SEED THOUGHTS FOR LOVING YOURSELF Cultivating the Garden of Your Mind Day by Day By Suzanne E. Harrill © Suzanne E. Harrill 2007 First published by Innerworks Publishihg ISBN 1-883648-16-5 All rights reserved. The contents of this book may not be reproduced in any form, except for short extracts for quotation, review, or educational purposes, without the written permission of the publisher. Innerworks Publishing 167 Glengarry Place Castle Rock, CO 80108 www.InnerworksPublishing.com Cover and book design by Val Price Some passages were borrowed from Affirm Your Self Day by Day: Seed Thoughts for Loving Your Self Soft cover 1991 ISBN 0-9625996-1-1 Hardcover 1998 ISBN1-883648-22-X This book is dedicated to my parents: John and Mary Shaw I am grateful for your help: Diane Langley Marle Creer Peggy Floyd Loretta Lewis Danna Malcolm Nancy Moonstarr Cover and book design by Val Price Valgalprice @hotmail.com 303.319.8348 Foreword by John Randolph Price “Every day is a new beginning.” We smile at such a cliché not realizing the profound significance of the pure truth it contains, for through the darkness of night the old passes away and the light of dawn signifies a new day and a new life ─ if we capitalize on the opportunity. An ancient teaching says that the beginning thought upon awakening sets the tone for the rest of the day. Considering this, I was reminded of once watching and listening to a quartet preparing to sing. The leader hummed a note and the others caught it and enthusiastically plunged into song on the same key, at the right pitch. They took advantage of a new beginning and issued forth a chorus of success ─ because they were in tune with the universal principal of harmony. That’s what this book is all about ─ getting a jump-start each morning with the proper tone and pitch and continuing in the right rhythm throughout the rest of the day. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “We are what we think about all day long…the good mind is known by the choice of what is positive, of what is advancing. We must embrace the affirmative.” What do most of us think about all day long? Usually it’s what we do not want rather than what we do, and the primary reason for this is a sense of unworthiness. We have forgotten who we are ─ the highest of creation and the completeness of the universe ─ heirs to all that which is good, true, and beautiful. But with forgetting also comes remembering ─ a change of mind ─ and we have the power to choose that which is positive, of what is advancing. Day by day we can etch deeply in our personal consciousness the truth of our being and transform our self-image and self-esteem, becoming new creatures on the side of life where wonders never cease. The word “consciousness” is an enigma to many people, yet it’s nothing more than the awareness, understanding, and knowledge of our identity. And as this self-image expands to encompass our Spiritual Self, the attributes of that Self begin to be reflected in the phenomenal world and miracles become the order of the day. Suzanne is one of those practical writers who blends intellectual expertise and spiritual understanding with meaningful personal experiences of life. The result is a model for consciousness expansion ─ to help us realize our power through a deeper awareness, understanding, and knowledge of who and what we truly are. In Seed Thoughts for Loving Yourself she takes us on a full year’s course of New Beginnings ─ using delightful seed thoughts to plant in the garden of our minds to change our beliefs, thus changing our lives. Assume the role of the gardener and follow Suzanne’s recommended sowing sequence. Let your mind be cultivated daily and water the seeds with fertile expectations, while also making sure that the weeds of trouble and discontent are continually uprooted. Do your part with dedication and enthusiasm, and a rich and bountiful harvest will be yours. John Randolph Price is an internationally known lecturer and bestselling author of eighteen nonfiction books: The Angels Within Us, Angel Energy, Living a Life of Joy, The Superbeings, The Abundance Book, The Alchemist's Handbook, Empowerment, The Jesus Code, The Love Book, The Meditation Book, Practical Spirituality, A Spiritual Philosophy for the New World, The Success Book, The Wellness Book, With Wings As Eagles, The Workbook for Self-Mastery (formerly titled The Planetary Commission), Removing the Masks That Bind Us, and Nothing Is Too Good To Be True. Introduction May this daily affirmation book inspire you to plant new ideas, concepts, and thoughts in the garden of your mind or remind you of truths that you already know. Your mind is like the receptive soil in a garden. Many of the thoughts and beliefs growing there are not giving you the results you desire, so need to be weeded. You are like a gardener cultivating and caring for the thoughts and beliefs that grow in the garden of your mind. Each day of reading seed thoughts is an opportunity to re-pattern your thinking and update your belief system to new levels of truth. When you change negative, self-critical, fearful thoughts into positive, accepting, problem-solving, loving ones, you experience a shift in how you feel. As you change how you feel on the inside, you will find a desire growing to make positive behavioral changes. Your inner dialog with yourself will transform, too. These seed thoughts have the power to influence and improve your self-talk, which is a major way to create better results in your life. Consequently, these changes allow you to experience your life in ways that attract acceptance, forgiveness, and solutions to problems. Whether you are new to the journey of self-discovery or a seasoned traveler, use this daily guide to help you build and maintain a loving relationship with yourself and the world around you. A major theme in this book is how to feel better about yourself by building your feelings of self-worth. Experiencing sound self-esteem is to grow daily in accepting the beauty and perfection of who you really are, your true Self (soul, essence, higher Self, authentic Self, Christ Self, God Self, Buddha Nature, etc.). Learning to accept that you are a spiritual being allows you to experience unconditional love from higher, more expanded, and aware parts of your being. As you allow this spiritual part of you that is all knowing and exists beyond our world to love you without conditions, you grow in feeling worthy, understanding that your life counts and makes a difference. You discover the importance of healing the negativity from your past by working through unprocessed feelings. Forgiving yourself and others for unwise behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, decisions, and habits releases old interpretations and feelings about being a victim of others and life experiences. Instead of restricting yourself to your past, you are free in the present moment to take full responsibility for your own life and know you can create a better future for yourself. Daily, as you grow in your ability to feel warm and loving towards yourself, you will automatically pass unconditional love, tolerance, understanding, acceptance, forgiveness, and awareness on to other people; people treat others the way they treat themselves. Feeling good within allows you to naturally convey good things to others. Forgiveness of others, by the way, does not mean you agree with or support their negative words or actions. It means you have learned what you could from the situations, grieved your losses, and are ready to remove yourself from perpetuating the drama. No longer are you at the effect of their negativity and can move on with your lives. Before the daily affirmations begin on January 1 there are two important methods to help you get started loving yourself: a self-esteem inventory and The Twelve Steps for Building Self-Esteem. Begin by taking the Self-Esteem Awareness Inventory (after the introduction), then take it again after a year of reading this book to watch your progress. It does not tell you your level of self-esteem; it simply shows you areas where your belief system influences your self-esteem and where you might need to change some of your thinking patterns. Again, as you update the beliefs guiding your life to higher truths you will improve how you feel about yourself. Following the inventory is a definition of self- esteem and characteristics of high self-esteem to help you see the direction in which you are growing. A sound spiritual path encouraging self-inquiry and personal transformation is the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Included in this book, I have rewritten The Twelve Steps for healing low self-esteem. Those of you already using the original Twelve Steps, may want to continue with that program. Affirmations are positive statements that, when repeated over and over, help to re- pattern dysfunctional thoughts and beliefs that are already in place in your mind. Each sentence in the daily passages can stand alone as an affirmation, and the last sentence on the page, the daily affirmation, is one you can use throughout the day. Repeat this daily affirmation to yourself several times throughout the day. You might, for example, say it every time you walk through a door, look at your watch, or when you feel challenged, uncomfortable, upset, or angry. It helps to plant the ideas more powerfully in your mind when you write each affirmation down ten times a day, also. Read the passage for the day when you wake up and when you go to bed, out loud when possible. There was a time in my life when many of the ideas in this book were new to me. Not only did I not have the belief system to hold them, I thought many of them were false. One idea in particular stands out in my mind where I had no clue what the higher truth was. A teacher said to me in one of our discussions, “No one can make you angry without your agreement.” I just walked away thinking to myself, “What a crazy idea, of course other people make me angry.” Then, I went through all the things going wrong with my life and the people that caused them, thus perpetuating my victim consciousness. It took many years and a lot of pondering, reading self-help books, taking self-discovery workshops, talking with wise people, counseling, meditating, journal writing, and inner work to comprehend ideas like the one my teacher had presented. Today, it is an automatic part of my belief system that other people do NOT make me angry and I know without a doubt that I have to have something matching the situation to even feel angry. I alone am responsible for my reactions and feelings to people and situations. Now, I go within and look at myself when “someone makes me angry,” to figure out what I had to do with the situation and what I want to do to change it. This empowers me to not be a victim of what others say or do and to live my life with more peace and harmony. The same may be true for you when reading this book. When an idea startles you or makes you react, simply pause and consider this might be one of the concepts to delve a little deeper into before being able to accept it. Take your time. It took a long time to gather all the ideas growing in the garden of your mind. It is hard to tell which ones are the weeds sometimes. As the gardener of your mind, slowly look at the thoughts and beliefs that need to be pulled. Use the seed thoughts in this book for consideration to help you plant new ones. I share only what I have proven to be true for myself from my intense study and exploration of Truth on my personal journey. If an affirmation is too much of a stretch for you and your negative self-talk goes haywire telling you it is impossible, then consider changing the first couple of words. For example, change ‘I am worthy’ to ‘I am learning that I am worthy,’ or ‘I am considering I am worthy.’ I encourage you to extend love to others by placing the name of a loved one, a friend, or a special person on the page corresponding to the day of their birth. You will then be able to include them in your prayers, meditations, and focus for that day. The love growing within you then radiates secretly to all those within your world. If you are uncomfortable with certain spiritual words, such as God or higher Self, please substitute the word that is your personal preference; such as Higher Power, Universe, Universal Mind, Source, Creator, Christ, Energy, Life, Spirit, or All That Is. It is my intention to reach people of all faiths, as well as those who are triggered by certain religious words. Universal Truth that speaks to you is what is important. May this book help you stop negative thinking patterns that keep you stuck in low self-esteem and nourish you to remember your innate worth. The Acorn Analogy, which follows, summarizes the teachings of this book. The Acorn Analogy Deep inside you know how to be you, as an acorn knows how to be a mighty oak. The acorn does the best it can do at each stage of growth along its life path. Even if the early start was less than perfect the eager oak accelerates its desire to grow every time that it has nurturing from nature: sunlight, rainwater, and soil nutrients. YOU are like the acorn doing your best under the conditions in which you are growing.