4/8/12 Mount Dora Morning

Our stay in Mount Dora is coming to an end.  Just a couple of morning hours left before we load the car and head north.  The morning is cool, but the heavy breeze that was constant for two days has abated.  As soon as the sun is higher in the sky, the temperature is sure to reach the high 80's.  I awoke to the chiming of Easter morning church bells, but now, other than an occasional passing car on this quiet street and the twittering of birds, the only sound is the soft taping of my computer keys.

The time here has been good.  The petty irritations that followed us were blown away in the stiff lake winds.  My man and I have fallen into the softness that surrounds this town.  Many long, long walks have left us comfortably tired.  We spent precious time with our friends who own or work at the Cuban restaurant where we dined twice.  We choose to eat there at off-hours when the owner and the staff are not busy, allowing us to have leisurely conversations with them.  On Friday morning, before her shop opened for business, we visited with the owner of my favorite women’s boutique and again yesterday when I shopped there.  She and I recently became friends on Facebook and I look forward to strengthening our friendship when we move here.  

An important part of manifesting is to act and talk as if your desires are already plans in progress.  The details are inconsequential.  We need not be bothered with all the hows and whens; we just need to live as though our dreams are happening right now because they are.  Right now, everything we do and say is part of the manifestation process.  With our shop owner friend and the owner and staff at the Cuban restaurant, we shared our plans to move here and my man even invited them to our future Mount Dora home for an Argentine asado (cookout).  I know all the pieces and parts will fall together in time. 

Now seems a good time to review how my commitment to positivity is progressing.  Since March 20th, the first day of my Manifesting Mount Dora project, I only missed one day of writing in my Gratitude Journal.  New posts to my blog appear every two to three days just as I planned.  I am listening to more music which soothes the rough edges of my hours.  I also bought and listen frequently to a CD call “Music to Inspire Positive Thinking Scientifically Designed by Dr. Lee R. Bartel”.  I bought the CD at an independent bookstore.  It was in one of those electronic displays where a sample of each CD for sale can be heard with the press of a button.  I did not know about Dr. Bartel and I had no opinion as to whether or not music can be scientifically designed for positive thinking, but I liked the gentle tunes and figured listening to the melodic sounds certainly was relaxing and so could possibly have the ability to inspire positive thinking.  Since then, I Googled Dr. Bartel and found that he is a Professor of Music and Assistant Dean at the University of Toronto and is the Acting Director of the Music and Health Research Collaboratory.  He teaches graduate classes in Music and the Brain and the Social Psychology of Music and certainly seems qualified to design music for positive thinking.  A quick visit to Amazon.com revealed that he also has CD’s to promote rejuvenation, stress relief and relaxation. 

I stay focused on being positive and search for ways to promote happiness and a sense of well-being in my life.  Tonight, we will attend a Crystal Bowls Concert and Mediation in our current hometown.  If you have never experienced the sounds of crystal bowls, I highly recommend searching for a musician who uses them in your area or downloading/buying some crystal bowl music from a website.  The sounds will touch your soul and give you a deep feeling of peace.  So, the concert tonight is one more step on my journey to “be peace” which is also part of my journey to Manifesting Mount Dora.  It is all related.   

I continue reading positive and inspiring books.  While at the same independent bookstore where I bought Bartel’s CD, I also picked up a used book called “The Architecture of All Abundance - Seven Foundations to Prosperity” by Lenedra J. Carroll, which I started as soon as I finished re-reading The Secret.  Carroll’s book is wonderfully entertaining, informational and inspirational.  I want to share a biblical quote from her book that seems very appropriate for this Easter morning. 

    Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
    Wherefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field - which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven - shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith.
    Therefore take no thought, saying, "What shall we eat?" or,"What shall we drink?" or, "Wherewithal shall we be clothed?" for the God of your Being knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
    Seek them not, nor be of doubtful mind but rather seek ye first the kingdom of your God, and in his righteousness all of these things shall be added unto you, for it is God's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.     Matthew 6:28-33, Luke 12:27-31

Being more of a spiritual nature and not a religious one, I use that quote in a non-preachy sense.  In my church-going days, those words were read aloud many, many times, but not until I read them in Carroll’s book did I notice “the God of your Being and “the kingdom of your God”.  To me that just confirms my belief that we all have our own spiritual path and you may walk with the Judeo-Christian god or with the many Hindu gods or with Buddha or you may connect spiritually with an all encompassing Universe, but we still are lilies of the field and we should live in faith that we will be cared for as they are. 

I will end with another quote from “The Architecture of All Abundance”:

“Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier.  The way that it actually works is the reverse.  You must first be who you really are, then do what you love to do, in order to have what you want.”     —Margaret Young

I find a correlation between “. . .seek ye first the kingdom of your God, and in his righteousness all these things will be added unto you” and “You must be who you really are, then do what you love to do, in order to have what you want.” 

Perhaps, just perhaps, being who we are meant to be and doing what we love to do is the way we are to seek the kingdom of God.  What do you think?  

4/6/12 Moon Over Mount Dora

We are in our destiny town and the moon will be full and powerful tonight.  A good time for manifesting!

Usually Mount Dora sweeps away our troubles, but this time some annoyances have been hanging on.  I think we both feel the prickly edges of aggravations that have hitched a ride south with us, leaving no sense of peace.     

I am reading “The Architecture of All Abundance - Seven Foundations to Prosperity” by Lenedra J. Carroll (mother of the singer Jewel).  The fifth chapter is entitled “Be Peace”.  Nedra escapes the hectic world of managing her daughter’s career to spend three weeks at a retreat where she learns to obtain and keep an internal peace that will remain constant no matter how rough the waters are around her.  I know that peace, even world peace, must begin in the heart and soul of each individual.  And, as I was reading that chapter, it occurred to me that peace, although a grand and powerful concept, needs only to be a simple action or, perhaps more often, a non-action.  Letting someone’s unpleasant statement pass without comment.  Allowing someone to be moody without absorbing the mood or even acknowledging it.  Releasing the need for someone to be or feel a particular way. 

I often take on the burden of trying to make others feel better and usually absorb whatever ill mood I am trying to “cure”.  When did it become my job to change the moods and attitudes of all who are part of my life?  Why do I so often feel responsible for their negativity, sharp responses and sarcasm?  Am I so powerful a person that I can cause or control someone else’s state of mind?  Yes, we all influence one another, especially those close to us, to some degree, but surely the degree is less than we often imagine.  And, if it isn’t, if someone allows us to control his or her mood so completely, isn’t the fault his and not ours?  If someone gives away his or her power like that, we certainly do not need to accept it.  Shouldn’t we be busy enough with our own state of being that we don’t have the time or the energy to be controlling or worrying about someone else’s? 

I know my need to make everyone happy grew from the death of my mother when I was three months old.  I grew up believing that my birth somehow contributed to her early passing.  My father was a moody, volatile man and I assumed his anger was the result of losing his wife at a young age and since I felt some responsibility for that loss, I also felt an immense responsibility to make him happier or, at least, less angry.  The responsibility I felt carried over to others - why I don’t know.  People viewed me as a person with a big heart, open arms and the ability to listen well.  Even in elementary school, other children brought their troubles to me.  At first I was perplexed, but then I just accepted that they were drawn to me for some reason beyond my understanding.  Eventually, all that listening, along with my perceived responsibility for my father’s emotional stability, weighed heavily on me.  I was too young to develop the coping skills of counselors, therapists, doctors and nurses, so I suffered in ways an adult, much less a child, should not. 

I absorbed the unhappiness, worries and anger of others as a sponge soaks in dirty dish water.  The years have taught me a few lessons about boundaries, but old patterns are hard to break.  I’ve learned a few coping skills and am able to shake off the problems and negative vibrations from lesser acquaintances, but those closest to me are still a challenge.  And, honestly, I don’t want to be cold or uncaring, especially to those I love.   

My new Intention is to give up the job of healing and/or absorbing the moods of those around me.  I am not, nor do I want to be, nor should I be responsible for the moods, negativity or poor behavior of others.  I choose to “be peace”.  I can care, I can have empathy, I can offer advice - when asked, but I choose to accept peace for myself and to allow others to find their paths to peace. 

And, what does all of this have to do with manifesting?  A great deal.  When our psyches  
are bathed in the negativity absorbed from others, we cannot find and nurture our own well-being.  We lose touch with our center, the home of our personal peace.  Creative manifestation requires a strong center, a well-defined sense of self and an internal peace. 

Today we had a tour of the historical home for sale that I found online - the one I printed photos of and added to my Manifesting Mount Dora Vision Closet.  We loved it.  But, as I said before, my focus is not on a particular house so I was able to enjoy seeing it without feeling apprehensive about obtaining it.  It was fun to imagine living there with “there” representing any home in Mount Dora that we can manifest.  Playing games with manifesting can be very powerful way to jump start the process.  As adults, we have lost the wonder and joy of playing, of pretending.  When we are in that childlike state we are free from all that binds us to “reality” allowing us to enter a state of creating.  Touring a house, walking through a car lot, carrying a $100 bill in your pocket, watching movies set in places you want to visit can stimulate your imagination and with imagination comes creativity and with creativity comes manifestation. 

I feel peaceful right now.  I am writing, there is a full moon, I’ve had an enjoyable day in one of my favorite places and I am having a chai latte while my man enjoys a cappuccino.
The energies are powerful.