Wind of the Soul

We’ve all heard the adage – “good things come to those who wait”. I believe that phrase to be true, but there are far more components involved in any accomplishment than just waiting around for the passage of time. However, there’s no denying time is a huge part of the equation. It takes time + emotions + thoughts + consistent, persistent action to = results. If we can develop the capacity to understand the concept of patience, through understanding time’s role in the natural progression and processes of all living things, we will have made great strides in short-circuiting the “I want it now” mentality. While there’s nothing wrong with wanting something to occur faster, it’s important we don’t make that our constant modus operandi.

So very often, in the natural progression of life, rapid manifestation doesn’t occur and for good reason. Just as a sapling doesn’t become a giant sequoia overnight and a ten year old child can’t become a thirty year old adult in a week; neither can our hopes and dreams become instantaneous reality in an unreasonable amount of time. If we constantly expect instant gratification, yet it ceases to come at the rate we demand, we will continue to feel disappointment and frustration; eventually removing all of the necessary components from the above equation. And when that happens, there also will be very little sitting on the right side of the equal sign.
(Read the rest of Goal Achievement: Developing a Long Term Mindset…)

As is customary for me, every time a public television pledge drive comes around, I have to tune into their broadcasting. Throughout the year, PBS normally has a variety of great programming, but around pledge time they really bring out their “A” game. This is when you can expect to see programs featuring people like Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra.

So on Saturday morning, shortly after waking, I turned on the TV to see what my local public television channel was airing. They were already forty five minutes into a show called, The Artist’s Way at Work, with Mark Bryan. Now, even though I was only able to catch the last fifteen minutes of the program, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I always find myself enthralled when watching and listening to what inspires the creative process in artists (or anyone). Perhaps there’s nothing that peaks my interest more than hearing about that which gets the creative juices flowing. To learn what stirs and drives others always tunes me into my own inspiration to create.
(Read the rest of Variation Inspires Creation…)

Over the years, as I have worked to explore my total-self, I’ve discovered an occasional tendency to try and ignore or hide certain emotions and experiences. If something didn’t feel “proper” or if it didn’t seem to fit into a so called sublime spiritual state of being, then I found the need to repress or ignore it. And when I wasn’t forcing it back into the abyss where it came from, then I was feeling guilt or shame for thinking the thoughts and for taking the specific actions related to the thoughts.

For me, coming into a better understanding of my spiritual side has been amazing; however, it has also caused me to place a lot of undue, unnecessary stress and pressure upon myself. I think anyone that’s engaged in self-exploration and growth will eventually encounter some form of self-condemnation or judgment. As we tune into what we feel is a more aware, connected, conscientious state, it’s not uncommon to hold ourselves to an even higher standard than ever before regarding our past and present emotional responses and actions.
(Read the rest of Honoring Your Emotions & Experiences…)

As we come in contact with our real values and begin to recognize what truly matters, to us in life, we may find ourselves questioning things like materialism and wealth. There’s little doubt why those in pursuit of their own truths become disenchanted with the ideologies found in capitalistic societies. Consumerism and gluttony are encouraged from the time we are old enough to comprehend words and sentences.

As small children we were completely inundated by these concepts; from the television to the playground. And even if we lived in a household which heavily monitored how we spent our time; we were quickly brought up to speed once we enrolled in the public school system. These “lessons” always managed to find us by way of peer pressure, judgment and downright cruelty.
(Read the rest of Abundance or Scarcity?…)

A prerequisite or at least co-requisite of persistence (for goal achievement) is an unshakable belief in ourselves and the projects we undertake. Yet, how do we develop and maintain this foundation of belief, in a world which seems so determined to undermine our self-confidence? There’s no single magic bullet for answering that question. Building confidence, if we’ve allowed it to be stripped from us, or if we feel we never truly had “it” to begin with is something that takes consistent work.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts I used to suffer severely from depression and other issues. After spending many years succumbing to that state of mind, I found myself in a void regarding self-esteem and lacking confidence in my abilities. It’s only been through consistently working with the techniques in this post (as well as many of the other techniques found throughout this site) that I have been able to develop a stronger belief in myself, my ideas and my dreams.
(Read the rest of Believing in Yourself…)