The other day I was giving a massage and the person on my table popped out the question “Do you believe in God?” What elicited the actual question was me admonishing the young man as to a statement he had made about his back and its healing process. What I had said was “Be careful what you say. The Universe is always listening.”
My experiences in living in the Bible Belt have taught me that it is much easier to answer the particular question above by simply saying “Yes.” I have also learned that when someone makes a conversational gambit utilizing the question “Are you saved?” the quickest way to finish the conversation is to say, “Oh, absolutely.”
There is no necessity to actually define what you mean by “God” or “Saved” unless you are involved in a deep philosophical discussion with one of your close companions or cohorts. I have also observed that when involved in such discussions, it is useful to have copious quantities of wine or beer available to lubricate the conversational rods and pistons.
In my line of work I find it useful to not upset people by being even more unconventional than I already am. I have also found it convenient to be conversant with what those “other folks” believe, if only as a matter of self preservation. Not only do I own a Bible (the King James version), but I also have a complete concordance to it. That way, when I want to call “bullshit” I have the references on hand.
People find it comforting when a concept like “Karma” can be illustrated by a quote from their favorite religious reference. You can say that in essence karma is illustrated by the old saw, “What goes around, comes around.” But for some fundamentalist characters, being able to say, “Well, you know in Galatians 6:7 Paul wrote the words ‘for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,'” is a fine way to give them a source illustrating the basic concept of karma that is familiar and acceptable to them. For some reason, this resonates better with most people than Webster’s definition, which says “The effect if a person’s actions during the successive phases of the person’s existence, regarded as determining the person’s destiny.”
Personally, I believe in the concept of karma. It just makes sense, and I have observed it in action many times.
I also believe in the use of affirmations. I am not going into the hows, whys and wherefores of affirmations at this time, anyone who is interested can research that for themselves. Suffice it to say that in my experience they are certainly not a waste of time or effort.
Is there a universal energy that permeates everything and facilitates communication that can be affected by our statements? Reading books like Gary Zukav’s The Dancing Wu Li Masters or by folks like Steven Hawking will make you ask questions about the very nature of the Universe and how it works. These books have made me ask questions about photons and quarks, and start thinking about the idea that they may actually exhibit consciousness. If photons can communicate instantly through time and space, can our statements and will not have an effect as well? Or does the actual fact of making the statements change the subconscious climate of the brain making the statements, thereby making it more likely that the speaker will act in such a way as making them come true? Or is it something else entirely? Or a mixture of all of the above?
I don’t know, but I do believe that our words have quite a lot of power, and I do try to be aware of what I am saying and how I am saying it. I have had many too many experiences of my statements being borne out by subsequent events to believe that all of these occasions were merely coincidences.
When the economy took a nose dive, so did my business. I lost something like 2/3 of my clients in the space of one week, and the task of making ends meet on something like 30% of the income I was used to taking in was quite interesting, to say the least. After the shock wore off, I started making affirmations designed to indicate to the energy of the Universe that I wanted more work. I would say “My clients are talking about my work to other people. Clients who used to come are calling me for appointments.” It took a while, but both statements have been effective. Lately I have had people who were getting massage from me 5 or more years ago “returning to the fold”, and I have had quite a number of new clients calling me for appointments as well. It’s nice to have more income than outgo for a change. In fact, I am now starting to have to be quite careful about scheduling because my book is getting quite busy.
Some other examples of the power of positive statements occurred during Jesse’s leave. When he told us during a Skype call that he knew that he was scheduled to leave his FOB on June 18, but that we should not expect him in the States for as long as five days later because connections out of Iraq to Kuwait were often very bad, I got off the phone and said aloud, “Jesse does not need to spend three days sitting on the ground in Balad. His flights home will be smooth and trouble free.” He arrived home on June 20th, having experienced nothing but smooth flight connections all the way from Kirkuk to Springfield, MO.
While he was here, we arranged a family dinner with Jesse. The day that worked was also a day that my folks had a doctor’s appointment at 2:30 p.m. My dad said, “That guy is always running behind or late, sometimes we have to wait a couple of hours to see him. I’m not sure we’ll be able to get here by 6.” I said, “Dad, we won’t have dinner until you and Mom are here.” Then I added, “This time maybe your doctor will be running on schedule.” The expression on my father’s face indicated extreme doubt, so I added, “Hey, remember when we went to Colorado and I told you that it was only going to rain on the days we weren’t hiking, that rain would come only on our rest days? And you told me not to be such a Pollyanna? And that is exactly what happened?”
“Oh, yeah, I remember that. That was weird,” he replied.
“That was the power of positive thinking,” was my retort.
Well, after they went on home, I stated aloud “The doctor needs to get Mom and Dad in and out in a timely fashion.” On the day of our dinner, Mom and Dad showed up here at 5 p.m. Of course, I had to ask. “So, how was your doctor’s appointment, Dad?”
“Oh,” he said a little sheepishly. “You know, not only was he there when we got there, but he was actually running ahead of schedule and for the first time in years we didn’t even sit down in the waiting room, just went right in. We were in and out in less than 15 minutes.”
Okay, maybe these were coincidence. But there are an awful lot of coincidences like that piling up. It certainly doesn’t hurt to practice the act of affirmation. So I do, on a regular basis, because I think it works.
I also think that if you say something like “I’m willing to accept that karma,” you had better mean it. Because the Universe may just perk up its ears and say “Oh. Really? We’ll just see about that.”
Now, if this affirmation thing would just work on the PowerBall.
the havens 