Beca Lewis's Blog: Beca's Blog, page 21

Sing Knowing That You Have Wings - The Shift To Spiritual Perception

Originally posted 4/7/2009

For as long as I can remember, one of my favorite poems has been Victor Hugo’s,

“Be like the bird that, passing on her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing that she hath wings.“

Isn’t this poem beautiful? It sings about the principle and perception that no matter what appears to be happening, when we know who we are, then we can sing knowing that we have wings, and can easily fly up and away to safety.

While walking in the woods I watched our hawk’s nest high in the tree swaying in the wind, and felt the meaning of this poem even more deeply. Having felt for myself the bite of fear while sitting in a tree while it swayed, I thought of what it would feel like to be that high and ride through the blasts of wind that whip the tree limbs around so freely.

I imagined that if it were me, I would worry that the limb would break, and then what would I do? And then I laughed out loud, startling a few wood creatures I am sure, with the realization of what the “knowing that she hath wings” means to a bird. If the limb would break they would simply fly away, singing as they always do with the joy of the freedom of flight.

Notice that my thought about falling began with a “what if question” that made me feel afraid. Of course I would be afraid I would fall if I didn’t find peace in the knowledge that there is always safety, and always a solution, and this knowing will act as wings, always flying me to freedom and safety.

Victor Hugo’s life’s work was profoundly influenced by his awareness of the social injustice, inequality, suffering, and uprising that was the underlying theme of France in the 1800’s, the place and time in which he lived. His writings, like “Les Miserables,” were directed at pointing out, and bringing to light what was wrong within “the system,” so it could be corrected.

Yet, he wrote a simple and elegant poem on how to escape, without harm, the mess that the worldview dualist system makes. He wrote about how a bird, faced with a weak and falling branch, “Sings, knowing that she hath wings.”

Not only does she fly away as the weak branch breaks, she sings. She sings before the need to fly. She sings in the morning in celebration of a new day. She sings in the day, not because she must, but because she can.

A Chinese proverb says, “A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.”

Are you singing your song?

Until we are all aware of and acting within the awareness of the oneness of what appears as mankind, aware that we are within the circle of One, and not without it, aware and acting from the Principle of the Infinite Intelligence known as Love, social injustice, inequality, and suffering will appear within the times we live within.

Yet, we do not have to be part of the suffering, we can “Sing, knowing that we have wings.” We can sing as the bird does, because we have a song.

No matter what we call the voice of the “system,” worldview, predator, or monkey mind, this voice is belligerent, loud, but subtle, demanding that we listen to it. It brings with it all the emotions that begin and end with fear, with its tag along friends called doubt, anger, discouragement, frustration, sadness, despair, and the rest of these life-hope-stealing companions of the “what if” voice of the lie called, fear.

Since we do live in a thought universe we must be able to recognize who is asking the question, “what if,” and who is doing the thinking. It’s hard to sing when we are within the grips of the “what if” voice of fear, but there is another “what if” voice, and it sings the song of the Infinite Principle of Love.

The “still small voice within” brings gifts of love, with its corresponding comforting feelings of hope, encouragement, possibility, joy and the rest of its friends that encourage us to “sing, knowing that we have wings.”

Sometimes this voice also says “what If,” but this “what if” is not loaded with fear, it is loaded with hope and possibilities. It sings to us that there is always an open door; there is always a solution, that we are never separate from the gifts of Love, that there is noone who has more than others within the Infinite provision and equality of the Divine.

To hear this voice we must pause and listen to the stillness within the peace of Love. To hear this voice we have to stop agreeing with the “what if” voice of fear. It may still be making noise, but we are not listening, because we have the thought wings of awareness of the omnipresence of Love.

What isn’t love is loud and insistent that we pay attention to it, like a petulant child, or a bully or even a terrorist. That doesn’t mean we bow down to it and give into its demand to be afraid. Instead we pay attention to the peace, beauty and love that is all around us and when we do this, what to do about the bully of fear becomes evident.

If we attempt to fight fear it has us in its grip. Instead, we sing knowing that we have wings, and rise above it watching it dissolve itself as it battles with itself, which is all that it knows how to do.

“Sing, knowing that you have wings,” sing with celebration, sing with gratitude. Share your song, sing of joy, sing of good, sing of the evident abundance within your life. Sing, because singing of these things reveals even more goodness, sing because it dissolves the blinders imposed by fear, and reveals the consistent care always present for you.

Sing of the abundance of your neighbors and friends, show it to them, and share it with them. We cannot be rich without all being aware of their richness.

Afraid that your clients can’t afford you, or your company can’t keep you on? Sing, knowing they have wings too, sing knowing that abundance does not come from people, places and things, but appears because you are present, the representation and idea of abundance itself

Keep singing when the wind blows, or the limb you are on begins to break. Sing, that there is nothing to fear, you are One within the One of the I Am. Gather your thoughts to this place and keep them there, and let the illusion that threatens dissolve itself into the nothingness from which it came, never touching you, or your loved ones.

Sing Knowing That You Have Wings!

Originally posted 4/7/2009

The post Sing Knowing That You Have Wings by Beca Lewis appeared first on The Shift To Spiritual Perception.

Sing Knowing That You Have Wings

Originally posted 4/7/2009

For as long as I can remember, one of my favorite poems has been Victor Hugo’s,

“Be like the bird that, passing on her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing that she hath wings.“

Isn’t this poem beautiful? It sings about the principle and perception that no matter what appears to be happening, when we know who we are, then we can sing knowing that we have wings, and can easily fly up and away to safety.

While walking in the woods I watched our hawk’s nest high in the tree swaying in the wind, and felt the meaning of this poem even more deeply. Having felt for myself the bite of fear while sitting in a tree while it swayed, I thought of what it would feel like to be that high and ride through the blasts of wind that whip the tree limbs around so freely.

I imagined that if it were me, I would worry that the limb would break, and then what would I do? And then I laughed out loud, startling a few wood creatures I am sure, with the realization of what the “knowing that she hath wings” means to a bird. If the limb would break they would simply fly away, singing as they always do with the joy of the freedom of flight.

Notice that my thought about falling began with a “what if question” that made me feel afraid. Of course I would be afraid I would fall if I didn’t find peace in the knowledge that there is always safety, and always a solution, and this knowing will act as wings, always flying me to freedom and safety.

Victor Hugo’s life’s work was profoundly influenced by his awareness of the social injustice, inequality, suffering, and uprising that was the underlying theme of France in the 1800’s, the place and time in which he lived. His writings, like “Les Miserables,” were directed at pointing out, and bringing to light what was wrong within “the system,” so it could be corrected.

Yet, he wrote a simple and elegant poem on how to escape, without harm, the mess that the worldview dualist system makes. He wrote about how a bird, faced with a weak and falling branch, “Sings, knowing that she hath wings.”

Not only does she fly away as the weak branch breaks, she sings. She sings before the need to fly. She sings in the morning in celebration of a new day. She sings in the day, not because she must, but because she can.

A Chinese proverb says, “A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.”

Are you singing your song?

Until we are all aware of and acting within the awareness of the oneness of what appears as mankind, aware that we are within the circle of One, and not without it, aware and acting from the Principle of the Infinite Intelligence known as Love, social injustice, inequality, and suffering will appear within the times we live within.

Yet, we do not have to be part of the suffering, we can “Sing, knowing that we have wings.” We can sing as the bird does, because we have a song.

No matter what we call the voice of the “system,” worldview, predator, or monkey mind, this voice is belligerent, loud, but subtle, demanding that we listen to it. It brings with it all the emotions that begin and end with fear, with its tag along friends called doubt, anger, discouragement, frustration, sadness, despair, and the rest of these life-hope-stealing companions of the “what if” voice of the lie called, fear.

Since we do live in a thought universe we must be able to recognize who is asking the question, “what if,” and who is doing the thinking. It’s hard to sing when we are within the grips of the “what if” voice of fear, but there is another “what if” voice, and it sings the song of the Infinite Principle of Love.

The “still small voice within” brings gifts of love, with its corresponding comforting feelings of hope, encouragement, possibility, joy and the rest of its friends that encourage us to “sing, knowing that we have wings.”

Sometimes this voice also says “what If,” but this “what if” is not loaded with fear, it is loaded with hope and possibilities. It sings to us that there is always an open door; there is always a solution, that we are never separate from the gifts of Love, that there is noone who has more than others within the Infinite provision and equality of the Divine.

To hear this voice we must pause and listen to the stillness within the peace of Love. To hear this voice we have to stop agreeing with the “what if” voice of fear. It may still be making noise, but we are not listening, because we have the thought wings of awareness of the omnipresence of Love.

What isn’t love is loud and insistent that we pay attention to it, like a petulant child, or a bully or even a terrorist. That doesn’t mean we bow down to it and give into its demand to be afraid. Instead we pay attention to the peace, beauty and love that is all around us and when we do this, what to do about the bully of fear becomes evident.

If we attempt to fight fear it has us in its grip. Instead, we sing knowing that we have wings, and rise above it watching it dissolve itself as it battles with itself, which is all that it knows how to do.

“Sing, knowing that you have wings,” sing with celebration, sing with gratitude. Share your song, sing of joy, sing of good, sing of the evident abundance within your life. Sing, because singing of these things reveals even more goodness, sing because it dissolves the blinders imposed by fear, and reveals the consistent care always present for you.

Sing of the abundance of your neighbors and friends, show it to them, and share it with them. We cannot be rich without all being aware of their richness.

Afraid that your clients can’t afford you, or your company can’t keep you on? Sing, knowing they have wings too, sing knowing that abundance does not come from people, places and things, but appears because you are present, the representation and idea of abundance itself

Keep singing when the wind blows, or the limb you are on begins to break. Sing, that there is nothing to fear, you are One within the One of the I Am. Gather your thoughts to this place and keep them there, and let the illusion that threatens dissolve itself into the nothingness from which it came, never touching you, or your loved ones.

Sing Knowing That You Have Wings!

Originally posted 4/7/2009

The post Sing Knowing That You Have Wings appeared first on The Shift.

Hurry Up – Or Feel Groovy - The Shift

There is more to life than increasing its speed. -Gandhi

Getting there is not the point.

I know, that is not how we have been trained. We have been trained to hurry; hurry through school, and hurry to get a job. Then, it’s on to more hurry. Get the house, get the family, get the money.

For what reason are we hurrying? Why do we believe that getting to the end of something quickly is the point when everything in nature, and life, points to a different way.

Take the universe as an example. We have learned that it is always expanding, never stopping to say “I made it!”

Never in a hurry. Not like us.

Have you ever driven down the street with a car on your bumper, trying to get you to go faster and faster so they can get where they are going sooner. Maybe you have been driving that car. Why, what’s the hurry?

What does the hurry up and get there state of mind cause? Stress.

We feel as if we have to control things, get things, make things right, put things in order, and then all will be well. Does that really work? We know it doesn’t, but still the hurry up habit is a hard one to break.

In one of the exercise classes I take, people pop down into a squat and back up again as if that will prove that they are doing it right. But, they aren’t. They are missing the whole reason for the exercise.

It’s how slow can you go down, and how slow can you rise with correct placement that accomplishes the purpose of the exercise. As in life, it’s how much attention and care brought to the moment that brings results.

In Taiji we learn that the movement never stops at the end of the step, but breathes and continues into the next with a constant flow.

It’s the same in dance. Watch a great dancer and you will see that although they pass through a movement, or pose, it’s never to get there and stay, but to build to it and continue into the next. Even in stillness there is an ongoing movement.

Without being slow and deliberate and present in every moment, we have no time to be aware of what we are thinking, how we are standing, or what is happening within.

We have no time to watch a flower bloom, and feel at one with it. We miss all the pleasures of living in order to get somewhere and be done with something.

The person in the car trying to get me to go faster was missing everything.

She was missing the new buds on the tree, the feel of the road without ice bumps from winter. She missed the hawk sitting on the tree branch. She missed the joy of driving and the freedom of movement.

She could have also missed the squirrel running across the road, or me stopping at a stop sign.

It is not getting to the end that counts. It is the process of enjoying life, reveling in, and creating beauty, enjoying companionship, appreciating nature, that is what we are here to do.

We can choose to live each day more like a work of art, find ways to help someone just for the joy of it, and notice the value of each moment.

Or we could keep on hurrying to get somewhere and miss the whole thing.

Next time you find yourself in a hurry, ask yourself why. That question could take some time to answer, don’t worry, there is no hurry to get to it.

PS

Need a little musical help. Sing along! Go ahead, you know it!

The post Hurry Up – Or Feel Groovy by Beca Lewis appeared first on The Shift.

Hurry Up – Or Feel Groovy - The Shift To Spiritual Perception

There is more to life than increasing its speed. -Gandhi

Getting there is not the point.

I know, that is not how we have been trained. We have been trained to hurry; hurry through school, and hurry to get a job. Then, it’s on to more hurry. Get the house, get the family, get the money.

For what reason are we hurrying? Why do we believe that getting to the end of something quickly is the point when everything in nature, and life, points to a different way.

Take the universe as an example. We have learned that it is always expanding, never stopping to say “I made it!”

Never in a hurry. Not like us.

Have you ever driven down the street with a car on your bumper, trying to get you to go faster and faster so they can get where they are going sooner. Maybe you have been driving that car. Why, what’s the hurry?

What does the hurry up and get there state of mind cause? Stress.

We feel as if we have to control things, get things, make things right, put things in order, and then all will be well. Does that really work? We know it doesn’t, but still the hurry up habit is a hard one to break.

In one of the exercise classes I take, people pop down into a squat and back up again as if that will prove that they are doing it right. But, they aren’t. They are missing the whole reason for the exercise.

It’s how slow can you go down, and how slow can you rise with correct placement that accomplishes the purpose of the exercise. As in life, it’s how much attention and care brought to the moment that brings results.

In Taiji we learn that the movement never stops at the end of the step, but breathes and continues into the next with a constant flow.

It’s the same in dance. Watch a great dancer and you will see that although they pass through a movement, or pose, it’s never to get there and stay, but to build to it and continue into the next. Even in stillness there is an ongoing movement.

Without being slow and deliberate and present in every moment, we have no time to be aware of what we are thinking, how we are standing, or what is happening within.

We have no time to watch a flower bloom, and feel at one with it. We miss all the pleasures of living in order to get somewhere and be done with something.

The person in the car trying to get me to go faster was missing everything.

She was missing the new buds on the tree, the feel of the road without ice bumps from winter. She missed the hawk sitting on the tree branch. She missed the joy of driving and the freedom of movement.

She could have also missed the squirrel running across the road, or me stopping at a stop sign.

It is not getting to the end that counts. It is the process of enjoying life, reveling in, and creating beauty, enjoying companionship, appreciating nature, that is what we are here to do.

We can choose to live each day more like a work of art, find ways to help someone just for the joy of it, and notice the value of each moment.

Or we could keep on hurrying to get somewhere and miss the whole thing.

Next time you find yourself in a hurry, ask yourself why. That question could take some time to answer, don’t worry, there is no hurry to get to it.

PS

Need a little musical help. Sing along! Go ahead, you know it!

The post Hurry Up – Or Feel Groovy by Beca Lewis appeared first on The Shift To Spiritual Perception.

Hurry Up – Or Feel Groovy

There is more to life than increasing its speed. -Gandhi

Getting there is not the point.

I know, that is not how we have been trained. We have been trained to hurry; hurry through school, and hurry to get a job. Then, it’s on to more hurry. Get the house, get the family, get the money.

For what reason are we hurrying? Why do we believe that getting to the end of something quickly is the point when everything in nature, and life, points to a different way.

Take the universe as an example. We have learned that it is always expanding, never stopping to say “I made it!”

Never in a hurry. Not like us.

Have you ever driven down the street with a car on your bumper, trying to get you to go faster and faster so they can get where they are going sooner. Maybe you have been driving that car. Why, what’s the hurry?

What does the hurry up and get there state of mind cause? Stress.

We feel as if we have to control things, get things, make things right, put things in order, and then all will be well. Does that really work? We know it doesn’t, but still the hurry up habit is a hard one to break.

In one of the exercise classes I take, people pop down into a squat and back up again as if that will prove that they are doing it right. But, they aren’t. They are missing the whole reason for the exercise.

It’s how slow can you go down, and how slow can you rise with correct placement that accomplishes the purpose of the exercise. As in life, it’s how much attention and care brought to the moment that brings results.

In Taiji we learn that the movement never stops at the end of the step, but breathes and continues into the next with a constant flow.

It’s the same in dance. Watch a great dancer and you will see that although they pass through a movement, or pose, it’s never to get there and stay, but to build to it and continue into the next. Even in stillness there is an ongoing movement.

Without being slow and deliberate and present in every moment, we have no time to be aware of what we are thinking, how we are standing, or what is happening within.

We have no time to watch a flower bloom, and feel at one with it. We miss all the pleasures of living in order to get somewhere and be done with something.

The person in the car trying to get me to go faster was missing everything.

She was missing the new buds on the tree, the feel of the road without ice bumps from winter. She missed the hawk sitting on the tree branch. She missed the joy of driving and the freedom of movement.

She could have also missed the squirrel running across the road, or me stopping at a stop sign.

It is not getting to the end that counts. It is the process of enjoying life, reveling in, and creating beauty, enjoying companionship, appreciating nature, that is what we are here to do.

We can choose to live each day more like a work of art, find ways to help someone just for the joy of it, and notice the value of each moment.

Or we could keep on hurrying to get somewhere and miss the whole thing.

Next time you find yourself in a hurry, ask yourself why. That question could take some time to answer, don’t worry, there is no hurry to get to it.

PS

Need a little musical help. Sing along! Go ahead, you know it!

The post Hurry Up – Or Feel Groovy appeared first on The Shift.

Are You Kind To Yourself? - The Shift

[image error] I used to be a really bad self-talker, or perhaps I was a good bad self-talker. I would say terrible things to myself about myself. Sometimes I said them out loud, sometimes under my breath; but mostly quietly where no one could hear what I was saying. Nobody but me.

I told myself that I was stupid and made bad decisions. If I forgot to bring enough change for the meter I was a complete idiot. If the stitching on my hem was unraveling I was incapable. It was a hidden abuse, as most abuse is. I compensated for it, and did well anyway.

Once I realized that self abuse is just as horrible as abuse done by others, I began to uncover and eliminate the habit. Because that is what bad self-talk is; a habit and learned behavior. As destructive as that habit and behavior is, it is an accepted one, so I also had to give up any desire to feel a part of what others do.

Sometimes bad self-talk serves a purpose that we aren’t aware of. It either makes us victims so others will feel sorry for us, or strong and courageous as we succeed in spite of it. Neither one is a strong foundation on which to build a good life. One day that big bad wolf could easily blow that house down.

Over the years, I have worked at letting go of the bad-self talk habit. I have pushed that abuser out of my house, and locked the door. Sometimes it sneaks in through cracks in the window or drips in through a leaky roof, but for the most part I thought it was quiet in my house.

And then it dawned on me, just because I wasn’t practicing bad self-talk, it didn’t mean I shouldn’t be practicing good self-talk. All the time. Not just sometimes when I “need” something, or want to help someone, or feel bad enough that I take up good self – talk.

ALL the time!

It was the dawn that reminded me. Spring in Ohio. It starts in February even though the ground is often still covered with snow. The birds start singing. As the flowers began to bloom and the grass trades its brown dress for a green one, every bird is heard singing in their own voice as they greet the dawn. Their morning chorus is astonishing and beautiful.

No bad self-talk here among the birds. But, not only that, they are singing good self-talk. They sing of their expectations of the day, filled with all good things. Companionship, food, air, trees, the sun, and their young.

They work hard these birds. They don’t wake up thinking it is a day off, because for them (I know I am anthropomorphizing) they can’t take a day off. How could they? They have to feed themselves in order to survive. And in the spring they have babies to feed too.

And yet, every morning they sing of expectation and gratitude. What do they know that we often forget? That there is nothing to take a day off from if every day is glorious.

A funny thing happened when I began to notice that I wasn’t practicing good self-talk all the time. I noticed a bunch of bad self-talk was going on too. How did I miss it? It was because it wasn’t as loud as it used to be, and it was much more sneaky.

Time for some spring cleaning and spring singing to take place. Time to check what I say to myself and end the negative. Time to bump up the practice of finding and routing out self-talk that does not consistently acknowledge the good that is always present.

It’s not that hard. There is a cure for the habit. It’s called kindness. Starting with ourselves we can be grateful for our own unique song. We can sing it every morning. We can spread it out into the world.

Kindness is catching on. The theme of the movie Cinderella is, Have courage, Be kind. That sums it up doesn’t it? And if you are not sure, go see the movie and be inspired to keep good self-talk, and stop the other. Good things await. Have courage. Be kind. And watch the magic happen.

The post Are You Kind To Yourself? by Beca Lewis appeared first on The Shift.

Are You Kind To Yourself? - The Shift To Spiritual Perception

I used to be a really bad self-talker, or perhaps I was a good bad self-talker. I would say terrible things to myself about myself. Sometimes I said them out loud, sometimes under my breath; but mostly quietly where no one could hear what I was saying. Nobody but me.

I told myself that I was stupid and made bad decisions. If I forgot to bring enough change for the meter I was a complete idiot. If the stitching on my hem was unraveling I was incapable. It was a hidden abuse, as most abuse is. I compensated for it, and did well anyway.

Once I realized that self abuse is just as horrible as abuse done by others, I began to uncover and eliminate the habit. Because that is what bad self-talk is; a habit and learned behavior. As destructive as that habit and behavior is, it is an accepted one, so I also had to give up any desire to feel a part of what others do.

Sometimes bad self-talk serves a purpose that we aren’t aware of. It either makes us victims so others will feel sorry for us, or strong and courageous as we succeed in spite of it. Neither one is a strong foundation on which to build a good life. One day that big bad wolf could easily blow that house down.

Over the years, I have worked at letting go of the bad-self talk habit. I have pushed that abuser out of my house, and locked the door. Sometimes it sneaks in through cracks in the window or drips in through a leaky roof, but for the most part I thought it was quiet in my house.

And then it dawned on me, just because I wasn’t practicing bad self-talk, it didn’t mean I shouldn’t be practicing good self-talk. All the time. Not just sometimes when I “need” something, or want to help someone, or feel bad enough that I take up good self – talk.

ALL the time!

It was the dawn that reminded me. Spring in Ohio. It starts in February even though the ground is often still covered with snow. The birds start singing. As the flowers began to bloom and the grass trades its brown dress for a green one, every bird is heard singing in their own voice as they greet the dawn. Their morning chorus is astonishing and beautiful.

No bad self-talk here among the birds. But, not only that, they are singing good self-talk. They sing of their expectations of the day, filled with all good things. Companionship, food, air, trees, the sun, and their young.

They work hard these birds. They don’t wake up thinking it is a day off, because for them (I know I am anthropomorphizing) they can’t take a day off. How could they? They have to feed themselves in order to survive. And in the spring they have babies to feed too.

And yet, every morning they sing of expectation and gratitude. What do they know that we often forget? That there is nothing to take a day off from if every day is glorious.

A funny thing happened when I began to notice that I wasn’t practicing good self-talk all the time. I noticed a bunch of bad self-talk was going on too. How did I miss it? It was because it wasn’t as loud as it used to be, and it was much more sneaky.

Time for some spring cleaning and spring singing to take place. Time to check what I say to myself and end the negative. Time to bump up the practice of finding and routing out self-talk that does not consistently acknowledge the good that is always present.

It’s not that hard. There is a cure for the habit. It’s called kindness. Starting with ourselves we can be grateful for our own unique song. We can sing it every morning. We can spread it out into the world.

Kindness is catching on. The theme of the movie Cinderella is, Have courage, Be kind. That sums it up doesn’t it? And if you are not sure, go see the movie and be inspired to keep good self-talk, and stop the other. Good things await. Have courage. Be kind. And watch the magic happen.

The post Are You Kind To Yourself? by Beca Lewis appeared first on The Shift To Spiritual Perception.

Are You Kind To Yourself?

I used to be a really bad self-talker, or perhaps I was a good bad self-talker. I would say terrible things to myself about myself. Sometimes I said them out loud, sometimes under my breath; but mostly quietly where no one could hear what I was saying. Nobody but me.

I told myself that I was stupid and made bad decisions. If I forgot to bring enough change for the meter I was a complete idiot. If the stitching on my hem was unraveling I was incapable. It was a hidden abuse, as most abuse is. I compensated for it, and did well anyway.

Once I realized that self abuse is just as horrible as abuse done by others, I began to uncover and eliminate the habit. Because that is what bad self-talk is; a habit and learned behavior. As destructive as that habit and behavior is, it is an accepted one, so I also had to give up any desire to feel a part of what others do.

Sometimes bad self-talk serves a purpose that we aren’t aware of. It either makes us victims so others will feel sorry for us, or strong and courageous as we succeed in spite of it. Neither one is a strong foundation on which to build a good life. One day that big bad wolf could easily blow that house down.

Over the years, I have worked at letting go of the bad-self talk habit. I have pushed that abuser out of my house, and locked the door. Sometimes it sneaks in through cracks in the window or drips in through a leaky roof, but for the most part I thought it was quiet in my house.

And then it dawned on me, just because I wasn’t practicing bad self-talk, it didn’t mean I shouldn’t be practicing good self-talk. All the time. Not just sometimes when I “need” something, or want to help someone, or feel bad enough that I take up good self – talk.

ALL the time!

It was the dawn that reminded me. Spring in Ohio. It starts in February even though the ground is often still covered with snow. The birds start singing. As the flowers began to bloom and the grass trades its brown dress for a green one, every bird is heard singing in their own voice as they greet the dawn. Their morning chorus is astonishing and beautiful.

No bad self-talk here among the birds. But, not only that, they are singing good self-talk. They sing of their expectations of the day, filled with all good things. Companionship, food, air, trees, the sun, and their young.

They work hard these birds. They don’t wake up thinking it is a day off, because for them (I know I am anthropomorphizing) they can’t take a day off. How could they? They have to feed themselves in order to survive. And in the spring they have babies to feed too.

And yet, every morning they sing of expectation and gratitude. What do they know that we often forget? That there is nothing to take a day off from if every day is glorious.

A funny thing happened when I began to notice that I wasn’t practicing good self-talk all the time. I noticed a bunch of bad self-talk was going on too. How did I miss it? It was because it wasn’t as loud as it used to be, and it was much more sneaky.

Time for some spring cleaning and spring singing to take place. Time to check what I say to myself and end the negative. Time to bump up the practice of finding and routing out self-talk that does not consistently acknowledge the good that is always present.

It’s not that hard. There is a cure for the habit. It’s called kindness. Starting with ourselves we can be grateful for our own unique song. We can sing it every morning. We can spread it out into the world.

Kindness is catching on. The theme of the movie Cinderella is, Have courage, Be kind. That sums it up doesn’t it? And if you are not sure, go see the movie and be inspired to keep good self-talk, and stop the other. Good things await. Have courage. Be kind. And watch the magic happen.

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The Past Was Not What We Remember - The Shift To Spiritual Perception

The Shift To Spiritual Perception.

The Past Was Not What We Remember

The Shift.