Lisa Overman

More and more I’m seeing news coverage, internet coverage and talk at my church of how we can support one another and how churches can help guide us through this economically challenging time. I think this is a great blessing for our country. It’s a time where our country and our global community are realizing we have to think outside the box. We have to begin living our lives in a different way, with different attitudes and convictions for our future.

We must make efforts to curb our out of control consumerism and learn to live in harmony with the earth and our values. Constantly buying more is not only destructive to our wallets it’s destructive to our family life, when finances need to be budgeted. It also isn’t helping our planet with the trash produced by this continual cycle of buy and throw away that we have been living for at least the last decade.

What I am seeing through this coverage is a new way of supporting each other, a simplified way of living with reality checks. Churches here in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area are creating Sunday sermons on topics such as personal debt, and classes on handling finances, others are offering classes on saving on groceries, some have launched websites of tips and inspirations for surviving this economic downturn. I think this is a coming together of spirituality and every day life. We are learning to support each other with both practical knowledge and spiritual understanding through an economy that has everyone concerned.

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Security is a perception. We are never completely safe, our situations just seem safe. We bask in the contentment of seeming safety. It’s only when disaster strikes, jobs are lost, finances are compromised or our health is jeapordized that we realize what felt safe was simply a perception. Our real security comes from within, in feeling and trusting the spirit of God in our life. It’s God’s prescence in our life that brings a true sense of feeling secure.

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Lately I have spent a lot of time in conversation with a friend who is downsizing. They have spent the last couple years downsizing in stages. First they sold their house in Arizona and packed the belongings they wanted to keep in military storage. Next everything that they didn’t want to keep was either sold or donated. I know that they donated jeep loads of stuff, day after day. It was quite a process; we talked often as she sorted and packed. I also visited at one point during their transition. Eventualy they were left with just the things that fit in two large travel back packs and what they were taking across country to their family.

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There are many challenges that we face in this economy. With the state of homes, jobs and investments pretty much everyone is feeling the anxiety of the financial down turn. There are strategies and attitudes that can help us get through these times of challenge. They may not immediately change our situation, but they will uplift our mood, attitude and energy level, which is essential when we are feeling overwhelmed.

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This morning at my church, Harmony Metaphysical in Tampa; my minister did something wonderful for our congregation as we prepare to go into 2009. We were handed paper when we entered the sanctuary and told to write down the things we would like to manifest in 2009 and the things we want to release as 2008 ends. We have done this in previous years and each time I love it! It gives me a peaceful, focused time in the loving environment of my church to review the things I want to release and the things I’m creating as the new year begins.

Reverend Dee Jay recommended starting our 2009 affirmations with I am. For example, I am healed, and I have good health. I am abundant and I am creating greater abundance with my writing. I am creating a workshop to help others in grief begin to work through the healing process.

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The True Power of Water By: Masaru Emoto is a book that I find deeply interesting and that I recommend. It is one of several books that Masaru Emoto has written on the effects of vibration, energy, prayer and thought on water. When I was flipping through it this morning, reading randomly I came across a piece I wanted to share. Along with this is a YouTube video with Dr. Emoto

A family that subscribed to our magazine conducted an interesting experiment. They put the rice in two glass jars and every day for a month said “Thank you” to one jar and “You fool” to the other, and then they tracked how the rice changed over the period. After a month the rice that was told Thank you started to ferment, with a mellow smell like that of malt, while the rice that was exposed to You fool, rotted and turned black. Pg 97

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Doing what you love is a gift. I am blessed with the ability to write and express myself through my words. I am creating a life and career using these gifts. Not everyone has the opportunity to use their gifts or has a job that brings them personal satisfaction. Yes, you could say it’s a choice. If one doesn’t love what they do then they should find another job that offers at least a bit of what they love. That’s an easy statement to make if you aren’t feeding children or paying a mortgage or don’t have stacks of bills coming in every month.

For many people working a job they dislike is a reality. I can remember a close friend of mine going through a stage where he hated his job. He literally felt ill on Sunday night thinking about going to his job on Monday. Fortunately his situation was temporary and he later earned the job he dreamed of when he passed the foreign service exam and began the journey of working in the diplomatic corp in embassies around the globe. Now he and his wife and daughter move from country to country approximately every three years after a six month stint of language school in the United States between posts. It took him approximately seven years of taking the test before he passed. He was determined and he never gave up. He was clear that he would become a diplomat and do the work he felt was his calling. He now travels the world and loves his work.

I too have that focus and determination in my writing career. I spent years writing on weekends, holidays and summer vacations. I was fortunate that in 2002 I had the resources and support to take a year off from my teaching job and focus completely on my writing career. In that year I accomplished a great deal on my book. It gave me a sense of being near to my goal. It brought me to the point of being ready to write my book proposal, which would be submitted to potential publishers and agents. Just at the time I was beginning the search and the proposal process my father took ill unexpectedly and died of Non Hodgkins Lymphomia. He knew he had cancer for only a few days as everything happened incredibly fast.

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Flickr photo: from Skettalee

These are intense times and you may find your emotions zooming up and down and also allow fear to creep in as you watch the chaos of the stock market. There are things you can do to support yourself in staying peaceful. The more you can stay peaceful, the more you will be an energy match for the good you want in your life. So I have given some tips below on how to do that plus a look at what is happening astrologically. Finally there are some simple Feng Shui cures you can install in the financial sector of your home.

Here is a look at the financial crisis through the eyes of astrology, Feng Shui and spirituality plus suggestions of what you can do to cope.

1. Do everything possible to not buy into fear and panic.  Just remember that your thoughts and intentions create the reality you experience and no matter what everyone else is experiencing you can still be in peace and live a happy life. How to do that?  Continue Reading »