How are you "doing" life?

How are you doing?  Busy?  Tired?  Exhausted?  Are you searching for something in particular?  A new job, a new adventure, a thrill, an escape?

Did you know that we all possess hidden jewels within us?  Yes.  We only need to focus inwardly to find them, away from all the noise and from all of the distractions of the world.   Sound far out, unrealistic, too woo-woo for you?

A search sounds exciting, doesn't it?   Searching is an active venture; denoting curiosity, imagining, experimenting and discovering.   A search can be a tangible dig for gold or an intangible pursuit for happiness or status.  Many of us commonly search externally for fulfillment by acquiring things.  Seeking inwardly for discovering our power; our self-worth; and our capabilities seems more arduous; much more time consuming and less appealing and rewarding in such a fast-paced superficial, sensory world such as ours.  A search within requires the courage to risk taking the path less traveled along with the willingness to accept and trust in the unknown.

I know -- there's no time. right?  There's not enough time to get our day's to-do list completed, so how on earth are we supposed to find time connecting with ourselves, searching within? It's easier to continue rushing around mindlessly, working tirelessly, so we can simply buy the jewels we want?   Who has the time for making jewels, let alone searching for them?

Rushing, stressing, overworking; a familiar theme; one that's making us feel overwhelmed --and under-joyed.

It's normal, right,  feeling overwhelmed?  Especially before, during, and after the holidays.  Many of us are drowning in a sea of things to do; from putting up and taking down decorations, buying and paying for gifts, preparing for and completing end-of-the-year taxes, while organizing, decluttering, and maintaining our home, work, and personal lives. 

Determined each year, it seems, to make the New Year better and brighter; we pile on pressure to do more.  The New Year offers hope for creation.  It's a new slate, a tabula rasa; bringing excitement and anticipation for achieving new goals, ranging from losing weight, formulating more effective organizational systems, to finding quality time for spending with family and friends.  As time passes, our eagerness wanes while things start piling up.  The New Year quickly takes on the old way of surviving the day-to-day, while our minds fill with indecision, resistance, avoidance, and eventually, negativity.  So what happened?  It's only mid-January and we're already throwing in the towel?  We know what we "should" do but we don't know where to start.  So we postpone and ignore, hoping it magically goes away.  But it doesn't.  How do we escape what we have to do and do more of what we "want" to do?

When things pile up, we feel out-of-control, we become a victim.  Operating from victim-mode, we forego creativity in exchange for survival.  Frustrated and overwhelmed, our thoughts become more negative.  Our brief stint of New Year's Optimism suddenly turns dark and gloomy. 

We punish ourselves with thoughts of implementing new, effective ways for managing and easing our stress with nutrition, exercise, meditation, and relaxation techniques only to reach for that bottle of wine instead.  It's hard enough making one new positive change in the New Year and sticking to it; why overwhelm ourselves with too many new changes all at once? 

Recognizing we're feeling overwhelmed and that we're not moving forward is the first step in awareness.  Positive change comes by making a small step, just a small change can make the major difference in feeling less overwhelmed and more hopeful and in control of life.  It's all about changing our mind!  Sounds easy, huh?  Well it is.  All we need is a change in how we're doing life if we want to start feeling differently. 

You see, if we can change our thinking, we change our life.  By paying attention to what we are saying to ourselves (mentally) as well as what we're saying to others (verbally or mentally) throughout the day, we become aware of our self talk or how we're doing life.  

Our thoughts or our old beliefs (conscious and unconscious) create patterns of behaving that can get us into trouble if we let them.  What I mean is that when we are stressed out, we are more negative thinking and we operate this way mostly unconsciously.  We are reactive and negative, acts that becomes so habitual, we don't even realize that we are creating a negative world; a world that always seems to be causing us problems.  Essentially, we become a victim.

We can turn this around just by learning how to think positively.  How?  By using affirmations.

Examples: 
"I am open and willing to allow life to flow through me."  
"I release attachment and the feeling of scarcity in my life for allowing abundance to continue flowing my way."  
"I choose to think positively and lovingly to myself and to others."  
"Today is a beautiful day and I am enjoying every moment."  
"I consciously nurture my mind, body, and spirit with loving mindfulness allowing rest and space for receiving healing, love, and blessings."  
"I am grateful for life and realize lessons unfold in every moment,"  
"I am bright energy with so much light to emit; I  see the light in everything and wish goodness, blessings, peace, and abundance for everyone."
http://www.louisehay.com/affirmations/

Affirmations are a sure fire way for making our world brighter, easier, and more full of joyful anticipation.  Although change initially feels strange and uncomfortable, with practice, we can learn to use them more naturally, and they will lighten us up so we can start having some fun. When doubt or fear creeps in, as it will, we can simply fend it off by affirming, "I am safe."  "I am powerful."   Awareness of our thoughts helps us to change how we're "doing" life!   We all know ROME wasn't built in a day; each step is progress.  Let's take the first step today.  

Take a minute now to take a long, slow, deep breath.  Let's make up our minds to consciously start thinking more positively  Let's set our intention together loudly.  "I choose to begin living more consciously today."  "Today I choose to think happy thoughts and to be happy."  The Universe hears everything we say and makes it happen.  If we plant the seed; expect it to grow, it will grow!!   Once we get more comfortable with thinking more positively, we can begin testing other areas in our lives for manifesting what we want!

Our life truly unfolds in each moment; in every choice we make, every thought we think.  We dictate what we're choosing to bring into our lives.  As we begin learning how to love and how to forgive ourselves - we create a beautiful inner atmosphere fertile for creating and receiving miracles. 

Do you want to feel happier?  Calmer?  Peaceful?  More Loving?  More Forgiving? 
The search starts by searching within, becoming aware of what you're doing; how you're thinking.  By thinking positively, we open up to new possibilities; we step into an exciting world of self-discovery.  So, be unafraid to Ask, willing to believe, and surely, we will receive. 

*SOAR with me into finding *Stillness/Space so we can *open up by becoming Aware of our self-talk and subsequent behavior that's getting in our way of living happily and abundantly.  Once we "see" what we're saying to ourselves, we can *Release all of the stuff blocking us from *Receiving all the delicious joys life has to offer!  A rich inner world creates a beautiful atmosphere-  for manifesting everything we desire.