a painting by my nephew Alex Encinias, Pueblo, CO.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
How to Attract Success by FW Sears, Chapter 6
The following is an excerpt from How To Attract Success by F.W. Sears, written in 1914. It can found free on the internet. Just google it. It's basically Chapter 6.
"In the beginning God gave us all the power and faculties through which to use it; He also gave us the power to use these faculties in any way our desires might lead us. God never used the Law of Force in our lives. He never told us that we must, or must not, do anything. His hand has never been laid on our lives in any way; we have been free agents all down the ages past and gone and will continue to be free agents all along the ages yet to come to express ourselves in accordance with whatever causes we may set in motion. No one has ever enslaved us in any way but ourselves; no one has ever set a cause in motion but ourselves for which we are in any way responsible; no one will ever set a cause in motion but for ourselves for which we will ever be responsible.
In this material world our responsibility begins and ends in the Intellect, the Mental plane of consciousness. When we use our Intellect, consciously or unconsciously, to generate thoughts in the physical brain which in any way lower our vibrations or retard or repress our ability to express, we are using the Universal Energy destructively; on the other hand when we use our Intellect to generate thoughts in the physical brain which are harmonious and constructive, and so increase our vibrations and enable us to relate with more harmonious and constructive currents on the unseen side of life, we are using this Universal Energy constructively.
The Universal Energy--this one substance which pervades the universe, this One Life in all and through all--is neither "good" nor "bad" in itself; it simply IS. It is like fire which in itself is neither constructive nor destructive; it is the use of the fire which determines its effect. When we use fire constructively it runs the commerce of the world both on land and sea; it heats our homes and our business places and keeps us from freezing in the winter time; it cooks our food, and in fact becomes one of the most beneficial agencies known to man. When we permit fire to get out from under our control and run riot it destroys our commerce both on land and sea; it destroys our homes and business places; it destroys our food, and it even destroys us, and so becomes one of the most devastating agencies known to man; but in itself it is neither "good" nor "bad".
And so with this Universal Energy. We can use it to materialize an abundance of supply for ourselves, or we can use it to create poverty and lack. God does not attempt to tell us how we must use it any more than He attempts to tell us how we must use fire.
The question is then, "How shall we use our Intellect in order that we may build consciously for permanent success?"
One of the very first things to do is to displace in our consciousness every thought which will in any way relate us with this Law of Force; that is, all anger, hatred, worry, fear, envy, jealousy, impatience, intolerance, resentment, resistance, condemnation, criticism, etc., everything that creates the energy which relates us with this Law of Force. We should displace such thoughts with those of kindness, patience, tolerance, love (not simply the personal kind), peace, poise, harmony, etc., these generate a constructive energy and relate us with the currents wherein are contained the atoms of which will produce in material form the harmonious and constructive things we want.
When we first attempt to train our minds to displace these old negative, destructive thoughts we find it necessary to continually and persistently affirm our oneness with the thing we want, no matter how far away from its materialization objectively we may seem to be. We must fill our thought world with the thought of the thing we want, displacing again and again the thoughts which come to us of the thing we do not want, and in accordance with our persistency in displacing them will we materialize the thing we do want soon or late.
Our work should be done without worry, fear, strain, effort, or tenseness of any kind. These old negative thoughts will come back again and again until we have formed the new habit of filling our thought world with the thoughts of the things we want.
When night comes and everything turns from light to darkness, as it does every night since the beginning of the world, we do no fret and fuss and fume and cry about it and say "Oh, what's the use of trying to get rid of this darkness: I have tried it again and again but I cannot get rid of it and there's no use of trying any more," but we just take the darkness as a matter of course and turn on the light.
We should use our Intellect to do this same thing in our thought world and no matter how often thoughts of poverty, lack, and failure come to us, no matter how often we look into our pockets and find them empty, no matter how poor and poverty stricken our environment may tell us we are today, no matter how often we have failed to succeed in the past, no matter how dark the future may seem to us today, these are, one and all, like the "darkness" which comes to us every night and we should give them no more attention than we give to the night's darkness, but "turn on the light" by making strong powerful affirmations, such as "I have wealth now, I have an abundance of money now, I am wealth now, I am success now."
Should we start to go down Broadway from 100th Street to the Battery and turn off Broadway at 99th Street, wander around for a while but finally return to Broadway, continuing on to 98th Street, turning off again and wandering around awhile on that street but finally returning to Broadway and continuing our journey, we could turn off Broadway at every cross-street we came to and it would not affect our ultimately reaching the end of our journey did we return to Broadway and continue our journey down town every time we recognized that we had gotten off Broadway. Our turning into the side streets would only delay our arrival at the Battery, not prevent it.
So with these negative, destructive thoughts of lack, poverty, anger, hatred, etc., which come to us from time to time; they will not prevent our ultimate success, but only delay it a little, when we learn to recognize that they create a destructive energy and we continuously and persistently displace them with constructive thoughts and affirmations every time we recognize that they have returned to us.
The length of time it will take us to arrive at our journey's end, that is form the new fixed habit in our lives of thinking constructively, will depend upon how often we "get off Broadway" and how long we stay off it on these side streets, that is how often we relate with the negative currents and remain in them -- in their darkness -- before we begin to displace them with the constructive thoughts."
I picked up on the Law of Attraction several years ago, probably closer to 6 or 7 years now. I got a copy of The Secret and read it from cover to cover, then lost interest in it when money wasn't falling out of the sky into my lap.
I've tried to be as positive a person as I can be but the last couple years had brought me down and I was getting to the point where I didn't like myself very much. One morning in January I woke up and decided, I'm done, I can't continue down this road that is leading me to a dark, yicky place. I've hit rock bottom before and I am not going there again, no thanks. That morning in January I made a conscious decision to stop with the negative self-talk and to stop talking negatively about other people. It started me on a path that has been incredible and I have so much to look forward to!
Recently I have read several books that were written in the late 1800's to early 1900's, for instance The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles, The Conquest of Poverty by Helen Wilmans, The Secret of the Ages by Robert Collier, etc. I have read a couple books written in this century as well like The One Command; Six Steps to Attract Wealth with the Power of Your Mind by Asara Lovejoy and The Divine Matrix by Gregg Braden. I have gotten something out of every book I have read and it is all sinking in to the core of my being in a way it never did before. I think it's because I wasn't ready for the material that was being presented to me previously. It did help me to pull myself off the floor at the time I was looking into the subject 6 or 7 years ago, but this time I JUST GET IT.
When I read this chapter in How to Attract Success this morning, it just made so much sense to me. (I have not included a paragraph that I personally agree with on the subject of religion so as to not offend anyone.) In addition to just loving the eloquent way the various authors wrote over a hundred years ago, the way F.W. Sears relates his thoughts on what he refers to as the Law of Harmonious Attraction and the Universal Energy, AKA God, to FIRE and to DARKNESS was very enlightening for me. And I absolutely love how his trip down Broadway and the many detours on the way to the Battery (he's talking about Manhattan for my friends not familiar with New York City)is a perfect example of how it's okay to get off track now and then, as long as you recognize that you are getting off course and consciously return to the course you set for yourself, you will still reach your destination; you will get the result you desire. It is when we get off course and get completely lost and have no GPS and have forgotten how to read a map that we can fall victim to the old negative thoughts and limiting beliefs, and we can give up hope.
Most of the older books I have read can be found online free. They are very well written and forward thinking for their time. This particular chapter struck a chord with me enough to where I wanted to share it with you. I hope you enjoyed it!
"In the beginning God gave us all the power and faculties through which to use it; He also gave us the power to use these faculties in any way our desires might lead us. God never used the Law of Force in our lives. He never told us that we must, or must not, do anything. His hand has never been laid on our lives in any way; we have been free agents all down the ages past and gone and will continue to be free agents all along the ages yet to come to express ourselves in accordance with whatever causes we may set in motion. No one has ever enslaved us in any way but ourselves; no one has ever set a cause in motion but ourselves for which we are in any way responsible; no one will ever set a cause in motion but for ourselves for which we will ever be responsible.
In this material world our responsibility begins and ends in the Intellect, the Mental plane of consciousness. When we use our Intellect, consciously or unconsciously, to generate thoughts in the physical brain which in any way lower our vibrations or retard or repress our ability to express, we are using the Universal Energy destructively; on the other hand when we use our Intellect to generate thoughts in the physical brain which are harmonious and constructive, and so increase our vibrations and enable us to relate with more harmonious and constructive currents on the unseen side of life, we are using this Universal Energy constructively.
The Universal Energy--this one substance which pervades the universe, this One Life in all and through all--is neither "good" nor "bad" in itself; it simply IS. It is like fire which in itself is neither constructive nor destructive; it is the use of the fire which determines its effect. When we use fire constructively it runs the commerce of the world both on land and sea; it heats our homes and our business places and keeps us from freezing in the winter time; it cooks our food, and in fact becomes one of the most beneficial agencies known to man. When we permit fire to get out from under our control and run riot it destroys our commerce both on land and sea; it destroys our homes and business places; it destroys our food, and it even destroys us, and so becomes one of the most devastating agencies known to man; but in itself it is neither "good" nor "bad".
And so with this Universal Energy. We can use it to materialize an abundance of supply for ourselves, or we can use it to create poverty and lack. God does not attempt to tell us how we must use it any more than He attempts to tell us how we must use fire.
The question is then, "How shall we use our Intellect in order that we may build consciously for permanent success?"
One of the very first things to do is to displace in our consciousness every thought which will in any way relate us with this Law of Force; that is, all anger, hatred, worry, fear, envy, jealousy, impatience, intolerance, resentment, resistance, condemnation, criticism, etc., everything that creates the energy which relates us with this Law of Force. We should displace such thoughts with those of kindness, patience, tolerance, love (not simply the personal kind), peace, poise, harmony, etc., these generate a constructive energy and relate us with the currents wherein are contained the atoms of which will produce in material form the harmonious and constructive things we want.
When we first attempt to train our minds to displace these old negative, destructive thoughts we find it necessary to continually and persistently affirm our oneness with the thing we want, no matter how far away from its materialization objectively we may seem to be. We must fill our thought world with the thought of the thing we want, displacing again and again the thoughts which come to us of the thing we do not want, and in accordance with our persistency in displacing them will we materialize the thing we do want soon or late.
Our work should be done without worry, fear, strain, effort, or tenseness of any kind. These old negative thoughts will come back again and again until we have formed the new habit of filling our thought world with the thoughts of the things we want.
When night comes and everything turns from light to darkness, as it does every night since the beginning of the world, we do no fret and fuss and fume and cry about it and say "Oh, what's the use of trying to get rid of this darkness: I have tried it again and again but I cannot get rid of it and there's no use of trying any more," but we just take the darkness as a matter of course and turn on the light.
We should use our Intellect to do this same thing in our thought world and no matter how often thoughts of poverty, lack, and failure come to us, no matter how often we look into our pockets and find them empty, no matter how poor and poverty stricken our environment may tell us we are today, no matter how often we have failed to succeed in the past, no matter how dark the future may seem to us today, these are, one and all, like the "darkness" which comes to us every night and we should give them no more attention than we give to the night's darkness, but "turn on the light" by making strong powerful affirmations, such as "I have wealth now, I have an abundance of money now, I am wealth now, I am success now."
Should we start to go down Broadway from 100th Street to the Battery and turn off Broadway at 99th Street, wander around for a while but finally return to Broadway, continuing on to 98th Street, turning off again and wandering around awhile on that street but finally returning to Broadway and continuing our journey, we could turn off Broadway at every cross-street we came to and it would not affect our ultimately reaching the end of our journey did we return to Broadway and continue our journey down town every time we recognized that we had gotten off Broadway. Our turning into the side streets would only delay our arrival at the Battery, not prevent it.
So with these negative, destructive thoughts of lack, poverty, anger, hatred, etc., which come to us from time to time; they will not prevent our ultimate success, but only delay it a little, when we learn to recognize that they create a destructive energy and we continuously and persistently displace them with constructive thoughts and affirmations every time we recognize that they have returned to us.
The length of time it will take us to arrive at our journey's end, that is form the new fixed habit in our lives of thinking constructively, will depend upon how often we "get off Broadway" and how long we stay off it on these side streets, that is how often we relate with the negative currents and remain in them -- in their darkness -- before we begin to displace them with the constructive thoughts."
I picked up on the Law of Attraction several years ago, probably closer to 6 or 7 years now. I got a copy of The Secret and read it from cover to cover, then lost interest in it when money wasn't falling out of the sky into my lap.
I've tried to be as positive a person as I can be but the last couple years had brought me down and I was getting to the point where I didn't like myself very much. One morning in January I woke up and decided, I'm done, I can't continue down this road that is leading me to a dark, yicky place. I've hit rock bottom before and I am not going there again, no thanks. That morning in January I made a conscious decision to stop with the negative self-talk and to stop talking negatively about other people. It started me on a path that has been incredible and I have so much to look forward to!
Recently I have read several books that were written in the late 1800's to early 1900's, for instance The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles, The Conquest of Poverty by Helen Wilmans, The Secret of the Ages by Robert Collier, etc. I have read a couple books written in this century as well like The One Command; Six Steps to Attract Wealth with the Power of Your Mind by Asara Lovejoy and The Divine Matrix by Gregg Braden. I have gotten something out of every book I have read and it is all sinking in to the core of my being in a way it never did before. I think it's because I wasn't ready for the material that was being presented to me previously. It did help me to pull myself off the floor at the time I was looking into the subject 6 or 7 years ago, but this time I JUST GET IT.
When I read this chapter in How to Attract Success this morning, it just made so much sense to me. (I have not included a paragraph that I personally agree with on the subject of religion so as to not offend anyone.) In addition to just loving the eloquent way the various authors wrote over a hundred years ago, the way F.W. Sears relates his thoughts on what he refers to as the Law of Harmonious Attraction and the Universal Energy, AKA God, to FIRE and to DARKNESS was very enlightening for me. And I absolutely love how his trip down Broadway and the many detours on the way to the Battery (he's talking about Manhattan for my friends not familiar with New York City)is a perfect example of how it's okay to get off track now and then, as long as you recognize that you are getting off course and consciously return to the course you set for yourself, you will still reach your destination; you will get the result you desire. It is when we get off course and get completely lost and have no GPS and have forgotten how to read a map that we can fall victim to the old negative thoughts and limiting beliefs, and we can give up hope.
Most of the older books I have read can be found online free. They are very well written and forward thinking for their time. This particular chapter struck a chord with me enough to where I wanted to share it with you. I hope you enjoyed it!
Friday, March 8, 2013
Conversation with my ego
Conversation I had with my ego today (yes, that is a kind of way of saying I talk to myself!):
Me: "Hey ego, what's up with you today? Can't you see that I'm becoming a much more positive person, I'm actually looking forward to the future while appreciating everything I have right now? Why are you trying to ruin my mood, bring me down? Why are you dredging up all this negative garbage from the past? Don't you think we deserve a better, more abundant life?"
My ego: "Of course we deserve better! But we don't have all the things you are wanting because of other people and what THEY think of us! We don't own our own home because your Mommy and Daddy made you feel like you didn't deserve it! You ARE a decent writer but you'll never get published and you'll certainly never make money writing because your family made you feel like you'll never amount to anything, so of course you won't! WE don't have what WE deserve because of EVERY ONE ELSE! It isn't OUR fault! No, wait...it isn't MY fault! I love you. I've always been here for you. Well, most of the time. Sure, I may have said "I told you so" a few times but I was just being truthful! I can't help it that you're so sensitive and believe every negative thing I say! No, it's everyone else's fault, including YOURS! I like things the way they are. I'm comfortable. If all these so-called wonderful things start appearing, you're going to leave me behind. You won't need me anymore. When you consciously choose what to think and how to feel, I feel left out and alone. I can't let that happen! I won't!! I will block EVERY GOOD THING from coming to you! I don't care that you deserve it! I am more important then "GOD", I'm bigger then your "Universe"! Please don't leave me, I promise I'll be good..."
Me: "I love you(me). I forgive you for being scared and trying to blame everyone else. But sweetie, I am responsible for exactly where I am right now, I am responsible for everything I have and don't have, no one else. It's ok. It's going to be wonderful! Trust that!"
disclaimer: my parents and family are amazing! i love you guys! :D
Me: "Hey ego, what's up with you today? Can't you see that I'm becoming a much more positive person, I'm actually looking forward to the future while appreciating everything I have right now? Why are you trying to ruin my mood, bring me down? Why are you dredging up all this negative garbage from the past? Don't you think we deserve a better, more abundant life?"
My ego: "Of course we deserve better! But we don't have all the things you are wanting because of other people and what THEY think of us! We don't own our own home because your Mommy and Daddy made you feel like you didn't deserve it! You ARE a decent writer but you'll never get published and you'll certainly never make money writing because your family made you feel like you'll never amount to anything, so of course you won't! WE don't have what WE deserve because of EVERY ONE ELSE! It isn't OUR fault! No, wait...it isn't MY fault! I love you. I've always been here for you. Well, most of the time. Sure, I may have said "I told you so" a few times but I was just being truthful! I can't help it that you're so sensitive and believe every negative thing I say! No, it's everyone else's fault, including YOURS! I like things the way they are. I'm comfortable. If all these so-called wonderful things start appearing, you're going to leave me behind. You won't need me anymore. When you consciously choose what to think and how to feel, I feel left out and alone. I can't let that happen! I won't!! I will block EVERY GOOD THING from coming to you! I don't care that you deserve it! I am more important then "GOD", I'm bigger then your "Universe"! Please don't leave me, I promise I'll be good..."
Me: "I love you(me). I forgive you for being scared and trying to blame everyone else. But sweetie, I am responsible for exactly where I am right now, I am responsible for everything I have and don't have, no one else. It's ok. It's going to be wonderful! Trust that!"
disclaimer: my parents and family are amazing! i love you guys! :D
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
I wanted to be a Marine Biologist because I liked dolphins
I don't think I had any real aspirations to BE anything in particular as a child, except for maybe a horse or a dolphin. I loved animals more then people but I never really dreamed of being a veterinarian. Instead I wanted to BE a dog or a tiger or a horse, sometimes an eagle. I even wanted to be a humpback whale. When we would go to the beach I would splash around in the tide pools pretending to be a mermaid. I remember diving over the waves as they came in and I could feel my flippers propelling me forward out to the deepest part of the sea....ah, I can almost feel them now.
When I was in high school I still had no real idea what I wanted to do when I grew up. I'm not sure where or when I came up with the idea of being a Marine Biologist. We used to watch Jacques Cousteau and Nature a lot. I think I was a Senior when I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Well, I like dolphins so I guess I'll be a Marine Biologist." It didn't dawn on me that by that time I had already dropped Physics (or was it Chem?) and I wasn't a huge fan of Biology 101, and I avoided math like the plague. No one, including myself, noticed that I had quite the talent for writing term papers the night before they were due and getting the best grade in the class. So off I went to college with the brilliant idea of becoming a Marine Biologist because I liked dolphins. I would have had better luck had I chosen to actually become a dolphin.
I've had the vague desire to be a writer but I never had the confidence to do it. I'm not one to follow grammatical rules and I don't know a lot of fancy synonyms for common, ordinary words. But I love to write. I have had great success in college writing classes. I remember being absent from an English 121 Comp class one day and upon returning to school a classmate told me that the Professor had read my story out loud to the class. All I could think was how grateful I was that I hadn't been there to endure the attention. I think my self-esteem was hiding under a rock somewhere. Anyway, I have started several stories that sounded pretty good, but as soon as I would allow myself the thought that hey, this story IS pretty good, I've walked away never to explore that story again.
I've been reading The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles. He writes at great length about becoming who you want to become and that it is our duty to advance as humans by making the most of ourselves. He says "Desire is possibility seeking expression." I, for whatever reason, have downplayed my desire to be a writer since the first time I copied Clifford The Big Red Dog into one of my composition notebooks and showed it to my Mom as if I had written it myself. I remember how impressed she acted and told me it was a wonderful story. Somewhere between then and now my desire has been hiding, trying to fly under the radar, not wanting to be noticed or expressed. Or maybe it was my diminished ego that was choking it down, telling it to shut the hell up, not wanting my desire to become real for fear that the scared, selfish little ego would be left behind.
I forgive myself for denying my desire to be a writer. I forgive myself for not giving myself the chance to live up to my potential. I love to write! I stammer and stutter when I try to verbalize my thoughts, sounding more like a blathering idiot then an intelligent woman. But when I write, while I may be rather long winded, I can articulate my thoughts plainly and in a way that people just get it, they know what I'm talking about.
In 1910 Wallace D. Wattles wrote, "Man must form a clear and definite mental image of the things he wishes to have, to do, or to become; and he must hold this mental image in his thoughts, while being deeply grateful to the Supreme that all his desires are granted to him." I desire to write. I desire to become a published, paid author. I am very grateful for what talent I do have, and I know that if I keep this desire in my thoughts, my talent will increase in such a way that I will become what I desire to become. Thank you Mr. Wattles. For a dude born in the 1800's, you got it goin on!
When I was in high school I still had no real idea what I wanted to do when I grew up. I'm not sure where or when I came up with the idea of being a Marine Biologist. We used to watch Jacques Cousteau and Nature a lot. I think I was a Senior when I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Well, I like dolphins so I guess I'll be a Marine Biologist." It didn't dawn on me that by that time I had already dropped Physics (or was it Chem?) and I wasn't a huge fan of Biology 101, and I avoided math like the plague. No one, including myself, noticed that I had quite the talent for writing term papers the night before they were due and getting the best grade in the class. So off I went to college with the brilliant idea of becoming a Marine Biologist because I liked dolphins. I would have had better luck had I chosen to actually become a dolphin.
I've had the vague desire to be a writer but I never had the confidence to do it. I'm not one to follow grammatical rules and I don't know a lot of fancy synonyms for common, ordinary words. But I love to write. I have had great success in college writing classes. I remember being absent from an English 121 Comp class one day and upon returning to school a classmate told me that the Professor had read my story out loud to the class. All I could think was how grateful I was that I hadn't been there to endure the attention. I think my self-esteem was hiding under a rock somewhere. Anyway, I have started several stories that sounded pretty good, but as soon as I would allow myself the thought that hey, this story IS pretty good, I've walked away never to explore that story again.
I've been reading The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles. He writes at great length about becoming who you want to become and that it is our duty to advance as humans by making the most of ourselves. He says "Desire is possibility seeking expression." I, for whatever reason, have downplayed my desire to be a writer since the first time I copied Clifford The Big Red Dog into one of my composition notebooks and showed it to my Mom as if I had written it myself. I remember how impressed she acted and told me it was a wonderful story. Somewhere between then and now my desire has been hiding, trying to fly under the radar, not wanting to be noticed or expressed. Or maybe it was my diminished ego that was choking it down, telling it to shut the hell up, not wanting my desire to become real for fear that the scared, selfish little ego would be left behind.
I forgive myself for denying my desire to be a writer. I forgive myself for not giving myself the chance to live up to my potential. I love to write! I stammer and stutter when I try to verbalize my thoughts, sounding more like a blathering idiot then an intelligent woman. But when I write, while I may be rather long winded, I can articulate my thoughts plainly and in a way that people just get it, they know what I'm talking about.
In 1910 Wallace D. Wattles wrote, "Man must form a clear and definite mental image of the things he wishes to have, to do, or to become; and he must hold this mental image in his thoughts, while being deeply grateful to the Supreme that all his desires are granted to him." I desire to write. I desire to become a published, paid author. I am very grateful for what talent I do have, and I know that if I keep this desire in my thoughts, my talent will increase in such a way that I will become what I desire to become. Thank you Mr. Wattles. For a dude born in the 1800's, you got it goin on!
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Don't erase those old posts!!
I have a new outlook on life. Because of this renewed faith in life I thought, I need to delete all those negative, yucky, cry-cry, self-pitying posts from my past. I was going to erase my blog and start from scratch.
But that wouldn't be fair to my past. You can't just erase what happened. It happened. I have to honor those experiences. I have to give thanks to those feelings because they made me who I am today. They got me through whatever perceived trauma I was putting myself through at that particular time.
I can't just erase the past. I can choose to look at those experiences differently. Did you know that you can change the past? You can! Take one moment from your past and just for a moment, look at it differently. It can simply be a trip to the grocery store. Was the line long? Was the cashier slow? Did the lady in front of you take her sweet time paying? Was the couple behind you too close to you, invading your space? Was that baby screaming its bloody head off??? OMG, get me the hell OUT OF HERE! Now...just take a couple minutes to look at it from a different angle. Was the line long because you chose to go to the store at the time of day when the store is the busiest? Was the cashier slow because he is an older gentleman who was laid off and because he is older, he can't find a position in his field and he is doing the best that he can do at this low-paying yet completely necessary and vital job? Yes, the lady in front of you was slow. Not everyone speeds through life like it's a NASCAR race. It's not her fault that you chose to come to the store at the busiest time of day and get in line behind her. What about that couple behind you? Sure, they were oblivious to your personal space but they are in love! Can you blame them? They were lost in the moment, they were enjoying each others company, they were excited to be shopping together! It certainly isn't their fault that you are at the store alone! Yes, they could have backed up but were they really hurting you, or just annoying you? And that poor baby...maybe he's sick, hungry, poopy, or just a baby! Mom is probably extremely stressed out because she's trying to get the shopping done, she is fully aware that her baby is screaming but she's in line and there is nothing she can do right now. Giving her dirty looks and silently judging her for letting her baby cry is NOT going to help her. She is doing the best she can do. She wants to get out of that store as quickly as you do!
Did looking at your "miserable" shopping trip differently change the way you thought of it? Just think of how much more pleasant your evening would have been if you weren't pissed off at everybody at the store. Remember that trip, that evening...now let go of all the ugly. Just look at it as a shopping trip, drop all the emotion. Do you remember it differently now? There, you just changed the past! And I bet you changed your present as well. Did thinking about the shopping trip that you thought was miserable get you irritated all over again? How do you feel now that you've allowed yourself to let go of the ugly and see it differently? I hope you feel better. I hope you carry that positive emotion with you all day, thereby affecting your future.
By seeing the past differently, by letting go of the negative emotions, we can change it which changes the way we feel NOW, which will change the way we look at the future.
One more example...have you ever had a fight with your best friend? I mean the kind of fight that made you hate that person with ever fiber of your being, the relationship-destroying conflict that tore you apart with no thoughts of ever being able to fix it. Every time you think of that person your blood boils, you get angry and your pulse races! You curse that person to everyone you know! There is no end to the number of people who are going to know the terrible thing your supposed BFF did to you! Then one day you are out and about and oh crap! There she is! There is no avoiding her! Don't make eye contact! Imma kill that bitch if she dare talk to me!!! Oh crap, here she comes! Then she starts to talk by saying how sorry she is, and suddenly this story comes out of her that you've never heard before, her side of the story is so overwhelming, so emotional, so real....you feel the anger & hate dissolving, the bitterness has been replaced by compassion and the love that you once held for your BFF that was lost forever is now back, stronger then ever. You find yourself forgiving her, hugging her, crying for her. In an instant you no longer see the "event" as you did before, it is totally different now, and it doesn't matter at all. Seeing the past differently has changed your past, your present and your future because you have your best friend back! Just a few minutes ago the only plans you had for the future that included her was attending her funeral! Now you are already making plans to have lunch! Everything is different!
You can do that without being cornered by her. You can let go of the past now, without ever setting eyes on her. Forgive your best friend or whomever you feel did you wrong. Look at your role in the situation, with real honesty. Forgive yourself, if for nothing else other then letting that one event have so much power over you. Let it go. Stop dwelling on it. Stop letting it affect how you feel now (I'm sure that all of your friends who have heard the story a thousand times will appreciate it too!). Looking at it differently, letting it go will change your NOW and your future, and the other person involved doesn't even have to know.
I am not going to erase my past posts because I see them differently now. They are a part of me, they made me who I am, but they do not define me. They no longer affect my present or my future. I have let them go. By changing the way I look at them, I have changed the effect they have on me which has changed my present and my future.
I hope your day is abundant!
But that wouldn't be fair to my past. You can't just erase what happened. It happened. I have to honor those experiences. I have to give thanks to those feelings because they made me who I am today. They got me through whatever perceived trauma I was putting myself through at that particular time.
I can't just erase the past. I can choose to look at those experiences differently. Did you know that you can change the past? You can! Take one moment from your past and just for a moment, look at it differently. It can simply be a trip to the grocery store. Was the line long? Was the cashier slow? Did the lady in front of you take her sweet time paying? Was the couple behind you too close to you, invading your space? Was that baby screaming its bloody head off??? OMG, get me the hell OUT OF HERE! Now...just take a couple minutes to look at it from a different angle. Was the line long because you chose to go to the store at the time of day when the store is the busiest? Was the cashier slow because he is an older gentleman who was laid off and because he is older, he can't find a position in his field and he is doing the best that he can do at this low-paying yet completely necessary and vital job? Yes, the lady in front of you was slow. Not everyone speeds through life like it's a NASCAR race. It's not her fault that you chose to come to the store at the busiest time of day and get in line behind her. What about that couple behind you? Sure, they were oblivious to your personal space but they are in love! Can you blame them? They were lost in the moment, they were enjoying each others company, they were excited to be shopping together! It certainly isn't their fault that you are at the store alone! Yes, they could have backed up but were they really hurting you, or just annoying you? And that poor baby...maybe he's sick, hungry, poopy, or just a baby! Mom is probably extremely stressed out because she's trying to get the shopping done, she is fully aware that her baby is screaming but she's in line and there is nothing she can do right now. Giving her dirty looks and silently judging her for letting her baby cry is NOT going to help her. She is doing the best she can do. She wants to get out of that store as quickly as you do!
Did looking at your "miserable" shopping trip differently change the way you thought of it? Just think of how much more pleasant your evening would have been if you weren't pissed off at everybody at the store. Remember that trip, that evening...now let go of all the ugly. Just look at it as a shopping trip, drop all the emotion. Do you remember it differently now? There, you just changed the past! And I bet you changed your present as well. Did thinking about the shopping trip that you thought was miserable get you irritated all over again? How do you feel now that you've allowed yourself to let go of the ugly and see it differently? I hope you feel better. I hope you carry that positive emotion with you all day, thereby affecting your future.
By seeing the past differently, by letting go of the negative emotions, we can change it which changes the way we feel NOW, which will change the way we look at the future.
One more example...have you ever had a fight with your best friend? I mean the kind of fight that made you hate that person with ever fiber of your being, the relationship-destroying conflict that tore you apart with no thoughts of ever being able to fix it. Every time you think of that person your blood boils, you get angry and your pulse races! You curse that person to everyone you know! There is no end to the number of people who are going to know the terrible thing your supposed BFF did to you! Then one day you are out and about and oh crap! There she is! There is no avoiding her! Don't make eye contact! Imma kill that bitch if she dare talk to me!!! Oh crap, here she comes! Then she starts to talk by saying how sorry she is, and suddenly this story comes out of her that you've never heard before, her side of the story is so overwhelming, so emotional, so real....you feel the anger & hate dissolving, the bitterness has been replaced by compassion and the love that you once held for your BFF that was lost forever is now back, stronger then ever. You find yourself forgiving her, hugging her, crying for her. In an instant you no longer see the "event" as you did before, it is totally different now, and it doesn't matter at all. Seeing the past differently has changed your past, your present and your future because you have your best friend back! Just a few minutes ago the only plans you had for the future that included her was attending her funeral! Now you are already making plans to have lunch! Everything is different!
You can do that without being cornered by her. You can let go of the past now, without ever setting eyes on her. Forgive your best friend or whomever you feel did you wrong. Look at your role in the situation, with real honesty. Forgive yourself, if for nothing else other then letting that one event have so much power over you. Let it go. Stop dwelling on it. Stop letting it affect how you feel now (I'm sure that all of your friends who have heard the story a thousand times will appreciate it too!). Looking at it differently, letting it go will change your NOW and your future, and the other person involved doesn't even have to know.
I am not going to erase my past posts because I see them differently now. They are a part of me, they made me who I am, but they do not define me. They no longer affect my present or my future. I have let them go. By changing the way I look at them, I have changed the effect they have on me which has changed my present and my future.
I hope your day is abundant!
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
replacing old thoughts with new ones
I woke up with the lyrics to "So Pathetic" by Local H running through my head. I haven't heard this song in forever! The part looping over and over in my head is:
"Born to be down
I've learned all my leasons before now
Born to be down
I think you'll get use to it
And you just don't get it
Keep it copacetic
And you learn to accept it
you know you're so pathetic
And you don't"
Of course there is more to the song but this is on repeat. Exploring the meaning of the song for myself, I initially thought, "Why on earth am I thinking to myself that I am pathetic? Haven't I gotten past this terrible self-doubting, limiting thought yet?" Then I realized, "Yes I have."
To me the song is saying "You just don't get it do you? You are supposed to think your pathetic, you are supposed to let society and what others think of you keep you down, but YOU DON'T! You weren't born to be down! You don't have to live with that thought in your mind! You don't have to accept what was taught to you by others who think the same thing about themselves! You don't have to accept it! YOU ARE NOT PATHETIC!"
A second thought, a deeper thought that is occurring to me is: this is a fear, a limiting thought, coming to the surface so I can address it and let it go. It may be my ego realizing that I am letting go of any thoughts of my being pathetic and the ego is afraid of change. It is comfortable thinking such limiting thoughts because that is how I have always thought. The ego is unfamiliar with the new ideas that are starting to become rooted in my mind, in my conscious, and it is trying to force me to listen to this song over and over again in an attempt to destroy these higher thoughts. The ego wants to revert my thinking back to what it was before. My ego is throwing a tantrum!
"Dear ego, you're ok. It is going to be alright. I know you are scared, I know you think I can't do this, I know we've been down this road before and have given up after a short time. But I am different this time. Trust me. I love you. I believe in myself, I trust my higher self and the empowering thoughts I am allowing to root in my consciousness. I acknowledge your fear, and I let it go. I love you."
A song has different meanings for whomever is listening to it, that is the beauty of music. I used to think I was pathetic. I used to think I was born to be down, that a good life was only meant for a limited few, and I was not included in that list of the chosen. I no longer think that way. I now see that life is meant to be lived abundantly and it is our responsibility to live that way. The Universe is an abundant, limitless, infinite place and there is enough for everyone to be on the list of the "chosen". So I will be singing my new favorite song (Levitate by Hadouken) to myself today (watch the video People are Awesome 2013 at the bottom):
Heart in my mouth, but my head in the clouds yeah
I can feel it rising
Bound to the Earth but, we could ascend yeah
I’m realizing
Chorus:
I feel both feet lift off the ground
I can levitate
With every truth that leaves I close my eyes
And levitate
I just know
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
The air is electric, the higher the scent is
I can feel it charging
I’ll never forget you with transcending
I don’t know we started
Chorus
I feel both feet lift off the ground
I can levitate
With every truth that leaves I close my eyes
And levitate
I levitate
Heart in my mouth, but my head in the clouds yeah
I can feel it rising
Bound to the Earth but, we could ascend yeah
I’m realizing
Chorus
I feel both feet lift off the ground
I can levitate
With every truth that leaves I close my eyes
And levitate
I just know
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I can levitate
I can levitate
Chorus
I feel both feet lift off the ground
I can levitate
With every truth that leaves I close my eyes
And levitate
I levitate
Friday, February 22, 2013
Creative Consciousness
Wow...I can't think of how to start....let me just say that I am looking at the world very differently lately. I was getting so bogged down with self-pity and loathing. I would complain about people being negative but I think I was one of the most negative people I knew! I can't say what day I decided to be different but it's been within the last month or so. It doesn't really matter, does it? Trying to figure out what day my attitude and thus my life changed is like trying to figure out when the Universe started. It doesn't matter when it started, all that matters is that it did!
I have never felt so connected to the Universe before. A few years back when I was in my self-improvement stage I thought I was connected, but it didn't feel like this! I thought I was ready back then but I wasn't because I gave it up too quickly. I may have changed on the surface but deep inside I was still clinging to my ego and my desire to be miserable. My desire to be miserable....I bet a lot of people know exactly what I am talking about. My need to be miserable, my fear of being happy was unconscious but it was very strong. I could get myself to feel pretty good (my idea of happy was feeling pretty good) but it never lasted long and it was so weak, the slightest little bump in the road could send me into a tailspin. I gave up. I shelved my self-improvement books, I didn't go to the Spirituality section in the book store anymore, I stopped appreciating what I had and concentrated so much on what I didn't have, 100% convinced that I would never have it. I made fun of all the positive posts on fb and quietly judged the people around me that were actively trying to be more positive. My life is good: I live in a decent apartment, I have a good job that I really love, I have a good car, I have friends and family that I can depend on, I have more now then I ever have and I have been more stable for the last 5 years then I have ever been. Despite the good in my life I just didn't see it. It was like I had poop-colored glasses on instead of rose-colored glasses.
I bought the book The Secret when it first came out, maybe 6 years ago? I watched the movie. I read all the Conversation with God books. I was trying so hard to apply the Law of Attraction to my life and it worked now & then, but I just couldn't figure out why money wasn't falling out of the sky and why my pos car was still in the driveway instead of a brand new Audi A4. I was constantly disappointed when I would ask for something, try to manifest it, and it didn't appear instantly before my eyes. I found it very difficult to ACT wealthy while I was shopping and had to make sure I knew exactly how much money I was spending and that 90% of the food in the cart was store brand. "Act as if you already have everything you desire" is what The Secret was telling me. Ok, how do I do that when I'm behind on my rent, behind on my utility bill, I have no gas to get to work, etc? But I must have missed the message back then. I wasn't ready to receive it or my negative thoughts and feelings were blocking the true message from getting through.
It isn't about ACTING like you already have what you desire. It is about feeling the feeling that you will have when you do have what you desire, feel that feeling NOW! Emotions are the key. When you are upset, nervous, irritated, sad, pissed off, grouchy, when you don't want to talk to anyone or do anything, when you say "I just don't care anymore", you are in a negative state. You are putting negativity out into the Universe and the Universe is sending it back to you. You get what you send out. It's like sending yourself a letter. If I write myself an ugly letter filled with yuck and hate and poop and sadness and boohoo meeeee, that is the letter I am going to get in my mailbox! The feeling that I get when I open a letter like that is yuckie, hateful, poopy, sad, etc. Can I blame the mailman for delivering that sort of letter to me? It's not his fault! I wrote it, I put it in the envelope, I addressed it to myself, and I put the stamp on it and sent it out! The mailman is just the messenger, it's not his fault what he's delivering! Not to mention the fact that I know what's in the letter yet I waste so much energy dreading it's arrival, then act surprised and upset when it gets to me with it's pages fully of yuck and ugliness. It really is a vicious cycle, a silly cycle, but it isn't an endless cycle. I can rewrite the letter at anytime! That's what I did, I burned the ugly letter and wrote myself a new one!
I am so grateful for my life, every aspect of my life. Every tough time, easy time, every day that I thought I couldn't make it, every day that I couldn't wait for the day to start, every person who has ever been kind to me and every person who has ever hurt me (and vice versa!)! I mediate using free guided meditations on youtube. I say affirmations everyday, Taylor and I even made what I call "affirmation beads" together. They are like rosary beads only much cooler and without the cross. I added symbols that are meaningful to me! I write in my journal. I am reading a really cool book called The Divine Matrix by Gregg Braden. It's about Quantum Physics and how we are all connected to everything, we are part of the Universe and we are the Universe. I have been reading about the Law of Attraction again. I've been reading Wendy Betterini, she has this website http://www.opentoprosperity.com and it is written so simply. I've also been to a couple of guided meditations with a friend from work and those have been just incredible! I've had a couple emotional bumps and a couple strange experiences but I have been able to center myself much easier then ever before. I find myself smiling a lot! If I do get upset I face it, I experience it, then I let it go. That ALONE is life changing! I've also realized that abundance comes in many forms, it isn't just about money. To attract more abundance into my life I imagine what it will feel like to have everything I desire and I let myself feel that feeling now! It's so simple! Just take a second to imagine what it will feel like to, oh let's say, win the lottery. Your heart starts to pound as you realize that your numbers match all the numbers in the drawing, you start smiling, laughing, maybe even crying! You are more excited then you have ever been in your entire life! Can you feel it? While you are feeling that feeling, be grateful for what you already have!
I grew up Catholic. We went to church almost every Sunday. I made my first communion, I was even confirmed. But I quit going to church as soon as I was old enough to decide for myself. It never felt true in my heart. I was pretty ugly towards any sort of religious person for a while, especially against Catholics and Christians. I really don't know why other then I was judging them. Anyway, I still remember the part of mass where the priest is preparing the bread and wine. The congregation participates in this part of the mass by saying "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you. Only say the word and I shall be healed." I was thinking about that recently and I was struck by this thought, "No WONDER I have self-esteem issues and think that I don't deserve the blessings that this world has to offer! Every Sunday I blindly repeated to myself and everyone around me that I wasn't worthy of God's love! I proclaimed it to GOD HIMSELF!!" In that instant I said out loud, "I AM worthy to receive you, Thank you for saying the word for I have been healed!" It changed my life. We all are worthy of "God's" love, whomever your God is.
Have a beautiful day! But if it's a crummy day, just for a minute try to feel what it would feel like if it WAS a beautiful day! I bet you smile!
I LOVE YOU!
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