Unconditional Love

I have been thinking about the subject of unconditional love lately.
Defining unconditional love was of value and it helped me move forward. 

Unconditional love - love without judgment, expectations and fear; love no matter what; no conditions required to experience love

Love no matter what sums it up for me.

How do you define unconditional love?

Choose Consciously

We are each given the opportunity to choose what we want for ourselves. We choose what direction we go in, what we think and feel, and the words that leap from our lips to name a few. We choose our attitude and how we interact with other people. We choose all day long whether we think about it or just react out of conditioned behaviors. We may be aware of our choices or simple just let them happen.

The power that you uniquely possess can be hidden from your view. You may not realize that you are making choices all day long that determine the next moment that seemingly comes about without cause. The power that you possess internally, your inner wisdom, can help you see what you are missing as an opportunity to move in a direction that you would prefer for yourself. Very often, we merely allow life to come about by chance with no intent in mind. 

Taking the time to connect with your inner wisdom via reflection, journaling or a dialog (questioning yourself and allowing the answers to surface) will enable you to make better choices for yourself. It creates the opportunity for you to move in a direction with intent, toward what you would truly prefer and with your well-being leading the way. You see, your inner wisdom naturally moves you toward well-being and self-love. Both of these ingredients are likely lacking to some extent in your daily existence and making room for their expansion will bring about welcomed opportunities for a more desirable lifestyle and peace.

Your discontent can be remedied whether it seems eminent or not. You do have a choice on where you go from here, but you may not know it. Exercising your ability to move in a direction through conscious choice adds a new dynamic to your day; it empowers and brings a new reality into your view. You can see life in a whole new light; a light that leads you where you prefer to be. Let you next choice be one that gets you where you want to be.

    

Creating Yourself

I am sure that many of you are very familiar with the famous following quote (author unknown):

Life is not a about finding yourself. It is about creating yourself.

I always love the use of the word creating. It appeals to the artist in me and I love the power that it suggests; the personal power that we all possess. It is comforting to me.

We are not lost although we may feel that we are…we are simply here, living life. So with this in mind, if we shift to a perspective that engages creativity as a means of living the life we desire, a whole new dimension can emerge.

If we ask ourselves what we want to create, we open the doorway to do just that...create what we want. 

What shall I create? Ask yourself and start creating. See what wonderful moments you can experience as a result. Do it on a small scale and then let it expand…and expand…and expand.

Today is a New Day

Today is a new day. What do you want for yourself? What do you no longer wish to perpetuate? There is no reason you cannot stand strong and do today what you were unable to do yesterday. Don’t allow fear to dictate your life. Don’t allow your self-doubt and weaknesses to overcome your inner wisdom. Just stand strong one minute at a time if need be.  And, as each moment comes about, give yourself the chance to hang in there and stand strong. 

If you allow yourself to approach life one minute at a time, it is less difficult to move through. The moment at hand will seem far less difficult. It may even seem pleasant much to your surprise. I have made it through many difficult moments and with far less effort when I think this way. We truly make life far more difficult than it needs to be.  

When I stopped expecting the outside world to change for my benefit, my stress levels dropped dramatically. For some reason we think that when we engage in spiritual growth the world will become more peaceful…WRONG. You become more peaceful and are able to cope more easily because of your growth. The outside world will likely remain the same but you will be different. Don’t fight what is happening; embrace it and bless it, and look for how you can rise above it. Stand strong and know that you have what it takes to get beyond the obstacle you perceive before you. 

One of those weeks...

Well, this has been one of those weeks that demands that I walk my talk. My oldest child, my daughter who is now a young woman, went away to school for the first time. My husband unexpectedly lost his job. Both of these situations evoked (and still do) an entire set of intense emotional responses. I won’t get into the emotional details as you can imagine what they might be.

When life gets challenging and difficult, I rely on my heart. The internal force that reassures me that everything will work out and even better than before. Life is never void of challenges, we have to learn to rise above adversity so that it impacts us in a less negative and self-destructive manner. This is what allows peace to come into play.

There was a time when I had hoped that positive thinking and developing more constructive habits would eliminate adversity. Needless to say, hard times still present themselves.

Over time, I discovered a process to rise above life’s challenges and experience peace regardless of what is happening around me...

• I acknowledge my feelings and fears; I flat-out accept them instead of resisting or judging them.

• I let the feelings and fears pass on through my mind (and body, that sickly stomach or heaviness in the chest feeling—you know what I mean).

• I become aware and experience them, and let them fade into the distance.

• I avoid entertaining their self-destructive properties; I don’t allow myself to be misled into any destructive beliefs that my feelings and fears create.

After the feelings and fears pass, I feel grace—a beautiful and peaceful feeling that pleasantly overcomes my entire body and mind.

I applied all of these processes in full force this week. In addition, gratitude and love kept me going in the preferred direction and induced a more peaceful state. Trusting my heart, knowing that I am prepared and allowing myself to see solutions instead of barriers let peace come into play.

If you are experiencing some challenges this week, give the above process a try and allow yourself to rise above adversity and experience peace instead.

A bit about me...

Through my own illness, which eventually overcame my life, I actively pursued wellness. Out of desperation, I happened to stumble upon the subject of emotional wellness. Determined to to heal physically and emotionally, I became intimately aware of my own self-destructive tendencies and fear.

Before my illness, I never gave self-help a second thought or felt that it had anything to teach me. I was dead wrong! My illness taught me a great deal and led me down a path of self-discovery for which I will always be grateful. It opened the doorway to my heart and I realized that I had an amazing  resource that was always there to help me in my time of need.

I have spent a great deal of the past decade focusing on personal growth and self-help. My passion is to share what I have learned and be an advocate for self-empowerment by supporting other people on their wondrous and sometimes rocky journey of self-discovery.

Life is not meant to be filled with fear and limitations. Unconscious and unaware, we close ourselves off from a better life. Join me and become an advocate for self-empowerment. Be a positive influence in your own life and the lives of others!