Re my last post, I said I'd let you know how it turns out: I got a call four days after this post from a friend I haven't heard from for about four years. He gave me the name and phone number of his daughter who is having twins and she wants a mural painted on the nursery wall. (I've met with her and will send her sketches and a color palette.)
The next morning I had a call from a client wanting an update on her astrology chart. Both these are paying jobs. This mental/emotional approach works!
I've done the chart and have begun planning and research for the mural. . . and am happily expecting more phone calls or emails as I continue the with-the-flow thinking and feeling.
Saundra_M
Monday, August 24, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Creating My World
I'm reminded again how important it is to use creative visualization and emotional investment in creating my reality. What brought this on was because in my imagination, I've been previewing the end of my world as I know it, otherwise known as worrying about my financial situation. It felt like the world was closing in on me.
As an antidote, I decided to re-read the Abraham books for a crash course correction. It's obviously not going to self-correct, so I knew I'd have to do something different. Truth is, I've worried about money since I was a child, taking on the predominant concerns in my family of origin. Old habits of thought and feeling are hard to reroute without a map of the new terrain, and that's what these books provide.
I'm using metaphysical principles to consciously change how I think and feel about money issues. It's like it says in the Bible, "As a man thinks, so is he."
I'd like to take it one level deeper and say "as a man believes, so is he." It's the beliefs that create the reality. Beliefs are simply thoughts held and run so frequently that they become ruts. As I believe myself to be financially impoverish, so I am.
And to move beyond it, I can't just think differently once in a while. I have to take it on, heart and mind: feel myself to be comfortably well off while knowing what's actually in my bank account. It's called "acting as if it were so," but the kicker is it can't be mental pretend. It has to migrate to the emotional matrix.
The next step is to be able to relax with what is, expecting and believing it is changing, without my having to take physical action to force the changes. Now that's a stretch! Long ago, I bought into the dominant belief pattern of most of the world, which says you have to set a goal, plan, work hard and MAKE things happen.
But as Abraham says, "the real work is in changing your vibration," meaning the thought patterns and emotional responses. Further, the book makes it clear that you gauge how far you've progressed by how emotionally comfortable you are. You are looking for emotional relief and ease.
I'm getting there. It's a question of inner attitude and my feeling levels. I have managed to move from chronic anxiety to calm ease, but I still need to get to happy expectation. In the process of making these adjustments, I've learned I can change my emotional responses by changing my attitude toward the offending subjects.
I'll let you know how it turns out. I've had successes in other areas using these principles, and I realized it was time to tackle this one. In the meantime, I highly recommend the Abraham-Hicks material along with the Louise Hay products if you truly want to effect changes in various areas of your life.
Saundra_M
As an antidote, I decided to re-read the Abraham books for a crash course correction. It's obviously not going to self-correct, so I knew I'd have to do something different. Truth is, I've worried about money since I was a child, taking on the predominant concerns in my family of origin. Old habits of thought and feeling are hard to reroute without a map of the new terrain, and that's what these books provide.
I'm using metaphysical principles to consciously change how I think and feel about money issues. It's like it says in the Bible, "As a man thinks, so is he."
I'd like to take it one level deeper and say "as a man believes, so is he." It's the beliefs that create the reality. Beliefs are simply thoughts held and run so frequently that they become ruts. As I believe myself to be financially impoverish, so I am.
And to move beyond it, I can't just think differently once in a while. I have to take it on, heart and mind: feel myself to be comfortably well off while knowing what's actually in my bank account. It's called "acting as if it were so," but the kicker is it can't be mental pretend. It has to migrate to the emotional matrix.
The next step is to be able to relax with what is, expecting and believing it is changing, without my having to take physical action to force the changes. Now that's a stretch! Long ago, I bought into the dominant belief pattern of most of the world, which says you have to set a goal, plan, work hard and MAKE things happen.
But as Abraham says, "the real work is in changing your vibration," meaning the thought patterns and emotional responses. Further, the book makes it clear that you gauge how far you've progressed by how emotionally comfortable you are. You are looking for emotional relief and ease.
I'm getting there. It's a question of inner attitude and my feeling levels. I have managed to move from chronic anxiety to calm ease, but I still need to get to happy expectation. In the process of making these adjustments, I've learned I can change my emotional responses by changing my attitude toward the offending subjects.
I'll let you know how it turns out. I've had successes in other areas using these principles, and I realized it was time to tackle this one. In the meantime, I highly recommend the Abraham-Hicks material along with the Louise Hay products if you truly want to effect changes in various areas of your life.
Saundra_M
Friday, July 31, 2009
You Can't Not Learn!
Recently while emailing my daughter-in-law, I started to write "we learn from our kids" and realized it was too limited, so I extended it mentally to "and our kids’ spouses." Obviously that was too limited, as well.
Then it hit me. We learn from everyone and everything. The how doesn’t matter. It could be through a conversation, a book, a website, or a more in depth relationship. It could be through observation, a book, or a tv show. It might be from sitting and letting the knowing happen.
We might be learning positively or negatively, consciously or unconsciously, but we’re learning on a constant basis. We are self-programming computers with data input from the environment that’s writing to our internal hard drives 24/7.
Sounds cool in theory and maybe a bit overwhelming. Here’s some real life possibilities.
When I started paying attention I was amazed at the learning opportunities, large and small, that present themselves all around me. And I don’t want to lose them, at least not on a conscious level. So, before going to bed at night, I’ve found it helpful to make notes on things I’ve learned for the day. Some days are veritable feasts. Other days are a little lean. Just think about it… can you imagine a lifetime of such notes!
For fun, some things I learned today:
What have you learned today? I’d love to hear!
Saundra_M
Then it hit me. We learn from everyone and everything. The how doesn’t matter. It could be through a conversation, a book, a website, or a more in depth relationship. It could be through observation, a book, or a tv show. It might be from sitting and letting the knowing happen.
We might be learning positively or negatively, consciously or unconsciously, but we’re learning on a constant basis. We are self-programming computers with data input from the environment that’s writing to our internal hard drives 24/7.
Sounds cool in theory and maybe a bit overwhelming. Here’s some real life possibilities.
You may learn where one of your mental/emotional/belief boundaries is due to a conversation or a comment that violates it: and something you may not have consciously realized before.
You may take in some new tidbit of information that clicks with your needs.
You might learn a major life lesson on any given day.
Hopefully, you learn from your mistakes. (If not the first time, then sooner or later!
When I started paying attention I was amazed at the learning opportunities, large and small, that present themselves all around me. And I don’t want to lose them, at least not on a conscious level. So, before going to bed at night, I’ve found it helpful to make notes on things I’ve learned for the day. Some days are veritable feasts. Other days are a little lean. Just think about it… can you imagine a lifetime of such notes!
For fun, some things I learned today:
A friend told me the name of an inexpensive software that writes from spoken language, and where I can buy it.
If I leave the cat food sitting for an hour, my cat is likely to revisit it and actually eat what he ignored earlier.
If I catch the mats in his fur (he’s a longhair cat) when they first start forming, I can gently pull them apart with my fingers, then brush them out.
Rereading some old letters my daughter wrote while she was at music camp taught me lot about her as viewed from my more mature perspective today. It shed light on some of her inner workings and shifted my awareness of her needs.
From that I recognized that even though I think I really know someone, every person is a vast field of being that will always hold mystery for me. We are small universes colliding in space and slipping through one another with most of our inner matter untouched.
What have you learned today? I’d love to hear!
Saundra_M
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Gratitude and Appreciation
I've learned a lot about appreciation and gratefulness in the last ten or so years, and most especially in the last two years. And one of the most important lessons I've learned is to put it out there: tell people how much you appreciate them, how grateful you are for their acts of kindness, caring, friendship. It's good for the soul -- yours and theirs.
We all need help from time to time and the importance of friends and family in time of need can't be overstated. Which brings two things to mind for me: the old saying "You get to Heaven leaning on the arm of a friend," and that great song, "Lean On Me."
Last year I had to lean on others, which was very difficult for me. I have always prided myself on my self-sufficiency, on being capable, and I hated to ask for help. But by June, I had reached a point where I could barely get from my bedroom to the kitchen on crutches. Thank goodness they offered help and I had the good sense not to refuse.
I have serious issues with my hips and unbeknown to me, I was also stressing my body with the diet I was eating. I thought it was a healthy one and by most standards it was. But not for me. It was causing so much pain that my body was literally shutting down. At times I lay and cried because there was no relief from the relentless pain that had spread slowly over two years from my hips to encompass my legs, my back, my shoulders and even my hands. The only part of me that didn't hurt was my head. I was able to do less and less. As a last resort, I went to an allopathic doctor. He was good and truly wanted to help, but the pain killer he prescribed barely scratched the surface. A different one made me so dizzy I was afraid to try to walk. He sent me to a specialist, but it took almost six months to get in, and another two for the first procedure to ease the hip pain. In the meantime, I continued looking for alternative healing methods.
In the several months I was incapacitated, my daughter, Heather, came over and vacuumed and cleaned for me. She went to the grocery store for me. She came and got me and drove me 45 minutes to a naturopath, who, I swear, saved my life. I knew about him because of friend named Glenna, who called, shared her experiences with me, and loaned me her natural health books. Tawana, who had taken many credits at a homeopathic school, came over, spent almost a whole day with her books and remedies, helping me figure out what might work in this situation and gave me the remedies.
Shari, my next door neighbor watered my yard, carried out my garbage and recycle bins, and brought them back up to the garage for me, week after week. She also made grocery store runs for me. Susan came over all summer and fall after work, and mowed my yard. I have over a third of an acre lot, so we're not talking postage stamp! When she couldn't mow, Mira drove 45 minutes to do it. Susan had also helped me financially in numerous ways, including buying my meals when we'd go out. Satya came from Virginia and stayed two weeks, helping me while taking care of her own business concerns that had brought her here. My son Brian helped out financially from out of state, and around the house and yard when he visited.
Randall, Andy, and Mark carried five gallon jugs of water in for me, moved plants and furniture. Ina brought over a sack of special foods and a diet that helped me eliminate the worst of the pain. Paula gives me massages in return for face reading lessons and astrology readings.
It took a village to bring me back from the brink and I learned the joy and humility of allowing people to care, to help, to show their love. It changed me.
I've learned to be grateful, to say so immediately and often, and to be ready to give as much as I'm able to in return. When I do these things, it's amazing how willing others are to offer a hand, a shoulder, or even a back, time and time again. Honest thank yous and telling people how important they are to me, and how much I appreciate their help gives genuine strokes and builds a closeness you can't create any other way.
This kind of interchange from the heart expands relationships to a new depth and height. We should all learn that simple lesson and grease the wheels of mutual support and mutual appreciation. We build heart connections that last as long as consciousness exists.
And because of this experience, I'm now convinced that pure love is at the core of human nature.
Saundra_M
We all need help from time to time and the importance of friends and family in time of need can't be overstated. Which brings two things to mind for me: the old saying "You get to Heaven leaning on the arm of a friend," and that great song, "Lean On Me."
Last year I had to lean on others, which was very difficult for me. I have always prided myself on my self-sufficiency, on being capable, and I hated to ask for help. But by June, I had reached a point where I could barely get from my bedroom to the kitchen on crutches. Thank goodness they offered help and I had the good sense not to refuse.
I have serious issues with my hips and unbeknown to me, I was also stressing my body with the diet I was eating. I thought it was a healthy one and by most standards it was. But not for me. It was causing so much pain that my body was literally shutting down. At times I lay and cried because there was no relief from the relentless pain that had spread slowly over two years from my hips to encompass my legs, my back, my shoulders and even my hands. The only part of me that didn't hurt was my head. I was able to do less and less. As a last resort, I went to an allopathic doctor. He was good and truly wanted to help, but the pain killer he prescribed barely scratched the surface. A different one made me so dizzy I was afraid to try to walk. He sent me to a specialist, but it took almost six months to get in, and another two for the first procedure to ease the hip pain. In the meantime, I continued looking for alternative healing methods.
In the several months I was incapacitated, my daughter, Heather, came over and vacuumed and cleaned for me. She went to the grocery store for me. She came and got me and drove me 45 minutes to a naturopath, who, I swear, saved my life. I knew about him because of friend named Glenna, who called, shared her experiences with me, and loaned me her natural health books. Tawana, who had taken many credits at a homeopathic school, came over, spent almost a whole day with her books and remedies, helping me figure out what might work in this situation and gave me the remedies.
Shari, my next door neighbor watered my yard, carried out my garbage and recycle bins, and brought them back up to the garage for me, week after week. She also made grocery store runs for me. Susan came over all summer and fall after work, and mowed my yard. I have over a third of an acre lot, so we're not talking postage stamp! When she couldn't mow, Mira drove 45 minutes to do it. Susan had also helped me financially in numerous ways, including buying my meals when we'd go out. Satya came from Virginia and stayed two weeks, helping me while taking care of her own business concerns that had brought her here. My son Brian helped out financially from out of state, and around the house and yard when he visited.
Randall, Andy, and Mark carried five gallon jugs of water in for me, moved plants and furniture. Ina brought over a sack of special foods and a diet that helped me eliminate the worst of the pain. Paula gives me massages in return for face reading lessons and astrology readings.
It took a village to bring me back from the brink and I learned the joy and humility of allowing people to care, to help, to show their love. It changed me.
I've learned to be grateful, to say so immediately and often, and to be ready to give as much as I'm able to in return. When I do these things, it's amazing how willing others are to offer a hand, a shoulder, or even a back, time and time again. Honest thank yous and telling people how important they are to me, and how much I appreciate their help gives genuine strokes and builds a closeness you can't create any other way.
This kind of interchange from the heart expands relationships to a new depth and height. We should all learn that simple lesson and grease the wheels of mutual support and mutual appreciation. We build heart connections that last as long as consciousness exists.
And because of this experience, I'm now convinced that pure love is at the core of human nature.
Saundra_M
Saturday, July 4, 2009
I Am The River
I dwell in a canyon of my own making.
I am the river and I flow without end
from source to sea to sky in an unbroken round.
I spring from the soil of my own being
and collect the harvest of passing storms,
the thaw of frozen seasons,
the glacial melt of forgotten winters,
and run irresistibly to the sea.
I am the river and I flow without end,
sinking to untold depths, penetrating my bedrock of being,
slipping underground to rest unseen, then rise again,
cycling through drought and flood, all in its season.
I sculpt a path through layers of resistance
cutting an ever-deepening canyon for my shores.
I am the river and I flow without end,
shaving a delicate edge, curved to perfection
in sandstone shrines to Mother Earth
where even the brazen Sun cannot enter directly
but must send gentle emissaries to reflect his glory,
slipping through with an averted gaze.
I am the river, and I flow without end,
sometimes singing softly against willows nestled
in the curve of my reach as a child to the breast,
sometimes slithering through cattails, whispering privately
in back eddies, bawdy and brackish in fecund slime.
Sometimes passing in the silent depths of moonless nights,
void as primordial space, pregnant as winterseed,
fallow as fetal mind, before light, before life, before time.
I am the river. I dwell in a canyon of my own making.
— Saundra Moore Williams
All rights reserved
I am the river and I flow without end
from source to sea to sky in an unbroken round.
I spring from the soil of my own being
and collect the harvest of passing storms,
the thaw of frozen seasons,
the glacial melt of forgotten winters,
and run irresistibly to the sea.
I am the river and I flow without end,
sinking to untold depths, penetrating my bedrock of being,
slipping underground to rest unseen, then rise again,
cycling through drought and flood, all in its season.
I sculpt a path through layers of resistance
cutting an ever-deepening canyon for my shores.
I am the river and I flow without end,
shaving a delicate edge, curved to perfection
in sandstone shrines to Mother Earth
where even the brazen Sun cannot enter directly
but must send gentle emissaries to reflect his glory,
slipping through with an averted gaze.
I am the river, and I flow without end,
sometimes singing softly against willows nestled
in the curve of my reach as a child to the breast,
sometimes slithering through cattails, whispering privately
in back eddies, bawdy and brackish in fecund slime.
Sometimes passing in the silent depths of moonless nights,
void as primordial space, pregnant as winterseed,
fallow as fetal mind, before light, before life, before time.
I am the river. I dwell in a canyon of my own making.
— Saundra Moore Williams
All rights reserved
Monday, June 29, 2009
Learning from the Ancients
Astrology never ceases to fascinate me. Some brilliant minds are at the forefront of the astrological community today, and the insights they offer into world events, economic trends, personal insights, and dead-on views of one's own life through astrological charts are nothing short of amazing.
Last Sunday I logged on to a wonderful webinar offered through Kepler College, and presented by Rob Hand, one of THE big names in astrology. It was about house rulers in the medieval system, using the so called traditional rulers to link houses of the chart. In the ancient system, each planet ruled two signs and thus, two houses in a chart. I know that's probably more information than you non-astrologers want, but you need it to set the stage.
Linking houses and seeing where the rulers end up in the chart is descriptive of how you operate in life and how it will work out in your life. I promptly tried it out on myself and half a dozen charts of family and friends and was amazed at the results.
By way of explanation, the houses of a natal chart represent areas of life, such as:
As an example, my second and third houses are linked, so that indicates (among other things) that I would make money (2nd) through communications and writing (3rd). The joint rulers (Sun and Moon, which in that system work in tandem) are, Sun in the 11th house (organizations, the collective) and Moon in the 6th (employment, daily routine). I worked for a major retailer (an organization - 11th), writing and publishing a magazine to the field (the collective). It was my employment and my daily routine(6th). Just that little bit showed me how clear this system is.
How things work out example: Both the Midheaven and the 10th house are indicative of career. My chart shows I would be self employed because the ruler of the midheaven is in the first house of self. I have been self employed for 13 years. The tenth house (career) has a common ruler with the 7th house of one-on-one relationships and contractual relationships. Part of my career (10) has been very much about both contract work and one-on-one relating (7) - reading faces as a professional under contract, and relating to the attendees of the events, one-on-one. And before that, I was doing contract work, preparing other people's books and brochures for publication. My midheaven is in the 9th house of publishing.
What's so incredible is every chart will tell things like this about every area of your life. It has been very informative as to how descriptive the method can be and how accurate.
Those brilliant minds hundreds of years ago certainly knew what they were talking about.
Saundra_M
Last Sunday I logged on to a wonderful webinar offered through Kepler College, and presented by Rob Hand, one of THE big names in astrology. It was about house rulers in the medieval system, using the so called traditional rulers to link houses of the chart. In the ancient system, each planet ruled two signs and thus, two houses in a chart. I know that's probably more information than you non-astrologers want, but you need it to set the stage.
Linking houses and seeing where the rulers end up in the chart is descriptive of how you operate in life and how it will work out in your life. I promptly tried it out on myself and half a dozen charts of family and friends and was amazed at the results.
By way of explanation, the houses of a natal chart represent areas of life, such as:
- career - 10th;and so on. This is a gross simplification of the representational areas, but it gives you the basic idea of what it means. When two houses have the same ruler, those two areas of your life are permanently joined at the hip and how that will work out in your life is shown by where the ruler sits in the chart.
- how you make money - 2nd;
- communication, writing - 3rd;
- contractual partners and one-on-one relationships - 7th;
As an example, my second and third houses are linked, so that indicates (among other things) that I would make money (2nd) through communications and writing (3rd). The joint rulers (Sun and Moon, which in that system work in tandem) are, Sun in the 11th house (organizations, the collective) and Moon in the 6th (employment, daily routine). I worked for a major retailer (an organization - 11th), writing and publishing a magazine to the field (the collective). It was my employment and my daily routine(6th). Just that little bit showed me how clear this system is.
How things work out example: Both the Midheaven and the 10th house are indicative of career. My chart shows I would be self employed because the ruler of the midheaven is in the first house of self. I have been self employed for 13 years. The tenth house (career) has a common ruler with the 7th house of one-on-one relationships and contractual relationships. Part of my career (10) has been very much about both contract work and one-on-one relating (7) - reading faces as a professional under contract, and relating to the attendees of the events, one-on-one. And before that, I was doing contract work, preparing other people's books and brochures for publication. My midheaven is in the 9th house of publishing.
What's so incredible is every chart will tell things like this about every area of your life. It has been very informative as to how descriptive the method can be and how accurate.
Those brilliant minds hundreds of years ago certainly knew what they were talking about.
Saundra_M
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Alchemy
I just read a wonderful little book entitled The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian author whose works are international bestsellers. I'd call this one an allegory of everyone's life, the destiny every one has, but which most of us fail to recognize and embrace. James Hillman, in The Soul's Code, calls it one's Daemon. Joseph Campbell refers to it as the solar hero's Call to Adventure. Coelho calls it one's Personal Legend.
I like that.
We accept the story that we are all created equal, but when it comes to the idea of becoming a legend, most of us feel unequal. We tend to think that other people can become legends, but not me. The truth is, this legend is simply your own life story when it is truly lived from the heart, believing in your own dreams and plunging into the adventure with no holds barred. The sad fact is, most of us hide behind reasons and fears, caution and comfort rather than experience the perils and growth of the journey. We fail to realize the joy is there, too.
It's all about fairy tales and fables, which are, after all, stories to inform the inner listener, to inflame the heart to action and the awaken the soul to its own journey. The alchemy happens only when the hero completes the journey, accomplishes those impossible tasks with improbable helpers, and gains the treasure. The trick is not to be tricked into settling for a lesser reward that the true alchemical transformation.
There's a quote in the Bible roughly to the effect of, "when you find a treasure in the field, sell all you own and buy that field." A parable, of course, but about seeking the treasure of the heart, of the soul. Coelho illustrates this with grace and simplicity in a classic tale well-told and so worth the read . . . and taking to heart!
I'm reopening the book of my own legend and stepping into my own adventure. . . even this late in life. Hey, I'm still breathing, there's time.
Saundra_M
I like that.
We accept the story that we are all created equal, but when it comes to the idea of becoming a legend, most of us feel unequal. We tend to think that other people can become legends, but not me. The truth is, this legend is simply your own life story when it is truly lived from the heart, believing in your own dreams and plunging into the adventure with no holds barred. The sad fact is, most of us hide behind reasons and fears, caution and comfort rather than experience the perils and growth of the journey. We fail to realize the joy is there, too.
It's all about fairy tales and fables, which are, after all, stories to inform the inner listener, to inflame the heart to action and the awaken the soul to its own journey. The alchemy happens only when the hero completes the journey, accomplishes those impossible tasks with improbable helpers, and gains the treasure. The trick is not to be tricked into settling for a lesser reward that the true alchemical transformation.
There's a quote in the Bible roughly to the effect of, "when you find a treasure in the field, sell all you own and buy that field." A parable, of course, but about seeking the treasure of the heart, of the soul. Coelho illustrates this with grace and simplicity in a classic tale well-told and so worth the read . . . and taking to heart!
I'm reopening the book of my own legend and stepping into my own adventure. . . even this late in life. Hey, I'm still breathing, there's time.
Saundra_M
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
