More on "I Am" Statements & other thoughts - repost for those who missed it

Lately I have allowed myself to get bogged down in frustration over little things I can't control. I have micromanaged them to the point that I haven't gotten much done, & felt over all dissatisfaction with myself, my progress, my life. Today I was journaling & started to say "I am feeling frustrated" but chose immediately to strike that. I don't want to continue to be frustrated so starting with an "I am" statement of feeling that is the wrong thing to say. When I thought about it, I decided to quit starting anything but the most positive sentences with "I am," "I'm," etc. Instead, I wrote that I need to redirect my feelings & actions. I need to do the things before me to do, the things I can control, & quit micromanaging the rest & letting them control me.

I put it all into God's Hands & I need to leave it there, quit wasting my energy thinking about them. My frustration over not getting responses to what I'm trying to buy & sell on Craigslist isn't worth the energy & time drain. I need to trust that it will happen as it's supposed to. If I have trouble trusting in the little things that really don't matter in the end, how can I continue to manifest trust in the big things? When I let my energy become drained & mired in the little things, I end up not having the energy I need for the things that do matter.

I believe that good things happen for a reason, so I guess I'm much closer to Sylvia Browne's ideas than Mike Dooley's. I'm still figuring all this out. The 2 aren't exclusive of each other. I can manifest what is right for my life, what I want for myself ala Mike Dooley, & trust that it all comes together in the best way possible. That fits with Mike Dooley. I can trust that God & the Universe supplies all that's right & fitting in the proper time. That's more along the lines of Sylvia Browne, & fits more with what my heart tells me. I believe I can use Mike Dooley's teachings to keep my intentions on track, but that I truly do need to find time to reread all I can of what Sylvia Browne has to say. I also want to reread (& finish reading) "Conversations with God" by Neale Donald Walsch. I was right with him until I realized I entirely believe in Jesus as our Savior, not just a man. However, I know He was a man too, so I'll give the guy another chance. So far, my beliefs most closely match those of Sylvia Browne. I miss going to church, wouldn't mind finding one that is based on her beliefs or close to them. She talks about such a church.

Anyway, I do believe that things happen as they're supposed to when you put God at the center of your life & work with intent. But I have to remind myself of that when it comes to the little things. I love to have control of everything that goes on - direct control. I want things to happen right when I want them to happen, just the way I want them. I sold my king-sized bed last Tuesday & wanted my replacement bed that same day, put that out there. It didn't happen that way. Maybe something better happened. I easily found the bed I wanted. I slept on the couch for a few nights & found that I can no longer do that comfortably. I bought a great air mattress that will be a great guest bed, or something I'd be happy to sleep on when guests come.

Through all this I need to learn to control what I can & leave the rest. I need to learn to quit obsessing. Quite a few of us do that. When I learn this I can control my happiness & energy even better & teach others how to do it. I need to have trust & faith for the little things as well as the big. This is what it's all about - learning to live in the flow rather than trying to swim upstream all the time. In the flow we take each thing as it comes, handle it, move on. We do all we can do that we're given to do with what we have available to us at the time. We learn to call on help when we need extra resources. That one's always been hard for me. So I'm going to go make face pillows, plant kitty grass, do litter boxes, clean the bathroom, & do Reiki on some people in need. NOTE: By reading my "I Am"  & manifestation statements daily, along with prayer & specific angel work, I've conquered obsessing & being frustrated. These are the things I'll be teaching others to do in the life coaching class.

Blog Schedule Notes

Due to the time crunch of moving, I had to repost yesterday rather than write a new blog. That got me to looking at other older posts & I've identified some that bear repeating. For those who are new to reading these, I believe them to be important. And most people don't bother to go back to the beginning & read them all. For those who have read them before, I'm happy to provide them for you to read again. I was also happy, personally, to find enough that bear repeating to carry me through the worst of the time crunch.

There will be no post on Thanksgiving or the Friday after. I've always considered that to be a special 4 day weekend :)

The Power of "I Am" Statements - Part II - repost

The other step I've taken is to write positive affirmations, again, something that's taken on new meaning. I've heard for years about doing that too - most of my adult life. Usually I haven't done it, didn't know what to write. Now I have. I took my time doing it but it was worth the time & thought. Now it takes less than 5 minutes at a time to thoughtfully read through them, & I do it 3 times a day because I want rapid change. I also acted on one of the tut.com messages & wrote out what I want for my life. The message was that you have to know what you want, defined in terms of the end result, but without defining how to get it. Also, that you have to detach yourself from the details & the timing. During those less than 5 minutes 3 times a day, I read my "I AM" statements & then what I wrote as my grand intent for my life.

I have a page full of "I AM" statements that I wrote on Friday. Today I'll start the 3 times a day with them, & let you know how it transforms my life. Just writing them transformed my mind. I'm (notice) finding it pretty easy to be aware of the uses of "I am" in my thoughts & words, to make the transition. If you catch me using it in the negative sense, please call me on it. I'll share a few of my statements with you here to give you an idea, but not many. Mine are highly personal, as yours should be. "I am Love." "I am Healthy." "I am Capable." "I am Courageous." "I am able to call upon all the power & energy I need, at will." "I am in touch with & master of my emotions." "I am in control of my thoughts & what I manifest." "I am compassionate toward myself & others." "I am an effective & creative time-manager." (That one was hard to word - I don't procrastinate, I want to be totally in the flow of doing what needs most to be done each day. But I currently struggle with feeling that I don't get enough done in a day, a week. That goes back to the one on compassion toward self, too. I don't want to be highly scheduled, want to go with the flow, but still accomplish all that needs to be done.) "I am spiritually whole." "I am balanced in my self, body, spirit, emotions, & life." "I am living in the flow of abundance, with plenty to share & give, & financial freedom." "I am living & working my passions, using my talents fully in my daily life." "I am awakening my talents & creativity." (I used the word "awakening" in order to make that a continual process.) "I am greatly blessed." "I am a playful, joyous child who knows how & when to play, incorporates play with work & life."

In all, I have 38 "I am" statements. By now you should know that I'm an achiever, very detailed & thorough, & that I have a great relationship with words. I used to say that I was an overachiever, & almost wrote that. Instead, I now have another "I am" statement to add. They're on the computer so I can add or subtract, alter as needed. What I've done is write statements to reinforce the positives I know about myself & manifest them even more fully, a secondary goal. The primary goal & statements are designed to manifest what I most want to improve about myself or bring about in myself & my life. Every time I find a lingering negative, like "overachiever," I need to counter it by adding an "I am" statement. That's a label that's been pinned on me, a subtle but harmful belief instilled in me over the years. It doesn't belong within me, yet that's where it lodged. Ironically, it's in there with the message that I tend to be lazy! We all carry these messages - from childhood, former relationships gone sour, jealous friends, etc. When you set your intent to only using "I am" in a positive way, these messages will begin to emerge, so having them on your computer is good. You can just add the new message you want to rescript. In fact, one of my "I am" statements is that I've been rescripted.

I don't like having to watch every word I say, thing I do. I don't like feeling like I have to be vigilant, can't relax, & I hate "shoulds." On the other hand, I'm finding that almost every day holds new excitement & life since I've begun taking charge of my self & my thoughts & intent. I've found ways to do that without feeling burdened by it. I laugh & forgive myself immediately when I slip, & take note of it. I rescript my thoughts on the spot - add the word "experiencing" or think through an old negative label & free myself from it. That freeing is such a thrill! And if I can do this without driving myself nuts, you can too. I haven't covered what came of following the tut.com message, & I won't here. You can ask me privately or it may come as another blog. It's highly personal & I've learned to set some boundaries - a huge achievement for me. But I will say, it starts with "I am manifesting:" & lists what I want the end result to be as far as what my life is like.

The Power of "I Am" Part I - repost of post from 8/1/11 for those new to this blog

I've spoken recently on the power of intent. I've known about it for years now, studied it as part of trying to achieve business success. I've read some different books on it, & I've mentioned Mike Dooley's CD/DVD on it & the tut.com messages from the Universe. But you don't know what you don't know until you learn it. I'm a lifelong learner & I recommend that to anyone who doesn't have a perfect life. Study the things you're interested in, study the things that can bring you what you need. Be a student of the Universe. So, last week I had a HUGE DUH experience! When you study multiple sources & talk with people about the things that interest you, you receive the same messages in different words & forms. Everyone learns differently, & what you read or hear from one can "speak" to you more than another. And so I got the best lesson of all on intent.

I have known for as long as I can remember that God is the great I Am, & He is our Creator. Nearly a year ago someone had to point out to me that our creativity comes from our Creator. DUH! How many times have I used a form of the word creativity & never saw that. This time was an even bigger duh. I was talking with a woman & she talked about her husband's negative statements, then imparted this. Every time you say "I am" you are creating the reality because I AM is the phrase of the Creator. This makes those 2 little words & everything that follows into the most powerful verbal force of creation possible.

This means most of us are going around creating exactly what we don't want without ever realizing it. We use "I am" sentences all the time without thinking. If you say "I am tired," "I am a procrastinator," "I am poor," "I am too weak," you're creating & perpetuating just that. Even if you're saying, "I'm" instead of the formal "I am" it means the same thing. I'd have to get clarification on whether it carries the same power, but I wouldn't chance it. Why do it at all? Why continue to utter negative words in relation to your self?

What about acknowledging your self, your current feelings? Part of healing & moving forward is not stuffing the negatives we feel. That leads to dis-ease. What I've started doing since that conversation is changing my language to reflect that whatever negative I'm experiencing that I feel the need to acknowledge, is in the moment only. I acknowledge it to validate self & take positive action. The validation of self is especially important for me because during the victim portion of my life my personal experience of events & actions toward me was negated & twisted by my abusers. It made me into a poor keeper of personal boundaries. I didn't even have boundaries against self abuse. I'd overdo it when working, for example, & betray my body or self in various ways that I won't go into. So I will acknowledge to myself if I'm feeling angry, sad, tired, sick, etc. I've changed to saying things like, "Right now I'm experiencing low energy." The uses of "right now" & "experiencing," especially the word "experiencing" are very defining. Instead of saying that I am something, I've said I'm experiencing something. Big difference. When I acknowledge the experience of low energy, I validate what my body is registering, & bring it to the front of my attention so I can take positive action to change the temporary situation. I try to determine why - do I need rest, more fluids, better or longer sleep at night - then take what action I can at the moment to overcome whatever it is.

Divine Audacity

Everyone in my life coaching class & everyone reading this - please go to tut.com & sign up if you haven't. It's free. What I want you to do after signing up is go to the "resources" page & sign up for "notes from the universe" to get them 5 days a week. I know we all get too many forwards & emails. Personally, I've put out the word to my email buddies not to send me any but the best forwards - cute cats or inspirational. I also don't forward most things sent to me no matter what they are. That too gives the message that I'm not going to bother with forwards. So I seldom get clutter but I do subscribe to spiritual sites that send me stuff so my inbox is clogged too. However, this one is soooooo worth it! These messages are so inspirational & after awhile they seem to almost always pertain to exactly what's happening in your (& my) life at the time. They help you dream big & feel so good about yourself. They are also very humorous, so they make me laugh, sometimes even make me cry when they hit home. Sometimes they make very serious subjects funny, & that's really good because you don't have to take serious subjects as seriously as we usually do - they too can be fun! If you have any money to spend on yourself at all, I also want you to go to the "shop" tab. Under "best seller" is a "Thoughts Become Things" DVD that I recommend to everyone. I knew all this, yet this DVD presented it in do-able form for the very first time. Mike Dooley is the tut.com guy & he has a gift for teaching - putting things in terms that we'll remember & that will absolutely bring the message home for you in a new way. He helps you make it your own, & understand often taught ideas for the very first time.

I turned a friend onto tut.com many months ago & it helped her immensely. Sometimes we talk about the "notes from the universe" that we receive & how wonderful they are, how well they fit with what's going on. This particular friend has a court date coming up soon for her divorce & she's started getting those nerves that come with the pending date with a nasty spouse. Anyone who's been through a divorce where the guy's (or woman's) been a big jerk will know what I'm talking about. You begin fearing what you're going to have to go through, seeing his face, what he's going to say, anticipating the unpleasantness, the outcome, what the judge will say, etc. She's been trying positive manifestations & "I am" statements but her reactions to what's coming are very common & normal. However, you can rise above such negative anticipation with help. I was led to suggest she write down each individual fear. For example, that he'll say something cutting to her. He's been telling lies about her all over town so that's a valid thought - that he'll be derisive or something. But it's vital that she stay as positive as possible rather than letting this eat her alive. So I've asked her to face & verbalize every fear as it arises, to write them down. The next step is to write a positive manifestation statement along the lines of the tut.com messages. I want her to be funny & almost over the top with this, because it will kind of ridicule the fear itself & diffuse it. A positive statement will also help counter it. One suggestion, off the top of my head, was that he not appear in court at all. Or he arrive in his undershorts & the judge kicks him out, grants the divorce, & she walks out laughing. I want her to really have some fun with this. The final step is to have one for every day between now & the court date, on separate pieces of paper. I want her to put them in a jar & draw one out every day to read aloud first thing in the morning & throughout the day whenever she gets that feeling of tension. This is a very creative & irreverent way to handle that stress. I believe it's what's needed since she was already doing all the right things but still needed a boost.

When you have a spiritual based life you can count on divine audacity & indulge in it. As long as your heart & intent is pure, there are no limits to what you can do, imagine, make happen. So have divine audacity & truly achieve outcomes "beyond your wildest dreams."

Creating a Happy Place, Oasis, & Nest

I don't like using common catch phrases but if I say "happy place" you know what I mean. I've heard is described as mentally going to your favorite place in the world during meditations. Once I pictured myself on an Atlantic Ocean beach. I love the sound, smell, & sight of the waves any time of year. I can conjure up all but the smell in my mind pretty well, & I've almost got the smell. Once I pictured myself in the pool at the bottom of Horsetail Falls near Portland, Oregon, playing behind the waterfall. I did that once when I was 13 & felt like a fair Indian maiden or water nymph. The last time I pictured myself standing in the living room at my beloved grandparents' house in Dayton, Ohio. That was the only home I ever knew, & still is the home of my heart. That one was best of all, & I'll use that again. The others were really good too so I'll probably go to whichever feels right at the time. This is the place of joy that you can go to in your mind any time you wish, for renewal, to shed stress, to meditate, meet your self & meet God.

We also each need an oasis & a nest, on the earthly plane. If possible, where we live or nearby. The oasis is like the "happy place" in character. In my new home, it will be in my back yard. This spring I'll create a garden paradise like I had when I last owned a home. I'll be renting here but the woman who owns the home is also a gardener & created her own oasis here. She's renting to me because I'm like-minded & she knew I needed a place where I could create my oasis & nest. My oasis has to contain a flowing water element - some kind of fountain. It needs a bird bath & bird feeders, roses, other flowers. Over the years I've collected some very special garden statues including St. Francis, some adorable cats of course, & angels. And of course it has to have comfortable seating. My oasis will again be a place to commune with nature, God, & myself. In this new place, I'll also be able to share it with those who can benefit & enjoy it. I haven't had that before & it's very exciting. In my mind & in subtle ways, I also use this space to honor beloved people & pets who have crossed over & are ever present in my heart.

My nest will be inside my home. Because I live alone & have such a huge need for a nest (which is why I need to live alone), my whole home will be my nest. The nest for us is as it is for baby birds - a place of safety & rest, a cozy home for our hearts. All along while I was working on manifesting a home, the word "cozy" was in there because that's what I need to thrive. If you live with others, you need a room or a niche in a room for your nest. When I had a husband & 2 kids, I had to create my nest in a corner of the basement. I used a tall metal cabinet & enclosed shelving unit to wall off my area. Everyone in the house knew they needed my permission to go into my area & not to disturb me when I was there unless necessary. That was my craft area, because at the time that was the thing that brought me peace. You hear all about "man caves" these days & that's a variation on this theme - a place of retreat all your own. We all need that to varying degrees.

If you have trouble figuring out how & where to create your nest, I can help as a consultant. This is something I feel very strongly about & have given tons of thought. I've also created one in 4 different houses now. This is something I'm very good at. I can also help with your oasis or "happy place" but these are usually much more individual & less about logistics (like how to do this living with others) & more from the heart. These places are vitally important. The reason why this is the blog for today is that my day started in an unexpected way, with a deep disturbance. You can imagine my plate is full with the suddenness of my impending move, so I had a full schedule set up for today. But my day started with a call from my beloved daughter. My grandcat is seriously ill & she has to make that decision today. It's changed my schedule, so I can do some Reiki sessions & be here for her as much as she needs. But it also nearly fully occupies my conscious mind & was pushing aside things really necessary for me to do today. As I retreated to my oasis to pray & gather my mind, I realized I could actually write a blog for today, & this was it. That retreat (place & utilizing it) made it possible for me to think clearly enough to function enough to decide what I can postpone for today, what to do in what order, how to reschedule to be available. These 3 "places" & using them, are vital for those who wish & need to operate at the highest levels, as well as for those who are still struggling daily. We all need to retreat & regroup at times.

Self Abuse

Self abuse comes in many forms & we abuse ourselves for a variety of reasons. Some of us abuse ourselves to punish ourselves for mistakes. I've punished myself in the past for betraying myself, using myself, trading my body for my needs. In the marriage that just ended, my ex was sexually abusive to me & I allowed it. Over & over I gave sexual favors when I didn't want to, just to keep the peace. It was humiliating, & afterwards I would add to the abuse by doing things to myself. That's why some young people indulge in "cutting." They're replacing the pain from abuse or self hate with physical pain, as I did.

Other forms of self abuse are so subtle that we miss them, don't realize what we're doing. Some of us gain excessive weight, eat inappropriate things (remember that series on addictions with people consuming things like powdered cleanser?), drink, smoke, take drugs, or do other things to harm ourselves. Or we simply neglect our bodies - don't bathe, or exercise, don't take our prescribed medicines, or more subtle yet, dress down & do other things to hide ourselves & our beauty. Another example is simply neglecting to get enough sleep or rest, or ignoring the clues to our needs that our bodies give us.

The most subtle of all comes from our own bodies without our knowledge - disease, illnesses, ulcers, aches & pains. When we don't deal fairly with ourselves or don't face issues of concern to us, the least thing that can happen is sleeplessness, neck or back aches or headaches. If we don't pay attention at that point, the body is forced to move into illness or disease to get our attention. If it's only that we keep pushing ourselves too hard, we're liable to get nothing worse than a bad cold that forces us to rest. But the true consequences of self abuse can be crippling or deadly, such as cancer.

Reiki is great for stress reduction & does wonders for dis-ease. It can really help with the cause & effect of our self abuse or neglect. Facing your fears head-on & being true to yourself is also a great answer. Thing is, nothing ever gets better from any kind of self abuse - it only makes things worse. So if there's something you aren't getting or facing, some pain that's causing you to see yourself in any of the above, please contact me. I can help.