Tag Archives: authors

Do You Believe It?

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In Soul Stories, a book by Gary Zuvak, he wrote, among other things, “Believe that when you ask a question you always get an answer.” I don’t know why, but the question I asked was, “Where am I from?”

I was led to a meditation site online from a note I had taken on a television program a few nights earlier. The meditation that day was titled “Home”. It suggested that I am from another dimension, one of peace, and light, and silence. This explains my love of silence…I bask in it when stillness seems to envelop me from time to time.

At different times in prior years I had written poems, one titled,” A New Dimension” where becoming aware of the things we usually ignore opens our eyes to what’s around us. “The Journey” depicts a life of love and serenity.

To my mind, heaven is another dimension and perfectly fits the description above…love and serenity.

If I had ignored the prompting to take a note from a television program, I would not have been aware of the online meditation that gave me a fairly apt description of “where I am from”.

I attribute the inspiration for “The Journey” to a surgeon who many years ago released me from hospital with these words, “Live, love, and be happy.” And this is precisely my life today.

Do you believe it?

Wishes Fulfilled

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“You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true.” This is a quote by Richard Bach, author of Jonathon Livingston Seagull, a great weekend read. May all your weekend wishes come true. Happy Saturday.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull - eBook - By: Richard Bach

 

Loud and Clear

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It never ceases to amaze me how God speaks to us when we are open to hearing. I’m reading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren for the umpteenth time. Although there are a couple of things in the book I can’t come to terms with, for the most part it is a “handbook for life”. The book was given to me in 2003 at a time when my life was so stressed that I just wanted to pack up and move away to the country and become a hermit. My almost daily mantra was, I’ve got to get out of here! That was not a good idea nor a good option but it was how I felt…and then I read this on page 263 of The Purpose Driven Life...

You may be serving in obscurity in some small place, feeling unknown and unappreciated. Listen: God put you where you are for a purpose! He has every hair on your head numbered, and he knows your address. You had better stay put until he chooses to move you. He will let you know if he wants you somewhere else. 

Let me tell you, I got that message loud and clear! I never again felt the desire to move and I’m still here fifteen years later.

 

Our Perception of Life

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A friend shared this with me last Saturday morning because I had used the words, I can see clearly now as the finishing touch on a post,  The Plank In My Eye on March 9th. I have always loved the song.  The following is indeed another life lesson in itself, again taken from the song, I Can See Clearly Now written by Johnny Nash in 1972.

Do you know who Johnny Nash is? In my opinion, he is a genius who provided a tremendous life lesson hidden in the lyrics of a great song. If you investigate the meaning behind the message, you’ll discover the impact of his words.

Have you ever realized that your perception of life is the lens through which you view your life? Our perception truly shapes our reality. Is your lens clear, and do you like what you see? Or have you allowed circumstances in your life to cloud up your lens and change your viewpoint and perspective?

“I can see clearly now the rain is gone.”

I love this lyric. Here is a person who has cleaned his lens. The rain was blocking his vision of life. When the “hard rain” is pouring down all around, it’s easy to miss the beauty around you, the opportunities open to you.

“I can see all obstacles in my way.”

This person has arrived at a moment of clarity. Now that the rain is gone, he can finally see the obstacles preventing him from the goals and dreams he has been pursuing without success. Once you define and acknowledge your obstacles, you can create a compelling plan of action to turn these obstacles into tangible opportunities.

“Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind.”

Wow, this is such a powerful use of words! We have all experienced “dark cloud” moments in our life. We have been hurt and disappointed. We have experienced losses and unexpected moments of sadness. We have been this close to a major victory only to fall short and have to start over. To me, these powerful words represent a message of hope. The dark clouds in our life will disappear. We will maintain our faith and belief that things can and will work out in the end.

“It’s going to be a bright bright sunshiny day”

Beautiful optimism! What an inspiring and positive outlook this lyric projects. This person has cleared off the lens, recognized the obstacles, removed the dark clouds, and replaced his blindness with a powerful vision. The road ahead is bathed in bright sunshine.

Johnny Nash’s words are open to interpretation, but I believe the rain could have been a series of negative emotions. The obstacles could have been the source of that (rain) pain. The dark clouds could have been the acceptance of those negative emotions causing blindness to the possibilities. The bright sunshiny day could be the moment the person said, “No more! From today forward, I will take hold of my life and choose to look through my lens with the hope, faith, and confidence that a bright future brings.”

Clear your lens and embrace your future – every day. What song has a lot of meaning to you?

Make A Difference Today,
~Paul

It’s Supernatural

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So what does supernatural mean? Here’s one on-line dictionary’s explanation:

su·per·nat·u·ral
  1. 1.
    (of a manifestation or event) attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.
    “a supernatural being”

Today I read this in one of my spiritual journals: Faith – the supernatural ability to trust God. 

In his book, Twelve Gifts from God, William Warch wrote: Everyone has the gift of faith but not everyone has an active faith.

So then I looked up the word activate, simply put by Wikipedia …

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activate

Activate is a verb meaning to make operative or active.

Makes sense, right? We have the gift of speech (or most of us do) but we can’t use it until we activate it by opening our mouths and putting our tongue, lips, and vocal cords to work. So with faith…we must activate our mind, heart, intellect, and whatever it takes to lay hold of this gift and put it to phenomenal use.
I’m not going to be so brash as to try to tell anyone how to activate their gift of faith. When one feels the need, one seeks the deed. That in itself is supernatural.
Happy Sunday

 

Optimism vs Pessimism

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In Tune With the Infinite is a wonderful go-to book written by Ralph Waldo Trine and for the next few days or so I am going to offer excerpts of his wisdom starting today with the Prelude of this great book.

The optimist is right. The pessimist is right. The one differs from the other as the light from the dark. Yet both are right. Each is right from his own particular point of view, and this point of view is the determining factor in the life of each. It determines as to whether it is a life of power or of impotence, of peace or of pain, of success or of failure. 

The optimist has the power of seeing things in their entirety and in their right relations. The pessimist looks from a limited and one-sided point of view. The one has his understanding illumined by wisdom, the understanding of the other is darkened by ignorance. Each is building his world from within, and the result of the building is determined b the point of view of each. The optimist, by his superior wisdom and insight, is making his own heaven, and in the degree that he makes his own heaven is he helping to make one for all the world beside. The pessimist, by virtue of his limitations, is making his own hell, and in the degree that he makes his own hell is he helping to make one for all mankind.

You and I have the predominating characteristics of an optimist or the predominating characteristics of a pessimist. We then are making, hour by hour, our own heaven or our own hell; and in the degree that we are making the one or the other for ourselves are we helping make it for all the world beside.

The word heaven means harmony. The word hell is from the old English hell, meaning to build a wall around, to separate; to be helled was to be shut off from. Now if there is such a thing as harmony there must be that something one can be in right relations with; for to be in right relations with anything is to be in harmony with it. Again, if there is such a thing as being helled, shut off, separated from, there must be that something from which one is held, shut off or separated.

Now, we all know people who are either or optimists or pessimists, including ourselves. As for me, I am always pessimistically optimistic; meaning that that which I desire to materialize will do so with a hint that it also may not.

 

Fruit of Love

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Dr. Wayne Dyer has been one of my favorite authors for many years. Here is a tiny excerpt from his book, Real Magic, where he quotes Mother Theresa from her book, For the Love of God.

“The fruit of love is service, which is compassion in action. Religion has nothing to do with compassion, it is our love for God that is the main thing because we have all been created for the sole purpose to love and be loved.” (Bold italics, mine.)

To love and be loved…how many of us know this, and better still, practice it? It’s something the world needs now.

How blessed are those who experience the fruit of love.

More Quips and Quotes

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The more we read, listen and learn, the more we are able to share with others. Here are some more quips and quotes from various sources:

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Zen Proverb

We are never presented with lessons until we are ready to learn them.

From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. From the hymn, “In Christ Alone”.

There will be an answer, let it be. The Beatles

A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

Live your life with peace, poise and power. From Practical Spirituality

Grudges are a burden too heavy to carry. Our Daily Bread Magazine

I gave in and admitted that God was God. C.S.Lewis

The higher the hurdle the higher we jump. pab

Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain. Mark Twain

Look at situations from all angles and you will become more open. Dalai Lama

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