Evolve and love

Evolve and love. Evolving is changing. Change is inevitable and growth is optional. Things will change around you regardless of your participation. How you choose to respond and adapt is up to you. Life is about growing and sometimes growth is painful. The end result is often rewarding if you hang in there. Learning to love is the most rewarding thing we can do. Without love life can be miserable. Not just romantic love but brotherly love and self love. We often cannot love others because we have yet learned to love ourselves unconditionally. Love yourself so that you may love others.

"The Light of the Christ within now wipes out all fear, doubt, anger and resentment. God's love pours through me, an irresistible magnetic current. I see only perfection and draw to me my own". This is an affirmation from "Your word is your want" by Florence Scoval Shinn. If we can show the kind of love to others that God shows to us what an awesome world we would have.

Thankful Tuesday

Again trying to play catch up. Things come up and I don't post as I would like. Regardless I am thankful to be able to do it when I can. I have missed the past 5 listings from the January poster. These are:

1. Be content
2. Lighten up
3. Celebrate and appreciate
4. Dream
5. Give thanks

Each day we can find a way to do these things. Being content doesn't necessarily mean to stay in a place where you don't desire. To me it's about honoring what you have. Appreciating what you've done. It doesn't mean to stop striving to be better. Sometimes we get so focused on what we don't have that we forget that which we do. Lightened up a bit, everything doesn't have to be so serious all the time. Learn to relax, laugh and enjoy life. Celebrate and appreciate those who have chosen to be in your life and choose to remain a part of your life. This past weekend we celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We know his quotes. We know his speeches. We know is vision. He not only had a dream but a vision. That dream wasn't just acknowledged, it was something he worked to achieve. Let us remember to give thanks to those who have come before us and those who will come after us. The dream can only remain a reality with the work that we put into it.

Cultivate oneself

Cultivating is more often spoken in regards to planting and growing. We can use it also to refer to our own lives. Time often leads to a rut or stagnation in our lives. We sometimes need to cultivate new ideas,places,people or whatever it takes to change our current circumstances if they are not to our liking. We need to prune out the dead weight that we carry. That can be negative thoughts or actions that we keep acting upon. It can also be people who are not lifting us up but instead are pulling us down. Anything the prevents you from growing intellectually,financially,spiritually and personally must be removed.
Seek the good. Speak the good. Open your heart and allow all that you desire and you deserve to come unto you without doubt or fear. Know that what is divinely yours can only be kept from you by you. Don't block your own blessings with the wrong thoughts,desires and actions.

Consider and reflect

What to do? What to do? A question we may ask daily. Thinking it through whatever the task may be. Whatever point we may have reached we may need to spend some time reflecting upon where we've been, where we are and where we want to go. Often we are so busy trying to get "there" that we forget to be grateful for how far we've come.

Catch up time

Not having internet access for the past few days has me behind.

Saturday was "let go, forgive and accept. That's something that has been playing over and over for awhile. I was trying to do that but I found that maybe I was trying to let go of the wrong thing. Sometimes you just have to let go of "letting go" and just let it be.

Sunday was exercise and move. Not a hard one. Still on that grind. Maybe a bit too vigorous with the Wii. I may need to modify to continue this pace.

Monday was serve and contribute. Each day there's a way to do this when you are in a field that indeed provides service. Learning to speak up and give your opinions is a way to contribute. Giving to those in need whether it be in time or monetary. Do what you can that's all that can be asked.

Tuesday was listen and learn. Communication--the big key in relationships. Listening and hearing aren't the same. Hearing is the process where sound is perceived. Listening is the process where sound is perceived,analyzed and comprehended. That information is then processed. We hear people all the time but are we really listening to them. We don't want to just be heard we want others to "listen" to us.

Create and envision

Today's focus is create and envision. Something I have in the back of my mind but haven't put much effort in doing. That "vision" notebook is on the list. Cutting, thinking and need to "focus". Part of it is putting it down on paper and accepting that these are things you desire. Putting it out there and being prepared to receive--why is that scary? Sounds silly.
Ask and it will be given to you

Seek and you will find

Knock and the door will be opened to you

Matthew 7:7

Fear of achieving has no place in your drive for success--whatever that success may be. You block out your own blessings by not being open to receiving them. It's been said that if your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough. So go ahead, dream and dream big!

Laugh and play

Today's focus was laugh and play.

It's late afternoon and I am wondering have I laughed today. I don't think I have. If I did the sad thing is that I can't recall when or at what. That all being said. I don't feel very jovial. I need cheering up.

Breathe and smile

Well somehow yesterday got away from me and I didn't post on chanting and singing.

Today's actions are "Breathe and smile". 2 good things to keep in mind. Sometimes taking a deep breathe is needed to clear your head. Breathe in to calm down. This morning threw me off my schedule. A power outage delayed my day and I felt out of sorts because my plans were changed for a bit.

I eventually stopped whining about the cold and went to Ihop. Ate too much and went back home to start the day. Granted it was afternoon by the time I got work but nevertheless I got there. Sometimes even when i'm not smiling on the outside, I am smiling inside. A thought, a memory or a sight can all trigger a smile either externally for all to see or internally so that only you are aware.

Meditate

So the second line of the poster says meditate and feel. I have to admit I have not been one to think that of what I do as meditation.

Meditation can be defined as follows:

1. To reflect on; contemplate.

2. To plan in the mind; intend:

v.intr.

1.

a. Buddhism & Hinduism To train, calm, or empty the mind, often by achieving an altered state, as by focusing on a single object.

b. To engage in devotional contemplation, especially prayer.

2. To think or reflect, especially in a calm and deliberate manner.

I suppose I fall into "b". More like "conversations with God". Often questioning the thoughts that sometimes follow my talking. Sometimes it's in my head and sometimes it's really an oral conversation. Most often those take place in the car or some other place I find myself alone with my thoughts. The shower's a good place. I think it's time to practice taking a few minutes in the day and just releasing and clearing my head and allowing myself to feel the negativity escaping. I have no expectations--one of my new goals-Just let it be. Whatever it is let it be.

Happy New Year!!

Ok I didn't do so well in 2011. I-and I use the word again-neglected my parlor. I was busy elsewhere but maybe it's time to come back. I am using this picture as a focus. I hope to keep each of these in mind and address them.

Last night I did my own version of the burning bowl ceremony. It involved taking a list of ideas,thoughts or actions that I felt I needed to release from my life and burn them. I also wrote a list of things to replace them. No it wasn't magic. I didn't wake up this morning free of them. It's a journey that's only begun. It will be work.
This poster has many things that I used to replace negative things I did or thought in 2011. I told myself that today after church I would relax and enjoy the day. For the most part I did. I did find myself being "busy". I started throwing away little thinks that I didn't need. I had said I wouldn't do that until tomorrow but I just felt the need to toss. There's a whole to be removed and each day something needs to go. We'll work on that. Little by little it can be done. I removed a lot of email and contacts last week. More of that to do as well. Things that no longer serve you good must go. In order to grow cut away the dead ends. Embrace the new. Allow it to come to you.
Reflecting upon last year there were some awesome days and some painful days. All for growth and improvement. I must continue growing.