Tag: positive thinking

Bank of Spirit

Where are you spending your money? What do you put your money towards? Most of us would answer that we put our money towards food, clothing, shelter, health, taxes, education, our families, pets, retirement savings, charity (in no particular order) and then if there is any money left over it goes to luxuries like outings, trips and trinkets. We’re all pretty cognizant about where we spend our money and what we want our money to do for us. Most of us already have answers about what we would plan to do with our money if we came into a big windfall such as winning the lottery.

I read an interesting perspective the other day that asked the question: why don’t we put that same kind of consideration that we do about where we are spending our money, into where we are spending our everyday personal emotional energy? If you pretended that every thought of yours was a dollar, are you spending your thoughts in the right places? Are you spending your thoughts and feelings on people/places/things that truly matter to you? Are you wasting your thoughts and feelings? Are you bleeding your thoughts/feelings? I replaced “thoughts and feelings” with where the word money is often used in these common platitudes:

+ Thoughts and feelings don’t grow on trees. (We all only have about 16-18 waking hours in the day when we can consciously notice and change our thoughts and our feelings. And none of us know just how many days we will actually get on this Earth to think and to feel and to experience our perspectives which we create about life.)

+ Time is thoughts and feelings. (We are in a constant stream of thoughts/feelings throughout our time in the day.)

+ Thoughts and feelings can’t buy happiness. (Happiness is usually a by-product of a state of gratefulness and positivity created by the thoughts and feelings we are having about various situations in our lives. Thoughts and feelings mired in negativity will not buy happiness.)

+ Make your thoughts and feelings work for you.

Money is just another form of energy. “One of the ways Webster’s Dictionary defines energy is “the physical or mental strength that allows you to do things.” Money, like gasoline for your vehicle, allows you the ability to do the things you want to do in life.” (oreilly.com) Money is the symbol of the energy it took to earn it, and we trade this energy for some other form of energy (the things and the experiences that we value and we buy).

We tend to put a lot of consideration into where we spend our money and if we don’t do this, we often end up “broke”, with nothing to show for it. Is this any different than our everyday thoughts and feelings? Are you wasting your thoughts and feelings on things that really don’t matter or that are out of your control? Are the places where you are spending the propensity of your thoughts and feelings giving you a good return? Are you getting a lot of bang for your buck?

Just for today, pretend that your thoughts and feelings are your financial allotment for the day. Invest your thoughts and feelings wisely. Spend your thoughts and feelings on things that really matter to you, and on matters that will really make a difference in your own life and in the lives of others. Spiritually wealthy people are conscious and careful with their thoughts and their feelings. They are generous where it pays off to be so, for themselves and for others. They know that their focus of energy (thoughts, feelings, actions) will pay dividends, so they are careful to place this energy where it is best grown. Be good with your “money” and it will be good to you.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Candyland People

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Think Smarter (Twitter) nailed it again. I agree completely with the above statement. I have been called bubbly and vivacious and lively and perky. I am those things. I feel everything really deeply. So, luckily, I think that I get a really nice, deep helping of joy and excitement, when I am feeling those emotions. That being said, I also feel my negative emotions pretty deeply, as well. What I do know, is that all of my feelings, are just that – feelings, and they pass. I have reminded my children, and I have written it here on the blog, many, many times that our true consciousness of being, is just like the vast, blue sky. Our peaceful awareness remains a constant. Clouds come, but they always, always pass on by. And we can help the clouds to pass on by, when we monitor our thoughts, because more often than not, our thoughts create our feelings. And our thoughts are often faulty. I have a friend who often says, “Let’s ‘fact check’ that statement,” when any one us in our friend group, gets a little dramatic with our complaints and our woes. Often, we end up laughing at ourselves and our thoughts, because the feelings attached to these thoughts, can really start a ridiculous thought train, going way, way out to La La Land. I read recently, in order for us to not get too attached to our thoughts, we need to detach from them, and visualize them like other information that constantly comes at us and we easily let pass on by without too much pondering, for instance the billboards which we pass as we are driving on a highway, or individual leaves being carried down a stream, or computer pop-ups that we quickly press the “X” button on, to stop them from distracting us. In the end, I think that being a positive person just means that you trust yourself to be able to handle anything that comes your way, and that you are good at finding the silver linings of any situation.

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Are you passing on love, or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

I am . . . .

I have been reading a very interesting book entitled You Can’t Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought by Peter McWilliams. It’s one of those books that you don’t need to read cover to cover, but more so, you flip through it, for daily doses of inspiration. One of the first chapters I “flipped to” was the chapter on purpose, mostly because the cover says that this particular chapter changed Oprah Winfrey’s life. A life changer for Oprah Winfrey, has got to be an interesting read, for sure. I am still digesting what I read about what McWilliams says about purpose, so I am not sure that this chapter has altered my life just yet, but it has made me think, and think deeply and more clearly. Here are some of his thoughts on finding your purpose:

“A purpose can be summed up in just a few words. It usually begins, ‘I am . . . ‘ It’s a simple but powerful statement about why you’re here and what you are here to do.”

“You have been fulfilling your purpose your whole life, even if you don’t consciously know what your purpose is. A purpose is not a goal. . . . . a purpose is fulfilled in every moment.”

Some examples of purposes: “I am a joyful explorer.” “I am a lover of life.” “I am a servant of spirit.” “I am a giver of happiness.” “I am a servant of humanity.”

A purpose is general enough to fit many situations, but specific enough to fit you perfectly. “I am a student of life” might fit almost anyone. “I am a festive student of life” might be you.

You may want your life to go in a certain way. That is not necessarily your purpose. Statements about what you want are called affirmations. Your purpose is what you are already doing. . . A purpose indicates both movement and direction.

To discover your purpose, begin my telling yourself, “I want to know my purpose.” . . . Look back on your life. Write down the words (uplifting ones, please) that describe the activities and general thrust of your life thus far . . . . A purpose is not something that you create, it’s something you discover. . . . .Once you know your purpose, it becomes a golden divining rod. When you are wondering, “Should I do this or should I do that?” look to your purpose. . . . .Once you know your purpose, you have answered the time-honored question, “Why am I here?”

When you bring yourself more in line with your purpose – in an involved, active way – you may notice that your energy flows more freely, the blocks and the tensions in your body release, you become more active, vibrant, and alive – healthier.”

Peter McWilliams does not recommend sharing your purpose with anyone, should they cast doubts for you. Your purpose is a very personal thing. Perhaps it is best said by another wonderful writer about purpose:

“It’s not what you do, but how much love you put into it that matters.”
― Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

Fortune for the Day – “The days are gods, only no-one suspects it.” – Emerson

The Negative Committee

The above is another great post on Twitter’s Think Smarter. Esther Hicks says to tell ourselves, “This unpleasant thought is unnecessary” any time a negative thought enters our minds. It scares me how much I have to use that mantra.

What if just for today we treated ourselves as kindly as we would treat a blameless child or an innocent animal or a service person doing a kindness for us? What if just for today we gazed at ourselves in the mirror as lovingly as we gaze at the people, the pets, the flowers or anything else that we love so much for the joy and happiness that these persons, animals and things bring to us? It’s our eyes that allow us to do the gazing. It’s our minds that process our senses and feelings about what we are gazing at and it is our hearts that fill with fullness and joy and wonder, when we are doing the gazing. Don’t our eyes, our minds, and our hearts deserve love and gratefulness for helping us process all of the marvels in our world? Shouldn’t we be careful what we feed into our eyes and our minds and our hearts? We have more control in this regard, than we think we do.

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Better yet, I think it might just be apropos to fire this committee and shut the door on them forever, dear readers!! Just for today, at least, cancel the meeting with the negative committee!!