Just Stop Talking About It

My life has been positively exploding with opportunities lately!  I have been remodeling my house and so many things began falling into place people pointed out to me I was almost building an entirely new house!  Now, as I decorate the reconfigured rooms, each stroke of paint seems to make me feel just a tiny bit more alive and excites me.   A friend told me it was like I was building my own personal Wonderland.  I couldn't have said it better myself.

At the same time, opportunities for travel are opening up.  I have friends in both London and Paris who have a guest bedroom available.  I visited New Orleans for Mardi Gras this year and in a little over a month I will be in Alaska.  That was a big Law of Attraction moment of delight.  I have been talking about wanting to go to Alaska since the 90's.  Recently, I have been saying I would like to try a cruise, maybe a theme cruise for added entertainment, and after friends went to another workshop since the retreat we attended together, I decided the next workshop I would like to attend would be one with Abraham and Esther Hicks.

Yes I am.  I am going on an Alaskan Cruise with Abraham and Esther Hicks.  After talking with my two friends, on a complete whim I googled some sort of mixture of Abraham-Hicks, workshop and cruise and found an outline of an experience that could have been lifted right off from my vision board.  Including the port visit attractions.  Even with all that, I still messaged a friend who has been to an Abraham-Hicks Caribbean Cruise.  He said, "If you asked me if I would do it again, I would answer, 'In a heartbeat."  Excited almost isn't a large enough word for how I feel.

So I'm immersing myself in Abraham-Hicks teachings.  I would really like a chance on "The Hot Seat" and even though it is probably next to impossible given how long Abraham has been answering Hot Seat questions, but I would like to ask a new one.  I would like to identify the best question I could ask Abraham for my own behalf AND nudge the discussion a little further along.  As I listen to Abraham-Hicks audiobooks and youtube presentations, I have already had my first potential questions answered and I'm becoming pretty well versed in Abraham's Law of Attraction point of view.

If you find yourself unhappy with your life and the opportunities that are presenting themselves to you, the answer is in the question.  Don't understand?  Voice the question you would ask Abraham to yourself lightly.  Is it something along the lines of:

Where is my soul mate?  The love of my life?

Why am I not more successful?

Where is my slice of happiness?

So far the number one takeaway I have from all of my Abraham-Hicks studies is the importance of being happy and having a positive attitude.  The things you want in your life that aren't there are held back by your own repetition of complaint they are missing.  The more you keep "beating the drum" (as Abraham would say) of the bad things that have happened to you; the more you push all of the good things you've been wanting away.  You attract not what you want, not your opposite, but exactly what you are.  The next time you complain about that dimwit fellow employee or that road raged driver who cut you off?  Consider this.  According to Abraham, they didn't just drop into your lap.  You actively attracted them.  So if you find yourself surrounded by bad tempered, combative people, you might want to do an emotional self check.  You want to aim for a high frequency to attract a high frequency item.  You need to be authentically happy to attract more happiness to your life.  

Authentic happiness.  You can't complain about all that baggage, cross your fingers behind your back and say, "Just kidding."  The universe doesn't listen to what you are saying.  It reads the emotional frequency you are broadcasting.  So if you are in a "the world sucks and then you die" place, guess what world you will attract?  

But "misery loves company" right?  We think it feels good to complain to others and get recognition and confirmation of our position.  We feel validated, but do we really feel better?  Or is it like the junk food aisle of happiness?  A temporary, not very filling alternative that frequently leaves us no better than we started after our sympathetic audience has departed?  

There used to be a joke something along the lines of "Why do I bang my head against the wall?"  "Because it feels so good when I stop."   But it's not really a joke.  It's the way life works.  If your life isn't working, you are metaphorically banging your head against things and asking when this pain in your head will go away.  Stop and it will go away.

I've been studying the Law of Attraction for a few years now and that's what I've been trying to do.  I know I've had times where I have found it impossible NOT to drone on about the bad things that have happened in my life.  I remember the feelings of needing to explain.  The feelings of needing to be understood.  Some time not that long ago, a friend gifted me with one of the most important things I needed to hear to begin the process to stop.  

"You talk like you're the only person that has ever happened to."

I immediately recognized the truth in what he was saying because it was also how I felt.  The fact that my friend had had similar experiences and had not talked about them like I did was startling and liberating.  

You don't need to tell everyone your story.  You don't need to explain.  You don't need to justify.  You don't need to set up a context for who you are now or who you want to be.  According to Abraham, all you need to do is, in this moment, find the happiest, highest frequency you can reach.  In the next moment?  Find the happiest, highest frequency you can reach.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Don't beat yourself up when you find yourself slipping.  Slowly make your way to an emotional place where you feel better.  If you feel better, you have raised your frequency.  

Salt your world with music that inspires you, colors that soothe you, textures that comfort you.  Hug, squeeze and breathe in the people and creatures who you love.  Learn to focus your attention on the world you love rather than the news that scares you.  Try this.  Have you ever been driving, your favorite song comes on the radio, you're singing along and all of the sudden, another car cuts you off?  By the time your hearing for anything beyond your own cussing has returned, it is three songs later.  Right?  

There are no fewer than a thousand reasons you cannot be privy to that may have caused the driver to behave as he did.  Your judgement about him is based on you and your fear and has little to do with him.  You don't even know him.  Meanwhile, you didn't die and your favorite song is still on the radio.  I'd say your best and happiest course of action, and the one that will benefit your future the most, would be to keep on singing.  

Stop talking about everything you hate and give some airtime to everything you love.  

Thanks for The Growth 2014, Welcome to the Party 2015: We're Going to Have A lot of Fun

The other day I was reviewing the notes I have made on my iPad's Notes app and one I had jotted down from the "Abraham-Hicks" Facebook page caught my attention.

We want you to have the feeling of sort of freely flowing in this, rather than the attitude of "I'm going to get it right this time."  Because the attitude "I'm going to get it right this time" causes you to remember what wasn't right and activate it within your vibration and then makes sure that you do all those things again, that you don't want to do.

This seems incredibly important to me because it goes against what I once would have termed "human nature."  I've always believed that the best thing about mistakes is that they give us an opportunity to learn from them.  I've lived an incarnation where, if you had asked me, I would have said it was irresponsible to forget your mistakes.  We've all heard that famous quote at one time, haven't we?

Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.  

Edmund Burke

There is an interesting counter quote by Kurt Vonnegut.

We're doomed to repeat the past no matter what.  That's what it is to be alive.

Viewed in light of the Abraham-Hicks quote, perhaps we do all that repeating because we refuse to let the past go.  In fact, in light of that quote, I wonder just how often we condemn ourselves to what we don't want by the very methods we utilize to improve our lives.  For instance, New Year's Resolutions.  

res-o-lu-tion:  noun   1.  the act of finding an answer or a solution to a conflict, problem, etc; the act of resolving something;  2. an answer or solution to something

New Year's Resolutions would seem to be the very heart of what the Abraham-Hicks quote is talking about.  We are essentially ending our year by saying, "Ok I didn't like this and this and this about last year so I resolve to change them next year."  From a Law of Attraction standpoint, it would be considered focusing on what you don't want and expecting to get something different.  With that in mind, I would like to propose an alternate year end ritual celebrating our growth and achievements, jaw dropping moments of awe and beauty, and quiet moments of love and inspiration.  

Here, let me lead by example.  In other words, I'll go first.

In 2014, I:

1.  ... more fully appreciated just how sweet my ginger cat, Peabody, is.  I already knew that I was blessed with a creature who I sometimes wake up holding like he is a rag doll, only to hear him purring in appreciation.  I am having some construction done at my house and, as a result, I only have a half bath currently in use.  It is situated on the other end of my house from my bedroom.  I didn't realize until having to walk through two of my larger rooms (one of which is currently under construction) to get to the toilet twice nightly, that Peabody, who tends to sleep next to me, actually accompanies me on every trip.  Not only that, but he tends to lead me as if he is the President's motorcade.  He walks ahead of me, looking back and checking on my progress every three feet or so.  He waits patiently until I am done and then sometimes walks to where his food dish is or the spot where I tend to give him treats, but equally as often, he simply escorts me back to bed.  My love and appreciation for this gentle sweet creature is absolutely limitless.  

2. ... more fully appreciated the value of letting go.  I had a saying painted over my kitchen door before it got demolished.  "Don't push the river, it flows by itself."   A former micro-manager of micro-managers, I put it there as a reminder of who I didn't want to be and what I didn't want to do.  From making more money on a house I was selling than I would have on my own personal time frame to sorting out relationships where I was trying too hard, 2014 has repeatedly rewarded me as I have learned the patience, optimism and wisdom to let life unfold rather than force it through my planned circuits.  At the same time, I have gained trust that even the events which look sad or regretful at the start, turn out to be blessings infused with opportunities for kindness and grace.  

3. ... invested in myself and I was rewarded with wonderful new experiences, opportunities for growth, mentors who shared invaluable knowledge and friends who were kindred spirits.  

4. ... discovered that we never really lose anyone.  On paper, 2013 and 2014 witnessed me losing my final parent as well as friends I never expected to lose.  I realized I lived in a world where, if I chose to view it that way, it could start feeling very cold and lonely.  Instead, I found a wellspring of love and affection.  I realized that, my experiences of other people actually live within me.  My enjoyment and appreciation exists within my own heart and head and, really, are not something that can whither and die or be forcibly taken away from me.  Loss does mean a certain closing of a book, for instance, the last time I saw my father, he was watching television from his convalescent hospital bed.  The expression on his face was remarkably like that of a little boy.  That will remain my last image of my father and we will not build any new memories together, but whenever I want to touch the love or kind feelings I have for my father, I have only to picture that 79-year-old boy, happily watching television as I left the room.  I've learned too that it is a choice.  Dwelling on any number of less kind or gentle moments, will never rewrite them.   While sweet memories, held gently with love, can never be taken away from me.  I can never lose the love in my heart.  

5. .... appreciated friends who helped me clean up after an earthquake; who opened their tubs and showers to me while I had none; who welcomed me into their home for the holidays; or who sought out my company or advice.  Old friendships, new friendships; I know I am enveloped with love and good wishes and I am truly blessed.  

Thank you 2014, you have been a kind and gentle year with unexpected surprises.  I'll never forget you.