Miracle Thoughts

Last night while playing with my iPhone I thought "I have all of these wonderful resources available to me through this device that I do not take advantage of. Why not find some podcasts to listen to on my morning commute - a daily meditation, affirmations. They can't be too touchy/feely or out there - I like my spirituality straight forward and to the point.

So I spent a little bit of time looking for some that are short enough to listen to on my 25 minute commute and found Marianne Williamson's Miracle Thought podcast. Although from 2009, the subjects are quite timeless and are associated with The Course of Miracles, which I have never read. My only experience with them is working as the assistant for a very highly strung woman in San Francisco who taught the course (and at the time I had no idea what that even was - and now I wish I had!).

This morning I listened to two podcasts from the series: "Forgiveness Offers Everything I Want" and "Responding with Affection". When I started the lesson on forgiveness I immediately felt defensive and thought "I do not want to forgive xxx for what they did to me." I guess I started out on the right lesson b/c by the end of the short 8 minute audio file I knew that I had some work to do.

Then I got to the "Responding with Affection" lesson and thought I would test that out in my day (the forgiveness lesson is going to be an ongoing thing - that shit ain't happening overnight!). So instead of getting aggravated when someone stepped in front of me cutting me off on the subway I let it go, smiled and went on my way. You know what - I realized that is a pretty easy adjustment to make in my life to make ME feel better. The point she made in the lesson was that 10% of a situation is what happens to us while 90% of a situation is how we react. While I've known this for a long time (and have said it to my husband many times) I really need to start living this. I think I will be a much happier person.

Just think if everyone started taking responsibility for their actions and reactions to others and instead of lashing out responded with kindness (or at least not anger). The world would be such a better place.

Looking back through the blog I actually had an unpublished post about how to change your reaction to people and situations. You can read that at http://thecommunityquest.blogspot.com/2013/10/stop-blaming-and-start-being.html

What are your favorite meditation/spiritual/personal development podcasts? Share them in the comments so we can check them out!