M.J. Blehart's Blog, page 88

Pathwalking 260

This is where it all began, five years ago:

How can I make a difference?

This question comes up for me fairly often. I want to help other people see the world in the way that I see it. NOT in a ‘my way is the one true way’ idea at all. On the contrary – I want people to disagree with me. I want them to consider these words, and reject them if they disagree. I want them to think, to consider, to ponder their own view on similar topics.

Just before New Year’s 2012, I determined I would take action instead of make a resolution.  From that plan, the first Wednesday of January, 2012, I took my first Pathwalk.

After the initial fifty-two weeks, I challenged myself to continue.  After the next, again I was determined to maintain this topic and these posts.  Now, I cannot imagine my life without sharing this notion and taking this journey.

This is the two-hundred and sixtieth week I have shared a Pathwalk.  Five years.  As I look back on the idea and philosophy I have begun, I am filled with both a sense of awe and of wonder at all I have written about, what I have and have not accomplished, and what I wish to see from this as I continue.

I published the first year of Pathwalking in book form.  In the future, I want to take this even further, and find ways to work on coaching sessions and talks to share the idea, and to help others find and walk paths of their own.

It was not until the seventh week that I really explained just what Pathwalking is.  The notion of taking a spiritual “walkabout”, and seeking to get to know the self better along the way.  I think, up until then, I may have been still trying to fully piece it together for myself.

Five years have passed now, and I have worked hard with the idea of conscious reality creation, and finding and walking my own path in this life.  Sometimes it comes fairly easily, while at other times it’s certainly a challenge.  Yet I am fairly sure that since I started this, I have enjoyed a more connected, fuller life.

I have developed some key tenets for Pathwalking, which anyone and everyone can apply to their lives.  I am constantly working with these notions to live my life, and to improve upon it.  Some days are easier than others for applying these, but I strive to work with them in order to build the life I most desire to live.

Consciousness Creates Reality.  This, right here, is Life, the Universe and Everything.  I know a lot of people believe themselves to be victims of circumstance or that they actually have very little control of their lives.  While yes, you can’t do anything for anyone else and their life, you can control how you approach you own life.  If you believe you are a victim, if you see only darkness at every turn, odds are pretty good you get exactly that.  But when you can see that life is full or light and possibility, and you can take the wheel of the car and be in control, you become empowered.  When you are feeling empowered, that can take you virtually anywhere you could desire.

Thought, feeling and intentional action move the Universe.  In order to consciously create reality, we have to start with the thoughts about what we want, feel out what it will be like to have the goal, then take intentional actions.  The Secret uses a somewhat, I think, loftier idea with ask, believe, receive.  Yet the message is the same, and you can really manifest almost anything when you take a conscious approach to life.

Awareness is consciousness.  We love our technology, our phones and tablets and other toys.  Ironically, the devices designed to connect us often serve exactly the opposite purpose.  We easily lose track of our awareness of the here and now, and as such our thoughts, feelings and actions lose direction, and our intent to manifest…whatever, meets resistance.  It’s important to stop, ask ourselves “How am I feeling?” and really become aware in the present moment.  Lessons of the past and thoughts on the future are important, but if we are not present we will find ourselves like a car in neutral – engine running, but not going anywhere.

Knowledge is Power, and Empowerment.  I am always learning, always seeking new information about a wide range of topics.  I see the world full of endless possibility, and I love to explore and discover more about it all the time.  The more we know, the more we empower ourselves.  What’s more, things are constantly changing, and the more we choose to learn the more we can face changes and handle them.

Change is inevitable.  Pure and simple, change happens.  Some is in your control, some not so much.  However, when we apply knowledge and awareness and give thought and feeling to our actions, we can face change ready for any good or bad it may show us.  Yoda said “Always in motion is the future,” which could translate to change is unpredictable.  Understanding this, we can face changes to the world around us that are outside of our control by taking control over our own existence, and working with that.

Gratitude is focus.  When we take time to be grateful for the things, people and experiences we have in our lives, we gain focus on matters, and with that focus can work with change to gain new knowledge to become aware, then to think about what we need for ourselves, feel gratitude for that need, and take intentional actions to create it.  If we are not grateful for that which we already have, we are not conscious of our reality, so creating a different one is going to be neigh on impossible.

These are the key tenets to Pathwalking that I have experienced over the past five years.  I hope that you have enjoyed this journey with me, and will continue along your own path, checking in with mine for ideas to live the best lives we can.  Thank you for being my inspiration.

How is the journey along your own paths going?

 

GOAL LOG – Week 50:

Diet:  Fairly unchanged.

Exercise: Two days of fencing.

Writing:  The three blogs got written, and I worked on a new story idea one day.

Meditation:  I got in no meditation last week.  Must fix that.

Gratitude: I wrote five things I was grateful for four days last week.

Please note that The Goal Log will be relocated, come January, to my Crossing the Bridges posts.

 

This is the two-hundred sixtieth entry in my series. These weekly posts are ideas and my personal experiences in 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.

If you enjoy Pathwalking, you may also want to read my Five Easy Steps to Change the World for the Better.

Positivity: No One is Alone

I know that this time of year can be rough for many.  For those of you struggling, I want you to know that you are NOT alone.

We are all in this together.  Each of us finds highs and lows with this season, but I recognize for many it’s particularly unpleasant.  For those of you who feel that way, please know that you are not on your own.

I know what it feels like to be depressed, sad, lonely and uncomfortable.  I understand what you might be going through if you are struggling right now.  I know that we are not by any stretch of the imagination alone in this, and that is an enormous positive.

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Together, we can overcome the blahs.  We can take on the parts of this time of year that make us feel down, that keep us in bed under the covers as long as possible.  Because you are not alone, there is strength in numbers.

I think it’s important for people to know that they have resources available to them, to which they can turn for comfort and support.  Every single one of us on this planet, despite perceived differences, are family.  We are ALL one.  We are all in this together.

The world often seems obsessed with the notion of dividing and conquering.  We separate ourselves from one another through all kinds of artifices, including gender, skin color, religion, nationality, income, sexual orientation, class, and so on and so forth.  Yet below all of these supposed identities, we are all one.  We are all the same at our core, pure energy.

You are not alone.  We are not alone.  We are so much more powerful than we realize.  We can do all kinds of amazing things.  When we can see the positives of this world, and we can feel good about our lives and our options and all the chances we have to make more of ourselves, we can do anything.

No one is alone.  We are all in this together.  I am here for you, even if we don’t know one another in the real world, even if you are a random stranger casually reading this blog.  I care about you, I want you to be happy, and that is why I share this.  Positivity leads to good feelings, and that is what we all deserve.

You have every right to be loved, to feel good about yourself, to be happy.  It doesn’t matter where you come from, it doesn’t matter what your status is, you are not alone and are worthy of all the good.  EVERYONE is worthy of good, and no one should be denied that.  My happiness is not diminished by your happiness, or hers or his or theirs, and we need to work more on recognizing that, rather than splitting ourselves apart in our efforts to gain what we desire.

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No one is alone.  You are not alone.  We’re in this together.  Let’s remember that and build bridges instead of burning them.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action.  Knowing that no one is alone, we can work together to make the world a better place, and help each other out.  When we remind one another that we are not alone, we can see endless possibility, and in seeing that 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 one hundred fifty-first 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.

In relation to Positivity, check out my Five Easy Steps to Change the World for the Better.

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Crossing the Bridges: Action for Change

Change cannot be made without actions.

That’s just the way the universe works.  I can think it and feel it all I like…but unless I act upon it, it will not change.  It will remain an idea, a plan, a possibility – but nothing more.

Some actions are harder than others.  Sometimes this is due to excuses, sometimes due to distractions, and sometimes just outright laziness on my part.

I began, almost a year ago, to include a Goal Log atop Pathwalking.  Every week I account for daily tracking of my diet, my exercise, writing, meditation and gratitude.  In theory, this was a really good idea to make myself accountable to myself.  I would see what I am eating daily, exercise happening or no, writing projects happening, time given to meditation, and writing out at least 5 things for which I am grateful, daily.

I have maintained the Goal Log, by-and-large, with only a couple weeks missed.   However, while I am keeping track of things, I am still not sufficiently motivating to accomplish all that I want.  My diet is still all over the place; I don’t take the time to meditate daily that I know I need and know helps my headspace; while the blogs happen, other writing and editing often goes by the wayside; I am still not getting nearly enough exercise; while I am mostly good about writing out my gratitude, I am less good about FEELING grateful for the things I put down.

What’s the point of being accountable to myself if I don’t do anything with this?  Well, that’s the thing.  I need to act in order to better have what I want.  I need to make time for the things that matter, and not just write them down for the sake of putting them out there, but REALLY take advantage of them in order to manifest the life I want.

I think it was a couple of months ago I had stated my intent to get up in the morning and go to the gym.  Great intent.  I even made it once or twice.  But overall, I have not acted on this intention.

These things always involve a process that is, on the one hand, completely simple…while on the other hand, utterly complicated.  For example – think of the thing, feel what it will be like to have the thing you desire, put out intent, and ACT.  Four simple steps.

So let’s say the thing is to get healthy and exercise my body and mind more frequently.  This will feel good, my joints will be happier with me when I take off some weight and I can fit into all my clothing better, I will feel less stressed, and so on and so forth.  The intent is to get to the gym more regularly, take time to meditate daily, and to eat better overall.  All great stuff – but now comes the time to ACT.  Take action, go to the gym more regularly and meditate for a few minutes daily and be better about what I eat and how much.

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Easier said (or in this case typed) than done.  I can plan the plan, that’s terrific…but unless I actually take the necessary actions, all I have is an impressive plan with no substance.

My Pathwalking blog began from taking a New Years Action rather than a Resolution.  It began as intent to Blog Once A Week, and I began…and am just about to hit the 5 year mark from the start!  I have done it before – now it is wholly up to me to do it again.

Fortunately, I have several friends who are also striving to be healthier, and they frequently post to social media with #TeamDoItAnyway.  I will be joining in with them, and as such feel accountable to someone other than myself, which may serve as an additional motivator.

In an effort to start my day earlier and take time to meditate and get to the gym – I am in the process of acquiring a new alarm clock.  Yes, I could use my mobile phone to do this, but I would much rather have a dedicated machine for this purpose.  Again – acting on my intentions.

It is all about action.  This is where I tend to fall short whenever I seek to get from the planning stage to the happening stage.  I am a great planner, but I tend to fall short on my actions.  Here is a perfect opportunity to remedy that…I know the steps, now I just need to actually take them.

I wrote previously about Knowing the Path vs Walking the Path, and this plays into that idea, too.  I know what I want to do here, which is all well and good…but this is an old, old habit in need of changing. Change will only come if I act, and I know what the action must be.  I know what I want, I know what I have to do, all I can do now is do it.

I am striving to do a better job of acting on my intentions.  I have goals I want to achieve, and they will never be reached if I do not act upon them.  Sometimes it does feel like I am swimming against the current, and repeating the same thing over and over expecting different results, but it’s a process, and I alone can act upon it.  Thanks for letting me express this to you, and feel free to hold me accountable.  Thank you for crossing the bridges between my worlds with me!

 

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

Pathwalking 259

There is a difference between being influenced by outside forces, and getting assistance from them.

For some people this is not an easy distinction to make, but it’s a very important one.

We are constantly surrounded by outside influences.  Most of the social media sites are a part of this.  They are striving for our attention, they want us to do and think and feel certain ways, which may or may not be compatible with what we REALLY want to do and think and feel.

Many people seek, some intentionally, some not, to persuade you to fall under their influence.  Some of this is malicious, some not so much.  People want you to feel a certain way about this topic or that, they want you to act upon something or other, they want you to think just like they think, so that they may furnish you with an opinion.  They want to influence you to buy their product, vote for their candidate, worship their deity, give up your rights because you don’t know better, or take away another’s rights because you should be afraid of them.

On the other side of that coin, though, are people offering or providing assistance.  They may also seek to influence you, but never without your consent.  They will ask you if they can provide you with help or show you a thing or what-have-you.  They are less about giving you their opinion and way and more about helping you find your own opinion and way.

How can you tell the difference between being influenced and assisted?  Generally influence is unsolicited.  They are pushing their beliefs and opinions on you, they are taking actions to sway you that might feel coercive or pushy or otherwise not really wanted.  Assistance is usually solicited, but not always.  Someone assisting you is helping you to work out your own beliefs, form your own opinions to take action.  If they opine for you or tell you what they believe, it is not in a manner to persuade you to do the same, but more as an example for you to work from.

Assistance feels helpful.  It provides answers to questions and solutions to problems that resonate with your core beliefs and feelings and thoughts.  Receiving assistance is a positive experience, helping you to move forward and learn and grow.

Further, almost nobody seeks influence.  Of course there are people out there who would much rather not make any decisions for themselves, and so they want to be influenced by others.  They want to be told how they should think and feel.  But most of us don’t like when other people tell us how to behave.

That’s what a lot of this boils down to.  The influencers want a specific way of behavior, and for whatever reason take umbrage with the massive individuality of people.  We all have unique backgrounds, we all think in our own way, and we all have separate hopes and dreams and aspirations for our lives.  Some people find all this diversity overwhelming and intimidating.

I never try to influence anyone to walk anyone’s path but their own.  Pathwalking, as I practice is, is NOT for everyone.  How I Pathwalk versus how you Pathwalk is going to differ, because we come from different places and are on different paths.  Even if, like me, you are a writer trying to get to the next level and empower people to be inspired, you are not going about it exactly the same way that I am.

I seek out assistance from time to time.  There are people who know things I do not.  There are always new books to read or listen to that will give me new insights, new ideas and new ways to find the life I want for myself.  Opinions and ideas are changeable, so every new piece of information can take me to all kinds of different places.

Some may not recognize the difference between influence and assistance.  If you are trying to force your opinion or ideas onto others, you are working as an influencer.

I have been teaching fencing for twenty years.  I can teach any single person two to four different means to an end.  I offer to assist by showing them what I think may be best for them, but I always make it clear that my way is NOT the One True Way, and that another may show them something else down the line that works even better for them.

It is slightly less easy to recognize unasked for assistance from influence, but language is a big cue.  If someone says, “May I offer a suggestion?” or “Have you considered” or “I know it’s none of my business, but did you view if from this angle?” they are trying to assist.  If someone says, “Let me tell you how this is done,” or “You’re wrong, let me tell you how it is (vs let me explain WHY you are wrong,” or “I know it’s none of my business, but you should know this is how it is,” likely they are working at influencing.

Assistance is often needed and wanted.  We get stuck on a problem or reach a crossroads we cannot traverse without help.  Sometimes, we don’t seek it, but it finds us anyhow.  Somebody makes a suggestion or offers an idea or shows us something that opens new channels and provides us with new directions.

Assistance is a positive force for change.  Influence is a negative force for control.  Be conscious of how you feel when you are faced with influence or assistance, so that you know which you are receiving.

Do you prefer to be asked, or told?

 

GOAL LOG – Week 49:

Diet:  Holiday season is tricky, but working on it.

Exercise: Two days of fencing, one at the gym.

Writing:  The three blogs got written, and I worked on my sci-fi novel on one day.

Meditation:  I meditated one day last week, about 6 minutes.

Gratitude: I wrote five things I was grateful for six days last week.

 

This is the two-hundred fifty-ninth entry in my series. These weekly posts are ideas and my personal experiences in 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.

If you enjoy Pathwalking, you may also want to read my Five Easy Steps to Change the World for the Better.

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Positivity: Imagination and Creativity

While it’s important to focus on the here-and-now, and not get caught up in memories of yesterday and plans for tomorrow, it is also important to remain creative and imaginative.

Creativity and imagination are the things that most set us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom.  Unlike the rest of the creatures crawling, swimming and flying around this planet, we have deep, incredible, miraculous powers of creativity.

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Sure, birds build nests and beavers construct elaborate damns that can all be really unique, but no other creature on this planet harnesses energy from fossil fuels, wind and sun; no other creature builds cities of glass and stone and steel; no other race creates mechanical means to transport themselves across the globe other than their own feet; we stand uniquely creative in our power to do that.

We have developed astounding things in the past century that have set us apart even further.  The technology to create electronic words and images and transmit them instantaneously across the globe is creativity only heard of in fantasy not so incredibly long ago.

Our world is what it is today because of astounding creations wholly unique to humanity.  We are better able to connect with one-another across the globe, and to work together to create nearly anything we can think of.  Our only limitation is our imagination.

We can imagine a world of peace, capability, freedom and Positivity for all.  We can imagine a world that is better, happier, more open and tolerant and accepting than this one.  We have taken steps to create that world, and we can continue to imagine new ways to create new things that are better than what we have now.

Current circumstances, largely tied to concerns about the future, make this seem like a pipe dream in some ways.  But if we do not imagine and create, we cannot change what we are facing, and that is not something I for one am willing to accept.  We can imagine a better world, and from that point we can go ahead and create that world.

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Imagination and creativity are phenomenal forces of Positivity.  Forces every single one of us can employ.  Thoughts lead to feelings which take us to actions, and from there we can do amazing things.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action.  Knowing that our imagination can take us to all kinds of new and amazing places, we can use that to create bigger and better things for ourselves.  When we imagine and create incredible things, through our imagination and creativity 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 one hundred fiftieth 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.

In relation to Positivity, check out my Five Easy Steps to Change the World for the Better.

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Crossing the Bridges: The Comfort Zone

We all have comfort zones.

We all have those places we retreat to or that we like to snuggle up in that are familiar, comfortable, expected.  We have comfort zones in our lives where we can operate on auto-pilot, and get along.

Of course, sometimes these comfort zones, while comfortable, are unsatisfactory.  You can be in that relationship that does not thrill you, work that job that pays the bills but does not stimulate your mind, stay in that city you’ve lived in for the past ten years but bores you, etc.

Sometimes it’s easier to just go with it.  There are enough matters for me to wrap my mind around than to have to take the challenge and do the things.

If I am going to grow as a writer, and if I want to be a bestselling author, so long as I choose to self-publish, I also have to self-promote.

There are aspects of self-promotion that come easily to me.  I can write press releases and e mails and tweets and post to Facebook and G+ until the cows come home.  These often go to the nameless faceless masses, so I have no issues with that.

However, when it comes time to call the venue, to put myself really truly out there, I am forced out of my comfort zone.  Crap, now I have to e mail a very specific person and sell myself.  Or worse, I have got to call them then.

Anybody who has met me might find this rather funny.  I mean, I have been known to talk a whole bunch. Lots and lots.  I am a verbose person, and I do not seem all that shy.  And I am not that shy…if you know me, and more importantly if I know you.

Deep down, I am almost painfully shy.  No, really, it’s true.  Twenty-five years in the SCA, and time on stage both in High School and College helped me to create an extrovert.  And, what do you know, this broke me out of my comfort zone.

Part of my concern is the impression I am going to make.  This is where I need to be much more diligent about recalling The Four Agreements.  The second is “Don’t take anything personally.”  While I need to sell myself to some degree, rejections and anything beyond that are not actually a personal affront.  They are not judging ME, they are reflecting on my request to promote my work.

This has been an interesting comfort zone issue I have had for a while.  I used to say that I could, at will, sell a drowning man a glass of water.  In certain circumstances, this has proven to be mostly true.  BUT, when it comes to the cold call or the blind e mail, and when it is more personal, I want to curl up under the blanket and not deal.

I don’t know when I became so shy about calls, and when I got so uncomfortable sending out unsolicited e mails.  It might be, in part, from semi-successful sales gigs over the years, and in part it might be from the two or three dozen rejections I received from agents before I decided to self-publish.

I am pretty certain that every single self-help and holistic book I have read or listened to, be it The Secret or You are a Badass or The Map or anything by Tony Robbins or Paulo Coelho makes it very clear that, to manifest the things desired, it’s necessary to step out of your comfort zone.  Period.

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” ― Neale Donald Walsch.

What does this mean?  This means that in order to take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and really live life on your own terms, you HAVE to step away from your comfort zones.  Otherwise, you will continue to live in mediocrity, and wonder why you are not accomplishing goals.

It is called a comfort zone because it is comfortable.  A huge part of what we want in life, a part of what we deem as happiness, is in fact comfort.  Society says that we need to have x, y and z, and for many that’s sufficient.  But for anyone that wants more, that wants to break from the norm like I want to do, x, y, and z don’t satisfy, and despite being in a comfort zone, I have to step away.

What do I have to do to get out of my comfort zone?  Act.  I have to take intentional action in order to get where I want to go, to promote my work further, and to get myself out there so as to generate more sales and become the bestselling author I believe I can be.

I took a step in this direction this week.  I sent out six e mails, three to bookstores and three to libraries, to find out about both getting my books into them, and getting myself set-up to make a presentation, maybe do a reading and a signing, and take this to the next level.

There is nothing wrong with my life currently.  I have a lot of amazing things and people in my life for which I am deeply grateful.  But I want something else, something more, and I can see what I have to do in order to have it.

I’ve been uncomfortable before.   A little discomfort is a small price to pay to create the life I want to live.  I have done this before, and without a doubt can do it again.

One more step across the bridge between the life I have now, and the life I want to have now.   Forwards is the only acceptable direction.  Thank you for crossing the bridges between my worlds with me!

 

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

Pathwalking 258

I frequently write about how we alone can control our thoughts, our feelings and our actions.  Yes, they can be influenced by outside people and things, but they are still under our own direct control.

Feelings in particular can be heavily influenced from without.  Feelings are frequently reactions to stimuli, so much of the time it is the things outside of us that cause us to experience emotions.

If someone compliments you, kisses you, smiles at you, invites you to a party, tells you some great news about their life, you are going to feel good.  When someone insults you, shoves you, yells at you, breaks up with you, or tells you terrible news about their life, you are going to feel bad.

The key here is what you hold on to.  When you are feeling good you generally seek more things to continue that feeling.  Of course, when you are feeling bad you might also subconsciously seek more things to continue THAT feeling.

We often do not recognize when we have allowed our feelings to be unduly influenced.  We feel what we are feeling, and do not realize that we can change this when we are feeling something we do not want to feel.

It is important to recognize, first and foremost, that NOBODY can feel good all the time.  We are all human, and we are a paradox of emotions, and as such to really feel positives we also must be able to really feel negatives.  There are reasons why we need to feel anger, remorse, displeasure, concern, and even certain kinds of fear.  They protect us, they help us grow, they allow us to recognize mistakes and issues and to change course when necessary to correct them.

The problem arises when we decide to allow negative emotions to dominate our being, and when we blame other matters for these emotions.  Yes, something or someone may very well have been what triggered the emotion, but after a while you take on all responsibility for holding onto it, in especial if it does not suit you.

The ultimate examples of this are grudges, feuds, and long-held false beliefs and negativity towards people and things.  This is where the term “I hate” becomes so incredibly dangerous.  Hatred is a powerful negative emotion, from which it is very hard to turn.  When we hold onto something based on a happening of weeks, months, even years ago or more, we create this steadfast negative space that can easily dominate our lives.

Yes, experiencing negative emotions is important, and not to be dismissed, but how long we choose to hold onto them is another matter.  Overall, negative emotions are more destructive than constructive (and I recognize this statement is not true for everyone, but for the majority of people it is).  Downward spirals are born of one negative emotion leading to another leading to another and so on until you are depressed, anxious, scared, distressed, lost…or any combination of these.

This is why it is so very important to ask ourselves, “How am I feeling?”  It’s incredibly easy to passively just go along with your day, doing the things you do, and never checking in with your feelings.  Meanwhile, lurking below the surface you could be feeling melancholy, concerned, anxious, frustrated, angry, hurt…take your pick.

This becomes especially important in a society with such instantaneous news and information.  It’s almost impossible to scroll through Twitter or Facebook or G+ without coming across an upsetting news story, real or fake, or people talking about the bad day they are having, or financial woes, or all kinds of other matters that are negatively slanted.    Some people only ever tweet about the miseries of their lives, some people seek constant victim reassurance and sympathy, and let’s not even get started on matters of national, international and global concern.    The more of these you encounter, the more likely, if you do not check in with yourself by asking “How am I feeling?” they will negatively influence your emotional state.

Further, we all tend to be really busy.  Most of us have responsibilities that eat up much of our time, and so emotions get shunted to passivity.  We get caught up in the activities we are working on, and we completely lose sight of our emotional state, and let it be a passenger in the jump seat way at the back of the vehicle.

There are times where our emotional state is a hindrance to things.  Certainly there are times where we are so focused on an activity that our passive emotional state becomes completely unimportant.  But when we get done with whatever it is that has occupied us so thoroughly, it’s surprisingly easy for our emotions to find their way right on top of us again.  How often do you find yourself suddenly feeling down and wonder where it came from?  This is most likely it – a formerly passive emotion, wrought of something that happened a while back, is now at the forefront of your awareness.

Once we ask ourselves, “How am I feeling?” we have taken an active position.  After we do that, we are further ready to take control, and alter our emotional state if it is not one conducive to us getting anywhere we may intend to go. Controlling how we feel is mostly a matter of active versus passive knowledge of our emotional state.

Seems easy enough.  Of course, it’s not easy, and takes a bunch of work.  I know what I need to do with this information, and I need to make certain I take more time to ask myself, “How am I feeling?”

How do you WANT to feel?  How ARE you feeling?

 

GOAL LOG – Week 48:

Diet:  Getting better about tracking again.

Exercise: Two days at the gym last week and two days of fencing.  Improving.

Writing:  The three blogs got written, and I worked on my sci-fi novel on four different days.

Meditation:  I meditated two days last week, for 6 and 7 minutes or so, respectively.

Gratitude: I wrote five things I was grateful for six days last week.

 

This is the two-hundred fifty-eighth entry in my series. These weekly posts are ideas and my personal experiences in 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.

If you enjoy Pathwalking, you may also want to read my Five Easy Steps to Change the World for the Better.

Positivity: Motivation

Some days just getting out of bed is a challenge.  Those days often require motivation.

Finding motivators is an enormous positive.  Motivators help us to quit bad habits, start and maintain good habits, and make positive changes in our lives.

Motivation can come from any number of places, both within and without.  This is one place where outside influences are often to your advance, rather than against it.

Self-motivation can be challenging.  Simply setting a goal, like quitting smoking or losing weight or eating less is all well-and-good, but motivating yourself to do the necessary steps can be rough.  This often requires a reward of some sort.  Change the habit, you get to buy a toy like a fancy new outfit or a tablet or something that you might not otherwise acquire on your own.

Some people like negative motivators.  I am not as fond of this notion.  Rather than rewarding positive change, you use negative stimulus and create consequences of failure.  As I am a firm believer in the notion that consciousness creates reality, focusing on consequence rather than reward might have a more unfortunate effect.  Rewards along the way towards your goal I believe are more effective, and positivity in the face of motivation is important.

Outside influences for motivation can be excellent.  When you have a whole group of people working together to get healthy, as several of my friends are currently doing, they each stand beside one another, motivating each other to carry on, do the thing, work at the process to get better, to be healthier.  They serve as cheerleaders for one another, and put social media to GOOD use as a part of doing this.

While often times outside influences can be problematic, as I have stated before, this is one time when they are not.  The support from others is hugely motivating, because you know you are not alone in the process, and you have people to turn to when your motivation wanes.

Whatever form it takes, motivation is how we move forward to make changes in our lives.  Motivation is a positive force, and I cannot think of anyone that does not need more positivity in their life.

What motivates you?

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action.  Knowing that there are any number of motivators we can employ to effect change in our lives, we can take action.  When we are motivated to make positive changes in our lives, 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 one hundred forty-ninth 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.

In relation to Positivity, check out my Five Easy Steps to Change the World for the Better.

Crossing the Bridges: What Inspires Me

One of my favorite books is The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho.  I have read it more than once, and listened to it countless times (the audio book is brilliantly narrated by Jeremy Irons).

Nothing I have ever read has resonated with me like The Alchemist.  Doesn’t matter if we’re talking fiction or non-fiction, this book speaks to me like no other.

It is not a long book.  But it is very, very deep.  Although it is a work of fiction, many of the points it touches upon are real.

Everyone has the ability to follow their heart to live out their dreams and realize what Coelho calls one’s “personal legend”.  We are all capable of communing more with nature, listening to our hearts, following the signs and omens laid out for us as we move forward in our life.

Every time I re-read or re-listen to this book, I become inspired.  I want to follow the omens and listen to my heart and live out my own “personal legend”.  I want to take the necessary chances to find my own “treasure”, wherever it is buried.  I want to live each day intensely, to know that my time on this planet has not been wasted but rather well spent, and that I am happy with my life.

The Alchemist is all about the journey.  It’s another example of Joseph Campbells’ “Heroes’ Journey”, but it also touches upon The Law of Attraction and Consciousness Creating Reality and living in the moment in the most approachable way I have ever encountered.

I am not the only person for whom this book has an impact.  The Alchemist has been on the NY Times Bestseller list for nearly 8 years!  It’s been translated into numerous languages, and is a beloved allegory.

I tried to write my own story, inspired by The Alchemist.  Vortex Pilgrimage is an homage to Coelho’s allegory, imbedded in an alternate reality to our own and written from a 1st person perspective (which is not my normal style).  It is an embellishment of my own travels to visit the energy vortexes in Sedona, AZ.

I have read much of the rest of Coelho’s works.  They are all excellent, but none has stuck with my like The Alchemist does.  Such an incredible tale, it makes me feel content every time I listen to it.

What has this got to do with my own work as an author?  I want to be as inspiring as Paulo Coelho is.  It’s not just The Alchemist, the rest of his works are also inspiring.  Past that, he blogs and Tweets frequently, and shares his wisdom freely.  He has endured a lot of hardship in his life, and has risen above it to become one of the bestselling authors of all time, and an influential figure.

I guess if I have any hero at all, Paulo Coelho would be it.  There are many other writers who inspire me, whom I would like to emulate in some form or other, but Coelho is a man I deeply admire.  More than the success he has achieved, I want to be as capable as he is at inspiring!

Like my new mantra says, I am a successful writer who empowers people to be inspired.  I want to help people imagine, dream, see the world as a place of possibility, excitement and potential.  I want to help people be empowered, so that they can take responsibility for their own lives, and find more happiness and peace.

Why is this so important to me?  Because I believe that we can only make the world a better place for everyone if we each individually find our own way.  It’s not easy, and there are days when it feels terribly daunting.  But we are all capable of taking control of our lives, of our thoughts and feelings and ultimately our actions.  When we do that, we can choose to seek out our dreams and live as fully as possible, just like young Santiago in The Alchemist does.

Yes, I want to ultimately be a successful author.  I want my books to be well-loved, inspiring people’s imaginations.  I want my blogs to have a positive impact on people, and to help them see a world of expansion and hope rather than compression and fear.

We are all more capable than we are led to believe.  We can all listen to our hearts and seek our dreams, and live each day with excitement and passion.  I know this can be hard, but when I do it I am so much happier for who I am and how my life is.  That is what I most want to achieve with my life.  I want to be as whole, happy and able to share as I possibly can be.

Everybody experiences ups and downs in life.  That’s part of being human, that’s part of our every day.  What we often neglect is our ability to take control, to make choices and to seek out a better destiny than the one we think has been set before us.  The Universe is a place of abundance, not lack.  I believe this to be the truth.  This is what I want to focus on.

The possibilities are many, the potential is vast.  I am a work in progress.  Thank you for crossing the bridges between my worlds with me!

 

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

Pathwalking 257

It’s unhealthy to ignore the outside world completely.

We need to be aware of what is happening in the world.  While there is something to be said for the bliss of ignorance, knowledge IS power.

The problem is, it can be very hard to stay focused when you are inundated with a barrage of upsetting information.  How do you find and maintain a happy medium between knowing what’s going on, and being completely drowned in data?

The mistake I keep making is digging into stories, reading into Facebook and G+ posts, and really getting into the in-depth bits and pieces of certain news and reports that makes me feel sad or angry.  It seems like the world is overflowing in haters, greedy pigs, delusional sociopath narcissists, gullible fools and fear.  The word threat, whether to liberty, freedom, ideals or life itself is thrown out like an indefinite article.  And people are eating it up, sharing and complaining and preparing to stand against, and in some cases for, possible forthcoming injustices.

Consciousness creates reality.  I say this over and over again, in part simply to remind myself.  If we want to spend our lives in a struggle against opposing forces, this is how we create that.  Every time we take up a position of opposition, we are actually giving MORE energy to the things we DO NOT WANT.  Trouble is, the Universe only understands desires and passions, and does not differentiate between want and do not want.

We cannot leave these threats unanswered.  Maybe so, but can we stop standing against these things, and stand FOR their opposites?  Can we choose to throw our support to good things rather than our opposition to bad?  If we keep our focus on the things we do not want, the things are getting the focus, and low-and-behold, we keep getting more of them.

I created Pathwalking with the intent of seeking out and making my own way in this universe.  I prefer to make my own choices, to forge my own way in the world, and to seek things that make me feel good about my life.  In the current climate of the world-at-large, this is proving particularly difficult, in part because I want to still make my own way, but I also want to be ready to help my friends, my loved ones and the ideals I care about in whatever way I can.

I believe, and frequently state, that we are able to control how we feel.  While I know this to be true, that doesn’t mean it’s easy.  When you are constantly blanketed in negativity, awash in the tide of fear and hate and anger and frustration and perceived insanities, controlling how YOU feel becomes particularly challenging.

Then, just to add insult to injury, it’s possible to feel guilty about this.  About what, you may ask?  About wanting to feel good, about taking care of yourself first, before you reach out to take care of others.  It is NOT selfish to care for yourself, in fact without self-care, we have nothing to give anyone else.  But particularly in the face of overwhelming concerns for the greater good and outside matters, it is hard to not feel self-care is actually selfish.  There are great big problems in the world, and if I do not address them I might as well just be contributing to them.

But the thing is, if you do not save anything for yourself, you have nothing really to give.  A car with no gas in the tank is still a car, but you’re not going to get anywhere without fuel.  You can be of no good to anyone else if you are of no good to yourself.

The question becomes, how do we take care of ourselves without being enveloped by the negativity and bad news in the world, while still remaining informed and prepared?  Truth be told, I really don’t know.  This has become a daily struggle for me, and then coupling it with a bit of seasonal depression it becomes that much tougher.  But here are the things I am employing at the moment:

Avoid digging too deeply into news.  There really is no need to read every in-depth article.  Now if it’s a topic I want to be knowledgeable about, that’s one thing, but if it’s just reading deeper into an already aggravating story, why bother?

Pause, meditate, breathe.  Just the other day I left work, and went to a nearby park.  I stood beside the river, listening to it run over the rocks, for just a little while, and that made me feel better.  We have to breathe, we have to pause, and when we can meditation calms the mind and enlivens the spirit.

Feel gratitude.  Even in the face of so many disheartening things, I have much to be grateful for.  From often overlooked things like breathing, hearing, seeing and smelling to possessions to people in our lives. FEELING grateful reminds us of the good things we all still have in our lives, right here, right now.

Get offline.  Step away from TV, radio and other media outlets.  It’s important to take time, every day, to get away from it all.  Doesn’t matter if you are alone or with friends, you need to have time to just be.  And not to be thinking about today’s world crisis.

It is important to stay informed, but equally important to not get drowned in negative information.  If we each strengthen our own resolve and come from places of our own good, we can do far more for the world at large.  I know this is not easy, but every day is new…and we deserve to not live them in misery, or fear, or any other negative emotions.

What keeps you in balance?

 

GOAL LOG – Week 47:

Diet:  Wrestling this back under my control this last week.  Getting better about tracking again.

Exercise: Two days at the gym last week.  Yeah, need to get back onto this bandwagon for multiple reasons.

Writing:  The three blogs got written.

Meditation:  I meditated two days last week, for 6 and 9 minutes or so, respectively.

Gratitude: I wrote three to six things I was grateful for every day last week.

 

This is the two-hundred fifty-seventh entry in my series. These weekly posts are ideas and my personal experiences in 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.

If you enjoy Pathwalking, you may also want to read my Five Easy Steps to Change the World for the Better.