#68

I'm taking a week off. On our way from Duluth, Minnesota to Blanco, Texas, we're stopped about mid-way, in Chanute, Kansas, with some perplexing trailer issues. I tend towards being anxious, worried, mad, and generally freaked out about it; and I want to use that tendency to remind myself to emanate love. Whew.

When I was sick with pneumonia, I stopped using my Intention Cards. I just recently returned to them. I love using them -- they bring me serenity and enlightening introspection, and I love looking at them. And they bring positive results. I do imbue each set with the energy of joyful fulfillment before I put them in the mail; and from all reports it works. I am so glad! You can see them on my Web site.

I'll be back with Tenacity Notes next week.

Don't worry, I won't keep talking about my Intention Cards in every Tenacity Notes. It's just that I am so excited about them! But I do have one request — if you have any ideas about places/ways I can market/sell them, please let me know. Thank you kindly.

#67

Fulfillment has something to do with being impeccable. Remembering that being impeccable means to do my best in whatever I'm engaged in, am I not sometimes acting impeccably when I give myself a little slack?

If doing my best includes effort, self-judgment, comparing myself with others, etc. — then it's not really my best, is it? I may need to give myself a rest from trying so hard; then maybe I can find out who I'm capable of being.

There is no template for impeccability. There is no template for fulfillment. Not that there aren't templates offered by various religions and other belief systems; but really, there is no template for fulfillment. Do your best in whatever you are engaged in. If doing your best means going home to put your feet up with pizza and a glass of wine and a movie — then that is your best. Then that is you being impeccable.

It's not for me to say what is your best. It's not for me to say what is impeccable for you. The question isn't what is impeccable for anyone else. The question isn't how can you be impeccable in the way that someone else is. The question is: what is impeccable for you?

FYI, I'm getting all kinds of reports about the Intention Cards — little miracles, profound insights, synchronicities galore, and just plain fun. I'm so glad!

#66

I have an announcement, one that I am pleased as punch to share with you: I have something I want you to see; it's something I'm selling, something that I made — Intention Cards. I think they're pretty cool, and people who already have them have had lovely things to say about them — they are inspiring, they love using them, they use them every day, they are beautiful, they are useful, they really do work.

You can see my Intention Cards on my Web site, on the Intention Cards page. www.savvypsychic.com/IntentionCards

You can buy them there, too. They come with a little booklet that has some suggestions of ways to use the cards, and tells about how I make them. Please look at them and tell me what you think. Need I remind you that we are entering the holiday buying season? They'll make very nice gifts.

I have a string around my finger that I'd like to tell you about. Actually it is a twist tie, which may be even better than a string, because it's more irritating and captures my attention more often. Lately, I have been mulling over the idea of "surrendering to my potential." I have a sense that I have more capacity than I am using. The irritating twist tie is to remind me to pause and ask if, at that moment, my behavior, or thought, or belief, or attitude furthers my ability to surrender to my potential or not.

I must say that I don't really know what surrendering to my potential means, I don't know what it might look like in my life. But I don't need to know that. All I need to know is that I want to experience it — I want to experience surrender, and I want to experience my full potential. That's my intent. The details are not my concern. As my friend Doris said, all I know is that it will be better than I ever could have imagined.

So for now, my spiritual practice is the twist tie around my finger, reminding me to continue to ask the question, about whatever it is that I'm in the midst of — does it enable my surrender, or does it inhibit it.

Oh my goodness, there's a new Intention Card for me to draw: Surrender. I'll get right on it.

You know, I will continue to create new cards, even after you buy your set. But don't worry. When I come up with a new card, I'll send it to you. So no matter when you buy your cards, you'll always have a complete set.

#65

Thanks a lot for your thoughtful replies about compassion. They're all so interesting and varied. I have lots to digest. If you haven't responded, it's not too late. (It's never too late to write to me.) I'll write more about it soon.

One of you defined compassion as, "When someone is 'barking' at me, interpreting their words, behaviors, and energy as 'Help me, Please!' "

I got a bit barky after being sick for so long (just ask Debra!) The other thing I got was bleak. Depressed. Life seemed gray. I'd been sick in one way or another since late September, culminating with pneumonia. I hadn't been breathing much at all, just little shallow breaths, certainly not my 15 minutes of intentional breathing. I was ill, I was hurting, and I was bummed out.

As I lay in bed feeling bleak, I asked myself some questions. It seemed obvious that feeling good physically makes it easier to feel good generally. But is it a given that my physical state determines my mental state? Don't I know something that could be of use to me now?

I remembered that many of you had written to me about your delight in using the practice of emanating love. One of you said, "It's like a charm."

So as I lay in bed, coughing, short on oxygen, and feeling weak and depleted, I emanated love. It worked like a charm! Bleakness fled, depression lifted, and I felt something like contentment. Now, whenever I begin to feel glum, I take that as a reminder to emanate love.

Feeling glum is my ally, it reminds me to emanate love! There are lots of other allies, too. Fear, anxiety, blame, shame, comparing, judgment, crabbiness, aloofness, and so on and so forth. All of them allies, reminding me to emanate love.

It's true that I generally consider myself to be of robust health, and even at my sickest I knew it would pass. I don't in any way want to make light of anyone else's suffering. But I do want to gently suggest that if you're ever feeling glum, try emanating love.

We practice emanating love for the joy of it. And we also practice so that when we come up against a tough situation, we have well-honed skills readily at hand.

Emanating love is a way to be compassionate towards yourself.

#64

What is Compassion?

When my niece was a squirrely 5-year-old, we were crossing a busy street and I said to her, "This is a busy street, I want you to pay attention." She stomped her foot in exasperation and said, "I have to look to the right, I have to look to the left, and now I have to pay attention! How can I do all that and cross the street too?"

She was right. The meaning of "look to the left" is clear, it needs no explanation. But "pay attention" doesn't mean anything unless you know what it means.

What does compassion mean?

That's why I like the Golden Rule, it's meaning is clear — don't do or think or feel anything towards another that you wouldn't want someone to do or think or feel towards you. I get that.

But "compassion" is like "pay attention." It doesn't mean anything if you don't know what it means. I never know what people mean when they mention compassion.

Do you have a working definition of compassion? Can you explain compassion to me in a way that is connected to the body (look to the left, look to the right), in a way that gives directions I can follow?

I suppose I could read some books, but I'd rather not. I learn better when someone tells me. Please share with me your definition of compassion. What does compassion look like in your life?

I'm serious. Write back and tell me what "compassion" means to you. Thank you.