Living Energy Blog

I can choose today to receive the higher energies of Love to heal and strengthen me.

I can forgive myself for mistakes. As I grow and learn more, I move more gracefully with life.

True forgiveness opens my way to health and healingand emotional freedom.

Smart_Hymn21_Generosity (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The October 25th, 2011 Daily Good” brought us a very inspirational story about generosity and an anonymous project called 52times52.com.  Giving for the sake of giving is very good for your heart and soul. Giving freely to others … without expectation of anything in return is even better.

Giving to others is an expansive energy. When we freely give to others, the energy returns to the giver multi-fold, in untold ways. The project 52times52.com was established to give 52 dollars anonymously to a different recipient or cause each week of 2011. This unique idea is gaining momentum. You can join the movement if you’d like or consciously incorporate generosity into your own life and those you touch in whatever way works best for you.

There are many ways to give to others, including good deeds, kind words, extending compassion and forgiveness, thank yous and acknowledgements, charitable actions, money and more. Think how different your life could be if you freely and consciously gave something of value to another person every day. If that sounds like too much of a stretch, consider doing something out of the ordinary once a week, performing 52: good deeds, acts of kindness, thank you notes, random donations … you decide.

I often hear that it takes at least 21 days to create a new habit. As we approach the beginning of November, the month of traditionally giving thanks, there is time to amplify and solidify this concept of giving for the sake of giving. There is time to make it a habit.

We are living through an evolutionary shift in consciousness on this planet and giving to others is a simple way to contribute. Whatever you do, give from your heart and soul in ways that bring you joy. Energetically, Joy is a high vibration (higher than love, according to David Hawkins in  his book Power vs. Force) that counterbalances a wider circle of low energy. So as more and more Joy coexists with the chaos that see and experience in today’s world, we are bound to see a visible shift in the collective. We are bound to see a happier, more loving and generous world around us.

I have heard many times that emotional imbalances are the root of all illness. It follows that when we dissolve or heal the emotional trigger, we heal ourselves. It sounds easy. In my opinion, however, it is a life-long process. Learning to heal our emotional wounds is what our lives are all about. Every event, interaction and relationship provides ample opportunity for practice.

One of the dilemmas is that the root causes of the triggers are often held in our subconscious, out of our awareness. So how can we deal with something that we aren’t even aware of? This is the Catch 22, the ago-old dilemma. After all, if we were aware of what needed to change, we could choose to change it. Correct? We could also save ourselves a lot of anguish, money, time and energy along the way.

Perhaps one of the problems is that we are using the wrong approach and incorrect tools. Rather than try to continually “do” something or “fix” yourself, maybe the solution is really to simply “be” who you really are. Being who you really are begins with accepting wherever you’re at right now. Accept and acknowledge how you are truly feeling. Once you accept things as they are, resistance falls away and a shift toward wholeness begins.

Accepting things as they are requires accepting personal responsibility for your role in it. This includes your perception of what is happening as well as your reaction to the world around you, particularly judgment of others. Play with the concept that others around you mirror what is happening and provide clues about what you need to accept, acknowledge, shift or change. Play with the concept that no one does anything to you. Those around you are merely a catalyst for things you are doing to yourself or aspects of yourself that you have hidden away. Acceptance and forgiveness provide the way out.

Play with the concept of softening your heart; practice being aware of your experiences and your feelings. Your feelings provide the clues. Any negative, low, tense or dense feelings indicate opportunities for change. Lighter, higher, and happier feelings move you up the scale towards unconditional love.

Healing our hearts in not about always being happy though. We are human. We will have ups and downs throughout our lives. If you can genuinely experience three times as many ups as downs, though, you will be well on your way to healing your heart.

Related articles

• The Difference Between Healing and Curing (pdresources.wordpress.com)

Cover via Amazon

“My message is always the same: to cultivate and practice love, kindness, compassion and tolerance.” Dalai Lama

This timely quote from the Dalai Lama came to me this morning through HeartMath.

Have you heard the phrase “thoughts create things?” I am a firm believer that words create things too. Tune into the words all around you … your words, others’ words, the words you see and hear.  Notice the messages being conveyed. More importantly, observe how the words both reflect and amplify what is happening. Do the words give power to what we want or are they strengthening the circumstances we wish to change?

Expressing oneself authentically can be a tricky process. How do we consciously choose words that reflect good feelings when our experience is so different?  This is where the cultivation and practice of love, kindness, compassion and tolerance can make a difference. And it begins deep within oneself. One way to begin is to omit the “no’s.” One friend recently lamented: “No job, no prospects, no income.” Well this will probably continue to be the case until this person consciously shifts her energy. A way to express this with more self compassion might be: I’m ready for a job, job prospects and income! Instead of saying “I’m not …,” began to say “I AM …”

Like anything new, there’s a learning curve. Observe everyone and imitate people who communicate effectively in a loving and compassionate manner. Each day provides ample opportunities to learn from others … your family and friends, your workplace, the supermarket and retail centers, public events, community gatherings, the media. Listen with open ears and an open heart. What feels genuine? How can you empathize with others without joining them in a spiral-down conversation? What new ways can you communicate without complaining? There are lots of ways to go about this and there are some wonderful role models. Look for them and I guarantee you will find them. Learn some new approaches and become a role model for others. Two people I admire are Oprah Winfrey and Diane Sawyer. Both have a way of being truly present with people, feeling their pain and conveying their experience with kindness, love and compassion.

Like everything, words carry energy and are quite powerful. Choose your words consciously to cultivate and practice love, kindness, compassion and tolerance. Each day brings an opportunity to develop your skill and get a little better at it. Before long it will be a habit. As your habit strengthens it will become a belief. Once it is a belief, it will become imprinted in your cells and be automatically reflected in your words and actions.

Language is an amazing tool that can change the world and we can all participate. BE the change you wish to see in the world and eventually it will be reflected in your life.

Related articles

• Positive Psychology News Daily ” Wired for Empathy (positivepsychologynews.com)
• The Four Immeasurables (jasontsukahara.wordpress.com)
• The Dalai Lama (marinalovemovement.wordpress.com)

Caregiver Corner, Monday, Nov. 15 @ 10 A.M.

Forgiveness:What is it and how can you get some!!

What is “forgiveness” really? How do we let go of hurt, anger and resentment? What are the benefits of forgiveness? Does forgiveness mean that what “they” did is OK and we let “them” off the hook?

Listen in as we discuss how to really let go and move on from the past.

“Carrying a grudge is like carrying a red-hot rock or giving the person who hurt you a lifetime of free rent in your mind. Why would you want to do that? In some families, grievances and resentment are held for years, even decades. We forgive people who we imagine have harmed us because, for our own mental health, we want to lay down the burden of the past rather than carry it into the present.
“…. It appears that forgiveness is an essential step on the road to peace. It is not forgetting, but forgiving and letting go that heals all separations.

Russell Targ, Limitless Mind

Another thought along the same lines is: carrying anger, rage and hostility toward another is like drinking poison and hoping the other will die!

Often people seem to think that forgiveness is condoning hurtful behavior by others but it is not—it is really about freeing ourselves from carrying around burdens that weigh us down.

Another misperception is that we can think our way to forgiveness. That is a first step—to intellectually understand it,  but we must engage our emotional energy as well. Why? Because that is the place where all our ‘meaningful” life experience is stored. By engaging the emotions we can access the actual energies that are blocked or distorted, release them, straighten them out and open up more space for freedom, inner peace and joy to flow.