Empowering Your Mind

In August, Jeff and I made an offer on a pre-foreclosure, short sale townhome. We waited and waited for the bank to either agree or reject our offer. Finally, at the end of November, the bank accepted our offer. December was filled with inspections, financial and legal concerns, as we made sure all was ready for when the house would be ours. The closing was the middle of the month, and the day we had our first winter storm. That night, the cable television and internet went out, and a window in our office leaked. Welcome to home ownership!

I just returned from a short visit with a dear friend in Tucson, in southern Arizona. While I was there, I developed a cold. Consciousness-wise, colds can signify confusion, but in my life, they indicate that I’m feeling overwhelmed with all that’s going on. And considering the past month, I would have to agree that’s been the case.

inspiration

Jeff and I spent a Saturday in November hiking around Jerome, the “Largest Ghost Town In Arizona,” a few miles from where we live. Jerome is a fun artist’s community, full of quirky shops and restaurants. Although I’d just celebrated my 26th anniversary to moving to Sedona and Arizona, I’d never explored Jerome’s back streets on foot.

On our hike, we found roads I didn’t know existed, picturesque fallen down houses, and places I’d only seen from afar. Jerome is built on a steep hill. A street will pass just behind the third floor of a house, and will curve back around to pass in front of the first floor. We only had time to wander through about a third of the town, and look forward to spending more time there to explore the rest.

Jeff and I on a street in Jerome. In the distance, beyond Jeff’s left shoulder, you can see the red cliffs of Sedona. If you look beside my right shoulder, that dark area is the peak of the roof of the house that’s in the photo below. We walked by the front of the house, and are on the street behind and above it.

Photos Copyright 2008 StockPhotosArizona.com

This has been one of those weeks when almost everything I’ve planned or tried to do has had a disappointment or delay attached to it. On Saturday, Jeff and I went over the mountain to Prescott, AZ to watch their “Light Parade,” only to find that the parade had been the weekend before. The parade consists of floats and vehicles that are draped with Christmas lights, and the parade takes place after dark. A few years ago, we just happened to be in Prescott the night of the parade, and we were so delighted with it that we’ve attended it when we could.

Sunday we discovered that our kitchen fluorescent light fixture had two bulbs that weren’t lit. So Jeff played with the bulbs, and first all of them went out, then the dark ones lit up, and the lit ones went dark. Then they all were working just fine, until Monday evening. Since then, we’ve been back to two bulbs lit. We’re postponing dealing with it until this next weekend.

These are only a couple of the several situations that were frustrating over the weekend. So far this week, I’ve had a delay with a financial issue, played phone tag with people I need to get hold of, and was barely on time for an appointment without a second to spare. Everything is working out, but it’s doing so with some sort of hitch. I’m affirming that everything is in “Divine Order” and that “I’m always in Divine Time” (that’s how I got to the appointment on time). I don’t exactly know what the reason for these challenges are, but I’m working on figuring that out.

personal growth

A few weeks ago, I lost one of my favorite earrings, an angel with wings that my mother had given me. After retracing my steps, examining the car, and scouring the areas I’d visited that day, I couldn’t find it.

I asked a couple of friends to affirm that I’d have a miracle and it would return to me. One of them said she sensed it was hung up on something in the car. Jeff and I looked thoroughly looked through the car, again. Nothing. I let it go, affirming that it would reappear if I was meant to have it.

Last weekend, Jeff was working on my car and saw something glint between the seat cushion and back of the driver’s seat. My friend was right. My earring was hung up in that crevice. Jeff pulled it out, came inside and dropped it in my hand. It just re-affirmed to me that nothing is ever lost.

inspiration

Recently, I visited a site that was promoting their strategy to change and become successful. It was an interesting way of creating new patterns of thinking, but the thing that turned me completely off was their way of promoting it. Instead of discussing its value and outcomes, the creator belittled all other ways of creating change. His main push in advertising was saying that his method was better than all others and was the only approach to use to improve.

Whenever a marketer feels the need to make his system better than others as the way to achieve results, it puts my hackles up. This is especially true when they promote themselves as being spiritual. A truly spiritual person doesn’t need to put all other concepts down to sell a product. Every method has value, and when they denigrate those other strategies, they’re trying to make themselves seem superior at the expense of others.

“All roads lead to God,” and some techniques may work for some people and not for others. Or they may work when the person is in a particular mindset, but not at other times. When a particular strategy is promoted as being “the only way” to results, it tries to invalidate all the positive outcomes that have come about from using other procedures. And it reminds me that all too often people take the easy way of trying to make themselves better by putting others down. If they’d recognize the benefits of all methods, and then state that theirs was new and different, and would complement others, then I’d have much more respect for them.

I grew up in Houston, Texas and visited Galveston many times, played on the beach, ate at restaurants on the seawall. I always marveled at how high the seawall was above the sand. Tonight, as I watch the coverage of Hurricane Ike approaching Galveston and see the waves cresting their seawall, it’s almost unbelievable to me. Watching the places I wandered as a youngster be under water or destroyed is surreal. I wonder how the San Jacinto monument, a few hundred feet from the Houston Ship Channel, is faring? Is the Strand in Galveston going to survive another storm? Most of my friends there live miles inland, so they should be all right, far from the storm surge, but still I hold them in my prayers. It’s going to be a rough few days for them.

When the nastiness of this political season begins to drive me crazy, I remind myself about a twelve-hour prayer vigil I participated in on Election Day during the 1992 election. People from both sides of the political fence joined in. Each of us spent an hour praying that the Highest Good for our nation would prevail, no matter who was elected. That every voter would be Divinely Guided, and every decision would be directed for our country’s Best Good.

As I prayed, I experienced such a peaceful sensation that all would be well no matter who would be President. Afterwards, we had a meeting to discuss our experience. Every single one of us got the same message/sensation that I had. It didn’t matter who was elected, the Highest Good would happen.

No matter what’s occurring on our national stage, no matter which side of the political fence you’re on, affirm with me that all will be well, no matter who is elected. The more of us who can hold that vision, despite what we believe about the choices, the better our chance will be for it to take place.

inspiration

My significant other, Jeff, and I took our first vacation in four years, and the first one in seven years where we didn’t feel pressured. We visited Las Vegas for five days, and just wandered around the casinos and visited Red Rock Canyon.

Here’s Jeff and I at Luxor, our favorite casino. We were very disappointed to find that it’s having its Egyptian theme dismantled. The pyramid will stay, but they’re either destroying, covering up, or minimizing the Egyptian motif, statues and shops.

No trip to Las Vegas is complete without watching the Dancing Fountains at the Bellagio.

This whimisical tree was in the Conservatory at the Bellagio.

Where else than Las Vegas can you visit Paris and walk the Canals of the Venetian?

We splurged and attended an amazing performance of the Blue Man Group. This is the crowd afterwards when members of the group come out to meet and greet.

This past week, I signed up for a coaching circle to help me with my business. This was a huge commitment for me, but I took a deep breath and dove in. Already it’s benefited me. I had so many ideas, plans and goals that I was trying to work on simultaneously that I was getting completely confused. With the guidance I’ve received, I’ve already been able to decide in what order my goals and priorities need to be. This has helped to clarify my thinking, and I no longer feel like I’m being pushed from one project to another, spinning my wheels and never getting anything done.

motivation, productivity