Explore the idea of calling
everything in our lives "good." Today, we'll talk about
why this is so important and what actually happens when we perceive
the people and the things around us as all good.
And hopefully, you'll have a greater
understanding of why it really is better to bless.
Have you ever noticed that when you're happy, you feel light and
when you're unhappy or fearful, you feel heavy? We
even use terms like "heavy-hearted" to describe our feelings when
we're sad or troubled or concerned, and "light-
hearted" when we're happy, joy-filled and carefree. There's a
reason for this. And it has to do with vibrations.
You've no doubt heard before that we live in a vibrational
universe. Despite its appearance, our world is not solid at all,
but consists of countless waves and particles of energy, each
vibrating at a frequency that draws and binds similar energy
particles and waves, which eventually coalesce to become the
objects we perceive to be solid and dense.
It's not just the world and objects around us that are giving off
this illusion of solidity. There is nothing really solid about
us, either. We look and feel and taste and sound solid and
substantial because our senses interpret energy vibrations and
frequencies in a certain way that is translated and accepted into
our thought processes as solidity. We interpret
everything else the same way. And we do so without giving it a jot
or tittle of conscious thought.
It's not just people and objects that vibrate, though. Thoughts
and feelings and words do too. In fact, every thought you
think and every word you speak carries with it a vibration. Even
the most fleeting thought, lingering in your mind for no
more than a millisecond, will vibrate at a certain frequency that
will attract to or be drawn to other similar frequencies.
Every emotional and feeling state you experience changes the
vibrational frequency you are sending out to the world.
Like two ends of a scale, the vibrations emitted by sadness, fear,
anger or hatred are of a much denser, lower frequency than the one
emitted when you are experiencing feelings of happiness or love or
serenity.
To make this easier to understand, let's imagine a vibrational
scale with love on the high end and fear on the lower. (We're using
love and fear because, as the Course in Miracles teaches, these are
the only two "real" emotions and every other emotion we experience
is a derivative of one or the other.) Let's further say that on a
standard run-of-the-mill kind of day, your emotions are romping all
over the place, running the gamut from one end of the scale to the
other. You find yourself upset with your spouse before going to
work, but are delighted a couple of hours later when your boss
okays your raise. Then later in the day you get into a minor
confrontation with a co-worker, leaving you frustrated and
irritated. On the way home from work, you get pulled over for
speeding and your stomach tightens because you know one more
speeding ticket is going to cause your insurance rates to sky
rocket. But the traffic officer decides against ticketing you and
gives you just a warning, instead and you feel immediate relief.
By the end of the day, your emotions have run up and down the
scale a dozen times or more and as you prepare for bed, you realize
you're exhausted, feeling as if you've been on an emotional roller
coaster ride the whole day long. You're certainly not alone. In
fact, most folks live in this kind of emotional state.
Naturally, because your vibration is changing on a moment-by-moment
basis, the frequencies you send out are going to be
erratic, and what you will experience as a result will feel far
less than perfect. Because of this vibrational free-for-all,
you may find yourself surrounded by clutter or even chaos -- or
worse -- depending upon the dominant trend of your
feelings.
That's because the conditions in your life do not exist as
independent entities. They arise out your emotional and feeling
state. Contrary to what you may have always believed, conditions in
your life are not the cause of your emotional state;
they are the effect of it. If you want to change the conditions in
your life, you have to change the way you think and feel
first.
Naturally, when you make a conscious decision to perceive
everything in your world -- even those things you do not
understand -- as good, then your vibration tends to linger on the
higher end of the scale. Because of this change in
perception, you find yourself feeling freer, lighter, more loving
and with a greater sense of well-being.
And every single time you bless another person, situation and
object in your life, your emotional vibration will not only move to
the higher end of the scale, it will actually insure that you are
blessed in return. Why? Because as your vibrational frequency
changes, it will go out and find people, things and situations that
match it and bring them back to you. For the good you send out,
good will be returned to you.
In metaphysical circles, this is known as the law of attraction in
action. There's been a great deal of discussion about the
law of attraction in the last couple of years, especially since the
publication of the "Secret", but in reality there is nothing
secretive about any of this. Mystics, sages and philosophers have
been telling us about these basic life principles since the dawn of
mankind. Jesus spoke of it over 2000 years ago in his Sermon on the
Mount when he said we should "seek the kingdom" first. Seek God:
find "the good" and then everything else will be "added unto you."
Before Jesus, Buddha taught the same principle when he spoke of
right mindfulness. And in one form or another, it has been a basic
teaching in every major religion since time began.
Like speed limit laws that apply to even that unmarked stretch of
highway out in the middle of nowhere, these same
fundamental life "laws" apply now and have always applied, whether
we know about them or not. When we do begin to
understand them, however, and adhere to them, life simply works
better. Not because we're doing anything special, but
because we're working with life instead of operating contrary to
it.
That is the beauty of blessing. It takes us from a place of
judgment and condemnation into a realm of "right mindedness"
and allows us to immediately shift our vibration to the highest
possible state, that of unconditional love.
Today's exercise:
Just as the fingers move up and down the keyboard when a piano
student practices scales, in today's exercise, you'll let
your thoughts move up and down the emotional keyboard and then
record your observations in your Blessing Way Journal.
First, you'll need to find a quiet place where you can "tune in" to
your feelings for a few moments. Take a few deep
breaths and quiet your mind. Pay attention to how you feel right
now and on a scale from one to ten, with one being the
lowest and ten being the highest vibration, determine where your
vibrational frequency is at the moment.
Now, purposely think about something that will lower your
vibration. It can be something that saddens you, makes
you angry, or engenders fear. It can be something you find
troubling now, or have in the past. Don't spend a great deal of
time thinking about it, just long enough to allow yourself to feel
an emotional response. You may notice that your body feels
slightly heavier, or a small knot begins to build in your stomach.
You may feel a slight building of tension in your neck or
shoulders, or a slight drop in your energy level resulting in
slumped shoulders or a down turned mouth. Because you won't be
spending a great deal of time on this exercise, the changes will
most likely be quite subtle, but noticeable nonetheless. Once you've
observed the changes in your body and the way you feel, record the
responses in your journal.
Now, work your way to the opposite end of the vibrational scale by
thinking the sweetest, purest, most delightful
thought you can conjure. Spend a few minutes reliving a beautiful
moment in your past, or creating one for your future,
or even better, think of someone -- yourself, for instance -- you
can bless with unconditional love and do so. Just as you
did before, notice the changes in your emotional and feeling
response and record them in your journal.
Completing this exercise not only tunes you into your own
vibrational scale, but makes you aware of just how easily and
quickly it can be changed. Try to develop a habit of consciously
checking this scale often by simply asking yourself "how
do I feel now?" Whenever you realize your vibration is hovering at
the low end of the scale, bring it back up with a
change in mindset. My personal favorite way of increasing my own
vibrational frequency is to take a quick Blessing
Breather and then bless my spirit, my body and my world with love,
joy and peace. Once I begin to feel my heart filling
with love and peace, I imagine it flowing out from me to bless the
entire world and everyone in it. This takes only a few
seconds, but serves as an immediate "upper", no matter how often I
do it.
Today's affirmation:
"My entire being vibrates with love and joy and peace. I am truly
blessed."
Today's quote:
"One of the greatest needs this planet has for healing is blessing.
It is under blessed. Under blessed reality is like empty calories.
A blessing enhances possibilities for good. Like an enzyme for
growth, like a catalyst in a chemical process, blessings serve to
help a living process surmount the barriers that obstruct it."
-- Zalman Schachter-Shalomi , from "Jewish With Feeling "
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