CARVING MY PUMPKIN
By: Jay Willick
Tags: Mindset Shift, Spiritual Growth, Halloween, Mind, Prayer

Your life is your mirror.

Look around you.

Do you see a world that works for everyone?

Do you see a world that feels free from discord?

A world where all needs are met and all people are living in peace?

Creating a world of love, peace and prosperity begins with creating love, peace, and prosperity in you.

Are you living with love, peace, and prosperity and the fulfillment of your fondest desires in your heart?

Are you reconciled with and in forgiveness of stuff that you feel have hurt you in the past? Have you done your ho’opanopano healing work? Can you improve upon what you see when you look within your own being? These are questions I ask myself!

The good that you are seeking is also seeking you. The highest good — the innermost God — is ready to reveal Itself in you and through each of us. We all seek to recognize the reflection of God -the highest and best expression of our good- in everything. When we see this, we see the potential for creating a world that is free of discord for ourselves and all beings. Soaking in this awareness, there is no separation from God or our Good.

I know that it is sometimes hard to understand and honor the unique characteristics of some with whom we come into contact, however, we must realize that each encounter is nevertheless a Divine Appointment. We may not understand how or why we may not like it, but if you are a Divine Appointment, all are. The Universe knows not good and evil — it only knows Love.

There is but one Presence in the universe. It is in and through everything, It must be in and through you. This Presence manifests Itself in and through all forms, all people, all conditions. This Presence is Life Itself. Its nature is love and givingness. ~Ernest Holmes, “This Thing Called You”

What do you see when you look at the reflection of you? Anything you want to change? Anything you want to redesign?

Conclusion and Call to Action:

No greater good can come to you than to know that the Power already within you is the power to live, the power to create. Not only to create for yourself, but for others — the power to do good, the power to heal, the power to prosper. You are to realize that the Power within you is a Divine Authority. It is a dispenser of the Divine Gifts. It is a giver of life, of joy. It proclaims the … harmony of the soul, and the unity of all being. ~Ernest Holmes

We have the ability to redesign, to carve the pumpkin of our lives!

Carving My Pumpkin Step by Step

Fortunately, you don’t have to pick a perfect pumpkin to carve, because you are one. And for those of us “at an age,” a mature pumpkin is the best kind — ripe with wisdom and knowledge. And don’t concern yourself about any asymmetrical parts or thoughts you might have, that just makes for a more interesting design.

Start off by giving the pumpkin and yourself a good scrub with castile soap. It helps reduce the number of microorganisms hanging out on the skin, as well as, refreshes our body and mind.

Display your pumpkin uncarved until a day or two before the big day and honor who you are right now and the history that made you, you.

To carve your pumpkin into a jack-o’-lantern as well as, your life to its best, you’ll need a couple of tools for cutting, scraping, and carving. For your mind, you probably have some in your spiritual toolbox right now (how many are you using?).

A sharp, sturdy, long-bladed knife and a paring knife to carve the jack-o’-lantern. And an awl for making holes to start sawing from — makes for safer fingers and quieter nerves. Finally, an apple-corer works well for making round holes or rounding corners. (awareness/mindfulness/quiet/meditation/rest/ fun cuts holes for the mind)

Your hand makes a good scoop for extracting the bulk of the seeds and the stringy fibrous goo. Add a scraper or a tablespoon, soup spoon or a melon-baller for getting the last of the stringy guts out of a pumpkin. (radical forgiveness)

Step 1. Cut into the pumpkin.

Place your pumpkin on a solid surface you can wash or spread newspaper to catch any drips.

Draw the proposed bottom cut on the skin with a felt tip marker, then make a straight-sided opening into the center of the bottom of the pumpkin. Using the bottom vs the top has three advantages: you won’t have a lid to fall in as the pumpkin softens; weeping liquids won’t build up in the carved pumpkin to attract insects and encourage spoilage; and it will be much easier to light the jack-o’-lantern with a candle and your experiences by digging deep using affirmative prayer or Spiritual Mind Treatment (SMT) work.

Use a heavy knife with a sharp point or an awl and pumpkin-saw to cut through the skin and flesh and into the seed cavity in the center of the pumpkin. Caution: pumpkin skin is tough and raw pumpkin flesh is HARD! Be very careful as you will have to push hard and it is easy to slip and cut too far or yourself. Once you finish the cut, lift/pull the cut part out. It’s like the first step of SMT, to recognize the Universal Power, Divine Intelligence, God, Spirit, Love, or Presence.

Step 2. Pull out the guts and seeds.

Scoop out the stringy pulp and seeds with your hands or a long-handled spoon, placing the seeds in one bowl for roasting later and the pulp in another one for the compost pile. Scrape the inside of the pumpkin to get out every scrap of the stringy, soft pulp, leaving only firm, hard flesh. Wipe the inside dry. In SMT, you would be on step 2, Uniting with that Power from step 1, Reveal the Divinity in you.

Step 3. Draw and cut out your design.

Use a felt tip marker to sketch it out. Then you use an awl and poke small holes where you plan to cut. Draw simple shapes with straight sides, such as triangles (like having small goals) or you may want to use a pre-made pattern (Step 3-reveal, and A.I.’s)

Use a small, sharp knife or an awl and saw to cut along the edges of your marked design. Then gently press the loose bits into or out of the pumpkin with your finger. For large or complicated openings, such as toothy grins, it works best to cut out small sections of the shape at a time. Like the idea of the small goals when you are revealing and declaring what it is you are calling into your life in the third SMT step.

These bits of flesh can be cooked and eaten, or tossed to the chickens or into the compost. Or release the energy of these bits removed back to the Universe.

Step 4: Condition your jack-o’-lantern.

Once you have finished carving your pumpkin, spray or wipe the inside of the cavity, and all the cut surfaces, with an essential-oil-based cleaning spray or soak the carved pumpkin overnight in a tub of 1 tbl of borax per gallon of water. Similarly, when you are in the fourth step of SMT, gratitude, and maybe later in a hot bath with essential oils and candles or sitting quietly.

Step 5: Illuminate your jack-o’-lantern.

Once you’ve carved a pumpkin into a jack-o’-lantern, you’ll want to show it off by putting a light inside to shine through the design. This is like the fifth step in SMT, release, getting your intention and Word out there to shine!

Now, some you may want to avoid carving the mean, nasty, angry pumpkin or bringing into your life something like this…

or the emotional vampire pumpkin, like this, thinking it has to take to have…

or the frightened pumpkin — even if you think there’s a reason to be one, like this….

Others are good to carve, like the above…it’s where we should always begin — joy/happiness!

Whichever you choose to be…

REMEMBER TO SHINE

You are a divine being, endowed with infinite potentiality, infinite capability, infinite creative intelligence, and a capacity to live life in tune with all the laws of Nature.

Affirmative Incantation

Awake and mindful, I make the most positive difference in my life. Conscious and aware, I make a significant difference in the world around me.

At one with the great frequency of Love, I spread my compassion upon the land. And with the great wave of Light empowering me, I soar with the wind at my back on an adventure of happiness and success.

Energized with this Divine Presence, I illuminate my world with beauty, vitality, and wisdom.

Awareness is my watchword today — aware of the Power of Divine Intelligence within me to propel my life to its best.

I stand empowered to shine brightly all day.

That’s the pumpkin you’ve been given…start carving!