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I looked at the map and behold, what did I see? Another crossroads just ahead. I looked at my bank statements and I knew how much my bills amounted to. How many times had I come up to this point in the past 5 years? Was I going around in circles or was I cycling to higher and higher levels of my unfoldment. I knew I had 'grown' a lot in many areas over those years. And every time I had come to a crossroads like this all I needed appeared - and it appeared from places I had never considered. I had always been provided for. My needs had been supplied again and again. And so many of my desires. With all I had learned - which was eons beyond where I was five years ago, for sure, I knew I would move beyond the crossroads that was just ahead. Yet those old feelings had come back. And for a moment, I wondered what I would do. So I had to ask, "What's
different this time?" Part of what I learned since the last crossroads was this: I could embrace the conditions of physical reality. I knew that in the embrace I would move to higher vibrations as long as my embrace is warm and inclusive. Lately I had worked on The Elijah Journey where the notion of the embrace came forth like this - "form a union of the Divine ideas and ideals and the conditions of physical reality." A colleague made a statement about the experience of extreme poverty that I found eye-opening. She said, "I feel fear at the thought of ever being in such a position again (dependent on someone or something other than me to fulfill my needs)." She commented that she was feeling blocking energy and I had to agree with her. Well-intentioned blocking energy, but blocking energy nonetheless. Anyone would agree - that she would want to "keep the experience of extreme poverty away" - as far away as possible. That's the intent of the blocking energy - to keep stuff you do not want far, far away. That's why any of us would entertain such a fear... as a way to chase it away. In this instance - to chase poverty away. As I heard a speaker exclaim repeatedly - "You need to get rid of ...poverty!" and a number of other things we would rather not have. The problem with blocking energy is its neutrality. Something I'm sure the speaker did not realize - to exclaim the need to 'get rid of' something is also blocking energy. Just use your imaging ability to see the energy he unleashed - 'get rid of' energy. See the energy pushing away everything in its path. While blocking energy may be unleashed to serve one purpose, it does not choose what it will block. You are the chooser. I am the chooser. We set up the first task for the energy. The energy is the servant - and loyal to the very core. So unleashed, it takes up its charge to block. It blocks everything in its path on its way to blocking what you sent it to block. Then it blocks the flow of any energies coming toward you - any energy that is not blocking energy. Sure, blocking energy delights in bringing in more blocking energy. Builds up its forces as a way to please you. After all, you released it to block. You ordered it to block. That's what it knows to do and it will do it well as long as you unleash more blocking energy. So when experiences come before you that you dislike, and you express your dislike, the blocking energy has successfully completed another mission. You see, dislike is blocking energy. But see this. I prefer to have free-flowing energy than blocking energy working on my behalf. How do I make that shift when I had sent out blocking energy to get rid of something for me - so I thought - and change my experience to joy and delight and other free-flowing energy? How do I shift my conditions? To embrace my conditions with the attitude of warmth and inclusion is a way to unleash the higher energies that flow freely. The attitude of warmth and inclusion is higher energy. So how do I get there - to warmth and inclusion with 'extreme poverty?' How do I embrace 'extreme poverty' and am I sure this is something I choose to embrace? When I think of embrace as a union of Divine ideas and the conditions of physical reality - a union of Divine ideas and extreme poverty, I move closer to freeing up the energies instead of blocking them. What Divine idea I would connect with extreme poverty? The thought occurred to me that those who pushed the idea that "poverty is a virtue" were perhaps struggling with the notion of embracing poverty and linking it with Divine ideas. Well, that is not where I am going today. Here is where I take my departure from that particular popular thought. Let's look just briefly into poverty, even extreme poverty. Even in the most extreme poverty, one has something. Something of value, even. It may be the smallest coin of the realm - or a reasonable facsimile of that coin. That's enough to make the connection. Instead of giving attention to what is NOT there or "lack" as the notion of extreme poverty implies, give attention in what IS available. What IS available represents the Divine idea of plenty. "One" is enough to make the connection to the idea of plenty. Yes, expressing appreciation for the "one coin" is a thing to do. But so often, in the way my tradition presented it the idea was to appreciate what I had and to be satisfied and content with it. I don't know about you, but there's a frustration with "appreciate" and "be satisfied with what little I have." Still appreciation is a start. Appreciation and gratitude for the "one" item or "one" penny releases the energy of appreciation and gratitude. As a freeing up energy appreciation helps me to see the penny as a symbol of plenty. That part is easy for me because of what I know about "-fold" (10-fold a penny is more than $300K) - but that is not my point here. Yet, knowing about "-fold" helps me see how a penny connects with the Divine idea of plenty. But I am closer to the shift. Knowing that I have the penny, I can acknowledge - "I already see that experience. A penny is one piece of money. I have at least one piece of money. I can easily see the experience where I have money." Again, a penny is money. And that's what we are talking about. Moving on - I associate money and amounts. The usual energy around a piece of money like a penny is limitation, poverty or lack. Poverty, limitation or lack - either is a condition. The usual energy around hundreds of thousands or millions of pieces of money is plenty. Plenty is a condition. Holding a penny, the common impression is the condition called lack or limited money. That's lack energy around money. Limitation energy around money. Holding millions of dollars, the common impression is the condition called plenty or abundance. Here I have plenty energy around my money. Abundance energy around my money and setting the tone or condition for my money. So what do I choose to shift? I have money - regardless of the amount. That I have any amount of money is sufficient for making the connection. The money is the thing to which I connect the energy. The energy for the connection is in the condition. How I see the condition! The experience I see as I look at the penny is limited money. That's one condition and one experience. As there is one condition or experience, there are other conditions and experiences. So what do I shift? I shift the "condition" or the energy around money. The task is not to change the amount of money, but changing the energy around money. Why not change the amount? Any amount is a limit. When I reach the amount, no matter what it is or even how great it is, a point comes when I will reach its limit. Then I will have to change the amount again. Yet when I change the condition from limited to plenty I have opened the portal for free-flowing energy. I have set a free-flowing condition around money. Perhaps you as I have noticed in our current traditions, even in deliberate creation circles, the tendency toward affirmations - to change what I think and speak about money. Even I have promoted this. Our current traditions tell us to speak 'plenty' instead of 'lack.' To speak plenty as in affirmations is fine - but you have seen what this sort of thing has produced. To speak plenty of money in and of itself may be easy and free-flowing or it could be tight with fear - where you are wondering if speaking these words will work. What if you speak plenty but do not feel plenty? If you do not feel plenty when you speak it, something is blocking the flow. Are you familiar with the struggle in sucking a milk shake through a straw when the shake is too thick? That's the feeling I am talking about. You say the words, but you don't feel them. Instead, it's a feeling of stiffness and struggle. Tightness. If the fear is there when I think or speak the word plenty, I did not change the condition or the energy around money. I actually added to the blocking energy around it. This little fact contributes to the experience many have reported - that "their finances got worse after they took part in prosperity classes." It was hearing statements such as that and seeing the pain persons expressed that led to my writing The Elijah Journey. I wanted to find those pieces that seemed to be missing in the prosperity journey. I asked, "So what shall it be? How do I form that connection?" Back to the one piece of money. The response that came, "I appreciate the one piece of money and cherish it. I take account of how precious it is to me. I acknowledge that I have this experience of this precious coin." Here I feel the warmth and inclusion of it - I enjoy holding this coin. I enjoy this one coin and enjoy it and enjoy it until I feel the release of free-flowing energy and I feel good about having this coin. I enjoy having it! Notice how I built my momentum with the money I had on hand. I concentrated on different ways to express warmth with the money and ways to include it in my joy. Why express warmth and inclusion to money? I express warmth and inclusion to money and surround it with free-flowing energy. It is as though I am speaking to the money, telling it how precious it is and how much I enjoy having it with me. The more I speak to the money in this way, the easier it is to speak to the money in this way and I reach the point where I am flowing with it. The free-flowing energy around my money increases! Fear that the penny is not enough and feeling a sense of lack as I hold the money and look at it is like trying to suck the thick milk shake through the straw. Yet when I speak preciousness to the penny, in spite of the initial fear is like warming the milk shake enough for it to flow through the straw. Warmth and precious joy melt the fear. Joy is a Divine idea - a Divine idea I used here to form a union with a condition of physical reality. Enough to make the connection. It helps me strengthen the link. My joy with this one coin helps form the potential that I can see plenty... of money. It helps open the door. This is being faithful with little. When I am comfortable with the one coin and I am feeling good about it, I am ready to ask my Inner Being to show me the experience where I have plenty of money. I can ask my Inner Being to show me the experience where I have Abundance and Wealth. Make sure you are clear on this. You'll have to prepare to see the different experience. In other words, you'd have to be willing to see plenty of money if you expect to see plenty of money. Sure, you could ask for the experience where you have plenty of money, but if you have any degree of fear or doubt lurking around in there - because energy always surrounds your money, you will not see plenty of money when it comes to you. Comfortable and free-flowing energy around money, regardless of the amount or how you use it allows the flow of plenty to you. The energy around money as you pay bills or speak with telemarketers or think about big business sets the conditions around your money. Make sure your energy around these uses and handlers of money is free-flowing and comfortable. If you captured the meaning in my article, Love Those Debts then it is fairly easy for you to be comfortable with debts. Now, if you notice any tightness when you think of those solicitors who telephone just as you sit for dinner or who awaken you on Saturday mornings when you'd prefer to sleep in - you're caught! Embrace the condition of physical reality represented by telemarketers with Divine ideas. And if you had run into what we call crooked business people, put them on your agenda to embrace with Divine ideas. So I ask, what Divine idea will you link with telemarketers - and what Divine idea will you link with business people? The point is free-flowing energy around your money. Let's agree that I have made the necessary connections and asked my Inner Being to show me the experience where I have plenty of money. Among the first things I see after asking my Inner Being to show me the experience where I have plenty may be images of things and events I associate with wealth. So, that's what I see. When I see these things, what am I to do? Agree that I see it. "Yeah! That's it! Great! Wonderful!" That keeps the high energy flowing. And more, this high energy I unleash as I express my gratitude for the first image opens the door wider that I may see more of what I associate with wealth. Each time I acknowledge what I see, I affirm it. That's my affirmation. My affirmation of what my Inner Being showed me. Images my Inner Being shows me give me something to think and speak about. I rejoice in what I see and I exclaim it. With my joy, I release more free-flowing energy. In the joy and celebration of it, I may notice that persons appear before me who are receptive to my joy. I keep in the energy stream and notice things and events as they show up, all part of what my Inner Being show - because I asked to see it. Here is something you can play with if you like. The next time a thought arises of an experience with extreme poverty, embrace it. Find something in your memory - perhaps the day you held the smallest amount of money. Recall the last moments as you held on to it. You may have held on to it surrounding it with feelings you had about what it meant to let it go and what you would do next. Revisit that experience, but this time, hold on to the money and permit yourself to feel how precious that money is. Feel it with such gentleness and care as you would a small baby resting in your arms. The embrace - the warmth and inclusion of the money you see in your hands - changes that experience from a sense of extreme poverty to a cherished moment. It shifts the energy around your money from that of fear to softness. Every time the thought of that fear condition comes to mind, do the embrace until when you think of that experience, you feel free-flowing energy instead of blocking energy. When you feel the comfort I feel as I share this, ask your Inner Being to show you the experience you prefer: "Inner Being, show me the experience where I have plenty of money." Then watch what shows up.
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