Forgiveness

One of the best ways to move forward to a more joyful/positive life is through forgiveness.  Forgiveness can be difficult for all of us, but I am reminded of the old saying "To error is human to forgive is divine."  This truly is the case, when we forgive, we move closer to God/universe. 

So, what is the stumbling block to forgiveness, most of the time it's our EGO which feels injured in some way by what the other person has done or what we perceive was done to us. Our perception of what someone has done to us is a difficult stumbling block in our lives.  We all, no matter how objective we are, filter things through our own life experiences & perceptions.  When we've been injured deeply, to the point that we have created fear and/or anger we have problems moving to forgiveness because the original issue is brought to the surface.  The person who did or said whatever it was that brought us back to fear and/or anger may not even know that they did something wrong.  Yet, we won't forgive them because it hurt.

The answer to this paradox is to act from forgiveness first.  To always forgive & let the incident go.  This is not an easy process & for me it takes me a few minutes to move past the situation before I can forgive, but forgive I do.  The reason I'm able to do this is because once anything happens in our lives it can't be taken back.  We talked a lot about letting go of the past & for most of you that probably meant the distant past.  But the past is anything that's happened.... Once it's done it's done and as I just mentioned nothing in this world can change it once it's in the past.  So, act to forgive and move to a more peaceful & joyful place.

The final piece of this puzzle is the biggest & that is to forgive yourself.  As with the other person above, no matter what you've done or perceived that you did in the past.... It’s in the past.  Forgive yourself for your behavior & move on.  Understand that the longer you hold on to regret the harder it is to be in the present & move to a more joyful/positive life.

I realize that this is easier said than done but understand that no matter what happened in your past, what you said to someone or what you did to someone or even what you did to yourself.  You can't change what happened, it's already done....so for you to grow as a person & become more connected with God/universe the only path is forgiveness of yourself.  You are a divine being created by a divine being.......our path in life is to love & return to as close as we can to our origin of divinity.

Forgiveness is the path.

Till tomorrow,

Bill


Quote of the day "Forgive one another but especially forgive yourself, through this forgiveness you will find joy."

 

Synchronicity

Many of you probably know the definition of Synchronicity but for those of you who don't here it is:
"Coincidence of events that seem to be meaningfully related, conceived in Jungian theory as an explanatory principle on the same order as causality."

Why is this important?  Because as you move to a more joyful/positive life Synchronicity becomes more & more a part of your life.  This has to do with the opening up of your mind & reconnecting with God/universe.  The challenge in your life is to notice all the things that start to happen.  As you notice, these events you will find more & more things will begin to happen. But for now, awareness to the events is the most important thing.

The more you pay attention to even small things like the light changing just as you're coming up to an intersection, the more things will begin to happen.  I add this discussion now because it alone can start to lift you up to a more joyful/positive life.  It's an amazing feeling to be in the flow of the universe & it is the place we all should be daily.  The problem is that as we deal with our day & our positive energy begins to fade the Synchronicity doesn't happen as easily.

A great book to read to help you understand about the vibration of energy in our life is "The Celestine Prophecy" by James Redfield the journey that the author takes through self-realization is a journey we all need to take.  By understanding how our thoughts affect our energy as well as the people we surround ourselves with can take some practice.  The easiest way for me to illustrate this here is this: Have you ever noticed that when certain people walk into a room everyone notices?  It's not because of who they are or that they are better looking than anyone (although both of these things are possible) it's because they have an energy about them that radiates out like the stone thrown into the pond.  Recognize your shifts in energy and begin to understand what causes them.  This small practice along with everything else we've talked about will boost you more than you can imagine.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day "Live in the flow of the universe with an open heart & mind & amazing things will happen to you every day."

 

Anger

One of the last things I feel we need to discuss that can hold you back from more joy in your life is anger.  Anger is a powerful emotion & can cause great struggles in most people’s lives.  I personally struggled with it for years & still on occasion I must remind myself of the tools I use to get past anger.

Anger can be an immediate response but is usually based on past emotional triggers.  Many triggers, if not all, are based on fears we have.  Fears that we don't let go and resolve become internalized and end up as triggers for anger.  One of the biggest triggers in most people is the fear of self-worth.  We tend to react with anger when someone else challenges our knowledge or decisions because we feel insecure with who we are, so rather than caving in because we feel bad about ourselves, we get angry & fight to defend what we believe.  This is to try & give ourselves more self-worth.  The problem with this is that even if we end up winning the argument we only end up with short term satisfaction because the base trigger is still there.

So what do I do, for me it's a multiple step process.  First, I try to take a breath and realize what I'm feeling & why.  Then I try to realize that the anger I'm feeling has nothing to do with the person I'm talking to, it instead has to do with me.  In the next step I try to let the anger go and relax, I don't have a certain way of doing this; I just try to calm down and listen to the person more carefully.

Finally, after the situation is passed.  I try to understand at a deeper level what sets e off.  I will often discuss it with my wife, Heidi, especially if she was around when the trigger happened.  For me, this is a continuing process of learning & evolving but the release of anger & the understanding of the triggers are very important to be able to grow into a life of more joy.

Remember, the more you can let go of negative emotions & behaviors the easier it will become to have a more joyful/positive life.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day: "Anger is a poison of the soul, let go of the anger & reconnect with your soul"

 

Giving Thanks

Have you thought about your freedom?  I think most people who live in this country take their freedom for granted.  Would you be willing to sacrifice your way of living to defend your freedom?  I think most of us would reluctantly fight for our freedom if we were ever invaded, but beyond that we don't worry or think about the cost of freedom.  Part of the reason for this, I believe, is because the draft is no longer around so we assume that everyone in the service wants to be there.  People join the services for a variety of reasons these days & a lot of them join to try & make a better life for themselves & their families. Many of the members of our armed services are younger people that have joined to give themselves the opportunity for a better education.  Still others joined the national guard assuming they would only be used for national emergencies.  Did you know that largest number of casualties are among our national guard troops.

So on this Monday after the 4th of July do, we truly understand the sacrifice these men & woman go through?  How would you like to be told that in two months you were going to be away from your way of life for 1.5 years .... Could you adapt?  Well, our troops do that for us & our freedom.  They leave their jobs, they leave their families & they leave every part of their lives to go & fight two wars thousands of miles away to defend our way of life.

When they return, their life is different.  It's different because of what they've seen & had to deal with on a daily basis and it's different because their lives have changed while they're away.  Why?  because in their absence everyone must move forward with their own lives.  We do this so we can keep moving forward but we don't realize the impact on our returning troops.  They come home feeling like an outsider in their own life. Because of this many of them can't deal with the changes and end up taking their own life.  Is this what we want?  What do we believe is part of the sacrifice of being a member of our armed services?  

I don't believe any of us want this to happen, but I do believe that we don't act to help.  So, what can we do; First donate time or money to returning veterans associations, Second, if you know someone in your neighborhood that has served reach out to them help them re-engage in your community be their friend.  Third, if you only see them in passing, thank them, give them a smile and any small gesture can help to make their day better.

Together we can change the lives of the people around us.  Together we can make a difference in the lives of our returning troops.  Think about what you can do today!  Help the country heal and avoid any further sacrifice.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

I wrote this blog from a friend’s request & out of love & support for our troops.  If there's something you'd like me to write about please feel free to let me know.

Quote of the day: The dreams we dream are all made possible by the people who served our country & paid the ultimate price to keep us free, never forget."

Dealing with Crisis

When we practice the tools, we already discussed making your life more joyful & positive we still have things happen to us.  Life has a way of getting in the way of our joy.  Last night & this morning I've had to deal with a family crisis & it reminded me that we can't abandon our joy just because of things that happen to us.  We must remember that everything has its time, just as the planet has its seasons we go through times when things aren't going the way we would like them to go.  This isn't because our practice is wrong, it's because things can't always be "the best" & because we can't control the other people in our lives.

I've talked a lot over the past two weeks about letting go & releasing control over everything in your life.  Remember as much as we find comfort in control, we can only truly control two things in our lives: ourselves & our reaction to others in our life.  No matter how hard we try and no matter how much limited success we have with trying to control more, we can never be connected to God/universe until we understand this simple point.

So how do I deal with a crisis; I first ask myself what should I learn from this situation what is God/universe trying to teach me that I need help with.  Second, I try to understand that as much as I love the people in my life, I can't make them change their life.  All I can do for the people I love is love them for who they are and be there for them through whatever they must deal with in their life.

I think this is an important lesson for all of us.  Don't lose your focus because you've had to deal with unexpected things in your life.  Stay as joyful as you can even in the difficult times & you'll be rewarded with more joy when the time comes.

Hugs,

Bill

Quote of the day "Find the joy even in during the fallow, difficult times for everything has it's time and none of them are without joy!"

 

Fear

One of the other things that can truly hold you back from more joy in your life is Fear.  We all have fears, most of which are very irrational and have no true basis in our lives.  Dealing with fear is a very complex issue and I can't possibly go into all the different types of fears we can have here or how to possibly deal with each & everyone. 

The important thing for bringing more joy into your life or being more positive is that we must let go of our fears.  Most fears are formulated in our minds and although some have an emotional component to them, it's truly the mind that will lead us astray.  There is a constant battle going on with most of us between our mind/ego and our soul/heart.  As I have mentioned previously, the Ego is a big challenge & I will write more about it as we progress in our path.  Let's continue to discuss fear, so the mind creates fear mostly because of the unknown.  We try to rationalize everything in our lives & when we can't do that or we don't know the answer, we tend to create fear.

The biggest fear in the journey to joy is the fear of the unknown.  Part of "letting go" & connecting with God/universe is to embrace the unknown, knowing that when we are connected, we will be taken care of even if we don't know for sure where we are going.  To some extent this goes back to control, which we have talked about before.  People tend to try & over control their lives and this act alone will disconnect you from God/universe. 

We as humans believe we always know what's best for us.  The truth is our ego thinks we know what's best for us but actuality we don't.  The battle that goes on between the head/ego & the heart/soul is complex.  The point for today is to understand that the fear of the unknown is holding you back from a more joyful life.  Fear is one of the strongest negative emotions we have, so to move past it we need to understand why the fear is there, accept it and move on.

Understand that by embracing the unknown and knowing that we will be taken care of.  We can move forward to a more joyful/positive life.  The universe/God only wants to bring us what we want by letting go of fear we clarify our path so the universe/God can bring us to joy.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day "Fear is our head getting in the way of our heart.  release fear and find joy in your heart."

 

Living for Today

I know it's a bit cliche, people use it all the time but what does it really mean?  I think it means different things to different people & there are many more cliche's like "stop & smell the roses".  For me it goes hand in hand with the letting go message we talked about yesterday.  Why? Because to live in the present moment you need to detach yourself from the results that you envision.

I'll go much further & say that you must stop living your life for tomorrow.  The easiest way for me to explain this is an example like this: You have a vacation planned in a month; it's something you need because you've been working very hard & it's a place that you love to go to.  So, for the next month every day all you can think about is getting on that vacation, thus you aren't present in the whole month between making the vacation plans & when you get away.  So, you lose a month out of your life .... Well, who knows what joy you could have found in that month if you had lived each day between the planning & the actual vacation.  Life is about those moments because you never know who you'll meet or what experiences you can enjoy at any moment.

Another great example of not living in the moment is always saying that my life will be better when .....  When we move, When I get that promotion or When I get married.  It's so easy to always think that the next big thing is what's going to get us where we want to go.

I propose, instead that if you open up & let go of your attachment to the outcome of things in your life, that each day will become a new adventure.  Each moment will be something you treasure and in response to your opening up & living each moment the universe/God will respond by bringing you more & more wonderful things into your life.  You never know where life is going to lead you & the next person you meet may be the person you've needed to meet for a longtime...they could be your next boss or the best friend you've been looking for or so many other things....open your heart and allow the joy of each moment into your day today.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the Day "The joy you discover in the unexpected is the most fulling joy you can imagine"