{"id":6119,"date":"2014-11-26T01:54:18","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T06:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/?p=6119"},"modified":"2014-11-26T20:28:08","modified_gmt":"2014-11-27T01:28:08","slug":"thanksgiving-and-affirming-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/11\/thanksgiving-and-affirming-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Thanksgiving and affirming"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"-<\/a><\/div>\n
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I am in favor of affirmations. At a certain period in my life, I did not think much of selp-help gurus who were pushing them. I still have major reservations about affirmations that seem to be pitched from the head instead of the heart, and either project ego-driven “gimme” agendas or , alternatively, are shackled by received notions of what is spiritually correct. But I am greatly in favor of starting the day with a statement to the universe that affirms the intention to live as fully and creatively as possible, and return thanks for the gifts of life,especially\u00a0when life seems hard. To affirm is literally “to make firm”, or strong. To make a conscious affirmation, on any given day, is to firm up our whole approach to life. Whether we know it or not,everything\u00a0is listening, in our conscious universe.<\/p>\n

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In the United States, we are about to celebrate Thanksgiving, an all-American holiday I generally enjoy, though it was completely foreign in the country where I grew up. At Thanksgiving, I rarely think about the Pilgrim Fathers getting through a rough winter with the help of red people who did not yet understand what the irruption of pink people into this continent would mean for them. But I often think about how, for the First Peoples of America, prayer is often a practice of returning thanks for life, and all that supports life in our conscious, inter-connected universe, and how this is not just a part of one big turkey day, but of everyday affirmation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Emerson gave us a wonderful affirmation for this, or any day:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For each new morning with its light,
\nFor rest and shelter of the night,
\nFor health and food,
\nFor love and friends,
\nFor everything Thy goodness sends.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And for those who are in pain or suffering, these words from Anne Frank may shine light through the darkest circumstances:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not think of all the misery, but of the glory that remains. Go outside into the fields, nature and the sun, go out and seek happiness in yourself and in God. Think of the beauty that again and again discharges itself within and without you and be happy.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I like to come up with fresh affirmations as often as possible. But I also find it good to voice “default” affirmations on any day they feel right, including those on which “fresh words” are lacking. Here’s a simple affirmation that came to me long ago, when my dreams and visions drew me into the imaginal realm of a Native American people – the Onkwehonwe, or Iroquois – for whom returning thanks is part of what keeps the world turning:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I return thanks for the gifts of this lifetime
\nand for its challenges
\nI seek to walk in balance between earth and sky
\naffirming<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo: By the fire on Magic Mountain (c) RM<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am in favor of affirmations. At a certain period in my life, I did not think much of selp-help gurus who were pushing them. I still have major reservations about affirmations that seem to be pitched from the head instead of the heart, and either project ego-driven “gimme” agendas or , alternatively, are shackled…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1143,777],"class_list":["post-6119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conscious-liviing","tag-affirmations","tag-thanksgiving"],"yoast_head":"\nThanksgiving and affirming - Dream Gates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thanksgiving and affirming - Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am in favor of affirmations. 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He is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He leads popular seminars all over the world, including a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. A former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University, he is a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Conscious Dreaming, Dreamways of the Iroquois, The Dreamer's Book of the Dead, The Three \"\"Only\"\" Things, The Secret History of Dreaming, Dreamgates, Active Dreaming and Dreaming the Soul Back Home: Shamanic Dreaming for Healing and Becoming Whole. His most recent book is The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in the Multiverse. Over the past 20 years, he has led seminars at the Esalen Institute, Kripalu, the Omega Institute, the New York Open Center, Bastyr University, John F. Kennedy University, Meriter Hospital, and many other centers and institutions. He has taught depth workshops in Active Dreaming in the UK, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Brazil and Austria and leads a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. He hosts the \"\"Way of the Dreamer\"\" radio show at www.healthylife.net. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows, ranging from Charlie Rose and the Today show to Coast to Coast and the Diane Rehm show on NPR. His articles on dreaming have been published in media ranging from Parade to Shaman's Drum.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mossdreams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/author\/rmoss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6119"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6124,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6119\/revisions\/6124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}