Thursday, March 29, 2007

Applying the Law

My life is pretty full right now. I’m shoulder deep in reading about the Law of Attraction and it really is fascinating. I purchased the mid-pack from the Wealth Beyond Reason program, which contains 4 or 5 ebooks on the subject as well as some audio interviews and seminars. The further I get into it and learn about it, the more I see how it correlates with all the good I’ve learned about God. The books don’t deny this either. They basically say this is the science to prove what Christians have always known about the nature of God. They even quote Jesus. The biggest impact this has made on my life is focus. Up until now, I’ve floated. Not for everything. But overall, I’ve pretty much remained neutral. I never go too high, or sink too low with my feelings. By seeing this information that I already knew on a deeper level presented in a new light, I’ve soaked it in. I’m becoming more grateful and expressing it more freely. I feel more generous with my time and money.

Quick story. I made a mistake in my check register, I forgot to deduct my mortgage. Ha ha Seriously, hello, and I wondered why we had so much money in the account. So, anyway, I’m bebopping around enjoying this extra money we had. I log into my account and see, whoops, that money’s not really there, and my bank had to pay some things and of course they charged me some fees. So I calmly go through the statement and find my mistake. I’m grateful I caught it so soon, because really, that could have been disasterous! I call the bank and explain it to them and they agree to credit back one of the charges. Great. I know it was my fault, and that’s better than nothing. Later that afternoon, I’m driving to the mall and I pass a man who is homeless and works with Homeless Voice (they wear these t-shirts to distinquish them, I think the city helps them out, or something). Something strikes me and I grab my change and give it to him. He thanks me, says God bless and gives me the flyer that they pass out.

Monday comes and I check my bank account and notice that they haven’t credited my account for the one charge. I call them and speak with a rep. She doesn’t see anything in their system about the credit, but tells me to hold on. She comes back a second later and says, “I can give you credit for two of the charges.” Ah, do you see!?!

Before I would have gotten all stressed out about the check mistake and then been in a bad mood for the rest of the day, ignoring the homeless man. Instead, I chose to be grateful that I caught the mistake before it was worse. I didn’t worry because I knew we had the money to transfer over to cover the charges, and I cheerfully helped someone in need.

One of the concepts that A Happy Pocket Full of Money stresses is the biblical principle of not worrying about tomorrow that it will take care of itself. All there is is NOW. You never even get to the future, because then it will be NOW. There is no need for worry and stress. Right NOW you are ok. Any of your problems have already been solved. This is a big idea that I am striving to incorporate into my life so that I don’t even think about it anymore.

Imagine a stress and worry free life.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Musical Meme

Tag, I'm it again! Five or so years I've been blogging, and I think I have only been tagged once in all that time, and now in the past month or so, I've been tagged twice. Go me!

So, Smiling Mom has tagged me to list 7 songs I am listening to, or mean something to me right this second. Here we go.

Lifesong - Casting Crowns
Lips of an Angel - Hinder
Stained Glass Masqerade - Casting Crowns (Actually, their CD is on repeat here lately.)
Fergilcious - Fergie - (I just can't help it.)
1,2,3 Like a Bird I Sing - Tim McGraw (Larry sings this constantly.)
Praise you in this storm - Casting Crowns again
When you Come Home - Mark Schultz

There we go. Now, let's see

Carrie
Rebecca
Amanda
Laura and
Jenn

And, you're off.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Utilizing The Secret

I’m about halfway through The Secret, and I don’t even know where to begin in describing the concept and how I think it could change my way of thinking and life. The author has a way of taking various concepts that most readers are familiar with and offering a new spin on it, or just wording it where it all comes together. It’s a powerfully awesome way to look at life.

They do repeatedly use the Universe as the giver of all you desire, which I can see would be difficult for a Christian, God believer, or other higher power believer to stomach. I look at it this way, God created the Universe, so what if He put this law of attraction into motion as a way of answering the call of people? I don’t want anyone to think that I would put the Universe above God, but I can see how you would take the ideas in the book to apply them to your life.

Also, even though there is a section on wealth, and how one should envision themselves with money in order to obtain it, I don’t think the main theme of the book is materialism. I think that money is tangible, so it is easy to use as an example. Instead, I think the main objective is living the best life you can. I don’t think it is selfish to want to live the best life you can. I think God wants you to live the best life you can. Don’t you want that for your children?

Further, there is a section of the book which concentrates on gratitude. One participant of the movie and book, James Ray, stated that he said “Thank you” every morning before getting out of bed. Then he would continue to say thank you as he was getting ready, so that he started his day with an “attitude of gratitude.” Personally, if I were to implement this aspect, my thanks would be to God, rather than the Universal energy, but either way, what a great way to start your day! Being grateful for all you already have.

It’s funny, I was just reading along thinking, ok, this is interested, but it didn’t really ring true till I read this excerpt by David Schirmer:

People are amazed at how I line up parking spaces. I’ve done this right from when I first understood the Secret. I would visualize a parking space exactly where I wanted it, and 95 percent of the time it would be there for me and I would just pull straight in. Five percent of the time I’d have to wait a minute or two, and the personal would pull out and I would pull in. I do that all the time.

As weird as this may sound, or as insignificant, Larry is this person. Nine times out of ten, Larry gets an excellent parking space. It happens so regularly, that we expect it to happen. We will go to one of the busiest malls in the US (Sawgrass Mills Mall) and he will drive straight to the front, and you know what he pretty much always gets a spot within the first couple of rows. Apparently, we were working the Law of Attraction without even knowing it.

I was talking to my friend this morning who turned me on to the book and she was saying how looking back on her life, she can see it at work now that she knows the signs. For example, how many times do you say, “If I can just make it to payday”? And you know what, you just make it to payday. We both agreed that our families made too much money to just make it to the next payday. We’ve been saying this for years, no matter our salary.

Whether it’s the “Universe” giving it to us, or just a change of thinking propelling us forward, I think there’s some merit in taking the ideas and practicing them in your life. If nothing else, positive people attract positive aspects of life.

I have to run now, but I’m interested in your thoughts.

Before I leave though, I’ll share my major visualization for now. As of this morning, I am 153 pounds. I am going to continue to work out, because I am really enjoying Curves, but I am not going to stress about weighing in every morning, or my weight. I’m going to visualize myself at 140 pounds, and in a month, I’m going to weigh in and see where I am. Here we go. :)

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

HiJacked

Let this be a lesson to you. If anyone sends you an e-mail from e-bay that starts off Dear E-bay member, rather than your username, DO NOT CLICK THE LINK! I received a couple of these and like a dumbass clicked the link then someone hijacked my account and listed a bunch of Disney tickets for sell. Thankfully, e-bay caught it and retracked all the listings. I had to go in and change my password, then receive a phone call from e-bay confirming it was me. What a mess.

Other than that, life is moving along. In three weeks, I hit the big 30 and in 4 weeks, I have the big S (surgery). I am sooooo excited. Actually, having my surgery the week after my b-day is making my b-day more bearable. I can't wait to go shopping. I've already told Larry that after the swelling goes down, I am taking some of his bonus money and hitting the mall. Curves is going well. It's pretty fun, and I can stick with it. Monday I wanted to laugh so bad though, but I didn't want the other people in the room to think I was laughing at them. The median age is probably 50, so I am definitely in the minority. Also, the remix CD they use has a woman's voice on it every 30 seconds telling you to "Change stations now." All the ladies will be going full force, then we hear, "Change stations now." We all stop and move as one to the next station. I wanted to giggle at the absurdity of it all.

I'm working my way through The Secret, and I will post my thoughts when I finish. For now, I am trying to use the ideas as a way to think more positively, rather than for selfish gains. We'll see.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Developing

A friend of mine is currently reading The Secret and she recommended that I pick it up. If you haven't heard of it, the book is based around the Law of Attraction. In short, what thoughts and desires you project into the Universe will be reversed to you. I haven't started reading it yet, so I can't give you more than that. I did google it though just to get a better idea, and instead, I stumbled across Personal Development for Smart People. The website's articles and blog is written by one man Steve Pavlina and details his journey of personal growth. There are some fascinating articles on life and gaining the most of it. One of the big projects going on is the Million Dollar Experiment, where you repeat a mantra every day and then follow the path show to help you achieve it. (I know that sounds kinda flighty, but it's an experiment.) Apparently some people are actually benefiting from it.

In an easy and relaxed manner, for the highest good of all, I intend for one million dollars to come into my life and into the lives of everyone who holds this intention.

He also suggests writing your goals down, but see this is where I run into trouble. My goals are so broad, that I'm not sure how to narrow them down. Like the whole finding a niche for your website thing, I ran into a while back when I was trying to build a website. My interests span all over the board. I've never found one that I exanded on. Plus, when do you get the time to do all this expanding?

My job for all intents and purposes is great. I make a good salary, I really like the people, my boss is amazing, but I am BORED. Even when we are busy, I don't like this work. Blah! But the thing is, I don't even know what I want to do. I feel like there's more and I'm just missing it.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Writing Just to Write

If I don't get something down, I will sink into the abyss of non-blog writing. Life is happening, but I just couldn't log on to here for some reason. I joined Curves yesterday. I need some motivation in that department too. I always thought it was just a gym for women, but after I learned it's a set routine, just 30 minutes three times a week, well, how can you go wrong with that? It was ok, and I think something I can do for a while, which is good, since I joined for a year. ha ha

My parents will be here tomorrow night for a long weekend, so that should be fun.

I went to Macy's today to look for a new purse and didn't see one that I liked. If anyone has found one lately that they love, send me a link. I'm on the prowl.

Hm, other than that, well, that's about it. Well, except this. Isn't this the cutest two year old in the whole world?