self-help

When is enough, enough?

When is enough, enough? How long do you want to struggle? How long do you want to suffer, stay stuck and unhappy? These were the questions, I asked myself.

See my life was bobbing along, nothing great was going on. As a matter of fact, I was gaining weight, just broke up with my boyfriend after two years. I was over working and not having any fun in life. It seemed like I was just getting by, making just enough money to pay the bills and some months I had to dip into my savings just to make ends meet. My biggest fear was that my saving would get used up and I’d run out of money. Have you ever had that thought or feeling?

When is enough, enough? How much longer do you want to live this way? I pondered these questions.

Then one night I had a dream. Now typically, I don’t remember my dreams, but this one I did. I think because it had a message at the end of it. Here’s the dream: My son and I were talking to a good looking man in the store. Next scene-my son and I were in the driver’s seat of the car, turned around smiling, waving and laughing to the man in the store. I noticed the car was rolling backwards down a curvy, windy road and picking up speed. I realized I had better drive.

The car was going around the corner to fast as I pump the breaks, nothing. I pumped the breaks and gain, still nothing. I down shifted to slow the car down.  The car spun around and now there was a fork in the road. The road ahead was long and smooth. The road to the right was up a mountain. I saw a car on that road, so I decided to take the mountain road.

All of a sudden I was traveling over huge grey granite boulders and the road disappears at the tip, top of the huge mountain. I’m hanging on to the steering wheel sitting with nothing but blue sky around me and grey granite boulders below. I scream out, “911, help!”

Next scene-there’s a room with three police 911 dispatcher’s, each one was sitting and looking at their computer screen. On the screen it looked like google maps with a red dot marking the location. They seem to be tracking the people and their location. One of the police says, “I’ve got a 911 cry for help.” The dispatcher’s chat among themselves and the next thing I know I’m being picked up and put on the smooth road and I drive off. End of dream.

Conclusion-it is my opinion from this dream that we are always being watched after. We have a choice to where we want to go in life. We can take the scary road full of rocks, boulders, struggle and hardship or we can take the easy, smooth road that is free sailing.  The choice is yours.

If you choose the hard road full of struggle. You will travel on this road until you call out for help. Saying, “I’ve had enough.” To me the 911 dispatcher were our guides watching over us. They can’t interfere with our lives until we ask for help. Usually we get into this mess only to realize that we can’t get out of it alone and that is when we turn to Spirit and ask for help. But what if we could ask for help along the way? Wouldn’t our lives be easier? Our life would be smoother and you would be living in the flow of ease and grace. It is all about choice and how you want to live your life. Today, I ask you, “When is enough, enough?” “How long do you want to struggle before you ask for help?”

How To Find Motivation When You Don’t Feel Motivated

Have you ever had one of those days where the alarm goes off and all you want to do is sleep for a few more hours? Your bed is toasty warm and you know how cold you’ll feel as you dart to turn on the heater. You are definitely not motivated to get up and get going.

Finally after hitting the snooze button a few times you crawl out of bed and grab your coffee. Then you get side track doing something mindless. You forget to do your morning routine of meditation, reading or exercising. Now you notice your day has gone sideways. Things are harder than normal, your feel out of sorts and can’t figure out why.

Did you know it the little decisions that we make that set the tone for our day? The decision you make first thing in the morning is pretty much how your day will play out. The good news is that it is changeable. 

Here are a few ways you can turn your day around, if it has gone sideways.

The first step would to become aware of how you are feeling and make that okay.  My making it okay to feel unmotivated you can move through the feeling easier, instead of fighting it all day long.

The second step would to do the next best thing for you. Think about what you want to accomplish? Our lives are about making small decisions to keep us moving in the right direction.

The third step would to take one action. The key here is to pick one thing to do and then do it. A lot of times we get distracted trying to do too many things. By taking action you are now moving in the right direction. If you feel like quitting and the project is half done tell yourself, “Just 5 more minutes, just 5 more minutes.” Use the 5 minutes a motivation to finish the project. Then celebrate when the project is done.  Do the Superman pose or athletic winner pose with arms over your head. Get the feeling of success! Yea! You did it!

Now you have yourself moving in the right direction. You’ll feel more energy, inspiration and motivation. This will help push you forward to the next thing you want to accomplish on the list. It’s like the domino affect where one small decision and action launches you in the right direction to build momentum.  It will help you save the day.

How To Redirect Your Mind and Your Thinking

What do you spend most of your time thinking about? Are your thoughts benefiting you and your body?  Or are they hurting you by rehashing the past, worrying about something you have no control over? 

Perhaps your thoughts are in the future dreaming of what your life could be like? Did you know that you think 60, 000 thoughts a day and most of those thoughts are negative.

Your brain thinks negative and it’s your job to retrain and redirect your thoughts, but we don’t always know what we are thinking about, because we are running on auto pilot.   Driving is a good example of when we go on auto pilot. Have you ever drive somewhere and asked yourself, “How did I get here?” You drove on auto pilot. Your subconscious mind took over and got you safely where you wanted to go.

One way to know what you are thinking is to pay attention to your feelings. Just notice if you feel happy or sad, relaxed or stressed. This is a hint to what you are thinking. Feelings follow thought.

This pattern of the brain is left over from a time long forgotten. The reptilian brain was our first brain. It is the oldest of all the brains components. It controls the body’s vital functions such as heart rate, breathing, body temperature and balance. Its job is to keep us safe.

The second brain is known as the emotional brain. The limbic brain emerged in the first mammals. This part of the brain is the seat of our value and judgments that we make. It records memories of our behaviors that produced our experiences.

Now you know that feelings follow thought. Here is a key to changing your feelings. If you don’t like what you are feeling then change your thoughts and your feelings will change.

Now I bet you are thinking sure that sounds easier said than done. How do you go about shifting your emotions? One way to do this to think of a happy event.

Remember when you went to a great concert or saw a funny movie that made you laugh. Do you have a special pet that you love? If you have a child, do they do silly things that make you smile?

The memory I use to make myself feel better is about my son. He was two years old and it was Christmas morning. I gave him a gift to open. At first he was not sure what to do with it, but once I showed him how to open the gift he went wild. Every time anyone received a gift he was right there helping them open their gift. He was so cute and the room was full of love and laughter.

The reason why this works is because your mind can only think of one thing at a time. In the beginning it will take awareness, but after you do the exercise a few times it becomes easier to shift your emotions to a happier state.   

Today, I invite you to practice paying attention to your feelings and notice if you are happy, sad, frustrated or irritated. If you are unhappy in anyway shift your feelings by thinking of something that has brought you joy in the past. Pretty soon your whole attitude will shift and you will be thinking and feeling happy. Leave a comment and let me know how it goes.

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