room and cry, wringing her hands over the state of

the world, and fall asleep in tears. This road is all too familiar to

her; it goes nowhere good. Then, something quietly dawns on her. She

hears a subtle voice; something tells her that she doesn't have to

choose this road, that there are others. She makes a small move that

begins to break the pattern she has lived over and over. She goes into

the room where her dusty sewing machine sits in the dark. She pulls

out a pattern she abandoned a long time ago and begins to sew, with

devout attention and precious care, as if her very emotional well being

depended on it. She feels a bit better, a little at a time, then

notices when two hours have flown by that she has been completely

absorbed in her creative work. She hasn't thought about the horrific

state of things for even a moment. By making a leap out of the

familiar, she has cut a new pathway. She has made a new choice. And

the more often she takes the small step to do something different each

time she goes into reaction about something, the easier it will be to

have power over her response.

What happened when this woman made the choice to do something positive

in the face of her despair? Her body and mind were accustomed to going

down a particular road.in fact; our bodies begin to expect us to go

down certain path in the face of certain stimuli. It is as if we train

ourselves from an early age how to respond to emotional stimuli, mental

challenges, physical difficulties, and even trauma. But we always have

the choice in how we respond, no matter how automatic our responses may

feel.

"Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as

parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret

garden we will tend... when we choose not to focus on what is missing

from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present --

love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal

pursuits that bring us pleasure -- the wasteland of illusion falls away

and we experience Heaven on earth."

Author: Sarah Ban Breathnach

We all experience moments in our day when something unexpected arises,

or we don't achieve a desired outcome. We can perceive these

situations as negative, positive or neutral. Our attitude towards the

event is not pre-ordained or automatic, although it may feel that way

due to its being conditioned in our bodies for our entire lives. In

actuality, how we respond is our choice. When faced with a potential

shift in our attitude, there arises a single moment of decision about

how we will handle it, what I call a "choice-point" . We can choose

whether we will tumble down the rocky hillside of victimization, ending

up bruised and battered at the bottom, or we can choose to look at the

situation as a learning opportunity, asking ourselves questions like,

"What is the gift in this situation? What message has the universe

brought to me?" By examining the situation from a larger

perspective, we realize that we do indeed have a choice about how we

respond. And if we do go down the victim road, we can always stop and

focus on what we are grateful for to bring us back up.

Scientific studies have confirmed what the sages and mystics of

earth's history have been telling us all along. Gratitude, prayer

and love carry a high vibration, whereas despair, anger and fear carry

a low vibration. Our bodies carry vibrations that change with our

thoughts and with the vibrations we encounter as we move through the

world. A person whose body is wracked with disease is suddenly

cancer-free after several hundred people prayed for him. A partygoer

may show up grumpy and feeling anti-social, but winds up giving up the

grumps because everyone else at the party is having a good time. I may

intersect with a rude person in a store, whose vibration is quite low

due to their anger. My body's vibration may fall into a lower state

if I allow myself to be triggered by this person. Or, I can

consciously choose to respond to the situation with love and maintain a

high vibration in the face of the rudeness. If I am around this person

long enough and I focus on maintaining my high vibrational state, the

other person's body will be affected by MY vibration. By the end of

our interaction, whether we have said anything to each other or not,

his vibration may have risen to the point that he is not angry anymore.

This is the principle of resonance. In layman's language, the

principle of resonance says that when there are two differing

vibrations, one will rate of vibration will soon resonate like the

other or they will move towards each other and meet in the middle.

This can mean that a lower vibration cannot remain constant in a

sustained field of higher vibration.

This principle of resonance is played out beautifully in our physical

bodies in the phenomenon of kidney stones. We know that kidney stones

are hard little calcifications that have to be passed through the body

or surgically removed. However, a recent technology now uses very

localized doses of high vibration, aimed at the kidney, to actually

dissolve the kidney stones. The kidney stones are reduced to their

smallest particles and passed easily through the body. We can think of

this as an example of how a low vibration, no matter how solid it

appears, can be changed by focusing high vibration onto it.

Another example of this phenomenon of changing the vibration of

something that seems unchangeable is the study done in 1993 by the

Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy in Washington DC.

This National Demonstration Project to Reduce Violent Crime and Improve

Governmental Effectiveness brought approximately 4,000 participants in

the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs to the United States national capital from June 7 to July 30, 1993. A 27-member

independent Project Review Board consisting of sociologists and

criminologists from leading universities, representatives from the

police department and government of the District of Columbia, and civic

leaders approved in advance the research protocol for the project and

monitored its progress. The study, led by John Hagelin, PhD., showed a

25%-48% decrease in violent crime during the time period of the study.

The conclusion that can be drawn was that the high vibration of the

4000 meditators infiltrated the DC area, and that the low vibration of

the aggression causing violent crime could not be sustained in the high

vibrational filed created by the meditators. (For more information on

this study, go to http://www.istpp. org/crime_ prevention/ )

A beautiful example of how our thoughts change vibration is evidenced

in Dr. Masaru Emoto's work. He has documented, through remarkable

photographic techniques, water's response to positive and negative

thoughts. (Remember that positive feelings such as love, gratitude and

prayer carry a high vibration, where as anger, sadness and fear carry a

low vibration.) In the case of a highly polluted river in Japan, the

water photographs show a diffused, disorganized water molecule group.

When the very same water was blessed with prayer, the water formed

exquisite, organized crystal shapes. His research went further when he

placed written phrases on bottles of distilled water and left them

overnight. Water responded to these phrases similarly; the water which

sported the label "Thank You" formed beautiful symmetrical

crystals, where as the water that carried the "You Make Me Sick"

label responded with a discomforting display of pockmarked blobs. As

is evidenced in Dr. Emoto's work, our attitudes and thoughts are

reflected perfectly in the structural integrity of the water. The

really interesting implications of Dr. Emoto's work lie in

considering that human beings are more than 70% water. If these

thoughts affect a bottle of water so powerfully, how do our thoughts

affect us and each other? (See the website www.hado.net )

Even when some things may not be going the way we want, we can find

other things in our lives that ARE supportive and be thankful for

those. And this will raise our vibration.

I was in a situation recently where I was reminded of this truth. My

family and I have been traveling now for almost a year in a motor home.

We recently encountered issues that have necessitated taking our home

in to a dealership for repairs. What was supposed to have been a

simple overnight repair became a two-week ordeal. Because we are

living in the RV, we have been unable to access the things that we

normally need to live our daily lives. After a week of "not having a

home", I became triggered into feeling "homeless" and victimized.

While this would seem a reasonable response to the situation, I was

miserable. Life looked a whole lot less wonderful because of the state

I was in. I was in a low vibrational field of hopelessness, anger and

depression. After a few days of hanging out in this state, I

remembered that I had other choices. I looked around me and was

reminded that home is where the heart is; I have my beautiful family,

we are together, and we are healthy and well. AND, I was reminded that

my Spirit is my true home, and that nothing can ever take that away

from me. Choosing not to identify with the low vibrational state, I

slowly felt my perspective shift as I focused on how grateful I am. It

literally took me 10 minutes for my perspective to shift radically into

feeling like I was basking in a ray of warm love. I could not wipe the

smile off of my face (nor did I want to!) I see now that if I want to

be happy in my life, there is great wisdom in choosing to be grateful

and look on the bright side!

In addition to feeling better, being in a high vibrational state brings

a clarity and focus that is not present in low vibrational states...we

can think of acting out in anger and regretting later what we have

said, or how people who are depressed feel fuzzy headed, as if they

cannot think clearly. This clarity that comes with high vibration

suddenly brings everything into focus. What is important becomes very

pointed and clear! And from this place we can make better decisions in

our lives - decisions that make a positive contribution to our own

well-being as well as the well-being of others and the planet.

And, if you don't have enough reasons to consider feeling gratitude

on a regular basis, consider this additional benefit, noted by

Christiane Northrup: "Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or

something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you

appreciate and value into your life." Here we see the principle of

resonance yet again, as well as the law of attraction. If we hold a

high vibration, not only do we shift the rate of vibration around us,

we attract similar vibration. If you want more true love in your life,

radiate true love. If you want more kindness shown to you, overflow

with kindness towards others. If you seek more abundance in your life,

look for the abundance that you already have and shower gratitude upon

it. (And remember that abundance is not only measured in money! It is

also love, health, freedom, creativity, wisdom, experiences, inner

satisfaction, caring, giving, receiving teachings, giving teachings,

blue sky, rain, good food, friends, time, togetherness, good books,

options, loyalty, growth, family, manifestation, spiritual help, wide

open vistas, sunrises, sunsets, trees, birds, animals and plants, air,

water, fire, space, the stars and planets, and this beautiful earth

which holds and sustains us!)

So what can you do to raise your vibration? There are many resources

you can draw on. Some examples are mediation, reading holy texts,

creating, dancing, singing, moving your body, celebrating, laughing,

praying, making a list of the things in your life you are grateful for

and thanking each of them, and of course setting the intention to raise

your vibration. Almost anything that takes you out of your usual

pattern of heading down "Victim Road" will point you in the

high-vibe direction. And you and the world will be a better place for

it.