torvidas, Author at AbundanceTogether

Your Very Best Quote of the Week -Vol.4

Each Saturday I share with you a really good quote. Now, the weekly quote may be one that I enjoy the most or perhaps one that is quite controversial, or unusual, or thought-provoking.

You may agree with it. Or not.
Either way, please let me know what you think.

March 23,2019
“Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfillment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them”.
Jack Canfield

March 16,2019
“Our job as humans is to hold on to the thoughts of what we want, make it absolutely clear in our minds what we want, and from that we start to invoke one of the greatest laws in the Universe, and that’s the law of attraction.
You become what you think about most, but you also attract what you think about most.”
John Assaraf [NeuroGym]

March 9,2019
“Stop Feeling Sorry for Yourself! It’s not going to help the situation. It’ll only help you to wallow in a state of apathy, playing the victim. The kind of person that things happen to, but that can’t do anything about it. By stopping feeling sorry for yourself, you can actually get on and DO something about it. If you want to be happy – stop feeling sorry for yourself.”
Karl Moore

March 2,2019
“Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain. The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life. What is it you would let go of today?”
Mary Morrissey

Feb.23,2019
“I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center.”
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Feb. 16, 2019
“When we accept ourselves as we are, we aren’t “settling” or “keeping the problem in place.” We’re showing love and compassion for ourselves-for our feelings, our situation, and our history.”
Nick Ortner -The Tapping Solution

Feb. 9, 2019
“One of the conditions of enlightenment has always been a willingness to let go of what we thought we knew in order to appreciate truths we had never dreamed of.”
Karen Armstrong

Feb. 2, 2019
“The only thing standing between you and the life you want is a bit of knowledge, a pinch of effort, adopting some habits, changing some thought patterns, taking some action, and an ounce of discipline.”
Natalie Ledwell

Jan. 26, 2019
“..our habitual patterns- of thought, speech, and mind- isolate us from our true nature. Habitual patterns lead to emotional twists and turns, which filter our experiences and separate us from our understanding, caring, and loving others.”
Martin Hakubai Mosko

Jan. 19, 2019
“.. whatever you focus on, you will experience.
So, when you talk about “what is” or “what was,” even if you’re just explaining to a friendly ear, you project more of the same into the future.
If you ask more than you give thanks, you’ll believe less in your own power.
And if you insist that it’s hard and that you’re lonely, you’ll find that it is and you are.
Or, you can choose to focus on what you like, what you love, and how very photogenic you are…”
The Universe [Mike Dooley]

Jan. 12, 2019
“The beautiful thing about the spiritual evolutionary process is that it takes place right on the altar of you own being – just you and your higher self, communing as one. In that sacred union, you enter a profound state of contentment, clarity and receptivity.”
Michael Bernard Beckwith

Jan. 5, 2019
“Gratitude can transform any situation. It alters your vibration, moving you from negative energy to positive. It’s the quickest, easiest, most powerful way to effect change in your life – this I know is true.”
Oprah Winfrey

Dec. 29, 2018
“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.
Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.
Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”
Neil Gaiman

Dec. 22, 2018
“My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?”
Bob Hope

Dec. 15, 2018
“The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me; God’s eye and my eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.”
Meister Eckhart

Keep manifesting 🙂
Tony

If interested in getting a free copy of my mini e-book and subscribing to my e-mailing list click here.

The Rainbow Bridge & Animal Souls

Does your pet have a soul?

Well, in Conversations with God, Book 3, by Neale Donald Walsch, “God,” says: “Anyone who has ever stared into the eyes of an animal already knows the answer to that”.

After our last dog passed, our vet sent us a card with a poem. Here it is:

RAINBOW BRIDGE

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here on earth, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.

There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends there, so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our animal friends are warm and comfortable.
All the pets who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. Its bright eyes are intent. Its eager body quivers.

Suddenly it begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, its legs carrying it faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again.

The happy kisses rain upon your face. Your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life, but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together….

Author unknown… Inspired by a Norse Legend.

I’m looking forward to our cat Lilly and dogs Bullet, Daisy, Parker, and most recently Sid, greeting me at the Rainbow Bridge. So that we can cross it together.

Keep manifesting 🙂
Tony

If interested in getting on my e-mailing list click here.

Making Your Life Into Your Ministry

Is your job/career/business/livelihood your ministry?
If not, why not?
On the other hand, what does it have to do with ministry anyway?

A while ago a close friend of mine asked me how my ministry was going.
I must admit that at first I almost felt offended by his use of that term.
I did not see what I did through AbundanceTogether as a “Ministry”.
To me, the word ministry had religious connotations.
While I thought of myself as spiritual, I did not consider myself religious.

And then, the next day, as I was re-reading Marianne Williamson’s phenomenal best seller “A Return To Love”.
I turned the page and, in her chapter on Work, there it was.
A subheading called – Ministry. And this is some of what it said:
“Think of your career as your ministry. Make your work an expression for love, in service to mankind.”
“We all have the same job: to minister to human hearts.”
“Any job can become a ministry, as long as it is dedicated to love.”

Serendipity or what?
So now I feel that yes – what I do is a ministry – in the best sense of the word.
Service to others.
In love.
Now, you only get to keep what you give away.
Inspired by a vision of a healed world.
So, I’ve dedicated my life to ministering to you and to the world.

As it was once said in the Daily Word:
“Only by being of service to others I most fully express my unique gifts for myself. In serving others I am fulfilling my highest spiritual purpose.”

Keep manifesting 🙂
Tony

If interested in getting on my e-mailing list click here.

It’s Absolutely Alarming and Why I Do It

Beep beep.

That’s what my littlest grandson says each time he hears my watch alarm go off.
Every hour on the hour.
Why so often?
Well, it’s because each time I hear it beep, or when the grandfather clock in our living room dongs on its hourly mission, it brings me back to who I am.
Whenever I hear it, I stop what I am doing and I close my eyes.
And I then repeat my affirmation and denial for that day.
It centers me and brings me back to the NOW.
By the way –I don’t do it while driving or when I’m in a conversation with my wife :)

Now, an affirmation is like a declaration or pronouncement, while a denial is a negation or a release statement.

For example, today my denial is: I release fear, doubt, and anger, criticism, judgement, and blame.

My affirmation is: I proclaim peace, love, joy, truth and beauty, forgiveness, gratitude, and abundance.

So, try it on for size. Make up your own.

Rinse and repeat.

Keep manifesting 🙂
Tony

If interested in getting on my e-mailing list click here.

Your Very Best Quote of the Week -Vol.3

You may agree with it. Or not.
Either way, please let me know what you think.

Dec. 8, 2018
“We must believe that that everyone is capable of behaving more humanely, more peacefully, more lovingly, but sometimes we get lost in the world around us…remember our shared humanity – we all stumble and fall, and we can all shine brightly for the world.”
Rev. Kelly Isola

Dec. 1, 2018
“As a short term fleeting emotion, the feeling of gratitude cannot be acquired through willpower alone. The benefits of gratitude come from the long-term cultivation of the disposition of gratefulness through dedicated practice.”
Robert Emmons

Nov. 24, 2018
“All things can be used for some good purpose. Yes, all things. Nothing is ever wasted. The greater the challenge, the greater the gift. Acceptance of “what is” will always be a choice. Whenever tough moments come along, ask yourself what the situation can teach you.”
Donna Miesbach

Nov. 17, 2018
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change”
Charles Darwin

Nov. 10, 2018
“To choose gratitude is not an act of dogged determination. To choose gratitude is to hear an inner urging towards thanks, to see the grace in life, and to respond.”
Diana Butler Bass

Nov. 3, 2018
“Our times call for radical transformation, deep planetary healing, and societal renewal to allow the new Earth that we know is possible to emerge. It feels like this growing movement is an idea whose time has come.”
Prema Gaia

Oct. 27, 2018
“Our work, alone and together, is not to minimize the pain or loss we feel, but to investigate what these sharp incidents are opening in us.”
Mark Nepo

Oct. 20, 2018
“Miracles happen every day. Change your perception of what a miracle is and you’ll see them all around you.”
Jon Bon Jovi

Oct. 13, 2018
“We lose our soul when we reject a part of ourselves. We reclaim our soul when we embrace ourselves – as we are, now.”
Sera Beak

Oct. 6, 2018
“The litmus test for self-realization is a constant state of gratitude. This gratitude is not something you can look for or find. It comes from another direction, and it takes you over completely. It’s so vast that it can’t be dimmed or overlaid.”
Byron Katie

Sept. 29, 2018
“By being mindful of our thoughts and deliberately turning them around to be more positive and optimistic, we can, over time, create new neural pathways so that our overall disposition is happier.”
Ben Feder

Sept. 22, 2018
“Time spent in nature is time spent creatively participating in life’s generative rhythms, its beauty, its quiet power, its deep grace.
It is to know life beyond the mind, beyond even the science.”
Laura Plumb

Sept. 15, 2018
“The beginning of your freedom lies in your own mind.
When you let go of limiting and binding thoughts, you find that conditions, persons, or circumstances no longer have power over you.”
Martha Smock

Sept. 8, 2018
“Do not stand on a high pedestal and take five cents in your hand and say “Here, you poor man”
But be grateful that the poor man is there, so that by making a gift to him you are able to help yourself.
It is not the receiver who is blest, but it is the giver.”
Swami Vivekananda

Sept. 1, 2018
“I come to the end of my own logical powers and acknowledge there’s too much that’s beyond what we can sort through using these little brains that we have”
Rob Bell

Keep manifesting 🙂
Tony

If interested in getting on my e-mailing list click here.

Acorn – Ology

This little story applies to all of us – you and me..
Regardless of the stage of our evolvement or spiritual development there is always something more.
The transformation of ACORN to OAK TREE, as a metaphor, speaks of the need to change, and it never stops.
We grow and mature, and then move to the next stage of enlightenment.
Like all good stories, you have to use your imagination and put yourself into it.

ONCE UPON A TIME,
In A Not-So-Faraway Land,

There was a kingdom of acorns – a myriad of acorns nestled at the foot of a grand old oak tree.
Since the citizens of this kingdom were modern, and fully Westernized acorns, they went about their business with purposeful energy; and since they were midlife, baby boomer acorns, they engaged in a lot of self-help courses.
There were seminars called “Getting All You Can out of Your Shell.”
There were woundedness and recovery groups for acorns who had been bruised in their original fall from the tree.
There were retreats and spas for oiling and polishing those shells and various acornopathic therapies to enhance longevity and well-being.
One day in the midst of this kingdom there suddenly appeared a knotty little stranger, who was apparently dropped “out of the blue” by a passing bird.
He was odd: capless and dirty, making an immediate negative impression on his fellow acorns.
And crouched beneath the oak tree, he stammered out a strange and wild tale.

Pointing upward at the tree, he spoke to all that would listen to him, and said, “We…are…that!”
Delusional thinking, obviously, the other acorns concluded.
But, one or two of them continued to engage him in conversation: “So tell us, how would we become that tree?”
“Well,” said he, pointing downward, “it has something to do with going into the ground…and cracking open the shell.”
“Insane,” they responded.
“Totally morbid! Why, then we wouldn’t be acorns anymore!”

So, do you want to be an acorn all of your life?
Or do you want to grow into a great oak?

This little story apparently originated with Maurice Nicoll in the 1950s.
Jacob Needleman popularised this metaphor in Lost Christianity and named it “acornology”.
It was retold by Cynthia Bourgeault in her book, The Wisdom Way of Knowing.
I read it in a little booklet called Courage to Imagine.

Keep manifesting 🙂
Tony

If interested in getting on my e-mailing list, click here.

How Dying Was Not As Scary As I Thought

Panic was my first reaction.

A number of mornings ago, I was in the kitchen with my dog and cat, while my wife was till asleep upstairs. Each morning I took my vitamins and nutrients before running with the dog, exercising, having my coffee or eating breakfast.

I also ate a dried prune. You see, my mother had always told me that it was important to have a prune every day to “stay regular”. Anyway, I guess I hadn’t chewed the prune well enough because as I tried to swallow it with the pills everything became a lump in my throat. And this lump would not go down. I tried to sip some water but that went nowhere. I could not breathe and I started to feel woozy and panicky.

Luckily, having recently taken a first aid refresher course [in order to maintain my certification as a motorcycle riding instructor] I remembered the procedure for preventing choking when one was alone. I vigorously slammed the front of my body into the edge of kitchen counter. I then began to cough and vomited up the lump in my throat. I began to breathe regularly, but broke into a cold sweat with a rapid heartbeat and the shakes.

It was a close call, and I was quite upset, however I also felt a strange calmness. It was like I had just passed up the opportunity to see what’s on the other side and had chosen to stay here in my current embodiment. For the time being anyway. The fact that I actually had a choice in whether I passed on or not was rather reassuring. Knowing that my spirit really doesn’t die and that I merely change form [since energy cannot be created or destroyed], just meant that if I had choked to death, I would’ve just entered another phase of my existence.

So I basically said to myself – release and let go, whatever happens will happen. I was not tied to the result. While I did not want to suffer, I was not afraid to die.
Weird huh?

Or not.

Keep manifesting 🙂
Tony
If interested in getting on my e-mailing list click here.

Everything You Need To Know You Can Learn From Noah’s Ark

Everything you need to know you can learn from the story, Noah’s Ark. To find out more about it, check out Wikipedia.

Here’s the 19 point list. Enjoy.

Don’t miss the boat.
Remember that we are all in the same boat!
Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.
Stay fit. When you’re old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
Don’t listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
Build your future on high ground.
Finish what you start.
For safety’s sake, travel in pairs.
Two heads are better than one.
Speed isn’t always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
When you’re stressed, float awhile.
Stay below the deck during the storm.
Remember that the woodpeckers inside are often a bigger threat than the storm outside.
Always live a righteous life. Even if you are the only one; it will be noticed.
When the doo-doo gets really deep, don’t sit there and complain — shovel!
If you have to start over, it’s good to have a friend by your side.
Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
No matter the storm, or how bleak it looks, there’s always a rainbow waiting.
When you’ve been brought safely through the storm, don’t forget to give thanks.

– Author Unknown

[This list has been compiled from anonymous authors, found in various postings on the internet.]

Keep manifesting 🙂
Tony

If interested in getting on my e-mailing list click here.

Why We Are All In Recovery

So, are you in recovery? Are you addicted?

I was recently asked: “Are you in recovery Tony? You seem to regularly refer to sobriety, freedom from addiction and being, or getting, clean in some of your e-mails and sometimes on your blog.”
Well, here’s my answer – no – I am personally not in recovery from any particular substance.

But I did, and still do, have friends and relatives who are, or have been, addicted – to drugs or alcohol.
Yes- I used to smoke [tobacco as well as some grass and hash ] but broke that habit a long time ago. I also used to be a news junkie – reading the daily paper, wading through at least 2 newsmagazines a week, watching the TV news and listening to radio reports – every hour on the hour. But I’ve let that go as well.

I still enjoy a good cup of coffee [or 2 or 3] every morning, and a tumbler of single malt scotch, a cold bottle of beer, or a glass of red wine [or more] at the end of the day.

The main things that I am still in recovery from are: judgment, criticism, and blame – of myself and of others. Oh yes – and negative thinking. Are you recovering from those things as well?

So I’m taking it one day at a time – releasing myself from self-destructive thought patterns and beliefs. Replacing them with a positive mindset.

Remember the Serenity Prayer? It’s by Reinhold Niebuhr.
“God give me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I can’t and the wisdom to know the difference.” Easier said than done right?

I once posted a plaque featuring that saying on my wall, by the door, outside my office, at a new workplace. One of the senior managers approached me a couple of days later, asked me if I was a friend of Bill’s and showed me an unusual coin.

I suddenly realized that she was a member of AA and thought that I was as well. I explained to her that I was not and that the prayer that she referred to as the “Alcoholics Anonymous Creed” applied to anyone. Anyone who struggles with fear, worry, panic, anxiety or stress. Anyone who needs to surrender to a higher power.

As Joan Borysenko says in Pocketful of Miracles:”Surrender to the things that can’t be changed is one of the keys to peace of mind. In other words – What is, is, and I can handle it”

It’s being receptive to new attitudes, ideas perspectives, creativity, open-mindedness, and possibility. It’s not quitting or giving up. It’s trusting in your own higher self. It’s recovering from negativity.

And we can do it together.

In closing, if you are overwhelmed by alcohol or know someone who is, please check out “The 30 Day Sobriety Solution“, co-authored by Jack Canfield. It could be a lifesaver.

CLICK HERE

Keep manifesting 🙂
Tony

If interested in getting on my e-mailing list click here.

Your Very Best Quote Of The Week – Vol. 2

Each Saturday I share with you a really good quote. Now, the weekly quote may be one that I enjoy the most or perhaps one that is quite controversial, or unusual, or thought-provoking.

You may agree with it. Or not.
Either way, please let me know what you think.

Aug. 25, 2018
“It is the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief.
And once that belief becomes a deep conviction,
things start to happen.”
Muhammed Ali [A.K.A. Cassius Clay]

Aug. 18, 2018
“We look at people, things, events in the outer,
and we decide to blame them for our perceived lacks – of abundance, or security, or love or health
-in short, for all the challenges of our life experience.
We forget or ignore the fact that those other people, things, events simply mirror our own consciousness.”
Ed Townley

Aug. 11, 2018
“When you hold resentment toward another,
you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel.
Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.”
Catherine Ponder

Aug. 4, 2018
“The most valuable thing for life never changes by time or place
—it is, to be honest, and cheerful,
to find happiness in what you have,
and to have courage in hardships.”
Laura Ingalls Wilder

July 28, 2018
“When we are happy –
when our mindset and mood are positive –
we are smarter, more motivated, and thus more successful.
Happiness is the center, and success revolves around it.”
Shawn Achor

July 21, 2018
“There’s enough for everyone.
If you believe it, if you can see it, if you act from it, it will show up for you.
That’s the truth.”
Michael Bernard Beckwith

July 14, 2018
“The mind is a magnet, and we attract that with which we identify the self.
In order to get the most out of life, we must learn consciously to change many of our habitual thought patterns.
This is not easy, for our old thought patterns cling to us with great tenacity, but, being thought patterns,
they can be reversed.”
Ernest Holmes

July 07, 2018
“People are like stained-glass windows.
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,
but when the darkness sets in their beauty is revealed
only if there is a light from within.”
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

June 30, 2018
” I have come to realize that to truly experience freedom, happiness, love, and peace of mind,
I must find stability within, at the core of my being – centered in my true identity – free from all ‘wants”
and free from past conditioning.”
Rev. Elizabeth Longo

June 23, 2018
“The deeper truth is that you are born to experience and express great love.
The deeper truth is that you’re here to make a difference with your gifts.
The deeper truth is that you deserve to be financially supported for the value and contribution you bring”
Dr. Claire Zammit

June 16, 2018
“We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.
Yet it is the law of all progress that is made by passing through some stages of instability and that may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you.”
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

June 9, 2018
“When I am in the middle of a crisis – wrestling with a problem and my thoughts a stormy mess –
my solutions and often my behavior seem forced and reactive.
There is a clenched and brittle feel to life.
Only when I can breathe, calm my mind and heart, and center myself do creative options open before me.”
Rev. Mark Fuss

June 2, 2018
“Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, of facts or happenings.
It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever flowing through one’s head.”
Mark Twain

May 26, 2018
“..it is my belief that we all have the nature of enlightenment at our very core.
It’s not something that we have to earn or achieve, but rather the fact that, fundamentally in our deepest hearts,
we are pure, wonderful, inspired, and fully alive human beings.”
Martin Hakubai Mosko

May 19, 2018
“Your thoughts, your beliefs, your expectations –
your mindset- impacts your health,
how quickly you heal
and how well your medications work…,
including powerful opioid painkillers”
Dr. Beth Darnall

Keep manifesting 🙂
Tony

If interested in getting on my e-mailing list click here.