thankful for now and the gifts that God wants to give you, if you'll just open your heart to receive. It's about being enthusiastic about life every day, not just on the rare occasions when everything seems to be going your way. The art of abundance is finding the provision in what is right in front of you, seeing the hand of God already giving you what you need, moment by moment. Then sharing the abundant blessings God has given with others. And completing the circle of giving by praising the One who gave the gifts for us to enjoy.

Write in your heart that every day is the best day of the year.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Abundance is... wildflowers in a mason jar.

Abundance is... the stars on a clear night.

Be thine own palace, or the world's thy jail.

John Donne

Abundance is...creating something special out of the ordinary.

Abundance is... the look of wonder in a two-year-old child's eyes.

Abundance is... the first lick of an ice cream cone.

Abundance is... cows in clover.

For I know the plans I have for you. They are plans for your good, not to destroy you or bring evil to you. These plans are for a future full of hope and promise.

Jeremiah 29:11 (Author's paraphrase)

Choice of attention—to pay attention to this and ignore that—is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences.

W. H. Auden

Overcoming Fears

I first started consciously practicing the art of abundance a few years ago. My parents had always shared their delight in small things—the view from the front window, the comings and goings of birds and wildlife, the pleasure of flowers on the table and well-cooked food, the joy of reading—but it wasn't until I became an adult that I realized how rich their lives have always been in celebrating the small abundances of life.

Abundance is...a rich red oriental rug.

Abundance is...a vase full of roses from the garden.

Abundance is...watching the seasons change outside your window.

As a freelance writer, I've had times of plenty—but I've had a lot more times of doing without, making do, or just plain being frustrated by a short financial leash. And many times of being scared, because I didn't know how my bills were going to get paid. It seemed I could barely manage the basics, let alone the extras.

But when I learned to live the abundant life, I began to feel rich in spite of fluctuating finances. And I firmly believe that most of the improvements in my financial situation have come about because I learned to stop being fearful and start being creatively thankful. By being receptive to the gifts I had already received, greater gifts came more freely. God was at last able to give the gifts He's been wanting to give me all along.

I also learned how to react to life differently. It didn't come all at once. I didn't suddenly wake up one day and say, "Gee, if I'd just see the glass as half full instead of half empty, I'd enjoy life more." I learned incrementally, one small lesson on top of another small lesson, with the big picture coming slowly into focus.

Once I began to look at life through a more positive lens, I found I had more energy and was able to enjoy the opportunities that came my way because I was no longer blinded by my fear. I could say "yes" to life. I learned that creativity grows in feelings of abundance. And I discovered that my thankfulness for current blessings made me aware of other abundances that I might otherwise have blindly overlooked.

Abundance is...having enough for today.

Abundance is... a warm bed to fall into when you are tired.

Abundance is...pink lemonade.

Abundance is...freshly picked red strawberries and rich white cream in a cobalt blue bowl.

Light tomorrow with today.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Abundance is...ivy and morning glories in a vacant lot.

Abundance is...being able to say "yes."

Abundance is...being able to say "no."

The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions—the little soon forgotten charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment, and the countless infinitesimals of pleasurable and genial feeling.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Abundance is...a sunny day when you expected stormy weather.

Abundance is...the first page of a new novel from a favorite author.

Abundance is... a full moon playing hide and seek with the clouds.

Always leave enough time in your life to do something that makes you happy, satisfied, even joyous. That has more of an effect on economic well-being than any other single factor.

Paul Hawken

Abundance is... nurturing a tiny seedling.

Abundance is...bath time for little ones.

Abundance is...a child learning her ABCs.

Abundance is...being able to read this page.

Only the individual with a healthy, wholesome self-view will feel inwardly rich when he or she is outwardly broke.

Marsha Sinetar

Truth exists for the wise,

beauty for the feeling heart.

Johann von Schiller

Abundance is...the ability to look at life with the eyes of an appreciative lover.

In every man's heart there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty.

Christopher Morley

Abundance is...taking the long scenic route home.

The strength and happiness of a man consists in finding out the way in which God is going, and going in that way too.

Henry Ward Beecher

Abundance is...pigeons flying into a church bell tower.

Abundance is...a cat purring in your lap.

Abundance is...freshly popped popcorn.

Blessed is everyone that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands; happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.

Psalm 128:1-2 (KJV)

Abundance is...the face of someone who has survived the storms of life with faith and gratitude.

Abundance is...a dance studio full of eager little ballerinas.

Happiness lies in the absorption in some vocation which satisfies the soul.

Henry Ward Beecher

Abundance is...a box of crayons and a clean sheet of paper.

Abundance is...a bouquet of fresh flowers and a vase to arrange them in.

Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men.

Colossians 3:23 (RSV)

Abundance is...a piano recital where parents are as nervous watching as the children are performing.

A New Way of Looking At Life

In some ways I consider practicing the art of abundance as a way of practicing the art of seeing. Artists train themselves to really look at the world around them. And they don't see through everybody else's frame of reference. They discover their own unique vantage point and then express what they've seen in creative ways.

That's what this little book is all about. It's a visual aid, a spiritual tool for learning to look at your own life in healing, creative ways. It is a way to cultivate opportunity for observation and practice the discipline of simple thankfulness to the Creator. When I practice seeing and experiencing my life through the lens of hope and gratitude, I find that life expands in new and unexpected ways.

Practicing the art of abundance means looking at the world as it is, right in front of you, not as you think it should be. It is a way of letting go of expectations and letting what is, what already exists, speak to you in a new way.

Abundance is... an old hound dog dozing on the porch.

Abundance is... a pair of warm hazel eyes.

The world is God's language to us.

Simone Weil

Abundance is...the velvet petals of a newly opened flower.

Abundance is...chicks in an incubator.

Abundance is...a maternity ward.

Look at the lilies and the way they grow. They do not toil. They do not spin. Yet I tell you, even King Solomon in all his glory was never dressed as wonderfully as these.

Luke 12:27 (Author's paraphrase)

Abundance is...tall tall redwoods creating a hushed mountain cathedral.

Abundance is...a pink rose surrounded by a constellation of baby's breath.

Abundance is... an art gallery full of paintings.

Art is the demonstration that the ordinary is extraordinary.

Amedee Ozenfant

Abundance is...an afternoon in a meadow with canvas, easel, paintbrush—and butterflies!

Abundance is...the first daffodils of spring.

Abundance is...white clouds dancing across the sky.

Say No to Fear, Say Yes to Life

I speak from experience. I spent most of my twenties either underemployed or unemployed. It's amazing how stupid a smart woman can be. All my good grades in school never prepared me for the fact that most of life must be taken on faith.

I have learned that it's your view of yourself, your ability to take risks on your own behalf, and your openness to positive change that make the good things happen. I was so busy being fearful, worrying about how bad things were or could be, that I missed out on the good things.

When I began to act on the premise that God wanted good for me, I found that letting go and leaping into that belief began to free me from the box of poverty and fear that I had placed myself in.

Over the years, I have found that when I practice the art of abundance, I say "no" to my fears and live in today's provision. In the process, I am able to believe in tomorrow's unseen provision, and I am receptive to new and beneficent influences in my life. I know this works. In the long run, I don't really know exactly how it works. But I don't need to know how any more. I don't need to have all the answers. I just need to receive the help that God wants to offer me today.

The art of abundance provides a way for me to open my heart to receive whatever gifts the day itself wants to bring. When I am faithful to do that, life showers me today with so much more than I could have believed possible in my doubting yesterdays.

Abundance is...paying attention to the moment here and now.

Abundance is... the swish of clear clean water from a faucet.

One of the most important—and most neglected—elements in the beginnings of the interior life is the ability to respond to reality, to see the value and the beauty in ordinary things, to come alive to the splendor that is all around us in the creatures of God.

Thomas Merton

Abundance is...a window box of purple and gold pansies.

Abundance is...a slice of moon in a cold winter sky.

Abundance is... crisp shiny apples on a fall afternoon.

Abundance is...an exercise class to stretch and tone your body.

Abundance is...white wicker chair on a shady porch.

Every believer must be a kind of psalmist, either literally or privately. That living itself has been given, at least in part, as a way of knowing God intimately. Every event takes on a significance in that context, for there is no waste in experience.

Phyllis A. Tickle

Abundance is...a pure white mountain peak rising above wildflower meadows.

Abundance is...fireflies twinkling like stars on the lawn.

Abundance is...the salt-smell of an ocean breeze.

Abundance is...a hawk making lazy circles in the sky.

Celebrate the Abundant Life

As you master simple practical ways to nurture abundance, you will discover new avenues to receive and enjoy and be thankful for the gift of life.

Venture forth and develop your own creative response by seeing the small gifts life gives. I can almost guarantee that if you take even one baby step, you will find a response in the universe, an embracing and a joyous welcome from the Father to a prodigal child who has wasted so many precious hours of life worrying about what was lacking and being blind to the loving abundance all around her.

God bless you as you begin your personal pilgrimage into the kingdom of abundance. Come celebrate the abundant life!

Abundance is... children and puppies rolling in the grass.

May your laughter be from God.

Irish Proverb

Abundance is...citronella keeping bugs away on a summer night.

Abundance is...a door that opens to let you in.

Abundance is...macaroni and cheese when you want comfort food.

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

Charles Dickens

Abundance is...a rest stop on a long hike.

Abundance is...a Little League baseball game on a soft spring afternoon.

Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count up past mercies.

Charles E. Jefferson

Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude.

Joseph Wood Krutch

Abundance is...a fresh coat of paint.

Abundance is...bare branches against the winter sunset.

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

II Corinthians 9:10 (RSV)

Abundance is...an hour before it's time for bed.

Abundance Is...

Celebrating abundance is the best antidote I know of for fear: fear that whispers there won't be enough for tomorrow, fear that hisses "things will never improve," fear that dominates and tortures, telling you that you're helpless and God has forgotten you. Don't believe it.

Start looking at what you already have. Start with basics like, "I'm still breathing." Make a game seeing how many positives there are in your life. Then start counting the little things, the tiny joys a moment can bring. Open your eyes to see the wonder of the world you live in. I call this the Abundance is... game. Here is a sampling:

Abundance is... a cool breeze on a summer evening.

Abundance is... a song to sustain you through a dark night.

Abundance is... blue jays fighting over the birdseed in a bird feeder.

Abundance is... ginger cookies that snap.

Abundance is... the opening chords of the Hallelujah Chorus.

Abundance is... warm hands on a cold winter day.

Abundance is... someone who asks how you're doing (and really wants to know!).

Abundance is... the smell of a steak sizzling on a neighbor's barbecue.

Abundance is... a cat basking in the sun.

Abundance is... a can opener that really works.

Abundance is... a white church steeple against a bright blue sky.

Abundance is... a flock of geese winging their way south on a sunny fall day.

Abundance is... the first day of a long vacation.

Abundance is... the feel of a fine tool in your hand.

Abundance is... the sharp smell of fallen pine needles.

Abundance is... the opening scene of a favorite movie.

Abundance is... all the different noses on all the different faces in the world.

Abundance is... walking into a public library.

Abundance is... a busy airport.

Abundance is... browsing in a fabric store.

Abundance is... when you get more than you anticipated.

Abundance is... sunlight creating rainbows as it shines through a crystal prism.

Abundance is... an understanding friend.

Abundance is... dandelion seeds blowing in the wind.

Abundance is... a thankful heart.

Abundance is..._______________________(make up your own!)

Start playing this celebratory game by looking at your life. It's not only the little things to be thankful for. It's the things that illustrate potential:

Abundance... is a full tank of gas.

Abundance is...a tree loaded with apple blossoms.

Abundance is...a telephone line that's connected.

Abundance is...flour, sugar, butter, salt, eggs, a recipe, and a kitchen to bake a cake in.

Abundance is... a smiling four-year-old.

Abundance is...a box full of kittens.

Abundance is...an hour to play in the park on a sunny day.

Abundance is...the first day you feel better after having the flu.

Abundance is...a crocus peeking its head out of the snow.

Abundance is...the little tight green buds of spring.

Share the Abundance

True abundance is love in action. God in love gives to us. We, in turn, give to others. We can be a part of the chain of love, making a circle of giving that makes its way back around to us in God's good time.

We are made for giving and sharing. True abundance opens its arms to others. Sometimes we get so busy we forget how important being with others can be. Make time in your life for the small joys of giving, sharing, and togetherness.

It must be obvious to those who take time to look at human life that its greatest values lie not in getting things, but in doing them, in doing them together, in all working toward a common aim, in the experience of comradeship, of warmhearted 100 percent human life.

W. T. Grant

Abundance is...teaching a child about gardens.

Abundance is...a cool hand on a hot forehead.

The races of mankind would perish did they cease to aid each other. From the time the mother binds the child's head till the moment that some kind assistant wipes the brow of the dying, we cannot exist without mutual help.

Sir Walter Scott

Abundance is...offering encouragement instead of objections.

Abundance is...respecting others' dreams and differences.

Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is evil; our great hope lies in developing what is good.

Calvin Coolidge

Abundance is...listening to a three-year-old explain his world to you.

God has given us two hands—one to receive with and the other to give with. We are not cisterns made for hoarding; we are channels made for sharing.

Billy Graham

Abundance is...a warm shoulder in a cold world.

Spend a few hours with a friend, a loved one, or a child. Make a protected time for just the two of you. Do something fun, something relaxing, and something that gives you time and space to talk about life.

Abundance is...a tickle and a cuddle.

Abundance is...telling stories, enjoying good food, and sitting around the table laughing.

Giving is the secret of a healthy life. Not necessarily money, but whatever a man has of encouragement and sympathy and understanding.

John D. Rockefeller Jr.

Above all hold unfailing your love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins.

I Peter 4:8 (RSV)

Give what you have. To someone it may be better than you dare think.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Abundance is...the good Samaritan who helped you fix a flat tire.

Abundance is...a compliment on how you look.

Wrap a present. Buy small gifts to surprise others. Don't wait for birthdays or holidays. Sometimes the most wonderful gifts are the unexpected ones. Give a gift that says, "This isn't because of any obligation, but just because I think you're wonderful."

Abundance is...finding the perfect gift for someone you love.

All who would win joy, must share it; happiness was born a twin.

Lord Byron

Abundance is...a handful of wildflowers.

Abundance is...children's drawings hanging on the refrigerator door.

Abundance is...hugs and kisses at a family reunion.

Abundance is...a jigsaw puzzle to put together.

The smallest actual good is better than the most magnificent promise of impossibilities.

Macaulay

Abundance is...a smile from a perfect stranger.

Abundance is...golden maple leaves carpeting a forest floor.

Abundance is...a jack-o-lantern grinning at you from a doorstep.

Abundance is...a comfortable chair.

Abundance is...weeds and wild things.

Abundance is... little kids and mud puddles.

Abundance is... snowflakes in a snowstorm.

Abundance is... the potential of every child born on this earth.

Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has its own challenges to face.

Matthew 6:34 (Author's paraphrase)

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.

Anne Frank

Today is for itself enough...

Shelley

Abundance is...the graceful curve of a fragrant white lily.

Abundance is...someone saying "yes" to your request.

Abundance is...a dog and two kids rolling in the grass.

There is the music of Heaven in all things.

Hildegard of Bingen

Abundance is...running through the sprinkler.

Abundance is...a bowl of Mom's potato salad.

Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsover.

Isak Dineson

The Abundant Life

Life is not a march, it's a dance!

Sometimes I'll find myself looking at life as if it some big formula that I must solve. In so doing, I turn life into a march when it is meant to be a dance. Life is not neat columns of soldiers marching in lockstep to a prescribed order but an elegant interweaving of free choice and adherence to an ordered, yet changing, pattern. It is couples waltzing round the floor, dresses swirling, toes tapping, hearts singing. It is moving together, then apart, then together again in an exquisite movement that is as natural as breathing in and out. Changing tempo, adjusting steps, learning new intricate combinations of patterns, whirling round the room with joy and lightness and laughter—we dance to the music of life. It's a social grace, not military order.

Watch trees sway in the wind, or kittens playing, or a brook babbling under a bridge. Listen to the music of life, watch the earth turn through the seasons. Even our very molecules dance with being. Dr. Candace Pert, a neuroscientist who has been in the forefront of biomolecular research says about the receptor molecules of cells, "We like to describe these receptors as 'keyholes,' although that is not altogether a precise term for something that is constantly moving, dancing in a rhythmic, vibratory way."

Life is rich, complex, and mysterious. Celebrate the organized chaos of choice, energy, and simple elegance that makes up the dance of life. We are more than the sum of our parts.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Philippians 4:8 (RSV)

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The Art of Encouragement

A Simple Guide to Living Life from the Heart

Encouragement is... inspiring each other to embrace life with enthusiasm, courage, and love.

Encouragement is... a warm shoulder in a cold world.

Encouragement is... a cup of tea and a listening ear.

Encouragement is... being loved for who I am.

Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.

Woodrow Wilson

Encouragement is... seeing the unique beauty in another person.

Encouragement is... saying "I love you."

Encouragement is... a card sent for no special occasion, just because.

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in a spirit of love.

Henry Drummond

Encouragement is the art of abundance shared and multiplied. It is a way of living that seeks to bless every person we meet. Encouragement looks at what we can be, believes in the best in each of us. Encouragement is love in action. It is taking time to appreciate everyone we meet.

When the world and all its pressures take the heart out of us, we need to know that someone cares for and believes in us. And we need to do the same for others. Encouragement means taking time to let God encourage us, to meditate on the small miracles of life. Enthusiasm and courage, love and appreciation, practical acts of mercy and compassion — that's the way of encouragement. The art of encouragement is the art of creating community and celebrating friendship.

I encourage you to make a circle of giving. Dare to dream for yourself, for one another, for your community, and for our world. The Art of Encouragement offers a collection of quotes, meditations, and ideas for encouraging ourselves, encouraging others, and making a difference in our own corner of the world. Say yes to the deepest promptings of your heart and create a life that nurtures your soul.

Where there is no vision, the people perish.

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

Real encouragement that makes a lasting difference is visionary. It is the willingness to imagine a good future, the choice to believe in a better world. It is not critical, tearing people down and nitpicking at their faults, but instead valuing their uniqueness and seeing potential that they may not be able to see for themselves. In many ways, a true encourager functions as a personal prophet, helping others discover their own potential and make it incarnate in the physical world.

Real encouragement sees us as we yearn to be seen, sees others as they long to be seen, and the world as it is meant to be seen. Yes, there are faults, problems, evil—but there is an original vision that our deepest hearts know is the true vision. Real encouragers are willing to be fools in the eyes of cynics because they have a great vision, like Martin Luther King, who dared to say to a country, "I have a dream . . . "

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.

Anaïs Nin

Follow the grain in your own wood.

Howard Thurman

Self-conquest is really self-surrender. Yet before we can surrender ourselves we must become ourselves. For no one can give up what he does not possess.

Thomas Merton

When we learn the art of encouragement, we learn to see the good in ourselves, as well as in others. Before we can give to others, we must have something to give. We become like gardeners who look at bare soil and see the flowers and fruit that could grow there. Or we become like architects who envision a beautiful building on an empty lot. A gardener sees what the garden can be and then takes practical steps to plant, weed, cultivate, water, wait, and eventually reap a good harvest. An architect imagines what a building can be, examines the site, draws up the plan, and works with the construction team and the new owners to create a place where others will live, work, and play.

Encouragers do not merely set goals but reach for the stars. They dare to dream first, then find ways to make the dream come true. Yet they do not force their patterns or desires on others. Instead they become visionaries who see the unique fingerprint of God in every person and treasure the sacredness of each human being, including themselves.

What do you dare to dream for yourself?

What do you dare to dream for others?

What do you dare to dream for your community?

What do you dare to dream for our world?

I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.

Albert Schweitzer

Mankind's role is to fulfill his heaven-sent purpose through a sincere heart that is in harmony with all creation and loves all things.

Morihei Usehiba

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.

Mother Teresa

This seeing and encouraging of potential in people and circumstances can't just remain a neat, pretty vision in the mind. It needs to be acted out, incarnated (fleshed out, made real) in this physical world where we live, move, and have our being. Small specific acts of encouragement help us move from our heads and hearts to our hands and feet.

Here are some simple ideas that make love visible and physical:

• Take time to share a nurturing meal.

• Write cards and letters.

• When you are thinking of someone, pick up the phone and call.

• Say it with flowers.

• Give little gifts that say "I'm thinking of you," even when there is no special occasion.

• Share back rubs, hugs, touching, cuddling.

• Smile.

• Say a few kind words.

• Welcome others into your home.

• Organize your closet and give clothes you never wear to someone who can use them.

• Offer to drive someone to a doctor's appointment.

• Love a pet.

• Plant some seeds and grow a garden.

• Make a big pot of soup and share it.

• Take time to listen to a friend.

• Volunteer.

• Say thank you.

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.

Charles Dickens

Helping others, that's the main thing. The only way for us to help ourselves is to help others and to listen to each other's stories.

Eli Wiesel

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I Corinthians 13:7 (RSV)

The capacity to be of service to the greater good requires that we have the security to risk our image, our position, and our pride in the search for greater justice—at the workplace, in our families, and in our community at large.

Mark Bryan, Julia Cameron, and Catherine Allen

If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships—the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

Helen Keller

We know God wipes away all tears, but it certainly feels good when He uses human hands.

Mary Paulson-Lauda

Every man rejoices twice when he has a partner in his joy. He who shares tears with us wipes them away. He divides them in two, and he who laughs with us makes the joy double.

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Bear one another's burdens...

Galatians 6:2 (RSV)

The Optimist's Choice

The accumulation of small, optimistic acts produces quality in our culture and in your life. Our culture resonates in tense times to individual acts of grace.

— Jennifer James

Encouragement means believing in the best in situations and believing the best of people. It is not encouraging to dwell on the negatives. Energy expands when we think positively and contracts when we dwell on negative thoughts. To make the optimist's choice is not to be an ostrich, burying your head in the sand and pretending problems don't exist.

Optimism is an attitude that believes we can make a positive difference with our choices, no matter how small the act, no matter how large the problem.

This optimism has its feet firmly planted on a foundation of faith in a benign universe guided by a Higher Power, a God who brings healing and transformation through our positive choices and attitudes. Science is finding that we can actually create a positive energy feedback loop — or a negative one — just by focusing our intentions and then acting on our beliefs. As a photographer chooses to focus on particular elements of a landscape, so we can choose to focus on the possibilities in the landscape of our lives.

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.

— Mother Teresa

Some Taoists practice the "inner smile," which relaxes and revitalizes the body, enabling the spirit to lighten its load of heavy problems. Unlike a grumpy, indifferent, or resentful attitude, a smiling attitude can put us at ease and transform a situation. Think of statues of the Buddha that you have seen — calm and serene, detached, yet smiling. When you are disturbed by a person, a thing, or an event, visualize yourself smiling as calmly as that benign Buddha. Look at the person, thing, or event. Allow the goodness and energy of life to enfold and envelop you and the person or problem you are facing. Feel the tension dissipate; let your tight muscles relax. Let go of your expectations and judgments. Breathe peace in. Breathe resistance out. Relax and allow the healing power of love to enter your soul. Can you feel your defensiveness and fear melting away?

I have found this to be a good exercise when I wake up in the middle of the night and start worrying a problem like a dog worrying a bone. It is easy to go round and round in a squirrelly circle, brooding over the problem or hurt or worry and getting nowhere. But if I smile in the dark and create an opening for positive energy to enter, it is like pulling focus away from the problem and opening the eye to see the wider and more timeless context.

As a smile can literally relax and lighten a tight face (it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown), so an inner smile can help relax a tight mind. It is a small way in which to make the optimist's choice. If we choose to resonate to positive attitudes and believe for the best, the world is able to resonate with us and tune us into a melody of forgiveness, harmony, and childlike trust.

Five minutes, just before going to sleep, given to a bit of directed imagination regarding achievement possibilities of the morrow, will steadily and increasingly bear fruit, particularly if all ideas of difficulty, worry, or fear are resolutely ruled out and replaced by those of accomplishment and smiling courage.

Frederick Pierce

Soup for the Soul, Tea for the Spirit

Teach us delight in simple things.

Rudyard Kipling

It's a cold, wet day, with rain turning to sleet, and snow is expected by nightfall. Normally I wouldn't mind the weather because I work out of my home. I can batten down the hatches and ride out the storm, never having to stick my nose out the door except for a chosen appointment or activity. But today I am feeling frustrated, restless with cabin fever. I've stayed home and worked hard over the last several days. Now I want to spend time with friends at our weekly gathering, when we sit in a café and eat, talk, laugh, and listen to music. It's my favorite songwriters' night in Nashville, and I was planning on going as my reward for a long, intense workweek.

But, unfortunately, a cold front is moving in and the rain is turning to a wintry mix of sleet and snow. Driving to the other side of town could be treacherous, and Nashville drivers aren't used to snow and ice. If it gets too snowy, the café will close early. Snow days are infrequent in the South, so in wintry conditions, wise drivers stay off the roads when at all possible.

I look out the window and see wet gray. I hear the slop-slosh of tires as cars pass my front door, windshield wipers going full tilt and headlights glowing in the gathering dusk. I have a choice to make. What will I do about this unexpected kink in my festive plans? Will I slump passively in front of the TV, grumbling because my big social night is a bust? Or will I find other ways to re-energize my weary soul? After an intense week of writing, I need a break.

It's time to do a little self-nurturing, some physical encouragement after all that concentrated mental work. Time to make a pot of onion soup, complete with crusty bread and bubbling-hot cheese on top.

I stop, take a breath, and let go of my anxious agenda. I realize that I have been squeezing myself into production mode instead of enjoying the process of creating a book. Deadlines, demands on my time, lack of energy, and my own limitations have caused my wider vision of the work to narrow to a too-tight focus on production instead of process. Now, as I pull focus and step back from my need to produce so many pages in an allotted time, I realize that I have been subtly losing the soul of what I dreamed of communicating to my readers.

As I chop and sauté onions and add seasonings and broth, creating a delicious dish-for-one that will both nourish and nurture, I remember that my creative work is itself a soulful broth. I am the writer/chef, serving up a tasty dish for my readers — a morsel of quote here, a sip of idea there, a seasoning of attitude adjustment added to the mix. A new serenity permeates my day and renewed wisdom flows out onto my page. In the act of trying to distill encouragement on the page, I had forgotten to encourage and comfort myself. Now a steaming pot of soup reminds me that I must fill my own well in order to quench the thirst of others. I need to let go of my agendas and schedules, to give God room to surprise me and my soul room to expand.

Alexandra Stoddard, in her book Tea Celebrations, reminds me that "when we pay attention to little things a universal energy flows through our present, magnifying the meaning of events." A Zen tea-master, she says, is a master of the art of living. The tea-master notices the subtle beauty of the commonplace, raising this awareness to the level of art. This is a way to nurture the soul, allowing us to value the moment, here and now — this specific choice, this curved bowl of soup, this pencil running across the page, this time of being enclosed in a cocoon of winter weather.

I have wanted to grow as a writer, and as a person. In sharing this quiet decision to give my soul some breathing space, I now see that if I am to be a better writer, I must write about what is real for me. If I am to encourage others, I must first fill my inner well and encourage myself. In a world that prefers great accomplishments and ignores small moments, I must remember that the small moments are important, the little choices count. If there are to be any great accomplishments, they begin with what we choose to do in the moment-by-moment decisions of our lives.

Wayne Muller, author of Sabbath, insists that we are all too frazzled in this fast-paced, quick-results society. We do not make wise decisions because we make them with a fight-or-flight sense of urgency. We are too tired and stressed to pay attention, to sense the deeper solution to a problem. Social workers are often so overwhelmed by the urgent needs of their clients and by their own work agendas, that they cannot be still long enough to discover the solution inherent in a problem. In fact, the need to solve the problem as quickly as possible often produces a "solution" that only creates another problem.

Muller recommends that we return to the ancient practice of Sabbath, taking time off for refreshment, delight, and honoring the rhythms of our lives. Whether we take one day out of seven for Sabbath rest or just a few hours or moments in our day, we can find wisdom and renewal in a time of quietness and peace. It gives us an opportunity to hold still long enough to let things settle, to find clarity in our situation, and to allow a deeper, more timeless wisdom to speak to our hearts.

A bowl of homemade soup, a cup of tea, a soul-break in my day — these are ways to allow God to encourage me and fill my heart again. When I allow time for this in my life, I find that I return to my tasks and relationships more serene and more aware of nuances I would have missed in my hurried, weary rush to cross another task off my to-do list.

I encourage you to take time to savor your life. Take a break. Rest your tired body. Relax your tired soul. Let go of your busy agenda and acknowledge that God is capable of running the universe without your help. Rest in His goodness, and allow the peace to permeate your soul. Make a pot of tea; prepare a bowl of soup; knead a loaf of bread; pray. Go for a walk in the woods, listen to music, make love, take a bath, read a book just for the fun of it, gaze at the full moon, spend time with a friend, or take a nap. See what a quiet moment can offer to your heart. Like a Zen tea-master, choose to practice the art of living.

To go fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air, with the rush of the brook, or with the shimmer of the sun on blue water. It brings meekness and inspiration from the decency of nature, charity toward tackle-makers, patience toward fish, a mockery of profits and egos, a quieting of hate, a rejoicing that you do not have to decide a darned thing until next week. And it is discipline in the equality of men — for all men are equal before fish.

— Herbert Hoover

Whatever peace I know rests in the natural world, in feeling myself a part of it, even in a small way.

May Sarton

Take time to come home to yourself every day.

Robin Casarjean

Compassion

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.

Booker T. Washington

Have compassion and empathy for others. See what they are trying to accomplish. Appreciate their efforts. Understand the obstacles they may be trying to overcome. Be aware of our mutual mortality and humanity.

I am convinced that everyone is a hidden hero. If you know a person's story, you might be surprised by the courage and grace displayed in difficult circumstances. I am continually amazed when I listen to someone tell me the important stories of their lives — those crucial choices they had to make during hard times. One of the earthiest and most loving women I know was in a car accident with her parents. A drunk driver hit them at an intersection, and her mother and father were killed instantly. She survived, but it was months before she recovered from her injuries. Yet this woman is not bitter. Her tender heart expresses itself instead in compassion for others. Her warm home is a sanctuary for healing.

I know other hidden heroes, too. A woman who was raped as a teenager now shares her journey of growth and healing with those who seek solace at a rape crisis center. A man works hard to take care of his wife and children, faithfully doing his job even when it proves difficult. Artists and songwriters hold day jobs and do their creative work in their spare time until the big break comes along. People quietly make a difference in the lives of others through volunteer activities and acts of compassion that no eye sees but the eye of God. There are so many people whose stories are dramas of incredible heroism — yet they would never call themselves heroes.

A good parent encourages a child and is aware that developing minds and bodies can accomplish certain tasks at a certain age. So you can be aware that we are all at different points of growth in our soul-life here on earth. Each person is learning a different lesson. Lessons that are easy for you may be a struggle for someone else. Lessons that come easily to others may be like giant fire-breathing dragons to you. Everyone's struggle is unique, but we can learn from one another's struggles. We need to open our hearts to appreciate what each person has survived and overcome.

Look for the hidden heroism in the lives of others. Ask yourself: Did this person come from a broken home? Is she recovering from an abusive relationship? Has that person faced a personal tragedy? Is he a sensitive person with an artistic bent who was ridiculed for not being more "manly"? Did she feel like an ugly duckling when she was growing up, and is only now discovering her inner beauty? Has he just been working through a crisis or grieving a loss?

Gifts and talents can bring with them a need for hidden heroism. Did this person's combination of gifts and talents come with an overly sensitive temperament? Is this person a quiet late bloomer, ignored by a society that values early, spectacular blossoms? Is this a person who had success at a young age, and now has to learn lessons of humility and self-reinvention? Is this a complex person who is difficult to label and pigeonhole — and therefore has had trouble fitting in with the school system, the specialization of the workplace, or the popular agenda of the crowd?

Give people credit for the obstacles they have overcome to get to where they are now. Give yourself credit for your efforts. Look at your childhood, your family, your circumstances, your potential, and your limitations. Look at them with the eyes of mercy and compassion instead of judgment and regret. Be compassionate to yourself and to others.

You did the best you could with what you had at the time. Do not beat yourself up for being human. Accept the good and the bad. Remove emotional judgment and see clearly the obstacles and difficulties you have overcome to bring you to this place.

Allow compassion and forgiveness to color the lens through which you view your life and the lives of others. A perspective based in gentle empathy and nonjudgmental awareness helps you see yourself — and others — in a new light.

If you want to see virtue, you have to have a calm mind.

Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

Flops are a part of life's menu, and I've never been a girl to miss out on any of the courses.

Jane Russell

There are defeats more triumphant than victories.

Michel de Montaigne

I thank God for my handicaps for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God.

Helen Keller

Permission Granted

Think of yourself as an incandescent power, illuminated and perhaps forever talked to by God and His messengers.

Brenda Ueland

You have permission to be who you are. You have permission to love what you love. You have permission to be with the people you wish to be with and to do the things you want to do. You have permission to ask questions, to experience all the pains and pleasures of your life.

You have permission to listen to your body's needs and to meet those needs. You have permission to explore your inner heart. You do not have to separate yourself into airtight compartments labeled body, mind, soul, spirit. You have permission to be a whole person, not a fragmented collection of miscellaneous parts.

You have permission to wait for divine guidance. Divine Source gives you permission to be who you are right now—and will help you become all that you were born to be. God is an artist and you are a work of art, unique and beautiful. You are a work of art in progress, a divine poem being written on the pages of time.

You don't have to twist yourself into a pretzel to become someone you are not. You don't have to squeeze yourself into a tight little box to fit someone else's expectations. The universe has given you permission to be yourself.

Breathe a sigh of relief. Let go of what you have been holding onto so tightly. Open your hands and release your spirit. Let the Divine Presence enter the temple of your heart. Allow healing to begin. Allow growth and change to happen. It will be all right. Let life flow through the center of your being. Bask in the sunlight of God's love. You are beloved and you are becoming. God is removing all obstacles, all stumbling blocks, all sin, disappointment, and failure. You have spent too much time beating yourself up for the wrong reasons. No one needs to tell you about your sins, your shortcomings, and all the times you failed to make the right decision and follow through on it. You know these things in your heart of hearts. Your very cells carry the memory and the pain.

But God does not leave you in your misery. The divine intent is life—God is the fullness of life itself, and you share in that fullness. The source that drives the green shoot of spring's new life wants also to fill you with that renewing life. Healing, forgiveness, and refreshment are there for you. Open your heart and open your hands—you will receive.

You have permission to receive this loving flow of energy and healing. You do not have to earn it, or buy it, or steal it from someone else. The ever-flowing fountain of life streams from the center of your heart, from the hidden springs of your being. You just need to rest, rest, rest. Be still in the silence of God's love and acceptance.

If Not Now, When?

You already possess everything necessary to become great.

Crow proverb

If not now, when?

Martin Buber

If not you, then who? You have to start somewhere, believe something. You are the answer to the world's question. Your gifts are to be shaped on the anvil of life and fired in the furnace of adversity, so that they can be polished to reflect the light of shared experience. You do not have to be a superhero; you can choose to start with the work at hand.

It begins with you. Value yourself. Then value others. The quiet contagion of example can spread. It will make a difference, one person at a time. If each of us chooses to make even a small difference in our corner of the universe, then perhaps we can be part of a movement that could one day transform the world. Idealistic? You bet. And isn't it a relief to be idealistic and give free rein to our highest dreams? To choose to practice the art of encouragement is to invest in your best and most idealistic dreams.

We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.

Aristotle

Everything that lives, lives not alone, nor for itself.

William Blake

Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

Matthew 5: 13–16 (The Message)

Let God love you through others and let God love others through you.

D. M. Street

Life is short and we have not too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark way with us. Oh, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind!

Henri F. Amiel

Encouragement . . .

is not lecturing people about what they should do or what they should be,

but holding up a positive mirror and showing them what they already are or have the potential to become.

Encouragement . . .

believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things because of love.

Encouragement . . .

critiques but never criticizes, and is always willing to look for the good.

Encouragement . . .

comes from one fellow traveler to another fellow traveler—we are all in this together.

Encouragement . . .

is the art of helping people discover their own beauty, potential, and uniqueness.

Encouragement . . .

is the joy of sharing the load for a small portion of the journey.

Encouragement . . .

is someone to laugh with, to cry with, to rejoice with in happiness and share with in sorrow.

Encouragement . . .

is a lamp in the window on a dark and stormy night.

Encouragement . . .

is a smile and a helping hand.

I'm going your way, so let us go hand in hand. You help me and I'll help you. We shall not be here for very long, for soon death, the kind old nurse, will come back and rock us all to sleep. Let us help one another while we may.

William Morris

****

The Art of Simplicity

A Simple Guide to Focusing on the Essentials of the Heart

Simplicity is... a single red rose in a crystal vase.

Simplicity is... a child's smile.

Simplicity is... eyes closed in prayer.

I want to know the mind of God. The rest is all details

Albert Einstein

Do you have the patience to wait till the mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?

Tao Te Ching

The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.

Lin Yutang

Simplicity is... a moment of silence.

Simplicity is... bread, wine, and a table.

Simplicity is... a clean closet.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10 (KJV)

Simplicity is...ordering my life around the essentials of the heart.

Simplicity can be difficult to achieve in a world that clamors for "more! more! more!" But simplicity opens the way to the center of the heart—the place where quiet, healing, and a still small voice await. Simplicity is making elegant choices, treasuring precious moments, and valuing that which is of eternal worth. Like Michelangelo who saw the statue of David in the heart of the stone, so we are called to reveal the inner beauty hidden in the complexity of our lives. Simplicity is singleness of heart, focused on the essentials of life, rather than allowing our desires and fears to distract us. Simplicity is a celebration of the heart—an opportunity to touch eternity in a moment of meditation. Simplicity is finding abundance in the small things and rediscovering the wonder we once knew in the purity of childhood days.

For the good man to realize that it is better to be whole than to be good is to enter on a straight and narrow path compared to which his previous rectitude was flowery license.

John Middleton Murry

I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive,

so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.

Joseph Campbell

Simplicity is... focusing my attention on what I want to create and experience.

Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness.

James Thurber

The whole thing boils down to giving ourselves in prayer a chance to realize that we have what we seek. We don't have to rush after it. It is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us.

Thomas Merton

Be still and know that I am God.

Psalm 46:10 (KJV)

The Freedom of Simplicity

It is a spiritual thing to comprehend what simplicity means.

Frank Lloyd Wright

The singer opens her mouth and the pure tone floats out freely... and its simple beauty goes straight to the heart of the listener and nestles there. You have a gift to offer the world, a song that only you can sing. Like the soprano who has learned to get out of her own way so that her free voice may float on the wings of delight to the listener's ears, you can make choices that empower you to bring the music of your life to a world that needs to receive the gift you bring.

Everyone is born with a song in the heart. Every person has a unique and wonderful gift to give. The pure life potential beats in every heart. And pure potential waits to be expressed.

However, like the soprano who had to learn how to focus and refine her gift so that her true voice could emerge, so you have to clear the way for your unique gift to emerge. The Art of Simplicity is written to inspire you to let the one true song of the heart emerge. Sharing wisdom from many sources, a little bit of practical advice, and a few ideas that might spark your thinking, this little guide encourages you to make the changes within that will flow out and transform your outer life. It encourages you to change habits that hold you back and remove the clutter of old beliefs that limit the free expression of the essential you. The Art of Simplicity helps you catch a glimpse of your own spiritual magnificence.

This book grew from my own experience of moving into freedom and simplicity. It is an ongoing process. But as I have learned to move beyond victimhood, blame, anger, fear, and all the ego games that held me back, I have discovered that every situation, every choice, every single experience in my life contains the potential for God to work all things together for the highest good and for me to express my unique, one-and-only heartsong in simplicity, love, and joy. I know this can happen for you, too.

No matter what your story, no matter what your past limitations, no matter what mountains must be moved, you have no less potential than any other human being on earth to become the person God created you to be. As you get in touch with the great inner simplicity within, you will see your life re-align itself in miraculous ways. You are a co-creator with God, and even small choices can change the trajectory of your life, if you are willing to step out in faith.

When your voice is finally free, you become the instrument. All of the events and choices of your life converge in a pure note of joy and peace. You experience the sensation of being at one with the energies of the Universe, a co-creator with God as you release the exquisite song and spin it out into the air. Alive from toes to fingertips, fully present and aware, you sense the life force moving in and through you. And it is beautiful. Because you have focused on the essentials of the heart, your gift is received gladly, for it rises from deep within and touches other hearts at their point of greatest need.

Let your true essence be the goal you seek, and seek to bring that true essence into everything you do—and everything you are. Let the song of love take flight in your life. Come explore the potential and magnificent power that has been buried beneath the clutter and confusion for so long. Enter into the freedom of simplicity.

Become aware of what is in you.

Announce it, pronounce it,

produce it, and give birth to it.

Meister Eckhart

Celebrate the Simple Things

I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life

which are the real ones after all.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

The simple life. Think about what the simple life really means. Does it mean we strip our lives down to the bare bones, give up our homes and our lives for a more ascetic experience? Or can we discover the simplicity that is within the complex lives we already lead?

I believe that simplicity is about focus and choice. In a life full of distractions, it's easy to lose your focus and lose sight of the small simplicities that make up the fabric of everyday existence. These simplicities are the things we tend to pass over and take for granted—at least until some crisis or loss or tragedy takes them from us. Then suddenly we miss the small treasures we took for granted.

The simple things, like clean water or a loving hug or a light in the darkness, are the things that keep us grounded and remind us of our connection to the Life Force. They create a sense of safety and wholeness, cradling us in the here and now of creation. Simple things and simple choices make the difference between merely existing and real living. They are about values and character as much as about material possessions. Whether it is a choice to live life from the heart or a quiet appreciation of the small gifts of life, simple living is about simply living, finding a balance between being and doing, making the most of the life you have been given on earth, right here and right now.

Look at the simple things you enjoy. Let them be reminders that God is your source, and that there are many channels and ways for God's good to flow into your life. When you are tempted to focus too much attention on what you don't have, make a conscious decision to shift your focus to what you already have, and decide to appreciate it and enjoy it more fully and completely. Think of all the simple things you take for granted and thank God for them. Realize that each simple joy in life is God whispering that you are loved and supported by an abundant universe.

The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply.

Kahlil Gibran

Here are a few of the simple things in life, to remind you that you are already rich in the things that count. Let them inspire you to count your own joyful simplicities and become aware of how much good God brings into your life every day.

... hot potatoes, butter, salt, pepper

... water flowing freely from a tap

... clear skies after a storm

... a kiss and a hug

... a roof over your head

... a safe place to sleep at night

... walking shoes and a trail

... home cooking

... an unexpected compliment

... grandparents holding grandbabies

... a hot shower or bath

... toilets that flush, plumbing that works

... soap and water

... a new book to read

... tea with your best friend

... a gentle wind in the tree tops

... the laughter of children

... dogs loving every second of life (and worshipping you no matter what you do)

... cats allowing you to be their servants (dogs have owners, cats have staff)

... a lighted candle

... rainbows

... a flat tire repaired

... fresh raspberries

... bedtime stories for little ones

... fresh veggies from the garden

... a full tank of gas

... good neighbors

... family reunions

... an umbrella on a rainy day

... cheering for your team

... anything young and innocent

... a mountain view

... sacred scriptures in your faith tradition

... a deer in the forest

... open windows

... a check in the mail

... clean laundry

... a quiet moment alone

... the sound of a voice you love to hear

... evening prayer

Essentials of the Heart

One should never be nervous about being asked to tackle anything. One has all the power necessary to achieve everything within oneself. It is only necessary to remember the power. If people are nervous, it is because they forget their potentialities and remember only their limitations.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Simple and easy are not the same thing. Simplicity brings ease, but it is not always easy. Easy is the wish for the magic bullet, an instant solution, or ten easy steps to perfection. Easy formulas that reduce life to quantifiable processes are the fascination of our times. But simplicity is more organic and complex, a pearl of great price that must be sought after with the heart, not just the head.

Easy is like having a crush on someone, with its high floating feelings that dissipate like morning mist when the heat of noonday arrives. But true simplicity draws from a consistent, committed love that lasts through all hours and challenges of the lengthening day.

Simplicity is the marriage of commitment and surrender, the ebb and flow of tides of change and growth, the long slow ripening of the fruit of the spirit. It is learning a deeper, richer way of being present to life. In this simplicity we discover that we are greater than we know, wiser than we realize.

All this sounds quite wonderful and spiritual. But how does this play out in daily life? How do we bring simplicity down to earth after spinning airy pictures of what our lives could be? What does simplicity look like in your life?

Simplicity is found in the common objects and objectives of each day. It is in the choices to create inner stillness through meditation and prayer, clearing clutter in both inner and outer life, choosing positive rather than negative thoughts, handling money and resources wisely, and making that which is most meaningful to you a priority. Whether it is in clothing that expresses your style and values, or a home that provides a nurturing atmosphere, or meaningful work that satisfies your creative soul and helps others, or loving relationships that balance giving and receiving, or creating a more sustainable and just society, true simplicity integrates our gifts, talents, and choices with the deep needs of the world. Inner simplicity helps us find a way to become who we were meant to be, allowing us to discover the amazing person God created and to see that amazing creativity and potential in every person we encounter.

Simplicity makes space for the old fashioned virtues to flower in our lives. Like clearing the garden of weeds and pests, simplicity prepares the soil and tends it as the flower and fruit of our inner selves mature. It is a tending of the garden of the soul. As the fruit of the spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control—grows within, it will affect your practical outer life as well. Choosing to order your priorities around spiritual truth leads to true freedom.

Simplicity that revolves around the essentials of the heart creates a more fulfilling life. Choosing simplicity helps you make room for the important things in life: love, friendship, beauty, fun, creativity, and following your heart to a place of deep wholeness and peace.

Simplicity is...living in the moment so that I can make each moment count.

Whenever a mind is simple, it is able to receive divine wisdom; old things pass away; it lives now and absorbs past and future into the present hour.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall.

Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day.

Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down.

And this all that life really means.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Clearing Clutter: Releasing That Which No Longer Serves

The Law of Circulation works at many levels—the emotional and mental as well as the material. Wherever you release the old and remove that which blocks the flow of spiritual energy, you increase the flow of good.

—David Owen Ritz

When most people think of simplicity, they think of clean closets and empty spaces, organized lives and cleared schedules. While simplicity does manifest in those forms, inner simplicity does not depend on outward circumstances. When you clear the clutter within, you'll eventually see a corresponding outer simplicity. But if you are full of chaos within, even a simple life will become littered with unfinished business and unnecessary drama. Choosing to cultivate inner simplicity helps you develop a mature way of life that has its own focus and order, even if your daily life is busy and complex.

One of the most difficult things to do is to release things, ideas, and relationships which no longer serve us. We often save every old thing, "just in case." You'll open a kitchen drawer and it will be filled with clutter: old rubber bands, pieces of string, used aluminum foil, and other miscellaneous bits and pieces. That kitchen drawer is a metaphor for life. Filled with things that you keep holding onto, pretty soon the drawer is so full you can't find anything at all. Even if you could remember what you've squirreled away in that drawer, you couldn't find it to use it. So you keep the drawer closed and start filling other drawers with more stuff you can't use and don't need any more.

We do that with our lives, too. Old grudges, old resentments, old attitudes, and old ways of coping—we'll keep them around because we've gotten used to them and aren't sure we'd know what to do without them. We'll stuff an old belief system that no longer work for us into a back drawer of our minds. Because it's still in there, it will affect our choices even when we're not conscious of it.

For example, you might be meeting someone new who would be labeled in the old belief system as "unacceptable" and while you might now understand that every single person is beloved and beautiful, there will be a whisper of "unacceptable" even when you are trying your best to be open and friendly. Or you'll be looking in the mirror and suddenly it won't be the adult you're seeing, but the unhappy junior high student who felt ugly and didn't fit in. You are still carrying that old image of yourself, even though it is useless baggage that you could live without.

Old judgments, old priorities, old belief systems, old ways of doing things are all clutter which needs to be taken out and examined. If it still works for you, keep it. But if it's nor longer helpful or distracts you from what is most important, maybe it's time to let it go. Some ideas and things are like timeless classics. They wear well, they're well made, and they still look good and are useful years later. Others are like clothing that is out of date and which no longer fits who you are now. It's time to let it all go and make room for something that is more aligned with who you are becoming.

It's time to choose voluntary simplicity. Begin by releasing the things that you can no longer care for and attend to. Start with material things—cleaning closets, attics, basements, storerooms, and garages. Give away or sell what could be useful to others. Put back into circulation those things which you've been holding onto. Organize what you decide to keep so you know where everything is and what is available to you.

Then take a look at your past and see what attitudes and beliefs no longer work for you. If you've been holding grudges against others, release them. If you've been hanging onto old regrets, let go and let God take care of the past. Long-standing judgments of others and of yourself no longer serve you. Wipe the slate clean and allow God to write a new story of hope and joy where the old one of hurt and anger used to be.

Limited ideas and false beliefs keep you from exploring new ideas and widening your horizons. Let go of them, just as you let go of the old clothing you gave away. Let the healing energy of forgiveness release the limitations of resentment and destructive energy from your consciousness.

As you release the old, you'll make room for the good that God wants to bring into your life. You'll discover a new energy and zest, because you won't be using all your energy to carry around the old baggage. Clearing the clutter allows the energy to flow more freely, and you'll bring more focus and clarity to the way you live your life.

Simplicity is . . . releasing that which no longer serves me.

The depth of one's letting go determines the depth of one's freedom.

Karen Goldman

Spiritual Magnificence

I am an expression of life, and life will express itself through me

in the most playful and wonderful ways, if I let it.

Richard Bach

The art of simplicity is not about reducing yourself to a smaller size. It's about clearing the clutter and chaos to make room for your God-given inner greatness to grow and expand.

Every person is born with the potential for true greatness. This is not the greatness of fame or fortune, though those may come as a by-product of bringing your inner resources to fruition. No, this potential is like a quiet seed within, waiting to be cultivated so that it might grow and multiply and make its contribution to the world.

Think of the size of a seed: so small, so insignificant, so seemingly lifeless. A petunia seed is barely the size of a grain of sand, yet when you plant this seed in fertile soil, water and fertilize and tend it, keep the ground clear of invasive weeds and hungry pests, this seed will naturally and effortlessly create a living, growing, luxurious plant with spreading green leaves and glorious blossom. All of this potential is hiding in the tiny seed, just waiting for the right conditions to release the powerful life force within.

You are just like that seed. You may feel tiny and insignificant in this world, but you contain within your very being the nature of this ever evolving and ever expanding universe. You are a Big Bang waiting to happen; a transforming life force wants to flow through you and become life-giving love, joy, peace, and plenitude. The source of true abundance lies within you, if you are willing to create the conditions for it to manifest through you.

You can create the conditions for such a spiritual and material flowering. It takes simple, practical choices to weed out that which no longer serves you to make room for the higher good to grow. You can also access the wisdom of others who have discovered secrets of abundance and joy. You have the potential to become more fully free and alive than you dared dream you could be. The power lies not in words and ideas, but in what you choose to do with them. For when you unleash the God-given gifts that sleep in the center of your very being, you will awaken to your own spiritual magnificence, and to the great good you are meant to create in a world that is waiting for the gifts you have to offer.

And you, in your heart of hearts, know this to be true. This little book affirms the truth that you've always suspected but have been afraid to believe. You knew it as a young child. And you can know it again as an adult. It is not the outer circumstances which dictate what you can become, but what you can become that will create circumstances you desire. If you are willing to do the work that will free the seed of life to grow within, then you can transform yourself, change your circumstances, and make a real difference in the world around you. You can learn to enjoy the life you have, and to create a life you enjoy.

Your doubting mind will always find reasons to disbelieve, but your inner heart knows the truth. Eye has not seen and ear has not heard what God has prepared for those who dare to believe—and who dare to do something simple, practical, and meaningful with that belief. That is the true art of simplicity: getting down to the essentials, clearing the way for God to do the work in and through you.

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

II Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)

You are an evolving person. You have come out of all time and are going to all time, from glory to glory, led by an image of the Lord. There is a perfect image at the center to cause what you are. We don't have to manufacture goodness...just let it through.

Raymond Charles Barker

Religion is realization; not talk, nor doctrine, nor theories however beautiful they may be. It is being and becoming, not hearing or acknowledging; it is the whole soul becoming what it believes.

Swami Vivekananda

We will discover the nature of our particular genius when we stop trying to conform to our own or to other people's models, learn to be ourselves, and allow our natural channel to open.

Shakti Gawain

My business is not to remake myself,

But to make the absolute best of what God made.

Robert Browning

I see life in terms of transformation:

matter being transformed into life, life into consciousness,

consciousness into Divine Experience.

Bede Griffiths

It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.

e.e. cummings

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming is the only end in life.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Affirmative Prayer

I am deeply connected with the Infinite Mind which created the Universe. This Infinite Power is within me and I now choose to nurture the God-given gifts which wait like seeds within my heart. I dare to dream a larger dream for my life, because my dreams come from God and are the blueprints for a way for me to be a blessing to the world I live in.

I have the power to create great abundance. I now claim that power, sense it growing and expanding within. I know that this power is the Life Force wishing to express itself through me. I welcome this living, loving energy into my life and know that I am being transformed in this moment. I choose to nurture this seed of faith within and to cultivate spiritual fruit in my life. Before I prayed, God has already answered, and I rejoice in the flow of energy, passion, goodness, and joy that overflows in my heart. I thank God that this is so.

And so it is.

Simplicity is . . . being willing to believe what you know deep in your heart.

Fear is the Poison, Love is the Antidote

Allowing fear to rule your mind will merely make you increasingly fearful, but keeping control of your mind will keep you unafraid even when fear boldly approaches you face to face. A steady mind is the most effective antidote to fear.

Swami Kripalvananda

I know there are many reasons to be afraid in this uncertain world. Old structures are breaking down and we don't yet see what will take their place. We live in a time of upheaval, crisis, and transition.

But I also know this. If we only focus on what's wrong and what's falling apart, it will sap the very energies we need to turn things around. If we spend our energies on criticizing and complaining, we will have no will left to create. If we only judge by the outer appearances, we will not have the wisdom to discern the potential within. The Bible proclaims that love is stronger than death, and this is what I choose to stake my life on.

Human beings made choices and created the world we are now experiencing. We are the ones who are making the choices that will create what will be experienced in the future. Do we want to give up in despair, allowing our fears to overcome our faith? Or are we willing to stake everything on the power of love?

The physicist tells us that we are all connected. If this is true, then if we can raise our consciousness, dare to dream of a better world, and make simple choices each day in love and hope, then we could unleash the potential for quantum change. Anyone who believes in God, prayer, and love can tell you that miracles are possible. I've seen this potential released in my own life, and there are many, many stories of the power of love and prayer and intention that have created hope in the place of hopelessness. Let's make a deliberate choice to focus our energies on better things. We are co-creators with God who can bring about positive change—perhaps more dynamically than we can yet imagine.

In the end, each person must choose. Will you choose fear? Or will you choose love? Fear shrinks back, practices scarcity thinking, and focuses on the problems of the past, projecting them into the future. Love focuses on the potential for a better future, makes a choice in the here and now believing it will make a positive difference, and knows that God's abundance is ever present for our every need. Every time you choose love, you're making a statement of faith in the creative abilities of the human heart united with a God who can help humanity change the world: one thought, one choice, one action at a time.

Fear is the toxin which paralyzes. Love is the elixir which brings healing and transformation. There are no guarantees that all your dreams will come true, all your problems will be over, or that the world will suddenly become a perfect place. But a cultivated receptivity to love and its expression in this world will create a sacred alchemy that will take you to new levels of consciousness and help you create a better life than could ever be created from a fear-based mentality. I've learned to make choices out of love instead of fear and it has transformed my life. I know it can happen for you, too.

Simplicity is . . . choosing love over fear.

Fear says no. Love says yes.

Fear paralyzes. Love dances in ecstasy.

Fear is based on expectation. Love is based on intention.

Fear dictates and controls. Love encourages and improvises.

Fear procrastinates and complains. Love takes the next step in calm faith.

Fear believes life happens TO you. Love knows life happens THROUGH you.

Fear believes that what you see is all there is. Love knows that, with God, all things are possible.

Love is the energizing elixir of the universe, the cause and effect of all harmonies.

Rumi

Those who are afraid to make mistakes serve a god of fear. Their love is incomplete. Go forth boldly. Have the courage to live your vision in spite of your fears.

Ken Carey

All our failures are ultimately failures in love.

Iris Murdoch

If grass can grow through cement, love can find you at every time in your life.

Cher

The future is not waiting for us. We create it by the power of imagination.

Pir Vilayat Khan

We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.

Benjamin Disraeli

Love is letting go of fear.

Gerald Jampolsky

A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror.

Ken Keyes Jr.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Transformation does not mean to fix or make go away whatever trauma and scars you may be carrying from childhood; instead, you slowly develop a new relationship with your difficulty, such that it is no longer a controlling factor in your life.

Phillip Moffitt

We are the Future

Our aspirations are our possibilities.

Samuel Johnson

Clearing the inner clutter and freeing ourselves from past patterns that would hold us back is the beginning of liberty. But it is only a beginning. We are the ones we have been waiting for, and it is up to us to cultivate our potential for greatness and offer our gifts to the world. If we have emptied ourselves of prejudice, anger, and fear, then we can be filled with the love of God. We can be the hands of the Divine reaching out to bring a cup of cold water and a touch of grace to a hurting world. We can be the dreamers who make a more lovely and equitable world a reality. And with God's help, we will.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it;

Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We can't take any credit for our talents. It's how we use them that counts.

Madeleine L'Engle

When I look into the future, it's so bright it burns my eyes.

Oprah Winfrey

The Great Creator lives within each of us. All of us contain a divine, expressive spark, a creative candle intended to light our path and that of our fellows.

Julia Cameron

We are the heroes of our own story.

Mary McCarthy

Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have.

Doris Mortman

The well of Providence is deep. It's the buckets we bring to it that are small.

Mary Webb

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.

Judy Garland

I desire to create a world that will solve for others what I have struggled with so much of my life.

Peter Block

The cornerstone of effective leadership is self mastery...

And the surest route to self mastery is spiritual practice.

Time spent in peaceful reflection or mindful meditation clarifies thought, sharpens intuition, and curbs unhealthy instincts.

Patricia Aburdene

Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior:

Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God's Law and Prophets and this is what you get.

Matthew 7:12 (The Message)

Everything in the universe is related; we are all connected; from stardust to human flesh, we vibrate with the same elements of the universe. The web of life is infused by spirit, and each one of us has the power to use that creative energy to manifest our potential.

Rudolfo Anaya

The Golden Spiral

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

I remember the first time I read Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem, The Chambered Nautilus. It was in a sea shell museum in Port Gamble, Washington. Mounted on the wall above the poem was a halved chambered nautilus shell, revealing the pearly interior spiral of that remarkable denizen of the deep. In a galaxy whorl of rainbow pearl, it marked the ever-spiraling stairway of growth as the creature became larger and larger. The life history of the chambered nautilus lay open and clear in the discarded shell. Once it had danced in beautiful majesty in the waters of the sea, but now only its empty shell reminded me of the living form which once inhabited its smooth chambers. And the poem took me on a soulful journey, showing me a picture of my own ever-evolving life.

We are great mysteries, living in the sea of life. Our lives follow a golden spiral of evolution—infant, child, adolescent, adult, middle age, old age. There is that within our bodies which follows its own timetable of growth, change, and aging. We eat and food becomes part of our bodies, yet we still don't understand how food is transformed into a thought. Our bodies are the vessels through which we experience and interact with life, and our souls grow even as bodies age and die. Something greater within knows that the entire process is essential to this journey of life. Each experience, good and bad, becomes a part of our soul's evolution and transformation.

As the ebb and flow of tides of change wash through us, we can choose growth and expansion, or we can cling to the old ways of thinking and being. Still, even when we choose to cling, life itself changes around us, and we find that trying to stop the evolution of our souls is the way of death. If we choose to seek and embrace the changes, to ride the tides and trust a Higher Power that is both within and without, we co-create our destinies and become more than we ever dreamed we would be.

In fractals, nature's choice creates a continuous feedback loop. For us, each choice creates a spiral, a feedback loop that replicates itself again and again. A positive choice begins a spiral upward, and a negative choice spirals down. The power lies in this moment, this choice. At the intersection of here and now lies the opportunity to begin a new and happier pattern by making a different choice. We can take the high road and reach for our inner greatness. We will see our positive choice amplified over time into a transformed life; a life with the potential to turn chaos into beauty and order.

Simplicity is relaxing into the stream of the life force, riding its currents to an unimagined destination, allowing the tides and seasons to make their mark on our souls, releasing that which no longer serves us to embrace a higher and more expansive good. We learn to trust the deeper wisdom of God and to make choices that amplify that trust. We surrender our own limited agendas to become co-creators with God.

May the wisdom of this poem remind you of your own potential for greatness and encourage you to trust that everything you need is already available to you and within you. May you know an ever-expanding goodness and come to realize that in God's eyes you are already whole, perfect, and complete. Every failure and every success, every lesson learned, every experience of beauty and despair, everything you've lost or loved—all these are essential for your spiritual evolution. May you learn how to tap the power within by making room for greater and greater good to enter your life. May you catch a glimpse of who you are in God's eyes so that you may aspire to become all you are meant to be. And may you fulfill your highest destiny as you travel life's golden spiral of growth and service.

The Chambered Nautilus

by Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)

This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,

Sail the unshadowed main,—

The venturous bark that flings

On the sweet summer wind its purple wings

In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,

And coral reefs lie bare,

Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;

Wrecked is the ship of pearl!

And every chambered cell,

Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,

As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,

Before thee lies revealed, —

Its irised ceiling rent, it sunless crypt unsealed!

Year after year beheld the silent toil

That spread his lustrous coil:

Still, as the spiral grew,

He left the past year's dwelling for the new,

Stole with soft step its shining archway through,

Built up its idle door,

Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.

Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,

Child of the wandering sea,

Cast from her lap, forlorn!

From thy dead lips a clearer note is born

Than ever Triton blew from wreathéd horn!

While on mine ear it rings,

Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:—

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,

As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, nobler than the last,

Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,

Till thou at length are free,

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!

****

The Art of Creativity

Creativity is discovering and expressing your deepest and highest potential.

Creativity is... opening your mind to new ideas.

Creativity is... taking a paintbrush in hand.

Creativity is... planting a seed and watching it grow.

We need to make the world safe for creativity and intuition, for it is creativity and intuition that will make the world safe for us.

Edgar Mitchell, Apollo astronaut

Creativity is your birthright. Every human being on this planet is born creative, a reflection of the Creator who made us. The Art of Creativity encourages you to appreciate and express your innate gift of creativity—or to reclaim it if you seem to have lost it somewhere along the way. You'll learn about the attitudes and actions that nurture the creative spirit and inspire a more soulful way of living. You'll find a cornucopia of ideas to jump start your creativity and resources for further creative exploration. The Art of Creativity offers simple ways to approach your life as a work of art, grow as a person, co-create with others, and imagine a better world. Dare to dream, for you are wiser than you yet know. Dare to do, for you are more capable than you yet believe. Discover the delights of a more artful and heart-full life in this inspirational guide to creativity.

There is a fountain of youth. It is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring in your life and the lives of people you love.

Sophia Loren

Creativity is... forever young, forever childlike, forever free.

Creativity is... the Universe expressing itself through us.

We have no word for art. We do everything as beautifully as we can.

Balinese saying

Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

Galatians 6:5 The Message

We seem to have lost contact with the earlier, more profound functions of art, which have always had to do with personal and collective empowerment, personal growth, communion with this world, and the search for what lies beneath and above this world.

Peter London

Creative Genius

You are a creative genius...

Really...

You were born creative

A unique person with special gifts

only you bring to life

and today is the day

to give yourself permission

to create a life you love.

What do you want to create today?

A painting that illuminates the colors in your soul

A song that expresses deep dreams and desires

A dance that celebrates the joy of life

A poem that makes the heart sing

Will you build, sculpt, sew, plant, cook, repair, remake

and reveal some sustaining contribution

that makes life better for yourself

and for the world around you?

Your whole life can be a work of art

whatever you do.

There is art in making a meal

in work well done

arranging flowers

comforting a friend

cherishing a loved one

reaching out to help another.

You can even bring your creative soul

to mundane work

just by being aware

of the potential hidden in every moment.

You are a unique creative genius

and you get to choose

what you bring to life.

If you don't bring it to life

it will never exist.

Today is the first day

of the rest of your life.

So what do you want to create?

I'm eagerly watching to see what you'll do

because I know

you will create something wonderful.

You can do it!

Only as much of life enters into us as we can conceive, and we conceive of life—in the larger sense—only when there is a complete abandonment to it. Let the one who is sad, depressed, or unhappy find some altruistic purpose into which he may pour his whole being and he will find a new inflow of life of which he has never dreamed.

Ernest Holmes

In each soul, God loves and partly saves the whole world which the soul sums up in an incommunicable and particular way... By his fidelity he must build—starting with the most natural territory of his own self—a work, an opus, into which something enters from all the elements of the earth. He makes his own soul throughout his earthly days; and at the same time he collaborates in another work, in another opus, which infinitely transcends, while at the same time it narrowly determines, the perspectives of his individual achievement: the completing of the world.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Art, although produced by man's hands, is something not created by hands alone, but something which wells up from a deeper source out of our soul.

Vincent van Gogh

It is only when we can believe that we are creating the soul that life has any meaning, but when we can believe it—and I do and always have—then there is nothing we do that is without meaning and nothing that we suffer that does not hold the seed of creation in it.

May Sarton

We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal ONE.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Creative Spirit

I am simply conscious of the forces I am using and I am driven on by an idea that I really only grasp as it grows with the picture.

Henri Matisse

I attended a painting demonstration just outside of Nashville. It was a perfect blue sky autumn day. The sun warmed my back, the crisp air kept the temperature refreshing. The art gallery was filled with people and out in the back the stage in the outdoor theater was set with a giant canvas, a workman's table, and an artist ready to paint. It was a wonderful opportunity to view master abstractionist Anton Weiss sharing his expertise as he worked with a large canvas during the afternoon. Until I saw Anton at work and heard him discuss his artistic process and philosophy, I had never really understood the lure of abstract art. By the end of the afternoon I not only had a greater appreciation for abstract expressionism, but I saw how much the man's art reflects his life. I have talked since with an artist who says that Anton's paintings never fail to move him. Now I understand why.

Anton's presentation became a classroom, teaching me about the freedom and bravery of creation—a lesson in the art of living. As he worked with the canvas, following the energies of color and light, Anton would share brief observations: Be fearless. There are no mistakes. Master your canvas. Innovate. Experiment. Allow chaos, knowing that order will eventually emerge. Give depth to a flat canvas with contrasts of cool and warm, dark and light. Trust your instincts. Release criticism and perfectionism. Surrender to the process. Follow the energy and keep adding to the energy of your canvas.

As a classically trained artist, Anton stated that he felt too limited by expensive brushes and the rules of traditional art. He made magic with pieces of cardboard, layering the paint, scraping the paint, and even attaching pieces of dried paint torn from old palettes. He was unafraid to paint over something or to scratch out what he had just painted to create interesting layers. Every step of the process was perfect in and of itself.

Now, months later, I have thought about Anton's words and how they apply to my own life. I've been thinking about his admonition to "master your canvas." That's a bold statement. For all the years that I have been writing and for all the "successful" (read: published) projects I have done, something in me has still been afraid of life, afraid of the canvas. I have chosen a smaller, more limited canvas so many times. Writing to please a client, to not offend gatekeepers who say, "You can't use that word, quote that person, question that belief system. You can't say that." But now I use those words, quote those people, and have expanded my boundaries far beyond the limitations of my old belief systems. Yet still, I play small. I struggle with financial debts, but I also wrestle with debts owed to the past, and wonder if I'll ever be brave enough to own all that I can be, to master a larger canvas. I'm stretching and growing, learning to be less afraid, more courageous. My ventures into art and photography are part of the expanded canvas of my creative expression. I'm creating a richer palette and a larger life using art as well as words to speak the deeper truths from my heart.

I'm learning that mastering the canvas is not about having total control. It's about being willing to take risks, to embrace life and follow the energy where it wants to go. It is about being large enough in yourself to meet the challenges and changes that life throws at you. It is about being unafraid to reach for your own inner greatness, brave enough to believe you deserve to have this, do this, be this—whatever it is you really desire to have, do, or be in life, without playing small because of your own fears or the judgments of others. It's being strong enough to open to the unknown, to ask the questions that you have not been willing to ask before.

As I watched Anton reach out to the canvas and make his mark on it, I saw that he was allowing the energies of life itself to flow through him without confining definitions or limiting preconditions. Big broad strokes are allowed. There is no fiddling little perfectionism. Perfection emerges from the freedom of the ever changing and evolving layers of painting, scraping, adding, subtracting, exploring and feeling the way the painting wants to emerge. Everything adds to the energy and the point is to create something that expresses the essence of life itself. It is larger than the ego that brags and controls, whines and cowers. It is a form of surrender to God, to whatever you define as the Transcendent, as life expresses through you in new ways. It is like watching life itself unfold onto the canvas. By refusing to play small, you give the best of yourself in the moment when paint marries canvas.

An abstract artist who is sincerely working with his whole heart is on a mission that in its own way mirrors the spiritual work of yogis and saints who have dedicated themselves to spiritual awakening. The artist reaches for ways to amplify and illumine what is beyond, that deep Eternal Wholeness, Harmony, and Sacredness that calls to us from behind the windows and lattices of creation. Something new is being birthed. Something is coming into being through the unique gifts and experience of the artist. His art reflects what we all go through to bring our own unique work to fruition. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin calls it the opus that we are all co-creating—that creative work that demands to be born on the page, canvas, recording, or even simply the homes we are making, the families we are raising, and the community we are contributing to. It doesn't matter if you give it a religious name or a secular definition, for it is Mystery beyond all forms and names and definitions. It is the aliveness of Life itself expressing in, through, and for us as we labor.

"Be fearless." I set aside my nagging doubts and condemning inner voices to spread my wings, trying something never before attempted, daring to be more honest in my self-expression.

"Master your canvas." A tough one for someone who often feels overwhelmed and oversensitive. Yet I learn to take more responsibility for my own choices. I learn my craft and practice it. I choose to be courageous as I open my heart to life itself. I take responsibility for my own destiny instead of allowing myself to be tossed to and fro by the forces and energies that attempt to master me. I become more myself, tapping into the power to move and make a malleable world; a power that is my birthright as a daughter of the Creator.

"There are no mistakes." I no longer need to judge myself, or others. I can trust the process and appreciate the journey. I can take risks that perfectionism would never allow. I follow the energy and surrender to Something larger wanting to express through me. I flow with the fierce urge to create, to make, to work with what is and make it express what could be.

The painting rises from the brush strokes as the poem rises from the words. The meaning comes later.

Joan Miro

The craftsman does not always build toward a prior vision. Often images come in the process of working. The material, his hands—together they beget.

M. C. Richards

All great art is the work of the whole living creature, body and soul, and chiefly the soul.

John Ruskin

Concentrate on the Eternal life, the source of all lives... Express the glory of that immortality in all interactions with the world.

Parmahansa Yogananda

In all true works of art wilt thou discern eternity looking through time, the god-like rendered visible.

Carlyle

In the creative state, a man is taken out of himself. He lets down as it were a bucket into his subconscious, and draws up something which is normally beyond his reach. He mixes this thing with his normal experience and out of the mixture he makes his work of art.

E. M. Forster

A pile of rocks ceases to be rock when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Humans cannot create matter. We can, however, create value. Creating value is, in fact, our very humanity. When we praise people for their strength of character, we are actually acknowledging their ability to create value.

Tsumesaburo Makiguchi

In essence, man is not a slave to himself, nor to the world; he is a lover. His freedom and accomplishments are in love, which is another name for perfect understanding.

Rabindranath Tagore

Divine Spirit is the limitless potential of human life.

Thomas Troward

God does not ask anything else except that you let yourself go and let God be God in you.

Meister Eckhart

Affirmative prayer

We lie open on one side to the deeps of spiritual nature, to the attributes of God. Justice we see and know Love, Freedom, Power.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Within me is the light of life, the image of God. I have unlimited potential, and I commit to express the Perfection, Truth, and Beauty of God's nature in all I do. As an expression and reflection of the Creator's creativity, I use my own creative powers. I work without fear and enter into a freedom greater than I have yet known. I set aside all petty and negative thinking, allow a more expansive way of being to flower in, through, and for me.

I accomplish my work with ease and effortless grace, knowing that it is not I, but the Greater Wholeness within me that works and wills a more glorious outcome than I can yet imagine. I surrender to this loving Energy and trust the process, knowing it is perfect at each stage of its unfolding. I claim my power to create and enjoy the act of creation in each moment. It is my nature and my calling to create, bringing beauty, order, and harmony out of chaos. All conditions and situations are transformed for the highest good.

I am inspired and the fruit of my labors inspires others to embrace their own gifts, talents, and inner calling to create. I am centered in love and I share that love with others through my creations. I serve with joy, knowing that Love enfolds and sustains me, and heals our world. Thank you, God, for the joy of being your creative child.

I know the truth about myself.

The truth is: I am a child of God,

a reflection of God's nature,

a place in this world

where God expresses

through my thoughts, words, and creative action.

When I focus on the sense of God's Presence

within the very core of my being

I am focusing on all the love,

harmony, beauty, order, peace, joy, and plenitude

that is the nature of God.

All of that love,

harmony, beauty, order, peace, joy, and plenitude

becomes mine in power and ease.

Because the power of God is greater

than all my fears, doubts, and resistance,

this perfect plenitude flows in, through, and around me.

As a light turned on chases shadows and darkness away,

so all my illusions of poverty, lack, fear, and self-condemnation

dissipate in the warm light of God's love.

God within me is the mirror that reflects my true nature.

Circumstances change and conditions come and go.

But the Radiant Reality of God's presence within my heart

illumines my life

and shows me the truth about myself.

I am one with God,

a beloved child of God.

The Art of Creativity

Key Word: Contribution

Key Concept: Divine expression

Cosmic Question: How can I give my gifts in service?

• You are an expression of God's abundance, love, and creativity in this world.

• By expressing our gifts and talents we bring divine energy and healing love into our world.

Creativity is your birthright. Every human being on this planet is born creative, a reflection of the Creator who made us. The Art of Creativity encourages you to appreciate and express your innate gift of creativity—or to reclaim it if you seem to have lost it somewhere along the way. You'll learn about the attitudes and actions that nurture the creative spirit and inspire a more soulful way of living. You'll find a cornucopia of ideas to jump start your creativity and resources for further creative exploration. The Art of Creativity offers simple ways to approach your life as a work of art, grow as a person, co-create with others, and imagine a better world. Dare to dream, for you are wiser than you yet know. Dare to do, for you are more capable than you yet believe. Discover the delights of a more artful and heart-full life in this inspirational guide to creativity.

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The Art of Celebration

Celebration is grateful awareness of the wonder, joy, and mystery of life and sharing that with others.

Celebration is... dancing to the music of life.

Celebration is... opening your arms and saying "Yes!"

Celebration is... smiling faces of all colors and kinds.

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.

Oprah Winfrey

Life is meant to be a celebration! It shouldn't be necessary to set aside special times to remind us of this fact. Wise is the person who finds a reason to make every day a special one.

Leo Buscaglia

For the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Nehemiah 8:10 (KJV)

All seasons are beautiful for the person who carries happiness within.

Horace Friess

Celebration is... a field of blooming tulips that shouts "I'm red! I'm red! I'm RED!!!"

Celebration is... being truly aware in this moment—here and now.

Celebration is... is a Chinese dragon dancing and wheeling in a parade.

The Art of Celebration

Key Word: Joy

Key Concept: Divine expansion

Cosmic Question: How can I enjoy life more?

• You can celebrate abundance here and now.

• We learn to enter into the ongoing celebration of life as it evolves and expands.

Celebration is giving thanks for the abundance of life. From a shared cup of tea with a friend to a community potluck, celebration is an essential ingredient in the dish of life. Celebration emphasizes the goodness of life and recognizes that we must cultivate joy, even in the midst of life's difficulties. Celebration is forgetting yourself in the wonder of it all. It's creating a special moment for someone you love. Celebration welcomes the stranger into your home for a meal. It gives back to the community and shares with those in need. Heartfelt celebration is a moment of quiet thankfulness, remembering all the mercies and blessings God has showered on you. The abundant life is a life of celebration and community. Let us celebrate together the moments of our days and honor the seasons and transitions of life.

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The Art of Enchantment

Enchantment is...tapping into the power of the sacred imagination to create a life I love.

Enchantment is... Monet painting in his garden.

Enchantment is... fairy tale kingdoms and happily ever after.

Enchantment is... turning the water into wine.

To see a world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wildflower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.

William Blake

If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence.

George Eliot

Everything that seems empty is full of the angels of God.

Saint Hilary

Enchantment is... playing with a new idea.

Enchantment is... setting sail for India and discovering a New World instead.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men...

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)

Enchantment is...rediscovering the sacred imagination.

The Art of Enchantment

Key Word: Transformation

Key Concept: Divine presence

Cosmic Question: How can I experience more love?

• Divine abundance and love can transform you.

• Entering into an understanding of God's greatness shows us our spiritual magnificence and potential for love.

Beauty. Romance. Mystery. Adventure. A life full of meaning and promise. Isn't that what we all wish for? We all yearn for the dreams of childhood that promised a life where love is always true and happy endings are only the beginning. But in this cynical and utilitarian culture, we lose that childlike hope and wonder. The Art of Enchantment is not a denial of a grim reality, but a rediscovery of the sacredness of life. It is choosing to honor the imagination and learning to look at the world through a child's eyes of wonder and hope. The seeds of the enchanted life are in the life we live today. God is speaking out of eternity into time, telling us that we are on a sacred journey. We are more than we seem to be on the surface and even in the face of suffering and loss, meaning is waiting to be found. The Art of Enchantment helps you find the sacred in the ordinary and teaches you to look at life with an artist's eye and a poet's heart.

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Credits

Scripture quotations marked RSV are taken from The Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright ©1946, Old Testament section copyright ©1952, by the Division of Christian Education of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® (NIV®), copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version.® Copyright© 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NKJV is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations noted "The Message" are from The Message: The New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs in Contemporary English, copyright ©1993, 1996 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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About the Author

Candy Paull is the author of The Heart of Abundance, The Translucent Heart, The Art of Simplicity, The Art of Abundance, The Art of Encouragement, Inner Abundance, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, and other books. Her newest book is Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress.

Candy is a freelance writer who has owned her own business since 1990, specializing in marketing materials for book publishers. She also has been a bookstore buyer and an advertising manager for a small publisher, for a total of more than 30 years involvement in the publishing industry.

As well as being a freelance writer and author, she is a published songwriter and performer who makes her home in Nashville, Tennessee. Known for her encouraging lifestyle, Candy's philosophy of life springs from her experiences as a writer and musician involved in a creative arts community. Candy's open approach to spirituality draws insight and wisdom from many spiritual traditions.

There is something inside each of us that is trustworthy, whole, and wise. Instead of always trying to "fix" what is "broken" in our lives, Candy Paull helps us experience the profound wholeness that lies at the center of the universe—and in our own human hearts.

Connect with Candy online

Website:http://www.candypaull.com/

Blog: http://candypaull.com/blog.htm

Books by Candy Paull

NEW! November 2013 from Grand Harbor Press

Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress

Simple Solutions for Difficult Times

© 2013 Candy Paull, Grand Harbor Press

In a high stress, high anxiety world, a serene life may feel like an impossible dream. But serenity can be consciously cultivated, if you are willing to make simple, life-enhancing choices. Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress offers practical help that addresses the outward symptoms of stress and tension, and encourages you to examine the root causes, which are spiritual in nature.

Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress shows how to:

• tap into the wisdom of the body for healing and stress relief

• explore spiritual practices that help you cultivate inner peace

• bring your best to life for serenity at home and on the job

• make empowering choices that honor your heart's deepest desires

• find courage and strength in the storms of life

Discover an antidote to the frustration and stress of modern life, and a deeper perspective on inner serenity. Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress offers inspiring affirmations, spiritual insight, and practical tips for cultivating serenity in every season of life.

NEW! September 2013 e-book edition

The Translucent Heart

Inspired Choices for Challenging Times

© Candy Paull 2013

The Translucent Heart is a collection of sixty-one meditations and quotes for the spiritual journey, with practical ways to bring a little bit of heaven into daily life on earth. This devotional companion offers instant inspiration to illuminate the heart and lift your spirits. If some days feel opaque with weariness and struggle, discover a little bit of light to brighten your day.

We can make choices that welcome a more enlightened way of being which can make a positive difference in the way we live in an everyday world. The Translucent Heart offers devotional insights for more luminous living and awakening to our spiritual magnificence. Sixty-one meditations encourage the heart in the midst of stress and challenges, reminding you that your choices and attitudes can transform a day—and a life. From being kind to others to forgiving yourself, from loving an animal to loving the mystery, you'll find reminders of divine goodness in this day, this time, and this place.

The Translucent Heart also includes a cornucopia of quotations to go with the meditations, showing that wisdom is universal, and people from different times, cultures, and spiritual traditions often agree on the essentials of what it means to cultivate the interior life.

The Translucent Heart brings inspiration for everyday living, helping you discover the true center of sweet serenity and peace that is already in your own heart. You'll be reminded that there is more to life than meets the eye. Unseen spiritual dimensions are waiting to support you, helping you make the shift from fear and confusion to peace, harmony, and a growing sense of the beauty and potential that life has to offer. The Translucent Heart affirms that transcendence is our true nature. These devotional meditations will help you reflect on the something deeper, more luminous and abiding, that illumines the common clay of earthly existence.

The Heart of Abundance

A Simple Guide to Appreciating and Enjoying Life

e-book ©2010, 2013 Candy Paull

NEW UPDATED Edition Fall 2013 with additional excerpts from newly published titles, upgraded formatting.

The Heart of Abundance is a free "best of" collection from Candy Paull's books. Discover more abundance, encouragement, and simplicity in your life. Be present, see the divine at work in all circumstances, and experience ordinary life as sacred. Learn to practice the art of abundance as a form of spiritual awareness based in gratitude. Quotes, meditations, prayers, and instant inspiration.

This inspirational guide reminds you that life can be good, no matter what challenges you may be facing right now. As you become aware of how rich life is with blessings, your attitude toward life shifts. Simple gratitude tells the Universe that you appreciate life's gifts and are open to receive more gifts. It shifts your energies from an attitude of lack to an attitude of receptivity and thanksgiving. The Heart of Abundance offers selections from books by Candy Paull, including The Art of Abundance, The Translucent Heart, The Art of Simplicity, and Finding Serenity in Seasons of Stress.

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Also available by Candy Paull:

The Art of Abundance

A Simple Guide to Discovering Life's Treasures

© 1998, 2006 Candy Paull, e-book ©2010 Candy Paull

Originally published 1998 Honor Books

Second edition published 2006 Stewart, Tabori & Chang

Key Word: Gratitude

Key Concept: Divine awareness

Cosmic Question: Is the Universe friendly?

• You are surrounded by abundance here and now.

• By counting our blessings, we discover how rich we are in the things that count.

The art of abundance is not about greed or selfishness. The art of abundance is about celebrating life right now, this minute. It is a way of looking at the potential your life holds--the little blessings to be thankful for now and the gifts that God wants to give you, if you'll just open your heart to receive. It's about being enthusiastic about life every day, not just on the rare occasions when everything seems to be going your way. The art of abundance is finding the provision in what is right in front of you, seeing the hand of God already giving you what you need, moment by moment. Then sharing the abundant blessings God has given with others. And completing the circle of giving by praising the One who gave the gifts for us to enjoy.

The Art of Encouragement

A Simple Guide to Living Life from the Heart

©2003, 2006 Candy Paull e-book ©2010 Candy Paull

Originally published 2003 Stewart House Publishers

Second edition published 2006 Stewart, Tabori & Chang

Key Word: Compassion

Key Concept: Divine perspective

Cosmic Question: Can I trust myself? Others? God?

• You have infinite abundance within you and so does everyone else.

• When we choose love over fear, we learn to trust ourselves and others, and enjoy life more.

Encouragement is the art of abundance shared and multiplied. It is a way of living that seeks to bless each person we meet. Encouragement looks at what we can be, believes for the best in each of us. Encouragement is love in action. It is taking time to praise those we love and to appreciate everyone we meet. When the world and all its pressures takes the heart out of us, we need to hear that someone cares for us and believes in us. And we need to do the same for others. Encouragement means taking time to let God encourage us, to meditate on the small miracles of life. Enthusiasm and courage, love and appreciation, practical acts of mercy and compassion—that's the way of encouragement. The art of encouragement is the art of creating community and celebrating friendship.

The Art of Simplicity

A Simple Guide to Focusing on the Essentials of the Heart

© 2006 Candy Paull e-book ©2010 Candy Paull

Originally published 2006 Stewart, Tabori & Chang

Key Word: Integrity

Key Concept: Divine wisdom

Cosmic Question: What priorities lead to peace and spiritual growth?

• You can create greater abundance in your life when you make conscious choices.

• Making right choices leads us beyond fear, anger, judgement, and other ego agendas into spiritual—and material—freedom.

Simplicity can be difficult to achieve in a world that clamors for "more! more! more!" But simplicity opens the way to the center of the heart—the still place where quiet, healing, and a still small voice await. Simplicity is making elegant choices, treasuring precious moments, and valuing that which is of eternal worth. Like Michelangelo, who saw the statue of David in the heart of the stone, so we are called to reveal the inner beauty hidden in the chaos of our lives. Simplicity is singleness of heart, focused on the essentials of life, rather than being distracted by our desires and fears. Simplicity is a celebration of the heart—a chance to touch eternity in a moment of meditation. Simplicity is finding abundance in the small things.

Inner Abundance

Affirmations for Confidence, Creativity, and Higher Consciousness

e-book

Copyright ©2009 Candy Paull

Inner Abundance gently helps you look at life from another perspective. You'll find fresh insight on the small joys that you often take for granted or miss in the rush of modern living. The meditations, quotes, and affirmations in this book remind you that true abundance is available every day, no matter what you may be going through.

Discover your hidden potential to create a happier and more satisfying life. Learn to embrace what is already yours with thankfulness, joy, and the expectancy of even more good to come. Inner Abundance reveals the treasures of the heart with effective ways to create and celebrate abundance every day.

31 Days of Abundance

Meditations to Help You Make the Most of Every Moment

e-book ©2010 Candy Paull

Though life continually offers its riches to us, it is easy to become caught up in the daily grind and miss the blessings that are right in front of our eyes. We need to be reminded of the treasures of abundance that our lives already hold. 31 Days of Abundance offers a month's worth of inspirational thoughts, quotes and practical actions that remind you to appreciate and embrace the gifts of life today.

31 Days of Abundance offers a combination of inspirational thoughts and practical action steps that remind you to embrace the gifts life offers you right now. A month's worth of meditations and encouraging quotes encourage you to create and celebrate more abundance every day. Savor the small blessings that add up to a larger world of delight, wonder, and joyous appreciation for life itself.

31 Days of Encouragement

Meditations to Help You Persevere and Thrive in Difficult Times

e-book ©2010 Candy Paull

A month's worth of meditations encourage you to keep on keeping on, persevering through tough times to fashion a life that is meaningful to you and a blessing to the world. A combination of inspirational thoughts, quotes, and practical action steps help you live mindfully, break through fear, choose peace, take action, and keep a positive attitude through the challenges and changes of life.

To encourage is to put the heart back into someone, to help each other live well and live together. When life is challenging and you feel discouraged, 31 Days of Encouragement offers meditations that can give you the courage and confidence to live with resolution, vitality, and purpose. Simple, practical mediations offer inspiration for those difficult days. This book includes a free excerpt from The Art of Encouragement.

31 Days of Simplicity

Meditations to Help You Live with Greater Joy and Serenity

e-book ©2010 Candy Paull

Choosing simplicity leads to a life of freedom, peace, quiet joy, and serenity. A month of practical advice, inspiring quotes, and daily meditations help you clear both outer and inner clutter, encouraging you to order your priorities around what matters most. Discover inspirational resources to help you make more room in your life for the joys of simple living and simply being alive.

31 Days of Simplicity: Meditations to Help You Live With Greater Joy and Serenity encourages you to take practical steps toward living with greater serenity and simplicity. Outward actions like cleaning your home, making do with less, and delighting in small things are balanced with inner choices that help you remember what is most important and meaningful to you. Create a simpler life you truly love. This book includes a free excerpt from The Art of Simplicity.

Christmas Abundance

A Simple Guide to Discovering the True Meaning of Christmas

©2000 Candy Paull/Thomas Nelson Publishers

Christmas Abundance is a celebratory look at Christmas—from the small joys of the scents, sights, sounds, tastes, and textures of Christmas as we celebrate it today to the true meaning of Christmas in the birth of Christ.

Now available in e-book format from Thomas Nelson Publishers

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

101 Inspiring Ways to Enjoy Christmas

© 2009 Howard/Simon & Schuster

Along with inspirational meditations, you'll find quotes, scripture verses, and simple tips that help you choose easier ways to savor the season and make the most of every precious moment.

Connect with Candy online

Website:http://www.candypaull.com/

Blog: http://candypaull.com/blog.htm

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