Feeling Good

There is nothing in the world so much like prayer as music is. ~William P. Merrill

I very recently obtained a Native American style flute made by Dennis Frederiksen of NZT Designs that has very quickly become a pleasing and relaxing way of centering myself and reconnecting with my source. The particular flute that found its way to me, was constructed from the combination of a large piece of river cane and a block of cedar. The cedar makes up the portion of the flute from which the sound emanates. This combination creates an extremely pleasing sound that I believe rivals many flutes constructed entirely of wood. As an added bonus, the flute that chose me, features what is often referred to as a “loon’s head” cut into the end of the instrument.

After receiving the flute, I wrote back to Dennis to tell him how pleased I was with the sound. He shared that “…the cedar nest was an idea I had a few years back. In [the] Cherokee [tradition], the cedar tree is a representation of the creator. It stays green to remind us he is always here around us. The fragrant smell is his breath. The cedar block on my flutes, I feel may be the creator’s voice and song.”

Cedar was actually used across many Native American tribes for a variety of reasons including both ceremonial and medicinal purposes. Cedar is considered a spiritual kin to sage and sweet grass and is very often used for smudging (a ritual cleansing or purification).

As I’ve begun the process of learning to play, I’ve purposefully tried to hear not only the beautiful musical tones created by this instrument, but also that little bit of the Creator’s voice that I believe is present in every musical instrument. If you’ve never heard a Native American flute, I would highly recommend that you seek out some examples of this awe inspiring sound. It’s peaceful, restful and a joy to listen to.

And, who knows, you may just hear more than you expect.

As I indicated in a previous post, one of the things I felt strongly about during the beginning of the year was giving back by volunteering. I recently spent a half day volunteering at America’s Second Harvest of Tampa Bay and I have to say it was an eye opening experience.

For those unfamiliar with this organization, America’s Second Harvest (ASH) is a food bank that acts as a warehouse for food coming from retailers that would otherwise be disposed of. Grocery stores and other retailers of food products often end up with items that have damaged packaging which they are not normally able to sell. These dented cans and overstocked items get donated to ASH where they are sorted and stocked in a grocery store like manner for their clients. Clients of ASH include churches and soup kitchens that must meet certain requirements in order to participate. Once they become “members” of ASH, these charitable organizations are free to “shop” among whatever items are available at no charge.

During my time with ASH, I was sorting goods that came in according to the type of product it was: Canned vegetables in one box; pasta and rice in another. Items arrive in banana boxes and are sorted using the same boxes as these are the strongest boxes for their size. A pallet of goods from a specific retailer may contain any combination of items which must be sorted in order to ease the next step in the process which is stocking ASH’s shelves.

For me, the single most surprising thing I learned was regarding the staggering amount of food that would normally be thrown away. We’re not talking about a few cans. It really adds up quickly.

So I spent a half day sorting items and getting a bit dirty in the process. When I got home, I thought about how thankful I was to have a place to wash up. When I sat down to my lunch, I thought about how thankful I was to have that turkey sandwich. And as I reflected on the events of that morning, I realized that my experience of volunteering had probably done as much for me as it had for those whom I will probably never know.

By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired. –Franz Kafka

A friend recently emailed me asking about happiness and how to manifest his desires.  He said, “I really do want to be happy with my life. I wonder if the problem is that I want too much and am never satisfied ( I was up until 2am last night thinking about my future and where I can go from where I am currently at today. Is this the peak of my life/career? From here on out, it this as good as it’s going to get?)”

The following is an excerpt from my response to him:

Basically, Law of Attraction says that “thoughts become things” and everything in our physical experience begins as thought.  First we think it, and then as we live with that thought the Universe goes to work to bring you what you are thinking about.  There have been all kinds of examples of this throughout history and if you think about it you will find examples in your own life of the same principle at work.  It is this reason that so many people never see much change in the patterns of their lives.  They continually reflect on the way things exist for them in the moment and the Universe keeps bringing them more of what they have which may not be what they really want. 
 
So let’s apply this to your situation.  You want to be involved in a career that’s different from the one you are currently in.  You think to yourself, “I would really like to do X, but I’ve got it pretty good and there are so many people who don’t have as much as I do.” Following Law of Attraction, the Universe responds to “…I’ve got it pretty good…” and sends you more of what you have which leaves you right where you’ve been all along.
 
So then you think, “I wonder if the problem is that I want too much and am never satisfied.” In short, the answer is no.  It is our nature to want more than we have no matter what that may be.  And there’s nothing wrong with that.  That desire for more is what keeps us growing.  We don’t have to worry about getting more than our “share” because the Universe can supply an unlimited amount of resources.  In other words, just because we are getting more does not mean that someone else must get less.
 
The single biggest stumbling block for most people is that they can’t get past the way things “are” in the moment.  If you want the Universe to bring you something more than you have then you must “ignore” the way things are and focus on the way you want them to be!
 
The way to know if you are moving in the right direction is with your emotions.  If you feel good about whatever it is you are thinking about then you are moving in the right direction for you and what you are focusing on is making its way to you!  If, on the other hand, you are feeling bad when you think about something, then you are moving away from what you want.  It’s that simple. 
 
The key to all of this is something of a balancing act.  You must be happy (feel good) with what you have in order to move in the direction of what you want while not being completely satisfied and continually wanting more.  As far as being happy with what you have, the easiest way to move in that direction is to learn to be thankful for what you have.  Find something about your current situation that you can truly be thankful for and offer that up to the Universe.  Seek out more and more things to be thankful for and offer those up at every opportunity.  In the end, the ironic part is that the more you “hate” what you have, the more difficult it is to move on and this is true of any situation be it a job, a relationship, or whatever.  Conversely, the more thankful and appreciative you are for what you have, the easier it is to let it go and receive more of what you want!

Life leaps like a geyser for those who drill through the rock of inertia. –Alexis Carrel

Ok, so I’ve been feeling so good lately that I started to wonder just how to reach for something better when I couldn’t possibly have any way of knowing what “better than I’ve ever been” would feel like.

Now, stay with me for a minute, I realize you may not be at this point on your path. In fact, you may be wondering how you will ever feel anything other than bad. You may not be able to imagine anything close to what you think I’m talking about. But, I submit to you that where you are is not that much different than where I’ve been lately.

I’m moving in a particular direction and, as such, I experience the inertia, or “vibrational escrow”, of the direction I’m moving. You know, “A body in motion tends to stay in motion.” So the motion I’ve created keeps me moving in the direction I’ve been going (sound familiar?) so that more of that situation shows up in my experience.

So the question becomes, “How do I reach for something I don’t understand in the first place?”

The answer is nothing new. “Ask, Believe, Receive,” or however you want to say it. Simply put, it starts with your desire to want something more than what you have. That’s it. It’s as simple as that. You know what you don’t want. So just turn that around and state it as what you do want. Here’s the “difficult” part, assuming there is a difficult part (doesn’t the simple thought that it’s “difficult” make it so? –you should be shaking your head in the affirmative). Because we are moving in a particular direction that inertia (vibrational escrow) that we have built up will keep us moving in that direction and we will have to make deliberate attempts to keep our thoughts on what we want until the time arrives where we’ve “purged the buffers” and can begin to receive that which we are now creating!

So, we’ve started to focus on what we want and we’ve maintained that thought even in the face of the “reality” in front of us. So what happens now?

Something or someone shows up in your experience that demonstrates to you, without any doubt, what you need to think/feel/do in order to move to toward that new direction.

In my case, I met an individual who stirred something in me unlike anything I have felt before. This individual helped me understand what to reach for by providing the necessary contrast between the way I have been feeling and the way I could feel. And, interestingly, it wasn’t about anything that was said but simply about the feeling. In case you’re wondering what it felt like, the only word I can come up with to describe it was “awe” but this doesn’t seem adequate somehow.

Today I am grateful for the arrival of this individual in my experience for I now know how it will be possible to feel better than I currently do.

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems. –Mahatma Gandhi

Have you ever felt a “nudge” to do something that you didn’t do but later realized you should have?  I’ve recently had a couple of those experiences and in both cases found out that a lot of good could have come had I only followed that little voice that was telling me, in very specific terms, what I should do.

I was driving to work the other day when I noticed someone who seemed to be having car trouble on the side of the road.  As I approached, I got the distinct impression that this was a new friend of mine from work.  As soon as I passed, I immediately started rationalizing by thinking to myself, “Nah, that wasn’t him, he works an earlier shift than I do and he would have been at work long before now.”

I realized as soon as I walked in the door at the office and he wasn’t at his desk that I had rationalized my way out of an opportunity to help my new friend.  As he relayed the story to me the following day, his statement that, “The entire day went wrong,” struck home as I knew that he might have had a very different day had I listened to my inner voice and stopped to help.

Over time, I have learned to trust these moments of “knowing” but I will admit that while I have learned how powerful these messages can be, I am still working on learning to give completely in to them.

How about you?  Have you been holding yourself back from really following that inner guidance? Imagine what may be possible if only we take that extra few moments and completely give in.

I’ve once again been tagged by Vickie at Contemplate This in the latest game going around the Law of Attraction blogosphere where each tagged individual makes a post on “Songs that make your heart sing”.

It seems that most people are choosing one song but I’m going to break with tradition and choose two:

First, a song that I’ve known of for some time but not many people I come across have heard it. I love what it has to say about our “mistakes”. It was written and recorded by David Wilcox.

Leave it like it is

Now when the paint jar tipped
Off of the table
You watched as it started to fall
Glass popped, shattered and splattered
And paint spray hit the wall

Bright, blue glossy enamel
Across the kitchen floor
You said, “Good God, look at that pattern
I’ve never seen that before”

Leave it like it is
Never mind the turpentine
Leave it like it is
Its fine

Now when the paint dried
You gave it a title
You called it “Kitchen Blue”
A white frame painted around it
And gallery lighting too

Rich folks come over to dinner
They all want one of their own
They say “How much? Who’s the artist”
And, “My what a beautiful home”

Leave it like it is
Never mind the turpentine
Leave it like it is
Its fine

Now most folks suffer in sorrow
Thinking they’re just no good
They don’t match the magazine model
As close as they think they should

They live just like the “paint by numbers”
The teacher would be impressed
A life-time of follow the lines
So it’s just like all of the rest

Leave it like it is
Never mind the turpentine
Leave it like it is
Its fine

For my second choice, I am going to select a song that, if you’ve watched much television at all during the last few years, you have no doubt at least heard the opening. It’s called “Somewhere over the rainbow/What a wonderful world” recorded by Israel “Iz” Kamakawiwo’ole.

Somewhere over the rainbow/What a wonderful world

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
And the dreams that you dreamed of
Once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow
Blue birds fly
And the dreams that you dreamed of
Dreams really do come true
Someday I’ll wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney tops is where you’ll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly
And the dreams that you dare to, oh why, oh why can’t I?
Well I see trees of green and Red roses too,
I’ll watch then bloom for me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Well I see skies of blue and I see clouds of white
And the brightness of day
I like the dark and I think to myself
What a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people passing by
I see friends shaking hands
Saying, “How do you do?”
They’re really saying, I…I love you
I hear babies cry and I watch them grow,
They’ll learn much more than
We’ll know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Someday I’ll wish upon a star,
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney tops is where you’ll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow way up high
And the dreams that you dare to, … why, oh why can’t I

Well those are my choices, so on the game goes…

• Lor at Lor’s Blog
• Susan at Sanctuary for Change
• Julie at The Truth of You

All the races and tribes in the world are like the different colored flowers of one meadow. All are beautiful. As children of the Creator they must all be respected. -Taken from the Native American Indian Traditional Code of Ethics. Inter-Tribal Times, 1994-OCT

This week I was having lunch in a Mexican restaurant and heard two religious leaders at the table behind me discussing how their spiritual answers would benefit the masses if only those masses would ascribe to their thought processes. Mind you, I was by no means eavesdropping. As a matter of fact, I would not have needed to in order to hear this part of their discussion for they, consciously or not, slipped into their “stage” voices during those particular moments. Before anyone misunderstands, allow me to say that I have absolutely no issue with either of these individuals or any of their religious counterparts. More than that, I believe that they are on the absolute correct path…for them.

As I was reflecting on this, the Universe chimed in and delivered the following message in my email:

Physical man gets into an uncomfortable place when he concludes, “I and those like me have come to the right decisions, and everybody that’s living outside of these right decisions is wrong.” And then he spends his life pushing against all those “wrong” decisions and cutting himself off from the Life Force that would help him have joy in his, what he concludes to be, right decisions. There is no one right path. There are endless paths, and the differences in the paths are what make them more and more, and more, perfect. The same old path no longer serves.

-Abraham via Esther Hicks (Excerpted from a workshop in Orlando, FL on Saturday, February 3rd, 2001)

There has also been much said recently about being ever so careful of the vibrational level of the people around you. I believe that thought process is really not that much different than that of the religious leaders that had lunch at the table next to me. I submit that there’s really nothing to “guard against” but only choices to be made.

As for my choices, I choose to believe that each of us has our own path to walk and that each path is just as unique as we are. Because each one’s path is unique, I choose to accept each one where he or she is at any given moment. I choose to be okay with each just as they are and not concern myself with how they may affect me — for I choose to believe they can only affect me if I allow them to. I choose to articulate my beliefs with my words and demonstrate them with my actions. I choose to laugh, play, and live with all those who come my way regardless of what they may have to offer in return.

Above all, I choose to Love each “flower in the meadow”.

And when you strip any of the world’s major religions to their respective cores, that is the one common denominator!

One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop. -G. Weilacher

If you’ve been to the Tampa Law of Attraction Meetup Group that I organize or have read very much of this blog you will no doubt know that my intention for these activities is to create an inviting space for like minded people to share ideas and grow as each of us walk our own path. To this end, I have been careful about how I present myself and this blog so as not to give any false impression that I’m doing any of this for any personal reasons other than the joy I receive when helping others and the information that I am able to use for my own continued growth.

As such, I’ve been somewhat resistant to talking about or addressing products and services within this realm (”resistant” - as I write it, it seems so ironic!). What has occurred to me over the last few days, however, is that these products and services essentially represent nothing more than tools which we can each choose to utilize or not depending on whether we resonate with them at any given moment.

I think that books are an excellent example of tools that can help us along our path. The reason so many books can be sold on a given topic like Law of Attraction, is due to the fact that each of us is following a different path and, as such, the same material presented in different ways could potentially resonate with different people. The information at it’s core may be very similar but the presentation could make the difference for one individual versus another.

So, I’ve made an internal decision to be more open to the tools that may come my way which could potentially prove to be beneficial to those I seek to serve.

As a first step in that direction, I would like to point you to a free collection of ebooks that contains a “who’s who” of authors who were writing, almost a century ago, about what we now call Law of Attraction. There are several books in this collection that I have read and finding them all in one collection like this is quite exciting!

I would also like to say a special “Thank You” to Lyman Reed at Creating a Better Life for posting a link to this particularly impressive collection!

Happy Reading!

Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us daily.  -Sally Koch

The Tampa Law of Attraction Meetup Group that I organize recently held a showing of a new video based on Law of Attraction called “Pass it on”. One of the concepts that came up in the video was the need to be of service to those around you. As I’ve said before, my intention for the meetup group and this blog is to be of service to all those who pass my way.

It would seem natural to wonder just how much impact a small act of service can have. After all, in my case, I’m just doing things that I would do anyway like writing and organizing social events. Just how much impact can something so small have?

Well, just as if the Universe knew I was wondering , I was sent this short video that tells the story of Johnny, a grocery bagger, who clearly demonstrates how, when it comes from the heart, one small act of service can reap overwhelming results!

Enjoy the video and then take a moment to think about what small thing you can do to be of service!

Laughter is an instant vacation.  ~Milton Berle

I recently came across an interesting blog by Alexander Kjerulf called Chief Happiness Officer where Alexander discusses the issues around the concept of being happy at work.  He has some thought provoking posts and one, “A question for ya: How do you find time for vacations?”, captured my attention.

As I thought about Alexander’s question, I remembered part of a conversation that I recently had with some of the members of the Tampa Law of Attraction Meetup Group that I organize.  We were discussing methods that we each used for maintaining our high vibrational levels and I shared my thoughts on how I’ve come to regard my daily life, including my work, as a vacation.

The following are my five easy steps to living a vacation rather than just taking one:  

1. Make an internal decision that life is one long vacation.

About two years ago I decided that I wanted to feel like I was on vacation all the time and not just during the one or two weeks a year that my wife and I go somewhere.  So I did just that.  I simply decided to feel this way.  At first it didn’t particularly feel true but, with a little time and focus on what I wanted to attract, I really did begin to feel more relaxed.

2. Believe that vacation is a state of mind, not a destination.

My wife has, on numerous occasions, told me, “You act like you’re on vacation,” to which I immediately respond, “I’m on permanent vacation!”  So what began as nothing more than a desire and decision to feel a particular way, has developed into a state of mind.  I can now feel like I’m “on vacation” even if I’m at work.

3. Surround yourself with things that you associate with vacation.

Throughout my preteen and teenage years, I had a huge affinity for both Hawaiian and Guayabera style shirts even though I was basically the only person I knew that wore them with any kind of consistency.  For whatever reason, I always associated those shirts with feeling relaxed and at ease.  Recently, I’ve incorporated that style of shirt back into my wardrobe and I’m wearing them on a regular basis once again.  After many years of wearing more traditional types of clothing, I’ve found these shirts once again help me feel relaxed.

4. Make a habit to set aside time to be “disconnected”.

It seems that with all the various forms of wired and wireless connections we have available today, we’ve lost touch with the fact that sometimes ignorance really is bliss.  It seems we’ve come to think that if we don’t know X within moments of it’s occurrence that we’ve somehow missed out of something.  One of the ways that I address my need for disconnection is through my choice of not watching, hearing, or reading the news.  Typically, anything that I really need to know, I will hear about through conversation with others and, as an added bonus, I don’t have to worry about which celebrity was caught shoplifting this week.

5. Choose not to worry about other people’s perceptions of your mindset.

I think this is a larger concern than most people would admit to.  We have such an overwhelming desire to belong that we will often stifle our own methods of self expression so that we conform to what’s considered “normal” for the culture we live in.  Peer pressure can be powerful but if we truly want to live to our highest potential we sometimes have no choice but to walk our own path and do things our own way.