I have been both and blessed and privileged recently to study the Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles under the guidance of Bob Proctor. Bob is a master at providing the insight and exercises to allow these teachings to become personal and quite pragmatic. Several years ago I actually spent an entire day with Bob, learning his views on creating wealth as a part of achieving our divine purpose in life. One of my biggest breakthroughs in this program is understanding that we as humans are able to choose our thoughts. It is in choosing our thoughts that we learn what is true and what is not true about abundance in our world.
People often think that their thoughts are at the mercy of the environment. This is true if one is only able to think in reaction to what is experienced by the five senses. However, to really think and reason about the real truth and not just the apparent truth is indeed tedious. Our thoughts can be quite random and flighty as we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste so many things. Our senses are exposed to millions of stimuli in a given day which our minds have to either process or ignore.
Can you imagine what your life would be like if you gave attention to every single stimulus brought in by your 5 physical senses? Thank goodness our minds know enough to filter most of it out before it reaches our conscious awareness. The goal now is to choose what to do with those things that do reach your awareness. Do you believe them all as true? Think about what you hear others say or what you read in a book, newpaper, magazine, or online. Is it all true?
The real work involves choosing which ideas and concepts we accept to be true. As we all know, this is not self-evident. As human beings, created in God's image with His indwelling spirit, we also have the intelligence, wisdom, and intuition to make judgments for ourselves. You see there is only one truth. Do you trust yourself enough to know that truth? Or do think you have to learn the truth from a source outside youreself?
If all of our truths, also known as beliefs, come from the outside, how did they get there? Who put out the so-called truth that human nature is innately evil? Who put out the truth that for one person to have more, another must have less? That's like saying each tree in the forest is allowed 1000 leaves. So if one tree has 1100, then another tree is only allowed to have 900. Isn't that absurd? It's the same with all of the physical resources on earth. It's also true of the population. People somehow get afraid that more people mean less quality of life or less available resources for each person. Creation was designed for growth and abundance.
Since there were droughts and famines thousands of years ago when the population was very small, how can anyone claim that there were more resources then than there are now? It is staggering for me to realize that there are twice as many people on earth today as there were 45 years ago. And I personally have a lot more resources at my disposal than I did then. Any personal lack in the world today is caused by human thought, not by the paucity of avaiable materials. If a human believes there to be lack and convinces another human of the same, then their behavior changes and as a result, they begin to experience lack.
As you can tell, I enjoy exploring the psychological, spiritiual, and social ramifications of what we each perceive as the truth about abundance. The thought I'd like to leave you with now is, "What is your truth?" I believe in exploring other peoples' thoughts, and espcecially God's thoughts on truth, which is why I read voraciously. Even with the Bible, though, different people interpret truth differently. As I read the Bible and other books, such as The Science of Getting Rich, my foremost goal is to know for myself what is true. Thinking is indeed hard work but worth the effort as we all learn the real truth about abundance.
To You Abundance,
Sandra Hayes
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Abundance Is Our Birthright
I am so blessed and grateful to be sitting here in my home watching the sunrise on Lake Murray. It's Sunday and a bit chilly this October morning. Sundays are special in several ways. They represent a fresh start on a new week. They also offer an opportunity for me to join good friends and fellow Christians in Sunday School and worship services at Chapin United Methodist Church. In worhip, I thank my creator for the abundance of blessings we enjoy.
Over the years as we have lived in different places, Ed and I have worshipped at different churches. They have each blessed us in a special way and taught us lessons about God, life, and ourselves. Regardless of the pastor or the message, however, the recurring theme has been how abundantly blessed we are. As a result of being blessed, our duty is therefore to be a blessing to others.
As I read the story of the great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Genesis, I realize that abundance was their birthright. These men and their families had challenges to be sure. Sometimes they made wise choices and sometimes not. Regardless, God continued to bless them and stay true to his covenant promise to bless them and make them as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sand on the shore.
Here we are, four thousand years later, and these blessings continue from one generation to the next. Like the patriarchs, we have challenges in life. And often our challenges are similar to theirs. As families we deal with sibling rivalry, jealousy, alienation, forgiveness, and reconciliation. As nations, we deal with war, peace treaties, immigration, and trade agreements.
The beauty of all of this is that the same God who made a covenant with Abraham seeks to make one with us. We may think we live in a different time with all our technology and so we do. But all we experience today was made possible by the one God who set everything in motion by His powerfully spoken word.
As we approach this Sunday with all of its abundance, let's take the time to recognize and offer thanks to the creator who makes it all possible. Abundance is our birthright. Our grateful stewardship of this abundance is our response. We have been freely given so that now we can freely give.
May you enjoy all the abundance, peace, and joy that you were created to experience.
Sandra Hayes
Prosperity, South Carolina
Over the years as we have lived in different places, Ed and I have worshipped at different churches. They have each blessed us in a special way and taught us lessons about God, life, and ourselves. Regardless of the pastor or the message, however, the recurring theme has been how abundantly blessed we are. As a result of being blessed, our duty is therefore to be a blessing to others.
As I read the story of the great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Genesis, I realize that abundance was their birthright. These men and their families had challenges to be sure. Sometimes they made wise choices and sometimes not. Regardless, God continued to bless them and stay true to his covenant promise to bless them and make them as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sand on the shore.
Here we are, four thousand years later, and these blessings continue from one generation to the next. Like the patriarchs, we have challenges in life. And often our challenges are similar to theirs. As families we deal with sibling rivalry, jealousy, alienation, forgiveness, and reconciliation. As nations, we deal with war, peace treaties, immigration, and trade agreements.
The beauty of all of this is that the same God who made a covenant with Abraham seeks to make one with us. We may think we live in a different time with all our technology and so we do. But all we experience today was made possible by the one God who set everything in motion by His powerfully spoken word.
As we approach this Sunday with all of its abundance, let's take the time to recognize and offer thanks to the creator who makes it all possible. Abundance is our birthright. Our grateful stewardship of this abundance is our response. We have been freely given so that now we can freely give.
May you enjoy all the abundance, peace, and joy that you were created to experience.
Sandra Hayes
Prosperity, South Carolina
Sunday, September 27, 2009
You Are A Genius
As I ponder the scope of being created in God's image, it occurs to me that we are all geniuses. Webster's dictionary defines genius as the protective spirit within a person from conception. These words surprised me and gave me pause to meditate on their meaning. I thought of Psalm 139:13-14, "You are the one who put me together inside my mother's body, and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me. Everything you do is marvelous! Of this I have no doubt."
So what makes me concentrate on the idea of your being a genius? Well, it has to do with confidence and worthiness. Knowing as I do that you are a genius, totally capable of achieving the purpose you were created for, does that affect your feeling of worthiness and confidence? To me, this says that you have within you everything necessary to accomplish your goals. Of course the next question is, "how do I set goals that I know are in line with God's will for my life?"
Whatever God gives you a passion for, He will provide the means for you to achieve. This means if you have a passion for becoming a pastor, you can achieve it. If you are passionate about government service, or medicine, flying airplanes, or business, you can become successful at it. Will it be simple and easy? Probably not, but simple and easy are not what we are discussing. We are discussing genius. If you study great people in scripture and outside of scripture, they were all geniuses in some way. They had a passion to accomplish their life's dream. Rarely, if ever, was it easy.
Some Biblical names that come to mind are Jesus Christ, Paul, Abraham, Moses, King David, Daniel, Ruth, Noah, Jonah, Elijah, and Jeremiah, just to name a few. Non-biblical people who come to mind are Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King,Jr., Thomas Edison, Christopher Columbus, and George Washington Carver. There are many more I could name and that is a good thing. These geniuses are famous. There are also many names that I do not know. Does this mean that non-famous people are not geniuses? Of course not. Many people have accomplished their life's passions and not become well-known.
The tragedy does not lie in not being famous. The tragedy lies in having given up on one's dreams and passions before they were accomplished. In our Disciple II class this week, we have been reading about Abraham and Sarah in the Old Testament book of Genesis. Abraham and Sarah were already past child-bearing years when God called them to leave their home in Ur and establish a nation in Israel. They had no children at that time and the land was already occupied by other people of different religions. It really is an interesting story with the main characters taking matters into their own hands because they didn't believe God could do what He had promised. In spite of some poor decisions on their part, which caused some unneccessary hardships, they were successful in achieving the purpose they were called to and which they were passionate about.
The point here is that genius is not rare but rather common. Ever since Adam and Eve, people have been misled into doubting God's purposes and promises. From this moment forward, I challenge all of us to acknowlegde the great power of our creator who made us like Him, not to be Him, but to be His representatives on earth. As such, He gave us all the abilities we require to make our passionate dreams become real. And before we were born, He covered us with His protective spirit. I pray you now believe and are empowered by the fact that you are a genius.
So what makes me concentrate on the idea of your being a genius? Well, it has to do with confidence and worthiness. Knowing as I do that you are a genius, totally capable of achieving the purpose you were created for, does that affect your feeling of worthiness and confidence? To me, this says that you have within you everything necessary to accomplish your goals. Of course the next question is, "how do I set goals that I know are in line with God's will for my life?"
Whatever God gives you a passion for, He will provide the means for you to achieve. This means if you have a passion for becoming a pastor, you can achieve it. If you are passionate about government service, or medicine, flying airplanes, or business, you can become successful at it. Will it be simple and easy? Probably not, but simple and easy are not what we are discussing. We are discussing genius. If you study great people in scripture and outside of scripture, they were all geniuses in some way. They had a passion to accomplish their life's dream. Rarely, if ever, was it easy.
Some Biblical names that come to mind are Jesus Christ, Paul, Abraham, Moses, King David, Daniel, Ruth, Noah, Jonah, Elijah, and Jeremiah, just to name a few. Non-biblical people who come to mind are Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King,Jr., Thomas Edison, Christopher Columbus, and George Washington Carver. There are many more I could name and that is a good thing. These geniuses are famous. There are also many names that I do not know. Does this mean that non-famous people are not geniuses? Of course not. Many people have accomplished their life's passions and not become well-known.
The tragedy does not lie in not being famous. The tragedy lies in having given up on one's dreams and passions before they were accomplished. In our Disciple II class this week, we have been reading about Abraham and Sarah in the Old Testament book of Genesis. Abraham and Sarah were already past child-bearing years when God called them to leave their home in Ur and establish a nation in Israel. They had no children at that time and the land was already occupied by other people of different religions. It really is an interesting story with the main characters taking matters into their own hands because they didn't believe God could do what He had promised. In spite of some poor decisions on their part, which caused some unneccessary hardships, they were successful in achieving the purpose they were called to and which they were passionate about.
The point here is that genius is not rare but rather common. Ever since Adam and Eve, people have been misled into doubting God's purposes and promises. From this moment forward, I challenge all of us to acknowlegde the great power of our creator who made us like Him, not to be Him, but to be His representatives on earth. As such, He gave us all the abilities we require to make our passionate dreams become real. And before we were born, He covered us with His protective spirit. I pray you now believe and are empowered by the fact that you are a genius.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Abundance Is Real
The abundance available to all life forms is staggering. Every time I look out the window, take a drive, go shopping, or visit the library I witness this. It is absolutely impossible for me to meet every person, read every book, taste every food, and hear every note played or sung in my lifetime. But I can achieve some of these things every day. And I can share the abundance I enjoy with another person - EVERY DAY.
For I am the only one who can do these things for me. God gave me the gift of free will, which is to me the ultimate gift. It gives me the freedom to think, believe, and act according to what I know to be true in this moment. God's relationship to us as humans is fundamentally one of freedom to love and serve Him and others or not.
How then have human beings inacted laws and systems that take away these freedoms? Some laws are necessary for a civil society because some humans have taken free will to mean they can do things to and against others. There are more than enough laws to deal with this behavior and I only mention it here to recognize that need. But telling another person what they can read or believe or how to raise their children is tyranny and should never be tolerated.
The challenge I put before myself and others is to take this gift of free will very seriously. We must all take ownership of our thoughts by choosing carefully what to read and believe. We must look at who we are individually and what our goals are for ourselves. We are not victims but co-authors with God of the lives we create.
What changes would you like to see in your world? Do you want to see more love, more sharing, more personal wealth for the freedom to be, do, and have more than you ever have before. The key word is more. We were created for more. With the abundance you see all around, more is so possible. The possibility of more gives us the ambition, motivation, and energy to make things happen.
After all, everything you see, hear, or read, began with an idea. Let's all come up with some good ideas and take action on them, today.
To your abundance.
Sandra Hayes
For I am the only one who can do these things for me. God gave me the gift of free will, which is to me the ultimate gift. It gives me the freedom to think, believe, and act according to what I know to be true in this moment. God's relationship to us as humans is fundamentally one of freedom to love and serve Him and others or not.
How then have human beings inacted laws and systems that take away these freedoms? Some laws are necessary for a civil society because some humans have taken free will to mean they can do things to and against others. There are more than enough laws to deal with this behavior and I only mention it here to recognize that need. But telling another person what they can read or believe or how to raise their children is tyranny and should never be tolerated.
The challenge I put before myself and others is to take this gift of free will very seriously. We must all take ownership of our thoughts by choosing carefully what to read and believe. We must look at who we are individually and what our goals are for ourselves. We are not victims but co-authors with God of the lives we create.
What changes would you like to see in your world? Do you want to see more love, more sharing, more personal wealth for the freedom to be, do, and have more than you ever have before. The key word is more. We were created for more. With the abundance you see all around, more is so possible. The possibility of more gives us the ambition, motivation, and energy to make things happen.
After all, everything you see, hear, or read, began with an idea. Let's all come up with some good ideas and take action on them, today.
To your abundance.
Sandra Hayes
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Thoughts Become Words Become Things
Yesteday, I had an interesting experience with our Epiphany Community at SC DJJ. This is a ministry in which we share the love of Jesus Christ with incarerated youth. A friend of ours presented a program on the power of our words. Before words are spoken, however, they are thoughts. So the question to ask is where do thoughts come from? We cannot experience them with any of our five senses. They are first recognized by our brain. As my 4 1/2 year-old grandson said the other day, "Nana, it's all about the brain." How true this is.
When we consider that God simply spoke and all of creation came to be, we can start to consider the power in thoughts and words. If we but look at recent history, we can see some amazing examples of how thoughts become words which set into motion the actions that produced powerful results. An example is President John F. Kennedy's speech describing his vision of a man on the moon before the end of the decade. As a result, others caught the vision, and we just celebrated the 40th anniversary of that feat.
Another example is Martin Luther King, Jr. The civil rights movement itself started as a thought which became words, which ignited the vision and determination of a nation to end segregation and foster equal rights for all people. This is powerful stuff resulting from thoughts. I mentioned some positive examples but there have been negative examples as well. One of the most horrible of course was the Holocaust. Angry, hate-filled thoughts resulted in the murder of millions of people.
Reflecting on how powerful our words can be should cause us to examine our thoughts before turning them into spoken words. Our thoughts come from the people we associate with, the books we read, and the movies we watch. With this in mind, we really need to take great care that we associate with people who we admire and who speak the truth. Also, we must fill our minds, from which our thougts emerge, with material that results in growth and abundance. Focusing on positive, loving ideas begets thoughts of speaking and acting in loving and positive ways.
There are plenty of negative words resulting in fear, anger, and isolation in the world today. Since I have freedom to control what I think and say, I choose to fill my mind with powerful, positive thougts. A powerful example of positive thoughts resulting in a powerful result occurred just this past week at a conference sponsored by our company, Liberty League International. Erik Wahl was a speaker there who paints as he speaks. As a result, he produced some lovely paintings. Three people were admiring the paintings and thinking how wonderful they would be to own. Then one had a thought about using them to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She shared the thought and a project took form. 2 days later, the paintings were auctioned with $179,034 being raised and donated to Make-a-Wish of Hawaii.
For a thought to become powerful, it must be shared and acted upon. Then miracles can happen. Let's all be grateful for thoughts, words, and the wisdom to share those that are beneficial. "A wise man's heart guides his mouth and makes his lips persuasive." Proverbs 16:23 Lets all celebrate our ability to impact the world in a powerfully abundant way by our thoughts and words.
When we consider that God simply spoke and all of creation came to be, we can start to consider the power in thoughts and words. If we but look at recent history, we can see some amazing examples of how thoughts become words which set into motion the actions that produced powerful results. An example is President John F. Kennedy's speech describing his vision of a man on the moon before the end of the decade. As a result, others caught the vision, and we just celebrated the 40th anniversary of that feat.
Another example is Martin Luther King, Jr. The civil rights movement itself started as a thought which became words, which ignited the vision and determination of a nation to end segregation and foster equal rights for all people. This is powerful stuff resulting from thoughts. I mentioned some positive examples but there have been negative examples as well. One of the most horrible of course was the Holocaust. Angry, hate-filled thoughts resulted in the murder of millions of people.
Reflecting on how powerful our words can be should cause us to examine our thoughts before turning them into spoken words. Our thoughts come from the people we associate with, the books we read, and the movies we watch. With this in mind, we really need to take great care that we associate with people who we admire and who speak the truth. Also, we must fill our minds, from which our thougts emerge, with material that results in growth and abundance. Focusing on positive, loving ideas begets thoughts of speaking and acting in loving and positive ways.
There are plenty of negative words resulting in fear, anger, and isolation in the world today. Since I have freedom to control what I think and say, I choose to fill my mind with powerful, positive thougts. A powerful example of positive thoughts resulting in a powerful result occurred just this past week at a conference sponsored by our company, Liberty League International. Erik Wahl was a speaker there who paints as he speaks. As a result, he produced some lovely paintings. Three people were admiring the paintings and thinking how wonderful they would be to own. Then one had a thought about using them to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She shared the thought and a project took form. 2 days later, the paintings were auctioned with $179,034 being raised and donated to Make-a-Wish of Hawaii.
For a thought to become powerful, it must be shared and acted upon. Then miracles can happen. Let's all be grateful for thoughts, words, and the wisdom to share those that are beneficial. "A wise man's heart guides his mouth and makes his lips persuasive." Proverbs 16:23 Lets all celebrate our ability to impact the world in a powerfully abundant way by our thoughts and words.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Socialism Does Not Favor Abundance
I received an interesting email this morning about socialism. It seems an economics professor challenged a class on the viability of socialism. Young, idealistic minds like to think that sharing equally by taking from the rich and giving to the poor will fix everything. To prove this does not happen, he assigned grades along socialistic lines. All test grades were averaged and every student received the same grade. After the first test, everyone got a B. They all received a D after the second test and an F after the third. Working hard to achieve more was no longer beneficial so no one did it. As a result, all failed and no one was happy. The professor had an abundance of A's at his disposal but they had to be earned.
This reminds me of a verse in the Bible, Mark 14:7, to be precise. Jesus told his disciples "You will always have poor people with you, and any time you want to, you can help them. But you will not always have me." Good News Bible There are some key words in this verse: always, want, and can. There will always be poor people. There are various reasons for this. Sometimes poor people indeed need our help. Jesus gave us the free will to choose who to help and when. In my experience this works far better than forced aid by taxation, or stealing from the rich to give to the poor by the government.
Some people are actually poor by choice. Haven't you heard people say they can't get married or earn more money because they will lose their welfare or social security income? As long as people perceive they deserve to be paid regardless of their productivity, many will choose to be unproductive. And when the productive realize that no matter how hard they work, what they earn will be taken from them and given to those who do nothing, they will lose their ambition. And where is a society when people are no longer motivated to be creative and productive?
Please note that I believe in missions and giving to those with burdens that are too great for them to carry. A good example is Katrina Relief along the U.S. gulf coast. People were hard hit by a natural disaster and needed all the help they could get to rebuid their homes and lives. The last time I was there, however, I saw some examples of people who were not helping themselves but complaining about the government. It actually put a negative thought in the minds of many volunteers who were using their vacation time, money, and energy to be of assistance only to be met with ingratitude. Right now I have a choice about where to go on my next mission.
I have this choice because right now I have the time and resources to be self-directed and spirit-led. If the government strips me of these resources and loses them in a quagmire of bureaucratic red tape, does anyone really benefit? This has happened along the gulf coast. Are there still people there who really need our help? Of course there are. Many didn't qualify for government funds the first time around for whatever reason. In fact every volunteer agency has paid social workers who take applications, fill our forms, and continually follow up to see what help is available and when. And everyone has become despondent because the government proved frustrating to both the poor and those who would like to help them.
You see, the residents there and the volunteers from out of state no longer see themselves and their hard work as the solution. So, I ask you. Are we all better off in a system where everyone has the potential to achieve an A? Or are we as a society better served when no one is allowed an A becaue all must receive the same grade? Remember, socialism does not favor abundance for anyone.
This reminds me of a verse in the Bible, Mark 14:7, to be precise. Jesus told his disciples "You will always have poor people with you, and any time you want to, you can help them. But you will not always have me." Good News Bible There are some key words in this verse: always, want, and can. There will always be poor people. There are various reasons for this. Sometimes poor people indeed need our help. Jesus gave us the free will to choose who to help and when. In my experience this works far better than forced aid by taxation, or stealing from the rich to give to the poor by the government.
Some people are actually poor by choice. Haven't you heard people say they can't get married or earn more money because they will lose their welfare or social security income? As long as people perceive they deserve to be paid regardless of their productivity, many will choose to be unproductive. And when the productive realize that no matter how hard they work, what they earn will be taken from them and given to those who do nothing, they will lose their ambition. And where is a society when people are no longer motivated to be creative and productive?
Please note that I believe in missions and giving to those with burdens that are too great for them to carry. A good example is Katrina Relief along the U.S. gulf coast. People were hard hit by a natural disaster and needed all the help they could get to rebuid their homes and lives. The last time I was there, however, I saw some examples of people who were not helping themselves but complaining about the government. It actually put a negative thought in the minds of many volunteers who were using their vacation time, money, and energy to be of assistance only to be met with ingratitude. Right now I have a choice about where to go on my next mission.
I have this choice because right now I have the time and resources to be self-directed and spirit-led. If the government strips me of these resources and loses them in a quagmire of bureaucratic red tape, does anyone really benefit? This has happened along the gulf coast. Are there still people there who really need our help? Of course there are. Many didn't qualify for government funds the first time around for whatever reason. In fact every volunteer agency has paid social workers who take applications, fill our forms, and continually follow up to see what help is available and when. And everyone has become despondent because the government proved frustrating to both the poor and those who would like to help them.
You see, the residents there and the volunteers from out of state no longer see themselves and their hard work as the solution. So, I ask you. Are we all better off in a system where everyone has the potential to achieve an A? Or are we as a society better served when no one is allowed an A becaue all must receive the same grade? Remember, socialism does not favor abundance for anyone.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Spiritual Health Reflects True Abundance
The third component of health is as vitally important as the first two. Spiritual health is a little more difficult to define and describe than either physical or mental. There are physicians and other practitioners for these but how do you define and receive treatment for spiritual health? Some people are actually afraid to discuss or consider how important our spiritual well-being actually is.
In a secular world that is very focused on political correctness, poeple are very wary of expressing beliefs in the Divine. We have become so conditioned not to offend anyone, that we are no longer sure if it is actually okay to believe in a Divine Creator who loves us and wants to have a relationship with us. I'm sure my upbringing has a lot to do with it, but I have no doubts that each of us was divinely planned and created. How could someone as wonderful and complex as humans, animals, plants or any part of creation, have appeared accidentally?
So spiritual health is connecting with the Divine being that created us, inspires us, and desires a connection with us and other created beings. The first step to spiritual health is getting quiet and letting your subconscious mind connect the spiritual realm with your conscious physical realm. This exercise is known as meditation or prayer. Too often people think prayer is speaking to our creator when it is also being quiet and listening for a spiritual message. This is so important for getting to the essence of our being. This is where we connect with our passions and purpose.
Just like physical and mental illnesses have symptoms, so does spiritual illness. In the Christian tradition, which is where my beliefs center, we often refer to the fruits of the spirit. These "fruits" are very powerful emotions which I hear people describe often. Having them confers spiritual health while lacking any of them leaves one spiritually empty. These "fruits" are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. "There is no law against such as these." Galatians 5:23
As we end this third component of health, think about how each affects the other. The most important emotion I use to bring about health is gratitude. As Andy Andrews says, "The seeds of depression cannot take root in a grateful heart." So to begin developing health, and especially, spiritual health, write down ten things you are grateful for. Didn't that feel good? Being alive and having air to breathe is a gift. May you find ways to improve your health and live happier more fulfilled each day.
To your abundant health,
Sandra Hayes
In a secular world that is very focused on political correctness, poeple are very wary of expressing beliefs in the Divine. We have become so conditioned not to offend anyone, that we are no longer sure if it is actually okay to believe in a Divine Creator who loves us and wants to have a relationship with us. I'm sure my upbringing has a lot to do with it, but I have no doubts that each of us was divinely planned and created. How could someone as wonderful and complex as humans, animals, plants or any part of creation, have appeared accidentally?
So spiritual health is connecting with the Divine being that created us, inspires us, and desires a connection with us and other created beings. The first step to spiritual health is getting quiet and letting your subconscious mind connect the spiritual realm with your conscious physical realm. This exercise is known as meditation or prayer. Too often people think prayer is speaking to our creator when it is also being quiet and listening for a spiritual message. This is so important for getting to the essence of our being. This is where we connect with our passions and purpose.
Just like physical and mental illnesses have symptoms, so does spiritual illness. In the Christian tradition, which is where my beliefs center, we often refer to the fruits of the spirit. These "fruits" are very powerful emotions which I hear people describe often. Having them confers spiritual health while lacking any of them leaves one spiritually empty. These "fruits" are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. "There is no law against such as these." Galatians 5:23
As we end this third component of health, think about how each affects the other. The most important emotion I use to bring about health is gratitude. As Andy Andrews says, "The seeds of depression cannot take root in a grateful heart." So to begin developing health, and especially, spiritual health, write down ten things you are grateful for. Didn't that feel good? Being alive and having air to breathe is a gift. May you find ways to improve your health and live happier more fulfilled each day.
To your abundant health,
Sandra Hayes
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