Spiritual Solutions

The year 2010 can be the best year you have ever known if you will have it that way. To make it so, you do not need to draw up a long list of good resolutions, although these are fine if you can keep them. Whether you have already made some resolutions or not, I suggest you adopt a policy of great expectations instead of good resolutions.

A spiritual law as exact as the laws of gravity, electromagnetics, and atomic fission, stands in back of this phenomenon of great expectations. Jesus stated it in the gospel of Matthew in this way: “Go; be it done for you as you have believed.” (Matt. 8:13) and “According to your faith be it done to you.” (Matt. 9:29) In the J. B. Phillips’ translation we read: “Everything will happen as you have believed it will.” Could you not characterize these statements as saying that convinced expectation is a forerunner of a certain outcome?

What are you expecting in 2010? Your expectations will have much to do with what the year will bring you.

God made you in His image and after His likeness; therefore, it follows that you are creative, even as God is creative. You create your own circumstances through your thinking, feeling, believing, and expecting faculties of mind. Many of the great men of the world have known this. Thomas Carlyle put it this way: “Man makes the circumstances and, spiritually as well as economically, is the artificer of his own fortune.” Disraeli said, “Man is not the creature of circumstances. Circumstances are the creatures of men.”

Behind every outward circumstance stands an unseen, invisible thought, feeling, or word – an expectation of good or ill. The Bible tells us: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (Prov. 4:23, KJV) The “heart” here means our deepest inward convictions and beliefs about what we think we are worthy of having, in the outer, as a part of our life experience.

The word to be stressed as yo make your own blueprint of your expectations for the upcoming year is “great.” Great expectations! Make those expectations large, if you would experience the largeness of God’s abundant giving. All the good and great desire for more health, wealth, and happiness, is really His own spiritual desire to fulfill Himself in and through you – in a joyous, rich, and expansive way of life.

Remember, only a happy new you produces a happy new year!

I would like to share with you a prayer, coming to you straight from my own heart. I pray that this year may be a truly happy year for you, a year filled with rich and wonderful belessings. I pray that it may be a year in which you walk in close companionship with God, a year in which you know and feel God’s loving Presence enfolding you and your loved ones. I pray that this may be a year in which the good is magnified in your heart and in the heart of every person, a year in which all of us may come to see more clearly our oneness with one another. I pray that, in the words of Psalms 65:11, “Thou crownest the year with thy goodness.”

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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The sounds and signs of Christmas are all around us.

So in this special season of the year, I’d like to share with you some of my own Christmas memories and insights.

The first Christmas tree was a small tree that was brought home by Martin Luther in Germany. He brought the tree home because he had seen it out in the snow and the snow was glistening all around it; he brought it home as a symbol of life. He tied candles on that Christmas tree because he said

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It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again! 

At any time in life, at any place in your experience, you can make a new start.

Most of us, at some time, have felt that our life is at the end of things, that somehow everything that was steadfast and good has sort of crumbled around us.

I have counseled with many people who have experienced these feelings of despair, discouragement and loss. I, too, have felt those feelings at certain times in my own life.

This experience is not, as we often think when it happens to us, peculiar to ourselves. It is common to many persons. It is also through such experiences that we often come to new beginnings.

Whether you are facing discouragement or despair, or you simply have a strong desire to take as new hold on life, I want to give you the encouragement and the vision which will make a new beginning possible for you.

Napoleon Hill, celebrated author of the book Think and Grow Rich, made an important point in regard to our approach to any situation or problem we encounter. He says that we must use “accurate thinking.”

We may relate this to Jesus’ admonition to “seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness,” where righteousness refers to right use of thought, or “accurate thinking.”

Human logic, looking at the facts, says “there is no way that I can ever recover from this or have a good life.” Through human logic, the need is to get the facts.

In spiritual logic, the need is to know the Truth or get back to the principle. Then we can think through things in a spiritually logical manner.

Using Spiritual Logic

One of the great fundamental principles of Truth is that “There is only One Presence and One Power in all the Universe, God, the good, omnipotent.” God is where I am, and God is what I need – no matter what the circumstance.

So to what extent can we really make a new beginning?

Walter Malone, in his poem Opportunity, expressed a great truth when he said, “At sunrise, every soul is born again.” In other words, we are always at the threshold of opportunity.

Do you grasp the opportunity of taking a new lease on life at the beginning of each new day?

In order to do this, you may have to change your entire viewpoint.

You may need to reconstruct your faith, your philosophy of life.

You may need to get a whole new concept of God, of what and where God is, and of yourself and your relation to God.

You may need to discipline your thinking in a way you’ve never done before.

You may need to see your world, your life, your environment and your associates in an entirely new light.

Always, the need is for spiritual logic. The key to accurate thinking is to use spiritual logic, to return to the principle, then starting with the principle think things through to a logical conclusion.

You may say, “I can’t do this because I know my limitations.” But do you know your strengths? The limitations are simply concealment of strength. What you have done is never a valid measure of what you can do.

What is the principle? It is that you are created in God’s image-likeness, and you have been given dominion over all the earth. You can be all things through the power of God within you, for “with God, all things are possible.”

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter and blog at Spiritual Solutions. You can access his recently published mini-book at Miracle Power You Can Use Today.

For weekday inspirational quotes, go to Rich Words.

Feel free to pass along this article to your friends or to publish it on your blog or website, as long as you also include this reference box in any and all communications. Also, I appreciate your comments and suggestions at any time. Thank you.

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Imaging is the process by which the Law of Attraction is set into motion. Everyone images, but many persons don’t understand the power of their mental processes to create harmony in their lives.

Consciously imaging a condition as it is desired, and then working steadily with this conscious image, we can bring any desired condition into manifestation.

But, of course, imaging alone will not bring the desired results. This is the first essential, but added to it there must be action. The image or the picture will give us the enthusiasm to perform the act, and this act will combine with the mental picture to then create the faith to look beyond the sense world into the world of Spirit, the source of every good and lasting desire.

Nothing stands between one and his highest ideal except his lack of understanding of this power and his refusal to work with it.

But a person cannot desire a good thing and then spend his time worrying or fearing that he will not get it. Having sent out the desire, one must have faith that it will not return evil. The Law of Attraction cannot bring both good and evil at the same time; it must bring one or the other.

Our own mental condition, the scope of our vision, our action and faith, determine exactly how much substance of any kind will be drawn to us. The law will give us just what in our innermost thought is projected, provided we put into action the forces that will bring it into reality.

If you have not already begun to use this Law of Attraction consciously, then I suggest you give some serious thought to starting to today. Take a few moments, each day, to quietly picture the things and conditions that you desire to see manifest in your outer life. It isn’t necessary to picture the specific steps that lead to accomplishment. See in your mind the accomplished end, the result. Do this in a loving and happy air of expectancy.

Your attitude of loving expectancy is a wonderfully attractive power, and the more love and emotion you put into your mental picture, the sooner it will materialize. Never worry or become impatient if this picture is not pained on the canvas of the visible world just as soon as you think it should be. The divine law does not consider time. It brings into visibility the things and conditions into life as we become fitted to receive them.

If you would have a life of fullness and harmony you must know and work with the law, and the desires of our heart and mind shall become reality. Keep in mind that our world without is a reflection of our world within – always! In other words, that which is in our material world is simply the outward reflection of what our thoughts have been.

It is a shocking and sobering realization, but we must admit it. The mental image is what counts, be it for good or otherwise. It is a devastating or a beneficent force just as we choose to make it. We can make the coming day just what we want it to be, and we will be tomorrow what we think today.

Remember that the Law of Attraction is always at work. Man is not involved in caprice or luck or chance or circumstance; man is basically his own fate. We can think ourselves into health or sickness, prosperity or poverty, success or failure, so what shall it be? The choice is yours.

Remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-seven years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

Please feel free to publish this article in your blog or newsletter or share it with a friend, as long as you include this resource box.

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 “Dear Sleepless” is the beginning of a letter I wrote in response to someone who was experiencing insomnia due to stress and other factors. This was my response. I hope it may be helpful to you too, for whenever you find yourself sleepless.

Dear Sleepless,

Know that we are holding you close to our hearts in love and prayer. Yes, unwelcome kinds of stress can indeed bring on insomnia and other unhappy consequences that then result.

As we pray with you let me also share some thoughts with you that may help.

One man responding to concerns of his friends that they had difficulty sleeping ventured to tell them that he never had trouble sleeping because, he said, he took a mountain for his pillow. What he meant by that was that upon retiring for the night, he always turned his thoughts away from his tense and burdensome life and took a mental walk up into the mountains where he stretched out beside a rippling stream beneath whispering pine trees and the overarching canopy of twinkling stars.

That gave me pause for thought; you might reflect upon that too. What are you using for a pillow? In other words, what are you thinking about – worries, the complications of your life, your concern about what is going on in the world, the national economy or shortages, your job, your business? Or, are you resting your head on feelings of peace and quiet calm?

Another friend, a seamstress, said, “You can keep your clothes in good condition by emptying your pockets at night.” That’s pretty good advice both figuratively and literally. While preparing for sleep, always remember to empty your mind of fear and worry, bitterness and resentment, just like you clean out your pockets.

Make a practice of discarding mentally all the little things that are no longer of any use, even those matters that may require further attention on the morrow. With a little practice and a lot of imagination anyone can develop real skill in this technique.

As we pray with you, know that with the power, the guidance and strength of the infinite process, you can do all things. Without that spiritual resource, we can do little or nothing. Empty your pockets of concern while getting ready for bed at night. Relax and let go! Know that as you approach sleep you get into the flow and rhythm of life, for as we are told, “Underneath are the everlasting arms.”

Know that God is with you and part of every aspect of your life, and that there is a flow of guidance and direction. When we are not working, God continues to work. When we stop stewing about a particular problem, the divine process, “the Father in us” as Jesus refers to it, moves to resolve the problem, filling the need. Then during the day, take a few moments to “take a mountain for a pillow,” to give thanks, to find peace and a renewal of spirit.

I hope that these thoughts have been helpful for you, and know that as we pray with you we see you enfolded in God’s loving, comforting, peace-filled presence, and you find that your sleep and rest come easily.

In Christ Love,

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham 

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-seven years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at Spiritual Solutions.

Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend.

If you’d like to receive “Rich Words,” featuring weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

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There are two kinds of thinking, horizontal or vertical thinking. Jesus was referring to these different ways of thinking when he said, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” (John 7:24)  

Judging by appearances is horizontal thinking. “Right” judgment is vertical thinking, or “transcendental” thinking, judging according to the wholeness of the Universe. When we trust only to visual appearances, we come away with only a partial understanding of life.

Most of us are conditioned to believe in the hard facts of life and of the material world. But, again, Jesus said, “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) In other words, there is another way to look at the situation in which you find yourself.

The great inventors and creative thinkers of all the ages have broken out of the material world, the facts at hand, and have rejected current concepts of reality. They all have, in varying degrees, demonstrated a vertical view of what is possible.

On the three-dimensional plane, an idea may be impossible to all standards of measurement. But when viewed vertically, as Jesus said, “All things are possible.” (Matt. 19:26) Vertical, or transcendental, thinking means to surmount, to rise above, to overleap, to surpass, to go beyond and know no bounds. And in a very real sense, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, prayer is “the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view.”

In Exodus 14, we find the story of the people of Israel being led by Moses out of bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land. When they came to the barrier of the Red Sea, with the Pharaoh’s army in full pursuit, the people cried out to Moses “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? . . . it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

But Moses didn’t see the situation as hopeless. He chose vertical thinking, the transcendental view, and said, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today.” In other words, Moses was saying “Stop trying to understand things purely from a human consciousness; there is a higher dimension.” There is a way out; go within and see from a higher perspective, be open to God’s guidance.

So there are two ways of thinking. We can choose either. We can choose horizontal thinking, or we can choose vertical thinking. Horizontal thinking sees the way things are from the standpoint of appearances. It is how we see things. It is thinking about problems and it is therefore a problem-oriented state of mind. Vertical thinking deals with facts in a dynamic way, not denying them but neither accepting them as final nor representing the whole picture. Here we deal with conditions, persons and experiences not as they are, but as they can be. This way of thinking doesn’t just see problems but sees through problems; it is solution-oriented and accepts intuition.

Whenever you find yourself in the midst of a great challenge and you think “this is impossible; only a miracle can save me now,” remember that only a horizontal thinker talks of miracles. This kind of thinking concludes that the only way out of a situation is by supernatural intervention akin to stopping the law of gravity.

Don’t accept surface perceptions and don’t start thinking in terms of impossibilities. “All things are possible” doesn’t deal with miracles. It deals with spiritual law. Beneath your humanness, you can see the Divinity that your are. “Though I may appear to be weak, yet I am whole. Though there seems to be conflict, yet there is peace. Though my purse is empty, yet I am rich in my oneness with all abundance.”

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-seven years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at Spiritual Solutions.

Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend.

If you’d like to receive “Rich Words,” featuring weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

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Here’s a thought – what are you thinking now? Is your thought positive or negative?

Well, here’s a positive thought for you to ponder: I’m sure you have a bright idea hidden somewhere in the back of your mind that you just can’t wait to test out.

Of course you’re not the only one with the bright idea. So what motivates you to churn those creative, or even inspiring, juices to their utmost flavor?

It’s always best to set up a personal goal where you can accomplish the most in record time, maybe like mowing the lawn in an hour before the big game on TV. A correct and positive attitude in whatever you do will make things easier, and even enjoyable.

Here are some tips for the next seven days, even if you’re just sitting in your favorite couch. An idea takes time to form in your head and is always at work while you are busy sitting.

Positive thinking can help you realize and manifest things that are often thought impossible. Thinking big is indeed the American way and that is what has made our country prosperous.

1. Take passionate action toward living your life by design. Talk is cheap. Action puts deposits in the bank of a passionately authentic future. Without action, passion is void.

This is what dreams are made of, where you start by tinkering with your mind, then with your hands. And if the idea weakens, you can always go back to it later until you finish it.

2. Commit to yourself as well as those you love to create powerfully a life you can love. Instead of reacting, commit to creating from your heart and soul, out of love rather than fear. The American dream will always be there, but a dream will still be a dream without motion. Be amazed as the transformation begins.

3. Recognize and embrace the thought that each moment is perfect regardless of its outcome. Every time you hit on something that may appear too extreme, why not give it a shot and see if it will work. You will be surprised to see that there are other ways to get the task done in time. If you are not pleased with the outcome, decide to use that moment to learn from and to make the appropriate shift.

4. Dwell completely in a place of gratitude. Learn to utilize what you have in your hands and make use of it in the most constructive way. Slipping into neediness will become less of a habit when you repeatedly shift toward gratitude, away from a poverty consciousness.

5. Use a passion formula of recognize/re-evaluate/restore in place of the shoulda/woulda/coulda whirlwind. The former is based in increased knowledge and abundance while the latter focuses on scarcity and lack. As you face people or tasks that may seem harder then scaling the summit of the Himalayas, allow yourself to realize that the task is just as important as giving out orders to your subordinates. You would rather be richly passionate!

6. Keep humor at the forefront of thought, laughing at and with yourself when possible. You may find yourself quite entertaining when you loosen up! I am yet to see a comedian ever go hungry even though his jokes are as “old as great-grandma.” Life has so much more to offer than to allow you to mope around in self pity. Humor is very attractive, very passionate and life-giving.

7. Believe that you are the architect of your destiny. No one can take your passionate future from you except for you! Create your life authentically. As long as there’s still breath in your body, there is no end to how much you can accomplish in a lifetime. The concept of thinking big is all about enjoying your work, which will lead to celebrating a discovery that is born within your hands. Watch everything flow into place with perfect, passionate precision.

Without positive thinking in your life, you’ll just be a dim bulb in a dark corner. So instead of subjecting yourself to thoughts of what your life is doomed for, make your path by taking the first step with a positive attitude. Enjoy!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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 (An article by John Harricharan)

Within each and every one of us is an inherent guidance system. We are not thrown helplessly into a seemingly cold and cruel world without the necessary tools for taking care of ourselves. Yet, most people go through an entire lifetime never realizing the power they have at their command.

This power is not the exclusive province of gurus, avatars or saints, but is available to all people as their cosmic birthright.

The power within lies waiting to be tapped by anyone who is willing to use its guidance. It is always there providing direction for our lives. But, because we are surrounded by the noise and activities of everyday, outside existence, we tend not to hear the gentle proddings from within. We become blind and deaf to the sights and sounds of our higher selves. To begin using this guidance, one must first be aware of its existence and then follow its directions. The following true life story is an excellent example of this principle.

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(An article by Heather K. O’Hara)

A great master is someone who comes along and hurls you over the edge of the cliff, because he knows you can fly.

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When I learned of the death of Karl Malden, at 97 years old, I remembered driving along and listening to an interview on public radio. The interviewer was asking the actor, Karl Malden, about his role in the movie, “On the Waterfront,” with Marlon Brando. Karl Malden played the priest in that movie. The interviewer asked him, “How did you prepare for that role?”

He said, “There was a priest that I knew who is the same size as me and I asked him if I could borrow his hat and his coat during the filming.” The priest told him that he would give them to him, but he said “Oh no, I don’t want to take them permanently; I just want to borrow them, and the film company will pay you for the use of them during this time.”

Then Karl Malden said, “Every day for several months I followed that priest around and three or four times a week I would have at least one meal a day with him and we would talk.” He said, “I became that person, I became that priest. I wore his hat and his coat, yes, but there was more than that. The speech that I used in the movie when I stood on the box and addressed the stevedores on the waterfront was the speech the priest had himself given to the stevedores.”

What had happened to the priest, actually, he’d got one of the stevedores – he lived in New York on the river front – to go back to work. The stevedores were Mafia controlled and the man was scared, because some men were threatening him. After the man went back to work he was severely beaten and nearly died, and the priest began to blame himself. But then he got up in front of all of those men and gave a speech. Karl Malden used that actual speech in the movie to talk about this important facet of life, that you cannot let other people take away the power from you.

What captured me in what he was saying was that it was not only preparation where he was putting on the hat and the coat, and not just reading the script that needed to be read; he was learning the lines, learning the principles, learning the truths, but he was also becoming that truth. He was letting the truth capture him, he was becoming that role.

We, too, if we have a purpose to fulfill, must become that purpose and not just let it be a hat and coat that we wear, just something that we put on.

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-seven years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at Spiritual Solutions. Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend.

If you’d like to receive “Rich Words,” featuring weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

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