Happiness Right Now

(This post was first published as an article in September 2008 Metta Center email newsletter. While my daughter is now 15 years old, and not 11 years old as in this story, the message of this post is still relevant today. I invite you to turn your limiting thoughts around and free yourself into your happiness!)

 
One of the lessons I have learned is that happiness is an inside job.

Do you notice that things can be going really well, and yet you are still unhappy? Or, things might go all awry yet you are cool as a cucumber?

Something Abraham-Hicks says really struck a cord with me: "Your primary work is to think, speak and do what feels good to you." I really enjoy learning the process of choosing a better feeling thought from Abraham. Similar to changing a diet where you choose a healthier food to nourish your body, learning to think a better feeling thought is choosing to hold healthier thoughts, bringing yourself back into alignment with Source. It is choosing to nourish your mind, emotion and body with thoughts that affirms your connection to the amazing life, the Spirit, within you instead of diminishing it.

I put it in my daily practice that whenever I notice I am feeling unhappy, for whatever reason, I invite myself to explore what feels better for me to think, say or do. It is a simple process, and with practice, I can notice how much easier and quicker it is for me to align myself with feelings of contentment and joy.

For instance, I had this uncomfortable event a couple days ago where I talked to my 11-year old daughter about something that I thought would be of great help to her. But,she was not ready to hear it and brushed me off in a typical adolescence way. ("I am not listening!") Noticing that I felt frustrated, I made a mental note to find out what I would prefer to think, say or do that could feel better to me. After some time of reflection, I realized that I wanted to contribute to her life, and apparently my unconscious belief about how I should relate to my daughter was, "I need to teach and help my daughter in order to be of value to her." That thought didn't feel good at all, and I contemplated that this not-so-good feeling is an indicator that the thought was out of alignment with my Source. My Inner Being is telling me that there is a better way to think about relating to my daughter.

So, I decided to choose a better feeling thoughts: "It's not true that I need to teach and help her to be of value to her.  I really appreciate my powerful desire to contribute to her life and, I think I can be of value to her in many other ways that work better for both of us, and now that I am thinking about this, I rather like how it feels to me to remember that I am of value already no matter what." I felt immediate relief and a shift in my energy. My body sighed and I felt significantly more peaceful and free within.

As I focused on choosing more good-feeling thoughts, a single thought, attracted to me by nature of the Law of Attraction, powerfully took me to an even greater level of joy and relief: "I don't have to figure everything out and neither does she!" First, there was a hushed silence within, and then I felt waves of glorious and joyous freedom from within my whole being with that single liberating thought. I felt like whooping and jumping up and down, and I did!

I love the process because it concretely shows me that I absolutely have complete and total freedom to think whatever I want, to either uplift or depress myself and my life. I get to discover what thoughts and life-choices feel good to me. More importantly, I get to be in touch again with my own innate wisdom and to reconnect with what feels so good deep in my soul.

It is such a delicious feeling to feel happy for no reasons other than it feels so great to be alive!

Humility and Passion

A client let me know about this video. In my client's words: "I felt like if he can follow his passion, I can."

Isn't it wonderful that inspiration can come through many channels? It is a powerful message that this humble yet talented young man is giving us: follow your passion!
 

TEDx: Start With Why

 A fascinating talk!

The Rock, Stone and Sand Philosophy

(This post was first published in October 2008 Metta Center email newsletter. The original author of the story is unknown.)

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, rocks about 2" in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full?

They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was. The students laughed.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

"Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this is your life. The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, your children - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car.

The sand is everything else, the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.

Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

Angel Healing Tip: Clearing Other People's Energy From Your Auric Space

In relationships, we often are operating on the assumption that the emotions we are feeling are our own. However, in many cases, the emotions you felt while engaging with another person are not yours but the other person's.

This is a shocking thing to discover for many people, and they are often totally unaware that emotions are shared among people. We are rarely aware of the origin of the emotion we are feeling. So much difficulty arises in relationships because we don't understand this fact. Imagine how you might be behaving because you are taking on someone else's anger as yours, for instance.

Fortunately, each one of us has a Divine Presence, our Higher Self, which will act on our behalf, and this part of us have a solution to help us maintain our energy system so that we can respond from a place of clarity.

To clear other's energy (thoughts and emotions) from your auric space as well as from your physical body, use the decree: "Divine Presence clear my energy space." You just need to say the statement. Breathe easily and deeply as you observe any shift and clearing that occurs.

If you are holding another person's energy, the Divine Presence will sweep all energy that doesn't register as "yours" out of your energy system. You will almost instantly be aware that you are no longer feeling what you were before. You may be engaged in the most intense emotion and yet, in an instant, you will feel calm and centered again. You may have to say this decree several times a day.

I often taught this technique to my clients who are sensitive to other's energy and suggested that they say this decree after they leave a store, or a crowded place, or when they find themselves in an argument, and these clients reported that they feel better and clearer. Some clients found their new space of clarity so helpful, that they were able to choose a different thought and action which resulted in a different outcome in life for them.

Miracles 'R' Us

 (This article was first published in May 2007 Metta Center email newsletter. While the birds were long gone now, the message of the article still holds true in my heart today. I invite you to consider the miracle that YOU are!)

My family and I have been watching a bird making a nest on top of a beam under our eaves. We think it is the future mama bird that is making the nest. There is a red one (we think this is the papa bird) who is always nearby singing to her as she works.

It has been four days now since the birds started their nest, and we've seen how the nest is built piece by piece from blades of dried grass, small twigs, dried forget-me-nots. The colors are really lovely, a little baby blue from the flowers, green from the grass and soft greys from the twigs. (I wonder if the mama bird thought of color swatches as she builts her nest!)

When I see how much care she is putting into preparing and creating a home for the new lives that are coming, I feel very touched and in awe. So much love and honor for the miracle of life!

This makes me think how each of us, as individual lives, started from only two tiny cells. We are walking miracles, really, but we think nothing of it. What if we begin to recognize the miracles that we truly are instead of waiting for a "miracle" in our lives? What if we see ourselves as the miracles we are looking for? What if we could honor and cherish the miracles that we are?

Spring into Magic!

"Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself" ~ Zen Proverb

"Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems."
~ Rainer Maria Rilke


As I started my day this morning, I was spell-bound by the brilliant display of flowers all around my home. In the Bay Area, spring has definitely sprung!

Everywhere I looked, blossoms have burst in a profusion of colors: white, magenta, blue, purple, yellow, orange, red, and pink. Young grasses of verdant green dance in the soft breeze. Delicate new leaves are poking out of bare branches where they have slept through winter.

I am witnessing life in its full splendor and spring regalia. So glorious, indeed!

I invite you to allow yourself to get away from your desk, from the unfinished busy-ness in your day, and go out and greet spingtime with open arms and delighted eyes. Abandon your worries and obligations, and replace them with a sense of joy and ease, even for just a short time each day, and you will find that life greets you back with the same, if not more, delights!

Abandoning your worries for a while and focusing your attention on joy and beauty is not a denial of problems or duties. No, it is a graceful and gentle process of entraining your energy system to vibrate at the level of your Source where all solutions are present and healing is available.

Try this small and wonderful practice for several days, and you will be surprised how much room you are creating for inspiring changes to enter your life.

Wishing you well-being abound!