Sunday, March 27, 2016

I Choose... Sacrifice


I Choose… Sacrifice

Good morning and happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it!

I know the title of this week’s message makes it seem like it has something to do with Easter, but it really doesn’t. Well, that is not what inspired this message anyway. No. What inspired this message is an experience that someone very dear to me is having, and as I witness her struggle, much as I would like to snap my fingers and make it all better for her, I can’t. She is the only one who can do that.

AND, as I witness my friend’s struggles, I notice that in certain areas of my own life I do the same thing that I’m watching her do. I hang onto the belief that “this is the way it is and here are all the reasons why it can’t change,” and that is the story that I live. (Actually, as long as I’m doing nothing to control the story that I’m telling, it’s more accurate to say “that is the story that is living ME.” Ick.)

Did you know that there are Laws that govern the Universe? Those laws, such as gravity and thermodynamics are what keep our universe working the way that it does. One such law, which is a universal law AND a Spiritual Law, is the Law of Sacrifice.

There are many different ways that I could go about explaining this, because it’s really a many-faceted concept. Here are just a few of them.

Those of you who’ve been with me for a while have heard me say this before, and probably more than once: The story that you tell the most often and the most consistently about your life is what generates the life that you experience. Law of Sacrifice basically says, “If you are not willing to sacrifice your current story about how bad your life is in favor of a story that feels better, then you will never live a better-feeling story.”

Another way to say it is this: If we want to experience greatness in our life, then we must sacrifice our grip on our perceived “littleness,” or “not-enoughness.”

Or this: We can never have the wonderful, amazing life that we Dream of if we indulge in self-pity and defeatism whenever something feels difficult to us along the way. If we refuse to sacrifice that self-pity and defeatism, we leave no room for the good stuff. And if we’re not willing to sacrifice the stuff that keeps our life small, then we ARE – by default – sacrificing our Dream.

Law of Sacrifice is more about self-discipline than anything else. As I wrote in Successfully MidAir, the most important question you could ever ask yourself is, “How much do I want what I SAY I want? Do I want it enough to do the work?” And in this case “the work” means disciplining yourself to notice when you’re choosing an attitude of defeat, and sacrificing that attitude in favor of something more life-giving. Like hope. Or faith. Or even just the willingness to believe that “this too shall pass.” But if you’re not willing to sacrifice your habit of wallowing in self-pity and defeat and an attitude of “I can’t,” then that means that you ARE willing to sacrifice the better-feeling experience that you SAY you want.

In every moment and in every experience, something is ALWAYS, PERPETUALLY being sacrificed for something else. Always. When we tell a story that says something like, “I can’t and here are all the reasons why,” we are sacrificing any and every other possibility. When we say, “I wish my life would change for the better,” but we cling to our story about why it can’t, then we are literally creating the life that can’t change for the better because we’re not willing to give up that story.

How much do I want what I SAY I want? Do I want it enough to do the work? And do I want it enough to discipline myself to stick with the work in those times that it feels the most difficult? Do I want it enough to sacrifice the story that keeps me stuck where I am? Do I want it enough to sacrifice my beliefs that I’m not worthy or capable and choose instead to cultivate a belief in my profound worth and ability? Do I want it enough to sacrifice my current habitual thought patterns and behaviors?

I Choose… Sacrifice

This week I stay in the question, “How much to I want what I SAY I want?” I notice what I’m choosing in each moment, and I decide if that’s what I really want. If it’s not, I deliberately sacrifice it in favor of moving in the direction of what I really DO want. I know that I can never move in the direction of what is wanted if I have a death grip on what keeps me stuck and struggling. I choose to sacrifice that death grip, over and over again as necessary as I train myself to be willing and able to tell – and live – a new story.

Before I sign off, let me share a more tangible example: My biggest issue right now is the fact that I have gained weight. Enough to feel really uncomfortable in my own skin, and enough that my clothes don’t fit right anymore. I don’t like it. But as I look at my food and exercise choices I can clearly see that this weight gain is a result of those choices. So what will happen if I ask myself (over and over again as necessary), “What do I actually, REALLY want?” (A healthy, slim, strong body.) And, “How much do I actually, REALLY want what I SAY I want?”

Do I want it enough to discipline myself not to give into temptation in those moments that I feel the weakest? Do I want it enough to sacrifice those food items that do not serve my desire for a healthy body? Do I want it enough to sacrifice my sedentary lifestyle for one that is more active? As I choose to eat pizza or chocolate and get no exercise, in effect I am saying “no thank you” to a healthy body. That “healthy body” will not be possible for me until I sacrifice the unhealthy habits. And I am willing to be responsible for my current results and make the sacrifices that are necessary for those results to change.

Something is ALWAYS sacrificed for something else. And I ALWAYS get to choose what I am choosing. On any subject and in any aspect of my life.

What are YOU choosing right now? And in that choice, what are you saying “no thank you” to? What are you sacrificing as you’re choosing what you’re choosing? And what are you willing to sacrifice in order to start getting the results that you really want? If, like my friend, you would like your life to be different from what it is right now, are you willing to do the work of letting go of your current habits of thought and behavior so you can finally start receiving the better-feeling stuff? You are the only one who can do that for you, just like I am the only one who has any control over my food and exercise choices.

I encourage you this week to take a look at your results, and then to make sacrifices as necessary to bring you the results that you really want.

Love to you all.

Sandi


Have an awesome day if you choose to!


Rev. Sandra Daly

www.chooseyouruniverse.com
chooseyouruniverse@gmail.com

“Speak your Soul into this space.” Em Claire 

**************

It's BOOK STUDY Time! 

LAST CALL!! [THE READING/STUDY/PRACTICE BEGINS TOMORROW - MARCH 28, 2016]


Who's ready for a book study? We'll be doing The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, Monday evenings from 6:30-7:30 Pacific time. This will be a 12-week study beginning Monday April 4th. It will be an online gathering and all meetings will be recorded and made available to members. There is no cost to participants, although love offering donations will be gratefully accepted.

Pictured below is the version that I encourage everyone to use so we can all be on the same page. The isbn is shown, as well, for ordering purposes. Although if you already have a different version and you don't want to purchase this one, no worries - we can work around it as necessary.

This book quite literally saved my sanity in 2011. Actually, it wasn't just the book, it was a six-month STUDY of the book. If not for that study, it's fair to say that I was depressed and discouraged enough to consider giving up on myself and my life completely. Yes, that means what it sounds like it means.

Needless to say, I highly, highly recommend the study and the deliberate and practical application of this material in your life.

Join us if you'd like. All are welcome.

I've created a Facebook group specifically for this study. If you're on Facebook, here's the link to join the group.

Power of Now Facebook group.

If you're not a Facebook user, simply reply to this email. I'll be sending emails to share the assignments in addition to doing that on FB.

To clarify - you do not have to be able to join us for the Monday calls in order to participate in the group, so don't let that stop you!

I look forward to having you join us! :-)

Love to you all!



                      
 

Sunday, March 20, 2016

I Choose... Love



I Choose… Love

Good morning and happy Sunday to you!

Did you know that there are really only two emotions? One of them is Love. The other is NOT hate, as most people think it is the opposite of Love. No.

The other one is Fear.

Hatred, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, prejudice, envy, racism, the need to make others “wrong” so that we can feel like we are “right,” any form of intolerance, blame, judgment, etc.  None of these things is a feeling or a belief in its own right. And every one of them, and all that are included in the “et cetera,” stems from Fear.

I first learned this in 1999 along with a suggestion for what to pay attention to in my own behavior, and a question to ask that always shifts things for me when I find myself acting out of fear. If you have any interest at all in NOT getting sucked into the mob mentality that seems so prevalent in the United States these days (on BOTH sides), this is a practice that will serve you well.

The practice is just this: Notice when you’re looking at another person, a group of people, another country, a circumstance in your own life, or even your own self, with hatred, intolerance, bitterness, blame, judgment, etc.  If you have any interest in being more powerful than your fear—which IS the root of every single one of those feelings whether you want to admit it to yourself or not—the next step in this practice is to ask one simple question.

What would LOVE do?

If I can do this in the midst of a relationship in which I was getting beat up on a regular basis, anyone can do it in whatever circumstance they find themselves in. At that time and in that place in my life, I stopped defending myself when my abuser attacked me (whether physically or verbally), and I applied this practice deliberately. I would ask, “What would Love do here?” And the answer that ALWAYS came first was this, “LOVE would recognize that HE lives a far more fearful life than I do, and that is where this behavior stems from. I do not have to take it personally, because—even though it is directed at me—it is not about me. At all. This expression of hate is nothing more than his fear pouring out of him through his behavior.” This recognition ALWAYS triggered a feeling of compassion in me, and the actions that stemmed from compassion were always far healthier than what would have happened if I had responded to him from my fear of him.

That one realization was always helpful to me, and it was during that time that I began to recognize that I had to love myself enough to choose not to engage with him in his drama dynamic. And this holds true today, and that is what this week’s I Choose addresses.


I Choose… Love

This week I deliberately pay attention to my feelings and my behaviors, and I stay in the question, “What would Love do? How would Love handle THIS person’s behavior? How would Love handle THIS circumstance?” This week I choose to remember that Love is FAR more powerful than fear, and I choose to love myself so much that it is easy for me to either disengage when I find myself sucked into another’s drama, or to not engage with them in the first place. Because only when I’m willing to love myself that much, will I be able to choose to really love THEM.

And just to be clear, “engaging with them” means giving them ANY of my energy or attention from a place of being afraid of them in any way. This includes judging or hating them inside my own mind, and it includes judging or hating them in conversations with others. In our current climate of separation, judgment, hatred, and exclusion, I am choosing deliberately to love myself so much that I’m willing to pay attention within my own self and notice when I’m engaging from ANY level of fear around who they are being or what they are doing.

Fear NEVER produces real solutions. In fact, you could even say that Fear actually specializes in creating, deepening, and escalating more and more problems.

Love actually IS the solution to any problem.

The practice I’m describing here is one of the most empowering practices that I’ve ever used in my life. I highly recommend it.

Love
Sandi

Have an awesome day if you choose to!

Rev. Sandra Daly

www.chooseyouruniverse.com
chooseyouruniverse@gmail.com

“Speak your Soul into this space.” Em Claire 

**************

It's BOOK STUDY Time!


Who's ready for a book study? We'll be doing The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, Monday evenings from 6:30-7:30 Pacific time. This will be a 12-week study beginning Monday April 4th. It will be an online gathering and all meetings will be recorded and made available to members. There is no cost to participants, although love offering donations will be gratefully accepted.

Pictured below is the version that I encourage everyone to use so we can all be on the same page. The isbn is shown, as well, for ordering purposes. Although if you already have a different version and you don't want to purchase this one, no worries - we can work around it as necessary.

This book quite literally saved my sanity in 2011. Actually, it wasn't just the book, it was a six-month STUDY of the book. If not for that study, it's fair to say that I was depressed and discouraged enough to consider giving up on myself and my life completely. Yes, that means what it sounds like it means.

Needless to say, I highly, highly recommend the study and the deliberate and practical application of this material in your life.

Join us if you'd like. All are welcome.

I've created a Facebook group specifically for this study. If you're on Facebook, here's the link to join the group.

Power of Now Facebook group.

If you're not a Facebook user, simply reply to this email. I'll be sending emails to share the assignments in addition to doing that on FB.

To clarify - you do not have to be able to join us for the Monday calls in order to participate in the group, so don't let that stop you!

I look forward to having you join us! :-)

Love to you all!