Tuesday, Sept. 9/14

"Follow your Bliss and the Universe will open doors where there were only walls" ... Joseph Campbell

Do what you are meant to do. Go with the flow, follow your heart. This is the message. Enjoy your life, be YOU. 

How many actually have bliss in reality? There are so many that are in a life that they feel forced to be in. 

They felt pressure from outside forces to follow a certain path. In early adulthood, first starting out, they followed the directions they thought they were given. They ended up in a situation that was not necessarily their choice, or they found out it wasn't their calling, and now feel they don't have the option to leave. The responsibilities and obligations have accumulated. These are the people leading lives of quiet desperation. 

“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” Henry David Thoreau

So they remain in a lifestyle that leaves them drained and depressed, unable to accept the fact that they are the only ones that can change the course of their lives. They are stuck. Being stuck is just a step on the path, not the entire journey.

The only difference between a stumbling block and a stepping stone is the way you use them. 

You need to care enough about yourself, your needs, your health to make a change. It may be a scary proposition, but you are worth it. There is no need to continue to live in desperation any longer. Don't stress any longer about the could haves, would haves and should haves, consider reclaiming your life.

Find your bliss, whatever makes you happy, and plan to work toward it. The universe is on your side. If you are actually going toward what you really want, the universe will conspire to make it happen for you. Wouldn't that be nice for a change?

 

Monday, Sept. 8/14

When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow.

Gratitude: 

We want to recognize the things that we are grateful for every day. Usually, when something outstanding happens in our life we are grateful in the moment, which is perfect. But on regular days, we forget, we get busy doing life and neglect to notice all the wonderful things in our world. 

By focusing on gratitude, we become more aware of all the things that we are thankful for, what we appreciate. This creates a positive shift  in our thinking. There is power in saying thank you, it is a prayer,  a message to the universe. 

Conscientiously, make an effort to simply say thank you, that is enough. You will always attract more when you show appreciation for what you already have. Celebrate your life, you are abundantly blessed.

When things aren't working out too well, it is even more necessary to say thank you. There is always something to be grateful for.  Whatever the problem is.... it is a lesson for you; a chance to correct a behaviour, to right a wrong, or to learn and grow. Be thankful for that, and then make a list to include: your family, friends, pets, livelihood, talents, memories, health, the weather, your beautiful surroundings, your favourite sweater, the birds in the trees and so on. You will be amazed at the length of your blessings, despite whatever problem you may have.

"Be thankful for what you have and you'll end up with more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you'll never ever have enough." Oprah Winfrey

Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb... but how well you bounce...

I read this quote from Snoopy as: It's not about all the details, all the triumphs and defeats, it's about how you handle them. 

Life is about learning, this IS the school of hard knocks. The journey through life is rarely smooth. There are invariably some bumps along the way that trip us up. It is our reaction, when we fall, how we bounce back, that shows our growth. 

Nelson Mandela states: 

"Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

We could also read this quote as: Snoopy and Woodstock may  simply be displaying the happiness within, by how well they bounce. They could be saying it doesn't matter how proficient you are at running or climbing, but are you happy? Are you bouncing well?

"My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I am happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right?"

Charles Schultz

Snoopy and Woodstock invariably make me smile, and so does this quote from their creator. They are smiling, and bouncing.....they seem to be happy.

Everything is about your perception. When you are feeling 'something', one particular quote may strike a note with you, expressing exactly what you are feeling at the moment. After some time, if you revisit the quote, you may see something entirely different. There may be several different variations from readers on the above quote as well. We see things as we are.

Does it seem like a fantasy to have the life you dream of, the life you want? Are you caught up in the daily doldrums? Does there seem to be any way that you could possibly have THAT life?

Everyone gets caught up in the daily grind... bills, mortgages, kids, schools, living your life, keeping up. There is nothing you can do about it, it's just the way it is....right? 

You have to keep up with all the responsibilities and obligations of the aforementioned life, don't you? Of course you have responsibilities, but how much of what you are doing is something you only feel you HAVE to do? 

How much is another's responsibility? What are you doing that another could or should be doing for themselves? 

Many times we get caught up; right in the middle of someone else's business. We are 'taking care' of someone, doing things that they need to take care of for themselves. We need to back off and let them handle it. They have their journey and we have ours. 

If the life you dream of is forsaken for someone else's life... there is a problem. You are not putting yourself first. You are not taking care of YOU. 

Taking over some other life is not getting you any brownie points, in fact, it's only stealing your time and bank account... merely an obligation that you have taken on.  You are responsible only for your life and your happiness. We all want to do nice things for others, and that's great, but the life you dream of and your happiness are waiting for YOU. Don't put it off, live for today. You can create any life you want. 

Take a look at the life you are now living and make an honest evaluation about the time allotted for you. I am sure you can find time to put your dream into motion and capture the happiness that you so deserve.

Have you ever had to do this? Have you had to tell someone that you no longer wish to make room for them on your dance card? 

Sometimes these people have been with you for a very long time. It is not an easy step, but eventually YOU decide that this relationship no longer serves YOU. This, of course, is IT, this is the answer, this is how you make the decision.... does it serve YOU? Is it a one-sided affair? Are you working yourself into a frenzy trying to keep the status quo, and the other person is merely taking advantage? 

"No one can take advantage of you without your permission"

 Eleanor Roosevelt

This is a large part of taking care of yourself, not letting anyone disturb your peace. If someone is not 'there' for you, you are wasting your time sticking around. They have shown you who they are... believe them. They will only keep it up, if you allow it. If they are causing you pain in any way, you don't need to lie down and let them step on your face. 

Once you realize that the relationship has very little to do with you, that the other person is there strictly for their own agenda; then, the decision is quite easy. The actual confrontation may not be so. It is never easy to eliminate long standing connections. 

You will probably have doubts after the fact, but it is your life, you only have control over what/who you allow in.  One thing for certain, you will be happier without toxic people around you. Your happiness is of utmost importance to you and everyone around you.

Once you learn how to be happy, you won't tolerate being around people who make you feel anything less.

Look ahead, keep going forward, move on. Don't dwell in the past. Let it go. 

All good advice, but how easy is it to follow? 

There are many times in our lives where we react in a negative way. We don't always know what it was that set off the reaction. A button was pushed, something was triggered in us, and the result was anger, hurt, embarrassment, or some other emotion that creates a negative reaction. 

These are the issues buried inside us. Until we check in with our past, to discover these issues, we will continue to over react to situations or people that trigger negative responses in us.

We may not go into a rage, but we still feel 'the feeling' and become quiet and/or unable to respond at all...  which manifests in obsession. Either way, we are the ones carrying the burden.

We need to acknowledge the problem in order to let it go. 

We will have to admit that we can and will act in a way that we would rather not, say something we wish we hadn't, or give no reaction, but neither forgive nor forget either. These circumstances are a message to us that something still needs to be dealt with. We need to 'check in' to find out why we respond in that particular way, which requires that we look back into our past. 

What this quote is saying is: you cannot change the past, you can't make your past life better or happier than it was. So don't hang out there and dwell on it. 

But you can take care of your part in it, do what you can, atone. Apologize for past hurts and resentments to anyone that was involved. You need to make sure that YOU are on the list as well. Forgive yourself, you only do what you do until you know better, then you do better. It's all part of your journey, your growth. So look back, fix what you can, and then move forward.

I have to agree with this. You start your life perfect...  and then: 

You are raised in/with: Abuse, Addictions, Poverty, Adoption, Illness – mental or physical, Handicaps, or some circumstance we have no control over. We acquire feelings of abandonment, low self esteem, unworthiness, complexes, syndromes and/or all of the above, before we ever reach adulthood. These feelings will decide which direction we will take on our life’s journey. We stockpile hurts, injustices, resentment and anger to build colossal walls around ourselves, never to be hurt again. There is always some cross to bear. 

This is what we have to overcome. Up until this point, we have been running our lives with the beliefs instilled in our childhood. But at some point as adults, we  decide to take a look at how we act, what we are doing, where we are lacking because something has come to a head. Life has not worked out as we planned.. Everything is a mess, we are unhappy. Then, the journey starts... we take a look at this life, we start to work on ourselves to undo all the harm that has been done living on this planet... we ask the tough questions, we look into why we are sabotaging ourselves and finally we start the climb up the mountain toward finding out who we really are. 

Nobody said it would be easy; but with each step of your journey, you learn something new, something that opens the doors to the next level. You are on your way to who you were meant to be in the first place. Never worry, you are right where you need to be and you are not alone. Everything will be OK.