I ran across this article in a newsletter I receive. I thought that I would reprint the article here so that others might be able to benefit from its wisdom.

Your Abundant Life

The following is something to ponder…

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a
roof over your head and a place to sleep… you are richer than
75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, spare change in a dish someplace… you are among the top 8% of the wealthy.

If you woke up with more health than illness… you are more
blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the
loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation… you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death… you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If your parents are still alive and still married you are very
rare, even in the United States.

If you hold your head up high, with a smile on your face and are truly thankful… you are truly blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you can, hold someone’s hand, hug them, or even touch them on the shoulder… because you can offer a healing touch.

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

As you read this and are reminded how life is in the rest of the world, remember just how blessed you really are!

Author unknown

I love this article because it further cements what I’ve been talking about lately concerning our personal abundance. I hope you enjoyed this article and got as much from it as I did.

Peace, Prosperity, and Blessings,

Gary

The quote below comes from a post in a Google Group I’m a member of and I thought I would share it and my response as well. I hope you get value from this.

“I realize that love now comes tainted with protection. I see a Friend shining as though their soul’s light is fully revealed in all its glory. A moment later I’m cautioning myself to find some flaw, some fault I shouldn’t overlook so that I’m safe from vulnerability. No one’s perfect I remind myself, then a list of their imperfections starts to run through my head. If it’s someone new, I begin to brace myself for the inevitable something that is probably there that I don’t yet see.”

This says to me that this person has some issues with distrust that they need to address. Somewhere along the way they seem to have been badly hurt when they offered love to someone. Or perhaps they have some feelings of betrayal from someone they loved. But by looking for “the inevitable something that is probably there” they are setting themselves up to be hurt once again.

The reason for this is because they are focused on not getting hurt when they offer love, and that is exactly what you get, hurt. Instead of looking for the flaws someone might have, and finding them (because we attract that which we hold focus on), try seeing a person as the perfect being that they truly are. We all come from God/Source/the Universe/whatever your name for it, which is perfect, so in turn we are perfect too.

The Bible states that we are made “in God’s image,” so looking deeply into that, God is a spiritual being, so thus we must be spiritual beings as well. Our bodies are just the hosts we choose to reside in while here on Earth.

So, what is it about us that is made in God’s image? Our spirit, our soul, our inner being. And that is the part of us that is perfect. To say that we are imperfect beings says that God (who is a perfect spiritual being) cannot create something perfect. That all of God’s creations are imperfect. BAH I say!

Our spirit is a perfect manifestation of God’s will, or Source’s intention, however you wish to say it. So, for us to live out a perfect life, we need to reconnect with Spirit.

When you are fully connected you will then see the joyous perfection that is in all of us. You will no longer seek out the “imperfections” that you now choose to focus on and cause yourself pain, but rather, you will look for the good in others and see them for what/whom they truly are; a perfect spiritual being capable of anything their heart desires. You receive that which you focus on, so change that which you look for and you will find that you will see it in everyone you meet.

In Joy and Peace,

Gary

When we begin to work towards being more enlightened and more spiritual all sorts of things start coming out of the closet. We start bringing up old experiences and feelings. And most of them are the unpleasant ones.

But why are we going into the past to begin with? Look to the future, that’s where you are going. To keep looking back on your past as a guide to where you are going is ludicrous. You’re past does not determine your future, what you do NOW determines your future.

By looking back on these unpleasant past experiences we are holding ourselves back from the future we desire. Look at where you are and know that you are there as a result of your past. But you do not have to stay where you are. You can have the life you truly desire.

If you already have goals written down, what are you doing today to get you closer to achieving those goals? If you don’t have goals written down, do that first. Then ask yourself, “What can I do today to achieve my goals?”

That’s the ticket right there.

You must take action in order for your life to change. Although you may not know the answer to the above question, it will spur your subconscious into looking for an answer. Every night, before you go to sleep, visualize how you wish your life to be. Get into the feeling of having the life of your dreams and really feel it. Notice all the details of your surroundings in your visualization. The more details you can make it the better.

Do this for 5 minutes and make it as real as possible. This will set your subconscious into motion while you are sleeping to find the way to achieve that dream life. Do this every night and record what you dreamed the next morning. You’ll be surprised at the answers you will receive.

Peace, Abundance, and Blessings,

Gary

Throughout my studies over the past few years of the law of attraction, dabbling in quantum physics, a little bit of metaphysics and other philosophies, I have noticed that there is one common way people are controlled in their lives.  It is by FEAR!

Fear is one of the major motivating factors for why people do what they do.  I heard this 10 years ago but didn't totally believe it at the time.  Now however, I find that it is very true.

Some common fears are:

• Fear of not being accepted
• Fear of being wrong
• Fear of failure
• Fear they will disappoint someone
• Fear of being alone
• Fear of not being noticed
• Fear of not being included
• Fear of success (which has its own underlying sub-fears)
• Fear of disapproval

I'm sure you can add more to this if you think on it a while.

However, I propose a simple, effective solution to overcoming any fear you have or ever will have.  All it takes is a change of perspective.  You think you can do that?  I hope so.

First, let's get one thing out of the way right now.  You are causing your own fear.  No one else, just YOU.  Now that that is settled, let's get on with it.

When you experience a fear within yourself, it is actually nothing more than an indicator that you are not in alignment with whatever it is you are having the fear about.  It has nothing to do with what anyone else has told you, but has everything to do with the story you are telling yourself.

So fear is nothing more than a set of thought patterns that align in a given situation to produce the negative self-talk you have surrounding what you're having the fear about. 

For instance, let's take Jeff.  Jeff has a really great job and it pays him extremely well.  However, Jeff is not truly happy.  He has to drag himself in to work every day.  He's just not satisfied anymore.

Conventional wisdom would dictate that even though Jeff isn’t happy in his job he should just "suck it up," and "soldier on!" (Ugh, I’ve heard that one before myself)  Especially since Jeff has a wife and three kids.  Oh yeah, he's gotta stay in that job because of them.

But does he really?

Let's look at how things might then transpire.

Jeff hates his job and he just gets more miserable each day he's there. He can't stand working there anymore.  Soon his productivity decreases.  A little at first, but then it's gotten very noticeable to his superiors.  Jeff gets called in to see his immediate supervisor and is told that he better straighten up or else.  Now Jeff is actually worried about losing the job, which he still hates, and all of his focus and attention are on "not losing the job."

What ends up happening is that Jeff gets fired from his job, his marriage falls apart because they don’t’ have the money to pay the bills any more, and he ends up living in a run-down apartment complex all alone… and still unhappy.

Not a pretty picture huh?

So, would it be wise for Jeff to actually stay in that position?  Or would it be better for Jeff to follow his dream and open a men's clothing store?  We all know that owning your own business takes work, especially a retail store.  Jeff would probably end up working long hours 6 or 7 days a week, leaving little time for his family.  His wife may not be real supportive of Jeff’s decision and may resent him not spending any time with the family any more.  This could lead to a breakdown in the marriage and ultimately to divorce.  So Jeff might be in the same situation as if he’d stayed in the job.

Almost.

Even though Jeff might lose his family, and even though he might still end up living in a run-down apartment complex, he’s got two things going for him.  He’s following his dream and he’s happy doing it.

Now some people would say that Jeff is being selfish in his decision to open a men’s retail clothing store.  Others may tell him things like, "It's crazy to start a business in this economy," "You'll really put yourself out on a limb with that idea," "The little guy never makes any money in retail anymore," "Why would you want to start your own business when you have a great job already?"  Add your own to these.  All of these are doing nothing more that attempting to put Jeff in a state of fear about opening up a men’s clothing store and to get him to “step in line” with conventional thought.

But suppose it went an even different way.

Jeff quits his job and opens a men’s clothing store.  His wife is supportive of him in his endeavor and even helps do the books.  As their children grow older then all work in the store with Dad and learn the value of action (work) and what inspired action can achieve.  All the children grow up to be well-balanced, with a good head on their shoulders (because Mom & Dad have taught them to be self-sufficient), and ready to take on any endeavor they choose

Now isn’t that a happier outcome all around?

But how are we supposed to overcome fear though?  We change our perspective.  We are allowing fear by listening to those voices that are not in alignment with our good.  We take the counsel of others whose vibrational alignment is not in tune with our own.  And we let all of these things ignite the fear within.

So the logical mind starts to doubt, and we really start listening to what others may be telling us.  But we have to quiet that logical mind and listen to our intuition.  You always know when you are truly listening to your intuition too.  It’s that feeling when you are truly connected to God/Source/the Universe/whatever your name for it.

What is your fear? 

Merry Christmas and may peace, love, and harmony wash over you throughout the holidays.

Gary