Sometimes You Just Gotta Dig....

The other day I had someone ask me, how can I live without the scars of my past rearing their heads and the bruises of my childhood showing up from my past? How can I ever get over the fear and pain that is etched in every fold of my heart and every curve of my brain?

Sometimes the answers aren’t simple, and sometimes it’s the simplest of moments that can heal a life time of devastation and destruction. Think about it…how can we move forward in our lives if at every door we have ghosts falling out of our closets and at every turn we have past experiences that keep slapping us in the face? I’m not going to tell you that you will fix this over night…I won’t even tell you, you will overcome your trespassers in this life time…but I will try and help you come to realize that overcoming your fear and pain, your anger and guilt isn’t in any way admitting that you are weak, that you are wrong, or that you don’t deserve the best that life has to offer.

I’m also not going to tell you that your pain isn’t real. It’s real and it isn’t something you can brush under the misconception that pretending it doesn’t exist will ever make it go away. We ALL are dealt with blows so devastating in our lives that we either crumble under the pressure or we rise above the pain.  

There are times where the answers are more difficult to hear than the actual act of applying them to your life.

But I will say that when you learn that external experiences are just that…external experiences and that inside you resides a power that created the radiant pull of the moon, the rotation of the planets, and the heart beat that keeps you alive…that is a magnificence you can’t deny. There is a power greater than you and you have the ability to use it. As a matter of fact…you were born with the capacity to use it and it's right where you are!

We have the ability to think. We have the ability to contemplate and make decisions. We have the power to take an idea and form it into something that will either catapult the human race forward or annihilate an entire country. We have the ability to choose and in that ability is where our power lies. Our true power lies in our capacity to make choices. Sounds simple, elementary, even easy to do…but when you learn that volition is something everyone has, it’s a game changer. A huge game changer!

It is at the point of realization where we must decide if we are going to be a victim to our past or a creator of our future. Now I know what you are thinking…come on Gretchen are you really gonna tell me, with a straight face, that we have the power to create our future? YES. I am going to tell you that and I will even go as far as to tell you that the minute you give up the stories of yesterday your tomorrow changes immediately. We can’t move forward in our lives if we keep hanging onto our past. We must let go of the rope that keeps us tangled in the past and reach for the ladder which supports us into our future. Let go of what we can’t change, let go of what keeps us bound in limitation and learn to accept the limitless treasures residing within.

The easiest way to start is forgiveness. We must forgive in order to move forward in our life. We must learn to let go of the pain that clings to our memories of what other people did to mark our souls. I’m not asking you to forget…but I am saying you must let go of the pain that has weaved itself into every fiber of your being, one moment at a time.

I think you need to be told you are brilliant, you need to be reminded you are Love, and that you are a perfect expression of Peace. You need to learn about the unlimited power that lives in your soul. You need to know that the most powerful way to reclaim who you are is by changing your thinking. In the Bible it says, “It is done unto you as you believe.” Read that again…IT IS DONE UNTO YOU AS YOU BELIEVE.

If it is done unto you as you believe, then that means what you believe…right now…is what your life is going to be.

What do you believe about yourself and others? Do you believe you are brilliant? Do you believe you are a perfect expression of life? Do you believe you deserve to be successful, brilliant, and happy? Or are you falling back on the same excuses that kept you exactly where you’ve been stuck?

Anyone can blame others for their plight in life. Don’t be anyone! Look at your past for what it is…A learning experience that helped you grow into the individual you are today. Say goodbye to the empty shells of experiences that you have outgrown and enter into the countless possibilities waiting for you to explore. Stop playing victim; we have enough people filling that role. It isn’t virtuous, it isn’t giving you the power to change your life…All it’s doing is keeping you shackled to your past beliefs and limiting definitions. Be the change you want to see in the world…heck, just by reading this you have taken the first step! Pull out a journal; write down one thing you are grateful for then the next day try and find two things…eventually, you will be able to put the journal aside because your consciousness will create the habit of finding the pearls in your life even among the muddiest of clams. Start finding the pearls in every life experience you have…they are there, sometimes you just gotta dig. Believe me!

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings.

Why Won't They Listen?

So even when I think I’ve heard it all…something tends to come up and bite me right in the ass; yep…teeth marks and everything. It caused me to pause and question just what in the hell have I been trying to do all my life?

Simply put…

Why can’t people just be what I want them to be? Why can’t they just fall into the role I see them as? I mean I do it all the time with the characters in my head. And for the most part…my characters will listen. I mold and shape their personalities or at least I think I do, I tell them what to wear, how to talk, what they are going to do. Hell, I even tell them when they can pee, eat, have sex, and sleep. So, then, why can’t breathing, living, individual people do what I tell them to do, when I tell them to do it? Can’t they see I know what’s best for everyone? (yeah right!)

First, let me just say shoulding on people sucks…for you and them. But I’ll be damned if life doesn’t make shoulding on people super easy. It is so effortless to do. What? You have no idea what I’m talking about? Come on, you should know, it’s the act of telling them what they should or shouldn’t do. “Hey, So & So, you should do this,” and “you should do that.” Our lives make it soooo easy to cast the first stone doesn’t it? But I heard something this weekend that made me straighten up, listen, and begin to re-evaluate my habit of shoulding people.

“YOU CAN’T MAKE PEOPLE BECOME SOMEONE THEY AREN’T.”

WHAT????....SERIOUSLY???  

Yeah, seriously.

Let me say it this way…You can’t make someone into something that suits you. You can’t define what you think that person can or can’t be…because it isn’t your job. It isn’t your birthright to try and mold people into what you want them to be. They have their own perceptions, their own aspirations, and their own ideals of what makes them who they are. Your birthright is to be the best, most loving, authentic person you can be, while discovering all the wonders life has to offer you. It’s about changing your own idea about yourself and how you take shape in your experience of life.

There is nothing noble about taking someone who might not understand where their power lies and try and mold them into something you want them to be. Life is a journey. It’s as individual as the skin and bones that house your soul. Taking on someone’s responsibility of how they should act and how they should behave is only setting you up for disappointment, believe me…because they will NEVER live up to the expectations you’ve set for them. And on the flip side, they might not conform to the limited definition you labeled them with either. So why do we continue to do it? Why are we hurt when they don’t become what we want them to? I’ll tell you why (of course right?)…because it isn’t your responsibility to define who they are and what they should be doing. Do you hear me? Let me say that again…It isn’t your responsibility to save or change anyone.

OH…YEAH…BUT…but nothing. It isn’t your job, responsibility, or right to project your definition of who they should be on anyone…ever. Who gave you the right? Certainly not any Divine Intelligence that I am aware of. I know we all have such good intentions but sometimes those good intentions end up smacking the people we love right between the eyes.

If you truly want to know…your responsibility is to be the best person you know how to be. Be the encouraging friend, supportive partner, caring parent, compassionate relative and loving human being you were placed on this earth to be. We all are born to shine; we are all here to experience the creative urge of life.

What goes around comes around in this world... “It is done unto you as you believe.” So now the question is…what do you believe? Do you believe you are a mighty moving force in this world? Or are you willing to sacrifice your happiness to the judgments of others? 

Don’t let fear dictate how you experience your life. You are born in love, made out of love and are animate from love with every breath you take. You wouldn’t long for something better if you weren’t meant to have it! You wouldn’t ache for peace and harmony in your life if it wasn’t something which already existed in your DNA. You can't see love, but you know it exists. You can’t physically hold a thought in your hands, but you know it’s there. We exist in a material world governed by invisible laws. Laws we use every day and yet never comprehend their true power. Let’s face it…you reap what you sow! So what are you planting in the garden of your life?

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings.

Love,

Gretchen

 

Love Your Enemies? Yeah Right...

If you can forgive the people you love for their transgressions, then why not your enemies? If you can see beyond the mistakes of people who affect your life, why not forgive those who don’t? See them in their best light, pray for their highest and best good and let them go. If the people who you claim are your enemies aren’t interacting with you on a daily basis, then why are you giving them room in your head?

If you let go of the past, and move into what today is bringing you, all that wasted energy and all that thought which has been tied up in hurt, anger, frustration, guilt and pain…will simply vanish. As easy as it came, so shall it go. But it’s our ego, our need to hold on to the past that feeds the need to keep grading our hearts across the sharp edges of discontent. If you keep judging people according to their past, then where does that leave us in the future, or today?

Mistakes are made; moments are splayed across the memories of the righteous ones. All who are too willing and ready to ignite the spark to their enemies fodder and watch them burn. But what if you decided to drop the match? What if, for that millisecond before you so selfishly put the match to your enemy’s transgressions, you simply blew it out? What if you lay down your weapon and took up your enemy’s cause?

We all want to be loved, listened to, understood, and valued. We all want to start the day born new, unshackled from our past mistakes and wrong doings. Today, be the person who sees beyond the judgmental moments carried on by the conditioned thinkers. Be the person you want the world to celebrate, honor, and love. Be the one who forgives people who have done you wrong. I’m not saying you have to forget or not learn from the pain, but just like a wound that eventually heals and doesn’t hurt anymore, so will be the past misbehavior of your enemies. Eventually you will stop seeing the wound for the pain, but for the lesson that it gave you. Gandhi says, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” I say…recognize the change you already are. Wake up and become conscious of the person you already are and live from that space in your intentions. Live from that untouched space where everything is made new. Where the crooked is made straight and the wicked is forgiven.

I want to leave you with one of the most powerful quotes that still bring me to tears when I read it.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson Return to Love.

So my dear friends, what choice are you going to make today…are you going to continue to shrink in the shadows of discontent, or are you going to grow in the light of self discovery and love. The choice is yours…make it count!

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings….

Love,
Gretchen

Is It Time To Make A Shift?

What makes one day amazing and another disastrous? What creates the wonders of some moments and the fear, doubt and anger of the next? 

It is our reaction to situations. We are creatures floating in old belief systems, traditions, and idioms that we give our power over to, and it is time to stop!

Humans are individual expressions of Universal Truth, placed upon this earth to experience life. Why do you think we are the only living things that are given volition? We are the only living organisms that have the ability to choose consciously. How amazing is that? There is a power out there, pushing, flowing, and drowning us in the possibility and ability to make choices; good, bad or indifferent…we have the ability to change our minds, and in turn, create a shift in our consciousness, which produces an outcome in our physical environment. Think about that…We are born with the ability to think, mentally process, and communicate not only our needs, but our opinions, our beliefs, and our desires. That right there is a miracle. Not many other living creatures have the conscious awareness to make up their minds, choose, and deduce outcomes purely from their thoughts.

But even more incredible we have the ability to override our intuition. We have the choice to listen or not to that intuitive voice in our heads. And right there is the point of where we as individuals choose how to live our lives. We can keep falling victim to fear, doubt and anger, or we can make the conscious choice to think ourselves into a better life.

Yeah, I just saw you roll your eyes…but hear me out! It is all based in scientific principle; or what I like to call Cause and Effect. It has proven time and time again that people can control their experiences by merely changing how they react to the events happening around them in their lives. When we change our outlook or belief about a situation or event, that event or situation must change.

One of the most defining, and definite statements in the Bible is, “It is done unto you as you believe.” It doesn’t say it is done unto you as someone else sees it, or as someone else wants you to see it.

Our life is nothing more than what we keep thinking into it. It is an individual responsibility that you can either live life as a victim or an empowered individual. You don’t like your life or the experience you are having…change the way you are seeing it. Stop reacting from fear and hate, and begin to react from that deep seeded love, harmony and peace. Nobody is making you react to your life, but you! We all have met an Eeyore or two in our lives. You know the people who never catch a break, who never see the forest through the trees, who, if lightning was going to strike they would be the one it would hit. Trust me the world has enough Eeyores!

One of the brightest minds to grace the earth, Albert Einstein was quoted as saying, “You can’t fix a problem, using the same mind that created it.” How profound is that? We can’t change a situation that keeps happening if we keep looking at it the same way we’ve always looked at it. We must change our idea about it, in order to change the outcome. No matter how hard we keep forcing that square peg in that round hole it’s not going to fit until we either change the peg or find a square hole.

Instead of resisting change, begin to embrace it. Instead of looking at a situation from fear and doubt…find a way to come from peace and love. Try and see the good in every situation in your life. Start seeing all the things to be grateful in your life and focus on that. I promise your conversations will begin to change, your environment will change, and you’ll start seeing your life change to something better you had yesterday. Trust me it isn’t easy at first. If it was easy we wouldn’t be experiencing any destruction, disease, and disrespect in this world. But if we just start today, just start in our own lives, seeing the potential, love, peace, and harmony that exists in our lives, no matter how small a spark it seems to be, our lives will change dramatically for the good. 

Okay, enough of my ramblings. I want to leave you with one last statement to think about. Ready? What you think about today creates your tomorrow. What are you thinking about that you want to experience tomorrow?

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings!

What Are We Afraid Of?

How many of us have been living in a world of what if’s and how can I’s…If we believe we must struggle to have success or suffer to be noble, we will walk around reaching for empty opportunities and cling to other people’s ideas of who we are.

Too often I find myself trying to make my life into something someone else thinks it should be. I stretch myself to create something wonderful only to realize I was putting my power into empty shells of truth and vacant moments created by fear.

We all know how paralyzing fear can be. It can ruin nations, kill millions, and bring the most powerful people to their knees. Fear is insidious. It can creep into our consciousness even when we think we’ve beaten it back. It has a way lurking in the shadows of amazing moments, waiting for the perfect time to rear its impervious head and tear our lives to shreds. But what most people haven’t realized is that LOVE can penetrate the fear, dissolve it, obliterate it, and stuff it back into the vast nothingness from which it came.

All you need is love…love is all you need. Who would have thought the Beatles were so enlightened by singing a simple tune that carried so much influence? But it’s true. Love is the most powerful thing in the world! It can heal nations, give life to millions and has the ability to enlighten the most powerful person in your life…YOU! That’s right, when you come from that place within that’s filled with Love, Harmony, and Peace; suddenly other people’s definitions of who you are…don’t matter, you find it’s much easier to be happy, and you notice fear loses the hold it had on your heart. 

Have you ever met someone who was super happy and wondered, “What did they put into their Post Toasties this morning to make them so happy?” Or you’re in a pissed off mood and someone smiles at you and it makes you stop in your tracks. We are so conditioned in this culture to live in that space between miserable and complacency that we’ve been blinded to what our true potential and life should be.

We are supposed to live a life blanketed in Love, Joy, Peace, Service, Prosperity, and Harmony. Think about it…If we weren’t we wouldn’t long to have it. We wouldn’t cry when children hug their parent returning from war, we wouldn’t have the butterflies in our gut when we fall in love with someone, and we would have the desire to protect the innocent. We wouldn’t experience the goose bumps that ripple across our skin when we see something magnificent.

Life is the biggest miracle ever…period. It doesn’t take someone to walk on water or feed the masses to realize what a miracle is.

What we need to do…and yes, I’m gonna tell you what to do. We need to take a moment and think about how phenomenal our lives really are. Every day we breathe, our heart beats, we think, and have thoughts, we talk, and swallow, blink, and our blood flows through our veins...most of us can taste, see, hear, and have the sense of touch. Miracles that occur every second of our lives and yet we all tend to take for granted. So if there is a power that can create such perfection (even when it’s perfectly imperfect) then we need to, in the very least, acknowledge there is a power greater than us and we have a right to use it.

It doesn’t take much more than a shift in our thinking; a different perspective to the same situation. “You can’t change a problem with the same mind that created it.” (One of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein). It’s time to wake up, take our lives in our own consciousness, and decide to be the change we want to see in the world. It’ s time for us to change our consciousness…so we can change our lives.

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings!