Now there’s at least two ways I can look at all of this. I can say look at everything I’ve had to go through. Or I can stand back and say wow. Look at everything I got to experience, feel, and see. And as much as I’ve resisted and struggled each step of the way, maybe that’s why I am here: to go through all of this and see from my point of view exactly how all these things feel.
— Melody Beattie, Playing It By Heart, p. 247
Receiving means being available in the fullest sense of the word — allowing the precious moments of life to touch us deeply. Receiving has nothing to do with being worthy, but it has everything to do with being Open….
If we receive fully, Gratitude follows naturally. Gratitude is generative energy that acknowledges our connectedness. Gratitude deepens the pleasure of Receiving and makes us eager to accept more and more good things into our lives.
— Victoria Castle, The Trance of Scarcity, p. 97
Bills are really wonderful things. It means that somebody has trusted me enough to give me their service or product, knowing that I have the ability to pay for it. My bills are an affirmation of my ability to pay.
— Louise L. Hay, Meditations to Heal Your Life, p. 17
Our lives are full of choices. You can choose to nap.
— Sark, Change Your Life Without Getting Out of Bed:Â The Ultimate Nap Book, p. 38
People say everything happens for a reason and God has a Plan for it all. I believe things do happen for a reason. And God does have a Plan. But if we don’t learn the lesson from the circumstance and let ourselves completely heal from it — whether it is in the past or today — the things that happen for a reason will just keep happening over and over again. And we’ll end up on a talk show talking about what keeps happening to us and wondering why.
— Melody Beattie, Playing It By Heart, p. 244-245
If others do change because of something we said or did, which sometimes happens, we feel validated and this validation boosts our self-confidence. Unfortunately, it also encourages us to repeat our behavior relentlessly. Face it. Others change only because they want to. Not because we want them to.
So why do we incessantly try to do the impossible? After years of observation, coupled with my own unyielding commitment to changing this behavior in myself, I have concluded that we attempt to control as a way of quelling the threat we feel when our companions have opinions or attitudes or behaviors that differ from our own. The greater the threat, the more we try to control.
But what we discover when we give up trying to control everybody and everything is that we suddenly have the time and opportunity to learn and change and grow within ourselves, so that we can progress to the next level of spiritual awareness that awaits us.
A surprise benefit, too, is that by letting go, moving on, and living our own lives peacefully and with intention, we often inspire others to change in the very ways we want them to change. Ironic, isn’t it?…
Being powerless over others is one of the best gifts we have been given on this journey. Trust me. You will be grateful, in time.
— Karen Casey, Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow, p. 66-68
Sometimes, I forget things that I know. Sometimes I forget that letting go has more power than holding on, and then I forget to let go. Sometimes I get so focused on the other person and what they need and want that I forget how I feel, what’s important to me, and what I need and want too. Sometimes I forget that no matter what situation I find myself in, I do have powers available to me, even when I feel overpowered. I have the power to think, to feel, to pray for guidance, the power to let go, and take care of myself no matter what’s coming down on my head. And sometimes I forget that the temporary hit of power from drama addiction wanes in comparison to the real power we can connect to when we’re at peace with the world, and with ourselves.
— Melody Beattie, Playing It by Heart, p. 242-243
Reading is most often a source of great joy, which fills wells, cells, and provides fuel for our imagination.
— Sark, Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper, p. 63
We even want to be grateful for the lessons we have. Don’t run from the lessons; they are little packages of treasure that have been given to us. As we learn from them, our lives change for the better. I now rejoice whenever I see another portion of the dark side of myself. I know that it means that I am ready to let go of something that has been hindering my life. I say, “Thank you for showing me this, so I can heal it and move on.” So, whether the lesson is a “problem” that has cropped up, or an opportunity to see an old, negative pattern within us that it is time to let go of, rejoice!
— Louise L. Hay, Gratitude: A Way of Life, p. 4-5
However God may choose to evaluate our lives, whatever memory of our past we shall have in heaven, we know this: It will only contribute to our joy. We will read our story by the light of redemption and see how God has used both the good and the bad, the sorrow and the gladness for our welfare and his glory. With the assurance of total forgiveness we will be free to know ourselves fully, walking again through the seasons of life to linger over the cherished moments and stand in awe at God’s grace for the moments we have tried so hard to forget. Our gratitude and awe will swell into worship of a Lover so strong and kind as to make us fully his own.
— Brent Curtis & John Eldredge, The Sacred Romance, p. 190-191