Here’s an  article* sure to warm your heart this holiday season. . .

The Whale… If you read a recent front page story of the San Francisco Chronicle, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth. A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her.

They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as she was thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you. And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude. I pass this on to you, my friends, in the same spirit.

GRATITUDE! It’s the perfect season to start!

*Article by Colleen Ceton, posted on Glenda Feilen’s “Attraction in Action.”

“The diseases of the mind are more and more
destructive than those of the body.”
~  Marcus Tullius Cicero. 1st-century BC Roman philosopher

That thoughts become things is not new to our generation. Cicero was aware in the 1^st Century BC.

The ego tries to incessantly fill our heads with worry, judgment, negative and self-defeating thoughts. A recent Higher Awareness article referenced the high-powered negative technology that runs amuck in our mind:

On spam: What unsolicited junk do we allow to enter our minds and distract us from what’s important?

On viruses: What malicious thoughts and behaviors sabotage our dreams and sap our vitality?

On worms: How do we allow fear to worm its way into our lives and subvert our highest intentions?

If only there was a computer service warranty we could take out on our minds. Perhaps there is – but does it ever require constant vigilance…

Silencing the mind. Getting quiet. Replacing negative thoughts with positive affirmations.

On getting quiet, Sir J. Lubbock wrote: “Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.”

A few weeks ago I wrote an article summarizing the book, “It Works,” http://rosiebrownrn.com/it-works/. Key points from the book include:

You must know what you want.

You have within you a mighty power capable of giving you that which you earnestly desire.

The Plan: write down on paper, in order of importance, the things and conditions you really want.

Three Positive Rules of Accomplishment:

1)      Read the list of what you want three times each day: morning, noon, and night.

2)      Think of what you want as often as possible.

3)      Do not talk to anyone about your plan except the Great Power within you which will unfold your objective mind the method of accomplishment.

I wrote my list on an index card. A friend then encouraged me to turn the card over and write on the back, “What my life will look like in 6 months.”

How about this? “Ahh! Abundance just everywhere! So happy! My life is an explosion of JOY! My health is fabulous, I am blissfully happy, I am traveling the world! I have so much money with which to enjoy life and help others! I am so, so happy!! My partner is fabulous! I am so in love! Life is so grand! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! So grateful!”

Wonder what can happen if that card is read every day, three times a day? What would you write on your card? What do you want your life to look like in 6 months?

It takes effort to still the mind, sweep away the negative thoughts, and, consequently, cure the diseases of the mind. It can start with taking time every day to be still, empty your head, and then fill the mind back up with the dreams you have written on your index card.

“If each of us sweeps in front of our own steps, the whole world would be clean.”

~  Goethe

It was Christmas for me today…and now you.

When I visited my doctor this morning, he told me about the incredible results he is having in his life after reading and following the advice given in a little pocket guide written in 1926. The book is titled It Works. The author would not identify himself because he felt the book was to be a gift to everyone, and he should not receive credit/praise for it.

It is an amazing little book. There was a pocket of strong energy going on back in the 20s and 30s as noted in the works of C. Clements Stone, Norman Vincent Peale, Napoleon Hill, Frances Scovel Shinn, Neville Goddard, and Wallace D. Wattles, Here yet is another of the many of gems produced during that era.

I sat in my doctor’s office after my appointment and read it cover to cover. I took notes so I could share with you:

¨  You must know what you want.

¨  You have within you a mighty power capable of giving you that which you earnestly desire.

¨  The Plan: write down on paper in order of importance the things and conditions you really want.

¨  Three Positive Rules of Accomplishment:

1)      Read the list of what you want three times each day: morning, noon, and night.

2)      Think of what you want as often as possible.

3)      Do not talk to anyone about your plan except the Great Power within you which will unfold your objective mind the method of accomplishment.

¨  No need to analyze how this Power within you is going to accomplish your desires. The method of accomplishment will unfold quite as mysteriously as the ear of corn appears on the stalk, and in most cases much sooner than you expect.

¨  Be definite – if it is a car that you want, decide what kind, style, price, color, and all other details including when you want it. If a home, write the location and cost. If you want money, write the amount. If a sales record, write the total, the date required, the number of items you must sell to make it, list your prospects and put after each name the sum expected.

¨  When discrediting thoughts appear, give thanks and assert credit to your Omnipotent Power. You can’t give thanks without gratitude – and be happy. When giving thanks, let it be reflected on your face.

How to obtain a copy of It Works:

DeVorss Publications

DeVorss & Company

PO Box 1389

Camarillo CA 93011-1389

www.devorss.com

(800) 843-5743

I intend to follow the advice. Want to do it with me and see what happens? Will the tricky part be getting clear on what we definitively want? Just as I had that thought, I remembered two quotes that appeared in my mailbox today:

“You cannot transcend what you do not know. To go beyond yourself, you must know yourself.”
— Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it…”

—  Johann Wolfgang von Goeth

Life’s a trip. Whether it is good or bad, positive or negative, it’s all how you look at it.

“Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle.” ~ Annie Besant

At 1:30 this morning I set out on the splendid adventure of accompanying someone to the hospital ER in a major city. Now, one would think that since the waiting room had only one other person in it, that it would be a quick in-and-out. Well, not so.

While the x-ray was taken almost immediately, we were left in the lounge to wait for four hours before seeing any medical personnel. One might say that it was a gallant effort to sit up all night long, struggling to stay awake. As other patients collected in the lounge, most of them went to sleep in their chairs. At times, our faces (including my own) reflected what my friend called a “Bitter Betty.”

What we could not see from our side of the desk was the entrance that embraced multiple trauma victims, one ambulance after the other, all night (morning) long.

Almost five hours later, the nurse and the physician apologized for the long wait. The nurse commented that it was the worst shift she had worked in a very, very long time – multiple trauma victims. “The good news is they are all living.”

How about Appreciative Annie instead of Bitter Betty…

As we walked to our car five hours later, it was time to reflect on gratitude. Oh sure, we had now been up over 24 hours, and plans for the day were now totally swept away, BUT, we were both alive and well and walking out of the ER. Our thoughts went to those lying in the ICU beds behind us, struggling for their lives, suffering from the trauma.

Upon returning to the apartment and opening the morning emails, Abraham had this message waiting for us, “Every time you say, ‘I appreciate that. I really like that. I applaud that. I acknowledge the value in that.’ Every time you do that, you spend some of your Energy, and it is the spending of the Energy that creates a vacuum, so to speak, or an attraction, so to speak, that draws more and more and more and more.”

On this spring morning, we are grateful for many things: for hospitals for us to go to in the middle of the night, for competent medical personnel that literally save lives, for antibiotics and inhalers to help us survive, and for lungs to breathe, legs to walk, eyes to see, and hearts to be appreciative of all that comes our way on this adventure of life.

Lou Holtz in his video Do Right said one thing is universal: you are going to have problems. Try as you might, you cannot escape problems long term. They are a natural part of our human experience.

www.tut.com says it this way…

“If you knew how much you have in common with every single person now living in time and space Rosie – in terms of your greatest hopes and dreams, and your deepest fears and worries – you’d wonder how I manage to tell you all apart.

And from this day forward you’d likely think of every single one of them as ‘dearest,’ just as I do.

Tallyho,
The Universe”

Problems are universal. As bad as it may seem, you are not alone. What makes one experience different from another’s is how you react to the problem. Do you feel like you made a mistake? Do you blame yourself? Do you feel hopeless, feel as if there is no way out of the situation?

No matter what, you are not a “bad person.” There are no mistakes. A friend recently told me, “The only mistake you make is if you fail to learn from the experience.”

Deepak Chopra says it this way…“Be willing to stop judging against yourself. Bad urges don’t make you a bad person.”

I have had my share of “bad urges.” How about you?

Another thought…are “bad urges” really “bad”? Don’t good things come from all experiences, no matter how “bad” they are.

Recently feeling completely overwhelmed with a personal issue, my son sent me the following quote. He said his professor gave it to him in college when the going got really tough. It helped him make it through. It has helped me. Perhaps it will help you…

“Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”

I was talking with a friend last night, discussing someone who feels as if his life is collapsing around him. My friend took the firm approach that, no matter what, be grateful. No matter how “bad” things seem, his advice is to be grateful. “If you don’t, you are destined to have more and more ‘bad things’ to happen.”

Another perspective comes from this week’s message from Higher Awareness:

“When we are struggling with any challenge, whether it be ill health, a lack of money, a lost job, relationships, an accident, whatever — we need to look for the spiritual learning. We can ask ourselves, “What quality does my soul want me to live more fully?”

Perhaps the most insightful piece of advice comes from Stephen Covey…

“If you start to think the problem is ‘out there,’ stop yourself. That thought is the problem.”

Perhaps the most helpful technique is to guard your thoughts…guard against the negative thoughts and focus on all the things with which to be grateful.

“Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”

Read the following message from www.tut.com and see if it doesn’t supercharge you with excitement on this the last day of 2009:

“I’ve got a feeling, Rosie, that 2010 is going to be your kind of year. That you’ll be happier than you’ve ever been, laughing harder, smiling wider, standing taller, walking lighter, dancing crazier, hugging longer, living grander, loving louder, and if you want, selling the pictures to a tabloid to raise money for your new charity.

Can you feel it, too?
    The Universe”

What do you think? Excited about the upcoming year? Maybe need boost to get things going?

A sure-fire way to get the new year off to a great start is to begin the new year by being grateful for all the things that happened in your life this past year.

A habit I developed many years ago was to create a “Gratitude List” on the last day of the year. It is an opportunity to get quiet and reflect back on all the wonderful things that happened over the course of the past year. Perhaps it is a time to remember some of those positive experiences that you have forgotten or taken for granted.

It might also serve you well to jot down the things that maybe didn’t go so well. Perhaps those circumstances provided growth and self development that will help to flower your garden in 2010.

The only regret I have is that I did not keep my lists until the most recent years. I recommend that you create a file titled “Gratitude List” and start saving your lists. One day in the future, your file will provide you (and your grandchildren) with a documentary on the events of your life. Your grandchildren and their children will love to get to know you through the words you record.

One final suggestion…include your family in the list-building exercise. Encourage your spouse, significant other, children, and grandchildren to help create the list.

What a positive energetic experience to usher in the exciting new year. Blessings to you and yours in 2010!

“When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place
on the floor. It’s to enjoy each step along the way.”

— Wayne Dyer

 What a beautiful reminder that we sometimes need to paste to our foreheads…especially me.

What a week it has been. My book, Stop the Needless Suffering, arrived on Monday, just in time for two seminars and book signings this week. The love and support from the audiences has been filled to overflowing, over the top with emotion.

The associated flurry of activity this week could be likened to living in a tornado. Whew, so many things swirling together from every direction, all at once. There are so many associated activities to learn – AWeber, Virtual Terminal, pasting book links from Amazon into a newly created web site, etc., etc.

Then on Wednesday, the world stopped for just a little while to force me to pause and take notice of the process. I was driving out of town to make a 12:30 lunch appointment that I was very excited about. Everything was going very well. Almost to my destination, I had 15 minutes to spare.

The circumstances all changed when just ahead a train blocked the highway, leaving a mile full of cars and semis stopped dead in all directions. There we all were, trapped together with no possibility of escape.

After my 15 spare minutes were used up, slowly the traffic began to move once again. All the semis started to move slowly, creeping along , one behind the other, on a two lane highway - all the way to my final destination. Trapped in a situation I could do nothing about, it gave me the opportunity to reflect on the moment…and on the entire week’s activities.

Slowly I began to replace the feeling of being panicked at being late with a different feeling. I started to sense the deliciousness of what it would be like when I finally did meet my friends for that lunch appointment. Suddenly I was grateful for this delay, which would now make the moment of our meeting even sweeter. A joyful feeling filled my heart.

It occurred to me that perhaps the delay was simply to get my attention. I had plenty of time to reflect on the week and soak up the joy and appreciation for each step in the process.  

Winston Churchill said, “Everyone stumbles over the truth from time to time, but most people pick themselves up and hurry off as though nothing ever happened.”

The truth I stumbled over was to feel joy in every moment, all of them – even when a stopped train interferes with my schedule.

The lesson for the day? When we dance, let us remember to enjoy each step along the way. 

The day I have long been awaiting is finally here. Suddenly it all seems so surreal. How did this all happen?

I know it has to be real. I mean the books were personally delivered to me yesterday, so I know it is real.  Oh, the magic of tearing that first box open, seeing the book and holding it for the very first time.

I think back to the physical despair I felt when I first found that flyer in the health food store five years ago announcing a seminar on natural hormone balancing by Dr. Celia Church Goodson on September 18, 2004.

She forever changed my life on that day.

I think back to the day I decided to write a book on the content of my hormone balancing classes. It’s a good thing I didn’t have an idea of what was ahead for me. I am not sure I would have undertaken the journey.

Today with deep gratitude I think of the people who have propped me up and encouraged me when the days seemed so overwhelming and full of despair.

I just finished writing personal notes of appreciation in the inside cover for all my story contributors who helped to make Stop the Needless Suffering a reality. I am overcome with emotion as I think about each person, their special uniqueness, and yet the identical characteristic that unites them all as one – their desire to reach out and help other people by sharing their personal stories.

Stop the Needless Suffering, The Complete Woman’s Guide to Balancing Your Hormones Naturally will soon be available on my web site that is being created at this very moment: www.RosieBrownRN.com.

Now it is time to get ready for my very first book signing/seminar this evening. It feels sorta like my wedding day. What an odd feeling. A celebration of love, that’s what it will be.

As I reflect back over this past year, the one ingredient that holds everything together is love. I do believe that love is the answer. May all who read this book be touched by the love and care that went into it by so many.

Love to you always. May we work together to stop the needless suffering.

It was exciting to watch Peyton Manning at the Colts’ game yesterday, but Peyton gave the lingering crowd an added bonus as he walked off the field at the game’s end.

Peyton was the last player to leave the field. A crowd had gathered on the bleachers near the exit off the field. As Peyton looked up to the crowd, he waved his hand, his face radiating sincere appreciation and warmth for his lingering fans.

Suddenly a young boy somehow broke out of the stands and ran onto the field to encircle his small arms around Peyton’s leg. Peyton reached down, tossled his hair, and hugged him back. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Peyton must have caught a glimpse of someone (probably his stunned mother or father) trying to snap a quick picture.  

Peyton paused to pose. Picture taken, Peyton’s eye caught something else, and the next thing we saw was Peyton motioning as if to say, “Come on, quickly. It’s OK.” Now another little boy ran to Peyton to hug his other leg, and Peyton patiently posed with the two boys while another camera flash ensued. Then, with a turn, he exited the field.

As we ascended the stairs to exit Lucas Oil Stadium, I’m pretty certain we weren’t the only ones commenting about Peyton’s kindness to those two little boys, or the genuine glowing warmth that radiated from his eyes as he acknowledged the crowd. Every single person seemed to be engaged in a similar discussion. We had just received an important lesson about gratitude and kindness.

Grandma used to say, “What goes around, comes around.” The sincerity and kindness expressed to the crowd and those two little boys makes it easy to understand why his fans love him and support him. Gratitude and kindness extended to others is surely to find its way back to the sender.

Research has demonstrated that when someone merely witnesses a kindness extended to another person, the observer equally benefits physiologically. In that one minute of Peyton’s kindness, the benefits rippled out to every single person in the crowd.

Kindness has a way of melting away stress, slowing the breathing, relaxing the body…and the adrenals get a breath of fresh air.

When you find yourself stressed, two wonderful techniques for adrenal health include:

1)      Stop what you are doing. Make yourself pause and express gratitude for the situation you find yourself in, or for other parts of your life for which you are most grateful.

2)      Stop what you are doing. Take a quick break to do something nice for someone else. Make a phone call, send an email, or just walk around to someone’s cubicle and say something nice.

Gratitude and kindness are two tools for adrenal health that have a reciprocal benefit to the sender as well as the receiver. Thanks, Peyton, for reminding us of that lesson.

WOW, what a day, one filled with ceaseless, unbelievable, overwhelming challenges. Everyone has now gone to bed, and finally there is stillness all around. It is nice to sit and reflect on the hurricane of a day.

It seems the first place to start is with gratitude. What are all the blessings of the day? What went well? On the other hand, what about all the “contrast”? You know, those things that make you uncomfortable, those things that make you want to look for the nearest bridge to jump off of?

Ahh, the contrast is a blessing too.  Just imagine what it will be like once we overcome all of that? It certainly pushes us to look for the “better feeling place,” as Esther Hicks says.

Tonight as I count my blessings, I express gratitude for my health. Today I read the following quote:

“He who has health has hope,
and he who has hope has everything.”
                     — Arabian proverb

What, if anything, do we have if we do not have good health? Yesterday I received a message telling me a heartbreaking story about a person I know. A portion of the story went like this:

 “They don’t know what caused it all, just that his liver is failing as well as his kidneys. They will not do dialysis until they can get his liver stable. He was unresponsive yesterday, so they took him by ambulance to the medical center. They said that he has a lot of toxin build-up because the kidneys aren’t functioning. They are hoping to get him on a transplant list for his liver.”

I don’t know about your day, but my contrast piled all together is a thimble’s worth compared to what this poor man is going through. We have so much to be grateful for when we have our good health, and how long will we have good health if we don’t mind our mind and take care of ourselves?

Perhaps life-threatening contrast serves to wake us up so that we learn to do what the Budda teaches us:

“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for
the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate
troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”

Tonight I express gratitude for all the day’s events that went well and for all the things that didn’t go so well. The contrast is my teacher. Tonight I appreciate this present moment and vow to be more wise as I go about spending tomorrow’s moments.