Expansion Encounters - with Dusty
"We are As One In the year Two thousand and one."
Thank you to all of you who continue to support Life Now and our ventures!
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If you prefer to read this online, you will find it as
December, 2001"
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HOLIDAY GREETINGS
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CONTEST - Yes, it's "that" time again! We are looking for a new slogan for 2002! The only one I have come up with so far is "Creativity Anew in 2002." I am sure you can be much more creative than that. Winner will be announced in the February 2002 issue of Expansion Encounters. Again, an unbiased judge will choose the winner. All entries will be posted with first name only (no email numbers revealed). Email your slogans to lifenow@kdsi.net before January 15, 2002.
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When All Else Fails
by Dusty Reed
"When all else fails, read the directions." Have you, like me, heard and even said this myriad times? I am often so eager to get started on a new project that I ignore reading to understand the instructions provided. My impatient nature doesn't like to hold back for such inconveniences. Time and time again, I get stuck in the middle and wonder why. When I do finally look at the instructions, I find an important step I have missed.
God provides an instruction book for successful living. Why then do we continue to frustrate ourselves by attempting to figure out our uncertainties on our own? God has already given us the perfect counsel. God loves us and this, I believe, is why we have a Bible - our instruction book - to offer guidance as we face new projects daily. We gain nothing by waiting until "all else fails" before going to our Lord in prayer and meditation and reading His instructions throughout our day of projects.
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Beliefs are Choices
by Dusty Reed
Thinking something is not the same as believing something. "I think it is going to snow," is from current observation but unless I absolutely know the conditions are right, I don't have a foundation for a belief that it is going to snow. Mother Nature often fools thoughts, even those of a meteorologist.
Believing something will happen does have influence. I prep for it, simply knowing it will happen. I do this somewhere beyond the conscious level in every action I take. The chair will hold me up when I sit on it. The outfit I wore a few days ago will still fit me.
Every soul is made up of beliefs. Every action taken follows a belief. Every decision follows a belief. We live by our beliefs.
We talk because of beliefs, we hear because of our beliefs. We have all of our senses because of beliefs. Beliefs consume our being.
Do beliefs change? Beliefs are like body cells. They multiply and nurture us. Then they die and new cells replace them.
Just as we exercise certain muscles to accomplish our tasks, so do we exercise certain beliefs. We are not aware of some until we take time to go within and investigate those that are less obvious. Some may be hidden behind others. As we open our consciousness to become aware of why our thoughts and actions surface as they do throughout the day, we learn how to adjust our beliefs. We then choose our options of releasing or strengthening them. Awareness is the key.
A decision lies in our beliefs. When the choice offers one favorable and one less favorable decision, we will usually choose the favorable if it does not involve being less favorable for others. It might mean the necessity of doing the task later. Our opportunity is to release the tendency to grumble when the later time arrives. If we take time to discover a favorable attitude about attainment at the later time, we can accomplish the delayed task with enthusiasm. Favorable results of doing this in the past will influence our decision now.
In the past, I used the term "subconscious" as anything that was not in my awareness at the time. I do not understand or know enough about the functions of the subconscious to use the term in explanation. There seems to be a middle level that is higher than the everyday routine consciousness of activity. I can discuss what comes to surface, what I recognize and give a name, such as Love, Joy and Peace but I do not know how these inter-relate and develop my being on the subconscious level. If I think I know, it is no longer subconscious.
Spiritual beliefs are not always visible. They portray a subtlety that holds my personal universe together. By soul searching, I become aware of myriad spiritual possibilities that I have pondered through the years. As I write what many of these mean to me, I can either release or solidify and deepen my dependency on each.
I have been choosing beliefs all my life. I am choosing each moment. These choices continue to adjust and readjust themselves within my life activities from day to day.
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Clothed in Warmth
by Dusty Reed
The brightness of the afternoon sun shining in for the first time in many days on a December afternoon brings a healthy reminder of God's love, care and concern in my life. He gives me a warm home, a loving family and a warm coat to wear outdoors. It is easy to be grateful for the obvious. I tend to take the warm coat for granted.
This reminds me of Joseph's coat of many colors. Joseph had many talents, bright-colored gifts of which he was not always aware. He grew in his understanding. He did not accept defeat but followed what was put before him and turned it into good. He was a dreamer and an interpreter of dreams. He did not shy away from possibilities just because they were not understood.
As we allow God's imaging, which may be what some define as only imagination, to envelop us during our quiet time, we can learn to see that life includes many colors. These are not to be judged but followed as what God puts before us, even if we don't always understand why they are there. They offer a radiant, bright and beautiful cloak, given to us through God's love.
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Here are a few sites I find very worthwhile. I will be including those of subscribers so, if you have a site and think I might not be aware of it, let me know!
For oodles of quick Christmas crafts, clip art, stationery... much more! :
Christmas Central
Julianne's creative site:
About the Essenes
Lovely backgrounds, calling cards, wallpaper... more!
Victorian Elegance
Aleta Pippin's
Authentic Entrepreneur
For Various Online Services, check out
Ask Sharon
And be sure to visit Sharon's lovely greeting cards for any occasion at
Greetz.com
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Enjoy every moment to the fullest! - Dusty
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Working toward consideration and to better humanity, we want to encourage free enterprise, free speech. We are Life Now, a spiritual happening on and off the Internet.
Under Bill S3888 passed by the U.S. Congress, this letter cannot be considered spam as long as I include: CONTACT and REMOVE E-mail address: cascade@mahaska.org
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Email Dusty
