Archive for ‘Designing ME’

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July 12th, 2010

Levels of Consciousness

Anyone can travel the path towards enlightenment. It can be as easy as a decision. Enlightenment is not something that is reserved to a special few or to the extraordinarily intelligent and wise. We are all powerful beings, gifted with countless opportunities and the ability to make countless choices. Why not choose to practice stillness and transcend our spirits to higher levels of consciousness? Life in modern day society can be pretty chaotic and hectic yet within all of that hustle and bustle rests the still and present YOU, quietly observing it’s Ego Self that may be caught in lower levels of consciousness than your actual Real Self. You may not achieve enlightenment in an instant (although I’ve heard it’s possible) but you can lift your spirit up a few levels when you choose to be still and notice.

The levels of consciousness are sometimes referred to as (and in the order as follows); shame, guilt, apathy, grief, fear, desire, anger, pride, courage, neutrality, willingness, acceptance, reason, love, joy, peace, and enlightenment.

Where is your consciousness resting in this very moment? And, where would you like it to be? Where are you choosing to go from here?


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June 28th, 2010

Create a New YOU by letting go!

Life is not as much about finding yourself as it is about creating yourself!

When we want to “find” ourselves we electively embark upon a personal growth journey and push ourselves out of our shells, continually trying out new things, exploring the world and ourselves in it and incrementally we grow by expanding our comfort zones. This is how we learn that we can be bigger, better and happier than we previously thought possible. It is a given that pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone can be quite intimidating at first, otherwise it wouldn’t be called a “comfort zone” now would it? But, anything worth achieving is quite often very scary at first.

People who hold onto their fears and always choose to “play it safe” simply do not grow (at least not electively so). They merely respond and react to whatever life brings along and for the most part try as hard as they possibly can to stay exactly where they are at. Which will bring more fear and unhappiness to their lives since the only thing given in life is that everything evolves and changes… always! Plus, “playing it safe” and resisting change doesn’t sound like a recipe for a fun life now does it?

So the question is; Who are YOU really when you’re not holding back?

The answer to this question applies to any and all areas of our lives. What could you create and what kind of relationships would you have if you did not care about what other’s thought of you, if you were not concerned about being judged or about receiving someone’s approval. I ask myself those same exact questions when that little doubtful voice wants to pop up, the one I call “little me”. What if you always lived, acted and created as the “BIG ME”? So who is the “BIG” YOU? Who would you BE if you weren’t trying to hold onto what you know and what feels safe and comfortable? Is it possible that you’d be more YOU? Utterly amazing, wonderful, laid back, joyful, fun-loving, creative and carefree YOU!

If you feel its time to Create a New YOU, you can start by letting go of all the made up inhibitions that no longer serve you. Who are YOU when you are not attached to The Story of You? Who are you when you let go of the need for other people’s approval?

If you let go a little, you will be happy a little. If you let go a lot, you will be happy a lot. But, if you let go completely… you will be FREE!

Have fun letting go… :)

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June 18th, 2010

What are YOU thinking??!!

There are sayings that start with; “blessed are the simple…” and whether they end with ’simple in heart’ or ’simple in mind’ there is great truth in those words. It seems that the people who suffer the most are not necessarily the ones who are living in the poorest of situations but the ones who THINK the most.

It so happens that we have this neat, little organ in our heads that we call our brain and it really, truly likes to think! Which in principle is perfect for that is exactly what it is designed to do. Our brain does its job so well that it can even do it without noticing what it is doing and without seeing its job as ‘a job’. Our brain is continually scanning, reading and interpreting whatever reaches its way through the stimuli’s of sight, sound, touch and smell.

The glitch in this otherwise perfectly designed system is that it is so perfect in fact that we often may not know how to use it. Instead of us using our brain as the clever and productive organ that it is, we end up finding ourselves being ‘used by our brains’. If we buy into, believe and react to every whimsical notion that will inevitably be produced by this amazing organ, we will be nothing more than slaves to our creative minds. But, why worry about that! “Worry is a misuse of the imagination”.

Instead, it may be time to fundamentally examine where your thoughts are coming from. Even the simplest of thoughts come from somewhere. Our sensors are influenced by our own unique perspectives or the filter from which we in essence view our lives from. Our perspectives are based on our past experiences and it seems accurate to state that none of us have had the same exact life experiences. We are born into different countries, cultures, families, values, and beliefs and in effect have quite a few filters through which we are taught to view the world. So who is to say that your specific perspective is the absolute true perspective? Is it possible that your brain plays many tricks on you?

Over-thinking, over-analyzing, and over-identifying with your thoughts will only lead to unhappiness. If you did not have the thoughts you have now, how would you be feeling differently? Could it be that everything in your life is really perfect and wonderful but your filter is flawed and blurry?

Byron Katie says; “Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don’t have to like it… it’s just easier if you do.”

Byron Katie’s famous teachings called “The Work” asks people to examine limiting thoughts by asking the following four questions:

1. Is it true? (If the answer is “No,” move to #3)
2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true?
3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
4. Who would you be without the thought?
Turn the thought around.
Find three genuine examples of how the turnaround is as true or truer in your life.
Can you find other turnarounds?
How are these turnarounds true in your life?
Give examples.

Byron Katie’s “The Work” is actually a very simple, yet effective way of examining your thoughts and limiting beliefs. If you want more information about The Work you can visit www.thework.com

So what are YOU really, truly thinking??!!

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June 10th, 2010

Are you the most vibrant, creative and fulfilled YOU imaginable?

Are you the most vibrant, creative and fulfilled YOU imaginable?

If so, more POWER to YOU! You got it, and you’ve apparently got the whole point of not even trying to GET IT! Whatever IT may be! If you’re not quite there yet… by all means, read on…

Vibrancy, creativity and fulfillment cannot be ‘found’ outside of you. There is nothing in this world that can make you feel any of those feelings, no praise, no glory, no money and no power can give you complete fulfillment. But, creativity can…

Creativity is the expression of your soul. It is through creative being and doing that we feel connected to Greatness and we connect with a higher sense of Being. So, how do we know if we’re being creative? Creativity is not something we can exactly plan, seek or capture. Creativity is something that simply happens yet only when we allow it to happen. It is the state you’re in when you feel like you’re in “the flow” or “in the zone” and whatever you’re being and doing is somehow being created from your soul’s core. Everyday “rules” seize to exist, there is no absolute right or wrong when it comes to creativity, there simply IS. You’re at the essence of your being, creating what you came here to create, giving your gift to the world, even if it’s only to yourself or to one other being. When we’re being creative, we feel vibrant and alive and we are nourished by a source greater than anything found in the physical world, giving us a tremendous sense of fulfillment. When we’re in ‘the zone’ of creativity time tends to become abstract, and we forget about our worries and may even ‘forget’ thirst and hunger altogether. We are simply BE-ing.

We’re all created in the image of the Creator, meaning we’re created to create! Whatever your creative outlet may be; dancing, reading, researching, learning, teaching, nurturing, painting, singing, acting, writing, composing, designing, assembling, building and so on, this is the essence of you, and what you’re here to do, but most importantly here to BE.

When we connect with our inborn creativity everything makes sense, even when it doesn’t. We’re connected to something greater than ourselves. We’re on purpose; we’re expressing and sharing our true selves. The greatest gift we can give to ourselves is time devoted to being creative, and let whatever wants to come out – come out!

So are you connected with your most vibrant, creative and fulfilled self? Is it time to make room for more CREATIVITY in YOUR life?

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June 6th, 2010

Where can one always find happiness?

The following is an excerpt from Sufis The People of the Path, Vol 1 # 10/
courtesy Osho International Foundation/www.osho.com

Where can one always find happiness?

“See the dictionary under the letter ‘h’ — only there will you always find happiness. In life things are very mixed up. Day and night are together, so are happiness and unhappiness. Life and death are together, so is everything. Life is rich because of polar opposites. The very idea that one would like to be happy forever is stupid. the very idea will create only unhappiness and nothing else. You will become more and more miserable because more and more you will be missing your so-called eternal happiness. Your greed is too much.
Then who is the happy person? The happy person is not one who is always happy. The happy person is one who is happy even when there is unhappiness. Try to understand it. The happy person is one who understands life and accepts its polarities. He knows success is possible only because failure is also possible. So when failure comes he accepts it.
I remember one incident of my childhood. A great wrestler had come to my town. Everybody was very interested in wrestling, so the whole town had gathered. I have seen many people and many wrestlers in my life but he was really rare. He had something of Zen in him.
For ten days the wrestling continued, and every day he defeated a famous wrestler. Finally he was declared to be the winner. The day he was declared to be the winner he went around and touched the feet of all the ten persons whom he had defeated.
Everybody was puzzled about why he did it. I was a small child, I went to him and I asked him, ‘Why did you do that? This is strange.’
He said, ‘It is only because of them that I am victorious. If they had not allowed themselves to be defeated, I would not be victorious. So I owe it to them. My victory depends on their defeat, so really I feel greatly thankful to them. There was only one possibility: either I was to be defeated or they were to be defeated. And they are good people, they accepted defeat.’
This is a very Sufi or Zen idea. Things are interdependent: failure/success, happiness/unhappiness, summer/winter, youth/old age, beauty/ugliness — all are interdependent, they exist together. And the man who starts seeking one pole against the other pole is getting into unnecessary trouble. It is not possible, he is desiring the impossible; and he will get very frustrated.
Then what should the attitude be? When happiness comes, enjoy happiness; when unhappiness comes, enjoy unhappiness. When there is happiness, dance with it; when there is unhappiness, cry with it. That’s what I mean when I say ‘Enjoy’. Unhappiness is a must. If you can accept unhappiness as smoothly as you welcome happiness, you will transcend both. In that very acceptance is transcendence. Then unhappiness and happiness will not make much difference to you, you will remain the same. When there is sadness you will have a taste of it; and when there is joy you will have a taste of it. And sometimes bitter things also taste beautiful.
And sadness has something of depth in it which no happiness can ever have. Happiness has something shallow. Laughter always looks shallow, tears always look deep. If you want to be happy always you will become a shallow person, a superficial person. Sometimes it is good to fall into the depths, dark depths, dismal depths of sadness. Both are good. And one should be total in both. Whatsoever happens, go totally into it. When crying, become the crying, and when dancing, become the dance. Then the ultimate happens to you. By and by you forget the distinction between what happiness is and what unhappiness is. You enjoy both! So by and by the distinction disappears. And when the distinction has disappeared, there arises something which is eternally there, which remains always there. That is witnessing.”

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June 6th, 2010

We have the capacity to “manufacture” happiness.

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May 26th, 2010

Who are you “really” BE-ing? Are you the ‘odd one out’?

To some people, BE-ing comes easy. They simply know who they are and aren’t afraid to express it and BE it!  To the rest of us, “who I am at the ‘core of my being’” is something we seek, and explore, and eventually discover or grow into later on in life.  Then again, some of us never come out of our shells.  Some will spend so much time and attention on BE-ing who we ‘think’ we’re supposed to BE that we don’t make time to give who we ‘really’ are any specific thought or attention.

Every single one of us has been raised with some ‘conditioning’ and we learn how to act and ‘behave’, and how to ‘stay out of trouble’ and ‘get approval’.  Then as the years pass and we mature and grow into our independence we may choose to search and discover our ‘true’ identity?  Doesn’t everyone want to simply BE who we really are, and long for the strength and courage to effortlessly BE that, whatever that may BE?  I wonder…

Whether we give our ‘identity’ much conscious thought or not, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of us see ourselves quite differently from the way we’re perceived by others? Perhaps you’re the extrovert in your ‘clan’ but as much as there is the social, outspoken side to you there’s also the quiet, reflective persona that many, if not most, never get the honor of meeting. Maybe it is the other way around and you’re the quiet, humble and somewhat mysterious one on the outside, but within you dwells a dynamic performer longing to shine through ever so brightly.

Who are you really? And why are you here? And why in this specific point in time? If you could’ve chosen any other time in history, and chosen any other family, town and country to belong to, why would you have picked NOW as your time to show up and BE here? What is this all about? What are you here to do or who are you here to BE?

These types of questions have always been roaming around in my head (and soul).  A part of me was always quiet and observant, taking note of the life outside of me, noticing everyone else’s life stories while I was somewhat disconnected with my own.  In a way I didn’t feel like I truly belonged in my family, or in the neighborhoods we lived in or in the schools I went to, or even in the country I was born in.  I remember this lonely feeling of not ‘fitting in’ and almost feeling as if I’d been misplaced.  I didn’t get it.  I felt ‘weird’.  There had to be something ‘wrong’ with ME.  I loved my family, and loved my friends, neighbors and fellow countrymen but I absolutely felt like the ‘odd one out’.

Interestingly enough, I’ve learned to love being the ‘odd one out’ because that simply means that I’m BE-ing ME!  And, guess what!?  Every single one of us is unique and different.  I’ve had the pleasure and honor of meeting so many people, from all over the world who’ve talked about this same exact feeling of ‘not fitting in’ and being the ‘odd one out’.  I guess we’re all much more alike than we think we are:)

What if being ‘odd’ was the norm?  When are we going to fully embrace and nurture our amazing differences?  Life definitely wouldn’t be as interesting if we didn’t have all these different colors to observe and enjoy.  Even though our paths are different we’re all headed the same way.  We’re here to grow and evolve, and shine as brightly as we can while we’re here.  So here’s to BE-ing YOU!  Go out there and bravely BE the ‘odd one out’ and put YOUR colorful mark on the world!

Related Post: “Here’s to the “crazy” ones…”

Posted in Designing ME, MY Life, Personal Growth and Development, Social Commentary | 2 Comments »

May 24th, 2010

I am open, LOVING and thankful!

When you have an open, loving and thankful heart life is nothing short of perfect! Nothing really ticks you off that much and whatever occurs in your life you can handle because you know how to reconnect with love and recreate harmony and balance.

How open, loving and thankful are you in your heart?

Here are some questions for you to answer for yourself:

How open am I towards other people’s uniqueness and their differences from me and what I know?
• I am very open
• I am somewhat open
• I am a little open
• I am somewhat closed
• I am very closed.

How judgmental am I of other people?
• Very judgmental
• Somewhat judgmental
• A little judgmental
• Somewhat non-judgmental
• Very non-judgmental

How genuinely loving and affectionate am I towards other people?
• Very loving
• Quite loving
• A little loving
• Quite un-loving
• Very un-loving

How thankful am I for the people in my life and how expressive am I of gratitude towards them?
• I am very thankful / grateful
• I am quite thankful / grateful
• I am sometimes thankful / grateful
• I am quite unthankful / ungrateful
• I am very unthankful / ungrateful

The truth is that whenever you feel you are out of balance in your relationships with other people it is time for you to do something about YOU!

Our issues with other people have less to do with them than they have to do with ourselves. Are you lovingly asking for what you want and coming from a place of love in doing so? Do you feel that receiving other people’s love is based on fulfilling their conditions? Are you yourself being conditional in your expressions of love towards others?

How do you suppose you are really, truly coming across? How are you conveying your message and your point of view? What do your actions say? What are your words saying? Do your words come out clearly in your actions? What are your facial expressions conveying? How are you really communicating with other people?

What we give is usually very close to what we get! Which means that we have to start “owning the message” we give out to the world.

If we give a little love, we may get a little love, if we show a little acceptance, we may get a little acceptance, if we demonstrate a little gratitude, we may get a little gratitude, and so on an so forth. The same goes for not giving any of these things, if we do not give any, we can’t be upset about not getting any. Yet, our whole motive cannot be about giving it “only” so we can “get” it! That’s not being unconditionally loving and it won’t trick anyone for long.

Have you noticed how everybody loves being around people who know how to be unconditionally loving, and how those same loving people also seem to know how to respect and love themselves. Being an unconditionally loving person means we love without conditions, we are not expecting anything just because we are giving our love, but even so it still does NOT mean that we give our power away and take whatever we get and accept it!

read more »

Posted in Affirmations, Designing ME, Personal Growth and Development, Positive Thinking, Tools and Techniques | 2 Comments »

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May 18th, 2010

Will Smith’s Shares his Wisdom

“I have a great time with my life and I want to share it!”

“Greatness is not this wonderful esoteric, elusive, God-like feature that only the special among us will ever taste. It is something that truly exists in all of us. It’s very simple. This is what I believe and I am willing to die for it.”

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May 15th, 2010

“Top 10 List of Priorities”

Sometimes we are so utterly out of tune with ourselves and our true needs. I have been experiencing restlessness, rush and perceived pressure in the past few weeks as I’m finding myself wanting to create so many things at the same time and wanting to impact so many people, that I end up forgetting about myself in the process. I start to ignore my body, mind and spirit and push my well-being off of my “Top 10 List of Priorities”.

In order to truly move forward we so often forget that the real trick is to S L O W down! When one travels at 100 miles an hour to nowhere the end destination is always a crash and burn.

The interesting part about our daily stresses and pressure is that in one way or another it is 100% created by our selves or in fact, our egos. This is somewhat encouraging to realize because it means that I, and YOU can just as well un-create whatever perception it is we created. Your ego created the mess, stress and pressure (or in some cases calm) that you are in at any given moment by placing itself in a story about what, who and how you are and are supposed to be. Our minds (egos) place meaning into tasks, things and thoughts that enter our existence and it is essentially our choice if we believe those perceptions or not. The I, who created the perceived mess that I’m in can choose to step outside of the turmoil, see it for what it really is (a created reality or perception) and choose to part with it and redesign my reality in a way that better serves me.

In my life, in this very moment this means that I will choose to slow down and place my health and wellbeing at the top of my list of priorities which includes creating time to prepare and enjoy nutritious foods, exercise, simplify my surroundings and do what I know will soothe my mind and spirit. What soothes my mind and my spirit is getting back to and being in alignment with my values and creating time to do what I enjoy the most which is reading and writing, and being with my children.

So what do you have on your “Top 10 List of Priorities”, and how can you restructure and redesign your life so your list of priorities will truly honor and serve you in your life?

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