Dec 2008 Prosperity Thoughts

Dec 2008 Prosperity Thoughts

The time of year just before the winter solstice is often full of deep reflection for spiritual seekers. We simultaneously look back over the past year and prepare for the upcoming year as well. It is within this context that I want to share with you some ideas about right timing.

We know that there is an infinitely brilliant organizing intelligence responding to our needs. Some teachers suggest that we can set forth a date certain by which these needs will manifest. So, following this guidance, at the beginning of the year someone might declare: I will accomplish xyz by November 1, 2008, with the full and complete confidence that God will respond to their deadline.

Now, I have never taught this because it has never been my experience. To me, it seems as if people are being taught to dictate to God. I do believe in setting a firm intention for myself at the beginning of the year and then watching how it unfolds. More often than not, my need is met within a realistic time frame and sometimes in a delightfully unexpected way. Occasionally, my need does not appear to be met, and when I look more carefully, I notice that I got caught up in a strategy to meet the need and lost focus on the need itself. When I look beyond the surface of my strategy I can often see that the Universe has exceedingly manifested that which best meets my actual needs. Now, there are occasions when it looks like my need is not being met on time and abundantly, and that brings me to the point of this Prosperity Thought. Right Timing is everything.

Here is a very current example. When our church office closed, Debbie and I moved everything left into our house. So my downstairs closet is full of archive boxes, our garage shelves are full of church hospitality supplies and our utility room is loaded with paper and office materials. On top of that we had the church copier, a magnificent beast, moved here as well. It took at least 4 men to move it downstairs.

Oh, by the way, did I mention that I donated my old copier from my law practice to the church as well, so we had two large high volume copiers here, one in the garage and one downstairs. Oh well, we tried to sell them at the big garage sale. Not one offer. Then, after a while, they needed repairs again and we decided to release them with love rather than throw good money into fixing them. We first tried to sell them on Craig’s List. Not one call. We tried to give them away on Freecycle. Nope. How about giving them away for free on Craig’s list? Nada. We tried to give them away to our copy repair shop for parts or to refurbish, they said “no, thanks!”

I did not want to just haul them away to the dump- it did not meet my need to be ecologically conscious. So, I had two needs, one to get rid of the copiers and second to do it in an environmentally kind way. We called copy repair shops in Salem and Eugene. No go. We tried to give them away to recyclers- they would not come pick them up. My need to get rid of these copiers did not appear to be getting met. Moreover, I wanted to get rid of the copiers so that we had room for a second refrigerator. Now, I have three needs to correlate. I was starting to feel stuck, but I kept applying the principle of Right Timing.

I began to shop for refrigerators even though the copiers had not yet been released. I thought maybe that if the refrigerator showed up, the copiers would then leave, but I couldn’t find what I wanted. Some refrigerators were too old and beat up. Others that seemed like possibilities’ were sold by the time I called. The new ones I shopped for were too expensive, and the new ones I could afford were too small, it seemed as if it was always something.

When things appear stuck, sometimes it is my unwillingness to ask for help that is the bottleneck. I posted a short email on the list server asking for help. One person offered to help, he asked me to just allow him to handle it and to trust him. OK, that sounds good, but then he was delayed a couple of times. I was grateful for the help, I knew there was a good lesson in there about trust, and I still wanted my refrigerator!

Finally, he showed up with someone to help him load it. They were taking it to a place where it would be recycled and all systems looked good. After all this time, my needs were getting met. As we loaded the 2^nd copier on the trailer to haul it away, I mentioned wanting a refrigerator. The guy who came to help mentioned that sometimes he came across refrigerators that were in good condition and he said he would keep an eye out for me.

Then, the very next morning, he called and let me know that a nearly brand new refrigerator had showed up on his dock. It had one little problem with a display light in the door and otherwise it seemed to work fine. I told him I would take it, sight unseen because I trusted him and I knew that Right Timing was at work.

My needs were met, on time and abundantly; both of the copiers are gone, recycled, and we now have a 2^nd refrigerator. All I had to do was my own footwork. I needed to get clear on my values. I needed to take the steps which were mine to take (for example, get clear on what type of refrigerator I wanted, post on Craig’s List, call the copy repair people, be open to other suggestions such as the Freecycle idea). Most importantly, I need to trust and allow Sprit to work things out. To do that, I needed to be willing to ask for help.

I write this out for those of you who are wondering why the intentions you set in January did not manifest. It might be that Right Timing has not yet occurred. Things are set in motion to bring you your good, just not as fast as you expected. Or, perhaps it is that you have some foot work to do (either spiritual or otherwise) and that the bottle neck is in your own lack of authentic action.

I end with the amusing teaching story of the guy who set an intention at the beginning of the year to win a Lottery. Month after month he prays to God to have him win the Lottery. He uses affirmations. He makes a treasure map. He Masterminds all towards winning the lottery. He promises to tithe a full 10%. Then late in the year, he still had not won and was in church praying. He said, “God, how can you forsake me? I set an intention. I have prayed without ceasing. I have visualized and affirmed and masterminded all towards winning the lottery. Why won’t you manifest my good and let me win the Lottery…”.

Suddenly there is a blinding flash of light and the heavens open and the Voice of God booms out….. “Dude, give me a little help on this one, go buy yourself a lottery ticket!”

Affirmation: I trust God’s Right and Perfect Timing.

Extra Credit Affirmation: God does not do for me what is mine to do; I will do my footwork to manifest my own good.

Prosperity Thoughts Thanksgiving 2008

Prosperity Thoughts

As our holiday Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, it is natural for us to take a moment and look at all that we have for which to be grateful. The tradition of Thanksgiving is to look at all the good things we have received and remember how blessed we are with loving friends and family, good health and our prosperity. I am not saying that we are all naturally grateful because that has not been my experience - I personally had to work through a lot of negativity before I found a grateful heart. My point is that it is a lot easier to be grateful for those things we enjoy and savor than it is to be grateful for those things we did not/do not enjoy.

I would like to suggest that this Thanksgiving season we take a moment and see if we can be grateful for those rough patches on our path. One helpful tool I have used is to remember that is our choice how to give each event in our life meaning. We can choose to live from regret and disappointment for those things we did not enjoy or we can choose to find a blessing in each. You see, it is Spiritual Law that there is always a blessing in every situation and circumstance. Many people are unwilling to look for this blessing and thus never find it. Those that do, find a profound sense of gratitude and compassion in their hearts.

AA captures this sentiment in one of its “promises”. The AA Big Book promises every alcoholic that no matter how far down the scale they personally have gone; as they move forward on their spiritual path and in their sobriety they will come to see how their experience can benefit another alcoholic. Compassion and empathy for another is a vital trait for all healers and lovers, and one way it is acquired is through finding the blessing in difficult situations.

However, for some of us, the process of acquiring compassion for others as a result of our own difficulties is too abstract. It seems like spiritual slight of hand- we want some direct benefit for ourselves. The adage that whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger tends to speak to this. A few months ago, I talked with someone who shared a whole litany of bad things that were going on in their life, recent divorce, no active romantic interest in spite of diligent efforts, poor physical health, no money to live on, unable to find any job, terrible economy and this only touches the surface of their perspective on their life situation. The only good thing that they could find in all of this was that it finally brought them to a willingness to look at their relationship with God. Now, those of you that are advanced students on the spiritual path know that this is quite a blessing in itself, but for my friend, it seemed small solace. Still, this one single blessing was enough to give hope to continue looking for blessings for one additional day. And sure enough, one day at a time, little miracles and blessings occurred and now my friend can see a future.

Let’s agree though, we do not really want to face utter desolation to find our spiritual path. Let’s say that our lives are reasonably satisfying and that we are doing reasonably well, but we have had some serious bumps along the way. Can we always find a tangible blessing even from difficulties long past? My answer is that spiritual law applies in every instance and so yes, there is always a blessing.

Here is an example that might help. My daughter was born into a dysfunctional home with a lot of strife and upset. I divorced her mom before she was in preschool and unfortunately there was a lot of uncertainty and chaos in her day to day life from a very early age. My ex and I shared custody so there was a lot of logistical detail and inherent unpredictability in her childhood. We did not agree on many things and nobody could predict how the balance of power would pan out on any given decision. Things that should be happy celebrations were fraught with trouble. She played soccer like many little girls. Her mom and dad would come to the games and she never knew if there would be a humiliating spat between them. Her soccer team had a pizza party at the end of the season- where should she sit, with her mom or with her dad? She was the first of her group of friends to have divorced parents, so no one knew how to navigate getting permission to go places or to have sleepovers. When she started dating life became even more complex. The holidays were inordinately complicated- and not just on the emotional front. As she got older; juggling multiple holiday events became annual fare for my daughter as she was torn between separate family schedules.

I could go on and on about the problems my daughter faced growing up- I do not want to minimize here, but I think you get the point. As you may be aware, many people do spend a lot of energy complaining about their childhood. (I should know, I spent years in therapy complaining about my own childhood). Here is the blessing. A few years ago, my daughter got her picture in the LA Times. My daughter works in live theater and you might think she is an up and coming actress or singer, but no, she is a stage manager. She deals with chaos and prima donnas in a calm and centered fashion. She is incredibly organized and able to navigate a myriad of dysfunctions in every show. In the LA Times photo; she is sitting at a table in a production meeting taking notes. She is in the background; some famous director is in the center of the shot. For each show, my daughter is the one that compiles a binder of all that is to happen in the production. She organizes the details of the whole production company, interfacing with the costume designers, the prop shop, the musicians and performers and the house managers and all the rest of the creative staff. She operates on split second timing for each scene change and each lighting cue and sound effect and so forth. The complexity is amazing, and utterly does not faze her in the least- because compared to what she grew up with, this is calm and manageable.

My daughter is really good at her job because of the skills she learned as a little girl in making order out of chaos. She has turned a traumatic and difficult situation into a tangible blessing. This Thanksgiving, be grateful for those things you enjoy receiving. In addition, take some time to find the blessing in those things this past year that you did not like. It is profoundly transformative.

Affirmation: I am sincerely willing to find the blessing in everything.