After Prayer, What?

I  have learned  to pray from an awareness of the Presence of God within.

I have learned to pray for the Absolute quality of God that my desire symbolizes. For instance if I am feeling tight and cramped, I am probably experiencing some constriction of resources. Money may be tight. These things may be factual at the human level, the level of form. It is an effect of a false belief. However I know that the Cause of everything is Divine Mind. I simply need to get my thinking in alignment with the Spiritual Truth.The Truth is that I live in an abundant universe which is the source of my supply. I pray specifically for what I do want and if needed I deny everything that contradicts the Truth.

Then what do I do? After the prayer I have a responsibility to "act as if" my good is already at hand. That does not mean going in debt, buying expensive things, to feel prosperous. It means to do what I can to live prosperously.

I love Rev. Edwene Gaines story of buying olives stuffed with almonds when she first started practicing prosperity principles. It cost less than five dollars, but it made Edwene feel rich! 

What can you do to feel rich?  or healthy?  or loved?  or creative?

There is an attitude with which you can do anything. That attitude is one of confident expectation. Remember the story about the optimist and pessimist twins: A mother was worried about her boys -- one was happy and confident about everything; the other was gloomy and always expected the worst. A psychiatrist suggested that she do something on their birthday to help them have balance in their lives.  He said to give the little pessimist the gifts that any boy his age would love and to give the optimist  a huge box filled with manure.

On the twins' birthday, the pessimist was given a room full of the latest toys, all wrapped delightfully. He ripped the wrapping off the presents, dejectedly convinced that his brother was getting something much better! 

Meanwhile his brother was gleefully digging through the manure saying, "I know there must be a  pony in here somewhere!"

To ensure that you don't miss the results of your prayer stay optimistic and positive, even if the results do not seem to match your prayer intention. remember there is a pony in there somewhere and with that attitude the desire you envisioned is eventually certain to be yours. Listen to the Voice for God within and keep praying.

The Unexpected Income Club

Abundance is far more than money...it's about unexpected gifts from the Universe

The Tuesday night class I'm taking at the Center is called Beyond Limits. This week we are learning about abundance. Not just abundance of money but abundance of anything from health to friendships and so on.

Last week Dr. Heather challenged us to take part in an experiment called The Unexpected Income Club. For the duration of our class, about four weeks, we are to look for unexpected income or gifts. This means your income from your job is expected so it doesn't count. Money that does count for the experiment is gifted money for birthdays or other special occasions. 

Now you might be wondering, what's left?! Going out for a planned lunch with a friend and your friend pays for your lunch, is one example. Totally unexpected! Or you may find a $10 bill crumpled up in the pocket of an old pair of jeans you don't wear much anymore. By now you get the picture. 

As I sat in class on Tuesday I listened to many of the students recount their week of unexpected gifts and income. One person found $300 filed away among some papers in the file cabinet! Another woman got her year end bonus and it was twice the amount she usually gets equaling $6000! I didn't want to, but I had to share that i had received a 1099 tax notification on some money that was gifted to me last year. Dr. Heather's reaction was, "Oh good!" Huh? Not the answer I was looking for. Clearly I wasn't understanding this abundance thing very well. At this point I felt I should hand over my membership card for The Unexpected Income Club. So instead, I decided to reset my consciousness.

The next morning as I was walking with my girlfriend on the beach trail, I noticed her beautiful jacket. She told me she had just purchased it. Even though it was well made of wool and a nice camel color, she really didn't like it. She said she would like to give it to me. So I excitedly took it off her hands. Once home, I put it on and looked in the mirror. It finally dawned on me and I screamed," This is my unexpected gift! This S...T really does work!!" 

Try the Unexpected Income Club for yourself and come back and comment. I'd love to read about it.

by Robin Pajaro

From Fear to Fearlessness Pema Chödrön

Smile At Your Fear. 

Pema Chödrön describes a liberating way to relate to our fears: not as something to try to get rid of or cast out, but as something we became very intimate with. In so doing, she explains, we come to find that the journey of knowing fear is in fact the journey of courage. From this wisdom, we learn to embrace the fullness of our experience in life.

Print this out, write out your fears, crumble it up, throw them away, and so it is. 

Victor Vroom's Expectancy Theory and the Science of Mind

Expectancy ... it's not just for pregnant ladies.

On the first Sunday of this month Dr. Heather introduced our theme "Expectancy." She mentioned the Law of Expectancy was introduced as a business principle in the 1960s. This got me curious so I just had to go look it up on the internet.

What I discovered is that in 1964 a man named Victor H. Vroom of the Yale School of Management developed this theory of expectancy in regards to how people make decisions and how this can be harnessed by management to motivate employees.

His theory breaks down into these variables: expectancy, instrumentality and valance.

Expectancy
The perceived likelihood that effort will lead to performance.

Instrumentality
Perceived likelihood that performance will lead to desired rewards.

Valance
The value of expected rewards to the individual.


And so I couldn't help but think about my attitude towards the Laws which we discuss at the center.

After all isn't science about discovering the true cause and effect of the things which make up our world. As we experiment with causes and effects we begin to learn what works and what doesn't.

As we quiet our minds through meditation and introspection we discover what creates happiness and peace for ourselves.

Using our tools of transformation we craft our own experiments and recipes and our faith grows into wisdom.

Stories: It's a Beautiful Way to Live

Jack Kornfield reflects on the role of wisdom in our technology centric culture and how practices from Eastern contemplative traditions can play a role in the West, for a wiser, happier culture. The video is part of the 'Stories from the Path' collection, a series that profile changemakers, culture-shapers, and great teachers who are courageously changing the world through the way they live, the ideas they connect, and the projects they build.

For more stories of a wiser culture and tools to be the change, visit www.cultureofchoice.com

A Culture of Choice empowers the gen x and millennial generation to a create happy, healthy, harmonious lifestyle by offering the vision + tools for making conscious choices, by synthesizing science, spirituality,and social systems and apply these teachings and tools to the contemporary lifestyle.

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