Spiritual Endeavor

What everyone should do! Priceless! by shuttercat7

Sl spirituality and charity. Live richly with being aware of the bottom line. Read The 4 Hour Work Week or The Simple Living Guide for more info.

Sorry I haven’t posted for a bit. I have been feeling a bit off-kilter due to finances. Please forgive me!

I am making a prediction, which maybe isn’t one but I am hopeful it will come to pass. America will become a simplistic society in time, waste, living, and values in the next 20 years. I say this because of the America we see today. The crazy housing market, debt ratios, and pain of more and more people realizing that stuff only puts a temporary Band-Aid on pain, sadness, and self-esteem issues.

Simplicity is the art of reducing life to key components that you value. Like everything, life is a balance. Some people enjoy living frugally and splurging on key things like health, love, travel, books, self growth, learning, personal spirituality, and charity. Live richly while being aware of the bottom line. Read The 4 Hour Work Week or The Simple Living Guide

The direction America could swing is coming to the realization that the Big Mac that they are eating isn’t what they value, although by the purchase it seems like it is for the moment. We have lost sight of what does matter in our culture. It’s not to say you shouldn’t have needs met with dental, medical care, or a warm bed. If what you value is 400-thread Egyptian cotton but you can’t afford your car payment, your priorities may be out of whack. However, if all things are in order and fine sheets are what you want then be my guest. The lesson here is not to be stingy with oneself for the sake of it but to really prioritize what you or your family personally value. The Joneses have been dead since the 50s, but we are still looking at them for what shiny car they bought and for their approval. Honestly they can’t even afford those things now so don’t try to be like them.

My personal simple journey is, in part, knowing what I value and what my childhood lacked. I am still trying to outrun my ego needs of running away and feeling valuable. I remember when I was maybe 20 I had excellent credit, steady work, and then my childhood needs took me shopping. I remember in one day I went to Ikea and spent $1200. This was a splurge and not preplanned. My need to feel OK about myself, to feel deserving or worthy, made me buy my bedroom furniture and entertainment center on credit. After floundering, being unhappy at work, leaving jobs, and being depressed, it took me nearly 7 years and then some to pay off that and other debt. In the meantime, I am learning now about doing what one has to do to stay afloat even if you don’t want to. (Minus stress of work that becomes a mental health concern.) It doesn’t mean you have to do “it” forever. To this day I am still learning lessons and realizing that personal happiness may not come from money, but lack of security and stability will give you an awful feeling that isn’t fun. Motivation to action or depression, it is your choice!

I myself have been good and bad at simplicity. The good, I don’t own much of what I don’t value. I know people and places interest me more than too many things to clutter my life with. I have enough paper for that!

Love and Hugs,
Jen

Disappointment has been one of my soul lessons and personal challenges. In the past, disappointment and feelings that I chose to feel from such experiences lead to massive pain, stalemate and a massive case of victim mentality. Growing up I was a hippy child in a sense; no rules, no challenges to be a good student and not so much as a go brush your teeth before bed. My Mom taught me about the greats, Joe Jackson, Issac Asimov and various spiritualities. Discipline and stick to-it-ness wasn’t in her teaching tool kit. I was not babied but I was hugged a lot. Not sure if my brother would agree on the non babied assessment. I never had my hand held including times when I wish there had been many hands of support, encouragement and kicking my butt. Choir concerts and sexual harassment at school are two examples. So disappointment was a early theme that made my rose colored glasses a bit muddy in coloring.

We all know everyone suffers setbacks, walls that seem to hold you back and even just feathers that seem like walls. When reaching that feather wall you can be so frustrated you don’t realize how easy it is to move the feather to reach your potential. My pattern was to run away from disappointment. Man I was like the roadrunner when it comes to running away but eventually the feeling of lack of worthiness would creep in and boy did it tackle me. Whining to my Mom or anyone who would listen and even that grew tiring. Sometimes disappointment would cripple me so bad that I really couldn’t see the way to change the situation. Life tends to move forward and I would ask, where is the next hurdle?

I know that the lessons weren’t really about not getting the guy, the job, or the fact I wished life was different; it was me wanting me to be different. I thank disappointment, as it taught me not to give up on myself. That took oh many many years people! I am sure I will be attacked by the Disappointment Bear now and again. Although I will hug him now as he isn’t as scary as he once was. LOL Avoiding disappointment is like avoiding your face. Eventually you have to look at it to be ok with it. I also think disappointment is a great marker for what you care about. How would you know if you always got everything you ever wanted easily? To me that would be like a place without growth. I know the experience also teaches me whether or not I want something bad enough. In the past I didn’t have my inner cheerleader standing by to say You can do it! Or Why not try you’ll be no worse for ware. Self assurance is a quality everyone needs to learn. I still like a friend/family cheerleader now an again but now know I will go for my goals, aspirations, and the guy even if I fall on my face a few times. Thank goodness for plastic surgery. (Kidding!)

Personal expectations tend to high when you have a disappointing feeling in your midst. Expectations will be another future post.

I hope there is a sense of ease now when you are hit with setbacks and roadblocks. As always life loves to see how we fare under conditions of variety. I would love to hear your stories and how you have overcome or been shaken but not stirred. Any perspective on riding the waves of life would excellent, as I think we can all learn from one another.

Love and Hugs,
Jen

Well, well, little miss I hate doing anything that expends energy. Speaking to myself of course. I used to be so efficient (umm lazy), so much so that when I went to take in the laundry from the laundromat I would nearly kill myself my carrying two 30 lbs bags up the stairs just so I wouldn’t have to go up and down again. Awake again from a life coma, I know that hard work is in order to claim what I want in life. If I want to manifest things in my life like being 112 lbs, writing an e-book for ending depression, making more than enough money than I will ever need and finding a fabulous guy to date and eventually marry, I have to do the leg work. Manifesting takes many angles. One, is the affirmative thought one has the goal attained with belief. Another the feeling(s) you have as if the goal is achieved and doing the leg work by changing thinking and behavior to meet the universe more than halfway to reach said goal. Finally the trickiest part, the ability to let go of control, give up the result (No feeling like you will die if you don’t accomplish or attain) and be patient.

All those things I have been able to do rather unconsciously and others times really push through and sometimes give up when the going got to “hard”. Now my mind set is clearer and stopping on my journey is not an option. Knowing what I want helps a great deal, still fuzzy on some stuff but over all have a better idea now more than ever. My mind and body fight me at times but my Spirit says I am Already There. The great thing about Spirit is that it knows no obstacle or resistance. Us humans have that luxury. After working out to a brutal Killian Michaels workout today and reading T. Have Eker is that, being fully committed to a goal be it fitness, love, money, adding contribution to the world, ________ fill in the blank, takes effort. That doesn’t mean you won’t have somethings fall on your lap but for the most part the doing creates the accomplishment. The belief or the knowing that it already IS, is just the visual your mind and body need to believe Spirit when it says It is already So!

As I kick myself and love myself, I ask do I have what it takes to do the hard work? Do I want these goals bad enough to challenge the status quo, without the easy, fries with that shake? How about you, you may work at a job that you hate because its easy. Do you avoid dating because someone may actually challenge your thinking or mirror yourself? Or hey maybe they will love the way you laugh and you have to deal with that?

Do you really think your gonna win the lotto if you don’t get off the couch and drive so far away to the 7-11 and purchase one. Neither is sitting on the couch and wishing for the inches to disappear while watching the Biggest Loser. I know, I tried and it didn’t work. *Tear* I guess I am working out to be steamy hot. At least I am stronger, faster and I have the technology to manifest again and again.

I hope I have stirred within that makes you say to yourself, Go Big or Go Home!

Love and Hugs,
Jen

I say this for a few reasons. It’s not because I believe in a boogie man figure whom pushes me to perfectionism or makes me think I am fat, lazy and a bad person. Personally I don’t believe that blaming outside forces is a good use of my God energy. In addition this blaming puts my personal responsibility for my thoughts or actions on something other than myself, like this figure of negativity.

*Caveat, if you do have voices in your head beside your own I would suggest two things: 1) Seek mental help. I can’t speak for other intuitives but other voices that are not your own shouldn’t be in your head. That doesn’t mean you won’t feel, hear or see guides but it is obviously different than a negative protagonist that speaks to you in a negative way. 2) You may be tuning into lower astral riffraff. This lower energy isn’t really able to harm you however “they” try to confuse which is a part of that energies goal. I For the most part am the causal affect of negative mental noise or self hate. I will do a post later on with more information on psychic attack. You can tell these “voices” are lower energies or your own negative self talk by checking in with your Higher Self and noticing whether the thoughts are of the Agape/Loving thoughts or consistent habitual thought processes that most people have. A good way to change your self talk is to check in and refer to what God/Loving Vibration would say to you about such issues. I am sorry for the tangent and I digress. *

The point of this post is to get you to think about why we are perfectionist and how to change the thinking that makes it so tempting to put all this pressure upon oneself. Mind you this is not a license to not to do your best and give your projects, relationships and life your all. However, letting go of perfectionism will give you a level of peace and help release insecurities of holding the need to be perfect which we all no is impossible.

This devil of perfectionism can be placed in out heads by parental, societal and moral pressures. This can manifest by trying to being Super Woman or Man and taking on more than we can chew as well as not wanting to disappoint people. This can cause self hate when we don’t do or say all of what WE expect others are expecting from us. Most people are in their own world, generally thinking about their own insecurities and only expect things that are from their reference point. Most of the time unless you are intimately relating you will not know their expectations and really you shouldn’t worry about it any way.

That said, quelling perfectionism is an on going process like correcting false ideas about what the “shoulds” are in your life. Please take it down a notch, have fun and live by your own honor code not by someone else’s.

Love and Hugs

Jen

This week/week-end has been pretty fab I have to say. It’s a late hour the way I like it. It’s a good time for reflection without life’s noises.

This week was great- Status of greatness: I got awesome chocolates from a cute, intelligent and passionate guy, who I have a school girl crush on. It’s a bit romantic to get a Valentine from a person you have never met. Even though it was a contest of sorts -my wit, humor and sex appeal aided, I gather, to gaining the sweet gesture. Nice!!! I will have to get my Go Go Yubari outfit from the back of my closet to show off my school girl uniform.

I worked in the city this past week. Easy graphic job that paid nicely for 2 and a half days work. Not too shabby.

I went out with my roommate and good friend Jeanette, Friday night. We went to a local dance place to gt our dance on and celebrating our woman hood. Saw an old male acquaintance. He is very good-looking but he is a player to the 10th power. He tried kissing me, an ego boost maybe but he was not signaled for take off. I wasn’t flirting just being friendly – there is a difference! From me you can tell by the way I smile, my coyness, shyness or balls out straight forwardness whether or not I am interested. No signal from my part but c’est la vie. It’s a nice reminder that I am attractive even when I am not back into my hot pants yet. Soon, Soon!

Finally, even though with fuzzy head, I am looking toward my future. What I want and how I will attain it. A little help from the universe and some gusto. I can get bogged down by all the shiny in the world. This oyster of a world can have so much to do and be and love that I have to remember to prioritize as there are other days, weeks, months where the shiny can be claimed. Not all at once or all the time. Somethings are nice all at once. Hugging, kissing, and walking hand in hand with someone special while visiting a exotic place or going to Trader Joe’s. Reading a book while your honey just sitting reading his book an occasional sexy glance or oh my check this out moment. Other shiny things like getting a passport or working out can be solo and probably done not simultaneously. I am not walking to the nearest processing center which is about 250 miles away. LOL

So all in all, a great week of moving forward, catching some romance and gaining focus.

Love and Hugs

Jen

My aha moments sometimes come after a long study, an obsession of topic. This week has been no exception. Maybe in Sept or Oct a friend recommended the book, The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. I took the book out of the library. I like the 3 week deadline sometimes. I read it, it was good, very good. It was easy to understand. The guy behind the book seemed interesting but at that time the information decided to leave my brain. Moving again and all that entails and my own self (fear) stopped me from moving on any of the tips suggested. I am known to do a few nonsensical things and this, among many, was be one of them. This month I was loading up my Google Reader found Tim’s Blog. I started to be rekindled by the information in his blog and others in the lifehacker family. I also in a magical way also acquired a crush on Tim. I am generally haven’t been attracted to blond men but his devilish grin, great smile and intellect makes Tim uber attractive. I have been obsessing by finding all media, pictures and reading as much about him and his ideas as possible. Although in his book, Tim references how to find anyone you want to speak with in various ways, I myself am not going that route. I am chicken (Bahak, bad imitation of a chicken.) I am a little late for a bet he had with one of his friends that he couldn’t outsource dating. I think he finished his experiment 20 dates happier and proved his friend wrong. I think the scenario is like hiring an Indian or Malaysian Yenta. I am hopeful to meet him in 2008 but above all I want to thank Tim for his inspiration helping me find joy in the things I do with my time. The type of life we live, laughter with friends, personal adventures to grow and/or explore, and doing stuff you love at its core is what Tim’s ideals are about. Why do many of us put off what we enjoy or might enjoy in the hopes of experiencing it later in life. Especially and possibly when a whole lot of your juice or spark for living has dwindled. The fire still needs fuel people! Check out his book and don’t go stealing my man unless you are as awesome as he is.
Here is an amazing short film by Mark Osborne that portrays the fear I have about letting my spark die. It is a beautiful 8 minutes that has made me shed a tear and has inspired me as well.

Love and Hugs

Jen

Full article is from the Orlando Sentinel.

I am starting off by stating at one time I was a full fledged, go to church every Sunday Catholic for a good time in my late teens into my early twenties. I still have a love of Rosary Beads, Jesus, pomp and circumstance and frankincense. I however, for many sociological, moral, and personal reasons don’t believe in the dogma of the Church. So when I read this article about how the Pope wants the teaching of limbo to include the hope that God will give special dispensation for unbaptized babies going to hell. I wanted to laugh and Praise the Lord for real.

Additionally in the article the Rev. Richard McBrien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, states “….we’re left with only one option, namely, that everyone is born in the state of grace.”

Finally someone who speaks my language! My personal belief is that we are all apart of God, the Spirit or soul is in direct connection to God, Source, All That Is, The Universe ect, all of the time… To think God would throw anyone away especially, babies is another way to make people believe in an Unloving God and the connection to said is gone. To feel that for a simple thing like lack of baptism could keep one from God’s love is absurd. The ego and ideas of self disapproval, unworthiness and just plain false information separates us from God and feelings of Unconditional Love that is in constant flow to everyone all the time. Many just haven’t tuned in or the haven’t let go of old conditioning.

The world would be a calmer and more peaceful and cooperative place if everyone KNEW and BELIEVED in Unconditional Love.

Think of the love you would show yourself and others if that channel was clear. Wouldn’t you treat your body better? Wouldn’t you say things more sweetly? Wouldn’t you we more grateful and want to express Godness and Goodness everyday? Wouldn’t you have faith in the process and journey of living?
I hope everyone gives themselves a Big Hug and have learned that God Truly Loves You. The energy of the Highest Vibration is Love and by being loving and compassionate to everyone and everything you are loving God and raising the vibration in the world.

Love and Hugs

Jennifer