”What we give to others, we give to ourselves. What we withhold from others, we withhold from ourselves. In any moment when we choose fear instead of love, we deny ourselves the experience of Paradise. To the extent that we abandon love, to that extent we will feel it has abandoned us.” – Marianne Williamson

“It is always the case that both the victim and perpetrator who suffer the consequences of any acts of violence, oppression, or brutality. For what you do to others, you do to yourself.” -Eckhart Tolle from the book: A New Earth

”If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul. -Rabbi Harold Kushner

Now I want you to think about this for a bit. Give anger, receive anger. Give kindness, receive kindness.

Your task for the day or for a few days for that matter (better yet, the rest of your life) is to change what you are giving away from the bad habits of anger, hatred, bitterness, jealousy, envy, lack, and poverty. And create the good habits of thinking peace, happiness, harmony, right action, good will, abundance, and prosperity. In doing so you will find that you will be giving yourself the gift of peace, happiness, harmony, right action, good will, abundance, and prosperity.

I know this may not be easy but this is the best gift you can give yourself. The very second you find yourself thinking an ugly thought replace it with a good thought. The mind cannot think two things at the same time.

Let me give you an example. Let’s say you and a very close friend just had a falling out and you are very angry at that person. Every time that person enters your mind you focus on that angry thought. Well instead change that to focus on a positive thought about that person. I can hear you now, “I can’t find anything positive about that person!” Wha,wha, wha…too bad, you have to! Let me tell you why, this person is a child of God too, therein lies their innocence. Know that this is only helping you. This is what Jesus meant when he said “you will heap coals on your enemy’s head when you pray for them.” This may not be easy at first but once you realize the positive affect it will have on you, you won’t have such a difficult time doing so.

Know, my e-book, soon to be published will also detail this point in full. Try not to stress out on your enemy’s innocence. You’ll get there! Eventually a link to my e-book will be here.

Okay so that is your homework for this lesson. Any experiences with this lesson? Feel free to comment….

Until next time -K

photo/flickr.com/such_pretty_things