Take a minute

We are a very goal oriented/driven society. Sometimes the goal can be a good thing, finishing a course, a project at work, a degree. At other times the goal can weigh more heavy on us, such as, cleaning our house, bills to pay, a date for a divorce. What do they all have in common? They place us in the future. Our mind is focused on that all important goal and we forget we are here, now. Have you stopped to consider what is most important in this exact second? We can look at the fact in its minutia, we are breathing. The next step? What are we grateful for right now. Family, friends, housing, income, food, health, stability? Not everyone can be thankful for these because they may not have them in their lives. So take a minute, be present, and approach gratitude.

Are you stopped up?

How do you know if the universe is working in your life? If there is an area that is clogged you can figure it out pretty quickly. Manifestation comes to a very slow leak or is halted altogether. It is not a fun place to be. The important goal is to start the flow moving. Usually the blockage is caused by one of two things happening.

Your first choice is “ I am trying to assert my will over Thy will.” So that leads to the first question you ask yourself, “Am I being stubborn in my pursuit of whatever I want over everything else?” (Btw, this is a good time to ask for outside input since we are usually blind to our own inflexibility.) If this is the case let go of the struggle. Trust that all will be okay in your world and release your resistance. Visualization and meditation are very good if one is in this situation.

If the answer to the above is a firm ‘no’ we then move on to the second choice.

Your second choice is “I am sabotaging my progress in this area.” Your second question is, “Where is the sabotaging occurring?” This points in the direction of three other areas to contemplate; our thoughts, feelings and actions. One or more of the preceding areas are blocked and it is here we need to focus our attention to break the dam. Once you realign yourself the dam will brake and the flow will commence.

Looking before we leap

What happens when someone says something to us stirring negative emotions from within? Our discomfort propels us. Not happy with the side of the creek we are on we jump onto the rock to cross the stream. It looks perfectly stable. When we step on it we find it is covered with slimy moss and tips a bit to the side. Sometimes we recover and we are relieved, but there are the other times when we land on our bums, soaked to the skin in it.

What pops out of our mouth in situations when our negative feelings are churning depends on how centered we can make ourselves. One of our biggest mistakes is we do not give ourselves those few precious seconds to regroup and breathe before taking the leap into conversation. This is similar to taking time to traverse the stream and test the rocks. So next time you find yourself wanting to leap, breathe instead…

New Life

One of my best friend's sister is having a baby today. A new life, a blank slate, coming into this world in perfect trust and love. It is how we all enter this world. What will be the first words the baby will hear? What emotions will be communicated to her or him? How do we invite the precious soul into our lives? Family rituals begin with the first intake of breath. There are handshakes of congratulations, cigars, and flowers.

I often wonder about the impact those first moments, days, weeks, and months have on our ability to communicate with each other. Some of us know the impact our birth had on our families, which in turn greatly affected us. It may have been joyful for the fact of being a boy or precious in that we were a girl. I wish it could have been this way for everyone. The truth is that communication does start at the beginning. I hope this baby's beginning is one of true bliss and reverence.

Choices

As children we would seek out unsuspecting daisies. We pluck them by their stems from the ground and the ritual would begin. Thinking of the boy or girl of our chosen affection we would begin to pick each petal, stating aloud “He loves me”, the next pluck “He loves me not”. We would hold our breath until the last petal remaining inevitably divulges if the person loves us or not. If we didn’t get the answer we wanted some of us would just pick another flower while others (more resigned to their current destiny) would sigh, only to resume the ritual at another time.

How similar this childhood game is to life and our reactions or interactions between others and ourselves. Verbal exchanges can leave us feeling an increase or a decrease in self-esteem and self-love. Random events occur and we place upon them the category of “I love me” or “I love me not,” either consciously or unconsciously. At times an interaction with another can leave us feeling exhilarated, confident, or at peace. Other times an interaction with another can leave us feeling angry, disconnected, or drained. What is the difference between those two interactions? Are they as random as the petals being taken from the daisy or do we have control over the outcome?In most every situation we have can take the control to change the situation to an “I love me” situation.

The tools in this blog will help in finding how we can control those situations and make every moment an “I love me” moment. These tools are about the power of choosing you. People are taught to communicate haphazardly though life. We learn reading, writing and arithmetic in school. I don’t remember when the last time I used the quadratic equation, but I do know that I communicate every day. It is an essential tool that is taken for granted. Many of us are unconscious of how to harness this power to the fullest. Our choice in each situation remains elusive with most of us asking, “We had a choice?” Awakening our awareness equals power over our destiny. Welcome to owning your power.