Take a deep breath Let it out slowly Feel your body move with the breath Take another breath, feeling your whole body move and respond. Notice your shoulders rise with the in breath, and your stomach shrink with the out breath. Each breath is a moment of freedom It's a moment to feel your body rising and falling as it responds to you. You choose to breathe, and so you breathe. Whenever you feel you've lost control, that you are no longer the director of your life, return to your breath. Only you can make you breathe. Only you can stop your breath. I choose now to breathe in. I choose now to breathe out. Each deep breath is a moment of your own design. You command yourself to breathe and so you breathe. Breathe in the freedom of this beautiful union between mind and body. Breathe in the intimacy that is shared only by your own Self. Breathe and know that freedom is always just a breath away. When you return to your breath, you return to your point of power. From there, you recenter with all the power, energy, and help that the whole Universe has available to you. You are powerful You are breathing as one with the Universe You are the Universe breathing I breathe in, the Universe breathes in I breathe out, the Universe breathes out I am the Universe Breathe and know that all is well. You got this.
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Top athletes who excel in their sport all have one thing in common: they know how to focus. They are powerful visualizers and use that to their advantage. Whatever the outcome is that they want, they hold it in their minds and hold it so forcefully that they refuse to acknoweldge anything else. The outcome begins as a vision in their mind, and it's held there until it's manifested as a reality. We know that focus is a powerful thing. We know that visualization is a powerful tool in making our dreams realized. People have proven time and time again that these aren't just the tropes of overly optimistic people. Focus and visualization create results. I've often wondered, when we put out our focus on something, do we genuinely create something real in our minds, on an energetic level, that is then manifested in a physical form? Have you ever wondered what exactly happens when you put your attention on something? I love the phrase, "energy flows where attention goes." But what does that mean? Through the double slit experiment some physicists have given us a fascinating piece of this complex puzzle: Basically, when the electrons are not being studied, they create a wave pattern. Without rhyme or reason (but always on cue) when they are being observed, they create two solid lines. An entirely different pattern, even though nothing about the experiment has changed, except the introduction of a piece that can observe and measure what's happening on the level of particles. This makes zero sense. This is crazy, weird and totally awesome. I love when he's talking about the electrons not being observed and he says, "The single electron leaves as a particle [and] becomes a wave of potentials." For me, this brings up so many thoughts and questions. It makes me wonder if electrons are constantly cruising about, seeking a path of potential. Are they just waiting for somebody to focus in, to put their attention on something, and give them a solid direction to fly in? Are they waiting for us to use our focus and visualization, to put our attention on something, and change the observable world around us? It really makes me wonder, if electrons change when being observed, what happens when we observe our own thoughts? Do they change? What happens when we observe people around us? Obviously something happens. Our attention has a direct impact on the world around us. This much we now know thanks to this experiment. Beyond this, we can only speculate. But damn if I couldn't spend hours imagining what this means. Just imagine if they could study our own inner thoughts in this way. Do you think they'd find that when we focus on something, when we observe an outcome, that we're creating solid patterns that lead to real fruition? Now imagine that all that power that is your own free will is flying about, scattered in waves of potential. Then you find something you want. A car. A job. A new mate. You focus on it. And you focus on it. And you keep putting your attention on it, giving all those waves of energy a solid direction to build in. Whatever this experiment makes you think of, have fun with it. Don't stop questioning the world around you. Keep looking for clues and insights into the mysterious fabric of the creation of reality. This world is far too strange and mystical for us to just take it all at face value, assuming it's all one predictable slog to the end. If quantum mechanics has taught me anything, it's to expect the unexpected. Each of us has the potential to see our lives as an ongoing experiment full of crazy, amazing and mind blowing results. And each of us is so much mysterious and powerful than we know. We only have scratched the surface of who and what we really are. There is a crack running through the cement in our backyard.
Awhile ago, a little plant sprang up from it. Although I know this should be seen as a nuisance, as it will only cause the cement to deteriorate further, I couldn't help but feel awe and wonder over how this plant so effortlessly brought life to a place where it seems no life should be. I looked closely at this little plant, wondering how a seed got in there in the first place. Did it fall from a bird in the exact perfect way so as to land right there? Did the wind blow it in, knowing that below this hardened surface was fertile soil? And how did the seed grow a plant right up through the crack? It's not like it had a map to the surface! As I looked at the crack it made me think about cracks within myself. Cracks from fear, cracks from anger, cracks from disappointment. There is an oft repeated quote by Leonard Cohen that says, "Ring the bells that still can ring / Forget your perfect offering / There is a crack in everything / That's how the light gets in". When I saw the little plant, I realized that cracks aren't just how light gets in, but also life, seeds, the possibilities we can't see. What I see as a personal detriment, like overwhelming fear, is really a crack waiting to show me something unexpected and beautiful. The very thing that makes me so afraid, such as a big, scary new career step, is the very place something miraculous and transformative can happen. To never feel afraid would mean nothing new was happening. It would mean I wasn't exploring, growing and reaching for new heights. And without that growth, which leads to the cracks of fear, I would never open up to seeds that come from places beyond me. Just as the seed in the cement came from an unknown place in order to bring the exact plant that was meant to grow there, I too can receive unknown gifts which come in ways I cannot control or plan. But it will only happen so long as I allow myself to stop trying to be shiny and perfect. I must give myself space to crack open to my inner depths. Fear and anxiety are some of my biggest inner blocks. But I am now realizing that they aren't bottomless voids holding me back. They are showing me hidden potentials. Within the fear is the potential for something strong to grow. Something so hardy and centered that it would not only not be dettered by cement, it would break through it, calmly and patiently planting itself deeper and deeper, growing bigger and bigger, until that which seems bigger and harder has no choice but to cede to the beautiful, life giving plant. The cracks of fear and anger and pain are not the things holding us back in life. They are places where the seeds of our courage and strength take root and grow, showing us the true meaning of persistence and the power to change the seemingly rigid and fixed. "As you unfold the new self, remember to move into that state of mind and body that feels invincible, powerful, absolute, inspired, and overjoyed. Let the pictures come; see them with certainty, with a knowingness that unifies you to those events or things. Bond with your future as if it is yours, without any concern other than expectancy and celebration. Let yourself go and begin to free-associate without concern. Become empowered by your new sense of self. With clarity, hold the image of each manifestation in your mind for a few seconds, and then let it go into the quantum to be executed by a greater mind …then go to the next one …keep going …this is your new destiny. Allow yourself to experience that future reality in the present moment until you convince your body to emotionally believe that the event is coming to pass now. Open your heart and experience the joy of your new life before it actually manifests." - Dr. Joe Dispenza, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself I have no idea who made this, and if anyone does know, please let me know in the comments so I can update this with a reference. This was shared on Facebook, and I think it's one of the most helpful things I've ever seen. I've caught myself using trite positive expressions before, and will certainly refer to this when I'm struggling to find the right words.
If you'd like to share it, you will see icons for Facebook, Pinterest, and to copy the link when you hover over the image. Or else you can download it and share it directly by right clicking on it and selecting "save as". Watch the waves in the ocean. The higher the wave goes, the deeper is the wake that follows it. One moment you are the wave, another moment you are the hollow wake that follows. Enjoy both -- don't get addicted to one. Don't say: I would always like to be on the peak. It is not possible. Simply see the fact: it is not possible. It has never happened, it will never happen. It is impossible -- not in the nature of things. Then what to do? Enjoy the peak while it lasts and then enjoy the valley when it comes. What is wrong with the valley? What is wrong with being low? It is a relaxation. A peak is an excitement, and nobody can exist continuously in an excitement. - Osho |