HOW OUR EMOTIONS IMPACT OUR LIVES

We all have one very big thing in common - we ALL want to be happy. According to Roy Martina, author of EMOTIONAL BALANCE "When your inner self - how you feel about yourself matches your Outer self - the way you portray yourself to the world and when your two selves are aligned, in positive energy your success will increase and be consistent. If what you have is not what you want, then you have to do everything you can to change so you will attract more of what you want. " You keep changing your strategies until it happens.

There are three levels of happiness:

1) Competitive Happiness
(ie. sports, business, war, gambling, school). We feel happy when we win and are ahead of others. Happiness at this level comes and goes and may turn against us sooner or later. When you get stuck at this level you can become very unhappy and destructive when things don't go your way.

2) Conditional Happiness. When you're happy here it's because things are just as you want them to be - the job, your spouse, children, etc. But you've put conditions on how you want things to be. When they change in any way from what you demand they are, you become unhappy with what you have.You discover that things were not really what you thought they were.

3) Unconditional Happiness.

Once you've reached this level you don't need anything from the outside world to make you feel happy or at peace. Here you've accepted that you are human and that you make mistakes. You open yourself to accepting and welcoming changes in your life, death and suffering. We are not attached to the outcome of any situation, we are able to accept and live with both discomfort and pleasure. We enjoy life to its fullest, experiencing everything that comes our way. We show gratitude for each blessing and challenge that comes along. We are at peace with ourselves and others. We've let go of the need to judge others or to always be right. Forgiveness falls easily from our lips. We are one with the universe. In other words, we've place zero conditions on anything or anyone that crosses our path. We've accepted it all without any judgement.

When we are in a state of bliss we are in the ultimate high of life. This is perfection in all its glory. Here you'll find the inner peace harmony and love that you've longed for, even if what created this moment of bliss is not actually what you wanted.

Do you feel alone, abandoned, unloved, rejected and powerless? Any or all of these emotions is telling you that you are not connected to your natural state of being in harmony with yourself or what is all around you, You've become disconnected from your Higher Power ( which you may call God/dess, Allah, Creator, Source, Jehovah, Brahma), I will continue to use Higher Power.

When you've placed the self-inflicted isolation on yourself by removing your energy from the world around you, you feel alone and neglected. You blame others for being abandoned, yet you are the one who withdrew into yourself. You cannot blame other people, circumstances that have gone on around you, such as an argument with your best friend, nature or because you feel your Higher Power took someone you love from you or caused an illness.

When we focus with our five senses this is our reality, which is limited and we forget who we really are. Living in a world with people who are unaware of who they are, we believe that imitations, pain, disease and suffering are a standard way of life. When we are unaware of our potential we continue to create patterns in our life that show we are disconnected from our inner self and personal power.

As we grow from infant hood, what we are taught is passed on from generation to generation. Unfortunately, this is our greatest limitation. According to Martina, "To achieve the wisdom needed to find unconditional happiness, we need to liberate ourselves from the many limiting beliefs we have grown up with."

Why don't you take the next week to think about what some of those beliefs are that you grew up with. How have those beliefs limited you in doing something you really wanted to do or even thought about doing? Jot them down on a piece of paper and keep it close. We'll talk about them more later on.

Until tomorrow,

Namaste

Sue

Recovering and Discovering Creativity

Tuesday, just like any other day is a wonderful day to be creative. Whether it be working in the garden, writing a book, playing a musical instrument, preparing a meal, or coming up with an extraordinary idea to make your job much easier. There are hundreds of ways to be creative.

This Universe came in to being by creativity. When we were born we were all given the gift of creativity. How you learned to use it was your choice. You may have become a Donald Trump, a President Obama, Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Peck or a Michelangelo. Even better, you became a leader in the company you work for, or a stay at home Mom (this in itself requires alot of creative ideas to entertain your children, while also being a full-time housekeeper), a teacher, a quilter - who loves her hobby, or a student.

Unfortunately, some people use their creativity to cause harm in the universe, Adolf Hitler, Osama BinLaden, Sadaam Hussein, and Charles Manson, to name a few of the ones who reached the higher ranks of notoriety for all of the wrong reasons.

You may think of creativity as the times in grade school when you had to sit and color within the lines, or make a paper mache globe for an art project. But how many of you did a project for the science fair, joined drama, the debate team, or went on to play in the marching band or orchestra? When you grew up to become a trial lawyer, where do you think your strategy and closing arguments came from?

Our creative atist is not just a small child who has dreams that our parents don't approve of. If your parents disapproved of your dreams as a child, and you stopped pursuing what your heart craved, are you doing the same thing to your own children? If so, please stop. For one thing, you are causing blockages in your child's root chakra by having them give up on their dreams to possibly live someone else's.

When we allow our creativity to flow, we are opening a gate to let the Universe flow through us. According to Julia Cameron in "The Artist Way" "The heart of creativity is an experience of the mystical union; the heart of the mystical union is an experience of creativity."

Our creativity can be a truly spiritual experience for each one of us. This does not mean that you are required to believe in God. In order for your creativity to advance and as the gates open, pay attention to the process as it unfolds.

Many of you long to be more creative. Some of you claim you don't have a creative bone in your body, while others may sense they are creative but  aren't sure how to tap into it.

Do your dreams skirt around you, leaving your life a bit dull and flat? Do you find that you have awesome dreams and ideas, but you have no idea how to go about accomplishing them for yourself? Have you ever wanted to learn to play the pano, paint a picture, write a book, or act?

Discovering our creative potential or recovering what was buried is a learnable process. You may find yourself highly excitable or completely rejecting the process when you first begin, Then you may become angry once you've gotten into it because it's harder than you think and certain emotions are popping to the surface, Then perhaps grief, resistance and finally hope will come hrough as you continue to grow and explore. You may even choose to abandon everything and return to your comfort zone of "life before" whatever you're trying to do.

You may be asking why there is so much emotional turmoil just from taking an art class, for example. When we start the creative recovery (if you wanted to be an artist as a child), and you were told it was a ridiculous idea, you wouldn't make ir, or you'd starve to death, all of these emotions, heartbreak, frustration, anger, or grief wil start to surface.

These are things we need to work through in order to help reclaim that part of us that was closed off. Perhaps you'll realize that the life you are living or all of your energy is being expended in living the hopes, dreams and plans of someone else. You've taken a detour from your own life in order for someone else to live theirs.

It may be that now is the time for you to start speaking of your own dreams, goals and boundaries you need to set. When we stop fulfilling everyone else's dreams and goals our own become more real.

Why don't we start to dig up those buried dreams? Don't wait until you're ready to retire. Le'ts put our overextended and misplaced creative energy back into the core of our being.

You may find that unearthing a buried dream can be quite explosive. That enormous surge of energy when you dust off your dream may scream out in grief over the loss and pain you felt when you shoved it away. You mourn the part of you that you abandoned.

It's okay to mourn, allow this pain to strike its lightning bolt of illumination. This is a step to healing and allowing your creative juices to flow.

Let these emotions out, put them in words on paper every morning. Ask the questions and just write about anything and everything that comes through. Julia Cameron calls these "mourning pages." She recommends writing three pages as soon as you awaken before you ever do anything else to get your day going. This is when you're still in the subconscious part of your mind before you allow your conscious to take over. You'll be surprised at what you'll find your subconscious wants you to know, or remembers. This is an excellent way to work things out through acceptance and forgiveness.

Until tomorrow,

Namaste,

Sue

Archetypes - the Shadow

We all have a variety of archetypes that live within us. In fact, according to Carolyn Myss, in the Sacred Contract we have twelve of them. Four are standard - the Victim, Inner Child, Prostitute and Sabotuer. We will get into these more deeply as we go along.

With each archetype we have a light side (positive) and a dark side (negative). These are givens in who we are as humans. The dark side - negative - or shadow is based on fear and anger. Without the shadow, you as a human being aren't complete. If you are unable t see your own shadow, it's time to find it. We all have failed dreams that, at the time, seemed like a perfect solution to whatever challenges we were working, Each one of those solutions match an aspect of your shadow.

 You may be wondering what I mean about the dark side of our personality, so I'll use a couple of examples: Addiction, anxiety, depression, out - of control rage. People can take personal responsibility for these behaviors by going into recovery programs, visiting psychiatrists or attending anger management classes. Yet, if you look at these issues logically, these shadow aspects remain undefeated.

We all must acknowledge our own shadows and the power our shadow has over us. When Carl Jung, a well-known psychiatrist from Sweden, spoke of the archetype of our shadow he stated "The shadow creates a fog of illusion that surrounds the self." The more we avoid our own shadow, the more we become trapped in this fog. And in doing so we give our shadow more and more power over us.

Take for example, someone who has been dieting and has lost a lot of weight, Within a year or two he/she has gained all of their weight back. his happens over and over. When you live in this fog, you are unable to see your self-destructive impulses. "One little cookie won't hurt me" or "I can't wait a couple more hours for a meal, so I'll just have a couple of potato chips." Even as irresistible and fun our impulses may be, they are extremely harmful to us.

We witness the shadow side of our world on a daily basis. The news portrays almost nothing but the shadow side of human nature, day after day, minute by minute on some channels. Mother nature can turn in an instant with tornadoes, earthquakes and tsunamis - destruction at its finest. The death of a loved one - interrupting their life in its prime or before they've even started, Isn't it a wonder we'd rather put on the blinders and step into the fog. Facing the darkness 24/7 is unbearable, but if you look beyond the news and the destruction, you are still able to find peace and freedom from the shadow side of life. Each one of us has that power to move into the light, to see beyond the dark.

The answer lies in our higher consciousness. I know some of you may be shaking your head and saying, "Yeah right." Others are nodding exuberantly saying "Absolutely."

One thing I have discovered a long my own journey is that in order to defeat my shadows, I have to give up on the idea of defeating them. The moment I talk about eliminating my shadow - beating it - I've already lost the battle,

Look at what's going on in the world. Human nature's dark side thrives on war, struggle and conflict, The United States is ready to jump into everyone elses challenges, Making them "our challenges". Our country's energy is caught up in the battle of good and evil somewhere else and avoiding it's own challenges on the home turf. Just as you, as one human, are caught up in the struggle between what you know is right and the impulse that will cause you anger, guilt, and shame.

When the world bursts in mass violence, individuals burst into personal violence. You have to shove the impulsive "bad" part of you into a dark cage if you "the good" part chose to live in a peaceful loving way,

If you repress this anger, fearful, insecure, jealous part of yourself, your shadow gains more power for its own cause. The power can become destructive and appear in physical or emotional illness or pain. Repressing your shadow creates dis-ease within your physical body. When your shadow turns on you all "hell" can break loose.

People who have addictions - food, alcohol, drugs and gambling cannot separate the "good" me and the "bad" me. The dark impulses preoccupy their thoughts and behaviors without the checks and restraints of a non addict, The inner gremlins or "monkey mind" will spoil any pleasure you've derived from your day of freedom by mocking your happiness and repeatedly reminding you of your weakness and pushing temptation in your face, One very crucial aspect you need to remember in an addicts life is the part that habit plays. There are probably some genetics involved, but I am not going to address those issues.

If you split your "bad" side - the one who overeats, drinks too much, or takes one too many pills, from the "good" side - the one who is able to say no and walk away, the "bad" side loses touch with the core of the self - our good side because there is no longer any violence, anger and fear.

The more you repress your shadow, it becomes easier to construct a "persona" or character that shines with a good light. This is when people say "I can't believe he or she did that, he/she is such a nice person."

Addicts are trapped inside the fog with nothing but their cravings and fear of not getting the next morsel, drink or pill. Once the addict starts to think and believe that they are more than their addiction and they don't want to lose everything, their fear can be overcome. They will tell themselves that it's time for this to end. Once they become clear in that moment, the healing power comes from that clarity.

Once the shadow loses it's power than your consciousness stops being divided. You are no longer split and there is only one self to see.

Until tomorrow,

Namaste

Sue