Winding Down and Gearing Up

By Sandy Penny, WritingMuse


As this year ends, many are cheering the fact that it’s finally over. It has been the most challenging year in my 58-year memory for more people than I’ve ever seen. For me, it has been a big zero (on the surface, but don’t be too hasty to judge it, fallow fields restore their rich minerals and grow better crops.). That being said, it has also been the best year ever for some who have been able to find the new plug-in for their Aquarian Age energy. They are prospering and thriving and sharing the wealth and their knowledge.

This past week, I’ve dealt with many powerful, spiritual people who are experiencing depression, anxiety, frustration, lethargy, and just plain anger with their circumstances. The laws of the Universe seem to have changed. My guides used to love to say, “Everything has changed, nothing is what you thought it would be.” Who are those mystical beings who voted for the changes and put new rules into effect? Geez, did they mess up our lives in so many ways or what?

Well, the truth is that we are those powerful spiritual beings who chose to be here for this amazing change. We saw it coming, and we signed up to be part of the process. What many of us did not know was how difficult it would be to make these changes once we were in human bodies indoctrinated to an outdated system, the Piscean Age. I am really tired of talking about the Piscean Age. Why can’t it just die out quietly and let the new age take over? Night and day do not struggle with each other, they easily flow from one to the other in a cycle of change that allows us to balance our lives.

But isn’t that what is actually happening? Old systems are failing and dropping away, making way for the new and better ones. Old ways no longer work. Only the best practices that fit into the new age systems can be funded by that energy. It’s a real dilemma for us. We want the new and better to prosper and grow, but we’re not willing to suffer through the shift. It’s hard right now to get our footing. The earth beneath us keeps falling away, like an earthquake. It can be very difficult to embrace so many new ideas and systems when we’ve just learned how to get what we want out of the old ones.

It reminds me of W. Edwards Demming’s Quality Process. Demming was the man who went to Japan and turned their image around from the idea that Japanese-built meant shoddy work to Japanese products having a high quality manufacturing process in place. He actually took the ideas from earlier American business ethics and got a whole country to embrace them through honoring the grass roots ideas from all levels of manufacturing. It was a bottom-up philosophy.

He brought the completely developed and proven system back to the US and reintroduced it into the American corporate world where they gave it lip service but kept undercutting it. Why? Because it took power away from the upper executive echelons. And, why wouldn’t they resist? They fought long and hard to climb that ladder, and to get to the top only to be told they have to share that power with all the lower level workers. It just flew in the face of their whole life of striving and clawing their way up. That’s what we’re witnessing now. The world at large is welcoming the power back to the people while the execs are fighting to get the last ounce of gold from a disintegrating system. The new age is less upward hierarchy and more circular, nuclear flow. Anyone can introduce something new and have a chance to develop it. The smartest money people are looking for the opportunities of the future that are sustainable in this new energy.

In the coming year, along with our president, we’ve got a lot of work to do to bring ourselves up to speed for the Aquarian Age life model. “Everything has changed, nothing is what we thought it would be.” It’s a powerful time, and a difficult time, a frustrating, hope filled, wonderful time.

The good news is that we who have wanted to be of service to this world have ample opportunities to claim our personal power and develop a niche that funds our lifestyle choices and fulfills our destinies. What do you want NOW? Where do you want to invest your time, energy and money?

I predict that Obama will introduce lots of incentives to small businesses during the next four years. There will be small business loans for sustainable technologies and services. Mental health services will start expanding their models of dealing with the stress of all this change and those who want to work to create new types of communities will find money available that was not there previously. Obama is the first New Age president in this country. He’s a forward thinker, a problem solver, and a caring human being who wants to truly improve this world. I know that’s a tall order, and it won’t happen through one man, but he is the symbol of the changes. It’s time to refocus on the people instead of the system. Systems have to serve the people, not the other way around.

So, gather together your ideas, desires, and inspirations and get started on your fast unfolding path this year. Jump in and make it happen. The time for talk is done. The time for action has come.

For those of you who don’t yet know what you want to do, I suggest rereading my article on the Aquarian Age Business Model (click on 2005 on the right side of this page). It specifies some areas that will be successfully funded in this time period, for the next 1000 years.

Peace, love, joy, abundance and lots of high energy for 2009. Happy New Age!!!

A Few Small Steps for Me, A Giant Leap in Consciousness

by Sandy Penny

I circled the fire with a tambourine in my hand, striking the instrument on my thigh in time with the chant, "My body does whatever it takes to protect itself." I gazed into the glowing red and orange eyes of the twelve foot by four foot bed of coals and watched a coating of white ash begin to form. The fire pit looked back, studying me with its many eyes. "Will you walk tonight?" it silently asked. Would I cast aside caution and logic and make a tremendous leap of faith with a few small steps on a 1200 degree bed of coals?

The chant changed to "I am the light, I am the love" and then swelled around me with "The fire and I are one," and I thought about how I came to be standing here on the edge of eternity, a 42-year old woman, questioning the very nature of reality.

It was only a few weeks ago as I entered the Chapel of Prayer with fifty or so people to listen to a Hindu Guru tell traditional Indian parables, that I met Charmaine McGhie and Tore Fossum. We were seated next to each other and connected so quickly that they invited me to a New Year's Eve Party and Firewalk.

I was intrigued. I had seen firewalking on TV and read about it in National Geographics, but never had I witnessed it in person. Meanwhile, they gave me a book called "Firewalk" by Jonathon Seinfeld which I read with interest. It talked about firewalking as an empowerment tool and a subcultural movement in the U.S. since the 1970s. The U.S. has more firewalkers than the rest of the world put together. I couldn't believe it! How could I have missed it? I had done every "new age" experience I had run into. How could such a phenomenon have slipped by me? My excitement grew as the days passed.

The book helped keep me occupied and gave me a lot to think about. It told stories of firewalking in every culture. It quoted scriptures about firewalking and discussed the unsatisfactory research that has been done. I was primed for the experience - to watch the experience, at least.

I arrived early at the suburban house in a nice Friendswood Texas neighborhood. Not really where you'd expect to see a firewalk. The preparations looked like any other New Year's Eve party. Guests arrived with covered dishes, and someone played piano - 50s hits to sing along with. Not even any alcohol present.

At about 9:00 p.m. everyone gathered in the back yard. A cool front was moving through, and the air was cooling down. The grass was soaked with a hose as a safety precaution, and the evening began.

We each took turns carrying logs to build the fire. We were instructed to think of the logs like children, and focus loving attention on them. A firewalk instructor took the logs from us and built an impressive "boy scout" style teepee-shaped structure which would become a large bonfire using about a half cord of wood. We took turns stuffing newspaper in the cracks, and the fire was lit with great ceremony. A blaze reached skyward as a word of thanks and protection was intoned by a lady wearing a long full skirt. Surely that skirt was not a good thing to walk on fire in. When the fire was blazing violet and gold, we went to the patio to try out some other phenomenal activities. It would be two to three hours before the coals were ready.

Someone asked if we wanted to play the "rebar game" and a chorus of assent rang out. I had no idea what that meant. Rebars are 3/4" x 6' steel reinforcement bars used to reinforce concrete. Two people stand face to face six feet apart and a rebar is suspended between them by placing the tip of the metal rod in the hollow of the throat. The two people are told to focus their energy and see the rod bending. When they feel focused, the walk toward each other. The rod could either pierce your throat, cut off your breathing, or it could bend. All of them bent. There were no tracheotomies. It is impossible to use force to bend the rod in this position as it causes tremendous pain. I know that through experience. But when focusing properly the rod just sort of melts, and you are suddenly catching your partner in your arms as you fall toward each other.

Yes, I did it!

Next, we broke boards like so many karate experts. Only we weren't. One inch thick by 24 inches wide pine boards set on bricks. When focused, the board almost breaks itself. That was a tremendous energy rush for me. I didn't know I could do that.

Finally, the coals were ready. We returned to the back yard. The fire was so hot, it was difficult to stand close to it for more than a few minutes. The coals were raked out smooth, and the temperature was measured at 1200 degrees. How could we hope to walk on this? It was too preposterous. I was glad I'd only come to watch.

We circled the fire pit and chanted. No one wanted to be first. I wondered if anyone would find the courage. Suddenly Charmaine was at the top of the pit quietly chanting and focusing on the far end of the coals. Then it happened. She stepped onto the coals and kept walking, slowly, not rushing, the full twelve feet. As she stepped off, a cheer went up, and she went around and repeated it. She was followed by Tore and another, and another. A line of people followed, and no injuries. The lady in the long, full skirt walked eight times, and the fabric did not catch fire. Everyone had walked, except me and one other person. I had only come to watch anyway.

Some people walked slow, some people ran, some people danced. One person cartwheeled through the coals, and then he did the most amazing thing. He stepped onto the coals and stood there in one place, reached down and lifted up a handful of coals and threw them into the air. Then he quietly walked off the fire pit - unharmed.

This went on for a couple of hours. It was like a dream. My mind had no place to file this scene. Could I do it too? Did I have enough faith and concentration? I didn't know. I did not feel afraid. But I also did not feel compelled to walk. Even so, I had removed my shoes and socks. Was that significant?

Then a voice was calling out "last call It's time to go in and dance." Charmaine stepped up to the pit again, and this time I stepped out beside her and took her hand. We looked briefly at each other. She squeezed my hand, and I began to walk. We moved together, not too fast, casually.

The coals crunched under my feet, and I was about to step off the pit, already at the other end. I did it! I had actually walked on 1200 degree coals, and my feet were intact - not even a blister. Now everyone was cheering for ME! I knew I was about to begin rethinking reality. There was no other choice.

www.writingmuse.com

Now for Something Completely Different

Karen Bishop of whatsuponplanetearth.com is launching a new Wings column. This is the first one, and it's very powerful and meaningful for me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It was very soothing during our current challenges.
Also, to see my new project, go to taosbutterfly.wordpress.com and, there's a great new post just below this one - Prosperity Through Generosity, The Forgotten Path to Abundance.

----------- from whatsuponplanetearth.com ------------

WINGS will be a regular posting on the Emerging Earth Angels web site…very similar to the energy alerts of the past. It will contain information that is relevant and currently pertinent to where we are in our evolutionary process as angels of the New Earth. It differs from the energy alerts in that it will not contain information about what is occurring on the planet (although at times some of these occurrences will be briefly mentioned if they pertain to our process). WINGS will be very focused on you (or rather us)….what our new roles are, how we will implement them, who we are, what we are here to contribute, and how this process is unfolding for all of us.

We have recently completed a vital part of our evolutionary process here on planet Earth. In times past, we knew at some place deep within us, that we were here for a vital and important purpose. Simply being present here on the planet was purpose enough, as holding more light and vibrating higher served its’ own purpose all in itself. This purpose of times past involved raising the vibration of the planet, as we had decided as a group of souls to wrap things up here, to leave all our past “incarnations” behind from eons of times ago, to let it all go, and thus begin the process of creating a very new and pristine planet Earth before we moved on to a very new universe that we had yet to experience.

This involved taking on many lower and more densely vibrating energies in order to transmute them through ourselves, becoming intentional “healers,” and striving at times to serve, lift up, and change the planet.

The first phase is now complete. We have taken things as far as they can go. We have infused our light, our energy, and much else of ourselves into an old world and brought it up to a very new level. We are now done.

How has this “being done” manifested in our lives? We may feel very lost, no longer know what our roles are and what our identity is, we may feel that we have nothing to tap into or hold onto anymore, we may feel like we are “floating” or simply hanging in a space of no space, or perhaps even feel useless with nothing to offer and nowhere left to go.

We may wonder what all this ascension stuff was ever about anyway. We may wonder if it was even real, if it made a difference at all, or perhaps if it was just one big joke. We may find that all we thought that we had learned is not happening at all or has even disappeared entirely. We may wonder if we were just going through some strange stage that is now over or maybe we just grew up. And we may even wonder if we have indeed gone backwards and are now living in an old reality where no higher ways, experiences, or energies exist at all.

This is normal. These feelings arise because our old roles are over now. And these old roles are all we have known in this current reality up until now. These feelings are common for ascension and are only temporary.

We may also feel that whenever we go “out there,” all we seem to encounter are strange energies of a lower vibrating nature with a strong sense of “dis-connect,” staleness, flatness, and a two dimensional theme…while at the same time we are also experiencing new connections that feel oh so much better. We may feel that there is not a story that we are a part of. There is no book that we are characters within.

Part of this process involved a reeling in of all the places where we had infused our energy in the past. We had to “take back” ourselves from wherever we had treaded and spread our energies. This is because we could no longer use our natural light to bring up the vibration of the planet. It must now be done by those who are now occupying the space that we once held. If we continue to have a party in our old space and with our old roles, after we send out the invitations, we will most likely find that no one shows up. We are in a big lull, a vast void of emptiness, and a space of near no space while we are waiting for the gelling process to complete. All as it should be.

Although it may seem that things have ended abruptly, they actually have not. We have been preparing for this the entire year of 2008. This is why 2009 will indeed be our year of new beginnings and new connections. We have prepared by slowly finding that we need not ever again “save” anything or anyone. We have been preparing by realizing that the higher vibration we thought we knew, was actually an illusion stemming from our old naïve 3D minds. In this way, we are now much more “real,” as we know that true spirituality involves a different state of affairs than what we may have believed it to be. We have been preparing by losing much of our old “ego” or being in charge selves. Yay! We have been preparing by now knowing that great love and things of a spiritual nature come from the simplest of things and from simply being present. And we have been preparing by finding that whatever we seem to think we need to create, seems to continually change as we change, before it can even manifest, thus resulting in a much more highly evolved “us” with a much more highly evolved creation.

So now here we are. We have hopefully removed ourselves from much. Having experiences of “being invisible,” unnoticed, disregarded and disrespected, and perhaps mis-treated have taken place in order to encourage us to pull out and move on. Our job is now done. We no longer belong in the world of the old. It is OK to leave. We are no longer responsible for bringing up the vibration of the planet. This has been accomplished…we have succeeded.

Now what? Like very new babies with a very new start, we now get to choose with fresh new eyes. We get to tap into our pure innocence and tap into a whole new us. We get to begin again. We may regain our curiosity, our sense of wonder, and a pure and pristine sense of things. Continuing to remain in old and familiar ways and surroundings will serve to impede these great gifts we are receiving. Jump starting and reviving the old will place us in a reality that may serve to bring futility, stagnation, boredom, and even depression.

We have graduated to a new level, but in many ways, we have yet to connect to that level. This can manifest as lower vibrating energies continuing to want access into our space, and even as thinking we have made new connections, jumping into them, but finding that the time has still not arrived, and we now need to back out and stay still for a while longer.

The rung of the vibrational ladder that we have just removed ourselves from, as we no longer need to hold that space, is still gelling. It is being set up and things are still being put into place. Once changes begin to be implemented, we will then get our “high sign.” The old space has yet to anchor itself without us. This phase must occur before our very new phases and roles can get going.

As we are now evolving into earth angels, as this is our new and natural space on the energetic hierarchy, we need to have a vibrational level below the one we are now residing in, in existence so that we can be its’ angels. This process is occurring now and in divine and perfect order. So even though it may appear as though the economy and our old sources of income have completely stopped, dried up, and become non-existent, they are simply on hiatus as they are waiting for this gelling process to complete.

While we are waiting, then, we are making progress none-the-less. In small, progressive and steady steps, we are setting things up for our new roles and new connections. We will be paired with incredible new people and places in the new reality of 2009. These pairings and connections are rapidly taking place now, even if not evident in all ways. And while this gelling and preparation is in progress, we will indeed be taken care of. We will receive at times, just as much as we need to stay afloat while in the lull, even if in small and sporadic amounts.

We have thus been removed from much of everything. We are being divinely protected now. All is in order. We are being housed in a beautiful and loving womb until we can emerge once again in a very new reality of a very different order. Thus, it can be challenging and difficult to try and connect to the new when all things are not yet in place. In this way, we may grasp and look for something to grab onto, for a sense of familiarity, but find that there is nothing yet to anchor onto. The lower dimension below us is going through this same process, but in different ways. All as one, but in different vibrational realities.

So although it may appear that things are tough, that much of everything has dried up for us, I can assure you that we are simply at the very end of one reality and now poised to enter a very new reality. We are done. We will now be reborn and offering our special gifts and talents as earth angels to those who need assistance from the next rung up on the ladder. Assistance for those who want to expand, who want to know how to create a new world, who want to reach higher, and who know that we can show them the way.

As the new angels of the earth, we know that the vibrational rung below us has free will to choose what it will create. We thus know that we need lovingly wait for it to be ready and for it to ask for our guidance. Just as when we resided at that level and asked for messages from “above,” we will now be “above,” and thus be providing these messages and this guidance for those needing it.

I have spending most of my time these days in the company of my non-physical companion. Over the most recent years, he arrived less and less frequently, as I needed to find my own guidance and council. Now, we are pretty much in the same space as this evolutionary process serves to continually move us up. We just hang out now as buddies, talking much through-out the day. But because of this, I also know that we will soon be parting ways. I have reached his level and will soon be receiving a new companion or “guide.” My current guide has been with me for several years…since I began my process in 2000. I am so very sad to know that we will be parting. But our guides are only higher vibrating aspects of ourselves and when we reach this vibration and unite fully, we then connect to something very new and different.

I share with you this story, as I know that many of you are experiencing the same. We are most assuredly moving forward.

Our new roles will involve our true and authentic selves. We will share our wisdom with those going through their process of evolution. In this way, we will offer a vast array of services to those who are expanding. We will know what they are experiencing because we have been there ourselves. And because we have purged and released so much, we will know how to assist in a higher way as well.

In addition, we will connect more securely with our brothers and sisters, as we assist each other in our very new roles. We will most assuredly be there to help each otheras we offer our own special gifts and talents to create the whole that will comprise our very new reality.

We are in a temporary stage of a massive transition. But as the new earth angels, we will experience a very new way of living and being, while we are residing in a very new reality in a much higher dimension. We need only hold on a little bit longer, stay centered, in the moment, be still, and trust that all, as always, is in divine and perfect order.

www.whatsuponplanetearth.com

The Forgotten Path to Abundance

Prosperity Through Generosity

A true story by Sandy Penny

For years I have practiced "Prosperity Through Generosity" sometimes known as tithing or sharing the wealth. Whenever I receive money, I share it with others even though I may not have a lot of cash at the time. I have learned that, by continuing to share, the energy keeps moving and more money comes in. I also tithe in time by doing my work for no charge when someone can truly not afford it. This has afforded me the opportunity to do many things that I might not have done because of lack of funds. One day, while musing on the subject, I got a little hungry, so off I went to one of my favorite restaurants, not knowing that Spirit had a special challenge and a lesson for me.

I headed over to the Enchanted Garden (nice name eh?), and they knew me because I ate there a lot. It was one of my regular hangouts. When I walked in, the regular waitress came over and introduced me to a new waitress. The new waitress, Mary, knowing that I was into spiritual studies had a story and a question for me. She told me how she had been out of work and down to her last $43. She was driving to a job interview and on the way saw a woman holding a baby and a sign that said, "Baby needs Dr. please help." Being soft-hearted, she pulled over to the woman and reached into her purse and handed her $3. As she drove away, in the rear view mirror, she could see the woman clasping her hands and shouting, "Thank you, thank you, thank the Lord."

She thought, “Wow, a lousy $3 makes her so happy,” and she felt good about having given it to her even though her funds were low. When she arrived at her interview, she looked in her purse and found that she had given the woman two twenties and a one instead of three ones. She now had $2 to her name. She was kicking herself and couldn't believe she had given away her last money. The next day she got the job at Enchanted Garden. She asked what I thought about all that.

I told her not to be upset about the money, that perhaps that woman needed exactly that amount for the doctor and that she may have been praying for it. Mary may have been the instrument to answer her prayer and change her belief about prayers being answered and about life in general. She said that was a good way to look at it. That being said, I headed for the ladies room.

While in the ladies room, my guides said to me, "Give her back the money." I protested that I did not get paid for two more days and I wasn't even sure if I had that much in my bank account. They insisted, so I wrote a check for $50 and wrote prosperity through generosity at the bottom. I asked the other waitress to give it to her after I left so she wouldn't refuse it and wouldn't be embarrassed.

But that started me thinking about my checking account, so I went to balance it and see if all my checks were in and how much money I actually had left. I did not want my gesture to be negated by a bounced check. When I did that, I found that I had an extra $500 that could not be accounted for anywhere in my deposits, and all the checks had cleared the account. Suddenly I had 10 times what I had just given away. I felt it was a major sign for me. And that was a huge lesson, but the biggest lesson was yet to come.

A month later I received a letter from Mary. She said, "I don't know if you remember me, but I just wanted to tell you that I never cashed your check for $50. Money started to come to me from all directions. I framed the check and put it on my wall, and whenever anyone comes into my home, I tell them the story of your generosity."

I choked up and cried. I still can't tell that story without getting misty. And I got the message to think about how many people were being affected by that simple gesture while following my guidance. I will never know exactly how many people were moved by that story, but it was a very powerful lesson for me, and a much better reward than the $500. The small random acts of kindness that we do ripple out into the world and create all kinds of abundance, and it comes back from all directions.

Ever since that day, when I give a tip, pay my bills or receive money of any sort, I hold the money in my hands (and the hands of the giver and receiver whenever possible) and say this... "Divine Love through me blesses and multiplies all the good I am and have, all the good I give and receive, Bless the gift, the giver and the receiver. Bless and multiply and multiply and multiply."

Ripples...After telling that story at a class, one of my students tried it and was amazed at what happened. She stopped to buy a sandwich from a charity fundraiser. They were complaining that business was slow because of rain. When she paid them, she said the blessing out loud so they could hear her. They thanked her, and immediately three cars drove up and placed large orders for food. They looked at her and said, "You did that." She smiled and continued her day, knowing that however it happened, that something had happened. It became a mystical experience for all concerned. She felt great and continues to do this all the time now!

Understanding Prosperity through Generosity

The first objection I hear when I talk about this is, "Look at all the people who are rich and do not share their wealth, look at all the misers who just don't care." Well, I can tell you that they are not in abundance. Abundance is more than money - abundance is fullness of life, joyful spirit and magic and adventure in everyday life. That does not mean that people with money cannot be in abundance, just that those who are so fearful of losing what they have that they cannot share it with those who have openly supported them and been emotionally and spiritually available for them end up unhappy with their money and material accomplishments.

There is joy and great reward in making money and working hard. There is a fulfillment that comes from putting in an effort and seeing it manifest and no matter whether the motivation is to see the financial reward or doing the job for its own sake, there are rewards. However, these rewards are small in comparison to what we receive in all areas of our life when we put in an effort on behalf of others. When we move out of our little selves and move into our huge spirits, abundance takes on a new meaning. It no longer has a price tag in dollars. Abundance becomes friendship, loving relationships, financial stability, flow, joyful expression of our higher nature and more conscious connection to our divine spirit. No longer do we consider what the outcome will be when giving of ourselves and resources, we act from the heart in the moment, and it feels totally right, and we are blessed because of it.

Most wealthy people give to charities. Why do they do that? Sometimes it is giving from the heart, and sometimes it is a recognition of an ancient principle, "you have to give to get," you have to be willing to keep the money and energy circulating in order for it to keep coming round again and again. This applies to every area of your life, you have to be willing to give love to receive it, mainly because if you are so closed that you are not giving it, you won't be able to feel it when it is available. You have to be willing to give emotional support for that kind of support to show itself to you. You have to behave in the ways you want others to behave to you - it is the Golden Rule restated, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

There are people who continually give to you, organizations that dedicate their purpose to serving your spirit, and they do it with open hearts and continual flow. When it comes time to give back to them, do you act from the appreciation you have for what they have given you, or do you act from a sense of lack? Do you take advantage of their generosity or do you continue the cycle of prosperity through generosity? If you are asking yourself why you can never get ahead in life, ask yourself if you have been acting out lack over and over again when your opportunity to be generous comes round? And if you are acting generously, is it from the heart, or are you standing in judgement of those who, in the midst of their lack, cannot bring themselves to be generous to you? If you are standing in judgement, then you are only completing half the equation for abundance, you are giving, but you are holding other people in a "mold" that says they are unable to return the generosity, and that prevents them from changing and acting from their heart.

The remedy for this half-heartedness is to be grateful for everything you have, spend time reflecting on what is abundant in your life, spend time giving thanks for every little blessing that comes your way, no matter how small. Practice focusing on the good in your life, and it will grow the same way that plants respond when we focus positive attention on them. Plant seeds of thankfulness and it will bear the fruit of abundance every time. If you can't begin to feel really thankful because things are pretty bad right now, just begin acting it out, looking for what others might see as a small blessing and giving lip service to it. This tiny step begins to change you - your higher self, angels and the divine source use this small opportunity to show you their great love, mercy, abundance and grace.

What if those people and places that have been providing you with spiritual and emotional sustenance were gone? What if they could no longer serve you because they could not afford to keep the doors open? Where would you go for the things they have been providing you? How would your life be without them? Ask yourself just how important these people and places are to you in making your life better and give to them based on that feeling. Open your heart and give your time, your money, your good thoughts, your ideas, your talents, your connections!

Make a commitment to support those who are supporting you, and suddenly your crop of abundance will be harvested. You will receive time, money, good thoughts, ideas, talents and connections from others. Your life will transform itself into joyful community with like-minded people. You will see the seeds you have planted grow into fruit-bearing trees all around you, and you will experience the amazement, the joy and the fulfillment of going beyond your small self and becoming part of a greater whole. And that serves the world at large and the universe in its highest and best good, as well as yours.