Day 38

The abundance flows in many more avenues than dollars. And so, if you could focus upon the gifts that the Universe gives you: When you say "abundance", think about it in the abundance of health, the abundance of vitality, the abundance of clarity, the abundance of enthusiasm, the abundance of delicious people in your life, the abundance of loving letters in your life. The abundance of free-flowing traffic in your life. The abundance of wonderful experiences in your life...As you start thinking in terms of this abundance that doesn't have anything to do with dollars -- the abundance relative to the dollars starts flowing too. - Abraham-Hicks

Almost 2 years ago I was sent this quote. It changed my life by changing my perspective on abundance. I began to look for abundance in all areas of my life. It was truly life giving.

For any one who runs into this it is my gift to you......

Much Love

Day 37- Mind-movies.......

It has been a while since I have posted. All this vacationing is starting to catch up with me. What a fun couple of weeks. I just got back from yet another weekend in Vegas. I am now preparing for a weeks vacation in my hometown of Regent, ND.

The last time I posted I was talking about story telling. I recently received an email from my friend Elyse that explained this concept of telling a new story in a delicious way. The idea is that you tell a new story and then catch up with it feeling wise until you see it forming around you.

Here are some words of advice of Abraham:

“Do not write your story like a factual documentary, weighing all the pros and cons of your experience, but instead tell the uplifting, fanciful, magical story of the wonder of your own life and watch what happens. It will feel like magic as your life begins to transform right before your eyes.”

Around a year ago Elyse ran across some software that allows you to create a mind-movie. A mind movie plays on your computer with music, words and pictures that you choose to create a feeling around a subject. The one she chose was her dream home. So she searched the net for pics of her ideal home, added some music that inspired her and wrote the story as she wanted it to be. Then each day she watched this simple 4 minute mind-movie and felt herself in that home.

Two days ago she sent me an email with the mind-movie and a link to her new home. I had goose bumps watching them. Let me be clear they were not identical. However, the feeling of both homes were in alignment. They shared similar essences. It was amazing.

You can learn more at www.mindmovies.com .

Much Love

9-24

Day 30- Half way through.....

Wow, I can’t believe it has only been 30 days. I remember when I was a child my parents would constantly say that time flies the older you get. I have not found this to be true. In my world time has slowed down. It feels like this past 30 days have been a year. I love it.

Lets talk about stories today. I remember sitting in my first apartment in CA feeling miserable. I had no job, living off credit cards, my girlfriend was clearly not into the relationship anymore and I felt a total lack of direction. Looking back I was definitely depressed because I was totally believing every thought above.

I pulled out a book by Neale Donald Walsch and was paging through it when I stopped on a page that I had highlighted and marked up. One sentence caught my eye, “Whatever is expressed and expressed, over and over, becomes just that, expressed”. I had to have read this at least 20 times before but this time it stuck.

I remember reading about Donald Trump when he filed for bankruptcy. He just shrugged it off, said something about it being a way to do business, and then went into a typical Trump rampage about how his next idea was going to be huge, a juggernaut. Here is a guy who knows how to tell a story.

“You have to begin to tell the story of you life as you now want it to be and discontinue the tales of how it has been or of how it is.”

So in that moment I made a decision that changed the direction of my life. I decided to stop talking about anything that didn’t feel good when I said it. I used to tell anyone who would listen that if I could just figure out what I was supposed to do with my life I would go at it like a crazy man. The dominant feeling of that statement was one of fear. I probably said that or something like that for almost a decade. And that day I just stopped. What I noticed was I instantly felt better.

The stories we tell over and over become expressed in our lives. What stories are you telling over and over? Is it about your health, money, job, relationships, family? And you say….but, it’s true! Maybe. This is not about right or wrong, it is about feeling better. Don’t take my word for it. Try it. Stop telling the stories and see how much better you feel. And if you really want to dig in notice how often you want to tell the story…….

Day 28- Locked out.......

I just completed the most amazing weekend. I got back to my home on Saturday night and the door was locked. Yes, I was locked out of my house for the weekend. The people I rent from left for the weekend and accidentily locked both locks…..I only have a key for one.

You know what is fun? Talking about how free you are and then having the Universe throw a heat check at you. All I had was my wallet and the clothes I wore to work that day. I had plans in San Diego for the weekend so I decided to move forward and figure it out as I go.

I had so much fun shopping for clothes to wear through the weekend. When I showed up at my friends house he had a make shift bed ready. I love how supportive the Universe is when you let go. Everything worked out perfectly. I am grateful to all who supported me.

To say I am free of the need of things is not only a lie but hilarious. When I pushed on the door and realized it was still locked I almost went into panic. Instantly I thought I need my computer, my planner and my clothes. It made me giggle how much I believed it. I was half way to San Diego before I worked through it. As I was driving I just kept questioning the thoughts as they arose and they seemed to let go of me.

What fun!!!

Make It A Great Day!

9-16-8

Day 27- Loving What Is.....

When this experiment began I was really putting a lot of pressure on myself to have fun. What a ridicoulus concept, huh? Pressuring myself to have fun. I am smiling just thinking about it. I noticed that the more I "worked" at having fun the less I was having. And then the other night I realized this past year of my life has been one moment of joy and appreciation after another.

One of the interesting things about this past year is how perfectly things seem to turn out for me. I have learned how to make peace with where I am. So it doesn't matter what happens I seem to get a kick out of it either way. Take my job for instance, over the past year I have been told I was heading in almost 10 different directions.....everything from regional manager to director of training to a possible sales position. And each time I just smiled and said, ok.

I am reminded of a story that Eckart Tolle frequently tells of a Zen Monk. In the story the Monk has what many of us would call ups and downs....from being wrongly accused to having large sums of dollar fall into his lap. Through it all the Monk continues to say, "good or bad, who knows?". I have noticed as I have made more and more peace with reality I have a similiar philosophy.

It's not that I don't get attached, because I do. Recently I took a trip to another city to vaca and have some fun. Apparently, I was attached to seeing a friend there because when it turned out I couldn't I suffered. The interesting thing about my new thought processes is how short the sufferening is. What would have been hours of self torture is now only minutes. The questions of The Work seem to be alive in me. As I was driving away from any opportunity to see my friend the questions arose...

~Is it true you should have seen her?
~How do you react when you believe that?
~If the Universe is friendly why is good for you and her that you didn't connect?

And the truth that pours forth is beautiful. All suffering melts away to joy and appreciation. As I have begun to see the truth in every moment I am reminded how loving reality is.

Much Love

Day 22- Update

I am a third of the way through the experiment. I think it was a few entries into this when I decided not to list my intentions because I said, “this is about internal movement”. Well, this weekend I had some major insights.

The whole point of this experiment was to slow myself down and listen. Listen to the voice within that always knows the right way. I was hiking in Mt. Charleston outside of Vegas today and I got lost. (Well, not really because I have questioned this thought so many times I don’t even believe it.) As far as many would feel I was lost, I had gotten off path and started climbing a very steep incline. I just kept going, feeling both the excitement and the adventure of being off the beaten path. Even though I didn’t know where I was going I was so excited to notice every step along the way, the burning in my lungs from being 6000 ft above sea level, the feeling that I could slip on the loose rock at any point made every step feel like a meditation.

When I reached a point in the clearing I stopped and turned around. What a beautiful sight. I could see for miles and miles and it was incredible. As I was standing there I realized that this is how I live my life. Sometimes I just make a move that is so off the beaten path that I can’t even explain it. I just keep going noticing each step, each sensation, each experience. And then at some point I stop and turn around, what I see is breath taking. The person I have become, the people I have met and perfectly interacted with. I have tried walking the beaten path, the one society and most of my family would prefer I take, and I always desired to be a pioneer. I wanted to be an adventurer, an explorer.

I believe I have begun an exploration of life…..of mind…..of being. I ask no one to join me. Find your way and just notice……

Much Love

Day 21

" In the morning when you wake up, none of you stand out on your porch frantically breathing in because you are afraid that later in the day there will be a scarcity of air. You breathe in and you breathe out and think nothing of it. What we want to get you to understand is that it is the same thing with dollars (or anything else), there is no need to go out and hold your breath in an attempt to hold on to the air in case there is a later lack. You are all MUCH closer to a financial fortune right now than you are even willing to dream about for fear that you will be disappointed if it does not come." -- Abraham-Hicks

In my last post I quoted the amazing Megan as saying, "many people talk, so few do". This quote above got me thinking about Buckminster Fuller. Bucky, as his friends called him, believed so much in abundance and the prosperity of dollars all around him that he would empty out his bank account at the end of each month.

Huh??

At the end of each month he would look at whatever was left over after taking care of his commitments and then he would give the rest away and start over at 0. Talk about trust. Talk about belief. Talk about knowing of your worth.

I love it!!!

Day 20- Teacher Appreciation.....

I remember the day like it happened a few hours ago. I was sitting at my desk in Fargo, ND. I had confusion coursing through me like poisean. I remember the darkness that surrounded me in that moment. I remember saying it out loud, the words flowing forth were pure desperation. I asked for guidance to anyone or thing that was listening. I needed help, I felt like I was drowning in life and I needed some assistance. So I asked.

And as always the Universe answered. There is a saying in the metaphysical circle that when the student is ready the teacher will appear. In my experience I would say this is true. There have been 3 teachers among the multitude that have shown up that I would like to say a few words about.

The first came to me in the oddest of ways. A few months after making my verbal request I was at a movie and it moved me. In fact, I got home and I felt invigorated and alive. I admired so many things about the ‘hero’ and I wanted to operate from those same states of being. I remember sitting down at my computer and typing the words “spiritual life coach” into the google search bar.

To this day I still don’t know why I did this, it just felt right. I ended up calling two of the people I read about. I still remember the feeling when I spoke with Elyse. I wasn’t a great communicator at this point in my life and she really heard every feeling I released. The rest is history I suppose. We have been working together for almost 3 years now and no relationship has impacted me more over those years. I would say she is the best mirror in the world. Whenever I have an issue that I can’t quite see she is able to shine a really bright light on it and allow me to work through it.

Around this same time I was wandering through a Barnes and Noble one day when a book jumped out at me. The title was catching, “Ask and It Is Given”. The authors names were Jerry and Esther Hicks. I flipped through a couple of pages and the name Abraham kept coming up. A biblical name with a biblical title….worth a try. Well the love that shined forth from this book is what I picked up on. Abraham-Hicks teachings have been a corner stone of my life these past 3 years. What a joy to have such amazing teachers to follow in the steps of.

Elyse and I had been working together for almost a year and she kept mentioning this women named Byron Katie and this process she had for releasing stressful concepts and thoughts. A little over a year ago, again for no apparent reason, I was on Katie’s website and noticed she was going to be in Los Angeles on one of my days off. She was having a free 3 hour talk. I decided to go and see what all the hype was about…..

To say the least I was mesmorized by this woman. She radiates love to everyone she interacts with. I watched her sit for hours and hold her tone of love and understanding. I imagined feeling like those rare few who get the opportunity to see a living saint interact with others. Such love, compassion and understanding flowed forth. I remember her entrance most of all the entire room was buzzing and she just walked in, sat down and smiled. Her peace overwhelmed us, everyone just sat.

Through some amazing events I was able to spend 10 days with her in a retreat a year ago. It truly changed my entire life. I learned tools and ways of living that shifted me and caused me to look at who I really am. She has truly been an amazing teacher.

I have had many other teachers of course. The piece that seems to make these 3 so special is that they live their teachings everyday. I am amazed at Elyse’s honesty and the way she tells everyone of both her ups and downs. Jerry and Esther are more than open about their life and how Abe’s teachings affect them. Katie opened to us on the retreat and to hear how she went to hell and found heaven was truly inspiring.

One of my good friends recently said, “A lot of people talk, very few do”. Well said Meg. If you like to learn more about these amazing teachers their sites are below.

www.choosingprosperity.com
www.abraham-hicks.com
www.thework.com

Much Love
9-6-8

Day 17- Body Appreciation

As I was working-out tonight I went into the zone. I know this is different for everyone, my experience is truly magical. I love the feeling of connection. It all comes together so perfectly for me. Since moving to Cali I haven’t joined a gym, instead I choose to be out in nature. I run hills, hike a lot and on the days when I feel like lifting I usually find a park with some bars to do pull-ups on, along with push ups in the grass. There is something about that feeling of grass under me and the sun beating down…..or the darkness of the night. I always have my ipod on and have some extremely fast moving, pop music blaring.

Tonight while I was jumping rope I was thinking back to my days of jumping rope in the high school gym for basketball practice. I hated jumping rope in high school. I could make you a laundry list of everything that was going wrong with my body in high school. Besides being over weight, I had tendentious in my knees, athletes asthma, wore glasses for a while, migraines, allergies, sprained both ankles severely more times than I can remember, ect.

That was almost 12 years ago. What a difference a decade can make. I am now preparing for a marathon in April 09. I ran the half marathon in Jan 07. I am in the best shape of my life right now. For my birthday this past April I flew to a Carribean island and went on an adventure tour. One day I hiked mountains in extreme conditions for over 6 hours straight. And by the next morning I was up at 7 am to practice yoga.

The thing I am most appreciative of is the fact that I can be on my feet for 10+ hours at work, come home and go for an hour run. Tendentious is gone, eyes corrected themselves, asthma gone, no migraines, allergies gone, ankles seem healed and I feel amazing.

I read once that if you can free your mind the body will follow. I will say that as much of the resistance in my life is released I notice how much easier my days are. I seem to flow through my days and wake up easily. I love how my body perfectly uses everything I put in it. And I love paying attention to how foods make me feel. The Huna tradition in Hawaii suggest that you pay attention to anything that stimulates you into a feeling that is not good and remove it from your life. I started doing this with food almost 2 years ago and it has changed my life. No need for a diet if you pay attention to how foods make you feel. You will know what to remove.

I am grateful for this good feeling body and while I feel it is an ever changing thing I am experiencing much joy in it now.

Much Love
9-3-8

Day 16- Job Appreciation

I have been thinking about leaving my current position because I find that I’m not as happy within it. But as I think about leaving, I realize that when I go, I will take myself with me- and if I leave because I am unhappy, I will take that unhappy person with me. The reason I want to leave is because I want to feel good. I want to feel excitement, joy, growth, freedom. I want to utilize my strengths and downplay anything that makes me feel weak. I wonder if it’s possible to feel good without leaving. I wonder if there is anything about this relationship that I could focus on that does feel good.

I remember the day I saw the ad for this job. The energy of the ad seemed to be a good match to me. I remember the words fun and growth jumping off the page and smacking me in the face. I was moved by the simple ad. I remember how I felt when I went into different locations and ate. The ambiance, food, feel of the place was a great match to me. I remember feeling drawn to this company and eager to move forward to see what more we might discover together. I like the feeling of discovery. I like that I fit in so easily and made an impact immediately. I liked our relationship as it began. I think that the more time has gone on the more we realize that we are not a perfect match. I don’t think there is any failure on either of our parts in that. I don’t think either party ever intended it to be a life long commitment. At this point there are probably potential better partnerships for both of us.

There are so many things I like about this job that anyone would easily appreciate: the start time is awesome, the food, the décor and ambiance, the name recognition, the quality of food, the commitment to change, the opportunities to expand and grow myself, traveling, being trusted to go and adjust issues, freedom to write my own schedule, being paid perfectly, bonuses, meeting all different types of people, creating life long friendships, a sense of family, feeling I have a voice, hours of operation….I am glad we came together, and I believe our time together will prove to be of value to both of us.

“Never walk out of a relationship feeling angry, guilty, or defensive. Do the work to get to a good feeling place and then leave. And then what comes next will not be a replay of what you just left.”

~A new way to create change perhaps.~

Much Love,
9-2-8

15- Change and Appreciation????

How do you create change? I remember in my early 20’s being depressed and confused. I got home late one night from work and sitting on my couch flipping through channels when I got stuck on an infomercial. It was Tony Robbins and he was selling one of his CD programs. Since my life felt like it was a mess I decided I had nothing to loose and ordered the program.

For those of you who haven’t heard, read or know anything about Tony I will say he is a dynamic speaker and motivator. He creates a lot of value for his clients and I appreciate what he does and the way he does it. With that being said the way he suggests creating change is interesting. He gets you to focus so strongly and with so much emotion on what you hate about a certain aspect of you life that you feel forced to change.

I remember even as a child being taught that if you want something to change you must focus on what you don’t like about where you are, motivate yourself, take massive action, talk about why you don’t like it, tell everyone who will listen why you don’t like it, replay why you don’t like it over and over and over in your mind. And then at some magical point you break free.

Using body weight as an example of this there are actually weight loss programs that suggest you take a picture of yourself in the least amount of clothes possible and then circle the parts of yourself you do not like. I see it happen all the time. People reach that frustration point of their weight and then go on a strict diet or a crazy exercise plan or both. And usually after they loose the weight it all comes rushing back.

It happens around other issues also. People leave their job to only find the same issues at the next one. Or you leave that crazy girlfriend to find the exact same issues in the next one. I have witnessed one friend go through guys at a staggering rate and each one is almost a mirror of the one before.

About a year ago I ran into a new philosophy around creating change. Actually it took me almost a year to accept it and for the past year I have been practicing it. There are some operating principles I would like to share.

~You are where you are.
~You can get anywhere from you are.
~Reality never lies. You are experiencing exactly what you should be experiencing.
~There will never be a happy ending to an unhappy journey.
~Make peace with where you are.

What if you could create change peacefully? What if you didn’t have to wage a war on fat, your job, your spouse, your mind? There are many tools to do this. I have listed some throughout this blog and will continue to list more. From what I have been studying the past two plus years the fastest way to get where you want to go is....Appreciation. After my week long rampage of appreciation I will dig into the peaceful way of change.

But first today I am going to write a letter of appreciation to a friend I work with. I know she has been up and down lately so I am going to appreciate all she does. I will leave you with this thought.....

“You manifest the essence of what you appreciate and depreciate.”

Much Love
9-1-9