Gratitude: Your Mind-Set Game-Changer (Part 2 of 2)

Gratitude: Your Mind-Set Game-Changer (Part 2 of 2)

“There is nothing more life changing than gratitude. This I know for sure.” ~Oprah Winfrey

Nightmares are blessings in disguise and a call to action. I immediately gave thanks for the Divine intervention. And, that brings me back to here and now, at the hospital —pissed off and panting! “Thank you God for guiding me. I can’t do this alone,” I thought. Then, the power of gratitude flowed into intention which began to manifest results.

“I want an appointment for an MRI and I don’t care if they can give me a false negative. I’d rather sweat through a negative biopsy than have another missed positive mammogram. You have my records on your computer. See who made the last appointment and then make one for me, please!”

The secretary must have pushed a hidden panic button because Dr. Harold appeared.

“I already told you, we don’t write MRI prescriptions here. Who wrote your last one?” he said.

Those words had echoed in my mind as I ran between the lower floor of nuclear medicine to ninth floor oncology to fifth floor surgery, to find who had written the last prescription. Isn’t that why I have medical records? My dream said an MRI is a matter of life and death. So, I’m not leaving until I have that appointment, even if it means lying on the floor of his waiting room and throwing a full-fledged temper tantrum like a two year old brat denied candy.

“I don’t know who wrote the last prescription, nor do I care. I want you to write this one, now, please.”

“Kathy, you are healthy and it’s not hospital policy to give MRIs without a reason.”

Is this déjà vu or have I been transported back in time to the same response five years ago? I need to pinch myself, or better yet pinch Dr. Harold. Instead, armed with gratitude for guidance I step closer for effect. “ I want an MRI. If I hadn’t convinced Dr. Wagner to perform exploratory surgery on me, against hospital policy, I’d be dead now.”

Four months later my MRI results showed stage four breast cancer recurrence.

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I could have sued and won but chose not to. I could have chosen to remain angry but, that would drain my immune system. Anger is debilitating. Instead, I chose to stand in gratitude and immediately said a silent prayer. “Thank you for giving me strength and guidance to self-advocate. Please use me.” I decided to let-go-and-let-God with the statement, “Thy will be done. If I am to die thank you for giving me time to get my house in order. If I am to live, thank you for allowing me to be of service to others. ” With those words of gratitude I could not loose, and that made me a winner, which was reason for more gratitude creating a cyclone of positive energy. That was 12 and 17 years ago. Gratitude is still swirling.

Gratitude is a big part of my daily healing and can be used to pay-it-back or pay-it-forward. My favorite prayer is, “I thank you for all that I am, all that I will be, all that I have, all that I choose to give away, and all that I will receive.” So simple. So powerful!

No matter what you are feeling right now give thanks for it. Breathe in healing gratitude and exhale any limitations. You always have a choice. You can bemoan your lot in life or look for the silver lining and give thanks for the opportunity to rise above your challenges. Every challenge is a stepping stone toward gratitude. Be grateful and give thanks.

Giving thanks means more than a seat at the Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter table. It is a daily event that involves taking a momentary break from your fast paced life to put a smile on your face.

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Gratitude is a mind-set that holds the key to shifting your awareness from an attitude of rejecting and defending to one of acceptance and appreciation in order for more abundance to magically flow.

Studies by Robert A. Emmons PhD, a leading expert on the subject of gratitude, show people who live in a state of pervasive thankfulness experience life differently than people who cheat themselves out of joy by not feeling grateful.

Have you ever noticed how good you feel when you are thankful for something or someone? When present in the moment of gratitude we feel more open, more generous, more connected, more aware and more alive.

Why save that special feeling for a certain day, occasion, or time of the year? Don’t wait for a reason to be thankful, paying it forward and give thanks for anything the Universe may send you in the future. Make it a game. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and give thanks now. Begin a new life of gratitude this moment. Your Spirit-guides and Guardian-angels love to play the Gratitude Game. The rule is simple: The worse the problem the more grateful you must become for receiving inner- guidance to grow from the challenge. You simply can’t lose at the Gratitude Game.

 

BIO: Kathleen (Kat) O’Keefe-Kanavos is an international, multi-award-winning author, contributor to Chicken Soup for the Soul, Internationally Syndicated Columnist, TV/Radio host/producer of Wicked Housewives On Cape Cod. ™and The Kat Kanavos Show. She is a three-time cancer survivor whose dreams diagnosed her illness, is written in medical journals and invited on National Talk Shows like Dr. Oz. Kat lives her life daily in gratitude and grace. Learn more at KathleenOkeefeKanavos.com

 

“French Kissing God?” Oh My Goodness!

“French Kissing God?” Oh My Goodness!

“Few are those who can see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.”

~Albert Einstein

Lyric Benson Fergusson loves God and life so much she feels they should both be a part of the Divine joy she lives. There is no place Lyric refuses to take God. Hence-French Kissing God.

I began the interview with, “So, let’s ask the most obvious question-How did you come up with this awesome, yet provocative title and how does it tie into your book of poetry.

Her answer astounds me with her Inner-guidance journey. 

Lyric took me on a wild ride through her life of Hollywood Royalty to Celibate Monk.

She explained how her book, French Kissing God, is full of wildly fun poetry as courageous as its title. In this radio interview, she also explains in detail how she came up with the provocative name for her book and how it is a perfect fit for her life.

What makes Lyric’s poetic story so astounding is her upbringing as a Hollywood offspring, raised religious free, yet still finds her bliss through God’s imprint on everything-practical and impractical.

It does not seem likely that the daughter of actor/director/songwriter Robby Benson of the movie and television productions Ice Castles, Beauty and the Beast/director of sitcoms Friends and Ellen and whose mother is actress/rock star Karla DeVito who toured with singer Meatloaf and starred on Broadway’s Pirates of Penzance, would trade in an elite Hollywood life for that of a celibate monk, but Lyric did.

So, what created the profound shift in her life?

At the age of nineteen, suddenly faced with a major family crisis, her own unimaginable physical pain, and the loss of a dear friend in the Twin Towers collapse on 9/11, Lyric was in such extreme emotional and physical agony, she began to pray.

Prayer created the moment that changed her life.

Lyric’s spiritual search for God became all consuming. “My parents were wonderful loving people who just did not believe in religion. I lived in a Hollywood-influenced home. For some reason, my search and love for God became of paramount importance in my life. I found my way to transcendental Meditation and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and joined his coherence-creating group for world peace.” Lyric spent the next eight years in eyes-closed meditation for up to ten hours a day while living a monastic life.

In silence, she awakened to God’s presence through a stage of extreme bliss.

“In my humble experience, the path towards God-realization is at times extremely challenging, because you are swimming in such a different current than the rest of the world. But, life is often challenging anyway. So you might as well hold God’s hand through the process. Once your grip is tight around God’s palm, and you feel the heat of His fingertips as your own-creation becomes so strikingly beautiful.” Lyric says.

During this interview, Lyric leads us on a journey of enlightenment from her life as a celibate monk seeking God to experiencing “unimaginable Divine Union and blissto a everyday housewife.

What does living a monastic life mean? It entails:

  • Rising at 3:45 am for eight to ten hours of
  • Simple meals
  • No TV, radio or “outside influence”
  • Living in a state of celibacy

Lyric says she deeply experiences God as a manifestation in everyday experiences, in everything we touch, in every human being. But, as unknowable as Divinity may ultimately be, she still finds God completely intimately accessible.

While Benson Fergusson may only be 32, her timeless wisdom speaks for itself. As she read one of her Rumi-esque poems I was magically transported through the thrill of a young woman’s awakening in her body, mind, and soul to the unspeakable immensity of Divine love. Lyric masterfully unites the spiritual with the sexual.

But there is an earthbound love story involved here, too. No! Not the one about kissing God. It is about how Lyric reconnected with her college boyfriend after he too had chosen to live a monastic life. It is a beautiful love story. It’s unfolding shows how true love is timeless and conquers all when blessed by the Divine.

Today they are happily married and on the same incredible path that still revolves around their faith and belief. That is vivaciously refreshing and downright sexy.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wickedhousewivesoncapecodradiont/2016/03/02/kathleen-okeefe-kanavos-show-french-kissing-god-wlyric-benson-fergusson

 

About the guest: Lyric Benson Fergusson is the author of French Kissing God, grew up in Hollywood and is an enthusiastic screenwriter (she attended NYU Tisch Film School), poet, actress, photographer, spiritual teacher, and activist. An avid practitioner of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Maharishi University of Management in 2006 with a degree in Vedic Science. It was this experience that led Lyric to delve deep within herself in an exploration of consciousness, fueling her desire for enlightenment. Learn more @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyric-fergusson-205628ba

About the host: Kathleen (Kat) O’Keefe-Kanavos is a TV/Radio Producer/Host of Wicked Housewives On Cape Cod™ and Author/Lecturer of the International award winning bestseller, Surviving Cancerland: Intuitive Aspects of Healing which promotes patient advocacy and connecting with inner guidance for success in health, wealth, and love, contributing author to Chicken Soup for the Soul: Dreams & Premonitions, PATHEOS Blogger and Columnist to Women Voices Magazine: SOUL and HOME, Kat taught Special Education and Psychology. She has been featured in newspapers, on CBS News, in American Express Open, and published in medical journals. Learn more @ www.AccessYourInnerGuide.com