Peanut Butter and Chocolate or Limitless Abundance?

OK, so for the past couple of days I have been, off and on, looking for Peanut Butter Twix bar. Didn't come across them anywhere. Then this morning at Food Life I discovered a Chocolate and Peanut Butter Crispy Treat! Did I buy it? Of course. Is it delicious? OMG, 'swummaful.

Just what I needed, I thought to myself, another hard-to-resist chock-full-o-fat-and-calories treat!

But then it occurred to me that my desire for peanut butter and chocolate had been received and request answered. I prefer that thought.

So, as the Universe is pouring forth in response to desires expressed, how about this: Universe, I want more than enough money to spare and to share, plenty of time, boundless energy, satisfying creative expression, and love in abundance!

I know, I know: My desire for PB Twix was sincere in that I wasn't all knotted up about it, did not stress about whether I could/would ever have it or something similar (as in “This, or Better.”). There is, however, apparently doubt and fear--whether conscious or not--as to whether the above desires for money, time, energy, love are attainable, and the Universe receives and perceives this fearful doubt as my pushing away from rather than drawing near to the manifestation of my desires.

My 'takeaway' is that I’ve gotta practice feeling as “casually desirous” and comfortably confident of experiencing Love and Joy and the Effects of Money as I do about having a Peanut Butter Twix.

Acts of Kindness

Every once in a while procrastination does pay off.

I would have totally missed, for yet another year, knowledge of National World Kindness Week, November 10-17, had I not been still carrying around my November issue of Science of Mind magazine.
Today is December 1, yes, but I knew that there was so much rich content (as there is in every issue, and often there are articles that ‘speak’ to me more directly than others) yet to be read that I didn't want to put the magazine aside until ‘whenever.’ So I just flipped to the last page and there it was: “World Kindness Week” promoted by the World Kindness Movement (www.worldkindness.org) and the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation (www.actsofkindness.org).
Don’t you love it?
Just this past Thanksgiving Day Thursday, Oprah’s program (apparently a repeat from October 2006: http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/slideshow2_ss_challenge) showcased individuals who’d been selected to receive $1,000.00 which they were to use to help someone in need.
The ways in which the individuals gave their respective $1,000 ranged from treating a group to a sporting event outing to, for parents of seriously ill children hospitalized in Kapi'olani Medical Center in Honolulu, the purchase of four plane tickets so that they might visit their children.

There were instances, too, wherein an initial act of generosity caught fire and spread to others:

• Whereas the airline initially provided tickets for a handful of parents who were separated from their sick children, that airline wound up providing an additional 40 free tickets, so that even more parents were able to fly in to see their children;
• The original $1,000 to be given to a beleaguered family mushroomed to $70,000 as others added to the pot, in a sort of explosion of kindnesses being “paid forward.” ...

There were many other instances, too, and they all just knocked me out.
I appreciate these constant reminders that pop up for me. They reset my intention to attain and maintain a consciousness, daily and moment by moment, to commit random acts of kindness and, for good measure, maybe even a couple of senseless acts of beauty.
I (grandly) wish that each act would be large and life-altering.
For starters, though, I'll just try to act and to give from the kinder, gentler side of me with the expectation that over time this will broaden and will become more intuitive than intentional.

Imagination

Never more than today have I ever wished so fervently to immerse myself in a good book, delicious in detail and imagery. So well-pictured that I can feel the air, hear the leaves in the trees, smell the dust or rain or snow. This wistfulness that I’m feeling like an ache is to escape into the deliciously flavored setting, the dwellings, the lives and sensations of new characters, new friends, new me. To enter into a lushly drawn otherness and, entering, emerge newly born, freshly hewn, possessed of fine character and infinite possibility.

Such is the world in which I want to lose myself—and, if I have not yet found the vehicle written into which I can escape, I wish to be able to create such a universe myself. What does it matter whether I dive into someone else’s delicious creation or create my own lusciousness, enfolding myself ever more deeply and satisfyingly as I go?

feeling good

My Abraham quote for today reminds me that what I'm thinking and therefore feeling is always a match to what I get.

If I'm experiencing some thing(s) that I'd prefer not to experience, it is the result, whether delayed or fairly immediate, of what I've been in the habit of thinking, which directly informs how I feel.

So the onus is on me to think differently, to think about something different, and to think in a different way. If I want to get something different (i.e., more to my liking and wanting), I must some way, somehow, stimulate different feelings in me, feelings that are more of a match to what I want. I must, in every moment, and from moment to moment, find something to genuinely feel good about.

Hmmm.

It's sort of an expansion of the idea (and of my sporadic intention) of looking for whatever good there is in the presence of each situation or condition, and of focusing on that element or feature that makes me feel good, for which I feel thanks, and for which I am in joy.

And the better I feel--the more thankful I feel, the more I am in joy--and the more consistently I am able to maintain that better feeling, the better my getting gets!

Movies, Summer '08

Burn After Reading--

• When I saw the cast of Burn After Reading (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich), I was sure this was going to be a great movie; then, when I learned that it by the Coen Brothers, I couldn't wait for it to open! I just love the Coen Brothers' movies because they're funny and off-center and unexpected and smart. (The exception was No Country For Old Men, but that's because it was true to the book, which I didn't like, either.
• But back to Burn After Reading: it was funny, but most of the funny bits I'd already seen in the commercials for the movie. And then it went from funny to something else that I guess was supposed to be really dark, macabre humor. Just hard to laugh at, for me. I did like Brad Pitt as a goofball, or dumb blonde if you will, very much.

Dark Knight--

• I never thought I could enjoy a Batman movie as much as I did--who can possibly portray the Joker behind Heath Ledger?

Sex and the City--

• Sex and the City was a lot of fun--like getting together with old friends again--and I thought the plot was complete in and of itself so that anyone, even one who hadn't watched the tv show, would be able to follow along and enjoy it.

Traitor--

• There was so much to think about that I came away feeling like I needed to see it again so I could sort out some things. Don Cheadle, was of course excellent, as always. And, oh yes, it's definitely worth seeing.

Tropic Thunder--

• Pretty funny, but not hilarious; best part was Robert Downey, Jr. as Australian actor portraying African-American man

movie: The Duchess

A friend and I wanted to see "The Duchess" so I went online to find the nearest Chicago theaters showing it and it appears that none of the multiplexes on the southside are running the film. I can only surmise that this is because the operators assume the audience in the southside market would not be large (read profitable) enough for such a film.

This brought back to mind my daydream of owning and running an eclectic movie house . . . but to the movie itself:

"The Duchess" recounts the life of Lady Georgiana Spencer who, at age 16 became Duchess of Devonshire when she was selected by William Cavendish, the very wealthy and powerful Duke of Devonshire, to become his wife.

I deliberately use the term "selected" because it is soon revealed that this marriage had nothing to do with love, although young Georgiana (portrayed by Keira Knightley) when told by her mother of the upcoming arranged nuptials asked in wide-eyed wonder, "He loves me?"

Rather, in exchange for the prestigious union, her part of the "bargain"--as the Duke (Ralph Fiennes) put it--was that she be loyal and produce him a male heir. So her idea of marriage out of love was rather quickly dispelled. At public and social events, the Duchess Georgiana was glamorous, set fashion trends, and was adored by all except her husband. In particular, she was still adored by a former suitor. For his part, the Duke provided her a lavish palatial home and considerable influence even as he maintained emotional distance from her, being consistently cold and uncommunicative and indulging himself with numerous mistresses.

Very early in her marriage--in fact while still a new bride--the Duchess of Devonshire stated, "There's no such thing as 'freedom in moderation.' Moderately free would be the same as moderately dead."

This concept of freedom seems to be the dominant theme of "The Duchess." As several years passed and Georgiana, by giving birth only to girls, failed to fulfill her part of the "bargain," events developed that were, from my 21st century perspective, absolutely outrageous. I wouldn't dream of giving away the details here, but what struck me was the strangling lack of freedom for women, who sought to make the best of the limited options available to them.

Restrained as she was by the mores of society of 1770's England, the Duchess expressed herself via trend-setting fashion and was outspoken in politics. But she had hardly any personal freedom. Georgiana was free of airs and pretense, which was a large part of why she was so adored, and free to wield her influence politically but, as for personal freedom? Maddeningly, Depressingly, No.

And it was not the Duchess alone who was without freedom. At a turning point in the film, even the Duke, as he watched children at play, wistfully wondered at being that free.

"The Duchess" is such a fine movie. I'm glad I saw it, and I recommend it. The characters are beautiful, the settings sumptuous, and the most lavish of every material thing is available to them, but I could not imagine living through such a time, even with all the riches at my disposal, and being so bound on all sides.