I am Entitled to Miracles

Today’s message comes from “A Course in Miracles”, published in 1995 by the Foundation for Inner Peace. We all seek inner peace throughout our lives, don’t we? But what is inner peace? And how do we achieve it? Those seem like really deep questions but, really, the answers are quite simple.

First of all, we have to find out what makes us happy. What are we doing when we’re feeling inner peace? What activity gives us the most joy? When you discover that – and you’ll find it within yourself – then you’ll know what true joy and inner peace are!

I was talking to a good friend the other day. Her name is Lucy Arcuri. She’s one of the most loving, caring and dearest people I know. In light of my wife, Suzanne, starting up her own concierge business (Concierge by WonderMar), we were discussing the merits of doing what really makes you happy. When you’re tied to a job, if you’re like most employees, you feel limited in what you can do and how far you can go in your current situation.

But have no fear! There’s hope! There’s hope in finding out what activity makes you happy. And there’s hope in knowing that there absolutely is an opportunity waiting for you to open the door and greet with a hearty, “Come on in! I’ve been waiting for you!” There’s hope in the fact that you are entitled to miracles.
There’s no doubt about that fact. It’s a fact, and it’s been proven millions of ways by millions of people throughout the ages. You can be, do and have anything and everything that you want. The only secret (and if you’ve watched the movie or read the book, “The Secret”, you’ll understand what I’m referring to) is that all you need to do is be quiet – be still – and listen. Listen to your Inner Being. Listen to the Voice of Opportunity. It’s right there, inside you – right here, right now.

Enter into your silence with an open mind and an open heart and listen for the guidance that is rightfully yours. Enter into your silence knowing, without any doubts or fears, that you are entitled to miracles. And then, as those miracles begin to manifest in your life, you’ll feel the joy that is inherently yours – the joy that is your natural state. And that is what brings true and total happiness.
You’re entitled to miracles – enjoy them!

Cheers,
Gareth Marples

"To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, today is big with blessings."
- Mary Baker Eddy


So are you ready to experience your highest good - that one thing that brings you the most joy? Louise Hay can show you how: Experience Your Good Now! By Louise Hay

The Looking Trap

This is my grandson, Evan. He's 2 years old. Look at the joyous abandon he's displaying! Do you remember what that feels like?

I've taken the liberty here of using the words of my favourite author, Neale Donald Walsch, in an essay he wrote on February 25, 2005. It struck me as reflecting the joy and freedom a child experiences, and it led me to wonder what clouded that over. Here's some insight on what could be the answer.

Looking at the Looking Trap

It is amazing how many people are caught in the trap of being deeply concerned with how things are looking to others. Keeping Up Appearances has become, for some, an obsession. Many of us will even give up our own happiness (or our chance at it) in order to keep "looking good" in the eyes of others. This is beyond sad. It is tragic.

It is tragic because all we have is the Time of Our Life. It is the essential gift. It is the treasure of treasures. And it is not infinite, but finite. Indeed, it could run out at any moment.

During this Time of Our Life we should be having the time of our lives. Instead, many of us are living lives of dulled acceptance - and some are even living lives of quiet desperation. Waiting, waiting, for what, we know not. Just something, anything, other than what is going on right now, or at least richer, fuller, grander. Because there's something missing, and we dare not name it, or the name itself will do us in.

It is, of course, love. We are lacking in love, and we are dying inside. We are lacking in someone TO love, and we are lacking in someone loving us. And who we are lacking in loving us is, in the supreme irony, ourselves.

Not finding it possible to love ourselves exactly as we are and exactly as we would like to be "showing up" if we could do whatever we wanted, we do, instead, whatever "others" want us to do, in order to acquire the love for which we so desperately yearn. We pay utmost attention to how we are looking.

I call this The Looking Trap. In it we are so confined in our thinking, so caught up in our appearances, so imprisoned in our outlook, that we have no outlook at all. We cannot look out for our Selves. We cannot look out of our own self-made prison. We cannot see over the walls of our own need for approval.

The Looking Trap binds people to the rigidity of what others would choose for them. It ties them down, limits their choices, dramatically alters their course, and all in the name of pleasing others even as the self is never pleased. Meanwhile, Time-that most precious of all life's treasures-is running out.

You will never see this day again. You will never again see this week, this month, this year again. You will see this time only during the moment you are living it. Be sure, then, that you ARE "living it." Try very hard not to be killing it. There shall be time enough after death to experiencing dying. It is time now to experience living. It is time now to spring free of The Looking Trap.

Spring free, my soul! Spring free, spring free!
And give me back, right now, to me.
I shall not see the time I took
To fret and stress o'er how I look.
I shall not have these days again.
For this is Now, and that was Then.

What's gone is past, yet all's not lost.
I'll seize this day, forget the cost.
I'll seize this time, forget the price.
I'll seize this Now, and throw the dice!
My gamble's won before the toss,
For now I have become the boss!

My life's my own, my choices, mine.
I'll take a stand, I'll draw the line.
No more! No more I'll give to you
The power to influence what I do.
No more! No more I'll keep from me
The very things that set me free!

This day I claim again my choice.
This day I give myself a voice.
And how I look to you is not
Of my concern, and so you've got
No more power to wield o'er me.
My God, it's true! I've set me free!

I couldn't have said it better myself! Have a wonderful, joyous week! :)

Cheers,
Gareth Marples

"To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, today is big with blessings."
- Mary Baker Eddy


If you want to put aside all your excuses and reclaim that freedom and joy that is inherently yours, turn to one of the experts, Dr Wayne Dyer: Wayne Dyer Excuses Begone!

Our Challenges are Gifts

Our challenges are gifts! Have you ever thought about it that way? What's your first reaction to your challenges? Do you react...or do you respond? I like to try to stay on the positive side of the coin and respond to all my challenges with the knowledge that I'm being sent a gift.

Many of you may be thinking how hard that would be! Well, it doesn't have to be. Of course, when an apparent negative situation presents itself to us, most of us probably tend to think of it as a nuisance, an interruption to the flow of our daily lives. But look back at that last sentence. See how the word "presents" is used? Doesn't that signify a gift, or a present?

What life presents us, whether it's a challenge, or whether it's a wonderful experience that we welcome with open arms, is always something we've chosen. And we choose these events and circumstances in order to remember Who We Are - to get back to our true nature.

Look at the snail in today's picture. He's faced with many challenges in his life. But he just keeps slipping and sliding along, totally focused on what's ahead of him, and totally oblivious to what's behind. Things get in his way, but he changes direction, or just climbs over his obstacles. There's quite a lesson to be learned from the snail.

Slowly, but surely, we accept every challenge that confronts us in our lives. And we say, "Thank you" to The Universe for the opportunity to grow, and to become closer to Who We Really Are. And doesn't that feel wonderful?

Cheers,
Gareth Marples

"To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, today is big with blessings"
- Mary Baker Eddy


Now that you've accepted your gifts, how about an inspirational e-card to go with them: Hay House e-Gift Cards

Growing

Isn't it wonderful to watch flowers and plants growing? To see the progress of a miraculous program of budding and blooming? All we have to do, wherever we are, in whatever season, is to put our busy lives on pause and stop to appreciate the wonder of growth - natural growth.

That's what we, as humans, are also experiencing as we progress through Life. One of the most important lessons I've learned through my personal growth is that We Are All One. And within that One, we are all individuations - that is, individual parts joined to the whole - of All That Is. I'll give Neale Donald Walsch (my favourite author) the due credit for the word "individuations". I love it! It describes us as each one being so unique, yet at the same time, so unified in our sameness.

As we grow on our life journey, we continually come closer to Who We Are. And who are we? We are individuations of the Universe, continually attracting whatever we send out into that Universe. If we send out hate, we get hate, If we send out love, we get love.

And that reminds me that we are all Good. But how could we know if we're "good" if we hadn't experienced "bad"? That's because there's an illusionary world that was created to give us a point of relativity. It works like this:

I've felt poverty, so I know when I'm experiencing abundance.
I've felt anger, so I know when I'm experiencing peace.
I've felt depression, so I know when I'm experiencing joy.
I've felt hate, so I know when I'm experiencing love.

If we didn't have the experience of the negative, we wouldn't know what the positive is. In other words, to experience the presence of "what is", we have to have knowledge of "what is not". Otherwise, we would only know what is, if we had first experienced "what is not".

Are you confused by all this "what is", what is not" jargon? Well, first of all, I can't take credit for that, either, and, again, I give full credit to Neale Donald Walsch for the ideas. It's just plain and simple to me that as I meet life head on, and decide and choose how I'm going to respond to each situation (remember in my last blog, "react vs. respond"?), them it's easy for me to choose what works best for me, based on my experience of what doesn't work.

You've probably heard this many times before: There are no mistakes, just lessons. So that's how I grow in my life. I learn my lessons (some harder than others) by noticing and remembering "what is not", so that I may make the simple choice of "what is".

Does that make it easier for you? If not, I'd love to hear your comments. Don't hesitate it give me your feedback and input at the bottom of this blog, or of any of my blogs, for that matter.

Thanks for sharing your time with me and we'll be together again soon. In the meantime, have a blessed day and a perfect week!

Cheers,
Gareth Marples

"For those leaning on the sustaining infinite, today is big with blessings."
- Mary Baker Eddy


Brian Tracy is the leading authority on personal and professional success. I've garnered many a wise word from him. Check out his material here: Brian Tracy Audio Programs - Now all are FREE!