7. What are the factors that lead to a successful relationship?
8. The Guides address issues of resistance and difficulty while meditating.
9. What existed before the creation of souls, and time, and space?
10. Would you please discuss the ways in which an individual’s spiritual development from incarnation to incarnation is linked to that of other souls, and the meaning, if any, of such concepts as "soul mates," "twin souls," "and group souls?"
11. The Light of Love: Creating a powerful spiritual experience--an attunement.
12. The Power of Gratitude
13. About September 11, 2001
14. Keys to your Creative Power
15. How to get off the "wheel of karma"

QUESTION: What are the factors that lead to a successful relationship?

ANSWER: As you look at this area, you can simplify many complexities by realizing that the personal self of you generally comes in a kind of "encasement." This encasement is a set of desires and patterns that you might call self-interest. We are not implying selfishness here. We are speaking of the understandable passionate human concern that you have with your own thoughts, your own feelings, your own desires, your own needs, and your own life. This is that portion that we have pointed to which is the fire within the human that moves human life forward. If you ones in earth did not have desires, you would do nothing. There would be no depth to human life.

   As you say, "I wish to make wonderful relationships, particularly in the intimate, romantic mating areas," then begin with the understanding that the primary variable that will determine whether you are miserable or happy, from your side of a relationship, is what you do with this encasement that comes naturally along with your human life. You could say that when you are inserted into a human body you become an "animal." You become a one who has an encasement of strong self-preserving, self-protecting, self-fulfilling desires and interests.

Focal Point One. The first parameter for the fullest relationships would be: How much do you come outside of your encasement? If you are constantly focused upon yourself, you will find it very difficult to have the depth of love in a relationship. If you allow yourself to break free from the encasement of your own intense subjective experience you can have deeper relationships.

We are not saying that you need to give up, or ignore, or criticize your strong subjective experience, but that you need to learn how to step out of it at will. Most of you learn this naturally simply by having relationships and paying attention to others. Some of you do that more than others.

The extent to which you can step outside of your encasement is very simple to monitor. For several days, once each day, notice how much time you generally spend thinking about yourself, feeling about yourself, talking about yourself, and pursuing your own desires. For most, you might find that 80 to 90 percent of the time might be considered "normal." If you are doing more than that, you will have difficulty in relationships because others will not be so interested in you because they are 80 to 90 percent interested in themselves.

You can say to yourself, "If I notice that I rarely speak about others, think about them, feel them, draw them out, or try to understand them, and I have difficulty in relationships, this most likely is the first obstacle. I need to patiently practice opening my encasement, using my inner sensitivity to others, and going forward toward them." This might seem to be a very simple area, but it is profoundly impactful upon your relationships.

Focal Point Two. The second focal point is, the willingness to believe that the one you are having a relationship with is a most wonderful and magnificent human being. This is particularly important in a mating area. Let us say that you are in a monogamous marriage relationship. You are in the unique position of having chosen one single human being out of the billions on the face of this earth to love. If you cannot feel the magnificence of that person and you become critical and fault-finding, you will feel that you are with the wrong person, that there is another one who is more wonderful. You will find it difficult to continue to love the person you are with. It will be difficult for you to feel that the relationship is important.

   It is not that you must pretend that the other person is perfect. Simply know that most human beings are trained to find fault so that they can eliminate it. If most of your time is spent finding fault with your relationship person, you will find it difficult to have deep love with that person. You might need to use your will and creativity and say:

"Here is an extraordinary eternal soul who is temporarily manifesting as my personal mating one. This is a one who has lived on this earth in many lives, and has done the most extraordinary things, and is now agreeing to love me and to be loved by me. Most likely, this is a soul that I have loved in many lifetimes."

   In this way, you encourage your imagination to penetrate into deeper truths about that person so that you can begin to feel how truly wonderful that one is. If you cannot create enough of that depth, you will not reflect enough of the shining light of love and admiration to this loved one to stimulate the loved one to do the same toward you. If that loved one does not do the same toward you, showing you how magnificent you are, you can begin to feel less magnificent, less lovable, and less able to love. Most of the ennui, the boredom, and the sense of ordinariness and flatness that occurs in the mating and marriage areas—assuming that ones are relatively well matched for one another—occurs because of taking for granted and not seeing the other as magnificent, as wonderful. Then, there comes that burden, that sense that there is no magicalness in the love relationship.

Focal Point Three. The next focal point has to do with matching the personalities as best you can. Of course, there will be differences in two persons coming together in the mating area. In these differences, you have the opportunity to destroy the relationship, or to deepen it.

   You match the personalities, not by forcing the other person to be exactly as yourself and to have the same interests, values, and desires, but you notice the differences and you say: "Here is the critical stumbling point for most human beings." After a while, most humans notice differences between themselves and the one they are loving, and, without realizing it, they bring their own confused thoughts and emotions into their response to the differences and they begin to see the differences as badness. For example, you might say, "It is bad that my mating one does not share my passion for this activity. It is bad that I go forth and rejoice in the theater and my mating one curses it." As you look at the differences, you need to say to yourself, "Here is the power point. Here is the fulcrum point. If I can be creative about the differences, and respond creatively and find ways to become interested in areas that are passionate for my mating one, and invite the mating one to share some of my different areas, then we will begin to deepen the relationship. If I criticize my mating one for the differences, that can drive a wedge in the relationship, making it more difficult to love."

Focal Point Four. The next focal point is, fantasy. The sense of magicalness that all ones search for in the mating area is actually a hunger for God. You ones have simply fantasized and transposed it onto a human representative of God, which is your mating one.

   In this context, and under the influence of the many stories, filmings, and teachings that you ones have absorbed, there comes the sense that the mating area in particular, but even other relationships, should always be magical and wonderful, and free from pain and suffering. If there comes pain and suffering, you begin to feel that there is something wrong with the relationship.

   Most of this applies to the less mature ones who have not had the experience of living through emotional intensity and emotional challenge and pain. Eventually, in the deepest relationships, there comes a certain maturity in which you still prefer ecstasy and magical, wonderful feelings toward one another, but, you realize that such experience is, in a way, a fantasy, rooted in your fear of pain and suffering. Most human beings would prefer to eliminate pain and suffering and make human life a place of pleasure and joy, without challenge. However, as you might have noticed, that is not the nature of human life. Thus, you could say, "Then how can it be the nature of a relationship that there is only perfect love and perfect feelings and never any challenge?"

   If you decide that perhaps the nature of relationships is a great deal of joy and love, and occasionally some challenge, then you could say, "That is the focal point for my growing and deepening of the relationship. If I work with the challenges and continue to love my loved one, and we heal challenges together, then the relationship deepens. If we criticize one another, or criticize the relationship because it has challenges, then a wedge is driven between us." With such criticism, you will find it harder to love one another, and you can begin to feel that perhaps you are with the wrong person, or that there is something wrong with the relationship.

Focal Point Five. The next area is: establishing a sense in your own heart that you are the one who will work the hardest in the relationship. If both of you do that, you cannot fail.

   Often, the impulse is to say, "My mating one should love me and make me feel wonderful. If my mating one does not do that, then there is something wrong with my mating one. I should not need to work in order to create love." You need to realize—and most of you understand this—that there is a certain amount of effort, work, and diligence needed in order to understand another, and to listen to your loved one, even when you do not feel like listening. If there is that commitment in your heart to be the one who works the hardest, to be the one who gives the most, then that stimulates the other, and there can be a response in kind from your mating one.

Focal Point Six. The next focal point is, the willingness to establish a vision that the relationship is extremely important, and, even perhaps to feel that it is part of your purpose in life. If you feel that your relationship, such as a mating, for example, is a hobby that you add to your working arena and your hobbies of other sorts, then, of course, you will find it difficult to value that relationship enough.

Focal Point Seven. The next area is quite clear and obvious, but at times it is difficult to achieve. It is, a deeper communication about important feelings, and the willingness to work with deep feelings together.

   It can be interesting to communicate about ideas. That can be stimulating. You can communicate about your financial areas, your home, your family, your children, and the state of life. You could have a moderately deep relationship by limiting your communication to those areas. However, the deepest love comes in the willingness to speak about important feelings on a steady basis. Some of the feelings might be challenging, but sharing them will help you heal them.

Focal Point Eight. There are many other relationship patterns that different individuals have—what they prefer, their goals, their visions, and so forth. However, for most ones, if you can bring forth a passion for God and for the eternal, and you can share that with your loved one, it can accelerate a relationship even if you are not able to be so wonderful in the other areas that we have spoken of.

   Assuming that you and your loved one are not overly frightened, and you heal your fears together and communicate well, then, the mutual desire to know God, to know the soul, and to experience the eternal can bring a depth, first, to your personal self. You can feel that your life is much more important than you believed.

   Then, secondly, that can bring a depth to your relationship. This can become what some consider a "soul mating" one. Many humans believe that their soul has chosen one person on the earth, and they must find that person, mate with them, and be fulfilled. If that special person happens to die, or they cannot find that person, then they must do without that deep mating for this lifetime. For greater clarity, you can say to yourself. "Soul mates are human creations." All souls are your mates, and you are joined to all souls. However, in the human relationships of the mating area, if you make these deep adjustments that we have pointed to, and you both have the passion for God and for truth, then, whomever you choose, assuming that there is a good matching of the two personalities, you can create a feeling in your heart that says, "This is the perfect human being for me. I can sense deep bonds between our souls, and I rejoice with gratitude that I have the opportunity to love this one in this lifetime." (back to top)

The following presents an answer to a question asked by a participant at our 1999 5-day Retreat, "The Magic of Creativity."  Dr. Scolastico answers the question from a deep state of consciousness, drawing upon a source of universal wisdom often referred to as "The Guides." Although this was a personal question, many who meditate will be able to relate to the answer. With Sue's permission, I have included it here.

QUESTION FROM SUE: As a student of your teachings, I know that meditating opens doors. I have difficulty meditating, although I feel connected to a source when I am being creative. This is not the same experience I am looking for. When I try to meditate I feel a physical pressure in my forehead and I feel resistance, impatience and make excuses that I am too much of the flesh. I am curious why I do this? I am looking for a more profound connection to my soul and to the eternal. I want to open doors to the eternal. I want to expand my creatively so that I understand the [greater] meaning and purpose of it instead of just for myself. Can you speak to this, to my desire and how I can achieve it?

ANSWER FROM "THE GUIDES:" There are a number of patterns involved here. First of all, the need to maintain control which often has been positive for you in terms of acting and doing in the world rather vigorously and forcefully. And the benefits that you have achieved from this kind of thrusting energy have brought forth a fondness for doing, acting in the more forceful, vigorous ways. So that the more receptive, softer taking in moments and moods have been partly polarized so that inwardly, and mostly unconsciously, that entire area of softening and receiving has been a bit threatening or associated with sadness or pain.

Now you have made some healings here. And when there is a tangible focal point such as practicing receiving more from another human, being patient and listening instead of giving and serving, you are able to make some inroads. Still you are a bit overbalanced on the side of doing versus receiving. But at least you have made some adjustments there. When it comes to a kind of empty, vacant experience such as periods of attunement or meditation, there is not the tangible focus for the strong, intellectual thrusting part of you that you have in an interaction with a human where you could say, "Here is a human. I will practice listening, receiving." When you have the emptiness of the meditation attunement period, you have no focus for your mind, therefore, you become uncomfortable, disoriented, impatient. For the mind generally leads in your activities, for the mind needs to know, "What is the activity? How do I do it? What is the sign of success? What is the sign of failure?" All of the automatic responses that occur when you have a tangible focus.

So it is much easier for you to do a thing than to do no thing. To embrace an emptiness in which there is no focal point, you become restless. It seems a waste of time when you could be doing many things. You do not wish to do no thing. So first of all, you must imply a value in doing no thing, which you have begun to do. You are beginning to long for a deeper experience of God, more of that naturally harmonious, creative force flowing through you. That is needing a part of your will and your inner forcefulness to actually do something. But that delicious experience of turning your will over to the creative forces of God so the creatively flows out of you in a natural, almost effortless way, you are beginning to learn. So you are accurately sensing that the dynamics that your personality confronts in trying to make an attunement would be similar to the dynamics of this free flowing expression of creatively as opposed to a forced and pushed expression.

Now the focal points are three for guiding yourself:
First, when you enter the attunement period, give yourself a moment or two to fret about everything that distracts you in the human world. If you immediately command that you release all of that, there is a stubborn resistance. For you are determined not to be manipulated by anyone, not even your own self. When your self says it is now time to mediate, part of you says, "I do not wish to mediate. I wish to think about this relationship, that activity, this thing in the world." So for a moment or two you indulge in that. And you flood your mind with many, many different thoughts about activities, relationships, your life past, present, future, simply overloading the personality, skipping from one thing to another, emphasizing a kind of franticness and pushing to the point of feeling very tense.

It is as though you wish to relax a muscle. You command it to relax. It does not respond so well. If you tense that muscle tightly and briefly, then it can relax more fully. So you tense your personality and exaggerate it. Then there is a wonderful sense of pleasure at releasing that tension and it is not an imposed command upon your freedom. It is an enticed pleasure that you are moving toward. So you can practice this and gradually have a sense of launching yourself into a meditative period that brings a delicious sense of release from all the pressure and burden and activity of the daily world.

Now the second focus is establishing a sense of being accompanied. When you are alone there are certain sadness’ and confused patterns that can arise that cause you to undervalue the moment of being alone. When you have the companionship of connectivity, an intense focus in work or relationships with other people, you avoid this almost dreadful sensation of being lost in aloneness, isolation, great despair. These are patterns from other times in earth in which, isolated by imprisonment or religious commitment or a wandering mating one, or various areas, you were so isolated and sad and alone that you would fall into great despair. So when the emptiness of the attunement period is associated with aloneness, it becomes inwardly repulsive and you wish to escape from it, no matter how you motivated yourself to desire deep attunement. There is a kind of visceral rejection of the experience of entering an aloneness. So you people the moment with imagination of the souls who are actually sharing that moment with you.

There are seven primary souls who establish a commitment each time you are willing to turn your attention toward an attunement. These are teachers to you from past times of earth who have guided your previous restless, impatient personality in ways that brought about profound experiences of God. For the moment, it is not necessary to give them human personalities. Simply imagine seven most extraordinary teachers, ones who love you with great consistency, who rejoice in you. And you would imagine them embracing you, sharing that quiet moment so that the calm and the peace and the silence of the attunement period becomes wonderfully warm and beautiful and not cold and empty and alone. All of this is done with your imagination, but it triggers an intuitive sensing of the presence of these souls as they share the attunement period with you.

And third, you do need a sense of outcome. You are so committed to outcome, to results that it would not serve you to forbid that, saying, "I must cease caring about results." So, you create even more expectation of even more joyful results from the attunement period. So as you are leaving the attunement period, when you are ready to return to full consciousness, you begin to suggest to your mind, as though you are instructing a stubborn child, that these are the benefits you will notice in your life when you consistently make this attunement. First, you will feel more love for other humans. Second, you will feel them loving you more. Third, the creative ideas and impulses will intensify. Next, your ability to act on those creative impulses will have more variety, will have more power. Next, you will feel there is deeper purpose in the way you express creatively. And finally, you will feel you will benefit many humans. So you very deeply list these areas, and you feel them as you return to your conscious awareness. This kind of focus made a consistent practice, should bring the depth you are seeking. Not always in every attunement period, but gradually in the long run. (back to top)

QUESTION: What existed before the creation of souls, and time, and space? In other words, how did the unmanifest, the God force, or God consciousness, itself originate? Realizing that this is a very esoteric question, can you give us a simple explanation or examples that we can relate to and understand?

ANSWER: The simplest explanation is that there is no before. Do you understand?

Susan, laughing: I will think about that one.

The Guides continue: For there comes in the perception of the human, within time and space, the perception of a before, a now, and an after. It is difficult for you to try to imagine an eternal existence of a God force unmanifest.

In our speakings, we have described the creation of souls from that unmanifest God force, but we have tried to urge you not to put that in a context of time. There was no before the creation of souls. There was no before the existence of the God force. This is extremely difficult for a human mind that can conceive of a before for everything. But, there simply is no before. There only is.    ...                                                                   Taken from Study Group No. 161, May 2000

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The following question was asked in a personal reading. The individual having the reading kindly contributed his question and answer.

QUESTION: My former wife, Leslie, was told by an esoteric source that she and I are "twin souls." Is this true? If so, what are the implications of this? Would you please discuss the ways in which an individual’s spiritual development from incarnation to incarnation is linked to that of other souls, and the meaning, if any, of such concepts as "soul mates," "twin souls," "and group souls?"

THE GUIDES: This is a very important area for you. It can bring an awakening that will bless you for the remainder of this lifetime. First, you will take certain thoughts, then you can gradually learn the truth behind them.

The first thought is: Every human being is your twin soul.

The second thought is: No two human beings are destined to love one another. They have the potential to love one another.

The third thought is: The human conception of "twin souls" in its present general state is human fantasy and wishful thinking.

The fourth thought is: You can make anyone your twin soul, just as you have with the present loved one.

The fifth thought is: Some humans will be easier to make your twin soul than others. This is so for many reasons, often having to do with the fact that you have loved them more deeply in the past times of earth.

The sixth thought is: When you feel alone, the human mind of you, which is so strong, can go to great lengths to create beliefs to comfort you. Generally, these beliefs are beneficial for you. If you imagine the Diane one as your twin soul and you create the intensity that you are creating, and, if she responds in kind, that intensity brings you joy for the remainder of this lifetime, even if you do not realize that all humans are your twin souls. In other words, it serves you to live that illusion, to have those beliefs. So, there is no reason to go against your beliefs.

If you have the conviction that the Diane one is your twin soul, and she does not respond in kind, then, with that belief, you are doomed to live without full love for the remainder of this lifetime. No one else can merge with you as deeply as she can. In this case, your distorted belief does not serve you.

Those are some ways to think about this area.

The past mating one to you [Leslie] is your twin soul. The Diane one is your twin soul. Your friends are your twin souls.

The potential between yourself and many ones is always present. But, you must decide what is best to think about and feel about each person.

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THE LIGHT OF LOVE:  Creating a powerful spiritual experience--an attunement adapted by Ron Scolastico, taught by the Guides:

 In my many years of teaching individuals how to have a profound spiritual experience, I have found that the greatest obstacle for most people is the distraction of the mind. Many people struggle with a "wandering mind" as they sit in silence attempting to open to spiritual realities. Their thoughts about the physical world keep interfering with their focus on the spiritual realms.

To gain more depth in silent periods of spiritual attunement, I suggest a practice that: (1) keeps your mind directed toward a calming focal point; and (2) touches your heart. The following method uses the power of the imagination to stir inspired thoughts about the spiritual realms. It also focuses the mind upon thoughts that can stimulate deep spiritual feelings. It is very important to stimulate such feelings, for it is through our feelings, not our thoughts, that we perceive the spiritual realities of life.

To deepen your spiritual experience, each day you can take a period of time in which you create a holy moment using the light of a candle as your focal point. That light will be symbolic of the majesty of God in all its forms. Learning to focus upon that light in the following manner can help you have a more profound spiritual experience.

Step One. Begin your spiritual attunement by assuming a comfortable position with the unlit candle sitting on a table in front of you. Take a few deep breaths and relax your body. Sit quietly for a minute, looking calmly at the unlit candle. Easily rest your gaze on the wick of the candle. No matter what your mind might be doing, simply let your attention remain focused on the unlit wick. Do this gently and easily, without forcing yourself, without straining in any way. Become open and receptive as you look at the wick of the candle.

Then, say to yourself, silently, or aloud:

"This unlit candle represents the energies of God in their invisible form. I cannot see a flame on the candle. In the same way, when I am focused upon my human physical expression on earth, I cannot directly perceive the energies of God. They are hidden beneath my conscious awareness."

Step Two. Now, light the candle. Do it slowly, in a gentle, deliberate manner, savoring the quietness and peacefulness of the moment. As you light the candle, encourage a deep feeling of holiness within you. This is your holy ceremony in which you are joyfully celebrating the beauty and splendor of the spiritual realms.

After you have lit the candle, feel deeply within yourself that the flame that you have created on the candle represents the forces of God now made tangible. Where before there was no flame, now, one has now been made visible to you. Feel that the flame symbolizes the God energies that are about to be perceived by you. To help yourself feel that, say to yourself:

"The cold wick of the candle that has sprung into flame symbolizes the energies of God being made manifest in my physical reality. Where the energies of God were invisible while I was focused on my human pathway, in this moment, those energies now spring forth as a flame of love in my own heart. That feeling of love makes the energies of God a tangible manifestation in my human experience of this moment."

Sit in silence for a while and deeply imagine and feel the love. Let it fill you with its beauty and splendor. Without striving or straining, give yourself to the experience. Use the power of your imagination to expand upon the feeling of love. Imagine the love growing stronger and stronger within your heart. Sit with that experience as long as you desire.

Step Three. Now, imagine that the flame of love within you is beginning to expand outward. It is radiating out beyond your physical body. Using the power of your imagination, see the love as a beautiful, radiant light that is spreading out all around you. Deeply feel that you are now transmitting that love as a brilliant light that you are sending out to other human beings. To help deepen this experience, say to yourself:

"Now that I have drawn upon this flame of the energies of God to fill myself with love, I now send forth this love to the human beings who share this earth life with me. I offer this energy of love particularly to those individuals who are in need."

It is very important to engage in this sharing of love. If you achieve a deep spiritual experience and simply hold the love within yourself, you limit the benefit of your spiritual connection. If you fill yourself with the radiance of the spiritual love, and then share it with others, you actually magnify and deepen your own spiritual experience while you open yourself to more love with other people.

This kind of giving during your inner attunement period will open you to give more in your outer day to day relationships with others. You will establish an ongoing "spirit of giving" that can have a powerful impact on the people around you, encouraging them to be more open and loving to the people in their lives. The giving of the gift of love is a tangible way to share the forces of God, a way that other people can see and feel. Where the forces of God are invisible to them, they are made visible in the actions that you take in love.

The power of this method lies in the attitude with which you use it. Coming to your practice of this method each day with a sense of the wonderful beauty of life, and a deep feeling of your own goodness as a being, will infuse a great depth and intensity into your attunement experience. Such an attitude will gradually open your feelings to the magnificence of the spiritual realities as you work with this method day by day.

As you use this method consistently over a period of time, you will begin to feel the flame of spiritual love warming you more and more from within, bringing you experiences of great upliftment and joy. Then, as you allow your own flame of love to leap higher in your sharing with others, you will create a radiance and brilliance in your daily expression that can touch and benefit many people throughout your lifetime.

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THE POWER OF GRATITUDE: This article is by the Guides, through Ron Scolastico, taken from the book: Gratitude: A Way of Life Click on the title to order it from Amazon.com. It is a wonderful compilation of articles on gratitude from a variety of authors, published by Hay House, Inc.

The power of gratitude can often be overlooked in the complexity of day to day life. Many people do not know that feelings of gratitude can set into motion potent, beneficial changes within the human personality.

For example, feelings of gratitude can create an emotional softening, and a deepening of love in your experience of yourself and your life, bringing about greater joy and happiness in your human expression. Gratitude can also stimulate strong inner energies within you that can lead to a blossoming of your intuitive abilities, enabling you to eventually have a deeper spiritual experience, and to become more aware of your existence as an eternal soul.

To gain a clear understanding of gratitude, you can look at such feelings in relation to two general areas of life. The first area is gratitude for permanent aspects of your existence, which include the spiritual realities of life that interact with your human expression. The second area is gratitude for temporary, transitory experiences in the physical world.

To be grateful for permanent aspects of your life, you can begin to pay attention to your ability to experience yourself as one individual living within a physical body. You have the extraordinary capacity to be aware of your Self—to feel, "I am me." You have the capacity to think, to feel, and to act in the physical world. These aspects of your existence are often taken for granted. If you can become aware of the incredible complexity of energies that have been wielded by eternal souls to make it possible for you to live in your physical body in this moment, you will be filled with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and love for your body, for your Self, for other human beings, and for all of life.

Your permanent magnificence is also tied to beautiful, powerful spiritual energies that constantly flow into you from the forces that have created life. You are not usually aware of these divine forces of creativity, but, if you set aside a few moments of silence each day to attune to them, you can learn to feel them. Such experiences can stimulate a great awakening within you. You can fully appreciate and celebrate the constantly occurring miracles in the spiritual dimensions that enable you to continue to live a human life in the physical world. Through such experiences, you will find it easy to awaken the power of gratitude within your personality.

The second area of gratitude is related to your human expression, which is rooted in desire, ambition, fulfillment, pleasure, displeasure, and other important aspects of your subjective experience. If, on a certain day, you have negative experiences, such as a loss of money, or a disappointment in love, then you are not likely to feel much gratitude. If, on another day, you are given millions of dollars as a prize, it will be very easy to feel grateful. Thus, you will usually feel gratitude when you have pleasing experiences and your desires are fulfilled, and you will find it difficult to be grateful when your subjective experiences are negative. These are quite "natural" responses in which the affairs of the human world tend to dictate when you will feel grateful.

What is important here is to encourage as many experiences of gratitude as you can, no matter what is happening in your day to day life, so that you are not manipulated by circumstances, and by your feelings about them. In other words, if you only feel grateful for your life when everything goes well, then, during periods of challenge, you will be void of the important and powerful feelings of gratitude.

You can learn to take a few moments in each day to feel grateful for life, even when you are feeling challenged. You can say to yourself:

"No matter what I might be feeling about the events in my life in this moment, I do not need to be manipulated by my feelings. I have the freedom to release my normal thoughts and feelings, open my heart to the magnificence of my soul, and of God itself, and begin to feel deeply grateful for the opportunity to be alive in human form in this moment."

It is also of great benefit for you to try to extend the range of things that you are willing to be grateful for, beyond experiences that please you. You can be grateful for experiences that help others, even when they require effort on your part. You can be grateful for growth, even when it is brought about by challenging circumstances. At times, challenging life situations can stimulate you more than pleasurable experiences to express greater courage, strength, commitment, and creativity. You can be grateful that challenging situations bring you closer to other human beings, encouraging you to more fully express your capacity for empathy and compassion.

By extending your range of appreciation to more and more life situations, you can feel grateful for your life, even when your own desires are not being fulfilled. Learning to create strong feelings of gratitude during many different life situations can help you feel more powerful, more creative, and more fulfilled.

In each day, whether your momentary human experience is joyful or challenging, you can stimulate more of the power of gratitude by saying to yourself:

"I rejoice that I have the extraordinary opportunity to live the miracle of human existence on the physical earth. I am grateful for the variety of experiences that are available to me in my human life. And I celebrate the loving forces of my soul, and of God that make my life possible."

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QUESTION: In a personal reading for a friend of ours in the Washington, D.C. area, held on September 11, the Guides gave the following answer to her question about what to say to her young son about the terrorist attacks that occurred that day. They also gave her information that can be helpful to all of us about those frightening events. We thank her for allowing us to share this answer.

ANSWER: The Guides: As we look at the receptivity of this child, he has a strong imagination that might unnecessarily exaggerate and magnify the human response of horror and badness. So, particularly with visual images through the television and other areas, it might be wise to limit those kinds of experiences and reduce it more to an intellectual communication about facts, and motives, and other areas.