Choose to Change Your Thinking

Growth, Life 0

If you don’t like what you are thinking, particularly if it is harmful to you or others, you can change it!  What a simple idea.  But is it really possible?  Indeed it is.  And it doesn’t mean living in a state of denial about “reality.”  It means only that we don’t have to harbor any thought, bad or good….

Once I got over the initial resistance, a resistance that was fueled by fears of new behavior, I began to see that this knowledge — that we choose our thoughts and always have, even those hideously mean-spirited ones — can be very empowering.  For instance, it means that no one can put us down and hold us there.  It means that no one can make us a failure at anything we try.  It means that we are as smart as our willingness to do the footwork.  It means that we can change any experience we might be having in the middle of it!  All we have to do is change what is in our mind….

The fact is, we can free ourselves from the past and from any thought that hasn’t comforted us.  When your thoughts no longer fit your reality, change them!  You may have to keep working at it, keep challenging your thoughts and ensuring that they’re not holding you hostage to some outdated picture of the world, but the choice is always yours.  In every moment, we get to choose.

— Karen Casey, Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow, p. 33-37

A Journey to God

God, Growth, Life 1

Once you buy the evangelical born-again “Jesus saves” mantra, the idea that salvation is a journey goes out the window.  You’re living in the realm of a magical formula.  It seems to me that the Orthodox idea of a slow journey to God, wherein no one is altogether instantly “saved” or “lost” and nothing is completely resolved in this life (and perhaps not in the next), mirrors the reality of how life works, at least as I’ve experienced it.

— Frank Schaeffer, Crazy for God, p. 390

Reading the Bible in Community

Community, God, Life, Love 0

Reading the Bible with others does not mean only that we read together in a small group, or that we read commentaries to benefit from the wisdom of great teachers, or that we listen to the Bible read and reflected on in worship or other gatherings.  It also means reading the Bible through the lens of others’ experiences, in the knowledge of others’ stories, in the midst of immersion in others’ lives.  For all this is in the service of loving God and loving one another.  It is not to make us more knowledgeable about the Bible’s text, although that is helpful.  It is not to make us more culturally sophisticated, although that is a benefit.  It is to plunge us deeper into life with God, and therefore deeper into life with one another, that we might take one more step toward the beloved, all-inclusive community centered in Christ.

— Richard J. Foster, Life with God, p. 105-106

Changing Your Story

Growth, Life, Story, Truth 0

Although we may be beginning to understand that our Story is just a Story and not the Truth, it still can feel a little risky to be tampering with it.  Adaptive beings that we are, we’ve figured out how to tolerate the limiting story.  We know our way around that territory, and we know what to expect from it.  When we open ourselves up to a new possibility, a new Story, we often fear we’re opening ourselves up to false hope.  What if nothing changes?  Then we will have to face disappointment which we could have avoided by sticking with the old Story.  I agree that it’s risky.  It takes courage to move toward what you want, to come out of the cultural trance and wholeheartedly go after what matters to you. . . .

When we orient our lives around what we most care about, we see new ways of being that we were blind to when we were focused on eradicating the problem.  I invite you to refrain from attending to something that needs to be fixed.  Instead, try looking at what you care about and what you really want.

The bottom line:  It’s All Story.  Abundance is a Story.  Scarcity is a Story.  Yes, there are facts supporting both of them, but remember that it isn’t the facts that shape our lives — it’s our Stories.

— Victoria Castle, The Trance of Scarcity, p. 44-46

Transformation

Growth, Joy, Life 0

If you meet with selfishness, joyfully call it a chance to be unselfish yourself.  Practice the unselfish attitude which is so obviously lacking in some particular person or situation, and lovely, unselfish things will begin springing up all around you.  Instead of saying in thought, “what irritating, thoughtless neighbors,” begin calling them to yourself “delightful, potential friends and companions.”  Just as though you wave a magic wand over them, they will certainly become that if you persist long enough, or else they will move away and be replaced by delightful companions.  For you are waving a magic wand over yourself, remember, changing yourself into the nature of the name you give, so that people of the same nature will gravitate to you.

That, of course, is the whole secret and key.  What you think, you yourself become in spirit.  Spirits are continually attracted to, and gravitating towards, other spirits that think, desire, and feel the same kind of things as themselves.  To think only of good things continually attracts other good and loving spirits to you in the real world of spirit or thought as you strengthen and bless one another.  The reverse happens if you think and feel unkind or unloving things.

— Hannah Hurnard, Eagles Wings to the Higher Places, p. 66-67

A Life of Loving

Joy, Life, Love 0

Loving others will definitely improve your life right now.  Take that passion that is God’s gift to you and lavish it on others.  Think of yourself as being loved, because you are.  God loves you, and probably many others do as well.  Once you move from focusing on an absence of love to recognizing the abundance of love already within, you will stop postponing happiness.  A life of loving is available now.

— Mary Manin Morrissey, No Less Than Greatness, p. 72

Healthy Selfishness

Growth, Joy, Life 0

Some healthy selfishness now can rekindle the excitement and joy in your life — feelings that are nearer to the surface than you might imagine.  Best of all it can help you realize some of your most private and most precious dreams — now, while there’s still time.

— Dr. Rachael Heller and Dr. Richard Heller, Healthy Selfishness: Getting the Life You Deserve Without the Guilt, p. 53

Being Lavish

Gratitude, Joy, Life 0

Stinginess sits at one end of the continuum.  At the other end is the experience of being lavish.  For many of us, that word produces an instant response: Oh, I couldn’t, I shouldn’t!  But if you don’t give to yourself, how will your life become abundant?  Lavish means stepping wholeheartedly into the big middle of life, rather than just tiptoeing partway in.  Lavish means letting the flow of life move freely through you.  Lavish isn’t busy trying to control everything (that’s stingy).  Lavish is juicy, and yes, it’s messy.  It’s alive.

— Victoria Castle, The Trance of Scarcity, p. 43

Responsibility is Power.

Forgiveness, Growth, Life 0

When I talk about responsibility, I am really talking about having power.  Blame is about giving away one’s power.  Responsibility gives us the power to make changes in our lives.  If we play the victim role, then we are using our personal power to be helpless.  If we decide to accept responsibility, then we don’t waste time blaming somebody or something out there. . . .

If we can use our problems and illnesses as opportunities to think about how we can change our lives, we have power.

Louise L. Hay, The Power Is Within You, p. 5

Don’t Get Ahead of Your Nose

God, Letting Go, Life, Peace 0

God’s presence can’t be experienced except moment by moment, and that means we have to show up in each moment.  Getting ahead of this moment in regard to our relationships, our vocations, our dreams, and aspirations simply prevents us from knowing God. . . .

In my role as a mentor to a number of young women, I often say, “Don’t get ahead of your nose.”  It’s a great reminder that one is projecting, and it quickly brings us back to the present.  I also suggest that whenever thoughts of the future come into your mind, you envision blowing them away.  This may sound silly but it’s effective.  I have used it for years.

Karen Casey, Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow, p. 29