A friend sent me a link to this video earlier today, knowing how I LOVE cute animals… and it made me think about some life lessons too…

What I got from this video (apart from loads of smiles):

It reminds me that we all start from a place of not knowing, & can learn & do amazing stuff

“… if we “act as if” we already have something we want, “act as if” something is already occurring in our lives (even if it’s not), or “act as if” we know how to do something (even if we don’t) – we create the conditions for it to manifest in our life with greater easy and probability.”

This is the start of Mike Robbins’ latest blog post on the Power Of “Acting As If”.

He continues…

“As I’ve been reflecting on it more, I realize that although I understand the concept of “acting as if” and I write, speak, and teach about how we have the power to create our own reality, in certain areas of my life – especially the ones that are most important to me or the ones where I feel the most cynical and resigned, I often pay “lip service” to acting as if, while simply hoping things will get better, worrying that they won’t, or allowing the outcome to determine how optimistic or pessimistic my outlook and approach will be.

This has been a sobering, but important realization for me this week. There is a big difference between knowing something and living it.

“Acting as if” is about believing in things that don’t currently exist and that there may not be much evidence for. This is about living a “faith-based” life, not an “evidence-based life.” The term “faith-based” often gets used in a political, social, or moral context when talking about initiatives or organizations that are connected with the church or some specific organized religion. However, being a faith-based person, while it can and often does encompass our religious beliefs and our spiritual practices, is even broader than this.

When we choose to live with a strong faith in things not seen, not proven, and not guaranteed – we tap into the power of the possible and we supersede the literal and predicable.“

This SO resonated with me … in some areas of my life, I’m comfortable handing over things to the universe, trusting that the right things will happen for me… but in other areas (and I now realise they are those areas where I have most fear and perception of lack of control) I still think that I have to be in control, and worry about things until they go right.

Hmmm… hard work!! Letting the Universe & my spiritual power handle things seems to make a whole lot more sense

[To read the full article, go to Mike Robbins' blog.]

I know that the global economy is in a rickety state – but how on earth does it help anyone to show hour after hour, day after day, week after week of negative news that cannot make a difference in anyone’s world? (Unless it’s to make them even more fearful than they already are!)Please take a few minutes (well, 15 minutes if you don’t mind!) to watch a portion of a video of a talk by the world-renowned Dr. Wayne D. Dyer, who wrote “The Power of Intention”. This video has some real gems in it, but for the purposes of this post, I’d like you to fast forward to the 26m:30s point, and watch the next 15 minute segment, and I hope it uplifts you like it did me. (The whole video is over 2 hours.)

Yes, things are tough, but we can all make a positive contribution to our own lives with the power of our intention and desire to improve our lives.

Watch the video:

It’s not the best sound or picture quality, but turn your speakers or headset up at the appropriate point, and enjoy it

Wishing you abundance and a good life!

Tracey

You’ve heard that it takes 21 days to break or create a habit, right? Well, here is one habit worth changing: complaining and putting yourself in “victim mode”. Read Alexander Green’s article:

Are You Ready for the 21-Day Challenge? by Alexander Green

Dear Reader, Would you like to enjoy better health, have a more satisfying job, feel less pain, experience less conflict in your relationships, and live in peace and contentment? In a matter of weeks – time that will pass anyway – you can have the life you’ve always dreamed of living. You only have to do one thing. Stop complaining. Face it. We all do it. The weather is lousy. The neighbors are thoughtless. The price is too high. The kids are slobs. The boss is a jerk. The freeway’s a mess. Etc. Most of us feel that when we’re complaining we’re just speaking our minds. Except something else is going on here, too. When we complain we are focusing on what is wrong with our lives instead of what’s right. Studies show that our motives aren’t always the best, either. When we point out other people’s faults, for example, psychologists say it’s often a thinly-veiled way of suggesting that we are better than they are. We build ourselves up by tearing others down. People with a healthy self-esteem don’t need to do this. Those who complain about the quality of the food or wine at a restaurant are often striving to create an impression of sophistication or discrimination. But it backfires. You ruin your companion’s meal and appear transparent at the same time. Bear in mind, “My steak is over-cooked” is a fact, not a complaint. “I wouldn’t feed this to my dog”… well, you judge for yourself. We also use complaints as excuses. In his new book “A Complaint Free World,” Reverend Will Bowen writes, “If you are saying things like ‘Men are commitment-phobic,’ ‘Everyone in my family is fat,’ ‘I’m not coordinated’, ‘My father told me I’d never amount to anything,’ you are making yourself a victim. Victims don’t become victors. And you get to choose which you will be.” Bowen says it’s fine to use terms like “Of course!”, “Wouldn’t you know it?”, “just my luck!”, and “This always happens to me!”, but only when something good happens.  Never miss an opportunity to say “Of course” when something goes well for you, no matter how small. There’s nothing wrong with expressing dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction is the mother of progress. The key is how you express yourself. You can bellyache about how bad things are. Or you can motivate those around you by describing how much better things will be when a bad situation is resolved. Realize that you create your life with the words you choose. You can describe something as a problem, or call it an opportunity. You can complain that “I have to…” or you can say “I get to…” A negative turn of events can be described as a “setback,” or you can call it a “challenge.” Some folks might argue that carping and complaining each day is normal. But maybe you’re better than normal. Maybe you can be exceptional… outstanding… a positive influence on those around you. As Reverend Bowen says, “Complaining should happen infrequently; criticism and gossip, never. If we are honest with ourselves, life events that lead us to legitimately complain are exceedingly rare… To be a happy person who has mastered your thoughts and has begun creating your life by design, you need a very high threshold of what leads you to express grief, pain, and discontent.” For example, you are probably better off than Stephen Hawking. As a young man at Cambridge University, he began developing symptoms of Lou Gehrig’s disease. As it progressed, he became almost completely physically disabled. Yet he has gone on to produce groundbreaking research in theoretical cosmology and quantum gravity. Today he holds Isaac Newton’s chair as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. “It is a waste of time to be angry about my disability,” says Hawking. “One has to get on with life and I haven’t done badly. People won’t have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.” If you need any further incentive, recognize that complaining undermines your health. It creates stress in your life. The more you complain, the more stressful your life becomes. According to Forbes, all of the seven top-selling drugs in the United States are for illnesses exacerbated by stress. Americans are so stressed out we spend over $30 billion a year on them. You may believe you’re one of those souls who rarely complains. Or you may feel that complaining is so much a part of your nature that there’s nothing you can do about it. Either way, you’re probably wrong. That’s why I invite you to take Reverend Bowen’s 21-Day Challenge. Try going 21 consecutive days without complaining. (Bowen says it takes 21 days for a new habit to become ingrained.) Visit his website www.AComplaintFreeWorld.org and order two purple “Complaint Free” bracelets, one for yourself and one for someone you love. (The bracelets are free. There is a shipping charge of 75 cents.) Begin to wear the bracelet on either wrist. When you catch yourself complaining, gossiping or criticizing, move the bracelet to the other wrist and begin again. Stay with it until you can go 21 days without a complaint. This is tougher than it sounds. So far, more than 5 million people have ordered the bracelets. The average person reports needing 4 to 8 months to go a full 21 days without complaining. But the testimonials are glorious. This simple practice in mindfulness has transformed people’s lives and elevated entire organizations. My own purple bracelets are on the way. I’ll tell you how it goes at my house. You let me know how it works out at yours. In the meantime, here’s an amusing story from Reverend Bowen’s book to put you in the right frame of mind: A young monk joined an order that required total silence. At his discretion, the abbot could allow any monk to speak. It was nearly five years before the abbot approached the novice monk and said, “You may speak two words.” Choosing his words carefully, the monk said, “Hard bed.” With genuine concern, the abbot said, “I’m sorry your bed isn’t comfortable. We’ll see if we can get you another one.” Around his tenth year in the monastery, the abbot came to the young monk and said, “You may say two more words.”  “Cold food,” the monk said. “We’ll see what we can do,” the abbot said. On the monk’s fifteenth anniversary, the abbot said again, “You may now speak two words.”  “I quit,” the monk said. “It’s probably for the best,” replied the abbot. “You’ve done nothing but gripe since you got here.” Carpe Diem, Alex Have “Two Cents?” Just send your thoughts, ideas or comments to editor@spiritualwealth.com. Copyright © 2008 by The Oxford Club, L.L.C

This was written a few months back (early May 2008), but  checking on the website over 5.6 million purple bracelets have been ordered – which tells me people think this is a worthwhile experiment… hmmm, time for me to get one too!

Blessings
Tracey

Live a life that feels wonderful!! This is what Greg Hicks believes you can do, and he outlines ways of choosing such a life, in his new book Choosing Brilliant Health: 9 Choices That Redefine What It Takes to Create Lifelong Vitality and Well-Being. I haven’t seen Oprah Winfrey’s show – but I’m a subscriber to her regular newsletter, which mentioned a talk about this book last week – you can hear a snippet from the radio show & read a little about the book on the link to Bob Greene’s show on “Oprah and Friends Radio“.

As Bob Greene says on the website:

“What’s the secret to living a long life? According to Greg Hicks, there are actually nine universal secrets to health, happiness and longevity, which he chronicles in his book Choosing Brilliant Health: 9 Choices That Redefine What It Takes to Create Lifelong Vitality and Well-Being. Greg says research has shown that positive emotions play a fundamental role in maintaining wellness, and he shares with Bob a few of the ways we can create positive behaviors and attitudes that will help us live longer.

• Live with positive intentions. While we can’t always choose our circumstances, we can always choose our attitude, reactions and intentions—which in turn affect every cell in our body, Greg says. Not surprisingly, he says people who live longer give themselves positive “commands” for the day, beginning the moment they wake up. “The more we can be successful at choosing these positive attitudes, the more our brain creates these new neuropathways that make it so they become more our automatic responses than whatever our automatic responses [were],” Greg says.
• Be accountable to yourself. Greg says people who live long tend to have a sense of competency and control that helps them tackle life’s challenges, including disease or illness. On the other hand, people who don’t have a sense of accountability tend to view themselves as powerless victims, he says. “Even though we may be victimized in life, if we panoramically see ourselves as a victim, we have shot ourselves in the foot because our body does not like this,” he says.
• Think about the things you love. Because thoughts have such a determining role on our health, Greg says it’s important to identify your passions, envision them in your mind, journal them and share stories about them on a regular basis. “Just thinking about something that you love or a passion of yours activates the same part of the brain that’s actually experiencing that thing,” he says.
• Do the things you love. In addition to thinking positive thoughts about what gets you excited and happy about living life, Greg says you have to do those things too. To the degree that you can, make those activities central in your life if you want to live a good, long life, he says. “Living [your] passions is not debatable,” Greg says.”

Even if you don’t read this book, take these few pointers to heart, realise that YOU are so much in control of YOUR ATTITUDE and thus your outlook on life, and health – and be well!

Blessings
Tracey

P.S. another related link: also from Oprah’s website

Many of us have lost touch with what we need, as opposed to what we want. How many times have you bought something just because you’re bored, or feeling a bit “down” … or because you’re trying to impress someone? (And no, we’re talking about date situations here – this is “keeping up with the Jones” stuff.) And how many of us chase money as the goal of our working lives, instead of it just being a means to an end?

In a very thought-provoking video, Lynne Twist describes how our relationship with money has become corrupted more and more in recent years. Our consumer society sees money as an end rather than a means, and we no longer know what is meant by simple sufficiency. She discusses some myths surrounding our obsession with money. This link was sent to me by a friend after I told him the story if a mother and daughter wishing each other “enough”… not “lots”, just enough…

To My Dear Friend,

Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, “I love you and I wish you enough”.

The daughter replied, “Mum, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mum”.

They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, “Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?”

“Yes, I have,” I replied. “Forgive me for asking, but why is this forever good-bye?”

“I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is – the next trip back will be for my funeral,” she said.

“When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, ‘I wish you enough’. May I ask what that means? “.

She began to smile. “That’s a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone”. She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled! Even more. “When we said, ‘I wish you enough’, we wanted the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them”. Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how grey the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

She then began to cry and walked away.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them but then an entire life to forget them.