September 6, 1992

Samuel: Well greetings, dears.

Hello, Samuel.

S: Good. So, what I would like this night, just quickly, rather than the usual sort of gift, I want a different sort. What I’d like this night is, tell me something good that happened to you this week. I just want to hear a whole room full of good that happened.

I had a lot of people respond to my request to help them serve the people that they’re dealing with.

I had people I didn’t know very well say, “Thank you for being you. Thank you for being such an adult.”

My old roommate just called me today. She’s back in town from Phoenix, Arizona. It’s a real gift.

I’ve put together a lot of clues that I’ve been banging into and came across the direction my life needs to take.

S: That’s quite a week, isn’t it. More.

I had an opportunity to get in touch with a couple of old friends recently, and it was nice to reconnect, rekindle. It was like there had been no time, no distance whatsoever.

S: How lovely. Now, part two: Tell me why good things happen to you.

You expect them.

You create them.

You let them.

You recognize them.

S: You recognize them. “This is a good thing. Am I glad I figured that out, because I was thinking it wasn’t.” Aye. Good.

It’s also making lemonade out of lemons.

S: Some are getting very good at making lemonade. Aye. Why do good things happen to you?

Because you reach out and touch other people.

S: Because you’re not doing this by yourself. Because you connect in. Aye, good.

Because I’m worth it.

Because I ask for it.

The Universe wants me to have all good things.

You look for the good in everything that happens.

S: Because you’re looking for that good. Aye.

Ultimately, everything is good.

S: And after all, it is all good.

And I find it works a lot better when I get out of my own way.

S: Absolutely, aye. Because you got out of your way and allowed it to come into your life.

You are moving into harvest time, aren’t you. Of course, it gets a bit difficult when you’re talking in the South, because you start thinking that we’re talking literal harvest of fruits and vegetables—and of course that is in there, and many of the ancient ceremonies surrounding harvest had to do with this time of year, because their summer was not quite as interestingly wet and hot and long as yours tend to be here in this southland.

Nonetheless, this is moving into your second harvest, more traditional harvest—what are you doing to harvest your happiness, your good things. Specifically, the equinox in this particular year has to do with overthrowing past convention. That is one nasty word—who knows the nasty word that overthrowing convention is?

Change.

S: Change. That’s right. That’s the word. Change. But in relation to harvest, what’s that change about? It’s not hard; just put it together.

Trying new things.

S: All right, a willingness to try new things. Yes, that’s in there. And overthrowing convention means that. As usual, sweet soul, you’re about two steps ahead of me, and into the message, when I’m just doing the setup right now.

What I’m looking for is, what does second harvest have to do with change. Frank.

Well, what I was going to say was that we need to be ready to harvest things that we aren’t looking for.

S: More.

We need to, if we’re looking for change and we’re at a time of harvest, we need to not limit what we’re seeking to harvest, and look about us and harvest in other areas, and other areas of growth, and allow ourselves to be different, and look for our harvest in different areas.

S: Can you give me an example in there somewhere? Lillibeth.

If you have a farmer who’s bringing in a crop, and his mind is on bringing in the crop, but in the process of doing that he strengthens himself physically, through the action of the harvest, and then he recognizes that his muscles are strengthened.

S: Two harvests. He brought in a personal one of better vitality and personal strength. He’s also brought in a harvest of—beets. Aye, good. That works.

Sometimes, in the very field that you planted beets, you find renegade broccoli, eh? [Laughter] All right, maybe that wasn’t a good one.

I have pumpkins in my garden I never planted.

S: Anybody ever have something show up in your garden you did not plant? All right, there you go. Now why were you giving me a hard time. It was just the beets/broccoli connection, that’s where it messed up, eh.

Sometimes, like pumpkins, it’s hard to miss them. Sometimes it’s easy to miss the second harvest. Unless you’re looking, you might not see it. It might be disguised underneath the leaf of your main crop. It’s the hidden things of this world that make you function, not the obvious. How many times, sitting across from me in an individual session, have I asked you a question—why is it that this has happened—and it’s not the obvious answer? Have you ever had that happen? Every time, eh.

Allowing yourself to expand your view beyond the constant rut of known [things].

And what I want to talk about tonight is a version of that, because what I want to talk to you about tonight has to do with harvesting some happiness. And it’s very easy for many of you who have been listening to me for years to say, I’ve already got this one. I can just sit back and watch other people. Or maybe you’re going to get real spiritual, and you’ll sit back and start sending energy out to others, giving love to everybody in the room. Well, good for you. You’re going to miss a harvest if you do.

Because what I’m talking about tonight is knowing what you’re here to do. And of course, on the very first, most obvious level, what you’re here to do is be happy, isn’t it? So immediately, everybody knows, I’m not doing what I’m here to do.

You’re here to be happy, and in order to experience that happiness, you created a very wonderful pathway for yourself. You gave yourself gifts and abilities so that, by experiencing them, you would have consistent joy in your life, and thereby be encouraged to continue. Because, when you’re constantly hitting your head up against the wall and hurting because of it, that doesn’t immediately make you say, “Oh, good; I want to do more of this,” does it? Or does it?

In a society in which “no pain means no gain,” “if it was meant to be fun, they would not call it work,” and other such proverbs for daily living are considered current wisdom, then there is a very big part of you that does believe that pounding your head means you’re going to get a big reward. And it’s true; you are. You’re going to have a really solid head, so that you will be even more deaf and more blind to anything other than that solid wall you’re beating up against. That is the gift that comes at the end of all that pain and struggle: You get calluses. That’s how it works, isn’t it? You blister up and you work on through it, and pretty soon you get your reward—you get calluses—bony fingers.

So what am I going after this night? What’s my point? A part of all I’ve been teaching about the ascension process is that you have certain gifts available to you. Now, at this particular point, I’m not talking about the ascended acts that come as a result of the change, the translated energy system that you’re able to touch in to. That’s not the direction I’m going. I am specifically talking about your gift or gifts becoming more obvious.

The last few times that we’ve been together, we have talked about energy. We have talked about merging energy; we’ve talked about seeing energy. And all of that has very little purpose in this world, doesn’t it? Very little purpose. It’s one of those things that—so what?—you can live your whole life and it will never matter to you. So what? Except you find how these things are specifically designed to help you in what you are here to do. That starts us with number one premise: You are here to do something. Is there anybody here, truly—and I’m not talking to that sometimes cynical part of you that has learned how to function securely in the world by being average; I am talking to your heart—is it possible that there could be anybody in this room who has not lived their life to this point, knowing within that there was something they could/should do, knowing that you have a special offering to the world that cannot be given by anybody else the way you could give it, that has not felt both alienated because of that sense and constantly seeking the spiritual because of that sense—the knowing within you that says, I’m here to make a difference, and somehow—somehow—I will?

Sweet soul, you would not be here tonight if you did not have that awareness of your “more.” What happens in this world is, you do not know the outlet, you do not know how to be anything other than safe. What do I mean by that?

 Secure.

Going with society.

S: Going with society, fitting in, being . . . average, normal.

Not standing out.

S: Not standing out and being a target for the crowd.

If you are average—I did not say if you are normal—if you are average, go ahead, sweet soul, tune me out now and start sending loving energy to everybody in the room. They’ll get an average amount of it, and it will be somewhat helpful, and they may go home feeling a little bit better because of it. So, if you believe that you are average—and you know, that was a very safe thing for me to say, because you know how hard you have worked to fool the world into believing you are one of them—you know. (You might not, Peggy, you’ve not tried very hard to fool the world. I love you, darling.)

You know what you have done with your security systems to be able to fit in, and you know what you have given up in order to do it.

Once upon a time there was an incredible being of light—perhaps a new expression of the very Source, perhaps an expression that had been around for a really long time—nonetheless, a beautiful piece of pure light energy, filled with powerful, incredible knowing, and absolutely a view of what was going on on this planet, what was needed in the scheme of awakening humanity. The difference between—what is the tallest building Lexington would have?—perhaps the difference between seeing Lexington from an aeroplane and seeing it from the runway. Well now, when you’re on the earth, you tend to only be able to see what’s exactly in front of you (terminal building—ooh, that’s a fitting one, isn’t it?). But when you’re in the air, you say, “Oh, look at that area over there; it’s so green and beautiful. And look, there’s a lot of park land in there, and a lot of housing over here. And that looks like a school; look at all the children playing.” You can see that from the big picture. Well, there is that piece of pure light energy, and it says, “You know, from what I see, I’m going to make this experience happen.”

Quick question: There you are, floating around on a cloud, a being of light, shining your little self bright as can be, taking a look at the view and saying, “Here is what I’m going to do”—what limits you, once you are here?

Fear.

S: Ultimately, fear, but what’s going to limit you from doing all that stuff. Right off the bat, first thing.

Form.

S: Your view changes, and form and ego do [limit you], but you know, the biggest reason is because you’re not the only one here with free choice. So you come into this lovely family, because from this family you’re going to learn compassion, and they decide the way you’re going to learn compassion, you whiny, nasty, wet little thing, is by being ignored a whole lot. And so you develop quite a compassion for those who have experienced the same sort of non-nurturing environment that you went through. That wasn’t exactly the way you planned, there in the midst of clouds and light, to get all that, but once you’re there, dealing with other people’s choices also, you learn how to make lemonade, aye? You get my point. You come into this experience, and because you are going to be from every side dealing with individuals who have their own free choice, who might have an effect upon how far you are able to go with your particular version of your dream—and until you have learned adaptability and acceptance, that could prove to be a problem for you—I just said a whole lot right there; I hope you did not miss it—because you are going to be dealing in a particular structure of society that says, “You want WHAT? A triuni-what? You’re going to create your own reality?”

All right, so you have put yourself into situations in which, from all sides, it seems that there is experience after experience set up just to test your ability to stay on the path that that being of light created. Have you ever felt that way? But you gave yourself a way to know if you are functioning in the direction you needed to be functioning. You gave yourself a way to know if you were far away from your objective. What could be handier, what could be better, what could be more clever, eh? Just in case I get moved off the track from the society I’m coming into, from the world I’m taking part in, from the very form that I’m in, I will establish within myself a couple of signals that, no matter what, will allow me to wake up.

The first thing that you did was you gave yourself some very particular talents, gifts, abilities, so that, by doing these things, you would feel good about yourself. You know, when you’re teaching, Suzie, when you’re up in front of a classroom of those eager little faces, throwing spitballs and making noise, and you see those little faces light up, do you think, ooch, I hate this, I don’t want to do it anymore?

Oh, no, it’s gratifying. You want to do more.

S: Aye, I’ll keep doing this. So what about the pay? So what about . . . ? I’ll keep doing it. I like this, sure.

When you’re doing what you love, you’re doing what you’re here for.

“Oh, you see, I always knew that what I was here to do was watch TV all day and walk my dog. Sure, because that’s what makes me happy.”

You know who’s laughing, don’t you? All those who are saying, “or sit with the cats all day, or go to Atomic Cafe and spend all of my hours there with a drum in front of me. That’s what I’m here to do.” Well, all right, that’s what you’re here to do—do it until it doesn’t make you happy doing it anymore. That’ll give you a good week, maybe, because the truth of it is, the things that make you happy are the things that allow you to feel two things, completion within yourself and success within yourself. Completion and success are what make you feel good, and those things that allow you to feel that are very easily traced by asking yourself to look back over your life and think about those experiences in which you had a good time. If you want to know what your gifts are, this is the way. Now, in the workshop, we’re going to go into detail about it, and then Suzie will do more detail about that the Sunday after the workshop, so that, by the end of this year, you’re going to know what your gifts are, you are going to know what makes you happy. You are going to have no excuses.

Very quickly, why do I care? What’s my carrot. You are happy, so why do I care? It makes me happy when you’re happy? That’s the reason? Okay, getting that one aside, why do I care?

One person’s happiness touches another person, and when you feel good about yourself it helps others feel good about themselves, and it touches everyone, and it goes around the world.

S: Because you are the example that it can be done. You are. Because you become the example that it can be done, and that is why, one by one by one, it happens.

Looking back on your life, think about five particular instances that are just happy memories for you. All that’s designed to do is prime the pump. This is Sunday night; you are not going to be able to do it all right here tonight in the next three minutes, but you might be able to think of one experience you had. What makes you laugh? What was an experience in which it seemed everything was going well? If you were to think of it a different way, looking backward over your life, what has been a highlight this year? How about last year? What was the highlight of last year? And the year before? What was the highlight for you? Sometimes those highlights are not necessarily experiences in which, at the time, you thought, oh, isn’t this fun. Sometimes it’s an experience in which, afterwards, you say, see how this led to that, and to that, which was exactly what I needed; that was great; thanks.

Working backwards, look at the highlights of your year. And then, looking at those, come up with five of them. What seem to be major highlights? Looking at that, what made it a highlight for you? Sweet souls, if this work is not practical, it’s not worthwhile. If you come here just for the circus, you’re missing out on the opportunity for some outrageous, incredible, beautiful, and needed growth. By letting yourself think this through, by committing to going home this evening and working it out, or giving yourself some time tomorrow to work it out honestly, you’re going to be able to overcome the greatest sabotage to your doing what you’re here for.

And that great sabotage is, “If I don’t know what I can do, I never have to do it, right?” Ignorance is bliss, except to a being that is awake—and then it drains your energy. It makes you unhappy. You start living in a rut. You’re tired all the time. You’re not happy.

So what is it about those highlights? Ask yourself these three questions: The first one is, what happened to bring it about? By that I mean, were there specific instances, specific maneuvers? Did it require any particular sort of planning?

Second question: What are the elements? Meaning, are there people involved? “Seems like every time I’m having a great highlight and a particularly wonderful experience, there are always people involved. There are always dogs involved. There is always just myself only.” These are things you need to know. If you find out that the best things happen to you because you, on your own, make them happen, well then, good grief, it’s about time to start honoring that and stop trying to do everything in groups. Learn how to learn with groups, but recognize that you need to get away.

Maybe it’s the other way around. You always thought you do a whole lot better on your own, and you have success at being a loner. You are an excellent monk on the mountain, but for the things that made you happiest you’ve been around one, two, three people you really care about. And so in there is a lesson about establishing relationships with a few people you care about, and not hiding.

The third: Why did it happen? Sounds sort of like the first one, doesn’t it? But it’s not. And what you’re asking is, was there a process there? For instance, in every one of them, it seems as if you’re teaching something. Why? “Well, as it is, I’m a teacher, and it’s the job I do, and it just seems that that’s a real affirmation that that’s what I need to be doing.” Perhaps you find yourself teaching something, but it’s not because it’s your work; it’s that you did especially well on the job when they had you in a different position. Where you are going to be working training three or four people into a particular job, then you’d be going back to what you did—you loved that; it was fun for you. That lets you know that, when you are working with others, one on one, teaching something to them, you really enjoy it; it’s good for you. Your successes, your feelings of success, are there.

Just allowing yourself to see a pattern, giving yourself labels that these questions will help you see, will allow you to begin to recognize what it was that you set out for yourself as the key, the signpost—”I really seem to communicate very well.” “I’m a good leader.” “I work very, very well with small children.” “I seem to have an ability to know what is going to happen, and as a result help people through crises.” “I enjoy myself most when I’m out in nature, just minding my own business, and as long as I can do that I can put up with most anything.” Getting a feel for what the patter of your happiness is is going to give you a feel for your gifts.

Another way to do this is to look and see those experiences in your life that you have considered disaster, and by asking yourself the same sort of questions, you’re going to be able to see your patterns for the second thing that being of light gave. The being of light not only gave gifts, talents, abilities so that, by doing them you would be happy and therefore continue doing them; it also gave you a few handicaps—foot-in-mouth disease, for instance—so that, when you find yourself up against a brick wall, you will not say, “Oh, this is great; look what I am doing to learn how to toughen my head.” Instead you will say, “Stop! This is terrible. It’s not fun. I hate this.” And if you have already figured out that you are not here to be a martyr and an example to the world of what a true martyr can be, then you can say, “Look, this seems to be the pattern of things that make me unhappy.”

Scout’s honor—when you stop doing the things that hurt, you stop getting hurt. Oooh, what a metaphysical statement there! Oooh, big occult knowledge. When you stop beating your head against the wall, you stop having headaches.

Let’s hear it one more way. Somebody, give it to me. 

I have found, throughout my life, that when I was banging my head against the wall, when it came to be obstruction, whether it was my job or what was going on in the house, that sometimes things weren’t meant to be. Or if I would try and change jobs or do something that led to banging and banging and banging, that it was not meant to be, and that sometimes, when certain doors are closed, they’re closed for a reason, and that when I’ve allowed things to happen, when things have fallen into place, when I’ve not resisted changes and said, “there must be a reason for this,” that things have fallen into place and they were meant to be.

S: Aye. Non-resistance sets you up for successful pathwork. So either by looking for the patterns in what makes you happy as a means of showing those things that are your gifts or by looking at those things where you have constantly beaten your head up against the wall and said, “You know, I bet these aren’t my gifts,”—you’d be right—to a point, and I’ll get that one real fast before we close—you are going to be able to give yourself some insight. You hold yourself back by the views that you have, the view of you . . . and the view of you . . . and the view of you. You hold yourself back by what you believe you are capable of doing, what you believe you should be doing, what you believe you’re here to do. All of those are also the very things that move you forward, aren’t they? They hold you back when those beliefs say, “not enough, can’t do it, never been done, too risky.” And you hold yourself back because the risk keeps you safe, and safe means same.

If who you are, as you are, works, then none of this matters. If everything that you have been doing has brought you that full and delightful sense of completion and knowing and success, if what you have been doing allows you to love yourself more, to appreciate what you are about and what you do and the world you live in more, to understand, if what you have been doing has worked, don’t change. Don’t.

But if there is something in you which says, I know that there is within me a light so bright and that it can touch others because I’ve seen it do it, and I know that something in me has come here to help somehow, if you don’t feel you’ve been able to do enough of it, to see enough of it, to know it, then risk this inventory. Risk looking to see what makes you happy and looking to see what does not work as a means of looking for the pattern of your gifts, for your gifts show you what to do.

I said, before I closed I wanted to tell you the only glitch in the system. This is a disclaimer, the glitch. If you allow yourself a true study of what has worked and made you happy and what has not worked, the highlights and the lowlights of your life, one of the things you might find is that a whole lot of the highlights show up in the lowlights, and a whole lot of the lowlights show up in the highlights. Somebody said to me just recently, “All right, Samuel, I’m onto you. You only tell us half a truth.” And I said, “Wait a minute here. Whatever do you mean by that?”

All right, so here is the whole truth: The only thing you ever do that makes you put your head up against the wall is your gifts. The only thing you do that makes you happy is your gifts.

“Wait a minute, Samuel. Are you saying that by doing my gifts I’m going to blow my head up against the wall?”

What I’m saying is that you’re going to find that every beautiful, powerful ability that you have shows itself up with sunshine and light, and when you don’t do it, the other side of it shows up. Everything has two poles to it. Not a good and a bad; that’s not really how it is. It is the action of it and the inception of it. Knowing to do something isn’t enough. It creates in you a response that blows your head up against the wall. Doing creates the feeling of function and wholeness.

Let me say that another way. The energy of love comes to this planet. An individual who recognizes love and chooses to live love takes that energy of love and puts it out and creates more and puts it out, but an individual who is fearful and has learned throughout life that love means “is also going to ask for something,” love means pain, love means danger, when they get that love energy, they’re going to say, “You better watch out! What do you think you’re doing?” And so the very intensity that guards against action is also the intensity that allows action. The very energy, love, is not only that wonderful, emotional caress, that lovely spiritual activity; it’s also a threat. Same thing; two sides.

What determines the use of the energy? Intent. And intent before you have wisdom you call perspective. My way of viewing a thing, the options I have in this situation. Once you act on that and have a knowing, it allows you next time to use that wisdom, and then you develop intent—I choose this because I have developed this perspective. You see? It’s not so hard, is it? Ha!

So it is, then, that your perspective, acted out to create intent, determines—if your gift is communication, you are going to use it with love or you are going to learn how to be the most manipulative, controlling, difficult communicator that there is. Your gift is healing, and you are going to learn how to use that gift and reach out and touch someone. Or, out of fear, you are going to create a life which—because something within you knows that you affect people, because something within you has noticed that things change around you, because something in you has seen that you’ve got a little bit more power than you care to think about and as a result you deny, that healing energy recircuits itself into guilt. And guilt to anger, and anger to separation.

You will see, by allowing yourself to look all the way inside, that your gifts used make you very happy; your gifts unused, sure enough, are still your gifts, and they are what sabotage you. This allows enough of a connection—even if you do not make it to the retreat—enough of a connection for you to be able to take charge, to start creating with intent some success, to control your happiness and not be controlled by your unhappiness. And it’s time for that.

Time, sweet souls, for the second harvest, the things that have been hidden under the obvious workings of the world, the second harvest of looking to see what you have patterned yourself with, and bringing that up from the cabbage patch.

It’s for you.

Glochanumora. Happy, happy trails. Make them so. Figure out what it is that creates a happy one. Figure out why you have this preference and if it’s been feeding you or not.

Second harvest.

Happy trails.