Talent in your pockets

The other day I heard someone say of Erma Bombeck, an American popular author who had a long career as a mother, homemaker and author regarding same, and wrote of the era in which I grew up, that she had the following to say about how she saw the end of her life.

I paraphrase here...

She said that she wanted to arrive wherever she was going at the end of her life (heaven I think) and have God ask her to empty her pockets, asking her if she had used up all the talents and opportunities that she had been given to work with. She wanted to be able to answer that she had used up everything and had nothing that she could return unused. I hope I got what she said right, but even if I didn't, this is what I took from what I heard.

The concept really hit home for me. I like the idea that we might be given raw materials to work with and that our job throughout our lives might be to use up everything with which we arrive, leaving with empty pockets, having lived a full life.

So I gave it some thought. What did I arrive with in my pockets? What talents do I have? Do I recognize them? Have I used them as much as I might, or am I hiding any of them where no one can see them, let alone make use of them? So far as I am aware, I think I use my talents, big or small.

And what about opportunities? Have I taken full advantage of the opportunities that have come my way? Have I shared them? I'm not quite as sure of this one as I am about the talents I have. I suspect that I may have been scared on some occasions, although no specific situations are coming immediately to mind. I recognize that opportunities sometimes look like risks to me - risks that are too big.

How about you? Are your pockets empty? Are you finished yet or do you still have some things stored away in your pockets that have yet to see the light of day, before you are asked to empty them out and reflect on what you haven't used? Hmm.

Pollyanna-ism

I'm still reading the book called The Intention Experiment and am interested in it, not only for the information it contains but because of the thinking it has inspired me to do. Today I was reading about how to prepare myself to send my healing intentions out to a person or situation. There is a list of 9 points.

• Enter your intention space.
• Power up through meditation.
• Move into peak focus through mindful awareness of the present.
• Get onto the same wavelength by focusing on compassion and making a meaningful connection.
• State your intention and make it specific.
• Mentally rehearse every moment of it with all your senses.
• Visualize, in vivid detail, your intention as established fact.
• Time it right - check what the sun is doing, and choose days when you feel happy and well.
• Move aside - surrender to the power of the universe and let go of the outcome.

I was drawn to the fourth point which is designed to encourage a sense of universal compassion. It starts with focusing your attention on your heart and ends with directing your loving thoughts to the object of your intention. The author spends some time discussing monks, yogis and healers and making observations about how they prepare to meditate and what they can do from such a state of being.

Having done healing work myself, I have had some first-hand experience of what this feels like. I can't say that I am the best mediator in the world but I do know what it feels like to focus on the person to whom I am sending healing, or on whom I am placing my hands. Many of the healers talk about 'getting out of the way' so that the healing energy can pass through them, using them as a channel.

To me, this goes hand in hand with opening my heart and entering the place where I feel love for the person who needs healing. In fact, I can honestly say that most of the time this is true with any client with whom I work, whether the person is a therapy client, a coaching client, looking to have a reading, or in a workshop setting.

While I am working with that person, a change takes place inside me and I shift into a neutral and accepting place. It is quite simply the best place, the most effective place, from which to work. I can't say that I do this intentionally; it seems to be a by-product of the work. I think that it happens when I set my intention at the beginning of a session or workshop.

For as long as I can remember, I have been an optimistic person. One of my bosses once commented, in some exasperation, "Are you always so happy?" Although he was referring in part to my being cheerful, he was also commenting on the fact that I would look for the best in situations. The answer to his question was: not always, but most of the time.

I have on occasion been told that I am Pollyanna-ish. It isn't usually said as a compliment and the term came to mind today as I was considering the state of positive expectation that I often feel when I am working. It has been a long time since I heard the story so I looked it up on the internet. I haven't read the book called Pollyanna but I did see the Walt Disney film when I was a child.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the book's influence:

The novel's success brought the term "pollyanna" (along with the adjective "pollyannaish" and the noun "Pollyannaism") into the language to describe someone who is cheerfully optimistic and who always maintains a generous attitude toward the motives of other people. It also became, by extension – and contrary to the spirit of the book – a derogatory term for a naïve optimist who always expects people to act decently, despite strong evidence to the contrary.

Pollyanna was an orphan who went to live with a bitter and angry aunt who gave her an attic bedroom, with nothing to give it any comfort. She was strict, cold and withholding, as I recall, and yet Pollyanna found things to be happy about. She called it the 'Glad Game' and taught everyone around her how to look for something positive in every situation. When she had an accident and lost the use of her legs, the town gathered around to support her because what she had taught them was so valuable.

I liked the story and could relate to it, not because I was always so much like the heroine, I surely did my share of moaning and moping as a child, but because I liked the idea that someone could influence the world for the better. I remember being surprised when I was teased for liking the film and subsequently I have kept my opinion to myself, even to this day. Well, in this blog I am 'outing' myself as a person of optimism. Maybe it's the first step towards healing the world.

The laboratory of life

I'm back on the topic of The Intention Experiment, the book that I'm reading - still. I'm reading a little each day and so it's sitting with me as I go about my life. This is one of those books that gives me hope because it shows me that the scientists are busy proving how I can do what I do. That's happening in their labs.

In the last couple of weeks, I have begun to look at my life through the lens of the experiments discussed in the book. I suppose you could say that my life is my laboratory. Most of the time, I experiment using myself as the guinea pig and then read the books that discuss it later on. Sometimes it happens the other way around but not usually.

The author, Lynne McTaggart, says that all matter transmits and receives impulses from all other matter, right down to the molecular level and even the sub-atomic level. (I paraphrase here) The idea is that everything is affected by everything else at the deepest possible level. I understood it when I read it, but not well enough to be able to describe it in detail here. Maybe I'll be able to by the end of the book! Suffice to tell you the gist of it and let you read it for yourselves.

One of the things that interests me is that scientists have proven that plants can not only pick up and respond to human intentions, but they can transmit, or broadcast, their response to those intentions so that other plants can pick them up as well. They don't even have to be in the same room with one another; not the human or the other plants. This was documented using equipment that was designed for lie-detector tests.

Scientists have also been experimenting with individuals directing healing intentions toward patients with cancer, AIDS and other diseases. They have proven that it makes a difference, and not just in a few isolated incidents. What we think, really does make a difference. For anyone who feels hopeless and thinks they don't make a difference in the world, I recommend they read this book so they can see that what they think and intend has a far more immediate effect than casting their vote every four years.

I'm not at all surprised to find proof that we're connected at such a basic level; in fact I have been sure that this is so since before I can remember. I have been acting for years as if it were true, even though I didn't have 'scientific' data yet. (I admit that I have always trusted that one day there would be proof.) I believe that this web of 'living connection' between all matter comes into play when I work with clients. It has taken a lot of experimenting and practice to pick up energy on this level, and it's sometimes more of an art than a science, but it would appear that we are developing some scientific evidence to validate it.

On a sillier level, for years I've been warning spiders before I vacuum near them, telling them that I'm was coming and they had better ski-daddle or they would be sucked up, but that I didn't plan to do them any harm. I've been talking to my plants, sometimes out loud and sometimes in my head, telling them that they're growing stronger and healthier. Loony? Maybe, but not dangerous to society, so I figure it's worth playing around with.

When it comes to the things that I know won't do anyone any harm, I indulge my beliefs. That's where my life becomes my own laboratory. I think we can all experiment. Far from doing harm, we can probably do some good. If other living creatures, including people, can sense my intentions, then it can't hurt to think well of them when I pass them in the street, and smile at them. It's as easy as spreading the common cold, except that it's spreading good energy instead.

Pollyanna-ish? Yup. It sure feels good though, when someone passes me in the street and smiles at me, for no apparent reason. To take another tack, if I direct jealous, angry or mean thoughts at a person, or an animal, or a plant, it impacts them on some level. Haven't you had the experience of just knowing that someone is thinking ill of you, even when you couldn't prove it, and then had this suspicion confirmed at a later date. Sometimes we're being paranoid or making unfounded assumptions, and it's always a good idea to check out assumptions before acting on them but ... sometimes you're right, and this may show you how you know.

I say this not to encourage you to go around accusing people of having convicted you in their thoughts, but to caution you against doing that to others. To me it reinforces the value of checking things out through straight and respectful communication instead of letting suspicions fester and malevolent intentions grow.

So, in conclusion, I think we're all connected in more ways than we know. I think it's as much science as gravity is. Eventually, we will teach this in grade school too! And, if we're all ultimately connected, then in harbouring harmful thoughts towards you, I'm really also causing harm to myself. Food for thought, if you'll pardon the pun.

Good intentions pave the way

In the late 80's, when I discovered that I had the ability to read the energy of people and objects, I was concerned that I might mislead people. I didn't want to say or do anything that would cause anyone any harm and so I was reluctant to use the gift that was emerging at that time. I wondered how I would know if what I picked up was valid.

One day at around that time, I was sitting in meditation and I asked the question that had been bothering me: How can I use my gift without causing harm? To my surprise, I received an immediate and very simple answer. A clear voice in my head told me to always set my intention to that effect - in other words, each time I worked I was to ask that my work with the person or group be for their and my highest good. I was advised not to under estimate the power of intent.

As soon as I heard the message I knew that I had a profound solution to more than just the question I was asking that day. It occurred to me that setting such an intention was a good idea for every aspect of life. From that time forwards, I have always set my intentions this way when I work.

Lately I have spent a lot of time pondering the world around me and especially the amount of unresolved conflict I see every day. My work is changing again, as it does periodically, but I can see that many people's work is changing. Not knowing what is ahead for us is frightening and causes us stress. We can prepare to some degree for the things we can anticipate but what happens when we come to a place where we don't know what's ahead and can't predict?

I'm still reading the book about the Intention Experiment (see the sidebar) and it has reminded me of my old solution about the power of intending something - anything. Webster's Dictionary defines intention this way:

intention

Main Entry: in·ten·tion

Pronunciation: \in-ˈten(t)-shən\

Function: noun

Date: 14th century

1: a determination to act in a certain way : resolve
2: import, significance
3 a: what one intends to do or bring about b: the object for which a prayer, mass, or pious act is offered
4: a process or manner of healing of incised wounds
5: concept; especially : a concept considered as the product of attention directed to an object of knowledge
6 plural : purpose with respect to marriage

I've always used it in the sense of the first and third definitions but when I looked the word up, it caused me to consider that the meaning could be broader than that. When I do healing work, I ask that the healing sources available to me be made available to the person who needs the healing. That is a prayer of sorts, although I wouldn't say that I pray to any traditionally defined God. I believe service is offered in the same way. I have loved to be of service since I was very young and I think that when we are of service to a person or a group, our intentions are to be of assistance.

The fourth definition interested me as well: "a process or manner of healing of incised wounds". I hadn't thought of intention as being a healing word but here is the definition, in addition to my thoughts about setting my intention when I do healing work.

And then there is the final definition, regarding intentions as they relate to marriage. Marriage, as we see it, may be one of the most intention-defined actions of our lives. When we set out in matrimony with another human being, we are filled with good intentions. In fact, we consider them to be so important that we make them sacred and ask our nearest and dearest to bear witness. We might do well to repeat them to one another every night before we go to sleep - to remind ourselves of what we hoped for and intended for the daily outcome.

Finally, I remind myself that intention is a sort of mindfulness. A friend was talking about the 'slow movement' the other day and I am reminding myself as I write this to slow down and be more mindful of my intentions as they relate to how I treat myself, and not only those around me.

Today I intend:

• to do no harm to myself or the people and creatures with whom I share this planet
• to share positive and healing energy as I move about in the world
• to use my optimism and vision to create wonderful opportunities
• To help people to hear their own inner voices and to walk their chosen paths