Rolling in the Dough

Rolling in the Dough

Statistics are so interesting. The Internet means that we can just google stuff, and Bob’s your uncle.

I drew the Why am I wealthy? card this morning, so I googled average salary worldwide. Google pointed me to the BBC who said $18000 per year, or about $9.00 an hour for every adult.

How do I prosper? What makes me feel rich? How do I experience abundance?

Sometimes we forget how magnificent the material aspects of our lives are. Or maybe we just don’t know. I sure didn’t know for a long time how amazing my material life was.

My appreciation for the relative luxury in which I live has skyrocketed since I started using Creative Questions.

How do I live in luxury? What makes me manifest prosperity? Why do I enjoy the flow of cash?

When I live in gratitude, when I am relaxed, when I feel peaceful, my prosperity flows. Abundance flows in, abundance flows out, and I am all the richer for it. I find value in being generous, not just with money, but with my time, with my gifts.

These days they are saying that the maximum payoff for happiness from money rolls in at around $80,000.00 after which it is a case of diminishing returns.

So it isn’t the stuff that all that money can buy that brings the happiness. We know, because we are brilliant, that our real happiness comes from the inside. We know that our freedom comes from the inside. We know that our sense of belonging, our feeling of engagement, our feelings of being loved, all come from inside us.

Now, I do love to drive my car. I think it’s super fun, and super comfy, and I feel appreciation for it every single time I drive that car. That appreciation will often extend to all the people who help me take care of it. I also know that I have had other cars I loved, and will have other cars I love. The magic is in the ability to appreciate, not so much in the car.

What makes you feel luxurious? How do you feel pampered? Why would you be indulged?

Sometimes we have music that we feel lavish to, sometimes there is art, or physical movement. Sometimes there is a certain taste or smell that leaves us feeling awash in opulence.

Sometimes that feeling can make us feel very uncomfortable, and, ooh, then we have some work to do.

I have two kinds of tea that hit me like that, for example. Neither one is very fancy, but I feel so treated when I drink them. Knowing what our favorite indulgences are is great, indulging in them from time to time is, too.

How have I changed from feeling stingy to feeling magnanimous?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2014 all rights reserved 04032014

If you are feeling a bit richer, or a bit more pampered, please + or share. Thanks. How do you know you are wealthy?

Body Love

Body Love

One of the funnest things about being alive is having a body. I mean, I’m all for thinking, and find that a blasteroo, but being present in the body is without compare.

Just think of all the fun you have with your body, just sitting there right now. How awesome is breathing, all the way in, all four lobes, bottom to top, and then whooooosh, out it all goes, over and over, refreshing your whole system with each breath. And that’s just breathing. When I am enjoying an Unlimited Breath session, wowie, breathing is glorious!

Then there is the whole digestive system, starting with eating, ending with satisfying elimination, to be a bit genteel.

And we have to consider how much fun it is to move! Stretching is so nice, and so are walking, and running, and dancing, and qigong, and kung fu, and yoga, and sex, and swimming, and climbing, and all of your favorites.

Scratching itches. Brushing hair. Touching nice textures. Hugs and kisses. Walking on a foggy street, snowflakes on the tongue. What makes me enjoy my luxuries?

Relaxing before going to sleep is the height of luxury. Even relaxing right now, just a quick run through from toes to head is nice. How do I relax?

Oh, yeah, a body is a very lavishly magnificent thing to have. Why am I thrilled with my body?

I get a little sad sometimes thinking about how long it took me to really appreciate my body.

In the dark ages, I punished my body brutally; starving it, cutting, beating, sleep deprivation, correcting and correcting and correcting.

Things happened when I decided to see my body as a luxury, rather than a prison, or chamber of horrors. I was so abusive to my body, if it had been able to, it would have left me.

As I came to enjoy being in my body, I got a little less twinge-y. I stopped using pain-language, and so I don’t suffer with “discomfort” like I did with “pain.”

I spend way more time aware of my being, so things are way more pleasant to experience in general. Walking down the hall at work becomes a bit of an event as I notice moving through my feet, the flex in my ankles and knees, the swing in my hips and shoulders, the sway of my spine, and my breath.

Until we evolve into beings of pure energy, we will have a body. As long as we have a body, we will have a much more enjoyable time if we can find ways to like it, if we stop ourselves when we notice we are not treating it well, if we appreciate, and love our bodies.

Our bodies support us, quite literally. It is our primary life-support. The more we appreciate our bodies, the more we treat them with love and kindness, the nicer it is to live inside them.

How have I changed from seeing my body as the enemy to loving the body I’m in?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2013 all rights reserved 10032013

Magic Words

Magic Words

I love it when I find magic words, words that can change my environment both inside and out. Creative Questions seem like magic words to me, using Creative Questions changes things so quickly and easily.

One of my most favorite Creative Questions is “Why am I grateful?” When I ask this question, stuff happens, amazing and wonderful stuff.

“Why am I grateful?” is a direct line to our perfect self. It’s a brilliant manifestation of our grownup selves. It connects us with the outside world, brings up warm feelings about the people in our lives, helps us recognize the value of our possessions. Gratitude and appreciation are super efficient for building on our relationships.

When I feel grateful, I recognize that I live in luxury. The more I notice that, the more luxury I find. When I appreciate my loving friends, I feel more friendship, I feel closer, I have more intimacy. When I appreciate my wonderful body, I notice how she feels, and what she wants, with more clarity and compassion, and I treat her better.

When I am feeling upset about something; scared or mad or agitated; going to grateful is a nice pacifier, it will calm and soothe, a cooling balm on my spirit. Likewise, when I am having trouble sleeping, listing the things I am grateful for, the things I appreciate, that which I am thankful for, well, sleep comes more easily and I rest more deeply.

In ye olde Dark Ages, I waited for things to be grateful for. I thought gratitude came only with life-altering stuff, so when life-altering stuff showed up for me, I had no habit of gratitude. I was a thankless jerk with a habit of entitlement, a gross lack of appreciation, a thankless attitude. I was also miserable, depressed, full of self-loathing.

Once I started to grow up for real, I began to actively seek out things in my life so that I might begin to feel gratitude. Slowing down to really taste my morning coffee, to feel sunshine on my face, to stretch my muscles, to lift something heavy with ease. Noticing how I feel about you, really seeing you, appreciating you and your wonderful qualities. Appreciating how cool you are leads me to feeling grateful for your friendship, for all your kindnesses to me.

Writing a little thank you note in my own handwriting is another way I like to practice gratitude. I know I love to receives thank yous for the work I do, so I assume you do, too. I also like to write notes to people’s supervisors to let them know what a good job their employees are doing. And when I appreciate the customer servicer person on the other end of the phone I am always delighted at the quality of service they give to me. We both come out of the interaction feeling happy.

Practicing gratitude and appreciation each day has another benefit. Gratitude and appreciation are gateway feelings leading to the hardcore emotion, happiness. The more we practice feeling grateful and feeling appreciation, the shorter the hop to authentic happiness. By taking time each day to notice what we are grateful for, by slowing down our insides enough to appreciate our environment, our people, our services, our transport, our appliances, and so on, by feeling thankful for our jobs, our homes, delicious, wholesome food, lovely, useful clothing, and so on, we carve pathways into our brains that make it so easy to feel grateful, and from there to letting our happiness burble up from the heart of our natural life.

How have I changed from feeling entitled to nurturing my gratitude and appreciation?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2013 all rights reserved 09052013

I’m a Lucky Duck

I’m a Lucky Duck

I have a little peeve to share with you. That is, people saying to me, “You’re so lucky!” about something that I’ve worked my butt off for.

So let’s talk about luck.

We know now that we are creating our environment all the time with the thoughts we have and the choices we make. We take that as a given.

What does that do to our notion of luck?

We tend to think of some people as lucky, and others as unlucky. What we don’t see is all the behind the scenes stuff. We don’t see how they each create a space that attracts what seems to be good luck, or what seems to be bad.

In days of yore, I was very good at bad lucking. Bad luck jobs, bad luck debt, bad luck health, bad luck boyfriends. I had bad judgment, and made bad choices. I felt plagued by bad luck, and had neither a sense of personal responsibility, nor did I get that I was encouraging bad stuff to happen to me. It took a beloved teacher ten long years to help me see what I was doing.

I made my own bad luck. It’s not that I wouldn’t see the flashing red warning signs, the red flags, it was simply that when I saw them I was drawn to them rather than try to avoid them. If given a choice between two attractive men, I would choose the one who seemed like he needed help. Oy. If two equivalent jobs were offered, I would take the one with the troubled boss. Oy. If I had the choice between taking care of my health, or staying up all night or abusing chemicals, or starving myself, well, you see what I’m talking about.

Oy.

Now I make space for good luck. I see the red flags as warnings and keep my distance. I have a job I like with people I love. I take care of my health, my money, my relationships.

I have such good luck!

Another element of making space for good luck is commitment. I really wanted to go to Hong Kong for my 40th birthday. Only thing was that it would cost me a third of what I was making annually running the coffee shop. But I made the commitment, and lo, the “good luck” started showing up. I saved up like crazy, talked about it like crazy, and friends and family started helping me realize the trip of a lifetime. I’ve now had three Trips of a Lifetime and expect to have more.

When I commit to living a life full of good luck, full of fortune, full of wonderful surprises and miracles, guess what I get? When I spend time each day noticing my good luck, my fortunate things, my wonderful surprises and miracles, I get grateful.

One of the most wonderful things in my life is my relationship with you. What a difference you make for me, and I appreciate that in you so much.

How have I changed from believing in bad luck to making room for miracles?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2013 all rights reserved 08202013