Let me explain
Carmen of the Strawberries blog (go on over there and visit~ say hi to her!) was all in a tizzy because she thought she was going to get to watch videos of my 100 Day Challenge stuff~
that would've been fun, I'm sure, but no. I'm doing a regular, plain ol' blog version, which is allowed. Sorry for the letdown!

(image from www.cocreatingourreality.com)

I decided not to get the computer cam and go for that because of 3 reasons:
1. Too dark~ the only place in my house that has grounding wire is the basement, so the computer is in the basement. Basements are usually dark, mine is no exception. Even with the lights on, it's still somehow too dark for my comfort. And a video camera would hate it!
2. The fossil that is laughingly referred to as my computer would surely choke and die if I strapped a camera to its innards!

3. No.

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That's gratitude for ya

On the subject of the 100 Day Challenge/Co-creating our reality, I wanted the weather to stay mild enough for me to get to work and home without a problem, so I screwed up my courage to have faith that God would help me out~ despite past weather patterns for Cincy Decembers ~ and we've had just that happen.

The days have often been unseasonably warm, but even the "snow days" were mild, at least where I traveled, with the snow turning to rain-ish stuff as soon as it hit sidewalks and roads. Praise to God~

Today was the last day I "needed" to be able to get to work~ at the start of the New Year, I'll have a new bank of Paid Days Off, so the snow days can come, if they must....

I'm just so glad and happy and grateful that my prayer of faith was answered!!

So this is enlightenment
I got "What the Bleep Do We Know?" dvd from the library.

Watched it 3 times.
Each time, I felt like I could just about feel my brain expanding~ if not exploding~ and I think I get it, now, thanks!

One or two of the opinions about What Is God were, shall we say, not quite kosher, to me~ but on the whole, I agreed. The general concept of God that the quantum dudes seem to have come up with and (generally) agree on is one I can (generally) agree with!

Which is about as much as can be expected, given the topic. God is mystery, before anything else.

I came away from the movie with a new awe and warm appreciation for God.

(I also had had one of those Brush with God moments~ and after one of those, it's always the same~ I wanted to stay quite still and quiet, afterwards. After a close moment with Heaven, I always feel disinclined to talk or move much~ it would seem unnatural and unnecessary.)

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My favorite part was the Emoto water messages

(image from www.thank-water.net)

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I don't even care how right or how wrong they were (and at least one scientist in the movie said he was grossly edited to say things he doesn't agree with at all), there was something very basic about it all that got me, made my spirit say, "YES!"

~ and made the little hearts pop out all around me, I'm sure!

I felt this deep peace and love for God, for everything in God's wonderful world of Ultimate Creation.~

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Nothing spoils in Heaven's air

I'm not looking for a God who "lets me have my way on everything". ~ But I'm finding a God who wants to give me everything that my heart longs for.

(See the emphasis I give "heart"? That's because the longing has to come from the deepest good in me, the warm core of what God tries so diligently to keep alive in us all.)

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The Great Consciousness

There is this point in the movie where they talk about the times when you are so concentrated on thinking about something, you lose track of time, lose track of everything else but that thought ~ mere minutes could pass, it feels like hours, you feel as if you had been visiting some vacation island somewhere or something. You feel warm and wonderful and at peace when you come out of it. Your own thoughts have seemed to spread and deepen and become something bigger.
You've boarded the God Flow.

You've touched the Spirit with your spirit in a way that you could register and comprehend.

But your spirit is actually always touching God's.

In my own experience, the Observer they talk about and the all-encompassing concentration that gently and kindly overtakes you and leaves you feeling lovely towards the world is one and the same,

and it is God.

And God is on our side.

Christmas
It went too fast!
Didn't it go too fast?
I had a great time~ and I hope you did, too!

The Next 100-Day Challenge
I'm not sure yet what I'll be focusing on for the next 100-Day Challenge...this past one, I think was a success in that I set down the groundwork for bigger things. I really want to focus on being grateful for everything in my life, really take that mental work in hand and enliven my gratitude~ "Praise and Bless Everything!" I love that, and know I'll be focusing on that, for one.

The rest of it, I'm not sure. Just trying to broaden my horizons in general, I guess. Whenever a bad time comes, I know this will be muted for a while, but until that time comes, I'll be doing what I can. I really think that this coming season will be a time of opening vistas, letting the light in more, receiving with thanks all the blessings that God wants to give, and blessing all with more gusto, more frequently!

And I'll start with you~ bless you, readers!

This is a sticky post.
It isn't Dec 25th, yet.
You've still got plenty of time!

Christmas Countdowns

Scroll down for my current post.

!! Day 100 of My First Ever 100 Day Challenge !!
* trumpet fanfare *
I'm still learning about this stuff, it's all a huge mental reorganization, but I really do think it's a good thing to go for the Faith to ask-believe-receive, so I'm plugging away at it. Nothing like praise and gratitude towards Heaven all the live-long-day to make life shine!

I'm reading "The Master Key System" by Charles Haanel, did I tell you that? And he says that you have to ask for something generous and good and unselfish, something that will benefit all concerned, or it doesn't work. You gotta align yourself with the Heart of God, right? God won't give energy to anything that would be negative or selfish ambition-y!

Those parking places again
I heard Joel Osteen say something like~ 'ask for the good parking place, but if you get the bad one, walk the rest of the way cheerfully, uncomplainingly, and be grateful for what you were given, just as grateful as if it were a great parking place!'

That's good advice, and I'll try to remember that. Like the old saying goes, "Mustn't grumble!"

Merry Christmas, you guys~ have a blessed one!

Flashback: Rugosus in Autumn

(both blogs)

Still here

It's been a while~ but I didn't say anything about taking a break, because I figured if I did that, then I'd be suddenly writing twice a day or something! Best to just go with the flow~

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Here's what I'm thinking about:
I reallyREALLY like the whole "praise and bless everything" motto that Rhonda Byrne (sp?) has in "The Secret". ~ She says that's to align yourself with the universe which is chock full of all kinds of good things, just floating around out there waiting for you to draw them in like so many little fishies!

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The way my brain sees it, I'm thinking, "hey! that would do the whole job of getting me close to God, wouldn't it?" Totally align me a bit with the Heart of God, and wouldn't that be nice?

I know it might sound super-boring, if you're looking to attract a Lexus, or something like that, but I really think that if I could just wake up to my own one-ness with God, life would be way too amazing to imagine. I think it would all work out so well, if it were God steering this little me-vehicle around!

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(image at forevergeek.com)

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I also like the whole gratitude thing, as you know~ it makes me feel less vulnerable, makes things seem less unnerving, when I'm saying "thankyouthankyouthankyou" a million times over, in my head. It might seem like mindless chanting, but it isn't, somehow~ it's very, very soothing, and it works. I feel very grateful for everything around me, when I do that.

A nice "thank you" session is good!

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Gratitude and humility and stillness and quiet~ those are things I loooove! I'm hoping to make them habits. There is something about holding still, or keeping quiet, in the middle of all the hubbub and to-do that can go on, that is just so....soothing and satisfactory. Yeah,~ satisfactory. Very. It feels good.

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Humility is one of those things that have gotten a bad rap. It's the devil's job to make icky things look enticing, and to make good things look boring and stupid, so you don't hear a whole lot about the wonderfulness of things like humility or wholesomeness or purity.
Unless it's Brita filters~ and remember the 99.9999% pure (or whatever the percentage was) ads for Ivory?

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(No, I don't, actually, I just saw them in old magazines and stuff. Hey, that was way before my time! Just how old do you think I am, anyway?)

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Well, humility is one of those life-quality-improving things that you don't get to hear about. Humility isn't the same as oppression or self-hatred or anything like that. It's more about reality. The reality is that God is mega-perfect, the kind of perfect it hurts your brain to look at, and we are soooo not that. To have humility before God is to say, yes, I am not an egotist with a puffed-up souffle of an idea of my own importance in the grand scheme of things. But I'm ok with that, because YOu, God, do the job so well.

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Humble things
Humility is actually very freeing, and very.....what's the word I'm looking for?....very "building" I guess, in that it builds the spirit up. Because when you're humble towards God, you're right in the Hands of Heaven, and you won't be allowed to hate yourself, or think bad, bad things about yourself, there~ you won't be thinking much about yourself, at all! You'll be thinking about how wonderful it all is~ life is beautiful! You'll be loving yourself, just the same way you love everything around you~ especially God, that Really Perfect Being who you're glad has control of it all. If anyone can do it just-right, it's God!

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When you're humble, you're more apt to be listening in your heart to God before you're listening to yourself or others. Which means you start feeling pretty good about yourself as well as life! God thinks you're the cat's meow, even with all your faults and shortcomings and dusty, dirt-flyin' bits of attitude. What ain't very attractive to others, God can deal with, and love you anyway, because God has the real thing, the real Love to give out to us.

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Heaven is your best PR agency

Because of Love, God knows your value, your worth, how cool you are inside, how lovable~ despite the imperfections you harbor.

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With humility, you get the chance to kind of see it from a more balanced perspective~ you can't move mountains with powerful perfection, you aren't that great of a person, no doubt you do things that others find annoying, because you're human! But you are wonderful to God. Priceless, unique, adorable, a sweet mass of lovely possibilities. Just plain loved.
As you are.

Taos Mountain this morning
(both blogs)

J.R. Ransom's beautiful webcam's view is worth a look.~

What a gorgeous way to start the morning!

Nothing like Taos light to make you want to cry~

Hallmark Channel is my enabler
(both blogs)

(Genie Francis in "The Note")

Tis the season for watching way too many treacly holiday movies!
(thanks, Joan, for telling me about "The Note"!)

My youngest thinks I'm crazy to want to watch 'em, but I could sit there all day and night, just watching these safe plots, cozy settings, variable levels of acting and writing, questionable fashion design (What's up with that? All the Hallmark movies I've seen so far have the WEIRDEST clothes on them~ it's almost as bad as that "Lavern & Shirley" don't-go-together thing), lovely, escapist, romantic holiday sap.

I love it!

Day 82/100 Day Challenge

We're coming to the 100th, here! I know already that I'll be doing this, again~ it's been great, and things have worked out better than I expected!

(image: LandRomAntikk.com~ thanks, Aina, for bringing it to my attention!)

Hmm

One thing I've noticed that is a bit puzzling, there have been times that I received something I really longed for, when I didn't believe it would be possible for me to get it. I'm not sure how that worked, but I know it did.

I would think about how great it would be to live in my now-house, for example. Loved this house on sight, but I just didn't figure I'd be able to get it. It was the highest in my price bracket of the ones I was looking at, and it was too, too cute~ those always go fast! I'd already had one house rather like it (though not as good) snapped up from under me, on my house-hunt, so I was prepared for this house to be already sold, by the time I found it.

I pictured myself in it~ it was easy to picture myself in it~ and sighed, setting it aside as an "improbable".

But I did get the house, and I still love it.

There have been other things like that, where I wanted something, didn't think I'd be able to get it, but against all odds, got it. The obstacles crumpled like so much spun sugar.

(image: justhungry.com)

Dream-ish thing
Some time ago, I had a dream-ish thing, you know I hate to call it a vision, when it didn't seem so very important and significant and all that. But in this imagery that my brain was making up, God gave me a present.

I was standing there, and there was a huge, huge, huge gift box, with a big ribbon in the most delicious shade of coral wrapping it up. The box itself was a color that completely defies my descriptive abilities~ rather the most beautiful creamy sand color you've ever seen~ but that doesn't really describe it, either.

Anyway, I tugged at the giant ribbon end (Such a beautiful shade of coral! How I yearned for that color!), and the whole box came apart, all 4 walls came floating down, and I could step in the middle of the box easily.

About a week later, I found out about "The Secret", and the ask-believe-receive thing was put in front of me repeatedly, and at the same time, I'd started thinking about how very weak my faith was, in certain areas, and how very caddish I was in my viewpoint about God's generosity, giving it all sorts of limits and loop holes and If's, a lot of strings attached.

I really didn't believe He wanted me to have anything~ that everything I really wanted was given very grudgingly, if at all.

I came to the understanding that that attitude was unfair to God, and wanted to change it.

Faith goalie
My goal to start having a better attitude about God, in general, has come about. The little kindnesses and gifts I've been given everyday have built up a stronger faith and reciprocating love in the genuine love of God. Rather than make me more selfish and greedy, as I'd feared, I'm just plain ol' more grateful~ With a capital G! I can't get over what a great God we've got!

The experiences I've been having have convinced me that the law of attraction works. Faith and gratitude and hope, those things are cannonballs of power!

I don't know exactly why I got some things against all apparent odds when I really didn't believe I would, merely sighed after them intensely; but I supposed the undying, persistent Hope that's embedded in me had something to do with that.

It's a very natural instinct in me to have hope~ how could I not, when God is sooo beautiful and gracious?

eBay happiness



I won!
I won!
I won!

Now, I'll have a really wonderful teacup and saucer to use on Sunday morning! You know I always have Coke or cocoa in a teacup on Sunday morning, during my contemplative prayer time. It's so restful and peaceful, and having the little 'rituals', the habits, like using a teacup (when I don't drink tea!) while I spend some time with God, seems to emphasize that peacefulness.

I'm feeling really grateful towards God for this little detail, my winning this pretty little cup&saucer, it's such a nice thing to have happen. I've wanted an Old Country Roses teacup and saucer for a long time, years. I don't think I ever really thought that I would ever get one, but now, I do have one~ and I can't help but feel grateful to God for it!
These little details shine out with a warm importance, sometimes...

I realize that some people believe that God doesn't get involved with the details, and 'certainly wouldn't care about a li'l ol' teacup on eBay'~ but I'm not of that persuasion. I think God cares very much, and I fully believe now that Heaven is very, very kindly towards us, the Children~ even in the details!

"Oh, the weather outside...."
Last night and today, we are scheduled to have a 12-hour stretch of snow. I prayed and pictured and tried hard to believe ('manifest', it's called) that we would get "soft, mild weather~ like rain, when it hits the road" so I could get to work and back safely. And that's what has happened this morning.~ The road conditions where I traveled were like rain, with the added bonus of Winter Wonderland scenery:



Here is the "Happy Tree" as it looked this morning.
(It was snowing, but the camera doesn't photograph details like falling snow or rain.)

I'm so happy and grateful to God for that, and hope it continues!

I'm praying and trying hard to believe that we'll receive mild weather for the rest of the month, if not the rest of the Winter....!