Beauty and the Beast

I went for a hike yesterday around what’s called The  4 Lakes and the scenery is absolutely breathtaking. I was walking up a forested path with trees, mountains and a   picturesque waterfall on one side of me and the calmness of a still, blue lake on the other side. It felt like I was walking through a story book; a fairy tale. And as I was enjoying the surreal beauty and peacefulness of the walk I became acutely aware of the possible presence of wild animals as noted in my article below and I thought to myself: 

Don’t allow the monsters to ruin or prevent you from seeing all the beauty that surrounds you. Don’t let them scare off all of the beauty within you.  I told myself that the monsters in your head, after all, are just a figment of your imagination born from wounds, wounds from misperceptions of a child’s mind.  

The monsters in reality are afraid of YOU, so they use scare tactics as their defenses against you. They know you are more powerful, it’s only YOU that does not know this. Why do you think they fight back so hard? Why do you think they are so relentless? Because they know you are stronger and you could take them out. 

They will do whatever they can to survive: trickery, become louder, project images onto your mind to prove they are real and they are stronger. They will even have you experience repeated hurtful patterns externally and repeated self-sabotaging patterns internally to prove their realness and strength. Yet, what you don’t realize (because they are so sly and deceiving) is that it is actually YOU creating these situations just by the sheer fact of believing in them!  

It reminds me of the lives of circus elephants. As babies they are chained by the ankle so they can’t escape their cage. When they grow up to be big, strong, magnificent animals, who can now break that chain with their  own strength, they don’t. They don’t escape that life of entrapment and cruelty, even though they can, because they have learned to believe that, that weak chain can still retain them and hold them to their cage. 

So for the rest of my hike, I decided not to believe in the beasts, and I continued my walk in solitude and freedom taking in all the beauty. I decided I was going to write a new story, my own fairy tale.

Being Bear Smart

Where I live is beautiful with lots of wondrous mountains, flowing rivers, an omnipotent ocean and lush forests. But amongst all this beauty there is a presence of danger. While enjoying nature’s beauty you may encounter wild and dangerous animals, especially bears, who habitat these lands - a large, powerful animal that may be hungry, scared or just in a bad mood. Residents who live in this part of the country or tourists visiting this scenic area receive pamphlets on what to do if you encounter one of these wild animals:

• Don’t panic

• Never feed the bear

• Indentify yourself as a human by talking in a calm tone of voice

• It may try to intimidate you by popping its jaws or swat while blowing and snorting

• It may lunge toward you or bluff charge you, but will turn away

• Although scary, you are not likely to be hurt

• Do not provoke or try to fight off the bear

• If the bear does attack you offensively, fight back with any weapon you can find

• Do not play dead

• Never run. Running could invite pursuit

• Stand your ground and face the bear

Great advice for our own monsters that are lurking in the dark forests of our mind. When you are faced with your own “dangerous” monster, do not panic. Stop feeding the monsters with your negative thoughts, your addictions, your obsessions, and any of your other unhealthy behaviours.

Talk to them from your adult self, that wise, knowing self. Soothe them with a calm tone of voice and do not attack them. They may try to intimidate you with their scare tactics, threatening your safety. Call their bluff and they will eventually retreat.

If your monsters are relentless and are hurting you - fight back. Fight back with all the strength you have inside of you, do not roll over and play dead. Do not let them win or believe they have won.

Never run away from your monsters. You can’t escape your monsters by running away from them because they will run after you. You cannot outrun your monsters because they will always been in pursuit and they are much faster than you.

You cannot escape them by trying to hide from them or fight them off (through your addictions, obsessions and other distractions) because when they come to, when they find you they will fight back harder and fiercer.

You escape your monsters by facing them and standing up to them and letting them know who is in control. Identify yourself as a wise, confident, powerful human being!

Who is responsible?

I wrote this article for an online magazine: examiner.com

When our life isn’t working out the way we want it to, we often blame external things or other people. The relationship isn’t working because he is dysfunctional, your job isn’t recognizing your full potential, or you aren’t making enough money and can’t afford a vacation. And it’s because of this or because of that, this circumstance or that person. Although these may manifest as external problems, it is often emotions or thought patterns that hold us back.

We believe we are victims to circumstances and other people. That it is someone else’s or something else’s fault that we are not happy or getting what we want in life. Something out side of us is causing us to be unhappy or stuck. And even if you don’t think you are blaming someone or something else, you probably are if you are not taking 100% responsibility for what is going on in your life and for your unhappiness. Be careful not to blame others for who you have chosen to be or what you have chosen to believe about yourself.

Sure, maybe it is true that you are in a relationship with an emotionally unhealthy person or that your boss is a tyrant, but these are all choices you made. I am not saying they are good choices or bad choices or that they are right or wrong choices, I am saying that you and only you made the choice. Even how you reacted, perceived it, or perhaps, made it mean something about you, is your choosing.

Perhaps an unconscious choosing due to your own self-negative thoughts and self-beliefs, but it is your responsibility to clean these up … without judgment and blame towards yourself as well. Merely become aware of what they are, and then realize it is you who is choosing to continue to believe and act upon these thoughts and beliefs through your choices and through your reactions. They are 100% your thoughts and 100% your emotions, no one else is thinking or feeling for you.

Taking 100% responsibility for your life may sound difficult or scary but it can be very freeing too because you will know that you have the power to choose. Choose who you allow in your life, choose how you react to situations and choose how you perceive certain events. You can unlock from the shackles of blame and resentment and take your power back.

Ask yourself the following questions. If you were 100% responsible for yourself:
What would you do for yourself today?

What choices would you make?

What boundaries would you set?

What would you stop doing?

What or who would you let go of?

What would you open up to?

By being 100% responsible for your life, you learn to be able to respond to your own needs, build a sense of personal authority and save yourself because no one else is coming to rescue you.

Letting the Enemy In

I open the door wide and let them in.

Oh I try to blame others for it, spend my time analyzing the other person’s issues, how they hurt me, how I am the victim, but it is only I that let the enemy in. And I make the enemy stronger by repeating the same self-defeating thoughts and make the enemy stronger by continuing to believe these false self-beliefs. Beliefs created so long ago with an innocent child’s mind and sensitive heart.

Unskilled behaviours of the adults I looked up to, looked to for love, support and understanding and when it was dysfunctional, it created my sense of self, how I felt about myself and who I thought I was. And I realize I am still operating from that same place decades later! I am not who I think I am. These thoughts, these beliefs are what are creating the pain inside … nothing external. I am the one feeding the imaginary monster.

We let the enemy in when we are weak.
We let the enemy in every time we lie to ourselves and make excuses and justifications for our unhealthy or addictive behaviours.
We let the enemy in every time we listen to our negative thoughts and destructive self-beliefs and self criticism.
We let the enemy in when we try to control or manipulate a situation or person to feed our own unhealthy emotional needs.
We let the enemy in when we aren’t compassionate with ourselves and forgive our mistakes.
We let the enemy in when we don’t believe in ourselves and don’t trust ourselves.
We let the enemy in when we choose not to listen to our instincts, our feelings and our own inner knowing.

I have not been a good guard of my gateway to my heart and soul ... the gateway to inner peace … the gateway to my happiness.

Not taking care of ourselves, not taking responsibility for ourselves…we allow the enemy in. And when the enemy does get in we blame others, external things and allow it to beat ourselves up.

The real battle is inside. Not out there with something or someone else.

Lessons, Letting go and Love

Reflecting on 2009…

Lessons Learned

1.       I have codependency patterns in my intimate relationships

2.       I  take other people’s issues personally then create self-defeating stories

3.       I incorrectly base how I feel about myself by the  behaviours of others

4.       I have let unconscious wounds run my life

5.       I have come to realize my own worth

6.       I am not inferior to others

7.       I do have gifts and something to offer

8.       I can trust my own thoughts and feelings

9.       I am stronger and wiser than I think I am

10.   I can rescue myself

Letting go of:

1.       Self-pity

2.       Childhood and self-defeating patterns

3.       Victimization mentality

4.       Self-doubt

5.       Beating myself up

6.       Allowing my mind/demons to torment me

7.       Overanalyzing things and confusing myself

8.       Taking on other people’s issues as my own

9.       Low self-worth and lack of confidence

10.   My old self-concept

Love & gratitude for:

1.       Friends who have been there through difficult times and good times

2.       Family who have always been there for me

3.       My cats whom I learn so much about living peacefully from

4.       New friends in a new town who have been so warm and welcoming

5.       My good health

6.       Beautiful landscapes that surround me in my new home across country

7.       Writing from my heart in this blog and the words of encouragement from others

8.       Teaching yoga, which inspires me and allows me to inspire others

9.       My vulnerability and open heart

10.   The courage to face my demons/wounds

I hope to take all these lessons and love and step into 2010 lighter as I let go of all that was holding me down. Much love, happiness and peace to all in 2010!

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.”    T.S. Eliot

To Let Go Takes Love

As 2009 comes to a close, it's a good time to look in our hidden places where we carry our fears, our hurts, our resentments, our bitterness, our anger, and all our self-defeating beliefs and LET THEM GO! Clear out for 2010 and make some space for new possibilities and more love to come in and fill you up.

To Let Go Takes Love

To "let go" does not mean to stop caring;

it means I can't do it for someone else.

To "let go" is not to cut myself off;

it is the realization that I can't control another.

To "let go" is not to enable,

but to allow learning from natural consequences.

To "let go" is to admit powerlessness,

which means the outcome is not in my hands.

To "let go" is not to try to change or blame another;

it is to make the most of myself.

To "let go" is not to care for, but to care about.

To "let go" is not to "fix", but to be supportive.

To "let go" is not to judge,

but to allow another to be a human being.

To "let go" is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes,

but to allow others to affect their own destinies.

To "let go" is not to be protective;

it is to permit another to face reality.

To "let go" is not to deny, but to accept.

To "let go" is not to nag, scold, or argue,

but instead to search out my own shortcomings and to correct them.

To "let go" is not to adjust everything to my desires,

but to take each day as it comes, and to cherish myself in it.

To "let go" is not to criticize and regulate anybody,

but to try to become what I dream I can be.

To "let go" is not to regret the past,

but to grow and to live for the future.

To "let go" is to fear less and to love more.

Author Unknown

Allowing

As we approach the end of the year it’s a good time to let go of all that no longer serves us, all that is holding us down or holding us back. Let go of the heaviness of your past and move into the future lighter and more open. Let go of what is weighing heavy on your heart and make some space within. If you are holding on to something else you will not be able to receive what the Universe wants to give you.

Allow the Universe to fill this space with what you need. You don’t need to search for it, you just need to be open and allowing and it will come to you. Just stop resisting, clinging, holding on. Let go of victim mentality, defenses, blame and attachment.

Stay in alignment with who you really are and your truth. Just be open. Just allow. Then all the love, happiness and peace you are seeking will come to you.

All you need to do is embrace it. It is already here just waiting for you to accept it.