Christy’s Blog

Pennies … do you respect your pennies?

I think I am having a penny dilemma. I have always respected the penny. I think pennies are as important as all the other coins in the Universe. When I hear news articles about dumping the penny I am “outraged”.  The penny is important in our system, it has it’s place.  If we lose the penny everything will be more expensive, right

The dilemma is am I in need of a change in my thinking. I think I am keeping myself in a penny pinching attitude because I am holding so tight to the value of a penny.

I feel good when I find a penny on the street or even in the couch. I know I am not rich but I always think they are a symbol for something else. Just his morning I received an email from a friend about pennies being from Heaven, actually from Angels. When an angel wants to let you know they are there, or they want to make you smile they leave a penny. More positive reinforcement for the penny, right?

Last week I read an article by Erin Pavlina titled See a Penny, Pick it Up. Erin says that when you pass by a penny you are telling the Universe that you don’t need money or accept money in your life. Respect the penny, pick up pennies and be thankful for them. Sounds great!

Okay, I have been accepting pennies, I collect them, my husband has a bucket he throws all his change into and a couple times a year he rolls it and gets $20 or $30 to buy a dinner or a few beers. Is this limited thinking?

Again, those Pavlina’s get your thinking … Steve Pavlina wrote a post about Contribution and Quality this week. Steve points out that we get what we pay for and when we are thinking frugally we get a cheap life (those are not his words, read his post to get the full meaning, it is a great article).

I have been very proud of my frugality these past few years. When I started this blog I was considering sharing all the great things I have discovered I can do without spending a dollar. Interestingly enough, in two months of blogging I have not blogged once about bargain shopping. In fact my thoughts have switched over to abundance. I have changed my attitude completely and I am now shopping for brand new cars, clothes, computers, furniture, etc.

Steve points out that I have been stuck in a world of scarcity because of the thoughts in my head. I have been playing the “outrage script” in my head. I have been outraged when I hear of a movie starlet purchasing a purse for $2,000 (or was it $20,000?). “Do you know what I could do with $2,000?”, is what would go through my mind. Then I would discuss my disgust with my family, friends or anyone that would listen.

It is funny how the Universe works.  The day that Steve posted that article I was getting a message that I need to stop thinking frugally, I needed to think about purchasing $20,000 purses, shoes, or anything because I could if I wanted to.  I then received Steve’s article and reinforced the message.  Wow!

So, back to the tiny dilemma.  Are pennies abundance thinking or scarcity thinking?  I agree that accepting them is a good thing.  Pick them up and feel good about it.  I think I am going to give up the “Save the Penny” campaign though.  I will be indifferent on that front for now.  Years ago, maybe 100 years ago, we had a hay penny or half penny.  It was retired.  All good things must come to an end I guess.  What will be will be.

I don’t know if I solved my dilemma but I know I am changing my thinking.  Here are my new positive thoughts on money and abundance. I am accepting pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, dollars of every denomination into my life.  I am an abundant thinker and I am grateful for all the abundance and joy in my life.  I am contributing to the world and creating value for others.

Penny … how about a nickel … for your thoughts?

We are all on a journey on earth. Whether you choose to be on your journey consciously or not is always up to you. Consciously (to me) means that you live life pro-actively not reactively. You can be tossed about by the waves of life or we can rise above and ride on the tops of the waves for a glorious view.

Life is about choices. Only you are in charge of the path your life takes. If you are thinking, “No, I am where I am because of my children, or my husband, or my parents, and so on.” You are not taking responsibility for the choice you made to let those people be in charge of your life. You are letting the waves toss you about.

If this sounds like you, fear not, you can improve your life. You don’t need any drugs and there is no fad product to buy to make your life better. You have all the tools you just need to learn how to use them. I recommend you take responsibility for your choices and then forgive yourself. Tell yourself that you made the best decision you could make at the time. You take responsibility now and make great decisions for a happy life.

I forgive myself, my past choices were the best I could do based on the information I had at that time.

I am now making great decisions to live a happy life.

Once you have forgiven yourself and let go of guilt and other toxic feelings you will feel much better about yourself.

If these sounds like affirmations, they are. It is so important to have positive self talk. If you are saying negative things to yourself and about yourself constantly you are not going to feel good ever. You must love yourself and treat yourself as you would want others to treat you. You are the best you there ever will be, become your biggest fan!

I have been on a journey for years to find why everything had become so hard in my life. I had literally felt like I was living in a hole. I observed people enjoying life and I felt angry. I couldn’t put my finger on why I was feeling so sad and angry. I read book after book after book on improving my life but I couldn’t get the dark feeling out of my belly no matter what I did.

Recently I read about, Miracle Prayer, that helped me release myself. I forgave myself for choosing to give control of my life to someone and something else. I chose to do it years ago. I even remember saying I am letting So-and-So take control. From that moment on my life was not on my path. It felt awful at times. Over the past eight years (long time, huh?) there have been many happy times but as far as the direction my life was going I felt like I was being drug behind a truck on a gravel road (painful? You bet!).

In January of this year I made a promise to myself that I would stop the truck and get back in the driver’s seat. It has taken seven months to get the truck stopped. I am now climbing in behind the steering wheel.

I forgave myself for making that choice years ago. I am letting go of the past eight years. My self talk is of love, worthiness, peace, joy, happiness, and forgiveness. It is so positive and warm. With meditation and prayer I am creating and manifesting a new path. It feels great and I am EXCITED to be alive!

As they say, hindsight is 20/20. Looking back you can see how your life played out up to the point you are at now. It can be oh, so clear if you are climbing or on top of a mountain. If you are looking back from a valley than you probably do not have a clear view except where you want to go … up.

I am on a climbing path finally. I have been in the valley for a long time. Years. I have shouted out questions in my quest to climb and looking back now I can see where I received answers. Sometimes I listened, sometimes I didn’t understand the answer and there are probably other times I didn’t even get the answer.

One particular question I put out there almost three years ago was answered quite swiftly. It was close to Christmas and it had been a year of difficulties. I was feeling sorry for myself. I looked around and felt like everyone was getting what they wanted out of life but me.

How could everyone be so “lucky”? I used to be “lucky” but something had happened. My view of the world was grim. The world I was living in was lacking everything … money mostly, which made it hard to do anything. I worked hard but all that I got was more lack. I threw out the question, “How do these people getting what they want out of life? Are they lucky or do they work hard and get what they want?”

Within a few days the answer came to me quite easily. As the thought came to me I knew it was the answer I was seeking. I wrote it down and enlarged it hung it on several walls at my business for everyone to be inspired by.

FAITH

It is not good luck that brings people their dreams.
It is them believing in their dreams.
Believe in your dreams and they will come true.

How simple! It made so much sense! I was inspired. I continued my path in the dark valley though because I didn’t have a dream. I had quit dreaming years before. I deemed myself unworthy and undeserving of dreams and anything good really. I wanted someone else to take control of my life and tell me what to do. I held myself back and continued the life of lack.

Until I recently forgave myself for my feelings of unworthiness and guilt I couldn’t dream. I now am inspired by the answer I received years ago. I have released my guilt and I know that I am deserving and worthy of everything that everyone else is enjoying. I am as good as anyone else.

With prayer and meditation now, my climb has begun and my view is getting bigger, brighter and better. It is amazing what happens when you let go, open up and allow good things to come. Anything and everything in the universe is available to you if you first dream it, then know it is yours and be grateful for it, last release it to come to you in it’s perfect time.

Dream It! Know & Be Thankful for It! Release It!

Dream Big!!

I have been meditating again for about a month now. I didn’t write down when I started but I know I have been doing it for several weeks. I have not meditated regularly in three years.

Three years ago I used meditation to get me through a very difficult time in my life. I achieved many great things during that time and I felt God’s love around me every minute. I had lost my dad in January of 2004 and the pain of loss at times was over bearing. The mediation didn’t take away the hurt I felt for my loss but it help me understand it and opened me up to the miracles that happen everyday. I heard God’s message that I would be okay. I didn’t know how I was going to get through each hour at that time but it didn’t matter because I knew God told me I was going to be okay so I breathed and dreamed and achieved.

A few month ago I wondered out loud why that difficult time brought me so close to God. Would I have to go through such difficult times to feel that close again? Why can’t I feel that close to God always? I loved the feeling I had of being close to God. No one could hurt me and people wanted to give me things.
Over the past few months God brought me my answers. I have been directed to many books including the Bible and I was directed to meditate again. I am understanding now that at the time of my loss I opened up my heart and my life to God without question. I listened to everything he said. I followed God in everything I did. I meditated and God answered every question. I knew he would. I believed he was in control and he was, I lived minute to minute. I couldn’t do it on my own so I handed it to God and knew he would get me through. But when I started to feel better I stopped meditating, I continued to pray but I stopped knowing that God was taking care of everything. How can you stop knowing, you ask. If you don’t really accept the knowing or understand it it just happens.

I know today that I can have everything I want because God wants me to have it. God knows I am a courageous, strong person (and so do I). He wants me to have my hearts desire today and when I am going through tragedy or loss. He wants us all to have everything we want. I am in awe of my personal growth. I am amazed at the progress these past few months have taken me.

I can tell you about it and you can be amazed at my story. Maybe you want the same for you. All you have to do is open you heart to God. Surrender you life and ask for the path to take you to abundance of love and riches. God has it all and he wants you to have it too. There is enough for everyone. God is making more riches, more love, more happiness every minute. There is no lack all you have to do is believe.

If you would like to start meditating there are many ways to do it. Find what works best for you and do it everyday. My recent growth came from a book I read recently and plan to blog about soon. I visited blog today with 8 Steps From Meditation to True Contemplation. It will help you get started on your path today!

Enjoy your life now!

Are you living defensively?
Are you prepared for attack at all times? Is someone or some situation holding you hostage in fear? That is living defensively. Here is a definition from The Free Dictionary.

Psychology Constantly protecting oneself from criticism, exposure of one’s shortcomings, or other real or perceived threats to the ego.

Do you live in fear that you will be found out?
Are you afraid that the real you will be exposed and no one will like you. Or do you fear that if you let someone in to know the real you will be hurt? Are you in a situation that has you so upset or scared that you don’t know how to get out of it?I am sure you have a good reason or reasons for feeling this way. You look back and you can remember every time you were hurt or disappointed by someone else. You can grudge up every detail and it makes your heart hurt. You breath hard and want to cry just thinking about the situation that has you frozen in fear. You ask why do these things happen to me? I am a good person, I don’t deserve all the hurt and pain.

Do you want good things to happen in your life?
I know you want good things to come to you. You deserve good things. Great things are waiting for you. You need to learn to live offensively and accept good things in your life again. You used to expect good things, then a few things happened that didn’t go the way you intended you held those events in your memory as bad things and you have not let them go.

You can change your life today by changing your thinking.
When you begin to live offensively you attack life with a passion. You know what your purpose is and NOTHING will hold you back. You know where you are going and even if you don’t win a battle you will approach from a different front. You know that you deserve great things and you will not stop going after great things ever.

Personal Story
I know I have been stuck in defensive mode for the past several years. I had several things happen in my life that I let change my usual offensive attack on life. I sat around saying…

• Why me? Why can’t I get the things I want?I used to get everything I wanted.
• What is blocking me from the great things in life? I don’t know what to do!
• How can I make my life better? I am not good enough, I am not smart enough or experienced enough and I definitely don’t have a enough money to get me out of the financial trouble I am in.

I wanted my life to be better, I was stuck in a pattern that I couldn’t get out of and I wasn’t sure how. It felt like prison. I felt like even if I attempted something it would end in disaster so mostly I didn’t try. Recently, I read about living defensively and I realized that that is exactly how I was living. I wanted to stay in bed and hope that life would pass by without paying any attention to me. I wouldn’t get hurt that way right?

That is not me. I love to live. I love laughing, talking, shopping, eating, traveling, and even working hard. I really do love to work hard, in the past working hard always equaled success and money, but over the past few years working hard didn’t seem to equal anything good.

I am living offensively again. I am attacking life with more energy than ever. I am setting goals that help me get out of bed and I am practicing visualization of how my day will go before I get out of bed. I am letting go of fear

I am thankful for this experience. I realize that my purpose has everything to do with what I have been through. I am not a bad person for slipping into a defensive life and I wasn’t being punished. I needed to experience this part of life to make the rest of my life more meaningful. What a lesson!

If you are living your life defensively you can change today. Spend a few hours or even a day seeking your purpose. Find a reason to live and live with purpose! Here are a few post that you will find helpful in finding your purpose.

• What is Your Life’s Purpose?
• Create Your Diving Order
• Be True to Yourself