everyday reminders

"When you procrastinate, self-sabotage and talk yourself out of things, you are making a choice to slow down your spiritual journey (and your success).  So if you are like me, when you find yourself wishing things would happen faster,  you have to look at yourself and be accountable for the ways you slow things down.  Make sense?" -GG Renee (All The Many Layers)

yes, this makes perfect sense. 

it has taken me quite a while to admit that i am and have been the cause of why things haven't happened in my life - both professionally and personally. too often, i blame it on someone else or something else. but that blaming causes more destruction and self sabotage, than accountability ever will. 

accountability allows me to accept where i lost focus, re-focus and attempt to reconnect with myself again. 

redirection.

i never made the connection between my professional success and my spirituality until recently. and by recently, i mean within the last three years. the more the i become connected with my Self and inner-being, by having a daily spiritual practice and now, yoga.  i understand that nothing is really separated. it's all one, just like we are all one. 

one in mind. many in body. 

lately, i have been surrounded by the need for success to happen, well, like yesterday. friends are rushing to save for retirement, be in relationships that may or may not be healthy just because we are in our 30s, staying at jobs we are unhappy with, & not pursuing our passions because there may not be enough money in it -- exhausting. 

the pressure to be successful is incredibly high and GG's words couldn't have come at a better time, for me. and i thought i'd share. 

success = connection to Self (your Spirit, intuition)

i share in the anxiety with my friends who find themselves stuck or fragmented by doing what's seemingly "right" vs. what feeds me or nurtures my soul. 

we all have choices.

what GG is saying is that it's okay to slow down and reorganize our priorities. when we choose to exhaust ourselves and the people around us with our need to control, over plan and become perfectionist in our professional and personal lives, we miss out on the beauty of our lives unfolding and our success will pass us by. 

when you reconnect with yourself - exercising, meditating, yoga, travel, stillness, etc. 

that pausing reignites our spiritual relationship with ourselves and the spirit that's on fire within us. 

that fire, is our passion and it's quite beautiful when we let it do its own thing

and, letting that fire do its own thing is a spiritual process we develop by...

(1) practicing the art of letting go and 

(2) accepting that everything will ALWAYS work out - there is no right or wrong -- only what is. 

(3) trust in our intuition and 

(4) to TRUST that we'll know what direction to take AND when we don't know which way to go --

(5)  the Universe always provides someone or something to reveal the answer. 

this is exactly where i am. my professional resume is the shit! on paper, you'd think i'd be boosting with confidence because of where i've been and who i've worked with. but the truth is that, sometimes i don't always feel so confident and i don't always feel like what i've done is the shit. and sometimes i want things to happen faster and i want more and more and more. 

so, i have to remind myself of these steps everyday. 

i let go of claiming accolades, as if that matters

i let go of trying to be someone i'm not

i accept that where i am, in this moment is pretty all over the place

but, i know that the Universe has a great plan -- and i will continue to show up and do what i'm skilled to do each and every time

i let go of the need to control outcomes or seek validation

i release attention to things i do not want my power to go towards

and, really, i simply allow myself to enjoy the pleasures of all that i do, as i'm doing them, without fear!

i am only where i am because of the way life has continued to unfold on my behalf and i believe that there is soooo much more coming my way. 

that alone, makes me excited and i'm grateful. 

life is an everyday process of opening our heart to the things we can't control and placing our power on all the miracles that have brought us exactly where we are today. 

that alone, makes us beautiful beings, with so much more to look forward to! 

xo, me. 

who are we?!

checking our ego is a necessity -- everyday, all day! taken from yogajournal.com 

Meditating on the question "Who Am I?" for as little as 5 minutes can help you look beyond your ego's definition of you and discover what lies beneath.

1. Settle into your body.
Come into a comfortable seated posture, with your eyes closed, and your hands folded in your lap. Lengthen your back, and let your chin move back so you feel as if your head is being suspended by a cord from the ceiling. Scan your body, noticing and softening any tightness in the shoulders, face, thighs, belly, arms, and hands. Take 5 deep inhalations and exhalations.

2. Focus on your breath.
Become aware of the rise and fall of the breath. Let your breathing be natural and relaxed as it brings you into the present moment. Feel the coolness of the breath as it flows in the nostrils and the warmth as it flows out. Notice where you feel the breath in your body. Do you feel it in the chest and shoulders? In the diaphragm or belly?

3. Quiet the mind.
Sensing the flow of the breath, inhale with the thought "I am." Feel the energy of the words mingling with your breath, flowing into your inner body. Then, with the exhalation, feel the space that these words leave in your consciousness. Continue to repeat the pure mantra "I am" without attaching any other thoughts to it. Stay here for several minutes if you can, allowing yourself to become more and more relaxed.

4. Practice inquiry.
As your mind quiets, begin to drop in the question, "Who am I, without words? Without thoughts? Without memories or emotions?" Pay attention to the awareness that opens up. If words or emotions arise, allow them to be there. Identify them—"thoughts," "sadness," or "confusion"—and return to the question. You're not looking for an answer. Look past the answers that arise to experience the bare awareness that is your sense of being, of pure existence.

5. Rest in awareness.
This sense of pure existence is there, and as you practice this meditation, it will eventually reveal itself. Continue your inquiry, and see if you can gently rest for a second or two in the wordless awareness that immediately follows the question. The opening into awareness may last only for a few seconds. If you get hung up on your thoughts, start over: Return to the breath, and the mantra "I am." Then, ask the question again, and notice what arises. Stay with the practice for as few as 5 or as many as 30 minutes. Then open your eyes, and return to your day.

create(ing) self.

it's monday!
perfect new start to a beautiful day, filled with anticipation and intention.

i decided that the word initiative i have been meditating on, will mean to start fresh each day by adding on or should i say, taking away the limits i placed on myself the day before. 

it's real folks....shit is real! temptations, challenges, habits that we far to frequently participate in unknowingly until shit has happened and we stand back feeling guilty for not recognizing such. 

but, i am learning that, that's the 'breaking through' or the accepting of what is true about who we are, exactly as we are, where we are. 

and we MUST accept that truth, even if it hurts and brings us to tears. 

change is a process and something to be committed to, even when that process includes stormy weather.

i preface that statement by reminding myself that all i've been writing in this blog, is consistent with the advice i'd give to someone else, a friend perhaps. so, why not be committed to the words I write everyday...lol, right?!

oh to live honestly! it's heart work and at times, hard work. 

xo, me. 

loving, at first sight of ourselves

do you dream Universal beings?

i do. quite often. dreams lift us higher, help us to keep moving and believing in the life we want for ourselves. 

the reading this morning talked about "love at first sight" and remembering when we first experienced love -- like real love. 

the moment we felt complete and whole, like we mattered and safe. when i sat and thought about the moment, it wasn't tied to any romantic relationship, but when i was a child -- and the earliest memories of pleasing my parents and feeling that sense of love that made the world seem as though it was mine. 

we should feel that complete everyday, all day. it is possible. 

the meditation for the reading went into breathing out past -sights and future-sights and really basking in that first-sight of love. the feeling, the face, the air, the warmth, whatever, whomever and wherever it was -- Mark Nepo asked us to hold onto that feeling. 

i did that. and it was so energizing because when i let go of trying to get back to that "feeling" i had with so and so or the feeling i want now, with so and so. it made me feel really good to just feel pleasure in that time when i felt whole and completely me -- with me. 

perhaps we spend too much time trying to love someone else completely, that we alienate ourselves in the process of loving ourselves....the way we should.

we ARE everything we could ever need. we ARE whole, right now, right here. 

so, that's the intention for today. feeling whole, owning my beauty, my body, my present, who i am and LOVING every minute of it. It's me, i am who i am for a reason and all that greatness and power that lives within me is real and very much needed by the world. I am bigger than my past, and much bigger than JUST dreaming of my future. I am living now, not asking question, but accepting and learning. 

it CAN really be that simple. 

xo, me. 

i am + i have

ciao Universal beings!

how are you? good, i hope. 
it's tuesday, but definitely feels like a weekend day for me o_0 not sure why lol but i welcome the more relaxed feeling. 

anyway, i watched a video from Agape's Sunday service yesterday and it really spoke to me. 
Rev. Beckwith spoke of using language that affirms what it is that we know about God and the power it holds in addition to the power inside of us. 

I am and I have.

When i thought about starting sentences with I am and I have, it was so obvious to me. Yes! of course I am going to change the world and I have everything I need...already, to do it. 

I believe that. 

I welcome this challenge today, because:

Divine insight frees me from fear and doubt and worry.

Self-love and acceptance is the starting point in all my relationships.

Gratefully and gracefully I live these words of truth.

these are affirmations for this week and i find them very fitting to opening ourselves up for more and more abundance and greatness that we are ready for!!

i am excited about the greatness coming my way -- you should be too :))

xo, me. 

the trying...faith and the knowing

good morning Universal beings!

another day of being grateful -- for listening -- for seeing -- for living.

it's amazing how logically, we know all of these things. we open ourselves up to it on a daily basis with our prayers and meditation practices. but are we truly living these words? are we truly living without doubt, worry and fear?

are we trusting God -- with a knowing that all our needs will be met?

it's really important to practice the work that we may read about and chant to. we have to live our truth and accept all that we end up seeing, hearing and reading that may be a direct reflection of ourselves. that is the work. acceptance. 

we can't have fear when pulled in a certain direction. we must go and trust that it is for us, perfectly.

when i reflect on my life and how much i thought i needed -- and prided myself -- on controlling the outcome for everything, i become sad when i realize how i stood in the way of the Universe providing me with all that i needed that i took ownership of providing myself. 

i didn't have faith and even though i was speaking such, i wasn't living that truth. 

now, i am willing to accept all the goodness in my life, because i know that the Universe will always provide! 

i believe that and i am open to what the Universe provides. So far, I've had a pretty amazing 2014. It's been incredible and I KNOW that more is to come! 

i am choosing to have faith
i am choosing to be open to all the good that is to come in my life

magic. 
xo, me.