Are you being affected by people’s opinions?

Published on April 27, 2012 by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

Are you being ogled?

by Mark Sappenfield, Staff Writer for The Christian Science Monitor

I came across an article with a provocative headline the other day. It read, “Study: Ogling women makes them worse at math.” Basically, the study wanted to figure out what happened when men and women felt objectified, something the researchers defined as people being “judged on body parts or sexual function without regard to other aspects of their personality.” So several members of the study team were trained to stare at men and women in an inappropriate way, then the men and women were asked to take a math test.

The women who were objectified did worse than women in a control group who were not. (The men showed no difference.) Moreover, other research has shown that women do worse on math tests when they are told before starting: “Girls are bad at math.”

We often think of contagion as being a process of microbes and viruses. But how often do we think about mental contagion? Yes, we admit that we are influenced by our friends, our parents, our co-workers. Still, these studies are shocking – showing the degree to which we unconsciously allow others’ thoughts to shape our experience. This is mental tyranny, and thankfully it is something that we can summarily reject.

How? We can start by understanding our origin and nature. Mary Baker Eddy, the author of “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” (see p. 525), refers to the Icelandic Bible translation of this verse from the first chapter of Genesis: “And God said, Let us make man after our mind and our likeness; and God shaped man after His mind; after God’s mind shaped He him; and He shaped them male and female” (verse 27).

So all that we are is the likeness of God’s mind. We are not a body to be ogled or a brain of doubtful mathematical aptitude. We are an image of God’s thought, and the allness of God precludes the intrusion of anything unlike this perfect likeness in this image. This frees us from aggressive mental intrusion… Read more

Thoughts on gratitude

Published on April 20, 2012April 19, 2012 by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

I really appreciate the blog series my husband is doing right now. It is inspired by a book that we are both reading for our book club: 365 Thank Yous. It’s a wonderful story about a man/dad who is down in the dumps; his business is falling apart; his relationships with his family & friends aren’t great. One day he gets the idea (I would call this a spiritual idea, “angel” message or the Christ) which tells him to write thank you notes! It’s New Years Eve when he gets this message so he vows to write 365 thank you notes in the New Year. The rest of the book (which I haven’t finished yet) is about how this practice transforms his thought, life and relationships.

It is a delightful book. I get such a sense of joy when reading it, and it reminds me how the simple act of gratitude can really brighten my day. I may even start a “thank you” note project of my own! (My husband is doing his thank you note project on his blog.)

What is it about gratitude that makes us feel so light and joyful? It reminds us of the good in our lives and puts Good at the forefront of thought. The human mind is so prone to magnify evil or the negative. Often this mind ruminates over the past. It’s like a treadmill of worry and fear. Apparently, humans think 2,000-3,000 thoughts per day. And I’ve heard that 70% of these thoughts are the same each day. We have to jump off this same old treadmill of thought and think differently! And gratitude is a fun, light way to do that.

Feeling successful

Published on April 4, 2012 by lindseybiggs6 Comments

Everyone wants to feel successful. Often this is expressed in terms of a house, marital status or kids and a job. And we can often feel pretty unsuccessful if we don’t have one or all of these things. But don’t believe it! Each one of us is the valuable, needed and worthy child of God with divine inheritance.

Recently, my husband and I were contemplating our future dream house and trying to make this more of a reality. However, I was feeling frustrated and unsuccessful because it didn’t seem like there was any way to start this project.

I got my journal to write and pray about what was bothering me. I saw that I love progress. Progress is a sign of productivity, success and being on a divinely right path. I was seeing this house and future plans as a sign of progress. And I was feeling really unproductive and lackadaisical because it didn’t seem like it could happen.

As I prayed about this from a metaphysical and spiritual standpoint, I began to see that progress is really mental. Progress is new thoughts about God and your relationship with Him. Progress is a new understanding of your spiritual selfhood and identity. Progress is seeing the true, spiritual nature of your fellow-man and loving your neighbor better. Progress is the victory of Truth over error, spirit over matter and the throwing off of material limitations or the so-called carnal mind.

“…let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us…” (Hebrews 12:1, Amplified Bible)

This new view of progress really uplifted me and aligned my priorities back to God’s. I saw that each moment, each thought, could be full of progress. So rather than having one big lump sum of progress represented in a house or some other material thing, I could have a hundred steps of progress in thought each day.

So if you’re feeling trapped by a financial situation, relationships status or some other thing, focus on the progress you can make today – right now in this moment. This illumination of present good and the activity of goodness in your life will surely lift your spirits and open up new views of what is possible today.