Center for Spiritual Living Midtown

“In our life, our Mind, which is connected to the Source of all ideas, is what we use to make decisions. We do this constantly, thousands of times every day, with big decisions and little decisions. The Source of our ideas (which is God) never forces us to make the best decision. However, it does always present us with a number of excellent choices. But we still have to recognize and choose for ourselves. We can only grow by placing greater ideas into the Law. If our life is working, that’s what we’re doing. If it isn’t, we aren’t — and we need to make some changes.”

“A lot of the problems we run into in our lives are created, and aggravated, not only by our limited view of God , but by our limited view of ourselves and of the world. In fact, that’s a much more common problem. The average individual seems to see the universe as a triangle, with a distant God up there, with us down here, and with the rest of the world over there, all of it separate. To their way of thinking, everything that happens is a result of either random selection, or the activity of some supernatural power whose mysterious purposes we can never hope to understand. So when good things happen, it’s either good luck, or God was doing them a personal favor. When bad things happen, it’s either bad luck, the devil causing trouble, or God being angry. That’s what a lot of people believe.”

“We are not here on this planet, in this life experience, to please anybody or anything, and that includes God. To some people, that may sound like a blasphemous statement, but I assure you it is not. We believe in a God that doesn’t get upset by our opinions about It. Our idea of God is much bigger than that. We’re talking here about a Power that supports us the way only a perfectly intelligent and loving God could, which means with complete wisdom, with total love, with total givingness and forgivingness, with no conditions at all. That means all the time, no strings attached. It just doesn’t get any better than that.”

“When we look at our past experiences as something that the world imposed upon us, and we carry away the anger, the resentment, and the self-righteous indignation, it can really add up. On the other hand, if we take responsibility for the way we think about these experiences — not blaming ourselves, but simply accepting responsibility — and if we turn in the direction of Divine Intelligence and learn what we need to learn, then move forward in a positive, life-enhancing direction, we’ll begin to feel a sense of harmony with life that makes every other aspect of our life much more enjoyable. That’s paradise.”

Now is the time for each one of us to become a visionary, explorer, or pioneer in a world of new possibilities.  Because that is what the start of a new year gives us a chance to do–bring forth new life in a world filled with endless opportunities for growth and change.  What better place to start than with grand plans and grand ideals?  Only then can we see and experience the promise that Life has to offer.  Let us embark on an adventure into expectancy, optimism, acceptance and wholeness.  Plan to shed the habits, traditions, and thinking of the past and embrace a new vision for your life.  The Universe is calling you to live your dreams fully  with enthusiasm and conviction.  Just say YES and don’t look back!

There is a consciousness that we have before the holidays start, then another unfoldment right in the middle of them, and finally after the holidays have gone, another level of consciousness should occur.  On Sunday, we’ll examine how one level of consciousness leads to another and what it is we are to KNOW once the holidays are over. Come grow in consciousness this Sunday. Your Mind is ready for more than you think!

"If you think about it, the times when we are the craziest are those times when we're focusing on events outside of us as being more powerful or more important than what's inside of us. But as Forrest Gump would say, "Crazy is as crazy does." It’s even worse when the “unexpected” happens, though it shouldn't be. In a world that changes constantly, we’re bound to run into a few surprises now and then. That’s normal. It’s the way the world works. But we don’t need to get all wound up just because we didn’t expect something to happen in the exact way we thought it should happen."

Something amazing happens in Life when we each suspend disbelief during the holiday season. So many people hold deeply on to things they don’t believe in during the holiday season. People say, “I don’t believe in Santa Claus,” or “I don’t believe in the virgin birth story,” or I don’t believe the oil lasted for eight days.”

However, if just during this holiday season, you suspend your disbelief on these few items, something wonderful happens when the Creative Mind of yours lets go of the grip of things you don’t believe in, and allows for creativity to occur in you Life in ways you know not of. Suspend Disbelief now.

“There are a number of reasons why we get so traumatized by major challenges in our life. But it’s important to remember that no problem can ever be any bigger than we allow it to be. In fact, one of the greatest differences between a happy and successful person and an unhappy, unsuccessful person is that the unhappy person sees his or her problems as being much more significant to their success than does the successful person. One sees the problems in every opportunity, while the other sees the opportunity in every problem.”

Not your typical Thanksgiving talk, this is about Thanks Living... something to think about.