What’s New

Delights of the Inner Path
     “Whoever is eager enough to find the secret kingdom will never fail in his quest.… To live rightly in this world we must first become aware of it. The problem is man’s false assumption that he is already aware, which leaves him no motive for investigation. Do not assume that the only existing world is that presented by the five senses and the surface mind.” These are beautiful words of encouragement from Vernon Howard.

Take Charge of Life!

     Here is a new and exciting ongoing series of articles written by New Life Students who have been attending classes for a number of years. They have experienced the benefits of coming to class on a regular basis for themselves. Life throws challenges at us all the time so why not learn to deal with them consciously and effectively. Read and enjoy these helpful and insightful essays which will cover a wide variety of life topics.

Two Valuable Exercises by Gary Blatchford
     If we will allow it, truth can affect and uplift our entire life. Amazingly, we have a lot of resistance to letting something higher help and guide us. Vernon Howard has given us many Truth Principles which we can use in daily life. I have been focusing on two of them recently, which are “ Now Is New” and “You can start life all over again.”
     Recently I was involved in a minor traffic accident with no injuries. However, the other driver was in an extremely hostile state, was verbally abusive and insisted we call the police. So I told him to call the police and then walked away, keeping about forty yards of distance between us. This helped to defuse the situation. While I was waiting for the police to arrive, I made the effort to be aware of my body and to keep in mind that “Now is New,” the accident is over, there is no need to dwell on the past and so I can ”start life all over right now.” And I also realized I could use my power to say no, another dynamic principle from the booklet Your Power To Say No, to refuse the other driver’s negative state. It is possible to remain free of the negativity of others.
     My mother has Alzheimers and she has been staying at a nursing home for almost two years. I am taking care of all of her finances. About a month ago we got a bill from the company that handles the billing for her prescription medication. The charge was for almost the entire time period that she has been at the nursing home. Wow, what a shock, but we can and should use shocks for spiritual growth. So I have been trying to take care of this billing issue, which in the past I would have called a big problem.
     Vernon Howard has said that if we use the exercises and follow the cosmic rules he lays out, we can get to the point where there are things to do but we won’t make them into problems. So I have been on the phone a lot with the different companies involved, and this time I handled things differently than in the past. Before, I would have carried a lot of anger from my previous dealings and this “residue” of anger would have contaminated the present moment. Now when I have to deal with things like this, I remind myself that “Now is New”  and that I can “Start over from zero.” It may not always happen this way of course, because there is a strong tendency to fall backwards and repeat past behavior, but when I remember my aim, I now know with certainty that everything goes much more smoothly. If I can remain calm, then that calmness can positively affect the other person involved.