M.J. Blehart's Blog, page 77

Do You Deserve What You Desire?

Do you do things that you desire to do?

It is all too easy to do things for other people, and to do things that are “expected” of us, and ignore what we desire for ourselves.

Some of these desires are little things, like sitting down to read a book; eating ice cream; watching a video; taking a walk; playing a game; and so on.

Then there are the desires to do big things, like take a vacation; start a business; write a novel; compose a song; get married/divorced; and so on.

Many people deny that which they desire for any number of reasons.  Some are completely legitimate, based in timing and cost and location.  Most, though, are denied because of self-imposed limitations, such as feeling unworthy and undeserving of getting what we desire.

It is possible, as well, that we may deny ourselves what we desire because we do not think we are good enough, skillful enough, or capable of being more than we are.

The truth is, you deserve to have the things you desire.  You are worthy of your desires, and you have every right not only to desire what you desire, but to seek it, find it, and acquire it.

Consciousness creates reality.  When we believe we are not worthy or deserving, that is what we create.  Our thoughts, feelings, and actions drive our lives.  When we are aware of them and making conscious decisions and choices, we can create virtually anything.

So you deserve the job, the relationship, the trip, the friends, the money, and whatever else you desire to have.  There is no why, this does not require any explanation beyond your worthiness and deserving of being and having the best you can.

Desire is more empowering than want

Because words matter as much as they do, it’s important to be aware of the words you choose.  This is why I have been working to not use want, and instead use desire.  Why?  Because of the literal definition of these words.

One of the definitions of want is to be without or lacking.  Beginning with lack is not tremendously conducive to abundance and positivity.  Desire has not got that lack in any of its definitions, so as such it is stronger, and doesn’t involve lack or scarcity.

To be wanting is often disempowering.  To be desiring is an expression of creation in gaining something we crave or request or wish for.  This is why to desire something is a means to create and build greater.

You deserve to have the things you desire, material or immaterial, because you are worthy of being amazing and awesome.

Finding positivity is not hard, but it does require action.

Knowing that we can have the things we desire for ourselves, because we are worthy and deserving, we can choose incredible options to live the best lives we can.  When we go with our heart’s desires, and we live with passion and excitement for all the possibility of living as fully as possible, ultimately we empower ourselves.  When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings.  We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings.  When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for.  Gratitude leads to happiness.  Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude.  Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

 

This is the two-hundred and thirty-eighth entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.

After more than 6 years of weekly blogging, I have launched a Patreon to garner support for these works, and more.

Please take a moment to subscribe to my blog (even if you did so before the blog was reformatted).  Fill in the info and click the submit button below and receive your free eBook.  Thank you!

Name *FirstLastEmail *EmailSubmit

The post Do You Deserve What You Desire? appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

Will You Get Uncomfortable?

Getting uncomfortable on purpose seems kind of backwards.

Yet when we leave our comfort zones and work our lives away from familiarity, that’s precisely what we’re doing.

I hate this part.

There is nothing more disconcerting than effecting a major change in your life.  Really, how crazy is it to move away from the comfortable, on purpose, in order to create something that may be better…or, possibly, might be worse?

But that is how consciousness creates reality.  We make our choices, decide to take action, and when the day is done we manifest something new and different.

Why must it be uncomfortable?  I can think of several reasons for this.  First, because when we are consciously choosing our destiny, we are doing something new, and different.  Our society of lack and scarcity emphasizes creating comfort, so stepping away from that is rebellious.  We are also taught from a very young age that it can be something to fear.

When you consider how many mixed messages, paradoxes, and other so-called truths or “reality” we accept in our modern society, it’s hard to believe we’re not more schizophrenic.  Sex is dirty…but buy that product and you’ll get laid.  Earn all the money you can…but the wealthy are evil.  Be thin and healthy…but eat this delicious pie!  Is it any wonder so many people suffer depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses?

Another reason we get uncomfortable with change is because we don’t know how it will turn out.  Might be good…might be awful.  Could be amazing and empowering…could be horrific and disempowering.  The unknown, and the wide array of possible outcomes, good and bad, will make you squirm.  Is it any wonder we get uncomfortable from this?

And yet, it is necessary.  Because change is inevitable.

Get uncomfortable on purpose, or just get uncomfortable

Have you experienced an unexpected change that made you super-uncomfortable in the moment?  It may or may not have passed quickly, but it happened?  That’s what happens when you experience a change that you did not necessarily drive.

Some change is majorly uncomfortable, but most is pretty minor.  That said, because all change is going to be the cause of some discomfort, that is why we would choose to take it in on purpose.

So here I go, making myself uncomfortable.

Last week I stated that this post on this blog was coming to an end.  This is the one-hundredth crossing the bridges post.  That is measured in weeks, so it’s just shy of two years.  I am going to be continuing to post on Fridays, but it is moving over to my author website, and getting some topical alterations.

I am not entirely comfortable closing this and moving it to my other website.  However, I think it is a necessary change.  It is also a step towards creating more accountability for my writing, and preparation to begin podcasting.

I am still working on the details of my podcast.  There may be two.  The first will be along the lines of the overall theme of conscious reality creation on this blog.  It is tentatively titled Awareness for Everyone.  I may be using it as a platform to launch some life coaching.  My goal is to have the blog started up in September.

This is scary.  I am going to be putting myself out there in a new and different way.  There is new technology I must familiarize myself with.  I need to determine formatting, and see if I will need any additional assistance from anyone to make this thing fly.

Uncomfortable can be exciting or scary, and it’s a choice either way

Part of why I keep writing about this here is to put it out there, so that I will make it happen.  This is an intentional action.

So I said two podcasts.  The second would be fiction.  I would be reading a chapter or two of Seeker, the first novel from The Source Chronicles, every week.  Serializing the novel.  That’s a bit more complicated, but it could be very worthwhile.  I really have wanted to turn it into an audio book.  Finder, too.

The challenge, of course, will be changing my voice for different characters.  If I go with that idea.

Change that I am choosing, deciding upon, and directing.  Yes, this makes me uncomfortable, but I believe this is super worthwhile.  I am more excited than scared.

Thank you for following along with these posts.  I hope you will enjoy the new blog that will be happening on my author website.  Please continue to work on manifesting your dreams, and consciously creating your reality.

Stay tuned.  Cool stuff is coming.

As always, thank you for crossing the bridges between my worlds with me.

 

This is the one-hundredth, and final entry of my personal journey, the Crossing the Bridges series.  My collectively published writing can be found here.

Enjoying this blog?  Please consider becoming a patron through my Patreon.

Please take a moment to subscribe to this blog (even if you did so before the blog was reformatted).  Fill in the info and click the submit button below and receive your free eBook.  Thank you!

Name *FirstLastEmail *WebsiteSubmit

The post Will You Get Uncomfortable? appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

How Does Familiarity Breed Contempt?

They say that familiarity breeds contempt.  Whether you apply this to a person, a place, or a thing, it tends to ring true.

This is where the comfort zone exists.  It is familiarity, it is the known, and it provides us with a sense of ease and contentment.  If we get too comfortable, change becomes that much harder.  Change is, of course, inevitable.

Familiarity is not necessarily a bad thing.  But too much time with the familiar leaves us feeling as if there is something missing.  We seek to effect change, and to create a world and life more to our desiring.

Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are always growing, always evolving.  Every single one of us changes, because that is our nature.  Because consciousness creates reality, we have the ability to control and direct that change.  We can decide the how, and we can create matters as we want them.

In other words, while familiarity breeds contempt, it could be said instead that comfort creates opposition.

This is, I believe, where the desire from within for more comes from.  When we know that, while what there is may be comfortable and good, but there can be better…this is that force.  Rather than just let life happen however it may, we have the opportunity to take control, and be the driving force for our own life.

All too often we sit back, and just let life happen.  But we have the ability to use our consciousness to create reality.  We can manifest more.  Every one of us is able to choose for ourselves.

Rather than be complacent in the familiarity of our life situation, we can choose to make something more of it.  It is up to us to choose to decide what the will be.

Familiarity can be a mask for fear

It often feels easier to do nothing.  There are lots of times when the comfort zone feels perfectly fine, thanks.  While there are certainly times when it is totally good to chill and relax and enjoy the spoils of life, too long in that place increases our unwillingness to leave it.

Nobody can remain static forever.  That’s just not how the universe works.  Everyone and everything has evolved, and continues to evolve.  When we cease to evolve, that is when we wither and die.  This may or may not be literal.

So we each get to choose to live life, or let life live us.  Do we assume control or sit in the passenger seat letting our subconscious drive?  Yes, there are tons and tons of things happening in the world today which we have no control over.  But our own lives, our thoughts, feelings and intentional actions belong to nobody else.  Not unless we give them away.

Familiarity is fear disguising itself as something comforting and good.  But really, it is that fear of change, concern that we will screw it all up and be worse off than we are, hiding in plain sight.  Here and now we have the opportunity and the ability to change our lives how we want to.

I know a lot of people going through a lot of different life-changing situations right now.  Personally, I am working on creating some change to my life, and taking steps that I have been resisting for a while.  This is not a comfortable place to be in, and it takes a lot of work to stay in the right mindset.  But on the other side of our comfort zones we all have amazing lives awaiting us.

Familiarity can be applied to change

This is not something I have ever done before, but I believe that it is totally possible.  Rather than resist change, fear change, or fight against it, the challenge is to get familiar with change.  What this means is that to truly control some change around here, I need to actively make change happen.

It can be minor – rearrange my desk, alter my routine, do something different with my time.  It could be bigger than that – change up my diet and exercise more drastically.  Then, it could be huge, like making a change to friends, jobs, home, and other stable and familiar things in your life.

Could familiarity with change breed contempt?  In theory, sure…but realistically, no.  The reason is because while you get familiar with change, because of its very nature it will shift before it can insinuate itself in the same way that the comfort zones do.  Getting comfortable with change simply means it will be easier to embrace when it happens.

More than that, though, when we get familiar with change, we become better at controlling it.  At least, the portions that are completely within our ability to be controlled.

Consciousness creates reality.  You and I can use this to our advantage, and make our own choices and decisions to build amazing lives for ourselves.

Can you step out of your comfort zones, leave behind the familiar, and create change?

 

This is the three-hundred forty-seventh entry in my series. These weekly posts are ideas for, and my personal experiences with, walking along the path of life.  I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world along the way.

Thank you for joining me.  Feel free to re-blog and share.

The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available here.

After more than 6 years of Pathwalking, I have launched a Patreon to garner support for these works, and more.

Please take a moment to subscribe to my blog (even if you did so before the blog was reformatted).  Fill in the info and click the submit button below and receive your free eBook.  Thank you!
Name *FirstLastEmail *PhoneSubmit

The post How Does Familiarity Breed Contempt? appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

Can You Leave Your Comfort Zones?

Comfort zones are both comforting, and comfortable.

It is within our comfort zones that we know what to expect.  They are familiarity, they are the known.  A comfort zone is like a luxurious down blanket, soothing and warming.

Nobody likes to step out of their comfort zones.  The unknown is outside of them, and the unknown can be intimidating, scary, unexpected, and downright terrifying.

So it should come as no surprise that the only way to truly grow in this life is to step outside of our comfort zones.

The question is, what do you expect when you step out of the zone?  Do you expect to face awful, difficult, hard-to-win challenges…or do you expect to face delightful, manageable, winnable adventures?  Either way, since the future is not yet written, the choice is yours.

You can expect stepping out of your comfort zone to be positive or negative.  Either way, you get to choose.  Do you expect it to be really scary and arduous, or very promising and freeing?  Are you expecting it to be a good experience or a bad one?

Consciousness creates reality.  Expect negativity, chances are you will have a negative experience with this.  But on the other side of the same coin, expect positivity, and the chances are you will have a positive experience with this.

This really is a choice.  When we work to leave our comfort zone, we get to decide how it will be.  When we let our fears and concerns dominate the action, we can turn it into a very uncomfortable experience.  But if we see it as something new and an opportunity to learn and grow, we could turn it into a magical happening instead.

It a choice.  You, and you alone, choose it.

Leaving your comfort zones is both easy and not easy

It takes a certain amount of courage to leave our comfort zones.  Even when that which is familiar, and as such comfortable, is not all that we would desire, moving past is challenging.  What if this will take me somewhere worse?  If I give up the familiar, what if the new is not what I truly desire?  Will this help me grow, or is this just a pipe dream?  What if?

That’s the scariest question of them all.  What if?  There are so many possible “what if” questions.  The answers range from minor to major, subtle to drastic, godawful to incredible, and everything in between.

The thing is, if you ask too many “what if” questions, you will never leave your comfort zones.  If we do not leave our comfort zones, we pretty majorly limit the possibilities for the experiences we can and will have in this lifetime.

You are capable of amazing things.  Sometimes, leaving our comfort zones to find that seems particularly challenging.  But you can do it.  I believe that you are worthy and deserving of amazing possibilities.

Finding positivity is not hard, but it does require action.

Knowing that we can see leaving our comfort zones as either good or bad, we can decide if we want to take a negative or a positive approach.  When we move out of the zone with excitement and passion and desire for growth and change, ultimately we empower ourselves.  When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings.  We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings.  When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for.  Gratitude leads to happiness.  Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude.  Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

 

This is the two-hundred and thirty-seventh entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.

After more than 6 years of weekly blogging, I have launched a Patreon to garner support for these works, and more.

Please take a moment to subscribe to my blog (even if you did so before the blog was reformatted).  Fill in the info and click the submit button below and receive your free eBook.  Thank you!

Name *FirstLastEmail *CommentSubmit

The post Can You Leave Your Comfort Zones? appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

What do You do With Your Personal Demons?

We all have our personal demons.  They manifest in different ways, sometimes they are subtle, sometimes overt.  They are the things that keep us from going to the places we wish to go in life.

Personal demons can manifest as the devil on your shoulder, the voice inside your head telling you that you’re not good enough, smart enough, worthy or deserving.  Brain weasels or brain squirrels, whichever rodent you identify, are another manifestation of the personal demon.

This can also be a familiar voice from without that has lodged itself within.  A teacher, a parent, the obnoxious person who never shuts up. The form may even vary depending on the situation.

One of my greatest personal stumbling blocks has been my fear of abandonment.  Underlying every other fear I have is this ultimate fear.  Succeed, fail, when all is said and done I will be abandoned and left alone.

This is a primal fear.  It is a fear that I cannot survive on my own, and that I will be forever shunned and neglected.  Achieve the amazing things I know I am capable of achieving, and suffer.  Lots of old, bad examples from my childhood have had a tendency to attest to this being how it works.  A long-held personal demon.

Frequently, we find ourselves working against personal demons.  But like all such things, it is better to work for something, rather than against it.

I know that when it comes to personal demons, this is particularly challenging.  These are the voices in your head that are telling you all about your lack of worth, and affirmations can only do so much.  This is true…but there are other additional ways to stand for something rather than against the personal demons.

Personal demons are liars

You are worthy, you are deserving of all the good things you want in your life.  You don’t need to do anything extra to get them, because they are yours.  That is what we can stand for, rather than against.  KNOW that you deserve all the good you desire for yourself.

I am going to face down one of my personal demons here, and take several steps to make some desired change.

This blog has been refocused over the past couple years from three slightly different angles to three connected posts a week.  Everything focused on the notion that consciousness creates reality, and each of us as such is capable of manifesting our destiny.  We can create a life we most desire to live, and we can do, be, and have virtually anything we desire.

When I began doing this regularly, one blog a week was an interesting challenge.  Then, along the way, it became two.  Now three.  Additionally, because of my author website, sometimes four.  And with my plan to start podcasting in the coming weeks, that’s a lot to maintain.

At the end of the month, this particular weekly posting will be leaving The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.  It will still occur every Friday, but it’s going to have a shift in format, and will be posted on my author website.  It will remain a personal blog post, but it will be getting new direction, focusing more on the craft of writing, my new adventures in podcasting, and where I am hoping to take it all.

I am done letting the squirrels in my brain run free.  I am driving this bus.  There are a lot of bold plans I have down the line, and it is time for me to realize them.

Personal demons can be exorcised

Taking my author website to another level is important, which is why the time has come to blog weekly over there, now.  Also, while this post certainly ties in with the rest of my conscious reality creation approach, the idea behind it was to cross bridges between my worlds.

What worlds am I talking about?  First, there are my three writing sides.  Professional, where I do work for small businesses and edit resumes.  The blog and my holistic work, my work with conscious reality creation and striving to help more people be who they really desire to be and do what they really desire to do.  My fiction work, writing my sci-fi novel, Steampunk, and working on the next books in The Source Chronicles.

Then there is the world of the SCA.  I do a lot of different things in the SCA, and some of that actually involves writing.  I love this game, and the people in it…and I know that in addition to the whole business I wrote about Monday, there are some ongoing issues, which I believe I may be in a position to help work with to foster change and growth.

Then there is my personal world and work world.  I have a job I really like as a content editor, working with website content for a small boutique marketing firm locally.  I am an actual, factual professional editor, and have been for about six months.  Personally, I have some awesome stuff going on, and I am super-excited about where I am, and where I am going.

Personal demons?  Their days are numbered

Thank you for your continued support.  What are you doing in order to face down your personal demons?

As always, thank you for crossing the bridges between my worlds with me.

 

This is the ninety-ninth entry of my personal journey, the Crossing the Bridges series.  My collectively published writing can be found here.

Enjoying this blog?  Please consider becoming a patron through my Patreon.

Please take a moment to subscribe to my blog (even if you did so before the blog was reformatted).  Fill in the info and click the submit button below and receive your free eBook.  Thank you!
Name *FirstLastEmail *PhoneSubmit

The post What do You do With Your Personal Demons? appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

Are You For Rather Than Against?

When taking a stand, it is important to be for rather than against.

Why does that matter?  Because when you are for a thing, you are proactive and working on action.  When you are against a thing, you are reactive, and usually working with inaction.

Carl Jung said, “What you resist not only persists, but will grow in size.”  Consciousness creates reality.  Because of this truth, when we stand against a thing, since that is where all of our focus is going, we tend to make that thing get worse.

This is why it’s important to give more focus and energy to what we are for rather than against.  When our energy is for something positive, we can build upon it.  This empowers us to effect change.

What if there is nothing to be for?  The simple answer is that there is ALWAYS something to be for.  While I will always maintain that we live in a world of greys and colors between black and white, the extremes DO both exist.  Order/Chaos, Good/Evil, Light/Dark, Hot/Cold and so on.  As such, if there is something for you to stand against, there is also something for you to stand for.

I know that sometimes it’s hard to see just what the thing to stand for is.  Like the situation I wrote about expressing how #IStandWithDavius.  There is an awful person doing awful things.  Besides taking a stand against him, what can we stand for?

We can stand for everyone being impacted by this person.  We can stand for writing to the Board of Directors to remove this guy from his position of “power”.  And we can certainly stand for creating more inclusivity and fostering a favorable and welcoming environment for all.

Being for rather than against is not less powerful

When you look at the things that created change in history, the most powerful were always those that were for rather than against.  Look at Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights movement he spearheaded.  He was not against the system as much as he was for changing it.  He was for inclusion, equality, and tolerance.

The Suffragists were for a women’s right to vote, not against the men who stood in their way.  They were for equality.

Yoda offered an explanation of the Dark Side of the Force that actually applies rather perfectly to being against rather than for.  “Quicker, easier, more seductive.”  It feels a lot easier and faster to take a stand against something rather than to stand up for something.

Why?  Because I think it is human nature to be reactionary.  Or rather, we have become used to being reactionary as a society.  Perfect example – a school district in Colorado will only have school 4 days a week to save the district money, because the locals could not approve a budget to increase money to support the schools.  Now, all those parents will have to either take a day off or put their kids into child care, spending even more money than they would have paid in school bond taxes.

This is why it is so important to be for rather than against.  When we are for something, we can create and maintain change.  We can be proactive, and make improvements.  When we are against, though, we are ineffectual, and without a solution are more likely to perpetuate an issue than resolve it.

Being for rather than against fosters change

When we take a stand for something, we are asking for change.  In being for something, we are focusing on creation, which will help us to improve our lives, fix problems, and better our world.

There are still going to be challenges, but when we stand up with direction, we have an end goal in sight.  This is positive vs negative energy.  When we raise our frequency by creating and fostering positivity, we have a far better change of improving the world around us.

The important thing to keep in mind is that resistance is not futile.  But the direction of our resistance matters.  Resist against, you are fighting the current and gaining no ground.  Resist for, and you are creating movement to truly effect change.

Do not give up.  But if you find yourself against something, look to see what you can stand for instead.  Whether it’s big, like the current President and his awful administration – or small, like a family member who disrespects you – seek something to be for in positive opposition.  Being for empowers.  When we are empowered, we can change the world.

Do you stand for rather than against matters that need to be changed?

 

This is the three-hundred forty-sixth entry in my series. These weekly posts are ideas for, and my personal experiences with, walking along the path of life.  I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world along the way.

Thank you for joining me.  Feel free to re-blog and share.

The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available here.

After more than 6 years of Pathwalking, I have launched a Patreon to garner support for these works, and more.

Please take a moment to subscribe to my blog (even if you did so before the blog was reformatted).  Fill in the info and click the submit button below and receive your free eBook.  Thank you!
Name *FirstLastEmail *NameSubmit

The post Are You For Rather Than Against? appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

What are You Standing Up For?

Standing up for what is right is not always the easiest choice.  But it is still a good choice.

In the medieval reenactment game I have been playing for almost 27 years now, there is currently a leader, a “King”, who has been openly racist, and continually taking inappropriate actions regularly.  In a society where most of the people I know are open, welcoming, and otherwise decent to one another, this is a terrible disappointment.

A friend of mine took a bold action in standing up to this bully, and it has caused a lot of people to offer their support.  I, too, agree with his idea, so let it be known that #IStandWithDavius

Why is this important?  Because when we work together to take a stand against evil, we have far better chance of doing something about it.  We can build change, and develop more positivity in a world that has far too little right now.

I do this medieval reenactment thing for fun.  I have met some pretty amazing people from around the world playing this game.  While there are many who are socially awkward, and others who have various and sundry social issues, overall these are the most interesting, friendliest, best people I know.  That’s why I continue to play this game, because it is something I love.

This current situation is not the only problem we face, but it is an immediate one.  When we work on standing up together against hate speech, bigotry, racism and the like, we empower not only ourselves, but those standing up with us.  Together, we have the power to change this ugly situation, and show that this kind of intolerance will not be accepted.

Standing up For is better than Against

It is important when you are standing up to something that you be standing up FOR rather than AGAINST a thing.  For is a proactive stand, and imminently more powerful.  Against is a reactive stand, and flimsy because it lacks conviction.

Standing up for a thing empowers that thing, be it justice, tolerance, acceptance or what-have-you.  Being against a thing is disempowering, and because it is a reaction to a situation it does not create an alternative nor a solution.

My friend is not alone in his stand against this unfortunate and ugly situation.  I stand with him, and all those who also disagree with hate speech and its ilk.  We are showing this awful “King” that we will not accept his hatred, his bigotry, or his intolerance in our game, and hopefully the Board of Directors will take note and take action.

By standing up together, we can show the haters that this is no place for them.

Finding positivity is not hard, but it does require action.

Knowing that standing up with our friends can reinforce one another to create change, taking a stand can be empowering.  When we stand for change and work together to make this world a better place, we empower ourselves.  When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings.  We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings.  When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for.  Gratitude leads to happiness.  Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude.  Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

 

This is the two-hundred and thirty-sixth entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.

After more than 6 years of weekly blogging, I have launched a Patreon to garner support for these works, and more.

Please take a moment to subscribe to my blog (even if you did so before the blog was reformatted).  Fill in the info and click the submit button below and receive your free eBook.  Thank you!
Name *FirstLastEmail *MessageSubmit

The post What are You Standing Up For? appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

How do you Savor the Moment?

Savor the moment.  Be grateful, and excited, and enjoy it, here and now.

As you are reading this my annual vacation is drawing to an end.  I have been enjoying a week of rest and relaxation with friends and chosen family, unwinding and de-stressing.  Fun, good company, and an opportunity to hit the reset button.

Rather than become bummed out that my vacation is over, though, I am going to savor the moment.  From there, I am going to take the positive energy it has generated, and use that as I re-enter my life.

There are some cool things coming down the line for me.  I am very excited about a number of them. Plans are afoot to begin podcasting, and there are some other new things in the works that I am having a lot of fun creating.

I know a lot of people who get a bit bummed about the end of their vacations.  I, however, am stoked that I have had this time off, and because of it will be able to return to my regularly scheduled life with new vigor, new energies.

This is a choice.  I am choosing to see this for the moment of excitement it represents.  This is a decision on my part to look at the good that has come from the now, and use that to manifest an exciting future.

Consciousness creates reality.  Leave vacation bummed out, I will certainly discover new ways to bum myself out further.  But if I choose instead to take that rest and relaxation and use it as revitalization, I am going to be able to do a lot more with it.

Looking ahead with apprehension versus anticipation makes a real difference in the possible outcome.

Savor the moment, and hold onto that awareness

How am I feeling right now?  Am I content, rested, relaxed, feeling renewed?  If so, it is in my best interest to retain that, so I can create even more.

If I am feeling anxious, unhappy, and starting to stress in anticipation of the end of my vacation, what message does that send out to The Universe?  I do not believe it’s a very positive one.

Like attracts like.  What we think about, feel, and take intentional actions towards we can manifest.  When we think about a thing, but then let our subconscious take over the driving, we should be less than surprised when we hit the guardrail, rather than stay between the lines on the highway.

It is all too easy to get stuck either looking back at the past, or ahead to the future.  The past can make us wistful, and all-too-often nostalgic for the rose-colored memory, which is seldom the reality.  On the other side of the same coin, the future can be either super-exciting, or a cause of anxiety as we anticipate what is coming down the line.

It is for this reason that we need to spend more time just being.  When we are in the here-and-now, we can remain better focused, and more capable of finding and holding balance.  Right here and now we just are.

When we are aware, we have no worries or fears dominating our emotions.  We can be in total neutral, neither depressed nor anxious, breathing.  From this place we can do anything.

Savor the moment, wherever it finds you

It’s too easy to get distracted, or caught up in other happenings.  We remember this or consider that, and instead of enjoying what we have here-and-now, we lose sight of it for past or future.

When we neglect to savor the moment, we lose out on knowing our world and ourselves better.  Rather than attaching thoughts that can take out to other places, when we are aware, here and now, it can be amazing.  There are new discoveries to be found, and we might find that we are open to more than we normally realize.

I am grateful and excited for this moment.  Yes, the future is something I am looking ahead to not with anxiety, but excitement…but in this very moment, I am simply glad to be alive.

It is my hope that you take time to savor the moment, and experience life for all its amazing, endless, incredible possibility.

As always, thank you for crossing the bridges between my worlds with me.

 

This is the ninety-eighth entry of my personal journey, the Crossing the Bridges series.  My collectively published writing can be found here.

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Why are Rest and Relaxation Important?

When was the last time you allowed yourself real rest and relaxation?

I am not talking about sleep, or a little weekend escape, I mean actual, factual relaxation and resting from your responsibilities?

Modern society frowns on taking breaks.  We have this incessant need to go go go, and anybody who doesn’t reflect that is either lazy, entitled, or otherwise not contributing to the greater good.

Is that total bullshit, or what?

Yes, the human body needs to rest.  Sleep is necessary for both our physical and emotional health.  But sleep is not enough.  Many people, when they go to sleep, still find their minds racing with all sorts of thoughts.

We think about today, tomorrow, yesterday.  There is a replay of how events went versus how we wanted them to go; or a preview of coming events, both as we wish and as we do not.  If, like me, you are almost constantly thinking, it can be really hard to turn your brain off.  Sleep may come, but does it actually bring with it rest?

Then there is relaxation.  Dictionary.com defines relaxation as, “the state of being free from tension and anxiety.”  Also, “the restoration of equilibrium following disturbance.”  As such, relaxation involves regaining balance in life.

I know people who thrive on stress.  Some of them simply seem to draw it to themselves, in some cases because they define themselves by how they handle stress, and in others because of perpetual victimhood.  Either way, I believe the fail to see that it is not healthy.

Stress in small doses can be a motivator.  But as stress piles on it can begin to take us down.  It usually begins mentally, as we lose focus.  Then it gets emotional, as we become irritable. When it gets physical, we get sick.

Rest and relaxation are necessities.

Despite what many think, and what society seems to put out there, rest and relaxation are as necessary to our lives as eating and breathing.  They help us to be balanced.

Balanced?  While most of us exist in the various grey and color areas between black and white, the polar opposites, times present a need to balance between them.  There is yin and yang, and excesses often need to be balanced out to bring about equilibrium.  You cannot go go go without needing to stop stop stop at some point.

That is why we need to take time for rest and relaxation.  Without them, we will come apart at the seams.  This can be mental, emotional, or physical.

The mental, as mentioned before, starts with loss of focus.  Then we begin to make mistakes, fail at good judgment, and tend to become unable to concentrate or get done things we desire or need to get done.

Emotionally, we start getting irritable.  Then angry.  We get short tempered, frustrated, and start to become increasingly negative.  Blame may get thrown out at others, because the hurt and frustration begin to overwhelm.  This can get really ugly.

Then it turns physical.  We experience shortness of breath.  Panic attacks.  You might get a cold, the flu, or some other illness.  Or cancer.  Or you have a heart attack.  Perhaps, if you have taken on enough stress, you just may die from it.

Getting in rest and relaxation can prevent this from ever getting that bad.  Why we do not accept this for as essential as it is I cannot entirely fathom.  But when we recognize the dire importance and necessity of this, we can work to do something with it.  We can find, make, and take time for it.

Rest and relaxation embrace change

I think one of the biggest issues we run into with change it that we are unprepared for it.  We have so much going on, so frequently, that when change occurs, whether wanted or unwanted, it feels overwhelming.  Even when it’s not, it still can feel as if it’s too much.

If we were more rested and more relaxed, however, I believe that change would be far less freaky.  Not only that, but I believe we’d be better equipped to handle change as it occurs.

When we take more time to get rest and to relax, we open ourselves up to more stability, more balance, and far more ability to cope with anything that comes our way.  Society’s expectations and demands on us can be exhausting.  We need to breathe.  We need to take breaks, and we need to pause to hit the rest button far more often than we do.

Consciousness creates reality.  When we are rested and relaxed, it is easier to be aware in the here-and-now, and as such use our thoughts, feelings, and intentional actions to manifest greater goods we desire for our lives.

If you have been following this blog for any amount of time, you might realize that this is the week I take my annual trek out to the Pennsic War.  I am getting some much needed rest and relaxation.  There are big plans in the works after I get home.  It should be some exciting stuff.

Hope you consider taking time for a break of your own, soon.

When was the last time you allowed yourself real rest and relaxation?

 

This is the three-hundred forty-fifth entry in my series. These weekly posts are ideas for, and my personal experiences with, walking along the path of life.  I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world along the way.

Thank you for joining me.  Feel free to re-blog and share.

The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available here.

After more than 6 years of Pathwalking, I have launched a Patreon to garner support for these works, and more.

Please take a moment to subscribe to my blog (even if you did so before the blog was reformatted).  Fill in the info and click the submit button below and receive your free eBook.  Thank you!
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How Do You Hit the Reset Button?

Everybody needs a chance to hit the reset button.

Whether it is merely for a few minutes, a night, or an extended vacation, hitting the reset button is essential to our wellbeing.  We might have things that need to be done on a regular basis, but we still need to rest and relax from time to time.  That is what it means to hit the reset button.

Despite negative connotations in the idea of rest and relaxation, such as slacking off, laziness or other similar perceptions, there is enormous positivity in resting.

Resting allows us to change our focus.  Hitting the reset button allows us to recover from strains, whether physical, mental and/or emotional.  Resting gives us a chance to restart, to alter our approach, to examine where we have been, where we are now and where we are going.

So how come our society doesn’t seem to like us to stop?  I suspect that this is borne of the incessant need to always be productive, to always be doing something, to always be in motion, lest we be perceived as inferior, and as such we get passed up or passed by or otherwise fail.

There is this unhealthy belief that unless you push yourself half to death, you will never succeed.  Of course, if that were true, a lot more big business owners would probably be dropping dead of exhaustion, rather than raping, pillaging, and living it up on their yachts.

It frequently feels like our society rewards people who never stop, never slow, never seem to take a break from action.  However, we are only human.  We all need to take breaks, to collect our thoughts, to rest and recuperate, to take new directions and actions in our lives.

Hitting the Reset Button Changes the Game

Rest can take any number of forms.  A few minutes to surf social media on your phone at work.  A walk outside in the sun.  Taking a moment for coffee and chatting with friends and/or coworkers.  Meditating.  Falling into your favorite spot on the couch and watching something on TV for a while.  Playing a game.  Taking a trip to the beach and lying in a hammock with icy beverages for a week.

Rest in all of these forms is hugely positive, and can let us be more productive and in a better frame of mind.

It’s important to recognize the difference between rest and distraction.  Rest is just that, a break, a pause, time out or time off.  Distraction is taking a new action or following a new process that is just a different form of busy work, or pseudo-productivity, that does not provide the break from stimulus we need for our greater positivity and overall wellbeing.

Nobody can go twenty-four-seven.  It’s just not possible, we all need to hit the reset button, which is different from sleep.  We need breaks that allow us to shift ourselves physically, emotionally and intellectually, or some combination of these, and allow ourselves a chance to discover lots of means for positivity.

Rest is good for our health on every level, and should not be something we deny ourselves.  We all deserve rest for our wellbeing, and from our wellbeing to build greater positivity in our lives.

Finding positivity is not hard, but it does require action.

Knowing that everybody needs to hit the reset button from time to time, we can seek out and find ways to take these necessary mental, physical and emotional breaks.  When we allow ourselves to get rest, whether its short breaks of lengthy vacations, we are better able to empower ourselves.  When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings.  We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings.  When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for.  Gratitude leads to happiness.  Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude.  Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

 

This is the two-hundred and thirty-fifth entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.

After more than 6 years of weekly blogging, I have launched a Patreon to garner support for these works, and more.

Please take a moment to subscribe to my blog (even if you did so before the blog was reformatted).  Fill in the info and click the submit button below and receive your free eBook.  Thank you!
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