{"id":1018,"date":"2015-05-06T03:00:41","date_gmt":"2015-05-06T09:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/?p=1018"},"modified":"2015-05-03T17:58:19","modified_gmt":"2015-05-03T23:58:19","slug":"how-big-is-your-package","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theprinciplesofspiritualliving\/2015\/05\/how-big-is-your-package\/","title":{"rendered":"How Big Is Your Package?"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>Do you like to receive presents? I think most people would say \u201cyes,\u201d but do our actions support that answer?<\/p>\n<p>The books by Spencer Johnson about \u201cThe Present\u201d show how living in the present <em>is <\/em>a present, one that we can give to ourselves if we choose. How would that be if you saw your current situation wrapped up like a beautiful package for a special occasion?<\/p>\n<p>Depending on how your day is going you might think, \u201cYeah, right! Some <em>present!\u201d<\/em> Most of the time We can get so wrapped up in our own issues that we fail to see our blessings. <a href=\"http:\/\/ellendebenport.com\/index.asp\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Ellen Debenport<\/a> talked about this situation in a recent blog, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/ellendebenport.com\/blog.asp?inf_contact_key=6ac6e36bf34296247b5138df0dd5d9464279ed0829127eddc497c48184080e97\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Belligerent Victims<\/a>.\u201d (I definitely recommend you read it \u2026 <em>after<\/em> you finish my blog first, thank you very much!)<\/p>\n<p>Ellen is amazing in the way she is so willing, week-after-week, to expose her own faux pas and question her definition of life. Once again she brilliantly discusses just how voraciously we can hold onto those experiences from the past in which we felt like a victim.<\/p>\n<p>In order to cling to the past we must be totally focused on the injustices in our lives and, of course, completely wrapped up in our own drama. This caused me to remember something Ernest Holmes once said in a talk,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><em>\u201c\u2026 any person who is wrapped up in himself<br>\nis wrapped up in a very small package.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We live in an infinitely expanding universe. Even our own little blue planet has more diversity than we could ever enjoy in one human lifetime. But if we are too involved with ourselves we miss out on many opportunities to get outside of ourselves. By moving beyond the small confines of our own issues and drama \u2013 or even our joys and accomplishments \u2013 we can enjoy the pleasure of sharing in the lives of those around us.<\/p>\n<p>Would you be willing this week to set aside whatever is eating at you and become more involved with another person in your life? You might even find yourself getting inv<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-1020\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/257\/2015\/05\/Present-1-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Man at table wrapping presents\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\">olved with someone you don\u2019t even know!<\/p>\n<p>It is only by being of service to others that we truly serve ourselves. How would that look for you? Share your thoughts below in the comment section!<\/p>\n<p>In Spirit, Truth and Playfulness,<\/p>\n<p>Terry<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you like to receive presents? I think most people would say \u201cyes,\u201d but do our actions support that answer? The books by Spencer Johnson about \u201cThe Present\u201d show how living in the present is a present, one that we can give to ourselves if we choose. How would that be if you saw your [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1674,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[436,446,437,299,407,320,120,218,448,189],"class_list":["post-1018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aworldthatworksforeveryone","tag-drterrymakingsense","tag-theglobalvision","tag-acceptance","tag-drama","tag-fulfillment","tag-joy","tag-present","tag-service","tag-victim"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Big Is Your Package?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you like to receive presents? I think most people would say \u201cyes,\u201d but do our actions support that answer? 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