Uploaded on authorSTREAM by  JacquelineStone

I created an affirmation slide show for experiencing oneness and practicing presence. It is now available to view or download free on author Stream. If you have read or are reading Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" or "The Power of Now" you may get more out of it than someone who hasn't.

This is my gift to anyone who is ready to receive it. Empowerment is not just something we do for ourselves, but something we do for the benefit of all humanity, for all life.

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by  JacquelineStone

Although it is difficult at first, blessing our antagonists and dysfunctional situations is the most powerful way to transform them. Blessing something is a statement of non-resistance, non-judgment, and acknowledging the oneness of all things. It brings the light of truth to transmute darkness into its true form, which is light. All forms or expressions of darkness are nothing more than expressions of complete forgetfulness of the truth. When they are blessed, light stimulates remembering of the truth. It awakens the divine consciousness in form. It may take place slowly or quickly, but transmutation will occur.

Darkness cannot exist in the presence of light. To dispel darkness, we turn on a light. Cursing darkness does not bring light, only more darkness. When we curse it, we become more like it, forgetting who and what we are. If we continue to curse negativity, we may become so negative ourselves that we are no longer able to see or experience light of any kind. Then our own spiritual awakening will be long delayed. Our lives will reflect the forgetfulness of our truth with toxic relationships, financial hardships, illness, and depression. Its like seeing someone who has fallen into a hole. Cursing negativity is like getting down into the hole with them. Blessing it is like staying on the surface and lowering a rope to help them out of the hole.

"Bless them that curse you." (Jesus) This is exactly what Jesus was talking about 2000 years ago. Rather than adding to the darkness in a person or situation by cursing, bless them. A wonderful way of doing this is to imagine a ball of pure, white light in your heart. Think of a person or situation of which you have a negative experience. Send love and light to that person or situation. This simple process only takes a few seconds and can be done anywhere. The more you do it, the better you will feel. As you send love and light to others, you will actually feel an increase in love, light, peace, and joy within yourself. You will see a difference in the way people react and relate to you. Situations that used to be very stressful will become increasingly calm and simple to deal with.

You can intensify and expand this process if you have more time to devote to it. I use a more involved practice myself that you may find useful and rewarding. I first align myself with the present moment and the energy of life, (God). My process continues as I think of the people in my life, one by one. "From my heart, I send love and light to Mike. I send love and light to Mike's ego. I send love and light to Mike's pain-body. I send love and light to Mike's physical body. I send love and light to Mike's mind. I send love and light to Mike's emotions. I send love and light to the soul of Mike." While this is much more involved, I've experienced more profound results in myself, my relationships, my situations, and in others. I also send love and light to my marriage, my family, my web sites, to my own body, ego, pain-body, mind, and emotions.

When I started sending love and light to my web pages, I was inspired to make a few changes and my hits went up considerably. If I get writer's block, I send love and light into the unwritten document and the words begin to flow. When I send love and light into my homework, the work is easy and I finish it quickly. My health has been improving daily since I began this practice. My joy and peace are often so deep and broad as to be inexplicable. I hope you enjoy and benefit from this practice as much as I have, and more.

True serenity is not the absence of problems. It is remaining peaceful and centered in the midst of them. It is being able to equally accept what we like and what we don't like. Serenity is the absence of resistance, not the absence of problems. It is acceptance to the degree of being able to bless all that is.

I don't have to love or like everything. I just have to appreciate that it all has a purpose and not by my attitude make it bad. "Nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so." What I judge as bad, I naturally resist. It is my own resistance that causes me pain, not the thing or person that I am resisting.

"Resist not temptation." (Holy Bible) This does not mean to give in to temptation. It means that we should not resist because in so doing we give it power over us. Rather, "judge not" and turn your attention to something else. Likewise, resist not those things which we do not like or want to experience because our resistance ties us to them and gives them power over us. Only that which we resist can hold us in bondage. Further, it takes great exertion to press against anything, so resistance causes fatigue.

Think about those things that you don't like to do but know you must do. Are they a struggle? Do you frequently meet obstacles while trying to do them? Do you feel tired or drained either while doing them or directly after? These are indications that you are resisting. It is natural to resist that which we don't like, but we have the power to change our attitude about anything. Try to see your obligations in a different light. How do you benefit from doing them? Are you benefiting someone else by doing them? We can also choose to occupy our minds with pleasant thoughts while accomplishing unpleasant tasks.

Our experience begins in our mind. Whatsoever we dwell upon in our thoughts will be our experience. The more we think about what we don't like, the more it persists in our experience.

It is wise to invest time and effort into healing your past. If you are rejecting any part of yourself or your life through resentment, regret, self-recrimination, or blocking things out, then you are rejecting also all the good you desire to experience. You must embrace all that you are, all that you have ever been, and every moment of your life as a valuable and worthwhile part of who you are now. You are the culmination and result of every moment of your life. Even your mistakes and your pain have served to make you the incredible person you are today. Your appreciation of yourself and all you have been through will open you up to create a new reality and experience what you desire. It will also remove the pain of past wounds. The rewards of learning to love yourself are wonderful beyond measure.

What do you believe? Not what you should believe or what you want to believe, but what do you really believe? Most people never give it a second thought, but what you truly believe is what creates your experience of reality. If you want to know why your life is the way it is, the answer is in your beliefs. If you are not the person you want to be, there are beliefs about yourself that need changing.

Our beliefs dictate how we feel, think, and act. If you believe something is good, you will feel good about it, think positively about it, and react favorably to it. You know how you feel, think, and act when you believe something is bad. Some of these beliefs may serve you well, may even protect you, but a great many of them may be holding you back from realizing your full potential in life.

Before you can change your beliefs, you have to find out what they are. It sounds like a simple prospect, but it may not be. Most of us have beliefs that we don't want to have. Beliefs about money are the easiest examples, so we'll start with them. Do you believe that money is the root of all evil? Are wealthy people evil, selfish, or bad? Did all very wealthy people get that way by cheating others or being born into it? Are wealthy people less likely to get into heaven? These are common beliefs that people have about money because of childhood programming instilled by parents, teachers, and religious authorities. Such beliefs are deeply rooted and often accepted as a condition of being loved and accepted. As adults, we consciously know that these things are not true, yet the negative beliefs may linger in our unconscious.

Ask yourself what you believe right now. Write down the answer, knowing that what you answer does not have to be your reality tomorrow. You must be honest with yourself if you are going to change your beliefs. You cannot change what you deny. It may be helpful to write at the top of a page the area of beliefs you wish to examine. You might write Money on the top of one page, Love on another, Health, Sex, Work, Relationships, Family and so on. Make sure you do a page for what you believe about yourself. Do only one area of belief per page to give yourself room to write down everything that comes to mind or heart. List your beliefs on the left side of the page.

It does not feel good to think of something false, so when you are listing your beliefs you will know when you write down the ones that need to be changed. If a belief you write down does not bring up any emotional response, then it is either correct for you or still serves you. Those are good to know, but they are not our concern in this exercise. We are getting at the beliefs that need to be changed.

After completing your list of beliefs, review each one and write down on the right side of the page what you want to believe in its place. If you believed that wealthy people are bad, you might write across from it, Wealthy people are good people, with money. Some of the new beliefs may not feel real to you at first. It took a lifetime to ingrain your old beliefs in your consciousness. It will take more than a desire to change them.

Create a list of chosen beliefs, beliefs that you would have if you were the person you want to be, living the life you want to live. What would you believe if you were that person now, living that life? When you believe that way, you will live that way. Devote a few minutes everyday to stating aloud what your chosen beliefs are. Say, I choose to believe instead of, I believe so that you do not set yourself up for an internal debate. There may be no greater investment in your future than this simple practice of choosing what you believe. Make the choice consciously every day and you will soon find that you really believe as you have chosen to believe. No one can make you believe or disbelieve. It is your choice. Choose your beliefs to live your chosen life.

Believing in you,
Jstone
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We hear all the time, "You have to love yourself." How do we do that? Someone once told me that the answer was to look myself in the eye in the mirror and say, "I love you." It didn't work. You can't force love and you can't fake it. Loving yourself does not follow the "fake 'till you make it" philosophy. It has to be real and it has to come from inside.

If there are parts of your life that you are ashamed of or that you have blocked from your mind, you are not loving yourself. Most of my childhood was a complete blank. Much of my life that I could remember, I locked away in a dark closet because I didn't like the way I felt when I remembered them. I thought I was doing the courageous thing, the smart thing, in just moving on. Moving forward with your life is great, but there has to be acceptance and letting go first.

When I realized how much of my life I had rejected, I saw how much of my self I rejected. No wonder I was sad all the time and always felt alone. The person closest to me couldn't bear to look at me. That had to change. I wanted to love and accept myself. I wanted to be happy. I will tell you what worked for me. Maybe it will help you, too.

In meditation, I thought of the first time I could remember being really hurt and frightened. I saw the little girl that I was and had compassion for her. I could see how much pain she was in. She was all alone. It was different, looking at the situation as an adult and a witness, instead from the eyes of a child. I hurt for her, not me. I imagined giving her a big hug and say, "It's alright now. You are safe. You are not alone. I love you." Immediately, I felt such a rush of love and release that it sent shivers up my spine. I did this process with each major incident I could remember and at each stage of my life. The effect was profound.

Loving and comforting the person I was in the past healed the wounds I had carried with me all my life. It was like a ripple, expanding through the years right up to the present, healing everything along the way. The dark cloud gave way to light and I felt suddenly released from years of bondage. That was the moment I began to love myself, truly and deeply.

I am a different person, now. I believe in myself. I am kind to myself and relate better to others. The doormat is gone, replaced by a confident, happy woman. This technique was not easy and certainly not painless, but the rewards are worth the effort. A lifetime of pain and self-rejection does not heal overnight, but if you do this process for a little while, you will benefit from it the rest of your life.

May you truly, deeply love yourself.
jstone

Its been said that acceptance is the key to all our problems, but what does that really mean? How are we supposed to accept everything? Does that mean that we don't ever fight against of for anything? Are we to be doormats, letting others take advantage of us, in order to be at peace? No, I don't think that's how it works.

Acceptance is the opposite of resistance, but it is not giving in to injustice or giving up on creating change. In fact, we can't change anything until we accept the way it is as what is. With acceptance, we can say, "This is the way it is. I don't like it or think its right, so I'm going to change it." While we are in resistance, fighting against what is, our mind and energy is languishing in the problem. No problem can be resolved with the same energy that created it, so we need to get out of the problem. That doesn't mean that we ignore it and hope that it goes away. It doesn't mean that we pretend the problem doesn't exist. That's avoidance, not acceptance.

When we accept a condition as being what it is, we have the opportunity to turn our attention to possible solutions. Some times, its not a matter of solving a problem, but of learning from the unfavorable condition. Our greatest strides in personal growth often come through our greatest challenges. While we struggle against the challenge, unable to accept it, we prolong the condition and delay our blessing. There is always a blessing at the end of the challenge, but we can only get to the blessing, the gift, when we accept the challenge and start looking for how we can benefit from it.

Getting to the point of acceptance of what is is a great beginning, but we need to go further. We're not talking about begrudging acceptance here. We need to get to joyful acceptance. In order to do that, we must believe that there is something good in all that is happening. Now lets take it one step further. True acceptance includes blessing all that is, as it is. Bless the gift, even when you can't see a gift in the situation. It is there, but we often don't perceive the blessing until after we have overcome the challenge. Give thanks for that blessing now. Bless the situation, as it is, knowing that it will in some way bless you.

When you bless what is, you cease to resist it; you cease to judge it. At that point, you can gracefully move through it fairly quickly. When you bless a situation or condition, you are immediately empowered to change it because you are no longer fighting against it. You don't have to know what the blessing in it is to bless something. Just believing in your heart and mind that there is indeed a gift in it is enough to release you from judgment and resistance.

Try blessing your struggles. Bless your relationships. Bless your job and co-workers. Bless the traffic. Just try it and see what happens. Watch how you feel. Then you can decide how you want to react to the conditions in your life.

The following is a meditation that fills me with the vibration of love, sends the energy of love outward to everyone and everything, and expands my awareness of oneness. It takes 5-10 minutes to go through the whole process, but the healing affects go with you through your day. It is very powerful, as well as simple.

Visualize white light in your heart. The white light expands with each part or area loved, until it fills the entire universe.

Thank you, God, that I am love. All that I am, I love you. All that I have been, I love you. All that I will be, I love you. My heart, I love you. My emotions, I love you. My mind, I love you. My thoughts, I love you. My unconscious, I love you. My body, I love you. My chakras, I love you. My higher self, I love you. My soul, I love you. My spirit, I love you. Thank you, God, that I am love. The space around me, I love you. My home, I love you. My neighborhood, I love you. My town, I love you. My county, I love you. My state, I love you. My nation, I love you. My continent, I love you. My world, I love you. Thank you, God, that I am love. Planet Earth, I love you. My solar system, I love you. My galaxy, I love you. My universe, I love you. All that is, I love you. Thank you, God, that I am love.

This is a tremendous gift to the world that we can give daily. The energy of love heals everything it touches. The healing we experience when doing this meditation is indescribable. It makes us more aware of the truth of our being and increases our awareness of oneness. All of our relationships are transformed by doing this simple meditation.

May you know that you are love and light.
Jstone

We all know that we need to forgive those that have hurt us or let us down. Resentment only hurts the one who holds it. As long as we hold on to our resentments, we tie the person and event that caused us pain to us. It becomes a burden, which holds us down and prevents us from realizing the happy and fulfilling life that we could have. I have tried just saying I forgive so and so. It does not work. It does not remove the emotional charge from the memory or cut the ties that bind us to the past. I had to turn once again to meditation and the power of my imagination.

In meditation, I began with focusing on the qualities of God with my attention in my heart. Once I felt my heart swell with love and peace, I pictured the person I needed to forgive. I spoke to them as if they were right in front of me. It was important for me to tell them how I feel, which is to say, how I felt at the time that I felt hurt. Then I would tell them that I know they did the best they could with what they knew at that time. I took ownership of my part in it by either causing their action or allowing it. Then I told them that I forgive them and let them go, declaring us both free. After doing this with certain individuals a few times, I was actually able to say, "I love you and I support your highest good." More and more, I feel released and free of the past. My reactions to people and events in my life have become more appropriate because they are not based on past experiences.

Prayer of Forgiveness
I forgive you for every way that you have hurt me. I know you did the best you could with what you knew at that time.
I am sorry for every way that I hurt you. Please forgive me.
I send you Love & Light from my heart to yours.
I sever the connection between us, with love & peace.
I lovingly set you free.

Prayer of Self-forgiveness & Release of Guilt, Shame, & Regret
(Self),
I forgive you for every mistake you have ever made. I know you did the best you could with what you knew at that time.
I am proud of who you are. You are a wonderful person.
I support you in every way. I love you unconditionally.
I give you permission to let go now of every bit of guilt, shame, & regret.
I sever the cord that binds them to you with love & peace.
You are now free to live as Love & Light.

The following is a forgiveness prayer adapted from The Sermon on the Mount, by Emmet Fox. This prayer is to be done once only for each person for whom you hold resentments. Before using this prayer, it is recommended that you center yourself in peace and love, focus on the qualities of God, and affirm that you are entirely willing to forgive now.

"I fully & freely forgive _________; I now let him/her go. I completely forgive the entire situation involving _________. It is finished forever. I cast the burden of resentment on the Christ within me. _________ is now free & I am free. I wish ________ well in all aspects of their life. The Christ within us has set us free. It is done."

Forgiving others does not necessarily mean that we must like them. We are not required to like anyone. We are to hold the thought in our mind of goodwill toward everyone, but we certainly will not want to force ourselves to like those who are hurtful, mean, or insulting. If we fail to forgive others, we will continue to be bound to them. Our resentments attach us to the objects of resentment and prevent our own progress in every area of life.

Clearing
Another method of forgiving and releasing the past is Ho'oponopono, which means, "to make right", in Hawaiian. It is a cleansing technique that you can learn more about by visiting the links below or reading Dr. Joe Vitale's new book, "Zero Limits." The basic process is to think of someone who creates a negative emotional charge in you and focus on the feeling in you, not the person. Because we are all connected and one with God you say, "I am sorry for how I have created this. Please forgive me. Please remove this from me, and from the world. Thank you, God. I love you." There is an amazing story the book about a doctor in Hawaii that used this technique with severely mentally ill patients with remarkable success. Whenever you see someone who brings to mind feelings of pity, disgust, or anger, use this technique to clear what it is in you that has contributed to their condition. You will free yourself of the negative emotions and help that person express a higher vibration.

For my own practice, I have altered the process slightly. I think of the person I have a negative reaction to and say to them, "I recognize you as a perfect expression of God. I honor your divinity. I am sorry for every way that I have hurt you. Please for give me. I forgive you for every way that you have hurt me. Thank you for contributing to my life. I support your highest good. I love you. I bless you. I release you. We are free." When I do this, I feel light, joyful, and clear.

"Seek first the kingdom of heaven, and all things will be added unto you" (Holy Bible). Prophets, gurus, sages, and teachers have told us for millennia that we must seek God above all else. To love God is the first commandment introduced by Moses and Jesus later reminded his followers that this is the most important. Judaism and Christianity do not hold this tenet alone. Hindu, Buddhism, and Muslim also call for devotion to and seeking God above all else. Unfortunately, many people believe that a personal relationship with God is reserved for religious leaders, such as priests. Nothing could be further from the truth.

When I was a child, I learned of a God who was distant, who was angry all the time, and for whom I could never possibly be good enough. Something in my heart told me that this was just not true. Something was tugging at my heart and telling me that the truth was based on love, not anger, that God loved me, and that I was worthy of His love. I didn't know exactly what God was, but I knew He was not mean, or angry, or jealous, or vengeful. That just didn't make any sense. It didn't feel right.

I cried out to God with my whole being when I was sixteen, desperately wanting to know why I was here and why I couldn't go home. I felt like I was out of place in this world, almost as if it was a bad dream. Soon after, I had a profound experience of love, light, and knowing. Words cannot describe it. Then I was sent back to live out my life with the clear understanding that every single being has a reason for being here, even me. At first, I was depressed because I got a taste of a higher reality that is incomparably more beautiful and joyful than this one, and because I couldn't stay there. Then, it dawned on me that I am important to God. It didn't matter that I wasn't important to anyone around me; I was important to God. That was the first gift. The second gift was forgetting.

I could not have gone through life with full recollection of what I experienced. I tried for several years to remember my experience, but most of the memories faded quickly. It wasn't until I read a little book called, "Into the Light," that I realized the gift I had been given. The woman who wrote the book had a very similar experience, but she remembered everything. Living in this world after the experience was agony for her.

With my forgetfulness I was able to participate in life like everyone else. I carried in my heart the faint memory of profound love and perfect peace, but only thought of it very rarely. The world had my attention.

Many years later, my love for and focus on God were rekindled as I felt like there was something missing in my life. I always knew I had a purpose, but had no idea what it was. It was time to find out and start living it. Searching my own mind did not tell me what I needed to know. It wasn't until I turned to God for the sake of knowing God that things became clear to me.

I finally came back to the moment when I was sixteen and nothing was more important than knowing God. My relationship with and understanding of God is now the focus of everything I do. I understand that the purpose of everything in my life is to help me better understand God, myself, and our relationship.

My life has become a series of wonderful successes, personal victories, and joyful awakenings. Every aspect of my being and life is healing. I go to God first in all I do and the results are incredible. The work that we do together is better than anything I could do on my own. I am never alone. I am always supported. I have direction and purpose. I never lack for inspiration. All this because I seek first to know God.

May you know the unspeakable joy of knowing God.
Jstone

Some people swear by affirmations. Some swear they don't work. We could argue for or against them all day. The problem with affirmations is that many people say affirmations that set up an argument between their conscious and unconscious mind. That gets you nowhere.

The key to successful affirmations is changing the focus from the desired object to the emotional experience of having it. For example, instead of saying, "I am wealthy" try, "I enjoy being wealthy." You shift your attention from the desire to be wealthy to the emotional state of already being there. Most people can accept and believe that they would enjoy being wealthy so there is no ensuing argument.

You can do the same thing with any affirmation and desired outcome. Instead of, "I am slim and healthy" try, "It feels good to be slim and healthy." As you focus on what it would feel like to have your desired experience, your unconscious mind will go to work to bring about the experience. It will be working with you instead of against you. Your unconscious wants you to feel good, be happy, and thrive. That is its prime directive. By affirming that the things you want to experience do make you feel that way, you are giving your unconscious the direction it needs to bring those experiences into your reality.

The actions you need to take to bring about what you desire will become clear as a result of affirming how it feels to experience them. You will receive the inspiration and guidance to do your part in creating your experience. We are also more open to see new opportunities when we are focused on the emotional experience rather than the object of our desires.

Affirming your joyful success.

I know that I am supposed to forgive everyone everything because resentment only hurts the one who holds it. That is so much easier said than done. One of the disciples asked Jesus, "Lord, how many times should I forgive? Seven times?" Jesus told him to forgive 70 times 7. The point was not the number, but that we should continue to forgive without limits. That reminds me of an old saying, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." I don't know who said it or what he was referring to. It does express how I feel about total, unconditional, unlimited forgiveness. Am I, as a mere mortal, even capable of it? I don't think God expects of us anything that we are not capable of, so it must be possible for me to forgive unconditionally, without limit.

There are many processes and practices for forgiving those who have hurt us, and to forgive ourselves. I have personally used several of them. The problem is that I continue to resent certain people, and it is my problem. I can easily justify all of them, if I choose to. I can decide to keep and simmer in my justified resentments because they are mine. That doesn't sound like a very wise choice, does it? Resentment weighs on us like a backpack full of rocks. It also prevents us from receiving the good that we desire. That is worth repeating. Resentment is a barrier that prevents us from receiving the good we desire.

When we hold resentments in our heart and mind, our hearts are blocked from receiving. It's like the mote around a castle that prevents anyone from coming in, or the walls around a fortress. Resentment is a darkness that thrives only in the presence of negative thoughts and emotions. We feed it when we think of our anger and judgment toward others. The more we nourish the dark energy of resentment with our negative thoughts about others, the bigger it gets. The wall between us and our good becomes an impenetrable force. Joy does not live in this environment.

O.K. We understand that resentment is bad for us. Now, what do we do about it? I believe I need to search my heart for my negative feelings toward others. I need to decide that I am done being angry. I have to make a conscious choice to let go of my resentments and judgments. Not just once, but daily. I have had 47 years of practice at holding onto and justifying resentments and I've gotten really good at it. It is an unconscious, automatic behavior. It will take more than a few days or weeks to correct this behavior. I have to pay attention to my thoughts about others and stop judgment in its tracks. If I can stop the judgment, I can prevent the resentment and subsequent justification.

In the process of changing this destructive, limiting behavior, I have to be diligent, yet gentle with myself. It will do me no good to forgive everyone else but not myself. With all that I am, I want to change. I want it so much that I am willing to do whatever it takes. The clarity to understand what I am doing to myself with judgment and resentment is a gift. It is the opportunity I needed to make real, lasting change. Now, it is up to me to practice forgiveness and release every day. This has to be a top priority if I am going to be free from this burden.

Ho'Oponopono is one of the best practices for forgiveness. I used it for a while when I first learned about it, but it became a chore and I stopped doing it. One day, I didn't feel like forgiving someone and resentment got a foothold. After a few days of not feeling like forgiving, I stopped my daily practice. I was once again a prisoner of resentment, judgment, and justification. My attitude toward my practice of daily forgiveness has to remain positive so that I continue to do it. Even when I don't feel like forgiving someone, especially when I don't feel like it, I must practice forgiveness everyday. I have to remember why I'm doing it. I want to be free. I want to live in joy, not anger or bitterness. I want to be free from the burden and open enough that joy comes easily and naturally. Do I want that joy and freedom bad enough to do whatever it takes? Yes, I do!