Thrival Skills 101:

Thrival Skills 101 Path to Joy…Moving from Survival to Thrival INTRODUCTION Life is about Thriving Life is not just about surviving, it’s about thriving. This book will give you the skills—if you commit to practice—to change your consciousness. As a metaphysician, I understand that there are different levels of consciousness. There is the physical level and there is the spiritual level. God’s creations are always spiritual. Humankind’s creations are both material and spiritual. As we learn to upgrade our consciousness so that we are interacting with the world more from our spiritual level of consciousness than our physical level of consciousness, we will have a different and more rewarding experience of our here and now. As the saying goes: Change your consciousness, change your life. There are a number of skills that you will be learning in the pages of this book, but the first and most important is learning to quiet the mind. “Why” you might ask is this so important? It’s important because until you learn to quiet the “monkey chatter” that goes on 24/7, you don’t have the control you need to change your thinking. AND it is only when you change your thinking that you change your life. Over the duration of this book, we will look at five specific areas of growth that all of us must master if we are to live lives of “joy”. They are: • Connecting to our Essence • Getting to know Ourselves—an On-Purpose Life • Relationships with Self and Others • Evolving a Prosperity Consciousness • Vibrating with Health Each of the chapters covers one of these areas of growth with the exception of the topic of Relationships with Self and Others. It is covered in two chapters: Empowering Relationships and Intentional Relationships and Communication. Each chapter is divided into three sections. The first section entitled Prose tells a story. The second section is called Principle. It addresses the underlying principles being highlighted in the Prose section. And the third section is about Practice. This third section supports one of my guiding beliefs: It is not enough to know the Truth, we must put that Truth into action in our lives. The concepts in this book are not new. All great spiritual leaders from all faith traditions have espoused these principles and practices in one form or another. Yet, each of us is different and we each learn differently. I learn through stories. This book is for those of you, who like me, deepen their understanding of how to move from survival to thrival through stories. After reading this book and practicing the principles described, your life will be changed forever. You will never be able to go back to simply existing in the conditioned life you were living. You will be empowered by your connection with Source Energy and an understanding of Universal Principles/Laws. You will tap the unlimited depths of your spiritual beingness and learn how to release old thought patterns and illuminate the path to a life of infinite possibilities. These practices help you uncover and face your fears. This is a good thing! As you heal the layers of fear, you ascend—transforming your mind, body and spirit. As you work your way through these materials, you may find that some of the topics seem to be repeating themselves. Let that be okay for repetition from a slightly different perspective helps us deepen our understanding. In many cases, the practices are easy to apply. In others, they may present more of a challenge. Yet, they do give you a roadmap to help you discover where your next step needs to be. From time to time, the lessons will refer you to other authors who have explicated a concept and developed additional practices to help you on your journey. So, now it’s time to say “good-bye” to a life of lack, limitation, and fear and say “hello” to a life of unconditional love and infinite possibilities. Say with me, I,___________________, now set the intention to heal the fear within me and live the life I was destined to live. I am open to receive. I allow Infinite Source to work through me as me. And, as I have spoken, so it is! Excerpt from Chapter 1… Growing up in a small town in Mississippi, I loved participating in the life of our church. I enjoyed being with my friends in Sunday School, attending Sunday morning and evening services, singing in the choir and attending all the social functions. I also believed I was grounded in scripture, and although I did have some problems with some of the Bible’s stories, all in all I was a pretty happy camper. Being a Methodist, I even grew up imagining myself someday becoming a missionary. And then Germany happened. In the German high school, religion was one of our required classes. Just imagine what it must have been like for a young girl from Mississippi who had been totally insulated in her community coming into an environment where students openly defied or denied Christianity. There were both atheists and agnostics in my class and they were not at all shy about asking me all kinds of questions about my beliefs. I found myself trying to defend a way of believing that I was not so well versed in as I thought. My belief system crumbled. I didn’t know where to turn and felt lost. In hindsight, I have words to describe this experience of going into the void, but at the time I only knew that what I had believed wasn’t working for me anymore and I had no idea how to fill this void. Now I understand that what I perceived as loss in my life was simply another layer of awakening. But at the time, the dismantling of my world created disorientation, and I longed for the old, familiar ways that seemed to work…