Consciousness Known by Rhonda O'Brien

You cannot solve a problem with the same consciousness that created it.

So I returned from my annual 6 am Black Friday shopping venture feeling really rotten. In retrospect I have a few observations to share.

I think that the notion that Americans have to spend money in order to “save” our economy is part of the problem.

We are suffering, financially, because people, countries, banks, companies cannot pay back money that they have borrowed.

I have a feeling that a lot of the people making purchases on “Black Friday” or any given day are buying on credit. I have to tell you that that doesn’t make me more comfortable about our future as my money sometimes pays for bailing out individuals who cannot pay back their debt.

How about stay at home and bake cookies with your kids, draw, paint, laugh, play Scrabble, tell someone you love them, be present, call a long lost friend, write a note and paste it on your children’s bathroom mirror. Love is not things. If you think that someone will not think that you love them if you don’t get them an “Easy Bake Oven” you are wrong.

What I remember the most about my parents is the one on one time that they gave me. I don’t really even remember the toys, gifts and/or the money. I remember my mom drawing me stick figures, my dad playing sports with me endlessly, my dad watching me at my swim team practice at 6 am, my grandma making a ribbon box with me, etc.

Spend some quality time with the ones that you love instead of plunging deeper into debt. Spending quality time with your loved ones is a louder expression of love than any material item that you can find on the store shelves this winter season or any season.

I first heard about “Shopping Guides” from several of Sonia Choquette’s books. We all have guides, we all have access to special guides like these “Shopping Guides” that help you find bargains.

Although I learned about “Shopping Guides” from Choquette I have been using the gracious services of these guides for years. I always get the best deals on items because I listen when I am prompted to go to a store and I am usually rewarded by either a great deal or a great find.

Here are a few of my most recent “Shopping Guide” finds:


1. I am constantly hunting for bargains. I wanted new outdoor furniture and knew that the end of the summer was when these items would be on super sale. One Sunday I got the feeling that I should go to Kmart. I went and found a single wicker chair with a matching stool which was discounted 75%. I wanted the matching chair to complete the set. I then got the feeling that I should drive an additional 30 min to check out a local store. I didn't find what I was looking for, and was prompted to travel another 15 min to another store.

At this last Kmart I found a beautiful, vintage, wrought iron Martha Stewart bench which was exactly what I was looking for (discounted 75%). I am glad that I kept listening otherwise I would have missed out on this find.

2. I was then looking for the perfect outdoor pillows to match the cute, red, wrought iron bench and was told to go to Home Depot. I went and the perfect red and tan patterned pillows that I got for 50% off.

3. I was told to go to Walgreens where I found the notebooks that I had been looking for for ½ off.

These shopping excursions are more the norm than the exception in my life. Here are few hints on how to hone in your "Shopping Guides" and find the deals out there; there are a lot of deals especially this time of year and given our economic condition.

1. Decide on what you are looking for (be specific if you can); then ask your guides to help you find this/these items.

2. Be open to any feelings, senses, advice, signs that might be guidance as to where these items might be found. For example, if you get the feeling that you should go into a store go into the store and look for the items that you asked to find.

3. Act immediately.

4. Thank your guides for the advice.

5. Continue with step 1; the more often you follow through, act on and show appreciation the more that your guides will help you find the deals.

This is just a small sampling of all the help that I get from my guides. I have been getting similar deals with the help of my guides for years. I have always been a bargain shopper who knew that the deals were out there if you are willing to search for the bargains. I save a lot of effort by not having to do all of the “looking” for deals myself. Thank you “Shopping Guides;” I love you!

Copyright © 2010 Rhonda O'Brien. All Rights Reserved.

Supplies:
15” round foam wreath form
~12 yards of 1” ribbon to cover the wreath
~5 yards of accent 1” ribbon
~4 yards of accent ¼” ribbon
~4 yards of accent ¼” ribbon
Cranberry Garland
Sewing Pins




Wrap wreath form with base coat of ribbon then accent the base ribbon with your accent ribbons pinning the ribbon to secure. Wrap the wreath with the cranberry garland using the twist tie that come with the packaging to secure. Hang and enjoy your modern, funky and colorful wreath.

I have been trying to save money lately (aren’t we all?) and I was noticing that I wanted a few items in my home: a bookshelf, some curtains and a holiday wreath. I was thinking about how I was going to purchase these items as I am trying not to spend any money at all.

What I came up with was: I had a bookshelf on my porch that I could paint with paint that I already had, I have some curtains that I could sew together that would make a great shabby chic pair of curtains that would go with the whole floral theme of my bedroom and I made my own holiday wreath. Please see instructions on how to make the wreath (since I used some ribbon and a strand of cranberries that I already had it only cost $13 to make).

This brought up the thought that we have abundance around us all of the time sometimes we to look for it in order to find it. Whenever I think that I need more money I think of a story that my friend told me about how she asked had the universe for more money and then in the middle of the night she remembered that her pay washing machine and dryer probably had quarters from the renters who used it to do their laundry. When she checked it in the morning she found $15 that she had but she didn’t know she had.

My friend was telling me that she needed more money and I told her this story and told her to check her coat pockets. She did and she found $11.

Although $15 or $11 doesn’t really increase our bottom line these stories remind me that I do have abundance I just have to see my abundance. A lot of times I just have to appreciate the abundance that already abounds in my life just like I had to see that I already had what I needed. In this case I already had a perfectly beautiful, green bookshelf, hand-crafted curtains and a $13 modern, funky wreath (that people are already commenting on, by the way).

Looks to me like I had a very successful, inexpensive "shopping" venture and came out with some great finds and had a great time discovering, re-inventing and inventing them.

My focus for this month is on gratitude as we approach two holidays of gratitude, giving and family. The first is Thanksgiving, of course. Take yourself back to the first American Thanksgiving meal. Half of the original New England population died in the winter of 1620. Following this tragedy the pilgrims forged a relationship with the Wampanoag tribe who taught them to fish, plant and hunt. By the autumn of 1621 the community had gathered enough food to get them through the winter. In celebration of their bounty they invited the Wampanoag tribe to feast with them for three days.

How would you feel at that moment as you sat down at the table with your bounty surrounded by friends, family and neighbors who were resonating at that same degree of gratitude? Imagine the magnitude of that first “thanks giving.” (I get chills when I think about it).

Now take yourself back to a moment that you might have had that same level of gratitude. It might have been that moment that you realized that your love relationship was “love,” the moment that your lost puppy was found, or it may have been that moment that you reached a major landmark in your own life.

Feel that gratitude as you inhale and as you exhale exaggerate that feeling of gratitude as far as you can. Imagine it expanding out of your body and beyond. Now inhale that gratitude and exhale the gratitude exaggerating the level of gratitude beyond your body and beyond. Now one more time.

Feel your gratitude. Now inhale that gratitude and imagine exhaling it into a bubble. Inhale that gratitude and exhale it into the bubble two more times. Now send that bubble to someone, something or to some situation.

You can do this as many times as you like; feel free to extend the gratitude bubble to as many people/things/situations as you like.

Remember you are love.

Copyright © 2010 Rhonda O'Brien. All Rights Reserved.