Being Normal

In our home saying that someone is weird is considered a compliment.  Normal is over-rated.  This quote says it just right.  Be yourself.  Sometimes the road less travelled is the way to go. What would you do if you knew no one would judge you?

Blame and the Four Lies

Look for places in your experience where you are blaming another.  Look for overt blaming and covert blaming.  Even look for blaming self.  In these places where we notice ourselves blaming, is an invitation to return to our core, the truth of our being.  In the three concentric circles we find blame in the outer circle where we experience life in the physical.  Sometimes it can be helpful in this illustration to even imagine another set of circles as the other person.  As we place our attention on the other person, the other set of concentric circles, it is easy to see that we are far from our core.  In the outer circle things like, "He did this!" or "She did that!" or even "I'm so ________, how could I do that?" are what we believe is the problem.

As we notice the next circle, the in-between circle we begin to see our beliefs.  These beliefs are the filters that filtered out our true being and changed the frequency in such a way that it manifests as what we now experience that we don't like.  In this circle, "He is mean. She is so self-centered. I am stupid." are the beliefs/the filters.  Lenedra Carroll in her book, The Architecture of All Abundance," illustrates these filters as the four great lies.

"We are bad.
We are not enough.
We are limited potential.
We are alone."

She goes on to point to our core, the center circle, the truth of our being, "When in reality the profound truth is:

"We are intrinsic goodness.
We are whole and complete just as we are.
We have the potential of our divine heritage.
We cannot be separated from our divine Source."

Once we begin to re-member this truth, we begin to experience what we believed we lacked when we were focused on blame. We begin to understand the belief in separation that caused our need to blame.  We return to our center circle we re-alize what she says next.

"The negative and false beliefs have seriously eroded our esteem and even convinced us that we are not lovable.  In fact, we are loved beyond our ability to comprehend it.  Love is not outside of us. Love is not our mother or father or lover.  Love is not our family or community.  Love, in truth, simply is.  Love is.  Love is the essence of the life force surrounding us; it is what allows everything to have cohesion.  Love is both our birthright and our legacy; it is in the original blueprint of our Soul."

In the presence of unconditional love, which is always present in the present, there is no blame, there is no difficulty to be solved, there is only love.  All that seemed like a problem, felt like hell, was out of alignment simply expresses without judgement, moves fluidly and returns to truth.

Life IS Good

This bracelet is a "treat myself to something special" purchase I made a few years ago. It was money well spent. I love the bracelet, and I truly feel special every time I wear it. It always re-minds me of going to see Michael Beckwith speak years before "The Secret" was published.

We would go to see him speak every couple of months. Each we saw him he would say, "life is good," sporadically throughout his talk. The crowd would always respond by saying, "all the time." It really struck me as I definitely had times when I didn't think life was all that great.

At first I liked this idea that life is good all the time. I thought of it as an affirmation that if I would just focus on the affirmation, life would become good. Good meaning it would be to my liking, it would go as I see fit. This was helpful and felt comforting to me.

Over time (LOTS of time) as I *worked* with this re-minder I came to real-ize that life already was good all of the time. Life is good even when I think it isn't. Even when I am arguing with someone I love. Even when my child is throwing a tantrum. Even when I lose my job. Even when I lose my house. Even when I FEEL differently. My feeling doesn't change the Truth. Life IS Good, all of the time. You can be sure I had a few internal tantrums over this one!

My judgement or belief about the situation most definitely effects my feeling. When I release my judgement. When I choose to believe that Life IS Good, all of the time, even if I don't understand, I begin to experience the Truth that was always, already there.

Which re-minds me of *always, already* thinking and listening and judging. Hmm......more on that soon!

Today's journal question:

Is there an aspect of my life that does not feel good? What is my belief or judgement of the situation? Am I willing to believe that Life is Good, all of the time? Am I willing to be willing? Even in this situation? Even if I don't feel it, think it, see it, or believe it right now? Is there anything I can wear or carry with me to re-mind me of this Truth?

P.S. In the past I have forgotten this real-ization pretty often. When I notice that I have forgotten I just gently (and sometimes not so gently) re-mind myself. Isn't being human interesting?

None of My Business

What you think of me is none of my business.

I thought I was mostly unconcerned with what others think of me. On the surface, I will wear whatever clothes I want, go out in public without make up on all of the time, and do pretty much whatever I feel like at any given moment. Recently I noticed that under the surface I have more concern about what others think of me than I thought.

I find I occasionally check myself against what I think others think of me. I find this interesting since what someone thinks about me is generally based on their outside perception. So, what is it that makes me think they know something about who I am on the inside? Truly, what someone else thinks of me inside or out is none of my business. Truly, their thoughts (or judgements) are outside of me, and what is true about me is right smack dab at the center or me.

Oh ya!

Today's journalling question:

Are there ways I am giving energy to what people think of me that I may have previously been unaware of?

Our Worst Enemy?

"Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thought." - Buddha

Last year I had a situation in my life that felt incredibly stressful. It seemed like I was being attacked, and I felt angry and scared. As the fear grew it began to consume me and almost every aspect of my life. It wasn't fun to be me, and I am pretty sure it wasn't much fun being around me either.

In hind site, I can see that more than half the stress originated in my thoughts, rather than by the actions of "my worst enemy." I realized, once again, that while the actions of another may feel like an attack, I attack myself over and over with my thoughts of fear, anger, judgement or self condensation.

Today's journal question:

Where do I feel attacked by another? In what way am I attacking myself with my feelings and thoughts about that event?

Connect

We all long to connect. We want to be a part of. When we connect with others we begin to experience our oneness.

How can you connect with someone today. Is there someone in your life on a regular basis you can connect with more deeply? Could you ask them about a part of themselves you may take for granted?

Is there someone you may not normally connect with? It could be as simple as a smile or a hello. It could be as simple as letting go of a judgemental thought of either someone you know or someone you don't.

Maybe you need to connect with yourself a little more. Could you use just a moment a lone to relax? Have you been putting off something you would like to do for yourself? Are you the one who you have been judging?

When we make a conscious effort to connect with another, and even with ourselves we fulfill one of our greatest needs.