Gracias, Parte 2!

I wanted to add on to Lindsey's comments about gratitude because it is such an important topic. It is such an amazing shift we feel when we switch where into we are putting our thought energy - from lack to gratitude. It is an obvious, tangible, feeling that completely changes your current state of being and it is sets us up into alignment with what we truly want more of. In coaching we would call this 'resonance'. When we are 'in resonance' we are aligned with our values and our vision and it gives us a sense of fulfillment, right now.

Another dimension to this principle of gratitude that attracts even more of what we want into our lives is to be thankful for even the things we do not have yet but which are in our vision for the future. This creates a direct connection to the state of being, having and doing for which we are striving. Being grateful for all the things that WILL come into our lives acts as a powerful magnet to attract those very things.

Gracias!

A couple of days ago, I was really feeling a lot of stress. I felt like a lot of bad things were happening to me in a short amount of time. I find that it is really dangerous to fall into a space of bad fortune. If your not careful, you can begin to attract even more bad things. As I started to feel my threshold of stress coming up on me, I decided to completely shift. How can I be grateful for everything in my life in that moment? I went over to Eric's house to get some 'gratitude support.' We started talking about all of the great things in my life and, in seconds, my energy shifted. My head was lighter and the stress I was feeling seemed to be distant and feel minimal. I spent the rest of the day thinking about all of the things that I was grateful for. The next day, my previous 'problems' began solving themselves. Putting myself in this space of gratitude put my head in a place that feels good, releases my stress and, of course, helps me attract what I want.

The Solution is not in the Problem

Something that I am continually amazed about is how coaching finds solutions by redirecting our focus to what we truly want. Our reactions are like clockwork; if there is something we want to change in our life we automatically focus on it and try to problem solve it. Makes sense doesn't it? But, what if, instead of problem solving and ultimately focusing on what we don't want, we put all of our focus on exactly what we do want, would that also be a way of 'solving' the problem? I am going to suggest, YES!

Staying in resonance with all of the things that we do want is the solution to the problem. Einstein once said, "We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." This statement is exactly true. Try it! Instead of trying to figure your way out or stop a limiting belief or non-productive habit, focus and contemplate its opposite. What are all the possibilities beyond this self imposed limiting belief? What are great productive habits you can start doing today? As your focus moves to this place and away from your 'problem' you will feel a mental and emotional shift. You can really feel it right when you do it! Thinking it and feeling it will then turn to acting on it which will then change your results. Problem? What problem?

Go big or go home...

I laugh when I hear the phrase 'go big or go home' because it reminds me of a bunch of frat guys doing keg stands and smashing heads during an intense round of pick-up football. But this phrase popped up in my head today and I was thinking of the vision that I want to create for myself. At first I was focusing on what I felt was realistic and feasible as a next step. For example, I want to buy a house. So I figured a nice house in my current, working class neighborhood would be a good goal. Then I started thinking about the logistics such as monthly incomes and other expenses........WAIT! What am I doing? All I need to do is set the vision and the universe will then figure out the logistics. If I set a reasonable goal than all I will get back will be something 'reasonable.' But what about going BIG!! And that is when the term 'go big or go home' came up in my head. If I set my vision at something acceptable than that is what will come to fruition. If I set my vision to something magnificent than that is what I will get, magnificence!

Go big or go home!

What Can't You Believe?

It's funny how there seems to be a rhythm of topics that come up during coaching sessions that crossover from client to client. One of the topics that has come up this week is the idea of acceptance - acceptance of what is. What does this mean and what is the power behind this?

Lets first start with the contrast of acceptance; rejection or disbelief. As soon as we "can't believe" something that is we have set ourselves up for stress. By claiming this state of disbelief we have separated ourselves from what inevitably is which opens a space for stress and negative emotions. Negative thoughts breed in this space of incongruity between ourselves and what is. Our emotions are our best indicator of whether or not we are in flow with what is happening around us. If intense negative emotions are arising chances are we are in resistance and not accepting something that is.

To come from the other side. What is it to accept and just 'believe' what is happening? Well, I believe that is something we all must figure out for ourselves. For me, when I am in acceptance of what is I feel open, relaxed, in flow and in a state of learning.

So, ask yourself the questions: What am I not accepting in my life? What am I refusing to believe? Look where your emotions don't make you feel too good. What's going on there?

The gestation period

Like Blayk, I am reading up on James Rays ideas. He shared one idea that really stood out to me. He spoke of the idea that everything has a gestation period. All of our ideas are waiting to come to life, to be born. We just don't know when this will happen. I now think back to many ideas that I have had that I gave up on because I thought that they would never come to fruition, but really, they were just in the gestation period. The trick is being patient. We know it takes 9 months for babies to be born. However, ideas aren't given a specific time frame for their 'birth.' So it could be days, months or years for you to see everything come to fruition, but it will.

Training your attraction skills

After doing so much reading on quantum physics and the law of attraction I've declared that 'I want some of that'! Hmmm, thinking about what you want and soon you will get it. Sounds easy!

First, they always say to get clear on what you want. Done. I was VERY clear on what I wanted in several parts of my life and more than willing to go after it.

Second, stay focused on what you want until you have it. This comes in the form of meditation, gratitude and just feeling what it is like to have what you want. Okay, this was a little harder for me. I often get side tracked and unless something is programmed in my day, my loyalty to that task gets put on the bottom rung. Persistence is key to attracting and I often fell off the persistence wagon. It is time for me to 'pencil in' the law of attraction for a 4:00 daily appointment.

Here is what I did to be persistent in attracting what I wanted:
1) Type up what I want to attract and print it out on fancy paper. I then posted this up next to my bed so I can meditate on these ideas before I go to sleep and when I wake-up.
2) Car ride time is a great time for thinking and I have dedicated my car time to personal development and thinking about what I would like to attract.
3) I have made an appointment with myself to meditate on these ideas when I get home from work. Making these appointments helped me turn these meditations into something that is now habitual.

Make Driving Time Learning Time

I am taking an audio course right called The Science of Success by James Ray, one of the teachers from the film “The Secret”. One of things he mentions in this audio series, that I suppose has really nothing to do with the actual methods that he is teaching, is to make your driving time into learning time. How many hours a day do you spent traveling? Well, if you have a CD or MP3 player and usually listen to talk shows or music why not also use this time for learning? Pop an audio course about anything in and learn something today! I just think that’s a great idea to take more advantage of.

Your Whole Life is Nothing but a Dream

The above statement is the first phrase in a chapter of a book I’m reading for the second time, The Mastery of Love. I find this statement very profound and very true. After all, haven’t we created all that we are and believe? We’re all made up of a lineage of ideas, some good, some bad, passed down from generation to generation changing in various ways along the way. Our perception is based on agreements. Agreements we’ve made with ourselves about who we are and how we relate to others. There are cultural agreements and national agreements and all shape how we see the world.

What can this perception do for us? We have created and continue to create, mostly unintentionally, the paradigm from which we view the world. This is our Dream. Knowing this why not make this the best dream possible? Who, as a person do you want to be? Who do you REALLY want to be? You get to make this up! Stretch out and expand this vision. Write it down. Try to visualize it a couple times a day, at least morning and night. Picture yourself being this way. You CAN change your paradigm. When your paradigm changes your actions change and when your actions change your results change. And there in lies a Secret.

The Parasite

I’ve been reading the book, “The Mastery of Love” by Don Miguel Ruiz. Really great book. One of the things that I thought was pretty interesting was the idea of the Parasite that lies within all of us. “The Parasite is a garbage eater. It loves fear and drama; it loves anger, jealousy, and envy; it loves any emotion that makes you suffer.”

The Parasite is not the ‘real’ you. It’s the ‘poor me’ inside all of us that often surfaces when we encounter challenges. In coaching we might call this the ‘Saboteur’. The Saboteur tells us what we should and should not do. It tells us things are too difficult, that we aren’t smart enough, we’re too short, too fat, too (fill in the blank). The truth is however, of course that we are all capable of incredibly more than we could imagine. It’s all based on the Dream you’ve created for yourself and your life.

In sum, remember; whenever you feel the ‘poor me’ sensations coming on, stop, notice and tell yourself: I AM NOT THIS PARASITE!

Self Help?

I was recently talking to a friend about some books I have been reading on the law of attraction and the power of knowing. (The one I just finished reading was The Aladin Factor by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen.) All of these books fall under the catergory of 'Self-Help.' He kept on referring to them as thus and for some reason I did not like how that sounded. Did these books help me? Sure. But what these authors really share with readers ideas that enlighten and expand the typical way of thinking. Evertime I put down one of these books, I feel like coming down from a high. Ideas and possibilities begin running around my head and the knowing that anything is possible is at the forefront of my thoughts. What if everybody started employing these ideas? Better yet, what if these ideas were taught in school? Now that would be powerful.

Sure they help myself but in the end they consist of revoluntionary thought. Now thats a good book.