October 1, 1995

Samuel: Well, greetings, dears.

Greetings, Samuel.

S: So what is this? Nobody wants to sit in the middle anymore? Aye? And if you’re feeling out on the edges there, that perhaps might be a bit easier if you’re getting more of a direct view, and you want to change where you are. Any of that?

I won’t bite.

S: Bonnie promises not to bite.

Unless you ask.

S: And Heidi adds, “Unless you ask!”

When last we were together the world was in a very big place of change. It needed a lot of help. I talked to you somewhat about healing. And you have helped to bring about change. Has anybody through this time that some might consider rather difficult, anybody here, can you relate at all to the last, oh, four or five weeks as being rather … fast? Or maybe, trying. Trying. Trying your patience muscles, or trying your compassion muscles. Or trying your inner strength muscles. Any of that? Have you been feeling any of that over the last few weeks? Have you thought at all—just, oh maybe, in the slightest—that you are the only sane person put in a world of absolute berserkers? Have you thought that? And are you wondering if anybody else is thinking the same sort of thing, and putting you into that same sort of category? In fact, have you even over the last few weeks been wondering if, maybe, you were sometimes a part of the problem, instead of a part of the solution? Have you wondered that? And stepping back and taking a look at yourself and saying, Ah, you know better than that. Cut that out! Have you done any of that over the last few weeks? Which is a good sign, by the way, because it shows you’re on to you. That things that may have just slid right past before are not sliding by, and the only thing you’ve got to be aware of—well, maybe not the only thing, but the only thing I’ll mention that you’ve got to be aware of—is that you not be too hard on yourself through that.

All of a sudden your eyes are open, and sure enough, over the last several weeks, you may have felt like you’ve gone through the fire. And anytime you cook meat, all the fat rises to the top under the fire, aye? All right, that wasn’t a good one, was it? The proper thing to say is that you heat the gold, and the dross, the impurities, rise to the top. And so, all of a sudden you become very aware of that, because you’re becoming more clear, more pure yourself.

So be careful that you don’t just look at those spots and say, Yech! Yech! Too much! Or you’ll lose the power of what all that heating has been for, to make you strong enough to look beyond yourself and into the world, and to use that strength and give it out.

It’s a frightening thing to realize that most of those with whom I work are not here as their primary focus. Not here, to go through all sorts of wonderful—or not so wonderful—experiences in life, because the Universe centers around you, and you’ve got to be learning all of this great stuff to go out there. The purpose for those with whom I work does not tend to be to have all of these experiences in order to shorten the next time around. Or to finish the wheel. No, it’s much worse than that.

It’s because you’ve come here knowing that you’ve got work to do, and that you can make a difference on the planet to do it. And so the things that you get to experience in your life, more often than not—and look at your own life to see the truth of this—more often than not, you do get somewhat of a benefit, but sure enough the very next week, after you’ve come up out of it, you find three or four people who need exactly what you just learned. There it is. You walked over the hot coals just in time to meet somebody who’s getting ready to start the very journey. Yes, you get benefit, but it probably wasn’t designed just for you.

Based on that thought, I want to hear a couple of gifts about … and I know that you don’t feel real comfortable giving gifts in which you’ve got to say something like, I helped and I know I helped. It’s much nicer to give them when they’re, “My car broke down, and I wasn’t unfriendly about it.” I want to hear a gift in which you were an angel, perhaps. I want to hear a gift in which you did something that made a difference for someone else, and it’s all right if at the time you did not know, because in your spiritual life, and in the work that you’re doing, you are not always aware of the effect that you’re having. Maybe it’s only after that you find out, That made all the difference for me. Or maybe you absolutely did know there was a need and you reached out.

Who first? Yes, dear.

I have a friend who’s been going through a lot of things like I have, which is reactions. And through my teaching here, I have learned that it isn’t the actions that count, it’s my reactions to other people’s negativity. And I have a friend that was going through the same problem, and she would call me and be complaining, and saying, “This makes me so angry, and I can’t deal with this.” And I told her, “Well, you’ve got to stop and think, you’re reacting to what this person does.” And I said, “Once you realize you’re doing this, then you will be able to go on. And you can tell yourself, this is my reaction that’s killing me here, not what she is doing.”

And so she calls in once, and tells me, “Yes, this happened today, but I was able to handle it better.”

S: Good. Good. And when you hear that and you know that that individual is experiencing a power they did not have, and that you were there to help offer that, how do you feel?

It’s affirming for me, because I still have to deal with this a lot myself.

S: Yes. Lovely. And one more. Aye, Jean.

I was talking to a friend that used to be a colleague of mine, and I left my employment and decided I was going to pursue fun. And I hadn’t thought too much about how that affected other people, but I found out that she had decided to leave basically because she saw that I had left, and it was okay. She said that by my action I gave her permission to leave and do something she preferred to do.

S: Lovely. Lovely.

And I didn’t know that for … until five years later.

S: And, when you heard that, how did it make you feel?

Wonderful.

S: Aye. Who here has had an experience—just raise your hand up and put it back down—who here has had an experience in which something you did had a positive effect on somebody else? And when you find out about that, how does it make you feel?

Good.

S: Aye. Well then, I’ve got a question for you. If, when you do something that has a positive effective in the life of another, and you find out about it, it makes you feel good, what do you think might be a good thing to do when you’re not feeling good? Any ideas? You laugh. I want to hear the words. Aye?

Do something that has a positive effect on somebody else.

S: Yes! Absolutely! Good, brave soul back there. Hah! Yes.

And that is the direction I’m wishing to go this night. Here’s why. I want you to think about … let’s put it in a couple of different frames here. The first one might be a newborn baby. You’ve got a newborn baby, and that newborn baby needs to learn how to function in the world. And you know that in your own life there are things, now and again, you are about as workable as a newborn baby with it. Do you ever feel that way now and again? Something comes up in your life and you think, I am absolutely a beginner with this. Or, I absolutely don’t know what to do or how to behave, or how to function. This is a new one. I thought I’d gotten it all by now, but instead I don’t know what to do here. Sort of like a newborn.

Now, I’ve got to ask you. Those of you who have actually had newborn babies, you can relate, perhaps, to answer. If anybody here has ever been a newborn baby, maybe you can remember and answer. When you’re wanting that baby to learn how to function in the world, what’s the most effective way to do it?

Meet its needs.

S: You meet its needs, all right. That can be effective, because it gives it a sense of security. Things are going to be all right. Good. You might meet its needs.

A need it might have is it’s hungry, and it is only going to drive you crazy until it gets something to eat. Aye? Or maybe it’s sitting in a non-hygiene connection, and it needs … I thought of that when I said to her, “Hi, Jean!” Easily distracted ghost. All right, I’m not a ghost. All right. And it needs some help that way, and you’re not going to be able to do what you need to do until you take care of that particular need. Right? So that might be one thing that you do. What might be another thing that you do?

Demonstrate.

S: You demonstrate. What do you demonstrate, dear?

You shape your behavior by what you want it to do.

S: All right. On a very physical level that might be you show them how to feed themselves, or how to hold the food cup … all right, the cup. Or you show them how to tie the shoe. Or you show them how to behave honestly, with integrity. “Yes, there are a lot of choices out there in the world, but in this family here is what we do, and here is why.” And you live that yourself so that the words have some sort of impact, because they don’t otherwise. Yes. Demonstrate. Be an example. Yes, that’s in there. What else?

Praise.

S: Praise. Good. Good. Encouragement. Good. Because you know that it’s always much less effective when you’re constantly saying, Stop, no, no, no. Nonetheless, in this world, what tends to be a child’s first words?

No.

S: Or certainly right up in there amongst the first, because it is heard so much, nonetheless. And you know that that sort of beginning tends to create adults that are very quick to do two things. The first one is to be very, very fearful of making a mistake.

I had the most delightful child in the room with me recently. He was two years old, and in dog years …. [Laughter] He was two years old, and that two-year-old child was just having a grand time in the room, laughing and playing. And somewhere in the process, something fell over. And the child was horrified, and ran over to his mother—who suddenly was horrified, and he said, “Boke it! Boke it! Boke it!” It’s a pretty good imitation, don’t you think? “Boke it! Boke it! Boke it!” Very upset. Crawled up into her lap, and did not want to move.

Do you ever do that as an adult? You find out that something got the slightest bit out of your control, maybe you reached the tiniest bit farther than that wee voice in you said to, and you did it anyway. Or perhaps, you just needed an opportunity to smell the concrete, and skinned your nose. And right then you decided that never again were you ever going to try that. And if you’re not sure if that’s ever happened to you, let me give you sort of a hint. Maybe … hmm, love life? You see, I knew you could relate if I worked at it hard enough.

So afraid of failure that you do not try, or the second thing that it creates very often is an adult that’s just a pessimist. A negative pessimist. Well now, you know pessimism is safe. It’s safe, because if you have very low standards, you’re never disappointed. Pessimism is safe because then if something good happens, it’s a very pleasant surprise. And it creates conversation [such] as knocking somebody over when they’re not there, or expecting the worst and getting it. Too many of you work with hurting children, and so you know professionally what happens when you label a child stupid. They get real stupid, don’t they? Clumsy. And sure enough they follow it through and become that for you. So it happens with adults too. They keep those labels. Things aren’t going to work, it’s not going to happen—and sure enough, it doesn’t work and it doesn’t happen. Aye, you try to teach a child with positive reinforcement of good behavior, attitude. And so that also works with adults. Every bit of it.

To meet needs, take pressure off. To give a positive example has a greater effect even than your words. To show this can be done and you can do it opens doors, rather than closing them. To consciously—that is purposefully—to choose the higher, lighter, optimistic view in the world. If ever in your life, you hit a point where you decided that you wanted to have one of two things—maybe they’re both the same—either you wanted to increase those whose lives you’re touching—you wanted to have a greater number of students for your beautiful, masterful teachings, whatever they might be—or that you wanted to increase your sphere of friends. You wanted to stop living in a cave, and you wanted to get out socially and to enjoy more people, and to have more fun. Surely you can relate to one of those two, don’t you think? If you’ve ever wondered how to do that, it’s simple.

The pied piper’s flute is to be enthusiastically positive. It sucks people right to you, for several reasons. One is they figure you know something they don’t. Another reason is because it rubs off. Don’t you have people in your life whom you love to be around because they’re happy? Maybe they’re not just making you crazy with bubbles all the time, but they’re happy, they’re positive, and being with them can turn a dark day into a sunny one, poetically speaking, for you. Don’t you know people like that? And it works in your life too.

When you’ve got a newborn baby, or another version of it—I said there were two frameworks here—might be somebody has been very, very sick for a long time. Somebody you love—maybe you; hopefully, it’s the same—has been very, very ill, put to bed for a very long time, and all of a sudden they start getting better. The best sort of thing you can do for them, you know, is push them right out of bed. Get them started into their usual routine. Get them moving again, just at their former pace and say, No more sickness! All right? Do not give into to this. Do not let yourself be in that negative framework that says in this. You must be positive. Were you not listening to the first half of the message? You must be positive and “Look, I am well and I am happy and I will heal you, too.” That’s the best thing for somebody that’s been sick in bed for a long time, aye? Well, it depends on what you’re after. It absolutely is the best thing if you’re wanting them to get right back in bed and pull the covers over their heads and say, Never mind!

No. You allow them time to build their strength again, and to do that, to help build their strength, one of the things you might do is help meet their needs. It’s going to sound a lot like what you do with a newborn baby, isn’t it? That might mean that you spoon-feed them for a while, depending on what’s been going on. You might even need to teach them once again, Here is how it works. Try, you can do it. You emphasize the positive. You work with them day by day, cheering on every small victory. Encouraging the positive. Being an example, but also a hand to lean on. It’s much the same there.

And, my friends, all of that point is because your planet right now has just gone through a pretty intense illness. A mass consciousness filled with grief. It’s a hard time. It’s a hard time in America, my friends. What do you think it’s like in countries whose economy depends on America? Or who has so little economy of their own they can’t depend on anybody. Where there is war and strife. Severe geologic and climactic changes bringing about such things as famine and illness on a level that you can only barely imagine. Here, in America, where the standard is so different that perspective is eternally skewed because of it, when things have been hard for you, can you not see why I would not call it an illness on the planet as a whole?

But it’s had some really good nursing, thanks in a very large part to you. And it’s wanting to start sitting up and getting active again. So what does it need? The patient—great Gaia, Earth—the great spirit that is the life force of this earth, is in so many ways a newborn baby right now. Or, better still, that other framework, is just coming out of a sickbed. What does it need?

All right. Think of it as a pop quiz. I’ll give you a hint. We’ve just talked about this. What does it need?

Nurturing.

Patience.

S: It needs nurturing. It needs patience. It needs … encouragement. It needs …

A good example.

S: … a good example.

Are you talking about the earth, not the people?

S: The life force of the planet is directly related to the life force on the planet. And, therefore, allowing that that goes right into my next point, by working for the life force on the planet, you are going to be affecting the life force of the planet, because they are bound [together]. And one of the very easiest ways to do that, Frank, is?

By being a good example.

S: By being a good example. What does that mean? Right now, perhaps more than anything, what those around you need is what you need, and what you need, beloved ones, is compassion, and that is love. Kindness, and that is love. Need specific acts that help. The person next to you doesn’t usually need to be spoon-fed, but with a loving arm around them, without judgment of how stupid that I’m giving you something out of a spoon. Now and again it’s rather comforting, don’t you think, to have somebody say, Let me do this for you. Go ahead, ‘fess up. How many of you in your own lives think it would be really nice if Superman/woman would just hurry up and come and take care of you for a change? I know what those giggles mean.

To nurture. To show the way. To be enthusiastic and positive. To be, if nothing else—dear ones, if nothing else—kind. And what does that mean in your real world? What does that translate into? What is an act of compassion? What is an act of nurturing? What is an act of kindness that is doable in this real world? Cathy.

Forgiveness. Forgiving people for …

S: Being born. [Laughter]

… yeah, for being born. For, perhaps, upsetting you, understanding that they’re doing the best they can.

S: To allow that just as you are doing the best you can, how about maybe everyone else is too. Perhaps they don’t see things the way you do, but perhaps that they’re doing their best. Maybe it’s not at the same high, lofty level of empowerment that you would do it, but they’re doing the best they can. To forgive the injustices that life tends to offer now and again. An injustice such as that person in the car in front of you cut you off. How dare they? Well, you know that there is only one thing you can do. You’ve got to get ahead of them and put on the brakes! Or you can say, I hope you get to where you need to as quickly as you can. Universe, help them get there safely. What’s another thing.

Well, today it was my turn to drive from Louisville here, and Joni said … I said, “I’ll drive,” and Joni said, “No, I’ll drive, it’s okay.” And I’ve been just so overwhelmed lately that that was just a wonderful act of kindness for me. To do something unexpected for somebody.

S: Yes. Yes. And so what is it that you’re going to get back from her for that? Because for everything there’s got to be an even exchange. How about, I’ll hold her down, and you’ll get blood or something? Aye? [Laughter] Because the truest, most joyous acts are not the ones where, Well, I’m only going to do this because I owe it to her. It’s unexpected and it’s freely given. Freely given is a big key there. I really enjoy doing this even though I am so allergic to the product required to do it that I’ve just eaten my fingers down to the bone, but I know that by working through the pain, I’m becoming a better person. And so, thank you for allowing me to become a better person through this.

Yes, I am being absolutely dramatic here. But you’re getting the point, aren’t you? That I’m giving because I get to sacrifice. Or I’m giving because I owe, and it’s my turn. Or I’m giving because … fill in the blank. It’s when it’s freely given, that’s first.

Have you ever done something and before it could be known that you were the glorious individual of power and light who did it, you left? You gave anonymously, of yourself, of your resources.

Now, why would somebody do that? Why would somebody give and not expect the number one reason for being on the planet? Recognition. Why would somebody do that? Aye.

They wouldn’t want the other people to feel obligated to give them something in return.

S: That’s right. Because they truly have given with no strings attached at all. And with no strings attached, the easiest way to do that is to do it anonymously. [At] Phoenix Institute at one time a marvelous idea got about here and there, and it was to send out pink envelopes. Pink envelopes are quite different from pink ribbons, aren’t they? Somebody tell me the difference.

Pink ribbons are a rescue.

S: A pink ribbon is a rescue. I see that you need help, let me help you here. Wait! It’s all right. No, stop, stop, stop. I helped!

Pink ribbon. That’s tying a pink ribbon around somebody else’s life. Giving the gift of your wisdom, whether they want it or not. What is the expression? Fools won’t use your advice, and wise people don’t need it.

Pink ribbons. Whereas pink envelopes were, are?

An anonymous gift.

S: Aye. Anybody here ever get a pink envelope? Aye. Somebody tell me what would come in a pink envelope.

Five dollars, ten dollars.

S: One dollar, fifty cents. It would be an anonymous gift. Sometimes hilariously anonymous. Tried very hard to look anonymous. Sent from Alaska anonymous. Gifts because, if nothing else, you needed the smile. Maybe you could use going to the cinema. Maybe you needed extra eating money. And it was a very wonderful sort of gift, not only for the person who received it, but because the person who sent it followed a heart song that said, Here’s something you can do. There’s a need here. You can meet that need.

Have you ever had a time in your life when five dollars would have made a big difference?

Uh huh!

S: Have you ever had a time in your life when two dollars would have made a really big difference? Do you ever find unexpected money in your pockets? That’s the Universe’s pink envelopes.

Seeing the need, and just going ahead and fulfilling that without being recognized for it.

S: And let’s also say, without even specifically being asked. The person did not have to come to you and say, Lillibeth, it would make such a difference for me if you could give me a ride to this place. But instead to say, Do you need a ride? I hear you are going. Do you need a ride? And there it is.

Or maybe, as you have done recently, beloved one, have a friend who’s going through some pretty interesting times these days. And what was it you sent her?

A blanket.

S: Yes. A blanket. Why?

Because she was going through a time when she wasn’t feeling secure.

S: Aye.

And she wanted a security blanket, I believe. And she also wanted to feel loved, and I remember when I was a child, a blanket was all those things. And sometimes when you’re feeling that way, you can wrap yourself up and feel loved and feel secure.

S: Aye. It was a symbolic presence saying, I love you. What’s another.

It’s real important for me to teach my daughter, Amy, compassion for the people who live near us. So it’s real important for me to invite those neighborhood children into our home and have them play in the back yard, and feel them dinner if that needs to be done. To have them when their families were having problems.

S: To share with those around you. To be a willing participant in the lives of others. To look for ways to extend and give. To look for ways to extend and give.

Somebody tell me another. Aye.

A friend gave me a care basket last Sunday, just because. And it was great, and I really loved the thought of it, and I knew what it came with.

S: Yes. Very nice. Or maybe it shows up as, you give time instead of stuff. Or you just say a few words. Have you ever had a situation in which maybe even somebody you did not know happened to say just the right words to you. Coincidence, of course. Have you ever had a situation in which you were feeling a bit low—all right, maybe you were feeling scum of the earth—and in the mail you received a “Just wanted you to know I’ve been thinking of you. You’re in my prayers. You’re in my heart.” And maybe you were even putting on your very best face all the time, and nobody knew that you were having a hard time. Have you ever had that happen?

Those are the things that increase healing. Those are the things that allow for a loved child to grow into loving fullness. Healing and loving adults are what this planet is needing. It’s what this weary, consciousness is requiring now. To be able to keep going, to keep moving.

This has been a year of such incredible transformation, and the people around you are feeling a whole lot like you are, and that is a little bit overwhelmed—maybe a lot a bit—sort of like, if you could just get things organized, you know that it would make things a whole lot easier, but you don’t even know where to start, because you hardly have any time to get any more organized. That some of the sad things in the world, there’s just not a thing that you can personally do about it, and so you try to just separate yourself from it by not reading the news, or not finding out what’s going on in the world because it just gets you so down, because you’re already so close to down. Maybe you’ve found that you really are truly depressed. And how can you give what you don’t have?

You can relate to what’s going on in the world because you’ve been feeling parts of it, maybe the brunt of it. It’s that glorious aspect of spiritual growth that the higher you work, the more sensitive you are to what’s going on around you. Therefore the more the tendency to just slide back into your shell. And the need is to come out of it. The prescription, Dr. Samiel says, is to give of yourself right now. And that might mean spoon-feeding right now. Spoon-feeding somebody that you know should be, could be, teaching you, but they’ve had a bit of an illness and they’re needing help.

Maybe it means being the example. Maybe it means being the silent witness to failure, and the absolute cheerleader to success. Maybe it means lending a hand. Maybe it means lending a dollar. Maybe it means feeding the neighbor’s child. And your heart is so full of ideas at any given moment. Your amazing, powerful body takes in so much information at any given time that, simply to survive, you tend to block it into a narrow passageway of what you’re most familiar with, so that you won’t be overwhelmed by all of the input you are receiving. But I promise you, beloved ones, that some of that input is, you could help here, you could do this. It may not be much, but fifty cents to that person could make a difference. Go ahead, send that letter off that says Thank you. Give a word of love to that child, because you’re receiving that input too.

I am asking you to midwife and nursemaid right now by conscious, consistent acts of compassion, of kindness, of unexpected, often anonymous and with no expectation attached, gifts of yourself now. Now. To be the example. To say, This is what we do in this world’s family. This is how you learn to get along. This is done because it’s a loving thing. This makes a difference.

And one of the biggest differences that it makes, my friend, is in you. Giving of yourself requires such courage. Courage? You did not think that was the word I was about to come out with, did you? Courage. Because what if they don’t want your help? What if they say, No, go away. Leave me alone. What if they laugh? What if you have secretly gone up and put a love note on some anonymous car window. “I’ve been watching you and you’re a really nice person. Thanks. The Earth.” And stick it on a windshield. [Laughter] I like that idea. Wouldn’t it be fun to come to your car and say, Look, the Earth has left me a note.

Well, what if they laugh? Or somebody sees and they make fun of me? But you do it anyway. And maybe they do laugh, and they do make fun, but you have changed the pattern. And that’s what I’m after. Changing the pattern. Recalibration. Beginning with you. And then it moves out and out and out.

Somebody sees you doing something good. Here is an example. You let somebody in from a side street ahead of you in their car. Do you not see somebody in back of you do the same thing. Oh, what a good idea. I could do that. You become an example of getting out of the shell. Of something that can easily, painlessly, be done. And there are literally hundreds of those things every day, most of them bypassed for being not enough to make a difference. In looking for the big, showy, splash—the drama, the powerful acts—the world turns to war and heartbreak, because when you’re waiting for the big, dramatic, showy splash to do something good, it doesn’t get done. It’s the small things that absolutely make all the difference. It’s the small things that, step by step, change mass consciousness, get that patient up and running again. It’s the small helps, gifts, of love, of time, of talent. It’s the small acts, unexpected, no strings, no glory, that change you into what this world can use. That change you into what you wish everybody else would be. And because you have changed, they will see it and have an example.

There is a new kid on the block, and it needs your help. I encourage you, my friend, to commit every day—to commit every day—to do a specific work of compassion, of kindness, of love. Be it complimenting somebody, be it sending a letter, saying a few words, giving a dollar, or a hundred, whatever. That you take a very firm part in the healing process of what you see going on around you by beginning with yourself and allowing kindness to be the means that you choose to work in the world.

You can make such a difference and you can see the difference you make this way. Have fun. Make it fun. Enjoy.

One quick warning: It’s addictive. Being a bringer of joy is addictive. Being the cause of smiles is addictive. Giving of love is addictive. And the last warning is, it heals you. So if your preference is to stay depressed, to stay out of sync, to stay in a funk, to stay unable to work in the world, don’t do this, because it pulls you out of you and into the heart of the planet.

Glochanumora, my friends. Happy, happy trails.