Seasons of Change

"Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye..."-Corinthians 15:51


We often want to change, but change is slow, and many times, we either don’t know we need to change or we don’t want to change. Biblical change is the only thing that can change in the twinkling of an eye, all others types of changes take time and discipline. Wouldn’t it be nice if could miraculously become a millionaire in a twinkling of an eye; I suppose this can happen with today’s lottery, and casinos! But lasting physical, emotional, and spiritual change take time.
We discussed some of the changes you may have decided to make in 2010 in our last newsletter. Listed below are The top 10 New Year’s resolutions for 2010:

1. Save money/get out of debt
2. Lose weight
3. Get fit
4. Enjoy life more/be happy
5. Get organized
6. Fall in love
7. Help others
8. Spend more time with family
9. Quit smoking
10. Learn something new
Blair, Gary R. (2010)

What if you don’t know what changes you want to make? Start with what bothers you, what frustrates you, what makes you unhappy. This may help you decide what you need to change. Once you focus on what needs to change, then make goals. Finally, make action plans to complete these goals.
For example, if you want to lose fifty pounds (the goal), you may start by getting up earlier in the morning for a morning walk, buy a gym membership, hire a trainer, or buy a home gym (the action plan). Have a weight loss journal where you keep your body measurements, your weight, and a few daily thoughts (the motivation).
Share your goal(s) with a few close friends. Not everyone needs to know what you are doing or thinking all the time. It is best to save your energy to achieving your goal than to talk about it with anyone who will listen. A good friend can help you stay on track and motivate you.
If one of your goals is to get a better paying job (the goal), search the internet for what’s available; the choices are slim! You may decide it’s best to stay in your current job with today’s economic outlook and job market. Nonetheless, if you find there is a market for your skills, you may need to upgrade your resume. Have mock interview sessions with a friend. Buy a new interview suit. Your meditation may reveal you are happy with everything and everyone in your life as it stands. Good for you; you are lucky and blessed. Remember though, that everything in life changes; seasons change from summer yellow to winter white. People change too. Sometimes they change because they have to; others change because they want to. Accept change as part of life.

God never changes

When Job’s life fell apart, and God was silent, Job still found things he could praise God for:
That he is good and loving.
That he is all-powerful.
That he notices every detail of my life.
That he is in control.
That he has a plan for my life.
That he will save me.
Warren, Rick (2002)

References:
Blair, Gary R. (2010) Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for 2010. Retrieved fromhttp://2010resolutions.org/

Warren, Rick. (2002). The purpose driven life. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.

New Beginnings: Metamorphosis

What are some of your New Year’s resolutions-lose weight, change jobs, get a promotion, write a book, learn to meditate, and/or become a millionaire? Believe it or not these are all obtainable. Yes they are! All it takes is a shift in thought-to believe you can. Like the little book, “The little engine that could!” You can too! Your family background, your ethnicity, or your age does not make a difference. Believing in YOU makes the difference!
For most people, change is very scary and carries with it a fearful mindset. But if you take away your fear you can conquer mountains! Grandmother always said, “With faith of a mustard seed you can move mountains!”
Mary Magdalene, a prostitute, became a vessel to wash the feet of Jesus. Remember she was ridiculed and some wanted to stone her. However, she was used of God to anoint the holy Christ! It is said that Lincoln was no prophet, and yet he changed the course of history! He was the man to steer the country in a time of great moral, economic, and social change. He claimed his destiny and was used to change the human cruelty of slavery. Joan of Arc was but a teenager when she led a revolution to free France from English rule.
Do you think you could lead a revolution? What about the revolution in your mind? For some, the revolution is faith that they will make it through today with enough money to buy some food, or make the mortgage payment. Some people need faith to find shelter after an eviction. Some struggle with addictions and obsessions of unimaginable proportions! For others, it is moving on after a relationship! Moving in, moving out, and moving with the flow may all be painful, but moving can bring metamorphic beauty!
Changing your mindset to believe that God is in control and that all things are possible through Him is the new beginning! Step out in faith and believe that you too are meant for success-abundance beyond your wildest dreams!
Getting out of bed with a smile is not always easy, although, this is the very thing that needs to happen to start a new day. You can place a CD player in your bedroom or use an alarm clock with a radio set to a station with happy, lively music. Watch how you can set the tone for the day. While you shower, sing your favorite “happy” song; some of my friends sing, “Zippity-Do-Da” to raise their energy. Use whatever works! It doesn’t take much to spiral into depression, so why not use it in reverse-spiral up into a joyful mood!
There are life situations and circumstances that are not of our doing or control; however, we have freewill to control our mood! Some circumstances are difficult to overcome: terminal illness, divorce, job termination, disability; however, it is not the what, but the how we handle these that make the difference in our life! Not, how our neighbor handles it…how We handle it-you-me!
Some things we can never understand! Some things just happen-famine, illness, disaster, rape! We all know good people who have the worst of luck. Why? There is no understanding; it just happens! Yet, the survivors are those that can make it through with a positive outlook! Be the warrior of your life!
Change you mindset; change your life! It starts with you. Only you can change because you want to change! Believe that you are the butterfly in a state of metamorphosis! You are a monarch with a new beginning!

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine headin' my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

Mister Bluebird's on my shoulder
It's the truth, it's actual
Ev'rything is satisfactual
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Wonderful feeling, wonderful day, yes sir!

Golden Goals

People want a good life, a good marriage, a good job, a good education, a good __________ just fill in the blank. For most people this doesn’t just happen; things don’t just magically appear because they wish it, light a candle and cast a spell.
Even people who are phenomenal at getting what they want through energetic intention and manifestation set goals, for example, T. Harv Eker, Robert Kiyosaki, Keith Cunningham, Anthony Robbins, and so many other gurus of wealth. Do you think they simply wished their wealth? Successful people make goals and follow them with focused attention and intention, passion and action.
Dreams are just that: dreams! Dreams are important and do increase our creativity, but without proper action, our creative thoughts stay in the portal of our mind. Oh, and by the way, start keeping a journal; this will activate your creativity and intuition.
If you want to make it happen, you must take action on your idea, and the first action step is to set goals.
In order to start getting the things you want, you must first know yourself. What are some of the things you desire? Is it wealth, a house on the beach, a villa in Tuscany, or a cabin in Big Bear? What do you hope for physically? Are you happy with your physical appearance? You can change your weight, and you can probably change your looks through plastic surgery-anything is possible through plastic surgery these days!
What about your spirituality? Do you know what your life purpose is, or what fulfills you? We are physical and spiritual beings. We will never be fully satisfied without spirituality. Some people speak of having a void; they feel empty! Could it be they are lacking a purpose-driven life?
Some were born wealthy and yet chose to serve others in the most impoverished parts of the world! Mother Theresa was a spiritually fulfilled woman, and yet she depended on the charitable contributions of others! She lived a faith-driven life.
You may not wish to serve others so altruistically, perhaps you can serve by reading books to children in a classroom a few times a month.
You hold the paint brush to the masterpiece of your life! Who you are today is what you allowed. You choose what enters your life and what creates your most cherished desires!
Who are you? What do you want? What do you like? Take time and think about the things you really like.

What are your priorities?

Physical body
Career
Material possessions
Money
Creativity
Home
Love/Romance
Travel/Adventure

Can we have it all…YES! However, it is best to start with three detailed, definitive goals. “Decide what you want. Believe you can have it. Believe you deserve it and believe it’s possible for you. And then close your eyes every day for several minutes, and visualize having what you already want, feeling the feelings of already having it. Come out of that and focus on what you’re grateful for already, and really enjoy it. Then go into your day and release it to the Universe and trust that the Universe will figure out how to manifest it.” Jack Canfield.
Take the list above and write down what you really want in each area; from these choose three that you most desire, and then make long term goals and short goals.
Make weekly action plans for each desire. For example, if you wish to get an education, you may wish to start checking out the local colleges and universities. Decide how you’re going to pay for your studies, i.e., work part-time or apply for financial aid. If you want to write a novel, you can set a goal of writing ten pages every day.
Once you know your three goals. Write them down in long hand, and then write them down again using your non-dominant hand. For example, if you are right-handed, use your left hand. Your penmanship contests! However, what it will do is set the intention in your right and left brain!
Using your goals, make affirmations and recite them several times a day. This is focused passion! You can not get to the mountain top without effort. You must do the work! Setting goals is the first step.
Remember that we get the things we focus on. This is focused energy. The energy you put out, you get back. This is the Law of Attraction.
“A person who set his or her mind on the dark side of life, who lives over and over the misfortunes and disappointments of the past, pray for similar misfortunes and disappointments in the future. If you will see nothing but ill luck in the future, you are praying for such ill luck and will surely get it.” Prentice Mulford.
The Universe will supply what you want, but you must first know what you want?
“Success comes from within, not from without.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Bear Hunt with Spanky

by Tristan Ramsay (nine years old)
with Nana Ramsay
12/4/07

My Papa took all the Ramsay boys camping at Hurkey Creek near Idyllwild. Spanky came too. He rode in the truck with Papa and me. He slobbered all over my lap all the way there.
The road was very bumpy and windy. My stomach churned. Spanky was restless and he felt heavy upon my lap. I was anxious to get out. My dad gave Spanky some cheese. Big mistake! Half way up the mountain Spanky ripped a big one! Whewie! Did it smell bad! We rolled our windows down but it was too cold and we quickly closed them.
Soon we were at the camp site. When we first got out we met Uncle John and Uncle Kris. My cousin Jacob had a big stick and he chased me out of the truck with it.
I told him the stick was better used as a walking stick. He said, “Shut up!” Uncle Kris said, “Jaaaaaaccccobbbb!”
Papa set up camp while the boys talked about bears and walked around looking for bear tracks.
Later that day, my dad, Jacob, Spanky, and I decided to investigate the upper stream. We found a path to a mountain ledge near the campsite and waved to Papa down below. We turned around and saw a long trail of bear tracks. We followed the trail into the woods and came upon a dark cave.
Luckily we had our flashlights and we entered the cave. Jacob stumbled on something deep into the cave. We looked down and it was a bear. The bear slowly started waking up and Jacob screamed. Spanky got mad and barked because the bear ate his lunch. The bear stood high but slowly retreated deeper into the cave. And we ran as fast as we could back to the camp site. Spanky did not want to leave. We called him and he finally ran out.

The End

Spanky’s Story

by Tatum Ramsay (five years old)
with Nana Ramsay
12/4/07

My Nana and Papa moved in with me. Their dog Spanky moved in too. Spanky likes to chase the ball. I throw the ball and Spanky runs after it.
My dad plays with Spanky. He throws the ball and Spanky runs after it. Spanky never gets tired of playing. When he is tired he breathes heavily and his tongue hangs out.
When Spanky is finished playing he takes a nap in the garage. He can’t come in the house because I have two kittens named Abby and Alex. Spanky would like to play with them but I’m afraid he will hurt them.
Spanky watches us from the sliding-glass door as we eat our dinner. He whines and wants to come in but he can’t. He has to stay outside.
I get ready for bed after I take my bath. My papa gives him a bath sometimes but not very often. Spanky does not like to take a bath.
My mommy makes yummy Snickerdoodles. We sit at the table and eat them and Spanky wants some cookies too. He can’t have any cookies.
We listen to Christmas music as we talk to Nana and Papa. Nana goes to bed and soon Papa will too.
I go upstairs to my bed and I hear Papa open the door and let Spanky in. Spanky happily sleeps between my Nana and Papa.
Everyone in the house goes to sleep. All is quiet in the Ramsay home, except for Alex and Abby wildly tumbling through the hall and down the stairs.
Nana and Papa sleep while Spanky snores as he whimpers in his sleep.

The End

Success from Failure

Sometimes failure is success turned upside down! It’s strange how this works. Failure gives motivation to try harder, study harder, think harder, and to move in a direction that many times leads to success. Looking at something from a different perspective can make all the difference!
Many famous people failed before success was eventually obtained! You are no different; that is, you may have failure before success floods your world!
Thomas Edison failed many times and yet he is “considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S. patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. “ (Wikipedia). He was considered a poor student and eventually his mother home schooled him. He attributes his success to his mother. When we have at least one person that is our champion we have the basis for a good foundation and the motive to achieve great things!
Albert Einstein had early speech difficulties, yet, he is one of the greatest minds of all time. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, and he is regarded as the father of modern physics!
Einstein once said, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” And this is so true! How many people make mistakes the first time something new is tried? There’s no need to beat yourself up, as you often do! At least you tried. You are in a positive force when you try and eventually that positive force with intersect with success if you keep trying, Don’t give up the first time you fail a test, go bankrupt, lose your job, get divorced, and so many other things that social mores frame as failure.
Some people are fast starters and burn out fast; others are slow learners and like the tortoise win the race!
Neither of the Wright brothers finished high school. And Wilbur became withdrawn after loosing his front teeth in an accident. He stayed home secluded and cared for his mother who was terminally ill. Perhaps at this point in his life he was exactly where he was suppose to be-caring for his mother!
Although Orville dropped out of high school he successfully ran a print shop and Wilbur overcame depression when he started working with his brother in the print shop. Later, their perseverance gave them their place in history.
Time and time again, history shows how much we need the support of others to overcome our frailties and failures.
Learn from failure! Analyze it and understand what went wrong. The worst kind of failure is when you give up on yourself, and no failure is worth that much! There is always tomorrow. It never fails that the sun will shine another day. Hope is always near. When you give up on yourself seek a close friend who will give you perspective.
Always look ahead and expect good things to happen to you!
Listen to your inner voice, the more you listen to it the stronger your intuition becomes. When you learn to listen to your higher self, you will always have the best advice from a true friend! Your higher self comes from a platform of good intentions; it will never fail you.
Asking others for advice is okay, but when you ignore your inner voice and constantly seek the advice of others, your inner voice retreats. You will become confused with conflicting advice. When someone gives you advice, listen to it with an open mind. Go home and meditate upon it; ask God’s counsel and your inner voice will guide you.
If you don’t “hear” your inner voice, ask God to help you find it, and you will have one!
Native Americans ask God one time-that’s all it takes! “The Secret” says the same thing. You wouldn’t keep ordering the same item from a catalog, would you? God hears you the first time!
It is your inner voice that gives you creativity and opens many doors of opportunity.
Oprah Winfrey says there is no such thing as luck; only opportunities waiting when you are ready. And this is true!
Failure allows you time of introspection to assess the things you’ve done wrong; when you least expect it, the answers to your problem, or should I say…the answers to your success will come flooding in!


Hermelinda Ramsay
October 7, 2009

Motivation

Motivation is a feeling that gives you purpose towards a desired goal; the reason for the action or behavior. How do you get that feeling in your gut that helps you have ambition or simply feel good about getting up in the morning? Where does motivation come from? Some people seem to be overflowing with it; others seem alien to it.
People are classified as either a night or morning person. A night person’s creative force always waxes as the sun goes down-never when the sun shines its brilliant face upon Mother Earth. I was always a night person, although recently I’ve been getting up with an increasing amount of joy and happiness. I wake up with a spiritual force that surrounds me all day long. What made the difference? Here a few things I did to help motivate me:
First, I rarely succumb to watching the news! I don’t find the need to waste my time watching the headlines news. I have too many creative projects to work on to waste my time watching murders, burglaries, and who knows what else. I keep track of national and international business news through reading several business journals on the web.
Second, I read a lot of books in preparation for writing our company’s newsletter and my blog. I sort through dozens of books per week. The library is my magic carpet! I love the neat aisles filled with wondrous books!
Another way to use the library, thanks to the internet, is to search a topic through the local library’s website. If I want to read something, I place it on hold, the library sends me a notice that the book is waiting to be picked up, and I go pick up my treasure; how convenient is that! Anything I ever wanted to know I read in a book!
One of my recent favorites is, “The Secret”. “The Secret” speaks of being your own creator; it also defines ways of attracting all that you ever desired. I wanted to attract positive things and to have the house, the car, the relationship I always dreamed of! In order to attract the things one wants, one must be positively grateful for the things one has now! This is another way of being motivated: Be positive to stay motivated. Positivity is marked by excessive self-confidence. The dictionary says positive is impossible to deny or disprove! Therefore, being positive creates motivation.
Thirdly, I’ve started stating ten things I am grateful for before going to sleep at night, and I do the same thing before I get out of bed in the morning. Some people have asked, “How can you find that many things to be thankful for?” It’s very easy! Look around; you are surrounded by beautiful, inspiring things, and every day you meet people who are inspiring and motivational!
Motivation is a state of mind. Whatever you put in your mind will definitely create your mindset. Beware of what you read, watch on TV, and the friends you hang out with at school or work. You don’t have to be an island unto yourself, or draw a circle and shut others out! Take the time to talk to people you have very little in common with; don’t shut them out; talk with them anyway. You may be the only inspiration they have that day. You don’t know what others are going through! Someone may be going through a divorce, maybe they were recently laid off, or they lost everything in a fire, or lost their dream home in a foreclosure.
When you motivate others, you stay motivated. It’s an attraction that will never change. Stay positive; stay motivated-always be ready to help others on a day that may be their worse day. Years later, they will remember the person who placed their arms around them when they were crying, or the person who said just the right thing at just the right time.
Motivation is a choice! If you choose to be motivated you will be. Make it a desire to stay focused on the good things in life-family, friends, and God. You can’t go wrong there! Who among us can not feel the most blessed inspiration deep in your soul when you hear the giggle of a baby, or when you hold your first child, and then your first grandchild! Oh, that’s blessed goodness. The light of day, the drops of rain, the moonlit night-they all inspire one to be motivated when the economy is grim.
Through the darkest days of the depression, people found motivation to live another day, love another soul, walk another step towards hope.
May you find the things that motivate you; dwell upon the positive in your life, and help others who are feeling the weight of the earth in these troubled times.