My sister and her family have arrived. They spent the last few days in Estes Park exploring Rocky Mountain National Park and now we get to show them around Boulder and the mountains near by. My posting may be erratic the next few days but when I can I will write.
I have been thinking about personal freedom again and I keep on coming back to the importance of what we think and feel. Also the old beliefs that we acquired as we grew up have long influenced our thoughts and what we felt about things, others, situations, and ourselves. A careful examination of what we believe to be true or reality is important on a regular basis. If it is true it will be clear, if the belief needs updating that will also become clear.
Faulty beliefs that could be banging around in your head and need revision include:
• You are not deserving of the life you want
• You are not ok in some way
• Having desires is wrong
• You should be in the state of fear
• Love is not the answer to all the problems
• Money is bad
• People can’t be trusted
• Gay people are not ok
• Judging others is expected
• War is ok
• Wanting and taking power at any cost is acceptable
• Profit as a driving force to rationalize corporate irresponsibility is acceptable
• Arrogance is acceptable for those in power
• Women should give up their power to men
• God is a vengeful damning force
• Sin really exists
• Others know more about our truth than we do
• It is best to let those in authority tell us what to do
• We should all live in fear of a small band of terrorist
• Torture is ok in any form
• Illegal imprisonment is ok if we are afraid
• Racism and hate is acceptable in any form
• There is nothing you can do about depression
• Universal health care is socialism
• Compassion for others is a sign of weakness
• Your are victim of others and circumstances
• The rational mind is better than the knowing heart
Explore all your ideas and beliefs and see where they come from. Do they come from a place of true knowing inside or are they learned and faulty? Keep on asking and become a more conscious human being.
15 Personal Virtues To Explore and Express
Last night I did a therapy group on taking a moral inventory for those I am working with in addiction recovery. We had a very interesting discussion about the following virtues. If you can share this exercise with others there will be more opportunities for insight. Insights can help you grow more comfortable with yourself. Take a few minutes to rate your realization of these virtues on a scale of 1 – 10, 1 means no understanding, 10 means fully part of who you are.
1. Gratitude – do you feel grateful for what you have and do you show appreciation to those who you value?
2. Kindness – do you act with kindness towards yourself and in most of your interactions with others?
3. Compassionate – do you feel for the struggles of others, is your heart open to knowing about those you care about and those in your life?
4. Humility - are you humble or is your ego in need of lots of reassurance, are you arrogant or prideful?
5. Accepting – are you accepting of others and their differences or are you judgmental?
6. Peaceful – do you tend to let things go, are you calm inside, do you get easily upset or angry?
7. Bold – are you willing to ask for what you want, do you take risks toward to reach your goals?
8. Trusting – do you tend to trust yourself and others, do you doubt others and tend to not believe them?
9. Self-disciplined – do you have determination and follow through, can you keep on going when you need to?
10. Giving – are you a giver as well as a receiver, are you generous or tight about helping others?
11. Forgiving – do you hold on or move on, are you living in the past or being in the now?
12. Mindful – are you able to just be in the present moment aware and awake to your body, thoughts and emotions, can you still your mind?
13. Purposeful – do you have a mission in life, what are you here to do and make happen?
14. Passionate – what are you passionate about, what matters to you and what do you do with lots of energy and joy?
15. Loving – is your heart open, do you feel caring in a way that is inclusive of all others?
What virtues are your strengths and what virtues need to grow in you? I hope you found this helpful and encouraging in a way of feeling positive about yourself and more aware of growth you want to explore.
Is there a greater virtue than love?
Is That A Shift We Feel Happening?
So we are off to another summer week and things are heating up. What has been heating up in your mind lately? What has you spinning around mentally trying to cool off? I talked to a young man in grad school working with disabled children this summer and he said he has trouble sleeping at night because his mind won’t shut down. I suggested meditation but he is already taking a sleeping medication and is just fine with that. Are you wired up to? I know it feels like that planet is buzzing lately, maybe that’s just us with busy lives. Are there people out there who aren’t busy?
I ask genuinely if there are people out there who are not going faster than ever. Maybe this hyper state is a precursor to some monumental planetary shift or just all of us getting pulled into some kind of energetic game of twister. I will speculate that this is a rich time for humanity to make a big shift. The writing is on the wall, or maybe not but there is something going on and I suspect you can feel it. Is that true?
The shift has to do with humanity, which seems to have been languishing in ego based struggle for far too long. Isn’t it past time for people to wake up to their greater potential to understand and have true compassion? The other part of the possible shift is that we will tune in more so they can better connect to others. In other words, as we find ourselves and understand our thoughts and emotions, we will have an increased capacity to listen and fully relate to others. Even the densest of energy can move when there is the light of insight shining on it.
Do you feel like part of a shift that is, like a wave, picking up steam? Or will you be an observer standing on the sidelines as the whirl of consciousness blows through?
I just watched a video by a Spiritual Teacher from India that says the shift begins in earnest on the 17th of this month and it will start a slow but profound transformation of what it means to be human. I, for one, am glad that things are changing because we seem at least stuck if not heading in the wrong direction as humans, as a nation and as a planet. Are you ready for a roller-coaster ride to a higher expression of humanity?
Stay tuned and we will discover as we go. If we are flexible and open, there will be new opportunities for personal freedom.
There Are So Many Needs, How Can You Help?
Explore Life Blog Has 500 Blog Posts and Going Strong
I just past my 500th blog post and feel very positive about all that I have accomplished since I started this blog about a year and half ago. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The reason I have been so successful at writing here is that I have an absolute passion for inspiring the best in people. For 35 years now I have been working as a counselor/coach and teacher with my purpose of encouraging people to fully explore their potential. We all have unlimited potential and this blog is an expression of my writing potential and my desire to raise consciousness both individually and as a way to help bring out the best in our nation and humanity in general.
I write because I feel this is important whether I have a few readers or thousands doesn’t really matter. What matters and gives my life meaning are those who I can touch in some positive way and invite in them a fuller expression of who they are.
My small part is what I am here to do. What are you here to do? If you were totally free today and able to create your life just how you want it, what would you do to make a positive difference?
Here are some things needed, do any of them match with your interests, passions or desires:
• There is a need for consciousness and awareness everywhere
• There is a great need for food for those who are hungry
• There is our planet Earth that needs people to help make sure it stays healthy
• There are elderly people having grave financial problems due to medical cost and poor insurance and they need help
• There are children who need mentoring
• There are people who are homeless
• There is a need for people in elected office who have high values, who are beyond greed and the lust for power
• There are people who needed visitors or food delivered to their homes
• There are many who need advocacy to deal with their problems
• There are many with mental health problems who need help so they are not put in jail or prison
• There are many with alcohol and drugs problems that need help to get free
• There are many laws that need to be reevaluated to access whether they are for the good of the people
• There are many abused people who need help to break the cycle of abuse
• There are people needed to protect our water, our streams our oceans
• There are people needed to protect the quality of our air
• There are those that need help with debt, mortgage and financial issues
• There are people very confused by beliefs that need to be explored in search of the truth.
• There is a need for more creative expression
• There is a need for more technological innovation
• There are so many needs, what do you want to do to help?
2100+ Bush Signings Puts Him Above The Law
Sometimes I feel like I don’t want to write about politics here at my blog but I do anyway. I do so as I did yesterday because I feel our nation is at a very critical time and we need to all show up and make a difference anyway we can. Sure it seems there are many people to blame for what is going on but in fact the ones to blame are us. We have for too long kept away from the workings of our government because we felt powerless, or distain for the process, didn’t think it really mattered, ignored it, or whatever went through our minds about what is going on?
There is much going on and frankly it can be difficult to keep up and to know what is real. There is so much misinformation and straight out lies spread about over and over and soon the truth gets shrouded in this fog of confusion. There is where it takes some inner work to keep on track. This is where consciousness, awareness, and our intuition help us find our way. This is where you have to follow your gut and listen to your heart. This inner work, which I write about often, is key in being an active participant in the democratic process.
Friday evening is the Bill Moyer's Journal on PBS. I try to watch that most weeks because it almost always expands my awareness of the political process. Last night two conservative writers were on and they shared that the Republican Party is not acting conservative at all but more in the pursuit of power. The writers and Bill Moyer agreed that this president is much more like a monarchy with his blatant disregard for the laws. He has personally acted above the law at least 2100 times when he took legislation passed by Congress and wrote his own way out of having to follow the laws. This is unheard of grab for power by this very misguided president
The arrogance of this should have every American standing up and demanding accountability today. We are witnessing an imperial presidency and Congress is completely asleep at the wheel. These special signings of the President has never happened in this way. He simply thinks he can do whatever he wants and it doesn’t seem to matter what is best for the country or the people.
This is why consciousness, truth seeking and awareness of what is going on is critical. We have to pay attention to our sense of what is right, our knowing, our questioning and our urges to be outraged, to speak up, to demand that there be changes for the good of all.
I can’t say enough about how important it is to read things that question what is going on. Here are three sites I checkout regularly where what is going on is questioned: www.buzzflash.com, www.commondreams.org and www.huffingtonpress.com . Yes they are all on the progressive end of the spectrum and I am sure there are sites on the genuinely conservative end.
Have a good weekend and please become an active participant in democracy in any way you can.
Only People Power Can Change The Course of Our Nation
If you turn on the news you might have heard this: the bad FISA bill passing; hearing John McCain guarantee he will balance the budget and win the war in Iraq in his first term; seeing that Karl Rove refuses to testify before congress; that McCain refuses to comment about insurance companies covering Viagra but not contraceptives; Phil Graham campaign advisor for McCain said the nation is only in mental recession and full of whiners. One has to wonder how much longer will people put up with what is going on in capital.
The more I listen, the more I try to figure out what is going on the more sure I am that the ways of our government has lost touch with the what is right and for the good of the people. The unchecked spying on Americans is so against what is right. The FISA bill is our rights being sold out by those who should be looking out for the people and what is right. The lies of politicians keep on going and we the people seem to put up with it.
Rove not showing up before Congress fits with the culture of not taking responsibility for what they do. Those in Congress and especially the White House seem to think they can tell us what they want at anytime to cover their tracks. Is that ok with you? The President and Congress are at record low levels of approval. It seems time to vote them all out and anyone who looks like they will continue as things have been.
John McCain is trying to separate himself from this administration but he just hired a Bush person to head his campaign and his policies are not any different from the disaster this administration has left the country in. How could anyone think things will change under his direction? They will not.
The attack machines are ramping up to try and spread fear and misinformation. Why because it is an election year and a nation of people in fear is much easier to control. Don’t buy that fear they are trying to shovel down our throats because it is not true. The greatest danger to America are the people in DC which includes our elected officials and those who deal in financial influence, not a small band of mad terrorist.
I read that someone said the Obama was a kind of Manchurian Candidate who came out of nowhere. That sounds like a movie made real but really if you look at that ideas/movie Bush is more the Manchurian Candidate who came into power in a kind of mysterious ways (Florida miscounts etc) and then destroys the nation with lies, a war that never needed to happen, a complete destruction of our budget surplus, torture, breaking the laws on spying on Americans, huge no bid contracts for corporate friends, scientific research results being altered by the VP to take out the dangerous findings and on and on. If there every was a mystery candidate(s) destined to overturn the power of America it is George and Dick.
I hope you are doing all you can to be informed. Become your own investigative reporter. The web is a huge resource full of information that is more accurate and more helpful than the corporate nightly news.
The definition of Liberal is open-minded and frankly I see that as the only hope for our nation. The old traditional ways got us in this mess. We are not a nation of whiners, (as those in power and extreme wealth might want us to think) we are a people who think on our own, who question, who expect the truth, and who know there is a better way than what we have been seeing over the past 8 years and more. Lets join together with those around us who care, and work for what can be a better America for and by the people.
The more I listen, the more I try to figure out what is going on the more sure I am that the ways of our government has lost touch with the what is right and for the good of the people. The unchecked spying on Americans is so against what is right. The FISA bill is our rights being sold out by those who should be looking out for the people and what is right. The lies of politicians keep on going and we the people seem to put up with it.
Rove not showing up before Congress fits with the culture of not taking responsibility for what they do. Those in Congress and especially the White House seem to think they can tell us what they want at anytime to cover their tracks. Is that ok with you? The President and Congress are at record low levels of approval. It seems time to vote them all out and anyone who looks like they will continue as things have been.
John McCain is trying to separate himself from this administration but he just hired a Bush person to head his campaign and his policies are not any different from the disaster this administration has left the country in. How could anyone think things will change under his direction? They will not.
The attack machines are ramping up to try and spread fear and misinformation. Why because it is an election year and a nation of people in fear is much easier to control. Don’t buy that fear they are trying to shovel down our throats because it is not true. The greatest danger to America are the people in DC which includes our elected officials and those who deal in financial influence, not a small band of mad terrorist.
I read that someone said the Obama was a kind of Manchurian Candidate who came out of nowhere. That sounds like a movie made real but really if you look at that ideas/movie Bush is more the Manchurian Candidate who came into power in a kind of mysterious ways (Florida miscounts etc) and then destroys the nation with lies, a war that never needed to happen, a complete destruction of our budget surplus, torture, breaking the laws on spying on Americans, huge no bid contracts for corporate friends, scientific research results being altered by the VP to take out the dangerous findings and on and on. If there every was a mystery candidate(s) destined to overturn the power of America it is George and Dick.
I hope you are doing all you can to be informed. Become your own investigative reporter. The web is a huge resource full of information that is more accurate and more helpful than the corporate nightly news.
The definition of Liberal is open-minded and frankly I see that as the only hope for our nation. The old traditional ways got us in this mess. We are not a nation of whiners, (as those in power and extreme wealth might want us to think) we are a people who think on our own, who question, who expect the truth, and who know there is a better way than what we have been seeing over the past 8 years and more. Lets join together with those around us who care, and work for what can be a better America for and by the people.
The Inspiration Of The Tour De France
It is the Tour De France time of year and a joy to watch on Versus TV (versus.com). Every place they ride through makes me want to hop on a plane and go there to appreciate the beauty of France and all its history. I enjoy bike riding myself and would love to ride some of the courses but they are too long and some too steep.
What I am impressed with is the dedication and fitness level these guys have as they push their bodies and attempt to stretch their mind into new levels of possibilities. As a distance runner I know the feeling of pushing and exploring my limits. It feels uplifting to see what I can do even when it seems like I have gone as hard and far as I think I can.
How do you push yourself? Exploring what you are capable of can be more than just physical. Think of you mind and how it feels to: learn new things; to wrestle with a problem in search of a solution; stretch you mind around a bigger idea; and to open to higher levels of consciousness. An open mind knows no limits.
You can push yourself emotionally by allow the full range and color of your emotions to be experienced and expressed in more conscious and satisfying ways. Emotions as I said yesterday are energy in action as they flow through your body. You can stretch you heart to be so far open that loving everyone becomes who you are. You can feel so alive and joyous that you will light up every place you go. Can you allow yourself to feel in such an expansive way?
You can push yourself to live with such purpose that nothing can hold you back. You can do what you do with so much passion that everyone else is in awe of your energy and determination. You can believe so much in what you want that you can gather the forces of the universe to make it happen.
It is ok to push yourself, to dream big, to think expansively, to feel with infinite love, to know your higher nature in the silence of the fully awake moment.
You will know a freedom unlike any other when you give everything you got to making what you want happen. The world will jump for joy in celebration of you going for your best.
Don’t Let Your Emotions Take You Out
Personal Freedom is possible when you fully realize that you are a feeling human being capable of an incredibly wide range of emotions. Your feelings are real; they are responses to your thoughts and experiences. Each emotion is energy that is created by the workings of you mind in reaction to what is going on. You can be lifted high and filled with joy or you can be crying in a puddle of tears compliments of your feelings. You know because if you are at all alive you have ridden the roller coaster of life with its emotional ups and downs.
Emotions are neither good nor bad, right or wrong, they are simple your response/reaction. Let me clarify this by saying, all emotions that you have are acceptable; it is the behavior expressed that is sometimes less than acceptable. Yes emotions are powerful and you may do things in emotional states that you regret or feel not ok about. The better approach with feelings is simple to notice and acknowledge them and only act in a way that works for you.
Freedom begins on an emotional level when you are aware of what you feel and simply watch it as it vibrates through you. As you well know you can’t really hold onto emotions. Think of the last time you really felt great. If you tried to hold onto those feelings they slipped through your fingers. Emotions come and go on their own and there is no action needed except awareness and a willingness to accept all you feel.
In a past blog I posted an extensive list of feelings for you to explore to assist you in being more conscious of what is going on inside. This will help set you free. The better you can label what you feel the easier it is to acknowledge you as an emotional person. You and everyone else are emotional. Many people are just so uncomfortable with feeling that they deny and deny until they numb out. This numbing process is anything but liberating.
Your true independence is possible by fully feeling all that flows through you. This freedom allows you to just be with what is and to appreciate the aliveness that come with the feelings. Your feelings are truly a gift given to you so that your life is more of a kaleidoscope of possibilities. Feel free to enjoy.
{There is another blog entry posted here at my Another Viewpoint (top of blog menu). If you feel up to it and need something to stimulate your involvement in the political process, check out the article I have about voting machines. Today your involvement is need more than any other time in history. }
What Does Equanimity Mean For You?
Today I want to write about a topic that is in alignment with exploring how to create freedom in the form of inner peace and independence. The concept is called equanimity and is about being in a state of balance and non self-interference. This is balance of mind, body, heart, emotions and spirit, where each aspect is understood, acknowledged and taken care of for our own good.
The non self-interference is about staying out of our own way by having a calm and receptive mind, by being open in out heart, by doing our bodies no harm, by acknowledging and expressing our emotions, and by being receptive to our higher nature.
Here are qualities of equanimity worth exploring:
• Living in integrity by speaking and being your truth. In this state your word is powerful and can be trusted. You feel free to express yourself when you are aligned with what you know is true. Pay attention to the words you think and speak and make sure they are congruent with what you value.
• Developing your mind as a powerful ally in your life. This mind is clear and mindful. Mindfulness is the freedom of being fully aware. Pay attention to what is going on inside and out.
• Cultivating and enhancing your sense of well-being. Self- care is nurturing yourself to feel fully healthy and alive. Aliveness is freedom to fully express. Pay attention to what matters to your body and your life force.
• Seeking understanding and wisdom comes about from being aware and awake to each moment. This is the higher path beyond just the rational. Freedom is an inquiring mind. Pay attention to what your thirst to know and understand.
• Having the insight of seeing into the true nature of things as they are. You can let go when you see the impermanence of all things. Letting go is freedom. Pay attention to what you are hanging onto outside the light of insight.
• Releasing the reactivity in you makes you present to what is. You are free when you no longer are riding the waves of what other people think or feel. Pay attention to when your mind, heart or body contract, this is where there is release needed.
I hope you find these ideas provocative enough to make you want to find your balance and still fully be active in the world. Getting out of your own way is very liberating.
Make Today Full of Thoughts Of Personal Freedom
Another of way of setting yourself free is to take a bulldozer and clear out your past. The past in this case is the life experiences and memories that hold you back in today’s world. Anything you feel bad about, regrets you may have, people you need to forgive, old ideas and beliefs that limit you, and the unfinished business you may have with past situations, jobs, relationships etc. All the stuff from yesterday that still runs through your thoughts today.
The place to begin is with your self-talk. Pay close attention to what your self-talk is saying to you and where it came from. Any critical and judging self-talk is learned and most likely came from parents, teachers, ministers or other people of influence as you grew up. This inner dialogue needs to be updated so that it reflects your highest states of consciousness and awareness and not the limited programming you received growing up.
This updating is a constant process. Be aware that you are the programmer of your thoughts even if others have left their mark in the past. Today you can have any thoughts you want, all you have to do is direct them to fit with the kind of results you want. This is not a simple task; it needs to be done with lots of awareness and mindfulness.
Self-talk if it is unconscious can run you off course for many years if you don’t take back the mind from its past. Take the mind back by being aware of what is going in your thinking. Forgive what needs to be released. Let go of what you been needlessly hanging on to. Clear up unfinished business, that stuff that drains energy from you because it needs to be completed. If you have unexpressed emotions about the past, you may feel discomfort in your body. That discomfort needs to be taken care of or it will leave you unhealthy and bothered. This is old stuff is anything but freedom.
Lastly today, I invite you to pay particular attention to any ideas or beliefs that may have put a damn in the flow of your life. Ideas or beliefs about not deserving, not being enough, and in some way not ok are just simply faulty beliefs. That means these beliefs bouncing around in your head are not true, just something you learned. Move on and allow nothing less than your full acceptance of who you are and the loving of yourself no matter what. Anything less means you are holding you back.
Your independence is just a thought away. Think consciously and with compassion and you will be free.
Freedom Is In The Heart
Yesterday I wrote about the one of the lease conscious in talking about Rush Limbaugh. I did so because he represents a large part of our country, which tends to be dysfunctional on an emotional, compassionate and higher knowing level. Dysfunctional in that there is a dominance of the past, of holding onto the negative, of limited thinking, of fear driven decision making, of faulty beliefs, of a false sense of sureness driven by thoughts without heart. The great rational mind is mostly useless without heart.
So as part of the work to free our lives, there is a need to have a heart that is open and willing to feel. You and I were given a heart to feel, to love, and to sense the truth. This ability to sense beyond the rational is one of the great gifts we were given. Having compassion and being able to love, make our lives worth living. Human nature at its highest is about love as the great teachers have all told us.
Fear is the opposite of love. Fear is the contracted state in which we protect ourselves. Much of the world’s problems are about people and nations being fear. Expanding the state of fear is the way governments for centuries have controlled the masses. This small band of terrorist that has the world held hostage at this is time is because we allow fear to run us. There is no doubt that all terrorism would be eliminated is we showed love and compassion for all human beings. When all basic needs are met there are not terrorists.
The best thing we can do as individuals is to listen to our fears and then call on our heart to teach us a higher way to resolve the problems. There can be no real fear when we have an open heart.
If you as an individual want to make yourself totally free, you must follow the wisdom of your heart and let love be your guiding force. I will write more the power of love in the coming weeks. Please let your heart shine.
Why Do Guys Listen To Rush Limbaugh?
(Excuse my rant today but I had to say something about this man who seems like such a destructive force. I will return to my focus of personal independence tomorrow.)
Recently I read the Rush Limbaugh sign a contract for 400 Million dollars and he said he was going to keep doing his radio show until everyone thought like he did. This is a man with a massive ego and arrogance that is off the scales. I can’t imagine why anyone would listen to him but many guys do. People who spend so much time take inventory of others usually have a poor sense of self. His moral superiority is enough to make me wonder about what he has hiding in his dark side. The world already knows that prescription drugs have been one of his nemeses. What else lurks in the underbelly of such a person that spreads so much hate and misinformation?
I have some theories as to why guys listen to Rush. What do you think? Here are some possibilities:
They listen because they are angry and don’t know what to do with all they feel inside
They have lazy minds and prefer to have others tell them how to think
They have self-loathing for who they are
They have worked in jobs where they only saw the worst in people (police, military, prison guards are examples)
They watch Fox News and actually believe all the misinformation and opinions there
They have lost touch with their hearts and are unable to feel compassion
They have for too long denied their emotions and are now a volcano of repression
They have become desperate about life and hateful about the future
They have experienced hurt and loss and never healed
They have lost touch with the Spirit in themselves
They ignored their purpose and are living against what they know it right for them
They are sad or depressed and don’t know how to get help
They have an alcohol or drug problem and are stuck at the emotional maturity level of a young upset teenager.
Whatever the reason, we need to find a way to bring these guys back home to their hearts and to a sense of humanity that it positive, hopeful, accepting, compassionate and willing to understand.
Yeah For Independence Day
Happy 4th of July to you! I so much appreciate the idea of an Independence Day celebration. This particular holiday is in honor of our country breaking from the oppression of British rule. That breaking from the rule of others set our nation on a powerful course to greatness. Today I want to request that you to declare yourself free from the oppression of you thoughts, your limiting beliefs, your past conditioning, your emotional memories, your fears and anything else that may be holding you back from being free.
We were a nation built on freedom. This freedom is in trouble today because we have gone far too long without setting ourselves free, without declaring our own independence from our past and our fears. I invite you to take some time today and over the next few days to assess what in your past is holding you back and what fears are keeping you from your fullest expression. This self-assessment is important because you are your own greatest oppressor. Isn’t it time you freed yourself once and for all?
The following are some ways we hold ourselves back in a world that seems so fear driven:
• Watching nightly news feeds your fears and it totally misrepresents the reality of your community and the world
• Believing what you were told growing up without questioning it as an adult
• Giving authority to those in power when you and I should be taking back the power of the people
• Allow your past to limit you today by not reprogramming your mind
• Letting your self-talk be judgmental and self-critical and not supportive and loving
• Blocking your heart off so you are not hurt instead of being open to love
• Closing your mind to the ideas of others being sure you know better
• Losing touch with your compassionate heart as you judge others as not ok
• Finding and focusing on the faults of yourself and others keeps you down
• Blaming and complaining zaps your energy and attracts more crap to blame and complain about
• Forgetting that you are one with the creative source of the universe and connected to every living thing
• Not paying attention to your intuition and inner knowing that is there to set you free
• Forgetting there is a stream of well-being available through your higher self if you are open to receive
None of the above are bad, they are just the way you and I have limited ourselves by way of the influences in our lives. What else holds you back?
As you explore and find your own limits, hold them in the light of your heart and then let them go. Start freeing yourself today by releasing the past and saying goodbye to fear.
The most powerful limits are within your mind and the only real terrorists are your thoughts and a closed heart.
Peace and Happy Independence Day to you!!!
We were a nation built on freedom. This freedom is in trouble today because we have gone far too long without setting ourselves free, without declaring our own independence from our past and our fears. I invite you to take some time today and over the next few days to assess what in your past is holding you back and what fears are keeping you from your fullest expression. This self-assessment is important because you are your own greatest oppressor. Isn’t it time you freed yourself once and for all?
The following are some ways we hold ourselves back in a world that seems so fear driven:
• Watching nightly news feeds your fears and it totally misrepresents the reality of your community and the world
• Believing what you were told growing up without questioning it as an adult
• Giving authority to those in power when you and I should be taking back the power of the people
• Allow your past to limit you today by not reprogramming your mind
• Letting your self-talk be judgmental and self-critical and not supportive and loving
• Blocking your heart off so you are not hurt instead of being open to love
• Closing your mind to the ideas of others being sure you know better
• Losing touch with your compassionate heart as you judge others as not ok
• Finding and focusing on the faults of yourself and others keeps you down
• Blaming and complaining zaps your energy and attracts more crap to blame and complain about
• Forgetting that you are one with the creative source of the universe and connected to every living thing
• Not paying attention to your intuition and inner knowing that is there to set you free
• Forgetting there is a stream of well-being available through your higher self if you are open to receive
None of the above are bad, they are just the way you and I have limited ourselves by way of the influences in our lives. What else holds you back?
As you explore and find your own limits, hold them in the light of your heart and then let them go. Start freeing yourself today by releasing the past and saying goodbye to fear.
The most powerful limits are within your mind and the only real terrorists are your thoughts and a closed heart.
Peace and Happy Independence Day to you!!!
Desire, Design, Deserve, Destiny
I was contemplating personal freedom and these four words came to me. Let me tell you about each idea because they are powerful.
Desire is to want something more in your life. Desire is a very powerful urge in you to further express yourself. This urge calls you to be more and express more. Sure there are desires that are less important but everything that you want has a purpose. Some would even say a higher purpose. If inside this call is heard then you know it is important. Desire and purpose are closely related. They are guiding forces inviting the best in you. What is the most powerful desire you feel right now?
Design means to plan and create what you can envision. To design your life means to take charge of your thoughts and feelings so that they align with the energy needed to create what you want. A design that matters to you is filled with your life force and you are inspired to make it happen. The urge to be creative is a powerful one. You are here to design your life to make a difference for you and those you touch. What are you feeling the call to design, to create, to manifest in the world?
Deserve means that you have come to the place of realization that you are somebody worth knowing, that you have something to offer, to you are ok just as you are. This sense of deserving can feel like a real lifetime project. Make it brief instead because then you will get out of your own way. Nothing holds us back more than our selves. You know that because you have felt yourself limiting what is possible. Real freedom comes when you love yourself and get out of the way of the flow of the universe. How to you doubt yourself today and are you willing to let that go?
Destiny is what you have come here in this life to express. Your unique and amazing mission is unlike anyone else’s. There never was nor will there ever be anyone here on this planet just like you. Only you can do what you are here to do. Is that clear? You and only you have what it takes to accomplish your mission. Your destiny if you choose to accept it, is to free yourself to be the greatness inside waiting to be expressed. Are you willing to go for it starting today?
The world is in waiting for you to express yourself as fully and completely as you can. Are you ready to start now?. Ok Begin!
An Open Mind Equals Personal Freedom
Yesterday I wrote about mindfulness as a powerful step toward your true independence. I will share more about mindfulness as we go forward. Today however I wanted to write about the freedom that comes from an open mind. What is an open mind and how do you and I open ours and keep it open?
An open mind is one that is able to take in a variety of ideas and be comfortable with a wide range of possibilities. To be open a mind has to put aside the judging of everybody and everything as either good or bad. An open mind is impartial and able to see things from a variety of points of view. An open mind can see the bigger picture beyond the biases and beliefs.
An open mind is a wonderful asset for all of humanity. Here are a few ways to checkout if your mind is open or not:
• Can you appreciate points of view opposite of yours?
• Can you rise above the moral judging and see the greater truth?
• Can you explore other perspectives and be open to expanding yours?
• Can you see the connection we all share and feel the unity of all things?
• Can you let go of past beliefs and now search for truth?
• Can you listen with compassion and be receptive to how others view the world?
• Can you see beyond black and white, either or, this or that?
• Can you keep your mind open to those who don’t live up to your expectations?
• Can you bring yourself to think bigger and experience more of what life has to offer?
• Can you imagine that you are just a speck on a tiny planet situated in a huge galaxy, surrounded by an infinite number of other galaxies?
• Can you let go of the past and bring your mind and thoughts fully into the present?
• Can you feel the greatness in you and see it those you interact with?
• Can you fully and completely accept yourself and others?
• Can you allow the love and joy that is your nature be fully expressed?
Be the open mind and let you light shine across the universe.
July - Your Month For Real Freedom
Make July Independence Month and set yourself free. Throughout this month I am going to write at least several articles a week on ways to deepen your awareness, to expand your consciousness, and how to unblock what is holding you back from being the success you want to be. I am excited about July because my wife and I are going to daily do things to open us up to a rich flow of success and prosperity.
I want to begin with the idea of Mindfulness and the importance of expanding your consciousness. To be mindful is to be present to what is going on inside of you at a number of levels. Mindfulness means you are aware of what you are thinking and your self-talk. Mindfulness means you are aware of your feelings and the way of your heart. Mindfulness means you are in touch with your senses, you gut, your intuition, you higher self, your spirit/soul. Mindfulness means you are awake to all that is around you.
I invite you to begin paying attention to yourself and all that goes on inside and around you. Mindfulness takes practice but the rewards are substantial. The more mindful you are, the better you know how to shape your life.
Here are some brief mindfulness exercises for you to explore:
• Become aware of your breath throughout the day. This brings you into the present moment.
• Notice what your senses are aware of during whatever you are doing. This is mindfulness that smells, touches, tastes, sees, and listens.
• Be aware of your body as you move. Walking in awareness is a great form of mindfulness practice.
• Sit quietly and listen inward, become present to your interior landscape. This will take you deep into your inner knowing.
• Practice meditation. There are many forms. Find a teacher and learn the basic techniques of a particular practice.
• Sing songs that inspire you and be aware of yourself as you do so. Singing is also a powerful way to be fully present.
• Eat with awareness. Slow down and appreciate each bite. Eating in a relaxed manner will expand your sense of enjoyment and help you be mindful.
• Expressing yourself creatively is a wonderful way to practice mindfulness. When doing art or crafts most are fully in the moment and all you have to do is tune in as you create.
• Waiting in line, cleaning up, washing dishes, driving to work and much more all can be done mindfully. Create your own ways of being present and aware.
Welcome to July and may it be very fruitful and liberating to you in wonderful ways.
I want to begin with the idea of Mindfulness and the importance of expanding your consciousness. To be mindful is to be present to what is going on inside of you at a number of levels. Mindfulness means you are aware of what you are thinking and your self-talk. Mindfulness means you are aware of your feelings and the way of your heart. Mindfulness means you are in touch with your senses, you gut, your intuition, you higher self, your spirit/soul. Mindfulness means you are awake to all that is around you.
I invite you to begin paying attention to yourself and all that goes on inside and around you. Mindfulness takes practice but the rewards are substantial. The more mindful you are, the better you know how to shape your life.
Here are some brief mindfulness exercises for you to explore:
• Become aware of your breath throughout the day. This brings you into the present moment.
• Notice what your senses are aware of during whatever you are doing. This is mindfulness that smells, touches, tastes, sees, and listens.
• Be aware of your body as you move. Walking in awareness is a great form of mindfulness practice.
• Sit quietly and listen inward, become present to your interior landscape. This will take you deep into your inner knowing.
• Practice meditation. There are many forms. Find a teacher and learn the basic techniques of a particular practice.
• Sing songs that inspire you and be aware of yourself as you do so. Singing is also a powerful way to be fully present.
• Eat with awareness. Slow down and appreciate each bite. Eating in a relaxed manner will expand your sense of enjoyment and help you be mindful.
• Expressing yourself creatively is a wonderful way to practice mindfulness. When doing art or crafts most are fully in the moment and all you have to do is tune in as you create.
• Waiting in line, cleaning up, washing dishes, driving to work and much more all can be done mindfully. Create your own ways of being present and aware.
Welcome to July and may it be very fruitful and liberating to you in wonderful ways.
Healing Your Past Perceptions
I had a massage from Heidi our very intuitive, healer, massage therapist friend Saturday. She worked with me in a way that helped me gained some insights and understanding about parts of the past I was holding onto. I was recently in Oregon for my dad’s 80th birthday and I had some more of the puzzle fall into place. This puzzle was about how I was getting in my own way in life. Heidi’s bodywork and questions assisted me in linking my past with my present.
It seems my Dad had more of a limiting affect on me than I realized. That is not meant to blame my father but to look at how I interpreted his life from my child eyes and experiences. I was the oldest of 6 children and as each brother or sister came along Dad seemed to go away more. He became a very busy citizen, community leader, Rotarian and worked lots of hours. I am sure he was doing what he felt necessary to provide for us. He was also clearly overwhelmed at home and seemed to try to put a damper on all the energy that flowed with all of us kids. My guess was he was trying to figure out how to survive the chaos he had created.
As I look back he did not seem happy about his work or his life at home. I at some mostly unconscious level decided I didn’t want anything to do with the life he created. I have no children (although as a therapist, I have worked at re-parenting many people over the years). I have not joined any of the civic organization my dad joined. I am more introverted and dad was more extraverted. He is conservative in his politics and thoughts. I am liberal and progressive. His emotions are mostly contained and I feel more being intuitive and sensitive person. He worked hard and lots for money. I can’t seem to work for money, it has to be to help others.
Dad is just fine the way he is and I am just fine the way I am. There is however inside of me some limiting thoughts about my deserving, my being ok with not struggling like my dad. I am the anti of my dad’s unhappy times. However something I learned or interpreted along the way has blocked the flow of abundance that I feel I deserve. Excuse my complicated explanation but putting it clearly into words is something I am still sorting out myself.
I am writing all of this as a way to share with you that even after all these years of deep inner work with myself and the many I have helped, I still have further growth to accomplish. I am confident that you do also. Here is what I am going to do to encourage the growth and opening I want and need:
• I am going to focus on my own inner peace through meditation
• I am going to use EFT/Tapping (If interested, do a search at Tap Into Heaven.com to find out more) for some inner reprogramming
• I am going to journal about my new insights
• I am going to look for positive results and celebrate the further opening.
• I will continue to seek the feedback of others.
• I am going to open more fully to the power and energy of my potential to fully express myself
• I am going to open to the flow and the effortless possibilities as if I fully deserve.
What are you going to do to move yourself forward to the next level of your fullest and highest expression. Life is an experiment, what life testing would your benefit from? Let me know if I can be of assistance.
(In July I am going to write a series of articles about how you and I can make this month a real time of personal independence from our past, our limiting ideas and beliefs, our emotional blocks and anything else inside that might be keeping us from being free, from fully expression the greatness inside. The world needs all of us at our best so we can protect our planet and guide humanity down a enlightened path for the well-being of all of us.)
Busy Sunday and Healing Thoughts
This Sunday has been too full of activity. My nap I just finished was so refreshing and renewing. So also was the walk through the woods this morning with my wife Bobbi and our your dog Pax. Nature is such a wonderful healer.
Since the walk we did our weeks grocery shopping and Sunflower Market. I checked in with one of my recovery clients who works there. She is doing ok but could use some support. We also took Pax to Petco for a self-serve bath. An the day or rest has flown by way to fast.
I am doing some inner work/healing and I will write more about that tomorrow because I think you will find my process helpful. Tapping into the unconscious, into our childhood programming, understanding our interpretations of life, and listening inward to what we can know all allow healing to take place. This healing may come in the form of rewriting our beliefs or redoing our understandings about life.
Awareness and insight are very helpful for helping you and I as we try to move on from whatever holds us back.
Peace and Religion
I hope you have some fun planned for this last weekend of June. Where did this month go? I got some very good news this week from a professional editor who reviewed my novel/tale about a blog authored by a God that might be considered not quite traditional. The editor gave me some very good ideas for making the book better and they shouldn’t take too much time. I will work on it this weekend so my blog entries will be brief. Today I want to share with you two quotes, one about peace and the other about peace and religion. As you know from reading here at my blog these two topics are favorites of mine. I hope you find some inspiration in these words that could be inspired by the God in my novel.
“Peace
It does not mean to be in a place
Where there is no noise, trouble,
Or hard work. It means to be in
The midst of those things and still
Be calm in your heart.” Unknown
“Properly understood, religion can be
a source of peace. But when it’s interpreted
by egotism, greed and selfishness – the very
things religion is struggling to free us from –
it can become lethal,” Karen Armstrong
Have a good day and let peace be part of each moment.
Are You Ready To Leap Into Your Greatness?
I have to admit to being a basketball junky and last night was the NBA draft and my favorite team the Portland Trailblazers had a good night. I enjoy reading about all these players but it is watching them play that is the most fun. I grew watching lots of sports and over the years have become less interested. But when it comes to the Trailblazers, especially now that they are in a positive direction again, I just can’t get enough inside information.
Blogs are great for inside information. If you read my blog and others you get what interests us and even though I love basketball, I hardly ever write about it because I think peace, consciousness, purpose and progressive ideas/politics are more important to write about. I write about what stirs me, what inspires my imagination, about what lifts me up from the ordinary and challenges me to be extraordinary. Speaking of raising yourself up, maybe that is what I like about sports, to see athletes raise their game to new heights in the pursuit of being the best player and team they can be.
I love to watch excellence in action whether it is flying through the air or uplifting the world with thoughts. What in you wants to be set free enough to fly into a higher stratosphere of personal expression? If you could leap into any kind of greatness where would you leap? If you could be your best fantasy of a life, what would it look like? If you could go for and achieve whatever you desire, what would that be?
Take a leap like these young players are going to do. They have an opportunity to be great if they are willing to put in the effort. There are gifted people and then there are the rest of us who just open up, commit to doing what it takes, and go for what we want.
Have a good weekend and listen inward to the silent call inviting you to be even more. There are vast inner resources in you waiting to be tapped. Have fun exploring and expressing.