Linda’s Writings on Everything

I see many, many Americans (and others) learning how to survive, thrive, and absolutely love life in this changing economy.
I see all of us regularly accessing our creativity, our intelligence, and our love and caring, in daily periods of meditation, prayer, or whatever works for you to tune into your Divine Guidance or Intuition.
I see all of us finding creative, compassionate, truly workable ways to help each other and ourselves.
There are people who know how and where to find free food, often in dumpsters, that is still relatively fresh and not spoiled or disgustingly rotten.  There are people who are Urban Gardeners, or are willing to learn how to grow their own food and healing herbs.  I think it’s a good idea to learn from somebody who truly loves to garden, and is a patient and willing, ready teach to the newbies.  Or else find a patch of dirt and grow something, and learn from experience, and perhaps a good gardening book, website, or informative garden store!
There are people who are willing to bicycle everywhere possible, use public transit, find creative ways to cut down use of gas and cars, carpool, or else center more of their lives around home, work and play and social wise.
There are the Shamans and the Dreamers, (code word “artist”) in our society, who know how to access the Invisible Realms and bring back art, literature, music, movies, creative ideas that benefit society or some segment thereof.  The grounding of your creative ideas begins the moment you start to set it down on paper, canvas, film, digital or analog recorder, or what-have-you.
The first draft of writing anything is “just to lay down track”.  The track has to be laid down before the train can run on it, or carry passengers from station to station.  Second and third drafts are for cleaning up grammar, spelling, punctuation-and of course, firming up things like plot, character, dialogue, and descriptions of scenes with the various five (or more) senses.  And then there’s the matter of searching for a publisher who is likely to want to publish your “piece”, drafting a good, brief query letter, and sending it off.  Almost like a ritual, well known to many published, paid, and professional writers.
I see a world where people can find imaginative ways to do all kinds of fun things without having to have a huge pile of money first!  Or working hard at a job they despise, just to get “security”.  Um, security is a state of mind.  The state of your wallet or bank account is linked to your state of mind, and your core beliefs about who you are, what you deserve, and if it’s possible for you to grow prosperous while doing stuff you love to do, and being honest, legal, and loving about it all.
I see a world where people are reinventing relationships of all kinds, including romance and intimate, committed partnerships involving sex (among many other things).  I see a growing trend of Ethical Polyamory, a lifestyle where committed couples allow outside sex partners, and everybody gets to negotiate agreements that keep everybody safe, happy, and healthy.  Not everybody agrees with this sort of relationship lifestyle, but you gotta admit, it’s coming out into the open, much like sex that involves somebody being tied up, spanked, or doing other erotic activities that strike some people as a bit bizarre or even weird-but loving every minute, and being safe, sane and consensual about it!
I see a world where everybody is becoming more honest with themselves and others, in gently loving ways.  Tough love where it’s needed.  An ability to “call them on their bulls***” without losing a good friendship or causing insult or hurt feelings.  (This works best among trusted friends or in strong 12-Step groups).
I see a world where everybody just knows when they’re being lied to, and tuning out those media outlets that still lie to us about Iraq, the economy, or whatever.
I think that the moment you are no longer willing to put up with being lied to or abused or treated poorly, that is the moment when your world shifts.
Good health is a decision.  The state of mind and spirit very much influence the body.  It makes a HUGE difference what sort of food and drink you put into your body regularly.  I can’t say enough about the importance of adequate, quality sleep and exercise.  Strong, loving community and deep friendships plus harmonious relationships with family and intimate beloveds, and the Earth and Sky, are just as vital to good health as “eating right”, exercising, and making yourself a happy, loving, useful, and friendly member of society.
I see a world where everybody’s dreams are supported.  Where everybody gets to do the kind of profession they TRULY desire, while accepting and working with the kind of job they’re stuck with for the moment!  I see a world where we are enough, we do enough, and we have enough.  I see a world where everybody who wants to, can afford to go to the college or other school of their choice, and have enough time, money, energy, and wisdom to afford, say, sufficient art supplies, books, paper, pens, food, etc.!
I see a world where everybody is willing to let go of excess.  Where all the problem drinkers finally find their way to Alcoholics Anonymous.  Where all those currently addicted to illegal drugs, toxic sex, too much shopping, junk food, or relationships with jerks or people who use you, all find their way to a 12-Step program that deals with that.
Why do I promote the 12 Steps so much?  They work!  They help me deal with life as it is now.  And help me build life as I wish it to be.
I hope you enjoy this article.

Copyright 2008 by Linda M. Smith

Linda’s Thoughts On Success and Wealth

To me, success means getting to do the work I love and loving the work I do, and getting PAID for it.
I’ve worked for YEARS without getting any money for my work. My talent in writing is considerable. I’ve been told that many times by many different people.
I’ve lived on a “fixed-income” for years, barely scraping by moneywise, never having owned a car, or held a “real job” or finished college, gotten married, and enjoyed material success.
I am crystal-clear. I am THROUGH with poverty. I am ready to do what it takes to succeed, without compromising my personal values or ethics, or forgetting the God who gives me my wealth.
Success is a state of mind, from which all wealth proceeds. Failure is a state of mind from which all poverty proceeds.

I know, I know. Love is important, curing cancer and worshipping Buddha are important, but so is paying the bills and taking care of yourself. MONEY IS NOT EVIL. I care far more about HOW the wealthy acquire their wealth. I know that rich people all have a Prosperity Consciousness. They deliberately use the Laws of Mind to acquire wealth. They obviously pray and meditate everyday, and are very spiritual! The rich are more honest in many ways than those who muck along in poverty, lack, and failure.
It’s so easy to stay stuck, to fail and to grouch about those brave enough to ACT ON THEIR DREAMS. I am going to do far more good for God, country, myself, my loved ones, and humanity in general, being rich and doing my work in a way that serves all of life and all of humanity.

Failure is a choice. Mostly, a very unconscious, “life by default” choice. Success is a choice too! It really is no harder to succeed than to fail. In some ways, it’s easier!
Wow… those are great affirmations. I am going to use this statement, “It is easier to succeed than it is to fail. Being rich is less work than staying broke!”

If you find this offensive, that is your choice. If you find value and enlightenment in this, that is your choice. Resenting the successful and wealthy never got one person out of poverty and failure.

The knowledge of how to attain wealth through spiritual principles is out there. Try Rev. Catherine Ponder’s books. Read “The Game of Life” by Florence Scovel Shinn. Read, “Creative Visualization” by Shakti Gawain. Try Marc Allen’s books. Success is a spiritual practice–you can say the same for Sex, Beauty, Self-Care, or Meeting Sexy People You Wish to Get To Know Better (dating!!)

Envy is an opportunity to let yourself try some of the very things you envy in the ones who dare, who do, and who keep silent. Believe it or not, keeping secret about your Plans for Success is a spiritual principle. Babies do not grow outside of the uterus! That world is for after the fetus is fully formed and is ready to emerge…..

The above was taken from my response to somebody’s post on my favorite Social Networking site, edited for clarity and to protect the other’s identity….

I see and hear the news of our American Economy quickly crumbling.  Makes me wonder…. is this a necessary Next Stage in our Collective Evolution as a species?  Is this an Opportunity to Reinvent Life on Planet Earth to something much more Divinely Femine, much more environmentally sound, and much more friendly to those people who do not have money, cars, or jobs as such?

The fact is, society needs us Shamans.  Except in American culture, at least, some of us shamans are labeled “mentally disabled”.  I don’t know why so many feel frightened by those of us who tell our stories of hearing Voices, seeing Visions, and flying off to Alternative Realities.  Let alone why people feel a need to Go Into Fear or Disapproval whenever they see one of us Shamans behaving in ways considered socially unacceptable.

There’s a big difference between the merely annoying or absolutely irritating and even scary, and outright violence, addiction, or going all destructive of self or others.  When I was publicly yelling, I may well have been channeling Mother Earth.  Mother Earth could have chosen me as a channel to say ENOUGH ALREADY!! STOP THE WAR!! QUIT RAPING ME!!

Much experience has shown me that public yelling attracts either a studied attempt to ignore me (at best), or people who make fun of me and call me “crazy”, as if I were a chair or a tree, instead of a human being who can see and hear very well, thank you very much!  Or, at the very worst, some person with a clear potential for violence or else explosive and loud anger!  (Many times, the latter was an African-American).  African-Americans often feel pushed-around, hemmed-in and oppressed by us whites, and perhaps they have a very good reason to do so.  The built-in racism that blacks must often cope with, which we whites just don’t get to be on the receiving end of.  Like it or not, many blacks are put in prison.  Often they are young, and from poor backgrounds, and many were caught doing or dealing illegal drugs of various kinds.  God help these people to restore their hopes and dreams for a good education, decent paying work, or a happy life as an artist, writer, musician, or parent who has time and energy to raise and enjoy their children.

Essential services that are based on one’s ability to pay more money than one has…. well, that’s fucked!  And I can see this lifestyle is passing away, and quickly!

The box outside of which we are asked to think, is of course, the box of Space and Time.  Many people carelessly throw around words of disaster, disease, and scarcity of all kinds.  “There’s a flu bug going around,” “Property in the city of your choice is much too expensive for you to afford” and “all the good men are taken” or “men are such jerks”.  Need I go on?

Spoken words create reality.  The same words, repeated over and over, create reality a lot FASTER.  People really ought to be MUCH more vigilant about what they allow themselves to voice outloud.  It takes as much effort to speak only words of radiant health, deep friendship, true love, sexual pleasure, and all kinds of desired things, as it does to complain about the “down side” of life.

WHO SAYS I can’t do whatever I want, just because the money may not be in the form of green pieces of paper, little shiny round coins, or numbers on the screen of my bank account on-line?  THE WEALTH IS PRESENT AS A STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS.  IT IS UNIVERSAL SUBSTANCE.  We mold this substance through our repeated mental images, our words, written or spoken, and yes even our thoughts and strong emotions, be they love or fear or anger, lust, resentment, bliss, hope, or that firm feeling you get when you just KNOW everything’s gonna be alright…..  Even though the Miracle has yet to happen….. it comes, like a breaking ocean wave…..

How To End The War on Iraq QUICK….. Don’t Pay Income Taxes! Or withhold some of them….
May this idea fill the air and the thoughts of all Americans…… This war is fed by MONEY….. when there’s no MONEY being fed into this war, the killing stops….
Duh! It’s very simple.
Perhaps THAT is why the American Economy is crashing?! It’s the WAR, man! Maybe this is God’s plot to end all war? By converting from using Money to using Love Energy as currency?
Currency = “current see”. I see currents of money, love, support, etc. flowing to me and all else who are Willing and Ready to Receive!
MONEY IS A SYMBOL OF UNIVERSAL WEALTH. The American people quit feeding this war with their EMOTIONS years ago. The ONLY thing keeping this war ALIVE is MONEY…..
Feel free to pass this on far and wide.
IF you are brave and ballsy enough to STARVE THE WAR by withholding your money from Income Tax….
PUT THAT TAX MONEY INTO A COMMUNITY OR CITY FUND TO EDUCATE, GARDEN, CARE FOR KIDS AND THE ELDERLY, ETC! Forget the middleman. Invite any IRS agents who wish to dine at your community garden when you harvest the veggies and grains…..
Hire accountants and compassionate people of the light! You can tell corrupt people BY THEIR ENERGY. Trust me!

Let This Idea Spread Far and Wide! Put your Income Tax Money to Charity. Give it to somebody in need of a Scholarship. IT’S SO SIMPLE!!

American Economic Stimulus Package…. IRS’s idea of “tax revolt prevention?”
It’s like the 21st century “bread and circuses”….
DAMN, I’M BRILLIANT!!
No income tax from Americans, no economic stimulus package.
We ARE our own economic stimulus package.

I should teach at Harvard. Ha, ha!!!