The House That God Bought (Part 2) (When Faith Is Hard to Find)

It is widely accepted that buying any habitable home in Los Angeles, as a single, self-employed person is not easy. In fact, I'm pretty sure I could get the entire population of 4 million people here to agree with that statement. But, what's that have to do with the TRUTH???

When you live in my world and are surrounded by other Miracle minded people, you live in an altered state of reality most of the time, and that's good. You want to live in an altered state of reality because why would you want to be plagued with limiting beliefs? Why would you want to join into other people's limiting thoughts and then get other people to agree with you on them? You wouldn't. In order to have what you want, you absolutely have to think out of the ordinary box that almost every living person thinks from, the linear one.

For example, linear thoughts sound like this. "I don't make enough money to buy that house". "My credit isn't good enough". "I don't have enough for the down payment". They all sound reasonable, right? And most people would agree with those beliefs." Yah, you're probably not going to be able to do it". Or how about the people who actually volunteer to share their limiting thoughts with you so you can borrow them? I call them naysayers. They are the non-believers. "Well, when Joe and I bought our house, it took us almost 40 years to save what we needed. Maybe it's just better for you to rent, dear" Yikes, who wants to hear that? But they just planted that seed right into your Consciousness without maybe either of you knowing it. Now, you will secretly be harboring a fear that it'll take you years to make it happen and maybe you should just give up on the idea because it just doesn't make sense!!!!

NOPE! These are just fears born from false beliefs and they have nothing to do with how the Universe actually works. It works according to YOUR beliefs, which you have complete control over, except for the ones you might not be aware of, for instance, the subconscious ones. If you understand how much your beliefs matter, then staying mindful of your thoughts is critical. The real pesky ones are the ones you're not exactly aware of, but are having field-day in your Consciousness and causing havoc in your life.

To get to those, you have to be radically honest with yourself.....There's an old expression that goes like this: "If you ever want to know what you believe, try looking at your life!" You can also ask yourself some tough questions like, "Do I really believe I can have what I want?" "Do I feel worthy of having what I want?" "What do I really believe about this?" I bet you'll start discovering what you really believe, and whatever that is, count on it making itself known in your life, good or bad.

So this brings me to the story about "The House That God Bought." First of all, you should know, it's my house! God bought it for me! I mean it. It sure as heck wasn't me. Afterall, I'm a single person living in LA where houses cost a small fortune and I'm a Spiritual Counselor, not Rockefeller. You feeling me? But here's the thing I do know. None of that matters when you know how to make the Law of the Universe work for you, which I definitely do. And you can too.

Just to keep it real, this did not happen overnight. It took me 17 years to be exact. I rented all those years and never really thought I would ever be able to buy it. When the landlord called one day and said he had to sell it, I almost blew a Spiritual gasket! I couldn't imagine not being able to live here anymore. I love this place. But, I just could not see how I could do it. The math simply didn't add up.

The thing is though, God had a different plan. I kept meeting people, strangers who would say the most incredible things to me. One day on an airplane, a woman who was sitting next to me told me that she was a mortgage broker. At this point, I already had no less than 15 mortgage brokers tell me flat out, "NO". "No Way!" "Sorry" "It ain't happening" and my favorite one, "Are you dreaming right now?" Well, that one was my mother. Anyway, this woman  (you know who you are) looked at me straight in the eyes and asked me where was my FAITH? She just kept saying, "Oh, it's going to happen. You're going to buy that house!" I looked at her like she was on crack. At that moment, as nice as it was to hear, I had to admit she was right, I lacked complete faith. I just could not wrap my mind around the possibility of it happening because I was glued to the linear facts, and I had 15 mortgage brokers confirming I was right.

Then one day the Landlord called me back and said he had to put the sale of the home on the backburner for a while because of a personal issue. I was so relieved. I knew it would eventually circle back around, but for now, I had a slight reprieve from the daily worry of where I was going to move when I couldn't buy the house!

In that year, things changed in my life. More money came to me. I had a more secure income, and the most important detail of all, I started leaning into other people's faith because I knew I lacked my own on this issue. Sometimes you have to borrow someone else's faith and be willing to suspend your own lack of belief, so you can actually get what you want. I was totally willing to be wrong about what I thought I was right about! In other words, if being wrong meant I could get the house, I was down with that.

It's really amazing when I think about it, just how attached we get to our ideas even when they are self-sabotaging. We would rather have a negative outcome and prove ourselves "right" than to do the inner work necessary to change our thinking. Sometimes, we'll even fight for "our limiting beliefs" with other people. Just for the record, when you start a sentence with, "you just don't understand", you're probably fighting for your limitations. So I would catch myself saying to people who were trying to encourage me to have faith, things like, "You don't understand. I've had 15 people tell me no. It's just not happening. Maybe I need to start thinking about moving". I had turned into my own version of Debbie Downer.

Sometimes, I think we're afraid to believe. We're afraid to jump in with both feet and commit to believing something good can happen for us. After all, if it didn't come to pass, the disappointment would be devastating. It might actually kill our Spirit and keep us from ever wanting anything ever again. Maybe that's why I wasn't willing to believe something this important to me, something I've always dreamt of, (owning my own house), could actually happen for me. These are the things that happen to "other", more fortunate people than me, I thought. Somewhere in my subconscious, I actually believed that I could not have what I wanted. I wasn't good enough and I didn't deserve it. Sound familiar? I'm hoping it does, otherwise, I have to face the fact that I'm the only one that has dark unconscious self-sabotaging beliefs operating that keep me from having what I want sometimes, especially if I don't stay aware and intervene in them.

So, I decided to lean into my friend's and my Practitioner's understanding. For them, it was easy to see something good happening for me. They weren't all caught up in the "how's" like I was. They were simply "holding the space" for the highest and best to happen. Each of them would affirm that it was already done in the mind of God, that it was God's good pleasure for me to have this house. They knew that my desire for this house was really God's vision for me and therefore God knew how to make it happen.

I have learned that to actually have what we want, we must be willing to claim it, remove all doubt from our mind (in other words, get out of our own way), give ourselves permission to have it and then just allow it to happen. We often think we have to negotiate with God, beg, and plead our case. Just know all negotiating is with ourselves. God is already a yes.

So, armed with the faith of a mustard seed, and I mean that small, but also a legion of prayer warriors knowing the all-possibilities for me, the landlord came down in his price and sold me the house for $200,000 under market value! His words to me at the time were, "Donna, the money I would make on this house will not change my life, but the money you save, will."

The mortgage broker who was helping me said, that in 20 years as a broker she had never seen anything like that. She said it was a miracle and that it renewed her faith in humanity. For me, it renewed my faith in possibility thinking, the necessity of coming out of linear thinking when creating my dreams, and the power of a prayer posse to know the Truth when I just couldn't do it for myself. 

Ultimately, I had to "own" the idea that God was for me, God planted this dream in my heart and therefore, it was what God wanted for me too, before I could "own" my own house.

When something you want and dream of looks impossible, know that's the Universe's way of asking you to stretch your Faith and get out of your own way. ALL things are possible, especially our dreams when we come out of our own limiting thinking, and trust that the Universe already knows how to fulfill them without us having to figure it all out. 

To The Truth That Sets Us All Free,

Donna Gershman 


Are you wanting to move forward on a dream, or to change something in your life? Do you feel stuck, and know you're in your own way? Let's move that boulder together. Feel free to email
me at youwillheal@aol.com, or contact my office at (818)904-6840 for a free consultation or a  20-Minute Tune-UP! All sessions are conducted by telephone or SKYPE

The Spiritual Truth about Ugly Fighting - Part 2 (Practicing the Art of Healthy Detachment)

Picture a fiery cauldron, not the hellish, scary 'fire and brimstone' kind, but rather a beautiful blazing "furnace-like" fire designed to burn off anything that doesn't serve you. Now, picture it sitting right between you and every person you know. It is there to protect you and to absorb any negative projections that may come your way during a conversation, a disagreement, an ugly fight or even from your own negative self talk. It is your best friend. And like a best friend, it's a good idea not to forget it's there.

About 20 years ago, my partner at the time decided to break up with me by telephone. She launched into an hour long monologue in which she painstakingly described to me, one by one, all of my shameful flaws and character defects. I'm just grateful that she eventually ran out of steam or we might still be on the phone right now! There was so much anger and rage coming off of her, frankly I was surprised the phone didn't catch on fire.

But then I heard my inner voice say to me, "This isn't about you! Just give her the space to talk and be heard. Don't get in the middle of it." She proceeded to call me every name in the book, and I just listened with a sort of healthy sense of detachment, while holding a space of unconditional love for both of us. Everything vile that came out of her mouth, I imagined going into a fiery cauldron and burning off before it could ever touch me. I literally said almost nothing for a full hour as she continued her rant. I just kept hearing my inner voice say to me, "It's not about you! Be there for her right now. Be Available!"

It was an amazing experience. I never got defensive. I never attacked back. I didn't make her wrong. I just listened and didn't take any of it personally. Then suddenly she was done. There was silence on the phone for just a minute when she burst into tears. She said "Oh my God, I am so sorry!!! I have no idea where any of that came from. Oh my God, Oh my God, please forgive me!" She sobbed uncontrollably for several minutes.

Since she had the space to vent without my reacting, she was able to process what she was saying and take responsibility for it. She too realized that it wasn't about me. It was old unhealed wounds of hers that got triggered in our relationship. If I had gotten defensive and made it all about my feelings suddenly, it would have just resulted in more chaos, and misaligned thoughts being met by more misaligned thoughts. I am absolutely sure that both the conversation and relationship would have ended a completely different way had I allowed myself to get in the middle of it and been unavailable to her.

We both ended up telling eachother how much we loved each other and drawing closer than we had been for a long time. We decided to end the relationship, but we did so with mutual respect, love and appreciation. We both recognized that it had simply come to it's natural completion.

I learned a few important lessons that day. 1) Listening is healing. 2) Other people's blaming is more about them than you, but it will always present an opportunity for you to grow in compassion and to be your best self. 3) Know who you really are! Otherwise, you'll feel the need to defend against stuff that isn't even yours. It's a waste of your good time and accomplishes nothing.  

Lastly, being truly emotionally available for someone, requires you to listen without taking anything personally...to maintain a healthy detachment so there's a clear space for them to have their feelings and be heard. This is where real healing can take place.

And, if worse comes to worst...get your best friend the fiery cauldron out to protect you, so other people's projections don't bring the fire out in you. This is the one time when "fighting" fire with fire is a good thing!

To The Truth That Sets Us All Free,


Donna Gershman ALSP


PS. You can heal, and you don't have to do it alone! if you or someone you know needs support in healing any issue, whether it be physical, emotional, mental or spiritual, feel free to email me at youwillheal@aol.com, or contact my office at (818)904-6840 for a free telephone consultation. All sessions are conducted by telephone or Skype.

Falling Down

                                                                

Last year I told you of a story that happened many years ago when I had an accident while getting my oil changed at a new service station. I unwittingly fell down a 15 foot hole and lived to tell about it. I had what I consider to be a spiritual event as I was falling down that hole, that changed the way I thought forever. You can read about it here: http://www.youwillheal.blogspot.com/2009/10/decision-of-your-life.html

But there was a second part of that story I never told you, and that is what happened after I left the station that day and drove off in my car. This part of the story tells of the single biggest miracle I had ever witnessed in my life, until that day.

I drove off in a daze, partly because I had a concussion, and partly because I was confused. “Wow, what  just happened to me God? And why?” were questions taxing my brain. So then I asked God, “So, where do I go now?” and God answered me, “Drive to that children’s hospital that you’ve wanted to volunteer at for the last several months.”

A nurse friend of mine had been encouraging me to put my healing abilities to the test at a local facility where she was working. I hadn’t yet found the courage to actually show up at that point, and here was God telling me, right after falling down a 15ft hole, that I should choose now, as the perfect time to go.  I heard my directive clearly, but I had serious resistance. Before I could put up much of a fight though, God said that if I drove there now, there would be people there who could attend to my injuries, so I listened and headed to this hospital.

Now I should mention, this was not an ordinary acute care hospital with an emergency room. It was a long-term care facility for children with serious medical issues, primarily without insurance of any kind, with no families to speak of, or had been abandoned years before by their families, and who were destined to live their days out with no real quality of life. Not particularly a happy place to visit.

On this particular Saturday, I drove there, parked my car out in front, carefully slid out the driver’s seat, and proceeded to the entrance doors hunched over like a table and covered in blood. Once inside, I was greeted by a nurse who took one look at me and said, “Oh my God, what happened to you? Don’t move! I’ll be right back.” She hurried back within minutes with a gurney and at least 4 other nurses in tow.

Since this was not an acute care hospital, they had no emergency room in which to treat me. Apparently, they were not accustomed to people wandering in off the streets with injuries either, so they wheeled me in front of the nearest nurse’s station and started taking my vitals and tending to my wounds. One woman asked me my name and what I was doing there. I hesitated to tell her that I was there because God told me to come! I was genuinely concerned they might wheel me next to the psychiatric ward. I just avoided answering the question. In truth, I had no idea why I was there. I was just following directions.

So here’s where it gets good. There was a moment when all the nurses working on me, left me alone telling me they would be right back. There I was laying on this gurney staring up at the ceiling tiles and fluorescent lights when suddenly God says to me, “Okay, now get up and walk down the hall until you get to the last door on your right.” So I did. I shuffled down the hall, entered the room to find three little girls in three adjacent beds. I wandered over to the third bed furthest away from the door and closest to the window facing the courtyard.

There was a small red headed young girl about 5 years old laying in the bed staring with fixed eyes out the window. I stood by her bed and at first said nothing. Then I was moved to speak. First, I said to her that I was really upset. That I had wanted to come there to pray with them but now I was there in pain. I told her how I had just 30 minutes earlier, fallen down a hole and had hurt myself badly and was frankly really angry about it now. Just then, the little girl turns her head toward me, smiles and puts out her hand for me to hold. I held her hand for a moment thinking this had to be the sweetest little girl to do such a thing.

Then all of a sudden I hear loud urgent voices coming in our direction, “Where is she? Where did she go?” One of the nurses enters the room, sees me, and says accusingly, “What are you doing in here?” She grabs my arm and drags me back to the awaiting gurney at the nurse’s station. I laid back down and said to the nurse, “That little girl was so sweet to me. She looked at me so caringly and held my hand, what a sweetie.” She says to me dismissively, “What? That did not happen.” I said, “What do you mean it didn’t happen? Yes, it did.” 

Then the head nurse who had been standing behind the nurse’s station and listening quietly says, “I’ll be right back” and disappears. She returned a few moments later visibly shaken. She asks me almost suspiciously, “Excuse me, what did you say to her?” So I say, “I don’t know, I just told her that I was upset, that I had fallen down a hole and I was mad about it.” At that moment, the nurse softened her defenses and almost in disbelief says, “Oh my God. That child has been in a catatonic state for nearly 3 years now. She hasn’t moved a muscle or responded to anything in all that time. I just checked in on her. She's responding.” She paused for a moment as if she was putting the pieces of a puzzle together in her head. “She was brought in here as a toddler. Her mother threw her down a set of stairs. She’s been completely non-responsive ever since, until just now”.

Her name was Heather. That’s all I know. She was 5 at the time. I heard later that she was released from that facility not long after to go live with a relative. She would be 20 years old now.

God most certainly works in mysterious ways, and I don’t claim to always understand those ways. My best estimation of what happened was that Heather had been thrown down a set of stairs by the person who was the closest to her, her mother. She was pre-language at the time and had no way to process mentally or emotionally such a betrayal. She retreated back into herself; the only place she felt safe. Somehow when I came along, and told her that I had fallen down too and was really angry about it, it unlocked her from her self-imposed isolation and helped her identify with her own pain.

I continued to visit this facility every Saturday over the next month. This was the first of several miracles that took place there over a short period of time. Interestingly, my injuries only lasted long enough to serve for this event.  I had absolutely no visible bruises or marks on my body the very next day.

I’m still not sure why this happened to me, except I can tell you that falling down that hole that day most definitely changed my life and firmly put me on the path to being a healer. I am constantly reminded though that God can only work through an open heart and an open mind, and that all things are possible in God. Your only qualification to facilitate a miracle either for yourself or another is to be open and willing, and get all sense of limitations out of the way. No other qualifications, skills, experience, or credentials are needed. We all have the equal ability to be used by God in such ways. Today could be your day!

To The Truth That Sets Us All Free,

Donna Gershman ALSP

PS. You can heal, and you don't have to do it alone! If you or someone you know needs support in healing any issue, whether it be physical, emotional, mental or spiritual, please feel free to email me at youwillheal@aol.com, or contact my office at (818)904-6840 for a free telephone consultation.

Why Are You Here?

Have you ever really wondered why you're here on planet Earth?  What is your purpose for being here?  Was it just a random act that led you to be here right now at this time on the planet?  Other than the obvious explanation that your parents created you, why else are you here?  What are you here to do? What are you here to learn?  What are you here to bring?  These are some deep questions, right? And yet, without the answers, you could spend a lot of time spinning your wheels, and a lot of time unsatisfied.

It's important to know why you're here.  It's important to know what your gifts are. And most importantly, it's important that you're in alignment with your purpose, that you’re living your purpose. How do you know when you’re in alignment with your purpose, and how do you know when you're not?

It's simple. Are you fulfilled or aren’t you? Are you living a life that reflects all of the goodness that you are? Have you exceeded your wildest expectations of yourself? Are you a shining example of wholeness on planet Earth? Do you genuinely feel good about your life? Do you genuinely feel good about you? Are you fulfilled?

Or……

Are you going to a J-O-B every day, coming home, exhausted, just to pay the bills, and do it all over again tomorrow? Are you in a relationship that is painful, but have resigned yourself to being in it because the alternatives seem overwhelming? Does your body seem to be breaking down a little bit more and more all the time? Are you sick, in physical pain, emotional pain, unhappy, unsatisfied, and feel stuck? Have you given up on your dreams or worse yet, never attempted to pursue them? Do you feel blasé at best, or lack enthusiasm for your future? If so, then chances are you’ve strayed from your lesson plan a bit…and it may be time for an intervention.

In the end, the only thing that matters is how YOU feel about YOU. That’s it.

Did you accomplish what you were here to do? Did you become the person you were always meant to be? Did you love you?

When you are in alignment with your life's purpose, when you know who you are and what you're here to do, and when you take steps towards that vision, your life begins to fall into place, in a way that is most satisfying to you.  You start to live your dreams.

Unfortunately, until you are willing to move towards your vision, you will continue to spin your wheels, and feel unsatisfied with yourself and your life.  The key to being in alignment with your purpose is pure, unadulterated willingness. You have to really want it. You have to be willing to risk for it.  You have to be willing to do things differently.  You have to be willing to change. You can't fake willingness, when you do, it's simply “resistance” dressed up in disguise.

Today, search your soul.  What would you need to do differently to be in alignment with your deepest heart's desires? What would you need to let go of?  What would you need to embrace about yourself?  Even if you're not willing right now to make the changes, find the willingness to be willing. That's a good start, and really all you need, to take tiny steps forward towards being in alignment.  After all, that's what you're here to do, live your purpose and be fulfilled. The story ends well, that starts with willingness.

To The Truth That Sets Us All Free,

Donna Gershman, ALSP

PS. You can heal and you don’t have to do it alone! If you or someone you know needs support in healing an issue whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual, please feel free to email me at youwillheal@aol.com or contact my office at (818)904-6840 for a free telephone consultation.