Author: Jim Gohrick (Page 118 of 159)

As the season of Thanksgiving rolls around once again, I feel urged to ask the question, “Can we ever have enough gratitude?”

I’m betting on no. When we enter a state of gratitude our focus changes from the self to more of an objective point of view. You have a sense of pulling back the zoom on your life and considering the big picture. We are often way too caught up in our own stories to consider anyone else’s.

Feeling a sense of gratitude gives you a perspective you wouldn’t otherwise have. For me, it also simplifies my life. It distills it down to what’s really important to me. Being on death’s doorstep will do that to you, but why wait for that to happen when you can manufacturer those feelings and gain that perspective just by being grateful.

Gratitude is an attitude and attitudes become a way you live your life. You might want to pick a good one.

There is a book called, “Power Vs. Force” written by David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. in which he “generated a practical map of the energy fields of consciousness so as to delineate the range and general geography of an uncharted area of human investigation.” Another words, he found a way to calibrate human consciousness and emotions via an energy field and determined a numeric value for it.

What he found was that emotions such as Guilt and Shame register lowest on the scale at 30 and 20 respectively, and Enlightenment, Peace and Joy were are the top of the Map of Consciousness at 700-1000, 600 and 540 respectively.

Hawkins also discovered that people who calibrate at higher levels counterbalances people who register at much lower levels on the scale. As Love is much more powerful than Shame, there only need be a few people who calibrate at extremely high levels to nullify millions of people at very low energy.

We all have a choice of where we want to calibrate throughout the day. Why not come from a place where we register high on the scale of energy and nullify as much low energy as we can while coming from a place of Love. Or more.

There is much that can be said for saying “yes” to the universe. “Should I start writing that novel?” “Is it a good idea to register for the half-marathon race coming up in the spring?” “Should I bring my camera with me on my hike?” “I wonder if sending a card over to a friend to let them know I’m thinking about them is a good idea?” Yes. Absolutely. Why not? And you better believe it.

We cannot show up, gain experience, get the results we don’t want and then start the process all over again by saying “no.” We must engage in the world. The idea. The art project. The race. The relationship, in order to grow, learn and evolve.

However, speaking up and saying “no” can be just as powerful when used at the appropriate time. When drawings your boundaries, taking care of the self, respecting and caring for others, when something goes against your core beliefs, when you know the choice you’re about to make is a strong one. These are just a few.

It’s not a matter of being negative. It’s about being clear and decisive with your intentions. After all, we can always use more functioning, loving, caring, decisive, motivated, healthy and open people in this world.

It’s tough to generate anything of worth that will remain longstanding in a state of chaos. This is called survival mode.

How can we expect to bring about permanent positive change in our lives if we are always in a constant state of chaos? The answer is: we can’t.

We must get back to a state of homeostasis in order to have normal functioning of our body and mind. We must learn to remember and learn to forget. Remember that a chaotic state of mind is toxic for our bodies in the long term. We must be able to forget about the past as it carries with it the burdens of stress and anxiety which have no benefits to us in the here and now.

When a gazelle is chased by a lion on the Serengeti and manages to out run it’s predator to safety, it goes back to grazing. It doesn’t remain in a constant state of imbalance as she continues to run the scenario over and over again in her head. She forgets and moves forward only to remain present in the current moment. She grazes.

If we continue to live in the past and not the present moment by focusing on what happened a day ago, a week ago or even 3 years ago, we can never move past this event/s to create new ones. We become a victim of our history only to bring on all the toxicity that comes with the stresses and anxiety of reliving the past.

We can avoid these physical and mental poisons by mindful actions to keep us present and not allow ourselves to live in the past.

It sounds simple and it can be, but nevertheless we must be vigilant in our pursuit. I think we’re worth it.

There are two different kinds of respect. Respect for others and Self-Respect.

Self-Respect is defined as, regard for one’s own standing or position. Another words, how do you view yourself. It can be a challenge to view yourself in the best light if your vision is distorted by a dysfunctional view of oneself and/or due to traumatizing events in the past or because you are currently going through tough times.

Once removed from these toxic situations, it takes small incremental tasks and accomplishments to recognize the worth in oneself. But we can build on this momentum daily one brick at a time creating a solid foundation with which we are able to rely upon when chaos is present.

It is exactly in these times when we must exercise that self-respect and remain steadfast in our beliefs on oneself.

Self-respect comes from trusting yourself that you will continue to make the strong choices into the future as you did in the past.

No compromise.