The end of waiting

Did you immediately recognize your dream boat? Who's the lucky lady? Who's the lucky guy? Maybe you have decided to explore relationship possibilities beyond what your culture has conditioned you to believe is expected or appropriate. That may challenge your values or cause conflict in your family because they fail to understand your choices. You own eyes will continue to see what they expect, especially when you perceive through and trust the eyes of your soul.

When someone approaches you and greets you with a look of expectancy, how do you respond? Your mind may jog your memory and make a connection from the past. You may encounter an apparent stranger who comes to play an integral role in your life. Why then? Why now? Somehow, you're ready. You may have been waiting around or anticipating for a long time. Do you think you may even seek an enduring, intimate relationship too much? Would you choose anyone just to have a relationship?

Society programs us to create meaning in our lives. We come to think we must adapt ourselves to rigid rules or stereotypes and if that deosn't work, then we put our faith in something or someone else. Your initial images of a partner may be inherited from the culture you live in. There would be no ambiguity. You could imagine the livelihood, lifestyle, habits and dreams which coincide with people or relatives you know. Yet, what happens if you don't meet someone like that that fits a mold? Love presents itself in many different forms, including those you have never seen or experienced before. Would you be willing to embrace it?

You might rent a film like, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." This story reminds us how people who care a lot for us may think they know who we are and what we want or need, but they may not. The story reminds us that if you haven't yet found someone who cherishes you, a special someone exists. When you evolve to feel ready and have the courage to believe in yourself, you'll begin to notice opportunities and people you didn't recognze before. Many people are unaware how their intuition and self-confidence is evolving. You can become more attuned. As of this moment, it may be the end of waiting. The person you seek is closer than you think.

Elephants floating in your head?

When it comes to success, people I've met have a variety of ideas.  One friend dreamed of becoming an elephant zoo keeper, and he managed it.  You might wonder, 'how does one define the steps to reaching such a path which, one would assume, would be anything but mundane?' Its not the sort of job that you'd likely find in the classifieds.  Perhaps a bulletin board at the circus? 

This person simply read about as much as possible about elephants and sought out people who knew about them.  He didn't even grow up in an area that had any elephants. This motivated him to write experts letters in the post and ask their advice.  He even found ways to visit a national park in Africa and learned new strategies used for elephant conservation.  His dreams worked out, and more.

In any long-term project, you'll likely experience uplifting feelings of motivation and discouraging feelings of disappointment.  When some approach or strategy is ineffective, you may simply decide to go back to basics, to reconnect with the 'why' which will lead you to figure out 'how.'  Its often useful to learn from people who have already travelled roads you seek to follow.  This could save you years of trials and better equip you to personalize your path. 

No matter what your plan, its desirable to create a mindset that convinces you that your dream is possible.  You can nurture that within.  How you reach out to others will assist you to expand your options.  If someone asks you to undertake a task related to your dream, and you don't initially know how, you should offer to do it anyway.  Look at it as a beneficial learning experience, an opportunity to bring you closer to what you hope to experience.  That will come.

Hungry for self-acceptance

When someone makes you an offer, you have the opportunity to accept or reject the offer. Similarly, if you propose products, services or something about you to other people, then they could embrace or reject you.  If you learn to see rejection as a process of learning how to become more effective or how to become truer to yourself, then you'll be less likely to feel devastated in the case that events don't unfold your way. Its a path to self-acceptance.

Reflect on an experience when you feel rejected.  Your attention may be drawn to things you didn't know about yourself or other people.   How do you benefit? What can you gain?  You may discover a hidden agenda, evidence of untruths, an interplay of thoughts and feelings within yourself, and about the other person who has rejected you.  Getting 'brushed-off' is an invitation to grow and love yourself more just as you are right now.  Do you realize that? 

Consider Colonel Sanders, the brains behind Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).  Whether or not you like or eat the food from this restaurant is beside the point.  Sanders shouldered over 2000 rejections before he came upon a receptive restaurant for his recipe ideas. It took a lot of determination and thickening of his own skin before he met people willing to buy and market his special recipe.  The rest is history.  Yet, KFC success didn't happen overnight. 

Take notice of how you give and respond to rejection.  Do you shrug off rejection easily and move on or, would you benefit from taking a crash course on grace and maturity? Are you tolerant, loving and accepting of others, or are you apt to humiliate them and wound their pride? Whatever approach you take reveals to what degree you love and accept true self.

Let's reflect. So, you didn't get offered the promotion or maybe you were dumped by your partner for someone else.  Neither situation is particularly appealing on the surface, but look a bit deeper.  Rather than permit yourself to feel bad about what you didn't get, or view yourself as less than worthy, you can see every situation as doing you a favor.  Look at your new freedom! New opportunities are arising; in personal growth, in other jobs, and more fulfilling relationships. Everything is a stepping stone to something. 

When all is said and done, you benefit from observing your responses to everything that unfolds in your life.   As you evolve to understand why you feel rejected, you come to see a limited perspective can expand.  If you tell yourself you're less than you are, then you reinforce false beliefs that do not serve you.  Everything is a teacher if you see it.

In the end, you can breathe a sigh of relief if you are brushed off.  Step back and see what this allows to arise in your life.  If you didn't have doubt or expectations, then feeling frustrated, demoralized or disappointed wouldn't arise and capture your attention.  Situations only hurt if you allow attachment.  Teach yourself suffering is a state of mind.  Satiate the hunger that does not really exist.  Self-improvement is unnecessary as you love yourself as you are.

Anita Roddick & 5 Ways to vomit unexpected ideas

When Gordon Roddick desired to fulfill his childhood dream of riding on horseback from Buenos Aires to New York, his wife Anita knew she would need a strategy to support herself and her daughters while her husband realized this crazy goal.  She had long thrived on adventure and risk-taking herself, having undertaken a hippy excursion around the world before she met him.  Their duo initially survived on small business ventures, then she devised The Body Shop. It originally grew in her kitchen from basic ideas to recycle brown paper (vomit) bags as packaging.

Many people know that the Roddicks have gone on to supervise the controversial, environmental-activist-oriented empire.  Over 27 years, this company expanded from a one woman-show to a single provincial store, to include over 2000 stores in 50 countries, more than 70% of which are franchised.  How did all this come about? It was more than a reflux reaction... 

1) Find a way to pay the rent.  Sounds simple, doesn't it? A woman racked her brains for a concept that would be compatible with her beliefs, generate some money and enable her to care for her children.  Her travels had taught her about the niche for inexpensive, natural beauty products in basic packaging.  She started-out with a no-fuss attitude and a goal to pay the bills.

2) Learn along the way.  When Anita initially approached the bank for a loan, she knew littler about protocol.  She wore casual clothes and took her children.  Her enthusiam wasn't enough to win the bank's approval. Luckily, she went back wearing a suit with her husband who made the presentation and secured the initial loan.  She learned doing things her way didn't always get desired results.  With her husband away, not being able to get an extended loan, she strategically approached a friend's boyfriend (mechanic), and he gained a half-share while she opened a shop.

3) Be unorthodox.  Standing out from the crowd draws attention and can be achieved different ways.  Anita felt a social responsibility to develop in-store campaigns to promote her beliefs in protecting and restoring the environment.  She also felt an obligation to incorporate ways to raise awareness about human rights.  Her desire to develop a sense of accountability continues.  Her creativity explodes in a bouquet of impatience to change what she sees isn't working in the world.

4) Don't focus on the bottom line.  The Roddicks have always portrayed themselves as representing a company most concerned with being radical, ethical, and culturally-conscious.  The revenue stream is considered an offshoot of their integrity, principles and dedication.   The company floated in 1984 and the business was valued at $14.5 million after a day of trading. Anita feels that kind of level of success revealed public support for their message.

5) Move with the times.  The Body shop remains cutting edge because executives remain aware of trends and avoid stagnating or becoming a dysfunctional coffin for dead ideas.  The evolution of the internet and trends in other cosmetic companies have influenced The Body Shop products to be made available in new ways, such as in-home direct sales strategy.  New products emerge with the seasons and surveys keep the company closely acquainted with client desires and values.

Open those Pearly Gates

It may all begin as a self-created dream, a perceived need for semi-divine messengers. These protectors or guides can appear in a timely fashion, to advise us during situations of confusion.  Since quantum physics explains 'object and observer' are connected, we're intricately joined to whatever we desire to see. Whether guardian angels are projections of our positive conscience or lower, basic instincts, encounters may challenge our psychic integration and orient our spiritual growth.

Why is it you're worst nightmare or greatest dreams may come true, or something in between? Whenever you think you may be the recipient of a godsend, a timely event or encounter which seems to arrive 'just in the nick of time,' it will relate back to a vision you had for yourself. Call it awareness of a goal or intention, a desire to invite or attract things you think you need.

You may crave certain kinds of personal relationships then, happen to meet that special someone quite unexpectedly. Did something beyond you hear your call? Read your deep thoughts? Perhaps you feel you need a dramatic experience to shake you up a bit. These need not be grand visions. Pearly Gates may open and send you an interpreter to assist you with judgment and prophecies.

Consider the idea that a parking ticket on the widshield of a normally-vigilent driver. Weeks later, this turns out to be the exact sum of money required to join an organisation of newfound interest. Was the ticket a heavenly sign of a forthcoming opportunity or, a warning of penitence to result from a future association? As our life choices seem to expand, we experience a far richer existence. Our soul's evolution on Earth follows a path which we can't predict.

To reclaim who you are, grasp why you see your reality, you may benefit from invisible help. A school-aged girl arrived home to encounter her cousin on the front porch swing. The girl entered the house to report the visitor, but was distracted by her sobbing mom. She told her daughter that her cousin had suddenly passed on that morning. She also warned the daughter to avoid the porch swing because it was broken.  Was the child's vision prophetic, a hallucination that resulted from her over-active imagination or, a reflection of deep spiritual connection?

You decide whether you perceive guardian angels , based on what you choose to see or, what you choose to disbelieve.  Your behavior and faith slants your percpetion of any heavenly tidings you may receive. Open your senses and gain access to a vision of the power behind the Pearly Gates and how it helps you. Tap into yourself.