Start Quote
There is a significant difference between thinking you know
and actually knowing.
Just as there's a significant difference between
superficial change and change on a cellular level.
superficial change and change on a cellular level.
It's one thing to move the furniture around for a fresh new look;
it's quite another to rearrange your "DNA"
- your destiny, nature, and aspirations -
[might I include your heart]
which is exactly what you're doing when you
search for your authenticity.
Start to do that
and you get a fresh new life.
When I started writing this book, I knew if I integrated
gratitude, simplicity, order, harmony, beauty, and joy into my daily round,
a sense of lack diminishes and a sense of abundance increases.
That seemed to be quite enough.
What I didn't know or even anticipate was the
potency of the Simple Abundance process when combined with
passionate and persistent reflection over two years.
It is virtually impossible to write a book on authenticity
as a spiritual and creative path and not be profoundly changed by it.
On paper, Einstein's mathematical equation E =mc^2
appears rather benign, doesn't it?
But it led to the development of the atomic bomb.
On paper, gratitude/simplicity/order/harmony/beauty/joy = authenticity
appears equally benign.
But I have discovered that this equation leads to
complete personal and spiritual transformation
- a mystical metamorphosis of our particular "DNA"
that's so deep our egos don't know whether they're coming or going.
One minute we're sure of ourselves,
the next, we're second-guessing.
This can be very disconcerting to our conscious selves.
Of all the definitions of the ego I've ever discovered,
my favorite is Joseph Campbell's:
"What you think you want, what you will to believe,
what you think you can afford, what you decide to love,
what you regard yourself as bound to."
Now, there's one tough babe to reckon with,
and she's got a stranglehold on your destiny, nature, and aspirations
that's so strong it will take nothing less than a
Divine detonation before she lets go...
Don't worry. About this time, you're poised for critical mass
- that point when a self-sustaining chain reaction occurs.
In physics, nuclear fusion occurs when two separate elements,
like hydrogen and helium, are forced together.
Through the exertion of extreme pressure and temperature,
a surge of energy as powerful as the sun is suddenly released
until the hydrogen and helium are completely transformed,
producing an entirely new force in the universe.
This is how new stars are created.
In your search for authenticity, a similar process occurs.
You fuse the six Simple Abundance principles, or outward lifestyle
changes, with your own inner work, or what Einstein called
"the refinement of everyday thinking."
Now exert real life's pressures and the heat of your own passions
on the six principles, and ponder for at least one to two years.
The result?
One day the trans-formative process builds to a point
at which it can no longer be contained within.
A huge surge of creative energy is suddenly released,
bringing forth a completely new entity:
your authentic self, the visible manifestation of your soul.
When this happens, "what you think you want,
what you will to believe, what you think you can afford,
what you decide to love, and what you regard yourself as bound to,"
will seem as if they belonged to another woman.
They did.
After passionately and persistently exploring the origins of the universe,
Albert Einstein came to know that
"Something deeply hidden had to be behind things."
When you passionately and persistently search for Wholeness,
you'll know as well.
End Quote
Start to do that
and you get a fresh new life.
When I started writing this book, I knew if I integrated
gratitude, simplicity, order, harmony, beauty, and joy into my daily round,
a sense of lack diminishes and a sense of abundance increases.
That seemed to be quite enough.
What I didn't know or even anticipate was the
potency of the Simple Abundance process when combined with
passionate and persistent reflection over two years.
It is virtually impossible to write a book on authenticity
as a spiritual and creative path and not be profoundly changed by it.
On paper, Einstein's mathematical equation E =mc^2
appears rather benign, doesn't it?
But it led to the development of the atomic bomb.
On paper, gratitude/simplicity/order/harmony/beauty/joy = authenticity
appears equally benign.
But I have discovered that this equation leads to
complete personal and spiritual transformation
- a mystical metamorphosis of our particular "DNA"
that's so deep our egos don't know whether they're coming or going.
One minute we're sure of ourselves,
the next, we're second-guessing.
This can be very disconcerting to our conscious selves.
Of all the definitions of the ego I've ever discovered,
my favorite is Joseph Campbell's:
"What you think you want, what you will to believe,
what you think you can afford, what you decide to love,
what you regard yourself as bound to."
Now, there's one tough babe to reckon with,
and she's got a stranglehold on your destiny, nature, and aspirations
that's so strong it will take nothing less than a
Divine detonation before she lets go...
Don't worry. About this time, you're poised for critical mass
- that point when a self-sustaining chain reaction occurs.
In physics, nuclear fusion occurs when two separate elements,
like hydrogen and helium, are forced together.
Through the exertion of extreme pressure and temperature,
a surge of energy as powerful as the sun is suddenly released
until the hydrogen and helium are completely transformed,
producing an entirely new force in the universe.
This is how new stars are created.
In your search for authenticity, a similar process occurs.
You fuse the six Simple Abundance principles, or outward lifestyle
changes, with your own inner work, or what Einstein called
"the refinement of everyday thinking."
Now exert real life's pressures and the heat of your own passions
on the six principles, and ponder for at least one to two years.
The result?
One day the trans-formative process builds to a point
at which it can no longer be contained within.
A huge surge of creative energy is suddenly released,
bringing forth a completely new entity:
your authentic self, the visible manifestation of your soul.
When this happens, "what you think you want,
what you will to believe, what you think you can afford,
what you decide to love, and what you regard yourself as bound to,"
will seem as if they belonged to another woman.
They did.
After passionately and persistently exploring the origins of the universe,
Albert Einstein came to know that
"Something deeply hidden had to be behind things."
When you passionately and persistently search for Wholeness,
you'll know as well.
End Quote
Can I just say amen?
***
Gratitude Journal
***
1) I had a crappy no good very bad day. All three kids were just little beasts. I'm so grateful for my cousin, who came over to watch over the house and the kids while I went to therapy.
2) I'm grateful for therapy. I learned that you can't control your children, just like you can't control other people. They are their own little person, full of emotions and thoughts completely different from yours and from their siblings. Sometimes you're just going to have no good very bad horrible awful days. You have to own them, accept that you did your best, and let it go. Hope and pray, and make tomorrow a better day than today was. Just keep trying. Endure to the end.
3) I'm grateful that another parent helped me. Jacob had to go to the bathroom, so I left all my stuff and the twins in the play area at McDonald's and took him to the bathroom across the way. I step out of the door, so I could see all my kids, and the twins are trying to get out of the emergency exit, into the cars that are coming out of the drive through. He and his daughter helped me make sure they didn't, while I took care of Jacob. Thank you for helping me keep my kids alive, because apparently they have suicidal tendencies.
4) Mistakes. McDonald's gave us 20 nuggets instead of the 10 that I ordered, which was a blessing because for the first time ever my kids ate all 10 and then some. I did try to make it right, but they said since it was their mistake just to keep it. They couldn't take it back, because they couldn't serve it to anyone else, and they weren't going to charge me for their mistake. Sometimes mistakes suck, other times they're blessings in disguise.
5) My piano students. We're 2 weeks away from our recital, and they're sounding super awesome. It makes me so happy.
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