CONTEMPLATING OUR THOUGHTS
My husband Rich recently shared the following story with me and I asked to share his story through my BLOG POST.
One July summer day about noon Rich was filling the gas tank of our RV when a man, probably in his 40s, drove up on the other side of the pump pulling a small yellow motorboat on a trailer behind his car.
He complained that the pump was slow.
“How much fuel does your boat tank hold?” Rich asked.
“Thirty gallons but I didn’t use the boat much and it will probably take only five gallons. This pump is really slow!”
“I know.” Rich agreed. “It’s taken me a long time to fill my RV tank and the pump is still going.”
The man capped his boat’s tank and put away the hose. As he moved to his car, he turned, looked at Rich and asked, “How old are you?”
“I’ll be eighty-five in September.” Rich told him. The other man opened his car door and prepared to leave. Then he hesitated, turned, and asked, “What word do you have?”
Rich said the word “thoughts” popped into his mind and he replied, “Thoughts. Be careful of your thoughts. Thoughts can happen.”
The other man nodded once, closed the car door, drove away.
Rich asked himself if this was a coincidence? Was it supposed to happen? Was it caused by a slow pump? He’d had difficulty getting the gas because of the slow pump and because he failed to press the correct buttons, he missed getting to both the credit union and the post office before noon closures but instead, he’d relayed the suggestion to this man to be careful of his thoughts. “Thoughts matter.”
As a result of Rich’s story, I contemplated how I use thoughts in my life. Thought shapes our days, our years, our lives. How much do we contemplate our thoughts?
Until I became a student at Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment in Yelm, Washington, I didn’t think much about my thoughts at all unless they troubled or annoyed me or frightened me. It seemed as if someone or something else controlled my thoughts. At RSE I learned through teachings and experience that our thoughts are vital to shaping our lives.
I learned to Create my Day with thought first thing in the morning, sometimes before I opened my eyes. How did I want my day to unfold? I began creating my year every New Year’s Eve and I made cards for each season and drew words and pictures of my plans for that new year. I keep those four cards in my daily journal and if things start going in odd directions, I recheck the cards I made. Is my life’s plan aligning with my thoughts for the New Year? If not, why?
I am often surprised at how closely my days and the year match up to my plans.
For example, several times each month, Rich and I and our cat and dog travel to and from our homes and properties. One of these trips requires two ferry rides and can take six to eight hours. The night before this trip, as we slip into sleep, both of us visualize our trip. The next morning we plan it out again. This is a complicated trip but usually things fall into place just as we visualized them in our thoughts. Sometimes we will pull right on to a ferry.
I also try to monitor my thoughts before I speak so that what I say is meaningful, doesn’t hurt or harm anyone and so my words are not spoken in anger. I put this into the creation of each day.
Taking control of my thoughts has made a major shift in my life. I realize that I am in control of much of what I think and do and say. I agree with Rich—thoughts matter.
For more information about creating with thought see www.ramtha.com
You can also consult a few books: Love Yourself Into Life and The Mystery of Birth and Death both published by JZK, Inc.
Another book about Thought is Just A Thought by S.L. Brown
Or Google the word “Thought” and see where that takes you.
In September Susan plans to teach a class in Memoir Writing on Orcas Island. If interested in joining this group, please email Susan or fill out the form on this website.
I ask students to read a memoir before they come to class and recommended the following:
Becoming by Michelle Obama (Life with Barack)
Every Day is Extra by John Kerry (How Vietnam War changed his life.)
Educated by Tara Westover (The value of education and how she obtained one.)
Kids in Orange by Mindy Hardwick (Her work with juveniles in detention in Everett, WA)
Parsing the Dragon: A Memoir by Susan Glenn Lampe
Susan and her daughter Mindy Hardwick at the Gig Harbor (WA) Arts Festival in July. Their combined books made a great display!
Discovery of “Parsing” on the local author’s carousel at Darvill’s Bookstore on Orcas Island (WA) brought tears.
BREMERTON (WA) BLACKBERRY FESTIVAL, Labor Day weekend, September 2019. More author signings. With Susan is author J.M.M. Adams, who pens stories of German Shepherds who join dragons on creative, imaginative adventures. For more information see: www.dragonlochworks.com as well as Facebook.