WILLOW relates to the soul qualities of personal responsibility and constructive thought. A person in the positive willow state takes pleasure in acknowledging others, including herself, and her thoughts tend to be positive and constructive.

On positive Willow days, I acknowledge my Mission and the potential for my positive influence. I am able to appreciate how others can be very cheerful and carefree. I am pleased for their good experiences and take pleasure in sharing their happiness. Each of us can have days when we feel comfortable and at ease with ourselves. They represent a lasting Willow state.

This state may also become persistent, in which case, it can have a very beneficial and constructive effect on me and my whole environment. Just as a good deed or suggestion may encourage others to participate or do a good deed or provide a constructive comment themselves, so a person in the positive Willow state tends to provide a positive influence to others around her by being enthusiastic and passionate.

One feels herself the grateful recipient of an important Mission when in the positive Willow state. I acknowledge God's confidence in me and I am thankful for the opportunity to move forward with it. Willow is a state in which gratitude and joy are shared with the outside world. Essentially, it is seen in anyone who has passed a point of indecision and doubt in their life and now unconsciously realize that many of their ideals and hopes can, and are, being fulfilled.

A positive Willow person is pleased when others are shown respect, confident that they will be acknowledged for their particular skills and that will enable them to contribute more to and receive more from the greater whole.

Persistent Willow characters are assertive and speak for themselves having integrated relevancy, awareness, and, wisdom into their decisions and communication. Willow types cope assertively with issues as they arise thereby avoiding anxiety, fear, depression, and procrastination.

A mother-in-law is content and happy in her heart that her daughter-in-law has moved to a home of her own with her young husband will express love and encouragement towards her. She will be friendly and open when talking with her daughter-in-law and when speaking with her son will openly acknowledge her for her talents and express her appreciation for her caring, which gives her pleasure.

People who are like a friendly Sun, always shining and spreading their warmth without harming are in the positive Willow state.

A daughter-in-law may do the shopping for her rheumatic mother-in-law and wash the curtains for her with the attitude that she would appreciate it if their roles were reversed. She acknowledges herself internally, with a strong feeling of love towards others, needing no recognition from others.

Willow types know how to both give and take and know this dynamic is elemental to sharing. This may, in the longer-term, draw closer some of the people who initially held themselves aloof, doubtful, and distrustful of someone so passionate, having mistaken it for the more common intolerance of intensity. Some will gradually increase their sharing and involvement.

The result is that the persistent Willow type will become more sharing and more risk taking and values life more and more day by day. Perhaps hesitant to return to a bowling alley in the past because the manager was unpleasant on one occasion, she now freely chooses to give it a try with the compassion that the manager may today be in better spirits as well as herself being ready to experience and appreciate a change of activity and opportunity for involvement.

Looking forward to exploring new options since they may be profound and offer something new and pleasant to experience and learn from is an attitude of a positive Willow person. Whichever way you look at it, in the positive Willow state, the person focuses on and encourages the positive side of life.

Here is a statement from a positive Willow patient who is on the road to recovery: "I'm not completely better yet, but I have come a lot further than expected." She encourages positive feelings in her heart and mind. A person in the positive Willow state is self-directed, and that is why she accepts responsibility for her own life. She acknowledges the connection between her inner state and her outside world.

Where does the benefit lie in the positive Willow state?
It lies in an invitation on the part of the Ego and SuperEgo to connect with and accept the Guidance of the Higher Self as received by one's Personal Spirit. A person in the positive Willow state acknowledges the benefits of following Spiritual Guidance, and judges success in life by inner experience and not according to material criteria. She will reach a point of seeing the benefits as greater than what she expected possible for herself.

She has been able to maintain or improve her health against great stresses. She has increased her discernment, optimism, knowledge, wisdom, and grace and has a safe and comfortable home, which others have not. Surely that is reason enough to acknowledge her Higher Self and have reverence for the God from whom it comes. Her Ego and SuperEgo seek actively to connect with accurate Guidance from the Higher Self by actively accepting the state of reverence and no-emotion. This teamwork and harmony brings great benefit to herself as well as the whole environment resulting in a positive influence on the whole.

Someone in a consistent positive Willow state has come to recognize and accept her limitations and imperfections and knows there is hope for improvement and the potential to positively contribute. A positive Willow person understands that one's attitude to one's self influences external developments. She has also realized that positive thoughts and actions add more vibrant energy to her life and that her personal presence is more radiant and luminous than earlier. Most things we experience externally are the outcome of our internal dialogue and most humans live in a world that their attitudes have colored in a self-created reality.

Anyone feeling herself to be a winner will inevitably sooner or later become a winner.

Where there is much light, there may also be much shadow.
To remain in the positive Willow state, it is beneficial to train oneself deliberately to concentrate on the positive side of events. Because one can always cut new shoots from the Willow tree, it is not only a symbol of mourning but of infinite knowledge and a wisdom that seldom fails. This is because the reflection of mourning a loss or failure can lead to new insights and questions, the answers from which increase one's options and chances for success.

When one realizes that they are the active participants in their destiny and that Guidance affords unlimited facilities to work constructively for a positive future, they are drawn into a positive Willow state. People who maintain their positive Willow state therefore radiate faith, calm, and optimism. They acknowledge that they have the capacity for self-direction, self-discipline, and self-sufficiency.