One day many years ago I came upon my mother sobbing her heart out.  I have never forgotten that day. I hugged her and asked her what was wrong.  She said she had been praying and that was why she was crying.  I didn’t understand.  “Why is praying making you cry?” I asked her.  She said “because I am praying from the bottom of my heart”.  And then she said something that has been with me forever, it has been at the heart of my search for God.  She said, “all prayers are not the same, you have to pray so that God listens”. 

At the time, I interpreted it to mean that you have to pray from the bottom of your heart.  But as I saw my mother’s life unfold, I knew that there was more to the mix.  She always prayed from the bottom of her heart; often she sobbed real hard but her life was tough and she was mostly a very unhappy person, and I knew that very few of her prayers were answered.  I could not understand it.  

​I had an interesting discussion with one of my neighbours this morning. I was walking Stella like I always do, and we always say hello to Tony. Stella likes him and always wants to stop for a petting. He’s gutted his house and is slowly renovating it. Today he had a friend with him. We stopped and got talking. He told me that the place had been rented and he owned another rental property a few doors down. “That’s wonderful” I said, “it’s a great business to be in”. "No" he said "its really bad, especially these days". And then he started…he started telling me all the things that are “hard” about renting and all the “problems” he has had over the years. He was really on a roll. I stood there thinking “alright – I need to get away from you, or I need to butt into your rampage of complaining to make you stop”. Trust me, I wanted to walk away, but he’s a nice guy and he just wouldn’t understand that, would he? 

​It has been really interesting to watch the preamble and then the elections in the US. The heightened emotions and unwarranted stress – is it over yet? Who knows? People think that who they elect makes a difference. But in reality the well-being that we pray for can come to us regardless of who gets elected. Because the granter of wishes, the Source of all abundance, well-being and prosperity is that which we call God, the Universe, Source, Bhagwan, Allah – that higher power that orchestrates the movement of the planets, the rising of the sun, the changing of the seasons. Is there a government in the world that can do that?

​“Thank God it’s not raining – we are going to have a wonderful day”, that’s what the neighbour across the street from me was saying to her little girl when I took Stella out for a walk a few days ago. We shouted pleasantries to each other and went on our way. For the rest of our wonderful morning walk, I thought about that beautiful little girl and what she was learning from her mother. Then I thought, that’s exactly what I learnt from mine, and then I thought that’s pretty much what everyone’s teaching out there – no wonder the world is such a mess!

The great debate of Covid times is to mask or not to mask?

This debate is taking place around the dinner tables and at the water fountains all over the world. There are people who wear masks and tell other people that they should too. And there are people who don't want to, because they don't. Who is right and who is wrong?

We will never settle the score for each group can come up with a convincing argument. Maskers say it is better to be safe than sorry. It is better to respect the rules than not. It is better not to contribute to the problem.

So I was in Costco, and you know I absolutely love trying new things (pre-covid days of course). I saw this swarm of people around one of the sampling stations. “This must be good” I said to myself. But of course, I had a truck sized Costco cart which made it difficult to get lined up without blocking the isle. Being the courteous person that I am, I decided to “park” my cart on the opposite side from the sampling station – there was something boring there Gillette blades or something like that. The point is, there was no one there. So I left my cart there and went to get my sample.

I have to admit, it smelt so good and looked so good, that I had the fleeting thought of getting two samples instead of just one. But when I actually got my turn I only picked one (good little girl that I am – my mother’s voice still sounds in my ear “only take one, and say please and thank you”). 

​My prize in hand, I returned to my retrieve my cart. As I got closer I could see that the lady manning (or womaning if you prefer), the Gillette blades station was frowning at me – she was clearly unhappy. I felt like I was back in 3rd grade and Ms. Khan was glaring at me for doing something wrong. The voice inside my head said “I’m sorry, I promise I only took one”. I felt she might have read my guilty thoughts about taking more than one sample! I was wrong. She exerted visible effort not to scream and said “do you know what you just did?”. A vision flashed through my head of being walked out of Costco and banished forever. 

If God is omnipresent then doesn't it make sense that "every thought is a prayer"? I was always fascinated by the thought that God knows everything and is omniscient. I used to wonder why I need to pray or tell God anything - because shouldn't God already know?

I've pondered this for a very long time and figured out that God isn't listening only by appointment, when you choose to spend a few minutes periodically in conscious communication. God is listening every second of every day. 

God is listening when you appreciate and give thanks for what you have and where you are and God is listening when you are complaining because you aren't where you want to be and don't have what you want.

So where do you spend most of your time? Do you spend most of your time being thankful or do you spend most of your time worrying? Worrying is the equivalent of complaining. The more we worry the more we complain. 

​​I've always had a problem with the words "I forgive but I never forget". If you can't forget then you haven't really forgiven have you? Basically, what you're saying is "you did this thing that hurt me once, which means you are capable of doing it again, so I need to protect myself from you". But if you feel that way then by Law of Attraction you are attracting to yourself the very thing you do not want. Because the Law of Attraction is precise and it will always give you want you think about, and not what you intend - unless you think about what you intend.  I learnt that lesson the hard way. It was so hard in fact, that I had to devise a way to forgive as well as to forget. 

​I met Carol many years ago at a dinner event. She sat next to me and we started talking. At that time I was into commissioned sales in the financial sector, and Carol was a real estate agent. Of course, I had to ask her about how the real estate market was doing and she wanted a tip on the hottest stocks. Lol! We got along really well.

​I was really new in the commissioned sales business at the time, although I had been working in the financial industry for many years prior. Business wasn’t doing all that well. I found commissioned sales really hard. My income was all over the place, and I wasn’t too fond of waking up every morning wondering where the next morsel was going to come from. My parents would say I’m stubborn, I like to think I’m determined. My thought process always says “if it can be done, then I will find a way to do it”, so as far as I am concerned if there are other commissioned sales people who are absolutely “killin it” then I should be able to do so as well. Carol seemed like a very successful realtor, so I had to ask her how she prospected for business. I am so glad I did. Because she shared a little tip that opened a whole new way of thinking for me. She said “if you’re not hitting your goal, you need to rethink it”.