The Only Thing, part two

We had an interesting discussion on "the only thing that matters is that I feel good."

Thank you to all who participated in person and by email.

Good things happened for people over the two weeks of this experiment - residuals checks arrived in the mail, a good replacement hairdresser was found, physical discomfort was eased away and replaced with a feeling of peace.

We've agreed to continue the experiment for another two weeks. Every morning upon arising, we remind ourselves that "the only thing that matters is that I feel good."  Whenever we find ourselves feeling not good, we check to see what we need to change in our thinking, speaking or doing in order to feel good.

(No one volunteered to try the opposite practice -- focusing on feeling bad -- to see what happens.)

Of course, like most simple practices, this is more complex than it appears on the surface.

We discussed the difference between short-term and long-term gratification. If we know we have to do something we don't want to do, it's best to do it with a positive attitude. Abraham says "your choices of action may be limited, but your choices of thought are not." We go back to the example of cleaning the house. We know we'll feel better when it's cleaned, so why not make the experience one that feels good by changing our thoughts to enthusiasm and satisfaction instead of drudgery and complaining. Another example is with food. If you know you will feel really good eating healthy food, then you need to focus on the long-term benefits instead of the short-term desire for unhealthy food.

Abraham also talks about pre-paving. What we are living today is what we pre-paved with previous thoughts and actions. Sometimes it's not pleasant, but we can still choose our thoughts as we move through the day. The thoughts and actions we choose today are pre-paving our future. Choose wisely.

We also discussed the built-in need for worry. People mentioned how they have to worry about their children. We worked through this, and remembered that Abraham says that "you get more of what you focus on." If you worry about your child, you will get more stress from the child. We also acknowledged that worrying about someone never helps them. If they learn you are worried about them it becomes a burden to them. Instead of worrying, notice what you can think, say or do to alleviate the worry you are feeling. 

This also ties in to Law of Allowing. We need to allow others to live their lives and create their experiences in the way they choose. We do what we can with our thinking, speaking and doing, and then we need to let go.

We'll discuss our ongoing experiment at the next meeting Wed. May 12. If you can't be there, feel free to email me your thoughts ahead of time.

The Only Thing, part one

In the discussion at last Wednesday's meeting, we addressed Abraham's favorite saying: "The only thing that matters is that I feel good."

There was concern that if we only do what feels good we would lie around all day reading and listening to music and none of the necessaries of life like bill-paying or working would get done.

I've heard this concern before, so I thought we would put it to a test.

For the next two weeks, I encourage you to say to yourself upon arising: The only thing that matters today is that I feel good.

As you move through your day, notice how you are feeling. Abraham says that our inner guidance responds to what we are thinking, saying or doing and lets us know if we are on track with our overall goals. Our inner guidance speaks to us through our feelings. If you feel good, you are on the right track. If you feel bad, you are thinking, saying or doing something that is not in alignment with you goals and overall purpose. Your job is to notice whether you feel good or bad. If you feel good, keep on going! If you feel bad, change what you are thinking, saying or doing until you feel good. Then keep going!

That was a really long explanation for the simple task of going through your day feeling good, and changing your thoughts, words or actions if you feel bad.

Will the world and our lives fall apart if we do this for two weeks?

I don't know. Let's find out.

Worry

It is so easy to worry about other people - whether they are our children or family members or other loved ones.

And yet, Abraham says that the ultimate goal is to feel good, and worrying does not feel good.

So how do we get out of the worry trap?

Try using this goal in your workshop meditations: "I am wanting to feel good about (insert name here)."

Short, simple and to the point.

It keeps the focus on you and what you are wanting, which is to feel good. And feeling good about another person supports them more than worrying about them. Also it sets the energy for things to go well for the other person so you can feel good about them.

Of course, it is up to the other person to lead the life they are choosing to live. It is up to you to feel good about them (not necessarily about their actions, but about them).

Give it a try. Let me know what happens.

(Thank you Nancy, for this suggestion.)

Dollars and Abundance, part one

Abraham said there are two subjects: the subject of dollars and the subject of lack of dollars. Whichever you think of, you will get more of. "If you offer thought of lack of dollars, you get lack of dollars." She asked "What is the most common thought you offer regarding dollars? Look at your life experience. If you have all the dollars you are wanting, your balance of thought is on that side."

"When you are thinking negative emotions about dollars, you are pushing them away."

She chided those who say they don't want anything. She suggests they are so worn down by lack that they associate wanting with not having.

"Any time you are justifying or rationalizing or blaming, you are in a place of guardedness and are unable to receive what you are wanting."

"If you are committed to feeling lack, if it's not money it will be something else."

"When you believe there isn't enough to go around -- universe of lack -- you are guarded and defensive. What anyone else has does not have anything to do with what you do or have."

She said to consider what you want. "If the thought of wanting it brings you pleasure, it is in alignment with you."

Abraham said we tend to be externally focused in our attempts at manifesting. "You go about it backwards. You look to what you do or have in order to create your inner experience. Begin instead by identifying how you want to feel or be, then let your inspiration come from that place of being."

"So many of you take action in terms of wanting or having in order to soothe some sort of void. That defies law. Any action taken from a place of void can only create more void. Find your place of beingness and then you will attract into your experience based on your energy of joy."

Abraham said that often humans consider life as a struggle to get to a goal. "Struggle struggle never leads to happiness," she said. "You are so ending focused. You think 'When I get there I will be happy,' rather than enjoying the delicious unfolding."

"When you are looking at the ending place, the tendency is to look at the end from a place of lack. This feeling of lack slows down your creative energy."

"As you focus on what is, you attract more of it."

She reminded us of the bigger spiritual goal. "The eternal joyful becoming is what we are all about. From a joyful satisfied place you are in a position to attract more of what you are wanting."

"Anyone who is in a place of lack, no matter how much action they offer, will attract more lack."

Abraham also reminded us to pay attention to our own inner guidance. "Many people are so caught up in their feeling of unworthiness that they look outside of themselves for guidance instead of listening to their own inner guidance."

Reconnect with your own inner guidance system. Say things like "I want to be the best that I can be" or "I want to harmonize physically in this body with that which I feel is the best and right and good." Then focus on your feelings for guidance. "Believe you have a very strong knowing, and you can trust your inner guidance."

"Every thought that you think vibrates, and by virtue of that thought you attract. When you feel good, you are in a place of attracting what you are wanting. When you think a thought of upliftment, you have a feeling of positive energy from inner guidance. When you think a thought of lack you feel bad, that's your inner guidance."

"You are action oriented. Your society is focused on lack, therefore you feel you must defeat what you don't want in order to get what you do want. This defies law."

"Your primary work is to harmonize your thoughts, words and actions with what feels good. Your action is responsible for a miniscule part of what comes to you. It's your thoughts and words that do most of the work of attraction. It is not what you do that makes a difference, but how you are feeling. This is an indicator of the balance of thought within you and what you are attracting."

"It is the law of attraction, not the law of assertion."

"Look for reasons to feel good, identify what you want, and you will attract it."

Sexuality, part two

Throughout this tape, Abraham emphasized that there is no right way to act. The only thing that matters is that you feel good. When you feel good, you are acting in accordance with your inner guidance. If you feel bad, that is a sign that you have violated your own rules.

The trouble comes when you say "I want to do (fill in the blank) but I shouldn't." This sends your energy in two different directions and drains you.

So which do you do - follow your wanting or your shoulds? Abraham suggests that if your wanting is in alignment with your inner guidance, it will feel good to follow it. Ignore society's shoulds.

Making statements of what you are wanting strengthens your connection to your inner guidance system.

These are some other statements that stood out for me:

Freedom is the acknowledgement that you may always choose your experience. You can choose negative or positive.

Look for the positive aspects in any situation.

As long as you are focused upon what you are wanting, you are infused with energy from the universe.

Abraham also reminded us that we need to focus on what we are wanting, not on what we don't have. "When you are working on attracting something, if it is not here immediately you assume it is not coming and you focus on lack," she chided.

Creation is not orchestration. Think instead of being the attractor. Get your house in order and you will attract what you are wanting.

If you are waiting for someone else to straighten out before you have a happy experience, you will have a long wait.

Pivoting

At a recent meeting, we discussed pivoting, a technique Abraham explains on an earlier tape, and that she referred to during the death tape: "A glorious life experience is for people who are good at pivoting."

In brief, pivoting means turning your mind away from the negative towards the positive. An example is awakening in the morning: instead of saying, oh I wish I had another hour in bed, pivot your mind to thinking what a beautiful day is ahead of you, or how lovely the birds sound, or how happy you are to be alive. You get the idea. Whatever you are doing, think something positive about it.

Our conversation led into whether it is possible to feel positive while cleaning the house. We agreed that sitting in a messy dirty house does not feel good, and we want to feel good. So the question is how can I feel good while cleaning the house. (The answer might be to hire someone to do it.) Possibilities include the positive aspects of how good it feels to be nurturing your home and taking care of it. Or how nice the room looks as you put away papers. If it's dusting, appreciate the objects you are dusting. Choose to enjoy the experience. (If it's paying someone else to do it, remember to enjoy writing the check.) In this spring cleaning season, feeling positive while cleaning the house sounds like a good spiritual practice!

Death and Deterioration, part two

These are notes on the second side of the tape Death and Deterioration:

Abraham continues to remind us that "There is only eternal life experience. Think in terms of this life experience as being part of your eternal life experience. Try to integrate yourself into the full cycle of things so you don't focus on 'ending' as you leave your body."

"You have been convinced you are here to prove yourself worthy of something so you are afraid to leave. You fear that you are not accomplished at what you are supposed to do before completion. There is no completion."

"Do that which feels good unto you."

Remind yourself that "I am the Creator of my experience."

"Everything you are living you have attracted. Since you are an individual, no one else's experience has to be yours."

"By focusing on the positive aspects, you will attract them."

"Within each of you exists the probability of health or decline - it all exists. You can participate in whatever part of it you choose."

"You believe in contagiousness and heredity - you put yourself in position to have an experience you do not want." 

"Negative emotion means holding beliefs that are not in alignment with your wanting."

"If you say 'I am healthy' but your emotions tell you this is not your belief, you need to change something. You want to de-sensitize the negative side of these issues."

"Make statements of what you want. 'I am wanting to be old and well and youthful and vibrant.' Then you will attract the evidence of this. Then you will be surrounded by others who are as you are wanting."

"If you are always wanting to feel good, you will gravitate toward experiences that make you feel good."

"Are you looking at the positive or negative aspects of your experience? You can always look at what you want or what you do not want."

"You have many options for choosing the positive or negative aspects - you tend to follow the patterns you are used to."

"You will be drawn to the things you are really wanting to do."

"You have thousands of opportunities to make these choices - you follow the habit of negativity."

Abraham discussed how it is hard for us to be positive around negative people. "Most of you are so defensive that when someone comes to you feeling negative emotion you are defensive. If you can realize that you are not the target of their negative emotion, if you are standing in the clear place of feeling good, you can help them feel better instead of being negative too."

"Everything that you are thinking and all your beliefs have originated in this physical experience. When you are in time of transition, you are still thinking and believing in terms of the physical. The beliefs that you hold dictate your experience (of dying). You cannot experience outside the boundaries of your belief."

"You try to orchestrate the universe when you can't. Instead, align with the laws of the universe."

"Most of you die from a position of lack. You are focused on what you do not want. Make a new decision. If your body gets sick enough, old enough or tired, make a new decision - 'I have had all that I want and I'm going to leave it.'"

Abraham concluded the session by saying "Death does not exist. Give your attention to the full experience of life. 'The only thing that matters is that I feel good.' You will have a glorious experience in your now, and you will have a glorious transition."

Death and Deterioration, part one

Although it sounds depressing, the tape on Death and Deterioration was actually quite positive. (Isn't all Abraham material positive?)

The first step was to release negative beliefs about aging and deterioration. Abraham reminded us to acknowledge our own value and goodness, and to keep looking for evidence of it.

A reminder: when you are feeling negative emotion, the thought you are thinking is not in harmony with your greater wanting. If you are wanting to be worthy and of value, then the negative feeling you get when you look at yourself in the mirror shows that the thoughts you have when you look at yourself are not in alignment with your wanting to be worthy and of value.

You always feel bad when you are critical of yourself or others. This is a form of lack.

You feel good when you are looking for reasons to feel good about yourself and others.

Be pickier about what you think about.

Abraham reminded us that it is the Law of Attraction, not the Law of Assertion. We are the attractors of our experience. We cannot will an experience into being, instead we need to attract it. The way to have what we are wanting is to relax into it, to allow it.

The process for being healthy is not to defend against illness, but to release into basking in the feeling of health.

The surest way to health is to look for things to talk about and think about that make you feel good.

Find your balanced place of joy.

Your guidance system is connected to your joy. When every thought and action is directed toward creating joy, then you are in alignment with yourself.

Abraham then talked about the greater experience of the soul in the body: You have come into this body to add to all that is. Fear of anything is of no value. You are an eternal being and you are forever eternally focused somewhere. There is no ending to that which you are.