BEST of PONDER on THIS for Thursday, December 24th, 2009 by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D. in KITCHEN TABLE WISDOM

“What we believe about ourselves can hold us hostage. Over the years I have come to respect the power of people’s beliefs. The thing that has amazed me is that a belief is more than just an idea – it seems to shift the way in which we actually experience ourselves and our lives. According to Talmudic teaching, “We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.”

A belief is like a pair of sunglasses. When we wear a belief and look at life through it, it is difficult to convince ourselves that what we see is not what is real. With our sunglasses on, life looks green to us. Knowing what is real requires that we remember that we are wearing glasses, and take them off. One of the great moments in life is the moment we recognize we have them on in the first place. Freedom is very close to us then. It is a moment of great power. Sometimes because of our beliefs we may have never seen ourselves or life whole before. No matter. We can recognize life anyway. Our life force may not require us to strengthen it. We often just need to free it where it has gotten trapped in beliefs, attitudes, judgment, and shame.”

Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., in “Kitchen Table Wisdom”

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Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 by William L. Murtha in DYING FOR A CHANGE

Will Murtha: I believe much of what you are saying. Truth depends on where we are standing in the equation at any given time.

Voice of Higher Presence: Good, but let me add this: Do not believe it. Feel it. Feelings will always lead you to your absolute truth in any given life situation. And if you cannot feel it, go deep inside yourself and listen to the voice of your conscience. Shut out all outside influences and run it through your filter. Then gauge, from your own feelings, how another’s truth feels. Does it feel life-sustaining, light, loving and right? Does it have a ring of truth to it? Or does someone else’s truth feel heavy, dark and manipulative?

Always apply this principle to everything. Remember, respect your internal space. All ways. Do not let anyone infect your energy. Honor your energy and space by filtering everything that comes into your life. Become conscious of what truths you are making your own. Be the conscious gate-keeper. Be alert, and let nothing past without first scrutinizing it.Practice this often and, before long, you will become intuitive to what truths to let into your space. You will learn to trust your own inner guidance. You will become a master of discernment.”

William L. Murtha, in “Dying for a Change”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 by Paul Radamacher in A SPIRITUAL HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE

“But for most Christians, faith is no laughing matter. It’s a deadly serious game, like the TV show Survivor. Heaven hangs in the balance, and the consequences of getting kicked off that island last forever, and then some. So if you go to most contemporary churches, you’ll find that they’re concerned with eternity, rather than infinity.

Countless Bible tracts left in public restrooms ask, “Where will you spend eternity?” Take your pick: heaven or hell. It’s a proposition rooted in fear — fear of an Almighty who seems to be most interested in making people holy enough, so that God can stand to be around them. Our main task is to live good, wholesome, moral lives. We’ve heard it so often, it seems to be self-evident. And so the vast scope of human potential is concentrated on the narrow target of achieving time off for good behavior.

I’m convinced that we’re meant for so much more. The “more” comes into play when we let go of our obsession with eternity and begin to entertain the possibility of infinity. This infinity is not at all what you might think. Popular conceptions of the afterlife have colored our thinking so completely that we can scarcely look beyond threadbare visions of angels strumming harps, while perched on white billowing clouds. That stereotype is so sterile that it’s little wonder we attempt to avoid death at every turn.”

Paul Radamacher, in “A Spiritual Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Monday, December 21st, 2009 by Eckhart Tolle in A NEW EARTH

“Most people’s lives are cluttered up with things: material things, things to do, things to think about. Their lives are like the history of humanity, which Winston Churchill defined as “one damn thing after another.” Their minds are filled up with the clutter of thoughts, one thought after another. This is the dimension of object consciousness that is many people’s predominant reality, and that is why their lives are so out of balance. Object consciousness needs to be balanced by space consciousness for sanity to return to our planet and for humanity to fulfill its destiny. The arising of space consciousness is the next stage in the evolution of humanity.

Space consciousness means that in addition to being conscious of things – which always comes down to sense perceptions, thoughts, and emotions – there is an undercurrent of awareness. Awareness implies that you are not only conscious of things (objects), but you are also conscious of being conscious. If you can sense an alert inner stillness in the background while things happen in the foreground – that’s it! This dimension is there in everyone, but most people are completely unaware of it. Sometimes I point to it by saying, “Can you feel your own Presence?”

Eckhart Tolle, in “A New Earth”

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Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Friday, December 18th, 2009 by Pete Koerner in THE BELIEF FORMULA

“Every prayer is a thought and every thought is a prayer. The point is, we have thoughts traveling through our heads all the time; those we dwell on – those that receive extra attention and, therefore, extra energy – become manifest more quickly than those we ignore. If you pray, this is the mechanism you are counting on working for you. This is why you highlight these particular thoughts in the form of a prayer. You may have the imagery of God actually listening to you, waiting for you to need something bad enough to go to the trouble of asking Him for it, so He can swoop in and save you at just the right time.

In that case, you would at least have to believe that in those sequences of events, which just happened to end up with you going through the motions of a prayer action of some sort, you did one particular thing to attract God’s attention, at least on most of those occasions, and a certain percentage of the time things worked out your way. He either didn’t answer, or He did and you either realized it when it happened, or you didn’t. Either way, why not ask for what you want? If this mechanism works at all, it works because it is supposed to.”

Pete Koerner, in “The Belief Formula”

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Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Thursday, December 17th, 2009 by Amit Goswami in GOD IS NOT DEAD

“Spiritual traditions of the East understand the individual movements of consciousness very well, and that is what they emphasize. Living in the world produces an individual identity (ego) superimposed upon the cosmic God-consciousness. This is the ignorance that obscures the wisdom of oneness.

Easterners believe that through many incarnations, the ego identity gives way to God-consciousness, and knowing that one is God,one is liberated from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Hence the adage from this point of view: you cannot change the world, you can only change yourself. Whatever change the world undergoes will come through these individual changes.

But in the West, the belief in only one life has undermined the drive for self-realization and transformation. Instead, the emphasis has been on ethics: following certain rules of behavior to bring oneself in alignment with God. Even under the aegis of materialism, the West has developed a social consciousness in which there clearly is some imperative for social ethics:

There is only one life and it is too short
Let’s work together and improve our lot.

So today we also have activists who try to change the world, but often have no spiritual notion of changing themselves. Can we see the necessity of both trends and integrate them?”

Amit Goswami, in “God is Not Dead”

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Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 by William L. Murtha in DYING FOR A CHANGE

Will Murtha: If I constantly questioned everything that was ever said to me, I would go mad. I need to have some trust in the world.

Voice of Higher Presence: You misunderstand my point. I’m not saying that you should not trust another. Trust is the bedrock of a compassionate, sane and civil society. I’m asking you to contemplate this: Whenever a statement or truth is given to you by another, do not swallow it whole. Digest it first. Look at it. Analyze it. And then, if it feels right, make it part of your own truth. Embrace it into your own heart.

Will Murtha: I like that. Never swallow it whole. That is a very good point. You are so right…But it is easy being drawn in by someone you love, trust and respect.

Voice of Higher Presence: It is because as human beings we need to trust certain elements that make up our world. We need to believe that certain truths are sacred. That certain wisdom is universal. Trust and love are the pillars that bond us together and instill hope. But here is a fundamental truth that belongs to everyone: Believing and trusting the inherited beliefs of others without first running those beliefs past your own “filter” is a blasphemy of the highest order. It is a blasphemy that robs and suffocates your own power and your own intentions.

Blind faith does not mean giving away your power and integrity. It doesn’t entail handing over your truth to anyone, no matter how much you love, trust and respect him or her. Therefore, always go inward first. No matter how reliable a source appears, first listen to your own inner voice.”

William L. Murtha, in “Dying for a Change”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Monday, December 14th, 2009 by John St. Augustine in LIVING AN UNCOMMON LIFE

“The average American will go through seven career changes in a lifetime. The days of working 40 years at the same plant are pretty much gone. Transformation means change, and if there is one certainty it’s that we will live a life of change – and a lot of “small lives.” We are always going through a cycle of some kind – beginnings, middles, and endings with jobs, children, spouses, homes, you name it. Recognizing that the life cycle is not something you live outside of – but rather inside of – takes the edge off things. The fear factor is lessened. It’s been said you can be either a victim of change or a participant, but not both, and certainly not at the same time. What cycle are you in today?”

John St. Augustine, in “Living an Uncommon Life”

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Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Friday, December 11th, 2009 by Deborah Denicola in THE FUTURE THAT BROUGHT HER HERE

“Rumi says, “Why use bitter soup for healing when sweet water is everywhere?” We have created bitter soup by thinking that the machinations of the world are beyond our control. We can make sweet water in our own lives by faith alone, by accepting our “bitter water” in peace and then imagining sweeter outcomes. By visualizing and asserting them as already manifested, these outcomes can come into being. Poppycock! the minions cry. Nonetheless, we must undo our neural pathways and create new ones by sticking with a risky faith and giving all our heart to it in order to see it is true; it will only become true as we recreate our beliefs.”

Deborah Denicola, in “The Future That Brought Her Here”

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Bonus PONDER on THIS

“It costs so much to be a full human being…One has to abandon altogether the search for security, reach out to the risk of living with both arms…one has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing.”

Morris West, in “The Shoes of the Fisherman”

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Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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BEST of PONDER on THIS for Thursday, December 10th, 2009 by Debbie Ford in THE DARK SIDE OF THE LIGHT CHASERS

“Keeping your word is essential to your plan for change. What you say to yourself and others does count. If you tell yourself that you are going to eat healthier foods and don’t do it you are broadcasting to yourself and the universe that you can’t be trusted. If you say you’re going to get a new job next year and don’t do it, you’re sending a message that you can’t be counted on. Even if it’s a small task, like balancing your checkbook, if you don’t do it, you’re saying to yourself and the universe that you don’t keep you word. These broken promises wear down our self-esteem.”

Debbie Ford, in “The Dark Side of the Light Chasers”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 by William L. Murtha in DYING FOR A CHANGE

“Will Murtha: I detest relying on others to make choices for me. It boxes me in and takes away my decision-making. I like to be in control.

Voice of Higher Presence: I know you do. What if I shocked you and said that you have not always been in full control of your life up to now? What would you say if I told you that many other factors are influencing your life? Substitute orders in a restaurant and replace them with thoughts in your head, and this is exactly how you have been ordering up your life intentions. You’ve been oscillating between full consciousness and unconsciousness. Awareness and no awareness.

You have occasionally been present enough to order what you wanted and have gotten the results—your intentions. The majority of the time, source energy has dealt you up what other people have ordered. You have had to digest the thoughts and intentions of others. And why? Because you were not fully present when others were placing their intentions. That’s how the majority of your life has been lived so far. It is not that you have always been making the wrong choices. The mistake, if you could term it that, is that you have sometimes not made any conscious choices at all.”

William L. Murtha, in “Dying for a Change”

For more information about this book book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 by Danielle Rama Hoffman in THE TEMPLES OF LIGHT

“…The deeper concept of abundance consciousness is trust. It is an absolute return to the undeniable fact that the universe is here to support you and that you are, by your very nature, more than enough. It removes all layers of the illusion of low self-worth, of feeling that you are not good enough or that you are somehow made worthy only by your actions and your productivity. The side benefit of moving from surviving to thriving is that you are more free to focus on your soul’s longings, gifts, and talents. You are elevated once again to the level of your divinity, for the Divine is unlimited abundance. Remembering your birthright puts you in resonance with your divine, abundant nature.”

Danielle Rama Hoffman, in “The Temples of Light”

For more information about this book visit Amazon.

Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Monday, December 7th, 2009 by Dean Shrock in WHY LOVE HEALS

“What does it mean to know that you are the vibration of God? For one, if God has no limits, then we have no limits. We say that God can heal. In fact what can God not do? We also say that God is love, which means that this is what we are too if we are one with God.

Is it surprising at all, then, that love heals? Or that we can heal ourselves by aligning ourselves with our true essence? This is a major premise of spiritual traditions.”

Dean Shrock, in “Why Love Heals”

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Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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PONDER on THIS for Friday, December 4th, 2009 by Pete Koerner in THE BELIEF FORMULA

“The point of Jesus’ ministry wasn’t, Hey! Look what YOU can do! All of you – you were all born with this power.” He wasn’t trying to impress people with parlor tricks; he was educating them to the Way it is really supposed to be – the Way nature really works. If it can be done, it can be done; you either believe that or you don’t. You can change any situation by changing your mind. Spend your days thinking about the good things in life – the things that make you happy – and you will know joy. Spend your days doing those things you love and prosperity will follow. You will see the things in your life you wish to see. This is the recipe for right living.”

Pete Koerner, in “The Belief Formula”

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Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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BEST of PONDER on THIS for Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 by Alan Cohen in DARE TO BE YOURSELF

“Imagine that every thought you think, every word you utter, and every feeling you experience will automatically magnetize more of the same. Metaphysical teachers urge us to speak of only those conditions we want to see manifested, and to avoid declaring anything that we do not wish to bring into our life. Our words have power. (“In the beginning was the Word.” Speak loving words and attract love. Speak of success and attract prosperity. Speak of healing and lift the world out of sorrow and into the light.

Imagine that you can create the kind of life you want to live by putting yourself into the frame of mind as if you are already living it. As a co-creator with God, you have the tools and the opportunity to make of your life what you wish. The power is in your hands. Do with it as you will. Be a force for love, and you will be empowered by every noble thought in the universe.”

Alan Cohen, in “Dare to Be Yourself”

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Jeff MJeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.

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