I am sharing here a funny email sent by a former student, now my colleague. Thanks Maryjun and Merry Christmas everyone!

How to Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity     
1. At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars, see if they slow down.

2. Page yourself over the intercom, don't desguise your voice. 3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.                                                            
4. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks .  Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.                   
5. In the Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write ' For Marijuana'           

6. Skip down the hall Rather Than Walk and see how many looks you get.                                                                              

7. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.                                                                                                                                  

8. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is 'To Go'. 
                                                                                 

9. Sing Along At The Opera. 
                                                                              

10. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You have a headache.. 
                                                                              

11. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream 'I Won!   I Won!' 
                                                                              

12. When Leaving the Zoo, Start Running towards the Parking lot, Yelling 'Run For Your Lives!  They're Loose!'                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

13. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, 'Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.'     
   
And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity 
14. PICK UP A BOX OF CONDOMS AT THE PHARMACY, GO TO THE COUNTER AND ASK WHERE THE FITTING ROOM IS.

        I had the priviledge of helping victims of a typhoon that devastated a province destroying property and killing over 8,000 people in less than an hour. There was total chaos because the ones who were tasked to help the victims were victims themselves. Corpses were everywhere and the stench was getting unbearable by the day.They needed people and resources from outside the province to help out.

      I heard the appeal for counselors and psychologists, so I took 21 of my students with me and we implemented a counseling program to help the victims deal with their tragedy and loss.

     From that experience, I realized that life can change within the blink of an eye, and there is nothing that cannot be taken away from you, including your sanity. People woke up that morning not realizing that they would not have a home nor a family to come home to when the day was over.

     How does one deal with that kind of trauma?

     What my students and I found out was that those who were able to cope better and heal faster were the ones who had a spiritual temperament. They grieved for awhile over their loss, and then they reached a point of "surrender" and acceptance. They opened their hearts and minds to moving on. They reached out to others offering their help.

     I called this tapping on a power higher than oneself, because left on their own, and with the magnitude of the disaster they had been through, healing would have been nearly impossible.

     Because I also have a spiritual temperament, I remembered the words of Job, "What God had given, God has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." 

     Since that time, I looked at everything that I had, and I mean everything, as coming from God. I became grateful for blessings big and small. I developed the attitude that God is the only Source, and people and opportunities are the channels for which God pours His blesings upon me.

     Consequently, I could not help but marvel at the different channels through which blessings have flowed into my life.  I started to think of life as "magical" and I like looking at life that way. 

     In the second part of the Introduction of Catherine Ponder's book, "The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity", she states that the all important prosperous attitude is the recognition that "...God is the source of man's supply as the Creator of this rich universe and that God's will for you is therefore the wealth of the universe...".

     How can this be practiced in ones daily life?

     Make a daily habit of quietly praying and affirming spiritual Truths such as, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.'

     In Ponder's book, she related how one woman prayerfully meditated on this affirmation when she was down on her luck, "Be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am God at work in this situation now."  

    Ponder adds, "Of course, the wonderful thing about recognizing God as the Source of all riches, and taking Him into your financial affairs is that the more you do so, the more stabilized every phase of your life becomes."

    What does prosperous thinking have to do with ones financial situation? 

    God's abundance is all around us as opportunities, resources, etc. It is also within us as our itellect, common sense, innate talents, learned skills and desires. The link between the "outer" and "inner" abundance is the mind. It is the mind that "contacts" the unlimited supply around us into our experience. "Your attitude, mental concepts, beliefs, are all connecting links with God's rich substance and your access to it. God can only do for you what God can do through you by means of your thoughts and ideas which lead to your actions. Thus prosperous thinking leads to prosperous results."

  Find time to affirm quietly, "I stir up the gifts of God within me and around me, and I am blessed on every hand with happiness , success and true achievement.",  and see what happens.

     I have been a reading and listening to the books and tapes of Anthony Robbins for many years. I am aware that he has his share of critics, and I still think that he is one of the best life changing coaches I have ever encountered.

     When this economic challenge became the major topic in the news, I was wondering when he would come out with some kind of message to counter the "gloom and doom".

     This morning, I got an email with a link to his new blog. In his own words, he is publishing this blog because... "Right now we’re in the middle of some challenging times. And I’d like to give you some good input on a regular basis …instead of all the negativity, doom, and gloom you’re seeing on the news these days."

     Here is the link, http://tonyrobbinstraining.com/?ec=136686

    I hope you will find some inspiration from it. I was touched by his story of how he met the late Mother Teresa, now St. Teresa of Calcutta.

    May the season of Advent, which started last Sunday, bring a promise of hope as we prepare to celebrate Christmas.

Note: I have not forgotten the next chapter of Catherine Ponder's book. I will get back to it when I finish putting up my Christmas decorations .

     Today, I want to share a message from Caroline Myss, writer of many best selling books, among them Anatomy of a Spirit, Sacred Contracts, Entering the Castle and The Sacred Contract of America.

     I have so much respect for Caroline and I am sharing her message her because I feel that it is a message that is worth diseminating. I am aware that she is not easy to understand if one is not familiar with her work, but I am hopeful that there are people out there who need this message and I am using this blog as one of many channels to spread it.

_________________________

A  Much  Needed  Injection  of  Hope

     "This is not going to be the usual type of Thanksgiving newsletter in which I remind everyone to be thankful for their blessings, although I might get to that. Rather, I am in a more cosmic mood this morning, so I thought I would share some thoughts that are running through my mind as I attempt, in my own way, to make sense of a world undergoing epoch-size changes at light speed. I also, of course, hope that this Thanksgiving newsletter will be something you’ll be thankful to have read by the time you’re done with it.

     No one is untouched by these changes, and from that perspective we are being drawn together in uncharted waters. None of us can possibly anticipate what each new day will bring us. Will the stock market go up tomorrow? Crash again? Will billions of dollars move from this faltering bank to that one? Will another entire country like Iceland actually go bankrupt? When have we ever witnessed such unbridled madness right in front of our eyes?

     So, how do we interpret this? Where do we begin? What calculations do we use that we can even begin to rely upon? This situation has all the “experts” scrambling – and if I’m not mistaken, it was also experts who got us into this mess. Or was it? Perhaps the greater truth – the cosmic truth, as it were, is that this period of chaos was always scheduled to happen. Seems to me deep in our intuitive gut we’ve always been anticipating an epochal period of change. We just had no idea how that period of change would actually manifest and perhaps, in our naiveté, we thought that the dynamic of change would somehow occur “out there” somewhere, affecting the lives of others more than us, or be a controllable force that didn’t penetrate our 401K’s or our subprime mortgages or our personal incomes.

     I’m reminded of how many times people say this comment after a disaster, “Who would ever think that such a thing could happen here?” We all live in the illusion that bad things happen “out there” and that our particular school of myths has the power to protect us. If I’m a good person, bad things won’t happen to me – but things do happen. The reason you study spiritual and mystical literature is so that you can learn to “reason like a mystic” and apply that skill precisely in times like this, so that when difficult crises arise your response is not, “What have I done wrong?” but, “Ah, so change is constant.” You haven’t done anything “wrong.” Instead, we are witnessing the truths in motion that we have studied for years. To wit, Buddha’s teaching: All is illusion. What greater proof can we have that all is illusion than to see fortresses of finance disappear in front of our eyes that just last week, or last month, we would have “bet the ranch” were as safe as, well, Fort Knox? Who was right? Fort Knox or Buddha? In the end, it is the great spiritual teachings that always, always, always remain steady, and prove to be truth.

     So let’s “reason like a mystic” as we examine the chaos in the world around us. Instead of looking through the lens of ordinary reason and thought, let us look through the lens of mystical law, those laws which govern the collective field of energy and the collective soul of humanity. This is where you need to cast your attention to “see clearly,” not on the piles of mess on the earth. Once a system has collapsed or is screaming for help, its energies are already exhausted. The first step in learning to reason like a mystic is to understand what “has” to happen, because of the level of psychic free radicals in the collective consciousness. What psychic systems are out of balance that need to come into balance? Nothing that a person can do in the physical world can possibly redirect what “has” to happen in the energetic domain if that process has already begun. That is, once a woman has begun to give birth, it is too late to introduce birth control to prevent her from getting pregnant. The time to have an influence on the formation of events is prior to pregnancy, prior to the time when certain types of changes or events become inevitable because of the energy that humanity has generated.

     What, then, has to happen within our world?

     We are living at a great turning point in history. We are witnessing the shifting of all the power structures of the great nations and systems of this planet as they tumble out of control while struggling to remain in control. The great threads holding the illusion of control together are currency and oil. It’s quite astounding to observe this dynamic that has silently maneuvered behind the scenes for years suddenly become exposed before our eyes because of the failings of greed, in effect. What we are witnessing is the ceiling on greed. Apparently there is an end point, at least to how the current system has structured the market.

     From a completely different perspective, we are witnessing the closure of the era of separation of powers and domination by force and inequality of cultures. For those of us who have aligned ourselves even slightly to the perspective of holism as a personal code of health, that code assumes that each organ in the body, while remaining an individual organ, is no longer sovereign. It is, insread, subject to a grander holistic body politic whereby the whole must be served in order for the whole body to thrive. Cosmic law, or mystical law, teaches that “what is in one is in the whole.” This means that every person who has absorbed that mystical law as a health code has also absorbed that cosmic law as a prelude to the transformation of the global body politic. It can’t be otherwise because, “What is in ONE is indeed in the whole.” Therefore, through every action you as an individual have taken to further your personal health as a “whole being” you have also inadvertently supported the transformation of the global village into a whole body politic at the energy level. To put this in yet a more mystical context, if you thought of yourself as a “living prayer,” which in essence you are, then all your intentions and thoughts to become a whole and healthy person are consumed by the collective soul as well as your individual soul. These intentions, or units of grace, are the fuel that, in turn, converts into physical events and actions in the greater arena of life.

     Here’s a pause for thought: I remember studying the texts of the mystical apparitions from Fatima and Lourdes and other well known sightings of the Madonna. They intrigue me for many reasons, not the least being the pattern behind those apparitions. Consistent with her messages to the visionaries was always the urgent plea to tell people to pray. The apparitions of the Fatima Madonna, which occurred in 1917, included the prediction of yet another world war that would eclipse World War I in size and horror, which, of course, World War II did. That early exposure to “messages from above,” so to speak, set me on a path of wondering for years, if “heaven” already anticipated such horror, why didn’t heaven just stop it? What’s with telling us to pray? Why not just stop all those evil Nazis and Hitler and Stalin? How could a good and just and loving heaven and God permit such nightmarish suffering? To say that I struggled with this question as a child and young adult is a masterpiece of understatement. The study of the Holocaust consumed me from the age of thirteen as did the study of war, which still consumes me, always looking for the root of that point of evil.

     But finally, in my own way, I understood a small piece of this mystical dictate about the power of prayer. That power represents the counter-power to psychic free radicals that also must find an avenue of physical expression in the form of events in the physical world. Psychic free radicals are generated by the negative thoughts, words, and deeds of humanity, and these gather in the collective unconscious, generating pools of energy that look for vessels of expression. Wars, turbulence, terrorism, violence, greed, and all the shadow characteristics of humanity thrive off of psychic free radicals. That is simply the law of manifestation expressed at the level of the collective unconscious, and we are the ones in charge of how well we learn to work with these laws. The law of manifestation is not just for creating personal wealth, as it has been introduced in popular culture. This is a major cosmic force that functions on multiple levels, including the collective, creating events that affect the collective and reflect the quality of consciousness as a whole. We are either subject to them or we work within them, which is the essence of mystical reasoning. This is what Buddha realized along with Jesus and all great spiritual masters. The turning of the tides is done from above and from within. It is you who must learn to work with the power of your interior forces, to scaffold your inner consciousness and build a soul with stamina, so that when chaos abounds around you, you can see through it rather than be consumed by it.

     We can look at this time as a nightmare of chaos or we can look at this time as that which we have prepared ourselves for during these past many years, working on our health and on becoming more conscious individuals. If this isn’t the time to put all that you’ve learned about being a conscious person into action, then when would be that time? Ask yourself, “Why have I worked so hard on myself?” Was it just to process the wounds from your childhood? Well, if it was, be done with that and get on with the business of thinking, living, acting, and perceiving the world around you through the lens of a mystic. This is the time to apply all the laws of the cosmos to every one of your challenges, to approach every problem through mystical reasoning and not that of ordinary reasoning, which will draw you backwards and into your history. Looking backwards at what you used to do or how you used to do something will not work anymore.

     So many people have contacted me to discuss what they should do next, because their lives are melting down around them. And my counsel to them is yet another mystical law, which is, “Learn to think in paradox.” That is, paradox is one of the fundamental expressions of the Divine. What looks like an ending is really a beginning; what looks safe is really your fear talking; what looks riskiest is really the way to go. Paradox is a mystical force and when it is present in your life, rest assured that the Divine is equally present in the event.

     To me, this is a time of great hope because when chaos abounds, so does opportunity. It can look as if the field of opportunity is bleak, but that is simply not true. As I teach my students, whether you are healing an illness or maneuvering through change, you must keep your attention in the present in order to “perceive” intuitive instructions. These will rarely speak of what you have already done. Rather you have to be prepared to do what you have not done before, as your intuition will always direct you to draw on new inner resources as opposed to relying on the old and familiar.

     The power of grace is yet another mystical resource, and not grace in general, but specific grace. In my upcoming book, I elaborate extensively on how to call upon your intimate graces. You have to learn how to use each grace, to become familiar with its power and presence. The grace of Wisdom is especially useful in times of darkness, because this grace gives you the capacity to discern truth in the midst of chaos, however that chaos manifests in your life. The presence of grace is realized when your aptitude for discernment or wisdom becomes heightened, serving you as a candle in the night. Turn to Wisdom writings, either the sacred scriptures of the world or the writings of all the great mystics, as a way of putting their vocabulary in your head and reminding yourself of the value of wise truth.

     Wisdom teaches us, for example, that if all we thought was stable evaporated so easily, it can all be replaced just as quickly. Chaos is as much an illusion as stability. What is not an illusion is truth. Truth is the one constant. Look at whatever is happening in your life and remind yourself that if it is chaotic, there is something old that must be surrendered. Look to your interior and listen for guidance. Remind yourself that you are alive at this time because you are meant to maneuver through these changes. Move forward, ever forward. And think like a mystic!

     I invite all of you to come study with me, come learn to reason as a mystic in this world. My upcoming book, BEYOND REASON: Healing Through Mystical Wisdom and Simple Truths, explores mystical reasoning in detail, breaking the boundaries of ordinary thought. The time could not be more right for this information as the changes in the world have made the need to know how to use mystical reasoning a matter of practical survival. I consider the election of Barack Obama a global mystical event, quite frankly, a turning of the tide for humanity and certainly for America. This nation was on a respirator and going down fast after almost eight years of being fed the poison of the Bush administration. Finally in a great voice, the majority screamed, “Enough,” and we broke through the dark hold of the Bush administration, redirecting this nation from hopelessness to hope. Everyone feels it everywhere around the world. No one has ever seen such a response to a presidential election because never before has America sunk to such darkness. Never before has the world witnessed such a malevolent administration in charge of this great nation as the Bush-Cheney team. America was turned into something it was never meant to be – an aggressive, attacking nation. And we disintegrated as a result. But then we were offered hope and we grabbed on to the grace with all our might. We broke through that darkness, and with the force of hope we will build this nation anew. And we will. And we will be all the wiser for having taken this detour during these past eight years, a detour that will forever remind us that we can lose our freedom, we can be led by fools, we are responsible for the quality of our leadership and the actions of our Senate and Congress. We must never again neglect our end of what it means to be a citizen of the United States of America or a conscious global citizen.

     Our time has come. We are no longer “waiting” for the era of consciousness to begin. We are that era. We must now put to use all that we have prepared ourselves to be and to do through these years. The world is now the new monastery in the most cosmic meaning of that term and you are a mystic out of the monastery, who has the potential to be a force of great change in your personal life, for your family, your friends, and your community. We are indeed all in this together – and thank God for that.

      Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. "

Caroline

     One of the first and best prosperity books that I came accross in the late 1980s were those written by Catherine Ponder. She is a minister of the non denominational Unity Faith and has written more than a dozen books among them the Millionaires of the Bible Series.

     I know that there are several how-to-get-rich authors out there, many of them with very good ideas. However, in my experience, and probably because of my spiritually inclined temperament,  Ponder's books are the ones that I like best.  I am not exaggerating when I say that reading her works gave me the "magic wand" that I used to  attract to me the things that I have wanted in my life from my finances, to health, travel and relationships.  

     I am sharing some of her writings here in the hope that it will help others just as they helped me over the years. Indeed, if there was ever a time when prosperity thinking would be most needed, it would be the present.

In the context of this post, prosperity means experiencing abundance in all areas on ones life including peace, happiness, plenty, vibrant health, meaningful relationships, wealth and achieving these in honorable ways.

     Ponder's first book, "The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity", was written in the 1960s as a result of, in her words, "...several recent recessions and many years of lean living. Nobody likes recessions and nobody likes lean living - and indeed nobody should like them." Out of the recession and lean years the term "prosperity thinking" was born. Those who opened their minds to it found themselves prospered in the midst of economic recessions.

     Ponder put forth the idea that there are "laws of prosperity". Laws are made to maintain order. People experiencing limitation in whatever form need just that - order and harmony in their thinking, emotions, attitudes, and health.

     You cannot observe these laws and not create a change in your life. Let us begin:

Chapter 1, The Shocking Truth About Prosperity   

     "The shocking truth about prosperity is that it is shockingly right, instead of shockingly wrong for you to be prosperous".

     Coming from a country that had been colonized for 300 years, I was subject to the "Money is the root of all evil.", and, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." theology taught by the Spanish friars to my ancestors who in turn handed them down to me.  I don't think the friars believed their own teachings because they did not problems enriching themselves. Of course, they also did not clarify that "poor in Spirit" did not mean living in poverty but that it meant being humble and receptive to Spirit.

      In this Chapter, Ponder says that we should desire prosperity. One cannot be happy if one is poor, unless one has the conciousness of a saint who are so rich in God consciousness that they do not desire anything else.

     For the rest of us ordinary mortals, poverty is a form of hell, and it is not necessary. Poverty is "a dirty, uncomfortable,  and degrading experience." When a society is poor, crime is rampant as decent people are pushed to do things that violate their integrity and self respect in order to survive.

     Poverty is not in harmony with the theology of a Loving Father who provides abundantly for His children. It is time to stop glorifying poverty and claiming that it is a virtue. It is an insult to the Creator of all life.

     When you are poor, you become a burden to society because society will have to provide for you instead of you contributing to the advancement of society.

     One cannot live fully in the physical plane when you don't have food, warm and comfortable clothing and adequate shelter.

    One cannot live fully in the mental plane without creative mental activity...books and time to enjoy them...music, art and other cultural interest, opportunity for travel and intellectual association with others of similar interests.

    One cannot live fully in the spiritual plane without the time for quiet contemplation, prayer, spiritual study, attendance in Churches, seminars and lectures and association with others in the spiritual path.

    So it is a spiritual imperative that one does not accept poverty as a permanent arrangement in life. Decide to be prosperous so that you can live fully as a child of God should be living. Hold to a new belief that God wants you to live an abundant life.

     There is a way out of poverty and it starts by turning away from the sin on poveryt thinking and accepting the virtue of prosperity thinking. In the bible, when the people walked in God's ways, they were prospered.

Next ...The Prosperous Attitude

     For this Thanksgiving Day, I am sharing a message from Rhonda Byrne, author of the bestselling book, "The Secret".

     "The greatest thief of human happiness and abundance is ungratefulness. Any lack in our lives - whether in money, health, or relationships - is simply the evidence of a lack of gratitude. If you focus on lack you are not being grateful, and that will bring more lack into your life. Yet the simple state of radiating gratitude summons everything to you. 

     No matter who you are or where you are, you can change your life with gratitude, but you must feel it with your whole heart and radiate it from every cell. Gratitude is not a mental exercise, and in fact, if you simply use your mind for gratitude it will have little or no power. True gratitude comes from your heart! You must think gratitude through your heart, speak gratitude through your heart, and feel it intensely in your heart.

     Then practice gratitude relentlessly. As you practice gratitude you will attract more thoughts and feelings of gratitude. In a short time your entire being will be saturated with it, and you will experience a happiness that is beyond what you can imagine. This is what is ahead for you when you choose gratitude as your way of life. And if you can really live in this highest state of gratitude, you will never have to ask for anything. Everything you want will be given to you before you even ask, because gratitude is the magnetic substance that opens every single door in the Universe."    

 Louise Hay     

    In March of 2006, I became a certified Heal Your Life Teacher. This allows me to teach, faciliate and organize seminars and workshops on the philosophy of Louise Hay, a remarkable woman who has inspired me, and millions of others all over the world, for many many years. She is known as one of the founders of the self help movement having published the bestseller "You Can Heal Your Life" . At 81, she claims, "This is going to be my best decade.", when the movie about her life was released last year. This year, at 82,  she was awarded the Minerva Awards (the Minerva Award recognizes women who have stepped forward in the spirit of the Roman Goddess Minerva and changed our world with their courage, strength, and wisdom) together with Gloria Steinam, Billie Jean King and Bono.

      Becoming a Heal Your Life Teacher was a dream come true for me. I have been practicing and sharing about Louise's philosophy for many years, and being "certified" to do it gives me a sense of pride. It also commits me to adhere to a code of conduct consistent with what I teach.

     I recently received positive feedbacks on my "In Times Like These" entries and that made me aware that there are people who are looking for some inspiration and guide as they try to navigate through the present challenges that the country (and the world) are faced with. That got me asking the question, "What can I contribute as a HYL Teacher at a time like this?". 

     It occurred to me that I can use my blog to share some thoughts and teachings that may be helpful for those who want to go beyond feeling discouraged, scared, pessimistic, hopeless and helpless. So in the next few days, I will be writing some entries that will hopefully give a "the glass is half full" perspective to balance the "the glass is half empty" news that we are being bombarded with everyday. 

Rick, me, Patricia and Verity

     One of the advantages of being a HYL Teacher is that, the instructors Dr. Patricia Crane and Rick Nichols, make consistent follow-up through emails, newsletters and teleconferences.

     Yesterday, I received this email from Patricia and Rick and I will share it here as my Thanksgiving Day entry:

We have certainly expressed it before, but on this Thanksgiving week in the US, we are grateful for each of you and the commitment to service you have.

Albert Scheitzer said, "I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."

We ask each of you to HOLD THE CONSCIOUSNESS of well-being for all people on the planet. Rick and I believe that the creativity of humans is awesome, and there are solutions to all the apparent challenges in the world right now. As Heal Your Life workshop leaders, you are able to hold a consciousness of Truth- that there is no limitation or lack. The more of us who hold that consciousness, the sooner things will change.

Rick and I feel great hope, as do many, that Barak Obama was elected. We both had tears when it was announced that he was the president-elect. We ask that you support him, our new government, and your government (those of you in other countries) with your positive energy.

Wishing you well-being, love and joy,
Patricia & Rick

---------------------------------------------------

     The past two weeks, the economy had been the center stage of every news channel worth watching. It was obvious that people were scared, angry, frustrated and pessimistic. No one could give definite and clear answers. The reporters and anchors covering the stock market did not seem to know what was happening. The so called experts and analysts who were interviewed had  different takes on the matter and their views were only good for a few minutes as another "development" nullified their opinion. It was obvious that the usual "instruments" that they had used to evaluate the financial situation were not working. Even the government officials who appeared on TV were very tentative with their pronouncements.

     No wonder people started to panic and tried to take out their investments before things got worse.

     When we noticed that the stock market situation was going downhill, David and I kept communication lines open about how we viewed the situation, what our concerns were, and we discussed some things and options that we may have to take. I was happy that we responded to this incident in the way we did because it enabled us to go through the crisis as a team. Communicating openly allowed us to focus on the problem without putting a stress on our marriage. If anything, our marriage helped us to deal with the situation better because we knew we had each other's support (pwera buyag). I remember, one evening, he hugged me and said, "It is so nice to have my Filipina with me at a time like this." 

     We tried to do the things that needed to be done in the best way we could which were, to keep in contact with our financial adviser, and to learn as much as we could about what was happening, we updated each other on any new information we have gathered and discussed our views. That was the "logical" way of dealing with the situation. 

     Then, I thought, "How else can I respond to this?". I knew that there was little I could do with things that were not under my control. However, I also knew that there were things that were within my ability to act upon and do something about.

     So these were some of the things I (and David) did:

     First, I decided that I was not going to become a prophet of doom. I would not deny that there is a problem, but I would not make it worse than it is by creating even more negative scenarios specially if there is no basis for it. I would watch my words so that I would not add to the gravity of the crisis.  

     Also, I would not add to the overwhelming negative emotions by contributing to the blame game. I think it is important to study and investigate what caused the problem, how did it happen and who contibuted to it by their actions. I also think that those who engaged in fraud and illegal activities need to be prosecuted. However, verbal hostility and vicious attacks would be counter productive. Let the investigation be about accountability and justice, not vengence and malice. 

     Second, David and I did things that made us feel good. I worked in the yard and he played tennis. We watched a movie, walked by the lake and looked for turtles (we saw 5!, good omen). We borrowed some interesting books from the library and sat in the sun room to read. We went to the football game at the stadium and joined our financial adviser at the tailgate party before the game. We invited a friend to come over for lunch for enjoyable and interesting conversation.

     Third, I decided to do my part in stimulating the economy by going shopping . Currency, from the word current, needs to circulate. What aggravated the problem was that people, and the financial institutions, were holding on to their money out of fear and lack of trust, thus choking the system. This is not an endorsement of irresponsible shopping sprees. This is about doing something that makes you feel good within your budget and helping to stimulate the economy.

     Fourth, I made a special effort to look for things to appreciate and be grateful for all through out the day.

     One good habit that David and I have developed would be to say something like, "I am just glad that...", "I am just grateful that..." and "Fortunately for us..." whenever we talk about a less that ideal situation. For instance, when a bad wind storm damaged a tree in our backyard, causing it to fall on our neighbor's shed, David said, "I am just glad that it did not fall on our house".

     Fifth, to create a consciouness of abundance, I took out my expensive jewelry and wore them.

     I prepared good healthy meals. We temporarily allowed "comfort food" like ice cream and chocolate chip cookies so we don't feel "deprived" .

     Sixth, I looked up some appropriate affirmations that I could use to counteract the pessimism and scarcity consciousness. Whenever I heard a doom and gloom prediction, I would deliberately tell myself, "That is only one opinion among countless", and then I would say an affirmation like, " Regardless of the state of the economy, our income is constantly increasing and we prosper at every turn". Or I would say a spiritual affirmation like, " The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want".

      I made it a point to read inspirational literature to keep my balance. Here is one I found yesterday by Dr. Deepak Chopra.     

      Here is an exerpt from Deepak's blog ( http://beta.intent.com/blog/2008/10/03/the-difference-between-wealth-and-money 

             The way out of this financial crisis is for Americans to regain more inner wealth. How is that done?

              -- Reject fear and pessimism.

               -- Know what your vision is and act upon it.

               -- Don't blame others and seek payback when things go wrong.

                -- Prosper inwardly through love, generosity, giving, and altruism.

                -- Stop identifying with your salary and possessions.

                -- Work for the common good whenever you can.

.....to be continued 

When you praise and give thanks for the opulence of the Universe, you open the way to receive it in your own life ........ Catherine Ponder

     In a time when there is uneasiness about the economic prosperity (yes, those words are carefully chosen in case someone will say, "What economic prosperity are you talking about?") of this country, it is easy to get worried, frustrated, powerless and to get stuck in blame which, of course, does not help. Worse, it might just invite scarcity into ones life for, as the law of attraction states, "that which you constantly give your attention to, you will attract".

     I am not saying that one should be in denial, for indeed, there is a real crisis. I am not saying that one should just bury their head in the sand either, I recommend studying and listening very intently to what is happening. Like majority of Americans, I am angry at the irresponsible behavior of the people who caused this problem from the CEOs of Wall Street to the politicians of Washington and the ones who have yet to be named that we do not know about.

     What I am saying is that, after studying and listening, it is important not to get stuck in the blame, the anger, the fear and the feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness because when one is stuck in those ineffective states of emotion, the perception of the problem will become bigger than it actually is, and that will only make things worse (although, I admit that sometimes, it is tempting to stay in these states instead of making the effort to change ones focus from panic to "What potential opportunities are opening?").  

     In other words, see the problem for what it is but do not make it bigger than it really is. Then, change your focus from "this is terrible" to "how can I make the most of this challenging situation?".

     How do we go about doing that? There are many ways, for this post I will point out a suggestion from  Catherine Ponder; shift ones attention from the fear of scarcity to the abundance of blessings, big and small, in ones life. In doing so, one will be better able to face the present day challenges from a place of gratitude, creativity  and empowerment. When one feels empowered, one has better chances of getting good ideas, inspiration and guidance.

     As am writing this, I decided to make a quick short (otherwise I will run out of space ) list of things and people that make me feel abundantly blessed. 

On top of the list would be Gildavid and the home we have created.

When my niece, Niki, made a comment that our house does not have Filipino artwork, two former students sent me these lovely oil paintings. Thank you Miko and Jinggay, I am very proud of you both.

I did not realize how useful an Ipod was until I got these from a very special friend who does not want to be named. Thank you.

 The teachers of the children's mission who continued serving the children even when they did not receive their salaries for three months, their dedication is a continued inspiration

Our Church and the great sense of community we enjoy

These art work given by Bill Needles who painted them and had them framed for me. They grace my prayer room.

This came in the mail from Geri, thank you very much.

     Lastly, two messages I received from former students. It warms my heart to know that, after all these years, they still remember with fondness the time we spent together (since I did not get a chance to ask their permission, I decided not to put their name here for now).                                 

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      I'm XXXX and have been one of the hundered students whose lives you've touched through your "lessons of life". I came across your friendster account and instantly took the chance to read your blog site. indeed, it was a great ride! i knew back then that you had the gift to inspire and i'm glad that you have continued to do so.

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