The Source Is with You: How to Develop Yourself Spiritually

Copyright © 2012 Shirley L. Geer

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

ISBN: 978-1-4525-5099-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-5098-5 (e)

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Balboa Press rev. date: 7/6/2012

Contents

Introduction

Proving God Exists

Are We Turkeys or Eagles?

Engineering Change in You

It’s All About Consciousness

Emotional Responses

What Is Truth?

Bless Your Money

Spiritual Relationships

Bits And Pieces Of Spiritual Thoughts

Open To God

Giving Up False Beliefs

Are You Listening To Trash?

Self-Pity Vs. Self-Power

What’s It To You?

Life Is Like A Pot-Luck Dinner

Life Is Like An Ice Cream Churn

Creating More Love In Your Life

The Key To A Happy Life

Act As If…

Lessons From ‘Diddy’

Aging Vs. Maturing

Plug In And Turn On

There Is Only One Message

Chapter 1

Introduction

When I was seeking guidance and asking questions about my life, Divine-Source gave me the idea of putting some of my Sunday Messages into a workbook for people who are stumbling on their path to spirituality, just as I’d been stumbling. I know that we can learn vicariously through the experiences of others. That’s why personal stories in magazines sell well; we all identify with something in them and they speak to us. That is what I hope this book will be for you. My goal in writing this book is to help you along your path to finding Divine-Source and making that spiritual connection for yourself. I know that I don’t have your answers, but at least I know one path to spiritual growth that works well for me and for others, and maybe it will work well for you. As you will soon see, I barely had answers for myself, until I started asking. I’m only attempting to be a light on your path, to help you avoid any stumbling blocks along your way. Divine-Source and I send this book to you with great love.

For several years, I’ve had the idea to write a book, so I was delighted when I got an assignment from what I call Divine-Source to write this book for you. I was to tell you how to grow spiritually at home or in the garden or at the beach or wherever you are. How did Divine-Source tell me to write a book? I asked for guidance and the Source suggested I put this information into a book. I say this book is for you, because I know Divine-Source is directing my path and your path; the One Presence in the Universe has led you to this book, and deep down inside, you likely already know that. I believe there are no accidents and everything in the Universe happens for a good reason. So, although I don’t know you, I know this book is specifically for you.

I’m a hypnotherapist and an ordained minister [more about that later] and I serve a small Unity church in southern Alabama. Unity is a nondenominational, metaphysical, Christian church [more about that later], which has been around since the late 1800’s. I’ve been delivering what I call my Sunday Messages for over six years now. I don’t like the term sermon; I don’t sermonize and I don’t preach. I am only a messenger, bringing a message from the one Source to whomever will listen.

This book has been organized into 24 chapters, each being a message that I delivered on a Sunday morning, complete with prayer, Scripture reading, and meditation time. The meditation is a guided visualization that is intended to allow time to practice whatever was the theme for that day. After that, I’ve listed some questions that you might answer for yourself. Use the questions as a way to dig around inside your mind, to discover and to uncover what you truly believe about yourself and your life. If you’ve been feeling a bit lost, this step is essential to finding your Authentic Self.

For each meditation, I suggest you read it slowly, letting Divine-Source bring you fresh ideas, feelings, and images. When you get to some dashes [ ~ ], pause and close your eyes for about ten to twenty seconds; just let your mind focus on and explore that last thought, listening in the silence for ideas that come to you. The purposes of every meditation are these: (1) to help you get in touch with your inner connection to Divine-Source, (2) to practice living the Truth in the message just delivered, and (3) to discover the Truth about Who You Really Are: a spiritual being, having a human experience. Just accept what ideas come to you and continue with your meditation. You might like to take notes on the ideas that you gain during meditation, because three days from now, you’ll not recall them as vividly.

You can use this book as a now-and-then-thing and pick a topic that appeals to you, or you might use it as a self-designed study plan that you use regularly to facilitate your spiritual development. Your spiritual growth, as with any project you undertake, will be what you make it. If you’ve been dissatisfied with church and religion, perhaps this book will help you find your footing on your path to meeting the Divine-Source. You are already on that path, even if you’ve not been aware of it; we’re all on a path to finding the God-Essence and we’ll all find it, because Divine-Mind is so big, we cannot miss it.

This book presupposes the existence of the One Divine Source of All That Is and Is Not. I’m not out to prove that Source exists; I already know that, and you’ll find one chapter devoted to this topic. You can call Source whatever you like; He, She, It doesn’t care what you call Him, Her, It. Personally, I like these labels: Divine-Source, Divine-Mind, Holy-Spirit, One-Presence, God-Essence, All That Is and Is Not, and Lord of Love. I use the term God rather infrequently, as it has such heavy, old, negative, wrathful connotations for some people.

Welcome; I have been expecting you. I hope you will allow this book to serve you.

HOW THIS BOOK GOT STARTED:

I sat there, waiting at last, expecting to earn some money. I was expecting a client to arrive any minute at my hypnotherapy office in my home as it was two minutes until ten o’clock in the morning. I didn’t have time to begin any real work, so I was scanning a book of classic sermons to see if I could glean anything from them for my own Sunday Messages. Time was ticking away; no client.

When clients don’t appear on time, I give them about ten minutes before I call their home to see if they’re on the way to my office. At ten minutes after the hour, I phoned my client, who seemed very confused about the appointment. She was sure she had made the appointment for two weeks hence, but I had it in my book for today, right now. We rescheduled the appointment for two weeks hence, and I settled down to review my file on another client, whom I was expecting at one o’clock.

One o’clock came and went and still, I waited. Hmmm! This lady was sometimes a little bit late, so I decided I’d better call to see what was going on with her. I dialed her cell phone number and she answered, saying she was in another state. What? She reported that a family emergency took her out of town so quickly that she had forgotten to call me. We agreed that she would call when she got home again. After I hung up, I felt rather defeated, dejected, frustrated, angry, upset, and downright miserable.

You see, I had not earned any money in my hypnotherapy practice in ten weeks and I was really looking forward to earning some money that day. I’d been out of the country vacationing in Italy with my husband for almost a month. When I returned to my office, my former clients hadn’t yet called to set up new appointments, so it had been weeks since I had brought in any money to support my household. I fussed and fumed about the house for about fifteen minutes and decided I needed to ask Divine-Source about this event.

MY CONVERSATIONS WITH DIVINE-SOURCE:

I had been having two-way dialogs with Source ever since I read Neale Donald Walsch’s series of books, Conversations With God,¹ and learned his technique of using a tablet to write down what ideas came to him. I knew about the Law of Mind-Action or, as it’s sometimes called, the Law of Attraction, and I knew that, in some way, I was attracting this lack-luster event into my life…but why? I angrily grabbed a tablet and a pen and I wrote …

S - HELP! AHGGGH! What’s going on here? What am I doing to promote this mess? Why? What? How?

In my head, I heard an answer. Writing ‘G’ for God, I wrote…

G - You’ve not wanted clients. You said you really want to be lazy and not HAVE to have this business.

S - (Gulp) You’re right; I really want enough money that I don’t need to work, except to manage my money and do good in the world for others. So, now what?

G - Get clear, crystal clear on what you choose for you, now…with work, wealth, your husband and love, spirituality, time, all of it. You listed some things in your assignment when you studied The Secret.² Read that again; what did you say you want?

At this point, I put down the tablet and went to get my notes from a class I’d taught all the previous month on the book, The Secret, all about the Law of Attraction. One of the assignments I had given the students in class was to list all the things they really wanted. I had done all the assignments, too, so when I had that in my hands, I went back to my tablet and my dialogue with Source.

S - Okay, I wrote that I want to use Law of Mind-Action or Attraction all the time [consciously]; to meditate every day; to laugh more; to write and sell books; to be alive, alert, awake, energetic, and to move around more often.

G - How do you FEEL right now?

S - Down, gloomy, sad, defeated, lost, hurting, withdrawn; I’m so disappointed in me. I know this mood is of my making. I don’t like this mood!

G - What thought makes you feel better; what are your mood-shifters?

S - [Before I got to that portion of my class notes, tears came and I cried hard.] I’m so disappointed in me. I tell others what to do, how to be, how to do, and I don’t do it myself. Grrrrr!

G - Gently now; that’s my dearly beloved of whom you speak.

S - Bah, humbug!

G - Are you questioning My love for you?

S - No; I question my value, worth, ability, sincerity, and so forth.

G - Who are you to call worthless that which I created in MY image and love dearly?

S - Yeah, but…I know me, inside and out!

G - No better than I do, and not like I know you to be. Look at your mood-shifters now; pick one and focus on it.

S - Okay; singing, ‘Zippity-Doo-Dah’ is a good mood shifter for me; it usually works to get me out of a bad mood.

G - Okay, now walk around singing that for a while; walk around the house and sing that until you can BELT IT OUT!

S – Okay. [So, I did that, feebly at first, and fed the cat, and then sang stronger, and finally belted it out.] I feel better now.

G - Now, do you really want more clients?

S - Yes; I want enough clients to produce at least $1,000 income per month, which leaves time to write and get published.

G - Here’s a new idea. You’ve thought of publishing your Sunday Messages for other ministers, but why not publish your Sunday Messages as self-help book for everyone. Call it, Church At Home or Spiritual Growth for One. Make it a workbook-type, self-help book with questions to guide people to discovering their Authentic Self.

S - Yeah - that would be fun.

G - And profitable; it’s much needed today.

S - Really?

G - Yes, needed all over world; the message is always the same, and you know that now. Do one book and put in your messages and stories. Feel better now?

S - Yes; I guess so…

G - So, do something to get you started. Oh, by the way, your efforts to see yourself as Spirit moving your body and to put Shirley away are on the right track; do it again, more often. It helps. Add that exercise to your new book, our book. I’ll help you with it, but YOU CAN DO IT!

S - THANKS!

G - Welcome.

When Source mentioned my efforts at putting Shirley away, it didn’t refer to suicide or anything that drastic. What I had been trying to do was to think, speak, and act from the Spirit within me, to put my personality and ego aside, so that my Spirit could be in charge. I had been trying to think, speak and act from a higher level, a more spiritual level than I normally do. I had also been focusing on seeing my body as the vehicle my Spirit uses for locomotion on Earth. When I think of myself only as Shirley, the human, I get caught up in my human dramas, lost in negative thinking patterns and acting in a very human way. When I realize and am fully aware of my consciousness, my Spirit, and that it, the I AM of Shirley, is using my body as a vehicle to move around on Earth, then I’m more gentle and more thoughtful. It’s a great exercise, but I can’t sustain it for long, just yet; I’m still working at it.

I went to my computer and typed up my latest notes; I added them to my file of my previous chats with God, and I felt much better. Then I noticed something: I’d been asking the same basic question for four years! I’d asked, basically, why is my life not working out as I planned? But I had couched it in various situations with which I’d been dealing at those times, sometimes about weight loss, sometimes about someone who said something that hurt my feelings, and so forth. But it was the same dilemma, over and over! I began to realize that I had not made the spiritual progress I thought I had. Again, I grabbed my tablet and pen.

S - Here I am again, Dear God; I’ve finally pulled all these notes together. As I read all these notes over [for the first time, actually], I see I’m asking the same question I asked four years ago! Good Grief! What a slow poke I am; what a dud! I’m taking forever to get it and I worried about others’ not getting it! Duh! How unaware I’ve been. I’m so sorry! I’m a sorry mess! [More tears.]

G - No, you’re learning and seeing your Self from a different viewpoint now; that’s good! Celebrate! You are aware, at last. What will you do with this information?

S - Well, for Heaven’s sake, I hope I start to use it to my advantage! By now, I’ve had The Secret and Abraham-Hicks³ and Seth⁴ and Emmanuel⁵ all telling me, plus my Spirit Guide and my own Higher Self, and I still wallow in the bucket of muck and old garbage, not knowing which way to turn. Well, actually, I do know which way to turn, but I’ve stayed stuck; I’ve allowed myself to not move forward. In spite of all the Sunday Messages I’ve delivered, and the chats we’ve had for four years, I’m still at square one.

G - Yes; you are exactly right.

S - I’m so mad at myself! I think I’m always mad at myself, aren’t I?

G - Yes; that seems your cup of tea.

S - I don’t want that any more. I want to change.

G - Really?

S - Yes, damn it! Um…I mean, bless it.

G - Well, who is in charge of engineering that change? Where is your power?

S - I know; I am, and I know the motivation thing we talked about before. I know my power lies in my thoughts, which are often all over the place.

G - Now you have it.

S - I just HAVE to get a handle on this fear. I know that F-E-A-R is just False Evidence Appearing Real, and it stops me every time. I guess that harks back to my childhood and Dad - I’m not blaming him, just trying to identify where I turned left instead of going straight ahead.

G - Good; keep going.

S - Well, I guess I practiced and rehearsed being shy, wishy-washy and fearful so much that it all became my standard operating procedure. Now I’m in a rut of those behaviors and can’t get…I mean…I haven’t yet gotten out of that rut. My husband is doing the same thing with his fear of not having enough money; he’s practiced that attitude forever. I guess I get upset with him, because I see he’s doing exactly what I’m doing. Duh! Neither of us is moving forward very far.

G - YES! You’re catching your faulty thinking; keep going.

S - I guess I’d better do some self-hypnosis to change my inner fears to inner strengths and confidence, to know that I’m safe, to know that I’m strong and smart and good enough.

G - Good! You’re exactly right.

S - If I make a script and tape record it and listen to it, would that help? I’m afraid, oops, I mean I’ve not yet been confident enough to just wing it, without planning ahead.

G - Yes, try that. It will be good that you hear your own voice saying the words; do lots of repetition on it.

S - Hmmm. I need to say that my life with Dad was my challenge to me, that he only helped put the challenge into place, that this is my main challenge in this life: that I’m now ready to make the next step, to move off the stuck spot and move into my glorious future as a spiritual being. I need to put ‘Shirley’ aside. I also think I’m mad and frustrated because I’m tired of playing this role; I’m not happy as the Shirley I’ve turned into. I KNOW I can do better! I’ve done better at times, then I fall back into the prison of my own making…like the poem of the hole in the street!⁶

G - Yes, that was My inspiration…how long ago did I send that to you?

S - Um - about eight or nine years ago? [Feeling chagrined]

G - Um - and I’m so glad you’ve thought of it as it pertains to you…not just to your clients.

S - This is really helpful, you know?

G - Yes, I know; be gentle with you. You don’t need to be brow-beaten or beaten up any more.

S - Okay. Thank you very much! This information really helps a lot.

G - Good.

S - I love you so much.

G - And you, Shirley, ARE my beloved! I’ve loved you since before you were you.

S - Ah, yes! [Grin] That’s what I’ve said to so many people about your love. Thanks for the reminder.

G - Welcome.

FIRST THINGS FIRST:

So,