This week, I came across this simple little passage, that changes everything in the way we see life and our circumstances - if we only choose to listen and really hear it's message.

You will not have that for which you ask, nor can you have everything you want. This is because your every request is a statement of lack, and your saying you want a thing only works to produce that precise experience - Wanting - in your reality.

The correct prayer is therefore never a prayer of supplication, but a prayer of gratitude.
                                                                     - GOD

I would love for you to take a few minutes to ponder and meditate on this when you can enjoy the time to do it quietly and uninterrupted.  I think that it has the power to change your life if you accept its truth, and have faith that it will work for you, too.

So, for example, let's take my current circumstance (being in prison), and formulate it into a prayer of gratitude.  It would sound like this...
"Thank you for the creation of this experience in my life. I am grateful for it, and know that there is a divine purpose behind it, therefore a divine presence in it. My life is a gift, and nothing exists without a reason understood and approved by You."

I also understand that nothing in life remains static. All conditions/situations/events are temporary, and I cannot change the past. Therefore, I can only control my reactions to these events. And, which way a thing changes, depends on no one else but me.

It has taken me four years to learn, really learn, and appreciate this way of thinking.  I finally am no longer concerned with worrying about who did what to land me in prison. It goes back to accepting responsibility for our choices in life. Thus, it begs not a question of FAULT, but a matter of CHOICE. What choices did I make in the past, and what choices am I going to make in the future? What choices are You going to make to ...fill in the blank. (Find happiness, get out of the rut you're in, find fulfillment, lose weight, not feel so lonely, etc.) When you realize that only YOU are responsible for your happiness, successes, failures, etc, you will learn to depend only on yourself to make you whole.  Then everyone around you (spouse, companion, children, friends...) becomes a source of pleasure and joy, because you are no longer dependent on them to fill a need. Therefore, there can be no resentment felt towards them for the things that you are lacking in your life. Follow?

At the end of the past year, I did a purging of all the people, things, wants and needs that no longer fit into my life and this new way of thinking. I feel emotionally lighter, and far happier than I've felt in many years. I have always considered myself to be a generally happy and optimistic person. Always grateful for all the blessings in my life.  But, now, I've reached a new level of thinking, that has compounded that happiness I felt before. In truth, it took me being removed from my former life for me to see how much better life can be. And, I thought I had it all back then.

As you may know from previous postings, I also let go of "the love of my life" at the end of the year. There was nothing much to let go of, as I realized I didn't have much to begin with. I also changed my way of thinking when it came to personal relationships, and the reasons why I thought I so desperately needed a man in my life. I gave all the usual and suspect reasons...I'm lonely, it would be nice to have some companionship, someone to love, etc. etc. Just when I had come to terms with, and accepted the fact that I would remain single and unattached at least for the remainder of this new year, the universe sent me a new friend. Who has a brother. Who would be perfect for me. WHAT?

Okay, so the point is, I stopped asking. I stopped WANTING. And, less than a week later, a very sweet and beautiful woman walked into my room to deliver something for my roommate, and she just so happened to ask about the guy whose photo was up on my memo board. I explained to her what once was, but no longer is, and hasn't been in years. Then she mentioned how she has a brother close to my age, divorced, highly educated, never been in trouble with the law, and is a government official in Mexico. She thought I might like him. WHAT?!? MIGHT?!?

Yes, yes... I will let you know how it goes, as always. Let's see if I will be thanking the universe after we meet.