M.J. Blehart's Blog, page 95

Pathwalking 233

Over the past couple of years I have started to find several four-leafed clovers every summer.

Most of my life this was something I had never done.  Now, I find them a few times a year.

One important point, however, to consider.  I find them because I take a moment to look for them.

How many patches of clover do you encounter along your way?  Do you stop and examine them to see if there are any that are not just the usual three-leaves?

Now what if we take this out and expand upon it, examining the metaphor.  How many people don’t take a moment to look for a four-leaf clover, or to smell the roses, or to savor any moment in the immediate present?

We live in a go-go-go society.  Do it fast, get from point “a” to point “b” with all speed, no lollygagging.  We want it all instantly, no matter what “it” is.  We get impatient when we do not experience the results immediately.

One of the notions behind Pathwalking is that while it’s good to have a goal, there is tremendous value in having experiences along your path.  Because of the various obstacles, twists and turns on any given path, you might make unexpected discoveries and gain new insights.

I get caught up in the how of the universe.  I don’t just work on the things I know I want to make manifest, I obsessively hold onto a need to know HOW they will manifest.  However, I also know that this is not how things work.

To add another twist to this, not only do I want to know how a thing that has not happened yet might happen, I often go back over things past and examine how they happened.  While this can be of tremendous value, it is important not to get too caught up, because then I get trapped in what was instead of what is.

There is a field of clover.  I can pass by it, I can pass through it.  I can choose whether or not to pause and examine it, see if amongst the many three-leaved grasses I might find a four-leaf (or, in one instance I experienced, a five-leaf).

This, however, can present a new problem.  I don’t meticulously examine every square inch of the clover patch.  First, most contain a really large number of clovers.  Second, this is whimsy.  I am not questing after a Holy Grail, I want to examine a few clovers and see if I can find one with more than three leaves to it.  A moment of time that happens in the here-and-now, just a moment or two, and then onwards along the path.

This is a perfect metaphor in regards to the overall notion of Pathwalking.  Today I am at this point, and I am choosing to walk a path with the goal of reaching that destination.  I recognize along the way I may experience numerous obstacles, twists and turns, and all kinds of other experiences that may even persuade me to change my path, whether permanently or temporarily.  This is Pathwalking.

But as I walk that path I am going to have experiences, moments during the journey that will stand out, that could be unexpectedly profound, that might just alter or affirm the path chosen.  I won’t know until it happens.

Because no two paths are alike, this is not to say that this is the only way in which such moments happen.  For some people the goal of Pathwalking is the experience of the path itself.  Maybe their end goal is to take the time to slowly and thoroughly explore every encounter along their path, because their goal is too dynamic to be a singular outcome.

Conversely, there are certainly paths where you will just travel from point “a” to point “b” with laser-precise focus, because you have no doubt about what you want and how to get there.  It may be too short a path to allow for those moments.

I suspect, however, that the majority of paths that each of us walk will include those brief, momentary encounters along the way.  The wall of roses you simply need to pause and lean in to smell.  The field of clover you need to stop and glance across to look for the lucky four-leafer.  The Instagram photo you need to look at that your friend took of the house you’ve always wanted.  Opening a book and looking for Waldo amongst a sea of colorful people.

Nobody wants to get to the end of their time on this planet and lament all the things they missed out on.  At least, nobody I know.  We get one shot in this particular meat suit to experience this time and this place, and it is a world that is full of wonder, of endless possibility, and we are all empowered to create and to experience magnificent things.

I strive to learn something new every day.  I am excited when I discover things I didn’t know before.  So I say, why not take a moment from time to time to look at that clover patch, and see if maybe I can find myself a four-leafer?

Do you pause along your path and take a moment explore the easily overlooked?

 

GOAL LOG – Week 23:

Diet: Continuing with my extreme diet last week.  I ate well, avoiding bread and pasta and candy and other sugars.  My willpower has been tested, but I have stuck with it.

Exercise: Fencing happened twice last week, and I made it to the gym once.  I did a LOT of walking, but need to strive to do more this week.  Awaiting a new pool key.

Writing:  Four days of at least some writing and editing happened.

Meditation:  Five days of meditation, at least 5 minutes each day.

Gratitude: I wrote out 5 things to be grateful for every day last week.

 

This is the two-hundred thirty-third 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: Love

Love is the ultimate expression of positivity.

We live in a world where love often takes a back seat to fear, to ignorance, to terror, to shame, and ultimately to hate.  Yet love is something every single one of us needs, to the same degree as we need air and food and water.

Love is often made out to be this grandiose, monstrous thing, often hard to come by, hard to keep, and hard to maintain.  Nothing could be further from the truth, because love in its most pure form is the simplest thing imaginable.

The sun rises in the east, and that is love.  The rain makes the grass and flowers and trees grow, and that is love.  The bees pollinate the flowers and plants and that is love.

Nature understands love at its most pure, most simple and in my opinion most profound level.  Love is not this fabled, complex, even risky action that might ultimately lead to suffering.

Love is not the negative thing many people come to see it as, because they have had their heart broken or because love turned to hate or because love was taken away in some manner.  Love at its core is much simpler, and is one of the driving forces of the entire Universe.

Terrible things have happened to people across history.  Atrocities have been committed, lives have been stolen and horrors perpetrated.  When we respond to these things with anger, with hate, with like action we ultimately wind up making more terrible things.

I am in no way saying we can or should let such things go.  We can’t just ignore them, nor should we.  But what we can change is how we might let such things close our hearts, and cause us to express more hate rather than more love.

When faced with a tragedy, don’t hate the perpetrators.  You empower when you hate.  Why would anyone want to empower people who do bad things?  Instead, love the victims, love those who have suffered loss, love those who suffer from these tragedies.  Empower those who have suffered and were wronged, so that they know they have love and support.

I know that sometimes positivity feels like a struggle.  Yet that does not make finding positivity any less important.  Love is ultimate positivity.  So love your friends, love your family, love your pets, love your life, and most importantly love yourself.  Don’t feed the hate, the fear and the anger and generate more negativity in our world.  Feed the love, the encouragement and the kindness and peace and generate more positivity in our world.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action.  Knowing that love is the ultimate expression of positivity, we can see that we have at our disposal the power the do amazing things with our world on many levels.  When we spread love in its most simple, basest form, 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 one hundred twenty fourth 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.

Pathwalking 232

I have recently realized that there is tremendous importance in addressing and altering old, outdated, underlying beliefs.

Pathwalking addresses the idea of taking control of my own life and my own destiny, and choosing and walking my own unique path.  One of the key things I return to in this process is that consciousness creates reality.  It is possible to manifest an amazing life, if I take the time to think, feel, and take inspired action to make it happen.

What this does not address, however, is old, possibly buried underlying beliefs that may be counter to the new ones I am employing in the process of walking my chosen path.

What does that mean?  While conscious reality creation directly addresses what and how I am thinking and feeling and subsequently acting upon in the here-and-now, what it does not address is old, long-held beliefs which may be counter to what it is I am striving to do.

This is not an idea I came up with wholly on my own, let me put that out front.  I think I have made it pretty clear over the years that I have been Pathwalking that I have read or listened to numerous books on the topics of spirituality, productivity, self-help, and overall consciousness creating reality.  Two of the more recent works I have studied include Boni Lonnsburry’s The Map: To Our Responsive Universe and Jen Sicero’s You are a Badass – How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life.  The former is bit more clinical and sometimes a bit out there at times, while the latter is extremely earth-bound and highly informal.

Both, though very different in their styles, examine how past beliefs, often established in childhood or during early adulthood, get rooted deep into the subconscious, and if they are not addressed they can interfere with new beliefs you are working on planting consciously now.

For example: Currently I am working on manifesting more abundance in my life.  Specifically, money.  While I am striving to think, feel and take actions towards abundance, I often find that I cannot get past a certain point.  Something is holding me back, but while I have identified certain subconscious fears there is something more, something I am just not putting a finger on.

So I did an exercise from You are a Badass, and made an interesting discovery.  I hold onto certain beliefs, subconsciously, that I do not give thought to now.  But from past experiences, from lessons learned through parents and loved ones and even personal experience, I have some old beliefs still deep inside my psyche that I need to address and let go of.

Hippy-dippy mumbo jumbo.  This is all gobbledygook and existential garbage.  If, as I frequently postulate, consciousness creates reality – and all evidence I have in my life tells me that indeed it does – then I have been creating my reality all of my life.  Conscious thought, when prolonged, becomes sub-conscious, and that is part of how we manifest the things we want in life.

Let me illuminate this with something everybody has experienced.  Muscle memory.  How often does the phrase “you never forget how to ride a bike” get employed?  This is muscle memory.  Once learned, you don’t unlearn it.  Your body remembers.  You may need to alter your balance (in especial if you’ve gained height or weight since last you rode) but you still remember how.

I have been teaching medieval fencing in the Society for Creative Anachronism for more than twenty years now.  I frequently teach drills designed to develop muscle memory.  You learn stance, you learn footwork, you learn bladework that become second-nature over time.  I know instantly if I am within range of just extending my sword arm to hit an opponent, or if I need to take a step, or lunge to hit.  I also know my range unarmed, or with varying lengths of swords for that matter.  Muscle memory.

Well, consciously creating reality is the exercise of a muscle.  Work with this enough and you start doing it automatically.  Everybody knows somebody who is ALWAYS lucky and wins or succeeds constantly.  Everybody knows somebody who always gets parking spaces, green lights, or the short check-out lines at the grocery store.  They EXPECT that this will happen to them, and as such they have consciously created reality.  Coincidence is a one-time occurrence, beyond that you have conscious creation.

Because we are often disinclined to change, once a belief has been formed and becomes subconscious, releasing it takes more than a current, conscious creation.  We may need to go back, to really look at what that belief is, where it came from, and maybe even why it exists.  Then, we need to consciously choose to let it go.

As suggested in You Are a Badass, I gave thought to and wrote out some beliefs I hold about money.  Then I did some stream-of-conscious writing to dig into these, and in the process opened up some unexpected pathways in my subconscious.  Did I really allow that belief that was shared with me so long ago become my own?  Because that is where the sabotage and fear took root.

I have taken my old beliefs and replaced them with new beliefs, but not before figuring out why I have held onto what I hold.  Every single one of the texts I have read or listened to in my studies posits the same thing – the current circumstances we find ourselves in are the product of past thought, feelings and actions.  When we work in the here and now to consciously create reality, and we work on altering where we are and how we are working to get to the next point, we can manifest just about anything we put our mind to.

Pathwalking has altered my life in many positive ways.  I continue to strive to be clearer and more capable with every step I take.  There is something new to be learned and explored every day.

What old beliefs are buried in your subconscious?

 

GOAL LOG – Week 22:

Diet: I began my new, extreme diet last week.  I have successfully stayed away from carbs like bread and pasta, and also avoided sweets like candy and heavily sugary stuff.  I am already able to put on a pair of shorts I could not get into two weeks ago!

Exercise: Fencing happened twice last week, and I made it to the gym once.  I spent a day doing archery and walking all over the place as such, and have had two other days of extensive walking.

Writing:  Five days of at least some writing and editing happened.  Back in the saddle!

Meditation:  Five days of meditation, at least 5 minutes each day.

Gratitude: I wrote out 5 things to be grateful for every day last week, despite a day where the app on my iPhone crashed out.

 

This is the two-hundred thirty-second 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: Living in the Now

Living in the now can be as positive an experience as you make it.

Living in the now allows us to only be focused on our immediate needs, our immediate surroundings, and ourselves.  Living in the now lets us ultimately focus on pretty much anything and everything we want to.

What’s the difference?  When you live in the past you can really easily get caught up in all the “what ifs”.  What if I had done ‘x’?  What if I had participated in ‘y’?  Some people get so caught up in nostalgic recollections of the past that they want to “go back” to it – except, of course, it was not so great as our off-colored perception recalls it to be.

When you live in the future you open yourself up to torrents of anxiety.  More “what ifs”, but about possibilities as-yet unrealized.  What if that jerk wins the presidency?  What if I can’t fix this problem?  What if I get hit by a bus crossing the street tomorrow?  Some people get so caught up in worry about the future, they completely miss out on the now, and they disempower themselves thoroughly.

Living in the now lets us focus on this moment, right here, right now.  When we are in the present, and dealing with our immediate circumstances we are ultimately empowered to choose positive over negative, to maintain the focus we need to create and do and achieve.

There is value in the past and in thinking about the future.  The past teaches us lessons, good and bad, that ultimately shape us into who we are.  The future gives us goals to achieve and places to go from where we are now, because life is always in motion.

The trouble is when we get too focused backwards or forwards, and the now slips into unimportance.  Right at this moment will only be at this moment, and then it will be gone.  When we choose how this moment of our life will be, when we live in the now and strive to experience what is happening to us we take the wheel and drive the car where we want it to go.

This can be challenging.  Our society is obsessed with “bringing back” the past and “forging ahead” to the future.  When people live in the now, present and breathing at this moment they empower themselves.  When we empower ourselves those who strive to claim all the power they can over us fear they will lose their control.

Living in the now means you choose this immediate experience.  That can be completely positive, because it’s for you to make it so.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action.  Knowing that living in the now allows us to directly control our thoughts and feelings, we can choose to find positivity right now.  When we ultimately are in the present moment, we are in control of what we are feeling and doing, and of course in this way 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 twenty third 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.

Pathwalking 231

While it is usually best to do things in moderation, sometimes extremes are called for.

When your energy is stagnant, and you need to redirect the flow, this can call for an extreme action in order to set everything in motion.

For example: I have put on some unwanted weight.  I have been working to take it off, but the process is moving very, very slowly, and I need to give it a jumpstart, I believe.

So, in addition to my usual goal logging activities, I am going to put myself on a restricted diet for June.  I am eliminating certain foods from my diet.  Last time I did the same, in the past, I saw swift results.  I want to do that again, because I need to have change in this matter.

This is not a matter of defeat, instead I see it as a matter of taking charge.  Like other aspects of the notion of Pathwalking, I am taking control of my actions and being accountable so that I can shrink my body down some, so that I can fit into clothing that I currently cannot wear.

Further, it has come to my attention (though I was aware of this before) that a healthy body is important for a healthy mind.  Healthier bodies can better cope with depression and other stresses, and that is always a good thing.

Why am I choosing to do this?  Because I need to change my overall mindset about any number of matters I am dealing with in my life presently.  Because I want to take control, and to take a specific, inspired action to effect some change.

Pathwalking is the active practice of choosing my own destiny.  I alone choose the paths I wish to walk, and this is no different.

Over the years I have turned to any number of outside resources to help me with my conscious creation of reality.  Whether it was The Secret, The Map, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, The Four Agreements, The Fifth Agreement, The Book of Five Rings, or the latest book to pass through my hands, You are a Badass – ALL of them have a similar message.  Thought, Emotion, Action.  No one of these individual matters will make conscious reality creation possible, all three are necessary.

There are always more steps, always bits and pieces that you might need to go through different sources to glean.  For example, it’s all well and good to approach life with the intent to walk your own path, and to choose your own destiny.  But it is difficult if you do not address old, useless, deep-seated beliefs that could be getting in your way.

Have I written about this before?  In particular The Map and You are a Badass really address this topic.  If you have old, outdated beliefs, even from as far back as childhood, they can very well cause you to sabotage your efforts to manifest at the worst, and to make the work twice as complicated along the way at the least.

I have spent most of my life believing that I am fat.  And because I hold that to be true, hmmm, big surprise, I have been struggling with my weight pretty much all the time.  I also have been told that my weight is an issue for me since I was a kid, so it is very ingrained within me to hold to this belief, and so this has been my reality.

I can’t just think I am thin and it will be so.  Can’t just FEEL that I am thin and, poof, all the excess weight will be gone.  Doesn’t work that way.  This is why I am taking action, action I feel rather inspired to take, along with changing my thought process to not focus on weight loss, but to focus on achieving the body I want.  Positive approaches always work better than negative ones.

Meanwhile, I need to ALSO address the old, underlying beliefs about this from my childhood.  Whether it was being the last kid picked for the teams, being called the chubby kid, being told that I had to lose weight continuously – I need to resolve these issues, and focus instead on wellness, on creating a more ideal body, and on living in the now with regards to this exercise, rather than focusing on my past or on the future result.

Over the next month it is my intent to work on two specific things.  First, I need to work on taking more actions.  The goal log has been helpful, but too passive.  I am going to work on making it more direct, and more purposeful.  I need to make sure I meet ALL of the goals daily, which includes writing, meditation, exercise and gratitude.  The log is a check-list of things I need to accomplish, actions that need to be done.

Equally important, in regards to any actions I am taking, I need to explore old beliefs that could be sabotaging me.  I find that while I have made a lot of strides in the four-and-a-half years I have been Pathwalking, I am still not totally walking the paths I most desire.  I have taken many steps upon them, but there needs to be more.  I want to really walk the paths of my choosing, not just take steps along the way.  I think one reason this has been an issue is because I have not dealt with some old, limiting beliefs from my past, and that is something I need to work on.

In truth, working out old, unnecessary beliefs is a means to an end.  It IS an inspired action, and an important step to further Pathwalking.  Pathwalking allows me to consciously create my reality, and to manifest the life I want to lead.  I know from personal experience that this can be done, now I am exploring new means to the end.

Thank you for joining me on Mr. Titanium Don’s Wild Ride.  Please keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times, and hang on!

What do you know about your own past beliefs, and limits they may be putting on your present?

 

GOAL LOG – Week 21:

Due to being on vacation, the Goal Log was not maintained.  Returning next week with a revised purpose, as above.

 

This is the two-hundred thirty-first 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: Small Doses of Positivity

Sometimes you have to take Positivity in small doses.

We all go through things where we find ourselves feeling displeased, unhappy, frustrated, sad even.  There are lots of times where we would love to uncover and experience some positivity, but DAMN is it hard to come by!

What do you do?

You have to take into account the little things.  Moments in time that may, when they occur, feel somewhat insignificant, but in truth they can carry a tremendous amount of weight.

What do I mean by that?  For example, during a game of cards with my mom the other night we had a moment of extreme silliness where we both got struck with the giggles.  It was late at night, it was utter nonsense, but it was a moment of pure, unbridled joy and positivity.

Another example: went to the Minnesota Science Museum, and the very first thing we see as we walk into the place is a t-rex skeleton.  It’s been a long standing joke, in particular among the fencing community, that I have very short, t-rex arms and accompanying reach (or lack thereof).  So seeing my ancient “ancestor” gave me a laugh, which I immediately shared on social media.

Very small moments in time, but still moments of worthwhile positivity.  I was not having a day of negativity, per se, but it was unpleasant weather and a few other stressors occupying much of my mindset during the day, so these moments, brief small doses of positivity, improved my overall day rather a lot.

Sometimes the small doses come from outside sources.  Silly pictures on social media, an episode of a TV show or a movie, something you read in a book, maybe a snippet of someone else’s conversation that provides a moment of nonsense and from that comes positivity (favorite random conversation of all time – leaving a movie theatre in college, some guy walking past my party says to his friend “so I walked into the bedroom with a movie and two-by-four…”  We laughed about that for YEARS afterwards!)

In a world where we are barraged with bad news, where the man-made powers-that-be frequently employ fear and negativity to maintain their power, it is up to each of us individually to find positivity in our lives.  This is what we have available to us to improve our days, and to make the world a better, happier, more joyful place to be.

Even the smallest doses of positivity can have a tremendous impact on our overall experiences.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action.  Knowing that Positivity can be found in small doses every day, we can take those moments and hold them close.  When we give our energy to those moments, no matter how small, we wrest control of our emotions, and whenever we take control over how we feel 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 twenty two 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.

Pathwalking 230

Just breathe.

It is not cliché.  Sometimes the best thing you can do is to just breathe.

I have been feeling off for a few days now.  I have gotten a lot of things done, and I haven’t had anything bad happen, I have just not felt quite right.  I have felt off.  My energy has been low, and my spirits too.

We all have bad days.  We all have times when we are off, and while we can seek out the solutions to our issues, there are times when all we can do is to just breathe.

Yes, I have written many times that it is best to find ways to not just go with the flow, and that nobody by I am responsible for how I am feeling.  Despite this, I am, after all, only human, so there are still going to be days where I cannot get out of my own head, get out of a funk, and I feel low.

One of the keys to Pathwalking is to work on living in the here-and-now.  Rather than getting caught up in the past or stuck thinking about the future, I want to work on being wholly present in the present.

That being written, when the here-and-now feels bad, feels low and is hard to break out of, what do you do?  This is when you just breathe.

Focusing on just breathing allows me to regain my perspective.  There may be a negative situation at hand that is making me feel down, it may be cloudy weather, it may just be old data I am having trouble getting out of my head.  Whatever it is, when I stop and just breathe I have an opportunity to reset, to pause, to get back clarity within the moment.

When I focus on just breathing, I can clear my head of anything that is getting in my way.

I am my own largest critic.  When I am not living up to my own expectations of myself, I can get annoyed, get disheartened, and that is often the place where I begin to sabotage myself.  I do not believe in my own abilities, and I become fearful of both failure and success.

When I just breathe, I am able to re-assess my position on myself.  I am able to take a more favorable view of myself, and while I am still likely to be somewhat critical, I can still do better with being less judgmental of myself in any negative ways.

Just breathe.

Sometimes I need to remember that this is sufficient.  If I just breathe, and do the things I need to do in a day I am doing well.  I don’t need to be a high achiever, I don’t need to be a super-hero, I don’t need to be amazing…I just need to be me.  I only have to do the best I can do in being me.

This is the key of this statement.  There is no need to be someone I am not, for myself or for anyone else.  I just need to keep breathing, keep working on being the best me that I can be, and that is what is most important.

I want to be important, I want to have an impact on the world in a positive way.  I want to do great things, some altruistic and some probably selfish.  But the more important thing I want to do is to be true to myself, my ideals, and the paths I have chosen.

I just breathe, and I can better see the work I am doing to achieve that.

Today may not be the best of days.  But so long as I just breathe, and work through, I can still maintain and improve upon who I am and what I want to do.  I alone choose what is best for me.

I think I often expect too much from myself.  When I fail to live up to the notions I have for myself, I don’t simply get discouraged, I have to contend with my depression.  I have to arm and armor myself to do battle with the black dog once again.

I have been fighting this battle all of my life, and I am not ashamed to admit that.  But when I allow myself to just breathe, when I can live in the here-and-now, I can always come out victorious.

Just breathe.  There is tremendous power in this very simple notion.

Do you allow yourself moments to regain perspective?

 

GOAL LOG – Week 20:

Diet: I am continuing to write out what I eat daily.  I have a large change I plan to implement in June, a temporary idea to jumpstart getting myself into shape.

Exercise: Fencing happened twice last week, and I made it to the gym once.  I also got in some additional physical labor.

Writing:  Only got in one day of writing.  Need to work on that.

Meditation:  Only 2 days of meditation, at least 6 minutes each day.

Gratitude: I wrote out 5 or 6 things to be grateful for nearly every day last week…but I missed a day.  Made up for it by writing out 10 things the next day.

 

This is the two-hundred thirtieth 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: Blank Canvas

I am a blank canvas.

Often this is where I can develop some of my best creativity.  I have nothing in particular in mind, and before I know it I have something I didn’t have before.

Today, though, my blank canvas is remaining blank.  Nothing has been coming to mind.

I am feeling positive overall.

That’s great, I am happy that for the most part I am feeling well, but I have had no idea what I should write about to focus on my positivity today.  I am not drawing from my blank canvas anything creative.

This is not a negative, however.  I could probably view it as such, but it could just as readily be a positive.

Why?  Because I have a blank canvas before me.  This might not be anything at the moment, but it could be something amazing.  It could be an astounding work just waiting to be revealed to the world at large.

I have infinite possibility to work with.  I have a ton of options, I can do anything I set my mind to doing.  My blank canvas may feel less like possibility and more like a blockage, but I can choose to make of it what I will.

Sometimes it is easy to let that tired feeling dominate your actions.  Sometimes that blank canvas feels far more like potential failure and inaction than success and possibility.

Once again, it’s all a matter of perspective.  Do I see my blank canvas as open premise and vast possibility, or as inactivity and a lack of creativity?  It’s entirely up to me to choose what it will be.

It has taken me far longer than normal to do anything with the blank canvas before me.  But that’s ok.  I know that it can be nothing but positive, if I choose to treat it as such.  This blank canvas is not an ending, it is any beginning I might choose for it to be.

How do I perceive this moment?

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action.  Knowing that I can take this blank canvas and make whatever I can imagine out of it, I have nothing but a ton of choices before me.  When we take the blank canvas and do not let it thwart our creativity, but instead use it to create something fresh and different and new, 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 twenty 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.

Pathwalking 229

Everybody has comfort zones.

We all have places where we feel most comfortable.  Some are literal, some are figurative.  Each of us have places where we can go to feel comfort, to feel calm, to just be without overtaxing ourselves.

The problem with comfort zones is that sometimes they can be very hard to break out of.

One of the things about Pathwalking is that it is my way of choosing my own destiny, going my own way as makes me feel happy.  I am on a path that allows me to do what I want with my life.

However, sometimes my path is my comfort zone.  I do my thing, I wind up with my own patterns and routines, and take comfort in the way things fall.  This is my path, and I will traverse it.

Unfortunately there are situations in my life where I have to take different courses along my path.  What do I want most?  I want to write.  I want to create new stories and edit existing ones and share my worlds and my imagination with a wide ranging audience.  However, until I expand my sales and begin to sell my writing at a MUCH higher volume, this is not going to pay my bills.

Pathwalking is not about pie-in-the-sky ideas.  I’ve written before that while we all have goals and aspirations we can strive for, there is a certain reality involved that cannot be ignored.  You can manifest almost anything you need, consciousness creates reality…but it has to be believable to you.  If you are not involved in politics you probably cannot become President.  If you don’t actually write things down you probably cannot become a writer.   You probably cannot become an astronaut if you aren’t taking steps in that direction as your path.

At present, I have to work a day job of some sort in order to pay my bills.  I have to pay for gas and food and other essentials of a modern life so that I can do fun things like fencing and weekend events and such.  This is where I think I sometimes get stuck in my own comfort zone.

I’ve been working on and off for the same business for more than a decade.  There have been multiple occasions where I left that job, but I always return.  I have held several titles and positions within the business, and I continue to do a pretty wide variety of tasks there.  I know the business inside and out, hell I even helped build the space before they ever opened their doors.

Why have I left more than once?  Because in some instances it was to step out of my comfort zone and try to do something else.  In some it was because I thought the proverbial grass might be greener elsewhere.  Sometimes it was frustrations with the business and the hours that led me to walk away.

In many respects this place is a physical comfort zone for me.  The people are great, both clients and staff, and it’s a holistic, open atmosphere I enjoy.  Downsides are evening and weekend shifts I would rather not do so frequently, but it’s a part of the business and working there.

This job is, apart from my writing, the most consistent job on my resume.  Because I have a tendency to experience a sort of wanderlust, my skillset is wide-ranging and varied, which to a very limited number of companies is advantageous.  Unfortunately, to others, I look a bit flighty.

I began writing sci-fi and fantasy at the age of nine.  Over the years I expanded my range, and I now write a number of non-fiction pieces, like this blog, a number of business-related works I’ve composed over the years, and even SEO website optimization and blogging.  To write outside of fiction, in particular sci-fi and fantasy, was a step out of my comfort zone.

One of my primary jobs at the business I’ve so long been with is IT.  I maintain and repair the network and the dozen-plus computers on it.  I also deal with other technology infrastructure matters of the business.  I have a knack for it, I’ve even built a couple of computers over the years.

More than once it has been suggested that I get deeper into IT.  I started to do some freelance work with a tiny IT company, but it didn’t pan out to anything greater.  I can do quite a lot, more than I often think I can, but to advance into this business further I need to get training.

The big question is – do I dislike IT beyond a hobby as much as I think I do, or is it a question of my comfort zone?  I know, for example, that sales is something I dislike.  Yes, it does sometimes pull me out of my comfort zone, but also I just not a fan of most of the sales jobs and the pushiness they require.

So what’s my point this week?  My point is that I think I might be trapped within a comfort zone, and I need to break myself out of it.  How can I be trapped if it’s a comfort zone?  Because I think I might be holding back or otherwise procrastinating and not growing as I need to.  I think I might be hiding inside my comfort zone to avoid scary steps that might lead to failure, but could equally lead to success.

I am still walking my path, but I may only doing so half-heartedly.  I think if I let go of my anxiety and my fears and force myself out of my physical and emotional comfort zones, I can better realize both the path I am on and the goals at the end of it.

Do you know where your comfort zones are?

 

GOAL LOG – Week 19:

Diet: I am continuing to write out what I eat daily.  I think I’m doing better with eating healthier and with eating less.

Exercise: Fencing happened twice last week, but I never got to the gym.  However, I did a TON of walking more than three days during the week.

Writing:  No writing or editing occurred.  I spent a bunch of time promoting my newest published book, however.

Meditation:  Five days of meditation, at least 8 minutes each day.

Gratitude: I wrote out 5 or 6 things to be grateful for every day last week.

 

This is the two-hundred twenty 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.

Positivity: Actions

Every week I conclude with this: Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action.

Action can take on a number of different meanings in this context.  It may not be any kind of physical act, it may be an active change in thought or an active change in feelings.

When I am feeling particularly down, or anxious, or uncertain, I find that I can’t just hope for the best and await something to provide me a mood changer.  I have to take action to make change.

Sometimes the action is a change of thoughts.  Instead of thinking about things that are making me uncomfortable or that cause me to feel negative, I need to work to think about something else.  I might need to turn my thought process towards something positive, something that will build up creativity.  Different things will work at different times.

Often a lack of positivity is in the emotions.  So it is in my best interest to change my feelings.  I have written pretty frequently that we are each more capable of controlling our own emotional states than we allow ourselves to be.  So we do not sufficiently empower ourselves by taking ahold of our emotional states and making changes where necessary.

Feeling anxious, feeling sad, feeling frustrated, feeling uncomfortable?  It is wholly within our own power to find ways to change how we are feeling.  Whether we put on music, focus on a pleasant memory, or employ some form of attitude shifter, we can take action to generate positivity for ourselves.

Of course, this can be literal, too.  Go for a walk, get out in the sun or the rain, spend some time with an animal like a cat or dog, change your surroundings to shift to positivity.  Literal action can be extremely helpful for developing more positivity in our lives.

Why bother with positivity?  Because I am pretty sure most of us want to live in a world of hope, a world of possibilities, a world of good and abundance and people helping each other out.  The world of the greedy, the selfish, the destructive and the angry serves no one but a very select few, and we need to work to empower ourselves more than we empower them.

Action can be simple, but it focuses change and as such is an outstanding tool to build more positivity.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action.  Knowing that we can take action on multiple levels, we can act to alter our thoughts, feelings and doings to generate more positivity.  When we take actions, whether they are physical or otherwise, we consciously choose to seek out more good things for ourselves, and more importantly 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 twentieth 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.