For most of my adult like I have been an avid student of whatever lessons life had to teach. But more recently, I have taken an ever more active stance towards, self empowerment. I spend a part of each day reading and learning from leaders in the field of personal growth.
I am always looking for evidence of the things that I have learned and made a part of my life. An example presented itself recently that I will be sharing here.
In The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace Wattles, a concept was introduced that says you should be grateful for the things that you are working towards, even before you achieve the results. Have faith that they will come to you and be thankful for them.
To a logical reasoning person that may seem strange, and it should. Faith is not logical. For a time, I had some trouble with this concept. However, I decided to put my thoughts on the matter aside until I had given it a chance. And over time I have seen that having that faith and gratitude made easy many circumstances that had been difficult before. Resistances seemed to melt away and results appeared where none had been before. Doorways which before were closed and locked seemed to open on their own. So I made this way of being a part of my way of being.
It was also stated that you should not get upset at your failures. If you have faith that the things you are working towards will happen and are grateful for them, even before you receive them, any seeming failure will only be temporary and a thing much greater than that which you were working towards will be the eventual result.
Again, I was skeptical of this, but open minded and in the past few months there have been a couple of large examples of this, both involving our home. First, we knew that Bank of America was charging us way too much for lender placed insurance and we wanted to fix that. But when we called our own insurance company there were numerous delays and obstacles preventing us from getting the insurance handled. For months we were getting nowhere. Then this principle of faith and gratitude was applied and headway began to occur.
Several times though, when it seemed like we might be at the end of the process, something would come up and halt our progress. It seemed almost as though some force were actively working to prevent what we were working towards.
Initially we were expecting to pay about $5,000 per year for our insurance and every cent out of our pocket. After multiple obstacles came up to drag things out over time, what actually ended up happening is we paid $3,500. Also, BOA had recently sold our home to another mortgage company and cancelled our insurance. The escrow had not been adjusted after the sale. So money for insurance was going into it every month but not coming out of it. Due to the exact timing of things there was enough money in the escrow so that we did not have to pay a cent up front.
The second example of this is that we have for a long time also known that BOA was treating us unfairly and unethically. We wanted to find a way to sue them for our home note. We did some research and found that it was possible and even likely that we would win if we sued them.
So, we got a lawyer and began the process. At first things seemed to be going well. Then another lawyer took over our case and it began to look like all the problems we had been having with our insurance were magically being applied to this instead. The new lawyer has been difficult to contact. He almost never has any useful information and just recently told us he does not have any of the dozens of documents that we sent.
Just yesterday, I was talking with one of my roommates and saying how I wasn't going to get upset about this and that things are taking exactly as long as they need to take in order to get the results we want. By moving on with faith and gratitude, accepting and believing in the eventual result we received some good news today.
The first lawyer called us to do a follow up and see how things are going. When she heard that we had paid more than twice the retainer that she had told us he was going to charge and that in the past several months no progress at all has been made, that he has in fact not even started to work on our case, she took our case back. Someone else in her office will be taking it over and not charging us, as her way of compensating for the treatment we have received from the lawyer she advised us to work with.
So,unlike many, I didn't jump on board and just accept this faith and gratitude concept right away. I tested it with an open mind and found it to be true and very powerful. I encourage you to make it a part of your life as well.
Showing posts with label gratitude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gratitude. Show all posts
Friday, November 15, 2013
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
A few more words on gratitude pt2
Now imagine that every person on the planet is born with a certain
internal reserve of energy and at that person's birth a certain amount
of the energy in the universe is set aside to handle working with that
person to assist them in making all their hopes and dreams come true.
Assume that the amount of energy the universe puts aside for each person
is an order of magnitude higher than the amount that any person can
ever achieve, so that the universe can always adequately reflect the
amount that the person gives off no matter how their emotions and
thoughts fluctuate. What a person gives out the universe will give back.
Like breeds like.
With this in mind, imagine that a person is working towards a goal that requires 100 units of this energy to achieve, getting homeowner's insurance for example. Positive energy is a creative force and negative energy is a destructive force. Achieving a goal is about making an improvement or about building something, gaining or increasing. So we will need 100 units of positive energy to achieve this goal. Each point of negative energy in what we say do or think will decrease the amount of positive energy. They cancel each other out.
So the person working towards this goal is excited and happy about their vision and puts out their maximum effort that they can at one point in time and let's say that's five units of positive energy. You as the universe see this person with that vision, are impressed with their excitement and positivity and you reflect their energy with five units of positive energy.
Now they are ten percent of the way there. The next day occurs and they are working more towards their goal and everything looks great. They provide five more units of positivity and so do you. Then they are twenty percent of the way there.
Day three comes around and while they are working towards their goal an obstacle comes up. The insurance agent tells them that there is going to be a delay because inspections need to be done. The best thing for the person to do would be to say okay cool how do we do that. Let's get it done. Then today could be another day of ten percent achievement. Instead the person gets frustrated with the delay and becomes negative. Here is the important part of this lesson.
You as the universe are saying we're about a fifth of the way to you having this goal are you sure this is what you want? And the person's reply is totally negative. Five units of negative energy are generated by the person and you as the universe decide that the person does not want what they have said they do. You respond by applying five more units of negative energy. Now they are back to the 10% of the way towards their goal that they were on day one. And the way this will show up is by more obstacles and challenges occurring as the universe again asks what they really want.
As you can see, in order for any real forward progress to happen, the person is going to need to focus all of their thoughts, words and deeds positively towards accomplishing their goals.
If a person is putting their best effort forward, while living with faith that they will receive that for which they are working towards and are grateful for those things which they have yet to receive there can be no doubt about the results. The universe is constantly being updated with the truth that they want exactly what they have asked for and they are sure to receive it.
Keep in mind also that things will sometimes not happen on the timetable that you would like due to the fact that you as a person do not know the amount of energy required to bring you what it is that you desire. But, often when things do not happen when you want them to, when they finally do, something about them will be even better than that for which you had originally planned.
Be persistent in maintaining an attitude of gratitude,while putting your best foot forward and faithfully believing you will get what you want, and all your dreams will come true
With this in mind, imagine that a person is working towards a goal that requires 100 units of this energy to achieve, getting homeowner's insurance for example. Positive energy is a creative force and negative energy is a destructive force. Achieving a goal is about making an improvement or about building something, gaining or increasing. So we will need 100 units of positive energy to achieve this goal. Each point of negative energy in what we say do or think will decrease the amount of positive energy. They cancel each other out.
So the person working towards this goal is excited and happy about their vision and puts out their maximum effort that they can at one point in time and let's say that's five units of positive energy. You as the universe see this person with that vision, are impressed with their excitement and positivity and you reflect their energy with five units of positive energy.
Now they are ten percent of the way there. The next day occurs and they are working more towards their goal and everything looks great. They provide five more units of positivity and so do you. Then they are twenty percent of the way there.
Day three comes around and while they are working towards their goal an obstacle comes up. The insurance agent tells them that there is going to be a delay because inspections need to be done. The best thing for the person to do would be to say okay cool how do we do that. Let's get it done. Then today could be another day of ten percent achievement. Instead the person gets frustrated with the delay and becomes negative. Here is the important part of this lesson.
You as the universe are saying we're about a fifth of the way to you having this goal are you sure this is what you want? And the person's reply is totally negative. Five units of negative energy are generated by the person and you as the universe decide that the person does not want what they have said they do. You respond by applying five more units of negative energy. Now they are back to the 10% of the way towards their goal that they were on day one. And the way this will show up is by more obstacles and challenges occurring as the universe again asks what they really want.
As you can see, in order for any real forward progress to happen, the person is going to need to focus all of their thoughts, words and deeds positively towards accomplishing their goals.
If a person is putting their best effort forward, while living with faith that they will receive that for which they are working towards and are grateful for those things which they have yet to receive there can be no doubt about the results. The universe is constantly being updated with the truth that they want exactly what they have asked for and they are sure to receive it.
Keep in mind also that things will sometimes not happen on the timetable that you would like due to the fact that you as a person do not know the amount of energy required to bring you what it is that you desire. But, often when things do not happen when you want them to, when they finally do, something about them will be even better than that for which you had originally planned.
Be persistent in maintaining an attitude of gratitude,while putting your best foot forward and faithfully believing you will get what you want, and all your dreams will come true
A few more words on gratitude pt1
In some previous posts I have mentioned that being grateful is an
important part of being successful in life. Some recent real life
experiences have caused me to do some more thinking along those lines.
We have been attempting to replace the lender placed insurance that we have had for the past several years with actual homeowner's insurance. I say attempting because this has been going on for the last four months. There have been multiple roadblocks all along the way. We have always been polite and professional with the people over the phone, but once they were off the phone we were cursing the circumstance and wanting to take out our frustration on the customer service or insurance people.
Recently my point of view has changed and now things are moving along pretty smoothly. Some data even came up while working with the fourth insurance agent that looks like it is going to save us from needing to make a big up front out of pocket payment. This would not have happened if the first insurance agent months ago had been able to help us right away.
What caused this change? Essentially I realized that I was not showing an attitude of gratitude which I will explain shortly.
If you have read some of the other things that I have written, you probably already know that I believe very strongly in the power of positive/negative energy. What you say do and think creates a response from the universe. If what you say, do and think is positive the universe will bring you positive results. If what you say, do and think is negative the universe will bring you negative results. If you send out mixed messages the universe will bring you back mixed results.
Now about gratitude. It is easy to be grateful for the things that you have and you should be. That is awesome and positive and does tend to bring more good things to you. But what is even more powerful yet is being grateful for the things which you do not have as of yet. I know that may not make sense to you, but bear with me. Here is how it works.
First, you decide that you want something. Next you put into motion a plan to go about getting it. While you are working towards your goal, put forth your best effort in every step where your participation is required and live in faith that the thing that you are working towards will soon be yours. Be thankful as if that thing were already yours and imagine the things that you will be able to do once it is. This gratitude creates a sort of vacuum in the universe between the vision of what you want and what you have, pulling the two together until they become one.
Sometimes things do not always go according to plan though. And just today a new way of looking at obstacles has come to me. Imagine, if you will, any obstacle that comes up as the universe asking you if you are sure that this thing you envision is something that you really want. The way of saying yes it is what you want is to continue putting forth your best effort with faith that it is yours and gratitude as if it were already yours. The way of saying no is allowing your thoughts, words or deeds to become negative in any way shape or form.
Doing the latter halts all forward progress towards you and causes you to start the process of positive thinking all over. Every time you tell the universe that you do not want the things which you have asked for more and more obstacles will come up and those things will move further and further away.
Think about this. Some of the things in your vision will likely require less time and effort to achieve. Some of them will take more. And some that you think will take less end up taking more. But the fact of the matter is everything is going to take a certain amount of energy. Before you begin any process you do not know how much of each will be required. Let's say that instead of being you, you are the universe and the universe does know how much energy needs to go into each portion of your vision in order to see it realized.
We have been attempting to replace the lender placed insurance that we have had for the past several years with actual homeowner's insurance. I say attempting because this has been going on for the last four months. There have been multiple roadblocks all along the way. We have always been polite and professional with the people over the phone, but once they were off the phone we were cursing the circumstance and wanting to take out our frustration on the customer service or insurance people.
Recently my point of view has changed and now things are moving along pretty smoothly. Some data even came up while working with the fourth insurance agent that looks like it is going to save us from needing to make a big up front out of pocket payment. This would not have happened if the first insurance agent months ago had been able to help us right away.
What caused this change? Essentially I realized that I was not showing an attitude of gratitude which I will explain shortly.
If you have read some of the other things that I have written, you probably already know that I believe very strongly in the power of positive/negative energy. What you say do and think creates a response from the universe. If what you say, do and think is positive the universe will bring you positive results. If what you say, do and think is negative the universe will bring you negative results. If you send out mixed messages the universe will bring you back mixed results.
Now about gratitude. It is easy to be grateful for the things that you have and you should be. That is awesome and positive and does tend to bring more good things to you. But what is even more powerful yet is being grateful for the things which you do not have as of yet. I know that may not make sense to you, but bear with me. Here is how it works.
First, you decide that you want something. Next you put into motion a plan to go about getting it. While you are working towards your goal, put forth your best effort in every step where your participation is required and live in faith that the thing that you are working towards will soon be yours. Be thankful as if that thing were already yours and imagine the things that you will be able to do once it is. This gratitude creates a sort of vacuum in the universe between the vision of what you want and what you have, pulling the two together until they become one.
Sometimes things do not always go according to plan though. And just today a new way of looking at obstacles has come to me. Imagine, if you will, any obstacle that comes up as the universe asking you if you are sure that this thing you envision is something that you really want. The way of saying yes it is what you want is to continue putting forth your best effort with faith that it is yours and gratitude as if it were already yours. The way of saying no is allowing your thoughts, words or deeds to become negative in any way shape or form.
Doing the latter halts all forward progress towards you and causes you to start the process of positive thinking all over. Every time you tell the universe that you do not want the things which you have asked for more and more obstacles will come up and those things will move further and further away.
Think about this. Some of the things in your vision will likely require less time and effort to achieve. Some of them will take more. And some that you think will take less end up taking more. But the fact of the matter is everything is going to take a certain amount of energy. Before you begin any process you do not know how much of each will be required. Let's say that instead of being you, you are the universe and the universe does know how much energy needs to go into each portion of your vision in order to see it realized.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Interesting experiences
For the past several weeks I have noticed something new about my way
of being when interacting with people outside of my home. I have a clear
image of the change but I am finding putting it to words to be
difficult. Most of the word patterns that are coming up are
not...right.
My general way of being is peaceful, calm and happy, often even at times when one or more people around me are being belligerent. And many times when I interact with people they are pleasant and the transaction is good.
But lately it has been... More. As you can probably tell, I am still struggling with this. I do tend to frequent the same places. So I do see the same faces repeatedly. That does not explain the change though.
Each one of these exchanges has been more powerfully positive than they were in the past. It is like there is something in my way of being that other people see and it resonates with something in their way of being and the energy that I put out is passing through them and coming back even stronger from them to me.
A simple back and forth conversation of pleases and thank yous when ordering food somehow keeps ending up with me and the other person massively building positive energy to the point of nearly overflowing with joy.
My gratitude at being adequately assisted in my endeavor is only matched by their enjoyment of having been able to assist me. I am sure to the reader this seems stupid or corny or even crazy but I swear it is real. I have literally gotten back into my car afterwards wondering just a little why I have such a huge smile on my face.
This type of connection is not exactly new to me. I have had a similar experience with customer service type things before, but not where the energy level keeps building. Usually it just reflects back and forth and stays around the same level.
Actually it's more like, when you start a new romantic relationship with a person. You go back and forth talking with one another. And as you find out more and more about how you are alike and share things in common the excitement and enjoyment of the relationship continues to build with every passing moment.
It's love. Love is pouring out of me and into other people. It is being amplified and given back. I am sure of it. But why? What has changed about my way of being recently to have made that big of a difference? I have been doing a lot of inspirational reading and motivational listening. It could be that I suppose. Most of the things that I have read, heard and seen recently I already thought and or believed though. Some things were defined in a more clear cut way and perhaps that is the difference. I am thinking and doing the same things just in a more precise and less general way. Much of what I have read says that to the universe something is not real until it is specific and measurable.
This set of experiences I will reflect and meditate on. I may write more about this later. For now I will enjoy it and hope that things stay this way.
My general way of being is peaceful, calm and happy, often even at times when one or more people around me are being belligerent. And many times when I interact with people they are pleasant and the transaction is good.
But lately it has been... More. As you can probably tell, I am still struggling with this. I do tend to frequent the same places. So I do see the same faces repeatedly. That does not explain the change though.
Each one of these exchanges has been more powerfully positive than they were in the past. It is like there is something in my way of being that other people see and it resonates with something in their way of being and the energy that I put out is passing through them and coming back even stronger from them to me.
A simple back and forth conversation of pleases and thank yous when ordering food somehow keeps ending up with me and the other person massively building positive energy to the point of nearly overflowing with joy.
My gratitude at being adequately assisted in my endeavor is only matched by their enjoyment of having been able to assist me. I am sure to the reader this seems stupid or corny or even crazy but I swear it is real. I have literally gotten back into my car afterwards wondering just a little why I have such a huge smile on my face.
This type of connection is not exactly new to me. I have had a similar experience with customer service type things before, but not where the energy level keeps building. Usually it just reflects back and forth and stays around the same level.
Actually it's more like, when you start a new romantic relationship with a person. You go back and forth talking with one another. And as you find out more and more about how you are alike and share things in common the excitement and enjoyment of the relationship continues to build with every passing moment.
It's love. Love is pouring out of me and into other people. It is being amplified and given back. I am sure of it. But why? What has changed about my way of being recently to have made that big of a difference? I have been doing a lot of inspirational reading and motivational listening. It could be that I suppose. Most of the things that I have read, heard and seen recently I already thought and or believed though. Some things were defined in a more clear cut way and perhaps that is the difference. I am thinking and doing the same things just in a more precise and less general way. Much of what I have read says that to the universe something is not real until it is specific and measurable.
This set of experiences I will reflect and meditate on. I may write more about this later. For now I will enjoy it and hope that things stay this way.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Why are you grateful?
A lot of books about self improvement and empowerment tell you that
part of the secret to success is an attitude of gratitude. They say that
all of the good things coming to you will only make their way to you
once you have shown appreciation for what you already have.
But gratitude or gratefulness what is it? It is the state or act of being thankful. It is being happy or glad for the mere existence of some particular thing in your life.
What kind of things should you be grateful for? The short answer is everything. I am grateful just to be alive, to be able to breathe in great lung fulls of air, to be able to smell the scent of flowers, taste wondrous foods, to feel and be able to differentiate between smooth and rough textures,to be able to see my beautiful wife and to hear the sounds of my son tearing through the house on his quest to play with everyone and everything. I am grateful for the love of my wife and the existence of my son.
I am also grateful for all the negative experiences in my life, all the challenges and obstacles. Up until this point you were probably going, "yeah right on! I feel you". But now I may have lost you. I really do value all of the things in my life good and bad. And here's a couple of reasons why.
I would not be the person that I am today if I had not had the exact set of experiences, good, bad or neutral, that I have had throughout my life. If even one minute detail had been different, I would be a slightly different person. And more likely than not, one small detail being different would have led to different thoughts,emotions,decisions and actions. A snow ball effect would probably have occurred and a great many things about me might have turned out differently. And the things is I REALLY REALLY like me just the way I am. There are of course things that I may not be perfectly in harmony with, but that's natural. We always have room for improvement and I am working on those things. But the point is I am grateful for all the experiences that have made me who I am.
Also, life needs contrast. People who grow up rich their whole lives never really understand what it is like to be poor or homeless. They have thoughts and ideas designed to help those that are less fortunate, but more often than not they are doomed to failure because they do not really understand what it is like to BE less fortunate. Likewise, without having great tragedy or failure you can not properly appreciate great success. It is still possible to achieve, it just won't mean anything to you when you do. I am grateful for all my mistakes and failures because they provide opportunity for new growth. I am grateful for all the pain that I have had in my past because it allows me to properly appreciate the joy that I have today. I am grateful for all of the people that choose to spend time with me in my life right now and all the people that have shared their lives with me in the past.
What are you grateful for?
But gratitude or gratefulness what is it? It is the state or act of being thankful. It is being happy or glad for the mere existence of some particular thing in your life.
What kind of things should you be grateful for? The short answer is everything. I am grateful just to be alive, to be able to breathe in great lung fulls of air, to be able to smell the scent of flowers, taste wondrous foods, to feel and be able to differentiate between smooth and rough textures,to be able to see my beautiful wife and to hear the sounds of my son tearing through the house on his quest to play with everyone and everything. I am grateful for the love of my wife and the existence of my son.
I am also grateful for all the negative experiences in my life, all the challenges and obstacles. Up until this point you were probably going, "yeah right on! I feel you". But now I may have lost you. I really do value all of the things in my life good and bad. And here's a couple of reasons why.
I would not be the person that I am today if I had not had the exact set of experiences, good, bad or neutral, that I have had throughout my life. If even one minute detail had been different, I would be a slightly different person. And more likely than not, one small detail being different would have led to different thoughts,emotions,decisions and actions. A snow ball effect would probably have occurred and a great many things about me might have turned out differently. And the things is I REALLY REALLY like me just the way I am. There are of course things that I may not be perfectly in harmony with, but that's natural. We always have room for improvement and I am working on those things. But the point is I am grateful for all the experiences that have made me who I am.
Also, life needs contrast. People who grow up rich their whole lives never really understand what it is like to be poor or homeless. They have thoughts and ideas designed to help those that are less fortunate, but more often than not they are doomed to failure because they do not really understand what it is like to BE less fortunate. Likewise, without having great tragedy or failure you can not properly appreciate great success. It is still possible to achieve, it just won't mean anything to you when you do. I am grateful for all my mistakes and failures because they provide opportunity for new growth. I am grateful for all the pain that I have had in my past because it allows me to properly appreciate the joy that I have today. I am grateful for all of the people that choose to spend time with me in my life right now and all the people that have shared their lives with me in the past.
What are you grateful for?
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