Author Archives: Mollie Player

Contributor: John, a law of attraction believer in India

After watching the movie The Secret I was so inspired. It helped me become very positive and that positive energy flowed inside me.

At that time I didn’t have good T-shirts and shorts to wear. I used to stand in front of the mirror and imagine myself wearing a new T-shirt and shorts. I did this only three or four times.

After three or four weeks, while visiting my aunt’s home, my aunt and I decided to go to her friend’s house who had recently started to sell dresses. We went there to buy a new dress for my aunt’s daughter whose birthday was nearing. When we bought the dress for her, immediately the dress seller told us they had expanded their business and now sold mens’ wear as well. She showed us T-shirts and shorts.

My aunt asked me to select a T-shirt, so I selected just one. However, my aunt compelled me to take another one, too. I told her that just one was enough, but she didn’t listen. Instead, she just grabbed another shirt and also a pair of shorts and handed them to me.

In this way, using the law of attraction I have attracted many small things into my life. I believe that if you feel like you have already gotten what you want and you’re already enjoying it, eventually the Universe will bring it to you in fact.

John

Contributor: Patti.

For a long time, longer than I care to remember, I was miserable … with life, myself, everyone and, well, everything. I experienced conflict in all areas of my life, from jobs to relationships. As a child, I watched my parents live miserable existences, so that’s all I knew! I also began my married life miserable, settling for a man for whom I did not have passion. He loved me, though, and I thought that was more important. I believed he could be the key to my happiness, but after we battled our way through the early years of our marriage, I learned that I was wrong to look for happiness outside of myself.

Eventually, I began looking for answers in self-help books. I purchased a few, but couldn’t get through them. One of the books was Conversations With God by Neale Donald Walsch. I remember my first attempt at reading it. I absolutely did not get it! I thought, “What is this crap?” Needless to say, I put it on a shelf where it stayed and collected dust for many years.

Then, at a low point in my life, I decided something had to change. I had been working at home for thirteen years as a U.S. patent editor when I decided that my career was the safest place to take the first step into a new way of life. This was an odd decision for me since I was not one who normally took risks. However, I knew in my heart that something just had to give.

After making this decision, I somehow (I don’t remember exactly how) became inspired to become a real estate agent.

And making this choice was a turning point in my life.

In real estate, I crossed paths with some of the nicest, sweetest, happiest people I had ever met. I honestly had no idea so much happiness existed! (I probably should have gotten out of the house a lot sooner!)

They loved and accepted me.

I felt like part of a family.

Suddenly, I became happier! Then, amazingly, as a result of this shift in my perspective, everything else in my life began to change as well. My relationship with my husband became an honest, true love relationship. Most importantly, my “story” about myself changed. I found myself telling people how much I loved my life rather than telling them about the things that were going wrong.

One afternoon, my real estate office manager commented on how upbeat I was and asked if I had ever seen the movie “The Secret.” After listening to her rave about how wonderful it was, I went home and ordered a copy of the DVD for myself that same day, and when it arrived, I watched it right away.

The effect it had on me was remarkable.

My entire being knew instinctively that what I watched was “The Truth.”

And it made me cry my eyes out.

Finally! I thought to myself as I watched. Finally, I have answers to so many of my questions about life!

After this experience, I embarked on a full-fledged journey for more information. I began reading every book I could find on the subject of positive thinking and creating my own reality. It was like a hunger that I needed to satisfy! One book led me to the next and I soaked up all of the information like a sponge. It was wonderful!

One day, while sharing my new-found knowledge with my brother, he mentioned the book Conversations With God and he asked me about Neale Donald Walsch.

“Isn’t that one of the guys on the DVD?” he asked.

My heart jumped. I said, “You’re right! And I think I have that book in my library!”

Sure enough, I still had the dusty book, and so, I began reading it right away. To this day, I am amazed at the way I grasped its contents so quickly. It was as if I was reading it for the first time! I was blown away when I thought about how, all those years ago, the words on those pages seemed as if they were written in another language, but this time it was as if they were written just for me!

In other words: I “got it!”

I suppose what they say is true: When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

Since that time, I have learned how to meditate, write affirmations, adjust my “self talk,” create vision boards and more. My new skills have led me to so many wonderful things! I have a ridiculously great job, have been married for 25 years now, and I constantly cross paths with like-minded people (who never cease to amaze me). The universe is always sending me feedback in the form of books, movies, people, events–all affirming that I’m on the absolute right path for me.Most of all, now, unlike before, there isn’t a single aspect of my life that doesn’t make me happy!

Now that is something I never thought I’d be able to say!

Today, I steer clear of drama by not watching the news, hanging out with negative people or participating in negativity in the workplace. I find that as long as I don’t fall in with or focus on that stuff, my life stays balanced. I’m always in a positive frame of mind, as long as I stay connected to the information, people and events that are in line with my beliefs. I post and “like” nothing but positive and helpful things on Facebook. I have a positive affirmation app on my phone. I keep a journal and an inspiring book by my bedside. When I first wake up, I don’t set one foot on the floor until I’ve sent love out into my day and give thanks for all of the wonderful things I’m about to experience. I don’t go to sleep at night before finding my place of gratitude so that I can “marinate” in it all night (a wonderful suggestion by Dr. Wayne Dyer). I have taken courses on how to balance key areas of my life with spirituality. I know it sounds like a lot, but it’s easy because I love it so much!

I wish the same miraculous journey for every single person who finds their way to this blog and this story!

Blessings,

Patti

Contributor: Evan Griffith of The World is Freaky Beautiful: Celebrating Personal and Spiritual Exploration at www.freakybeautiful.com.

Last year we dined with a fascinating couple. Over the years they’ve studied various approaches to energy healing, and that night they took the opportunity to relate to us a few stories of how they’ve used this knowledge to help others. One of the stories told by the wife, Gretten, especially stood out in my mind.

She once knew an older woman who had a hearing issue, she said. The problem wasn’t hearing loss, though; instead, there was something much worse as her constant companion: a sound so jarringly persistent in her ears that it incapacitated her. It was agony to exist. Concentration was nil, and her ability to enjoy life, gone.

Traditional medicine hadn’t worked, which is why this older woman had sought out Gretten. Together they performed some energy work, using spiritual powers to affect this very physical problem.

The remarkable result was this: the sound in this woman’s ears, untreatable by conventional means, was lessened so greatly by a few over-the-phone energy healing sessions that afterwards she was able to go about her life satisfactorily. Though not eliminated entirely, the sound had diminished from a 9 to 10 on the 10-point scale of awfulness to maybe a 2 or 3.

Now, it was something she could deal with.

Here’s what I think: if one person can do it, you can too. So help heal others. Or help heal yourself.

It’s going to be an exciting next few hundred years as we learn more and more about what is truly possible . . .

Yours,

Evan

Contributor: Law of attraction believer Miles Perigo

I’ve been studying and using the law of attraction in different areas of my life for a few months now. I must say it’s been quite a journey and I hope it always will be! I’ve seen significant changes in many aspects of my life.

My original intention when starting to put this law into practice was to gain a lot of money to pay off some loans I’ve accumulated over the years, and, although I haven’t quite achieved this as yet, I’ve had money come in small ways when I’ve needed it. A lot of it can be attributed to having a generally more optimistic outlook. By thinking differently, I tend to notice ways I can gain money which I probably would not have noticed if I had a more negative outlook.

As I’ve applied the law of attraction to my everyday life, I have noticed (among other things):

• My music has improved a lot. I can play and write songs with more ease, and I feel totally creative and inspired, whereas a few months ago I was going to sell my guitar out of total disgust!
• My Aikido training has improved.
• My relationships and dealings with people have improved.
• My work has become a lot more fun and fulfilling.
• I’m happier, more optimistic and relaxed.

I can categorically say THE LAW OF ATTRACTION WORKS!

Here is one of my personal law of attraction story, which is pretty typical really, once you begin to practice this principle.

For weeks I was thinking of getting an exercise mat to do ab workouts at home, but I was delaying doing so because I live in the country and there are no sports stores here and I didn’t want to pay online prices.

Anyway, last week my friend told me that she was starting a Feldenkrais class, and asked if I’d like to come. I said okay, but then she said I would need to bring a mat as a lot of it is done on the hard floor. Since this was the day of the class I could not order one online, so I went down to the local Target, which in my town is tiny and just mainly sells clothes and toys. I asked the sales girl if they had mats, and she said that they don’t stock them anymore.

A bit despondent, I went to the toy section to check out a toy for my nephew, and on the top shelf of the toy section is sitting–you guessed it!–a brand spanking new exercise mat of the exact color and length I wanted for about $15 less than the one I saw online!

So, it’s not a million dollars, but it is a small happy thing that the Universe gave to me. More important, though, this experience affirmed to me that something is definitely working with this new way of thinking about life.

There are many facets to the law of attraction, and you can pick and choose what to study and what works for you. For me the key is to make the situation feel less bad by being optimistic. Then things get a lot better.

Recently, Deepak Chopra’s The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success has become my bible. There is so much in such a small book, and much of it is related to the law of attraction. Also check out Wendy Betterini’s How to Attract Money and www.opentoprosperity.com.

Anyway, it’s a huge subject with lots of information out there. Just try to read widely and often, and don’t forget those affirmations!

Miles

Contributor: Greg Kuhn, author of How Quantum Physicists Build New Beliefs. The following is excerpted from this highly recommended, super practical law of attraction book. First, the author discusses all of the steps that, under his guidance, his friend Carol took to manifest her ideal mate. Then, he concludes the story with this story.

Carol, you might like to know, has met an amazing man. He is handsome, kind, smart, successful, a lot of fun, and shares many of Carol’s most important interests. He derives as much pleasure and happiness being around Carol as she does being with him, yet he has a life of his own and, to her delight, doesn’t depend on Carol to make him happy. In fact, this man is almost a perfect match to the letters Carol pre-wrote to him back during the time she was first writing about her soul mate from the initial positive emotions on the emotional perspective chart …

Carol has met many wonderful men since … In fact, she expects to continue attracting cool, fun men into her life. And her perspective has changed so that she no longer needs one lifetime soul mate to make her happy …

Carol, like me, is on the journey of playing ‘Grow a Greater You.’ It’s a life-long journey and it is also a fun one–full of amazing insights, perspectives, and inspirations.

Greg Kuhn

Contributor: Debianne DeRose. MANifesting MENtor and law of attraction fan Debbianne DeRose is the author of three humorous books including What I Did On My Midlife Crisis Vacation. Get your fix of empowerment laced with humor! Head over to www.debbianne.com.

During my “Inadvertent House Flipper” days in Oregon, I was bursting with creativity. In fact, that’s what motivated me to buy my very own ugly-duckling home: it was a giant canvas. I had far more in the way of artistic inspiration than common sense or funds to complete the many projects I’d started. But as it turns out, those conditions were perfect for ushering in the far greater creativity of the universe.

Among the more prominent DIY projects was the design and construction of a big mosaic-tiled shower room. Smashing up tiles with a hammer, sorting the fragments by color, then arranging them into designs had become an epic community endeavor at my casa. And though I’d amassed a ginormous tile collection over the course of two years—scrounging leftovers from other people’s projects, sometimes picking them up cheap at the Habitat Re-Store, or gleaning them from dumpsters—it somehow wasn’t enough. Halfway through the project, I was shocked to realize I’d used up all the tiles.

Ironically, though I was wildly creative in an outward sense, my limited human mind could only conceive of a measly two options to solve the conundrum: buy the remaining tiles at retail (which seemed impossible on a shoestring budget) or wait another two years for slow, cheap acquisition (which was really depressing). I was at a standstill, so I simply turned my attention away. Which was easy to do considering I had a mess of electrical wires protruding from the ceilings and countless other “fish to fry.”

A few weeks later there came a knock on the door. Putting down my trowel and my bucket of plaster, I opened the front door to discover two women on my doorstep. Would I be interested in some crates of tiles? They pointed to their pick-up truck.

These kind strangers had worked at the Ann Sacks Tile Company for years, squirreling away the choicest pieces, but now they were Alaska-bound … and eager to lighten their load. Within a few minutes, I’d been gifted with boxes full of gorgeous brand new designer tiles—thousands of dollars worth!

How on earth did this happen? Well, I did have some mosaic art outside that caught their eye, but this was clearly the magic of the universe at work. I often reflect on this tile tale to remind myself of two key manifesting principles. First is that the divine solution always serves the highest good of all parties involved (or all cooperative components). Secondly, the magical solution shows up when I release my resistance. In this case, being insanely busy and immersed in other problem-solving activities was a very effective way to divert my mind. Whatever the path of least resistance is … take it!

And of course, the metaphor was not lost on me: Taking something solid, smashing it to bits, then rearranging the shards to create new beauty. If we yield our thoughts and beliefs to the hammer of change, the result is a huge unsalvageable mess! Or so it seems … until we relax and allow something pleasingly novel to emerge.

Debianne DeRose

Contributor: Greg Kuhn, law of attraction guru and author of How Quantum Physicists Build New Beliefs. The following is excerpted from this highly recommended, super practical law of attraction book. 

In June of 2007, I got a phone call from my attorney telling me that she could hold off the banks only until September. After that, foreclosures would ensue and I would be left with no choice but to declare bankruptcy. With a failed rental property business of fifteen rental homes in various stages of unrentable condition, I was a little over $1,000,000 in debt and had n means to repay any of it. And the dilapidated states of these homes meant no one in their right mind was willing to buy them for anything close to their mortgage amounts …

Flash forward to May of 2008. On a Monday afternoon, I got a phone call from my realtor, telling me that the last of my properties was going to be sold and the bank was forgiving all of my remaining debt (just as all but one of the previous ones had). After that phone call, I had finally gotten rid of every single rental property, never had any foreclosures, had no remaining debt, never had to declare bankruptcy, and actually had money in the bank.

How did that happen? Quite simply, it happened for me not because I desired it so badly … It happened for me because I used the process [in my book] to retrain my brain, aligning my beliefs about financial abundance with my desires for it …

While working this process for the first time on financial abundance, I discovered that we are the ones who dream small and play small–not the quantum field. The universe doesn’t know the difference between manifesting a penny on the sidewalk versus manifesting a bank saying, “Greg, we’ll let you sell this property for far less than it’s worth. You don’t need to go bankrupt. And, I tell you what, instead of going bankrupt, why don’t you just forget about this huge loan for which we have you liable, lock, stock, and barrel?”

For more details on this totally true story, read How Quantum Physicists Build New Beliefs.

Greg Kuhn

Jeannette Maw is a law of attraction success story.

Contributor: Jeannette Maw of one of the best law of attraction blogs out there.

Lots of folks tell us how to attract more money (myself included), so I thought it would be cool to share a step-by-step story of how it’s actually done.

This is my example of how I manifested $1,000 in ten days.

This isn’t a magic five-step list for everyone to follow–or an abundance exercise you’ll find in any manifesting book. This is just what I did myself to manifest some fast cash out of the blue. For fun.

You may glean some insights from my experience, or feel your own inner nudges about how to put this to work yourself.  I hope it inspires you to your own deliberate creation success–whatever you might choose.

Two things to know before I start in. The first is that I don’t think money is the be-all end-all it’s often cracked up to be. I’ve got nothing against money, but I also don’t expect it to make me happy. I know happiness is my job, not money’s.

Second, I’ve been working on getting friendly with money for years. I know that when I feel frustrated about money, it has to reflect my frustration. When I’m scared about money, it matches that vibe, too. Whatever I’m feeling is what it has to show me. So I’ve been working on getting friendly with it for a while now. That part didn’t happen in ten days.

Full disclosure about why I did this: I thought this would make a cool post, and I knew I’d need to actually personally do it in order to write about it. So that’s where my incentive came from to attract a thousand dollars out of the blue in ten days.

Why a thousand dollars? It seemed significant enough to have fun with, but not too big to push me into disbelief.

Why ten days? I know Universe doesn’t need much lead time. And I liked the sound of that title. (Which is why this isn’t called “How to Manifest $5,000 in 4 days.”)

So the vibe behind this project was fun, light and positive. It wasn’t from a place of need or fear or worry. (That vibrational setup makes a big difference, I’m certain.)

Here were my rules: In order for it to count, the money had to be from an unexpected source. If I was already anticipating the money that showed up, it wouldn’t count, even if I’d temporarily forgotten about it. Also, I didn’t want it to be associated with work. (Meaning, an out of the blue speaking gig for $1k wouldn’t count.) Anything that I had to work for wouldn’t be included in this tally.

I did allow that the money might come from different places in bite size pieces. As long as it added up to a thousand or more within ten days, I’d count it.

Okay, enough disclaimers. Here’s how I manifested four figures from out of nowhere in a week’s time …

This actually took me two tries.

The first time I did this a few weeks prior I had a very different routine than the second time. My first attempt included several manifesting tools and resulted in a near-miss of $70,000 on day seven. (Way to overdeliver, Universe!) But when it didn’t come to fruition by day ten, I got irritated and dropped it. That $70k check is still on its way, but it doesn’t count for the ten-day limit on this project.

I suspect, though, the work I did in that first go-around helped contribute to the success on my second attempt. So I’ll share what I did on that first try:

• Spoke my intention out loud: $1,000 in ten days to be delivered in an easy, enjoyable way.
• Gave this manifesting project a name: Clear Blue Money Manifestation.
• Invited others to join me (i.e. moneyfesting calls at GVU – group energy is super powerful!).
• Set up my symbolic representation of this project. (I used pretend million-dollar bills stuffed into a clear blue plastic cup. Get it? Money from the clear blue.)
• And money taped into a blue ribbon windsock (meant to represent a financial windfall).
• I practiced my $1,000 money out of the clear blue feeling.  It included a celebration dance and a “just like that” declaration.
• Practiced the story I would tell my friend Greg about how I manifested $1,000 out of the clear blue. (Getting used to the words of it and the feeling of it.)
• Added “$1,000 out of the clear blue” on my manifesting success list.
• Practiced having eyes for free money. (What does it look like?)
• Imagined free money as my new normal. (“Of course, this sort of thing happens to me every day.”)
• Tuned into why I want it. (Free money is cool, and manifesting is fun.)
• Activated vibration of “delight.” (To feel now how I would feel then.
• Polar bear cub pictures did the trick!)
• Thought of ways I’ve experienced money out of the blue before.
• Called in angels & higher players to help.
• Let it go.
• After letting it go, when I did I think of this topic, I thought of it as a done deal.

All that was spread out over a period of five days. On day seven I was offered (out of the clear blue) $70,000 to sell my interest in a house I own. It was a more than fair deal, and solved a couple other challenges at the time, so I accepted. But the money wasn’t in hand by day ten, so it didn’t truly count.

On my second attempt several weeks later, I decided to let the process be much easier.

Here’s a breakdown of what my second attempt looked like:

• Day 1: Past-tense storytelling in writing, a.k.a. Pray Rain Journaling. (This has always been my go-to manifesting technique when it really matters, since putting it in writing is always super powerful for me.)
• Day 2: Didn’t do anything. Didn’t even think about this project.
• Day 3: Didn’t do anything again. (This is first rate “letting go!”)
• Day 4: Still didn’t do any alignment techniques. In fact, at this point I’ve totally forgotten about this project.

It was the afternoon of Day Four that my ex-boyfriend handed me a $5,000 cashier’s check payable to me.

“What’s this for?” I asked.

At first glance it looked like a check–an official check for that matter (nearly equivalent to cash)–and it had my name on it. But it didn’t make any sense.

I was 100% confused.

He explained he was closing an account at the credit union that day, and that he wanted to support me in my latest legal adventure (more on that later in my blog). And this was his contribution.

My ex … wanted to support me … with my legal expenses. Huh? The guy who earlier that summer was … Actually, I’m going to leave out any negative stories about him. Suffice it to say, this counts as a legitimate pleasant surprise.

It also definitely counted as coming from the clear blue and being easy and enjoyable. And it was also five times over the $1,000 I said I wanted–in half the time.

It actually took me a few hours to remember my manifesting project and realize that this was that come to fruition.

So that’s how I manifested over a thousand dollars in less than ten days.

Jeannette Maw

Contributor: How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body by David Hamilton

In his popular compilation of stories of self-healing, How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body, author David Hamilton tells of Lynn, a chronic flu sufferer who in December of 1978 decided she’d finally had enough. That month, she made a vow that she’d never have this illness again … and  she never has.

How does she do it? The same way she achieves all of her important life goals: through visualization and affirmations.

“Ever since ’78,” she writes, “Whenever I feel what might be the beginning of a simple illness, I visualize my immune system as my own personal army.”

And not just a small one. At first equipped with only bows and arrows, over the years it’s grown into a strong batallion using beams of red light to attack the invaders. After that the healing lights–in gentle blues and greens–enter the scene, regenerating the body where the enemy once stood.

This photo courtesy lifecreations orf Flickr.com

Contributor: Anonymous

When I was growing up–well, okay, maybe just from about junior high school on–there was one day of the week that was my favorite of them all: Sunday. For a time, the reason was simple: That was the day of the week that I got to hang out with my friends. Later, though, there was another reason: It was the day on which I felt closest to God.

Either way, though, I loved it.

Then college happened and my ideas about spiritual things began to change–and fast. By the end of my 7 1/2-year college tenure, I no longer went to church–and my number of friendships had taken a serious dive as well.

Several months ago, though, something happened that changed that. I had been saying some affirmations regarding friendship while also attempting to be lead by my spirit in more of my small daily decisions when suddenly I felt led to go to the library.

There, my life changed, just a bit: A lady I happened to meet told me about Center for Spiritual Living.

I visited my nearest location as soon as I could–and I loved it.

Then, soon after that visit, I discovered that another branch–one much closer to my house–was opening up within weeks. I attended a planning session and felt so inspired by the people I met and the vision they espoused that I dove in right away.

Currently I’m participating in a small group, a weekly class and a volunteer crew there. I love the minister and the people . . . And Sunday is once again my favorite day of the week.

Contributor: Mollie Player and How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body by David Hamilton

In his popular compilation of stories of self-healing, How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body, author David Hamilton tells of Hayley, a patient who suffered from an overactive thyroid. As part of her condition, she had a small goiter on her throat that used to make her feel somewhat self-conscious. After attending a visualization conference one day, she was telling her friend about the self-healing exercise she did concerning this problem.

“Unconsciously I put my hand up and touched the goiter, something I know I tend to do when talking or thinking about it and … it wasn’t there!” Hayley writes.

Just that quick, the goiter had shrunk.

It had taken less than a single day.

Contributor: Law of attraction fan Jamal Saidi of jamalsaidi.wordpress.com

A while back, I lived in a rental home which was on the first floor. The landlord was an old woman who stayed on the second floor. One day, while on my way home, I looked for some bread to buy, but in vain–no bread was left in the stores nearby. Recently, though, I had learned about the law of attraction and, wanting to test the theory out, I decided to apply it to this dilemma.

“I am going back home and the landlord will give me two pieces of bread,” I said to myself as I walked. I thought about the bread, visualizing it until I was able to practically feel it right between my fingers. Note that since it was nighttime the chance to meet the woman was almost non-existent (or so I thought), for she usually went to sleep very early.

When I arrived home, I tried to open the door, but it appeared that it was locked with a key that I didn’t possess. In order to get in I had to ring the bell so that one of the residents of other apartments would open the door for me. This I did, and to my utter astonishment, it was the old woman who warmly received me. But that wasn’t all–after letting me in she insisted that I wait so that she could give me some bread.

The taste of that bread was so different from any other. And, after all, it should have been, for it was the fruit of a new system of thinking that later opened doors for many further achievements in my life.

Jamal

Contributor: Beverly A. Jensen, Ph.D. Jensen is the author of Letter to my Daughters: A Legacy, available at Amazon.com. She is president of WomensMedicineBowl.com. Experience the music of Luc & the Lovingtons at https://www.facebook.com/lucandthelovingtons

It was a year ago this month that I first heard the music of Luc & the Lovingtons. My daughter, Leila, had met him and heard his band at a concert at Doe Bay in the Washington San Juan Islands. Luc was the new sweetheart of her long-time best friend, Ndidi.

Now I really don’t pay much attention to young music groups, but this music captured my heart. I don’t even know what genre it falls into—but Luc & the Lovingtons made me want to dance, to play—it gave me the joy and hope of a first kiss.

Recently, while visiting the Pacific Northwest, my daughter and I joined a large, happy crowd enjoying the band, and we “danced like an elephant” on the bandstand. It was a joyful evening. Later that night, over dinner, I learned that Luc’s dear friend and band member Felipe Canete had died of a heart attack two months earlier, age 36.

A few days after the concert and dinner, Ndidi and friends of the band were giving a birthday party for Felipe’s widow, Katy. Leila and I went to the house an hour before it was to start to help string up lights and colorful streamers in the backyard to create a happy space during a time of such sorrow for friends, the widow and infant son. We couldn’t stay for the party but we wanted to lend a hand somehow.

While we were setting up candles, one friend told the story of how Felipe had been leading a group of high school students, and they had just been served a lunch of soup.

Catching them with mouths opened and spoons posed to ladle into their bowls, Felipe said, “Let’s pause a moment and give thanks for each individual who made this soup possible. For the farmers who sowed the seed and nurtured the tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, and onions; for the workers who harvested the crops and carried them to the trucks that brought them to the store, where we bought them…” The young people’s mouths hung open in awe of Felipe’s simple prayer of thanksgiving.

As we were saying goodbye, Leila, Ndidi, and I hugged, and I said, “When everyone arrives, have them join in a circle and each person tell a wish for her birthday. Have the wishes be about a joyful future, not the sadness everyone is feeling now.”

Ndidi pulled back from our hug, “That’s a beautiful idea. That’s just what Felipe would have said.”

As I walked away that warm, summer evening, I realized, “Felipe did say that. His spirit was there for her birthday.” I had given no forethought to that directive to Ndidi. As I hugged her, a beautiful young woman I have known since her early teens, the words just came forth through me.

This was truly a birth-day for the rest of Katy’s life. All birthdays are so—we only need to remember.

Beverly Jensen

Contributor: Anonymous

Normally, I am not a TV or movie watcher. Don’t get me wrong: I like TV, and I don’t blame anyone for watching it and enjoying it on a regular basis. But with the way my life is right now–a new(ish) baby and a serious lack of personal time plus the need to crank out a couple of books a year and all–lately, it just hasn’t been a very big part of my life.

The other day, though, as I was taking a walk, I had one of those moments I described earlier. “I need to watch a movie,” I realized. Maybe my stress level had gone up a notch or maybe I just missed this form of entertainment after months without it, I’m not sure.

Of course, normally, I probably would’ve just made the decision to rent something online and then moved on, but at the time it wasn’t quite that easy. Due to lack of use, my husband and I no longer subscribe to Netflix, and even if we did I don’t know how to hook it up to the TV. In addition, our DVD player broke recently and we haven’t gotten around to fixing it, so Red Box was also not an option. Basically, then, if I wanted to watch a movie, I needed my husband’s help to do so.

Here’s the thing, though: I didn’t want it to feel for him like a chore; with a new baby around, there were enough of those already.

I just wanted the whole movie experience to actually feel like fun.

And so, as all of this information dashed through my mind, I decided to say an affirmation about it. My affirmation went like this:

“My husband will feel inspired to watch a movie with me.”

It sounds silly, I know, praying about a tiny little thing like this. And I admit that the only reason I said it at all is that I felt a (sort of unexpected) inner urging to do so.

Then I forgot about it–the affirmation, I mean.

I didn’t forget about my need to zone out with a movie, though, and so that night, I asked my husband if he wanted to do so, and he said yes. The next day we did, and it was great. After it was over we had a brief conversation about making the cable permanently hooked up to the TV so we could watch online movies anytime, which would require some major rewiring. Then, after this discussion I again thought no more about it.

After that: a surprise. That weekend, my husband went to an electronics store for a new computer, and when he came home he had something for me as well: a new DVD player. Then, the same weekend, he rewired the entire family room as well.

We still don’t have the cable hooked up (that’s a separate process, of which the room rewiring was just the first step). But we have watched several movies over the past few weeks, and I’ve learned a wonderful lesson: Affirmations–especially inspired ones–are just so much more effective than nagging.