[image error] Guilty dog, toy stuffing strewn all over the living room floor. There’s no need for guilt — ever! Photo: #458183 by Sheila Sund (CC BY 2.0) pxhere.com.



End Guilt Now!

That’s right. End guilt—forever.

My current understanding is that God doesn’t want us ever to feel guilty for any crime or sin we’ve ever committed. I’ve known some Christians who would bristle at that idea.

We need to be committed to leaving mistakes and sin behind, taking full responsibility for them, but never wearing the poisonous yoke of guilt or self-punishment. Commitment to good and leaving sin behind are crippled to the degree that we dwell in guilt.

Guilt and similar attitudes are toxic, counterproductive and selfish. How are they selfish? They point toward “self” and remain self-obsessed. Forget about self, except to take full responsibility for self—but never blame.

Guilt As a Barrier to Prosperity



[image error] Barrier. We don’t need to remain stopped by apparent barriers. Photo: #5274077_1920 by 00luvicecream (CC0) Pixabay.

Some people have grown up thinking that prosperity is selfish. It isn’t. God is infinitely prosperous, and He is the most humble of all entities.

In fact, when the enemies of Christ taunted him, asking him to prove his ability to do miracles, the Master replied that they should not “tempt” the Lord. He was pointing out the fact that doing miracles to prove anything is egoistic, and thus selfish. Asking God to help prove His power is asking Him to become egoistic or physical—tempting Him with seduction of pride.

Guilt about prosperity is selfish. It is a level of self-obsession that gets in the way of using the talents that God has given to us. None of this universe is important, but we must be willing to use the tools that remain available to us in order to help one another.

Prosperity Engine Progress



[image error] Accomplishments like this launch of the space shuttle Columbia have been made possible by science and engineering. And they “think” skepticism was involved. Photo: NASA (PD).

Moments before sitting down to write this article, I realized that accomplishment comes from two things: commitment and spirit. Hard work is merely a product of commitment. Sometimes, however, hard work implies unnecessary friction. This is when spirit is working against our intent, because the focus is on failure or difficulty, instead of accomplishment and competence.

Spirit is superior and with spirit alone we could create anything—any object, or the repurposing of existing objects, or even the healing of any condition (body, mind, spirit, social and otherwise).

With spirit alone, we could create massive prosperity. But none of us are advanced enough, spiritually to pull that off—at least not yet. We have to be willing to put in the work. The willingness is far more important than the actual work. The patience for results is also more important than the actual work.

The same goes for health. We could heal any body condition with spirit (faith) alone. Suddenly, clogged arteries are cleared; but where did the cholesterol go? Suddenly, a damaged retina is reformed, allowing sight where there was none; what happened in each one of those damaged cells?

But until we get to that level of spirit, we should be enthusiastic about working our butts off to achieve our goals. Laziness should never be our goal.

And we should eat all the right foods and do all the right exercises so that we give our physical body the physical path to health before we energize the body with spiritual healing. On this point, I highly recommend the Keto diet which has the following potential benefits, especially when combined with intermittent fasting (16–20 hours per day of not eating). I’ve eased into this so that, so far, the change is relatively painless.

The body begins burning fat, instead of depending on sugars and other carbohydrates (breads and starches).The body increases its HGH (human growth hormone) to help build resiliency and quick healing.The body can start to repair organs that have become damaged.The body can even create new stem cells which can be programmed, as needed, to replace old, worn out cells and body parts.

Not all of the above is explicitly claimed for the Keto diet, but there are indications that such processes are possible. When we commit to taking responsibility for an area of our life—finances, health, family, etc., we open the door to spirit understanding our request in a way that is compatible with what we actually think. After all, commitment is also a feeling, and the subconscious only “thinks” in terms of feelings.

Meditative Action



[image error] Monk meditating. The practice of meditation can sometimes help cultivate a positive mental attitude. Photo: Phra Ajan Jerapunyo-Abbot of Watkungtaphao, by Tevaprapas Makklay (CC-BY-3.0) via Wikipedia.

I’ve begun a new phase in building my own Prosperity Engine. This involves meditating through every waking moment of the day. I still do the morning routine of meditation, empowering affirmation questions and inspirational video. But beyond that, I work on being critically aware of being aware throughout the day with every action take—including resting.

In the past, I’ve been a news junky, watching controversial videos about some aspect of the world that, at times, can prove quite unsettling. This type of activity is not conducive to spiritual growth, if we react to it negatively. Responding to the vicious attacks of others in online comments can prove even more dispiriting. In the past, the urge to respond in kind was strong, but always I would attempt to find some other way to provoke enlightenment in even the most evil of commenters. I had always wanted to explore this area of human interaction, finding better and better ways to respond.

But such activities have tended to wear me down. Avoiding them can help, in the short term. But returning with renewed strength helps to exercise my own spiritual stamina. It helps to exercise my own balance and neutrality—the point of zero ego.

Christ recommended not casting our pearls before swine. That’s excellent advice. But, by the same token, we need to be able to weather the storms of snarling ego without being sucked into them and becoming overwhelmed.

Remember: Christ walked on the Sea of Galilee when the waves threatened to sink the boat in which his disciples rode. We need to have his mental and spiritual poise, while all around us the waves of adversity threaten to destroy us. Calm in the eye of a storm.

New Approach to Meditation

Instead of closing my office door and warning others not to disturb me while I meditate, I now allow any and all interruptions. The intent is to develop the skill of maintaining meditative focus at all times.

Thank the interruption silently or out loud. But feel gratitude for it while keeping the focus on paracognitive awareness—the awareness of being aware.

New Approach to Planning



[image error] Business planning meeting. Inspiration and ideas brewing along with the coffee. Photo: #593341_1920 by StartupStockPhotos (CC0) Pixabay.

Instead of doing detailed plans and day-to-day milestones for the next week or two months, do thumbnail plans with weekly or monthly milestones, leaving the details to a list which you consult on a daily basis.

I’ve loved the planning stage, but have never been that good at it. For one thing, I’ve never developed the self-discipline to stick to plans. That’s changing for the better.

And things happen which upset our carefully-laid plans. New discoveries are made. A brainstorming session inspires you to jot down a few ideas and 3 hours later you realize you need to start working on the day’s plans. Such divine distractions make detailed, careful plans a wasted effort.

In the past I’ve spent entirely too much time doing detailed plans which became worthless in very short order. I would do a fairly good job of following my plans, but never perfect.

Attachment to plans sometimes resulted in interpersonal upset. Not good. Sometimes I would end up in the doghouse for days. But now, I’ve found an approach which lets me do light planning—enough to ensure focus, but not so detailed that a few bumps or inspirational tangents don’t waste the planning effort.

It works like this:

For the day, I write down a relatively detailed list of accomplishments. For the week, month, year and decade, I write down an increasingly generalized list of actions, tasks, projects, programs, plans and goals. These become my “hierarchical calendar.” For each of the upcoming goals, I write a more detailed list of actions, tasks and projects, but don’t tie any of the items to a calendar. This becomes my “sequential list” for that goal.

I merely set a loose goal on the hierarchical calendar, and as I plan each day and upcoming week, I pop off the next few items on the sequential list for that goal.

The objective, here, is to do just enough planning to help move things forward, and so that nothing slips through the cracks.

Coming Up Next

The next article will be about “The Glorious Ego.” This is not going to be a facetious examination of this very negative, false identity. Instead, this article will be an exercise in deep gratitude for the very thing that gives us the most difficulty in life.

Think about this for a moment. The stress of gravity makes our bones and muscles stronger. Astronauts in zero gravity suffer weakened muscles and bones made far more fragile from the lack of stress. The difficulty we face in college with contrary ideas sharpens our critical thinking skills. Childhood illnesses strengthen our immune system. And the challenges in building a business can sometimes strengthen our character to the point where we can face any of life’s problems. Ego is merely one of the many sources of opposition that prepare us for what is to come.

After this coming week, the Prosperity Engine series will become more intermittent, allowing for the examination of other projects and ideas. My own Prosperity Engine is coming together nicely. The pieces are falling into place and the excitement is building to a fever pitch, despite, on occasion, huge dips in emotion. Each fall is followed by an equally energetic rise and a learning experience which continues to prepare me for more. A new favorite source of wisdom to add to your own list: Ed Mylett. He’s a peak performance expert, public speaker and professional trainer. I highly recommend his videos for his enthusiasm, energy and useful tools for handling life’s challenges.