“One truth you must consider. You are only as expansive, successful, joyous, peaceful and free as you truly love and accept yourself.”
~ Joseph
I want to suggest that you consider the possibility that it’s time you take real charge of your life. It’s time to more fully understand who you are, what you want, and how you are getting in your own way.
Most of who you are is learned and much of it has been helpful in moving you to where you are now. However, big chunks of it have been holding you back, slowing your progress or even road-blocking what you feel deep inside is right for you.
If you took the time to count your blessing each day you would be surprised by how many positive, wonderful moments there are. I recently began an experiment in which I looked for blessing coming my way.
This experiment came from an e-book called E Squared by Pam Grout (available on Amazon). I suggest you join me in this experiment. There are also eight additional experiments to help you prove that your thoughts create your reality.
Also, over the last few months, I have been slowly enjoying a book titled, The Gentle Art Of Blessing by Pierre Pradervand. I’m using these ideas as a guide for exploring the practice of blessing others and myself.
When you bless others you can imagine sending them light, love, joy, peace, healing and flow. Everyone everywhere would appreciate these kind gestures of thoughtful intention. These outward actions are not in the context of religion but more about assisting others to more fully express who they are.
I have been drawn to the idea of blessings with the belief that they can make a difference in the world. Making a positive difference seems more important than ever. Does it to you also?
I continue to notice in myself - and in almost every other human being - that self-doubt is a ongoing challenge that just doesn’t go away one day. Instantly erasing it sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it?
Instantly, maybe not - however there are ways to shrink self-doubt that can be hugely successful rather quickly. I will share these with you shortly but first I want to share 5 ways self-doubt is fueled:
1. Looking to others for self-approval – This never works but it seems so important when you doubt yourself. There could never be enough approval from others to dissolve the lack of approval inside. Move past this strategy. It only creates more self-doubt.
2. Trying to satisfy the ego-mind’s need for reassurance -The ego-mind is never satisfied. This mind can have everything it wants but it will go searching for even more. The ego is fueled by fear. Notice the ego’s voice and don’t let it run your life.
3. Ignoring your intuitive/soul’s sense of what is right for you - This is a frequent mistake made because the rationalizing mind too often pushes the inner voice aside. Ignoring the quiet wisdom inside fills you full of doubt.
I invite you to join me and explore a spiritual practice of blessing.
The following is the blessing I will share throughout this Summer for the benefit of all our brothers and sisters on the planet:
I call upon the brightest light within me and beyond to bless all my human family.
I send blessings from the heart of unconditional love, compassion, kindness and caring to everyone.
I send blessings of awareness, consciousness, insight, inspiration, awakening and the realization of are oneness.
I send blessings of peace, inner peace, and world peace. It is time to find peace together.
I send blessings of joy, happiness, laughter and much enjoyment of life. Feel the joy flowing through these blessings to you.
I send blessings of healing, health and well-being to all. Within we have all we need to heal ourselves and each other.
I send blessings of flow, abundance, prosperity, money, wealth, and financial freedom. We all deserve this wonderful flow.
I send blessings of freedom, free to be, free of oppression, free of the need to be in control and be right, and free of all limits.
I also bless myself with all these blessing and encourage you to do the same.
Together our blessing will send transforming waves across the planet for the good of all.
Let the Blessings flow,
Joseph
First a quick summary: You may have noticed that I often revisit ideas. I do that for several reasons:
1. I have discovered that my own journey towards self-realization benefits from looking at ideas and concepts from variety of perspectives. I suspect that is true for you.
2. Reminders seem very helpful in these times filled with such distractions. I am curious what you need to be reminded about as you move towards your highest expression? Please leave comments below.
3. I find that every time I read something I resonate with, I expand in my awareness; I open to a greater understanding. At this blog I explore timely issues for each of us on a path of awakening. What kinds of ideas resonate with you? Comments welcomed.
I hope you find this summary helpful and a good-lead-in to one of my favorite themes – Being and Doing.
Over the last few months I have been sharing ideas with you that I find words inadequate in expressing. This writing challenge is tied to ongoing seismic shifting of my inner sense of self and the world.
At this point in my life I’ve committed to leaving a lifetime of programming behind. Now I am on a personal journey of deepening awareness, expanding compassion and realizing the highest levels of potential and expression.
Recently I’ve had a number of insights that have been very helpful. My hope is you can join me in exploring these higher levels of knowing.
My first insight is why joy matters.
On the other side of what seems to be reality is a much more profound truth. That truth is that heaven waits for you now. Not the kind of biblical heaven imagined by the inventors of the different religions. This heaven is within.
The great promise of most religion is that you will have a better life in the hereafter. The Truth never lingers in the possibilities of tomorrow. It can only reside in the present moment. Now is the only place where the seeds of human possibilities bloom.
Heaven is not a romp through the tulips but a song that sings itself as your life. You are the creator of each moment whether it’s heaven, hell or dull disconnect from the vibrancy of life.
Characteristics of the true heaven within you include:
A loving heart so vast and unconditional that all is included
In the last post, I shared with you the basic life attitudes of Yes, Maybe and No. I advocated for the importance of living the Yes way. Yes is the very best response to the chaotic world we live in.
I decided to follow up the last post with what to say YES too. I know in my heart Yes is more fun, healthier and what works best for creating the life you want.
This is a long list which is exciting because that means there are so many energizing and joyous ways to say Yes.
If you are willing to play with this list of Yes possibilities, I can make you a promise – You will love living your life this way.
Each day, in every way, say YES to the following:
I sensed a shift in a brief moment of awareness. In that moment I realized that experiences never end. They keep flowing through our lives and either we are aware of them or not.
If you take this moment now and expand your awareness you will see what I mean. Right now you are reading this and having responses to these words and ideas. There is the flow of energy in your body as you sit here. There are feelings activated by your thoughts.
You are a stream of experiences flowing through the now. If you pay attention, there are thoughts telling you what is going on and under those thoughts, just experiences.
Your thoughts are you trying to make sense out of the moment. Your experiences don’t need understanding, they just happen.
These never ending experiences represent more of who you are then your thoughts.
Each day is a new day. This moment is totally fresh if you don’t bring thoughts from the past or worries about tomorrow to clog it all up. In this moment you can create whatever experience you want.
You don’t have to be haunted by a past relationship, or something you felt you should have done better. This moment is free to be fully experienced as wonderful moment in your life.
Too often you can show up with a trail of regrets and disappoints and fill what could be amazing with what wasn’t. Have you ever done that? It doesn’t have to be that way.
You can let all that isn’t happening go. You can release the past hurts and regrets. If you don’t, you carry them with you. Then you miss out on what good things are happening because you are too busy with what went wrong.
Living moment by moment makes if possible to enjoy the gift of the present. The present is truly where:
Holy Mole there has been a surge of interesting motivation running through me recently. I already workout and write everyday but I find myself wanting to do more.
Maybe writing a novel in November got the juices flowing. Wow that was fun as I wrote about my life in the future through the main character.
Maybe the frustration of feeling like my workouts have flattened out and pushed a get-into-gear button inside. Holiday sweets are looming and the beltline could be booming.
Or maybe my now 15 months of inner work since moving here has activated new levels of life force for whatever I do. This has been a most amazing life-altering and awakening stretch. I feel so alive and filled with joy.
Recently something became very clear to me. I have known this idea for many years but it has taken time for me to really understand the impact of this statement: We shape our experience of life moment-by-moment by our thinking.
We all have the opportunity to live a life of joy and happiness. It is a choice we make throughout each day. If joy is not the choice then the results often included suffering. Suffering is a product of our mind running us, not us running our mind.
The following is a summarization of the mental obstacles to living a joyous life:
I looked at myself in the mirror and had to smile. I have never felt more alive and filled with such joy. These past 14 months of retreat here at the Oregon coast have been such a wonderful gift.
We moved here because my intuition told me where to go. This inner voice even picked out a place for us to live. The house is imperfect like us but the beauty and grace of the natural world is pure perfection.
I have read and written, explored, meditated, walking in awareness and just been at peace for most of the retreat. Over the last couple of months everything began to shift as I move from exploring expansive ideas to being expanded.
How can you get out of your own way and remove the inner barriers to explore all that is possible?
What would you life be like if you allowed the following truths about you to become fully realized?
You are:
Pure awareness
A bright light
Unconditional, endless love
Infinite and eternal
Pure presence
In unity with all of life
A soul having a human experience
Stillness and peace
Bliss waiting to be experienced
Joy and happiness
Grace waiting to be expressed
One with the Source
Free to be anything you want
One with beauty of nature
The expanding universe
Compassion for all
A difference maker
Acceptance and appreciation
How do you realize these true qualities of your nature as a human being?
Sit is stillness and be guided.
There are times when our energy gets stuck. You know you’re when your energy is low. This is when you need a big shot of something different. The good news is that you can shift almost instantly from what isn’t working to move into a mind, heart, body and soul states that will change things for the positive.
The other great benefit of changing your state is that you empower your power. You show yourself you can make things happen and that translates into more confidence and builds your positive sense of self.
Take these shifters for a drive around the block and appreciate the energy of feeling more fully alive:
- Deepen and/or slow your breath for a few minutes.
- Go for a walk, sense your body and encounter the beauty around you.
- Put a smile on your face and feel the energy of the smile spreading through you.
- Reach out to someone who is energizing and fun.
In this moment you can live in awe of the incredible peace, love, joy and freedom that is available to you. It is a simple choose, be present or not.
There is such wonderful peace when you are able to be fully present to yourself and the divine that powers your life force. In the worry and hurry world peace is left in the dust on the trail of the ego-mind. Peace is the still pond of mindfulness when you rise above the chatter of the ego-mind. Peace is the comfort with self when you are hanging out free of the judging mind, just being.
Today is my birthday and I have 10 wishes. As I blow out my many candles I wish for:
Wow what a world that would be and what a way to celebrate a birthday being part of making these wishes come true.
Love, Light and Joy to you,
