Gloria to God:
Dear God, I gather that so much depends upon how we feel about ourselves.
God:
I would say that the quality of your life depends upon how you feel about yourself.
Gloria:
I really create my own life depending upon how I value myself?
God:
The decisions you make are based on your sense of self-worth.
Your own life means more than just what happens to you. There is more to your life than that.
Your life is ongoing awareness.
If you are in a prison cell, if you are in a hospital bed, if you are in a sad marriage, if you whatever, your life is your ongoing awareness of yourself and Me, for I am with you wherever you are. Your circumstances are not your life. They are just the setting. Your life is your life.
Joy can follow you anywhere anytime anyhow.
It seems difficult for you to comprehend happiness under trying conditions. Yet you know the reverse. You know that all the money, all the fast cars, and beautiful surroundings do not make happiness, not for long.
It is long happiness you want, not bits of it, not pieces of it. You want long happiness that is like an aura swirling around you. You do carry your own happiness around with you, but you have to open it and take it out.
How worthy are you? I say you are most worthy.
Say you otherwise?
When you allow happiness in, you are often surprised. That tells you something. You are surprised when happiness comes!
Don't be surprised, for I give you unlimited happiness.
Be surprised when you are not aware of the gifts I give you. The happiness is normal. Unhappiness is the aberration.
Carry the happiness I give you within your heart. It is a locket I have given you. It is yours. Notice it. Know it is yours. Know I gave it to you. Know you are worthy of it. You are worthy of My love. My love and your happiness are the same. Look to see your happiness. Look to accept it. It is yours whatever your circumstances. Now claim it. Claim My love and your happiness.
What if you knew that there is only My love in this whole universe? What if that were all you had ever been taught? Would that cast a different glow on your life?
Gloria:
Yes.
God:
Forget everything else you have ever learned, and listen to Me now. There is only love in this universe. And only love is your birthright. Only love you will have and give. See beyond the appearance, because, beneath, is My love soaring to you.
Something hurts your feelings?
That is My love sent to you, saying, "Notice God's love. You have been looking elsewhere."
You fall and hurt your knee? That is My love sent to you, saying, "Bend a little, and pay attention to where your mind is going."
Tears come? They say to your eyes, "Look up at God."
A bill arrives. It says to you, "I am reminding you that God takes care of everything."
You feel fear? It says to you, "Pay your attention to God and not me."
Everything is to remind you of Me, and that is the same as to remind you of your own happiness and all that I bequeath to you.
That is one reason why gratitude is such a powerful grace. It puts you in a good frame to accept My love. Then you do, and then you have more gratitude, and then more for which to be grateful.
How simple is a life.
Think how simple life is rather than complex.
How friendly is life.
Think how friendly life is to you.
Think how generous life is to you.
Think how momentous life is.
Think how worthwhile.
Think how blessed life is.
Think how satisfying.
Think how charming.
How bountiful.
How magnificent.
How marvelous.
How miraculous.
How precious.
How delicious is life.
What is more fun than life?
Look for fun.
Change your thinking.
That will change your aura.
That will change your perception.
That will increase your whole life.
Turn the other cheek.
Turn your attention toward My grace and away from anything less.
Let go of the small stuff.
Make room for Me.
Gloria:
My daughter said recently: Who was happier — Mother Teresa or Princess Diana?
She said that Mother Teresa never was thinking about herself, her hairdo, for example, for she was always thinking of the whole. And Lauren thought that Princess Diana was undoubtedly her happiest when she, too, was helping others.
God:
Oh, yes, when your attention is beyond yourself, you are happier. Grandness always feels better than smallness.
Whenever you feel bored or stalemated, think of Me, and then think of something you can do or give that will make Me and someone else happy. Then do it. It can be a very little thing. A telephone call. "What could I do for you today?" Something dropped off that would brighten life for another. The light will reflect back on yours.
There is an expression "stuck on yourself". When you feel bored, your thoughts are stuck on yourself. Your love must go out somewhere. Love must out. Turn the other cheek.
Gloria:
Sometimes it's hard for me to tell the difference between loving myself and being selfish.
God:
Mostly when My children are selfish, they aren't thinking about it. They aren't asking themselves if this or that is selfish or unselfish.
The awakening of unself-centeredness can be painful.
Make life better for someone else; don't do it for you. Do it for the other. I do not mean for you to sacrifice. No, no sacrifice.
Motive matters in all areas of life. What do you do something for?