Mighty Powerful Stuff

Ever think about how powerful your words are? 

Not just the words you speak aloud, but the words you think?  You know what I’m talking about . . . “self-talk” . . . all those things you say only to yourself, like “OMG, I’m having a bad hair day!” or “I hate how I look in these pants” or “Yuck! I’m getting old!” or “I feel terrible!” or “These people drive like freaks!” . . . the list goes on. 

Frequently, that negative self-talk creeps out of our inner conversation and insinuates itself into how we express ourselves to others.  The worst part is, we often don’t even know we’re doing it. 

Before you know it, those thoughts have become affirmations and, as we all know, affirmations have a way of manifesting into reality.

This is not our reality of choice.  Or is it? 

After all, we have created it . . . all with the help of our words.  Our finances, our careers, our relationships begin and end with our choice of words.

. . . very powerful things, words.

One way of looking at this is we are artists -- sculptors -- molding our experiences through our use and choice of the words we choose to describe ourselves, others, and the world in general.  Everything from the very mundane to the very important is colored by the words we choose to describe them.

Recently, a friend told me that when she awakens each morning she decides what kind of day she’s going to have.  She pictures it filled with good, peaceful, loving, abundant experiences and it sets the tone for her day.

What a wonderful place this world would be if we all took a lesson from her book!  She takes a moment, and it really takes only a moment, to close the window to negativity—not the least of which includes negative and hurtful thoughts and words—and opens the door to love.  Love then follows her throughout her day.  What a lovely way to choose to live. 

And it is a choice.

I’ve been cogitating on that idea ever since my friend presented it to me.  I like it.  It feels good.  How could it not?  After all, the one commandment Jesus gave to us is to “love thy neighbor as thyself.”  Being human, of course I stumble from time to time. Still, beginning each day thinking 'love' is proving to be a very positive experience. 

Will you join me?  Let’s start making a positive change in our world . . . one thought and one word at a time.

--Kate Morgan for Unity of Charlotte

Why Should You Agree?

The Four Agreements

Look at don Miguel Ruiz’s classic book The Four Agreements for clues on how to live a better life.

            His first Agreement is, “Be impeccable with your word.” Say what you mean and speak in integrity. Use the power of your word to speak your truth and reject gossip either from others or from yourself.

            The second Agreement is “Don’t take anything personally.” Nothing others do is because of you. When you are immune from their misguided statements and opinions, nothing can bring you down.

            The third Agreement is “Don’t make assumptions.” Ask questions and express what you want. Open communication with others to negate misunder­standings, drama and sadness.

            The final Agreement is “Always do your best.” Strive for excellence, not perfection. A perfectionist doesn’t finish a job, he just abandons it. By doing your best, you will avoid regret and self-judgment.

            No wonder that don Miguel Ruiz is one of Oprah’s favorite authors.

 ---Alan Batten for Unity of Charlotte

Where Do You Go To Find the Truth?

I went to Detroit to speak recently. When I told one friend, he asked with concern, “Are you going to be okay?” I reminded him he knew better than to believe everything he had read, or seen recently on the woes of the Motor City.

A Detroit activist hired me to inspire residents who have had a steady menu of “bad news” for some time now.  I called my talk “a spiritual pep rally.”

Some of my early advice to the audience: When you feel overwhelmed, turn off the radio and television news and don’t read the newspaper. What you get won’t be the real truth, anyway, and it may cause unnecessary worry or fear. Besides, you will only get somebody else’s perception of the truth.

As an example of real truth versus human perception, I offered my old story about losing my Jaguar. I was stopped at a light and when it turned green, I hit the gas pedal. But so did a bus in the oncoming traffic, which was turning in front of me. The bus plowed into my car and totaled my Jag. I was thankful to be alive, sore, and heartbroken about the loss of my car.

When I got home and I was safely in bed recuperating, I asked God, “Why did you let this happen to me?” Immediately, I was shown the accident as if it were happening the first time.

 Only this time I heard my subconscious mind, which was angry that the bus was trying to run the light, say: “Oh, no, you don’t.” I was obviously speaking to the bus. And after that, I floored the pedal.

What I was shown was that at that very moment that large vehicle was more than a bus to me. It represented every person, every boss, every institution—and so forth—that had ever run over me, figuratively, or used me as a doormat. The gas pedal was my revenge.

Now back to The Truth.

  A television reporter would have said, “A bus ran a stoplight and hit a woman driving a Jaguar today.”

But the truth was more than that.

 The truth, as it would have been recorded only on that heavenly network, W-G-O-D, would have said, “A woman was stopped at a light and when it changed, she saw a bus coming toward her. She did not stop because she was distracted by her thoughts about the people and institutions she believed had hurt her. Her own lack of forgiveness blinded her.”

The point: Don’t believe everything you hear about Detroit. Of course, the truth is much, much deeper.

 The way I see it, the city is bankrupt but the people aren’t. That would be impossible. They were born with a limitless amount of wealth and creativity. If anything, we should look to Detroit for possible solutions. What is happening in that city is the manifestation of the collective consciousness of our country.

And that’s the truth.

Patrice Gaines for Unity of Charlotte

Life on hold

This week, I spent a delightful hour...while on hold.
I needed to make an appointment with my VA primary care doctor outside of that agency's normally mandated frequency of once every six months.
So, I called the appointment number and was told that I would have to speak with a Triage Nurse. I was transferred to that number.
The rather officious sounding woman's recorded voice repeatedly assured me  my call was "important to the VA", but there were 20 calls ahead of me.
Then the hold music started.  Interrupted every half minute by the repeated assurance of the importance of my call..... and the eternal number of 20 calls ahead of me.
(The number eventually worked its way incrementally slow way down.)

"Well," I thought, "It's a good thing I'm not in any dire straits."

Then, I thought about that innocuous hold music.
 I wondered, not for the first time, what it must be like to be a musician in an orchestra who knows that her best work on the guitar, keyboard or trombone,will fade into obscurity of hold music.
How about the recording technicians, who take as much pride in their work as do the musicians?

That realization brought the thought: In a way, we are all on hold, laboring away, doing our best, providing the universal hold music for life.

Life is what happens when you're not looking.
Like the anonymous hold music musicians and technicians, we're all doing our best to be the best "we" that we can be.

Like that old Internet Irish blessing. We're dancing like no one is watching, and the musicians are playing like everyone is listening.

This is life on hold.

--Alan Batten for Unity of Charlotte