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DREAMS & PLANS – Rev. Linda Jackson
OVERVIEW
As we come to the conclusion of our two-month journey with The Prosperous Heart, Cameron invites you to trust your inner guidance and not allow money to hinder your dreams and desires. We will explore the importance of creating a Prosperity Plan that reflects your authentic values and encompasses your most prosperous vision for your life. Join us this Sunday as we step into manifesting your dreams and creating a life of fulfillment.
TRANSCRIPTION
This transcription was auto-generated, please excuse typos, errors and omissions.
Rev. Linda Jackson (00:00):
All right, one more round for the music team. Talk about reasons to give to this community. We have a little Sunday concert every week, and that is Paige recovering from bronchitis, folks. I mean, we are really blessed with this music team so much to be grateful for, and I’m happy to see some faces in the room. There was a moment when I thought it might just be me and the people who were setting up this morning, and I just want to know, how are you feeling after Thanksgiving? Oh, thank you John. And you poke online too. How are you feeling after Thanksgiving? Seriously, give me some energy here in the room. What are you thinking? How are you feeling? Full good Turkey coma. What’s going on here?
(01:01):
There’s a tendency to think that holidays are going to be good, right? And that’s not always the case for everyone. And sometimes they’re more like the comedies depicted by Hollywood, and sometimes it’s not even that good, right? Sometimes we’re in sadness. And through the course of my work, I talk with a lot of people and there’s a lot of stuff that comes up for people around the holidays. It can be this amazing time of coming together, and for some there can be a sadness or a missing melancholy. And last week Darryl spoke about gratitude. And I just want to reinforce that it’s not a trite practice. It’s not a sort of bandaid to cover up and try to feel better and get rid of the sadness or the discomfort. It’s a very powerful spiritual tool and it is generative. If you’ve ever taken time to really cultivate gratitude, you can feel that it is a generative practice. It expands on itself. It becomes a sort of exponential experience, multiplying becoming more. The more I’m grateful, the more I have to be grateful for.
(02:28):
I would even go so far as to say that gratitude is a form of communing with the divine. We cultivate awareness of good and we commune with it and we feel the energy of it. And perhaps that’s the real opportunity for Thanksgiving to actually practice gratitude, not the Turkey or the tofu. We are tapping into our own prosperity. When we tap into gratitude, we’re tapping into and choosing the divine. It takes us into the higher vibration. It feels magnetic, and they say, sorry, I’m chewing on a lozenger. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t start choking on the peanut brittle that I took a bite of. So they say that even a few moments in the vibration of gratitude or a high vibrational state is so much more powerful than extended periods of time in low vibration, but not to bypass what’s there. We want to be healthy spiritually and psychologically, and gratitude really supports both. It’s a healthy mindset.
(03:57):
And so my daughter hosted our Thanksgiving this year sort of mixing things up for us, right? It’s the first Thanksgiving with my mom gone, and I’m sure many of you are having your own version of that. Our extended family normally gets together, big gathering, and everybody went in different directions this year. And human emotions can be tricky. And as I was preparing for this talk, I was remembering that Abraham Hicks, for those of you who are familiar with Abraham Hicks, they have an emotional energy spectrum with joy, appreciation, freedom, love at the high vibration end, and fear, grief, despair at the low vibration end. And they offer the idea of reaching for the better, feeling, the slightly better feeling. So when we’re in grief or despair, we can just practice leaning into it. I always want to feel my feelings first, not try to bypass them, but feel them and then reach for a slightly better feeling.
(05:10):
So you may not move all the way from grief to feeling appreciation and one fell swoop, but incrementally, little by little, one better feeling, one better feeling. You find you’ve shifted. And this is also the generative nature of gratitude. It supports generating the better feeling. And no matter where you are in that emotional spectrum, gratitude can shift you. So historically we’re a big gathering, and this year it was just my daughter, son-in-law granddaughter and my son and I, five of us. And we already share a lot of meals together. Almost every Sunday we have a family meal, which I feel very grateful for, but I couldn’t help find myself thinking, this is a lot of work, making a bunch of extra food. But for what? We do this all the time, why are we doing this just for us? It’s sort of shifted the way I was feeling around it, putting all that extra effort into the food makes sense when there’s all those people coming together.
(06:24):
And I was missing my mom and feeling the sadness and I just sort of wanted to stay home. I really didn’t even feel like why did I want to do this? But reaching for that slightly better feeling, I thought, you know what? They’re showing up for me. My daughter intentionally created Thanksgiving at her house, did not go to her in-Laws, created this gathering to make sure that none of us were home alone this year. So I can show up for them, could raise my vibration a little bit. And my granddaughter, Olivia, she did not miss the opportunity at all. She created a gratitude activity. So she designed a little card, hand drawn little card at each person’s plays, like a place card with their name and what we are grateful for, what she and her mom and dad were grateful for about each of us, which they did for one another as well.
(07:27):
And she invited us and gave us instructions as we arrived. And again, it’s just me and my son really were the ones arriving, but she gave instructions to her mom and dad as well. Go around and write something you’re grateful for on the card for each person at the table. I know we’ve practiced gratitude as a family before. It’s not uncommon it’s someone on their birthday or mother’s day of the people will go around and say what they’re grateful for. But this was different. This was hanging out for a few hours, preparing food, having time to think about it. What am I really wanting to say? And this little space on the card, what would sum up what I’m grateful for?
(08:09):
And then when we sat down to eat at some point, we each took the time to read our card and read what everyone had written. It’s making me almost well up with tears in this moment. And there were a few tears like that, but those are tears of appreciation. And I just want to acknowledge we can have sadness and grief and still feel gratitude. We can have more than one emotion at the same time, and we can learn to be with those feelings and still practice moving our energy and that practice generated more gratitude. Because no matter where you are in the energy spectrum, gratitude works If you work it.
(09:03):
I have the pleasure of wrapping up our two month series. We’ve been reading and speaking about Julia Cameron’s prosperous heart. And we have learned that prosperity is a mindset. It’s an attitude, it’s a choice we make. Choosing prosperity is choosing the divine. We can impact our experience of flow, our financial flow, our relationship flow, flow of anything in our life. And this impacts how we experience the world. It impacts the world. And I mentioned last month when I spoke that we get to speak truth to conditions. We choose the divine in the midst of conditions. And one way is through affirmative prayer. We practice affirmative prayer here. We raise our vibration through affirmative prayer, through gratitude, not to bypass what we’re feeling, but to feel it, to embrace it, to move it and raise ourselves from there.
(10:18):
And I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea that the conflicts out in the world current and historically, that it stems from people believing they’re separate. This has really been on my mind a lot. It came up in my talk last month and it’s just been really resonating for me that people have this fear that they have something to lose or something to gain. And that comes from feeling separate. And I’ve been thinking about the importance of lifting ourselves out of that consciousness, out of the lie of separation. It seems to me that believing we’re separate might be the basis for all problems.
(11:15):
When I think of the power of affirmative prayer, we unify. We unify with God, we recognize God, and we unify with it. We remember that we are one with the divine, with source, with the God of your being, whatever you call it. And then we choose a better thought and we shift our experience. That’s the shorthand version. And I’ve just had this peaked awareness that whatever limiting beliefs we hold, whether it’s the I’m not enough, there’s not enough, I’m alone, I’m not loved, I have to do this on my own. I don’t deserve whatever it is in that lower vibration.
(12:04):
It might seem obvious to you, but it’s a newer pervasive awareness for me that all of those limiting beliefs stem from the one big lie of separation. It came up in the mystical path class because the one common idea on the mystical path of all mystics throughout time is cultivating their awareness of their oneness with the divine, with spirit as they know it, communing knowing ourselves as one. So we talk about oneness, but is it a lived experience or is it an intellectual concept? If I know that I am one with the source of love, how could I believe I’m not loved or that I’m alone? If I believe that I’m an individual expression of infinite intelligence and creativity, how could I believe I’m not enough?
(13:18):
If I’m one with the infinite power and presence that’s in back of all life, why would I fear anything? Why do 30% of all people in our culture have anxiety? They fear. Anxiety is on the fear spectrum. We believe we’re separate. Abraham Hicks has a quote When you experience fear about not having enough, this was about money and we are talking about prosperity this month, but it really applies to everything. When you experience fear about not having enough money, you emanate a vibration that prevents you from receiving what you are asking for. Even though you have been asking for prosperity and stability, the fear you are feeling is your indicator that you cannot right now let what you want in. As long as you continue to think the thoughts that are causing the fear, the things you want cannot show up in your life. You’ve got to accomplish the feeling first.
(14:31):
I’m not supposing or suggesting you bypass. We want to address the fear. We want to get related to ourselves, feel into what we’re feeling. What are we really believing? Do the work. Get the support practitioner therapist. You need to remember the truth. If I believe I’m one with the sufficiency of all life, how could I believe I won’t have enough? Love, money, support. So from that premise, dissolving the lie of separation is our primary job. Choosing the divine and choosing to be its fullest expression that is a prosperity mindset. Choosing prosperity is choosing the divine.
(15:32):
Any concerns about lack of money or lack of any sort? We believe we’re cut off from source. And over the past two months, we’ve learned about and used Cameron’s signature practices, the morning pages, walking quiet time, really learning to receive guidance. This requires tapping in. This requires communing. This requires practicing our oneness, listening to the still small voice that is practicing cultivating the remembering of our oneness. We’ve used money inventories to uncover beliefs and attitudes, looked at spending habits, created financial clarity. We’ve covered money myths, having enough trusting, being in flow, velocity which is balancing not moving too fast or too slow. Divine timing, cleaning house from cleaning up relationships and spending patterns to literally cleaning house to open up space. We’ve explored gratitude and generosity, and some of these practices support us in our human experience and our human development. And some of these practices support us in our spiritual experience, our spiritual development. And it’s important to do both. We are both.
(17:03):
And as she brings the book to a close, now that we’ve done our inventories eliminated debt and cleaned up our acts, she invites us to explore our creative dreams and follow our impulses without letting money stand in the way. We don’t start with the dream and go for that and leave our mess operating in the background. We have to clean up our act first and then be free to explore the dream. Imagine that for a moment. If you could explore your creative dreams, whatever dreams, and follow your impulses on that, without letting money stand in the way with our new space, we are good resources or we’re good stewards of our resources, we are intentional and thoughtful about what we’re doing. And now we can use the creative dream of finding the space we can call it into existence. We can trust that source will guide us and direct us that we will find the way. We don’t have to be back in that manifester mode of thinking. I have to make something happen. This is when we rely on our guidance. We take our actions as inspired action from guidance.
(18:39):
But have you ever cut yourself off from even considering your dream? Cameron says, we block our dreams with the excuse that we can’t afford to accomplish them. Whether you think you can afford it or not, there is always some action you can take right now, a small step in the right direction, like planning an itinerary for a dream trip. And you can cultivate the energy of it. But if you’re looking at the itinerary for a dream trip and feeling the contraction around the fear of not being able to make it happen, you’re not contributing to forward movement. We can use affirmative prayer and cultivate the practice of gratitude to shift our minds, to move us into right thinking. And she again encourages us to ask for divine guidance. And I want to share the reading. If I can find it quickly.
(19:48):
Where did I put that from? The prosperous heart epilogue. Having a prosperous heart is a daily endeavor. We must begin a new every day, every day consciously stubbornly choosing faith no matter what our circumstances there is help available. We are not alone. We will receive guidance when we ask for it. The still small voice will always speak when we are available to listen to it. We can receive guidance, we can be in flow. Take inspired action. From there, she says, the prosperous heart is committed. It believes that it can make a difference. The prosperous heart focuses on what it can do, not on the odds stacked against it. And while this is an action oriented book, she always asks us to anchor ourselves in divine guidance. And she completes the book with a prosperity plan, looking at our resources, time and talent, and deciding how we want to spend our assets. She says, how you spend your money should reflect your truest values and your most prosperous vision for yourself. And remember that how you spend your time is how you spend your life. That one really got me. How you spend your time is how you spend your life. Because minute after minute, day after day becomes month after month, year after year and a lifetime. And how are we spending it? What are we doing with our time?
(21:54):
So I’m going to ask Greg to come on back up. We’re going to go into a little practice and I just invite you to tune into what’s there for you. Just noticing when we think about this energy spectrum, are we in the lower vibrational emotions or the higher vibrational emotions? And not making anything wrong, just noticing this is our work to become aware. And if you’re already in this higher vibration of joy and appreciation, expand that, breathe in and expand, raising it, creating more of it, perhaps bringing it into the room and holding space for those who may be feeling a lower vibration. And if you’re in that space of wanting something to be different
(23:00):
Or not feeling quite right within yourself, again, not judging, just noticing.
(23:11):
As we accept the feelings, as we let down the resistance, the opening occurs. What we resist persists. So we lean in and allow the feelings to be what they are. And if you’re one who is struggling, you can perhaps invite your wise adult self to wrap your arms around yourself. Feel yourself hugging yourself, loving yourself, giving yourself what you need. And notice is there any shift? And those of you in the higher vibration, just keep it going, expanding it, expanding it to extend outside of your body. Imagine that you are moving it into the room, cultivating this high vibration in the space. If you need support, you can use a time of gratitude, a time of high vibration as a resource to cultivate more of it. And those who are giving yourselves love right now, perhaps inquire, what is one thing you can do that might shift your energy? What is the one little better feeling thought or the one little better feeling? Action. See if you want to move your body even to shift the energy and choosing that slightly better feeling, raising your vibration, asking what is one thing I can be grateful for right now?
(25:14):
It could be something major, it could be something very minor. I’m grateful for being in this room. I’m grateful for the air I’m breathing. Perhaps the love of a friend or a relative. Your clothes a meal, coffee, the bed you sleep in so much to be grateful for. And as we cultivate gratitude, we can feel the energy change. We can feel the shift. So take a moment to acknowledge to yourself in this moment, I am grateful for fill in the blank, really cultivating that feeling of gratitude, raising your energy. I want to feel the energy in the room, hearing your inner mind, what you are grateful for. I’m grateful for, I’m grateful. And just taking a few more moments in this energy of gratitude. And if you’re not feeling it, it’s okay. Honor where you are. Consider for prayer support, wrapping your arms around yourself, loving yourself as you are. This alone is a shift. Bringing love to the situation is a shift. We choose the slightly better feeling thought. You have the energy of love within you. You have the capacity for joy within you. Just notice what you’re choosing in this moment. Now allow a dream plan to come to mind. Let it become more clear in your mind with details.
(27:29):
A dream as it becomes clear thought, crystallizes in form. The clearer your dream, the more easily it manifests. Are you feeling the high vibration of your dream? Is there something holding you back? See if you can raise the vibration of that dream. Raise yourself to the joy and the freedom you will experience when it is complete. Imagine our new space. Imagine the way we can serve people, the classes we can offer, the way the music team can play more frequently through the week. The numbers of people that come, the impact we make on the city and the world, generate the vibration of the fulfillment of your dream. You have the capacity within you. You are the unlimited potential of creativity.
(28:43):
And I just take a moment to bless the experience of raising our vibration. I bless us in knowing we can move through the universe in a higher idea of who we are here to be. We can allow spirit to guide us and direct us. We can choose the divine to live in prosperity. We impact the world, and we send this high vibration of love and freedom, especially directed at those places in the world that are experiencing conflict. We lift them and we know that they can have a shift in their minds to change their experience, to remember their oneness, to remember their freedom, to live their peace. I’m grateful, grateful for this practice, and I release these words into the law knowing it’s so together, we say. And so it’s,
Paige Kaiser (29:46):
Thank you Reverend Linda.