KEEPING LIFE SIMPLE ~ WAKE UP!
March 3, 2010 by Lorraine
Filed under Growth, Spirit, • Headline
Over the past several months I have met many people who inherently know there is a path other than the one they have been walking for most of their lives which is calling for their attention.
It’s the path of peace that is calling and that which is available to all of us when we consciously make a decision to wake up and stop living our life in a story about who we think we are or what our life should or shouldn’t look like. It’s waking up to realize life is living you – you are not living life. When you come to this realization you witness that life becomes the driver of life itself ~ the mind along with its endless thoughts about who you are, what you should or should not be doing is now taking a back seat.
I feel very blessed to have come to this realization and although life challenges continue to come in this direction they just appear to move through this body in whatever way and in whatever time frame is required. Once we are caught by the flame of consciousness and honor the calling to wake up and be mindful of what is occurring in our life in any given moment and do so without resistance, we begin to witness that there is an ease to living our life when we remain open. Open to what is showing up in our life, open to the experience, open to how long it wants to remain in the body and open to the feelings and emotions that arise. All that is required is to simply say YES – yes to what is, as it is.
Make a conscious decision over the next 30 days to wake up each day and be mindful of how life is moving through yourSELF. Notice when you are not open, notice when your heart feels closed and your body tense. Notice if you can relax into the feeling without putting a label on the experience. Become the observer of life moving through you and let it move, or let it sit ~ just let it be, and then see what is true or not. Don’t forget to share your insights with us.
Honour your spirit and walk towards the journey your heart desires.
In love, Lorraine
VividLife.me Contributor
About Lorraine:
Lorraine Wilson has been on a journey of self discovery for many years. She openly shares her experience with others and offers hope, inspiration and an invitation to “Keep Life Simple” through self inquiry. She lives on the West Coast with her children. Lorraine has been influenced and is incredibly grateful for the teachings of Gangaji, Adyashanti, Eckart Tolle, Pamela Wilson, Muni and His Holiness, The Dalai Lama.
She has worked in the field of communications and broadcasting for over 30 years and utilizes her communication skills as a program facilitator and provides one on one support to others who desire to investigate their life journey. Stayed tuned for ‘Keeping Life Simple’ on VividLife Radio. The program will be an opportunity for everyone in the community to come together to discuss and be supported in the never ending discovery of who we truly are.
The Strange Reason Why Following a System is Important
March 3, 2010 by Marc-Andre
Filed under Growth, • Headline
Following a system is important when you are on your road to success. It’s what guides you to make sure you are on the right track. Now, following a system is not one of the 6 secrets I teach because the 6 secrets to success are themselves part of a system. (more information on the 6 secrets to success on this link www.cheerstothegoodlife.com) It’s a system that shows you what you need to do to find success in your life.
But as you follow the 6 secrets to success, you’ll actually need to follow another system to help you accomplish all of your goals…
Allow me to explain
The 6 secrets to success will guide you in a whole… But let’s say you decided to run a marathon. You’ll need to follow a specific routine in order to train your body to run the marathon and achieve your goals and the 6 secrets to success will make sure that you are on the right path… Now I’m not a certified trainer but I’m guessing you’ll need to run at least a few times during the week to build your cardio and you’ll also need to do some strength training to build your muscles…
But what you need to keep in mind is that following a system has to go hand in hand with your goals.
If you are training for a marathon, I’m certain you won’t go out and run sprints every day and you won’t do a bodybuilder’s workout at the gym. If you do, then you are not following the right system for your goal and ultimately you are wasting your time.
Another important aspect about following a system involves not jumping from one system to another.
Let’s say this time you want a black belt in martial arts. So you decide to get a black belt in Judo. But after a year or so you decide that you should get a black belt in Karate instead, and after spending some time in Karate, you think that jiu jitsu might be better…
By doing this you’re again wasting a lot of time and you’ll eventually quit!
Finding a system is not easy. But sticking to one is just as hard sometimes. There’s a lot of information out there. You need to educate yourself (which is one of the 6 secrets to success, www.cheerstothegoodlife.com) to find out which one is best for you!
You know what, why don’t we go over the 6 secrets to give you an idea of how a system works… (Now keep in mind that the 6 secrets to success are easily named but hard to master)
Here’s the 6 Secrets to Success System:
- Take action – decide right now that you want to find success
- Education – You need to learn what you are going to do (you can’t just jump in…)
- Road map and setting goals – You need to know were you want to go (road map) and how to get there (goals)
- Imitating success people – Monkey see monkey do, you need to do what success people have done
- Change the way you think – People that have success in life think in a different way, Napoleon Hill said: “What the mind can conceive, the mind can achieve”
- Believe in yourself – Nobody else is going to do it for you! You need to believe in yourself if you want to find success in your life.
I strongly recommend applying the 6 secrets to success which will ultimately help you follow any other system you need to follow in order to find success in life.
CHEERS TO YOUR GOOD LIFE
P.S If you like what you just read then you’ll love the information I provide in my weekly e-letters. You can subscribe right now by clicking this link and you’ll receive a FREE life changing video www.cheerstothegoodlife.com
VividLife.me Contributor
Marc-Andre Terriault
Marc-Andre Terriault, who is part of the Y generation is known for asking tough questions in order to find the answers for success in life. He has a college degree in Business Administration and has also spent lots of time and money educating himself in the real world.
As a real estate investor, Marc-Andre has discovered six secrets that anyone can follow in order to find success in their lives, whatever their definition of success may be. That’s one of the biggest reasons why he wrote his e-book titled “It Starts Here: Discover How You Can Find Success in Your Life.” He wants to make sure that he reaches as many people as he can in order to help them find what he calls their “road map to success.”
He loves to learn the accomplishments of successful people and educate others about how they too can obtain the same success
Meah: My story of child loss and my journey through healing.
March 3, 2010 by Tina Klonaris-Robinson
Filed under Growth, Spirit, • Headline
On March 6th 2006, my world as I knew it would change forever! I could never go back to what was, for what used to be would feel like a distant memory… It would feel like something that was so far from reach, like another time… another place. That chapter of my life would close forever. A new one would begin.
My beautiful daughter came into this life with great purpose. Her name is Meah, (Mia) meaning ‘one’ in Greek. While pregnant with her, I spoke to her, I asked her questions and listened. We spoke with silence and we understood each other with emotion and feeling. I asked her often, ‘for what purpose are you coming?’ The answer I felt was that she was coming to teach. She was coming to show me a new way of living, of seeing and of experiencing this world.
Meah never made it into this life. I was induced with a drug called Cytotec. My uterus hyper stimulated and tore in two places and Meah was deprived of oxygen and died before ever taking a breath in this life. I felt the excruciating pain of a violent labor and of my womb ripping. I felt a painful heaviness on my chest and shortly after, I felt as though the life in me was leaving. I was told that I almost bled to death.
I cannot even describe with words what it felt like to hear that my daughter had died. There is nothing that could ever prepare you for such a feeling. The pediatrician walked over to my husband and I with tears in his eyes and said,
‘I’m so sorry, your daughter didn’t make it, I tried… but there was no heart beat!’
Those words were more painful than my imagination could have ever imagined. I held her lifeless little body in my weak arms. She was beautiful. Her little fingers, her tiny toes… all 8 pounds of her was pure perfection. I had for so long imagined the moment her eyes would look into mine. I had imagined the first time I’d hold her in my arms and feel her little heart beating against my own. But now, there was no life in her. It felt as though a knife had stabbed me in my heart and as time passed, it remained there, endlessly turning and turning. The days, weeks and months often felt like a living hell. I tried to find my way through it all… desiring comfort and peace but having no idea how I might reach it. I wanted to feel joy again, to live with inspiration but there was too much sadness, too much grief that I couldn’t even get a sense of what joy or inspiration could feel like. I could not help but experience on a daily basis, intense anger at the doctor and hatred for the fact that in my heart, I felt she had caused the death of my daughter. I was angered by her carelessness. I felt hatred that she would use a drug on me that I felt clearly should never have been used. I wondered why I had been induced? Why on that day when she would not be there for me, would she use such a dangerous drug? Where did half of my records disappear to? Everyday my mind was plagued by questions I had no answers to. There were many days that I blamed myself for not listening to my body, for not knowing more than I did. Some days I even hated myself. I thought over and over of all the different possibilities… had I done this… or not done that… she might have still been with us.
I knew that if I were going to survive this and still be the mother my living son deserved, the wife and friend my husband needed and the person I wanted to be in this life, I had to do something. I decided I needed to become active in my journey of healing.
I knew that if there were to be a significant change, I would have to become conscious of my thoughts, words and actions. I would have to begin to change the ways in which I was seeing my experience and try to look at it differently. I would have to bring gratitude, love, kindness and compassion to myself and to others. I would need to forgive! Perhaps it was this need that led me to Immaculee Ilibagiza and to Rwanda.
I had first heard Immaculee’s story of her experience of the Rwandan genocide when I was pregnant with Meah. Later, after her death, I would travel to Orlando to the ‘I Can Do It’ conference for her workshop on forgiveness. Immaculee had lost almost all of her family members during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Over one million people died in a period of 3 months. Immaculee survived by hiding in a tiny bathroom with 7 other women. When the genocide was finally over and it was safe for her to come out of hiding, she learned the traumatic and brutal reality… almost everyone that she knew and loved had been slaughtered to death. What amazed me most about Immaculee was her ability to find compassion for the very people who killed her family and find forgiveness in the midst of her pain.
Simply hearing Immaculee’s story changed me. It gave me strength and motivation to move forward… to grow from my pain and to become something new. I traveled to Rwanda with Immaculee in June of 2007 and then again with a friend in June of 2008.
What I can express about Rwanda is that it touched my heart in a very special way and I shall never be the same again. From the moment I arrived, from the voices of little children and from the eyes and the hearts of the people, nothing in my life could ever be what it was. Genocide destroyed family, destroyed lives, people and it destroyed a country. I wondered how the human spirit could live on, how could it heal and how could it forgive?
In the beginning, the effects of the genocide were through my eyes everywhere, perhaps because it was so deep in my mind that nothing I saw could exist as separate from that. Where there were smiles, I felt pain, where there was laughter, I felt the cries, where there was beauty I asked why? As strong emotions and feelings became a part of my experience there, new heart, new wisdom, new life was born in me. I found that I was being given many gifts, many blessings and I can only say that I am still in awe as to how such pain and suffering could lead to what I believe to be the most precious, most honorable and most sacred acts, the act of forgiveness and reconciliation. There is pain but there is also so much love. There is anger but also compassion. There was evil but I still saw goodness everywhere.
Perhaps the best way for me to express the greatest part of my healing while in Rwanda, would be to end with a letter I wrote while I was there, for I believe in so many ways, it is a true testament that even in pain and hurt, anger and hatred, there can be love, compassion, hope and forgiveness.
Dear Friends,
…Who would have imagined that two years ago that this is where the death of my daughter Meah would lead me. Her name means ‘One’ and indeed, she has led me to a whole new world… one that reminds me that indeed, we are so very connected and that in this world of so much difference, we are still one. If we look deeply we can find ourselves in each other …and we are all a part of the one!!!
Pastor Deo is a tall thin man and he works with the prisoners and the victims. In a room of over 50 people, killers and victims, he asked them to face each other and to look into each others eyes… ‘look deeply’ he said ‘…and tell me what you see!’
I noticed one women look into the eyes of her family’s killer…
He then asked the question, what do you see?
The answer was that she saw a reflection of herself… then he asked the man what he saw… he too replied that he saw his own reflection. Immediately my heart filled with love and compassion…. I understood in that very moment that in order to have compassion… in order to forgive… to feel love for ones self and for another is to see yourself in everyone and everyone in yourself.
He then asked… if you could see yourself in another person… could you hurt that person? To kill another is to kill your self. When you kill someone, you have killed a part of yourself!!!
I sat with tears flowing, knowing that indeed, my daughter had led me to this very moment!
My mind is constantly expanding with all that I see and experience. I never imagined that I’d be in a prison somewhere in the middle of Rwanda, walking with no protection through a passage way made by 4,000 genocide killers. I walked through and I felt no fear. I made eye contact and felt the presence of God so big here. Maybe that sounds strange to many, but there is something far greater happening than I could even begin to express.
…Yesterday, I bought a peace basket that was made by the hands of a victim as well as the one who killed her family. Together, they weaved the fibers of love, compassion and forgiveness and what became was a beautiful basket of peace.
I spent the day yesterday with street kids and women who were survivors of the Genocide, rape victims who now live with HIV and Aids. We sang, we danced and they told me that even with their pain, they must sing and dance for it raises the energy and brings life back into their soul.
I taught them how to make jewelry and I have never seen people more eager to learn. They were so proud of their works of art… my heart is still full of emotion for what I experienced.
As it got late into the evening, the kids left to find there place on the street for the night. This broke my heart. They left together making their way back into the city, back to the harsh cruel reality with which they are living…
Blessings and Love,
Tina
My daughter never made it into this life, but while death came through me, new life was born in me. She showed me that even in darkness, there is light… that even when anger and pain, hatred and hopelessness make the world seem ugly, without a doubt, there is beauty everywhere.
VividLife.me Contributor
I am a mother, entrepreneur, inspirational writer and speaker, mentor andteacher. After the tragic loss of my second child Meah, in 2006, my journey through healing was one of intense spiritual transformation. I traveled twice to Rwanda, spending time with survivors and perpetrators of the genocide. This experience would change the very course of my life forever. I began to see with new eyes, feel with new heart and experience life with new soul. I am passionate about story telling and I believe in the power of stories to transform the lives of individuals, communities and our planet.
Who Do You Think You Are?
Sometimes when I’m about to take a big risk, go for something important, or “step out” in a bold way in my life, I notice the judgmental question, “Who do you think you are?, will pop up in my head. Does this ever happen to you?
This is one of the many ways that the feelings of “not good enough” or “unworthy” show up in our lives and get in the way of our success, fulfillment, and authenticity. Sadly, as most of us know, this question doesn’t come from our true self; it comes from our “Gremlin” – that little monster in our head whose only job is to keep us out of perceived danger. The more we listen to our Gremlin, the more allow him or her to sabotage our life.
However, this question, “Who do you think you are?, while often asked in a negative, critical way and something that we allow to stop us from doing, saying, and going for important things in life – is also a very important question for us to ask and answer honestly. When we look at it on deeper level, we see that our answer to this question has a lot to do with how we experience life, in general.
How life is for us has a lot less to do with our circumstances or situations, and much more to do with how we relate to them and ultimately the thoughts we have. Some of the most powerful thoughts we think and the ones that have the most impact on us are the thoughts we have about ourselves (i.e. who we think we are).
Each of us has a “story” about ourselves and our lives. These stories are often dramatic, funny, scary, inspiring, sad, intense, boring, enjoyable, tragic, and more (usually a combination of many of these things). In most cases, the story we have about ourselves changes a bit – depending on how we’re feeling about life and ourselves at any given time.
One of the things we sometimes forget, however, is that we’re the author of the story of our life – not simply the main character. We often think that our story has to do with all of the things that have “happened” to us, the qualities we were born with or have cultivated, the stuff we’ve done or haven’t done yet, etc. But, when we remember that our story is a function of our thoughts, most specifically the thoughts we have about ourselves, we can be empowered to consciously transform not just our “story,” but our life as a whole.
Here are a few things to think about and do to enhance your thoughts about yourself, and therefore enhance your experience of life:
1) Notice when your feelings of “not good enough” or “unworthy” show up – In other words, pay attention to when the question, “Who do you think you are?” stops you in your tracks and takes you out of the game of your life. As we’re able to notice this, be honest about, and have some compassion for ourselves, we can take our power back from our Gremlin in those moments and step more fully into who we really are.
2) Ask yourself more deeply, “Who do you think you are?” – Go deeper with this question, beyond the judgment and really inquiry into how you relate to yourself. What’s your story? The more honest we can be about the story we have about ourselves, the easier it is for us to acknowledge it, own it, and ultimately change it. Remember, these stories are not “true,” they are simply our interpretations, judgments, and beliefs. We created them, so we have the power to transform them at any time.
3) Upgrade your “story” about yourself – In the specific areas of your life where your story is not empowering, inspiring, or fulfilling – see if you’re willing and able to “upgrade” it in an authentic way. This basically means we change our thoughts, words, and feelings about it, genuinely. Because we often get so attached to our stories and tend to defend them passionately, this “upgrading” process can be challenging for many of us. It sometimes takes support, feedback, and coaching from others in order for us to move beyond our story and remember that we have the power to upgrade it whenever we’re ready.
Who we think we are is one of the most foundational aspects of how we relate to life and ourselves. As Henry Ford said in his famous quote, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” This simple quote is so wise and profound. And, whether we think we’re great or we’re not, we’re always “right” – it’s a function of who we truly think we are.
VividLife.me Contributor
Mike Robbins is a sought-after motivational keynote speaker, coach, and the bestselling author of Focus on the Good Stuff (Wiley) and Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken (Wiley). More info – www.Mike-Robbins.com
Compassion: The Double Edged Sword
The phrase, “Don’t charge hell with a squirt gun,” quickly took on new meaning for me in my beginner days of energy-healing. My lack of experience was quickly exposed, as I eagerly attempted to remove pain and suffering from others.
As a result, I not only got ill, but experienced the most intense drain of my own energy.
How could this be happening? After all, isn’t helping another person favorable in the eyes of the Divine? I was sensitive and compassionate to the suffering of others. I wanted to save the world.
Many well-intended practitioners of Eastern and Western medicine have experienced this drain. My practice is filled with allopathic doctors, nurses, psychologists, and psychiatrists that are absorbing energies from their patients and have no idea why. It’s possible to absorb outside energies in any lifestyle without knowing how or why.
Most natural-health practitioners are familiar with the effects of energy on our physical bodies. They, too, can be overwhelmed by outside energies if they don’t take it seriously, upheaval that can be experienced both physically and emotionally.
This is exactly what happened to me until my self-awareness and personal growth reached a level of deeper understanding. In my experience, the drain was intense, nothing like I’d ever experienced.
I started out in holistic medicine studying the chakras and how blocked energy can affect physical health. My eagerness to help others only forced me back to working on myself, which is “lesson one” in energy-healing. My first experience with energy drain was none other than getting too close to the double-edged sword called compassion.
My heart was pulled in every direction, and I felt that it was my duty to save my husband, Howard, who at the time was a new love interest in my life. We had just started dating.
He was suffering with headaches and back pain, and was going through a very difficult family crisis. Emotionally he was suffering from a broken heart.
Suddenly, as I held him, I could feel his emotions passing through me. I felt a strong punch to my chest that took my breath away.
Immediately, Howard was pain-free and color came back to his face.
I was feeling as though a large boulder had hit me. I was literally ill for two weeks. Not everyone will experience energy absorption this way, but it’s important to understand that it’s possible.
To understand this, you need to understand energy, which radiates from all living things. Energy (our thoughts) moves matter (our physical bodies). Our thoughts are energy that becomes our reality if we act on those thoughts.
Dr. Bruce Lipton, a cellular biologist, describes in his book, The Biology of Belief, how energy affects us on a cellular level. His groundbreaking discoveries proved in a petrie dish how our thoughts, emotions, and our environment can affect our health. He exposed cells to negative energy such as anger, aggressive music, etc., and the cells became unhealthy. He then exposed the same cells to positive, healthy energy such as laughter, joy and calm music and the cells responded by reproducing healthy cells.
Scientific research states that health is directly linked to your state of happiness. People that are truly happy are living healthier lives with less illness and disease, while depressed and unhappy people tend to have more physical pain and chronic illness.
This suggests that our environment, positive or negative, will affect our health, and that it’s a personal choice as to how healthy we want to be. Our personal boundaries are important to protect our environment from what we may absorb, such as someone else’s anger or negative energies.
I discovered a spiritual connection to the movement of negative energy. This is where compassion was a double-edged sword for me. I lost perspective on what was mine to process and what was another’s. My boundaries were now compromised. What I thought was compassion for another, was consumption of Howard’s energy. I attempted to live and process his personal journey, and avoided my own.
I had plenty of time to reflect and learn from the experience while recovering from the onset of illness after the transference of energy occurred. Why did I get sick when I was trying to help another?
After several days of prayer and meditation, asking and listening for answers, insight made its way to my heart, in a soul lesson.
This was not about me doing anything. Energy-healing is ignited from within the individual’s soul, where the spark of God lives, and where miracles do happen. It wasn’t intended for me to absorb Howard’s energy, but to be a vessel for Divine healing, connecting this inner spark to the seat of his soul. This was about what he needed at that exact moment and not interfering with the Divine. My heart awakened and I saw that true healing lies in the faith to completely surrender to the Divine for both the healer and recipient.
The events that I experienced were the catalyst to launch me into my work as a healer. The lesson I had to learn was to completely trust and allow God to move through me and release not just Howard, but me, as well from all the energy of pain and suffering. In other words, “To let go, and let God.”
It took several years of learning for me to understand the power of energy-healing and the miracles involved, learn to observe and keep my ego in check, and allow the full surrender to the Divine.
Science is currently researching the effects of energy more than ever. For me, the answer lies in a spiritual faith that cannot be seen, heard, or proven in a lab. To this day, I still learn and grow on my own personal journey as I help others find their way. I’ve learned that to help others, you must always help yourself, first, for you can only give others what you have in your heart.
Your soul will take you to realms you never thought possible, and this is where my experiences prove to me that true healing comes from within the soul, the part of us that is truly where the spark of God resides.
BIO: Dr. Jennette Royster, D.DIV., is an intuitive energy and spiritual healer, teacher and writer. Her focus is healing from within and guiding others to find their true path and happiness in life. She is currently a contributing author for Vividlife.me, maintains a Natural Health and Spirituality Blog, and reviews upcoming books releases for Hay House, Inc. on her blog.
She is the founding owner of The BodyZone Natural Wellness Center in Virginia Beach, VA. and offers her specialties to clients by private appointment in The BodyZone office or by telephone. Jennette’s clients span across the United States from coast to coast. Beginning in Spring 2010, Jennette will be begin offering group tele-classes on energy healing and self care through Motivational Whisperers.
“We are all connected, yet we are unique expressions, with gifts to share with the world.” -Jenn Royster
VividLife.me Contributor
Contact Jenn on the web
The BodyZone Natural Wellness Center
Jenn Royster on The BodyZone blog
Why Your Brain is like The Wizard of Oz
March 3, 2010 by Irene
Filed under Growth, • Headline
What’s behind the green curtain? There is good reason that this children’s story has lasted the test of time. The story of the Wizard of OZ – is an allegory of life, a journey. It is also an allegory of reality and illusion.
The four characters in this classic tale set out on their quest to find what’s important to them. For Dorothy home, for the Scarecrow brains, for the Tin Woodman a heart and for the Cowardly Lion courage. Unwittingly it seems, the author L. Frank Baum has struck upon what the core needs are for each of the four personality types.
Dorothy (Gold) wishes nothing but the sense of belonging that being home gives her. “No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home.” Dorothy acts as the ‘accidental leader’ and caregiver for the group. For the Scarecrow (Green), with no brains, feared only a lighted match, yet he yearned to have knowledge. Many times, the scarecrow ‘thinks’ of ways he can help the team to get to the Emerald City. The Tin Woodman (Blue) longed for a heart and to love again. The Tin Woodman cries so hard when he steps on a beetle and crushes it, he rusts up all over again. The Cowardly Lion (Orange) wants to find courage, and longs for the freedom of the forest. He helps his friends by taking charge and getting them out of several scrapes along the journey on the Road of Yellow Brick.
Upon arrival at the Emerald City, the four are disappointed to learn that they must earn what they are asking of the Wizard, they must embark on another journey to kill the Wicked Witch of the West, their resolve is tested again. When the quartet arrives back at the Emerald City after killing the Wicked Witch of the West, they ask the Wizard to grant them the wishes he has promised. They quickly discover that the Wizard is a ‘humbug’ – an ordinary man with no powers to grant their wishes. What he does help them to discover is that all along they had inside themselves the very things they wanted the most in life. “Who the real Oz is, when he is in his own form, no living person can tell.”
The four characters are playing out what every one of us does in our own lives. We are born with a set of characteristics that drive our behaviour. Our upbringing and environment help shape us and make us the unique beings we are. Yet, beneath the surface, the core needs and desires we have – and our hard wired mental functions shape every decision and action we take.
Think of your brain as an iceberg – at the tip is our conscious mind – what constitutes our reality, under the surface, is the unconscious – what drives our behaviour. All thoughts happen in the blink of an eye – the brain takes in information- the unconscious decides what is real and gives the message to the conscious mind. The conscious mind believes it has made the decision, this becomes our reality. Our thoughts are filtered through the patterns and beliefs we hold, hard wired and learned throughout our lives. Our brain is like the Wizard of Oz – we see the illusion, we command the conscious brain to do the same things over and over again. This is why we ask ourselves the question – why does this always happen to me?
“Oz himself is the great Wizard… more powerful than all the rest of us together.” Once the green curtain is pulled aside, and we can see the machinations of the ‘Wizard’ – we discover that all that we thought we wanted, we already had, the answers are within. All we thought was real – just an illusion. The magic of the message in the Wizard of Oz is that we have the power to re-wire our brains; we have power over the unconscious. The Wizard shows the characters that they can believe whatever they want and it will become real. “Oz left to himself, smiled to think of his success in giving the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and the Lion exactly what they thought they wanted.”
The tale of course has a happy ending with all four characters finding what they sought. They each had to embark upon a journey, a journey of learning – they had to challenge the beliefs and thoughts they carried along with them. Once the illusion was stripped away, each was able to see clearly how to achieve what they truly desired.
Will you draw back the green curtain?
Will you challenge your long held beliefs?
VividLife.me Contributor
Irene Anderson cc-cta – is a certified coach and facilitator and Director of DiscoveryWorks! Coaching and Training. Irene’s passion is encouraging people to reach inside and bring out their best strengths through Self Discovery and Coaching. Irene has extensive experience in helping people in the process of Self Development.
Irene’s coaching style is open and relaxed – Using her unique C.O.R.E Coaching® method, she listens at a deep level and respectfully guides her clients to achieve results.
Irene’s style of facilitation is highly interactive and high energy. On a team level, Irene uses a variety of methods to help her clients improve their ability to work and communicate more effectively. Using her extensive knowledge of Personality Type and Temperament, including the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®), Personality Dimensions®, True Colors®, Irene incorporates these methods to deliver customized, results oriented programs that meet the needs of her clients.
Irene can be reached at:
Email – Irene-discoveryworks@bell.net
Web – www.discoveryworkscoaching.com
Blog – www.mylifecompass.ca
Keeping Life Simple – Accepting reality
How do you consciously meet the reality of your life? Do you tell the truth to yourself about your reality or do you resist it? Are you willing to be open to the reality of your life 100% and notice what it triggers in your being? Each day the landscape of our life changes and we find ourselves in a new place of reality. More often than not we tend to resist the aspects of the realities of life that are unpleasant to deal with, and as a result, we find ourselves in a place of suffering.
So what is reality, really? Let’s keep it simple, if it’s raining, it’s raining, if you car has broken down, the reality is your car isn’t working. Or in this moment, your reality may be somewhat deeper than that, perhaps you have lost your job, you’re sick, you’ve lost a loved one and you’re grieving. These situations are very real, they are here NOW, in this moment in our lives – it is our reality.
So what to do? The truth is, we cannot argue with reality – it’s futile to try to do so, it is what it is. We can’t change the fact that someone we loved has died, we can’t change the fact that perhaps we are suffering with an illness of some kind but what we can do is make a choice of how we will simply be with that reality and loving ourselves in this place. When we become mindful about what is occurring in our life and accept the reality of our situation the suffering created from resisting it appears to subside. If you are not surrendering to your reality it will most probably be causing you suffering of some form. Remember, what you resist persists and what you embrace you erase.
I am not suggesting that any of us like the feeling that loss and pain can bring into our lives but acknowledging that it is present and letting it be is an option. My experience has been that when we speak the truth about our reality it begins to have less power because we have consciously acknowledged what is.
Be mindful to meet your reality as it arises, let go of time frames about when it should change or disappear. Let go of expectations, just let it be, let it have its time with you it will dissipate on its own accord anyway. Keep your life simple ~
Some words of wisdom from Gangaji www.gangaji.org about reality.
“To meet reality is ruthless. To meet it without the mediation of the thought “I can control this,” is to face death. Really to face death, here and now. This is Ramana’s awakening. Papaji said, “Stop.”
If your life is about going, becoming, getting or escaping—stop. The invitation is to let the life that is living this life, live it. When you let life live itself, you are actually surrendering to yourself.”
Honour your spirit and walk towards the journey your heart desires.
In love, Lorraine
VividLife.me Contributor
About Lorraine
Lorraine Wilson has been on a journey of self discovery for many years. She openly shares her experience with others and offers hope, inspiration and an invitation to “Keep Life Simple” through self inquiry. She lives on the West Coast with her children.
Lorraine has been influenced and is incredibly grateful for the teachings of Gangaji, Adyashanti, Eckart Tolle, Pamela Wilson, Muni and His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. She has worked in the field of communications and broadcasting for over 30 years and utilizes her communication skills as a program facilitator and provides one on one support to others who desire to investigate their life journey.
Stayed tuned for ‘Keeping Life Simple’ on VividLife Radio. The program will be an opportunity for everyone in the community to come together to discuss and be supported in the never ending discovery of who we truly are.
Dude, Where’s My Car
February 18, 2010 by Chris Oldcorn
Filed under Growth, • Feature
“Dude, Where’s My Car” was an Ashton Kutcher movie about two guys who lose their car after a night of hard partying. I know that I am the guy who tells you to go try stuff to make your life better however I am not suggesting you try to emulate this movie. This is not one of those situations but does provide a funny opening. Here are some of the beginning lines from the movie (not Oscar material):
“Dude, where’s my car?”
“I don’t know, dude?”
“Ok, let’s think. It was here.”
“Dude, your right. But, where is it now?”
“I don’t know? Dude”
Ok, so I think you get the gist of the movie not exactly Shakespearean dialogue. It would never be an Oscar contender but does provide a good 90 minutes of laughs at two of the dumbest people ever conceived in movie history.
Now, to the point of this column. My school has been under construction with several new buildings that took over two parking lots. The school did not create any new parking spaces elsewhere on campus to make up for the lack of parking. This has created parking chaos. People are actually parking on the grass and getting ticketed by the school for doing so even though there is nowhere to put their cars.
Originally, my attitude was that I would drive around forever looking for a parking spot. My reality was my attitude. I was one of the lucky ones to get parked on the grass and ticketed (I went in to the parking office and got them to rip up the ticket as I have a prepaid parking pass which is supposed to guarantee me a spot). After weeks of complaining and being bitter about parking, it was beginning to make me resent school and anything to do with it due to all of my difficulties with parking. I have to drive to school because I don’t live near a bus route.
I decided to take my own advice. I woke up and said, “Someone is holding my parking spot until I get there.” Sure enough, I went to school and someone backed out of a spot near the door and I pulled right in.
Day One = Success
Since that change in my mindset, I have parked so close everyday that my friends are starting to notice and think I am “lucky.” I don’t think it is “luck” and more of my mindset towards the parking issue. Luck favours the prepared mind. My mind is prepared to be programmed for the life that I want including good parking spots.
Each morning, we get up and have a choice. Do we view the world as ready to help us or hurts us? If we expect it to hurt us, we see every situation as negative. Whether, it is the coffee barista making our latte wrong or being passed over for a promotion at work. If we expect the world to help us, we see the positive in each situation we encounter throughout the day. For example, last week when I arrived at school a guy pointed to where he was parked so I could have his spot. That is a helping world.
So, here is the million dollar question: Do you live in a helping world or a hurting world? The answer to this question affects how your life will proceed from here. The choice is yours.
VividLife.me Contributor
Chris Oldcorn
Inspirational Speaker and Writer
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“Whatever you do, you are creating your own future.”
3 Powerful Ways to Jump-Start Your Self-Esteem
February 18, 2010 by Nadia
Filed under Growth, • Headline
“Self-esteem” is one of those phrases that everyone tosses around but few people really think about or understand. Unfortunately, there are a lot of myths and misconceptions surrounding that term so let’s start by clarifying things.
Self-esteem has nothing to do with being self-absorbed, self-centered or selfish. The word “esteem” comes from the Latin word aestemare, which mean “to value or appraise”. So self-esteem is your appraisal of yourself…your own evaluation of your worth as a human being.
Having low self-esteem can not only make you feel bad at any given moment, it also seriously limits your ability to be happy and create the life you really want. It robs you of the courage to take action on opportunities that come your way. It stops you from stepping out of your comfort zone so that you can grow as a human being. It keeps you feeling stuck and powerless in life.
Even if you have a reasonably healthy level of self-esteem, it’s not unusual to occasionally experience bouts of self-doubt. For those times when your self-esteem isn’t quite as robust as you’d like it to be, here are three simple but powerful ways to jump-start your self-esteem.
(1) Pay attention to the way you talk to yourself.
Your internal dialog—your “self-talk”—has a powerful effect on your behaviors and actions in the outer world. What kinds of things do you say to yourself? Are you constantly putting yourself down? Do you use words like stupid, dumb, or idiot when thinking about yourself or your own actions?
Your thoughts, words and beliefs about yourself are stored in your subconscious mind and they profoundly influence what you do each and every day of your life. Like an invisible force field, they can hold you back and undermine everything that you attempt to do in life.
You need to change the conversations you are having with yourself. You need to become your own best friend and talk to yourself as you would to someone whom you respect and care about deeply. Learnt to be as nurturing, supportive, gentle and kind to yourself as you would be to a beloved friend or family member.
When you learn to give yourself the love and validation you need internally you’ll begin to spend much less time and effort seeking it externally. Be there for yourself. You deserve it.
(2) Get to know yourself better.
We tend to be harsh critics in judging people we know little about. Then once we learn more about them, we often find we have more compassion, respect and empathy for them. Gosh, we may even start to like them!
The same is true for your relationship with yourself. If you don’t like yourself very much it’s probably because you don’t truly know yourself.
If you take the time to get to know yourself better you will discover all sorts of interesting and wonderful things about yourself that you’ve either forgotten or never realized. There is more to you than meets the eye, but our lives are so hectic and full of external stimuli that many of us lose touch with who we really are. You are a complex, extraordinary, and constantly evolving creature.
And don’t be afraid of your own “flaws.” You don’t have nearly as many as you think you do and you don’t need to be perfect in order to like yourself. Think about it. You have at least a few good friends and even though you like them and enjoy their company, you probably didn’t think they’re walking-talking examples of perfection. You see their flaws and shortcomings but you love them anyway. Do the same for yourself. Become your own best friend.
Spend a few minutes every day learning about yourself. What do you like? What makes you feel happy? What makes you laugh? What makes you feel sad? What idiosyncrasies do you have? What can you do better than anyone else that you know? What makes you tick? Write down the answers to these questions (and other insights about yourself) in a journal or notebook. Be sure to review your answers from time to time and add any new insights that may come to you.
(3) Celebrate your own uniqueness instead of comparing yourself to others.
You may also find that you frequently measure yourself against others and come up feeling inferior. The problem with doing that is that you’re comparing apples to oranges…or bananas. You are unique. So are the people you are comparing yourself to. You can’t be them and they can’t be you.
To excel in life and reach your highest potential, you have to become the best “you” that you can be. You have a unique set of traits, innate abilities, and inclinations. I call them your “gifts” because they are Nature’s gift to you and your gift to the world around you. You must first acknowledge your own extraordinary uniqueness and then celebrate it!
But you can’t celebrate or leverage your gifts if you don’t know what they are. Start noticing whenever you do something easily, well or enjoyably. What do you have a natural knack for? What are your strengths? What strengths might be hidden in what you call your “weaknesses?” What topics fascinate you? What are you passionate about? What types of tasks and activities do you especially enjoy?
Once you start to notice and play to your strengths, you’ll not only feel better about yourself but you’ll begin to experience more joy and ease in every facet of your life.
So there you have it. Follow these 3 simple steps on a regular basis and low self-esteem will never be a problem again!
VividLife.me Contributor
Nadia Koligman is a life design strategist, author, blogger, and the Founder and President of Dreamnautics Media. Her passion is creating tools and resources to help people convert the life they have into a custom-tailored life they’ll love. She’s the author of “Getting Ready for Change: The Dreamnautics® Guide to Preparing Yourself for a Major Career or Life Transition.”
To learn more about life design, visit her website at www.dreamnautics.com and her blog at www.adventuresinlifedesign.com. While there, be sure to sign up to receive a free copy of her Special Report “12 Powerful Ways to Boost Your Life Quality.”
You can also connect with Nadia on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NadiaKoligman
The Ugly Truth About Your Ego and Your Road to Success
February 17, 2010 by Marc-Andre
Filed under Growth, • Headline
The size of your ego will determine if you are ready to find success in your life. I know this sounds funny and I know what you are thinking but just hear me out. And it’s probably not what you are expecting to read…
People who have big egos don’t like to make mistakes because this makes them look bad. And people might pass judgment or laugh at them and this will hurt their egos and obviously they look bad. So if you have a big ego, your odds of finding success are not that good… Unless you know how to tone it down a bit.
And here’s why…
When you are on your road to success, you will make mistakes and lots of them. You will look like a fool from time to time and yes, people will talk behind your back! This will certainly affect you if you have a big ego. And if you’re anything like me, this may take some time to change.
I used to have a big ego! I didn’t like to make any mistakes. In fact, I would do anything to try and hide my mistakes so I would “look” good. But this would simply make the situation worse because I would sometimes look like an even bigger fool when people found out what I really did…
And guess what, because I did this, people talked even more behind my back!
I used to wonder why people found success in their lives and I couldn’t (you can learn more about me on my site www.cheerstothegoodlife.com). And one of the big factors that I discovered was the size of my ego. The story I’m about to tell you is not about finding success in my life but the time when I was “searching” for success. Sometimes I wish I had discovered how to find success back then because life would have been a lot better!
I remember when I was a freshman in college working on a construction site before classes and on the weekends. I was a labourer doing these odd jobs to help the “professionals” do their jobs. On this particular day I was bringing cement to the guys working on the side walk. When the day was almost over I happened to step in the cement that the guys were finishing. But instead of telling them, I tried to fix it myself because I didn’t want to look like the “idiot labourer that doesn’t know anything”. (People who work in construction can relate…) Since I never finished cement before, I really didn’t know what to do… So I did my best to try and cover it up. Which wasn’t a good idea! When the foreman came to take a look at the work he clearly noticed the very bad-looking part of the side walk and started yelling at the guys. Obviously the guys didn’t know what he was talking about and all hell broke loose! That’s when I had to confess. And yes you guessed it: I didn’t work with that crew anymore. The guys hated me for a good reason and the foreman couldn’t trust me to work on any other project for the fear of me covering up something potentially worse!
You see if I would have accepted the fact I made a mistake and told someone from the start, I would have avoided a whole mess. Yes I would still have look like an “idiot” but I would have probably learned something. Maybe one of the guys would have shown me how to properly finish cement since it was only a small part or maybe I would have gained some respect from the guys by admitting my mistake. I’ll never know. But what I do know is that it would have been better than being fired and having these guys use me as the “don’t do that” example for everyone else that would work for them…
By toning down your ego, you’ll be able to make a mistake and learn from it, which is the way to go. And you’ll be far better off then someone who doesn’t want to make any mistake or worse, someone who doesn’t want to learn from it.
But if you can’t tone down your ego, then you’re on a very long path to try and find success in your life!
Before I end this article I just want to mention that there is a difference between confidence and ego. A big difference! Like I mentioned, your ego will determine how you’re going to react to a situation on your road to success but confidence will help you achieve anything you want in life by following the 6 secrets to success.
More on this in a later article…
CHEERS TO YOUR GOOD LIFE
P.S If you like what you just read then you’ll love the information I provide in my weekly e-letters. You can subscribe right now by clicking the link and you’ll receive a FREE life changing video www.cheerstothegoodlife.com
VividLife.me Contributor
Marc-Andre Terriault
Marc-Andre Terriault, who is part of the Y generation is known for asking tough questions in order to find the answers for success in life. He has a college degree in Business Administration and has also spent lots of time and money educating himself in the real world.
As a real estate investor, Marc-Andre has discovered six secrets that anyone can follow in order to find success in their lives, whatever their definition of success may be. That’s one of the biggest reasons why he wrote his e-book titled “It Starts Here: Discover How You Can Find Success in Your Life.” He wants to make sure that he reaches as many people as he can in order to help them find what he calls their “road map to success.”
He loves to learn the accomplishments of successful people and educate others about how they too can obtain the same success
