Renew your sense of appreciation

At some point, each of us views the world through loving eyes of understanding and appreciation. Yet, as we grow, something changes inside us.  We develop a curious preoccupation with what isn't there.  The universe just brings more of what we focus on.

A restless voice inside may intensify, urging us to complain and fear what is suddenly perceived as missing.  This may highlight the body, reputation, bank account or health we don't have.  An attitude may sweep through you to include holes you start to see in relationships, in what you perceive as less-than-perfect abilities and situations. 

This change of heart teaches us we can consider any experience in at least two ways; as if you are blessed to live in abundance or, as if you have negative reasons to live in lack. What if you decided you would shift your view to sense benefits in every aspect of life?  What if you grew resourceful to use of what you have?  What if nothing is really missing?

As you choose to renew your sense of appreciation, you choose to experience and send out love rather than create and nuture fear.  You choose to transcend the limits of fear and embrace possibilities of unconditonal love. As you reflect, remind yourself 4 things:   

1) The Universe always gives you what you think you deserve.  What you experience can always be traced back to feelings you harbour about yourself on a subconscious level.  The better you get-to-know yourself, the more you will understand and the more informed position you will be in to choose whether or not to make changes.

2) Being faced with dark sides of your psyche is an invitation to grow.  To open a channel that invites all that is good toward you, it is necessary to be willing to learn lessons.  To sense awa and humble gratitude for everything you learn, to discern it is all part of a big pictre leading to greater balance, will change your life in meaningful ways.

3) You have infinite opportunities to love, give thanks and express graitude.  One gift you have is the ability to recognize what you don't need.  You can be joyful about what is going right in your life, about all the reasons you have to feel good. You can be grateful to seize opportunities and to foresee positive results.  It begins and ends in you.

4) Gratitude can become automatic without thoughts of benefits.  It may appeal to you to express gratitude because deep down, you sense, 'what goes around comes around.'  And yet, the restoative powers of gratitude don't have to be the primary motivating factor to express it.  You may simply express grateful because it feels right.

Neale Donald Walsch & 3 Ways to develop faith

Neale Donald Walsch inspires me.  His life story goes from experiences he describes as "misdirected," to being homeless and penniless.  Then, he mysteriously reconnected with the creator, began writing books, and completely transformed as a spiritual soundboard.  The Conversations with God movie trailer is worth watching.  Also invite you to watch the film here.

The words and stories he shares are profound, yet also very simple.  They invite increasing self-reflection so that you can uncover yourself by listening more closely to your inner voice, intuition, and all that lies beneath programming that begins before birth. I update this post to add Eloise King's inspiring interview entitled Conversations with Neale Donald Walsh about God and other things (2016) which I highly-recommend.

One of the subjects Neale explores in his books is the power of faith.  He recognizes how hard it can seem to shift to believe in what you don't initially believe.  This brings us face-to-face with our own resistance.  Ask yourself when in your life you notice your own resistance, when you are willing to shift your mindset to believe something your ego resists? How do you nurture faith and trust in the unknown and unseen? 

As author of many heart-warming books such as the Conversations with God Series, Neale Donald Walsch observes faith as an acquired trait but trust is innate. He feels anyone can develop faith, and apply it at will.  Yet, we must develop faith in ourselves before being able to have faith in things outside or seemingly separate from ourselves.  Seeing through our own self-created illusion of separation is part of the process of awakening or expanding into more of our untapped potential. Imagine how it feels to tune into unlimited being. COuld you imagine the nature of such magnificence?

We develop faith at least 3 ways:

1) By noticing you can (in passively observing others).

2) By experiencing you can (sensing it, perhaps unexpectedly).

3) By deciding you will (with conscious intent).

You can also decide developing faith in yourself, in whatever you choose to work on, is a 3-step process.  You may hear about another person's miracle or apparent good fortune.  You may raise your awareness of what is possible and discen you are experiencing blessings.  You may also decide that you can expect good things and nothing else.  

In essence, we each develop faith our own way.  You may skip some of the above steps, change the order or, simply discipline yourself to believe (or not) for your own reasons. 

Return to what you know

Thomas Moore wrote, "he who travels best knows when to return." When Moore said this, I don't think he meant return to the familiar in terms of your old comfort zones and the exact mindset you had when you started. In fact, I think he had another idea in mind.

I sense this is a message about returning to the self we've always known deep down, but temporarily forgot or were afraid to embrace with unconditional acceptance.  Its a part of us that triggers joy, not only about being alive, but about every experience we have. 

You might ask yourself what happened to your appreciation for simplicity, for less, for a previous lifestyle you would prefer to revert back to.  Why don't you? External forces urge you to stick to an incompatible journey.  Get off this bus anytime you like.  

If we believe happpiness is a mindset for travel, not a destination, then we begin to recognize the infinte opportunities for education and experience.  Rest assured, you don't have to travel the world to uncover and develop deeper sides of yourself.

Some people believe they need foreign places in order to challenge themselves to recognize the familiar. If that's you, great.  Other people take life-changing journeys in their own backyard. Do what works for you. Just get there, where you really need to go.

Returning to what you know isn't about venturing abroad and eating only at McDonalds or staying only with relatives.  Its about rediscovering your innate courage, sense of adventure and abilities to understand and connect with others. 

Its about learning why all humans laugh, cry, love and learn what it means to die.  Travel enables you to encounter the strange and confusing, and sense its all familiar.  Its a journey you take to get back to yourself, that person whose essence you devalued and abandoned, but return to embrace.  You had to separate from your soul in order to truly understand what it means to to reconnect.

Message from your guardian angels (guest post by AngelBaby)

We are with you your entire life. We are assigned to you at birth by God because he loves you so much. You will always have two of us at your side. We guide you with love and compassion, never forcing you to do anything you don't want to do. We always want what is best for you. Your desires, your needs, your happiness and joy are what we try to help you receive.

If you are sad and lonely we hold you in our arms to comfort you. If you are happy and joyful we are dancing and singing with you. We are your gift from God because he loves you so much and so do we. You are perfect, good and whole in our eyes. There is no imperfection in you. No matter what you do or say we see you as you really are, pure love. If you knew how beautiful you are in Gods eyes and our eyes you would be amazed. We know you better than anyone else. We even know you better than you know yourself.

When you were little you could see us and often called us your friend. Your parents called us your imaginary friend. We would play for hours laughing and having a wonderful time. Do you remember? You even named us. We still watch over you and love you just the same as when you were a small child. Oh, we did have fun!

If you see a light that flickers off and on; or feel a hand that just touched you; or feel a breeze in a room with all the windows and doors shut, it's just us; we are trying to let you know that we are here for you. We are always here for you and your prayers will always be answered. Just think of God and how you need his help and it will be done. Remember Love is all there is.

Love and Blessings,

AngelBaby

http://www.yourcaringangels.com

Morgan & Lynch: 4 Ways to highlight your major milestones

Angie Morgan and Courtney Lynch are former marines who encourage people to learn lessons from their marine experiences and apply them in civilian life.  Their Lead Star consulting emerged to raise awareness and to bolster confidence development in women. 

Regardless of your gender, you can draw from their principles to shape your standards of behavior.  If you can dream a vision, you can realize it.  Learn to identify and build on major steps forward in your life and tap into hidden potential in areas you overlooked. 

Learn how life experience gives opportunities to build confidence and esteen that are useful in the home, at work and in community.  These women remind us innate and developed qualities in one area of our lives will carry over to affect others. What are your milestones?  Consider these 4 ways to reconnect with how you build confidence:

1) Pinpoint instances which took you great courage.

2) Remind yourself of life choices that required your incredible initiative.

3) Get nostalgic about when your instinct was to quit, but you chose to persevere.

4) Identify occasions where you were tempted to compromise integrity, but didn't.