Tag Archives: Neale+Donald+Walsch

Dare to Dream

 

Think Big ©Angi Sullins & Silas Toball www.durwaigh.com

“So many of us are living limited lives not because we have to but because we think we have to.” – Dr. Bruce Lipton

Last December, my friend Mike told me that he was in Phase Three of his total makeover, or what has since become known as The Mikeover. He had completely revamped his wardrobe, dumped his old car and leased a new one, he was in the middle of finding new furnishings for his new condo and would soon be refurbishing his new office as the last act of his transformation.

WHAT? Who does this – especially in the midst of an economic downturn? I was intrigued. I had to know what prompted this great change. Did he wake up one morning, look around and say, “NOTHING IS WORKING – I HAVE TO START OVER”? It was a little like that, but as Mike said, “it all kind of snowballed organically”.

Over a year ago, our mutual friend Todd encouraged Mike to splurge on a pair of Gucci sunglasses. This may not seem like a big thing, but for Mike who grew up in a family of modest means with four siblings, this little luxury was the beginning of a shift in his perspective. Six months later Todd tempted him with a pair of Prada sunglasses (I know – what’s with the sunglasses already?) and that was it.

Mike’s wardrobe didn’t measure up to the glasses. And once he’d replaced it with ‘big boy clothes’, getting into and out of his 11-year-old Honda Civic hatchback just didn’t feel right. He’d had ‘New Car’ on his to do list for a few years, so this wasn’t an altogether random idea. So with his new Infiniti G37 coupe and his hot wardrobe, coming home to his ‘dump’ (his words, not mine) of an apartment didn’t feel right either. There were termites. There was an inconsiderate stomping, yelling upstairs neighbor. And he didn’t feel at home in his neighborhood. ‘New Apartment’ had been on Mike’s list, too, but it took the momentum of The Mikover to make it happen. Since then he’s moved into a condo in a swank building downtown San Francisco, filled it with ‘big boy’ furniture, and he’s having a house-warming party next weekend. YAY Mike!

With three phases complete, I was dying to know what impact all the changes had had on my friend. Did he feel different about himself? Were people responding to him differently? And here, in Mike’s words, is the answer:

“I feel like I’ve grown up. I shifted from ‘good enough’ to having the things I really want and know work for me. I feel as if I’m living externally the stylish part of life for the first time ever, and it feels gratifying and good – especially knowing that I didn’t have to pay through the nose for it. I never thought I could afford designer clothes, great furniture, etc., but Todd showed me that having great stuff doesn’t necessarily mean having to spend a lot of money. I feel like I deserve it and that I earned it. And I am immensely grateful for it every day.”

Mike’s story has me thinking about my mother. She, too, lived modestly, but sometimes she entertained fantasies about a life of luxury . “If only I had a million dollars,” she used to say. Then she would do – what? Go on a cruise? Buy a new car? She was never able to tell me what she’d do if someone handed her a big check, but the implication was that if this would occur, she would be happy at last.

Like my mother, many people believe that they have to ‘HAVE’ something in order to ‘DO’ something and then they will ‘BE’ successful and/or happy. But it doesn’t work that way.

In her article, Become the Change, Colette Baron Reid says that to manifest the life we want, we must align our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs with the experience we want to create. In other words, imagine yourself being the person you want to be, take action toward your goal, and you will create what you want.

And in Conversations with God, Book 3, God/Neale Donald Walsch says, “Live the grandest version of the greatest vision you ever had about Who You Are. Begin the living of it by declaring it.”

That’s what Mike did.

 

All You Need Is Love


Victorian Valentine's Day Card

Victorian Valentine’s Day Card

With Valentine’s Day approaching, “Love Is All There Is”, started echoing through my mind. When I looked up this old Beatles’ song, I saw that I had the lyrics a bit wrong.

What I was hearing, of course, was the refrain from ‘All You Need Is Love’, their anthem that was broadcast around the world in 1967. And what I saw looking at the titles of the 214 songs The Beatles recorded and released in the twelve years they were together, was that 21 of their songs include the word LOVE in the title. Many more – without counting, I would guess most – are about love.

It seems The Beatles were obsessed with love. As their music evolved, their love songs moved away from expressions of over-the-moon, stomach-churning, romance. I don’t know if it was the drugs or their trip to the Himalayas to study meditation with the Maharishi – or both – but in the end, their music reflected the more spiritual aspects of this high-frequency emotion.

There are those who believe that our souls separate from their polar opposites when we incarnate and that we spend our lifetime trying to heal the pain of that separation. If this is true, we have good reason to be obsessed!

But ultimate healing comes only with union/reunion with the SELF. In Conversations with God, Book 3, God – through Neale Donald Walsch – says that we are love and through the expression of love, we are seeking to know Who and What We Are. And to experience Who We Really Are is our sole purpose in becoming human.

Which begs the question, “Who are we – really?”

God/Walsch – tells us that we are all ONE. I am you, you are me  . . . Wait! I’m hearing The Beatles again: ‘I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together’ (I Am The Walrus).

So here’s where it gets tricky  . . . If we want love, we have to give it first to ourselves. God/Walsch says, “Now if Who You Really Are is a person who is kind and considerate, caring and sharing, compassionate and loving – then, when you are being these things with others, you are giving your Self the grandest experience for which you came into the body.”

The last lyrics on The Beatles’ final album, Let It Be, are ‘And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make‘.

It would seem that Walsch and The Beatles were channeling the same source.

When The Beatles broke up in 1969, John had married Yoko, Paul had married Linda, George was on his spiritual path, and Ringo was writing songs and acting. Like all relationships, theirs had changed. But it’s been said that they represent the twentieth century’s greatest romance. I like that.

The Beatles

The Beatles