Daily affirmations

What would our days be like if we all started out like this little girl?

While we may giggle at little Jessica's enthusiasm, when we look at ourselves in the mirror and say "I can do anything!" we send a strong energetic signal to ourselves and the Universe that we can be anyone or do anything we want!  And why not?  This is how the Law of Attraction works.  Energy attracts like energy.  But don't think for a minute that the Universe can be fooled. We have to believe in our core that we are invincible, powerful, worthy, great and fantastic people who love ourselves, others and our lives.  Just like Jessica! 

Surrender

We usually hear the word "surrender" in regard to fighting, warfare, or in a religious context.  For this reason, our society equates surrendering with weakness, or giving up.  It's a word a lot of us can't relate to or don't want to associate with ourselves.  But when given in the context of realizing what is real and true for ourselves, surrender can be a very powerful act.  Resisting--because we may think we need to do things a certain way, play a certain role, or let society dictate what we like or dislike--blocks us from living the lives we were meant to live and to experience true happiness according to what is real for us.  Surrendering to our true selves liberates us from bondage to people, places, objects and other human constructs and just allows us to BE.  We no longer want to ask ourselves, "Who am I?" because we will already know.  We are.  You are.  I am.  To this we surrender. 

Authenticity

Many of us go through life wishing we could be who we really want to be, instead of being who society wants us to be.  We have job titles, and with them come certain expectations that may have little or no relevance to our own personal beings.  Or maybe we find ourselves in a position where we think, "I am such a fake!  Why am I doing this?"  When we are not living true to the self that is within us, the resulting insecurity, resentment, and guilt can keep us blocked in a negative energy space that's difficult to disengage.  When we're not sure of what the result of living with authenticity will be, the prospect of change is scary.  But what is the worst thing that will happen if today we decide to live life true to ourselves?  What's the next worse thing that could happen?  And the next?  By now it's probably not looking so bad, in fact, it might be looking pretty good!  When we make a conscious choice to live in authenticity and cast aside the weight of society's expectations, we throw away the old labels that don't match up to our values anymore and we move forward into a positive energy space.  And when we do, we will naturally attract people, jobs and situations that harmonize with our true beings. 

When life gets in the way

Sometimes even with the best intentions, life gets in the way.  We don't meet a goal, or something gets compromised in the name of something else.  When this happens, it's a good time for us to take a moment, breathe, and look at the process of what happened without beating ourselves up.  What came up and how did we set our priorities?  Did we let something go because of an expectation someone else had of us?  Did we sacrifice our own plan because we placed more importance on making someone else happy?  Or did we think, "I can do it tomorrow when I have more time"?  It's really common to put things aside when life gets busy, so realizing this is the first step toward being compassionate toward ourselves.  Next, we can look at how our values were represented in what happened.  If our ideals were compromised, then consider it a learning experience for the next time.  If we let one thing go in place of another but our values remain intact, then consider it a valid exercise in prioritization, perhaps even learning something about ourselves and our own personal belief system.  When life gets in the way, it's always a great opportunity to learn something about ourselves. 

Pleasure and pain

Most of us enjoy pleasure, and most of us have an aversion to pain.  But what happens when we place so much importance on gaining pleasure and avoiding pain that our pursuits become obsessive or addictive?  Or when the avoidance of pain takes on such great importance that we numb ourselves with intoxicants, the Internet, food or other addictions?  It's not surprising that for most of us, our attachment to pleasure (and avoidance of pain) and the expectation that it will make us happy, often leads to disappointment and consequently, leads us to pursue even more fervently whatever it was that didn't make us happy in the first place.  We have a crappy day at work and think that a few beers will make us feel better.  When it doesn't happen, we drink more!  A good question to ask ourselves when we are faced with such a situation is this:  Where is the happiness in that beer?  Is it in the ice cold glass?  Is it in the hoppy finish?  Is it in the buzz?  What is the possibility that there is no inherent happiness in that beer?  What would it be like to realize that the only real prospect of happiness lies within us?