"What you bring forth out of yourself from the inside will save you. What you do not bring forth out of yourself from the inside will destroy you."
Gospel of Thomas

We can transform painful memories by re-imagining them from the soul’s perspective of love and meaning.

Andrew Schneider says that all experiences have the purpose of serving the soul. An experience in the past blocked us because our fear at the time distorted our perception of what happened. To transform this limiting experience, we must bring what was then unconscious into the soul’s realm through consciousness.

We can do this by following these steps:

1. RECALL the past experience that might inhibit us.

2. OWN the experience (no judgment, blame, etc.).

3. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for it and the consequences (i.e., the experience was determined by my subjective perception of what occurred, dictated by my lack of wholeness -- specifically my fears).

4. GIVE IT MEANING (the soul was attempting to gain some kind of mastery or skill, but we didn’t know that at the time).

5. RE-IMAGINE it from the perspective of soul consciousness (showing its higher purpose).

"Letting go of our suffering is the hardest work we will ever do. It is also the most fruitful. To heal means to meet ourselves in a new way -- in the newness of each moment where all is possible and nothing is limited to the old."
Stephen Levine

Tags: Recovery

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No one can tell what goes on between the person you were and the person you become. No one charts that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out the other side...or you don't.

Stephen King "The Stand"

Tags: Resilient Living

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"We are not called to go where it is easy and love already exists.  We are called to go where we are sent and bring forth love."

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As long as the mind is enslaved, the body can never be free. Psychological freedom, a firm sense of self-esteem, is the most powerful weapon against the long night of physical slavery.
MARTIN LUTHER KING

The human mind is a channel through which things-to-be are coming into the realm of things-that-are.
HENRY FORD

There is an elasticity in the human mind, capable of bearing much, but which will not show itself, until a certain weight of affliction be put upon it; its powers may be compared to those vehicles whose springs are so contrived that they get on smoothly enough when loaded, but jolt confoundedly when they have nothing to bear.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.
ROBERTSON DAVIES

To know psychology ... is no guarantee that we shall manage our minds rightly.
WILLIAM GLOVER

The will ... is the driving force of the mind. If it's injured, the mind fallstopieces.
AUGUST STRINDBERG

Only in quiet waters things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mindis adequate perception of the world.
HANS MARGOLIUS

Babylon in all its desolation is a sight not so awful as that of the human mind in ruins.
SCROPE BERDMORE DAVIES

The mind is international and supra-national ... it ought to serve not war and annihilation, but peace and reconciliation.
HERMANN HESSE

The monsters of the mind are far worse than those that actually exist. Fear, doubt, and hate have hamstrung more people than beasts ever have.
CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI

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Trust is the path.
Acceptance, the direction.
Serenity the destination.
Self-centeredness a detour.
Impatience, a rock in your shoe.
Martin Dodd

Tags: Recovery

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I am a prisoner of darkness, in a dungeon of fear.
The sounds of joy, I am forbidden to hear.
My cell of aloneness is bitter and cold.
I can smell the stench as feelings unfold.
No doorway to freedom, just cold, closed-in walls.
Not one sound of comfort just long, empty halls.
Stares of discomfort, a ringing of lies,
The sights of betrayal force open my eyes.
Visions of danger, thoughts of rejection,
My eyes fill with tears when I see my reflection.
Ebony tangles water stained face
Drained of emotion, thoughts out of place.
Tanned complexion now all blank and white.
Paranoia now lingers in the darkness of night.
Insomnia waits for the face of the sin.
The finish line waits to lengthen the win.
Eyes once with sparkle, now cold, dark and dry.
Not even an echo of my silent cry.

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She sits in a room, all by herself
She sits on a chair, she stares at the shelf.
On the shelf there's a picture, of who she used to be,
Smiling and glowing, young and care free.

But now she's a shadow, there's nothing left inside,
Her soul has left her body, long ago she died.
The only thing inside her mind, one thought will never change,
And all she knows about herself is the picture and her name.

Inside the room, not a noise, nothing makes a sound,
Inside her mind its chaos filled, screams from all around.
Her knuckles white, gripping her knees, her eyes wide open in fear,
But never her sight is taken off, the picture she holds most dear.

Never does she move an inch, or say a single word.
Not for years, since before the dust, has her voice ever been heard.
Nothing left inside her heart, except a little dot,
Inside that dot her picture held tight, left on her shelf to rot.

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Lord, there are marvelous things that I do not know, nor can I comprehend.

Lord, things that happen in my life, and things that happen in my friends lives.

Lord, I desire to be thankful, to appreciate everything that comes across my path.

Lord, so often life hurts, I get angry -- upset, I do not understand, yet Lord You ask me to be thankful for everything, and have faith – thank You.

Lord, help me to be thankful, when the rains come on the just and the unjust, that You care so much about me, that Your to chasten, to build character and godliness in me, to be a mirrored reflection of Your Son to reach others.

Lord, I thank You for mercy, for the hunger for righteousness, for forgiveness, for purity, for providing for my needs.

Lord, I thank You for prayer, That I can come before You and call You Father.
That I can cast my burdens on You.

Lord, I thank You for my heart, the treasure and light You placed in there -- the Holy Spirit.

Lord, help me to endeavor, to be thankful for everything.

Lord, it seems most of the time, what happens is about me.

Lord, I thank you that You gently remind me that the things are not about me, however, my life and what happens is more about You, Your will, and Your Kingdom.

Lord, I thank You, I praise You. Lord, in You do I find strength and courage to go on.

Lord, I thank You for the author and finisher of my faith – Jesus Christ and that in You is hope everlasting.

Lord, I thank You for the blood of Jesus, Your precious lamb.
Thank You Lord God!

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Happy Thanksgiving Friends

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Thanksgiving is here again. As we gather with our family and friends tomorrow to celebrate and give thanks, I wanted to pass on the message that Gratitude or the art of being thankful should be part of our daily lives, not just something that is reserved for special occasions.

Being grateful is the key between those who have and those who don't have. We all have goals and dreams and things that we aspire to have. But if you can't be grateful for things that you have, how will you ever acquire more things in your life? Being thankful puts things in perspective. The more grateful you are, the more your life will be blessed.

"To receive more you must first be thankful for what you already have. Thanksgiving opens the doors for good ideas to flow, while cynicism blocks the door of good ideas." - Jim Rohn

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful." - Buddha 

A friend of mine was driving through an intersection one day and his little four-year-old son was in the car with him. The car door flew open, and the little boy rolled out of the vehicle right into the middle of traffic coming from four ways. The last thing my friend saw was a set of car wheels just about on top of his son, moving at a very fast rate of speed.

All he knew to do was cry, "JESUS!" As soon as he could bring his car to a halt, he jumped out and ran to his son, who was perfectly all right.

But the man driving the car that had almost hit the child was absolutely hysterical. My friend went over to him and started trying to comfort him.

"Man, don't be upset!" he said. "My son is all right, he's okay. Don't be concerned about it. Just thank God you were able to stop!"

"You don't understand!" the man responded. "I never touched my brakes!"

--- Author Unknown

Tags: Thankfulness

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