DON'T LIVE IN FEAR... EMBRACE LOVE!

Statics were saying that over 60% of Americans were stressed about the presidential elections and so I submitted a paper to an on line journal about how I deal with this kind of stress in my life. 

It included limiting my media intake and trying to stay positive thus attracting more positive energy for the collective.

It was returned saying, "This could be helpful, resubmit after the election," and I did. I received it back with a note, that put a pit in my stomach, which in effect said that it was bad advice. After licking my wounds, I was able to see that it was in fact bad advice for the situation. (Remember the most important thing is to think for ourselves! Advice is simply an opinion.) 

I was reminded what needs to happen when any disappointment arises is not to stuff the feelings inside but to work through them. Of course, I know this! Stuffing feelings causes dis-ease in our bodies. We need to really feel what we're feeling. Be mad, get angry, think of the worst thing that could possibly happen, feel what that would feel like and then make peace with it. And finally, not to live in fear but to embrace love. That alone can be a major contribution to the whole. 

And ask ourselves, "What can I do to make the situation better? Stay engaged? Become an advocate for whatever beliefs that I hold dear." Change what I can change and accept the things I can't.  

I'M HAPPY, I CAN BREATHE AND I'M HOPEFUL!

"My wife," (soon to be ex) " is telling all of our friends that I've gone off the deep end! That I'm living out in the middle of nowhere in the desert and that they all need to go and save me before I do something stupid!" he said.

This was the beginning of a very enlightening conversion between a client and myself one evening over dinner.   It was interesting to me that she thought he needed an intervention. I've only known him a short period of time but from my viewpoint, he's got it going on! He knows he wants to make changes and he's doing it! 

Then he began to run off a litany of adjectives of how he was feeling. "I'm depressed, anxious, confused, hurt, disappointed, and all of my security is gone! I'll be working forever now to fulfill my retirement requirements." 

And then... sitting under the twinkly lights on the huge manzanita tree under the desert sky, he said something that felt magical. He blurted out without missing a beat or even knowing what he was saying. "But, I'm happy, I can breathe and I'm hopeful!" 

"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed, witnessing his clarity. "Did you hear those words that just came out of your mouth?" And I repeated them for him to really hear what he had said. "I'm happy, I can breathe and I'm hopeful!" 

Of course, we all go through the same emotional roller coaster ride of life, where depression and anxiety can feel overwhelming. But when we can complete the sentence with "I'm happy, I can breath and I'm hopeful," well, does it get any better than that? 

So go ahead, you don't always need to have a plan, sometimes you just need to breathe, let go and see what happens! 

Trust... Don't Stop the Flow of Energy!

When I left on the 2016 Summer of Hope Tour, I had someone going to rent my house for three months. Within two weeks, she had changed her mind. I could have contracted from fear, canceled my tour and stayed at my job. But when a friend offered that as an option, I could see really clearly, "Oh, hell no! I'm not going backwards!"

So I continued along with the plans that I had started. While the renter in the main house decided not to stay the little casita rented instead for the entire tour. I certainly didn't see that coming! I say that

God uses the backdoor and gives 11th hour information. 

I have learned to not stop the flow of energy, just because I don't understand how something will work out. My first lesson in this trusting was when I was remodeling the bath of the little miner's shack my dad gave me. I had stripped the bathroom down to the studs and it needed drywalled. I was working very part-time for $10 an hour, which certainly wasn't allocated for any extras.

One day a friend of a friend said that he was coming the next day to do the work. I said, "Well, what I know is that if you're coming, the money will show up." And it did. Had I contracted from fear, it never would have gotten done.

That was what I knew about this tour. It felt like I was to go and the first renter came along to get me started.  I am very grateful to her. Then, as things shifted and changed, I got many opportunities to practice trusting. And because I said yes, and was willing to trust,  I experienced many magical people and experiences!