In this week's practice, I would like to share three practices that brought me many emotions:
First, before practicing healing poverty patterns and creating a Prosperity Mindset, I spent much time reflecting on my major goal. I knew that for practice to succeed, this goal needed to be clear — the clearer, the better. I used to set many goals and intentions, but since joining Soul Coach and beginning the lesson of surrendering to the universe, I have struggled to define my current goal clearly. My conflict is that the goal I have always pursued has nothing to do with my current work. Yet understanding that my work role also matters for evolution, I decided that what I need now is to fulfill that role well and let circumstances and the universe arrange the right direction. Then why define a goal?
Because of that contradiction, I spent quite some time struggling to identify my overarching goal and the mission I wanted to serve. I meditated with the intention of connecting to my mission in this life. Whether ideas arose during reflection or feelings during meditation, they all pointed toward one overarching goal. It was: “May the universe grant my spouse and me spiritual wisdom, a correct understanding of education, the quality of boundless universal love, sacred compassion, love, understanding, and respect for young children, the capacity to manifest, and the necessary resources to build a lovely school immersed in nature to educate young children.” This is what I truly desire from the depths of my heart.
The teacher once advised me while reviewing an assignment: “It is no coincidence that you joined such an intensive, progressive spiritual course, nor that you teach at a university of economics and finance. Your lesson in this lifetime is balance between the material and the spiritual.” Listening carefully again to his words, alongside my recent efforts to bring symbolic language into my lectures to deepen them, I understood that teaching economics and finance gives me the opportunity to understand deeply how the economy works and money circulates, to appreciate money, understand the meaning of material things, and so on…
The lesson of balancing material and spiritual life is always important. It will certainly be especially useful when I run a school. How can a school have enough finances to care for teachers' and staff members' lives, invest and reinvest in infrastructure, and improve teachers' professional abilities while also developing spiritually? There, each teacher will have the opportunity to gain a sound understanding of education, people, the ultimate purpose of LEARNING, SELF-EDUCATION, and EDUCATION, and the purpose behind every human purpose—SOUL EVOLUTION, FULFILLMENT OF QUALITIES. When teachers understand education's root—helping children integrate qualities and understand themselves—they will know what to do with children and what to teach them. The school is also a place for teachers to develop themselves and for parents to gain sound understanding and opportunities to practice educating themselves and their children.
Once I clearly identified such a major goal, the picture in my mind became clearer and is becoming increasingly vivid within me. Wonderfully, I feel love for people, especially children, gradually being kindled in my heart. Although I know I still have many blockages in chakras 1,2,3 leading to blockages in chakra 4, and still need to cleanse many distortions, a sense of hope is growing ever brighter.
Second, tapping to purify the poverty mindset was also a practice that brought up many emotions for me. During this week of practice, I chose to purify two negative beliefs:
(i) All money received comes with conditions; nobody gives anyone anything for free, even family members. This negative belief came from my own family members not truly giving unconditionally, not truly giving with love, and often claiming credit. This negative belief led to a pattern of unhappiness when receiving money and an inability to receive. And without the ability to receive, one also lacks the ability to give. Tapping gradually helped me purify this negative belief. I understood that my loved ones must have accumulated negative memories and beliefs in the past about material things, about worry and insecurity over material scarcity and ingratitude, which led to that pattern of behavior. Because I did not understand or know, I too failed to feel gratitude and could not radiate the energy of gratitude. The recipient did not radiate gratitude, and the giver did not receive its energy, so they felt even more worried and insecure about the ingratitude they would receive. It truly was a vicious cycle that needed to be broken. And the responsibility to break it belonged to me—the one earnestly walking a path of practice. Around this time, I read something deeply moving in a book: “The giver's happiness does not come from material things, encouraging words, helpful actions, or the recipient's gratitude. That happiness comes from the giver feeling their own empathy and generosity. The recipient's happiness likewise does not come from the forms they receive. It comes from feeling the warmth and openness of the giver's Virtue”.
(ii) I feared losing money and material scarcity, and did not believe money could be earned easily. I understood that this fear came partly from Vietnam's collective unconscious, as previous generations endured many wars to defend the country, famine, and material deprivation both during war and for a long time afterward; but part of this fear also came from my personal unconscious. Because of this fear, I tended to hoard money and deposit it in banks for safety, not daring to invest. Tapping helped me feel the abundance of the universe, and from there I gained the confidence to identify why I deserved prosperity:
1. I deserve prosperity because I always strive to integrate and fulfill qualities, especially the universe's boundless love and sacred compassion.
2. I deserve prosperity because I provide value not only to children but also to teachers and parents—people who long to transform themselves and gain a sound understanding of education.
3. I deserve prosperity because I contribute to nurturing people not only for Vietnam but for all humanity.
The third thing that moved me was practicing gratitude (listing at least 10 people/things you are grateful for in life). In my difficult journey seeking an answer to “Who am I?” and seeking self-love, I had heard and read a great deal about gratitude practice. I also practiced writing down 5 things I was grateful for each day. Yet, for some reason, I felt empty while doing it then. I did not truly feel grateful, felt guilty about my own ingratitude, and lived constantly in that guilt. I practiced for about 7 of the 21 days (as instructed), then stopped because it felt inauthentic.
Studying Soul Coach has not transformed me immediately or made me instantly grateful, but at least I accept that I have this distortion. I understand that I have accumulated many negative memories, leaving me unable to feel gratitude now and disconnected from what nourishes me. That acceptance is a major step toward no longer living in guilt. It is a major step toward showing myself more compassion and patience.
Now, when practicing gratitude, the people and things I want to thank naturally pour out from within. All those people and events are like bricks, one after another, making me who I am today and giving me the chance to look toward the future with so much love and light ahead.
Thank you so much, Teacher!