Author Archive
Does Everything Happen for a Reason? What Do You Think?
Posted by: | CommentsDo you believe that everything happens for a reason, even if you can’t see why at the time? Do you sense that there is divine purpose in the universe? Or is everything happening at random? Or, in another sense, do thoughts create everything that’s taking place?
According to Divine Order, everything is unfolding as it needs to unfold for reasons which you may or may not understand. There is a truth that’s higher and deeper than your everyday mind can fathom. And if you wait long enough, you’ll find out the deeper meanings about why things are happening.
On the other hand, according to the Law of Attraction, thoughts have created the current reality. And, according to A Course in Miracles and many other sacred texts, there just seems to be a reality in what’s happening, but everything is just an illusion, and the only truth is in the One spirit.
Take the Case of Haiti
Haiti is a case in point. Is there a divine purpose being served here? Our creative imaginations will find many “reasons” for the huge challenges taking place, but you may need to wait to find the real meaning of it all. The trick is being able to have compassion and deep feeling while at the same time being able to leap into the state of the witness as you watch it all unfold.
Maybe that’s part of the world transformation that’s taking place – that through these huge challenges, hearts are being opened exponentially. Maybe we’re supposed to join together in closer communities and share our lives in a greater sense. And maybe that’s the real meaning of social networking – that we’re coming together more closely than ever before. Maybe with the challenges on our planet, becoming close with one another is one of the greatest methods of survival that we could imagine.
If you have some comments about this, please express what you feel.
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Is it Possible to Plan Your Life – Or is it All About Destiny?
Posted by: | CommentsSomeone once said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans!” Do you believe this – that there is a destiny that shapes our ends – or can you exert your will in shaping the direction of your life? This one area of immense controversy, and there are points of view on both sides. What do the laws of karma tell us about this?
What Dustin Hoffman and Bob Dylan Say about It
Dustin Hoffman, discussing how he got the movie role in “The Graduate” said, “So much of this is not in your hands. My plan to be an obscure artist wasn’t working out.” The singer Bob Dylan said once in an interview that he knew he was destined to become a music legend. He said, “I was heading for the fantastic lights. Destiny was looking right at me .” His success has lasted a long time, and about that, he says: “It goes back to that Destiny thing. I made a bargain with it, you know, a long time ago – with the Chief Commander, in this earth and in the world we can’t see.”
The Law of Karma
The Law of Karma is the law of cause and effect, as in “as you sow, so shall you reap.” Karma is the result of your actions in the past, which come to bear upon your experiences of the present. Some philosophers believe that we are run partly by free will and partly by destiny. The circumstances of your birth – parents, nationality, geographical place, temperament – all are determined (and possibly determined by the kind of “bargain” that Bob Dylan said he made with the “Chief Commander.”) Yet many philosophers say that we have the power to control our actions, that our conscious efforts make a difference, and that we can create shifts in our destiny accordingly.
Shaping Your Future with a Vision Board
If you’re one who believes that we have power to decide what takes place in our lives, you can work with a “vision board.” In the movie “The Secret,” John Assoraf spoke about one that he made in which he cut out pictures of what he’d like to manifest in his life, and he looked at it every day, getting in a state of mind of already acquiring it. After five years and several moves to new living places, his vision board packed away for a while, he looked again at the board, and tears came to his eyes. He was moved and shocked that the home he had envisioned, he was now living in. He feels deep in his heart that imagination is the key, that it is the preview of life’s “coming attractions.”
The Ultimate Truth
Ultimately, “it is what it is.” This points to the ineffable unknowable, the truth that your truth is the truth for you. You hold your own truth to be self evident, and because it is your ground of being, it is unarguably what is so. You can then make your vision board and “create your own reality” while at the same time, your friend can bow to the inevitable laws of karma and destiny. Perhaps the great truth here is that both realities are true, and you hold the key to understanding by knowing the power of your own reality.
Want to learn more about life transformation, spiritual growth, and healing? You can download our 100 page free ebook, Extraordinary Healing at http://www.lifetransformationsecrets.com You can also subscribe to our wonderful free monthly newsletter, “The Transformation News.” Marilyn Gordon is a board certified hypnotherapist, teacher, speaker, healer, school director, and author with over thirty years of experience. Her latest book is The Wise Mind: The Brilliant Key to Life Transformation and Healing.
Transform Your Habits When You Know that Setbacks are Normal
Posted by: | CommentsSo many people get discouraged when they pick up a cigarette again after stopping, or they eat a Hostess Twinkie when they’ve committed themselves to spinach and apples, or they take another sip of that drink they’d said goodbye to. And so many people are hard on themselves and call it a failure. “There I go again,” they say. “I’ll never make it.” But what if this is normal and really okay? Read on to find out why and how you can use it to your advantage.
Sometimes a Setback is a Message
Sometimes it’s a message that you have something more to learn from the food or substance and the habit. If, instead of castigating yourself for what you perceive as failure, you instead say, “What is it I have to learn from this?” You might find that there’s a particular thought or feeling that’s a trigger for you. Perhaps there’s something in your life that’s a stress-producer, so you take another bit of the old substance because you’re intending to alleviate the stress. Instead of feeling like a failure, take a look at what’s stressing you. Take a deep breath in, as breathing is an amazing healing tool. It changes the chemistry of your stress. Then ask yourself if you can let go of this problem. Keep asking yourself this question, and see if it’s possible to go to another level of yourself where the solution to the problem appears as if by magic – or the problem dissolves as you breathe.
Instead of Feeling Like a Failure, Consider Divine Timing
You may or may not believe in this, but it’s a long-held understanding by many people. It’s the sense that everything is on a divine schedule, and the perfect time makes itself known to you. You may feel it strongly inside, perhaps in your “gut.” That may be the moment you can say to yourself, “I’ve had it, and I know I’ll never do that again.” Up until that time, all attempts are rehearsals to get you there. They have their own importance, and they are certainly not failures.
All Previous Attempts are Steps Along the Way
There are no wasted moments, no failures – just steps in the passage of life transformation. Some of those steps feel like you’ve won the Academy Award. Other steps feel like you’ve tumbled to the ground. But all of these are valuable. A reporter asked Thomas Edison how it felt to fail1,000 times, as Edison had made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. Edison said to the reporter, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” Let that be the same for you.
Release Techniques
Posted by: | CommentsThe Wise Mind Process
© Marilyn Gordon 2006
1) Pay attention to what’s going on inside. Describe it to yourself.
2) Take a deep breath in, and breathe deeply into whatever you’re experiencing.
As you breathe out, disperse it. Break it up into tiny molecules, and release it.
Do this as many times as you like.
3) Ask your Wise Mind what it would like to tell you about this.
4) Imagine yourself as you’d like to be. Then, find a word or phrase that symbolizes the healing of the experience or issue. Put your thumb together with your index finger, and say your word or phrase.
Check to see how you feel, and see if there’s anything else you need to pay
attention to. You can do the process again and also ask yourself if there is anything else you need to do to heal this issue. Do this process as often as you like at any time.
The Letting Go Technique
Adapted from The Sedona Method
Ask yourself these questions about anything that’s going on in your life, and answer them:
Would you like to pay attention to it?
Could you accept it for now?
Would you let go of it?
Would you let go of it more?
Could you let go?
When would you like to release it?
The Feeling Good Technique
From Dr. Robert Anthony
Whenever you have a thought that isn’t productive or is negative, say to yourself:
“I choose to feel good now.”
Life Transformation – Fulfilling the Dreams for Your Life
Posted by: | CommentsAre you hungry to realize your dreams and purpose of your life? So many people have this hunger because these dreams have been planted in us as a seed inside of us. And we want to let that seed come to fruition. We’re hungry to express ourselves and listen to the messages that are encoded inside of us. We’re hungry to shine like the universe itself because we’re imprinted with this desire.
What is it that you’re hungry to express?
How far along with a project are you? Have you just begun or is this something that has been on your horizon for a while now, waiting to be expressed? How important is it to you to realize the dreams of your life? Are you listening to the encoded messages inside that are telling you that it’s time?
Now is the time for you to come into your fruition.
Whatever you may have experienced in your life at any time, no matter how many times you’ve tried and failed, no matter how many people have told you can’t do it – or you’ve told yourself that you’re not worthwhile - now is the time to fulfill your life. The earth has a timetable, and now is the time for people with greatness shining in their hearts to bring forth their projects and their creations, their talents and their gifts and express these in the world in tangible ways. It’s time to shine in ways beyond anything you’ve known.
What does it Mean to Fulfill the Dreams of Your Life?
It means what it means for you.
Maybe it’s about fulfilling a specific life purpose, something you know you came to this earth to do. A woman named Liz gave birth to her fourth daughter One day as she was surrounded by all her beautiful little girls, she looked at them and realized that she came here to teach people how to love their children more, to be enlightened parents. Liz had known she came here to teach people about love, but it finally became a solid, palpable purpose. Something in her danced with the sheer joy of knowing what her greatness was all about.
Do you have a sense of your purpose? Have you known it for years and are just waiting to be empowered to express and realize it? Or are you waiting for it to be revealed?
Is your purpose about healing something in your life? Have you been given a difficulty so that you can overcome it and find your greatness? Sarah had breast cancer, and one day she was inspired to try a meditation in which light was all around her and within her, and she felt so connected with that light that the next time she went to the doctor’s, the tumor could not be found. This was one of the purposes of Sarah’s life – to realize that she had the power to bring the light to bear upon her physical body and transform her health.
Have you ever felt so defeated that you didn’t know whether you had the strength to carry on? Is your purpose about carrying on anyway and creating something great for yourself and others?
What Fuels Your Own Purpose?
What learning experiences have you had deep inside that are telling you to take a path of self revelation?
What are you learning and have you learned that is the transforming principle of your life?
Is your purpose about your career? About your spirituality? About your talents and gifts? About your healing and transformation? Is it about being transported into another level of consciousness? Is it about having a breakthrough? Finding your life purpose? Now is the time for you to come into your own and shine.
Think about it for a moment. If you’re going through any challenges right now, this may be just the moment when the tide is beginning to turn. This is a comeback time – a time of resurrection, renewal, restoration, rebirth, and returning again. What may have once seemed to be a breakdown is now a breakthrough. The precedents are endless: Christ returned from the dead and said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” The Chanukah oil lasted eight days in the temple instead of just one, and Chanukah means rededication. Moses was in exile for many years, and after that, he became a great leader. So no matter what’s happening in your life right now, it’s no doubt preparing you for something great. Read on for six reasons that your life is on the upswing.
1. Breakdowns Often Lead to Breakthroughs
Nelson Mandela was sent to prison for opposing apartheid, and he stayed there for 27 years. While in prison, his reputation and strength grew, and he became known as the most significant Black leader in South Africa. Four years after he was released, he became the president of South Africa. His difficult years were empowering him for greatness. If you have a relationship that is ending, it may be that something new and greater is getting ready for you. If your finances need improvement, it may be an opportunity to look at new possibilities for your life. A breakthrough may be just over the horizon.
2. Consider Challenges as Tests of Your Strength and Keep Going
Many years ago, I was an English teacher, and in my last y ear, I was teaching in a school in which the students began to riot. Though I was courageous, I found myself exhausted by the end of each day. I felt hopeless until a spark of inspiration came into me and told me that I could totally transform my life. I began to do yoga and meditate. I changed the way I ate and gave up many habits. And in time, I became a life transformer myself. These years of difficulty taught me strength and compassion, and they gave me the power to make the shift. If you’re going through a challenging time right now, it may be “boot camp” that’s giving you strength for coming back.
3. Keeping the Faith may be the Way to Keep on Keeping On
Once when I was undergoing some difficult times, I wrote to a spiritual teacher about it, and he said, “Times may be difficult now, but with your faith and your devotion, your life will be transformed.” This became the way for me. I knew that there was such a thing as “divine timing” and that everything would open up for me at the right time. So I kept telling myself that it was all getting ready to break through for me. And lo and behold, life opened itself up for me, and I was able to move forward. The same is happening for you.
4. Plan It; Imagine it; Hold the Space for It
Let your imagination help you plan the next steps. It’s important to accept what’s happening in the moment, but it’s also of great benefit to imagine the potentials for yourself. Some people have never let themselves imagine what could be possible. Go ahead and let yourself do it. Get ready for a transformed life. Even in the midst of difficulties, get ready for everything to shift for the better.
5. Affirm It
Speak positive words about the potentials for your life. Don’t give the time of day to your complaints or self pity. Speak words of possibility. You too can say, “I AM the resurrection and the life.” You can also say, “I AM the power of healing and I AM healing myself now.” You can say it over and over, using these words instead of negative ones.
6. Get Ready for a New World
While it’s important to “be here now” and to accept your current say of viewing your reality, it’s also important to project the potentials for a transformed world. While some people say that 2012, for example, is going to be the cataclysmic end of the world, others say that something quite different can be expected. There is the possibility that there’s an optimistic interpretation and that it’s the end of the world as we’ve known it. It could mean the rebirth and transformation of humanity in which we all know universal love and peace.
Seven Tips for Healing Your Worries
Posted by: | CommentsYou’d be surprised how many people worry about being bag ladies or bag men. The image is in their heads as pervasive scenarios. Not very productive thinking, to be sure! Take a look at what worries actually are: They’re negative thoughts projected onto the future. They’re fearful pictures of the worst possible outcomes. Some people feel that they protect themselves by preparing for the worst. But instead, they’re really creating defeated scenarios with their worries. Let’s take a look at what you can do instead. Here are seven alternatives.
1. First, pay attention to your breathing.
When you worry, your breathing is shallow. See if you can breathe deeply, bringing fresh oxygen and prana ( life force) into your body and mind. As you breathe in tell yourself that you’re worrying again. As you breathe out, tell yourself that you’re now letting go of these worries. You don’t want to paint a picture of the worst possible thing that can happen. You have better things to do.
2. Create a new scenario based on expanded possibility.
What might be an alternative vision for you? Instead of the bag lady or man, what is calling to you? How would you like to see yourself? A successful person assisting others to be successful also? A happy, loving being? Take the paintbrush of your mind, and construct something else that’s joyful, prosperous, healing, and full of love.
3. Develop a state of faith that everything is working out.
You can first tell yourself: “Things have a way of working themselves out.” As you examine the events of your life, they may have seemed difficult at the time, but you’re here. You’ve grown beyond them. Something was being accomplished or learned in the process, and everything has a way of working itself out . You might even think in terms of a benevolent universe with difficult things happening to purify and cleanse the spirit. Everything is here to raise your consciousness, and you are on a path of great self knowledge and expansion.
4. Hypnotize yourself into a positive mindset
You may want to close your eyes as you breathe and count some numbers backwards very slowly. Get into a relaxed state in which you can see your worries as scenarios that you’ve made up. Breathe some more as you do the next step.
5. Contact your wisdom
Ask yourself, “What would my Wise Mind tell me about this?” You may want to write out, type out or record your answer. You might want to just speak it or think it. The Wise Mind is supportive, loving, and gentle . See what it would like to tell you about your worries. See if it has some other ideas for your well being and your life.
6. Create affirmations
You can make up some phrases that will help you to think more positively. Or you can adopt such positive affirmations at these:
* “There’s always more.” That’s a really good one, telling you to keep on keeping on. There’s always more.
* “God is helping me and showing me the way.” This is good if you have a spiritual nature, and it allows in the forces of the universe to embrace your mind and life.
* “I AM the power of healing and I AM healing myself now.” This is particularly powerful, and the I AM is capitalized because it invokes the universal power of expanded consciousness to guide and assist you.
* “I AM the power of prosperity.” You keep the pictures positive and open your mind for the universe to give you abundant gifts.
7. Take action.
Doing something constructive will shift your energy, and it can lead you to solutions. If you don’t know what to do, write down some ideas. Brainstorm with yourself, and then take one or two of those ideas and begin to take action. Call someone. Read something. Meditate. Open yourself for all the opportunities that are coming your way. Open your mind to sunshine instead of a cloudy day.
How to Transform and Heal Your Fear
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’re a person who has no fear at all, you’re very rare and supremely blessed. Most people and other animals have endless fears of all kinds. Did you know that you can reduce the severity of your fear, and in some cases you can transform it completely? Let’s take a look at some of the different kinds of fears and some powerful ways to come out of the darkness and into the light, out of the fearful world and into the world of courage and strength.
The Different Kinds of Fears
Some fear is instinctual and biological, reminders of when your ancestors lived in the forest in primitive times – and when enemies or seeming threats came near, there were rushes of adrenaline that gave them energy to react. Another kind of fear is emotional. Sometimes you react to a current event in a fearful way because it reminds you of something that happened to you at some other time. Some fears are imaginary, like the scenarios of gloom, doom and ruin that may never happen. There are fears of loss of ego states, like fear of failure or humiliation or death. Some of these fears are attempting to keep you from danger; others are blown out of proportion by an overactive mind.
Here are Some Ways of Transforming and Healing Your Fears
Pay Attention to Fear
Stand back and look at your fear. What’s it like? Where do you feel it inside? Does it affect any part of your body? How does it feel in your mind? Communicate with your fear. See if you can treat it like a person and begin to make friends with it: “I know you’re attempting to take care of me, but I need to be clear and free. Perhaps you can relax a bit,” you might say to it. Give your fear some tender loving care. “I know you’re feeling a bit insecure, but I’m here with you, and it’s okay.” You may even want to stroke your own hand with the other hand, saying, “Don’t worry, I’m with you, and we’ll do just fine” – almost as if you were soothing a child.
Breathe into Your Fear
When you have fear, your breath becomes very shallow. Notice that, and take a very deep breath in all the way to your belly. Deep breathing this way is very powerful. It creates a whole different kind of energy in your body and mind. It brings you fresh oxygen, centers you, and deepens your relaxation. Many ancient texts say that breathing can transform matter. If you like, you can even count as you breathe in and out and hold your breath if you like in between. This type of breathing steadies you and transforms your emotional state.
Contact Your Own Wisdom
Say to yourself, “What would my Wise Mind tell me about this?” Then listen to the perspective your Wise Mind gives you on your situation. It might tell you that everything will work out. It might give you alternative ways of looking at your particular situation. It might remind you that you need to remember to breathe or move your body. It might remind you that you’re loved and not alone in your situation. It might tell you that you’re imagining the worst possible scenario. As you listen to your Wise Mind, you can feel a sense of liberation from a limited perception, and you can move into fearlessness.
Make a Decision about Your Fear
See if you can decide to live in a courageous warrior’s world instead of a fearful world. See if you can shift your perspective so much that you’re able to “change the channel” and move from a dark point of view into an altered world of light. You can tell yourself that you’re ready to shed the burdens of fear that may have been in your life for years, if not eons. This takes some discipline, as fears are very dramatic and vie for first place. As you take on the courage and bravery of the spiritual warrior, you can find that an innate strength and power is coming to the surface, and you are now living in a transformed inner world. This then transforms your outer world and helps you to move through life with greater ease and grace.
Cultivate Trust
You may be able to cultivate the attitude that basically things have a way of working themselves out, that at the core, there may be a benevolence about the universe that is apparent when you look for it. You may find new attitudes coming to you:
* That if you fail, it’s just a message that you need to try again and perhaps take a different approach next time
* That you’re willing now to take a chance
* That you realize now that failing may be a stepping stone to later success
* That you train yourself to see the possibilities for goodness happening instead of gloom and doom, and you center yourself in this
Shine Light on Your Fear
With your inner awareness, let light shine around and into your fear. Transform it as if you were Obi Wan Kenobi with his light saber, reminding Darth that no matter what, he’ll still be more powerful than any darkness could ever be. The light heals and transforms, and strength comes to the warrior whose courage leads the way.
A Powerful Way to Heal Your Emotions
Posted by: | CommentsYour emotions are profound and intricate, and often questions come up about how to understand and heal your often mysterious emotional experiences. You may be experiencing feelings of anger or grief or fear. Whatever is going on within you, when you put your mind to it, there’s always an opportunity to move to the next level of your life.
You first allow yourself to experience your feelings until finally there is a point at which there is a true understanding of what’s taking place within you. When you watch your feelings as if you’re the third person, great transformation can happen for you.
One very linear lawyer relaxed and moved deeply into his feelings. He hadn’t felt them in a long time, and tears came to his eyes. He was moved that he was able to truly experience some central and profound dilemmas of his life and that he had the solutions inside of himself.
How to handle emotions
You allow yourself to be present for whatever feelings naturally arise. You’re feeling the emotions, and at the same time, you’re observing them. You are compassionate toward your own self, and you get yourself ready to resolve your feelings with wisdom, love, and compassion.
The Wise Mind and the experience of healing
After you experience your deep feelings, you can then ask yourself this question: What would my Wise Mind tell me about this?” The moment you ask this and receive an answer, you may feel a release taking place inside of you. You can then ask another question: “How can I heal this?” You may begin to experience comfort and love within yourself, and you can get a sense of how to take one small step after another, moving yourself upward a step at a time.
Obstacles as allies
Obstacles are not, in and of themselves, bad. They are mechanisms to help cope with difficult areas of growth, and sometimes they are trying their best to take care of you. You can take the opportunity to be the one who makes the decision about how you are to be taken care of, and in this case you become a powerful self healer.
Everything in life is an opportunity for awakening to your greatness and your strength, as well as to the underlying energy of love and healing in the universe. Working with the inner emotions and obstacles is a part of the powerful work of personal growth and transformation.
Two Powerful Methods for Overcoming Food and Other Cravings
Posted by: | CommentsBreaking up with a craving can be a hard thing to do. Do you have an actual physical addiction? Is your life filled with stress? Is the craving serving other needs in your life – like keeping you from thinking unwanted thoughts? Do you actually want to make the change? There are many methods for helping you become free if you want to (and you do need to “want to”). Here are two very powerful ways toward the transformation of your life.
Not This, But This
One of the powerful ways to undo a specific craving is through substitution – not just any ordinary substitution, but substitution that serves a very specific purpose. When you find out what needs the object of your craving is satisfying, you can get those needs met in some other ways. If you don’t do this, then substitution may not be as effective as you’d like it to be. You can’t just substitute a rice cake for a birthday cake or a carrot for a cookie, if you don’t get any satisfaction from rice cakes or carrots. The word “satisfaction” is the key here. What needs is the object of your craving satisfying? You may need to take a moment to think about it. Is it a specific kind of oral gratification that makes you feel really content, as if you were a baby at your mother’s breast? Is it a special kind of stimulation or calming that you’re craving? When you figure it out, find something that is truly satisfying that will help you meet your needs in ways that are healthy and positive. I substituted Japanese yams for sweets. You may not know it, but they taste like cake.
Horrible, Terrible, Bad
This is the second method, and it’s called “aversion therapy.” Not very positive, to say the least. Some people wouldn’t touch this method with a ten foot pole. Others think it’s brilliant. You might want to call it the “maggots on the chocolate cake” method. What you need to do is to find aversion statements that are truly meaningful to you:
* “I don’t want that because if I do it (eat it, drink it, smoke it), I won’t live to see my children (or grandchildren) grow up.”
* “My husband or wife) might leave me. I don’t want that.”
* “If I do that, I won’t be able to do my work, and I won’t be successful.”
* “I won’t be able to fit in my old clothes, and I won’t have anything to wear.”
* “That stuff is pure junk, made in factories, calculated to addict me, made for pure profit only, tastes like cardboard, makes me feel worse – not better. I don’t want that junk.”
The litany is up to you, whatever gets to you deeply. You can have it ready in your mind whenever you pass a candy store or a group of smokers or drinkers at a party. You have to have your own good reasons – and you need to talk to the part of yourself that says, “Just once, go ahead. Just have a little.” Say, “No thanks,” do your substituting, say your aversion litany, and keep on walking forward.
Other Approaches
There are a lot of other ways to make these shifts, such as working with positive suggestions and more. You can take what works for you and go out and transform your life in powerful, positive ways. But the main point is: you have to be ready for the shift, and it needs to be the right time for you. Then miracles can take place in your own transformation and healing.
