Pollyanna Publishing Co.

John Grandfield

Copyright 2010 all rights reserved

                                                                     Version 1.6                                                                                                                                     $ 1.50                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                           

 

The little handbook of life

-a work in progress-

A simple guide

for life on Earth

 

 

 

 

Why did we sign up for this ?

What were we thinking ?

Some of us just happened to hear via word of mouth, so to speak, of a fun place with lots of action.

You know how it is, nothing like a crowd to attract a bigger crowd, and we thought we’d give it a try.

A fun time, lot’s of laughs, with a few scary rides. The earth as Amusement park. Well, it does get one started, and that’s what counts.

The problem is after a few turns of the wheel, one forgets how they came to be here.  (1)

Think of spirits hanging out in all eternity …..playing the same old games over and over,

I’ll bet some of them are looking for new things to do.

Some of us were created just for the further education of the ones who created them.

Does this seem like a raw deal ? who can say.  I don’t know about you, but  I wouldn’t go back.

I have a feeling some were sent here for remedial education….we all know a few candidates for this category.

So lots of fun with almost unlimited variables. Who could ask for more.  and what rides, breathtaking and beautiful.


                Tell me my friend             

What is this place,  here a different name and a different face.

                Where the action never ends.

 

Chapter 1 recap   Reasons for signing up:                     

Curiosity

Boredom

Because we said so

 

 

 

Life is good

Life is good, such light, sharpness & clarity, good friends and lovers, family & children, hey, being a child has a lot to be said for it, such a place to test out ideas and see if they work, and when they do….ahh, the satisfaction.  Not to mention good food ! music and art, conversation & laughter ! what a place.

The list does go on & on, happily and as endlessly as the people on Earth & more so.

 

A place, so it would seem, more solid than a dream

 

 

 

 

I take it all back

Wait just a minute,

what about war, crime and cruelty, all those viscous abusive people.

Not to mention pain, suffering and death, with all that loss and lamenting going on.

This list too, goes for a long time, however it’s not as long as the prior chapter, else why sign up ?

What is this all about ?

Well ?

The Earth is a School

A very challenging school…with lessons that are not meant to be forgotten

Who graduates ? absolutely everyone........

In this life

This crazy ride, with your friends by your side

On the edge of the

dark and deep

we wring our hands and we weep……… A tear or two for everyone

 

 

 

 

Tools for better living

Laughter

A sense of the absurd, well, it sure helps

Imagination - use it - it’s fun - and it works

Take action now, small forward progress is the key

Take action, pay attention to your thoughts and see when your ideas manifest

Knowing it all works out in the end. We all have plenty of time to succeed  (2)

…..For advanced credit….

A Meditation practice of some sort

Affirmations

Asking for help

A friendly introspection

 

 

 

Focus of attention

What  you focus your awareness on tends to come to pass, it’s one of your most important tools.

One may argue “Well no it doesn’t” 

However many of us are a heady mix of conflicting emotions and ideas, these tend to cancel each other out, making for slow going.

Listen to your inner voices.

One is the Ego

One is the inner you, and often shows up as Inspiration. Images. Insight

The Ego is kind of a loudmouth

Sometimes they are at odds

To hear more, practice being quiet,

paying attention to what each is saying.

Is one saying “no I can’t, or maybe later” ?

Guess which voice that one is

 

It was all so clear a moment ago

 

 

Commitment

For best results, making an effort is a good idea

Even small steps count

Waiting for everything to fall into your lap is seldom a good idea

Life is about you….not what everyone else can do for you.

 

.

Bigger & better than ever before

   The whole place is bigger and more wonderful than most of us give it credit for, 

there is room in Heaven (3) for all of us….All of us !  imagine that ! every religion, Every belief system and style of living that ever existed and ever will, Everyone is included, and every one graduates in the end.

Everyone !

Let’s not display our ignorance by short changing the Big Fellow’s capacities   (4)

….see notes on Heaven.

Since the big plan includes us all

Then we can all work together here

 

Other chapters include

Not necessarily in order of appearance

.

Opportunity

That’s what we are here for

Learning to recognize it

It’s not always about money

Sometimes it’s what comes after the  “Aha” moment

Sometimes what you need for the next thing will come along at just the right time

Pay attention and see it work

If you believe in these ways of living you will see them happen

If not, well you can blame cruel fate, bad luck or someone else

Life works anyways

It’s just more fun to feel the magic

.

Synchronisity

When you find a nice method to calm yourself, a meditative practice or whatever form works for you

And when you ask for guidance, say from your “higher” self,  you may find everything falling into place,

what you need to know just shows up, via a conversation with someone new,  a book you find by accident, or just being in the right place at the right time.

It feels a bit just like magic

Fun and it works

a bit spooky too

Life isn’t supposed to be that easy, right ?

 

 

.

 

The finer points

Working with emotions - Learning to express emotion - learning to control emotions

Some of us are here to learn how to express ourselves emotionally ..to let it out

Some have no problem letting it all flow, but need to learn to control the intensity

Some want fine-tuning, they’re mostly pretty good but need a few finishing touches

What is this stuff that seems to take over at times ?

Emotions linked with a hormonal system, it’s wild

It helps if ones gives a bit of oversight to one’s process

Using the intellect to double check the validity of the emotional drive

That’s a good step

And using the emotional pull to check the intellect’s conclusions

Self-government

No one said it was easy

 

 

Working with Beliefs

 

Asking for help

Is prayer OK ?

You could call it prayer or just asking your higher self for help

Your higher self is interested in helping you

However you do need to ask first

It works in strange ways

Pay attention after you ask for help and see when the answer comes

You can imagine a question and think strongly about it and then push it out into space…so to speak,

your answer will come back soon, as an insight, a dream, or a connecting moment with someone who will further the idea into the next phase

.

Thrills & Chills

personal responsibility

I’ve been avoiding this chapter.

Blaming others for your problems

is just the willful child within pointing the finger at everyone else

“I didn’t do it”

only works when you don’t know any better

Now you do

Once you understand a bit more about this place and how it works, you can’t pass the buck anymore,

It’s your beliefs at work

You may say “I didn’t sign up for this”

I’m not so sure that is so

We do take on many adverse situations

Simply to overcome them

Thereby learning that we can

.

 

Karma

Sounds like crime & punishment to me

I’d rather look at it this way

 If you haven’t got the point of a certain lesson, by let’s say, mistreating someone else

you will sooner or later

in a way that will not be forgotten

Can you redeem yourself now ?

yes, by truly understanding what went astray

.

 

Pleading and deal-making

In the darkest hour, when you make a deal to change some bad habit,

Keep your promise

.

 

Who’s in charge ?

Stranger than fiction

The higher self

on and on

all the way to all that is

this is a tough one to fathom

We are connected to more than this body and this life

We are connected to

(and here’s where words fail)

A higher self

This higher self is connected to another higher self

And that one also connects

Go on & on for a little while and you are God

One of the things we can do here is start to re-connect back to the source

 

Another way of putting it, you are part of a group being

Without being any less by being part of a whole

The whole is greater then the sum

It’s true

In fact you have a very large, very knowledgeable built in cheering section

That will insist that you succeed

In your own way

 

You are not separate from this higher self

You are one and the same

Just having a life  

.

Connections

It is quite possible that all of us are connected to everything (5)

.

Teachers

You & I and everyone else

We are all teachers and students of each other

with a fantastic classroom

You can use a teacher for motivation, as inspiration.

Ultimately they will lead you back to knowing that it is you

And your inner knowing that is the path

.

The other teachers that claim to have the only way

Are ego driven

It may be best to walk away from these ones

 

Does it matter what we think ? 

Manifestation, it’s not for everyone, or is it ?

.

Learning the hard way

It does not matter which way you want to go

it’s the experience that counts

The higher self only cares that you learn the lesson

Perhaps In the form of a long pleasant vacation

or manifesting lots of trouble in life

It is beliefs at work

It’s your choice how you do it

Therein lays freewill

Looking around I suspect that learning the hard way may be a tad quicker

It seems to be the popular choice

Where’s the incentive to change, when life is a long walk on a sunny beach

So to speak

 

.

Blocks to awareness

I can’t do it

is the main one

The other is to be so caught up in some fascinating here now interest

So much so that there is no room for the quiet knowing

.

Assumptions

We are all here for a good reason

All of us

We are all immortal

Truly (6)

 

.

Thoughts on Progress

Things are going along nicely

.

Caffeine and other addictions

Keep you anchored in the here now

Which is fine if you like your situation

and life is working well for you…..

If not

you can discard those things

When the time is right

When you decide you’re the boss of yourself

.

Habitual offenders

 remedial education

Well this is a great school. It even has room for late bloomers. (7)

 

.

 

Changes

The problem you say, is that everything changes

Well that is true

We do like to keep those things we like

However you are not the person you were 10 years ago

Or 5

You’re not exactly the same as you were yesterday

The good news

There is continuity

That is what is important

The connections from all these different states of being

Once you feel that changes are Ok, good even,

then the whole process is easier

A big sigh of relief

Then the fun begins

.

The ego thinks it’s all that is, and doesn’t like what would seem to be outside influences calling any  shots, and is usually very resistant to any rapid change

Sometimes any change at all

When using the idea of manifestation, the ego can play a bit and this helps loosen up the resistance

 

Taking Action

Take steps forward, even small ones, that gets things to move

The more you take action the easier it becomes to get where you want to be

Many people would rather rail against life’s injustices than take steps to change their ways

 

 

.

Good vibrations

-inner ones that is-

Have you ever, while falling asleep say, felt or heard a buzzing or rushing noise ?

Usually while extremely relaxed

This feeling is important, one I think of as the gateway signal

If you relax just a bit further, out of the body you may go, and soon will be verifying all these outrageous things I’ve been talking about

 

 

On the road to find out

paths to awareness

Everyone has a path, some like to run, some like to run around in circles, until that gets boring.

Everyone’s path is a path to greater awareness

.

Manifestation

It works, it’s fun, give it a try…..you’re doing it anyway

When you shift to consciously working with manifestation, it makes a great system to check your ideas and beliefs against the outer world, imagine something you would like and see how it comes about.

Key, is just paying attention.

.

Coincidence & Accidents

Sorry - no such luck (8)

all is meaningful and for a reason

Many would not like to hear they are in charge of their luck

Then you can’t complain and have to be responsible

It’s so unfair

Survivable accidents can be viewed as obvious turning points in ones life

Often a good time to re-asses and change one’s ways (9)

Non survivable ones, just means it was definitely time for a change

.

Coincidence it would seem, it a way for spirit to get your attention

you noticed something funny going on

 

.

 

A tough question

It would seem that very bad things happen to people all the time. Why ?

A possible answer:

With infinite time and all the chances you need

Some of us will take on very difficult things

Very intense lives used as an accelerant to awareness

These lessons will not be forgotten

People pulling together in accident or storm, even war

learning to bond with each other under extreme circumstances

not to be forgotten

.

The Earth it would seem, is a popular and interesting place

Many people may re-enlist under marginal circumstances

 

You got to move

 Well don’t you ?

Aging, the reasons for;

At this point how many of us would voluntarily leave this life ?   See changes, resistance to (10)

Very few at this point is my guess

Aging has several functions. When we think of aging, we usually think of getting older or old.

Aging does one thing for certain, it absolutely forces the issue of when to exit.

At some point in the race’s evolution of consciousness you get to the ego centered state, which doesn’t like change, and then asking it to jump into the complete unknown, you must be joking.

What were they thinking ?

Aging as a learning experience, Rather seamlessly as you grow , your attention focuses on different areas

Learning to live and operate in the world.

Play

Working with others

Attraction and Sex (even more reason to work with others)

Love

Work  (it’s not all bad)

Family & more love

Retirement with lots of time to think  & take a second chance on doing certain things left by the wayside earlier in life.

Then things might not be working so well with the ol’ bod and then it’s time to go !

 

.

Extra Credit

 -Thinking about probabilities-

In quantum physics there are some who say everything, and I do mean everything, is happening all at once.

Every time a decision point was reached, and you chose one way, in the many parallel universe you also take the other path to.

It’s our focus of attention that gives us the linear perspective

-Thinking about Time-

It’s likely a consensus reality

or an illusion, if you will

that is needed at our stage of evolution

We just can’t handle everything happening all at once right now

So we filter in a linear fashion

.

 

.

What’s it all about ?

Learning to live together

Bonding beyond the self

Fine tuning and clearing mistaken assumptions

.

What’s God got to do with it

Everything

 

.

Imagine

That all those things that you worried about all your life, turned out to not be a problem

At all

What a joy !

What a relief !

and maybe feeling a bit foolish too ?

.

 

In the end

all will be revealed - not to worry

.

 

 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­notes

 

(1)     Is that really a problem ? more likely rather by design.

(2)     Immortality  - means no limits to success , not license to run around all reckless and crazy, you’ll just end up starting up all over again

(3)     Heaven - It’s not a finished product either, all final, polished and static, that’s the fun of it…..and Earth too

(4)     God, that is - What can you say about God , an entity that is so all encompassing, that what one can say will likely fall so far short and be so distorted by beliefs, that it is almost pointless to try……the good news is that we all get to know the truth -  eventually

(5)     The big picture….returning to God

(6)     I didn’t say unchanging

(7)     Some of them are here so we can learn more about ourselves. What we are fearful of.  Learning via others bad examples.

(8)     Luck good or bad, just reflects the person’s belief system at the time, this is easier to see in others, watch them and learn, then apply to yourself

(9)     Also Illness

(10)  The Ego likes things to stay the same, or be very controlled by the very self same ego

 

 

*

Under the circling sky

warm winds blow moonlight and shadows

through whispering grass

high on a hilltop

we look down on dreamlands

another world

of mystery and magic

waits for us

 

 

*

 

                Tell me my friend             

What is this place,  here a different name and a different face.

                Where the action never ends.

 

 

*

A place, so it would seem, more solid than a dream

 

 

 

*

In this life

This crazy ride, with your friends by your side

On the edge of the

dark and deep

we wring our hands and we weep……… A tear or two for everyone

*

 

I imagine how it may be

Taking action is the key

in a quiet place

yes I say

to receive help

would make my day

 

*

 

 

 

It was all so clear a moment ago

 

*

 

Because we can

we will go forth

one step at a time

until the way is certain

and the path clear

*

 

Probable Me, Probable You

 probable things

 that we just might do

.

At the Crossroads

 both ways look good

 do as you want

 do as you should

.

Probable You, Probable Me

 one way for the other

 another for me

.

The Way Not Taken

 Is Taken for You

 The Crossroad is Seamless

 leading to Others

 with stories for you

.

Probable Laughter, Probable Tears

 probable lives

 over probable years

.

Sit at Possible Tables on Probable Chairs

 built by alternate carpenters

 with alternate glue

 so many choices

 strange, but it's true

.

Alternate Husbands, Probable Wives

 drinking drinks strange and mellow

 during alternate lives

.

Sing Songs Slightly Different

 tell tales very strange

 at different places

 somewhat rearranged

.

Probable Me, Probable You

 probable Things

     that we just might do

.

*

.

Walk on the stones

the river has gone

a smell of dusty moss

hot winds rattle and whisper

through the Cottonwoods

the cicada's song

sends us dreaming

thoughts of ancient times

civilizations turned to dust

as we go

heat waves dance on far hills

in the end

the last pool

with earthy river smells

green moss and cattail

turtles and half seen fishes

dive in

down into the cold and dark

break the surface

ripples sparkle in the sun

mesmerizing

sunning on stones

quiet for hours

listen to the river

We live today

 

.

*.

*.

 

.