Thanksgiving

I'm from Ireland where Thanksgiving is not celebrated which is a surprise to some people here.
I don't know why it surprises people unless they have momentarily forgotten that it was celebrated by the Plymouth pilgrims and the natives who helped them survive their first winter in the New World in 1621. It became an official holiday in 1863, when, during the civil war, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens", to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November.
I have a special relationship with Thanksgiving despite not growing up here, because it was the day I arrived in the US. Of course I had no idea that was the case then but over the years as I celebrate my anniversary as an Irish American I like to give thanks for the experiences that my journey has given me.
I try not to dwell on all that I left behind because I left so much. Every decision we make has a positive and a negative. Every decision we make adds something to our lives. Whether we deem the decision good or bad we still gain. 

I have gained very dear friends. I have gained amazing work experiences and financial rewards that allowed me to travel the world and see things I could not have imagined, from the top of Kilimanjaro to the depths of Death Valley and so much more. I have gained a life partner whom I deeply love. I have gained a spiritual philosophy that transformed my life and showed me my own power to choose what I think and how I act. I have gained more than I can say in this small piece of writing, I gained a life that is good and full and in which I can visit my home and family in Ireland regularly, and I am deeply grateful for that.

I have gained an official holiday to give thanks. I am grateful.
What are you thankful for this thanksgiving? Remember the words of Shakespeare,
 ... there is nothing either good or
bad, but thinking makes it so.

Power of One

"While many of us don’t know yet how to realize our potential,
we can all learn. Most important, we can learn this while we live our
everyday lives. The key is to act in ways that shape what happens
to us day to day, instead of passively allowing events to shape us.
For example, by learning how to embrace all our experiences, we
become strengthened, expanded, and spiritualized by them, and our
extra-ordinariness then emerges."
from the Urban Mystic by Ken Mellor

This is the power of choice which is our greatest asset. We may not be able to control what happens to us but we can control how we respond to what happens to us.

Do your thoughts control you or do you control your thoughts?

Many say "I cant help it, the world gets me down, its overwhelming." I am not unfamiliar to being sensitive to the suffering I see and having moments of feeling immobilized by my own life challenges but my belief, that we still have choice in how we talk to ourselves in these moments, is what gets me moving again. I look for the smallest step I can take now and do that. Even if its as small as cleaning out a drawer or making a phone call. These are the increments of a life and start my momentum. Often its the getting started that is the hardest part.

Never underestimate the power of one, one consciousness - yours - to transform your day. That can ripple outward to those around you and if you choose to be a positive influence in the world there is no limit to how many you can inspire. So no excuses today, you hold the power. Go use it well. 

More Love

Love makes the world go round so THEY say! And yes love motivates a great deal of what gets done in the world. Love plants trees, nurtures children, builds beautiful buildings, creates music, gives to the poor, looks out for the less fortunate, listens to the voice of reason and inner guidance.
Then there's fear, the other less attractive motivator. Its the driving force behind greed, oppression, crime, and all manner of selfish acts. The fear is, I can't have what I want any other way than by taking it by force.

Love increases our experience of peace while fear keeps us awake at night.

Imagine Love and Fear as fires within us that we can choose to feed or not. The one you feed is the one that dominates your experiences. There is so much fear in our society today that feeding the love fire may seem like going against the grain but doing so can change the quality of your relationships especially the most important one, your relationship with yourself.

Here's what "Psychology Today" says about the power of love.
"Love is probably the best antidepressant there is because one of the most common sources of depression is feeling unloved. Most depressed people don't love themselves and they do not feel loved by others. They also are very self-focused, making them less attractive to others and depriving them of opportunities to learn the skills of love."
For more from this article with helpful tips about loving yourself (feeding the love fire) go here; http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200212/the-power-love 
"Love is as critical for your mind and body as oxygen. It's not negotiable. The more connected you are, the healthier you will be both physically and emotionally."

Power

That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.  - Albert Einstein


When you think of power what comes to mind? Presidents, world leaders, military forces, natural forces? How about authority, rules, accepted beliefs? Who has power over you? I like to think I have power over my choices and beliefs, and I do to a degree. Yet there are ideas already set in consciousness that pervade society and are accepted as truth by the majority to the extent they dictate their decisions and actions.  We are all subject to these.


Here's one harmless example - jackets should be worn with buttons in front. If I decided to wear my jacket backwards I would be ridiculed or at least pointed at in public, definitely thought of as odd at work and  loose some credibility I would imagine. 
This is just an example of going against the flow. Nicolaus Copernicus came up with the new idea that the earth was not the center of the universe but the sun, to much controversy. In 1616 Galileo came to his defense yet  the Catholic Church authorities banned Copernicus' ideas. Now there's power!
Or is it? Authorities may tell us how to think but just like Galileo who kept silent following his trial, still held to his beliefs, we too have the freedom in our own minds to hold to our own truth. Those in authority, those with the big bucks, those with seeming power can not hold back the tide of new thought, of innovation and change. Ideas that have truth in them will win out in the end. Truth has power, love has power, imagination has power. You have power in how you choose to think and what you choose as your truth, a reasoning power of which Einstein speaks. This is God in you, closer than hands and feet. Be open to it today and align with the Power in you. Listen to the words of Steve Jobs and be inspired. God speed Mr. Jobs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

Acceptance

"Believe in yourself as the physical instrument through which God (Spirit/Energy) operates.
Absolute dominion is yours when you have sufficient self-mastery to conquer the negative tendency of thoughts and actions.
Ask yourself daily; "What is the purpose of the power that put me here?"
"How can I work with the purpose of life and liberty in me?"
After having decide these questions endeavor hourly to fulfill them. You are a law onto yourself.
If you have a tendency to overdo anything; eat, drink or blame circumstances for your misfortunes, conquer that tendency with the inward conviction that ALL POWER is yours. Eat less, drink less, blame circumstances less and the best there is will gradually grow in the place where the worst seemed to be.
Always remember that ALL is yours to use as you will.
You can if you WILL; if you WILL, you do.
God the Father (Spirit/the Universe) blesses you with all He/She has to give.
Make good Godly use of it."

From Your Invisible Power - The Religious Science of Judge Troward by Genevieve Bertrend
Italics are mine.

Be willing to open your mind today to the truth spoken here, and in gratitude accept your good!

Meditation

I recently recommitted to meditation as a daily practice. I vary my method depending on what I feel I need that day. Somedays I use Vipassana - becoming the observer of my thoughts thus giving me the distance I need to realize the real "I" is separate from my worries and fears. Other days I use a mantra or affirmation that I repeat silently. My favourite at the moment is "God is the love that I am." Another way I like to meditate is while hiking to try to be fully present with nature, observing my surroundings and listening to the sounds I hear; all the time being aware of the solidness of the earth beneath my feet.
Of course meditation for some takes the form of a creative activity such as playing an instrument or painting. Its a time they are so absorbed in their task they forget themselves, loose track of time as if they have been absorbed into everything around them and merged as one.
Joseph Campbell says meditation is simply where we place the majority of our thoughts in any given day. He believes we meditate a lot on how to procure money and how to spend it, how to provide for our children, how to improve our lives and of course whats wrong in our world!
This idea I find very interesting because it is my belief that what we focus on grows. Being aware of what occupies the majority of our thoughts can help us realize how we are creating our life circumstances. Ernest Holmes says trained thought is much more powerful than untrained thought, the more one gives conscious power to one's thought the more power it will have. So be watchful today of where your thoughts are going. Where you feel it necessary try to make more of a conscious choice of what thoughts you think. Then observe the difference in how you feel, and how others respond to you. Add to this better posture, speaking with more confidence in your more positive thoughts and really notice the shifts that happen. Have fun with it and know your own power to create.

Overwhealm

“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.”
Denis Waitley, American Author



These days life can get overwhelming. Some of our busyness and pressure is external to us as demands of the life we have chosen. And a lot of it is self imposed!





I had one of those days yesterday when everything seemed to be against me. Yet when I slowed down and remembered to be present, take a breath, I realized, if I stopped spinning all these plates the consequences would not be life shattering. Some people may not be happy that I dont show up or complete a task on time but I would be healthier. You know the root cause of the most common diseases in our society is stress.

Yes our modern pace of life is accelerated but we still have the greatest power there is for achieving peace and health and that is CHOICE.

Really - its even more powerful than love because you first have to choose to be loving. In choosing to love myself I had to let go of some things from my day to alieviate the time pressure I was imposing on myself. Not everything got done, there were consequences but I evaluated the quality of my day and I felt it was a day lived better because of the choices I made.

I value the quality of my life and my health. I may not be here next week or next year when I had planned to relax and enjoy life. I have to begin today to live well and in balance.

I used to incorporate one fun thing to do into each day and I had let that slip. It's time to begin again. Today I chose to meet new people at a local park and do a free Chi Kung session. There are probably some similar free activities going on in your area too. If not I find a walk can elevate my thoughts and take me out of my busy head.

What works for you? I'm open to suggestions.


“Our choices in life are made according to our sense of our own worth”
Kaylan Pickford