Sowing generous thoughts

“Westward Window”, (Mixed media, digital photography, thread) artwork by Kim Gifford http://www.pugsandpics.com          I bought this “photograph” at the Pig Barn Gallery show over the weekend, and now this wonderful little girl (and friends) are keeping an eye on me from above my desk!

I woke up the other night thinking about giving. Most of us are familiar with the idea of “Give and it will be given back to you…” and yet if we feel that we don’t have “it” (whatever that may be) then how do we give it? But giving starts in our minds. What about our thoughts? Do I give generous, big, kind, loving thoughts to the people around me? To my family? To my friends? To my associates?

A man I know had been trying to sell his camp on a local river for a long time. After a couple of years, every time I rode by his place, and saw his for sale sign, I would think, “He’s never going to sell that. The price is too high, it’s not in a good location….” A month or so ago, I finally caught myself with another thought which was, “That was not generous thinking Mary”, and I started saying, “I know that someone is going to want _______’s camp, and look forward to hearing that it sold.” As soon as I thought this, I felt so much better.

If I want a big, abundant, expansive life, I won’t get it by giving small, stingy thoughts about myself, or about any one else.  Beneath the surface of life, we really are all one. So it follows that just like I cannot think a poor, unhappy thought about someone without owning it first (after all, it is my thought so it will impact my life), I cannot think a wonderful, loving, generous thought about someone else without it positively changing me and my life as well.

P.S. a couple of days after I had the thought about the camp selling, Jack came home and said, “Guess whose place finally sold?!”

“You have to sow before you can reap. You have to give before you can get”. Robert Collier

(Robert Collier wrote a number of books in the 1920′s and 30′s on the creative power of thought and they are really wonderful)

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Imagining the life of our dreams

Debra Saum's cat Oscar in her tub! Her wonderful website is: http://www.debrasaum.com

A few days ago, I noticed that I was feeling a bit off. Then I had a dream that I was back in school and my sons were babies and I couldn’t get to them…..back in struggle. This is an old dream for me and a signal to look at my thinking. It wasn’t hard to see what I had been envisioning (about this new project that I had taken on). I’d been trying very hard to figure out how to do it. I was feeling somewhat alone and afraid that I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t staying true to the end result and seeing it done, I was mentally and emotionally in the frustration of, “How am I going to do this?” I was actually imagining it failing.

If I am not being totally honest with myself, or self-aware enough to notice what I am thinking during the day time, my dreams always show me. And when they are fought with negative feelings and scenes, I know that my thinking has slipped into an old track and my mind is entertaining negative images and scenarios. Equally true, when my dreams are  filled with wonderful, expansive, new and exciting or interesting scenes, even if I doubt my current path, I am reassured that I am heading in the right direction.

It is as if we are playing repetitive tapes in our minds constantly while we are awake, and get so used to these thoughts and images, they have become so much a part of us, that we don’t question or challenge them. Also, we don’t really think that they are that important, or believe that our thoughts really have much to do with our lives.

Emile Coue once said, “When the imagination and will power are in conflict, are antagonistic, it is always the imagination which wins, without any exception.” So I can want something, have a huge desire for a better life, but if I only imagine difficulty, struggle and lack, no matter how much I “want” something new, what I imagine will win out.

So how do we start playing new tapes?  How do we use imagination to create what we would like instead of what we dread or fear? First, we have to see (become aware of) what we are thinking and then start saying/thinking something new. I love the simple, yet powerful affirmation below. I’ve put it up here before but it is a wonder if used “properly”. If I’ve been thinking unhappy, negative thoughts hundreds of times a day, I won’t change if I start saying something new 3 or 4 times a day. Really give it a try. Write out an affirmation and put it in your pocket and say it, feel it, every hour or half hour, then notice what changes.

Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better. Emile Coue

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Taking my vitamins

another wonderful photo sent by a friend!

There seems to be  a theme this week, in the posts, of helping others. My mother reminded me, at breakfast on Saturday, that even witnessing an act of kindness has a positive impact on our health. When I see a video of someone being helped, it makes me feel better…that is, until the negative part of my brain starts saying things like,”What about all of the other animals (or people) out there?” or “How could someone do this?”…then I don’t feel so good.

When this happens I try to dismiss that social-political-critical self, that wants to ruin my moment of connection and love, and say to it, “Thank you for sharing, but I am going to feel good right now because it is healthier.” I think of these stories as my vitamins, and I like to let my system absorb them, let them really soak in…

“….a simple act of kindness directed toward another improves the functioning of the immune system and stimulates the production of serotonin in both the recipient of the kindness and the person extending the kindness. Even more amazing is that persons observing the act of kindness have  similar beneficial results…Kindness extended, received or observed beneficially impacts the physical health and feelings of everyone involved.” From The Power of Intention by Wayne Dyer

The video below is of a blind dog rescued from a trash pile. It is lovely to see the rescue workers move right in and help him out. I was crying tears of gratitude and joy as I watched the kindness extended to this little dog!

http://www.godvine.com/Blind-Dog-Living-in-a-Trash-Pile-Gets-Rescued-1290.html

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Clowning around?

Jack and Fred watching Saint Misbehavin'

I’ve been sent a few videos this week with the theme of rescuing animals. What I felt while watching all of these, was they made me feel good about us humans. I love seeing people come together for the good of others. It reminds me that we are all in this together, and that I cannot help another without, at the same time, helping myself.  Interestingly enough, the documentary that we’ve been watching is about Wavy Gravy. I’d seen him years ago and dismissed him as a “clown”.

I was trying so hard back then to be serious, to be taken seriously, to be socially acceptable, that I didn’t recognize the real thing, a genuinely great man and humanitarian, when I saw him. When the documentary was almost over, Jack said, “This has to be one of the most inspiring stories that I have ever seen. Let’s save the last 15 minutes for tomorrow night so we can really savor it.” I agreed.

“We are all the same person trying to shake hands with our self“. Wavy Gravy

P.S. the winner of the incense was Donna! ..and for those interested, the brand is Atmosphere and the scent is Tranquility….(I hope that Donna will share her impressions of it with us after she gives it a try!)

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Freedom

The beautiful work of Carolyn Abrams, this painting is named, "Freeing Her Spirit" http://www.carolynabrams.com

Years ago, I read an essay on aging, and the importance of finding our “freedom” at mid-life. The gist of this writing was that anything we felt was hampering us, we should leave behind, and move out into the world. At one point it said something like, get rid of your cat if that is the thing keeping you from this adventure. I would have believed that message 30 years ago, maybe 2o years ago….

What I have come to see, and know, is that it isn’t the outside stuff that hampers us, it is our thoughts. In my mid-forties, I gave away almost everything I owned to go work in a mission. I was trying to find inner freedom by stepping out of the “material” world. I blamed possessions, and the desire for them, for much of my inner turmoil and the troubles of the world. I wanted to devote myself to a higher calling and thought this was a part of becoming more spiritual.

It was a rude (very necessary) awakening. Having nothing doesn’t make you more spiritual, peaceful, happy or free. It doesn’t make you more helpful to those who feel disempowered and unable to earn a living. Freedom, at any age, comes from a change of attitude. This is the real mid-life call. The call to go inside and find the infinite within ourselves. To find peace and presence right here; in this house, with this car (or cars), these animals, friends, partner, or work, and not to blame them for our feelings of imprisonment. This is the real freedom.

“…the last of human freedoms, to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances….“. Viktor Frankl

A friend (thank you Judith!) send me a beautiful story and video yesterday about a baby bird that was found. At first, they needed to feed him every 20 minutes, but far from feeling like this experience was restricting, I felt the expansion in it…in them.

Baby Bird Cradled in My Hands

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Today

Esther woke up when I started the car

Now that the weather is suddenly warmer, and I am leaving my car windows down, I have to check the back seat before I drive away from the house. Esther loves sleeping in cars. I am sure she isn’t staying awake at night thinking, “Oh no, what if they don’t realize that I am in here and drive away?!” or “I’m not sure that I have permission to be in this car. Will I get in trouble?’…no such worries. She finds a comfortable spot and sleeps in peace. She, like most of our animals, is in the moment. Ahhh… the idea of living without regret from the past or fear about the future. I am taking a deep breath right now.

“Nothing is worth more than this day“.  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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