There is No Value in Struggle (Really, there isn't)

I’ve been seeing a lot of quotes lately that indicate that, if there is no resistance on your journey, then you are making it too easy. If you experience some sort of struggle in whatever you are journeying towards, (career, relationship, weight loss…blah blah) then it’s more worth it.

Here are 6 words I want you to remember throughout life: There is no value in struggle. 

If you are experiencing resistance/struggle, it’s because you are not aligned to your desire and you have decided to paddle upstream. Life is unfolding before you in the most beautiful way, and you have decided to buck your own current because you don’t believe the Universe can give you something better than what you have been getting. Instead, we muck around thinking that pointing our boat upstream is how we get what we desire. You know that saying: Go with the flow…that’s what life is supposed to be like. You know that song, Row, Row, Row Your Boat… yeah, you get the picture. 

An acquaintance of mine said this to me recently: “We project human failings and shortcomings onto the Universe, and then expect it to faff around and let us down in the same way that humans can do. Change it all with the belief I TRUST GOD/UNIVERSE TO SORT IT ALL OUT.” 

Certainly, there will be contrast on our journey, but this helps us to expand even more. But don’t wallow in the contrast because that’s when you continue get more of the unwanted. Realize you want something better than what you are getting and turn toward that. Become vibrationally aligned with that. 

It doesn’t mean that what you are doing won’t have effort involved. Of course it will! Just make it enjoyable effort. Get aligned with it and make it fun. If it’s causing you pain or sadness, you’re not aligned with your desire. 

Dan Millman said: “Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is... The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds.”

I couldn’t agree more! 

Are You a Victim or Participant?

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” 

― Oscar Wilde

Many of us wander through life, just going through the motions, constantly asking ourselves, "why are we here?" When negative situations happen to us, we tend to become the victim. We sit and wonder, "Why me?"


Does this sound familiar?

What if we had the option to switch it around? What if, instead of looking like the victim, we decide that we are the participant in life's unfolding? What if, in every moment, we decide how we want to participate?

Ask yourself daily, "What experience do I want to create?"

Isn't this the most freeing thought ever?

We create our experience by how we want to feel. By doing that, we either create deliberately or by default. Typically, we get so stuck in the old vibration, we don't realize that we are creating by default. We either offer up a vibe that we choose, or we offer a vibe that we are used to, and then feel like puppets that are being manhandled.

The point of all this is that we are here for the experience. We get to choose the experience every time we roll out of bed, and all we have to do is adjust our vibration; adjust our emotions to it.

I heard this quote the other day and it was an a-ha moment for me:

"You aren't creating money, you are creating YOU in the financial experience." Abraham-Hicks.

This can be applied to everything: career, relationships, spirituality...it is all the same.

How do you want to feel in your life experience? Many will say they want to feel happy, excited, abundant, full of love, but can't figure out why they aren't getting it. It's because they have built up a vibration that contradicts what they want. What we need to remember is that it's going to take time and focus to get a different vibration going. Just like when we decide to lose weight, learn a musical instrument, or how to ride a bike--these things take time.

There will always be contrast in our lives. By contrast I mean when something happens that is the opposite of what we want. People usually call this 'struggle' and think that if they take the path of least resistance, they will find their trophy or statue commemorating their struggle.

There is no value in struggle. If you are struggling, then you are not in alignment with what you want. Anyone who says there is value in struggle is either selling you something or hasn't figured out how to align to their own vibration. 

However, there is value in contrast. Once you experience the contrast, it is up to you to use that as your bouncing point to greater things. You feel crappy because your spouse is not acting how you think they should act. Take that icky feeling, which is the contrast, and decide how you want to feel. What other people feel has nothing to do with you. It's their own thing. You and how you feel has everything to do with you.

You know that line, "It's not you. It's me"? This is exactly what vibration is about. Anything we have going on has everything to do with our own vibration. When we fix the vibe, we fix the situation.

We are always clarifying, growing, expanding, and wanting more experiences. Our vibration is what gets translated into a physical response.

When you see yourself as a participant in life; when you realize you get to choose what you want so you can experience life to its fullest, life will begin to flow much easier for you.

Namaste

I Think I Love You...?

I remember back in the day when people spoke about conceited people, they meant that the person loved themselves too much, and this was not reflected in a positive light. It was taboo to talk about yourself with such love and respect—it was heretical and blasphemous.

Fast forward a few decades and here we are: the world in a state of emergency, finding it difficult to give love to ourselves, to love others completely because we cannot and don’t know how to love ourselves properly.

For many of us, the act of loving ourselves may seem self absorbed, selfish, or self centered. But, how can you love another fully and completely if you can't even love yourself? Think of the airplane analogy: if the oxygen masks drop, the course of action is to place the mask on yourself before assisting others. Why? Because, if you aren’t caring for yourself first, how can you effectively care for others?

 

 

Self love doesn’t mean you disregard everyone else’s needs and only consider your own. Self love means to be true to yourself fully and completely. Loving the self means being kind to yourself, and knowing when your needs are being met or forgotten. It’s knowing that you need tender loving care; knowing that taking care of yourself means being your own best friend. You are the only one that is going to be with you for the rest of your life, you might as well make it the best relationship possible. You have to accept you for you; and love yourself for all your quirks, goof ups, lumps, and bumps.

Loving yourself is about accepting you for who you are, and seeing that you are more than flesh and bone. Loving yourself is knowing that you are going to make mistakes along the way and being ok with that. It’s part of the journey, and the journey will never end.

How do you begin loving yourself? Start by looking yourself in the mirror and saying I love you.  Write yourself a love letter. Make your new mantra ‘l love you, ---- insert your name here---‘. Give yourself some TLC.

Loving yourself requires dedication, balance, and unwavering focus to accepting yourself fully and completely.

 

Sounds corny, but for many people this will be a very difficult thing. For a while, you may not feel the love; rather, you may feel the complete opposite. But, once you begin working through those old beliefs and kicking them to the curb, you will find that the light will switch on inside of you, and you will begin to understand the importance of self love. When you love you, you become open to loving others more fully and completely. When you love you, you begin to see through the loving eyes of the Universe. This is the definition of true love.

 

 

 

A New Year and the World Didn't End... Now What?

Here we are, day one of 2013 and the world didn't end on December 21....now what?  Do you make a resolution? Do they really work? You figure you have to do something, but you don't know what. Isn't that the normal thing to do: make a resolution and try to stick with it?

You do want change, but how do you do it? You've tried for many years and feel stuck like you did before. You could make a resolution, but, quite frankly, they rarely work. The reason why they don't work, according to Abraham Hicks, is that many people make resolutions from a place of not wanting something, rather than a place of what they truly want. Basically, if you want to experience change in your life, you have to align the energies to what you want.

Below is an excerpt from an Abraham Hicks workshop. If you are looking for change, but unsure of how to take the next step, read on:


"Every day provides a wonderful opportunity to set forth your clear intentions. You do not have to wait for a new calendar year.

Find a comfortable place where you will not be interrupted by. Write at the top of your notebook page: My Dominant Intentions: Then write four sub-headings: My Current Intentions Regarding My Body, My Relationships, My Home, My Work. Then, write a general description of how you want to feel and be, regarding each of the four categories. Be general and easy. Let these words come easily from you.

Now, go back to the first category, focus on the topic, and sit back, relax, and daydream about this. Imagine your body looking just as you would like it to look. See it in your mind's eye. Try to imagine how that beautiful body would feel. Move it, in your imagination. Take it for a walk, dress it in something that pleases you. Appreciate its stamina and flexibility and clarity. Spend as much time daydreaming about this wonderful physical vehicle as you can. Stay in your vision until you feel refreshed, and continue to be there as long as you can.

Now, go to the second category, and do the same thing. Bring an image of the most significant person in your life experience and see that person with you. Feel appreciation for that person. Mentally speak your appreciation. Imagine that person loving you back. Praising you, and complimenting you. Feel your mutual appreciation and admiration. Stay within the vision until you feel refreshed.

Now, go to the third category, and feel appreciation for your home. Make mental pictures of your home as you want it to be. See it orderly, if you desire that, and beautifully furnished, if you desire that. In an easy and carefree manner, imagine it however you would like it to be. Take pleasure from your vision and stay there until you feel refreshed.

Now, go to the fourth page, and gather a mental picture of your work. Feel appreciation for the excuse it gives you to flow energy toward something. Acknowledge how expansive it is, and feel appreciation for its ever changing nature. See yourself expanding and thriving. Stay there until you are refreshed.

There is no right or wrong way to approach this. The thing that is important is that you choose areas of your life that matter most and that you conjure positive images that thrill you. And as you do that, you have not only resolved, in your own mind, how your New Year will be, but you have notified everyone and everything in the entire Universe and you have solicited their assistance in achieving your intentions. And from that moment forward -- the entire Universe will conspire to assist you."

Have a happy, loving and peaceful 2013!

What's Your New Story?

A belief is a thought you keep thinking- Abraham Hicks.

So, does that mean, if I believe I’m Pamela Anderson, I will become her? Well, not technically.

Here’s how it goes: When you were younger, you were given verbal cues, or beliefs from other people, like parents, teachers, etc…that were their beliefs and basically, impressed upon you to believe the same beliefs. As a youngster, you rarely question what authority figures tell you, so you adopt those beliefs as your own. Then, one day, you realize that these cues you were given are not who you are. Unfortunately, you’ve trained your brain to believe these things are true.

So, what do you do now? Now you have to retrain yourself to believe something different.

Is it easy? With some focus, it can be. You have to be steadfast about it and not beat yourself up when it doesn’t happen quickly or you don’t see the changes right away.

Am I lying to myself? No. You are giving yourself new verbal cues that make more sense to you. Your brain has no idea what is happening now in the ‘real’ world compared to what you are imagining. And, even if you feel like you are telling yourself lies, eventually those lies will become truth for you. And, besides, if you are worrying and stressing about things, then you aren’t being productive anyway. You might as well entertain yourself by telling yourself a good story!

One way  to tell a new story is to give yourself verbal cues to retrain you brain, also known as: Positive Affirmations. Now, you may have heard that positive affirmations won’t work if you don’t believe in them, or if you don’t have the emotion behind it, because thought and emotion must go hand in hand when creating.

Well, fact is, you tell yourself anything over and over again, eventually you will believe it. Look at what happened when you were given verbal cues from authority figures at a young age. Same thing.  You are giving yourself verbal cues according to your rules and your own beliefs.

How do you do this? You have to stay focused and keep moving forward no matter what your brain is telling you. You are telling a new story with your new verbal cues.  You are re-teaching yourself something new and brilliant and life changing.

“As you imagine and visualize and verbalize your new story, in time you will believe the new story, and when that happens, the evidence will flow swiftly into your experience. A belief is only a thought you continue to think; and when your beliefs match your desires, then your desires must become your reality.  There is no physical body, no matter what the conditions, that cannot achieve an improved condition. Nothing else in your experience responds as quickly as your own physical body to your patterns of thought.”-Abraham-Hicks

What is your new story?

No Life Lessons?

"Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view." -- Obi-Wan

"The only lesson in life is to learn to be pickier about what we think and feel." -Tamara Hanson 

Many of us believe that we are here to learn lessons in life. Typically, each negative thing that happens is a lesson that we feel we need to learn so we can evolve further. However, what about when something positive happens? Doesn’t that offer a lesson too?

While this may be true to a degree, I don’t think we each are randomly doled out a certain number of ‘lessons’. I don’t think when your name comes up, a wheel is spun and you get the health issues, or the financial issues, or the relationship issues.  Nor do I think that everything is a test where we are given a pass or a fail depending on how we react or what action we take.

Because we are the creators of our own experience, and each one of us is God/Source Energy/Higher Self (fill in the blank) expressed in physical form, we are the ones giving ourselves the experience.

“But, wait,” you might say, “Why would I create that crappy relationship, financial situation, or illness? Maybe I’m here to learn a lesson for some crappy karma from a past life in which I don’t remember nor have any control over it.”

You are not undoing any karma (see karma blog), and you have complete control over what you create by paying attention to how you think and how you feel.  Your emotions are guiding you; if you are feeling anything less than happy, joyful and loving, then you need to switch it up and reach for something that feels better. Nothing is more important than that you feel good… no matter what.

“But,” you might say, “I have all this crappy stuff happening in my life. How can I feel good when crappy stuff is happening? I should be worrying because, if I’m feeling happy, then I look irresponsible for not worrying about the crappy stuff. That’s what society taught me.” 

The crappy stuff that is happening right now is old news. The crappy stuff that has manifested into your life occurred because you offered up consistently sloppy thoughts and vibrations before it came into being your reality.

So, we become more proficient at thinking the good stuff and feeling the good stuff, no matter what our current reality is. Why? Because we now want something new to come in; we now want health, happiness, love, money, a job, etc.

There is a saying: 

I am sure there still is that underlying question of, “Well, did those starving kids in Africa/my city/my country, become sloppy thinkers too?” This is an off-shoot of the same topic and will cover that at a later date, which will most likely deal with co-creation.

The point is, the only lesson that we need to learn is to be pickier about what thoughts we think and the emotions we feel. We need to be less sloppy with our vibration and more deliberate with what we create. So, when something happens that is not what you wanted, the lesson is to change your thoughts and emotions to what you do want…and be consistent about it. 

Challenge yourself for 30 days by thinking and feeling only the positive, and then see what happens. 

You have nothing to lose. 



What is Karma?

I hear people constantly talking about Karma...especially as something negative. Usually people say, "Karma is a bitch" when they feel they've been wronged. Or, "Karma will bite you in the ass." The confusion is we tend to relate karma with justice...and this isn't the case at all. Karma isn't justice.  The word has been misconstrued and used incorrectly.... kind of like the word coincidence... but that's another blog post. 

So, let's break it down. If I can help one person understand the meaning of Karma, I have done my job with this blog posting.

Karma is Sanskrit for Action. So, basically, karma is the cause...the action that gets the ball rolling to create an effect. Think of it as the pebble hitting the water (action) and the ripples are the effect. Because of that pebble, it has set the water in motion, one ripple affecting the next ripple, and so on.

Of course, there are many cultural understandings about karma, but the premise is that your actions cause a reaction.

However, it's not a matter of some guy in the sky determining who gets blasted with the 'bad outcome' and who gets 'good'. It's actually a natural law, and it all has to do with vibration/energy.

As I have relayed in other postings, everything is energy. Everything! So, thoughts, words, and actions are all energy as well. When we send out a thought and emotion (this is an action, by the way), and consistently think/feel the same way, we are building a consistent vibration, and, therefore, we will see the effect of this action.

However, if you feel you were wronged by a person and that they should get what's coming to them...that person may never 'get' what you think should come to them. Why? Because the person who 'wronged' you may not feel that what he/she did was wrong. In that person's eyes, he/she is right. That person is vibrating at a level of being right and, therefore, won't suffer any ramifications for what you thought was wrong.

In the same breath, if they feel terrible about what happened and their perception is that they deserve a bite in the backside, then that is what they will get. It's their vibration that will create what people call 'karma'.

"Here's a rule of thumb that will help you: If you believe that something is good, and you do it, it benefits you. If you believe that something is bad, and you do it, it is a very detrimental experience." --Abraham Hicks

"But wait," you might say, "I'm a good person. I make sure I do the right things; upstanding citizen, and all that, and I still get the shitty deal."

It goes back to the old saying, "You reap what you sow." So, if you are planting seeds or feelings/emotions/thoughts of unworthiness, not deserving-ness, and negativity about yourself and who you are, then those are things that will come back to you. It has nothing to do with life lessons or that you had it coming because of something from a past life. It has to do with your beliefs and vibration about who you are and how you feel about yourself, which can be rectified with deep love for yourself.

One last important thing before I go: We Are All One. So, yes, the actions we take do affect others and ourselves in some way because of our connection to one another.

"In other words, what you sow you do reap because Law of Attraction says that which you offer vibrationally is that which you bring back. But it does not pass on from lifetime to lifetime to lifetime in the negative sense that people mean because when you re-emerge into nonphysical, you re-emerge into pure positive energy, and when you come forth into your next incarnation, you come forth from that place of pure positive energy." --Abraham-Hicks

It's pretty simple: Respect and love yourself, and respect and love others. The vibration it sets off can change the world!

I think Bill and Ted said it best:

Be Excellent to Each Other~ Namaste!