EVERY QUESTION
IS AUTOMATICALLY ANSWERED
THE MOMENT YOU FEEL ITS PRESENCE.
TO KNOW THE ANSWER IS TO WELCOME
THE PEOPLE WHO SHOW YOU YOURSELF.
These powerful words usher you into the book entitled The What Happens If I Book…How To Make Action/Reaction Work for You Instead Of Against You. The author of several other mind stretching books: Walking Through Illusion, The Mirror Theory, You Are What You Think, LoveHuman, and LoveParent, the prolific Betsy Otter Thompson is a soul in wonder. Her professional background includes modeling, marketing and acting. Her writing was a healing balm in a time of challenge for her. Now it reaches out to heal others.
Thompson sets the stage by reframing the concept of God as “…energy. Sometimes I call that energy all-inclusive—or the whole through which we all participate. Sometimes I call that energy individual—as in you, me and others. But whether I describe this energy as out-of-matter or in-matter, male or female, gracious or rude, it still represents the light of eternal love.” How comforting it is to consider the Divine in that way.
At the beginning of each chapter, a question is posed What Happens If I: Think I Have To Be Perfect, Live Without Integrity, Abandon Another, Make A Mistake, Do What I Love And The Money Doesn’t Come? All common concerns and all answered with Thompson’s wit and wisdom that lead this reader to even deeper inquiry….a ‘down the rabbit hole’ experience. Woven throughout is the idea of self responsibility and accountability…we are not at the effect of events and people unless we choose to be.
Each chapter is sandwiched in between delicious slices of truth, such as the description of What Happens If I Obsess Over Another?
WHEN YOU LOVE ANOTHER INTO COMFORT
YOU LOVE YOURSELF INTO BLISS.
WHEN YOU LOVE ANOTHER INTO FEAR
YOU CREATE AN ABYSS.
OBSESS WITHOUT CONDITIONS
SO YOU CAN FEEL
THE UNCONDITIONAL OBSESSION
THE UNIVERSE HAS FOR YOU.
The further I delved into the pages, the more this book seemed to be channeled THROUGH Thompson, rather than simply written BY her, so effortlessly it flowed. One chapter in particular fascinated me : What If I Insist On Agreement? since I am a peacemaker by inclination. Every day I encounter people whose beliefs, attititudes and actions are in harmony with mine…they are the easy folks to get along with AND every day, I cross paths with those whose life choices are dramatically out of synch with my values….how do I peacefully co-exist with them? What it takes is putting myself in the other person’s position…if I had the experiences they did and had the same feelings as a result, I might have formed the same values base and taken the same actions. Letting go of the need to be right, seems to be a key to harmonious interactions that could quite possibly heal the planet.
We are accustomed to thinking of ‘what ifs’ as negatives. Thompson reframes them to beneficial effect.
What if my life is over because everyone I love has left?
What if your life is beginning with new hearts to love?
What if I can’t get well, so I might as well die?
What if you can’t die, so you might as well heal?
What if the world is a mess so there’s no reason to try?
What if “trying” is what makes the world less messy?
Thompson offers this beatitude to close the book:
BLESSED IS THE SOUL
THAT KNOWS ITSELF,
FOR HEAVEN
IS A THOUGHT WITHIN.
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