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Thoughts on Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T04:53:00Z

"If the only prayer you ever said was 'Thank you', it would be enough."
- Thich Nhat Hanh

It is Thanksgiving here in the United States. Traditionally on this day family and friends gather together to break bread, enjoy each other’s company and be grateful for all they have.

Think for a moment about how you feel with all of your family around you, whether that number is large or small. That moment when you look over at your loved ones and your heart feels full. Bring that feeling into your daily life. Take a moment or two each day to feel that love in your heart…feels really good doesn’t it?

Love and gratitude are two of the most amazing forces in the world. Allowing ourselves to feel these two emotions can truly change our life. Each of us has so many things to be grateful for, all of the little everyday miracles that we so often take for granted. I have learned to even be thankful for the unpleasant events or circumstances that present themselves in my life, I know there is a lesson for me in there that I would not learn otherwise and I know I will emerge stronger from the challenge.

There are also so many things to love in our lives, people, circumstances, opportunities. Often, we don’t consciously recognize the good occurring in our lives; we are looking at the thing that went wrong. Practicing love, unconditional love, can change that around. Remember, we attract at the level of our predominate thoughts and feelings. When we offer the feeling of love to others guess what is coming our way? Try sending loving thoughts to a difficult person in your experience and to those less fortunate than yourself. You will see more love beginning to manifest in your life.

Enjoy your family and friends today…then take those feelings of love and thankfulness with you into the next day and the next. That in itself is a prayer and it is enough.

Be well and blessed,

Copyright © - Akua Bediako All rights reserved.

The Importance of Faith

2010-10-11T15:50:00Z

There are times in life when things unpleasant and unexpected arise. It could be a sudden illness or accident, the loss of a job or loved one, any kind of life-as-we-know-it altering event.

I speak a lot about accepting or embracing change versus fighting it. Generally fighting change does no good except to intensify and prolong the agony. Change is change, and will not be denied. Yet also undeniable is the effect on our lives as well as the pain and stress these events often bring. So, how do we cope?

As we go through the more challenging times of life, it is important to embrace the things that center us. For me, the biggest element in that centering is faith. To me the best thing that anyone can do for themselves in trying, unpleasant, downright scary situations is to build within them complete faith that things will work out in accordance with the Divine plan. I hold this belief and the complete soul-deep knowledge that I will be okay – even when I cannot possibly see how this could be true.

When my heart is breaking, my body or soul is hurting, when I am scared out of my mind, when I am sure I can’t take one more thing – I hold this belief. It is what gets me through. Even though I know that I have no idea what “okay” might look like, I have learned to trust that this is true: I may not be the same, but I will be okay.

Faith is like a muscle, it must be developed. It begins with the acknowledgement that there is Something bigger than us out there. There are many, many paths to reach this Something and many different names for it. How you arrive at this understanding it is not as important as that you do arrive. Deep within that understanding, in the wisdom within you, is the key to peace in times of great stress and pain.

There are some who will disagree with me on this. For myself, I know it is the source of my strength to face whatever comes my way.

So today, I am stepping out in faith.

Please, comment. I'd love to hear your experiences.
Be well and blessed.

Copyright © - Akua Bediako All rights reserved.

No Strings Attached

2010-08-15T17:37:00Z

As I progress on this particular life journey, I am discovering how wonderful life is once I let go. Let go of control, let go of blame, let go of attachment. It seems the more I let go, the more good flows to me.

Are your holding yourself back by attaching strings to everything? We often have rules in place for how we are willing to be: what part we are willing to play in relationship, in our work life and life in general. Sometimes these rules are hard and fast, a line in the sand that others dare not cross. Sometimes they are looser but there just the same.

How many times do we miss the opportunity for abundance, love, happiness because the structure of it doesn’t quite fit our rules? How many times do we hold ourselves back from the opportunity for abundance, love, happiness because we want to attach strings/requirements to it? How often do our relationships suffer because of the strings we have attached as requirement for our full participation?

Those strings and restrictions we place on others restrict us as well. They prevent us from receiving the full experience of life. Life reflects back to us what we offer. When we only offer part of ourselves, that is what is reflected back to us. By learning to live and love without restriction or attachment to outcome, life, love and abundance flow back to us so much easier.

Strings and restrictions are generally born of fear which creates the necessity to try and control the experience. Letting go of fear and the need for control is

a key to life. Letting go releases the limitations we put on ourselves and allows all manner of abundance and good to find its way to us. The more we relinquish control and strings, the more good can flow – beyond anything we could imagine for ourselves.

Today I am living and loving without strings….will you join me?

Do you have an experience with this to share or any other questions/comments? Please post on this or any of the other topics, I love feedback!

Be well and blessed.

Copyright © - Akua Bediako All rights reserved.

Living in the Flow

2010-07-18T14:54:00Z

Are you living in the flow of life? Maybe you’ve heard the saying “I’m just going with the flow.” Often when people use this saying, they are indicating that others are in control of whatever the situation is and they have chosen not to fight it. They may feel buffeted by life or the situation, as if there is no use in struggling. In other words, in this situation, they have given up.

Let’s tweak that perspective a little bit. Living in the flow of life does, indeed, mean that we are not fighting life or circumstance. We are not forcing our way through, whatever the situation. However, we are making choices that allow us to move through life with grace and ease.

Think of “going with the flow” as simply allowing the flow to carry you down the stream of well being. Everything we want is downstream, joy, abundance, love, success, (add your desire here). When we are going with the flow we are relaxed, at peace, in tune, swimming with the current and allowing it to magnify our efforts as we are guided to where we want to go. When we are fighting, forcing our way, trying to be in control of others and of situations, it is like swimming against the current. It is so much harder, so tiring, so draining of our energy and spirit.

To really go with the flow – live in the flow of life, we have to tune in to our inner wisdom and to Spirit. I’m sure you have heard it said before: we are spiritual beings having a physical experience. Nurturing your connection to the Divine, whatever that means to you, allows inspiration to come through. When we have that connection we can take inspired right action instead of reaction. The right action for the situation (which can also be no action at the moment) comes to us, seemingly without effort. Step by step the situation turns or we see the way out. We have emerged on the other side – with grace and ease and very often much closer to where we want to be.

I am going with the flow…are you?

Do you have an experience with this to share or any other questions/comments? Please post on this or any of the other topics, I love feedback!

Be well and blessed.

What Drives You?

2010-06-07T03:04:00Z

You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny. - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV.4.5

What drives you? Have you taken a look at what your real, deep intentions are for your life? Nothing happens to us by chance. The intentions and vibrations we send out to the universe with our thoughts and actions absolutely impact the lives we live.

So…what drives you? Every action has implication and ramifications for our lives, even the act of no action. People are driven by many different things: the desire for security, status, companionship and/or love, just to name a few. There is nothing wrong with any of these things, or whatever your particular desire might be. The key is how do we achieve our desire – through conscious choices and action or some other way.

I speak and write a lot about making conscious choices because I know that is the best way to be certain you will like what shows up in your life. When we don’t make conscious choice, we are making choices nonetheless. We are choosing to let things/circumstances/people happen to us.

What do you desire? Are you willing to make the necessary choices to go after your desire? When you make conscious choice you are stating your intentions, your will, about what you want to create. When you state your intentions and tune into your connection with the Divine inspired action occurs which leads you to the manifestation of your desire.

Uncover your deep, driving desire. Nourish your connection to Spirit. Take inspired action. Watch your life begin to transform.

Do you have an experience with this to share or any other questions/comments? Please post. I love feedback.

Be well and blessed,

The Emotional Scale

2010-05-18T17:01:00Z

I have received a lot of emails and comments asking about the emotional scale that I mentioned in my prior post. Although many people have incorporated the use of an emotional scale in their work, the one that I think shows the greatest detail is presented by Abraham in the book “Ask and it is Given” by Esther and Jerry Hicks (pg 114). It is an excellent book to have in your library. I have included the scale here:

The Emotional Scale

Joy/Appreciation/Empowered/Freedom/Love
Passion
Enthusiasm/Eagerness/Happiness
Positive Expectation/Belief
Optimism
Hopefulness
Contentment
Boredom
Pessimism
Frustration/Irritation/Impatience
“Overwhelment”
Disappointment
Doubt
Worry
Blame
Discouragement
Anger
Revenge
Hatred/Rage
Jealousy
Insecurity/guilt/Unworthiness
Fear/Grief/Depression/Despair/Powerlessness

You can see that at the #20 – 22, most people would be paralyzed into non-action. Above that action towards your goal can usually be taken and the higher the emotion you can reach for on the scale, the more likely it is that you will consider an action that is beneficial to you rather than in reaction to another. What I would wish for everyone who reads this is that you live mostly from levels #7 up to #1.

Be well and blessed

How Do You Feel?

2010-05-17T03:10:15Z

In my last entry, I said “Do the work, change your thoughts, change your life.” I’m sure some of you read that and thought – if only it was that easy. I want to tell you that although it may not be easy, it really is that simple.

We attract that which we are – our thoughts create our reality. Our thoughts show us our perception of the world and our expectations of others. The world or more precisely our own personal experience of the world, shows up to exactly match our perceptions and expectations. So in reality what I am talking about changing is those perceptions and expectations.

One sure way to know if you are going to like what shows up in your life is to check in with your feelings. Say you have someone new start working at your job that is very unpleasant to work with. You have to work closely with this person everyday. What are your thoughts about it? Are you complaining to anyone who will listen? How are you feeling – maybe frustrated, annoyed or angry? Notice, does each day with this person get even more frustrating and annoying to you? Now comes the simple yet not so easy part: change your thought, perception, expectation.

Think of the range of emotions as a sort of ladder or staircase with emotions such as despair and powerlessness at the bottom and joy at the top. Maybe you can’t reach joy from where you are, but can you reach hopefulness? Is it possible for you to think with hopefulness that the situation will improve and expect that you will see improvement? The person may remain at your job, but your experience will begin to transform.

The first step in this process is to determine where you are now in thought and emotion then deliberately reach for an emotion higher up on the scale. This is a process, if you are feeling despair or powerlessness; you probably won’t reach joy right away. But you most likely can reach for anger, which is higher up on the emotional scale; from there you can reach even further up and further still until you come to joy.

Think of a situation that may have been troubling you. What are your thoughts about it? How do you feel?

As always, questions and comments are welcome.

Be well and blessed,

Copyright © - Akua Bediako All rights reserved.

Change your thoughts, change your life.

2010-05-02T21:18:00Z

In my May newsletter, I used a quote from James Allen (1864-1912): “Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.”

This quote is one reason that many people work very hard doing everything they know how to do to achieve a goal and it still remains out of reach. When you want to reach your goals, bring your dreams to reality, effect real change in your life: your thoughts, desires, and actions must all be in alignment. In other words, all parts of you must be on the same page.

Check your inner story: is the voice inside your head telling you that it isn’t possible, you aren’t good enough, or running some other negative program around your goal? If so, you are sabotaging all of your other (outer) actions. Mastering your inner game or story is one of the fastest ways to change your results.

What stories are you telling yourself? Look at the areas you want to transform and listen to your inner story around it. If you don’t like what you hear, begin to tell a different story! Do the work, change your thoughts, and change your life!

Questions, comments, experiences are always welcome!

All the best!

Refresh Yourself!

2010-04-19T01:17:00Z

This past week has been particularly challenging for me. Have you ever had one of those weeks? It seems like you are treading water, staying afloat, but not making progress. I wholeheartedly believe in the importance of renewing oneself, yet it was a lot of effort finding the time!

What do you do to renew? For me, it depends on how much time I can squeeze out. I love to spa at nice places where you can just relax and hang out. Of course, that doesn’t happen everyday. I also use meditation, a night out, and silence (but not at the same time, lol).

The importance of renewing/refreshing one’s spirit has been known from very early in man’s history. A quote from Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) says “Nowhere can a man withdraw to a more untroubled quietude than in his own soul. Grant yourself this withdrawal continually, and refresh yourself.” It’s pretty obvious what his favorite method of renewal was.

Finding time to refresh and renew our spirit allows us to continue doing and handling all of the jobs, responsibilities, and relationships that we have in our lives. If practiced regularly, renewing the spirit helps us to feel more balanced and less overwhelmed. Tuning in to our renewed spirit also gives us access to our inner source of wisdom and creativity. This is where solutions to problems and inspiration come from. When your spirit is drained, it is so easy to miss this wisdom.

Ultimately, we create our outer world from our inner world. If that inner world is stressed and strained, your outer world is going to reflect that. Take the time to do something to renew your spirit. In my experience, when you have the least time to do it is when you need it most!

There are many ways to refresh and renew. Do you practice renewal regularly? How do you renew? Post a comment and tell me.

All the best!

Letting go of blame

2010-04-11T05:01:38Z

Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing,
there is a field. I will meet you there. - Jalaluddin Rumi

The majority of people were raised with some societal ideas of what is right and what is wrong, what is acceptable and what is not. These convictions are subjective – they belong to each individual person and can be different for each person. Yet we often judge the actions of others, and ourselves by how the action measures up against these convictions.

Here’s a thought: what would your life be like if you let go of judgment and blame? It is not an easy thing to do, most of us judge and blame sort of on auto-pilot – without conscious thought, zoom! We go right there!

The thing is, we never have all the facts and we can never really know what is in someone else’s mind. Most importantly, we are applying our construct of right and wrong to someone else that may or not share our view. When we find someone’s actions lacking or when something goes awry in life it is very easy to judge the action/occurrence as wrong and to blame someone for it. Judgment and blame usually bring on feelings of anger and resentment. What does that do to/for you? How does that serve you? Does it make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Probably not!

Siddhartha Gautama Buddha said “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” Letting go of judgment and blame of others releases us from the cycle of anger and resentment. It detaches our state of mind from control by another’s actions. It frees us to choose our own state of mind. What state will you choose?

Make a conscious effort not to pass judgment on anyone/anything for one day. I’d love to hear your experiences.

Copyright © - Akua Bediako All rights reserved.

Welcome

2010-04-08T02:16:41Z