I notice a lot of things around me coming into balance lately. Sure, there’s the usual measure of chaos in the lives of people I speak to, but it usually doesn’t affect me. Years ago, I used to get so full of what others poured into me that I couldn’t find myself anymore, and I’d have to retreat and hibernate to regain my perspective and my calm center. I have the most to give others, when I have my own calm center. Notice that when you don’t have your own agenda, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the agendas of those around you. And those around you are probably a lot less centered and focused than you are. Scary thought, huh? So rather than bringing yourself down to their level, where they may be emotionally insecure and floundering, help raise them to yours by keeping your calm no matter what is going on.

WHOLE LOTTA THINKIN’ GOIN’ ON
We’re used to so many things going on at once, so many thinks going on at once. I can hear you now, “Easy for you to say, Andrea, you don’t have a hateful husband, no job, 3 ungrateful kids and an eviction notice on your front door.” You’re right, I don’t have anything like that going on in my life, and I think that’s because I do my best every day – every day – taking each day as it comes, one day at a time – I do my best every day to make sure I take care of whatever comes up before me to be tended to. The worst thing that’s happened to me lately is having trouble with a new computer program that didn’t seem to want to communicate with my network. After much ado, I discovered that all I had to do was correct the default setting and everything worked fine.

WHAT’S YOUR DEFAULT SETTING?
My default setting used to be sarcasm and criticism. It took me many years to learn how annoying that was to other people. I was so self-absorbed, I had no idea friends were avoiding me because of it. Oh, did I mention I was a know it all, also? When I finally caught on and corrected my default setting to listen more and speak less, respect more and judge less, appreciate more and comment less, my world changed.

MY WORLD CHANGES A LOT
My world changes a lot. I feel I’m constantly in a state of evolution and renewal. This is good news. When something challenging comes up, I know it will pass in time. When something wonderful comes up, I know it will pass in time. When I step into The Present Moment, when I step into the Now, and assess what is happening – right now – and ask for help and guidance if it’s a challenging situation, and give gratitude for the strength to bear it, magic always happens. Always in the moment of my asking, a deep peace washes over me and I know that it will be ok. Sometimes the understanding washes over me instantly as well. Often I don’t understand until much later, but I do know that in the moment of my asking, whether I feel it or not, help is always there.

WHAT’S RESTRICTING YOU?
You know, I think about the reason we get challenges that restrict us (like losing our job, lack of money, no lover, etc.) is so that we can learn about ourselves. If we can pay enough attention to developing our inner life while we have a good job, lots of money and lots of love, then we don’t need to have those things taken away from us. But usually if we have all those things, then we pay attention only to things outside us, outside in the material world, so God takes them away from us so that we have to look inside for a reason why, and as soon as we ask “Why?” then we start getting answers. And that puts our feet on The Path. So whenever you feel restricted, ask yourself, “What outside myself am I paying too much attention to? What in the material world am I giving my attention to, that is not bringing me peace and joy?”

And then sit quietly and keep asking those questions to yourself over and over and write down the answers that come. And I believe when we sit and do that every day, we get more peace and we get more love. And then we’re not restricted any more. Because the purpose of the restriction was to make us go inward and ask for guidance. So when we begin doing that, the restriction is lifted. And if we do it some every single day, pretty soon we have no more restrictions.

PEEL BACK THE LAYERS OF YOUR LIFE
It’s really pretty easy to peel back the layers of your life and to remember what happened to you. It’s not all that difficult to interpret, in retrospect, what lessons you were learning at any particular time. The hard part is convincing ourselves that there’s value in doing so, and taking the few minutes a day to do that. It’s not that interpreting our lives is such a hard process, it’s just that we don’t take the time to do it.

IT WORKS IF YOU WORK IT
I’ve heard people say through the years, “Meditation doesn’t work for me…” “Affirmations don’t work…” “Creative Visualization never helped me…” and my response is, everything works if you work it. If you’re sitting to meditate and you close your eyes and immediately start thinking of your “to do” list or your family problems, well, when you open your eyes 20 minutes later, you probably won’t notice a change. If you have an affirmation that isn’t well thought out in the first place, and say it half heartedly about 20 times a day while being entirely focused on something else, you can be sure you’re wasting your time. If you’re visualizing brief scenes of being at the beach while you’re overwhelmed at the office, and being aggravated that you’re having to work late, well, those fleeting thoughts might not be doing you any good.

CREATE A SPACE FOR CHANGE TO TAKE PLACE
In order for anything like that to work, you must first take the time to create a place in your consciousness for it to happen. You wouldn’t just paint an old chair without first removing the old paint and preparing the surface a little beforehand, would you?

You wouldn’t write a letter to your beloved on top of a letter someone else had sent you, would you? How clearly do you think they’d get your message? They’d have quite a time of trying to read it, wading through the other words and writing. No, you’d get a fresh sheet of paper, and take a few moments to think of what you were going to say, then write it neatly. If you made a mistake, you might cross through it, or start over, so the one you’re sending the letter to would have a clear, unbroken idea of what you’re saying.

START WITH A CLEAN SLATE
Just as you would start a letter to a friend with a fresh sheet of paper, so should you start your meditation time, or your affirmation time, or your visualization time with a few moments of deep breathing and focusing on your breath. You might also find it helpful to repeat the word “clearing” as you breathe out, and imagine all thoughts leaving through your breath. Breathe in calm, breathe out aggravation, breathe in stillness, breathe out confusion. Even just a few moments of this helps bring you to center. Then, in that calmer place, begin your meditation, or say your affirmation, or do your visualization. From that calmer place, the magic will begin to work. If you’re worried that it’s not working, well, that’s your clue that you’re thinking again, so just don’t follow the thought, just go back to following your breath.

YOUR IMAGINATION IS ONE KEY TO THE KINGDOM
As you imagine that you’re in a calmer place, you go there. As you feel yourself sitting quietly, eyes closed, let your imagination transport you to a quiet and peaceful place, and let the feeling of calm and quiet fill your heart. Go into as much detail as you can in imagining where you’d be and what you’d like to find there. Our imagination is our link to God and wherever you imagine God to be, God is. Wherever you imagine your guardian angels to be, they are. Whatever you think you are, you experience.

INVOKING EMOTION IS ANOTHER KEY TO THE KINGDOM
This is the part many teachers forget to tell you, and that’s like jumping in the car and there’s no gas to take you where you want to go. You can sit in that car all you want, turning the key over and over, but if you don’t give it the fuel it needs to become transportation, it’s just a car. If you’re imagining and visualizing your future, you also have to bring forth the emotion that you’d feel if you were having or doing what you wish. If you’re wanting your visualization to become a reality, you need to give it the fuel it needs to transport you there. The fuel it needs is your emotion. So as you imagine what you want, invoke within you the feeling you would have when you got it. Feel it, think about it, feel it some more, talk about it with others, feel it some more. Because as you think, you feel, and as you feel, you vibrate, and as you vibrate, you attract.

START BEING HAPPY RIGHT NOW
So many people put their lives on hold, not wanting to begin until they have more money, until they have a soul mate, until the kids are grown, until they leave their marriage, until the right job comes along. Learn to achieve happiness through whatever is around you right now – this is a major key to the kingdom! Ma Yoga Shakti suggests we “Live simply, consume less, think high.” Great words of wisdom from a profound teacher, and we’re blessed to have her here in our own community.

I originally wrote this in June of 1998, and ran across it today as I was looking for something else.  That always happens.  No matter what I am doing, the Universe makes sure to place the perfect message in front of me, at exactly the time I need to see it.

Even if it’s my own message of 11 years ago.
Related Posts: A Meditation Technique
The Creative Visualization Technique
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11 Fun Steps Guaranteed To Initiate Change And Get You Unstuck
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LISTEN TO FREE SAMPLES: Out of Body Experience
and Connecting with your Angels, Guides