I love Claire Blatchford’s books. This morning, I was feeling disconnected to myself and home as I have been away for so long and in so many different places so I decided to ask Mum to give me a book that would help!
The first one my eye’s fell on was her book 'Turning Within - words heard from within'. Then I opened it at ‘Wipe The Slate Clean’ and it was perfect!
Firstly, try that technique yourself. If you are out of sorts or feeling strange, ask God, your heart, a spiritual helper or angel or the Universe or Source or whatever you call those who help you, to show you a book, movie or something that would offer you guidance!
Then listen carefully or allow yourself to be open to what you see!
No, I have not become all cosmic! I have always had this faith and those of you who have been reading my newsletters for a while know that Mum guides me a lot!
But I have to ask, be open and listen!
So Claire Blatchford was profoundly deaf from a bout of mumps when she was 6 but developed an inner capacity to listen to what she believes was Christ - and I must say on reading her books, I feel the same way! She explains that in another book - Friend of My Heart.
Anyway….I opened the book at page 21 which was titled ‘Wipe the slate clean’. And it was perfect! I hope she does not mind me printing the words here (buy her books - they are worth it!) :
Every day begin again:….
Wipe the slate clean,
Come to me whole and new,
Come to me empty
Yet full of gladness and praise.
Look on each day as a new creation
And you will be new also.
Let there be expectation in you,
Eagerness to see what the day may bring.
Only the old live in the past or the future.
Imagine the day is full of gifts,
Some deserved, some not,
Many, perhaps, what you won’t consider as ‘gifts’!
Let your gift to me be yourself,
Willing my will,
Awaiting my word.
What did I learn from this? Well a number of things but for starters it made me go through this process of thinking:
- be present. Look around me and focus on what was actually there. FEEL the warmth of the day, the sheets on my skin. SEE the beauty of nature surrounding me outside; HEAR the birds and sounds of the wind in the trees. Just BE in that moment.
- talk to my heart. (Sometimes I talk to Mum, to God, to Christ, the Universe!) And ASK what is it’s will for me today.
- then I needed to listen. This took patience! And a prayer that I get better at hearing! But at least I was willing to wait, listen and hear. And have faith that something would come!
- then I needed to act on what I thought I heard! Which was to go to the beach for a walk and a swim! That was not hard to do! BUT…I had to overcome the feelings of ‘no, I don’t have time; I have been away for so long, I need to be catching up’ etc. All those thoughts that if I had listened to would have stopped me being grounded, feeling more connected and able to work effectively.
- I needed to imagine the day flowing and full of ‘gifts’; and consider everything that happened a ‘gift’, no matter what it looked like! So the uncomfortable feelings that lurked inside me that I could not really identify needed to be reframed into gifts, and I chose to find gratitude for those feelings - I chose to believe they had some purpose, so I was able to flow more easily with them.
- I consciously chose to stop focusing on the past or future - and to catch myself when I was drifting back to dwelling on the challenges of the past or fast forwarding to unfounded fears of the future! And bring myself again to the present.
- In other words, to wipe the slate clean and start afresh. To forgive and move on. To be full of joyful expectations and faith that I was not alone, but supported and guided - if I chose to ask and listen!
There are many more things I learned but you don’t have all day to read so perhaps to make this time useful to you - ask yourself these questions:
Do I start again each day? Or do I hang onto stuff that happened yesterday or last week or last year or last relationship or lifetime!!
Do I have enthusiasm to see what the day might bring? Do I imagine the day full of gifts?
Do I ask for guidance and help - and do I listen for the wisdom of that guidance?
How can I think so that I create each day to be wonderful, no matter what happens?
What choices can I make with my thinking?
How can I be conscious and present in every moment?
Stick these questions on a note beside your bed or on your computer to remind you.
One of the hardest things to accept in life is that we are responsible for what we have created! And we DO create our world. We are guided, helped and supported but only WE can make the decision to act on that help or guidance.
What will you chose today?
Meanwhile, I went to the beach; came home and chatted to a friend I love; worked on my emails; wrote this newsletter; talked to my nectarine tree that is full of wonderful fruit; forgave a couple of people; let go of a situation that I allowed to make me angry; appreciated the amazing place we live in; enjoyed the warmth of spring; tried to serve and help a couple of others; fixed a broken sink; packed to go to New Zealand; did QI Gong and focused on being thankful for all the blessings that are present in my life - and some sure don’t look like blessings! LOL.
All in all a MUCH better day than if I had continued to focus on the first world problems I was letting get to me! Thanks Claire, Mum and everyone else!
Zooties
Amanda
PS. This might be a useful tool to help you to change your patterns of thinking!
MINDPT
Last newsletter I mentioned that I have just joined a new group of people using some very exciting technology based on state of the art science! It’s designed to help you change your patterns of thinking - easily!
Together we have created a MindPT program called The Joy Project.
The way they have put it together means that you can spend just a few minutes a day watching it and your brain absorbs the information. There are wonderful images and phrases you watch daily - and you can even customise your own session! You can watch it on your phone, iPad or computer!
There are many different programs as well as mine - all designed to create new patterns and habits of thinking - easily and quickly using visualisation and affirmations. The ones in my session are taken from my book.
We had such a great response that I thought I would offer it to you again if you missed out last time. If you would like to try it - we are offering it at a super low launch price of $9.99 - this price is only valid until the 23rd November 2015 - its a HUGE saving of 75%. Click here to get started today!
Zooties again!! And remember - your mission is to start each new day with a clean slate!!
