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Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude. If I insist on being pessimistic, there is always tomorrow. Today I am blessed.
~ Maya Angelou
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Some people need a red carpet rolled out in front of them in order to walk forward into friendship. They can't see the tiny outstretched hands all around them, everywhere, like leaves on trees.
~ Miranda July
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The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.
~ Hans Hofmann
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Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
~ Leo Buscaglia
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The strongest oak of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It's the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun.
~ Napoleon Hill
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The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.
~ Emily Dickinson
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If you want to reach a state of bliss, then go beyond your ego and the internal dialogue. Make a decision to relinquish the need to control, the need to be approved, and the need to judge. Those are the three things the ego is doing all the time. It's very important to be aware of them every time they come up.
~ Deepak Chopra
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The secret of attraction is to love yourself. Attractive people judge neither themselves nor others. They are open to gestures of love. They think about love, and express their love in every action. They know that love is not a mere sentiment, but the ultimate truth at the heart of the universe.
~ Deepak Chopra
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Get busy living
Today is a new day. Fill it with new experience.
You have the extremely valuable opportunity today to grow. Take full advantage of that opportunity.
There are things you enjoy that you don’t yet know you enjoy. Explore the possibilities, and discover some of those things.
There is beauty that will thrill your soul that you have not yet encountered. Get going, get out there, get busy living, and find that new beauty.
If all you ever do is stay right where you are, you’ll never know how truly magnificent your life can be. Step enthusiastically out of your comfortable rut, and into the bright, beautiful world of new possibilities.
Just around that corner you’ve never before turned, there’s a whole new path to fulfillment. Get busy living, and fill your life with the richness you don’t even know you’re missing.
~ Ralph Marston
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Daily OM
The Music of Language
Words Are Energy
Each word we speak has a life of its own, a vibratory signature that creates waves into the expanse of the universe.
When we speak or write, we use the vehicles of words to carry meaning, as well as energy, from ourselves to another person or group of people. We may be speaking to our baby, our boss, or to an audience of 500 people. We may be writing a love letter, a work-related memo, or an entry in our own diary. Whatever the case, each word we speak or write has a life of its own, a vibratory signature that creates waves in the same way that a note of music creates waves. And like musical notes, our words live in communities of other words and change in relation to the words that surround them. When we are conscious of the energy behind our words, we become capable of making beautiful music in the world. If we are unconscious of the power of words, we run the risk of creating a noisy disturbance.
Some of us know this instinctively, while others come to this understanding slowly. Most of us, though, speak without thinking at least some of the time, blurting out our feelings and thoughts without much regard for the words we choose to express them. When we remind ourselves that our words have an impact on the world at the level of energy, we may find within ourselves the desire to be more aware of our use of language.
A fun way to increase our sensitivity to the power of words is to simply make a list of our favorite words and notice the energy they contain. We can write them down and post them where we can see them, or we can speak them aloud, feeling them reverberate in our bodies and in the air around us. This is like learning to consciously play an instrument that we have been playing unconsciously for most of our lives, and the effect can be startling and delightful. As we grow more comfortable and confident playing the instrument of language, we will begin to compose beautiful messages, creating positive energy every time we write or speak.
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Without a Net
Living Life with Trust
When we continually live our life with a safety net it creates a barrier to our freedom.
As we create the life of our dreams, we often reach a crossroads where the choices seem to involve the risk of facing the unknown versus the safety and comfort of all that we have come to trust. We may feel like a tightrope walker, carefully teetering along the narrow path to our goals, sometimes feeling that we are doing so without a net. Knowing we have some backup may help us work up the courage to take those first steps, until we are secure in knowing that we have the skills to work without one. But when we live our lives from a place of balance and trust in the universe, we may not see our source of support, but we can know that it is there.
If we refuse to act only if we can see the safety net, we may be allowing the net to become a trap as it creates a barrier between us and the freedom to pursue our goals. Change is inherent in life, so even what we have learned to trust can surprise us at any moment. Remove fear from the equation and then, without even wondering what is going on below, we can devote our full attention to the dream that awaits us.
We attract support into our lives when we are willing to make those first tentative steps, trusting that the universe will provide exactly what we need. In that process we can decide that whatever comes from our actions is only for our highest and best experience of growth. It may come in the form of a soft landing, an unexpected rescue or an eye-opening experience gleaned only from the process of falling. So rather than allowing our lives to be dictated by fear of the unknown, or trying to avoid falling, we can appreciate that sometimes we experience life fully when we are willing to trust and fall. And in doing so, we may just find that we have the wings to fly.
When we believe that there is a reason for everything, we are stepping out with the safety net of the universe, and we know we will make the best from whatever comes our way.
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You Are the One You Are Waiting for
Turn to Yourself
Ultimately, you are the one.
We spend a lot of our lives looking for role models, mentors, teachers, and gurus to guide us on our path. There is nothing wrong with this and, in fact, finding the right person at the right time can really help. However, it is important to realize that in the absence of such a figure, we can very safely rely upon ourselves. We carry within us everything we need to know to make progress on our paths to self-realization. The outer world serves as a mirror. Or to use another metaphor, our inner world has a magnetic force that draws to us what we need to evolve to the next level. All we need to do to see that we already have everything we need is to let go of our belief that we need to seek in order to find.
The path of the spirit is often defined as a journey with a goal such as the fabled pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. In this metaphor, a person begins a search for something they want but do not have and then they find it, and there is a happy ending. However, most of us know that getting what we want only makes us happy for a moment, and then the happiness passes until a new object of desire presents itself. Joy is a permanent aspect of our inner selves and is not separate from us at any point. We do not have to travel to find it or imagine that it resides only in the body of another. In fact, what the best teachers will do is point out that this very precious elixir is something we already possess.
So when we find ourselves on our path, not knowing which way to turn and wishing for guidance, we can turn to ourselves. We may not know the right answer rationally or intellectually, but if we simply ask, let go, and wait patiently, an answer will come. The more we practice this and trust this process, the less we will look outside ourselves for teachers and guides for we will have successfully become our own.
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Notes from the Universe
The real reason animals don't talk, is because they understand so much.
Word,
The Universe
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Show me someone who keeps getting in your way, and I'll show you someone who keeps making excuses.
Tricky, tricky, tricky,
The Universe
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It's wise never to ask another for what you want.
No, don't ask me.
No, not even yourself.
Just give thanks, in advance. As if you already had whatever it is the "old-you" would have asked for.
Oh, and by the way, thanks for loving every fiber of your supernatural self, as much as I do.
Tallyho,
The Universe
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How'd you like a little peek into the future? Oh, I really shouldn't, but, well, you so rock, I figure this indulgence, just once, will be all right.
You're sitting around a warm and cozy fireplace surrounded by friends and boisterous laughter. Early-morning snow gently falling across the countryside is visible from the enormous, ceiling-high windows beside you. Everyone is sipping hot chocolate, and reminiscing about the fabulous circumstances that have brought you together, brimming with excitement for times ahead. And then you chime in, "If only we'd seen it, we never would have been so hard on ourselves. If only we'd had just the slightest inkling that the challenges, lacks, and issues we faced back then were of our own exacting design, and that they'd soon make possible the whirlwind of events that so swiftly followed, we'd have been, well, as proud then as we are now... and every bit as photogenic."
And then everyone starts clapping, smiling, and taking lots of pictures.
Not a word to anyone,
The Universe
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I ask you, as humbly as I can, to consider taking the path less traveled, going within, and getting quiet. Being yourself, shining your light, and reaching out to others.
No, no, heavens no! Not what you're thinking!! I ask these things not that they might be an alternative to living high on the hog, in the fast lane, loaded down with embarrassing wealth... but as a means to attaining these things.
Just striving to preserve our options -
The Universe
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'The Teachings of Abraham' by Esther and Jerry Hicks
If you wait until your body is completely dehydrated before you drink something or completely emaciated before you eat something, your body can get far out of balance. While it is possible to eventually bring your body back to a state of well-being—it is much easier to maintain a healthy physical balance than to recover it after losing it.
Most people never put themselves into the dramatic situation where they are without water or food to the point of doing damage to their physical bodies; however, it is not uncommon for people to deprive their bodies of something equally important: alignment with Source Energy.
In the same way that it is a good idea to drink when you feel the indication of thirst—and therefore maintain your Well-Being long before dehydration is experienced—it is equally important to change the thought and release resistance at the first indication of negative emotion. For while it is certainly possible to withstand negative emotion for long periods of time, it is not the optimal experience for the cells of your physical body.
When you learn to release resistance in the early, subtle stages, your physical body must thrive. Thriving is what is natural to you.
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Your action has nothing to do with your abundance! Your abundance is a response to your vibration. Of course, your belief is part of your vibration. So if you believe that action is part of what brings your abundance, then you've got to unravel that.
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See this world as a free world, and see everyone in it as trying—through their individual experiences—to find their way back to that calling, back to that Source Energy. And even though there are billions of them going about it in a way that is different than you would choose, there's no right or wrong way. In other words, bless them all, and get on with the only thing you have any power about, which is opening or closing your vortex to your natural state of Well-Being.
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When you see someone living something awful, a rocket of desire for their resolution shoots out of you. And then, if you start focusing upon their resolution, you'll start feeling better right away. And now, you're part of the current that is part of the solution.
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One Minute Motivator by Edward W. Smith
Getting knocked down may not have been your responsibility, but getting back up is. Willie Jolly, a motivational speaker, makes the point that turning a set back into a come back, can only be done by you. Study the reasons you were knocked down, and put a plan in place to start correcting the situation, and sure enough, your set back will become a come back.
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Lose some and learn some. Dr. Rob Gilbert, who teaches Sports Psychology, says that every time you lose; you have the opportunity to learn. If you are having a problem, something has gone wrong, and now you have a chance to learn something new. It is new, because you sure didn't know the problem was going to happen, or you wouldn't have done it that way. So now you know you don't know something, and that is better than not knowing you don't know something, but how about moving into the know something category. You are close to learning something, so why not take the extra step to figure out what is going on and you will have one more tool on your tool belt, and have one less thing that can go wrong.
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You know the answer to the question, but you don't want to hear it. So many of the solutions to our problems are staring us right in the face, or we have heard the solution from others before, and we don't want to hear it. We spend our time and effort looking for easier fixes to our problems, when we, deep down, know what we have to do. Now is the time to face the solution, you know is the answer, and implement it, as painful as it may be. Make that hard decision, start that hard solution and you will be on your way again.
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Daily Teaching from The Power
How to Use the Power of Love for Perfect Health
"Where there is the greatest love, there are always miracles."
~ Willa Cather (1873-1947)
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist
To receive the health you want and love, you must give love! In the face of any sickness, give good feelings about health, because only love brings perfect health. You cannot give bad feelings about sickness and receive health. If you hate or fear a disease, you will be giving out bad feelings, and disease can never go away through bad feelings. When you give thoughts and feelings of what you want, your cells receive the full force of health. When you give negative thoughts and feelings of what you don't want, the force of health to your cells reduces! It doesn't matter if you feel bad about a subject that has nothing to do with your health; when you feel bad, you reduce the force of health to your body. But when you feel love for anything - for a sunny day, new house, friend, or promotion - your body receives the full force of health.
Gratitude is the great multiplier, so say thank you for your health every single day. All the money in the world cannot buy health, because it is a gift from life, and so more than anything else, be grateful for your health! It is the best health insurance you can ever take, because gratitude is the assurance of health!
Be grateful for your body instead of finding fault with it. Every time you have a thought of something you don't like about your body, remember that the water inside your body is receiving your feelings. Instead say thank you with all your heart for what you do like about your body, and ignore the things you don't like.
"Love draws forth love."
~ Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Nun, Mystic, and Writer
