Welcome back, Dear Friends

I hope you are doing Your Heart’s Desire with a buddy

or are willing to find one now.

The exercises over these next few weeks

will push you, perhaps, out of your comfort zone. 

You will be examining yourself in ways

perhaps you never have. 

And having a buddy to share what you discover

will be crucial not only to your healing,

but to finding and living Your Heart’s Desire. 

In fact, the more you learn about yourself

over these next couple weeks,

the clearer the whisperings of God will become,

and the more you can share with someone safe, the better.

We all need other people to help us get clear

on why we do what we do.

We need an objective voice.

If these exercises get too much for you

take a break, but finish them as soon as you can.

What you do these next two weeks will be necessary

to completing Part 14.

Try and get started today on this week’s lessons.

There is a lot to cover. 

You will need to work harder than ever

On Your Heart’s Desire.

Paragraph 15, by Emmet Fox

“We use our energy destructively whenever we think or talk fear and limitation; whenever we grumble, or give way to self-pity, or indulge in useless regrets, or in fact, in any form of negative thinking.  Most of all do we use our God given energy destructively when we hold thoughts of criticism and condemnation of others.  All bitterness, resentment, spiritual pride, and self-righteousness, are peculiarly disastrous methods of misusing the Great Power, and that is why such thinking causes the terrible havoc that it does in people’s lives.”

Commentary, Questions, and Exercises, by Joseph Anthony

I just want to say here that over the next few weeks we will be utilizing a great resource to discovering and living Your Heart’s Desire.  And that is the book Alcoholics Anonymous.  There are portions of that book we will lean on heavily to help get us where we need to go.  You might object to the use of this book, especially if you’re like me—I’ve never had a drink of alcohol and I’m 43 years old.  Please do not let the source of information bother you.  The Big Book, regardless of your addictive leanings or lack thereof, is one of the greatest spiritual documents of the 20^th century.  It has influenced the self-help movement more than any other book—ever.  So we will be using the portions we need to keep moving.  This week we will be using pages 64-68, in case you have a Big Book.  If you don’t have one that’s OK, you’ll be fine.

Isn’t it amazing to realize that we partake of the Divine Energy when we’re thinking?  We really need to let this truth sink deep into our hearts and minds—our thoughts are a part of the Creative Energy of God—in the sense that God thinks (or sings, whichever way poetically suits you best) and we come into being.  We think, and if we infuse our thoughts with feelings and actions, we manifest things too–we are afterall, “made in the image and likeness of God.”  Our thoughts are crucial to the construction or destruction of the world. 

In other entries on the Wonder Child Blog you can read about the power of thoughts and how thoughts are a crucial part to manifesting our desires.  For our purposes here let’s just sit with the idea that our thoughts are powerful forces related to the very heart and mind of God.

Questions

1). Notice Fox says “whenever we think or talk of fear and limitation.”  Do you talk about fear and limitation?  Do you dwell on limiting, fearful thoughts?  Do you complain a lot?  Why?

2). Do you indulge in self pity? (That’s a funny way to put it isn’t it? We indulge in chocolate, but self-pity?)

3). Do you constantly think condemning critical thoughts of others?

4). Do you walk around an ego-maniac with an inferiority complex, or do you just think you’re better than everyone else?

5). What do you think spiritual pride is? Do you think you have it?

Exercises

1). Make a list of all of your resentments in a similar way as the following guide.  It comes essentially from the AA Big Book, so if you have one take a look at pages 64-67 and read about resentments.  If you don’t have a Big Book, just do the list as I suggest below.  Try and think back as far as you can go—to childhood even.  Use as many pages and columns as necessary.  I suggest you do one column and go straight down before moving to the next column.  If doing this inventory brings up a lot of difficult feelings remember to talk with your buddy or a counselor.  You can also contact me via email (josephanthony@thewonderchildblog.com).  Try and be as thorough as possible.  Keep in mind that the more you can get out and rid of, the clearer the channel will become to hear God’s voice.  Don’t worry if you forget something.  Just put down what you remember.  The list will never be complete or perfect.  The main goal is to discover patterns in your behaviors—your motivations and ways of operating.  Try and define resentment as any feelings of anger or bitterness that twist your guts when you think of them.  Write for a few hours and then stop.  You will need time to write other inventories, so just get down as much as you can and then move to the next task.

2). Make a similar list for your self-pity, regrets, and limiting beliefs.

3). Reflect on the reasons you might indulge in spiritual pride or condemning criticisms.  What are you afraid of?

4). Find someone you trust and read these lists to them.  Take the risk of being vulnerable.  The disclosure to someone safe will be crucial to your healing and ability to learn to listen to God’s Voice.  If you can’t do this task this week due to logistical reasons, commit to doing it as soon as possible.  The next few weeks depend on getting this part completed.

This week is a lot.  It’s a bit heavy and possibly painful.  Remember you committed at the beginning to doing whatever it takes to fulfill Your Heart’s Desire.  Remember your commitment to see it through.  Any pain you feel at doing this week’s tasks will be well worth it if you keep moving.  I honor your strength and courage.  Try and get started soon, there’s a lot to get through in seven days.  Actually, I am going to use next week, Part 11, as a review week, so it won’t have any new exercises.  That gives you 2 weeks to work on your list and read it to someone.  I hope that helps.

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog

Welcome Back, Friends.

You’re on the edge. 

The key to Your Heart’s Desire will be revealed in Part 14.

Although the next couple of lessons fairly well spell it out

—even clearer than last week.

In this lesson you will hear about the Great

Fundamental Energy pervading all things.

It’s ours. 

The question is:

How are we using it?

And the answer to that question

 gets us closer to the key.

Paragraph 14, by Emmet Fox

“There is only one Fundamental Energy in the universe, but this energy may be applied by us either constructively or destructively, because God has given us Free Will.  When we use it constructively, we are acting in harmony with the Will of God, and we are improving ourselves and our lives in every possible respect, and we are helping the world in general too.  When we use it destructively, we damage ourselves, retard our progress, and waste an opportunity of helping mankind at large.”

Commentary, Questions, and Exercises, by Joseph Anthony

Can you see the key forming?  We all have free will, and that is part of the answer to the dilemmas of paragraphs 5 and 6.  We are all a part of the Divine Energy.  We all partake of it.  We are all channels.  How are we going to use that gift?

Let’s play a bit of a dark game just to get a point across.  Imagine you’ve been given a car.  You are free to drive it anywhere—to church or to the drug-dealers.  It is all about choices.  And let’s say, for the sake of this imagination, you decide to drive it to the drug dealers.  I know this is a bit out of character for us here at your Heart’s Desire, to imagine something like this, but go with it.  It’s important. 

Let’s look at the thousand little choices that go into making the bigger choice of going to the drug dealers:

You decide to get up off the couch.

You decide to get some clothes on.

You decide to put your shoes on.

You decide to put on a hoody.

You decide to go look for the hoody on the floor of the bedroom.

You decide to turn on the light and step over the pizza boxes.

You decide to pick up the hoody that smells the freshest.

You decide to put your left arm in first.

You decide to put your right arm in last.

You decide to zip the hoody.

You decide to go find your keys.

You decide to find your wallet.

You decide to look in your wallet to see if you have enough money.

You decide to put the wallet in your right back pocket.

You decide to walk to the door.

You decide to turn the knob and open the door.

You decide to step across the threshold.

You decide to go back in and make sure the oven’s off.

You decide to step back outside.

You decide to go back in and turn on the porch light and grab an umbrella.

You decide to walk down the two-step to the sidewalk.

You decide to walk to your car.

You decide to unlock it.

You decide to get in and put your seat belt on.

You decide to turn the key.

You decide to back out of the driveway.

You decide to turn the car down the dealer’s street.

You pass the church along the way.  You decide to keep driving.

You decide to park down the street from the dealer’s house.

You decide to take off your seat belt.

You decide to get out (after a deep breath).

You decide to start walking to his house.

You decide to put one foot in front of the other.

And with every step, with every choice, it gets harder to turn back.

Obviously you could have stopped the process long before you put the drugs in your system.  Once they’re in there—you no longer have the power of choice.  The “phenomenon of craving” as the AA Big Book puts it, kicks in, and you’re a slave.

But we all have the freedom to choose and we often minimize the myriad choices that go into making a major choice that could destroy or create our lives.

If we use the Force for good, we help ourselves and others.  If we use it for ill, we destroy ourselves and others.

Questions

1). Do you believe you have Free Will?

2). Do you believe God’s Energy can be used by us for good and ill?

Exercises

1). Reflect on the risks God took (if any) by giving us Free Will.

2). Reflect on the things you wrote down in question 4, Part 3, Paragraph 3.  Are the secret things you dream of doing constructive or destructive?  Reflect on the possible consequences of following those dreams or of not following those dreams.

3). Reflect on any new ideas you have growing within you that could be the whisperings of God—dreams, desires you are feeling called to follow.  Write about them.

4). Reflect on the Power of Choice.  Choose to do 7 kind, positive, healthy, generous, and giving things this week, at least one a day—for someone else. Remember the great law: As you sow, so shall you reap.

I hope the dark imagination didn’t bother you too much.  Next week we will look at paragraph 15.  Keep dreaming.

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog

Welcome Back! 

Have you guessed what the key to unlocking Your Heart’s Desire is? 

You know that Your Heart’s Desire is the Voice of God whispering inside of you.  You know you need a clear channel. 

But how do you get one? 

This week Fox leads you closer and closer to the edge of the threshold. 

He expands on the idea that the channel needs clearing

and even gives a gentle, humorous example

of what having a blocked channel is like. 

I am giving more than your usual one or two paragraphs from Emmet Fox

not to rush you along, but because they fit together so well. 

Like last week, there will be little commentary

and only a handful of questions and exercises.   

Two weeks—that’s when the method for how to clear the channel gets revealed

 and also the method for listening to the voice of God within you. 

stay tuned—literally.

Paragraphs 10, 11, 12, and 13, by Emmet Fox

“People work so hard to bring health to their bodies; to bring prosperity, to bring happiness, to bring success into their lives; to bring artistic or literary gifts or talents within their grasp, to bring great new ideas from the outside; and of course, they continually fail, because we cannot “bring” a single one of these things from the without to the within.  The actual development is just the reverse—they have to be released from the within that they may appear on the without.  In short, we have not to build on from the outside; our task, as Browning says, is “to set free the imprisoned splendor.”

This process, the true manner of nature’s working, is well illustrated by a simple anecdote.  A certain man was working in his garden, assisted by his little girl.  She had undertaken the interesting task of watering the lawn by means of the usual rubber hose.  Matters proceeded harmoniously enough until she suddenly cried out in disappointment: “Daddy, the water has stopped.”  The father looked over, and, taking the situation in at a glance, said quietly, “Well, take your foot off the hose.”  The child had inadvertently placed her foot and most of her weight upon the soft rubber pipe, and thus, by her own action, shut off the water that she needed.  She, of course, removed her foot at once, whereupon the water again flowed freely.

Five minutes later, she once more cried plaintively: “Daddy, the water has stopped again.”  Her father glanced across and observed that now she had placed her other foot upon the hose.  He replied: “Well, take your foot off.”  The child did so, and again the stream flowed freely, and, as she had by this time learned that lesson, she did not repeat the mistake, and completed the interesting task she had chosen, with much satisfaction to herself.

The ultimate cause of all our troubles is just this.  Behind all secondary and proximate causes lies the same primary mistake.  We have been acting like the little girl in the story; we have been pressing our feet and the whole weight of our mentality upon the pipe line of life, and then complaining bitterly because the water does not flow.  Man’s business is rightly to handle his Divine Spiritual energy, and when he does this, he has found his true place, and then all goes well.”

Commentary, Questions, and Exercises

These paragraphs largely speak for themselves, so little will be added here by way of commentary.  It would do us well however to really let the idea of things growing from within sink deeply in our souls—as an image.  The “from within to without”—“the true manner of nature’s work,” is such a comforting truth.  Imagine an oak tree sleeping inside an acorn.  Imagine a butterfly swirling into form within the cocoon.  Picture a dragon fly emerging from the split back of the nymph clinging to the post of a pier.  Think of the eagle curled inside the egg.  Realize that your voice—(go ahead, sing a note or two)—comes from within.  Your ability to learn to talk, walk, read, and so on, believe it or not, all come from within.  Sometimes we need catalysts from without—teachers, workbooks, etc, but everything—the entire essence of the All Creative Intelligence of the Universe is within us.  Now that’s awesome. 

Let the image of the little girl unwittingly standing on the hose trying to water her father’s garden also rest easy in your heart.  There is no blame.  The father never scolds or chides his “assistant.”  He simply quietly offers the solution to her dilemma (“still, small voice?”).  The same is true for us when we call out to God: “Daddy, nothing’s flowing, nothing’s working in my life.”  To which He will gently and quietly respond—“Get your mental weight off the hose.”

What is the mental weight?  It’s focusing on the negative, on the problems, on our weaknesses and mistakes, our past traumas and hurt, our blame and victim consciousness, our fears and resentments, and so on.  We must lift our consciousness above the problem—off the hose—and let the solution—the Water of Life, the Water of Truth flow freely through us—and then “all goes well.”  Notice too that the channel is fragile and somewhat easily blocked.  Notice also that the story says she eventually completes the interesting task “she had chosen.”  You are in the process of choosing right now as you study these lessons.  You are assisting your Father’s work.  And every one of the tasks you complete helps clear the channel.

But how you keep asking, is the channel actually cleared?  The answer is revealed over the next few weeks, so keep coming back.

Questions

1). Do you agree that all things—all changes come from within? 

2). Do you believe you have the Infinite God inside you right now?

3). Do you believe you hold within yourself “imprisoned splendor?” 

Exercises

1). Reflect on the story of the little girl watering the garden.  Emmet Fox believes that the soul is essentially female in nature.  What sort of garden do you believe your soul is watering?

2). Reflect on your ability, willingness, resistance to—whichever– to call God, “Daddy” or some other earthly term of affection–whether masculine or feminine.  Pick a word that a child might use for a parent or guardian and experiment using it this week to refer to God.

3). Reflect on the idea that you are responsible for the clear flow of Infinite Energy.  How does that make you feel?

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog

How were your attempts at obeying the “little” laws

in last week’s edition of Your Heart’s Desire?

 This week nudges you closer

to the key to Your Heart’s Desire. 

In fact, the two paragraphs allude to both the problem

and the solution to finally being able

to hear the whisperings of God. 

Stick with it. 

The next several weeks are going to propel you forward

leaps and bounds

in terms of attaining Your Heart’s Desire

and reclaiming your dreams.

Paragraphs 8 and 9 by Emmet Fox

“A human soul may be thought of as an opening through which Infinite Energy is seeking a creative outlet. If that outlet be a clear, open channel, all is well.  If, on the other hand, it should become obstructed by any means, then the Infinite Energy, the Life Force, is frustrated, dammed back—and all sorts of local stresses are set up in that soul; and these we see as sickness, poverty, fear, anger, sin, and every kind of difficulty.

Now we are in a position to understand what the real art of living must be.  It must be to make this channel clear and to keep it clear; and if only we will do this, we shall find that health, prosperity, full self-expression—true happiness, in short—will then follow automatically.”

Commentary, Questions, and Exercises by Joseph Anthony

The cat’s out of the bag.  We need a clear channel.  That’s the keychain, if you will, but not the key.  How do we get a clear channel?  That’s the key.  And Emmet reveals that information soon.  For now, just sit with the idea that we are channels for God’s Life Force.  Let that idea, that image, that sensation, settle within you.  It is both humbling and honoring—the God of All Creation wants to flow through you.  In fact, one could say the Creator’s work is never fully complete because He cannot flow through all of the channels He seeks to.

But how can the Infinite have any limitations?  Why doesn’t It just force Itself through, like a river shattering a dam?  The answer is freedom.  We are all free to become clear channels or stay clogged ones.  The choice is ours.

Questions

1). How does it make you feel to know you are a channel for the Divine?

2). What sorts of things do you think block the flow?

3). What do you think Fox is going to tell us in terms of how to clear the channel?

Exercises

1). Reflect on anything you feel is blocking the flow of God in you.  Consider giving up these blocks and asking for help or support to do so.

2). Reflect on the phrase, “the art of living.” How can you live more artfully this week?

That’s all for this week.  Consider it Your Heart’s Desire Lite.  Next week, we will move from the within to the without here at the Wonder Child Blog.  Join us then for Part 8, Paragraphs 10, 11, 12, and 13. 

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog

Welcome Back Dear Friends!  

This week is not quite as heavy as last. 

It’s still challenging,

just not quite as heavy.

Let me say here that

the heart of Your Heart’s Desire is fast approaching. 

Over the next couple of weeks

the key to the treasure box gets revealed. 

It is an elusive key. 

Yet it is perfectly graspable. 

It is also radiantly golden. 

It is the key to anything you have found difficult thus far. 

It is the key to achieving Your Heart’s Desire, and

if everyone would use this key,

 it would also bring about peace and harmony

throughout the world. 

So keep moving forward. 

You have made many choices to bring you this far. 

There’s no going back. 

You’re in it. 

You are living Your Heart’s Desire already,

and it is about to blossom further

into form.

Cheers, and enjoy the journey.

Paragraph Seven, by Emmet Fox

“It is useless to blame Providence for your troubles, or to endeavor to saddle the responsibility upon other people.  The universe operates strictly in accordance with Law, for God, among other things, is Principle, or Law, and where law obtains there can be no room for the idea of blame.  If you break the law, you suffer the consequences, and that is all there is about it.  It is not a matter of blame or punishment.  It is just an impersonal question of cause and effect.  This may seem hard at first sight, but actually it is your certain guarantee of ultimate victory and freedom.  Impersonal Law is certain to hurt you when you work against it, but, for the same reason, it is equally certain to help you and heal you when you work with it.”

Commentary, Questions, and Exercises, by Joseph Anthony

Over the years I have had the wonderful opportunity to work with many people recovering from various addictions.  This is both rewarding and heartbreaking work.  One of the most astoundingly tragic things I have witnessed while listening to recovering people is when someone utters something like this:

“I’ll stay sober today, if it’s God’s Will.” Or, “God’s Grace has been sufficient to keep me sober today.”

The tragedy comes when these people resort to their destructive behaviors again as they so often do.  Who can believe in a God that would will you drunk? Who could really believe in a God who would have it be His will that you destroy your life and the lives of those around you?   The people who make statements such as these are, forgive my bluntness, fundamentally misguided or for lack of a better word, lazy.  I know that sounds harsh, but I know this to be the case, because I used to say things like that, and that’s what I was being.  It is the same for people who say: “God’s grace is sufficient to keep me sober today.”  Does that mean, if that person gets drunk the next day, that God’s Grace—God’s Infinite, Unlimited, Boundless Grace was suddenly insufficient?  “You know what I mean,” People will argue,  “Sobriety is a gift from God’s Grace.”  And to that I would completely agree. 

But it is not a free gift. 

I have to accept it, and that takes an enormous amount of work for self-centered people.  I know.  And it isn’t simply a matter of theological semantics.  The words we say are powerful things.  That’s why I am speaking in a tone not usually heard here at Your Heart’s Desire.  So let me repeat: the words we say, and the thoughts (if there are any) behind them are very powerful.  I say, “if there are any thoughts behind them” not to be offensive or mean, but because so many of us do and say things for reasons we do not know.  We do and say things because other people do and say them.  We follow.  We parrot.  We copy. And if I want to follow my Heart’s Desire, I need to an original; I need to accept the responsibility for my life—completely.  I need to work with God’s gifts in the same way I would as if someone gave me a new guitar.  If I just let it sit there, what good would it be?  I need to use it, practice it, work with it, share it—that’s accepting the gifts of God.  It is not a passive activity. 

I am always amazed at how many times little children tattle on their friends for copying them.  I hear this almost every day. “She’s copying me!” they protest.  And the interesting thing is the reason they are so outraged is because they do it themselves.  From the ages of four or five we begin projecting our blame and outrage onto others. 

I bring these things up because so many of us live in a victim mentality.  Our entire culture is shot-through with victimology and blame.  It is a virus passed on by word-of-mouth as people complain about their lot in life but never do anything to improve it.  The person listening, or should I say, hearing the complaint, is then infected.  And they, in turn, pass it along.

To live in the spirit of Your Heart’s Desire, means putting away the old ideas of being a victim and blame.  Even if things happened to us that were traumatic, as they did to me, we still need to lift our consciousness above the hurt and even above the level of survivor.  We need to live—fully and lavishly.

Paragraphs like number seven would have outraged me years ago for the simple reason that I did not want to be responsible for my own actions.  Everything I’ve commented about here would have thrown me into a tizzy.  I would have been deeply offended at being challenged in the way I have just challenged you. I never wanted to be responsible or accountable to anyone.  I blamed everyone for my problems.  I felt like I was above the law.  For example, I used to cross the street wherever I felt like it, even though there were crosswalks at the corners—but I didn’t want to walk that extra 100 feet—jay-walking laws did not apply to me.  I only started obeying this law when it was pointed out to me by my friend Lefty that I have lived above the law for many years—or so I thought.  (Really I was living below them.)

And so if I feel laws like jaywalking do not apply to me, and that I can ignore them at will, why would I bother to follow God’s laws?

What are God’s Laws?  We will talk about these in a later entry, but for now, suffice to say God’s Laws are all wonderful, easy to understand, and sometimes really hard to follow.  Also we know when we break them—we get physically, emotionally, and spiritually sick.  We know when we’re following them too.  We’re healthy, happy, and following our dreams.

Questions

1). Do all laws matter and should they all be obeyed?

2). Do you believe you have complete responsibility for your life?  Why or why not?

3). If you feel you have been victimized in some way, are you willing to consider that it is time to move towards the freedom of total personal responsibility now—for how you’re living now—not for what happened to you, but for how you are dealing with it now? Are you willing to seek support for any deep, traumatic experiences you are struggling to process?

4). Do you believe God’s Laws are just, merciful, and necessary?

5). Reflect on the following statement: And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. (Mark 12:17).  How do you think this relates to obeying the law?

Exercises:

1). Consider the following questions: Do you jay walk?  Do you speed?  Do you burn cd’s that you haven’t paid for? If you answered yes to any of these questions, reflect on why you feel like you are above the law.

2). Reflect on what the word responsibility means to you.  What sorts of feelings, thoughts, and images does it bring up?

3). Reflect on a time when you either blamed someone for something you knew you were really responsible for or they blamed you for something you knew you didn’t do.  Reflect on ways to remedy this experience.

4). Resolve to obey one “little” law this week that you routinely break–like, perhaps, jay walking.  Notice how you feel obeying this law.  Is it inconvenient?  Is it liberating?

Thank you for sharing Your Heart’s Desire with me.  Next week brings Part 7, paragraphs 8 and 9.  Cheers.

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog

Welcome back to Your Heart’s Desire. 

Please know that as you do these questions and exercises

you are moving closer and closer to your goal. 

Some of the questions and exercises

may not seem to lead anywhere,

but rest assured they do. 

I have gone through everything I am suggesting you do,

so you are not alone.

Paragraphs 5 and 6, by Emmet Fox

“Modern psychology has been slowly realizing that many human ills are traceable to mental suppression, but our study of fundamental Truth teaches us that all trouble of every kind is really failure on the part of the individual to be a completely free focal point of expression for God.

You say that you are unhappy, dissatisfied, perhaps ill or impoverished, a failure; and this is simply another way of putting the fact that you are not allowing the Will of God to have free play in your life—you are not doing the thing He meant you to do.  You are drifting; or else you are trying to do something that He never intended you to do, and doing it badly, and distorting your soul in the process.”

Commentary, Questions, and Exercises

These are two potentially controversial paragraphs.  They might bring up strong feelings.  They might even cause some people to shut the book on their Heart’s Desire because they do not agree with them.  The point isn’t to have all of the answers or to understand all of the deep theological significance of certain statements, but to tease out how we can apply them to following our dreams.  That said, it might do us well to address, at least in a general way, the trouble spots.

One potential trouble spot is the assertion that Fox gives again (he gave it in the first paragraph, remember) in which he states that all of our troubles are due to failing to be a “completely free focal point of expression for God.”

I make no claims to understand all of the theological ramifications of everything Fox says.  It’s just that I had to come to grips with things that happened to me that were traumatic; that shouldn’t have happened; that were terrifying, violent, and so on.  Over the years however, my victimhood—the prison I locked myself into—had to be torn down.  And little by little, as I learned to feel the pain, rage, shame, and terror, and not act violently on those feelings; as I learned to eventually come to a place of forgiveness of those involved, I settled into peace. 

Essentially, I had to raise my consciousness above the trauma.  Put more accurately, I had to let others help me raise my consciousness above the traumas.

When I was going through deep emotional pain as a result of childhood abuse, my friend Lefty said that my healing myself by working through those memories will not only also help me heal my family, but the world.  That does not mean I understand why those things happened to me.  It just means I accepted that they did and I needed to rise above them not to the level of survivor, but to the level of living, truly living.  And to do this I had to not only feel pain, but change my thinking.  My thoughts were steeped in trauma, depression, and rage. They were dyed with shame, panic attacks, and a severe poverty of spirit.  The more I thought of the abuse, the more stuck to the abuse I became.  The more I thought about my perpetrators as evil, the more paranoid and untrusting of the world I became.  The further I sank into the ache to know why and to change it all, the further away from happiness I moved.  What I think upon grows.

I had to come to a place where I was OK with saying, “I don’t know.”  I do not know the answers to such deep, emotion-inducing facts of things like my abuse or like the starvation and violence found around the world.  What I do know is that if I let myself stop there and live in the outrage of these intensely charged dilemmas, then I will never move forward.  I will sacrifice my dreams in order to be right about something I ultimately can never know until I make it to the other side.  I will use those feelings of outrage as excuses not to follow the will of God as I can—here and now—not in some other country someplace, but here and now, where I stand.  I am not a victim.  I stand in freedom. The God of my understanding loves me and guides my steps towards my Heart’s Desire.  I have accepted this love and guidance.  I have seen and experienced the truth of these facts in my life.   And if this is true for me then I believe it is true for all of God’s kids, and we are all God’s kids.

So the solution is both personal and global.  I need to lift myself out of the consciousness of sin, for lack of a better word, by taking living actions towards others and myself, and I also need to change how I think.  The same is true for our cities and towns, villages, and countries.  We all need to help each other rise up from the poverty, the violence, the horror.  And that’s why following Your Heart’s Desire is so crucial.  When we are following it we are actually following God’s Will.  And the more this happens, the more peace will settle upon the earth.

************************

Before moving on to the questions and exercises, there is one more thing I would like to comment on: the last sentence in paragraph six.

That last sentence sums up, in a nutshell the nature of addictions.  In an addiction, we are drifting.  Our lives become empty, brittle shells.  We are trying to do “something that God never intended us to do.”  And ultimately, Fox says, we “distort our souls in the process.”  Aside from trauma and abuse, there is nothing as soul-distorting as addictions.  And we all have them.  In one way shape or form there are things we do that are harmful to ourselves and others that we cannot (or will not) stop doing.  Things we have tried countless times to stop.  Things we feel shame about doing or at very least vaguely empty after we do them. Things that we feel good about while we’re doing them only to hate ourselves later and wonder how we could have gotten ourselves into that stuff again.  Things we have promised ourselves, others, God that we would never again do.  Things we judge others harshly for doing as we go and do them in secret.  And so on. 

It is important to remember that an addiction does not need to be hard-core.  It can be low-level, moderate, or severe.  Take an area of your life you know you need to change—the thing that just flashed into your mind right now when you read these words, and imagine doing without it.  If you’re like me the justifications, rationalizations, and explanations start flying as to why I need that particular vice (what an appropriate word, by the way…).  Truth never needs justifying or rationalizing.  So if we hear ourselves engaged in those thoughts about some area of our lives we can automatically know that we are not OK with ourselves in that area.  We only justify and rationalize wrong, self-centered behaviors.  And in the process, our souls become distorted.  Like water taking the shape of the vessel it’s poured into, our soul takes the shape of whatever we pour it into.  If we pour our soul, our time, and our energy into drugs, sex, money, video games, news media, food, power, romance, movies, shopping, etc., then our soul takes the shape of those vessels.  The real shape of our soul is shapeless; it is a river of peace leading to the ocean of God.  It is wave of His ocean.  But when we pour ourselves into addictions, we are putting limitations around our soul and as a result we hurt others and ourselves.  And we all know that hurt people hurt other people.

It is the human condition to seek comfort, but in the case of addictions, the comforting behaviors have taken over.

Lastly, we all intuitively know God’s will.  Anyone who says they don’t know what God’s will is, is only looking in particulars or for a finish line.  God’s will is easy—He wants us, as the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says, “to be happy, joyous, and free.”  That’s it.  If you are these things then you can rest easy in knowing you are flowing with God’s will and purpose for your life.  Even if you feel like you do not know specifically what your Heart’s Desire is yet, if you are feeling those three things NOW then you are on the way, you are IN the way, as in flowing with God’s river of Providence.  You’re in the Tao, the Way, the Truth—you’re living in the Light.

But enough commentary.  Let’s move on to questions and exercises.

Questions

1). Do you believe you have, on any level, to any degree, an(y) addiction(s)?

2). If you answered yes to question one, are you willing to seek support, make changes, and become free of those addictions?

3). Do you have any thoughts or memories that you stuff down or “suppress” when they surface?  If so, are you willing to seek support for those issues and face them once and for all?

4). Reflect back on your answer to Question 2 in Part One of Your Heart’s Desire.  Do you feel the same way now about the idea that all of our troubles are rooted in not following God’s Will or our Heart’s Desires? Explain.

5). Reflect on the idea that God’s will is for everyone to be “happy, joyous, and free;” that God wants everyone thriving, abundant, healthy, safe, and loved. Do you believe this to be so? Expand on your answer either way.  Do you believe God wants these things for YOU?

Exercises

1). Pretend you have the ultimate creative ability—you can create the God you would like to believe in.  Reflect on and write about the kind of God you would like to believe in.  If you already feel you have a God you are comfortable with, then write about the qualities He/She/It has.

2). The best way to manifest Your Heart’s Desire is to help others.  Go to our sister blog’s http://blog.7daymentaldiet.net/?ci=23323 link for Thirst Relief International https://secure.thirstrelief.org/momentum/fundraising_page/45, or some other charity, and make a donation.  In addition, find someone that you know is struggling with some hurt; contact them in some way, make an effort to comfort them in some appropriate manner. 

Thank you Friends.  Next week we will look at paragraph 7.  Cheers.

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog

Welcome Back.  I honor your persistence.  I realize there were a lot of questions and exercises last week.  I hope they were helpful in giving you insights into Your Heart’s Desire.  This week will be a bit lighter.  I hope you have found a buddy to work with.  Remember, you are always free to email me with any questions or concerns that you do not want made public (josephanthony@thewonderchildblog.com).  Please keep in mind also, that your experiences with Your Heart’s Desire are beneficial to others, so I encourage you to post comments also. 

Cheers,

Joseph

Paragraph Four, by Emmet Fox

“God is Infinite Mind, and that Mind is ever seeking for more and for new expression.  “For such the Father seeketh to worship Him.” Now, because you are a human being, you are intended to be a new point of expression for God—a focal point in Infinite Mind, in fact, somewhat as an electric lamp may be regarded as a focal point for the manifestation of the electric current in the circuit.  A focal point for the Divine Self expression—that is what you are intended to be; and if you are willing to become that, then you will be fulfilling your destiny, and you will experience absolutely perfect and unalloyed happiness and harmony, and eternal and unrestricted development.  A few people have attained this, but they are comparatively few.  The great majority have lives full of problems of one kind or another that they have yet to work out.  If one has perfect bodily health—and how few have even this, really perfect health—then he probably has financial difficulties; or it may be family troubles, an unhappy home life.  If health, finance, and home relations are satisfactory, there can still be a sense of frustration in other directions.  In any case, in the absence of all-round fullness and harmony of expression, there is frustration; and frustration means trouble.”

Commentary, Questions, and Exercises by Joseph Anthony

This paragraph heralds both comforting encouragement and uncomfortable warnings.  The encouragement comes from knowing God is always creating.  God always has His hands in the paints—the colors are always flying across fresh canvas; clay is always being thrown on the wheel in never before seen patterns; new houses are always being erected; new songs are always being sung.  And WE are focal points of that creativity.  We express God’s Light and handiwork when we are fulfilling our Heart’s Desire, our destiny.  We are meant to be Lights. 

“Hide not your light under a bushel…Let your light shine before man.  We are the Light of the world.”

Imagine that for a moment.  Really let that sink in.  Revel in it.  It really is astounding, humbling, and exhilarating—YOU are a “focal point for the Divine Self expression.”  YOU. 

We could spend the rest of our lives pondering that one sentence it is so rich with meaning and implications.  For now let us just say: This means, when we follow our Heart’s Desire, that we are part of the Divine Economy, the Divine Ecology, the Divine Way.  Of course, we can keep our head in the clouds provided we keep our feet on the ground.  Being a part of Divine Self expression doesn’t mean everything we do is inspired, holy, helpful, moral, good, true, kind, charitable, and so on.  What it does mean is that once we are “willing to become a focal point for Divine Self Expression,” we will be less likely, (as imperfectly as we still will be), to engage in immoral, untrue, wicked, mean, or selfish behaviors.  We will still have plenty of room to grow—in fact, once we hit on our Heart’s Desire, we will grow, as Fox says, “eternally and unrestrictedly.”  We will grow forever, and we will grow forever—boundlessly. Imagine THAT for a few moments.  To be ever-blossoming, ever-discovering, ever-creating is very nearly beyond the scopes of our imaginations.  But try anyway.  It’s fun to think about.

But there are warnings— uncomfortable warnings– in this paragraph.  Fox says only a few people ever attain the degree of development in which their Heart’s Desire is such a part of who they have become, that they live in perfect harmony and happiness.  Most people, he says, settle for mediocre lives where everything is viewed as a problem—a dramatic problem, I might add.  When we are off course, when we are not following God’s Will—our Heart’s Desire, then somewhere deep inside we know we’re missing the mark, we make every problem or annoyance in our lives bigger and more significant than it really is.  We dramatize everything because we know, somewhere deep inside that we are acting—we’re in a drama—a tragi-comedy, with countless, intricately woven plots that ultimately unfold into nothing, or at very least regrets to be wallowed in.  Somewhere inside we know this.  We sense it deeply because there is always that low level of frustration in everything we do.  Everything we touch gradually turns into grey dust.  Everything we do is tinged with a peculiar, indefinable failure.  So we sleep restlessly.  Our dreams are scattered.  A vague uneasiness plagues our lives, with brief intervals of prosperity, health, happiness, and even joy.  But somewhere inside, something’s missing—even in the good times.  And that something is our Heart’s Desire.  Until we hitch our wagon to the Star that is ours and ours alone, we will forever feel—way back in our heads and hearts, a certain, relentless emptiness.

Of course, the hope is in that very emptiness, for as the Zen monk might say, the real usefulness of a cup is in the empty space it provides for the tea.  If you identify with anything just described in the above paragraph, then there’s hope.  Most people won’t let themselves feel that despair.  They drug it out with TV, computers, food, sex, romance; big, deep problems and dramas; spending, anger, and the ever-present, internal drug-hits of fear, and the adrenaline-laced drug hits of fantasy superiority or inferiority.  They even drug it out with doing things they rationalize and justify are worthy and good, but which in the final analysis are really self-serving actions.  So if you feel a bit depressed about what you just read, then rejoice.  You’re on the right road.  Feel that feeling, share it with your buddy, and then learn to listen for God’s Voice.  God is whispering RIGHT NOW, RIGHT THIS VERY INSTANT AS YOU ARE READING THESE VERY WORDS.  God is calling you NOW.  God wants YOU—and He wants you NOW.  He has a new art project, a new building project, a new symphony He’d like played on new instruments, there’s a new story He’d like to tell, a never-before heard song He’d like to sing—YOU and YOUR HEART’S DESIRE! 

One last comment: notice God keeps us in freedom.  We are free to choose to follow our Heart’s Desire.  Fox says, “if we are willing” to become that focal point—THEN we’re fulfilling our destiny.  It takes willingness on our part to learn to listen, to take the actions, to do the work of becoming happy and harmonious in our own lives.  And this, dear reader, we do together, for there are no separate destinies.  All of our true Heart’s Desires blend together into one, joyous and inspiring work of art—a mural of infinite and intricate beauty.

Questions

1). Do you believe, or are you willing to at least try to believe, that you are meant to be a focal point of Divine Self expression?

2). How does it make you feel when Fox says we will “experience absolutely perfect and unalloyed happiness and harmony, and have eternal and unrestricted development” when we fully live our Heart’s Desire?”

3). When you read “comparatively few” attain this, do you think: “Oh, great, then why bother?” Or do you think, “OK.  I’m going to be one of those few?”  Or do you fall someplace in between? If you pick the “why bother” category, are you willing to believe that it will all work out for the good if you really find Your Heart’s Desire?  If you pick the assertive: “Let’s go, I’m going to be one of the few,” are you willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill Your Heart’s Desire?

Exercises

1). Reflect on the phrase, “Divine Self expression.” Write about what it means to you and how it makes you feel. 

2). Close your eyes, breathe deeply, inhaling for a count of 4, filling your belly and then chest, hold the breath for a count of 4 or so, and then release on the same count.  Do that a few times while repeating the following affirmations:

“I willingly chose to follow my Heart’s Desire.”

“ I am a focal point for Divine Self expression.”

Write these on 3X5 cards and carry them with you.  Post them on your mirror or in your car.  Make them mantras and prayers—songs to be sung.

3). Go back and look at the wishes you wrote last week—the outlandish ones you never want to share with anyone.  Have they changed?  Are there new ones?  Keep practicing being open to God’s whisperings.  Soon there will be very practical suggestions on how to really listen, but for now, keep writing about your wonderfully lavish and extravagant dreams. 

4). Find and download the song: “This Little Light of Mine.”  A version with children singing is best.  Sing it often throughout the day.  Experiment with humming or singing it in public and try to get others to sing with you.  If you are really feeling adventurous, sing it in front of the mirror, dance to it, run to it, paint, cook, or play with it.  Sing it—feel it—You ARE a Light!

Great Work, friends.  Next week we come to Part Five, Paragraph 5.  Have a great week of learning and growing.  Oh, and I’m sure you have probably already noticed that I am increasingly focusing the other entries here at the Wonder Child Blog—towards YOU and YOUR HEART’S DESIRE.  I want you to feel supported and encouraged.  That’s the goal.  So stop by other days.  There will be supplemental material to help you follow your dreams. 

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog

Paragraph 3, by Emmet Fox

But how is one to find his true place in life?  Is there any means whereby you may discover what it really is that God wishes you to do?  You may feel inclined to say: “Even if it be true that God has some splendid thing that He wishes me to do, and to be, how can I possibly find out what it is?” Perhaps you may even be tempted to add:  “I am a very plain, everyday sort of person; my circumstances are extremely restricted; the conditions of my life are just drab commonplace.  How then can there be something wonderful, beautiful, splendid awaiting me?  Or, even if there were, how could I possibly get to know about it?”  And the answer is divinely simple—already in your past life from time to time, God Himself has whispered into your heart just that very wonderful thing, whatever it is, that He is wishing you to be, and to do, and to have.  And that wonderful thing is nothing less than what is called Your Heart’s Desire.  Nothing less than that.  The most secret, sacred wish that lies deep down at the bottom of your heart, the wonderful thing that you hardly dare to look at, or to think about—the thing that you would rather die than have anyone else know of, because it seems to be so far beyond anything that you are, or have at the present time, that you fear that you would be cruelly ridiculed if the mere thought of it were known—that is just the very thing that God is wishing you to do or to be for Him. And the birth of that marvelous wish in your soul—the dawning of that secret dream—was the Voice of God Himself telling you to arise, and come up higher, because He had need of you.

Commentary, Questions, and Exercises by Joseph Anthony

The secret’s out.  Fox tells you what Your Heart’s Desire is: It’s God whispering into your heart.  It’s the “wonderful thing He is wishing you to be, to do, and to have.”  And Fox calls this process, “Divinely Simple.”  There are no complicated formulas here, no mental gyrations.  You simply need to learn to listen to the secret wishes that God is whispering into your heart.  “But why,” you may wonder, “doesn’t He shout it out so I’m clear?  Why whisper?  There is so much noise and clutter in my head (heart); how am I ever going to hear a whisper? That does not sound simple.

As you have noticed, I have taken a cue from Fox regarding how he gives voice to the doubts that might be running through your mind.  We both know these voices well because we’ve struggled through them to the other side.  And that’s the kicker.  Most of us stop when the going gets tough.  We are so conditioned to have everything easy, fast, “on demand,” that when the journey starts hitting a few bumps or it slows down to a veritable halt—we jump ship.  We jump back onto the computer, the TV, the magazines, the food, the money, the drugs, the lust, whatever.  We run.  If it stops “feeling good,” we stop.  We are so trained to live our lives based on our feelings that the slightest hint of annoyance or set-back makes us stop and, like a butterfly, flit to the next flower. 

This journey takes commitment and persistence—the two keys to any achievement or success.

We can take comfort in the fact that God has been whispering His wonderful plan into our hearts all along.  In fact, He ever stops whispering—as long as we have a pulse—He’s calling.  But like the miner who stopped digging an inch away from the richest gold mine in the world, we usually stop when things haven’t materialized the way we want them to or in the time frame we deem appropriate.  We need to, with the help of friends, push through the doubts, pain, failures and discouragement that inevitably crop up.  I naively think that just because I hear God’s plan the road will rise to meet me–that it will all run smoothly; that no glitches, bugs, inconveniences, snags, or otherwise negative experiences will ever happen again.  And while I do believe that once we hitch onto our dream, the road does rise to meet us.  However, that does not mean there won’t be frustrating days.  But when I look at the lives of those who have achieved their Heart’s Desire, or that have true peace of mind, or helped change the world for the better on a large scale, all of them, without exception, went through struggles, heart aches, failures, and pain.  True love, they say, travels a gravel road.  But not all the time.  Sometimes it’s smooth.  The point is there are always ups and downs, just as the landscape doesn’t stay the same.  And if we can succeed in viewing these ups and downs as helpful and instructional, instead of as good or bad, then we will achieve peace of mind even before we’ve reached our goal.

One last thing: Some might call these whisperings–intuition, and I would agree.  They are the “still, small voice.”  And like Elijah, we hear that voice after the storms of doubt calm, after the earthquakes of discouragement settle, after the fires of undesirable passions cool.  But how do we calm these storms and settle the earthquakes or put out a fire?  Discipline.  We must discipline our thinking and learn to toss out the thoughts we don’t want to think.  We must get into the habit of “move a muscle, change a thought.”  We simply keep moving through the difficult feelings.  We can lean on the strength of our friends.  We can know that sometimes the weather affects our moods and so our feelings will change.  We needn’t always analyze every thought or feeling.  Feel the feelings and keep moving.  The feelings will change, but your Heart’s Desire will not. 

And the message Elijah heard wasn’t an admonition, threat, or a punishment.  It was a question: “What are you doing here?” In effect It said to him, “Why are you hiding?  Your life is waiting.  Don’t live your life on the safe side.  Get out of your cave and rise.  Your life is waiting.  There is service for you to do.”

So please bear that in mind.  God has need of you.  And if He has need of the duckbilled-platypus, the aardvark, the giraffe, and the ladybug, He has a plan for you, and it is indescribably wonderful.

Question 1: Do you feel discouraged or doubtful that you will ever hear God’s whisperings?

Question 2:  Do you feel annoyed that Your Heart’s Desire has anything to do with God and listening for His call?

Question 3: Do you believe in intuition? 

Question 4: What things have you dreamed of doing, being, or having that you have never told anyone for fear of ridicule? 

Question 5: Are you willing to find someone–your buddy, me–someone you can trust that you can tell those wishes to?

Question 6: When you think of that secret wish what, if any, negative voices come up instantly?  Whose voice is saying the negative things?

Question 7: Do you believe God has need of you? 

The ability to hear the whisperings of God takes work and practice.  In the next few weeks we will get into very specific exercises on how to clear the channel and learn to listen.  For now, try these as a daily discipline:

Exercise 1:  God speaks quietly, the negative side shouts and repeats itself constantly.  Describe those thoughts that most frequently run through your head and practice, thought by thought, “tossing them out,” which means replace a negative thought with a positive one.  Pick a short, positive, inspirational saying or prayer to repeat every time a nasty, yucky, fear-based, resentment-based thought comes up.  Remember: progress not perfection.  Just begin and keep vigilant and steadfast.  And remember, you are not fighting the negative thoughts—only noticing them and replacing them with positive ones.  The negative ones are often charged with strong emotions, and the positive ones might feel false, but keep going anyway, the feelings will change, guaranteed.

Exercise 2: Do something really, really nice for someone today, and do it secretly.  The more I help and serve others the quieter my head becomes. 

Exercise 3: Practice moving a muscle and changing a thought whenever you notice yourself getting into a fear-frenzy or find yourself feeling stuck in a warm pile of self pity or bitterness.  Move and breathe.

Keep on keeping on.  As the journey might seem to get harder, the fruits will soon be sweeter. 

See you next week for

Part IV, Paragraph 4
of Your Heart’s Desire

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog

Paragraph 2, by Emmet Fox:

Whoever you are, God has not made you without a definite purpose in view.  The Universe is a universe; that is, it is a unified harmony, a Divine Scheme.  There can, therefore, be no such thing as a misfit, or an unwanted or unneeded piece.  It could not happen that God could create a spiritual entity such as you are, without having a special purpose in view, and this means that there is a special and particular place in it for you.  God never repeats Himself, and so He has never made two people alike, and it is for this reason that no two people could ever do quite the same work, or express themselves in quite the same way.  That is why, rightly understood, there really need be no competition.  There need be no such thing as, say, two thousand people struggling for the same place in life.  Whatever the place may be, there can only be one person who can fill it perfectly; and there are one thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine other places somewhere waiting for the other people if only they will find them.

Commentary, Questions, Exercises by Joseph Anthony

This paragraph brings me a lot of comfort.  I used to feel like a misfit so I would go around trying desperately to gain acceptance.  But no matter what I did, how I changed to meet your expectations, I always felt alone—like I didn’t fit in—a misfit.  Luckily that changed when I truly accepted that I was a child of God. 

I also appreciate Emmet’s mention of not needing to compete.  If you take what I just confessed and translate it into daily, social situations, I was always competing, vying, conniving, and otherwise manipulating others for center stage.  And my competitive streak went even deeper (or should I say, shallower).  Since I was primarily focused on material gain back then, I would even get anxious before heading out to yard sales or garage sales, for fear I would miss buying something I absolutely needed—I didn’t know what it was—but I was missing it, and some mean old lady or eBay-junkie was going to get it! 

As I said, I am not the same person I was then.  Now I can rest easy in God’s care.  I needn’t compete for anything, let alone my heart’s desire.  Even if more than one person is doing what I want to do—it’s wonderful.  I can trust that my dream will bear fruit if I am committed and faithful.

So here are the questions and exercises for paragraph 2:

Question 1: Have you ever felt like a misfit?  If so, what have you done to remedy that feeling?

Question 2: Do you believe Mr. Fox when he says that there is a place for everyone, and that no part of the universe is unwanted? 

Question 3:  Do you feel wanted?

Question 4: What are your thoughts about competition?  Is there ever such a thing as healthy competition?

Exercise:  Reflect on and describe your reaction upon hearing that you are special, that you are wanted and valued, and that there is a place just for you, in the Grand Scheme of Things.

Remember: find a buddy and work through this process with them.  As Piglet once said: “It’s so much friendlier with two.” 

 Next Wednesday–Part 3!

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog

Welcome to Your Heart’s Desire

Over the next few months we are going on an exciting journey together.  We are going to discover your heart’s desire. 
You might already know what your heart’s desire is,
but it is my hope that your heart has many desires. 
So stay with us.  There isn’t a finish line.

Every Wednesday we will be reading a different paragraph from a chapter called, Your Heart’s Desire, from Emmet Fox’s book, Power Through Constructive Thinking.  We will keep going until we have read the entire chapter.  After each paragraph I will share commentary, questions, and exercises to help guide you through the chapter and towards your heart’s desire.  Some of the questions and exercises are easy, others challenging.  You may feel tempted to turn back and quit.  I encourage you to stick with it and see it through.  Achieving your heart’s desire takes commitment and effort.  This journey is not, shall we say, for the faint of heart.  If you are willing to do whatever it (lawfully) takes to achieve your heart’s desire, then you are in the right place.  This could very well be the most important journey you have ever been on.  If you see it through, it will be.

But fear not, we are going together.  You can add comments and questions about your experiences or write to my personal email (josephanthony@thewonderchildblog.com) if you have any questions you’d rather not share publicly. 

I have worked through this chapter myself, so I know how to navigate you through it.  In addition, and more importantly so, the Wonder Child will be your constant companion.  For once you start this journey, God gets excited, and walks with you the whole way.  The journey will help you find your heart’s desire, and it will also help you discover who you really are.  I have found that once you find one, you find the other, but more on that later.

I recommend you buddy up with a friend and travel this road with them.  It will help you enormously to find an open-minded partner willing to walk the path to your destiny with you.  You can encourage and support each other over the bumpy parts and celebrate with each other when you achieve your goals.

If you want to read ahead, you can purchase the book from Amazon(Power Through Constructive Thinking) or just read along, little by little right here at the Wonder Child Blog.  Go slow, go far, they say.

Please take every question and exercise seriously.  Really think about them.  Try not to write “yes” or “no” answers.  Flesh them out a little bit.  The more honest and clear you can be with yourself, the easier you make the path for your heart’s desire to find you.

Once again, welcome.  I am truly glad you’re here. 

Your Heart’s Desire, by Emmet Fox

Questions and Exercises by Joseph Anthony

*Note:  You might want to keep your answers in a journal.

Paragraph 1

An old adage says: “God has a plan for every man, and He has a plan for you,” and this is absolutely correct.  Your real problem, therefore, in fact the only problem that you ever have, is to find your true place in life.  Find that, and everything else will follow almost automatically.  You will be perfectly happy; and upon happiness, health will follow.  You will be really prosperous.  You will have all the supply that you require to meet your needs, and this means that you will have perfect freedom; for poverty and freedom cannot go together.  Until you do find your true place in life, however, you will never really be happy, no matter how much money or distinction you may acquire; and until you are happy, you will neither be healthy nor free.
 

Commentary:

When I first read this paragraph, I had thoughts like: “Yeah, right.  That’s a bunch of malarkey.  It might be true for other people, but not me.”  Pay attention to your feelings, and more importantly, keep an open mind.  Emmet writes with authority and this can be off-putting for some.  But he speaks from deep spiritual as well as practical experience.  He writes as someone who has been there, and he has, so you can trust him.

Question 1: How did this paragraph make you feel?   

Question 3: Do you believe Mr. Fox when he says once you find your true place, everything will not only work out, but your life will blossom and prosper? 

Question 4: Do you believe in God?  I am mean really and truly?

Exercise 1:  Reflect on and describe your personal vision of God. 

Exercise 2:  Reflect on and describe whether or not you feel like you deserve to be happy and prosperous. 

Congratulations!  You have begun!  Come back next Wednesday for Part 2, and write down any thoughts, feelings, or questions that might come up as the week goes on.  There is a lot of information here, and a lot of difficult feelings may come up, so please stay connected with me, your buddy, and the other readers who are following their dreams. Cheers.

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog