Yes, yes, yes

The insight that has already begun to change my life:

If uncertainty is unacceptable to you, it turns into fear. If it is perfectly acceptable, it turns into increased aliveness, alertness, creativity.
-- from A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle

Can't think of a better realization for a freelance professional.

Money Zen

Sometimes there is nothing more spiritual than the financial side of life. Mine is in sweet order and it feels terrific. Brought all the essentials to my accountant today for my taxes. Updated my current financial records. Filed receipts.

Me and my money are having an intimate relationship. Love is in the air.

Plugged in

Saw Deepak Chopra on www.beliefnet.com answering the question, "How do I tell if I'm plugged into spirit?"

Well, according to Chopra, it's how you answer these questions that determines it:

1. Is my life easy? Effortless? Full of grace?

Actually, a lot of the time it is.

2. Am I having fun?

Yes, most of the time.

3. Am I getting results?

Absolutely!

OK, then.

Intersecting wisdom

Today I see some connection between my ongoing reading of the Tao Te Ching via Wayne Dyer's book and the card I selected from my Ask and It Is Given deck.

I have been dwelling on the 33rd verse, which Dyer calls "Living Self-Mastery," for a while because it continues to resonate, especially as I simultaneously read A Good Earth. However, with regard to the deck, here's the card I picked today:

The Most Powerful Law in the Universe

Every thought vibrates, every thought radiates a signal, and every thought attracts a matching signal back. We call that process the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction says: That which is like unto itself is drawn.

As I see it, understanding what we are attracting and why is a major step to achieving self-mastery. This juxtaposition, on this particular day, means the subject needs my attention.

I'm reflecting.

Joining the awakening

If you are not spending all of your waking life in discontent, worry, anxiety, depression, despair, or consumed by other negative states; if you are able to enjoy simple things like listening to the sound of the rain or the wind; if you can see the beauty of clouds moving across the sky or be alone at times without feeling lonely or needing the mental stimulus of entertainment; if you find yourself treating a complete stranger with heartfelt kindness without wanting anything from him or her ... it means that a space has opened up, no matter how briefly, in the otherwise incessant stream of thinking that is the human mind. When this happens, there is a sense of well-being, of alive peace, even though it may be subtle.

-- A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

Today I took the plunge and joined Oprah's 10-week worldwide class on this book. I felt pulled to it. This is what I know.

I'm on page 236 (of 309) and must finish before class begins next Monday.

Fantastic.

Purchasing power

So I'm in CVS today. I shop there all the time. It's a very busy store and there are usually lines at each register. So today I am purchasing hand soap and Vogue, the latter to make my laundromat time a breeze.

As I approach, I see there's one long line snaking into the aisles. There are two registers open. I hear a cashier clearly say, "Please form two lines." No one moves. One register is free now, so I head on over to the waiting cashier. A guy behind me loudly says, "Ma'am, we're doing one line here." I say, "The cashier just asked for two lines." (Don't get me started on the "ma'am" thing.)

The cashier looked at me and put her hand out to take my stuff. I paid and walked out.

As I headed back to the laundromat, I had a moment of guilt. And then just as quickly I let it go.

It just felt like grace.

A movement

I am about 200 pages into Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth. What a profound book. Oprah's vision has made it a movement.

My favorite passage today:

So you may want to ask yourself the question: What are the things that upset and disturb me? If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small. That will be your unconscious belief.

That speaks to so much of what I've been expressing in this blog. The messages lately have been coming in layers. It's like I'm being prodded into sitting up and listening.

I'm listening.

Cyber space

I found out today that some of my emails have not been reaching their destination.

Annoying, yes.

But more importantly, why the disconnect??

Self mastery

I'm going to begin by saying I am very jaded when it comes to all things meditative. My typically optimistic self gives way to the skeptic. I proceed with caution. Over the last few years I have opened up a bit, but I still wonder what all the fuss is about. You know?

Well, with all the clear signs before me and with my meditation teacher (leader? facilitator? not sure what to call her) giving us "homework" to practice this daily, I had a strong urge to give it a go this morning. So I went into my brand new (accidental) CD meditation library and selected one given to me by Sofia, a life coach in Sweden who I met a few weeks ago. It is called Mantra Miracles by Di Leva.

Lo and behold, I had quite an experience. The mantras were lively and soothing all at once, but they were merely backdrop. I went somewhere.

But first I read the 33rd verse of the Tao Te Ching, which Wayne Dyer calls "Living Self-Mastery." I did this by randomly opening his book to see where it would take me. You can see it here: http://www.taoteching.org/chapters/33.htm.

"A Tao-oriented life focuses on understanding yourself, rather than on the thinking and behaviors of others," Dyer writes.

Layers and layers of the same message, methinks.

Zen me out

Went to buy a new bed today at one of the many big mattress sales going on (Are George Washington and Abraham Lincoln rolling in their graves at the thought of this "symbolic" American tradition?)

Anyway, guess what my little bonus was? A meditation CD.

I'm beginning to think it's a conspiracy ;)

What a card

Today's thought on a card, courtesy of Esther and Jerry Hicks:

There is evolutionary value in my personal preferences.

Do not underestimate the value of your preferences, for the evolution of your planet depends upon those of you on the Leading Edge of thought continuing to fine-tune your desires. And the contrast, or variety, provides the perfect environment for the formation of your personal preferences.

Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, where all the great thinkers of the world withdrew from it. Hmmmmmm ...

In the cards

Received a very loving gift from a dear friend for Valentine's Day. It's a deck of cards and they're called Ask and It is Given cards based on the book by that name by Esther and Jerry Hicks. A line from the back of the box reads: A gentle stroll through these cards will return you to your personal power.

An example is today's card that I picked randomly from the deck. On the front it says:

What if Source were standing in my physical shoes?

On the back it says:

It is not your job to make something happen -- your work is to simply determine what you want. If we were standing in your physical shoes, our attention would be upon bringing ourselves into alignment with the desires and preferences that we have launched. We would consciously feel our way into alignment.

This makes perfect sense to me right now and was, in fact, a welcome message to receive.

Thank you, dear friend.

Funny valentines

I wrote a Game Plan column for FOX with a Valentine's Day message about focusing on love rather than your love life and I'm really proud of it:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/lifestyle-money/travel-lifestyle/article/think-love-life-love_467984_22.html

While I didn't craft it with any expectations, I have been getting some wonderful feedback.

All that said, I opened my mailbox today and found two envelopes that appeared to be valentines. Upon a closer look, I realized the mailman had put them in the wrong slot and that they belonged to my neighbor.

Not sure why I manifested that.

Silent knowing

I'm still working Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life by Wayne Dyer. I am currently fascinated with the 56th verse of the Tao Te Ching, or as Dyer dubs it, "Living by Silent Knowing." Here it is:

http://www.taoteching.org/chapters/56.htm

It felt particularly synchronous because I am reading Eckhart Tolle's book, The New Earth, and its message of reaching a higher consciousness is very much about 'silent knowing.' To put it in Dyer's words: Living in silent knowing becomes the process that casts your existence in a different light -- you have less of an edge and feel settled, softer, and more centered.

Yes.

Meditate on this

Well, well. This evening I was compelled to not only go back to the Buddhist meditation I attended last week, but sign up for the four-week series. I was ambivalent about the topic -- conflict and anger -- because I have spent a lot of time and energy working on that area of my life. Did I really need more?

HaHa. As it turns out, I do.

The class begins with a guided meditation. Then the instructor talks about a particular topic. As she's talking, I'm arrogantly thinking this is a great review. Then she poses a situation and asks if we find ourselves in these kinds of scenarios. We're sitting next to a person in a movie who is noisily chowing down on popcorn. Our annoyance escalates to the point where we become convinced that person is horrible and that they are ruining the movie experience for us.

Hello! What did I just write in this very forum yesterday? That I have been attracting "distractions" like crazy lately. Our homework is to be more mindful in those recurring moments.

OK.

Transcending

A friend recently laughed when a screaming child in a cafe made our conversation challenging.

"You're manifesting this," he said with a smile.

I knew it was true because it kept happening. Even on a train by myself on Friday, sitting in a near empty car, I was reading when a woman entered at the next stop and sat right in front of me. Within minutes she pulled out her cell phone and began to talk. Did I mention there were a thousand other seats and she chose to sit right in front of me?

At the time I was reading Eckhart Tolle's book, A New Earth, which is about awakening to a higher consciousness. Couple that with the aforementioned meditation tapes that keep coming my way and I think the message remains loud and clear: Learn how to be still, tune out noise, transcend.

I did that day. I'll take each one as it comes.

Joining the club

Hate to be a follower, but I was too intrigued by Oprah's new book pick to pass it up. I bought Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth today and will begin it on a train ride tomorrow. The subtitle, Awakening To Your Life's Purpose, was probably the most compelling thing of all to the life coach in me.

No brainer.

Knock, knock

OK, I must cop to this. On January 17 I wrote about how people kept giving me meditation CDs completely unsolicited and that I heard The Universe loud and clear.

Well, actually, I didn't. Aside from going to a Buddhist meditation on Monday night, I have not really put aside time to meditate and listen to these CDs.

Why confess now? Because today someone I just met randomly gave me two meditation CDs. Plus, the aforementioned Buddhist meditation I attended came about because I was asked by a friend.

Unbelievable brick to the head, right?

Methinks I should pay attention before I'm rendered unconscious.

The big U

I coached two clients today who are in a supreme state of manifestation. They have stated intentions and cleared space and things are happening, one after another, to bring their goals to fruition.

There goes that Universe, conspiring to make dreams a reality again.

Obvious wisdom

Went to a Buddhist meditation tonight. I was intrigued by what came up for me in that almost two-hour timeframe.

But then, that's the idea, right?

Ego in check

I chose to begin working with the 24th verse of the Tao Te Ching today -- Living Without Excess (http://www.taoteching.org/chapters/24.htm).

What struck me as funny was that I picked it because I thought it would speak to my current penchant for purging my space. Instead, it was a lesson in not bragging, showing off or being self-righteous. Hmmmmmm. Intriguing.

Author Wayne Dyer likens it to the sun, which is in a constant state of giving and doesn't demand anything in return. It is pure.

Be the sun.