I haven't written in this blog for quite some time. I judged myself harshly and stopped writing, I'd some how convinced myself that I was writing from my ego instead of truly wanting to help people. I don't know how I got to this conclusion because I love helping people! Lesson one: Don't judge yourself! ... But that's for another day. Today I want to talk about what brought me back. I was given a sign and then clarification.
I was browsing around on Pinterest, one Pin lead to another until I started coming across quotes from the TV series, "One Tree Hill". They were really deep and meaningful and I began thinking, perhaps I'd enjoy this series. I was worried that maybe the meaningful lines would be far and few between but decided to give it a go anyway.
I relaxed down and turned on the pilot, Lucas is the main character and part of the story is that he's good at basketball but only plays at the park. His Uncle and the school's basketball coach is trying to get him to play in the school basketball team. Lucas isn't sure he wants to and is chatting to his Uncle talking along the lines of, "I don't really want to.. why should I.. why can't I just keep playing in the park.." His uncle replies:
Keith Scott:
"I'll tell you why. When I was a kid, my father took me to Raleigh to see
David Thompson play. I was 9 years old. I couldn't have cared less
about basketball. But when Thompson stepped on the court, he was so
young, so quick, and just so graceful that I was mesmerized. I couldn't
take my eyes off him until late in the game, and I look up at my dad,
and he's got tears in his eyes. 14,000 strangers and my father's crying
because he's so beautiful. He played with such poetry that he made us
feel like we were a part of it. You have a gift, Luke, and it's a crime
not to let people see it, to hide it in the park. It's a damn shame.
That's why."
This hit home for me. I had been asking the same thing. Yeah, sure, I love to contemplate life, I love to think deeply about subjects and ask questions of things that we all don't even notice and I can express myself well in writing but why should I? What's the point when there's so many people online nowadays doing the same thing. It can be off putting when you think about starting a project and you jump online to see the internet flooded with millions of other people doing the same. That scene from "One Tree Hill" made me see it another way, instead of me trying to put myself out there and trying to succeed, I can see it as giving people a gift. A gift of a different perspective, a new way of looking at things. Instead of hiding it in my bedroom. To read other people's perspectives helps me in my life, it sheds new light on concepts I hadn't thought about and brings in awareness so I can change old habitual beliefs which don't work for me anymore.
The next day I found a series of questions to answer which help you to know and accept yourself. It was simple yet powerful, allowing me to focus on the positive aspects of me and at the end was an invitation to ask my own question. So I asked myself: what gift do I have to give to the world? I'm gifted at writing and deep analytical thinking, sharing my thoughts opens other people's eyes to new horizons they haven't thought about.
So if you have something you love to do but you're afraid to put yourself out there, see it as giving others a gift, laying it out for others to choose to take or not. We are all different and we all want different things, we can't please everyone but we can give our gifts to those who will gain from it.
What is your gift?
Namaste
Belinda
We are all individual, unique expressions of the divine. We are the oneness or consciousness of all, experiencing itself from many different angles. We have individual paths. Life's journey is unique for all and we can celebrate our individuality as well as our oneness.
Find self love in celebrating who you are as a unique expression, your personality mixed with your life experience and desires are part of which makes up you. You have unique concepts and opinions working together to motivate your actions. You have unique desires not only for yourself but for the world too.
We can learn to love others in recognizing they are playing out their unique expression too. All paths are divine. Whether we define it as wrong or right, good or bad is irrelevant. We have the opportunity to learn from one another, we feel inspired by each others art and expression, we react negatively and positively to each others words and actions and through this we can learn a great deal about ourselves.
Even that which we judge as negative, we can be grateful for as it allows us to further define what we desire and then choose that which feels positive instead. Negativity also causes us to question and this questioning may lead us to mindfulness where we experience our true self, our self as one with all, our self as the divine.
As we individually walk our paths and grow, we are also assisting the whole to expand. Each experience births a new idea or concept, we constantly push boundaries and invent new things; we discover more whether it be within the scientific realm, religious realm, anywhere in between or even within oneself. We are discovering who we are individually and collectively.What a beautiful world.
Namaste
Belinda
I first discovered the Law of Attraction 10 years ago and through practice I've not only been able to bring great things into my life but I've also had many great epiphanies and lessons.
Here are the best things I've discovered through the practice of Law of Attraction.
Gratitude
I first tried to practice gratitude with the idea that if I were grateful I could have anything I wanted... That was the catch, you can create and attract all of your desires as long as you're grateful for what you already have. My idea of gratitude was my childhood memory of mum making me eat peas so at first, gratitude did nothing for me.
It wasn't until I heard someone say, "Compare your life to those worse off than you to feel grateful". It hit me just how lucky I am because my survival needs are always met with abundance. I suddenly realised how much food I had and how much is available to me, so much that I can even eat for pleasure. The clothing I have not only protects me from the weather but allows me to dress up, feel pretty and wear something different every day. I have an insulated home, with rooms to accommodate my comfort. I have an abundant supply of water from taps in my home and taps around the house to water the garden.
I wasn't just surviving, I was thriving; and I hadn't even gone into things I owned for leisure like a TV and computer or for comfort like a king size bed and pillows or stuff I owned just because like ornaments and jewellery. The more I thought about, the more my whole body buzzed with bliss, I couldn't believe just how lucky I was! I realised, I didn't need anything else, I didn't even want anything else.
Positive Thinking
I was very negative and after watching The Secret, I was blown away by the idea that I could choose my thoughts and feelings. As I began to choose them, I felt so different and so good! It was an amazing growth for me as I realised in the past I'd been subconsciously choosing negative thoughts and feelings.
This was the start of me seeing how I create my reality. Most of our reality is the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, others and the circumstances we see. Not only do we react through the beliefs and stories we've told ourselves but we also only experience those stories again and again because our brains process 400 billion bits of information per second and the information we're aware of is filtered by our thoughts, feelings and beliefs.
To get an idea of this, repeat a colour to yourself, perhaps red and look around the room. Notice how that colour stands out to you, you can switch to another colour and notice the first colour fade into the background as the new colour stands out to you. This is how your brain filters information. If you choose positive thoughts, feelings and beliefs then you will find more of those in your reality.
Awareness
To practice gratitude and choose positive thoughts I became very aware of the inner chatter in my mind. I became aware of how I was reacting to the outside world and how my thoughts and feelings were motivating my behaviour.
I also became aware of the fact that our life isn't just what's happening outside of us but it's also our thoughts and emotions about life. I experienced first hand how my thoughts and emotions create my reality and then was able to use LOA on purpose.
You may enjoy my post on mindfulness, as it brings some awareness to how much you live in your mind as opposed to outside of yourself. It's such an awakening experience to realise how much of our life is a story in our mind.
Spirituality
Through finding Law of Attraction and then looking into others who teach it, I found there were different ways of looking at it, once again depending on an individual's belief system. Some believe in LOA as God or Source energy bringing you what you think and feel about while others see it as how our brain works scientifically, as I said above, how our brain organises and categorizes information.
This had me diving deep into questioning why we're here and who we are. I haven't stopped questioning and soul searching since and I love it. Through my awareness, growth and discovery I've discovered my true self, how to connect to my guides and I've discovered the peace and joy of mindfulness and meditation. I've learned that the whole world including us is made up of the same stuff microscopically, we are particles or waves and 99.999...% empty space. This for me, is why it makes sense that we and the world are energy and we attract energy that is vibrating the same as our energy.
Everything is working together for my best interest
I used to find my beginning way of manifesting frustrating, looking back though is quite humorous. I'd think about what I wanted, visualise it and keep doing that until I'd get impatient and break down because it hadn't manifested then take a good hard look at myself and think, "I don't really need that do I? So why am I getting so upset? I'm just going to forget about it". Once I'd completely forgotten about it, it would manifest. Doh!
Eventually I was able to drop the breakdown step but I also started to see a pattern, as things from my perspective were all going wrong, they were actually all going right. It wasn't all falling apart, it was all falling together for my greatest good.
I also had a negative view on life, I wasn't able to enjoy things when they were going right, as I'd be saying things like, "Things always go wrong, what goes up must come down". And of course, they would go wrong. Now, when things are going wrong, I wait for them to go right because my perspective now is, "When things seem to be falling apart, they're actually falling into place".
I believe in the chaos theory within our minds, when things feel wrong or hard, it's because we're about to grow and evolve so I look forward to the new me when things feel bad.
Realising what I truly want
Through the practices of gratitude, positive thinking and spirituality as well as realising I didn't need the things I'd tried to manifest I began to realise what I really wanted. If I want something, I often ask myself why. For example if I'm trying to manifest money, it may be to feel financially free, and if we scrap off the first word, it's to feel free and I know that I can choose any feeling in this moment so I can choose to feel free now.
Most of the time I simply want to feel free, at peace, lucky and joyful and these are easy if I just practice some gratitude and purposely choose my thoughts and feelings. It can be as easy as asking myself positive empowering questions like, "What do I have to feel lucky about?" My clever little brain immediately finds answers to this question.
I Create Reality
I am trillions and trillions of waves all vibrating together to make me and through my thoughts and feelings I create reality. Essentially, we are the consciousness from which the universe was born. How amazingly mind blowing is that? It's just damn awesome!
This idea motivates me to push past my limiting beliefs, I love questioning my idea of what's realistic and purposely using the Law of Attraction to create a new and better reality.
Through the practice and contemplation of Law of Attraction I've had many opportunities to learn and grow and I look forward to the next 10 years...
Happy creating!
Belinda
I'm an introvert and there's so many misconceptions about us. They're pushed so hard even I've taken them on in the past, believing I had issues I needed to fix, when all along it wasn't an issue at all, it's just part of who I am.
Introverts prefer more alone time than social time. We enjoy the socialising we do have but if we get too much then we want some time to ourselves to reboot; we seem to take on a lot of energy from other people and need space to catch our breath and let go. We enjoy deep thinking and being alone allows us to contemplate matters important to us. We like to think before we speak and act, we are more inside ourselves than outside and we love to day dream and wonder; we have amazing imaginations.
I wanted to share some misconceptions to help extroverts better understand introverts, as well as help introverts understand themselves more; through understanding comes appreciation and acceptance.
Misconception 1: "Introverts are shy"
I was a shy kid so I took on this one, but as I've grown and gained confidence, I'm no longer shy. Does that mean I'm no longer an introvert? No. Many introverts aren't shy and never have been. Introverts can be quiet because we don't have to talk all the time, we enjoy listening, it's interesting. Also, a lot of introverts are uninterested in small talk.
Misconception 2: "Introverts aren't confident"
This is very similar to the first point, but I wanted to point out that simply because someone likes their own company or enjoys listening as opposed to talking doesn't mean they lack confidence.
Confidence is an inner acceptance of self and sometimes people who seem the most confident, aren't and those who are quiet, are.
Misconception 3: "Introverts are anti-social"
Introverts tend to want more alone time than social time, this doesn't mean we don't like being around people. I love socialising, I love a great night out with friends, I love deep conversations, I love spending a lot of good quality time with my family and I love being around my partner. I also love singing my heart out and dancing around the house by myself, I enjoy laying in bed with a good book on my own and one of my favourite things to do alone is contemplate life and why we're here. I just love my own company, I'm excited when my partner offers to take the kids out and I get the whole house to myself.
Misconception 4: "If an introvert is shy and awkward then becomes confident and cool, they've become an extrovert"
As I said in the first point, not all introverts are shy. Shy and introvert are two different things, you can have shy introverts as well as confident introverts and you can have shy extroverts as well as confident extroverts.
I was shy and gained confidence, people tell me all the time how confident I am; a social butterfly, I love being around people but I'm still an introvert. I'm still more inside myself than outside, I still love contemplating life and spending time by myself to wonder. You're either one or the other, it doesn't change.
Misconception 5: "Introverts can't get ahead because they're too quiet, shy, anti-social and lack confidence"
Albert Einstein
Martin Luther King Jr.
Mahatma Gandhi
J.K. Rowling
Mark Zuckerberg
Barack Obama
Bill Gates
Nicole Kidman
Audrey Hepburn
Christina Aguilera...
There are many successful introverts, I chose 10 of the most famous and successful introverts to show you that they can get ahead and I also wanted to show their diversity; scientists, leaders, programmers, actors and singers...
Misconception 6: The biggest misconception "Extroverts are better than introverts"
We all know really, deep down, that introverts are better than extroverts... Hehe, just kidding. No one is better than anyone else but unfortunately because of the previous misconceptions many people think it's better to be an extrovert and even think introverts need "fixing". The truth is, both have different strengths and flaws and even then, how those come out depends on each individual.
As an introvert, I can only speak from the perspective of one and I love being an introvert. I can't get enough of deep thinking and profound conversations. I love contemplating why we're here and who we are beyond our senses and I love to wonder about life after death, other dimensions and reality itself.
I see my inside world as bigger and more profound than the outside, I'm aware that our internal thoughts, feelings, beliefs and expectations shape our reality and I enjoy becoming more aware of my inner self consistently.
No matter who you are, introvert or extrovert, find your strengths within yourself and appreciate them because they mold who you are as an individual which profoundly adds to the whole of humanity. Embrace yourself and be the best you, you can be.
Namaste
Belinda
When I was younger and more naive, I longed to be enlightened because I thought enlightenment was the answer to all my problems. I imagined I'd have it all together, that life would be simple, that nothing would ever bother me again. I thought I'd just live 24/7, in the inner peace I'd found through meditation. In a war of good versus bad, I honestly thought good could win.
I had knowledge that I would say but lacked the wisdom to really understand, like you can't have good without bad because they define each other. What I've come to realise is that to be on the path of enlightenment means to grow, continuously. There's no there that you get to and stop growing because there's no end to the depth of understanding of who we are. And this is wonderful really because if there was an end, I think we'd get bored.
The path of enlightenment or spiritual growth (or even just self growth) isn't a path of lollipops and rainbows with your head in the clouds. It is the constant breaking down of your beliefs and a renewal of your truths. This can, at times, be difficult. Your thoughts, beliefs and thus, your reality go into chaos so that your thoughts and beliefs will break down and re-organise into an evolved, higher understanding of yourself and reality. During the chaos phase, you can find yourself lost and confused. You may go through times where it feels as though everything is falling apart, however in reality, everything is re-organising and falling into place in a way that's better than you ever imagined.
Everyone, whether trying to or not, goes through growth. You grow to a new level of understanding when your current view of reality no longer works for you. Some people stay where they are for a long time because it works for them on some level, whether functional or dysfunctional.
You can purposely grow by using awareness, become aware of your inner thoughts and feelings and observe how they motivate your behavior then you can question your beliefs. They may be as simple as "I can't lose weight" or "I'll never be able to cook like my mum" or they may be bigger and effect a large portion of your life like, "I'll never be able to make a career change" or "Everyone is against me" or even staying on the topic of growth, when things go into chaos and it seems as though everything is going wrong, you may ask "Why me?" Only making it harder for yourself. Or it may even be your core understanding of how life works, according to you. Maybe you believe in a higher power guiding you. Perhaps you lean more towards atheism or maybe you're in chaos right now with no idea how life works.
You'll have many beliefs you're unaware of. Being aware can bring light to those and this can be the key to your failure or success; to your unhappiness or happiness; to your inner stress or peace. You may also enjoy my other post about the power of belief, "Believe in Yourself"
With awareness as well, the chaos doesn't have to feel bad, simply being aware that you're on the verge of growth and a new epiphany can sometimes be enough to get you through. You may feel better through purposely being aware because you realise, you are not your thoughts and feelings themselves, you are the awareness. Awareness may help you see any dysfunctional patterns that you can then choose to change such as, going into victim mode ("Why me?") when things aren't going the way you wish.
This constant breaking down of your perspective of reality to new, higher understanding is the continuous path of enlightenment and as your inner world improves, your outer world will follow, it has to because it is your inner talk and emotions that influences your behaviour and creates your reactions and it is your beliefs and expectations that attracts your reality and molds your world.
Although I had a naive perspective about enlightenment because I was yet to understand, it is everything as promised, just not in a way that you can imagine when you haven't experienced it yet:
- You do find more peace, more connectedness with others and the world, you deal with things better, from a more optimistic point of view.
- You can shift into mindfulness at any time
- You can also meditate with great ease
- You are more accepting of people and circumstances.
- You are open minded and know you will be learning forever, because your beliefs have changed so many times and you're aware that even through the many epiphanies you've had, you still are no where near knowing everything, in fact, it makes you feel even further from knowing everything.
- Constant growth also humbles you as you know you are equal to everyone and everyone is equal to you, we are just different, we are all a unique expression of consciousness itself.
- You accept yourself and decide to give yourself love
- You can sense why you're here, for divine to express and experience itself.
We are all spiritual beings having a human experience, not human's having a spiritual experience. Relax as you go through hard times and know that it is happening to grow you. Know that all things work together for a purpose.
Namaste
Belinda
I was connecting to my guides long before I was even aware of it and perhaps you are too. In this post I'm going to go over what I believe our guides are and how you can connect to yours for guidance in your life.
So what are guides?
In short, your guides are with you and are guiding you all the time. Signs, epiphanies, coincidences and miracles are all guides and your higher self at work. Sometimes, or even a lot of the time, you may mistake your guides and higher self for your own thoughts. With practice and awareness you can distinguish between you and your guides, you may never get to a point where you always know though because at times, it's in your best interest not to know. Once you're aware of your guides and know how to communicate with them you can ask questions. You'll know you've connected to your guides because the answers you receive will feel like epiphanies.
So that's what guides do, but who or what are they?
The concept of guides confused me for a long time. I connected to them and had some amazing epiphanies through them but still had no idea who or what they were.
For a while I believed my guides to be aspects of myself such as my inner child etc. I also believe we are all connected as one with all the consciousness of everything therefore all information, all knowing is available to us so I believed I was tapping into that. I didn't quite understand what all that meant at the time because I didn't truly understand myself.
As I've grown spiritually and spent a lot of time meditating and connecting to my guides I've come to a deeper understanding of who I am. A divine aspect of a soul, choosing a human experience to enable consciousness itself to experience and express itself. Me, my higher self/my true self chose a traumatic childhood because it would push me to question reality, why we're here and the purpose of us, animals, the Earth and the Universe and thus force me to awaken to my true self, allowing consciousness itself to become aware of itself. I have come to this conclusion through experience with my guides and higher self. My guides and higher self are aspects of me and I am of them. We are divine beings working collectively in this experience of me and of life itself as everyone and everything is one.
This of course, is my interpretation of guides and the best way for you to discover and understand guides is for you to connect to them yourself because even if you come to the exact same conclusion as I have, it's best understood when you discover the answer for yourself.
How to connect to your guides
At first it may seem hard to connect to your guides as if it's a new experience, a new sense but really, it's quite simple because your guides are always with you. One of the ways to connect to your guides that I read a few years ago was to start by pretending because you always are anyway. As you pretend to talk in your mind to your guides, you will notice responses that don't seem to come from you.
Here are some guided meditations to connect you to your guides and higher self:
First, begin your meditation by mentally readying yourself and making yourself comfortable. Take a few deep breaths and then re-check that you are comfortable and move if you need to. Continue deep breathing and focus your mind to your breath, continue this until you find your mind is clear and you are deeply relaxed.
Once relaxed you see yourself stood on a train station. This is your own train station, it can look any way you like, there may or may not be other people, it's up to you. You stand waiting for a train, your train. This train will take you to see your guides and higher self. Watch as the train approaches and look around at the detail of the train as you board. You may meet one or more of your guides on the train, sit with them and have a conversation or you may enjoy the ride and meet them when you arrive. The train chugs along on its tracks and winds through beautiful mountains and then before you know it, you're arriving at another station, this is where you get off to meet your guides and higher self.
The details are up to you, you can purposely choose how everything looks or you can simply allow your mind to make it up for you. As you meet and talk to your guides and higher self you will receive answers to any questions you have in a way that is in your best interest. For example, I asked my guides why I took someone's opinions so personally. As I was new to talking to my guides I thought they would tell me that I was sensitive as I believed that to be the reason but my guides said "Someone's opinion is only as important as you let it be". Immediately I felt better and let go of caring about their opinion. I still remind myself of this if I feel affected by someone's words.
Another way to connect to your higher self is to start your meditation as before and once relaxed, imagine you're walking along a path through a beautiful forest. The path is windy and you cannot see where the path ends. Eventually you reach a gate and you know that this gate leads into your secret garden. As you enter, the garden is beautiful, the features of the garden are what you most desire in it, you may see flowers, trees, vines, fountains, mushrooms, fairy's... anything that tickles your fancy. Inside, you see a bench and sitting on one side of the bench is your higher self, your higher self welcomes you to sit with them. From here you can talk to your higher self. You may also meet guides in your garden as well.
Enjoy connecting to your guides and higher self. Don't worry if you find it difficult, even after years I sometimes have days where I feel I can't connect, you will connect when the time is right.
Namaste
Belinda
Believing in yourself is the most important step in achieving what you want, if you've already decided to believe you can't then you won't even bother setting a goal to achieve what you want let alone make any steps to achieve it. The ego would rather be right than achieve inner dreams so will even go to lengths to subconsciously sabotage you.
You can even experiment with "I can" vs "I can't" by swinging back and forth while doing something, I did this with my children, we all stood on one foot and said, "I can't balance" and we fell back to 2 feet over and over, when we switched to "I can balance" we were able to hold the balance for a long time. I tried to do this with my partner but it didn't work because he was so confident in his ability to balance that he was unable to really convince himself even for a second that he couldn't. This is the power of belief.
Another experiment I did was kind of by accident. A few years ago while exercising I got to the point where I felt I could no longer keep jogging, I heard myself think "I can't, I can't" and I stopped with exhaustion as I began jogging again I decided to use affirmations, "I can, I can" "I'm powerful" "I can keep going" I went on for a lot longer than I'd previously believed I could, the affirmations gave me more energy to keep going, it amazed me how energized I felt inside! It also made me start enjoying exercise.
From these little experiments and understanding that it is my belief which determines my success I have been able to achieve many things in my life that I first thought weren't possible. I assumed that after 2 kids I would never get back down to the size I was before kids but with a shift in my belief, I did. I thought I was an easy target and that everyone ridiculed and put others down but with a change in my belief I allowed myself to drift apart from people like that and attracted those who love and support me.
I achieved what I thought was impossible over and over but I didn't even bother trying to until I shifted my belief from impossible to possible. From "I can't" to "I can and I will".
At times you'll be working towards goals and they just won't go to plan. This isn't proof that your goal is impossible, it just means there's a better way to go about it that you aren't aware of yet. When your plan fails, don't take it personally, just use it as feedback and ask yourself, if that way of going about it doesn't work, what else can I try? Perhaps you have set your goal too high and as much as you try to use affirmations to achieve your goal, your inner self just doesn't believe it yet, set a lower goal and achieve that first, then you can keep raising your goal. When you start small you get to celebrate every step of achievement along the way.
Sometimes, you may even find that you're thankful for blockages that come your way because you realise that particular goal or that way of going about it isn't for you after all or everything seems like it's falling apart only for you to realise later that it was all really coming together in ways better than you ever imagined.
This isn't just true for goals, this is true for everything in your life. Experiment with this so you can experience it for yourself, it's very powerful. Question your assumptions about yourself and life, become aware of your inner beliefs and change the ones that aren't serving you. When you switch around your thoughts and feelings you'll be amazed with how much changes, you'll attract people, things and circumstances to assist and guide you and everything will fall into place in better ways than you can imagine.
Start with your beliefs, believe in yourself and write affirmations because as Henry Ford said, if you think you can or you can't, you are right.
Namaste
Belinda
