Good From Adversity

The law of attaction states that YOU are responsible for all the things which are brought into your life by the thoughts you dwell on and believe. Jesus is quoted in the bible as saying, "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." (Mark 11:24 KJV) Thoughts are obviously very powerful things! Often we find ourselves questioning why bad things come into our lives. The law of attraction would say you put them there. Jesus also seems to agree that what you believe you will receive will come to you. Do we really bring bad things onto ourselves or is this some sort of punishment from the Divine? I believe we do bring "bad" things on ourselves. The question you should ask yourself is whether or not a situation or person in our lives is truly meant to bring about our misery or is there something more behind it? I believe good can come from adversity.

Ever heard the saying "You can't run away from your problems"? Ever tried to? What happened? I would be willing to bet that the problem you were trying to get away from followed you to the new place. It may be an immediate thing (ie. the same person or situation shows back up), or it may take some time before you find yourself repeating the same old familiar pattern with a new person or situation. If something keeps showing up over and over again in your life, you should pay attention to it! The universe is trying to tell you something!

Adversity is not meant to be good or bad. Adversity is a new chance for us to learn and grow. Running away from it just postpones the inevitable. Standing and facing adversity gives you a reason to look for new resources. It requires courage, determination and strength. Facing and overcoming adversity builds new muscle, new skills. You end up growing in unexpected ways. Growth would never occur if you didn't have a problem to overcome.

The next time a reoccuring problem stares you in the face, instead of blaming yourself or others and running away, stand up and face the problem head on. Ask for help. (God is a good place to start.) Believe you are strong enough to deal with the situation and help is on the way. Keep your eyes open and look for doors that open for you as you need them. You can overcome! You will grow! This is the good that comes from adversity! Embrace it!

The Missing Piece

For well over a year now, I have focused on finding my purpose in life. My goal has been to use the gifts and talents I have been given to contribute to the world in much more powerful ways than I ever have before. I would prefer to do this on a full time basis (meaning I would like to find a way to make it provide an income). At times it has seemed like a tall order. To make the situation even more interesting, I have been struggling with redefining myself in terms of new ideas and beliefs that don't always seem to mesh with my old ideas and beliefs. Just this week, I have found the piece that not only ties the old and new beliefs together, but has also led me to a clearer understanding of my purpose in life as well as a better appreciation for the gifts and talents I have been given.

This week, I was introduced to a wonderful spiritual healer named Mary A. Hall through Jennifer McLean's "Healing With the Masters" interview series. I was intrigued from the get-go because Mary was billed as someone who helped people develop abundance in their lives. As this is one of the ideas I have struggled with, I was very interested in hearing what she had to say. Her insight and wisdom truly blew me away!

To simplify my experience with Mary, Mary introduced me to Love. This being has more love for me than can be imagined. The appreciation and respect Love has for me has no limits. In Love's presence, I am beautiful, whole and perfect. In the presence of Love, there is insight and wisdom. Within this Love, abundance flows freely, guiding a person to new understandings and inspiring new actions. It is an amazing feeling. It is also something I am already intimately familiar with. I usually call it God or the Holy Spirit.

What this insight did for me was to help me understand the abundance I was looking for was already here. I just had to connect that abundance is a part of God--the part that flows in and through all things.

Mary also helped me understand that my abundance is directly related to my feelings of worthiness. When I feel less than worthy, I sabotage my own efforts at attracting the life I want. This is why that relationship with Love--with God--is so important. When you see yourself through God's eyes, you understand how much worth you truly have. This understanding prepares you to receive the blessings and abundance life has for you! You know and believe you are worthy to be blessed, and you are open to it.

As I have pondered these thoughts this week and allowed Love to open me, I have already been tremendously blessed. My clarity of thought has increased. I have been inspired to say things to people that have turned out to be amazingly accurate. I have remembered my own gifts to help others heal from hurts and sometimes physical problems, and I have recalled the God-energy involved in those past experiences. It has truly been a mind blowing week for me!

The missing piece was right there all the time. I just needed to connect it! Now that I have, I know I am called to remember the Love inside me. My purpose as a healer is to help you remember the Love that is inside you.

To take advantage of the rest of this wonderful (free) interview series, please visit http://www.healingwiththemasters.com/.

Energy Healing

My struggle with depression has been a topic in several past posts. My blog has been silent the past few months as I have attempted to deal with some very heavy personal issues. It is my desire for this blog to be uplifting and inspirational. Today, I can say I have been truly blessed in ways I never thought possible just a few short weeks ago. My life is being transformed by what I will call Energy Healing.

Coming from a very religious Christian sort of upbringing, the term Energy Healing probably sounds foreign. However, my first understandings of it are really rooted in this tradition. I grew up in a community that believed God heals through faith. In the past, I have been used as an instrument of healing for people with various physical and emotional ailments. Usually what happened was I would feel particularly inspired to pray for those people. The words seem to come to me and I always felt a curious energy not normally inside of me that seemed to radiate to the person or people I was praying for. The key word here is ENERGY. A Christian would probably call it the power of God or the power of the Holy Spirit. When it happens, it is palpable, both to me and the person I am praying for.

Within the past year, I have been made aware of a healing technique known as EFT, which stands for Emotional Freedom Technique. To give a brief understanding, it is a method of tapping on specific places on the body which are known acupunture points to clear blocked paths of energy, all the while saying key phrases that bring your emotions to the forefront. It has been used to successfully treat all kinds of ailments, including pain, phobias and many sorts of trauma. Over the course of the year, I have made use of this technique to help improve things such as mood, self-esteem, etc. often times finding tears flowing suddenly as these emotions became unblocked.

Several days ago, I was listening to an online interview done by a wonderful healer named Jennifer McLean in a series entitled "Healing With the Masters". (You can sign up to listen to these talks for FREE at http://www.healingwiththemasters.com/) This past Thursday, Jennifer interviewed Dr. Pat Carrington, a clinical psychologist who makes use of EFT in her practice. Dr. Carrington's approach to EFT was a little different than anything I had every heard before. While she uses traditional tapping points, she is able to get you back to positive emotional states by having you remember times in your life when you felt happy and in control while you are "tapping".

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit with an old friend from high school. Over the course of several hours, we talked and laughed about old times and caught each other up on our current lives. After I got home, it dawned on me that being with my friend brought back very positive emotions from a time when I felt happy, energetic and optimistic. I realized I could use these feelings to help bring myself back to this extremely positive way of feeling.

I am very happy to report I am well on my way to maintaining a much more positive outlook on life! I actually woke up feeling bad at 4:00 this morning. I remembered to tap using my new phrases (Even though I feel tired and stressed out, I choose to feel like I did when I was in high school--popular and winning awards). Today, I feel incredible!!! Happy, thankful, cleansing tears have flowed freely out of me today as I remember those feelings! It has been a long time since I have felt this happy!

If you are interested in using energy to heal yourself, I highly recommend the following sites:
http://www.emofree.com/ (the official EFT website--sign up for free detailed EFT instructions, support and newletters)
http://www.patclass.com/ (a site where you can find various classes and products by Dr. Carrington)
http://www.healingrelease.com/ (Jennifer McLean's healing website)

Wishing health and healing for you all!

Show Love

Show Love

When the world points out your flaws, show love.
When the world knocks you down, show love.
When the world screams false accusations at you, show love.
Every time the world attacks, show love.

Love forgives all flaws.
Love picks you up when you fall down.
Love exposes the truth.
Living love condems the attacker.

Love shines a light in the darkness.
Become the light. Show love.
          --Cindy Shippy Evans

How To Change the Political Climate

Typically my blog posts have focused on what I am doing as an individual to promote positive change in my own life. Lately, I have been highly distracted by the current political climate. To me, politics in the past couple of years has taken on a disturbing new life of its own. There has always been a practice of mudslinging. The changes I see focus more on tactics of intimidation and misinformation--fear at much higher levels. The problem with using fear tactics is that fear is the exact opposite of love. Anything that moves us away from love is just plain wrong!

On the conservative side, people are afraid we are entering a "Big Brother" era and our rights under the constitution are being slowly taken away. On the liberal side, people fear what they perceive to be violent actions on the part of "narrow-minded" conservatives. At this point, I don't see anyone on any side truly listening and trying to understand what the "other side" is saying. IF WE CONTINUE ON THIS PATH, THINGS WILL TRULY EVOLVE AWAY FROM LOVE.

Now more than ever, it is important to ask ourselves this question. WHAT CAN I DO TO PROMOTE LOVE IN THE WORLD? How can I show people I love them, even when their political ideas are the polar opposite of mine? How can I promote peace?

First of all, it is important to remember that we are all people, regardless of our beliefs. We all come from different backgrounds and have been taught different things by our families, friends, teachers and environments. Remember how these differences play into our individual ideologies. Deep down, everyone years for love and acceptance, not judgement.

Secondly, we all need to practice looking at each other with compassion. I like to see myself as looking through Jesus' eyes. I have a tendency to be a very sensitive person and can be hurt quite easily. However, when I step away from myself and see the people who have hurt me through Christ's eyes, I see a much different picture. I am able to love them anyway. Often, I am given insight into the very things that have made those people hurt me as they have. I see how they too have been hurt and are just reacting in the only ways they know.

Finally, we need to make the attitude of forgiveness a habit. Holding on to past hurts keeps us in turmoil and prevents us from moving forward. We can never affect positive change in the world under these conditions. Let the pain and animosity go!

In this time of great change, it is important to be a force for positive change! Learn to listen without judgement! Learn to reach out in love, peace and friendship! BY REACHING OUT ONE PERSON AT A TIME, WE CAN BE THAT CATALYST OF LOVE AND PEACE IN THE WORLD! We can be change! We can be hope! We can make a positive impact on the world! It is all a question of choice. What will your choice be?

The Lesson of Depression

As I work to define my purpose in life, I am often overwhelmed by depression. Lately I have come to realize that sometimes my depression is the result of my personal struggles. At other times, it results from my concern for others. Often I find myself not only sympathizing with those I care about, but empathizing with them as well. I wish so much that I could take away their pain.

At present, my best friend's husband is dying. It isn't the usual situation where she is grieving for the loss of the relationship. That took place years ago when she separated from him. Still, she is dealing with trying to help him transition to the next life as well as trying to help her children cope with the situation. She is grieving in that he was her first love. The separation that comes with death is never easy.

I just learned that another friend is having serious relationship troubles. Having been divorced myself, I know the hardships this entails for a family. My heart breaks for him, his wife and his children. I wish I could make all these problems go away.

In looking at my sadness--both my own and that of others--and how it all relates to my calling in life, I had a sudden realization. I have known for a while that I want to help others live fuller, richer, more productive lives. In this, my depression serves a much larger purpose. I have learned many lessons about coping with obstacles along the way. Pain and grief are great teachers. Pain is necessary for growth, and the reality is that taking away their pain is counterproductive. I can be there for them. I can teach them things I've learned to help them cope.

My job then becomes not so much how to get rid of the pain but how to embrace it and live with it. What can this pain do for me? As I learn to deal with the sadness, I am thankful for it because it has made me strong enough to help others with their own pain. It has blessed me with calling and purpose. Time to get to work!

Overcoming Bumps in the Road

It's been a rough few weeks for me. As I go further along on this journey of not having a "real" job, I am increasingly uncomfortable with the thought of not having money coming in. I have worked full time since being separated from my ex--roughly 12+ years. Working for other people to earn a living has been my way of life for a long time. Even though I feel as though I had God's blessing when I quit, not seeing the immediate outcome has become unnerving.

Over the past year, I have had a lot of "talks" with God about what sort of job I would like to have. In visualizing my perfect job, I had some ideas that seemed outlandish at the time. For example, while I was teaching it seemed I never had any time for myself. I would think about my job morning, noon and night because there was always something I needed to do or something to get. This was in addition to my other full time job--being a wife and mother. I told God that in my perfect job, I would have the time to read, study and think. I would be free to ponder and meditate. I would have time to seek His insights. As I added more detail to my perfect job, I realized I still wanted to be a teacher. I would just rather teach insights and coping skills to adults as opposed to teaching children their ABC's. The problem is, where do you get a job doing that? Who has a job where they have time to sit and think and study about topics they are interested in? What sort of job teaches insights and coping skills to adults? I don't want to be a counselor or a preacher. It seemed hopeless.

This hopelessness, coupled with my husband's inability to work because of severe back problems, has made me stress over money and my lack of a job. I also felt guilty, seeing how I am able-bodied. Unfortunately, I have spent the past few weeks fruitlessly worried about what was not happening.

This week, I was able to see some sun through the clouds because of a change in my husband's circumstances. Even though he continues to see doctors and visit the physical therapist because of his back issues, he has had the opportunity to begin working part time with the the possibility of working full time down the road. Together, we had prayed that God would present him with an opportunity that would give him some flexibility for doctors appointments and take his inability to sit or stand for long periods of time into consideration. We also asked that it have some meaning and purpose. The job, amazingly, fits all of these factors! It even found him!

As I realize how well God has taken care of us in the past and still continues to take care of us now, I am overwhelmed. Knowing that he took care of my husband's needs in such a powerful way helps me remember that He has me in hand also.

This morning while my husband went to his physical therapy session, I sat in a lawn chair with my feet in the grass and a book in my hand. The book was one of the personal development books I so dearly love to read and study and think about. There I was, sitting in the sunshine with the time to reflect and think about those things that are important to me. My needs were being met, and I was filled to overflowing with ideas for topics I can write about and present in my new business venture--a personal development website. All of a sudden it hit me. I was actually in the middle of working my dream job!

I knew leaving the security of a regular job would test my faith. Still, I felt called to do something different with my life. The road is bumpy and I can't see what is beyond the bend, but as I struggle to follow that road God continues to lead me step by step. I am learning to trust Him and follow His guidance. He is helping me overcome the bumps in the road.