"When you think a thought that rings true with who you really are, you feel harmony coursing through your physical body.
Joy, love, and a sense of freedom are examples of that alignment. And when you think thoughts that do not ring true with who you really are, you feel the disharmony in your physical body. Depression, fear, and feelings of bondage are examples of that misalignment. In the same way that sculptors mold clay into the creation that pleases them, you create by molding Energy. You mold it through your power of focus - by thinking about things, remembering things, and imagining things. You focus the Energy when you speak, when you write, when you listen, when you are silent, when you remember, and when you imagine - you focus it through the projection of thought. Like the sculptors who, with time and practice, learn to mold the clay into the precise desired creation, you can learn to mold the Energy that creates worlds through focus of your own mind. And, like the sculptors who, with their hands, feel their way as they re-create their vision - you will use your emotions to feel your way to Well-Being." - Ask & It Is Given, Esther & Jerry Hicks If you have the Apple Music service you can play several of my meditations for free!
The albums, which are also available on iTunes, include my most popular meditations. Check out the tracks below and come find me on Apple Music! If you don't have Apple Music you can find all of the meditations listed below in my store. The quantum field responds not to what we want; it responds to who we are being. Since every potential in the universe is a wave of probability that has an electromagnetic field and is energetic in nature, it makes sense that our thoughts and feelings are no exception. I find it a useful model to think of thoughts as the electrical charge in the quantum field and feelings as the magnetic charge in the field. The thoughts we think send an electrical signal out into the field. The feelings we generate magnetically draw events back to us. Together, how we think and how we feel produces a state of being, which generates an electromagnetic signature that influences every atom in our world. This should prompt us to ask, What am I broadcasting on a daily basis? - Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, by Dr. Joe Dispenza "If it weren't for painting, I wouldn't live; I couldn't bear the extra strain of things." - Winston Churchill Winston Churchill is best known as the prime minister of England during WWII. He is also known as an excellent speaker, writer and lover of cigars and alcohol. I've turned to his quotes many times before as sources of inspiration and motivation. What is less known about this fascinating man is that he also loved to paint. To say he was a man of contradictions would only scratch the surface of his complex personality. By all means, he loved the military and serving as a leader during times of war. But he also had a soft side to him which he was not afraid to indulge nor show. While reading his autobiography, I found that he loved butterflies, and he spoke of them for a whole page. I looked up some of his paintings today, and was amazed to see he was rather skilled with a brush and some paint. Winston, like all great people of this world, understood the importance of art. It is healing for both the person who creates and those who get to view it. This world would be a dark, bleak place without art. So if you make art, in any form, even if it's just for you, carry on. It is as vital as a butterfly landing before a flower, brightening your day. This week I was one of eleven experts asked to contribute to a collaborative article on Learn, Evolve and Thrive.
The topic was "Cultivating an Abundant Mindset," and my article was focused on the importance of embracing learning and growth. I'm glad I was asked to contribute, because I LOVED writing this! In the last few months I've thought a lot about what ashtanga yoga has done for me. It has been more than a physical experience, and one that has made yoga a far more spiritual and empowering practice for me. I hope you enjoy the article, and if ashtanga yoga has impacted your life in some way also, leave a comment below and let me know! You probably already know the name M. Night Shyamalan, but if not, he's the director of The Sixth Sense, which was followed by two other successful (though not quiet as profitable) films - Unbreakable and Signs. After this, things took an ill-fated turn, and continued to get more grim with each movie he made. The lowest rated of them is The Last Airbender, which has an aggregated score of 6% on Rotten Tomatoes. That's pretty brutal. During his post-2006 run of critical and box office failures, a campaign started online to send Shyamalan back to film school. When I read about this, I thought about how that would feel if it was me, and needless to say, it felt like shit. It would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for me to read that kind of mockery and criticism and continue on. But M. Night Shyamalan pushed that aside and continued on. This is something I find inspiring and fascinating about him. For a lot of people, their worst fear is to fail. An even bigger fear is to fail publicly, and to be humiliated on a grand scale. I'm sure, some of those people (or maybe most) who fear failure more than death are the ones who attack Shyamalan. He triggers their deepest anxieties about life and their sense of self-worth. The fact that he refuses to see failure as a stopping point upsets people in ways they can't explain. It makes them question their own fortitude, willpower and sense of self. This might sound like I'm analyzing people I don't know, but from what I've seen time and again, things don't bother people unless it feels personal to them. Things don't sink in and sting and rile us up unless we either agree it's true about ourselves, or we fear it could be true. So the fact that people are so relentlessly obsessed with cutting Shyamalan down says as much about them as it does about the director's career. Everything we do and say is a reflection of ourselves. There is a tendency to think that failure and criticism doesn't hurt famous and/or rich people the way it hurts everyone else. There's almost an expectation that not only does it hurt them less, but they deserve it in some way, like they should have to "pay" for being so successful. In truth, a painful experience is not dulled because of your success. In many cases, it's the opposite. Your failure is witnessed, talked about, digested, made fun of and examined by MILLIONS of people. If success softened the blow of failure, criticism and judgement, we would not bear witness to a multitude of celebrities having mental breakdowns, addiction problems and public meltdowns. But, the thing with success is, whoever you were before, that's who you are after. If you are sensitive now, you will be sensitive when you're rich. If you feel defensive when people criticize you now, you will feel that when you're famous, and at a higher level of intensity. So if you have big dreams, the time to cultivate inner strength, peace and self-worth is now. It will not get easier later, but in fact, may only get harder as you find yourself in a new arena that triggers things in other people. Which is what makes Shyamalan such an intriguing person to me. There is something about him that is so centered, so inwardly connected, so tuned into his passions above all else, that he can rise above the chorus of boos and negativity. He is a man that has never let outside circumstances dictate his fate. He has never let other people tell him what's possible, and who he should be. He has never let failure tell him he's not worthy of trying again. He knows that the only thing stopping him is him. This is a rare thing in this world. Most of us stop before we've even started. He has hit obstacles the size of which I cannot even fathom. But he sees them as just that - obstacles, challenges to be met.
They don't mean anything other than to find another way. The last Shyamalan film I saw was The Visit. And I liked it. A lot. I didn't even know he directed it until I was talking to a friend about it afterwards. It was creepy and surprising and made good use of what looked like a low budget. And maybe this is what Shyamalan needed - to have the excess stripped away, to have to work with a small amount of money, so he would be forced to focus on his characters and storytelling. I'm sure it was an incredible learning experience for him. And also, very humbling. But had he given up, had he let the cruelty that often accompanies being a public figure get to him, he would have missed out on making this surprisingly good comeback film. And I would've missed out too. Not just on enjoying an entertaining little film, but I would've missed out on what this taught me about resilience, persistence and embracing the art of failure. Cheers to you M. Night Shyamalan. Haters gonna hate. But you're having a blast in this journey of life, and doing it in your own way, and for that, I raise my glass in a toast to you. I think of you and your work when I feel afraid of failure, and I then remember the only thing to be afraid of is my own inner voice, and for that, I thank you. |