Articles by Lynn Woodland that are free to print and distribute

 

An article/Excerpt from the book

Holding a Butterfly—an Experiment in Miracle-making

Chapter One: The Experiment Begins 

        This book is an invitation to suspend disbelief, let your mind be boggled and have an experience of reality beyond what you think you know for certain. Miracles are more readily found in the slightly unsettling territory of paradox than on familiar ground so, if you’re game, let the experiment begin right now by imagining the earth shifting just a bit underfoot and that nothing you see is what it appears to be….

        The more of this book you read, the more deeply you will enter into a miracle-making experiment. Modern science, as you will learn here, is showing that we can’t change our minds without affecting the world around us and, as easily as reading these pages, your mind, and your world, are changing. If it’s your choice, you will become a miracle-maker. And if you’re feeling excited, it’s already begun.

        Proceed a little further into the experiment by imagining that you’re not alone as you read. Change your mind about the normally solitary experience of reading so that you are now, simply through your intention to do so, linking with every other mind who is reading these words. As we’ll explore in greater depth, all consciousness is connected. To quote one of the pioneers of modern physics, Erwin Schrödinger, on the nature of consciousness, “the overall number of minds is just one.”

        To wade a little more deeply into the fuzzy edges of reality, let go of what you think you know about time. Einstein proved in his theory of relativity that time and space aren’t a fixed and neutral container for matter and can be altered by what they contain. Time is a more fluid thing than we realize as Helmut Schmidt, one of the early researchers of mind over matter, discovered in his extensive work with random events generators. He not only found statistically significant evidence suggesting that consciousness alone can indeed affect matter, but also that consciousness can effect matter in the past. More on this later.

          For now, without quite understanding how, imagine that your mind is transcending the fluid boundaries of time and space to connect with every mind that has in the past and will in the future read these words. This is happening automatically simply because you’re thinking it. (You don’t even need to believe it; just imagine what it would feel like if you did.)

Picture this joined consciousness as clear, beautiful and only positive. As we join minds, we leave behind the clutter of small, weak thoughts that so often cloud our attention and rise into a Higher Mind that is wise and wonderful. In Higher Mind we amplify each other’s power for good and automatically repel harm. You may already feel a difference. Your senses may be a little sharper; you might feel warmth or tingling or gooseflesh. Perhaps you’re a little more awake. You may notice that you’re body is relaxing and you’re breathing more deeply. You may feel nothing at all, the real magic happening outside of your conscious awareness. It doesn’t matter what you perceive. Just imagine what it would be like if you felt certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that miracles are normal and starting to unfold in your life.

Now, for a moment, hold the deepest, most heart-felt intention that every reader of these words, past, present and future, receive something wonderful and imagine that, just by reading this page, you will too. Hold this thought lightly and with wonder, like you would a butterfly that just lit in your hand. Hold it gently… no need to strain… and let it go. Just as anonymous prayer has been shown to have a definite healing effect, even when the recipients are unaware that prayer is being offered on their behalf, just this easily, a powerful prayer has now been set in motion on your behalf. If you notice a waft of rose scent that has no discernable source or see butterflies, feathers or some cherished symbol wherever you go, just say thank you. As you’ve opened yourself to God, God is showing Itself to you.

And now you’ve become more than a passive reader—you’ve become part of this book, reshaping matter and calling forth miracles for yourself and countless others whom you will never know.

Lynn Woodland is an award-winning author, international teacher and human potential expert who, since 1975, has worked in fields of transpersonal psychology, human motivation, spiritual healing and mind-body psychology. Learn more about Lynn Woodland and Holding a Butterfly at www.LynnWoodland.com.

Creating Success in Changing Economic Times

            Movies like The Secret and What the Bleep have introduced “The Law of Attraction” into mainstream conversation telling us that anything is possible if we just change our mind. Meanwhile, the world is undergoing the worst economic downturn in most of our memories. Never before have such widely divergent realities of hope and fear pulled at us. Even those of us willing to entertain New Thought ideas of limitlessness may still find ourselves drawn into the collective experience of scarcity as the crashing economy and resulting panic make “changing our mind” no easy feat. Practicing popular success techniques without addressing the times we’re in can backfire, like trying to plant a garden in the middle of a snow storm.

Once upon a time (say, in the Reagan years), we were taught that it was desirable to use our wits to do more, have more and be more than our fellows. We took pride in “separating ourselves from the herd,” and there was no such thing as too much. Now, as it all falls apart, we’re seeing the end result of a strategy that raised up a few at the expense of many.

Just as the 1980’s made personal ambition and wealth chic, I suspect the next decade will bring compassion and relatedness into vogue. The New Age success techniques that were popularized in the eighties, from affirmation work to creative visualization need some updating. These times call for something more than simply locking ourselves away with our vision boards and copies of The Secret, intent on achieving our personal goals. The very strength of the collective experience right now seems to be calling us to have a collective experience, not separate ourselves from it.

It’s not just the catastrophes of our economy and environment that are being experienced globally; there are other kinds of first-ever collective experiences happening as well. Like his policies or not, the inauguration of Barack Obama was witnessed by more people around the globe than have ever before watched something together. If consciousness has half the power that science and metaphysics now suggest it does, what kind of impact that we don’t even know about might that much aligned mind power have had? In a more obvious way, the simple presence of the internet now joins us into one, easily accessed, global mind. For better or worse, the idea that we can “separate ourselves from the herd” is being replaced by the reality that “we’re all in the same boat.” Cooperation, collaboration and community are starting to get top billing over purely personal advancement. Interdependence is the new chic and, ultimately, will become our new path to prosperity.

It’s not hard to see how the attitude of “Me First” got us into our present situation but it may be harder to recognize that “Me” consciousness isn’t the exclusive purview of billionaires and corporations. Neither is it simply a matter of overt greed and malevolence. Its more subtle manifestations include all the ways we get so caught up in ourselves that we have nothing left for the world around us. It might look like depression, or getting absorbed in worries and survival fears, or becoming so busy with the demands of life that we have no energy left for kindness or caring. It could also take the form of knowing few, if any, of our neighbors; or of being so stubbornly self-sufficiency that we forget others might help us if we could just bring ourselves to reach out. Who among us can’t claim a bit of the “Me” consciousness that got us all into so much trouble?

That we all had a part in creating the problem isn’t a cause for shame but a call to action. If money is on your mind, before focusing solely on your bank account and self-sufficiency, examine the state of your personal community. What is your experience of interdependence? Who’s there for you emotionally, spiritually and in times of need? Who are you there for? If self-sufficiency has triumphed over interrelatedness in your life, consider giving more of your greatest resource, your time and caring, toward nurturing relationships. Not only does our network of relationships open doors of opportunity, but feeling emotionally connected helps us release the physical, emotional, and creative drain of worry, making it easier to succeed and thrive. Especially during times of stress it’s important to resist tendencies to isolate. If you don’t have a supportive community in your life, find one. Find those people with whom you can give and receive, accomplish more together than separately, have fun without spending money; and be fully yourself. A lack of this in your life may be more related to money woes and worries than you think.

There are other things we can do to work with rather than in spite of financially scarce times. Lean times often precede big leaps forward. Pruning a tree makes it more lush for the next growing season; taking a few steps back gives momentum to a running jump and, if we’re mindful, the times we’re in can give us similar momentum for a new phase of growth. Here are a few suggestions for making the most of this financial season.

 

1. Dream the life you want to grow instead of worrying about the life you fear losing. This is kind of like perusing gardening catalogues in winter, planning what to plant when the weather changes. With the same certainty that every winter leads to spring, trust that this wintry financial season, too, will change. Here’s where “changing your mind” can have a big impact. Worrying doesn’t lead to effective action but creative dreaming can awaken us to previously unseen options. Let your dreaming fill you with pleasant anticipation for what the next growing season will bring.

 

2. Clean house. Let go of clutter and whatever is in your space that you don’t need. If your home isn’t a place where you feel comfortable and can enjoy spending time, make it into such a space. Taking care of what we have and making space for new creates a foundation for prosperity to increase. Read up on feng shui, the Japanese system of spatial arrangement, for more on the relationship between space, clutter and prosperity. If you’re a nonbeliever, here’s a tease for you: find the messiest place in your home and research what area of life it correlates with in the system of feng shui (this is easy to figure out with any book on the subject or a little online googling). See if it doesn’t perfectly match the messiest, most out of control part of your life.

 

3. Practice mindful spending. Get clear about what’s really important and spend only on that. Here’s an exercise: for a month, every time you spend even a cent, ask yourself, “Is this expenditure taking my life in the direction I want it to go? Is it enhancing the quality of my life, prospering someone I’d like to see prosper or supporting something I believe in?” If not, rethink and redirect your spending. This exercise isn’t necessarily about spending less; it’s about spending better.

 

4. Become aware of any ways you’ve become dependent upon money for recreation, self-nurturing, self-esteem or socialization and discover some new ways to enjoy life that don’t require money. What you create, experience, and how you stretch when the easy crutch of money is taken away may enrich your life in unexpected ways and take you places a bigger bank account never could.

 

Lynn Woodland is an award-winning author, international teacher and human potential expert who, since 1975, has worked in fields of transpersonal psychology, human motivation, spiritual healing and mind-body psychology. Learn more about Lynn Woodland and her new book, Holding a Butterfly—an Experiment in Miracle-making, at www.LynnWoodland.com.

Creating Success in Changing Economic Times Part II:

Breaking our Addiction to Money

 

Once upon a time (say, in the Reagan years) we were taught that it was desirable to use our wits to do more, have more and be more than our fellows. There was no such thing as too much. Now, as it all falls apart, we’re seeing the end result of a strategy that raised a few at the expense of many. Where we once took pride in “separating ourselves from the herd,” we now find some meager comfort in knowing “we’re all in the same boat.”

            Money is a heady drug and there are countless books, seminars and methodologies out these days that feed our addiction for accumulating wealth, ranging from financial strategies taught by investment gurus to metaphysical techniques using the “law of attraction.” Before we make money our goal, however, it may serve more in the long run to understand why we want more. Addiction results when we use any activity or substance to try to fill a void that can’t be filled that way. We wind up needing more and more and there’s never “enough.” When inwardly we feel lack—something that has nothing to do with money—we’ll never be satisfied with what we have. No matter how much money we make, we’ll create debt, struggle, and worry out of it.

This isn’t meant in any way to moralize on the virtues of poverty. It’s consuming and debilitating to struggle with financial survival, even if it’s a six-figure income we’re struggling on (I once heard a report on the life style of bailed-out Wall Street bankers describing how difficult it would be for them to manage on a $500,000 salary cap). It limits our ability to thrive and to be of use to the world around us. But, regardless of our income, don’t we all personally know someone with a bigger income who struggles to make ends meet, and another who seems at peace with less? (Think about that.) Prosperity is a state of mind and when we have it, we automatically program our lives to work financially. Whether we have a lot or a little, we have our needs and wants fulfilled. We have the ability to attract money, without compromising ourselves in the process, and we also are able to create an abundant life without an abundance of money.

True prosperity is available to us without limit. We can have all we need to fulfill our highest purpose and live our highest joy. For some this takes a lot of money and for others it requires much less. My own personal role models of prosperity include the well-known spiritual teacher, “Peace Pilgrim” who owned only what she could carry on her person and felt freer having less, as well as a wealthy couple who have given great gifts to their community through their philanthropy. Falling in the middle of these extremes is an individual I know who simply practices kindness and generosity and always seems to easily manifest the trappings of a happy, gracious, materially comfortable life without a terribly large income. As we unhook the idea of “prosperity” from the prerequisite of “a lot of money,” it suddenly becomes easier to create a happy, abundant life with or without money, whether or not it looks like our neighbor’s version of wealth. This point is often missed, even in popular metaphysical teachings on prosperity, that it doesn’t necessarily take a large income to live prosperously.

The hidden blessing, and perhaps higher purpose, underlying the financial crunch shared by so many of us is that it’s forcing us to break the easy habit of money addiction. As we face, head-on, the void that money could never fill we discover that it doesn’t take money to nurture our spiritual lives and intimate relationships, and that the experience of joy is completely free. Here’s an experiment that might help break some of your spending addictions and rewire your thinking about money.

For a month see how many days you can go without spending money. Also, consider letting go of small purchase routines that you don’t really need. Take a snack or beverage with you so you can let go of the purchased coffee or snack habit, for example. Notice ways you’ve become dependent upon money for recreation, self-nurturing or socialization and be creative in finding less costly alternatives. Take the money you save and put it toward some sacred purpose. It might be a gift you give away, or you could use it as seed money to fund a cherished dream, or even to buy yourself something that usually feels too extravagant. See if you don’t start noticing a difference between “spending” and living prosperously.

 

Lynn Woodland is an award-winning author, international teacher and human potential expert who, since 1975, has worked in fields of transpersonal psychology, human motivation, spiritual healing and mind-body psychology. Learn more about Lynn Woodland and her new book, Holding a Butterfly—an Experiment in Miracle-making, at www.LynnWoodland.com.

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