GRATITUDE IS RICHES. COMPLAINT IS POVERTY.

Quote by Doris Day.
November was a month of gratitude for me (not that now that December started I am no longer grateful lol). Gratitude appeared on an almost daily basis. We explored it during a covenant group meeting, it covered a whole chapter in the book "The science of getting rich" by Wallace Delois Wattles that I was reading, and we discussed it during a seminar. While I personally experienced a rather dark time, it was gratitude that pulled me out of the dungeon.

Until I hit rock bottom myself I never fully understood the importance of gratitude. By gratitude I don’t mean just saying thank you for something you receive, that is just politeness, or social convention. Gratitude is felt on a much deeper level, so well expressed in this quote: Gratitude is the memory of the heart. ~Jean Baptiste Massieu
Gratitude is a deeply felt emotion. The direction of gratitude is outwards (polarity) and yet it has a tremendous impact on your "inner self".

You might be familiar with The Secret and The Law of Attraction (LOA). The reason why so many did not attract what they wished for in life has (in my humble opinion) much to do with forgetting about the Law of Gratitude or Law of Giving (thanks). Gratitude Is vibration, an emotional vibration that precedes the manifestation of those things that we want. Gratitude works in two ways. The first one being grateful yourself which raises your positive internal vibrations and second to give people the opportunity to express gratitude to you, which brings you closer to your desired result.

When your pantry echos, and everything seems to get worse or work against you it becomes a challenge to be grateful. The focus on the negative, fear, and lack can become a vicious circle, one that I had to break out of myself (and so I did this November!). To be able to be grateful for small things like a song, maybe silly things like a pretty bug, and more importantly things that still have to come your way will eventually empower you with an almost uncommon faith that all will be OK, actually all is well now...

"The reaction of gratitude upon one's mind produces faith; and every outgoing wave of thanksgiving increases faith." Wallace Delois Wattles
Faith not meant in a religious way, but faith in your true self, who you are, and what you "need" to accomplish in your life. I am a pantheist, which means that I believe that the divine is in all of us. Each one of us is a part of the universal creative energy. As a part of this energy, we are not separate from it but living expressions of it. It is our nature to be creators.

Gratitude is an act of acceptance of the energy that is our own nature, an act that brings your whole being in closer harmony with the creative energies of the Universe.

7 DAYS THAT FEEL LIKE 7 WEEKS

It took me almost a week to recover from a 3 day seminar named Book Publishing 2.0 by Michael Drew. The title is a huge understatement as we were presented with a semester worth of data, insight and feedback in 3 long days. Michael and his team shared with us the latest knowledge in SEO, Blogging, Organic Traffic generating, Social and New Media techniques.

I am still working my way through all my notes and ideas and so far I have already implemented several things that are the seeds of my future Internet play field. I love writing even more after this workshop, and although I do not have a book in mind my new blog 365Muses can easily turn into print.

I gained much insight in communication and building relationships. A good friend who I met for coffee last night immediately noticed that I am much more open and eager to talk to people, even complete strangers. That's quite a step for the introverted person I am!

Although I was about to move this blog to another service, I think I will keep it here for a while and make it part of the 365Muses blog in the near future.

Have a great Sunday and drop me a note if you like!

XOMO

CONSCIOUS AWARENESS

Robert Fludd, Utriusque cosmi maioris scilicet et minoris […] historia, tomus II (1619), tractatus I, sectio I, liber X, De triplici animae in corpore visione.

As I am writing this posting I realize there is the me who writes, who thinks, and the me who observes this all. Who am I? In one of his movies, the comedian W.C. Fields walks into a bank and up to the teller's window. The teller asks, "Can you identify yourself?" Field says " Of course. Do you have a mirror?" When presented one, Fields immediately states, "Yup, that's me!” (From The Big Questions, by Lama Surya Das)

Who am I? I am not my story, my story only contains: experiences, interpretations, and perceptions. My ego, my thoughts, and believes tell the story of the life that I (seem) to have, not the life that I am.

Most people live a happy life without ever becoming fully aware of who they are at the deepest possible level. They might during challenging times wonder for a moment: "Why is this happening to me?" In that moment they experience that there is a "me" that observes themselves...

"Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakes" Carl Jung
Not until I started to meditate, I received glimpses of 'my own me' and what this does besides making me feel incredibly peaceful, it roots you deeper and more intense into your being and the journey we call life.

Be well, Mo

DO PLANTS FEEL?

A friend of mine mentioned this phenomena during his talk radio show recently. He told the story of an experiment they did during his preschool years (mid 50's). All the children received a plant on their desk to take care of. One plant remained in an open box on top of a cabinet. It received water but no other attention. Guess which plants flourished and which one did not?

Cleve Baxter, a polygraph scientist who did the controversial experiment with plants and animal cells. In the 60s, he decided to attach his polygraph electrodes to the now-famous dracaena in his office, then water the plant and see if the leaves responded. The plant indeed reacted to this event, so he decided to see what would happen if he threatened it, and formed in his mind the idea of lighting a match to the leaf where the electrodes were attached.

And that was when something happened that forever changed Baxter's life. For the plant didn't wait for him to light the match. It reacted to his thoughts! Through further research, Baxter found that it was his intent, and not merely the thought itself, that brought about this reaction.

He also discovered that plants were aware of each other, mourned the death of anything, strongly disliked people who killed plants carelessly or even during scientific research, and fondly remembered and extended their energy out to the people who had grown and tended them, even when their "friends" were far away in both time and space.

In fact, he found, plants can react "in the moment" to events taking place thousands of miles away. And not only are they psychic, they also are prophetic, anticipating negative and positive events, including weather.

His intend brought a reaction...what a great example of how we manifest our life, by our thoughts and intentions...

Thoughts become things, choose them wisely.

P.S. I do not believe that we attract things like violence and natural disasters, but they could be part of our personal blueprint, encouraging us to grow and become stronger.

Be well, MO

MODERN TIMES

Not long ago I designed a T-shirt with the text: "NO I AM NOT ON FACEBOOK" and on the back: "I AM HERE NOW". I did not see why I would be on "Wastebook". Well, today this T-shirt became a collectors item since I am not only on Facebook but also Twittering away every day! Contributing some meaningful content in this age of continuous mindless chatter is what drives me...

In case you are wondering about this lizard...her name is Bo and all she can say is "BOO!" I'll explain more about the story of the "Wizard versus Lizard" from Steering by Starlight by Martha Beck on my book blog "WORDS WANTED".

A GUIDE FOR FEARLESSNESS IN DIFFICULT TIMES

I have this posting on my book blog, but since not everybody reads all my blogs I will post it here as well. A few months ago I promised myself to do at least one scary thing every week. When I found "The Places That Scare You" I thought this book could be part of this promise. The subtitle: "A guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times" became the missing dot on the "i" I had been looking for. Most people have a hard time these days, I lost my job in June of this year and there are no more savings left. My husband had been unemployed for almost a year as well and we lost our house in foreclosure, we had our piece of this sour, overcooked, bad economy pie.

What I've learned (and became more aware of) from Pema Chödrön is that you still have a choice. You can let the circumstances harden you, upset you, make you bitter, resentful and afraid, but you can also use it (welcome it!) as a tool to grow and become stronger. Until now, I've always had a hard time to grasp the concept that we are one, I just could not "believe" that I am part of others and they are part of me, certainly not the extreme figures that terrorize our planet.

But when she describes the process of training in the three difficulties (part of the "lojong slogans") she hit a string in me that was never touched before: "...we could recognize that there are millions who are feeling the way we are..." I "know" now I am part of all because what I can feel and think is what others can feel and think. I wish for myself to be free of confusion and limiting habitual reactions.

Recognizing my own confusion with compassion makes it possible to extend that compassion to others who are equally confused. The practice of Bodhichitta (Chitta means 'mind' and also 'heart' or 'attitude'. Bodhi means 'awake', enlightened' or completely open'.) provides us all with tremendous insight, clarity, and peace. "Even at times when we feel most stuck, we are never alienated from the awakened state." Buddha

"Those who train in awakening unconditional and relative bdhichitta are called bodhisattvas or warriors (nonagressive), these are men and women who are willing to train in the middle of the fire. Training in the middle of fire can mean that warrior bodhisattvas enter challenging situations in order to alleviate suffering." This connects directly to an aspect that Martha Beck describes in her book "Steering by Starlight", she calls it the ring of fire. In order to free yourself from limiting beliefs, emotions, and experiences you have to face them and lean into the fear (fire).

A few weeks ago I hit rock bottom. Jobless, moneyless, a crashed computer and then I got sick.
Really, this was the very last drop…
And I am grateful to have reached that moment!
What, you might ask? Are you nuts or totally out of your mind?
Out of a certain mindset is a better way of describing it. I faced it, felt the fear, went into the fire and now I feel free.

"In joy and sorrow all are equal,
Thus be guardian of all, as of yourself."
Shantideva

All is well, MO

WHAT WAS I THINKING????

Research has shown that we have between 45,000 and 51,000 thoughts a day.
That is about 150 to 300 thoughts a minute.
Research has also shown that 80% of those thoughts are negative.
It gets worse. Whatever you are thinking about, 90% gets carried over to the next day's 51,000 thoughts.

Think about this for a minute...

Which thoughts are worth thinking?

"Thoughts are free and subject to no rule. On them rests the freedom of man, and they tower above the light of nature...create a new heaven, a new firmament, a new source of energy from which new arts flow."
Paracelsus (1493-1541)


At first becoming aware of your thoughts can be a scary experience, especially when realizing that thought precedes reality.
Or as Mike Dooley says: "Thoughts become Things". Or the warning we all heard before: " be careful of what you think, because that is what you'll get".

Let me go back to December 2008 when a good friend suggested to me to read "The Jackrabbit Factor" by Leslie Householder. I printed this e-book edition and forgot about it until 2 weeks ago when this same friend suggested watching this video, a presentation by Leslie called "The Stickman video". My eyes were glued to my computer screen for over 80 minutes and when she mentioned her book called (you guessed it): "The Jackrabbit Factor" a little bell was ringing in the back of my mind. I searched for it and wanted to print this book, but my printer didn't work. When I looked at the cover again I realized I had printed this before and within minutes I found it, buried in a pile of e-books.

In this story Leslie describes a man "who wanted to give up on a dream, but decided to take one more step." This beautiful story takes you on a journey about thought and how it shapes your reality. This book contains powerful knowledge and I can see now that a year ago I was not ready to digest this. This is also referred to as the "gestation period" most things on this planet experience this gestation (without even thinking about it). When the time (or thought) is right...

I thought I was aware of most of my thoughts, but now that "I" am monitoring them closely I see certain patterns and a relation between my thoughts and beliefs and I can imagine how this reflects in my subconscious. The scare has turned into acceptance of my own reality and inspiration. I can think new thoughts and be more involved/empowered in the creation of my own reality.

"Great men are they who see that spiritual thought is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Progress of Culture

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. ~Voltaire

One more food for thought:

Invest a few moments in thinking. It will pay good interest. ~Author Unknown

You are in my thoughts,

Love, Mo

PS: After I posted this blog I went to pick up my daughter from school, as I walked to my car I saw my only bumper sticker I bought a few months ago, it says: "Don't believe everything you think"...