Sunday, June 20, 2010

Living with Trust

Imagine that the universe is a great spinning engine. You want to stay near the core of the thing - right in the hub of the wheel - not out at the edges where all the wild whirling takes place, where you can get frayed and crazy. The hub of calmness - that's your heart. That's where God lives within you. So stop looking for answers in the world. Just keep coming back to that center and you'll always find peace.

-Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
This was just what I needed to read, and I marked the page so I could return to it. I have been feeling like the whirlwind of my life is spinning around me, with all the places I need to go, things I need to accomplish, and wonders of what is coming. But this paragraph helped me remember that calm comes from within, no matter what else is happening, that I can return to this balanced center and avoid feeling frazzled by it all.

As I've mentioned in a few previous posts, my husband is looking for a job and his mother is dealing with lung cancer, stage 4. Our kids are now off for the summer, and they have various places to be, as do I. Lots of things are going on. But I'm calm.

I've taken my teacher, Connie's advice and kept asking the angels and Universe and Spirit for abundance, support, and to connect us with the right opportunities for our highest good. And it is working. I see it working all the time.

We won that dance contest that I mentioned a couple posts back. We won $1,000. Did I work for this? Hell yes I did. I emailed at least 150 people a day asking them to vote for our goofy dancing video. And people voted, commented, and shared the video with their friends, asking them to vote. So let's say it was a joint effort between the angels and me.

I was offered a job teaching music for three weeks at a day camp, filling in for their regular music teacher who is delayed this summer. The pay is about as much as I might have made in eight weeks at a different camp, because they are diverting his salary to me for those three weeks. Thank you, angels.

I've met some wonderful people who have introduced my mother in law and me to some very promising alternative therapies which we are trying for helping her regain her health. I am not taking these connections for granted, but seeing them as part of the process of connections happening with our being open to accepting them.

Evan (my husband), has had one job interview, and has two others coming up for different positions, all of which could be suitable and worthy of his education and experience. He is going into each one open, expectant, and confident that the right opportunity at the right time will be his. An attitude of expectation and hope is surrounding him, along with his confidence in his ability and his natural poise. My pride and belief in him is ever strong.

I continue to meet interesting and brilliant people who illuminate my life with wisdom, creative ideas, growth and opportunities. I don't take any of these meetings for granted, and am grateful for each encounter. I am open to where each connection may lead and thank the universe for making these connections possible.

At the times when I feel a sense of worry or uncertainty nagging at me, or if I feel a wave of unhappiness at our challenges, this passage from Eat Pray Love helps me regain perspective:

Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't, you will lead away your innate contentment. It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments.

Finally, I want to let you dear readers know that on July 12, I will welcome Reiki Master Sharon Baker, RN in a guest post here on my blog, as part of her blog tour for her new book on Reiki, Healing With Hands: Miracles, Inspiration and Science. She has over 30 years experience in the traditional medical field and began exploring alternative holistic methods of healing in the late 1980s. She was on the board of Michigan Holistic Nurses Association for 5 years. She continues to update her knowledge and skills through a variety of classes and workshops. Sharon also conducts several workshops and classes privately as well as at local colleges. I will also be a guest on Sharon's blog that day, so come on over and see what I'm sharing then - http://www.healerscorner.blogspot.com . The first three readers who leave a comment on her blog after my post and one on mine after hers will win a copy of her inspiring book! I read and enjoyed it very much, and I found her anecdotes and information both relevant and inspiring. I'm sure you will too!

Peace.