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Wednesday, 31 July 2024
On this day of your life
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I believe God wants you to know ... ... that there is a
family reunion awaiting you, and you will be more overjoyed than you can now
begin to imagine. On the day you
leave your body -- what I like to call your Continuation
Day -- you will be greeted by everyone you have ever loved
in any way for any reason... and, standing in
front of the group, every person who has been so very dear to
you. It will be a grand and glorious reunion, with joy and
laughter and pure wonderment filling every heart
and soul! This has also been
experienced by everyone who has ever left
here -- all those who have gone before you --
of course. So do not grieve
for them. They are so very happy! I'm not sure why
you were meant to hear this on this particular
day...but I bet you are... |
Using Our Outside Voice (OM)
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When we communicate precisely, we are
voicing our thoughts as an act of creation. Each of us has developed an internal
filtering process that helps us choose which parts of our constant inner
monologues get voiced outside of our heads. Sometimes the choice is based on
what we consider to be polite or appropriate, using subtlety instead of
directness to try to get our point across. Other times, the choice is made
based on our expectations of the other person and what we feel they should
know about us, our feelings, and our needs. But our best chance of getting
what we need is to communicate specifically by converting our inner voice to
our outside voice. This may seem unnecessary sometimes,
especially when we think the other person has the same information that we
ourselves are working with, but we have to remember they also have their own
inner voice, evaluating what they hear in light of their own issues and
needs. With so much to consider and sift through, we are truly better off if
we communicate precisely. Not only does doing this minimize the chance for
misinterpretation, but voicing our thoughts is an act of creation. We convert
thought and imagination to sound, releasing it from the chamber of our minds
into the outside world. This carries energy and intention with it, allowing
our thoughts, wishes, and even dreams to come true. When we have the courage to speak our minds
and use our voice to send the desires of our hearts from our inner world to
the world outside, we take a bold step in making them happen. By removing
fear of what others may think and expectation of what others should
understand, we free ourselves and let loose our desires onto the canvas of
the world. Next time we become aware that we have a choice about how to
communicate, we can choose to use our inner voice and watch its creative
power at work. |
How to Motivate Yourself when you feel like Doing Nothing.
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How to motivate yourself when you feel like doing nothing:
- Don’t try to motivate yourself.
- Stop trying to force yourself to do something.
- Forget the guilt-tripping.
- Then, ask yourself what you’re avoiding. Ask yourself the questions you’d ask a friend or lover or family member who’s stuck: Hey—something going on? How are you doing?
Want to go deeper?
There is a tonic, or antidote, to wanting to be other than we are. To cutting through aggression. To finding true compassion, true empathy, for others—and for ourselves.
It’s called maitri. It’s called unconditional friendliness toward ourselves. It’s simple. It’s hard.
The point of life, after all, isn’t just to eat, sleep, brush our teeth, get married, work, travel, etc. It’s to be of benefit. And when we think of others, first, we discover our own joy comes right along.
Maitri isn’t about ego. It’s about building the kind of empathy for yourself that will, if unleashed, enlighten our entire world. And gosh our world needs you to be kind to yourself, right now.
IMAGE: @GIULIAJROSA
I Want to be my Authentic, Flawed, Age-Showing & Not so Pretty Self Again.
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{*Did you know you can write on Elephant? Here’s how—big changes: How to Write & Make Money or at least Be of Benefit on Elephant. ~ Waylon}
~
The world today is like a fancy catwalk where everyone looks like a supermodel on the runway: skinny, flawless, edited, and just plain perfect.
It’s crazy, you know? Everywhere we go, on the streets or online, people’s faces are all tweaked and changed, to the point where we wouldn’t even recognize them in person if they went missing.
Here’s a funny story:
I’ve been following this influencer for ages, and one day I saw her at the mall while I was shopping. I’m telling you, if she didn’t say her name at the register, I would have had no clue it was her. She looked so normal, with bumps on her skin, lashes that needed a trim, and makeup that was looking a bit caked on. And her figure? Well, let’s just say it wasn’t as perfect as it looks on Instagram.
I mean, why can’t we just look like our normal selves anymore? Like, why do we get to a place where we hate every little thing about our bodies and faces?
I’m not innocent either, you know? There are times I don’t even recognize myself when I’m scrolling through my Instagram posts. It’s like I was on autopilot while editing them, chasing after this societal standard that’s everywhere these days.
It’s nice seeing ourselves in a polished and pretty way, but it’s also kind of exhausting. Having to edit every single thing we post online and always compare our real selves to our filtered selves is just draining. And trying to convince people that yeah, that’s really what we look like in person can be a real struggle.
It’s like we are living two lives: one where we’re chilling in our baggy sweatpants, and one where we’re slaying like Beyonce in Sin City.
Like many of you, I’m just exhausted. And low-key scared of getting caught without my Facetune edits or FaceApp fix on. Seriously, I’m so over those never-ending lash extension appointments, done with Botox touch-ups, fed up with my filler migrating like it’s got a mind of its own, sick of Shein hauls, exhausted from putting effort into my social media aesthetic—and my hands hurt from taking all of those selfies.
Anyone else feeling the burnout?
Being perfect is just too much work, too costly, and too exhausting. It’s like there’s always something new to do. Every couple of weeks or months, you just have to update, refill, or get something injected. And you know what’s even more irritating? We spend all this money on making ourselves look good, but it all seems to get worse. It’s like the more injections we get, the weirder we look. It’s just not pretty. Even the plastic moguls, like Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, have lost their appeal thanks to all their cosmetic surgeries.
So, when will we finally wake up? Maybe we need a little more than just that cat eye thread to open up our eyes. When will this madness end, so we can just be our authentic, flawed, age-showing, and not so pretty selves again?
I have this crazy desire to just be what the world considers ugly. Like, I don’t even care anymore. Something inside me is telling me to say “no more” to all the things I’ve been doing to myself. I’m ditching Botox, fakes lashes, fancy nails, laser treatments, blowouts, fillers—you name it.
I want to have short man nails, a mustache, and a hairy body again. I want to see my wrinkles popping through my skin. I want to chow down on whatever food without worrying about whether it is gluten free or vegan. I want to throw my hair up in a messy bun without faking it for hours. I want to be able to have stinky breath, stretch marks, and everything that comes with being human.
I want to embrace my inner yeti and be able to step out of my house without a care in the world. I want to be ugly. Who’s with me?
~
X
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The Art of Acceptance.
A couple of years ago, I went through a period where a few bigger things in life went wrong at once.
It was painful, and at the time I would have preferred that none of those things had happened, but I was also pleasantly surprised by how I was reacting, by what I felt happening within me.
I noticed that I accepted it.
I accepted what was happening.
Acceptance feels soft, spacious.
It opens up space.
It might not change the things that are happening in our lives, but it shifts how we relate to what’s happening, how we take it in, how we move with it, how we experience it.
When we can feel acceptance, tension falls away; it dissolves.
So much of our tension in challenging experiences comes from trying to fight and resist and wishing things could be different.
But when we can accept that what’s happening is happening, there’s a lightness, an ease, a softness.
We accept.
We allow.
We allow ourselves to flow with it and through it.
We understand that we are where we are and what’s happening is happening.
We might feel pain or sadness or heartache. We might have conflicting inner feelings or restlessness or fear. But we don’t have to carry unnecessary tension—the unnecessary tension that comes from resisting what is.
Acceptance doesn’t mean we have to enjoy or feel good about or like everything that’s happening in our lives—it’s simply accepting that what’s happening is happening. It’s allowing what is to be.
In some ways, life is just happening and we’re moving with it, navigating it in the moment, figuring out how to relate to it, how to breathe with it and through it.
We can flow with the changes, intentionally. We can tune into how we feel and allow all parts of our experience, all aspects, including the parts of us that might want to fight and resist, the parts that ache, the parts that would like something different—because that is also so normal, so natural. We can accept it all.
What’s happening is happening—whether we like it or not, whether it feels good or bad, whether we would have chosen it or not. Where we are, what we’re doing, what we’re experiencing in this moment—it’s what’s happening.
We can accept it all, hold space for it all. We can allow the nuances, the different thoughts and feelings to move through us. We can allow the different dimensions and aspects of our lives and our experiences.
We can accept what we’re going through and also accept the parts of us that don’t want to accept it.
We can accept what’s happening in our lives, and we can also accept the different thoughts and feelings we may have about what’s happening.
We can feel sadness or heartache about something that has happened, while also feeling deep joy and appreciation for the present moment, for ourselves, for the beautiful little things—like fresh air and sunshine or a beautiful walk in nature or quiet time alone doing something we love.
Acceptance both arises softly within us, without us consciously choosing it, and it can also come through practicing it, through intentionally reminding ourselves that we are where we are, that what is happening is happening.
Can we hold space for all of it, allow all of it, accept all of it?
We can choose how to act, what to do, where to go, from a present place of accepting where we are.
Acceptance can come through practicing coming back to the moment we’re in, through training ourselves to come back to where we are—to be where we are.
It can come through practicing coming back to the present moment.
We can find acceptance through understanding—and reminding ourselves—that what is happening is happening. Through reminding ourselves that we can allow all of it. Be with it all of it. Hold space for all of it. That it can be what it is.
We can allow all parts of our experience to exist, to be.
We’re right here, right now, where we are, in this moment.
~
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AUTHOR: LISA ERICKSON
IMAGE: DƯƠNG HOÀNG/PEXELS
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