By Andrea 

The changes in my life — from the day I decided to wholeheartedly begin chanting, my life has changed. I have heard stories and read stories, but until you see the changes for your self you can't imagine anything so powerful. 

I started chanting regularly about a month ago, with everything in my life in a whirlwind, until this month where I have found that I can be level-headed and calm even when I want to scream. I have started my own Homestead website, which has also opened the door for my online Vstore. I have wanted to open an online business for over three years, but the doors never seem to be there ... but now they have appeared and they are open. 

I won't say that the first week or so after I started my practice, that it was all rosy, because it wasn't. In fact, it actually got worst for a moment. My girlfriend and I were at the end of our ropes, she wanted to leave and never deal with me again. We even stopped speaking. 

But then the source of a lot of our arguing was removed from our lives. Her ex-boyfriend stopped calling her. Just as I told her he would, as soon as he knew that we had split up. She finally saw him in his real light. And agreed that he wasn't being a friend at all during those times. 

I won't say everything is great ... but we have decided that we both need a little time to think and work on things, but we want to remain friends. We're even looking at getting a larger place that would give us a second bedroom. But for now, I still show her the kindness that I would, whether we are friends or lovers. 

I like the me that I have become, and like the way things around me have started to move. I even have friends at work who were part of SGI years ago, who are thinking of returning to their practice. I told a friend "Can you imagine that even if you don't really believe and chant, it makes changes. Imagine just how powerful chanting AND believing is."