Tag Archives: Spirit

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Be Happy!

Be Happy! It’s easier said than done, right? The truth is: Happiness is not really all that far off for most folks, if you just know where to look and what steps to take. I have seen people that the world would say: “They have everything going for them!”, and yet in spite of all their good fortune, they were miserable. And I’ve seen others that the world would ask: “How in the world can they keep going on?”, and yet despite their cataclysmic struggles, they seem to be some of the happiest people in the world. While it’s true that circumstances do have the ability to make happiness easier or more difficult to obtain, they are not the determining factor.

Scientist have invested a lot of money and spent a lot of time investigating how to obtain happiness and while they have made a lot of amazing discoveries, there still is no magic pill that can make it your reality. I too, have spent a great deal of my life chasing after happiness. There were times that I thought this or that relationship with just the right person would do the trick, but it doesn’t take you too long to realize that most everyone else is on the same journey as you. I have often fell into the trap that certain possessions, a bigger house, newer car, trendier clothes might be the fix, but they all just ended up leaving me hungry for more. I even thought that degrees, titles and prestige might do the trick, only to find that papers stack up, trophies and plaques get old, memories fade and still leave you empty and searching.

We spend most of our lives having our ego fed by the lie of all lies: The lie that says I am what I possess, what I do or what I think other people think of me. This lie causes us to chase after an elusive foe that will never be caught, but that will often get us caught up in messes that take us away from, rather than closer to the happiness we are searching for.

Now, let me state for the record that I am not an authority on happiness. I am simply one individual on a journey that has discovered a lot of what will not work and a handful of things that seem to be taking me in a more positive direction. I want to share just a few of those thoughts as we get ready to dive into 2020:

1.) To Find Happiness, Stop Looking Outside And Start Looking Inside! Most of us fill our schedules with so much activity that we have very little time for solitude, stillness and quiet time, which allows us to go within and do the “thought” work necessary to truly figure out what happiness is for us. If we don’t fill our schedules, then many of us, simply don’t take the time to pray, meditate and contemplate what is really important in life. This inability to make time for “INWARD WORK” robs us of the opportunity to take on and take out the negative thoughts that this world is continually bombarding us with. If we are not intentional about taking time to think, pray, journal and do inward work, then we will most likely never experience the happiness that we were created for and that was created for us.

2.) Take Time To Take A Breath! This may sound a little crazy, but breath is a very important part of life. The fact that we breathe in and breathe out without even thinking about it, is an amazing reality of our lives. Breath matters. Take time to think about your breathing. Acknowledge the miracle of breath coming into and out of your body. This reminds you that there is more to this life than just you. You have a Creator, Who created you as an amazing spiritual being that gets to experience this human life. When this thought really begins to take root in your life and thinking, you can’t help but to live life at a higher level and this contributes to helping you get into just the right place to experience the happiness you were created for.

3.) Practice Gratitude All Day, Everyday In Anyway You Can! I have found that an attitude of gratitude is the single quickest way to get myself adjusted and headed in the right direction. While there are many things that are not working the way I want them to, there are many things that are working better than I could dream or imagine. Often in my life I have focused on what I didn’t like, giving it all the power to call the shots in my life and missed out on all that I had to like, love and appreciate that I should have been empowering to take me in the positive direction I so desperately needed. To help me stay on the right track here are a couple of disciplines I practice on a daily basis: First thing in the morning, I say: “Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!” as my way of acknowledging I am not alone in this universe, that I have been created on purpose for a purpose and that I am grateful to my Maker for blessing me with another day. At some point during the day, I also take time to write down in my journal at least three things I am grateful for. I encouergage you to find ways to meaningfully express your gratitude, it really is a life changer.

Happiness is really not that far off and it is obtainable in your life, just start on the inside and work your way out and you will find happiness, if it doesn’t find you first!

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Open Your Life To Love!

Love is one of those words that gets tossed around in a rather haphazard way now a days. People are quick to proclaim their love. In fact, you might say you love your significant other, pepperoni pizza, a new pair of shoes and the list could go on and on and on. What do we really mean when we say love?

The reality is that love can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Some people spend their entire life time “looking for love in all the wrong places”. I think it’s true that “love makes the world go around”, so why do so many of us seem to miss it? Could it be that we have made love to be something that it’s not and therefore we aren’t even looking in the right direction, because we are looking for something of our own creation, rather than for what love actually is?

Rather than thinking of love as something we are trying to obtain, find, possess or be possessed by; maybe we should try to understand love as something that we are. I believe that we are created by love and since love is our source, then we are love. Love, then is not something I have, it is what I am, if I choose to be. I am what I empower with my thoughts, which contribute to my actions and reactions.

Here are a few tips to help you: Open Your Life To Love…

1. Allow Yourself To Be Loved! You are loved. You don’t have to look for it, work for it or earn it. The fact that you exist is evidence you are loved. The reality that you are growing and developing is proof you are loved. You need to open yourself to this love by receiving it, by believing it, by letting it flow into and through your life!

2. Let The Love Flow! Once you begin to receive love, the way to grow it, is by sharing it with others. I like to say: “An evidence that you truly have something and that it has you, is that you share it with others.” A current of water becomes powerful in it’s flow. Without the flow, it stagnates and produces death. This is why sharing love is so important. Look for others to share love with. Look for different ways to share love. The more you share, the more real it becomes and the more real it becomes to you, is the more pure and powerful it becomes in your life and living.

3. Embrace The Idea That Love Is More! To love and be loved, it’s what you were created for, but maybe it’s not what you expect. To truly understand and appreciate good, we must experience some bad. It’s the rainy gray days that help us to fall in love with the sunshine beach days that never leave our memory. To experience that which can’t be explained with words, we have to open ourselves to risk again and again and again. We have to step out of our comfort zones, expected norms and living life as usual to have the supernatural encounters that leave us speechless and marked for life.

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Three Reasons For Gratitude!

”Upon awakening, let the words Thank You flow from your lips, for this will remind you to begin your day with gratitude and compassion.” – Wayne Dyer

The first thing I do in the morning, between the time I wake up and before my feet hit the floor, is to sit up on the edge of my bed and say: “Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!” It is my expression of Gratitude to my God and Creator, the One Who sustains me. It is my way of showing true appreciation for the gift of Jesus, forgiveness and everlasting relationship. It is my acknowledgement that I cannot do this thing called life alone and I am open and very glad for the help of the Spirit, who walks with me through and in between the moments of life.

I am saying thank you for a good night of restful and rejuvinating sleep, thank you for allowing me to wake up and face a fresh new day, thank you for the adventure and learning that is getting ready to unfold before me. I am intentionally beginning my day with gratitude, because I am truly grateful and I believe that gratitude realigns my life with all that really matters.

When I begin my day in this way, I find that gratitude walks with me all throughout the day. It is never far away from me and it helps me to see the unseen, hear the mysterious and experience the magic that so many times we tend to miss in the hustle of life. Below are a three reasons why I think gratitude is so important and worth the effort:

1. Gratitude Rewires Your Brain! There is actually since behind an attitude of gratitude and the difference it makes in your brain. To put it simply: Gratitude helps you to focus on what really matters and empowers the right things in your life and thinking. In a world where we are continually bombarded with negativity, it is both necessary and a blessing to be able to take on and take out the negative with the positive.

2. Gratitude Realigns Your Spirit! When I am grateful, I cannot help but focus on my blessings and more importantly the source of my blessings. The SOURCE is our power, our purpose, our everything. Gratitude helps to remind me that I am a spiritual being (a soul) getting to live a human experience and that almost everything I experience in this life time is teaching me to be true to who and what I really am.

3. Gratitude Rewards Your Life! The temptation of this life experience is to focus on what we don’t have, which often causes us to not appreciate what we do have. When we practice gratitude, we focus on the reality that we are loved and created to love and when we get love right, then the blessings really begin to flow to and through our life.

I encourage you to practice gratitude. Think about starting your day with it, you will be glad you did…