For the next forty-five minutes, Edgar Cayce spoke from this trance state. His pace was slow and even, and it retained much of his own Southern accent. The tone of his voice had an extraordinary authority to it, but it was mixed with compassion for her and a sensitivity to the struggles that she now faced. Her key talents and skills were described. Then her weaknesses and faults were gently portrayed. And then near the end of this psychic reading, her special gift was outlined—the most creative kind of service that she could undertake to be helpful to others. This mission of her soul involved the publication of books and articles that would be useful and uplifting to men, women, and children. Her role, however, was not to be an author but rather an editor—one whose good judgment in selection and skills in reshaping words could make an invaluable contribution.
Finally, Cayce announced that he was ready for any questions. This was her opportunity. Opening the folded piece of paper in her hand, she read to him the first question: “Where should I locate myself for my best service?” Cayce’s response was Washington, D.C., because for the remainder of her lifetime it would be “the center of the world,” figuratively speaking. (3003-1)
Next she asked, “Along what lines should I turn my energies and interest?” Cayce’s answer went back to his previous recommendations and advocated the publishing field.
These references to the world of publishing hadn’t come as a surprise to her because she had already felt a pull in that direction. In fact, the third question she had prepared in advance read, “Do I have any ability in the writing field?” To this third inquiry, Cayce went into detail describing his vision of where her real talent lay. He clarified the role of editor, guide, and reviewer of the creative writing of others. It was to that kind of service that her soul was called.
Then came her final question. This was the subject that troubled her most. Even with all this good advice from Cayce, she wondered if would she be able to discipline herself, put aside her worries and doubts, and actually do what her soul longed to do? In response to this deep concern, Cayce offered his prescription. It was to start each day in the right way. She was instructed to repeat three times and then listen: “Lord, what would thou have me do today?” Cayce warned her against making this an empty routine. She had to mean it and believe that an answer would always come.
Apparently this prescription began to work for Agnes in the weeks that followed. She wrote to Cayce two months later, telling him how much his reading had meant to her. She was actively working on her meditative attunement with God. As she put it in her letter, Cayce’s advice and prescriptions had “added zest to living and living aright!”
Although this advice was given more than fifty years ago, it’s as applicable to us today as it was to this one woman to whom Cayce spoke. Our troubles, worries, or stresses may be somewhat different than hers, but there is a universal quality to this positive habit recommended by Cayce. This next story is an example.
A MODERN DAY SUCCESS WITH THIS POSITIVE HABIT
Alan is a middle level manager for a medium size company. He’s also a father of two children, and his wife has a full time job. Like so many families their lives are full and busy. There are ample opportunities to get caught up in the big and little stresses that arise daily at home and at work.
“Starting the day right” has become a regular discipline for Alan since he first read about this suggestion from Cayce. It’s become a positive habit that gets his life off on the right foot each morning. On those rare occasions when he forgets to make optimal use of the first minute upon awakening, he usually pays the price before the morning is half over. Here, in his own words, are his reflections and thoughts from one week of putting this creative pattern to work:
“Morning has come to be a very special time for me. Of course, there are some mornings when I don’t particularly want to get up and be about the day. But as I’ve practiced Cayce’s prescription for right use of the first minute of the day, I’ve discovered how I can set a wonderful tone for everything that will follow.”
Alan usually awakened rather gradually, and didn’t seem to need an alarm clock—making it easier for him to try this positive habit. “And when that moment comes in the early morning when I know I’m now awake and that the day will soon be starting for me, I turn my mind to the best use of my first minute. Because there’s frequently the tendency in me to drift back into the hypnagogic state or even back into sleep, I’ve found a way stabilize my clear, wakeful consciousness. I simply focus all my attention on my breathing, usually for three rounds of inhalation and exhalation. I make those breaths slow, full, and deep. It probably takes me about thirty or forty seconds.”
By that point he was ready to turn his attention to Cayce’s specific recommendation. In order to connect with his individuality, visualization was the technique that worked best for him. “First, I simply say silently within myself the phrase ‘my individuality’ or ‘my best self.’ The words are really an invitation to my inner self to come forth. It’s an invitation to remember a time in my past when I was deeply in touch with that individuality self. Having said silently the invitation phrase, I try to keep very still and let a memory surface. When it comes, I visualize it for about ten or fifteen seconds, as clearly and vividly as I possibly can that morning. I try to re-create the situation or scene in my imagination, and for that moment I let myself become the person I was back then.” And when this process was working well for Alan, he would actually experience the emotional flavor of what was going on inside himself in the event or circumstance.
Certain memories seem to come up frequently. For example, here’s one memory that he described as coming up several times. “It happened more than ten years ago. I had gone on a business trip to San Diego and I was staying at the home of friends. I arrived in the early afternoon, but the work I’d come for wasn’t until the next day. My friends had picked me up at the airport and taken me home to the suburb La Jolla, where I had the remainder of the day at leisure. After getting settled into the guest bedroom, I decided to take a walk through the residential neighborhood and enjoy the beauty of this warm February day. As I started the walk, I had lots of problems on my mind. There were worries about things from the office. What’s more, this was also a rather lonely time in my life, and I would easily slip into feeling sorry for myself.
“But as I continued on this walk—which eventually lasted for at least an hour—something began to change. It was as if all that stuff of personality began to melt away. I was shedding those worries and self-doubts. All those familiar stresses gradually disappeared for about thirty minutes. What came forth was a very centered and very peaceful me. I was in no hurry to finish the walk. There was no particular destination that I was straining toward, no goal to which I was compulsively fixated. Instead, I was simply walking mindfully and in touch with my feelings and my surroundings. What seemed particularly striking about this remarkable sense of myself was this realization: that very identity was always nearby, it was always right at hand even though my stresses and worries usually blocked it out.”
That experience of his individuality self was extraordinarily vivid. And whenever it came back to mind in his first waking minute of the morning, he could easily recreate in his imagination just the way he felt that day. He could visualize the scene and could reconnect with that part of himself for fifteen or twenty seconds while lying there in bed.
“Once I’ve used a memory of my individuality—the meditative walk or any other memory that arises that day—then I turn my attention to an inner question, just as Cayce prescribed. I ask, ‘ God, what would You have me do today?’ I usually pose the question about three times, staying attentive and silent for about ten seconds each time. I try to listen for a prompting, an urge, or an intuitive feeling about something that should be a priority for that day. Sometimes what comes to mind is not so much a specific job to be accomplished but instead a particular quality that it’s my task to live fully that day. It might be joyfulness or appreciation or persistence. On other occasions the inspiration that comes to me in that first minute of the day is the name or face of someone I know. It’s as if I’m being reminded