Spirit Thinking

Spirit Thinking速: Your 30 Day Guide and Workbook

By Dr. Reece W. Manley, DD, M.Ed., MPM, Rev.

Dr. Reece W. Manley, DD, M.Ed., MPM®, Rev. d/b/a TRI, a division of Advocate USA, LLC Copyright © 2009 Reece W. Manley. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means or transmission without direct written permission of the author.

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Dedication:

Dedicated to my Mom, whose kindness and patience allowed this book to become a reality.

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Contents: Introduction………………………………………………………………………….8 PART ONE: Chapter 1 My Story...................................................................................10 Chapter 2 My Miracle…………………………………………………...........................16 Chapter 3 Spiritual Recovery....................................................................23 Chapter 4: The Qualities of Spirit & Spirit Thinking………………...................26 Eternal………………………………………………………………………………….28 Loving…………………………………………………………………………………..31 Intelligent……………………………………………………………………………..33 Powerful ................................................................................ 35 Insightful ................................................................................ 37 Supportive ............................................................................. 40 Empowering........................................................................... 42 Challenging ............................................................................ 44 Patient ................................................................................... 46 Joyful ..................................................................................... 48

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Chapter 5 The Idea of Spirit Thinking and Cognitive Theory .............. ……51 Chapter 6 The Role of Spirit-self in the Trinity of Human Beings……........55 Chapter 7 Meeting the Spirit-self ........................................................... 59 Chapter 8 The Spirit-self and the Creator.…………………………....................65 Chapter 9 Natural Thinking .................................................................... 67 Chapter 10 Problems in Natural Thinking ................................................. 69 Chapter 11 Spirit Thinking ........................................................................ 71 How Spirit Thinking Uses the Qualities of the Source............. 73 Chapter 12 Beliefs and Challenges ........................................................... 76 Beliefs: Vernon's Cheese?........................................................76 Beliefs and Challenges: What's Your Cheese?.........................80 PART TWO: Chapter 13 The Changing of Your Life ...................................................... 83 5|Page

Nature Beliefs, Natural Beliefs and Inspired Beliefs ............... 85 Natural Beliefs ....................................................................... 85 Chapter 14 Challenging Natural Beliefs .................................................... 90 Chapter 15 Initiating Change in Your Life ................................................. 92 Identify the Belief .................................................................. 92 From Where Does Spirit Thinking Come?............................... 94 Chapter 16 How Spirit Thinking Works ..................................................... 96 Moving Spirit Thinking to Inspired Beliefs .............................. 99 Chapter 17 A Review of the Changing of Your Life ................................. 101 Closing ................................................................................. 103 Exercises Section.................................................................. 105 Exercises Topic: Spiritual Recovery ..................................................... 106 Topic: The Qualities of the Spirit ......................................... 109 Personal Affirmations .......................................................... 113 The Trinity of Human Beings ................................................ 116 The Mind-self ....................................................................... 119 Letters to Your Selves .......................................................... 122 Topic: Natural Thinking ........................................................ 123 6|Page

Limiting Natural Thinking ..................................................... 125 Topic: Spirit Thinking ........................................................... 127 Practicing Spirit Thinking...................................................... 132 A Letter from Reece ............................................................. 138 30 Days of Spirit Thinking..................................................... 140

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Introduction

Welcome to Spirit Thinking, a term I use to convey the qualities of the spirit-self thinking. In this 30 day guide, you will challenge the ―natural thinking‖ in your life. Natural thinking is the sum total of thoughts your mind has been ―recording‖ since you were born.

The formula for ―spirit thinking‖ is simple. We have a spiritself as well as a body-self and mind-self. The spirit-self is the eternal part of us. It is the ―who‖ in who we are. The spirit-self is attached to the Creator, made by the Creator, and it is the child of the Creator. Just as our physical bodies resemble our parents, so does our spirit-self resemble the Creator. Because we remain connected to the Creator, we have access to all of the qualities of His Spirit to help us challenge the limited natural thinking that occurs in our lives.

Many of us, somewhere in our childhood, were told we were not good enough, smart enough, or pretty enough to be the complete success our Creator has in mind for us. Natural thinking is the constant chatter of these lifelong limiting beliefs which hold us prisoner.

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When we identify with the ―I’m not good enough‖ thought, we must reach into the qualities of our spirit-self to challenge the natural thinking with spirit thinking.

This little book will start you on the path to understanding. You will learn that the spirit-self can exert spirit thinking, and help change the way you relate to life.

Spirit Thinking engages our Natural Thinking to produce changes in the way we think, act, and feel. Without the challenges of Spirit Thinking we continue to act from old learned behaviors. Spirit Thinking comes from using the Qualities of the Spirit to challenge specific thoughts and change the way the thoughts affects us.

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Chapter 1 My Story

My life has been difficult from childhood. Like some of you, I was a victim of abuse. The story of my childhood is recorded in my book Crossing Twice: Answers from the Source. The challenges of my childhood were exacerbated by an injury sustained in surgery during my early thirties which left me in constant, chronic neurological pain. It was no wonder I welcomed death when it freed me from this life, and allowed me to cross over to the Other Side.

I was devastated when I was sent back to this life, and was soon consumed with depression. I hadn’t yet recognized the gift I’d been given. It would take rehab and a complete reexamination of my principles as a helping professional to bring that gift out—Spirit Thinking, a counseling theory based on the ―DNA‖ of God and our own spiritual selves. In Crossing Twice: Answers from the Source, I bring to readers the insights I have been incorporating in my life, and in my work as a pastoral counselor.

My message respects every faith path, but challenges current practices of counseling psychology. With over 15 years of helping-profession experience, I now own and operate Horizons Counseling. I have a background that includes advanced degrees from noted schools in psychology, counseling, divinity and post-doctoral work in human development. I have been quoted in Newsweek and other national publications. Today, I am blessed to be bringing my approach to hundreds of people every day through my blog, website, newsletters, direct 10 | P a g e

sessions, and seminars. As the challenge of providing a practical guide to living a spiritual life has been taken up, I’ve learned to go where (and when) God has led me to go through my spirit-self.

It is my hope you find this work an inspiring way to approach your life, and the part of you which is eternal and connected directly to the Creator. Just as certainly as we are connected to our parents, we are connected to the I Am. But, even more, our connection to the Creator is shared with each other. This makes each of us responsible for our fellow humankind and for healing their hurts and helping their challenges. Part of accepting your role in eternity is the acceptance of belonging in a very special way to the very fabric of the Universe from which we are all made.

I was born to two of the most loving parents in the world. It would take time for me to figure that out. In reality, my parents were young, and not prepared for rearing children. However, I have no doubt they loved me and my brother Ross deeply and completely.

Unfortunately, their differences were greater than their love for each other. Divorce came too soon in my life. Dad saw us regularly, but soon he was to marry another, and devote his time to that family, which made his visits to us infrequent.

Mom, already scarred by the challenges of her childhood, went through many marriages. Sometimes she was in a position to have Ross and me, sometimes not. My brother and I spent more and more time living with my mother’s parents, Pa and Grannie V. Pa was a cotton farmer, working hard to earn a living from the dry fields of the south Texas plains. Grannie V 11 | P a g e

was the consummate farmer’s wife, and a dedicated United Methodist.

I grew up, for the most part, in a little west Texas town named Anton. The population hovered at 1,000 as it was simply a community existing to provide education and Houses of Faith to the farmers of the area.

I grew up a disciple of the United Methodist Church. It was an obsession with me, off and on, as I would turn to its hallways for safety from the inhumane things happening to me in my childhood.

My greatest nemesis growing up was my Uncle Tom. Tom, or Tommy as the family referred to him, was a very sick man. He had been born with cystic fibrosis, and was marked for a life of suffering from the beginning. From the beginning of my life, Tommy was very jealous of me. Until my birth, Tommy had been the focus of Grannie V’s love and devotion. However, with my birth, Tommy lost his attention to the first grandson.

Tommy was not pleased to be taken from the head of the line, and he would play out revenge against me.

I can’t be certain, but I believe, as does my therapist (yes, good therapists have good therapists!) that a memory exists of Tommy trying to smother me with a pillow when I was just a toddler. Grannie V apparently walked in on the scene, and I was not left alone with Tom for years to come.

Even the best efforts of protection by our elders sometimes led to horrible lapses. Tom seethed and planned, manipulating not only me, but the minds of the adults who were supposed to be there to protect me. When the first abuse happened, I thought I 12 | P a g e

was going to die from the pain. I can still remember it completely. It happened on Easter Sunday when I was eight years old. It would go on for another four years until Tom died, finally releasing me to be the keeper of secrets and the bearer of scars.

I hated and rejected myself for many years because of what Tom did. I buried it down deep, and tried my best to get through high school as a ―normal‖ teenager. For the most part, I excelled in high school and all of its arenas. I garnered every accolade the small school could pile upon me for academics, debate, journalism, and English. I was every teacher’s favorite, and popular enough with the kids to keep an active schedule.

Graduation from high school found me confused about my identity, life direction, and options in life. High school graduation was enough of a challenge in itself. But then I began to face the second largest challenge of my life: I was fat!

I would go from ―a few extra pounds‖ to tip the scales at 417 pounds over the next ten years. It changed my life in a horrible way.

Between the adventures of young adulthood, I found my way through the challenges of college to earn baccalaureate degrees in psychology and classical languages. I earned a master of education in professional counseling, and began the helping professions in earnest. I accepted an invitation to work with my family’s business as well, and would spend the rest of my twenties and thirties in Dallas.

Though I was overweight, I began to date for companionship. I tried first one relationship then another. Unfortunately, I was not living with any awareness of my spirit-self, and the 13 | P a g e

relationships became more abusive and troubling in nature. I was repeating the only ―relationship‖ I knew—the horrible abuse from Tom was asserting its legacy.

When I came to the point of weighing 417 pounds, I made a choice to have bariatric surgery. Seemingly safe, it in fact, left me crippled when a wayward slip of the surgeon’s knife, or a bad positioning on the surgical bed occurred. Whatever the reason, I awoke with the peripheral nerves in both feet severed and dead. The dead nerve tissue, however, stayed connected to its living neighbor cells creating a horrible cry of pain. It was a pain so overwhelming, so continuous it drove me to depths of despair and depression.

I tried everything to ameliorate the pain. Implants, herbs, Chinese medicine, and lots of narcotic-based solutions.

Surgeries followed, too numerous to list, to correct the problem.

More and more problems developed. I contracted staph infections, and pieces of medical implants broke loose under my skin and had to be removed surgically. There is no way to convey the suffering the surgery unleashed into my life. I tried suicide twice, unsuccessfully and continued to suffer. At one point I was so lost to self-medicating I was drinking up to five liters of wine a day.

It’s no wonder I ended-up so ill I had to be admitted, in the winter of 2007, to an ICU unit. From there, I developed MRSA which quickly spread and infected my lungs and organs. The ―superbug‖ ravaged my body. First one set of organs, and then another would fail. I developed horrible intestinal infections.

My lungs became so weak, the doctors could not treat the pain in my feet for fear the medication would stop my breathing.

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This resulted in endless torture during that time. Yes, I very much welcomed death when it came.

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Chapter 2 My Miracle

During my hospitalization, while I was on life support, my family gathered around me, and I crossed over to the next life.

Following is an excerpt from my book. Crossing Twice: Answers from the Source tells my experience. I will share a brief account of my journey to set the tone for this guide. This is a paraphrase from the wording in Crossing Twice…

“Nothing happened to let me know I was dying. There I was, listening to the sounds of the ventilator, and hearing the murmur of loving voices. Peace enfolded me. There were no flashes of light. There were no bursts of angels‟ songs. It was calm, quiet, and gray. This is how my crossing-over from life to death, from earth to Heaven began.

The serene sounds had an effect on me. I felt better—rested. I remember I tried to open my eyes. However, instead of my eyes opening, I simply became aware of a soothing gray mist. The mist was everywhere, and I began to hear the rhythm of the ventilator fade, and the serenity expanded.

It was at this point that I became aware that I was no longer in pain. The suffering had been so intense, and now there was none! The pain in my feet was the least of the physicians‟ concerns. The pain medication was being used very sparingly so as not to interfere with my respiration.

The sound of the ventilator faded in the background. I did not feel movement. It was as if things were simply fading away— fading away into this calm gray mist. And there was no pain!

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However, I still felt very much alive. I felt energy coursing through me. I felt as strong as I had ever been during my weight training sessions with my brother in the late 1980s.

There was a pause—a moment.

And then, I was lifting weights with my brother! The first sensation was the smell. If you‟ve ever been to a gym where the focus is on free weights, you know the smell. There is an unmistakable odor of sweat, disinfectant, and leather. I suddenly felt the leather gloves on my hands! The smell, the feel of leather gloves on my hands, and then—pop—my eyes were open, and I heard my brother cheering me on.

“Three man! You can do it! Now four!” demanded Ross‟ voice, much younger than it should have sounded. Along with the encouraging sound of his voice, I felt the weight against my hands. I felt the intense load on my arms, and the muscles of my chest contracting. Another pop—an audible one this time like a speaker amplifier coming on. My sight improved, and I was, indeed, pushing up a full load of weights in the middle of a bench press. My brother was standing above me, urging even more strongly to “push, push!” I could see the determination on his face, and I felt my pulse quickening. I wanted to make that “one more” before the whole bar came down on me!

The energy coursing through me doubled, and I let out a little laugh that came out more like a grunt. The noise surprised me.

After all, I was in a hospital room in Texas in 2008, not in The Gym circa 1989! But I was wrong about the hospital room. I was, indeed, in The Gym, and the only thing in the world that mattered was getting that weight up and onto the bar bench.

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Next, suddenly, my taste buds were alive with flavor! I had no idea what I had eaten that day before I got to The Gym, but it was still lingering in my mouth. Another pop! The taste in my mouth was water! It all came together. I was in The Gym, sensing the smells, seeing my brother, hearing his voice, and tasting the swig of water I had taken from the fountain a few moments before.

It was a point in my life when I had felt wonderful! I was strong and powerful. I was with the one person in my life in 1989, that I would trust to lift weights off of me at just the right time. It also came to me that I was NOT going to get that weight up without Ross‟ help. I made another noise, and my brother smiled broadly and pretended dropping the bar toward me.

Then I heard, Good job, Bro!” and the bar lifted up and into place. I jumped up from the bench, and clapped Ross on the shoulder. Ross took his place at the side of the weight bar, and began placing the weights back up on the rack. I was helping Ross when all of the sudden—pop!

Again, there was no smell, no taste, no noise, no touch, and a serenity I can‟t describe. I was once again surrounded by the gray mist. I felt energized, and I was feeling more so by the moment. I was feeling completely well, young, and strong! Yet, I was in the hospital—a thirty-nine-year-old body ravaged by MRSA Pneumonia, and the cumulative years of neuropathy pain, sometimes so severe that walking was impossible. How could this be? How could I be this sickened body in the hospital bed, and at the same time, by all appearances, this virile young man lifting weights with my brother?”

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I will save the bulk of my crossing over experience for you to read in Crossing Twice: Answers from the Source. But allow me to share a bit more of the NDE, near-death experience with you to impress upon your mind that Heaven is real, and that you are a spirit who will cross over one day!

“There was another pop!

I was delighted to sense my Grannie V. I could not wait to exchange thoughts and love with her. This wonderful, wonderful woman from my past as alive and well. And she was here with me!

Suddenly, I sensed confusion. I felt concern from her, and a resistance. It was as if she had a terrible secret to share. And she did. First, she exchanged a hug with me. Hugs in heaven are wonderful, powerful celebrations in the Light. They are explosions of joy! I have received wonderful hugs here on earth, but to have one in Heaven is a life-altering experience.

You are surrounded by joy through an ecstatic exchange of the essence of the other person. I was going to love my life in the Light!

That is when my confusion turned to terror. My Grannie V had simple words to say, „I love you, Reece. But it is not your time.

Your path is not complete. You will see us again. Back where you are going, it will seem a very long time until your return here. But to us, it will only be a moment. I am proud of you.

Go back and do the things you need to do.‟ My thoughts screamed, No! I had just come from the ICU where my body lay full of illness and tubes. My feet were on 19 | P a g e

fire with pain at all times. I suffered from depression. I did not want to go back!

Pop. Buzz. Pop. I was going back. I felt as if I were falling. The great channel that had developed between me and the Father began to shrink in size. It went from being as thick as tree trunk, to the diameter of a rope. Falling away.

The sound, which seconds before had been a joyous chorus, became a babbling confusion of noise. It was full of clashing dialects and sounds. I no longer understood the many, many languages I‟d “learned” instantly in the Light. My mind tried to hold on to the information I had received. The advanced words from beyond: „myelin sheath and neurochemical reagents,‟ faded, and were replaced by the limits of my human knowledge.

What was it I had heard in the Light? What was it I had received? My wife? What wife? The more I fell, the less I was able to recall certain knowledge about my excursion to heaven.

Pop! It was dark. My first sensation was the smell of the hospital room. The odor of antiseptic and the acrid smell of body fluids stung my nose. I was not alone—a medical team was there, and a tube was being pulled out of my nose. My feet began to sting and burn. No, no, no! I did not want to be back!

No, no, no! I did not want to be back! The pain and the illness were too much to bear. I had crossed over to the Light; what could I have done to deserve being returned to this inhumane level of pain?

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But, I was back, and I tried to form words to communicate what had just happened to me. My mouth would only form guttural sounds. Tears fell freely. One of the nurses stopped long enough to squeeze my hand. „Getting that tube out is never fun, Baby, but you are back with us, so it‟s got to come out!‟ I shut my eyes tightly, trying to remember everything. I could recall sketches of the experiences which I have recorded here. I was back. The team was gone, and I was alone in an ICU room. It seems as though I cried for hours.”

And, cry, I did. But I also healed. The trauma from the return was such that I had to check into a rehab unit for trauma-related disorders. I was an in-patient for three weeks, and then continued another two months in a day-hospital. Slowly, I pulled together my thoughts, my beliefs, and the fact that I had had a miracle in my life. Again, I cover this in much more detail in Crossing Twice: Answers from the Source.

Spirit Thinking was born out of this miracle. I learned in my own recovery—from my miracle, that a part of me is eternal.

I had a body-self and a mind-self, but I also had a spirit-self which was eternal, loving, and powerful beyond my wildest dreams. My spirit-self, through the Qualities of God’s Spirit, had the ability to interpret the way I thought about the world.

This normal, or natural way, we think about our world is very limiting. We believe old voices and old patterns we picked-up from our childhood. Someone, somewhere told us we were unlovable, or not smart enough, or not good enough. These were lies! However, it got ―stuck‖ in our brains. It became ―normal‖ for us. During my crossing, as I stood before my 21 | P a g e

Creator, embraced by His love, I knew these thoughts that had made me feel bad about myself had been lies.

I refuse to live with lies any longer! And I refuse to let you live with lies any longer!

So, here is my plan for ending the lies you’ve been told about yourself, and for beginning to live according to the way your Creator would have you live—in joy and confidence! Spiritthinking may not be the answer for all of your problems, but it is an answer for breaking out of the lies you have believed about yourself for years. I pray for your strength to cast them off. Try spirit-thinking, and try living free of the lies in your life. Won’t you take the first step with me today?

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Chapter 3 Spiritual Recovery

The Source, God, the Creator, the Great I Am; whatever term you choose, God is God. One of the parts of wisdom I did retain from the crossing over, is the knowledge that God loves us, accepts us, and wants to empower us right here, right now.

There is no need to approach God with dread or fear. There is nothing you could do, think, or believe, which could separate you from the love of your Creator.

Many of us have been spiritually abused. This is a new area of study, popular in both psychology and in religious studies.

Spiritual abuse is the exploitation of people’s spirituality for control or profit. God is not subject to the laws of man. God is the perfection of all that is good in the Universe. Why would God be subject to a man’s law? Anyone who tells you that you must do anything to earn God’s love, grace, peace, acceptance, and power is telling you a lie. Anyone who tells you God does not want to accept and empower you right here, right now, just as you are, is misguided.

No, God does not need man’s law. Man has ignored God’s law, and has used the name of God to manipulate people for man’s own selfish purposes. It is time for this spiritual abuse to stop.

It is time for people to heal.

Ask yourself these questions:  Do you feel guilty when you think about God?

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 Do you feel ashamed of yourself when you hear the words, God loves you?  Are you afraid of God?  Do you blame God for bad things happening?  Do you think you may go to hell?

If you answered yes to any of these questions you have been spiritually abused. You need to go through a spiritual recovery.

The most important points for you to remember in your footsteps toward spiritual recovery are:  God loves you, and accepts you as you are, where you are.  Your spirituality is between your spirit-self and your Creator  God seeks to strengthen and empower you at all times in your life.  The ability to connect to God takes a simple act on the behalf of your Free Will.  The qualities of God are available to us because we are all children of the Source.

As you begin your spiritual recovery, you will have to overcome the doubts that may have been instilled in you at a very early age. However, by carefully nurturing your spiritself, and hearing and reading positive messages, you will find that day-by-day, you glean more truth about your position with God. You were born worthy, and you remain worthy. You are an eternal being. You have a beginning, but no end. You are a part of the Plan, and the simple Truth of your life is God loves you.

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For my journey, it is Christ’s redeeming love, and God’s Holy Spirit which have led to my spiritual recovery. The spiritual solution may be different for you, or you are welcomed to walk the path I am offering—the path I know that worked for me.

Remember to find groups of people who believe God’s love is infinite, and His compassion and power beyond humankind’s feeble understanding. In being humble, we allow God to make us powerful. Humility allows us to see ourselves in a new way; we open the door to wisdom, and pride goes down the drain.

Pride is nothing more than a vain attempt to look important to ourselves and others, and often is used to hide low self-esteem.

Humility comes from healthy self-esteem, and doesn’t mind if it isn’t always in the spotlight or if an unkind word is said. The humbled person knows his position in God, and thus knows his position in the world.

This quest begins with the awareness of spirit-self. ―Begin at the beginning‖ is an old phrase that says it so simply. Begin with you—with your spirit-self. That’s where you began— between you and God.

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Chapter 4: Qualities of Spirit & Spirit Thinking It is important to know the Qualities of the Spirit to begin to use Spirit Thinking. The main assumptions Spirit Thinking makes are: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)

There is a Creator who loves us and accepts us.

The Creator has certain qualities or characteristics.

We are eternal beings, created by God the Creator.

Our eternal side is called our Spirit-Self.

The Spirit-Self reflects the qualities of the Creator.

We can use these qualities to challenge our ―natural‖ thinking and replace it with Spirit Thinking.

7) That Spirit Thinking can replace the lies that we are unloved, not good enough, not smart enough, or incapable.

The Qualities of the Spirit include the following. Surely, there are many, many more. These are the ones I remember from my time with God and from the inspirations I received while writing Crossing Twice: Answers from the Source.

God is: Eternal. The I Am has been, is, and will be forever. Our spiritself lives forever, and is forever strong.

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Loving. The Creator is love perfected and perfectly expressed to His children. In our spirit-selves we are deeply cared for, and we deeply care for others.

Intelligent. God knows all that is to be known or will be known. Our spirit-self is open to Spirit knowledge.

Powerful. The I Am is powerful in all His ways. While our spirit-selves draw our strength from the One who has no limits.

Insightful. No mystery is unknown to God. For our spiritselves, we know wrong from right, and how to apply it.

Supportive. The Creator is supportive of his children. He lifts us up when we are tired, alone, or ill. Our spirit-selves enable us to reach out to others in this way.

Empowering. God seeks to give his children the power to live incredible lives. He gives us the ability to act in ways that are powerful.

Challenging. God challenges us to grow along our paths.

Growth never rests and opportunities come daily. Our spiritselves help others along their paths in earthly ways.

Patient. God waits on, and awaits His children’s company. We never disappoint God, but he does celebrate our walking in tune with His love. We must try, try again. There is no getting it wrong, only closer to right.

Joyful. God is joyful. God offers us something deeper than happiness; joy is the simple pleasure of being.

Now, let’s take a look at these Qualities in a little more detail.

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The Qualities of the Spirit – Eternal

The I Am had been, is, and will be forever. Our spirit-self lives forever, and is forever strong.

As I spent time in the presence of the Source while on the other side, I became aware of specific qualities of the Source. These are the same qualities of our spirit-selves, and are ours to use and draw strength from in conjunction with the I AM. Think of these as the elements of the universe just the fabric of space and time. These qualities describe my experience of the Creator, and what makes-up our spirit-self. I am not saying God and man are the same thing; rather, the Creator is the perfection of these qualities while we are on a journey of these qualities.

Understanding the qualities of the Creator and the spirit-self helps you draw strength to fight the words, worries, and situations of your path. There are many more ―qualities‖ of the Creator, but these are some we can use immediately within the spirit-self to bring results for our lives. These are the ones I experienced and remember from my crossing over.

To begin, the Spirit-self and the Creator are Eternal beings. We have a beginning point, but no end point. The Creator has neither an ending nor a beginning. The Creator always has been and always will be. Our spirit-selves, however, have a beginning but no ending.

As I observed heaven during my Crossing, I was awe-struck by the concept of eternity. There were oceans of others like myself stretching out in all directions. There were things very, very 28 | P a g e

old and things very new. There were things close, and things impossibly far away, yet I was aware of all of them. The Creator was in the center, yet stretched-out every direction.

It was very much like showing-up at a wonderful party just as it is beginning to get good and knowing that the party would never, ever end. I was filled with joy at this prospect. So much time to do all and see all, and always something new to enjoy.

Every second, the numbers of heaven swelled. Every mile and millennia the Creator stretched. Truly, God was at all places at all times.

This is a very challenging quality of the spirit-self for our minds to incorporate. Although we will never end, we do have bodies and minds, which will end. Here on Earth at this place and this time, we must draw the joy of being eternal, and temper it with the reality that our physical and mental natures will pass away.

However, I do not mean to limit our spirit-self in any way. Be open to the idea you are eternal, even as you are aware that the body has a limited time to live on this earth.

Some may see the nature of Eternity as an excuse to simply relax, and sit back while the earth revolves. Our eternal nature does mean we do not have to push to get things just right the very first time we try them.

You probably have not given much thought to eternity. We are so distracted here by outside events adding up and by people telling us to hurry. We forget we are eternal beings.

The Quality of being Eternal strengthens our right to say, ―Wait a minute. I may not have gotten it right the first time, but I have time to try again.‖ This means when our natural thinking 29 | P a g e

tells us we have run out of chances, we can challenge these thoughts with statements such as:  I am eternal. I have all the time I need to get it right.  I am eternal. Hard times will pass and good ones will return.  I am eternal. I do not have to rush through things.

You will find these and other challenge statements in the quality of being eternal.

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The Qualities of the Spirit – Loving

The Creator is love perfected and perfectly expressed to His children. In our spirit-selves, we are deeply cared for and we deeply care for others.

Most of us can remember being dearly loved at some point in time. This may have been the hug and kiss of our mother, a father holding us safe, or the embrace of a lover. Those feelings of love I experienced, did not prepare me for the love on the other side. That is not to say I have not been adequately loved. I have wonderful parents, an incredible brother, and many good friends. However, to stand before the Creator and have all of His dominion extending love to me, gave me the goose bumps—a real knowing of my worth to God. The love God has for us knows no limits. It has no imperfections. It was a pure white light which penetrated me through and through with the most powerful compassion I have ever known. God loves us!

Because our spirit-selves reflect the Creator’s qualities, we know we are lovable, and we know we are capable of giving love to others. The loving nature of God is revealed through many who were/are filled with deep and abiding compassion A couple examples are Jesus and Mother Theresa. Love is one of the things we as people most desire, and it is freely available.

Love is a great river running through heaven with as much of it as we can drink-in and share with others.

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The quality of being loving and lovable is important in this life, where there is so much indifference and hate among mankind.

For the Spirit Thinker, few other qualities are as important as love in relating to ourselves and to others. It is especially important to us in this life, to challenge the thoughts and voices of others who would have us hold on to hate, anger, and judgments. Common challenges using love include:  I am lovable. I deserve love and compassion for myself.  I am loving. I serve those I know, and those I don’t know with love.  I am loved. It is not necessary to gain the approval of every person.

As a Spirit Thinker, you will find yourself turning to the quality of love over and over to challenge this world.

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The Qualities of the Spirit – Intelligent

God knows all that is to be known or will be known.

Our spirit-self is open to Spirit knowledge.

The Creator is Intelligent. No surprise there! When I was in the crossing, the most overwhelming event for me was the burst of intelligence I experienced. Everything known, and to be known was immediately given to me. You can imagine the shock of suddenly knowing everything ever discovered, or that will ever be discovered by man’s intelligence. It was as if someone had hooked my head to a high pressure hose! Everything from neurosurgical techniques, to the entire species' list of butterflies was instantly known to me. There was not a moment of confusion; instead it was picture-perfect clarity of all facts and figures. I amazingly worked at calculus and biological theorems as if they were primary schoolwork!

When I returned, most of this intelligence had left me. It was simply a matter of a lack of space in my human brain for my spirit-self to retain the information. However, I was returned with some inspired insights and knowledge. Nothing like I had known for a few hours, but enough to bring inspiration to Spirit Thinking.

Needless to say, I returned knowing that the Creator and the spirit-self are both highly intelligent. This intelligence allows us to apply spirit-thinking to our limited natural thinking. Some challenges using the Intelligent quality include:  I am an intelligent person. I am capable of learning things.

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 I am an intelligent person. I am capable of reasoning things out.  I am an intelligent person. I am capable of choosing the right things for my life.

Some of us are brilliant thinkers, and some of us have to study very hard. Neither is more important than the other. However, God’s qualities do shine through in different levels within us.

We are all capable of intelligence as our nature of the children of God. Be patient, and use intelligence and wisdom to be powerful resources for challenges calling upon the quality of intelligence.

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The Qualities of the Spirit- Powerful

The I Am is powerful in all His ways. While our spiritselves draw our strength from the One who has no limits.

Standing before the Creator on the Other Side, was a humbling experience. I did not feel any fear during my time on the Other Side. Quite the opposite. But, I was filled with awe. When the Bible and the Torah speak of ―fearing‖ God, I don’t believe they mean fear for our own safety, but rather to be respectful of how much power is found in the Creator.

The Father could at any moment with a mere thought, change, end or begin any world or set of physical laws. There is simply nothing beyond the scope of the Creator’s power, save the one gift he gave to us; Free Will. For those of us who have lived lives feeling powerless, it is strange to think of ourselves as powerful beings. Whether we have been ignored, shoved aside, or even violated by more powerful people, it is a healthy practice to be skeptical of anyone who claims to be ―powerful.‖ On the other side of things, power protects us. In the hands of the Creator, the great Father, we must trust power is in its proper place. God would never use his strength against us, except to protect us. It might be more accurate to say this quality of the spirit is the powerful way it protects us. God uses His power to take care of his children. He uses angels and inspirations to protect us. He uses his great omnipotence to 35 | P a g e

know when one sparrow falls, and we are so very much more important to him than the sparrows.

To use the Quality of Power in challenges, we may need to think along these lines:  I am the child of a powerful God. I am safe in all things.  I am protected by the great Power of the Universe.  I am powerful. I can influence and change things in life.

With great power comes great responsibility. Remember to use power coupled with compassion always.

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The Qualities of the Spirit - Insightful

No mystery is unknown to God. For our spirit-selves, we know wrong from right, and how to apply it.

Discernment has always been a natural practice for me. And, it is my favorite Quality of the Spirit. The ability to discern means the ability to make a choice between two or more alternatives. I learned discernment, or insightfulness, at an early age and under hard circumstances. It was an ability I did not know I had. It kept me from being harmed by my Uncle Tom more than absolutely necessary. There are small changes in people and circumstances that give clues as to what is going on just beneath the surface. The smile is not quite right. The voice is a bit stressed. Things aren’t the way they should be—it doesn’t feel right.

I often find myself drawing upon the quality of discernment as I try to write these words to guide you over the spiritual learning path. Which word conveys the right meaning to you? Which phrase might put you off from wanting to learn about a loving, inclusive God? Rather than having to rely on the humble, human qualities of man’s ability to discern, I find spiritual discernment of much more clarity.

My ability to discern may also have become enhanced by my crossing over. Many people return from the Other Side with a certain gift or ability extended to an almost supernatural ability.

Although I don’t claim to have any more or less ability to use the quality of discernment than anyone walking with Spirit 37 | P a g e

Thinking, I do from time to time receive small snippets of visions, which often help me make choices.

In one recent circumstance, I kept having an image of a lady named Alice writing. I shared this with people I knew. A dear friend happened to write to me later in the week saying:

Dear Dr. Manley, I was amazed with your insightful thoughts about an interaction with a woman named Alice. I spent the better part of 24 hours attempting to solve the puzzle of "who is Alice, and how might I help her!"

Nothing unfolded yesterday with my daughter's neighbor, Alice, so I discounted that. And this morning when the singular prayer came in for Alice, I felt a "knowing" that this was the Alice about whom you had the insight during your prayer.

Typically there is a long list of prayer requests from that small local church, but in this e-mail, only one—for Alice and her daughter. I began to pray for them, and sensed that Alice was overwhelmed with everything--the news of her daughter's impending surgery, the rushing, the cost, the flight to FLA— everything. I sent her peace and love through prayer (I'm a prayer volunteer for Guideposts' Our Prayer online.)

Thank you for your insight on this particular need for prayer for Alice! I find it incredible that we are able to link to God in ways that carry us through our daily lives! I also find it sad that some folks don't have a clue that God is there and waiting 38 | P a g e

to assist them. Thank you so much, Dr. Manley, for helping me to help others.

Blessings, Freda In this case, discerning a vision was making a choice between sharing this vision and keeping it to myself. Amazingly, by sharing. I was able to further glorify the truth of the qualities of the Spirit in its insightfulness.  I am an insightful person. I can make good choices.  I am an insightful person. I make decisions based on everyone’s higher good.  I am an insightful person. I am able to gather information and make a proper decision.

These are all crucial challenges which come from our link with the Creator through our spirit-self in living our daily lives.

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The Qualities of the Spirit – Supportive

The Creator is supportive of his children. He lifts us up when we are tired, alone, or ill.

The streams of light going out from the Creator to each of those in the Heavens were a beautiful sight to behold. It was not only stunningly gorgeous to look upon, but it was beautiful on an emotional level. It was as if no one could ever suffer again, ever stumble again, or ever be let down again. There were, in the perfection of Home, no disappointments.

After returning from the crossing, I often become emotional at the lack of support we show for each other. There is so much suffering—so many hard times being endured by so many. If we would simply lend a shoulder, a kind word, or just a minute of time, we could greatly reduce another’s suffering. But, we live in a world of finite means, finite times, and finite resources.

However, we are called to live from our infinite beings!

In the Christian faith, we are so loved by our Creator that He gave His only Son for our support. In other faiths, the Creator makes similar great sacrifices. But, is this done simply for our support, or is it also done for our education? Yes, the Spirit is supportive, and it wants to teach us to be supportive, too.

While Spirit Thinking is for all, it is meant to be shared with the community of mankind. We must strive to learn to be as supportive of others as we are of ourselves. This is the Creator’s example for mankind.

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I am supported by the Creator. He lifts me up above failing.  I am a supportive person. I can seek to help those who suffer without losing myself.  I am supported by God. I am not alone in my efforts.

These and many more challenges come from the Quality of being Supportive. As you apply these to your life, you are called and challenged to apply them to the lives of those around you.

Just as the great connections of light exist on the other side, flowing between each soul to the Creator and out to every other soul, may we seek here on earth to make a tapestry of love – colorful threads weaving ourselves together and to the Source.

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The Qualities of the Spirit – Empowering

God seeks to give his children the power to live incredible lives. He gives us the ability to act in ways that are powerful.

Empowerment is a buzzword. It is the word that was on the lips of everyone in the 1990s to convince those who already had power that their power was only available to them by taking certain steps, and sometimes by donating money. To me, empowerment is a cross between powerful and supportive. It is a measure of God’s power given to us, especially for the purpose of our own use, to propel our lives forward on the path to which we are called. Yes, we each have a path to walk in this life. God seeks to give us the strength to walk that specific path for our own good, and for the good of all others.

So empowerment really has two functions. One function is to give us the power to walk our path. And the second function is to discover what that path is for each of us. We are all blessed to have a reason, a purpose to be in this life. In fact, we may have many paths to walk!

Empowerment is the spirit-self’s ability to find the path and then the strength to walk that path. This provides us with several challenges:  I am empowered to find and walk my own path.  I am empowered. I do have the drive to walk my path. My Spirit-drive is stronger than any distracters along my path.

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We must be careful and compassionate with our empowerment.

We do not wish to do any harm. We do not let our focus become set upon our own success, and forget there are others on this earth path with us. There is no walk higher than any other walk. The garbage collector has a place on the path alongside the saint.

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The Qualities of the Spirit – Challenging

God challenges us to grow along our paths. Growth never rests and opportunities come daily.

I praise God for this Quality of the Spirit. It calls us beyond complacency. It calls us to grow and question. It provides us with puzzles and obstacles to give our faith a workout. If you have not read the book of Job in the Bible, I encourage you to do so. Of course, the Creator will not provide an obstacle for us that is so great we cannot handle it. However, the Source does call us to an excellence, so at times things will seem overwhelming. It is at that moment when we feel weak, that we must reach out to others for help. We are not alone in this world. God has placed people in key positions to help us. Part of being empowered is to know you can rely on others for help.

Some of the points that come from the Quality of being Challenging:  I am challenged, but I know God will not give me more than I can handle.  I am challenged, but I know I have people in my life to help me.  I am challenged, but there is an answer which will come from God to help me grow.

God is never angry, mean, or malicious. God is not subject to man, but allows man Free Will, and to that extent which man submits to God for help, will God intervene either directly or through His people to assist mankind. That is why it is so important to have a loving network of people in our lives that 44 | P a g e

we can trust. There are people choosing to be on very dark paths in life, and it is best we avoid them, finding our own true paths through prayer, through support, and through submission to that which God brings to our attention.

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The Qualities of the Spirit – Patient

God is patient, and waits for his children. We never disappoint God, but He does celebrate our walking in-tune with His love. We must try, try again. There is no getting it wrong, only closer to getting it right!

Literally having all the time in the world is a concept hard for man to fathom. We are eternal beings. We have the luxury of living our lives with a patient spirit. We have to be patient with ourselves, and patient with others.

I was awestruck on the Other Side when I witnessed the Creator’s patience. I realized, as I watched thousands and thousands of beings going through heaven, a few spirits which were not illuminated by God’s light. They were cold rocks in the stream of Light. I felt great sympathy for them. I wanted them to hurry up and plug in! However, some came around while I watched, and accepted the Light into their hearts.

Others were still waiting, working out their own challenges.  I am patient. All things will eventually work to my good.  I am patient. I have time to try things over and over until I get them right.  I am patient. I allow others to make mistakes, and I help when I can.

Being patient is a part of being loving and kind. It is the gift of giving ourselves over to the great plan and to be embraced by God. 46 | P a g e

Know that you are called to be patient. Life happens quickly for those living simply out of their body-self and mind. They may seek to find quick and easy fixes in life. We know the truth—that things work-out in their own God-time.

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The Qualities of the Spirit – Joyful

God offers us something deeper than happiness. Joy is the simple pleasure of being.

If you can imagine a moment in your life when you have experienced great happiness, and then multiply that feeling by a thousand times, you’ll have an idea of the ecstasy I was in when I was on the Other Side.

God also gives us things for our lives to bring us an awareness of His joy. One of the greatest joys in my life is my English Bulldog. Her name is Roxie. Roxie pretty much goes everywhere I go. She lies around the house, and rules the roost as she sees fit. I have to admit I indulge her abundantly, and I am rewarded hundreds of times over with her love and affection.

I believe Roxie is here to remind me of God’s abiding joy. And that would apply to all pets I’ve had in my life. If you have a special friend in a pet, I’m sure you share my feelings. Roxie doesn’t do any special tricks, but she does know exactly when I need a snuggle. She knows when I’ve had a bad day, and I need a few minutes of pet therapy. She wakes me up every morning, delighted that I am there, and insists on the tummy rub ritual.

The tummy rub ritual is a very special thing, and has been since she was a puppy. She climbs up on the couch and scoots her rear end up against my leg. Then she does her best to launch herself into my lap with her front legs in a backward somersault. I hold her like a baby and rub her stomach. She 48 | P a g e

gets into the rub so much she stretches her legs out in her very best Jane Fonda impression. Then she promptly pretends to be asleep. After all, who could wake-up a sleeping bulldog?

Eventually, I have to give in to the phone, door, email, or other life-prompt. So, she begrudgingly gets rolled out of her spot.

But the joy she leaves behind lasts all day.

If you don’t have a pet, plant, or some other living thing to interact with daily, I suggest you look into the idea. There is something very special about taking care of another living creation of God. It will bring you joy!

As children of the Creator, we are worthy of being joyful.

Joyful, though, does not mean we will be happy all the time.

Rather, we have an underlying sense of being joyful.

When we have to challenge our natural thinking, we can come up with statements such as:  I am joyful. This unhappy condition will soon pass.  I am joyful. I can see the positive in most situations.  I am joyful. I do not give my heart over to sadness.

―Behold, I bring you tidings of great joy!‖ said the angel to the shepherds who were in the fields viewing the star of Bethlehem.

Claim your joy every day, and see how much your heart grows, and happiness becomes a natural state for you!

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The Qualities of the Source are important to know and understand because they are the same qualities found in our spirit-self. We are made of the same qualities as our Creator.

However, God is the perfection of these qualities while our spirit-self is an expression of these qualities.

It is a difficult concept. These qualities are not just characteristics, but rather almost tangible, palpable things.

When I was on the other side, I could feel these qualities around me like a comfortable sweater. They were swirling and gently lapping at my sides. It was as if I were in the double helix of God. The best way to keep these qualities in mind is to think of them as the ―DNA‖ of what makes up the Source.

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Chapter 5 The Idea of Spirit Thinking and Cognitive Theory My preferred counseling theory is called rational emotive behavioral therapy or REBT. This school of thought was first proffered by an American psychiatrist named Albert Ellis. The theory in its current state offers an A-B-C-D step to addressing how we react to the world. The Activating event, the Beliefs about the event held by the person, the Consequences of the actions, and the Dispute we should have about the beliefs we hold that are leading us to respond to the activating event in a negative way.

Let’s look at a practical example. Johnny sees an apple; he is hungry. Johnny eats the apple, and his hunger is satisfied briefly. Then, Johnny finds a worm in the half-bitten apple, and he wretches and vomits the portion of the apple onto the ground. Following that experience, Johnny decides all apples are now bad.

The next day, Johnny is hungry again, and sees another apple.

Now, because of his recent experience he decides to give the apple a wide berth. However, he now experiences more hunger. The apple farmer comes around the barn and asks Johnny what he’s doing. ―I’m hungry,‖ says Johnny, ―But I’m afraid to eat apples.‖ The farmer asks why, and Johnny relates the story of the apple with the worm. The farmer smiles, and promises Johnny that not all apples have worms. The farmer finds a good apple on a 51 | P a g e

tree, picks it and gives it to Johnny. Johnny carefully studies the apple, turning it over and over.

He sees no worm, and the farmer has told him it was safe, so he takes a bite. Sure enough, there is no worm, and Johnny now owes Mr. Farmer $5.59 for one, organic worm-free apple.

Hey, apple therapy is expensive!

Okay, now let’s add in the A-B-C-D’s of the whole story. First, the Activating event is the hunger, and the opportunity to eat the apple. Johnny holds a Belief that apples are good food.

But, in this one case, it ended with negative Consequences for eating the apple. The farmer had Johnny Dispute these beliefs, and reconsider apples. Although, in our example, he might want to pick up the less expensive kind of apple from the produce aisle!

So, we had Activating event, Beliefs about the event, Consequences of the event, and a Dispute about the events.

When an REBT therapist has a client, they seek to help the client challenge old beliefs, and insert new improved beliefs.

This brings about different consequences or rewards for the client.

REBT is also one of the most directive therapies, meaning it is designed to take the client on a specific, planned journey during the counseling process with measurable outcomes. Although most REBT therapists believe in listening to the client and understanding their needs, most therapists begin to form goals immediately and tend to have fewer sessions before they begin to see action.

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The way I now believe God best intervenes in a person, follows this model, but with one big difference. Rather than basically using our own internal capabilities to simply dispute the event, I believe the ―D‖ in the A-B-C-D model should be for Divine. I believe God actively finds ways to work with us through our Divine connection, our spirit-self.

Now that you know where I’ve come from, I can tell you where I’ve arrived at thinking about how to best approach the helping profession, my life, and hopefully your life as well.

Okay, now on to the trinity of human beings. I believe we are made-up of three selves as human beings.

Viewing human beings as having three sides is an ancient practice. Long before Freud suggested the trinity of the mind in terms of ego, super ego and id, the Greeks believed certain gods were associated with different parts of the body. It seems almost built into our nature to distinguish ourselves from our physical bodies. Even toddlers understand and use the wording of ―my hand‖ rather than ―Todd’s hand‖ (assuming the toddler is named Todd).

Before we get into the idea of human beings having three selves, let’s talk about how our bodies and minds—thoughts and actions—Interact a bit.

First, the physical-self exits. Our bodies sense taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing. This information is collected from the outside world, and passed on to the next part of the self, the mind-self. The body-self also contains all of our internal organs, tissues, and cells. Among the most gloriously-designed are the neural networks, and the intricate chemical systems that 53 | P a g e

exist to carry out the will of the mind-self in expressing the mind-self’s directives of reactions, actions, and regulatory commands. The body-self also contains essentials to continue life such as ventilation, digestion, and the like.

Secondly, our mind-selves exist. The mind-self is the seat of all knowledge and of all learning. Although the body-self may conduct the essential business of physical life, anything beyond these actions requires the mind-self. Whether it be getting a glass of water when our bodies report thirst, or solving extensive calculus equations, the mind-self is involved in our daily interactions from the very beginning of our lives.

The mind-self is not only our repository for all our gained knowledge; it is the arena of learning from the environment reported by the body-self. All action, inactions, and reactions take a form in the mind-self, and are passed-on to the body for expression. While the mind-self is neither more nor less important than our body-selves, it is more adept at the changes necessary for us to live our lives as spiritual beings. The mindself listens not only to the body, but also to the spirit-self once we learn to open that special spiritual side of ourselves.

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Chapter 6 The Role of Spirit-self in the Trinity of Human Beings

The Spirit-self

The spirit-self is the eternal part of ourselves. It is the part of us, which exists forever. Our spirit-self has a creation point, but has no end point. The spirit-self is felt in our intuition, and is a small inner-voice, until we turn our full attention to it.

At first, it will feel strange to think of yourself as an eternal being. According to everything we have learned, all things have an ending. We tell each other to ―get over it‖ or ―forget about it‖ when we encounter something unpleasant. On the other hand, we ―save for a rainy day‖ and ―save it for tomorrow‖ to get around time. We are used to things having a beginning, a middle, and an ending.

The good news! You do not end! You go on forever and ever!

Not the physical part of you, and not the mind part of you, but our spirit does go on eternally. Linked to the Creator, we do not face an ending to our existence.

The bad news! We do go on forever and ever. If you are in an unhappy part of your life right now, or if you are facing anxiety, fear, or depression; eternity may not seem like a good thing. In fact, it’s a horrifying concept some!

The best news! Not only are your eternal, you are on a team of eternal beings including the Source of all life. You are a part of the greatest power in the Universe as one of God’s children.

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Learning to live with the idea of eternity isn’t just a good idea, it’s the only idea! However, we are blessed to know we have the love, acceptance, and peace of God to go forward into eternity. Learning to apply that love and power in the here and now is our challenge from the Creator.

We are eternal beings, living in a body-self and mind-self which will serve us for just a little while in the vastness of time.

Learning to let the spirit-self take control of our experience of this short life is the goal I work with every day for my clients and for myself. If we were to compare our lives to driving a car, we want to get the spirit-self in the driver seat. Right now, you may have mind-self or body-self fighting for the driver’s seat. However, there are plenty of seats for everyone. We just have to make certain everyone is in the right place!

Again, the spirit-self is connected to our Creator. This connection—this bond is unbreakable. It is stronger than any bond you have to another person in the here and now.

Becoming aware of that bond and the incredible power it brings, will revolutionize the way you approach your life.

As we begin to explore our interaction between body-self, mind-self, spirit-self, and the Source, it will be important to keep these key concepts in mind. Let’s review: The body-self is all the physical, observable cells, organs, ears, eyes, and other body parts. The function of the body-self is to deliver information to the mind-self.

The mind-self works in a way we don’t fully yet understand.

The mind-self is the part of us which records and learns. It acquires information from the body-self, and then stores it as an 56 | P a g e

experience for future comparative reactions should similar stimuli be introduced.

The spirit-self is the eternal, everlasting part of us that is full of love, compassion, and the strength of the Creator. It exerts influence over the mind-self, which in turn, changes what we would consider natural thinking.

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Here is how we are connected to the Source through the Spirit-Self.

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Chapter 7 Meeting the Spirit-self

There is an old Southern term, ―get on your Sunday go-tomeeting clothes‖ when preparing for church. In other words, meetings are exciting events! Depending on the situation, you may be nervous as well. Meetings are always life-changing events. Sometimes they make a very small life difference, and sometimes they change your world forever.

Most of the time, important meetings are planned. We may do a little asking around about the person we are going to meet.

We may try to learn more about their background, and what they like. We may go out of our way to look nice, and make our very best impression.

Let’s get you ready for meeting your spirit-self. It is the meeting of your lifetime!

There are three things which must take place during this meeting:  Acknowledgement. You recognize you are going to meet someone new. You understand they are likely to be different from you. You are going to treat them with respect, and you should expect to be treated the same way.  Effort to contact. You have to take action to have a true meeting take place. Whether it is just walking down the hall or a flight across the globe, a choice to take the action of meeting requires choosing to make some effort.

Part of the effort includes making contact with your new friend or new situation. You must take an action whether 59 | P a g e

it is simply saying ―Hello, my name is Reece,‖ or picking up a kitten and responding to its purr.  Response. Now it’s time to allow the person, place, or thing to react to you. You can’t control how they will react, but you can hope for the best. Beware, your mindself is standing-by to quickly make connections to past experiences similar to the meeting you are about to have.

However, how do you reach this spirit-self? How do you know it does exist? After all, if everything you experience comes from the body-self and the mind-self, why bother with the spirit-self anyway? If you feel perfectly loved, and are completely satisfied with your life, there is no need to proceed.

You have discovered a different path if every one of your needs, wants, and desires are met. Stop there. However, if you have had moments where your life could have been better, your love was not perfect, or you didn’t feel 100% great about yourself, then you need to get in touch with your spirit-self.

Let’s do it.

Meeting your spiritual side is going to be much like meeting anyone else new. You may be hesitant, or think it’s going to be difficult. But it is simply you saying hello to you. Your spiritself differs from your mind-self in three important ways.

 It is eternal.  It is connected to the Creator.

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 It is connected to others’ spirit-selves.

We are going to begin to explore our spirit-self through a very simple visualization. If you’ve read Crossing Twice, you know that visualization is an action of the spirit-self upon the mindself using the mind-self’s information. That isn’t important to understand at this point, but when we talk about visualization, I just want you to make a quick mental note that I mean the mind-self and the spirit-self are going to be aware of each other.

This visualization will work best if you have a partner to read the visualization to you, and you, in turn, can read it to them.

Alternately, you can record the visualization to play back in your own voice. And, of course, you can visit www.crossingtwice.com and download the visualization ―Meeting Your Spiritual Side‖ from the Crossing Twice Companion page, and use this recording of my voice. Another thing I highly recommend is a single lit candle. This will give your eyes something to do. Plus, a candle provides grounding.

It is something familiar you can focus on, and use to come back to the present should you become slightly disoriented at any time during the process.

When you are comfortable, you may begin this visualization.

Begin by breathing deeply in through your nose, and release it out. Close your eyes or focus on the white light of the candle.

Take another deep breath, hold it for a second, and release it slowly.

As we begin, close your eyes, or focus your eyes on the light of the candle. In your mind‟s eye, just using your imagination, 61 | P a g e

imagine a beautiful beach. White sand spreads out to either side of you as far as you can see. The sky is a perfect blue.

There are no clouds, yet it is cool and comfortable. There is a soft breeze blowing, and this adds to you feeling cool and comfortable. The sand is warm under you. Warm and so soft.

So, very, very soft.

Take a moment and breathe in the air. Smell the ocean which now spreads out before you. For miles and miles, there is beautiful, shallow, brilliant blue water. It starts out the color of dark navy far away, and as it approaches the sand, it turns a color almost like a diamond. The waves are gently coming-in against the beach. Take a moment in your imagination, and see the beach. This beautiful beach, and the sand, and the ocean are very special. They are the one place in the world where you are absolutely safe. There is nothing that can hurt you here.

As you are seeing your beautiful beach, and the rich blue ocean, I want you to imagine a small child on the edge of your beach. The child is very beautiful, and you immediately feel great love for this child. The child is sad. The child is hunched-down, the sweet little head is bowed-down, and the arms are pulling tightly across his knees. The childâ€&#x;s hair comes down over his eyes, but you can still make out small little tears running down the cheeks.

Now I want you to walk on the sand toward the child very slowly, very gently. You cannot explain it, but you love this child very, very much, and you do not want this child to be sad, so you walk-up to the child.

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As you reach the child, you can hear sobs. You see some scrapes and bruises on the child. You see the ocean, beautiful and perfect beyond the child. But the child looks far from being okay. You reach out your hand. The child is frightened by your touch and pulls away a bit. Soothe this child for whom you sense a growing compassion. Again, you can‟t explain it, but the love you feel is as if you have known this child for a long, long time.

Hear yourself saying to the child, “This is a safe place. It is the safest place in the whole world. You are safe here.”

Imagine the child turning to face you. The little face looks confused, but is so very hopeful. You sense some very bad things have happened to this child, but you know this child needs your love. Here on your warm beach with cool winds, sits this child looking at you now for help.

“This is a safe place,” you say again, and, “You are safe, and you are loved here.”

You can tell by the hope on the child‟s face he believes you.

Now reach out your arms to the child. Go very slowly. Very gently.

Now allow yourself to see the child taking your hand. You take him into your arms. The child feels so very light, and so very fragile. You hug the child closely, and he puts his little arms around your back, and hugs you very tightly.

Here you are on your cool, safe beach. You are holding the child in your arms and you sit down quietly with the child on your lap. The child begins to smile up at you, and your heart 63 | P a g e

swells with love. You know you must protect this child. You know you must love this child.

See these things in your mind and begin to slow down all the actions. Let the waves slow. Feel the wind calming down, and lifting the childâ€&#x;s hair very slowly. Slowly. Now hold the scene in your mind as if you have a magical ability to slow down time itself. Slow the scene until it seems a photograph of you; you are holding a small child in front of an endless ocean on a perfect day. Freeze the image in your mind, and let it fade quietly. Allow it to fade into the white light of the sun in the scene, or the candle in front of you.

Take a deep cleansing breath.

Congratulations. You have just met your spirit-self. Not the child on the beach, but the strong, safe, loving person who reached out, and took the child in your arms.

You – your spirit-self - are the comforter, the caretaker of the child. That is your spirit-self. It is capable of tapping into the great expanse and power of the Source. It approaches things with wonderful tenderness, love, and power.

You are also the child. The child is the body-self and mindself. It is limited in ability, and is often scared and frightened.

But now, you have met your spiritual side and together all three selves are you.

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Chapter 8 The Spirit-self and the Creator

Jesus Christ spent much of His ministry speaking of being one with God. He taught us that through expressing the qualities of God, we showed we were an expression of God. He taught us great love and great compassion. He taught us God was God to all of the people. The rich and the poor, the domestic and the foreign. He showed us God’s true intent for our lives. God’s intent is for us to live a loving, enriched, empowered life. God wants the best for us in all things.

In Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV), Jesus replied: ―Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.‖ Here Jesus identifies our trinity. Body-self, mind-self, and spirit-self (soul). He then goes on to give us TWO more commandments. Love your neighbor. Love yourself.

I present the Christian view of spirituality because I happen to be a Christian. You may not be. There are great Truths passed down through numerous other prophets, teachers, rabbis, and priests. Evident in all of these, is the Creator’s great love for us, and our great love for the Creator. It shows our great duty of loving not only others (neighbors next door or across the world!) but ourselves as well. If you begin to see the reflections of love, you can follow the Truth in the loop between God, self, and others. Over and over this love flows.

Like a huge, powerful breathing of the Universe, love moves 65 | P a g e

the lifeblood of our being through God, self, and others. This may be called energy by some. And certainly it is energetic.

However, as I stood before the Creator after my crossing, there was also a physical sensation as this energy pulsed through us.

First coming from the Creator, then to me, then to others, then back into the Creator. I observed millions of spheres pulsing joyously in great acceptance and excitement, following the pulse from the Creator. It would then pass out from the spheres to all the other spheres, and back to the Creator.

With each pulse came overwhelming love, joy, acceptance, and knowing. Yes, the knowing is what I miss most. I certainly cannot begin to report the amount of knowledge suddenly mine.

Crossing back out to this world, I left so much of the knowledge. But, I still know we are connected to the Creator and each other through the Source. I would call this the Holy Spirit. Others may call it a different name. Whatever the name, it is the Power which connects us to each other. And more importantly, directly to our Creator. This connection to the Creator is the strongest connection imaginable, because it is like your connection to your human parents taken to the infinite level of love and compassion.

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Chapter 9 Natural Thinking

Natural Thinking is the process that goes on between your body-self and your mind-self. Natural thinking is, well, very natural. Your body-self is always sending information to your mind-self. Whether it is warm outside, the floor is hard, the pressure on a mitochondria of a cell is in action, your body-self is alive with millions and millions of pieces of information for your mind-self to handle. The brilliant, beautiful thing is that your mind-self manages to somehow process all of this information every second of every day.

Natural thinking is what we call the information flow going from the mind-self to the body-self based on the reports or ―triggers‖ of the body-self. Your mind-self receives a piece of information from the body-self. Let’s say, the body tells the mind, ―I feel hunger.‖ The mind-self is now on stage to come up with a response.

Once the mind has received the information, it immediately begins to process the information looking for previous situations close to the ―trigger‖ it just received. The mind-self keeps millions and millions of previous records stored. Every experience we have ever had, every lesson we have ever learned, has been stored by the mind. The human brain is an amazing organ, but scientists are beginning to discover the mind-self has access to other places to store memory. It seems other cells may be involved via chemical nature. It’s simply beyond the scope of this book to explore every way the mindself stores information. But let’s follow an example. A person 67 | P a g e

unexpectedly comes around a corner at the office. Your bodyself reports, ―I am startled by this person who is a female, five foot, six inches tall, brown hair and eyes‖ and sends this to the mind-self. The mind-self searches and finds, ―Ah Ha! This physical description matches Sue. We are surprised, but we are okay; Sue is our friend.‖ The mind then sends out a message to the body letting it know to relax; there is no danger. The bodyself may then stop, give Sue a quick hug or hello, depending on how close you and Sue are, again, according to the mind-self.

And, then it goes about its business of navigating the rest of the office and finding your workspace.

Literally, thousands of pieces of information had to go on from the body-self to the mind-self and back. When those thoughts enter our awareness, we are experiencing natural thinking.

Natural thinking is the matching of significant body information by the mind-self to past experiences or learning.

Natural thinking is absolutely necessary to carry us forward through the millions of tiny internal and external happenings in our body. Sometimes we are aware of this thinking, sometimes we aren’t. However, the natural thinking we need to be concerned about has to do with the events of our lives where natural thinking is providing us with answers which do not serve our higher good.

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Chapter 10 Problems in Natural Thinking

Going back to our REBT and the ABCD approach, we see where our natural thinking gets to be problematic.

The theory in its current state offers an A-B-C-D step to addressing how we react to the world. The Activating event or triggering event, the Beliefs about the event held by the person, the Consequences of the actions, and the Dispute we should have about the beliefs we hold that are leading us to act out the activating event in a negative way.

When we are talking about ―natural thinking", we are talking about the components of a belief, in this case a ―natural belief.‖ We’ll focus on how thinking becomes belief a bit later.

However, it is important now to get down the following concept: Our natural thinking about any given problem lasts only a second in time, but can have ―forever consequences.‖ Being able to change natural thinking is the key to succeeding in spirit-thinking.

Natural thinking is limiting. Because of the millions of decisions the mind-self has to make every day, it is very pressed to find the fastest, easiest solution. This always relies on the mind-self finding the most perfectly-matched experience in its history. Sometimes, this solution has had good results in the past, sometimes bad. However, if your mind-self is obsessed with being efficient, and an experience is available, it will use it and reuse it—good or bad.

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Natural thinking is subject to flaws. The mind-self incorporates EVERYTHING as an experience, and then files it for review.

This includes the time your mother shouted, ―You’ll never amount to anything when it comes to school,‖ and the time you were picked last for the football team.

Natural thinking is hard to change. Once an experience of the mind-self is matched with an incoming message, the resulting action is very difficult to stop without an intervention.

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Chapter 11 Spirit Thinking

Spirit-thinking is a term describing the influence of the mindself by the spirit-self. The spirit-self is the seat of our true power. It is the seat of our connection to the Creator. It is where we should be living our life, with spirit as the director.

Spirit thinking is the necessary part of putting our natural thinking on hold. Spirit thinking interrupts natural thinking. It also allows us to slow things down, look at what is going on, and change our natural thinking.

Have you ever been to a hockey game? They have an ingenious device called the penalty box. Here, if a player makes a foul, or does something they should not do, they are placed in a ―time out‖ to wait for two minutes while the game continues. The whole team has to change its plans to make up for the lost player while they sit in the penalty box.

Essentially, spirit-thinking is going to put our mind-self in a penalty box when we come up against things in our lives that make us feel less than our best. Depression, anxiety, fear, indecision, or feeling bad about ourselves are results of natural thinking we must change.

People who use spirit-thinking have a different experience with life. They are happy, confident, and at peace with themselves and their lives. People who use spirit-thinking reflect the Qualities of the Creator in their daily lives.

Remember the Qualities of the Source, and how they are reflected in our spirit-self?

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 Eternal. Our spirit-self is forever lasting and forever strong.  Loving. In our spirit-selves, we are deeply cared for, and we deeply care for others.  Intelligent. Our spirit-self is open to all knowledge that is or is to come and it is accessible.  Powerful. Our spirit-selves draw our strength from the One who has no limits.  Insightful. For our spirit-selves, we know wrong from right, and how to apply it.  Supportive. Our spirit-self has power to sustain us and can do so in a loving manner.  Empowering. We are empowered and emboldened by our spirit-self. There is nothing to fear as the Creator’s children.  Challenging. Growth never rests and opportunities come daily.  Patient. We must try, try again; there is no getting it wrong, only closer to right.  Joyful. Joy is the simple pleasure of being. It is our God given right to be abidingly happy and joyous in our lives.

Spirit thinking uses each of these qualities at different times to bring changes in our daily lives. Up until now, you may have experienced the spirit-self as being a tiny whisper or a quiet inner voice telling you when things are not the best could be.

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How Spirit Thinking uses the Qualities of the Source?

Spirit Thinking uses the ―Qualities of the Source‖ to bring about change by expressing these qualities into the flow of the mind-self’s natural thinking. Spirit Thinking works by putting Natural Thinking into a “penalty box” or a “time out”. It interrupts the flow of natural thinking and introduces the qualities of our spirit-self to the situation the mind is working on at any given moment.

Let’s say we have a friend named Tim. Tim is very afraid to go into dark places like parking garages or alleyways by himself.

Now, let’s make Tim 6’5‖. Let’s make Tim an expert in Tae Kwon Do and Jujitsu. Now, let’s give Tim the world’s brightest flashlight. Would you think Tim would still be scared to go into the alley? Most of the time, yes, Tim still would be afraid.

That is how powerful the natural thinking of the mind-self is.

You see, when Tim was a little boy, he was locked in a dark closet accidentally while he was playing. He was exploring his Grandmother’s closet, and the latch came loose and locked him into the darkness of the closet. Unfortunately, his grandmother didn’t find him for an hour, and during that time Tim became very afraid. Being very young, Tim didn’t know what was safe or unsafe, and the dark scared him. He had become so upset by the time his grandmother opened the closet door, he bolted from the closet to the bed, and quickly hid his head under the covers.

His grandmother spent an hour trying to calm Tim, and help him realize he was safe.

We can be sure that while Tim was experiencing fear in the closet, that the mind-self was busy assigning the experience to 73 | P a g e

Tim’s memory, and matching dark places with the result of being scared. After a time, Tim’s mind began to associate other dark places with being afraid. So, it was just not closets, but any place dark that caused him to be afraid. Now, garage parkways, alleys, dark rooms, and other sorts of situations cause Tim to be afraid, and consequently, Tim avoids them.

Because it has been years and years since Tim was that young boy trapped in the closet, the avoidance of dark places has become problematic for Tim. He misses out on several things in life by avoiding subways, mall parking garages, and other dark places. Tim wants to change his fear of dark places.

However, there is very little chance of Tim changing.

Tim will have great difficulty changing this fear through traditional therapies. The natural thinking of DARK = FEAR has been reinforced over and over by Tim’s mind-self. It has been reinforced millions of time. Even traditional cognitive therapists would say the odds of changing Tim’s belief would be very difficult, taking months or years. Even though there was no true reason for the fear, the natural thinking had become a belief of DARK = FEAR. However, the power of the spirit-self, and the power of spirit thinking, can immediately change the thought by using the sources of the spirit-self and its connection to the Creator.

Spirit thinking, a process which begins in the spirit-self has NO connection between dark places and fear. In fact, the spirit-self has NO fear whatsoever. Instead of FEAR we find the quality of EMPOWERING. The spirit-self is empowering. The Creator is empowering. Now to get it to the mind-self, spirit thinking must draw upon this quality of Empowerment.

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Spirit thinking is the process of challenging natural thinking with Qualities of the Source and the spirit-self. Spirit Thinking is the process of challenging natural thinking with the Qualities of the Source and the spirit-self. Spirit Thinking is the process of ... No; you have not run into a publishing error. You HAVE run into the most important sentence of this entire book. Perhaps, the most important sentence of your life up to this point. I know it was the most important Truth I would ever learn.

How does it work exactly? My best answer is God works in mysterious ways. I am blessed to be able to bring you the inspiration I retained from being in the presence of the Source.

However, I can’t answer all the questions. I do know we will all be able to answer the questions one blessed day when we are called home to the Creator where there are answers simply flowing and ebbing around us! But for right here and right now, there are some answers that can make a world of difference.

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Chapter 12 Beliefs and Challenges Beliefs: Vernon’s Cheese

Up to this point, we have been talking about thinking.

Thinking, whether natural or spirit, begins to establish beliefs for the way we live our lives. Beliefs are the results of thinking repeated thoughts several times.

Since this book is a book about psychology in a way, let’s look at a classical example. Meet Vernon the Rat. Vernon is a lab rat, and his job is to run a maze and get cheese. Day after day, Vernon runs mazes and finds cheese. Day after day, week after week, Vernon runs and runs and runs. Sometimes he gets to the cheese quickly. Other times it takes him a little more time.

However, in the end, Vernon always gets the cheese. Yes, Vernon is quite the good lab rat.

At the end of his little rat day, he clocks-out with his rat time card, says good bye to all the other lab rats, and goes back to his cage where he goes to bed and dreams of running mazes and locating all the delightful cheese within them.

Now that we’ve met Vernon, let’s talk about why Vernon even does what he does. Is it because if he doesn’t he knows he’ll be shipped to medical testing and made to grow a third rat ear?

No, it’s because Vernon loves cheese! A big cheese house with cheese streets, and little cheese fountains is Vernon’s idea of heaven. The rat is just crazy about cheese! It’s worth running maze after a maze, time after time. No matter how long it takes him, or how many turns and twists he makes, the cheese is worth it.

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Why does Vernon love cheese?

Yes, it’s good to eat. That’s one point. Nevertheless, cheese is means much more to Vernon. When Vernon first arrived at the lab, it was a very scary place. He had had many rat friends back at the rat farm, and was even going steady with a pretty little rodent named Judy. Suddenly, he was plucked-up by two huge, gloved hands, and put in a cage and taken away. Bye bye, buddies. Bye bye, Judy. Bye bye, little rat farm.

He arrived, and was all alone in the strange new lab.

Everything was hard and cold. There were wires everywhere and many machines beeping and bonging. There were also many giants there who plucked him up, and plopped him down wherever and whenever they wished. It was dark and scary much of the time too, and suddenly there would be very bright lights. Vernon decidedly did not like the lab. And suddenly he realized not only was he alone, scared, and confused, he was also hungry. Very, very hungry. He had last eaten back on the farm with Judy. Oh, Judy, Judy, Judy. How he wished she was there. Soon, the hunger became so strong that he even forgot about Judy, and was totally focused on his empty tummy.

Out of nowhere, a sweet, calm voice said some words and presented him with a hunk of yellow stuff, which looked like a little hard cube of gold. Vernon approached the stuff, and the voice sounded happier. Vernon then sniffed it, and it smelled wonderful. The voice was pleased, and encouraged him onward. Vernon took the cube, and had a small bite out of the side of it. As he chewed, he was filled with wonder. This stuff was much, much better than grain! It was the best thing he’d ever tasted! The voice was very happy, and Vernon was very 77 | P a g e

happy. Things were beginning to look up. This lab might not be so bad after all.

Then, quite unexpectedly, a giant hand grabbed Vernon’s cheese! Talk about being cheesed-off! Vernon was quite unhappy with this turn of events. He looked around and around and then finally saw the cheese. Now, why had someone put the cheese way down there, he wondered? Despite the fact the lab was still scary, he decided to risk taking a few steps to get to the cheese. He scuttled along to the cheese, reached it and held it tight. Oh, rapture! He had retrieved his cheese. He began to nibble on it quickly, and the voice came back sounding very happy. His stomach became full, and Vernon became happy.

The voice said a word as it set down another little golden cube, ―Cheese.‖ This was it! Vernon knew what to call his new found favorite food – cheese! Rapidly, cheese became more important than anything in Vernon’s life. Cheese was better than the farm. Cheese was better than his little rat friends.

Cheese was even better than Judy. Cheese made his stomach full, and it made the giant happy all at the same time! For Vernon, cheese equaled happiness.

Vernon now had a belief. It had been two years, that’s about twenty in rat years, ago that Vernon had arrived, and he still remembered that cheese was wonderful. Vernon had a belief about cheese. Cheese was good.

Today, Vernon still believes cheese is good, and he runs mazes to get to his cheese. No matter how difficult the maze, Vernon knows cheese will be on the other side and it will be all okay. ―Cheese is good‖ is Vernon’s belief system and, since he’s a rat, we wish Vernon well on all of his upcoming runs.

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The question we need to ask ourselves when we begin thinking about how to change our lives? What is our cheese? What is our belief? Where did it come from?

Just like Vernon, our experiences and our thoughts about those experiences create beliefs.

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Beliefs and Challenges: What’s Your Cheese?

In any given situation in which we act, consciously or unconsciously, we play through a world of past experiences in our mind-self. Just like Vernon and his cheese, we have had many experiences in trying to match stimulus and action.

However, it’s not the specific situation we have to consider, it’s the cheese. In other words, it’s the Truth that is underlying our choice to act. In Vernon’s case, cheese is cheese, and it doesn’t matter where, or what he has to do to find his cheese. Vernon’s world is pretty simple, but very powerful. Vernon believes cheese is good, and that is that. Vernon would not argue with you even for one mouse-minute.

How sure are we about the things we are giving your action and dedication to? Are we as sure as Vernon? I believe parts of us are as sure as Vernon; however, they may not be the right parts.

Our ―cheese‖ exists for any given situation or action we take.

Our actions, when we meet someone in the hallway, are one example. What is our cheese for that situation? Do we believe strangers are dangerous, or do we believe they are simply friends we have yet to meet? When we walk outside in the sunshine, are we enjoying the wide-open spaces, or are we terrified we will get hurt by a car? The belief is different for each one of us. The cheese is different for each of us. That is—there is a deep, abiding belief about each one. The belief has been built-up by natural thinking.

In order to change a belief, we must change the natural thinking that has been feeding the belief. For Vernon, beliefs were a simple act of natural thinking between cheese, and running a maze. It was worth it every time. For us, we have to discover 80 | P a g e

our natural thinking, our natural truths, in order to understand our behavior.

What about the maze?

One of the things scientists are intimately interested in is the maze Vernon runs. How many twists, turns, and double tracks will Vernon make in order to get his cheese? The answer is simply: as many as it takes. We do this in our lives as well. No matter what twists and turns we have to make to express our truths, even when they don’t make sense, we will make them.

This is how powerful truths and beliefs are in our lives.

If you are like many of us, one of your beliefs is you are not as worthy of love as some other people. You picked-up this belief somewhere long, long ago, and it became a part of your natural thinking, then it became a truth. Perhaps it was a rejecting parent, or perhaps it was an angry coach. Somewhere, though, you experienced a situation in which your mind received the feedback, ―You are not worthy.‖ Remember our minds don’t make judgments about the information they record and send.

They simply look at it as information to file away, which is to become part of the truth of ―who we are.‖ For example, when you look in the mirror and say, ―I love myself. I am worthy,‖ how does it make you feel? Go ahead.

Nobody is looking. If they are, well, they’re probably used to you doing a few odd things from time-to-time. For many of us, making those statements is extremely difficult. We may feel silly or, even worse; we may feel like outright liars. Your reaction to this small exercise is so important for gaining insight.

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The Truth with a capital ―T‖ is that you ARE worthy, and you ARE lovable. These were decisions made by your Creator when you were made. However, something in man’s world taught you a different outlook. This is what we must take-up in a challenge. If our current truth is that I am unworthy, we will run the mazes in our life over and over just to prove that point.

Self-sabotage is something we do to make natural beliefs truer for us. We often do it without ever thinking about it. However, our little minds are running mazes just like Vernon, over and over, finding ways to prove we are unworthy and unloved. No matter how many runs we have to make in a maze of actions, we act with the belief that we are unworthy running in the background. We must challenge these ―truths‖ about ourselves.

We can do so through our spirit-self, allowing spirit thinking – inspired thinking – reflecting the qualities of the Source.

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Part Two Chapter 13 The Changing of Your Life

In this second section, we focus on how the principles of Spirit Thinking can change your life. Changing your life sounds like a grand, dramatic objective, but sometimes it can be something small. Regardless of the change you need to make, whether it is how you feel about yourself, how you think about others, how you behave, or how you attract more good things to your life, these principles will show you how your Spirit Thinking will work.

Key Concepts    

Review of Part One Natural Beliefs versus Inspired Beliefs Little ―t‖ truths versus inspired Truths in your life Applying Truths to your life for change

Quick Review of Part One: If you’ve skipped ahead to this section, you’ve missed out on much information. The basics can be wrapped-up in a few simple statements.

Human Beings are made of a Triad: Body-Self, Mind-Self, and Spirit-Self. Each side has unique duties and abilities. We are eternal, spiritual beings, and our core is our spirit-self which 83 | P a g e

relies on the body-self and mind-self to live and work in this world. Our inner communications include natural thinking, natural beliefs, consciousness, and prayer. Our behavior is based on natural beliefs before the introduction of the spiritself. Once the spirit-self is introduced, true change can take place.

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Nature Beliefs, Natural Beliefs, and Inspired Beliefs

In Part One of this book, we talked about natural thinking and natural beliefs. As we begin to look at behavior, a working definition of what behavior is will be helpful. For our purposes, we are going to define it as the following:  Behavior - Any internal or external act including emotional feeling, thinking, or relating of any kind.  Sometimes behavior is targeted at others, sometimes it is directed at one of our three selves. Behavior includes any reaction or action. Behavior is based on a belief.

Nature Beliefs As you sit in your room, even if you are very still, you are exhibiting many, many behaviors. There is the behavior of your internal dialogue, perhaps you are thinking about what to have for supper. There is the behavior of your heart beating, nerves coursing, and your internal organs working. If you are reading, you are engaged in not just reading, but symbol recognition, learning, thinking, understanding, and consideration. You may be having an emotional reaction such as hope, or love, or humor. All of these are behaviors.

There is a fine line between what we are going to define as nature beliefs and natural beliefs. Nature beliefs result in 85 | P a g e

behaviors such as your heart beat, blood pressure, and body composition. After all, we need something in place to keep all of your molecules from spinning out into a billion different directions simultaneously! We call these behaviors naturebased beliefs because they don’t seem to be placed on a belief of which we are aware. They are based on a supernatural, predefined system we don’t truly understand. Because these beliefs are based on something we don’t yet understand, we are going to allow these to be, for now, and not try to address them in our concept of change. In other words, we accept that some beliefs are just nature in origin. However, some beliefs do exist to govern these things that are just beyond our influence and understanding at this time.

Now that we have established our heart is going to keep beating, and gravity is going to keep working without our worrying about it, it’s time to turn our focus to the beliefs we can control. And if we can control a belief, we can control the truth of it for us, and thus we can modify the behavior.

Natural Beliefs

Many of the beliefs we currently hold are natural beliefs. That is, they are based on the natural thinking that occurs between our body-self and our mind-self. For example, when we approach an elevator, and we wish to go to a higher floor in a building, we press the "Up" button because we believe it will bring the elevator. Why do we believe this? Because we have observed this hundreds of times. When we were young, we might not have known how to operate an elevator, but we observed others doing it. We became excited and probably delightedly pushed the button when we got the chance! We’d soon learn not to push all the buttons, (as I once did to stall an 86 | P a g e

elevator while I enjoyed the doors opening 16 times to the top floor of our hotel) but only the button that led to the floor where we wished to exit.

Now when I approach an elevator, I have a natural belief the elevator will come when I summon it by pushing the "Up" button. Let’s look at what happens in our inner selves during this process.

I am in a building, and I want to go to a higher level.

I notice there is an elevator because my body-self is giving my mind-self the information of the elevator location through sight, and then my mind-self checks to see if it is seeing an elevator.

It checks within itself, and finds a small truth written ―This is what an elevator looks like,‖ and, ―elevators take us up to higher levels,‖ and finally ―it is safe to approach an elevator,‖ and then off the body-self goes to the elevator.

I arrive at the elevator via my body-self, and send a ―what now?‖ to the mind-self. The mind-self sees the "Up" button, and does a quick check ―up buttons look like this one,‖ and shoots back to the body-self, ―press the button.‖ ―What now,‖ queries the body-self, and on and on it goes until we finally get that button pushed!

Of course, all of this happens without us really being aware of it. It is just a part of our natural thinking, and a part of our natural belief system.

But did you know that some people suffer from a fear of elevators called sursumdeorsumphobia? It literally means the fear of going up and down in an enclosed space. Now if you suffer from this condition, something has happened in your 87 | P a g e

natural thinking that has gone askew. Rather than seeing elevators as a safe, convenient way to reach higher floors, you see them as a terror to be avoided at all costs? Why? There is a natural belief formed somewhere in your experience with elevators or elevator-like things, which has led to a truth in your belief system that elevators are dangerous.

How could this have happened? Let’s look at someone who suffers from the condition. Her name is Amy. Amy was ten years old when she and her mother were riding down in an elevator from their hotel room. During the descent, the hotel lost power. As lights and escalators around the building stopped, so did the elevators. The elevator jolted to a stop, and went dark with only the emergency lights on. Amy did not know what to do, and neither did her mother. Her mother tried to push the alarm button, but it did not sound.

Then, her mother tried the emergency phone – no answer!

Amy’s mother panicked, and began screaming for help! Amy began crying and hid in a corner, which only added to her mother’s panic. ―Help! Heeeelp! We are in here!‖ screamed Amy’s mother, before fainting from the stress. Amy was left there all alone in the dark, the alarm finally ringing loudly and her mother unresponsive.

Of course, workmen were eventually able to rescue Amy and her mother from the stalled elevator. Amy’s mother was still rushed to the hospital, and Amy was thrown into the ambulance with her. Eventually, all was okay, but Amy still avoids elevators.

Now, we may have considered Amy silly at first, but we certainly understand where she is coming from now. Her fear 88 | P a g e

has been justified by her experience, and it’s no wonder when her body-self reports an elevator to the mind-self, a natural belief finds a truth that says, ―Elevators are to be avoided.

Period.‖ Amy might live the rest of her life afraid of elevators. And, she could function in this life without using an elevator ever again.

However, she would most likely be limited by this natural belief to avoid elevators, especially if she is also not fond of stairs! So, how does Amy resolve her problem? This is where we begin to explore inspired beliefs.

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Chapter 14 Challenging Natural Beliefs

When a natural belief, large or small begins to limit our lives, or make us act in ways we don’t like, it is time to take a look at the natural belief, challenging it with an inspired belief and then replacing it with an inspired truth which will bring about a permanent change.

Challenging natural beliefs begin by first identifying the belief which is bothering us. For Amy, the natural belief has to do with elevators. For us, it might have to do with something external, like elevators, something to do with a relationship or something to do with ourselves. Sometimes, these beliefs are very harmful. You may hold a belief you are not as worthwhile as other people. You may hold a belief you are not as worthy of love as other people. Or, you may believe you cannot form friendships.

All of these beliefs are the result of some experience you have had in your life. Probably, early in your life you were either told by someone you trusted the belief was true, or you experienced it by someone else’s hurtful actions. Although, they are called Natural Beliefs, there is nothing natural about not feeling loved, wanted, confident, and happy. These are some of our birthrights as children of the Creator. This is where we must learn to reach beyond the limits of the Natural Thinking of the body-self and mind-self and give the power to our true self—our spirit-self.

In our Amy example, we know Amy has a belief about an inner truth that elevators are to be avoided. While we can understand the truth she holds, we realize Amy’s ―truth‖ is indeed a truth 90 | P a g e

with a little ―t.‖ It is based on a belief that is not really a universal Truth for all of us.

Let’s help Amy by beginning to challenge her Natural Belief about elevators. After Amy identifies the belief, she will challenge the belief with Spirit Thinking that comes from her spirit-self. Through actively challenging the belief with Spirit thinking, Amy will eventually replace the Natural Belief with an Inspired Belief. The second process sounds complicated, but it can be broken down into easy steps.

Let’s get ready to help Amy.

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Chapter15 Initiating Change in Your Life Identify the Belief

For Amy, she has identified the belief. But, what does she do with it? We all have different learning styles, but there are some basics to learning that seem to apply to all of us. One aspect of learning is getting the information down in simple, concrete ways so they can be seen and reviewed. We begin with identifying the belief by simply writing it down. ―Elevators are horrifying!‖ Amy would write. You will need

to identify your own beliefs. These may range from ―I can’t get a raise at work‖ to ―I will never be loved.‖ Some beliefs are very powerful, and encompass your life in extremely painful ways. Other beliefs are smaller—mere annoyances. Where you begin is up to you. But to see how things work from the Spirit Thinking, give yourself permission to start with something smaller.

In the diagram, we see how Amy has written out her Natural Beliefs, her Spirit Thinking, and her Challenges. The more 92 | P a g e

Spirit Thinking we apply to our lives, the more likely we are to bring about changes in our belief system. As Natural Thinking became our old beliefs so does our new Spirit Thinking lay down the path for new beliefs.

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From Where Does Spirit Thinking Come?

Spirit thinking comes from our spirit-self. It’s time to focus on the spirit-self, and learn how wonderfully powerful this part of you is in changing in your life.

In order to learn more about your spirit-self, you need to look to your origin. You were created by a great Power, the I Am or God—whatever name you need to place on the Source. We’ll use these terms interchangeably in our review of the spirit-self.

The Creator endowed your spirit-self with certain qualities just as your parents endowed your body-self and mind-self with certain qualities. Because you are created the same as everyone else, I deeply believe there are qualities to your spirit-self that you must recognize and claim.

The Spirit-Self is eternal, loved, and powerful. The qualities of the spirit-self include: Eternal. Our spirit-self is forever lasting and forever strong.

Loving. We are deeply cared for and we deeply care for others.

Intelligent. All knowledge that is or is to come is accessible.

Powerful. We draw our strength from the One who has no limits.

Insightful. We know wrong from right, and how to apply it.

Supportive. Lifts us up when we are tired, alone or ill.

Empowering. Give us the ability to act in ways that are powerful.

Challenging. Growth never rests and opportunities come daily.

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Patient. Try, try again, there is no getting it wrong, only closer to right.

Joyful. Deeper than happiness, joy is the simple pleasure of being.

Our spirit-selves are the powerhouses of who we are and they (our spirit-selves) begin growing when we first acknowledge them. The power of our body-self and mind-self were probably limited when we were young. So was the young spirit-self limited. When it is first embraced, first realized, and first called-upon, the spirit-self requires nurturing and attention to grow powerful in our lives.

Think of the Qualities of the Spirit-Self, we reviewed above, as being the DNA of our spirit-self. When our body-self is born, it begins living its full structure: how tall, what color of hair and eyes, etc. All of the millions of different qualities of the body are already written by the DNA before the body-self even begins to develop.

This is also how it is with the spirit-self and its qualities. What the spirit-self will become is already written in its qualities. To begin to seek out these qualities is to begin to prepare you for spirit thinking.

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Chapter 16 How Spirit thinking Works

Spirit thinking is the challenge of the natural thinking by the spirit-self. Natural thinking occurs from the mind-self reacting to information from the body-self. Spirit thinking is the equivalent of the spirit-self saying, ―hey, wait a minute, this isn’t right.‖ But, the mind-self will protest this interjection. It will insist it has information showing it is thinking correctly. This is where the spirit-self has to call a time-out, and bring forth a challenge.

Challenges are the cornerstone to launching spirit thinking.

That is why we have to make challenges simple and concrete, and put them in writing. We’ve already identified how to write a natural thought, and how to write challenges to them.

Now we’ve got to add the spirit thinking to the challenges. If, for example, the natural thinking holds a certain fear, we would need to find the quality of our spirit-self which challenges that specific fear.

In Amy’s elevator case, we see she wrote out a specific challenge to her fear. When she wrote down the belief, 96 | P a g e

―Elevators are terrifying,‖ she had to go to the qualities of the spirit-self to see which ones could add a challenge to her natural thinking which had created the natural belief.

From the qualities of the Source, Amy found that the spirit-self was intelligent, loving, and eternal. She decided it made sense to challenge her natural belief with these qualities, and wrote out her challenge. Did she do that in a matter of seconds? No, probably not. Chances are she had help from a talented therapist. However, if Amy has been working at the Spirit Thinking in her life for a few weeks, she is very capable of looking at the process and completing it.

The opportunity to apply spirit thinking in your life presents itself hundreds of times each day. If you think about it, we face new challenges and opportunities in life every day. In fact, hundreds and thousands of them come our way each and every hour. Successful use of spirit thinking requires us to slow down, look at more situations critically, and begin to refuse that which has become natural for us, and replace it with the divine qualities of spirit-self.

The life you have now may really be a pretty good life. You may be happy most of the time. You may have worldly goods, and good relationships. If so, you are to be congratulated.

If you are suffering in an unhappy life right now—fighting the grips of addiction, or in the process of a difficult divorce, then you need the power of your spirit-self even more, because within that spirit-self exists healing. And, in addition to healing, within that spirit-self you will find how you need to live each year, month, day, even second, as a fully-empowered spiritual being!

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After all, we are talking about accepting our natural freedom and power that comes as we walk as God’s children. Talk about having a parent no bully would want to mess with – our Creator is there for us in every moment.

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Moving Spirit Thinking to Inspired Beliefs

Before now, you have been in a car made up of your body-self, mind-self, and spirit-self. Now you will be DRIVING a car made up of your body-self, mind-self, and directed by your spirit-self.

There is a huge difference between riding in a car, and driving a car. Through your experience of the Spirit Thinking, you will be learning to ―drive‖ your life. You will be getting your driver’s permit, then a license, and then your certification as a driver. Okay, we don’t actually issue permits, but you will be

receiving a powerful reminder of your journey!

As we move through the steps of applying spirit thinking to natural thinking and natural beliefs, a wonderful thing will happen. The natural beliefs that have been the cornerstone of your life will be replaced by inspired beliefs from the spirit-self.

This takes place a little at a time as you begin to use spirit thinking.

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Let’s take another look at our graphic explaining how this works, so that you can see how our challenges look visually.

In every situation we face, we begin with a set of [1] Natural Beliefs. Our Natural Beliefs keep us stuck in Natural Thinking, which is the limited life offered by the body-self and the mindself. Our Natural Beliefs are not our fault, and they are not our destiny. They are simply the result of life experiences we had as children—moments in our lives when we were weak, or lacked control of a situation. However, at some point, our Natural Beliefs either fail us, or limit us in a way that demand a new way of thinking.

Whether it is Amy’s elevator fear, or something very different, these Natural Beliefs are just a few samples of how life could be limited by relying on the body-self and mind-self only.

However, our spirit-self is ready to challenge these Natural Beliefs with [2] Spirit thinking and, eventually, change these into [3] Inspired Beliefs based on Inspired Truths. The qualities of the spirit-self become the Inspired Truths of the whole Triad of Who We Are. Inspired Truths include Truths such as: we are lovable, we are worthy of good things, we are worthy of forgiveness, and we are under the guidance of the Creator.

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Chapter 17 A Review of the Changing of Your Life

Changing your life is a process and a journey. This journey will not happen overnight, but can have an impact on your life very quickly.

We have identified three types of beliefs. Nature, natural, and inspired beliefs are the types which make up the trinity of being. Beliefs eventually become truths. Nature beliefs have been in place since the beginning of time, and they are truths for us as physical beings. These truths include things like gravity, molecular cohesion, and the color of the sky. They are of nature, and are not things we can change with our current understanding of how things work. Nature beliefs just are.

Natural beliefs come from the interactions of our body-self and mind-self with the outside world, or between the two in our inner selves. Natural beliefs come from natural thinking, which is thinking without the inspiration of the spirit-self. These natural beliefs eventually become natural truth. However, addressing the changing of truths is a long process. Changing natural beliefs, which come from natural thinking, is relatively easy with Spirit Thinking.

Inspired beliefs are beliefs based on the spirit-self and its qualities of being eternal, loving, intelligent, powerful, insightful, supportive, empowering, challenging, patient, and joyful. From these beliefs, we derive challenges in the form of spirit thinking to the natural thinking which is limiting our lives.

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These spirit thinking challenges are applied directly against the natural thinking belief statements. We followed Amy as she confronted her fear of the elevators by applying challenges in the form of spirit thinking against her natural thinking fear of elevators. While there was a reason or belief for Amy to be afraid of elevators, it was a natural belief. Since natural beliefs are made up of interactions between only the body-self and the mind-self and our experience of life, they are subject to challenges from the spirit-self, the true seat of our power. The spirit-self is, after all, the who of who you are.

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Closing In counseling, I often begin asking the client what they want to work on.

Then, I simply ask them what is stopping them?

It’s usually a difficult thing to define, and often requires a couple of sessions to identify, first, what they really want to change. Next, finding the reason, the natural thinking, or natural belief that is stopping them from changing, is difficult as well.

Often, there are a number of smaller natural thinking beliefs contributing to a larger belief. After these are identified, challenges must be generated to challenge each part of the natural beliefs and thinking.

Challenges are also generated from the spirit-self. It is very important to remember the qualities of the spirit-self. The qualities of the spirit-self are that it is eternal, loving, intelligent, powerful, insightful, supportive, empowering, challenging, patient, and joyful.

Why these qualities? These are the qualities of God, or the Source of our spirit-self. They are the Holy DNA we are made of as spiritual beings. We have different amounts of each quality as individual spiritual-beings. Some of us have spiritselves that are very insightful. There are those who are very intelligent.

As we move forward in our lives, using our spirit-self as the driver, rather than just a rider in our lives, we become aware of 103 | P a g e

what our stronger qualities are, and how they are balanced in our spirit. This is accomplished through prayer, spending time with the Source, and seeking our spirit-self. ―I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.‖ [Philippians 4:13, English Standard Version]

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Exercises Section The following pages contain exercises for you to work as you begin to address the different parts of using Spirit Thinking.

You will need to buy a journal to keep with you as you work through these exercises. We’ve tried to provide some ―fill in the blanks‖ areas for you, but you’ll probably feel more comfortable writing down the long statements in a journal that is perfectly safe and secure and in your control. Any spiral notebook will do, but there will be a bond that begins to form between you and this spiral. As you pour more into it, the more it becomes yours.

It may seem a little silly, but you may even want to name your journal, and refer to your time doing your homework as ―I’ve got to spend a few minutes with Jill.‖ It’s a little tip I picked-up in graduate school, which helped me get through homework!

Also, please remember to keep your journal in a private place.

The more honest you can be in the journal, the more you’ll get from these exercises and the learning of Spirit Thinking. I’d just write Spirit Thinking and the name you give your journal on the cover.

If you get stuck during the exercises, remember you can write us at info@myhorizons.org and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

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Exercises Topic: Spiritual Recovery

It is important to explore your feelings about God, and about how God relates to you. To help you explore this, answer the following questions in your journal: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

My first memory of learning about God was: When I imagine God, I think about: I think I’ve made God angry when I have: If I could meet God, I would ask: I think I am probably going to Heaven or Hell because: 6) When it comes to God, the person who knows the most about God is:

Go ahead and write these sentences out in your journal. Notice what kind of emotions you have as you work through these questions. If you really have a strong emotional reaction to them, note it in your journal.

Now answer these questions: 1) Regardless of the parents I have, I think the job of parents should be to: 2) If I could hear my mom say only one thing it would be:

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3) If I could hear my father say only one thing it would be: 4) My best friend would describe me as:

Look in a mirror and say the following to yourself, reflect and then circle the number of 1 – 5 of how uncomfortable the phrase makes you using 1 for Not Uncomfortable at All to 5 Very Uncomfortable, I feel like I’m Lying. You can answer the ―Why‖ in your journal. ―I am lovable‖

1

2

3

4

5

Why?

―I am worthy‖

1

2

3

4

5

Why?

―I am eternal‖

1

2

3

4

5

Why?

―I am accepted‖

1

2

3

4

5

Why?

The Truth is that you are loved, accepted, and celebrated where you are. God loves and cares about you deeply. God waits for you with all the acceptance and love you need. God wants to empower your life through your spirit-self. God believes you are wonderful, beautiful, and very, very important.

As you read the above, pay attention to the emotions you feel.

Guilt? Anger? Denial? Write these emotions in your journal.

Self Statement: Using the above as an example, make a positive statement about yourself and God. You may not believe this statement yet, but you should use all of the hope you can put into it. Write out your statement below, be sure to 107 | P a g e

include the statement God (the Creator, Source, Allah, Jehovah, etc.) loves me. ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ _________________________________________________.

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Exercises Topic: The Qualities of the Spirit

Exploring the qualities of the Creator and the spirit-self is an exciting part of Spirit Thinking. You will be looking at the ―DNA‖ of the Creator and of the part of yourself, which is eternal and powerful. Although there is no limit to the positive love, acceptance, and inclusion of the Creator, some of the major ones include: eternal, loving, intelligent, powerful, insightful, supporting, empowering, challenging, patient, and joyful.

That’s a lot of things to think about at once. However, it is also a wonderful thing to know you have this many resources to rely upon. One of the hardest to understand is the first one: Eternal.

There is simply no way our human minds can understand this concept. It simply cannot be done on a mental level. In our thinking mind, all things are finite, they eventually come to some conclusion, some end. However, in our spirit-self, we can expand our understanding, and accept the idea of having a beginning, but no ending. Yes, this life will end. Your bodyself and mind-self will pass away. However, the who (of who you are) is eternal and an everlasting part of the Creator.

The qualities of Spirit, as we explore them, are like facets on a diamond. Each one shines brilliantly. As we begin to explore them, we need to understand what they mean to us.

Let’s look at each quality of the Source by itself for a few minutes. Journal your replies to each statement below: 109 | P a g e

When I read the word eternal, and try to apply it to myself, I feel: When I think about the word loving, and try to apply it to myself, I feel: When I think about the word intelligent, and try to apply it to myself, I feel: When I think about the word powerful, and try to apply it to myself, I feel: When I think about the word insightful, and try to apply it to myself, I feel: When I think about the word supporting, and try to apply it to myself, I feel: When I think about the word empowering, and try to apply it to myself, I feel: When I think about the word challenging, and try to apply it to myself, I feel: When I think about the word patient, and try to apply it to myself, I feel: When I think about the word joyful, and try to apply it to myself, I feel: Pay attention to how deeply each emotion stirs you. Some of us have great difficulty thinking about being loving and joyful. For others, it’s supporting and empowering that create difficulty in our thinking patterns.

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Of the Qualities of the Source, select two which feel the most comfortable for you.

Quality one: ______________________________________________

Quality two: _______________________________________________

Now write a paragraph on each in your journal. How do you see those qualities being available in your life? Try to follow the following as an example: Patient. I am a patient person. I had to learn to be patient when I had cancer, and was going through the chemo process.

Nothing was ever fun about the day-to-day life, but I knew chemotherapy would eventually end. I had to learn to be patient, so I would not snap at people including my own family.

I could learn the meaning of the word patience, and apply it to my life.

By now, you should be feeling at least two of the Qualities of the Source you have reflected on or experienced in your life.

Next, we want to identify the two most difficult qualities.

These would be the qualities you have a hard time reflecting on, and seeing in yourself.

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Quality one: __________________________________________________

Quality two: __________________________________________________

It’s important to begin to feel more attuned and natural with the Qualities of the Source because they are the ―DNA‖ of our spirit-self. The Creator is the perfection of these Qualities, while we are a reflection of the Creator‟s perfection.

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Exercises Personal Affirmations

The second half of this exercise is to develop a personal affirmation statement for each Quality. Because you will be using the Qualities of the Source soon to bring power to your life, you need to be able to begin to feel them.

Remember, affirmations begin in your spirit-self as a statement of Spirit Thinking. Affirmations introduce information directly to your mind-self through your body-self because affirmations are spoken aloud. Sometimes, affirmations may seem difficult, silly, or just plain weird. But it’s important to try writing them down. I’ve written some affirmations below which my clients have used for each Quality of the Source. See how each affirmation feels to you by reading it aloud. Then write your own affirmation below each to use in your own daily life.

Sample Affirmations The quality of being eternal.

I am eternal. I have a beginning, but no end. This assures me that I have multiple chances to make the right choices in my life. I have plenty of time to create new strategies because I am eternal.

The quality of being loving.

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I am loving. I choose to be a loving person, bringing compassion to those I meet. I give love easily and accept it back to myself.

The quality of being intelligent.

I am intelligent. I learn easily those things which are important for my life. I have the ability to change things in the face of new information. I can apply new ideas to my life.

The quality of being powerful.

I am powerful! I can directly change and influence the path upon which I am walking, and I can be the strongest person in my life. I am powerful enough to change both myself and my world.

The quality of being insightful.

I am insightful. I have the ability to look at things from a fresh perspective. I understand problems easily, and find many solutions to different situations.

The quality of being supportive.

I am supportive. I give good energy out to others, and easily receive support back to me. I know when to be open to help, as well as when to give help to others.

The quality of being empowering.

I am empowered in my life. I have the power to help others and help myself. I have the right to be empowered to take control of my life.

The quality of being challenging.

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I welcome challenges in my life. I see them as opportunities, and something to be relished in my life. I see challenges as agents of change. I challenge myself to become better every day.

The quality of being patient.

I am a patient person. I do not anger, or act quickly or recklessly. I give people the time they need to choose the correct things for their lives. I am patient with myself, too.

The quality of being joyful.

I have the ability to choose being joyful. I may not always be happy, but I can be aware of the abiding joy of being loved and accepted by my Creator.

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Exercises The Trinity of Human Beings

Thinking about things coming in threes is a pretty old practice.

Many people first equate the idea of the trinity of human beings with the of Trinity of God. This is an easy mistake to make because it’s the first ―trinity‖ that comes to mind for many people.

Some may come to understand the Creator in the form of a Trinity, others may not. However, as humans, the three aspects of our nature are very different. We are made of a body-self, mind-self, and spirit-self.

Being aware of these three sides, or aspects, is essential to begin using your divine spirit-self to influence your life. It will seem odd to treat these areas of you in different ways. While I respect those who have obtained physical perfection by working-out in a gym, it is not something I’d choose for myself.

In the New Testament, we are admonished to treat the body as a temple. Ultimately, this is a healthy way to look at it.

However, instead of a building like a temple, I prefer to think of our bodies as cars. Some of us are Bentleys, and some of us are Kias. Despite the look of the car, it serves the same function. It gets us where we want to go, and helps us interact with others.

To continue with the analogy of the car, where do you think the mind-self fits in? For many of us, it is right behind the steering wheel ready to take us where we need to go based on the signals it receives from the outside world. Using Spirit Thinking takes the spirit-self and places it in the driver’s seat, 116 | P a g e

allowing you to operate your body-self by using your divine self as the driving mechanism.

Obviously, the body-self is a very busy part of who we are. It is constantly taking in huge amounts of information, and relaying it to the mind-self. What are a few things your bodyself might be relaying right now? I’ll give you a few examples, and then see how many more you can add to your journal.

Right here, right now, my body-self is reporting the following:  My eyes are seeing shapes, and sending these shapes to my brain.  My ears are conveying the soft typing of my laptop computer.  My nose is conveying the smell of roses.  My skin is feeling dry.  My tongue is reporting the taste of coffee.

Now, you try to come up with 10 things your body-self has done in the last 24 hours.

1. ______________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________ 3. ______________________________________________ 4. ______________________________________________ 5. ______________________________________________ 6. ______________________________________________ 7. ______________________________________________ 8. ______________________________________________ 117 | P a g e

9. ______________________________________________ 10.______________________________________________

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The Mind-self

Understanding the mind-self is a bit trickier because we don’t know exactly what it is made up of physically. However, we know the mind-self serves the following two functions:  The Mind-self is responsible for receiving billions of pieces of information from the body-self every day. It then matches each piece of information with a former experience or an experience as close to the one currently being reported, and then sends triggers to your body to react.  The Mind-self does this as efficiently as possible, even if sometimes the results are emotionally painful. The mind-self obtains the simplest information possible.

In the last five minutes, my mind-self has…

1. Interpreted the pressure received from my fingers on my laptop, and sent information to the body on how strong to press down each key.

2. Interpreted the smell of coffee, and directed my mouth to take a sip.

3. Has received information from my body about its discomfort, and had my body reposition itself by moving to the right two inches.

4. Has received the information necessary to provide a word, and has provided the spelling of that word.

5. Has received the need to use a word to describe a set of terms, and has provided the word ―received‖ and the spelling of the word.

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6. Has received the information from the software program I’m using, telling me I’ve misspelled a word.

7. Has received a thousand other things, and provided the information requested as needed!

Write down just five things your mind-self has performed today. Identify the triggering information, and the response.

I’ll start you off with one: 1. My body has identified the curved symbols in this book as words, and has answered giving the understanding for those words. a. Trigger was seeing the curved symbols. b. Response was to interpret it into language.

2. ___________________________________________ a. Trigger: ________________________________________ b. Response: ________________________________________ 3. ___________________________________________ a. Trigger: ________________________________________ b. Response: ________________________________________ 4. ___________________________________________ __________

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a. Trigger: ________________________________________ b. Response: ________________________________________ 5. ___________________________________________ a. Trigger: ________________________________________ b. Response: ________________________________________

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Second Exercise Letters to Your Selves

Letter to your body-self: One of the ways to learn how we feel about ourselves is to write a letter to our body-self to say thank you. Write a short note to your body-self thanking it for doing its job so well. A sample letter can be found at the end of the exercise. Use your journal to write the letter.

Letter to your mind-self.

Now, write another letter to your mind-self saying thank you for what it does for you. Thank your mind-self for all the learning it has done, the gathering of knowledge it does, and huge task of handling of information Use your journal to write your letter.

Sample Letter to the body-self: Dear Body-self, I want to take a moment to tell you how wonderful you are. You are my connection to this world. Through the senses of taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing, you tell me what is going on in my world. You help me feel close to people because I use you to give hugs. I will always try to take care of you, and when you are sick, I will be sure you go to the doctor. I love you, and Iâ€&#x;m glad you are part of me.

Love, Diane

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Exercises Topic: Natural Thinking

In this exercise, you will be working on understanding Natural Thinking. As we know, Natural Thinking is the day to day interactions between our body-self and mind-self that takes place without the inspiration of Spirit Thinking. It is the body and mind working naturally, unaware of the supernatural spiritself.

Natural Thinking happens millions of times every day.

Sometimes, natural thinking is quite okay and it our human body needs natural thinking. However, when it comes to big decisions or important things, we want to be aware of Natural Thinking, so we can use Spirit Thinking to challenge the natural thinking with information from our spirit-self.

Normal Natural Thinking Some examples of normal natural thinking include your body telling your mind it is uncomfortable in a certain position.

Your mind-self picks up on this and decides to tell the body to uncross its legs. The body responds but uncrossing the legs and finds it is indeed more comfortable. The mind-self then tells the body-self to stay in the new position, and then it monitors the body-self’s statements until it is uncomfortable again.

Kind of boring, huh? But, totally necessary. Natural thinking includes our ability to drink, eat, sleep and cough. It includes all the functions that don’t happen automatically but need to happen for our body to live.

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Identify Three Normal Natural Thinking Processes Write down five Natural Thinking exchanges, which have taken place in you in the last hour. I’ll give you the first one.

My mind has interpreted this language as English and is reading it. ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________

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Limiting Natural Thinking

Sometimes our Natural Thinking is limiting. Limiting in that it does not serve us to our greater good. It’s not the body or mind’s fault. After all, they are simply acting and reacting as they have been doing all of our lives. However, now that we are aware we are spiritual beings, we have the RESPONSIBILITY to be aware of Natural Thinking, which is NOT in our best interest.

This can be kind of tricky to first start. However, if an action leaves you feeling emotionally uncomfortable or feeling a negative emotion, then the Natural Thinking, which has taken place, is NOT in our best interest.

Some Natural Thinking examples, which are not in our best interest are avoiding people, putting off situations, denying opportunities, being hard on ourselves, denying ourselves happiness, and feeling angry.

Now, we want to identify some Natural Thinking taking place in our lives, which are limiting.

Take a few moments and think about your day today. If you need to think back a few days to find examples, that’s okay.

Just try to come up with five examples of limiting natural thinking and write them down below. Again, I’ll fill in the first one from one of my client’s.

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I avoid people because they don’t like me. ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ _____________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________

Needing some help? Here are four more examples, but you still need to come up with five on your own.

1) I cannot tell my boss no or I’ll be fired.

2) My mom and I can only communicate through fighting.

3) I become angry when I am around Gene.

4) I get confused. I can’t do things right anymore.

You can see where the above examples truly limit the lives of those involved. That’s what I want you to try to do next on the phrases given above. Why are they limiting? Begin by considering phrases 2 through 5 above and write them out.

The thought of Mom and I only communicating through fighting is limiting because I would like to have a loving relationship with my mom that is joyful and supportive.

Now you do 2, 4 and 5 below or in your journal or below.

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Exercise Topic: Spirit Thinking

As we’ve come to understand our Natural Thinking, we can see where it is most limiting. I want you to think about the limiting statements you wrote in the previous exercise.

Now I want you to imagine you have the power to rewrite these statements with ANY outcome you would like.

How would that limiting Natural Thinking be overcome? In the previous exercise, one of the statements was: I cannot tell my boss no, or I’ll be fired. What kinds of things was Natural Thinking relying on in coming up with this statement? Fear?

Sense of unworthiness of self? Or, was it because we simply feel our opinions do not matter?

Let’s change this statement to a non-limiting Spirit Thinking statement:  I can tell my boss no, even though I have seen him get angry at people who say no. I am supported by the Creator. I have intelligence from the Creator. I can express my opinion logically and compassionately. My boss will be open to hearing why I feel I must say no to some things.

That’s quite a different statement, isn’t it? First, we have stripped away the fear evident in the statement. That was Natural Thinking. Spirit Thinking states there is nothing to fear for we already are and have all we need.

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Next, we have challenged the limiting Natural Thinking with Qualities of the Spirit-self. Remember, Spirit Thinking draws its power from the Qualities of the Spirit. These qualities are a part of our spirit-self’s ―DNA‖. They are what makes us, us.

Chances are very good that this far along in this work you will have experienced Spirit Thinking in some area of your life.

You know the Qualities of the Spirit. Now we will see if you can match up the specific qualities with specific challenges.

For quick review, the Qualities of the Spirit are it is eternal, loving, intelligent, powerful, insightful, supportive, empowering, challenging, patient and joyful.

Sometimes it is easier to begin to understand what something is by considering what it is not. For example, it may be hard to pin down a meaning of pain but we know what pain is not. It is not pleasant, fun, convenient, etc. Finding opposites of ―pain‖ are easier than it is to describe the exact things pain is to us.

Let’s see if we can begin to see the Qualities of the Spirit by considering some of the things they are NOT. Below we will consider each Quality of the Spirit-self and then write down a few opposites of that quality. I’ve given you one to get you started on the next page:

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Quality

Opposites

=======

========

Eternal:

Temporary Fleeting Not stable

Now, you try:

Eternal:

_______________________ _______________________ _______________________

Loving

_______________Angry _________________________ _________________________

Intelligent

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Stupid

Powerful

Weak ____________________ ____________________

Insightful

Supportive

Empowering

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______Superficial

Don’t care

______Weakening

Challenging

Too easy

Patient

―Hurry up!‖

Joyful

Depressed

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Exercises Practicing Spirit Thinking

Spirit Thinking can be broken into very easy steps to follow.

Once you have these steps down, you can handle any decision you have to make in your life. It will seem complicated at first, like anything else you had to learn. Spirit Thinking is learned the same way. With just a little practice it will feel very natural.

How does Spirit Thinking work?

1) First, identify the problem. Maybe you are lonely.

Maybe you are scared of spiders. Maybe you can’t seem to ask for a raise.

2) Two, give that problem a voice using NaturalThinking. ―I am lonely because I won’t be accepted.‖ Or, ―I don’t deserve a raise.‖ 3) Third, identify the Natural Thinking going on in the statement. For example, ―I won’t be accepted because my mom always called me stupid.‖ 4) Next, select a Quality of the Spirit to Challenge and address the quality of your Natural Thinking.

5) Make a Spirit Thinking statement to address the problem. For example, ―The Spirit is empowering so I don’t have to be afraid.‖ 6) Challenge the Natural Thinking with a SpiritThinking statement.

7) Put the statement into action. Repeat.

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Okay, that’s a lot of steps. You can do it, though! It is in your power and it is your right as a child of the Creator.

Let’s work through an example together.

Jane is a nice lady who happens to be recently divorced, and thirty-four years of age. She has explored here spirit-self and its qualities. She has been praying and getting to know her Creator as she understands her Creator.

Jane has a big challenge coming-up, and she’s terribly nervous about it. She has to go to court and make a statement as to why she is the right one to have custody of her son, Tim. Jane’s exhusband, Rick, has been calling her, and telling her she is an unfit mother, and no one could really love her. In other words, he has been a grade A jerk. Jane has been very upset, but she has decided to sit down, and apply Spirit Thinking to this issue.

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Let’s help Jane out.

Step 1. Identify the problem. What is Jane facing? What does she want to accomplish?

Jane needs to confidently face her ex-husband for custody of Tim. Step 2. Give the problem a voice with Natural Thinking.

“I don‟t deserve Tim. I‟m not a good person. I‟m not a good mother. I can‟t raise Tim on my own. I can‟t raise him right.”

Step 3 Identify the Natural Thinking involved in the issue.

Make a statement to show this Natural Thinking.

“My mom told me I could not raise Tim alone. I don‟t have the strength.”

Step 4 Select a Quality of the Spirit to challenge the Natural Thinking.

The Spirit is Powerful and Empowering.

Step 5 Turn the Quality of the Spirit into a challenge statement using Spirit Thinking: “I am empowered by God. I can meet any challenge I am given.”

Step 6 Turn on the Spirit Thinking to challenge the Natural Thinking.

I can be a good mother to Tim and raise him through the strength my spirit-self holds for me.‖ Step 7 Put the Spirit Thinking into action.

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Jane writes in her journal, ―I will confidently face the custody trial presenting all of my strengths to raise my son. I will listen to my spirit-self which tells me I am empowered by a loving Creator.‖ Jane attends the court hearing and presents detailed information showing she is worthy of raising Tim.

Okay, let’s see if you can do one now.

Lee is a 55 year old lady who recently lost her brother to cancer. Her brother had been very close to her. Lee now feels afraid to go outside in public without her brother. Lee is becoming more and more unhappy. Her mother told her when she was little, “Lee, you can‟t make it out there without your big brother!” This was repeated over and over to her. Lee wants to go outside of her apartment. Can you help her?

Step 1 Identify the problem:

Step 2 Give the problem a voice with Natural Thinking:

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Step 3 Identify the Natural Thinking involved with the statement voice:

Step 4 Identify a Quality of the Spirit to Challenge the Natural Thinking:

Step 5 Turn the Quality of the Spirit into a challenge statement using Spirit Thinking:

Step 6 Turn on the Spirit Thinking to challenge the Natural Thinking:

Step 7 Put the Spirit Thinking into action:

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Okay, let’s look at one possible way to work through the problem.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Lee wishes to go outside but is afraid. ―I am fearful to leave my apartment.‖ I am a person who is too fearful to leave.

The Spirit is Supportive. ―I am supported by the Creator. I can easily leave my apartment knowing my Creator watches over me.‖ 6. I am supported by the Creator. I do not need to be afraid.

7. Lee takes a small trip outside of her apartment through the Quality of being supported by the Spirit.

Spirit Thinking is not an easy thing to do at first. However, it will soon become a reaction to every problem which presents itself to you. Be aware of your Spirit-Self. Spend time in meditation with God, and make affirmations to yourself.

The following 30 day workbook gives you a daily affirmation, a daily prayer, a daily study of the SpiritThinking process, and a chance to work a daily problem using Spirit Thinking.

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A Letter from Reece Reece W. Manley, DD, M.Ed., MPMÂŽ, Rev. Spirit Thinking Dallas, Texas Dear Spirit Thinking Participant: I am blessed to have been able to bring Spirit Thinking to you.

Thank you for your time and your trust in me. It is my sincere hope and prayer that you have been blessed by this work. You are worthy of knowing how loved, and that you are very special. God’s love for you is unending and unlimited. You are accepted just as you are.

Many of us have had very hard experiences in our lives. Spirit Thinking has helped me heal many of my own personal wounds, and it can help you do the same. You have certainly invested a great deal of time and effort in learning the SpiritThinking technique.

I want to offer you our beautiful Spirit Thinking Level One Certificate, absolutely free, as our gift to you. Also, this work is the equivalent to a 12 hour course, and we will issue you a statement you may be able to use in your professional life as CEU credit. Please check with your licensing authority to see if they have contracted with us yet.

To receive your certificate, simply send an email request to me personally at reece@manley.net. Be sure to include your address, when and where you purchased Spirit Thinking, and a brief statement of what you learned from the course. We will 138 | P a g e

send your certificate and statement of completion within six to eight weeks of receipt. Or, you can apply for the certificate online at www.SpiritThinking.Net. Again, these are our gifts to you.

Also, I wanted to let you know I am available for personal counseling and coaching. You may call me at 1-800-936-0812 to speak with my staff about making an appointment. Please also contact us with any questions you may have.

Finally, I encourage you to purchase additional copies of SpiritThinking for friends and family. We have several groups who are forming to study the book together, and to meet and encourage one another. Group work is a great way to find support. If you do form a group, and you need multiple copies of Spirit Thinking: Your Approach to an Enlightened Life, we offer bulk order discounts. Simply visit: www.SpiritThinking.Net. I offer this blessing to you in closing, May the Creator bless you and keep you. May the Creator fill you with His love, so that you may walk a path of compassion.

May the Creator fill you with His power, so you may walk your path confidently. May the Creator call you to a path in your life that spreads the good news of Godâ€&#x;s love for his children.

Blessings,

Reece Again, if you need me, just write reece@manley.net!

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30 Days of Spirit Thinking Daily Enlightenment and Training Welcome to the Workbook part of Spirit Thinking. For the next 30 days, we will be going on a journey to discover the power of your Spirit-Self. I know you have probably done other programs for self-improvement. I have completed many courses like this one. However, I have really enjoyed putting together the next 30 days just for you!

First, you will find a daily affirmation. This affirmation is simply to be said aloud, looking at yourself, square in the eye, in a mirror. This may be difficult the first few times.

However, it will begin to feel more and more natural to you.

Why are affirmations important? They are a little secret to help your Spirit Thinking advance into your Natural Thinking.

Remember, we are made of body-self, mind-self, and spirit-self.

Your mind-self immediately has to listen to your body-self, the source of all action or triggers. When you speak something aloud, your body-self has to report it to your mind.

You can see how it can help your self-esteem rise quickly!

The next section is a prayer you can offer to begin your time with God, the Source, the Creator—however you wish to refer to God, through meditation and prayer.

You’ll notice each day focuses on a Quality of the Spirit. It is so important to begin to understand the Qualities of the Source, and spirit-self because they are our pathways of power as children of the Creator. They are the fabric of our lives, and the 140 | P a g e

lives of those around us. They help us to relate to other people.

In short, they are our spiritual ―DNA.‖

Another goal of the next 30 days is to raise your self-esteem.

As you begin to consider your spirit-self more frequently, the Natural Thinking we have in our lives begins to lose its power.

If you were to think about giving yourself a score of 1 to 100, what number would you give yourself? Most of us wouldn’t even know where to begin. We’ve been told so many negative things about ourselves that we certainly wouldn’t give ourselves a score of 100! But, our Creator, our Maker, and the most powerful force in the universe loves you completely and gives you a score of 100! Who are we to argue with God? As you focus on the daily affirmation and prayer, a funny thing happens. You will begin to raise your score. By the end of the 30 days, you may even give yourself a 100! Because, that, my friend, is what you are.

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