Susan F. Pruitt's Blog, page 2

A Sign

My life has been busy lately with finding a new place to live, working, writing, and packing to move. I’ve hardly had any time left over for my family. I will be in a new place at the end of the month and I can’t wait because then it means I can devote my time to getting book three of An Ordinary Angel series done.

My office is quickly filling up with packed boxes that I have moved and shuffled around numerous times. The space around my desk is becoming crowded, which is another reason I’m looking forward to the move. Things will soon be back in their respective places and I’ll have space again.

Thus, lots of things are contributing to muddle my thinking. Thoughts moving quickly from what I need to do, have to do, and want to do. Even those few things that I don’t want to do. I should make a list to make it easier for myself. Transitions are never simple.

This morning, as I got ready for work in the midst of all my jumbled thoughts, one of them touched down on whether or not I could actually put off writing book three for a while. After all, getting started as an author these days is much like a salmon swimming upstream amongst many others doing the same. Each one with a purpose of making it to the promise land while endeavoring to survive the trip. I wondered, Where was I in the scheme of things? How does this fit into my life? Not so very well at the moment. It's a nights and weekend job on top of my full time day work, and I really love it.

I continued to get ready for work, entering my home office to retrieve my cell phone. When I was turning to leave, something caught my eye on the floor, tucked half way under a box. It was a piece of a necklace that was given to me as a gift that read, “Follow Your Dreams.” Well, I got that message loud and clear. I don’t know how the piece came off my necklace, which I haven’t been able to find for months. I swept the office twice in the last couple of days while moving the boxes around and I am certain that piece wasn’t there last night. My chair is right next to the box I found it under, so there was no way I could have missed this. I don’t know who put it there or who gave me that message - my deity, angels or spirit guides, but I thank them all. I feel totally guided in this writing process. Whether one believes in these things or not doesn’t matter to me because I know what is happening in my life… and I believe.

When you receive a message or a sign, just smile, embrace it and keep believing.

August 1st Giveaway on Goodreads!

Good day!

I'm excited to announce that on August 1, 2015, I am offering a giveaway of 5 signed copies of An Ordinary Angel: Faith on Goodreads.com!

I'm also excited and pleased to announce that An Ordinary Angel 2: Where Angels Cannot Go is now released on Amazon.com. It will also be offered on Barnes and Noble, as well. Both the Kindle and Nook editions will be out soon.

To celebrate, I am working on lowering the price of the Kindle and Nook editions for 5 days, from August 1 - 6, 2015 to 2.99 for An Ordinary Angel: Faith.

I'm working on Book 3 of the series now. I anticipate release in early spring 2016.

The Power of Forgiving

Thoughts of forgiveness have been on my mind recently, stemming from a conversation with a loved one who was finally able to say a family member’s name out loud and with ease, after twenty years of not being able to even utter it. It made me realize that my loved one had finally been able to forgive the egregious acts this family member had committed without realizing the negative impact it would have on our entire family.

This brought to mind a personal reading I, and my husband, had with a spiritual medium. During the reading a relative my husband did not know well in life identified himself and asked for forgiveness. He explained that in life he wasn’t a good person, and forgiving him wasn’t for his soul, but it was for the family bloodline. He went on to say how his actions affected the family bloodline and forgiveness was needed in order to help the living, and future, generations. Knowing some of the history of this man, I saw how our children, and grandchildren, have been affected by his actions. The things he did to my husband’s parent reflected on how his parent treated him, and then he to his children, and so on and so on.

If forgiving is a way to clear our bloodline, then isn’t that what we need to work on? If you are harboring past hurts, anger, hatred or abuses of any kind, would you pass that onto your loved ones as well? Don’t carry the pain in your bloodline any further. You can forgive, but never forget the lesson you have learned.

There are several ways I have learned to do this in the past when working on my “inner self” and have listed two below. You may know of other ways, please feel free to share them in the comment section.

1. Write down as many times as you can the person's name and a statement of letting go, such as, "Jane Doe, I fully and freely forgive you. I let you go, I set you free" or simply, "I forgive you Jane Doe." I have done this in the past to help myself let go of the pain, anger and sometimes humiliation.

2. Place two chairs across from each other. Sit in one and face the other empty chair. Mentally place the person who injured or upset you in the chair. List the painful acts this person committed to you and tell him/her how it affected you. Then tell that person he/she will no longer hold any power over you or your soul. Tell him/her that you can forgive them so that you can move forward and leave them behind. You no longer need to dwell on the negative actions of this person and are free to move forward with your life and all the wondrous possibilities it holds.

I know it might be hard, but thank them for the lesson and graduate onto a better life. Leave the past in the past or find a way to use it to better your life or the lives of others.

Forgiving = Giving forward movement to your soul.

Forgiving = Giving yourself permission to move past your pain and forward with your life.

Oh My Word - The Things We Say

I’m sitting here with a head cold and sore throat laughing at myself in spite of my misery. My throat hurts, my head is dizzy and congested, leaving me pretty much feeling miserable. I bundled myself up this morning and am trying to warm up my feet with a little space heater, and decided this would be a great lesson for some of you out there.

I’m laughing because I realized two things:

1. I definitely brought this on myself; and
2. I sure can manifest things pretty quickly right now (which I feel is pretty darned awesome, but I just have to watch what I say).

How did I manifest this cold? This past Saturday, my husband and I drove to Las Vegas for his birthday, and to spend time with our son and his family. It’s about a four hour drive and it was wonderful. I had taken off from work a half day early on Friday, to get my car serviced and shop for groceries for my youngest son, who opted to stay home and take care of the dogs while we were away. My car service and shopping was done early, so I spent Friday evening playing computer games and being generally bored.

Saturday morning we left early, taking our time driving to Vegas, enjoying brief stops and a little outlet mall shopping along the way. It was very pleasant.

During the visit with my son, I logged onto the computer and checked into Facebook. I found pictures of my friends celebrating one of their birthdays on Friday evening at a restaurant where our friend, Diva Gray, sings. I hadn’t been invited and my feelings were hurt. I was thinking, “Why wouldn’t they invite me?” I tried to put it out of my mind, but it pestered my thoughts, making me feel unwelcomed in our group. Later on, I mentioned it to my husband, we had a brief discussion about it and I tried to let it go. Throughout the weekend I found my thoughts drifting back wondering why I wasn’t invited. I would have gone. I felt left out.

I did manage to put those thought at bay, and enjoy our trip. We both returned to work yesterday, and I asked my best friend, Kim, to lunch. Kim usually is the one who organizes our group gatherings, and I just decided to go with the flow, and see if she would bring up Friday’s get together. I was feeling out of sorts and not so well. My throat was itchy and sore, plus I had sinus pressure and pain, a bit of dizziness and other signs of a cold coming on.

During lunch, Kim did mention the group gathering. I nonchalantly let her know that I was sitting at home on Friday evening. She said, “You were in Vegas. You said you were taking a half day off on Friday to go to Vegas.” She was right, those were my words. I replied, “Just to get ready, but we weren’t leaving until Saturday morning.” To which she responded, “If I would have known that, I would have invited you.”

The whole point of the story is that I realized that I felt left out in the “cold,” or maybe like I was being given the "cold shoulder," thus bringing on this cold myself. I had also felt like I wasn’t truly going to be able to voice how I felt, manifesting the sore throat as well. I was able to manifest both very quickly. Now I’m working on manifesting wellness instead. If you would like to learn more about manifesting, please read, “Your Word is Your Wand,” by Florence Schovel Schinn. It will help you gain some insight into the world of manifestation using your words. In the meantime, I’m going to finish my tea, and continue to manifest wellness.

What are you manifesting today?

Is Something Delaying Your Good?

You've prayed, used your affirmations and stayed positive, yet the good you were expecting hasn't arrived. And now you're wondering if it really works. You begin to feel disappointed, rejected, there's something wrong with you or you're not worthy of receiving your good.

You couldn't be further from the truth.

There are many aspects of receiving. Sometimes your good can be delayed. How? By your own self. There are several ways we block our good from coming. Think about it. You have lunch or coffee with a friend who so generously tries to pick up the tab, and yet, you say "Oh no, I have money. I can pay for my own lunch. No need for you to do it." Your shopping with friends or family and that person so graciously tries to buy you an unexpected item, and you say the same thing. "Oh no, I've got this" or "I don't need that, I have too much stuff already." Sound familiar?

This is a continuous lesson for me because it's so easy to get caught up in the thought that I really don't need anything. What I didn't realize was that I was blocking my own good from coming. Those unexpected little gifts of food, clothing or other goodies is a part of receiving my good. What I thought were signs of my own affluent gestures to show the Universe I could afford to buy my own lunch, clothing, etc. was doing exactly the opposite. I was effectively telling the Universe, "Oh no, I don't need that. No, please don't bring me unexpected gifts in any way, shape or form."

And the Universe responds by stopping the flow of receiving until you begin to wonder, Where has my Good gone? Why am I not receiving anything? Your good comes in all forms, a free lunch or cup of coffee, a little trinket for your desk, anything that is given to you out of love is a sign from the Universe that your good is always flowing to you. Deny these little gestures from the Universe and you deny your own good.

What do you do instead? Say thank you to the Universe by accepting your good in whatever form it comes. Accept it graciously and with gratitude. The Universe will respond by bringing you even more wonderful gifts. Soon those other things you have been praying for will show up at your doorstep.

Why Are We Here?

That is the question a lot of people ask themselves every day - several times a day. It is a question that really no one can answer. I have pondered that thought many a time throughout the years. Spent time thinking about it, praying about it, taking classes about it and sometimes changing my life direction towards finding the answer. But where has it gotten me? Still pondering the same question, why am I here?

My answer came to me this morning. For me, it's not the question of why am I here any longer, as I can see throughout the years that I AM HERE. Perhaps it's just for the experience. I have heard that statement along the way in my learning about life. The experience. What does that mean?

The experience of the sun shining on my face, a walk along the shoreline on the beach listening to the waves, the laughter of children as they play. The experience of the taste of a delicious meal. The experience of a warm kiss upon the lips, and a tight and loving embrace.

We get so caught up in the "why" of life that we neglect to experience the "way" of life. Take a moment to remember to "smell the roses," and experience life. Put your mental quest on pause for a moment. Take a look around you and decide to do something wonderful for yourself today. Experience your life  even  if it is for a brief moment. We only live once, in this body, as this person - today. Go have a drink with a friend, be it coffee, tea or wine. Have lunch or dinner with loved ones. Walk along the seashore, plant a garden, etc. Do something for yourself that fills your soul with the experience of living a good life. It is not about anyone else today, it is about you. Make it memorable for you. Make the time to experience your life today.

The Flow of Giving and Receiving

Giving and receiving are subjects that I could write a lot about. There's so many different facets that make for fascinating lessons, but since neither of us have all day, I'll try to be brief.

A long time ago, I was told by a friend that it was better to give than it is to receive. It was greedy and wrong to want to receive and we must give, give, give in order to be a good person.

I was pretty young then, can't remember what age exactly, but this statement made an impression on me. I didn't know why it was better to give than to receive because goodness knows we all love to receive good things. Gifts in any form are good - money, clothing, food, makeup, etc. But wanting to have those things made me look greedy and bad to my friends, who were quick to judge and guilt me into their belief. And so, some part of me began to believe it too - that giving is better than receiving and when I give I'm not to expect to receive anything in return.

I went on to learn that is not true. What is true is when you give, you must expect to receive your good. It may not come in the form you wish, but your good will come. A little over twenty years ago, my husband, Ray, and I both learned this lesson, one evening, on our way to the grocery store. We had to buy enough food to last a few days with little to no money.

I had no money because I had mailed my last two dollars to my temple. As a demonstration of faith, I sent in the only money I had, and I prayed and believed that somehow, someway, enough money would magically appear. At least enough to be able to buy a few days worth of food for us and our three children. After I sent the money, I prayed all that week. Time came to buy the food, and no money had appeared.

Ray and I drove to the store in silence, both trying to figure out what we could buy with the ten dollars Ray had in his pocket. How could we stretch that ten dollars to last us through three meals a day for at least three days, maybe four? No matter how much I thought about it, and did the math, it just wasn't going to work. Ray parked the car and we began to walk towards the store entrance. The closer we got to the doors, the more upset I became inside. I then told Ray, that in faith, I had sent my last two dollars to the temple believing that somehow we would get the money to sustain us for the rest of the week. My eyes began to well with tears and I said, "I can't believe I sent the money in and now we don't have any. I was so stupid to believe it would work." Right at that moment, I looked down to watch my footing, before stepping up onto the sidewalk. I saw something. I wasn't sure what it was because my eyes were blurry from tears, but I reached down and scooped it up. I spent a second wiping my eyes, before opening my fist. I had scooped up forty dollars! It may not sound like a lot, but when you hardly have any money that amount is a small fortune. We had a total of fifty dollars and it was enough to last us a few days.

If you are a giver, and you are wondering where your good is, you must learn to become a receiver. I wrote the statement below over and over again until I learned how to expect to receive my good. Write it out. Believe it.

I am receiving. I am receiving now. I am receiving all the good the Universe has for me now.

(Unfortunately, I cannot remember which author wrote it. If you know who it is, please enlighten me.)

Accept your good in whatever form it comes, a free cup of coffee, a free lunch, money, a raise or a gift in any form. Those are all forms of receiving your good.

The truth is giving is one step in the Universal flow - receiving is the other. In order to receive, one must give. In order to give, one must receive. Both go hand in hand.

I started my journey with these two authors who have great affirmations you can use:
Florence Scovel Shinn http://bit.ly/1AzVc6yb
Catherine Ponder http://bit.ly/1D1iAbs

Wealth Follows Organization

This is one of the first lessons I've learned and it’s perhaps one of the most valuable ones. I was in my early thirties, working for a design/build company as an administrative assistant and general Jane of all trades in that very small office.

At that time, my husband and I were separated, and I was living the very busy lifestyle of being a single working mom. It always seemed like my list of duties never stopped. Shuffling the kids to the sitter, school and school events, friend’s houses, birthday parties, and family gatherings it felt as if we lived in my car – and it showed. Clothes, empty food containers, candy wrappers, books, shoes and other miscellaneous items found their way into the back seat and floorboards of the car. My little trunk fared no better, filled with items the kids or I might need or used. Of course I would make time to clear out the car, but it magically always seemed to fill up again. I never thought of how it appeared to others, until one of my supervisors tried to tell me in a nice, roundabout way.

He said, "Susan, you know one of the things to think about is that wealth follows organization."

I nodded. He proceeded to explain to me how cleaning one's chaotic area was conducive to attracting wealth. How it was important to keep things neat and orderly. I kept nodding, like I understood.

At one point he must have realized that I just wasn't getting the underlying message. And so, very bluntly, he stated, "Susan, I'm talking about your car. It's a disaster. You cannot attract wealth if you're driving around in trash."

 Okay, he didn't say those exact words but something similar to them (after all this was over twenty years ago). This is the point where I should have felt embarrassed that someone was pointing out to me that I was living in a rolling dumpster (it really wasn't that bad, I never carried around old, rotting food - just everything else). What I did first, was to defend myself. I made excuses to myself. I didn't need to make excuses to him, because our conversation was done. I just politely nodded and agreed, and that was the end of it. After that day, I made a conscientious effort to keep the back seat of the car clean. If anything, to show my boss I had heard what he said. I didn't, however, grasp the full meaning of what he was trying to teach me until later. It took a while for that lesson to sink in.

Wealth follows organization. What does the statement mean to me now?

Don’t hold onto unnecessary things:
What are you telling the Universe? Here’s an example: Hoarding food is telling the Universe that you believe you will be starving tomorrow. Hoarding anything is not good because the underlying message to the Universe is that you must hoard this today because you will not have anything tomorrow. Think of the intention behind the act – that is what the Universe will give you.

Use a three or six month rule:
If you haven't used it or read it within six months’ time be prepared to rehome it. If it is in good, useable condition, give it to someone you know could/would use it or give it to charity.

Keep a constant flow of good energy:
Stock up just enough to use what you have, then go buy more. That constant flow of energy tells the Universe that you know you have an endless, abundant source of good and that you can go buy more food, clothing or whatever you need, whenever you need it. And the Universe will respond by giving you the money and/or means to continue to keep that good flow of energy going.

Just writing this makes me want to reorganize and de-clutter my space. In the past, I gave myself plenty of excuses to keep the things I wanted to hold onto whether or not I had a use for it. Now, I just can't find it in myself to lie to me.

Spring is almost upon us and it's the perfect time to de-clutter. You will be amazed how much lighter your spirit feels as you begin to organize your surroundings. Don’t be surprised when your life starts to magically organize itself as well. Be grateful!


What are you telling the Universe?

My life so far as a writer.

Wake up, think about writing. A little social media, think about writing, get ready for work, think about writing... he said, she said, they did (they did not! - oh they did!)... want to get it down on paper, but need to drive to work. Driving, think about writing. Work, work, writing, work, writing, dang it! Get home, cook dinner, think about writing. Eat dinner, think about writing, finally sit down to write after spending all day working on plot and action in my head and all I get out is a paragraph or a page? Oh come on! Oh well, tomorrow is another day. Get ready for bed, think about writing...