Sunday, November 29, 2009

Quote Margaret Silf - "God Speaks in Whispers"

I'm intrigued by the notion that all the answers to all the questions we could possibly ask already exist; that as the question forms so too does the response. It's a bit of a quantum physics kind of an idea. Certainly there is a heck of a lot of information circulating the planet these days - apparently if you printed out all the information on the World Wide Web it would take a single person 59 million years to read it. Cute statistics, no?

I came across a quote the other day from Margaret Silf, a committed Catholic spiritualist, writer and speaker. It was, quite simply, "God speaks in whispers". A nice idea. I like the idea of "God" speaking to me, or the universe putting information infront of me as I need it. It also makes sense to me that the answer or insight may be obvious but because life can be so busy and confusing and noisy the information may not be heard... if "God" is whispering.

Except that sometimes God doesn't whisper. I've noticed that if you continue to pursue a path or line of thinking that is not right for you, sometimes the universe gets more insistent, louder. If you still don't pay attention then it starts to make things very very obvious... till even a sleep-walker has to waken and pay attention to their surroundings. A sudden change of job, a twisted ankle, a phone call out of the blue, a song on the radio just as you were thinking about something the song relates to, a flat tire... circumstance, co-incidence... that kind of chatter has all kinds of names. 

Here's a challenge for you. Next time it happens to you, pay attention: maybe someone is trying to tell you something.

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Do you hear what people tell you?

Sometimes we only half listen, or listen but then filter the words, giving them a meaning that does not actually reflect the speaker's intention. Assuming your friends and acquaintenances speak the truth as they see it and are not deliberately distorting things for their own benefit, has it occurred to you that their observations of you and your situation may accurately identify some positive actions you could take? Or maybe just add a couple of items to the shopping list of possible actions you need to consider. Not the ones you THINK they mean... but what they literally SAID.

A friend of a friend regularly shares very personal reflections via group emails, Facebook status updates and notes. At times she seems rather down, morose, negative. Generally people write back warm encouraging comments saying how beautiful and thoughtful her poetry is, how insightful, how sensitive... 'cause they are nice people, and it is a gift of sorts to be part of such an intimate sharing.

Lately, though, I have noticed people starting to respond differently ...today one guy commented "Choose your own adventure, Claudia". I wonder if Claudia will hear him? I also wonder what Claudia will hear?

Stepping back a bit, when your friends offer you solutions or insights, what do you hear? "I write beautiful, clever poetry" or "I need to put more energy into creating joy not pain"?


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Sunday, November 1, 2009

Manifesting your dreams: Wouldn't it be nice if...

...we could eat chocolate for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner... without feeling sick, getting diabetes or putting on weight! Oh yes. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone you met in the street was already a friend and said hello to you... yes! Wouldn't it be nice if you made a million dollars this week? Scored a scholarship? If people in all the cities, towns, suburbs and villages of the world lived harmonously and happily together. Wouldn't it be nice if your girlfriend bought you your dream car today and gave you the keys tonight as a surprise? Yes.

What's your "wouldn't it be nice if"?

Can you feel already how playing the game of "wouldn't it be nice if" can change your mood? Make you feel happier? Perhaps even make it easier for good things to come to you.

When you are feeling good it's kind of easier to keep the good feeling building. Sometimes little games like "wouldn't it be nice if" can help kick start that "feeling good". And then we can let it gather momentum and before you know it we have more happy peaceful days than not!

But there's one trick - to start off, keep your day-dreams believable - so close to real you can see it clearly in your mind's eye - don't open up that can of worms called "longing". If you day-dream with longing - a pervading sense of lack - the power of "wouldn't it be nice if" can be lost. Keep it soft.

Here's an example. Driving home in the car during peak hour rather than saying "wouldn't it be nice if all these cars would just go away and I could be home in 10 minutes" (very unlikely to happen in that moment) try "wouldn't it be nice if I had a surprise parcel waiting at home for me when I get there" or "wouldn't it be nice if Sally and Bob could come with us on that next hiking trip".

Play with it. See if you can make it work for you... wouldn't it be nice if you could!

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