This is the third in an ongoing series of posts on Opening to Ecstasy. Check back soon for more! If you have questions or comments you may reply below or email me at Lynnet@openingtoecstasy.com
3. STOP!
You absolutely have to interrupt your pattern. You have got to get out of your routine! The critical thoughts, the blame, shame, playing the victim, and guilting yourself must stop! They are B.S. and you CANNOT let them run your life! If you do, you give your energy and life power to them.
They are a habit. They are a conditioned pattern you have been repeating over and over. You must stop! If you are entertaining negative thoughts, you will not open to ecstasy.
This does not mean that you can never have negative thoughts. Our goal is not some false idea of perfection. Be present in THIS moment only. In THIS moment, choose to let your negative thoughts pass by as clouds across the sky. You do not have to listen to them. You do not have to identify with them.
The way we torture ourselves with criticism really is B. S. Call yourself on it! Do it with loving presence. But it is up to YOU to stop. No one else can do it for you. You must control your own mind and energy.
Ultimate self-love is seeing yourself clearly without judgment. Just for this moment, release all judgment. Judgment and “should” create stories. They cause you to hide from yourself. They keep you from seeing the truth. They keep you from BEING the truth.
You need to interrupt your pattern. The next time you have a negative thought that creates disempowering feelings for you, STOP! Say the false belief out loud while holding the end of your tongue and doing the duck walk. Jump up and down and scream. Tell yourself out loud that the false belief is BS. Proclaim a new and empowering belief at the top of your lungs. Say it with passion. Do whatever you have to do to FEEL it in your body.
4. Awareness:
This is another word that has been thrown around a lot. To be in awareness, call forth your observer or witness. No matter how fast your mind is going, there is a space between your thoughts. There is a consciousness in you that is aware that you are thinking.
You are not your thoughts. Thoughts come and go, but you remain. Observe your mind. What is it doing right now? Is it flying all over the place? Is it thinking of other things while you are listening? Notice what your mind is doing without judgment and call your mind to the present moment, right here, right now. When you are in ecstasy, you will be in a state of BEING without thinking. Practicing awareness will help you be in this state.
What is your body doing right now? Just observe it with loving awareness, loving presence. How are your muscles? Are they relaxed? We often go around with our muscles so tight it is as if we are holding ourselves in a vice grip. We are completely unaware of what we are doing to ourselves. We need to have a look, a non-judging look. Just take the viewpoint of a non-judgmental observer and look at what you are doing with your mind and your body.
None of us really SEE how we are being– not really. Or else we wouldn't be that way. It is as if we are all under mass hypnosis. And that is okay. There is nothing to fret about. Just practice lovingly. It feels good to be in your witnessing self.
When a problem comes, it can feel overwhelming. The truth is that you are bigger than any problem you have. There is a solution to any and every problem you are facing now or that you will ever face. You need to take a larger perspective. Practice this. Be the loving observer of your own life.
When you step back and see the bigger picture, you will see that the disappointments you have experienced have turned out to be a gift when you allow them to be.
This may be a challenging step for you. It was for me! I was pissed the first time I heard any teaching about the painful experiences in our life also being gifts. I thought “sexual abuse? Rape? Abusive marriage? Heart-break after heart-break? Massive physical injuries? Chronic illness? Poverty? No. These aren’t gifts. Thank you very much.”
But these unwanted experiences were part of making me into a mighty healer. These experiences, once I FELT the emotions cause by them and integrated the parts that had spit off at the time of impact, uncovered an infinitely deep well of feeling, sensitivity, intuition, and powerful healing abilities in me that I would otherwise not know in myself and not have to share with others.
The enormous pain of these experiences awakened super powers in me. We all have superpowers. You have superpowers. You are THAT powerful, THAT amazing. The challenges and obstacles you face make you rise in ways you would not otherwise. Our wounds awaken our superpowers.
If you find yourself feeling stuck, unable to find your path to ecstasy on your own, I can help you to clearly see the blocks you hold onto and move through those blocks to a life of Ecstasy. To see if we are a good fit to work together, fill out the Body Story Inventory here and you’ll receive a free 20-minute reading and consultation with me.
This is the second in an ongoing series of posts on Opening to Ecstasy. Check back soon for more! If you have questions or comments you may reply below or email me at Lynnet@openingtoecstasy.com
I am going to guide you through 7 steps of opening to ecstasy so you can begin experiencing this freedom and exhilarating expansion immediately. I put this process into seven steps to teach it to you. In actuality, it is a no-step process. Here is what I mean by that: My partner used to do a lot of dance training. He told me that to do some moves, you had to practice a bunch of different steps. But, when you did the move, you did not do it as 7 separate steps. You did it all at once as one step, one dance.
Opening to ecstasy is like this as well. You learn all the pieces that make up the single movement. You practice pieces of it and as you get better and better at the pieces, you are suddenly able to open to ecstasy and have the actual experience of it in your body and being.
Rather than 7 steps, it is more like 7 ingredients that make the cake.
You benefit enormously from each individual piece or ingredient. And magic happens when you have them all together and bake!
I am also going to share the number one secret to opening to ecstasy. Like all great secrets, it really isn’t a secret at all. The greatest treasures are always buried right under our own feet. I will share this essential key to uncovering and living your own treasure.
According to Webster’s definition, ecstasy is “a state of mind beyond reason and self-control.” No one can tell you what ecstasy is. You have to experience it for yourself. You must walk the path for yourself. I invite you to be brave. Be an adventurer open to exploring new territory.
As I lead you through these steps, I invite you to do them right now as we are going through them. The ecstasy you will be opening to is the ecstasy of this present moment.
1. Choice:
I cannot emphasize the importance of this enough. All the steps are needed, but THIS ONE Unleashes the Power Within. This step will make all the difference in your life. Nothing happens until you make a choice. Make a decision. It only takes one excuse to keep you stuck. If you want to open to ecstasy, choose it now and let no excuses stop you!
You want to know how to call your power back? This is it, right here– just making the choice to step up– to face your fears. To stop listening to the voices that say "I can't!" and start stepping into the one that says, "I can!"
You are ALL. All is in you– every potential, every possibility, every way of being. And you have access to every gift, all abundance, to absolutely ALL and we live like paupers. We block the reception of our birthright.
I invite you right now to make a choice. Choose to open to ecstasy in this very moment. You don’t have to know how or even fully understand what that means. Draw your own line in the sand. And say, “THIS IS IT! I choose now to open to life. I choose now to let life flow through me!”
This does not mean you have to have some cataclysmic change in your life. You can take baby steps. That is perfectly okay. The important thing is that you take the first step and keep stepping.
2. Acceptance:
We hear this all the time, but how often do we actually do it? To open to ecstasy as a way of being, you must accept all of yourself. Ecstasy is embracing ALL. This means to accept whatever you are feeling right now. If you think you should be feeling in any way different than you do or that circumstances around you should be in any way different than they are, you will suffer. You will be in your mind. You will be in resistance.
Ecstasy happens when you are in your body—fully alive in your body. And to be in ecstasy, you must be in a state of receptivity. When you resist, you block the flow of life. You block your experience of ecstasy.
You must accept how you feel and let it pass through you. Show up for your full life experience. Show up for your sorrow. Show up for your grief and heart-break. Show up for your joy. Show up for your pleasure.
Acceptance is non-judging compassionate presence. Give that to yourself now.
If you find yourself feeling stuck, unable to find your path to ecstasy on your own, I can help you to clearly see the blocks you hold onto and move through those blocks to a life of Ecstasy. To see if we are a good fit to work together, fill out the Body Story Inventory here and you’ll receive a free 20-minute reading and consultation with me.
This is the first of several posts. In the following days the remainder of this article will be up so check back often to read the rest.
When people see or hear the name, "Opening to Ecstasy," they most often think of sex. As out-of-this-world wonderful as sex can be, ecstasy is so much more than sex! Ecstasy is a way of BEING, an approach to life– an approach to each moment, person, and situation. Ecstasy is opening to life in its fullness, which brings complete joy, love, bliss, and peace.
You can have ecstasy in relationships, in your business, finances, home life, body, parenting, spiritual life…. and, yes, you can have endless hours of sexual ecstasy, for sure!
Even when you experience grief, sorrow, disappointment, frustration, anger, or fear, you can still open to ecstasy. You can still be in the fullness of life. And, when life is fully flowing through you, you are in ecstasy.
We block certain feelings because we think they will be uncomfortable. We don’t realize we are setting ourselves up for massive pain– a life of pain, actually.
Most of us have heard the phrase, “What we resist, persists.” This is so very true. It is also true that whatever we run from ends up running our lives.
When a feeling comes into our bodies, we are meant to feel it, to listen to it, to let it teach us and to continue moving through us. When we block a feeling, it remains stuck in our bodies indefinitely. It stays in our actual body tissue and causes tension, pain, and eventually illness and disease. It stays in our energy and continues to affect the way we see the world and what we attract and repel in our life experience.
If you live your life denying your anger, that anger will run your life. You won’t realize it, but it will set the limits for your career opportunities, your relationship possibilities, and your health. When we allow a feeling to pass through unblocked, then we are in the flow of life again. We are restored to health. And we are again in the realm of infinite possibility.
But we are all programmed and conditioned to live in limitations. We so often do what we “should” rather than following our intuitive guidance. We are in our minds and not our bodies. Our minds are in the past and future. Our bodies are in the present. Our power to create our lives is in the present. The guidance we seek is in the present and in our bodies.
Truly, life does not have to be so difficult. You do not have to suffer. I know the Buddha's teaching that life is suffering. And it is true that when we live in opposition to the flow of life, we suffer endlessly. When we are caught in repetitive painful patterns, we suffer. When we close our hearts in order to feel safe, we suffer. When we live in stories from the past, we suffer.
Your life does not have to be limited to any pattern, story, or belief system. For those who are hungry to awaken, there is a way. There is an opening in every moment. There is an opening in every life circumstance. There is an opening in each and every one of us.
Who am I to say this? How would I know about your pain or your patterns?
In addition to helping many clients break through to joy and freedom even when they began working with me in a place that seemed almost impossible to shift, I have experienced enormous suffering myself and learned to get to the other side of it. I can tell you from personal experience that you can open to ecstasy in any circumstance.
Ecstasy is a way of BEING and it is teachable.
What makes it difficult is our resistance to change and our attachment to our patterns and even to our suffering. Don't make yourself wrong for these patterns and attachments. If that is where you are at, that is where you are at. But you don't have to stay there. You really can get free.
If you find yourself feeling stuck, unable to find your path to ecstasy on your own, I can help you to clearly see the blocks you hold onto and move through those blocks to a life of Ecstasy. To see if we are a good fit to work together, fill out the Body Story Inventory here and you’ll receive a free 20-minute reading and consultation with me.
This is the first of several posts. In the following days the remainder of this article will be up so check back often to read the rest.
Love and Blessings,
Lynnet
You can choose in any moment to step back from any situation and view it from a larger perspective. From this larger perspective, you will see that there are many ways to view any event.
You may have already heard the analogy of the 5 blind men and the elephant. Each man is asked to touch the elephant and tell what it is they are touching. One blind man touches the trunk and is convinced it is a snake. Another touches a leg and describes the object as a tree. The third feels the tail and is sure it is a piece of rope. The fourth holds the ear and thinks it is some sort of leathery wing. And the fifth holds a tusk and is sure he has a weapon of some sort.
We each have our own perspective and are right in our own eyes. We build our lives around these limited interpretations. Step back. Detach from being “right.” See the broader perspective. And allow others to have their point of view as well. From their perspective, an elephant might be a tree, while, from your view, it is a snake. They aren’t “wrong” and you aren’t “right.” You are both just operating from your unique perspective.
Loosen your hold on your perspective. See if you can expand and open to a broader point-of-view. When you step back, you will see the tree AND the snake. Step back again and you will see the whole elephant. Step back far enough, and you will see the entire Universe and know your place in it.
Often, we cannot see ourselves clearly. God gave me the gift of being able to see clearly in you the blocks that keep you suffering. I use this gift to help you get free from suffering and into a life you love NOW. You can fill out a Body Story Inventory and receive a free 20-minute discovery session to see if we are a good fit. Wishing you freedom!
Love and Blessings to you!
Lynnet
Your experience of life is not about “the facts” or some ultimate truth. What determines your quality of life is a combination of your personal STORIES and the CHOICES you make every moment.
The programming that creates your stories (or the meaning you give to life events) can certainly evolve. That is what personal growth is all about. Choice is where you operate your personal power. Choice is the key to creating your life. This is where you can use your free will rather than just pretend to yourself that you’re using your free will even when you are actually driving on autopilot.
Yesterday, events unfolded in such a way that triggered past pain and set me into fear automatically. While in a triggered state, I was walking hand-in-hand to the post office with my sweetheart, Paige, and our dog, Angel. I was not noticing the beauty of the day or appreciating the love of the man holding my hand. Instead of being present in the moment, I was lost in really scary stories in my mind. I was focusing on all the things that I DO NOT want.
In this state of mind, Paige felt distant to me. I felt no connection. And all kinds of little things around me started to break down. My life began to feel hopeless and painful really fast. Even though my mind is the only place that my imagined reality existed, I began to make it real with my actions, choices, and way of interacting.
Everything I saw in that moment was through the lens of fear and lack. Everything I experienced “proved” that life is hard and full of suffering. When in this kind of space, the isolation of the painful beliefs can actually feel like their own kind of safety. We become afraid to leave our painful stories. The fear becomes your jailer. In truth, freedom is yours already. When you let go of the layers of story, you will see and experience the truth. And the truth will set you free.
Because I have worked on myself for many years, I was able to STOP and make another choice before I did any damage. I realized that I was walking in the sun, holding hands with a man who loves me exactly the way I have always longed to love and be loved. I realized that all the love, beauty, connection, and abundance I need and want were and are already with me. It was just the old victim perspective that kept me from seeing it.
I was looking at what I did not want and that was all I was seeing. When I shifted my perspective to SEEING and RECEIVING the gifts of the moment, I was instantly back in joy and love. Nothing outside of me changed. It was all in my perspective.
Your perspective comes from your story. What would happen if you let go of your story? What would happen if you let go of the story you have used to define yourself, the story that is the lens through which you have viewed your entire life and everything in it?
We get enormously attached to our stories, to this lens through which we view “reality.” People even kill and die for their stories. We don’t want to let go. Even though the story is hurting you, even though it may be making you miserable or even ruining your life, you hold on to it. You have invested so much Life energy into it, it feels like “reality” to you.
There is another view—one that will set you free. The truth is that you are already free! If you are not living the experience of freedom, it is entirely from your perspective, from your story.
So, what is YOUR story? Have a look with curious, loving eyes. If you need help seeing the truth that will set you free, I am here to help you. My gift is to see the stories and pain that have been occupying your body and mind and causing you to suffer. When we work together, you release these stories and replace them with the truth. I help you embody the truth that sets you free and lets your light shine. What is more important than being free and shining your beautiful light?
To see if we are a good fit to work together, fill out the Body Story Inventory here and you’ll receive a free 20-minute reading and consultation with me.
Love and Blessings,
Lynnet McKenzie
In the last couple of years, I have been finding it very difficult to get out of bed before 7:30am. I have been “intending” to make it to the 6am yoga class for many months now, but there is always a reason to linger in bed a little longer. Last night, I decided that today would be the day I begin, no matter what.
This last week, my son was with his father, so my beloved and I had more time and energy to focus just on each other. We have been having so much fun together, that staying up to the wee hours of the morning has been blissful—at least until the alarm went off at 5:30 this morning!
When the alarm went off this morning, every excuse to stay in bed ran through my mind. “I’m SOOO tired. I’ll start tomorrow. I need more sleep. My body is aching! The sleep is more important than the yoga. I want to snuggle with my sweetheart. It’s still dark out….”
Then I took a breath and chose to will myself out of bed, put on yoga clothes and walked to the fitness center. The air was crisp and fresh. The crescent moon shone brightly overhead. The street was quiet and the world felt still and full of possibilities.
All through the class, I kept wanting to stop and just go back to sleep. The aches persisted and the moves challenged me. And, in the end, it was so worth going. I kept my word to myself, I made a choice and stuck to it, I did something great for my body, and, as I continue doing this, it will make all the difference in my body, in my life, and even in our beloved world.
Is there something you have been meaning to do, like organize your office, clean your garage, stop eating sugar, learn better communication skills in your relationships, or work out in the mornings? I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but, the time to begin is always, ever, now.
We all do better with support. Get a support group, an accountability buddy or a coach. Having a coach has made all the difference in my life. I offer coaching for women who are ready to lose the suffering and step into the powerful love and purpose they came here to live. If you want to see if we are a good fit, sign up for a body story inventory. Click Here, fill out the form and get your free 20 minute reading and consultation.
All My Love,
Lynnet
Have you had the experience of opening up to possibility in a big way, envisioning your dream and even reaching out to hold it in your hands, and then WHAM! An avalanche of negative thoughts slams the possibilities into the ground?
Just two days ago, I had a clear vision of being interviewed and sharing the powerful guidance that has been moving through me. I saw it helping people. I saw the stacks of notebooks I’ve filled with writing being transcribed and shared. It felt RIGHT. The opportunity to start making this real appeared immediately and I said yes and began to move in that direction.
Then the fear came in like a screaming banshee. Little details weren’t coming together very well. I was tired. I thought of a long list of reasons why it was not the “right time.” I cancelled without rescheduling.
I had a moment of relief. I thought I would transcribe some of the journal writing I have been doing and put it up on the blog. I opened a journal and began to read the inspired writing. It sounded like worthless dribble!
From the dungeons of my mind, accusations began pouring out,“ You aren’t worth anything! This is all crap!” And all my mistakes from the past and projections of mistakes for the future hit me like a firing squad.
“Give up! Quit! Who are YOU to do anything with your life? Who are YOU to transform and help others get free also?
Anything you have ever done has been for nothing and anything you ever try to do will be the same. Don’t bother trying. Give up! Give up! Give up! The pain is from trying. Just give up and the pain will go away.”
I got a migraine headache, excruciating joint pain, nausea and weakness, and massive soul-splitting emotional and mental agony. “Give Up! Just give up! Distract yourself. It will go away.” My mind continued. “You are powerless to do anything. You cannot change the world. You cannot even change your own life. Just quite trying. Give up!”
Hanging by a thin shred of determination, I called my best friend and told her how I was feeling. Thank God and Goddess she is a fabulous coach. She said, “What were you saying in my living room 2 days ago?”
I didn’t want to remember. In the mood I was in, the breakthrough I had two days ago seemed long ago and like I was fooling myself at the time. The darkness seemed like the truth. I felt like convincing her of the hopelessness of even trying.
But, these thoughts make me miserable. They always do. Even if they are a quiet undercurrent in my thinking, they bring despair in their wake. The lies they are telling me feel true to me when I am under their power, but they do not serve me and they fill me with fear–so they cannot be true. Truth comes with Love, not fear.
I made myself answer, “I am powerful. My authentic self is powerful.”
“What else did you say—about your worth?” she asked.
“Oh, that.” I felt embarrassed to even think about it. When I was sweeping the kitchen floor this morning, I felt this familiar despair and knew I was going in a downward spiral and needed help. Inwardly, the prayer that came to me was, “Tony Robbins, save me today!”
It seemed a ridiculous prayer, but that is what came to me. And, as Angela questioned me, I saw Tony Robbins in my mind standing in front of me smiling and chanting to get me started, “All I need is within me now!”
I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Tony in person last year. And, while at his event, I experienced seeing his soul. From that vantage, I experienced him as being on a magnificent, global mission and having a truly loving and brave heart. In the moment of seeing his soul, a place in me that holds the same level of love, compassion, and truth awakened for a moment. I remembered that and answered Angela.
“What I said is that I am worth as much as Tony Robbins and anyone else on the planet.” Angela prompted me a bit more. I felt embarrassed, but embarrassment is not the truth either. I am committed to the truth, not to embarrassment. So I dug deeper. “I have a message to share and my message is worth as much as Tony Robbins and anyone else on the planet!” There. I said it.
And the truth is that I am more powerful than the negative beliefs that get a hold of me. And you are more powerful than the negative beliefs and fears that seem insurmountable at times. The truth is that they came from you in the first place. How can something that came from you be more powerful than you? You created these painful beliefs at some point and you can stop them now, in the present.
These painful beliefs often get worse just after having a breakthrough and choosing to take powerful action in your life. Just last night, I experienced deeply KNOWING that everyone and everything is a piece of God. More than an intellectual or abstract understanding, I felt it in my being and experienced the truth of this. And just two days ago I experienced KNOWING that who I really am is amazingly powerful. I have kept my beauty, power, and connection to God hidden away—even hidden from myself. I experienced a moment of BEING the truth and I chose to embrace it.
I know I have a calling. It has been clear for many years. Looking back, it was clear my whole life. And still I falter when it comes to being in front of others. I fear being seen. I still struggle with the belief that I am unworthy.
Before his moment of enlightenment, Siddhartha (the man who became Buddha) faced many intense tests from Mara, the “Lord of Death,” whose name means destruction. There are several versions of this story. This is the one I remember. After Siddhartha had remained focused on his goal of enlightenment even while Mara threw major distractions and even monsters at him, Mara threw one last obstacle to stop him. The final test Mara used to keep Siddhartha from reaching his goal was to claim that Siddhartha was not worthy of enlightenment. Mara reminded him of all his weaknesses and failings, “proving” Siddhartha was a fool to be on his quest and that he should give up and go away because he was not worthy and could never attain his goal.
In response, Siddhartha reached out his right hand to touch the earth, and the earth itself bore witness to his worthiness. He was worthy because he exists! Mara immediately disappeared. And as the morning star rose in the sky, Siddhartha realized his goal of enlightenment and became Buddha.
I am worthy just because I exist. I claim my value, my right to exist! Rather than slink away and give up, I choose to believe the dreams of my soul!
I got off the phone with Angela and put on the theme song to my radio show, “It’s a Beautiful Life” by Ace of Base. I turned it up loud. All the arrows of unworthiness were still flying at me.
Visions from the past flooded my mind—memories of being raped, being molested repeatedly… Visions of being beaten, yelled at, expected to amount to nothing… Streams of criticism, reams of humiliation… Years of illness, major injuries, chronic, severe pain…Visions of failures and betrayals… truckloads of grief… a trail of broken dreams…the futility of it all…endless disappointment…
All these stories feel true to me when they show up like this. But I say NO now! None of this has any power over me.
Yes, painful things happened in my past. That is NOT who I AM! No matter how I feel in this moment, no matter what has happened in my past, it is a beautiful life. I CHOOSE to see it that way!
“All I need it within me now! All I need is within me now!” I chanted it over and over, stomping my feet in defiance to the Mara in my own mind. I reached inside myself until I found the truth that I am a piece of God, too.
I picked up the phone and reschedule the interviews I had backed out of. I’m still scared, but I am doing it anyway. If I let fear stop me, my life is over. I’m here for a reason. I have a purpose. I am called to awaken myself and lead others to their awakening.
I bow down in thanks. I’ll do it. I’ll do it. I am here to serve God, as in the Source, the ALL. I never know what name to use for “God.” No name really works for me. I don’t like the image of a male, personified, psycho-killer judgmental one and only “God,” like the one I was raised to believe in. But I am reclaiming the word God because it speaks to me of the Great Mystery, the Source of which we are all an equal part.
I don’t know what it means or what will happen, but I belong to God. This Force of All-Knowing, perfect, Universal Love is my boss. And I am of immeasurable worth just for being me.
What is YOUR dream? What stops you from attaining it? Whatever your dream, don’t be stopped! Don’t give up! Any thought that says you are worthless is a lie. As you reach for your dream, you will be tested. Remember, you are powerful beyond measure! There is a purpose for your life! You are here to Love. You are here to BE YOU!!! That is your job—to be yourself! Go for it!
You cannot really love yourself if you don’t let your guard down. When you stop judging yourself, you will get to know yourself. You will connect with your REAL self. You’ll discover what truly pleases you—your passion!
Do what pleases you and share your gifts with the world. I’ve had it all backwards. I thought I’d get to know myself and stop judging myself AFTER I love myself.
In truth, it is in getting to know myself without judgment that I love myself.
I have thought the only things of value for me to offer were in doing things that were hard for me to do. I thought I HAD to struggle in order to “earn my keep.” I thought that what came easy for me—what I love and enjoy doing and naturally do well—was of no value or worth whatsoever. I operated from the belief that I only deserve to be paid for doing things that were extremely hard and to which I was extremely resistant. As a result I did not enjoy my work at all.
This belief created a life of struggle and suffering. The more money I wanted to make, the more I believed I had to struggle and suffer. I believed that there was a very high price to pay for anything good in my life.
No wonder I tried not to want anything! I was living from the belief that I only deserve to be paid for suffering—that suffering is how I “earn salvation.”
I made it hard on myself, but I don’t have to. And neither do you!
Stop the judgment!
Get to know yourself!
Find out what you love!
Give yourself permission to be driven by pleasure!
Live it!
Stress, Shame, Fear, Blame—these rob our lives of joy. These block us from receiving the gifts that are coming to us at all times.
Let’s stop living with them. Let’s stop believing that this is how it has to be—that we/you have no power. Let’s use our power—use your power—to create, to get real, to wake up, to stop judging and to receive love/ receive the gifts of the moment.
As soon as you make a judgment, you are trapped in a cell of your own making. It is human to do this. We make our identities around these limitations that come from our judgments. However, they are not the truth. They are just the lens through which you are seeing the world. You can be free now. The door to your cell is open.
August 7, 2011 It’s the end of day seven for the juice fast. I am surprised I made it this far. I wanted to eat most of the day today. I salivated every time I saw or smelled food. I felt hungry, but I think most of my “hunger” was craving. Craving things that aren’t actually good for me, like a binge of greasy cheese, a loaf of bread with a stick of butter, and chocolate truffles by the dozen. The desire gets so intense that I start to feel compelled, as if I have no free will. (I suspect my subconscious actually sets up situations that put me in this position so I will have an “excuse” for going with my compulsions). I am so grateful my husband is fasting with me. If he was not also doing this, I know I would have given in at a moment of weakness. And he would have given in if not for me. Supporting each other in this way feels heart-openingly glorious to me. To lay our hearts bare with each other and be our real selves—and to come out of hiding more and more every moment—brings a fullness of love that overspills my heart. We can only be as real with our beloved as we have been with ourselves. So we strive to know and love ourselves more each day. We help each other grow. We help each other reach our goals. As we grow, our love continues growing. I wanted this love—just exactly as it is. And I got it when I asked for what I REALLY want. All my life before manifesting my beloved, I had told myself I only wanted love like a stream, that just a small amount of steady flowing love would satisfy my deepest heart. I actually believed it—I lived as if it were true. When, in fact, I really needed all the Water in the world and only that would meet me where I wanted to be met. But who am I to ask for love at this level? Who am I to be loved with such devotion? Who am I to actually get what I want? I am myself. And to be given what I want, all I have to do is ask. The most important part of asking is CLEAR wanting—be clear about what you truly desire to experience in your world. You must be completely honest with yourself if you want to create a life that fulfills your heart’s desires. If what you REALLY want is to live on a ranch in Hawaii, swim naked every day, and have 10 foster children, 4 dogs, and 2 husbands, let yourself have this desire clearly. If you believe you cannot have what you really want and so you tell yourself that what you want is a home in the country with a cat and 2 parakeets, you will always feel disappointed and frustrated. Stop judging what you want. Stop thinking you are wrong for wanting what you want. Stop thinking you should want something different. Judgment blocks the light of love and it blocks our reception of our desires. Go for what you really want! If you go for anything other than your true desire, you won’t have lasting passion for it. And, even if you do create it, your heart will not be fulfilled. Why wait? Get honest with yourself and clear about your desire right now. Forgive yourself. Laugh. And open your heart to the ecstasy of being One with your true, burning desire. There you will find your purpose, your passion, and your gift to the world.
I have listened to Tony Robbins and others talk about self-mastery for a couple years now. I understood the concept in my mind, but had never experienced it for myself. I have been a very hard worker and certainly pushed myself (excessively), but this is not the same as mastering myself. Until very recently, I did not understand the difference. I expended a great deal of effort and failed to reap the results I desired. After many rounds of this, I felt like giving up. I also blamed myself and practiced mental self-flagellation. Not fun.
Here is what I have found: You can work your fingers to the bone night and day and still fail completely at self-mastery. Self-mastery and hard work are not synonyms.
Self-mastery is sitting on the throne of your own life. It is being at Cause or at Source in your own life. You can work endlessly at the effect and just have to get up and start over the next day. Self-mastery is putting the extra effort in the right place.
The “right place” is that extra effort to be the one in creation of your life. To take full responsibility for yourself, your life and your results. As long as you are coming from the victim mode, you will stay a victim. You will never master yourself from there.
You must choose the results you desire and make them happen. Rather than being stopped by whatever excuses and outside circumstances happen to be occurring (and they will always be occurring!), you stay the course.
This 10 day juice fast I am currently on woke me up to the experience of self-mastery. I have been a food addict all my life that I remember. I lost control when I got hungry or had cravings. Anything in range was fair game at that point. Since I had a high metabolism, I stayed thin until my mid-thirties. However, some of the food I was eating and especially the amount, caused me to have chronic health problems at any weight.
I had tried restricting my diet and even juice fasting previously. Every time, my appetite would get to a point of such intensity that I felt I would kill for food. I would give in and be back to eating foods that made me physically unwell even though I knew better.
For the past 4 months, I have been working more and more raw foods into my diet and also drinking more fresh, raw vegetable and fruit juices. I also have the added (and essential) support of my beloved who is juice fasting with me. The real difference this time is that I am not giving in when the hunger and cravings roar inside of me.
You have to get bigger than the negative thought patterns and addictive cravings that “over-power” you. Otherwise, you will always be a “victim” to whatever compulsion wants to have its way with you. Self-mastery is being the one who decides how you are behaving – if you are exercising or sleeping in, whether you are eating chips or carrot sticks, drinking fresh water or soda, filling your mind, heart, and life with love and energy or with confusion and pain.
I had no real understanding of self-mastery until I felt the intense, even overwhelming, cravings and said NO! I chose to be bigger than my cravings rather than let them control me as I had been doing all my life previously. This is the first step of Self-Mastery!
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