My Life Affecting Books

Someone on Facebook today asked me to list the top 10 books that have affected my life, and it set me to thinking back about that. As I reviewed my life, and I came up with a list. There are literally hundreds I could have mentioned, but as I meditated on it, these are the ones that stood out for me. Hope you enjoy them. Love to hear your comments or your own list.

10 Books that Affected Me and My Life

by Sandy Penny

Click any book cover to go to the Amazon information/buy page.

1. Hansel and Gretel by The Brothers Grimm. My brother Curt read this to me about 1000 times at my request before I could read. It is still my favorite book about empowerment. The children triumph over evil by cooperating and outsmarting the witch. 

2. The Bible because it gave me a base for morality and taught me the golden rule, the law of reciprocity. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And it has some great epic stories. It also made me examine my beliefs in light of all the different interpretations people had of this book.

3. The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale because it taught me that I could change the circumstances in my life by changing the way I think about them. Being more positive leads to a more successful life. I read it when I was 10 years old, and it made perfect sense to me and changed my life.

4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, a beautifully written tale of a woman triumphing over adversity at a time when few options were open to women. It represented courage, strength and acceptance of people's faults. I read it when I was a teenager, then again in my 20s, and again recently. And each time it was powerfully emotional.

5. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, a deeply felt and compassionate tale of the plight of migrant workers. It portrayed the hard lives of these workers and taught compassion for the workers of the world. It also inspired gratitude for what I have. Growing up poor in a family of 10 kids, it was easy to relate to. I read it in 8th grade, and a few more times throughout the years. Some find it heavy and depressing. I found it uplifting and inspiring.

6. Helping Yourself with ESP by Harold Sherman because it awakened abilities within me that I had always known were there, but did not know how to use. No longer in print. Gave me the stair release meditation that led me to my room (womb) of power that I still use to clear my energy and connect with my higher self, guides, teachers and spirit beings. Sherman was an inspirational speaker, a well-known sports writer and avid explorer of metaphysical life principles. I corresponded with him a few times throughout the years, and he was friendly and helpful every time.

7. Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East (series), reinforced my experience of life as magical, mystical and miraculous. Taught me to trust my intuition and the unseen beings I interact with. The mysterious beings with magical powers still infuse my life with wonder.

8. I'm OK, You're OK, simple transactional analysis for relationships. It taught me that we can disagree and still respect each other's points of view. We do not have to make others wrong in order to have our own opinions. Very popular in the 60s/70s.

9. The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield . This was the first spirituality novel that hit the New York Times Best Seller List and stayed there for two years. It chronicled the way many spiritual paths unfold and incorporated it into an adventure novel. It appealed to both men and women. I taught classes on the principles expressed in the book because it was the exact way my path unfolded. It let me know that masses of people are awakening to their own spirituality. It was a beacon of hope and a map for exploring personal spiritual growth.

10. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by by Leslye Walton. It is so poetically written with such deep emotion and poignant style about a girl who is born with wings, and the women in her family who have experienced their own ways of being different. A lovely book that keeps me returning to the characters again and again, wondering how they're doing.

That's the list that came to me today, and it runs through my life like a golden thread of inspiration. There are many many more, and I'll explore some of them on my new blog:
http://myfavoritespiritualbooks.blogspot.com/.
If you'd like to get updates for these books, just go to the blog and sign up for the updates

Click book cover to go to the Amazon Page for my novelette, Covenant of the Dove.

Sandy Penny - click the photo to go to http://sandypenny.com. 

Click the banner for Sandy Penny's Fresh Eyes Proofing - final proofing for your novels.

Journey of The Frangy Pangy

The Frangy Pangy (Frangipani, Plumeria)

My daughter Andrea was about to graduate from high school, when her friend Allison gave her a cutting from her favorite plant, a frangipani (plumeria). She told the story of her aunt giving it to her when she was a little girl, and she called it the frangy pangy (with a hard g) since she could not pronounce or remember frangipani (plumeria). It was a lovely gift signifying years of shared connection with Andrea.

Unfortunately, my daughter was about to go off to college thousands of miles away and could not take the frangy pangy with her. I lived in an apartment, and definitely did not have a green thumb. So, when Andrea asked me to take care of the plant for her when she went away to college, I reluctantly agreed. I valued the energy that went into the gift. But, with a deep sigh, I hoped I would not kill it as I had so many plants in my past. If only I had the my mother's green thumb.

I lived in an apartment in Houston, Texas, and luckily had a drive-up parking space right to my front door. Unfortunately, my patio was all cement with no plants. At first, it didn't bother me, but it was not inviting people into my home. I had a change of heart and realized that I needed to connect with the earth energy by growing plants, in honor of my mother's amazing green thumb. When she was alive, I constantly rejected her efforts to engage me in digging in the dirt. Not my thing. Not my thing.

After discussing it with my friend Sue, whose family was really into gardening in their urban yard, she agreed to help me choose native Texas plants that would be easy to care for and require little of me to beautify my patio. I got a little bit excited. I bought a two-seater covered porch swing, because I had always loved swings and moving, never sitting still. And I found a wonderful wrought iron table with a rose in the center and a rose in the back of the chairs. So sweet. I found a couple of stained glass windows in wooden frames to hang from cup hooks to reflect the lovely bright Houston sunlight.

We went to the plant nurseries, and discussed what would be the easiest for a non-gardener to maintain. I wanted plants that required little watering, no feeding and would be hearty enough to withstand my lack of knowledge and lack of interest in plants. I loved that they were beautiful, but I did not want the burden of too much care. Pretty soon, my patio was an awesome oasis of green energy. Neighbors who had never visited me in two years of living there started to stop and chat with me, and I thanked the plants for that.

I bought a thriving aloe vera plant, which I always think looks like a native American headdress. I always call them my shaman plants because they look like feathers. They were easy to grow and practical for healing purposes. Great to heal burns and cuts and itchy things. I would sit on the swing and enjoy the beautiful, bountiful green space. Proud that I was making the effort to connect with the earth energy.

Anyway, back to the frangy pangy. The frangy pangy was in a plastic bucket without too much soil. I watered it when I thought of it, and Houston's humidity was good for it. But, after months of loving care, it was not really thriving. We had a heavy summer rain, as Houston is likely to do, and I set the frangy pangy on the ground outside and below my cement patio, so it could enjoy the tropical moisture.

The next day, I went out to move  the plant back onto the patio, but it was gone. Oh, no, my daughter's legacy plant had been stolen. I was devastated. I did not want to tell Andrea that the plant she had entrusted me with was gone. So, I didn't tell her. I decided to wait until she was next in Houston to break the sad news.  And that would not be for months.

Several months went by, and I forgot about the frangy pangy. One day, I was watering my plants on the patio, which, by the way, were thriving. and I was amazed at that. As I rinsed excess water off the patio, I noticed the frangipani (frangy pangy) lying on its side below the patio and behind the plants where I had originally set it to catch the rain water. I could not believe it. All these months later, and there it was, right where I had put it originally, but laying on its side. And it looked exactly the same. I was flabbergasted, but so grateful, because I had not mentioned it to Andrea, and she had not come home for a visit. She knew nothing about the missing frangy pangy.

I picked it up, and it was still in the  original plastic planter. The next day, I bought a nice large painted clay planter, and filled it with organic top soil. I replanted the frangy pangy in the new planter, and set it back up on the patio with my other now thriving plants. For a girl with a black thumb, I was doing ok. It immediately started making new plants.

Andrea never knew it went missing, but I understood, from a spiritual point of view, that plants, like all of us, have their own destiny. Sometimes crystals disappear for months and return later. Sometimes our prized possessions cannot be found and spontaneously return to us. But, that is not the end of this strange story.

A few months later, I moved to the Houston Heights. I no longer had a patio, but I wanted to honor the plants in their new environment. I had a big, beautiful fenced front yard, so I placed the covered patio swing in it, and surrounded it with the plants that had been on my patio. Since it was a very shady yard, it worked perfectly with the plants I had chosen for my shady patio. They seemed very at home in the new environment.

A couple of months later, the frangy pangy bloomed, after two years, for the first time. I was thrilled. The plant that had gone away and returned, was now letting us know that it loved its new home. How exciting.

A few days later, one morning, when I went outside to have my coffee on the swing, something felt wrong. I could not immediately identify what was wrong. Later, as I sat there, looking around, I noticed the frangy pangy was gone. I could not believe it. It had grown to the size of a small tree and was full of blossoms. It was heavy and not easy to move in the large planter now housing it. And, even more, the gates to the yard were locked. How could this have happened? Was there a plant thief?  Or was something mystical happening again?

I was so sad. Finally, the frangy pangy had bloomed, after two years and a huge move, and now it was gone. What was I supposed to tell Andrea?  I tuned in to it spiritually, and was told that plants, like humans and other types of beings, have their own paths, their own lives, and we cannot truly own them. They are friends along the way, and if they leave, it is not our karma to track them down. If they return, it is because they choose to.

I have visions of the frangy pangy bringing joy and healing to all who encounter her. I don't know where she went, but I trust in the concept of All in Divine Order. She brought me joy, she brought my daughter friendship and loving energy, and all who saw her benefited from her beauty.

Sadly, she did not return this time. I hope, some day, I will see where her journey took her, and I believe it was a path of joy for all who knew her.

sandypenny.com . writingmuse.com . sweetmysterybooks.com . fresheyesproofing

Choice Points

Choice Points . by Sandy Penny

Life is a Sliding Scale from Pain to Ecstasy. Do you think you have a choice?

All around you, the world, the universe is teeming with life and light and darkness and death. Sometimes you feel it or see it or smell, taste or touch it. Sometimes you're aware of it, and sometimes you are too preoccupied with your own little microcosm to observe it. 

Yet, all the time, you are in it and of it. You cannot separate yourself from it because you are it, and it is you. There is no us and them. There is only being.

When you judge life, you feel pain. When you love life, you feel ecstasy. Life is a sliding scale from pain to ecstasy. It is a pendulum that swings from one extreme to the other and sometimes pauses at the center for a moment in time. That moment in time is called peace, and for most people, it does not last, the pendulum resumes its rhythmic swing. And, in every moment, it is your choice of where to put your focus. The pendulum will swing, no matter how you feel about it.

In every experience of pain or ecstasy, there is a choice point, that moment when you can choose how to act or react, how to feel, how to live. When you review your life, either at the end of it, or along the way, by conscious choice, you will see every choice point, and what your choices were, and you will see the outcomes of every choice, and you will know the route you took to get there. When my brother was awaiting a heart transplant, he began to have conscious awareness of the choice points in his life. He was shown every point where he chose to hurt or help someone, and there was always a choice point. It is not easy to look and see, to know and own, to recognize, experience, accept and love the whole of you.  Your REAL life (Recognize, Experience, Accept and Love).

People talk about mindful living. To live the choice points consciously is mindful living. To love the choice points and the outcomes is heartful living. To forgive yourself and others is emotional living. To know there is nothing to forgive is spiritual living.

ChoicePoints. ChoicePoints. ChoicePoints. What life will you choose? Who and what will you love? How will your path unfold, one choice at a time? It's your Choice Point now, and now, and now.

The Season of Love

Today is a specially love charged day for me. I’ve just become a grandmother for the first time. My daughter Andrea and her husband Daniel proudly introduce their beautiful healthy daughter, Alexandra Lynn Gibson, weighing in at 8 lbs, 1 oz who rode in on the wave of Valentine’s Day love but waited until 12:23 pm (eastern time) on Saturday, Feb 15, 2014 so she can have her own birthday focus. The entire family is doing well and trying to get some rest. I have had a psychic relationship with this little girl for many years, and I’m so happy I’ll finally get to meet her in person.

And, my Facebook friend, world-renowned artist and wise philosopher, Mrinalini Singh posted this today, and it just seemed so appropriate I had to share it.

So, enjoy the love and share it with everyone in your life.

Happy season of love … Sandy Penny

Memories of Spiritual Friends . Arthur Douet & Charlotte Sigler

Memories of Spiritual Friends . by Sandy Penny

On Dec. 7, 2013, the delightful Charlotte Sigler made her transition at 96 years young. Charlotte was a pillar of the Houston spiritual community. I met Charlotte in 1978 when I was publishing the first metaphysical journal in Houston, The Rising Sun. When I solicited her for advertising, she said before she advertised with me, I needed to come out and see Carmel, and she needed to meet me. I arrived, and she was a tiny little ball of energy dressed like a cowgirl. A quilted vest and western boots completed that image. She told me a little about the guidance that instructed  her and Richard on where and how to build Carmel. It was an amazing story, and after our talk, she became a regular advertiser and supporter of The Rising Sun.
Back then, there were three places you could go for spiritual counseling and community, The Chapel of Prayer, The Esoteric Philosophy Center and Carmel Temple.  These three places offered opportunities to explore your divine connection, your spiritual gifts, past lives and personal growth, unfettered by any church affiliations.
There were classes, speakers, healers, teachers, readers and all manner of consciousness expanding experiences. We knew we were on the leading edge of a paradigm shift, and so much of the information we were receiving was pretty far out there for the time. We needed places to gather and share our vision for the future. We didn't have the internet, or cell phones, or chat rooms or facebook. And, we wanted to be reassured that we were not crazy. We wanted playmates in our creative process.
We saw a vision of a world of people who cared about the  health of the planet. A world where no one goes hungry, and everyone is offered healthy alternatives and lifestyle education to be healthy, wealthy and wise. We held that vision in our hearts and shared it with others, and we watched people become more concerned with how we treat the planet and how we treat each other. We had a vision of world peace, and we still hold that vision, beginning with our own inner peace. For only from inner peace can we create a world of peace, love and understanding.
We saw amazing technologies that serve the world and the people, a system that makes life better. We still hold that vision, and it needs us even more now. We have raised awareness, and we cannot close that door once it has been opened. What we do now, we do consciously, and that raises our level of responsibility.
Charlotte and Carmel were always active in this endeavor. I suspect that Charlotte is not resting on the other side, but is working to make that big vision a reality now that she does not have a physical body to slow her down.
On Dec. 31, 2013, new year’s eve, my beautiful spiritual artist friend Arthur Douet crossed over at 76. I met Douet at the Chapel of Prayer  in 1978. He was a tall handsome man with a gentle face, a contagious laugh, hugs that wrapped you in love, and a Jamaican accent that imparted wisdom and joy with every word. But his silence was his true miracle, when he held your hands and connected with you, you knew he had touched your soul.  The moment I met him, I vibrated with energy I had never felt before, and I felt like I was seeing an old friend I thought had died, and now was alive again.
I was so blown away by what I was feeling that I had my first past life regression, and I saw that we had been married, and that at the early age of 28 in 1878, I lost my husband to a plague spread by a wagon train. I was 28 when I lost him, and 28 when I met him in this life. In numerology, 28 is relationships and manifesting, and the sum of the 2 and 8 is 10, a 1, a new beginning. How appropriate for my experience.
It turned out that we both lived in the same apartment complex, and we began a friendship that has lasted a lifetime. Even when we didn’t see each other for years, he would phone me and leave me messages that reminded me that one person on this planet thought I was beautiful and remembered our heart connection. We were soul mates, even though we were not intended to marry in this lifetime, and Douet had many soul mates.
He was a gentle giant, who lived a life of inspiration, art and  vision. Ten years prior to the Berlin Wall being torn down, he painted a painting of people of all races taking the wall down brick by brick. He saw that and helped create it with his art and his heart. He also created my logo for The Rising Sun, a symbol of consciousness rising to the surface. What an energy blessing and a gift that was.
Charlotte, Nelson Mandela and Douet are now free to pool their considerable energy to move our vision forward. I hope you all will honor their lives by holding that vision and working toward it as well, in your own ways, with your own creative endeavors and your heart’s focus.
I am honored to live in a time when some amazing beings lived their lives with purpose, joy and commitment to a better world. And, I am blessed to have known many of them, and I am inspired to emulate them in my own life. Thank you all for being a part of my spiritual life. I love you, appreciate you and wish you all your heart’s and soul’s desires.
What will you do with 2014?
My Pinterest page image memorial to Arthur Douet
Carmel Temple’s Web Site
My Website: Sandy Penny

Invisible Temples Now Appearing Near You!

Fourth/Fifth Dimensional Life - by Sandy Penny

In the past 20 years, my meditation showed me many future visions. One of the impressive meditations indicated that temples, pyramids, underwater cities and livable caves, previously unknown, would show up as a confirmation that we have moved into a fourth/fifth dimensional reality. Throughout the years, I have watched for these signs and confirmations. Now I can share a few of them with you.

I lived mostly in New Mexico from 2005 through 2012. There are many wonderful magical places to visit there, and I visited many of them. My first power connection with New Mexico was Ojo Caliente, a complex of hot springs just north of Santa Fe and south of Taos. The cliffs there offer up a variety of waters with different mineral contents and healing properties. It is said that the Native Americans called this sacred land, and that no one was allowed to fight when sharing the hot springs, and it was also considered to be an area of opening to the inner earth realms. Geronimo negotiated many treaties while sitting in the peaceful healing waters. My friend and spiritual teacher, Kip Davidson, lived there for 10 years and taught me many things about the angels and elemental kingdom. I loved visiting there.

As I drove down that road often while living in Taos, I noticed these ancient rock formations that reminded me of the temples of Atlantis in my past life memories. I knew that those temples still exist at higher frequencies, and that if we can raise our vibrations to the right level, we can enter these temples, and they will once again become the power sources they used to be. No one I know shared that belief or memory except me, and I seldom spoke of it as it sounds far fetched and fanciful to most people. Eccentric, to say the least.

Last week, I saw an amazing listing online that confirmed my beliefs and reminded me that I need to share these experiences with others as confirmation of their own strange and wonderful experiences. Unknown to me, in all the years I lived and traveled that area, carved underground cathedral caves exist, and now they are available for us to live in. Check out the link below and the photos. I know that these were not available to the average person a few years ago, but now we have made a dimensional shift that allows us access.

http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/11/29/for-sale-hand-carved-cave-cathedral/

Certainly, it has been big controversial news that a large complex of pyramids have been found in Bosnia, larger than the Egyptian ones, hidden under green hills, and no one thought anything was there until a few years ago when Semir Osmanagic, acting on intuitive information, began to explore them. Now, the unearthing is gaining support and has been confirmed by Egyptologists and archaeologists as a legitimate site. This totally changes the history of the area, as no one had any knowledge of the pyramid building culture in this part of the world. This supports my memories that Atlantis was "the world as we knew it then," and not an island or a city or a single culture. It was a time period in our earth history where temple/pyramid cultures were the norm. I believe these have only been recognized since we have shifted dimensions so we are now vibrating at a frequency where we can see them. Energy has been detected radiating from the pyramid of the sun. Previously, these structures would have been solid rock to us.

http://www.bosnianpyramids.org/

Fantastic underwater cities are surfacing now, some that have been supposed for a long time, but never found. It is said that underwater cities now being found can rewrite our history and change many religious beliefs. My sense is that we are expanding to enjoy a greater understanding of our past, present and future, in all directions. The following link has some great photos and comments about this.

http://beforeitsnews.com/beyond-science/2013/09/%E2%99%9E-%E2%99%98-underwater-cities-could-rewrite-our-history-books-and-destroy-several-religious-beliefs-2443662.html

In addition to all these unusual findings, crop circles, snow circles, stone circles and all kinds of mandalas are being created by humans and unknown sources. A 13-mile construction went totally unnoticed even though it was frequented by government airplanes for years. This ancient mandala is only now being publicized. We think we just didn't know about it, but I can tell you that we were not capable of seeing it previously. Now we are. This is deeply etched in stone/dirt in the desert. How did that go unnoticed?

http://www.anonymousfo.com/AFOStream/NewsStories/May2013/13MileCropCircleDiscoveredInDesert.html

I want you to know that the world is changing fast and furiously in ways we don't even understand or remember that they are different now. So, when you notice these anomalies, jot them down, share them, be weird, be aware, and know that all is well, and we are evolving. If you don't already know about Mandela Effects, google them and find out more. 

More links for temple discoveries:

Temples of Damanhur . http://www.thetemples.org/

Lost Egyptian City found underwater . http://twistedsifter.com/2013/06/lost-egyptian-city-heracleion-found-underwater-after-1200-years/

New Buddhist Shrine uncovered, predates Buddha's Birth

Golden Byzantine Treasure Trove Found

10,000 year old house uncovered outside Jerusalem

Lost Angkor City Uncovered

2022 - Temple Unearthed in Turkey. 

Spiritual Evolution, Autism and ADHD

Spiritual Evolution, Autism, and ADHD

by Sandy Penny . WritingMuse

Many people, through the years, have asked about the spiritual purpose behind autism and other increasingly diagnosed conditions like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I was shown years ago that all these "new" challenges are part of our spiritual development and learning to deal with multi-dimensional realities. As a culture, we tend to try to systematize treatments of all kinds without respect to the individual's needs.

I understand that spiritually, autism calls us to focus on the individual's needs instead of trying to find a single treatment strategy. The needs of individuals are considered less as our population grows and we try to meet the needs of larger and larger groups, and that is a form of spiritual and emotional neglect. The emotionality of autistics is difficult to deal with in groups, and finding ways to deal with this difficulty is a great spiritual challenge.

This is a time of creating sacred partnerships instead of reactive relationships, and shifting into that more compassionate state is one of our human evolutionary challenges. Our tendency to hide away and punish those who are different must change.

I understand that an increase in autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and bipolar conditions are a result of the new, more advanced mind that is learning to process multidimensional information in order to create a new reality. We, as a whole, have to learn to honor different needs, in order to integrate the best of what we are being offered. Einstein was so far ahead of his time that he failed in school because he could not stick to their linear reality.

Our children need us to love them and cherish their differences enough to try to understand them and work with their challenges to bring their gifts to the world. Autistics are often empathic and kinesthetic and are assaulted by the emotions of others the same way they can't handle being touched because of the level of input they receive from that touch. Finding new ways to reach these advanced souls and call forth their gifts is an important undertaking.

We are learning and changing the way we teach and are taught by our children. Just to understand that our children are here to teach us, not just the other way around is a huge step forward.

This is one of the great spiritual challenges of our ascension process. And, as the ascension process moves through us, many adults show signs of illness and strange behaviors, and it is incumbent on those who are awake and aware to help them process and integrate the energy that is overloading their system and move into their expanded reality in more joyful ways.

Along the way, I was also shown that an increase in bipolar disorder is a result of our spiritual evolution. We are being inundated with high levels of energy to use for our personal and planetary missions. That surge causes a manic state. If we find our purpose for the surge and use the energy, it subsides and levels out. If we don't, it drops out and becomes a depressed state until the next surge reminds us that we have something to do that we haven't quite figured out yet.

ADHD is a result of multidimensional input, like watching several TVs at once and having to synthesize the content into a cohesive reality. It takes a shift in consciousness to successfully accomplish this new way of being. All the multi-tasking we are doing these days is training us, but those of us born before 1960 may be having difficulty adjusting and must find ways to simplify our lives. There is a place for the simplification as well. We have to help our children and grandchildren deal with this new fast-paced world while holding ethical spiritual boundaries and teaching them respect for others.

I wish you love, joy and spiritual companions on your ever-changing path.

How You View Your World

I was driving my car some years ago when I heard a radio talk show interview with Marcy White, a Houston therapist. She was talking about light therapy and a machine she had bought to aid in transforming emotional issues through light treatments. I was fascinated as this was a new subject to me and not mainstream at all.

I called a local newspaper that I sometimes wrote for and asked if they'd like an article on the subject. They were interested, so I called Marcy and scheduled the interview.

She talked at length about how light can change the way you feel about emotional situations, and about SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, the result of too many hours of darkness in areas of the world with long winters. She then said it would be easier for me to experience the machine than to try and describe it, so I agreed  to a light treatment.

The machine had a hood that came down over my forehead and strobed light into my forehead, not directly into my eyes. The hood also had a headset that strobed sound. I listened and watched as the light changed from one color to another, an endless kaleidoscope of rainbow hues. I was amazed, and came out of the 15 minute session feeling happier, lighter and excited about the potential.

I was most curious about what kind of light equipment they used to create such a myriad of colors. And this was my life changing answer to that question by Marcy White.

"We are only streaming white light, and the colors are your response to the sounds you are hearing through the headset. You create the colors yourself."

Mind-blowing, isn't it?

In energy healing sessions, I have often draped silk colored scarves over a client's shoulders to enhance the healing effects. A friend of mine, Mellen Thomas Benedict, invented a light machine, a large lounge chair with a hood that strobes light into your forehead and panels for your hands and feet that strobe light at a certain frequency. I have experienced that and seen my Kirlian photography before and after the session with my energy radiation from my hand extremely stronger and brighter after the session. Healer friends in New Zealand modified a desk lamp with added tracks so that glass color panels could be inserted as needed for a person's enhanced health.

So, when I say that you color your world with your attitude and emotions, that is not a theoretical platitude. It is a recognition of our power to change the world with the way we see the world.

How you view the world truly colors the world you view.

Thanks for reading  --sandy penny

Check out my "I love color" board on Pinterest and see how it makes you feel.

Why isn’t my Life Getting Better?

by Sandy Penny, Oct. 2013
There are three aspects of self that can prevent us from creating the life we truly want. Resistance, criticism, and defensiveness.

How do these three ways of being negate the positive expression of our true selves?

1. Resistance. Resistance activates without our conscious choice. Some of it is personality-driven. Some people automatically go into resistance to something new as a protective mechanism. Others just don’t like the idea that we didn’t come up with the suggestion ourselves. Resistance grows out of safety issues. If we feel safe in our current situation, even if it is not optimal, it is “the devil we know.” It seems easier to deal with what we know than to engage the unknown. Resistance is fear-driven.
Sometimes, resistance comes from not wanting to be told what to do by others. It may be a pattern that originated with an overbearing or incompetent parent or authority figure. However it began, it may be standing in the way of your new and good. And, last but not least, resistance is a habit, and habits can be changed, with intention and practice.

2. Criticism. Criticism may be of ourselves or others. You come up with a cool new idea, and immediately, something inside you starts criticizing it. “That won’t work. If it was a good idea, someone would already have done it. Who do you think you are to think you can do something no one else is doing? Who is Joe Blow to make suggestions to me on what to do with my life? Where is the money going to come from? I don’t have time for this nonsense. That guy is trying to tell me what to do, and his life is not that great.” Geez, just thinking up those words wore me out.  I almost stopped writing this article. But, onward.

One of the tools I’ve found to stop the stream of criticism is to immediately say to myself or the person suggesting something, “Well, that’s an interesting idea.” It doesn’t commit you to anything, but it leaves you open to exploring further. “What an innovative way to look at the issue.” “How good could it be if this worked?” Proactive thinking is not passive positivity. it is not la la land. It is being open-minded enough to consider new possibilities. And to recognize that sometimes other people bring us ideas that we could not receive without outside input because we are entrenched in the status quo. 

 
3. Defensiveness. Defensiveness comes when we feel we are being attacked or threatened. We may not actually be attacked or threatened, but we feel that way. So, we start defending our actions, defending our circumstances, defending our lack. And, by defending it, we are giving it more power and further cementing it into our lives.

 
Defensiveness usually stems from critical parents who assume the worst about our actions. We may have constantly had to justify ourselves to avoid punishment. After years of developing this strategy, it’s easy to use it to avoid change, even change that we would like in our lives.
All these patterns are fear-driven, and we cannot create a positive life from a fear-based mentality. So, our first order of business is to move into a more loving place with ourselves, others, and the world at large.

 
I always suggest starting where you are and moving yourself gently into a new reality. If you are resistant to change, ask yourself how the resistance serves you. Then ask yourself if that is a valid use of your energy. Then ask yourself what life would be like if you stopped resisting whatever you are resisting. Then ask yourself if you would like that life without the resistance. Then ask yourself how you can best embrace your new and good. Then ask yourself to support you in creating that new reality by providing ideas, steps, and means to get there.

If you automatically go into critical mode, ask yourself if you like being criticized that way. Then thank yourself for protecting you, and ask that you be protected in new and different ways as you make changes that will benefit the whole you.

 
It's important to get all the seemingly negative aspects of yourself on board with a new and better reality because the truth is that everything you’ve been doing was serving a purpose for intended good in your life. By enlisting those parts of yourself in the new venture, you can avoid the self-sabotage that old patterns create when they are not honored as a part of your wholeness.

With the defensive aspects of self, you will usually find hurt little children in your makeup. These children want to feel safe, so you have to find ways to reflect safety back to them.  You have to help them feel like it’s not their fault if something goes wrong. They are afraid of being blamed and afraid of being less than, afraid that they won’t succeed, and if they do it will just mean more responsibilities that you can’t live up to. It is your job to affirm that you are capable of doing everything that will create a better life. Also, it is easier to enlist children in helping you than to try and command them to do something. That will only kick in resistance.

I use a three-pronged affirmation process to counteract defensiveness.

 
1. You claim what you want in the now. Example: “I have a wonderful new job.”
2. Gratitude. “I am so thankful for my amazing new job.”
3. Love. “I love my new job, and I do it well.”

 
Each time negative self-talk starts in response to an idea, use the affirmation/confirmation process to interrupt the pattern.

This is a time when change is happening at a fast pace. This is a time to accept your  “response-ability.”
You have the ability to positively respond to life’s changes. You are awesome, wonderful and uniquely capable of doing what you came to this planet to do. You’re one of a kind, and you deserve to fulfill all your heart’s and soul’s desires.
That’s the heart’s honest truth.

 
http://sandypenny.com

The Power to Write

Just a little trip down memory lane on my
spiritual writing journey.

The Power to Write

By Sandy Penny . Oct. 2013

It was the spring of 1963. John F. Kennedy had just been shot in November. The country was still reeling from the shock of the youngest and most beloved president in our lifetime being snuffed out before he could really make his mark on the government. His patriotic words still rang in our hearts and minds, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

I was in the eighth grade, my last year in elementary school. That was before they had a middle school. Finally, we were kings of the hill, the pinacle of childhood power before we become the babies again in high school. It was kind of symbolic that our class took a field trip to the Illinois Power Company to see how electricity is generated, how we get the power that lights up our lives.

I found it interesting to see the piles of coal waiting to be shoveled into monstrous furnaces. I’m not sure I still remember the whole process now, but it was definitely a better way to spend the day than sitting in class in the springtime. Having a natural talent for writing, I was thrilled that there would be an essay contest to see who could best recount the power generating process after the field trip. I paid special attention and made notes along the way. I took my writing seriously even then.

Our teachers would choose the best in the class and give out a $25 gift certificate for a local bookstore as the prize. The winners from all the eighth grade classes in the the county schools would compete for other prizes. The county winners would compete in a statewide contest for shares of Illinois Power Company stock, two shares worth about $100, a lot of money in my neighborhood. I had no real hope of winning, so I just wrote what I remembered from the trip.

In those days, I was not confident in my writing abilities, but I won the class prize, and my essay went on to the county contest. I was told it would take a while before all the judging occurred, and that the winner would be notified later. The school year ended, and I completely forgot about the contest. You know how kids are, their minds are only on what’s happening in the moment.

One day in the late summer, I was babysitting for my nephews when a man in a suit knocked on the door. He asked if I was Sandra DuBoise, and I said I was. I couldn’t imagine what a man in suit wanted with me. I stepped out on the porch, not wanting to invite a stranger into the house when no adults were home. He shook my hand, treating me like an adult, and said, “Do you remember entering the essay writing contest for the Illinois Power Company?” I said I did, and he said, “You won.” I said, “Yes, I know, I got a $25 gift certificate.” “No,” he said, “You won the county and the statewide contests. For the county prize, you get a lamp, a dictionary and a Thesaurus, and for the state contest, you get two shares of Illinois Power Company Stock. How does it feel to be a shareholder in the power company.”

That didn’t mean much to me as a young teenager, except that if I sold it, it was worth about $100, and if I kept it, it could be worth more money in the future. Living in the projects, no one talked much about investing in the stock market. Soon after that day, I dressed up in my Sunday best and put on my shoes (in the summer, we all went barefoot until school started again), and a photographer took my picture with my lamp and dictionary for the local newspaper. They interviewed me, and I have no idea what I said. I was a little bit of a celebrity for a minute or two, but life went on.

I graduated from high school with honors and received a scholarship to MacMurray, then a women’s college in Jacksonville, Illinois. I was number nine of 10 children, and the first one to get to college. What they didn’t mention about scholarships back then was that they don’t pay for everything. I tried to get a job in the little town, but all the jobs seemed to be taken by those who had been there the year before. I struggled with the financial piece, and was getting more and more depressed. The student counselor told me about loans to help with that, so I took out a loan because I just could not ask my family for money. They just didn’t have it. I had always worked for what I wanted since I was old enough to do odd jobs for people. I babysat, ironed clothes for neighbors, collected soda bottles for the two cent deposit and eventually worked in the city library, my favorite job. I didn’t like the idea of borrowing money either.

Eventually the stress of the money situation took its toll on my ability to concentrate on my studies, and I decided I should probably just leave school, get a job and start earning a living for myself. I didn’t know how that would happen. I didn’t even have enough money to get back home. I really didn’t want to go back home either, but believing in a benevolent God, I prayed for help to resolve the situation.

A few days later, I got a letter from my mother. That was unusual. She didn’t write often. In the letter was the stock certificate for the two shares of Illinois Power Company Stock. She wrote simply, “I thought you might need this right now.” My mother had always had a sixth sense about her children and seemed to know exactly what we needed when we needed it. She had come through for me again.

I asked someone at school how to sell the stock, and they said there was a local banker who could handle it. I went to see him, and he bought the stock for $100. I withdrew from college, bought a bus ticket to Houston, Texas, where my sister lived and began my journey with $50 in my pocket. 

I always thought it was fitting that a prize I had won for my writing paid for my ticket to the place where I would eventually create my writing life.