PC #116 – Guest Post – Jennifer; Asking…

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I asked my wife Jennifer to give me her take on “asking.”

Here is what she wrote:

Everyday I ask for my highest good.  I ask for the highest good for my family and friends, and I ask for the highest good for my extended family and for every human being on Earth today.

 Why do I do this?  I do this because my intention is to lead a happy, healthy and fulfilled life.  It is as simple as that.

 Why ask? 

Well, I have to get in first thing on waking up and ask for what I really want.  I’m a rogue human being.  I can get frustrated and anxious as my day unfolds. 

I can worry about my children.  I can look in the mirror and see an older me, I can become afraid that world violence is escalating and innocent people are being hurt.  I can get confused and distraught if I’m not careful. 

Now all these rogue states of my mind are pulling me away from what I really want.  They are like old computer programs hidden within my system.  And they can take over. 

Before I know it I’m asking for what I don’t want. 

I’ll say to myself – “I’m stupid,” “I’m getting old,” or “I don’t have enough time.”  I’ll worry and get anxious and I’ll focus on the negative and this focus is as good as asking for the negative to come into my life.

This is why I have to get in first and ask for what I want – and not allow all those negativities to put their order in ahead of me! 

If I don’t ask, then it allows the other darker energies to slip in their requests.  

Jennifer #1

32 thoughts on “PC #116 – Guest Post – Jennifer; Asking…”

  3. Hi Jennifer – a great post and a wonderful contemplation – thank you.
    I have a bad habit of negative self-talk such as “don’t be stupid” and “get on with it” which I use to bring me back to reality from daydreams – not good.
    I need to and will now follow your morning practice – thank you for sharing it. I will be focussing on the word “intention” every time a negative thought appears.
    Best regs – Jenny

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    • Hi Jenny, I can’t imagine a negative thought crossing your mind! You are so alive and full of life and radiating light! Jen

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      • Thanks so much Jen for your beautiful compliment – it’s much appreciated.
        Like Julie, I do try to replace negative thoughts straight away with positive ones, but sometimes they don’t get the message that I don’t want or need them, and so of course, they’re back before I know it.
        Starting the day with intention is going to be great for me!
        Best regs – Jenny

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  4. I literally stop myself cold, and substitute the negative thought with a positive one. This works best, however, if I am interpreting someone else’s comment as a negative when it could have a neutral or even positive interpretation. It is a little trickier for me when it is my own negative self-talk. That is why I think your idea of waking up and asking for your highest good is really quite brilliant! I am going to give it a try first thing in the morning!

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    • Thanks for this Julie. Its tricky, isn’t it? Once I recognise “my own negative self talk” it gets easier for me. Ask and you shall receive!! Jen

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  5. Hi Jennifer, I really love that you ask at the beginning of every day.
    For many years I asked for the highest good for my family, friends & all those in need on the planet as part of my ritual of lighting candles each evening. And then I stopped asking. I was railing at the recognition that my courageous sissie’s highest good meant that she would be leaving us. My heart knew this to be true. My humanness desperately wanted it not to be.
    I resumed my practice of asking about 12 months ago & I relish the ritual.
    I’m now going to ask in the mornings.
    You’ve reminded me that I must also ask for myself!
    Thank you for such a timely blog.
    Janet

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    • Dear Janet –
      Thank you so very much for posting your thoughts – they are exceptional in the loving and beautiful way you’ve expressed them.
      Love, Jenny

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    • Janet thank you so much for your reply. You’ve brought up 2 very important points.
      1. You must always ask for your own highest good first. You cannot help another person unless you are helping yourself first.
      This is not a selfish thing to do! I have learnt this the hard way! Exhausting myself – worrying about everyone else not realising that I was creating in a negative way what I was focusing on.
      I have learnt (and proven time and time) that in order to help others I first must help myself. When I know how to be calm under stress I can lift that same stress from others. If I am relaxed those around me will be relaxed. If I’m happy I can help others without even realising that I have done it.

      And 2. Once we ask for our highest good we cannot then plan what that” highest good” should be. We have to take what comes with trust and grace. I know that I have no idea of how truly extraordinary “highest good” can be. I’m not going to limit it. Jen

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      • Hi Jen,

        Point two is another way of saying what I have been trying to say about the simple joy of living without expectation but with appreciation and amazement. Getting out of our own way. Letting go and letting letting God. Simple but not easy. Goes against our controlling nature.

        Steve

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      • Dear Steve, Point 2 is the tricky one. Easy for me to write but as you say the challenge is in getting out of the way. Jen

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  6. Jennifer, what a beautiful way to begin each day. You have certainly provided a new perspective on how to think and focus on the intention, as Jenny H mentioned. I usually begin by thanking God for another day, for allowing me to wake up. Asking for the highest good is so profound. If only everyone was able to focus on the other rather than on self.
    Blessings
    Anne

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    • Absolutely Anne, you are right! We have to remember everyone else. We are all in this “life” together. You and me communicating in this way shows that extraordinary connection that exists between us all. Jen

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  7. Hi Jennifer, learning to ask is not always easy. I have learned, only now, in the autumn of my years, that asking for abundance and a well lived day, is a blessing.

    My dear friend Silvia (she is a member in my camino group as is Bill, now that he is on facebook again ;-), wrote a famous quote: Ask and you shall receive…. Just today, as the dialogue went back and forth about the book being finished and myself urging Bill on to “get on with the film now” and his retort,… as soon as I have investors.

    I chuckled, because between your blog about asking, and Silvia’s quote and myself knowing that Silvia is a Machi (Shaman), she would not utter those words without intention. She has a wonderful gift as a healer and dream traveler. When I walked the Camino, many times she would tell me before I could tell her what had happened. We were connected. Her dearest wish is to walk the Camino one day and I keep telling her, she already walked it.. with me.

    So Bill… ask

    Light and Love Ingrid

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    • Ingrid it is such a breathe of fresh air to read what you have written. Life is extraordinary!!! Proof of all these wonders only comes when we are ready. And we are not all ready at the same time. So many, many people like your friend Silvia are way ahead of me and I am so thankful to them. They are lighting up the path I must follow. Jen

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  8. Jen, I was really happy to read your post about asking. In my disciplines as a nun, I have Daily Offices, several periods of prayer that must be said every day.Its pretty much the same as what you’re doing, and I find the structure of offices carries me through the day and evening with the right things to ponder, ask and pray over each day. I wake in the Presence of God, thank Him for being there, and ask Him to bless, heal, help, encourage all the people I love, and those who came on prayer lists. But so important in all this listening and asking,is gratitude, the sincere thanks we offer God for His Steadfast Love and care. Too often we overlook the prayers of thanksgiving and rejoicing that bring our personal growth full circle. I love the way you think!

    here

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    • Sister –

      Jen is over at her mum’s at the moment. She spend several hours there each day. After her mum’s recent fall, she’s come to depend on Jennifer quite a bit.

      So she won’t be able to personally respond for a little while. But thank you for a very sweet post.

      Bill

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    • Dear Sister, i agree with everything you have said above. What occurs to me reading your reply is how important it is to take out a few minutes each and everyday to “ask’ for what I need. The habit of it is so important! Never missing a day builds a momentum. Just like all those Camino steps build a powerful momentum for those who travel The Way.
      I’m very direct with God. I like my relationship with the Divine to be practical and no nonsense – so I ask. Somewhere I read a quote “Prayer is me talking to God. Intuition is God talking to me.”

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      • I think we have to be direct with God. Since He knows what we are going to ask before we ask it, there’s no point dancing around! I feel sad for people who can’t think of prayer except in terms of liturgical language -I need to say what’s in my heart just as I would say it to anyone! But if I skip any of my daily offices, I feel disoriented, because a schedule of prayer and listening really does need the momentum of repetition time -wise, for it to become second nature. The more natural it becomes, the closer I am to God.

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        • Strange that we have to work to make God natural, at least I know I have to. I guess like all my relationships I have to put the effort in. Jen

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      • Jennifer, this in a nutshell, it is for me too – nicely put. “I’m very direct with God. I like my relationship with the Divine to be practical and no nonsense – so I ask. Somewhere I read a quote “Prayer is me talking to God. Intuition is God talking to me.”

        Ingrid

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  9. Here’s a touching story of another intuitive, quick thinking, tender hearted Jennifer ( in this case Jenny) I’ve lifted from a friend’s Facebook page, thinking this group would appreciate it. Status Update
    By Jim C. Boyles Jr
    Mystery girls, nail polish, and a tender loving counselor.. (TLC)

    10:30 am. yesterday Saturday morning, on her way back from the grocery store, Jennifer happens upon two little girls walking in the middle of the street on a busy road leading into our neighborhood accompanied by two big dogs keeping close to their sides.

    After Jenny drives home, just a moment away, quickly unloads the car and drives back to the girls, they are still just outside our neighborhood, walking down yet another busy street.

    The little girls are holding hands, are barefooted and in their pj’s.

    Jennifer goes to them and observes that they are acting disoriented, but are talkative and interested that their dogs are starting to walk away, the girls wanting to follow.

    Jennifer thinks quickly about what would get little girls attention and says to them that she will paint their finger nails. The girls immediately like the idea. (I asked Jennifer, if I as a man pulled up along next to them and said that I had candy, would they have approached the car?) Jennifer says most definitely.

    The mystery girls tell her that they are cousins, that they are 4 and 5, but that they don’t know their last names and that they don’t know their phone numbers. Jennifer calls 911.

    After 3 years of living in the area, you kind of know who lives and walks their dogs in and around you. Jennifer has never seen them before. She asks, “do you live in those apartments” pointing just across the street?
    “No, they reply”
    Where did you come from?
    girls – “someone dropped us off”

    After about 15 minutes, the Harris county Sheriffs dept. arrives. Upon learning the details, even the officer acts bewildered?

    The officer proceeds to load the little girls into his car and profusely thanks Jennifer for her actions. They drive off.

    Another eyewitness, a woman who had been observing the girls call out to Jennifer. “You must be a mom, you are so good with children, I can tell.” Jen replies, “No, I’m not a mom, at least not yet, ironically my husband and I are going through adoption.” The eyewitness woman replies – “Oh honey you’re going to make a fine Mother. ”

    Where did the little girls come from? Where were their parents at 10:30 in the morning?, all are all still a mystery.

    After listening to Jennifer saying, I suddenly remember her saying “I don’t need this nail polish, maybe I shouldn’t get it, but the color is so pretty..hehe”

    Well maybe, just maybe on this day, Sunday, September 15, the Birthday of Jennifer’s Beloved Grandmother, Mrs. Anne McMahon, .. I kind of believe it was her smiling down from Heaven and whispering into her granddaughters ear saying, ..”go ahead and buy it Jennifer, you’ll be needing it in the morning.”

    PS. Sadly, so far no more word from reporter or police as to the outcome.

    Ingrid, your Prayer/intuition comment is spot on.

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  10. I realize that last post was not on topic, but I had just read Jim’s post yesterday and it came to mind as two admirable Jennifers.

    More on topic, an not mentioned here yet: Christ gave us a pattern when someone asked him “Teach us to pray.” I recited the Lord’s Prayer for many years (and still do), but a few years back someone pointed out that it was a pattern. I find it really useful to break it down line by line and put my open my heart to follow his pattern using the current day’s possibilities and issues for each and every line. It’s brought some remarkable new life, depth and breadth that on my own I would have overlooked in my prayer. God in his infinite wisdom provides, even in helping us pray.

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