Tag Archives: New Thought

Healing Through Gratitude

Posted on by

vibrant healthThere have been so many studies documenting the healing power of gratitude.  A regular practice of gratitude has been proven to lower blood pressure, reduce heart attacks, reduce, stress, increase better sleep and better digestion.  The list goes on.  In fact, there is not a single part of us that cannot be positively impacted by a proactive gratitude practice.

Myrtle Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, healed herself of tuberculosis (a killer in the1880’s) in large part through a practice of sending her body thoughts of love and gratitude.  In addition to a positive affirmation she learned, she had a realization about the healing power of gratitude she described this way…

“Life has to be guided by intelligence in making all forms.  The same law works in my own body.  Life is simply a form of energy, and has to be guided and directed in man’s body by his intelligence.” How do we communicate intelligence? By thinking and talking, of course. Then it flashed upon me that I might talk to the life in every part of my body and have it do just what I wanted.  I began to teach my body and got marvelous results.”

She then began to go through all the organs and parts of her body and “spoke words of strength and power.”  She sent each organ love and expressed gratitude for them.  She would envision them functioning perfectly.  She says, “I told them they were no longer in bondage to the carnal mind; that they were not corruptible flesh, but center of life and energy omnipresent.”   Keep in mind it’s language from 1880’s.  But you get that she’s talking about raising her consciousness from the purely human-physical dimension and affirming the Absolute Truth from the Spiritual Realm – and not just words, but words filled with tons of feeling…tons of love and appreciation.

That’s key. Words, by themselves, really don’t have the power to change anything. It’s words coupled with feeling that has power.  We want our words to invoke a feeling-tone…a feeling-tone of love and tremendous gratitude.  That feeling-tone generates a vibration.  And it’s that vibration that lifts the physical body so healing can happen.

Would you like an experience of that right now? If so, follow along with my meditation here. (I will be posting the guided audio meditation soon, but for now you can read the following, get a sense of it, then close your eyes and allow the wisdom within you to guide you.)

Close your eyes and begin to take some slow, deep, cleaning breaths.  When you are relaxed and centered, bring your attention to an area of your body that may be giving your trouble, or that doesn’t feel 100% right now.  Now, bring to mind something, or someone you absolutely love.  Focus on the feeling of love, and allow that feeling to grow within you.  Now, consciously send that area of your body this abundant love.  Feel vibrant, glorious love infusing this area.  See it as a vibrant center of omnipresent life, glowing with radiant energy. Feel the beauty of the Divine radiating there.  Now, think about how this organ or part of your body has served you in your life. If it’s not functioning well now, think of a time it did function well. Feel gratitude welling up within you for all the days that part of your body functioned well — for all the times it worked in harmony with the trillions of other cells that work together in harmony with each other in your body every minute.  Express your joyous gratitude for this part of your body…and for your entire body.  It has served you so well in your life.  Much more than you realize right now.  Allow that joyous gratitude to grow and radiate throughout your entire body.  Now, feel that part of your body responding to your love and gratitude.  The cells within that area are waking up and allowing the innate wholeness that has always been there, to come back online.  They are waking up and blossoming like a flower feeling the loving, radiant warmth and light of the sun.  Enjoy bathing in this feeling for a few minutes.

Now, take a deep breath and bring your awareness back to the room.

Try this exercise daily for the next few weeks and see if it makes a difference in your health.  The science supports that indeed it will.  Let me know how it goes.

And check back here soon for a link to the audio of the above meditation.

 

The Magnetizing Power of Love

Posted on by

universal swirl

Energy creates and energy attracts.  And there are two very powerful energies available to us:  the energy of fear, and the energy of love.  They are both powerful energies that magnetize more of what we’re either loving, or more of what we’re fearful.  Of these, love is a powerful magnetizer.  And I’m speaking of love in terms of what it really is – a Power, a Divine Power, and not a feeling.  I’m not referring to the love you feel for your spouse, your children, your pets, etc.  I’m talking about the Power that is the energy of God in our lives.  We get a glimpse of that power when we fall in love, or when we watch our children doing something amazing, or when we pet our cat or dog.  But the power of love is so much more. It’s the power that creates the universe and that expresses as each one of us.

Charles Fillmore has said, “God does not love anybody or anything.  God is the love in everybody and everything.  God is the love; man becomes loving by permitting that which God is to find expression in word and act.”

But you see, we can’t experience that while we’re in fear.  And, on the surface, there seems to be a lot to be fearful of these days.  It’s a challenge to stay centered in Love.  Some people just don’t want to hear what’s happening, don’t want to read the news, because they don’t want to get sucked up in the negative energy.  And believe me, I understand that.

I think part of the fear comes from a sense of powerlessness.  We sometimes feel powerless over the forces that seem to be taking over.

What’s the best cure for a sense of powerlessness?  Taking action.  Standing up, speaking our truth, taking some kind of action…even if it seems small.  All of this helps us reclaim our sense of power.  And it all makes a difference.   But we must do it from a place of love.  We must connect with our Love Power Center first and with our awareness of our oneness with everyone, then we take action.    When we do this, we are contributing to the healing of the world, rather than just building more fear.

There is a saying in the Course in Miracles that goes: “You create what you defend against.”  For a long time, I didn’t really know what that meant.  I finally came to the understanding that when you are defending against something, you are giving it a lot of energy.  You are giving what you really don’t want, lots of energy.  You also are usually in fear of that thing you are defending against.  And remember what I said, fear magnetizes to itself more of same.

So it’s really important that we are not fighting against, or defending against, but instead loving what it is we want.

There’s a passage in the Upanishads that goes:

“As great as the infinite space beyond is the space within the lotus of the heart.  Both heaven and earth are contained in that inner space, both fire and air, sun and moon, lightning and stars.  Whether we know it in this world or know it not, everything is contained in that inner space.”

We can use this power of love to create what it is we really want, both personally and for our world.

We can use this magnetizing power of love…that we have as one of our spiritual powers…to draw to us what we really want…both personally in own individual lives, and collectively as a world.   Let’s hold in our minds eye the realization of whatever we truly desire both personally…whether that’s more joy, better relationships, increased prosperity, fulfillment, healing, guidance (whatever it is) and hold in our mind’s eye what we want as a country…inclusiveness, diversity, peace, harmony, opportunity and prosperity for all, a government that works, a collective agreement to see, and to treat our planet as sacred.  Hold that in your mind’s eye and then activate that power center of love within you.  Feel the love radiating out from your heart like a light, and place that vision right in the light of that love.

I’ve recorded a meditation that guides you step-by-step through the entire process.  If you fill out the form below I will be happy to send it to you free.

Radical Aliveness

Posted on by

Radically AliveWhat is Radical Aliveness?

Good question.  Knowing what it is to be radically alive is the first key to actually experiencing it.

Sometimes we associate Radical Aliveness with Peak Experiences. Those moments or days that are truly special — like the day you graduate; the day you started your dream job or opened your business; or your wedding day; or the day your baby was born.  You have, no doubt, had at least one of those experiences.

I want you to think back to that day. See if you can recreate how you felt.  Perhaps your heart was blown wide open and love was flowing abundantly.  All your “aliveness” circuits were wide open and joy flowing abundantly.  You were probably fully in the present moment…fully alive to every moment of that day.  You probably worked really hard for that moment.  Perhaps all your talents and skills were utilized…including some you didn’t even know you had.  You may have even felt that that moment was what you were born for. You were connected to a sense of purpose.  These moments are generally seared into our memory for a good reason. Because we were totally, fully, radically alive.

What if we could experience that kind of Peak Experience feeling every day?
I believe we can.  We’re going to explore exactly how to do that.

Now the place to start is to first understand what LIFE itself is.  And I’m not talking about human, physical life.  Physical life comes and goes.  It is temporary and changeable.  All are born and later die.  Flowers blossom, then wither away.  I’m talking about the force, the energy, the essence that is behind the physical and that gives rise to all experience of physical life.  That force or “essence” is unchangeable and eternal.  It is the intelligence…the eternal love intelligence that is behind all, that supports all.   Sometimes refer to it as Divine Energy, or God Force, or Divine Substance.  It’s what we are at our core.  It is our vital essence.

And the more we are conscious of our Source…the more we are connected with this Divine Life Essence…the more we are plugged in, and all our circuits are open…the more vitality and vibrancy can flow through and as us.

So how do we do that?  How do we connect with it and open ourselves to it?  Well, there are certain qualities of this Vibrant Life Essence that, when we know about them and access them, they can be the keys that unlock Radical Aliveness for us. So let’s explore them one-by-one.

  • The first key is Joy.  Joy is a definite component of radical aliveness.  When we are connected with our inner Joy we are connected with Source Energy because Source Energy is Joy.  But let’s be clear that the kind of Joy we’re talking about is without opposite.  True joy is not the opposite of sadness. It’s not a fleeting emotional state. It’s not conditional. It’s not something that is the result of what happens to us. True joy is connected to the heart.  It’s Pure Love Energy. It’s a love of life…a zest for living.  Charles Fillmore, talked about the power of Zeal (one of our 12 Spiritual Powers) as being “the great universal force that impels humankind to spring forth in a field of endeavor and accomplish the seemingly miraculous.”  That sounds like a good definition of Radical Aliveness!
  • Another key to the experience of Radical Aliveness is cultivating gratitude.  When we’re in a “State of Gratitude”…when we are fully appreciating the beauty of nature and all the blessing in our lives, we open to the flow of joy and we feel blessed. We open to the idea that we are so loved by the Infinite and this fills us with a sense of aliveness.  We’re also more fully present, fully attentive to the present moment when we’re in gratitude.  A consistent practice of proactive gratitude…noticing, and then celebrating, all the good in your life daily builds a “State of Gratitude”.
  • Another key to experiencing Radical Aliveness is when we are working in harmony with the Divine Order of things…when we respect the rhythms of life.  Life has definite rhythms. We see that in the change of seasons, the ebb and flow of the tides, the migration of birds.  I never really understood about the rhythms of life when I lived in S. California…there didn’t seem to be any.  But I finally got it when I moved to a place where there’s a change a seasons. When we’re in harmony with the natural rhythms of Divine energy within us, life flows, and we feel a great sense of aliveness.
  • The next key to Radical Aliveness is to do what we can to be at our peak of physical health. When you are at peak health, it’s just plain easier to feel more vibrantly alive, isn’t it?  And a lot of that is in our control.  We can choose what we put in our bodies…choosing foods that are alive…that feed our cells, and nourish our organs.  Daily exercise is vital to our healthy functioning.  And I know a lot of folks say they don’t have time to exercise.  There is a sign up my doctor’s office that I see every time I’m there. It says, “Those who think they don’t have time for exercise now, will eventually have to make time to deal with illness later.”  When we combine healthy eating, plenty of exercise, and plenty of rest, we open to the flow of vitality that supports our physical existence which helps us access Radical Aliveness.
  • But perhaps the largest contributing factor to experiencing Radical Aliveness is when we are living our purpose.  When we’re aligned with, and expressing our purpose, life-energy flows and sustains us miraculously.
    I recently heard someone say that there are 2 most important days in your life…the day you are born and the day you discover why you are born. Have you discovered why you were born?  Are you living your purpose?One way to tell if you are living your purpose is to notice…do you wake up every morning with a smile and can’t wait to get going doing what you’ve come here to do?  Are you sharing your unique gifts, abilities and talents in service to others? Do you do it with love?Pastor Rick Warrren, the author of A Purpose Driven Life talks about it in terms of living a “life of significance” as opposed to just surviving.  A life of meaning and spiritual significance.   Life has meaning when we allow the Divine Spirit within us to direct our life…rather than the ego.  Now, that’s not always an easy thing to do. Our ego thinks it knows what’s important.  It might know how to keep us safe, or get our needs met, but it doesn’t know how to really live.  And it definitely doesn’t know anything about Radical Aliveness.Meher Baba once said, “It’s characteristic of the ego that it takes all that is unimportant as important and all that is important as unimportant.”  When we get our ego out of the way and surrender to a higher Truth…let the Inner Divine lead our life, we find the significance…our purpose.  You always have a choice between listening to the ego (or false self) or listening to the voice of your inner-self self that know you were born for a magnificent purpose.  And when you find that…and live that…life becomes deeply meaningful, fulfilling and miraculous!  That’s Radical Aliveness!