We Are All Connected…

Do you believe we are all connected in some way?  I do.  As a matter of fact, I believe everything in the Universe is reliant upon each other.  Discoveries in Quantum Physics have proved that what we think and what we do- changes the world around us.  We weep for the suffering, ache for the broken heroes, and empathize with the lost.  As in so much that we embody optimism, embrace the purity of a child, and align ourselves with the greatness of Unconditional Love. Even when we are but outsiders watching the event unfold before us.  

How can we not change the world around us?  We’ve all seen it occur.  From the smile of a child who has succeeded in tying their shoe to the compassion we have all shown for the victims of 911 and the quake in Japan.  How can our actions NOT affect the world?  It is time to know that what we do in this world affects everyone and everything around us. 

Funny, as I write this I think about the story of Horton Hears a Who.  A Dr. Suess book about an elephant that saves the world of the Whos, who live on a speck of dust.  It’s a great book about compassion, understanding, change, and power.  Horton happens to come across this speck of dust floating through the air.  Because Horton was quiet, and ready to hear, he heard the Whos crying for help.  Horton the Elephant, decides it is his job to keep the Whos safe.  “A person’s a person no matter how small.”  As the story progresses, other animals in the forest try to convince him he’s crazy and eventually they bully him to get the speck.  Horton doesn’t give up and as a matter of fact, enlists the help of the little Whos on the speck to work together to save their world.  Eventually, when all the Whos participate in making enough noise to be heard, the animals that didn’t believe there was anything on the speck, the same ones that believed Ol’ Horton was crazy, finally heard the Whos. (**SPOILER ALERT**) By the end of the book, the forest animals are all convinced that the elephant they were calling crazy—wasn’t, and they all decided to help Horton protect the Whos.

Sometimes, we are driven by the nay-sayers and sometimes we are driven by the deep compassion we feel for one another.  It’s when someone leads us to the water and shoves our face in it, do we finally drink.  It is our time to stand up and say, ENOUGH!  We’ve had enough suffering, enough hate, and enough negative beliefs.  It is this time, right now, to drink deeply from the waters of something better.  We deserve it, our children deserve it.  It is time for our race, the most intelligent living thing on this planet, to do what nature has been telling us to do from the beginning of time.  

LOVE UNCONDITIONALLY.  

We need to stop looking outside of ourselves for what makes us feel complete.  It isn’t out there!  A bigger house, more money, more stuff isn’t going to make us feel complete.  We could be the richest persons in the world but if we don’t have love, compassion and joy, it won’t matter, because we won’t be truly fulfilled—we won’t be content.   It is when we look within ourselves and see what we are doing is honorable, joyous, love filled.  When we can look out at the people around us and see only love—that is when we are truly content.    

Now how do we change the world?  One thought at a time…One reaction at a time…One decision at a time.  Think about it, what if we shook it up and decided to answer in the positive instead of the negative?  What if we decided today, to take small steps in changing our “poor me” stories and flipped them to prosperous me, healthy me, happy me.  How dynamic that would be.  We would see the world around us change.  Compassion realized, love unfolding, forgiveness surging and you would be the center of it for your world.  You are the constant that must change in order to see the change in your life.    Start today, move through your experience praising every little thing that is right with your day and let go of what is wrong.  Change starts within, realization happens when you decide to change, and demonstrations occur when you embrace change.  

Thanks for stopping by and checkin’ out my ramblings. 

When You Are In Sync With The Universe

When you’re in sync with the Universe and you know what you really desire, nothing can stop mountains from being moved, oceans from being calmed or winds from being altered.  I believe we are "the change" waiting to happen in the Universe.  My belief is that by changing our thinking, we can change our world.  Examples of it are happening all around us every day; we just need to recognize them.    An opportunity to be grateful for every positive moment in our lives is available all the time.  All we need to do is be grateful for EVERY little thing.  The smile of the sales person helping you, the extra saving on your grocery bill, even the unopened pack of gum you found at the bottom of your purse.  If we start looking at our glass as half full, suddenly our experiences will be that way all the time.  Then we can live in a childlike expectancy that produces moments of instantaneous demonstrations for greatness in our lives. 

In the last week, I’ve been asked by three different people from three different organizations to stand up and give a talk or emcee their event.  All three organizations are close to my heart and soul, and it is a true honor to be given the opportunity to share with so many wonderful people.  But if I was told two weeks ago, I was going to stand up and give a talk in front of three different audiences, I wouldn’t have believed it.  It wasn’t on my radar.  I’m not saying I couldn’t have done it two weeks ago, I could have.  What I am referring to is the fact that these three opportunities to celebrate the greatness of our community and world presented themselves within a week’s time and I said yes.  Am I grateful? Absolutely.  Do I think they are demonstrations of how I choose to view the world around me?  Definitely.  

If you’ve followed my blog for any period of time, you know I am a writer who is working towards being a published author.  So I can’t help but look at the events offered to me as an opportunity to hone my public speaking skills for the bigger picture.  Because published authors must know how to speak to large groups in public venues, right?  Act as if…

Good, bad, or indifferent, I believe everything happens for a reason and it’s how we react to it and what we do with it that makes us who we are.  There are no coincidences or chance, only opportunities to exercise our freedom of choice on how we handle it.  Start today- this moment; look at every opportunity as a vessel to your greatness.  Believe that you are worthy of every positive experience in your life.  Know that right and perfect action is where you are in every moment of every day, then let go and accept the unlimited possibilities that flood over you.    Be ready to accept your greatness!

Can Appearances Really be That Deceiving? Maybe.

Do you ever wonder why things turn out they way they do?  Whether it was good, bad or indifferent?  Why would death knock on some doors and clearly pass others?  Good fortune bestowed on the wicked and destruction annihilating the virtuous?  Can appearances really be that deceiving?  Maybe.

My husband lost a really close friend last week.  One day he was here, the next he was gone.  How could life be so cruel?  A father figure, lost to a broken heart.  A void created, growing with time amiss.  A vacuum of questions and statements lost on hurried moments.   

As tragic a loss it was, something shifted in our lives I must talk about.  Awareness… Blessed awareness, suddenly we became aware of each other.  We began to take time to reflect, respect, and be grateful.  

When someone dies in the prime of their life, it brings pause.  We started to re-evaluate our lives.  Why was I letting stupid crap affect my experiences?  Why was I really pissed off about a toilet seat being left up or mud tracked onto the carpet?  Did those actions really carry that much importance in the scheme of my life?  Was it worth the time and energy I would lose being angry or frustrated?  Or was taking an occasion to bend eye level with my children what really mattered?

Peace breeds peace, love grows love, forgiveness multiplies forgiveness. As simple as it is to say, it is the truth.  When we decide to be peaceful, our world is enveloped with peace.  When we love unconditionally, people open up and love us back.  When we forgive, suddenly the weight that is pushing us down crumbles to dust and we breathe a new breath for life.  Trust me when I say, forgiveness is life altering.  It is. 

 

Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is waiting, but today is here and now.  Decide today to wake up to your greatness.  Right now is your time to realize your potential.  It is time to do what you’ve always wanted to do.  It is time!

Great Expectations...

We have all experienced the results of expectation.  You wake up in the morning and before your feet even hit the floor, we already know what type of day we are going to have.  Consciously or not, we’ve already decided if the day is going to be living up to our expectations or if our expectations are going to be living up to the day.  It just boils down to how we are going to let expectations and experiences rule our day. 

If we decide to let the day dictate what to expect, then we will spend the day living up to everyone's definition of who we are.  We’ve began the day behind the eight-ball; so to say.  I woke up with a headache, the kids are fighting, my big toe hurts, my husband snored all night long, the dog stinks, my breakfast was burnt, I had to take a cold shower, my bills are all overdue;  all are crappy experiences that life seemed to fling your way and hijack your day.  Then we go out into our world telling everyone what happened to us.  Telling our story of woe, over and over again, until ultimately everyone believes it, including ourselves.  Because somehow we’ve become to believe that’s the way we get attention.  If our day is a struggle-then people will like us, love us, help us; poor me, my day sucks and so in turn, we get everyone to rally behind us and our sucky day.  Then suddenly, before we know it, the experiences of the day become what everyone around me expected.  “Oh poor Gretchen, (insert sad attention getter here).”   I’m getting attention, negative attention, but attention never the less; because any attention is better than no attention.   Do you see what has happened?  I’ve let my “story” dictate what other people see in me.  I’ve ultimately let my day become other people’s expectations.  

At first it is as innocent as just having something to say to someone as you pass by.  “Good morning Gretchen, how are you?”  Oh goodie, a window to tell someone my woes.  “Oh, I’ve been better.”  Then I wait for them to take the bait.  Please oh please nibble on my statement and ask me what’s wrong.  I even let my body externalize so they know it’s really bad.  “Oh Gretchen, what’s wrong?”  BINGO!   Then the floodgate of my crappy day flows forward.  “Oh I’ve been ...wah,wah, wah. (again- insert sad attention getter here).”  

By design, we’ve been raised to believe people want to hear our stories of woe, and we are ever so ready to tell them.  But what if we break that habit?  What if we decided to flip-flop our belief systems and tweak our responses?  What if we decide to expect perfection from our day?  What if we stopped short of telling our stories of woe and started telling our stories of success?    I tell you what- the fastest way to get negative people out of your life, is stop being negative.  The minute you have nothing negative to say; negative people dissolve from your life.  They fall away, because they need someone to feed their addiction to their own negativity.  They don’t want to live in their own negativity alone, so they will go out and find someone else to mutter-gut with.  Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t bad people.  They just don’t see that you can live with a greater expectation of good.  They can’t see the forest through the trees.  

The time is now to expect greater good.  It is as normal as breathing.  We are experiencing life to the level of what our expectations are.  So the dog stinks, bathe it, so your husband snores, get earplugs, the kids are fighting, make them pull weeds.  We must work every minute of every day to see the good in things, even when it doesn’t appear to have anything good about it. You see it with people who are fighting life threatening diseases, the people who decide to celebrate their small successes and little accomplishments, tend to do the best.  When the grains of sand pour though the narrow collar of their life’s hourglass, they celebrate the grains of sand they have left.  

It’s time we started looking at our hourglasses filled with the life we have and start praising the grains of sand we are so lucky to have.  Let go of the negative expectations that blister our days and embrace the greatness waiting to shine through.  Now is the time to believe you deserve all the good that comes your way.   Today is the day to embody your greatness!  

Thanks for hanging around to read my ramblings~