6 Practices to Facilitate True Success

Notice many people aspire to success. Many also struggle and wonder what is really important or necesary to get here, and also prolong satisfaction that widely seems out of reach or only comes and goes.  Consider these 6 practices to facilitate true success:

1. Clarify your version of "Success"

For many, "success" is a state of reaching desired goals through careful effort, intention, and growth. Ultimately, success is shaped by your sense of well-being or perceived life satisfaction. Some say that to feel good implies sense of well-being and life satisfaction are high.  In such a case, investing more energy, effort, and intention toward goals feels right. Symbols of success, such as wealth and status, tend to manifest as a result. Yet, do we always get more of what we want? Instant manifestation of desires is not widespread.

This said, not everyone defines success by the pursuit of wealth, fame, measurable material possessions, and social status. At different stages of life and experience, our views about success can change. Some people may link success with inner peace, balance and immeasurable things.  Some experience a shift from an external definition to an inner experience. Its a reminder to clarify success in your own terms, resist influence, realize it by your own rules, and create a life that resonates.

2. Get comfortable with discomfort in your life

This may seem an oxymoron. To sit with our feelings is not really about wallowing in negativity and sharing a tornado with everyone we meet.  Sitting with such feelings with intention is about conscious watching, allowing them to move through.  Wallowing implies we are not interested in a new beginning but prefer to dwell on what is not working. It implies investing energy in holding a position, in recruiting a puty party, replaying a story or reiterating what is unjust, offensive and undesirable.  We all know people who do this.  Observing our thoughts and state is recognizing that our emotions (and even those of others) are not really us.  Rather, it is about recognizing they are a pointer and teacher to what is going on deeper inside us. This is the key to cherishing the teaching and rising above it.

3. Take radical responsibility

So, if we are serious above moving forward in life, however we define this, we must we willing to stop repeating what we do not like or what is not working and instead, direct thought and other energy into conscious co-creation.  We must be willing to be accountable for our thoughts , emotions and life situations, and recognize nobody is going to rescue us. We must take charge of where to go from here, reclaim our power, and change our conditions ourselves.  If, in our heart, we sense what we are meant to do or be and resist, this is an invitation from an expanded version of us to move through our fear and assume our new role in the next stage of our lives. In a journal, it may be prudent to jot down some situations that evoke discomfort, what changes we fear and why, or and how we would like to replace this.

4. Spend time each day on meditation & reflection

The Science Foundation funded a study about journaling one’s thoughts and feelings. The result reveals the practice increases mental performance and helps translate thought into action. Yet, journaling isn’t the only method one can use to gain clarity on vision.  Still, focusing on self-reflection allows for meaningful thought connections. Creative people  devote time in daily meditation and self-reflection.  What matters is developing a reliable channel of communication with oneself. This builds self-reliance and trust, come what may.

4. Prioritize exercise that boosts aliveness

This is not simply about physical movement of the body, but also mental, creative and energetic exercises that stretch the mind.  Brainstorm how you could exercise your altruism, paying it forward or offering service.  Take some time out to innovate, create a vision, painting, sculpture, paper mache or even a sand castle.  Allow those creative juices to flow.  Does iWhat is it that you spontaneously come up with?

5. Understand everything is energy

Certain cultures tell us that determination, strenuous effort, even blood, sweat and tears are required to achieve success.  Another view is that everything is non-physical energy and aligning thought, word and action are the key to materialisation and alchemy.  Whatever "camp" you subscribe to is going to guide your process and experience.  Which resonates and works or does not in practice in your sense of reality?

6. Explore the nature & significance of dreams

Tibetan Buddhist practices as well as diverse experts echo that astral, lucid and dream yoga are the key to the experience of success and enlightenment.  Whether we come to remember our dreams, understand or decode our own messages can go a long way to learning the power of dreams as tools to heal and intgrate fragments of our psyche.  Consider the possibility of strengthing your dream recall and explore unfamilliar options if it resonates. 

Patience is a teacher

(Peruvian Pop up visionary art experience by Alfredo Zagaceta )

Notice the feelings evoked by words 'loneliness' and 'solitude.' It is common to fear or resist being alone. Ideas of loneliness evoke visions of boredom. So, a bored person finds another and they both take action to get through or beyond the ideas of boredom. On some level, boredom doubles. Doing has its place and provides a path to valuable lessons. It also takes one away from deeper truth.

The genius of mind creates illusionary escapes, places, illusions of togetherness. Our whole society, families, organisations, communities, hobbies, livelihoods, travel, are all escapes from visions of loneliness. Yoga is the process of growing aware of absolute loneliness and growing aware nowhere really exists to go.

Boredom is transcended by living fully in each moment as it arises. Be open to the unknown, to anything that may happen. Accept it as it comes. The denial, non-acceptance is the obstacle. To be open, receptive, to accept, is to unconditionally welcome it all. Create the situation and the happening will come by itself. Nothing truly valuable can be predicted. We cannot predict every aspect of life, yet we can set heartfelt intention, let things unfold in their own way.

To be patient is to surrender. Sit in solitude. People who resist waiting imagine the idea of certainties. They have said do this, and this will happen. The mind tells us the happening is a guarantee. Yet, in the big picture, this cannot be. Waiting lifetimes may not allow the thing to come. As one fully accepts this uncertainty, the heart settles. That is, knowing everything is happening now, is to be aware of everything as it is, to experience glimspes of the whole.

Ultimately, no one truly knows what is next. No one knows every possible path. No one knows exactly what this moment will bring. To accept what comes and make the best of it allows the best version of Self to blossom. This waiting is as easy or as hard as each of us decide. Our energy has the power to shape a new destiny, to allow us to shift timelines, dimensions or into what resonates.

5 Tips to Release Fear-based confusion

Fear-based confusion is when intuition knows you are ready to make a big life change but feel too confused or postpone taking action you know feels right.  The ego has you believe in obstacles, unknowns, reasons why-not, or other people involved you “should” put first. Thus, resistance has the upper hand. You may hover between a rock and hard place.

Does this sound familiar? Maybe you contemplate a career change, a geographic move, parenthood, ending a relationship or committing to one, organizing your finances, jumpstarting a new project, a health regimen.  Most relate to gut-wrenching confusion in some form or life area, and it can affect stress, anxiety, breathing rhythm the state of your identity.

In my own life, I’ve come to notice confusion arises as a symptom of fear, and awareness of the bigger picture can help us reclaim power, reduce stress, anxiety and help us reverse escalating emotion. As a general rule, the more important certain decisions are to your soul's evolution, the stronger the resistance you will feel. Rest assured, nobody is alone or helpless in their journey. Turns out, fear-based confusion is manageable.  In fact, it brings surprising insight and wisdom.  Consider 5 tips to release fear-based confusion:

 1. Identify what brings you joy

If fear holds you back, identify what brings you joy.  Explore what evokes uplifting feelings and aliveness.  For example, instead of trying to answer the question, “What should I do with my life?” ask, “What can I do that evokes joy right now?” Follow the trail of excitement, gratitude and appreciation for yourself, and existence. Know that sources of joy naturally shift and change as we grow.  We are each meant to be here now. As we focus on what evokes deep joy, the clouds of confusion disappear.  Clarity arises naturally.

2. Let go of "little things" that you outgrow

Giving up some activity, like a hobby you do not like anymore, or reducing portions of dessert, is much less daunting than making bigger life changes too fast. Taking things step-by-step helps you see what is possible, builds your confidence to tackle bigger things.  In addition, it leaves room for expansion and freedom to grow. As Michael Singer eches, "Letting go of fear is not letting go of life."

3. Decide on direction

Be clear on some direction. Making a clear decision is the quickest way out of confusion.  This may sound obvious, but self-doubt can be a slippery slope. Believe in yourself enough to make a decision. Know that "right" and "wrong" decisions do not exist. What matters is how we feel where we are. For example, you may not know what career you want after school yet love travel and may do so as a way of soul searching. You may not know if you want to continue in a job/ company so may take a sabbatical or retain a coach.  Doing something is a step to guide yourself in the best direction.

4.  Release expectations 

Some people tell themselves only to take a risk or decision when they feel they control the whole process. They immediately search for something that feels secure in the face of change; a new home, job, relationship, hobby or situation to move into before finlly cutting ties to the previous conditions. Yet, life does not work that way. Truth is, change happens more smoothly when we take ourselves out of it, surrender to the unknown. You can set an intention, but magic happens beyond our control.  The element of trust has a place here.

5. Trust the Universe

Once you make the initial decision, the Universe will start to provide you with people and experiences that help you move forward. Breathe.  Tune into awareness, how your decision feels in your body, and act on whatever option has a sense of lightness and openness to it. To leave the details to the Universe allows us to focus on the present, how we feel right now rather than making joy depend on a certain outcome. Recall vulnerability is strength.  Feeling vulnerable is part of embracing change. Befriend confusion and recognize the gift it is. Once you take the first step, everything else falls into place.  Its the divine plan.

Powerful practice is required

Notice a powerful practice is required to realize the deathless Self so as not to fall into a lower state of consciousness during ongoing transitions. Whatever happens in external environments could evoke shock, grief, turmoil, distract from the deeper truth. The nature of distortions may disturb core inner peace. It helps to remind onself everything is in the mind, including the "we" , emotions, and illusion of separation from anything. Be aware one is an antenna for energy flow. Inhale and exhale. Gently bring focus inward to see with the third eye.

For a realized being, the Self alone is the reality and actions are only phenomenal, not affecting the Self. Even whe he (The Self) acts, he has no sense of being an agent. His actions are only involuntary (spontaneous without intention), and he remains a witness to them without attachment. No sense of doership exists. No aim exists for action. Work and other activity need not hinder meditation. Only as meditation becomes second nature then first nature are disturbances seen as they are. Being unwavering, truly focused in the Supreme Spirit alone guides us to know and realize Spirit. If we move in and out of it, we only have glimpses. It being of us and in us prompts us to discard the external world as transitory. Our intellectual sense of it must be discarded as it brings us into a state of duality.

It is a delusion to think "you" can ever be aware of the ultimate reality (Brahman). Only by letting go of the mind (in the sense of thought) can one realize the symbolic Self. Divine grace is essential for realisation. It leads one here. Grace is earned as the result of devotion, effort, sincerity. If it came as the result of ego, ego could not fade. Letting go of doing brings liberation. Mind must be introverted and kept focused on its higher pursuit of attention itself without being influenced by any external impressions. Every moment, one is right here.

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178Bernie Krausse, Hydra Constellation and 176 others

Tune into Divine Insights

Notice divine insights are descending into matter, activating dormant systems and radiating pure light. Through meditation, we consciously connect with and strengthen this light, and mindfully direct the power of intention. At some point, it dawns that heaven, light and love emerge from within. We shape every moment of our existence through thoughts and feelings. Reclaim true power. Live consciously. Deepen moment-by-moment awareness. Be open to receive streams of divine insights. Allow the unreal to fall away.