Exercise:
Next time you're out and about around other people, take a minute and just observe the people around you. You can do this while driving, sitting in a coffee shop, or walking around outside.
Look at each person you see and notice all of the positive qualities in them. You may notice that somebody has nice hair, that another has a great smile, that someone else is wearing nice clothing. If you don't see anything externally that you can appreciate, try to view the person as if they were a loved one in your life, maybe an old friend or a relative.
Notice how everybody has similarities to one another in the way they walk, talk, and carry themselves. Notice how everybody has their own unique traits and personalities, but how everybody is at the same time connected to everybody else in a multitude of ways. Send love and blessings to each person you see or pass; notice how you feel inside as your do so.
Now look at everybody and think about how at our core, each of us shares the same desire to love and be loved and to be happy. No matter our age or nationality, no matter our sex or our history, we all share these qualities. We all share these desires, yet we all have our own unique qualities that make us who we are. We all have our own talents and strengths and passions that allow us to fulfill our very own purpose in life, if only we would believe in ourselves.
Now look around and feel the inner beauty of everybody you see; some of us are considered beautiful on the outside, others of us are not considered so attractive, but this has no significance when we are able to focus on what each person holds inside of them. We all are endowed with great inner beauty and a deep wellspring of love for everyone and everything on the planet; we just need to learn how to tap into it.
If you're having difficulty with seeing the inner beauty of others, (whether with strangers or loved ones), try one or more of the following affirmations:
I focus on the beauty in myself, others, and the world around me
I see the Divine within myself, others, and the world around me
I feel the interconnectedness of everyone and everything
You might also try a very powerful exercise by Louise Hay. She encourages us all to look into a mirror every day as we look into our own eyes and to say, "I love you (your name here), I really love you."
She also recommends the following mantras or affirmations to use either in the mirror or as you're going about your day:
"I love and accept myself exactly as I am"
"I love and approve of myself exactly as I am"
I also like to extend this to say:
I love and accept others exactly as they are.
I have learned that we cannot fully accept and love others until we fully accept and love ourselves. So, oftentimes when we struggle loving and appreciating others for who we are, this is a sign that we have more work to do with loving and appreciating ourselves. For more information on this, I highly recommend Louise Hay's book and/or DVD, both called: "You Can Heal Your Life."
Sunday, March 14, 2010
What is your point of attraction?
Do you know what your current point of attraction is? Do you understand that your own thoughts and feelings are in each moment sending energy out into the universe that is attracting like energy to you in the form of similar thoughts and feelings, relationships, events, and circumstances? The truth is, we are each in control of what we are thinking and focusing on in each and every moment. Since there is a wide pool of things to think about and focus on in each moment, we can always choose to shift our attention to a better feeling thought in order to feel better and thus to live more joyous and fulfilling lives.
In the beginning of this process when we are often entrenched in many negative thoughts and beliefs (beliefs are nothing but thoughts we have thought over and over and over again), we improve our thoughts one step at a time. For example, you might be thinking one day, "I hate my job." When you become mindful of this thought and wish to feel better, you could say instead, "I don't like my job." See how the emotion behind what you're thinking improves from changing the statement in this way, even if just slightly? If you notice yourself starting to feel better by re-phrasing your thought, you know you have come to the right statement for that time. However, once you start feeling negative emotion again, you'll know it's time to change your thought again. You could change it to something like, "Lots of people don't like their jobs" or "My job could be worse." Now, you're still acknowledging that you don't like your job, but you're reminding yourself that you're not the only one who feels this way and that your situation could be much worse off. After you once again start to feel the negative emotion from this new thought, you can again change it to something like, "There are jobs out there that I would like better." This completely changes your emotions from a place of resignation to a place of hope. The important thing to realize here is, even though your situation didn't change, you are able to feel better by changing the direction of your thoughts. Next on the list of thoughts, you might say something like, "I know there is a job out there that I would love," or "I'm going to find a job that I love." Thinking thoughts such as these bring hope one step further into knowing that your situation will improve. Focusing on what you appreciate in your life and focusing on what you desire will improve your point of attraction and will ultimately bring you more things to appreciate and attract your desires to you.
Take a look at your life right now. Who are the people closest to you in your life? What is your current occupation? Where do you currently live? What types of experiences are coming your way? We can tell a lot about the quality of our thoughts by looking at our present life circumstances. If the relationships in your life are largely filled with conflict and drama, you have attracted these relationships by virtue of your own negative thoughts about relationships. If you are unhappy in your current job or in your current residence, these experiences have likewise come to you as a result of your mode of thinking. Do you feel like most of your life situations and experience are filled with pain rather than pleasure? If so, this is also a reflection of the low quality of your thoughts.
I know lots of people hate hearing this, for it holds each of us accountable for our own lives and if something is going "wrong" in our lives, we are responsible for such situations, for we have attracted them. However, understanding that our thoughts direct and create our life experiences can be extremely liberating because then we have the ability to create all of the experiences and circumstances that we have always dreamed about. So, to become a free creator of your experience rather than creating your life by default, you must change the quality of your thoughts and feelings and thus change the quality of your vibration. You must come into alignment with your inner self and you must learn to listen to and follow your inner guidance.
The easiest way to raise your vibration is to do things that bring you joy. What activities bring you the greatest sense of joy and peace of mind? When you have found what activities bring you feelings of peace and satisfaction, make it a habit to engage in these activities often, perhaps starting with 15 minutes a day if that seems more manageable to you. Also, whenever you start to feel a negative emotion, do whatever you can to raise your vibration or to get into a more positive state of thinking and being. This can be as simple as listening to a favorite CD and singing along, repeating a positive mantra or affirmation, or even thinking about something positive from your past or in your present life. Anything that makes you feel better will do! The goal here is to train yourself to switch from a negative mode of thinking and being to a more positive state of thinking and being. This automatically raises your point of attraction so you will be able to attract better and higher quality people, things, and events into your life.
If you look around at your life and realize that most of what you see feels unpleasing to you, start by making a list of all the positive qualities in each of your relationships and in each of your life circumstances (i.e. your job, your place of living, your possessions, your own talents and strengths). Perhaps the most important list to make is the list of positive qualities that lie within yourself. I know this is hard for most of us as we've been raised to focus on the weaknesses in ourselves and others, but ultimately this kind of thinking has only been hurting us and hurting others around us.
If you're really having trouble coming up with positive qualities for yourself and others, then write down the qualities that you wish you/they have. Whenever you catch yourself starting to think or say something negative about yourself or another person, remember the list you made of all the positive qualities and focus on those instead. What you focus your attention on becomes larger and stronger. Hence, the more you focus on the positive qualities in yourself, the more you will actually start to exhibit those qualities; likewise, the more you focus on the positive qualities in others, the more they will start to exhibit those qualities, at least when they are around you. The energy of your thought attracts a similar energy from whomever you are with. If the person you are with just does not match the energy you are sending out, they will either transform or leave your life experience.
Remember, each time you think a thought, you are sending energy out into the universe and everything around you, whether consciously or unconsciously. Further, the people and circumstances in your life are picking up those energy vibrations and respond back to you with a similar vibration. For those people and circumstances that do not match your vibration, they will not be attracted to you and you will not be attracted to them.. likely they will gradually and effortlessly slip out of your life. Have you ever noticed that when you are in a really negative state of mind you seem to find yourself around lots of other really negative people and circumstances? It's the same for when you are in a positive state of mind; for only then will you attract the positive individuals and positive circumstances that your inner self has always wanted to attract.
It's important in this process to be kind to ourselves, leaving aside all judgments and criticisms. The point here is not to punish ourselves or to make ourselves feel bad about the thoughts we think and about the experiences we are attracting, for if we take this route we will only make ourselves feel worse and thus attract increasingly negative circumstances to us. Whenever you notice yourself thinking a negative thought or feeling a negative emotion, be as emotionally detached as you can and gently bring your attention to a better feeling thought. Our feelings are a direct reflection of our thoughts, so to change a negative feeling, we must change a negative thought to a better feeling thought. We might not always be able to take a very negative thought and turn it into a very positive thought, in fact, this is virtually impossible. However, if we take that very negative thought and turn it into a slightly less negative thought, we are still improving our point of attraction.
The reason why so many of us believe that people who are hopeful and optimistic are just being foolish is because we haven't given hope and optimism enough of a chance in our own lives. Once you make it a habit to be hopeful and to think about your life in positive terms and you gently release those old negative and limiting thoughts, you will begin to experience a wonderful transformation in which life becomes effortless and joyous and you will never want to turn back to that old way of thinking and being! And the great part is, you never have to, it's all in your own hands!
In the beginning of this process when we are often entrenched in many negative thoughts and beliefs (beliefs are nothing but thoughts we have thought over and over and over again), we improve our thoughts one step at a time. For example, you might be thinking one day, "I hate my job." When you become mindful of this thought and wish to feel better, you could say instead, "I don't like my job." See how the emotion behind what you're thinking improves from changing the statement in this way, even if just slightly? If you notice yourself starting to feel better by re-phrasing your thought, you know you have come to the right statement for that time. However, once you start feeling negative emotion again, you'll know it's time to change your thought again. You could change it to something like, "Lots of people don't like their jobs" or "My job could be worse." Now, you're still acknowledging that you don't like your job, but you're reminding yourself that you're not the only one who feels this way and that your situation could be much worse off. After you once again start to feel the negative emotion from this new thought, you can again change it to something like, "There are jobs out there that I would like better." This completely changes your emotions from a place of resignation to a place of hope. The important thing to realize here is, even though your situation didn't change, you are able to feel better by changing the direction of your thoughts. Next on the list of thoughts, you might say something like, "I know there is a job out there that I would love," or "I'm going to find a job that I love." Thinking thoughts such as these bring hope one step further into knowing that your situation will improve. Focusing on what you appreciate in your life and focusing on what you desire will improve your point of attraction and will ultimately bring you more things to appreciate and attract your desires to you.
Take a look at your life right now. Who are the people closest to you in your life? What is your current occupation? Where do you currently live? What types of experiences are coming your way? We can tell a lot about the quality of our thoughts by looking at our present life circumstances. If the relationships in your life are largely filled with conflict and drama, you have attracted these relationships by virtue of your own negative thoughts about relationships. If you are unhappy in your current job or in your current residence, these experiences have likewise come to you as a result of your mode of thinking. Do you feel like most of your life situations and experience are filled with pain rather than pleasure? If so, this is also a reflection of the low quality of your thoughts.
I know lots of people hate hearing this, for it holds each of us accountable for our own lives and if something is going "wrong" in our lives, we are responsible for such situations, for we have attracted them. However, understanding that our thoughts direct and create our life experiences can be extremely liberating because then we have the ability to create all of the experiences and circumstances that we have always dreamed about. So, to become a free creator of your experience rather than creating your life by default, you must change the quality of your thoughts and feelings and thus change the quality of your vibration. You must come into alignment with your inner self and you must learn to listen to and follow your inner guidance.
The easiest way to raise your vibration is to do things that bring you joy. What activities bring you the greatest sense of joy and peace of mind? When you have found what activities bring you feelings of peace and satisfaction, make it a habit to engage in these activities often, perhaps starting with 15 minutes a day if that seems more manageable to you. Also, whenever you start to feel a negative emotion, do whatever you can to raise your vibration or to get into a more positive state of thinking and being. This can be as simple as listening to a favorite CD and singing along, repeating a positive mantra or affirmation, or even thinking about something positive from your past or in your present life. Anything that makes you feel better will do! The goal here is to train yourself to switch from a negative mode of thinking and being to a more positive state of thinking and being. This automatically raises your point of attraction so you will be able to attract better and higher quality people, things, and events into your life.
If you look around at your life and realize that most of what you see feels unpleasing to you, start by making a list of all the positive qualities in each of your relationships and in each of your life circumstances (i.e. your job, your place of living, your possessions, your own talents and strengths). Perhaps the most important list to make is the list of positive qualities that lie within yourself. I know this is hard for most of us as we've been raised to focus on the weaknesses in ourselves and others, but ultimately this kind of thinking has only been hurting us and hurting others around us.
If you're really having trouble coming up with positive qualities for yourself and others, then write down the qualities that you wish you/they have. Whenever you catch yourself starting to think or say something negative about yourself or another person, remember the list you made of all the positive qualities and focus on those instead. What you focus your attention on becomes larger and stronger. Hence, the more you focus on the positive qualities in yourself, the more you will actually start to exhibit those qualities; likewise, the more you focus on the positive qualities in others, the more they will start to exhibit those qualities, at least when they are around you. The energy of your thought attracts a similar energy from whomever you are with. If the person you are with just does not match the energy you are sending out, they will either transform or leave your life experience.
Remember, each time you think a thought, you are sending energy out into the universe and everything around you, whether consciously or unconsciously. Further, the people and circumstances in your life are picking up those energy vibrations and respond back to you with a similar vibration. For those people and circumstances that do not match your vibration, they will not be attracted to you and you will not be attracted to them.. likely they will gradually and effortlessly slip out of your life. Have you ever noticed that when you are in a really negative state of mind you seem to find yourself around lots of other really negative people and circumstances? It's the same for when you are in a positive state of mind; for only then will you attract the positive individuals and positive circumstances that your inner self has always wanted to attract.
It's important in this process to be kind to ourselves, leaving aside all judgments and criticisms. The point here is not to punish ourselves or to make ourselves feel bad about the thoughts we think and about the experiences we are attracting, for if we take this route we will only make ourselves feel worse and thus attract increasingly negative circumstances to us. Whenever you notice yourself thinking a negative thought or feeling a negative emotion, be as emotionally detached as you can and gently bring your attention to a better feeling thought. Our feelings are a direct reflection of our thoughts, so to change a negative feeling, we must change a negative thought to a better feeling thought. We might not always be able to take a very negative thought and turn it into a very positive thought, in fact, this is virtually impossible. However, if we take that very negative thought and turn it into a slightly less negative thought, we are still improving our point of attraction.
The reason why so many of us believe that people who are hopeful and optimistic are just being foolish is because we haven't given hope and optimism enough of a chance in our own lives. Once you make it a habit to be hopeful and to think about your life in positive terms and you gently release those old negative and limiting thoughts, you will begin to experience a wonderful transformation in which life becomes effortless and joyous and you will never want to turn back to that old way of thinking and being! And the great part is, you never have to, it's all in your own hands!
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