“One truth you must consider. You are only as expansive, successful, joyous, peaceful and free as you truly love and accept yourself.”
~ Joseph
I have written over 1700 blog post filled with inspirational ideas. I never knew I had so much to write about when I first started my first website, Explore Life Journal in 2008. There is insightful and useful sparks of knowing and awareness throughout all the posts that will enrich your life in many ways.
I always welcome your comments about ideas that enhanced your life.
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?
Fear ruins people’s lives. It can poison your dreams, terrorize your imagination, imprison you from doing things you want to experience, strangle your heart from opening, drown your creativity, blind you to the truth, and cripple you moving forward. Does any of this sound familiar?
The most interested thing about fear is that it is not real. It always begins as a thought and then turns into a feeling sensation you have learned to call fear. 99% of what you fear is all in your mind.
Yet it still dominates the world. It is so powerful that fear has been used to control the masses for centuries. Just create an imagined enemy and people fall into doing what they’re told.
Let’s talk about fear and what you can do about it.
Over the last two years of living quietly, I have gained some valuable insights about happiness and I want to share them with you today.
As I started going through the alphabet I realized I had more than one idea for each of the letters. They all seemed valuable. What I want to give you is as many good ideas as I can come with. Hope that’s okay with you? Here’s the list:
Acceptance of Self – If you accept yourself as fully as you can, happiness will come easily. Loving yourself will set you free to love the world.
Awareness – Through awareness of who you are and what matters to you, you can create the life you want. Awareness makes your life a choice.
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 just got back on Monday from the World Domination Summit. It was a gathering of people interesting in how to more fully express who they are and in doing so make a positive difference in the world. What a wonderful group of human beings.
I want to share some highlights and perspectives I gained.
* If you want to give a presentation that has impact then tell a story. Do it in a way that begins with “what is” and then give glimpses of “what can be.” People will resonate with stories told in this way. Thanks Nancy Duarte for your wisdom on what kind of speeches touch audiences.
* Set your goals high. Problogger.nets Darren Rowse wanted to be Superman as a kid. I can identify, how about you?
I saw this question in a book that I am reading. I knew immediately it was time to write about desire. There are so many beliefs about this subject that need to be examined.
Desire is a driving force, no question about that. There is however, a wide range of opinions about the pluses and negatives of desire.
I have to admit to a big bias here –
I began my inner journey about 40 years ago. In fact I remember the exact moment when my spirit began to awaken.
After completing my education degree I was looking at different possibilities for my life, I happened upon a class offered at the local college. Without hesitation I signed up for it as if guided from within.
The class was about the human potential and it was filled with the most amazing inspiration. I felt so alive. I knew I was in the right place.
Today that buzz of aliveness is stronger than ever. I have continued to be excited and passionate about the unlimited possibilities we all have.
I suspect many of you have a deep caring for humanity and what is possible or you wouldn’t be here reading my posts. These sensations of aliveness within us are just the tip of the iceberg.
In the last few weeks a shift has taken place.
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.
This week I want to share several helpful perspectives, which may not seem related but I promise to tie them all together before this post is over.
Each one of these 5 points is worthy of a full post and they may receive that attention in the next few weeks. For now though, I will share these ideas so you can immediately explore what they have to offer:
1. There are no enemies. The only enemies are in your mind.
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.
Recently I was exploring several ideas about how things in life work or don’t work. After spending time journaling and further exploring my ideas I soon had helpful inspiration and guidance.
The guidance was that what determines how well you and I do things is how well we place our attention on what we are doing. That makes sense doesn’t it?
I want to suggest a more expanded definition than how attention is usually defined – it is not only the focusing of your mind but also of your heart and spirit.
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
Beyond the ordinary of daily life there is a vast reservoir of possibilities available to you. This potential sits quietly whispering with hope that you will do something special with your life.
Special, not in the standard way dictated by social norms, but in a way that screams look out, ready or not, here I come. With boldness you can be genuinely you and vibrantly alive in all that you do.
For too long you have been getting ready, haven’t you? I know I have. Reading, listening, watching, learning, always hoping the next knowing will leave the self-doubt behind. It never does, does it?
Well today is the day. Put your collection of notes aside. Fire the inner critic. Take no more classes. You have all you need inside. Truth be known, there is everything you will ever need to know available to you right now.
There are no secrets here; just doing what you know will work for you. Let’s call this practice - Life Made Easy and let’s begin with what you need to stop doing:
It’s time to get up and move. Spring has sprung and your body is ready to re-engage with the natural world.
I love to walk. There are many reasons for that. Let me share with you why walking is so important. My hope is that you will join me and make walking part of your daily life.
There are many benefits from walking. Walking is not only good for the body but also super good for the mind, heart and spirit:
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:
On Saturday I attended an inspiring presentation by a modern mystic - Thomas Huebl. His talk was so bright that his words filled me with light.
Today my goal is to communicate aspects of that light in hopes it will invite a greater expression of who you are for the benefit of us all.
First let’s talk about what your presiding attitude about life is. The simple answer to this begins with this question, “Do you wake up in the morning with a Yes, Maybe or No?” Is it Yes to life or Maybe, I’m not sure or No this is not working?
I realized recently that my journal writing has been much more powerful than I had ever been aware of. Things have shifting in so many ways over the past year.
Those shifts have been powered by the writing I do daily in my journal. This is not some boring account of my day or a discipline I push on myself. It is more a life force vibrating with meaning and aliveness.
The more I explore it the more vital the exploration becomes. Now, I feel an essential piece of life is missing from my day if I don’t sit, tune in and write.
My home sits near Hwy 101 on a rural part of the Oregon Coast. I see huge trailers and RV’s go by every day. So it is no surprise that I would use the following metaphor:
Today I realized that for all my life I have been towing a trailer behind filled with the past, overloaded with faulty programming, jammed with false beliefs and full of trained self-doubt.
For many years I added more and more emotional and mental junk to this trailer. I needed lots of will power just to plod along through life and try to keep my head up.
Too much time was spent thinking I am not enough, good enough or deserving. My mind was trained to be a non-stop judging machine of others and myself. I found it easier to play the blame and complain game than to take responsibility for my own life.
Have you run into any of this? If so, you understand how heavy your trailer can get.
