TidBitPage

Tid Bit Page, Self Help Material, Short Quotes, Poetry Links, Jokes, and Other Useful Information

[Note: The Following Information was hand-copied from the above mentioned book and though it is geared towards 'money' it can be used in any area of your life by substituting 'money or financing' with what you desire.[This is my belief only]

"...our brains become magnetized with the dominating thoughts which we hold in our minds and by means with which, no man is familiar, these "magnets" attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts"

"It is a well-known fact that one comes, finally, to believe whatever one repeats to one's self, whether the statement be true or false. If a man repeats a lie over and over, he/she will eventually accept the lie as truth...Every man/woman is what he is because of the dominating thoughts which he/she permits to occupy his/her mind, and encourages with sympathy, and with which he/she mixes any one or more emotions, constitute the motivating forces which direct and control his every moment, act and deed."

I suggest reading this book. to everyone, as the above information is only a fraction of the whole book and the valuable information it contains. "Think and Grow Rich, by Napolean Hill, Published by the Penguin Book [Plumb]

The information below is extracted from Caroline Myss Ph.D ' Sacred Contracts ' Awakening Your Divine Potential ...Best Selling Author of Anatomy of the Spirit, The Creation of Health co written with Norman Shelley MD, Ph.D, and Why People Don't Heal and How They Can. All Books printed by Bantam Books...

This information was shared to me from a Great Poet & Personal Friend. And to be honest, I did not like the information as it really made me think at first; but, once I realized I was the reason for my own downfalls I adopted some of the information and bought the book and really delved into my inner self and I personally feel I am a better person now. I have shared the information below with numerous people and they have all benefited from it. And bought the book for a friend. It is a little lengthy but is worth the time spent in reading it.

In the Wizard of Oz Dorothy has to seek out aspects of herself that she didn't know she had, including courage and intelligence well beyond those of the young orphan who left her Auntie Em back in Kansas. Seen as an archetypal adventure, The Wizard of Oz presents the challenges of survival that we all face on our own Yellow Brick Roads. Dorothy is like so many heroes of fairy tales and folk stories, literally the Orphan Child. Because she does not fit into the conventional tribe, her consciousness is her own to develop from the beginning. As the story opens, a cyclone is approaching, representing the chaos that is the classic precursor to transformation. As the cyclone looms menacingly, Dorothy runs to the storm cellar, trying to return to the tribe before the chaos, but they don't hear her and, in effect, wont allow it.

Dorothy runs back into the house with her beloved dog, Toto, whom she is holding on her bed as the cyclone lifts the house into the air. She bangs her head on the headboard, losing consciousness. In symbolic, archetypal terms, a house represents the whole of the self, from the subconscious in the basement to the superego in the attic. The whole of Dorothy's life is lifted off in the chaos and begins to spin, to be symbolically reconstituted. Having to undertake the hero's Journey, she has awakened her charism, the special grace that will see her through her ordeal of growth.

Dorothy's journey takes her to Oz, where the house crashes down and she says famously to Toto,” I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." She begins to sense that she has been separated from her familiar environment; that what is going on is happening only to her, not to the tribe; and that she has to find within herself the strength and courage to endure what is coming. For the first time she sees little Munchkins, who represent fragments of herself. Like any hero adventurer or spiritual seeker starting on a journey of self discovery, Dorothy asks questions: “ Where am I ?" and "How do I get home ?"

The Munchkins tell her that she has to go to Oz - in essence, to go on a journey to an unknown destination.

Dorothy's guardian for the journey is Toto, the Latin word for "everything." Toto is an extension of Dorothy: he is her intuition. In shamanic terms, we would say Toto is her power animal. Toto is also Dorothy's reminder that "everything" she needs is always with her, if she'll just stay aware of what's going on. All spiritual traditions emphasize the need to keep your attention in the present time. As long as you remain present, everything you need is present with you. As soon as you project yourself back through the rest of your life, you begin to manifest a sense of vulnerability and insecurity characterized by fear of failure. Projection is the act of taking your present moment and stretching it across a lifetime, an impossible formula that will always leave you powerless.

Then Dorothy meets the Munchkin leader, who represents the unified self-emerging to give her direction. Even as you feel lost and ask "Where am I?" a part of your interior self immediately arises to give an answer. In Dorothy's case the answer is to go to Oz. As she undertakes her Hero's Journey, the four archetypes of survival-Child, Victim, Prostitute, and Saboteur - enter the playing field. Dorothy’s Orphan Child has been leading to this point, her basic theme being,” I’m a child, I’ve lost my way. I’ve got to get home." But the forces around her say,” You’re on your own, kid, and it's time for you to grow up."

At this point in the movie though not in the original book the two witches arrive on the scene, representing shadow and light. The wicked Witch of the East says,” I want your dog, Toto," meaning that she wants to deprive Dorothy of her guardian. When the Wicked Witch goes after Toto in anger, Dorothy becomes frightened, and her Victim emerges. Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, holds off the Wicked Witch and gives Dorothy the famous ruby slippers. Those shoes represent another charism or grace that will see Dorothy thru her journey to Oz. (The book, which calls them silver shoes, makes it clear, Dorothy never takes them off. She is so comfortable with them that she even sleeps in them, making it hard for the Wicked Witch to get them away from her.) When the Wicked Witch says,” I want those ruby slippers!" she is waking Dorothy's
Prostitute. What the Witch is actually saying to Dorothy is,” At any given time, you can get off that difficult road if you will sell me the shoes. That's the bargain." Every time you are given a new charism, or clearer sense of self, the Prostitute will test you to see if you're willing to sell your new spiritual power for material gain of some sort. It’s as though you've won the lottery and somebody calls you up and asks if you'd like to invest in some swampland in Florida. That’s also where the Saboteur comes in. Are you going to sabotage your personal growth for a little comfort, or will your inner Saboteur alert you to danger in time to keep you on the Yellow Brick Road?

The next person Dorothy meets is the Scarecrow, who complains that he doesn't have a brain. Her interaction with the Scarecrow represents a dialogue with her intelligence, in which for the first time she has to assess her intellectual reality. As an
extension of her inner self, the Scarecrow will also have to go to Oz to get a brain, and so they set off together. Down the road they meet the Tin Woodman who has rusted into immobility and who, once lubricated, complains that he needs a heart. In symbolic terms, Dorothy also needs to awaken the sense of love and compassion that lies within.

Both the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman were dormant until Dorothy awakened them, and herself, to the need to go on the Hero's Journey to gain what they were essentially lacking. Along the way they meet the Cowardly Lion, who is immobilized by fear. The Lion lacks the courage, which is a function of self-esteem and is related to will and choice.

On the journey to Oz, Dorothy encounters many difficulties and detours, each of which arouses the Victim archetype in her. She can act like a Victim and give in, or she and call on her companions and guides for help, which she does on several occasions. The most dangerous obstacle is the field of poppies, which causes her to fall into a deep sleep, along with the Lion and Toto. Certain realities are too much for us to handle on a conscious level, and so we must process them in an unconscious state, say, in dreams or deep sleep When Jesus took his twelve Apostles to the garden of Gethsemane and asked then to stay awake and watch with him, for example, they couldn't do it. It's as though the force field of anguish that he was giving off was too much for them to bear and they fell into unconsciousness. You may notice yourself that if you're reading a book or attending a lecture that deals with spirituality or psychologically heavy material, you may fall asleep (perhaps aided by a boring lecturer). A phenomenon also occurs during healing services, when certain people "go down under the power," meaning that they lapse into momentary unconsciousness so that healing can take place on a deeper level. Some old wounds that are being healed may be too traumatic to be addressed consciously. Dorothy’s transition from childhood to adulthood, from Orphan Child to hero, is going to require not only grace but also a healing of her past, which is accomplished in part in her unconscious state.

Dorothy and her companions eventually arrive at Oz and go before the Wizard .As any good spiritual master would do, he immediately puts them to the test, saying that he won't help them unless they bring back the broom of the Wicked Witch. The paradox here is that you will always have a test to invoke grace, and you need grace to pass the test. You can't just suddenly become courageous; you have to act out of courage to know your courage.

When they go to the Wicked Witch's dark castle to get the broom, Dorothy is captured, just as, during our own spiritual development, even if we get past our desires; we always get captured in someway by our fears and feel isolated and abandoned. The prison in the dark castle is reminiscent of the dark forest through which Dorothy passed on her way to Oz in search of integration. The dark forest is a time - honored image of the dangers of the search for self. When stuck in a dark wood or prison, we need to look to the Saboteur, who reminds is that we must keep the faith and not give into our fears.

But at each stage of her journey, Dorothy is able to call on the Lion, the Tin Woodman, and the Scarecrow to rescue her. In effect she is calling on her own courage, will, and heart, which she is in the process of unifying. As her three companions are trying to rescue Dorothy, the Witch shows up and sets fire to the Scarecrow, beginning her attack on the intellectual level, as often happens when we try to follow a spiritual path. (The mind says, " This is ridiculous. People couldn't possibly get enlightened by sitting on a cushion and closing their eyes.”) But Dorothy picks up a bucket of water, representing her unconscious as the water hits the Witch, she childes Dorothy for doing the one thing that could free her from the Witch's power, and then she melts away. As soon as Dorothy calls on her unconscious, the whole world that had once scared her dissolves, and she sees only safety.

Dorothy and her companions return to Oz feeling totally successful. They bring the broom to the Wizard, only to be told that's not enough. Toto the guardian will not accept their rejection and says in effect, " This is wrong. You have to see that it's fraudulent. I’m going to show you." The guardian goes over and pulls the curtain hiding the role - playing Wizard, showing Dorothy that she does not need to rely on a shadow Guru to do her spiritual work for her. In fact, if you project your own needs and fantasies onto a guru, you may end up getting burned.

Exposed, the Wizard is forced to make good on his promises and help Dorothy find her way home from Oz. Although Oz represents the achievement of spiritual power and independence, it's essentially meaningless unless she can bring home what

She has learned and can apply it to her everyday life. Spiritual insight is not and end in itself, but a means to transform our life on earth from mere survival and dominance into compassion and service to others. Dorothy is now confronted with yet another test, this one regarding false power. Even though the Wizard has been less than forthcoming on his promises, Dorothy is planning to accept his guidance and accompany him in his hot air balloon (note the ironic choice of vehicle), Toto - following his nature by pursuing a squirrel - jumps out of the basket as if to say, " Lets get out of here. "

Dorothy has the good sense not to want to be separated from her guardian and runs out after Toto, allowing the Wizard to leave without her. Having made one good choice, Dorothy is rewarded by the appearance of her other guardian, Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. Linda reminds Dorothy that she has had the power to return home all along, only she didn't know it. The ruby slippers, which have not left her feet since she first put them on, are all she needs. Her words are reminiscent of the Buddhist teaching that we are already perfect Buddha’s, we just don't realize it, and so we act like unenlightened children. If we truly knew we possessed Buddha nature, or Christ consciousness, or God - realization, we would be home free. Dorothy clicks her heels together as instructed and chants the mantra her angel guardian gives her: "There's no place like home There's no place like home."

In L. Frank Baums original text, the exchange is even clearer than in the film version:

"Your Silver Shoes will carry you across the desert," replied Glinda. " If you had known their power you could have gone back to your Aunt Em the very first day you came to this country."

"And I should have lived a coward forever," declared the Lion. " and no beast in all the forest would have had a good word to say to me."

"This is all true," says Dorothy, "and I am glad I was of use to these good friends. But now that each of them has had what he most desired, and each is happy in having a kingdom to rule besides, I think I should like to go back to Kansas."

"The Silver Shoes," said the Good Witch, " have wonderful powers. And one of the most curious things about them is that they can carry you to any place in the world in three steps, and each step will be made in the wink of an eye. All you have to do is to knock the heels together three times and command the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go."

Dorothy has completed her Hero's Journey, come to terms with her four survival archetypes, and with courage consolidated her mind, heart, and will. Her most challenging adversary, the Wicked Witch, has proved to be the one who did the most to expand her soul. And so Dorothy wakes up safe in her bed, right back in Kansas with the same foster parents with whom she had been so disenchanted with at the beginning of her story. Only now she embraces them wholeheartedly.

Dorothy appears to be in the same physical reality but is not; she is fully transformed. She emerges not as a frightened little Orphan Child but as an intelligent, fully awakened heart - consciousness in the same body. She has returned whole from chaos and her journey.

Our work has essentially the same goal. By learning to recognize the archetypal patterns at work within our psyche.

Like the Lion you need courage to look at the Victim archetype within you and learn to make it into your ally you need the heart that the Tin Woodman sought so that you can love yourself when you see the Prostitute at work in your psyche, and to turn it to your advantage. And the intellect that the Scarecrow prized so highly can work with your Saboteur to recognize the warning signs that you are about to do yourself in. When you tie those together, you can, like Dorothy, use your will to transform the Child within -whether Abandoned, Wounded, or Dependant - into an empowered being capable of directing your own life with passion and skill. For then you have the elements of the soul, the eternal self, and you are on your way to discovering your spiritual identity.

Our characters and personalities are formed during childhood through a combination of nature and nurture. During the first two decades of life we make our first promises to ourselves to provide for and protect ourselves. As adolescents a lot of people promise themselves that they will never physically be abused or humiliated again. Children make vows to themselves that they will become scientists, artists, or mothers or simply find a way to become wealthy. These commitments are part of our path in the physical world All are influenced by the four primary archetypes.

During the first years of our lives, we come to realize that the quality of our physical lives depends on our sense of personal power, on our ability to survive. Long before we become emotionally and spiritually empowered, we must engage our personal power in the material world. We also begin to understand that we must deal with moral issues or suffer the consequences. In engaging with the physical world and the moral choices that present themselves, we develop self-esteem. This is the beginning of spiritual maturity.

The four primary archetypes - the Child, Victim, Prostitute, and the Saboteur - symbolize our major life challenges and how we choose to survive. Together they represent the issues, fears, and vulnerabilities that cause us to negotiate away the power of our spirits within the physical world. They also can come to represent spiritual strengths for dealing with real - life and spiritual issues. These four archetypes are like the four legs of a coffee table on which Sacred Contracts rests. The table legs represent our relationship to the ground beneath our feet and to the universal energy that supports our life. They might be straight or curved or embellished with carvings and images, depending on how these four archetypes work with our psyches during the course of our lives. But they need to be stable to support the weight of the tabletop - our life and mission

All four archetypes influence how we relate to material power, how we respond to authority, and how we make choices. These archetypal energies are neutral. Although it can be difficult to see how the Victim, Prostitute and Saboteur can provide us with powerful and supportive imagery, they do and you will. You'll come to see how even the most common variant of the Child archetype, the Wounded Child, can help you deal with your life today.

These four archetypes are intimate companions of your intuition they make you conscious of your vulnerabilities, your fear of being victimized. They allow you to see how you sabotage your creative opportunities or abort your dreams, and in the future they will become your allies in fulfilling opportunities and dreams. Your archetypes will become your guardians and will preserve your integrity, refusing to allow you to negotiate it away under any circumstance. Your archetypes can help you transcend the shadow belief that " everyone has a price " and allow you to see that you are not for sale. They will allow you to become completely self-reliant; through them you will come to see options where others excuses.

The richest reward in working with these survival archetypes, however, reveals itself in the manner in which your Contract unfolds. While it is a given that you have Contracts to meet certain people, it is not determined ahead of time what kind of interaction you will have with each of them. That is up to you and, of course, to them You can choose how you interact, but the more conscious you are about the patterns that influence your behavior, the more likely it is that your choices - and the lessons you get from them - will be positive. If your choices are formed only by your unconscious, however, and you are unaware of the archetypal energies influencing you, you will more likely act out of insecurity and defensiveness. By remaining aware of the archetypal energies, you stay conscious of both your divinity and your potential and the everyday world. Through your archetypes, you will find your own Middle Way, the path of your Sacred Contract.

This archetype establishes our perceptions of life, safety, nurturing, loyalty, and family. Its many aspects include the Wounded Child, the Abandoned or Orphaned Child, the Dependant Child, the Innocent Child, the Nature Child, and the Divine Child. These energies may emerge in response to different situations in which we find ourselves, yet the core issue of all the Child archetypes is dependency and responsibility: when to take responsibility, when to have a healthy dependency, when to stand up to the group and when to embrace communal life.

Confronting the Child archetype within you awakens a new relationship with life, a fresh beginning. Regardless of which aspect of the Child you relate to most intimately, this archetype pattern brings you into contact with the untapped resources connected to creative thought. This is the core of the Innocent Child - the sensation that anything and everything is possible.

As the guardian of your innocence, the Child helps heal, repair, and put a stop to the inner-direct abuse of the Wounded Child. If you are consumed with the Wounded, Neglected, Abandoned, or Orphaned Child's psyche, you need to identify - or initiate - a new relationship or creative enterprise that makes you appreciate your life. Ask your Child what it needs in order to heal or feel nurtured or cared for. The Child often inspires you to act outside restrictive boundaries, or to explore an adventure without burdensome weights of the adult mind. Indulge some of these inspirations as a means of making contact with your inner Child. Don’t become over attached to the wound, however; don't overindulge the Child so that it becomes an inner brat. But give it the support it needs to grow up.

Being a Victim is a common fear. The Victim archetype may manifest the first time you don't get what you want or need; are abused by a parent, playmate, sibling, or teacher; or are accused of or punished for something you didn't do. You may suppress your outrage at the injustice if the victimizer is bigger and more powerful than you. But at a certain point you discover a perverse advantage to being the Victim. You may be afraid to stand up for yourself, or you may enjoy getting sympathy. The core issue of the Victim is whether it’s worth giving up your own sense of empowerment to avoid taking responsibility for your independence.

The lessons associated with the Victim archetype demand that you evaluate your relationship to power, particularly in your interactions with people with whom you have control issues and need to construct personal boundaries.

The primary objective of the Victim archetype is to develop self-esteem and personal power. When you are in a situation in which you feel threatened or you suspect that you lack the appropriate social, professional, or personal power, take notice of that reaction physically, emotionally and mentally. That is the intuitive voice of your inner Victim. To help direct your responses to all of your experiences and relationships, say, " I am committed to my own empowerment. What choice can I make here that will serve my own empowerment? " Name the problem or threat and you need to overcome and the power that you need to possess in order to do so. Keep your eye on the truth that everything and everyone in your life is there by Contract to assist in your spiritual maturation.

You have Contracts with people who are directly connected to the Victim archetype Their primary role is to help you develop your self- esteem through acts of honesty, integrity, courage, endurance, and self - respect. Those people whose Contracts are linked to empowering your Victim will play, or have played, the leading roles in awakening in you an awareness of the value of these spiritual qualities and how essential they are to your well being.

The Prostitute archetype thrives most bountifully in subtle ways and in ordinary, everyday circumstances. It comes into play most clearly when our survival is threatened. It's core issue is how much are you willing to sell of yourself - your morals, your intellect, your integrity, your word, your body, or your soul - for the sake of physical security. The Prostitute archetype also dramatically embodies and tests the power of faith. If you have faith, no one can buy you. You know that you can take care of yourself and also that the Divine is looking out for you. Without faith, however, you will eventually meet the price you cannot turn down.

All power, whether from lottery winnings or spiritual visions, will draw to you some outside opponent who will try to buy, use, or contaminate you. When Jesus was met by Satan as he prayed and fasted in the desert, Satan offered to give him the entire physical world in exchange for the power Jesus now had within him. Likewise, every time you take one step on your path or personal empowerment, you will meet someone who will want to buy a piece of your soul to render you less powerful and themselves more powerful.

A shadow characteristic of the human psyche in general is that we want to find the shortcuts in life, including shortcuts to our own empowerment. If we spot someone whose power appears as if it could be bought or shared, we will be attracted to it. A perfect example is the game of "name wealth" ( " I am a friend of a friend of Mr. or Ms. Famous"). The diluted energy that comes down the path of who's who is, for many, valuable enough for them to remain in a relationship long past the time the friendship has grown cold - another expression of the Prostitute archetype.

Confronting the Prostitute within transforms this archetype into your guardian. It will watch over your relationship to faith. Think

Of the Prostitute as the ally who puts you in alert every time you contemplate shifting your faith from Divine to the physical. Anytime you are in a crisis of faith, try to become mindful of your thoughts and fears. Name exactly what you are afraid of, especially those fears that try and talk you into compromising yourself in any way. The Prostitute appears when you begin to believe that you could order your life if just had the money to control the world around you - and to buy just a bit of everyone in it. It appears when you stay in a relationship that is not good for you just because you don't want to be alone; it appears when you're asked to do something unethical or illegal " for the good of the company." People who are meant to bring out the Prostitute in you represent your most painful relationships. Because Prostitute interactions make us confront our fears of survival, they are often terrifying and humiliating.

The Prostitute archetype can act as a guardian that awakens you to situations in which you must decide to " take up your bed and walk. " Once you get away from a circumstance that costs you too much - money, energy, dignity, or time - lasting transformation is possible.

Like the Prostitute and the Victim, the Saboteur archetype is a neutral energy within you that usually makes itself known through disruption. It can sabotage your efforts to be happy and successful if you are not aware of the patterns of thought and behavior that it raises in you. It can cause you to resist opportunities. The Saboteur is the mirror that reflects your fears of taking responsibility for yourself and for what you create.

The Saboteur archetype may be the one most intimately connected to your ability to survive in the physical world. Fears of being without basic needs in life - from food to home to a social and personal network - often provide this archetype with the power to haunt you. You can silence the Saboteur with acts of courage and by following your intuition. It serves you brilliantly as a gut instinct that directs you to take action based on hunches rather than on rational thought. To learn to experience that voice, you must respond to it only through response can you manifest the courage to expand your creative environment. Start with small choices, which may be life-transforming acts of will disguised as harmless impulses.

The core issue for the Saboteur is fear of inviting change into your life, change that requires responding in a positive way to opportunities to shape and deepen your spirit. Yet it is impossible to stop the process of change. Deep in your tissue, you know that having power and using it necessitates change. And although many people want to have it all, they don't want to be all. All choices you make do not have the same potential to transform the environment of your life. The decision to meet a group of friends for dinner, as a rule, does not change your life dramatically as the decision to get married, start a business, or move to another country. The choice to respond to an inner voice that directs you to pursue your spiritual life is obviously one that can rearrange your familiar world.

Purpose...

the greater good of all?
You tell
What if still the Hell
we all think of is,
the manifestation of evil
brought to be
by the so thoughts from the
depths of our minds.

The Yang to the Ying.
If That's so
Then Heaven is also within our grasp.