Some Practice Receiving

I haven't been writing on here much, but the Certain Way remains a major part of my point of view on living. And I'm grateful.

It folds in, as I've mentioned, so beautifully with The Artist's Way, which is taking a lot of my focus. This week we're studying financial abundance, so it's really great. Here are some great quotes:

"Looking at God's creation, it is pretty clear that the creator itself did not know when to stop. There is not one pink flower, or even fifty pink flowers, but hundreds. Snowflakes, of course, are the ultimate exercise in sheer creative glee. No two alike. This creator looks suspiciously like someone who just might send us support for our creative ventures."

"We have tried to be sensible -- as though we have any proof at all that God is sensible . . . Creativity is not and never has been sensible. Why should it be? Why should you be?"

"'This is extravagant but so is God' is a good attitude to take when treating your artist to small bribes and beauties. Remember, you are the cheapskate, not God. As you expect God to be more generous, God will be able to be more generous to you."

(The Artist's Way, Week 6)

This last quote brings me to a topic that I've begun to contemplate this past week, thanks to the subject of my last Diamond call: receiving.

Mr. Wattles teaches us that in order to receive we must be acting on our present environment. Sometimes there seems to be so much to do (really that I want to do) I don't know what to do. Or I worry about the how of it all. So I've been praying just to do one thing at a time and trust that the next step is revealed to me. And sometimes, like when I'm feeling run down from having a cold, the thing to do is to chill out. Sit down for a while. Rest. Write my blog.

I'm excited today to do some shopping -- which is a big part of this receiving -- and to rearrange my bedroom. Those are plenty of things to do! I've been contemplating whether or not I set myself up to receive. Do I welcome some things/people/attention and close myself off to others?

I turn it all back over to God, with gratitude. Mr. Wattles generously reminds us not to worry and not to hurry. He says we never have to be concerned that someone else will beat us to what we want or that opportunities will run out before we get to them. He says all of what we want is available to us, and, in fact, that the Universe is more anxious to bring it to us than even we are to receive it. What's up with that?

I pray to be fully relaxed, surrendered and trusting. And free to receive.

So the receiving. We are to act upon our present place - doing only today's work today: not tomorrow's, not yesterday's. And while we do it, we are to hold our clear mental image and we are to do it with faith, purpose and gratitude.

I still sometimes wonder about the clear mental image. Am I handling everything as I should? Ooooh, did I just use that word? In big orange letters on my white board are the words "NO SHOULDS."

For me, it seems that presence and faith and purpose, and, of course, gratitude are an extremely strong foundation for me. And I believe The Artist's Way is helping me hone in on my clear mental image. Without any force or should. It's helping it arise. I know what I want.

Today I want to rest next (sitting down to write I realize I'm still feeling wiped out from the cold!) and I want to rearrange the bedroom, and I want to do some shopping. I want full, strong, healthy energy when it's time to have it (and ideally regularly). I want faith, faith, faith and to be totally relaxed and surrendered. I want to trust, trust, trust and get my inseparable nature. The inseparable nature of all.

What else is there?

With all that I will have the absolute trust that I can create what I want and that the Universe is always for my highest good. I'm coming more and more to that, too. Less judgment about events. There is no end that we're headed to. That is, we don't know what the end result of any one event or circumstance will be. Like Eckhart Tolle says, if we want to know what caused what's happening now, we have to go all the way back to the Big Bang.

So just hang out in this moment. Allow yourself to have things, with deep peace and gratitude, joy and real love as the primary state of being. In that state, all is a gift, for life itself is a gift, and in that state, we [know we] are one with all of life.

Again: "As you expect God to be more generous, God will be able to be more generous to you."

And a nap on a Saturday afternoon with the windows open is about as generous as I can imagine right now.

I love you.

Your,

I.P.

Big Thanks

I really just wanted so say hi and express my gratitude.

I've sort of complained or worried that I haven't been clear enough on my clear mental images. I've also mentioned on here that I'm working through the twelve week creativity course, The Artist's Way, and how aligned it is with the good Mr. Wattles.

I'm coming to find that it is step by step helping me create and CLARIFY my clear mental image. So HUGE THANKS. It's totally downstream and super fun. Seems effortless and there it is, arising.

The two books align so nicely that I could in some ways merge the blogs. Such joy!

Also today I got back to actually reading some of the little green book after reading deprivation week last week. It was very sweet to nibble on. I love the edition I have (Joshua Books) and felt like I'm experiencing it all on deeper and deeper levels.

And in going deeper and deeper into the philosophy - or science! - I'm deeper and deeper in joy and gratitude.

And for THAT I'm deeply grateful.

Right now I feel really sleepy, for which I'm also grateful.

I'm getting really clear on what works for THIS being and allowing that to flow. My gratitude knows no bounds. Nor does my love.

Thank you.

Yours,

I.P.

Ask and it Shall Be Given . . .

"It is important for you to remember that spirit awaits direction from the soul. 'Ask and it shall be given,' was excellent advice." - Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich, Chapter 1

As I sat down to write just now, I didn't want to hold the hot laptop right on my lap, thin jammies and all. From where I sat I looked around the room, with purpose. At first I didn't see anything I could use as a desk, and then I saw, on a chair across from me, the perfect notebook. Hard cover, spiral. The kinds I use for my Morning Pages.

*** That was fun! I just "mistyped" the beginning of the word Morning, and what came out was: Om. As if that isn't sweet enough, on my Pandora right now is a song called "Inside the Om". Nice. ***

It's all connected like that.

So many things I can point to in the SGR world today. An interesting thing came up for me while I was at work that hasn't come up since I've been doing the job I currently do: I felt - for the first time - like I was getting ready to move on.

I've been so grateful for this position, for the ease of it and for the way I created it in a way that really works for me. I don't know what was different today. It could have easily been the food I'd eaten. It could have been the gray skies. And it could have been old sankaras coming up. Who knows. It could have also been none of that. Regardless of any why, the experience I had was of sleepiness and boredom. I felt like I was outgrowing it.

So I'm just curios to see if that's because I'm more than filling my present place and I am, in fact, evolving out of it. Nothing I can do to move that along than to keep on living in the Certain Way. Focused on and grateful for the present. Holding the clear mental images in the mind with the faith and purpose that they're coming to me. It's a trip to walk up the stairs at the hospital and bring myself fully into that moment and also mentally declare: this is making me rich.

I'm steeped more deeply in this paradigm, that's for sure.

I feel like I had something deep I wanted to share, but the thought was fleeting.

So here's another SGR moment: Tonight I tried out a new recipe and was sort of feeling sorry for myself, missing the chef who used to hang around, wanting to share my food. Well, as it turned out, I overcooked just about everything in the meal that could be overcooked -- but the flavors were good. So I got to practice making this meal with its failures and didn't have to serve anyone else, lover or not, mushy food. In the end, I was grateful that I was cooking for myself. Everything works out.

I played the Patti Smith song, "Grateful", tonight (dang! where do those commas go?) on my guitar and sang it. Every time, the refrain is the same: It all will come out fine . . . I've learned it line by line. And as I sat on my couch, lights dim and comfortable, feet cool and bare on the clean hardwood floor, I knew the absolute truth of that statement.

Often in the moment of disappointment, it's hard to surrender and not to feel blue, as Mr. Wattles suggests. He reminds us that there's a greater mind at play and that, in fact, that greater mind is more eager to give us what we want than we are to get it. (Say what? Wow.)

I told someone yesterday, "I trust in the greater good." Looking back on that conversation now, I recognize that I was surrendering. Even though there were things my ego wanted, I tapped into something higher. Something I could trust more than my base cravings, and I asked it to choose for me.

And so I pray to God to handle things for me. I take my hands - mostly - off the wheel. It seems to be the smarter thing to do. Rather than to push against my cravings. Rather than to make anything wrong. I simply pray for the greater good, with FAITH that we are in the arms of the Benevolent Creator.

I'm curious. Things look pretty neat around here.

I am.

Hi friends.

I am exhausted and emotionally fried.

AND I want to tell you that today on the plane back from Chicago, after writing five or six pages of "morning pages" (read "venting and spewing") and strolling up and down the aisle smiling at people and talking with a little boy about his panda bear who has recently been advanced from orange belt to green belt in some sort of teddy bear martial arts, I read the last few chapters of The Science of Getting Rich, and my heart opened up. The work is magnificent and full of love and encouragement. I was really moved and grateful.

I arrived after an effortless flight to the welcoming Austin airport where my bag was already on the luggage belt by the time I got to it. I oozed gratitude as I took the shuttle to my car, choosing the $10 bill over the $1 bill because I KNOW there is more and that we are giving increase to all! Almost nothing jazzes me up like tipping big. In my Clear Mental Image, I leave $100 bills in the tip jars at my favorite cafe. Cafe Mundi, this means You!

Had beautiful conversations with good friends, including one in person over lunch, went to the gym, and am home in my pajamas now.

The afternoon and evening took a turn for the intense for me mentally and emotionally (not to mention being exhausted from all of the above and more), and still, I sit in gratitude.

I see that there are places to let go of before I can fully be living in The Certain Way, and they are presenting themselves to me. As much as I have feared them, I can see how they can also be compassionate changes for all involved: liberating. I must liberate myself. Otherwise I'm suffocating. And that is the OPPOSITE of what the good Mr. Wattles teaches us.

Treat yourself. Read the last few chapters of SGR if you haven't lately. It's a joy.

I'm deeply grateful for the book and for the focus on gratitude. I know I was present to it before, and I see how much more deeply I am present to it now as well as to the way it makes one buzz with presence.

And I called up a good friend having forgotten that she is also a devotee, as it were, of Eckhart Tolle, and I knew that was the answer to the prayer I put out to God earlier in the evening. I told Him, "You never let me down." I have faith.

And for that I'm deeply grateful.

Sat Nam.

Love,
IP

Grateful for my Diamond

Wow. I got a really big ah-ha moment as we wrapped up our wonderful weekly call tonight (see previous post where I mention the group that I'm in and the topic we discussed).

I realized that I have kept myself from asking big. I'm choosing in this moment not to have to explore the why of it! It doesn't matter. I can just shift. I can choose to ask - or choose not to. Yes.

Mr. Wattles, what do you have to say?

All that there is of possibility is seeking expression through people. God wants those who can play music to have pianos and every other instrument and to have the means to cultivate their talents to the fullest extent. He wants those who can appreciate beauty to be able to surround themselves with beautiful things. He wants those who can discern truth to have every opportunity to travel and observe. He wants those who can appreciate dress to be beautifully clothed, and those who can appreciate good food to be luxuriously fed.

He wants all these things because it is himself that enjoys and appreciates them; they are his
creation. It is God who wants to play, and sing, and enjoy beauty, and proclaim truth, and wear fine clothes, and eat good foods. “It is God that worketh in you to will and to do,” said the apostle Paul.

The desire you feel for riches is the infinite, seeking to express himself in you as he sought to find
expression in the little boy at the piano.

So you need not hesitate to ask largely.

Your part is to focus on and express that desire to God.

This is a difficult point with most people. They retain something of the old idea that poverty and
self-sacrifice are pleasing to God. They look upon poverty as a part of the plan, a necessity of nature. They have the idea that God has finished his work, and made all that he can make, and that the majority of people must stay poor because there is not enough to go around. They hold to so much of this erroneous thought that they feel ashamed to ask for wealth. They try not to want more than a very modest competence, just enough to make them fairly comfortable.

I recall now the case of one student who was told that he must get in mind a clear picture of the
things he desired, so that the creative thought of them might be impressed on formless substance. He was a very poor man, living in a rented house and having only what he earned from day to day, and he could not grasp the fact that all wealth was his. So, after thinking the matter over, he decided that he might reasonably ask for a new rug for the floor of his best room and a coal stove to heat the house during the cold weather. Following the instructions given in this book, he obtained these things in a few months.

And then it dawned upon him that he had not asked enough.

He went through the house in which he lived, and planned all the improvements he would like to
make in it. He mentally added a bay window here and a room there until it was complete in his mind as his ideal home, and then he planned its furnishings.

Holding the whole picture in his mind, he began living in the certain way and moving toward
what he wanted — and he owns the house now and is rebuilding it after the form of his mental image. And now, with still larger faith, he is going on to get greater things.

It has been unto him according to his faith, and so it is with you — and with all of us.

(The Science of Getting Rich, Chapter 6)

That quote is taken right from here: The Science of Getting Rich, and I invite you to swim in its yumminess as I have been.

I'm so thankful tonight for my Diamond call and for the gentle and generous folks on it. I told them tonight that I'm positive that my coming into the Diamond is a direct result of my studying SGR (that is, if we're playing the game of cause and effect). For the fun of it, let's play!

Thank you!

To quote another friend of mine:

"Keep on creating, inventing and celebrating life! Keep on waking up inspired and tending to the garden of your dreams!" - Shawn Madden (click his name to see and hear more!)

Inner Peace Dance Party, Anyone?

I'm in a gifting club that meets once a week by conference call to talk about all sorts of inspiring topics. Following is the topic for this week's call:

Topic: The well respected author and educator, Dr. Vernon Woolf, who is head of the International Academy of Holodynamics, related in one of his workshops a fact published in an Australian magazine: That if all of the combined wealth of the world were gathered up into one place and then re-distributed equally to all of the worlds' seven billion people, we would each be billionaires. We would each have 4.7 billion dollars! Now, this information is staggering, yes? Well....are we not aware that we live on a very fertile planet in an infinitely abundant universe?
The question: If money were this abundantly plentiful in your life, what would you choose to do with your time on planet earth? Describe the life you would create if money were no object....

I love the question, and I feel that it is very much in alignment with what I write about here. However, first I want to share that I did some looking into that statement. So, it turns out, if all the wealth in the world were evenly distributed, we would each get about $9000. Quite a difference from each of us being billionaires.

But am I bringing negative talk into this conversation?

I don't mean to. What I want to do is contemplate the above question: If money were this abundantly plentiful in your life, what would you choose to do with your time on planet earth? Describe the life you would create if money were no object.

Let me first throw a little Wallace Wattles in here.

"Know that there are countless millions of dollars' worth of undiscovered gold in the mountains of the earth. Know that if there were not, more would be created from the thinking substance to supply your needs. Know that the money you need will come -- even if it is necessary for a thousand people to be led to the discovery of new gold mines tomorrow.

Never look at the visible supply; always look at the limitless riches in the formless substance and know that they are coming to you as fast as you can receive and use them. Nobody, by cornering the visible supply, can prevent you from getting what is yours."
(The Science of Getting Rich, Chapter 5)

So here's the question again: If money were this abundantly plentiful in your life, what would you choose to do with your time on planet earth? Describe the life you would create if money were no object.
I think when I come to Chicago, I would stay in a nice hotel or find an apartment to sublet. I might buy a small house or a condo in Austin to have as my nesting place while in town. It would surely have a great big claw foot tub like I have now and like I saw at Shelly's the other day. It was good for me to see her tub because I think my bathtub keeps me attached to my place. Great to see great big claw foot tubs elsewhere!

Now here's the big question: would I grab an Airstream and a truck and a dj and a chef (can it all be the same person? anyone want to enlist? I can think of at least one person . . . though he suggested we get TWO Airstreams) and hit the road for towns with mild climates and throw impromptu dance parties and food giveaways? What stops me from doing that now?

Am I lazy?

I feel a little tense right now. My nose is stuffed up and runny and I have a head ache and it's cold and windy outside and I'm confused about what I'm doing here and and and and I think about what I read yesterday: Nothing is worth closing your heart over. Nothing. You can relax.

Who am I trying to please in this life?

Am I resisting the Airstream Dance Party idea because I don't want to do it on my own? Could I put an ad on Craigslist? What kinds of weird freaks would I get then? Am I resisting it out of loneliness and not wanting to go alone? Am I resisting because I want my Airstream Dance Party partner also to be my romantic partner?

One thing I know: I'd go to Hawaii in December for the Ram Dass/Krishna Das retreat. That one I know for sure.

And I know that the dance parties are ALL ABOUT increase and more life for all. That is FOR SURE.

I watched some of The Ellen Show today and I'm so glad I did. She had a thirteen-year-old boy on there who loves dancing and she talked with him about how FREE it feels to dance. Yes. I have felt that she would be a great supporter of the Free Organic Veggie Hippie Food Love Van Dance Party.

What stops me?

Yes, being on the road and discovering this country (this WORLD!) is my passion. As is awakening my consciousness, which is my primary purpose and commitment. Does that focus keep me from spreading my focus on this plane?

What stops me?

In contemplating the question for tonight's Diamond call, I wondered how much energy I spend worrying about money? I can feel the pressure that seems to hold me in place. Am I kidding myself to think that that's not the case? What is it that I need to create? What is the clear mental image that I need to create in order to do what I really want to do?

Mr. Wattles tells us that we must work in and on our present place and situation in order to get where we want to be. I can go to work at Austin Lakes Hospital, filled with gratitude, as I typically am there. I can more than fill my present place and hold with faith and purpose (insistence) that I get what I want. And allow it to come to me. It doesn't seem to make sense, but I am committed to this certain way, 30 days at a time, am I not?

I don't know what I want.

It feels like there's a SHOULD out there. That these visions somehow are to lead to happiness, when what I really want is inner peace and a deep knowing of the infinite love and peace within us all. Everything beyond that is icing on the cake.

And, YES, free dance parties and A BIG FAT ROAD TRIP would be a blast.

Will you come with me?

*****

Um, oh yeah, I'd get myself to the dentist. And buy my mom her retirement, however she wants it.

Thank You.

Thank you for this venue. I am seeing so much in this first week or so.

In just glancing at the title of the last post, I see that, perhaps concentrating too deeply on one aspect of the Certain Way may leave one frustrated if it doesn't feel fully in the flow; and, thankfully, there are many aspects of the Certain Way that may lead us to freedom or space in the other areas.

For example, today I did everything that was on my original to-do list for the day, and even did a few things not written on the list like my morning pages and going to the gym. AND I even got a nap and a bath and saw a movie. Pretty good! "Do all that you can do in a day . . . " says Mr. Wattles. And I didn't rush.

I read this on someone's Facebook wall:

"When someone is counting out gold for you, don't look at your hands, or the gold. Look at the Giver." - Rumi

I felt gratitude at reading that message. This is what I saw:

I'd been sitting on the couch balancing my checkbook and paying a few bills. Lately I do this about once a month and enjoy watching the tally add up perfectly. But this past month seemed much less organized and, for the first time in a long time, I felt agitated and nervous during the process. Like something in me telling a story that something isn't okay -- or at some imagined point in the future, something isn't okay.

Because right here in this moment, there's absolutely nothing wrong. In the above arena, I have plenty of money, I got my bills paid, I continue to get paid, and all is well.

Something in me got spooked and wanted to have more security, assurity.

Then I saw that Rumi quote (whilst an Eckhart Tolle video was showing on my television).

I got the space. Don't look at your hands or the gold. Look at the Giver. Yes. That is the background. The Giver is all there is.

Wallace Wattles calls it the Formless Substance or Supreme Power. Sometimes we both call it God.

A little Wattles:

"Never look at the visible supply; always look at the limitless riches in the formless substance and know that they are coming to you as fast as you can receive and use them." (The Science of Getting Rich, Chapter 5)

At this moment, I'm knowing that this is all true because I'm hearing Neil Young sing "Out on the Weekend" through my laptop -- the same machine I'm using to type this message -- on Joni Mitchell Pandora. Increase and more life for all!

Truth, regardless of appearances, is ease in the appearance of PMS.

Oh yeah, and now they rock Joni's "Refuge of the Road". My anthem. My Clear Mental Image:

I met a friend of spirit
He drank and womanized
And I sat before his sanity
I was holding back from crying
He saw my complications
And he mirrored me back simplified
And we laughed how our perfection
Would always be denied
"Heart and humor and humility"
He said "Will lighten up your heavy load"
I left him then for the refuge of the roads

I fell in with some drifters
Cast upon a beachtown
Winn Dixie cold cuts and highway hand me downs
And I wound up fixing dinner
For them and Boston Jim
I well up with affection
Thinking back down the roads to then
The nets were overflowing
In the Gulf of Mexico
They were overflowing in the refuge of the roads

There was spring along the ditches
There were good times in the cities
Oh, radiant happiness
It was all so light and easy
Till I started analyzing
And I brought on my old ways
A thunderhead of judgment was
Gathering in my gaze
And it made most people nervous
They just didn't want to know
What I was seeing in the refuge of the roads

I pulled off into a forest
Crickets clicking in the ferns
Like a wheel of fortune
I heard my fate turn, turn turn
And I went running down a white sand road
I was running like a white-assed deer
Running to lose the blues
To the innocence in here
These are the clouds of Michelangelo
Muscular with gods and sungold
Shine on your witness in the refuge of the roads

In a highway service station
Over the month of June
Was a photograph of the earth
Taken coming back from the moon
And you couldn't see a city
On that marbled bowling ball
Or a forest or a highway
Or me here least of all
You couldn't see these cold water restrooms
Or this baggage overload
Westbound and rolling taking refuge in the roads

There is NOTHING for me to worry about, ever. Especially not in this moment: which is all there is.

Thank you.