"This world is but a canvas to our imagination"
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey, and it is my gift to you!
The google doc below (inside google docs, click “file ” and “make a copy” to have your own editable version).
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l_GldyTtKRTsPS-3v7nX0fSGBwKZcLgQb6idexYKVBc/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey, and it is my gift to you!
The google doc below (inside google docs, click “file ” and “make a copy” to have your own editable version).
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1huwuclVHKRifZg_lNggAmTynUa4UHO72F6IVdwA0Ke8/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey, and it is my gift to you!
The google doc below (inside google docs, click “file ” and “make a copy” to have your own editable version).
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YNtTWz6jsTHkPDiFbcZbIHZUY2YNhM9Hk5dmRbNOb84/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey, and it is my gift to you!
The google doc below (inside google docs, click “file ” and “make a copy” to have your own editable version).
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vBJzT2TUMywtLSj13omVdZW9ZxV2rIooCQtJcnh6r3M/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey, and it is my gift to you!
The google doc below (inside google docs, click “file ” and “make a copy” to have your own editable version).
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pR4YCZgWf14SCJvsXbYCh4I5rQoO0vgsCaMXQKKGgCo/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey, and it is my gift to you!
The google doc below (inside google docs, click “file ” and “make a copy” to have your own editable version).
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MWOtnqw53fn4KlYHuVZavLRYOtGZf8KRN9xt9lq9rYU/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey, and it is my gift to you!
The google doc below (inside google docs, click “file ” and “make a copy” to have your own editable version).
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jv47paott_qe0a8v_0c_rzqdDpk2qR8tLIBQ9Wa-5hg/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PCPm8SM7HnkLfJq0X51agoWwCar4zpRGSEdnZWmowLA/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z7fst2p0xGFMdCeYCvuIhC-OX62k1ILg0_D1IR5m9Nc/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JCIWK-FtzhGttjPA_KUH8u1MzeKIs0mvNwFifUwilD8/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OF-7HikKqT94RLj_u1o-soo_FMhuL2BnDj9FblbxYbE/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sTMWodUtw_sXMzlW1I78-MfSIL7ReNhdgoPRp9R3clo/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1onC-Lg9gFVBov8aimluq6rRKsKF_DPSzRH_EG3m5EUQ/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u_vEwR725VmMw6lmTizyGylFID4ZVALkZsM9qHFM-X8/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l4J4_RNVJvB_RF4Nkym6m7XogVAWGR2FdnEgJQfzRQI/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1134cIKdR-C4qPfWVsF3dTNoN8I7j5N4lR_xt8exeqlQ/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1okwS-vGvceKNnGEyordF605c_dkqXpU0sSgNbZnz-X0/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-M62fs8GdVRRufm2JPidSz_v3qm7bMWMLBizroE2trM/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h6EvGUV_6nbVSWYTcZgf7yLKeNZ7Xn647d5jaG5FKgQ/edit
This writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc;
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gyg2yICXT-XtKaXrjjYC1EDhAP1u-vs8toSxZ8LbQ7c/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EPo7o3CbfDTzBvvD3RljZhUDdH5Y1WJar3OW980994E/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc ;
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cQMrHMizcJuG0BeBLsw8t6Pz9EHxPhGJARzTt6yv8WU/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is for anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc;
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gxhbeXx7czhewvnw1EzroNked-zuq5h9q-F8_fMU7vc/edit?usp=sharing
This Writing journey is free to anyone who wants to explore themselves and produce an intimate artistic expression from their soul. It is a no-cost journey and it is my gift to you!
The editable google doc-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oyH1YF38vekIENMZgKxnq4s3NwUvXGPmRIBL7V_jQuE/edit
Z is for Zen
“I have lived with several Zen masters – all of the cats” -Eckhart Tolle–
Zen Buddhism holds many truths and philosophies about living and having the best human experience on this planet. However, one philosophy resonates with my soul over any other about awakening. It teaches us that awakening or enlightening comes in two ways if it comes in this life.
The first way is called Satori, and that is when something clicks. You have an “aha” moment, some form of intuition slams into the back of your head, and you know you have just unearthed a truth aligned with your soul and your reasons for being. After that moment, things can never be the same because what you have just learned or witnessed can not be unseen.
The second moment, which happened to me, is called Kensho. Kensho happens after we get so low and go through a dark night of the soul (mine lasted a decade, and I wouldn’t change any of it).
Kensho is an act that we must move through to say no more and finally pick ourselves up. Like the mythical phoenix who rises from the ashes to become a beautiful, majestic creature, finding fire in its belly and doing things that it could not previously do or even possible.
Another beautiful idea Zen teaches us is that the source of all sin is delusion, so ask yourself the following question as you move through the seasons of your life. What I am seeing, hearing, doing, thinking, and feeling is an illusion causing my delusion.
***Starting next weekend, All of us will be starting a new FREE series of journal prompts based on the brilliance of Henry David Thoreau’s transcendentalist philosophy and ideas he wrote almost two centuries ago from Walden pond. The idea is to explore yourself through writing in a way you have not done so until now. So, bring a pen and paper (or laptop) and give yourself full permission for the words to flow like the river of life. The secret to this fun and exciting journey is to be as vulnerable as possible and seek answers by asking questions (if you ask a question, the universe has to provide a solution).****
“Yin and yang. The qualities that make us human. As though our lives play out on an immense balance scale – move one way, the scale tips to the left, but move the other, and it swings to the right.”
– Abramelin Keldor –
Y is for Yin- Yang
The Yin-yang is the ultimate symbol of duality. Feminine v masculine, light v dark, good v evil.
The symbol is a beautiful swirling image that flows into each other and is stamped with a dot from the opposite sides. The bubble seeps through is a reminder that in all good lurks some evil, and out of all evil can be found some good.
Light and dark is the cyclical representation that shows the impermanence of all things. Think seasons or a 24-hour day. Wherever you are reading this in the world, you are about to witness this in nature. Winter is either coming or going, meaning that the spring will begin to show the birth of a new light or autumn has put the plants to sleep. A new moon and a new world.
We shall search for the good as we emerge from the evil that has enveloped the world for the past few years.
The yin yang can also be a personal reminder that no matter where you are on your journey, we are capable of both sides of this cultural coin.
He wished he had some kind of X-ray vision for the human heart.
–Kim Edwards-
X is for X-ray vision.
If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?
How about X-ray vision, the ability to fly, super-human strength, time travel or teleportation? How about all of the above?
When we go inside and sit in the empty, dark void, shutting out the 3-D sensory world, that is precisely the time when we can work on such superpowers. Limitless possibilities in the quantum field can be manufactured in the alchemy of our minds. We can time travel, see places we usually can’t see with our eyes, and visualize things that nobody can.
Lucid dreaming and Astral projections are two well-documented ways to make all these fantastic superpowers real (I have not had the pleasure of these experiences yet). If you have tried either lucid dreaming or astral projection, please let the community know what it feels like for you because all that matters here is your world experience. It matters not what anyone else says.
So, What is your superpower? Do you have more than one?
W is for Will
“The kingdom comes, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10, King James Bible
Willpower! Do you have it? If you answered No, fear not because it can be developed over time.
When we have willpower and dominion over our bodies, we can do almost anything in this life.
One way to do this is to teach your body how to automate positive actions that improve your life. Enhancing your life is akin to training a dog to sit and stay. Over time, a repeated behaviour will automate a conditioned response with practice, and eventually, the body will naturally take this action.
For example, if the location has energy and time has memory (and it does), this means that by doing an activity at the same time and in the same place every day, we begin to tell our body that every day at 8 am, we will go to this location and do this thing.
In essence, we develop an intentional pattern instead of unconsciously repeating patterns placed inside us by the countless archetypes we have encountered throughout our lives. Once you cultivate and grow your will, you will power yourself through the things that seemed difficult in the past.
Repeated training your body will allow you to craft a life of mastery. In doing so, you won’t be a follower of the crowd. You will not eat the cookie when you are on a diet. Instead, you will have control over your thoughts as they arise in your head. You will be able to have a review, see the idea, and then watch that thought pass on without having to act impulsively or contradictory to your values and beliefs.
It comes down to keeping promises; once again, proving how we speak to ourselves is critical.
If you are the girl, who gets complimented for having a lovely dress and then says something like “it was on sale” or “yours is nicer,” these are the kinds of statements that go against the will of someone with personal mastery. Instead, just say thank you and leave it at that.
I am not suggesting that others are not better at certain things than we are. Instead, I recommend that we take our mastery to the next level with the power of will.
If you have the will to survive, you are the ultimate survivor. If you have the choice to finish the race or do the hard thing you don’t want to do, know it will make you better than a master over your domain.
We often see a competitor ‘will’ themselves to victory in sports. They may seem down and out. But, battered, bruised, and broken, their will was never in doubt, and that is why even when their gas tank is empty, they somehow ‘will’ themselves through the pain of defeat.
The greatest thing about the power of will is that it is a teachable skill. Once installed as a habit, then no one can stop you. So, my only question is, Do you have the ‘will’?
V is for Visualisation
“Visualisation is daydreaming with a purpose.” -Bo Bennett-
If you can visualize your future and hold that intention in your mind every day, there will come a time when you will meet that future vision in the present moment. You will know because it will feel familiar, like you’ve been there before, and feel right. As if you were expecting it.
The alternative is not visualizing your future and stumbling through life ‘hoping’ for things. In that case, there is a chance that you will get them, but there is a better chance that you will walk right past the future you want as it appears.
Something remarkable unfolds when we visualize the future we want and focus on daily. First, we start to notice events, people, and circumstances that align with our intention appear in our lives. Then, because we consistently focus on that future outcome, our brain (specifically the RAS or reticular activating system) finds and shows us how to do it.
Visualization, affirmations, intention, and a disciplined work ethic will lead you to the future you want, but you must also have faith, desire and belief.
When we combine faith, desire and belief, then sprinkle in a bit of visualization, we will manifest opportunities set up by the Universe so that we can take the path toward our dreams.
It may show up as a conversation we hear on a bus or a song on the radio delivering a message meant for us. The synchronicities spark ideas and become so apparent after a while that when it happens to me, I laugh a little, smile and say thank you.
In The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho said, “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you get it.” The way we let the Universe know how to help us get what we want is by Visualisation.
U is for Unlimited
“Our only limitations are the ones we set up in our own minds “– Napolean Hill-
When we push ourselves to the limit, we discover that we can go further. It’s how we evolve and adapt.
Let’s use running as the example (again). If you run for 20 mins because that’s the limit you set for yourself, then the opportunity for growth and adaptation comes in the 21st minute.
You do one more minute because you can. Because you know it’s all a mind game and what happens is, just like a dog being trained to sit, you train your mind to become the body and go a tiny bit further. It’s what we are born to do.
Expand, evolve and adapt. Yet, we think we can’t do something because we are telling ourselves we can’t believe in our mind (not in the physical world).
If we tell the mind to shut up, we will discover that we can do way more than we “hink.’
And the most magical part of this process is that when we push ourselves to that breaking point and go past it, the doubts that were initially there disappear and vanish into thin air.
Another reason this is so powerful is that we will start to silence the doubts that arise in the future because we now have evidence that iit’spossible. Possible because we have already done it once. Just like the four-minute mile was a wall, a mind barrier until that veil was lifted by Roger Bannister. He was the first to run a sub-four-minute mile, but look how many followed in his footsteps.
If you remove one message from this article, let it be that “it’s possible.”
That is the ultimate starting point, knowing that it is possible. After that, work on your belief system until possible is part of your vocabulary, and you can do anything.
T is for Transcend
“Transcend the limits of what you think is possible, and you may just find greatness. -Justin Young-
Transcend time, Transcend space, Transcend your life.
We are all running a program, multiple programs, actually.
The question Is, do you know who installed the program you are running?
If it was a program that was designed and installed by you intentionally and on purpose, that’s great. Good for you. You’re probably winning at the game of life.
However, if you’re running a program installed by one of the many different archetypes you’ve encountered since your birth, then it was put there by someone else, which means that your program is based on someone else’s belief system.
Of course, all of this is okay as long as you know it and agree. Ask yourself, “Is this a belief system that fits with my current values, and does it serve me now and in my future?
If you’re running a program that you don’t like or don’t want, the good news is that you can design a new program. One that you wish to and can begin installing now, starting today.
To figure out what programs we want and don’t want, we must become aware of our behaviours and actions. We must look at the behaviours and actions that benefit us AND the ones that hinder us.
We must flip them upside down and investigate them from every angle. We can uninstall programs running our entire lives and evaluate if life is better without a particular program.
Take things apart, remove habits and decide if they still serve you today. If they do, keep them; if not, let them go and move on. It may take time and effort, but it is a guaranteed formula.
The programs are not just interpersonal either. Music, food, and sports can transcend culture, religion and age for the masses.
The programs we wrap around the fabric of our inner and outer world will determine the quality of our life today and well into the future.
Once we are aware of the programs, it becomes a choice. So, choose wisely, my friends and transcend those areas of your life that you know are no longer serving you!
Your future self is begging you!
S is for Surrender
“When we surrender, we open to more possibilities than we can even visualize or imagine for ourselves” KuteBlackson-
Life is a journey; the best way to experience it is to surrender and let go. Expect nothing and accept everything.
Last year, I chose surrender as the theme of my year.
I can not begin to tell you how many amazing things happened when I surrendered. There were many times when I didn’t want to or didn’t feel like doing something, but I reminded myself to offer, which is always when the magic occurs.
When we make our plan but then surrender the outcome, we have done our part in the creation process.
Maybe it happens the way we want, and perhaps it does not, but we can stand tall with our heads held high, knowing that we did everything we could and let go of the final result.
What happens is that people, events and circumstances will unfold with absolute beauty in our lives. Since we are not expecting or trying to control what happens, it allows more magic to flow. We vibrate higher and float lighter because our physiology is safe and secure. This will enable things to enter our experience that may have been blocked otherwise.
I am reminded about an example of baby chicks born in our home over the winter. Upon hearing that we were incubating chick eggs, my first thought was “no way.” However, I quickly reminded myself of the theme for the year and acquiesced.
In doing so, I was treated to a miracle before my eyes. The chicks pecked their way out of the egg with the ‘tooth’ on their nose and designed for precisely that single purpose; it is used for breaking out of the shell before falling it falls off the nose.
Then the baby chicks moved over to the other eggs and helped warm them until their brothers and sisters were ready to break out of their shells. Once this happened, they all huddled together, chirping and dancing around. Even the Dog peered in with amazement and wonder at the goings-on inside the tiny community of a cardboard box that acts as a home for these baby chicks.
Once we surrender, if we try to do something and it doesn’t happen, then it is not meant to happen (at that time). So these are some of the most significant changes we can ever make to our ideology, and the results are truly magical.
R is for Regulate
“The emotionally intelligent person is skilled in four areas: identifying emotions, using emotions, understanding emotions, and regulating emotions” – John Mayer-
Regulating ourselves and our emotions is the key to a healthy mind and happy life.
If we do not regulate our body and emotions, we are at the mercy of our mind and happiness, and we will get stuck reacting internally to external circumstances.
If, however, when we get overwhelmed (which happens to almost everyone from time to time), we stop, breathe and regulate our response, that is what it becomes. A reply instead of a reaction.
Daniel Goleman speaks about this eloquently in his book Emotional Intelligence calling it ‘Amygdala Hijack.’
The author says if we feel ‘Amygdala Hijack’ coming on, there is a second or two where we can make a decision on how to respond. If we regulate ourselves at that moment, we respond with control; if we don’t, we react.
When we react blindly and unwillingly, that is when we say and do things that we usually regret.
It is when we are repeating programs from our past, a subconscious rewind, of a former time, event or reaction that we are not in control of. The result is that it usually doesn’t end well for us or those around us.
Goleman determines that Emotional Intelligence or EQ is more important than IQ.
When we notice a feeling we don’t like, such as anger, sadness or fear, our body signals us to regulate. If we do not restrict right then and there, we react, which is never a good idea.
When we regulate our emotions, we are in control of our response to things that unfold in our inner and outer world.
Responding instead of reacting can require breathing, praying or meditating (even journalling) about something before we react. Still, if we can stop the “amygdala hi-jack,” we will make better choices, leading to a better life.
As you go through your day today, notice the times when you respond and react. Awareness is always the starting point!
Q is for Quest
“To begin is the most important part of any quest and by far the most courageous” -Plato-
What is your Ultimate Quest in life?
What do you want to do?
Is there someone or something that you would like to become? Somewhere you want to see or live?
You can do that thing.
The way to do it is to take belief, faith and desire and mix them together. That is the secret formula that will allow you to chase your dream.
Whether it is love, money, legacy, fame, family or many things. When we question what we want from life, the answer will become apparent in the form of a Quest.
We may not be able to see the complete Quest; instead, we may only see one or two steps ahead.
That is okay. Once we start moving, the following steps will reveal themselves along the way.
There is something we will learn or a person we will meet whom we do not know now, and the only way to get to that point is to begin the Quest.
The puzzle pieces will begin to fit together, but only once we have started building the puzzle. So it is not something that you can just sit around and wait for.
Action is the key. Belief, Faith and Desire are all essential, but without action, they are nothing more than philosophy.
Where will your Quest begin, and where will it take you? Just like a GPS system, we can enter a destination, but there may be 10,000 ways to get there.
The only way to reach our endpoint is to follow the next step and then the next, and the next until you look back one day and say, wow, I got where I wanted, but it didn’t happen exactly how I expected
P is for Perspective
“Your perspective is always limited by how much you know. Expand your knowledge, and you will transform your mind” – Bruce H. Lipton-
The world we see depends 100% on our perception.
Our perspective of life shapes the reality we see at all times.
The way a mountain looks or a stormy sky appears is determined by what we perceive at that moment.
If we perceive life as not having enough or that life is scary, unsafe or fearful, that is what we will see.
If we see abundance all around us, we will find patterns of that everywhere in our life.
Albert Einstein said, “the most important decision we make is whether we live in a friendly or hostile universe.” A decision? Absolutely! We get to decide what our reality is created from, starting with how we perceive the world.
What do we watch, read and see? What are we put into your mind?
Once we see the world a certain way, we form beliefs that wrap around that perception.
How can two men both have their legs blown off in a war, and one is grateful because he did not die, yet the other one becomes depressed and suicidal? Of course, the same thing happened to both men, but their perception of the event and the world they occupy determines how they respond.
We have learned about fixed mindset vs growth mindset, and it is similar to the idea of perception. So if we perceive that we can not learn and grow, then we will not; if we believe in a growth mindset, then that’s what we will perceive.
Our world is arranged by perception, and what we believe inside will manifest as an outer reality. similarly, what we see in our world is a
The way we perceive the world will ultimately determine how we approach life. If we see the world as a place where there is not enough to go around, then we will isolate ourselves from love and adventure and live a life of lack and scarcity.
Sounds and sight are electrical signals that are sent to our brain so that our brain can make a guess of what is actually happening. That “guess” becomes our reality.
Depending on our perception, we will form a belief, so the only question is whether you want to live in a friendly or hostile universe?
N is for Neuroplasticity
“Neuroplasticity research showed that the brain changes its very structure with each different activity it performs, perfecting its circuits, so it is better suited to the task at hand.” -Naveen Jain-
Simply put, Neuroplasticity is the way our brain changes.
The easiest way to explain this is an example of someone who has never run before and decides that they will run a marathon in 6 months.
Their brain is already moulded a certain way from everything they have seen and experienced in their life until they decide to run a marathon.
On day one, they may tie up a new pair of shoes and run for 5 or 10 minutes. A week later, they could be up to 30 minutes, and by the end of the first month, they can run for 45 minutes.
This daily process will slowly change their brains to look like runners’ brains. After 3 months, they may be up to an hour and a half, changing their brain and becoming a marathon runner. Finally, 6 months later, their brain looks like a marathon runner because that is what they have become.
Neuroplasticity is the real-time feedback (that we can’t see) of BECOMING something. It is not about the actual marathon day. It is about who they become in the process.
Neuroplasticity can work the opposite way too. For example, let’s say we get hurt, and the Doctor gives us a daily pill or tablet for pain.
Eventually, we build up a tolerance and need more. So the Doctor gives us 2, then 4, and then 8 pills to relieve our pain.
The fact that we have to take the pills every day reinforces our brain that we are in chronic pain. The result is that Neuroplasticity takes hold and starts to mould our brain to look like the brain of a person in chronic pain.
If we take pills three or four times a day, the interval between the time we tell ourselves we are in pain is cut in by half or every 6 hours.
Over time our brain starts to look like we are really sick. Neuroplasticity signals big trouble for us if we do this daily and become victims of our lives yearly.
If we trade in prescription drugs for vitamins, we signal to our brain that we are healthy, and our brain will start to look healthy again.
The great thing is that we can start to change today until we become marathon runners.
M is for Mindset
“Happiness has to do with your mindset, not outside circumstance.”
– Steve Maraboli-
Mindset is everything. Mindset determines if you will accomplish the things you set out to do. Mindset determines if you will get back up when you fall, and mindset will let you fail forward.
Mindset keeps you going when things get complicated, which happens to everyone and will undoubtedly happen to you at some point in 2022, 100%.
Mindset will help you cross the finish line when you feel like the tank is empty. It allows us to dig deep when there seems to be nothing left, and it helps us find that extra reserve we didn’t ‘think’ we had.
Mindset is beliefs and values mixed with determination and motivation
Mindset proves the saying that “To have the things others don’t, we have to do the things that others won’t.”
Carrol Dweck talks elegantly about the Fixed mindset vs Growth mindset. The research on fixed vs growth mindset tells us that every person has the opportunity to decide which of the two categories they want to be in.
Even if you’ve had a fixed mindset, you can change to a growth mindset right now. That’s a decision nobody (except for you) can stop you from making.
Once the decision to grow is made, you start by writing down what you want. Here is where you make a plan for your future. The next step is to follow and measure your progress along the way.
Inevitably you will hit some targets and miss others. When you miss, just make the necessary adjustment to the timelines and skills needed so that you will hit the mark and eventually, you will achieve what it is that you desire.
By following these steps, you are creating change in your life. Suddenly the path becomes a bit clearer, and you start seeing the rewards of your work. All this stems from adopting a growth mindset.
Another truth Carol Dweck’s research shows us is that a fixed mindset means you are a victim of your circumstances and believe that you can’t change; however, a growth mindset knows that change is not just possible but is necessary for those who want a different outcome.
Most importantly, this hypothesis teaches us that the growth mindset believes the power to grow and change is within anyone who decides to walk that path. The growth mindset does not see failure as the end but as one more way not to do something.
So don’t ask what kind of mindset you have, but what perspective do you want to have?
L is for Love
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” – John- 4:18-
Love is our natural state of being, feeling and emoting.
Everything else is based on fear, and fear is a lie. Guilt, shame, jealousy, anger, envy, scarcity, lack, all of it. It’s all a lie that has been put over on all of us by the culture scape. That is media, church and state, education and now social media.
It’s the devil, whereas God is pure love.
The love we feel when we see a baby or enjoy nature.
Fear is usually based on our past or our incorrect predictions of the future. So when we are present, truly present, we feel only love because we are in the moment being, doing, and handling; when we get stuck in our mind, that is when we are fearful, and that is where fear arises.
we literally make it up, so stop thinking and start doing
Let go of the past. Move forward and make this upcoming year the year you accomplished some of the things on your list that you have been thinking about but never started.
Design your year and wrap it up in a theme; last year, my theme was surrender and even during a pandemic, the theme allowed me to have one of the most productive and happiest years of my life. Every time I was frustrated or angry with my progress, I asked myself if I was surrendering; that answer every single time was no, I was not surrendering. The opposite side of that coin is when I did surrender, things that I never imagined began happening, my theme for 2022 is expansion (or evolving).
What’s yours?
K is for Kind
“Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle” -Plato-
There is a piece of word art in my home that says, “”In a world where you can be anything, be kind.””
Do you go out of your way to be kind? Do you say or do nice things for others (and yourself) for reasons other than to make them (you) feel good?
Are you a kind person?
If things are not going the way you want in life, and you find yourself often sad or angry, then you have nothing to lose by projecting kindness.
In a media and global landscape that seems to be trying to force almost the entire world to live in fear of disease, natural disasters, and scarcity, being kind will always win.
On a planet where we so visibly see global inequality for simple things like water, education and human rights, it is easy to be selfish and thinks there is not enough. However, the one thing you can always do is kind, no matter how much or how little you have.
It is also a quick and easy way to shift your inner world.
We will receive in return if we choose to be kind to others. It’s’ one of the laws of the universe (projection = perception). So whatever you send out will come back to you.
If your project is kindness, then it will return as kindness.
You will look at fellow brothers and sisters and share an energy that transcends the spiritual into human comprehension. All just because you were being kind.
‘Do unto others. It helps others when you are kind, but it also helps you. So start today and pay it forward. Say or do something kind to someone else or yourself, and you will begin to transform your life.
J is for Journey
“It may be that when we no longer know which way to go that we have come to our real journey.” -Wendell Berry-
It is not until we get further down the path and become more self-aware that we can clearly see that the trials and tribulations were put in front of us to make us stronger.
For those who are most fortunate, they can take the worst thing that has ever happened and make it the best.
Once the original victim confronts their trauma, they can help others in a cyclical altruistic fashion that harmonizes healing.
Things happen to us that we can perceive at the moment as tragic. It can feel like things will never get better, but if we believe they will, they will.
It is our perception of the world around us that determines how we react to the circumstances that unfold in our lives.
How would we know there is light unless we have first experienced the dark?
Our journey almost always becomes clearer after we bend but don’t break.
The place where we push through when it would have been easier to give up.
A place where we see the lesson that is being taught in our journey.
The past’s mistakes and suffering have a lesson to teach us on our unique journey through life. But, look closely, and you will find that the light came soon after in all those dark times.
If you can not see the light right now, that means it is coming, so keep your eyes and heart open and let love and light shine through you; there is someone who needs you to help them through your story.
Impermanence
“Impermanence is a principle of harmony. When we don’t struggle against it, we are in harmony with reality.” -Pema Chodron-
We love to watch a fire crackle or a river flow because it is forever changing. Likewise, sunset or starry night provides the same illusion.
The only constant in this world is impermanence. We have to look at the season that changes every 90 days with precision to see that nothing lasts forever.
It doesn’t matter who you are; we are all changing until our time on this earth is complete, and we head on to bigger and brighter pastures.
Even death is not death but a change of form. Albert Einstein, the greatest physicist that ever lived, said, “energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another”
If humans are just matter filled with energy (and we are beyond any doubt), then when we cease to breathe, we are not dead; we have just changed form and how our energy is transmitted.
As of today, we only have 3 dimensions in our experience. Up/down – forward/backward and side to side. String theory says there are possibly 10 dimensions, M-theory has 11, and bosonic string theory posits 26 dimensions, yet we can only see 3.
If there are 10,11, or 26 dimensions, then we have barely scratched the surface and “I” could be for illusion because what we see is not a complete representation of reality.
It would be akin to looking at the ocean while standing on a beach and thinking you are seeing the entire sea.
When the day turns to night, then night turns to day; this is also a reminder of impermanence, for, in a single sunrise, we see how quickly the sky changes. Every second that goes by, the sky reorganizes itself in different hues of orange and pink until suddenly, minutes have gone by, and the sun is no longer on the horizon. Still, it has risen steadily above until it eventually crosses the sky and starts to set in the west.
That is another impermanent illusion if you consider that the sun is steady in the middle of the universe, and we here on Earth are the ones spinning around it every 24 hours.
H is for Healing
“As soon as healing takes place, go out and heal somebody else” -Maya Angelou-
Is love the stepping stone to healing? Or is healing the stepping stone to love?
When we love, we begin to heal, and when we heal, we can start to love ourselves and others more fully.
Imagine you were in the depths of despair and had a chance to speak with God. What would you say?
Despair and depression are the best friends of pain, and for those who suffer chronically, life can seem hopeless at times.
Every day wake up knowing exactly how the day will unfold before it even starts.
Knowing that all day will be a struggle. A struggle that no one can understand, and because of that, the person in pain isolates themselves from the world. Not because they don’t want to be around others but because they can not concentrate on anything other than the pain.
Feeling as if you are just waiting around to die. This belief is reinforced by shoving handfuls of pills into your mouth like Halloween candy. Do this 3 or 4 times throughout the day to remind your brain of your status ( in case you forget).
That was the life I lived during a dark night of the soul that lasted for a decade until I did have a conversation with God.
I pleaded with her saying, ‘if you heal me, I will spend the rest of my life helping to heal others. I can still feel the pain, but I am no longer suffering.
I stopped taking pills (33 a day) and started to love myself and others. When we choose to love and serve others, genuine healing takes place.
U is for Universe
“Ordinary men hate solitude. But the master uses it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe.”
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
Universe, God, Source, The Tao. All are different names for the same thing.
These are all ways of saying creator or creation.
The Tao describes the Universe as;
everything and nothing
good and bad
up and down
right and wrong
light and dark.
If this is so, then although God has given us all the gifts of creation, the truth is that She is not preoccupied with what any one of us does. The whole thing is one big connected cosmic joke, and each part (good and bad, yin and yang) is necessary for God to experience God.
In this context, God (or the universe) is everything. As that old Santa-looking guy who had conversations with God has told us, there is nothing that is not God. Nothing!
The creator intentionally made it so the universe can experience itself as one combined conscious entity.
The most beautiful part is that the Universe has started a massive shift to awaken the masses since the turn of the century. It began in earnest in the 1970s. However, it sped up exponentially once the internet was widely used.
Before that, the knowledge was kept to churches, universities, politicians and the ultrawealthy. The internet has changed that. We can find out anything we want and find out what’s going on anywhere in the world connected via the internet.
Now we are all connected, and I can simultaneously talk to people from every country. We are already connected as part of one universal consciousness. Brothers and Sisters made by God for God
When God made Humans the apex of creativity, we became his perfect creation. That holds with it the meaning that you are an ideal creation precisely the way you are now.
Q is for Question
“Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.”
-Euripides–
Question everything. Question your thoughts. Question your beliefs. Question the Universe and then do it again. This is how you will find out who you are.
Question your values, purpose and reason for doing the things you do. Ask other people questions and then question the feedback you receive from them.
Question why you notice the same person on your way to work every day and not the other 10,000 people you pass on the street, train, or car. Question why certain types of information cross your path and the timing of their arrival. Question everything relentlessly until you find the answers that are true to you, and then keep on questioning.
The results of your life are a direct response to the questions you have asked. If you are unhappy with your current life situation, it is because you are not asking the right questions, or maybe you are not asking any questions.
Take all the information, constructs, beliefs, values and experiences you have accumulated up to this exact moment in your life and question if they serve you or not. If they do not help you, say goodbye and let them go.
Inspiration and creativity are deep inside you, and so are the answers you seek. It is no accident that you arrived on the planet at this precise moment. Start asking Why? Who? What? Where? When? How? Once you start asking those simple questions, the answers have no choice but to emerge.
As this blog has noted in the past, when we begin to ask open-ended questions, our brain has no choice but to bring forth the answer through the nouns we experience in our life.
If you are not participating in the creation process of the story that is your life, you will end up with a life lived unintentionally and not by design. You may default miss out on the future you want because you will walk right past it without even noticing. You will miss the opportunities presenting themselves daily, and you will have to settle for the leftovers that remain after all the creators have plated their desires from the buffet of life.
Once we ask the questions, the Universe will align to answer those questions. However, you will not see the answers if you are not looking for the answers.
TRY THIS: Ask a question for which you’ve longed for guidance. Pay attention over the next few days, and you will see some answers. Then, keep asking the same question until you receive responses. It doesn’t take long.
If you are unsure where to start, here are some questions to ask ourselves;
Why are we here? What would it feel like to …? How can I…? What would it look like five years from now if …? What will allow me to …? When will I…?
Words from Walden