Try it, you might like it

The Universe will back you up in anything that you want.  When you have a desire for anything, it could be what you would consider something small or easy to attain, or it could be something that you would consider more difficult to attain, no matter what it is, the Universe backs you up.  Everything necessary for every desire you have to come to fruition and be a reality in your experience is available to you and Law of Attraction is your very personal and very efficient manager in all of that.  What makes it seem like the Universe isn’t always backing you up is what you’re doing with your focus.  Do you believe or doubt the attainability of this thing you want?  When you think about or talk about it, do you wonder why it’s taking so long to appear in your experience or are you in a place of anticipating its realization?  Do you feel good when you think about it, or do you feel discouraged or jealous of others who have what you want?  Do you feel like it’s already in your possession and experience even without having it yet, or do you feel the lack of it?  Are you anxious about its arrival or do you know it’s coming in good and perfect time?  Depending on which way you’re focusing and therefore feeling, you’re either providing fertilizer for your desire to sprout, or, you’re providing it ground where the seed will remain dormant.  When you plant a seed in fertile ground, you expect the seed to sprout and grow and eventually find daylight.  You don’t keep checking it every few minutes or days or hours.  You don’t wonder why it’s taking so long.  You don’t talk about why it’s not sprouting yet.  You know its coming.  When a woman is pregnant, you know that it takes nine months or thereabouts for the “seed to sprout” and you don’t wonder why the baby hasn’t been born yet at 1 or 3 or even 7 months.  You know there’s a gestation period, and even though you’re without baby or without plant that you can actually see with your eyes, you can still be excited in anticipation of its arrival.  Your desires are the same way.  If you could just get in the mode of anticipating its arrival, and expecting it to come in perfect time, that’s like you’re giving the seed fertile ground to grow in, or the baby the gestation period that it needs.  No angst required, no wondering why it hasn’t come yet, no questioning whether or not you’re capable or worthy; just expectation that the Universe always has your back and is “on it” the second you decide you want something in your experience.  Just delegate it to your Universal manager, sit back and relax and expect the arrival of your desire in ways that you never even imagined…arriving in perfect time, in the most perfect way.  Try it, and see what happens. 

One of those defining moments

Several years ago, I had what some people refer to as a “near death experience”.  I’d been going through a very challenging time personally and had so many questions….about life, about myself, about why I was here.  I felt there was so much more to know, so much more to discover and I was feeling called toward it, yet resisting my true nature to follow it.  I was resisting it because I had my life “set up” so to speak.  I had the husband, the house, the “schtuff”, the money, the successful business, travel; you name it, I had it.  But innately, I knew that my life was not about this.  On the outside, it all looked like “success”, but on the inside, it felt empty and meaningless.  I didn’t know what to do.  If I moved forward and followed my instinct, the life I had lived would be gone forever and the people who I loved and cared about would not understand.  They may even disapprove….so I held it all in.  I did my best to swallow how I felt and did my best to “make myself a better person” by reading anything and everything I could get my hands on about improving who I was, and being better in a relationship, all the while, choking the breath right out of myself.  While I appreciated very much my abundant physical circumstances and the comforts that I enjoyed along with that, I felt dead inside.  So it was from this emotional state that I mostly lived.  Appreciating what I had, while feeling guilty for finding it all meaningless and wanting to discover what my life was about, which possibly (and most likely) would turn life as I knew it rightside down along with anyone associated with it.  I lived like this for a very long time, feeling called, and not going.  Feeling called and not going.  Feeling called and not going.  One night, as I lay in bed before going to sleep, I was doing my list of things I appreciated in my life: my “boys” as I called them (my two dogs at the time), my dear sweet husband, my beautiful surroundings, my toothbrush, my painted toe nails, how pretty the drapes looked this morning as I opened them, the delicious orange I’d eaten that morning, the sunshine on my face, running water, the feel and smell of my body lotion, the smell of my perfume, a closet-full of clothes to choose from….so many things to appreciate.  Along with this, I had this thing that I would say, “I ask that all physical, emotional, and mental illusions be taken from my life”.  I “asked” for this every night, for I deeply wanted clarity.  I intensely wanted answers.  I dozed off to sleep.  I came to some type of consciousness, softly aware of having a body, but did not feel “in” my body.  As detached as I felt from the body that I was observing, I was acutely aware of the heart that was beating so faintly and so slowly; barely keeping the body alive.  I was profoundly aware of the stillness of this body laying face up on the bed, unable to move.  I was keenly aware of breath scarcely moving through my lungs.  Beyond the physical body, I was enormously aware of this engulfing peace, so luxurious, and so delicious, I’d never tasted it before.  I felt “called” toward this very bright light, this opening, and I went toward it.  My complete awareness of every detail finely tuned and amplified.  I silently flowed closer and closer to this “light” (and I say “flowed” because it all just felt like energy); feeling the intensity of extreme joy, complete fulfillment, entirely enveloped in love and well-being.  And in that moment, I knew, surer than I’ve ever been about anything in my life, that I could just let go and peacefully allow my body to stop breathing, my heart to cease beating, and peacefully transition from physical form to non-physical energy.  It was so clear to me that it was a choice, and I could make that choice, and it was okay if I did.  I could stay here, or, I could “go back” and live my life, but either way, the sensations that I was having, the feelings I was experiencing, the sense of peace and love and well-being was available to me if I decided to remain in physical form; it wasn’t something only to be accessed and experienced if I decided to cease the personality I’d come to know as me; the personality known as me could enhance that experience and I could live it fully in my physical body.  That’s when I made the decision, and it was a decision, to “come back”.  I felt the stream of energy as I travelled through time and space, flowing back through this “funnel” as I slowly and gently slipped back into the body, my awareness shifting, easily and gently restoring my bodily functions….my heart beating a little stronger, my breath reaching deeper, feeling the sensations in my limbs again.  I lay there for awhile, unable to move yet, knowing that I had been changed forever.  I couldn’t go back to the way I’d lived; I’d expanded beyond.  I’d travelled to the sweetness of death and made a choice to live instead.  I felt renewed, and for the first time in a very long time, I felt commitment to honoring my true nature.  I still didn’t have all of the answers and I still didn’t know what my next step was going to be, but I felt more loyalty to myself than I’d ever felt in my lifetime.  That was a turning point in my life and one of those defining moments.  I shall always be appreciative of this experience, barely describable with words as the words render it less intense in some ways, but it changed who I was.  Since then, my desire has been to continually trust myself, follow my guidance, and to experience increasing amounts of joy, love and peace, while assisting others in discovering that for themselves.  Shortly after my experience, I discovered “life coaching” and I knew in that moment that this was an avenue for me to do just that.  Once I started taking one small step toward following and trusting myself, my world changed, and it changed quickly and effortlessly because I was no longer resisting my inner voice; I was honoring and listening to it.  Through that experience, I learned to trust myself and to trust my guidance…knowing it will never steer me wrong, and knowing that it is continually leading me to a life full of joy, fulfillment, meaning and depth to the very extent that I will allow it.  

Where's my stuff?

We are meant to have points of focus and to have desires, but the purpose of the desire isn’t to have it torture you until you “achieve” it or have it in your grimy little hands, possessing it.  The purpose of the desire is to reach for the feeling and find the feeling place of what you imagine having or experiencing that thing will feel like, and feel it now, without having to wait for the manifestation of it in your experience.  That doesn’t mean that you don’t get to have what you want, all it means is that if you can find the feeling place of the thing you’re desiring…what would it feel like to have that new job, the landscaping completed, more money, easily paying the bills, a new car, a new wardrobe, , better employees, the solution to the problem you’ve been contemplating, a new barn for the horses, a bigger garage, a happy child, a peaceful environment, a clean environment, a bigger house, a partner in life, a better relationship, the yacht, the private jet, to be a certain weight, to run or walk a mile or ten, to travel, to have sunny skies, the ability to juggle monkeys in the air….doesn’t matter what your desire is; you get to decide what it is you want, whatever it is.  It’s just that you don’t have to hold out for the manifestation of it in your experience before you feel it fully in your experience.  When you have a desire and you feel the absence of it, you’re more focused on the absence of it in your experience than you are on actually having it.  That’s why things you want don’t come.  Pure desire is feeling no absence of that thing you wish to have or experience even though you’re not yet having or experiencing it.  You’re finding the feeling place of how you feel with it, and when you feel like that, you don’t feel the need to possess it or to have it.  You still want it, you still desire it, but you don’t feel the absence of it.  When you have a desire that sort of “tortures” you when you think about it and you yearn for it because all you can think of is that you just don’t have it yet and when will it finally come, you’re actually focused on the very opposite of having it.  You think you’re focused on your desire, but if you pay attention to how you’re feeling, and if you feel any angst, or yearning, or lack, or frustration, or anger, or despair, or disappointment, or impatience or doubt, you’re actually focused on the absence of it in your experience and feeling it as indicated by your emotions.  Many of us have been trained to desire with a touch of “need” in there somewhere.   So if you wanted something as a child, “just because”, often, that wasn’t “good enough” to get it.  You needed a “reason” to have it.  You had to justify why you wanted it by finding a good enough reason to convince someone that you deemed as the provider of that thing you wanted, to give it to you.  You might even have whined or cried to get it.  I still do sometimes, but it just doesn't work ;).  Well, the Universe doesn’t respond to need, (your parents may have and the people around you still may) it responds to your alignment with your desire.  What I mean by that is, it will respond to your feeling of lack, therefore if you feel lackful of that thing you want, the Universe responds to your emotional output, and there you are, experiencing the lack of that thing that you want and feel the lack of.  When you feel no absence of it at all, the Universe responds in like kind, and you become a match to your desire, and soon, you experience that thing that you wanted, only it’s not that big of a deal anymore because as excited as you were about having it, you didn’t feel the “pain” of not having it.  You've already found the feeling of having it, and then it came into your experience.  Sort of anti-climactic, but there it is.  So, the next time you find yourself wanting something you don’t yet have, just stop and feel what you’re feeling.  At first, yes, it’s likely (and normal) you’re going to feel the absence of it.  So feel how that feels.  And then ask yourself, “how is it that I think I would feel if I had that thing”?  And then you can ask yourself “why do I want it”…and not “why” to justify the reasons why you should have this thing, but rather, “why” directed toward how it feels…. “why”?....because it feels free, and it feels fun, and it feels interesting and fulfilling and exciting.  I feel like I’m on top of the world.  I feel as though I’m flying.  I feel really proud.  I feel really smart.  I feel like I’m being richly rewarded for being who I am”.  Do you see where I’m heading with this?  Just find how it feels and practice that when you find yourself wanting something in your experience, that you currently are (temporarily) without.  Make it about the feeling rather than the object you’ve identified that you want.  Make the feeling the manifestation you’re looking for, for now, rather than possessing or experiencing the thing.  Because when you can reach for and find (by feeling) the feeling, that’s the best of both worlds, because now the Universe can please and delight you all the way to actually having what you want, except you didn’t hold out for it before you felt the full manifestation of it by feeling it first.  Make the feeling the manifestation and discover how good you can feel even without having something you want.

Making Plans?

Whenever you find yourself complaining, or worrying, or fretting, or dreading, did you know that doing that is like planning a future experience of more to complain or worry or fret or dread about?  Your thoughts create and your emotions indicate which direction you’re creating in.  If you feel negative emotion, you know you’re in the process of creating more of the same, and if you feel positive emotion, you know you’re in the process of creating more of the same.  So when you appreciate, or when you love, or when you feel playful, that’s also like planning a future experience.  If you’re anxious, you’re planning.  If you’re angry you’re planning.  If you’re worried, you’re planning.  Although you may be experiencing something that you think you need to worry about, the more you worry, the more you hold that experience and more like it, to you.  So what to do when you’ve got some bills to pay and not enough money to pay them?  Or when someone you care about is sick and you worry about their wellness?  Or you’re dreading some event that’s coming up or you’re anxious about meeting new friends….whatever the subject is, and however you feel about it, just know that there’s always a different way to approach the subject that can bring about a different and better feeling perspective.  And when you find a way to approach the subject that feels better, and remain consistent and stable, then you know you’re on track to experiencing more of what you want and more of what is pleasing to you.   There are all kinds of “tricks” I offer through coaching, but just having an awareness that you’re always pre-paving future experiences with how you’re directing your thoughts, therefore feeling emotions, is a great place to start.  

They got the memo

Several years ago, we went to visit our dear friends in North Carolina.  They live in a beautiful location, surrounded by a large wooded area where Dave had often gone hiking and seen some bears.  He actually had a too-close-for-comfort encounter with a bear once, but that’s a whole other story. ;)  I really wanted to see a bear on our visit, and was hopeful I’d at least get to see a massive dark figure streaking through the woods that I could identify as a bear and not as Bigfoot.  Logic told me I might see one or two off in the distance playing amongst wooded areas, up in a tree, pooping in the woods.  You know, that sort of thing.  Or maybe even pawing at some honey jar left by some random stranger along the roadside.  All week, my eyes searched the woods as we drove around, my nose glued to the window in hopes of even a glimpse of a bear or two or ten, but apparently the bears didn’t get the memo that I wanted to see them.  I left North Carolina, slightly disappointed.  We came back the following year to visit our friends, and I decided that this time, I would see a bear; the bears were going to get that memo, dammit!  Again, I imagined logical scenarios where a bear could be witnessed like along a roadside stand, chatting away with the vendor asking for taste-testers of the various types of honey, or in town grabbing a cup o’ jo, or along the pond dipping a toe nail in the water before plunging in.  Again, no bear.  No real “live” bear, that is.  What I did see were carved wooden bears along the road, bear paw print stickers on the backs of cars, bear figurines, the word “BEAR” in huge letters, and just about any bear paraphernalia you can imagine everywhere I went.  Although somewhat disappointed not to have seen a real bear, I kept my mind open at the Universe’s ability to play with me and show me the bears I had asked for, just not in the way I had envisioned it.  It reminded me that things don’t always appear as my limited mind conjures and that if I can play along and have an open-mind I could at least be entertained along the way.  Our next visit, although I still wanted to see a bear, logic told me that it wouldn’t be likely this time due to the time of year and due to my previous experiences in the last two visits.  So, although my desire to see a live bear was still there, I’d let go of needing to see it.  I stopped looking for the bear in the woods or at the local honey stand and I made peace with the idea of not seeing one.  I made it ok, rather than trying to “will” one into appearance.  We went about our week, having loads of laughs and loads of fun together as we always do.  Then one night, as we were enjoying a great meal, great conversation and multiple belly-laughs, we heard this sound coming from the porch, like someone was out there moving chairs around.  We weren’t expecting any visitors; so naturally, we all got up to see what the commotion was about.  Well, it wasn’t Santa and eight tiny reindeer, but instead, it was a living, breathing solo bear cub.  Our friend Dave looked out the window and exclaimed, “it’s a bear”!.  We all ran toward where he was looking, excitedly screaming, “where, where”?!?  So we ran to the door and flung it open, (seems like a logical thing to do don’t you think when there’s a bear on your porch…???) J ….much to our surprise and amazement and holy #@&t can you believe it, there in our faces was the bear’s very large, very beautiful, and very real, face.  Well that door flung shut just about as fast as it had flung open, but what a thrill!  A live bear!  Not pooping in the woods, but on our friends’ porch!  Well, you know what I mean….he wasn’t pooping on our friends’ porch, but he wasn’t pooping in the woods either.  Not several hundred feet away, and not at a roadside stand, but appearing for a very personal and up-close visit and peering right at us….face to face, so close that if we’d not slammed the door in his face, we would have felt his breath on our cheek and he may have taken it as a welcome to come right in.  I almost peed my pants he was so close! He wasn’t afraid and running away, but leisurely checking things out.  We hooted and hollered and were filled with indescribable excitement as we watched our porch visitor delicately and politely inspect his surroundings, sniffing here and there, curious about whatever was there for him to discover.  We watched in awe and silent reverie, captivated by this beast, until he decided to go.  He limberly climbed over the railing, his large paws nimbly finding the perfect grasp and navigating his rump over to the other side of the rail and then disappearing into the darkness.  I felt flooded with joy and excitement at what we’d just been privy to, like being part of a private Justin Beiber concert ;).  This show was “put on” just for us.  It made me realize in that moment how silly it was for me to conjure ways for things to unfold and how, when left up to the Universe without my interference, without my trying to make anything happen, without “willing” it to happen, but rather, just allowing it to happen, it can happen in what seems to be miraculous never-even-imagined, better-than-ever-imagined ways.  I mean…who woulda thunk it?  Face to face with a  bear…. on the porch…..Really?!?  It couldn’t have happened in a more ideal way and it couldn’t have happened at a more ideal time.  The Universe was conspiring on my behalf the whole time, creating the most perfect scenario in the most perfect way to please me and my other cohorts.  There was no way I could have ever imagined it to play out that way, pleasing me beyond my wildest dreams and thrilling me beyond words. 

Everything is never as it seems…

I think a lot about perspective.  I talk a lot about perspective.  When I coach someone, that’s really the focus of the calls….”how can you find a perspective that feels better to you”?  Although sometimes it may not seem that important to look for and find a different perspective, perspective is everything; it’s the difference between feeling good and feeling bad.  Perspective makes you trust, or perspective makes you doubt.  Perspective makes you expect good things to unfold for you, or perspective makes you expect things to go wrong.  Perspective makes you feel like a failure, or perspective makes you feel good and worthy and perfect just the way you are.  Perspective can re-write your past into one that was just as it should have been and perfect in the way it unfolded and create your future into one that is full of joy, meaning, and richness in every sense of the word.  So when I say “everything is never as it seems”, I mean that your perspective in the moment determines your interpretation.  The same situation or condition can be interpreted as one that benefits you or one that is to your detriment, but the condition or situation is the same; it’s your interpretation of it that determines the meaning and the outcome.  One hundred people could be reading this blog, and each one of you will have a different interpretation because we all perceive through the lenses that we’ve created.  When you drive through a town going one way you see things from that perspective.  When you turn around and come back through the same town but in the opposite direction, doesn’t it look different somehow, even though it’s the same town?  The same buildings are there, in the same location, but somehow, it looks different.  There’s nothing wrong with the perspective that you’re taking in any moment, the question is, “does this perspective that I’m choosing feel good”?  I assist people in finding ways of feeling good, or at least as good as they can, no matter what the condition(s) are.  To find ways of reaching for perspectives that allow you to feel good without needing anything to change in your experience, because when you need something to change in your experience before you can feel good, you’re holding yourself hostage to the conditions, rather than feeling the power that you were born with.  So, technically, nothing has changed but you feel good and when you feel good, you’re not so attached to the outcomes and that thing that you “needed” to change, you really only wanted it to change because you thought you’d feel better if it did, right?  So why not reach for, and find a way of looking at it that brings you some relief and feels good?  If you can, you’re just really taking a short-cut to what you really thought you wanted as a result of that condition changing….only you didn’t have to wait for it to change to feel good.  You felt good first, then the condition changed.  That’s how you begin to see your creative power.  You decide to feel good anyway, not needing or demanding people or conditions to change….not needing to have your bank account reflect more money, not needing your children to cut their hair, not needing your spouse to behave differently, not needing your mother/father/brother/friend to be any different, not needing to change jobs, or needing your environment to change before you can feel better.  Instead, you find a perspective that feels better, and then find another perspective that feels a little better than that, and another and another until you make peace with where you are, with what’s unfolding, and in doing that not only do you enjoy the journey more, but you’re having a happy journey to more and more happy journeys.  There really is no destination; there are only journeys and every step along the way is the beginning to more and more journeys and if you’re holding out until you get to the destination before you get happy, you’re going to have a really crappy-feeling journey to a very mediocre destination.  Everything that you want is because you think it will make you feel a certain way once you “get” it.  You’re using that thing as your reason to imagine that having it will make you feel fulfilled, happy, playful, complete, on purpose, rich, abundant, satisfied, interested.  So if you can shift your perspective in any given situation, find a way to feel better now, rather than wait for some condition/person to change or improve, you’ll get the benefit now of feeling better, and soon after the manifestation will shift to reflect your new-found better-feeling perspective. 

Little Giant Elephants

Franki has opened my world to magic.  Franki has opened my world to new possibilities.  Franki has opened my world to imagination and play and to having as much fun as I can in any moment.  There’s nothing like a child to remind you of who you really are.  There’s nothing like imagining a “little giant elephant” and allowing not my eyes to need to see it, but just believing it is there.  Franki sees “little giant elephants” in random corners of the house and under chairs and flying through the air.  Does she need to actually “see it to believe it”?  No, she just believes it’s there.  She made up this game where she pretends she’s a dog and I throw an imaginary bone or ball and she fetches and brings it back to me.  I know, that game is not likely to make the parenting magazine issue of “the best games to play with your child”, but she likes it, she made it up, and so, I just go with it.  Everything around her is not only to be seen as what it is, but also as something different.  The pillows on the couch become a fort, the napkin on the table becomes a hat, the step stool becomes a diving board, the pile of books become a laptop, the plastic hanger becomes a bat, I become a climbing gym and playground, the table becomes a drum, the chair becomes a trampoline, the spoon becomes something to comb the dog with.  Everywhere she looks, there is discovery to be made, adventure to be explored and joy to be experienced.  I was exposed to the idea a long time ago that the purpose of your life is joy, and I have a living, breathing example of someone who is doing that every day.  Her pursuit, her purpose, is joy.  She skips and hops and sings.  Ice cream is to be eaten any time of the day…why?  Because it tastes good.  What other reason is there?  She hasn’t conformed to any other belief than it is her sole purpose in life to feel good, to be joyful and to follow her next and her next and her next highest excitement.  And in the best way I can, I will continually support and allow that by being the best example of that myself, by following my own highest excitement in the moment.  

My Dog

My dog is the best dog ever.  He’s fun and playful and sweet and loyal and so much more.  Over the past few months, I’ve found myself feeling some concern for what I’ve been observing as some type of indicators of physical decline.  I’ve been sort of “pushing against” or resisting where he is and what’s happening in the sense that I haven’t really been ok with the natural unfolding of what I’m observing.  I’ve been looking for ways for him to improve, or I’ve been wishing for things to be different, or I’ve been hoping he would get better, and I’ve even wondered why he just hasn’t decided to die in an attitude of  “why are you still hanging on”?  He’s not in any way suffering, I just haven’t accepted that he is where he is; and with that are thoughts of, “I don’t want him to suffer and I want him to feel good”.   I haven’t made peace with where he is.  I haven’t really just allowed him to be where he is in total acceptance that it’s all unfolding perfectly.  I realize now what I’ve been doing, which was offering him conditional love.  What I was really relaying to him was the message that “it’s not ok to be where you are and to be showing these indicators and you need to get better, or to die or to do something different or to be different than you’re being so that I can find some relief in some way and feel better”.  With that realization, also came the revelation that this dog isn’t “done” yet.  He’s still teaching me, as he always has since the day we came together, which was over 14 years ago.  He has taught me so much about allowing and playfulness and being eager about life and expecting things to go well and being easy and going with the flow and knowing that I’m deserving of goodness and that nothing needs to be earned and neither do I have to struggle or suffer or prove my way.  Yes, I have learned this and so much more from this dog and still, he is teaching me unconditional love, which I think, is one of the best things I could ever come to know.  For to love unconditionally, to allow people and situations and conditions to be just as they are, knowing that all is well no matter how it looks, and that all is unfolding perfectly and that it’s all alright, opens me up to just loving what-is without needing it to be different.  One of the best teachers in my life has been this dog, and I find myself so appreciative of him and knowing that when he decides his “work” is done, he shall quietly slip out of his body and into another form, and I will eternally have been left a better person for my interactions with him.  

Mustard Pancakes

Do you like mustard in your pancakes?  Are you afraid that the mustard over there in the cupboard is going to come near your pancake mix and invade it?  Not likely, right?  You’re probably thinking, “what a ridiculous idea, the mustard isn’t going to get into my pancakes unless I go over there and put it in myself”.   You know, that if you don’t want mustard in your pancakes, you just don’t put the mustard in the mix, right?  Logic would tell you that if there’s an ingredient you don’t want in your mix, why put it in?  So how often in a day do you think about what you don’t want to experience?  How often do you think about those things you don’t like?  How often do you have conversations with your friends, real or imagined (oh, come on, you know you have imaginary friends), about those things you don’t want, dislike, disapprove of, or downright hate?  How often do you complain about something?  Ok, fess up.  Well, guess what?  Every time you do that, it’s like putting mustard in your pancakes.  So I hope you like mustard pancakes.  I know, it seems harmless to talk about or to think about those things that you don’t want, and it seems harmless to complain, and it seems harmless to criticize someone, but every time you do, you’re including it in the mix of your point of attraction and depending on how much or how often, or how intensely you feel about these things, determines the amount of mustard you’re putting in the mix.  So next time you’re inclined to talk about what you don’t want, or to keep thinking about what displeases you, or choose to complain about something, you might want to ask yourself if you like mustard pancakes….cuz that’s what you’re gonna get.

Silent Communication

A few months ago, I had a dream that a friend of ours made his transition.  When I got up the next morning, I found myself wondering what they would do with the body.  I actually forgot about the dream until I received a call the following week telling me that this friend that I had dreamt of, did in fact, decide to leave his physical body; turns out that I was having the dream of his transition at about the same time that he was moving through time and space and leaving the physical identity that we had come to know.  I was driving when I received the phone call, and after I hung up, my thoughts drifted to appreciation of my friend, and what a powerful creator he was, and how much he had touched so many lives and influenced so many people and I suddenly felt inspired to look to my right, and over in the distance, about 50 feet away in a tree, sat a bald eagle, as powerful and wise and reagle as my friend was.  I couldn’t help but thrill at the sight of this bald eagle just off of highway 81, in a place I’ve never seen one before and feeling the presence of my friend being represented in this eagle.  I drove for another couple of hours, and again, my thoughts drifted to my friend.  I was thinking what great conversations could now be had with him in the non-physical while I am still present in this body and how eager I was to have these conversations, not necessarily with words, although they could be, but also through sensations, impulses and intuitions.  Once again, I felt inspired to look to my right, and just on the edge of the gravel next to the pavement, stood a red-tailed hawk; odd place for a hawk to be, so close to the cars speeding by.  My friend was playing with me and I couldn’t help but smile again.  A few days later, while in Vancouver being chauffeured from one place to another, I was having some quiet moments to myself, and into my thoughts my friend popped in.  I said a silent “thank you” to him, feeling appreciation for him, and this time, I was inspired to look way up about 100’ to the very top of a tree, and there sat, yet again, another bald eagle.  Since my friend’s transition, I’ve been captivated by the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever experienced while on a plane flying across the country, I’ve interacted with the most playful stewardess I’ve ever encountered, I’ve been greeted in ways unexpected, I’ve breathed more deeply, I’ve felt an amplified awareness of my connection to all-that-is, and I have felt depths of emotions that I don’t yet have words to describe, but can feel.

I have no doubt that those who transition are present and communicating to us in every magnificent sunset and every majestic moment, in every captivating scene, in every moment of serenity and in the wisdom of the eagle; present in every moment of every day for us to come into our own vibrational alignment to feel the fullness of who we are.  Thank you, my friend and may we continue to have our little rendez-vous.

What Are You Making it Mean?

What are you making it mean?  Sounds like a simple question doesn’t it, but we all tell our stories of who we think we are and who we think others are and how we think we are being treated by the world and those around us.  Do you believe your stories?  When someone says something to you, in a particular tone of voice, what do you make it mean?  Do you make it mean you did something wrong?  Do you make it mean they’re an idiot?  Do you make it mean they’re in a bad mood?  Do you make it mean you’re responsible for how they feel?  When you get something you want, what do you make it mean?  Do you make it mean that you’re worthy?  Do you make it mean you’re just lucky like that?  Do you make it mean that just this one time, things went your way?  Do you make it mean that this is just the way life goes for you?  When you are late getting somewhere, what do you make it mean?  Do you make it mean that you’re always late?  Do you make it mean that you’re irresponsible?  Do you make it mean that it was due to uncontrollable circumstances?  Do you make it mean that it was someone else’s fault?  When you make a meal that others don’t enjoy, what do you make it mean?  Do you make it mean that you’re not a good cook?  Do you make it mean that those who didn’t enjoy it are unappreciative?  When you don’t receive acknowledgment, or praise, or a birthday card, or a phone call or a gift on any given day or a special occasion, what do you make it mean?  Do you make it mean that people don’t care?  Do you make it mean that you’re not special enough?  Do you make it mean that people forgot about you? 

There are plenty of opportunities every day to make every experience mean something, and mostly, we do make it mean something.  We have our automatic “default” meanings and then we make some new meanings along the way, sometimes never checking to see if what we are making those events and experiences mean, are really to our benefit.  It may be true that this person is inconsiderate and it may be true that you’re always late, and it may be true that cooking is not your forte, but the way we interpret those events and experiences in our lives either enhances our quality of life, or diminishes it in some way.  If you believe all of the stories that you tell and all of the meanings that you attach to your experiences and if those meanings or stories don’t feel good when you tell them, you could always make a new decision to reformulate your stories and attach different meanings by making the way you feel be your guide to interpretation.  If the meaning you’re attaching to an event and the story you’re telling yourself or others about it doesn’t feel good, can you find a way to re-visit the situation and find a different and better-feeling interpretation?  Even if something continues to be as it always has been, can you stretch a little and find a meaning that feels even slightly better?  It’s the stories that you tell that continually re-create what you have already experienced, or, can pave the road to new and different experiences.  You have the ability to choose, if you want to, and you get to interpret any experience in any way you want to, and as a result, you have the ability to determine and choose whether you want to feel good, or whether you want to feel bad.  I invite you to take those endless opportunities in every day to start feeling your way to better-feeling stories and choosing meanings that uplift you and give others the benefit of the doubt rather than criticize yourself or others; not because they deserve it, but because you deserve to feel good…because you’re worth it.