tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2103457137743798652024-02-19T09:19:29.780-07:00Laughing Cherub InspirationsLittle ways to make BIG changes in your life.Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-45554384903532009032023-06-08T17:55:00.001-07:002023-06-08T17:55:29.821-07:00HEALING OTHERS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbjsKSOODScdBa0ImZj54BGhqHs7s6CjQjY-JuJuKzE5fk-ZP5Uex_O7bRxBDdClsUNxD_CegpvZWVffTgilmq3S6KiQA3qUTFGNoUJWCCKFY2bBAxhktw0mfu0hn4TLbX4XEfxANuPVcUVqA_pvy-BkL8TNAA57aU26cFAWXTseFQtKRkOnbfFUksYg/s4200/5-10-23-f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4200" data-original-width="4200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbjsKSOODScdBa0ImZj54BGhqHs7s6CjQjY-JuJuKzE5fk-ZP5Uex_O7bRxBDdClsUNxD_CegpvZWVffTgilmq3S6KiQA3qUTFGNoUJWCCKFY2bBAxhktw0mfu0hn4TLbX4XEfxANuPVcUVqA_pvy-BkL8TNAA57aU26cFAWXTseFQtKRkOnbfFUksYg/s320/5-10-23-f.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">1. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of modalities that can be used to help someone heal, from prayer to Reiki, from gong baths to cranial sacral methods, from hands-on therapies to distance healing through meditation, to name just a few. Although workshops and books often advise students that what they teach is superior to any other form, the healing method you use actually doesn’t matter. <i>What will work best is what most strongly resonates with you.</i><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">2. If you have doubts that your healing is effective, pretend that you are a powerful healer and transmitter. What would it feel like if you knew for certain that you could be a vessel for healing someone miraculously? How would that change what you do? The most impressive healers throughout human history, as far as we know, never expressed or held even the slightest doubt. Doubts create a barrier, like a film, that prevents healing power from coming through.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">3. While being fully confident, it is also imperative to remove your ego from the process. Recognize that the most profound healers open themselves up to allow positive energies and spiritual forces that are often beyond human understanding to work through and with them.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">4. Detach yourself from the results. Recognize that some people have signed up for certain soul lessons or have other important reasons for why they do do not heal completely or immediately. Perhaps the person who cannot be fully healed is supposed to seek out physical therapy, because in the waiting room of the physical therapist they will meet their soulmate! Another individual may have contracted with the divine to learn life lessons that involve the humility and helplessness of being ill. Do not take it personally if someone does not have the results that you or they hope for. Sending healing to a person with the intent of its going to their highest good may give them comfort, courage, love, or other needed assurance beyond that which is visible or obvious to you.</p><p> by Mary Elizabeth Raines, ©2023</p><p><i>Please do not copy this article, since it is copyright protected. We are happy, however, to have you link to this page.</i> <br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-41776329821070689092022-02-22T17:31:00.001-07:002022-04-21T10:12:06.798-07:00WHAT IS OUR PURPOSE IN LIFE?<p style="text-align: left;"><i>by Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raines, (c) 2021</i> <br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXL9ySXfELqg-9i_OmdL3PvfHdvVCafA7eCM7sVleEoIyV611ih-achpxFkfYO6LwV9IR78erZdy3T1B9IIvTBW7URwH2Fv-XoeFZd96HzQ3mlhxJgGanrYojvWQQJEkgJTxRrOBWBWUaM/s2048/1-25-11-v2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXL9ySXfELqg-9i_OmdL3PvfHdvVCafA7eCM7sVleEoIyV611ih-achpxFkfYO6LwV9IR78erZdy3T1B9IIvTBW7URwH2Fv-XoeFZd96HzQ3mlhxJgGanrYojvWQQJEkgJTxRrOBWBWUaM/s320/1-25-11-v2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">In all situations in life, our sole bottom-line purpose is to love.<br /><br />We humans are often limited by circumstances. We sometimes bump into the frustration of being unable to do what we would most want to do.<br /><br />But regardless of limiting circumstances, there is not one single aware moment when we cannot love. <br />We can be stuck in a traffic jam.<br />We can be lying in bed in pain.<br />We can be broke and homeless.<br />But no matter what else is or is not going on in our lives, opening our hearts to love others unconditionally is always available.<br /><br />The connections that we encounter–the little groups of people that we are surrounded by at work, at home, or even at the store–are nothing more than opportunities to radiate love.<br />The people we pass on the street or bump up against, are nothing more than opportunities to radiate love.<br /><br />Personalities, those we like and those we don’t, are all just temporary shells. Regardless of what qualities one displays, at all times our mandate is to hold one another in love.<br /><br />Society thinks it loves. As a group, we cherish and adore select people based upon their personalities and successes in life...even on how they look or dress.<br />For instance, a person may fall in love with another because of their many wonderful qualities, and wind up disappointed when they turn out to be different from the initial image they projected.<br />None of these things are unconditional love. Rather, they are demonstrations of temporary affection and approval based upon very strict conditions, conditions which nearly everyone will fail to be able to uphold.<br /><br />Such love is a frail and absurd imitation of love. This is not the unconditional love we are called to generate.<br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">Do not mistake unconditional love for the acceptance of wrongdoing. There are certainly people and circumstances that can and will exasperate and trouble us. We are all going to become involved in these life situations at different points in our lives.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Loving others unconditionally does not mean that we avoid protesting harmful behavior in another, or avoid defending those beings, whether human or in nature, who are unable to defend themselves.<br /><br />Unconditional love, however, has nothing to do with personality, which is impermanent, or the temporary games played in the material world, which will fade.<br /><br />Instead, unconditional love means noticing the core of Light that is within every being, and sending love to this core. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">This Light is the only aspect of us that is eternal.<br /><br />In some, the inner Light seems to be buried and hidden behind personality...but it is there, no matter how dim it appears to be. Such Light is present within all living beings and it is sacred. It is this inner Light that connects us.<br /><br />And it is this Light in all that we are asked to love.<br /><br />There is no place and no circumstance, when we are awake and aware, where we cannot broadcast love.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raines</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">(c) 2022<br />All rights reserved</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">To Our Readers:<br />You might enjoy reading Mary Elizabeth Raines' nonfiction books, including<i><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Laughing-Cherub-Guide-Past-life-Regression/dp/0972614605" target="_blank">The Laughing Cherub Guide to Past-Life Regression: A Handbook for Real People</a><br /></i>and<br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Help-Heal-Hypnosis-Hypnotism/dp/0972614680/" target="_blank"><i>How to Help and Heal with Hypnosis: An Advanced Guide to Hypnotism</i></a></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p>Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-78913645308549033412022-02-13T13:38:00.013-07:002022-04-21T09:57:33.492-07:00HOW TO GET OUR WAY IN LIFE<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggTzAF9vS6t1sq7yoFL5V6RwDEos1CvELrVwZgBHoODpTl8EkC5BJ1pPyd5WoVIR9tImf9kYUZ-79IJtNYiJUdaeovLnwMnlK2DE-dOjbIJTirS6WOdX5DA2CQVA2MQKLC6yUHHoK5lOScj7gG8XiUoSkqKofI-lw4oeUf6D_nW6eAC3QUjoObBIP0FQ=s2100" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="2100" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggTzAF9vS6t1sq7yoFL5V6RwDEos1CvELrVwZgBHoODpTl8EkC5BJ1pPyd5WoVIR9tImf9kYUZ-79IJtNYiJUdaeovLnwMnlK2DE-dOjbIJTirS6WOdX5DA2CQVA2MQKLC6yUHHoK5lOScj7gG8XiUoSkqKofI-lw4oeUf6D_nW6eAC3QUjoObBIP0FQ=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
goal of nearly every religion has been to figure out how we can get our wishes and needs granted. If
only we pray the right way, bow the right way, dress the right way, eat the
right way, behave the right way…only then will God listen to us and give us
what we want.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Throughout
time and numberless civilizations, people have burned incense, chanted, danced, sacrificed
animals (or even other human beings), and have suffered through<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>countless other ritual acts, from the horrific to the silly, in this
attempt to get God to grant to us what we want. There is even today a primitive
tribe where the culture centers around this act: boys and men make a rope from
jungle vines, tie one end around their ankle and the other end high up in a
tree which they have climbed, and then jump out of the tree headfirst. With luck, they only just graze
the earth with their head and the vine prevents them from crashing into the
ground. Deaths and injuries, however, are not unknown. Why do they do this? So
that God will grant them a good harvest.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The ideas of getting what we want (e.g., <i>manifestation</i>)
that are currently popular in Western society are often simply continuances of the same principles behind
lighting a candle, praying to the four directions, rubbing a magic lamp to get
the genii to appear, or saying “Hail, Mary.” We are absolutely fascinated by anything that
may help us to get our way.<br /><br />The
laws governing manifestation that are popular with the New Age community today may well be correct–our thoughts and emotions have an effect on our circumstances, and we</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> are told that we must think, feel,
and believe in certain ways if we are going to be able to get what we
want–</span>but these laws are far more complex than
most people realize. Sadly, for many people the idea of manifestation has turned into something superstitious
and magical, not unlike jumping out of a tree headfirst to permit a good harvest, or
sacrificing an ox to assure victory in battle.<br /><br />To understand these complexities, it
is important to recognize that our souls are infinite. Many people now accept the idea that we come into human form
many times rather than just once. If this is true, while every sincere thought we have and
every action we take may indeed come back to us in exact measure, it can take
centuries before we reap the results, positive or negative, of these thoughts and
actions. Even more, we live in a fractal universe that is constantly
rearranging and shifting in response not just to our individual thoughts, but
to our mass consciousness as well.<br /><br />Moreover, our souls have chosen to have a human
experience, and that experience is full of polarities: both good and bad things
happen to all of us. Nobody is immune to this.<br /><br />Not
long ago a man criticized a dear friend of mine who had a chronic, debilitating illness, saying
to her, “If you didn’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believe</i> in
that illness, you would be okay.” A short time later, after suffering loss after
loss, he was in a terrible car accident. His beloved dog
was killed, and the man had to be airlifted to a hospital because of the
seriousness of his injuries. Did this happen because he, as he had accused my friend, held incorrect beliefs?<br /><br />There
are actually many reasons why things like sickness occur. Even the great intuitives like
Edgar Cayce have said that while physical debilitation may indeed be the result
of assorted thoughts and emotions, sometimes sickness just happens. When a colony
of honeybees collapses and dies, is it because the honeybees had the
wrong attitude? If a tree gets a disease, does that mean the tree hosted
negative thoughts? When a dog is hit by a car, is it because the dog believed
incorrectly? Nonsense. Similarly, when our souls come into human form,
part of the deal is that we participate in the laws that govern human form, and
those laws include the possibility of disease, accidents, and other common earthly occurrences.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />The events and circumstances that occur to us are influenced by far more than our beliefs, emotions, and thinking. Among other things, our souls have come
into human form to learn valuable lessons. Someone with a chronic illness may have signed up
for that illness as a way of learning patience. Someone who is always broke may
have signed up for that lesson to learn the lessons of loss and surrender. Someone who is
addicted to alcohol or drugs may have chosen that problem on a soul level so
that they could learn humility. We are not consciously privy to the lessons for
which we have enrolled, and we are even less privy to someone else’s lessons. It is
cause for tolerance both for others and for ourselves.<br /><br />Despite this, trying
to get the Universe to work so that we can have our wishes granted is not only
ancient; it seems to be part of the human condition. While there are certainly successes, putting out enormous effort in an attempt to control our circumstances so that we can get things to work out in precisely the way we want can
also lead to massive frustration and self-blame. It largely does not work any
more than jumping headfirst from tall trees or sacrificing virgins works, even though
the cultures that engage in those acts are adamant that their method is the
best, and is necessary to make their lives better.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /><br />This does not mean that we should completely avoid the idea of manifestation. Discretion and awareness are necessary. Asking for and inviting things like daily needs, repair of relationships, healing of the body, or safe travels either for ourself or for others are naturally acceptable. There is a thin line, however, between this and the superstitious, compulsive behavior that blames all unfortunate events on people not having the "correct" mindset or attitude, or the self-doubt that may come when things do not go our way.<br /><br />Rather
than attempting to program every detail of lives for our own personal benefit,
an easier, more peaceful, and higher-level way of facing life is simply to surrender to
whatever larger force one believes in, whether that be God, the Universe, or
simply the tides and currents of ever-changing events. This assures that we
will fit in the flow or, if you will, the soup of life, free to contribute and to experience in the best way for all concerned without the interference of
trying so hard to achieve our greedy ends.<br /><br />I
once asked a wise old man what the secret of life was. He replied, <i>“Life is
like floating down a river. If you try to direct the course of the current, or
struggle to stay in the same place, you’re going to be in trouble. The secret
is just to drift and enjoy and allow.”<br /><br /><br /></i>by Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raines<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">(c) 2022<br />All rights reserved</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">To Our Readers:<br />You might enjoy reading Mary Elizabeth Raines' nonfiction books, including<i><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Laughing-Cherub-Guide-Past-life-Regression/dp/0972614605" target="_blank">The Laughing Cherub Guide to Past-Life Regression: A Handbook for Real People</a><br /></i>and<br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Help-Heal-Hypnosis-Hypnotism/dp/0972614680/" target="_blank"><i>How to Help and Heal with Hypnosis: An Advanced Guide to Hypnotism</i></a><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> </i> <br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-17289726337146403642021-11-10T07:04:00.000-07:002022-04-21T10:14:46.030-07:00DOING YOUR PAIN<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: 27px;">DOING YOUR PAIN</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: 27px;">by Mary Elizabeth Raines</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">Want to change from feeling like a victim to feeling empowered? Want to stop a treacherous habit like smoking or drinking? Want to get over the poison of jealousy? Want to forgive someone who has cruelly wronged you?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">Want to evolve? </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">Then get ready to "do your pain." And a word of warning: t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">he hardest task in the world is doing your pain! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">The opportunities to change our patterns and knee-jerk responses never seem to arrive when we are feeling strong and enlightened. Instead, they pop up at the most difficult and unfair moments--times when we are exhausted and beaten down by life.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">Take jealousy as an example. Here's the way it goes: we find ourselves full of jealousy and have the sudden realization that we no longer want to be jealous. We want to make a better, more tolerant choice, one that serves both us and the Universe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">Wow, does it ever take effort to choose <i>not</i> to be jealous! It is incredibly unappealing. In fact, it can be frightening. Wallowing in the old misery is so much more familiar and strangely comforting. And news alert: learning a new way of responding to the situation that caused jealousy will be <i>painful</i>. This is where "doing your pain" comes in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">If you think about it, most of the damage that we do to one another and to
ourselves stems from our aversion to doing our pain. We squirm and wiggle and rationalize and try every escape possible so as not to have to be in pain. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">A drug addict would rather rob
an old man than do the pain involved in becoming clean and sober. People die prematurely every day who could not do the pain of stopping
smoking or overeating. Others spend their days in monotony and live without color because they will not "do the pain" of stepping through their fear and entering a new, more vibrant way of being–for any change we choose to make has some pain attached to the decision. And back to jealousy: murders have been committed by people who would rather end someone's life than do the pain that accompanies getting over jealousy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">Not only does doing your pain hurt; there's even more bad news! Once we have decided to making a positive change, e</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">ven after we have taken the huge step of willingness
and done our very best to reverse old patterns, chances are that for a while, <i>it won't even feel as though it has worked! </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">As we turn our hearts toward the positive and away
from the old negativity, whatever that may be, it will initially seem as though we are receiving no reward whatsoever. Instead, we <i>seemingly </i>get more misery. Here's why w</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">e are not going to feel all the positive effects of our new choices for a while.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">It takes time for this new way of responding to situations to register emotionally. It also takes time for our spirits and bodies to adjust to it. Part of this period of adjustment may be so that our souls can make sure that this is what we really want. During that time, it often feels as though we are still in the vibration of the old. Thus, the drug addict and the chain smoker will feel withdrawal and cravings. The jealous person will still have tinges of jealousy and rejection. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">Changing is like practicing the piano.
You don’t learn to play a Bach fugue in the first lesson. No, instead you learn “Jingle
Bells,” it will take immense effort, and you will probably play it badly!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;">For those are ready to make a big change in their patterns and responses to life, here's how to go about it: persist, ask for spiritual help, and hold yourself in
willingness. Imagine, feel, envision and hear that old pattern being handed over to the Divine, who is raising it to the highest possible vibration.</span><span style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: large;"><span><br /><br />Trust that with your willingness, the new <i>will</i> eventually replace the old, and it may happen sooner than you think if you are faithful to your new way of being. It may be the hardest thing you have ever done in your life, but provided you are willing to do your pain, you will eventually come out the other side and finally become the person you have always
been meant to be!</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxijZBrXPIVlBm6Zrasg0tU-MZ5Flz6rxqHJ29WXCCvNewD5aWE008sBZJtjEJNViUisvQrW2xEuI_N5rnWN2O9DcwyYVID1aCJhuP4let-t-B7BvsnVCYW0p2jvamNQ3ojM7zRWWk2Dwi/s1600/3-31-11-d.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxijZBrXPIVlBm6Zrasg0tU-MZ5Flz6rxqHJ29WXCCvNewD5aWE008sBZJtjEJNViUisvQrW2xEuI_N5rnWN2O9DcwyYVID1aCJhuP4let-t-B7BvsnVCYW0p2jvamNQ3ojM7zRWWk2Dwi/s200/3-31-11-d.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"></span><p><span style="font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">by Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raines</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(c) 2022<br />All rights reserved</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">To Our Readers:<br />You might enjoy reading Mary Elizabeth Raines' nonfiction books, including<i><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Laughing-Cherub-Guide-Past-life-Regression/dp/0972614605" target="_blank">The Laughing Cherub Guide to Past-Life Regression: A Handbook for Real People</a><br /></i>and<br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Help-Heal-Hypnosis-Hypnotism/dp/0972614680/" target="_blank"><i>How to Help and Heal with Hypnosis: An Advanced Guide to Hypnotism</i></a></span></span></p><span style="font-family: "chalkboard bold"; font-size: 20pt;"></span><div class="MsoNormal">
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<!--EndFragment-->Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-75729256112496160412021-08-31T09:13:00.000-07:002022-04-21T10:16:00.591-07:00JUST FOR YOU: A MINI-VACATION RIGHT NOW!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Headlines blaring bad news? Too much information too fast? Pressured and tense, or just sad?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Good news! It is possible for you to have a mini-vacation <i>now</i>, even in the few seconds it takes to read this.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Turn inward, think about your breathing, and slow it down. Breathe peace into your core. You can do this right now no matter what is happening in your life and no matter how you are feeling. You don’t even have to close your eyes to do it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Exhale any busy-ness, any tension, or any feeling that is less than relaxed. Allow a sensation of peace to flood through you right now with each inhalation. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stretch out your inhalations. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This doesn’t need to be a perfect sensation…just something a little gentler, a little quieter, a little calmer, a little lighter. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Maybe you enjoy imagining this peace as a soothing color, or tasting it like a healing fruit, or feeling it as a tender caress, or hearing it like a sweet chime of music, or even breathing it in as a smell, like the smell of being by the sea or in a deep still forest. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">However you like to perceive it, flow this peace to key areas in your body: </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">your belly, </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">your heart, </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">your knees, </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the soles of your feet. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What would your jaw feel like if you sent it a bit of peace just now? Send a wave of relief to your busy brain. Breathe this peace right into your spine and feel your back soften and widen, as if you had wings and they were unfolding and delighting in these relaxing sensations.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Have fun with it! Peace doesn’t have to be so serious. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Flow peace into your rear end...and smile! If that smile were to fill with peace, would it change? </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Now let peace fill your fancy…wherever you fancy your fancy to be!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">That feels <i>much </i>better, doesn’t it? </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG1Mdghw5oWj_dFbYgZ5gcBb-jwMD60pdPiHfS7hKCuGtdZvDj3Fzoc5KRRyjeibpd9d2SrN9Tb5OP7-9EjxmhGdkM9GCnS9Gu5Cd01GgK83Lou_0eaxf3gsUJFdl7HYTuT6iI-HmzHvGY/s1600/2-22-13-g.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG1Mdghw5oWj_dFbYgZ5gcBb-jwMD60pdPiHfS7hKCuGtdZvDj3Fzoc5KRRyjeibpd9d2SrN9Tb5OP7-9EjxmhGdkM9GCnS9Gu5Cd01GgK83Lou_0eaxf3gsUJFdl7HYTuT6iI-HmzHvGY/s320/2-22-13-g.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<br /><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">by Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raines</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">(c) 2022<br />All rights reserved</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">To Our Readers:<br />You might enjoy reading Mary Elizabeth Raines' nonfiction books, including<i><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Laughing-Cherub-Guide-Past-life-Regression/dp/0972614605" target="_blank">The Laughing Cherub Guide to Past-Life Regression: A Handbook for Real People</a><br /></i>and<br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Help-Heal-Hypnosis-Hypnotism/dp/0972614680/" target="_blank"><i>How to Help and Heal with Hypnosis: An Advanced Guide to Hypnotism</i></a></span></span></p></div>
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Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-41506057776629761132021-08-09T18:40:00.001-07:002022-04-21T10:12:43.300-07:00ABOUT TIME AND MANIFESTATION<div style="text-align: left;"> by Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raines</div><div style="text-align: left;">©2021 by M. E. Raines</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGbJ4-FezTerYnlIQ418QuffeXrUKWHW8WSyITZvRGlk2LCYdvuyhdOwygz3cHyme_XfQAIUIQQtoK95z-F14DjJTIEHJ8KQ5n-fCrC-ZgANtWIHMjX0ZbXMyi2TcXlKqjiZlvd2vLRfU/s2048/7-13-17-c.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGbJ4-FezTerYnlIQ418QuffeXrUKWHW8WSyITZvRGlk2LCYdvuyhdOwygz3cHyme_XfQAIUIQQtoK95z-F14DjJTIEHJ8KQ5n-fCrC-ZgANtWIHMjX0ZbXMyi2TcXlKqjiZlvd2vLRfU/s320/7-13-17-c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Whether we are attempting to heal, to invite something new into our lives, or trying to make other significant changes, one aspect of manifestation that often evades us is timing. The confusion that is generated because of timing can cause some to give up in despair, or to question their spirituality. <br /><br />What many do not realize is that there is a time lag–sometimes a significantly long one–between the first attempt to manifest thoughts and/or prayers and their actualization.<br /><br />If every single thought we had immediately manifested around us and within our bodies, we would be continuously changing; our physical bodies would be like mutable lumps of jelly surrounded by a swirling madhouse of events and circumstances. Thank goodness that it takes time! Rather than happening immediately, the body and the soul need to know that you really, really mean it before change can occur.<br /><br />I used to teach aerobic exercise classes. Here is an interesting phenomenon: a person can attempt to lift their leg high in the air even though they do not have the natural ability to do so. Day after day, week after week, nothing changes. Many individuals would give up. If that person persists in trying, however, continuously pushing on those muscles, what happens is that one day, almost miraculously, their leg will indeed be able to rise high in the air! There is science behind this. What happens physiologically is that once the body is completely convinced, over a period of time, that the individual truly desires this to happen, and that it isn’t just a random thought, overnight there will be a miniature explosion of blood vessels feeding the necessary muscles that allow them to do something that had previously been impossible. The key factor is this: <i>once the body is completely convinced over a period of time.<br /></i><br />This time lag is a factor in the manifestation of anything we want to change in our lives, whether it is material (“I need to discover new ways to bring in income”), emotional (“I want to stop yearning for the girlfriend who dumped me”), physical (“I want to heal”), or spiritual (“I want to connect to my spirit guide.”)<br /><br />Rarely is a desire or prayer answered immediately, no matter how well one follows the “rules” of manifestation. <br /><br />People often become frustrated and give up too soon when they are attempting to make a change or to manifest something, not recognizing and allowing for the fact that these things almost always take time. When one sells one’s home, for instance, it doesn't occur immediately. First there is the decision to sell. That is followed by listing the home, advertising its sale, and then waiting for the perfect buyer. <br /><br />As pointed out by someone else, one does not begin a road trip from Massachusetts to California, and then stop in Kansas in despair and turn back, whining that the trip did not work because the Kansas landscape didn’t look like California. That, however, is what happens to many people. They become discouraged and enter into such negativity that they block what they desire from coming to them.<br /><br />Even miraculous healings, such as those evidenced by people who have near-death experiences, while occurring much faster than they normally would, often take time for the body to manifest. Anita Moorjani (check name & data) had a near-death experience where she knew that her cancer-riddled body was healed; even in the case of a miraculous healing, it still took a few weeks for the tumors to disappear.<br /><br />Impatience and doubt create roadblocks and prevent our good from coming to us. When praying for or trying to manifest something new, have faith that this request is in process, and be patient.<br /><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raines</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">(c) 2021<br />All rights reserved</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">To Our Readers:<br />You might enjoy reading Mary Elizabeth Raines' nonfiction books, including<i><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Laughing-Cherub-Guide-Past-life-Regression/dp/0972614605" target="_blank">The Laughing Cherub Guide to Past-Life Regression: A Handbook for Real People</a><br /></i>and<br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Help-Heal-Hypnosis-Hypnotism/dp/0972614680/" target="_blank"><i>How to Help and Heal with Hypnosis: An Advanced Guide to Hypnotism</i></a></span></span></p> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /></div>Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-36544976421158295702020-04-11T12:33:00.004-07:002022-02-23T13:22:10.987-07:00THE CORONAVIRUS: WHAT CAN WE DO SPIRITUALLY?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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SUCH IS THE WORK OF ANGELS</h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">(<i>Please note: This article has nothing to do with being pro-vaccination or anti-vax, nor does it pertain to any attitude regarding Covid-19, masks, the medical community, etc. Those are personal choices. This is about rising above the polarities that divide us rather than an attempt to sway people to our point of view, and broadcasting what light and love we are able.)</i><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many of you have felt in recent months, either consciously or unconsciously, that something adverse was coming our way that was going to affect humanity. With the advent of the COVID-19, the first stage of what we were awaiting arrived, almost overnight.</div>
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We have a growing abundance of sound advice on what to do physically and socially to cope with this pandemic. But what can we do spiritually? Some simple steps follow, along with an easy eyes-open meditation at the end.</div>
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Mass consciousness, that collective cloud which is a mixture of the feelings and thoughts of every human being, is currently in shock. We are on pause. Nobody knows what is coming or agrees upon what to do.</div>
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When people go into shock from an accident or injury, they also go into a state of hypnosis, which means that they are highly suggestible. The critical, discerning mind of those who are in shock turns off, and anything that they are told they are likely to accept without question. If, for instance, someone who has just been injured in a serious car accident is told, “Help is on the way,” he is not likely to question that statement.</div>
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Our mass consciousness at this point in time is not unlike that of an accident victim, and is similarly in a state of high suggestibility.</div>
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That suggestibility is a wide-open corridor for those who feel called to inject more Light into humanity. [The term “Light” is a catchall, since readers are of many faiths. Feel free to change this word to whatever of a high order may be in your belief system.]</div>
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Many of you who are reading this are ready, willing, and eager to do exactly that. Following are some guidelines that you may find helpful.</div>
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STEP ONE</b>
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<i>Avoid getting sucked into the lower vibrations of the mass consciousness</i>.</div>
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Although we refer to it as consciousness, it is largely unconscious. Mass consciousness is an amplification of what has been termed mob mentality and consists of the collected thoughts and emotions of all people. Think of it as being like a cloud covering the planet; the heavier and darker the frequencies, the nearer it clings to the planet’s surface and the easier it is to access. Right now the mass consciousness is at a low point, for there are elements of fear, insecurity, and restlessness occurring throughout humanity.</div>
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This zombie-like cloud is strangely appealing and magnetic. Lower frequencies take less work to generate, and tend to draw us in. Think of being in a room with someone who is angry or depressed. The angry or depressed individual does not usually snap out of it and rise up to our level; rather, we are often dragged into a state of negativity simply by proximity. Mass consciousness works in the same way as being in the room with the unhappy person. It is curiously tempting to become swept into the lower, negative vibrations. It takes less effort on our part, and, as bleak as it may be, there is a strange and almost irresistible comfort in joining with another person or with a group where all are thinking or believing in the same way, even if those thoughts or beliefs are damaging.</div>
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How can one avoid being strangled by such dark mass thought forms? Several ideas will follow. Since we are all different in our emotional and mental make-up, there is no universal solution. What works for you might not be the answer for another, just as the music or menu choices you love might not suit someone else. Simply use these suggestions as guidelines, and tweak them to fit you and your style.</div>
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Realize that your soul has been preparing for this aspect of your journey for some time now, and you have been collecting many tools to help you change your consciousness, whether it has been through prayer and meditation, reading, attending workshops, listening to podcasts, sharing with friends, or in some other way. You now possess an extensive tool chest. It is time to utilize whatever is in it. The work that lies before you is far more important than manifesting a new car or lifting yourself out of the blues or even sending positive energy to another; while that had its place, much of it was just practice for these times and the days that will follow.</div>
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Some of you are best able to rise above mass consciousness by monitoring your thoughts and emotions constantly. Should despair or darker feelings enter–and this is guaranteed to happen from time to time, no matter how noble we like to think we are–you can rise above such discouraging ruminations by forming the clear desire to move to a higher level of thinking and feeling. Those of you who have a belief in any form of spiritual guidance may ask for help in being elevated from grim thoughts and suffocating emotions to a place of compassion, kindness, and unselfishness.</div>
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Another option is to ask this question of your spiritual guidance: <i>What can I do to help?</i> While the answer will probably not appear before you as a blazing marquee, and for most will not even be evident at all, you may trust implicitly that you will be used in the best way possible, depending upon your current state of development.
After you put forth such a request, realize that there is a waiting period where it may not seem as if you have been heard, and it feels as though nothing is happening at all. Be patient. We do not see our own hair grow, and yet it is always growing!</div>
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Shifting away from negative thoughts and feelings does not mean turning a blind eye to what is. For many people, it is vital to stay informed and acquire facts, provided such information does not drown them in darkness. Some of you who are more fragile may need to take time out from that kind of information, although personal sensitivity is never an excuse to bury our heads in the sand and enter into magical thinking where we pretend there is no problem when it is, in fact, surrounding us.</div>
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It can take a great deal of willpower to keep our eyes wide open and still avoid getting mired in dark thoughts at this time, for focusing repeatedly on the negative drags us into lower frequencies. Here's why it is so difficult to do. Part of us gets a rush, a fix of excitement, from sensationalism, no matter how awful it may be. An example of this is the popularity of television shows that investigate horrific crimes. Another instance occurs when we drive past the site of a bad accident; we feel curiously compelled to stare at the scene, even though what we see might be tragic indeed. This innate appeal of sensationalism is similar to being addicted to a drug. To achieve the high, we sometimes return over and over to darker stories about what is happening, many of which involve fear or even hatred on some level. It takes discipline to step away. While we need to be well informed, any more than that has no value if it is going to draw us down into the whirlpool of negative mass consciousness.</div>
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<b>STEP TWO</b></div>
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<i>Put on your own oxygen mask first.</i></div>
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While there is a deep desire in many of you to be unselfish and of service (or you wouldn’t have read this far!), you will be of little help if you yourself are struggling. You must look after your own needs before you can attend to that of others.
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<b>STEP THREE</b></div>
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<i>Take every positive, uplifting, practical action that presents itself.</i><br />
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Some of you are best suited to help by doing physical deeds of service. Most of us are not front-line workers or heroes, so the majority of these deeds will be humble ones. Do not get caught up in glamour, and
believe that what you have to offer is not of worth. The artist who
paints the ceiling of the cathedral could not do so if someone hadn’t
quarried the stone for its foundation.
If such deeds are accompanied by
thoughts of love and compassion, they will have a powerful impact, no matter how insignificant they may seem.</div>
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<b>STEP FOUR</b><br />
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Broadcast loving, uplifting vibes for as long and as often as possible.</i><br />
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Enter into a
quiet, calm state, focus on your breathing, raise your
thoughts and emotions to the highest possible frequency, and then
transmit them. Even a brief minute of broadcasting loving thoughts will have an effect, so if you are only able to do a little bit, it is still significant. Of course, the more nonjudgmental, loving Light you are able to send into the mass consciousness, the more you will assist in our collective transformation.</div>
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A meditation for emanating such Light can be found at the end of this message.</div>
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Humanity is shifting rapidly. While there is suffering and fear, there are also enormous strands of unexpected sweetness, softness, and Light arising, due in part to <i>you</i>. Thank you.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i>EYES-OPEN MEDITATION </i></span></span></div>
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</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i>Sit or lie
down in a comfortable position, and take several deep, cleansing breaths.
Breathe into the bottom of your rib cage, and exhale with the intent of
releasing anything that is negative or limiting.</i></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i><br /><br />With
your eyes focused gently on these written words, let your shoulders drop. Your
arms can feel pleasantly, comfortably warmer and pleasantly, comfortably
heavier. Let your chewing muscles go, and loosen all the muscles under the skin
of your face and around your eyes.<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /><br />I</span>magine a
beam of light entering through the top of your head, spilling into your
body, and filling you. You might visualize it happening, feel it like a glow,
hear it like a note of music, or simply go along without seeing, feeling, or
hearing anything. However you perceive it is fine.<br /><br />Focus your intent now on what it is that you choose to broadcast, such as nonjudgmental, compassionate love. It could be healing, respect for the earth and her creatures, or profound peace. It could
be joy, truth, or laughter. It could be the essence of a spiritual figure. It could be strength, serenit<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">y, an end to suffering, or <span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">anything</span> you wish<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">.</span></span></span> Whatever positive energy you choose, allow it to rise through your body,
blending with your heart and your mind.<br /><br />If you
have a belief in or sense of the energy centers that some call chakras, (places <span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">near</span> important glands or organs <span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">where we tend to store emotion, such as in our solar plexus)</span>, you might
take a moment now and breathe the positive spiritual frequency you desire to broadcast into
each of your chakras, one at a time, starting at the base and moving upward.<br /><br />See or sense this energy, like a light, or a warm glow, or a note of music, filling your feet and toes, and beginning to
swell upward through your body until it reaches the top of your head. Invite any spiritual guidance to be your helper and companion during this important process.<br /> </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i>When you
are filled with this positive radiance, imagine that with each inhalation, it
grows stronger and brighter, and that with each exhalation<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"> </span>it expands
further outward. Perceive it now beginning to radiate out through your skin.
Take all the time you want. Let it fill your aura—the inches surrounding your
body—and then visualize, sense, hear, or simply know that you are extending and
stretching this glorious energy even further, broadcasting it like starlight or
sunlight. The further out your energy reaches, the more powerful and Light-filled it becomes.<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /><br />O</span>ther people, through prayer, meditation, or intent, may be relaying an energy similar to the one you have chosen. As you
continue to shine your Light, you may discover that you find and connect with their Lights, combining your transmissions.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">
</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i>Whether
you have an actual visual or palpable sense of this occurring or whether you are simply
following along makes no difference. Do your best to keep your focus, continue
to radiate the energy you choose to broadcast, and do so for as short or as
long of a time as you want.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i>Realize that you may return to the state of sending forth whatever positive
energy you choose at any time, in any situation…while you are driving, waiting somewhere, working, moving, or being still. You may broadcast almost
continuously throughout the day, or in little droplets. Whatever you offer, big
or small, is much greater than you could possibly realize.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i><br />Thank you.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 24pt;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arialmt";"><i>©
2020, M. E. Raines</i></span></span></span></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" sans-serif"><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Author and Teacher Mary Elizabeth Raines lives in Sedona, Arizona, where she is founder of the <a href="http://www.hypnosiscourse.com/" target="_blank">Academy for Professional Hypnosis Training<span style="color: #674ea7;">. </span></a><span face=""trebuchet ms" sans-serif">Her books and articles, including both fiction and non-fiction, can be found on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Elizabeth-Raines/e/B0035URRO4" target="_blank">Amazon and Amazon Kindle</a>.</span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span face=""verdana" sans-serif"><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Laughing-Cherub-Guide-Past-life-Regression/dp/0972614605" target="_blank"><br /></a><br />Copying
or reproducing this material in whole or in part in any form is not
permitted. You are asked to uphold copyright law and contact the author
for permission if you wish to do so. Please, however, feel free to link
to this article.</i></span></span></span></span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arialmt";"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></i></div>
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Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-4772435484774423202018-12-15T11:35:00.006-07:002022-04-21T10:13:24.168-07:00JUDGMENT AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrzH_Un1Dq__oSTJPGy4nWI3_apBBGl0RbbqG-hAc79SWQeMXbfJBb6O1m97Awn-Klgw-bi0rvFIydi0bmv0hZP8R29lKLACWwRNCykslogoT4T0oulNt98tsvrZ63XqRCAmCmzuoIikh/s1600/3-27-18-g-002-signed.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1285" data-original-width="1285" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrzH_Un1Dq__oSTJPGy4nWI3_apBBGl0RbbqG-hAc79SWQeMXbfJBb6O1m97Awn-Klgw-bi0rvFIydi0bmv0hZP8R29lKLACWwRNCykslogoT4T0oulNt98tsvrZ63XqRCAmCmzuoIikh/s320/3-27-18-g-002-signed.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />WHAT JUDGMENT REALLY DOES</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">by Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raines </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">©M. E. Raines, 2018</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Judging another, regardless of the reasons or circumstances, is toxic both to us and to those we judge.</span></div>
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We judge out of annoyance, out of fear, out of anger, or sometimes—and this one</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"> is </span>the most sneaky and thus dangerous forms of judgment—out of our presumably loving “concern” for another person.</span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">When we judge someone or some aspect of their life, we are gathering up an immense mass of negativity, with all its lack of understanding and lack of compassion,
and casting it upon someone else. Energetically, judgment is a hard shell that
compresses another.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Why do we do it? It feels good! Our judgment temporarily seems to lighten our own load. What it does is to steal a bit of power away from the person we're judging, and hand it to us. This gives us a temporary fix, a brief elation, but it is a false one, for when we rob another of their power in order to boost ourselves, we will wind up paying the price, and often it is with our emotions, experiences, or even our own cell tissue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Worse, the moment we judge, we become blind to truth. Because it gives us a false little lift, we talk ourselves into believing that our judgment is wise when, in fact, judgment narrows our viewpoint and severely restricts any opportunities we might otherwise have been given to understand the other person or their situation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The hardness of heart that arises when we judge someone else
strangles compassion. Mercy dissolves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Judgment, no matter how justified we think it may be, does not take into account what another may be on Earth to
learn or to do. While we may believe that we know what their lessons are, we are never privy to all the specifics of someone else's life journey, even those who are closest to us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Movement and flow are necessary for our growth and well-being. Judgment creates the reverse of this. It is stagnant, inflexible, and immobile.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The meanness of judgment refuses to honor or accept the struggles and the growth that the other may be undergoing. Those we condemn could indeed be upon a wonderful path of which we are unaware, but our
judgment, which is <i>always</i> uninformed and imperfect, sadly makes it much more
difficult, rather than easy, for them to continue on that path.</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">When we thrust judgment
upon another, it can have an actual effect on them, but it is never a positive one. They pick up the restrictive energy of our judgment on some level, often an unconscious one. It feels like</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">—</span>and is!</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">—</span>an attack, and they instinctively turn their life force to defensiveness, clenching against the assault. The condemned person can become mired in negative energy. Because they are trapped in self-defense, they cease moving forward, and the opportunities for enlightenment and expansion that they are meant to flow into become less available, not more.<br /><br />The harsh judgment we extend to our political leaders, for example, has the opposite effect from that which we may desire. Our hardness of heart simply creates more of the same in the other; </span><span style="font-size: large;">the defensiveness that gets stirred in them by the energy of our condemnation can prevent them from becoming the leaders we would wish them to be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Even with our own friends and family, it is never our job to decide how another should behave, what
experiences they ought to invite into their lives, or who they should be, no matter how much we purport to care for them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What is our job, then? The answer is simple, but it is one of the most difficult things for us to offer: the answer is
to hold the other in unconditional love. This does not mean we are supporting unacceptable behavior. Rather, we look beyond behavior without judging it, and extend love to the light within them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">By radiating pure love, with <i>no conditions or exceptions,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> to our friends, our family, our entertainers, our
politicians, and the many others whose paths cross ours, energetically we are
allowing them to receive the highest nourishment possible. It is like taking a
dark drape off a plant and allow it light to reach it. Unconditional love
holds people in a space where they can heal, if healing is needed, find
answers—</span><i>their</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> answers, not ours,—and
flourish.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWJtmiVH-IjgLJtvgsc5T0TXwsttdvddiG3qmQog9lBRzr9AR5VOGhJp1Q2iKc0Ju8pRTYiB2vCaA7VSt7EBFu-LSUfK3UkAz8B5zSS_kKmpe25GOHae4YTI7FAZ7_ej6uq85WcshIocTM/s1600/9-5-11-c.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWJtmiVH-IjgLJtvgsc5T0TXwsttdvddiG3qmQog9lBRzr9AR5VOGhJp1Q2iKc0Ju8pRTYiB2vCaA7VSt7EBFu-LSUfK3UkAz8B5zSS_kKmpe25GOHae4YTI7FAZ7_ej6uq85WcshIocTM/s320/9-5-11-c.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">by Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raines</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">(c) 2022<br />All rights reserved</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">To Our Readers:<br />You might enjoy reading Mary Elizabeth Raines' nonfiction books, including<i><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Laughing-Cherub-Guide-Past-life-Regression/dp/0972614605" target="_blank">The Laughing Cherub Guide to Past-Life Regression: A Handbook for Real People</a><br /></i>and<br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Help-Heal-Hypnosis-Hypnotism/dp/0972614680/" target="_blank"><i>How to Help and Heal with Hypnosis: An Advanced Guide to Hypnotism</i></a></span></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></div>
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Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-86351348032737360682018-01-09T18:10:00.001-07:002019-06-17T14:49:17.740-07:00THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF SEX<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9UaNtuM6WTlXZ9opqeuUQJ-IONfWwV5nDpBpVt5r-HtkrdZMMf46-vK9EOgIujEZhPJDC94rgghQKDiHGVnIPLaDDhjGLS841g-c8VU1-ZRGPdT1RIrGjpxYlC_TMiLpggXVu4cj5U1VD/s1600/7-19-11-c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1209" data-original-width="1438" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9UaNtuM6WTlXZ9opqeuUQJ-IONfWwV5nDpBpVt5r-HtkrdZMMf46-vK9EOgIujEZhPJDC94rgghQKDiHGVnIPLaDDhjGLS841g-c8VU1-ZRGPdT1RIrGjpxYlC_TMiLpggXVu4cj5U1VD/s320/7-19-11-c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF
SEX</div>
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by Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raines </div>
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©M. E. Raines, 2018</div>
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Promiscuity, casual sex, and even adultery are mainstream fare in our society. It is time, however, to take a second look at it.<br />
<br />
It is possible that some of the early religions on our planet understood this when
they put prohibitions on sex outside of sanctioned unions.
Unfortunately, these once-wise recommendations evolved into pursed-lips restrictions
against which many still rebel.<br />
<br />
Here's the scoop: When you have sex with someone, your spirits enter into a
sacred contract, whether you are consciously aware of this or not. You take not
just part of their physical essence into your body; you also take their energy,
their emotions, and their patterns into your very soul, for we are wide open
and vulnerable during this act. Intimate emotional and spiritual blending take
place. There is a merger of souls into one being.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Because we take on the essence of those with whom we have intercourse (or other such acts),
casual sexual union without love can wreak havoc and create much misery. The
imprints it leaves are long-lasting, perhaps even life-long. One spiritual
teacher puts it this way: “Do not have sex with anyone you wouldn’t want to <i>be.” </i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In partnership, this contract extends even further. You share
the spiritual destiny of the other. Another broad term for this is <i>karma.</i> If one partner has karma that necessitates being
robbed, both will experience the robbery. If, on the other hand, one of the
couple receives honor and recognition, the other partner will also benefit from
this. Our souls, in the intimacy and passion of sex, do not differentiate
between incidental or promiscuous sexual behavior, and that which is accompanied
by deep love and commitment. It doesn’t sort out our sexual acts and put one
group into isolation, while allowing the other group to be open to the larger
implications of intimacy. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another law, then, might be: “Do not have sex with anyone
whose karma you do not want to share.”<i><br /></i></div>
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<br /></div>
Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-46612830287465145502017-09-30T14:04:00.000-07:002019-11-20T13:03:14.347-07:00WE ARE ALL CITIES<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
by Mary Elizabeth Raines, (c) 2014</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzZzRt3aSEYuixP42R8DEErL5XpFGq5exafxhRWllaWrQJt3H5XgGy6JrbvCFSEmQXmECplHm_KBW3D8OINOHhdsgYRrqAhA4_LND2b4Q2CdLfHrw2oFTXVXX5jGygrSY12okIheHyGuH/s1600/3-18-14-g.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzZzRt3aSEYuixP42R8DEErL5XpFGq5exafxhRWllaWrQJt3H5XgGy6JrbvCFSEmQXmECplHm_KBW3D8OINOHhdsgYRrqAhA4_LND2b4Q2CdLfHrw2oFTXVXX5jGygrSY12okIheHyGuH/s200/3-18-14-g.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We are all cities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">We have downtowns with amazing and unique architecture. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our friends are invited to ride down classy, tree-lined streets lined with the gorgeous homes of the rich.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The gardens in our cities are lush and well tended, impressive
places of shade and rest and loveliness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There are cops to keep us safe, and huge banks to protect
our wealth. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">We have art galleries spilling with color, stalwart stone museums that organize and record our fragile history, and fascinating restaurants brimming with heady scents and tastes to nurture us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes we string festive lights on our
trees and streets and throw parties.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">These are the parts of us that we tend to show to others. Especially prospective lovers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Visitors are very impressed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There are <i>other</i> places in our cities, though<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">—</span>hidden, crumbling, and even shameful spots. Nobody is
immune. Nobody’s city is entirely beautiful and entirely safe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">All of us have
pockets of crime. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Slums. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Rats in the subway. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Roofs caving in.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">There are corners where drug
dealers and psychopaths lurk, and unsafe neighborhoods, and here and there, leaking
sewage spewing disease. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Somewhere in <i>everyone</i> is a derelict pushing a rusty
shopping cart who curses at all the passers-by.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Yup, that’s part of who we are as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Not one soul on earth has a perfect city. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Not one person
exists without a street they would prefer to hide. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Nor is anyone’s city
entirely evil. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Does not the most hardened criminal soften like a little boy
when he eats an ice cream cone, or weep at his grandmother’s funeral? May not
the drunken prostitute pause and look in rapture and longing at the full
moon?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCtUPSgYEZn5Ezwews7-fY3gZkmbh9gUv0spS_4jno7HTTGnIj2Lvzpde2-5tyGkjP14K5WZysYK7EBxAsiJXR3aVHFLuaytYC12CKnyoM0yBFiCB0RezuWFgD6MFU50ppU1fcgx2GBMl/s1600/1-6-14-c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCtUPSgYEZn5Ezwews7-fY3gZkmbh9gUv0spS_4jno7HTTGnIj2Lvzpde2-5tyGkjP14K5WZysYK7EBxAsiJXR3aVHFLuaytYC12CKnyoM0yBFiCB0RezuWFgD6MFU50ppU1fcgx2GBMl/s320/1-6-14-c.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Do not love only the pretty parts of the city that that is another, or is you. See it all and embrace the totality — the complex miracle of all that we are. For we are all cities.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-30356179461183896342016-12-10T11:45:00.000-07:002020-04-11T10:53:59.509-07:00YOU MUST BE A FAILURE BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT MAKING ANY MONEY<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihHU8oTDvH592BeUiVciIid4A3Y8BVIGhs3i_tmeLuqySScNsxE_vqXgiL9Sfd3sL52x7I5ORNYFUGnZzsgLwyijJO0ghe0CB7CnRoytkfQ4U4baSlUPu3oBrP6ejcoeg0nch2xUiJxlJo/s1600/Abundance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihHU8oTDvH592BeUiVciIid4A3Y8BVIGhs3i_tmeLuqySScNsxE_vqXgiL9Sfd3sL52x7I5ORNYFUGnZzsgLwyijJO0ghe0CB7CnRoytkfQ4U4baSlUPu3oBrP6ejcoeg0nch2xUiJxlJo/s320/Abundance.jpg" width="320" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></i></div>
<br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Note: In this blog, there are references to God. Please interpret
the word God in any way that works for you.</span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">by Mary Elizabeth Raines</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Noticing a garden gate had been left open, with other plans
for my morning today, I went outdoors to close the gate. I wound up spending a half
an hour harvesting dried beans. In the process, my pants and shirt got covered
with a great many very sharp burrs called goatheads. It took five minutes and a number of ouches just to pull the goatheads off my clothing. Soon I will sit at my
kitchen table and shell the beans, a painstaking process that will take another
half an hour.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The end result? An hour's work for about 70 cents worth of beans.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I had more satisfaction and pleasure with those beans than I've had in some sessions I conduct where, in the same amount of time, I've earned a couple of hundred dollars.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Many people in contemporary society mistakenly attach price tags or popularity to success. This includes not only business people, but artists, musicians, and writers. It is especially prevalent, weirdly, in those following spiritual pursuits or the so-called New Age, where some of those who are healers or helpers, such as massage
therapists or hypnotists, believe that a certain income must be attached to the
good work they do. If a reasonable amount of money is not forthcoming, these
people believe that they have failed. If they cannot make a living doing
what they love, they are crushed.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Newsflash: <i>God does not care whether or not you make money!
There are plans for you to use your gifts and they have absolutely nothing to do
with income. </i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Think of God as this large omnipotent guy in the sky (which I do
not believe, but bear with me here). I can see him scratching his head at
the despair and pleading prayers streaming up from those of us on earth. This God would say, “Why are they so miserable?
Why can’t they just use their gifts and do what I ask them to do? What does
money have to do with <i>anything</i>?” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Many give up when they can't make a living by following their dream. They not not realize that money is a man-made commodity. It has nothing whatsoever to do with success or failure. Money is inconsequential in the eyes of the Universe. In fact, some people might even wind up having to pay out of their own pockets to pursue their dreams. That has zero bearing on whether or not they should follow their dream. Success or failure, likewise, is not measured by the number of people we reach when we use our gifts.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Suppose a man has a startling vision where he is guided to become a Reiki
practitioner. After going through the various levels of training and dedicating himself whole-heartedly to this work, at most he ends up seeing just one client a week. He feels defeated and beaten. This is because he mistakenly supposed that his vision meant he was going to earn his living doing
Reiki, when it really just meant that he was supposed<span style="font-style: normal;"> to learn and practice Reiki because there would be people who would need what he had to offer.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">An artist lives in despair because she has only sold one painting. Since childhood, she had always believed that she was supposed to paint. The money she has invested in oils and canvas alone, however, has turned out to be far more than she may ever get back. That one painting she sold? It is hanging in a house where a little girl stares at it in rapture for hours on end, and who will, as a result, wind up leading an inspired life. Another little girl somewhere else is still waiting for the painting to be created that will likewise inspire her. What a shame it would be if the artist decides to stop painting because she cannot
make a full-time living in art, or because only a few people buy her work!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A man who sets up a little shop has a stimulating time learning about buying and selling. He enjoys every aspect of the business, until it fails financially. He winds up crushed with depression, feeling like a loser, instead of looking back happily on the many pleasant experiences he had in the process. He does not even recognize that rather than being depressed, he could have chosen to view his shop as a wonderful success.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A poet publishes his book of poems on Kindle, with high hopes for prosperity. He is crestfallen by the low sales of his book, and he gives up writing, taking his book off the market--not realizing that among those who bought his poetry was an old man who had been suffering, and who had received a few magnificent hours of respite and peace by reading his poems.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A woman prays about what to do with her life and has the dream of becoming a healer. She is disheartened and loses faith when she is unable to earn a living as a healer. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, her life's purpose was to work in a community where those requiring healing did not have the financial resources to pay. </span></div>
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</div>
</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Yes, the Reiki practitioner, the artist, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the shop keeper,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the poet, and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the healer</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> will all have to receive their income in other ways. That doesn’t mean that they should give up, stop using their gifts, and deny themselves the pleasure of the process. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>Whether or not we earn money doing what we are meant
to do in life is not even remotely related to success. God doesn’t care!</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What matters is that our gifts be used fully and that we live
every aspect of our lives, whether it is harvesting 70 cents' worth of beans or
painting a picture from our heart that is intended for just one little girl to
see. That is the success!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC7qdROK2M9oYWLd3zv-YhyhwTGQD89DEp2CEPHYGrvl70tDPq6rEbbDYoAo8IJD9cw91jZi-niysqgba8mTcZr8Kc-HsPokSh3u1ZUPJQuBuV5JgAWX3FzMQAiQ2e7Nvq1yiCWrZQ-RNi/s1600/4-25-15-f-pastelsigned.tiff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC7qdROK2M9oYWLd3zv-YhyhwTGQD89DEp2CEPHYGrvl70tDPq6rEbbDYoAo8IJD9cw91jZi-niysqgba8mTcZr8Kc-HsPokSh3u1ZUPJQuBuV5JgAWX3FzMQAiQ2e7Nvq1yiCWrZQ-RNi/s320/4-25-15-f-pastelsigned.tiff.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span">Article and artwork © Laughing Cherub, 2015</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<i>Reproducing or copying in any form prohibited.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<i><span class="Apple-style-span">Please feel free, however, to link to this article!</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-18848059547006615892016-11-11T01:07:00.001-07:002021-08-09T18:41:40.943-07:00SPIRITUAL SOLUTIONS TO TODAY'S NEGATIVITY<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "arialmt";">by Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raines</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZDZcJQif1Q2fl7AoQI7oZH4jNlUZr2nWJZOC5CEwxGuvrpVVa6zPGDxZ2__E7LZ1gGaQPBwvoLKy3zPbWBBPAr4BxPn2KSL9qpb67wmVRKMauj5XFAjEITd6rQk4tSgjPjdRjDxRJtAUa/s1600/10-24-11-a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZDZcJQif1Q2fl7AoQI7oZH4jNlUZr2nWJZOC5CEwxGuvrpVVa6zPGDxZ2__E7LZ1gGaQPBwvoLKy3zPbWBBPAr4BxPn2KSL9qpb67wmVRKMauj5XFAjEITd6rQk4tSgjPjdRjDxRJtAUa/s320/10-24-11-a.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><i>A powerful eyes-open meditation <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">for broadcasting Light </span>is included at the en<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">d<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> of this post.</span></span></i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As
this particular chapter is being written—shortly after the USA's 2016 presidential
election—the air is thick and almost palpable with darkness, hopelessness,
hatred, fear, helplessness, viciousness, and other not-so-nice energies<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">.</span> It is
imperative that all of us walk through this life with our eyes wide open, that
we perceive the truth of what is happening, and that we fully feel what we
feel. Burying our heads in the sand, creating diversions, rationalizing, or
masking these feelings with a Pollyanna smile is neither healthy nor helpful.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Does this
mean we are to endure the stress? What, on a spiritual level, can we do about
today’s turmoil?</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i>First,
whether the emotions that well up are grief, anger, self-righteousness, or
fear, they must be clearly acknowledged and expressed, and then allowed to pass
through us.</i></span> The analogy? Eating. All of us in human form take in food. All of
us, to survive, must chew <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">our</span> food and then allow it to pass through our
systems and be released out the other end. Note that it is not released in a
beautiful form<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">!</span> It is what it is. Similarly, we must acknowledge our negative
feelings, chew on them a bit (express them), and then allow them passageway
through us, even though aspects of this passage may be unpleasant.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There’s
a catch to that. It is very easy and tempting for emotions, particularly those
that are negative and nasty, to become lodged inside us. They get gummed up
when our thoughts go round and round in circles. (Few people have tape loops
running through their heads of positive, loving events!) Take heart. This
happens to all of us, and, like it or not, it is human nature to fixate on the
negative. But when our emotions get stuck instead of moving through us, they
lower our vibrations and can even cause physical, emotional, or mental disease.
Our feelings must be acknowledged and allowed passage.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i>Next, recognize that the emotions running through us are primarily reactions to negative
broadcasts.</i></span> We are currently being bombarded with such broadcasts. Some of
these are direct communications of which we are aware, such as news articles, TV shows, blogs, and Facebook posts.<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span>Other broadcasts are more subtle, but just as, if not <i>more,</i>
powerful. The combined emotions and thoughts of many people are churning around and through us, much like <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">W</span>ifi, cell-phone, or other
satellite transmissions. The more negative the broadcast<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">the lower the frequency. L</span></span>ower frequencies are
easier for us to pick up and absorb, like the way, at a distance, the thudding bass
of loud music overpowers the melody.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Most of these broadcasts send our physical and emotional beings into
turmoil. The more sensitive we are, the more we unconsciously pick up <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">such</span>
negative <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">transmissions,</span> but it isn't necessary to <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">possess g<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">reat</span></span> sensitiv<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">ity</span> to <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">feel</span> their effects; </span>nearly everyone is <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">absorbing</span> and reacting to these
broadcasts. The result of such massive amounts of negativity is stress. Many
people these days are finding themselves irritable, anxious, sad, defensive, or angry for no
discernible reason<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>.</i></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i>On a
spiritual plane, the most vital task before us today is to
switch roles. Instead of being the receivers of what others are
broadcasting, our highest calling is to become broadcasters ourselves. </i></span>This is not with the
intent of arguing, defeating, fighting, “praying for,” or overpowering any
other ideology or energy. It is simply our job to broadcast Light...and it can be done by any<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">of us</span></span>, regardless of our beliefs. <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We</span> do not have to fit someone's definition of a Lightworker to do this sacred work!</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i>The Light that <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">you</span> choose to broadcast can be any positive, uplifting energy, from
profound love to gentle laughter, that is easy for you to <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">express.<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></i></span>Are you <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">good</span> at getting people to smile <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">by telling</span> a joke? Are you a person who radiates peace? Do you do well at problem-solving, or sharing inspirational stories? Or do you shine best when you are loving and respecting nature? All of us have something positive at our core that we can choose to expand and radiate outward.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It is probable
that in the beginning, our individual broadcasts will be like teensy little radio stations
that get overpowered with static from the big, noisier, more negative broadcast
stations. That doesn’t matter. Just as the broadcast frequencies of every TV show that has ever been aired are still somewhere in space, once our energy has been transmitted, it remains in the ethers. We have no knowledge of where or when our
broadcasts may be received by someone in need.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">How do we
broadcast? It’s easy. We still our hearts (after having cleared them!), center
ourselves, and go into meditation or prayer. We then focus on sending out
whatever energies we prefer. A brief meditation will follow for doing this.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here are the simple steps:</span></span></i></span></span><br />
<i><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1. Truthfully
acknowledge and accept any emotions that well up within you, whatever they may
be.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />2. Allow
those feelings to have brief expression, and then to pass through, rather than
finding a home within your being.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />3. Recognize
that the feelings you are having are reactions to someone else’s broadcast.<br />4. When you
feel clear, begin to broadcast whatever positive energies feel right and
comfortable for you.</span></span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i> </i></span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>EYES-OPEN MEDITATION </i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Sit or lie
down in a comfortable position, and take several deep, cleansing breaths.
Breathe into the bottom of your rib cage, and exhale with the intent of
releasing anything that is negative or limiting.</i></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><br /><br />With
your eyes focused gently on these written words, let your shoulders drop. Your
arms can feel pleasantly, comfortably warmer and pleasantly, comfortably
heavier. Let your chewing muscles go, and loosen all the muscles under the skin
of your face and around your eyes.<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><br />I</span>magine a
beam of light entering through the top of your head, spilling through your
body, and filling you. You might visualize it happening, feel it like a glow,
hear it like a note of music, or simply go along without seeing, feeling, or
hearing anything. However you perceive it is fine.<br /><br />Focus your intent now on the energy you choose to broadcast. It could be peace,
respect for the earth and her creatures, love, or a feeling of honor. It could
be joy, truth, or laughter. It could be strength, healing, serenit<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">y, or <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">anything</span> you wish<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">.</span></span></span> Whatever positive energy you choose, allow it to rise through your body,
blending with your heart and your mind.<br /><br />If you
have a belief in or sense of the energy centers that some call chakras, (places <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">near</span> important glands or organs <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">where we tend to store emotion, such as in our solar plexus)</span>, you might
take a moment now and breathe the positive energy you desire to broadcast into
each of your chakras, one at a time, starting at the base and moving upward.<br /><br />Otherwise, you might see or sense this energy, like a light or the glow of a
candle flame or a note of music, filling your feet and toes, and beginning to
swell upward through your body until it reaches the top of your head.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>When you
are filled with this positive energy, imagine that with each inhalation, it
grows stronger and brighter, and with each exhalation<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span>that it is expanding
further outward. Perceive it now beginning to radiate out through your skin.
Take all the time you want. Let it fill your aura—the inches surrounding your
body—and then visualize, sense, hear, or simply know that you are extending and
stretching this glorious energy even further, broadcasting it like starlight or
sunlight. The further out your energy reaches, the more powerful and
light-filled it becomes.<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><br />O</span>ther
beings may be broadcasting an energy similar to the one you have chosen. As you
continue to shine your light, you may discover that you find and connect to
other similar lights, combining your broadcast with theirs.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Whether
you have an actual, palpable sense of this occurring or whether you are simply
following along makes no difference. Do your best to keep your focus, continue
to radiate the energy you choose to broadcast, and do so for as short or as
long of a time as you want.</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Realize that you may return to the state of broadcasting whatever positive
energy you choose at any time, in any situation…while you are driving, standing
in a line somewhere, working, moving, or being still. You may broadcast almost
continuously throughout the day, or in little droplets. Whatever you offer, big
or small, is much greater than you could possibly realize.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><br />Thank you.</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arialmt"; font-size: 24.0pt;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arialmt";"><i>©
2016, M. E. Raines</i></span></span></span></i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" sans-serif;">Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raines has books and articles available on Amazon, including <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Laughing-Cherub-Guide-Past-life-Regression/dp/0972614605" target="_blank">The Laughing Cherub Guide to Past-Life Regression</a> </i>and her newest collection of short stories, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Man-GPS-Other-Stories/dp/0972614621" target="_blank">The Man in the GPS and other Stories</a>.</i><br />She lives in Sedona, Arizona, where she trains people to become <a href="http://www.past-life-training.com/" target="_blank">past-life regression counselors</a> and is founder of the <a href="http://www.hypnosiscourse.com/" target="_blank">Academy for Professional Hypnosis Training<span style="color: #674ea7;"><i>.</i></span></a><br /><br /><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" sans-serif;"><i>Copying or reproducing this material in whole or in part in any form is not permitted. You are asked to uphold copyright law and contact the author for permission if you wish to do so. Please, however, feel free to link to this article.</i></span></span></span></span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arialmt";"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></i>Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-60141660516184138782016-03-01T18:29:00.001-07:002016-03-01T18:39:14.769-07:00I'M WORRIED ABOUT YOU<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">by Mary Elizabeth Raines</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Many years ago I knew a woman who was recovering from breast
cancer. She said something to me that I have never forgotten: <i>Be careful who you ask to pray for you.</i> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I asked why she said that. She replied that most people feel that they are doing the right
thing by worrying about someone who is sick or
otherwise having problems. They <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">believe</span> that worry and hand-wringing shows <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">how compassionate and caring they are. </span><br /> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Worry, however, is far from helpful. This wise woman shared with me that all of our thoughts about others enter the
continuum and create energetic patterns. If a person prays for healing for a friend for a few minutes, and then spends the rest of the day imagining that their friend is going to suffer pain or die prematurely, think about the kind of energy they are projecting!</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Experiments have shown that when a group of people think
disparaging and critical thoughts about another, the object of their negativity
literally loses physical strength, and winds up feeling depressed and sad. Similarly, when
people bombard another with loving, healing, positive thoughts, that individual
responds with surprisingly greater strength, health, and happiness.<i> </i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Quakers believe that every single thought that passes through our minds is a prayer...including our thoughts about others. And
prayer (which some may prefer to define as strong intent) is always answered.</i> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">When we stress and worry about or criticize someone, think of this as a form of prayer. If we become mentally agitated about bad things that may happen, we are literally projecting negative energy
towards that individual and helping to manifest troubling circumstances.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The very best you can do for your loved ones, when they are sick or in trouble, is to hold them in the most positive, loving light possible. If you choose to be extremely bold, you might even considering doing this for those with whom you are in strong opposition, such as those who have hurt you in some way, or even politicians with whom you disagree.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Thus, when
someone is ill or troubled, worry is not only unnecessary; it is the equivalent of a curse. Instead, choose to
imagine them healthy, healed, and happy! And if you find yourself in sickness
or <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">difficult</span> circumstances, be selective about those you ask to pray for you.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">© 2016, M. E. Raines
</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">
</span></span>Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-27950937746937296222014-09-17T15:11:00.000-07:002019-07-10T11:39:37.784-07:00NO, BUT I'M RIGHT!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">NO, BUT I'M RIGHT</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">by Mary Elizabeth Raines</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Throughout time, clashes over spiritual beliefs have been responsible for more cruelty, suffering and murder than anything else. It is baffling that people are willing to hurt and butcher one another simply to prove that their concept of God is the right one!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglx7zEqO8F6kqR4cEw9OGZhC54c8eZsVh-Ta53yplqtbJ71HAxGHm2Cc1eLR1hhe0p5eANfbG9KpMeToV_zz2FLn0XIhWiYmJSg2s0rNzGzVVCIN5caGzM-vFanNkbGHdglRO1ciNSOZBh/s1600/4-5-11-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglx7zEqO8F6kqR4cEw9OGZhC54c8eZsVh-Ta53yplqtbJ71HAxGHm2Cc1eLR1hhe0p5eANfbG9KpMeToV_zz2FLn0XIhWiYmJSg2s0rNzGzVVCIN5caGzM-vFanNkbGHdglRO1ciNSOZBh/s200/4-5-11-4.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I had always thought that I was different, and considered myself to be a tolerant and fair person who was above such nonsense...until a time some years ago when I found myself swept up into a disagreement with a friend about some differences in our spiritual beliefs and practices. We argued via email. It was a sad and stupid disagreement that probably destroyed a beautiful friendship.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Curiously, my friend and I actually hold spiritual beliefs that are nearly identical. It turns out that this isn't unusual.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiydoP-PcWovBQTb1rEv0VmirtY24HtGh7MvCMCAqyzClGTERW09_CF2upQWjqyS5osSfrxEWROKOSsrXIGlM7icn8HDcPz11YKCL_EnpxOhGvIqvf_uLFo5qC_GxEb3rwbzFucqJt49pGE/s1600/2-18-11-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiydoP-PcWovBQTb1rEv0VmirtY24HtGh7MvCMCAqyzClGTERW09_CF2upQWjqyS5osSfrxEWROKOSsrXIGlM7icn8HDcPz11YKCL_EnpxOhGvIqvf_uLFo5qC_GxEb3rwbzFucqJt49pGE/s200/2-18-11-12.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The folks we love to hate in the name of God are often those who have beliefs that are close to our own. For the most part, we don't waste our time rampaging against people with religious views that are alien and weird compared to ours. No suicide bomber is going to try to prove his point by blowing himself up in the marketplace of an obscure New Guinea tribe who worships tree gods.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">No, we turn to our neighbors when we want to wage religious wars. The most horrific acts of violence are inflicted upon people who <i>almost </i>believe the same things we do. That's when we really get upset. Look at the conflicts between the Shiites and Sunnis in the Middle East, or the bloodshed throughout European history between Protestants and Catholics.<br /><br /> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Christians, Jews and Muslims, who have battled one another for centuries, share many core beliefs and even honor some of the same spiritual figures, like Abraham and Moses.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Back to my friend: I was furious that something as sacred as my connection to that which I choose to call God had been judged and found lacking. Even after our e-conversation ended, my mental chatter continued. Loudly. A tape-loop in my mind replayed the specifics of our differences </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">over and over</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> again</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">. I defended myself mentally against what I perceived as his attack and, in my imagination, let him know, point by point, precisely how wrong he was. How dare he criticize my relationship to the divine??!!??</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>I was the one who was RIGHT,</i> doggone it! My thoughts churned faster and faster with all the reasons I was right. My spinning mind kept me awake that night, and continued pestering me the following day, driving me to distraction.<br /><br />And then I remembered a little saying I heard once:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0c343d; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;">The mental hospitals are full of people who were RIGHT!</span></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlD7O_1nxDHcI1if5VFEXHQWIvthqPaQInsVlF-UjGZfXDpnscYWfBldNx4BY_NbnsmOpk0_7DPkyhJsIzekDbltEkX9C_aMKOZRocplqG99W4nhK3DSnuxtfFG-9KKCZEer5dzlbGARdJ/s1600/9-7-11-v.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlD7O_1nxDHcI1if5VFEXHQWIvthqPaQInsVlF-UjGZfXDpnscYWfBldNx4BY_NbnsmOpk0_7DPkyhJsIzekDbltEkX9C_aMKOZRocplqG99W4nhK3DSnuxtfFG-9KKCZEer5dzlbGARdJ/s200/9-7-11-v.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Oh. Oops. Wait a minute.<br /><br />There seems to be something inbred that demands that we win at all costs, especially when it concerns our spiritual beliefs; perhaps it's a survival technique dating back to our hominid days on the savannahs, or a way of determining who is the alpha of the pack. Hoping, however, to be vindicated and proven right is definitely not a path that leads to security or peace of mind </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">in today's world</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">.<br /><br />One of my friends, who has since crossed over, had a motto. She used to be a long-distance truck driver, and she learned this on the highway. She was an amazing, loving person who lives by her motto. It is a great motto. Think of the suffering, both on an international and a personal level, that could be escaped by adopting it:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-size: large;"><i>"I would rather be kind than be right."</i></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">(c) 2011, Mary Elizabeth Raines</span><br />
<br />
<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Una-Mary-Elizabeth-Raines/dp/0972614613/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316296819&sr=8-1">See Mary Elizabeth Raines' newest novel, UNA, available in paperback or Kindle</a>.</i>Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-12239807349862395532013-02-09T17:14:00.000-07:002022-02-13T12:57:36.082-07:00TRUSTING THE HEART<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">TRUSTING THE HEART</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">by
Mary Elizabeth Leach (Raines)</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGsY8Sa08m3SHbT317Kz69r-kLN7_qFqilO3St28iLo2VEsoKrxu_T2ninl2ZHEJzg77iRkpjoBjBCXEWCqi4JizWbvwR36P4AQp40Ec2xwJsBGalrM9cxtkqmZdqgdqkHUDLnFqV6l5Dl/s1600/peach-pink-heart-signed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGsY8Sa08m3SHbT317Kz69r-kLN7_qFqilO3St28iLo2VEsoKrxu_T2ninl2ZHEJzg77iRkpjoBjBCXEWCqi4JizWbvwR36P4AQp40Ec2xwJsBGalrM9cxtkqmZdqgdqkHUDLnFqV6l5Dl/s320/peach-pink-heart-signed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The
heart is always trustworthy.</span></i></span></div>
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</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 18pt;">It
is when we fill ourselves with expectations of some return, or demand that our
love be demonstrated in some physical or emotional way, or when the hormones
get mixed in, that we can feel deceived by the heart.</span></i></span></div>
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</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Longing,
neediness, sexual frustration<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">: these</span> are all indicators of something other than love.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Pure
love does not require reciprocity. If you are called upon to love, let love
flow. Ask nothing in return. Trust the heart.</i></span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue";"><br />© 2017, M. E. Leach</span></span> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></div>
Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-15182725125464491662012-10-10T10:01:00.000-07:002019-06-27T10:30:05.945-07:00ABOUT THAT ENERGY RAY CALLED FAITH?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">Human beings have certain
universal core values, like <i>truth</i></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">
and <i>peace </i></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">and <i>wisdom </i></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">and <i>courage</i></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">. These values are very pure strands of energy. Some liken them to rays
of beautiful, clear light.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">People have instinctively
honored these core values since the beginning of recorded history. The early
gods and goddesses in ancient cultures were often representations of these
energy strands; putting them into form as humans or animals made them easier to
understand and to access. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCmILnv9-_FO7x_LHXLdjJuMiG9P93sywjJNUkGjETa-t0AWZ1IOlE058cDEfs3ny4DCmdX1PVoO1rOZ7reJUahPLSctm3TaWWEbtCVLaA2juu0x4FIL33sxkNIcx5Wb07EbD8uYTFmF1/s1600/apollo.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCmILnv9-_FO7x_LHXLdjJuMiG9P93sywjJNUkGjETa-t0AWZ1IOlE058cDEfs3ny4DCmdX1PVoO1rOZ7reJUahPLSctm3TaWWEbtCVLaA2juu0x4FIL33sxkNIcx5Wb07EbD8uYTFmF1/s200/apollo.jpeg" width="138" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">Unfortunately, these values
became trapped in statues and temples. Myths and belief systems sprang up around them. Those myths were appealing, and grew to such an
extent that they often overshadowed the value itself. The original meaning of the energy strand was corrupted. Because of this, some of
the core universal values once available to us now seem distasteful, because they have been polluted for so long, and are in danger of being forgotten. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdVORKyPCm89K0vmyEi6c0MjVNrTMxMxyIkK4n_vpnHNZIs9H0loconHzd5VPk4EqcYrm5s9rwoWLcTJPSXMGyiCEJ1En8VKhdgjzm0nZsQU7xSrqR4Iy56k9w11MIcrOMj2tUuAfKR-SS/s1600/3-9-12-f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdVORKyPCm89K0vmyEi6c0MjVNrTMxMxyIkK4n_vpnHNZIs9H0loconHzd5VPk4EqcYrm5s9rwoWLcTJPSXMGyiCEJ1En8VKhdgjzm0nZsQU7xSrqR4Iy56k9w11MIcrOMj2tUuAfKR-SS/s200/3-9-12-f.jpg" width="184" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">FAITH is one of those pure
energy strands that has lost its original meaning. People now associate faith
with various religions and spiritual figures, not all of them pleasant, and
tend to shrug off the word, rather than seeing the pure essence of what it
really means and how huge and rich it could be to embrace faith in our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">A
NECESSARY ASIDE: People have an enormous need to <i>know. </i></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">We require reasons and answers. One of the greatest
areas of mental discomfort for human beings is the state of <i>not knowing</i></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">Think
about it like this: you find yourself driving on a road. You have to have a
reason for driving, even if the reason is, “I’m driving for no particular
reason.” If you can’t find any reason for why you are out on the road driving,
you might easily go insane. We latch onto reasons, often with desperation. Our
minds just have to <i>know</i></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">Here’s
something curious. Whether we arrive at reasons that are true or not doesn’t
matter! All that matters is to get out of the place of unknowingness as fast as possible. Brain
scientists recognize that we are hard-wired to find reasons, regardless of how
rational they are, and to latch onto them, believing them wholeheartedly. <i>All
of us do it.</i></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;"> (To observe this
hard-wiring in action, just think about people with political beliefs that are
opposite your own!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">Parents
of children who were abducted frequently say that the worst part of the ordeal
for them was <i>not knowing. </i></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">Many
have reported feeling a sense of relief when they finally found out what
actually happened to their child, even though what they heard may have been
very sad. It was not their choice to feel that way. It is part of being a
human. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;"><i>Faith</i></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;"> can, for some, mean relying on that which we call
God. That isn’t the pure meaning of faith, however. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">Faith, in its purest
definition, simply means <i><b>permitting ourselves to be comfortable in
unknowingness</b>.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwkdd0RJNETCQPfvxkjMSSK0a_GxGRvF7DKuaOU5GKSvLHE3CtO1x8ANdmXILGLGf9iUUrjFsSR9KOYfo9J6Wu38gAeJ2vLhdBKpGFTRvVXKWP9dc5h1trhNHWI_Prxqw3ppy6fDB4w0qq/s1600/6-5-12-i.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwkdd0RJNETCQPfvxkjMSSK0a_GxGRvF7DKuaOU5GKSvLHE3CtO1x8ANdmXILGLGf9iUUrjFsSR9KOYfo9J6Wu38gAeJ2vLhdBKpGFTRvVXKWP9dc5h1trhNHWI_Prxqw3ppy6fDB4w0qq/s200/6-5-12-i.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Article and illustrations (c) 2012, Mary Elizabeth Raines and Laughing Cherub Unlimited</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">All rights reserved.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Please do not copy or reproduce in whole or in part; links to this post, however, are welcome!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy reading Mary Elizabeth Raines' whimsical look at the New Age and the coming transformations, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Transitions-Trees-Cottage-Cheese-ebook/dp/B007BQNQTI" target="_blank">TRANSITIONS, TREES AND COTTAGE CHEESE</a>, now available for Kindle or for download on Amazon.com.</i></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-53795936718246102582012-09-15T14:32:00.001-07:002015-03-13T17:19:44.658-07:00WHEN YOU HAVE INSOMNIAThe next time you find yourself lying awake in bed unable to sleep, you might enjoy doing this:<br />
<br />
Use that time to bring to mind every single person, from close friends to politicians, to whom you want to send love. It may be only one person, or it may be a long, long list! Anything goes.<br />
<br />
Imagine that you are opening your heart. Some people say it is easy to see or feel a glow in the center of their chest in the area near the actual heart. Enhance that glow with every breath in and every breath out. Some people prefer to experience this region like a bell or note of music. Others just have the intention without seeing or feeling or hearing anything, and that is okay, too.<br />
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Now, one at a time bring to mind those to whom you wish to send love, and hold them in sacred tenderness or prayer. If you are visual, you might imagine your heart center projecting a glowing light that completely envelops them. Think positive thoughts about them and their best qualities. See them softening and smiling.<br />
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Their souls will recognize on some level that love is being sent to them, although they might not know what that pleasant feeling is. Remember, too, that this is nonjudgmental love. We do not send love to a person with the intent of changing them, but simply to make their journey a little bit easier and a little bit brighter.<br />
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Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-48474105595707182012012-06-07T14:35:00.008-07:002019-06-29T10:49:27.318-07:00WHAT IF OUR LOVE IS ALL THAT SURVIVES US?<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Some believe that the only thing our souls carry after we leave the body is the love we have given while we were in human form.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">They are not referring to romantic love, or to syrupy gushy sentiment, but instead to agape: the love that, according to some, is the very essence of the divine. The Quakers believe that there is Light (or some of God) within every person, and it is that Light that is honored when we extend love towards another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here is an interesting challenge:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Take a quiet moment to reflect on your lifetime <i>only in terms of the love you have generated so far.</i></b><b> </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Then, if you feel especially brave, take a look at the love you <i>could</i></b><b> have generated, but chose to resist.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once I had the pleasure of knowing a woman with a very pure soul. Her work took her to foreign countries where she interfaced with people in high places.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">She told me about attending a political event in an unnamed country where she was among the dignitaries who sat on a podium. They were forced to listen to the speech of a powerful, important leader. Everyone pretended to applaud him; to have done otherwise would have serious consequences in that particular country. The speechmaker, was a cruel man who was guilty of heinous, abominable tortures and terrible crimes of the worst sort.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As she listened to him speak, rather than hold him in judgment, she decided to open her heart and extend agape love to this unlovable man. What she realized surprised her. When she softened her heart, she saw clearly that he was a man of immense gifts. The extent of his gifts amazed her. She also recognized that in his lifetime he had seriously misused these gifts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rather than hold him in judgment for his behavior, however, she felt a rush of God-love for this man, and sent him blessings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">While she will never know what effect, if any, her love may have had on the man, we do know that when we send thoughts of opposition to others, it makes them even more defensive. Attack and angry words create mean, stubborn resistance, while love opens doors to transformation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Miraculous results can occur if even a few people send unconditional love to an individual rather than condemnation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The catch is that the love we generate can't be about who is right and who is wrong. We don't send love to someone in the hopes that they will see things <i>our </i>way! Agape love puts us all on an equal playing field.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Think about the politicians you dislike. In today’s world, nearly all of us have politicians with whom we disagree. Sadly, our disagreements are becoming increasingly vehement, and are frequently accompanied by name-calling and character assassination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">What if we were to open our hearts and hold those politicians with whom we disagree in the energy of love rather than condemnation? What gifts would we see in them? (Please note that this does not mean becoming deluded or accepting unacceptable behavior, nor does it mean becoming a rabid fan. It means looking beyond someone’s acts to the light within that we all possess.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">If, after looking at your life and assessing the amount of love you have generated, you find that you have fallen a little short, don’t worry. Fresh chances abound! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Opportunities to enter into love are with us every moment, regardless of how poorly or smoothly our lives are going.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Every single person who comes into our conscious thoughts</i></b><b>, and even every living organism we encounter, can offer us a new start: the chance to enter into the consciousness of love.</b><i> </i> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(c) M. E. Raines, 2012</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">While copying this article is prohibited, please feel free to link to it.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy the whimsical short story <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Transitions-Trees-Cottage-Cheese-ebook/dp/B007BQNQTI">Transitions, Trees, and Cottage Cheese by Mary Elizabeth Raines</a>, </i>now available on Amazon for Kindle or for downloading.</span></div>
Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-55787909691173843652012-05-03T21:24:00.003-07:002015-03-13T17:19:44.661-07:00YOU'RE INVITING ME TO OPEN MY HEART WHERE?!?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxBonTIyHs47L-33DaalnAqePVyz_3UD-tZzflhLDKhwu8IA39_nod0zDU9iwnQimHTIHPlx3xxJGVTr0XJRr7IwYRKj3sNU_9RXvc43gE4zU-pThVW15LQ_27AvUEGShO597KfJUvLM2I/s1600/3-31-12-m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxBonTIyHs47L-33DaalnAqePVyz_3UD-tZzflhLDKhwu8IA39_nod0zDU9iwnQimHTIHPlx3xxJGVTr0XJRr7IwYRKj3sNU_9RXvc43gE4zU-pThVW15LQ_27AvUEGShO597KfJUvLM2I/s200/3-31-12-m.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Want to radiate love into the world? Want to broadcast peace? Want to heal others in need?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">There’s a fantastic place to do this. The location is more ideal than a meditation room. Or a sacred garden. Or Sedona.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is a catch about this place, though. It’s not as <i>easy</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> to radiate love there as it is in a meditation room. Or a sacred garden. Or Sedona. But it’s one of the places on the planet that needs our love more than anywhere else.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">It’s on the highway. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Whether driving to the grocery store or making a cross-country trip, it’s almost impossible these days <i>not</i> to encounter some kind of incident caused by another driver that provokes a negative reaction in us--a reaction that can range from a little bit of irritation to utter fury.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Today’s highways have spun a new and unique set of emotions unknown to generations past:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Everyone knows how ugly it feels to be tail-gated or cut off by someone who is putting out a hostile, angry vibe.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Everyone knows how unfair it feels spending long minutes merging courteously in a traffic jam, only to have someone zoom past on the shoulder of the highway with a me-first sense of entitlement, and rudely cut in front of those who waited their fair turn.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Everyone knows how aggravating it is to see someone talking on a cell phone or texting while whizzing past recklessly.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Everyone knows how frustrating it feels to be late for something important and encountering a fellow traveler blithely traveling slower than the posted speed limit, without offering any opportunities to be passed.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Everyone knows how shocking it is to be having a stressful day, and suddenly hear pounding from a vehicle next to us with agonizingly loud subwoofers that make our poor heads feel as though they've gotten stuck in a cement mixer. </span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">It’s normal, especially when engaged in one of the above scenarios, to carry mental images of the other drivers on the road as raging drug-crazed maniacs, idiots, selfish meanies, or stupid heartless low-lifes. Naturally, when we go into a turnpike rest stop, we see that those sharing the highway with us do <i>not</i> look like glaring devils with horns or drooling morons. Instead, what we see are normal, average-looking people who could be members of our own family or our neighbors down the street. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">A friend who teaches classes that are mandated for bad drivers who have accumulated too many tickets claims that her students are actually delightful, normal people. She says they almost always have a reason for their recklessness, and it’s usually something sad or depressing. Perhaps they’ve just been fired, or lost a loved one. Maybe they’ve been bullied and this is their way of getting even. It could be that they simply feel unliked and unloved, and are desperate to gain a few inches on the highway as a substitute for approval.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Even those who drive in a rude or aggressive way because they are addicts or selfish jerks have a reason for being that way.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #20124d;">Here’s the challenge:</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">The next time you’re on the highway in one of these unhappy situations, stop before allowing yourself to slip into a negative reaction, and instead, imagine broadcasting goodwill and love to all the cars you see. It doesn’t matter how you do it—whether you sent light, or say a prayer, or sing, or channel positive energy through your chakras. Pile on the blessings instead of the curses! Cast love as best you can onto every vehicle, every driver, every passenger, even every mile of pavement you see. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Doing this is a wonderful spiritual discipline, and the good news is that the opportunities to practice are nearly unlimited! Rather than being stressed at the end of a drive, you may discover that you feel restored and happier than you were before your trip began. You will be amazed at how this practice will open the your heart, and shift you from being a victim to being an empowered soul.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Even better, some of your blessings will absolutely spill over onto those who were behaving poorly, and their lives might begin feeling a little brighter, which eventually may manifest as more courteous driving habits. If only a handful of people choose to suspend judgment and instead begin broadcasting love whenever they are on the road, eventually we might discover that our highways have turned into places of peace, sharing and goodwill!</span></div>Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-86277977158283079872012-02-23T09:26:00.000-07:002015-03-13T17:19:44.679-07:00Why Are We Here?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-1725431796176760202012-01-01T12:05:00.000-07:002015-03-13T17:19:44.634-07:00When Your Ship Comes In<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Copyright 2012, M. E. Raines</td></tr>
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Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-7840353647107118082011-08-31T21:17:00.003-07:002015-03-13T17:19:44.675-07:00THE BEST THERAPY IN THE WORLD<div class="MsoNormal">by MARY ELIZABETH RAINES</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Last night I awoke in the middle of the night and went to my window. A gentle late-summer rain was falling in the darkness.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I live on a lake where, to the chagrin of some of my neighbors, I have restored both the natural shoreline and a small patch of woods, and have allowed much of the property to be returned to the wild. My half-acre is thick and lush with life.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The sounds and smells of the rain outside my window were ancient, familiar and magical. I heard plops of water, some expansive, some subtle and skittering, as the raindrops fell on all sizes of leaves and foliage. The scent of the damp woods was startling in its intensity. I realized that I hadn’t smelled woods like that since camping in a tent decades ago as a child with my family. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It was profoundly healing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">Eventually, however, I chose to return to my bed. Despite an open window, the scents and sounds disappeared, swallowed by the civilized atmosphere of my bedroom. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As I lay in my bed, I was struck with the kind of clarity that only comes in the middle of the night. I realized how profoundly ridiculous our human lives have become and how miserable we have made ourselves in our attempts to better our lives. We have managed to become the only species of animal that cannot survive if we are turned out naked, on our own, in the wild. Even the lowliest insects and the smallest minnows retain the gift for figuring out basics like what to eat and where to go, a gift that we have lost.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There was an indescribable comfort in the sounds that I heard and the air that I breathed as I stood at my open window. This soothing balm was better than any pill, any drug, any escape. And I saw clearly that the natural world, which was originally intended as our home, cannot help but bring forth joy and comfort and magic of more depth and in more abundance than we can imagine. We’ve forsaken this joy and comfort and magic. We have replaced them with concrete and loudspeakers and computer screens. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In my moment of clarity, I saw that we had originally been created (or evolved, or what-have-you) to go to sleep to the hum of crickets and awaken to the songs of birds, not to the roars of vehicles rumbling on pavement and the inescapable merciless screams of digital alarm clocks. We were created to breathe in layer upon delicious layer of scents of earth and flower and rock and water and other creatures as they come and go, not the throttling chemicals of air “fresheners” and fuel exhaust and fabric softeners.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">We rush to civilize the few remaining primitive tribes who live close to nature, plying them with polyester shirts and plastic bags, while ignoring the fact that, by and large, their lives are happier than ours. We smirk at their nakedness. Meanwhile, our most important men tie cloth nooses around their necks, and our most desirable women encase the flesh of their breasts and legs in unnatural fabrics while balancing on precariously awkward footgear, and not only do we take ourselves seriously costumed like this; in such absurd garb, we decide the very fate of our planet. Smug and patronizing, we grimly carve our way through the blasphemous stink and wretched shrieks of the inescapable trap we have built of our lives. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And we wonder why we are unhappy.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The best therapy on the planet does not involve blotting out one’s emotions by taking a pill or buying more stuff or droning on and on about one’s problems to someone who has been paid to pretend to care. No, the best therapy on the planet is to listen to a cricket.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</strike></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">(c) 2011, M. E. Raines</div><div class="MsoNormal">Please ask permission before copying or reproducing in whole or in part</div><div class="MsoNormal">Feel free to link to this post</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Una-Mary-Elizabeth-Raines/dp/0972614613/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314850064&sr=1-1">Ms. Raines' novel, UNA, can be purchased at Amazon.com</a></div>Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-46771500754831812212011-08-07T09:36:00.000-07:002015-03-13T17:19:44.653-07:00CONTRACT OR EXPAND: AN EASY WAY TO STEP INTO YOUR POWER<div style="text-align: center;">
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<b>by Mary Elizabeth Raines</b></div>
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In every situation life offers us, we have the choice of responding in one of two ways: we can <b>CONTRACT</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> or we can </span><b>EXPAND</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">. </span></div>
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Remember the last time you fell in love? Or achieved a goal? Or something really good happened? Chances are that you were in a state of expansion. Conversely, our knee-jerk response when things aren’t going so well is to contract. The contraction or expansion we choose happens on all levels: physical, spiritual, mental and emotional.</div>
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Here is what contracting feels like:</div>
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<i>Imagine that you are entering the bathroom of an airplane near the end of a long, uncomfortable flight. The door closes. The loud sound of the airplane engines seems magnified in this tiny space, the ride is frighteningly turbulent, and this bathroom is smelly and nasty. You have to be careful where you step, and you try not to touch any surfaces, or even brush against them accidentally. You squeeze your arms in closely against your body, clench rigidly, and don't even dare breathe too deeply.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Here is what expansion feels like:</div>
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<i>Imagine that you are standing on a wonderful plateau, with the temperature just the way you like it. There is no traffic, and there are no buildings nearby. You are completely in nature, totally safe, and you can see for miles in every direction. Perhaps there are mountains in the distance, or valleys. You breathe in the cleanest air on the planet, listen to the sounds of the breeze, and stand firmly with your arms spread wide, taking up all the space you want.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
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Many of our sufferings are due to resisting what is. We clench when we resist. We expand when we are in our power.</div>
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How about making the choice to step into your power, regardless of what is occurring in your life?! Here’s an experiment that will make it easy:</div>
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<i>Bring to mind any life situation at all that is troubling to you. Now imagine clenching as a response, just as if you were in that bathroom on the airplane. Hold still, hunch your shoulders up to your ears, squeeze your back and hips and arms in tightly, take in only shallow breaths, and see how that makes you feel. Yuck.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Next, still thinking of your life situation, imagine expanding your energy as though you were back on that plateau. You are free to take up all the room you want, balanced and secure. Loosen and unlock your body, let your shoulders and back ease, hold your head a little higher, and experiment by stretching your aura. Fill the area around you with bright, luminous energy--YOUR energy, even expanding it beyond the boundaries of the room or space you occupy. Take in a good deep breath. Feels better, doesn’t it?!<o:p></o:p></i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(c) 2010, M. E. Raines</span></div>
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<i><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/books-plays-scripts-20/detail/0972614613">See UNA, the newly released novel written by Mary Elizabeth Raines</a></i></div>
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Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-71337265488302056292010-12-27T17:46:00.000-07:002019-06-27T10:55:31.160-07:00<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font: normal normal normal 24px/normal Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; line-height: 9px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; position: relative;">
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Please note: This is a reprint of a post by the author on another blog</span></i></h3>
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<a href="http://laughingcherub.blogspot.com/2011/12/come-early-stay-late-christmas-story.html" style="color: #993200; text-decoration: none;">COME EARLY, STAY LATE: A CHRISTMAS STORY</a></h3>
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BY MARY ELIZABETH RAINES</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On Christmas Eve, 1998, my father spoke to me the best words that anyone could say.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Let's back up for a moment. Daddy had been a stern man. He was a minister. Even though he took his faith seriously, he did not really know how to express love and tenderness. I perceived him as a harsh, rigid, distant and critical parent. It took me many years to get over my resentments about that, but I did.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2PXrdM2I8Q0CVnMnSR9Y8_cFIWOOD0-vXDK1TRjjrlnEYMbmQ7sJp2zCuRSW0CdiGibVKPiilK_ChiM26pnEr0t08gHJPBjDAJp8YxHdte4WYldQNR4NOAniycH93RburXYJAb6DH2I9x/s1600/Rev.+David+A.+Leach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #993200; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2PXrdM2I8Q0CVnMnSR9Y8_cFIWOOD0-vXDK1TRjjrlnEYMbmQ7sJp2zCuRSW0CdiGibVKPiilK_ChiM26pnEr0t08gHJPBjDAJp8YxHdte4WYldQNR4NOAniycH93RburXYJAb6DH2I9x/s200/Rev.+David+A.+Leach.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border-style: none; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.098); padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="200" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rev. David A. Leach, 1921-1999</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Back to Christmas Eve. Daddy and I were on the phone, making plans for the next day, Christmas, when I was going to make a trip to the senior community where he and my mother lived. They had been divorced for many years, but curiously, in their old age, they’d both moved across the country to live in the same retirement community. Each had a separate apartment. I doubt if they were romantic, but they did enjoy one another’s companionship.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“What time would you like me to come?” I asked my father.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And here is where he spoke the Best Words that anyone could say to another human being.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>“I want you to come early and stay late,”</b></i><span style="color: #222222; font-style: normal;"> he said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was blown away. Think about how incredible those words are! A person has to like you a lot to say that. With my father, I'd never been sure about being liked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Christmas Day was wonderful. Mother, usually a very dominant and chatty person, faded into the background, and allowed it to be a time of sharing between my father and me. We talked and talked. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Unless you're the lead dog on the sled team, the view is pretty much the same," he remarked wryly at one point in our day. For all his sternness, you see, Daddy possessed a wonderful dry humor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In his apartment was a fabulous and expensive crèche made of paper mache.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Among the elegant figures, however, he had planted a silly-looking, out-of-place plastic lamb. It was supremely ugly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I picked it up. “What’s this?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“That?" he grinned with a twinkle in his eye. "Oh, that’s the black sheep.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Later that Christmas afternoon, we took a walk. My father had always been a cynic; for him, the glass was not just half empty, but would doubtless soon be dropped and broken. Thus, on our walk I asked, “Daddy, what’s it been like to be a pessimist all these years?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Wonderful,” he replied with a glowing smile. “Everything has always turned out to be <i>much</i> better than I ever expected!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As night fell during our visit that Christmas, an ambulance pulled up to the health care center next door to his apartment. My father's energy faded visibly at the sound. I thought it might be because of a recent experience of his. He'd needed to go to the emergency room for a bowel obstruction, which turned out to be the after-effect of a minor surgery he’d had a number weeks ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Daddy described what that visit had been like, and it wasn't pleasant. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“They shoved a tube down my throat to look at my stomach,” he said. I noticed that he began clenching his fist so hard that the knuckles lost their color.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He continued.“It was the single most painful thing I have ever felt in my life. <i>I would rather die than have that done to me again,</i><span style="font-style: normal;">” he said. Vehemently.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">These words came from a man who was so stoic that he once ate a whole chicken dinner <i>when he had the stomach flu</i> just to set an example for his children; his belief was that no matter what, you don’t cave in to illness. A nurse later confirmed that the particular procedure he described was possibly the most painful thing that could be done in an emergency room without anesthetic in those days. Certainly that was the case for my father.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am a hypnotherapist, and know that not only can we alleviate pain easily; in some cases we can even create complete anesthesia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Daddy,” I said, “if that situation should ever happen to you again, call me right away before they stick the tube in you. Either I’ll drive out, or I’ll get the best hypnotist in the area to the hospital, and you won't have to undergo that kind of pain…”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But he did not listen to what I said. Even though I have an international reputation as a hypnosis teacher and writer, to him I was just a child who didn’t understand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He repeated his words: <i>“I would rather die than have that done to me again.”</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> The statement turned out to be prophetic.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That night, when I said goodbye, I spontaneously hugged and kissed my father. While it might not sound like a big deal to most people, it was to me. My relationship with him had always had a cool distance to it, and our family simply did not touch. The hug and the kiss sprang from my heart, though, and not from my mind. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And as I hugged him, tears began spilling from his eyes. It was a sweet, quiet, and yet monumental moment of love and healing. We both felt it. Daddy's tears melted away the remnants of any of the difficulties we’d ever had.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I love you,” he said, his voice choking softly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I left, and still remember how he stood at the top of the stairs and watched until I was out of the door.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And that is the last time I ever saw my father conscious. Less than a week later, I received a phone call. He had been taken by ambulance to a large city hospital where he had been put on machines to keep him alive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It turned out that once again my father had experienced the symptoms of a bowel obstruction. Rather than go to the emergency room and have that tube shoved down his throat again, however, he told no one. For four days he stayed alone in his apartment, vomiting, as his bowels began to perforate and his organs started to shut down. The medical staff couldn’t understand why he didn't call for help, but I knew. When they finally got him to the emergency room, he was the sickest man in the entire hospital.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And what was the first thing they did? Shove a tube down his throat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">His words echoed in my mind: “<i>I would rather die than have that done to me again</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;">And so he did. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;">For four days I stayed at his side as he lay there in an induced coma. Finally, it was time to pull the plug on the machines keeping him alive, and it was up to me to make the decision.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I still remember the nightmarish sensation of walking down the hall of that hospital, knowing that I had been handed the power to choose the day and hour when my own father would die. It was the most anguishing experience of my life, no matter how necessary or right. I was pronouncing a death sentence on my own father.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After they turned the machines off, the monitor that beeped in conjunction with his heartbeat gradually began to slow down. Finally, there was silence. His heart had stopped. I fell across his chest and cried, “Oh, Daddy!” As I did that, to my astonishment his heart actually began to beat again: thump thump thump. What a testimony to the power of love! And what a wrenching moment! It couldn't keep on, however; his heart soon stopped beating for good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Some of those who have had near-death experiences claim that after the body dies, we go through a life review where our soul sees and feels each reverberation and consequence of everything we have ever done to anyone in our life, good or bad. My prayer was that my father not see or know that anything he'd said or done had ever harmed me in the least way. Forgiveness is a grace, and that grace healed all the negativity that had ever occurred between us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I still keep the ugly little plastic lamb from the Nativity scene at my desk. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfSre9iSRyHZScSFtT3hzw9Cq5zzwQDZjAl1D2p-MhyVKi0cH4JxOZaHYVAY4JG6kyy_TLytsAh8MnGZ9tgVp_sSkBcdBKc5g57CHugWvfLyoXm7d98gyJ4UsoYm0fWQnxuiKJW4tJbljM/s1600/IMG_3377.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1269" data-original-width="1600" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfSre9iSRyHZScSFtT3hzw9Cq5zzwQDZjAl1D2p-MhyVKi0cH4JxOZaHYVAY4JG6kyy_TLytsAh8MnGZ9tgVp_sSkBcdBKc5g57CHugWvfLyoXm7d98gyJ4UsoYm0fWQnxuiKJW4tJbljM/s200/IMG_3377.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And I will always remember the Best Words in the World: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>“I want you to come early, and stay late.”</i></b></span><br />
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*****</div>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">(c) M. E. Raines, all rights reserved. </span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Please do not reproduce in part or in whole in any form. Feel free to share links to this true story.</span></b><br />
<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Una-Mary-Elizabeth-Raines/dp/0972614613/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1324826218&sr=8-2" style="color: #993200; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple;">Go to Amazon to read about UNA, a novel by Mary Elizabeth Raines</span></a></i></div>
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Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210345713774379865.post-42277637962365083892010-09-11T16:45:00.000-07:002019-06-27T10:40:07.211-07:00HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLDDo you believe that the energy of your thoughts and emotions have power?<br />
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Many of us mistakenly believe that certain circumstances warrant being filled with misery, anxiety and worry--that these sodden emotions are the best way to show compassion.<br />
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If you were gravely ill, however, who would you rather have at your bedside: someone who stood wringing their hands and crying about the devastation of your illness, or someone who chose to smile and laugh as they projected positive healing energy around you?<br />
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Being positive doesn't mean stuffing our negative emotions or going into denial. It is not just wise, but necessary, to acknowledge and feel pain. When sad feelings have been honored, however, we then have a choice. We can perpetuate the misery by hosting thoughts filled with worry and fear, or we can move into happier states.<br />
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I used to fret about the sad state of the natural world--the plants and animals that had no ability to protect themselves against the destructive forces of humankind. A wise friend suggested that my fretting was only adding to the layers of despair and pain surrounding the planet, and recommended that the best way I could help, at least on an energetic and emotional level, would be to find more opportunities to experience joy in my life! I loved that message!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhZIyq1Rih4GThBh8yyktyAFkyyFNAF9pQtdlJzofsjDpAgehKl6ryek4wQQRZM6BTvtDvOo9mfgU4-NmAiJtCcg4kKTgIyzLnZ-jyNKEWovV3ehiiTKcaUUvdgnSFPNm6oz4rPh1svApt/s1600/fractal_ex_9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhZIyq1Rih4GThBh8yyktyAFkyyFNAF9pQtdlJzofsjDpAgehKl6ryek4wQQRZM6BTvtDvOo9mfgU4-NmAiJtCcg4kKTgIyzLnZ-jyNKEWovV3ehiiTKcaUUvdgnSFPNm6oz4rPh1svApt/s200/fractal_ex_9.jpg" width="198" /></a></div>
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Another wise person, an older Quaker woman, told me that prayer is not just those times we set apart to converse with the Divine. </div>
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"Our connection to God doesn't stop when we say <i>amen,</i>" she said. "It's not just those few short minutes that count. Every thought we think, every feeling we have, and every word we say is a prayer. Our very lives are the prayer. <i>And God answers prayer!</i>"</div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #351c75;"><b>"If you really want to help the miserable of the world, don't be one of them." </b></span></i>- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">Sonia Choquette, Author</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 13px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1106130986"><br />
</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arimo"; line-height: 22px;"><i><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/books-plays-scripts-20/detail/0972614613">See Mary Elizabeth Raines' newest novel, UNA, available in paperback or Kindle.</a></i></span></span></div>
Mary Elizabeth (Leach) Raineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143212752890628625noreply@blogger.com0