Cut through the fog

Some people believe they get sick from things they don't control, events that unfold outside themselves. These people blame other people, things they ate, genetics, their environment. They succomb to anger, fear, guilt or regret. They feel like powerless victims, unable to release negative thoughts and feelings they generate, but don't want.

Some people believe they get sick as they refuse to permit themselves to live according to their true feelings. They become convinced the world is deliberately against them. They assume they must compete, struggle and suffer to earn inner peace and well-being.  These people may find it difficult to relax, to accept themselves and become accountable for holding themselves back from connecting with the soul. 

Transforming how you think and perceive offers a means of healing.  What has occurred in your mind is an illsion based on stress, fear and worry.  It is useful for you to take steps to identify reasons for your blocks.  You may choose to meditate, explore past life regression, or other activities to free yourself from emotional burdens like unforgiveness.  Your unconscious mind will only allow you to remember what you're prepared for.  What you discern will alter how you interpret yourself in this life. 

Every thought, feeling, reason, desire and mental state attracts similar thoughts, feelings and experiences. You can polarize your mind at any level you want to deliberately change the vibration of your energy. Forces work beyond your current level of perception.  You can shift to sense them by learning to love yourself unconditionally.

Paulo Coelho & 5 lessons to uncover the truth of Self

Whenever your mind wanders to human inspirations who are writers, you may be struck by the characters they invented or something about their writing style.  You may have connected with some aspect of their life history, if you happen to have insight into such things. Then again, there may be something enigmatic or mysterious about the person that evokes positive feelings you may not clearly explain. 

Paulo Coelho is a man whose philosophies and life experiences leave me guessing and also gathering more faith in my inner self.  These are 5 lessons I have gained from sharing adventures with his unqiue characters and connecting with chapters in his life story:

1)  Follow your instincts.  People will always have advice and ideas to offer you about how to live your life, what to do, and where to go.  Part of personal growth involves learning to listen to yourself, even if your choices take you to what turn out to seem like dangerous and scary places.  Each decision you make at a given time is in your best interest because of opportunities you have to learn from experience along the way and stretch yourself.

2) Open your heart.  It's so easy to succomb to overwleming sense of vulnerability, to your fears that an opportunity is gone, that your efforts have been wasted, that your lover doesn't care.  Yet, any situation is fixable if you learn to open your heart and believe in the power of love and a positive outcome.  Its a question of gaining perspective.  This result may not be the one you initially think you want, but you likely ignore the hardships you invite actually plow you forward to get what you truly want. 

3) Be willing to meet yourself. Not everyone initially realizes they have the courage and abilities required to merge with who they are.  Yet, we all come to discover parts of our energy, emotions, relationships and life perspectives are out of alignment.  We all fall into patterns that aren't on the surface, good for us, or find ourselves in conditions that are incompatible with our principles and beliefs.  All of it is necessary.  To explore who you aren't brings you face-to-face with who you are.  Why waste precious time  where you are being angry, regretful or upset?

4) Connect with Spiritual Forces.  Everyone has their own idea of what this means.  It could include angels, channelling, mediumship, forms of divination, or some other connection with Forces and Beings beyond yourself.  The idea isn't linked with traditional, organized religion, but it opens you up to discover the divine magic within yourself.  How you define and explore your connection to the 'God Space' or 'wider Universe,' puts you back in touch with qualities that guide your core existence.   Remind yourself what you forgot. 

5) Discern the truth without ego.  Life is full of our own self-created distortions and misunderstandings.  Ego-based views can't be anything but mis-interpretations of the truth.  We may evolve to perceive we carry burdens, but this is for the purpose of learning.  We can choose to discover meaning in silence, in facing root causes for our troubled souls.  This uncovers the hidden truth of the Self.  Deepen you soul journey.

What about the instruction manual?

Remember what it felt like when you were dreaming about something special and then, you finally got it? You got so excited that you started using it before you decided to read the instructions.  What happened after that might not have made you feel so good.  Maybe you broke it.  Maybe you fudged something.  Maybe you're not sure exactly what you did.  Maybe you felt guilty? angry? stupid? disbelief? Maybe instructions were nowhere to be found or, the words that were didn't help you to solve your latest problem.  What to do? Where to turn?

I've known people to be over-enthusiastic about examples of technology, and then found themselves motivated to do new kinds of learning very fast. Sometimes  we behave in ways that lead us to get ahead of ourselves.  Then, we realize its meaningful  to take a few steps backward.  Events in life will unfold in ways that invite us to slow down and learn to become more aware of what we're doing, the how and why.  If we come to think we know everything, then we're humbled. As we're made of energy, and becoming consumed by emotions builds up our momentum, its easy to get wrapped up in external things and forget we're disconnected from ourselves.

Some people believe life must come with some kind of instruction manual.  You know, a book that's written in a language you understand, that's accessible when you need it, that contains all the answers you could ever need, to help you step-by-step along your journey.  Of course, this vision is somewhat unrealistic.  Each of us exists for the purpose of learning at our own pace in our own time.  We're meant to learn to expect the unexpected, to "roll with the punches," to learn that events will unfold as an opportunity to bring out the best in us.

When it comes to assumptions about instructions, some people believe they need them.  Other people believe they don't.  Some people believe they could benefit from guidance along their journey.  Other people prefer to do everything alone.  Our perception of and reactions to challenges will not always be visible from outside.  The truth of learning is felt. We don't need words to re-align our souls.

Ultimately, we all go through phases where feelings run our lives, by choice, and feelings don't come with an instruction book.  This is an ongoing exercise that permits us to become more aware of "what makes us tick," of what makes us who we are.  Just because something doesn't go the way we hope or expect, doesn't mean we're defective or inadequate.  Its an opportunity to learn more about our potential.

Trigger your wounds so you can heal

Engaging in relationships triggers wounds.  That's right.  You invite people into your life to help you confront aspects of yourself that you have been avoiding, ignoring or disempowering. People we encounter behave in ways we need to experience, tell us what we need to hear, whether or not this enables us to feel good at the beginning.

Relationship choices are conscious or unconscious efforts to awaken our dormant compassion and fearlessness. Every person you meet prompts you to rethink why you have become convinced you feel hurt or defeated.  You can choose to believe the presence of each person confirms your distorted beliefs about yourself or, you can interact to get to the bottom of your guilt, shame, distrust, and inner wounds.

Each of us lives an earthly reality that is partly distorted. This helps explain why it can seem difficult to uncover our true feelings, and get to identify our authentic dreams. It takes courage to be willing to turn inside and grow, to face your fears and make conscious changes.  This is precisely how you break down walls of pride.

1) Recognize new relationships open old wounds. Events in your present stem back to instances when you felt powerless, helpless, undervalued or chose to sense negative reinforcement. As you seek greater self-understanding, you may discover you're in denial, but only until you deduce pain is an illusion and you had forgotten about the healing power of self-love. Push yourself to change your perception.

2) Move to act from greater compassion. Realize your soul can alter the nature and direction of your future relationships. To date, you may have adopted behavior to compensate for anxiety that is groundless and unfounded. Determine what would prompt you to change how you react to what happens.  You create and project it all. 

3) Resolve past relationships. Pain may alienate you from people from your past. You may not yet have let go completely or moved on.Unresolved feelings explain why people avoid risks, intimacy or fear commitment. Why bury issues you exist to resolve? What do you hide from? Choose to get in touch with your inner self. Explore why you struggle to bond with others, why you may repress hostility or disharmony. Learn to heal destructive vulnerability.  This is part of the process of self-growth.

Turn inward to open your heart

The soul is aware of but unaffected by what you eat and drink. The physical body requires nourishment Soul does not. What you ingest from the physical world reveals whether you are in touch with who you are or whether you are disconnected from well-being. Notice the significance of your behaviors.

To listen closely to the compassionate inner self, its necessary to recognize and rise above negative feelings. They are symptoms of your misunderstandings and unfounded beliefs, ironically created to sidetrack you from the dreams that drive your soul. Your mind concocts a vision based on its insecurity and invites you to focus on the past and future.  Balance is forever present.

When you experience anger, frustration, self-doubt or other negativity, its an opportunity to be aware of the power emotion can exert over you.  Choosing not to open yourself up to self-growth invites more intense suffering, and avoids accepting the truth of who you are.  Why might you hold yourself back?

1) False "I am unworthy" beliefs. This belief system arises when a person becomes convinced he or she is unloved or unlovable. If you don't believe you deserve love, or have never tasted love and appreciation, you may intuit rejection, assume things are wrong with you. One misunderstanding breeds another to hide resentment you need to work through in order to heal your soul and explore your true potential.

2) Dependence on external approval. If you are convinced you require external approval to accept who you are, then you buy into the illusion of inadequacy. For some reason, you hinder your ability to love and receive yourself unconditionally. Your ego distorts or rationalizes what you feel is missing, when nothing is. Ego directs your attention to incorrect reasons for feeling what you think isn't good enough. This false belief distracts how you feel alienated from your own illusions. Your perception perpetuates an artifical reality. You need to learn to let go.

3) Dominated by fears & phobias. Self-criticism may be your way of protecting your psyche.  You may justify not doing things you feel drawn to do because you're in conflict with yourself.  Recognize your fears prevent you from being fully engaged in life.  You can learn to perceive your current situation is an opportunity to heal old wounds.  Its time to discern the nature of these past wounds, explore reasons why you have them, and be willing to take steps to release yourself from their grasp.