I Choose... The Gifts

This week

I Choose… The Gifts

As I’m working toward getting myself and my circumstances to where and how I want them to be before New Year’s Day, I (of course) am finding myself challenged, pretty much by my own habitual choices, which continue to show themselves to me in ways that feel frustrating, to say the least. However, that is one of the Gifts that I am focusing on right now.

It can feel really difficult to actually see the pattern that we’re living, because we don’t live on the outside of those patterns, do we? No, we live within them. So for them to be “showing themselves to me,” that has to mean that I’m beginning to shift myself to a place from which I can see them, right? This is a good thing!

It’s also really uncomfortable.

Which brings me to another Gift that I see that I’ve given to myself lately: The willingness to allow myself to BE uncomfortable. Without that particular willingness, I wouldn’t be able to actually change anything!

Something that I learned a long time ago is this: No matter what my conditions are, I ALWAYS have far more to be grateful for than I do to complain about as I live my life within those conditions. Whether I choose to see (and be responsible for) that, or not, is completely up to me.

My first book, Choose Your Universe, was inspired by a quote from Albert Einstein. He said, “The most important question we could ever ask ourselves is this: Is the Universe friendly?”

I was introduced to this idea in 1999 and it was a life-changer for me! At that time, I was not experiencing a friendly Universe. In fact, it felt to me like the Universe that I was living in actually hated me. It felt that way right up until I began applying the question, “Is my Universe friendly?” in the midst of everything I was experiencing. What I learned during that time was that if I wanted to see and experience a friendly Universe, then I had to choose to see and experience a friendly Universe, no matter what not-friendliness appeared to be happening to me and around me.

As I started deliberately applying this idea in the life I was living—and what I was experiencing at that time was ugly, and it was painful—I found that, even in the midst of all of that painful ugliness, when I began deliberately looking for my Friendly Universe (in other words, The Gifts), I started finding and experiencing my Friendly Universe!

Our answer to that one simple question, “Do I live in a friendly Universe?” (whether we’re answering it consciously or not-consciously) is what determines how we experience our own personal “Universe.”

And that’s what this particular “I Choose” is about. What’s going on in your life right now? You get to choose what your own personal Universe feels like to you. And one way to do that is to look for every single Gift you can find in whatever you’re living right now.

Right now I happen to be dealing with some things that feel frustrating to me. But I know from experience that there ARE some wonderful Gifts that exist in this situation. My work is to look for them with the intention of finding them. And that IS the work that I’m doing at this time.

I invite you to join me. What are you struggling with right now? And if you were to look for the Gifts that are an inherent part of whatever you’re living, what would you see?

The statement I have been using is this:

I Choose… The Gifts

As I work toward the goals that I have set for myself, I know that in those things that frustrate me the most, or that appear to be stopping me from achieving my goals, are the most valuable Gifts for me to look for, find, and actively cultivate.

Join me if you choose to. Try this for yourself, just as an experiment (that’s how I began all those years ago), and watch as your Universe shifts right around you. Have fun with it.

And, of course, over the next couple of weeks, may you thoroughly enjoy whatever holiday traditions that you value the most.

Much, much love to you all,

Rev. Sandi Daly

Have an awesome day if you choose to!

www.chooseyouruniverse.com

I Choose... My "Why"

I Choose... My "Why"

Hello my friends!

Well, I said that I just might send something out before January 1st, and here I am... I've been watching a particular video over and over again because I find that it compels me to look within myself and ask a hugely important question. And the more I ask it, the deeper I go, and the "bigger" the answer becomes. What's the question? First, I'd like to share the 3 1/2 minute long video that has prompted it, and I really - strongly - encourage you to go and watch it.

WHY am I doing this? WHY am I doing this particular thing that I'm doing right now? WHY am I getting up at 4:00am to work out? WHY am I going to work every day? WHY am I letting go of a church activity that I truly love? WHY am I cleaning my house? WHY am I here in my office doing this work when I could be relaxing on the couch with my husband? WHY am I writing this letter to this young man or that young woman in prison? WHY am I working on this new book or on revising that one? WHY am I doing this thing that I'm doing right now? WHY is THIS important to me?

I really encourage you to watch the video and then ask your own self the question: What is my WHY?

The mom who just left her abusive partner, as she finds herself in a shelter... she knows WHAT she has done. Her WHY is so much more important.

The domestic violence advocate who works in that same shelter... she knows WHAT her job is. Her WHY is so much more important.

The police officer who patrols the streets... he or she knows WHAT they are doing. Their WHY is so much more important.

The man who volunteers his time at the homeless shelter...

The philanthropist who works tirelessly to serve his favorite charity...

The mom or dad who stays home with the kids. The teacher who sacrifices so much of him-or herself to be a good one. The alcoholic. The artist. The inmate. The banker. The retiree. The minister. The drug addict. The author. The boxer. The blogger. The food binger. The activist. The judge. The politician. The house painter. The student. The military man or woman. The bus driver.

No matter who you are or what you're doing. Your WHY has so much more meaning than your WHAT! And I'm not just talking about the positive, altruistic kind of "why," either. I'm talking about the negative and pain-generated ones, too.

I think that choosing to find - and EXPRESS - our chosen WHY could very likely be the most valuable thing we could ever give both to ourselves and to the world. I think I love that video so much because it demonstrates so beautifully the difference in expression between just knowing what we're doing, and then finding out why we're doing it. Just beautiful. And so powerful.

So here is my "I Choose..." at least for this week, and possibly for the rest of this month as I'm REALLY ramping up to my plans for 2016:

I Choose... to KNOW my "WHY"

As I live the rest of this month, I choose to pay attention - in the midst of each and every activity - to the WHY that I am coming from. I choose to pay attention to, and acknowledge, my EMOTIONAL MOTIVATION (whether positive or negative) for doing whatever it is that I am doing. And I choose to go as deep as I need to, to find the real answer and - if I don't like the answer that I find - change it. If I DO like the answer that I find, I choose to cultivate it, and nurture it, and invest myself in deepening, strengthening, and expressing it freely and authentically.

This is my current "I Choose..."

I invite you to join me if you'd like to! :-)

Love to you all,
Sandi

And So Life Progresses...

So, you've decided that you want to grow as a person. To become better, "bigger," more aware, more "enlightened." And then it seems like the second you make that decision, your life becomes MORE DIFFICULT instead of the "EASIER" life you had hoped and aimed for. Basically, it feels like all hell has broken loose, and you find yourself in amazing emotional pain.

I used to believe that this was the Universe (God, the Divine, whatever you want to call It) giving me opportunities to practice being the person I was working to become.

I do not believe this anymore. Why? Because it has become clear to me lately that the Divine already knows who I really am, and It knows that I don't need to be fixed.

What I'm coming to realize lately is that the "shit" that comes up for me when I set a real intention to become a better-bigger-different person is ME showing MYSELF where my work is. And then - as the drama unfolds and expands and feels truly ugly and way bigger than what I believe I can handle - THAT is the time for me to sincerely ask myself what I believe is the most important question ever:

How much do I want what I SAY I want?

Do I want it enough to do the work necessary to change who I am? Do I want to become that bigger-better-different person so much that I am willing to work my way through this? Do I want it enough to admit to myself that the ugly-feeling, painful-feeling crap that is showing up in my life is actually bits of ME, of who I currently am, showing me the aspects of ME that must shift in order for that bigger-better-different version of me to "become?"

The Universe - GOD - is not responsible for my pain or even just my challenges. GOD does not set challenges in front of me for me to conquer. No. It is my own subconscious programming, my paradigms, my Personal Belief System that is doing that. It is NEVER anything outside of me. And it is ALWAYS up to me how I choose to deal with it. 

It CAN be changed, transmuted, transformed. But only if I'm willing to stick with it.

I believe that this is a basic Truth for every one of us.

Perception Reflection

My outlook is a mirror, and everything I see in my physical experience is a reflection of my perception. It is the world showing me who I am being in any given moment.

In this knowledge, empowerment lives.

I Choose... Acceptance

A new "Experiment in Endless Possibility" begins

Hello everyone! It seems that... I'm back! :-)

As the 15-year anniversary of the day I left my domestic violence life behind approaches, I am being more and more powerfully "nudged" to start my "Experiment in Endless Possibility" show back up again. The content will be - as it was before - based on a weekly "I Choose..." which will be posted here and on my Facebook page, and will be our focus for the week prior to the show.  (See below for show info.)

And now, without any further ado...

I Choose... Acceptance

So there are quite a few controversial events happening right now, from the hate-induced shooting in the church in South Carolina, to Bruce Jenner's decision to become Caitlyn, to the weirdness being spewed by certain politicians and ministers (really? Executing all gay people will solve that "problem?" really? It's the VICTIMS' fault that that guy walked in there and shot them to death? really? It's a woman's fault that she gets hurt during a rape if she struggles against being raped (and even if she doesn't?). The last few days I have found myself feeling more and more anxious as I stand in judgment of what I see as just plain idiocy. This morning I made a new choice, and this will be my deliberate focus for the week. In fact, it was a version of this "Acceptance" practice fifteen years ago that helped me to become the woman who could climb on that bus and leave my old, painful life behind. It is entirely appropriate - and VERY meaningful to me! - for Acceptance to be the subject of the re-launch episode of the show.

Here is something I posted to Facebook this morning on this subject.

"Some people hate. It's a fact. Who am I to judge them? Doesn't that make me as intolerant of what I don't agree with as "they" are?

I'm making a deliberate choice this morning, to recognize this whole thing as an opportunity to know where I have my own work to do. The controversy (around several different current events) can serve as my Sacred Friend, assisting me in becoming a better and more loving person, myself.
I say, "Thank you, controversy, for this opportunity to practice deliberately choosing to BE the kind of person that I want to become." I am done with littleness. I am done with wishing others would change their behavior so that I can feel better when I look at them. Most of all, I am done with the feeling of constriction/contraction that I experience in my heart when I am judging another person as stupid or wrong or bad."

And that speaks beautifully to what I mean when I say "I Choose Acceptance".

This week, I choose to accept others exactly as they are, without judgment or condemnation. I choose to see any controversy as my Sacred Friend, who has appeared in my life to show me where I, myself, am not being loving or accepting of another. And I love feeling how my heart expands as I practice this deliberately.

Join me if you feel called to. Just do it as an EXPERIMENT, with the willingness to see what really is Endlessly Possible when we decide to respond differently than we normally would to something that triggers us.  And then tune in to the show on Friday. I look forward to seeing you there!

Have an awesome week if you choose to!

Love,
Rev. Sandi Daly

A New Experiment in Endless Possibility

When: Fridays at 3:00pm Pacific Time / 6:00pm Eastern Time

Where: Right here
OR listen on the phone at 724-444-7444
Enter Call ID: 138440

New Choose Your Universe excerpt

I (finally!) completed the editing of the new version of Choose Your Universe this morning. Yay!

When I read the following paragraphs from my current mindset, attitude, and perception of the way my life is right now, it struck me that the idea expressed in those three paragraphs is AMAZING in its applicability!

So I thought I'd share. :-)

 _______________________________

Choose Your Destination

You deserve to end up where you want to end up. Where do you want to end up? And how strong is your desire to end up there? Do you want it enough to do the work of remembering to pay attention to where you are in the moment, and then to shift your direction as necessary IN THAT MOMENT?

            If peace is your goal, is your current mindset and behavior going to take you there? If a healthy relationship is your goal, are your current perceptions and actions going to take you there? If prosperity is your goal, is your current thought and attitude about money going to take you there?

              What IS your chosen destination? You deserve to reach it, my friend, and it is the actions and attitudes of who you are right now that are either going to take you there, or are going to keep you from getting there. 

_______________________________ 

Remember: YOU are the creator of your own experience. YOU are the pilot that will take you to your own destination. The question is, have you chosen a destination for yourself and are you willing to stay on course toward it? 

Or are you just blowin' aimlessly in the wind, being bounced around by default?

Where do you want to end up? You DO deserve to get there. And you are COMPLETELY capable of reaching your destination.

On Shifting a Pattern... And Changing a Circumstance...

No Such Thing As "Victim"

Happy Saturday, everyone!

[From a Thursday January 29, 2015 experience that is definitely worth sharing!]

So something happens during the course of your day that you don't like... Does that automatically mean that you have to feel bad, angry, upset about it? No. And do you know why? Because you are not its victim. Ever. You are not a button waiting to be pushed by your circumstances. Ever. You always get to choose your experience of anything that happens in your life. Your work is simply to be awake to your default settings and choose deliberately to find a different, better-feeling setting if you don't want to feel bad. Simple. (Excerpt from a bit of self-coaching that morning as my day was pretty full of "something happening that I didn't like".)

That day I was at work at 4:00am and I did not leave until after 6:00pm. It was a LONG day, working straight through those 14 hours to get a big project out the door. I found the above advice to myself useful throughout the day, especially toward the end as I was really, really tired.

And then on my way home, I experienced a um... "vehicular adventure" with my beautiful car. It is not totaled, but it is nicely damaged. Needless to say, if I had not been diligently, deliberately practicing the above all day long, I would have had a very different emotional experience of that incident than I actually did. And the same holds true as I move forward in finding a good body shop and spending the money necessary to get it repaired. In all of that, I get to choose my emotional experience. Always. And I am NEVER a victim, even in those times that it's easier to believe that I am.

And the same is true for all of us.

With much love and a hope for all of you that your "emotional experience" is an awesome one, no matter what's "happening" in your circumstances! :-)

Sandi

PS: I've recently updated my web site. Check it out here if you have an interest.