I heard a woman talking about the law of attracting, specifically manifesting, the other day and the way she explained it clicked with me in a way it hadn’t before.  I’ve overcomplicated the process my whole life and I don’t think I’m alone in that.  Time spent imagining the degree of specificity we need, the amount of work we need to bring forward what we want.  She broke the process down like this: We imagine or decide that we want ice cream.  We go to the store and buy it.  We come home and eat it.  THAT is manifestation in a nut shell.  We don’t pay attention to the details of how the ice cream was made or how it got to the store or even how the car works to get us to the store, we simply know it’s there even if we can’t see it, we decide we want it, and then we go get it (make it happen). Manifesting isn’t about creating out of thin air without acknowledgement of the work.  It’s about focusing and trusting and being really clear on what we want/need and then taking the steps to make it happen.  Full transparency, I used to equate manifesting to magic—not that magic isn’t involved to a degree—where we could say some sort of spell and it would instantly appear.

I’ve spent the last several days talking about taking creative action for ourselves/others and putting in the work toward our dreams.  We can achieve the same results by applying the same principle anywhere and to anything.  Magic doesn’t have to be hard, we just need to take the right steps.  The most important part of manifesting is the clarity, beyond that, when we take action, we are guaranteed results.  I’ve said it before, we can’t wish to go to Bali, buy a ticket to Florida, and expect to end up in Bali (but if we end up in Florida on the WAY to Bali, that is a different story—that is the universe taking us on a ride).  Yes, I believe that we will still get a lesson when we end up in Florida, but the universe doesn’t work that way.  The universe can’t give us what we want if we don’t put in the order correctly so to speak.  If we order a cheeseburger when we wanted chicken then we can’t be upset no one got us chicken.  We can’t confuse the universe with unclear intent or misaligned actions or lack of action.  We need to get really clear and do the work. I’m not sure why humans overcomplicate everything.  I don’t know if we are trying to convey some sort of exclusivity or shutting people out, or making ourselves feel like we are beyond where other people are. We can always learn from others—we just need to listen.

The point is this: the magic of the universe is to alchemize the effort with the desire to manifest the creation.  It really can be that simple.  There isn’t an obstacle course beyond what we put in front of us.  That includes the distraction we give into when we are working toward what we say we want.  The faster we can align with what we want, the sooner it can come to fruition.  It also helps to merge that desire with the need to help others and to understand that the brighter we shine the more others can see their path as well.  Sometimes we need to see that we have to learn from others as well.  We can’t assume we know it all or that we are always right.  We can always do what is right for us, but we can’t tell others what is right for them—we can just show them how to find out what is right for them.  Regardless, it doesn’t have to be hard.  I suspect that things would be a lot further along if we weren’t held up on who is right/wrong and if we focused on WHAT is right/wrong. I digress.  Manage our output and focus on the end result and take the action that’s needed and manifesting becomes second nature.

I want to talk a little more in depth about Schwarzenegger’s book, Be Useful.  Schwarzenegger is a deceptive character—he will stay quiet about how much he knows and he will take in every ounce of knowledge he can about the world.  There is so much depth to his faith and he knows how to take a vision and make it into reality even if it isn’t in a conventional way.  He is another person dedicated to doing the work, like I’ve talked about with David Goggins and many others along the way.  Yes, the man is worth millions and it’s easy for him to spout out ideals about not focusing on the money, but for him, it truly isn’t about that—at least not in this context of being useful.  He wants to make an impact and it’s clear his goals are to impact the world—and he wants others to do the same doing what they can with what they have, where they are—and based on his stories, that’s exactly how he started.  

I will fully admit that I thought the book would be about something else.  There were the stories you’d expect to hear about the work put in to develop self and strength, but what struck me is what a huge vision this man has and how accepting he is of the world and his ability to change it.  He has a way of understanding how the world works while simultaneously knowing he can do something different, a way to shift the energy in his favor.  At the same time, he has a different kind of humility—he knows when he needs to learn while knowing he is not one to be fucked with.  He doesn’t allow where he is to limit him in any fashion—he simply keeps doing the work and keeps his eyes firmly on the prize.  Everything in his present moment, and in his presence is an asset and helps him.  He feels he is a tool for the good of the world—no he never says that—but he behaves as a conduit to help others however he can. 

I remember thinking as a child about how he must be a sort of meat head because who focuses on making a living solely out of how much weight they can lift?  Who would have elected him governor?  As I’ve gotten older and witnessed the type of impact he has had, my opinion has changed—I was magnetically drawn to his book and I am not mad about it.  It’s quite literally inspirational to see how he has steered his life with every decision he’s made and he takes full accountability for that.  He believes in his ability more than anything.  While he has a physically powerful presence, he uses his energy more than his weight and he puts everything in a positive perspective.  That is where our real power lies: to work with what we have and make it into something else through the alchemy of clear vision and persistent, consistent effort in sharing our purpose.  It’s a lesson we can all use a reminder of every now and then. 

I wrote this earlier this month and have been toying with it for a while–but I decided to share it today.

There’s something sentient in death.  It’s 3:33 pm on 1/9/2024 and I’m watching the snow fall in the most abundant and beautiful way.  It’s torrential, we can’t keep up with it to shovel.  But it’s settling.  It’s quiet and peaceful.  The Earth is still very much alive but we all go to sleep at this time, or at least we are meant to.  Beneath this blanket of snow, deep, heavy with wet, barely able to move, we are meant to rest.  We are meant to tuck in and heal and recover.  We are meant to find the peace inside.  Death in this season is a thing, yes, but it isn’t death as we think of it.  It’s the passing of the season, the sign that more growth is to come.  This is the fallow season, the protection and preparation for what is next.  The hibernating for new birth to come in spring.  This is when we say good bye to the old and let it rest.  We let it sink beneath the cover of this heavy snow and become one with the earth again.  The tress too are covered with a thick blanket of snow, branches heavy but still holding their own.  They’re more still than normal, proudly holding what they carry.  They will come out of this different, weathered, and bare, but ready to grow into their next phase of self. 

There is something forlorn in this season, yes, because it speaks of the passing time and things we may not see again.  We must lovingly let them go because it was their time.  A colleague’s dad died yesterday and she came to work today, slightly bereft and perhaps bereaved in her own way, but she still came in and didn’t shed a tear.  Her emotions cut off as she mentioned how emotional her siblings are.  I’m not sure the entirety of the story that would bring her to feel that way, and I know that people don’t always share all of their experiences for whatever reason—life is complicated and we can’t always take things on the surface.  We each handle death in our own way but it’s a misnomer to say it’s the end.  Some of us are more in tune to the beginning that comes with the end (or the perceived end) or we are simply more aligned with the flow of life.  In that regard, death is the rising of a different consciousness.  Just as we let this season come to rest, there is much activity beneath the surface, the energy isn’t gone.  Energy moves and transmutes and changes and exchanges, but it isn’t truly gone.  Even as a memory, that energy is still there. 

Yes, there is sentience in death.  It is another form of awareness.  It is a hanging on of what we knew though our physical form is in a different light.  As quiet as this is, there is still some form of life there.  Death, too is aware.  We are trained to have an odd relationship with death, at least in our culture.  We hide from it, we fear death.  I fear death all the time.  There is so much to experience in this form and I want to experience it all.  But the truth is death is an exchange of energy.  It’s a new form of consciousness that our physical form can’t keep up with.  As we shed the body, this mortal stuff, we become aware again of something else.  The winter isn’t death even though it is the end.  So too is the nature of death.  It is merely the end of a chapter in our lives, the end of a way of being.  Death itself is sentience.  It is consciousness and it waits for us to be aware.  As we say goodbye to our loved ones, as our loved ones wait to say their final words to those who aren’t present, they are aware of how they are transitioning. Something we face every day.  Every day we have the option to decide how we view it.  We live a million ways in each moment that passes us.  Feel this depth. Feel this healing, feel this rest.  Feel the weight of the world and awe at the miracle of it—love it while we are here. 

Yesterday we talked about putting in the work and moving forward consistently—don’t let anything get in the way.  I really started thinking though, how is that people are built differently?  Yes, we all know we have physical differences, but what is that makes every lump of grey matter in each person function a different way?  What is that driver?  Reading Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick, I see how early on she knew what she wanted and how she went after it.  There is something different there, not just in the determined recognition of self, but in the ability to refuse to go after anything else.  When I was a kid I waited for permission for everything—I wanted bigger and I wanted to do things, but I waited.  The dreams were always put on the back burner because my family rooted itself in reality.  I felt things I wanted but I never really considered doing anything about them until I was older, until it was the right time—a time determined by my family.  How is that some people, before they are barely even in school, are able to articulate and go after what they want while others spend a lifetime waiting?  Is it the right support?  Is it because they are better at it?  Are they better at expressing it?  Is it because people see something in them?  Maybe it’s a combination of all of it.   

The major difference I see is how they spend their time.  I ask if I would ever be able to do that, to really go after what I wanted.  I know what I’m capable of because I see what I’ve achieved.  I know I can yield a different result with different focus.  I see the routine so chokingly familiar and know that there comes a time we simply have to do something else.  Right now the days seem to be ticking away—I can’t believe that we are already done with the first week of 2024.  This first week started off with a bang in so many ways.  Work issues, personal issues and both of those categories are areas of focus for me this year.  The focus is to shed what no longer serves in everything in my life.  I often wonder if I had been built differently with less fear to simply go after the things I wanted earlier in life, if I would struggle to adopt and adapt to what I say I want.  My professional and personal life wouldn’t be an area of concern because I would have learned the skills I needed to go after what I wanted a long time ago—and this life would look very different.  This isn’t to lament anything, this is simply a matter of Sliding Doors, how one decision can impact someone’s life forever.  One thing I know for sure this early in the game is that if I want to move forward, I need to do the work. 

Doing the work means putting aside any concern about what people think about me or how they perceive me or how I can make them happy.  This isn’t about sacrificing myself for others any longer for the sake of being accepted one day and shut out the next.  As we’ve talked about before, the seeking of validation from external sources only depletes us further because we are subject to the value other people place on us.  When we know our inherent worth, when we understand the way the universe functions (when we see our purpose we are meant to go after it even if it doesn’t make sense—and we are supposed to share that gift), then we know our worth comes from within.  Learning to shut out other people’s voices allows us to work on ourselves so we can develop our belief and our skills.  Yes, we are all built differently, we all feel differently, we are attracted to different things.  That is the beauty of life.  What is significant to us and what lights us up may not be the same for someone else but it’s able to ignite the path for someone else.  The things that make us tick differently make the entire world spin.  Accept and embrace it and watch how much further we can get.  Be grateful how different we are and do the work of building our own stories.   

Today I am grateful for the exact expression of what I need.  I told my boss the truth the other day.  Non-attached, unemotional, but truthful.  I expressed that I needed to take some time off to get my life in order.  Not that there was anything negative, but the fact that I needed time to work on the things I need to work on.  I can’t deal with the interruptions, the constant worry.  While I’m at work I want to be working on my own projects and while I’m working on my own projects I have to deal with interruptions or worries about my 9-5.  My life is by no means falling apart, but it is dealing with some significant neglect.  Habits need to be addressed, the outside needs to match the inside; the short version is that I have a lot of cleaning to do.  Nothing is irreparable but it is messy and it’s causing other issues and preventing me from being who I need to be.  She told me it’s fine, to take the time to do what I need. She actually said that when we start to feel that way it’s time to address it.  So that’s what I’m doing.  I put my time in.

Today I am grateful for clarity.  This is probably the clearest I have been on what needs to be done—and it feels good.  I feel anxious about some of it because I want to start now and I still have to wait a bit, but I’ve noticed that the longer I wait on the things I’m passionate about, the more detailed and direct I am about what needs to be done.  Now, ADD is a pain in the ass and sometimes I forget if I wait too long, but in certain circumstances, my focus becomes a laser.  This time around I know I need to focus on something different—it isn’t solely about me and what I need to get done, it’s about how that work, the work I’m meant to be doing is impacting others.  That is something I need to make time for in my life—and I understand more and more what I’m talking about.  I’ve been making consistent changes and working on adopting the mindset I talk about here, that’s part of the reason I share this journey, it keeps me accountable.  Now I understand how taking the time to focus externally shapes us, and not only understand it, I know what it FEELS like.  We can forget a thought but we remember how we feel.

Today I am grateful for reminders of faith.  I’ve been significantly better with my faith since the beginning of the year.  It wasn’t planned, it just happened that way, but it was a significant impact.  I’m seeing the link between me and my ancestors, the writing, the sharing, the building faith and community.  My great-uncle was a writer and we are privileged to still have his works—and here I am writing as well.  My love of cooking from both sides of the family and knowing the methods they used.  My need to break some of the habits where we put our work first over those in the family who need it, the habit of putting ourselves last, the habit of giving in to what feels good for some semblance of comfort rather than admitting what we want to be doing.  The stifling of challenging emotions for the sake of other people.  There’s all of that and then there’s the consistent voice telling me that I need to take the leap, the cards telling me to take the leap, the timing opening up so I am able to focus on the things I want.  There’s the reminders of the external focus with my business.  Then there’s the reminders of source.  My son watches a family vlog and we haven’t seen it in quite a while so I picked it up the other day when the TV wasn’t working quite right.  This family has always been extremely close and loving, but they have started talking more about faith.  They haven’t done that in the years we’ve been watching them.  So the fact that this comes up now is a sign for me to continue on that path of faith as well.

Today I am grateful for the courage to step out in faith.  So, following the last two gratitudes above, I also feel grateful that I am able to do something about it.  The universe truly does respond when we are clear about what we want.  Things have begun to align in ways I didn’t anticipate and it all happened as soon as I got clear.  Certain things have piqued my interest in ways they haven’t before but they support what I’m feeling.  Like there are certain aspects of faith I’ve been interested in but have been hesitant or afraid to take on are showing up for me all over.  There is no reason to not walk the walk in that regard.  It can’t be any clearer.  So I have no reason to be anything other than courageous and bold.  It has always worked out, even if it wasn’t pretty or the anticipated result it has worked out.  And I’ve been witness to how it works out for those around me when they focus their lives and simply express who they are, when they let go of the façade and actively support the person they are.

Today I am grateful for creativity.  I am grateful not only for the courage to step out in faith but the creativity that comes with it and the way I’ve witnessed people supporting themselves under their own weight on their journey.  These creative surges are leading me somewhere.  There are instances where a thought sticks and I can’t do anything but follow it.  So much of the noise falls away and I work in the most fulfilling ways.  I don’t need to fill my time, I need to produce my time.  We do that by engaging with what we are called to do.  We do that by eliminating clutter, physically and mentally, and doing the work.  I love the entire creative process whether it is with writing, baking, cooking, cleaning/organizing, reading, researching, learning.  I love to build.  I love to make things how I see them in my mind.  I love to dance and sing. I love to play.  And I’ve learned that the first step toward creativity is acknowledging what we love. The next step is to DO what we love.  To become truly skilled and to find purpose and joy, we need to let everything else fall away.  I feel my creative path leading me that way.

Today I am grateful for the means to live the life I do.  My life is by no means extravagant, but we are fortunate to be comfortable.  Money gets tight every now and then, some of that is our own fault, but we are able to support ourselves and keep a roof over our head, food on the table, clothes on our backs, and we have so much more than in terms of material.  Yes, we have our things, the stuff that we’ve accumulated over 23 years together, but we have the things that matter: our health, the love of our friends and family, the ability to relax and rest at night, the ability to take care of ourselves, the ability to share things and provide for others, the ability to support friends, the ability to communicate with friends, the opportunity to have time, and so much more.  None of these things are about excessive anything or showmanship—they are about the things that ground us and allow us to not only be comfortable, but to take the next step in expressing ourselves safely.  That is an unbelievable gift, and it is something I appreciate more than words can say.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.

“Lace ‘em up every day and pretty soon you win.  Stop listening to other people’s journeys and focus on your own,” David Goggins.  Another reminder to put in the work.  But this isn’t the work of the 9-5, this is about the focus and dedication to our creativity, passion, dreams, and purpose.  When we do the work and it is focused in those areas, we make real progress and create momentum.  We’ve talked many times about focus and energy—energy (intention) flows where focus goes.  So when we learn how adaptable we are, we understand that we are able to do anything.  We spoke earlier this week about another David Goggins quote, “When the mind won’t quite, the body will adapt.”  It doesn’t matter what the goal is as long as we go after it with complete focus.  The bottom line is to do the work.  The mind is what needs to be controlled because once we establish what we want and that we can do the work, then nothing else gets in the way.  The body will adapt, the soul will open up, the steps will be revealed. 

As humans we naturally compare ourselves to others.  It’s engrained in us—we need it for survival to a degree because if someone is doing something that gets them a different result then we want to be able to do the same thing.  From a survival instinct aspect, we need to know as many ways to get out of danger as possible.  It just so happens that we interpret danger as being different.  Aside from societal repercussions of that interpretation, we have become a detriment to ourselves because we don’t take our focus off of what’s happening with other people.  We need to focus on our own house before we can move forward.  Just because we like the way the exterior looks doesn’t mean we know everything about the function inside.  It can look pretty on the outside and be a complete disaster inside.  All we can do is take control of our own story and work on filling those pages.

I know not everyone is ready for a massive overhaul like that and learning to accept where we are in order to get where we want to go can be daunting no matter what.  The overall point from Goggins is that no mater what the goal or destination, we need to do the work.  The beginning always looks the same for all of us: take the first step.  Once we do that and maintain our course, the rest unfolds.  There isn’t really a big trick to this, but as we’ve spoken about, simple doesn’t mean easy.  It is real work to break down old habits and beliefs.  It’s real work to start doing something new.  Shifting our mindset and removing old beliefs not only takes time to reprogram but time to actually believe something new.  It takes learning to let go of discouragement (see the story about the rake of discouragement) and understanding that the process we have to follow may not be what we thought it would be.  Another lesson in letting go—stubborn on the goal, flexible on the how.  Just remember, no matter what it looks like, taking any step forward is a win.  Some days it’s a win to put our shoes on and soon we learn to tie them and then we are running.  Just do the work and we can’t go wrong.

I’ve been struggling for a while with how long I’ve supported others, how long I’ve been the stepping stone for other people to achieve their goals.  I am so grateful that I’ve been able to be that person and help/guide people where they want to be.  It’s a skill to be able to guide people into this world and another to navigate them through it.  The truth is I’ve become more and more disheartened as I continue to push people and elevate them toward their goals and not see much progress in mine.  I have to learn to spend the time offering myself the same time, energy, support, and attention/action that I do for others.  Tabitha Brown talks about our support season and says that sometimes we simply need to be there for others, and that is 100% true.  We are judged by how we help others, especially when we are down or struggling ourselves.  If we can offer support to others, especially/even when we are at our lowest, that speaks to our character.  I will continue to help others and know that at some point my timing will hit and I will be the one lifted to the next level. 

There is a reason we are meant to help each other, we are meant to create a network of support so at some point no one is left out and we are able to help each other whenever we need.  We don’t have to worry about falling—we know that there is some level no matter which way we go whether below, above, or sideways that will catch us from the branches we have created.  Also, the more we help others, the more we learn about ourselves.  The more we have the opportunity to put that creative energy we discussed yesterday to work.  The more we are able to find ways to put our skills and talents to use and the more connections we form with people to build that support network.  It’s so important to show up for others because it teaches us how to show up for ourselves as well.  It isn’t always about winning, it’s about how we all win when we help others.   Even Arnold Schwarzenegger talks about that in his book.  He speaks of the addiction of helping.  There is so much education in helping because we learn the actual skill someone needs help with, how to apply it, how to teach it, that it feels good, that we can be useful.

When we look at support in that context we can reframe how we feel about it.  Learning to support others helps build the frame we need for ourselves.  It proves to us what we are capable of.  It isn’t about what other people are getting or even about fearing the wait—it’s an entirely new experience and opportunity to get creative.  The application of a skill is the only way to progress so the more we are able to support others, the more we are able to support ourselves as well.  The ability to support others is also a gift. At the end of the day we all want support in some form and finding it sometimes means giving it.  We have to become what we want to attract in our lives.  Take the time to do some good for others even if it’s just reaching out and checking in.  Know that the more connections we make, the higher that ladder eventually goes.  Helping others is a great way to silence ego and to level the playing field by bringing opportunity to others.  Sometimes we simply can’t worry about what we get in return, we just need to understand we are meant to share what we have—we are meant to bring good to the world.  Raise up by being a support.

Putting creative energy to work makes all the difference.  I’m on a creative surge at the moment and I can literally feel the energy moving up and down my spine, I feel it flowing through my brain, out of my fingertips as I type this.  When we are in those moments we need to know we are divinely guided and it is our duty to follow the passion and drive we feel.  Be consistent with it and eventually something will come out of it that is solely ours, our purpose.  People don’t need to understand it, hell we don’t even need to understand it in the beginning—we just need to trust and follow that drive.  The more we communicate passionately and clearly about what we do and feel, the clearer the vision becomes.  Creativity isn’t meant to work for us, we are meant to work with it.  This is how goals and dreams come to life.  In trust, in flow, and taking divinely guided action in the right time. There are times we think things are going a certain way and suddenly we have it ripped away from us, or less violently, we start to see the holes in what we thought we knew.  Sometimes we are ahead of where the people we love are and their fear keeps them stuck—so do we stay stuck with them or do we keep moving ahead, dragging them with? Or do we acknowledge that we are no longer compatible?  Or do we have patience and allow them to catch up or find their own paths?

The thing with creative energy is that it shows us where these gaps are—it’s ok to be afraid even if it means possibly losing what we know.  As long as we follow the signs, we will get where we need to go.  It all makes sense in the end.  No, we can’t always bring those we love or all of the things we love with us.  Yes, it can be scary to take steps into what we aren’t familiar with.  But we have to move beyond being scared because finding our purpose (and fulfilling it because that feels even better).  Sometimes those we love won’t understand what we go through.  Keep doing it anyway.  Those who are meant to be with us, the things we are meant to have, the lessons we need to learn come when we keep moving forward.  What we need will always be there and we can never truly lose what is for us.  Sometimes we just need a reminder that we are on the right path. Tabitha Brown shared a video yesterday discussing the story of her late mother and the dimes as signs of her mother’s presence after her passing.  Tabitha has a moment when she talks about not knowing what she is doing but she is simply choosing to be obedient to God and that is because of the signs.  So much of what we do feels strange in the moment.  It doesn’t make sense to us and we don’t know whey we do it, but we know it feels good, we know it feels right.  Follow that creative energy, apply the gifts we have and we will always end up where we need to be.

Always look for the good in people.  Train ourselves to find the good, stop searching for and pointing out the bad.  Focus is key and when we train ourselves to see the good, we learn to see the good around us.  We are all just doing our best with what we know at any given time.  Before I go too far with that, I want to caveat that I am a firm believer that it’s our responsibility to know when we need to do better—that requires the self-awareness we spoke about yesterday.  Yes, I know we are human and will make mistakes, but we need to have the wherewithal to know what those mistakes are and how to do better the next time.  That isn’t about perfectionism, that is an awareness of how our actions can or potentially can impact others.  It’s about how our inaction or allowing ourselves to slip can impact our futures.  Now, with saying that, I go back to the premise that we are all doing our best with what we know.  I totally believe that is true because we can’t do any better or any more than what we know until we get the inkling that there is more to know.  Once we know there is more, once we acknowledge that we CAN do better, it’s our responsibility to DO better. 

That is where people do the most good. When we see the good in them, when we witness the little acts of human kindness that shift the world, when we feel inspired to do more ourselves, these are the things that help light the pathway for others.  It inspires them to do the same, it inspires them to question what more they can do, it inspires them to find themselves so they can help in the most meaningful and purposeful way.  It gives us a source (this is another one of those oasis I spoke about yesterday).  Seeing good and doing good is another form of sustenance.  In many ways we help ourselves when we help others because we have to learn to identify their needs, and that action helps us identify ours.  More than our needs, it helps us identify our capabilities and our capacity to use our resources for good.  That’s when we find purpose—the application of our skills for the betterment of others. 

There are a lot of messed up and disturbing things happening in this world, no one would dispute that.  It’s our job to keep finding the good.  If we continue to focus on the negative, the negative will continue to grow.  The same happens when we focus on the positive, and it takes the same amount of energy regardless of what we focus on—so choose something good.  We feel better, we can do better, and we can help people more when we see the good.  Too much time is spent telling others how they should be, telling them how they are wrong, or proving that we are right.  The truth is that no one is all knowing of the definition of who is right and what is wrong.  The goal isn’t to prove that either way—the goal is to allow space for people to discover what is right or wrong for them.  The goal is to highlight the best features of a person and allow them to shine in their own way.  Again, seeing the good takes no more energy than it does to see the bad, but it returns that energy 10-fold.  We always have the choice, but I know what feels better.  Choose to see the good and move away from anything that doesn’t support that vision.  Help others see good by seeing good in themselves first.  The effort is worth it.

When we know who we are, no one can tell us who we are.  At the end of the day self-awareness is the key to forward momentum.  It’s the key to shutting out the noise and committing to a goal.  It’s the key to discipline and choice and how we spend our energy.  It’s the key to our focus.  In ancient Greece Socrates told people to know thyself and it was inscribed on the Temple of Apollo in Delphi.  It wasn’t just a cute phrase, it was the answer.  Without distraction or others telling us who we are, we intuitively feel that person, we see that person, we are that person-we know who we are.  We spend too much time listening to others telling us who we are—it starts from childhood.  What they don’t tell us is that we have power over our lives.  They don’t tell us that we have the ability to be who we are and that is a gift.  They don’t tell us we don’t need permission or that we can sustain ourselves by being who we are.  They make us think we need approval but as soon as we work in the realm of seeking approval or validation outside of ourselves, we give up our power.  When we validate ourselves, the energy is limitless—when we rely on others, we are limited to what they give us.

Humans are energy vampires.  We like to be near what makes us feel good, we actively seek out comfort, and we actively seek out validation about what we are doing.  It makes us feel less alone, and even if it’s negative attention, the attention feels good for the moment.  The truth is we’ve mistaken what we actually need for what feels good in the moment.  It’s mistaking drinking soda as sustenance when we need water.  When we get our energy from outside of us, we are dehydrating our soul because we are feeding it sugar and syrup instead of nourishing it with what it needs.  We are also limiting the souls ability to find other sources of that energy—there’s more than one oasis on this journey.  See, there is no doubt we need energy, but what we forget is that we need the energy of source.  Once we are aligned with source, we see that we weren’t seeking attention, we were seeking connection (attention is another form of soda).  We weren’t seeking comfort, we were seeking safety.  We weren’t seeking others to validate us, we were trained to seek their approval.  And we weren’t seeking permission, we were seeking purpose (and ways to explore to find that purpose). 

We were seeking sustenance all along and we settle for empty calories. When we know who we are, we know what we need, and we know how to get it.  I’m not saying that we don’t occasionally get distracted—we are human after all.  I’m not saying that we don’t benefit from occasionally giving into that distraction—we all need entertainment at some point, the ability to release steam.  But when we find what nourishes us, it’s harder to stray from the path we know we are meant to follow.  The things we did as a substitute or as immediate gratification no longer feel good.  It feels better when we follow the things that will help us achieve our goal.  It feels better to serve our purpose than someone else’s.  When we know ourselves, when we live in our authenticity and find the flow of source, we show others how to do the same.  Knowing ourselves isn’t selfish—it’s a requirement for the betterment of society as a whole.  We become the light in the dark for someone and soon they do the same and so on and so on until we light up the way for a new paradigm.  So let’s do ourselves a favor and learn to get quiet, hear our intuition, connect with source, and follow our paths.  Face ourselves to hear the truth, and keep going until we believe what we hear.  The more we believe it, the more we can put it into action—and then we will SEE it.  That is the definition of believe it to see it.  Keep going.