5 Tips to Identify what you want

Before you can determine whether someone else can assist you on your journey, you need to be willing to help yourself. You are creating the parameters, the road you wish to travel. Someone can help you decode aspects of this road, but you need to bravely decide what you want to do along the way.  Here are 5 tips to help you identify what you want;

1) Give yourself some quiet time- take steps to reflect on shifts or transitions unfolding in your life, listen with the heart and feel the messages.  They are gifts you give yourself.

2) Pay attention to thoughts and feelings- you constantly give yourself messages but habits and conditioning may block seeing the subsconsious reasons you do things. 

3) Be alert to your relationships- what sorts of people do you attract and alienate? Who are you in a hurry to get away from? Who makes you feel at ease? Each human, animal (or other) guides you to see what you want more clearly.

4) Decode your priorities- are you devoting most or all of your time to something you love or, do you bide your time? Some people are talkers, others doers, still others focus on allowing the universe to make it happen.  Which are you? 

5) Note the power of spontaneity- when you are drawn to something without doubt or analysis and do not attempt to talk yourself out of it, you know you are following the positive power of the universe in the form of spontaneity.  This is a sign you are on the right track, doing what brings more joy.

Savour where you are

Notice it is always possible to appreciate something about where you are.  Its common to focus on the direction you are headed, on particlar goals, unfolding projects or aspirations, but its less common to see blessings here and now.  If something is out of balance, it is an opportunity ot bring it into balance again.  And yet, during that journey of returning to balance, is an invite to recognize joy can be felt all along the learning curve.  Be aware additonal ways of seeing each situation always exist.  You have the power to shift your perception and experience.

8 Ways to experience more joy now

One of the most popular questions asked is what can a person do to experience more joy or happiness sooner? This query arises in the mind to suggest obstacles exist to happiness.  Consider the following ways to experience more joy now;

1) Be aware no word or anything you think you see has meaning except that which you give it

2) Recognize problems do not exist (The only problem is how you are using the mind or how it has been programmed) 

3)  Notice scarcity is just a thought (as are mental patterns that prevent you from seeing things as they are)

4) Realize perceived time is an illusion (everything you want is already here when you see through a pure heart rather than the conditioned mind)

5) Observe all that exists is the eternal now moment — and your experience of this moment is created by the programming in your head. (i.e. what you can have; who you can be, etc.)

6) Be aware feelings of security or insecurity arise due to emotional programming. (it can also be deprogrammed)

7) See happiness and joy are not obtainable from the external world. (This is your core state.)

8) Watch everything from a deep, calm place inside. (Here, thoughts and emotions no longer control you or hijack your attention. Insights are revealed so you flow with the river of life.)

3 Steps to greater happiness

Many people reach out for greater happiness or a deeper sense of fulfilment.  Infinite ways exist to get anywhere and be anything.  Its up to you. Conside these three steps to access:

1) Be aware of your thoughts.  You may underestimate the power of your thoughts.  Being aware is noticing what you think about and beginning to recognize you are not your thoughts.  In fact, they are simply passing ideas you choose to believe or not.  When you focus on something, you come to believe it.  Let thoughts arise and fall away and  they do not control how you feel. 

2) Let go of what you outgrow. You may notice aspects of your life no longer feel right or resonate. As you go through stages of evolution, you lose interest in certain people, places, activities, foods, jobs, behaviours. You may feel the unexplainable urge to cry, change or do something you have never done before. You may be going through a kind of shift in identity, a shift in how and where you live.  Being willing to let go of what you outgrow implies being open and receptive to your feelings and spontaneous impulses.  Listen more closely to the heart.

3) Be happy where you are. When you get right down to it, if you are unable to appreciate something in your life as it is, then you are not going to find happiness elsewhere. The common thread is you. How you feel where you are relates to what is conscious and unconscious.  Your understanding of 'happiness' can make you feel separate from what you want.  Watch what happens as you come to see beliefs as they are.  Allow yourself to feel what you are feeling. As you observe everything as a blessing, joy flows more freely.  Whatever obscures it falls away.

Joy is a stepping stone

As you nurture faith, joy can arise.  Trust the universe, come what may, and joy is all that is felt. Suddenly, you know that whatever you need presents in your life without openly asking for it.  When you ask for things, you simply postpone what is here in the moment you are receptive.  Turn your head to the side and glimpse a spider spinning a web.  Notice how it feels to be a dew droplet glistening in the midst of this unfolding miracle.  Whatever you do, you are a miracle.

A joyful feeling of self-respect or good conscience is a stepping stone to deeper happiness and fuller concentration on what is real. Notice that to focus on what feels good, on what reflects balance and harmony, is deeply calming. Focusing on what does not appear to be going smoothly evokes a sense that something needs fixing or improving, and you take steps to make it happen.  In this case, effort appears to be a stepping stone to joy that you tell yourself is within reach.

Notice what bliss feels like. The deeper the focus on joy, the clearer the insight that arises.