Category: In His Steps

Faith

Law of Attraction

Tina 4 Comments

Also known as: The Law of Attraction…and some thoughts

A couple of weeks ago, a colleague asked me if she could borrow an extra bookmark. Being the reader that I am, I should have a bunch of bookmarks in my bag, but that day, I didn’t have any extra. Turns out she was reading The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I have never read that book nor even had the desire to read it, because as I told my best friend, “Isn’t The Secret a fancier way of saying you should think positive?”

Later on my colleague started telling me about how she got married, and she mentioned something about thinking about how her husband proposed to her. She told me that they weren’t really talking about it, but she was thinking about it, about getting married and all that. Sometime later, her then-boyfriend proposes. Wedding bells.

That still didn’t make me interested in reading the book since I’m not much into non-fiction or self-help books anymore. We did have a short discussion after she told me about that, though, about how we attract the things we think or declare we want. Things turned to a bit an uncomfortable road as we sort of touched on my love life (or lack of it), and then that got me thinking.

So it’s all about the Law of Attraction. If you think, or declare what you want, it will come to you. I’ve always believed in the power of declaring things and of course, praying for things, but I never really thought about that law. It wasn’t until we talked about it that I got thinking. Do I believe that as well? Maybe that’s why I don’t have the things that I want, or been waiting for, because I haven’t been thinking about it. Or, maybe because I’m expecting that I won’t get it. Maybe that’s why I didn’t get to go to Australia years ago. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t lose that last 10 lbs. And maybe, maybe that’s why I’m still single.

Truth be told, what I just wrote there sounded like…well, crap. I feel like I’m blaming not just myself but the universe for not giving me the things I want, right now. Or at least, sometime soon.

I’m not saying that it’s not true. I’m just having a hard time grasping the idea. I know I’m not the most assertive person around. I tend to take a step back and I often feel bad whenever I receive something that I feel like I don’t deserve. I work with my own set of expectations (which is really not a good thing, IMHO), and when I don’t get what I want just yet, I just think, “It’s not for me.” Or, “It’s not yet time.”

But what if I’ve inadvertently shunned away those things because I think that way? What if because I always thought I wasn’t ready or that I didn’t deserve any of those things?

But when can you say that you’re 100% ready? Isn’t that just a state of mind, and you’ll never really know when you’re ready for it until you actually take the leap?

And what do I know about deserving things? Who am I to limit myself and all that? Who am I to put a cap on the blessings that God gives to say when I’m deserving of something?

I ask too many questions, I know. And I know I am probably over thinking this entire thing. It just made me wonder if I am somehow limiting myself and what I can have and what I can give and what I can achieve by the way I think.

And, yes a part of me can’t help but wonder if maybe if I think differently about my love life, like if I didn’t think it’s such a taboo topic sometimes, then maybe…maybe I would not still be waiting. You know?

But I think a part of me is also afraid to find out that even with all that claiming, all that believing, all that attempt to attract…and I still end up with nothing.

Now that is over thinking. And kind of depressing. But still.

Really?

I think I still need a little more time to think about these things.

But didn’t God say, “Ask”?

Maybe I need to shift my thoughts a little, you know. Maybe, instead of thinking about the Law of Attraction, I could focus on something that I know is a more sure foundation. You know, like what Jesus says in Mark 11:24:

Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it shall be done for you.

So, what about you? Any thoughts?

State of the Heart

Tina 4 Comments

Also known as: What is the state of my heart? Answering a question I wrote for today’s Didache reflection

I always find myself surprised whenever I see a reflection I wrote in Didache ((A daily Catholic devotional from Kerygma Family — you can get it sent to your inbox everyday for free, just sign up at the website. Or better yet, buy a copy of Didache!)) during my prayer time. I guess sometimes I forget all about it, so seeing something familiar, or my name at the bottom always takes me by surprise.

That happened yesterday. I chuckled as I read my reflection knowing full well why I wrote it. :) Here’s the full text:

FOLLOW YOUR HEART

“For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts…” – Mark 7:21

It’s a popular saying: follow your heart. I’ve read a lot of books and watched a lot of movies that always had that same central message. Because, as they say, the heart knows where it’s going and it could lead you to where you really want to be.

For a long time, I believed that I shouldn’t trust my heart, because I couldn’t trust my desires. I always thought that whatever the heart wants was selfish — only for me, me, me and not for the greater good of other people. I didn’t believe in the saying “follow your heart” because I felt that whenever someone follows his or her heart alone, it would always lead into trouble. It would be something out of God’s will.

Right now I’m trying to unlearn that. In the past couple of years, I’ve learned that my deepest desires are the same desires that has God planted in me. These are the things He planted deep in my heart, the ones in line with His will.

And for me to know what these true God-given desires are, I’ve got to work to make my heart more like His.

REFLECTION:
What is the state of your heart?

Make my heart more like Yours, Lord.

I had to laugh when I saw the reflection question. I know why I wrote this exactly, but I found it funny that was the question I asked. What is the state of your heart? or, How’s your heart? is one of our favorite questions back when I was in YFC ((The Catholic community I grew up with)). It’s a question that makes us stammer and falter to find the right answers that wouldn’t make us sound like a wuss, or at least someone very needy or desperate. In short, we all find ways to sum the answer up into two words: I’m okay.

Okay, maybe that’s just me. :P

So in the spirit of my reflection published in today’s Didache, here’s a brutally honest moment ((A term used to describe the way I blog before)). I will answer the question: What’s the state of my heart, right now?

Really and truly?

I’m trying. If there’s one word I can use to describe the state of my heart, it’s that word: TRYING.

It’s not that I’m not okay. I think I am okay now (in fact, at this very moment, I am kind of happy), but I know that that general feeling of happiness can change just as easily because of some things that could happen at work, at home, or what people say or do or do not do. Happiness is fleeting, really. If you want something that would last, strive for joy.

But talking about joy is in another post. My heart is always trying. Trying to be content. Trying to be joyful. Trying to be strong. Trying to want the right things. It’s different from struggling. Struggling is the more conflicted form of trying, when you know you want something but you also know that it may not be a wise idea. Struggling is something like this:

Struggling happens to me a lot, more often than I want to. Struggling is good for the heart, but I think it’s not healthy to be always struggling. You’d have to find some peace inside you at one point, when you make a choice, and then you go and try to be faithful to that decision.

But trying…trying is different. Trying is when you know that you will never be enough, but still you try anyway. It’s  wanting to be better, to do things right, to be loving even when it’s hard. Trying is when you attempt to reach something, and when you finally get it, you try to stay there or move forward.

My heart is in an almost constant state of trying. Trying to be content, to be joyful, to be generous, to be prayerful. Trying to be patient. Trying to be loving. Trying to be healthy. Trying to be after God’s own heart. Failing most of the time, but trying, anyway. I don’t think I will ever stop trying at least until I reach perfection, which I will only reach with Him.

This reminds me of my favorite quote from C.S. Lewis:

“We learn, on one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and, on the other, we need not despair even in our worst for our failures are forgiven. The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection.” (Mere Christianity)

You know what they say when you don’t succeed? Try, try again. That. My heart is doing that. :)

How about you? Have you stopped and asked yourself the same question? What is the state of your heart?

Seeds of Wisdom

Tina Leave a comment

Also known as: The quotes and verses I put in my planner to start of my 2011 right

Oh you thought I’m done posting here? Of course note. Remember: the newer and emptier and shinier the blog, the more I post. Once this is filled with too many stuff, watch how my posting declines.

That, and I really don’t have much to do today, anyway. :P What a boring peaceful January 1, eh?

Anyway, I was planning to do a post about photos and how I changed from January to December 2010 — a total vain and pic-spammy post, but I decided to leave that for another day because I don’t have Photoshop in my Mac (sadness). So instead of forcing you guys to look at how much I changed physically in the past year and boring you to death, I am going to post something more…worthwhile.

I hope.

I like quotes. I like taking note of quotable quotes in a book, I like highlighting Bible verses and taking down lines from TV shows and movies. I lose and forget them half the time, but I have some quotes that I can never forget because it helped me remember important things in the past few years.

So, as a reminder for myself and to share them with you…well, here they are.

(Yeah, that was kind of a fail in introducing them. Sorry. ^^ )

Solomon’s Wish

I am catching up with my Bible reading for my online book club, and I finally reached 2 Chronicles today after weeks of being delayed. I remember reading that book back in college but since Chronicles was known as a collection of names, I kind of skimmed over the other parts of the book. This re-reading is helping me to see things in a different light. I started on 2 Chronicles today, and it’s basically a retelling of some of the stuff written in 2 Kings. The start of the book shared the story of Solomon and what he asked from God, and I found God’s answer to him more striking here than the one written in 2 Kings:

God answered Solomon, “This is what has come out of your heart. You didn’t grasp for money, wealth, fame and the doom of your enemies, you didn’t even ask for a long life. You asked for wisdom and knowledge so you could govern well my people over whom I’ve made you king. Because of this, you get what you asked for — wisdom and knowledge. And I am presenting you the rest as a bonus — money, wealth and fame beyond anything the kings before for after you had or will have.” (2 Chronicles 1:11-12)

I like how this puts things into perspective, how it stresses that when you have your heart in the right place, the other good things will follow.

Dreaming of happiness

I got this quote from a Lifeteen podcast last year, and I remember posting about it back when I first heard it. The Lifeteen podcast that I heard this from badly needs to be listened to again, because it has all the explanations and such. But since I can’t transcribe all of that down, I just wrote the passage in my planner to remind me of that always.

This came from Pope John Paul II and it is absolutely beautiful. Stop and read it a couple of times so you can marvel with me at the truth this sheds light on:

It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness. He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you. He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle.

It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal. (Pope John Paul II)

You are exactly where you should be

I first got this prayer/quote from my friend Tuesday back in college, when I was still active in my Catholic youth community. Back then, I was on my internship, and I was really struggling with it because…well, I hated it. I felt like I wasn’t made for the corporate world, and I was very lonely at work and I wasn’t getting paid and I really, really missed being in school. I guess I was having a growing up crisis then. Anyway, I was constantly chatting with Tuesday then and one day during a household, I think (if not, it was an overnight or maybe even a random chat with her), she shared this prayer to me, after her friend shared it with her. It became my prayer for 2006. It’s been a while since I last saw this one, and I thought it’s fitting to have it as a prayer again, even if it’s five years later.

That today you find peace inside you, that you can confide in your highest power because you are exactly where you are supposed to be, but do not forget the infinite possibilities that are born from the faith, that you may use the gifts that you have received and transfer the love that has been given to you, to make you feel satisfied that you are a child of God. Allow his presence in your bones and give your soul the liberty to sing, dance and be warmed by the sun, that is there for everyone and each one of us. (St. Therese of the Child Jesus)

One more time: you are exactly where you are supposed to be. How comforting is that? :)

I think there should always be conscious effort in remembering things like this that we remember at the start of every year. Conscious effort. It won’t be easy for the next 364 days, but by God’s grace, it is doable. Right?

There are infinite possibilities in 2011 friends. Let’s help one another remember that. :)