ocus onto what you like. As you shift your focus onto something, more of the same comes to you. That is the Law of Attraction. Gratitude does not work because the Universe says, "Look, there is one who is grateful, let us give this one more for they deserve a greater reward." The Universe is a neutral place and responds simply to your focus of attention. Gratitude places your focus upon the positive side of any subject; it places your attention onto the having of something, rather than the lack of something. As you practice gratitude and acknowledge what you already have, you shift not only your focus, but also your vibration, into the direction of more of the thing you are looking for. You see, you cannot ask for anything that you don't already have.

If you were born on an island somewhere where there were no birds and therefore no eggs, you could not ask for more eggs. It is the same with everything your heart desires. When you ask for abundance, you already have it. When you ask for health, you already have it. You see, if your legs lack health and you cannot walk, your arms still work don't they? Are you then totally devoid of health? No. Inwardly you know what health is because it is part of who you are. The Four Principles of Creation are who you are, they are not things you need to earn or discover. Perhaps you need to remember, but that is all, that is all. Health and well-being, abundance, love, and the power to create are what you are. They are your very being, they are your soul, and they are the expression of the God/Goddess within you. We say to you with absolute knowing: You cannot ask for anything that you don't already have.

With gratitude you can focus on what is already present. For example, let us say that you are looking for an intimate relationship, one that provides you with companionship, love, sharing, and all the things you want from a partner. These things are already in your life, expressed by the people who are now in your life. Your friends offer you companionship, love, understanding, and many other things. When longing for a partner, most of you focus on your loneliness, and as you focus on the loneliness, you distance the opportunities for connecting with that special someone. When you acknowledge that what you want is already there and shift your focus onto it, you strengthen its presence and cause it to grow.

If you are one that says, "I cannot feel gratitude for I am so unhappy with my life", then let us say to you: Feelings are the result of thought; thought is the catalyst for all that you think. You can teach yourself how to feel gratitude by practicing it. Just as you can deliberately practice self-appreciation in order to engender self-love, you can also practice gratitude and encourage that feeling within you.

When you want something to come into your life, sit and think of all aspects of it. Consider the essence of what it is that you want. If it is more money that you want, what does money represent to you? For many, money is synonymous with freedom. What else does it represent? Your ability to create an environment that is pleasing to you or any other thing with which you associate having money. Once you know what money represents to you and understand the essence of it in your life, begin to write down all the areas of your life in which that same essence is present. As you acknowledge where this essence already exists, you begin to attract more of the same. At the end of each day, write down all the things you are grateful for, all those things that contain the essence of the thing you want more of, and you will have gone a long way in shifting your focus onto the positive side of the subject of your desire.

Here are more examples to help you on your way. Let us say that money represents your freedom to travel and to explore. If this is the essence of what you want money to do for you, then you more than likely have that essence in your life already in the form of a car. Bless this car! All things have consciousness, awareness, even so-called inanimate objects such as cars, houses, and washing machines. Imagine that you are tuning into the essence of your vehicle and thank it for representing the essence of freedom in your life. You may want to thank your car each time you go on a journey and reaffirm that this vehicle is a manifestation of your desire for mobility and freedom. Your life is never void of what you want. It may be in a different form, or in a quantity that is short of where you want to be, but it is always there. We have observed that most of you who dwell in this place of wanting something, tend to focus on its lack. You lament your inability to travel, and see a world that keeps it far, far away from you. Through simple acts of gratitude you begin to shift your focus onto the having side of the equation.

Gratitude is not a spiritual obligation; it is not a spiritual law that 'good' and 'loving' people are expected to follow. It is the acknowledgement of the love already present in your life. It is using the Universal Laws to your benefit. As you acknowledge all things with gratitude, you begin to radiate love, and as you do this, you become magnetic to love, health and well-being, abundance, and the evidence that you are creator.

Self-appreciation is paramount. There is nothing more important than that you feel good about who and what you are. As you acknowledge yourself with appreciation, you open the door to allowing more good things to come into your life. It no longer becomes a question of deserving or ability; it becomes a question of allowing. How much will you allow yourself to have today?

If there were nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine subjects upon which we could speak, and if you were to ask us which out of all these subjects was the most important, we would say to you, with an absolute knowing, without a shadow of doubt or the twinkling of a second thought, that self-appreciation is the most important topic of all. Self-appreciation is the key to your spiritual growth, to enlightenment, to humanity's problems; it is the solution to everything that is considered a problem.

For many generations you have been taught that to appreciate oneself is to be haughty and arrogant and unfitting. You have been told to keep yourselves small and not to think too highly of yourselves, for you are unworthy of such adoration and recognition. We bring you a different message. We say that it is time for you to appreciate yourself and that, without self-appreciation, all other things that you are striving for will either elude you or remain a struggle.

As you learn to appreciate who you are and what you have to offer the world, all the qualities that you want to develop, such as patience, acceptance, love, compassion, caring, and strength, will be yours. As is true in everything, that which is within you is reflected outside of you. That which you feel manifests in your world. Therefore, if you want to develop love, patience, and compassion, it is love of self, patience with self, and compassion for self that first must be developed. "You can only give what you already have." Does it not make complete sense to you when we say that? If you have but little love for yourself, then you will not be in a position to offer authentic love, i.e., acceptance, to another. You will offer a kind of ingratiation perhaps, telling yourself that you are loving and kind, but when you give love, there must be a two-way flow. The flow must come from an open heart, a heart that is also open to the receiver.

Many of you who focus on giving find it difficult to receive. Then, it is like using up the energy in a battery. The more you give, the more of your own energy you are giving away. When you are open to receive, then you become a conduit for the Universe, a channel for love. Pure Universal Love, the love of God, begins to flow through you. This love, this energy, is the source of all life, and as you become this channel, it feeds you, sustains you, keeps you in health and well-being, and allows abundance to flow freely into your life.

Self-appreciation is about saying: I accept myself exactly as I am. It is also about acknowledging your unique gifts. Your world is full of artists, healers, writers, great chefs, architects, teachers, and miracle makers who are yet to be discovered. They have not yet been discovered because you have not allowed yourself to shine. Within each of you is a highly creative, highly skilled being, just waiting to be discovered. Many of you catch glimpses of this in moments of inspiration, but then most of you immediately begin to compare yourself to others and tell yourself that their work or creation is of much more value than yours.

Self-appreciation is not about putting another down, or thinking you are better than another. It is about acknowledging the greater part of you, the part of yourself that is tapped into Universal knowledge and power and can create miracles. It is about acknowledging the truth of who you are. The truth of who you are is simple. You are a child of the divine, more than that even, you are the divine.

Somewhere along the line, many of you got the idea that you were here to prove yourself worthy of God or some other higher authority. This is not the case. You are here through the expression of your free will and you came forth into this plane of existence in order to create.

The Earth poses some unique challenges. It appears that there is much evidence suggesting that you are alone and not connected to the power of the Universe. But this is exactly why you chose to come here. It was a challenge that you were delighted to take. You are not here on probation; you will not be released from this place for good behaviour. You are not here waiting for the chance to go somewhere better. When your heart is filled with self-appreciation, it will govern what you draw to you. It will govern your experience of the world and how you relate to others. Then when you are fully self-appreciative, you will have the most delicious experience in the Universe. You will be physically focused, your heart will be fully open to the love of the Universe, and God's love will stream through you, using you as a channel for all that is great. There is no greater experience than this one, to be physical and spiritual simultaneously. This is why your planet is so populated, for many, many souls are wanting this experience, and self-appreciation is the key.

When you look at the great teachers, how do you think they got to that position? How did the Buddha and the Christ get to that position? It was through self-appreciation. It is only through loving and accepting yourself that you open yourself to the love of God. For God can only give you that which you are prepared to give unto yourself. There is no higher truth than that.

from Omni, a spirit guide channeled by John Payne. http://www.innerself.com/Channelings/abundance.htm

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