Category: MasterKey Experience

Week 40 – Ability and Opportunities

What do you feel about your abilities and the opportunities that present themselves in your life? Are the opportunities greater than your abilities or beneath them? What do you ask for when you’re looking for challenges in your life?

The Scroll Marked X covers this. “I ask not for gold or garments or even opportunities equal to my ability; instead, guide me so I may acquire ability equal to my opportunities.”

I don’t know about you, but I usually find opportunities that seem to exceed my abilities, so I if I know I’ll never be given more than I am able to accomplish, then, clearly, I’ll be able to acquire whatever ability I need. If my opportunities seem beneath my abilities? Maybe I don’t have a good grasp of what my abilities truly are.

The key, of course, is to approach each opportunity with our best capabilities, treating it as the most important thing at the time we’re tackling the tasks associated with it.

Week 39: Superior Power

It’s a new month, and we’re on to a new scroll (chapter) in Og Mandino’s The Greatest Salesman in the World. This chapter addresses an age-old concern in the form of the existence of a “superior power.”

As a Christian, I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior many, many years ago. That’s my foundation for looking at the “superior power” window. I’ve accepted there are many interpretations of that same thing. I don’t understand some of them, but I know the terminology may differ to achieve the same ultimate end. This month’s scroll summarizes it for me, and I’m going to quote the part that does.

My life need not be filled with religion in order for me to recognize this greatest mystery of nature. All creatures that walk the earth, including man, possess the instinct to cry for help. Why do we possess this instinct, this gift?

Are not our cries a form of prayer Is it not incomprehensible in a world governed by nature’s laws to give a lamb, or a mule, or a bird, or man the instinct to cry for help lest some great mind has also provided that the cry should be heard by some superior power having the ability to hear and to answer our cry?

That’s enough for me. If there were no superior power, we would not be able to make the cry. Man is creative and creates a lot of answers to this possibility, but at its core, we have the ability to cry for help, so there must be an entity capable of answering that cry.

Week 38 – Pure Thought

No. Your eyes do not deceive you. I am obsessed with thought this summer. Pure thought. I’m still studying James Allen’s As A Man Thinketh. While there is much discussion on what thoughts manifest in our lives, I want to focus on positive manifestations.

On the other hand, beautiful thoughts of all kinds crystalize into habits of grace and kindliness, which solidify into genial and sunny circumstances. Pure thoughts crystalize into habits of temperance and self-control, which solidify into circumstances of repose and peace. Thoughts of courage, self-reliance, and decision crystalize into manly habits, which solidify into circumstances of success, plenty, and freedom. Energetic thoughts crystalize into habits of cleanliness and industry, which solidify into circumstances of pleasantness. Gentle and forgiving thoughts crystalize into habits of gentleness, which solidify into protective and preservative circumstances. Loving and unselfish thoughts which solidify into circumstances of sure and abiding prosperity and true riches.

That paragraph should provide fodder for months of sits. These are the things I want manifested in my life and in the world.

It’s taken many months, but the thoughts I began manifesting last fall that seemed like fiction are more normal and real now. My DMP is reality. Each aspect of it is playing out in my day-to-day life, and it’s everything I’d hoped for and more.

If you’ve been following along and wondering if this can work for you, I emphatically state it can if you do not give up on yourself.

Week 37: Thought

One of the things we’re examining for Continuation is Thought. We’re reading and reflecting on As A Man Thinketh by James Allen. It’s a short twenty-page treatise focusing on “thought and character,” “effect of thought on circumstances,” “effects of thoughts on health and body,” “thought and purpose,” “the thought-factor in achievement,” “visions and ideals,” and “serenity.”

I’ve read the document through a little more than once, but now, I’m beginning to break it down and truly study it for application in my life. We’ve been learning the power of the mind for this entire course, but the intricacies are fascinating. “Man is made or unmade by himself.”

“Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits which he requires so may a man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection all the flowers and fruits of right, useful and pure thoughts.” This mental pruning and weeding takes time but is worth the effort.

I’m beginning to see the fruits of my labor in small ways. This is encouraging and inspires me to continue the process. I think I’ve eradicated the biggest and baddest weeds. Now I’m pruning, stopping the regrowth from returning. This, of course, is a life-long process. “Men do not attract what they want but what they are.” I am making sure I AM what I WANT to be.

For now, that means I’m focusing on manifesting my Definite Major Purpose (DMP). The daily read of the Blueprint Builder sets the foundation, the DMP is the framework, and my services and plan of action are the bricks and mortar. The sit helps me check progress and make adjustments along the way.

As a Man…or Woman…Thinketh, so will be his or her life. How are your thoughts? Are you pruning the weeds and encouraging the fruits and flowers? I hope so.

Week 36 – Nimbleness

My knee surgery was delayed because of a small surface scratch in the skin. I originally planned this surgery in April, but health issues with my husband delayed it. His health has resolved enough for me to go ahead, but in the process of getting things prepared around the house and properties for me to be out of commission, I got a touch of poison ivy on my face, then while cutting up a dead tree limb, the limb scratched my right knee perfectly perpendicular to where my incision will be for my joint replacement surgery. 

I saw my surgeon yesterday to get clearance for the poison ivy, and he was immediately more concerned about the scratch. That break in the skin could introduce infection into the new knee, and even possibly to my existing replaced joint in my left leg. Such a little thing could cause big problems. 

Yesterday,  in the office, he was willing to proceed, but this morning, he told me he’d reconsidered and didn’t want to risk it when we didn’t have to. So, this morning was a dry run for next week when the plan is to go forward after the scratch has a chance to heal. 

Acceptance. Responsibility. Defenselessness. 

I’ve been challenged in the past with adapting to change. In today’s sit, the concept of nimbleness came to me. This process is teaching me not only acceptance, responsibility, and defenselessness but mental nimbleness as well. 

Week 35: Pondering Law of Least Effort

The Law of Least Effort keeps tripping me up. Not only that, I have some concerns I haven’t been able to resolve in my mind yet. The Law of Least Effort has three parts — Acceptance, Responsibility, and Defenselessness. My troubles seem to lie in Defenselessness, but I think that’s merely a symptom of challenges I face in the other two areas.

Acceptance. I practice Acceptance. Today I accept people, situations, circumstances, and events as they occur. I know that this moment is as it should be, because the whole universe is as it should be. I do not struggle against the whole universe by struggling against this moment. My acceptance is total and complete. I accept things are they are in this moment, not as I wish they were.

I’ve long believed things happen for a reason, and this supports that. The challenge is accepting things that happen that don’t fit with the way I wanted it to happen. If I understand what we’ve been learning correctly, the universe is what we have collectively manifested from our thoughts, and if we don’t like it, we need to collectively realign our thoughts. Unfortunately, this is largely an individual endeavor, and most do not understand their own power, and thus, fail to harness it. But, for those of us who do understand we can make a difference, we have a charter to make a continuous effort to improve.

Responsibility. Having accepted things are they are, I take Responsibility for my situation and for all those events I see as problems. I know that taking responsibility means not blaming anyone or anything for my situation (and this includes myself). I also know that every problem is an opportunity in disguise, and this alertness to opportunities allows me to take this moment and transform it into a greater benefit.

I find liberation in this one. The phrase “for all those events I see as problems” is liberating. If I don’t want to be responsible? I refuse to see something as a problem. I’m reminded of this on a very low local level at a restaurant we eat breakfast at on weekends. They allow people to put fliers in the windows for all kinds of events, but they purge the outdated fliers infrequently. I catch myself thinking, “They should have someone responsible for periodically purging their windows.” Then I remember, I’m not responsible for this, nor do I want to be, so I remind myself it’s not my problem. Besides. I have many more areas which ARE my problem that need to be taken care of before I worry about someone else’s area of responsibility.

Defenselessness. Today my awareness remains established in Defenselessness. I relinquish the need to defend my point of view. I feel no need to convince or persuade others to accept my point of view. I remain open to all points of view and am not rigidly attached to any one of them.

Defenselessness has been a problem for me, and last night, I think it was again. I sometimes respond to my husband in a way where he says, “I wasn’t attacking you.” Might that mean I was not effectively practicing defenselessness? I’m troubled by these situations, and, perhaps, my approach contributes more to his frustration than I am willing to admit.

The concern I haven’t been able to resolve yet are what if someone is in an abusive relationship? Certainly we wouldn’t expect them to just accept their fate and continue to be abused, would we? Because of that, I believe I’m not interpreting this law effectively. There’s an opportunity with my problems in this area. I’m not clearly identifying the problem or seeing the solution yet.

We have a mastermind for a reason. In this case, my mastermind partner shared thoughts on this subject when we discussed it, and her thoughts, as usual, were right on. She said, “Abuse itself is a situation that has to be dealt with…authorities, walk away, whatever. The person being abused should accept that the abuser is not meant to be part of their life and move forward as a whole, strong, perfect, loving, and harmonious human being. That’s the acceptance part of the situation. They do not need to defend their choice to move on.” That made it so clear to me.

Back my challenges, er, opportunities.

Week 34 – Acting Now

We started a new scroll yesterday, and that’s always an exciting time. While the focus turns out to be “acting now,” this scroll begins on a stunningly dire note. “My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible.” What? This whole book has been overwhelmingly positive until now, and we get this huge dose of negative right off the bat? What’s happening? Quite simple, really. “All are of no value unless they are followed by action.”

Oh. Right. Knowledge does not apply itself. Neither do plans, dreams or goals. “I act now.” I’m giving away so many good thoughts with this post, but the next lines are pure gold. “Never has there been a map, however carefully executed to detail and scare, which carried its owner over even one inch of ground. Never has there been a parchment of law, however fair, which prevented one crime.” Plans, dreams, and goals, whether for good or evil, take action to execute.

We need to take charge and begin executing the plan, even if it isn’t perfect. We’ve been saying “Do it now” twenty-five times twice a day since nearly the beginning of the course, and that’s what this scroll is all about. It clearly lays out why action is required. It clearly lays out that action eliminates fear. We’re reminded to be like the firefly whose light only shines while it is in motion. I saw a firefly last night while petting my friendly feral cat.

Our actions may not be completely correct at first, but we learn. We learn by doing.Tomorrow never comes. Do it now.

How to Multiply Your Value? Make Your Bed

As regular readers know, I’ve been pondering value and how to multiply it this month, so it comes as no surprise that a friend shared this insight on her Facebook page today, and it struck home. Make. Your. Bed.

In my early adulthood, I committed to making my bed every day, and I have done so for at least the last thirty-four years. I, too, learned to make the “perfect” bed in basic training and continued to do so through technical training. I backslid for a few months at my first duty station, but I finally decided I liked the way it felt to climb into a made bed at night. The sheets just felt better. I don’t make “the perfect” bed every morning, but I always pull the sheet and coverlet up in a straight and neat manner.

The Admiral is absolutely right, though. Years ago, I thought by completing my workout first thing in the morning started the day with an accomplishment, but even before that, I’d begun multiplying my value — by making my bed as soon as I got out of it in the morning.

As we’ve been learning from the beginning of the Master Key Experience, it’s the little things that pay big dividends.

Week 32: Still Pondering Value

Value is tougher than I thought. I understood it wasn’t just about money. It’s much more than that. I’ve devoted many of my sits to this topic this week.

What is value? How does the genius of man multiply value?

Where is my value? What does it mean to me?

Do I know what my value is, or is my true value yet to be discovered? I looked for synonyms in my dictionary/thesaurus app to help. In the noun category, I found an exhaustive list. Advantage, worth, account, bearing, benefit, caliber, condition, connotation, consequence, content, denotation, desirability, distinction, drift, eminence, esteem, estimation, excellence, finish, force, goodness, grade, help, implication, import, importance, interpretation, mark, marketability, meaning, merit, power, preference, purpose, quality, regard, repute, sense, serviceableness, significance, state, stature, substance, superiority, use, usefulness utility, and valuation. Whew! There’s an equally long list for the verb usage of the word. The good news from this list? Everyone’s value is going to be different, and increasing or multiplying it will be a different process and journey for everyone.

Do I find it in my DMP? My relationships? My travel? My health? My writing? My cats? Where am I most useful? My solitude, perhaps? Is it related to the respect people have for me or I for myself? Does my passion for polar bears come into play?

I didn’t find these answers in my sits this week. I did find my next plan of action entry: “My heart beats strong and steady.” That message came through loud and clear today. The alternative is…troubling, so I’m happy to affirm that message three times a day. The power of thought is gradually becoming apparent, and I’m continuing to improve. In time, I will know exactly how to multiply my value. I trust this.

 

Week 31: Multiplying Value

This month, I ‘m multiplying value. As I study Scroll VIII, I’m seeing a number of interesting things as I compare myself to a grain of wheat. According to the scroll, there are three things that a grain of wheat can do. It can be fed to swine, ground for bread, or planted to multiply. I have a choice. I can be fed to swine, ground to be devoured by others, or grow and multiply. The major difference between me and the grain of wheat? I can choose. So can you.

Think you can’t? Too much bad has happened in your life? Nope. Here’s what Og Mandino says about that. “To grow and multiply it is necessary to plant the wheat grain in the darkness of the earth and my failures, my despairs, my ignorance, and my inabilities are the darkness in which I have been planted in order to ripen.” All that bad stuff? Fertilizer for your growth. You could interpret this to mean that the more bad stuff that’s happened in your life, the more primed you are for richness and bearing fruit.

How? “Now, like the wheat grain which sprouts and blossoms only if it is nurtured with rain and sun and warm winds, I too must nurture my body and mind to fulfill my dreams.” You have the power to choose your destiny by setting objectives for your life. Then plan the years, months, weeks, days, and hours toward reaching those objectives.

A couple weeks ago, I discussed my Plan of Action (POA) card and some changes I made in it. This week, I went through my DMP and listed the key areas discussed that I haven’t actively planned — there are nine. Today, I began mapping out the POA to make those DMP areas a reality. One, traveling all major Amtrak routes by January 2025, looks like it will easily be completed by August 2018. I’m going to leave the later date just in case our plans have to change for any reason. In discussing this with my husband, we distilled it down to three trips. Until we studied the Amtrak timetable with this goal in mind, we didn’t have a clue when this would be feasible to make into a reality for us.

Planning is ongoing, but once the DMP was articulated, I didn’t know where to focus my efforts or where to look for creating a plan. I made progress on five of the nine areas today. Not bad for an initial effort. The tenth area has been my primary focus since beginning the course, and it continues to manifest, so I haven’t mentioned it here except for this. I’m not sure if I’ve used the spinning plate analogy here before, but it’s a common one in maintaining balance in life. The “tenth” area, which is really my primary focus, was the “plate” I had to get balanced and spinning first. I’ll continue to work in the other “plates” as long as I can keep the primary one spinning smoothly.

Everything worthwhile in time takes time and effort. I’m pleased to apply the skills I’ve learned in the Master Keys course. How is this multiplying value? I’m trusting the process, because, honestly, I’m not sure right now.