Day 19 - Critical Mass

One of the things I've noticed on my 30-day well-being experiment is that it seems to be getting easier and easier to stay rooted in my well-being.

In the beginning, I was really struggling.  It was pretty easy to get into a cycle of negativity and then, of course, NOTICE the cycle of negativity and as a result of my focus (or self-flagellation) create more of what I was so desperately trying to avoid.  

Of course, my intention with this process is to live predominantly with a vibration that is aligned with my natural state of abundance.  So, in spite of my struggles, I have been quite diligent about shifting my mindset around to bring it back into alignment with my bigger intention.

I have noticed each mental "coup" and celebrated accordingly.  I have had many small victories.

As I have been increasing my habit of noticing my successes and constantly asking myself what I need to do to stay in my well-being flow, I have been more and more successful at the process. Last week while I was driving to Austin, I realized that the bulk of my thoughts are aligned with my intention.  

Wooo Hooo!

It's interesting to stand at this point.  When any unwanted thought or old pattern creeps into my awareness, my new expanded mindset just seems to kind of "collapse" the old thought unwanted thought patterns.

It is literally as if the old thoughts just kind of melt away or fall down like a long row of dominos.

Last week I was in the middle of a panic attack about money, work, life balance, etc. and I started to do my usual mental spin.  Normally it can take an hour or so to get myself realigned and the panic usually keeps creeping back into my awareness.  

This time I was able to immediately face my panic with a list of 10 possible excellent outcomes to my situation.  I immediately felt much better and eagerly expected an unexpected good thing to happen.

By Monday, every single one of the 10 possible excellent outcomes had come about.  

And I didn't spend hours visualizing, journaling or meditating on these possibilities.  I simply had these thoughts for about a second and then returned to my state of well-being.

Now, I've only had this experience once so I'm not going to write a sales letter and try to start teaching a class on this process.  I'm just going to sit over here and keep applying what I am learning and encourage you to start your own experience.

But I do suspect that as your vibration continues to grow, you create a critical mass of energy that forces all the other vibrations to modulate up to meet it.  

We spend so much time looking for "blocks" and uncovering old patterns.  If that is where we are putting our attention then I wonder what we are growing...?

Maybe the key to removing "blocks" is to stop looking for them and shift your focus onto what is good and what is working...

Just wondering...

If nothing else, I SWEAR my skin looks younger and I feel like my old sunny self is returning...!

'Looking forward to having you join me on this journey!

Love,

Karen

Day 18, ""Other People's Stuff"

Okay, so I’ve been a bit remiss in blogging about my 30-day experiment.  Speakers Boot Camp was this past weekend and I was totally busy enjoying each and every day!  Wooo Hooo!

It is now Day 18 and I have two big thoughts I’d like to share with you. 

Today I want to talk about “Other People’s Stuff”.

I have noticed that when I keep my mindset clear and give it words, I can receive, in exchange, some very interesting feedback from the people around me. 

I have been accused of being a “Polly Anna” more than once and not always in a nice way.

Really.  It’s kind of funny how violently people react to you being happy. 

I have also noticed, especially this year with the “bad” economy myth going gangbusters, that many people in my life have manifested some pretty dire life situations.  I have several dear friends who are really struggling financially. 

When “other people” (and I use quotations because they are not really “other” people but instead beautiful reflections of our own consciousness) share their reality with us, it is pretty easy to want to chime in and either defend ourselves, convince and change or save the “other” person. 

I always muse at how hard it is for me to change myself.  What in the heck makes me think that I can change someone else?  (Especially someone else who didn’t even ask for my “expert” guidance and insight.)

Have you ever noticed how other people seem to trigger your core issues?  Do they trigger your issues because they are mean or are those issues triggered because you’re sending out a vibration that is in alignment with your core issue?

Here is an example.  I have someone very close to me who “makes” me feel judged.  He is extremely bright, well-educated, accomplished in his field and has an aura of authority.  When I stand next to him, I feel like a bug.

Now, in the past, I would have said that this person judges me.  I don’t have some fancy college degree.  I am not so accomplished, prefer jeans, cowgirl boots and a t-shirt, the company of my kids and my dog.  Fancy cocktail parties make me gag and I hate small talk. 

But if you ask me what has this person DONE to make me feel judged…well…NOTHING.  Not a single thing. 

Who is really doing the judging here?

Yeah, yeah, yeah…I can see all your fingers pointing at me!

Underneath this bright and shiny wise-ass exterior is a shy girl who still questions her own value. 

I perceive myself as being judged because of my own lack of self-esteem. 

It is absolutely important to surround yourself with people who support your creative process.  But, what I am discovering is that when you see yourself as a powerful, abundant being, you don’t even HEAR the judgment or the negativity or the nay-saying or anything that is out of alignment with your vibration. 

AND, if you are deeply rooted in the magnificence of who you are, you don’t draw those kinds of dream-sucking negative experiences into your reality anyway.  It’s not in energetic harmony with your vibration. 

Basically, it’s all you. 

Here’s the next question.  How do you handle “other people’s stuff” when they are struggling and suffering and you want to help.

Think about this for a minute.  

When we are struggling, how much time do we spend talking about the problem with our friends and family?  Not venting or releasing, just plain talking (or bitching...)

We sigh.  We shrug shoulders and wring hands together.  We dutifully validate for our loved ones that their lives do, indeed, suck.  Yes?

But, if where you put your energy and attention is where you get growth and you want this other person to realign with their abundant state but you are both focusing (or in my case, my whole family is calling each other and bemoaning the circumstance…) on the problem, what are you co-creating?

I know.  Your family and friends will truly think you’ve gone nuts when, in the midst of the drama, you focus your energy on the things that ARE working.  But, in the end, who is going to have more fun?  And who is creating more in the direction of abundance?

If you really love someone, you’ll see the possibility for an elegant solution instead of tragedy and gloom. 

They might hate you for being happy and positive.  In the beginning it’s always more fun to focus on the problem.  But, trust me, it is always WAAAAAY more fun to imagine the possibilities and see each bump as an opportunity to clarify what you truly, dearly want in your reality (or in their reality).

Here's quotation from Esther and Jerry Hicks that says it best:

"No solution ever comes forth - it's never inspired; you never recognize it, and you are never able to facilitate or achieve it - from your place of focusing on the problem. If you have someone who has many things going wrong and one thing going right, beat the drum of what's going right, and let that be your point of attraction.  If you focus upon their problems, you achieve vibrational harmony with someone other than the Source that gives you solutions." 

The sun is always shining above the clouds!

Love,

Karen

Day Seven and Eight

Well I was going to write about my adventures dealing with other people's energies and circumstances...BUT...I'll write about that tomorrow.

When I started this journey, I set the intention that my Expanded Awareness would help me bring into my consciousness everything I need to consistently be in the stream of well-being.  

I know that there are old patterns that I am being given the opportunity to transcend and I am grateful for the insights I am receiving, particularly in dream time.

I've had a recurring dream this week about being vulnerable in my relationships.  I am learning that I have a deep desire to trust and feel safe in a relationship.  I'm looking forward to growing my capacity to be an authentic partner and not run...

Okay...here's the good part.  

After experiencing one of my dreams about running, I woke up with a panic attack, a pretty consistent experience recently.

As I was laying in my bed trying to work with my mind to get to a better feeling place I was given a beautiful vision.

In my vision I was told that love is never created or destroyed.  It simply changes form.  Then I was shown that love is the true energy of creation.  Emotions (which are separate from love) are merely the hands on our compass helping us gauge how close we are to living our loving essence.

Then I was shown that appreciation (in the form of attention and gratitude) is the grammar of love.

In other words, in order to create and to align more closely with our natural loving state, we have to focus our energy and attention on what is working, especially in relationships.  

I read once in an Abraham Hicks book that in our relationships with any human being on the planet, 99.99% of our interaction is based on energies we have in common.  Instead of focusing on all the things appreciate about our Divine Siblings, we choose instead to focus on the .01% of things that don't seem to be working.

And look at what we get.

We are pretty powerful, aren't we?

What if everything we are experiencing is technically a relationship...with ourselves...and, of course, with the creation of the perception of "other players" in our outer reality?

And what if all we had to do to change our outer reality is to align with love?

In other words, what if all we had to do was focus on what is working, what we do appreciate, what we love and are grateful for?

If love can neither be created or destroyed and it is a constant on this planet, then we can never really "lose" someone.  The form of the relationship can change and we may have a concurrent emotional response to help us realign with love in a new way in our reality but there is no loss here.  

As relationships change form, on an expanded level, we are just co-creating with a Divine Sibling to learn a lesson.  When the lesson is done, we move on OR we keep growing in appreciation together.  It's never static on this planet.  

The bottom line is this.  Love can never leave you.  It can change how it shows up in your life.  You can align with it or not (your choice based on your focus and level of appreciation).  But, love is constantly available to you in a multitude of expressions.

If love is a constant and it can never leave us, then maybe we can have more courage to show up for love more authentically, ask more courageously for what we want and need and, most importantly, stay in deep appreciation and gratitude for our Divine Siblings and the players in our personal "reality show" and for ourselves.

Have fun!

Love,

Karen

P.S.  I am so grateful for this deepened awareness from my Expanded Self.  This is such a cool experience!!!

Day Five and Six

I kind of lost my momentum the last two days.  

It's interesting to me to see how when I get "busy" I "forget" to do my due diligence.  Instead of taking the extra five minutes when I lay down to go to sleep and really feel the comfort of my bed and express my appreciation for a great day, I just kind of dive-bomb between the sheets and crash.

For the last few months I've been waking up with panic attacks in the middle of the night.  I haven't been able to link them to any specific event or circumstance, although I have been enjoying a lot of contrast related to being overwhelmed and very busy.

I have noticed that since I have started my experiment, the panic attacks have stopped.  And my lower back pain, which has been intense since my baby was born in May just totally disappeared.

Two nights ago I had a really powerful dream.  In my dream I was offered a contract (don't know what kind of contract...) and given a payment of 2.5 million dollars.  

What was so powerful about this dream is that one minute I was financially struggling and the next minute I was quite financially abundant.  I woke up feeling like this was a very clear reminder from my Inner Wisdom that we can have/experience ANYTHING and our current challenges can be transformed in a moment.  

We're never really stuck.  

Unless we believe we are.

These last few days I've really been thinking about what I want.  I'm truly surprised to find that I have some areas in my life where I am feeling some growing pains and I'm not clear about what I want.  

This is probably not entirely new for me but I think I have manifested sum funky chaos lately to remind me to check in and see what is feeling good for my life right now.

When I realized that I'm not being totally authentic with my intentions and still doing a lot of "shoulds" rather than following my True Hearts Desires, I was curious to discover that I'm a little nervous about "discovering" the answers to my questions.

In the past, when I have had an unconscious intention, I am quite well known for blowing my entire life up in a relatively short amount of time.

I'm not really in the mood for more rampant chaos and deconstruction so I have carefully sculpted a new intention statement about my work:

"I am joyfully in the process of discovering my newly evolved career passion and direction.  I honor the fact that I am growing and changing.  While I am enjoying this process of discovery, I intend to attract a sustainable income that affords me all the money necessary to pay my bills with plenty of money left over to play with.  I attract my income doing things that bring me great pleasure and fulfillment and I work in a way that easily allows me to balance work, family and other additional delights.  I easily have the money to purchase things for my children, take care of my business and personal expenses, travel and attend workshops and trainings that aid me in my discovery adventure."

I am writing myself a message on the back of my hand to remind myself to keep working on my experiment.  

It is an incredible process to reprogram the mind.  

But, being conscious and deliberately in the flow is sooooo much more fun than just moving through the day without intent.

Wooo Hoooo!  Aren't we lucky to be given Free Will and consciousness.  

Love,

Karen

Day Four

Today was Yom Kippur.  Traditionally on Yom Kippur we fast.  My Rabbi says we fast to remind ourselves that we depend on G-d for everything. 

This is a particularly thoughtful theme for me during my 30-day experiment.  

When you are in survival mode, it’s easy to think that there is something that you can do to save yourself in the eleventh hour.  After all, you’re probably a “survivor” because of your clever thinking and the sheer determination of your will.  Right?

I like to think of it as having a back-up plan, in case G-d or the Universe or Source or whatever you may call it, doesn’t “come through” for you. 

Of course, there is a lot of funny irony in this equation. 

It’s not like it’s not all G-d anyway.  (But aren’t we clever at thinking G-d is this capricious Being somewhere “out there”?)

And, of course, G-d “comes through” for you every time, exactly the way you intended.

Our entire experience in this focused reality is a result of our intention and attention. When we hold a belief that we have to endure and struggle and work really, really hard to pull off a “last minute miracle” and we behave according to this belief, we EASILY manifest exactly what we have been focusing on.

Think about it.

What is hard to make it sooo hard?

NO. 

It was easy to struggle.  It was the expected outcome, yes?

The whole process of creation works consistently in a formulaic manner. 

Ask.

Believe.

Take Action. 

Receive.

Ask for what you want.  Believe you can have it.  Take guided action to get it.  Receive it.

And in the meantime, focus on all the good you have in your life and find constant evidence of your abundance in each moment.  (In other words, be happy.)

I must confess that there is a part of me that kind of likes chaos and disaster.  I like experiences that force me to stretch and test my faith in G-d. 

When I am surviving, I can get myself into such messes that I don’t have a clue how to get myself out of.  It is under these extreme circumstances that I have mastered the art of getting on my knees and surrendering to my Creator. 

When I don’t know how to fix a problem, the only thing I can do is turn to a power greater than me and let the Divine Plan find the most elegant solution.  (With, of course, the expectation that there IS a solution.)

I noticed this recently about myself.  I was facing an extreme circumstance that I did not know how to fix and I really ENJOYED the feeling of surrendering the outcome.

I felt closer to G-d in my moments of panic than I do in my every day life. 

I think that the difference between a “survivor” and a “thriver” is that a “thriver” feels closer to G-d in every day moments and understands that G-d is all there is and all there is is G-d. 

Therefore, a “thriver” is much more comfortable getting on their knees and allowing the Divine Plan to unfold on a moment-by-moment basis than a “survivor”.

As a “thriver”, each moment is sacred and an opportunity to allow for a more “elegant” unfolding of the human experience.

It doesn’t mean that I have to give up my will or my human actions.  I still have to “move the mud”, so to speak. 

But I do have the opportunity to listen more intently, appreciate more deeply, and honor each act (even the really simple ones…) as sacred. 

It also means that if I can realize that G-d can provide an elegant solution in my darkest hours, imagine what elegance is available to me on a daily basis. 

Perhaps, when I have ignored G-d in my daily moments, I have shut myself off from fulfilling a potential that would assist me in creating a truly thriving life.  And be of great service to my Divine Siblings.

What if I could truly embrace and act upon the sanctity of each moment of this very precious life I have?

I end my third day with a profound gratitude for the magnificence of each moment and the power, compassion and love that is constantly and consistently available to us. 

I am eagerly anticipating the adventure of living my expanded potential and celebrating the preciousness of each moment.

Thriving.

Love,

Karen

Day Three

One of the things I noticed about having been in "survival mode" for so long is that I missed a lot of details.  My focus has been on getting to the other side and while I was leaping valiantly (and desperately) to the finishing mark, I missed a lot of the juicy things that make this gift of life soooo precious.

It really hit me hard this summer as I watched my oldest son walk across the stage and graduate from high school.  I was holding my three week old newborn daughter in my arms and the perspective was so extreme.

In that one moment my son's life flashed before me, baby grins, a head full of blond baby curls, his first words, his four-year-old swagger ("I know everything..."), when he first started reading and how proud he was of the first movie he made....all that and so much more....and I realized I had missed volumes of his life.  

I mean, my body was there.  But, I was absent.  I was focused on the next thing I needed to survive to make sure that HE survived....

I don't want to miss any more of my life or the lives of the people I am so blessed to share this journey with.  

Yesterday my intention was to focus on appreciation and gratitude for everything in my life.  

As I started my gratitude list, I realized it was too long....more that I could ever complete in one day.....

So I decided to break the process up into smaller bites.  Each day I intend to focus my gratitude on one specific area of my life.  

Today I am focusing on my gratitude for the people in my life. 

I wish I could adequately express the huge swelling of my heart and the overwhelm of deep love and appreciation I am feeling right now as I offer my appreciation for all the people who have graced my life and for those rare, beautiful souls who bring me such joy and love every day of my life...even when our interactions seem mundane...their voices, their words, their love, their support...their smiles and laughs...all seem so sacred to me....                               

I pray that if you choose to complete this process for yourself, you will discover how deeply and truly blessed and loved you are.

Tomorrow I intend to focus on remembering that G-d is the Provider of Everything.

So Very, Very Grateful....

Love,

Karen 

Day Two

Day Two of my 30 day well-being experiment was full of opportunities to grow and expand. 

I have five children.  One of them is a twelve-year-old daughter.  We are in a powerful co-creative phase at the moment where we are using a lot of contrast to help us redefine our relationship. 

I know that I committed staying in the flow of well-being.  And I know that in order to create the types of relationships that I desire, I have to focus on what is working and what I love and appreciate about the person(s) I am in relationship with.  

(I used to actually teach this technique when I taught “Parent-Teen Communication” classes.)

So, I have spent a lot of time these last 24 hours, looking at baby photographs of my 12 year-old daughter and noticing all the things I love and appreciate about her:

I love the way her face is gently changing into the face of a young woman and the brightness of her eyes.  I love the way she approaches everything with an unparalleled intensity.  I love her gentle, extremely generous heart and the way she wants to nurture those she perceives as less fortunate.  I love her quick mind.

I love the way she made me a beautiful bubble bath last weekend and babysat the baby so that I could take a 20-minute bath.

She is an amazing kid. 

I learned a couple of things these last 24 hours:

1.  There are some pretty dark, very quiet, consistent counter-productive thought patterns that seem to always be gently streaming through my consciousness.  I notice them when I am doing seemingly “mindless” things like drive. 

2.  It’s much, much easier now than it has been in the past to immediately shift my focus and energy to other thoughts, especially when I ask myself the question, “What would I like to be experiencing instead?”

3.  I have become keenly aware that I need to adopt a much more deliberate practice of appreciation.

4.  There are a lot of areas where I have emotional and mental “dead space” when it comes to knowing or even having an inkling of what I want.  

5.  In just about any given moment I have a choice to appreciate and grow into an experience that I intend or to experience contrast.  I thought the contrast would be less frequent and maybe with more intention it will become that way but today contrast happened every hour.

6.  I don’t have to blame myself or feel like I’m screwing up when contrast happens.  I just have to remember to gently shift my focus. 

Tomorrow I intend to continue on this journey.  My biggest intention is to spend the day deeply immersed in appreciation.  

I am so grateful for this knowledge and the adventure of remembering the power we all carry inside of us!

Love,

Karen

 

The 30 Day Program (For your personal invitation, scroll down to the previous post)

For the next 30 days try this:

1.  Stay focused on what you DO want in your life.

2.  Stay focused on what IS working in your life.

3.  If you feel stress, fear, anxiety or any other intense "yucky" emotions, ask yourself what you'd like to be experiencing instead and shift your focus THERE.

4.  Express your gratitude and appreciation for everything in your life.  If you need to, make lists of things you are grateful for.  This is especially powerful when you feel "yucky".

5.  If you want to know WHY you should try this 30 day experiment go here:

http://www.insidethebodyofgod.com

30 Days...Day One

I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like I'm back-sliding on this "enlightened" journey that I keep intending to be on.

There is a distinct difference between surviving and thriving.  

I'm very good at surviving.  I am excellent at pulling a metaphorical "rabbit out of a hat" in the eleventh hour of any crisis.  I pride myself in saving my own butt at the last minute.

But, surviving seems to be taking a toll on me.  The thrill and the adrenaline rush of last minute butt-saving is exhausting, and frankly, I'm bored with the suffering in between all the eleventh hours.  

I want to thrive.  I want all those things I dream about but then get distracted from, because suddenly I'm experiencing crisis again, to become a part of my reality.  I'm tired of getting close to my dreams but not actually being able to fully manifest them.

I think, for the first time in my life, I am really ready to have it all.  

And I know that in order for me to truly experience everything I desire, I have to give up my addiction to surviving.

Think about it.  If where you put your energy and attention is where you get growth and results in your life and you are focusing all of your attention and emotions on the drama of surviving, what are you going to keep growing in your life?

More things to survive, yes?

Ugh.

I have read in many different books written by some of the most wonderful leading-edge teachers.  They all say the same thing.

This is an attraction based universe.  We attract to ourselves in accordance with our attention. In other words, what we focus on, we live out in our reality.

Many teachers say that if we would just focus on what IS working in our lives, what we INTEND for our lives and stay in a space of appreciation for what we already have for just 30 days, we would see RADICAL shifts in our reality.  

We would be thriving.

I'm ready to really give this a try.  In fact, I've been doing this for almost four hours now and I am laughing at myself because, even though the concept is so EASY, applying it seems so challenging.

Obviously, I am paying strong attention to the thoughts that are dancing across my brain and I'm telling you, folks, some of them aren't pretty.

And I can tell that some of these thoughts have been dancing around pretty regularly in my head...

Each minute I am recommitting to my 30 day program.

Since I like doing things with other like-minded people and I am blessed to have so many wonderful, amazing Light Beings on my mailing list, I thought I would invite you to join me on this 30 plan.

Here is my intention.  For the next thirty days I will blog daily about my 30-day experiment.  I invite you to join in and post your comments and experiences.  

I want you to share all the aspects of your journey.  If it feels hard on a particular day, then be honest with it and let's work together to stay on track.  If you're having an incredible day, then share it with us, too!  We'll celebrate together!

I've written the number "30" on the back of my hand with a black felt tip marker.  Having a physical reminder helps me keep my intention focused.  

I'm looking forward to hearing your stories and sharing your successes!  

Bring it on!  

Let's thrive!

Love,

Karen

Beware The Dreamsuckers...

You know I don’t like using a lot of negative words or titles, but this one just came to me and I had to use it!

But, even though this title has a playful, but militant tone, be mindful of really integrating the main point of today’s post.

There is a great mystery to being human and having a human experience.

We are born encoded on a cellular level to be abundantly healthy, wealthy, happy, fulfilled, etc. There are 10 trillion cells in your body functioning perfectly right now.

(I know with you, my dear readers, that this information is well established so I won’t waste your time proving my point today.)

As representatives of a Divine Creator and individuated aspects of the Divine, we have an unlimited capacity to create any kind of life we choose.

With so much possibility available to us, why do we choose to limit our creative expression?

Or, more simply put, why do we choose to make everything so hard?

Isn’t it weird?

One of my dear friends says, creating is simple, it’s just not easy.

And to a certain degree, I agree.

When we come to the planet, we are bathed in a collective energy field, a conglomerate of beliefs that flow from thousands of years of human experience on the planet.

Somehow, in the sum total thoughts of all of humanity, we decided that life is a hard struggle and continue, to this day, to create a collective reality that seems to support this belief system.

We have collectively forgotten the magnificence of who we really are and many of us spend a lifetime trying to remember.

The good news is that this scenario is changing!! Whooo Hooo!

As we continue to herald a new era on the planet, our memories are getting better and easier to reclaim. Our children are born remembers and reminding us old “foggies” that we are unlimited in our capacity to create. We are on the leading edge or reclaiming our creative potential.

Its getting easier and easier every day!

But, simple logistics dictate that not everyone can stand on the edge. Some people in your life will be “behind” the edge and sometimes it might seem that there are very few people in front of you or at your side.

The edge is, after all, the edge.

When you are striking out on your exciting new journey of creation on the leading edge, your dreams and the whisperings of the promise of something new deserve to be nurtured and attended to.

In the beginning, remembering your dreams and the full capacity of unlimited possibility is like tending to a new spring garden. As the tender shoots and buds begin to show themselves, you have to protect them and water them.

Our belief systems are rooted in our physiology. When we have repeated thoughts and beliefs, our bodies create beautiful nerve “highways” called neural pathways that make repeating these thoughts effortless and, to a certain degree, (ironically) “thoughtless”. You can have your thoughts without a whole lot of conscious effort on your part.

When you have a new dream or a new belief system, it takes time and repetition to build new neuropathways in your body. In other words, it takes time and repetition for new thoughts and dreams to “take root” in your mind and body.

As your new garden grows, you have to pluck the weeds that threaten your new sprouts to make room for continued light and nourishment. As we grow our dreams, we have to also pluck out the “weeds” in our consciousness.

Just like weeds tend to grow robustly and quickly, old negative thought patterns rapidly infiltrate your thinking and push your dreams out of the light. (This is the “hard” part, by the way.) The trick to successfully growing your dreams is to catch your old thought patterns and immediately return your focus to your dreams.

You don’t have to go on a long detective hunt to figure out why you are having an old thought pattern. Simply turn your attention away from it and shift your perspective. Sometimes it helps to answer this very important question:

What is it that I want to be experiencing in this situation instead?

Or even more simply:

What do I want?

The other danger in the garden is predators. Rabbits, raccoons, birds and bugs love to eat the delicious new shoots. When I was a kid, my Dad would hang foil in the garden to scare away the birds. In order to protect your garden, you have to make it “predator-proof”.

Just like in the garden, there are those who, often inadvertently, try to pluck your dreams out of your mind. Sometimes these are very well intending loved ones who are “practical” and want you to be “realistic” so that you don’t get hurt or disappointed.

Remember, not everyone is standing on the leading edge. It’s easy to be swayed by the influence of the collective. Ancient belief patterns have their old and strong roots.

I’m not saying you have to stay away from your loved ones but be sure to surround yourself with those people who support your creative process. You need a couple of people in your life to remind you that dreaming isn’t crazy.

In fact, dreaming is one of the most powerful things you can do.

Never listen to anyone who tells you “you can’t”.

You can.

If you dream you can and you believe you can.

I recently read an article about an old Jewish family that had to sell off their collection of Jewish artifacts because they had lost a lot of money investing with Bernard Madoff. Many of these artifacts were rare and had great sentimental value to the family.

When they interviewed the matriarch of the family, a widower who had escaped the Holocaust and come to America, she recounted the story of how she and her family arrived in America with nothing to their name.

This beautiful old woman summed up the story of dreams so beautifully. “Things may come and go out of your life,” she said, “But whatever is in your head and your heart belongs to you and no one can take that away from you.”

And I would like to gently add, hold on to what is in your heart and your mind. Focus on it. Get excited about it. Nurture it. Protect it from well intending Dreamsuckers and all your dreams will come true.

By Universal Law, it can’t happen any other way.

Dream on!

Love,
Karen