Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Being Consistent


Being CONSISTENT in any of our endeavors is important if we want to see results, reach our goals and feel a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment.
Years ago when I went through my ministerial training, I was asked to choose three words to work with and one of them was CONSISTENCY. Funny enough, I still work on it. And I've gotten really good at it, finally. Still a work in progress of course.

Some of the areas where I am consistent now vs. in the past is journaling daily, having my daily devotional time, exercising more "consistently", and making healthier food choices. I need to work on being more consistent observing my thoughts and feelings.....the old thought patterns are quite challenging to let go of.

Today's A Course in Miracles lesson for me is titled: "I am affected only by my thoughts." Ironically, I had to think about that and see it as a loving reminder that I have the power to choose what I hold in my mind, consistently. I have the power to choose how I think of and perceive myself, others and circumstances so that my experience is a happy one. Yes, we really are that powerful.

So, I am CONSISTENTLY practicing awareness of my thoughts and changing these for happier, truthful ones. Feeling good follows. And self-trust grows!

Friday, October 18, 2019

Change and Movement

How curious that in just a year's time all three of my adult children have chosen to make major life-changing. Movement and shifts. Between July of 2018, and August of 2019, all of three children moved to new places. My daughter, Deborah and granddaughter, moved to Mexico from the Dominican Republic, and my son, Norman moved from Miami to Utah. My oldest daughter, Savina, moved with her whole family this year to NY for the exact same reasons. All huge changes for them in the pursuit of a better life and better opportunities. I come from a family of immigrants, and I myself moved from my place of origin, NY, to the Dominican Republic, at 18. It was extremely difficult, and to say the least, I never, ever, ever got used to living there, even though I spent 30 years of my life in that country. It was an enriching experience as I can say I am completely bi-cultural, but it never felt like home. Now I am back in the US....and it feels like home while I'm in the body. These moves have been difficult transitions for my kids, and painful. They left everything that was familiar and stepped into the unknown, facing many challenges, having to resolve all sorts of issues, learning life lessons and most of all, learning to let go of the past. All this can take an emotional toll. And also builds character. As their mom, I feel their struggle and pain. I pray for them and do my best to hold them in the light that they are. Yet, I found myself focusing too much on the story of struggle. Being much more aware of my thoughts now, I realized what was happening in my mind and I immediately said no! They are not weak. I will not see them or their situation this way anymore. First, they were all guided from within to take this huge step. Second, they are blessed, whole, capable, provided for, moving forward, strong, and so much more good stuff. As soon as I did this, my mood was elevated. I felt the heaviness dissipate completely. And I continue to see them this way. Victorious!!! New beginnings!! Infinite possibilities!

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

What is Spiritual Bypass?

This is from the YOU University Coaching Program: 

"Spiritual bypass: using spirituality as a way of not dealing with feelings. Example: Someone makes you angry but you don't like feeling angry so you jump right over it into understanding, love and forgiveness. The problem is it doesn't really work. Feelings need to be expressed somehow."

I've certainly done this in the past when I didn't have an understanding of how important acknowledging my feelings was. I was ignoring an aspect of me and not paying any attention to it. And it did not feel good. It was not spiritual at all. What would happen is the issue or feelings would pop up in some other way....in some passive but aggressive way.

Now I know better. I write out my feelings and I as my Inner Guidance to give me the right moment and words and attitude to express what I feel and not skip over this very important and healing step. Our feelings may seem invisible, but they are very real. We must acknowledge them and not push them down or fear them.