Life Change from Within: The Power of Appreciation

Life Change from Within: The Power of Appreciation: "You've probably heard the concept of focusing on the half-full glass instead of the half-empty one. This is nothing new, but could use some..."

The Power of Appreciation

You've probably heard the concept of focusing on the half-full glass instead of the half-empty one. This is nothing new, but could use some reminding.
So many times in life, we focus on what is missing in our lives rather than what is already there, the people, the things, the experiences - all that has made our life a wonderful, multi-colored and many-textured tapestry. We are so goal oriented, so focused on the future, of what we want to be, to have, to acheive, that we find ourselves in this constant state of "wanting but not yet having."

Abraham (channeled by Esther Hicks) says it's important to make peace with where you are. What does this mean?

We each emit a vibration, an energetic signature, out into the universe. The universe (or God, Spirit, The Law of Attraction, Life - take your pick of names) responds to this vibration we send out and brings into our realty people and things and experiences. The way we feel most of the time gives us a clue as to the vibrational frequency we are sending.

In other words, the feeling level that we consistently find ourselves in tells us what kind of things, people, experiences we are attracting. So, how are you feeling today?

We've been taught that in order to attract what we want, we are supposed to pray or do Spiritual Mind Treatments or affirmations or visualizations or rituals. All good and well - now the universe knows what we want. What next?

The next step is to raise our vibration. To feel better and better, bit by bit. And one sure way to do this is to find the many people, things, and experiences, past and present, that we appreciate. We can imagine and think about them. We can write them down. We can be grateful for them. We can show our gratitude in some fashion. What does this accomplish? It makes us feel better. And this better-feeling place means we have raised our vibration. And this raised vibration, when held consistently, means we are now closer to drawing into our experience that which we've asked for. And in the process, we've felt more joy, or at least less stress. This is making peace with where you are -- not saying you don't want change, but being happy with what is so that what you want can come to you.

Appreciation is a powerful tool of manifestation. It helps bring you in alignment with your spiritual self, with who you truly are.

I challenge you to try it for 30 days - each day writing down as many things about your life that you appreciate as possible. And if other times of the day you find your thoughts drifting over to the negative, begin focusing on appreciation again. This will help shift you back so you can consistently hold the higher vibration. Once you can do this, your outer reality will begin to shift and change.

Would love to hear from you. Please post your results.

Life Change from Within: Perception

Life Change from Within: Perception: "I had the opportunity this weekend to go to a Kryon Seminar and listen to a talk by Lee Carrol. The topic of his talk was 'perception' and I..."

Perception

I had the opportunity this weekend to go to a Kryon Seminar and listen to a talk by Lee Carrol. The topic of his talk was "perception" and I'd like to share some of the highlights.

We believe that we see through the lense of the eye. That the image is projected into the back of the eye and we "see" that image. But in fact, the image is actually interpreted by the brain and this "interpretation" is what we really see. The "interpretation" of the image depends on our perception of the world. In other words, it is our "perception" of the image that we experience, not the image itself. And where does our perception come from? It depends on how we were brought up, what beliefs we have bought in to, what we have accepted as "reality."

Lee told us the following story: In order to experiment with perception, two sets of kittens were brought up in different environments. In the first group, the room was painted in horizontal stripes and everything in their reality was horizontal only. The second group were brought up with vertical stripes and all objects that were vertical.

When the kittens grew to cats, they were released into a normal environment, but those from the horizontal world could not perceive anything vertical, so they kept bumping into chair and table legs and anything that was horizontal. In other words, they could not see anything horizontal because it was not part of their reality, their world view.

Okay, my take on this. If my reality is what I believe and perceive it to be, then by changing my perceptions of reality, my reality will change.

So a limited thought is, in fact, a distorted perception, like looking through a lense at reality. My plan of action: Whenever I have a limited thought, I will imagine that I'm in a glass bubble that is distorting my perception. With my mind, I will shatter that glass so that I can see clearly again. And I will continue to shatter that distorted view, again and again, remembering that it is only a belief and a belief is nothing more than a thought that I keep thinking.

Years ago, I learned to visualize what I want to manifest. That works and it is all well and good. On the other hand, if I have a limited perception of what is possible in my life, then I will either create within those limited boundaries, or I will not create what I want since I do not believe it possible.

Armed with my new knowledge of perception and knowing that it is the "feeling and experience" that I want to create, not the object itself, I will focus on the "feeling" I want to achieve and the "experience" I want to have and leave the door open for Spirit to bring to me what will match those feelings and experiences. In other words, I will:

- shatter the glass of limited perceptions
- leave the door open for Spirit to bring into my life experiences and things and people that I could never have imagined.

I also had the opportunity to hear Kryon. The gist of his message: "Tend to your own spirituality and be the light and know that you are changing the world."

And the journey continues.

The Folly of "Keeping Busy."

I was in line in the post office. A 30-ish blonde walked in and saw a friend in line. "How's it going?" she asked. "Keeping busy" the other woman said.

This made me think of how many times I've said that exact line. And now I ask myself, why do we think keeping busy is a good thing? Maybe it's the old Puritan belief, idol hands attract the devil or some such nonsense.

But are we keeping busy with work we love, with hobbies we enjoy, with people we cherish? Are we suffering through a job we hate? (But I have to make a living, you say. Doesn't everybody? Yes, but your choice of jobs is, well, your choice.) Are we filling our "free" time with endless errands and trivial pursuits? Are we going places just to hang out with "people" where we chat on and on about nothing?

In other words, being "busy" is no claim to fame. It's what we do with our time that matters. And a balance of "busy" and "free time" is necessary for our mental, emotional, and physcial well-being.

I used to be a busy body and was proud of it, but at this stage of my life, the quality of what I do, or don't do, tends to take precedence. I'm primarily focused on the work I love - took me long enough to get here. I spend time with people I care about, with people I can have an honest, open conversation with about topics that we both like. And I enjoy plenty of quiet time - to meditate, to write, to read a good book, and to make myself and my husband healthy, fresh meals. All the busy-ness is having less and less meaning to me. Maybe it's a sign of age, maybe it's an evolution of sorts, but, next time someone asks me "How're you doing?" I'll answer: "Living and loving and enjoying life!"

Life Change from Within: Getting off the Worry Wagon

Life Change from Within: Getting off the Worry Wagon: "Worry. What a strange and useless form of cultural conditioning! When things go wrong, we believe that we are supposed to 'worry' about th..."

Getting off the Worry Wagon

Worry. What a strange and useless form of cultural conditioning! When things go wrong, we believe that we are supposed to "worry" about them. If we don't, people see us as floaty and unattached to reality.

Worry is very different than looking for a solution to a problem. When we worry, we hash over the bad things that are happening, who is to blame, and what will happen if things get worse. Worry emits a negative vibration becuase our focus is on the problem.

Looking for a solution, on the other hand, is very different. In this state, we identify the problem, then turn our attention away from the problem and look to see what we can do to rectify the situation. In other words, our focus is on the solution. This emits a positive vibration.

When we have done all we can possibly do to fix the problem, then the best course of action is distraction. In other words, use whatever we can find to take our attention off of the problem: a funny movie, a swim in the ocean, a good book, lunch with a close friend - as long as we're not chatting about the problem. Whatever makes us happy. If we do things that make us feel good, even if the problem is still there, we are now emitting a positive vibration.

By positive, I mean sending out a signal to the universe to attract to you things, events, people that you would like. And by negative, I mean the oppostite.

But getting ourselves off of the "worry wagon" is not that easy. We have it ingrained in us from childhood and it gets worse when things are not going our way. But with effort, focus, and lot of determination, step by step, we can better our mood and feelings, raise our vibration, and stay there more often. The result? The Universe responds by shifting our reality and we begin seeing evidence of things changing. The more we can maintain this higher frequency, even if it is just slightly better than before, the more we will notice the universe beginning to respond. It's like changing the channel on the radio. Different signal. Different response.

I am seeing this happening in my own life. This week, by meditating, exercising regularly, and focusing on things that make me feel good (writing, reading, studying nutrition) I improved my overall mood and sense of well-being. As a result:

-We found someone to rent our condo/vacation rental for five months straight.
-I got a message that my book, God Outside the Box, will now be offered in Kindle at Amazon.com in the UK.
-I lost a couple of pounds.
Overall, I feel much more optimistic about my future.

And the journey continues...